Snatched by cmsix

Chapter 36

We had plenty to do for the rest of the day, but none of it was arduous. Mostly packing things we wouldn't need for our next few meals and making travois. We had supper well before the sun set and then were in our furs as it did.

The next moring I was surprised when I woke. Most of the women, including my mates were already cooking. Lanita and I found some convenient bushes and then greeted Nosey and his calves before sitting down to join Denac and wait for food.

We had it soon enough and I watched the others as I ate. I was glad to see that most everyone from Caloe's Calak was mingling with and eating near those of my Calak. It seemed they also realized that these newcomers would need some extra attention to help them feel at home.

Though I'd worried about it a little, loading the three wounded men turned out to be almost no trouble. They could all move under their own power if they were just careful about it. A smart move by Caltort came in very handy too.

I guess he'd assumed that I'd teach the others to ride as quickly as I could, and they had packed a saddle for every travois cashda in the wagons. Since they'd brought so many cashda, and the wagons, no one had to walk. I'm not sure those that were riding in the wagons would ever want to again, but at least they didn't have to walk. We made excellent time.

In fact the women had made sure we would make better time than normal. They had traveling food made up for us and we had lunch without even stoping. Our only breaks were one at midmorning and another at midafternoon and they were just to give the stock a breather. Since Caltort and the others had brought so many cashda, they were all lightly loaded and the pace didn't seem to bother them at all.

Still, there was no chance we'd make it in one day's travel, so we stopped while there was still plenty of light and had a normal meal at suppertime. By going to sleep early again we were well rested for breakfast, and were on our way quickly, reaching our new home about an hour after noon.

I for one was glad to be here, even though I knew I'd be leaving again the next morning, but looking around I saw that no one had moved into the cave yet, and I wondered about it. Caloe clued me in when I asked.

"No one but Matatu has chosen a spot in the new cave. We decided it was his right for first choice since his vision led us here. We also decided it was your right for second choice," she said, smiling at me.

"No, I will not make that choice. My mates can assume that duty," I said.

"You see how smart he is mother? Not only smart enough to get out of being Zakat, he is also smart enought to know his wives know best," Katia said.

"Then his wives should rustle their leaves into the cave and decide on the place they want. Everyone else is waiting on them," Caloe said.

"Yes mother, but we need to know where the cooking fire is going to be. Have you picked out a place for it yet?" Katia asked.

"I'm afraid we'll have to put it outside. If we don't the cave might get too smoky," Caloe asid.

"I don't know. I think there might be a way for the smoke to get out through the top. I don't remember it getting smoky when we were here before, and we built a fire inside," I said, interrupting but not minding if I did.

"I guess we should try that first then. We can make a fire and then pile some leaves on it to make a lot of smoke, that will let us know for sure," Caloe said, and with a few instructions from her it was underway.

As I'd expected, the smoke went nearly striaght up and disappeared. I couldn't tell where it was going but that didn't matter, as long as it left. With that decided my mates convened a pow wow and soon enough they'd make their choice.

It was more of the same for the others after that. I was glad to see that my former Calak wasn't slighted in the choosing order. Mayta was already working well with Caloe, straightening out such details.

While my mates spent the rest of the day getting our new area arranged, I spent my time getting prepared for the trip back to the old campsite tomorrow. We wouldn't be taking any travois with us, since it was senseless to freight empty travois, but we did need to make sure we took enough harness, saddles, and tack - both for the hauling and for the extra people that would be riding back with us.

During supper Lanita had a big decision to make. Of course she wanted to ride Jeffry and go back with me, but she was torn by what she considered her duty to make sure the new thaka calves and the new children were assimilated into the fold here.

"I hate to send you off without me Daddy, but I'm afraid I should stay here and help all the new children get used to their home," she told me, from my lap.

"I understand, cutie pie. Sometimes we must make choices between two things we want to do," I said, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Katia and Shaeta had also decided they needed to stay at the caves to help get things organized, but Nita was going with me in case some medical emergency came up. Nita gave Lanita copious instructions about minding Katia and Shaeta while we were gone. We all heard "Yes mother" from Lanita several times before we went to sleep.

We didn't have to worry about sleeping late in the cave the next morning. Nosey had assumed the duties of alarm donkey. He had walked into the cave, nudged me awake and then done the same for Lanita. We were all up and dressed in a few minutes.

"Daddy, how are you going to be able to do without Nosey on the trip. Remember he is very good at watching out for us while we sleep," Lanita asked, once we were seated on a rock and eating our breakfast.

"Believe it or not, that is something I've been worrying about. We'll have to do the best we can though, because I want Nosey to stay to watch over you, Katia, and Shaeta," I said.

"It's too bad the baby wolves are still so small. They might be able to do things like that later, but they are still too young," Nita said.

"I haven't even checked on them. In fact, I hadn't even thought about them again," I said.

"They were one of the first things I looked for when we got here. Jaylea and Katita have taken over caring for them. They seem to have grown already, but they are still to young to be trained to do anything," Lanita said.

"We'll just have to do the best we can on our own I guess," I said, just as Nosey and two of the other donkeys came up.

I'll swear it seemed that Nosey was introducing us to them, and to make it seem official I named one Wilbur and the other Orville. They actually seemed pleased somehow, but I figured I was making that up.

"I think Nosey has picked them to go with you Daddy," Lanita said, and it did seem like he might have.

Denac, Caltort, and the others that were going joined me shortly and we started hitching the wagon teams and then haltering the cashda that we would be taking along. The wagons were already loaded and after saying a few goodbyes we were off. Damned if Orville and Wilbur didn't follow right along.

