Chapter 52

“It is me, girls. Are you alright?”

Jeeka called down, “Shaman. I am glad to see you. An animal was sniffing around below for a while. I think it was a boar or something, so we stayed up here quietly. Umma is still frightened; that is why she was crying.”

“In that case, get down here smartish. I left Malloka on the trail, and she is in no fit state to fight off a boar.”

The girls tiredly climbed down, looking dirty and dishevelled, but he pushed them again.

“Come on, this way. You lead, Jeeka. I’ll keep an eye on Umma.”

John hurried ahead to get to Malloka before any predator or major wild animal could hurt her. He found her still standing rigid against the tree, gripping the travois in protection. She gasped, “At last! I was afraid you would not come back, Shaman ... uhh ... I mean, John. I am so glad to see you.”

John lifted the travois off her and placed it to the side against another tree, so that he could grab her and hold her tight to him. She moved her hands to avoid his hanging crossbow while she hugged him as best she could.

“I wouldn’t abandon you, Malloka; not with all the effort I have put in to stop you from dying!” He ended this with a broad smile, to show it was no trouble at all. He hugged her again, and she hugged him back, weakly but determinedly. A voice behind them declared, “Hey, no sex in front of an unmarried woman!”

John almost jumped back, but recognised the voice of Jeeka.

“Giving her some reassurance, that is all!”

“Oh, yes? Why don’t you give me some reassurance then?”

“Sorry, Jeeka; I was not conscious that you needed some, but seeing you asked...” and he released Malloka and reached out for Jeeka. She stiffened in surprise, but did not object, so he gave her a good hug as well. She hugged him back, gently.

“That’s better!” she came out with. “Now you have laid your mark on me too.”

John frowned but released her, saying nothing except, “If Umma is here as well, we can get started. We have a long way to go. Tell me if you hear the sound of running water near us as we go, so we can keep drinking as we sweat.”

He turned the travois round to stand on the trail, and got the two girls to hold his end while he got Malloka into her sitting position. She splayed her legs to brace her feet, and similarly used both hands to give her extra support.

They set off, John dragging the structure and the two girls following. Malloka looked back at the youngsters with a motherly eye, and decided she would act as John’s eyes to tell him when they were too exhausted to proceed further.

The party all trudged on, muscles sore, until they found themselves facing the long steady climb towards the hilltop where John had slept before. The girls complained about walking more, so John turned the tables on them.

“If you two weak little girls can’t walk much more on your own, see what it is like dragging this frame,” he challenged.

He put them to the two sides of the travois and got them to grip the pole they were beside.

“Now lift your end.”

They managed that.

“Now pull it forward, nice and steady, so that Malloka is not toppled off.”

They quickly found that John had been taking the heavy work while they simply walked. Umma complained, “How far do you expect us to do this, Shaman?”

“Oh, a lot less than sundown, I am sure.”

As their faces fell, shocked, he laughed.

“I am making a funny, girls. We will stop as soon as you need to. Note, I said, ‘as soon as you need to’, not ‘as soon as you want’. See how much you can put up with, for adulthood means hard work, assuming you want to become adults.”

Jeeka insisted, “I am already an adult!”, to which John responded, “Perhaps. Then you will be able to continue for longer than Umma; won’t you my dear?”

“You are nasty, Shaman; really nasty.”

“I am a realist, Jeeka. No sense in hiding from reality; it always comes back to bite you in the rear.”

As Malloka got settled into the travois, she remarked, “You should listen to this man, girls. He is the only man I have ever met who understands that women are as important as men, and that we are not here just to produce children and forage for food.”

“How can you say that, Malloka?,” argued Jeeka. “He has done nothing but push us around and tell us what to do, including looking for food, since we met him: a typical man.”

