The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 21: Lapine Blessing

The storm continued all that day and night.  Once he was warm enough, Little Bear went out into the snow again, and began walling up the second of the three gaps that were allowing the wind to tear through.  Then, after another shivering bout of warming up, he blocked the third.

The walls were only chest high, but they kept the main wind from sweeping under the hemlocks, where the tribe was huddled.

Huddled under the tree, Little Bear realized he could not only sense Willow and Raccoon, but he could also sense where other tribe members were, under the trees around them.  He did not want to get himself attached as he had to the rabbit, so he tried to sense the life around him carefully, but his detached personality from Tarshen could, he decided, make contact with something without connecting with it.  He could not do more than tell they were there, he was so cautious, but he could sense them.  He began to see if he could probe farther into the area around the tribe.

When they had finished the rabbit, Willow, Little Bear and Raccoon gathered around the fire, which was burning better, now that the wind was not so devastating.  It was still burning slowly, but the warmth was staying in the hollow of the trees, and the tribe was gathering around it.   

Bodies pressed together, shivering.  Once the entire tribe was gathered around the fire, there was enough warmth that none of them were freezing, though all of them were cold.

Holly stood up beside her husband, who was tending the fire.  She looked at Little Bear, and pointed at him.  “You have brought this upon us!” she hissed.  “You killed and ate the god who brought us his blessings.”

There was murmuring through the tribe, as not all had heard that Little Bear had done this, though they all had seen the remarkable rabbit for themselves.

Little Bear stood, slowly.  He knew they would tear him to pieces, if he did not answer this challenge immediately.

“Why are we not freezing right now?  Is it not that the walls of snow protect us from the wind?  Rabbit taught me that.”

“Rabbit!” said Holly.  “You killed him!  You ate him!  And this is our punishment!”

“No!”  Raccoon stood up.  All eyes turned to the Medicine Man.  “The storm came long before he killed the rabbit.  We aren’t being punished.  We are being blessed with a way to survive.

“How does a rabbit bring a blessing?”  He turned to Ash, and said, “How?”

Ash shook her head, and he said, “What do rabbits bring us?  Food and fur, yes?”

He looked around.  “Winter has come early, and it is going to be another bad one.  We must get farther South, but we cannot move until the storm is finished.  We will move more slowly, and hunting will be much harder, but we have to go.  The hardest thing will be finding enough food, for with this cold, we all will need much more.  The rabbit brings food and fur, and both keep us alive.  One rabbit can feed the entire tribe for a day, even if we only get a small bit of meat each.  We need to find more of them.”

“Medicine Man,” said Cave Bear, “You are no hunter.  Rabbits are everywhere, but in snow, they are very hard to find, because they come out, but their white fur blends in with the snow.”

“I can find them,” said Little Bear.  “Who is a good aim with a spear?”

“I’m the best,” said Tiger.  “What do you suggest?”

“Let’s go find ourselves some rabbits,” said Little Bear.  “I will prove to you that the rabbit god was bringing us a blessing to survive the storm, and not a curse.”

“How?  You heard my father.  They will be invisible.”

“I will find them, if you will kill them when I do.”

“If you are so good at finding them, why don’t you kill them yourself?”  Tiger stood as he made the challenge.  The tension in the entire tribe was rising.

Little Bear shrugged.  “They would run away before I got close enough.  I need your skill.”

Tiger glared, then said, “Let us go, then, as soon as the storm subsides.”

“As soon as the storm subsides, we must continue farther South, before the next storm.”

“We don’t have enough food!”

“That is why you and I must go out now, to get us more food.  Wrap yourself in extra furs, and bring three spears.”

A short time later, Little Bear left with Tiger, who was still grumbling.  

Once they got clear of the hemlocks, the snow was mostly over their knees, and the wind was still howling.

“We can’t stay out in this,” shouted Tiger.  “We’ll die!”

“Only a little way,” shouted Little Bear.  “Follow me.”

He started off into the wood, and Tiger looked back, to where the hemlocks had already vanished, then followed, cursing.

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