Chapter 29

We didn’t make it off the plateau and into the pass without an incident with the Horse People. Fortunately it was a very minor incident, at least from my perspective, and one that I didn’t mind addressing forcefully. More importantly, it didn’t take more than fifteen minutes to resolve.

By midmorning we were into the foothills and winding our way upward into the pass. It was a clear warm day and the trail was good. I was feeling good, even after the long night I’d experienced the night before. My group was in a good mood, too, including the women and children in our company. Everything was going great, and then we turned a bend in the trail and everything went to shit.

My party and I had left the lake far behind us by the time the incident occurred. We’d crossed the upper fork of the stream that fed the lake and we were winding our way through the forest-covered foothills, slowly working our way upward towards the mountain pass. We weren’t pushing it, but we were making good time. We’d certainly covered twenty or so miles since dawn, as the crow flies, and probably more than that according to the trail we were following. We were definitely a good distance from the plateau, and none of us had expected to run into trouble. Of course fate likes to fuck you around every once in a while, and surprise you when you least expect it. It certainly took us by surprise that morning, even with me keeping an eye out for trouble.

We came around a bend and found our route blocked by people and horses. In truth, it hadn’t been intentional. It had just happened. Even I could see that. Unfortunately, that road block brought my convoy of vehicles up short, and when it did, it initiated a chain of events that quickly got out of hand.

My first reaction was to pull the ATV I was driving off to the side of the trail. Once it was parked I hopped out of the vehicle, drawing my automatic pistol from my holster as I exited. The range between me and the party blocking the trail was close, and while my carbine would have worked just as well, I thought the pistol would do a better job. No one had ever seen me use it so far, though, and none would immediately assume it was a weapon. If I was lucky they wouldn’t realize the danger they were in until I started using it. As I pulled it, I chambered a round, and then I dropped the weapon to my side, keeping it semi-hidden until I absolutely needed it. Then as I stepped away from the vehicle, I did one last thing before turning my full attention to the roadblock. I snapped a short, curt instruction at Marta who’d been riding with me. I told Marta to stay where she was and to get down low. I hoped she’d listen to me.

I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that something was amiss. There was a man lying on the ground in the middle of the trail who wasn’t moving. About him and blocking the way, was a party of hunters. These men were armed with hunting lances and bows. They had horses with them, though they were all dismounted and their horses were simply milling about aimlessly grazing on the late summer grass that lined the track, also blocking the way. To make the whole incident even more interesting, there was a party of women and children off to one side of the track. They were all down on their knees, wailing and crying at the men, pleading with them to stop hurting the man lying on the ground. The other men weren’t listening to them.

“What the hell is going on here?” I bellowed as I moved away from the ATV, speaking to the men in the Horse People dialect. “Answer me right now!”

I’d recognized two of the men right away. One was the leader of the hunting party that we’d run into the other day. The other was the new shaman of the Horse People. He was the one I was most interested in. He’d been the asshole standing over the man lying on the ground when we’d pulled up, and the bastard had been kicking the man. From the look of it the man on the ground was unconscious. He certainly hadn’t responded to the kicks.

“Kill him!” the shaman shouted as he turned and saw me standing there. “Kill the outsider, now!”

The men with the shaman didn’t need to be told twice. They were all young men in their late teens and early twenties. There were three of them. One grabbed for an arrow and nocked it to his bow string. The one closest to me, hefted up his hunting lance and he threw it at me. The leader of the hunting group pulled a knife and headed for me. Not one of them got a lucky break.

I immediately sidestepped and ducked the attack. The lance sailed over my head and it landed a good twenty feet beyond me. As I came back up I brought my pistol to bear on the man. I snapped off two shots in quick succession and then I swung my aim onto my next target. By then I noted that the guy with the bow had drawn back his arrow. He died next, screaming loudly as the rounds I pumped into his chest tore his heart to shreds.

