Helgvor of the Blue River

by J. -H. Rosny aîné

  One night the fire was burning brightly among the dry sticks. Rah and Wao looked at it with beatitude and, instructed by Zouhr, amused themselves by throwing on branches. The hunters had spitted a haunch of fallow deer, which began to spread abroad the intoxicating scent of roast meat. Mushrooms were cooking on a flat stone. Through the leafy arcades the horns of the waxing moon could be seen among the stars. When the food was ready Aoun gave a portion to the Lemurians, and divided the rest with his companion. Although their shelter was not very good, they felt secure. They were surrounded by trees the trunks of which were too high for tigers to scale, and in which they could take refuge before a carnivore could get near enough to attack them.

  It was a pleasant time. No feeling of mistrust divided the wild beings: inoffensive to each other, ready to combine against any surprises from without, they enjoyed the great happiness which belongs to healthy bodies, repose, and abundant food… Suddenly Aoun and Rah, then Wao, started. A furtive smell was borne past them.

  Rah and Wao gave a kind of laugh; the Oulhamr said anxiously to Zouhr, “More men are approaching us.”

  The Wah turned towards the woman. She bowed her head, her nyctalopic eyes were fixed on the darkness. He touched her shoulder and questioned her by voice and signs. The question which he put to her was plain, events made it still plainer. Wao nodded her head, held out both arms, and made an affirmative sound.

  “Aoun is right,” said the son of Earth, “other Men-of-the-Forest have come.”

  The Oulhamr rose up; Rah crawled in the grass; there was an anxious moment. Mistrust made Aoun set his jaws, and Zouhr depress his eyebrows. Rah however had begun to move on. Zouhr called him back; the Lemurian’s face was undecided, and his appearance was that of a man who hesitates. He would have liked to bound towards his kind, but he was afraid of Aoun.

  After a pause the son of Urus seized his weapons and walked in the direction from whence the smell came. It became stronger and multiplied. The warrior counted that there must be six or seven men in the grove; he accelerated his pace. At one moment the emanations seemed quite close, then they scattered. In the gray light which filtered through the branches the Oulhamr thought he distinguished the outline of figures. They disappeared immediately. The warrior ran as quickly as possible, delayed sometimes by the brushwood. Suddenly he stopped: a sheet of water 200 ells broad stretched out before him; frogs leapt into it, and others set up their senile croaking among the lotus leaves; the waxing moon threw a long track of shining light on the water…

  On the other bank, several forms bounded up one after another, as if they had sprung from among the water weeds. Aoun addressed them,

  “The son of Urus and the son of Earth are the allies of the Hairy Men.”

  The fugitives paused to look at Aoun when they heard his resounding voice. Then they made a dull threatening clamor and shook their sharpened stones. They were about to resume their way towards the south when Rah intervened in his turn. His voice answered those of the men of his race. He showed them Aoun and then put both his hands on his breast. Shrill voices resounded in answer and arms gesticulated wildly. With their nyctalopic sight the fugitives could see the Lemurian and the Oulhamr as plainly as by daylight; Rah missed nothing of the dumb show of his people.

  When Wao and Zouhr appeared the clamor became louder. Then there was a kind of pause.

  “How did the Hairy Men pass over the pool?” exclaimed Aoun.

  The Wah turned towards Wao, and succeeded in making her understand the question. She began to laugh and dragged Zouhr away to the left. Then, under the transparent water, he saw a gray line and Wao, in response to a sign, quitted the bank. She stepped into the water up to her thighs and began to walk along a sort of causeway under the water. Aoun followed without any hesitation; Rah preceded Zouhr.

  For a moment the Lemurians on the other bank remained motionless, then they were seized with panic, and a woman having given the signal they took to flight… Rah spoke to them in sharp tones. A male, the most thickset of the troop, stopped first; by degrees they all ceased to flee. They could be seen forming a long zigzag line.

