The Thinking Rocks (42 page)

He sat back on his heels
thinking.  How can I rescue them?  I'm wet, hungry, and the only
weapon I have is my Canohawk, and one small spear.  He removed the grass
bag and pulled the spear out of the turkey, it was broken.  He laid the
turkey on the ground and looked at it.  The spear had been driven all the
way through the body, if the turtle shell hadn't been behind it he would be
dead now.  Well I am alive and Lomasi is the problem, he thought.  My
people are trapped, and I'm hungry.  I can't do everything at once, first
things first.  Food was the easiest problem to solve.  He carefully
skinned the turkey and then cut the neck and left it attached to the skin, as
he did with the turkey's clawed feet.  He then cleaned the body of
intestines.  Then he tore off a leg and sunk his teeth in. It wasn't as
good as when it was cooked, but he could eat it.

As he ate he looked down
at the turkey skin that lay on the grass inside out.  He then looked at
the skinless body next to it.  It was so different when things are
altogether, he thought.  The turkey feathers are small and neat. 
Behind the feathers the skin is not nice to see.  He picked up the skin
and slid his hand up into the feathered cavity.  As he raised his hand the
long neck flopped to one side and the feet hung down.  He sat looking at
the gruesome remains of the turkey.

He caught a movement out
of the corner of his eye.  He didn't move his head, but he did shift his
eyes to the side.  There were two snakes moving slowly through the
grass.  They were both large, about the same size as Cano was tall. 
One seemed to be following the other.  He couldn't tell if they had the
teeth that kill or not.  They were moving toward the river.  He
couldn't let them enter the river. They might attract attention if they did,
and Morf was staring at the river.  Cano knew if he were to do something
to rescue his people, it would have to come as a surprise.  He didn't need
the snakes attracting attention.

He slowly drew his
Canohawk and waited as the snakes slithered nearer.  The snakes must be
trying to mate Cano thought; they are more interested in each other than they
are in me.  It is strange how mating can cloud the mind to danger. 
When the snakes were in range he struck quickly and took their heads off with
two blows.  The bodies thrashed and curled in rolls, but they made little
noise.

Cano wiped the blood
from the blade of his weapon and then tucked it into the carrying strap at his
waist. Then he sat looking at the turkey skin again.  It had been turned
inside out.  He put his hand back into the feathered pouch.  It was
loose, so he put his other hand in and then spread his hands apart.  The
skin was quite large inside.  Suddenly he had an idea; he removed his
hands and laid the skin on the grass.  He looked at it for several moments
and then took his cutting stone and made a slit in the hide.  Then he made
another to the side of the first.  He started to get excited; this might
work.

 He crept through
the grass until he could see the camp clearly.  There was a lot of smoke
and little wind; the camp was almost covered with a low cloud of the brownish
smoke.  Na'pe was usually much better about building fires than
this.  He could see her moving around the fire. She appeared to be adding
more fuel to the fire.

Lomasi and Morf appeared
to be awake, but they weren't moving about, they must be tired, Cano
thought.  His plan may work if they stay where they are.  I will
float across the river, surprise them, and attack before they know what is
happening.  If I can free Gennos and Dola we can take them.  He
crawled back to the turkey skin and tucked it in the grass bag.  He
started to crawl away and gave a last look at the dead snakes.  Another
idea sprang into his mind.  He reached down and picked up one of the still
squirming snakes at the bloody nub end.  The snake thrashed around and
then curled around his arm.  He moved to the second snake and repeated the
process.  The snakes were as dead as they could be, but their bodies
continued to try to escape.

He slowly worked his way
upstream until he located a floating log he could use to drift across the river
to the island.  He held the snakes securely by the bloody nubs as he
pushed the log off into the current.  He placed himself at the end of the
log and kept his head low in the water.

