A coarse bread was made for the pesto. A paste of pecorino, salt, various seasonings, oil and white wine vinegar was shaped into a ball. Solace could feel a frown curve her brows. She pointed at the cheese to a woman who smiled. On Menace’s planet they had cow-like seal water sea creatures that came on land to give birth. In exchange for protection, the seal-cows, full of milk, were approached with watertight baskets and milked. The creamy substance was turned into delicious cheeses and butter. Solace wondered if these people had the same creatures. Though it was doubtful; the beasts on Menace’s earth were hybrids. The woman led her to a smallish door, the top half opened. Within were mouflon with their young. The mouflon had been domesticated by these people, and Solace noted many of their young resembled sheep.
A few children sat or played, the older lambs bounced or playfully butted one another. The room was lit with many bowls filled with beeswax and wicks on high shelves where the mouflon couldn’t reach even if standing on hind legs.
After a glance Solace could see no fodder, the floor was a deep rich, dark dirt and well cleaned. “What do the animals eat?”
“We collect the tall grass for them. The grass is stored in a different room. They are fed during the daylight hours and once at night with a single candle in the hands of ten feeders. As the grass is dropped, each light is extinguished so there is no chance of a fire. We must be very careful with fire.”
No doubt.
“How long have you been breeding them?” Solace asked. The ground was soft under her feet. The cement was as high in the paddock at the walls as it was in the living quarters. Solace supposed it wouldn’t be good for the mouflon to eat the tree base.
“Many generations. I have very old bedding from long ago, the wool on the beasts is getting softer in time from the beasts hair. In spring after shearing, the mothers will be allowed loose during the day to mate but will return at night to the safety and warmth of the tree. We allow no rams in here and hunters have killed many who try to take the herd from us. When the lambs are born there is a huge feast of the males delivered. The meat is so tender and juicy. The mouflon who must give up their male babes are pampered and will continue to give us much needed milk for cheese and butter.”
“That’s remarkable.”
“Their manure is especially good to fertilize our many gardens and because we keep them all year we have an endless supply. Our gardens are well tended. They keep us healthy. Before the lights are all out,” the woman continued. “Each child takes a cup and fills it with warm milk. Though the milk is mainly for the children, cheese and butter, a few adults have been known to find pleasure in the drink with spices added.”
Solace loved warm milk with cinnamon on cold sleepless nights. She wondered if these people made eggnog. Solace was led back to the fire with food where she sat between Menace and Lochlan. She dipped her coarse bread into the pesto. It was delicious. The bread was sweetened with honey. The children drank cups of warm milk. The visitors were informed they had two main meals, early morning, then late evening with something small during the day if needed. Yellowish wild carrot, and white and purple carrots, white turnip stored were dished out from a stew that sat cooking at night. Cucumbers cut and pickled were offered. Next came thick slices of mammoth.
Some of the older people rocked on wooden rockers, padded, near the fires. Little ones gathered at their feet for stories before beginning their day. Beautiful wooden stumps were carved and polished into animal heads. A number of cradles were scattered at various hearths. Each family gathered to take a share of the meal at the largest fire, and though there were a number of fires they were smaller and used for teas.
“How long before the snow is gone?” Joe asked Dagger.
It was apparent to Solace, Dagger only understood a few words. She tried to explain using the various forms of language the people spoke. Solace had traveled all over her Earth, and her army background with picking up languages fast was a boon. Dagger nodded to show he understood much of what she said.
“Your words are different and same,” Dagger said.
“Your words remind me of many languages where I come from,” she informed him.
“Other clans, not close speak some of our words but not many. They are different from us.”
“I think the ones you speak of we would call Neanderthals. Stocky, shorter well built with large brows? Adapted to colder weather.”
“Yes. Them and another. Like us but not, darker skin, tall. Our kind have traded with them. We exchange food but they want mates. Different cultures but good hunters. They need to be to cover their skin from cold. They live in caves. Primitive but a good shelter from the snow. A few have tried to make shelters of skins but the snow can be very high. Some do not make it through the cold.”
Solace’s mind was in high gear. She wondered if these people were all humans, all color, race shape and form. Mixing with another humanoid to form complex humans, today’s humans on her Earth. Though she knew she wasn’t on her early Earth, if what Menace said was true about the aliens, the plane didn’t time travel through sinkholes, it was world to world travel. What a strange concept.
“My friends and I want to know if the snow will melt soon,” she asked.
“Yes.”
“In how many days?”
“What is days?”
“Days. How many can you count? Yesterday was a day. Today is now until dark, then the sun will come up, then tomorrow starts a new day, how many tomorrows or todays until the snow goes?”
“No count, not with sun sleeps. Everything must sleep, I sleep, the world does not exist for one sleep to be more important than the others on this planet, or off this planet. We could say when the moon wakes, but I don’t care when it wakes or when the sun sleeps, they always do. Weather is far more important to me and my people. We need to know when to hunt and what animals will be coming through the vast plains near our homes. The weather tells us this. The first small cold and the deeper cold has come, then the next small cold, the cooler warming and then the hot and so on. There is no today, tomorrow, or yesterday. I don’t understand what that is.”
