Free Bonesetter by Laurence Dahners Page A

possibly eat before it rotted, in the large leather skin his mother had brought him. He carried this bundle back into the tunnel in the brush. He collected the downhill set of sharpened stakes that had trapped the two animals and worked his way past the uphill set. There he laid his bundle and the pig haunch in its leather. Then he used the sharpened stakes to make another one-way block facing uphill. Now the tunnel was again doubly blocked, but this time to keep animals away from his stuff rather than trapping them in a zone. He took his little firepot, made his way back out of the tunnel, wrapped as much of the pig meat in the pig’s own skin as he could carry and set off back to the Aldan’s cave.
    He got back just before sunset and stopped on the path below the cave where he called for his mother. A crowd gathered at the ledge outside the cave to gawk at the doomed young man. Donte hurried down the path to him.
    “Are you OK Pell? What’s all the blood?”
    “Yes, I’m OK. The blood is from a boar I killed, but my firepot tipped over and my coal went out.”
    “Oh no Pell! I don’t think they’ll let me get another coal. They’re in a foul mood. Pont hasn’t been able to do any good for Tando’s wrist and the hunting continued to go badly after you left. All of the last kill is gone, so they’re looking forward to a hungry night.”
    “I’ve brought most of my pig. I’ll trade it for the coal. I could even try to fix Tando’s wrist if he’d like.”
    “What? You have pig? Where did you get it?”
    “Remember, that’s why I’m bloody, I killed a pig.” Pell wondered a moment how bad this lie was but decided that, after all, he had built the trap that killed the boar and he couldn’t help the fact that she would assume that he had killed it in a hunt.
    Donte looked at him in stunned amazement. “What do you mean you could try to fix Tando’s wrist? ” she asked in a near whisper.
    “I fixed my finger when Pont couldn’t.” He reflected that he had only let the healer try once on his own finger. “I also fixed Gontra’s finger. It wasn’t any ‘bush’ or ‘Boar Spirit’. I’ve found a trick for doing it. I tried to tell Pont about it once but he won’t even listen to me.”
    Donte’s eyes narrowed. Pell thought with dismay that even his own mother didn’t believe him. She said, “Give me some of the boar and the firepot. I’ll see whether they’ll trade... I don’t think I’d better bring up Tando’s wrist.”
    Pell gave her the haunch from the boar. “I’ll give them the rest of the boar that I brought if they let you bring me a coal. All I’m keeping is one haunch.” He handed her the little firepot and she started up the hill.
    More of the tribe had crowded out onto the ledge to stare and Pell felt quite self-conscious. He shifted from foot to foot and looked away at the horizon. He worried that dark would fall before he’d be able to get back to the brush choked ravine that he now thought of as his safe haven.
    There was some shouting from up at the cave. Pell recognized Roley, Pont, and Donte’s voices but couldn’t understand what was said. After a bit, Donte came back down the hill. With mixed feelings he saw that she was carrying the little firepot carefully. So it must have a coal in it, meaning he’d won his deal. Why did he feel so disappointed?
    He realized he’d been hoping that somehow , in view of his kill, Roley would change his mind and allow him to come back.
    Donte stopped in front of him with a sad look in her eyes. “I asked them to let you stay. I think Roley was feeling guilty about exiling you but Pont reminded him about Tando’s wrist. Pont even tried to claim that you’ve been bringing bad luck to the tribe. Pont told Roley to just have the hunters come down here and take your meat, ‘becaus e you were going to die anyway.’ Pont is so evil sometimes! Anyhow, the best I could get them to agree to was to let you have some coals.”
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