The SealEaters, 20,000 BC Read online

  ‘We rowed up the river to where the trees began. It was a strange thing to us that the large old trees were so far inland. Why, we wondered, was there so much flat land? Sometimes if you dug down into that flat land, you could find shells from the sea. It made no sense. It remains a mystery.’

  The mist moved back to the body from the rock ledge. It almost took on human form as it approached the hand exposed on the rock. The mist bent over the hand. Then, it returned to what seemed to be its resting place. It was some time before the mist continued speaking.

  ‘It was a welcome sight to see color back on the land. Oh, the sea ice crossing was not totally without color. Sometimes the water and sky were incredibly blue. Occasionally, the ice contained blue or greenish color. I’ve seen a mist from the giant hunks of ice show a rainbow, if the sun happened to be in the right place for us to see it. From time to time at night we’d see colors waving in the sky. But color didn’t surround us all the time.

  ‘In the open grasslands, however, we’d see the brown of the mud and dirt, the various shades of green. The gray-brown of the mammoths was a thrill. The colors of the birds were amazing. There were some birds there that were red. Brilliant blood red. I was speechless when I saw the first one. Their heads are peaked.’

  ‘While color returned, so did another pest. Bugs that bite were plentiful, more plentiful than at home. The bites of the flies leave different sized welts on the skin. We finally hauled the boats ashore near the line that began the trees. This land has large bugs that scream in the night from the trees where they live. It is a daunting experience to hear them. It was better when we found the source of the sound was a bug. If it had been an evil spirit trying to terrify us, it would have been very effective. I haven’t been bitten in this land. It has been at least a day since a bug bit me. Is the land here too elevated for bugs? I wonder.’

  ‘It took a while for my legs to become accustomed to land. Who would have guessed that would happen? At first I thought the earth was shaking, but then I realized the clues were missing and that nobody else was experiencing what I was. Then, later someone else would feel the shaking. We soon realized it was our own bodies adjusting to the land. We’ve learned that this new land is not a copy of our Cove—that is certain.’

  The mist elongated itself vertically, continuing what appeared to be pacing.

  ‘Akla, my brother, and I decided to take my boat to explore the area. We left at night to use the star that never moves as a guide. By high sun the next day, as we traveled back to the sea to go up another river, Akla discovered that Vaima was hiding under a furless skin. She was terrified to have been discovered. Akla cursed her, finally checking himself. I felt sorry for her. She had been ripped from all the security of her family, not even a woman yet, and she had to travel with us through the terror of the sea storms. Worse, she had to wonder what Reg would do. Akla and I decided to continue on with her. We would pretend to Reg that she just went black in our boat, which she had. We would assure him she meant no disrespect. She was not found until we were too far to turn back. Vaima wept with relief, took an oar, and helped to row.’

  ‘We traveled south until we came to a river wider than the one we’d explored the first time. We turned west and passed through the same long flat land. Then the area became treed, just as we’d seen happen the first time. Suddenly, Vaima whispered to us. Initially we didn’t hear her, but when we did it filled us with dread. There were people following us along the shore—on both sides.’

  ‘We pretended not to notice, though we stayed to the center of the river. Occasionally, we’d see a watercraft they’d made, pulled up on shore. Their watercraft is tiny compared to ours. We wondered how stable those boats might be. We felt safe to talk among ourselves. In our land there were many different ways of speaking. There were commonalities, but you had to become used to them. With people this far from us, we guessed they’d not understand us. We expected to have to use hunter signs. It would be more than a day before we’d learn that our assumptions proved true.’

  ‘I’m beginning to remember! The people came out to meet us in large numbers. They circled our boat and aimed weapons with small spear tips at us. We hadn’t even raised a spear! They made it clear that they wanted us to follow them and we did. They took the three of us to their meeting place. All gathered. There were many of them. I guess it was their chief who spoke to us. He wanted to know where our land was. With hunter signals, some they seemed to understand, and using a stick to draw in the sand and rocks to mark things, they finally realized we’d come from across the sea where the morning sun arises. They were surprised. I wondered whether they were at war and thought we were the enemy. But they kept referring to our clothes, so I think they were ready to accept that we came from somewhere far away. We tried to explain what seals were, but they kept confusing seals with river otters which we’d just recently seen for the first time. We had to explain about fresh water and salt water, something they could understand. They also understood the difference between the river and the sea, and we told them we lived by the sea many moons to the east.’

