John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 90

We moved to the next cooker and I let Dieta build the fire this time, though I watched carefully, as if she didn't know how. Other women had been drifting in as we finished with the first cooker and some of the original questions came back. I was happy to answer them and while my mates tried their hands at getting this cooker going I moved most of the new arrivals to another one to restart the demonstration.

I did the fire making again, pointing out that we weren't trying to make a lot of heat but were more interested in getting a good bed of coals that would keep going as wood was added along the way. They understood this since it was basically the same thing they had always done for cooking fires. The main difference was that the fire was made in a box and that fresh air for it could be limited once the door was closed.

After getting this cooker's fire started I went over the preparations for the meat again, getting some of the same questions about the foil and the sauce. Since they all knew how to cook from the get go it didn't take them long to catch on to this way of doing it. The thermometer was novel to this group also but even though they couldn't read the numbers they had no trouble recognizing how far the needle should be able to vary. Faster than I would have imagined they were pushing me out of the way to try it themselves.

Hell I didn't even get the chance to do the lesson for the next group that gathered around because my mates and some of the women from the second lesson rooted me out of the way to do it themselves. Apparently they had decided that the new cooking was too important for a mere man to be involved. I did hang around to make sure they didn't change the plan before they had their first batch cooked.

Looking around for something else to do I considered starting a bean lesson but when I headed for my cave and the pantry to get some beans I met Gema, Merita and Taaheita coming back with them.

"I see you've brought the beans already, do you want me to help you get started with them?"

"John, we know perfectly well how to warm up your beans. Don't you have some important leader duties to tend to?" Gema asked, then giggled.

"Not really, I was going to go hunting with Racaato but I needed to stay here and show you the Bar-B-Que."

"There are a lot of places to hunt and you have a fine horse that will be glad to take you," Merita said.

I knew that they were doing their best to dismiss me and I decided to let them. I continued into my cave and saw Raalto sitting at the table with a mug of coffee. I got one for myself and joined him.

"Have the women shooed you out of the way already?" he asked.

"Yes, they didn't want much instruction from me."

"It is funny, all women seem to be that way about cooking. My mates will let me help if we are hunting or traveling and sleeping away from home but I needn't bother to try during normal times. I think their mothers teach them that men cannot be trusted with raw food," he said.

"If that's the way it is their mothers are driving the lesson home to good advantage. It was my new cooking scheme and within an hour I was completely dismissed. I probably shouldn't say it but I enjoy that type of cooking."

"It's a wonder that the women let you try it wherever you came from. I can't imagine any woman I've ever known doing that. The only help we usually provide for cooking is the digging of the pits," he said.

"Well I don't guess I'll try any more. It isn't that much fun and I'd rather be off hunting, even in this cold weather."

"That is an excellent idea, why don't we go and do a little hunting. The clothes that the spirits sent us keep the cold out well and the snow has settled now so that it shouldn't be a problem for the horses. The worst part of a celebration is usually sitting around all day for the food to be ready," Raalto said.

"That is a good idea Raalto. Racaato has already gone down by the logging site; we can ride up onto the plateau. It isn't so windy this morning and we might see something worth taking. Even if we don't we will have something to do that doesn't require much waiting, at least not as much as around here."

Raalto went to his quarters to change and I went to mine. It only took a few minutes to get the cold weather clothes on and gather our M1s. We met back in the kitchen. Shelalliea saw us filling two thermoses with coffee and asked where we were heading. When we told her she put together a few sandwiches for us to take along.

Raalto and I went to saddle our horses while she was at it. We rode back to my cave on Red and Bob and leading Darla. We had a packsaddle on Darla and she was also carrying some short travois poles in case we got something. Shelalliea gave us our lunch and thermoses and after putting them on Darla we headed off up river.

We had just reached the ramp and were about to start up when Raalto called to me.

"John, look. Coming down from the ramp there is sign. It looks like one person and unless I'm mistaken the same cat is following them," he said.

