[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
glittering like a vast diamond that hurt the eyes if you stared at it too long. That vast glacier still covered
most ofEurope , I knew, although it was retreating northward as the Ice Age surrendered to a more
humane climate.
"There's so much to see!" Ava shouted. "Look at how small our valley seems from here!"
"It's a big world," I agreed.
She gazed down into the valley again and slowly her face lost its exultant happiness. She began to frown
again.
"What's wrong, Ava?"
Turning toward me, she said, "If we lived away from the others, if we found a valley for ourselves where
no other clan lived... just you and I together..."
I felt my jaw go slack. "What are you saying?"
There were no words in her language for what she was feeling.
"Orion," she said, her voice low, trembling, "I want to be with you; I want to be your woman."
I reached out to her and she fled into my arms. I held her tightly and felt her strong, lithe body press
against mine. For an eternity we stood there, locked in each other's arms, warmed by the summer sun
and our own passionate blood.
"But it cannot be," she whispered so softly that I could barely hear her.
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"Yes, of course it can be. This world is so large, so empty. We can find a valley of our own and make
our home in it..."
She looked up at me and I kissed her. I didn't know if kissing had been invented yet by these people,
but she took to it naturally enough.
But when our lips parted there were tears in her eyes.
"I can't stay with you, Orion. I am Dal's woman. I can't leave him."
"You can if you want to..."
"No. He would be shamed. He would have to organize the men of the clan to hunt us down. He would
have to kill you and bring me back with him."
"He'd never find us," I said. "And even if he did, he'd never be able to kill me."
"Then you would have to kill him," Ava replied. "Because of me."
"No, we can go so far away..."
But she shook her head as she gently disengaged herself from my arms. "Dal needs me. He is the leader
of the clan, but how could he lead them if his woman deserts him? He is not as confident as you think; at
night, when we are alone together, he tells me all his fears and doubts. He fears you, Orion. But he is
brave enough to overcome that fear because he sees that you can be helpful to the clan. He places his
responsibility to the clan above his fear of you. I must place my responsibility to the clan above my desire
for you."
"And me?" I asked, feeling anger welling up inside me. "What about me?"
She looked deep into my eyes. "You are strong, Orion, with a strength that no ordinary man has. You
were sent among us to help us, I know that. Taking me from Dal, from the clan, would not be a help. It
would destroy Dal. It could destroy the clan. That is not why you have come among us."
I could have replied. I could have simply picked her up and carried her off. But she would have run
back to her clan the instant I relaxed my hold on her. And she would have hated me.
So I turned away from her and glanced at the sun, low on the western horizon.
"It's time to start back," I mumbled. "Let's go."
CHAPTER 29
The grain grew taller than my shoulders, and the people of all the clans grew more excited and impatient
to harvest it with each passing day.
I stayed aloof from them. I had taught them all I could. Now I waited, just as they did. But not for the
time of harvesting. I waited for Ahriman. He would return; he was planning his attack on these people, on
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
me, on the whole future existence of the human race. I waited with growing impatience.
I combed the valley, poked into the caves among the rocky cliffs, seeking the Dark One. All I found
were snakes and bats, clammy, cold dampness and dripping water. And one cave bear that would have
crushed my skull with a swipe of its mighty paw if I had not been fast enough to duck out of its way and
scramble out of its cave before it could get to me.
I knew he was there, somewhere, biding his time, picking his point of attack. All I could do was to wait.
Ormazd did not appear to me again to give me more information or even the slight comfort of showing
me that he still existed and still cared that I existed. I was alone, placed here like a time bomb on a buried
mine, waiting to be triggered into action.
Ava kept her distance from me. And the less I saw of her, the more I did of Dal. He came by my hut
almost daily now. At first I thought he was trying to work up the nerve to pick a fight with me. But
gradually, as he tried to strike up a conversation in his halting, pained way, I realized that he was trying to
work up the nerve for something else, something that was far more difficult for him than merely fighting.
"The grain will be ready to cut soon," he said, late one afternoon. I was sitting on the ground in front of
my hut, fitting a new flint blade to the stone hilt of my knife. One of the clan's elders was an artist when it
came to making sharp flint tools; that was why he was allowed to remain with the clan even though he
was too old and slow to hunt.
Dal squatted down on his haunches beside me, forcing a smile. "If it doesn't rain in the next two days,
then we can cut the grain."
"That's good," I said.
"Yes."
I looked up at him. "What's troubling you, Dal?"
"Troubling me? Nothing!" He said it so sharply that it was clear he was deeply bothered.
"Is it something that I've done?" I asked him.
"You? No, of course not!"
"Then what is it?"
He traced a finger along the dirt, like an embarrassed schoolboy.
"Is it about Ava?" I asked.
His glance flicked up at me, then down to the ground again. I tensed.
"It concerns her," Dal said, "and the things you've been telling her. She thinks we should stay here in this
valley... all the time."
I said nothing.
"She claims that you said we could pen the animals against the cliffs and stay here even when the snows
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
come," he gushed out rapidly, as if afraid of stopping, "and next spring we can plant seed from the grain
all across the valley and make more grain than anyone has ever seen before."
He looked at me almost accusingly. "I told you these things, too," I replied. "I told you both."
Dal shook his head. "But she really believes them!"
"And you don't."
"I don't know what to believe!" He was honestly confused. "We live well here, that's true. We could
move into caves when the snow comes. As long as we have fire we can stay in the caves and keep them
warm and dry."
"That's true," I said.
