Glade and Ivory Ch. 29

Ivory and Ptarmigan worked together to make sure that the Cave Painters knew that they could stay with them in the Mountain Valley for as long as they liked. It wasn't ideal, of course. There was already a preponderance of women and children over men who could hunt and guard the village from unwanted intruders, but the village needed more people and it especially needed those who knew the lie of the land.

The Cave Painters were naturally cautious. Ivory understood that this was because the Mountain Valley and its current settlers didn't initially offer a very tempting long-term choice. The Mammoth Hunters were much less skilled in their tool-making skills, not to mention the other crafts in which the Cave Painters clearly excelled. They didn't speak the Cave Painters' language. They were vulnerable insofar as there were so few men. And the Mountain Valley wasn't the best hunting land to attract a hunter. But Ivory had great hopes on her ability together with Ptarmigan to captivate the new people with their charm.

The Cave Painters' caution visibly faded during the evening feast where there was so much participation and so much laughter, where spirits were so high and there was so much good song. Ivory felt sure that if the village were to survive it might soon be known not as the tribe of the Mammoth Hunters, given that no mammoth would wander down such a narrow valley, or even the Mountain Valley people, but perhaps as the Night Entertainers. Ptarmigan even persuaded the Cave Painters to make their own contribution to the entertainment. One pregnant woman, who wasn't a partner of any of the men, stood up and sang a plaintive song whose lyrics only the Cave Painters understood but whose sentiments had everyone weeping.

It took a great while and much persistence and patience from both Ivory and Ptarmigan, but eventually they learnt enough of the Cave Painters' language to participate in meaningful discourse with them. The amount of time the couple expended on the strangers generated resentment amongst some villagers. They were accused of putting the interests of other tribes above that of the Mammoth Hunters, but Ptarmigan tried to explain why it was necessary to woo the Cave Painters and above all to learn their language and their customs.

"When the Chief, my husband, parleyed with the Cave Painters," she explained, "he did so with great courage and naturally with great success. The chief of the Cave Painters deemed him worthy enough to send his highest ambassador to the valley and escort the Chief and the fittest of our village to the distant hunting grounds. All the same, how much more fruitful would his bargaining have been had he known more about the people with whom he parleyed? How much more bountiful would the hunting grounds be that were bestowed on us?"

She explained, furthermore, that the Mountain Valley was situated in territories chiefly occupied by Cave Painters. It was advisable for the duration of their stay that the tribe find as much about their neighbours and their language as they could. And should there be an occasion in the future when the tribe would need to negotiate with the Cave Painters then they would similarly return in kind the hospitality shown by the village. This plea to self-interest had great sway amongst the village, although at the same time there was a growing affection towards the Cave Painters who were already showing their gratitude towards the village for their generosity and good spirit.

It was only after several cycles of the moon that Ptarmigan and Ivory had a good command of the Cave Painters' language. By this time, the best of Summer had passed and the valley was at its most bountiful as the autumn fruits fell from the trees and young animals were at their most adventurous and foolish and therefore easiest to hunt.

Through their many conversations with the Cave Painters, Ivory and Ptarmigan discovered why they happened to wander into the Mountain Valley. The caves where they'd lived had collapsed on a day on which the ground shook and great avalanches occurred throughout all the mountains. It was the same day that must have caused the Mammoth Hunters' migratory paths to be blocked by landslides and debris. Most of the people in their village were killed by the cataclysm. Their chief died. The shaman also. The best and noblest hunters all perished. Those who survived attempted to eke a living with fewer numbers and inadequate shelter. Unfortunately, every passing day brought more deaths for those whose injuries only hastened their death. Eventually, when the village was reduced to only a dozen people, the survivors decided to trek over the mountains to find new caves and new hunting grounds. The winter snow and the freezing cold brought more death and despair, so that the small company now sheltering in the Mountain Valley was all that was left of the Cave Painters' village. They were by no means the brightest or the best of the village. They were merely those that the demons of the earth hadn't showered upon with rocks and boulders or crushed in its jaws. On that fateful day the Mother Goddess had abandoned her children to her wayward cousins who enjoyed nothing more than to bring chaos and confusion to the world.

Ivory tested the limits of her new linguistic skills by asking the Cave Painters about the whereabouts of Chief Cave Lion and his entourage.

"I have heard of these people," said Murex who, as the oldest of the three men, was the natural spokesman. "They were escorted to the plains of the Great Tongue Glacier which is a poor hunting ground. The plain is surrounded on all sides by glaciers and high cliffsides where only vultures and hyenas roam. There are some goats and sheep, but few mammoth, rhinoceros and aurochs. This is somewhere our tribe has never chosen to settle for good reason. The plain is open and barren. The caves in the cliffs are small and often home to cave bears especially in Winter. If people from your tribe have been sent there then it is unlikely that many will have survived a single winter."

"Do you know whether they did survive?" asked Ivory more persistently as she recalled her love for Glade. "Were they accompanied by a dark woman who was the village shaman?"

"I've heard about the dark woman," said Umber who was the pregnant woman whose singing had so captivated the village. "I think everyone in the mountains has heard about the dark woman. She was famous for the way she tempted men with her body and persuaded them to participate in festive fucking even though the festival was yet many moons away."

It was obvious that Umber disapproved of Glade, but Ivory persisted.

"Have you heard whether she's lived or died?" she asked. "She was the shaman who taught me all I know."

"You Mammoth Hunters are strange people," laughed Vermillion, the youngest of the men. "Your chiefs and shaman are all women. And not just any women but ones tinted with a hue unlike anyone else in these lands. I didn't know she was a shaman. I believed that she was a prostitute."

"A prostitute?" wondered Ptarmigan who'd never heard the word before.

"A woman who exchanges sexual favours for food," explained Umber. "That's what I believed she was. I don't think anyone knows what happened to her. We left our caves before the end of winter and I think if she'd met again with any village in the mountains such is her reputation that we'd have heard about her."

"Do you think she's dead?" asked Ivory.

"I can see that you're fond of this prostitute shaman," said Umber. "I don't wish to say anything that could cause you grief. But the truth is that the plains of the Great Tongue Glacier can't sustain a village of more than a dozen souls. Unless your friend was lucky and has escaped from the plains she'd have suffered from there being too many hungry mouths and too little to eat. And if she escaped, it's likely that given her reputation news of her survival would have spread to the very last cave in the mountains."