John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 68

I was awake before sunrise the next morning and my mates were all stirring too. We spent a little time playing grab ass and then piled out of bed. I went to the shower and several of them joined me. We woke Deimeta on purpose and reminded her that she had to teach Merita, Maia, Ameliea and Roweea how to treat their mammoths this morning.

"I'm glad you woke me up since I'm anxious to help them," she said sleepily as she vacated her own bed.

After the showers, which included more horseplay, we dried and dressed and headed to the kitchen. Coffee was already ready and Deimeta was sitting at the table sipping hers. I sat down and Jaada brought a mug for me then left me after a good morning kiss.

I teased Deimeta about spending all her time with Darta now and she told me I was just sad because I didn't have a mammoth of my own.

Soon enough breakfast was brought and eaten and afterwards Danlo, Deimeta, Failiela, Merita, Maia, Ameliea, Roweea and I headed for the horse cave to begin the mammoth introductions.

Danlo started by letting Big Mother and all the young ones loose from the large pen where they had stayed last night. Big Mother went right to Danlo and Darta went right to Deimeta. Then Failiela's young mammoth discovered that she was here and went to her at once. The other four were slightly confused at first.

"Just go pick one and see if it likes you," Deimeta suggested to my mates.

They did, each of them walking slowly toward one of the babies. They were quiet for a few minutes of sniffing and exploration by the youngsters but all seemed to go well and they each seemed satisfied with their person. Roweea ended up with the largest male, his back was nearly up to her shoulder and though still a baby he was large and robust. I figured that Roweea was going to have to get him accustomed to doing what she wanted him to pretty fast. He was already too big to force into anything.

Shortly Deimeta took off heading up toward our cave and Darta fell in right beside her. Failiela tried it and her mammoth came right along too. The others tried one by one and I suppose their charges had been watching Darta's lessons because they more or less followed suit. Maia's seemed to want to change sides and moved from her right to her left but always stayed near Maia.

The long line of people and mammoths made its way past the cave and about two hundred yards further on. I stayed put and watched and when Deimeta turned Darta back to return all of the others followed suit. Danlo had taken Big Mother into the cave and since the lessons were going well I went in too.

He was putting her harness on her and intending to hitch her to the buckboard. This was something I wanted to see. I found a seat on a packing box that something must have come from Argent in and waited.

Big Mother was the picture of patience while Danlo fiddled with the rigging and she was soon hitched to Georgo's buckboard and ready to pull it outside. Asking me if I wanted to be the first passenger, Danlo went to stand beside Big Mother's head as I climbed aboard.

He led her toward the exit when I sat down and in a few seconds we were out in the sunlight.

We must have made quite a spectacle since all the others, who had been working with their babies, stopped and stared at us. Deimeta was wide eyed and grinning and I could practically read her mind. I knew very well that some mention would be made of a wagon for Darta to pull before the day was over. If Argent had been here there would have been no problem but even without alien ingenuity I knew that if she asked for a wagon she was going to get one of some type. I had a lot of confidence in Mundo and his friends.

Dieta couldn't stand it anymore and she and Darta walked toward the buckboard, falling in beside it as Big Mother pulled it up the canyon.

"Daddy, can I have a buckboard for Darta to pull, please?" she asked.

"I don't think I can get you one just like this but I'm sure that we can find someone who can build one for you. Do you think Darta will like pulling a wagon?"

"Of course she will, if that's what I want. A small one won't be heavy or hard for her to pull and she likes new games as much as I do," Deimeta explained patiently.

"I should have known she would be wanting one. Do you think you will like having her pull you around?"

Deimeta gave me such a look and then said, "Of course I will Daddy." It made me glad that the children of this time didn't know how to say "Duh."

"I will do my best to get you a wagon then. I wouldn't want to deprive you and Darta of so much fun."

"It won't all be fun Daddy, it will be good training for Darta too," she said.

"I hadn't thought of that but I suppose you are right. All the young ones will need to be trained before they get large enough to cause trouble."

Danlo had kept moving while Deimeta and I talked and now he was turning around and heading back to the horse cave. Deimeta, now that she'd made her request and had her say, led Darta back into the parade and continued the lessons. When the buckboard was back in its place Danlo stopped Big Mother and began taking off her harness as I got down off the seat.