  When Aoun landed there was another panic, which was quickly arrested. Rah, having landed in his turn took the initiative. The thickset man waited. It was an exciting moment. all the Lemurians fixed their eyes on Aoun’s great height. Those who had met the Men-of-the-Fire did not remember ever having seen so tall a man. The picture of implacable massacres rose before them; remembering defeat their bodies shook with terror. By degrees, as Rah continued his signs, they were reassured. The thickset man, after recoiling at first, allowed Aoun to place his hand on his shoulder. Zouhr, who had just landed, made the signs of alliance which he had learnt from Wao. Then these poor creatures were carried away by their joy, and also perhaps by a kind of pride that they should ally themselves with this giant, who surpassed in size the most terrible of their vanquishers. The women were the first to join the thickset man; Aoun laughed his great laugh, full of the joy he felt at once more forming part of a horde after so many days spent away from his own tribe.

  X. The Men-of-the-Fire

  For several weeks Aoun, Zouhr and their allies wandered in the forest. They lived a life of abundance and ease. The Lemurians were clever at discovering springs of fresh water, detected the presence of wild beasts a great way off, and knew how to dig up edible roots and extract the pith of the sago palm. Around the fire in the evening a sense of complete security reigned. The little horde defied attack; Aoun and Zouhr had cut axes and clubs for their companions, which after a time they wielded skillfully. They all seemed ready to defy the carnivores, under the able leadership of the Oulhamr. They were of a gregarious nature like the entellus monkeys, and became formidable when inspired with confidence. Little by little Aoun gained complete ascendency over them. They had a naïve love and admiration for his colossal chest and irresistible arms; his thunderous voice moved them to laughter; in the evening, when the coppery gleam of the fire danced on the grass and under the arches of the trees, they crowded around the Oulhamr shouting for joy. Everything that terrified them about the Men-of-the-Fire was changed to a sense of security… Zouhr’s presence was almost equally agreeable to them. They realized his ingenious cunning and knew that the giant listened to his counsels; he understood their signs and confused speech. There was, however, a kind of equality between Zouhr and them; they liked him in almost the same manner that they liked one another, while their predilection for Aoun was more in the nature of worship for a superior being…

  As they advanced further towards the south, the Lemurians displayed hesitation, which almost took on the appearance of fear. Wao explained that they were nearly at the end of the forest. The plateau sloped downhill; the heat became greater; palm-trees, lianas, banyans and bamboos began to be more numerous again.

  One afternoon they were stopped by a declivity which was almost perpendicular. A torrent ran through a narrow valley. On the other side the bank sloped upward without attaining so great a height as that on which the wanderers stood. They could distinguish a large savannah interspersed with groups of trees.

  The Lemurians, who had remained crouched among the bushes, looked at the savannah with shifting eyes. Zouhr having interrogated Wao, said to the son of Urus, “It is the land of the Men-of-the-Fire!”

  Aoun gazed at it with fierce curiosity.

  Zouhr added, “When they come into the forest, they kill the hairy men and eat them, as if they were spotted deer or antelopes.”

  Then anger rose in the Oulhamr’s breast, for he remembered the Kzamms, who were men-devourers, from whom Naoh had reconquered the secret of fire.

  The place was well suited for their encampment. There was a long cave in the rock, easy to defend against wild beasts or men, and a clear space in front of it where a fire could be lit which the thick brushwood would render invisible from the other bank. With the assistance of the Lemurians, Aoun and Zouhr fortified the entrance to the cave. When evening came it was strongly p
rotected and would resist the attack of 30 men.

  The son of Urus said, “Aoun, Zouhr and the Hairy Men are stronger than the Men-of-the-Fire!”

  He began to laugh, his ringing victorious laugh, and his gaiety spread among the others. The Sun’s scarlet disc was reflected back from the waters of the river; the clouds were filled with trails of glory: they were like those red rocks which rise in the north of the Wah’s country, and stood out from purple moors and abysses of sulphur. The fire was magnificent among the lengthening shadows. A cool breeze helped to kindle the branches and bark; a whole antelope was roasting for the horde; the Lemurians cooked their roots, their beans and their mushrooms under Zouhr’s directions…

  As the repast ended, Rah, who was near the brushwood, started up suddenly, making confused sounds. His arm was stretched out towards the opposite bank.

