Chapter 2: One Year After the Massacre
Sees More spent much of his time working on better weapons with which to face their enemy. All who were interested were welcome to suggest ideas, and many did.
All the while, they sent scouts with dogs ahead of the traveling group. All around their encampments, to insure that the Wolf People weren't taken by surprise, sentinals with diga were posted, and ditches, sharpened sticks, and walls surrounded carefully chosen sites.
Axes, clubs with flint embedded, knives with wooden handles, wood and rawhide or fiber shields all came to be refined quickly.
Glues were improved, as different tree-saps were mixed with various powdered minerals and eachother.
It was Medicine Woman who did most of these experiments. It was similar to the way she experimented with different plants and herbs for different purposes, such as poultices.
Medicine Woman was the wife of Sees More's brother, Goes Alone (the head scout), and often worked with him.
Sees More's latest project had grown from a heavy stone on the end of braided rope to one with one end of the rope attatched to the end of a pole or stick.
It was much more devastating than a club or axe, and had much better reach, but took much practice and skill to use effectively.
A helpful technique was drilling holes through stones, but no one remembered who had fashioned the first crystal drill-bit. It was believed to have been inspired by the friction-based fire-starting method (the end of a stick being spun repeatedly into a hollow in a larger piece of wood. The people had used a fiber stretched between two ends of a bent stick, and wrapped once around the "spinning" stick).
Other tribes couldn't drill through stone, and the Wolf People traded drilled stones to them.
This helped Sees More greatly, as the holes were much more reliable than even Medicine Woman's strongest glues.
Sees More discovered that a hole drilled in the end of the hand-end of any club, with a rawhide thong strung through it, and wrapped in a particular way around the wielder's wrist, would significantly increase the weapon's striking force, as well as prevent it from being dropped.
The wielder could even let the club or axe hang free in order to use his hand for something else.
Spinner was working with the warriors (all males in good health of certain ages were warriors and aspiring warriors since The Massacre) to see if spears could be wielded or thrown effectively with these weapons hanging from their wrists, with mixed results.
The shields could stop spears and clubs, but would have to be dropped to use spear-throwers. Log-Pusher, Finds Tracks, and Spinner were the main ones working on tactics and strategy.
One day, a frustrated Sees More rested against a tree and watched his 11 year old daughter (not yet formally named) playing with her year old puppy.
She spun one of his smaller rocks on it's rope once, twice, and then released it--the dog in hot pursuit.
His daugher was small, even for her sex and age, yet the stone flew farther than...yes...farther than he himself could throw even a smaller stone!
He sat up, staring, as the stone flew like a comet (complete with tail) in a majestic arc.
"It was right in front of me, all this time!"
He ran to his daughter, who watched for the dog to bring her toy back to her.
"What made you think of using the rock and rope that way, honey?"
She shrugged. "It was fun to spin. If it spins fast enough, it disappears. Then one time I just let it go. It bounced off a tree, and Chaser ran after it and brought it back to me."
"Chaser?"
She laughed. "Perfect name for her, isn't it?"
He took the stone and rope from his daughter, ignoring the pup's saliva, and stared at it, thinking.
After a time, he heard "Daddy?" and snapped out of it.
"Honey, you have just made a great discovery. I want you to help me make it work for all of us.
"Here..." He knelt down, to draw in the dirt. "You are as skilled a weaver as any in the Tribe. I need you to use any material you want to weave me something like this..."
He made sure his daughter understood the purpose of her project, and could see that she instantly grasped it, becoming excited and enthusiastic herself. He almost wept. He'd known she was bright, but not that she was like him.
A few weeks later, a grinning Sees More had gathered much of the Tribe together for the demonstration.
Living as they had to (under threat), there had been no way to practice completely unobserved, but those who had seen Sees More and his daughter spinning stones around them as some dogs leapt about excitedly had paid little attention.
When asked, both of them smirked, and said "We were just playing".
Sees More's mate had died in childbirth 3 years earlier, along with her child. His daughter had also lost a brother and sister.
This daughter was Sees More's only living child, and the two of them had always been very close.
