Cave Bear Mountain

by Jo Sandhu

  It was dangerous weather. The rain softened the ground and lay in pools, which then froze overnight. Luuka discovered this when he sank up to his ankles in mud one morning.

  But slowly they were making progress. Each evening they checked on their Wolf Star, and each day they travelled that little bit further.

  Sitting around the fire one evening, picking at the last bits of their dinner, Kaija spoke of her mother.

  ‘I hope she’ll be happy with Vas,’ she said. ‘She asked us to go with her, Luuka. Did you know?’

  Luuka stopped gnawing at the bones of the rabbit they had shared and looked at his sister. ‘No.’ He sounded surprised.

  ‘Would you have gone with her?’ Kaija asked.

  ‘No,’ Luuka said. He tossed the last of his dinner to Rohk, but Utu swooped in and grabbed it off the wolf. Rohk whined. ‘No, I wouldn’t have gone with her, but I didn’t know she asked us.’

  Kaija stared into the fire and rubbed her chin back and forth over her knees. ‘She didn’t really want us,’ she said. ‘If we stayed, then the wolves would have stayed. She said Vas loved her, for all her faults. Well . . . I can see her faults now, and I suppose I love her, but differently now. The woman I knew as my mother died for me, back in River Clan.’ She blinked away tears. ‘I wish this new Senja well, but I don’t think I’ll ever see her again.’

  Luuka nodded. ‘Then wish her well and look to the future. For me, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her. Not after what she said to you, and certainly not after what she did to Nilkka.’

  They were passing single file over the top of a rocky waterfall the next day, when Tarin touched Kaija’s arm and pointed into the distance. The jutting promontory they were on fell sharply away to the valley floor, giving them a panoramic view over the plains. Far in the distance, a line of shadows moved.

  ‘Mammoths,’ Tarin said.

  Kaija was so excited she nearly lost her footing. Luuka grabbed her and hauled her onto firm rock.

  ‘Do you think those are the ones Noora will hunt?’ Kaija said. She strained her eyes to see.

  Tarin shook his head. ‘Not that herd. That may be the bull herd following the females, though. If they keep going that direction, they’ll come very close to the Ungirski.’

  ‘I wish we could get closer,’ said Kaija.

  Her wish came true the next day. A small herd consisting of an elderly matriarch, her daughters and their young passed close by, crossing a braided waterway with ease while Tarin, Kaija and Luuka struggled. They used birch branches to steady themselves across the strong rapids, and all were exhausted when they reached the other side. The mammoths had drunk their fill and were grazing on the waterweed that grew along the bank of the stream. They paid no attention to the wolves, the owl, or the three small observers who stood to stare at the huge creatures. Tarin studied the herd with a hunter’s eye.

  The matriarch kept a close watch on her daughters, but some of the young tended to wander off alone. They would be the ones the hunters went after, he thought. Young mammoth meat was tender and the hide would make exceptional leather. Even the wool was highly prized, although an older target would provide more meat, fur and larger bones. He licked his lips and found the old matriarch watching him carefully.

  Late that afternoon, they came to a deep gorge that cut directly across their path. It was too wide to jump and the white water that surged through the ravine was too fast to swim. It would crush them against the rocks and sweep them away. Tarin looked up and downstream, but all he could see was sheer rock and rapids. They had been walking since dawn, and all were tired and hungry. He threw his backpack on the ground and sat next to it, staring at the river.

  ‘We’ll have to go downstream until it widens,’ Luuka said.

  ‘That will take us off course,’ Tarin said. ‘And we don’t know how far we’ll have to go.’

  ‘Well, we can’t sit here until it freezes.’ Luuka went closer to examine the rocks, but he could see no way over. ‘If we jump and miss . . .’

  ‘We’ll be smashed against those rocks down there.’ Kaija pointed downstream, to a bend in the river. A large rock blocked the course of the churning water, squeezing it through a narrow channel.

  Tarin shivered. He had vague memories of being squeezed through such a channel during his disastrous river crossing with Niko. That seemed a long time ago, but it was only a year.

