Chapter 4: Waiting
Sees More, Spinner, Sees Far, and Finds Tracks arrived at their landmark tree with Scout; a "trusted" young female dog, and settled down to wait.
It was mid-morning, and they didn't expect Goes Alone, or Light Foot with the Sea Warriors, to come before the middle of the next day at the earliest.
They'd left Log Pusher in charge of 28 other warriors a fifth of a day's walk north, to avoid detection, and allow them to hunt and cook.
Scouts with dogs circled both the camps at distance. It was possible that the Enemy had deployed scouts in every direction, and if any were discovered, they were to be killed (if capture and interrogation was not realistic).
Most of the boys (and some of the girls) were skilled hunters who were accustomed to stealth and killing, as were the older men at the base camp.
All of this was normal for all peoples.
The dedicated scouts were the best of these, and those at the camp worked in pairs, so that one could go for help, or they could reliably kill three Enemies, given the advantage of surprise (and often a dog).
At all costs, the Enemy could not be alerted to the Wolf Warriors' presence.
Young Sees Far tried to seem calm and mature before his Chief and elders, but the playful Finds Tracks had teased him relentlessly, with the other two grinning at his reddened face.
It was Finds Tracks' way. To joke and to tease, but never in a hurtful way. He was much more popular than his grim older brother, Log Pusher.
Now, as Spinner and Finds Tracks lounged against trees and relaxed (and Sees Far pretended to), Sees More played with his new weapon; a drilled stone attatched to a rope half the length of his forearm, in turn attatched to a wooden rod the full length of his forearm, with a connected leather strap encircling his wrist.
Sees More was spinning the stone rapidly, experimentally swinging the stone left or right as he turned and stepped, and generally--
"You're a fine dancer, Sees More! How pretty you look!", Finds Tracks quipped.
Sees More said nothing, but began turning, spinning, and swinging directly towards his huge freind, with an evil grin on his face.
Finds Tracks cringed and put his hands up: "I take it back! Be careful with that thing!"
Sees More stopped, grinning: "This thing makes me stronger than you and your brother, but it takes a lot of practice. Little Big Man is helping me master it."
Little Big Man had actually grown to average size since his naming day in his 13th year, but had made martial combat a discipline, at first for himself, (as he practiced relentlessly and ultimately became at least a match for Spinner, Log Pusher, and Finds Tracks), and now for the Tribe, as Spinner had asked him to train them.
"I can see that.", Spinner said. "If you miss with that thing, it'll pull you off-balance and leave your right side wide open."
"That's why I'm 'dancing', and why I do this" Sees More spun the stone in a blur, barely moving his arm or the rod to which the stone was attatched. "Little Big Man is a genius! He saw every weakness, and found a solution for it. I just wish I could practice against a real opponent." Sees More lost his smile as he said this.
Finds Tracks understood: "If you don't trust yourself with it, don't risk it. But it looks effective in your hands to me."
"Especially that spinning around thing...that's for when you miss, right? You just drop low and keep the stone going into your enemy's leg or something?", Spinner asked.
"Yes! Little Big Man taught me that, and got me to thinking for myself, too. He understands...momentum...force...I can't express it."
Finds Tracks nodded. "Well I know it! The harder I go after that little monster, the harder I land on my back!"
Everyone laughed at that. Little Big Man was famous for humiliating Finds Tracks and his even more imposing brother in training (although Log Pusher couldn't laugh about it).
"I commend you.", Spinner said to Sees More, seriously. "That's a devastating weapon. It will break something, no matter where it lands, and you can out-reach a spear with it."
"Thank you. Little Big Man has given me more ideas...and Medicine Woman, and my daughter, too."
Finds Tracks sat up. "What? How can Medicine Woman and Discovers Things inspire your great genius?"
With a rude hand-gesture to Finds Tracks, Sees More grew almost enthusiastic:
"They're obsessed with...materials..." Sees More visibly struggled for words. "...and using heat on them...grinding certain stones down to powder, mixing them together and with water, boiling the water...
"Look at Medicine Woman's adhesives...my daughter is fascinated by different kinds of stone, and they're working together..."
"Truly!" Sees Far piped up, excitedly. "Medicine Woman invented the pot, for boiling things! And the glues that let us make shields and improve our weapons!"
