by James Wilson
Four boys from the village were fishing that day in preparation for Vere Pars, the big celebration of spring that night. They would feast on the best food available in their valley. Then they would build the biggest fire and sing and dance all night long. The party would end with a story by the village leader, Joha’s father, Zumas. Even though Joha had heard all the stories many times, his father was such a good story teller that he and everyone else would listen intently. It was also the only day of the year that the kids were allowed to have some of the delicious and intoxicating spring berry wine.
To avoid having to go into the freezing cold water to retrieve their fish, the Tecta Capillo of the Lacrymar Valley would tie a rope onto the end of their spear. Joha pulled his fish out of the water. As he was walking his fresh catch back to shore to hang with the others on the fish hanging pole, his mother, Hera, called out, “Joha, Argus! I want you two boys to start carrying the fish back to the village. After you get the first pole, come back and get the second.”
With Joha’s addition, there were two full poles, each with ten fish. Hera estimated that by the time the boys got back to get the second pole, they would have met their goal for the day of thirty fish, which should be more than enough to feed the entire Tecta Capillo village of fifty-seven.
The old village was only a five-minute walk from the shore, but because of occasional flooding, the village was moved further inland. No one liked waking up in a pool of ice cold water. The new village was about a half-hour walk, a little longer with a full load of ten large fish.
“Did you catch any today?” Joha asked his cousin Argus.
“Yes, I did get one. I almost got a second one, but my foot slipped when I went to throw my spear and I missed. How did you do?” asked Argus.
“I got three today, my best day yet. Your brother was really reeling them in. I saw him with at least five.”
“Is your dad going to tell the story of the giant Korkidilla again tonight?” Argus asked.
“No,” replied Joha. “I think he is going to tell the story of our grandfather and how our people came to live in the Lacrymar Valley.”
CHAPTER 3
THE LACRYMAR VALLEY
After the last container of spring berry wine was finished and the fire had died down to a gentle roar, all those that were still awake gathered around the fire, and a silence fell across the village.
Presently, Zumas stood and began his story., “A long time ago, the Black River used to drop about ten meters by the end of every winter. It dropped so much that each year for about two or three months there would be a land bridge that would form between the main island of Foelix and our little island of Lacrymar. Every year at the end of winter, my father, Kronos, and my mother, Rhea would gather several workers, and they would all cross the land bridge into the Lacrymar Valley. Next, they would hike up into the central hills and gather spring berries, as many as they could fit on their carts. Before the spring rains came and filled the river back up, they would cross back over the bridge and return to Foelix where they would sell their berries and spring berry wine for a handsome profit. There are no spring berries on the island of Foelix, and we all know how everyone loves spring berries.”
Zumas continued. “Thirty six years ago, it was a winter just like every other winter. My father and mother organized a team of six in all; they crossed the land bridge into our valley just like they had done every year. About two days into their hike to the hills, it started to rain, and it rained hard and didn’t quit. They got worried and left their carts at the foothills and hiked back to the river as fast as they could, but it was too late. The river had flooded, and the land bridge was submerged. Realizing that they would be stuck on the island for a year, they went back to the hills to gather their berries. They knew it was going to be a challenge to find enough food to stay alive for a whole year. The berries would only last a month or two unless they could turn them into wine, but they didn’t have any containers.
“My mother found the Boli plant, which has a long, hollow stalk. They dried the stalks out over a fire, filled them with berries, and sealed up the ends with platter leaves and rope. While Rhea and her best friend Hestia worked on preserving the berries, some of the others built a shelter in the same place where our old village was near the shore. Meanwhile, my father and his friend Maximus worked on a way to catch fish from the river. They knew if they could somehow catch some fish, their survival would be ensured. After watching the fish swim at the river bank for days, they finally started throwing sticks at them. Before long, they realized that they needed to sharpen the ends of the stick to a point. It took several weeks of trying, but eventually they caught their first fish. That night they had a party celebrating the fact that they were probably going to be able to survive the year on the island,” continued Zumas.
“After the year passed and as winter drew to its conclusion, they expected the river to drop and the land bridge to become available again. Every day they checked the river. While it did drop, it only dropped about half as much as it did before. That year the land bridge did not show itself, nor did it any year after.
“And that,” concluded Zumas, “is how we came to live in the Lacrymar Valley on the island of Lacrymarum.”
CHAPTER 4
BERRY RUN
Joha had a hard time getting up; he drank too much of the spring berry wine and got to bed way too late last night. He was also supposed to have already had his stuff packed for the journey but had been too busy with the preparations for last night’s party.
“Joha, I packed some food for your trip today and I also prepared your breakfast,” his mother said.
“Oh, thanks Ma. I slept a bit late and I’m starving.” He ate the bowl of nuts, seeds, leaves and insects that his mom had made for him, threw a few stones, skins, and his ropes into a weaved bag, said good-bye to his triplet siblings and ran out the door.
