The Sands of Time

It wasn't long and the bear came charging out with its hair standing up on ends, making it look twice its size. I was depending on the fire to keep the bear at bay. I fired the first dart and it buried deep into the bear's chest.

The bear charged me and I dashed back into the smoking fire, hoping this worked. It did, the bear stopped short of the fire. The dog kept attacking the bear, keeping away from the bear's lethal paws.

I fired the next dart and struck the bear on the side of his neck. I could see blood spurting out from that wound. The bear began to act really odd. The third dart I threw, buried deep into the bears side.

The bear stumbled and went down. He got back up and lumbered off toward the end of the clearing. The dog and I chased the bear. I knew the bear wouldn't last long and it was a valuable resource of meat and hide. The dog over took the bear and kept circling and barking at it. I arrived and put one more dart deep in its chest. The bear toppled over dead.

I quickly built a couple of fires around the dead bear to protect it from scavengers. I raced back to the girls. They were busy cleaning out the cave. I got there and started to build a fire in the middle of the cave. The cave filled up with smoke and we dashed out coughing. This wasn't something that I figure on. Now how was I going to get rid of the smoke? I ran back in and knocked the fire apart, letting the smoke disperse.

I moved the fire out front closer to the mouth of the cave. I gathered the girls up and we headed back to the dead bear. I skinned the bear and we hauled the meat back to the cave. We put it on a shelf in the back. There was a lot of smoke around the meat, and I hoped it didn't hurt the meat in anyway.

We went back to the old camp and gathered up our supplies. We filled the water skins full. Then we went back to our new home. The one drawback to the cave, was the lack of water nearby.

My whole life I lived and slept under the sun and stars. I wasn't sure if I could handle living in a cave. I did this for the girls. The girls had all stopped their once a month moon bleeding. I didn't know what that meant, but in a short time I would find out.

Sparrow and the girls were busy digging at the ceiling of the cave. I didn't ask what they were doing. Women were always doing busy work. In a short time, they dragged in some rocks to stand on and got longer sticks to dig with. I came back from hunting one day and the fire out front was gone. I dropped the buck and rushed to the cave. There in the middle of the cave the fire was burning and the smoke was going out through the hole they had dug in the ceiling. There was always a pall of smoke over the ledge where the meat was stored.

I had it made; three girls to fuck, a cave to stay in, plenty of food and water. Who could ask for more? Little did I know that soon things would change!

The dog and I were hunting out toward the eastern edge of our territory. The dog started to growl in his chest. I looked in the direction the dog was looking and out in the distance toward some trees. A rabbit was standing there for a second and when it was struck by a grass serpent. The rabbit ran a few steps and stopped, and dropped over. I knew about those grass serpents, one bite will kill you, as it did to my dad.

The dog and I proceeded with caution, even though I knew just where the serpent was. It was coiled by the rabbit, staring intently at the dog, that was sniffing it from a distant. Suddenly the snake struck at the dog, but fell way short, because the dog had already jumped back out of the way. I picked up a large rock and smashed the snake's spine with it. The snake twisted and turned in a death dance.

I grabbed a couple of darts and opened the snake's mouth with them. The snake in a death jerk clamped down on them, coating them with a clear liquid. Not paying any mind to the liquid, I was still not able to figure out just how the snake killed. We left the snake, it was food you eat only if nothing else was available.

The dog and I headed back to the camp. Along the way the dog chased up a nice buck. I grabbed one of the darts that had the snake liquid on it and threw it at the deer. At the last second a gust of wind pushed my shot high and the dart just grazed the back of the deer. The deer ran about ten steps, and reared up on its hind legs, and toppled over.

I rushed over to the deer and in my excitement I finally understood the serpent's power. It was the liquid in its teeth that kills when the serpent bites its prey. I hoisted the deer on my shoulders, I filed that knowledge in the back of my mind for further study.

The next day the dog and I headed out in the northwestern direction of our territory. The dog started to have a low growl in his chest. I looked out toward the west, and just coming over a knoll was a group of men. It sure looked like the slavers had found us. It had taken them along time to unwind the trail that I left them.

