Pol looked warily around the small clearing, and listened for the slightest indication of anything untoward.
He could hear nothing.
He motioned for Tinker to stay where he was before edging forward using his elbows to propel himself along the ground.
Once he was clear of the tree, Pol stood up and, crouching, quietly approached the apparently unconscious female, taking care not to tread on any twigs or stones, which might make a noise and frighten her should she be feigning it.
He knelt by the girl’s side and stared at her face. She did not move.
‘She must be unconscious.’
He gently placed the back of his right hand against her forehead. It felt warm to the touch.
‘She’s got a bit of a fever, I think.’
To Pol’s surprise, the female suddenly opened her eyes, slowly lifted her eyelids. Fear showed on her face and she made to pull away from Pol, but he placed a hand on her shoulder and made what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Shhh,” he said quietly. “It’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you.”
She appeared to understand if not his words, then his meaning and relaxed slightly. Pain reflected in her eyes and she made a sharp intake of breath, as if her actions had caused her pain.
Pol pointed a finger at her injured leg and told her, “I’m going to see if there’s anything I could do. Ok?”
She frowned, unsure, but did not try to stop him as he edged nearer to her, on his knees.
He carefully placed a hand on the girl’s leg, near to, but not actually on the wound. She flinched, but did not try to pull her leg away or push his hand away.
Slowly, gently, Pol probed around the wound with the tips of his fingers.
“I don’t think anything’s broken and I guess it’s stopped bleeding now,” he whispered.
Pol removed the water pouch from his belt and offered the girl a drink. She made wary until he lifted the pouch to his lips and poured water into his mouth.
The girl smiled and nodded her head.
Pol put the pouch to her lips, tilted it slightly, and allowed her to take a drink.
Once the girl indicated she had had enough water, Pol poured a little of the water onto her wound and, using his non-too clean handkerchief, he wiped the skin around the outside of the gash; made sure not to touch the actual wound, in case he was to infect it in some way.
When he had finished washing the girl’s leg, Pol poured more water over the wound.
The girl reached to one side and plucked three leaves from a low hanging branch of the tree she was leaning against, held them towards Pol, and indicated he should place them on her wound.
“Ok. If you say so,” he agreed, taking the leaves from her hand and layering them over the gash. He then removed the wolf skin belt from around his waist, placed his pouch of fruit on the ground, and tied the belt bandage-like around her leg, to ensure the leaves stayed where he had placed them. When he was happy with the results, he sat back on his heels and threw the girl a smug grin.
“Better than any paramedic if I do say so myself,” he crowed.
The girl frowned, but made a lopsided smile, not too sure about what he was saying. She uttered something in a language he did not recognize and which he took to be her way of saying, ‘Thank you.’
“No problem,” he muttered.
Unknown to Pol, Tinker had slowly followed him into the clearing and was standing a few steps behind him.
The girl spotted Tinker and made afraid; called out loudly in alarm.
Pol turned his head, saw Tinker, and indicated to the girl how she needn’t be afraid. He reached behind him and stroked Tinker’s head. Tinker made happy, panting with his tongue hanging out.
Pol indicated for the girl to stroke Tinker’s head.
The girl did not seem too sure and refused to pet the dog.
“Ok,” said Pol as he pushed up onto his feet.
Because the girl was not the least bit embarrassed by her nakedness, Pol tried to refrain from looking at her breasts or her vagina although he was acutely aware of the telltale bulge in his jeans.
‘Phew. What the heck do I do now? I don’t know who she is, or what she is, where she’s from, or whether I should try to cover her up.’
He scratched the top of his right ear and shook his head.
He started to say, “I don't know...”
When suddenly,
The girl cried out a warning and raised a hand; pointed over his right shoulder...
Chapter 74
When Pol opened his eyes, he was lying face down on the ground; wondered what he was doing there and tried to raise his head but stopped when a sharp pain stabbed in the back of his head.
