The forest begins a short distance around the lake and stretches away far into the distance. As they make their way towards it, the group of women are accompanied by a number of the menfolk, who will keep an eye out for wild animals as the women search for food. Mi is pleased that Lu is among the men keeping watch today. Though she has never felt in danger in the forest, his presence reassures her that they are safe. Mi loves the forest, reveling in its cool shade and the abundance of food that can be found here. The forest is full of trees bearing nuts, fruit and berries of all kinds, together with edible flowers and leaves. She and Ka find a grove where the shrubs are overrun with goa beans, their pods ripe for picking, and they settle down to fill their bags and stomachs at the same time.
Despite the shade of the trees the heat is stifling, and it is not long before Mi begins to feel tired. The work is not especially strenuous, but she is worn out by the walk to the forest and the repeated action of picking the beans, and her back and legs ache terribly. She sits down heavily on the ground and is surprised to find that she is sweating.
Ka walks over and strokes her belly with a smile. “Soon,” she says.
Mi turns and glances through the trees towards the lake. Its sparkling surface is inviting, promising cool relief and refreshment. She pats her chest and points to the water. “Swim.”
Ka nods, though she makes no move to join Mi. Instead she returns to picking the slender goa bean pods, singing under her breath. Struggling to her feet, Mi heads through the trees, the bag left forgotten on the ground. At the edge of the lake, she loosens the knot on the loincloth. Like all the womenfolk, Mi is bare-breasted, though all the adults in the tribe wear animal skins around their waists. Mi lets hers fall to the ground before stepping into the water. It is wonderfully cool and, with a shout of joy she dives beneath the surface. The feeling of weightlessness as the water envelops her is wonderful and she sighs with relief from the heaviness of her belly. Like all those in the tribe, Mi has been swimming most of her life and the lake is safe thanks to her ancestors wiping out the crocodiles that used to gather here. She laughs happily as she kicks away into the deeper water and dives below the surface. The water is so clear here and Mi is fascinated, as always, by the underwater world she can see. Flashes of light and color indicate the presence of fish darting around beneath her and the long tendrils of water plants reach out, caressing Mi’s legs and she soon loses track of time in this sparkling paradise.
Late, she thinks, glancing up to see the Sky God has moved over the hills. Home now.
Refreshed and contented, she heads back to the shore and the other womenfolk, who must surely be finishing their work of gathering in the forest. Mi emerges from the water, the weight of her belly suddenly returning, and looks for her loincloth. A shadow falls across the ground in front of her. She looks up in surprise to see Zo standing over her, the discarded piece of animal skin hanging limply in his hand.
“Zo give!” she says, reaching out for it, but he snatches it out of her reach. With his other hand he grips an arm and pulls her against him.
“No.” He shakes his head and points at her, an unpleasant grin on his face. “Zo take!”
Chapter Five
No!” Mi shouts, thumping Zo’s massive chest as hard as she can. He doesn’t even seem to notice, and his grip on her only tightens.
“You Zo’s,” he says, his voice deep and gruff. His grin widens, emphasizing the four long scars across his cheek, the result of a fight with a saber-toothed tiger… which Zo won! Filled with an icy terror, Mi struggles against him, crying out.
“Away, Zo! Off!”
He lets go, but only to push her roughly to the ground. Standing over her, his intention is reflected in the hungry expression on his face. He steps towards her. Mi turns her head away and closes her eyes. No hurt Wu, she thinks, imagining the weight of Zo forcing himself on her, pressing against her swollen belly. She dreads what must surely be about happen.
But nothing does happen. Opening her eyes again, Mi looks up to see a very different look on Zo’s face. He is afraid. And no wonder, as Lu is standing behind him, hefting a heavy ax in his hand, ready to strike.
“Touch,” says Lu with a growl, pointing towards Mi and then back at Zo. “Dead.”
“Hah!” Zo tries to pretend he is unafraid, but he swallows nervously. Lu raises the ax threateningly and Mi looks up at him in admiration. He looks especially strong and handsome when he is angry and now that he is here, she doesn’t feel afraid anymore. She isn’t scared of anything when Lu is with her. He steps closer to Zo, his eyes narrowing in anger and makes as if to strike him. Zo quickly raises his hands, looking pitiful and cowardly, and cries out, “No touch!”
