As the sun began to rise the couple made their way back into camp, holding hands and looking at the sleeping faces of their loved ones. Anaay trailed them as they approached, appearing behind them as if from thin air. Jon’lan was no longer surprised at the boy’s stealth, he simply expected him to be there, always watching as was his preference. Roark slept with his crossbow clasped in his hands but as Jon’lan approached his eyes blinked open and focused immediately upon him.
Kii pushed herself up from her pallet and her motions woke Yaa and Mar-ee who snuggled beside her. Kii immediately noticed the serious expression on her father’s face and the serene look on her mother’s. The silence seemed to lengthen as they stood there until everyone was woke and looking at the pair that led them. Anaay felt that he was seeing First Man and First Woman and mentally shook himself until his sight cleared and they were once again his band father and mother.
“Before any decision can be made, I must first here the story of my brother’s daughter.” Jon’lan spoke softly. Yaa did not hesitate before standing and walking to her uncle with trust shining upon her face. Jon’lan lifted her up and then settled her gently upon a large boulder while the others gathered closer. Jon’lan spoke to Yaa gently saying, “Little one, do not fear. We are your family. We wish only to hear what you remember of the mammoth. But remember to tell only the truth as you speak.”
Jon’lan knew how easily children of Yaa’s age slipped into fanciful speech and dreaming. He needed to know the story exactly as it was told by Yaa’s first mother in order to make his decision. Silence drew around them until Taikiuu could make out the individual breathing of each person. Jon’lan began to wonder if perhaps Yaa would be too shy to speak when Giad interrupted and said, “Tell us your story Yaa, we will listen.”
His words seemed to give the girl confidence and her chin lifted until Yaa looked at Giad with eyes shining brightly and began to speak just as the sun rose slowly behind them. “My mother’s people know the ways of the mammoth.” Everyone waited with bated breath in fear that she would not continue until she said, “Just as our people know the rivers and fish, so my mother’s people know the mammoth. The mammoth are sacred beings that stand as tall as two men each with feet upon shoulders.
They have legs as big as wide tree trunks and shaggy coats that hang to the ground. They have great big sharp spears that grow from their faces and a fifth hand that hangs from their nose. In a place far away, in a land of forever dark, my people followed the mammoth.” Yaa spoke with an unfocused gaze, in a voice that imitated that of her first mother on quiet nights before the fire. Jon’lan knew that she spoke the truth by the soothing sound of her speech. She spoke with the words of a storyteller, not the fanciful speech of a child.
He held perfectly still as she talked and with his eyes dared anyone to interrupt, but as he watched the others he saw that their attention was held rapt by Yaa and her quiet voice in the early morning silence.
“The mammoth know the trails of the old ones, people from before long ago, before the rains came and washed the world clean. There are only a few mammoth left in the world because they cannot survive here for long, but the few that remain love the People and help them when they can. If we can find the mammoth and follow them then they will lead us to water.” When Yaa stopped speaking Jon’lan almost prodded her to go on and he realized that he was not alone in his wish to hear more.
Finally the little girl continued, “None of the people have ever seen the mammoth because they have learned to fear man, during the time of the Great Dark, one of the People grew tired of his hunger and the starving faces of his band. In darkness he approached the mammoth and because they did not fear the People at that time they welcomed him. The starving man approached them with open arms and shining eyes and the mammoth did not run. Finally the man was close enough to a mammoth child, a yearling, a most sacred white mammoth and as he put his arms around it with the mother watching closely a knife appeared in his hand and he killed it so quickly that the mother mammoth could not save her baby.
The mammoth band screamed their rage and shock as they rampaged the land, still the man stood there with his knife raised in triumph. And as the mother approached crying for her baby the man cut away its flesh and ate it raw before them all. Never had the mammoth suffered such a thing at the hands of the People and so for the first time before remembering the mammoth killed a man. Days came and went and the mammoth mourned the loss of their little son until finally they left him at rest where he had fallen.
The People that the man belonged to finally found his remains and those of the baby mammoth. At first there was great shock and fear, knowing that the mammoth are sacred animals, but then after a rising of the sun and its setting the people decided that since the mammoth was already dead they should honor it by eating of it though this was taboo.
As they cut and sawed at the mammoth child the mother mammoth returned watching with horror as the people that she had loved greedily ate of her baby. A terrible sound came from her and her own band returned to see the desecration of their son. The mammoth rampaged, killing all that ate of mammoth meat until only two of the people remained alive. Those two were the father and mother of my mother, the only two that did not desecrate the mammoth. We were the people of the mammoth who are no more.” At the ending of Yaa’s words her shoulders slumped and Roark rose as if from a stupor and settled her upon a blanket near Star Feather.
The story was both good and bad, both powerful and plaguing. If the story were true then the mammoth both feared and loved the People. But as Jon’lan looked into the wide eyes of his band he realized that it was their only hope. Giad watched as Yaa licked at her parched lips and he took his own water flask and shared it with her. Taikiuu signed to Yaa that she had done well and would make a great storyteller one day if she chose. Even as her fingers flew she realized that once again she had been blessed, because prior to this she had never thought of the future in such stark terms. Because of Jon’lan and her band she now had something that she had never known before. Taikiuu had the ability to hope and dream of tomorrow.
