Cano strained his ears, but couldn't hear anything. He was beginning to think the wolf had heard something other than a threat to them, but then he heard a thumping noise and then a voice. It sounded as though someone had struck a hollow log. Then there was a splashing noise. A few moments after that there was movement on the river and a dugout came into view. Lomasi and Morf were in the dugout and were looking downstream. Lork's angry voice could be heard scolding someone.
The three figures on the shore were motionless as the first dugout floated past. Suddenly Lomasi turned and stopped paddling; some instinct caused him to scan the brush where the three figures hid. He scrutinized the area, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He turned and resumed his paddling upstream.
Cano and Dola had been holding their breath and as the first dugout passed out of sight they resumed breathing. Dola said, "That was close, I wonder why he looked this way?" Cano shook his head, "I'm not sure, but I am sure glad he looked away." He paused a moment listening, then motioned for him to be silent.
The second dugout came slowly into view. It seemed to be having a difficult time keeping up with the first dugout. Lork yelled something and then struck Gennos with his pole. This caused him to groan in pain and almost loose his pole into the river. The dugout turned sidewise in the river and started floating back downstream. Lork was screaming and Gennos was acting as though the blow had hurt him and that he couldn't seem to be any help getting the dugout headed back up stream.
Cano and Dola lay silently in the brush as the dugout struggled upstream. It had drifted closer to shore than Lork wanted and he was yelling at Gennos to push toward the center of the river. He struck Gennos again; this blow caused him to twist around and look to the back of the dugout where Lork sat.
Cano saw that Lork was looking at Gennos and appeared to be going to hit him again. Cano knew his brother and how his temper could snap. He could only take so much punishment before he burst into action. He was nearing that point. Lork was facing upstream and Gennos was facing the shore where they were hiding. Cano took a chance and stood, and then he waved to his brother, and then ducked down quickly.
Gennos was fighting to control his temper; he wanted to ram his pole into Lork's face. As he looked at him a movement on shore caught his attention. He looked past Lork and saw his brother wave to him, before dropping out of sight. He dropped his eyes and turned away from Lork. He resumed poling the dugout, but his heart was pounding. Cano lived! He had told Na'pe that everything would work out, but deep in his heart he wasn't sure. Dola was all right, but he was still a boy. Now things had changed, Cano lived and the rescue would come soon. He would have to let Na'pe know that he had seen Cano.
Lork had seen the look on Gennos's face change as he looked past him. He twisted around and peered at the shore, nothing different there, just trees. He grunted and continued to try to keep the dugout moving upstream.
From their hiding place Cano and Dola watched as the dugouts moved upstream.
Lomasi and Morf were just rounding a curve in the river, the current was slack here and the dugout glided silently forward. Both men rested their pole for a few moments. Then they both noticed deer at the edge of the river drinking. Lomasi gripped his spear thrower, and softly told Morf to take the smaller of them, and he would take the larger. Quickly and silently the hunters took up their weapons and cast their spears at the deer.
The larger deer was a female and she had lived a full life by depending on her senses of smell and hearing. Her sense of smell was of little help in this situation, for the gentle breeze was blowing downstream and away from her. Contrarily, the whispers of the spears in flight were a distinct and unnatural sound. Instinct caused her to bolt away before the spear could land where it was aimed. She was fast, but not fast enough to escape being hit. The spear past through her lower stomach and then stuck in the ground. She bounded away leaving a light trail of intestine and half digested food.
Her fawn was not as lucky. Morf's spear flew true. It penetrated the fawn just behind the front leg and past into her heart. She was dead even as she leapt to follow her mother. She landed roughly and tried to regain her feet, but she had no strength and couldn't rise, it was all over in another breath. She died before she had a chance to fear death.
The smile on Morf's face faded to a blank mask as Lomasi scolded him for making him miss his shot. "You were to throw at the same time as I did. By throwing when you did, you caused us to lose most of the meat we need. Not only are you a poor hunter, you are a poor follower. I have no idea what I can do with you. You are not only useless, you are hopeless."
