The Trek: Darwin's World, Book II (The Darwin's World Series 2) (6 page)

Behind them, a mound of furs and personal belongings marked where the three remaining from Pavel’s original group had left what they couldn’t carry.

If Pavel returned, he’d find their things beside the drag marks. The two travois that had been used by Nikolai and Vlad had also been left beside the mound of rolled-and-tied sleeping furs.

The tribe stopped briefly when the sun was directly overhead. They were still engaged in eating a meager lunch when the lead scout returned.

“Lee, there’s a stream up ahead. I’d say it’s a mile and a half, maybe two miles from here. Ground’s pretty good; no bogs, and the stream bottom is sandy in most places. No quicksand. There are a few rocks in the stream, but they won’t be a problem when we’re ready to ford it.

“There are trees along the banks and a large grove of bigger trees where the stream bends to the west. We can set up under the trees and easily build shelters. There are plenty of willows there, some of them large. Cattails too, maybe five hundred yards downstream, and I saw swirls in the water so there are fish in the river. We can set up fish-traps. There are also several springs that feed into the stream and I saw a lot of animal tracks too.”

“What about firewood, Michel?”

“Plenty. There are dead limbs and a couple of trees that blew down during the winter. We can cut those up if they’re dry enough, but we won’t run out of firewood for at least a week or two and there are more fallen branches, just not as close. We might have to carry them five or six hundred yards at most.”

“OK, Michel. I’ll talk to Robert. Why don’t you collect the two flankers and head for that bend? Collect some of that firewood and lay out a campsite. Pick sites for temporary shelters and look for a central place where we can put the kitchen. If the ground’s not too hard, scoop out a fire-pit for the cooks. Find a place to set up a sanitation area too, someplace back from the water. Maybe set up a willow screen for privacy. If we’re going to be camped there for a week or two, we don’t want people just crapping where the urge strikes them.”

Michel nodded. “We’ll take a shovel and an axe along. I know what to do.”

“The rest of us will get moving as soon as the tribe’s finished lunch,” replied Lee. “We’ve been moving slow, maybe too slow. People are tired. We haven’t had enough food. Everyone’s hungry, and lately it’s been mostly meat. They need different things. But we’ll get to the grove as soon as we can, and whatever your guys can do before we arrive will help a lot.”

#

The first early trekkers arrived by mid-afternoon. The tired people put their loads down and slowly began setting up camp. Robert had remained behind to help bring in the laggards.

Michel and his small party continued working, directing people to campsites, collecting willows to weave into shelters, digging and banking around the firepit.

Colin left the family campsite chores to his wife. He looked appreciatively at the stack of wood Michel had gathered and began building a cooking fire. Pots and food soon appeared, brought by those who’d carried them as part of their travois load.

Assisted by Sal, Colin shortly had a snack of jerky and bread ready for the travelers.

The main meal would consist of stew. The major ingredient was meat from the stag-moose; dried vegetables made up the rest.

Callie, Colin’s daughter, began gathering needles from a pine tree she found in the grove.

Colin heated water in the smaller pot. As Callie brought in the pine needles, he added them to the bubbling water. The needles would be dumped after the liquid was poured off into gourds. A judicious spoonful of honey made the tea, useful in preventing scurvy, palatable.

He watched his wife as she worked around their personal camp. The trip had been very hard on Margrette. Colin had often been busy with the kitchen, so setting up camp had fallen to her. Callie had helped as much as possible, but as the trip progressed Margrette had lost weight, more even than the rest of the tribe. They were thin, she was gaunt. And as she lost weight, her mental state declined; she often spent long minutes just gazing off into the distance. Colin suspected it was a left-over effect from the rapes she’d endured, but he knew of nothing he could do to make things better.

Colin prepared a gourd of tea with an extra spoonful of honey before taking it to her. He would have added more, but the tribe’s supply of honey was limited too.

Everything was limited. Colin had been rationing salt, but even so, what little remained would be gone within two weeks.

“Why don’t you drink this and lie down for a while? I’ll bring your food when it’s ready. You need the rest.”

“Colin, all of us need rest. I’ll be all right. I would like to rest for a little while, though, if you don’t need me in the kitchen.”

