by Dakota Chase
Ash paled a little when he showed me the talisman painted with a bull. It wasn’t the mammoth.
It was up to me. If I didn’t get one, we weren’t going home. At least, not right now.
“Grass, come here.” Gray Wolf beckoned to me.
I swallowed hard and walked up to the log, hoping I didn’t look as terrified as I felt. So much was riding on whether I got the talisman we needed, and I felt the weight of my life and Ash’s bearing down on my shoulders even though I had no control over what my talisman would be.
“Grass, you showed great bravery today. If not for you, Ash, er, Bull, would not be standing here. He would be dead, trampled to death at the foot of the great ice wall. You risked your life to save his, and in doing so proved your worth to the Bison Clan. You are now our brother, a member of the Bison Clan, and a hunter of our tribe.” He slipped a thong over my head. “You will now be called Sharp Tooth, because you show the fearlessness of the dagger-toothed cat.”
I felt the weight of the ivory medallion against my chest. It had a Smilodon painted on it. It was as if all the starch went out of my knees, and they threatened to buckle. What were we going to do now? Where were we going to find the mammoth talisman?
I couldn’t even speak. I just nodded to Gray Wolf and stepped away to join Ash. We exchanged a look, and I nodded toward the trees. I needed to get away from everyone for a minute. The truth was, I was afraid I was going to break down. Tears were already stinging my eyes.
After I picked up one of the torches the Bison Clan conveniently kept at the fireplace for those who needed to relieve themselves after dark, we walked toward the trees, where the light from the fires didn’t reach. The darkness felt soothing, and it hid my wet cheeks. How embarrassing, to be crying like a little kid. But God, I didn’t want to stay here until spring!
“What are we going to do?” Ash asked the question that I had no answer for.
“I don’t know. We were wrong. It’s not here. I guess we’ll have to go look somewhere else.”
“Where? How are we supposed to do that? Winter is coming. I don’t want to be cave-bound all winter, Grant!”
“I know, I know! I don’t want to stay here all winter either, Ash. I just don’t see how to avoid it. If we leave now, we could get caught in a snowstorm before we found another tribe who’d let us stay. If any of them will let us stay.”
There was a slight rustle in the foliage behind us, our only warning we weren’t alone. Both of us heard it and looked over in time to see Snow Owl slip through the branches. The expression on his face was one of pure rage. He held a stone knife.
He spoke through a clenched jaw. “You have shamed me before the Bison Clan for the last time! You may have clouded Gray Wolf’s eyes with your lies, and those of the other warriors, but I see clearly. You are not of Bison Clan, and you never will be! Like a disease, you bring new ideas into our lives, eating at our traditions, slowly destroying us. Well, no more!”
There was a crazed light in his eyes as he took a step toward me, brandishing his knife. In that moment I had no doubt he meant to kill us both. I couldn’t look away from the razor-sharp black stone he held. Should I run? Should I fight back? Before an answer could fully jell in my mind, I was pushed to the side. I lost my balance and fell to my knee.
Ash stood over me as if to protect me. The jerk. If we lived, I was going to punch him in the head for putting himself in danger. And then kiss him senseless for the same reason.
“There’s no reason for this, Snow Owl. We’ll leave the Bison Clan, if it’ll make you happy. Put the knife down.”
“More lies!” Snow Owl feinted forward, slashing his knife at Ash. “You will not leave until you have poisoned everyone against me, against our traditions! Then you will go to the other Green River tribes and do the same to them. The spirits will not allow it. I will not allow it! Your blood will spill in sacrifice to the spirits!” He raised his knife up, but just as he took another step forward, a look of surprise colored his expression and he pitched, falling facedown on the forest floor. He didn’t move again.
Rabbit suddenly appeared out of the darkness, holding a large rock. “What are you two doing out here? I was looking for you when I heard Snow Owl threaten someone.” He nudged Snow Owl with his foot. “He won’t try to hurt anyone else for a while.”
I scrambled to my feet. “Is he… is he dead?”
