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Anuria's Travels
The sky was orange, tangerine, amber and strawberry reds, I remember that because I dreamt of being lost up there. At times on my travels I was bone weary and just collapsed on a bed of warm grass or moss, looking up at the changing day as the sun began to fade. It was not wise for me to travel during darkness, but I had my tinder pouch with me. I could have created fire using my flints and the dry stuff I'd collected to get the spark to take. The down from baby birds and the soft fur of the woolly beasts as they grazed past the thorny bushes. If I kept this dry and protected in my pouch I knew I'd always be okay. Fire meant comfort, it was vital and a necessary part of a valued existence. Without it life would be unbearable, cold, wet and I couldn't cook hot food or see during the cloudy nights when the pale glow of the moon would not be visible.
My tribe had not missed me when I left them. Nobody would miss a girl, they only valued the hunters. We were fit only for breeding and being care givers, that's what they raise us to think. But my father raised me different. My mother died giving birth to me so my father brought me up. I always asked him why he never took another long term mate, but he said he preferred the company of men. I never questioned that, as I too prefer their company. He raised me like a son, taught me to fish and hunt. How to make fire and weapons, and how to survive off the land and build shelters. Until the accident I had a good life with my father. He made me feel more than the tribe said I was, to him I wasn't a "mere" anything, I was his pride and joy.
I was fifteen when he died on a hunt. They told me when he returned that he was killed by one of those long toothed cats who stalked their prey in the higher mountain passes. He was respected in our society for being a skilled hunter and a wise leader. Many frowned at the way he raised me, and many tried to change his ways. But I recall his words that last night when the pain in his side was troubling him so, he said,
"Anuria my love, don't let anyone force you by word or deed. Don't let them change how you think or what you feel, and don't be beaten into submission just to appease them. This is but one world, and up there (he'd say pointing to the stars) there are many others. It's a big place out there beyond; beyond the tribe and it's rules, beyond the borders of our lands. Somewhere someone will always disagree with you, but equally there are places you'll be embraced and accepted. Know that, that somewhere out there you'll belong."
I never saw him after that night as he died the next day trying to defend our kill from the cats. When they returned with the news they told me his weapons and belongings were mine now. They gave me his spear and his bow, but they wouldn't let me hunt with them in his stead. They told me I was soon to be a woman and my place was amongst the girls and women of our tribe, and that soon a man would choose me and I will be expected to produce many strong hunters for him and our tribe. That sent me thinking all the sleepless night long, and under cover of darkness I slipped away.
Their sentries did not spot me leaving, they were asleep and useless. Everybody always underestimated me. They didn't expect anyone of ever sneaking out, they were just wary of animals or other tribesmen creeping in. I left and walked or ran for many days until I was at the edge of the tribe's hunting grounds that my father had shown me. That night I looked at the stars until my blue green eyes felt heavy, and I recalled his last words looking at the endless possibilities out there. I wasn't about to be something I wasn't, and I never felt I was destined to a life being second rate to any man. I liked children, but I loved hunting too. If my tribe couldn't accept me for who I was and what I could do, then I'd find a tribe out there who could.
Within a week I had found myself in a range of outcrops and stony hillsides. The mountain was a distant speck from our lands but once my father had told me stories of this place. Here he spoke of the many herds of animals sheltering under the slopes for protection in the harshest weather. As a boy his father had taken him on a walkabout here, a great trek that took three whole months. He honed his skills and was expected to make his own way home. He told me he had met an unusual wanderer there who taught him to navigate by the stars and who spoke of huge settlements many leagues beyond the other side of the mountain. Our tribe rarely saw strangers, and we didn't trade with outsiders. I loved the idea of meeting someone like my father had, who could increase my knowledge and fill my head with new stories of what the world was like out there. Father had given me a taste for adventure, and I was determined to feed the hunger inside me and the thirst for knowledge.
At first I didn't know what it was on the horizon. I saw in the heat haze a black skeletal figure, but I knew enough not to believe fully the images conjured up so far out here in the desert. As I got nearer he was still there, unmoved leaning on his spear silently. He had white wirey hair that was thick and wild, and skin of ebony that glistened with sweat. He wasn't dressed like the men in my tribe, he wore fabric not furs and it was woven with multicoloured designs. And he had on many bracelets and bangles like the women of our tribe, yet he wore ochre and white designs on his face. It was like meeting an alien, for he may as well have dropped from one of those star worlds, because to me he was like another species entirely. My fair skin and blond hair must have seemed as alien to him too I presumed, but to my astonishment he greeted me with a smile and words in my own tongue.
