The Uprights, page 10
The hunters in the trees tighten their hold. Look on some more. Think carefully. If they have never seen those on the ground before, can they at least work out their habits? Decide if they are dangerous. Of course they can. They are too heavy to climb; too big to jump from branch to branch; too weak to do them any harm. It’s all right. There’s no need for them to scatter. Seek safety elsewhere. Not when those they are studying are down there and they are up here.
So the hunters return to their family. The leader has made his decision. It’s safe to eat. But in their enthusiasm to feed, twigs snap, leaves rustle, things drop to the ground. They stop what they are doing. Peer down. Follow the objects they have disturbed. This is not what they wanted. The beasts below have been alerted to those who are above. Are now pointing in their direction.
There’s no doubt they have been noticed and that makes them tremble all over again. Yet nothing happens. No lithe beast claws its way up a tree to spring at the nearest, laden female. No mouth is opened and no fangs are brandished. No roar echoes around the forest to extinguish their will to survive. Nothing happens except fingers continue to point.
*****
“Ohp. Ohp. Can you see what’s up there? They’re glaring at us. Baring their teeth. Challenging us to battle.”
“Yes, I see. Leave them … alone, B-Bahnor.”
“I know we have been ordered to hunt pigs, father. But can’t we have some fun first?”
Ohp looks up at the sun, trying to judge whether it has yet reached its full height, but the dense foliage prevents him seeing it properly. He waivers. He knows what his duty is, but he also likes to hunt those that require him to throw his stones far and high and more accurately than most can manage. It’s a good opportunity to show off his skills.
“You’re right, B-Bahnor. Let’s see who can kill the most. We’ll leave the ground-beasts … until later.”
The leader’s decision pleases the pack. Of course, pigs – even the small ones of the forest – give them more meat, but monkeys make them laugh. And think. Their little faces, eyes, ears and noses are so like themselves that some wonder if they were once uprights. Or are they something else? Not the bodies, but the nature of uprights. At least the nature of those not put in the ground after death and saved by the saying of the right words.
While they are getting their weapons ready, a lone voice struggles to gain their attention.
“Ohp. Ohp. Don’t allow it. It’s wrong to kill them.”
*****
Dhi comes back to the cave just before dusk, eager to tell Tahk about the leaders who have agreed to come to the meeting. But instead of talking and laughter, there is near-silence. And most unusually, Luhla, his mother, isn’t standing on the ledge to greet him. Instead, she is sitting by Tahk’s side, back bent, head lowered, rocking to-and-fro, gently stroking a once powerful arm, now so limp.
He bends over his father and looks at what is so familiar – Tahk’s sharp nose and high cheekbones, the long grey hair and the even paler, untrimmed beard. It’s all as it was before his trip: except it isn’t. His father’s jaw and shoulders – indeed the whole of his upper frame – is jerking and twitching like a fish pierced by a spear. Is his father fighting for his life – no, is he losing the fight for his life? Dhi is filled with fear and sadness: he must make contact with his father just one more time. How else will Tahk know what he has done? What he is now able to do.
Dhi crouches down, grips an arm and speaks his father’s name urgently. He refuses to be denied, not now, not when, for the first time in his life, he believes in himself. Can do what his father has planned for him all along. Stop Ohp, stop Bahnor, stop all the other unworthy hunters who want to take his father’s place. He will do it instead. Then he will be able to guide the family in the way his father wants. He can do all those things now Wuhn is by his side.
Tahk doesn’t respond, but that only makes Dhi raise his voice, demand in fury as much as desperation that his father opens his eyes before it’s too dark to see. Before it’s too late to know.
At last there is a change. The breathing becomes steadier, the neck stiffens and the eyes open. Once again, Tahk rejoins his family. Is able to peer at the faces hovering over his. That of Luhla, Nohi and his other females. Dhi, his oldest son. He recognises them all. Then he notices another. The face of a young female. Not a face he knows. Yet it’s a face he wants to know. It’s full of life. Energy. Hope. He looks some more. Not just at her cheeks and mouth and nose. But also the flowers in her hair. And lower down, her chest. Her breasts.
Wuhn turns away. Flushes. Smiles a bit. Just a bit.
The leader settles back, sighs and falls asleep.
*****
“Are you sure we can steal the meat without being killed?”
Vihnnak has followed Guhgral to an outcrop of rock rising above the trees. He knows the other wants to sleep, but as his eyes are still open, he continues.
“I can’t see how we can do it. Not against so many hunters.”
Guhgral sighs with impatience, but decides to answer. Of all the runaways, he likes Vihnnak the most.
“I have a plan to trick them away from their meat. Tomorrow, when we are all together, I will explain how to do it.”
