As soon as the last of Alex’s new brothers and sisters had welcomed him to the tribe, the drumming and singing started, led by Sekun-ak and Lanta-eh.
The cooks proudly carried the karak-ta shell out to the crowd and offered the first bite to the tribe’s newest member.
Alex was no novice to the experience now. He knew how much to take to expand his senses without losing himself in the vastness of the universe.
He plucked a medium-sized morsel of egg out of the shell, placed it delicately in his mouth and let it slide down his throat without chewing.
Perhaps he took more of the egg than he had intended. Or, perhaps the vision that came upon him had been sitting in his brain, seeking a release.
Whatever the case, Alex closed his eyes, and was lost to it.
Just like the first time he had tried the hallucinogenic egg, he was gone for many hours. The next time he opened his eyes, there was light coming from the east. During the night, someone had brought a pallet and laid him down so he wouldn’t hurt himself.
The fire was out and only one person was still in the room with him. It was Lanta-eh, and she was smiling.
“Where have you been, Manta-ak?” She asked the question as though she may already know the answer.
“I saw people. Visitors from away.” He closed his eyes for a long moment. “I—” he paused, grasping to hold onto the vision that had visited him. “It is going away now, disappearing.”
The young girl laid a cool hand against his forehead. “Don’t struggle against it. When you need it, it will be with you.”
Alex nodded and slipped back off into sleep.
Chapter TwoSpring
The rains of late winter turned to the rains of early spring. There was little discernible difference between the two with the exception that freezing temperatures became more rare. The rains and occasional bursts of sunshine encouraged the incredible plant life of Kragdon-ah to flourish. Small green berries promised the approaching warmer weather. The many poisonous plants put out their deadly barbs.
At a council meeting one evening, Sekun-ak put forth the idea that it was time for the first karak-ta egg hunt of the season and asked for volunteers for the party.
Typically, the karak-ta egg hunts were the province of the youngest men—the warriors and hunters in training. They were often the fastest and most-sure footed members of the tribe. That ensured that unless disaster struck in the form of a stumble and fall, they could disturb the leathery-winged beasts in their nests on top of the rocks and live to tell about it. While the birds chased after the brave boys who taunted them, the others would swoop in and rob the nests.
They had it down to a science, albeit a dangerous one. Over the generations, they had also learned how many eggs they could steal without lowering the population of the birds too much.
That was how it normally worked—a cadre of young athletes supplemented by a handful of older hunters and warriors who ensured safe passage across the open plain that was the domain of the giant dire wolves.
These were not normal times. Almost a full generation of children and teens were killed during the invasion of the Lasta-ah when they had kidnapped Lanta-eh. That had been three years ago, so the babies born since then were still only toddlers. It would be another ten summer solstices before the eldest of them were even close to ready to lead the hunt.
That meant that older warriors—those who had fought with Alex in the invasion of Denta-ah—were the only option. Those men and women were not old by any definition, but they were many seasons away from playing the climbing and running games the adolescents did, which prepared them so perfectly to be egg hunters. The likelihood of at least one or two of them slipping on the rocks and being torn apart by the karak-ta was high.
But, without the karak-ta eggs, the Winten-ah would have nothing to trade for the goods the other tribes in the area made.
And so, Sekun-ak stood in front of the assembled tribe and said, “Who will go on the first karak-ta hunt of the year? If you were a member of the final hunting party last year, let’s give others a chance to volunteer.”
Sekun-ak always had more volunteers than he needed, no matter how dangerous the mission. This time, those volunteers included Alex Hawk. When Senta-eh saw Alex stand, she did as well.
Sekun-ak chose eight of the young men and women who volunteered, then four of the more experienced warriors, as well as both Alex and Senta-eh.
When the meeting was dismissed, the Winten-ah chief called both of them over.
Smiling, Sekun-ak said, “This is a hunt for the youngest and swiftest among us.”
“And that includes me,” Senta-eh said, bristling. “I will gladly go against any of these younger brothers and sisters in whatever contest you would like.”
Sekun-ak held his hands in front of him in apparent surrender. “Maybe I started that the wrong way.”
“Maybe you did,” Senta-eh agreed. Her posture did not relax.
Behind her, Alex smiled broadly, although he did his best to hide it when she turned to look at him as well.
Senta-eh fixed him with a glare, turned on her heel, and left the room.
“What I was going to say,” Sekun-ak continued, slightly abashed, “was that you two never need to volunteer for anything. You have done more for us than anyone else. You deserve to stay and rest for a time.”
“Staying and resting feels like a punishment to us. We will never be happy just staying here in the cliffside and going on hunting expeditions.”
Sekun-ak laid a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “I understand. I felt the same, until Ganku-eh chose me as her replacement.” His eyes looked out the mouth of the cave at the forest that lay beyond. “But now, I am needed here.”
Alex put two fingers
