With such a bountiful harvest from the sea and the land, the festival ending the search was especially joyous. The joining of the clans made that possible. The stories exchanged became more outrageous and mythical, especially when under the spell of fermented drink.

But the festival was short-lived, as well as the beautiful fall weather that they so enjoyed. There came the first frost, followed by cold, windy wet days, often turning to snow. Regardless how the clansmen were prepared, the wind and the cold cut through their fur clothing, their huts and their lives, all winter long. Staved off, only by a few, warm sunny days and roaring fires that often brought more suffering from all of the smoke than the cold itself.

The pestilence came early. It started as sore throats, headaches, coughing and runny noses. If these were not stopped during a night in a warm bed, they often spread to chills, fevers, and difficulty breathing, rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, bleeding and death… Always present, the gods deciding.

The clans-people fought back with all the remedies and incantations they knew, but it was up to the gods whether or not the sick one’s life would return to normal, create an invalid, or death. With the loss of so many elders already, people with knowledge of the right medicines and treatments, this clan was suffering by being too young and too inexperienced. Some of the old ways had been lost with their practitioners.

The clan entered winter with twelve women with a baby growing inside. The first birth occurred two days after the fall festival. A healthy girl baby. Everyone rejoiced. But mother and child soon took ill and after many sun cycles, both the mother and child survived, but the child was very weak and not expected to make it through the winter.

By the winter solstice, half the encampment was sick. Shea was one of them. She ran a high fever with sweating and chills as her body was racked with pain and she cried out in the night. Tor stayed by her side, worrying. Shin stayed by their hut for encouragement and alerting them to wolves that came in the night. They were after Tsen in the small enclosure that Tor had built for him to keep him out of the snow and wind.

Whenever Shin told him the wolves were close, Tor would leave and gather up one or two of the best archers like Thad and Seve, and they would stand guard over Tsen until the wolves left or they put an arrow in one of them, providing them with another source of fresh meat and another warm coat from the skin.

Water became a problem when everything was frozen. They melted snow in large pots for cooking and drinking. Chipped away at ice in the river and melted that, too. 

There wasn't a source of running water anywhere near like there was at the fiery river and in the caves. Everyone became parched quite often and needed to drink more. Making the ones who weren't sick having to gather more ice and snow to melt. Unfortunately, those who were sick needed more water and they couldn't go get it. Youngsters spent their whole day in the cold gathering ice and snow for the rest of the clan.

Wood had to be brought in to the lodge to keep the fires going there and to keep it warmer than the huts that were without any fire or heat except warm furs and body heat to keep warm during the sometimes, extremely cold, wind howling nights. As usual, other women came to the hut of Tor and Shea, both to keep warm and to, when warm enough, hope for a baby from him.

At the height of midwinter, Tia gave signs that she was going to have her baby. Special offerings were given to the gods and incantations were made for a good birth. It came in the middle of the night with her crying out as she went into labor. By morning, she had a healthy baby girl.

Shea, still weak with her sickness, and Tor were among the first to see the infant and congratulate the young mother, their own adopted child. Even as an infant, Tor could see that the little girl, that they named Mya, did not resemble Tor or Nila, but her father, one of the cave people. In a way, Tor was relieved, but he did not say anything, just grateful that the clan was growing.

More babies were born. Some dead and some alive. Some healthy and some sick. Mothers died from the effects of childbirth. Especially those so young. Other mothers stepped in and nursed the babies without mothers. It was sad to see so many young dead but it was the way of the gods. Why every woman had to have many babies. To keep the clan going and healthy. Death was waiting everywhere.

Shea was no exception. When the promise of spring was just around the corner with warmer days and some melting of the snow and ice, creating icicles on the lodge and huts that were easily snapped off and added to the melting pot, she had reached her time in the middle of the night.

"Tor… Tor… My water has broken! I need to get to the lodge. Help me!"

Tor had already felt the wetness and thought maybe she had peed. Something she had never done before. And then he realized, as he heard her call to him.

"Okay, my dear, I will help you!" As he rose rapidly, slipped into his fur coat and lifted her to her feet to help her get to the lodge. He called out to them as they struggled to get over there with their bare feet in the snow.

"Open the door! Shea is about to give birth! We need your help! Open the door!"

One of the young mothers had the door open when they got there. Closed it behind them and helped Tor get Shea to the place for birthing next to one of the heating fires in the dim light that it offered, burned down to mere coals at that time. But flames' light quickly replenished with new firewood. Water was already boiling, if needed, from melting ice.

