Birth of the Chosen One

by Roger Kenworthy

  Gaylan whispered in father’s ear. “I’ve seen these in the past; they’re the Rolling Valley Clan. Vicious warriors and skillful hunters.”

  “How do you know who they are?”

  “This is the only clan that lives in homes as these. The hunters kill the huge mammoths, and then lash their tusks together to create a frame for the hides that protect them against the rains. They place their furs inside on the earth and have a warm, dry place to sleep when the moon shines down upon them. We must check the hide homes carefully, they could still be here and waiting to surprise us.”

  Father was convinced; he silently nodded and signaled the hunters to check each structure. With their spears at the ready, the men cautiously went from one to the other. They viciously slashed open the hides that hung protectively upon the white ivory tusks. Having found no hunters, the men reconvened just as a rustling in the bushes caught everyone’s attention. Eleven raised spears were at the ready.

  “Surround the thief!” Father’s words were obeyed immediately. “Come out and live…fight and die! You coward, the one who steals our children!”

  What they saw surprised them. “Family members, lay your spears down; it is your shaman. I’ve come along to help you; to stay in touch with our spirits to enable us to return our children back to their sad mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. We shall bring them back home, alive, with the guidance of our benevolent spirits.”

  With a note of surprise in father’s voice, he welcomed the shaman. “Narizon…we could use your help and knowledge to find them and save them.”

  Gaylan shared his thoughts. “They have just left; they cannot be too far from us and they have children to carry; we can catch them. Our hunters are swift as the cold season winds. We shall see our children, and then hand out justice to these robbers!”

  Bundan kicked the still burning ambers and grey smoke rose from the fire pit. It was a symbolic gesture that would soon be carried out.

  Father was inconsolable. “Burn them all down! Do not leave a trace of their evil deeds on our lands.”

  Joyful torches lit the hide and ivory prisons ablaze. Inquisitive words spoke from father’s crimson silhouette.

  “These hunters are far from their lands…why do they steal our male children? Narizon, we’ve lost my boy and some other children; we don’t know where to turn? Can you summon the spirits to find out what has happened to him? He’s so young, surely, they haven’t forgotten their promise to us to keep him safe. It is his destiny to guide our clan after I’m too old to lead us. Please, what do the spirits say about this horrible deed?”

  “As I sought out the hunting party, I asked the spirits for their help. I was not disappointed. As I hid in the bushes, I heard Gaylan’s words…he is correct. This dreadful theft of our future is the responsibility of the Rolling Valley Clan. They are desperate and commit this foul act towards our clan. If we persevere, we shall have our children back…we must be strong and believe what the spirits ask us to do. Now, where to find them? Gaylan is a wise tracker, but I can help him; the spirits can help him. As the sun awakens, we must keep its warmth to the side we throw our spears from. For as many suns and moons as we have fingers on our hands…we shall walk to retrieve the sacred union between hunter and wife.”

  A sigh of relief escaped from father’s parched lips.

  As the members of the Forest Clan made plans to find and free their children, the vile thieves from the Rolling Valley Clan hurriedly made their escape.

  “Chetrix, keep that young mouth quiet; we don’t want their kind to catch us with these children. If caught…we die. There are more of them than us; even though we are brave warriors, we are no match when two-handfuls of their hunters face just one of us.”

  “Zandex, he shan’t say a word that’ll be heard by his hunters to save his hide.” At that moment, little teeth bite down hard upon Chetrix’s dirtied finger. “Aw, you little brute!” A swift backhand sent the child reeling in the air. With a soft thump, he landed in a pile of green moss. Tears flowed.

  “Shut up! Or, I’ll give you more!”

  “Chetrix, quiet that child or I’ll have your hide, or even worse, their hunters will have our hides. Shut him up…now!”

  A thin piece of sinew, from a slaughtered beast, wrapped around a soft pair of lips. A struggle to put the silencer of words ensued, briefly, but nonetheless, it occurred. Then quiet.

  “Where to now? This forest is so thick…I think we’ve lost the way. Shaman, what can we do?”

