by Laura Jack
Serena wasn’t the only one making innovations. As winter gradually yielded, Callom, Brinan and Ruban were all heavily involved in the making of a replica boat with a sail. Felmas had started with a small one, just a hands length and sailed it in a wash basin. The next was twice as big and tested in the pool near the cave once they had cracked through the ice. The little waterfall that filled the pool had frozen completely. It was a great success, Felmas scaled up the next attempt even more, the boat lengthened to over four of his feet. It was too big to try in the pond, “When the weather clears a little we’ll try it in the lake.” announced Felmas.
That day coincided with the bringing of a new life, Lodina went into labour, and in the morning, the children were allowed to visit the hearth to see the new baby. A first son for Tamo and a brother for Matina. He announced the baby’s name ‘Tomas’. As if on cue, the infant cried and attracted the interest of another member of the Clan, Luma. She came over and looked into the basket of the infant. Tamo lifted the basket out of her reach. Luma stood on her hind legs trying to see in.
“Brinan, take your wolf away from that hearth!” Shrieked Deema.
“She won’t harm him,” replied Brinan grabbing the wolf’s collar and taking her away, although deep down he didn’t really feel sure.
“You may be right son, wolves help take care of the young of the leaders of the pack and young wolves will play with the cubs. But the infant is too small to play, so let us just be safe and keep them apart.” Suggested Jonan. “It would be a pity to have to kill the wolf for following her instincts, she was attracted to the baby’s cry, she could mistake it for a small animal.”
Brinan felt sad, but understood, their caution was to protect the wolf as much as the baby. He lifted the hide flap of the cave entrance and peered out. A gloomy overcast sky dampened his spirits. The days had grown longer, much of the snow and ice had melted but it was still wet, cold and very windy. The melting snow had turned to slush. Callom appeared behind him.
“Brinan, there you are, come and see. Felmas has finished the sail for the replica of his boat.”
Brinan let the hide flap drop, he hoped they could go out today and try out the replica, even re-start work on the real boat. Cheered by Callom’s announcement, he followed his friend back to his uncle’s hearth.
Felmas’s boat was a four foot long replica of the boat he was making for the lake. It was displayed in the central hearth, propped up between logs to stop it rolling over. Carved out of an oak log, it was polished to a smooth finish by rubbing with sandstone. It was a remarkably beautiful piece of craftsmanship; made more so by the addition of a vertical hide stretched over a frame and attached to a post coming out of the centre of the boat.
The hide was dyed a rich esoteric blue using the fat and woad extract by Serena, she had made it in exchange for one of Felmas’s back packs. The boys weren’t the only ones who would be in need of them this season. Rather than deplete the Clan’s resources, Serena had resolved to hunt and skin her own animals for hides. Although she could always trade for them, it would mean she could never keep her work for herself. Collecting her own supplies would increase her own wealth and more important, give her a sense of independence.
“What is that for?” Arguus interrupted her train of thought. He was pointing to the blue sail on the sledge. He wasn’t sure if it had a purpose.
“Ask the boys,” replied Felmas. “They inspired the idea.”
“It’s to catch the wind, like we did with our sledge. The wind will blow into the hide and push the boat along the water.” Callom replied struggling to put what he imagined into words. He looked at Felmas who nodded in agreement.
Arguus wasn’t convinced but with Felmas’s inventions, you never knew. So many of them never worked, or never had any purpose in the first place. He was wise enough, however, to give his Clan the freedom to try whatever they wanted. If the idea worked, everyone would benefit. Just because he couldn’t visualize what they could - he had not seen the sailing sledge - it didn’t matter. His gift was for nurturing people - an art in itself. The back pack/travois had turned out to be a stroke of genius. He hoped this would work, but wouldn’t mind too much if it failed, after all, they crossed water easily enough with coracles and paddles.
He also had a more pressing concern to worry about. Their food stocks were getting dangerously low. It had been a prolonged wet moon cycle, holding off the warm spring weather. Looking at Felmas’s boat, however, he decided it was time to start fishing and announced his decision to the gathering.