I turned to go back to the cave, setting up numerous false and double false trails. I went through the river and climbed trees. I swung to the next tree using a vine. Finally, after a number of hours I arrived at the cave.

"It looked like the slavers had found us. I laid some false trails, but that won't stop them for very long," I told the girls.

"We will need more food and water," I said.

The dog and I tried to hunt, but we found nothing.

We grabbed the water basket and filled it up, and our couple of water skins. The girls picked a bunch of berries and other fruit. We got back to the cave with the berries and water. Next we needed more wood for the fire. All four of us dragged up branches and logs to keep us in fire wood.

Now comes the hard part, waiting. The cave was the best place to make our stand. It was obvious they are determined to find us, considering the amount of time they spent tracking us.

It was late in the afternoon, by the time they entered the far end of the clearing. I stood in the mouth of the cave waiting for them. The leader saw me and started to scream and holler as loud as he could, he pointed at us in the cave. The rest joined in. I counted fifteen of them out there. They kept the screaming and jumping trying to scare me. Then they started to charge in my direction.

I waited, I had practiced this many times. I knew just how far I could throw a dart from here. When they got into range, I let a dart fly. True to aim I struck a warrior in the chest, taking him out of the fight. I grabbed another dart and killed another warrior with it. They stopped and retreated, I killed one more before they got out of range. The leader dashed up toward me and I threw a dart at him but he ran back out of range. They kept doing that, but I resolved not to waste darts on those types of moves.

It got close to dark and they made camp at the other end of the clearing. A camp fire sprung up, and two slavers went into the woods to hunt for food. They came back with a deer for dinner.

I left the dog out front to guard, and I went back into the cave. Sparrow brought me a piece of meat. I figured it to be rancid, but it tasted good with a smoky taste. Looking up at the meat, it's stored on the shelf with a haze of smoke around it at all times.

The smoke must do something to the meat to keep it from spoiling.

I slept sporadically getting up often to check things out. I could hear the cough of the Sabre Tooth Tiger as it ate the remains of the three slavers that I killed. In the morning, I walked to the front of the cave, I could see the leader studying me and the cave. I counted and there were nine guys in camp, three are dead, that means three guys missing. I could hear some digging. They were above us, trying to dig through the smoke hole. All day they were up there digging in different spots. They created a lot of dust in the cave, making it hard for us to breathe.

When it got dark they went back to their camp. I watched as the two that went hunting, came back empty handed. It would be a hungry camp tonight. The next day they were back at it, digging on the roof. Then the unthinkable happen. A rock dislodged from the ceiling and struck the water basket, knocking it over spilling all of our precious water. We all sprang towards the basket, but too late. This was something our enemy must not learn of. It would change their strategy and they could just wait us out until we went mad from lack of water and rushed out of the cave. What water was left in skins would last maybe a day or two.

We tried to conserve what little water was in the skins, but all day long they dug above us, creating plenty of dust, choking us and making us thirstier. I paced back and forth, trying to decide on just what to do. To go out at night, it was just asking for trouble with all the predators out there. A daytime run would be hard with the slavers watching our every move.

It was dark out and I told Sparrow to hold the dog. I was going to make a run and get us some water. I grabbed the water basket and the empty water skins and left. I walked quietly by the sleeping slaver's camp. I got to the water hole without any trouble so far. I filled up the skins and then the basket, but I was careless and forgot that the water would gurgle as it goes into the basket.

The slavers heard that noise and their camp was awake. I grabbed the half full basket and crouched down and coughed like Sabre Tooth Tiger. They weren't buying it and started to charge toward me. I raced in a straight line to the cave, but they were between me and the cave.

Suddenly the snarl of the real Sabre Tooth Tiger, and one of the slavers screamed when the tiger attacked him. The rest quickly scrambled back to the safety of their fire. The tiger showed up just in time and I made it to the cave. Now we had enough water, I hoped.

