The Mender

River Song

Esri struggled to come to the surface, madly grabbing onto a rock, sputtering river water. Fortunately, the current wasn't strong where she fell in and her fall was partially cushioned by the animal skins she was carrying. Zura and Dagan peered over the ledge from above.

"Esri!" they both cried out.

Esri hung onto the rock and pulled herself out of the river. She lay panting and shaken but managed to smile up at the two worried people above.

"I'm all right. Just wet."

Zura looked at Dagan. "Angry Snake is warning us that we must be careful. We're fortunate that Esri is not hurt. She's young and light and quick. If it had been my old body or your large body, it could have been worse. Leave your things and go down and help her. We'll stop here for a while and let the skins dry."

Dagan nodded and carefully made his way down to Esri. "Are you all right?"

Esri was looking through her things. "Yes, just a few small scrapes. I lost my water carrier but everything else is here, even my spear. I dropped it when I fell and it landed by the river," Esri said.

"And your Huti stone?" Dagan smiled.

"Oh yes, that's tied-up with the flints." She pointed to the pouch looped around her waist. Zura and Dagan had tried to dissuade Esri from carrying the extra weight of the Huti stone. The stone had white veins running through it that formed a perfect outline of Huti, the large water bird. Esri had stopped using it as a hammerstone as she worried that continually striking it against the flaking stones would harm the Huti image. Hence, the stone served no practical purpose for their journey, but Esri was adamant about bringing it. "It was probably the Huti stone that saved me!"

Dagan shook his head. "I wish it was more powerful and stopped you from falling. Come, let's go back to Zura. We'll spread out your things to dry. I'll walk behind you."

Though Esri claimed to be all right, Dagan knew accidents could shake up your feelings inside as much as outward parts of your body, and he worried that Esri might slip again.

They thoroughly examined Esri for cuts and bruises, making sure she was all right. The skins that landed in the river with her were still damp when they left but the walkers didn't want to tarry longer. They were anxious to find a sheltered place before nightfall. By late afternoon they spotted a small shallow cave.

"That will do for the night," Zura said. "We can get some wood and brush from that grove of trees over there."

Esri used the spindle and base of the hand drill they carried to create a hot coal, gradually adding grasses, and then small twigs until the fire was hot enough to burn the larger sticks. They placed the fire near the front of the cave both for warmth and protection should there be any predatory animals that survived. They spread out the still damp animal skins hoping to dry them some more before going to sleep and ate most of their remaining roots. The three huddled together under the skins that were dry. They were exhausted.

Esri turned to Zura, "We've walked far from our bode and found no Others. What if there are no more and we're alone? What if tomorrow we can't find food? Our roots are almost gone."

Zura said, "The River of Life will provide for us but he can harm us if we don't watch him closely. We were wrong to turn our backs to him today. As long as Angry Snake travels with us, she'll protect us as she protected you today, Esri. I can see her entire head now before Sun-Man comes. She grows bigger."

Esri said, "Do you think we will be walking when the next Traveler comes?"

Zura paused, then said, "I don't know. The next Traveler is Spear-Thrower. When he comes we'll have walked farther than any from our bode have walked in a long time. No one since my brother, Barsa, who left before you were born, Esri."

"Maybe we'll find Barsa," said Esri.

"Yes, I would like that, to see him again, but I think something happened to him and his End Days came because he never returned from his last journey. We must be very careful on our journey," Zura's voice grew soft and sad.

"I think Barsa is waiting for us, Zura," Esri said. "And truly, I'm not hurt. You two sleep. I'll feed our fire and wake the great buffalo when I'm tired." She poked Dagan.

"And I'll sit with you when Angry Snake comes," Dagan said to Zura.

When the pre-dawn came, Dagan and Zura watched Angry Snake appear.

Zura said, "We're seeing more stars at night. If all of the Travelers return, I believe they will bring back the animals and plants that left with the Ash Rain. We need to be patient."

After Sun-Man shone, Dagan walked toward the river and found a few familiar plants growing near the water.

Zura said, "You didn't take them all, did you?"

He laughed, "No Zura, you taught me well. I only took enough. I left some so the plants can keep coming back."

The tender, new shoots were a welcome change from the tough, dry roots they had been eating for days. After yesterday's near catastrophe when Esri fell in the river, finding the crunchy, fresh greens brought badly needed hope to the three walkers. "Look, the River of Life provides for us. We won't turn our backs to him today," said Zura.

Before setting off, Zura began chanting. When Esri added her lovely, clear high voice and Dagan's baritone came rumbling in, it resounded down the river valley and gave them courage. The cadence and melody of the chant came from an ancient river song but many of the words were new as they beseeched the river to return their world to how things were before the Ash Rain and the Always Cloud. They took turns adding new verses, repeating them many times, hoping the River of Life would hear them.

River of Life, bring back your clear water

River of Life, bring back your green plants

River of Life, bring back your fat fish

River of Life, bring back your beautiful shells

River of Life, River of Life, hear us, watch over us.

They continued singing as they walked. Though their pace was slow, it was steady and they soon covered a fair distance. The day passed, the terrain was new to them but not unlike their old home territory. Several times they ate more newly sprouted greens.

Late in the afternoon they saw the opening to what might be a large cave on a high ledge up ahead. It felt early to stop for the day but there was no guarantee they would find somewhere else before nightfall.

Esri slipped out of the animals skins strapped to her back, "I'll go look."

"Dagan should go," Zura said.

"I'll be all right."

Dagan said, "Let her go. We haven't seen large animals in many Moon-Woman  journeys and the signs of Others we've seen are old."

Zura agreed, "Yes, all right. The signs are all old. But be careful."

Zura and Dagan watched Esri scramble up to the top of the ledge to the cave entrance. As soon as she pulled herself upright in front of the cave, she gasped.

Lying inside were the broken remains of many people.