“I’ve got plenty of help. You drink your tea and relax. I’ll send Callie over with food when it’s ready.”

“Thank you, Colin. I’ll try to eat more this time.”

Colin resolved to speak to the Wise Woman. There might be something she could do. Robert, too; he would need to know about Margrette.

But Robert already knew. He’d considered Margrette’s condition as well as the condition of the other tribe members when he’d accepted Lee’s suggestion. He’d become increasingly worried as food stocks dwindled and people became thinner. They were often withdrawn now, not even taking the time to converse with others in the evening. The trek was consuming their inner reserves.

“Colin, we’re going to stay here for a week. If the hunters bring in game and the foragers gather enough vegetables, we’ll stay longer. We want to get to the western lands, but I won’t leave our people dead along the way. Pavel and his followers aren’t helping. Even if they do find game, they’ve left it up to the rest of us to do what they should have been doing. We can’t depend on them as long as they listen to Pavel.

“Something strange about that, too. Pavel never told me he was leaving. I’d think he had just abandoned the rest of us and left the tribe, but he didn’t take his camp gear. None of them did. They just slipped off and never bothered to explain what they were up to.

“I’m going to talk to Lee. If he agrees, I’m considering banishing Pavel. I hate to lose people, but he’s more problem than help. If his little group goes with him, so be it. I’ll take people I can depend on rather than people who will likely fail us when we need them most.”

“I agree, Robert. Just don’t do it alone. Lee will back you and so will I. Marc, Michel, and Philippe are reliable too. They’ve been scouting and hunting, plus they’re well armed. If Pavel doesn’t take the hint and leave on his own…well, we’ll just leave him. After salvaging the arrows, of course.

Robert and Colin shared a thin-lipped smile. Hard choices are easier made when no other choices exist.

#

Late in the afternoon, Pavel’s band found the drag marks left by the travois.

It was too late to go farther today. They would camp near the trail and be careful not to blunder into the tribe the next day. Judging from the tracks, the tribe might be a day ahead, but they hadn’t been moving fast when Pavel left. They might be closer than expected.

They made a cold camp that night, Pavel cautioning his men to be extra watchful. Animals were more likely to approach since there was no fire to keep them away. Three men bedded down, weapons in hand, while Pavel took the first guard shift.

He kept watch until nearly midnight, considering various alternatives, thinking over his plans for the morrow. Finally he woke Vlad and turned in.

They ate the last of their food the following morning while following the tracks left by the travois.

Two hours later Pavel stopped. There was a pile of equipment ahead but no one was around. Cautiously, he led his men up and found the travois, left beside their bedding and personal gear.

“Pavel, they’ve dumped our sleeping equipment here. Have they thrown us out of the tribe? You didn’t say anything about that when we went after Lilia.”

“Gregor, I don’t know what happened. But I’ll find out when I catch up, you can count on that!

“Sort out what you want to take, leave the rest here. We can do without the furs. The weather is warm enough now that I doubt we’ll need them. We can get new ones before fall. The tribe can’t be far ahead. You three look around, see if you can kill something. Gather greens or roots, anything we can eat. I’ll scout ahead and see if the tribe’s close. Meet me back here in two hours.

“I wish we could just rejoin the tribe, but with Lilia maybe still out there, we can’t take the chance. We have to kill her. If she gets back, we’ll have to run for it. Maybe we can join up with the mine guards. I’ve been thinking about that. We won’t have much chance of surviving, just four of us.

“The guards won’t welcome us, but if we tell them where Robert and the tribe are I think they’ll let us join them. They’ll be mad at Robert and Colin anyway, and maybe they’ll want to raid the tribe if they know where they are. Anyway, it’s only a thought. I don’t owe the tribe anything. I wouldn’t mind teaching them a lesson, especially that little bunch that lived with Matt.”

“How long do we wait, Pavel?”

“That depends on what you three find to eat, Gregor. If we’ve got food, we can trail the tribe for a few more days. If Lilia’s not here within a day or two, maybe she got killed. Lions, wolves…well, she’s only a lone woman. They’d snap her up quick. As long as she doesn’t get past us, we can wait.

“Anyway, go find us something to eat. I’ll meet you back here in two hours.”

