A Flag For Drindl

 

Bebe stood up and looked to the east in a vain hope that Drindl might suddenly appear crossing a dune. "We need to leave something for Drindl. A sign we were here."

"That's a good idea," Fallon said, lashing the playpen to the travois. The babes still slept most of the time, growing rapidly. He stood up and looked around, then shrugged and looked to Alithea and Alpen. "Something visible but not too visible?" He looked back to Bebe.

"The lashing cord," she said, pointing to the playpen.

Fallon shook his head. "What would we…?"

"We could tie it to a reed," Alithea offered. "It might wave in the wind."

"Too heavy," Alpen disagreed.

"We can cut a cloth into strips and tie them to the tops of reeds," Bebe suggested. They all agreed. Alithea dug out the swaddling cloth, then tucked it back into their belongings, unable to part with the cloth that had also swaddled her as a babe. There was nothing else. Shoulders slumped, she knelt next to the travois. "We can cut some thin strips," Bebe suggested and laid a hand on Alithea's shoulders. "He knows that cloth. He held the babes in it."

Alithea nodded and took the cloth out again. She turned to Fallon and Alpen, suggesting that they start pulling the travoises. "We'll be right behind you."

//////////////////

She and Bebe caught up with the caravan a short while later, and in the late morning she and Bebe took the harness of each travois. Fallon let Erthen sit on his shoulders, but then changed his mind. Erthen protested but Fallon was firm. He and Alpen made a hammock sling and carried Erthen between them as they followed behind Alithea and Bebe. Erthen loved the swaying motion as they walked, then fell asleep from all the excitement.

The contour of the land changed to undulating ripples as they approached the forest. The harder ground helped their progress, but the gradual rise to the highlands took a toll. Stopping to feed the young ones, Bebe collected soil samples and cuttings from the grass and shrubs. From her kit she took out the magnifying glass and inspected the lobes of a leaf. "This is a variation of the kettle bush," she said.

"Is that good?" Alpen asked as she handed him the leaf.

"We need to teach the young ones the good from the bad," she said. "If these plants are familiar, it will make our task easier." A sound from above startled them.

"Alsace bird," Fallon said. "Good. There's game here." They all turned to the sharp crack that came from the west.

/////////////////

"A tree?" Alpen asked as he looked around at the others.

"That's a loud tree," Bebe said. They waited for another report but there was only silence.

"I wish we knew where Drindl was," Alithea said as she looked north and behind them.

Fallon rummaged through the belongings, found his sword and axe and secured them carefully beneath the playpen. They all watched as he loosened the cinch that secured the playpen, reached in to grab the handle of the sword, then recinched the playpen to the travois. He looked to the others. "Just in case."

The lightness in their hearts grew heavy as they advanced toward the forest. Then a change in wind direction brought the smell of the ocean to their nostrils and that helped moderate the wariness they felt.

The Search for Safety

 

Bebe had already boiled the water from one water skin. Keeping the skin she had found hidden under her cloak, Alithea helped Bebe prepare the plants she had gathered. As the sun sank toward the horizon, they ate greedily, and the men seemed to recover their wits. Fallon wanted to soothe Alamea - a good sign. Alithea showed the group the water skin.

Alpen wanted to search for Drindl in the waning light but the rest of the group protested.

“What if he is dying close by?” Alpen insisted. “If we find him dead in the morning, how will we know that we might have saved him?” He paused. “The energy. We have some left. That will give us night vision.”

Remembering the energy, Fallon shook his head. “Not in this heat. It will have gone bad. We would go mad.” Bad energy produced horror hallucinations and convulsions. 

Alpen gave in, then looked to the darkening sky. “The sky is open, the stars are bright and there are no clouds,” he argued. “We can search for a little while.” He laid a hand on Bebe’s knee. “Watch the babes?” He asked her. Bebe looked to Fallon and Alithea but saw no sign of protest from either of them. She agreed.

Spreading out in the immediate area, the three of them faltered on unfamiliar ground in the darkness below the starlit sky canopy. Keeping their voices low, they called out to Drindl as they peered between the tall grass. When they had satisfied themselves that they had tried, they turned back to Bebe and the children, ears alert to signs of danger or Drindl crying out in the darkness.

