Chapter 9

Two moons had passed since Two Bears had been welcomed into the village of Jakko and Elenst. As he had promised, Konil had worked hard to secure permission for Two Bears to learn the metal making secrets of the village. There had been three separate votes taken among the village elders. At first Konil had only received permission to show the processes where the iron was pounded into different shapes in order to form tools and jewelry. It was correctly believed that the working of the metal was the least of their secrets. Each morning Konil and his brother, Reckil, set out for their small foundry attended to by several youths of their village. The foundry itself was built of packed earth and coal fed, and had an elaborate hand powered air bellows constructed from animal skins that delivered rich quantities of air that reduced the burning coals to a fine high temperature burning coke. To this oven, a special compound of willow and elm charcoals had been added to facilitate the carbonizing of the iron as it was heated and worked. There was a block of treated pig iron that the brothers used to serve as an anvil while they pounded their metal into shape.

Each of the boys who tended the fire had been assigned a number of tasks that they needed to perform. Two Bears first assigned job was to feed new coal into the chambers of the foundry. As he moved around to the several foundry openings, feeding in the coal, he found himself perspiring in spite of the coolness of the air surrounding the foundry. The temperatures within were far greater than any he had known before, exceeding even those of the kilns that he'd visited on his journey North, where the people had made pots and cups from clay that they had coated and heated inside their fire heated kilns. The coals, coke and burning charcoal radiated an immense heat that traveled outward and kept all near in a state of great warmth.

Buckets of water were constantly being brought to the brothers as they cooled the metal that they were working. Steam hissed when they dipped it into the water. Over and over they would dip and pound before sending the metal once more into the foundry door to be reheated. Slowly, the metal changed it's shape as though it were a living organism. Two Bears was fascinated by the change and doubted that he could ever learn the skill to turn empty metal into knives and arrowheads of the quality that he had seen in his own village, one full cycle of seasons before. It was a long time before he saw a knife blade emerge from the many forceful poundings that Konil had given to the metal. After the shape had emerged, Two Bears noted that the next steps were even slower and more careful in their application. A smaller metal ball suspended from a wooden handle was now used to pound down on only a single side. Pound and dip, pound and dip, and then reheat and pound some more. The strokes that Konil now took were shorter and carried far less force. Up and down the length of the blade Konil worked, not stopping until there was a very noticeable thinning along the blades edge. Now it looked much more like a knife, but not like the ones that Konil and Reckil had offered in trade for the tiny deer.

When the two brothers shut down the fire and took their semi formed blades back to their village, Two Bears was disappointed in their results. He had been allowed to examine the metal at every point of its being worked on. To his mind, it was no better than a napped flint that he had seen made in a fraction of the time and with the efforts of only a single napper, Broken Stick. He had not come all this way for so little gain he hoped. Outside his Iglu, Konil sat, folding his legs as if preparing for a long stay. From a leather pouch he removed a black stone that looked to Two Bears like the river stone that his people used to nap flint or to shape bones and antlers. Mattik, his wife, came out of the entrance to the Iglu carrying a folded skin containing a dry white paste that she set down beside Konil. What he next observed was incredible to Two Bears. Konil took a pinch of the paste and applied it to the stone and then wet the paste with his own spit before spreading it all over one side of the stone. As soon as he was satisfied that a liquid paste coated the stone, Konil began rubbing the thin side of the blade back and forth on the stone. The edge turned a grayish blue caste and it made a sound as it moved back and forth over the stone. It was almost as though Konil was making music come from the metal as he continued moving the blade forwards and backwards and pressing it softly into the stone. From time to time, Konil would wipe off the blade and examine his edge with his eyes and his fingers, feeling to estimate the amount of progress he was making before returning to the stone and continuing his efforts.

It was becoming dark when Konil handed the blade to Two Bears and let him once again examine the edge. In place of the uneven and warped surface he now saw a smooth and unbroken edge. He felt of the edge and was impressed with it's sharpness when he saw a tiny pooling of blood on his finger from a cut that he had made. Now, holding the blade out and away from him, Konil started running the stone across the blunt point of the blade, reshaping it into a slight curving end. It was obvious that the paste contained something that ate away at the metal allowing it to assume a smaller shape. It was completely dark by the time Konil was satisfied with the reshaped point and handed it over to Two Bears for his inspection and approval. Now, Two Bears was feeling much better about his long journey, because now he could see a wonderful metal knife had been grown from the earlier foundry forged metal. He understood that the biggest secret lay in the paste that Konil had used. He needed to learn how to make such a paste for himself. Already he could see many uses such a paste could be put to, and wondered whether it could be used to put sharp edges on flint.