Chapter 5

The faint pecking sound was somehow familiar. Lilia cocked her head to the side and listened. Curious…she knew the sound, but couldn’t identify it.

Not a woodpecker after all, but unknown things were dangerous. She stole forward, arrow on the string. Ahead was a small clump of willows, the sound appearing to come from just beyond.

Careful to make no sound, Lilia eased through the willows and froze. It couldn’t be…but it was…

“Matt! You’re alive!”

Her fingers involuntarily relaxed and the arrow plopped into the dirt a few feet in front of her. She didn’t notice.

Matt stood up in shock, dropping the rocks he’d been working on.

He saw a woman, holding a bow and dressed in buckskin. She carried a bundled parka tied to a small backpack and a spear was slung across her back. The bow looked familiar, the recognition felt by a craftsman for the things he’s made.

“Who are you? Do I know you?”

Lilia had crossed the small clearing where Matt worked. Experienced eyes took in the crude lean-to and the small fire beside where he’d been working. She looked at the dirty, stretched-out, baggy deerskins. No question, this was Matt; he looked different, but she knew every stitch that had gone into making those deerskins. She also saw the bump and partially-healed cut, all that remained of the injury he’d suffered.

“Matt, it’s Lilia. What happened to you?”

“Lilia? Uh, I don’t know. I woke up on a sandbar. I was wet and cold.”

Matt stopped for a moment, then resumed his halting speech.

“I got dried off and warm. I don’t know how I got there. I’ve been…”

He paused for a longer time.

“I’ve been eating fish. I’ve still got some. Are you hungry?”

“No, I killed a deer. A fawn.” Lilia paused in turn.

“If I’d known you were here and had fish I wouldn’t have shot the fawn,” she said ruefully.

“Just let me stir up the fire. We can cook part of your fawn. I’m hungry enough to eat the whole thing! But you called me Matt. Do I know you?”

“Oh, Matt. I’m Lilia. You don’t remember me? Or Lee? Sandra and Millie and Cindy? Laszlo? You worked with Laszlo, Laz, a lot. Laz and René helped you cut wood and build things.”

“I don’t remember. The first thing I remember is crawling out of the river. I was cold, I remember shivering and being wet. Since then, I’ve been making weapons and just staying alive. I should have been doing other things, shouldn’t I?”

“Matt, you’re alive. That’s all that matters. As for weapons, I’ve got your spear. I picked up your bow and arrows too, they’re almost a day’s travel behind me. But we can go back and get them.”

“My spear? Can I see it?”

Lilia handed over the spear and Matt hefted it appraisingly. There was a deep scratch just behind the point where the blade joined the heavy shaft.

“I think...I remember this. There was a bear. I remember a bear.”

“That’s right, there was a bear. We killed it, all of us, you, me, Lee, Sandra and Millie, all of us.”

“Lee…I remember Lee. He had a broken arm. The bear broke his arm.”

“Yes. He almost died, but he recovered. He’s been helping you.”

“Helping me? Helping me do what?”

“Matt, you were…you are…the trek leader. You are in charge of the tribe when we’re moving. Lee takes care of security, he’s got several helpers to do that. He has scouts too, and I’m sure he’ll be in charge of the hunting parties when we start sending them out.”

“We’re a tribe? How long…how long has it been? How long have I been here?”

Lilia thought for a moment.

“Matt, it’s been almost a week. We thought you were dead. Pavel said you drowned. He said you slipped and fell into the river, but I didn’t believe him. He had two of his men with him when he got to camp, and I thought they’d killed you. I thought maybe they’d ambushed you, but they said you’d fallen into the river and I didn’t believe them.”

Matt reached up reflexively and rubbed at the bump.

“Maybe I hit my head when I slipped.”

“No. I found a bloodstain well back from the river. That probably came from your head. Was it worse when you left the river?”

Matt nodded. “There was blood on my face too.”

“Scalp wounds, cuts to the forehead where that one is, they bleed a lot. Pavel must have hit you with something before his men dragged you down to the river. I saw drag marks where they threw you in.”

Matt thought about Lilia’s statement. His fingers gripped the spear.

“I think I’ll want to ask Pavel about that, saying I fell into the river. I want to see where they threw me in. You’re sure?”