‘Urgh, what hit me?,
“Ugh!” he groaned as he carefully put a hand to his head. “What the heck happened?’
He struggled to focus on the black object lying by his side.
Recognition slowly dawned, and he gagged, involuntarily. It was Tinker, unmoving, apparently dead.
‘Tinker…!’
“What the Hell has that girl done to you, boy?” he cried.
When he turned his head slightly to one side, he could see the girl was still lying against the tree. She had not moved an inch. By her side stood and enormous male, naked. As with the female, the male was covered by fine brown hair, muscles like a weightlifter, and shoulder-length dark brown hair. His broad nose and pronounced forehead brought to mind a picture Pol had once seen in a history book—Neanderthal!
The man, if he was a man, was holding what looked like a thick wooden spear with a metal ball on one end and a wicked-looking metal point on the other end. One side of the bulbous end was smeared with a red substance. Pol assumed this man had hit him on the back of his head with his weapon. The red stain was his blood.
“Bugger, man,” he whined. “What did you have to go and do that for? You didn’t have to hit me.”
Again, Pol rubbed the back of his head and attempted to sit up, but he was roughly pushed down by the placement of a foot on his shoulder by some unseen being that was probably standing behind, just out of his line of sight.
“Ow! Shit.”
He glared at the girl and whined,
“What have I done? I tried to help you and this is all the thanks I get. And, he’s killed my dog.”
The female uttered something in a high-pitched lilting voice and the tall male responded with a deep-throated grunt. He made a single nod of his head to the person whom Pol could not see.
The unseen person removed his foot from Pol’s shoulder, which allowed him to rise up to rest on his elbow; groaned as he did so.
Pol glanced towards the girl, not quite sure, whether she was smiling or leering at him. Her top lip was raised, revealing a crooked set of yellow-brown, stained, and very pointed teeth.
‘Yuk. I don’t fancy sticking my tongue, or anything else, in her mouth.’
The girl made another few unintelligible sounds and the tall man grunted again.
Pol was roughly manhandled to his feet by the person he could not see who grabbed him by the shoulders and held him in a firm grasp, presumably to prevent him from escaping.
Pol despaired. These strange people obviously were not able to understand what he was saying and he could not understand what they were saying.
“Great,” he muttered, “now what?”
Pol waited and strained to hear what the girl was saying to the man. It did not matter. Every word was foreign to him.
After what seemed like an eternity, the girl stopped talking and the man uttered a few words in his deep gruff voice. The unseen person then released Pol and Pol turned his head with the intention of saying, ‘Thanks,’ but stopped when he beheld a crowd of at least twenty of these beings, males and females, standing in a loose group a few yards behind him.
‘Bugger I’ll never be able to outrun this lot.’
Tinker whined, shuffled about and managed to get up. He made a sad picture as he sa
t with his head bowed low, his ears pinned back, wearing a downward turn to his lips, as if he was sulking after being told off for something he had not done. The dog was still groggy and felt intimidated by the presence of so many strange creatures. He was unsure why the Pol-creature had told him to leave them alone and to ‘Stay-sit.’ He did not much like being tied to a tree with a length of rope made of twisted grasses, a noose of which was around his neck and prevented him from trying to escape. Pol was tied up as well. His arms were behind his back, wrists together, and his ankles similarly bound with twisted grass rope.
“‘Grrr,’” thought Tinker and wondered why he and the Pol-creature did not just up and leave these creatures and go back to the home where they belonged. He was missing his cozy bed, next to the warm radiator.
Pol grinned reassuringly at the dog, happy to know Tinker was not dead; he had only been stunned and he did not appear to have any injury as far as Pol could tell.
‘Who the hell are these people?’ he wondered.
The group of hairy beings had gathered around in a loose circle, were squatting on the ground leaving one big hairy male standing guard over Pol and Tinker.
