Ki'ti's Story, 75,000 BC

by Bonnye Matthews

  Nanichak-na assured Chamul-na that he had no need to rest up before they started, so they packed up only what hunters needed for travel and left the home cave quietly. From a distance, Chamul-na saw the cave of the man with the green bag for the first time. He was shocked that a child had been able to find it while Wisdom was sucking the color from the land. It was well hidden along the hill. In daylight, he couldn’t even see the path leading to the cave until Nanichak-na pointed it out. Chamul-na was interested in the ancient path leading north. It seemed once to have been used routinely because the surface was so hard.

  “How old do you think this path is?” Nanichak-na asked.

  “More than I can count from the first looks of it,” Chamul-na said. “It will be interesting to see whether trees have grown on it. Do you remember?”

  “I don’t remember seeing any trees of great height. There are some small ones, but they don’t really block the path. I expect that since the ancient times animals have also used it.”

  “That would make sense.”

  The two walked silently as they got further into the woods, first, mostly birch and alder and then becoming more pine. The path followed a stream that flowed north. The path was midway up the hill, however, not at the water’s edge, and it continued uphill. Birds called out and occasionally a small group of monkeys would shout out their presence to the world. Nanichak-na told of the great bear with the black and white fur. Chamul-na hoped he would see one. Nanichak-na also told him about the cave with the animals and it surprised him when Chamul-na asked to stop by so he could see the animal that appeared and disappeared. In all his life as a hunter, he’d never seen an animal that was snake-like and had four legs and huge wings and breathed fire. He also hoped not to see a live one.

  The two men were walking swiftly. The fragrance of the evergreens permeated the air, giving it a strong poignancy. Nanichak-na much preferred hunter travel to travel with those who were older or younger and unseasoned. With just the two of them, they could probably eat well not by backpacking food but rather by finding something along the way of small size daily. They often would start out when they awakened, packing up and eating their morning meal of dried meat while they walked. At night, their evening meal was something small that they managed to find on the trail during the day. They had plenty of dried meat if nothing living was available, but that rarely happened. They did not hunt animals they could not consume when on hunter travel.

  Nanichak-na said, “It is interesting that the Others who joined us can outrun us with ease, but for the long treks, they don’t have the endurance we have. I noticed that with Ghanya. He can run like the wind for a small part of a day, but day after day on the treks, his legs tire, especially if the going is uphill.”

  “I wonder why that is. I have noticed that we seem to have stronger leg muscles for trekking.”

  “I don’t understand it really. We are so alike but there are slight differences. With Minagle who seems to be part of the People and part of the Others, she tires not quite as fast as Ghanya but she lacks the endurance we have, unless it’s because she is woman.”

  “She does look like there is some of the Others in her. Do you suppose it was from when Likichi was stolen?”

  “I think so. I haven’t really ever discussed it, but with the Others joining us, it makes Minagle stand out more.”

  “Yes. She’s like Shmyukuk. They look like sisters.”

  “They do, don’t they?”

  “I think when we hunt, it is good to have some of the People and some of the Others together. Some of us cannot move as fast as the Others. We work well together.”

  “I think it is good.”

  “It is good.”

  Nanichak-na asked Chamul-na whether he really wanted to see the cave with the animals.

  “Of course,” he replied.

  “Then we have to turn off here,” Nanichak-na said. There was no obvious path, but the caves could be seen from the main path for those walking south. The caves were blocked from view for those northbound on the path. The view was obscured by a projection of rock.

  The two went to the caves and Nanichak-na said, “I have no light. Did you bring one?”

  “No. I have an ember, as you know.”

  “We will have to make a torch if you want to see the animals.”

  “Here, let me put one together. Are these the caves?” Chamul-na grabbed a Y-ed pine branch.

  “Yes. The entrance to the rock walk is down there.”

  Chamul-na was busily twisting last year’s ferns and mosses around the branch and securing it with a long vine. As they reached the big cave, Chamul-na stooped down and set the torch afire. “This won’t last long, but it should do the job,” he said.

  “It’s in here,” Nanichak-na said leading him to the second room.

  “There, look at that wall. That’s where the monster is.”

  Chamul-na raised the torch and then jumped at the sight of the monster. He slapped his leg since he was not free to do a palm strike with a torch in his hand.

  “Now, walk over here and it will disappear.”

  Chamul-na did. It disappeared. Even the red that looked like fire was gone in shadow.

  “That’s the most unusual thing I’ve ever seen,” Chamul-na said in awe.

  “I agree.”

  “Did it affect the Wise Ones like the man with the green bag?” Chamul-na asked.

  “Not at all. They were just as fascinated as we are. They had no explanation for how the images got here.”

  “Look at that elephant, Nanichak-na! You could swear it was real.” He slapped his leg again.

  “It’s unbelievable to see these things on cave walls, yet here they are. I wonder what it’s all about.”

  “We’ll probably live our lives without ever knowing.”

  “Sadly, you’re probably right. I’d like to know,” Nanichak-na said wistfully.

