A NOVEL SET IN PREHISTORY
The Oak People
Chapter 12: The men make magic
Bidari
In the oak thicket, hidden from the glare of daylight, Bidari and the other men squat around the circle. In this magic place, the growth underfoot is sparse and now Bidari’s younger brother, Nuno, is pulling out the young green shoots which have pushed through the earth since the last hunt, till the perfect circle of red earth gapes — an open mouth, ready to speak. He has collected a pile of small sticks and stones and the men watch in silence as he passes his hands over the bare earth three times, then takes up a stick and uses it to trace the outline of the mountain slopes with their intersecting paths. Twigs and white stones mark the special places. Bidari watches Nuno in wonder, the dappled light playing on his hands as they confidently create the hunt picture.
Goi is rocking from side to side on his heels, impatient to be moving. Next to Goi squats the slight form of Tipi, silent and nervous. Bidari remembers his own first hunt, the fear and the pride woven together like the strands of a rope. His father was still with them then. In those days, the deer and the antelope would freely offer themselves but it is different now. Often the men stand in the watching place from dawn until Eshtu is high in the sky and see nothing moving on the plain.
But this morning, in the early light, they had seen him, a lone, fully grown male antelope, grazing the lush grass where the mountain’s feet stand on the plain. Winding their way down the slopes in the fierce heat, the men’s excitement had been something you could taste in the air. But now Bidari’s nephew, Tipi, is staring with fear, as Nuno’s deft hands give shape to the hunt. Although the boy has been playing at hunting ever since he learned to walk, this tight, magic silence is new to him. He keeps darting glances at his father, but Koldo’s eyes are fixed on the red earth. The silence must not be broken.
Nuno begins to sound a long single note, low down in his throat. The hunters close their eyes and try to search in the darkness for the sandy brown face of the antelope, the soft snout, the deep liquid eyes. Bidari can feel the strain building in his aching thighs. The thicket is alive with the ticking of insects and the sound of Nuno’s voice. Again and again, Bidari tries to search out the antelope’s spirit but, for him, there is only darkness.
At last, the humming ceases and Bidari opens his eyes. Nuno is bending forward over the red earth. Inside the circle, a shape is beginning to form from the tip of his stick: front legs, a belly, back legs bent at the knee, a smooth rump, a long neck and small head, ears pointing up. Goi laughs with relief. Nuno has seen the antelope in the dark land. The hunt will be successful.
Bidari leans in closer to watch and takes a sharp breath in. Nuno is not drawing the long, ringed horns of the big male antelope they saw this morning, but short horns, barely reaching past the beast’s ears. He has drawn a female. Koldo turns to him with a questioning look.
‘It was a doe who showed herself to me,’ Nuno replies.
The hunters exchange glances. The buck they saw must be travelling with a mate. Reaching for their spears, the men get to their feet and come out, blinking, into the bright daylight. They walk in single file to the edge of the plain. Goi drops down to a squat. The grass is disturbed where they saw the antelope in the early light. Bending low, his eyes to the ground, he beckons to the others.
The small spear tip-shaped marks are clearly visible in the soft earth and Goi points to the tracks of the male, then those of a female crossing them. The urge to give chase passes between the men like lightning. Goi runs toward the lower slopes, dropping down again and again to scan the ground. The animals will have found a shady place to rest, now that Eshtu is high in the sky. Without a backward glance, Koldo and Nuno follow.
‘Keep behind me,’ Bidari instructs Tipi. ‘Go like a snake. Don’t let the mountain feel your feet on her.’
As they climb, the ground becomes rocky and the story it is telling them becomes muddled. At last, the tracks disappear altogether and the men squat down to catch their breath. Koldo licks his finger and holds it up. The afternoon wind is beginning to blow and they must decide what to do.
Nuno speaks first. ‘They can’t be far away and they will need to drink. We should go to the quarry spring and wait.’
But Goi wants to keep searching for their tracks. ‘What if they don’t come to the spring? The daylight will be wasted.’
Koldo holds his finger up again and then sides with Nuno. ‘The wind will hide our scent,’ he says. ‘Let’s take our chance at the spring.’
They follow the path that leads to the quarry, Tipi jogging along beside Bidari. ‘Why didn’t you speak, Uncle?’ he asks.
Bidari just grins, but the boy’s question is like a troublesome insect, buzzing around him all the way to the spring. Why is it that Koldo and Nuno never ask for his thoughts?
Bidari yawns, sleepy after the climb and now the waiting. A long drink from the spring has stilled the rat-gnawing hunger in his belly. Goi and Tipi are slumped against the rocky outcrop behind the cover of thornbush, dozing. His two brothers, Koldo and Nuno, are huddled close together, keeping watch for the antelope.
Closing his eyes, a picture of Koru comes. She is sitting with the other women at the cave mouth, bent over the hide she is working on. Bidari feels calm. His mother has been coughing all through the winter, but now she seems stronger.
There is a pricking pain on his shoulder. He slaps at the biting fly but now there are more, fussing around his face and his matted hair. He brushes them away. The movement reminds him of the waving game he plays with Hua and he smiles. She is learning to talk now. He likes to see her playing with the other children, or with Bo. Bidari’s forehead creases into a frown. Why does Ansa never play with the child? The only time he sees her in her mother’s lap is when she is suckling.
Bidari shifts his position, taking care to stay screened by the thornbush. Ansa makes him uneasy. Why does he never hear her laughing with the women? Why does she keep herself apart? She was happier for a while, after Hua was born. She even began to tease him when they were on their own, away from the others. Ansa, her long neck arching back, laughing at him. He wants to mate with her just as much as ever. It’s like a bite he needs to scratch, even though her body never seems to welcome him. He thinks of the dream he keeps having. Ansa is with him in the forest, under a pine tree. They mate on a bed of needles and he pulls out from her. He is sweating. He rolls over onto his back and his body brushes against her. He shudders with the shock. Her skin is as cold as ice, her legs frozen and stiff. It is always the same and he wakes up frightened, but excited.
Thank you for reading. Chapter 13 coming soon …
You can find an introduction to the novel and links to all the chapters here:
Or if you prefer, the novel can be ordered in paperback from almost any bookshop, and as an ebook or paperback from Amazon here: https://mybook.to/PYld2
