The Thinking Rocks (41 page)

They crept through the
brush until they were on the outskirts of the camp.  They could see all
escapees except Cano.  Lomasi motioned Morf to stay where he was and
remain hidden.  Lomasi settled down to study the camp and plan his attack

The wind was blowing
toward them and the little wolf was unaware that danger was near at hand.

At this same time Cano
was returning to the campsite from the other side of the island.  He
noticed a tall sprawling tree at the waters edge and decided to have some fun
with those in camp.  He crept to the base of the tree and carefully
climbed it on the side away from camp.  When he was high in the branches
he climbed out on a limb that was above the water.  The only one that noticed
him was Whiteface; she sat watching the leader of her pack silently.

Just before
Cano was going to announce his presence to those in the camp, the wind
shifted.  Whiteface picked up the smell of rotting meat, and also a smell
she remembered well, enemies of the pack.  She sprang to her feet and
raised her ruff, a low growl rumbled from her stomach.  The sound was much
too loud to come from a creature this small, but it did.  Dola instantly
noticed her looking toward the brush and reached for his throwing stick.

Lomasi had
watched Cano climb the tree; he smiled to himself.  He had waited for this
moment, and now it was here.  He rose smoothly, extended one hand for
balance, and then he drew his other arm back to cast the spear.  In the
same motion his fingers released their hold on the spear and let it float
upward until the end met the notch in the throwing stick. His arm came forward
in a smooth practiced arch and he launched the spear with deadly
accuracy.  The life-terminating missile flashed upward toward Cano's body.

At the same moment, Cano
heard the wolf's growl he had twisted slightly to see what had alarmed
her.  His movement caused the grass bag with the turkey and the shell to
move in front of his body.  At this instant the spear pierced the grass
bag on its way to Cano's stomach.  The spear blasted a bloody spray from
the recently killed turkey and then slammed into the turtle shell where it
dispersed its remaining energy.  The force of the blow knocked Cano from
the tree; he tried to seize a passing branch, but missed it.   He
tumbled through the air and crashed to the river below, landing on his head and
shoulder.  The deep water quickly covered him as he sank to the river’s
bottom.

As Cano hit the water
Lomasi burst from the brush with a cry of triumph.  As he rushed forward
with Morf, he fitted another spear to the throwing stick.

Gennos had turned toward
where Cano had fallen and was trying to understand what was happening.’ My
brother has just been killed.  Death comes quickly and now he is dead,’ he
said to himself.

Dola and the
little wolf were looking toward the danger.  Dola sprang to his feet and
raised his spear thrower and prepared to cast his spear.

Lomasi was
surprised at how fast the boy had come to his feet.  Instead of aiming at
Dola he shifted his aim toward Na'pe, who was crouching by the fire. "She
dies first if you throw that spear."

Dola looked toward
Gennos, but didn't lower his arm.  He wasn't sure what to do.  He
didn't want to be a prisoner again, but he didn't want Na'pe to die. 
Gennos had returned his eyes from where Cano had fallen to the situation around
the fire.  His own weapons were out of reach.  He quickly surveyed
the situation and decided that to fight, was to lose.  Lomasi could kill
Na'pe and Morf could hit Dola easily. If he fought he would have to fight them
both.  If Dola was able to hit Lomasi, that would mean he would have to
fight Morf without weapons.  Gennos knew he would lose. And Na'pe would be
dead.  He wouldn't risk her death. Even as prisoners they would still be
able to try to escape again.  Dead was dead. Not many chances after
that.  With Cano dead he had to protect Na'pe and Dola.  He motioned
Dola to lower his weapon.

Lomasi remained with his
spear thrower at the ready position.  "Take their weapons," he
said as he motioned Morf ahead.

Na'pe still crouched by
the fire.  She watched Lomasi as she hid a cutting stone in her
breechcloth.

Morf moved to Dola and
snatched his throwing stick and cast it into the fire.  He then grabbed
Dola's spear and jerked it away.  He struck Dola with his spear thrower
and then beat him to the ground.  Dola lay in the dirt looking up at Morf;
blood ran from a small cut above the boy’s eye.