////////////////

At first daylight, Fallon and Alpen set off to look for Drindl, hunting for small animals as they looked for any signs that he had been there. By the time the sun broke free above the eastern sand hills, they had caught two rabbits and a few lizards, but no sign of Drindl.

They had just enough fuel in the cooking pod to make a hearty breakfast. Alpen patiently fed a rabbit and plant paste to Darden and Bella. It was a critical time for their growth. Erthen let rabbit grease drip from his face as he chewed the meat, rocking with pleasure at the taste. Alpen opened Darden's mouth and glanced at his emerging teeth. "If we get to the ocean, you and your sister may be able to eat fish." Darden stared at his dad's mouth as the words came out. Alpen turned to Bebe. "He's starting to connect the sounds and the words." He gave Darden a hug. "We have the smartest kids."

Bebe rolled her eyes. "They've been doing that for a few days now. You're just paying attention." Spirits lifted by the fresh meat, Alithea laughed with gusto and Fallon smiled.  It was going to be a good day.

Fallon turned to Bebe. "Think we can make the forest today?"

She nodded. "Shouldn't we wait for Drindl? What if he doubled back and is looking for us now?" She looked at the other members of the group. "We could have just missed him."

"None of us knows if that was his water skin," Alpen said.

"The water was fresh," Alithea said. "Who else could it be?"

"Someone else," Fallon said. "I say we continue our journey. We can't stay out in the open like this. We'll have water, game and cover in the trees." Alpen reached to Bebe to comfort her but all of them grew silent and stared at the ground. "We owe Drindl our lives, but we must protect the young ones," Fallon added. That resolved the matter. They nodded and began to pack up to start the day's journey.

The Edge of the Dunes

 

Bebe found a dry spot to set up camp. Alithea drew her aside. "Watch the babes and I will get some berries from these bushes along the creek." Bebe offered to come along but Alithea stopped her. "They can't think properly and shouldn't be left alone with the young ones." Bebe looked at her questionably. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

Alithea gathered several handfuls of berries, eating some while she worked the bushes, then returned to camp. Fallon couldn't figure out how to untie the knot that held the playpen to the travois, and she was concerned. Alithea handed him some of the berries. "Crush them in your mouth to suck the liquid out of the skins, then spit the skins in your hand." She showed him.

Alpen also looked on and copied her. "Why can't we eat the skins?"

"You can later. You need to get some liquid into your stomach and some nutrients to your body, particularly your brains." After they had eaten a few handfuls, she held up a finger a short distance from Fallon's eyes. "Watch my finger." She didn't have to ask whether his vision was blurry. He wasn't tracking her finger well. She turned to Bebe. "More fluids but not too much."

"I'll get some from the creek. It's fresh," Bebe said.

"No, boil it first," Alithea said. "This is wintermelt water. It may carry any animal feces it has washed over as it came down the hills. We could get sick. It will taste better than the water we pulled from below the sand, though."

Alithea knelt beside Erthen and separated the hairs on his face to look at his skin. She inspected several other places while he sat there passively – too passively. His listlessness indicated mild dehydration but not too bad. She checked on the babes. They had been shielded from the sun and had enough water and food for their size. All three were sleeping in a huddle together. She touched each of them to satisfy herself that they were not physically stressed.

Bebe had gathered water from the creek but there wasn't any dead wood for a fire. "If we build a fire, Drindl might be able to find us," she said.

The disc of the sun had just touched the faint outline of forest on the horizon. As Alithea looked around, she felt exposed. She turned to Fallon and Alpen. "Drink water," she said as she pointed to the water skin.

"We were waiting for the good stuff," Fallon said. "This has an aftertaste."

Alithea rolled her eyes. "Drink some of that and then you can have the good stuff." She handed him more berries and he shared them with Alpen.

"I've never known Alpen to be like this," Bebe said.

"Dehydrated. Not enough nutrients," Alithea said. "They could use some protein but I'm not very good at hunting." They had to get more water and had no choice but to build a fire. Where was Drindl? "Where did you point Drindl to?"

"I can't be sure until it gets dark and I can see the star formation in the west," Bebe said.

"I'd rather not build a fire at night in this exposed location," Alithea said.

//////////////////////

Alithea scanned the area, still wary that there might be threats in the area. “Let’s use a cooking pod. No smoke.”

“We only have two pods.” Bebe looked back to the young ones.

