The hunters set out again and it was a long, long way, and Tau knew that not all of them would return.

At night, the men protected themselves from the wind by huddling together and leaning against rocks, cutting off the wind and building a small barrier of stretched skin.

Early in the morning, they started walking south again, toward the black mountain that everyone feared.

The only thing the child knew was the blurred mark on his neck, hidden by his hair, like his mother.

It was their secret.

Tau knew it too, but said nothing. It was no good, especially with the scalded and desperate spirits of a dying or barely surviving tribe.

Pebbles and pebbles, paths with sharp stones.

Such was the price of the steak!

Finally, the path became easier when Tau indicated to walk in the bottom of a dry river crossing canyons as crazy as each other.

At least it was flat and without almost any difference in level.

The red rocks reflected the heat of the sun and the high rock walls offered a natural shelter from the wind.

Even if there were many winding roads, it was better than having to climb up and down almost steep slopes with all the danger that this meant.

The vegetation was almost non-existent and only a few branches that had been dead for decades littered the ground.

It was up to the youngest to pick them up. It was a form of hunting, the hunting of the small wood.

This would prove to be valuable later on.

At night, one could hear the cry of the wolf coyotes. And it was always scary. And if the wolves were hungry.

Then, in the distance, the wolves could be heard yelping and crying.

Tau straightened up and looked at each of us, as if fixing a picture in his head to remember each of us.

"We're not all coming back! So let me and each of you know your last wishes. That's an order!"

Morale fell and the tribe resumed its march to life, to death. The footsteps were heavy and everyone knew... except the youngest, but no one said anything, as if not to provoke the spell.

Tau knew that his group had entered a zone of death. The zone of the Wyrme. A monstrous flying lizard with smilodon teeth... A killing and crushing machine.

They had arrived in a plain, a tundra, and in the distance they could see the mountains and the level of passage of migrating bison. This was their destination.

He began to hope. Maybe we'll get there!

But, in an effort not to offend the Gods, they passed by piles of stones side by side.

Cairns. There were lots of them.

And it didn't look good.

Everyone knew that it was the trace of a past tragedy, or that an ancestor had come to die there.

It is true that old people also came to end their days in dignity and in a lost battle.

Indeed, the invalids as well as the old men, unable to support themselves and having reached their limit, kept their pride and their honor. They would stay and die with their families if they felt like it, but if they became a difficult burden, they preferred to end it and start a new life cycle.

This is where they ended up, facing wolves, bears or wyverns with a knife in their hand, in a last stand. They always kept some fermented fruit alcohol to give them the last strength or courage they needed.

So life went on, hard as ever.

It was customary to always pass to the left of the Cairns so as not to provoke the irritation of the elders and the spirits, who haunted this valley of rocks and endless grass.

Tau felt that this was the most dangerous part of the journey. A fire would keep the wolves and large predators away, but would attract the lizard.

Without fire, it was the wolves and the packs....

He then ordered them to dig the ground and build a fire as high as possible and to lie down and wrap themselves in the fur bags and cover themselves with sand or dust to look as much like rocks as possible.

Tau held his son close and watched the fire glow and, turning around, he could see in the night many malevolent eyes reflecting.

At the camp, Roth prayed, prayed to the cursed mountain not to eat his son or his man.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Behind his hair was a tattoo with an eye and eight arrows pointing in all directions.

"I beg you, Destroyer....here are all my rations, all my wealth but spare my child...., Accept my prayers, accept my Djizira."

She poured her blood into the fire at night as an offering to the Destroyer goddess.

And, almost at the same moment, a hissing sound and Tau closed her eyes, clutching her son and...the next moment, Sito was gone.

There was a moan followed by a gurgling sound and... it was over.

The fire had flickered and Kedra wanted to scream but his father held him tighter, fur over his mouth.

"Shtt, shut up or he might come back... don't provoke the gods..."

Kedra stretched out her arm and hand, as if to grab her friend, too late.

There was nothing that could be done. Such was the price to pay...to pass the territory of the vulture.

The next morning, no one had really slept that night and Tau said to his son:

Take the heaviest stone you can carry.

It is your burden now to live in the place of your friend. He has gone to join his ancestors and when he is ready, he will go back to the great hunt and start a new cycle.

Kedra pounded on her father's chest.

"How can you say such a thing! No one has come back from the dead to tell you..."

Tau hugged his son tighter than ever.

"That's how you grow up, through hardship!... But your mother... she has a great secret.

She comes from the cursed mountain! And she knows many things, although she has lost her memory and when I found her, she was lying half frozen but she resisted. Your mother is young and stays young, and other mothers get old. It's only a matter of time before she's rejected... I will stay with her but you have to decide. One day you will have to prepare to leave the tribe and found your own or find those who have the mark..like you.."

Kedra: "Isn't that a burn? A scar?