“Good idea,” agreed Felmas. A fishing trip would also give him the excuse to take his replica boat down to the lake shore and try it out. With the boys’ help he dismantled the sail and once dressed in his outdoor clothes, hoisted the boat onto his back. Callom carried the sail and Brinan the post that held the sail, along with a length of rope that they would attached to the boat so they could sail it without losing it.
“You’re going out in this weather!” Lodina exclaimed. The boys felt a moment of panic which passed onto Felmas making him feel like a child too.
“Well it’s not raining,” he reasoned.
“But the ground hasn’t dried up.”
“We can put on our winter boots.” Arguus chipped in. “Besides, I would like to see how this er … sail boat works.”
“No-one minded the slushy ground at first. The lake glistened in the morning sun which had melted the snow from the bank that the Clan liked to fish. They had built a wooden platform to fish from, which kept them out of the mud, it also turned out to be a good launching platform for the boat,
“It does seem more steady.” Arguus observed. He never did like to travel in coracles. They were hard to steer and bobbed about too much, taking in water. Felmas let out the rope they had attached to the base of the post that the sail was attached to. A sharp breeze caught the sail and pushed the boat along the water.
“See!” Cried Felmas. “It works! Just think of the possibilities this opens up. We could cross large expanses of water in much less time.”
“Sure, so long as the wind is blowing the right way.” Said Jonan dampening everyone’s spirits. Felmas’s smile fell, he hadn’t thought of that. It didn’t bother Callom though; he was already trying to work out a way round the problem, for the moment he too was stumped than a solution came to him. “You could still carry oars for when there was no wind,”
It earned him a pat on the back from Felmas. He hauled in the boat and put it up onto the bank and joined the others in fishing from the lake. The Clan succeeded in landing several fish and passing a pleasant morning doing so. But standing on a bank let the cold seep in, especially with footwear that was damp. Brinan was shivering and wanted to go home but wouldn’t dare say so. Hunters didn’t complain of the cold.
It was Jonan who casually mentioned that he would be glad when it was warmer because it was much nicer to fish from the bank with dry feet. His comment made the other men admit that they too were cold from the damp. Arguus agreed it was time to go home, he was happy with what they had caught.
Carrying back the boat, Callom and Brinan trailed behind the hunters. Brinan scowled, he was getting a headache, but didn’t complain.
By late evening however, his headache was so bad it was hard to ignore. He lay down on his bed fur. The morning was worse. Now he felt sick, hot, struggled to breath without coughing and felt sorry for himself. Deema took one look at him and called Lodina over.
“You as well!” Complained Lodina. “That’s four in total; you, Callom, Felmas and Dovan. What do you expect going out in this damp cold.”
Matina was beside herself with glee and stood next to her mother with her own medicine bag at her feet copying her hands on hip stance. “Shall I bring him a tea too mother?”
“Dovan didn’t come with us!” Brinan tried to argue.
“No but he went out to set some snares. He’ll not be fit to go back and check them tomorrow.” Lodina snapped while rummaged through her
medicine bag for a salve; elecampane root was the main healing ingredient mixed with fat. Lodina moved Brinan’s furs aside. I’ll need to rub this on your chest it will ease your cough. Brinan snatched the furs back up. “I can do it myself thanks, I’m not a child.”
Lodina smirked. “Suit yourself, I have plenty of other chores to be doing. Deema, take this lavender, sage and rosemary and burn it on the fire, it will clean the air.” Then she turned back to Brinan. “And you, stay in your bed furs and under no circumstances are you to have any visitors or got out of the hearth. I just hope we’re not for cave sickness.”