  Chamul-na laid the torch in the hearth in the front room. The hunters traced their way back to the path down the slight incline. They were on the way again. Both were still fascinated with the path.

  “Now, here’s an elm tree on the path, but this tree couldn’t be any more than” he flashed fifty “years old.”

  “I agree. What strikes me is that the path seems so tramped down. It looks as if it were used for a long time and then fell into disuse. The part of the path I’ve seen is not terribly overgrown. It’s just a mystery to me. Wait!” Nanichak-na said. He took a couple of pebbles and tossed them to the ground. He reached over and pulled a few seeds from a tree nearby. He dropped them to the ground. “When the seed hits the path, it bounces. The path is so hard it doesn’t give the seed a place to grab. Any wind that blows here would sweep them away. Is that the answer?”

  “I don’t know,” Chamul-na responded, “but it sounds as good as any answer.”

  The path descended to the edges of a lowland but did not leave the trees and shrubs. It continued on beside a stream that flowed north. They followed the stream on the path that rose to a higher elevation again, putting them high above the stream. Having the path available made travel much easier. After a few days, they began to see more bamboo and the black and white bears.

  “Are these the bears you saw?” Chamul-na asked.

  “Yes. They are the source of the garments of the man with the green bag. Those garments look like season-of-cold-days garments.”

  “I agree.”

  In some places, the bamboo was falling into the area of the path but it was not growing on it. Finally, as the evening drew on, the men began to look for food and a place for the night. Suddenly, Chamul-na shot out his arm for halting and silence. Slowly, he took his spear and positioned it. He gauged the area for success. He gave a bloodcurdling shout as he threw the spear. The spear caught a very young boar in the neck.

  “We have meat!” Chamul-na exulted as if he were a young child, not an old man of forty-nine.

  Chamul-na gathered up the young boar and said, “You
should not have strayed so far from your mother,” as if the boar could hear him and learn.

  Then he took his spear and the boar and joined Nanichak-na on the path.

  “Good work, my friend,” Nanichak-na said, followed by a palm strike.

  “Thank you,” came the reply and the hunter lowered his head with a grin.

  They found an open place for the night. The sky was clear so they did not concern themselves that they had no protection over their heads. Nanichak-na gathered stones for the fire pit and Chamul-na started piling wood for the fire. He found a good couple of Y-shaped sticks for a spit and a stout green cross bar to thread through the boar for cooking over their fire. The men worked as they had countless times on hunter travel. No one need say anything. They simply did what had to be done. It was part of them.

  After Wisdom had sucked the color from the land, as usual, they walked to the crest of the hill above camp to view in a 360° circle. Smoke arose from nowhere. It had been the same every night. There was no sign of human habitation.

  “Could it be that we are alone in all this wilderness?” Nanichak-na asked. “Surely, the path builders had descendants. Surely, if they could build this solid path, they could make fire, and we could see the smoke rising when we observe from high points.”

  “I find this most odd,” Chamul-na said quietly. He did a quiet palm strike.

  They stretched out for the night. It was quiet for a forest. The stars were blazing overhead. There was a slight fragrance on the breeze and just before he fell asleep, Nanichak-na wondered what flowers were blooming.

  In the morning, they continued on. It rained. It had rained a lot since they’d moved to this new site. They had grown accustomed to it. They thought this must be unusual because the mosses they associated with rain forested areas were not growing in this place. They saw several huge elk moving in the hardwoods and in a grassy field there was an aurochs. They came across elephants eating trees in the forest.

  “This place at least has life, if not people,” Chamul-na said.

  “I keep thinking because of the path that we will find some people. This is so strange.”

  Onward, they continued until on the seventh day, the path turned up from a valley to the left and they arrived at a dead end at a large river.

  “Wow! What a river!” Nanichak-na said with enthusiasm looking down. His palm strike was loud.

  “What is that?” Chamul-na asked.

  The men went to the rock platform to their left and noticed that a huge rope had been hung across the river. It was the largest rope they’d ever seen. They could not span the circumference with a single hand of theirs; it took two. They saw that there had been two ropes but one had broken. The rope that remained had ropes dangling from it, ropes that might have supported some kind of flooring they thought. It looked like the path might have continued across the river on a bridge made of ropes. Both men got queasy at the very idea. They certainly made ropes and had constructed bridges, but never bridges of rope like this. The knowledge and understanding of these people who had left the area amazed the men. Those people could make cave walls alive with animals and build paths that grew no plants and bridges out of rope that dwarfed what they had ever built. Of course, neither would have said it, but they would have been terrified to cross that large river high in the air on a bridge made of rope.

  They sat down to drink in what they were seeing. Chamul-na wondered whether there was a way to the river to fill water bags, and he found one. He took two water bags and descended to the river. When he came back up, he noticed that Nanichak-na was dozing so he took two more water bags to the river to fill them. He sat in the sun by his friend and let the sun warm him. The shadowy forest had been cool and they hadn’t felt it much because they were on the move. When they settled down, it would have been chilly if not for the sunshine.

