John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 86

I was sitting on the seat of the first sleigh, Danlo was driving and Deimeta was between us. Her job was to manage the coffee thermos and keep all our coffee mugs filled. My job was to keep watch and provide protection with my M1. In fact Deimeta was the busiest of the three of us on that seat. Danlo was in charge of the driving but Big Mother didn't really need any help from him and wouldn't until we came to the turn that headed toward Grotondo's camp. There was nothing for me to protect us from either. We were just off on a ride.

It was a cold ride but the scenery was good. The ancient world was dressed in white and the cold weather hadn't let any bare spots peek through. The river was frozen over and probably frozen solid. It's snowy covering made it seem like a low level trail just beckoning for us to use it. I wasn't sure that it would be frozen completely and so we stayed off it. I had no procedure for getting a mammoth or Clydesdale out of the water if one happened to break through. We would have to cross once but that could wait until we were nearly to Grotondo's cave where the side stream wasn't very deep and we could be sure that it was frozen completely.

The sky had been clear when we left with almost no clouds. After about an hour I could see that some were moving in over us from the northwest. By the time we made the turn back east toward Grotondo's camp the wind was up a little and the sky was thoroughly overcast. The temperature had dropped too but with our excellent cold weather gear we hardly noticed. The only thing that concerned me was the tiny snowflakes that started coming just after we finally crossed the side stream. They were small but the wind was driving them and they seemed more like tiny balls than snowflakes. When they struck they even made a little sound and I wondered if Ralph hadn't missed on his forecast.

There was no real concern though since we were so near Grotondo's camp and even if a blizzard came we would have shelter and plenty to eat. I wouldn't like being separated from my camp for days or maybe even weeks but it wouldn't kill any of us. All I could do was hope that it didn't happen. I had my palm with me and I could have contacted Ralph if I wanted to but I decided to just see what happened.

When we pulled to a stop near the entrance to Grotondo's camp's cave there was no one outside. I got down out of the sleigh and went to the entrance, which was covered with a bison skin windbreak. I shouted a hello but got no response and I was sure that the wind, which was now howling, was keeping me from being heard inside. I pushed through and stopped just inside the cave.

"Hello Grotondo, where are you?"

My eyes had adjusted to the low level of light inside by now and I saw dozens of necks twist around so the eyes could see me. Most of the faces showed shock at finding me inside.

"John, is that you John?" Grotondo asked.

"Yes it's me. We have come to bring Brundolo and the horses I promised you. We also have many loads of hay to feed the horses."

"I'm surprised that you would travel here during the winter but I'm glad that you have. We sent a messenger toward your camp earlier this morning but he turned around and came back when the weather turned bad," he told me.

"I'm sure that it must be important for you to send him off even in good weather but before you tell me what it is about I think that we should let the rest of my people come inside and we need to put the sleighs, wagons and livestock in the other cave that you mentioned before."

"Of course, I'm not thinking properly. How many men should I bring to help unload?" he asked.

"Just come and show us where to put them now, we can worry about unloading later."

"Good, I'll show you the cave," he said; stopping at his furs to get a large bison skin robe.

When we got outside Grotondo was stunned at seeing Big Mother. He couldn't move for several seconds.

"She is impressive isn't she?"

"The horses were impressive John, the mammoth is unbelievable. We should go to the other cave now but you will have to tell me the whole story once we are back from there," he said.

"I will be glad to but I think that my mates and all the others except for the drivers should go ahead and go into your cave now."

"Of course. I see that Eileiea is with you and that is wonderful, the messenger was to ask you if we could bring her a patient. Kradno slipped on the ice and broke his leg and we were hoping that Eileiea could help him." Grotondo said.

"I'm sure that she will be attending him before we get back from dealing with the sleighs and wagons."

My mates and all the others got down and headed into the cave then. I waited for Grotondo to climb up beside Danlo before I did. He directed us down about two hundred yards and then showed us the entrance to his new horse cave. They had covered the entrance here also and inside there was an arrangement with hand made ropes and post to pull the skins back and hold them so that we could drive the wagons inside. Once that was done I left the unhitching to Danlo and the other drivers and Grotondo and I headed back to the other cave.

