The Index -|-

Kpleeb peered over the ridge at Uuiit’s village below and sighed quietly as he lifted his hand. On his wrist was a bracelet that Thoka had given him. One of her rings was on his thumb. The air shimmered in front of him and then swirled as if it was uncertain what it might do. Finally, after a few moments, the view ahead of Kpleeb widened and zoomed in rapidly. Xit grunted almost inaudibly beside him.

Kpleeb couldn’t blame him. The change was certainly disorienting, and even he felt a little queasy. The village was laid out in straight lines and there was little traffic. The occasional pale warrior strolled by on some unknown errand. Near the edge, where the village passed nearest the creek, there was a huddle of cavewomen washing and working. Clumps of cavechildren bustled around them like a cloud of gnats much the way they would in any village. Near the center, the raised stone structure that Uuiit lived in stood with its door open. Uuiit was nowhere to be seen.

“Food, there,” pointed Xit. There was a hut of sorts on the far side of the village. It had a reed roof and a stone foundation. The walls were made out of the standard vertical logs at the edges and every pace or so, but with thinner sticks covering the in-betweens. There was a border of thin stones along the first knee-length of the wall and the joints were mudded

“Made to last, I see.” Kpleeb said eyeing the building.

“Keep away klemp rats,” Xit said. “Many.”

“Good eating though, right?” Kpleeb remembered a drought season back at the river canyon when the whole cave-village ate rats for months. He had been a cave-teen at the time, but he still remembered the delicious meat dripping with fat on the turn spits. Muskrat had nothing on real rat, even if you had to eat three to feel somewhat full.

“Lak house,” said Xit pointing at the opposite side. There rested a large bunker made of stone and logs. It was enormous compared to all of the other structures, even Uuiit’s house. The walls were made of stout logs stacked in a criss-cross fashion.

“Seems a bit much fo–“

“Uuiit,” said Xit interrupted under his breath. His whisper sounded anxious to Kpleeb.

Kpleeb shifted his gaze and saw the death-white step out onto the veranda with its lak robe glittering in the breeze. It stood and swept its gaze across the village stopping only to speak briefly to a passing pale warrior. After a moment, it turned and went back inside.

Kpleeb looked back at the lak bunker. “That house isn’t full of lak, is it? It just seems so big. why would it–” Kpleeb saw that Uuiit had returned.

This time he brought with him a small table with an odd device on it. The table had five curved legs that led to an oval top surface. The device itself was a squarey, piped structure the size of a hen. The tubes and wires that made up the bulk of the base were tightly woven. They ran in all directions but maintained right angles that kept themselves inside the constraint of the invisible cubic constraint. On top, connected by only two tubes was a circle bigger than a caveman’s head. It was attached by an adjustable arm.

Uuiit reached out and grasped the circle and angled it upward and toward the mountain that Kpleeb and his pale warriors peered down from. Uuiit peered through the circle, and to Kpleeb’s viewpoint, Uuiit’s eye instantly magnified a thousand percent to become a large and hideous eyeball that filled his vision.

Kpleeb fell backward and with him, the circle of air that had been conjured by Thoka’s bracelet and ring dispersed and the view with it.

“Uuiit see,” Xit said quietly looking down at Kpleeb.

“Let’s go back to the village,” said Kpleeb, shaken by the unexpected turn of events. He stood and walked slowly toward the floating platform. “So- he saw. Will he be angry?” He felt a bit unsafe.

Xit shrugged in the Xinti way and did not speak a word.

Later, when Kpleeb was sitting next to Thoka in the hut, he recounted the story.

“Uuiit looked at you then?” Thoka gently rocked their baby girl against her chest. The tiny pink head bobbled and sagged with great weariness, and her dark eyes remained closed.

“He looked directly at me. There was no guesswork. It was exact.” Kpleeb had been unnerved for the entire half-day trip back to the new village where Thoka and he lived with the pale warriors and their families. The giant eyeball tormented him. He looked right at me as if he knew that I was there. The eye was different somehow, and hugely grotesque.”

