excerpt
The New Land, early October, AD 910
Two Native children, a boy of seven and a girl of eight cycles, both naked, played
in a field of maize and bean plants at the foot of a steep hill of blueberry bushes and
patches of wild grass. Their job was to chase blackbirds and crows from the village
crop fields, even though most of the corn and beans had already been picked.
“If you laugh at a dog, he will turn on you.”
“Do you think I do not know the law of our four-legged brothers? Of course I
would never laugh at a camp dog or any creature of the forest. Father taught us that
when we were babies.”
“Then, Star Dancer, why did you laugh at me when my arrow missed the rabbit?”
“I was not laughing at you, little brother. I was laughing at your anger. You look
so funny when you are angry.”
Running Deer flushed. He had boasted of his hunting skill but had never yet been
successful in the hunt. He yearned to join the older camp brothers when they went into
the forest for birds and rabbits, but they always left him behind. Now they were gone
again, and the men had all left for several days to hunt moose for the upcoming feast.
The big feast was to honour traders who had travelled many months from north
of the great river and from the land of the sweet waters toward the sunset. This was
an exciting time for children and adults alike. Traders brought syrup from the maple
trees and beaver furs for winter blankets in return for maize, nuts, smoked shellfish,
salmon and sturgeon, as well as reed baskets and tight-woven cooking pots. Even
the grandmothers and small children were busy collecting the last of the berries and
storing maize in preparation for the feast and for the winter months.
“Come on, Isi,” Star Dancer called her little brother by his pet name, “I will race
you to the top of the hill. Let us collect bird eggs. That will be better than returning
with an empty hunting bag.”
They ran laughing through the blueberry patch to reach the grassy plain
above. Their laughter was cut short when Star Dancer almost stumbled into a
terrifying creature, half man, and half bear, crouched down among the blueberries.
The creature, as surprised as they were, cried out in a gibberish the children
could not understand. Star Dancer and Running Deer turned and fled down the
hill and into the forest.
It took the entire crew, including the captain and the captives, several hours to
pull the knarr with ropes away from the sharp rocks and onto the adjacent strip of
sandy beach. She had a gaping hole in her prow. The mast had snapped halfway and
her rudder was gone. Her once proud dragon-head had snapped earlier on an ice cliff.
She would require weeks to repair.
Libros Libertad 