by Avery Kloss
“Yes, it cuts through the valley,” said Enwan. “It’s why there’s an abundance of game.”
Ronan considered this. “I don’t doubt there are others out there. We’ve crossed their paths before. Personally, I prefer to live in a smaller clan. There’s strife in larger clans.”
“This one has been peaceful,” said Enwan. “More peaceful than others.”
“True, but it doesn’t change how I feel. I prefer even smaller. I want to find a woman to mate with. My son’s will hunt and provide, while the woman tends the shelter.” A crooked grin emerged. “She’ll keep the fires lit and the cave nice and warm.”
“You mean the pelts nice and warm,” chuckled Enwan. “I see where you’re going with this. I like it.”
“Your woman will do the same, friend.” He patted him on the back.
“I like your plan. I can find no fault with it.”
“It’s as close to perfection as any dream. Can you think of anything better?”
Enwan shook his head. “No.”
I smiled at that, picturing it in my mind as well, although I was the woman who waited in the cave for Ronan. I was the one who would have his children. I would be the one warming his pelt.
Chapter Fourteen
We failed to find a shallow part of the river, the waterway rising dramatically. The men managed to go across, while the women foraged on the side where the camps stood, although that part of the forest had been picked clean. I could not help frowning while preparing for the walk, knowing how difficult today threatened to be.
The voices of other women rang out in the forest, children shouting and playing as well, everyone on the lookout for berries and edible greens. I labored to find anything worthwhile, picking a few mushrooms and some onion.
“I want to go back,” I said. Kia stayed in camp to recuperate, although she managed to walk about this morning to gather some wood. She wasn’t as strong as she could be, the illness weakening her.
“I don’t have many berries.” Ara frowned, eyeing a gnarled tree trunk, vines growing around its base. “I have a strange feeling.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. I can’t say for certain, but … I … ” she shrugged, “it’s not a good feeling.”
I had been thinking the same, but I put it down to being disappointed by the lack of berries and things to eat. “We could go back.” We hadn’t even walked that far yet, the sound of the rushing river a constant noise, the water having increased dramatically. “Why do you think the river’s so big?”
“There must be rain somewhere.” She passed me. “Come on. Let’s return to camp.”
“Very well.”
Following a path, it wound through the gloomy chaos of branches, although they thinned out before we reached the camp, the path now bathed in light. A dog’s barking echoed into the distance, the sound of water ever-present. Stepping from the foliage, we ventured through an empty encampment, everyone but a few dogs out hunting, with Kia asleep on a pelt.
“Look at the water,” murmured Ara. “It’s even higher than before.”
Hearing us, Kia opened her eyes. “How are you?” I asked.
“You’re back already.”
“There wasn’t anything to pick. Ara said she had a bad feeling.”
Mother sat up, moving hair out of her face. “What sort of bad feeling?”
“Just that something … might happen.”
She held out a hand. “Help me up.”
Ara and I aided her to her feet, the woman a little unsteady. She glanced at the river. “There’s more water now. This could be dangerous.” She eyed me. “You said you saw poor weather in the valley.”
“When I climbed the tree yesterday.”
“It must have rained terribly somewhere to make all this water.”
I shrugged. “Won’t it go down soon?”
“I don’t know.” She walked towards it, standing near the edge, watching the swirling, rushing water, bits and pieces of debris now floating. “It looks like it’s taken trees with it.”
Fingering the pendant I wore, I sighed with worry. “What do you recommend we do? There’s no higher ground.” As I said those words, a surge of muddy water lapped over the banks, flooding several fire pits, the coals within hissing and smoking, the smell acrid. “We should take our things and go!” I shouted, fully realizing what this meant.
Kia’s darkened skin looked ashen. “Take whatever you can!”
“But you’re sick!” admonished Ara. “You should rest.”
“We’re about to be washed away, girls! Everything you see is going to drown in water. We’ll climb a tree for safety.”
I agreed with her plan, but it worried me that Ronan and Enwan’s things would be ruined. “I’ll get the men’s things too.”
“Hurry!” Despite being weak, Kia sprang to action, grabbing our meager supplies, some carving rocks and her walking stick, among several baskets.
Ara rolled the pelts, tying them with thick lengths of leather. She slung these over her shoulders, a basket in her hands. I hurried to Ronan and Enwan’s site, grasping whatever I could, their pelts thinner than ours. A basket of tools lay at my feet, which I picked up. A great thundering sound began then, something enormous snapping and cracking, a large tree floating by. More cooking fires fell victim to the water, hissing and smoking, while several campsites flooded.
“Let’s go!” shouted Kia. “We’re going to die if we stay a moment longer.”
I ran to her, as Ara fell into step beside me, hastening for the woods. I scoured the area for the biggest tree I could find, its limbs quite thick, the trunk enormous. “Here!” Grasping onto a branch, I hoisted myself up, although climbing with baskets wasn’t easy. “Hurry!” Ara and Kia climbed as well, choosing other branches to cling to. “This should keep us safe.” I glanced at the ground, believing we had gone up high enough.
Kia grimaced from the effort, her face twisting in pain. “Are you all right?” asked Ara.