  Aoun and Zouhr penetrated into the thicket and stood aghast: to the left of their encampment, but on the other bank, a fire began to glow… It was still very feeble, and the branches and twigs were not yet well alight. Then it caught on and flames burst out. A red smoke hung about it. The flames grew and seemed to conquer the darkness; their light was thrown over the steppe; black or copper colored forms were indistinctly visible, their color varying according to whether they passed on one or the other side of the fire.

  All the Lemurians had followed Aoun. They watched their enemies’ movements with feverish anxiety, gazing between the interstices of the brushwood. At intervals a shudder of fear crept over them. The oldest among them remembered wild flights, and saw again in imagination their companions being killed by spear-thrusts or blows from a hatchet.

  As they looked, Aoun was able to take in the scene better. The Men-of-the-Fire were preparing portions of game and roasting them at the flames. There were seven of them, all males. No doubt they formed one of those hunting expeditions which were frequent among the Oulhamrs, the Red Dwarfs, the Kzamms and in old days among the Wahs. One of them was warming the point of a spear at the fire so as to harden it. It did not seem as if they were aware of the presence of another fire. Their encampment was situated lower down than that of Aoun and Zouhr. The brushwood formed an almost impenetrable curtain. Soon, however, Aoun guessed that they had noticed something. Now and then one or the other would turn towards the rock plateau and look hard at it.

  “They see the light of our fire,” said Zouhr.

  Their calm surprised him. Perhaps they thought that the encampment was occupied by men of their horde. He interrogated Wao. She pointed to the river, then to the descent on their side and the ascent on the other, and made him understand that there was no way of getting across, unless by going around a long way. The current was so strong that no man or beast could swim across the river. It would be necessary to walk till daybreak to reach the enemy’s camp. Security for both sides was complete for the moment.

  Aoun observed these beings for a long time. They were nearer to his race than the Lemurians, and yet they more resembled the Kzamms than the Oulhamrs. Despite the distance he could see their short legs, and note that their bodies were thicker than they were broad, but he could not make out their heads, which were narrower than those of the Men-Devourers, their heavy jaws, and their enormous arched eyebrows.

  “The Men-of-the-Fire will not attack us tonight!” affirmed Aoun. “Will they dare to attack us tomorrow?”

  His bellicose heart did not shrink from battle; he was confident of victory. Though the Lemurians might be weaker than their enemies, they outnumbered them, and the Oulhamr counted on his own strength and Zouhr’s cunning.

  He asked, “Have the Men-of-the-Fire, spears and javelins?”

  The question was put to Wao by the son of Earth; she took some time to understand it, then she inquired of one of the oldest of her companions.

  “They fling stones,” said Zouhr when he had unraveled the meaning of the Lemurian’s gesticulation.

  “And they do not know how to extract fire from stones!” exclaimed Aoun joyously.

  He had succeeded in making out two small fires, at a little distance from the big fire, which burned in cages of stone. If their fire were extinguished by their enemies, as had happened to the Oulhamrs before Naoh brought back the secret from the Wahs, they would be forced to return to their horde.

  The night was peaceful. Aoun, who took the first watch, found his task of observing the enemy all the easier because the Moon set later than the evening before. Two Lemurians watched with him. They had learnt the need for vigilance and they relieved one another naturally when any danger threatened. Nothing alarmed them more than the proximity of the Men-of-the-Fire.

  When it was Zouhr’s turn to watch the Moon had set and the fire on the opposite bank only threw pale glimmers. All the warriors were asleep except one who could be seen walking up and down in the half light. Soon Zouhr could no longer see him, but the nyctalopic eyes of Rah continued to follow him despite the distance… The night wore on. Hundreds of stars had set in the west, others continued to shine, mounting ever-higher in the sky. One red star only remained motionless in the north. Towards dawn the mist formed on the river and gradually veiled the opposite slope. The encampment of the Men-of-the-Fire became invisible.

