posted 06-11-06 07:32 PM EDT (US)
The Kahan are a people from the northern mountains seperating two regions of Aio. This unique culture has before had no connection with the outside world, and have no idea that they soon will join a war against two great factions. "Shhhh...you'll scare them away!" I whispered to my younger brother Genjis. He was 10, and I, Kayuk, was 14. We were in the mountains, hunting snow goats. Unfortunately, Genjis scared the only one around away. "Thanks, Genjis. You're a real help." I moped sarcastically. "You'll never be a good hunter. Genjis was just silent. This made me mad, so I yelled out, "Why aren't you speaking?" Genjis just made a gesture with his finger to his lips to make me be quiet. There was a snow goat about 10 feet ahead of them. I got the picture and waited silently behind an icy boulder with my brother. Slowly Genjis and I knocked our bone-tipped arrows into our bows, carved with the symbols of various Kahan spirits. We were going to kill this goat for sure. Clang! Both of our arrows missed the snow goat and hit solid rock behind the creature. Genjis drooped down and whined. I did the same, for I didn't think today would be a successful hunting trip. Four hours passed as we padded through the snow glittering on the mountains. No goats. No anything. In front of us were just mountains and snow falling from the sky. The Spirit of the Winter, Ukayng, had given us this snowfall. Two more hours passed. Still nothing happened. I was definately frustrated, and Genjis was almost at tears. Muscles throughout my body pounded like being hit by thousands of stones. I'm sure Genjis felt the same, too. If only some food would just drop in front of us. That would surely be a miracle. And so it happened. The corpse of a snow goat dropped from somewhere above right in front of us. It landed with a sickening crack, breaking some bones. I figured it must've been dropped from high up. Slowly, I took a step forward, then scattered backward. Once more, a took a few steps forward, and knelt in front of the laying body. I bent down to examine it. "Still fresh," I said aloud to my brother. "You take it. I have been walking much more than you. You've been sitting behind most of the time then sprinting up to me at the last minute." Genjis complained, but eventually he did it. I was beginning to think this would actually be a successful hunt. --- Soon we had 2 more snow goats, one of which I made my brother carry, and one I carried. Of course all my brother did was complain that he had to take two snow goats, but I really didn't care. Ignoring him was easy. Wind rushed into our faces and we stood atop the verge of a high ledge. Below we could see the tundras, and the middle, a tiny village. That was our village. It would only be a matter of time before we were home and around a warm fire in our yurt. It took us about 3 hours to get to the bottom of the mountains. By now it was evening as we staggered across the ice and rock with our snow goats. Little did we know that we were lost. The truth didn't come to us that obviously. At first, we didn't recognize the part of the mountains we were in. Second, we couldn't even see the tundra from where we were. Yes, we were far from the top, but it seemed that we went the wrong way. Taking a wrong turn can prove fatal, especially in these mountains. Night spread like a blanket around us, and it was very, very cold. The snow had continued to fall, and was becoming thicker every minute. Whenever we looked up, we could see ledges and high mountains jutting up all around us, but we were in an unfamiliar place. Naturally, we became scared. Large stalagmitical icicles jutted from the ground. We entered some sort of odd, narrow strip of ice, with seemingly no way up. Just ahead of us was a small cave entrance. Our only chance of surviving in these mountains now was to stay there and cook one of the snow goats. Shimmering sparkles glittered on the ice wall of the narrow cave. This tunnel we entered was made of pure ice. Eventually we stopped in some sort of a culvesac in the cave which was wide enough for us to stay. I muttered a prayer to myself: "Please, Nogayu, Spirit of Protection, help my brother and I live this night we must spend in the harsh mountains." My prayer gave me a sense of relief, which quickly dropped in a second. I realized a horrible truth: there was no way to cook the snow goats. For sure my dear brother Genjis and I would die in this cave of ice. For sure we would die. --- The night was harsh. Our stomachs growled every few seconds, and we had no fire. Just the clothes on our backs. Good thing that the Kahan people dress warm and carry tools, but unfortunately were not carrying any kind of fire starters and there were no sticks around to make a fire. We did not want to skin one of the snow goats, for that would be a waste. The whole rest of the body would freeze up in the cold during the night. Genjis and I huddled together to keep warm. *** "Hurry up, Genjis, I see the tundra! I see our village! Come on, look!" I yelled to Genjis. We survived the night in the frozen ice cave and found our way up to a peak where we could see our village. The snowgoats were still fresh and we needed to get them back. It took a long time, about 3 hours, to succesfully reach the bottom of the mountains and take our first step back into the tundra. An hour passed as we walked across the tundra. The village was still ways away, and we had to trek quite a while before we'd be home. I looked to the left, and in the dim sunlight, saw a herd of oxen in the distance, grazing on small lichens and plants growing out of the snowy plains. [This message has been edited by Lord Iarune (edited 06-16-2006 @ 09:49 PM).]
By Lord Iarune