“I’m fine.” She sat on a branch holding a folded pelt. “Can you see anything?”
I craned my neck. “No, but I can hear it.”
Splintering wood accompanied the roar of water, trees caught in the deluge. I held my breath, my heart beating wildly, wondering how the clan could rebuild after such a loss, most of everyone’s things washing away. For the moment, I felt reasonably safe in our position, having gone up high enough to avoid the water.
“Ronan and Enwan will be pleased we have their belongings,” I said. “They’ll be grateful to us for it.”
“It was odd providence you came back early from foraging.” Kia eyed the ground, her expression tense. “I see water.”
“I told you I had a bad feeling,” muttered Ara.
Beneath us, the ground could not be seen now, a brownish sort of sludge passing just under our feet, filled with pieces of wood, sodden pelts, baskets, and leaves. It moved rapidly, rising incrementally. Meeting Kia’s horrified expression, I knew this boded ill. We would have to climb higher to escape it—much higher.
Clutching our provisions, I hoisted myself to another branch, Ara and Kia doing the same, the water continuing to rise. All manner of debris floated by, including what I thought might be a person, a bloated, white form face down in the water. Ara had seen it too, her mouth open in disbelief.
“What … do you think the others are well?” I asked, wondering about the women and children foraging in the forest behind us, which now resembled a deep bog, the water brownish.
“I don’t know. I imagine they’ve all climbed trees like we did.”
“We’re closer to the river,” said Kia. “It’s worse for us.”
I thought about Ronan and Enwan hunting with the men on the plain. Would they be safe? “I’m going up to look around.” I shoved the pelt between two smaller branches, leaving the basket sitting upon the branch beneath me, balancing it against an intersecting branch. Grasping onto a bough, I began to climb.
�
��Please be careful,” warned Kia, her chin lifted. She watched me ascend, hands and feet working together.
“What do you see?” asked Ara. “Anything?”
“Not yet.”
The exertion brought out a cold sweat upon my forehead, my fingers feeling damp, which made it difficult to grasp the branches firmly. I climbed as high as I could, the tree thinning near the top, the limbs not thick enough to support my weight. I observed the landscape, seeing water everywhere, my spirits sinking. I could not distinguish where the river was anymore, the entire basin hidden beneath the flood.
“Oh … no.”
“What is it?” Ara eyed me. “What do you see?”
“Water.”
“Where does it end?” asked Kia.
“I … all I see is water. It doesn’t end.” The entire valley had flooded, and it appeared to span towards the big mountain, but I could not be sure. “Water everywhere.”
“Come down,” directed Kia. “We’ll have to wait it out.”
“What will the hunters do in the valley?” I bit my lip, deeply concerned over Ronan and Enwan’s welfare.
“They’ll be fine.”
I approached Kia, as she sat on a branch with a basket in her lap. “Maybe it’s not very deep. Perhaps they can wade through it.”
She nodded. “We have it worse being close to the river.”
“I—” And then I saw another body, mamma seeing it too, her eyes widening. “That’s someone … dead.” They floated on their back with their eyes open, the sight sending a chill through me. “People are dying.”
“Then we mustn’t get in the water.”
The body moved on, floating in a dirty wash of debris, smaller trees being carried away, with their roots intact. “Will our tree fall?”
“It’s thick,” said Ara, staring at the water. “It should hold.”
None of the other trees around us had been uprooted, which brought a small measure of comfort. I still worried terribly about Ronan and Enwan, knowing they had gone to the plains behind the forest to hunt. They would not have anything to cling to, but perhaps the water there wasn’t all that deep.
“Is it getting higher still or was that the worst?” asked Ara. “Can you tell?”
“It’s holding steady for now,” said Kia. “I’m going to try to find a more comfortable branch. We might be here overnight.” She stood on shaky legs, balancing the basket with one arm and grasping a branch with another.
“Please don’t fall!” I shouted, suddenly terrified of what might happen if she plunged into the water. “Let me help you.”
Ara joined us, laying a pelt over a thick branch near the trunk of the tree for mamma to lean against in relative comfort. I did not care for a better seat, climbing from branch to branch to eye our surroundings, praying I did not see the body of someone I knew floating by. Ara sat with me, her presence reassuring.
“They’re all in trees.”
I glanced at her. “The women and children?”
“Yes, of course. They were in the forest. I’m certain they’re safe.”
“What about the men?”
“I … hope the water wasn’t too high or strong. They’re more than likely returning to camp as we speak.”
“There’s no camp,” I murmured, seeing another body floating towards us, the man on his back. “Who are these people?” I pointed to the corpse, although, at that moment, I recognized him. He belonged to our group, the man having a wife and family. “That’s Luca’s father!”
Ara met my gaze, her eyes wide. “Someone from our clan.”
“He was hunting with … with Ronan and Enwan.” My mind spun with troubling thoughts, the reality of the situation nearly too much to bear. If a man from our clan perished while on the hunt, then what happened to the others with him?
Chapter Fifteen
The water now came to the lower portions of the branches, the height far taller than I and deeper than first imagined. We sat in relative safety, watching with a rising sense of horror at the debris floating, which also consisted of dead animals, a variety of wildlife including dogs, wolves, and herd animals, stags and such, some with enormous antlers.
