Chapter 12

Stick and Two Bears enjoyed eating their clams beside their driftwood fire. Because they had stopped along the way to look at outcroppings of rock on the hillsides that they had passed, it had taken them four days to make it to the great sea. For Broken Stick, this was to be his first real long trip of exploration. Each night so far, as he lay beneath his sleeping furs, his thoughts were of Still Shadow and Little Hawk. It was going to make his journey seem longer and harder, because of these thoughts, and because being away from them was something that he disliked.

"Good clams Stick. Why do you not eat with your normal appetite?" Two Bears was reaching into the fire to remove yet another clam whose shell had been forced open by the heat. He too missed his family, but, he had made a long journey before. He knew that dwelling on missing loved ones wasn't going to bring him back to them any sooner. He wanted to accomplish the purpose of his journey as soon as he could, and then think about his return. There would be plenty of time to think about Willow and the children after he had found the yellow sand, and was returning home to them.

"I am thinking of Hawk, and about how much there is to teach him still, if he is ever to become a good hunter." He had promised his friend that he would stay with him for as long as the journey might take. Both hunters knew why this long trip was necessary, and that the tribe was depending on the two of them to bring them this metal making ability. Broken Stick had tried to encourage Two Bears to go ahead and produce some metal without the yellow honing sand. There were many ways to sharpen bone and antler. Some ways were better than others, but it was really the metal itself that they were after. Stick thought that, once they had the metal, they would find ways to sharpen it to a fine edge. Two seemed to have lost sight of their main purpose, which was in filling that basic need to have metal. In the end, Two Bears had been stubborn, insisting that the yellow sand was necessary for producing sharp points and edges. Because Two had worked with metal before, Stick gave in and bowed to his friends insistence.

"In the morning, we will start North, along the water's edge. We will find the right yellow sand, and will soon be returned to our village. When we return, we will have all that we need to make the metal that will make our people's lives better and all of our hunter's stronger. You should eat while there is plenty that you like Stick, because soon there will be less for you to enjoy." While he had been speaking, Two had been waiting for the clam to cool off enough for him to eat it. After he finished speaking, he reached down to pick the shell up only to discover that Stick had gotten there before him. He looked over at his friend just as he was lowering the empty shell from his face.

"You are right Two, these are good clams, and I am enjoying them. Get another one from the fire for me won't you?" The two friends laughed together over this, and Two reached in with his hand and grabbed two more clams that were ready to eat. Stick put another four clams on pieces of bark and placed them inside the fire pit so that they would be able to get heated up and have their shells come open. Once they had eaten their fill, the two men wrapped themselves in furs and huddled near their fires while they waited for sleep to come to them.

As they journeyed North along the coastline, the hunters found many settlements of people living near the water's edge. They stopped and traded at each village that they came to, and Two would show his yellow sand to the village medicine man, and to any who fashioned points or edges, or those who knew the working of bones and antlers. Because there were so many villages along the coast, their progress was slowed. They would usually spend three or more days in each village, asking questions, trading, and looking at the different ways that each village hunted, gathered, fished and survived. In none of these villages did they find any signs of metal being used.

It was late in the summer before they started finding villages that worked with clay kilns. Both hunters paid close attention to all of the processes that went into firing up the clay. They both learned how to make glazes and how to apply them evenly over the unfired clay.

In one of these villages, while they were trading, Broken Stick came across a hunter who had a similar problem with one of his feet. Like Stick, his foot was misshaped and left his bad leg somewhat shorter than his other one. Krop, the other hunter with the bad foot, had fashioned a special moccasin that lengthened the short foot and encased it in soft furs so that more of the weight could be evenly apportioned to the whole of his foot. This allowed him to walk much smoother than Stick, and made his defect less noticeable. Stick and Krop worked together for several days fashioning one of these moccasins for Stick. After it was completed, and he had put it on, it took Stick another half of a moon just to get himself properly accustomed to the changed gait.