"Have you made any progress thinking of a way to guide Big Mother without leading her?"

"No, I haven't even had the slightest hint. I'm sure that there must be a good way but I haven't discovered it yet," he said.

"Maybe you'll just have to ride her and guide her with your feet and legs."

"Maybe, but it will be inconvenient to be up on her back. There would be no way to use the wagon's brakes. It would mean that whenever we were headed down hill someone else would have to operate the wagons brakes to keep it from rolling into Big Mother's back legs," he said.

"I know but it may be the only way."

"It may be. Did I hear you and Deimeta talking about a wagon for Darta?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly.

"Yes, now that she has seen Big Mother pulling the buckboard she wants a small one for Darta to pull. I'm hoping that Mundo and his woodworking friends can make one for her."

"There is no need for that. This morning, while I was looking more closely at the wagons without wheels I found another wagon that I hadn't noticed before. I'm sure that it is for Deimeta because its size is perfect for she and Darta, I'll show it to you," he said and led me over behind the sleighs.

Sure enough it was a small buckboard. It looked almost exactly like the ones for Dotallto and Georgo but it was much smaller. It even had a let down tailgate and a pair of doors to close the top of the box. I was sure that Deimeta would be thrilled with it. I decided to keep it a secret until we got back from our visit to the other camp and told Danlo my plan.

I had some misgivings about giving it to Deimeta since I knew that possibly it would be taken away later when and if Argent returned. That was no reason to deny her the fun of having it now though. I was also touched that Argent had obviously thought of Deimeta during what must have been the turmoil of his last few hours here and I knew that whatever was happening, Argent was doing the best he could for us.

It was already later in the morning than I intended to start for our trip so I asked Danlo to hitch one of the big wagons for me. I went back toward my cave, telling Deimeta and the others that it was time for the trip. Since none of them were going, they decided to keep working a while longer.

In my cave I found Georgo, Dotallto, Ladeliea, Geera and Dieta waiting for me. They were all having a cup of coffee and when I sat down Shelalliea brought me one also.

"Is everyone ready to go?"

"I think that we all are," Geera said, looking around for confirmation from the others.

"When I've finished my coffee I'll get my rifle and then we can leave."

"Oh, I'd forgotten about my rifle, do you think we will need them?" Dieta asked.

"Probably not but if we do we will feel really stupid for leaving them here."

"I see what you mean. Maybe we should all take our rifles," she said.

"I think that we should and we should all be wearing our mail too. I know that you, Geera and Ladeliea have the new larger rifles now but if you haven't sighted them in yet be sure that you take the others that you have sighted in."

I knew that it was probably me just being overcautious but with Argent gone and no hope of help that we didn't bring with us, it would be foolish to leave our camp without being prepared. While the others went to put on their mail I went to the practice cave to get my M1. I saw Racaato there and decided to ask him to come with us. He said that he would and I asked him to bring my rifle since I thought that I should go and tell Raalto that we would be leaving.

After I found and informed Raalto I headed for the horse cave. Everyone was there and Danlo had a team hitched to one of the big wagons. Just in case a need came up I caught and saddled Red, tying him to the back of the wagon. I didn't know what had my mind on trouble and things I might do about it but it was a feeling I was having and I did what I could think of to head it off.

I got on the seat, took the reins and gave the team a slap on their giant asses. They stepped out smartly and we were on our way. Even with the crowd that we were taking there would probably be plenty of room in the big wagon to carry all of the other group's belongings if we could convince them to move to my old cave.

It wasn't a long trip and the trail was familiar enough that I didn't have to pay too much attention to where we were going. We made good time and I spent a lot of it looking more carefully at the surroundings than I usually did. All the trees, except for the evergreens, were naked of leaves now. The sky was overcast today and looked a little forbidding. What breeze there was seemed chilled somehow and I asked Georgo when he thought we would get our next snow.

"If my nose isn't deceiving me we might get it today, can't you smell the snow on the wind?" he asked.

"Not really, can everybody else smell it?"

Most agreed that they could and I wondered what smell I was missing. I was sure that my nose wasn't as sensitive as theirs were. As the trip proceeded I could tell that it seemed to be getting colder and that the breeze was picking up.

