Chapter 28

I woke up to a throbbing ghost pain in my leg and a face drenched in tears and sweat. I laid there for a moment, my breath fast and my heart pounding rapidly. It’d been a long while since I’d had a vision… or dream, memory- whatever it was. They, the visions, truly helped me when I first arrived in this world. Not only because they were knowledgeable, but it was as if I was truly there. Every animal I skinned, every track that I traced to prey, every event that happened throughout “Pino’s” life, I felt like I’d physically been there.

As I slowly progressed in this new life, the visions came less and less often. At this point I’d thought they would’ve stopped coming but… guess not. This last vision held only pain, regret, sadness and a plethora of other emotions that I can’t even begin to unravel. However… at the same time I feel refreshed, liberated, as if a great burden has been lifted from my chest and I can finally breathe a lot easier.

Taking a few deep breaths I calmed my raging heart and reeled in my rampant emotions. I closed my eyes to let the cool wind caress my skin-

“Fuck!” I muttered as I scrambled from under the lean to. I crawled over to the fire, that’d all but died, and began to blow on it. Slowly the embers burned brighter and I added more and more kindling until the flame had regained its strength.

Usually throughout the night I’d wake up to tend to the fire. Almost like a sleeping habit, my body would naturally wake up every few hours to keep the flame strong. I’m assuming that due to the dream I overslept.

Once the initial excitement of keeping the fire alive died down, I sat back and watched the fire dance for a while. The sun will rise soon, so I’d rather not go back to sleep and end up more tired than I am now. Instead I took out my spears and made sure they were sharp. Then I grabbed the sacks and made sure they were still secure and-

As I picked up a sack, its contents spilled out onto the ground.

“What the hell?” I wondered aloud as I began to inspect the bag, grumbling all the while about rodents and structural integrity. Feeling along the bottom of the sack for any openings or tears, my hand completely slipped into the bag.

My heart leaped into my throat as I grabbed the spear and got into a defensive position. Originally I thought that a small animal had nibbled into the bag and made a hole that’d slowly widened, but that was a slash. A clean cut, one that no animal could possibly make, the only possibility was…

“Attila!” I yelled, startling him from his sleep. “Get up!” I roared.

Noticing the intensity in my voice, he rolled from his resting spot, grabbing a spear mid movement. As soon as he was free from the shelter, he leaped up and went back to back with me.

“What’s happening?” He asked, trying to stay calm.

“I don’t know, there were people here.” I responded.

This, for some reason, seemed to calm him down as he dropped his arms and let the spear hang at his side.

I gave him an inquisitive glance, while trying to remain vigilant, to which he responded, “If they wanted to kill us, we would’ve died in our sleep. The fact that they only looked through our stuff means they have no ill will.” He concluded.

I was taken aback, and just stared at him as he searched the supplies to see what the robbers had taken. Moments like this reminded me that the Pino of old truly didn’t know everything, and neither did I.

My thoughts were cut short by Attila saying, “They’ve taken almost all of the food!” in a dazed manner.

“What?!” I yelled as I sprinted to the ruined sack and began to sift through the jumbled items in a panic. We need those supplies, there’s no time to hunt, and smoke more meat. If we don’t get these supplies back.. There’s a good chance we starve.

My eyes began to scour the surrounding area, looking for something.. ANYTHING! Soon, I hit the jackpot, a muddy footprint. Sprinting over to it, my mind began to churn. The size of the footprint indicated how tall the person was, the depth, how much they weighed, how defined the print was gave an implication of how fast they were moving. Finally, and most importantly, the direction of the toes told us in what direction they were headed.

I dug my hand into the print, the mud was still wet and soft at the top, the trail was still hot. This realisation allowed me to finally calm down. If the top layer of the print had been dry and crusted mud, then the assailant could’ve been long gone. Our efforts would be better used finding more food, rather than going on a goose chase. However, now that I know the trail is still hot, recovering the lost supplies shouldn’t be too hard.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Attila, come over here.” I called over my shoulder.

Attila, who’d been reorganising the supplies and cramming the things from the ruined sack into the other ones trouted over.

“What do you see?” I asked him, testing his knowledge of tracking. He looked at the print, looked around the surrounding area, then finally dug his hand into the footprint. His eyes lit up as he said, “Appears to be one person, likely a man by the shape and size of the foot. Around 1.5 meters but he could be taller, can’t weigh too much because the print is rather light if you account for the added weight of the things he stole. He definitely left in a hurry, you can tell because the print is heavier at the heel and becomes lighter towards the toes. Most importantly this trail is still fresh, he couldn't have left more than 30 mih-nuts ago.” He analysed matters of factly.