Mi gives Zo a scornful glance and holds out a hand towards her loincloth.
“Give,” she says, and Zo tosses it to her, not daring to take his eyes off of Lu and the ax. Glancing round, Mi sees the womenfolk emerging from the trees, watching the scene on the lakeshore with interest.
“No touch?” says Lu, leaning close to Zo’s ear.
“No touch!” he repeats. His hands are still raised in surrender.
Suddenly Lu steps back and lowers the ax. Zo spins round to face him angrily and Mi expects him to leap on Lu. Even though her man is big and strong, Zo is no smaller than him and for a moment she is worried. Then Zo turns away towards the crowd standing on the edge of the forest, a look of anger, frustration and dissatisfaction on his face.
Her loincloth now securely fastened around her waist, Mi rushes forwards and embraces Lu, who comforts her, giving her a strong, gentle hug back. They join the womenfolk, and, as the Sky God makes his way towards the distant hills, they return to the rest of the tribe, carrying their bags filled with the food they have foraged.
~
The following morning, the menfolk gather in the clearing before the caves, their supplies and weapons slung across their shoulders. It is time to begin the hunt. Through the gathering, Mi catches Lu’s eye and he nods at her. She smiles, dropping a hand to her belly where their child is stirring. He feels lower in her body today and she looks down at the bulge. It does look different. Maybe Wu is getting ready to be born. Excited, she looks up to signal to Lu, but he is now hidden behind Zo. Mi feels a chill pass through her at hostile the look on his face. He glowers at her for so long she is forced to look away and she hurries to her friend, Ka.
“See Zo,” says Mi and turns back to point at him, but can no longer make Zo out among the other men.
“Men!” At the shout, the chatter of the tribe suddenly stills as they wait eagerly to hear what their chief will say. Bak is standing on a rock, his arms raised dramatically.
“You hunt,” he continues, miming throwing a spear. “Get meat.” He mimes again, this time as though struggling beneath a great weight, pretending to stagger, almost falling off his rock. Everyone watches in silent awe of their leader as Bak raises his arms again. “Sky God watch.”
Around him a number of men and women raise their arms towards the sun, repeating Bak’s words, “Sky God watch. Sky God watch.” The chanting grows louder and louder as others take up the chant. Finally, when everyone’s arms are raised, Bak shouts over them.
“Go!”
Immediately the chanting ceases and the men turn away and begin their long journey to find the hoped-for prey. Standing on tiptoes, Mi catches a last glimpse of Lu before she, Ka and the other women begin the day’s work.
They spend the rest of the morning getting a catch of fish ready for drying in the sun, clearing the shards of flint that were scattered during yesterday’s preparations, and looking after the children. In the afternoon, Mi returns to the forest with a number of the other women, to gather fruits and berries, food for the cold season.
Some of the women begin to dig holes in the ground, lining them with rocks, a new task that has only been part of their work for the last two winters. It began after Mi had accidently dropped a number of fruits among rocks in the snow. When the warm season
began, she discovered that the fruit, which had fallen deep among the rocks, had been not spoiled as they nestled in the cold and the dark. After further experimentation, she discovered that fruit could be kept fresh throughout the winter by storing it in such conditions, and now it is one of the tasks of the women to make special holes for this purpose.
Mi herself is busy with Ka, stripping the berries from a small bush, when she suddenly feels a tight, painful feeling in the bottom of her belly. Dropping the bag, she grips her stomach and realizes it is time. Ka stops and looks at her anxiously before snatching up Mi’s bag and placing it with the other one on her shoulders.
“Come,” says Ka, and puts an arm around Mi to help her walk and signals to one of the men, who have remained behind to protect the tribe, that they are returning to the caves.
The journey back seems to take forever. Mi can only manage a handful of steps at a time before the agony grips her and she has to stop and wait for it to ease. Her legs feel weak and shaky, and the first drops of milk begin to flow from her painfully swollen breasts. Despite this, however, Mi is happy, happier than she has ever been before.