That left just the hunting party leader and the shaman. The shaman was still frozen in one place looking befuddled at the violence I was dispensing upon his men. The hunting leader had pulled up short as well. He’d pulled a knife when his great spiritual leader had ordered my death, and he’d moved to close with me, intent on stabbing me to death. The sudden demise of his companions had brought him up short. He was no more than ten feet away from me, but he wasn’t moving. He was however looking down the smoking end of my pistol. I smiled wickedly and then I shot him in the face.

That left the shaman. The fool was just standing there looking utterly confused that his command hadn’t achieved what he had intended. I didn’t even think about stopping and explaining the facts of life to him. Instead, I brought my pistol to bear once again, steadying it in my other hand. I put a round right between his beady little eyes. As the round tore a hole through his forehead and it splatter his brains out the back of his skull, the man simply crumpled like a bag of shit.

“Is everyone okay?” I shouted loudly as I spun about and I addressed my people, speaking the common dialect. “Did anyone get hurt?”

My gaze fell on Marta first. The woman hadn’t listened to me when I’d told her to get down. She was still seated where I’d left her when I’d bailed out of the vehicle, just before all the firing had started. To my relief I quickly noted that she was uninjured. She was, however, in a state of shock. It quickly became obvious that the poor woman hadn’t been prepared for the violence and carnage that I unleashed upon the men who’d been blocking our path and intent on attacking me. She was sitting, staring wide-eyed in silence at the bodies that I’d left strewn about the trail, oblivious to anything else. In a manner of speaking she looked frozen in time.

I sighed seeing that. Silently I holstered my pistol and I stepped over to where the woman sat. She didn’t even notice me.

As I moved I noted that the rest of my party was fine. I saw that my men were out of their vehicles and armed. I nodded to them, smiling with satisfaction in response, and then I turned my attention back to Marta. By then I was standing at her shoulder, looking down at her.

“Are you okay?” I asked the woman, addressing her in the Horse People’s dialect. As I spoke, I touched her on her naked shoulder.

Marta jumped in response to my touch. She squealed with fright and pulled away from me. Even as she moved, her head spun about and she looked up at me. Amazingly, it took a moment for her to even recognize me. To my surprise she was trembling like a leaf and her breath came and went rapidly.

“Calm yourself down,” I told the woman firmly. “You’re okay. No one is going to hurt you. Do you understand me? You’re fine.”

“Yes,” Marta answered through trembling lips, heaving out a deep breath as she did. “I understand you. I’m fine. I’ll be all right. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”

“No, I’m sorry you had to see that, Marta,” I murmured compassionately in reply. “We can talk about it later. For now I want you to do me a favour. I want you to go back and check on the rest of the women. Make sure they’re not hurt, and their children are fine. Okay?”

It was a good idea. I helped Marta out of the vehicle. Once she was on her feet and steady, I sent her off with a peck on her cheek. By then Sygor was standing beside me, holding his shotgun at the ready.

“Every one is deployed,” Sygor reported in a low voice when I glanced at him. “All the approaches have been covered.”

Sygor had acted while I’d dealt with Marta. He’d posted sentries to cover us just in case more bad guys decided to drop in on us while I focused on cleaning up this mess. He’d sent Bogdi back down the trail that we’d just driven up to make certain no one was coming up that way. He’d sent Gort up the slope of a nearby hill that rose up and away from the trail, butting up against the rugged outcroppings that overlooked this part of the pass. From there the youth would be able to spot movement coming from any direction, and warn us well before anyone fell upon us. Finally, Sygor had sent Tonko up the trail past the fallen bodies to see what was up ahead. He had just brushed by us at a quick jog, when Sygor had pointed it out.

“Good,” I muttered appreciatively. “Well done. Now cover me. I’m going over to speak to these women and to find out what the hell is going on.”

Sygor did as I asked. He stepped to one side so he could cover the women with his shotgun, without putting me in his line of fire. He watched with steely coldness as I approached them.

