Chapter 11

We camped by the lakeside reeds again once we’d trekked back from our hunting camp. It took us two days to get there. As I had pointed out before, the terrain was rougher on the far side of the lake and there were a number of small streams to ford. With our heavy load, it took a little effort to get back.

The women settled us in, as usual. The men took up watch over the site, keeping an eye out for any uninvited guests, both two legged and four. While they did that, I took the kids duck hunting.

I’d spotted a few swimming about in the reeds as we came into the area. We’d been eating a lot of bear since I’d killed the brute and I wanted something different for supper. While we’d been at the other campsite I’d introduced the sling to our local friends. I’d been thinking about a way to down birds without having to use up shotgun shells. Ammunition and the fact we could easily run out of it was always on my mind. I found out that no one from the village had ever used a sling. There wasn’t a call for it. When hunters went hunting they wanted to bring back something big that would feed his family for days and it would provide a skin that could be turned into clothing for him or another member of his family.

I’d spent time practising with both the boys and the girls. I knew it was a breach of local tradition, but from my point of view why deny half your population the capability to defend themselves, or the ability to put food on the table. It didn’t make sense to me, and I made my view known loud and clear for all to hear me. Thankfully, if there had been any objections, those who had them kept them to themselves.

By the time we reached the marshy area of the lake, all four kids were proficient with the weapon. I was as well. None of us were experts, but with patience we could hit something. Of course we’d been hitting mostly targets; both stationary targets and a few others that I’d thrown in the air. None of us had tried our luck against a real bird.

That was what we were doing when visitors arrived from the village. We’d had some success. I knocked the first bird out of the air. It was a big, fat drake. Gort’s wolf pup had spooked it as we’d walked down to the shoreline. The bird had taken off in flight over the lake and then it had turned so that its flight path crossed the shore of the lake just a matter of yards from where we were standing. I was the only one ready for it. Luck was on my side and it came down close to where we were standing. It wasn’t dead, but it was stunned senseless. I twisted its neck and finished it off. By the time our visitors arrived at our camp the kids and I had dropped eight more birds, though the majority had been dropped by either Gort or me. Still the other three kids got one a piece.

The visitors were Durt, his buddy Zedar, who’d been there when I had killed Tagar. With them were an older man and a woman. It turned out to be my in-laws. The man was Kobo and the woman was Sika. They’d come down from the hilltop village to see Keya and her child.

I invited everyone to come and sit by our fire and join us for a drink. That had been a custom that had developed over the past couple of weeks. Once a fire was kindled in a fire pit, a pot of water went on to boil. Sometimes that pot of water became a tea for everyone to drink and sometimes it became a soup. I knew already the water had become a tea, this time.

While Kobo and Sika met with Keya and they visited with their grandchild, Durt and Zedar chatted with Rugar and me.

“So,” Durt asked hesitantly over the rim of his cup of tea, “did you hunt bears?”

“No,” I told him quickly, before Rugar could answer him. “The bear hunted me! But, in the end, I killed the bear.”

That startled both Durt and Zedar. The young hunters looked at each other and then they looked at first Rugar and then me. It was clear they were curious. Durt spoke up first.

“Tell us,” Durt implored boldly. “How did this happen.”

I told them the story. The men gasped when I told them that I’d walked up on a bear when I had been actually hunting deer. Their eyes grew very wide when I described how tall the bear was when it rose up to challenge me. Their eyes glazed over when I explained that it had charged me, even though I’d put an arrow in the monster’s chest.

“Impossible,” Zedar declared in almost a whisper when I’d finally finished my story.

“It isn’t impossible,” Rugar scoffed in reply. “Jake killed that bear and then he killed another. Do you wish to see the furs?”

Of course our guests wanted to see the furs, having heard the story. Even Kobo wanted to see the furs when he overheard what we had been talking about. They were after all hunters. It was natural that they would want to see the results of our hunt. They got more than they bargained for. When Rugar and I dug out the bear furs to put them on display, we dug out the rest. All three men from the village were suitably impressed.

Afterwards, once they’d felt the furs and held them up to look at them, and after Rugar and I had put them all away, we all returned to the fire to sit and chat.

“Tell me about the village and how it has been since Hagar’s death,” I told Durt, speaking boldly to him.

The man’s face coloured for a second in response to my demand. It was clear he was uncomfortable about the topic. I wondered if it was because I’d come and dealt with Hagar when it should have been one of them, or because the situation in the village hadn’t changed. I was about to ask him bluntly for the truth, when he answered me.

“It is better, now,” Durt admitted. His words were confirmed by Zedar and Kobo who both nodded their heads in agreement. “The new chief has mended hurt feelings and we have done well in the time since you left. Hunting has been good and people are happy.”

