The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 28: Finding Refuge

Rather than try to pick their way through the woods, the tribe walked along the edge of the forest, where the wind had blown most of the snow clear.  They were exposed to view from the plain to the south, but they did not see any other humans.

The mountains rose abruptly from the nearly level area of the trees.  They were not very high, but their north-south orientation meant that they would give some shelter.  Little Bear guided them along the foot of the hills, as they hiked back north, away from the beckoning south.

The snow was not as deep, and the walking was easier.  Mammoth had frequented these woods recently, and their tracks had made clear paths through the underbrush.  They followed such a trail north.  

They had gone almost ten miles, when Little Bear spotted what he was looking for.  About the height of three men up the side of the steep hill, there was an opening in the rocks.  Rock ledges coming out of the side of the ground would make it easy to scramble up there.

The other men in the tribe also spotted the cave, and watched it uneasily.  Bears lived in caves, and their last encounter with one had left two dead.

When Little Bear motioned to stop below the cave, Tiger hissed at him, and motioned to keep going.  

Little Bear shook his head, and again motioned a stop.

Tiger hissed, “We can’t fight another cave bear!” as the tribe began to bunch up around them.  The scent from the cave did not float down to where they were, but caves often held bears, and the tribe avoided them.  Raccoon had told Little Bear that the Cave of Flying never had bears, but he did not know why.

It was something else about that cave that made Little Bear look for one.

“Father,” he whispered, when Raccoon and Cave Bear arrived, “Didn’t you say the Cave of Flying is always the same temperature?”

“Yes,” said Raccoon, smiling.  “It is nice to get out of the summer heat.”

“Have you ever been there in the winter?”

Raccoon frowned.  “No, but when I was a boy, we took shelter in a cave during a storm once.  It was cold, but warmer than than being in the storm.”

Little Bear turned to Cave Bear.  “I think we can spend the winter here, in the cave.”

“All of us?” said Cave Bear.  “Will we fit?”

Little Bear shrugged.  “If it is too small, we look for another cave.”  He gestured at the forest.  “We can hunt out here, and the mammoth have made trails for us.”

“What about the bear?” whispered Tiger.

“We don’t know that there is a bear,” said Raccoon.  

“And if there is,” said Cave Bear, “We must kill it.”  He turned to Ringtail.  “Make fire.”

It took about an hour to get everything ready.  During that time, they could smell the snow in the air from the approaching storm.  Nothing stirred from the cave, and the forest was quiet.

When all was ready, the warriors--all of them but Ringtail--climbed up to the cave.  Ringtail waited at the bottom, with fire.

Little Bear scrambled up the left side of the cave behind Cave Lion, three spears in his right hand.  He had left the thrower with Willow at the bottom of the hill.

His heart pounded.  This was his first time facing anything as dangerous as a cave bear.  He had run from the sabertooths, and the alien monster had been different.  He frowned, because that monster was somehow also himself, and the human was the monster . . .   he shook his head to clear the thought.  He was about to face one of the most dangerous creatures in existence.