Bonesetter 2 -Winter- (5 page)

Gontra and Belk blinked at him, “Do we want to catch porcupines?!”

Pell shrugged, porcupines were good eating but dangerous to skin. He shook his head slowly, “That’s what I’m trying to say. The path you put that noose on
isn’t
the right size for the kind of animals you’d like to catch.
Besides
which, you want your noose to cover the width of the path so the animal can’t go around it very easily.”

Exen said, “That opening’s about the right size for a little pig.”

“Young pigs follow their mothers,” Tando said. “Mama pig isn’t going to go down that little path.”

“So…” Gontra said, and paused. Then he continued, “How
do
we trap something on that path?”

“You don’t,” Pell responded. “You find a narrow spot on a trail that’s just big enough for the animals that you’re trying to trap.” He pointed off to the side, “Like that little tunnel into the brambles there. A rabbit probably lives in there and a noose the size of yours would probably work well.” He shrugged, “Hedgehogs are the right size for that kind of noose and we catch them occasionally. If you’re going to trap big trails, you need
big
heavy ropes that’ll hold animals like deer, goats and pigs.”

Exen said hopefully, “Could we catch an aurochs or a moose?”

Pell shrugged, “I think their horns are so big they’d catch on the noose and keep the animal’s head from going in.” He tilted his head and thought, “Maybe horses?”

“Oh! Let’s try that!”

“I don’t think we have a rope strong enough right now. If you braid some heavier rope, we could try, but I think for now we should stick to the animals Tando and I already know how to catch. We shouldn’t waste effort on other animals until we’re sure you’re going to have enough food to live through the winter.”

They put a snare on the rabbit sized opening in the brambles and went on to find the rest of the traps the men had set late that morning. Pell felt a little surprised to learn the different ways the Aldans’ men had misunderstood his instructions earlier. He’d thought he’d explained the traps clearly, at least clearly enough that the men should have been able to figure out the rest, but they hadn’t. They’d trapped a couple of squirrels with nooses over branches that the squirrels would typically run on, but those were fairly foolproof traps.

However, Pell knew that squirrels weren’t going to feed the tribe. He had them move their snares to better locations and made sure they marked them. He placed snares himself, including his two braided leather ropes in hopes of getting some large animals.

They headed back to the cave as sunset was coloring the sky. Gia’s hand crept into his and she tugged a little to slow him. When they’d fallen behind the others, she walked close at his side and slipped an arm around his waist. Pell found his arm falling naturally onto her shoulders and he began to feel like the world couldn’t get much better. She looked up at him and said quietly, “
Who
taught you about snares?”

Pell found himself again explaining the amazingly lucky incidents with the rabbit and the pig and how he’d gradually worked it out from there. She didn’t say much, and, deciding he must just be rambling on, he glanced down at her.

Gia was staring at him in wide-eyed amazement. “So, you’re saying
no one
taught you? You just figured it out?”

He nodded uncertainly.

Gia gave him an enthusiastic hug.

I guess she doesn’t think trapping’s a shameful way to hunt after all,
Pell thought.

That evening, although the goat bones weren’t finished rendering, Gia scooped out a little bit of the oil floating on top of the water in the pouch where she’d been simmering them. She spooned the oil into the depression she’d pecked into the top of the piece of limestone and then laid her twisted wick of juniper fibers into it to soak. She pulled the wick out so that it was sticking up out of one end of the depression and lit it with a burning splinter from the fire.

The Aldans gathered around excitedly to stare at the steadily glowing flame. Young Odran said, “Why’s that better than the fire? The fire’s brighter.”

Gia said, “Watch this.” She picked up the lamp and carried it back into one of the dark corners of the cave. The Aldans followed her back there and were excited to see the way it lit the recess with only a little flickering.

In an amazed tone, Tonday said, “Oh, that’ll be so helpful now that the cave’s so dark!” She turned to Odran, “When we need to find tools, or roots, or grain that are stored back here in the dark parts of the cave, this will be really helpful, can you see that?”

Gia said, “It’ll burn for hours too.”
 