“We can’t take a chance,” Alithea gave her a quick hug. “The babes won’t survive if they have bad water. The smoke from a fire. We’re too exposed out here.”

Bebe was resigned to the reality. Alithea took a pouch. “Be right back.” She glanced toward Fallon and Alpen and said in a soft voice, “They’re improving but keep an eye out.”

She worked on the edge of the dense cattails that stood along the stream, picking the more succulent plants. The vegetation of this environment was unfamiliar, and she tested each cut plant with a touch of her tongue. Disappointed that she could not find any Anschloss plants, she turned back when she had filled up the pouch. A brown and tan splash of color caught her eye. A lizard? Cautiously she parted the tall stalks and bent forward, her throat choking at the sight of the water skin. Was it one of the skins that Drindl had taken with him? She couldn't be sure. A close inspection of the ground showed the characteristic semicircular slough of hoof steps in the dirt but there were no signs of a struggle.

She picked up the skin. Partially filled. Loosening the rawhide string that cinched the soft neck, she held the skin to her nose. When she smelled nothing foul, she let a bit of the water on her tongue. Fresh. She spit it out to be safe, then looked over the cattails. Drindl might have drunk some of the water and gotten sick. He could be lying somewhere close, in need of their help.

“Drindl?” She called out in a moderate voice and turned her head to scan for any sound of movement or response in the tall plants. She heard Bebe’s voice in the distance, then called out again. She dared not yell but wanted to. Disappointed, she returned to the group.

The Search For Drindl

 

They filtered the sand from the water and boiled it before setting off toward the forest. Alpen and Fallon each pulled a travois, but the legs dug into the sand and slowed their progress. The heat waves coming off the dunes distorted their vision as Bebe and Alithea scanned the horizon for some sign of Drindl. Erthen was upset and the babes had to be cooled off. "I never realized how much Drindl helped out with the young ones when he wasn't pulling the travois," Bebe said.

Alithea gave her a weary look as Erthen squirmed on her shoulders. "How many days have we been gone? I swear this boy has doubled in size since we left." Her hooves sank into the sand under the weight of the boy and she had to stop more frequently in the midday heat. At each stop, Bebe scanned the landscape for signs of Drindl, then fanned the babes in their covered playpen. Fallon and Alpen forged on at a slow but steady pace that made progress with the least amount of sweat.

In the late afternoon they stopped to feed the last of their vegetable lizard paste to the babes and Erthen. "The ground is changing. Can you feel it?" Bebe asked.

"I thought I was getting stronger," Alpen said.

"No, the sand layer is less deep and there is more moisture in the grains." She let a handful of sand fall from her hand in the afternoon breeze. She looked west, then scanned north and south. "We could make it out of this sandscape by tonight." The others looked to her with hope. "We'll make better time on the harder ground."

"We'll need to make some dinner before sunset," Alithea said. "We have nothing left after feeding the young ones." She looked to Fallon and Alpen. "I worry about leg cramps if you continue to push yourselves without food. Bebe and I will look for plants as we go."

///////////////

"Reeds!" Bebe pointed. Alpen and Fallon were at the point of exhaustion but paused and looked up from the tall sand grass at their feet. Alpen looked to Fallon and shrugged. He thought she had said "trees." He looked back at Bebe and Alithea and tried to say something but realized that his throat was too dry. "There might be water! Drindl might be here."

He turned to look again and saw that the land was changing ahead of them. He had forgotten about Drindl. There was only the next step and the numbing ache in his legs and his back. He was afraid to stop and felt the pull of the travois harness as he stepped forward. Bebe ran around in front of him. "Stop. Drink." She blocked his path forward as she held out the water skin to him.

He reached forward to take the skin from her and his shoulder muscles quivered. Bebe helped him as he drank, then brought the skin to Fallon. "What are…" Alpen's voice failed, then he tried again. "What are reeds?"

"Like what you found earlier, only thicker," Bebe said. She looked to Alithea. "Let us pull for a bit. You and Fallon need to rest."

Alithea set Erthen down on the travois and came forward.  She helped lift the harness off Fallon and touched him gently on the cheek. He reached up and grazed the back of her hand with his finger. She felt the tremors in his hand. "Tie Erthen to the sled. Don't try to carry him," she said. She held his gaze. "Promise me. You need to rest."