“I am Jake of the Bear Tribe,” I said falling back on the Horse People dialect once again, speaking loudly and to no one in particular in the huddled cluster of women and children. “I’m a friend and I mean you no harm. Are you people okay? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes, we are okay, Chief Jake of the Bear Tribe.” a young woman blurted out as she threw herself up off the ground where she’d been kneeling with the others in the group. Her voice was filled with a mix of fear and anger. “I think that the men have killed the old man, though.”

I nodded my head in understanding. I glanced at the body that the woman was speaking about. Now that I wasn’t focused on protecting myself or my people, I could tell that the figure looked to be quite aged. His face was turned away from me, but I could see his long, stringy hair and I could tell that it was more grey than black. I wondered who it was.

“Watch them,” I told Sygor switching back to our common tongue. “I’m going over to check the bodies out.”

Sygor nodded that he would. When he had I moved out, leaving him on guard. I stepped first to the body of the dead hunter who lay closest to me. There wasn’t much left to his face. I then continued on, checking each body in turn until I got to the battered and bruised form of the old man.

I knelt down by the body letting out a tired sigh as I did. Tentatively I reached out and checked for a pulse. I brushed his lank, grey-black hair out of the way and I placing my fingers on his neck. To my surprise I found one. It was shallow and weak, but it was there and I found that very encouraging. In response, I gently took hold of the man. Gripping him by the shoulder, I rolled him over so I could examine him further. His body moved with ease.

I gasped with surprise when I saw the man’s face. Even as battered and bloody it was, I could still recognize the man. It was Wodon, the old shaman of the Horse People; the man I had befriended. He was a complete mess and definitely unconscious. Still he was alive. Silently I wondered what was going on.

I didn’t hesitate once I’d confirmed that the old man was still alive. To my relief I quickly found out that Wodon had no real wounds that needed treatment. I found him covered in scrapes and abrasions, but no cuts or lacerations besides a cut lip. He also had no broken bones, though he did have a broken nose and I suspected a cracked rib or two. I just couldn’t tell. He also had two blackened eyes, but that was it.

The men from the Horse People had slapped the old man around and they’d kicked him and they’d put him down on the ground, but none of them had used a weapon on him. Unfortunately, that meant that any serious injury was internal. So, there was very little I could do for the old man, but to load him up and get him to help as quickly as I could. Hopefully he would make it.

“I need help,” I shouted over at Sygor who was still standing guard. “Send a couple of women over to give me a hand here, and then call Marta up. I want the back of my vehicle cleared out.”

A moment later I was joined by the woman I’d spoken to from the Horse People, and an older woman. Both looked thin and frail, and very tired.

“Are you two okay?” I enquired cautiously as they knelt down on the other side of the old man, eyeing them with concern. “Do you need to rest?”

“We’re fine,” the first women replied without hesitation. “We can cope, so you needn’t worry about us. What do you need from us?”

I simply told the two of them to watch the old man. I doubted very much that they could help me any more than that. They looked underfed and exhausted and almost as frail as the old man looked, even though they were no more than a third of the man’s age. They whispered softly that they would.

I left them and I headed over to my ATV. I met Marta there and with her help I stripped the back deck of anything not needed. I then found the old man’s furs and I made a bed for him upon it. There was no way he’d be able to lie down upon it, but I made certain that it would be comfortable enough. Once it was ready, I went back to the old man and picked him up. I had nothing to brace his back or keep his head from lolling about. I just shifted him as carefully as I could and then secured him into place. By the time I was done, it was a half hour later and Tonko had returned.

“Did you spot any trouble up the trail?” I shouted at the youth as he came into sight, even though I could tell from the casualness of his stride what the answer would be.

“I saw nothing at all up the trail, Jake,” Tonko replied without hesitation, striding over to me. Then his eyes fell upon the old man and he recognized him. Instantly his brow furrowed and his face went ashen. In a faltering voice, Tonko asked, “What happened here?”

“I haven’t found out yet,” I told him in reply. Then I glanced questioningly over at Sygor and spoke to him. “Did any of the women tell you what happened here?”

