Ember of a New World (31 page)

When the group had met up with Al'Gar, each person took a moment to examine the pole. It had rotted at the base and would probably need replacing soon. The day was coming to an end, so Nor'Gar informed the group that they would be staying here tonight and replacing the post. It was the responsibility of travelers to keep the markers working and the wooden markers tended to rot away quickly enough. The grounds near the marker had the look of having been used for this purpose often. The ground was smoothed, and
the
fire pit holes were well worn. Tor'kal set to work with felling a small tree nearby and limbing it to make a new pole. Unfortunately, these markers only lasted a few seasons at best, but using a fresh tree and a little work, the next few groups
passing would find their way.

It was dark when Sv'en set to work carving the landmark into the new pole, about the size of a man. The land mark was a low mountain peak far off in the distance. A line shaped like a snake pointed the way in case the weather prevented seeing the mountain. Nor'Gar explained that the south had a large expanse of these mountains which separated the “Tru
e South” from the colder south.

The true south was a journey across perilous peaks of ice and snow into lands of warmth and sun. It was said that a tribe in the true south could live with never-ending supplies of food and ever-warm seasons. Perpetual warm days sounded great to Ember. She had spent the long cold march dreaming of running free through long green grass wearing nothing but a smile and a blanket of warm wind and sun. She would love to spend her days jumping into cool waters and swimming until her heart was content. Unfortunately, the trip to the True South sounded much more deadly and cold than
what she had to deal with now.

The next morning, the group quickly packed up and resumed their journey, finally leaving the valley they had spent at least five days within. Proceeding out of the valley, the tro
op
saw villages along a small river, which flowed half way between their camp of the previous night and the mountain, which was too far to be seen in any detail. Ember could see people in the small villages working and carrying on their daily tasks much as she would have been if she had not started this journey. Several times, Ember saw a local w
aving back at Nor'Gar's group.

“Ember, you-will like South. Men, Women, dance. Much color, shells, feathers
,
” Nor'Gar was getting better with his trade tongue. Ember responded using words from both languages, allowing a greater vocabulary and the ability to speak without as much of the strange conjoined words the trade language used.

“I-like South because, people of-Tornhemal, are here.” Nor'Gar took the compliment with a smile as Aya simmered not far behind. She had been increasingly moody of late. She fell back to Ven'Gar's
side and grabbed at his hand.

“She has become quite a friend of Nor'Gar, don't you thin
k?” she said.

“It would seem. It's like she was his long lost
daughter
or daughter he never had
,
” Ven'Gar said. “Nor'Gar's wife died long ago in child birth. Perhaps t
hat has something to do with it
,
” he pondered aloud. Aya frowned, wanting to suggest something more sinister.

“I think they look more like lovers. I would bet that he...” Aya was interrupted as Ven'Gar suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder and whipped her around so f
ast that she almost fell over.

“You Will Never Speak That Way About Our Leader! You may say what you wish about anyone else, but never about High Hunter Nor'Gar!” he said leveling a dangerous glare at Aya. Aya was not afraid of Ven'Gar and knew he would never harm her, but she had to balance her manipulations and his anger at her suggestions. One poorly chosen statement, like the one she had just made, and she could lose her chance at position. Aya's chest heaved with a quick burst of fury, when suddenly she realized that Ven'Gar was looking down upon her with an odd sort of superior moral authority, and from a full head taller. Aya wondered why she had just thought that, but she quickly dismissed the notion. Aya's chest resumed its regular patterns, though she felt very angry and a little afraid, perhaps merely frightened by the sudden events. Aya backed away and fell back to the end of the group to stew. She burned like a crackling fire, too lost in her immediate anger to plot, but later she would get back to doing just that.

By 5500 B.C.E., Europe was experiencing an influx of peoples from the east and south. Most of the greatest cultures, labeled cultures by their pottery most often and not necessarily by the modern usage of the word “culture”, were centered
on
rivers or lakes. As Ember moves south, she will encounter more and more tribes who stand apart from the water. These tribes rely on farming and trade more than the quasi-Neolithic-Mesolithic methods of the river dwellers. Ember's people were actually slightly Mesolithic in their methods. As an example, they
did not typically keep animals.

It is a
common
mistake to assume that changes from Mesolithic to Neolithic suddenly happened, or that changes were homogeneous within a geographi
cal area.
Like all new things, time is required for adaptation and assimilation.
Not only did new
advancements
likely progress slowly and asymmetrically, but some likely spread,
and the
n died out, and then again spread, before finally becoming
accepted
.

The southern tribes were the most advanced
within Europe
and often many times larger than Ember's.
Their structures were complex with unified religions, a dichotomy of class, and the first stirrings of politics.
Hopefully, Ember will fit in with these more advanced and alien people.

