For three more days were walked. Each day
the river grew wider, and we left its banks only to hunt.
‘We will never get to the end of the world
at this speed,’ he said, on the afternoon of the third day.
He called to his bull and patted its side,
and it began to trot. I had to run to keep up. It was not easy. We, The People,
are made to walk and climb. We can run fast or far if we need to, but we do not
like it. I did not want to be left behind, or to show weakness, so I ran, even
when my legs and breath were fire.
When he stopped at sunset I jumped into the
river to drink and be cold.
‘Tired?’ he asked.
‘No, just hot and thirsty.’
‘Good. Try to catch some fish when you are
in there. I am going to look for duck.’
He jumped off the bull and walked up down
river. The bull came down to the river bank next to me and drank. I looked into
its huge, black eyes. It ignored me. It was three times my height, and maybe
ten times my weight. I felt I was nothing to it, not even food.
When it stopped drinking it looked at me,
and took a step closer. Its head was in reach of me, and I could feel its hot
breath on my face. I must admit that I was afraid. We cannot trust a bull
aurox, the bull aurox fight for fun, like the Stag Deer and the Orc. It moved
slowly closer. I stood still as it opened its mouth, a mouth big enough to eat
my head in one bite. Then it licked my face with its huge, rough, wet tongue.
Then it nuzzled me gently, its head again my body, carefully keeping it horns
away.
I had seen aurox do this in their herds, and
I knew the bull was my brother then.
I don’t like eating fish, and I was too
tired to hunt, so I sat on the bank of the river with my feet in the water. The
aurox lay down beside me.
The next day I wanted to ride the aurox, so
after Tomm had climbed on its neck, I climbed up it side. I held its long hair
and pulled my way up, like climbing vines, untill I was sat on its shoulder
with my legs over the side.
Tomm turned and looked at me. He smiled a
thin smile.
‘Hold on,’ he said, then patted his bull on
the head and called for it to trot.
I had to grab the bulls hair in both hand to
stay on it. Its shoulder moved up and down as it trotted. It was dificult to
balance, and soon bacame painful. It was impossible to continue that way, so I
was forced to move. I swung myself forward and sat beside Tomm on the neck, my
legs around his legs and my hands holding the bull’s hair.
He said nothing.
At midday we saw a boar and gave chase. I
wanted to throw my knives, but I needed both hands to hold on as the bull
charged. Tomm did not need to hold on, but he did not throw a knife. We gaining
on the boar, but I did not know how we were to kill it.
Then I saw.
The bull came behind the boar, lowered its
head, and butted it. The boar flew like a leaf in the wind. The bull slowed and
trotted to where the boar lay. The boar was dying, it rolled in the leaves and
roared terrably.
I jumped from the bull, and finished the
boar with my axe.
It had been a mighty boar. I had hunted boar
in the past; it took ten people a day to kill one, and some times the boar
killed one of us. The boar are strong brothers and we respect them. I did not
like to see the boar die to easily, but we needed to eat.
I cut
off its huge head and held it high.
‘You were a might boar,’ I told it. ‘Have
better luck in your next body, and try to keep away from bulls.
Our bull grazed on leaves, grass and plants
as we butchered and ate the boar.
After eating and resting, we climbed on the
bull again, and it walked on. Not towards to river, but deeper into the forest.
‘The wrong way.’ I said.
‘No. The right way to The Shaman.’
‘What is a Shaman?’
‘You will see. If we are going to the end of
the world, we need to talk to The Shaman.’
‘Why do you call it the end of the world? We
are looking for outside the forest.’
‘The forest is the world.’
I heard distant drums.
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