In an hour they reached the reeds. Bebe stood by a small creek and shielded her eyes against the sun. "I can see the forest. A few more hours. We'll stop here for the night." She looked to Alpen who was too tired to have an opinion.

The Search For Water

 .

They used the last of the water to feed the babes that night. "We can last a few days without water," Alithea said. "The babes – maybe a day. Erthen – probably two days," as she jostled the boy on her hip. "Look at those stars," she pointed his arm at the sky. There was not a cloud in the night sky. The others stood and stared at the painting of white stars on the black canvas. Fallon pointed at a shooting star.

"I could take the water skins and see if there is any water up ahead," Drindl's words cut through the group's wondering silence. They turned to look at him. "I can see in this light. Without the travois, I could make it to the forest, fill up with water and be back by noon at the latest."

"That's a lot of weight to carry back that distance," Fallon said. He turned to Alpen. "The two smaller skins?"

Alpen nodded. "We only need enough for a day or so. Then we can fill up the large skins."

Bebe stepped forward and hugged Drindl. She was crying. "Thank you. We will owe you the lives of our babes." Alpen joined the hug, then Fallon, Alithea and Erthen.

Alithea insisted that he take some of their food. "You need to refuel as you go. You will do no one any good if your muscles start to cramp." Drindl reluctantly took the food.

Bebe pointed out a star in the west. "Aim there," she said. Drindl donned the two skins, his hunting pack, his weapon and flechettes and set off toward the west.

Later that night, Alithea tossed and turned. "I can't stop worrying about Drindl."

"He has good skills. I worry that he won't find water," Fallon said as he gathered her into his arms.

///////////////

In the morning, the babes began to complain shortly after they awoke. "I don't know if I can get used to this," Bebe said as she picked up Darden and Bella to comfort them.

Alpen searched the dune grass for something he could tie to the runners of each travois to make it easier to pull them through the sand. He stumbled back with some shoots in his arm. He pointed to the base of the shoots. "We could chew this up, make a paste with our spit and feed the young ones," he suggested.

There was a slight alkaline taste to the shoots. They mixed in a bit of the lizard and hoped the babes would eat it. "Yaaay!" Bebe cried out when Darden took some more after the first bite. Alamea and Bella followed suit. Erthen tried a bite, made a face, but Fallon encouraged him to eat a little more.

"Where did you get these?" Alithea asked. Alpen pointed to a sand valley just east of their campsite. "How are these plants getting water?" she asked. Everyone looked at her.

"There's water below the sand. We could build a sip well!" Bebe exclaimed. The others looked to her with curiosity. "The Cawthingi accounts talk about sip wells."

"Why would they need that?" Fallon asked. "They live by the water."

///////////////////

"That's salt water. We can't drink it," Bebe said. "The fresh water is sometimes beneath the sand further away from the ocean. Here, I'll show you." She handed the babes to Alpen and went over to the travois. After rummaging around, she broke off a piece of the travois frame and came back with a tube about three feet long. "We draw up water through this and into one of our water skins."

Alpen looked at Fallon, hiding his skepticism from Bebe. "I suppose we could try," Fallon said. "I'll help dig, Bebe. Just show me what to do." He and Bebe gathered a water skin, the two reeds and a digging tool, then set off for the short walk to the sand valley.

A short while later, Alithea and Alpen heard the two of them make hooping and congratulatory sounds. "I can't sit here," Alithea said. She gathered up Alamea and Erthen and followed Alpen to the sand valley. Fallon and Bebe had dug a deep hole and a shallow hole. Fallon sucked on the stiff tube until the water flowed, then connected the water skin with the flexible reed. The flow didn't last long so it was painstaking. The reed clogged up with sand and had to be blown out. After a half hour, he filled up a third of the large skin.

They stood around Fallon and watched with fascination. "It's enough to last us a day," Alithea said. "We're losing the coolest part of the day." They turned to look at the waves of heat now drifting off the warming sand hills.

"Shouldn't we wait for Drindl?" Bebe asked.

"We'll see him," Alpen assured her. "It's pretty wide open out here." 

Out of the Canyon

 

As the group passed from the canyon, the ground turned harder and rose in undulating broad swells. Fallon was grateful to be out of the canyon but now only felt comfortable when they were in one of the land depressions and not in plain sight. On one rise, they paused to take their bearings. "Two days," Fallon guessed. "Bebe, do you remember anything about this land from your maps?"