"But our fathers never did this. Why should we stop living the way our fathers have always lived?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
glittering like a vast diamond that hurt the eyes if you stared at it too long. That vast glacier still covered
most ofEurope , I knew, although it was retreating northward as the Ice Age surrendered to a more
humane climate.
"There's so much to see!" Ava shouted. "Look at how small our valley seems from here!"
"It's a big world," I agreed.
She gazed down into the valley again and slowly her face lost its exultant happiness. She began to frown
again.
"What's wrong, Ava?"
Turning toward me, she said, "If we lived away from the others, if we found a valley for ourselves where
no other clan lived... just you and I together..."
I felt my jaw go slack. "What are you saying?"
There were no words in her language for what she was feeling.
"Orion," she said, her voice low, trembling, "I want to be with you; I want to be your woman."
I reached out to her and she fled into my arms. I held her tightly and felt her strong, lithe body press
against mine. For an eternity we stood there, locked in each other's arms, warmed by the summer sun
and our own passionate blood.
"But it cannot be," she whispered so softly that I could barely hear her.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Yes, of course it can be. This world is so large, so empty. We can find a valley of our own and make
our home in it..."
She looked up at me and I kissed her. I didn't know if kissing had been invented yet by these people,
but she took to it naturally enough.
But when our lips parted there were tears in her eyes.
"I can't stay with you, Orion. I am Dal's woman. I can't leave him."
"You can if you want to..."
"No. He would be shamed. He would have to organize the men of the clan to hunt us down. He would
have to kill you and bring me back with him."
"He'd never find us," I said. "And even if he did, he'd never be able to kill me."
"Then you would have to kill him," Ava replied. "Because of me."
"No, we can go so far away..."
But she shook her head as she gently disengaged herself from my arms. "Dal needs me. He is the leader
of the clan, but how could he lead them if his woman deserts him? He is not as confident as you think; at
night, when we are alone together, he tells me all his fears and doubts. He fears you, Orion. But he is
brave enough to overcome that fear because he sees that you can be helpful to the clan. He places his
responsibility to the clan above his fear of you. I must place my responsibility to the clan above my desire
for you."
"And me?" I asked, feeling anger welling up inside me. "What about me?"
She looked deep into my eyes. "You are strong, Orion, with a strength that no ordinary man has. You
were sent among us to help us, I know that. Taking me from Dal, from the clan, would not be a help. It
would destroy Dal. It could destroy the clan. That is not why you have come among us."
I could have replied. I could have simply picked her up and carried her off. But she would have run
back to her clan the instant I relaxed my hold on her. And she would have hated me.
So I turned away from her and glanced at the sun, low on the western horizon.
"It's time to start back," I mumbled. "Let's go."
CHAPTER 29
The grain grew taller than my shoulders, and the people of all the clans grew more excited and impatient
to harvest it with each passing day.
I stayed aloof from them. I had taught them all I could. Now I waited, just as they did. But not for the
time of harvesting. I waited for Ahriman. He would return; he was planning his attack on these people, on
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
me, on the whole future existence of the human race. I waited with growing impatience.
I combed the valley, poked into the caves among the rocky cliffs, seeking the Dark One. All I found
were snakes and bats, clammy, cold dampness and dripping water. And one cave bear that would have
crushed my skull with a swipe of its mighty paw if I had not been fast enough to duck out of its way and
scramble out of its cave before it could get to me.
I knew he was there, somewhere, biding his time, picking his point of attack. All I could do was to wait.
Ormazd did not appear to me again to give me more information or even the slight comfort of showing
me that he still existed and still cared that I existed. I was alone, placed here like a time bomb on a buried
mine, waiting to be triggered into action.
Ava kept her distance from me. And the less I saw of her, the more I did of Dal. He came by my hut
almost daily now. At first I thought he was trying to work up the nerve to pick a fight with me. But
gradually, as he tried to strike up a conversation in his halting, pained way, I realized that he was trying to
work up the nerve for something else, something that was far more difficult for him than merely fighting.
"The grain will be ready to cut soon," he said, late one afternoon. I was sitting on the ground in front of
my hut, fitting a new flint blade to the stone hilt of my knife. One of the clan's elders was an artist when it
came to making sharp flint tools; that was why he was allowed to remain with the clan even though he
was too old and slow to hunt.
Dal squatted down on his haunches beside me, forcing a smile. "If it doesn't rain in the next two days,
then we can cut the grain."
"That's good," I said.
"Yes."
I looked up at him. "What's troubling you, Dal?"
"Troubling me? Nothing!" He said it so sharply that it was clear he was deeply bothered.
"Is it something that I've done?" I asked him.
"You? No, of course not!"
"Then what is it?"
He traced a finger along the dirt, like an embarrassed schoolboy.
"Is it about Ava?" I asked.
His glance flicked up at me, then down to the ground again. I tensed.
"It concerns her," Dal said, "and the things you've been telling her. She thinks we should stay here in this
valley... all the time."
I said nothing.
"She claims that you said we could pen the animals against the cliffs and stay here even when the snows
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
come," he gushed out rapidly, as if afraid of stopping, "and next spring we can plant seed from the grain
all across the valley and make more grain than anyone has ever seen before."
He looked at me almost accusingly. "I told you these things, too," I replied. "I told you both."
Dal shook his head. "But she really believes them!"
"And you don't."
"I don't know what to believe!" He was honestly confused. "We live well here, that's true. We could
move into caves when the snow comes. As long as we have fire we can stay in the caves and keep them
warm and dry."
"That's true," I said.
"But our fathers never did this. Why should we stop living the way our fathers have always lived?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]