that of the huts of the hunting parties. Stuffed herbivores and a predatory reptile, Razavra, stood in the arena. Similarities of such giants as Long-necked, Tail-tailed and Tolshshkur were built without paws. The shapes of the recreated bodies were sticking straight out of the ground! Hunting skills were trained on smaller stuffed animals: they learned to hit prey or a predator with a bow, club or spear; and on stuffed giants they practiced running and keeping their balance.
Closer to the southeast loophole, behind the watchtower, the first humans built storage tents with timber, selected bones for armor, rare Edgestones, leather, and other necessary supplies. A little higher, on a hill, in the shade under the cliffs, they dug earthen caches for dried meat, medicinal and edible plants and fruits. And nearby they built tents for the same purposes – women always looked for an opportunity to preserve the edibility of the slaughter as long as possible. In the tents, the meat was hung with ropes on the beams, and in the pits it lay wrapped first in burdock, and then in leather patches. In both cases, the food was stored for a relatively long time, but in the pit it was a little juicier and still deteriorated earlier than in the building. In the tent, the slaughter was drier and saved right up to the next Big Hunt!
Between all the components of the settlement – on the slopes, cliffs and unobstructed distances, among araucaria, thickets of ferns, grass and other vegetation – the tribesmen trampled out paths. Every fifteen or twenty steps along the paths, the first people drove in the lights. The craftsman Varn made special lime bowls for the lights. He fixed them in such a way that no obvious flame could be seen from the side of the forest at night. Tongues of fire attracted not only herbivores, but also predatory reptiles, and the bowls hid and reflected sources of light towards the Great Volcano, scattering warm light to the foot of the mountain.
***
«Pa, are you leaving already?» Omi asked, barely opening her eyes.
Roshan went to visit his daughter and was about to leave the halabuda, but the child suddenly woke up.
– Good morning, dear. Yes, Pa must do many good deeds of the leader. How did you sleep? What did you dream?
– Slept well. I don’t remember what I dreamed…» Omi replied. – Where is Ma?
«She’ll be here soon, honey.
The shaman, forgetting that he was in a hut, stretched himself to his full height and hit his head on the transverse base. Omi laughed.
«Chief, you are so big!»
Roshan smiled and, kneeling down, pulled the girl towards him.
«Today the leader will go to meet Pangea,» he spread his hands. «And the chief’s daughter will promise that she won’t play hide-and-seek all over the village and will listen to Ma!»
Omi smiled.
«I promise, chief!»
Suddenly, from the other side of the structure, Ana’s voice was heard:
Roshan, are you still here?
The woman climbed into the building and immediately hugged her husband.
«They are waiting for you at the Temple,» she whispered. – I brought water. Ana held out a leather waterskin. «Drink as much as you can – she will help you.» You will have strength! the huntress assured.
– Inga will prepare a decoction and there will be plenty of it…
Don’t argue with me, chief. Water is the source of life. And I will be calmer. Drink up! Ana insisted.
The shaman clung to the neck of the bag. In a few sips, he emptied the vessel and turned to his daughter:
Don’t forget the promise!
Omi nodded.
«Check the Marines, Ana!» Roshan advised. «I will try to get back as soon as possible. In my absence, Radon will be responsible. Help Varn with the Fireplace.
«Roshan, I’m afraid for you,» the huntress’s voice trembled. «Hord said no one had done this before,» she said in a whisper.
The shaman glanced at Omi: the girl was sitting on the mat and playing with Lazunov’s claws. Making sure that she was not paying attention to the conversation, Roshan replied in a barely audible voice:
Everything will be fine Ana, don’t worry. You check the main sentinels, and let them change more often – they sleep more!
– Is it a star? Why was she on fire? What’s wrong with her?
«I don’t know… That’s why I’m going to Her… The Zavrinis want us to leave this house. They are warning us about something, and this star appeared for a reason. We need to find out what is troubling Zavrini and what we can expect,» said the shaman and hugged Ana.
Ana hugged her husband tightly.
– I’m scared!
«Well, it will be for you,» the leader soothed. – I’ll be back soon!
The huntress freed herself from the embrace and jokingly threatened:
«If my leader doesn’t return, then I won’t hunt with him anymore!»
The shaman broke into a smile and, pushing back the curtain of the hut, began to get out.
So long, Pa! Omi waved.
– Bye, dear! Ana, lookouts! Roshan noted again.
The smell of dew, mixed with the pine scent of araucaria, rose over the settlement. The shaman went to the story and breathed in the freshness of the coming morning. Everywhere there was a drowsy calm, and the barely audible murmur of the stream was dissolved in the streams of the restless breath of the wind. The chirping of nocturnal insects has long ceased, and the chirping of daytime living creatures has not yet rang in succession, as if the primitive townsfolk, replacing each other on patrol, have not had time to take their posts. Among the branches on nearby trees, smoke flickered from the extinguished fires of the huts. The camp and the nature around it were immersed in slumber.
Somewhere beyond the horizon, the light of the Great Fire woke up. The ascending rays gradually awakened the ordinary world, and their enlightenments in the sky looked forward to an unfamiliar day. Roshan glanced around the settlement, and then fixed his gaze on the watchtowers: everything and everything, as before, was in its place. The leader grabbed the vine rope, deftly descended to the ground and headed towards the caves.
Soon the shaman was high above the village and, stopping at the edge of the cliff, once again looked around the monastery, untouched by predators. Deep inside, Roshan was troubled. His premonition – Zavrini’s premonition – for some reason caused excitement and a feeling of something irreparable. The leader took a closer look: several teenagers came out of the huts in the Hunters’ House. Someone made a fire, it was visible how someone’s women drew water from wells, children came out of halabuds on araucaria. Roshan tried to look for his daughter and Ana, but from the heights near the caves of the settlement, the first people looked tiny. It was hard to distinguish anyone by appearance or attire. The leader saw only silhouettes and could assume that there, at the hut he had abandoned, among the undergrowth of the trunk, Omi was playing with the child