Guhgral doesn’t tell Vihnnak to go away, but nor does he encourage him to stay. Before he lies down for the night, he has many things to think about and he cannot do that if he has to answer questions. Besides, now he is used to sleeping in the open, he prefers not to be near any other upright. He still worries he might be bitten by a snake of course, but he favours the quiet. It’s so very different from the cave.
“You don’t like it here very much, do you?”
Vihnnak props himself up and faces the other.
Guhgral shivers. But not with the cold. How does Vihnnak know the way he feels?
“Life here is not what you were expecting, is it?”
Still Guhgral hesitates to agree. After all he has chosen to join the runaways and it’s hard to accept that he might be wrong.
“We are no longer beaten by the females. Humiliated by the hunters. But we have even less food here. And we are in more danger.”
The older male continues, apparently unconcerned that Guhgral doesn’t respond.
“Another thing. We squabble all the time. We weren’t allowed to do that in the caves. The hunters would have hit us. Squabble and fight. Over what little food there is. Where we sleep. Our clothes. The females.”
“You have a female, don’t you, Vihnnak? You must be happy. How did you get her?”
“Shohna came to the forest just after me, carrying an infant. Her leader, Dehp, wanted her to strangle it. She refused and had to leave.”
“I know Dehp. There must have been a good reason for him to order that.”
“Not really. It was only because he was born with a cut in his lip.”
Vihnnak pauses as if trying to imagine how Shohna felt, briefly holds his breath and then turns to look at Guhgral’s forehead. At the mark on Guhgral’s forehead and, for the first time, he knows why the other is with the runaways. He has never thought about it before.
Guhgral flinches. He doesn’t like being reminded of his blemish and has long since managed to avoid seeing it when he bends down to drink. But he cannot stop others noticing it. He just hopes Vihnnak won’t laugh at him.
He doesn’t. Somehow he knew he wouldn’t. And that makes him pleased they are talking.
“What happened? I mean to the infant.”
“It was bad. He died quickly. Even worse, as soon as it happened, Shohna was attacked. Day after day. Night after night. She couldn’t find food. She became ill. The blood came down all the time. She could hardly walk. She nearly died.”
Vihnnak is noticeably upset.
Guhgral isn’t surprised by the story. It’s only what he imagined would happen and the reason so few females run away. Without the family law, there’s nothing to protect them. But he’s taken aback by Vihnnak’s distress. He has never seen a male cry about a female before.
“But she didn’t die.”
“No. I wanted to stop the males holding her down. Lying on her. Pushing into her. Making her scream. But I was too frightened to do anything. They might have killed me.”
“Why did they give up?”
“I don’t know. One by one, they walked away. Left her alone. Maybe because they could see she was close to death. Maybe she was so damaged they could no longer get pleasure from her. They’re not really bad. They didn’t want to kill her. They just needed a female. If only the families had allowed us to have females.”
Guhgral sighs. The same thought has been going through his head for as long as he can remember. If only the families allowed all males to have a female – that’s what he wanted to think about earlier – it would have made all the difference, but he’s beginning to see terrible difficulties with the idea.
“Why did she come to you?”
Vihnnak leans forward and wraps his arms around his knees.
“I don’t know. When they left her alone, I took her some water. Then food. Not much. Just what I could find. A few berries and roots.”
“It was enough to save her life?”
“Yes. But first I took her infant. Bundled it in leaves. Dug a deep hole in the ground, away from the animals. I didn’t know what to say afterwards. Not like a leader. I just did my best.”
“Well at least you have a female now, Vihnnak. I don’t. Most of us don’t.”
“Maybe the families will change. If we steal meat from the pack. Show them how strong we are. Maybe then, they will respect us. Allow us to come back. Even alter the rules, so that workers and runaways can have females too.”
Vihnnak’s words are just what Guhgral would have said before, but not any more. He has come to realise that.
“Vihnnak. It’s difficult. It’s impossible. Whatever we do, the families will never agree. The hunters will never agree. Can’t you understand that?”
Guhgral is impatient. Now he can see things clearly, he assumes Vihnnak can do the same.
“Why not? We could all live together. We would stop fighting each other. The families would be much stronger. It would be just us against the beasts.”
Guhgral sighs again.
“It won’t be like that, Vihnnak. There aren’t enough females. If every male is to have a female, no male can have more than one. It would mean all the hunters – the leaders even – giving up most of their mates.”
“Oh.”
“They’ll never do that.”
“The females won’t agree either. Will they? Why would they choose a worker or a runaway if they can have a hunter?”
At last, Vihnnak comprehends the hopelessness of the situation.
“They always want the strongest male. For protection. For healthy infants.”
Guhgral slides down until he is lying on the bare stone. Puts his folded cape under his head.
“The hunters won’t agree. The females won’t agree. There’s only one thing we can do. Not you of course, but the rest of us.”
