The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 06: Feather Hunters

They also brought four children, which Long Spear was happy to accept.  Their parents had been killed, and the tradition was to trade orphaned children to other tribes, thus lessening the burden on the tribe which had just lost some valuable adults.  It did not happen all that often, for when a man died, his wives went to other men in the tribe, and their children went with them, and when a woman died, her fellow wives raised her children.

Sometimes, when the women did not get along with each other, or when a man died and some of the children his women were caring for were the children of a woman who had died, they were traded off to another tribe when an opportunity presented itself.

Long Spear had lost most of its children to a sickness, the winter before, and the Antelope tribe had an abundance.  With eighteen men and forty-one women, Long Spear was strong enough to defend itself, but not so strong it was difficult to gather food.  They had only nine children left, after the last winter.

The two boys were adopted into families without any fuss.  They would be raised to become full members of the tribe, eligible to fight for and to marry any woman who would have them.

The two girls were also adopted with choice rights, just as if they had been born into the tribe.  When a woman was taken in a raid on another tribe, she was property, owned by whatever warrior claimed her.  If none claimed her, she was free to attach herself to whomever would take her.

When a girl not yet childbearing age was taken in a raid, she was adopted, but without choice rights.  It meant that when she reached childbearing age, she was assigned to one of the warriors to be his lowest wife.  

Girls with choice rights could choose whom to marry.  All girls born into the tribe had choice rights, and now Fern and Willow had choice rights, too.  Fern was still young, but Willow would soon be old enough to marry.  A girl with choice rights almost always chose a warrior who did not have any wives, yet, so she could be senior wife.

“What do you think of the new littles?” said Camel.

Little Bear’s mind had been dwelling on Willow, even as he had been watching the grass for signs of the Tiger.  She wasn’t old enough to take a husband yet, but he had spoken with her a few times, and he liked her.  

Little Bear and Tiger would turn sixteen before the snows came.  At that time, they would be eligible to take wives, and they would also become full warriors in the tribe.  Camel could not for another year.  

Little Bear opened his mouth to say something, and Tiger said, “I’m going to marry Willow.”

Camel looked between the other two boys with a quick smile, and said, “I think Willow gets to choose.”

Tiger seemed to swell, then he said, “She is going to choose me, because I will kill anyone else she wants to choose.”

Little Bear said, “Why do you want Willow?  There are other girls.”

“Not many, and she is the prettiest.”

Before Little Bear could respond to that, he spotted motion in the grass tops.  “Ssst.” he whispered, and all watched.

The grass tops rippled in the direction of the lake, and the boys could see why.  

Down at the lake, a family group of tapir were approaching the water.   Movements of the grass tops in two places told the boys that a pair of tigers were stalking them. 

In five more minutes, the quiet was shattered, as both tigers leapt out at once, roaring.  

The tapir adults wheeled instantly and galloped off, but the young were a little slow in getting off the mark.  The two tigers each brought down a young tapir shy of the long grass beyond the lake.  After a few seconds of struggle, the tigers were lying on their sides, holding the throats of their weakly struggling prey.  The adult tapir had gone.

Once the tigers had brought down their prey, the boys shifted their focus to the real purpose of the visit.

The camel had galloped off when the sabertooths appeared.  The mastodons had bunched together in a circle, with their young in the middle.  Overhead, with loud cries, a group of ungainly objects were circling.  They had been on the far side of the lake, not far from where the tapir were caught.  They came down again, this time on the near side of the lake, not fifty yards from the grass.

Without a word, the boys marked their position, checked the tigers again, and began to climb down.  The tigers were going to be very busy with their meal for some hours, and they had more than enough food, but none of the boys wanted to tempt a sabertooth.  Tiger made a half-hearted move as if to attack his namesake, but did not object when the others hissed at him and pushed him away.

At the edge of the grass, they could see the objects which had landed.  The males were once again displaying their absurdly large tails for the females, who appeared to be selecting.  Each of the boys knew those feathers would make the gaudiest clothing any warrior ever had.  They were also sure the eating would be wonderful.

About to leave the long grass and begin their approach, they stopped when Camel hissed, and pointed at the sky.

An object was blazing across the sky above them, leaving a long trail of fire behind it.  They watched as it passed silently above them, then appeared to slow, before it passed out of sight near the end of their valley.  It stopped, then slowly descended, as a hissing roar sounded above them, loud enough to shake the ground.  It moved behind the first fiery monster, but they could not see it.  

The boys were in shock, for never had they heard of such a sight.  They had been told tales, however, by Raccoon and others, about dragons that shot fire from the skies, and the gods which made the ground shake with their voices, and terrible monsters and demons.  Clearly, this was some such thing.

It was not until the sound of thudding pads became distinct that any of them looked around.  When they did, they instantly scattered into the grass.

The mastodon were disappearing into the jungle at a full gallop, but the sabertooth tigers had abandoned their kills, and were also running to their refuge.  The boys had been standing directly in their path.

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