The Cave

 

They approached the cave with caution, Alpen in the lead. Fallon led up the rear, alert to any threats. Alpen raised his hand to signal a stop, then crept forward. Fallon saw a lump of shadow on the ground below the cave. As Alpen drew closer, he paused, then raised and lowered his arm, palm down. The lump was not a threat.

It was likely that an animal had occupied the cave. It was easily defended, accessible to the forest and to the beach. Hunting animals were crepuscular, active at night when their prey came out to feed under the cover of darkness. It was already past sunset so Fallon was especially vigilant to an animal returning to the cave with a kill. Alithea knelt on the sandy soil with Erthen gathered in her arms. He looked to Fallon who put a finger to his lips for silence. Growing up on this journey, Erthen had learned the ways of hunting. Erthen turned back to look at Alpen, who shimmied up the rock to the cave.

Alpen threw a small rock into the cave and waited. His eyes had adjusted to the dim light but he could not see into the pitch darkness of the cave. After a moment, he slunk toward the mouth of the cave, then waited again. He made the cooing sound of a burble bird, not knowing if there were any of the birds this close to the ocean. He waited again but no sound, not the low gruff of wolfbear or the high keening whimper of a young one left in the den.

Fire. They needed fire. At the sound of a tik-tik bird behind him, he turned. Bebe waved some brush in the air. Alpen remembered the flint he had left behind in his pack when they were captured here months ago. It might be close but it lay in the darkness of the cave. Bebe crept forward with the bush, then handed it up to Alpen on the ledge above at the mouth of the cave. She made a hissing sound and when he turned to her, she threw up a stone. He missed it and it clattered on the rock. From inside the cave came a rustle and a flash of shadow darted out of the cave and into the air. Bebe suppressed a nervous laugh at the sight of the small bird.

Alpen picked up the rock and cocked his arm as he called into the cave. Silence. Drindl came forward, striking two stones several times but without a spark. Alpen closed his eyes, then opened them again to adjust to the darkness. He recognized the form of the travois and the disheveled form of their gear. As he pulled it toward him, he listened for animal sounds above the scraping of the travois on the rock floor. He backed out of the cave with the travois. In the light below the open night sky, he could make out his hunting knife and flint bag.

“Bebe?” He called out in a hoarse whisper.

“Below you,” she said.

“I found our gear. I’ve got the flint bag,” Alpen said. A few scrapes and a spark, then a flame on the bush kindling. No growl from the cave. He held up the sheaf of fire, cinders flying off in the evening breeze. “Bebe,” he called. “Let’s get a fire going. Tell the others we’re home.”

Journey North

 

“Brother,” Alpen said softly as he stroked the top of Mellen’s head. Even in sleep Mellen’s breathing sounded less ragged. Alpen looked up to Sisseku in the dim light of the hut. “I could come back for you in a few days.”

Sisseku reached out her hand to Alpen. “Thank you, we’ll be fine. We’ll return home as soon as he is strong enough to travel.”

Alpen put aside the arguments crowding his head. He had said them and there was no need to belabor them. He squeezed Mellen’s hand, then stood up and embraced Sisseku.

“Thank you for rescuing him,” she said, her voice breaking.

“Sister,” he said before embracing her again. It was the first time he had recognized her as family. He had hated her for taking Mellen away from him but seeing how much she cared for his brother had earned her a place in his heart. He turned and emerged into the daylight.

Bebe waited outside with the others. “You have rain on your face,” she said in a playful tone. He didn’t understand what she meant until she reached up with a cloth to wipe his cheek. He took her hand, then looked to the others and smiled.

“Lead the way,” Fallon said, gesturing with his arm to the north. “You took us on this journey to begin with. We are tik-tik chicks,” referring to the young birds who waddled behind their mother to the river.

Mileku had let them have two travois. Alpen stepped into a harness then looked at the sky. “We have enough day left. We may make the cave by nightfall.” This was the cave where they had been captured. He leaned forward into the harness, then paused to look back at the bundles on the travois. “What do we have here?”

Alithea said, “Bebe’s library and my medicines.” Alpen didn’t understand but he nodded, turned to the north and began to pull.

Fallon was a bit surprised when Alpen led them east toward the desert, but he did not question the older warrior’s experience or direction. When they came to the edge of forest where the sandy grassland began, and Alpen turned toward the north, Fallon understood the protective strategy. Any threat or meal that approached them from three side would be visible. They had skins of water and some food but no weapons. Alpen had adopted the safest route. 