We dismounted to examine it closer. Raalto was actually doing the examining; I was only looking. It was plain to see that a human with fairly small feet had come down the ramp and headed up river. It was also obvious that a big cat was following the person. Personally I couldn't tell which tracks had been made first or how long there was between the different prints.

It wasn't hard to decide that they weren't traveling together, that would be unthinkable. I was also sure that no person alone would be following the trail of a big cat so it was very likely that the cat was following the person. Maybe Raalto could tell me more in a few minutes.

He couldn't tell me any more than I had guessed. He said that in the snow there was no good way to tell how long between one's passing and the others.

"The only way it makes sense is if the cat is following the woman. No woman in her right mind would be following such a fresh trail of a cat. I'm sure that both trails were made since the sun came up but that's all I can tell. If we want to try to save her we had better get moving," he said.

"I think that we should try. Are you sure that it's a woman?"

"Fairly. It might be a young man but the feet are too small for it to be a grown man," he said as we mounted.

If both sets of tracks had been made since sunrise then the cat was not very far behind the woman. I doubted that we could reach her in time to do her any good but we had to try. At least the trail wasn't hard to follow and we could make good time. The horses couldn't really gallop in the snow even though it had packed itself. They could trot though and we had no trouble following at that speed.

As we came to the opening that we'd used for our hay meadow I thought that we were too late. I could see what we'd both assumed was a woman and she appeared to be kneeling in the snow. I could also see the large saber toothed one not twenty feet from her. It was confusing though since the cat wasn't facing the person. It was facing several hyenas, seven of them, and it looked like it was keeping them from the kneeling figure.

I felt helpless even while taking hold of my M1. We were still more than a quarter mile away and even at less than half that distance a shot from horseback was not possible. If I took time to stop and try for a shot it would mean that we would be that much later getting there. We just kept trotting toward the scene and I kept staring as hard as I could and hoping.

I wouldn't have been as confused if the cat had already killed the human. I understood that even these cats, some of the largest of predators, had to defend their kills from hyenas or even packs of wolves. I'd never heard of them defending their prey before they had killed it though. I guess it was possible that it was so sure that the prey couldn't escape that it felt it had to ward off the hyenas first.

Just then one hyena feinted toward the cat and another one tried to circle around it and get to the person. Smilodon was much too smart for that though since it ignored the feint and lunged toward the one that was trying to flank it. As it stretched toward the potential thief and lengthened itself during its lunge it seemed to double in length even though it only looked that way since it was out to its full length. It just managed to give the flanker a swipe with a giant paw.

The hyena shied away but wasn't quick enough to avoid what must have been a terrible gashing. It screamed loudly and its high-pitched wail sounded almost like one a human would make. The cat's exertions caused it to tumble to the ground as the wounded one ran off. Even from our distance I could see that it was leaving a heavy trail of blood behind it.

The cat was back up in the blink of an eye and heading for the first attacker. It had started sprinting toward the prey while the cat was tending to its partner. It could have saved itself the trouble since the cat was on it in two bounds and very nearly got a claw on it. That one ran away too and went back to join the others.

Raalto and I came up to them then while the hyenas were trying to decide what to try next. We got an even bigger shock when the cat looked at us. It settled to the ground as if taking a break and it began licking the blood off its massive paw, cleaning itself from the wound it had inflicted and paying no attention to its prey, Raalto or I.

"What is it doing John? I know that it can see us plainly and I'm sure it must have heard and smelled us coming long before this," Raalto asked me.

"It is licking its bloody paw Raalto and no I don't have any idea why. You stay back with your rifle ready and I'll get down and see if I can help the woman," I said. We could both tell easily now that it was indeed a woman.

It dawned on me as I got down that the horses were not afraid of the cat in the least. This was almost as shocking as its behavior. The hyenas were damned sure afraid of it, especially now.

When I reached the woman it wasn't hard to tell that she was plenty scared. I could smell the results and looking closely it was obvious that she had lost control of her bladder at least. When I reached to help her up she turned her face to me and stared in a wide-eyed panic.

