Finding Solace (Ancient Origins Book 2) Read online

  “Don’t know,” Joe replied. “It’ll take some time to dig us out.”

  “Look.” Em pointed in the distance.

  “Damn it,” Bastian said. “Mammoths. I’m so sick of ancient Earth.”

  “How ancient is always the question,” Tain muttered.

  “They must be heading farther north to get away from the snow, if there’s mammoths there must be a glacier with a dryer cold air,” Lochlan said.

  “I thought mammoths liked cold weather,” Nina said.

  “They don’t like to get bogged down. Too much ice and they freeze to the ground. Nothing like getting eaten alive,” Lochlan said.

  Solace placed a quick hand to her mouth remembering the immobile hybrid and the raptor. That was an image she wouldn’t soon forget.

  “Maybe we should shoot one in case there’s no food around here. If we’re going to be here a while we may as well have food. We have some supplies but fresh meat is better. And if it’s possible we could use the hide to drape over the plane after we shovel the snow off it.”

  The others agreed with Joe. The men went to the plane compartments and pulled out furs made into clothing telling Solace they’d landed on another strange planet and killed the beasts for warm clothing. Many more furs and hides spilled to the ground.

  “This reminds me of another cold planet maybe fourteen thousand years in the making.” Lochlan struggled into a reindeer parka, slipping it over his head. “I wonder if the Neanderthal is still alive here. They weren’t on the other planet. We stayed on that earth for a few months. The humans were suspicious of us and kept their distance. I think it was the plane. We couldn’t leave it unprotected for any length of time and it took a while to fix.”

  “Do you think there are hybrids here?” Nina sounded scared to death. She, Em, and the twins huddled together.

  “If they are they’ll be hibernating,” Solace said to soothe the girl and the others. “I doubt much is awake or on the move right now.”

  “Let’s go boys,” Joe said.

  All four men left the plane. Solace slipped into furs from a pile on the floor. She gazed at the children.

  “There’s more here to wear if you drape it around you. I could use some help.”

  Nina was quick to scramble to her. Solace could see the snow was deep. She intended to pack down as much of the white stuff as she could. Lifting her face toward the direction of the shots fired she noted the tiny outline of men compared to the huge shaggy beasts. An inevitable stampede started, minus one mammoth. While she tromped through the snow around the plane she uncovered small sticks and frozen foliage useful to start a fire. The older girls came out to help soon followed by the little ones, Nina helped the twins, Joey, and Em onto the wings to clear them off. A cluster of woods wasn’t too far but Solace wanted the children to remain within bullet fire. She knew different earths, at least the ones she’d been in so far, held many undesirable characters.

  The four men returned using the hide as a sleigh bringing a load of meat. All were sweating with their effort. The mammoth hide was huge, Solace raced to help drag it with the aid of the other children. With help, they pulled the meat off the hide using the snow-covered ground as a natural refrigerator. Nina, Em, and Joey left with the men to help tramp down more snow and offer aid. Though only five the boy was strong, Joey had his father’s will and determination. Solace knew there was something special about the boy. A mini Joe and bright beyond his years.

  More meat was unloaded and Blue and Cole stayed behind. The snow was too high for them and though they were small it was easier for the others not to have to drag them back and forth.

  “I’m starving,” Blue said.

  “Me too,” Cole piped up.

  “I’m starvier,” Blue said

  “Are not, me is,” Cole said.

  “I think the term is hungrier, and I can hear both your tummies rumbling,” Solace said and chuckled.

  With the fire well established, Solace used a few of the sticks they found to skewer pieces of meat and cooked chunks of mammoth. The twins held the sticks over the flames roasting their meal though she noted some meat fell into the fire. It didn’t matter, they had a ton of it, or six. Solace smiled at them, in furs they looked like bear cubs. Cole, the quieter of the two, groaned as more meat fell off his stick. Blue helped him. She turned slightly, her smile faltering, and noticed Nick scowling at her from a window. She resisted the urge to wave her middle finger at him. Dour little puss.

