“We will have victory for the lives of our women and children that the Ada’na has so recklessly taken by her act of treachery against the People! We will have vengeance!” Marad shouted to his men as they raised their own voices in agreement with their leader.
Jon’lan took advantage of the noise that the men were making on the other side of the wall to usher his small band farther along the tunnel passage.
It was slow going due to the dark void that they walked into and the damp cave walls which offered little more than a slippery handhold. Taikiuu appreciated Jon’lan taking the lead as she steadied herself by holding tightly to his garment with her other hand clasped in the firm grasp of Kii. Her new little daughter was secured to her back as the group made their way ever forward into the darkness.
Jon’lan felt despair fill his heart. There was no way that they would be able to go forward without light. He didn’t have the proper kindling to make fire and whatever small pieces of bark he stumbled upon were soaked from the steady trickle of water that ran underfoot.
Jon’lan noticed that even the walls that he held for guidance were wet to the touch. He realized that soon, even with their warm clothing they would grow chilled. He gathered sticks and twigs that snapped under his feet and placed them into the warmth of his parka. Perhaps over time the kindling would dry out and they would have light.
“How far ahead?” Jon’lan asked the boy who walked in front of him with his panther leading the way.
“We are in the belly of the cavern; it will be many sunsets before we are born again back into the world.” The boy’s muffled reply was carried back to Jon’lan on a stale wind. The air had lost its fresh scent many hands of time ago. Jon’lan knew that this meant there was no opening nearby.
The thought of suffocating to death without air came to his mind but he felt the tug of a slender hand at his back and realized that his woman and their new daughters were relying on him to see them to safety.
He felt a fierce swell of protectiveness come over him; it had become a regular feeling while in the presence of his new family. Whatever lay ahead, he would endure, not for his own sake but for the lives of the ones that trusted in him.
Again Jon’lan felt a tug on his shirt and this time he halted and turned to face the woman. In the dark he could not see her, but he could feel the heat of her body and smell the flowered scent of her hair.
He waited, knowing that she had not stopped their progress forward without cause. Taikiuu looked directly into the trader’s steady gaze, her night vision was sharper than most. She could just make out the whites of Jon’lan’s eyes. Still in the dark she knew that Kii could not see her hand signs. With a small sigh she opened her mouth and tried to form the words that would make the trader understand.
“Story.” She said the word slowly and she heard Kii gasp behind her as the girl had never heard Taikiuu use her voice, not in all the time that she had served her.
Jon’lan felt shocked to finally hear the woman speak. The sound she made couldn’t really be described as a word and he realized that perhaps she never or rarely ever spoke but still she was trying. Jon’lan did not want what may have been her first attempt at speech to go unheard. He waited patiently as her word echoed softly in the silence. He repeated it in his mind until he realized what she meant.
“You would like to hear the story that the boy knows about these caves?” He whispered softly so that his words were made for her ears alone.
Kii strained to hear and frowned with frustration and then smiled with dawning realization of the respect her new father had paid to her mother. Taikiuu tucked her head close to Jon’lan’s chin and nodded once. His heart hammered in his chest at her nearness.
Jon’lan asked the boy in his own language if he would tell them the story of this tunnel. Still it dawned on him that when he asked the boy how long they would have to travel the young man had answered in a tongue that should be foreign to his woman. Yet somehow she had understood his words.
“Can you understand him?” Jon’lan directed his question to his lifemate. “Can you understand his language?” Again she drew close to him and placed her head right below his chin so that he would feel her nod up and down.
“Did you know his language before yesterday?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking more than he should. He felt her shrug her shoulders at his question and a smile played upon his lips.
He waited for anything more that she might say or do, and when she withdrew from him, he knew that nothing else would be forthcoming. Still he was pleased with her effort to trust him with her voice, for now the rest would remain a mystery.
Jon’lan asked the boy to relate the story of the tunnel. As the boy began to speak Jon’lan relayed his words back to the woman and the children.
“Long ago, before the world ended, great ones lived, a people that all spoke the same language. They lived in peace until one man took it upon himself to become the head of all men, forcing some to work as slaves. Before this there was no slavery, no man over man.” Jon’lan paused to help each person on the steep decent as they traveled deeper into the tunnel.
“The Great One grew angry at the People for this was not what he intended. Hoping that the People would change their ways he gave each one their own language. There were men with red hair, men with sun hair and men with hair like the raven’s wing. There were men with yellow skin, men with skin like ours, men with skin the color of the ground and so on. To each one a language was granted and each one sought out those who understood him and formed their own bands. Still The Great One was not happy and so he caused the People to scatter throughout the world to seek shelter and food and so the language of First Man and First Woman was lost.”
Jon’lan paused in his efforts to translate the boy’s words as he caught his breath. It seemed that the air had become thick and difficult to inhale.