That evening, after the Aldans had eaten and boredom had set in because no one was ready to sleep, Pell suggested that Gia tell a story. He’d heard her tales back at the Cold Spring’s cave and knew she was a consummate story teller. As he’d hoped, she soon had the tribe enthralled in one of her stories about lovers from different tribes meeting each other. Pell glanced at the people sitting raptly around the fire, eyes gleaming with excitement. He felt surprised when he recognized that this was yet another different story. He’d already heard many stories from Gia and had been thinking that sometime soon she’d be telling a repeat. However, either she remembered an endless number of stories she’d heard from others, or she was capable of making up new ones night after night.

He wasn’t sure which ability would be the more amazing.

Later, as everyone was settling down to try to go to sleep, Gia quietly asked, “When are we going to return to Cold Springs? Your mother’s probably getting worried because you’ve been gone longer than you said you’d be.”

Pell chewed his lip a moment, then said, “I think I should help them run the trap lines again tomorrow. Could we go the next day?”

“Sure,” Gia said, happy to have been consulted.

“What do you think, Yadin?” Jalgon, the Oppo chief, asked.

Startled, Yadin looked up. He’d lost track of the conversation and been daydreaming to himself about moving on to another tribe. He’d had a sudden realization that he’d like to be mated again, and decided that he wasn’t going to get mated within the Oppos. They had no extra women near his age. Besides he couldn’t stand living with Nosset anymore and his revulsion toward their medicine man had become even worse since this new medicine man, Pont, had shown up. He shook his head as if muzzy headed, and said, “Um, what? Sorry, I was thinking of something else.”

Speaking patiently, as if Yadin was some kind of idiot, Jalgon said, “We were talking about scouting out the Aldans tribe. You know, to see if this Pell is still there and get some idea whether the people remain in his thrall.
You’re
our best stalker when it comes to hunting, so you could probably do it without them even noticing you were there.” Jalgon glanced at the medicine men, then said, “You might even be able to put a spear in this Pell if you can catch him alone on an out-of-the-way trail.”

Yadin frowned, “So, you think I can just sneak into the area and watch them? And somehow, I’m supposed to be able to tell by the way they
look
whether some evil spirit has them in its control?”

Pont was the one who responded, “Well, yes, it may be difficult to tell if they’re enthralled. But you could easily find out if Pell’s still there.”

“How?!
I
don’t know what he looks like!”

“Young but tall. He’s taller than any of your men here in the Oppos as well as
all
the men in the Aldans. Muscular and handsome, though his good looks must be something the evil spirit did—he was an ugly boy.”

Yadin lifted an eyebrow, “And if he’s there? You really think I can attack someone protected by a powerful spirit all by myself?”

Pont shook his head, “I wouldn’t recommend that you try that, even though Jalgon says you’re an amazing stalker. It’d be better to attack with many hunters after Nosset and I have worked some spells to protect everyone from the evil spirit.”

“Okay, Yadin asked, “assuming I
am
pretty good at hiding from people, how am I supposed to keep a
spirit
from seeing me and taking
me
over?”

Pont glanced at Nosset, “Nosset and I will work together to make a charm that’ll hide you from the spirit.”

“All right,” Yadin said disgustedly, not quite angry enough to say that he wanted nothing to do with any charms the medicine men might create.
Maybe this is as good a way as any to get out and have a look at another tribe,
he thought. A small thrill of apprehension shot through him at the possibility that perhaps this “evil spirit” was real.

***

To their great delight, the next day when they went out to check their snares in the morning, the Aldans’ men had caught a couple of rabbits. They’d also got a couple more squirrels and a hedgehog.

Pell felt encouraged. Of course he couldn’t know how well trapping would work in the winter, but if the Aldans continued to get this much small game, it might sustain them through the cold months. He’d caught three rabbits, presumably because of his greater skill, so perhaps they’d get better at it and catch even more. On the other hand, he thought with disquiet, it might be that trapping produced as little in the winter months as hunting.

The first of Pell’s two big rope snares, placed beside a deer trail in the woods, held nothing. However, when they approached the second one, which Pell had put on a steep trail up behind the cave, it held another goat! A goat which, when they first saw it, was stretching up on its hind legs to eat the foliage of a large bush next to the trail. At first, Pell didn’t even realize that it had one of his braided leather ropes around its neck. As they approached, he lifted the wood chip on his necklet up and peered through the tiny hole he’d bored in it. Looking through the pinhole improved his vision enough that he could see the rope, though Tando had already exclaimed, “You got another goat!”

