Tau

Eyl and Erna

The two apes stood on their back legs, surveying the open grassland in front of them.  It was noon and the hot sun beat down, mercilessly from up above.  All other animals sought shade at this time of day, but not the two apes.

With a slightly rolling gait, they made their way through the tall, yellow grass, heading towards a patch of trees, above the blue, shimmering lake.  Sweat ran down their backs and evaporated, to cool them.  In the hot, dry savannah the loss of water was costly, but the lake ahead would more than make up for the sweat they lost.

The two apes, too, knew that other animals needed the water of the lake to survive.  It was then that they spotted a herd of impala, laying in the patchy shade of the trees.

The female pointed her finger at the antelopes and then made a chopping, horizontal signal with her hand held flat.  The male knew exactly what she meant.

Running and howling, the two dark-skinned, almost hairless apes, began running directly towards the impala.

The antelopes pricked up their ears and then took off at speed.  The shambling pair of apes looked clumsy and awkward in comparison to the fleet-footed impala, who bounded, headlong, towards the blue of the lake.  Still, the two apes howled and shambled after the antelopes, raising their hooting howls to a crescendo of noise.

The impala fled, startled, and, too late, realised their mistake.  Bounding clear of the open grassland, they came to rocky ground and the edge of a volcanic ridge.  The lead antelopes began to slow, but the herd behind them ploughed straight on.  Most of the impala veered away to the left, almost flowing like water, but three younger, inexperienced, antelopes tripped on the rocky ground, rolled... and tumbled over the edge of the black, cracked, basalt cliffs.  In a split second the three young impala hit the sharp rocks below and that was the last thing they felt.

On top of the cliff, above the blue lake, the two apes stopped howling and slowed to a shambling walk.  The herd of antelope disappeared into the yellow sea of waving grass.

Ahead of the apes was a rough trail, leading off to their right.  They had travelled the trail many times, as had other animals seeking a safe way to reach the waters of the blue lake, way down below.  The trail wended its way down and switched, back and forth, down the ridge of volcanic rock.  Shattered pieces of the cliff face lay all around.  The two apes picked up large pieces of rock and held them in their dextrous hands, as they made their way left, cutting across the broken cliff face.

Ungainly, and awkward, the apes moved, and looked off to their left once again.  They saw the dark shapes of swooping vultures and knew they now had to move quicker.  The two apes picked up their pace and finally reached their destination.

Below them lay the three dead impala.  Several vultures had already landed and had begun to pull the small antelope apart.  From up above the vultures, the two apes began throwing the large, sharp rocks towards the scavenging birds.  Occasionally they hit their targets.

The vultures flapped away, as the rocks rained down on them.  Howling and hooting with success, the two apes clambered over the rough rocks and came to the carcass of the first antelope.  Blood and torn skin revealed the flesh beneath.

 The male ape picked up a sharp, shattered piece of obsidian and set to work on the fallen impala.  As the male worked on the antelope, the female stood tall on her legs, watching for any approaching scavengers.

She peered, intently, towards the shimmering blue haze of the lake and frowned.  Below, and approaching slowly, was another ape.  The female reached her hand across to the male and tapped twice on his shoulder.  He looked up and the female pointed towards the approaching ape.  It looked big, but moved in a strange way.  The female picked up a jagged stone, ready to defend the fallen antelope from the approaching stranger.

The strange ape came closer, but still moved slowly.  Strange looking fur covered its upper body, legs and feet.  The two apes thought they knew what it was for a moment, but were confused, as it was the middle of the day, and what they thought it was only came, to feed, in the dark of night.

The strange ape raised its hands, palms held flat.  The male and female ape took that as a good sign.  The lips of the strange ape pulled back, to show its teeth.  The teeth were small.  That was also a good sign.

The strange ape then squatted down on the ground, in a submissive gesture.  From its back it pulled something that the apes had never seen before.  From the strange object the stranger pulled small twigs and larger pieces of wood.

The two apes looked on, curious, as the stranger placed dried moss and fungus in amongst the twigs.  A small stone then appeared in the stranger's hand, along with a shining silver coloured object.  The stranger struck the stone against the silver object and small, orange sparks flew into the moss and dried fungus.  One of the sparks caught and the moss smouldered.  The stranger blew gently and a small flame began to grow.

The two apes smelt the fire and a flicker of fear showed on their faces, but the stranger still crouched, unperturbed, close to the fire.  The two apes weren't about to give up the downed impala and wanted to maintain dominance over the strange ape before them.  So they held their ground and stood tall.  The strange ape raised his hands, with palms facing out and smiled again.

The male and female apes dropped the stones in their hands and approached the stranger and the small fire.  Their curiosity had won out over their suspicion.  It was then that the stranger pointed towards the fallen antelope and signalled to the male ape to drag it towards the fire.

The male ape ambled across to the carcass of the impala, then pulled it across the rocks and towards the crackling fire.

The stranger smiled, reassuringly, and added more pieces of wood to the growing flames.  He arranged large, flat stones around the burning wood and signalled the male ape to lay the small antelope on one of the flat stones.

The impala was soon in place, with a side of bared flesh close to the rising flames.  Red blood first turned brown and fat in the flesh of the antelope began to boil.

Sniffing the air, the two apes smelt the beautiful aroma of molten fat.  It was as if the impala had been changed into something magical, that rode upon the air and filled their senses.  Their mouths began to water in anticipation of food.

The male ape dragged the impala carcass away from the flames.  He was still curious, but also cautious.  He sniffed at the hot flesh and could feel the heat against his lips and face.

The strange ape made a sign and began to blow air from his mouth.  The male ape mimicked the stranger, and blew onto the hot impala meat.  Slowly, the male moved his finger towards the warm meat, pushed his finger into it and drew his finger to his lips.  When tongue touched finger, an explosion of taste raced through the male ape's senses.  He smiled and let out a hoot of pure pleasure.

One more time, the male ape pushed his finger into the partially cooked meat.  He raised his finger towards the female ape's mouth and she tasted the warm fat and flesh.  She, too, smiled and hooted with pleasure.

It was then that the strange ape, who was the Djara, Kirad Nirgalen, pointed to the flickering flames, to the antelope, and then to himself, and spoke:

'Fire and food... maketh the man.'

He then pointed to himself, the male ape and the female ape and spoke three more words:

'Tau... Eyl... Erna.'