"No, not directly," she said. "This is below the southern lands of the Cawthingi. All I know is the records we have of the Cawthingi explorers."

Alpen interrupted with a sharp cry. Pinned to the ground below his spear was a lizard. It had been two days since they had eaten meat and it would be a welcome treat at that night's meal. Fallon urged Bebe to continue. "How far to the ocean do you think?"

She looked to the north, glanced at the sun overhead, then held up her hand. She did this frequently during the day, Fallon noticed. Mapmaker magic. "Five days," Bebe said. Fallon started to answer when she continued, "Strange land, unknown wildlife and predators. Add two days. A week then."

Fallon looked to Alpen. "What do you think?"

"Why are you asking me?" Alpen asked. "I can't remember when she's been wrong."

Bebe laughed. "Four springs ago. The snowmelt. I didn't think it would be that heavy."

Alpen turned to Fallon. "Remember the 'battle of the bog'?" They both laughed at the memory. "The river kept rising and flooded the camp during the night." He turned to Bebe and gave her a hug. "Yeah, you got that one wrong. Seven days, then. How long do you think to the forest?"

"The heat rising from the dry ground distorts the distance," Bebe said. "Two days." She turned to Alithea who had finished feeding the babes. "Ready to go?" Drindl took Alpen's spear and watched for lizards as they continued across the dry ground.

///////////////////

They camped in a depression in the land that night. The land now had a fine film of sand on top of the hard ground, but there was no sign of water. "We have about a day's worth of water," Alithea said to Bebe. "I hope you are right about the time to the forest."

They agreed to drink lightly so that Erthen and the babes would have enough water, which was especially critical for the babes. Drindl had speared another lizard but they felt too exposed to build a fire and agreed to eat the meat after the next day's journey. Fallon was surprised how cold it was that night. The depression faced east and received only a few hours of sunlight a day. They broke out their heavier cloaks to keep the babes warm. They welcomed the light and warmth when the sun broke above the horizon that dawn.

Fallon and Drindl crawled to the rise and scanned the horizon but saw no movement above the foot-high sand grass. Bebe dug out several shells out of the softer ground and gave one to Erthen. "This was an ancient sea," she announced as she swept her arm over the surrounding ground. She looked at the others. "If the sand layer thickens, we will have a hard time dragging the travoises."

A few hours later the ground beneath the sand grew softer and they frequently rotated the arduous duty of pulling the two travoises. Far in the distance, they could see the clouds move slowly above the forest but there was no cover from the sun. Even though the babes were protected from the sun, they were stressed by the heat. As they used up their stores of water, they were aware of a frightening equation of life and death that none of them dared speak about.   

A Stop On the Road

 

At the burial place they stopped to feed the babes. Alithea inspected the ground where they had fought the strange creatures. Drindl and Fallon had cleaned up the area, but she found a few spots of blood that they had missed. She scraped the blood from the grass and carefully held it to a spot on her tongue. She drank some water to clear her palate and tasted another sample of the blood.  

"Can we go?" Fallon asked as he looked up to the cliffs and north to the stream. "I would rather not stay here much longer."

She nodded. "Sorry, have you got a knife?" He handed her a flechette and wished he hadn't when she cut her finger with the sharp edge. She handed the flechette back to him and placed the blood on a specific spot on her tongue. He started to ask her a question, but she held up her other hand to silence him. She took a drink of water, then spit it into the dirt and touched her finger to her tongue again. She turned to him. "Their blood tastes like ours."

"What did you think?" He turned back to the others.

She came up beside him. "I don't know. Where did they come from?"

"Down south?" Fallon offered. "Where else?"

//////////////////

They followed the dry stream bed until they came to the stone staircase that Alpen and Fallon had built. Bebe admired the layered soil strata visible in the cliffs, while Alithea dug out several shells and other remnants of marine life left exposed by the relentless cutting of the ancient river.

Fallon and Alpen stood off to the side and scanned the edges of the cliffs above. "I didn't see them but I'm reading you, brother," Alpen said.

Fallon turned again to the dry stream bed where it curved around the cliffs to the north. "We're too vulnerable here," Fallon said. "I don't want to alarm Bebe or Alithea."

