The Boy with the Bronze Axe
Page 14
“Let us go back again to the stream of Skara,” Tenko said. “We can make our way along its bank to the shore. The sand is not so deep there.”
They plodded back. It was heavy going till they reached the stream. Even then they had to wade through mud and wet sand till they reached the place where the stream widened out and ran into the sea. The tide was low. They edged their way round the rocky point of Yettna and found one or two rocks from which they managed to prise enough limpets to take the edge off their hunger.
“We cannot live on limpets alone,” Birno said.
Tenko had been looking about him. He gave a cry of joy. “There is the rock where we hid the boats, Birno! The point of it is well up out of the sand. If we could dig down below it…”
He, Lemba and Birno hurried as fast as they could over the sand drifts, plunging to their knees. When they reached the rock they found a hollow scooped in the sand at the base of it. The rock had made a kind of barrier against the worst of the drifts. Behind it the boats were certainly covered by sand but they could not be very far below. They all set to work, scraping sand into their cloaks, lifting it and flinging it clear. Suddenly Kali’s hand touched something hard. She gave a cry of joy.
“The boat! I touched the boat then!”
They redoubled their efforts. It was indeed the small boat they were uncovering. Scooping madly with their hands they got it free of the sand at last. They turned it over to empty the sand out of the inside. As they did so Brockan gave an exclamation of delight and pounced on objects that came tumbling out.
“My bow and arrows!” he cried, jumping for joy. “I forgot I had left them there. Now at least we can catch flatfish!”
“We can catch something bigger than flatfish,” Tenko declared. “If you will let me have the bow, Brockan, I will go hunting. First, though, let us try to free the bigger boat.”
It took much hard work and it was some hours before they finally dug the boat out.
“Here are the paddles undamaged,” Tenko said thankfully. He stood for a moment, lost in thought. “Once when I was looking for trout along the stream of Skara a deer came down to the stream to drink. That high hill slopes downward to the east. It may have escaped the worst of the storms out of the west. Perhaps there may still be deer there. I will go to see.”
“I will come with you,” Birno said. “The rest of you stay here by the boats. See if you can find more limpets and perhaps a crab.”
He and Tenko made their way along by the stream of Skara and past the place by the great rock where they had sheltered. The stream grew narrower and the sides steeper. Tenko drew Birno into the shelter of a rock.
“Here is the place I saw the deer. Let us keep very still and see if he comes down to drink again. The wind will blow our scent away from him here.”
All Tenko’s old instincts of a hunter came back to him.
They waited for an hour, scarcely moving at all. Then Tenko laid a quiet hand on Birno’s arm. He pointed along the hill on the other side of the stream. Among the brown bracken and tawny tufts of grass something was stirring. A young deer came bounding down the hillside to the stream. Tenko stiffened, his bow extended. The moment the deer lowered his head to drink, Tenko let fly his arrow. It penetrated the animal’s throat. With a gurgle it sank to its knees and toppled over in the shallow water. Tenko and Birno bounded towards it. Birno dragged the warm carcass out of the stream. They each lifted it by two of its feet and struggled to the bank above them. It was a hard haul to carry it to the Bay of Skaill and by the time they got there the sun was lowering to the west.
“Meat! We have brought you meat!” Tenko cried.
The others greeted them with joy. They were hungry and shivering in the bitter wind.
“Let us skin the deer and eat it at once,” Birno said.
“Listen, Birno,” Lemba said. “While you and Tenko were away I went with Brockan to the huts at Skara. The sandbanks are round and over them but there is a hole at the top of your hut, though it is nearly full of sand inside. Still, I managed to get down into the hut and there is a little space beneath the overlapping walls where we might shelter for the night. There, perhaps, we might light a fire. Kali and Stempsi have gathered dry heather from the hills of Yettna.” He pointed to a heap of kindling beside the boats. “We can fire the heather by rubbing two flints together.” Lemba was expert at making sparks fly from two dry flints.
Birno frowned a little. “It is a slow, painful journey over the sand drifts and we have the deer to carry too.”
Tenko laughed. “But there is an easier way! By the sea! Now we have the boats we can get there very soon.” He pulled out his bronze axe. “Let us dismember the deer on this flat rock then the meat is more easily carried in the boat.”
Quickly they cut up the deer and stowed the meat and the kindling in the boats. Birno and Stempsi took the smaller boat and Tenko, Lemba and the children the bigger one. Plying their paddles, they reached the shore below Skara.