After a single day following the river in an easterly direction, the group caught site of their first indications of people
close by
. Borjk had come forward with a report of animal traps to the north, which meant they were entering the lands of a tribe and
were
probably not far from a village. Signs of a village along the banks of a small river were the final indication that the group was on the correct path. Women could be seen smoking fish by the river while children played a sort of game with little wooden spears and some sort of target. Ember smiled to see that life continued as normal everywhere she went. Ember was starting to wonder just how large the world really was.

After
so many long
ten-days of walking
and riding in her boat
, Ember continued to come across people much like herself. They looked a little different, dressed somewhat differently, and even had distinct languages, but the basic trials of life seemed to permeate all people she encountered. Across the river's bank sat a small girl picking the last few flowers of the season. She had long brown hair and a large smile, which she flashed at Ember, who smiled back. Ember realized that little girl could easily have been her, here, in this distant land.

Traveling really opens the mind of the traveler
, she thought.

The group continued east, following the small river the next day. Towards the afternoon, the forward scouts excitedly returned to report they had found the village. Just be
yond the next bend in the river. T
hey reported
a large village, perhaps three hundred people or more, and by all looks, a trade village. A few villages in the south obtained a considerable portion of their wares from trade. Every warm season, daring people would brave the passes through the mountains and bring wares to and from the True South. In reality, such towns still provided many of their food and wares internally, but they were cultural and material showrooms for others in the area. The ability to serve as a cultural clearing house for ideas and wares was a new one, and only specially placed villages were afforded the convenience of a ready food supply, the placement between differing cultures, and the pure luck of their own des
ign to serve in this capacity.

The group walked around a small knoll and the village proper came into view. Ember was taken
aback
by the sheer size of the construction. The village was set within a depression in the side of a set of small hills. To the south west, beautiful and vast mountains were visible in the background. Around the outside of the village was a palisade of pointed wooden poles. The pointed poles surrounded the entire village affording a small degree of security. Each of the poles had been painted on their tips with a chalky white paint made from clay. Interestingly, entire sections of the massive palisade were different in size, age, and construction. Ember considered how many seasons construction of such a wall might take. This was truly a large village.

Inside the palisade, the houses were round and wooden, with roofs of mud and branches, coated in the same white clay which coated the palisade walls. Each stood twice the height of a man and four times as wide, or more. In all, they were probably no larger inside than a longhouse, but they were strange and exotic to Ember. Many houses sported colorful designs on their roofs and sides, but most of the roof designs looked to be washed away. Red and white checkerboard patterns wrapped around walls
,
with a significant number of variations in the size of coloring of the squares. The whole p
lace was quite strange, indeed.

The center of the village had a long path made of dirt and caked mud with large drying racks and other wooden constructs, of what purpose Ember couldn't deduce, here and there. At the far edge of the village, there were wooden fenced pens with what looked like goats! The people were apparently breeding and keeping goats to eat. Ember knew of some tribes who kept animals for food, but this was still a very rare practice in the north. In the center of the mass of houses, Ember saw what looked like a larger hut, but she couldn't get a good look. The enormity of the village held Em
ber in a state of awe.

When they approached the walls, hunters from the village came forward with wooden frame stretched-leather shields and spears, spears not meant for animals. These men were not hunters she realized, but warriors. A warrior was a man who trained to kill men, not animals. Ember had been called a warrior, but she still wasn't sure how serious the claim had been. The warriors wore leather leggings with thin leather shirts, much like Ember's, and extra-long breechcloths. Their feet were garbed in rough ankle-high wrapped shoes, and their faces were painted with a light ocher. The men wore their hair tied in a bun with one or more small and thin
hair
sticks holding the bun together.

The warriors approached the group, which slowed to a stop while Nor'Gar came forward with his right arm raised in a gesture of friendship. Nor'Gar spoke to the warriors in what sounded like the trade language, though she couldn't make out the words as they were spoken quietly. After a few nervous moments, made more so by the appearance of several more warriors with bows and a few hunters, the warriors nodded and came forward to inspect the tro
o
p. They walked forward and looked at each person slowly and with care. One of the warriors walked past Ember, taking in her red hair and bright green eyes, to which he issue a smile and winked his eye. Ember was not completely sure of what that meant, but she had a feeling it was some form of compliment. After a short time, the warriors walked back towards Nor'Gar. An elder had come from the village and started speaking with Nor'Gar while the warriors satisfied themselves of the groups “true” intentions. The warriors now gave their nods to the elder who smiled and threw h
is arms wide open in greeting.