A bit of color waving in the shimmering heat of the desert sands puzzled Fallon. He was pulling one of the travois and stepped up his pace to come alongside Alpen. “Soldiers ahead? Should we move into the forest?”

Alpen shood his head. “Drindl’s cloth,” he said.

Fallon glanced sideways to Drindl pulling the other travois at the moment and asked, “Did you say Drindl?”

“We tied a cloth for Drindl when we emerged from the desert,” Alpen said. “Before we were taken prisoner.”

“You remembered that?” His respect for Alpen doubled.

“The light will be fading but we will retrace the steps we took earlier,” Alpen said. “Less chance of getting lost.” Alpen had taken a longer path but a surer route to the cave. “I want to stay a safe distance from the beach.”

When they arrived at the torn cloth, they rested. Untying the faded cloth from the tall reed, Bebe asked, “Drindl, did you see this? We left it for you to show you where we were going.”

Drindl took the cloth from her, then pointed east across the desert. “I was walking this way but was surprised by several Cawthingi soldiers. They dragged me to the coastline on a travois.”

“Dragged you?” Bebe asked.

“Tied me to a travois behind a wolfbear and a Fae rider. Rough ground. At the end of the trip, I hurt so bad that the Fae put her tendrils into my ears and shut off the pain.”

“They can do that?” Bebe asked. Alithea turned to listen.

“It only lasted a few hours, but I was grateful for the compassion,” Drindl said.

Fallon made a sharp grunt. “Compassion and Fae in the same sentence.”

Bebe interrupted. “The Fae was not with the Cawthingi?”

“No, they met later,” Drindl said.

Alpen turned to Bebe. “I see where you’re going. The Fae are patrolling on wolfbear along this forest strip.” He pointed to the travois with the tablets. “Can we bury these somewhere? We need to lighten our load.”

Bebe looked distraught. “This is our history.”

“I know. I’m more concerned about our survival than our history right now,” Alpen said. He took her hand. “We’ll keep them safe but we need to keep us safe.”

They dug several deep holes, placing a tablet in each hole. If someone dug up one tablet, they might not look for the others. They carefully smoothed over the dig. Bebe took several sightings in the dimming light. “We have maybe an hour of light left. Do you think we can make the cave tonight?”

“We’ll make it. I remember the path,” Alpen said.

Bebe Returns

 

Using sign language and facial expression, Sisseku helped Alithea gather up various medical supplies, some bandages and poultices that would help with minor injuries. Sisseku handed Alithea a package of the miner’s food carefully wrapped. Alithea wished Fallon were there in the long house to translate but she guessed that it would help comfort someone in great pain from an animal bite or broken bone. Sisseku indicated that it would spoil within two days. Alithea thought it might be more bother than it was worth. Hadn’t they spent the summer traveling through the valley and forest without strange potions?

She heard Drindl and Erthen outside the long hut and ran out to meet them. Erthen threw out his arms and Drindl handed the boy to Alithea. “What did Alanis Drindl show you?” Drindl blushed at the honorific.

“What’s Alanis?” Erthen asked, mispronouncing the title.

“It means honored teacher,” Alithea said.

“I learned a lot. We almost saw a wolfbear,” Erthen said. Alithea looked to Drindl who gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. “It was a broken branch and a piece of its fur. We found hairs in the bark of a tree where it rubbed its head.”

“You will become a master tracker one day,” Alithea said as she kissed the top of his head. “You are getting so big.” She lowered him to the ground and voiced a silent thank you to Drindl. She was afraid that he would be traumatized by the events of these past weeks but he was at an age of looking forward, not back. She wished they could stay here even a day or two before subjecting Erthen to the rigors of a journey.

“Here’s Bebe,” Drindl said, turning toward the slope that led to the castle. Sisseku signaled that she would rejoin Mellen in the hut. Alithea thanked her, then turned to wave to Bebe as she led the elephant forward. Drindl helped her disconnect the travois from the elephant harness.

“I want to show you something,” Bebe said to Alithea. “Drindl, could you show Erthen where the elephant corral is? They don’t need much leading, Mileku told me. They know where the food is.”

Drindl gathered up the boy in his arms and came alongside the head of the elephant, allowing Erthen to touch the large ear. The boy snapped his arm back as the ear moved under his touch. “That’s his ear,” Drindl said as he touched Erthen’s ear. “He waves it to help keep him cool.” He touched the boy’s nose and pointed to the curled trunk. “That’s his nose.” He let Erthen touched the wrinkled skin of the trunk.

