Time to Gather Stones, Chapter 1, Segment 5

TIME TO GATHER STONES
by Lidia Gladyshevskaya

Chapter 1 “The Land Of Fire”

Segment 5


The wild man never told anyone about what happened. But some kind of a strange force beckoned him time after time into that terrible place.

He would lay down on the rocks, touched them with his hands, feeling every single one of them with his knotted fingers. At first, the feeling of complete rest and unexplainable serenity would take over him.

But a few seconds later the blood would start pulsating in his veins, the red dots would jump around in his eyes and Ad would go hunting, feeling the unbelievable surge of energy.

Woe those who found themselves on his path. A man, a beast of a bird - everything was subject to destruction. And you could smell the hunter by his bloody trace everywhere.


***

Today Ad was going to match his fighting skills with a Unicorn, a mix between a bull and a dragon, whom he was st unsuccessfully lately. The image of a wild and a savage creature that could become obedient and tender overnight was haunting the caveman.


Maybe the existence of this animal was just a legend, borne by someone’s decade-old fears, an old belief, or a made-up story by his fellow-cavemen who would collect any such crazy story. No one of them had ever met the monster.

The savage wanted to abandon the obviously dangerous hunt, when he stumbled upon a fresh giant spot where the monster laid down for the night. No other animal could leave such large footsteps. The caveman knew - his lucky hour as nearing!

It will not be easy to conquer the monster, and recant do it alone. That is why ever since last night Ad made a deal to go out together with crooked-toothed Melis from a cave next door.

The future partner was rather stupid, but he had a sharp eye and some amazing physical strength. That allowed him to be famous among his fellow-cavemen as an excellent archer and and a superb spear-thrower.

It only took this very precise shooter to take an arrow into his nods, or pick lip a heavy rock from the ground, when every creature in sight knew it was time to run to save their life.
But first, Ad needed to recharge himself in the miraculous grotto, so that he could do his share without bringing shame on himself. He could not let Melis see his weaknesses, or let him feel any superiority.

The Crooked Tooth needs to realise that his place is always behind, as an assistant of sorts, and the victory over the giant monster will belong to him, Ad the fearless Leader!


***


When he woke up in the cave, the caveman took off his fur clothing and laid down on the large wet rocks with his naked body. The first moment he was burned by the icy fire, and he shivered all over his body, as if he had fever.


Gradually the life-giving warmth started to penetrate his every cell through every pore it could find, warming of the blood with invisible currents. The blood went wild in his arteries, gaining the necessary speed. Its crazy fluctuations caused the uncontrolled energy surges in Ad’s body.

He threw himself about in convulsions, as if he was being fried alive on the burning coals that the cold rocks turned into. It was a mystery what made  the rocks even brighter red than they were. Was that the heat of the minerals that heated his blood to the boiling point, or was it his own natural cruelty?

If it lasted a bit longer, his vessels would burst with pressure. They got so swollen in their red network over Ad’s eyes that even the whites of his eyes looked dark-crimson. Unable to handle the rhythm of the insane liquid that was threatening to rip his body into pieces, he got up and rushed out of the grotto.

The way back to the neighbouring cave where his partner dwelled felt like one fleeting moment. The savage rushed like he had wings, joyfully jumping over rocks and skirting around the dangerous steep slopes.

The animal skin that he put on in a hurry was flowing in the wind in a victorious manner. At times it seemed to him that he could conquer all these mountains with his bare hands in order to clear the path for himself!


 
 Translated from Russian by Gregory Novikov @2022
 Under the redaction of Lidia Gladyshevskaya