The group appeared to be discussing what they should do with the pair of them. The young female he had helped earlier was sitting upright, still with her back against the tree, sounded and looked as if she was trying to explain what had happened when Pol found her and how he had tended to her leg and given her some water.
‘I hope she’s telling them how grateful she is.’
Pol shivered as a sudden chill wind blew through the trees and he glanced at Tinker.
Tinker was looking sideways at Pol with sad eyes.
Pol could almost read his mind and quietly tried to reassure the dog,
“Yeah I wish we could go home, too.” He made a smile and shook his head, “Don’t worry, boy. It’ll be all right.”
‘I hope,’ he added in his mind.
Tinker remained downcast. If only he was not tied up, he would have a go at the big hairy creature standing behind the Pol-creature. Maybe then, he and the Pol-creature would be able to escape.
After what seemed like a small eternity, the tall male, the one whom Pol had taken to be the leader of the group, got to his feet, and stomped heavily towards Pol and Tinker, as if he was a wrestler homing in for the kill. The male threw them an angry glare, which appeared to grow in intensity with every step.
‘Oh, bugger,’ thought Pol with trepidation, ‘they’re going to kill us!’
“‘Grrrrrr,’” growled Tinker as the male approached, “‘Grrrrrr.’”
Tinker did not bark because the Pol-creature had told him to be quiet—growling did not count in Tinker’s mind.
The tall male ignored the dog, walked around behind Pol, and grunted something to the guard. The guard grunted a reply.
Pol cringed as he waited for another blow to the back of his head and was pleasantly surprised when, instead of thumping him on the head, the guard roughly untied the rope binding his arms behind his back before walking round and untying the ropes around his ankles. The guard grabbed hold of Pol’s arms just below his armpits and hoisted him to his feet.
This was too much. Tinker could not help himself, he barked loudly, and snarled, baring his teeth at the big hairy male creature as he strained at his restraint.
“‘Bark, Grrr. Bark!’” he shouted.
The large male ignored the dog and walked over to join the group of beings still squatting beneath the large tree.
Pol turned his head and looked at the leader of the group; made a query with his eyes.
The leader bared his teeth and grunted loudly whilst waving his left hand, a signal for Pol to go, leave the area.
Pol pointed at Tinker and asked,
“What about my dog? Can I take him with me? I’m not going without him.”
The male made a short, curt grunt and nodded his head.
Pol took this to mean, he was free to take Tinker with him. He bent down and removed the noose from around Tinker’s neck whilst making sure he had a firm hold of the dog’s collar, which was just as well, for Tinker, because he attempted to lunge at the big hairy male.
Pol managed to hold Tinker back and urged,
“Stop…!”
He tugged at the dog’s collar, heaved him to one side, away from the big male.
“Leave!”
He made another sharp tug of Tinker’s collar.
“I said, leave!” he snapped.
Tinker got the message and reluctantly obeyed and stood still although his top lip was still curled back in a threatening snarl.
“‘Just you try it, mate,’” he thought in doggy language, “‘I’ll have your legs off!’”
The muscular male glared down at the dog, made another commanding grunt and waved his hand again.
Pol needed no further bidding. He hurriedly walked away, headed into the trees, hauling a protesting Tinker by his collar...
Chapter 75
Once again sitting on his favorite boulder near the entrance to the cave, Pol leaned forward, and ruffled Tinker’s ears. His heart was beating rapidly and he was slightly out of breath after running up the hill once they had left the cover of the trees. He had wanted to get to the cave as quickly as possible, preferably before any wild animals, or birds, discovered them out in the open without weapons of any kind.
He lowered his head and lightly rested his forehead on the top of Tinker’s head.
“I don’t know about you, little boy,” he said quietly, “but I could’ve done without that little escapade.”
Tinker made a quiet whine of agreement.
Pol made a few long deep breaths with his eyes closed and tried to concentrate on an image of the young girl. The thought of her sitting here by his side helped him to push the fear from his mind.
‘Mmmm. Nice.’
It worked.
