A NOVEL SET IN PREHISTORY
The Oak People
Chapter 14: Ansa’s dream
Ansa
Ansa crawls under the overhang of the sleeping place, away from the sharp tongues, the probing eyes, but she finds no respite from the old terror. It crouches over her, darkening her thoughts. Behind her closed eyes she sees the bush, the flattened grass, the empty plain. It reminds her of something from long ago, in her desert home. Clenching her fists, Ansa tries to remember but it is like grasping a river fish with her hands. The terror is on her chest now, a malicious weight, bearing down. She strains to take in breath.
Suddenly, she remembers the Balqa stone and her fingers struggle with the bag at her belt. Rolling the cool, smooth orb between her fingertips, her breath begins to come more easily. Balqa might grow thin and die but he always comes back to her. Even on that day when she found Ama lying stiff and cold on the sand, the women clustered around, wailing. She thought, then, that nothing would ever be the same but when darkness fell, Balqa appeared in the sky as usual, smiling down on her.
The shadow of fear passes, leaving her bone tired. Soon, sleep will come for her, she thinks, but instead it is Bidari who comes, carrying Hua. She makes a small sound as he lays her down on the bedding but she doesn’t wake. Bidari makes no move to lie down. He sits, his back against the wall, staring into the darkness.
‘Ansa.’
His voice jabs at her, keeping her awake. If she doesn’t answer, maybe he will think she is asleep. Then comes a fearful thought — he knows she left Hua under the bush. But how could he know? Hua could not tell him, she is too young.
‘It was my fault,’ Bidari says.
Ansa lies rigid, not understanding.
‘I thought he was going to throw his spear too early, so I signed to him.’
She lets her breath go. The hunt. He is talking about the hunt. She turns toward him. ‘What happened?’
Bidari settles himself down between her and Hua. Glad not to hear the child’s breathing any more, she will listen to him talk and lose herself in the hunt. He will talk about what really happened, not just the story they tell around the fire. A secret smile plays around her mouth. Bidari tells her things that even Gashi doesn’t know.
‘We were going to take her at the spring, by the quarry,’ Bidari begins, ‘and we would have — we were downwind — but Tipi moved. I told him to keep quiet. The next thing I knew, he was taking aim. He thought I was giving him the signal.’
Ansa closes her eyes, trying to picture the spring, the hunters crouching, their spears poised.
‘It was Tipi’s first hunt.’ Bidari sounds bitter. ‘His father should have taught him what to do! But he was too busy whispering with Nuno.’
‘Wait,’ Ansa breaks in. ‘You said her. Wasn’t the antelope a male?’
‘Yes — the one we saw feeding on the plain was a buck. But in the circle, Nuno drew a female.’
Ansa’s breath catches in her throat, her scalp prickling as she thinks of the men, making hunt magic. She is not supposed to know what they do under the oaks, but she begged Bidari once and he told her.
‘That’s another thing.’ Bidari’s body is tight with anger. ‘Nuno was wrong — the antelope got away. Why do we listen to him?’
Ansa lies silent in the smoky darkness, waiting for Bidari’s anger to pass and his body to relax.
‘We can try again — they won’t leave the mountain yet,’ he says, at last.
His hand begins to stroke her belly, his fingers reaching under her belt. He rolls her over and she closes her eyes and lets him do what he wants, but her thoughts stay with the hunters and with the antelope, hooves clattering against the stone as they make their escape.
She is running, her heart drumming, the cool wind on her head. The grass is lush under her feet but it hides the stones from her and she falls, twisting her foot. She gets up and runs on, hardly noticing the pain. A thicket of trees lies ahead, nestling at the toes of the mountain. The harder she runs, the further away the trees seem to grow. She flies on and on, without stopping. A vulture is circling above her, covering great distances with each sweep. She feels the danger like a spear thrust. There is no time to lose — she must find Hua.
The thicket of terebinth is closer now, the leaves fresh after the winter rains and dense enough to hide anything that shelters among them. The vulture is still circling overhead. She runs on till at last she hears what she has been waiting for — the sound of Hua’s laugh. Hua’s smell is coming from inside the thicket. Ansa crashes through the leaves, blundering from the heat of the plain into cool shadow. Before her eyes have become accustomed to the dark, she feels a searing pain in her leg and hears something thudding to the ground beside her. She looks down and sees the dark blood on her stick thin leg. Her leg is the colour of sand, covered with smooth hair. A noise and then another terrible pain — but in her flank. This time the spear does not fall to the ground, but works deep into her flesh. Another flame of pain flies toward her, then another. She thrashes around, uncertain, smelling her calf and hearing his cries. The air carries no terrifying scent of human and yet there they stand in the glade. One of them is holding her calf close to his chest.
Ansa wakes to feel Bidari’s breath on her cheek. His arms are round her but still she twists and turns, trying to reach the calf. There are tears flowing down her cheeks.
‘Shh,’ Bidari is saying, ‘it’s just a dream.’
Slowly, she comes back to the cave and Bidari, back to herself. She lies down again on the bedding leaves but her thoughts will not stay still. After a while, she reaches out for Bidari’s arm.
‘What?’
‘The antelope that got away — the female — was she in calf?’
‘Why? No — I don’t think so,’ he answers. ‘Go back to sleep.’
Bidari turns over, but then remembers something. ‘But we found their dungsite on the way back and Goi says there must be a pregnant female running with them. Why?’
‘I don’t know.’
Bidari’s breath is soon coming slowly and evenly in her ear, but Ansa lies awake the whole night, her thoughts like the river in winter.
Thank you for reading. Chapter 15 can be found here:
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