“Baby comes,” she says, smiling to herself. “Wu comes.” And she imagines the joyful surprise this will be for Lu when he returns from the hunt. As the pain comes again, forcing her to stop, she comforts herself with thoughts of breastfeeding Wu and what a great strong man he will become, just like his father. Mi feels Ka’s arm holding her as she begins to walk again and thanks the Sky God for this woman and for His warmth giving her the strength to keep going.
When they are only a short distance from the caves, Mi’s legs finally give way and she can walk no further. Thankfully there is tall, soft grass here, and as she lays down on it, Ka shows her what she should do to make the birth easier for both herself and Wu. She helps Mi get back up into a squatting position and encourages her to try and jump up and down.
Suddenly, something wet gushes down onto her feet.
“Good!” says Ka approvingly. Though childless herself, she has seen many births before and knows this is going well. Despite the searing pain, Mi forces herself to keep jumping, until eventually she can bear it no longer and lets out a long moan, raising in pitch to become a loud scream.
Ka signals to Mi to continue jumping and bends down to see the top of Wu’s head just beginning to show. She smiles at Mi and nods approvingly.
“Push,” she says, but at that moment the pain starts again and Mi can do little more than close her eyes, breathing in short gasps. Wu’s head emerges and Ka gives Mi another encouraging nod.
“Push,” says Ka again, and, with another cry, Mi does so.
“Push!” Ka places her hands to support Wu as Mi pushes again and the agony is worse than anything—more painful than she could have imagined possible. She screams with the effort as Wu’s shoulders force their way out, and then suddenly Mi feels the child burst from her body. “Ye-hey!” says Ka, smiling delightedly as she holds the boy in her hands. She slaps the child on the back and he begins to cry, a high pitched wail that somehow causes the milk to trickle from Mi’s breasts. But she feels it is not yet finished and, pushing once more, Mi feels the afterbirth leaving her body. Taking a sharp flint from her bag, Ka cuts through the chord that attaches Wu to his mother, and lays him carefully in Mi’s arms. Through the exhaustion and soreness, Mi smiles with joy at her first sight of her son.
“Wu,” she says, placing a finger in his tiny hand. His grip is strong and immediately he tries to suck at her finger, his crying forgotten in the desire for milk. Mi understands what he needs and brings his face up to her b reast. As he feeds, she watches him.
“Good Wu,” she whispers, stroking his dark hair. “Milk make you strong.” To be close to her son—to feed him and to hold him—it is all she had imagined and more. She sighs contentedly and rests her head back on the grass. Everything is perfect.
~
When the other women return from the forest, they stop when they see Mi and Ka sitting together in the grass with Wu still at Mi’s breast.
“Look!” one of them shouts and hurries over. “Baby here!”
“This Wu!” says Mi, as she is surrounded with women smiling and making sounds of encouragement. Then a number of them, handing their bags to others, lift her between them, still holding Wu, and begin to carry her back to the shelter of the caves.
That evening, the womenfolk and the handful of men, who had stayed behind, celebrate the birth of the new member of their tribe with fruit, nuts, berries and fish. In addition to this, Bak kills a large, flightless bird that was caught the previous day and, after smearing a little of its blood on Wu’s forehead and hanging an ornament made from the birds’ feathers in his hair to welcome him as the newest member of the tribe, he hands the carcass to one of the women.
“Make food!” he says. “Big food. We Eat!”
Everyone is excited. New life is always good news and the prospect of the menfolk returning with fresh meat fills the tribe with delight. Mi is looking forward to their return more than most, because Lu will be able to see his son. She looks down at Wu, wrapped in an antelope skin and sleeping sweetly in her arms, and knows she is happier than ever before.
“Come.”
Mi looks up to see Ka standing in the mouth of her cave, beckoning to her and pointing out towards the lake. It is late afternoon on the day after giving birth, and it is time to bring Wu to the Water Spirit. Mi lays down the fruit she has been eating to keep away the hunger, a hunger she has never known before. She gathers Wu up in her arms and climbs up stiffly, legs still aching from the birth. As she follows Ka, Mi sees a number of the womenfolk gathered on the shore, all looking expectantly towards her. When they arrive at the water’s edge, Ka holds out her hands and Mi passes Wu into them.