Dismissed the panic, which had driven him and Tinker through the thick undergrowth of the forest, and eased the pounding of his heart.
Once he had calmed down, Pol raided his larder, pulled out one of three large fishes, and carried it over to his carving slab, which was situated next to the makeshift oven. He used his trusty penknife to cut off the fish’s head and tail before placing the fish in the oven.
“Fish for dinner,” he said to Tinker.
Tinker was already licking his lips in anticipation, knowing the fish was large enough to fill his belly as well as the Pol-creature’s belly.
“Yum,” added Pol with a grin. “Pity we don’t have any spuds to go with it. I could murder a plate of fish and chips.”
Tinker wagged his tail. He knew what chips were. He liked chips.
Food never failed to distract one’s attention from one’s worries and fears. A full stomach always seemed to make the future seem just that little bit brighter…
Chapter 76
Pol was woken by the dog’s loud barking, intermingled with threatening snarls. Fearing an invasion of wolves, Pol grabbed a hold of two spears and hurriedly scrambled out of his newly repaired cave on hands and knees dressed only in his T-shirt and undershorts.
Blinded by the light, Pol blinked, and shielded his eyes with his right hand.
“Shite,” he whispered when he saw a large crowd of naked hairy beings standing in a semi-circle a few yards in front of the cave. He glanced ruefully at the pathway he had left through his defensive area and muttered, “Should have built me that wall and put a gate in it when I’d thought of it.”
Tinker, his legs slightly splayed and his feet solidly planted on the ground, was bravely holding the group at bay, or so he thought, with his barking and snarling.
“‘Bark. Snarl. Grrr.’”
The crowd of beings ignored the dog, made no move, merely stood, and stared at both Pol and Tinker.
Pol warily scrambled to his feet and faced the beings. He recognized the huge male who was standing in the foreground. Pol spread his arms whilst at the same time shru
gging his shoulders, and made a question with his face.
“Well?” he asked with a benign smile.
A small, wizened old female who was standing by the side of the huge man stepped forward amidst much barking from Tinker. She ignored the dog and raised her right arm. She pointed towards the grasslands away to Pol’s left; grunted something, which sounded like, “Kho!”
Pol made a frown, puzzled.
“What?” he asked.
The female repeated her command,
“Kho!” she screeched stabbing her finger towards the far horizon. “Kho!”
Pol scanned the crowd and spotted the young female whom he had helped previously. She still sported the makeshift bandage he had wrapped around the lower half of her leg. She was standing towards the rear. He smiled at her and raised his head slightly in a silent, ‘Hello.’
The girl nodded her head, but she did not return his smile.
‘Now what does this mean?’ wondered Pol.
He turned his head and stared blankly at the old female, made out he did not know what she was saying although he could guess at her meaning.
“Eh?”
The female narrowed her eyes and took a step towards him. This caused Tinker to release another tirade of barking, snarling, and snapping of teeth.
“‘Bark. Snarl. Grrr.’”
The woman was unfazed by the dog and peered hard at Pol’s wide, innocent eyes. A rumble in the back of her throat quickly built into a deep guttural sound.
“Khooo,” she repeated and waved both of her hands in a ‘shoo’ motion.
His periphery vision told Pol the remainders of the group were starting to shuffle about restlessly, as if they wanted to surge forward and physically ensure Pol and Tinker’s departure. They did not look happy at all. In fact, there was an air of hostility about the gathering and Pol felt as if something nasty might happen if he and Tinker did not leave the area, soon!
Just as Pol was about to indicate his willingness to go, a sharp, spine-chilling cry suddenly rent the air.
“‘Caaawww!’”
This was followed by cries of alarm from the crowd of hairy beings. Instantly, the crowd turned tail and everyone ran quickly along the path through the safety cordon and headed full pelt towards the forest, leaving Pol and Tinker to face the music alone.
Appollinaire: (The Other Side of Nowhere) Page 22