"Child, I have been waiting for you. The stars foretold you would come. That a great hunter will be seeking a way through the mountain and that he will bring new ways with him."
I was amazed. How long had he been waiting? But I was also annoyed that yet again his prophecy was about some male saviours and not little old me, castaway from my tribe and a mere girl.
"I'm sorry Dark One, I am not who you think." I released my long hair from beneath my band as I pulled it out of my top. It flew in the wind like strands of silver spider webs in the morning dew. He laughed astonished and reached out to touch it, obviously as taken with the novelty of me as much as I was with him.
"That is okay Little One, reading the signs is never an exact art. You are a hunter I can see that," he said nodding to the fearsome weapons I carried with their flint edges sharp and well kept, and the brace of dead ground hoppers dangling from the bag on my back.
"But I am a girl," I retorted a little defiantly, challenging him further.
"Yes," he replied, " but you have the spirit of a bear, and none would argue that they are great hunters. He smiled even wider revealing beautiful white teeth, and I was taken aback because none in our tribe had so many left at even half his age. He looked ancient, as up close I could see the deep wrinkles carved into his face.
"I am Anuria, daughter of Adeyo " He who walks with the Hyena" I told him reverentially. My father always told me to greet guests with respect, and age even more so (for with age comes much wisdom and that person might share it openly).
"I see you daughter, I am Salaman Seyunday and I knew your father."
That is how my strange story began. How I started my journey and met my guide to the path I was to be set upon. My father had been training me Salaman says, preparing me for my destiny. I was unsure what that was to be, but the Dark One says I am to be a great player in this game of life. That he has many things to show me, and that father had given his blessing that one day when he met his end, if the Great Spirit was willing then I would come. He had always believed his friend when he said that the hunter of the prophecies was a man, but after so long with Salaman in the mountains he knew it was not himself. So he left with a heavy heart and said he would search this hunter out and send him back here when he was found. Sadly my father didn't make it, but in his stead came me. And I am ready, I am willing to embrace my destiny. There is a lot my father had forgotten or didn't teach me, much for me to learn. I will soak it all in and I will make Salaman Seyunday as proud as I can. My father was a great man, and now his teacher is to become my own. I will embrace the change and I will accept this twist in fate.
I was told since I was a child that I could not know everything, and my mind is an empty vessel ready to be filled if I would but listen. Well, I'm listening and I'm determined to make both my tutors in life glad of my attention.
"Where do we start?" I said, keen to begin at once.
"Anuria, daughter, we start with cutting your hair," he said devoid of all warmth.
"Why? so that I may be more like a man?" I asked defensively.
"No child. So that I may have an offering that will appease the Gods for the fact their promises have been kept. Finally you are here, and everything is to change for the better."
© .Garry Saunders
My tribe had not missed me when I left them. Nobody would miss a girl, they only valued the hunters. We were fit only for breeding and being care givers, that's what they raise us to think. But my father raised me different. My mother died giving birth to me so my father brought me up. I always asked him why he never took another long term mate, but he said he preferred the company of men. I never questioned that, as I too prefer their company. He raised me like a son, taught me to fish and hunt. How to make fire and weapons, and how to survive off the land and build shelters. Until the accident I had a good life with my father. He made me feel more than the tribe said I was, to him I wasn't a "mere" anything, I was his pride and joy.
I was fifteen when he died on a hunt. They told me when he returned that he was killed by one of those long toothed cats who stalked their prey in the higher mountain passes. He was respected in our society for being a skilled hunter and a wise leader. Many frowned at the way he raised me, and many tried to change his ways. But I recall his words that last night when the pain in his side was troubling him so, he said,
"Anuria my love, don't let anyone force you by word or deed. Don't let them change how you think or what you feel, and don't be beaten into submission just to appease them. This is but one world, and up there (he'd say pointing to the stars) there are many others. It's a big place out there beyond; beyond the tribe and it's rules, beyond the borders of our lands. Somewhere someone will always disagree with you, but equally there are places you'll be embraced and accepted. Know that, that somewhere out there you'll belong."
I never saw him after that night as he died the next day trying to defend our kill from the cats. When they returned with the news they told me his weapons and belongings were mine now. They gave me his spear and his bow, but they wouldn't let me hunt with them in his stead. They told me I was soon to be a woman and my place was amongst the girls and women of our tribe, and that soon a man would choose me and I will be expected to produce many strong hunters for him and our tribe. That sent me thinking all the sleepless night long, and under cover of darkness I slipped away.
