Storytime

This is the FIRST part of Chapter one (I have to break it up for word count)


Chapter One: The Quest

Runs Far Without Water sat on Knows Tomorrow’s grass filled deerskin with more than a little trepidation. Knows Tomorrow was the band’s Shaman. He wore a buffalo skin over his slim, angular form and was shaking a gourd filled with his personal medicine of animal bones and hair, along with sacred rocks and arrowheads.

His name, Knows tomorrow, came from his ability to predict when the hunters would find the elusive forest buffalo, but more important, Knows tomorrow knew when the Monwoks might attack.

Runs Far Without Water had seen nearly 16 summers and today was the most important day of his life. Knows Tomorrow had put the deerskin very close to the campfire and had commanded Runs Far Without Water to sit on it facing the campfire while the shaman danced around the campfire chanting. So far, he had put none of the sacred red ochre on Runs Far Without Water’s back or chest. None would go on his face, that would wait for his first war party, but if Knows tomorrow did not paint his back and chest it would mean that the Spirits had turned down his Quest. He would then have to return, in shame, and remain with the women and children. That he could not bear. Bravely Limps and Head Basher, who were both only three moons older, had already completed their Quest and had been given their warrior names.

Head Basher had been given two names. Following his quest, he had been called Wolf That Howls. That name had come because he had told how a wolf had come to him during his Quest, and had stayed with him for two days howling. When Knows Tomorrow and the other warriors had heard this, they had disbelieved his Quest and he was about to be sent back to the women, when, suddenly, a howling started in the forest and continued throughout most of the night. The next day Head basher had been given his name and was admitted to the Warrior Society.

Only two moons later, Knows Tomorrow foretold a Monwok raid and Wolf that Howls had been on guard outside the campground when he spied a Monwok scout. He had snuck behind him and killed him with a single blow of his war club. Wolf That Howls had saved the People from a sneak attack by the Monwoks and was regarded now as a warrior. He also was given the name Head Basher, which he could choose to use instead of Wolf That Howls. Of the two names, he had quickly chosen Head Basher. Runs Far Without Water had thought that unwise, since the wolf spirit had wisdom and might now desert him. When he mentioned this to Head Basher, Head Basher had said, “ Let the old ones be wise, I will be fierce in battle and be known as Head Basher.”

Bravely Limps had been very lucky. His Quest had shown him a vision of a warrior who, despite a leg wound, had defended his retreating tribe against a larger war party. No one had questioned his vision, since the People had been defeated by larger tribes many times. It would be good to have a warrior who might linger to slow down the enemy. This was very fortunate for Bravely Limps. Had Knows Tomorrow and the Warrior Society not believed his quest, he would have to repeat it, or worse, join the women for life.

This had happened only two summers ago. Young Deer had set out on his quest but had returned after only two days. He told a tale of being hunted by wolves and never seeing the Lake of Still Waters. He said he had gotten lost and only found his way back to the campground by accident. Nevertheless, he had related a vision during which he saw a cliff of hard black rock with war clubs embedded in it. He had not been admitted to the Warrior Society, yet he did not repeat his Quest.

The warriors rarely spoke to him. Now, nearing his nineteenth winter, he spent his time chipping arrowheads, and ate with the women. Knows Tomorrow often gave him meat however, and although they never spoke of it, the warriors wondered why the old Shaman was so generous. There were even more astonished looks when Knows tomorrow gave Young Deer the adult, but not warrior, name of Black Rock. There was no feasting to celebrate the naming, but thereafter, Black Rock shared the Shamans lodge and spent no more time with the women. Instead, he would often wander far, alone, saying that he was looking for his namesake. He had been gone for over three days now as Runs Far Without Water sat listening to the Shaman’s chants.

Knows Tomorrow stopped dancing. Shaking his head and muttering, he began to paint Runs Far Without Water’s back and chest. After Knows Tomorrow had finished painting the lightning streaks, circles, and arrows on Runs Far Without Water, he threw tobacco into the campfire and began the sacred chants to the six directions, up, down, north, south, west, and east. The chants to the east were the most important. The spirits of the east had been angry with the People for a long time. They had sent powerful tribes against the People and those tribes were pushing the People west and south, into new lands that the People didn’t know. In spite of the chanting, the burnt offering of tobacco and meat, and the blood letting of the women, the spirits had not relented. The Monwoks, a large and fierce tribe, still plagued the People.

Finally, Runs Far Without Water rose, and taking only his stone knife, his bow, a quiver of arrows, and his medicine pouch, he walked from the village. He would walk to the Lake of Still Water, climb the cliff on the west side of the lake and sit on a ledge facing east. There he would start a small fire, burn tobacco, and begin his Quest chant. He would not eat or drink for three days as he awaited his vision and his spirit guide.

As he walked from the village, he was careful not to look back. If he looked back before he had found his place on the ledge, his Quest would be ruined. To look back would mean that he wanted to remain a child, the women would laugh at him and he would never become a warrior. The best he would have to look forward to would to become a craftsman, making tools, sewing skins for shelter, or making bows. He could never take a women, unless she had been dishonored or disfigured, and he would never sit in council. Passing the last lodge, he broke into a distance consuming jog which he could continue for the rest of the day without tiring.

The first hint of the cold time was in the wind as it brushed his face while he ran. In another moon, the time of snow would be upon the land. This year it would also be a time of want. The frequent attacks by the Monwoks and the constant moving of the campground to flee them, had given the People little time to hunt and prepare meat for the winter. The cold time would bring a great winter kill upon the People unless they made a successful and large hunt, and made it very soon.

Runs Far Without Water was still in his jog as the Sun sought its lodge in the west. He was brought to a sudden stop by a movement in the woods ahead of him. A great black wolf emerged from the green and brown tangle of the trees and vegetation. It stopped directly in Runs Far Without Water’s path and stared at him, unblinking. Runs Far Without Water had never seen a wolf this large, the blackness of its coat seemed to him to have immeasurable depth. Then it bared its brilliantly white fangs and took a step toward him. Runs Far Without Water thought his Quest might end in the jaws of this seemingly supernatural beast, when suddenly it looked back into the woods from which it had come and bolted away! Runs Far Without Water followed the wolfs eyes and saw a massive brown form lumber away parallel to his path. He could not discern what it was, but he dropped to his knees and started a chant of thanksgiving for having been saved from the huge wolf. Finishing his chant, he rose and decided to walk the rest of the way to the Lake of Still Waters so that he could be more aware of what else might also be in the woods. When he reached the lake and stood beneath the cliffs, the Sun had long ago found its lodge, but its brother, the Moon, was very bright in the sky. Runs Far Without Water started his climb.