After a few minutes I knew that there was no sense trying to calm her here because it just wasn't going to work. I picked her up bodily and carried her back to the horses where Raalto was still keeping watch. Looking back I could see that the cat was still keeping watch too but he wasn't watching us, he was watching the hyenas.

"Is she hurt?" Raalto asked.

"She doesn't seem to be, she's just scared out of her senses. Try to hold her up while I rig the travois. I'm afraid we'll have to take her back on it."

He put an arm around her and coming to a little she wrapped both of hers around him. I went to Darla and started rigging the travois, thanking myself for thinking to bring it along. It only took a few minutes to get the poles attached and a skin stretched between them.

Raalto had been watching and he steered her my way when I'd finished. Together we were able to get her to lie down and then we covered her with her own furs, which she had tied to her pack. We put her other things on with her and after giving the cat another look and wondering again just what the hell was going on, Raalto and I decided to leave while we could. We thought of killing the hyenas but decided it would be better to leave the cat with something to do. We could think about the rest of it when we were safer. Like sitting at the table in my cave.

We mounted up and headed back but we spent a lot of time looking behind us all the way.

We arrived without further incident but as soon as we called Eileiea for help there was plenty of incident. All my mates and all of Raalto's along with dozens of others were soon pouring out of the cave's entrance to see just what we had bagged that we wanted cured all of a sudden.

"But John, this is a woman, is she hurt?" Eileiea asked.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that the woman was just scared shitless but I held it back. I didn't have time to tell her anything before one of the unmated women we'd brought from Caato's old camp began shouting.

"Shateala, oh Shateala what has happened?" Naala nearly screamed it as she ran to the travois.

The dazed woman who I now considered Shateala seemed to recognize Naala and when she did she began moaning and crying and I'll admit I didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. Eileiea kept trying to ask Shateala if she was hurt or injured but I could tell that her nose was telling her that the woman had at the very least been frightened badly. I decided that I had to bring some order to this crowd when the others we'd saved from the ill fated camp began coming up.

"Please, everyone stay back. This woman needs some attention from the healer. Give Raalto and I room to take her into the cave."

It seemed to settle them down a little and most of them backed off. Raalto came and helped me get her out of the travois. Shateala still wasn't in any shape to help so Raalto and I took her between us and started into the cave with Eileiea right behinds us.

"Where should we take her?" Raalto asked as soon as we were inside.

"Into the bedroom, I think that Eileiea has all of her things in there."

"Yes, all my medicines are there, take her to the bedroom and put her on the side of the bed nearest the entrance to the bathroom. I'll need Dalia and Shelalliea to help me too," Eileiea said.

"Should I get Jalayla too?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so. The woman isn't wounded or hurt, she is just so frightened that she has soiled herself. Jalayla is welcome if she wants to come in but I don't think there are any wounds or anything that I will need her help with," she said.

Dalia, Shelalliea and Jalayla were right behind us though and they all followed us into the bedroom. As soon as Raalto had put Shateala onto the bed we were shown the door and I for one was glad to leave. I knew that the woman had been through a terrible fright but that knowledge didn't make her smell any better and I was glad enough that I wasn't going to be needed to clean her up.

"We should probably go and put up our mounts," Raalto said and I was happy to agree.

We were too late. Danlo and Nadlo had already left with them and our things had been put on the table. I knew that we were fucked now and Geera confirmed it when she told us to sit down for some coffee and a bite of lunch. Her tone let me know that I wasn't going anywhere else until I gave a thorough accounting of my hunting expedition. I felt better when I saw that Jareena, Reeana and all the rest of Raalto's mates were here too. Misery truely does love company.

I couldn't think of anything to do except tell them exactly what we'd seen. I knew that they might think we were full of it but I didn't have any other tale to tell and they would soon know that if I'd been making something up I could have done a lot better job of making it believable. At least Georgo and Dotallto joined us for some moral support before I had to get started.

"But why would the big toothed cat guard her like that John?" Gema demanded after I finished the first of what I knew would be many tellings.