  ‘Once they learned we were the people of the morning sun and not from the west, they seemed to accept us. They made us understand that people from the west make war against them. From that time on we became People of the Morning Sun across the Sea, their interpretation of our word, SealEaters. They accepted us among them. We could have lived with them for the rest of time. We stayed there for many days, learning their language enough to communicate simple things. Vaima was delighted and became woman there. She learned the language quicker than we did. The elder women took good care of her. When we were ready to leave, Vaima wanted to remain behind. Akla and I didn’t know what to do about that. Their Chief’s son very much wanted Vaima. It was obviously a mutual desire.’

  ‘We’d lived crazy for too long. This was how people should live. She’d been through so much fright. We hadn’t chosen to bring her with us. Reg even saw us leave. She’d hidden on the boat. When we left we didn’t know she was there. It seemed to Akla and me that we could let her remain. After all, she was not charged to us for safekeeping. It would make Reg furious if he knew, but how would he ever know she went with us, unless we told him? She could have wandered off along the river. An animal could have taken her to feed its young. It didn’t have to be that she went with us. We let her stay. The Chief’s son asked what we wanted for her. Vaima served as translator. We let him know we wanted him to be very good to her for all her days. When she translated for him, he put his arm around her protectively. We thought that was the best thing to do for Vaima. She was obviously happy. I could not return her to Reg. Her smile had come back. She was genuinely in the right place for her. As for me, it felt good to let her stay.’

  The mist again appeared to take on human form. It sat on the rock ledge.

  ‘How strange. I just remembered before I came to this unusual place, my back hurt. The pain’s gone. That’s wonderful! Talking it out must be bringing memory back to my thinking place.’

  ‘Akla and I left to explore a few other rivers to the south. With Vaima gone, we could relax and not have to think about what we said. It gave us a freedom that we cherished. To explore a different land is a very exciting thing. You never know what you’ll see. It was warm even though it was the cold time on earth. Often we could swim upriver. To be clean was so refreshing. Frankly, my skins from the trip stank. I’m sure my own skin stank.’

  ‘It was easy to spear animals and catch fish or other food along the way. Knowing there were people in this land, we took caution, but we did not meet others until we came far to the south. That was the land of great lizards and many snakes. We stayed there for no more time than it took to turn about and retreat quickly to find the SealEaters. We saw a people in that large lizard infested land who threatened us from shore, pounding their spears into the ground while gesturing and grimacing. We’ve never turned a boat around that fast in our lives. They did not chase us by boat.’ />
  ‘We loved the great grassland, but it was very time consuming to cross it to the land where the trees began. It was, we thought, not a place for the SealEaters to live. We needed to have the closeness of forest to make our huts, unless we built differently. Still, then, we would need forest, I think. In some ways the forests are protective, though we don’t like to go deep into them. Spirits live in the deep, dense forests. They don’t want us there.’

  ‘We started upriver and were certain we had the right river. The turns were familiar. It certainly seemed the right river. Once we’d rowed for a long time, we found what appeared to be the place where we’d pulled to shore for the first time. We could see marks of numbers of people and we tried, as hunters, to learn what happened there. Too many footprints converged. Off to the side, they had obviously skinned a furred animal. More than one. They were careless to leave parts of the deer above ground just lying there. That wasn’t very respectful to an animal that gave up life that the SealEaters might live. Understanding what happened was not easy. But we could see where the boats had pulled in and out. Certainly that long slide in the mud had been from Reg’s big boat. The SealEaters had left. We then began to look for hunter signs. At last we found the sign that pointed back down the river towards the sea. They had carved it into the bark of several trees. We had to return to the sea to look for markers telling us where to go to meet them. Surely they hadn’t gone south or we’d have seen them. We felt so fortunate that the people we met where Vaima now lived had supplied us with a large amount of jerky of various types and baskets of fruit. If they liked you, they could be very kind. I think, if you were their enemy, you’d better beware of their potential for ferocity.’