The sounds of the mammoth’s trumpeting in the early morning chill could be heard as the sun began to shine fiercely upon the land. Soon the temperature would soar, making it seem as if the heat would never abate. The band walked in a single line, with Jon’lan in the rear and Roark in the lead. Mar-ee walked in front of them all, shoulders proud and chin tilted upwards as if she were listening a conversation that the others were unable to hear. Taikiuu walked with Yaa and Kii but on her back she carried Star Feather’s son allowing the other woman much needed rest. Star Feather had regained much of her health but the lack of water was slowing the feet of each person. They walked without talking for many hands of time, resting only when absolutely necessary. Jon’lan feared that if they did not find water soon it would be too late. By mid afternoon even Jon’lan found it difficult to put one foot in front of the other. Roark came to a stop to allow the group to rest when a squeal from Mar-ee rent the air.
“There!” Yaa yelled waving her arms in excitement. Everyone crowded around the little girl and looked in the direction she indicated to a large track laid out in the rocky sand. It was perfect in its shape and without question the largest print that anyone had ever seen. Roark carefully walked forward several paces and found one and then two other identical indentations. He had never imagined that a beast could be this size.
The size of the print was so large that even his foot was dwarfed by its size. He estimated that it must stand at least seventeen hands high and he noticed that there were marks of several others ranging in size. Roark felt the first stirrings of hope arise in his heart. An animal of this size required great amounts of food and water on a daily basis. If they could find them and follow their path, then eventually they would come to water. It was his most sincere hope that they would find water sooner rather than later, not for his own sake but for that of the entire band.
Everyone noticed the
increasingly cold weather as evening approached and the loom of the mountains in the distance came ever closer. It seemed as if the mountains walked towards them instead of their own feet carrying them closer. From where they stood they could make out the snow capped peaks and Taikiuu shook her head in wonder, it was as if the mountains separated them from a great divide.
On one side was blazing sun, thirst and desert and on the other, who could say? Taikiuu had never seen snow before but Jon’lan had and although he had never traveled so close to the mountains in the land where he lived they often had snow for two or three moons. Roark and Star Feather had never seen anything as beautiful as the mountain peaks tipped with snow that stood before them. Star Feather found herself uttering a blessing upon such a glorious creation. Taikiuu heard her soft spoken words and smiled in agreement.
Everyone settled in for the evening, making quick work of setting up camp. Jon’lan pulled out the buffalo hides that he had carefully packed away and gave one to Roark for his family while giving Taikiuu the other. A fire was started with the precious amount of dry wood that Anaay carried each day. It was becoming more and more difficult to find anything in this land that would burn. In the distance they heard the elusive trumpeting of the mammoths before everything settled back into silence again.
Jon’lan took first watch promising to wake Anaay as soon as he grew tired. His gaze was drawn again and again to the fire which kept his loved ones warm in the chill night air. He shook himself several times as he realized that he had been standing in one place for too long and should wake Anaay for his watch. Roark however, shifted in his sleep, if the man ever truly slept, and motioned that Jon’lan should rest and allow the boy to sleep.
Roark disengaged himself from Yaa, who sought the warmest place in the camp which was snuggled between both father and mother. Unfortunately Yaa had not been trained to sleep in one position throughout the night and so even now she flipped around as her father rose and stretched before shifting closer to her mother in her sleep. Roark carefully covered his daughter and wife again, thankful for Jon’lan’s persistence in carrying the heavy buffalo hides.
The morning came gently upon the small band bringing with it the comforting warmth of the sun. But each person noticed that it was not nearly as warm as the days prior when they had begun their journey to find the mammoths. Yaa even mentioned that the mammoths liked colder weather but when questioned softly by her father she told him plainly that she did not remember anything more.
Jon’lan was again thankful for a child that knew the value of speaking without falsehoods and he did not press her for more information even though the group was well aware that the voice of one child held the key to their survival. Giad walked side by side with Mar-ee and Yaa encouraging the girls with soft words that water was just ahead.
It had been two days now and although they had dried food to eat his mouth cried out for water constantly. Star Feather grew increasingly worried about the children but Roark insisted that she drink the last of their water so that her milk would not stop its flow. Star Feather promised that she would do so, but she assured him that she could wait a little while longer before drinking. Kii watched her Aunt and Uncle speak to each other with such love and tenderness evident upon their faces that her own eyes watered. She turned her gaze from them and saw Anaay watching her, his gaze constant and steady as a river.
Anaay’s face reddened when she boldly held his gaze and then finally he smiled showing gleaming white teeth. Kii laughed aloud and the sound seemed to startle everyone from their silent wonderings and before long smiles appeared upon the others faces and there was laughter as well. Who could resist the amusement of young ones on the verge of adulthood?
Taikiuu once again offered to carry the baby for Star Feather, but this time Kii intercepted and offered to carry the child for just a little while. It took a few promises on her part that she would not over do it and that she would let her mother and Aunt know when she tired before they relented and strapped the child to her back. Kii breathed in his warm baby smell and tickled him under his chubby neck before adjusting the strap to her satisfaction and starting after her family.
