The Uprights, page 20
“That was a long time ago, Ohp. Many things have changed since then. Besides, he was a poor leader. Failing the family. If I didn’t do that, another would have. You might have.”
Ohp looks away. He doesn’t like being reminded of his weakness.
“Come on, have a drink. You don’t have to die.”
“Yes I do. My ear will fall … off. Then I cannot hear. If I can’t hear, I cannot … talk. Make decisions. B-be an elder. You will give another … order. Tell the workers not to give me any … food. Then I die.”
“Your ear won’t fall off, Ohp.”
“You don’t b-believe … that. I can see from your … eyes that you don’t b-believe that.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then I will get no … food.”
“It’s the family law. Only uprights who are of use, can have food. There’s isn’t enough for those who are strong. For those with things to do.”
“You have … caused all this, Tahk. If you … led p-packs to the forest to the south. If you sent hunters to catch … fish. You know how to kill me without … taking my head off.”
“Have some water, Ohp.”
*****
Wuhn leaves the cave early, before Luhla wakes up and tells her what to do. She’s not going to leave her bag in the forest, whatever her mate-mother says. Besides, if she hurries she can return before the sun is overhead. She won’t escape a scolding. A beating with a whip, possibly. But she can still do her duties in the cave. Help her mate-sisters. By dusk, everyone will have forgotten what she did earlier. Her bag means a lot to her. Certainly enough to put up with a sore back.
She walks past the guard at the top of the path. He won’t stop her. Not when he is nothing but a worker and she’s the female of Dhi. Nor does she want him to come with her. She isn’t frightened of anything and that includes beasts and runaways. Well, she’s not very frightened.
The bag. The bag. There’s nothing else in her mind as she runs – and skips – her way down the hill. The skin of the bag came from a beast killed by her own father. How can she go so fast when the path is as steep as this? Her mother cut up the skin and sewed it with sinews taken from the legs of the same animal. There’re many rocks and in places the trail falls away dangerously. Yet she hardly seems to hesitate. She found the shiny black stones herself that she put inside. True, one of the workers cut and sharpened them, but they’re the blades she uses every day. It’s her bag. Her stones. The trunks of trees and the bulge of boulders don’t seem to slow her. Instead, she weaves and swerves like a horned one. The stones cut her hair. The stones cut Dhi’s hair. Now it becomes damp and slippery beneath. Does she watch where she steps? She doesn’t seem to, yet she doesn’t put a foot wrong. Dhi’s hair. Dhi’s beard. So long. So pale. So beautiful, she put a handful inside her bag. That’s what she wants.
She’s in the clearing by the lake now and whichever way she looks she can see no beast or upright. She’s alone and safe. Just as she knew she would be. Is that where she and Dhi rested on the grass? Played in the water. Entered the forest. She doesn’t have far to go. She will be very quick. Then her bag will be over her shoulder again. And wherever Dhi is, he will be close. But first she has to drop onto all fours and have a long, cool drink. She didn’t know she was this thirsty.
*****
Where is Wuhn? She hasn’t come to the water butt. Nor has she brought the infants out to the eating area. Perhaps she’s still inside the cave. He strains to hear her voice, or at least her name being called by another female. It isn’t easy to be sure from where he is crouching, but nothing of her presence – however fleeting and masked – carries to him in the wind. If it did he would have been happy. Alert. Excited. Like he always feels. But he is none of those things. Instead, he feels sad and empty.
Without seeing anything, he knows he has lost her.
Guhgral spent the night clinging to the rock-face above the cave. It was uncomfortable. It was certainly dangerous because any of the family could have looked up and seen him. Even worse, he had no food and very little water. In fact, no water. Never mind. He will lick the stones. Perhaps suck the grass. What’s he thinking of? If she isn’t in the cave or on the ledge, she must be elsewhere. On the high fields. In the clearing. In the forest. In the lake itself. He has to find her. Only then can he drink.
*****
Ohp went to his bed, hoping to sleep his way into the long blackness, but it wasn’t to be. His eyes open and he realises he has another day to endure. Another day for his females to wail. His juveniles to cling to him. Tahk to gloat. How long can he last without water? Just until the sun is high above. It can’t be any longer. Not in this heat. Then he remembers his ear hanging on a flap of skin. Why can’t he feel it? Where has it gone?