When he had floated
across to the island he stopped the log in order to get the grass bag up on the
log.  The snakes by this time had finally relaxed their grip on his arms
and he was able to drape them over the log without fear of losing them. 
The life force was leaving them.  Cano was able to take the turkey skin
out of the grass bag.  Without thinking he cast the bag aside and then
holding the log with his elbows, he slid both hands into the feathered cavity
and then spread it as wide as he could and then pulled it down over his
head.  The feathers were next to his face, and raw skin was facing
outward. At first he couldn't see out, but then he adjusted the skin so that he
could see out of the slits he had cut in it.  It was difficult to breath,
but he could.  He pushed the log into the current and took up his position
at the end of the log.  He gripped the snakes by their tails and lowered
his head until it appeared to be a part of the log.  He was almost at the
camp when he saw Morf walk up to the waters edge and stare at something in the
water.  Cano could see clearly out of the slits.

Morf saw the log
floating down toward him, but that wasn't what interested him.  There was
something strange in the water.  He didn't know what to make if it. 
He felt good and everything seemed interesting. He felt fuzzy and his arm had
stopped hurting.  No, that wasn't right.  His arm still hurt, but he
didn't care. There was something in the water he didn't understand.  It
looked like a bag made of grass, and it was stuck on a small branch just below
the surface. But it couldn't be.  There aren't any grass bags in the
river. He turned toward Lomasi to ask him what this was.

As he turned to speak,
he saw Lomasi look up and then jerk backward.  He looked terrified.

Morf heard water splash
behind him and he turned to see what it was.  A huge creature with a
bloody smashed face sprang toward him. The skin on the face looked like crushed
guts.  It had black holes in its face where eyes should be.  It had a
short bloody snake hanging out of the top of its head. There were legs hanging
out of the place were a mouth should be.  It was dripping wet and had long
snakes in place of arms. It was splashing toward him and swinging its snake
arms at him and bellowing.  Morf screamed and tried to run, but one of the
snakes wrapped itself around his neck.  He grabbed it as he tried to
escape. It was slippery and he couldn't seem to get it loose; he looked at his
hand and saw that it was covered in blood. He fell to the ground screaming.

After Cano had cast one
of his snakes at Morf, he drew his Canohawk.  Morf was screaming and
trying to untangle the snake around his neck.  Cano struck quickly and
landed a glancing blow to Morf's head.  Morf fell into a forced slumber,
which allowed him to escape his nightmare. 

Cano moved to where his
brother was tied to the sapling and raised his hand to strike at the bonds that
held him.

The smoke had clouded
Gennos's mind even though he had tried to avoid its affects.  He had seen
the creature spring from the river and attack Morf.  The creature was
killing everything in its path.  He tried to pull away and hide, but he
was tied too securely.  The creature came for him in a rush.  He
closed his eyes and shuddered as he waited for the deathblow.  He heard a
blow land, but felt no pain.  He waited longer still; there was no
pain.  He opened his eyes to see the creature approach Dola.  He was
huddled on the ground and tied to another sapling.  The creature raised
the Canohawk to strike, as Gennos screamed "NO."

The creature didn't
strike, it turned toward Gennos and waved a snake, and then it turned and swung
down at the figure on the ground.

Gennos's clouded mind
saw that the creature had not killed Dola, it had cut him loose. He couldn't
believe what his eyes were seeing.  Dola rose and spoke to the
creature.  The creature nodded and then turned to where Lomasi cringed.

Seeing the creature turn
toward him, Lomasi scrabbled to his feet.  He stood swaying while his drug
infused mind tried to determine the best defense.  The only thing close at
hand that he could use as a weapon was a piece of burning wood from the fire at
his feet.  He almost fell as he snatched it up. Creatures of all kinds
feared fire.  He swung it back and forth in an effort to cast this demon
away.

The creature bent
forward and made squawking noises that changed to growls.  It came forward
in ragged hops, dragging one leg behind it.  Its shoulders shook from side
to side, and then it stopped and straightened up and pointed toward Lomasi with
the hand that held the Canohawk.  The other hand swung the snake above its
smashed face several times and then cast the headless snake at him.  The
muffled voice of the creature chanted, "Lomasi, Lomasi, Lomasi."

