Best in Fantasy : The Cold, by Aura Burrows

Re-blogged from bestinfantasy.blogspot.com

Best in Fantasy : The Cold, by Aura Burrows: As my regular readers know, I'm always looking for great, inexpensive reads by indie authors. I have stumbled across a wonderful we...

Life is Red

Ochre hand imprint 

Koh woke as cool breeze drifted across his face.  The fire was low and the light was growing.  Standing up and stretching with a loud grunt, he looked around the cavern.  Ta was outside, sniffing the air. The others were still asleep.

            Koh  joined Ta as they looked over the valley where they came as the days got short.  It smelled cool and had the tang of dying leaves in the air.  The thing was going to happen before the night sun faded again.

            Others were waking now.  Nee squatted near the warm coals and gently blew on them. She had small sticks and dried grasses ready to catch the flame. In a moment the coals glowed and she dropped the grasses on them. A flame burst up and she quickly dropped the sticks on it.  More flames leapt up and Koh brought in some larger branches and wood. Together they broke them and put them on the growing fire.

            All the cave was awake now, and the little ones were babbling or crying.  Nee fed her youngest at her breast while the others scrounged around.  The biggest girl went down to some trees to gather nuts for the smaller ones.

            Koh and Ta wandered back outside, sniffing the air again. After a short while they both wandered down to the woods.  Ta’s last spear had broken when he used it to cross a cold fast stream.  Koh had a spear, but wanted another one. They found two long branches that would make good strong spear shafts.  Bringing them and some grasses and sticks for the fire, they returned to the cave.

            Ta took a sharp stone and chopped at the smaller limbs on his spear branch.  Inspecting each of these, he put it aside or tossed it near the fire.  Koh’s branch didn’t have as many limbs, so he began scraping the bark off with his sharp stone.  They both worked on their spears until the day sun began to go down. 

            Koh stretched and walked outside again.  Being hungry, he grabbed his other spear and left.  Sniffing the air, he headed toward the stream.  Once there, he crouched in some reeds, waiting and watching.  After a long time a creature waddled to the water to drink.  Koh remained still until just the right time, and then his spear flew, hitting the body in the chest. The creature squealed one high pitched scream, then was still.  Satisfied, Koh picked it up and went back to the cave. 

            Nee came out to see him as he approached. Without a sound he handed the creature to her.  With her sharp stone, she quickly took off the skin, then chopped off the head, scooped out the insides, and put the rest on hot rocks surrounding the fire.  The smell of roasting meat had all of them standing or sitting near the fire.  When the meat was done, Nee used two sticks to grab it and gave it to Koh.  Koh ate and then gave it to Ta.  Ta ate and gave the remains to Ree, his mate.  By now there was very little left, and it was tossed on the floor where the little ones scrambled and screamed for it.

            Koh and Ta went outside where it was getting dark. The night sun was up, getting smaller. Koh knew what he would do during the next day sun.

            A cooler breeze woke Koh, and he sniffed it hungrily. The smell of leaves was stronger, and there was another musty smell, faint, but definitely there.  Ta was already outside and the two men stood, sniffing and nodding together.

            Grunting, Koh gestured to Nee.   She came out and sniffed as well. Koh took a finger and swiped it across his face. Nee understood and left, walking down a rocky bank.  Koh and Ta went in and grabbed their spears.  Ta called to  Ree, and showed her his spear. She also knew what he needed and left a different way than Nee had.

            As Koh and Ta finished smoothing the spear shafts, both Nee and Ree returned.  Nee went over to a corner of the cave where there was a natural basin that held rainwater. She took her smooth stone, dipped it in the water, then began grinding the red rock she had gathered for Koh.

            Ree had sap from the green trees and some long fibers from near the stream.  Carefully she tore the fibers into long thin strips. Each strip she coated with sap, then held it briefly over the fire, making it soft.  Ta grabbed one and used it to attach his spear point to his spear shaft. Koh did the same.  They let the sap cool, then carefully tested the spears in soft dirt. Ta’s was coming loose so he added another fiber coated with soft sap.  Then both of them coated the base of the spear point and all of the fibers with the remaining sap.

            Nee had ground up her rock into a red mud .  Calling Ta and Koh over, she muttered a series of sounds under her breath (Lah erk da lah erk da.)  Putting down her stone, which was red from all the grinding, she put all her fingers in the mud.  Still muttering, she carefully put her hand on Koh’s cheek, leaving a handprint that looked like blood.  She did the other cheek. Then she used three fingers and drew red lines across his forehead.  Swiping both hands in the mud again, she made long blood lines along his arms, then legs.

            Ree came over and began the same muttering, and she put her hands in the mud.  On Ta, she put her fingertips under his eyes, then drew lines down his face.  With blood red hands she cupped his neck, so he looked as if he’d been strangled.  Moving his skins aside she put bloody hands all over his trunk.