Thoka appeared thoughtful. “If you see the enhanced view through my viewer, and on the other side, I see you through my viewer, would it not be double magnified?”

“Huh?”

“If you magnify to Uuiit,” she made a tube with one hand, “and on the other side, Uuiit magnifies to you… Would the two views combine to make a double magnified view?” Her hands portrayed two tubes aimed at each other.

Kpleeb scrunched his face and though about it. He imagined tubes and swirling air combining to magnify things that were invisible to him but somehow enlarged the things his eyes looked at. Then his mind clicked.

“How would he magnify at all?” The thought made his eyeballs tingle. “Another caveman with your skills at manipulating the invisible forces?” His mind reeled at the possibilities of potential danger to he and his family.

“Mmm. ” Thoka did not focus on the source of the issue in Kpleeb’s mind. “Yes, but what do you mean the eye was grotesque?” Thoka stroked the baby’s head absent-mindedly.

Kpleeb pictured it in his mind. “Well, it was normal shape, at least as far as I could tell. It was larger than our eyes I think, but I can’t tell if that was just the magnification. The main difference, now that I think of it is…. the center part was not round. It was more of an oval. The iris was a strange blue-green color as well. What could that mean? Different kind of caveman?”

“Maybe,” said Thoka. “Maybe not. This is something I will think about. We will need to keep working on the village though. Not enough strange warriors to defend if the other Xinti come to attack.”

Kpleeb nodded. He had been considering how to use the yellow stone to bolster their attack. “You are right. We are vulnerable to attack. I will make a wall out of yellow stone which should slow them down.”

“That reminds me,” said Thoka, “I tested the stone with one of the cavechildren and it did obey. We must be careful to protect the secret. If the Xinti know that the stone will obey them, everything could go wrong.”

“The cavechild will not know the secret?”

“No, I hid a small piece of stone and had the cavechild merely speak a command.”

Kpleeb knew exactly what to do. “I will solve that problem. Do you need help with the baby?”

“No, I have many Xinti women who help. We need to find a new tribe name!” Thoka smiled at him. “We have the beginnings of a good tribe.” The baby yawned and squirmed in her arms. “Time for feeding, again?” She sighed.

Kpleeb shifted on his feet. “Urh, well, I have plenty to do,” he said awkwardly. He shifted his feet for a moment and then turned to leave.

###

The next afternoon, Kpleeb walked the perimeter that he had marked. Xer paced beside him, and Kpleeb was beginning to deeply appreciate the dedication of these pale warriors. Not only were they loyal to Thoka – their Pale One – but they were well trained and effective warriors. He had placed stakes in the ground every two paces around the perimeter. The warriors and Xinti women began to dig holes where the stakes were. Poles would go into the holes and brush would be tied in between.

“What was it that you said the other day?” said Kpleeb. “Ganix?”

Xer lifted his chin. “Ganix.”

Kpleeb’s memory only retained snippets of the moments after he ingested the tiny crystal, but each snippet was clear and contained an undertone of happiness. “What does this mean?”

“Pale One is gracious.” Xer said the words with a subtle sense of reverence.

“She is gracious indeed,” said Kpleeb quietly. He was pleased and surprised every day by her strength and by the way her influence seemed to constantly grow. “She is a force to be reckoned with.”

Xer lifted his chin and spoke again. “I bring wood.” He trotted off toward a group of other pale warriors.

Kpleeb meandered back to the circle of huts that had been built on the hillside near a stream. Several Xinti women were cooking in a small cave that they had constructed of stone. A light smoke streamed from the short chimney, and he could smell bread and meat roasting with the peculiar spice mix that the Xinti used. Ahead of him Thoka appeared in the doorway of their hut. She waved at him and gestured for him to come.

“The wall structure is going well,” Kpleeb said as he approached. The baby looked up at him and smiled. Kpleeb grinned back at her and noticed that the redness in her skin had decreased noticeably. Her face had slimmed as well, and she was holding her head up. “She is getting to be quite cute!” He gently caressed her cheek with his knuckle.

