The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 35: The Mammoth

If they attacked just the bull, however, they hoped that the cow would herd her youngster away.  Even if they killed the bull, they would expect the smaller female to protect her offspring instead of throw her life away (and that of her offspring) fighting something that could kill her mate.

They started out by spreading out in front of the family group, and shouting and waving their spears.

After raising their trunks and stamping their feet, the female began ushering the young mammoth away from the hunters, while the male began waving his tusks at them in a defensive display.

Cave Bear held the mammoth killer Little Bear had made.  He and Little Bear had talked through what to do with it, when the time came.

Little Bear was at the far end of the arc of hunters, with his throwing stick.

As the female began herding the young one away from the clearing, Little Bear ran along, downwind, doing his best in the snow to keep them in range.

When the female had gotten her youngster far enough that she judged it was safe, she turned and began running back in the direction of the clearing.

As soon as she did that, Little Bear flung his spear.  It was a good throw, and his spear stuck into the thigh of the young mammoth.  Little Bear hid behind a tree trunk before the spear struck.

The calf squealed, and the mother turned around and charged back.  Little Bear stayed on the other side of the tree from her, but he could hear her making anxious sounds over her offspring.

Little Bear began moving quietly back, until he could just see the pair, and crouched very still.  Several times, the cow moved toward the clearing with the hunters, but never again did she get far from her calf.  After a few minutes, she began moving it farther away.

Little Bear wondered how it was going for the others.  He moved back to the clearing.

The hunters had surrounded the large bull.  When he charged at them, they placed the butts of their spears on the ground, and held the rest at knee height.  Before he could strike them, the spears pricked very painfully into his legs.

If he tried to swing his trunk down, whoever was in front of him dropped his spear and dove out of the way, but the two on either side jabbed at his trunk with their spears, making him squeal and back up.

Raccoon and Tiger stayed behind him, and when he tried to back up, he got pinked in the thighs.

Cave Bear kept dancing around in front of the bull, until finally, the frustration got to him.

The bull reared all the way up.  Whether to charge or try to escape, they would never know, because this was the moment for which they had waited.

In back, Raccoon and Tiger braced their spears on the ground, their points touching the thighs but not penetrating.

In front, only Cave Bear ran in.  He dragged the mammoth killer, twice as long as a man was tall, and as thick as his arm.  He braced it on the ground against the chest of the mammoth.

The mammoth reared up even higher, trying to get off the spear point.

Cave Bear slid the bottom of the massive pike in farther, and shouted, "Now!"

All the rest of the hunters braced their spears against the ground, the points against the mammoths belly or legs.  Their goal was not to kill it, but to keep it from maneuvering away from the pike.

The mammoth tried to shift back, then one way, then another.  It was standing all the way up, its massive weight upon only its hind legs, and any way it moved, it would be skewered.

It stood there for what felt to Little Bear like an eternity.  Little Bear moved closer, the only hunter not directly engaged with the animal.  Its legs were starting to tremble.

The mammoth looked at Little Bear, and held his eye.  Little Bear recognized something savage, but also familiar, in the creatures gaze.  There was no appeal in the look, and no friendliness.  Little Bear felt his heart swelling with pity at this magnificent animal, but his family had to eat.

A few more moments more, and the mammoth had enough.  It could have saved itself, possibly, by forcing itself to the side, taking a spear thrust, and galloping off through the forest, before they could inflict a fatal wound.  But that was more than it could conceive.

The mammoth looked down at Cave Bear, who was still standing directly under its front feet, holding the massive pike in place.

After standing still for several minutes, the mammoth moved swiftly.  It lunged down onto the pike, reaching for its principal tormenter.

Cave Bear was watching for the motion, and leaped back as far as he could, avoiding the swinging trunk that slammed into the ground where he had stood.

With twelve feet of pike through its body, the bull screamed in agony, and made one more leap.  Bounding impossibly forward on its already-exhausted hind legs, the bull brought its massive head and tusks fully down onto Cave Bear.

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