Chapter 5

"Williams," Otatl said. "Teach me to fight like you do. I will give you anything."

"Anything?" Rod said.

"Yes! Anything."

"Then you must do one thing, remember that you asked me to train you."

"I don't understand," Otatl said. "I already know that."

"I was taught a certain way," Rod said. "I don't know if it is the only way or even the best way. I only know that it was the way I was taught. That is the way I will teach you."

Rod continued, "Much of what I do will seem pointless. You will become frustrated and angry. When you do, you must remember that I am teaching you. When I agree to teach you, I make a promise to teach all that I know. You make a promise to learn all that you can and not question how I teach you."

Otatl nodded.

"It'll take you a long time to learn to fight like I do, because time is very important. Hot and cold are two sides of the same thing. Winning and losing are two sides of the same thing. East and West are two sides of the same thing. Learning quickly and learning slowly are not two sides of the same thing. Learning slowly is much better."

Otatl was about to answer when Rod stopped him.

"Take two days to think about it," Rod told Otatl. "If you still think you want me to teach you how to fight, I will."

"I know now that I want you to teach me," Otatl replied.

"Yeah, but you haven't thought about it. You only see the finished weapon, you don't see the work that goes into making it. Would you follow me wherever I go for 5 years, for 10 years, for 15 years? Tell me in two days."

That night as he lay on the furs with Travlo and Trelo, Rod asked a question that had been bothering him. "Trelo, why were you in such a small group when the Southern People attacked you?"

"We were moving to another village."

"Why?"

"That's the way things are done," she answered.

"Husband," Travlo said. "It is hard for a man to find wives in his own village because many people are his relatives. So young men take their first wives and move to a distant village. There they gain status based on their abilities and can marry more women. It is usually safe because it is such a large group, but our hunters spotted Trelo's people and our village laid an ambush."

Trelo was now crying softly as Rod pulled her to him. "I'm sorry I brought it up. Go to sleep Trelo."

Two months later the midden pile was large and the odor was beginning to overwhelm the village. Notl and Ataar were discussing where to move the camp as Rod seated himself next to them.

"It's been less than two hands of years since we have gone to the river site," said Ataar.

"Let's see what the village says," replied Notl as he looked at Rod.

"If you think it is best, then I think it is best," Rod said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't know about the site. I will back your decision."

"We'll mention it as a possible site," said Notl. "You might mention what you think about it and have your first wife say that she thinks it sounds good. The People listen to her. Will you tell Otatl the same?"

"I am teaching Otatl to fight," Rod replied. "He's not my wife. I can't tell him what to do."

"I've watched you," snorted Ataar. "You tell him what to do all the time."

"Only when I am teaching him to fight."

"Some of the things you have him do don't look like they have anything to do with fighting," Notl laughed.

"No they don't," Rod smiled. "Yet I'm the best warrior you've ever seen and I learned the same things Otatl is learning. But I didn't come to you to laugh at Otatl," Rod smiled. "I came to see if you wanted me to teach you something else. I want to teach you how to count."

"What is counting?" they asked at the same time.

"It is a more exact way of saying how many of something you have and a way of writing it so that you don't forget," Rod said.

Notl and Ataar's expressions made it clear that they didn't understand.

"Look at the symbols I have written in this piece of clay," Rod said. On the flat almost dry clay were the numbers 134, 106, 144, and 384. "The first symbol is how many children are in the your village, the second symbol is how many men are in your village, the third symbol is how many women are in the village, and the last symbol is the total of all the People in your village."

"Is this magic?" Ataar asked.

"No, it isn't magic," Rod relied. "In my country most people can count. For now not all of the people need to know how to count, but it has many advantages. Warriors would be able to tell you exactly how many warriors were in an enemies hunting party or in a village."

Teaching went slow at first even though Notl and Ataar were very bright, but reading, writing, and zero are very difficult concepts. Rod spent some time teaching Otatl karate, some time working on a phonetic alphabet with Travlo, Trelo, and Elalo, and some time shooting the shit with Notl. The phonetic alphabet proved beyond Rod's abilities and patience. We'll go with the English alphabet and I can make-up my own spelling. Hot damn! I'll never misspell a word again.

From what Rod could tell, there was very little difference between the cultures of the Lake People and the Southern People. The Southern People had no Protector, or maybe they had and Rod had killed him in the river. Both Peoples had very few spiritual ceremonies. The River People would almost certainly be the same. The right person could bring the three tribes together. It would take a uniting idea and a strong person. It would be risky. Fuck it, what else do I have to do?

The most dangerous part would be the uniting idea; Rod was going with religion. It was a very good way to get killed and a very good way to make a pampered class who would think they were better than everyone else. But if it worked, it would be a solid foundation for a civilization.

Keep it simple, stupid. I'll go back to the way I was raised. I can mix the forgiveness of the New Testament God with the monotheism of the Old Testament God and not feel hypocritical. The Trinity always confused me anyway. I don't even know what the Koran says but I know it has the Pentateuch and the four Gospels.

Rod wrote these words in the language of the People on a clay tablet:

There is no God but God.
God created all that there is.
God is a righteous God.
God is a just God.
God can be provoked.
God will forgive those who ask for forgiveness.