If they could not find safety … what chance would the hunters have?
“We must’ve angered the gods somehow,” murmured Kia. She sat on a thick branch, leaning against the tree trunk, her eyes fixed, yet glazed over. “It’s a great reckoning. The gods have decided to wipe the land clean. It’s rather a cruel thing, isn’t it?”
Having been here since mid-morning, I felt stiffness in my back, my bones aching. The hunters should have returned by now, although … there was nothing for them to return to. The sun vanished behind the trees, a chill setting in. I glanced at Ara, who rested her forehead against a bough.
“I suppose we have to sleep here,” I said, thinking of how I could make myself comfortable for the night.
“Yes,” Kia murmured. “We might be here … a long time.”
Due to the rising water, we had already moved several branches up, about the middle of the tree. “Will it stop flooding now?” I knew she did not know the answer, but I had to think of something to keep my mind active, instead of worrying about our clan.
“It’s steady for the moment. High, but steady.”
That wasn’t a comfort, knowing how deep the brownish wash was. More and more animals drifted by, their black eyes glinting in death, even the babies not having survived. My mind could not reconcile this, knowing how fast the animals ran. Why had they not gone to safety?
Ara slowly got to her feet, balancing on the branch beneath her. “Mamma? We need to settle in for the night. You can’t sleep like that.”
“I doubt I’ll sleep at all,” she murmured, smiling weakly. “And here we are again.”
“What?”
“Just the three of us, as before.”
I wondered at her odd mood. “We’ll find the others come sunrise. Once the flood recedes, we’ll come together again as a clan.” But, even as I said that, I had my doubts, eyeing the muddy water, seeing something floating by that had once been alive … its fur sodden.
Ara climbed out, checking which limbs were best-suited for comfort, sitting and leaning back and then moving to another. She stood at one point, stretching her legs, her face bathed in a dim light, the sun having drifted further. It would be hidden by the trees soon enough, daylight waning. I could not imagine being trapped in the tree in the darkness, but we had little choice in the matter.
“Have you looked in those baskets?” Kia asked. “The one’s from the men.”
Having had a moment of despair, I hadn’t thought of anything useful. “No. I think tools. I’ll look.”
I had wedged them into the branches above me, getting to my feet. We had to be careful not to fall, the consequences the difference between life and death. I could not imagine having to swim for days, although I would find another tree to climb. I felt certain others clung to trees as well, even the hunters. We could not be the only ones still alive. That thought seemed reasonable. The animals in the water could not climb. That was why they died.
“Is there anything to eat?” asked Ara.
“I’m looking.” I dug through the first basket, finding tools and strips of leather with several pouches. An odd assortment of utensils appeared, bone needles, sharpened spear tips, fragments of bone, and neatly folded patches of leather. In the pouches I found a collection of stones and shells. “We can’t eat any of this.”
“What about the other basket?” Kia watched expectantly, her hand wrapped around a branch.
“I’ll look.” Wedging the basket back into the place, I reached for the other, my fingers feeling around inside, finding something tied in a bundle. Pulling it out, I held dried meat. “I have food!” Excited and surprised by the find, I held it up. “Look!”
Kia nodded. “Good. We’ll eat, but sparingly.”
“Why? There’s enough for a full meal.” My belly grumbled in protest, desiring
to be fed.
“We might be here for a few days, child. We can each have a strip tonight and another tomorrow morning. We mustn’t have it all in one go. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mamma.” My joy at the prospect of food diminished somewhat. “One each then?”
“Yes.”
“And the berries from today,” said Ara. “We can eat those. I can’t imagine being trapped in the tree for more than a day. The water will recede. The ground was dry. It’ll soak in.”
“Perhaps,” said Kia. “But, until that happens, we ration food. We’ve done it before. It’s how we’ve survived this long. If the gods smile upon us, the water will go away, and everyone will come back.”
I frowned at that, pulling three strips of meat from the bundle. “And if the gods aren’t smiling?”
“Then we must fend for ourselves.”
“I prefer being in a clan.”
“It has its benefits, no doubt.”
I thrust the basket back into place, pleased to have discovered something as precious as dried meat. Then I climbed to Kia, handing her a portion.
“Thank you, Peta. You’re a good girl.” She smiled, although she appeared tired.
“We have to make ourselves comfortable somehow.” I climbed to Ara, giving her the meat. “I don’t know how, but we have to sleep without falling.”
“It’s not going to be easy.” Ara took the meat, having a bite. “Hmm … good.”
“Do you think Ronan and Enwan will be angry with us for eating their food?”
“No.” An odd look entered her eye. “They’ll want us to eat it. It would’ve drifted away in the flood. It would’ve been wasted. You were smart to bring their things.”
“I can’t help feeling guilty about it.” I sat on a branch, my feet dangling beneath me. Chewing on the meat, I eyed the murky water, seeing bits and pieces of rubble floating by. “What caused this? We didn't have much rain.”
“No, but it rained elsewhere,” said Kia. “There must have been a great deal of rain somewhere. It made the river swell to bursting. It flooded all the land.”