“How many babies have you been around?”

Kpleeb paused and tried to remember what seemed like the distant past. “Urh, I don’t know. A few?” A young caveman generally did not pay attention to babies.

“I want to call her Zara,” Thoka said. “It means ‘blooming flower.’ You might not know this, not having been around very many babies, Kpleeb, but she is truly a miracle.”

Kpleeb shrugged.

“She is only a handful of days old and she holds her head and her eyes focus. She recognizes you as her father. These behaviors are extraordinary at her age. Trust me.”

“Zara,” Kpleeb said quietly. “A beautiful name for a beautiful and smart baby.”

Thoka smiled at him. “We have a family and a tribe.”

“Speaking of that, Kpleeb said, “I know what we should call the tribe.”

“Good, finally!”

“Ganix. The pale warriors used this word and it means ‘the pale one is gracious.’ It’s a great name for our tribe.”

Thoka appeared hesitant.

“Look, Thoka, you can’t be weird about the fact that you are the one. You have a tribe and a loyal and strong group of tribe members. That is an excellent and fairly rapid start considering how long we have been here.. Using Ganix as the tribe’s name will serve to remind the Xinti that you are the leader.”

Thoka nodded thoughtfully, and Zara scrutinized Kpleeb with her gray eyes. Her fingers twitched and she touched her thumb and finger tips together repeatedly.

“Okay, well, I am going to continue working on the wall. Lots to be done.” Kpleeb leaned forward and lightly kissed Thoka on the cheek. With a pat on Zara’s head, he returned to his work.

The Index -|-

Kpleeb paced nervously. Back and forth he strode at a slow pace. He heard a muted cry and stopped to face the hut across the village center. There was nothing to see, of course. Thoka was inside with Chief Kilow, Bre, and the Xinti birthing cavewoman. There were no additional cries, so he began to walk again.

Thoka had winced, moaned, and clutched his leg all the way from the ridge to the village. It had been a long trip, even with Thoka’s floating platform. They had wended their way down the mountain and past the new village that Thoka’s tribe had established only a few weeks earlier. There, Kpleeb had called the birthing cavewoman, named Jial, to board the floating platform. She had been ready, and the pause was very short.

Thoka had made a deal with Chief Kilow and Bre that her child would be born in their village. Both of the women were familiar with childbirth, and they had a special hut that had been set aside for the purpose. Jial was recruited because Thoka did not want to be there alone without one of her own tribe in the room.

Cavemen were not welcome at the childbirth ceremony, which in Kpleeb’s mind, was something of a relief. Yet, he worried, and thought that any caveman should have the choice to witness the birth of his own child. The various cavewomen that had been present when he mentioned the idea had raised their eyebrows and emphatically told him ‘No.’

And so, Kpleeb paced on the other side of the village center. He had been just outside the door earlier in the day, be he had tried to rush in after hearing Thoka cry out. That had got him banished to his current position.

“Wait for Jial,” a voice said.

Kpleeb spun and saw Xit standing there beside one of the nearer huts. “Yes… I will, but I can’t help but be nervous. You understand?”

Xit lifted his chin the way the Xinti did and spoke again. “You ‘nervous’ not help. Cavewoman lead birthing.” His face was entirely deadpan.

He looked back at the hut across the center. “I know that it’s not helpful, but I am nervous anyway. I know pretty much, practically…. entirely nothing about childbirth.” He turned back to face the pale warrior. “You have cavechildren, Xit. Were you not nervous when they were born?”

Xit shrugged as if he had never considered anything so pointless. “Xit not nervous. Why?”

“The birth of your first child, the way this is for me… Well, it is a new thing. It is a special thing. It makes me think of many questions that I have never considered before.”

The pale warriors were so schooled at keeping their emotions from showing that Xit could have been laughing inside… or taking pity on Kpleeb, and he would never know.

