Death-White (Caveman Chronicles)

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“The best vantage point is just over this rise,” said Kpleeb. His knuckle pointed ahead of the small, floating platform that Thoka sat on. The hillside sloped upward ahead of them and ended in a blue-grey sky. They were in the cool shadow now, but soon would be blinded by the sun shining over the ridge. “We’ll need to stop soon and walk the rest of the way so that we don’t make a silhouette that will be seen from the other side.”

He looked behind him. The slope was dotted with evergreen trees in a sparsely, random pattern. Halfway down the slope, at least a double-stone’s thrown downward and outward was a meadow with spritely, green grass. The landscape in every direction was covered with stones of many sizes – from fist sized up to those that rivaled the five-legged beast that Thoka had once told him about. She had only seen a herd of them as a cavechild, but had described them as being absolutely enormous.

The platform slowed and stopped next to a tree, and Kpleeb retrieved the loop of woven rope that would help Thoka climb back onto its flat surface when they were ready to leave. The platform sunk slowly to rest close to the ground. The Xinti warriors nearby eyed the contraption warily. Kpleeb had thought that by now – nearly ten days after they had defected to Thoka’s tribe – the warriors would be familiar with Thoka’s ‘magic.’

Thoka smiled down at him and held out her hand. “I am too big to be jumping down from here – or jumping at all for that matter.”

Kpleeb took her hand and helped her awkwardly from the platform. “You should not be taking these kinds of trips in your condition,” he said with a slight grin to show her that he was only partially joking.

“The Wet Mountain cavewomen are not so weak, Kpleeb.” She was grinning back at him and also had a hand on her lower back. “Never mind that I have to brace my back against the little one. She is so heavy! I don’t remember my ma saying how much one weighs.”

Kpleeb shrugged. They had entered into awkward conversation territory that made him feel unsure of himself. “Urh… well, she will come soon as you say. I think that her arrival will help you move around and make your life easier.”

Thoka put her head back and burst out with a barking laugh. “Oh, Kpleeb. You are funny!” She wiped a tear from her eye and shrugged as she looked at the hill. With a gesture upward she said, “Time to take a look at this Uuiit person, don’t you think?”

Kpleeb was not sure what was so funny. Why would having the baby, ridding oneself of the obvious discomfort, and finally being un-pregnant be a reduction in chores? It just made no sense to him, but the change in subject was welcome either way. He was smart enough to know when to shut up.

They walked. Behind them and on either side, a dozen of the warriors encircled them. They seem to take Thoka’s care seriously, but Kpleeb had not yet been told why. The fact that a whole band of pale warriors had shown up a mere day after Thoka had single-handedly clobbered them in battle surprised him. Seeing the pale warrior wives and children, none of them painted as violent and vicious warriors made no sense to him either. How could a culture of bloodthirsty demons even have wives and children? Was there any capability of tenderness within them?

Kpleeb watched them stride up the hill on the balls of their feet like a cat that could almost hover over the sharp rocks, stickers, and debris that covered the terrain. They stalked like lions and were as silent as butterflies. They never smiled and rarely talked. How can these people have a family of anything but little, white-painted sociopaths? Maybe the rest of them as just as deranged as these. Kpleeb resolved in his mind to watch the families closely from here on out. After all, there was no sense in trusting them too much.

Thoka did not seem perturbed by them at all. In fact, she was herself in every way. Except, somehow, she was more confident than before. Kpleeb remembered the Thoka he had first met. She was imprisoned, but she was bright-eyed and smart. She knew her own worth then, but now she seemed even more sure. He was not sure what had changed.

“Watch it, Kpleeb,” Thoka said, putting a hand on his shoulder. There was a large gap in the stone in front of them.

Kpleeb could see a deep sliver of black, and when he looked down there were tree tops visible in the distance. “Thanks. This ridge must be more pronounced than I thought.” He turned. “Xer, can you point out Uuiit’s camp? Be careful though. We don’t want them to see us.”

Xer nodded and peered into the distance while walking forward slowly. He scanned and then lifted his arm. “Uuiit,” he said with a nod in the direction his arm jutted.

Thoka and Kpleeb both moved forward. The drop off was steep, and below them treetops stood silent and unmoving. The morning was breezy at the top where they stood. The spot that Xer pointed at was some distance away. Kpleeb did not have a word for it, except maybe to estimate the time it would take to travel there on foot.

“A day’s walk?”

Xer looked at him and angled his head the way Xinti do. “Half sun-cycle.”

Show off, thought Kpleeb. The Xinti were fast and appeared to be almost tireless. If Kpleeb were less of a suave and significant caveman, he might have felta bit overwhelmed by the Xinti prowess and athleticism. He looked again into the distance.

The village small and hazy, but it seemed to be uniform. Someone down there must be persnickety about their organization. In the age of caveman and their ilk, organization and the associated virtues of planning, structure, and unified design were highly unusual. In fact, Kpleeb only understood organization in terms of what must be done in which order so that a complex thing might be assembled. Order was special and when he had spent time thinking about the nature of it, he had realized that symmetry and structure were an indication of a high intelligence.

Kpleeb had never been the sharpest bone on the pile, or the smoothest feral hog in the passel. He had been average back in the canyon river tribe, and even with Thoka, he knew that she was far more intelligent than he was. Despite this knowing, this understanding of his place in the hierarchy of cavemen and cavewomen, he recognized his own intelligence. He knew that his stature was different and higher than the average caveman. In fact, if pressed, Kpleeb would admit that he was probably the smartest caveman alive.

The smartest caveman alive looked down into the jungle clearing and knew with every fiber of his being that the caveperson, or whatever this entity was, that had designed the village was highly intelligent. It made him momentarily take stock of his own mental abilities.