Morf wanted to tell him that he was wrong. Lomasi's spear had struck the large deer before his had landed in the fawn. He knew that if he argued it would only make things worse. Lomasi was so used to belittling others when he failed, that he actually thought he was as great as he said he was. All failure was someone else's fault. If you didn't agree that it was your fault, he would knock you down to prove it was your fault.
Lomasi directed Morf to help bring their dugout alongside the other dugout. Lomasi told Lork, "We will pull the dugouts up on the shore over there. "This fool and I," he pointed to Morf, "will go look for the wounded deer." He looked to the shore where they were to land and picked out a suitable tree. "Tie them to the tree and then get the deer we killed and bring it back here. Have her clean it while you start a fire. We will be back with the other deer soon. We will eat and then continue up the river."
Lork nodded his understanding. He was quietly amazed at how easily his dugout maneuvered to shore. He tied the prisoners under the watchful eyes of Lomasi before moving off to retrieve the fawn. He watched Lomasi and Morf leave. He was thankful it was Morf who had to be the one that had to go with Lomasi and not him. I was a fool to come on this trip with him, he thought. He promised himself that this would be the last trip he would ever take with him. He didn't know at the time how right he was.
While Lork was retrieving the fawn, Gennos told Na'pe about seeing Cano on the shore. "He will come for us soon. Watch for a signal or some sign from him or Dola. This will be the time we escape." She nodded her understanding. She smiled as she reached into her breechcloth, "You will need this." She removed a small piece of leather. She unwrapped it and handed it to him, it was the cutting stone that she had hidden.
Lork returned to find the prisoners still tied securely with blank hopeless expressions on their faces. They were staring at the ground. He walked over to them and untied Na'pe. He tied the noose around her neck and led her to the fawn. It was then he realized that he should have tied the noose around her neck before he untied her; it was a good thing Lomasi wasn't around to see the mistake. He growled at her to start preparing the fawn for cooking. He tossed her a cutting stone to use and then moved away as she started to remove the hide. He had let the noose fall to the ground and turned to gather the wood for a fire.
Although it looked as though Na'pe was only concerned with cleaning the deer, she was busy searching the brush for signs of Cano and Dola.
They were watching the campsite from deep cover. They had watched Lomasi and Morf leave to trail the wounded deer. Cano whispered to Dola "They have little chance of finding that deer, I hope she leads them on a long chase," he paused and then continued, "This may be our only chance to get Gennos and Na'pe free. We must find a way to get them away from Lork." He sat thinking for a few moments as they watched Lork gathering the wood for a fire. "I have an idea," he said, "We will hide here and have Na'pe bring Lork to us. We can overpower him and then escape."
Dola looked at him and said "How?"
"I will signal Na'pe to come here, and when she runs past us we will get him. You find a heavy stick and hit his legs as he runs by, and I will strike his head. We can tie him up and then take the dugouts."
Dola nodded and quietly looked around for a suitable weapon. He found a stout branch that was almost as tall as he was, it was heavy, but he could swing it. He found a secure place with roo
m to swing and then crouched low in the brush. He looked over at Cano who had discarded his spears and was selecting a large stone as a weapon. Cano nodded his approval of Dola's hiding place, and then he found himself a place across from him. Cano waited until Lork was facing away and then stood and motioned to Na'pe. She didn't see him at first.
When she looked up and saw him her stomach tightened up. She looked over to where Lork was gathering wood and then back to Cano. She reached up and removed the noose from her neck. She looked back to Cano.
Cano pointed to her and then motioned to her to come quickly. He pointed to the way he wanted her to run.
She understood and leapt to her feet and rushed toward Cano.
Cano saw her start toward him and then he dropped out of sight. The ambush was set.
Lork heard a sound and turned as Na'pe dashed toward the brush. He dropped the wood he had gathered and rushed over and snatched up his spear thrower. He quickly fitted a spear into the notch and drew back to make the cast. It was an easy shot. But fear or maybe common sense, kept him from casting the spear. He dared not cast the spear. If he killed her, Lomasi would be enraged at the loss of another prisoner and take it out on him. If they returned to their camp with only some baskets and one cripple, they would be laughed at. On top of that, they had lost a man. Lomasi would make his life miserable. She must be brought back alive. He lowered the spear thrower and rushed after her. She was quick, but Lork knew that her attempt to escape was futile.