“He smells with that?” Erthen asked in disbelief.

“He can do a lot of things with his nose. It is like a hand and an arm and a nose all together. Come on, let’s go take the elephant to his home,” Drindl said as he walked forward next to the elephant.

Bebe unwrapped the bundle on the travois. “I didn’t know which medicines you would want. I brought what I could carry for our trip.”

“Oh, thank you,” Alithea said as she rummaged through the medical supplies. “I was so upset yesterday.” She didn’t want to tell Bebe what she had done. “Do you think we need to leave so soon? There is so much we could learn at the palace.”

“That’s what I wanted to show you,” Bebe said, unwrapping another bundle. She held out the cornerstone plaque she had buried weeks ago on the beach below the palace. “This is from when Marten built the palace.”

“See we could stay there. So much history,” Alithea pleaded. “You especially, Bebe, know what this means. We need to teach the others of our heritage, the time before the great war between the tribes.”

“No, you don’t…,” Bebe handed her another plaque. “These were in a cabinet in a room next to the clinic.” She pointed out an unfamiliar symbol. “That’s the symbol for the queen and her kind. Read it.”

Alithea browsed the symbols, stopped at a halfway point, then began again. “These people have a sickness like the Glitl snake?” She traced her finger over the symbol for the snake, then looked up to Bebe. “I have been with the queen. She touched Erthen. We are not sick.”

“It’s not all of them, just some of them,” Bebe said. She picked up another plaque, then set it down and picked up one below it.”

“How many of these are there?” Alithea asked.

“More. Maybe a lot more in other places in the palace, Alithea. But the smell. A wolfbear, maybe several, came by after you left and had a meal with some of those soldiers. I didn’t want to come near them.” Bebe handed the plaque to Alithea and waited while she read.

Alithea pointed to several symbols on the plaque. “This is how they lost the war against these creatures. They got sick before the war barely started.”

Bebe pointed out the symbol for a bargaining tent. “They were trying to come to some negotiation with the furless creatures and got sick.”

“They all died?” Alithea asked.

“Most of them. That is on another plaque but I don’t have it,” Bebe said. “Not all of them have the sickness but some of them do. Either we kill all of them or we stay away from them.”

“How do they not get sick?” Alithea said.

“How does the Glitl snake not die from its own poison?” Bebe asked with a shrug.

“The queen might not have the disease but is not susceptible to it either?” Alithea asked, not expecting an answer from Bebe but intrigued by the possibility. She had cut up a Glitl snake once. “The snake has an organ where it keeps its poison. I wonder if these creatures have such a thing? How do they poison us? By biting or simply by touching?”

“Have you ever thought that is why they keep their distance from us? You came in contact with the queen but only because she wanted to use your skills.” Bebe paused, a stricken look on her face. “I have been in contact with one of the soldiers.”

“When? This morning?” Alithea asked.

“No, a week ago. I was in the clinic. He tried to copulate with me,” Bebe said. “I used the cripple kick. The queen came in. She thought I was you and was so sorry. I ran away.”

Alithea suddenly understood why the queen had been apologetic yesterday. “Did he touch you or bite you?”

“Touched me. Not there. Just my arm, I think. I got away,” Bebe said.

“You would have showed signs of sickness by now,” Alithea said. She stood up, looking toward the elephant corral. She reached out a hand to Bebe. “We can’t carry all these tablets, can we? We must leave them in a safe place. Maybe we could stay another day.”

Bebe stood, shaking her head. “Every two or three days, the caravans come from the south to take away the energy they dig in the mine.”

“Well then, Mellen and Sisseku should come with us. That’s what I told Fallon,” Alithea said.

“The journey would kill him. You know that,” Bebe said.

“The soldiers who come might kill all the villagers,” Alithea argued.

“No, they won’t. They depend on them too much. The soldiers want only what the miners dig up. The calf had some kind of sickness that poisoned the soldiers and the queen. That’s all,” Bebe said. She knelt again to bundle up the plaques. “We’ll make two bundles. One to take with us. One to keep here. We’ll bury them on the hillside behind the long house.”

Alithea looked at the sky, then lowered her gaze to the slope that led to the palace. Should she tell Bebe what happened? Maybe later. She looked toward the direction of the corral but Drindl and Erthen were not in sight. “Hurry. We’ll need food for the journey. Here, give me a bundle of the tablets.”