  The men unloaded and went back for more. This time they brought the tusks, one at a time. They hacked what meat they could from the leg bones to use as well for weights. The children were fed by the time the men had gathered what they wanted. Solace had a meal ready for them but they only shoved a few bites into their mouths, there was much to do.

  Joe handed Solace a few kerosene lamps. She cut a chunk of fat from the mammoth and set it to boil down for the light they’d need. She didn’t realize how much she missed regular light while at Doom’s village. She had taken the plane for granted. Oil from an animal could stink.

  The trail of blood was becoming obscure as the snow began to fall in earnest. Using the knives, they had as much of the meat and blood scraped from the hide as possible. The two older children and Joey were allowed to help while the twins were given rocks to use. If a few holes were punctured it didn’t matter but Solace doubted the boys had the strength to do any damage.

  “This is like being home with Clarity and Doom,” Nina said wistfully.

  “I hope we go back the next time,” Em said, the twins nodded.

  “You like doing this stuff?” Lochlan said, amazement in his tone. “Don’t you wish you were sledding?”

  Nina chuckled. “Well we did on the hide.”

  “Wish we had a snowmobile,” Tain said.

  “Skis would be nice,” Bastian said.

  “I want hot chocolate,” Joey informed them.

  Joe placed a hand onto his son’s head. “We do have hot chocolate. I was saving it for you but there’s enough to share with the other kids. Even the grouchy older one. That teen’s a hot mess.”

  “He’s been through war,” Tain said. “You can see it in his eyes. He’s a tough little shit.”

  Solace concurred. Nick was a little shit all right and glaring at all of them from a window. Lochlan waved at him enthusiastically, a smile plastered on his face ear to ear. Nick’s eyes widened and then he looked away. Solace chuckled.

  “Wish we would land on a planet with doctors,” Tain said, though he was smiling as well. “That boy is all twisted up. Maybe that warps his mind too. That and having to stay inside the plane. Do you think he’d run if set free?”

  “Nick isn’t stupid,” Solace said, returning to the task at hand. “He’s driven by hate, but he’s also filled with worry. Don’t let his scowl fool you. Half his family is back on Menace’s planet. He is capable of great emotion. Good, bad and the downright ugly.”

  After the hide was cleaned to the best of their ability, they attacked the snow surrounding the plane to clear as much away as possible. They set up the tusks over the plane the points crossing, and draped the hide over as a shelter while they worked. A few large rocks and mammoth knee and foot bones were used and with the help of the others were rolled over flaps to keep the hide in place. Piles of meat were left to freeze under the mammoth hide close to the plane on one side, a fire burned a few feet away on the other side.

  “There’s so much meat,” Solace said, gazing around.

  “That’s almost half of the carcass. The rest will freeze tonight on the bones we left,” Lochlan said.

  Solace looked at her garments and grimaced. “I’m covered in blood.”

  “We all are,” Joe said.

  Their skins, clothes, and hands covered in the red substance, they used one of the several cooking pots filled with hot water draped over numerous fires they made to wash. Clothes were scrubbed with snow and set inside the plane to dry. Solace constructed a sho
wer area also under the mammoth hide, free of snow and using a blanket for privacy the adults bathed and changed. The children already fed, the rest of the cooked meal was carried inside. Numerous pieces were placed on a bone platter to share. The twins and Joey picked at leftovers while enjoying the promised hot chocolate. Exhausted the adults all sat drinking coffee inside the plane. Solace could hear Nick slurping from his cup while he sat with wide-eyed wonderment. She felt sorry for him for a brief moment. Did he even remember chocolate?

  “Daddy, are we camping?” Joey asked.

  His father smiled and ruffled his hair. “It appears so.”

  “Except for the snow this isn’t so bad,” Em said.

  “I want to go home,” Nina said. “I want to see Menace and Doom and Clarity. I miss Kiki and Luke and even Rex.”

  “Why you get in plane?” Nick demanded.

  Nina gazed at him then ducked her head. “You were hurt. Kiki is so good with a sword and needed to stay and help. I’m not as good. I know my parents are dead, they must be. You’re my family too, Nick. I didn’t want you to be all alone. I was worried you’d be afraid of a doctor, the least I could do was hold your hand.”

