“Why don’t we build a rock wall at that end?” Ador suggested. “We have all the loose rocks we need. If we block the entrance with heavy rocks and make them into a wall, it will completely block that end. We’ll be secure, and we can get some badly needed sleep tonight, especially with a fire to protect us.”
“Wonderful,” said Zen. “Let’s get started while we still have light to work by. We’ll use the heaviest rocks possible; no animal will be able to move them. We can pile smaller rocks against the larger ones, which will wedge the large rocks into place. Then the only place we’ll have to guard is the face of the cliff.”
Some of the rocks were so heavy that the four had to drag them into place by making ropes from the skins they had brought with them. They completed building the wall just as it was getting dark. Even though they were tired, they built a fire and ate the remainder of the fish, then sat contentedly, watching the shadows growing longer while sunlight reflected off the snow-capped peaks in the distance. The river of the Valley of Mist wandered on through the flat plain beyond the mountains.
Between their lookout shelter and the snow-capped mountains, they saw what appeared to be another river joining the one they had rafted on through the valley. The rivers continued far into the distance. The view was magnificent. They couldn’t see the Valley of Mist, though, because it was hidden by the hills the river had cascaded through.
Suddenly, Ador began to cry.
“Why are you crying?” Jok asked.
“I miss Mother and Father. I wish I could tell them that we made it through the Valley of Mist and that we are safe. I think they doubted that we would make it. It would be wonderful if we could bring our families here to live with us and start a new village. We would all be free from the terrible priests and their awful God.”
Tears came to Zen’s eyes, too, but he turned away so the others couldn’t see. Now that he had accomplished the nearly impossible, he was shaking so much he was afraid they would notice. “One day soon,” he said, “we’ll find a way around the Valley of Mist and rescue our families.”
“Do you think that is possible?” Ador asked.
“Yes, I do,” Zen replied. “We know there are two sides to the valley, and I believe there is a beginning and an end. It might take a long time to find it, but I believe we can. Our families helped us to escape, and now we must do everything in our power to help them.”
Jok said, “I think many Lalocks would want to join us if we could give them a reason to hope there might be a way to escape from the priests and a place to escape to.”
“We must find a place,” Lela added, “where everyone can live without fear of being killed by those who believe differently.”
They all agreed that this would be their lifelong goal. This new village would be a place where everyone would have the right to think and believe as he or she wanted. Everyone would have the right to worship as he or she wishes and love the man or woman he or she wants without having to undergo religious practices that cause so much pain.
They talked until the last light faded, and the distant hills were just shadows, and then banked their fire so it would last through the night. They would all remember this day.
***
Chapter 11
Lox
The sun blazed with a blinding light as it peeked over the horizon. The two couples awoke rested and feeling good, but very hungry. Zen tied a strip of skin to a rock, climbed down from the cliff and returned with a supply of wood.
“If you girls will rekindle the fire,” Zen said, “Jok and I will get something for our morning meal.”
The two young men gathered their weapons and went back to a place near the river where Jok remembered seeing fruit growing on trees. They picked the fruit and also killed a buck, quartered and skinned it. They had accomplished what they came for and decided to return by taking a different route.
As they walked near the wall of a canyon, they heard a muffled moan.
“That sounded like a human,” Zen said.
“Nah, can’t be; we’re the only ones here.”
“There! I heard it again!”
“Yeah, I heard it, too. Let’s look, but be ready for anything. There’s no telling what that might be.”
They followed the sound to a cave and cautiously looked in. A wounded man had barricaded himself behind a wall of rocks. Barely clinging to life, he had been seriously injured by some kind of animal, but had managed to drag himself into this small cave. When he saw Zen and Jok, his eyes grew wide and his lower jaw dropped.
The man spoke words in a language they couldn’t understand. He was small, no bigger than Lela or Ador, and his skin and eyes were brown. Jok gave him a drink of water and he tried to smile, but he was very weak.
“What are we going to do with him?” Zen asked.
“I don’t know,” Jok replied. “We can’t leave him here to die.”
“He’s small. If you’ll carry our food, I’ll carry him back to our camp. Perhaps if we feed him and get him warm, he might recover.”
“He’s very sick, but I think we should try.”
As Zen started to carry him out from the rock enclosure, the man began to complain. He was pointing at an object lying in the corner of his cave, a stick that had been shaped by making the ends smaller than the middle. Something that looked like the sinew of an animal was tied to pull the stick into an arc. To please the man, Zen retrieved the stick.
But he wanted something else. Beside the stick was a bundle of tiny spears with stone tips at one end, and a feather attached in a slot at the other end. Since the man insisted, Zen picked up the spears. The injured man looked satisfied, smiled and nodded. Jok and Zen washed him off in the river and carried him and his things to where the girls were waiting.
Zen had to set the man down when they got to the base of the cliff; he couldn’t endure the pain of being dragged up the rocks. So the girls brought the fire down to him, made him a bed with straw and skins and laid him on it while the men cooked the deer.