Taikiuu was once again grateful for the blossoming feelings that were between Kii and Anaay. Several times now the two young adults had been caught making eyes at each other and hiding smiles that they thought the others would not notice. Star Feather caught Taikiuu’s eye and once again the women shared a secret smile. Both had noticed the ripening of Kii’s body into womanhood, even now as Taikiuu glanced back at her daughter, she could make out the soft roundness of Kii’s figure and the gentle sway of her hips. Star Feather spoke softly so that the others would not overhear. “We will have a new woman ceremony for our band very soon I think.”
Taikiuu nodded though her brow furrowed in concern.
“What is it?” Star Feather asked gently knowing that Taikiuu had something on her mind.
“I am the Ada’na, healer, keeper of secrets and yet I cannot lead us to water, nor can I keep us from thirst.” Taikiuu sighed softly as Star Feather touched her shoulder in concern.
“We will not die in this dry place. We will find water soon Taikiuu, you will see.” Star Feather smiled and said reassuringly, “Have faith in your husband to lead us in the right direction.”
“Never before have I needed to rely upon anyone else for my survival. Always before it was I that provided for my needs.” Taikiuu spoke so softly that Star Feather had to strain to hear her.
“Then let this be a lesson sister, you have a husband now, and it is his role to provide and your role to offer support. Learn this lesson well and it will carry you throughout your life.” Star Feather smiled again when Taikiuu’s brow puckered in consternation.
“I will ponder your words.” Taikiuu spoke these words with her hands, which Star Feather knew carried deeper meaning. She again marveled that their relationship had developed so easily into one like that of true sisters. Moons ago she would not have dared speak to Taikiuu were she to pass her in their village. Now she was truly able to call the woman a sister of her heart. Taikiuu’s thoughts seemed to echo those of Star Feather’s for she turned and with gentle eyes smiled at her tenderly.
Late in the day they made camp, each person falling where they stood, before preparing their sleeping place. Jon’lan and Roark scouted their surroundings in search of water before resting with the others. The elusive mammoths could be heard trumpeting to each other as the sun set with a speed that was becoming normal to them. The light faded quickly covering the land in darkness.
Yaa looked to the West where the sounds of the mammoth tickled her ears. As the others settled into sleep, with Anaay keeping watch over the camp it was Yaa who lay with her eyes open, watching. She twisted this way and that, drawing the sharp gaze of Anaay more than once. Even in the dark she could make out the white flash of his teeth as he smiled at her in reassurance. Yaa turned her face away. Perhaps this girl should not have spoken to her people about the mammoth she mused. Perhaps it would have been better to keep quiet and let the men find water without her help. But her mind rejected the thought even as it formed.
She knew that they were going the right way. If only the adults would travel at night towards the mammoth perhaps they could sneak up on them as they rested. Yaa felt excitement rush through. That was it! But just as quickly as she thought of it she realized that it would be very dangerous to travel at night in a land unknown to them. Perhaps even now hidden dangers awaited them in the dark.
Still, one brave girl could perhaps find the mammoth and make it back to the others before they noticed she was missing. Mar-ee carefully slid under the blanket careful not to wake her mother who was sleeping next to her. She folded the blanket so that it created a mound that would not alert Anaay to her disappearance. Carefully she rose to her hands and knees and crawled slowly away from the firelight and towards the vast darkness. As Yaa edged away she turned only once to look back upon the faces of her family and t
hen it seemed as if the darkness consumed her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The moon was bright and gave off just enough light to see by if Yaa moved very slowly. Several times she glanced back until the light from her camp was swallowed up by distance. Using the stars to guide her she continued west listening for the sounds of the mammoth. Before long she came upon a hill which she climbed on her hands and knees as it grew steeper until finally she reached the top. Panting in exertion she lowered herself in order to catch her breath. Finally she raised her head, parting the tall grass that blocked her view.
The only thing that stopped her from screaming was the hand that covered her mouth as she gasped for breath. Anaay lowered himself to the ground beside Yaa and waited until she calmed herself before releasing her. He had never seen an animal of such mass and height before, directly in front of them stood a mammoth with tusks so long and curved that they literally swept the ground. The animal seemed to be dozing and Anaay did not intend to allow Yaa to awaken the beast.
Effortlessly he lifted the girl and with her in his arms he carried her down the hill before setting her carefully upon on the ground. He signed to her in Taikiuu’s language that she should be silent. Yaa’s face was flushed with embarrassment at having been found out; still she was grateful that Anaay did not scold her. They were both filled with a sense of excitement and adventure for they knew that finding the mammoth would certainly mean life for their band. Even though Yaa had taken a great risk, Anaay could be nothing but grateful.
As the two approached the camp Anaay called out softly to Giad who returned the call promptly. Yaa was flushed with exhilaration but she waited while Anaay woke the camp. He spoke in soft words to Jon’lan and Roark before all three approached Yaa. “Daughter, you did not have permission to leave this camp, anything could have happened to you.” Star Feather’s words rang out in the darkness carrying their way to Yaa.
Keeper of the People (Book One) Page 31