That night as he lay under his sleeping furs, his mind wouldn't allow him to sleep as it thought about what he had earlier seen. At some point he became aware of the sounds being made by Konil and Mattik as they joined beneath their furs. It seemed to Two Bears that people in this village displayed no shyness when expressing their love. Mattik especially made no effort to lessen the loud noises as she urged Konil to a better performance of his skills under their furs. By the time it was once again quiet inside the Iglu, Two Bears was uncomfortable with the tightness surrounding his manhood and the stones that lay in their sack right below. Not for the first time was he regretting the great distance that separated him from his village and lodge, and, most importantly, his woman. He shut his eyes and tried to will himself to travel in his dreams back to his lodge for a brief joining with Bent Willow beneath their own sleeping furs. He finally fell into a light and restless sleep, although his dreams were not of home, but of a young girl who lay two domes away, close to him in distance, but out of reach if he were to remain faithful to his beliefs and promises.

In the morning, Mattik showed Two Bears the method she used to attach the wooden handle to the newly fashioned metal blade. She had heated a glue made from animal fats and poured some of it inside the wood before slipping the metal handle inside. When she had blade and handled married together to her satisfaction, she wrapped the knife inside a hide and took it back inside the Iglu so that the glue could dry properly. Later, Konil and Reckil returned from the second vote with the council of elders, where they had won permission to show Two Bears the secret of how the iron ore was turned into metal. This was not a secret that was easily shared with people outside the immediate tribal area. They took him away from the village to a pit that had been carefully dug and prepared much earlier. Again, several young boys tended the pit, consisting at that time of a large thick bed of charcoal that lay burning with a fierce heat. Once the three adults arrived, Konil started showering a thin coating of crushed limestone over the coals, and spreading it evenly throughout the fire. When he was satisfied that all was in readiness, Konil and Reckil poured the contents of several woven baskets on top of the pit. These baskets contained some uneven sized chunks of multicolored rocks. Now a large amount of charcoal was put on top of everything and a liquid substance was poured all over the charcoal. This liquid had a pungent smell and reminded Two Bears of the sulphur smell that the women had sometimes used when curing and tanning the larger hides. Konil went and got a lit stick from one of the other fires and he threw it onto the pit.

Two Bears stepped back from the sudden jumping of flames as the oil caught fire and burned up in a smoky blaze of orange and red light... As the two brothers looked on for a short time, Two Bears was left to wonder what any of what he'd seen had meant. He recognized the charcoal, limestone and even thought he knew what had caused the sulphur smell. He assumed that the layer of multicolored rocks contained the metal and that they were burning it to somehow make it give up it's metal. Konil turned and started walking back to the village with Reckil following close behind. Two Bears decided that he may as well follow them too since none of the boys ever told him anything anyway. When they got back to the Iglu, Konil crawled inside and told Two Bears that he would sleep some more because they would be returning later to check the metal's progress. Two Bears hadn't slept that well himself and thought a little more sleep would be a good thing for him as well. He was sleeping and having a wonderful dream when he was awakened by a hand reaching beneath the sleeping furs and his loincloth to wrap around his manhood. When he bolted up in panic he was greeted by the smiling but guilty looking face of a naked Kirik. Her hand was still attached to his penis and she was still trying to rub him to an even greater state of arousal. Two Bears reached his own hand beneath the furs and gripped her wrist tightly and forced her to remove her hand from him.

"Kirik, what are you doing? I have told you that my people's customs do not permit me such behavior. I am already spoken for and have my mate. I do not wish your attentions. I'm sorry, but you must never do such a thing again."

"Two Bears, you were moaning in your sleep, and then you called out my name. When I came here and reached out for you, you were already stiff and ready. How can you call out to me and then turn me away when I answer your call? It is you that violates our customs. Your words make me ashamed, and my family will think bad of me." She turned away then, already crying, and crawled quickly back to her own sleeping dome. Two Bears didn't know whether to believe her or not. He hadn't called her name while he was awake, although he had thought about her more as the time of his absence from his own village grew greater. He loved Willow and wanted so much to be with her, but that wasn't possible. Kirik was right there though, and she had expressed a willingness and even a desire to couple with him beneath his sleeping furs. If he dreamed of her and called her name in his sleep, it was because she had placed ideas inside his mind.