“One of the women claims to be the old man’s granddaughter,” Sygor answered me without pause, pointing towards a young woman who was standing across the trail from us, glaring intently at us while cradling a child on her hip. “She told me that the new shaman wanted to make an example out of the old man for embarrassing him back at the encampment. That’s about all she told me. She wants to know if the old man will live.”

I looked at the young woman. She wasn’t one of the two women who had come over and who’d offered to help me with the old man. I found that interesting given Sygor’s statement that she claimed to be the old man’s granddaughter. Perhaps she just didn’t want to see him the way he currently was. I didn’t know and I didn’t care. I did however have a few questions for her. Hopefully the girl would have some answers.

“I understand that you’re Wodon’s granddaughter,” I said brusquely to the girl when I came to a halt in front of her, startling her with the sharpness of my words. “You asked my man if he was going to live. I think he will, if we can get him to my healer in time. Do you want to go with him?”

“Yes,” the girl replied in a soft spoken voice, casting her eyes downward as she spoke. “I would like that very much. Thank you for helping us.”

I told the girl that it was my pleasure. I then led her over to the ATV and I helped her into it, letting Tonko hold her child while I got her settled in place. Then I took the child and handed it to the girl. Once she was cradling it again, I started asking her questions.

The young woman was Sooka, the daughter of Wodon’s only son. Her father was dead, her mother was dead, and her mate was dead. She was alone except for the old man and her child. At first she was hesitant to answer me, but I made her speak, telling her that I was not only the chief of the Bear Tribe, but that I was also the shaman, and that the Earth Mother would be very angry with her if she did not answer my questions. After that Sooka held nothing back.

What I learned disgusted me. I was never a big fan of politics back in my own time and place, and I certainly had no love of it here and now in this place. However, regardless of how I felt about it, the ‘game of power’ had played out in the Horse People’s encampment over the summer. Gogra hadn’t been the only one in the old order who’d been ousted when Mondo became chief. Wodon had been replaced as shaman by a young acolyte, who had been studying the spirit world at Wodon’s feet. The young man encouraged by Mondo’s new advisors seized the mantle of shaman while Wodon had been sick.

“It wasn’t right,” Sooka pointed out adamantly. “No man can replace a shaman while the old one lives, but Mondo didn’t care. The false shaman whispered in his ear that Mondo would be great with power one day, and that even you would bow to him. No one else believed him, but none can challenge the chief.”

Unfortunately, while none could challenge the chief, everyone who still respected the old ways, could challenge the new shaman while Wodon lived. People still sought out Wodon in the encampment and listened to his words. The new shaman became enraged and Wodon for his own safety decided to leave. When he heard that we were in the areas, travelling about, Wodon had decided to head up into the pass in the hope of joining our tribe. The women, including Sooka joined him, as they were all widows and orphans, and to them a life in our tribe even as whores would be better than dying slowly in their own tribe.

Regrettably, as the group had learnt first hand when they’d been stopped by the new shaman and the hunters and the old man had been beaten, Mondo had taken affront to their leaving the Horse People. By the time of their departure, many in the tribe had been whispering a question behind Mondo’s back, hoping that Mondo never heard it. They asked why Mondo believed that he was great when the people in the tribe were leaving it in droves. It made no sense to them. Unfortunately, Mondo had heard the words and it had infuriated him. He had sent the new shaman to stop the exodus, and to return the people to his control. I had come along just in time to thwart the new shaman and his band of thugs. For that, Sooka would be eternally grateful.

Sooka had little else to tell me. The Horse People were now but a shadow of what they had been but six months ago. Many had died over the winter, and more had died since due to an illness that had struck after Gogra had left to come join us. The tribe would be lucky to survive the coming winter.

It was a harsh story, but I could see how it happened. I’d talk to Gogra about it later. Perhaps it was time for a coup. I’d see about that. For now though, I had to focus on seeing to it that Wodon reached Clara and safety.