  ‘I’m too tired to think,’ he said. ‘Let’s camp, then when it’s light we can decide – upstream or downstream. Kaija, maybe you can ask the Mother to dance tonight and tell us which way to go.’

  But the sky remained dark, and even the stars were hidden behind thick cloud cover. Tarin lay in his furs and couldn’t sleep. His mind kept going over and over the same problems. How much further did they have to travel? Would they beat the snow? It was like a constant drumbeat in his head. And now the river. How long was this going to delay them? He thought about other river crossings. A coracle wouldn’t help – it would be washed away and smashed on the rocks. They couldn’t swim. They couldn’t take the chance to jump. If one person could jump, they could attach the rope to a tree on the other side. But their rope was worn and fraying. The wolves could jump, but they couldn’t tie the rope. Tarin’s weary brain churned like the river.

  If only they could put something over the river . . . And then, on the edge of sleep, he had it. He sat up straight, dislodging Utu and making Nilkka growl.

  ‘Tarin, what is it?’ Kaija asked sleepily.

  ‘I’ll tell you in the morning,’ Tarin said. ‘But I know how to cross the river.’

  ‘We need three, maybe four, of those thin birch trees.’ Tarin pointed at the stand of young trees growing by the river. ‘We put them over the ravine . . .’

  ‘And we walk across them,’ Luuka finished. ‘Brilliant! Just like Boar Clan.’

  ‘That’s what gave me the idea,’ Tarin said.

  ‘But they won’t be very steady,’ Kaija said. ‘If they move, we could fall through.’

  Tarin thought for a while.

  ‘We could lash them together with the rope.’

  ‘It’s worth a try.’ Luuka strode to the trees and started to look for the straightest and strongest.

  ‘Not too thick, or it will take too long to cut them,’ Tarin said. ‘But long enough to go from one side to the other.’

  Even with all three taking a turn cutting the tree trunks with their flint blade, it still took a good part of the day to fell four likely trees. Luuka stripped the branches and wound the rope around them. They ended up with a plank long enough to bridge the rapids, and just wide enough for one person at a time.

  ‘Let’s go now before we lose the light,’ Tarin said.

  They laid the plank carefully across a narrow section of the ravine, and wedged it into the rock to keep it steady.

  ‘I’ll go first to test them,’ Kaija said. ‘I’m lightest.’

  ‘But it was my idea, so I’ll go first,’ said Tarin. He stood above the rapids and looked down. It wasn’t far to fall, but the force of the water would crush him. ‘Ready, Utu?’

  The owl hissed at him and spread his wings, circling high before landing delicately on the other side.

  ‘If only we could all do that,’ Kaija said with a smile.

  Tarin returned her smile and put one foot on the plank. It held him, and he walked slowly across the river. The wolves followed, with Luuka encouraging them, and they joined Tarin on the other side.

  Kaija was last. But as she started across, the fraying rope finally split. The logs moved, and one of Kaija’s legs slipped through. She grabbed desperately for the other logs, but they rolled, threatening to tip her into the raging water. Luuka sprang forward, grabbed her by the front of her beaska and pulled her over the edge of the ravine.

  ‘Thanks,’ she murmured, clutching the ground, her face pale.

  The logs crashed into the water and were swept away.

  ‘And there goes our rope, too,’ Tarin groane
d. But at least they were safely across.

  Each morning they woke now to heavy frost and ice covering the banks of the waterways. Kaija kept a strong birch branch with her, and used it each morning to crack the ice so they could drink and wash. One morning, when she had trouble breaking through the thickness, they decided to keep a pot for morning tea in their tent overnight, but some time during the night it was knocked over and they woke with frozen furs.

  ‘Even in the middle of Winter, the river near our cave always ran,’ Kaija said. She held up a sheet of ice she had broken away from the water’s edge and it sparkled in the sun. ‘But this is fun.’

  ‘Not so much fun when you have to bathe,’ Luuka said, and pushed her into the stream. She screamed and cupped her hands to throw water back at her brother, and the wolves joined in the game.

  ‘Now my leggings are all wet, Luuka!’