“You count in seasons,” Solace said. “Great,” she muttered.
“Solace if we are back as far as fifty thousand years, time is different. These people could be twenty-five, or fifty or one hundred with the rate of the way days change so fast. And who knows who they are,” Lochlan said.
“So how the hell do we find out when the snow will melt?” Joe asked.
“I guess when it melts,” Solace said.
That was met with several groans.
“You need to fix the lights on the plane and anything else broken in the last landing,” she said.
“True,” Joe said.
“We need to get out of here,” Bastian said with a hissing snarl. “I like the attention of women as much as the next guy but these females are freaky.”
Solace grinned at him. Bastian was probably the darkest human these people had ever seen. His skin, a solid beautiful ebony, appeared to be a magnet. The children stared at him, the women too. The men didn’t seem to know what to make of him. Solace didn’t know what to make of the people. Interesting didn’t cover her emotions. She gazed at them like they ogled Bastian. The man was handsome, well built and every female was eager to touch him.
The tree people’s light body color and patterns weren’t unusual but still stare worthy. As was their different hair colors, or highlights. Solace wondered if some had chosen to mate with the Neanderthal and the new humans and left. Spreading out over the continents. If they had would their children be born one color, and hair with the same colors and with some highlights? Forming her people. Some with brown eyes, green eyes and blue eyes. Gray eyes from a few people stared back at her. Were they a lost race even on her Earth?
If others set out, Solace knew the terrain would help define skin tone and facial features. The Neanderthal nose was wide to help warm the air before entering their lungs. The shapes of eyes
would differ over time and continents.
“When will your sun come to warm you?” Solace changed tactics.
“We are rain when we cry and the sky above opens, fire when food is needed, wind when we must hunt. When enough of us feel the same, the elements change. I do not understand tomorrow. But the sun shines most days,” Dagger said to add to her confusion.
Solace gazed at Dagger, she turned to Menace. “Each word is in a different language. I’ve traveled all over the world and understand him but it may take a while to place each word without offending. Plus there are some I don’t know. Every race incorporates their own everyday language. Some of what he speaks is slang.”
“Tell him we need to leave when the snow is gone,” Joe said.
“Snow gone soon,” Dagger said. “Then we hunt. We will be the wind.”
“What do you hunt?” Menace asked.
“Megaceros.”
Solace nodded. Many hides littering the floors were large and she guessed it was the giant deer Dagger mentioned. There were also mammoth skins and hides, but they seemed to define separate living quarters and to be used as doors. The large outer wood door to the treehouse remained shut to keep in the warm air. A thick hide was draped in front to aid with insulation. Tendrils of smoke wafted higher then slid out manmade cut slits. She noted many small hides were shifted aside to allow more smoke to filter when the fires blazed larger and hotter during the day. The sunlight aided in lighting the domiciles. The tree homes were a fortress, well protected from man or beast.
Groups of families began to break up and begin separate duties. Wanting to help, Solace went to a group of women. She was welcomed with greetings and smiles. The women were boiling the roots of a hickory tree until all the water evaporated, leaving black salt crystals. Others were making teas of chamomile, linden, and lemon balm. Vervain was added to another cup and taken to Nick by the same little girl. He drank it down then settled back.
One woman held up a bowl and explained later she would give it to the sad boy. Hawthorn berries to help with his grief. Solace was certain the Gift Giver was helping Nick. The stubborn teen would only accept drinks and food from the girl-child but Solace was certain Nick knew who was aiding him. A compromise, Solace supposed. The Gift Giver didn’t seem to mind. The little girl stroked Nick’s face, Solace wondered if she was checking for heat but the child was interested in his twisted arms.
Nick allowed the girl to study him and told her the story of his breaks. She sat back to listen, entranced. The Gift Giver gazed at Solace who motioned to his arms. The Gift Giver shook her head in a negative way. She couldn’t help. Solace didn’t think so. At least the teen was engaging with the girl, trying to speak though his words remained clipped. Clipped wings, clipped words. Solace felt a moment’s pity until Nick caught her glance and glared at her. He wanted no pity. He was a proud man-child.
Solace searched for Menace and saw him with other men around the huge main fire. Dagger and some others were discussing a hunt. Dagger was gesturing with a weapon, a gutting tool that resembled a Wyoming knife. Dagger’s was made of a bone-rounded handle. The hook looked to be flint. Menace was beyond interested. Besides making love, the man had a passion for hunting. Solace was more interested in the food the women were making. She sent a passionate gaze in Menace’s direction. Another woman tittered and they all turned back to the mammoth stew that would be served at their evening meal.
****
Menace listened to Dagger describing hunting and gutting. He itched to get his hands on the tool he was using. Normally when Menace slit a kill he placed his finger on the inside to slice-guide his knife carefully through the hide and he did it fast on his planet. The scent of blood drew many carnivores. He wasn’t certain what animal they were going to hunt but he wanted to participate. The tool Dagger held was undeniably sharp on the inside curled end of the hook and dull on the outside. The tool made perfect sense. Menace memorized every part of it, aching to go home and craft his own.
