The Boy of the Painted Cave by Justin Denzel

The Boy of the Painted Cave by Justin Denzel

Author:Justin Denzel
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


TEN

A full moon passed and another began and it was almost summer.

Whenever Tao left the little cave to go hunting with Ram, he looked out over the valley to be sure that Volt or Garth and the other hunters were not around. Now he looked across the verdant grassland, warm and bright in the early morning sunlight. He saw noisy flocks of dusty brown linnets fly over the meadows, settling at times to rest and feed, then rising up again like a tawny cloud.

Small bands of horses grazed alongside saiga antelopes as they wandered across the open fields. But this morning Tao saw no man, no hunter. Everything seemed quiet and at peace.

Then he saw something far off in the distance. He strained his eyes but he could make it out only as a long line of great brown bodies, moving slowly. It came out of the bottomlands, along the river, rolling ponderously onto the plains.

Tao knew it was a vast herd of animals. But he could not yet see it clearly. Sometimes it was hidden by a white haze of dust that hovered over it, moving along with it. Then it came into view again, a living thing winding its way along. It was still far away, but it was getting closer.

Tao held his hand up to his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun. He looked again. He gasped and felt his heart leap. “They’re here, Ram,” he cried. “The mountains-that-walk have come back.”

He picked up his spear and went down the cliff, stumbling, sliding to the bottom with Ram close behind him. Without stopping they ran out across the valley, racing through the knee-high grass, scattering the game before them. The antelopes went bounding away; the horses whinnied and galloped off.

Breathing heavily, the boy and the wolf dog plunged headlong into the swamps. Here they would be downwind from the animals. They could hide in the tall reed grass and watch in safety.

Standing in the shallow water, they waited silently as the first groups of mammoths lumbered into the open meadow. Tao pushed aside the reeds to get a better view. He could see the herd clearly now. It was made up of cows, with many yearlings and calves. As tall as the birch trees, some of the older, elephantlike animals had long, sweeping tusks that curved inward, almost crossing over at the ends. Thick, hanging mats of reddish-brown hair covered their bodies, all shaggy and disheveled from late spring shedding.

The calves wandered on either side of the herd, exploring, romping, then running back. Great black-winged vultures soared overhead, circling the herd.

Tao counted on his fingers. It was three summers since the mountains-that-walk had come through the valley. Now they were back and Tao was overwhelmed at the sight of them. Of all the animals in the valley, he loved to watch the mountains-that-walk best. They were like the earth, massive, shaggy old giants, lumbering out of the dawn.

Moving slowly, in scattered groups, the monsters plodded along,



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