Within an hour it was obvious that our main holdup was the speed that the wagons held us too. I didn't have any worries about the wagons standing up to a faster pace, but I knew that Bruca and Charlton were taking an even worse beating than the wagons were.

After we'd stopped for a meal, I suggested that they try saddling and riding  one of their lead cashda. They wouldn't be able to use the wagons' brakes but there weren't any real hills that might be dangerous on this trip anyway, especially since the wagons we so lightly loaded. The experiment met with their approval after only five minutes and we were able to pick up the pace a good bit.

It was still too far to try and travel in one day but we knew we were more than halfway there by the time we stopped to warm up some of the traveling food for the night. After we'd eaten and hobbled the cashda we found our furs.

The next morning we ate quickly and headed out again. I knew we'd be lucky to make it to the old site before sunset, but we did, and after unhitching the wagon teams we went on across the river to the ranch. Everyone was glad to see us.

They had run a little short of meat, but instead of slaughtering one of the herd they did a little hunting and got three qaka to tide them over. They were just cooking supper as we arrived, and they even had enough for us.

Of course they wanted to hear the news and they were amazed when Nita started in telling about the other Calak that had joined us.

"But what of their Zakat, will he fight Shaton for leadership?" Jonalton asked.

"He's already fought me once and lost, I don't think he is really anxious to fight me again," I said.

This confused them until my mate sang more of my praises, including the tale of my short lived stint as Zakat. Finally we went to furs again. We needed to be up early in the morning after all.

After breakfast almost all the men crossed the river to load the wagons. It wasn't going to be complicated, it was just going to be a lot of work, and it was.

We were finished by lunch time, but we were also worn out. It's hard to believe how much work it is to load what amounted to small stones. The problem was there were so many of them. My best estimate was over a thousand pounds in each wagon. We spent the rest of the day getting everything else, except the thaka, across the river and loaded onto travois.

I'd have never believed a herd of thaka could become barn sour, or valley sour, but early the next morning I found out that ours had, sorta. When we were ready to go we had no trouble bunching them, but when we began moving them they wanted to turn and go in the normal circle as we approached the open gate. We had practiced them into a routine and no doubt they thought they were doing what was required and we were the ones fucking up.

We let them make one circle and then headed them off and through the gate on the next try. Jonalton was already out there to lead the way this time and as the herd exited he heeled his cashda and headed for the river. Now that they had someone they recognized to follow they did a good job, barely slowing at the river and plowing right on through.

A few of the guys stopped to help Bruca and Charlton harness their teams and get the wagons going but most of us stayed with the herd, keeping them tightened up, for the fist bit anyway. The donkeys had also decided that they were supposed to help and they did so with enthusiasm.

I'd never held with the notion that driving cattle was some sort of romantic endeavor, like the cowboy movies portrayed it, and this trip let me know I'd been right not to. There isn't one damned thing to recommend it as far as I'm concerned. It was like a cold or the flu, you just had to make it through to the end. Not only that, we had to work shifts through the night to keep the idiots from getting back up and wandering off.

Thankfully the whole trip was just boring drudgery, and we encountered no excitement along the way. We made it to the new camp about an hour before sunset on the third day and I know I'm not the only one that felt like dismounting and kissing the ground. Hell, I'm sure even the thaka were glad it was over. We now needed to build fence, but it was going to wait until tomorrow. At least it was if I helped.

I headed for the mouth of our new cave dormitory and was I ever surprised when I made it inside. Even though we were inside now, everyone had still erected their huts. It looked so odd to me at first, but then I realized that without the huts there would be zero privacy. I guess other arrangements could have been made, with privacy screens and such, but what the hell, the huts worked fine and after all, we already had them.

Mine was right where I expected it to be and my mates were near it, waiting for Nita and I.

"It's good to have you two home," Katia said.

"Yes, Mommy and Daddy, I'm so glad you're back. I felt lonesome with only two mommies and no daddy around," Lanita said.

"Didn't Nosey keep you company," Nita asked.

"Oh, he did his best, but you know he has guard duty at night, and besides, I don't think he really likes to come into the cave," she said.

"Well I'm glad to be in the cave, even if we don't have anything to sit on during supper. I can start curing that tomorrow," I said.

"And I guess you think we should cure your lack of supper now?" Shaeta asked.

"I would like that very much."

"Well mark off a spot on the floor to sit and we'll go get it," Katia said, and the three of them left.

"How was the trip, Daddy. Did you do anything fun?" Lanita asked me, once she was settled onto my lap.

"Not one fun thing that I can remember. It was all very boring, except for when we were loading the meteor stones, and that was just tiring," I said.

"What are you going to do with those rocks. I know you said they fell from the sky in a shooting star, but why are you carrying them around?" she asked.

"They are of a special material, and after I build a forge I'll be able to heat them and pound them into useful things with my hammers," I said.

"What kind of things?"

"First I think I'll try making arrow points, and next will probably be knives," I told her.

"Arrows are those very small spears you shoot with your bow aren't they?" she asked.

"Yes, and they need very sharp points. I'm going to try to show some of the others how to make their own bows. They won't be like mine but they should do fairly well."

"Why can't they be like yours?" she asked.

"We don't have the little round wheel like things for the ends, and they are what gives my bow so much more power. Maybe later we can try to make some of them, but I think it will be best to make more normal bows first."

"Well maybe, but not first. First we are going to eat, and here comes the food,"