Dagger examined the sword Menace had brought with him through the sinkhole. The metal was foreign to the man and he was as curious about the weapon as Menace was with the knife.
“This was made?” Dagger asked.
“Yes, on my planet. A female named Clarity showed us how,” Menace replied. “It can slice through the tough hides of the hybrids and into the Neandersauri within.”
“You will bring on hunt?” Dagger asked.
“Of course.”
Speaking of the upcoming hunt returned everyone’s attention back to the main task. To include the others, Dagger was using exaggerated hand signals to describe their prey. Menace thought it might be some kind of massive deer. His mouth watered. He loved his planet, but the hybrid dinosaurs weren’t nearly as tasty as the food he was served here. Even the mammoth was different, juicy, and tender. Not that it wasn’t at home, the meat had a wonderful texture, but this people’s way of cooking and what they cooked was flavorful in a different way. Most every village on his planet cooked the same way with subtle variations. When Clarity and then Solace came, the villagers were introduced to other foods. The children adored something called pizza and fries. Solace made ketchup and Menace still wasn’t certain of his thoughts on the blood-like-looking substance.
Menace was surprised when sometime later Solace handed him a platter of food. The juicy dripping meat was tucked inside flatbread, and it teased his nostrils. A few reconstituted vegetables were in a broth of soup sitting in a wooden bowl on the platter. He was given a smaller, dull-to-the-touch, eating knife made from bone fitted to a wooden handle; an everyday cutlery.
“I thought a large meal was for the end of the day,” he said.
“Apparently this is the smallest meal of the day.” Solace settled beside him.
Menace smiled at her and soon noted the treehouse was suspiciously quiet. He noted Dagger watching him. Menace and Solace seemed to be the only ones eating. Solace soon became aware she was the subject of attention and he saw her frown.
“Is it your custom females bring males food?” Dagger asked.
“Only sometimes. If we’re not busy or if like today, you have been absorbed with thoughts on how to provide more food we all eat,” Solace replied.
“Interesting.” Dagger eyed some of his own women. “I would like to hear more.”
Menace wondered if she’d made a social blunder. It appeared by her expression she thought the same as some women were gazing with disapproval. Under her breath, she muttered: “The other women gave me odd looks when I made two plates of food. I wondered if they thought I intended to eat both platters. Now some of the older women are gazing at me in annoyance.”
“Just tell them you love me so much you can’t bear the thought of me hungry,” was his amused response.
“You’re no help,” she grumbled.
“Dagger is waiting.”
“We are taught when young to fend for ourselves. I have noticed you wait on the children the same way. Are they incapable of finding a dish and scooping out food when hungry?” Dagger asked.
From her expression, Menace knew Solace understood most of his words, Menace wasn’t as certain, it was the amusement in Dagger’s tone that spoke volumes.
“Ours is more courtesy than custom,” she explained loud enough for all to hear. “The children are in a new place and do not know what is or is not allowed. Or socially acceptable. By bringing Menace, my man, food it indicates to my other friends they are welcome to eat now. We would not be so discourteous as to take what is yours until we are offered from those who worked hard in both gathering, hunting and preparation. We are, after all, guests. It would be rude to make such a social blunder after the women have worked so hard in creating this lovely repast.”
There was a collective sigh of relief from the women who appeared to be holding their breath. Her explanation was satisfactory. Solace wasn’t subservient because of her sex—just more courteous. It was the females who were now looking at their men with amusemen
t.
Dagger rose to get himself a meal followed by the others. Solace encouraged the children to do the same. Though Cole and Blue had some difficulty with knives they picked apart the meat, scowled at the veggies and slurped the broth as well as dunking the bread into the juices.
“I wish these people had chocolate milk,” Em said.
“I mixed my milk with a little honey, it was good. So was the honeycomb,” Nina said as she settled near Menace. He was glad the young girl came to him instead of Lochlan. The child seemed to have a crush on the man. Lochlan didn’t notice or pretended not to. Menace didn’t want the sensitive young girl’s heart broken.
“Can we go home now?” Joey asked his father.
“As soon as the snow melts we are going hunting to repay the kindness of these people. Then we’ll see what we can do,” Joe replied.
“We shared a mammoth. How much do they think we eat?” the boy grumbled.
“I think Solace’s friend, Menace, could polish off a mammoth in a week,” Lochlan said, smiled, and winked at the boy.
“True enough,” Tain said.
“Maybe but he doesn’t eat as much as Doom or Edge,” Joey said.
“Edge is the man who was your dad on Doom’s planet?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, and he smacked my bum, and I told him you would fly your plane up his ass.”
Bastian roared with laughter. “He’s your boy all right.”
Joe chuckled. “Remind me if ever I meet him to tell him he’s not allowed to hit my boy.”
His self-righteous tone made Menace scowl.
“It was for your son’s own good.” Menace wasn’t at all impressed. “My planet is dangerous. A willful child could be eaten, if he does not listen. Your son was wanted and loved, by us all.” He didn’t mention Edge could kick this man all around the planet without breaking a sweat.
Finding Solace (Ancient Origins Book 2) Page 8
