After meals, they collected the gnawed bones of lizards, dried them, washed them in a stream and dragged them to their huts. Everyone decorated their halabuda with everything that came to hand.
Between the branches of araucaria hunters pulled suspension bridges. Liana twine was fixed everywhere and lowered to the ground so that it was possible to climb onto the branches not only along the trunk. It was the huts that, in the event of a sudden penetration or attack of predators on the settlement, became the most reliable shelter for juveniles. True, Chameleons – the only terrestrial carnivores – could climb trees. But from them, just in case, stretch marks from ropes with bone rattles were always installed around the trunks – ribs, ridges, fangs of small cold-blooded and other remains. The rattles warned of climbers. Fortunately, Chameleons were extremely rarely found in coniferous forests, and they climbed so slowly that it was not difficult to distinguish them from people without looking, by the sound of tinkling streamers: a constant ringing of bones – a relative climbs, a rare – Chameleon. And if the Chameleon managed to rise at least a little, then a hail of stones could always stop him, because there were plenty of cobblestones on the araucaria. But so far, neither the Chameleons nor the attacks of other lizards near the Great Volcano have yet happened.
The foot of the mountain was as if created for a permanent camp. Most of the barriers that reliably protected the settlement from reptiles turned out to be the same boulders sticking out for eternity. And between them, the tribesmen erected high fences from fallen trees on the outskirts of the grove. Horns were attached to the fences. So the hunters secured themselves from land-based predators. Winged predators – Pterosaurs and Sharp-winged birds – never appeared in these places, since the first lived on the crowns of liana forests (the closest one was far in the southwest), and the second settled in the jungle, and the path to the jungle in the north lay in the moon of walking. The small flying Pawwings, which often roamed among the coniferous forest, did not pose a threat. Therefore, Roshan, the elders and other shamans believed that this place was the most reliable in the last thousand moons of nomadism.
The village had two loopholes. One in the southeast, the other in the southwest. Both first people were locked with small barriers. The loopholes were guarded by sentinels on watchtowers, standing two hundred paces apart, between which were the huts of the hunting parties. The relatives called this place the House of Hunters.
These dwellings were rounded structures made of branches, tree trunks and dense skin. Trunks – piles – were sharpened and driven into the ground. Then, with the help of ropes and branches, the piles were tied together in a circle from above and below. The finished structure was covered with a leather cloth and soaked with fat, like huts. The roof of each hut had a hole – a chimney, so it was possible to make a fire in the hut and cook food. Around the buildings, covering a small area, the tribesmen fixed the horns. Thus, each hunter’s house was a kind of defensive outpost. Outside, the walls of the houses were painted with symbols of hunting and tribal life, and from the inside they were plastered with limestone so that the huts would not ignite from random sparks of a fire.
Hunters hung dwellings with the bones of defeated herbivores or predators who attacked during the persecution. Some leaders of the Great Hunt decorated their buildings with the skulls of slain lizards. The largest bone hung over the entrance to the chief’s hut. The head of the Gigantosaurus – a huge and ancient herbivore that the first people saw – proudly adorned the leader’s tent. And the tent itself was located on a ledge, directly above the hunting dwellings, where the base of the cliff turned into a constructed observation platform.
In the center of the House of Hunters was the armory choir. It contained training tools, robes, bone armor and other items for the growing rangers and beaters. The territory adjacent to the mansion – the arena – was much larger than that of the huts of the hunting parties. Stuffed herbivores and a predatory reptile, Razavra, stood in the arena. Similarities of such giants as Long-necked, Tail-tailed and Tolshshkur were built without paws. The shapes of the recreated bodies were sticking straight out of the ground! Hunting skills were trained on smaller stuffed animals: they learned to hit prey or a predator with a bow, club or spear; and on stuffed giants they practiced running and keeping their balance.
Closer to the southeast loophole, behind the watchtower, the first humans built storage tents with timber, selected bones for armor, rare Edgestones, leather, and other necessary supplies. A little higher, on a hill, in the shade under the cliffs, they dug earthen caches for dried meat, medicinal and edible plants and fruits. And nearby they built tents for the same purposes – women always looked for an opportunity to preserve the edibility of the slaughter as long as possible. In the tents, the meat was hung with ropes on the beams, and in the pits it lay wrapped first in burdock, and then in leather patches. In both cases, the food was stored for a relatively long time, but in the pit it was a little juicier and still deteriorated earlier than in the building. In the tent, the slaughter was drier and saved right up to the next Big Hunt!
Between all the components of the settlement – on the slopes, cliffs and unobstructed distances, among araucaria, thickets of ferns, grass and other vegetation – the tribesmen trampled out paths. Every fifteen or twenty steps along the paths, the first people drove in the lights. The craftsman Varn made special lime bowls for the lights. He fixed them in such a way that no obvious flame could be seen from the side of the forest at night. Tongues of fire attracted not only herbivores, but also predatory reptiles, and the bowls hid and reflected sources of light towards the Great Volcano, scattering warm light to the foot of the mountain.
***
«Pa, are you leaving already?» Omi asked, barely opening her eyes.
Roshan went to visit his daughter and was about to leave the halabuda, but the child suddenly woke up.
– Good morning, dear. Yes, Pa must do many good deeds of the leader. How did you sleep? What did you dream?
– Slept well. I don’t remember what I dreamed…» Omi replied. – Where is Ma?
«She’ll be here soon, honey.
The shaman, forgetting that he was in a hut, stretched himself to his full height and hit his head on the transverse base. Omi laughed.
«Chief, you are so big!»
Roshan smiled and, kneeling down, pulled the girl towards him.
«Today the leader will go to meet Pangea,» he spread his hands. «And the chief’s daughter will promise that she won’t play hide-and-seek all over the village and will listen to Ma!»
Omi smiled.
«I promise, chief!»
Suddenly, from the other side of the structure, Ana’s voice was heard:
Roshan, are you still here?
The woman climbed into the building and immediately hugged her husband.
«They are waiting for you at the Temple,» she whispered. – I brought water. Ana held out a leather waterskin. «Drink as much as you can – she will help you.» You will have strength! the huntress assured.
– Inga will prepare a decoction and there will be plenty of it…
Don’t argue with me, chief. Water is the source of life. And I will be calmer. Drink up! Ana insisted.
The shaman clung to the neck of the bag. In a few sips, he emptied the vessel and turned to his daughter:
Don’t forget the promise!
Omi nodded.
«Check the Marines, Ana!» Roshan advised. «I will try to get back as soon as possible. In my absence, Radon will be responsible. Help Varn with the Fireplace.
«Roshan, I’m afraid for you,» the huntress’s voice trembled. «Hord said no one had done this before,» she said in a whisper.
The shaman glanced at Omi: the girl was sitting on the mat and playing with Lazunov’s claws. Making sure that