“Not love. Fattened for slaughter.” Nick was up, and using careful strides seated himself at the fire near Dagger as he sat with food.
“There is a war going on where we came from,” Solace interjected. “My friend Clarity has taught the people of the planet to defend themselves.” She then turned to Nick. “Perhaps you should ask Dagger if you would be welcome here. You obviously hate Doom’s planet.”
“Kiki and Luke my friends.”
“They chose to stay with Doom and Clarity,” Solace reminded him.
“They stole them.”
“Do you really believe that?” Menace asked. “They have been taught to more than survive. There is no more sacrifice. They can defend themselves with real weapons.”
“What is sacrifice?” Dagger asked.
Menace took a deep breath and let his hand trail over his many tattoos. “Long ago, a hybrid was born and then another, and yet more. They destroyed every humanoid lifeform on my planet except for a few hundred of us. They gathered knowledge from humans who came to us from other worlds via sinkholes. This is where the earth opens and swallows people whole. The hybrids wanted the humans that came after the first was found. Her name was Alice, and she saved us and doomed us. The hybrids absorbed the knowledge of other humans who came to my planet, and took their DNA to make their own kind smarter. We need to go back and finish the fight we started, we killed their leader DaV-nin and now there is confusion among the hybrids. If we don’t destroy the hybrids, your planet will suffer as well as many more.”
“How?” Dagger asked.
“If the hybrids gain space flight they will join with others more evil and kill every planet they land on,” Menace said. “You will all end up sacrifices and eaten.”
There was anxious shuffling as many spoke in loud whispers. Fear was building and Menace was sorry for it. He wanted them to be prepared.
“I’m sorry I frightened your people. This isn’t their fight, it’s ours,” Menace said. “We intend on winning.”
“Then we better get you back to your planet,” Dagger said.
“After the hunt,” Menace replied.
“Yes, after the last big snow, the weather for the first hunt is favorable,” Dagger said. “But explain to me flight. What is a plun?”
“It’s a plane,” Blue said and crossed his eyes making his twin giggle.
“Blue, don’t be rude,” Nina admonished.
“He not rude,” Nick said. “He four.”
“Still rude,” Em said and rolled her eyes.
“All right enough,” Menace said, his narrowed gaze spoke volumes and the youngsters quieted.
The children were collected to feed the goats while the adults talked. Nick was given another sedative and a warm place to sleep. The Gift Giver shook her head at Menace when he motioned toward him as Nick was lifted to a sleeping space.
“He seems a bit better,” Menace said.
“Much anger. Much hate. Mostly the boy hates himself. His wounds will heal. But he may always war within,” the Gift Giver said.
Menace didn’t care as long as the boy wouldn’t war with Doom. The guilt that hounded his friend was palpable. Menace knew Doom would never raise a hand to Nick, even if it meant to save his own life. When they returned he would have to keep a close eye on the boy. Perhaps the Gift Giver could be talked into giving Menace her sedative recipe. Nick was a lot nicer when he was sleeping. The idea made him grin.
Chapter Seven
Looking outside, the season seemed to have changed overnight. Hunter green buds were formed where barren branches once hung. The grass around the tree base was thick and lush. A fresh spring breeze tickled noses. The sound of a babbling brook caught Solace’s ears. Excitement was heavy in the air as loved ones were kissed goodbye, safe return was called out. Leather satchels were handed to those leaving, filled with a quick meal and water skin.
The hunters left, both men and women eager to be off. Solace stayed behind to keep the children from following. The day was too beautiful to pass up and all were outside enjoying the end of their long, confined winter. They collected winter cress and day lilies. Burdock stems were only recently budding but they dug for the roots as the snow was quick to melt in the sun. The plants had begun to grow but nature snuck up on them for a last hurrah from winter. A small amount of garlic mustard leaf was found and goutweed. The evening would be filled with feasting. The next day they would need to fix the plane. The travelers needed to leave and hoped with high spirits they would find a planet with fuel. Or perhaps the next one they landed on would be their new home forever. At least, that was what Joe and friends hoped for. Solace and Menace needed to go back.
