The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 41: War

After one more touch to the mound of rocks by each of the eight, they started trotting across the plain toward the Long Spear camp.  Little Bear and Tiger went first, to watch for dangers in the night.  The others carried their few possessions, of which the only valuable items were spears, shafts, and spare points, and Ferret’s tools.  Briar carried her medicine bag.  Long Viper carried the antelope carcass across his shoulders.

The cloud cover was rolling off, leaving the night clear and moonless, but much brighter in the starlight.  It was beginning to get cold.

When they got to the Long Spear camp, it created some confusion, as they were supposedly raiding the other camp.  Upon hearing that they were getting five more warriors plus food and a spear maker, however, the rest of the camp was delighted.

They did not want to ruin their night vision, so as soon as they distributed spears and dropped off Ferret with the extra spearheads and shafts, they were ready to move out.  The night was cool, but bulky furs were left as well.

Holly agreed to keep the fire alive, and Leopard joined them.  Ferret was the only adult male left behind.  Both Briar and Torlunkel came along, although Tiger was uncomfortable with either of them coming.  He had promised, though, so he allowed it.

The seven adults from the Stone Pillar Tribe carried three spears each, and the eight warriors of the Long Spear Tribe each carried three spears plus a throwing stick.  Fox and Leopard were not very good with the throwing sticks, but they could generally hit what they aimed at, at roughly the distance Little Bear could hit something with a bare spear.

The fifteen adults headed generally northwest across the plain, staying in a fairly tight bunch, so they did not get separated or picked off in the dark.  It was a clear night, and the starlight provided plenty of light to see by.  There was a very light breeze from the north.  It wasn’t cold, particularly, but the stars seemed to suck the heat away.

After they had been traveling for an hour, Little Bear began to sense a group of living things a bit west of where they were aiming.  He changed course accordingly, and before long, could tell that it was a large group of humans.  The humans were not moving, so the warriors began circling around to downwind of them.

They could just make out a dark shape, rising above the plain.  Little Bear thought the humans might be in there.  It was a little hammock in the plain, a small hill that rose a few feet, and had a couple of hundred trees on it.  The Long Spear warriors stopped when they were several spear throws away, sheltered by another cluster of boulders.

"It's all open ground from here," said Raccoon.  "They will see us."

From the tracks, Gopher had guessed there were about thirty warriors in the raid.  They did not know if there were other warriors still in the camp.

They were not going to raid, this time.  Raids took place in daylight, and involved very little fighting.

They stopped and made sure that everyone understood that this time, it was war.  The Stone Pillar adults wanted revenge for the murdered children, and the Long Spears just wanted this tribe gone, lest they do the same to them, some day.  They were going to kill every adult male, and capture the rest.  There would be no truce, and no negotiation.

They spent an hour quietly discussing it, hoping that cloud cover would move in to provide deeper darkness.  The night stayed clear, however, so they and their enemies would be able to see each other at long distances.

They thought they would have an advantage in how far they could throw their spears, but that might not help them over an advantage of two to one--or more, if the tribe was even more numerous.