Over the next few days, Lodina’s fears were well founded. It was hard to contain infection when all the families lived under one roof. Brinan slept for most of the first few days. He had a terrible fever and nightmares haunted his sleep. He would wake drenched in sweat and shaking with fear. Everything had been going so well. Illness like this was often considered a bad omen. He wasn’t the only one to have such worries. After a quiet discussion, Arguus and Tamo arranged a special ceremony to appeal to Magda to send the spring season and take away the sickness. Lodina had a more practical solution. Every morning she opened up the entrance to the cave.
“Let the bad air out and the good air in. Spirits of sickness don’t like fresh air.” She announced. She had given every hearth a supply of herbs to help those that were healthy prevent getting sick in the first place. Even though most people caught it, thanks to her remedy they only got it mildly. Sadly, Juno took a severe bout of the illness and died. It was a desolate time for the Clan and even though everyone gathered outside for her funeral, it was painfully obvious that the epidemic had taken it’s toll on most members of the Clan.
Serena found it hard. It wasn’t the first time she had to deal with a death in the Clan, but it was the first time in her life she was called to help dress the body of the deceased woman and her tears poured freely as she helped the other women rub red ochre onto the sallow flesh of the corpse. She took it one step further and used a salve of white chalk to draw some markings on Juno’s face and hands, no one objected. Juno’s body was dressed in her finest tunic and leggings. Some distance from the camp, a grave was dug for her and filled with grave goods that would accompany her to the spirit world.
Serena paid attention to the burial verse that Tamo recited over Juno’s grave to send her to the next world. That task would fall to her one day, she realized and once again, she doubted that she wanted to be a fully fledged Shaman. She loved the creative aspect of her calling but still wasn’t comfortable with the spiritual aspect.
She considered a different calling but couldn’t think of one that she wanted to do; and on reflection realized that whatever she wanted to do there was always an unpleasant aspect to the job. A hunter had to kill before he or she could benefit from the hides and meat of an animal and if she was honest, butchering was no fun task either. Flint knapping didn’t appeal to her either, yes there was some skill involved but no creative ability was needed. Wood working had some appeal as the carving aspect had a creative side but the Clan had a perfectly efficient wood working apprentice in Callom. She really couldn’t see herself doing the necessary monotonous task of chopping down trees. She wouldn’t even consider the option of simply doing nothing. Idleness was a luxury the Clan could never afford. No, there was nothing for it but accept that she must take the unpleasant with the pleasant. Little did she know that the unpleasant was about to get a whole lot worse.
12 Flash Flood
Spring was well under way when the Wolf Clan eventually recovered from the illness. Arguus decided it was time for the reindeer hunt.
“I’m going too, Mother, if Brinan is old enough then so am I. Callom does and he’s younger than me!!” Serena argued the moment she heard about the hunt.
“Alright, alright!” Deema threw her hands up. “You may come, Serena, but don’t you dare complain when the work is hard and unpleasant.”
The animals had been spotted on their migration north to follow the spring season and take advantage of new grass. First came the does and calves, then the bachelors, then the old, weak and sick. The hunters went after the bachelor herd. By trapping the reindeer in a natural gorge in the highlands, they killed many. The butchering, dressing of hides and drying of meat were also done in the gorge. There were numerous caves high on its ledges where the hunters took up the carcasses to work on at their leisure. The effort took the best part of a moon cycle. It was worth it, the Wolf Clan had the best place to hunt reindeer of all the eastern Clans and reindeer pelts were prized for their hollow fur that trapped air making a warm but light garment.
For the journey back, Felmas’s back pack travois were much praised as the hunters took back an even greater amount than they usually could. Their journey back passed through the high meadow where the children had their cave. Brinan and Callom glanced over at the entrance covered with briars and hazelnut branches. They really couldn’t see it even though they knew it was there and were careful to give nothing away that would indicate it to the adults. Although the adults knew they had a cave somewhere, they hadn’t been told where and didn’t ask. Brinan looked back at Serena, despite Deema’s doubts she had really pulled her weight on the hunt, not even minding the butchering. He had even killed a couple of reindeer, although the way that they were trapped it wasn’t difficult as the hunters just stood on ledges and picked them off, he didn’t really think of it as proper hunting, there was no stalking, no chase, no risk of injury.
