Red Hawk: The Story of My Tribe
Chapter 6

Copyright© 2015 by Red Tempest

The story is now being told by Thunder Bird.

I left with fifteen hunters, twenty women, and twenty-five of the older children. We took enough food and water to last us a couple of weeks. After that, we would have to forage for food and water. I lead our tribe toward the west out of the valley. We then swung around to the southwest toward the river. After thirty days of walking we came to the valley where the tribe had first settled. A few of us tore down the rock wall my father had installed in the bear cave. The valley is lush, with plenty of game to hunt.

We did our grieving while on the walk here, now it was time to put our grief aside and start to rebuild the tribe. We started by scouting our surrounding territory making sure it is safe. We hunted and planted a few crops like my father had taught us to do. In our new tribe we had one man who studied the ways of the shaman and one woman who had studied the uses of herbal medicine.

It has been over a year now since the attack that killed my family and most of the other tribe members. It has been a real struggle at first, but slowly things started to work themselves out. We still run scouting parties to the north to make sure the raiders have not followed our trail.

When a strange tribe wanders into our territory, we check them out completely, before we make our presence known. Many times we will trade with those tribes, including exchanging women. Talking with the people of those tribes is always a good source for information. One tribe did tell us that the raiders had gone back North toward the mountains.

Our tribe is growing stronger as the years go by. The last few years the tribe is starting to have new additions. The women are starting to give birth. We are training the older children how to hunt, and fish. The children are also taught how to survive by building a shelter and how to search for food. Also how to stay hidden when there seems to be trouble.

We taught them how to build bows and make arrows. We found some really good Ironwood to make new arrows. The wood from the Yew tree seems to make the best bows. I kept playing with the arrow heads, using different sizes of flint and even trying to use bone as a head. Trial and error method seemed to work the best, to find out which material would make the best arrow heads.

We practiced with dummy arrows so we would not damage our good battle and hunting arrows. Most of the hunters were very accurate at 100 paces. Our best shooters could hit the target at more than two hundred paces. We practiced daily and in various locations just to be prepared.

Life appeared to be good for our tribe, we had food, water, shelter and nobody bothered us. Still something seemed wrong or was missing. I could not put my finger on this odd feeling, but it was there.

I increased the patrols and the range that they covered. The patrols reported back that all is clear. There hasn't been any contact with other tribes, or raiders. I would go out with a patrol to the north, just to be sure. I did not want a sneak attack to catch us off guard. So far so good, with no contact with any of the raiders.

A few months later a tribe came through our camp. They told us that this is the year, for the tribes to meet at the great meeting grounds. The location has been changed to an area a lot closer to us only about a 10-day walk from our camp. I need to replace my wife who died of a fever six months ago. With a trip to the meeting grounds and I could have my pick.

When the time came, we packed up a couple of camels, and headed Southeast toward the new meeting ground area. As in previous marches to the meeting grounds, we stopped within a day of arrival and refilled our supplies, so we had plenty to eat and drink. The whole journey took ten days and we arrived along with a lot of the other tribes, close to the same time frame.

This time we did not hide our bows. After we pitched camp, I had the hunters practice protecting our camp. After an hour of drilling, I left for a meeting with the chief's of each tribe. They all express sorrow about what the raiders did to our tribe, but glad that some of us made it out alive. The talk is of how the raiders were killing and capturing different tribes.

"Why don't we put together a group of our best hunters? We go north and attack the raiders, wiping them out," I suggested to the other chiefs. It became deathly quiet, as they all studied me.

"Who would lead this group?" One of the older chiefs asked. I looked back at him and just shrugged my shoulders. After all I am the youngest chief at this meeting.

There is some major discussion about my idea, it seems that this has been talked about before, and no real conclusion ever came out of those discussions. They could never find anyone who would lead this group.

After much discussion, "What about you?" The head of the chief council asked me.

"I would have to have full control, no interfering or meddling by other chiefs or older warriors," I replied back to them.

They all nodded their heads in agreement. After further discussion, it is decided that every tribe is to contribute ten hunters, and two camp workers. Wives would be allowed to go with their husband, but no children. They would be expected to help as camp workers. Finally all the major details seemed to be worked out. We broke the meeting and headed back to our respective camps.

When I got back to our camp, I called a meeting for all to attend and listen. I explained what was discussed at the chiefs meeting. A group of hunters would go north in search of the raiders, and the rest of the tribes will wait here for our return. All the hunters volunteered to join this group. I picked out ten hunters to go with me, and left my step brother in charge till I returned. A couple of the wives volunteered to go as camp workers.

After a couple of weeks of practicing with our weapons, the group is ready to head north. I had hundred warriors and another twenty camp workers. I did not realize what a major job it would be to feed everyone. I divided the warriors in groups of twenty to practice as a unit. There is a chief in charge of each group.

Raven is one of the camp workers. She is the daughter of Lone Wolf. He is the head of the chief's council. She had been married once, but her husband was killed by some raiders, in an attack on their tribe. We seem to hit it off good right away. She is very pretty, with brown hair and eyes, and she seems to be built better than most women in her tribe. She never had any children from her first marriage, and I had one boy from my first marriage. There are different laws in regards to couples who get married the first time, to those on doing a second marriage.

 
There is more of this chapter...
The source of this story is Storiesonline

To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account (Why register?)

Get No-Registration Temporary Access*

* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.

Close
 

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...

Storiesonline is for adult entertainment only. By accessing this site you declare that you are of legal age and that you agree with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.