Free The Game of Shepherd and Dawse by William Shepherd Page A

hands still worked well, and this activity gave him a great sense of being useful to the community.
     
    The scream could be heard for a mile in every direction and it stunned every inhabitant of Shepherd Wood into a motionless silence. The sheer pitch of the scream could have split wood, but the scream was followed by what sounded like a never ending cry of, “Nooooo”!
     
    Aisha was barely able to stand so several of the Shepherd Wood men came to Aisha’s aid in bewilderment, wondering what was going on.
     
    “What is it my dear, Aisha, what is troubling you so”, asked Geisha.
     
    “A man”, replied Aisha enigmatically. Again, she said, “A man”.
     
    “It’s okay, Aisha”, Geisha said, as he held Aisha's hand and looked deeply into her frenzied and desperate eyes. “We’re here now. Look! There are at least five of us here. We’re here for you”, she said trying to comfort her friend.
     
    Aisha shook her head sadly and amidst her many tears cried, “It’s my baby! My beautiful baby. It’s Aman”.
     
    Aisha knew that something was very wrong, in the way a mother knows when something bad has happened to her child. And now she sank to her knees with tears streaming down her face. The men didn’t know what to do, so they stood there looking and feeling extremely useless. After all, they had never encountered this kind of emotion before. They looked around for the nearest mother they could find and sure enough three of them appeared. Parina, the high female elder instantly took charge of the situation, and Gelam and Sheena followed Parina’s lead. The men folk gladly gave the women their space.
     
    “My baby, my beautiful baby”, Aisha continued to cry in a soft tearful voice while holding one hand on her stomach. Parina was initially confused by this as Aisha wasn’t a young woman and she had lost the ability to bare children.
     
    Aisha looked Parina in the eyes and Parina instantly perceived the sheer panic Aisha was feeling. Parina had felt the same thing herself once when her son had fallen down a rock shaft and broken his leg, because this form of telepathy was the way people had once communicated with each other in times of trouble. Parina wasted no time before getting to grips with the situation.
     
    “Gelam! Sheena! Take Aisha back to her hut and look for Sasha, as he'll want to be there. I’ll be along shortly. Teewok, gather a hunting party and take a sling-slack with you”.
     
    A sling-slack was a half-circular shaped piece of animal hide that turned into a circular piece once opened. It had two oval shaped pieces of wood around the edges that locked into place to create a round stretcher that was large enough to carry an adult. When folded, it was easy for one person to carry. When opened, many people could hold it and between them carry a fair amount of weight. It also gave very good suspension to anyone who was lying on it.
     
    Soladus had not heard the scream from his vantage point but could clearly see what was going on. He felt no need to go down and pitch in, so he simply sat in his chair very calmly. This wasn’t due to any lack of compassion. Soladus knew exactly what was going on. Indeed, he had been expecting it for some time, but his heart still felt heavy knowing that the time had finally come.
     
    Speaking to himself he said, “What a shame to see the end of such a beautiful thing, but what a pleasure to have been a part of it”. Soladus let out a deep sigh, a sigh that spoke of mingled joy and sadness.
     
    Teewok was the youngest of the trackers heading down to the bottom of the open plain. He had only recently been passed by the elders as a ‘beginner tracker’ and his road to becoming a fully-fledged ‘tracking master’ would take a great deal more study and dedication. If there was one thing that put Teewok above anyone else in the field of tracking, it was his keen sense of smell. He could detect autumn in the air at the height of summer and spring