"Spinner: My daughter, who will be named 'Discovers Things', found us our next great weapon. Watch!"
The future Discovers Things, rather embarrassed, spun her weapon 3 times over her head, generating a humming sound, before releasing it.
The taut woven rope lengthened and flopped free. No one actually saw the stone, but an instant later, there was a loud "thwack!", and a large melon half-exploded.
(Sees More had set up a group of melons, knowing that his daughter wasn't as accurate as she would be yet, to make sure she would hit one of them. She actually only missed her target by one melon).
"Oh!" Finds Tracks erupted, quickly followed by more expressions of shock from the others.. The melons were as far as a man could throw a small stone from the young girl, and no one had even realized this stone had been launched until the impact.
People hurried down to inspect the melon.
The stone hadn't struck dead center, but had still gone through both sides of one melon, and of the melon behind it, scattering their insides in a wide arc behind them.
"Using this sling, as I call it, stones can be thrown over twice the distance of our throwing spears. Most members of the Tribe can, with practice, use this weapon effectively.
"Stones are easy to find and carry. Every warrior can carry a sling and a few stones along with his other weapons.
"I leave attack strategy to others, but in defense, the women and children can strike the enemy before the spearmen can, as well as at closer range...as my daughter just showed you."
Honey was surrounded by jubilant people, patting and trying to hug her. She thought it was stupid, and even resented her father for putting her in this position.
She had had fooled around with part of one of her father's experiments, and suddenly she was being worshipped more than he was! Now they would expect her to be as smart as him! Thank you, daddy!!!
Honey needed to be alone, and walked to the most isolated spot she could, within the defensive perimeter.
"Alone", of course, didn't include her year-old puppy Chaser, who couldn't take a hint, and stayed with her like a leech.
Chaser found a dead bobcat; mostly bone and patches of fur; it's needle teeth frightening, even in death. Chaser sniffed the corpse with relish, and began to paw it.
"Stop that!", she snapped, and the pup looked at her. "Why do you have to be so gross?"
Chaser didn't reply, but came back to her as she sat down in the grass, staring at the dead cat...remembering that horrible place she had seen and smelled last year.
She and the other children, women, and elders had been herded up-wind, and to the edge of the carnage, but Honey had seen and smelled enough.
A child, with his tiny head caved in. An old woman she thought she recognized the loud buzzing of countless flies, and squirming white masses of maggots...why?
Staring at the dead cat, Honey drew her knees up, wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on her knees, remembering.
Sees More (her father) coming back to her; the sadness on him...his eyes fixed on hers:
"Squirrel and Daisey are not among the dead. Others you knew were also spared."
Squirrel was a boy her own age, and Daisy was her cousin, a year younger. Honey loved to see them and play with them twice each year, and had wondered if perhaps she and Squirrel might...
"But where are they?"
"We don't know. The rains washed out the tracks. Even the dogs can't find them."
"Do you think they're allright?"
"I think Squirrel is fine."
"And Daisy?"
Her father never blinked, or looked away, but he hesitated long before answering:
"We will find them, and bring them home."
Tears welled up at the memory. Father had never lied to her. He had tried to spare her feelings, but she knew: Daisey was not "fine", and (though not yet a woman), Honey knew most of what this meant.
Staring at the bones of the cat, and remembering her murdered cousins, Honey suspected that the dead were better off.
After all, what did they know or feel now? Each night, all slept. So what if they never awoke?
But was that it? All that we are, just...gone?
Aunt Medicine Woman said that dead leaves turn to soil. The soil turns to fungus and plants. Animals eat these and excrete them, to feed more plants and fungus, and are eaten themselves, in a great circle of life.
Perhaps, she said, so it is with our personalities. Could it be that we who dream, invent, create, laugh, talk, imagine, and reign over all animals are no more than the flesh we inhabit?
Mother? Can you hear me? Will I see you again? With another face, or when I die too?
Chaser began licking her tears away vigorously, and Honey giggled and struggled "Stop it!"
Chaser ignored her, knocking her down for more licking.