Tau: "No! You have powers within you and you will make an excellent Shaman. It is a mark, this one of the eye of the mountain!..It protects you! but you don't know it and you must make offerings not to provoke the mountain's fury."

Kedra: "So... I'm a monster? Mom too?"

"No, you are my son! I took you out of Roth's belly".

Kedra: "But what proves that? It's a tattoo! Anyone can make a simple tattoo!"

Tau then pulled out of a skin a black, shiny, rectangular object.

"There's a little red eye in the coin and it's blinking. It's all flat like the surface of the water. She had this with her but I don't know what it is. It is ancient and unknown to our tribe.

This is a treasure and you must never show it to anyone!"

The sun was beating down and Tau said that this could be used to send signals by reflecting the sun and you could see yourself in it like a mirror. This was very rare and only the elves and dwarves had reflective mirrors.

As Kedra looked at the object, the red lamp turned green!

"DADDY! DAD! it changed color!"

"Tau: it must be put back in the furry skin, in its case!"

"But. if it ate sunlight, like plants. Plants die without sunlight."

Tau: "How they die when there is too much!"

Unintentionally, the light spread over the whole surface and a symbol of the black mountain appeared.

A face with a uniform appeared: Rose Rothenberger.

But icons and symbols that neither Tau nor Kedra understood appeared.

A notification ding appeared.

"Welcome Private Rothenberger! You have a message from your all powerful Goddess.

You have multiple messages!

You have new mission orders.

If you need help press the Goddess icon.

You are away from your starting area.

A map appeared with the mountain in the center and an inverted triangle showing the position and the mountains, the sun and the north.

Then... "Low battery, please fully recharge the unit. A spare battery and instructions are in your inventory."

Tau and Kedra looked at each other and put the plate back in its case..

Kedra: "Mom is a Destroyer soldier? There are humans in it? Yet all our legends say that they are monsters?

Tau: "Life is full of mysteries but the most important thing is to survive and eat. The gods can wait!"

Kedra: "But... if she doesn't obey??"

Tau: "She was almost dead when I picked her up. She had been attacked by a predator but had to flee before he finished her off. It was not her time and she didn't remember anything and didn't speak the same language as us. I protected her and then took her as my wife and you came into the world.."

The walk was long and the mountains were still far away.

15 days had passed, one of which was devoted to the funeral rites of a hunter. And the Kairn of Sit.

He joined the others, and he probably wouldn't be alone on his long journey.

Tau struck a pose and looked at the sun and the marks on the ground left by previous journeys with him, his father, and his father's father.

"You see, son. When the shadow hits that mark, we'll have to be in position and wait to see the dust or mist.

It's the buffalo herds that are migrating but we have to work now!

Quickly, Tau gestured to the other hunters who were working.

This is where the ropes and stones became important.

In some places, the hunters were divided into groups of 3. It was out of the question to be less because of the wolves who also came, used to the big hunt and the leftovers.

And the wolves were not alone! From the black mountain, howling dragons were hunting in packs. They barked like dogs but were much more formidable than a wolf.

If one hunter with a spear could keep one or two wolves at bay, it took at least three hunters with spears to keep these hellish monsters at bay.

"When you hear HUAH! or GRouah!... you run away! and you hide without making noise and you try to climb.

They jump but can't climb. Beware they can jump several meters on rocks!.

They have terrible jaws but their paws will tear you up even faster. Don't even try to run... they will catch you!

Once they aim at you, you are dead.

This sent a chill down the young boy's spine.

In several places, the hunters stretched ropes and nets and left logs in place on purpose to force the herd to go around the path and along the cliff a little further.

Low stone walls were straightened and repaired to tighten the ropes and put the ancestral barriers back in place.

The night was falling and, meanwhile, at the Cairn, something was found.

He was dressed in skins to protect himself from the cold and was holding an assegai.

He was following the trail of the hunters. But also that of a huge predator, a Smilodon, in other words, a saber-toothed tiger.

With his stick and his excepitional sight: "They shont 19... yesterday they were 20 shhh.."

Then he continued to move forward. Drops of blood marked his path, a wound that slowed him down.

"Cursed Vouivre!"

In the morning, Tau stood on a rock and scanned the horizon. Dust!

"THE GODS ARE WITH US! A GREAT HERD A HUGE HERD!"

"You all know what you have to do.

The nomads hid in holes in the ground and others ready to run with a net and others with the planks to act as a guide and barrier.

And behind them, a steep, almost vertical cliff, whose fall was sure to be fatal.

The buffalo came running, the males in front and the calves in the middle, with the females.

Tau: "NOW!"

And, as if in sync, the males rose to their feet with hides stretched out as scarecrows, shields, but most of all as drums.

As they banged on it, it produced a din that frightened the herd into taking the direction they had chosen for themselves.

The trap was closing.