Two Bears came out of the Iglu wearing the winter clothes that he had traded for with two village women. His new winter moccasins were the warmest that he had ever known. The inside area was covered in a thick fur from an animal that he wasn't familiar with, and then the outside was covered with another whole layer of soft and supple elk hide. The moccasins also rose up on his leg almost as high as his knee. The material for his leggings was the thickest that he had ever worn, and the top was really composed of three separate layers of soft hides. His arms and shoulders felt somewhat constricted, but the woman who fashioned it had told him that it would soon stretch and change as it got used to the way his body was shaped. He had traded for three complete outfits that he hoped would get him through the winter. One of the big differences that he had difficulty adjusting to was the odors that people in the North put up with in the Winter. In his own village people weren't as clean smelling during the cold months, but they also didn't rub animal fats and grease all over the exposed parts of their body to protect them from the dryness that attacked their skin with the cold air that seemed always to be blowing. Two Bears thought that he too must smell pretty ripe because his skin needed to be moistened as much as anyone else's to prevent it from cracking from the dryness.

He stood outside until Konil came out a few minutes later. Seeing Two Bears dressed in his new clothes, Konil grunted in approval. The two men started off in the direction of the fire pit they had left only hours before. This time when they reached the fire pit, the cold air that they had walked through made Two Bears appreciate the waves of warmth given off by the burning charcoals. In their absence, the young boys had continued putting on new charcoals and spreading the red hot coals to ensure a uniform heat beneath. Konil added another smooth layer of limestone and watched as the boys piled still more charcoals on top. The heat from below was enough to start the new layer of charcoal burning so that no new oil had to be poured. Konil told the four boys present that he would be sending people out to relieve them soon and he thanked them for the excellent service that they had rendered. All of the boys seemed very pleased at his praise and his appreciation of their efforts.

"I grow worried for your health through our Winter Two Bears. Already your mind is calling for you to ease your loneliness, and still you choose not to listen. The customs of your people are different than ours, mostly to adjust to the difference in the two living conditions. If your village stood close to ours you would practice things differently. If my village were moved close to yours, we would have to change our ways as well. We have to make peace with the life that surrounds us. Right now you are surrounded by our life. You should accept our customs over your own. When you return, you can go back to your own customs."

"Would you force me to abandon my honor then Konil?"

"I only give advice Two Bears. The choice I leave up to you. Try not to call out my sister's name in your sleep if you are decided to stay with your customs. My Iglu isn't a happy place to be in the Winter anyway. If your customs continue to cause her pain and shame, it might become unbearable for all of us." Two Bears felt bad to be causing trouble for his friend and host. He wished it were possible to put an end to the differences that were starting to come between them.

The following morning, Two Bears, Konil and Reckil walked back to the fire pit. They arrived to find that everyone else had left. The two brothers began to move the ash away from the pit with wooden sticks. They dug down until the heat below forced them to quit and then the three men stood around talking for a few minutes while they watched the level of heat that remained from below. Looking at his brother in satisfaction, Konil decided that they should go back to the village and wait for further cooling to take place. Again Konil decided to go into his Iglu and try to find some sleep. This time Two Bears decided to stay outside and look around for something new to explore.

It didn't take long to find that something to explore, since there were several men practicing shooting at hide targets with their bows and arrows. Two Bears had been curious about how well these much smaller bows would work in actual hunting because he didn't think they could generate enough power from the force that was put on the bowstrings. He stood watching for several minutes, noting that they fired at their targets from much closer than he or the hunters of his tribe used for their practice. When the men noticed him watching, they each offered to let him take a turn with their bows. He tried several shots but his success was very limited. He did admire the hunting tips made of metal though. The men told him that Konil and Reckil supplied the whole tribe with their arrow tips, and that they were the finest in the area too. Two Bears left for a few minutes and went to get his own bow and his quiver of arrows. He allowed all of the men to examine his bow and the arrows including his flint arrow points. He told them that the bow had been fashioned by his father's father and that it was considered one of the best from his tribe. When they asked him to show them how he fired his bow, he moved away from the targets and then let fly with five arrows, one for each target in rapid succession. He hit every target squarely, but only two of his shots were certain kills. Broken Stick would have had at least four kills out of the five shots from that distance, and would have emptied a full quiver in the time that Two Bears had needed to make his five shots. Even so, his skill with his bow had impressed the men. They all mentioned to him that he should have Konil or Reckil make him better arrow tips since the game in the North had thicker and tougher hides.