Return to Eden

Ortnar asked, dragging himself up.
    "They had hair just like ours, and spears," Harl said. "They are Tanu hunters."
    "I must see them," Kerrick said, taking up his hèsotsan.
    "I'll show you where they are!" Arnwheet was bouncing with excitement.
    "All right."
    Armun heard this as she came from the tent with the baby in her arms.
    "Let the boy stay here," she said.
    "There is nothing to be afraid of. They're Tanu. Ortnar will be here with you. Arnwheet saw them first, he deserves to meet them as well. Maybe they can tell us what has happened at the valley."
    "Bring them here."
    She watched as they raced away, the boys shouting to each other. Could it be another sammad? There would be other women to talk to then, other children. She was just as excited as the boys were. Darras came out of the tent, silent and fearful as always. It would be good for her to be with other girls. It would be wonderful if there really was another sammad close by.
    The boys ran ahead, shouting with excitement and were already pulling the raft out of the brush when Kerrick reached the shore. They were right, there was a hunter on the other side. Just one though, large and somehow familiar. He waved a hèsotsan and called out.
    It was Herilak, it could be no other. Kerrick waved back in silence, remembering the last time they had met in the city. The sammadar had been angry at him for forcing the sammads to stay and help in the city's defense. They had not spoken since then because Kerrick and Ortnar had gone north the next morning. Their route carefully chosen so they did not pass near any of the Tanu. If they had, the two Yilanè males with them would have been killed on sight. What was Herilak doing here—and what would he say now? There had been many harsh words between them.
    Kerrick stood silently on the raft while the boys poled it across. Looking at the big hunter who was silent as well now. When the raft grounded on the shore, Herilak placed his weapon on the grass and stepped forward.
    "I greet you, Kerrick," he said. "Greet you." He touched the skymetal knife that hung around his neck, then pulled it free and held it out before him. Kerrick reached over slowly and took it. He could see that it had been polished with sand and glistened in the sunlight.
    "They brought it," Herilak said. "The murgu. They had been attacking us, they were winning. Then they stopped. And left this for us."
    "It was meant as a message for another. But it is good you saw it too. You understood its meaning?"
    Herilak's grim face broke into a rare smile. "I understood not at all how it had happened. But knew that something had been done, the attack which was killing us had stopped, the murgu were gone. And it must have been your doing. I knew that it had to be you when I saw this." Herilak's face was grim again and he stopped and folded his arms. "When we met last I said many harsh things, Kerrick. You are of my sammad yet I said and did things that I should not have done. I did not do as I should have for your woman Armun. I have a great shame for that."
    "It is the past, Herilak. We will not talk of it again. Here, greet my son Arnwheet. This is the sammadar, Herilak, first among sammadars and hunters."
    "Not first, Arnwheet," Herilak said looking down at the boy. "Take pride of your father. He is first among all of us. And this one, I know him. The son of Nivoth. He left with Armun. She is here then as well?"
    "She is here. And also Ortnar of your sammad."
    "There was a darkness in my head then. I treated Ortnar as I treated you. Worse perhaps. I struck him. I can only say that the darkness is gone. I wish I had not done the things I did—but I cannot take them back now."
    "There is no need to talk of this here. The boys said there were two hunters?"
    "The other has returned to the sammad, to bring them here to the water. Will you join with us, you and your sammad?
    "Where do you trek to?"
    "Why—to find you."
    Kerrick burst out laughing at Herilak's baffled expression—and Herilak frowned at first, then laughed as well.
    "You have found me, so the trek can end here. Join us. The island is safe, the hunting good. There are deer and small eating murgu. It is a very fine place to camp."
    "Killer murgu?"
    "Some, but not many cross the river from the mainland. We watch for their spoor in the mud here, track them down and kill them at once." Talking about murgu brought something important to mind.
    "You and the sammads are welcome here", Kerrick said, then