After a long moment, Xit spoke again. “Cavewoman lead birthing. No nervous. Xit fight. Xit bring lak for Uuiit.”

Kpleeb shook his head. How can anyone be so focused and unconcerned about a family member? Sure, childbirth is the domain of the cavewomen, but cavemen still had concern. He had seen Xit and his family. It was obvious that there was a deep affection among them. Their culture is different. Maybe the Xinti simply do what they are there to do and nothing more. They are certainly very good at fighting.

“What is this lak that you bring to Uuiit?” Kpleeb said.

“Lak is-” Xit paused and appeared to search for the word. “Shiny.” He shrugged.

“Something shiny? Reflective?” Kpleeb looked around and saw a small polished stone hanging from a cord on a hut nearby. “This is lak?”

Xit put his chin up. “Lak.”

Kpleeb thought for a moment about some other way to confirm. Finally, he turned his back on Xit and slid his bracelet off. “Make a flat piece the size of my thumbnail, very polished,” he whispered. He cupped his hands around the bracelet and waited for a moment before opening them again. It was done, and he took the small, flat piece between thumb and finger and broke it off of the bracelet before placing it back on his wrist. He turned around and stuck his hand out, palm up, with the tiny yellow stone mirror resting in plain sight.

“This is lak?” He asked.

Xit put his chin up again as he glanced at Kpleeb’s hand. “Yes”

“Why?”

“Uuiit want.”

Kpleeb was about to launch into what would surely be a long and painful line of questioning to fulfill his curiosity about the relationship between lak and Uuiit when he heard a voice from the hut across the village center.

“Come see child,.” said Jial with a twist of her head and neck. She turned quickly without any further words and disappeared into the dark doorway.

Kpleeb nodded at Xit and then took a few jogging steps before slowing down. Don’t show them your nerves, Kpleeb! He truly felt like a total n00b around these Xinti warriors. He walked slowly and impatiently across the hard-packed dirt, and as he came closer he heard a gentle mewling and low conversation.

“I’m coming in,” he announced as he approached the door. He did not wait for a response, but entered immediately.

His nose was clobbered by an astringent scent that might have been some combination of elderberries and dert, fermented by the smell of it. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the hut. There along the edge of the somewhat rounded hut wall, Thoka rested on a low table. She was covered from the waist down in a rough cloth that was larger than he had ever seen a caveman weave. In her arms, a tiny form suckled at her bosom. The mewling emanated from the baby as it drew each breath.

Thoka looked up at him expectantly and smiled. It was a weary smile of the likes he had never seen on her face. “Welcome your daughter, Kpleeb.”

Kpleeb stepped closer and looked down at the child. Its form looked much like the other babies he had seen, but it was very ruddy and wrinkled.

“She is so small,” he said.

When he spoke, the baby turned awake from its meal and looked at him. Her face was pink and crowned in a fine, black hair. Her mouth moved slightly, appearing as if to speak, but instead a burp came out. Her eyes were dark and he felt as if she was sizing him up. After a moment, the baby turned and resumed nursing.

“She is new,” explained Thoka. “Small is how they come. Thankfully.” She chuckled slightly. “I don’t need to be ripped in two.”

Jial stepped into his field of view. “You go now,” she said with a nod at the door. “Pale One rest. Baby rest.”

Kpleeb looked at Thoka, who nodded at him. “It’s true, Kpleeb. I’m exhausted and I’m sure you have plenty to do. The Xinti village still needs a great deal of improvement.”

“We can’t keep calling them the Xinti. I will ask the pale warriors for name ideas.” Kpleeb placed a hand on Thoka’s shoulder gently and then on the baby. It was blazing hot. He smiled stiffly and turned to go. As he stepped out of the hut he heard Jial speak.

“Pale One never broken. Not speak such.” It was as much of a reprimand as he had ever heard from one of them.

They take their Pale One seriously, he thought.

As he approached the center of the village near the pole where he had once been bound and beaten, Xit spoke. “Baby?”