When the meat was safely stored at the cave, Arguus announced that they would leave in a day or two for the amber mine that Felmas had told them about.
“Do we have to come too?” Brinan asked. Mining amber didn’t have the same appeal as hunting reindeer.
“No, you’re more useful here for gathering.” Arguus replied.
“We’ll stay here then,” said Brinan as casually as he could. Callum nudged him, and Serena nudged Callom, they knew that they would visit their cave, but they tried not to look pleased.
The way to the amber mine, was in the opposite direction to the cave. The mining party consisting of all the men as well as Deema and Risella. Lodina stayed with Tomas, and to work on various projects and supervise the children’s collecting efforts. Their first task was eggs. Every spring when birds were nesting they foraged for eggs. Climbing trees or scanning the hillside for ground nesting birds. On the lake there was an island where several species of birds nested. Felmas promised them that they would get the boat and go out to the island when he got back from the amber mine. Those birds had not returned yet from their migration south in the winter.
“Brinan, you are in charge. Make sure you are home well before sunset; keep a fire going in the gathering meadow and … what have you got in that backpack? You must have enough supplies in there for a hunting party and what’s this rope for?”
“Emergencies of course.” Replied Brinan. “Aren’t you always telling us to be prepared for anything?”
“So we are,” chipped in Matina patting her medicine bag. Deema smiled.
“Serena, you will mind the little ones.”
“Yes mother,” replied Serena, although she didn’t think they needed much minding. She was a little bit shocked when Deema seemed to read her mind.
“I’m serious, they are your responsibility is that clear?”
“Alright Mother, I promise I will take good care of them.”
The children watched; feigning sadness as the adults departed. When Luma realised she wasn’t going with them she sat down and howled her first proper wolf howl. No-one knew why she did it, except Brinan, he knew that wolves instinctively did not like to be separated from the pack. He felt a shiver of foreboding but shook it off.
“Come on, let’s get to our cave!”
They climbed up through the woods. At the top, Serena tapped the trees for sap, using flint knives to cut a spiral groove into the bark down the trunk, the sap rose and followed the cut lines then dripped into containe
rs tied around the base of the cuts. It was a slow process and the containers would be left overnight on the trees.
The boys hunted for eggs while the youngsters dug up clover roots and young wild carrots. They weren’t very big, but better than nothing and, together with young nettle shoots, provided the first nourishing vegetables and greens of the spring season. Matina found a bush of rosehips and picked those, she knew that her mother liked them for medicine.
They worked quickly so that they would have a decent amount to take back to Lodina. By midday, Brinan decided it would be okay to take a break and go into their cave. Callom helped him to pull back the barricade of thorny canes that now showed the pale green buds of new leaves. Serena picked some for later. The young leaves of blackberries and raspberries made a pleasant tea. Brinan lit a torch from the camp fire and went in first.
“It’s okay, nothing’s got in.” He called out. “Well apart from some mice and maybe squirrels.” He added suddenly noticing holes chewed in baskets of grain.
“It’s not too bad.” Serena said. “I think this damage is quite recent.” A field mouse that had built a nest in between the baskets was disturbed and eaten by Luma. She was so big now, it was merely a snack. Callom used his axe to cut some young saplings and stripped the leaves off them. He made tripod stands, buried in the floor of the cave and bolstered with rocks. Serena hung the dried reindeer meat they had taken up from the main cave. They soon had a fire going inside the cave as well as in the meadow. It wasn’t until the cave filled with smoke that they remembered to raise the basket they had covered the smoke hole with to keep out the elements. Still, it served to drive out a few more rodents!
The children enjoyed the freedom of being away from the adults for the first time in several moons. Winter was becoming a fading memory and all minds were on what needed to be done. They returned the next day. The sap baskets were collected and set aside for taking back to the main cave, although Serena kept a few of her own back for them to use at the small cave.