Eileiea was indeed working over Kradno when we got back. I watched for a while and was amazed that he was able to keep from crying out during his treatment. She was pulling against his right foot while three men were holding him still. It must have been terribly painful but he didn't complain. I had to turn away and go somewhere else since I couldn't bear to watch.

I went back toward Grotondo's fire and he invited me to sit. His mate was making a hot tea and soon Grotondo and I were sipping while he reminded me that I had a lot to tell him concerning mammoths.

The tale of the mammoth hunt and of capturing Big Mother and the young mammoths kept Grotondo spellbound. He was even more surprised when I told him that it had been Deimeta that discovered how to teach the mammoths to follow our directions.

"Deimeta, the young orphan that you saved from Nutaro's camp?" he asked.

"The very same. She has been a wonderful help since she came to us."

"It is hard to believe that such a young child could do so much," he said.

"I have found that often children can do things because they don't know that they cannot be done."

"I don't understand John," he said.

"Deimeta didn't know that the mammoth would not listen to her so she just went ahead and trained it. She would not have tried if she had been older and already afraid of the mammoth."

"I think I see now. Since Danlo was older and had already worked with the horses he expected the mammoths to behave as the horses did," he said.

"Exactly. Deimeta didn't know how to train a horse or a mammoth either. She treated Darta as a playmate and Darta was happy to do as Deimeta wanted. If not for that we might still be wondering how to deal with the mammoths."

"I can understand since if I hadn't seen you with the horses I would have never considered them as anything except a good meal," he said.

Eileiea came to us then to tell us about Kradno. She said that it had been a clean break and relatively easy to set.

"Will it heal properly now?" Grotondo asked.

"Probably not. Kradno will want to show what a strong man he is and will try to get up and walk on it, that will cause it to grow back wrong and when it does he will never be able to walk and run as he once did," she said.

"Didn't you set it correctly?" Grotondo asked.

"If I hadn't I would still be back there pulling against it. He was already asking someone to make him a crutch before I left and though it will probably hurt terribly I'm sure that he will be trying to walk on it by tomorrow or the next day," she told us.

"He does not need to be walking and working. There is nothing for him to even do until next spring. How long should he stay off it?" Grotondo asked.

"If he will stay off it and keep it straight it will be nearly well in four weeks. After that he should use crutches for another four weeks, still keeping most of his weight off it. When he is through with the crutches it will still take time for it to be as strong as it was but by spring he should be able to walk and run as he always did but only if he stays off it while it is still broken," Eileiea said.

"He will stay off it. I will be back soon," Grotondo said and left heading that way.

He must have found someone working on a crutch when he got to Kradno's bed. We could hear him warning everyone in the cave not to dare try it again and he let Kradno know that he was to stay flat on his back until further notice.

"You were one of our fastest runners and hunters Kradno and I can't let you ruin your leg showing us all how strong you are. If you try to get up before I tell you to I will have the others tie you down and the next one that gives you a crutch will be carrying you on his back until I say he can put you down."

Grotondo came back to us then with a disgusted look on his face.

"I don't understand how grown men can be such children. It was just as you told me it would be Eileiea. He already had a crutch when I got back there and two others were trying to help him stand," he said.

"Would you like to know if he tries to stand again before you say he can my mate?" Gratata, Grotondo's mate asked him.

"Yes I want to know as soon as he tries it and you can tell every woman in this camp that if they are the one to tell they will get the best fur that we take next year, no matter who makes the kill," he said.

"Will that make them tell you?" I asked.

"After Gratata tells the women I will know when he scratches himself, what he scratches and for how long he scratches. The women see everything," Grotondo said and then laughed.

Danlo and the others came in then and Gratata stopped them all to get a cup of the tea. I saw that they had plenty of the small hard snow on them.

"Is the snow still coming Danlo?"

"Yes but it is not building up on the ground. It is so small still that it won't be a bother if it stays like it is. The wind is still strong though," he said.

"We can only hope that it doesn't change to larger flakes. It is bothersome like this but not really any hardship while traveling."

Grotondo and I talked until the evening meal was ready. It was some type of stew I guess. Cooked in skin bags by putting hot rocks in and then exchanging them for other hot rocks later. We didn't have to cook this way in my camp anymore due to the kitchens and cooking equipment that Argent had given us and I had pretty much forgotten about it.

