The Thinking Rocks (23 page)

Na'pe was waiting at the
fire with Cano and Dola. She came over to examine the wound.  She quickly
turned away and went to where the fire starting supplies were kept. Returning with
some soft gray moss she placed it over the wound, and showed Hopi how to press
it to the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.  She noticed the hand
with the missing fingers and applied more moss where the fingers had
been.  Hopi was much quieter now and his movements where slowing down. He
appeared to be drifting off to sleep.  It would be a very deep sleep, one
he would never wake from.

Lork and Morf had been
silently watching.  Lomasi spoke to them and Lork took the noose that was
around Gennos's neck and led him back to the tree where they were tied. 
Morf motioned for Cano and Dola over to the tree and then tied them securely.

The camp was quiet that
night.  The captives had been given a meager amount of food and water, but
Na'pe had managed to conceal some extra food and slipped it to the captives.

Lomasi and his men spent
the night at the fire talking and eating. Occasionally, he would have Lork or
Morf check the prisoners bonds.  As the night worn on, it was Morf the
youngest, who was required to check the prisoners.  There was no laughter
around the fire.  The night was still when they finally went to sleep.

When they where certain
that everyone at the fire was asleep, the captives spoke in slow tones. 
Although the language that Na'pe spoke was different from that spoken by those
in the Clan of the Spear, there were similarities.  By the use of gestures
and words they were soon able to communicate with each other.  In
contrast, Na'pe could understand what Lomasi and his men said, but Cano's group
could not understand a word.  They could understand the signs they made,
but it seemed beneficial to pretend that they were very slow and couldn't
understand even the simplest orders.  The longer they spoke and gestured
with Na'pe, the more effective the communication became.  Soon they had
little trouble speaking.

Gennos was the first to
speak.  He explained to Na'pe their tentative plans for escape.  They
should look for a chance to all escape at once, if possible.  If they
could not do that, then they would escape one or two at a time and then follow
and rescue the others.

Na'pe said, "How
can I be sure that if you all escape, you would care enough to come and get
me?"  She looked from Cano to Gennos, "You know the danger here,
why would you come back and risk being captured again?  I'm not of your
clan. I can mean nothing to you."

Gennos spoke quickly,
"That is not true.  You are correct that you don't know us, but you
are not correct about us leaving you here. One thing you will learn about us is
that we are not like Lomasi and his men. We seem to think a different way then
they do. I want you, ----ah, I mean we want you to be free.  We are a
small group and have to depend on each other.  You will find that we do
what we say we will do, if it's at all possible."  He paused to
gather his thoughts before continuing, "We may not be able to escape, but
we will try. If even one of us escapes, he will help the others."

Na'pe had not missed the
slip of Gennos's tongue.  As all females have since the beginning of time,
she could tell when a male was interested in her.  Cano was younger, but
there was something about Gennos that she found interesting.  She wasn't
sure if it was the way his eyes looked or if it was something else; she would
think about it later. They had more pressing problems now.

"I heard Lomasi say
they would be back at their clan’s campsite soon.  This means that we have
little time to plan an escape.  Lomasi was very angry.  He said he
had left on this trip to capture people like me and bring them back to work in
their clan and to mate with their men.  They were only able to catch
me."  She paused before continuing and looked at Gennos, "They
were surprised to see you.  They wanted more women, but they can use you
to work around their camp.  He was surprised that you didn't have spear
throwers.  He thinks you are backward and not brave.  He thought you
would have fought more to free yourselves."  She hesitated before
saying, "He wanted you to resist so that he could hurt you, and he likes
to hurt people." They could all see the pain in her eyes. She continued,
"What he said was that you would be good workers, but not smart
ones."  Na'pe looked at Gennos before continuing, "He thinks you
will be the trouble maker, and he will make it very hard on you."

Dola interrupted,
"Morf comes!"

They all pretended to be
asleep until he had stumbled back to the fire half asleep.

Na'pe continued,
"Lomasi was surprised to find your chopping tool, they all talked about it
at the fire. He saw the marks on your chest from the bear; he thinks you are a
fool that was lucky to escape with his life.  He also found the saber
tooth cat's tooth in a leather bag; he gave it to Lork to carry.  He will
keep the bear claws and make a story about how he got them.  When they return
to their camp, Lomasi said they will have a clan meeting and they will tell how
they captured us and show off what they found, like your chopping tool and my
baskets."  She stopped for a moment and looked at Gennos again before
continuing.  "Lomasi is very angry that Hopi was injured.  It
will not look good if one of his men was hurt on his journey."  She
paused again and then added, "I don't think that Hopi will live, he has
lost a lot of blood.  Lomasi will be very angry when that happens. 
We will have to be careful.  He will hurt us."  After looking at
each of the other prisoners in turn she continued, "If he gets us back to
his clan he will still return with more than he started with.  He will
also have a new weapon to show his clan and also my baskets."  She
continued, "There is another thing, Lomasi will be more careful now. There
will be more of us than he has men, if Hopi dies."

They all had been
interested in what Na'pe was saying, but now Cano spoke, "Lomasi will never
get to take us to his clan.  We will escape before we get much closer. We
have traveled the river above here and we will find a way to escape at the
right place.  We will wait for the right time and place, and then make our
move.  When we escape we will hide from him and his men.  After a
time he will have to leave."

Na'pe shook her head;
"You don't know him like I do.  He will not leave until he has found
us again.  He has to prove to his men that he is as great as he thinks he
is.  The only way that he will not follow us, is if we are dead" she
paused and added "Or he is."  She hesitated again before adding,
"He will do anything that can be done to get us back. Lomasi is many
things, but he is not a fool. You must learn to fear him as I fear him."