  It had been four days since they were able to check their progress with the Wolf Star. The days started sunny, but by mid-afternoon, clouds covered the sky, often bringing a mixture of rain and ice that hit them like cold flakes of stone. The frigid wind made setting up the tent difficult, so they tried to make camp well before the weather turned on them. But that only gave them a few hours each day in which to travel. The days were becoming shorter. Autumn was nearly spent, and once more, the Ice Mother was preparing to cover the earth.

  They rose before dawn now, putting distance behind them before making a fire and drinking tea. The traveller’s cakes were broken into. The supply of mushrooms and berries was gone. Often they munched nuts as they marched, and didn’t eat again until they set up camp for the night. Kaija’s herbal teas kept them warm, and Tarin showed her the low-growing willowherb, white heather and meadowsweet that Old Mother would use in her Winter teas. They used the white heather not only as a soothing tonic, but as fuel for their fires in the evening.

  Meat was still available. Stoats, voles, lemmings and hares all fell to Kaija’s sling. Tarin had never quite got the hang of the sling, although he brought down a ptarmigan one day by pure luck. The bird’s Summer brown plumage had changed to Winter white. He also found a stunted bush of crowberries and they stripped the berries with glee. Kaija added some to the tea that night.

  Snowy owls were plentiful, but none of them could bring themselves to hunt the plump birds under Utu’s disapproving eye, and they passed them by.

  They passed through rolling fells, a wild land that suited the wolves, and they ran ahead, chasing the many rodents and hares that burrowed amongst the rocky outcrops. Utu hovered in the air above, and Tarin wished he could ask the owl how much further they had to go. It was nearly a moon’s cycle since they’d parted from Vas and the traders, and still they were in unfamiliar territory.

  They were passing through a wide river valley when a herd of mammoths thundered towards them. The herd was restless, and they were moving fast.

  ‘Do you think they’ve been hunted?’ Luuka asked.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Tarin studied the older of the two full-size mammoths. They were clearly distressed, waving their huge bodies side to side, but not fearful. They tasted the air with their long trunks and trumpeted. ‘Maybe they sense a change in the weather.’

  ‘Bad weather?’ Kaija looked worried.

  ‘Probably.’ Tarin watched them disappear down the valley.

  They stopped that afternoon beneath an overhanging cliff that gave some protection from the fierce wind. It had been an unsettling day. First the mammoths, and then the wolves disappeared for a long time, and despite Luuka and Tarin calling and whistling for them, they had only just returned. The wind had been filled with ice, and snow had fallen on and off all day, and now the ground was slick and covered in white. The last of the daylight was quickly disappearing, swallowed by grim clouds that forecast more snow to come.

  ‘Maybe we should keep going,’ said Luuka. ‘We might find better cover.’

  ‘Or we may not.’ Tarin chewed his lip. A snowstorm was building. Even in the last hour, the temperature had dropped. Ice crusted on his beaska and crunched beneath his feet. His cheeks and nose burned.

  ‘The wolves have gone again,’ Kaija said.

  Luuka called and whistled. At first there was no response. Then they heard a faint howl, carried on the wind.

  ‘That’s Rohk,’ Luuka said. Another howl came to them. ‘And Nilkka.’

  They grabbed their backpacks and stepped back out into the wind and sleet.

  ‘Rohk!’ Luuka called. They followed the sound of the wolves along the base of the cliff and down towards the river that rushed through the centre of the valley. Away from the protection of the cliffs, the wind pushed against them and drove them back.

  The wolves were closer now, yelping and snarling. Tarin and Luuka both gripped their spear throwers and Kaija wrapped a large rock in her sling.

  Kaija was the first to reach the wolves, jumping surefooted from rock to rock, but Tarin and Luuka were close behind. The river had frozen around the edge, but white rapids still foamed and rushed down the valley. The wolves were on a large rock overhanging the rapids. If they slipped, they would plummet into the churning water and be washed away.

  ‘Oh!’ Kaija stopped so suddenly, the others ran into her.

  ‘What?’ Tarin started to say, then he stopped and stared. When the river had started to freeze, the water level receded, leaving behind shallow ponds of still water and mud. During the day, these water holes warmed and became a place for animals to drink and gather waterweed and sedge, but as the temperature dropped, they turned to ice, often trapping unwary animals.

