Chapter 1

This takes place on the planet Surnova during the end of their dinosaur period. The human's here evolved faster than did their counter part on Earth

Hi my name is Red Hawk. That was the first bird my dad saw when I was born, hence the name. I am the chief spear maker for our tribe. I have been since my dad was killed by the bite of a poisonous snake. I started learning the trade when I was four years old, that was 13 years ago. The chief spear maker title has been in our family for as long as I have known about it. Dad was, so was my granddad and so was his dad.

There is a lot to know about spear making. You need to know how to pick the right stones to chip into a spear head. I had to make sure and get the right shafts to make the spear. Each hunter in our tribe takes a different type of spear. Wolfgard our chief takes the heaviest and Stumpy takes the lightest. I need to have plenty of inventories, to take care of them all.

Then there is the ritual, where I capture a bird and give the chant and release the bird. If the bird fly's straight and then so will that spear. You had to make sure and pick the right bird, because each bird fly's in different patterns.

Usually when they go out to hunt, I stay back and help protect the women and elderly. The fire starter and the shaman also stay back with me. If we are planning to stay in an area for a while, then the tents will spring up, if not we sleep under the stars.

The tribe is ever moving in search of food.

Usually once a year we head to the great meeting grounds to mingle with other tribes. We trade with each other. Also look to take a mate if the timing and age is right. It is written in the tribe laws that are carried by the shaman, which we must not mate within the tribe. Nobody questions the tribal law.

At the last gathering at the meeting grounds, I meet up with an old spear maker. He gave me a throwing stick. He told me this stick has great magic in it. If I am worthy the stick would reveal the magic to me. I played with the stick, but for the life of me, I could not get it to work. I could not get a spear to work with this magic stick.

The tribe camped in a great meadow. There were some giant bison in there. The hunters started a fire drive to trap the bison into the river. But one spot in the meadow was wet and did not burn like the rest of the meadow. The worst hunter Stumpy was there to try and block the bison's escape. He failed as he stabbed at a big bull bison and his spear was just brushed off. The rest of the hunters tried to get there to help him, but they were too far away.

I have been practice with the magic stick. I am beginning to get the hang of how it works. I could throw a spear farther than Wolfgard could. The problem is controlling the throw.

The hunters came back to the fire in the late afternoon. They were tired and hungry from chasing the giant bison. Just as they settled around the fire for the night, Wolfgard leaped to his feet with club in hand. A pack of wild dogs swept in to attack. The hunters went on the offence to protect the women. This is one of my few chances to use a spear or club without violating tribal laws.

One of the dogs got past the hunters and got to the women. I ran back and attacked the dog with a crushing blow to its head, killing it. Damage is done; one of the women is injured. It's Sparrow, Wolfgard's daughter. The dog had mangled her thigh and it's bleeding. The shaman and women were working on her leg to stop the bleeding.

We had food to last a few days. Dog meat is ok to eat, but did not give us the fuel and strength that bison meat does. The tribe rested for a few days. It gave me a chance to resupply my shafts and stone tips.

As usual the need for food caused the tribe to break camp and wander in search of food. The strong survive and the weak and injured perish. Wolfgard led the hunters, the women and I brought up the rear. The women folk tried to help Sparrow keep up with the hunters, but they were falling behind.

The hunters stopped on top of a hill that overlooked the valley. In the meadow below was a woolly rhinoceros, a very dangerous animal with two deadly horns on its snout. The hunters approach the beast in a semi circle, pinning the rhino between them and the river. The grass was too low to use as a fire drive.

The hunters were closing in on the rhino, I got out my magic stick and heave a spear at the rhino. The spear came off my stick wrong and just sort of wobbled towards the rhino, striking the beast. The enraged rhino charged the closet hunter which is Stumpy, goring him on his snout horns.

Wolfgard whirled and shouted at me, "You have broken the tribal laws for the last time Spear Maker, now you are not part of us. I banish you from our tribe."

The hunters grabbed all the extra spears and left me standing there. The women looked back at both me and Sparrow, as they followed the hunters. They knew that two lone humans didn't stand much of a chance without the tribe.

I stood there stunned at what just happen. I knew we needed to get back to the old camp site. I hoped that there was still some red hot embers to make a fire. I have watched Lark the fire maker many times make a fire and knew that he use dead wood. I headed back there as fast as I could go, but stopped suddenly. I notice that Sparrow isn't following me.

I looked back and she is just standing still. I walked back to her and helped her walk back to the old camp site. When we got there, I started to blow on the ashes. I blew the ash off and got down to some hot embers. I then went into the woods looking for some dead wood. I got a couple of large branches and threw them on the fire. We both watched, but nothing happened.

"Break some of the twigs off the branch and put them on the embers," Sparrow said.

I followed her advice and soon I had a roaring fire going. Now I had a new problem, it is burning up the wood faster than I could get it. Soon I am throwing anything I could find, both dead and green wood. I notice that green burned slower than the dead wood. I went back into the woods and got a large supply of both types of wood.

My next problem is getting us some food. I took out my magic stick and the two spears that I had with me and went hunting. I got lucky and the stick worked fine. I brought down a nice buck. On the way back I pasted an over turned tree. I could hear some barking and growling. The roots had made some type of den and there were two pups in there. I grabbed them and took them back to the camp with me. I figured to tie them up. When the time came and we were short of food, we would have these two pups to kill for food.

We have been here for over two weeks and Sparrow's leg is healing to the point that she no longer limps. The two dogs have both grown, must weigh over twenty pounds by now. I have modified my spears into large darts for my magic stick. I spent a lot of time working on this and our food supply is getting low. She brought me berry cakes for dinner.

"Where is the meat?" I asked.