  The fog remained until after daybreak, when the morning breeze made rents in it, and the Sun evaporated it. Gradually they could see the opposite shore. First only the crest was visible, then the mist rolled back, in long trails, and allowed the whole slope to come into view once more.

  The Lemurians gave a kind of wail; there were no more Men-of-the-Fire! Only a few ashes and blackened marks showed where they had camped.

  XI. The Invisible Enemy

  Aoun, Zouhr and the Lemurians spent a great part of the day fortifying the cave in such a manner as to render it impregnable. The precautions which sufficed to defend it against carnivores, who would always end by going away, were insufficient as a defense against men. The Oulhamr and the Wah knew well that the Red Dwarfs or the Kzamms were capable of besieging their enemies for weeks together. If they shut themselves up in a cave, surrounded by numerous adversaries, it meant condemning themselves to death. Against a dozen enemies however—and they had only seen seven on the previous evening—the cave might serve as a trap.

  They killed several antelopes in the afternoon, the flesh of which was to be dried by the fire and in the Sun; the Lemurians collected provisions of vegetables.

  At the same time they all kept a good look out. It came naturally to them as it did to the Dholes and jackals. The position was a difficult one to invade: to the south there was the river and the rocks; to the east a long moor, and to the west marshy ground. There was only one way which was really accessible, that of the forest, which stretched away backward, but which left space between it and the cave which was easy to watch. In fact no surprise attack was possible. In order to reach the shelter the Men-of-the-Fire would have to traverse from five to 900 paces of open ground, which could be swept by arrows, javelins and spears.

  Until evening no suspicious smell presented itself to give warning of an enemy’s approach. At twilight the Lemurians dispersed in a radius of about 3000 ells. Aoun climbed onto the highest rock, but could not discover anything. If the enemy had returned he must still be at a great distance.

  The Oulhamr began to be reassured. He said to Zouhr, “The Men-of-the-Fire were only seven; they have gone away.”

  He meant to convey that the existence of so great a fire must have made their pursuers think that they were a group of men numerous enough to defend themselves. Zouhr remained anxious. He had more foresight than the Oulhamr, and even perhaps than all other men of his day, and was a prey to undying distrust on account of the annihilation of his race by the Red Dwarfs. He replied, “If they have not returned it is because they have gone to fetch the warriors of their horde!”

  “Their horde is far away,” said the Oulhamr unconcerned. “Why should they return?”

  “Because the Men-of-the-Forest do not know how to lig
ht a fire. They will want to know what new men are in the forest.”

  Aoun was impressed by this answer, but having disposed the watchers so as to guard against all surprises he was reassured. As usual he took the first watch. The waxing moon, which grew ever-bigger and gave increasing light, would not set till about the middle of the night. This circumstance, which was important to Aoun, mattered little to the nyctalopic Lemurians, who had rather the advantage in the darkness. Nothing beyond the occasional sound of some wild beast hunting broke the stillness in the depth of the night. Aoun, seated by the fire, neither thought nor dreamed; only his senses were alert. The three Lemurian watchers were still more somnolent, but the slightest suspicious odor would have made them start up… Their sense of hearing and of smell, which was as infallible as that of the Dholes, stretched over their surroundings like a network of fine wires.

  The Moon had accomplished two-thirds of its course when Aoun lifted his head. He saw that the fire was reduced to red embers, and mechanically he threw on an armful of wood. Then, sniffing the air uncertainly, he looked at the watchers. Two of them had sat up and the third soon followed their example.

  A faint scent came from the forest. It so much resembled the smell of the Lemurians that Aoun thought it must mean that some of the prowlers of that race were near. He walked towards Rah; Rah was listening with all his ears, his wide nostrils were distended, and his shoulders shivered nervously. When Aoun got near to him, he extended his hand towards the forest, stammering incomprehensible syllables. Aoun understood that the Chellian3 men were there!

  Hidden in the dense thickets, they could see the fire, they could see the Oulhamr, while they themselves remained invisible.