Their sentries did not spot me leaving, they were asleep and useless. Everybody always underestimated me. They didn't expect anyone of ever sneaking out, they were just wary of animals or other tribesmen creeping in. I left and walked or ran for many days until I was at the edge of the tribe's hunting grounds that my father had shown me. That night I looked at the stars until my blue green eyes felt heavy, and I recalled his last words looking at the endless possibilities out there. I wasn't about to be something I wasn't, and I never felt I was destined to a life being second rate to any man. I liked children, but I loved hunting too. If my tribe couldn't accept me for who I was and what I could do, then I'd find a tribe out there who could.
Within a week I had found myself in a range of outcrops and stony hillsides. The mountain was a distant speck from our lands but once my father had told me stories of this place. Here he spoke of the many herds of animals sheltering under the slopes for protection in the harshest weather. As a boy his father had taken him on a walkabout here, a great trek that took three whole months. He honed his skills and was expected to make his own way home. He told me he had met an unusual wanderer there who taught him to navigate by the stars and who spoke of huge settlements many leagues beyond the other side of the mountain. Our tribe rarely saw strangers, and we didn't trade with outsiders. I loved the idea of meeting someone like my father had, who could increase my knowledge and fill my head with new stories of what the world was like out there. Father had given me a taste for adventure, and I was determined to feed the hunger inside me and the thirst for knowledge.
At first I didn't know what it was on the horizon. I saw in the heat haze a black skeletal figure, but I knew enough not to believe fully the images conjured up so far out here in the desert. As I got nearer he was still there, unmoved leaning on his spear silently. He had white wirey hair that was thick and wild, and skin of ebony that glistened with sweat. He wasn't dressed like the men in my tribe, he wore fabric not furs and it was woven with multicoloured designs. And he had on many bracelets and bangles like the women of our tribe, yet he wore ochre and white designs on his face. It was like meeting an alien, for he may as well have dropped from one of those star worlds, because to me he was like another species entirely. My fair skin and blond hair must have seemed as alien to him too I presumed, but to my astonishment he greeted me with a smile and words in my own tongue.
"Child, I have been waiting for you. The stars foretold you would come. That a great hunter will be seeking a way through the mountain and that he will bring new ways with him."
I was amazed. How long had he been waiting? But I was also annoyed that yet again his prophecy was about some male saviours and not little old me, castaway from my tribe and a mere girl.
"I'm sorry Dark One, I am not who you think." I released my long hair from beneath my band as I pulled it out of my top. It flew in the wind like strands of silver spider webs in the morning dew. He laughed astonished and reached out to touch it, obviously as taken with the novelty of me as much as I was with him.
"That is okay Little One, reading the signs is never an exact art. You are a hunter I can see that," he said nodding to the fearsome weapons I carried with their flint edges sharp and well kept, and the brace of dead ground hoppers dangling from the bag on my back.
"But I am a girl," I retorted a little defiantly, challenging him further.
"Yes," he replied, " but you have the spirit of a bear, and none would argue that they are great hunters. He smiled even wider revealing beautiful white teeth, and I was taken aback because none in our tribe had so many left at even half his age. He looked ancient, as up close I could see the deep wrinkles carved into his face.
"I am Anuria, daughter of Adeyo " He who walks with the Hyena" I told him reverentially. My father always told me to greet guests with respect, and age even more so (for with age comes much wisdom and that person might share it openly).
"I see you daughter, I am Salaman Seyunday and I knew your father."
That is how my strange story began. How I started my journey and met my guide to the path I was to be set upon. My father had been training me Salaman says, preparing me for my destiny. I was unsure what that was to be, but the Dark One says I am to be a great player in this game of life. That he has many things to show me, and that father had given his blessing that one day when he met his end, if the Great Spirit was willing then I would come. He had always believed his friend when he said that the hunter of the prophecies was a man, but after so long with Salaman in the mountains he knew it was not himself. So he left with a heavy heart and said he would search this hunter out and send him back here when he was found. Sadly my father didn't make it, but in his stead came me. And I am ready, I am willing to embrace my destiny. There is a lot my father had forgotten or didn't teach me, much for me to learn. I will soak it all in and I will make Salaman Seyunday as proud as I can. My father was a great man, and now his teacher is to become my own. I will embrace the change and I will accept this twist in fate.
I was told since I was a child that I could not know everything, and my mind is an empty vessel ready to be filled if I would but listen. Well, I'm listening and I'm determined to make both my tutors in life glad of my attention.
"Where do we start?" I said, keen to begin at once.
"Anuria, daughter, we start with cutting your hair," he said devoid of all warmth.
"Why? so that I may be more like a man?" I asked defensively.
"No child. So that I may have an offering that will appease the Gods for the fact their promises have been kept. Finally you are here, and everything is to change for the better."
© .Garry Saunders
