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.