  An animal had been caught in one now, and the wolves whined and jumped from rock to rock to try and reach it. The animal squealed, struggling to free itself from the mud and ice, but it was tired and its long hair was firmly trapped.

  ‘Mammoth!’ Kaija gasped.

  ‘And just a baby.’ Tarin went to approach the mammoth, but Rohk turned and snarled, showing his fangs and his defensive stance. Kaija grabbed Tarin’s arm and pointed. Also stalking the trapped animal was a pack of spotted cave hyenas, each as big as the mammoth itself. A shiver ran down Tarin’s spine. They looked hungry, and very savage.

  ‘Luuka, do you see them?’ Tarin’s gaze never left the scavengers. He drew his arm back, ready to cast his spear. The wind would make it difficult, but when the cave hyenas scented more prey, they would be willing to attack humans as well as the trapped mammoth.

  ‘Four, five, maybe six of them. Three of us,’ said Luuka. ‘But we just need to bring down a couple and the others should flee.’

  Thwack!

  Kaija let her sling fly. Her aim was good, and the stone hit the hyena on the head. It yelped and wheeled away, but it would be back. Tarin cast his spear. The wind picked it up and it slid down a hyena’s flank. The animal snarled and prepared to attack, but Rohk sprang and caught the huge predator by the throat. He thrashed his head from side to side. Luuka accounted for another one, with a spear straight through its chest.

  But Tarin was left without a weapon and another hyena was circling him. The heavy-boned animal sprang forward, knocking Tarin to the ground. He raised his arm to protect his throat, and the hyena sank its teeth into his flesh, ripping right through his beaska.

  Nilkka leapt forward, snarling and snapping. She knocked the hyena off Tarin and wrestled with it savagely until it lay dead.

  That was enough. Hyenas were scavengers, willing to attack when victory was likely, but quick to run when faced with resistance. The rest of the pack yelped and fled back to their burrows in the rocky cliffs.

  ‘Your arm!’ Kaija ran to Tarin, but already the bleeding had slowed.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Tarin said. ‘But the mammoth won’t last much longer.’

  They turned to the struggling mammoth. It had obviously been trapped some time, because it was nearly at the end of its strength. It squealed weakly and rolled its eyes.

  ‘Poor thing.’ Kaija reached out and stroked its head. The
baby mammoth struggled against her.

  The boys exchanged glances. ‘We could kill it,’ Luuka said. ‘An easy hunt. Plenty of meat, and we could use the fur.’

  ‘I know,’ said Tarin. ‘But . . .’

  Luuka shrugged and gave a lopsided smile. ‘How do you kill a baby trapped in the ice?’

  ‘You’re not going to kill it!’ Kaija glared at them. She stood with her hands on her hips.

  ‘That’s what we said.’ Tarin knelt beside the mammoth and felt around the edge of the ice. ‘I think we can just cut him free.’ He pushed his wet, snowy hair out of his eyes. The storm was moving in.

  Luuka passed him a flint blade and he started to cut. The wolves whined but kept a look out for any returning predators.

  ‘His leg is trapped, too.’ Luuka used a rock to smash some of the ice trapping the baby. Once one leg was free, it struggled even more, nearly knocking the blade out of Tarin’s hands.

  ‘Easy, little one,’ Kaija crooned to the frightened mammoth.

  With Luuka pushing from behind, and Tarin pulling the mammoth forward, slowly the ice and mud released him, and the baby fell forward onto firm ground. It lay there, breathing noisily, its eyes still rolling around and its trunk flailing.

  ‘Now what?’ Tarin shouted. The wind was increasing.

  Kaija cupped water in her hands and tried to get the mammoth to drink. ‘Try and get him back to the cliffs,’ she shouted. ‘We can’t do anything out here, and I need a good look at your arm.’

  Tarin nodded. He didn’t want to admit it, but his arm was aching. At least it wasn’t his spear arm this time, he thought.

  They hauled the baby to its feet and again, pushing and pulling, forced it towards shelter. Even beneath the overhang, the snowstorm still raged around them, but the noise of the wind dropped.