“Ohp, you’re awake. You must have some water.”
Ohp looks at his first female. He can see she’s been crying.
“No. I will still have no … water. I have no … life. Soon I will b-be in the resting p-place. That’s what I … want.”
He turns away to look for his ear.
“Ohp. Don’t refuse my water. Look, even Tahk is worried. He has come to see you.”
“I don’t want your … water. I don’t want … to greet Tahk.”
From a little further away, Tahk looks on, quite unaffected by his half-brother’s rejection. However, he is bothered – and puzzled – by something else. And it’s not because Ohp is still alive.
“Stand up. Talk to me. I wish you no harm. If you are about to die, let us at least part on good terms. As brothers. As friends.”
Ohp stops scrabbling on the cave floor. He can’t find his ear anywhere. He will look again later. Maybe he should trust Tahk. Even if his kindness is only because he is dying, it feels good. Perhaps he should do as his leader says. Mend their differences. Make their farewells. Besides, he can’t be too careful. Tahk still has the power to deny his body a resting place in the middle of the ring of stones.
“Tahk. B-brother. Leader. Thank you for … coming to see me. I want to …die. B-but I want to die in the … cave. And I want my … nature to live on. Will you let that …happen?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you, Tahk. Thank you.”
“Come into the light. Let me look at your ear.”
Then seeing Ohp unsuccessfully struggling to his feet, he puts an arm around his brother’s chest and lifts him up.
After so many winters of tension. Of resentment. Of rivalry, it’s good to be like this. Ohp willingly does as Tahk suggests and together they hobble out to the ledge.
But the uncomfortable feeling that had earlier touched Tahk so lightly, now grips him like the jaws of a lion. Ohp’s ear is no more. The flap has gone. Where they were is now just a crust of skin and blood. But surely that’s what he had been expecting. What Ohp knew would happen. Why his half-brother is so certain he wants to die. Everything is good, so why does he feel so bad?
“It’s true. Your good ear has gone.”
“I know. I can feel. It’s the … end of me.”
As usual, Tahk is only half listening. In the past, that meant he missed a lot of what Ohp had to say. Rarely a great loss, he always thought. But sometimes – occasionally – if he believed it necessary, Tahk repeated his brother’s words to himself. Silently, of course. Without the stutter, naturally. Just to make sure he gleaned what he had to. What was important. And now is such an occasion:
“I know it’s the end of me. I know it’s the end of me.”
It sounds good, but there’s something wrong. Terribly wrong.
“It’s the end of me. It’s the end of me.”
But there’s nothing wrong. Ohp knows he is to die and is saying it bravely.
“End of me. End of me.”
Tahk can almost understand now. He’s almost within reach. It’s not the words. The words are good. In fact, it is exactly what he wants to hear. It’s something else.
“End. End.”
Suddenly, Tahk starts to shudder. Ohp has no ears, but he can still hear. Hear well enough to answer. He pulls his arm away and allows Ohp to fall to the ground. Ohp has lost his ear, but still he can talk. In spite of everything, nothing has changed.
*****
“Zohka. Some time ago, I had a dream about killing beasts. At least I think it was a dream.”
Dhi is striding out, with Jehkmin’s son at his shoulder. If any of the hunters have ideas about improving their weapons, it will be him.
“What did you dream, Dhi?”
“It was to do with making a new spear.”
“We made new spears to catch fish. Jehkmin thought it would help if we tied sharp stone blades to the tips of our wooden sticks.”
“I saw you. Your spears were very good. Will you show me how to do it? I’m sure Tahk will be pleased.”
“I’ll have to ask Jehkmin.”
“Good. But it was more than that. In my head I saw other things too.”
“What.”
“Hunters chasing beasts in the valley. Even fighting lions. And they all carried spears. Much longer and heavier than the ones your family use for fishing. And all had stone blades on their ends.”
“Jehkmin never talks about that.”
“But that’s not all. The hunters didn’t just stab at the animals. They
threw their weapons at them from a distance. That kept them safe from their teeth and claws.”
“That won’t work, Dhi. I know, because sometimes we play with our fishing spears. Throw them through the air. Throw them at the fish. They always tumble over and over. You have to hold onto them to make them go straight.”