I gave Sygor and Gort the job of taking the old man and his granddaughter back to our valley. Sygor tried to argue with me that he should stay with me, just in case I needed him. I shut him down quickly by pointing out that I needed him to do the job I had just given him. He grumbled about it, but not for very long.

Sygor had to go. He was my best driver and he was the most proficient with his shotgun. If a problem occurred along the way, the young man was smart enough to come up with a solution that would work. Gort could help him out. The boy was now almost a man and he’d learned a lot in the three years living under my tutelage. I was certain that they would make a good team.

The biggest question was whether they would make it in a day. The trek through the pass and back to our settlement was at least a hundred and twenty miles. On a full battery charge, the trek was doable, but the ATVs didn’t have a full charge. We’d been running on them for three hours already and the battery was half drained. With luck Sygor could make it to the end of the pass, however I doubted he would make it much further than that.

“Do what you need to do to get to the end of the pass safely,” I told Sygor while the others in our group loaded the vehicle up with food and water, and the bedrolls belonging to Sygor and Gort. “Once you reach our valley, fire three shots into the air. Hopefully the sound will carry far enough from that height, that someone below will hear it and they’ll tell Clara. Keep going for as long as you can. When you do stop for the night, fire off another three shots to let the people in the valley know that your still there. I’m hoping someone does hear it. If you’re lucky Rugar and Clara will send out a search party in the other ATV. If they do and they find you, they can then take the old man back to Clara so she can treat him.”

Sygor tried one more time to protest that he should stay behind and I should take the old man back to the settlement. I didn’t buy his argument and it fell away when I told him to mount up and to get going. I wished him luck and then I sent him on his way.

Sygor’s departure left me with two vehicles and four horses with which I needed to shift seventeen people. Fortunately, seven of those people were children. I put Marta in the vehicle I intended to drive. I then put two of the Forest women on the back deck with their children and their belongings. That took care of one vehicle and six people. I did the same with the other ATV. I put Tonko in charge of it, letting the last Forest woman sit up front with him, with her child, and I put two women from the Horse People, with their children on the back deck. That took care of seven more. That left two more Horse People to take care of. The big issue with them was the fact they didn’t know how to ride. While Agar had embraced riding as had both his brothers, the Horse People didn’t let women ride. They walked at all times. Well, not today.

I put Bogdi in charge of the two other women and their children. I also put him in charge of the travois the women from the Horse People had been hauling. Those were now loaded with everything that my vehicles had been carrying including what the Forest women had brought along when we’d left the compound, and everything the Horse People women had been dragging with them. The loads were spread out as best we could.

I led the way once we were all ready to head off, putting Bogdi behind me leading the other horses with the two women and their children riding on a mount each. Tonko brought up the rear. We kept everyone to a fast walk. By dusk we’d covered twenty miles.

I put Marta in charge of all the women once we got to camp. There had been no hunting done that day. We did the best we could with a couple of left over birds and anything we could scrounge up out of what supplies we still had left. While Marta saw to that, my men and I swept the area. While I was at it, I put out a few snares. There was no telling what opportunities tomorrow would bring; and, given the state the women were in, I had to do something to keep them fed. With luck we’d at least have a few rabbits to eat come the morning.

That night there was no messing around in the furs. though Marta did sleep with me. I stood watch first, followed by Bogdi, and then Tonko. Thankfully it was an uneventful night.

It turned out that luck was against us. I found all my snares empty in the morning. It didn’t make for a great start of a new day.

Over a cold breakfast I sat people down and tried to explain what we were doing. We couldn’t just pack up and pull out. The batteries on the two ATVs were still charging and they would have to continue charging for a couple of hours more before we could go. I decided that if we couldn’t move on, then we should do something productive. The women would forage for food and Tonko and Bogdi would do a little hunting. Naturally I would stay close to the trail, just in case some one showed up pissed and looking for answers.

The interlude did allow Marta and me to talk. We hadn’t had a chance yesterday after I’d shot all the men from the Horse People, and after I’d sent Sygor and Gort off with the old man and his granddaughter and her child. The woman was still embarrassed by her reaction.