"What a great idea!" Bebe called to Drindl, and they turned to the young warrior, who held the playpen balanced on one shoulder. He had cut a slit in the bottom of the playpen and slid his hand up inside the pen, where the babes licked at his fingers.

"Alsace juice," Drindl said as he waggled his fingers. Darden tried to hold onto one finger.  "I thought maybe they wouldn't bite a feeding hand."

"Good exercise for them," Bebe said.

"I ask my grandfather to warn me if he sees something," Alpen spoke in a soft voice to Fallon.

Fallon kept his attention on the stream bed to the north. He kept expecting more creatures. "Did you ever meet him?" he asked.

"No, he died in the war between the tribes," Alpen said. "Still, he talks to me sometimes."

Fallon looked over at the two women and Drindl. "Perhaps my grandfather will help also. I have only a faint memory of him. A good warrior. I have heard that their spirits can travel through the cracks in the rock."

The group moved on through the canyon to the west, keeping silent as they walked. The dragging of the travois' runners on the hard ground echoed off the cliffs. After several hours, the cliffs sloped down and the land lay out before them. "Green!" Bebe called, then remembered their pledge to stay silent and put a hand to her mouth.

To the West

 

They spent the morning packing up and carrying their gear across the river. Drindl took a moment and showed Erthen how to stay afloat in the shallow water. Bebe and Alithea constructed a play pen out of flexible tree branches and broad leaves growing along the river, and they strapped it to the travois. Finally, they began the journey west.

"Can you take us past the spot where you met the strange creatures?" Alithea asked Fallon as he pulled the travois. Erthen called to her so she could see him riding on Drindl's shoulders. She waved to him and looked again to Fallon.

"Unfortunately, that's the easiest path to the west," Fallon agreed.

"They walked on two legs, or did they just stand on two legs?" Alithea asked.

"Walked," Fallon said.

"I wish I could examine them," she said.

"Why would you want to do that?" he asked.

"We're the only living creatures that walk on two legs. Well, and birds," Alithea added. "And now these creatures. There are skeletal adaptations. How tall are they?"

"A bit shorter than we are, but bulkier," he said. "And their arms are longer than ours."

"They have hands?" she asked. "How many fingers?"

"Hands, yes. I don't know how many fingers," he said. "Their fingers were wrapped in some kind of cloth." His tone of voice betrayed his annoyance at the questions that he didn't know the answers to.

"Sexual characteristics? Were they male?" she asked.

"I don't know," he shook his head emphatically. "They acted male. Don't ask me what that means. I wasn't interested in their baby making machinery. I wanted to get them and their weapons in the ground as quickly as possible."

"Don't get mad," she said. "It's my job. It would have been nice to see what kind of weapons they had."

"Weapons are your job now?" he retorted.

"Well, aren't you curious?" she accused him.

"Maybe," he admitted. "We're not going to dig them up."

"No, not now," she said. "Do you think you could find the place again if we came back?"

He paused. From behind, Alpen asked if everything was OK. "Alithea wanted to ask Bebe a question," Fallon called back. Alithea looked at him, made a face and joined Bebe and Drindl toward the rear of their small caravan.

Options

 

"They walked on two legs but they have feet like a wolfbear?" Alpen asked as he stirred the breakfast fire. Fallon nodded. He turned to Bebe sitting next to him. "You're the historian. Any record of these creatures?" Bebe shook her head as she undulated the makeshift papoose she had made for Darden and Bella. Alpen reached inside and wiggled a finger, then drew it out with a sharp wince. "Damn those teeth. We need to get some meat into these little ones. They're growing so fast. I don't want to turn back. Any thoughts?"

"What lies to the west, between us and the ocean?" Drindl asked. They all looked to Bebe.

"I don't have my maps, but I believe it is dense forest," Bebe said.

"I went with my father to the land of the Cawthingi," Fallon said. "I liked it. Nice trees and the ocean nearby."

"No, this forest is more dense than that," Bebe said. "We might struggle to find a path through. Swollen streams, muddy gullies. Might be slow going."

"If there are more of these creatures, we might be safer," Alpen said. "I feel exposed here. We've got to get some meat for the young ones. There's probably game in the forest."

Fallon turned to Alithea. "You think we can move the babes this quickly?"