The Center Sun was already above the horizon when he finally arrived at his cousin’s hut. It was tradition to send a group into the hills to gather spring berries every year after the first day of spring. Since Zumas turned seven, twenty-seven years ago, one adult would take several of the village boys that were old enough to walk into the mountains. This would be Joha’s third trip to gather spring berries. His Uncle Eos volunteered to go as chaperone again, as he loved going into the mountains and enjoyed walking across the valley too. Eos also wanted to collect some roots and medicinal leaves and herbs, which grew in the hills.
“You’re late!” Argus exclaimed. “But that’s okay. You’re not as late as Demeter, and we’re not quite ready to go yet anyway.”
Artemis, Argus’s twin brother, was still finishing up his morning meal, and Uncle Eos was busy making final preparations to the carts. They still had three of the four carts that Kronos brought from Foelix exactly sixty-four years ago when they made the last land bridge crossing into Lacrymar. The carts really showed their age too, but they didn’t have the right kind of wood on Lacrymar to make new replacement wheels. The largest trees were simply too small, or the wood was too soft, to be of any use in that type of application.
The old land bridge from Foelix used to land right in the center of the Lacrymar Valley. From that point, it was several days of walking to get to the mountains in any of the three directions that didn’t go back out into the river. The valley was surrounded by mountains on three sides and the river on the other. No one knew what lay on the other side of the mountains as they were so high, and it got so cold at the higher elevations that they were completely impassible. What they did know was that there were many valuable resources in the hills leading up to the mountains. The largest known spring berry grove was in the exact opposite direction of the river not far from the mountains. There were quarries where they could find many of the other resources they needed, including hammer stone, firestone, and carving stone. They also would be gathering enough rope weed leaves and palm leaves to last the year.
CHAPTER 5
; SPRING BERRY CAMP
After three days of pushing carts and camping out, they reached the bottom of the hills. They would not try to take the carts up into the hills; rather they would set up camp at the base and hike into the hills to gather the resources and then bring their goods back to camp to load them onto the carts. After setting up and gathering firewood, they still had several hours before it was time to go to sleep, so they gathered just enough spring berries to supplement their meals for the next few days. Afterward, they built a fire.
When they finished off the last of the fish that they had brought, Eos asked the boys to gather around the fire so they could go over the plans for the next few days. “Boys,” Eos began, “we are going to start tomorrow with leaves and stones. Artemis, for the next two days I want you to gather as much hammerstone as you can. Argus, you will be on firestone, and Demeter will be getting carving stone. Joha, I want you to work on rope weed leaves tomorrow and the next day, palm leaves.”
Eos grabbed a small branch from a nearby tree and made a clearing in the ground. He drew a map and said, “Now, you boys should know your way around these hills pretty good by this time, but let’s lay it out anyway.
“Here is our camp: the spring berries, as you can see, are all around here and here,” he said, as he drew circles on the map.
Pointing at a few of the nearby hills, he continued, “There is a trail that cuts right through the berries and in between those two hills. On the other side, there are trails: one goes this way and leads right to the hammerstone quarry. It’s only about a ten minute walk. The other goes this way. After about another thirty minutes of walking, the trail splits. Turning left at the split and walking on another fifteen minutes will lead to the firestone pits. Argus, you will need to take the wedge and hammer tools I brought to break the fire rock into pieces small enough to carry. Demeter, you will continue straight on the path and after about another ten minute walk you will reach the carving stone area. You will need to watch closely. The stones are a little off the path and sometimes overgrown with leaves. You will need to take a hammerstone tool also to break the rock up a little.
“Joha,” Eos went on, “as you probably remember from last year, you will need to follow the path with Demeter to the carving stone area and continue for another forty minutes before you come to the hills where the rope weed grows. It’s easy enough to gather and carry the leaves; it’s just so far away that you will spend most of your day walking back and forth trying to get enough. It’s mostly the same story for the palm leaves. They grow just a little further down the path from the rope weed here,” he said, pointing at the map.
“Boys, you are all expected to make many trips all day long tomorrow. Tomorrow night we will assess what we have and plan for the next day.”
CHAPTER 6
JOHA’S NET
The next morning, the group got an early breakfast. Eos was going to head for the river to the north. “Guys, I’ll be looking for medicinal roots and leaves this morning. I’ll be back here for lunch when the Center Sun is at its height if you want to join me,” he said.
The boys grabbed their tools and left together, heading into the hills along the path. Artemis turned off at the first fork in the path. A little while later, Argus took the second fork. After walking a bit further, Demeter asked, “Maybe you can help me figure out where I’m supposed to find the carving stone? I’ve never gathered carving stone before.”
“Sure, I can help you. Once you see how it looks sticking out of the ground, it will be easy to spot,” Joha said.
A short while later Joha said, “Ah, there’s some carving stone: See it there?”
“Oh, yeah, I see it,” said Demeter. “Should I get started here?”
“I think you should go a bit further, until there are large groupings. It will be easier to extract where there is more of it,” Joha answered.
As they proceeded, the outcroppings of carving stone became more and more prevalent. “This is probably as good a spot as any. I’ll see you later,” Joha said as he headed on down the path to look for rope weed.