“Welcome, Welcome!” he spoke in the trade lan
guage and ushered the people in
to the village. The elder wore a set of leather “robes”, open in the front. His waist was covered with a leather-wrap, and his feet were kept warm by a set of
well-made
leather boots. The elder had little remaining hair, an affliction of men, but his facial hair was extremely long, by the conventions of Ember's people, falling more than two hands lengths down his chest. The facial hair and bald head gave the man a sort of wild look, which intrigued Ember. He was a stark contrast to the people of Tornhemal or even her own tribe, who often, male or fema
le, had hair down their backs.

The group followed the path through the village towards the center. On each side
,
houses were placed a short distance apart with many women and old men sitting outside working on various crafts and chores. They looked different than Ember
had
expected.
Their skin tone was a little lighter than
Ember’s or those of Tornhemal, though
they were
tanned from the sun.
The predominate hair and eye colorings were darker than hers, tending towards browns and even blacks,
while
a few had green or blue eyes. Most people had brown curly or wavy hair, which the men tended to bind into a bun with crisscrossed sticks to hold the hair in place. Women tended to bind their hair into dual buns, one of each side of their heads, with a significant portion of the hair remaining loose and flowing down their backs. Ember was impressed to see many of the men and women with colorful beads in their hair and quite complex facial and body paints. Dark red, likely from berries, and ocher were the two mo
st common face and body paints.

The people wore leather clothing much like Ember's people in the cold season, but they also wore exquisitely woven reed or plant fiber jackets and flax clothing. Flax grew in the north, but it was imported most of the time by traders, such as these people. The fiber was very hard to obtain, requiring the freshly dug plants to be placed in large wooden tubs and allowed to rot. Afterward women would use large rounded rocks and wooden bats at various intervals to remove the unwanted outer part of the plant releasing the fibers. The fibers could be carefully turned into a thin cord. The process was fully by hand and would take many seasons from plant to string. Many of the older women were sitting around creating such string as Ember watched.

If only string could be made more quickly...
, she pondered. Of course, Ember knew that the best things in life took m
any long days or more to make.

Ember watched one woman walk by, quite close. She had hazel colored eyes and long honey colored wavy hair in twin side buns with a long portion of hair flowing to just below her waist. Her hair was decorated with white beads and little blue feathers. Her skin was coated in a brown coloring with thatched lines for decoration. She was wearing a long leather skirt and a flax vest open in the front for her baby, which she held in her arms, to feed. The baby was wrapped within a soft leather blanket to keep it warm. The woman wore a cloak over her back of woven plant fiber of with a quality Ember had never seen. The fibers had been braided and carefully woven into a corded panel rather than just the basket-like methods her people used. Her feet were wrapped in soft leather boots. On her back was a bundle of sticks she was obviously bringing home. She smiled as she passed and gave the group a nod.

W
ow! This is amazing!
Ember thought. She was becoming quite happy with exploring the world. Ember expected celebrations that night, as were performed by her tribe when traders came. It was a good enough excuse. Besides, everyone was too busy looking over the wares and the people to worry with work. Nor'Gar and the tro
op
were ushered by the elder and two of the warriors to a set of four large huts which looked as though they were used often by guests. Beside the huts was a large court yard with a large hut near it. The large hut looked to be the most significant and was painted with various imagery of animals and anthropomorphic figures. Ember wondered what went on in that unique building. Before she could get a closer look, the group w
as motioned to enter the huts.

Once in the huts, the Elder explained that the group could remain in the town during the cold season. Nor'Gar handed the Elder a small leather sack, no doubt containing something of value, and gave the Elder a hearty slap on the back. The Elder looked a little rattled by the slap but nodded and left the group.
Ember and Kis’tra laughed at the confused look on the Elder’s face at having been slapped. Ember supposed that life in a large village made such men unused to the ways of men like High Hunter Nor’Gar.

After the Elder left, the group quickly began to spread out.
Ember took in the hut, which was actually much larger than she had realized, once inside. In the center, each hut had dried dirt floors and overly used hearths. Towards the top of the huts, holes were propped open by poles
to allow air in and smoke out.

As the travelers began to split up between the huts, obviously setup for traders, a man who looked much different from the people of this village stepped out of one of the huts. He smiled and gave a nod to Nor'Gar. He was shorter than the other people with darker, tanned skin which had seen lots of sun. His hair was dark and straight, unlike the scraggly and curly hair of Ember or
Kis’tra
's people. He had a more prominent nose and thicker eyebrows than Ember, as well.
Kis’tra
explained to Ember
,
after the man and Nor'Gar stepped aside to ta
lk, that this man was from the True S
outh, probably a merchant from over the mountains. Ember and
Kis’tra
's vocabularies in the amalgamated Trade-Tornhemal language were now quite large and, at least between themselves, they could speak quite well now and with
out as much word coupling.