"I'm not happy about it," she replied. "We'll have to keep them out of the sun. We need to bring water and make sure it's boiled. How far do you think, Bebe?"

"The shoreline has been getting closer as we go south. You've all smelled it at times," Bebe said, then turned to Fallon. "How far could you see west? Did you see green?"

"The ground rises up, then some low cliffs," Fallon said. "Couldn't see." He looked to Drindl who shook his head in confirmation.

Bebe shrugged. "A day or two maybe? We'll have to stop for the babes."

"I vote to pack up this morning and head west," Alpen said as he raised his hand.

"We get a vote?" Drindl asked. He had been too young to vote on any decision before.

"On this we should vote," Alpen said.

"Maybe Fallon and I could explore the area first and we could see the forest in the distance," Drindl suggested.

"And if something happened to us?" Fallon asked. "The little ones. We have to stick together." He raised his hand and looked to Alithea who followed suit. Drindl and Bebe both raised their hands. No one was comfortable with this choice.

"Ok, let's get some water boiling," Alpen said.

The Light of Day

"What was the blood on your cloak?" Alithea asked that morning as she fed Alamea. "Did you and Drindl catch something?"

Fallon looked down at the right side of his cloak. He'd missed it. "A small dinjou scurrying around. I thought I'd killed it then it got up and ran away. Felt bad that it was suffering but I couldn't find it."

"Dinjou blood has an orange tint to it." Alithea said as she let the babe feed from her finger.

He shrugged. "Maybe it wasn't a dinjou."

She turned to look at him. "You know, one of the many things I love about you? Your courage, your caring, your fairness." He smiled at that. "But you really believe you're a good liar." She turned back to Alamea. Fallon burbled a few broken words and she turned to face him again. "You lick your upper lip right before you lie." He looked surprised. "I'm a doctor. Most of my patients lie to me. You warriors are the worst."

His shoulders slumped, then he told her about the encounter. "I'm sure there are more of them. That's why there are so few animals here in the south. They must be killing them for food."

"Why wouldn't you tell us? This is something that affects all of us, not just you." Alamea hiccupped. "You snarfulumpala, you ate too fast," she said to the babe, then placed her lips on the young one's mouth and sucked softly to reset the child's breathing.

"If something were to happen to us, you wouldn't know so you couldn't tell," Fallon said.

Alithea turned to him. "Torture, interrogation? That's what you thought? Even more important that we should all know."

"Where else can we go?" Fallon asked. "Some of our people may be living in the highlands or south of there. We can't live in the high mountains to the east. Not with young ones. I was trying to spare you."

"A burden shared lightens despair," she reminded him as she gathered Alamea into her cupped palms and turned to Fallon. "Here, hold your daughter. I'll get Erthen. Let's eat."

The Vacuum of Night

The day was getting late and the shadows descended on the ground below the cliffs. They went back to the stone staircase and took it apart. They set several stones on the travois and returned to the grave site. After setting the stones on the graves in a loose formation, it looked like the rocks might have fallen from the cliff.

They pulled the last two stones on the travois back to the campsite. "Ho! Any luck hunting?" Alpen asked as they descended the riverbank. Fallon shook his head. Alpen crossed the river and took a stone across the river. "It seems like there are fewer animals as we go south. Have you noticed that?"

Fallon set the travois down on the shore bank. He deliberately kept his voice casual. "Now that you mention it, I guess that's so." He  turned back to help Drindl. "You wash your hands?" Drindl nodded. They brought the rest of the gear across the river.

That night, Fallon had some difficulty falling asleep. His ears were alert for an invisible threat moving in the darkness. Not a wolfbear. Something much worse. There could only be one reason why there were fewer animals as they approached the southern highlands. There were more of these creatures. He fought down a primitive urge to turn away from their southern journey. And go where, he asked himself?  Take their chances with Sarten? To the east and the high mountains? How would they survive with four young ones? Alithea stirred at his restlessness. He held her hand and she relaxed. A warrior uses worry, his teacher told him. Like a whetstone, it hones his spirit to a sharp and deadly edge.

First Encounter

In two more days, they let Erthen play around the babes. Alithea and Bebe patiently showed him how to be gentle. When Darden kicked his hand once, Alithea showed Erthen that he could not hit back. "Darden is telling you he doesn't like that," she said. The boy learned quickly.