It was a stiff climb up the shifting sand to the hut. It was like peering down a dark pit when they looked through the chimney hole. Birno lowered himself cautiously through it and fell with a soft thud on the soft sand below.
“It is not too far down and the fall is soft,” he said. “I will catch you, Stempsi.”
Stempsi climbed in and dropped into Birno’s arms. Kali followed her, and then Tenko and Lemba dropped the deer meat and the kindling. Brockan went next, followed by Lemba and Tenko.
The sand sloped away in a pile to the sides of the hut, but all the beds and stone furniture were covered.
“At least we are out of the biting wind,” Stempsi said. Though the storm had subsided, the breeze had shifted to the north and brought bitter cold with it.
Lemba, with the skill of the potter, struck his flints together and made sparks and kindled the dry heather. They had brought the bones of the deer and now impaled the meat on them and roasted it. They were desperately hungry and hardly waited for it to cook before they were tearing at it with their teeth. At last their hunger was satisfied and they began to talk.
“This is a shelter for the night but we can no longer live here,” Birno said. “We could never manage to shift all this sand out of the hut.”
Stempsi wept a little at the thought of all their treasures lost under the sand.
“It is plain we must go from here,” Birno said.
“Where shall we go?” Lemba asked. “Shall we join some other tribe?”
Birno shook his head doubtfully. “They might not welcome us. Winter is drawing on and we have no food to take to them. It is sometimes hard enough to feed one’s own people through a bad winter.”
“Tenko could hunt for us,” Brockan suggested.
“A deer every now and again would not be enough for us,” Birno said. “There are not many deer on the hills of Orkney. We have the boats. Tenko has told us there are many forests full of animals in the land to the south. Could you take us to your own father’s people, Tenko? Perhaps there we could learn to hunt?”
Tenko stared into the fire, thinking hard, then he shook his head.
“Listen, Birno … all of you. I had to flee from my own country because of the war between my tribe and a neighbouring one. I saw my father killed. Our enemies pursued me to the shore but I managed to escape in our boat. One tribe was always fighting another to take their hunting grounds. The forest there did not seem big enough for all of us. The kindness of the gods brought me to your shores and here I found ways of peace. Your tribes live in friendly fashion, one with another. Lokar taught me new thoughts and ways. It is better to be herdsmen with sheep and cattle than hunters always on the prowl. No, there is no future for us in the land I left. I do not want to go back there. My tribe there is dead.”
“Where then can we go?” Stempsi cried in despair.
“I have always wanted to find men who knew the secret of making bronze axes like this one,” Tenko said slowly. “Maybe we could go in search of them?”
“There is enough meat to last us three days if we do not eat greedily,” Tenko remarked. “Tomorrow, if the sea is calm, let us load the meat into the boats and pull to the north. There are islands to the far north. I think the man of Saebar called them the Shetland Isles. To them people have come from across the great sea to the east. He said there were not many of them but they kept sheep and they knew how to make axes of bronze. Perhaps they will welcome us as they are only a small tribe. Will you go there with me, Birno, to find out?”
Birno drew a deep breath. “Yes, I will go, Tenko. The future is with you and Kali, yes, and with Brockan. We will adventure to the northern isles together. And now let us sleep under the shelter of these walls for the last time, for we have far to go in the days ahead.”
The next day they pushed out the boats into the Bay of Skaill and watched the sand dunes that covered Skara grow smaller and dimmer as they headed northwards.
“Farewell, Skara, for ever!” Kali said sadly.
“Not for ever, Kali! Lokar said the same power that overwhelmed it would restore it, but it would not be in our time,” Tenko told her. “For us there will be a new life. Take your paddle and pull with a brave heart.”
Kali gave Tenko a look of trust and love. She took her paddle and matched her stroke to his as they pulled away to the north and to the new life they sought.
Copyright
Illustrations by Edward Mortelmans
Kelpies is an imprint of Floris Books
First published in 1968 by Oliver & Boyd
First published in Kelpies in 2005
This edition published in 2012
© 1965 Estate of Kathleen A. Goldie
This eBook edition published in 2018
Kathleen Fidler has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the Author of this Work
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the prior permission of Floris Books, Edinburgh www.florisbooks.co.uk
The publisher acknowledges subsidy from
Creative Scotland towards the publication of this volume
British Library CIP Data available
ISBN 978–086315–541–9