"I don't know my mate, who can know what a cat is thinking. I'm not even sure that he was guarding her but that is what it looked like to me. What did you think Raalto?" I asked him, trying to offload some of the grilling I was getting.

"It looked like he was protecting her also but I do not have any idea why he was. He made it plain to the hyenas that they were not to bother her," Raalto said. Something about the way he said it showed me a peek at a good out.

"Maybe the spirits put him up to it. What do you think Georgo?" I asked him.

Georgo gave me such a look that I was afraid he was going to balk on me. He didn't though and he came through big time for Raalto and I.

"Dotallto and I will have to meditate over this and beg for enlightenment from the spirits but first I think that you and Raalto should stop talking about it, drink your coffee and have a bite to eat. After you are done I think that we should go into your office and let you both tell us again what you saw. Maybe more details will come to you after you have eaten.

Now I knew why I liked him so much. That would be perfect. We could eat in peace and then go talk about it away from all the questions that would only slow us down. I nearly smiled and then his stock went up even more in my eyes.

"I know that you like the coffee even more than I do John but I think that Raalto and you should have some bruga with your meal. Maybe only a mug or two but I think that a small amount would help to settle your nerves. I'm sure that it was very trying to face the long toothed one even with your rifles and I still don't understand how you could bring yourself to go and help the woman away from it," he said.

I started wondering right then what I could possibly get him for Christmas or his birthday or for something. Georgo had made my day with that, Raalto's too no doubt. I could see it dawn on my mates and his too that we could have both easily been killed rescuing the woman and as I watched they seemed to cringe a little as it hit them. Soon enough they were shooing away all those that didn't usually eat with us and even most of those that did.

In a matter of minutes Raalto and I had a mug of beer and a big bowl of some kind of wonderful mammoth stew in front of us. Similar servings showed up for Georgo and Dotallto seconds later. Best of all no more questions were directed at us and everyone left us alone to down the brews and suck up the soup. Things were looking up, way up.

Raalto and I both stopped eating before we were full. I'm sure that he didn't want to pig out and miss any of the big meal tonight like I didn't. We stopped at two bowls of the stew and two mugs of beer. When we were finished eating the four of us, Georgo, Dotallto, Raalto and I went into my office. Of course Ralph didn't shout out a greeting this time.

"It's odd but it seems that I never think of your office or even notice it unless I'm headed here," Raalto said as we entered.

"That's not so odd, I don't either," I replied, trying to make sure that nothing got started along these lines.

First Raalto and then I gave Georgo and Dotallto a blow by blow of our hunting trip; from the time we left my cave til we got back. They listened all the way through without questions. They had some though.

"You mean that the cat was actually guarding the woman from the hyenas?" Georgo asked.

"That is what it seemed like to me Georgo. It wasn't actively up and pacing. It had just placed itself between her and them. If they approached her it would attack them. It only looked her way to make sure the hyenas weren't approaching from another direction. Other than that it paid her no attention at all," Raalto said.

"Was it the same cat that came through our camp a few days before?" Dotallto asked.

"We can't know that. It is likely but who can tell one cat from another. It isn't as if you can go up and inspect one of them for details."

"I just thought that you might have been close enough to see something distinctive when you went up to help the woman," Dotallto said.

"I might have been close enough if I'd had that on my mind but I didn't. All I wanted to do was get the woman to relative safety before either of us got a closer look at the cat. I don't know if you've ever been near a saber tooth cat but I do know that this time I got much closer than I've ever wanted. Someone else will have to give it a thorough inspection if we really need one because I don't have what it takes to do that."

"What do you mean John, what does it take to give one a close inspection," Georgo asked.

"A death wish," I said.

"Oh."

"That is all that I can remember of the incident," Raalto said after a slight pause.

"Me too, if I think of anything else I'll be sure to mention it," I told the two shaman.

"I think that we should go and meditate now Dotallto. I know that I want to spend a long time trying to discover what this could mean to us," Georgo said.