He gained on her rapidly and was close behind her when she reached the brush. She was going to pay for this attempt at escape. He smiled to himself about how she was going to pay. Lomasi wasn't here to stop him from doing what he was going to do. It had been a long time since he had a woman.
Dola swung the branch with such force that it knocked Lork's leading foot out from under him as it broke the shinbone. The blow carried on into the rear foot and knocked it off the ground with a crunching noise.
Lork didn't feel the pain in his legs, but he found himself falling. He thrust his hands out to break his fall and lost his grip on the spear thrower and the spear. The short shaft of the spear twisted away and the butt of the spear wedged into the ground. The point of the spear was pointing up and it pierced his skin first, then his heart, before exiting from his back. He tried to take a deep breath and found that he couldn't. As he slid to a stop, he rolled over and saw Cano standing above him with a rock poised to come crashing down on his face. His last thoughts were, there has to be a mistake. Cano was dead, he couldn't be here.
Cano saw the life leave Lork's eyes. He still wanted to mash the rock down on his face, but he knew it was futile. He lowered the rock and then looked to Dola.
Dola sat looking at Lork, and then he looked up to Cano. "I killed him," he said with a tremor in his voice. He was fighting back tears, “Why----?"
Na'pe reached down to touch Dola's head. "It’s not your fault. He would have killed you without a thought. He and Lomasi believe they can do what they want. He just paid for his mistakes. Lomasi's turn will come." She turned from Dola to Cano, and then she said softly, "And I will be there to see it."
He nodded to her and then said, "We must hurry, Lomasi and Morf may return soon."
Dola started to follow, but then he remembered something. He turned and ran back to Lork's still form. He knelt and rolled him over and the opened the leather pouch he carried. He quickly searched it and removed the saber tooth fang that Lomasi had taken away from him. He placed it in his breechcloth and then hurried back to his friends.
They arrived just as Gennos finished cutting himself free. He smiled at them all and then said to his brother, "You don't look so bad for being dead."
Cano came forward and gave his brother a hug. "Well I had to come back to take care of my big brother."
Gennos gave his brother a hug back, but said, "We must get away quickly, which dugout should we take?"
Cano replied, "We take them both, that way they will have harder time following us."
Na'pe ran over and picked up the partly cleaned fawn and deposited it in one of the dugouts. Gennos smiled at her and said, "Good thinking, we can use the food." They quickly pushed the dugout with Gennos and Na'pe out into the current. Cano and Dola followed in the other dugout. Swiftly they poled them into the current heading downstream and around a bend in the river.
As the dugouts rounded the bend Lomasi and Morf emerged from the woods empty handed. Lomasi expected to find a fire burning and the smell of roasting meat. Instead he saw, no, it was what he didn't see, that caused a rage to explode in his chest. The dugouts were gone. He looked to the river and just caught a glimpse of a dugout rounding the bend. He could not see any trace of Lork
.
Two dugouts
The two dugouts moved swiftly with the muddy current. The occupants of both dugouts were happy to be free, but apprehensive. The smell of freedom was in the air, but it was tainted because they knew Lomasi would follow. They had to travel as quickly as possible to get far away. The river was helping in their escape, but it wasn't straight. It seemed to fold back upon itself, and then to fold back upon itself again in the other direction. They kept to the center of the river, and had to keep a watch for rocks and sunken logs. To become stranded in the river would mean death. They knew the danger that lurked in Lomasi's spear thrower.
Gennos and Na'pe's dugout was in the lead, and Cano and Dola's was following a short distance behind. The little wolf sat in the center of Cano's dugout scanning the riverbanks and sampling the scents of the land and the river. There was little talk; they knew the danger that was still close. They were just beginning to savor the taste of freedom again.
