Chapter 10

There was no way in hell I could deal with a Cashda now even if I had hold of one. Well, maybe if it was a foal, but probably not if it was grown enough to make it without its mother's milk. That didn't mean I wasn't happy to find there were some close to us. If nothing else I wouldn't have many problems hunting them.

With my rifle I could take one from long distance. I examined a lot of the hoof prints and as I'd seen before, they looked exactly like prints that horses left, only much bigger, they were easily half again the size of any earth horses I'd ever seen. It seemed that there were at least ten that had come here to drink and maybe as many as fifteen mature animals, while probably four yearling sized and maybe six to eight foal sized were in the bunch too.

I headed out in the direction they'd gone, hoping to get a look at them. I'd seen some from a long distance twice before, but from the talk about them I probably couldn't get very close, even if I was on their trail.

Two more hill climbs let me know I was wrong about that too. When I topped the second one from the river I could see the little band down in a small draw. I was probably within two hundred yards of them. There were fourteen mares, one stallion, five yearlings, and seven foals. They were grazing and it was obvious that they didn't know I was around. I thought it was a little odd though that they were all bays, but I guess stranger things could happen.

It seemed to me that I had been right with my first speculation about them. Somehow the Cashda, or the ancestors, had come from earth. My nose didn't do its amazing job on them and apparently theirs weren't doing that trick with me either.

In a way it made sense if they had come here from earth somehow. I had the ability for phenomenal nose performance on things that were native to Margata. If these Cashda, or horses, weren't native then it made sense that I wouldn't be able to smell them that well.

Just then the herd stallion made a loud snort, and glancing at him I could tell that he'd smelled me the old-fashioned earth way, probably. They didn't run off in a panic but they did start grazing away from me, and that was ok. I doubted they'd leave the area completely and I had no immediate use for them anyway.

The next hour or so I spent walking downstream and then back up it. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but it didn't hurt to see what was coming to drink here. I didn't see anything else out of the ordinary, or I didn't recognize it as such if I did.

Crossing back over the river involved another undressing and dressing and I was glad that my cups seemed dry enough to move now. I could tell that they would still be fragile but I'd just have to be careful.

Lunch had come and gone by the time I returned, but my mates had saved me a few tidbits. They were very curious about what I was bringing back with me and so I set them down near our hut and told them what they were.

"You mean after you get them hot in the fire they will stay that way?" Katia asked.

"Maybe. We'll just have to see what happens. If the mud was the right type, and if I let them dry enough before firing them, and if I haven't done something else wrong they should stay the same from then on.

"If it goes wrong somewhere I'll have to see about thinking of something else to do. I know that it can work, I just don't know exactly how."

"Well, I hope you can make it work. Bowls and cups take a long time to make and they don't last so long either. If these made out of mud from the river will work they should be much easier than days and days of carving and polishing a cup out of wood," Shaeta said.

"They will be even easier than you think, and more useful too, if I can get it right. Cups and bowls aren't the only things you can make this way. After I have it perfected I should be able to make large bowls for keeping food in and for cooking in," I said.

"You mean we might be able to put them in a fire and they wouldn't melt and turn back into mud?" Katia asked.

"They would not turn back into mud. They might crack or break, but even then they would not go back to being mud," I said.

This was plainly amazing to them, but they seemed to be giving me the benefit of the doubt. Shaeta had a good thought next though.

"Maybe you should not tell anyone else until you have made at least a few that work," she said.

"You are certainly right about that."

"The calf seems to want to go where we go now, it is almost like it gets lonely without us," Katia said, changing the subject.

"I don't wonder, it is accustomed to being with its mother and now that she is gone it might be lonely. It will get over that, with time. Is anyone complaining?" I asked.

"No, most of the women have learned to just shoo it away when it comes too close, and none of the men would say a word even if they didn't like it. They even seem reluctant to shoo it away," Shaeta said.

"I don't want the calf causing any trouble. Be sure that the women understand that I don't expect them to let it become a bother. I will make a pen if I need to."

"What is a pen?" Katia asked.

It was harder to explain than I'd have thought, but I finally used some of the scraps from the hut building to cobble up a small demonstration of a fenced enclosure. They understood easily after that but thought that it would be a lot of trouble.

"Maybe, but think how the men and even the women would like it if we had several grown thakas to pull all the travois. That would leave most of the men free for other duties during any traveling the Calak does," I said.

"But what other duties?" Katia asked.

"Why, anything the women think they should be doing," I said, giving maybe the first politically correct statement on Margata.

"My mother was right," Katia said, "You are very smart for a man."

"Maybe, maybe not. Have the two of you decided where you'd like for me to stack our firewood?"

They had and they showed me. With my saw, hatchet, and axe strapped onto my cart I headed back out in the direction of the place I'd killed Buttercup's mother. Then I spent the next three hours gathering, cutting, and splitting firewood.

Carting firewood on my dolly was a hell of a lot easier than hauling any damned thaka. There was no way in hell I could pile more than about a hundred and fifty pounds of wood on it. I had three cartloads and of course it took three trips. I stacked two loads where my mates had showed me it belonged and then I carried the last one to Denac.

He seemed happy to see me and I could tell almost at once that he was doing much better. I still wouldn't let him help with unloading and stacking the wood but he stood around and talked to me.

"I went walking out in the forest today and I have located a big bee tree. When you think I'm well enough I want to go and get the honey," he said.

"That is great, but unless there is some reason to get it right away I may have something that will help make it much easier," I said, thinking of making ceramic containers for it.

"That would be good, and there is no hurry. I hope you have discovered a way to keep the bees from stinging me so much," he said, and laughed.

"I hadn't even thought about that, but I did when you mentioned it and I think I do know a way," I said.

"How?"