Later the next morning, I was walking through the cave. I stumbled over a drying stick stretching sinew. I disengaged it from my foot. It slipped from my hand with a snap against my foot. Something about that action caught my eye.

I grabbed it and pulled it back a few times making the sinew snap. I drew it back further and broke the stick. The stick was too small. I bounded over to my stock pile of shafts, and found one that was green. I looped the sinew around both ends and pulled it back. The sinew snapped against my cheek, stinging it.

"Twist three of them together," Sparrow said, to as she entwined them together and handed it to me.

I bent the shaft and looped the sinew over both ends. I pulled the sinew back and released it. It hummed a pretty tune. I fitted a dart in and shot it against the wall. After a trial and error period, I made some adjustments to both the bow and darts. I finally got it right and could hit the target time and time again.

I figure I had one chance at this, it was early morning, and they all were in the camp eating. The leader was between their camp and my cave studying the situation, talking with one of his men. I grabbed the dart with the serpent juice on it. I walked out of the cave and took aim at the leader of the slaver's group. I checked the wind and distance and let it fly. It struck him on the right shoulder. He leaped up and down in a pure rage. Then he staggered a few steps and fell over dead. The rest of the slavers fled the area in terror.

It was a few months later and I had gone through many different types of bows. I remade my darts into arrows. Now I have a pouch that carries fifteen arrows. I have no need of the serpent juice, as the arrows do the job just fine.

Today my main job was to escort the girls down to the spring to tar some baskets and get some water. All three of them are supporting large bellies now. Suddenly the dog growled and I looked up to see a group of people approaching us.

It was Wolfgard, the shaman, four women, and four children (two boys and two girls ages around 12-13).

"Stop what do you want from us?" I shouted at them in anger.

"We seek food and water," Wolfgard croaked back at me.

"From us, what gives you the right to expect that," I laughed.

"It was my biggest mistake to banish you from the tribe," Wolfgard replied.

"We ran out of spears and tried to steal some from a different tribe. We suffered a serious defeat and half of our hunters were killed," he said.

"They are our people and he is my father," Sparrow said to me with tears in her eyes.

I thought about what she said to me and I looked them over. They were nothing but skin and bones.

"All right we will help you out," I said.

Chapter Three

"What is this wild dog and those camels doing here?" Wolfgard asked.

"The dog is a valuable member of our clan and I will show you later on just what the dog can do," I responded.

"The camels I captured a summer ago when their mother died. I was going to kill them for food, but then thought about the dog. I decided try and tame them. Now instead of us carrying our possessions, we can pack them on the camels," I told him.

I made a netting out of some vines and hemp. I took the netting and fit it over the camel's back. We then can attach baskets and other containers to the netting. That way the camels can haul them for us.

The girls had finished with their baskets and loaded them on the backs of the two camels. We all went back to the cave.

"What is this?" the shaman asked in a shrill voice.

"This happens to be our home, I killed the bear that was in this cave," I informed them all.

"There was plenty of space for the women and children inside the cave. If you don't want to sleep in the cave, then you can sleep at the front entrance." I said to them.

The girls took the women folk and the children into the cave to show them around. Both Wolfgard and the shaman looked a little dubious at the cave.

I took Wolfgard with me and left the shaman there to figure things out for himself. I showed Wolfgard my bow and arrows. I told him all that has happen to us since the tribe banished both Sparrow and me.

We had extra mouths to feed, so I sent the dog off to locate some game. Shortly he chased a nice buck by us and I dropped it with one shot from the bow. I shot the deer at a distance that Wolfgard could only dream of. I just proved how deadly the bow and arrows can be. He was amazed by what I had done so far.

"When we get back to the cave, I will make you a nice bow," I said to him. I knew he was an expert with the spear, so I figured it would not take him long to master the bow.

We got back to the cave and the shaman was there waiting for us.

"We need to rebuild the tribe and I have some ideas on how to do this," he informed both of us.