"Ah, puppy love!", Finds Tracks smirked at the teenager.
"Stop that.", Spinner snapped at him. "Let this young man breathe, Finds Tracks!"
Finds Tracks flashed past anger, into thought, and to apology in two heartbeats, and nodded.
"You know I mean no harm, Sees Far. I do respect you."
Sees Far, embarrassed, nodded.
"But what are these women cooking up?", Spinner asked Sees More.
"Her pot isn't safe to cook food in yet. There's sediment in the boiled water, and she says it might be poisonous. She and Discovers Things are trying to find a way to seal the clay.
"Discovers Things has studied different types of stone, and is especially interested in those which came out of volcanoes. She thinks we can find a way to melt rock someday.
"I've already melted and formed certain nuggets. They weren't really "rocks", but now Discovers Things tells me that they came from cooling stone from volcanoes. Different materials separate, and cool in layers.
"Medicine Woman and my daughter...and others...think we can construct things they call "kilns" to make fire five or more times hotter than it is normally; trapping the heat that normally radiates away.
"Discovers Things thinks that sand can be melted and formed. She says that the only way what she calls "glass" could have been formed in some of the rocks she's found would be molten rock flowing over sand."
"Isn't that a lot of guesswork?", asked Spinner.
"I don't think so. Discovers Things is meticulous, and finds layers in her volcanic stone. She says that just as grease separates from water, and solidifies as it cools, different parts of stone separate as magma cools.
"'Glass', she says, was once sand. The molten rock flowed over a beach, and turned sand into 'glass'."
"What's 'glass'?", Sees Far asked.
"It's like ice that never melts. It's just what Discovers Things call it."
"Am I allowed to pick on Sees Far for his obvious crush on Discovers Things?", Finds Tracks asked Spinner, feigning sincerity.
"Can't you be serious, ever?", Sees More sighed, ignoring Sees Far's beet-red face. "It gets old after awhile."
Finds Tracks winced. "I'm sorry, truly. I reserve the right to embarass Sees Far in the future, but will give him room...and" he gave Sees Far a respectful nod, "I was an asshole."
"Yes, you were.", Spinner confirmed.
All three older men knew that Sees Far was trying to have sex with Sees More's daughter, but Finds Tracks was being obnoxious.
"Continue!", Spinner said to Sees More.
"Well...for the moment, we're working on 'armor'."
"What?", Sees Far asked.
Sees More sighed. "It's just a word I made up. Like a turtle's shell...a shield you can wear. We can't safely boil food in our clay pots yet, but we've boiled leather.
"Medicine Woman thought that if the oils could be boiled out of leather, it would become stiff and hard, and could be easily shaped and formed.
"She was right! But we've only started on this...
"We should be able to form animal skins into rigid shapes using 'molds'...that is, by wrapping the soft, wet leather around models we have carved or otherwise made.
"I think this hardened animal hide will be harder to penetrate than the softer skin of our prey animals", Sees More's eyes were alight now, and he was earnest.
"I think we can use two, or even three layers of hide, with Medicine Woman's glues and compounds binding them, and wood between the layers to protect our warriors' torsos, and even less vital areas. She even has a glue that foams in contact with water."
"Tell my brother that!", Finds Tracks expostulated.
Log Pusher's weapon and technique were unique. He wielded a spear with a nearly forearm-long bone slashing and stabbing spearhead on one end, and a wood-sculped club on the "back" end.
Little Big Man had helped Log-Pusher maximize his unique weapon (and physical attributes).
"You two are freaks.", Sees More replied. "I have to deal with normal enemies first."
"You're in charge now?" Finds Tracks responded.
Finds Tracks wilted under the others' collective glares, and Spinner made sure Find Tracks got the message:
"Shut up. Quit screwing everything up, funny boy. This is not funny."
The three older men and Sees Far argued into the night, about everything else except the pending war.
They slept, a little. Sees Far slept not at all.
It was easy to play at being a heroic warrior in games and practice, but now the boy was aware that if he fell in the pending war, he wouldn't be getting up and starting over.
All three of his older companions could kill him easily, and the Enemy was like them.
Spinner had told him that the boys his age would be slingers and spearmen only, and only fight hand-to-hand in an emergency, but it was generally agreed that the allies would be outnumbered by experienced warriors.