“The food was for yourselves! And if you were males, he would have treated you just the same,” averred Malloka. “I have watched and listened to him since he appeared at my hut to save me from dying. He looked at my body, which was in a mess at the time; cleaned me up and washed my whole body for me, every single bit of it, without ever doing anything that you might expect of a man seeing a naked woman exposed to him. It was his job. He was being a shaman treating a patient. That was how he saw me; or rather that was how he viewed me then. By the way, John: I could do with some more food and water.”

Jeeka listened to what she was being told, and took it all in. She thought about it while the Shaman gave Malloka her more dried fruit and water, then spoke in a different, more thoughtful way.

“Yes, I have heard him talk about you, Malloka. He doesn’t talk about you like a patient, but as a person of interest to him, in whatever way he now sees you. The hug he gave you was not that of a shaman, but of a close friend. His hugs are quite stimulating, I found. He has not let us wallow in our misfortune either.

Now that I think about it, he has pushed and encouraged us to do things for ourselves; to keep us busy and active. I know I can do more, because he tells me I can. He is our leader, and potentially...”

John stopped her at that point.

“Jeeka, let’s see you and Umma pull the frame for a while. You have youth on your side. If Malloka was fit, she would be prodding you just as I am doing. The past is past, and you have to look at the future. That future is what you want to make it. Show me that you have determination and energy. The more you can do to help, the faster we will get to the next tribe.”

The girls set to, with John helping them to get the frame moving. Once they were moving steadily, he lessened his help, getting them to take more of the weight, but also to see how easily the travois frame worked as a means of transport, despite it being designed for large animals to pull.

They dragged it and Malloka up the hillside for a good few metres, until they struck some rock. John grabbed the travois and pulled it up on top of the sloping rock face.

“It is actually easier to pull over a rock surface, if it is not too knobbly. There is less of the drag you get from the damp ground with roots and stones embedded. All you have to contend with here is the slope.”

They tried it by themselves and found that it was indeed easier to drag on this surface. John was speculating on the abilities of the medical nanites, for Malloka was improving very rapidly. Were they that efficient, or was Malloka recovering by herself, boosted by the nanites? He shrugged. It didn’t really matter, as long as she got better.

Then he suddenly said sharply, “Quiet, everyone!” He listened, then pointed to the side. “There is a stream, over there. Give me your water bags and I will refill them.”

They paused while he attended to that task and returned to hand them the filled bags for tying to their waists.

With this extra weight to carry, the girls gave up soon after.

“Sorry, Shaman, but we’re done for. We need a rest,” Jeeka proclaimed.

John was much rested, so he gladly took over the dragging, and they were at the hilltop before long. He told them,

“I slept up in that tree, between these two branches, but I don’t think we could get Malloka up there. What do you all want to do: continue on, or find a place to sleep?”

The girls looked at each other, and Jeeka admitted, “We could do with a place to sleep; we are both tired out. At the same time, we don’t want Malloka do be in danger.” She looked apprehensive.

John took a glance at Malloka, who said, “I am tired as well, after all that time being shaken about by this contraption. My legs and arms are tired with holding on for so long. I could really do with a sleep, but I could not look after myself other than tottering about a bit if you need me to move.”

John observed his surroundings, and came to a conclusion. He pointed.

“That place over there has three trees close to each other. If I can cut down some smaller trees, I could use them as a fence between the trees, leaving us the centre to sleep in. If anything came sniffing around, I would wake up and defend us. Are all of you fine with that idea?”

They agreed that this would be more comfortable than wedged in the branches, so John set to with his knife, cutting down as many thin young trees as he could get to easily. He wove them into a fence of sorts. He could not make it a high fence with the limited number of thin trees and the distances between the three base trees. He hoped what he was able to put together would be enough of a deterrent. The girls offered to go hunting for berries and nuts, but John vetoed that idea due to tiredness. He told them they would all subsist on what he carried in his pouch.

“We can pick up berries and so on, as we move tomorrow.”

They settled down as best they could. All three females were huddled together, with John to one side of them so that he could get to his weapons quickly.

They were not disturbed that night. They all slept heavily. That enabled them to wake up feeling more refreshed. Malloka even got to her feet and walked gingerly round the limited space within the makeshift fence.

