The Snake

Snake

This is a story about a young man that was forsaken by his tribe due to a long-lived fear that had been passed down through generations. This man's name was Chu'a, meaning snake. The snake was thought to be a vengeful, deceptive creature. Deceptive in the way of how a snake was able to renew its form by shedding its previous form. Vengeful in the belief of devouring the souls of the innocent in a way to get back at the tribe for a long forgotten grudge. Chu'a was always apart from the main group not only because of fear of his name but also because of his uncanny ability to track and hunt. It was the day before the tribe was to move again and the men were sent to get fresh fish and other meat for the long journey to the southern land. All the men headed upstream to were the fish had been plentiful for the past week. Chu'a, on the other hand, headed downstream towards the waterfall. At the base of the waterfall was a pool of clouded water. Around the pool, he set traps for small prey and when that was finished, proceeded to dig a smaller pool that connected to the bigger body of water, with a gate of bark to separate the two. After the smaller pool was a fairly large size and adequately deep in depth, Chu'a went to go check the traps. He had caught a marmot, a few rabbits and a fox. Chu'a had let the fox go because they were a little too gamey and didn't have much meat, it would be a waste to kill it. He cut the rabbits and marmot in a way so that their guts would spill out without too much tear to the meat. He placed the carcasses in his bag and headed to the pool he had made with the guts in hand. He opened the gate and spread the guts throughout the pool. He waited a while, checking the traps regularly. After that, he put the gate back in its place and grabbed his net. Each sweeping motion of the net in the small pool would reveal an overflowing amount of fish. When the baskets were full he headed back to camp. Chu'a had returned hours before the others and had brought more food than all of them combined. The rest of the day was spent drying and preserving the days catches along with distributing the finished product. With his portion of food, he headed to his teepee on the outskirts of the camp. Over the fire he cooked enough food for three men, storing the rest in a basket tied high above in a tree out of a bears reach. With his belly full he went to bed, not knowing that someone wished to sabotage him. When morning came Chu'a found that his basket of food had been dragged off, fresh bear tracks were scattered around the camp heading into the forest. He headed for the tree, it didn't look like it was climbed by the bear or any type of animal in fact, the rope that he had used to secure his food in the tree, didn't look like it was chewed, the ends were too clean. Perhaps a knife? He grabbed his spear and started to follow the bear's trail. When following the trail, he found scraps of the basket that had held his food and it wasn't long before he started to see bones of fish and marmot. The trail ended by a river where he guessed the bear had crossed after eating its meal. Miffed, he started the trek back to camp, coming across a snake on the trail. The snake just stared at him with an expectant look, though he had no idea why. After a while, the snake started to slither towards him and Chu'a stayed as still as the trees around him, eyes fixated on the snakes. He let it slide up his leg till it coiled around his arm. He didn't know why he did it but it just felt right and he somehow had known it wouldn't attack him. He continued on his way, only to find that the camp was deserted. Not even his own teepee present. The only thing that was left, were the shadows of teepee circles and cold fire pits. Chu'a was filled with rage, they had abandoned him and had sabotaged his food basket so that he wouldn't be here when they did. He headed for the tree that had held his food only hours before, reaching down for the slashed rope. Bringing the snake wrapped around his arm closer to it. The snake took in its scent, started to unfurl itself and headed into the tall grasses of the forest. He would get back at them for what they did, there will be no mercy. They had brought this down on themselves, now they would find out just how vengeful a snake could be. He wouldn't die, not until he was sure every one of them got what they deserved for disowning him, but first he would start with the wretch who had cut that rope.