“Has there been any illness or injuries?” I enquired knowing that Clara was listening in to the conversation from where she was sitting with Keya, Sika, and the baby. I could see her interest peak. By now Beria was on the mend. Her wrist was healing though it would still be a month or more before she would have use of it. Still all Clara needed to do was to check it twice a day; morning and evening to make certain the cast was still in place and it wasn’t cutting off the circulation to the hand. A patient or two would make her happy.

“No,” Durt admitted without pause. “No one has been hurt in the hunts, and all are well. There have been no fevers or loose bowels.”

“Good,” I found myself replying, even though I had hoped for one or two minor problems that Clara could have a look at. Well, that’s life. You had to accept that sometimes your wishes didn’t come through.

We continued to talk for a bit. I asked Durt if the villagers had ever tried to grow food on the hills that surrounded their settlement. While the far side of the lake was a little more rugged than the side the village was on, the whole area looked like it could be turned into farmland with a little effort on the locals’ part. Durt just looked at me as if I was speaking English to him instead of the local language. Then he said ‘no.’

Eventually the party broke up. I formally invited Kobo and Sika to visit our cave whenever they wished. Technically, we were only two days away at a good jog, so it wouldn’t be all that difficult. In truth, I was doing a little recruiting. Kobo wasn’t really that old. I figured he was maybe a year or two older than me, while Sika and I were the same age. I’d speak to Rugar about the man later on, to find out if he was worth recruiting.

We arrived back to the cave four days later. Our trek had been uneventful. We hadn’t been attacked by any predators and the weather had continued to be hot and clear. The game had proven plentiful, though in truth, we took only what we needed. None of us wanted to stop and deal with a major kill.

When we got back to the palisade, everyone waited while Rugar and I scaled the nearby hill. We then moved over to where the overhang jutted out of the hillside and over the entrance to our cave. I took a good look about from on top, making certain that there was no sign of trouble awaiting us. Then I dropped down into the enclosure. Rugar stayed above to cover me.

I swept the enclosure first looking for any sign of an intruder. When I found none, I went into the cave itself. I had my flashlight with me. A quick look about showed me that all was in order. I then went and checked the other caves. Besides a mouse that scurried away as I stomped into the storage cave, there was nothing to see. Once I was certain everything was clear, I signalled Rugar. A moment later the man was down beside me walking towards the gate. We had braced it closed after leaving, and the braces needed to be removed. Once they were, Rugar and I lifted the gate and let everyone in. Then we closed it up again.

By nightfall we were in our beds, content to have returned home. That night I shared my bed with Koda. The older woman was an enthusiastic lover who’d come to enjoy the company of Clara and Gabby while I entertained her from behind. Though we’d tried several different positions since the first time we’d shared ourselves with each other, Koda preferred the traditional way. True we’d adapted it a bit to include the other women. Koda loved getting her pussy sucked. Both Clara and Gabby didn’t mind helping her out.

“I want to visit the Horse People,” I announced over breakfast the next morning. “I’ve got uses for a horse or three, and I think I should try and acquire them before the first snows of winter. What do you think?”

While technically I was talking to everyone seated about the big hearth that stood outside our cave, I was really talking to Clara and Gabby. Of our community they were the only ones who really understood what horses could mean for us. With a pair of strong horses I could have hauled that bear back to the cave in a day’s time or perhaps a little more depending on the terrain and the weather. I could also do a hell of a lot more exploring. The valley where we lived was roughly fifty to sixty miles long and at least ten to twelve miles wide at the widest point. While I’d been all over the valley floor in my hunting expeditions, there were foothills, forests and mountain slopes to explore. We’d also discovered, at the far end of the valley, cul-de-sacs and hidden valleys that had probably never been explored. I wanted to check them all out and see what was there. We’d found wild oats in one place. Who knew what else we could find?

“I think it would be a good idea,” Clara admitted thoughtfully. “Some horses could really help us out, especially if we chose to move to another spot or if you decided to build a place like the village for us to live in rather than us living in the cave. When do you want to go?”

“In a week,” I told Clara flatly. “I want to do a week of hunting and foraging, and then I want to head out and find these people. The sooner I do it, then the sooner I’ll be back and we can finish our preparations for winter.”

“Who do you want to take with you?” Gabby asked from where she sat beside Clara.

“You, naturally,” I replied without reservation, “though I got the impression from Vedic that the Horse People speak the same language that the villagers do.”

As I said this I looked over at Vedic, who was listening in to the conversation intently, looking for confirmation of my assumption from him.

“Some do,” Vedic declared loudly, “and some speak their own tongue. It sounds much like ours in many ways, but then sometimes it doesn’t. I speak a few words of their tongue. It helps in making a trade.

“Then I’ll definitely be taking Gabby with me,” I pointed out, “and of course I’ll be taking Vedic. The Horse People know him. That should at least garner us a hospitable welcome. Even so, I think that you and Gabby should get together this week so whoever goes off to meet these people at least can greet them formally without pissing them off. Maybe you can tell us about the customs as well. That’ll help keep us out of trouble.”

Gabby agreed and said so and Vedic promised he would sit with her in the evenings and to teach her what he knew.