“Shaman John, you are a miracle worker,” she declared, feeling so much improved.

John told her, “Partly it is your natural recovery from the disease, and part is from my powers. I carry a magic potion within my body that helps people get well. The girls got that passed to them when they shook hands with me, so the potion is protecting them from your disease and any others you might have picked up.”

John insisted she had to remain carried on the travois for a while yet, and offered the girls the first period of pulling. They were about to refuse until he told them, “It is downhill for a while, so it will be much easier then than later.”

This changed their minds.

John placed himself near the rear, to be ready to catch the frame if it started to run ahead of itself. The girls managed well, and John took over once the trail was more level again. The two youngsters were pleased at their achievement, and beamed when Malloka thanked them, saying she had been comfortable the whole way down.

John pulled the travois for some time, then got the girls to take their turn. He wanted to be able to report to anyone who asked, that they had played a significant part in rescuing Malloka.

They were on the last kilometre before the first tribal village when they met a pair of hunters out looking for meat. The two men stopped beside the trail as the two youngsters came into view, dragging the travois with its passenger. They were astonished to find the sole man walking behind, carrying his crossbow at the ready.

They watched the parade stop wearily in front of them, and the first directed his questions to John, as the man of the party, and therefore the one in charge.

“You look familiar. Have I seen you before, sir?”

“Yes. I came through this way a few days ago. I am now on my way back, with the survivors of a village destroyed by disease. There was a young man who also survived, but he was not worth bringing back; he was not a nice man to know. I avoided killing him, but I had to force myself to be lenient.”

The hunters raised their eyebrows at this warrior-style statement. They were sure he had been described as a shaman.

One of the hunters queried, “Why did you not kill him, if you are so powerful?”

“He will learn what is bad behaviour and what is good behaviour, eventually. It will keep him alive. That is better than learning how to be dead.”

The hunter nodded sagely. This was true, if a somewhat unexpected but typically shamanic declaration. His fellow hunter was less careful.

“You are lucky he did not kill you, instead, shaman.”

“That is so. He tried it by throwing a spear, and missed. Then he ran at me with a knife; a bad decision. I deprived him of his knife and told him that the next time I saw him, I would kill him. He has not appeared again.”

“You were unarmed, and yet disarmed him?”

John grimaced and admitted, “I was unarmed then. When he missed me with his spear, I threw my knife at him, but I missed as well; I must have been careless. Thus I had to take his knife from him and flatten him for our discussion about his future.”

This hunter gaped. The shaman had faced a man with knife; taken it from him and knocked him to the ground, and yet didn’t kill him? This was unheard of; you don’t leave your enemy alive.

John requested, “Would you two hunters oblige us by taking over from the girls and dragging our friend to the village?”

When the men looked like they might refuse, he qualified his request, “Of course, if you are incapable of doing what two young ladies have managed, relieving me at times, then I will take over again.”

The two men rushed to display their manliness, and relieved Umma and Jeeka of their burden. The men did their best to speed up the movement of the travois, but Malloka warned them, “Softly, gentlemen; you don’t want to toss me off in your rush, do you?”

They immediately slowed down and obeyed the sick woman; or was she a sick woman? The shaman had called her their ‘friend’, which could mean anything; perhaps she was important. Play safe, was the best choice.

The girls stood, stretching and twisting their arm muscles to stop them stiffening up after all the exertion. Umma looked the tireder, so John offered, “Umma, do want me to carry you on my back for a little while, until you recover?”

She was about to reject him, as she felt she had pulled her weight with Jeeka, then recognised how exhausted she was. She confessed, “Yes, please.” John went down on his haunches, and allowed her to climb on his back, arms on his shoulders. He stood up and she found to her surprise that his clasped hands were on her rear end, albeit in a supportive role. Seeing that it provided her need for rest, she said nothing about it and how good it felt.

