Chapter 23 - The Cave of the Gray Stone People part 3

It seemed I no sooner shut my eyes and Brulde was rousing me. I came awake with a jerk, reaching for my spear as I lurched upright. "It is dawn," Brulde said, putting a hand on my arm to restrain me. "All is well." Eyya was awake already, cooking some meat over the low flames of the campfire, her eyes heavy, her hair a fetching disarray. Strom and Hyde huddled next to the fire beside her, bleary-eyed and shivering. The rain had slackened but the gray morn was drenched and dripping. I gave silent thanks to my ancestors that the night had passed without incident, that we were all safe and sound.

"I need to piss," I mumbled to Brulde.

"Me, too."

He accompanied me outside the shelter. The forest around us was ghost-like with fog. We stood shoulder to shoulder beside the lean-to and voided our bladders.

"The Fat Hands saw our fire last night," Brulde said as he urinated. "One of them left the group and is headed in our direction." He nodded south.

I followed his nod and saw the tiny black form of an approaching Neanderthal. He was only just visible in the fog, but he had already covered about half the distance between his group and the small mountain we had sheltered upon. "That's good," I said. "We'll meet him halfway. Maybe we can make it back home before nightfall."

We returned to the shelter and told the others what we had seen. The prospect of an abbreviated missioned cheered them greatly. I was much relieved myself. I did not relish the thought of spending another night out in the wild. There were things out here in the wild. Unknown things. I had seen one of them with my own eyes.

"I wonder who it is?" Eyya said, but she did not rise to go look. Her people's visual acuity was nowhere near as sharp as ours. Instead, she fed us. There was not a lot of meat to eat but it was hot and tasty and the cook was much more cheerful now, which is always good seasoning. She even giggled as Brulde licked his fingers clean, leering at her roguishly. We were all in a much better mood. Hyde and Strom entertained us with a humorous hunting story. I laughed and told them one of ours. We broke camp shortly after dining and headed down the slope of the mountain to meet the envoy the Fat Hands had sent.

The region on the other side of the mountain was a wide flat plain dotted with low shrubs and wind-stunted trees. It rained intermittently as we crossed the featureless steppe, a heavy but windless rain that fell straight down, drumming on our heads and shoulders like fleshy fingers. The Fat Hand drew steadily nearer as we slogged through the puddles and storm-heeled grass. The dense precipitation prevented us from discerning the identity of the approaching figure. As we drew closer, the Neanderthal began to jog, and we picked up our pace. The Fat Hand's features swam out of the haze. We were surprised to find that it was Eyya's brother, Poi-lot.

"Hoy! Poi-lot!" I hailed him, and Eyya jerked to attention. A look of relief broke across her features like sunshine through heavy clouds. I grinned and waved but the soaked Neanderthal did not smile back.

We stopped about ten yards apart. Eyya moved forward to embrace her brother, but he backed quickly away from her. He threw up his hands as he retreated, motioning for her to keep her distance. "Stay, little sister," he said, his face pinched. "Come no closer!"

The normally boisterous Fat Hand looked fretful and haggard. His face was jaundiced and heavily lined, his eyes deeply socketed, his jutting brow furrowed. It had only been a month since we'd seen him last, but he looked as if he had aged ten years. His hair hung in wet tendrils. His shoulders slumped. He looked diminished, and to see a Fat Hand looking small and vulnerable was more than disturbing. It was frightening.

"What has happened, Poi-lot?" I asked. "Why are your people fleeing south? Why have you forsaken our valley?"

He did not speak for a moment, just stood there, wet and steaming. I thought that he was embarrassed, that he was too ashamed to tell us why they were running away from home, but then I saw him peeking over our heads – he kept looking to the wooded mountains to the north of us, his eyes bright with anxiety—and I realized he was not ashamed. He was frightened. He was afraid of something in the hills.