Sees Far was confident that he would be brave when it started, but the waiting was torture.
The night was long, for all of them.
It was mid-morning, and they didn't expect Goes Alone, or Light Foot with the Sea Warriors, to come before the middle of the next day at the earliest.
They'd left Log Pusher in charge of 28 other warriors a fifth of a day's walk north, to avoid detection, and allow them to hunt and cook.
Scouts with dogs circled both the camps at distance. It was possible that the Enemy had deployed scouts in every direction, and if any were discovered, they were to be killed (if capture and interrogation was not realistic).
Most of the boys (and some of the girls) were skilled hunters who were accustomed to stealth and killing, as were the older men at the base camp.
All of this was normal for all peoples.
The dedicated scouts were the best of these, and those at the camp worked in pairs, so that one could go for help, or they could reliably kill three Enemies, given the advantage of surprise (and often a dog).
At all costs, the Enemy could not be alerted to the Wolf Warriors' presence.
Young Sees Far tried to seem calm and mature before his Chief and elders, but the playful Finds Tracks had teased him relentlessly, with the other two grinning at his reddened face.
It was Finds Tracks' way. To joke and to tease, but never in a hurtful way. He was much more popular than his grim older brother, Log Pusher.
Now, as Spinner and Finds Tracks lounged against trees and relaxed (and Sees Far pretended to), Sees More played with his new weapon; a drilled stone attatched to a rope half the length of his forearm, in turn attatched to a wooden rod the full length of his forearm, with a connected leather strap encircling his wrist.
Sees More was spinning the stone rapidly, experimentally swinging the stone left or right as he turned and stepped, and generally--
"You're a fine dancer, Sees More! How pretty you look!", Finds Tracks quipped.
Sees More said nothing, but began turning, spinning, and swinging directly towards his huge freind, with an evil grin on his face.
Finds Tracks cringed and put his hands up: "I take it back! Be careful with that thing!"
Sees More stopped, grinning: "This thing makes me stronger than you and your brother, but it takes a lot of practice. Little Big Man is helping me master it."
Little Big Man had actually grown to average size since his naming day in his 13th year, but had made martial combat a discipline, at first for himself, (as he practiced relentlessly and ultimately became at least a match for Spinner, Log Pusher, and Finds Tracks), and now for the Tribe, as Spinner had asked him to train them.
"I can see that.", Spinner said. "If you miss with that thing, it'll pull you off-balance and leave your right side wide open."
"That's why I'm 'dancing', and why I do this" Sees More spun the stone in a blur, barely moving his arm or the rod to which the stone was attatched. "Little Big Man is a genius! He saw every weakness, and found a solution for it. I just wish I could practice against a real opponent." Sees More lost his smile as he said this.
Finds Tracks understood: "If you don't trust yourself with it, don't risk it. But it looks effective in your hands to me."
"Especially that spinning around thing...that's for when you miss, right? You just drop low and keep the stone going into your enemy's leg or something?", Spinner asked.
"Yes! Little Big Man taught me that, and got me to thinking for myself, too. He understands...momentum...force...I can't express it."
Finds Tracks nodded. "Well I know it! The harder I go after that little monster, the harder I land on my back!"
Everyone laughed at that. Little Big Man was famous for humiliating Finds Tracks and his even more imposing brother in training (although Log Pusher couldn't laugh about it).
"I commend you.", Spinner said to Sees More, seriously. "That's a devastating weapon. It will break something, no matter where it lands, and you can out-reach a spear with it."
"Thank you. Little Big Man has given me more ideas...and Medicine Woman, and my daughter, too."
Finds Tracks sat up. "What? How can Medicine Woman and Discovers Things inspire your great genius?"
With a rude hand-gesture to Finds Tracks, Sees More grew almost enthusiastic:
"They're obsessed with...materials..." Sees More visibly struggled for words. "...and using heat on them...grinding certain stones down to powder, mixing them together and with water, boiling the water...
"Look at Medicine Woman's adhesives...my daughter is fascinated by different kinds of stone, and they're working together..."
"Truly!" Sees Far piped up, excitedly. "Medicine Woman invented the pot, for boiling things! And the glues that let us make shields and improve our weapons!"
"Ah, puppy love!", Finds Tracks smirked at the teenager.