As Gontra and Tando trotted ahead to spear the goat, some kind of idea kept tickling at the back of Pell’s mind. At the last moment, he shouted out to them, saying, “Wait,” but he was too late.

Gia turned to him and said, “Why did you want them to stop?”

Pell shrugged as he stared unseeingly at the dead goat, “I don’t know… I kept thinking that if they kept the goat alive, its meat wouldn’t go bad.”

“Kept it alive?” Gia said, frowning. “But you couldn’t keep it for very long, it’d starve.”

“Um, maybe you could tie it to a different tree every day. That way it could eat.”

“You’d need to tie it near the river so it could drink.”

Gontra and Belk had lifted the goat up and draped it around Exen’s neck. Picking up their rabbits, squirrels and the hedgehog, they started back toward the cave. Pell untied the rope of his snare and carried it with him, intending to set one more snare that he could check in the afternoon. Turning to Gia, he said, “Maybe you could just tie it near the river part of the day.”

Dubiously, Gia said, “I don’t know. I think a goat that’s tied up would just provide a meal for wolves, bears, or big cats. Besides you’d be using one of your fancy ropes to keep it there. I think it’s better to catch goats that’ve been feeding themselves than to spend a lot of time and effort taking care of one yourself.”

Glancing around for a place to put a big snare, in a disappointed tone Pell said, “You’re probably right.”

They came upon Tando, standing between two trees straddling the trail they were following. He said, “I’ll bet we could get a deer here.”

Pell looked around, realizing that the trail they were following had probably been formed by animals like deer. He’d been thinking so hard about his goat idea that he hadn’t been watching for a place to put out the snare. “Good idea, Tando. Let’s set it up.”

They suspended the noose of braided leather across the trail with the bottom part of the noose about chest high on a deer. Tando rubbed some dung onto the rope to disguise its scent while Pell went to find a vine. When he returned, he found Gia leaning a slender leafy branch across the trail at the level of the bottom of the noose. He gave her an admiring glance as he admitted to himself that it looked more natural than a vine would.

As they walked on back toward the cave, Pell said, “Tando, Gia and I were thinking that we should go back to Cold Springs tomorrow. What do you think?”

Tando got a distant look in his eye. There was no doubt that Tando had enjoyed spending time with his old friend Gontra. Pell wondered if Tando might decide to stay with the Aldans permanently. Finally, Tando said, “I think that’s okay. If you don’t mind, I’ll stay with them a few more days to make sure they really understand trapping.”

Pell’s heart skipped a beat as he realized that this would mean he and Gia would be walking back to Cold Springs alone. “Okay,” he said, glancing at Gia to make sure she wasn’t about to raise an objection.

***

Yadin started out the next day. Pont had made a halfhearted offer to go with him to be sure he found where the Aldans lived. That would have been helpful, but Yadin couldn’t stand the bowlegged little medicine man. Besides, it seemed fairly straightforward. Down to the main river, go west past one tributary then up the next one until he saw people and a cave.

The women gave him a pouch of grain and a couple of roots as well as a slab of meat from the last kill. The meat was just starting to go bad.

When Jalgon saw Yadin off, Yadin saw Jalgon’s eyes linger enviously on the two spears Yadin had chosen to take with him. Yadin knew their points were works of art and wondered if Jalgon would object, wanting him to take plainer weapons and save the high quality spearheads for trading.

Fortunately, Jalgon didn’t know that Yadin had packed up his flint knapping tools. In with the gear, he’d also bundled all of the best needles, chisels, knife blades and spear points he’d made recently. He didn’t have any really heavy things that were easily made such as hand axes, but his pack was still pretty hefty.

***

Taking a break on their long walk home, Pell and Gia sat on a large boulder that hung out over the big river. The stream in front of the Aldans’ cave, as well as the icy cold creek from Cold Springs both ran into this same big river. In fact, all the tribes Pell had ever heard of lived on various tributaries of this same large river.