“Just a breath. Can I say something?”
Dhi turns to glance to his other side. Towards Bohrid.
“Yes. Does your family use spears with stone tips?”
“No. I was thinking of something else.”
“What?”
“I was thinking of fire.”
“What about it?”
“Fire is bad. It hurts. It can kill.”
“We all know that.”
“Have you ever thought that fire could be good?”
“Of course not.”
“What about making a fire in the valley?”
“Why would we do that?”
“Well. If some hunters made a fire, the beasts would get scared. Run away. Perhaps run towards the others waiting for them. That way, we wouldn’t have to chase them. Or fight lions.”
“That won’t work, Bohrid. We can’t talk to fire. Tell it to go this way or that. Fire obeys the wind. The wind can make it go anywhere. What’s more, it will burn the beasts we want to eat. Kill us too.”
“You may be right, Dhi.”
They continue marching, happy to be making good progress. Happier still to be in each others’ company. And talking. Most leaders wouldn’t allow that. The far hills are no longer in sight, but Dhi has made his plan. He’s leading the pack to the top of the ridge. He will be able see them from there. And if not, they will rest until the sun is overhead. Then he will get out Tahk’s stick. It will show him which hill the stick – Tahk – the sun – wants them to go to. And whether it’s the one that has that thick black cloud coming out of its top.
*****
Guhgral could stay where he is until Wuhn reappears. That’s sensible. After all, she has to come back to the cave some time. Sensible, but not what he feels compelled to do. She has hardly been out of his sight since making his decision about her. He has seen her. Heard her. Smelled her. Almost touched her. Yes, touched her. In his imagination, even entered her. So how can he wait patiently, when she’s far away? He can’t. Even better, now that she has left the settlement, she’s undefended. On her own. She doesn’t know it, but wherever she is, she is walking into his trap.
*****
How can Ohp hear without ears? What strange and terrible misfortune has befallen the family to make that happen? What mysterious power has entered his half-brother’s nature to allow him to do the impossible? If he can hear, he can be an elder. If he can hear, he will be able to speak to the others. Make them oppose the leader’s wishes. Get them to support Bahnor and not Dhi. Perhaps even persuade them to force him to stand down as leader! Who can tell how far such a misfortune might go? He isn’t going to permit it. Not after everything he has done. Not when he has won the other leaders over to his plan to go north. When Dhi is already marching towards the far hills – and their new home.
So he leaves Ohp where he is lying. Nothing has changed, yet everything’s changed. No shoulder for his brother now. No water. No farewells. There will be no farewell. Soon Ohp will realise he can hear. Even he will be able to work that out. Then it will be a short step to the elders. Talk. Promises. Plans to change the leader.
Tahk has to release his feelings. Shout. Strike a worker. Pace up and down. Walk as fast as he can. Push his body until it aches for a rest and his mind stops hurting. The lake. That will do. He will be able to think by the lake. Work things out. Plan. Decide how to prevent Ohp taking advantage of the new situation. Ouch. What’s that? His toe hurts again. The one that was bitten. He must have stubbed it. Stay within the family law. Even now he must do it properly. Why does he keep banging into rocks? Why did Dhi let him down? Choose to be with Wuhn and not him. Forget his duties. Call a meeting of the elders. That’s what he must do. Order Ohp to explain what took place on the hunt. Why didn’t he see that twig? It nearly took out his eye. Wuhn. She’s upset him too. Her body. Her rump. Her breasts. They all upset him. Show that Ohp failed as pack leader. Allowed two hunters to die. Ohp has failed and has to die. That’s what he will demand. Does Wuhn want him as much as he wants her? Would she tell Dhi? Would she tell Luhla? On the punishment stone. Yes. On the punishment stone. His head cut from his body. Wuhn’s body under his. Crashing down. With all his power. That would release his tension. Cut. Thrust. Kill. Mate. He will have his way with them all.
*****
Dhi remembers from past trips that the valley floor isn’t flat. So at first he isn’t worried that he can see neither their hill behind them, nor the range ahead. But what does surprise him is that having finally climbed to the top of the ridge, he can, once again, make out both.
“Look. Over there. The hill of our caves. Where we live,” Dhi exclaims. “And that way, is where we are going.”