Dogs always seemed to know what to do...this meant something---but for the moment, all Honey could do was laugh and try to get Chaser and his tongue off her.
All the while, they sent scouts with dogs ahead of the traveling group. All around their encampments, to insure that the Wolf People weren't taken by surprise, sentinals with diga were posted, and ditches, sharpened sticks, and walls surrounded carefully chosen sites.
Axes, clubs with flint embedded, knives with wooden handles, wood and rawhide or fiber shields all came to be refined quickly.
Glues were improved, as different tree-saps were mixed with various powdered minerals and eachother.
It was Medicine Woman who did most of these experiments. It was similar to the way she experimented with different plants and herbs for different purposes, such as poultices.
Medicine Woman was the wife of Sees More's brother, Goes Alone (the head scout), and often worked with him.
Sees More's latest project had grown from a heavy stone on the end of braided rope to one with one end of the rope attatched to the end of a pole or stick.
It was much more devastating than a club or axe, and had much better reach, but took much practice and skill to use effectively.
A helpful technique was drilling holes through stones, but no one remembered who had fashioned the first crystal drill-bit. It was believed to have been inspired by the friction-based fire-starting method (the end of a stick being spun repeatedly into a hollow in a larger piece of wood. The people had used a fiber stretched between two ends of a bent stick, and wrapped once around the "spinning" stick).
Other tribes couldn't drill through stone, and the Wolf People traded drilled stones to them.
This helped Sees More greatly, as the holes were much more reliable than even Medicine Woman's strongest glues.
Sees More discovered that a hole drilled in the end of the hand-end of any club, with a rawhide thong strung through it, and wrapped in a particular way around the wielder's wrist, would significantly increase the weapon's striking force, as well as prevent it from being dropped.
The wielder could even let the club or axe hang free in order to use his hand for something else.
Spinner was working with the warriors (all males in good health of certain ages were warriors and aspiring warriors since The Massacre) to see if spears could be wielded or thrown effectively with these weapons hanging from their wrists, with mixed results.
The shields could stop spears and clubs, but would have to be dropped to use spear-throwers. Log-Pusher, Finds Tracks, and Spinner were the main ones working on tactics and strategy.
One day, a frustrated Sees More rested against a tree and watched his 11 year old daughter (not yet formally named) playing with her year old puppy.
She spun one of his smaller rocks on it's rope once, twice, and then released it--the dog in hot pursuit.
His daugher was small, even for her sex and age, yet the stone flew farther than...yes...farther than he himself could throw even a smaller stone!
He sat up, staring, as the stone flew like a comet (complete with tail) in a majestic arc.
"It was right in front of me, all this time!"
He ran to his daughter, who watched for the dog to bring her toy back to her.
"What made you think of using the rock and rope that way, honey?"
She shrugged. "It was fun to spin. If it spins fast enough, it disappears. Then one time I just let it go. It bounced off a tree, and Chaser ran after it and brought it back to me."
"Chaser?"
She laughed. "Perfect name for her, isn't it?"
He took the stone and rope from his daughter, ignoring the pup's saliva, and stared at it, thinking.
After a time, he heard "Daddy?" and snapped out of it.
"Honey, you have just made a great discovery. I want you to help me make it work for all of us.
"Here..." He knelt down, to draw in the dirt. "You are as skilled a weaver as any in the Tribe. I need you to use any material you want to weave me something like this..."
He made sure his daughter understood the purpose of her project, and could see that she instantly grasped it, becoming excited and enthusiastic herself. He almost wept. He'd known she was bright, but not that she was like him.
A few weeks later, a grinning Sees More had gathered much of the Tribe together for the demonstration.
Living as they had to (under threat), there had been no way to practice completely unobserved, but those who had seen Sees More and his daughter spinning stones around them as some dogs leapt about excitedly had paid little attention.
When asked, both of them smirked, and said "We were just playing".
Sees More's mate had died in childbirth 3 years earlier, along with her child. His daughter had also lost a brother and sister.
This daughter was Sees More's only living child, and the two of them had always been very close.
"Spinner: My daughter, who will be named 'Discovers Things', found us our next great weapon. Watch!"