Jeeka simply watched, then smiled knowledgeably, nodding to herself. Her estimation of the shaman changed by the minute.

With the muscular aid of the two hunters, the group were soon entering the village. John noted that the residents were showing encouraging signs of being almost back to normal. Again, he had admiration for the nanites. It appeared that the nanites were learning, somehow.

But how could nanites in one person transfer to another person and then having to cope with a new case of affliction, when then the next transfer of nanites seemed to proceed with new abilities. There was no way that they could transfer such knowledge and abilities like that. There must be another way.

He thought about it for a while, envisaging the problem as army units passing on information to another part of the army. The only way messages could be transmitted without physical handling had to be by electronic means: the nanites must have the ability to radiate information to other nanites. Tiny versions of radios? It had to be something like that; perhaps a quantum entanglement version of radio transmission, passing on the new abilities.

Where did that idea come from, John wondered? He knew almost nothing about quantum physics, he was certain, yet somehow the idea seemed clear to him. Could it be that the translation nanites were translating quantum ideas from medical nanites into language that his mind could appreciate?

If so, that was astonishing. The invisible machines had to be learning as they went along; that was the only conclusion he could come to, that made any sense.

“Shaman? Can you hear me?”

John realised that someone was speaking to him, and switched back to the world around him. He looked ahead, and the tribal Chief was standing there; the same man he had met a few days before.

“Sorry, yes. I was thinking; it is a problem with any true shaman: we do a lot of deep thinking.”

John looked around him. The hunters had taken the travois and Malloka away somewhere, and the girls had gone with them.

The Chief spoke again.

“What did you find, shaman?”

John spoke up, “Sadly, the village on the other side of the hill had been destroyed by disease. The only survivor inside the village was one woman, who I brought with us. Her name is Malloka. The two girls had fled into the forest when the diseases began spreading, and somehow missed the worst. That was where I found them. I gave them some of my healing power so they have not experienced any more symptoms of disease. Malloka is healing fast, but not fit enough to do more than stand for a while. She needs a few days to recuperate.”

“I see,” said the Chief. “They are all your responsibility, of course.”

“What?”

“Any women you find away from a tribe without a male guardian or protector belong to you. Surely you know this is always the way.”

John insisted, “This is not the way in my tribe now. Women make their own decisions, just as men do. That is our way.”

“Shaman, you are not at home now, so you have to abide by our rules and traditions in this locality.”

“Malloka was not away from her tribe,” John argued.

“You said she was the last person alive there, did you not?”

“Yes. It was dead bodies everywhere; horrible.”

“So she was devoid of any tribe around her, only corpses. Therefore she was alone, and you took her under your control. She is yours.”

John could see he was being boxed into a corner.

“What about the girls? One is a woman already.”

“Then the woman is yours, once again, shaman. The younger one, the girl, you are responsible for, but if you do not want that responsibility, we could adopt her into our tribe, for we lost many of our children.”

“I will speak to her and tell her of your kind offer. It would be nice to have one less to worry about.”

“You will find them at the women’s community hut. Remember to ask permission to enter. It is the women’s domain and men may not enter except by invitation. That is almost never; it is the only power that women have.”

“I will remember that, Chief. Thank you for that advice.”

John made his way over to the indicated hut. It was the largest hut in the village, which said something, he observed. He called out at the door, “Shaman John seeks converse with Malloka, Jeeka and Umma.”

Moments later, an elderly woman hobbled to the doorway and looked him over.

“You are as they say. Before they come, answer a few questions. Did you see Malloka’s body in her hut; did you touch her all over?”

John agreed, “Yes. I had to do that to clean her up and help her to survive. It was my duty as a shaman, as there was no woman to do that for her; they were all dead. I was acting as a woman in this case,” he excused himself at the end.

That argument got nowhere; rules are rules, in many places, and this was one of those times.

“It is also your duty, as a man, to not do such a thing without taking her as your woman. You did so, therefore she is your woman. Malloka agrees that you did act as you say, and recognises the result. She says you asked to do what you did, and she agreed. That formalises her acceptance as your woman, so that is settled.”