Ador and Lela didn’t know what to think of the little man. He was too small to be afraid of, so they cleansed his wounds. The claw and teeth marks on his legs were red and irritated. Ador selected leaves that her father had taught her had medicinal values and made a bandage to draw out the poison. She then made tea from the bark of a willow tree that she found growing nearby. This tea was well known among the Lalocks for its ability to relieve pain. They fed him broth, and his eyes became brighter.
The girls built a wall of stone around their new campsite, kept the fire burning day and night, and cared for the little man for several days. Ador continued to apply poultices to the wounds. The infection went away, and the man became stronger and tried to talk. They couldn’t understand his language, but in time, he conveyed to them that his name was Lox, and that he had come from a place where the river emptied into a large, salty non-flowing body of water.
Lox tried to tell them that the elders of his tribe relayed stories about a man named Zor, who had come down the river many lifetimes ago and had shown them how to create fire. Zor had eyes and hair the same color as those of Ador, Lela, Zen, and Jok. Lox's people thought this blue-eyed man was a god, and that is why he was so surprised when he first saw Zen and Jok. He thought he had died and that they were gods.
Zor told the villagers long ago that he came from a place on the other side of a Valley of Mist, and that the river that emptied into the sea near their village came from beyond the Valley of Mist. No one had ever heard of a Valley of Mist, and they thought Zor was just making the story up.
Two summers ago, their tribal leader sent Lox and two other men to find out if such a valley existed. They found the valley but as they were crossing it, the other two men were killed by lions. Lox managed to escape. He was so badly wounded he was dying when Zen and Jok found him. Lox was afraid that his tribe would never know that there really is a Valley of Mist. He wanted Zen and his companions to accompany him to his village so he could tell
his people what he had found.
“We would be afraid to go into your village; your people might harm us,” Zen said.
“Oh, no,” Lox replied. “They won’t harm you; they will treat you with great respect. The legendary Zor looked just like you, and he taught my people many useful things. He cautioned us never to worship fire, but to worship Sun and Earth, that Earth is the mother of life and Sun is the father of life. Together, they are the givers of all life. He taught us that the first man and woman were fathered by Sun and born of Earth, and that when we die, we go back to Earth to be born again. He said the gods are good and that we must never make human sacrifices to them because that displeases them and diminishes us. We believe Zor was a messenger from God. My people will think that you are also messengers from God.”
“We are not messengers from God,” Zen replied. “But Zor was my ancestor. He said that Fire was not God, and that they should not worship Fire. In turn, the priests said that Zor was smart but was a very bad man. Our people banished him into the Valley of Mist to die. We thought we were the first Lalocks to make it through the Valley of Mist, but Zor must have survived and followed the river until it ran into the sea. We would like to meet your people. We'll go with you, and we’ll leave as soon as you are able to travel.”
“I will be able to travel in a few days,” Lox said, “but before we go, we must make bows and arrows for you and Jok.”
“Why do we need bows and arrows?” Zen asked.
“I will show you what I can do with those weapons,” Lox responded.
“Let’s go now,” said Jok. “I want to see how you can use such tiny spears as weapons.”
Lox took Jok and Zen to the river and told them to hide nearby and wait for a deer to come to drink. They didn’t have to wait long before a buck.
Lox placed the end of one of the tiny spears against the tie on the bent stick and pulled the tie in the middle. The stick bent more on each end. He released the tiny spear, which flew directly at the deer; the stone tip penetrated the deer’s heart, and the animal died almost instantly. Zen and Jok could hardly believe what they had seen.
“Will that tiny spear kill a man?” Jok asked.
“Oh, yes,” Lox replied. “We’ve used bows and arrows in battle for many years.”
“Will it kill all animals?” Zen wanted to know.
“Yes, but some animals are very hard to kill, and you must make the arrow strike in just the right spot. Sometimes it takes more than one arrow.”
“Could I use a bow and arrow?” Zen asked.
“Yes, but we will have to make a bigger one for you; this one is too small. You are bigger and stronger, so you’ll be able to pull a larger bow, which will be more deadly. I’ll teach you how to make and use your own bow and arrows.”
“Is it hard to learn?” Jok asked.
“No,” Lox replied. “It’s like learning to throw a spear. It takes a lot of practice.”
“Then let’s make one for me and one for Jok, and we can begin practicing right away. Won’t the girls be surprised!”
“I have a wife and two sons waiting for me,” Lox said. “I’ve been gone for two summers, and I’m sure they think I’m dead. They will thank you for helping me to return to my village.”
“Then show us how to make bows and arrows so we can get started.” Zen was eager to learn.
“We can make the bows right here. We have everything we need. We will remove the tendons from this deer and use them to make the ties for the bows. We have to find just the right kind of wood to make the bow, and then small, straight pieces of wood to make the arrows. We’ll have to make arrowheads from rocks and place bird feathers in the ends of the arrows to make them deadly and fly straight.