I hope I don't go to Hell for this, that would really suck. The rules fit Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; at least what the main stream of those religions claim. I'll run this by Travlo and Trelo. If they don't pitch a fit I'll see what Ataar thinks. I'll wean him off the spirits slowly if I can, but I have to wonder what the People's punishment for heresy is.

The arithmetic lessons continued even as the village packed up and began to move north-northeast. In the evenings, many of the People stopped by during the lessons, either mesmerized by the symbols or afraid that numbers were some kind of magic.

During the move, Rod and Otatl ranged in front as befitting their roles as Protectors. Rod had insisted that Otatl was still Protector.

Travlo and Trelo carried all of Rod's possessions, which included the tent and furs. They dragged everything behind them lashed to two poles. Travlo had moved camp many times and was used to the work. She was also full grown and strong. This was Trelo's first time as an adult. She had started to fill out but was not as strong as Travlo. She kept up a quiet continuous commentary that contained many fucks, damn its, and son of a bitches. Perversely it pleased Rod. She's the one who wanted to be a wife.

Ataar was only mildly interested in Rod's ideas about theology, nowhere near enough to burn Rod at the stake. He didn't even bother to argue about it. Since there was probably only one written tablet in the world, Rod would use it to teach reading and writing.

There was no urgency to the move. The camp moved a few klicks a day, starting in the middle of the morning and ending in the middle of the afternoon. Occasionally the People would stop near a particularly rich source of food for several days. Otherwise the move was a slow constant march towards a new site. It was fall before the People settled in a new site.

Scouts were sent to check the surrounding area. While they were gone the People were uneasy, warriors kept watch near the new village. Within 25 days, all the scouts had returned. The new village was on the western most edge of the Lake People's land. An eye would have to be kept in that direction. For Rod it was the perfect location, on the edge of the River People's land.

The job of protector was sweet. Rod was out of the village 4 out of 10 days with hunting parties, other times Otatl would go. In between Rod taught writing and arithmetic. He taught martial arts to Otatl when they were both in camp. Often at night he would sit by the camp fires and listen to Ataar tell stories, myths and legends that were the backbones of the People's culture. These were the stories that taught honor, ethics, and morals. These were the stories that needed to be woven into the new religion that Rod would introduce.

Rod knew his strengths. He could lead men. Men had followed him into almost certain death. Not because of his rank, but because they admired and respected him. Men thought he was lucky and he always had been; he could jump in shit and come up with a gold ring. Officers tolerated him, enlisted men trusted him. His tactics were flawless; he instinctively made the right decision under fire.

Rod also knew his weakness. He wasn't smart. Not book learning smart. Not strategically smart. He wasn't officer material. He could take the initiative to get a mission accomplished, but he needed help identifying the mission. Now he had gone and done it. He had picked the mission himself and was planning the strategic moves himself. He needed help and he needed it now.

"Travlo," he said. "Please come and walk with me." They were seated by their tent with Trelo. Trelo rose with them but sat down when Rod gave her the 'don't fuck with me' look.

Nothing was said as they walked through the camp but once they past the last tent Rod quietly said, "We'll be going to the River People's camp this spring."

"Yes. You'll need a River People's wife."

Rod stopped in his tracks. "Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Because you'll need a wife from each tribe if you're going to unite the People," she replied.

Rod began to rub his forehead. "Does everyone know, or just you?" he asked.

"Just me."

"Well ... shit! That makes things easier. I need help. How do WE weave the stories that Ataar tells into a belief that fits the tablet I made. The belief will not have spirits, only one God. One, all-powerful God."

"I will think about it but first I must know about you. Are you a spirit?"

"Nope, just a man."

"Why have we seen no others like you?"

"I don't know but I don't know where I am either," Rod said. "Look at the sky. Every night the stars are the same except for the few that wander, right?"

"Yes."

"Those are not the stars that I saw in my country and those are not the wanderers that I saw," Rod said. "In my land it is known that each of those stars is a sun just like ours. The land we live on is a huge round ball that goes around the sun."

"That's impossible!"

"No, it isn't," said Rod. "The wanderers are also round balls going around the sun. That's why we see them move. The stars move but are so far away that we can't see the movements. Travlo, I think I came here from another Earth going around another Sun."

"How?"

"I have no fucking idea."

Travlo sat and then lay back until she was staring up at the stars. Rod sat quietly beside her. They stayed that way for almost half an hour before Rod said, "Travlo?"

"Shhh."

Another 10 minutes went by before she spoke again. Then she said, "We will tell the truth. God sent you to unite the People and teach us what is right."

"Oh fuck," Rod said quietly. "When?"

"Soon or after you have another wife. You spend a lot of time looking at women with large breasts. Is that the kind of wife you want?"

"It's fun to look," Rod said, "but I'd rather have a smart wife like you." That should be worth some points.

"Right," she snorted as she felt the bulge in his pants. "Smart, with large breasts. We can go back to the village and you can find large breasts to stare at. I'll think about your story."

"That's a bad idea," he replied. "Let's go to our tent and I'll think about four breasts."