The SealEaters, 20,000 BC

by Bonnye Matthews

  Torq remembered the whale killers hunting the seals. The time they were on the ice with the seals and the whales came by was terrifying to him. Worse was the time the whale killers swam past their little boats chasing a seal. They caught it and tossed it in the air near them. Torq was terrified that they might toss it into the boat and then crash the boat to retrieve it. The whale killer that swam right by the edge of his boat looking him in the eyes was the most terrifying of all. It was as if the enormous animal could look right down to the secret part of his spirit where his fear lay, pull it up, examine it, and toss it away as not being worth the while. He had felt dismissed.

  Torq walked back into the place where he’d been cared for so well. He saw Man-who-knows-herbs.

  He sat on the sleeping place the man had provided for him.

  “Man-who-knows-herbs,” Torq said, “I have learned where to find the path to the east. I need to leave this place to reach the cache where we meet to return to my land.”

  Man-who knows-herbs turned, looking at Torq for what seemed a long time. “You’re not going anywhere, Torq.”

  Torq was shocked that the man planned to detain him.

  “You’re unfit. You’d not make two days before you’d become faint and need more assistance.”

  “I must reach the cache in time.”

  “It’s better not to reach it at all than to die trying, young man. You are not thinking clearly.”

  “You don’t understand. I need to help save my people. I must reach the cache site.”

  “Are your people sicker than you?”

  “No, that’s not what I mean.” Torq was becoming agitated. “It’s just that we are scheduled to meet there for the return trip.”

  “Young man, you need to calm down. I understand what you see as a problem. What you fail to see is that you are in no condition to make a journey of any length. Are you interested in bringing on your own death? That’s how it sounds to me.”

  “I am not suicidal; I am loyal!”

  Man-who-knows-herbs sat down facing Torq. “Loyalty never required one’s death. You have your priorities upside down. First, you have to be fit. What help could you be rowing if you almost die reaching this cache site? You’d require care, not be able to contribute. The truth is, however, that if the cache site is more distant than one day, you would not make it. That’s fact, young man.”

  “If my people choose not to migrate, I could be left here alone. I just have to reach them.”

  “You are still thinking poorly. If you miss your chance to go back there, it’s not like there are no people in this land. You will not be alone no matter where you go here. If you don’t like one group you can travel to another you might like better. But to give up your life for your people, which is what you’ll be doing—they won’t even know! I do not give you permission to leave. It would be suicidal.”

  “I’m not suicidal. I’m loyal, determined . . . .”

  “Stupid! Lie down now and be quiet. Calm yourself. You speak nonsense. Besides, you owe us.”

  Torq had begun to lie down when the words “owe us” hit him hard.

  “What’s owe us?” he asked.

  “I have cured you and am trying to put some fat on your body. You are obligated to me at this time—not to people far away—people who don’t know you should have died. You would have died, if you hadn’t been brought to me. Then, your loyalty, your determination would be of no value to your people or anyone else, for you’d be dead. You’re good to no one dead. You owe me ten days of hauling rocks from the top of our mountain to here. Ten full days. When you have done that, you’re free to leave. Until then you have a debt to me and my people.”

  Man-who-knows-herbs could not look at the woman who was his wife. He feared that one glance at her would make him laugh and destroy the scene he had set for Torq. Torq was in no condition to make a journey, of that he was certain, and his people did not put others in debt to them for healing. But Man-who-knows-herbs also knew people. He had to find a way to reach this man to prevent him from suicide.

  “Today I learned about trade and about debt,” Torq said. “Trade sounds interesting, debt does not.”

  “You cannot trade unless you have something to trade. You have nothing. Your debt is like a trade—your work will be your part of the trade. You have begun to grow your health. You have to trade work for your regained health. Both are the same.”

  “I can begin to see that, but in trade two people agree. I didn’t agree to the debt.”

  Slowly, Man-who-knows-herbs rose to his feet. He picked up Torq’s spear. He held the spear as if to use it on Torq. “Would you then prefer I kill you? Then you’d be dead as you would have been if I hadn’t helped. You want to die?” He stood there poised with the spear, far more athletic than Torq thought the old man could be.

  “No, don’t kill me. I didn’t agree to the debt, but if it means my life or doing what you said, I will do as you tell me.”

  Man-who-knows-herbs held out his hand to his wife. “Let us go now to gather some plants that I need.”

  She stood up and walked outside with him. They walked to the edge of the woods where Torq could not possibly hear.

  “Old Man,” she chided, “You should prepare me for these things. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. We have no debt for curing others.”

  “Well, of course not, but how else could I stop him? The young man is hard headed. I expect he will try to escape. If he does, he won’t go far.”

  “Will you have him tracked?”

  “I haven’t decided yet. I do plan to tell the hunters what I’ve told him. They need to know what I’ve said, so they don’t give away my trade.”

  “You are clever, Old Man.”

  “That’s why you love me.”

  “That is NOT why I love you, but it contributes,” she laughed.

  Man-who-knows-herbs stopped a moment to talk to Hammer. He agreed to let others know what he’d told Torq about ten days of rock transport.