“I’m taking the twins in for their nap,” Nina said.
“We’re too old to nap,” Blue said, but he yawned.
“It’s the air here, honey.” Solace crouched down to the twin’s level. “I think it’s more pure than home. I’ll be along soon and may just curl up beside you. I’m feeling kinda lazy today.”
The boys groaned but Nina bribed them with honeyed milk and the promise of a berry pudding that was cooking when they left to go out. The women said they would cook the berries to thicken them and pour cream over them with drizzled honey. Solace smiled as they sulked away taking an annoyed Joey with them. Em encouraged him along telling him she would play with him. Solace ventured farther into the wooded area.
A dismal cave caught Solace’s eye as she gathered foliage. Her basket full, she wandered over to peer in and placed the basket down. The hair on her neck rose and goosebumps dotted her skin. A smell lingered that made her skin crawl. She began to enter and noted the farther she went the black charring was heavier. The scent was one she couldn’t place, but didn’t like. Another woman came to her and hurriedly caught her hand, dragging her from the cave. The woman, the Gift Giver shook her head no.
“The dead go in. Only ash left.” Solace was told. “The mountain demands our lifeless. The earth shivers and we know when to place the dead inside.” Shading her eyes Solace could see a volcano in the distance where the woman pointed. She wondered if this cave was attached. She made a mental note to ask Dagger. Was their resting place an incinerator? She hadn’t noticed any grave markers outside, or signs of deceased inside the treehouse.
The Gift Giver smiled at her and Solace offered a tentative smile back. She was grateful the woman said the cave demanded the lifeless; not the living. The women strolled back to the tree home and Solace gave in to her weariness and curled up with the twins for a quick nap, certain it was the air making her tired.
Later, the hunters returned with the remains of four megaceros. Antlers spanning twelve feet, Solace realized she’d seen the antlers around the dwelling but shaped into platters and shovels. The hunting party was strangely quiet. A few of Dagger’s people were pale and jittery. Lochlan, Joe, Tain and Bastian held back.
“What happened?” she asked Menace.
“Lochlan and the others in your party made big sounding booms by pointing their hands and three of the beasts dropped from magic. One second they were upright, the next they fell from a distance as they ran. No spears thrown. The sound commanded their death, of the ones pointed to,” Menace said.
“Big booming—wait, they shot off their guns,” Solace said, relieved. “They did have weapons. They weren’t visible if you didn’t know what you were looking at. At first, these people thought it was thunder.”
“Dagger and the others went after two beasts, but now have five. Though they shared a kill with those you would call Neanderthal. The leader is uncertain if he should be excited or frightened,” Menace explained. Solace thought Menace seemed a bit unnerved.
“I explained to you what a gun is,” Solace said.
“Explaining isn’t the same as witnessing the result.”
True. If Menace knew what a gun was and was uncertain, she could only imagine how Dagger and the others were feeling.
The people were due an explanation. She asked Joe for h
is handgun, explaining the situation, and then went to Dagger, pulling him aside. It would be a shame if they wasted the meat of such proud beasts. Three of the five carcasses remained outside.
“The boom you heard were from weapons my people call guns. This in my hand is a gun.” She held it out, extending her arm. “The men didn’t point a finger and have a beast fall from magic. This is a powerful weapon. We have tried to explain that we are from a different planet than you in a different stage of growth. There was no trickery used to kill those animals. It’s called technology. I’m certain some of your weapons are a mystery to the other humans here. An advancement when they don’t understand and might think you have used something enchanted. Don’t deny your people this gift from us, please.”
Menace had come with her and she knew he was curious about the guns. Solace had explained them to him but she guessed he didn’t really believe their power. Now he did. Menace loved a good weapon. Now that his initial fear had swayed to curiosity, she could see he was aching all over to get his hands on it.
