The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 20: Stormbound

Willow nearly had hysterics, when Little Bear killed the little god, and then nearly had them again, when he repeated himself and she understood that he wanted her to cut up and cook the god so they could eat it.  After she had a chance to calm down, she realized there wasn’t anything else she could do, and took the animal.  Then, with a shudder and a glare at Little Bear, she went out of the camp into the snow to clean it, then to the fire to cook it.

Once others saw her cooking the large rabbit, she of course had to tell them where it had come from.  Mostly, they were as fearful as she of the consequences of doing such a thing to a god.  She had a responsibility to share half of it with the tribe, since it was a solo kill.  

Ringtail’s chief wife Holly was responsible for apportioning food.  She looked around at the others, and said, “Give some to Rose; her baby will die without milk.  As for the rest of us, we’ll be fine without sharing your curse.”

Crying, Willow cooked the rabbit herself, although Holly had pity on her and told her how to do it, and what rituals to use.  Willow took a quarter to Rose, who gratefully accepted it.  The rest, she took back to Little Bear and Raccoon, who greedily ate as much of it as they could hold, ignoring Willow’s fears about it.

Then Little Bear insisted Willow gorge herself as well on the fresh meat.  She didn’t want to, but Little Bear took her arm, and said, “You must.”

Willow looked to Raccoon, who said, “Blessing from rabbit god.”

With that, she gave a timid smile, then began eating.  She was surprised, once she got over the fearfulness of eating a god, how hungry she was, and how tasty the meat was.  

Once he had eaten his full and saw that Willow was eating, Little Bear lay back and closed his eyes.  He began to think about what was happening with the rabbit, and with him.

He barely slept that night, but stayed in a half-trance, trying to understand himself, and what he could do.

He realized not only that connecting with the rabbit when it was thrown at him had been very taxing to him, but it had created something that persisted, even when the rabbit was a ways away from him.  Somehow, it could feel the connection as well, and was drawn to him.  When it was close, it literally sucked the life from him.  If he had not killed it when he did, it might have killed him.  

He could not afford to make that kind of connection again, with any creature.  A little creature like the rabbit had drained his strength.  A larger, more vital creature would certainly kill him, quickly.

There was no morning.  It was, rather, a lessening of the night, and the snow continued to fall.  Over three feet had fallen since the previous day.   The wind, however, built up into a howling gale.  Visibility was near zero, anywhere outside the underside of the trees.  Ringtail and his sons were valiantly keeping the fire going, but they weren’t going to continue it much longer.

Little Bear woke up to the cold wind, and realized the tribe would actually be in danger of dying, if they didn’t get protection from it.  He listened to the wind howling between the few gaps in the trees, then rolled out of their tree, and went to the nearest gap.  The wind had blown the snow entirely clear of the area.

Little Bear went forward into the gap until he came to where the snow was, and began working with the snow.  He began forming a block in the snow, large enough to hold in his hands, but not so large it would fall apart.  He slapped his hands on it, smacking it until it began to hold together as a solid block.  This he moved back to set in the gap between the trees.

He repeated the process to make a second block, which he set beside the first.  A third block went on top of the place where the first two joined.  He built it up about chest high, before he started sealing it off.  Once he did that, he had to pull the snow from inside the tree area.

By the time he had the wall all the way across, his hands were entirely numb, and he had to go back under the tree, to where Willow and Raccoon were still shivering.

When she saw how cold his hands were, Willow pulled him in next to Raccoon, and folded him in all the fur they had, except the fur from the rabbit god.  She took her knife and cut that in two, then took each half and folded it over one of his hands, fur side in.  Then she tied the extra pieces together the hold the half on the hand.

Little Bear was very impressed with the cleverness of it.  He wasn’t sure how he could thank her, but saw how she was shivering.  He pulled her close, under the furs, so their two bodies could give each other warmth.  Raccoon, under his furs, was already warm.

As her shivering subsided, Willow said, “What did you do out there?”

“I made something of snow, to stop the wind.”

“I do not understand.”

Little Bear wondered how he could explain wind chill, and then thought about Raccoon’s comment about the meat being a gift from the rabbit god.  This was a perfect opportunity, he thought.

“Rabbit taught me.”  

“Rabbit taught you?  Then why did you kill and eat it?”

“How else would a rabbit god give a gift, but to let itself be eaten?  He will reappear.”

After a pause, he felt her relax, and she said, “I suppose he will.”

Have to build the wall higher, he thought as he drifted off.

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