Kpleeb nodded. “I have a daughter.”

Xit turned and shouted toward the other pale warriors that had come with them to the village. It was more of a high-pitched bark, repetitive and piercing. Kpleeb watched in awe as the other pale warriors raised their fists and repeated Xit’s shouts. None of their faces showed any emotion.

“Girl baby, much reward,” Xit said turning back toward him. Kpleeb thought that Xit’s eyes expressed great satisfaction. “Much reward.”

Kpleeb looked down at his shaking hands as reality set in. “I thought I would have a son,” he said.

Xit slapped his back forcefully. “Son good. Girl better. Girl child from Pale One-” he paused as if considering his words. “Pale One honors you much.”

The other pale warriors had approached. Xer, Xio, Xep, and Xaq. It was Thoka’s regular crew. Maybe not bodyguards, but, they certainly stuck around. Kpleeb thought that they vied for the position, though they did rotate other pale warriors in and out.

Xer pulled a small pouch from the cord that fastened his loincloth. He tipped the contents into his hand and offered it to Kpleeb. “Much honor,” he said.

On his palm was a tiny crystal. Kpleeb picked it up and looked at it closely. “Fascinating,” he said. “What is it?

“Eat,” said Xer. The rest of the warriors looked at him expectantly as they reached for their own pouches.

“Urg, well…” Kpleeb could not think of any reason why the stoic warriors would harm or play a prank on him, so after a moment of consideration, he dropped the crystal onto his tongue.

“Ganix,” said Xep. The other pale warriors repeated the unknown word almost reverently in unison.

Kpleeb’s eyes swam and he swayed as he looked around him and the sea of painted, white faces. There seemed to be so many of them, and they were all smiling at him. Their eyes exuded joy at his great fortune. He remained standing there for some time, soaking in the emotion, swaying slightly, and grinning like a fool.

The Index -|-

“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..

The Index -|-

Xit hummed silently to himself as he loped through the trees with his practiced gait. It was an easy speed, nothing that he could not maintain for a half a sun-cycle or more. Ahead of him a pace or three, Xer and Xuf moved through the underbrush in the same manner. Though they were not of the same mother, they often ran side by side.

Ahead of the group, Xsp ran like a maddened Jilrop. Xit could not see him, but he knew that he was ahead somewhere. An occasional snapping of branch identified his location and revealed a carelessness that was uncharacteristic of the Xinti warrior. Xsp had refused the call of the Pale One, a fact that surprised Xit as much as any. Xit’s pondering led him to believe that Xsp’s mistake was that of youth. Perhaps it was also the after-effects of the battle. He had not yet been granted his middle-sound nor had he given many battles to the cause. Xer had seen rash behavior before in similar circumstances.

His mind strayed to the Pale One. She had been different than he had expected. Taller and yet more gentle. But her hair was spot on… and she was with child. It must be her, the Pale One. He could not comprehend why he was left alive.

“From the mouth she comes, with child and with vengeance. Pale and terrible, she will disembowel the Xinti.”

Xit did not finish speaking the legend that all Xinti memorized from their early childhood. Instead, he dwelt on the future potential as he parkoured through the brush and branches.

He would bring Teeri and the small ones with him when he returned to the Pale One in the morning. Teeri would know what to do in terms of making a home. It would be a home they would need to serve the Pale One. Xit would do the fighting that he had trained for his whole life.

Maybe she would bring the Xinti to her and then kill us all. Or maybe she will let us live. It is hard to know.

Macabre thoughts were not at all taboo for the Xinti. Truth is truth. There was no benefit in a lie, even if it served to pacify the feelings of one. The only acceptable deception in Xinti culture was its use in warfare.

He dodged a thick shrub. The trees flew past, and the slope began to increase. They would be home soon at the high place. More accurately, they would be to where they had begun to dominate the land as commanded by the Uuiit. Home from now on would now be with the Pale One, wherever she desired.