At first I was stunned, but recovering I began to offer praise, just to be cut off by, “Oh! He’s also headed North.” a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

I struggled for words, stuck between being proud, shocked in a good way, and wanting to wipe the smug expression off of his face.

“Not too bad, but it took you too long to figure all of that out. During a hunt every second counts.” I said while quickly scaling a nearby tree. “Now throw me those sacks.”

After securing our equipment in an area where I was sure no curious animals… or people would snoop through, we began to follow the trail. Whoever had stolen from us was a through and through amateur. They left a wide array of traces to follow. Small pieces of clothing snagged by sharp branches, footprints, small sprinkles of blood on a thorn. A real hunter knows how to properly cover their tracks, but he, whoever he was, ended up leading us directly to a small clearing about two hours North from where we camped.

In the middle of the clearing were three tents that surrounded a large pit fire. Two women wove baskets out of long grass while also watching the children play. The younger kids played, while those who were a bit older watched the women weave baskets and tried to learn from them.

There was the distinct smell of cooked meat wafting lazily through the air, a tell-tale sign that some of our supplies had already been consumed. I briefly considered simply bursting into the clearing and demanding everything we were owed, but the rational, more modern side of myself disagreed.

We didn’t yet know their strength, thus far I’d seen mostly women and children. Even the older kids were mostly girls, the younger ones having a few boys dotted in. Until I knew exactly how many men were in this tribe, I wouldn’t make a move. Instead we spent our time circling the clearing. Checking the surroundings for traps, counting the people, and waiting for any men to show themselves. As night began to fall, I finally had a general idea about the people here.

They appeared to be a fledgling tribe, with ten children, eight of which were female while the other two were male. Then there were five young adults, three were female and two were male. Finally there were three adults, two women and a man that for some reason hadn’t left the tent all day. All in all, if not considering women when speaking of fighting power, the odds were 3 to 2. As long as we used some guile, it wouldn’t be impossible to regain what was lost.

As night began to take hold on the surroundings, and the sun sunk deeper and deeper into the horizon, it was time to make a choice.

Do I try to steal the food back? Do I fight this tribe for what I lost plus interest? Or, the most logical option, do I leave these guys alone and take the loss…

Coming to my final decision, I let loose a flurry of hand signals, cuing Attila into the actions we’d take. Our mahogany skin and dark hides made us all but invisible as we silently slunk through the duff and tall grass into the clearing. Visibility was all but neigh, the only thing stopping us from losing direction being the flame that shone like a beacon in the middle of the tents. Stopping behind the tent on the farthest right, we continued to observe the enemy tribe.

Due to the fact it was night, the entire tribe had gathered around the fire to have a meal and sing and dance together before bed.

The smell of meat glazed the air with a fatty smell, as the two women sang. Their voices bouncing up and down, occasionally harmonising, as they wove a beautiful tale of the heavens kissing the earth, creating all that we now know. The children and teens danced around the fire, hand in hand. One of the more daring boys even jumped directly over the fire, causing a loud cry of appreciation to erupt from the other guys.

The night wore on with more songs and dance, until eventually some of the kids began to nod off and head to one of the tents. As if dominos were falling, one by one all the other children began to head to sleep as well.

I looked at Attila, our eyes met and silently we came to the understanding: Now.

We blitzed from behind the cover of the uninhabited tent and rushed to the two oldest boys. I grabbed one from behind, twisting his arm behind his back, which caused a yelp of pain to escape his lips. His shout startled everyone there as their heads snapped towards him. Their minds not being able to catch up quickly enough to what was happening, they stared at me, stunned. I took the opportunity to direct my bantila dagger to the boy's neck and said, “Nobody move, or I’ll kill him.”

Attila wasn’t far behind me, he had the point of his spear pressed into the back of the other lad. The air completely froze over, no one daring to move or break the silence. My adrenaline rushing, I began to speak, “You have stolen from us Tesr’ we demand that you return all that you’ve stolen!”

“And more!” Attila barked angrily.

None of the surrounding people dared to speak, the children who were still awake were frozen in shock, the boys we held hostage seemed to be holding their breath, and the women seemed too scared to form proper sentences.

I decided to push on with my tough act, “WHO STOLE OUR FOOD!” I roared.

As if it was previously choreographed, everyone looked towards the boy who was being held at spear point by Attila. “So it was you.” Attila growled.

“What’s your name?” I asked the boy

He, almost on the verge of tears, said, “D- d-d-d De-lah.”

“What?” I asked

“De-lah.” He affirmed his eyes beginning to leak.