We got a discouraging shock when we arrived. There was no one left alive in the camp. All four of the men were here and dead, killed by spears. The women were gone and everything of value had been taken from the huts.

Racaato started examining the perimeter of the camp at once, looking for sign to tell us something about what had happened. Geera, Dieta and Ladeliea pulled all the dead bodies over near each other and began on a funeral pyre. We hadn't brought a shovel with us and it would be the only decent way to dispose of the bodies. Georgo and Dotallto were talking over the dead men and with each other and I assumed they were giving them some kind of spiritual sendoff.

I walked over toward Racaato, taking my rifle with me, and kept watch out into the woods to make sure no one surprised him while he was concentrating on the sign that he was finding. After about twenty minutes he looked up and motioned for me to come to him.

"Eight men came here to attack them. They must have arrived before sunrise and I think that they had to have been traveling for sometime in the dark," he said.

He pointed out where they had waited and said that it didn't look like they had been hidden there for much over an hour before they all jumped up, probably at the same time, and attacked. He also showed me where they had left with the women as prisoners. He said that the women's tracks indicated that their legs had been tethered somehow and that it was obvious to him that the bindings were limiting their stride.

"Can you track them?" I asked, this stuck in my craw and I was determined to keep things like this from going on in what I considered my sphere of influence.

"I can until the snow gets too deep but that will not be long enough to catch them. It might be long enough to determine where they are going and if it is we could continue to their camp if I discover which camp it might be. I have worn my new clothes and if they are as good as they seem to be I will be warm enough. Did you wear yours?" he asked.

Of course he could see that I hadn't and I was as mad at myself as I'd ever been. I had been so careful to warn everyone else about wearing their mail and taking their weapons and had neglected the most fundamental need myself, warm clothes.

It was probably for the best. I really had no business dragging Racaato off on a fool's errand in the face of a heavy snowstorm at the begining of winter. He had several mates that wanted to see him home tonight and I had even more that wanted me home.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't even any of my business unless I chose to make it so. I didn't even know these people and I had no idea who had attacked and killed the men to steal the women. It was entirely possible that they had been justified in doing it, even though Dotallto had told us where the couples had come from and that they had apparently all come of their own free will.

No matter the right or wrong of it we would have to return to our own camp. If I decided to do something about this I would have to do it next spring and I was sure that there would be a lot going on in our situation before then. I was going to talk to the unmated women that had joined us from this camp though and see if they would tell us more now.

We all helped the women gather more fuel for the fire and when we thought that there was enough we lit it, climbed back aboard the wagon and left. It was an even quieter trip back home and I had descended into my 'woe is me' funk again. The increase in the snowfall didn't help it a bit.

When we pulled back into the horse cave late that afternoon I could see that Danlo and all the wranglers had been busy today. They had rearranged the wagons, sleighs and the other things that were stored there now. It looked like that had moved everything except the hay and the dung pile.

The sleighs were positioned so that they would be easiest to use now and the rest of the wagons had been used to set up a makeshift divider to keep the horses and mammoths separated and also to keep them away from the tack and the tools that were being kept here. Deimeta's new wagon was nowhere in sight and when I had a chance to get him alone I asked Danlo about it.

"It is hidden under some of the hay. It will be easy to pull out when you get ready to show it to her," he told me, grinning.

"Good, I wanted it to be a surprise for her. I'm sure that she will love it and I'm going to need something to perk up my spirits myself."

I told him then what we found at the other camp. He didn't have much to say about it and there really wasn't much to say. I could tell that it didn't sit well with him either.

I left tending to the team and the wagon to Danlo and his helpers and headed back to my own cave. The others had already gone. When I got back to the table all of my main helpers were seated with coffee and I think that Racaato had just finished telling them what we found because they all looked to be in a funk similar to mine.

"What will we do about it John?" Raalto asked me.

"I don't see how we can do anything until spring. The snow falling outside now will probably not be melted before the next snow adds to it. I expect the weather to hold us in our caves for a long while."

"I'm sure that you are right about that. That first snow was fairly early but this one even feels different to me somehow. It's as if it is telling us that we are locked in now," Daaggo said.