###

Thoka rose and stretched slowly. The baby kicked gently as if to welcome her to the waking world. The vivid dreams she had experienced at the beginning of her pregnancy had tapered off and became less common, and she was grateful that she had slept well. She rolled over and found that the reed mat she had shared with Kpleeb was empty and cold.

It is past time to wake up. The strange warriors may have arrived already. I suppose I should find a new name for them. They will be my tribe after all. She sighed. This could be a lot of work.

Thoka stood and walked to the door. With her left hand she parted the hanging reeds and looked out into the village center. The bright sun told her that she had slept too late.

“Ugh, Kpleeb,” she muttered with a sigh. This was not the day to be lying about.

The view from the doorway was not as Thoka expected. A few tiny cavechildren chased each other at the far side of the circle. There was nobody in the center. There were no cavemen or cavewomen in sight from her view through the hut door. That was odd. Usually, the cavewomen would be working. Considering that a momentous battle yesterday had made a ruinous mess of their village, they should have been working even harder. There were no bodies in sight, and aside from dark spots on the ground where blood had spilled, there was no real indication of the battle.

Thoka stepped out and walked across the village circle toward the river. A light breeze pushed through the huts on one side and picked up a dust in front of her feet where the dirt was hard packed by years of barefoot traffic. A dark carrion bird soared silently in the general direction of the canyon, and Thoka raised her hand to block the sun from her eyes.

She rounded the corner past a hut on the far side of the circle. There must be some dead still available for the birds. She came to a halt in surprise. Wha?!

Lined up between the village and the river was a large host of cavepeople. They were clumped into groups ranging from two to twelve or so, and there were many cavechildren interspersed throughout. At a quick glance she estimated at least a hundred in total. To the side Kpleeb and Kilow stood and appeared to be talking, but stopped and turned when they saw her. Kpleeb raised his hand to wave. The strange warriors that were interlaced throughout the group noticed and turned to face her in unison. Together, they repeated the strange ritual they had performed the day before. They held their hands at shoulder level with palms upward and fingers facing forward. They followed that gesture with hands folded to cover their pectoral muscles, and a small nod of the head. 

“Thoka, good morning,” said Kpleeb as he approached. He gave her a gentle and quick hug. “The Xinti came to be in your tribe.”

“Why are there so many?”

“These are just a part of their previous tribe. You said to bring their families, and they have done so.” Kpleeb put his hand on her back. “You need to talk to them. You are their leader now.”

Thoka drew in a deep breath. The reality of needing a tribe and asking a few warriors to join her was insignificant compared to the view in front of her. It had become real. Overnight, the was the leader of a real tribe that rivaled the tribe of her cavechildhood back home on the Wet Mountain. She stepped forward a dozen paces until she was close to the line of Xinti.

The smaller children stood and fidgeted. Some hid behind the legs of their parents. The young to adolescent caveboys were very still and showed no emotion, but the cavegirls grinned at her and each other with toothy excitement. Cavewomen stood in the center of each group and watched her with curious eyes and occasionally whispered to others in their group. They were dressed in a thin cloth that reached from navel to neck and a short reed skirt. As far as she could tell, the groups appeared to be families, and usually contained a few adults of medium and advanced age as well as cavechildren of various sizes. She could not say which one, but in front of her was one of the warriors that she had released the previous night.

“Hello,” Thoka said with a nod. She turned head to include the large group. “Thank you for coming. I am told that your people are called the Xinti. Is this true? Who is your tribal leader?”

A warrior nearby spoke up. “You, Pale One.”

Thoka turned her head to look at his impassive face. “Who was your tribal leader before me, and do you have anyone here now that was a leader before?”

“Uuiit was leader. Xinti have no other. Uuiit not come here.”

“Uuiit is a cavewoman or caveman?”

“Uuiit…” the warrior paused as if considering his answer. He finally said, “I not know.

Thoka nodded. She would have to discuss this Uuiit person with Kpleeb.

