The SealEaters, 20,000 BC by Bonnye Matthews

Author:Bonnye Matthews [Matthews, Bonnye]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Publication Consultants
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Akla’s Story

Akla had decided to explore the area. He climbed the hill to the east and surveyed the land. Suddenly someone gagged Akla and carried him off to the east, far from the place where moments before he’d stood to survey the lowland on either side of the rise. As he dangled from his own spear pole held over the shoulders of two of the four men, Akla could hear Murke’s plaintive calls far away. He was desperate to answer, but could make no noise. He did not understand why these stealthy people wanted him. He did not realize that the men were stepping carefully from rock to rock at the top of the ridge blocked from view by great trees, so they left no tracks. Akla noticed all of the men had hair shorter than shoulder length, and they had white headbands to keep the hair from their faces.

After a half day’s walk on the ridge, slipping in and out of forests, the people began their descent to the river on the south side of the ridge. They dumped him into the boat and quickly climbed in and began to row. His spear lay in the boat, but not where he could make use of it. They went with the current, but rowed rapidly, as if chased. Akla was surely out of hearing distance, but the men did not remove the gag. They eventually reached the sea, and they turned to the north. Akla was surprised to see great chunks of ice drifting down the coast. He knew the ice chunks came this far to the south, but the number of them surprised him. They rowed hard, moving north. Eventually they came to a river that Akla remembered. They rowed up that river. Akla recognized the placement of the cache left for the SealEaters’ return to the Cove on the second summer. It was either not evident to the rowers or they did not consider it something to examine, for it appeared untouched. The rowers moved quietly up the river further and further to the north.

The natives removed his gag when it was time for him to eat. He tried to converse, but they ignored him. As soon as he finished eating, they’d replace his gag. They would not let him sit in the boat. He remained tied up and lying down. Akla’s attempts to converse were rebuffed. He wondered what could possibly cause them to act the way they did. He had concluded that the four men who captured him did not have authority to kill him. Apparently there was a reason for his capture, but he could not conceive of anything that made sense with respect to the treatment he was given.

Day after day the river they followed narrowed and became shallow. They reached a place where travel was no longer possible by their boat. The four men and Akla stepped out of the boat. The tall one made it clear that Akla would continue to wear the gag, but he would walk between two of the men.

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