The future Discovers Things, rather embarrassed, spun her weapon 3 times over her head, generating a humming sound, before releasing it.
The taut woven rope lengthened and flopped free. No one actually saw the stone, but an instant later, there was a loud "thwack!", and a large melon half-exploded.
(Sees More had set up a group of melons, knowing that his daughter wasn't as accurate as she would be yet, to make sure she would hit one of them. She actually only missed her target by one melon).
"Oh!" Finds Tracks erupted, quickly followed by more expressions of shock from the others.. The melons were as far as a man could throw a small stone from the young girl, and no one had even realized this stone had been launched until the impact.
People hurried down to inspect the melon.
The stone hadn't struck dead center, but had still gone through both sides of one melon, and of the melon behind it, scattering their insides in a wide arc behind them.
"Using this sling, as I call it, stones can be thrown over twice the distance of our throwing spears. Most members of the Tribe can, with practice, use this weapon effectively.
"Stones are easy to find and carry. Every warrior can carry a sling and a few stones along with his other weapons.
"I leave attack strategy to others, but in defense, the women and children can strike the enemy before the spearmen can, as well as at closer range...as my daughter just showed you."
Honey was surrounded by jubilant people, patting and trying to hug her. She thought it was stupid, and even resented her father for putting her in this position.
She had had fooled around with part of one of her father's experiments, and suddenly she was being worshipped more than he was! Now they would expect her to be as smart as him! Thank you, daddy!!!
Honey needed to be alone, and walked to the most isolated spot she could, within the defensive perimeter.
"Alone", of course, didn't include her year-old puppy Chaser, who couldn't take a hint, and stayed with her like a leech.
Chaser found a dead bobcat; mostly bone and patches of fur; it's needle teeth frightening, even in death. Chaser sniffed the corpse with relish, and began to paw it.
"Stop that!", she snapped, and the pup looked at her. "Why do you have to be so gross?"
Chaser didn't reply, but came back to her as she sat down in the grass, staring at the dead cat...remembering that horrible place she had seen and smelled last year.
She and the other children, women, and elders had been herded up-wind, and to the edge of the carnage, but Honey had seen and smelled enough.
A child, with his tiny head caved in. An old woman she thought she recognized the loud buzzing of countless flies, and squirming white masses of maggots...why?
Staring at the dead cat, Honey drew her knees up, wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on her knees, remembering.
Sees More (her father) coming back to her; the sadness on him...his eyes fixed on hers:
"Squirrel and Daisey are not among the dead. Others you knew were also spared."
Squirrel was a boy her own age, and Daisy was her cousin, a year younger. Honey loved to see them and play with them twice each year, and had wondered if perhaps she and Squirrel might...
"But where are they?"
"We don't know. The rains washed out the tracks. Even the dogs can't find them."
"Do you think they're allright?"
"I think Squirrel is fine."
"And Daisy?"
Her father never blinked, or looked away, but he hesitated long before answering:
"We will find them, and bring them home."
Tears welled up at the memory. Father had never lied to her. He had tried to spare her feelings, but she knew: Daisey was not "fine", and (though not yet a woman), Honey knew most of what this meant.
Staring at the bones of the cat, and remembering her murdered cousins, Honey suspected that the dead were better off.
After all, what did they know or feel now? Each night, all slept. So what if they never awoke?
But was that it? All that we are, just...gone?
Aunt Medicine Woman said that dead leaves turn to soil. The soil turns to fungus and plants. Animals eat these and excrete them, to feed more plants and fungus, and are eaten themselves, in a great circle of life.
Perhaps, she said, so it is with our personalities. Could it be that we who dream, invent, create, laugh, talk, imagine, and reign over all animals are no more than the flesh we inhabit?
Mother? Can you hear me? Will I see you again? With another face, or when I die too?
Chaser began licking her tears away vigorously, and Honey giggled and struggled "Stop it!"
Chaser ignored her, knocking her down for more licking.
Dogs always seemed to know what to do...this meant something---but for the moment, all Honey could do was laugh and try to get Chaser and his tongue off her.
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