Decision Made

 

Sisseku let out high shrill call as they approached the village and several shadowy figures emerged from the huts. “Injured. We need help!” she called and jumped off the pallet. As the group drew closer to the village, they could see several figures rushing to them. Alpen instinctively adopted a defensive posture, but Sisseku shushed him. The villagers carried a stretcher and seemed comfortable around the elephants. One stepped past Bebe and stroked the trunk of one elephant, who curled its trunk upwards as the villager spoke to it then pressed forward.

Recognizing one of the villagers, Fallon hailed him, then said spoke a few sentences and pointed to Mellen on the travois behind the elephant. “Alpen, back away, so they can take him to the village.” Alpen hesitated and looked at Fallon. “They have medicines. I told him Mellen was a miner. They’ll know how to help him. They make up the food that the miners eat.”

“You trust them?” Alpen growled as he stood his ground close to Mellen. “They make this poison and you trust them?”

“They don’t know. They’ve been told that its energy for the miners to help them work hard,” Fallon said. He walked forward to Alpen and placed a hand on his arm. “Come on, back away. Alithea’s skills and these villagers - their knowledge - it’s the best for Mellen. It’s getting cool. Mellen needs to stay warm. Please.”

Alpen’s arm muscle relaxed and he let himself be led back by Fallon. Alithea stepped forward and asked, “Tell these villagers not to carry him horizontal. His head needs to be tilted up as it is now. He’s got congestion.”

Fallon spoke to one of the villagers, looking at Sisseku as he did so. He did not want to alarm her with the congestion part, so he said only that it was important for Mellen’s comfort that he have his head tilted up. After they got Mellen on the stretcher, the four villagers quickened their pace, keeping the motion to a minimum as they moved forward in the dim light.

“Glad to be rid of this baby,” Drindl said as he slumped forward and let the calf carcass slide over his shoulder and onto the travois.

Alpen came forward. “I’m sorry, Drindl. You’ve carried this load the whole time. Fallon or I - why didn’t you say something?”

Drindl touched his mentor’s arm. “Your brother. You had enough to worry about. I wanted to do my part.”

When they arrived at the village, Sisseku pointed them to the long hut. “You can stay in there for the night. I will stay with Mellen.”

Alithea handed a sleeping Erthen to Fallon. “Don’t wait up for me. I may stay the night with Mellen as well.” She looked at Sisseku. “She can’t understand what I say, can she?” Fallon shook his head slightly. “I’m worried about his congestion,” Alithea continued.

It was just before sunrise when Alithea slid below the covers with Fallon and Erthen. Bebe had woken up but lay her head back down as Alithea signaled a quiet hello before lying down. “I think he’ll be OK,” she said and fell asleep instantly.

When she awoke, it was mid-morning and the temperature inside the hut was quite warm. Alithea lay her head down for a moment, then wondered where the others were. She needed to check on Mellen. She shrugged off the warm doziness she felt and threw off the covers. “Fallon?” No answer. She got up and walked outside, pausing in the shadows of the hut to let her eyes adjust before walking out into the full sunlight.

“Alithea!” It was the voice of Sisseku, who stressed the “thee” in Alithea’s name each time she said it. Alithea looked to the voice in the bright sunlight and saw Sisseku motion to her. Alithea glanced around for the sight of Fallon.

As she neared Sisseku, she motioned to her ears then her tongue and said, “I don’t understand your language.”

Sisseku pointed inside the hut. “Fallon.”

Alithea paused inside the opening, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light inside the hut. Fallon sat on the ground next to Mellen. As Alithea approached the cot where Mellen lay she saw Alpen on the other side of the cot. “Where’s Erthen?”

“Drindl took him to the forest to find wolfbear tracks.” Fallon looked up at Alithea.

“The ground is too hard – ,” Alithea paused and smiled. “Drindl is very clever.” Fallon scooted back away from the cot and made room for Alithea who laid an ear against Mellen’s chest. She nodded, then reached up to feel his forehead as he slept. The fever had broken but the fur felt damp.

“They gave him a little bit of the same food they give the miners. Mileku  - he’s like in charge here – he said Mellen has to be weaned off the miner’s food.” When Alithea looked doubtful, Fallon said, “They’ve done this before. If he is not weaned off the miner’s food, he gets chills and gets agitated and can’t sleep.”

Alithea turned back to Mellen and felt his pulse, which felt steady. “How long to wean him off the miners’ food? Did he say?”

“A few days,” Fallon said and motioned to Mellen. “He’s been sleeping.”

Alithea looked to Alpen, then back to Fallon. “His breathing sounds better and his pulse is steady. I just don’t know what that miner food does to them. What is your instinct?”