  The mist arose definitely in the form of a human. It appeared to look out on the vastness of the valley below.

  ‘Oh, Akla, where are you? I’m remembering in pieces! I don’t remember separating from you anywhere. You should be here. Such a good brother. I enjoyed growing up with you. We had such great times when we were young. I remember the days when we spent all our time in the forest hunting for food to spear for dinner. I remember the first time we—just you and I—were permitted to stay in the forest land overnight on a hunt. We brought home a horse. Everyone was so proud of us. It was hard for us to carry home, but somehow we did it. I can remember the look on your face, Akla, when we knew we’d make the kill. We would contribute to the family’s food supply. We were growing up. We had stayed out alone at night for two nights. I’d felt so very responsible for your safety, Akla, but you did well on your part. Only rarely did I need to caution you.’

  The mist in human form began to pace again.

  ‘I look around me and see nothing familiar anywhere. It seems a land where nothing lives. It is a lovely land, like much of what we’ve seen on this land exploration, but it still has a feel of unreality about it. I would think that At may be more familiar in settings like this than I am, as if this place has more to do with spirits than people. What an awful thought! I didn’t really think through those words. Could this land be filled with spirits—not people. It makes me shudder. It’s probably just my fear speaking. Fear? Yes, fear. Fear of being in this strange land—alone.’

  ‘Akla! Oh, Akla! Akla, if you cannot answer in words, make a sound. By the gods, Akla, do not tease me! No, I will not cry. I’ll continue to pace, think, and try to remember.’

  ‘I remember one night at sea. All was very still. Torq and Wapa went black while I rowed alone. The sky was filled with crackling waving colors. The sea was black. Stars were everywhere. Oddly, I felt comforted on the sea that night. It was as if the gods were with me on the boat. I could feel the closeness of a spirit, and it was pleasant, not at all frightening. It was as if whatever that presence was gave to me an assurance that all would be well. That was the only time in my life I ever had that experience with a spirit. I’d like to experience that again.’

  ‘Should I descend the hill? Maybe Akla is in the valley below. If not Akla, maybe another SealEater. I would even welcome seeing Reg! But, if I leave this place don’t I also leave my hand that still lies on the rock there? I can see a faintness of my hand where it should be, but the hand on the ground is much clearer. Much clearer! This is definitely something I would like not to have learned. I shall leave this place and go below. Maybe my anxiety is just causing me to see strangely. If I leave, things might be better.’

  ‘I see no path to below, so I’ll just try to move downward by going on an angle down, not straight down. Then I can turn back the way I came and angle downward more. I’ll keep doing that until I reach the bottom.’

  The mist moved down the hill in alternating downward diagonals. Up by the buried man, a woman and man arrived carrying dirt and rocks. They put the dirt over the hand and covered it completely with rocks they’d brought. They left the way they came—on the other side of the hill. Meanwhile, the mist stood on a rock ledge further down the mountain on the side opposite from where the people came and left.

  ‘Ah, what a lovely overlook this is! The rock is big and strong, and I can see so far away. It seems there are people below. I hope they are mine. If it turns out they are strangers, I won’t really care. Strangers are better than nothing. Oh, that is contrary to the rules we have for hunting. Even alone, a wise hunter is cautious around strangers. I suppose I should conceal myself until I have studied to know who the people are—SealEaters or strangers. I have to have self-control here, not let my wants run away with my safety. I wouldn’t want to die here all alone or in the presence of evil strangers.’

  ‘While I continue on this approach, I find that my legs still work differently. When I was pacing, which is normal for me when I’m anxious, I felt as though I were gliding, a little like sliding on ice. I still feel that way. At least I move where I’d like to go.’