  Man-who-knows-herbs and Woman-who-brings-babies, his wife, entered the woods while he sought some plants that should be ready to pick. When they returned, some of the people laughed when they saw him, while they made the sign that they would not speak of what they knew. Clearly they cheered the man’s cleverness.

  Late that night, Man-who-knows-herbs heard Torq moving about very quietly. He knew instantly that the young man was ready to escape. He let him go. In the morning at breakfast, the others realized he was missing.

  Pathfinder asked whether they should track the young man. All felt worried that he would not survive well.

  Man-who-knows-herbs said, “I would not track him today. I would wait until tomorrow. If you find him today he will easily recover. He needs to learn that healers know more about healing than he does. He will not learn if you find him too fast. Let him have a night with no food, for he’s in no condition to hunt. Let him struggle to learn he can’t make it. Then he will be easier to heal.”

  “I’ll go with you tomorrow, Pathfinder,” Hammer said.

  In the dark it was difficult for Torq to find the trail. It was too dark. He was short of breath. It was colder out than he thought it would be. His backpack was cutting into his sores. His legs were weak. He thought about returning, but he knew he needed to make it to the cache. He felt obligated to continue on but would sit and lean against the tree until daylight. After a while, Torq began to shiver. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his soft skin jacket. He put it on and after a while it seemed to help warm him, but not enough. He unrolled his sleeping skin and wrapped it around him. Torq set his spear by his side and waited for light.

  When light finally came, Torq was still cold. He was able to find the path and move eastward. Finally, he was comfortable that he was fulfilling his obligation. He couldn’t help but think that if Plak had accompanied him, the cat wouldn’t have wounded him and they’d almost be at the cache site. That it was the time of leaves turning color, not the time of ne
w leaves did not seem to enter his thinking place. Torq was way ahead of himself. He warmed somewhat by moving along the trail. It had widened a lot and was much easier to travel than he remembered.

  Torq did not think of food or drink. He had jerky in the backpack and the little water bladders. He walked on. By high sun, Torq had been struggling for some time. He was still short of breath and had to lean against trees from time to time, for he became dizzy. Torq refused to take the signs as anything serious. He thought of the dizziness and the shortness of breath as symptoms of not having been active. He continued on.

  Torq almost stepped on a brown snake in a pile of leaves. It shook its tail which made a noise. The realization that the snake had a triangular head made Torq force an alertness he didn’t have. The carelessness could have cost him a lot of pain and death, he realized. He thought back to Man-who-knows-herbs talking to him. He would not have changed what he did, he realized.

  Shortly after high sun, Torq was exhausted. He wrapped in his skins and leaned against a tree. He went black. When he awakened, it was dark. He knew he could not continue on in the darkness, so he wrapped in his skins and returned to black.

  By morning Torq was awakened by two squirrels chattering as if scolding him for sleeping after the day had begun. He rolled up his sleeping skins and prepared to go again. He had neither food nor water. Those things hadn’t appeared in his thinking place. Torq simply knew he needed to reach the cache.

  He didn’t go very far on the trail before his dizziness caused him to fall.

  Already on the trail, Hammer and Pathfinder were gaining on him. They could follow his trail with ease. They had brought a stretcher, for Man-who-knows-herbs made it clear that the man would give out. It didn’t take them long to find Torq lying on the path, worn out.

  “Well, look who this is,” Hammer said with heightened volume.

  Torq turned to face the men who came to take him back. He groaned.

  Hammer went to him and looked at his arms, pinching the skin. “He’s dehydrated,” Hammer said.

  Pathfinder pulled out a skin filled with fresh water and dipped a gourd into it. He handed the gourd to Torq.

  Torq drank the water gratefully. He hadn’t realized he had failed to drink water. What, he wondered, had he been thinking?

  Pathfinder and Hammer laid out the stretcher. They lifted Torq to the stretcher, put the water bladder away, placed Torq’s backpack on the stretcher, covered him with his sleeping skins, and began the trek back home.

  They took Torq straight to Man-who-knows-herbs’ place. When they arrived, they carried him in, laid the stretcher beside his sleeping place, rolled him over onto it, put his sleeping skins folded by his feet, his backpack and spears against the wall. They left without a word. The old woman who was inside said nothing. Torq lay there struggling to breathe. He also said nothing.

  Man-who-knows-herbs came into the place some time after Torq arrived. He said to both his wife and to Torq, “The evening meal is about to be served.” To Torq alone, he added, “Stand up Torq; you need to eat.”

  Torq stood up, and felt aches and pains, but he ignored them and walked outside to the gathering place. He was dirty and tired, but the food smelled wonderful and he definitely was hungry.

  Women dished up the food, occasionally asking the person they were about to serve whether they wanted one thing or another. Torq took his food with gratitude and ate it quietly. He was shocked that no one mentioned his escape.

  After he ate, he put his bowl where it was supposed to be placed, and he returned to Man-who-knows-herbs’ place. He felt defeated. He knew now to what extent Man-who-knows-herbs was a healer. He felt foolish.