            Both women then made their man’s feet red, up to the ankles.  Ta and Koh stood still, for all of this.  As the women finished the men walked to the edge of the cave, then lifted their spears and said as one,” Lah erk da, lah erk da!”    Then they left together, walking quietly down to the valley where the large herd of horned beasts awaited them.

Bak!

Tools and Language Developed at the same time 

 The African Savannah, =/- 2 million years ago...

“Bah-bah-bah! Bah-bah-bah!” Little one was hitting her hands together, making the noise. Sniffing the air and looking around, Mama made sure her little one wasn’t attracting danger.  Satisfied, she waddled the short distance across the stony bank to get water.

            The others were not far away, most of them searching the tall grasses for the remains of the beasts’ kills. Papa had one stone with an edge he had found long ago, and they would use that to cut parts of the killings to eat. Every time it took longer to cut off a leg or part of the back.

            Mama stayed back to care for little one. Little one could not walk far yet, but was too big to carry much. Mama began to scoop handfuls of the stream to her mouth. She had just finished a handful when the noise from little one changed.

            “Bah-bah-bah!” and with each ‘bah’ was a little clink. Mama looked back and saw little one bashing two small rocks together. She returned to her water. As she looked into the stream, she noticed a rock that was shinier and rougher than the others were. Carefully she pulled it out. One edge was thinner, and running her hand along it, she could feel the hurt. If she pushed hard enough, the red would come.

            Suddenly there was a loud cry from little one. Mama turned and saw that the rocks little one had been playing with had broken, one of them cutting little one’s hand. The red was dripping over little one’s legs. Mama ran over to her and picked her up before little one could cry too much in pain…that would bring the beasts.

            Inspecting the cut, Mama could see it was small, and would stop bleeding soon. She set little one back down and picked up the two rocks little one had been banging together.  One was still round, but the other was broken, and the edge was what had cut little one. Mama looked again.

            A rock had broken a rock. Mama went back to the rock she had dropped when little one had cried. Sitting down next to little one, she gave her two more small stones, then picked up two herself. She began hitting them together like little one had. Little one joined in.

            “Bah-bah-bah! Bah-bah-bah!” they made the noise together, each time banging their rocks. “Bah-bah-bah! Bah-bah-bah!

            Suddenly there was a sharp crack, and Mama felt the sharp hurt and saw the red dripping. One of her rocks had broken, leaving a sharp edge, much like the one she had just found. Mama had to stop. Now she had two sharp rocks, both could cut into the remains of the beasts’ kills.

            After the heat the others returned to the edge of the water where they’d made their night nests. Hearing the strange noise, Papa and another came upon Mama and little one. Beside Mama was a small pile of stones with edges.  Seeing Papa, she held up one. Then she made a noise that was not a scream or an alert of any kind.

            “Bah-bah-bak! Bak!” and she showed him the sharp edge. “Bak!” another rock with and edge.

            “Bak! Bak! Bak!,” cried the little one, holding up her tiny broken stones.

Some days later…

            Papa and many of the others crouched on the ground with piles of round rocks nearby. Each would grab two, then put one on the ground. Almost in unison, they would make the rock noise, “Bah-bah-bah! Bah-bah-bah!” When a rock got a sharp edge, the maker would make the “Bak!”sound.

            The group now had many baks, and these they used to cut the remains of the killings from the beasts. The cutting was much faster for they all had sharp edges now. The group was eating very well.

Punished...Has Been Removed Temporarily

Family

Inspired by a friend's post, and with a prehistoric nod to the royal baby due soon...

+/- 2,000,000 years ago, African river valley

It was wet. Dripping soaking wet. The grasses were soaked, making walking difficult, cold. The ground under the grasses was thick with mud. And still the waters fell from up. This was not common. They were headed for a dry rocky overhang in the hills across a stream.

Tey searched the group of just over a hand of fingers struggling through the wet day. Tey saw his aging mother, then his sister, Grah who was big with a coming baby. Walking slightly ahead, was his sister’s mate, Ahrr, who was older than Tey and the biggest of the group. Running and playing were two young ones who fed themselves, but still needed help often.Old Er, who had only three teeth left, came up behind. Tey stayed near his mother out of habit. Long since weaned, he still saw the look on his mothers face when he had romped around as he learned to walk and call her.

The water continued and soon they came to the muddy sides of the stream they had wanted to cross. It was much bigger than before, brown and running fast. Arhh crouched down in the mud. They all crouched down around him, sniffing the air for danger. It was almost impossible to hear anything coming, with the roaring and gurgling of the water.