Dhi is content. He knows where he has come from. He can see where he has to go. He has made no mistakes and none have challenged him. All they need is some water.
Zohka must have had similar thoughts.
“Shall we stop marching now and search for a stream?”
Dhi hesitates. The pack certainly needs to refill its bags. But it’s very hot. Perhaps too hot for them to go far. Hot. The sun burns his skin. His eyes mist over. The sun. The sun. It’s overhead. He forgot. Now is the time to get his stick out. See where its shadow points.
“No. We leave water until its cooler.”
The others nod their agreement and watch with interest as Dhi pushes his stick into the ground, squats behind it and with his eye, follows the shadow. Will it point to the hill with the cloud coming out of it? The one with the two summits. Or one of the others. The flat one perhaps. They are going to find out now.
“I cannot understand it. The shadow points to one side. The stick – the sun – isn’t pointing to any hill.”
Does a smile of satisfaction cross Kahple’s face? Is he about to say his father was right all along? It’s possible, but then Zohka calls out. And the call is so insistent, it makes Dhi look up. Makes them all look towards the far hills. No, not all the hills: just the hill with the cloud coming out of its top. And what they see excites – frightens – them. They have never seen anything like it before.
9
Thwarted
“The top of the hill is red.”
“It’s a fire. The hill’s on fire.”
“I can see the flames from here.”
“There’s smoke as well. The smoke is blacker than ever.”
“I have never seen a fire like that. It’s too big to come from grass. Even trees and bushes don’t burn that much.”
Like the others, Dhi watches the distant spectacle with a mixture of fascination and uncertainty.
Then another sense becomes alert to possible danger. Instinctively, the hunters move together. Make a fighting pack.
“The smell. Can you smell it? It’s bad. It’s not the smell of anything that grows on the ground. It’s not the smell of beasts, trapped and burning.”
Dhi is leader, so he places himself in front of the others. But to do what? Not give the order to throw their stones, of course. Advance. No. Retreat. Not yet. Think. Yes. Try and remember. That most of all. But however hard he tries, he has no memory of the smell.
“Do you think we should go back?”
“No. No. We mustn’t turn. We have to carry on.”
“What’s making the fire?”
Ohp looks away. He doesn’t like being reminded of his weakness.
“Come on, have a drink. You don’t have to die.”
“Yes I do. My ear will fall … off. Then I cannot hear. If I can’t hear, I cannot … talk. Make decisions. B-be an elder. You will give another … order. Tell the workers not to give me any … food. Then I die.”
“Your ear won’t fall off, Ohp.”
“You don’t b-believe … that. I can see from your … eyes that you don’t b-believe that.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then I will get no … food.”
“It’s the family law. Only uprights who are of use, can have food. There’s isn’t enough for those who are strong. For those with things to do.”
“You have … caused all this, Tahk. If you … led p-packs to the forest to the south. If you sent hunters to catch … fish. You know how to kill me without … taking my head off.”
“Have some water, Ohp.”
*****
Wuhn leaves the cave early, before Luhla wakes up and tells her what to do. She’s not going to leave her bag in the forest, whatever her mate-mother says. Besides, if she hurries she can return before the sun is overhead. She won’t escape a scolding. A beating with a whip, possibly. But she can still do her duties in the cave. Help her mate-sisters. By dusk, everyone will have forgotten what she did earlier. Her bag means a lot to her. Certainly enough to put up with a sore back.
She walks past the guard at the top of the path. He won’t stop her. Not when he is nothing but a worker and she’s the female of Dhi. Nor does she want him to come with her. She isn’t frightened of anything and that includes beasts and runaways. Well, she’s not very frightened.
The bag. The bag. There’s nothing else in her mind as she runs – and skips – her way down the hill. The skin of the bag came from a beast killed by her own father. How can she go so fast when the path is as steep as this? Her mother cut up the skin and sewed it with sinews taken from the legs of the same animal. There’re many rocks and in places the trail falls away dangerously. Yet she hardly seems to hesitate. She found the shiny black stones herself that she put inside. True, one of the workers cut and sharpened them, but they’re the blades she uses every day. It’s her bag. Her stones. The trunks of trees and the bulge of boulders don’t seem to slow her. Instead, she weaves and swerves like a horned one. The stones cut her hair. The stones cut Dhi’s hair. Now it becomes damp and slippery beneath. Does she watch where she steps? She doesn’t seem to, yet she doesn’t put a foot wrong. Dhi’s hair. Dhi’s beard. So long. So pale. So beautiful, she put a handful inside her bag. That’s what she wants.