“Your ways are different, and yes, the small broad-shaped humans are curious to trade for our weapons. Their spears are thick and must be used in close proximity to a beast. We have shown them how to make spears sharper and able to fly with a hard throw. When they first saw our spears, they were in awe, almost afraid to touch one. The meat is welcome, we will accept it,” Dagger said. Solace let out a breath.
“What were those others we shared some of the meat with?” Menace asked.
“A different breed of human. The powerful body, the heavy brow ridge,” Dagger said.
“We would call them Neanderthals,” Solace said.
“But on my planet the Neandersauri is evil,” Menace said.
“We do not find them evil, strange perhaps, but they are a people who are heading off in different directions. Some of the meat we gave them was for travel. If they leave the land there are more hunting grounds for us so it is little we offer in exchange. We wish them well on their journey. They are one in few to look for a different land,” Dagger said.
“Will you move away, too?” Solace asked.
“This is my home,” Dagger said. “Some say the great waters are rising, but I say no.”
“What great waters?” Solace asked.
“The ones where there are huge fish, many the length of over a dozen men. Fish with huge teeth. Turtles so large we could swim riding their backs. The waters have been the same for so long. There will be no change.”
Solace wondered if the ocean was advancing. The polar caps froze and melted with seasons. If the melt was getting longer the tree people might find themselves under water in a few thousand years. Certainly not in Dagger’s life time but sad. Were these people now a relic in her Earth’s waters? So much of Earth’s oceans were unexplored. She gazed around at her new friends then pondered their disappearance and demise. Her heart suddenly hurt.
The people in the dwelling were beginning a meal; some began drying the meat. Menace asked Dagger if he would help him make a knife like he used for field dressing a megaceros. Solace watched them walk off. She gazed around at the busy people noting the children were put to work. Solace hurried to help, then remembered she’d left her basket of vegetation near the cave and left to retrieve it.
The basket was untouched where she left it. She stooped to pick it up and noticed she was being watched. Solace sucked in a breath. Before her was a Neanderthal. He was her height, barrel-chested and robust. His shoulder length hair was thick and dark. She expected him to be dirty but he was clean and washed, his clothing, though not stylish, were cared for. His eyes were dark brown.
“You really are magnificent,” she whispered.
He pointed to his ample chest and struck it with a fist. “Gar.”
Solace made a fist but only placed it on her chest near her heart. “Solace.”
He cocked his head. “Solce.”
“Close enough.” She smiled.
Looking at the powerful male, she realized why this type of body worked well with the Neandersauri. The exposed body parts she saw were hairy. Gar was an exceptional specimen and she wondered if he were leader of his clan. When he motioned for her to follow him, she was startled but she shook her head no. He growled and snorted, a command followed. She must have hurt his pride. He took a step toward her, and Solace reached for the gun she had yet to give back to Joe. She wouldn’t shoot him, but she could shoot into the air and scare the piss out of him.
Solace cried out when her basket dropped as she was pushed aside. She wasn’t knocked off her feet, and she retained her hold on the weapon. A female Neanderthal was growling and motioning at the male. She spoke a few words, and if Solace didn’t know better she might have guessed the female was swearing at him. The male went red. Solace refrained from outright laughter. The female was verbally kicking the male’s ass. You go, girl.
When the female turned she railed a few words at her and motioned for Solace to pick up her basket and leave. Solace did, fast. Gar may or may not be leader after all. The female was scary as shit, and Solace took off giving in to laughter.
****
Everything possible they could toss was left behind to lighten their load on the plane. The lights were again operational. The engine was functioning. There was little fuel that worried them all. Their next sinkhole would be their last until gas was found. All were eager to leave even though these were a kind people. Joe wanted advancement if for no other sake than for his son. These people were too primitive in his opinion, though he voiced his thoughts in a kind, well-meaning way.