Arhh stood up, looked around once more, and then headed across the water. One of the younger ones, being adventurous, escaped the hold of Grah and chased after Arhh. His cry of delight in the water soon turned to a scream of pain as the water knocked him down onto rocks. Helplessly, he was tossed down the rushing, angry stream. Arhh, hearing this, tried to catch the youngster. In doing so, he tripped and fell into the water. After a terrible short scream, he floated away limply; face down in the dirty torrent.

Grah called helplessly after him and would have gone to him, but Tey grabbed her and threw her on the ground. She was carrying a baby and they had just lost one. Still screaming, Tey held her down. His mother came over and started rubbing the big baby bump, crooning “Bah bah bah…bah bah bah”

As Grah quieted down, Tey stood up and looked around. He sniffed the air. The water from upwards was stopping. The stream continued to be strong and fierce. Tey grabbed a long branch that had floated down. He tested it against the flowing stream. It gave some support and was not too big to hold. He grabbed the other youngster who was quietly mourning the loss of his sibling, and put him on his hip. The youngster was heavy, but Tey was strong. Using the branch, he carefully felt his way across. The rocks were slippery and big. Finally getting across, he dropped the youngster.

Turning around he saw that his mother and Grah were doing the same thing. Old Er stood patiently, making no move to cross over. Tey started back. His mother and sister were going slow but seemed safe. Tey reached the muddy bank again and extended his hand to Er, who took it slowly. They made their way across, carefully. Grah and his mother were almost to the far bank. Tey was getting very tired now, and slipped a little. Er held steady.

Suddenly there was a painful cry. Grah was on the bank, holding mother. His mother was trying to climb up, but one foot was not coming out of the stream. When Grah pulled, she screamed. Tey and Er did their best to get there faster, both slipping several times on the large boulders they could not see. Tey came along side his mother. He still held the branch and Er. Looking at his mother’s eyes, seeing the pain, he wanted to help stop that pain.  He saw in his head that he was now the leader, with Arhh being gone. And Grah would need help with the baby. Mother could help. He let go of Er and grabbed his mother. Er grabbed once for the branch, then slipped. He too, went down the wild ride of the surging brook. Tey could not be sure, but he thought he heard Er cry out, “Bah bah bah…” as he disappeared from view.

Feeling with his foot, Tey could sense that his mother’s foot was caught between two rocks. He kicked at one of them, crying out as he broke his toes. His kick loosed the rock and as he and Grah pulled, his mother climbed onto the shore and collapsed on the wet rock. Grah stood, holding the hand of the young one. Tey limped painfully to mother and helped her up. Her foot was bleeding, but it did not look too bad. Together, the small band of one hand of fingers scrambled up to the rocky over hang.

Giant Stone Axe

http://phys.org/news171790409.html

… the discovery of the first of what are believed to be the world’s largest stone tools on the bed of the lake...Four giant stone hand axes, measuring over 30 cm long and of uncertain age, were recovered from the lake basin.

 

Maybe 100,000 years ago, the dry basin of Lake Makgadikgadi in the Kalahari Desert.…

Waki was almost finished. He was relieved and yet a little sad.  He was relieved because this work had taken time and was heavy. His back ached and his fingers were raw, and cut in some places. He was sad because it meant his son was now a man, and would face a man’s dangers.

He squinted at the sun.  It was starting down.  When night came this stone axe, a gift for his son, would be finished.  Waki adjusted his feet amongst the flint chips, barely noticing yet another small cut.  When a man worked the stone as Waki did, a man got cut.

There was a noise in back with the people.  Waki’s mate and children, her sister and her mate, their children, and Waki’s younger brother were the people.  His mate’s mother had been with them until the last rainfall, when she had fallen asleep for the last time.  They were a small people, but all was well as they hunted along the lake. 

The noise grew louder; Waki’s mate was wailing. Waki lifted his head, then stood up slowly, his aching knees refusing to move as fast as he needed them to.  He walked to the people.  His brother was dragging a long tall animal behind him.  It was lean and brown, with fresh blood…as he got closer, Waki saw that it was his son. One look and he could see that his son, who had been Waga, had gotten too close to a lion.  Waki looked at his brother.

“Grothr” the one word made sense.  A female lion, probably protecting her young.

Waki hung his head.  He couldn’t look at his wailing mate, or his other children. Instead, he went back to his stones.  He picked up the stone axe he had been shaping as a fine gift for Waga.  

He finished it, hearing the heart wrenching wails of his mate until the sun was almost down.  He picked up the fine stone axe.  Large because Waga was large.  Large because Waki felt a great sense of goodness for his young man-son.  He went to Waga’s still body.  Over the head he held the great stone axe.  He lifted it to the sky and his bellow to the sky was bloodcurdling.  He roared again, shaking the axe against the twilight and the quiet stars. He turned, and purposefully strode to the edge of the lake.  In sorrow, anger and unanswered rage he threw the stone axe to the bottom.