Cano looked at her and
then at the others in turn.  "I fear many things, but that does not
stop me from doing what must be done.  He is bad and dangerous, but that
doesn't mean he can do as he chooses.  We will see who learns fear."

"I wish us all
well, but I fear Lomasi, as he has given me many reasons to fear him. I will be
at your side when the time comes for action, but remember it will not be
easy," she said.

Cano replied, "It
would be nice if it was going to be easy, but we will get it done, whatever it
takes."

Gennos asked Na'pe about
how they would travel.  She explained to them about the dugouts and how
they were packed for travel.  They sat and talked in low tones as they
planned the escape.  It was decided that it would be best if they tipped
the dugouts over and escaped into the woods in the confusion.  It was a
weak plan and they all knew it.  If they had surprise on their side, and
if no one drowned, it might work.  They had little choice.  The
alternative was to spend their lives as slaves in another's clan.

The next morning the
forest was still as death.  The trees stood as silent witnesses to the
night's passage. When Lomasi rose he stretched and then went over to where Hopi
lay.  He stood over the silent form and spoke.  When he didn't get a
reply he nudged him with his foot.  He still didn't reply.  He was
dead.  Lomasi stood quietly looking down at the body for a long time
before raising his eyes and looking at his captives.  Then he spoke to
Lork who was just waking.  Lork moved over to where Lomasi stood and
looked down at Hopi's still form.  He turned and walked over to where the
captives were tied.

He untied Na'pe and Dola
and led them back to the fire, where he left them under the watchful eyes of
Lomasi and Morf.  Then he returned to the captives’ tree, and this time he
carried a spear.  He untied Cano and Gennos and then motioned them toward
the edge of the forest.  It was near the place where Gennos had been
fishing.  When they got there, he motioned with the spear to start
digging.  Cano looked at the ground and then started digging a small hole
with his hands.  Gennos moved to his side and started to help him with the
hole.  Lork shouted and waved his spear.  The brothers stopped
digging and stood looking at him, pretending they had no idea what they were
supposed to do.  Lork stopped shouting and stood thinking for a few
moments; then he took a deep breath. He walked over to where they were digging
and drew lines on the ground with his spear to show the size of the hole he
wanted dug. He then shouted at Cano and pointed at the marks he had made. 
Cano nodded and smiled at Lork and then said to Gennos, "This should show
them how slow we are."  He then moved over to the lines on the
ground, he picked up a stick and drew over the lines, and then he smiled at
Lork and stood there.

Lork was about to go
crazy; his prisoners couldn't understand even the simplest instructions. The
best way to teach them what he wanted was pain.  He raised his spear to
strike Cano, but was stopped by Gennos speaking to Cano.  He watched as
Gennos demonstrated to Cano that they were to dig inside the marks on the
ground.  Cano looked to Lork and then to the ground where the marks were
drawn.  Slowly he nodded and moved to start digging.  Lork lowered
his spear and stepped back.  As they dug Gennos spoke softly to Cano,
"You play the fool well, but be careful, if you are badly hurt I'll have
to dig the whole grave."

Cano didn't
answer.  They were digging with their hands and he
"accidentally" hit his brother with some of the dirt.

Gennos stopped digging
and looked around until he saw a suitable branch, then he broke it and gave
half to his brother.  The digging tool allowed them to work faster, but
the digging was difficult.  The soil was moist, but plant and tree roots
coupled with the rocks made the work slow.  When they had made a shallow
ditch, Lork motioned them to stop.  He then had them go to the fire and
carry Hopi's body back to the shallow grave.  They lay it on the ground,
with his head toward the rising sun.  Lork motioned with his spear for
them to back away from the grave.  When they had moved away he came
forward and knelt beside the body.  He removed a pouch Hopi had tied
around his neck.  Opening it he spilled the contents into his hand, and
after examining them, he cast them into the river.  He tossed the empty
pouch into the grave and then rolled the body into the grave face down. 
He stood and motioned to the brothers to fill the grave.

Gennos walked over and
knelt at the grave, but when he grasped Hopi's shoulders and started to turn
him over, he was stopped by a shout from Lork. He shook his head and motioned
with his spear to leave the body as it was. Gennos backed away from the grave
until he could push the soil back into it.  Cano worked from the feet up
and Gennos from the head down.  When they finished there was only a small
mound to mark the grave.

Lork had them move to
the fire where Lomasi stood watching them approach; he held his spear thrower
as if he would soon use it.

Cano shuffled forward
with his eyes down. Speaking softly to Gennos he said, "Brother, now there
are more of us than there are of them."

Before Gennos could
answer, Lork yelled and motioned them toward the fire faster.  His yell
was more for Lomasi's benefit than to make the captives move faster.  He
knew how fast Lomasi's temper could flare.  When they arrived at the fire
Lomasi spoke first to Lork and then to Na'pe.

Lork mumbled a reply and
then moved away to get some food.

Na'pe motioned the
brothers to sit and spoke some gibberish before saying, "Pretend that you
don't understand."

Cano cocked his head to
one side like he was thinking, and then put his hands on top of his head. 
Gennos followed his actions.

Na'pe started to shout
gibberish at them, but was interrupted by Lomasi's shouts.  She fell
silent.

The brothers dropped
their hands and sat with downcast eyes.

Lomasi spoke angrily to
Na'pe.  She listened with her eyes downcast before turning again to the
brothers.  She again spoke in gibberish first and then said, “He wants you
to learn to make baskets. Look confused and make mistakes.  When we finish
the baskets we are to head upriver to his clan."

Gennos nodded his
understanding, and then started digging a hole in front of him. Cano followed
his example.

Lomasi screamed in rage,
he grabbed Na'pe and threw her to the ground.  She lay there quietly while
Lomasi screamed at her. She was silent until he stopped raving. Then she said
something that caused him to take a deep breath, shout again and then stamp off
toward the trees.