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” I told her as I paced the trail, keeping an eye on the other women who were foraging as well as the route that we’d travelled the day before. “Everything happened quickly, and you certainly weren’t prepared for all that killing. It was natural for you to be in shock.”

“It wasn’t the violence that shocked me though,” Marta muttered in explanation. “It was how many died and how quickly it had occurred. My people are used to violence. When we confront another tribe over the right to forage or to hunt, someone always dies. One man from each tribe fights the other to see which tribe wins. All fights are to the death. My mate fought many times and he killed many men, but only one at a time and usually with a knife. You killed four men with your magic weapon. It caused thunder in the air and it smashed down your attackers. Your power is greater than any I have ever seen. Are you a shaman as well as a leader of your tribe?”

I had to admit that I was a shaman as well as the leader of the Bear Tribe. It seemed to ease what worries and concerns that Marta was experiencing. To her, it made sense that a shaman could call thunder out of the air to kill someone.

For now I left matters there with the woman. I’d make a point of explaining things better once we got back to my community and this horrible trip was finally over. Until then I needed to focus all my attention on simply getting us there.

By noon we were on the road again. Bogdi had dropped a deer and that was our food for the day. The women had found a few roots, but not much. The terrain wasn’t as conducive to foraging as I’d like. We drove for five hours or another twenty miles and then called it quits for the day and we made camp once again. We kept it up for three more days until Sygor and Rugar showed up with the other two ATVs with one hauling the pup trailer. They were definitely a sight for sore eyes.

“That was excellent,” I told Ramie when she came to me to collect my bowl. I was sitting at my usual table on the outdoor patio, with Clara, Gabby, Rugar, and Gogra as my companions. I’d just finished my first real meal in a couple of days. We’d been on lean rations passing through the pass. The stew that Ramie had fed me had hit the spot.

Ramie smiled broadly in response to my complement. Then she slipped away leaving me to speak to the others. I watched her go, noting how tall and proud she held herself as she went and how her hips swayed invitingly as she moved. I got the distinct feeling those hips were sending me a message. I didn’t know for sure, but my cock certainly did. It started to harden right away. Fortunately the voices of the others sitting with me drew me away from speculating about Ramie’s shapely butt and back on the problem at hand.

“Killing a shaman is a bad thing,” Rugar muttered in response to something that Clara had just said, and something I hadn’t heard. To my surprise his voice was filled with trepidation and concern.

“I didn’t have much choice in the matter,” I snapped defensively, butting into the conversation and taking everyone at the table by surprise. As I did I glanced across the table at the other man. My gaze was cold and whatever contentment that I had felt a moment ago was gone. “The bastard ordered the men with him to kill me. I’m sorry if shooting the bastard upsets you, but when a person tells someone else to kill me, he’s essentially signed his own death notice. There was no way I was going to let the bastard go so he could try it again.”

“We weren’t speaking about that idiot,” Clara chided me sternly. “We were talking about the old shaman, and the fact that the idiot you shot and his bunch of hunters were actually intent on killing Wodon. According to Gogra and Rugar, who was simply acknowledging it, killing a shaman in their culture is a very bad thing; especially one who is so old and revered by his people. According to them, the spirits will be pissed off over this.”

“Oh,” I mumbled in embarrassment as I realized my blunder. “I didn’t catch that part. I’m sorry for what I said.”

I looked at Rugar and he nodded his head in acceptance. Then I looked at Gogra, then Gabby, and finally Clara. All of them forgave me. Of course Clara didn’t give me an inch when she did. She made certain she got in the final word before we moved on.

“Next time, pay attention to the conversation,” Clara pointed out, smirking knowingly as she said it, “and not to Ramie’s ass. You can ogle it later on. For now we have more important matters to discuss.”

“Like what we are going to do next,” Gabby interjected. “What do you think we should do?”

“Personally, I think the spirits should show Mondo just what they think of him,” I declared smiling slyly as I did, “and I also feel I should deliver the message myself.”