He realized that they were still descending and he wondered if in fact this tunnel went under the great water. He did not want to think of the immense expanse of water that was surely even now above their heads. The boy’s words carried to him, echoing eerily down the passageway until Jon’lan once again took up the story relaying it to those who followed.
“The People were no longer one, and there was much fighting, man against man, over who should lead and where they should go. Finally the People began to suffer hunger and disease because of the terrible conditions and one man along with his woman and children broke off from their band to find a new way.”
“He was pursued by others of his band who sought to kill him and his family for abandoning them and though the man did not know the way forward The Great One Above led him to a cave and here he and his family lived for a short period of time hidden by a great waterfall. Until one day their enemies found sign of them and surrounded the outside of the cave entrance.”
“The man believed that this was the end of his family and so he frantically began to dig at the wall of the cave until after a time it collapsed. A tunnel was revealed to the man and he knew that it was the very belly of the world.”
“Through this he and his family walked for many sunsets until they were once again safely upon the surface of the land. Their enemies never followed, or if they did follow they were lost to the secrets of the tunnel. This story, along with the details of this tunnel, has been handed down from father to son from time beyond remembering.”
At the end of the boy’s words translated by her lifemate, Taikiuu felt her heart beat in acknowledgement. The boy spoke truth.
Her heart lightened considerably at the thought of finding their way out of the cave alive. She hadn’t allowed that hope to blossom in her heart.
It seemed like the overwhelming darkness had taken with it her ability to reason properly. Suddenly it occurred to her that she had a way of providing light while they walked.
Releasing the tunic of the man in front of her she stopped walking long enough to unwrap her amulet and bring out the two stones that her mot
her had given her long ago.
Jon’lan stopped as soon as she released him and in the darkness she felt the air stir as he turned toward her and suddenly the passageway seemed to pulsate with light so brilliant that it hurt the eyes to behold.
Taikiuu heard Kii’s sharp intake of breath and realized how much their eyes had adjusted to the pervading darkness. Now with only the dim sparks being given off by the flash of her fire stones as she pounded them together the flashes of light seemed as brilliant as the sun.
Jon’lan took this new turn of events in stride. He turned to look at the woman with an appreciative grin as he removed dry kindling from his parka. Jon’lan quickly formed a torch. “Now we can make better time. Let’s go.”
They started off at a brisk pace, and it felt good to move quickly through the passage way. The boy looked back several times to make sure that they were keeping up with him, but he didn’t slow. He seemed as eager to find his way back to the surface as Jon’lan was.
Still he stayed close by so that the light from Taikiuu’s torch would reach a few steps ahead of him. Without being asked Kii and Taikiuu gathered small twigs and branches that they found as they traveled. Kii now carried the little one who slept soundly wrapped in one of Jon’lan’s unused tunics. This gave Taikiuu a rest, but she did not allow Kii to tire herself unnecessarily and often she would take her new little daughter allowing Kii time to rest and regain her strength.
Taikiuu found that she smiled more now, in this place of silence and great darkness, than she ever had in the light of the world. Finally as they all began to tire out Jon’lan took on the weight of his youngest daughter.
It was a pleasure to hold the child in his arms for the first time as a father held his daughter. She seemed to be as light as a feather and through the tunic she was wrapped in he could feel that she was much too thin for one of such tender years.
He gently repositioned the child as she dozed until she rode high upon his shoulder and as she instinctively snuggled against him for warmth he realized that she was awake. Her almond shaped eyes looked at him trustingly in the dim light and she blinked several times before once again closing her eyes and laying her head upon his shoulder.
He could feel her nose nuzzled up against his neck and the light breath from her lips fluttering against his skin. Taikiuu watched with awe as the trader patted the little girl’s back and kept up the pace of their journey.
She had seen the men of her village patiently care for the sons of their hearth, but she had never seen such gentle attention offered to a girl child. It seemed most men viewed girl children as worthless or of little value.
They were often the last to be fed and the first to perish if there was little food to be found. Kii had survived last summer’s drought only because Taikiuu often went without food herself to give her small portion to the girl. Kii was unaware that the Ada’na sacrificed so much for her sake. But Taikiuu truly valued the girl’s companionship and enjoyed their time together.
Without realizing the truth, Kii had become a daughter to Taikiuu in her heart. Now the young girl truly was a daughter of their hearth. Taikiuu realized with a smile that she did not yet have a hearth to call her own, but suddenly the future did not seem quite as dim. With this thought she looked upon her lifemate, the trader, with newfound favor.
Chapter Nine
They walked on for several more hands of time. The boy relayed to Jon’lan that he had traveled this passage as an outcast in complete darkness. He expressed with awe that they were almost at the end of the tunnel. With the help of the torch their trip had taken only one day instead of several.
Jon’lan shivered in compassion as he realized how terrifying it would be for a young boy to walk alone in the dark for days without food or any sense of direction. The boy had only had the stories handed down from father to son, to assure him that there would be an end to his travels as long as he took the right passageway.