“What’s that, Guhgral? Carry on as we are?”
“No. Not me. I am going to make sure I don’t live without a mate. If I cannot talk my way into getting a female, I’ll take one by force.”
*****
Later, the uprights turn their attention to the larger beasts on the forest floor. These can’t climb out of reach or jump from tree to tree. Nor do they throw sticks at those who pursue them, but they are quick and knowing and in their own way, just as difficult to kill. The hunters use all their strength and skill, but when they slump to the ground exhausted at the end of the day, their carrying skins are not yet full. In exasperation, Ohp looks at the night sky, trying to capture the thin, pale crescent in his mind. Work out when she is to disappear. This night. The next night. The night after that. He can only guess. Then he drops his eyes and touches his fingers. Has one day passed? Two. Three. Can he hunt some more, or should he return to the cave? Would Tahk – and more particularly the elders – prefer him to come back in time for the feast with less meat than is needed, or arrive late with what is required?
He cannot work it out, so he decides to think about it later. In any case, it’s too dark now to do anything except make their camp and bury the meat in the ground.
The hunters dig deeply, using wood and stones and in the end, their hands. When the hole is big enough, they pick up the meat, wrapping it tightly in one skin and then the other, before putting it in the ground. Even now they haven’t finished, because it all has to be covered with loose earth, and as many leaves and fronds as come to hand. It’s a lot of work, but they know if the hunting beasts can be prevented from finding out about their spoils, they won’t have to fight them off in the night. After marching and hunting, they desperately need sleep and their efforts now will allow them to have what they want, later. And to be doubly safe the hunters lay their capes over the freshly broken ground. To be their beds for the night. To protect what’s beneath. More importantly, to hide the smell. They are uprights and that means they can think of everything. They can certainly think of more things than any beast.
Ohp watches his pack at work and is pleased. He likes the forest because he believes it can supply all the meat his family, if not the whole clan, needs. It isn’t easy of course and it’s a long way for them to come. The beasts are smaller than in the valley: he cannot argue with Tahk on that. But they don’t have to rely on the river being high. On faster predators than themselves bringing down the prey. Nor do they have to fight the dreaded lions.
No lions, but there is another beast to be keep them alert. Heavy as any upright, but so much faster. Able to see in the night. Smell from afar. Attack on the ground. Drop from the trees. Kill the hunters and steal their meat. The leopard cannot be ignored and Ohp has no intention of doing so.
“B-Bahnor. Dahrun. You are on … guard tonight. Stay awake. Warn of intruders. I’ve seen no p-paw marks. No droppings. I doubt if there are leopards … here. B-but we must b-be … careful.”
Bahnor is furious with his father for choosing him and not one of the lower ranking hunters. Even worse, it means he has to spend a whole night with Dahrun. That miserable son of Tahk is too serious to tease and too weak to challenge him over Sohl. What can he do until day-break? Not talk to the other. He can’t bear that. Perhaps he can lie down while Dahrun does his duty. He is the type of upright who always does his duty.
Dahrun is no happier. He has been doing his best to keep away from Bahnor and now that won’t be possible. He doesn’t like him and doesn’t trust him. Besides, he knows about him and Sohl – his female couldn’t keep that a secret. Well, he won’t fight Bahnor for her, not when he knows he will never be leader. What’s the point of being killed for nothing?
*****
There’s very little light in the cave, but still Dhi hasn’t settled down. One breath he’s holding Wuhn, touching, exploring, feeling himself go hard. The next, he’s pulling away from her, creeping over to Tahk and looking, listening, hoping. First his new mate and then his father. Backwards and forwards. Young female, old male. Then he pauses. Tahk has stopped twitching. He can hear that. His chest is rising and falling more steadily. He can just see that. Tahk’s sleeping and that means he will eventually awake. Now, he can stay with Wuhn.
*****
Apart from yawning occasionally and flicking a tail, the leopard hasn’t moved since dusk. He isn’t near the clearing and hasn’t observed any of the activities there, yet he knows exactly what has taken place. It isn’t difficult. There has been so much noise. And there are a lot of them – all mature uprights. All male. But that shouldn’t be a problem. It mustn’t be a problem when there are also dead beasts in the camp. Pigs. Monkeys. Especially monkeys. That’s what he really wants. That’s what he will get when it’s too dark for the uprights to defend themselves and what they have caught.
“Can you hear anything?”
“No.”
“Do you think there are any leopards nearby?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
All Dahrun wants to do is stay awake and listen – certainly not talk to Bahnor.
“The others are asleep now. They are making their night-noise. It’s so loud we will never hear a leopard. Especially if it stays in the trees. Crawls along the branches. Springs down at us from above.”
Bahnor is trying to frighten Dahrun.
“If you stop talking, I would hear it.”