“No, he breathes, although when I tell Gray Wolf of his treachery, he may wish he did not.” Rabbit shook his head in disgust and tossed the stone into the bushes. “Gray Wolf should have banished him. He may be shaman, but he disgraces all of the Bison Clan with his hatred and bitterness.”
I stepped around Snow Owl’s prostrate body. “Thank you, Rabbit. You saved our lives!”
Ash grinned at him. “He means ‘Dire Wolf.’ I guess this makes us even, huh? We saved you, and now you saved us!”
Rabbit shrugged but smiled, obviously pleased Ash remembered his adult name. “I am just glad I came looking for you when I did. Come. Gray Wolf will send men to fetch him back. Right now, they’re serving the food, and I’m hungry.”
He started walking away, but we were hesitant to follow. We still had a big problem to solve, and Rabbit seemed to sense it. He looked closely at us and frowned. “Why are you not happy? Snow Owl didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No,” I said. “We’re fine.”
“No, we’re not,” Ash contradicted me, and when I glared at him, he shook his head. “Maybe he can help, Grant. It can’t hurt to try.”
“You mean Sharp Tooth.” Rabbit, or Dire Wolf, corrected Ash. His smile was broad, and his pride shone through like a beacon.
Ash nodded. “Right, right. Listen, um, Dire Wolf, do you know anyone with a mammoth on their hunting talisman? It’s really important to us. We’ve been looking for one ever since we arrived. We thought maybe one of us would get one from the mammoth hunt, but we didn’t, and now we don’t know what to do.”
“Why do you need it?” He looked back and forth between Ash and me. Then he shrugged. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Wait here.” He glanced at Snow Owl. “If he moves, hit him again.” Then he took off running back toward the cave.
We stood in awkward silence, not wanting to return to the festivities at the cave but not having much to discuss anymore. Standing there with Snow Owl lying unconscious at our feet was uncomfortable, to say the least. I tried my best to ignore him and thought about our other pressing problems.
We couldn’t leave the Bison Clan and risk getting caught out in bad weather. Rabbit had told us it snowed heavily in the area, so much so the Bison Clan was often cave-bound. If we got caught out in a storm like that, we’d never survive. Even if we didn’t, we didn’t know if any other tribe would let us stay with them, or even if they did, if they’d have a mammoth talisman. To put a fine point on it, we were stuck.
Rabbit returned quickly, grinning. He held out his hand. “Here. It belonged to the father of my father. He died last winter. His name was Tusk.”
I stared at the medallion lying in Rabbit’s palm. It was an oval of ivory, yellowed, obviously much older than any of ours, and painted with the figure of a mammoth. It looked just like the one in the photo Merlin had shown us.
Ash reached for it, but I stopped him. “Dire Wolf, this was your grandfather’s. It must mean a lot to you. We can’t take it.”
“Yes, we can!” Ash elbowed me, but I glared at him and dug my own elbow into his side in return.
Rabbit laughed at us. “You two are always fighting, like a pair of magpies.” He held out his hand. “I have my own talisman now, and I owe you my life. Please, take it. I don’t know why you need one so badly, but I am happy I have one to give you.”
I chewed on my bottom lip for a minute, then sucked in a deep breath and reached for the medallion. This time, Ash stopped me.
“Dire Wolf, um, listen. There’s something you should know. We’re going to be leaving soon—very soon. I wanted you to know in
case we left before we had a chance to say goodbye.”
“We are?” I blinked at him, then realized where he was going with this. Of course! Once we had the medallion, Merlin’s magic would whisk us back to the future as soon as we were alone. He was trying to give Rabbit one last gift—an explanation for our disappearance he could understand. “Oh, yeah. We need to go back to the Americans.”
“The spirits led us to you because we needed your help as much as you needed ours. I’m glad we met you. You’re going to be a great hunter and a great leader someday.” Ash placed his hand on Rabbit’s shoulder. “You’re going to be a good man.”
I nodded. “We will tell the Americans all about you, and the Bison Clan, and the Deer Clan, and how much we learned from you.”