With Conie gone, Manna, mother of 12, having already given birth to a healthy boy, took charge as the midwife for the other women assisting with Shea’s birth.

"Tor, you must leave now. There is woman's work to be done. We will come and get you when the baby arrives so you can see it. But for now, you are only in the way of our work."

He took the hint and left the lodge. Back in the hut, already cooling with no heat from its occupants, Tor found Shin eagerly lapping up the fluid from Shea's water breaking.

It was no favor to Tor who kicked him… And as the dog squealed… immediately regretted it and began petting him. Shin forgave him immediately and started licking his face instead.

Unable to do anything about the wet furs, he moved them aside and curled up with what was still dry with Shin to help him warm up. But he didn't sleep, sick with worry over what was happening to Shea.

Back at the lodge, Manna was telling Shea, "Push… That's it… Push… Okay, I see its head, coming out… Coming out now! I am helping… That's it… Shoulders are out… I hope you feel better, your baby is out and it's beautiful! A boy!"

Shea was trying to see him. After all the pain and joy of giving birth, she was relieved but anxious to see her boy. But there was something wrong. Manna and the others were frantic. "What's happening! Can I see my boy! Can I see him!" She cried out.

Manna was holding the boy upside down spanking him on the butt and putting her finger in his mouth to see if there was something there that was obstructing his mouth. His head was a bit misshapen by being born, but otherwise she couldn't determine why he wasn't breathing. Yelling like most babies thrust out of their warm home and handled badly.

Shea pushed herself up painfully on her elbows to see better in the dim smoky fire light what was happening to her baby. When she saw, she gasped, and began crying.

"Go get Tor." Manna ordered one of the young nursers.

When she came to the door, Shin had already alerted Tor of her coming and he was up, had his fur boots on and opened the door for her. The light of dawn was already showing in the sky.

"Is Shea okay? The baby?"

The girl said nothing, but her expression, so solemn, bothered him as he followed her back to the lodge with a thousand thoughts running through his head.

When he entered the door and heard Shea sobbing, Tor knew she was alive, but the baby was dead. A wave of relief went over him tinged with sadness that his baby was lost again. He rushed to her side to comfort her. But there was no comforting her with the loss of her first two babies. He just held her in his arms and let the tears flow.

Manna held the boy up to him so that Tor could see him better. Even in the dim light and his eyes smarting from smoke and tears, he could see that the boy was a miniature image of Borg. It made him wonder. None of the babies I have seen are Thal like me. What's wrong. Why am I not having any babies?

Shortly after that, spring arrived quickly and the ice left the river and with it Glu and Loa who had taken the long walk to relieve themselves of their pain. Before he left, Glu came to Tor and confided in him.

"Tor, you are like a son to me. You were my best student in the art of copper smithing. You are healthy and strong and can carry on after I'm gone. Will you? You have the secret. You are the only one that I have entrusted it to."

Tor answered with a heavy heart, "I can't promise what the gods have in store. But I will try to live up to your expectation of me. And I promise that if I can't fulfill your wishes, I will give the secret to someone else who will benefit from the riches you have bestowed us."

"That's all I ask, the gods willing." Glu left his side and that was the last that Tor saw of him.

He soon learned that the Danis would be heading south with their boats back to their beloved sea and its bounty. Tor gave Huk some of his copper pieces before they left.

"And, I would like you to give Borg the copper armband and the three copper arrowheads with greetings from me. And please, tell him that he had a son born to Shea that was born dead."

The rest of the clan, with Tor's encouragement, decided to abandon the Thal encampment and venture upriver with the remaining boats to the abandoned camps there.

It didn't take much for Tor to convince Shea to return with him to the valley of the Po. When they asked Tia to come along, she told them, "No, I'm going with my husband and my baby with the others."

Thad, one of Tor's best students, was seeking adventure and wanted to go along with Tor and Shea. He was welcome, because Tor knew he would more than carry his weight.

With everyone gone, a caravan of three souls of the gods, a dog and a horse, were the last to leave with no smoke rising from the Thal home anymore. The wilds to very soon take over the place. Eventually, only the sun bleached skull of the great bear and the ribs of the teeth of some ancient long-nosed hairy creature would remain to mark the place of a great clan's existence. 

Copyright 2021 © Ronald W. Hull

7/16/21