“It is time to get to work.” She looked at the warrior who had spoken. “What is your name?”

“Xer, Pale One.”

“Xer. Okay. We need to find a place to live. A camp for your family. Please gather the warriors and we will talk.”

Xer shifted his feet and looked behind him before turning to face Thoka again. “Warrior fight, hunt. Cavewoman make home.”

Thoka looked behind the warriors that were lined up and took stock of the cavewomen that peppered the crowd. They appeared to be bright eyed and interested in every word being said, and she thought that perhaps she should ask more questions before setting up the tribal structure. With a shrug, she spoke a little more loudly.

“This tribe must build a camp and create shelters. Who will do this task?”

Every cavewoman raised her hand with index finger extended. There were no other hands.

Okay. Now we are getting somewhere.

“Before we select a location, we must talk about the surrounding area and where to live. Who will help with this task?”

Again, all of the cavewomen’s hands went up, and again no other hands were willing to contribute to the cause.

Thoka looked at Kpleeb. “Alright, let us figure this out with Kilow, Bre, the cavewomen, you and me. First, I need to get a drink and relieve myself.”

Kpleeb nodded. “I’ll get you something to eat as well. We’ll meet here in a few minutes.”

Soon, Thoka, Kpleeb, Kilow, Bre, and a large number of cavewomen sat in a circle near the river. Thoka counted eighteen women from the Xinti group.

“Kilow is chief of this tribe, and Bre is her assistant.” Thoka gestured at each woman as she named them. “Where we settle must not interfere with Kilow’s tribe for we are bound together as allies.”

Kilow nodded and remained silent.

“This is Kpleeb, my man. He speaks with my voice and is the father of my child.” She patted her stomach gently and smiled at Kpleeb. “Now, what are your names?” Thoka pointed at the nearest Xinti cavewoman.

After a few moments, Thoka repeated the names. “Juri, Prolly, Henti, Wooli, Teeri, Butri, Kuiti, Nori, Celi, Mewi, Yoerti, Tori, Dari, Opli, Kari, Lepti, Ipti, and Faeri. Whew. What a list. I will not remember all of these, but please remind me if I forget.”

Thoka squatted and began to draw a line with a stick. She sketched the river, the canyon, and then drew a circle. “This is Kilow’s village. Kilow, can you tell us how far your land extends?”

Kilow took the stick from Thoka and drew a line that encompassed a large area around the village. It extended into the canyon, past the far side of the river and further into the jungle on the other side of the village. “Open Sky tribe live here. Jungle, canyon, river, village.” Kilow accentuated her words by pointing to each place, and finally pointed to a mark she drew on the river’s downstream side. She then pointed with her hand toward the same direction. “Open Sky tribe come from there many, many sun-cycles past. We no return to big water.” She drew a long, curved line perpendicular to the river. She then handed the stick to Thoka and sat down.

“Good. I am sure that these borders are not marked. They are fuzzy, but we will respect the Open Sky tribe’s territory.” Thoka looked at the group of Xinti women and held out the stick. “Where is Uuiit? Are there more tribes or anything else we must know?”

The group of women looked at each other for a moment before one of them stood. “I not speak for all Xinti.”

“Ipti, right?” said Thoka holding out the drawing stick.

The cavewoman nodded and took the stick. “Uuiit here with Xinti.” She marked a spot above the canyon. “Two day walk.”

“How many Xinti?”

Ipti paused and looked at the other Xinti cavewomen. “I not know. Many. More Xinti with Uuiit than with Pale One.”

“Will Uuiit be our enemy?”

Ipti shrugged, but one of the other Xinti cavewomen spoke up. “Some Xinti not follow Pale One. Xsp not follow. Xsp enemy.” The cavewoman spread her hands as if it was all very obvious.

Thoka remembered calling one of the strange warriors an enemy, but had not thought that it would automatically extend to potentially hundreds of other warriors. On the other hand, Uuiit had just had a big portion of its (their?) tribe leave on a moment’s notice.