She’s in the clearing by the lake now and whichever way she looks she can see no beast or upright. She’s alone and safe. Just as she knew she would be. Is that where she and Dhi rested on the grass? Played in the water. Entered the forest. She doesn’t have far to go. She will be very quick. Then her bag will be over her shoulder again. And wherever Dhi is, he will be close. But first she has to drop onto all fours and have a long, cool drink. She didn’t know she was this thirsty.
*****
Where is Wuhn? She hasn’t come to the water butt. Nor has she brought the infants out to the eating area. Perhaps she’s still inside the cave. He strains to hear her voice, or at least her name being called by another female. It isn’t easy to be sure from where he is crouching, but nothing of her presence – however fleeting and masked – carries to him in the wind. If it did he would have been happy. Alert. Excited. Like he always feels. But he is none of those things. Instead, he feels sad and empty.
Without seeing anything, he knows he has lost her.
Guhgral spent the night clinging to the rock-face above the cave. It was uncomfortable. It was certainly dangerous because any of the family could have looked up and seen him. Even worse, he had no food and very little water. In fact, no water. Never mind. He will lick the stones. Perhaps suck the grass. What’s he thinking of? If she isn’t in the cave or on the ledge, she must be elsewhere. On the high fields. In the clearing. In the forest. In the lake itself. He has to find her. Only then can he drink.
*****
Ohp went to his bed, hoping to sleep his way into the long blackness, but it wasn’t to be. His eyes open and he realises he has another day to endure. Another day for his females to wail. His juveniles to cling to him. Tahk to gloat. How long can he last without water? Just until the sun is high above. It can’t be any longer. Not in this heat. Then he remembers his ear hanging on a flap of skin. Why can’t he feel it? Where has it gone?
“Ohp, you’re awake. You must have some water.”
Ohp looks at his first female. He can see she’s been crying.
“No. I will still have no … water. I have no … life. Soon I will b-be in the resting p-place. That’s what I … want.”
He turns away to look for his ear.
“Ohp. Don’t refuse my water. Look, even Tahk is worried. He has come to see you.”
“I don’t want your … water. I don’t want … to greet Tahk.”
From a little further away, Tahk looks on, quite unaffected by his half-brother’s rejection. However, he is bothered – and puzzled – by something else. And it’s not because Ohp is still alive.
“Stand up. Talk to me. I wish you no harm. If you are about to die, let us at least part on good terms. As brothers. As friends.”
Ohp stops scrabbling on the cave floor. He can’t find his ear anywhere. He will look again later. Maybe he should trust Tahk. Even if his kindness is only because he is dying, it feels good. Perhaps he should do as his leader says. Mend their differences. Make their farewells. Besides, he can’t be too careful. Tahk still has the power to deny his body a resting place in the middle of the ring of stones.
“Tahk. B-brother. Leader. Thank you for … coming to see me. I want to …die. B-but I want to die in the … cave. And I want my … nature to live on. Will you let that …happen?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you, Tahk. Thank you.”
“Come into the light. Let me look at your ear.”
Then seeing Ohp unsuccessfully struggling to his feet, he puts an arm around his brother’s chest and lifts him up.
After so many winters of tension. Of resentment. Of rivalry, it’s good to be like this. Ohp willingly does as Tahk suggests and together they hobble out to the ledge.
But the uncomfortable feeling that had earlier touched Tahk so lightly, now grips him like the jaws of a lion. Ohp’s ear is no more. The flap has gone. Where they were is now just a crust of skin and blood. But surely that’s what he had been expecting. What Ohp knew would happen. Why his half-brother is so certain he wants to die. Everything is good, so why does he feel so bad?
“It’s true. Your good ear has gone.”
“I know. I can feel. It’s the … end of me.”