  Andar, the wise and experienced shaman of the clan spoke; words that would be delivered to him directly from their clan’s hallowed spirits. “Hunters, we must rest and as we rest, I’ll meet with the wise ones; they’ll provide us the way back to our lands. Sit and eat…then we’ll be shown the path.”

  “Men, put the children down, check to be sure their words shan’t be heard by their hunters. Finish eating first, then give them some of our dried meat. If they try to yell, tie their lips together having no food or water.”

  We sat between them, so they could manage our actions. I watched as they ate something I had never seen before. Dried red meat; it looked like the sun had tasted it first and then spit it out. The smell…not familiar. My stomach started to turn by just its look and smell.

  One of our captors noticed my face and its reaction to their food. “Child, if you don’t like it, don’t eat it; but you’ll soon realize that it tastes good, or you’ll starve. If you die, that’s one less body to carry.”

  My wide opened eyes looked intently as his mouth spoke…there were things different about him. He frightened me; his skin looked like the same color just before the spirits took a person to the Otherworld. He was taller than the other hunters he was with…and his face was an odd shape…a flat forehead. His eyes were green, as the waters that ran off the mountains…they were not black pools of water like ours. His body was not covered in thick hair; he looked weak…he was odd, and I felt repulsed by him. Why?

  My mouth was freed; I could speak when questioned. “Boy, what is your name?”

  “I am known as Ovark…son of my father Tusik, and Tosak is the father of my father. My father and my father’s father are leaders of the Forest Clan.”

  “Welcome. I am Zandex, and I’m the leader of the Rolling Valley Clan. Men, we have the son of the clan. The spirits have smiled upon us with such good fortune. He’ll be a good match for my daughter. Forget you were ever from the Forest Clan; now, you are from the Rolling Valley Clan. You’ll never go back with your father…I’m your father now. We’re your family now. Don’t try to escape or I’ll break your legs and then you can’t run away!”

  Tears started to flow. “Why did you steal us from our family? My father shall find us and return us to our home. I am Ovark from the Forest Clan!”

  “Not anymore, and I’ll do my best to keep you. You, my son, are the future of our clan…you are named, Nexor, son of Zandex, leader of the Rolling Valley Clan. You are not Ovark; let that childish thought be left here in the mud.”

  “No, I am Ovark, son of Tusik; my elder is Tosak. I shall never be Nexor.”

  “You’ll do as I say. Listen. I saw how you looked at Moltar; he is odd; he is not our kind. But, his kind saved us from crossing over to the Otherworld. Our kind is unpure now…we mated with the unpure, so we would survive in these lands. You see, there were only nine members of the Rolling Valley Clan left when he arrived with seven of his kind. Many moons before their arrival, we were attacked and slaughtered like wild beasts; our end was near, but they helped us grow our clan again.”

  “What…nine, seven…what are these words. They’re unfamiliar in my language.”

  “Nexor, they are numbers. How else can you count how many suns and moons you traveled? How many deer you killed on the hunt? How many ivory statues you carved?”

  “Numbers?” I was perplexed by this concept. I always used my fingers to show how many suns and moons passed, how many caribou we killed, and how many statues
we carved. Never words.

  “These numbers are from Moltar’s people. They are wise, but they are not strong as we are. They would rather talk and plan than hunt and kill. They find it difficult to carry a cave bear just killed by our spears. So, it is time we grow our kind in our clan. That’s why we have you here. We need strong and brave hunters to survive, not talkers and planners. We’re going back to our lands with you, and many seasons from now, you and your friends will mate with the women of our clan. You’re special; my daughter will be yours. You’ll give us new children, without light skin and flat faces. We don’t need Moltar and his kind to live.”

  The audacity of this plan hit me like an icy wind that blows in the cold season. I had to escape and find home. But how?

  “You’ll see many new things when you arrive at our village. They may appear strange, but they help us live a life that follows the spirits.”