If Lomasi had been in one of the dugouts he would have been amazed at how much the prisoners had learned about navigating and steering the dugouts. But he wasn't and he was livid in his rage. How had Lork allowed them to escape? When he found him he would pay for their escape. Why are they doing these things to me? Fools surround me; I can't depend on anyone. Even the simplest things can't be done unless I am there to be sure they are done correctly. He looked over at Morf who was standing quietly off to the side waiting to be blamed again for something he hadn't done. "Come quickly and be quiet, we must cut them off before they can complete their escape," he snarled. As he moved off he shifted his grip on his weapons in anticipation of their use. Morf followed quietly
Lomasi and Morf had only traveled a short distance when they came upon Lork's body. Lomasi stopped and looked down upon the body silently.
"They killed him with his own spear; I wonder how they did that." Morf said.
Lomasi didn't look up, but said, "They didn't kill him, he was killed by stupidity." He looked over at Morf and said, "He was a fool. A woman and cripple should never have been able to get one of his spears and kill him with it."
Morf didn't respond. He had liked Lork, and now he was gone. He silently wished it was Lomasi lying there, and then he and Lork could have gone home. Another thought crossed his mind, if they kept up this chase, who would be the next to die?
Lomasi moved away. "We have no time for dead fools." He paused for a moment, "Pull the spear out of him, we will need it."
Morf looked at him, not believing what he had just heard. He stood looking at Lomasi without speaking.
Lomasi looked at him critically and then said "Now."
Reluctantly, he knelt and looked at the wound. Lork was laying face up. Morf rolled him over and saw that the spearhead had exited his back. There was no way to pull the spear back out. He would have to push it through because of the spearhead. He reached down and grasped the spearhead. It was slippery from the warm blood. He pulled but it didn't want to come free.
Lomasi's angry voice interrupted him, "Hurry, the longer you take to get that spear out, the more time you are giving to them. You are helping them escape. Get moving faster or I will show you pain that you have never thought about."
Morf didn't say anything, but he kept twis
ting and pulling on the head of the spear. The shaft finally made a grating noise and then slowly came free. He stood and handed the bloody shaft to Lomasi.
He accepted it with a grunt, and then a look of distain spread across his face, as he flexed the shaft. It was cracked and useless. "The shaft is cracked. Can't you do the simplest thing?" He removed the bloody point and then cast the shaft in to the brush.
Silently Morf sighed and took one last look at Lork, and then he followed Lomasi to pursue the escaping prisoners.
Lomasi had many faults, but he was a skillful woodsman. He moved quickly and quietly through the brush, and as was usual, he led the way. The bend in the river was sharp and it worked to their favor. They moved swiftly so that they could get there before the dugouts floated past. They encountered heavy brush and vines. Some of the vines were more like briars or brambles, they had curved thorns that caught at them and cut the skin. It was frustrating and painful. They tried to force their way through, but found that this only made the going slower. The harder they pushed against the vines, the deeper the thorns dug in. They were compelled to slow down and pick their way through the thicket.
Lomasi was frustrated with their progress. The brush along the river was thick and there was little room to move. There was a low heavy canopy of brush above their heads. If the brush didn't thin when they reached the river they would have a problem with the spear throwers. To use them to maximum effectiveness they had to use an overhead cast. If the brush stayed this thick they wouldn't be able to throw. It was possible to use a sidearm cast, but then there had to be room to the side for this to work. His mood became fouler as they neared the river. What I need, he thought, is a plain spear. I could get them if I had one. He looked back at Morf; he carried his spear thrower and an extra spear. They only had two spears between them. He should have made sure that they had made more spears at the last stop. ‘I have to watch them all the time,’ he thought. He sighed and moved on toward the rivers edge. The brush got even thicker and the recent flooding had piled driftwood into the surrounding brush. As Lomasi approached the river’s edge he found a log jutting out into the river, by balancing carefully, he moved out to its end. Unfortunately there was too little room for the effective use of the spear thrower. As he looked up stream he saw a dugout come around the bend. Na'pe and Gennos were moving it along in the center of the river. He noticed more movement on the river at the bend. He expected to see the other dugout floating along empty, but he was startled to see Dola and Cano in the other dugout. They were supposed to be dead. He started to shake with anger. Not only were they alive, but also they had made a fool of him. And there was no one to blame! He looked around in frustration. They were easily within spear thrower distance. They had the spear throwers and spears, but they couldn't cast the spears because of the lack of room.
The Thinking Rocks Page 24