As usual, Tahk is only half listening. In the past, that meant he missed a lot of what Ohp had to say. Rarely a great loss, he always thought. But sometimes – occasionally – if he believed it necessary, Tahk repeated his brother’s words to himself. Silently, of course. Without the stutter, naturally. Just to make sure he gleaned what he had to. What was important. And now is such an occasion:
“I know it’s the end of me. I know it’s the end of me.”
It sounds good, but there’s something wrong. Terribly wrong.
“It’s the end of me. It’s the end of me.”
But there’s nothing wrong. Ohp knows he is to die and is saying it bravely.
“End of me. End of me.”
Tahk can almost understand now. He’s almost within reach. It’s not the words. The words are good. In fact, it is exactly what he wants to hear. It’s something else.
“End. End.”
Suddenly, Tahk starts to shudder. Ohp has no ears, but he can still hear. Hear well enough to answer. He pulls his arm away and allows Ohp to fall to the ground. Ohp has lost his ear, but still he can talk. In spite of everything, nothing has changed.
*****
“Zohka. Some time ago, I had a dream about killing beasts. At least I think it was a dream.”
Dhi is striding out, with Jehkmin’s son at his shoulder. If any of the hunters have ideas about improving their weapons, it will be him.
“What did you dream, Dhi?”
“It was to do with making a new spear.”
“We made new spears to catch fish. Jehkmin thought it would help if we tied sharp stone blades to the tips of our wooden sticks.”
“I saw you. Your spears were very good. Will you show me how to do it? I’m sure Tahk will be pleased.”
“I’ll have to ask Jehkmin.”
“Good. But it was more than that. In my head I saw other things too.”
“What.”
“Hunters chasing beasts in the valley. Even fighting lions. And they all carried spears. Much longer and heavier than the ones your family use for fishing. And all had stone blades on their ends.”
“Jehkmin never talks about that.”
“But that’s not all. The hunters didn’t just stab at the animals. They
threw their weapons at them from a distance. That kept them safe from their teeth and claws.”
“That won’t work, Dhi. I know, because sometimes we play with our fishing spears. Throw them through the air. Throw them at the fish. They always tumble over and over. You have to hold onto them to make them go straight.”
“Just a breath. Can I say something?”
Dhi turns to glance to his other side. Towards Bohrid.
“Yes. Does your family use spears with stone tips?”
“No. I was thinking of something else.”
“What?”
“I was thinking of fire.”
“What about it?”
“Fire is bad. It hurts. It can kill.”
“We all know that.”
“Have you ever thought that fire could be good?”
“Of course not.”
“What about making a fire in the valley?”
“Why would we do that?”
“Well. If some hunters made a fire, the beasts would get scared. Run away. Perhaps run towards the others waiting for them. That way, we wouldn’t have to chase them. Or fight lions.”
“That won’t work, Bohrid. We can’t talk to fire. Tell it to go this way or that. Fire obeys the wind. The wind can make it go anywhere. What’s more, it will burn the beasts we want to eat. Kill us too.”
“You may be right, Dhi.”
They continue marching, happy to be making good progress. Happier still to be in each others’ company. And talking. Most leaders wouldn’t allow that. The far hills are no longer in sight, but Dhi has made his plan. He’s leading the pack to the top of the ridge. He will be able see them from there. And if not, they will rest until the sun is overhead. Then he will get out Tahk’s stick. It will show him which hill the stick – Tahk – the sun – wants them to go to. And whether it’s the one that has that thick black cloud coming out of its top.
*****
Guhgral could stay where he is until Wuhn reappears. That’s sensible. After all, she has to come back to the cave some time. Sensible, but not what he feels compelled to do. She has hardly been out of his sight since making his decision about her. He has seen her. Heard her. Smelled her. Almost touched her. Yes, touched her. In his imagination, even entered her. So how can he wait patiently, when she’s far away? He can’t. Even better, now that she has left the settlement, she’s undefended. On her own. She doesn’t know it, but wherever she is, she is walking into his trap.
*****
How can Ohp hear without ears? What strange and terrible misfortune has befallen the family to make that happen? What mysterious power has entered his half-brother’s nature to allow him to do the impossible? If he can hear, he can be an elder. If he can hear, he will be able to speak to the others. Make them oppose the leader’s wishes. Get them to support Bahnor and not Dhi. Perhaps even persuade them to force him to stand down as leader! Who can tell how far such a misfortune might go? He isn’t going to permit it. Not after everything he has done. Not when he has won the other leaders over to his plan to go north. When Dhi is already marching towards the far hills – and their new home.