  As I listened to Zandex, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shaman attempting to communicate with their spirits. He danced in a circle, waving white skulls above his head, around his body, and between his legs. He muttered inaudibly, his words were sacred, and shared only between himself and his spirits. I wondered if his spirits were the same as ours? And if so, why did they allow the hunters to steal me and my friends from our family?

  “Wise leader, our benevolent spirits have answered me…we must finish eating and leave immediately. The hunters from the other clan are nearer than we think; they can smell our food. Let’s go…at once. You must bind the mouths of the babes; they could scream and give our position away.”

  “Bind them as our shaman says.”

  I fought my handler to keep my lips unsecured…I wanted to warn father that we were safe and near. “Spirits of the lands and skies; rescue us, please, and end this misery!” The spirits did not answer my call for help.

  “You lead the way shaman, we’ll follow.”

  Over many suns and moons, we walked, we ran, and we didn’t sit long enough to be caught by the angry hunters who pursued our group of unrepentant thieves. Often, my eyes closed; still, clinging to the shoulders of the hunter, I felt the one who carried me traverse noisy streams, run down silent hills, and face tepid winds. The lands were changing and so were the skies; we had left our lands behind and now moved through unfamiliar places that smelled differently, felt differently, and looked differently. How would I ever find my pathway back to the clan? Perhaps, the spirits would reconsider my fate and lead me back to where I rightly belonged?

  “Brave one, we must stop and give the hunters a chance to sleep…we’ve been on the move for many moons and suns. They are exhausted, and when they are tired, they are not brave fighters. If we were ambushed by the enemy, we’d surely lose such a battle.” Moltar was correct; tired hunters do not make good hunters. Eyes are blurred, movement is slowed, strength is weakened.

  “Men, make camp. Mind the children, eat first, and then feed your boy.” Zandex agreed that they must eat and rest before they could go on anymore.

  “Nexor, will you run and warn your family if I untie your hands and mouth?”

  I shook my head no…a blatant lie; I hoped that the spirits above would not punish me for telling an untruth.

  “I’m glad that you have realized there is no escape from our hands. Now, let’s share my food, and then off to sleep. We still have a few more suns and moons to walk before we reach our village.” Zandex believed the little deceiver’s story fully.

  I did not eat their food or drink their water. I pulled the furs over my head and sank into a quagmire of bristling deer hair. “Keep your eyes closed, but keep your body awake.” These words kept running through my head. When Zandex slept, I would run in the direction of home…How? Following our footprints would lead me back to where I belonged. My three friends would have to wait until our hunters could free them. I had a plan.

  The wise one hadn’t moved for many of my hushed breaths…he must be in the land of the spirits. It was my opportunity to make my escape. I quietly emancipated myself from my furs, and once unburdened by the weight, my legs churned as fast as they could.

  I ran, I stumbled over slippery grasses, saturated by the warm rains. In this new land, there were no trees, no caves, and no mountains. Just tall grasses and short grasses with a few areas of barren lands. Black earth that begged the spirits to let it nurture life; let the grasses grow so that the rains would not tame the earth below it. As I ran, my legs and my thoughts understood that the sky spirits did not find pleasure in helping me…In the darkest of nights, the moon slept, and this made it difficult to locate our footsteps; it appeared that the black dirt shifted by the rains and winds covered our path.

  What now? I had to find a safe place to stay until a helpful sun would appear; it would give me the opportunity to find our tracks and my freedom. Some horrible smell wafted on silent winds; my stomach rolled over and over…my eyes hurt. It got closer; in the dark I ran into a pile of rocks. I had to endure the smell…surely these stones would offer some protection for me during my wait for the sun to rise. I laid my tired head on the smoothest one I could find, and my body was taken to the land of dreams.

  Meanwhile, as the golden orb of life rose, the camp was awakened to a grim discovery. “That little sod…he lied and ran away. Men, don’t worry. He has no food, water, or defense against any wild beasts that wander these lands. Go ahead, I’ll wait here until he finds his lost way back to the camp; then…I’ve got him.”