  “Thank you,” Nick said. The scowl turned thoughtful.

  “We can hold your other hand,” Blue piped up and for a second Solace thought there was a hint of a smile on Nick’s face—then it was gone.

  “What should we do with all the meat out there?” Bastian asked.

  “It’ll freeze so it should be okay,” Tain answered.

  “We’ll have to keep watch. With the blood and the smell, we might risk carnivores,” Bastian said.

  “The blizzard may take that fear away for a while. We’re going to have to wait out the storm. It’s building up again. Then we’ll need to make a runway,” Lochlan said.

  “That’s going to be difficult.” Solace was thinking. The snow was thigh deep. The men were lucky the guns could shoot from a distance or they never would have gotten the mammoth. Even with all of their combined help it would take weeks to clear enough room for a decent runway and if it continued to snow their efforts could be lost in a single day.

  “What else can we do?” Joe said.

  “We can get started in the morning. The suns down and it’s too dark to see. We need to dry as much of that meat as we can. Even still the weight will be a problem,” Lochlan said.

  “We don’t know if winter has started or if this is Mother Nature’s last hurrah,” Solace said.

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” Tain said. He flexed his muscles and stretched his neck. He was built powerfully, and as always Solace compared men with Menace. All of the men on board were well built, with Bastian the biggest, but none came close to her Menace.

  “If winter is getting started we’ll need to make every bite of food count,” Solace said.

  “We will,” Joe said and yawned. “We can hack at the rest of the mammoth tomorrow and bring the rest back here. It’ll last us a month at least.”

  “We’ll need more than mammoth,” Bastian said. Again Solace marveled at how dark the man was. He was beautiful, and when he smiled, which was often no matter the circumstances, he could take her breath away.

  “Menace showed me how to find different foods in the forest in his world, on my own planet I know what’s edible. This time period may be different but those trees hold a wealth of sustenance,” Solace said. “If this is natures last roar of indignant defiance it means there will be new growth under the snow. I can find it.”

  “Pft,” Nick said and guffawed, his hair fell across his eyes before he tossed his head back. “Blue and Cole can find food. Nina is expert. Em can make meal with root five different ways.”

  “You taught them well,” Solace said.

  It was true. Nick spent days going over what was edible with the children on Menace’s planet. Nina often praised his skills, as did Kiki. Solace wondered how the others were making out. She missed not only Menace but all of them. Even Heath, the cowboy wannabe who never shot a gun in his life. He was from another Earth and on that planet weapons didn’t exist. It was hard for the gentle man to kill anything.

  Solace settled down with the children for the night. The mammoth hide made a difference, they weren’t as cold. They had placed it fur side down, wanting to freeze the bits of blood and meat still clinging to their hastily acquired tent in case they would have need of the skin for another reason. Solace remembered the men said they spent a few months on a different kind of Earth, they mentioned they’d had need of a shelter like this one. The tent also made the inside that much darker and quieter. The plane rocked less from the winds assault.

  Where are we? She wondered as she lay still. Mammoths were ancient creatures, the time period could be anything. The forest in the distance was filled with massive trees. She wondered if the Neanderthal lived here, or others. Another thought occurred, when were they? How did time exist on other planets or planes of existence? If they found their way back to Menace’s planet would they return before the battle, or farther into the future? A time when Menace and the people no longer existed, or back in time to when the hybrids were only beginning. She wished she could have spoken to Clarity about her concerns, and that thought led her to wonder what had happened to her friend before Solace was taken. Finally her runaway thoughts tired her mind and she slept.

  ****

  When morning came Solace noted Nick glaring out the lone back window they kept uncovered. She cast her gaze around wondering who caught his wrath so early. Everyone else was asleep. There was a shout from outside and the plane was pelted with objects. Solace gasped and bounded from her seat upsetting Lochlan who was in the seat before her. A thunk sounded. Everyone was up.

  “What the fuck?” Tain bellowed.

  “Is it hail?” Bastian shouted.