"The two young girls are just about ready to come into breeding age and the four women are still able to bear children. Wolfgard and I will breed with the four women. We will wait a summer or two to let the young girls get older before breeding with them. You will maintain breeding with your three women folks. After the passing of many summers the tribe should begin expanding and revive," he stated.

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The passing of time has a habit of doing it faster than anyone in the tribe could seem to grasp. The next fifteen years seem to come fast for the tribe. The tribe had entered a period of tranquility, staying in the meadow where the cave was. We managed our resources and stayed out of the way of trouble.

In those fifteen years the women gave birth to eighty children of whom sixty-five survived, thirty-five boys, and thirty girls. These children would be the building blocks to strengthen our tribe.

Wolfgard, myself and the ten oldest boys (12-15 age group), made up the first group of hunters. All the boys when they reached the age of ten, were taught how to use a bow and spear to hunt with, and a club and knife for close quarter combat. At the age of twelve, the boy would go out for their first hunt.

The shaman was teaching the boy that came with them and one of his son's about tribal customs and laws. They were to carry on when he died. I had taught all the boys ten and older the basic survival rites: how to make a fire, how to trap animals for food, how to hunt, and how to build temporary shelter. The girls were taught how to make fire and shelter also.

Wolfgard and the shaman both were starting to show their age. They both wished to make one more journey to the Great Meeting Grounds. We haven't been there since a few years before my ouster from the tribe. I agreed that we should go. Both Wolfgard and the shaman knew how to get there. Once a year, when summer ends and fall starts the tribe's gather to meet at the Great Meeting Ground.

"It was time to make the trek to the Great Meeting Grounds," the shaman informed me one day.

"It will take over one turning of the full moon to get there," he told me.

We closed the cave up to keep unwanted guests out. Loaded up the two camels with the goods we want to take with us, gathered up the children, and went west toward the Great Meeting Grounds.

Sparrow had just given birth to our seventh child, a girl, seven weeks ago. She had produced seven children, five boys, and two girls. War Hawk is my oldest boy at age 15. Fawn and Robin have produced twelve children between them, five boys, and seven girls, and they were both with child now. Tribal custom states that you should wait at least two full moons, before having sexual intercourse with your mate.

Sparrow was making gestures that she wanted sex, even though she had just given birth over seven weeks ago. Over the years, our sex life had improved since the first time she stuck her ass up in the air, and I jammed my cock into her pussy as deep as I could. We both like to try different things that made us feel good in our sexual experience.

It was our first night of our journey, and Sparrow was hungry for some sex. We moved away from the other members of the tribe and stripped off our furs. She moved up close to me and we started to kiss. Our mouth's parted and our tongues gently touched each other. The passion grew as our kisses became fiercer. I was pinching her nipples and squeezing her boobs. She was moaning into my mouth.

I moved my head down and started to suck on her breast. I could taste the warm liquid, as her milk leaked through her nipple into my mouth. I continued to suck her tit, drinking her milk, until she pushed me away.

"Save some for the baby," she gasped at me.

I moved her around and entered her from the rear. Her pussy was dripping wet. I know we were supposed to wait, our desire for each other over took us. We fucked like two long lost lovers.

We laid there panting from our great stimulating sex. I looked up and both Fawn and Robin were there watching us. I smiled at my three girls, we all cuddled up next to each other and we fell into a restful sleep.

Although the tribe was young, the bow helped to even the odds. With Wolfgard, the shaman, and myself to teach these youngsters, I am sure that our tribe will survive, and thrive.

We were getting close to the Great Meeting Grounds. We began to encounter other tribes, who were going in the same direction. Some of the tribes Wolfgard knew and others were strange to us. There was an unspoken universal peace between tribes as they marched toward the Great Meeting Ground.

We camped for the night and spent the next day hunting to re-supply our food. We set up a smoke tent to cure the meat. There was a nice spring nearby to fill our water containers. Once we had enough provisions to last for a couple of weeks, we left. We were only a day or so away.

We came through a small set of hills and a there in front of us spread out in a huge valley was the Great Meeting Ground. We could see that many tribes were there already. We cleared the hills and found a decent spot to set up camp.