Sunset of the Sabertooth (3 page)

“Wow, what is this place?” said Jack.

“Maybe it’s an art gallery,” said Annie.

“I don’t think so,” said Jack. “It’s too hard to get to.”

He read about the cave paintings:

These Ice Age beasts were painted 25,000 years ago. Cro-Magnons painted pictures of animals they hunted. They may have believed the paintings would give them power over the animals.

“Wow, look at this,” said Annie.

She pointed at a painting farther down the wall.

It showed a figure with human arms and legs, reindeer antlers, and an owl face. It seemed to be holding a flute.

Jack looked at the book again. He found a picture of the figure and read:

Cave men may have been led by a sorcerer, or “Master of the Animals.” He may have worn reindeer antlers so he could run like a reindeer—and an owl mask so he could see like an owl.

“What is it?” said Annie.

“The Master of the Animals,” said Jack. “He’s a sorcerer.”

“Oh wow,” breathed Annie. “That’s it.”

“That’s what?”

“That’s who we have to find.”

“Why?”

“Maybe he’s a friend of Morgan’s,” said Annie.

Jack nodded slowly. “Maybe,” he said.

“Let’s go find him,” said Annie.

They went back through the tunnel into the first cave.

“We better put our lamps back,” said Jack.

He and Annie blew out their lamps.

They placed them back by the fire.

Jack’s backpack was on the floor next to the skins. He put the Ice Age book into it.

“How’s Peanut?” said Annie.

Jack looked into his pack. “She’s not here,” he said.

“Oh no!” cried Annie. “She must have crawled out when we were looking at the paintings.’’

“Peanut!” Jack called.

“Peanut!” called Annie.

Annie walked slowly around the cave, looking into the shadows.

Jack peered around the fire and under each of the furry skins.

“Jack! Come here!” said Annie.

She was standing near the entrance to the cave.

The snow had stopped falling.

In the snow were tiny tracks.

“Peanut’s tracks,” said Annie. “We have to find her before she freezes.”

She wrapped her reindeer coat around her and headed across the snow.

Jack pulled on his backpack and followed.

The mouse’s tracks led them between the fallen rocks and back onto the open plain.

The wind blew harder. Snow swirled over the ground, covering the tiny footprints.

“I can’t see them anymore!” wailed Annie.

She and Jack now stood in the middle of the plain. They stared at the windswept snow.

The mouse’s tracks had vanished.

“Yikes,” whispered Annie, staring up.

Jack followed her gaze. On one of the cliffs was a tiger. A giant tiger with two long, sharp fangs.

“A
sabertooth
,” said Jack.

“I hope he doesn’t see us,” whispered Annie.

“Me too,” Jack whispered back. “We’d better head back to the tree house.”

Jack and Annie stepped very softly across the snow. Then Jack glanced back at the cliff.

The sabertooth was gone.

“Oh man,” he said. “Where is he?”

“Run to the trees!” said Annie.

He and Annie started running. They ran over the snowy plain, heading toward the tall, bare trees in the distance.

Suddenly Jack heard a
crack
.

The ground caved in, and Jack went with it.

Annie fell beside him.

They crashed down onto a heap of branches, snow, and earth.

They struggled to stand. Jack pushed his glasses into place.

“You all right?” he asked Annie.

“Yes,” she said.

They both looked up. They were in a deep hole. All Jack could see were gray clouds moving overhead.

“This is a trap,” Jack said. “The Cro-Magnons must have put branches over this hole. Then the snow hid the branches. So we didn’t see them.”

“There’s no way out,” said Annie.

She was right. They were helpless. The pit was too deep to climb out of.

“I feel like a trapped animal,” Annie said.

“Me too,” said Jack.

He heard a yowl in the distance.

“The sabertooth!” whispered Annie.

Jack pulled out the Ice Age book. He found a picture of the sabertooth. He read:

The sabertooth was the fiercest beast of the Ice Age. It attacked humans as well as woolly mammoths and other large animals.

“Oh brother,” said Jack.

“Listen!” Annie grabbed him.

“What?” Jack jumped.

“I hear music.”

Jack listened. But all he heard was the wind.