As Joha walked, he started thinking that there had to be a way to carry more leaves. He remembered last year it took him about five trips to get enough. It only took a minute to gather all that he could carry, but about two hours to make a round trip. When he got to the spot where the rope weed grew, he decided to first gather enough leaves for six trips. After he gathered a pile taller than himself, he thought, Now if I can just figure out a way to get this whole pile down to camp in just one trip.
Suddenly he had an idea: he cut five long strips and forty short strips of rope. He picked up ten of the short pieces and used them to tie two of the long pieces together. Then he attached a third long piece to the assembly with another ten short pieces and continued like this until he had built himself the first net on Kalum.
Right away he could see that this method had a lot of potential. When he finished tying up his new net, he spread it out on the ground next to his pile of leaves. He pushed the leaves onto the net and pulled the rope around and over the pile while compressing the leaves. It was working!
Joha started dragging his net toward camp but found that it kept getting snagged on various things along the ground. He was determined to make this work, so he sat down and thought about it for a while until he got another idea.
He chopped down a few of the straightest branches he could find. Using what rope he had left, he tied the branches together, making a sort of sled. He threw his net bag of leaves on his new sled and was now able to drag the whole thing back to camp without snagging.
Joha was the first one back to camp, and it was still an hour or two before lunch. He did more than a day’s work in just a few hours, and most of that time was spent putting together his new net. While he waited for the others to return, he gathered enough firewood for the rest of the day and built a small fire.
One by one, the others all returned with their arms full of stones. Once Eos arrived, Joha told them how he finished gathering all the rope weed and showed them his new net and sled. They were all very impressed.
“So after lunch, I guess you will use your new net to get the palm leaves?” Eos asked.
“Yes, I should be able to get all we need in just one trip. Also, tomorrow maybe I can help with gathering stones,” Joha answered.
CHAPTER 7
THE VENT TRAGEDY
Joha gathered all the rest of his leaves before the end of the first day. The second day, he was free to help the others gather stones. He split his time up and helped each one for part of the day. All of the gathering went quicker than normal, and the group finished up early.
“Boys, we’re doing great and are ahead of schedule,” Eos announced, “so you can have the rest of the day off to do whatever you want. Tomorrow we will get an early start and get to work on gathering spring berries.”
“What should we do, guys?” said Argus.
“Hey, I noticed one of those gas exhaust vents out near the hammerstone quarry,” Artemis said. “I heard that if you breathe the gas it makes your voice sound funny. It is also supposed to make your skin tingle. You guys want to go check it out?”
“Yeah, I want to see it,” said Demeter.
The boys headed off toward the hammerstone quarry.
In some places, the gas just seeped out between the rocks; in other spots, there was what looked like tubes sticking out of the ground where the gas escaped. They found the biggest vent. Demeter went first. He put his face over the vent and started to breathe in. “Hey, guys, what you think?” he said in a high-pitched voice.
All the boys laughed, as they had never heard such a strange voice. Joha and Argus tried it next for another great laugh. Then Artemis went to put his face over the vent. Just as he breathed in, the ground shook with a very loud sound, like thunder. Gas exploded out of the vent and Artemis’s head burst into flames. His body dropped to the ground. Another thunderous boom and another explosion of gas erupted from the
vent.
The ground kept shaking, and the roar was deafening. There was nothing they could do for Artemis: his head was burnt to a crisp. The three boys ran as fast as they could back to camp. The entire way back, the noise and reverberation did not stop, nor could Argus stop crying.
Eos was already at camp when the boys arrived. “What happened?” he asked when he saw them. “Argus, why are you crying?”
Argus answered through his tears, “It’s Artemis! He’s dead! We were playing at one of the gas vents. Artemis put his head over the vent when the thunder started, and he caught fire! What’s going on, Dad?”
Eos looked at the boys. “I don’t know for sure, but, if it’s what I think it is, our village is in big trouble, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Now, let’s go recover Artemis’s body.”
CHAPTER 8
THE SOUND OF THUNDER
The rumbling continued as they made their way back to the hammerstone quarry. They used Joha’s sled to bring Artemis’s body back to camp. Afterwards, they hiked to a beautiful spot at the front of one of the big hills and gave Artemis a proper burial. It was the saddest moment of any of their lives.
Eos did his best to calm the boys. “Artemis is now with Kronos in the land of the Suns. When our time comes, we will join them there, and we will all be together again.”
As they arrived back at camp, the Center Sun was just about to set when the thunder suddenly stopped. “Dad,” Argus asked, “what was the thunder sound?”
As he worked to get the fire started, Eos said, “Demeter, join us please.”
Demeter came and sat on a rock near the fire pit and Eos spoke. “Now, I’ve never heard this sound before in my life, but my father, Kronos, your grandfather, used to tell us stories of the days before they made their last crossing of the land bridge, when he lived on Foelix. The Tecta Capillo shared the island with many other types of creatures, including the largest creature on Kalum called the Korkidilla.”