  Chamul-na wondered what weapons the bridge builders might have. If they could build a bridge like that, could they have superior weapons? He scanned the area where they were resting. There was nothing that left any trace of humans or for that matter any other type of living thing.

  Chamul-na returned to the river and walked about by the water’s edge. He looked for footprints or any other evidence of life. Nothing but plants moved. No prints had been left from any living animals. Yet the hunter felt watched. He knew that feeling and knew that animals he’d watched had felt it as well. What could be watching him? He wondered.

  He climbed back up to the platform. Nanichak-na was snoring. Chamul-na smiled. Obviously, Nanichak-na didn’t feel watched. Chamul-na tried to shake off the feeling but he was unable to do so. Chamul-na looked again at the other side of the river and there in the woods stood the tallest ape he’d ever seen. He put his hand on Nanichak-na’s shoulder and hushed him. His friend looked where directed and stared.

  “What in the name of Wisdom is that?” he whispered incredulously. “It must be twice our height. It looks like an ape but stands like a man.”

  “In the name of Wisdom, I have no idea! I’ve been feeling watched. Let’s get out of here, now.”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Nanichak-na said while gathering the few things he had to carry.

  They walked away as rapidly as they could without running.

  “I hope there aren’t any on this side,” Chamul-na said quietly.

  “Well, if it’s an ape, it could swing itself across that rope.”

  “I didn’t think of that. Thanks a lot.”

  “I think we’ve seen enough for this trip. What do you think?”

  “I think,” Chamul-na said, “I think, we’ve seen no people. I hope that isn’t the reason. But it’s far away from where we live.

  “That’s true. This is a strange new land, isn’t it?” Nanichak-na asked.

  “True. And I’ve had my fill of strange new things for a while.”

  “I agree,” Nanichak-na did a strong palm strike.

  Chamul-na sealed the palm strike.

  They walked long into the evening to put distance between the creature and themselves. There was something about an ape that looked like a man that frightened them both. It seemed all out of joint with nature. They were not embarrassed to admit to each other that they were afraid—they were. What they saw had frightened them greatly even though it only observed them instead of threatened. Had there been young men with them, they might not have been so outspoken about their own fears, but when it was the two of them, they were open and honest to a fault. They had been friends too long. The moon was full and the stars were out. No clouds drifted overhead. They walked steadily through the night. Occasionally, they stopped for water and to get some dried meat from their traveling packs. They ate while they walked, both engrossed in thoughts of what they’d seen.

  “You know, Chamul-na, I find an ape far more troubling than a lion or a bear. Why do you think that is?”

  “I don’t know but I feel the same. Maybe it’s that there appears to be some kind of kinship in there? I don’t know. Which would you fear the most—the fire breathing flying snake with legs or the ape?”

  Nanichak-na thought and then said, “The ape. I know that’s real. Surely, apes didn’t make this path? Did they make the animals on the cave wall? Did they build the bridge?”

  Chamul-na looked at him with consternation.

  For a long time, they continued in silence. There were night noises as they walked along, but they were night noises that they knew. Not ones that were strange or frightful. Finally, when Wisdom restored color to the land, Chamul-na felt a need for sleep. They found a very small cave and the two went inside. They decided to build a fire for warmth, smiling at each other like boys, neither fooling the other. They built a large fire at the mouth of the cave and both fell asleep quickly.

  By the time the sun was directly overhead, the men awakened and continued their walk home. They had found no answers about other people or how the path came to be and managed to remain in place for what appeared to have been a v
ery long time.

  When the men reached the part of the path in the field of the man with the green bag, some fifteen days had passed. As they walked into their home cave they were greeted by an outpouring of people. They went inside and were fed and they told their story of finding no people. They told of the path that went on and on for days and days. They told of how the path ended in what appeared to have been a bridge made of rope, something the People had a very hard time trying to visualize. What they didn’t share was the ape. They could not have known that at that time, the only apes like that left were north of the river where the broken bridge was. And there were fewer than twenty.

  The other hunters had arrived back already. They had followed the river to the east of them. It first went south and then north and then east. There was no path to follow but they could go along the river bank and did. They traveled for a long time and having seen no people for days and days, they returned. The little group of people felt very much alone. What would they do if those who were young needed to find other people with whom to join? It presented a dilemma. Hopefully by that time more People would be in the area.

  The hunters who had been at home during the trips had talked to Kai and had built the barricades they felt would be helpful in the field to force animals to go off the cliff. Kai had explained the need to dig out the cave under the ledge so that it was deeper. He also said that he was not prepared for the speed of the rhino when it started after him. He should have disappeared quicker. And finally, people needed to get their legs inside the cave. He felt that people should practice enticing an animal and then disappearing so that they could do it without sticking their legs out. The cave had been dug back into the hill further and several people willing to volunteer to entice the animals had practiced to gain a skill of getting quickly to safety. The next day, hunters would go to try the field again. Aurochs had been seen in the field, and the People wanted to increase their stores for the season of cold days.