Walking with the new moccasin meant having to use different muscles in his legs, and that also meant that he had to start making other adjustments and compensations. His stamina while walking suffered greatly at first, but he managed to increase it daily, until he was able to walk as far as he ever had before. By the time they resumed their journey Northward, Broken Stick was able to walk well enough to keep up with Two's normal fast pace, and his limp was hardly noticeable. To Two Bears, it seemed a small improvement for such a long delay in their journey, but to his friend, it made a great deal of difference. To be able to walk alongside another hunter without having to resort to his former ungainly loping hop, meant that he no longer stood out as being that much different from the other hunters.

Stick delighted in moving ahead of Two from time to time, and then, waiting patiently for his friend to catch up with him. If Two Bears noticed his friend's antics while doing this, he made no outward appearance of having done so. For him, seeing Stick happy about something was enough. He had felt bad about almost forcing Stick to make this journey with him, but, now that Stick had learned something that was useful to him, he didn't feel quite as bad. Stick still had trouble climbing up, or going down, steep slopes, but he felt that he'd improve that once he became adjusted to what needed to be done to make it easier for him.

Twice, they had located deposits of yellow sand, but both times it had turned out not to be what they were looking for. They had walked up to a great river that flowed into the sea. Not knowing how they could possibly ford it, because of it's width and depth, they turned back inland, planning on following the river up until it became narrow enough and shallow enough for them to make a safe crossing. They had traveled alongside the river for three days before they came across a village. They were tired and running low on food and other supplies, so they stopped to trade and rest for a few days. It was while they were trading that Two and Stick encountered their first evidence of metal making on their journey. Three of the hunters that they were discussing trades with, had metal knives sheathed to the sides of their leggings. Two Bears had never seen such long blades before and asked permission from one of the hunters to examine his knife closer. The three hunters discussed Two's request among themselves before allowing the inspection.

"I have seen metal knives like these further North, but not as long as these. How do you make and keep the edges sharp?" Two was disappointed in the overall quality of the metal he was holding. It was pitted, the blade was uneven, and it didn't have the look or feel of any of Konil or Reckil's knives. He also saw that the edge wasn't as sharp as the honed edges that he had seen in Konil's village. Inferior or not, it was still a metal knife and would have many uses among his people. He handed the knife back to the hunter who owned it.

"We traded for them from a village two day's walk up river from us. They make the metal there. To keep it sharp, we use stones and hides, but the knives were sharper when we first traded for them. If you go there and learn how they make their metal sharp, we would like to know that as well." One of the hunters showed Two and Stick the water stone and the tough cured hide that they used, demonstrating with his own knife the method that they used. After three days, feeling rested, and with plenty of food and supplies that they'd traded for, the two friends resumed their journey, continuing their travels up river. They passed by several small villages on their way. The hunter who had let Two Bears examine his knife had also described the location of the village where metal was used to make points and knives. On the third morning of their resumed journey, they came to the village that had been described to them.

Five hunters sat around a trading fire watching Two Bears and Broken Stick as they unloaded their trade goods on the furs that they had brought along for that purpose. Two Bears had packed a good supply of carved decorative figures as well as tightly cured cooking skins that could hold liquids over a fire, and a good quantity of his father's bow string material and hollowed out bone nocks for arrows. These items were very light so that a lot could be carried, and they had also been very well received on his last journey of exploration. Broken Stick had carried feathers that he had worked for true arrow flighting, and a special glue that made his feathers stay on the arrow longer than others that he had seen. His most popular trading item was his skill with bending saplings for arrows. None could make straighter or truer arrows than Stick, and his manner of doing it was considerably quicker than most others. A straight arrow shaft was highly prized among all the people, no matter which village they happened to live in. When the trading quivers had been unloaded, there were seven furs filled with good trading items. The two men sat down on their empty trading quivers and waited for the five hunters to look through the goods being offered for trade.

"I am Lanil, son of Calil, and I greet you and welcome you to our trading fire. I see by your bare faces and by the clothing that you wear that you have traveled far to trade with our village. Is there something that you come seeking from us, or did you just want to see what we make here in the village?" The oldest of the five had spoken. He was a hunter having a full span of seasons, his hair had lost its dark color and was the color of snow. The other four hunters sat quietly, waiting for their guests to speak.