If they should accidentally travel to the right or to the left, then they were at risk of becoming lost with little hope of saving themselves. He wondered what type of people would banish a young boy to such a gruesome death. As if sensing the direction of his thoughts the boy turned to him, sliding against the stone wall to catch his breath and looked directly into Jon’lan’s eyes.
Boy Alone could not hide the shame that poured out of his soul. He had been cast out of his own band and sent to walk the wind forever.
First man, deserved to know why he had been abandoned by his people. Perhaps he would change his mind and not allow Boy Alone to walk with him as a son of his band. Taikiuu knelt in the tight passageway to gather water from the trickling stream under their feet. Jon’lan waited patiently without speaking as the boy tried to find the words to express his banishment.
“We were a tribe of brothers and sons, fathers and uncles. There was a time when I was only a few summers old when we had mothers and aunts, sisters and daughters. One day a great sickness came upon the People striking swiftly and without mercy. A few men died but only a handful of women lived.”
“The men were too sick to hunt, and so the People slowly began to starve.” After saying these words the boy took several deep breaths as if to calm himself.
After a few moments he continued speaking, “The few babies that survived where sent to wander the wind. Later, as hunger built amongst those who lived, it was decided that the babies should be eaten as a sacrifice. Life feeding upon life.”
“That is an abomination!” Jon’lan could not help himself; he interrupted the young man’s story even as his words rolled over themselves as he translated to the others.
“Still, it was done. Some of the women left with their children before it was too late.” The boy answered solemnly and this Jon’lan did not translate, as the young man’s tone spoke the words very clearly to Kii and Taikiuu. Jon’lan held his little daughter closer to his body as if to protect her from such a fate.
“Little ones from birth to three seasons of age were gathered together and slaughtered, each parent offering their child to the cooking fires so that the band would survive.” Jon’lan swallowed the urge to curse the very thought of such horror.
“The men lined up to eat until finally it was my turn, after our oldest men had presented a great ceremony for the remaining people. They made it seem as if it would be an abomination not to eat, as if those that were slaughtered had willingly given their lives so that we might live.” The boy paused again as he struggled to put words to his memories. “A bowl was passed to me and since I was the youngest remaining son of our band I was to eat last.” He sighed again.
Jon’lan asked gently about the other child that had survived the plague.
“A girl child, named Rohan, which means little red bird in our language, had seen five seasons.” The boy spoke the words slowly as if they caused him pain. “I was twelve summers and Rohan was small for her age having never been well fed…” his words drifted off with a ragged breath.
“This one they killed as well. I remembered the look of fear on Rohan’s face before she was killed. I remember that it took her a very long time to die as she was last in line to be slaughtered and…I remember that she cried out for her mother. She cried for a mother that had died moons ago from the same sickness that was now killing our band, even as they killed each other.”
“When it was my turn to eat, I looked at the stew.” Again he paused and took a deep breath. “I wanted to do as they asked but in the end I could not, in the end all I could see was Rohan’s face as she was led by the hand of her father to be slaughtered. All I could hear was her cry for her mother and for two days I was made to sit by the fire pit, starving with hunger. When I would not eat my father came to me and threatened that I would be lashed. Still I could not eat and the stew had grown cold. The smell of boiled flesh was rancid in my nostrils…a smell I will never forget.” There was silence in the cave as the boys words were repeated by Jon’lan and then left to echo down the passage way.
Jon’lan stumbled over the words as he translated not even aware that his voice shook with barely concealed rage. “I was told that my people could no longer see me, that I was a banished one, lost to my tribe. My father said these words and so I believed him. A few days later I returned to my people and begged them to take me in. My cries they did not hear, my touch they could not feel and so I believed that they could not see or hear me any longer. I left my band once and entered this tunnel to walk deep into the world and never return.”
“How long have you been alone?” Kii translated the words that Taikiuu asked with hand signs.
The boy turned to face them all and stood defiantly until he reached his full height. “I have counted four changes of the seasons since last I saw my own people.”
Taikiuu’s heart swelled with compassion. He had not seen another person in so long that it seemed almost unbearable, even to her. Her eyes welled with tears upon realizing how much he had suffered and lost. Jon’lan reached out and touched her hand looking directly into her eyes he said, “He has us now, and we have a strong son to warm our hearts and hearth.” Kii nodded in silent affirmation. The boy’s next words truly startled Jon’lan.
“I would be a son of this band, but not a son of First Man and First Woman.” He spoke softly and with deep respect. Jon’lan contemplated the boy’s words. There didn’t seem to be any reason to them and at first Jon’lan could not understand why he did not want to be named a son of their hearth. In the low lighting Jon’lan could not make out the boys features but he could see the direction of his gaze and how it softened when it fell upon Kii. She would soon be of marriageable age as his lifemate had told him that the girl was well into her fifteenth season.
Keeper of the People (Book One) Page 11