Dotallto agreed and the two left, no doubt going to their separate meditation chambers.

As soon as the door was closed Raalto burst out laughing. He did his best to do it quietly but he lost the ability to make coherent speech. He just doubled over and laughed until tears were coming out of his eyes. I didn't really understand what he was laughing about but it was contagious and I was soon laughing myself. Finally, after nearly five minutes, he was able to get control.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked me.

"I was laughing at how funny you looked laughing, what were you laughing about?"

"Mostly I was laughing at Dotallto but some of it was about Georgo too. At least I managed to keep quiet until they were gone. I thought that I would explode when Dotallto wanted to know why you didn't have time to give that tiger a good inspection since you were so close already," he said and then lost it laughing again.

"It was a little dumb of him to ask but I didn't think it was all that funny."

"The question wasn't that funny but then I imagined what he would look like and how he would act if he found himself twenty feet from that cat, or any big cat," he said.

When I thought about that I started laughing again too. I'm sure that Dotallto was a wise shaman and a good man but on the whole bravery wasn't something you associated with him. Suddenly a picture of Dotallto running full speed and going so fast that he was leaving a streak behind him like some type of cartoon character flashed into my mind. It took me some time to stop laughing too.

"What do you really think happened with the cat John?" Raalto asked after we had settled down again.

"I'm sure that the spirits intervened for some reason. What other possible conclusion could we draw? They did it for their own reasons, which we will probably never know. They seem to take a great interest in us here and we have begun to take some things for granted even though the things are clearly miracles. Who ever heard of the spirits providing bathrooms or barrel upon barrel of bruga except here? We will just have to chalk this up to the spirits and go on about our business as best we can. If they want us to know the details they might tell Georgo or Dotallto or they might not. In any case what can we do?"

"You are right of course. Maybe the spirits want you to tame the cat as you have tamed the horses and the mammoths," Raalto said.

"Maybe, and if that is what they want I'll try to do it. They'll have to give me a much clearer sign about their intentions first though. I'm not about to walk up near that cat again unless I'm sure it is what they want."

"I don't blame you, I'm not sure that I could walk up to it even if I was sure that the spirits wanted me too," he said.

We were talked out about the spirits and the cat and I knew that we both wanted to leave my office and join the others again. We decided that if we got more questions we'd tell them that Georgo and Dotallto asked us not to say more about it until they had given the spirits a chance to provide enlightenment. That would probably work for most people but I knew that it wouldn't fly with my mates.

I was surprised that things seemed pretty normal when we left the office. No one was standing around waiting to grill us and that was a good sign. Some of my mates were in the kitchen and I was sure that most of the rest were in the celebration cave getting things prepared. I saw the entrance curtain swing open and two men came through carrying a picnic table. I followed them and saw that there were already several of them in place.

I went into my bedroom and found that Shateala had been moved. No one else was in the bedroom so I didn't have a clue where she'd been put. I guessed that the unmated women's quarters was a good place to start looking and so off I went.

Sure enough it was easy to find her once I walked into their quarters. All eleven of the unmated ones we'd brought from the ill-fated camp were crowded in or around her new resting place. I walked over and when I could see inside I spied Eileiea sitting on the edge of Shateala's new bed while Shateala was lying in it, apparently asleep.

"How is she Eileiea?" I asked when I got closer.

"I have given her some strong tea that will let her rest. I could make her understand that she should drink the tea but that is nearly all I've been able to do. We couldn't get her to walk on her own and practically had to carry her here. She won't speak, it's as if she can't do anything but remember the cat. She is still so very frightened that she can't think." Eileiea told me.

"I don't doubt it, she must have known that the cat was following her for hours. It would make anyone lose their wits."

"I think that she will sleep until tomorrow from the tea, maybe she will be better then," she said.

"Will you have to stay with her?"

"No, the others that were in her camp once have said that they will take turns watching her. They can come for me if I'm needed but I don't think she will need me before morning." she said.

"Did she tell you nothing before she went to sleep?"

"No, nothing at all."