“Who else are you thinking about taking with you?” Clara asked, her tone taking on an insistent edge. I found myself looking across at her and smiling.

“Well,” I mused thoughtfully, “I’m going to have to leave someone here to keep an eye on the caves, and make sure everything runs properly. We’ve only begun to provision ourselves for the winter. We still need a lot more meat, wood, and other items if we want to make it to spring in reasonable health.”

“We all know that already,” Clara declared sharply, “and it is being taken care of by Ramie and Catta and all the other women in the cave.”

“True, but if I do bring back a horse ... or, more than one ... we’ll need feed for the winter, and bedding also,” I told her. “At the very least someone is going to have to start cutting grass. It’ll be a lot of work.”

“Fine,” Clara muttered in an exasperated tone, “we can start doing that today. There is a hill nearby covered in grass that is waist deep. We pass it when we climb the hill to forage on the upper slopes for edible plants. Now tell me who will be going, and who will be staying, or must I come over there and slap you one?”

“No,” I chuckled in response, smiling as I did, “you don’t need to threaten me or inflict injury on me to get an answer. I’d prefer that you stay here, just in case, but I know that won’t happen, even if I asked you to stay.”

“Where you go, I go,” Clara stated bluntly, and then slipping into English she continued. “I’m not going to get left behind if Quantum finally shows up and whisks you back to our time. It’s not going to happen if I can help it, thank you very much.”

“Fine,” I nodded with a smile, giving in to Clara’s determination. “You’ll be going as well. I’ll leave Rugar in charge while were gone and I’m certain that Ramie will keep everything going smoothly in our absence.”

“What about me?” Gort asked from where he was sitting next to Vedic. “Can I come as well? I’ve never seen a horse before?”

I paused before answering Gort. I glanced over to his mother. She just smiled back and nodded her head in an approving manner. Then I looked over at Rugar. He was watching the interplay intently.

“I think Rugar might have a say in the matter,” I told Gort, as I turned my gaze back at him. “There will be much hunting to be done and we would be gone for two weeks or more. I do not know if Rugar could do the job without you. It would only leave him two hunters to help him feed the cave.”

Gort blinked at that. So did Rugar. Uttar just chuckled and smiled. Then he nudged Rugar in the ribs and he nodded his head towards Tabor. Tabor was sitting beside Gort and he was beaming broadly as he listened to my words.

“I think with two hunters helping me and the use of the big sleds,” Rugar finally said in response, his own smile growing as he realized the compliment that I’d just paid his son, “we can keep the cave fed, and still put away meat for the winter. Gort may go.”

“What about Ata and me,” Unna piped up when Rugar finished speaking. “Can we go as well? We’ve never seen a horse either.”

“No, little one, not this time,” I answered her solemnly. “I know you’ve never seen a horse, but I can’t take you with me. You will be busy doing a very important job. Someone must tend to Gort’s snares and bring that meat in so it too can be added to our supplies. As his sister, the job is yours. Perhaps Ata will help you with the work.”

It didn’t completely mollify Unna or Ata, but it did give them both something to think about. After that discussion shifted towards the day’s events. The men would go hunting, while the women foraged. It would be that way for the remainder of the week.

Seven days later Clara, Gabby, Gort, Vedic, and I headed out. It was just after dawn and those being left in the cave saw us off. We were travelling light.

Clara, Gabby, and I were all dressed in our combat uniforms. It was going to be a long walk and I had no idea what the terrain was going to be like. I wanted combat boots on our feet. We all had our packs ... they were a lot lighter than when we’d first pulled them out of the cave where Kim had cached them ... and we were all armed. I had my carbine and both women were carrying their survival rifles. As for Vedic and Gort, they were barefoot, and wore only loincloths. They were armed with their bows and a quiver of arrows each. They now had twelve arrows apiece.

I was pulling a travois behind me. On it was any extra gear that we were bringing along with us. That included Clara’s medical bag, extra water, our original bedrolls, the saddle, a pad for under the saddle, the tack that Kim had left me with matching saddlebags, and a woven pannier filled with trade goods. Hopefully it contained something of value that the Horse People wanted.

Rugar, Uttar, and Tabor followed us to the mouth of the valley. They were going hunting that morning and they’d decided to try that end of the valley for a change. As we passed the finger of land that Clara, Gabby, and I had spent our first night in the valley on, we spotted a small herd of aurochs grazing peacefully in the clearing where we’d originally stopped. For a moment I thought of stopping and hunting one, but I quickly pushed that thought aside. I did speak to Rugar about how to tackle the massive cattle. They were at least one and a half times bigger than the normal wild cattle we went after if not larger. They were also more aggressive. From what I knew about aurochs, they were reputed to be fearless. A herd could easily drive off any predator that got too close to them. I suggested that he try for them from the outcropping on the hill or at least another high point like a perch in a tree. I didn’t want to come back to find someone dead.