“To make good bows and arrows takes a long time. We don’t have that much time, so we’ll have to make do with what we have. We can age the wood by heating it over the fire to make it strong. We’ll also smoke-dry the deer meat, so we won’t have to hunt for meat each day, and we can travel faster. Then we have to make a raft to float down the river. We have a lot of work to do before we start to the sea.”
“How long will it take to make the journey?” Zen asked.
“It’s a long way. It took us many moons to make the journey up the river, but we can travel much faster floating down the river. We should be there before the north wind blows. I’m eager to see my wife. Before you found me, I had given up hope of ever seeing her again. She and my sons will be pleased to greet the people who saved me. The village will hold a celebration in your honor.”
***
Chapter 12
Taking Lox Home
The river flowed steadily, and by the end of the first day the raft was approaching the base of the snow-covered mountains that Zen and his father had seen in the distance.
“Father,” Zen told himself, “here I am standing beside the mountain we looked at. It is not a cloud—this is for real!”
The base of the mountain came almost to the river’s edge on one side, and then there was a gap. Just before the river passed between the mountains, another river almost as large flowed down a valley along the range of mountains that extended off to their right. The two rivers joined just before they went through the pass and then flowed on together, forming a much larger river.
The valley where the two mountains joined was beautiful beyond belief, with tall trees and green meadows, and grazing animals in countless numbers. Among the animals was a type that Zen and his friends had seen before but knew very little about.
Lela said in an excited voice, “Wouldn’t this be a wonderful place to build our village? The animals would provide all the meat we need, the rivers would provide the fish, and there’s lots of fresh, clean water for drinking and bathing.”
“Oh, yes! And what a wonderful place to raise our children,” Ador added.
“Zen,” Lela asked, “May we go ashore here? Ador and I would like to look around.”
“Yes, that can be arranged. We need fresh meat anyway, and this looks like a good place to get it.”
Zen turned to Lox and asked, “What do you call those animals with the long heads? We have herds of them near Lalock, but they run so fast, we could never catch them. You could probably kill them with your bows and arrows. Have you ever eaten one?”
“We call them horses. Normally, we don’t eat them,” Lox replied. "They can run fast, but they won’t hurt you. They eat grass. We caught one once, but it wouldn’t let us ride it. It jumped around so much no one could stay on, so we killed it and ate it. It was good, but I would rather eat deer.”
“Since horses can run so fast, I would think you would be able to travel great distances if you could ride them,” Zen said.
“Yes, there is a tribe of warriors who ride horses. It gives them a great advantage over us. They raid our village, steal our women, and then gallop away.”
“Do you ever get your women back?”
“How could we? The horses run so fast that we can’t catch them.”
“We, the men of Lalock, have learned to deal with that problem,” Zen said. “Maybe Jok and I can help.”
“That would be wonderful,” Lox replied.
When the raft touched land, Zen said, “All right, girls, let’s go. You can look around while I kill a deer, but don’t go too far . . . and take spears with you. You may need to defend yourselves.”
The girls found a small stream and took a bath. On their way back, they saw an abundance of fruit and were enjoying picking it and filling their baskets.
“I think we’d better start back; we have enough fruit for several days,” Lela said.
“Oh, look,” Ador pointed. “That tree has lots of fruit that has fallen on the ground. Let’s pick some more.”
Just as they walked over the hill, they found a mother horse, with her baby trying to suckle. After oohing and aahing at the baby horse, the girls found that the mother couldn’t stand, as she had fallen and broken her hind leg, so the baby horse couldn’t f
eed. Ador put out her hand, and the baby horse tried to suckle her fingers.
“Oh, I wish we could take it with us,” she cried. “The first big cat that comes along will kill them both.”
“It’s a shame, but you know we can’t take him with us. How could we feed it? And we don’t have enough room on the raft.”
“But the little horse is so sweet; he would make a good pet. I’ll bet if we raised one from a baby, it would get used to living with us, and would let us ride on its back when it gets big.”
“That’s a good idea. We could catch baby horses—boy horses and girl horses. Then when they get big, they will have babies, and we would all have horses to ride. We could ride them to find a way around the Valley of Mist. If we can rescue our mothers and fathers, they would help us build our village right here in this beautiful spot!”
“Sounds great, Lela, but don’t tell the boys just yet. Let’s think about it. After we have helped Lox get back to his village, we’ll share the news with them.”
“We’d better get back to the raft. The men will be getting worried and will come looking for us.”
“Oh, I wish we didn’t have to leave the baby horse, but we have no choice.”
The girls started back to the raft, but they didn't see Zen.
“Maybe we should look for him,” Ador commented.
“All right,” Lela agreed, “but we must keep the raft in sight. He might already be there.”
“No,” Ador replied. “I can see the raft, and he’s not on it.”
***
Zen was standing hidden in a grove of trees, waiting for a deer. Soon one came within range, but he had to drop his spear to release his arrow. Time and frequent use had improved his skill, and he killed the deer easily, but then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He saw fire jump from the stone that his spearhead had hit when it fell to the ground!
Beyond the Valley of Mist Page 6