"You
are both big and brave aren't you" asked Gennos.  "Have you ever
fought someone your own size, without weapons?"

Lomasi didn't
say a word at first.  Then he said, "I see that you have learned to
speak since we last met."  He cast a vengeful look at Na'pe. 
"Yes, we are big and mean, and you will learn it many times over in the
time that follows this day.  When I am through with you, it will be you
that asks me to stop."  As he spoke he was limping toward
Gennos.  When he got to him, he raised his spear as if to strike with it,
then he kicked Gennos's weak leg.

Gennos fell to the
ground and rolled to the side as Lomasi tried to kick him in the face. He
reached out and grabbed Lomasi's foot and twisted it.  This caused Lomasi
to shift his balance to his bad leg and he fell heavily.  Gennos scrambled
over and drove his fist into Lomasi face.  It was a stinging blow and
Lomasi saw flashes of light.  Gennos gripped his throat before he could
recover and drove his fist into the hated face again.  He got both hands
on Lomasi's throat and started squeezing.  Lomasi started to gasp and his
eyes rolled back in his head.  From far away Gennos heard a cry and then
another. Without releasing the pressure on Lomasi he looked up.  Morf held
a spear point against Na'pe's throat. "Stop now or she is
dead."  He had a hand full of her hair and he pressed the point into
her neck and blood started to trickle from the wound.

Na'pe screamed,
"Kill him! It will be worth dying to see him dead!"

Gennos gave Lomasi's
throat one last squeeze before pushing him away.  Lomasi lay gasping for
breath for a few moments before crawling painfully over to where Morf held
Na'pe captive.  He took the spear Morf had and held it to her eyes. 
"Go and tie both of them up," he said to Morf.

No one had noticed that
the small wolf had drifted into the brush without being seen.

Morf quickly tied the
two to separate saplings in a none too gentle manner.  Then he turned to
Na'pe.  "What about her?"

Lomasi smiled,
"After she feeds us and we rest I have plans for her.  I wanted to
save her for when we get back to the clan.  That has changed.  I have
been altogether too gentle with her.  She needs to learn certain things,
and I am the one to teach her.  When I am finished with her you can see if
you can teach her anything."  He paused and then said, "Now take
your spear and guard the men.  If they give you any trouble kill
them."

Lomasi grabbed Na'pe's
shoulder and squeezed it painfully.  "Now, woman, get us food."

She twisted away and
walked slowly to the edge of the clearing and knelt down to get more fuel for the
fire.   Her mind was racing, what should she do?  She was a
prisoner again.  She looked over her shoulder at her captors.  They
weren't paying any attention to her.  She could escape into the brush and
be gone before they could find her.  They were tired and hungry and if
they did try to follow, only one would come after her.  She was closer to
home then she had been for a long time.  But as quickly as these ideas
flashed across her mind, she rejected them. Her fellow captives had come back for
her, and she wouldn't desert them now that they needed help.  She had no
doubts about what was in store for her if Lomasi proceeded with his
"Training".  It would be bad, but she wouldn't be dead.  As
she knelt she noticed some plants growing in front of her.  Her father had
spoken of these plants before.  They were as tall as she was and had long
pointed leaves.  She discarded the firewood she had planned to take to the
fire.  Instead she picked the long fingered leaves and the buds from the
top of the tree and carried them back to the fire.  She cast the leaves
into the fire where they began to smoke heavily.  She took a few large
chunks of turtle meat and ground the buds into the meat.  Then she took
some of the leaves and twisted them together and let the juice from the leaves
drip onto the meat; it was dry and absorbed the juice quickly. Then she laid
the meat on the smoking leaves for a few moments.

Lomasi had been sitting
to the side and not paying attention to her, as he worked on his injured leg.
"Food and water, I want it now."

She picked up a piece of
the hot meat on a stick and handed it to him.  She picked up the other
piece and carried it over to where Morf sat watching the prisoners.  He
snatched the meat from her and sank his teeth into it.