"We greet you Lanil, son of Calil. I am Two Bears, son of Eagle Claw, and this is my brother, Broken Stick, the son of Heavy Wolf. We come to your trading fire today in peace, and we offer you our friendship. We came here with the hope that we can each benefit the other with the trading of our goods and with some of our skills. We have brought only a small assortment of the fashioned goods of our village. We invite you to travel South to trade and to visit at our village. Like you, we lay close by a river, and enjoy good hunting and fishing. We are at peace with all of our neighbors."

The formalities all taken care of, the five hunters started examining closely the goods laid out for trade. Stick had laid out twelve arrows, finished, except for the points. these were the best arrows that he'd produced since he had known that he and Two would be making this journey. Each shaft was perfect, the nock tightly fastened and each of the three feathers was perfectly arranged and aligned. He had examined each arrow with a critical eye, and had come away content that they represented the best that he was capable of fashioning. The arrows were the first to be handled. Each man sighted down the shaft and rubbed a finger down the length to feel the smoothness of the wood. It took a minute to examine each arrow, and Two and Stick could see that these hunters were impressed with the skill that had gone into fashioning them. One of the other hunters, one who'd been silent until then, started asking questions about the arrows.

"How did you get the shafts to be so smooth and straight? Each one is as true as can be."

"I bent them with fire after first making them supple with water and mud."

"You made these arrows? All of them?"

"Yes, just before we left. These are some of my best."

"I make most of the arrows in our village. I would happily call any one of these arrows better than the finest that I've ever made. Could you show me how you do it?"

"If you have some fresh cut saplings available, I'd be happy to. I'd like to see your arrow making as well."

While Stick and Vasil, the arrow maker stepped aside to discuss the fine points of arrow construction, two other hunters began to negotiate with Two Bears for three of the carved antler figures. Of the dozen or so that he had laid out, the three that they had chosen were all fashioned by Running Spring, Rising Waters woman. The Chief had given Two a dozen figurines that Spring had fashioned, and had asked for a metal knife if possible, or two arrow points if that was the best that Two Bears could manage.

"You have a good eye for beauty. Those were fashioned by a woman of our village, and are among the best that I've ever seen. On my last trade journey, I was offered two metal knives for one small figure that she had carved. What was it that you planned to offer me for three?" The two hunters just stared at Two Bears after he told them what he'd been offered for one figure. Even in a land where the secret of metal making was known, two metal knives represented a lot of wealth.

"Can we know where you were when the offer was made to you?" One of the hunters was finally able to find his voice.

"I was near the village of Reckil, Konil, Jakko and Elenst. Do you know the village I speak of?"

"We know of Konil and Reckil. They are famous for their knives and battle hatchets. Their points and edges are without equals."

"I spent a winter in Konil's Iglu and he and his brother showed me the manner in which they fashion their blades and points. Even just watching them for a short time, I came away impressed with their skills."

"I am Teril, son of Mino the hunter. I am a maker of metal also. My brother, Ridil spent two cycles learning from Konil and Reckil at their furnaces. Would you like to see our foundry sometime while you are here? Since Ridil died, the metal hasn't been as strong as when he fashioned it. I'm afraid that I didn't pay close enough attention when he was showing me the ways to make metal. I am unsure of how to do it like he did. My metal is usually pitted with stone, and is easy to break." Two Bears tried to contain his excitement as he told Teril that he'd be happy to look over the foundry. Konil had told him that charcoals were necessary to prevent the metal from breaking too easily.

"What are you using to hone your edges? Mattik, Konil's woman showed me how she prepares the paste for the honing stones."

"I make the paste just like Ridil taught me. It makes the edges only poorly sharp, but they won't hold even that sharpness very long."

"What color is the sand that you use for the paste?"

"Yellow sand that we get from nearby. Why do you ask?"