John’s heart sank, for he had been forced into a hole with no way out. He desperately tied his next ploy.

“I have not see the naked body of either girl, just helped them from the area so that they would survive. I merely provided protection.”

“By your own admission, confirmed by the girls, you found them in the forest, away from their tribe and without a male guardian, then you laid hands on them.”

John objected, “That was just medical attention, passing on my power to their bodies, nothing more.”

“Nevertheless, by the formal rules and tradition, they are yours. Allow me to correct you: not two girls, but one girl and one woman. Accordingly, the woman is now your woman, and the girl is your responsibility as to her future.”

John challenged, “On that point, your Chief is willing to take Umma into your tribe if she is willing. You would treat her well, I am assured.”

The old woman, who he now estimated was aged about forty, stopped to think, nodded and said, “I will fetch the girl Umma, and you can ask her. I am told by Malloka that in your tribe, women have rights the same as men: astonishing.”

She left to fetch Umma, leaving John outside. He got the idea of the women’s hut as a semi-sacred place devoted to women and girls. It was their protective location, in a tribal environment where women otherwise had few rights. Here they were in charge, and they enforced that.

He waited, and eventually Umma appeared, looking frightened.

“Hello, Umma,” John greeted her.

She spoke tearfully, “Is it true that we, all of us females, belong to you, Shaman?”

“That is what the Chief tells me, but he is willing to adopt you into this tribe as a child of the tribe, if you wish that to be so. You are thus not tied to me.”

“NO! I must remain with my friend Jeeka. The women told me that the rules say that she is your woman now. She will go with you, so I will go with her.”

John looked her in the eye, and saw she had made up her mind. She had cried as she made her decision, a lost girl with one friend to rely on. Jeeka was her only direct link with home and family, and Umma wanted to keep that. John could see that he was stuck with Umma as well.

“That is your final decision, Umma?” he demanded.

“Yes, it is!” she told him with force. “I stay with Jeeka, even if I have to marry you when I become a woman.”

“Umma, there is no ‘having to do’ anything in my tribe. You alone will decide your future when the time comes; no-one else will decide for you.”

Umma ventured a small smile. “Really? I have never met a man as nice as you, Shaman. Marrying you might not be so bad, compared to many men that I have watched being bad to their women.”

John tried to be severe. “You are too young for such important decisions, Umma. Wait until you are a woman and have met some more nice men. Only then should you decide on your future.”

She ignored his words.

“Can I go back inside? The women are giving us prepared food, and I like it after so many days of eating what we could find in the forest.”

John smiled. “Go ahead, Umma. I will let you know when we have to leave for home. Much will depend on Malloka’s recovery. That will take time.”

It was indeed several days before Malloka announced that she was willing to start walking towards John’s home. He declared that they would take the travois, once it had been tightened up and reinforced, so that it would be available to her for times when she needed a rest. John told her that there would be no argument about that, and she said timidly, “Yes, husband,” with a smile on her face.

John let that pass, for there was little he could do about it. With that announcement, John waited until they had been fed, and at the entrance spoke to Jeeka and Umma about leaving. They were fine with that, but both talked about how the women here behaved differently to those in their home tribe.

Jeeka told him, “Here, they pretend to be doing what the men say, but then go their own way, and when the men ask about it, say they didn’t understand, being mere women, and they get away with it! These women are truly clever, Shaman John.”

“Jeeka, what you have to realise is that all women are just as clever as all men. The only difference is in how society treats them. Most tribes here regard women as less than men. In my tribe, women are regarded as equal to men, but different genders with a different outlook on life.”

“Really? Just as clever?”

“In general terms, yes. There are some stupid women just as there are stupid men, but overall, there is little difference in intellect, just social standing. You are not daft, so you should be fine in my tribe. You don’t have to marry me, you know. Once we get there, our own rules apply: it will be your choice of who to marry.”