Fallon looked past Alithea to Sisseku waiting in the opening to the hut. “She seems relieved since he has been sleeping. She trusts Mileku and she has been through this process with other miners.” He leaned forward to Alithea and lowered the volume of his voice. “I think most of them die in the mine, but the few who don’t come here to recover after an injury.” Fallon leaned back.

Alithea sighed. “It’s outside my experience. As long as they keep his upper torso elevated.”

Fallon nodded. “They understand.”

“This congestion will take more than a few days to clear up.”

Fallon looked past Alithea and spoke to Sisseku. After a short exchange, Fallon asked Alithea, “She wonders if he can be in one of the oven huts for a short time to help dry out his congestion.”

Alithea paused before answering. “The dryness would do him good, but the fumes – even in a well-ventilated hut – no, I wouldn’t advise that. The sun. A short time in the sun would do him good. Water. Tell her that water is important.”

When Fallon relayed the message, Sisseku responded with a question. “She is concerned that the water will make the congestion worse.”

Alithea smiled. “It doesn’t work like that. He needs water to help his body heal. Tell Sisseku the water will help dry out his chest. I can check on him later today so she doesn’t have to worry.”

“I think we’re leaving,” Alpen interrupted as he laid his hand along Mellen’s leg.

“Mellen’s too sick to travel,” Alithea said.

Fallon looked to Alpen as he said, “Mellen and Sisseku are staying here. Sisseku wants to rejoin her people. Some of them are in the prisoner camp.”

Alithea turned to Alpen. “Don’t you and Bebe want to stay with them? You would have family.”

Fallon spoke, touching Alithea’s arm. “We might go back north.”

“We can’t go north. Bebe said the valley has been cut off to the Ibik herds. There will be no food to carry us through the winter.” She looked to Alpen for his opinion.

“Maybe I overreacted,” Alpen said in a hesitant voice. “We miss home. There are more of these others – these creatures with no fur. They have more animals, from what we understand. There will be another queen or a king.” Alpen looked to Sisseku. “She wants to stay south because her people are here. I want to be as far from these hairless beings as I can get. They are sick.” He tapped his head.

Alithea laughed. “They are mean. I didn’t know there were so many of them.”

“They come from far to the south. They travel far, riding on the water along the coast,” Alpen said.

Alithea turned to Fallon. “You’re OK with this?”

Fallon nodded. “I didn’t know until talking to Alpen and Drindl that there were more of them.”

“They’ll just come north,” Alithea said. “We can’t get away from them.”

“We think the cold will be too much for them,” Fallon said. “They have skins and cloth but that won’t be enough to keep them warm.”

“How will we survive without the herd migration?” Alithea asked.

“We’ll find a way. It’s better than an endless war with these creatures,” Fallon said.

“An endless war? You are warriors. What kind of talk is this?” Alithea looked to Alpen, the older warrior. “You saw all these hairless creatures?”

“We saw enough to know there are many more,” Alpen said. “Ask Bebe. She can explain it better than I can.”

“Bebe?” Alithea asked, then turned to the door. “Where is Bebe? Is she with Drindl and Erthen?”

“No, she went back to the palace,” Alpen said.

Alithea was shocked. “What!”

“She said she had to get something from there. She said when you saw it, you would understand that we can’t stay here,” Alpen said.

Alithea pointed to herself. “Me? When I saw what? Alpen, this makes no sense. What is so important - ,” she broke off in mid-sentence, aware that Sisseku was listening. Even if she didn’t understand what Alithea was saying, she would understand that they were arguing. She turned back to Mellen, then spoke in a soft voice. “When is Bebe coming back?”

“This afternoon, she said,” Alpen replied. “We’re leaving as soon as she gets back.”

Alithea looked to Fallon, her eyes smoldering, then looked down to the ground as she spoke. “You all decided this while I was sleeping?”

Fallon reached out a hand, but she pulled away. “Yes, we thought you would want to be rid of these people as well. It was you who,” Fallon shrugged, not needing to finish the sentence.

Alithea looked at him. “Do the others know?” she asked quietly.

Fallon shook his head.

“Everyone? Drindl? Bebe?” Alithea asked.

“Everyone,” Fallon said with a finality in his voice.

“Have you told Sisseku?”

“Not yet,” Fallon said as he looked at Alpen. “We were waiting to talk to you.”

Exasperated, Alithea motioned to Sisseku. “You might as well tell her.” She stood up. “I need some air. I must have overslept or something.” Her tone of voice left no doubt that she was angry.