Dagger said the mammoth hide was still useful, as it was partially frozen, and accepted it as a gift. Solace asked Dagger to reconsider moving his people or at least look to higher ground in a few years. He smiled and said no. Here was where his people belonged. Solace wondered if one day the volcano would blow leading to astronomical occurrences. A tidal wave or tsunami would make short work of their tree homes. Famine. Plague. Where did these people go? Were their type ever on her Earth? If so, what happened to them? The speculation was endless.
With the addition of Menace, the take-off would be more difficult. But the absence of fuel lightened the load. The people offered dried meat in exchange for the fresh megaceros the men shot. The hunt was considered favorable when Dagger explained the men’s weapons. Everyone filed out into the sun to see them off. Dagger’s people watched with amazed horror as the engine caught. The noise startled them to flee back. Some ran away. The plane maneuvered forward on the bumpy field that was void of large growth and had dried in the blowing winds.
“Look,” Nina shouted.
High in the sky a dark void began to appear. Joe was battling the controls. They needed to sail over the clump of short trees in the distance. When the plane flew into the air heading for the black sinkhole Solace and the others gazed down. From what they saw this earth was still joined to another continent, separated by a massive glacier. Tiny dots walked across the ice and she wondered if it was the Neanderthal. She saw a herd of mammoth being hunted by another group of furred upright people. The plane continued to rise ever higher until everything below became a spec.
“All of what those people built will be deep in the ocean in a hundred thousand years. No wonder there’s no trace of them. This clan was older than we thought,” Lochlan said.
“It’s no wonder there is no record of these people,” Solace said in agreement. “Dagger told me their burial rituals. Human remains would be zero because they used a small cavern fed by a gas line to cremate their dead. Leaving no trace for anyone to find, you can’t get DNA from ashes. Their ashes were scattered to the wind to be returned to the earth over the snow season. During non-snow the bodies are thrown into a volcano with all their belongings. That’s why there’s no record of these humans. Even if the trees disappeared under water the cement left would look like coral and blend in. What a shame our Earth will never know them.”
“Our Earth will probably nev
er know much of anything if the hybrids aren’t stopped if what Menace says is true,” Bastian said.
“Hold on to each other,” Joe called.
As they slipped into the black sinkhole the darkness gave way to a frigid cold and silence. The lights went out. Solace could see no one and she shivered. She was grateful for the warm hand on her shoulder and snuggled deeper into Menace’s chest.
“Solace?” Menace asked.
“Yes.”
“Does my planet look like the one we left from above?”
She felt his small quiver and realized how hard this was on him. Menace had never before flown. She knew he was brave, then she realized how brave. Before Joe and the others came he had never seen a plane, now he was in one going where only time would tell. He’d boarded without hesitation. Had she been as brave her first time flying? When she already knew what a plane was?
“Your continents are all attached but from the height of a plane you can’t see everything. I can only speculate on what I’ve seen.”
“You mean there’s more to the land we saw? That sheet of ice?”
“Yes. If we were in space it would be easier to compare the different planets. But even on my Earth we’d yet to detect a planet exactly like ours. We might have if the sinkholes hadn’t become too much.”
“Daddy.” Solace heard a small voice. “Will we ever go home?”
“Joey, home is wherever you are,” Joe said.
“Hang on,” Tain shouted.
The plane began to rumble. Menace clutched her harder. When they exploded into a new atmosphere, a few screamed. The sky was blue and clear, and the sudden light made them squint. The plane tilted sideways until Joe leveled it off. The engine sputtered.
“We’re out of fuel—hang on,” Lochlan shouted.
“We’ll crash,” Nina cried out.
“No crash,” Nick said and pulled her close.
The plane bumped and jostled in the wind then as it skimmed over a large pond it touched down. Solace thought her teeth rattled. She began to loath flight. Menace gripped her harder. The pounding of his heart near her ear was the only indication he was afraid, but she knew the fear was for her. The ground zipped by until Joe brought the plane to a stop. They were alive. Bruised from being tossed but for the most part unharmed. They checked the children for any hurts. Nick scowled when Solace reached him.
Finding Solace (Ancient Origins Book 2) Page 9