"Stop that.", Spinner snapped at him. "Let this young man breathe, Finds Tracks!"
Finds Tracks flashed past anger, into thought, and to apology in two heartbeats, and nodded.
"You know I mean no harm, Sees Far. I do respect you."
Sees Far, embarrassed, nodded.
"But what are these women cooking up?", Spinner asked Sees More.
"Her pot isn't safe to cook food in yet. There's sediment in the boiled water, and she says it might be poisonous. She and Discovers Things are trying to find a way to seal the clay.
"Discovers Things has studied different types of stone, and is especially interested in those which came out of volcanoes. She thinks we can find a way to melt rock someday.
"I've already melted and formed certain nuggets. They weren't really "rocks", but now Discovers Things tells me that they came from cooling stone from volcanoes. Different materials separate, and cool in layers.
"Medicine Woman and my daughter...and others...think we can construct things they call "kilns" to make fire five or more times hotter than it is normally; trapping the heat that normally radiates away.
"Discovers Things thinks that sand can be melted and formed. She says that the only way what she calls "glass" could have been formed in some of the rocks she's found would be molten rock flowing over sand."
"Isn't that a lot of guesswork?", asked Spinner.
"I don't think so. Discovers Things is meticulous, and finds layers in her volcanic stone. She says that just as grease separates from water, and solidifies as it cools, different parts of stone separate as magma cools.
"'Glass', she says, was once sand. The molten rock flowed over a beach, and turned sand into 'glass'."
"What's 'glass'?", Sees Far asked.
"It's like ice that never melts. It's just what Discovers Things call it."
"Am I allowed to pick on Sees Far for his obvious crush on Discovers Things?", Finds Tracks asked Spinner, feigning sincerity.
"Can't you be serious, ever?", Sees More sighed, ignoring Sees Far's beet-red face. "It gets old after awhile."
Finds Tracks winced. "I'm sorry, truly. I reserve the right to embarass Sees Far in the future, but will give him room...and" he gave Sees Far a respectful nod, "I was an asshole."
"Yes, you were.", Spinner confirmed.
All three older men knew that Sees Far was trying to have sex with Sees More's daughter, but Finds Tracks was being obnoxious.
"Continue!", Spinner said to Sees More.
"Well...for the moment, we're working on 'armor'."
"What?", Sees Far asked.
Sees More sighed. "It's just a word I made up. Like a turtle's shell...a shield you can wear. We can't safely boil food in our clay pots yet, but we've boiled leather.
"Medicine Woman thought that if the oils could be boiled out of leather, it would become stiff and hard, and could be easily shaped and formed.
"She was right! But we've only started on this...
"We should be able to form animal skins into rigid shapes using 'molds'...that is, by wrapping the soft, wet leather around models we have carved or otherwise made.
"I think this hardened animal hide will be harder to penetrate than the softer skin of our prey animals", Sees More's eyes were alight now, and he was earnest.
"I think we can use two, or even three layers of hide, with Medicine Woman's glues and compounds binding them, and wood between the layers to protect our warriors' torsos, and even less vital areas. She even has a glue that foams in contact with water."
"Tell my brother that!", Finds Tracks expostulated.
Log Pusher's weapon and technique were unique. He wielded a spear with a nearly forearm-long bone slashing and stabbing spearhead on one end, and a wood-sculped club on the "back" end.
Little Big Man had helped Log-Pusher maximize his unique weapon (and physical attributes).
"You two are freaks.", Sees More replied. "I have to deal with normal enemies first."
"You're in charge now?" Finds Tracks responded.
Finds Tracks wilted under the others' collective glares, and Spinner made sure Find Tracks got the message:
"Shut up. Quit screwing everything up, funny boy. This is not funny."
The three older men and Sees Far argued into the night, about everything else except the pending war.
They slept, a little. Sees Far slept not at all.
It was easy to play at being a heroic warrior in games and practice, but now the boy was aware that if he fell in the pending war, he wouldn't be getting up and starting over.
All three of his older companions could kill him easily, and the Enemy was like them.
Spinner had told him that the boys his age would be slingers and spearmen only, and only fight hand-to-hand in an emergency, but it was generally agreed that the allies would be outnumbered by experienced warriors.
Sees Far was confident that he would be brave when it started, but the waiting was torture.
The night was long, for all of them.
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