  When Man-who-knows-herbs came in, Torq asked, “Why is there no punishment, no verbal attack for my escape? My people would not ignore something like this.”

  “You are not ignorant, Torq. You knew what the dangers were. I told you. For some reason that I cannot understand, you chose to think that you know more than I do. You tried and failed. You have the opportunity to learn, or you can repeat the same nonsense. Be advised that the next time, if there is one, the hunters may have better things to do than track down a young man who refuses to learn. You understand duty. You have a duty to me that is not fulfilled. You will now add two extra days to your rock moving.”

  Torq groaned. Twelve days of moving rocks from the top of the hill to the bottom. As he relaxed, he finally understood. Moving rocks would put him in shape for the trek to the cache. The old man was doing his best to plan what was good for him. He realized he needed to attend to the man’s words and do as he was told. The old man was right. Man-who-knows-herbs knows more than herbs. For the first time he was truly grateful to the old man.

  “I am grateful, Man-who-knows-herbs. I was a fool. It will not happen again.”

  Man-who-knows-herbs nodded to him and added, “If you want to put fat on your body, eat twice what you normally eat.”

  Torq would do as he said.

  A few days later Torq began to take purposeful walks. Each day he extended the walk, adding carrying things. He brought up water from the creek and did other work that helped the people with whom he stayed. Finally, when the leaves had mostly been blown off the trees, he went to the top of the hill. There were stones there, large ones. Surely, he thought, Man-who-knows-herbs didn’t mean for me to carry these large stones down the hill? He looked around for other stones and found none. Torq lifted a stone. It was very heavy, but he was capable of carrying it. He walked down the path carrying the stone. He had to stop to put the stone down. He sat down and rested a bit. Then he stood up and began to carry the rock downhill. It took him five stops with the one rock to reach the village. When he arrived there, he put the rock down and went to find Man-who-knows-herbs.

  Man-who-knows-herbs was gathering wind fallen logs for firewood. Torq picked up a few pieces and followed Man-who-knows-herbs to the place he was stacking the wood. When he reached the place, he said, “I brought one rock down from the hill. Where do you want them?”

  Man-who-knows-herbs looked up at him and started walking to the cleared edge of the village gathering area. “Here,” he pointed, “I want to see the rocks stacked side by side, tight. The dirt is eroding here, and these rocks can stop it. The wall should go from here to there with an opening for the path. I expect the wall to be at least two rocks high and possibly two rocks thick. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. You want them packed together very tightly?”

  “Yes. The wall must be strong to hold back the dirt.”

  “I understand,” Torq said. He left to climb up the hill again.

  By the sixth day, Torq was close to finishing. He carried down the last rock that made the double thick, double high rock wall. He went to find Man-who-knows-herbs. He found him sitting on a log talking to two other old men. Torq went over and as taught in his culture, he waited to be recognized before he spoke.

  “Let’s hear what Torq has to say,” Man-who-knows-herbs said.

  “I have only two rocks to bring down and the rock wall is finished. What would you have me do when that is finished?”

  Man-who-knows-herbs stood up. “Come with me,” he said.

  Torq and the other old men followed.

  Man-who-knows-herbs reached the opening in the wall. “From this point here, I want to see rock steps from here to the creek,” he said. “You may see if any of the others will help you dig out the steps so they are level.”

  Torq was shocked to know what the man had in mind. The rock wall was one thing. Stairs. That was something else. Nevertheless, he talked to Hammer and then went back up the hill to gather the remaining rocks for the wall.

  As he climbed the hill, he realized his breathing had improved. He also realized that he was going downhill without having to stop to rest. Torq stood still for a moment as the realization sank in. Man-who-knows-herbs had planned this work as a way for Torq to build up strength for the trek. It shattered Torq to realize what the man had done
for him from his cure to the strength building. Torq esteemed the man greatly. He knew that Man-who-knows-herbs was not only knowledgeable, but also he was wise. He’d let his own thinking place see the man as mean-spirited, when in fact he was very kind. Torq was undone momentarily as he faced his own error.

  Torq brought the last two rocks down and the rock wall was complete. It looked good. Torq was proud of the work he’d done.

  Apt, Hammer’s younger sister, walked over to Torq as he laid down the last stone for the wall. “Do you not like me?” she asked.

  Torq was shocked, and answered truthfully, “I don’t know you very well, Apt.”

  “I have tried everything I know to attract your attention since you began building the wall. You ignore every attempt I make.”

  Torq felt as if he’d hurt the girl somehow. He tried to choose his words carefully. “Apt, I have appreciated your bringing me food while I work on the wall. I have looked only at my goal. My goal is to reach the place I’m supposed to be to meet others. We will travel back to my land to help the others there to move to this good land.”

  “And you see nothing but your goal? The cache?”

  “If I become distracted, I could be tempted to lose sight of the goal and miss it.”

  “I’ve never known any man to ignore a woman, unless he is a man who feels he’s in the wrong body. In my experience that’s the only time a man ignores a woman—regardless of his goal. Are you a man who believes he’s a woman?”