Watching Gratata and the other women cook and then eating out of a wooden bowl brought it all back of course. I was surprised that the food tasted just as good. The presentation was nothing like what I'd get at home of course but the taste was wonderful. I didn't recognize what I was eating except for knowing that it was some type of meaty stew and it contained unknown vegetables that tasted good.

The meal at Grotondo's fire reminded me how much things had changed for me since I'd come here and how much they had changed for those at my camp. I didn't really know if we had it better or not, we had it easier but was it really better. Just giving Grotondo's mate and the other women here one large pot each for cooking would change their lives considerably. I wondered if I should.

I'd seen my mates helping Gratata while the cooking was going on and it was clear that they still remembered how to do it this way. I also noticed that they didn't mention a thing about how they cooked now, not a word. The difference was apparent to me though and it was disturbing in some way that I couldn't pin down. Later it seemed right to me but I couldn't say why.

I liked the way we did it now and I had no interest in going back to cooking over a dung fire but I didn't want to change things for these people either. I didn't think I was being selfish about it but that could have been it. Somehow it was comforting to know that we didn't cook like this anymore but that everyone else did. I kept coming back to whether I should at least give them a cooking pot or not. I decided to sleep on it; there was no hurry.

The dung fires were another thing that I had forgotten. We had no use for them at all anymore and we had literally tons of dried bison shit collected in a huge pile in our horse cave. We didn't need it for heat at all since our caves seemed to just be a comfortable temperature all the time. No doubt Argent had put some system into place that kept it that way and hadn't even mentioned it to me.

I didn't want to change that either. It wasn't cold in Grotondo's cave but it wasn't exactly warm either, even with all the cooking fires going. It was smoky too. Somewhere there must be a draft to the outside since the smoke wasn't choking us but it was still pretty smoky and the smell from the burning dung was ever-present and slightly annoying. I'm sure that none of Grotondo's people paid the slightest attention to it by now and it wasn't really uncomfortable but it was annoying. I hoped that it didn't snow and make us spend several days here.

After the meal it was pretty much time to sleep or at least get in our furs. My mates had brought in our sleeping furs and they were all arranged in a space toward the back of the cave. I felt a little guilty when it came time to get in them when I noticed that I was the only man from my camp that had any women with him. That could get to be a problem too if we had to stay very long. I didn't think any of the men would make advances to my mates or anything of the sort it was just that they would naturally want to have their mates with them and it just wasn't possible.

Even though it was winter and there would be nothing that needed doing, everyone was still up and moving at sunrise the next morning. Let me restate that. There was really nothing much for the men to do; all the women had the task of getting the morning meal ready. After we were dressed my mates rolled up our furs and then went to help Gratata cook. I went up to talk to Grotondo and I was happy to see that the tea had been made again this morning.

Danlo was more practical about things and he had already been outside to check the weather.

"The snow has stopped and the sky is clear this morning, even the wind has died down and there is hardly even a breeze blowing," he told me.

"Good, if it stays that way we should be able to head home by noon."

"You are welcome to stay as long as you want to John. I am enjoying the company and we have plenty of food. I don't even think Gratata will complain about the extra cooking since all your mates are helping her," Grotondo said.

"You know that I wouldn't complain anyway and I am enjoying the company too," she said.

"We should probably go after unloading if the weather is still good. There is no telling what it will be like tomorrow."

That seemed to settle that. It was more stew this morning but it was with different meat and the vegetables were different too. There also seemed to be some type of grain in it today. One thing was certain; there would be no bacon, toast or eggs. Still it was good and filling and I liked it.

After the meal we headed for Grotondo's new horse cave. We had plenty of help for the unloading and actually more help than we could use. Grotondo's men had to wait their turn to get a chance to work a little and it seemed that every man in the camp was there. They were all as surprised as Grotondo had been when they saw Big Mother. Many of them were afraid of her at first.

With all the help we were less than two hours unloading the hay. Another hour had all the wagons and sleighs hitched and up by the entrance to Grotondo's cave. Everyone loaded their furs and other personal things that they'd brought and we were aboard and gone by eleven.

It had been an interesting visit for me and I thought I might have actually learned something or at least I had been reminded of something. I was feeling a lot more thankful for all the extras that Argent had given me now and I was anxious to get back to our camp so that I could continue enjoying them.