Rabbit gaped at us. “You are telling stories that are not true. You are not leaving. You have a home here. You are Bison Clan now!”
“We are, and we’ll always be brothers, but we have to go home. Thank you for everything you and your people did for us, Dire Wolf. We won’t forget any of you.”
I smiled at him. “When we go back, talk to Silver Water—I mean Falcon. I think she likes you.”
Before he could reply or formulate any questions, I picked up the mammoth talisman from his hand and led the way back to the camp. Merlin’s magic would take us back as soon as Ash and I were alone, and I wanted to say goodbye to everyone first.
In the cave the feast was beginning. People held plates piled high with food and were sitting in groups, talking and laughing. The new hunters had gathered together in a group and waved at us to join them. Rabbit went off to find Gray Wolf, but Ash and I went in search of a few people we wanted to say our goodbyes to.
The first ones we found were Red Fox and Bear Paw. They sat with their sons, Fire Arrow and Fire Stone. They smiled a welcome when we approached.
“We wanted to thank both of you for everything you’ve done for us since we came to live with the Bison Clan.” I laughed when Fire Arrow scrambled into my lap and tugged on my talisman. “Oh, you’ll be a hunter soon enough and get your own talisman, little man.”
Ash nodded. “Both of you will. I’ll bet you’ll grow up to be strong hunters just like Bear Paw.”
Red Fox sighed and pulled Fire Arrow from my lap. “You’re leaving. I dreamed you would be going soon. We will miss you both.”
Bear Paw nodded. “Perhaps you should think about staying, at least through the winter. Bad weather will come soon. I smell snow in the air. Even the Deer Clan are debating whether they should leave in the morning or wait for their meat to fully dry.”
“No, we must go. We’ll be fine. We just wanted to say thank you.” I stood up and waited for Ash to join me. We smiled at Bear Paw and his family again, then left before he or Red Fox could try talking us into staying again.
We went next to Gray Wolf and found him talking to Badger, Musk Ox, and High Rock. Gray Wolf nodded to us when we approached. “Dire Wolf has told me what Snow Owl did. I am sorry he attacked you—he has shamed the Bison Clan for the last time. He will be shaman no longer. His acolyte, Crow, will be shaman from now on.”
Neither of us was sure what else to say. Taking away Snow Owl’s power as shaman was probably the best thing Gray Wolf could do for the Bison Clan if the only alternative was to allow Snow Owl to continue to poison the tribe with his hatred and bigotry.
We repeated our story about needing to return to the Americans, said our goodbyes. Once again attempts were made to try to talk us out of leaving. High Rock even offered for us to go south with him and his hunters. “You can come visit the Deer Clan. We would welcome you as brothers as did the Bison Clan.”
“We are grateful for the invitation, and maybe someday we will come visit,” I said, even though I knew it highly unlikely Merlin would ever send us back again. I didn’t want to offend the Deer Clan leader. “But for now our people are probably worried about us.”
Ash nodded. “And we want to show them all we’ve learned from the Bison Clan.”
Gray Wolf gripped my forearm in the Bison Clan version of a handshake. “You are good men. I hope your people appreciate you.”
“I hope so too.” I smiled at him, then watched as he and Ash grasped forearms. “Thank you for everything, Gray Wolf.”
We left them and wandered outside the cave. We saw Rabbit standing off to one side, talking to Silver Water. When they waved us over, we went. One more stop, then off into the forest so Merlin’s magic could take us home.
“Dire Wolf tells me you are leaving. I wish you would stay or travel with us to our home.” Silver Water, now called Falcon, smiled at us. “Dire Wolf has agreed to come to the land of the Deer Clan for the winter season.”
Rabbit grinned at us. “I will speak with High Rock today. If he finds me acceptable, I will court Falcon in the southlands of the Deer Clan. I will hunt and bring her many furs, and in the fall, we will mate.”
“That’s great, Rab—er, Dire Wolf.” It was strange not to call him “Rabbit,” and I had to catch myself. “Mating, huh? That’s awesome.”
Ash said what I was only thinking. “Wow. You two haven’t known each other all that long, but you’re already thinking about mating?”