Fallon wanted to heat larger stones to keep the babes warm during the long night. He suggested the cliff where he and Alpen had been. "That's a job for younger warriors," Alpen laughed. "Older warriors must babysit."

Fallon and Drindl unloaded one travois, loaded up some weapons and flechette stones. "Maybe the hunters will bring some meat back for the old babysitter," Fallon teased Alpen. They set off across the river and disappeared over the ridge.

When they got to the stone stairway that Fallon and Alpen had built, they removed a few small boulders until they found something the right size. Fallon stood up suddenly and cocked his head. He had heard an unfamiliar sound bouncing off the cliff wall. He signaled to Drindl to keep quiet, then they both heard it again. Voices but Fallon could not recognize the language. "Cawthingi from the ocean?" Drindl whispered. Fallon shook his head. He guessed that the voices were coming from the north and they were following the old stream bed. Fallon looked around for a place to hide the travois. He spotted an indentation in the cliff walls away from the voices and they pulled the travois there. 

He slowly extended his head where he could watch the stream bed. There was nothing in sight but the voices were louder. Fallon waited. He motioned to Drindl to get their weapons ready. He kept his head still and barely protruding past the edge of the cliff face as he watched.

Two figures appeared around a curve. They were two legged but they walked in an odd manner. They carried some staffs or axes as they moved from side to side, casually inspecting the ground as they walked. When they saw the stone staircase, they stopped and knelt in a guarded position. Knowing that an experienced hunter scans for movement, Fallon fought the urge to hide his head. One figure stayed kneeling and scanned the surrounding cliffs and his partner inspected the stone staircase.

Fallon cursed their luck. The dew on the bottom of the stones would indicate that they had been recently moved. These strangers would be on high alert. The other one rejoined his partner. The two rose, weapons held at the ready as they walked forward. They didn't walk like anyone from the tribes. Who were they? Scanning the cliffs and the ground around them, they separated a few paces. Each figure rotated slowly so that they could spot an attack from any direction.

Drindl tapped Fallon's hip and he reached back. Drindl slipped a flechette into his hand and set a spear next to his leg. Fallon kept his head still as a rock. Both figures had strange clothing and weapon harnesses. The fur on their faces was long and wiry. Their arms were long. As one of them approached Fallon and Drindl, he scanned along the cliff. As the tip of his weapon came into view, Drindl stepped out from behind Fallon and let loose a flechette. The sharp edge of the stone cut across the stranger's neck and red blood matted the curly hair that grew from its jaw. It put its hand to its neck to staunch the flow of blood as it turned toward Fallon and Drindl. It made a gurgling attempt at a scream that bounded off the cliff walls.

Fallon rushed forward with his sword, dodged around the crumpled stranger and thrust the sword into the gut of the other creature. Its weapon made a deafening sharp bark that echoed off the cliffs. The creature doubled forward as Fallon withdrew the sword. He cut through the gloved hand of the creature and the loud weapon fell to the ground. Fallon jumped back as the creature fell prostrate on the ground, writhing in the dirt of the old stream bed. Fallon sliced through the creature's neck to stop the sounds coming from its mouth. There might be others.

He spun to check on Drindl. The warrior crouched over the dead creature and scanned the surrounding area. Fallon followed suit. After a while, they felt sure that there no other creatures nearby. They pulled each of the dead creatures to the indentation so that they would be out of sight from anyone coming from the north.

"Not Cawthingi," Drindl said as he tugged at some coverings on their hooves. Fallon motioned him back and sliced through the covering and Drindl pulled it off. They were shocked. These creatures had feet like wolfbears but smaller and without claws. "What is wrong with them?" He removed the coat on the one he had killed. They stared at the bare skin under the wiry hair. "Sick?" Drindl asked.

"They didn't move like they were sick," Fallon said. He removed the covering from the head of the creature he had killed. Fallon shook his head, stood up and peeked out past the cliff face. There must be others. He remembered the loud weapon and retrieved it. "We need to bury them so that no one else will find them." They dug shallow graves and laid the bodies and the weapons in the holes, then spread the extra dirt over the bloody ground. It would not fool a good warrior chancing on the spot, but there was nothing that would look out of place from a short distance. "We're going to tell no one about this," he told Drindl who looked at him with surprise. "No one," he repeated and Drindl nodded.