“Wu safe?” she asks, a note of concern in her voice.
Ka nods and smiles at her. “Wu safe”.
Holding the baby in her arms, she walks out into the lake and as she does so the women begin to hum, quietly at first, but growing in pitch and volume as she gets further out. She stops when the water is up to her waist and slowly lowers Wu into the water. As his head disappears beneath the surface of the lake, Mi steps forward, concerned for the child, but a hand falls on her shoulder in restraint. The humming becomes a loud moaning, getting higher and louder, and still Ka holds Wu beneath the water. Then, when Mi can stand it no longer and is about to call out, Ka lifts him out of the water. Around her the women shout with joy and Mi smiles as she sees Wu is okay.
Above the shouting, she hears other voices nearby, the sound of children calling out. She turns to see and at first she cannot make out what they are saying.
“Men!” The shout is suddenly clear. “Men come! Meat come!”
The hunters are home!
~
The Sky God is sitting low in the distance when the men arrive. All those left behind have gathered to welcome them, with Bak standing at the front, and as the men approach them excited shouts can be heard from the crowd. Holding Wu, now clean and dry from his wash in the lake, close to her body, Mi stands on tip toes trying to see Lu. She can make out the shapes of full bags slung across the shoulders of many of the men—a sure sign of a successful hunt—but she cannot yet spot Lu, her man. As some of the men set down their heavy loads and move away, she catches sight of Zo. He has something hanging from his shoulder, but it is no bag. She stares at it in the failing light. Suddenly Mi is reminded of a memory she has tried to hide for many years. The memory of a group of hunters returning with something similar carried on one of the men’s shoulders. It had been her father, his chest pierced by a rhino. He had still been alive, but there was nothing anyone could do for him and he had died shortly afterwards. The sadness of the memory washes over Mi, and is mixed with a terrible dread as she gazes at the thing Zo is carrying, what she now realizes is a man’s body.
“Lu!” she calls out, looking around frantically for her man. “Lu!”
The crowd p
arts as Zo approaches her and lowers the body from his shoulder onto the ground. An almost silent scream, more of a high-pitched moan, escapes from Mi as she recognizes the man lying before her. It is Lu. He looks at peace, as though he might wake at any moment, but Mi knows that he is dead.
Thrusting Wu into Ka’s hands, she drops to her knees and grips Lu’s body, shaking him in an attempt to rouse him, but his head hangs limp and lifeless and his body feels cold to her touch. Mi hears the sound of someone shouting and realizes it is her. Not knowing what she is doing Mi gets up again, staring round at the crowd without really seeing them. She turns, then, and runs, heading nowhere, just running as the tears stream down her face and her world crumbles around her. Eventually finding herself in the seclusion of the forest, she drops to the ground.
No Lu, she thinks, sobbing bitterly. No Lu… no life! How Lu dead? In her mind, she sees Zo standing there, holding her man in his arms, a look of triumph and hunger in his eyes. Zo! At the thought her heart seems to freeze for a moment. Zo kill Lu. Zo take my man. And then she realizes what must surely happen now. Zo take me!
Haunted by these dark thoughts, her sobbing continues until, weary and empty, she falls asleep.
The screech of a night bird, sounding much like a child’s scream, wakes her and she looks around the darkness.
“Where this?” she says, but there is no reply. The only sound comes from the forest creatures moving in the night. “This forest! How here? How…” but then the horror of her situation comes flooding back. “Lu,” she moans, hugging her legs for comfort and to ward off the chill air. “Lu.”
The night bird cries again, and it reminds her slightly of Wu’s cries. Wu, she thinks, jumping to her feet. Wu need milk! Where home? She looks around the darkness, straining her ears, listening for any familiar sounds. Suddenly she catches a faint chanting behind her in the distance. Heading in that direction she emerges from the trees and, in the light from the Sky God, she can make out movement around the caves. She runs then, keeping low and fast, the tiredness of her legs forgotten in her desire to get back to Wu.
Redemption: Supernatural Time-Traveling Romance with Sci-fi and Metaphysics Page 5