So he leaves Ohp where he is lying. Nothing has changed, yet everything’s changed. No shoulder for his brother now. No water. No farewells. There will be no farewell. Soon Ohp will realise he can hear. Even he will be able to work that out. Then it will be a short step to the elders. Talk. Promises. Plans to change the leader.
Tahk has to release his feelings. Shout. Strike a worker. Pace up and down. Walk as fast as he can. Push his body until it aches for a rest and his mind stops hurting. The lake. That will do. He will be able to think by the lake. Work things out. Plan. Decide how to prevent Ohp taking advantage of the new situation. Ouch. What’s that? His toe hurts again. The one that was bitten. He must have stubbed it. Stay within the family law. Even now he must do it properly. Why does he keep banging into rocks? Why did Dhi let him down? Choose to be with Wuhn and not him. Forget his duties. Call a meeting of the elders. That’s what he must do. Order Ohp to explain what took place on the hunt. Why didn’t he see that twig? It nearly took out his eye. Wuhn. She’s upset him too. Her body. Her rump. Her breasts. They all upset him. Show that Ohp failed as pack leader. Allowed two hunters to die. Ohp has failed and has to die. That’s what he will demand. Does Wuhn want him as much as he wants her? Would she tell Dhi? Would she tell Luhla? On the punishment stone. Yes. On the punishment stone. His head cut from his body. Wuhn’s body under his. Crashing down. With all his power. That would release his tension. Cut. Thrust. Kill. Mate. He will have his way with them all.
*****
Dhi remembers from past trips that the valley floor isn’t flat. So at first he isn’t worried that he can see neither their hill behind them, nor the range ahead. But what does surprise him is that having finally climbed to the top of the ridge, he can, once again, make out both.
“Look. Over there. The hill of our caves. Where we live,” Dhi exclaims. “And that way, is where we are going.”
Dhi is content. He knows where he has come from. He can see where he has to go. He has made no mistakes and none have challenged him. All they need is some water.
Zohka must have had similar thoughts.
“Shall we stop marching now and search for a stream?”
Dhi hesitates. The pack certainly needs to refill its bags. But it’s very hot. Perhaps too hot for them to go far. Hot. The sun burns his skin. His eyes mist over. The sun. The sun. It’s overhead. He forgot. Now is the time to get his stick out. See where its shadow points.
“No. We leave water until its cooler.”
The others nod their agreement and watch with interest as Dhi pushes his stick into the ground, squats behind it and with his eye, follows the shadow. Will it point to the hill with the cloud coming out of it? The one with the two summits. Or one of the others. The flat one perhaps. They are going to find out now.
“I cannot understand it. The shadow points to one side. The stick – the sun – isn’t pointing to any hill.”
Does a smile of satisfaction cross Kahple’s face? Is he about to say his father was right all along? It’s possible, but then Zohka calls out. And the call is so insistent, it makes Dhi look up. Makes them all look towards the far hills. No, not all the hills: just the hill with the cloud coming out of its top. And what they see excites – frightens – them. They have never seen anything like it before.
9
Thwarted
“The top of the hill is red.”
“It’s a fire. The hill’s on fire.”
“I can see the flames from here.”
“There’s smoke as well. The smoke is blacker than ever.”
“I have never seen a fire like that. It’s too big to come from grass. Even trees and bushes don’t burn that much.”
Like the others, Dhi watches the distant spectacle with a mixture of fascination and uncertainty.
Then another sense becomes alert to possible danger. Instinctively, the hunters move together. Make a fighting pack.
“The smell. Can you smell it? It’s bad. It’s not the smell of anything that grows on the ground. It’s not the smell of beasts, trapped and burning.”
Dhi is leader, so he places himself in front of the others. But to do what? Not give the order to throw their stones, of course. Advance. No. Retreat. Not yet. Think. Yes. Try and remember. That most of all. But however hard he tries, he has no memory of the smell.
“Do you think we should go back?”
“No. No. We mustn’t turn. We have to carry on.”
“What’s making the fire?”
