Chapter 68

I pulled four beers and headed back to the range.

Bigglieo's smile, when he saw me with the beer, could have lit the practice cave without any help.

"John, the excellent bruga!" he said, almost shouting.

I gave them each a mug and Bigglieo nearly let his get hot as he kept bragging on it. It wasn't hard for him to convince Barago or Racaato of the quality since I noticed they nearly inhaled theirs. When we'd finished Bigglieo had to know.

"Will we be having much bruga tonight?" he asked.

"Not tonight. We will have too much work to do until after the mating. The night of the mating ceremony we will have more bruga than you can drink. More than the last time the earth shook," I said.

"Some of the men told me the earth shook after they unloaded the first of the bison," Racaato said.

"It did, I felt it where we hunted," I said, lying.

"Maybe it did no damage again," Bigglieo said.

"It did no damage. It did more good. I will show you after you see the new weapons," I said.

"We have new weapons?" Racaato asked.

"Yes, they are not rifles, but they are much better than spears."

I went to my locker to retrieve my bow and some arrows again. I gave another little demo and then spent two hours teaching them enough to get them started.

Racaato could hit the target easily every time at one hundred yards. Of course the target was a circle three feet in diameter, but it was still a good start for him. Bigglieo and Barago weren't far behind him either. Finally I called a halt and we stored our equipment. When we left I led them through the exit that led to their new digs.

When we got into their new common area I got a surprise myself. There were accommodations for two more families than I had expected. I told them to look around at their new homes for a few minutes and went back into my cave. I sat down at Frank this time and sent a quick message. When Argent replied I asked him what the story was.

"We have information you do not John. The camp you were planning on inviting will come and ask to join you, it would have been another week or two but we are sure when your runner tells them of the mating they will come intending to stay if you let them. We have merely tried to anticipate your needs.

"I should also tell you we think Caato and his camp are seriously considering joining you also if you will let them. They are worried you will reject them because of the unpleasantness you have suffered from that camp," Argent said.

"Then you should probably make room for Caato and his main man too."

"We can do it now if you like."

"Do it, but if you can, do it quickly and make the ground shake enough to scare the other men out of their new caves," I said.

"We will do it."

The ground started a small but noticeable vibrating almost at once. I heard some yelling and the shaking increased. I got my own ass out of my cave and saw Bigglieo, Barago, and Racaato had beat me out by a long while.

Georgo, Bigglieo, Barago, and Racaato went back into the caves with me about thirty minutes after the mini quake was over. We saved the new accommodations for last. When we entered them, sure enough, there were two more chambers and some of the originals had been slightly rearranged. None of the others, even those who had already seen the new caves, noticed. I asked Bigglieo to fetch Galto for me before I made the happy announcement, and I took Georgo back almost to my cave to talk to him privately.

"The other camp you told me of will be asking to join us soon. Caato will almost surely want to join us also. That is who the extra chambers are for. Can you explain it to them and make it seem right?" I asked.

"But when did you find out?" Georgo asked.

"I left Bigglieo and the others in the practice cave and came to the kitchen to get us all a mug of beer. I felt weak and had to sit down at the table and when I did a vision came to me. It told me about the other camps coming to join us and then it said that the ground would shake again. I felt nervous taking the beer back to the others," I told Georgo, making it up as I went.

"Do not worry, they are anxious from the quaking and it will be easier on them if I give them an explanation to account for it. They will believe almost any reason now because they have nothing else to explain how such a thing could happen. They will want to believe," Georgo told me, confidently.

He paid for his cave all over again when he went back to them. Bigglieo was back with Galto and Georgo explained exactly who the new caves were for and told them in no uncertain terms they had been provided by the spirits. He reminded all of them they should be sure to thank the spirits in their own way and they should not take the gifts lightly.

They were so fucking happy to have something to believe I was afraid a prayer meeting was about to break out. Thankfully they didn't know about baptism or they would have all been in the river in seconds. I had to force myself to quit thinking things like that because it was hard as hell not to laugh out loud about it. Bigglieo asked the sixty-four dollar question then.

"But who are the other new places for?"

"The spirits have let me know we will soon have other camps joining us. Probably some that come for the mating ceremony will want to stay," Georgo told them.

"When they taste the bruga they will all want to stay. They will probably taste it until they can't leave for several days anyway," Bigglieo said, and we all laughed at that.

They took a little tour of their new quarters then and were surprised by their beds. It was plain for them to see who went where because the beds were marked with pictures of them and their mates - also the bed's coverlets were of the same type skin as the new clothes of the women that had them. I paid extra attention to the skins on the beds of women that I hadn't had the pleasure of taking yet. They were all patterned after different cats.