The snake landed across
Lomasi's chest and the tail swung around and over his arm.  He snatched at
the snake, got a grip on it and tossed it away with a shriek. He turned and
rushed into the tall grass, heading upriver and away from the creature.

The creature bellowed
and charged after Lomasi.

Lomasi crashed through
the grass in a mad effort to escape from the creature.  He cast his
burning branch away. It seemed useless against the creature.

Then the
creature did a strange thing.  It had rushed to the edge of the tall grass
and then stopped, and then it turned around.  It reached up with one hand
and tugged at its face.  It then leaned forward, and then straightened up
after removing the mask.  They all saw Cano's smiling face.  "Tie
Morf up, I will be back soon."  He waved his Canohawk above his head
and then, without looking back, charged after Lomasi.

Gennos was stunned; he
had trouble believing Cano was alive.  He had just about convinced himself
that he was dead and now he was here and alive.  He looked over at Dola
and saw him smiling.

Dola spoke first.
"I saw him come out of the river and thought that it was Cano by the way
he moved, but I couldn't see his face.  When he turned around, and I saw
him cut you free, I was sure he had come back to help us.

Gennos could only nod;
so much was happening so fast that he was having trouble understanding. 
He sighed and took a deep breath of the sweet smelling smoke.  Well, it
probably didn't matter a lot anyway.

Lomasi's
drug fused mind was befuddled; he had trouble thinking too.  All he could
think of was getting away and hiding.  Terror had sunk its long claws deep
into his mind; he was more frightened than he had ever been.  It was not
afraid of fire, it had killed Morf, and it knew his name.  It was after
him now. It was then that he realized that he had no weapons.  In a state
of panic he crashed through the brush, he came to a large patch of brambles and
without hesitation crashed into them.  His arms and legs were slashed by
the thorns and oozed blood from the long cuts.  One of the slender vines
refused to release his foot and he crashed to the ground, landing on his sore
leg.  The pain shot the length of his body like a spear tipped with
fire.  The pain make a gasp escape his lips, he could feel it all the way
to his fingertips.  It didn't stop his flight; he dragged himself to his
feet and stumbled ahead.  His mind flashed back to the campsite.  The
creature had come from the river.  It hit Morf with a snake and then
killed him with a blow to the head.  It came after me and hit me with a
snake, but I got away before it could kill me.  How could a creature like
that know my name? Animals can't talk, but was this thing an animal?  He
tried to think but his brain kept shifting colors, and he couldn't seem to think
straight.  He knew terror and fear, and he knew that danger was
near.  He continued to run, but the brambles and vines seemed alive and
they kept pulling at him. He felt that he was running in mud.  He screamed
in frustration and fell again.  He landed in mud.  He squirmed to a
sitting position and looked around franticly. He wasn't in mud; he was in soft
dirt.  It was all over his arms and legs.  Then he noticed that the
dirt was moving. And biting.  It wasn't dirt it was bugs; they were
crawling all over him.  Ants, they were fire ants and he had fallen into
an anthill.  Franticly he slapped at his tormentors.  They were
everywhere. He heard a long scream, he looked around to see where it came from
and then he realized the sound was coming from him.  The ants were in his
hair and on his back.  He scrambled to his feet and ran from the nest,
slapping and trying to scrape the ants from his body.  He stumbled and
fell; he rolled on the ground trying to crush his tormentors.  But still
they attacked, his body was swollen from their bites and welts where
rising.  He looked down at his festering leg wound and saw the ants were
getting into his body.  They were eating him alive.  A searing pain
struck him in the ear; an ant had gotten into his head and was biting inside of
his ear.  He screamed again and pounded on his head, trying to knock the
ant out of his ear. It seemed to be trying to burrow its way deeper into his
head.  He ran ahead screaming in pain.  He had come to the end of the
island and saw water in front of him.  He splashed into it and fell
heavily into the shallow water.  Something big was in the shallow water
and it splashed its way into deeper water.