He licked his lips, still looking toward the mountains, and said, "Darkness has befallen our valley. You might be safe-- your people might escape-- if you run home and warn them now. If you follow us into exile. If not…" He finally met my eyes. I had seen a gaze like that before. It was the eyes of a rabbit caught in a snare.

"But what is it?" I asked. "What has happened?"

Poi-lot fetched a sigh. "A great evil preys upon the Gray Stone People," he said. "Our land has become the habitation of devils."

Thunder boomed distantly. The wet plains stretched around us, void and desolate.

"A great evil...?" I said.

"Demons came in the night to feed upon our people. Our shaman tried to appease them with offerings, but they took our offerings and then they took the shaman. None of Tuhl's magic had any power over them."

"Were they like the creature that stalked our camp?" I asked. "Were they like the Lizard Man?"

"Yes. It is that devil, but there are others."

"How many more?"

Poi-lot shrugged. "I have only seen the two, but they are strong and fast. They bite the necks of their prey and suck out the blood, then leave the bodies hanging from the trees to mock us."

"Father?" Eyya asked. "Our brothers and sisters...?" She wanted to approach him, give him some comfort, but held herself at a distance.

Poi-lot smiled bitterly. "Mother lives. She fled with us. She is exhausted and half-mad with grief, but she is alive. Father is dead by now, I'm sure. He stayed behind with a few others to insure our escape. Our brother Litch stayed to fight with father. The rest of our siblings are gone, stolen away in the night."

"Who cursed you? What did your people do?" Hyde demanded. Fear had made him rude.

Poi-lot looked at him and shook his head. "I do not know, Fast Foot. We killed an old cave bear many moons ago. Maybe Doomhalde is punishing us for killing his avatar." Doomhalde was the name of his peoples' bear deity. "An old cave bear took one of our little ones in the spring so we tracked it to its lair and killed it. But Doomhalde has never punished us for killing His people before."

We shuffled our feet, looking to the wooded mountains. His paranoia was infectious.

"We were many just one moon cycle ago, but now we are only thirteen," Poi-lot went on. "We are all that escaped. We are going to stay with the Yellow Stone People in the south, if they will have us. They are our kinsmen. They will take us in. It is many days journey from Gray Stone. We will be safe there, I think." Poi-lot dropped his gaze. He didn't seem too certain of that last part. He looked up at me earnestly. "Your people should come, too. The Yellow Stone People are friendly to your kind, and their land is plentiful. I believe your people would be welcome there."

"Thank you, Poi-lot," I said. "I don't think our elders will want to go so far away, but we have other campsites in the valley. Some are quite far from your hunting grounds. We normally move before winter anyway."

Poi-lot nodded. "Perhaps that will be enough."

He looked worried for us nonetheless.

"Return to your village quickly," he said then. "You should not be out here when night comes again... not with so few of you to fight." He looked at his sister intensely, committing her face to his memory, and then he turned and jogged away. He faltered, turned back to us one more time. "Come south if the devils come for you next," he called. "Do not try to fight them or appease them with sacrifice. It will do no good."

The five of us exchanged uneasy looks. We watched Poi-lot until he vanished behind a low hill, then turned and headed home.

"Do you think it is true?" Strom murmured as we sloshed northward.

"Why would he lie?" I asked.

"I didn't mean to imply he was lying. Only that, you know, Fat Hands are… superstitious." He glanced at Eyya, then gazed off to the broad green humps of the mountains.

"I was in the party that searched for those Fat Hands," Hyde said. "The creature that stalked us was no imaginary devil." He shuddered. "We should hurry."

Eyya cried quietly for a while as we traveled but she didn't slow our pace. We returned to Big River Camp just before nightfall. As soon as we arrived, all five of us went to the Siede and delivered Poi-lot's fearsome tale. Father called immediately for a summit to discuss the situation. By the end of the meeting, we had made our plans. We would decamp for our westernmost hunting grounds the next morning, just to be safe.

We also decided-- foolishly, in retrospect-- to send a party of warriors to the cave of the Gray Stone People.

I was one of the volunteers.