Chewing on some of Pell’s jerky, with Gia leaning on Pell’s shoulder, they stared peacefully out across the slow-moving waters. Pell turned to look back at the big meadow behind them. It had some bison, aurochs, deer and pigs grazing on it. He kept an eye on the herbivores. Pell worried about predators, but didn’t look for the predators themselves. Rather he watched the activity of the big plant eaters—they’d be spooked if a predator came near.

As he turned back to the front, Gia reached up and caught a hand behind his neck. She pulled him down for a kiss, as usual leaving him feeling somewhat breathless. He traced a hand down her flank, hoping she’d be willing to do more than just kiss, even though he feared such activities might distract him from the possibility of predators.

Gia pulled back, a sparkle in her eyes and she teasingly caught her lip between her teeth. “Now, you
know
I want to wait until summer. Don’t make it
harder
for me!” She looked around, apparently for a distraction. “Let’s see if there are any fish.” She scrambled around to lay flat on the rock, her head hanging out over the water.

What about how hard it is on me!
Pell wondered, glancing back up at the meadow to check again for any disturbances amongst the herbivores. Reassured, he turned and slid out beside Gia. Looking down into the water he said, “Do you see any?”

“Umhmm,” she said quietly and pointed.

Pell saw a couple of large fish gently undulating in the slow-moving water. It looked to him like they were swimming to stay in the shadow of the boulder. He’d never paid much attention to fish before, but thought they looked interesting.

Gia said, “One of the tribes near our old cave ate fish. I’ve had some and it’s pretty good. Do you think one of your snares could catch a fish?”

Pell drew his head back a little bit, startled at the question. “It doesn’t look like they have a head for the noose to catch on. And, aren’t they supposed to be slippery?” He took a bite of his jerky.

“Mmm-hmm, they’re really slippery.”

“How does that tribe hunt them?” Pell asked, looking back over his shoulder to check the meadow again. He saw Ginja trotting up and felt relieved. With her behind them he didn’t think any predators would be able to sneak up on them.

“With spears.”

Pell put the stick of jerky he’d been gnawing on between his teeth and pulled up his spear, “Shall I try?” As he spoke, the jerky he’d been holding between his teeth slipped out, landing in the water. With a movement so quick Pell hardly realized what had happened, one of the fish shot to the surface, gobbled the jerky, and dropped back down to its original location.

Gia giggled, “It looks like
you’re
feeding the fish, instead of them feeding you.”

“Well, I’ll just have to get my revenge,” Pell said as he lifted the spear.

Gia put a hand on his arm, “Spearing fish is really hard. I heard their hunters talking about it one night at their campfire. You have to aim either above or below the fish, I can’t remember which. They said, ‘the fish isn’t really where you see it, it’s a little bit below.’ Or, ‘above…’” Gia frowned, “I’m not sure which way they said it was.”

Pell plunged his spear into the water, aiming just above the fish. With a flash of their tails, they disappeared. Pell wondered whether he missed because he wasn’t very accurate with a spear—though he’d felt like this time the spear went right where he’d intended—or whether, like Gia had said, he’d missed because the fish wasn’t where he saw it.

Nonetheless, he once again resolved to practice his throwing. When he’d been visiting the Aldans, he’d never had any time alone. He didn’t want to practice throwing in
front
of anyone, it’d be too embarrassing.

They filled their water skins and resumed their journey back to Cold Springs. As they traveled, Pell’s mind kept going back to the fish quickly gobbling his little piece of jerky.
Maybe if I dropped a piece of jerky right in front of a noose that I’d put in the water? When it swam into the noose, I could jerk it out of the water.
He didn’t think it’d work though. Since fish didn’t appear to have a neck for the noose to catch on he thought the fish would escape.
Maybe it’d catch on their fins?

He decided he’d just have to try it.

***

Yadin first encountered an Aldan when the trail he was following rounded a small copse and he saw a young man crouching in front of a thicket. Curious, Yadin silently stopped and watched. The young man appeared to be tying some knotted leather thongs into the thicket, though for what purpose Yadin couldn’t imagine. Having positioned the thongs, he rubbed them with some substance, then plucked a few leaves of grass and twisted them over the thongs.