“What if I want to marry you?”

“You’ll have to discuss that with Chief Numa. She was my first wife and is now Chief of the tribe. She says who I can marry.”

“SHE says who you can marry? Not you?”

“That is about it. She runs the family, so it is only right that she has a veto on any woman I may want to marry.”

“You sound as if you have more wives than you are saying.”

“I think it is about nine, with three Chief’s daughters waiting until they are old enough.”

“Great Earth Mother! Do you have children too?”

“Not yet. They are all pregnant, so I should have nine children next year.”

“Oh.” Jeeka was now unsure of herself. “So Numa is unlikely to approve more women?”

“I have no idea but Numa works to a weird idea. She seems to imagine that the number of wives a Chief has reflects his status.”

“A Chief? You are a Chief? I thought you were a shaman.”

“Not exactly; I am no longer a Chief since Numa and Maranga became Chiefs. My title is now High Chief, as well as being shaman of my tribe.”

“Who is Maranga?”

“Another of my wives. She is Chief of the Farfarers tribe.”

“What? There are two tribes with female Chiefs, and they are both wives to you?”

“Yes. Both tribes run very well with these Chiefs in charge. I told you it was merely a social matter that stopped women doing what they were capable of doing. With me being High Chief, everyone knows these Chiefs have me as backup if there were any problems. So far, there have been none.”

Jeeka questioned him further. “What is Malloka’s position in all this?”

“It appears she is my woman, according to this tribe, so I cannot refuse her. Numa will just have to accept that I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“From what the ladies here told me, I am also your wife according to their rules.”

“That is less certain, as I have done nothing to force the situation. With all I did with Malloka, I was forced into a corner; not that I object.”

“So do you object to me being your wife?”

John saw a gaping mudhole that he was liable to step into if he was not careful in how he answered.

“The three daughters of the late Chief Mongo have expressed a wish to marry me, as I avenged their father, but they are all under fifteen, but I have put them off as I do not want to see any of them die in childbirth. Having a child too early for a young woman can be fatal. Refusing them for the now is my means of protecting them. You are in much the same situation, Jeeka.”

“I am fourteen summers.”

“There you are; you answered your own question.”

“That implies that you will marry me when I am fifteen summers; is that not so?”

“Numa would have to be involved in that decision. I have no desire to refuse you at that age, for you are a clever woman, and I believe Numa will feel the same way. I can tell by your questions that you will be a valuable addition to our family. Raka is the Maker in our family group, but she may wish to make you her apprentice.”

Jeeka hurried forward and put her arms round him to kiss John, shocking him.

“Thank you, John, my husband-to-be.”

John moaned, “I am now worrying. What is Numa going to say?”

Jeeka told him, “She will say, ‘Welcome, Jeeka. It is good to have another bright girl in our family.”

She kissed him again, and this time he did not recoil; simply accepted it as a sign of times to come, especially as she pressed her breasts against his chest. She might be only fourteen, but the pressure from her breasts indicated that she was going to have quite a large bosom in another year or so.

Umma watched Jenka’s actions and reflected that her own feelings did not stretch to desiring a man yet. She had some growing to do, and it would be a year or two before her monthlies started. She saw John as a good protector and provider as her father had been before he died. That thought saddened her, and she withdrew into herself for a while.

Jeeka took her attention off John for a moment, to have a look around, and she noticed how sad Umma seemed.

“What’s up, Umma? I am not going to go away without you. John has taken on responsibility for you, and so do I. You are safe with us.”

Umma told her, “I was just remembering how my father looked after me, before the diseases arrived. He was kind and brave and looked after me; he was so proud of his little girl, for my young brother died while still a baby; I don’t know why, he just died. So I was the only child in the family. When the disease started, Father told me to run from the village into the forest and stay away from people for as long as possible. I know he was hoping I would be spared; and he was right.” She looked at Jeeka with sadness emanating from her. “And he died, just like Mother did a few years ago. It is not fair, Jeeka.”