“Well now. We have something different here, don’t we Thoka?” Kpleeb squinted and muttered. “Why couldn’t the gods make my eyes better too?”

“That’s easy,” said Thoka. She stood close, just in front of him and lifted her hand.”

She smells nice, Kpleeb thought with a sense of satisfaction before he was distracted by the air swirling before him. It was as if he saw through a shimmering haze the way the rocks appeared at times on the tundra’s hottest days. The light bent at odd angles, and then flowed towards them. The perspective made him dizzy for a moment as the distant view rushed inward and paused, hovering before his amazed eyeballs. He felt Thoka’s hand on his left quad stabilizing him as if she understood how it must feel to see this rushing torrent of a view explode in front of one’s eyes.

The narrowed and greatly magnified view shook slightly as Thoka adjusted her arm. “Easy, just like I said, huh?”

Kpleeb was taken aback by the utility of this…. thing that Thoka did with her hand. “Is this the invisible forces?” His mind whirled with the possibilities.

“It is. You saw what I can do. This is just the beginning, Kpleeb.”

“Well, it looks like I am on the right side. Remind me not to anger you!” Kpleeb grinned at the back of Thoka’s head.

“I’m your queen, Kpleeb.” Thoka turned and smiled sweetly at him. “But, yes, you should not anger me.” She stopped and nudged her chin at a small group of the Xinti warriors standing nearby. “Xap, come look at this village.”

“I see village,” Xap said with a nod toward the valley. He was a lanky and somewhat swarthy caveman with high cheekbones and even higher eyebrows.

“Xap, come see it closely,” Thoka said. “Stand here.” She nudged Kpleeb aside and pointed to the spot behind her.

Kpleeb glared slightly (and ineffectively) at Xap’s immovable features, but Xap dutifully walked toward Thoka. As soon as he stopped moving, Thoka raised her hand again. Kpleeb saw a shimmering oval appear about a pace ahead of Thoka and then rush toward her. Xap stepped backward quickly. It was just one small step, yet it was one the largest demonstrations of surprise that Kpleeb had seen from any pale warrior.

“The village, close now,” Xap said gruffly, and he bent at the waist and attempted to peer around the edges of Thoka’s swirly air-window.

Xap did not appear to be as ruffled as Kpleeb had felt moments ago, and Kpleeb bristled momentarily before realizing the truth. Well, at least I didn’t recoil like this dauntless warrior. He smiled to himself. It’s a small thing, but I’ll take it.

Xap leaned in and pointed over Thoka’s should. “Uuiit.”

Kpleeb jumped into place over Thoka’s other shoulder and looked. There, in the expanded view, was a very strange sight. A death-white stood at the door of a stone hut and gazed out on the village. The door that it gazed from was raised, waist high off of the ground. The porch was constructed of stone in a way that Kpleeb, thought was beyond any skill that a caveman could do by hand.

“That’s a death-white, Thoka,” Kpleeb muttered. “I haven’t seen one in many years, but that is nothing I could be mistaken about.” Can you get closer?”

Thoka nodded and sligtly adjusted a ring on her thumb. The view zoomed in, but its clarity was reduced. “There are limits, Kpleeb.”

Kpleeb patted Thoka on the shoulder. “It’s okay my queen,” he said mockingly. “We can’t all be perfect.”

“Shut up, Kpleeb,” Thoka said as she stared into the valley. “That is what you call a ‘death-white’ of course. We knew them as the tinkers. Always strange and shiny, but never a common sight.” She pulled her hand down the the hazy view disappeared.

Xap stood up straight and looked at Thoka. “Pale one?” he said in askance.

“I need details.” THoka turned and stepped away from the ridge’s crest. “Xap, Xer, Xit, Xog… All of you. I need to know when Uuiit came here. Where did Uuiit appear first and to whom? You lived under his…it’s rule. What was that like?” She looked around and the handful of Xinti warriors that stood looking at her. “Who is Uuiit?”

Xer spoke up.”Uuiit chief. Come many sun-cycles before now. Gher find Uuiit. Bring Uuiit to village.”

“Xaf say Uuiit from sky,” blurted a shorter, pale warrior named Xud.

“No.” Xog waggled his first and second fingers at Xud. “Xaf crazy. Gher bring Uuiit.”

Kpleeb and Thoka looked at each other.

“Can we talk to Gher?” said Kpleeb. “We need to know. What about Xaf? Anything is possible.”

Thoka nodded, but her face slowly changed as Kpleeb looked at her. She moaned lightly and put both of her hands on her belly. “She comes. We must go, now.”

Kpleeb saw that a pale red trickle pooled at her feet. The blood drained from his face. Though Thoka had told him what would happen, he had not really believed it. “Come. Carry the Pale One to the platform!” He wrapped his arm around Thoka’s torso and helped her hobble down the hill. She groaned with each step and began to clench his hand so tightly that his fingers felt as if they were smashed under a sizable rock.

“Don’t hurry, Kpleeb,” she said hoarsely. “It will not matter if we hurry. She will hurt me the same.”

Kpleeb turned his head to stare at her, but all he saw was the side of her face. Partly white. Partly red. The Xinti warriors danced awkwardly in front of them with their hands held out and low as Thoka and Kpleeb approached the platform.

Kpleeb growled at their fearful inability to approach their Pale One. “Out of the way then, you fools.” He finally got Thoka onto the platform and began to move down the slope at a somewhat dangerous speed.

Thoka grasped his hand tightly and moaned occasionally.

Kpleeb gritted his teeth and hoped to the Great Spirit Tahr that he would live through this birth and come away in a few days with a rested and renewed Thoka..