  Chetrix questioned Zandex’s decision. “Why? Just let him be taken by the spirits as he is made a meal for a hungry beast. He’s not worth our getting caught, after all, three possible mates for our women are better than none and….”

  Andar interrupted the conversation. “I must agree with our leader; the young one will become lost and walk in circles only to find his way back here. The spirits shall guide him back to our waiting arms.”

  “It’s decided…pack up and get back on the pathway to our village. I’ll get him and then catch up with you. May the spirits offer their help to have our ‘visitor’ back in our hands.”

  The hunters shook the arm of Zandex and with the children perched on their broad shoulders, they were off, soon to be consumed by the tall grasses that grew a few steps around their night encampment.

  As the members of the Rolling Valley Clan resumed their journey, the warm rays of the sun pierced my eyes…I awoke, surrounded by that ghastly smell. My swollen eyes tried their best to focus upon what was an arm’s length away from my resting body.

  “Ahhhh! May the spirits save me!” I scurried away as fast as possible…the vision of a decomposing body torn to pieces by wolves haunted me, inspired my legs to churn as fast as they possibly could. I ran until my lungs were about to burst…I had to stop and process what had just happened to me.

  That foul smell was from that hunter. A buried soul; in my mind, I rationalized that there were others out here, not just Zandex’s group of brigands. Suddenly, things become much more frightening. I had to avoid the Rolling Valley Clan, hide from this unknown group, stay away from a hungry beast’s mouth, and all the while attempting to find the right pathway back to father and our hunters. I had no food or water…I had not seen a river for the past few suns and moons. Would I live to fulfil my responsibility to my clan?

  There was little I could do but continue and believe that the spirits would be benevolent to me and my purpose in life. While I held out for the spirits aiding me in my escape, it did not happen. Having walked continuously as the sun shone down upon me, I saw footprints…my own. I was lost, not one step closer to my home and family. What to do?

  “I think it’s best to follow these footprints …they should lead me back to the camp I escaped when the moon moved reluctantly amongst the stars. If the spirits are compassionate, Zandex and his hunters may have left some food and water for me to survive. At least, I’ll be able to follow their tracks back to where we came from…may the spirits give me the strength to push forward to my desti
ny.”

  I soon lost my guides…erased from the grasses by unkind winds and rains. There had to be another way to help me in my unpleasant predicament. My eye caught a tall rock formation halfway across the valley; if I walked towards it, surely the spirits would have me find the pathway we walked before the sun went to rest. And, that’s what I did…kept my eyes on the grey monolith that guarded the lands and forced my legs to move ever closer to my goal.

  My shadow continued to shorten, and then success…a number of footprints that must have been ours from when the sun shone brightly. I hurried along, not wanting to sleep under another moonless sky. Things looked familiar…I was close to our camp. My nose kissed the earth; my ears touched the lands searching to hear any sounds of the thieves… footprints, voices. Nothing; it was safe.

  Just ahead were the cold remains of our fire pit. With caution to the wind, my malnourished fingers sought food, even the green plants that looked very unappealing before my escape. A few pieces of dried meat lay in the dust; I didn’t take the opportunity to clean them…I jammed it into my famished mouth and started chewing like my life depended upon it.

  After another piece of meat was finished, I sensed something was wrong…all was silent. No birds sang, no wind whistled, no grasses cried. Between bites, I turned quickly to examine the quiet that had enveloped me…I was met with the smiling face of Zandex. I turned to run away, but it was useless; he had me in his grasp and there was no freeing myself.

  “Well…little one with the courage of a mighty cave bear, you have returned to your father. That was a wise decision…you had no food or water; all you had was bravery to guide you. Let’s go…and you can share all the things that happened when you went on your adventure to escape from me and my hunters.”

  I said nothing…I was as silent as the birds, winds, and grasses.

  Zandex, with me tied up and slung over his shoulder like a slaughtered beast, caught up with the rest of the hunting party before the sun fell behind an emerald hill. He was pleased; I wasn’t…I nodded to my friends that I was safe and unharmed.