Rabbit cocked his head. “How long does it take? She is beautiful and strong and brave. And if the son of the leader of the Bison Clan mates with the daughter of the leader of the Deer Clan, the ties between our tribes will be even stronger. It is a logical match.”
“What about love?” I had to ask. I was curious.
“What of it? I like her, and she, me. Love will come later.” Rabbit sounded confident, and from the way Silver Water was nodding, she must’ve felt the same.
I realized that the good of the tribe was always first and foremost in their minds, even when it came to personal matters like mating, because survival was always their first priority. In our own time our lives weren’t constantly in jeopardy. That afforded us the luxury of falling in love without worrying about how it would affect our continued existence or that of our immediate family.
Ash jumped in before I could say anything else. “Well, we wish you the best. I hope you’re always as happy as you are now.”
Rabbit stuck his arm out to grasp forearms, but I brushed it away and drew him into a hug. “We’re brothers, and families hug each other.”
He laughed and hugged me back, then threw his arms around Ash while I hugged Silver Water.
“I’m glad I didn’t kill you when we first met,” Silver said, and laughed when I grunted at her in mock anger.
Then I laughed too. “I’m glad you didn’t too. Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For helping us teach others that people aren’t always enemies just because others say they are. That there are always two sides to the story to consider.”
She smiled and nodded, then hugged Ash. “I will miss you.”
“We’ll miss you too. Take care of Dire Wolf for us.”
Rabbit sniffed at this, but when we turned to leave, I noticed he had his arm around her waist. I was glad; they were good for each other.
“Ready, Ash?” I’d grabbed our packs from our hearth. It would look strange if we left the cave without them. I shouldered mine and handed Ash’s to him.
“More than ready.” He grinned at me and headed out to the forest. We waved at people as we walked past and finally entered the forest.
We’d only gone a few yards in before Merlin’s magic kicked in, and the world spun away. We were finally going home.
Epilogue
“DO YOU think Rabbit was okay after we disappeared? I’d hate to think we drove the poor kid batty.” Ash stuffed his school shirts into the dryer and tossed in a fabric sheet. Then he closed the door and pushed the start button.
We were doing laundry again. This time, I didn’t even mind the process. In fact, I found myself enjoying everything electronic, even washing machines and dryers. After spending time in a primitive world that didn’t ev
en have the wheel, I was all about modern conveniences. “I think he was fine. He was a strong kid.” I measured out laundry detergent and poured the blue liquid into the washer. “I wonder what happened to the Bison Clan? There was no record of them that I could find.”
After we’d returned, we’d gone to the library. Okay, actually, the first thing we did when we got back was take long hot showers with lots of soap and shampoo. Then we went to the library and looked up Paleolithic people in the state of Virginia. We couldn’t find any reference to the Bison Clan. There was evidence they, or people like them, existed and lived in Virginia ten thousand years ago, but that’s when things got weird.
After the ten-thousand-year mark, they disappeared.
Completely, utterly gone, no trace, no note, no see ya later, gator.
It was really strange.
Some scientists thought the people died out, went extinct like the mammoth and the Smilodon. They thought because the weather changed and food got scarce, that all the tribes went toes-up. I didn’t want to believe it, and neither did Ash.
“No way. The Bison Clan were too strong to just poof out of existence like that. It wasn’t in them to give up without a fight.” He shook his head. “There has to be some other explanation. If the herds died off, they would’ve just gone fishing, like the time Gray Wolf told us about. You know, before they came across the ocean to Virginia.”
“I think so too. Besides, we know something the scientists don’t.” I grinned at Ash and closed the cover of the book we’d been looking at.
“What?”
“If the herds disappeared, the Bison Clan had a place to go. They would’ve gone south, to the land of the Deer Clan. Maybe they all went west from there.”
Ash smiled and nodded. “Yup. I bet that’s just what happened.”
“One mystery solved, and one more to go.”
“What’s that?” He looked confused.
“We need to find out whether we’re going to order french fries or Tater Tots with dinner tonight.”