Perhaps Uuiit will be upset and come attack us with a new force. Anyone leading these strange warriors must be strong in their own right, and it would be wise to be wary of her. I will have to find out more about Uuiit soon.

“Hmm, okay. What is past the canyon other than Uuiit’s territory?”

Kilow spoke up. “Big tundra.” She scraped a section of dirt with her foot. To the right side of the canyon, she poked the dirt and then pointed at the distant snow-topped peak. “Mountain.”

Thoka smiled and looked at Kpleeb. “This is all very helpful. We have tundra there for some unknown distance. We have the river that extends through the canyon to the tundra, the mountain, and a large body of water down here. We need a place to setup the new tribe with access to water, but not too close to Uuiit or Kilow. It is possible that Uuiit will try to attack us or the Open Sky tribe, so we must be careful and ready to defend.”

Kpleeb nodded and looked at the crude dirt-drawing. “Maybe we should move here, toward the mountain. This will make our territory closer to Uuiit and allow us to perhaps head off any attack against the village. We cannot know if there are other cavepeople there, not until we scout.” He made a circle halfway between the canyon and the big mountain. “This is a few days’ walk, but if you help me, I will bring a pale warrior and scout quickly.” He looked at Kilow. “If you agree that we may stay here for a few days, of course, Chief Kilow.”

Kilow nodded slowly taking it all in. “Four sun-cycles,” she said holding up four fingers. “We talk trade for this and all else.”

“Ipti, we will stay here for a few days and then move to a new camp.” Thoka looked at the rest of the Xinti cavewomen. “Please gather food and provide shelter for those who are here.”

The Xinti cavewomen nodded and turned to leave.

“Kpleeb, I must speak with you privately. Come.”

Thoka and Kpleeb walked to the edge of the river. “I will show you how to operate the floating platform. This will give you great speed for scouting. I am concerned about this Uuiit person and their Xinti army, but we have to find a place to live first. We are nothing without territory to defend and grow.”

Kpleeb smiled at her. “I’ll take a pale warrior and find the place for us. Do you hear how they call you the Pale One? They sound as if you are a god to them. I am really curious about it.”

“I noticed that too, but there will be time for that later. At least they are following me. I was worried that I would have to find a tribe and kill their leader to become the boss.” Thoka pointed at the group of Xinti warriors. Please take two of them. Also, we need to find a new tribe name. If Uuiit’s people are the Xinti, we cannot also keep using that term.”

“I agree.” Kpleeb ran his hand down his arm. “By the way, I am almost completely healed this morning.” He flexed his fingers.

Thoka had not noticed, but now that he had pointed it out, she saw only a few small scratches and a handful of bruises. “Maybe the gods also made us heal quickly. We really don’t know the extent of what they have done.” She shook her head at the thought. “We are forever changed in unknown ways.”

“Yes, but we are alive, we found each other, and maybe we can find a way to pay them back.” Kpleeb looked somber as he always did when they discussed the gods.

Thoka knew that Kpleeb was bitter about their previous captivity and how they were altered. He did not mention it often, but she knew it to be true, and it pained her to know that he was angry. The truth was that she kept a simmering resentment about it as well. There were good consequences from their captivity and alteration, but it was still entirely unjust. She felt violated.

“We will thrive and, in the end, we will repay them for the wrong they have done to us. It will take time, and we must be patient.” Thoka looked around the flat area between the river and the Open Sky village. We have a good start here, and when we grow in power, the entities will regret it. We must stop calling them gods, as if they are all powerful and there is nothing we can do to resist them.”

Kpleeb nodded. “Maybe we can also find their true name.” He sighed. “But now, it is time to scout.”

Thoka nodded and patted his shoulder. “Come back quickly with good news and plenty of information.”

In a short time, Kpleeb selected two of the pale warriors, sat them awkwardly on the edge of the floating platform, and with a wave to Thoka, he raised the platform to shoulder height and crossed the river. Soon the scouting party was into the trees and out of sight.