"One thing I am going to do now is question the unmated women from that camp again. Surely now they will give us more information. It didn't really matter to me before but now I want to know more so that I can decide whether these attackers are going to try to bring us trouble."

"You may do as you feel best of course but if it were me I would have one of my mates question them. I know that they would talk more freely to a woman than to a man. Some of them might even want to tell us some things now that all of those men are dead," Raalto said.

"You are right, I'm sure that one of my mates would be able to do a better job than I. Maybe Geera will talk to them for me."

"If they won't talk to Geera then let Dieta have a turn. Dieta can be very persuasive, Ameliea also." Barago said.

"You are right but I don't want to force it out of them. If they really think that things will be better if we don't know some of their past, I want to honor their feelings. I am very curious though and if they don't shed any light on this then I'm sure that I will want to investigate more thoroughly next spring."

"I have nothing to go on but my thoughts but they are telling me that this started at their old camp. It sounds like something their former leader would do or have done. If it was him then I'm sure that the main purpose of the attack was to bring back all the unmated women," Dotallto said.

"If that is the case, and it sounds reasonable to me, then it is possible that they will return at some time to try and attack us. Of course they might have a hard time finding us."

"I'm afraid that I told them where our camp is John, I was hoping that some of those that were dissatisfied with the leader would come here," Dotallto said.

"You did exactly right Dotallto, of course in hindsight it would be better if that particular leader did not know where our camp is but I don't want to try and hide our existence from anyone. Unless his camp is much larger than any I've seen yet, they can't hope to do anything but annoy us."

"There are less than half as many people there as there are here but he doesn't know that. I'm not even sure that he knows where we are because I didn't tell him; just some of those that I thought would like to leave his camp. It is possible that they told him though," he said.

"I think that we should go back to taking a look both up and down the canyon at least twice a day for a while. It will not be so troublesome with the new clothes that we have and it could save us some difficulty. I do think that the ones doing it should learn to work with the wolves though and should always take them along. The wolves will know if there is someone new approaching long before one of us would know it."

"Do you think that they might try to attack us in this weather?" Caato asked.

"I don't think they will but I don't know that they won't. I believe it will be worth the effort to check up and down the canyon a little way twice a day to help and make sure. If the weather is too bad to go out for us in our clothes then we won't because it will be much worse for anyone else.

"We also have another big advantage now. We are all on the same side of the canyon. It would be very difficult for anyone to attack us in our caves, even if they were right outside."

"At least we know that there is a possibility and we can prepare. I think that we should block the outside entrance to the unmated women's quarters for now, that way if someone does want to get in they would have to come into your cave or into the other entrance for the big cave. Either way they would be easy to deal with. Since the wolves are almost always in your cave they would have no hope of sneaking in that way and with so many people near the other entrance they would be foolish to enter there," Racaato said.

"You are right Racaato, if we block that one small entrance we could all be protected by the wolves. The young ones are not really big enough yet to be fierce fighters but there are more of them and they would be able to give a warning that is unmistakable. I'm sure that Merita and Maia could get them to stay near the other entrance and the older three could stay here near this entrance."

"Good, maybe it will save some trips out into the cold," Colonto said.

"Don't worry Colonto, Racaato and I will split your share of the snowy walks," Raalto said, teasing Colonto.

"I did not mean it like that exactly but you may take all of my turns that you want," Colonto said, giving as good as he got.

"There are so many of us that we won't have any troubles with that. I'm sure we can get plenty of volunteers to take an occasional walk in the cold."

"But many of the men do not know how to use rifles." Racaato said.

"That shouldn't matter because I don't want those that make the patrols to fight if they discover someone, I want them to come back and warn us. In fact I want them to come back even if one of the wolves growls at something that is still unseen. There will be plenty of time to find out, in force, what the disturbance is."

"Then you don't want them to try delaying anyone?" Colonto asked.

"No, it would be pointless for one man to try anything when we have so many that can help if they get a warning. Our numbers are our biggest advantage. The early warning is what we need."

"I think that is the best way. We will make sure that we are prepared to come out in force and in a hurry," Raalto said.

Our conference came to an end then because women started arriving with food. I didn't know about the rest of them but I was ready to eat.