  The twins raced into Solace’s arms followed by Em. Nina went to sit with Nick.

  “Is furred things,” Nick said.

  Lochlan glanced out the window pushing the two young teens aside. “It’s people,” he shouted. “They’re throwing spears at us. They must think we’re a mammoth. Damned idiots.”

  He tossed his coat on, and grabbing a gun, he raced outside followed by the other men. A shot was fired and the shouting stopped. The sun was up and Solace could see the stunned expressions on the faces of the people before her as humans filed from what appeared to be the mammoth’s belly. Solace joined their ranks. All of the hunters held spears and were covered from head to toe in furs. The gaping people looked ready to bolt. Solace held her empty hands up.

  “We mean no harm. We only want you to stop throwing things at us. We have young children inside our, um, tent. Our shelter, home—domicile.” She wasn’t certain if they could understand her at all.

  “We were hunting and saw blood. Our dwellings are low on fresh meat and this is the first hunt of a new season. We wanted mammoth. The snow was almost gone. Normally a last blizzard blows to trap an animal. We thought you were that animal.”

  Solace blinked when the man spoke. She understood every word. The man had just communicated a few sentences using words from three different languages.

  “There is enough meat here to share. We are peaceful and lost,” Solace said. “Are we welcome in your home?”

  “You say you are willing to share your kill?”

  “Yes,” Lochlan said. All nodded. “There’s more out there, enough for many to eat for many days.”

  There was discussion amongst the hunters. It was unclear if they understood him. Lochlan made a sweep with his arm and the unmistakable large bump in the distance caught the newcomer’s eyes.

  “More meat,” Bastian said enunciating his words as if it would help.

  The one who first spoke held his hand up. “You are permitted to come with us. There is much meat and it will be welcome. There must be a storm blowing in. There were loud thundering noises.”

  Solace realized the hunters weren’t aware it was the men’s guns that made the
noise. The weapons were hand held and she doubted the others had seen them. From the grin on Lochlan’s face she knew he guessed the same and his weapon was shoved into the belt at his hip.

  The meat had frozen overnight and the others used large axes made of stone and wood to cut manageable sizes. The mammoth in the field was picked clean and the rest of the bones hauled back to the plane for transport. The hide was left to protect the plane. The hunters had sleighs they used to transport meat. One was used to pull Nick and the smaller children. Em was scooped into Lochlan’s arms. The snow was too high for eight-year-old legs. Nina huddled close to Solace. They followed a path the hunter’s had left and Solace stood wide-eyed when a massive group of trees came into their line of vision. Mountainous behemoths, some that reached into the sky, others shorter but sheltered. She was stunned when a door opened. Numerous people greeted the hunters while eyeing the strangers. There was a great deal of chatter and speculation.

  “This is wild,” Lochlan said.

  “If you mean primitive cool I agree,” Bastian said in a loud whisper. “Damn this is amazing.”

  “Daddy when we get home will you build me a tree fort like this?” Joey asked.

  “Bud, this would take decades,” Joe replied, eyes wide.

  Solace couldn’t believe her eyes as she stood gapping at her surroundings. The interior of the tree was deep rich colors of brown and hunter green. Children of all ages gawked at them. Blue and Cole hustled off a sleigh to stand beside her. Lochlan settled Em onto her feet. Nina went to kneel close to Nick. The group huddled together. Some of the people didn’t appear as friendly and held weapons loosely. Not exactly hostile, some gazes weren’t altogether welcoming. Solace didn’t blame them, she wasn’t certain what to make of the people staring at her. One man in particular seemed to be checking her out. He was huge, almost Menace huge.

  The meat disappeared into a side dwelling. The fires that blazed were soon covered with haunches of dripping mammoth. Solace and the others hadn’t eaten and she knew, like her, their mouths must be watering. For the size of the wide high dwelling it was warm inside, she was already beginning to perspire. Many fires blazed, many warm furs littered the ground, benches, and high platform beds. Few dividers were set up for privacy. Numerous pieces of wood were carved into animal heads. Totem poles were in various places. Wood carvings were on the numerous massive branches within the dwelling.