  ‘I fear I don’t know these people. They are as clear to see as my hand that I saw on the ground. They look nothing like SealEaters. I will observe from up here.’

  ‘That one is very old. She reminds me a little of my mother, Fluga. My mother—how I love her. She is a quiet person. She thinks very little of herself. By that I mean, she doesn’t have a lot of pride. My mother lives her life to see her family strong. She works constantly. Her teeth have little slits in them where the cord she makes starts life by sliding between her teeth, so she could separate out the fibers from what’s attached to them for making cords. Mother said the substance attached to the fibers makes lumpy cords, so she chews it to clean the fibers. Her teeth are strong, but they do have slits in them from smoothing fibers by pulling them through her teeth. When we grew up, my mother’s presence in the tent was like the dirt on the ground, or the moss that stuffs the holes between logs—her presence was taken for granted and not noticed. No one ever told her she did well, nor did she demand to know. Mother simply did what was required and a little beyond. She never offered her opinions; she listened. Mother never blamed; she simply supported her own. She never offended; she accepted. Mother watched to be sure our garments were mended, and she did not ask for skins to make something for herself. Unlike most of the SealEaters, her only concern for herself was cleanliness. She picked her teeth after eating. She bathed even when it was very cold. Her hair was always clean and combed. It was shiny. When I was injured, Mother would put her arm around me, wash the injured skin, put honey on it, and wrap it. She’d look into my eyes and tell me how many days to expect before it was healed. If it was very bad, she’d tell me to work hard on something that caused me to think. Working hard while thinking would decrease the pain. Although it made no sense, it worked. She is a good woman. Women praise my mother. Men have said they wished their wives were like my mother.’

  ‘These people are leaving. To see people at last and now to see them leave. That is sad. They don’t seem to know I’m here.’

  The mist rose appearing human. It moved quickly toward a man at the edge of a creek, the closest man to the mist.

  ‘I am Murke, of the SealEa
ters, I say to the man who just stood up from drinking water from the lake, introducing myself politely.’

  ‘He stares in my direction, over my head, as if I do not exist. Does he intend to ignore me, or is he not able to see me? I do not understand. I see no clear intent that he might be devious. Is it that in this strange land, people cannot see SealEaters? I really don’t want to learn any of this. I just want to find the rest of the SealEaters and be gone from this place. I want to be among my own where things are clear as to intent and the rules are well established and don’t keep changing. This man clearly can see, but he acts as if I were not here. I see no malice or guile in him, just simply that he doesn’t see me. As he leaves, I realize that I must be maturing. If that happened to me in my younger years, I’d have wept when alone. I have no desire to do so.’

  The mist lost the human form and collapsed to the ground by the creek.

  ‘Now that I’m down here in this valley, I have no knowledge of where on the hill above I was. In my excitement over finding people, I neglected to make sure of my return route. I can’t believe I overlooked what is normal hunter behavior. Maybe that’s the rock outcrop where I overlooked the valley. But there’s another there and yet another in that place. I wonder whether I have a reason to return to there. I’ll look to find a river leaving this lake. I could follow this creek to a river.’

  The mist arose, exceptionally thin and pale, and began to follow the creek in the direction it flowed.

  ‘When growing up, I remember Mongwire and I had voice change and we began to grow hair where it had not grown. We talked about girls who were changing to women. There was only one girl close to our age, and we both thought she was wonderful. Mongwire was an elder, so the girl, Guint, was his. As a result of the terrible sickness, girls of my age were just not available. The elders thought about traveling to find us wives, but with all the wars, it did not seem wise to do so. Sometimes, I thought about traveling across the tallest mountains to steal a wife. Then, the elders made the rule that they had to approve the taking a wife for all other than elders, and approval required a unanimous decision. Reg always disapproved the requests, so even when time passed and girls became available, it was impossible to take a wife. At that time, I secretly wished Reg would have an accident on a hunting trip and die. That was evil on my part, but he prevented things that are normal in nature from happening. He did it for no reason except that he could. I’ve never been able to understand it. I hated him for it.’