She walked back to where
the tall plants grew and gathered an armload of them and carried them back to
the fire.  There was little wind and the smoke was settling around Lomasi
and Morf.  She hoped that this was the plant her father had told her
about.  It was their only hope.  She took more of the turtle meat and
dripped more of the juice over it; she then took it to her captors. They were
both eating as quickly as they could. The food disappeared almost as quickly as
she brought it to them.  As they ate they started to relax.  The
smoke was quite heavy but they didn't seem to notice.  She looked over at
Lomasi and he smiled at her.  Her heart skipped a beat; it was
working.  She turned her back to Lomasi and looked over to Gennos. 
He had been watching her silently.  She reached up and pinched her nose
closed with her fingers and gave her a head a single shake. 

Gennos had been watching
and wondering what she was doing.  She had never had a fire with this much
smoke before.  Now she was telling him not to breathe the smoke.  I
don't understand, besides the smoke wasn't all that bad.  It made him feel
a lot better.  The ropes weren't even as tight as they had been.  He
smiled at her.  But she only frowned at him and pinched her nose again. 
He understood what she wanted him to do, but he felt good and just wanted to
sit looking at her.  But then a small corner of his mind whispered that he
should do what she wanted.  He shrugged his shoulders and lay down, facing
away from the fire.

Where Dola lay, little
of the smoke was settling.  He had been watching Na'pe and Gennos. 
He was having a hard time understanding what was going on.  Then he
remembered when Gennos and Cano where teaching him new things.  This was
one of those times when you must do something where all the choices are
bad.  What Na'pe was doing meant don't breath the smoke.  Dola
sniffed the smoke and found it pleasant.  He looked over to Gennos and
smiled.  Gennos was facing away from the smoke and Dola couldn't see his
face. That must be the rest of Na'pe message, face away from the smoke. 
He lay down and tried to breathe as shallowly as he could.

 Na'pe noticed that
Dola was facing away from the fire and she was happy about it.  Besides
that she was feeling a lot better smelling the smoke herself.  She smiled
as she went back and got more of the plants and added them to the fire. 
The smoke was a soft brown color and had a sweet flat smell; it became more
pleasant the more you smelled it.

Lomasi was chewing on
another piece of meat she had brought him.  He had given her another big
smile. This meat was some of he best he had ever eaten.  He sat looking at
the fire. It was so interesting to watch the flames as they climbed higher and
higher, and then vanished. He wondered where they went.  The smoke drifted
over the campsite and he realized that it was a good day.  He had his
prisoners back; he had food and water, and a great fire to watch.  He
looked over at Morf; he was watching the river.  The prisoners were asleep
and no danger.  Na'pe was working around the fire putting more leaves on
it.  There was a lot of smoke, but it smelled nice.  Morf was
foolishly watching the river; he should know that it was much better to watch
the fire.

Morf was indeed watching
the river.  He found it strange that he had never noticed how the surface
flickered, it seemed to be constantly changing, but yet it seemed to be the
same.  It was hard to understand.  Then he saw a bug climbing up a
tall blade of grass at the waters edge.  It was so interesting, up the bug
went, it would stop and eat and then continue up the stem.  Morf couldn't
take his eyes off the bug.

Downstream, the water
had brought Cano back to consciousness.  He struggled his way to the
surface and found that he had drifted away from the campsite.  He was
having trouble remembering what had happened. Then it came to him; he had
fallen out of the tree.  He made his way to shore and that was when he
found the spear embedded in the grass bag.  Lomasi, it had to be. He
looked around and found that he wasn't on the island where they were camped; he
had been washed up on the opposite shore.  He moved far enough into the
tall grass so that he wouldn't be seen and then started back upstream.  He
picked up the faint smell of smoke before he found the campsite.  Moving
carefully through the tall grass he finally caught sight of the
camp.   He could barely believe it; they had been caught again. 
It was his own fault they should have kept going until they reached Na'pe’s
clan.  Now it was too late for that.