“You hear it?” said Annie.

“No,” said Jack.

“Listen carefully.”

He closed his eyes. He listened very carefully.

He heard the wind. But this time he heard another sound, too.

Strange, haunting music.

“Ahhh!” cried Annie.

Jack opened his eyes.

Staring down at them was a figure wearing reindeer antlers and an owl mask.

“The sorcerer,” whispered Jack.

Squeak
.

Peanut peered down at them, too!

The sorcerer didn’t speak. He stared through the eyeholes of the owl mask.

“Help us, please,” said Annie.

The sorcerer threw a rope into the pit. Jack grabbed it.

“He wants to pull us up,” said Annie.

Jack looked up. The sorcerer was gone.

“Where did he go?” Jack said.

“Tug on the rope,” said Annie.

Jack tugged. The rope tightened. It began rising.

“I’ll go first!” said Annie cheerfully.

“Annie, this isn’t a game,” warned Jack.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

Jack gave her the rope. “Okay. But hold on tight,” he said.

Annie held the rope with both hands. She pushed her feet against the side of the pit. She rose into the air with the rope.

She kept pressing against the side of the pit—until she reached the top.

Jack saw the sorcerer reappear and help Annie up. Then they moved out of sight.

Jack was puzzled. The sorcerer had used both hands to help Annie. So who held the other end of the rope?

“Wow!” came Annie’s voice.

What’s going on?
Jack wondered.

The sorcerer came back and threw the rope down again.

Jack grabbed it. And the rope started to rise.

Jack held on tight. He started up. His hands burned. His arms felt as if they were being pulled out of their sockets.

But he kept his hold on the rope and his feet against the side of the pit.

At the top the sorcerer pulled Jack onto the snowy ground.

“Thanks,” said Jack, standing.

The sorcerer was tall. He wore a long fur robe. Jack could see only his eyes through the owl mask.

“Hey!” Annie called.

Jack turned.

Annie was sitting on a woolly mammoth.

Squeak
. Peanut was sitting on the mammoth’s head.

The mammoth looked like a giant elephant with shaggy reddish hair and long, curved tusks.

The other end of the rope was around the mammoth’s huge neck.

“Lulu pulled us up,” said Annie.

“Lulu?” said Jack.

“Don’t you think she looks like a Lulu?” said Annie.

“Oh brother,” said Jack. He walked up to the mammoth.

“Hey, mammoth starts with M,” said Annie. “Maybe Lulu’s the special thing!”

“I don’t think so,” said Jack.

The great creature knelt down, just like a circus elephant.

“Whoa!” said Annie. She clutched the mammoth’s ears to keep from falling off.

The sorcerer helped Jack climb onto the mammoth.

“Thanks,” said Jack.

Then the sorcerer reached into a pouch. He pulled out a smooth white bone and handed it to Jack.

The bone was hollow. It had four holes along one side. And two on the other.

“Oh man, I think it’s his flute,” said Jack. “The book said they make flutes from mammoth bones.”

Jack tried to give the flute back to the sorcerer.

“Nice,” he said politely.

But the sorcerer held up his hand.

“He wants you to keep the mammoth bone,” said Annie.

“
Mammoth bone
,” whispered Jack. ‘‘Hey, maybe this is the third thing.”

Jack looked at the sorcerer. “Do you know Morgan?” he asked.

The sorcerer did not answer. But his eyes sparkled with kindness.

He turned away from Jack and untied the mammoth’s rope. Then he whispered in the ear of the giant woolly creature.

When the mammoth stood up, Jack gripped Annie’s coat to keep from falling off. He felt miles above the ground.

He nestled behind Annie, in the dip between the mammoth’s head and huge curved back.

The mammoth took slow, plodding steps across the snow, then picked up speed.

“Where are we going?” said Jack as they bumped up and down.

“To the tree house!” said Annie.

“How does he know where it is?” said Jack.

“
She
just knows,” said Annie.

Jack looked back.

The sorcerer was standing in the snow, watching them.

But at that moment the clouds parted, and the sun came out.

Jack was blinded by sunlight on the snow.

He squinted to see—but the sorcerer had vanished.