Ada's Children - Chapter 1
The Hunt
Welcome (back) to Ada’s Children! This is Chapter 1, but if you missed it, you should really start with the Prologue. (You’re not one to skip prologues, are you? Skipping this one would be like skipping the Ice Walker prologue to Game of Thrones. You’d find yourself asking, “Where’s the magic and dragons? This seems more like a fictionalized version of the War of the Roses.” Or in the case of my novel, you’d wonder why I’ve categorized it as sci-fi. So go ahead, click back to that Prologue, and then return here.)
While we’re at it, here’s the cover reveal for the print and ebook versions. Thanks to Mari Christie for the great cover, agsandrew on Shutterstock for the “AI face” illustration, and Paul Hayes for the outstanding cover blurb.
SILA urged Shadow on, the horse’s hooves thundering over the sloping grassland. The wounded bison was almost within bowshot, the Howling Forest just ahead. Behind her, Jun shouted for her to stop. But he was far back, and her prey was right in front of her, its massive hump looming above her as she came nearer. Only a few more strides. She let go of Shadow’s mane and pulled her bowstring taut, sighting down the arrow.
Then the horse was gone from under her and she was in the air. In that frozen moment, she knew Shadow must have stumbled into a gopher hole. She hoped the horse was all right.
She tucked and rolled out of instinct, coming to a stop on all fours, her bow gripped in one hand, the arrow lost in her flight. She stood up. Nothing felt broken. She was lucky her people hadn’t burned this prairie recently, the tallgrass growing thick enough to cushion her fall.
Shadow rose to her feet, seeming unhurt.
“Look out, it’s coming back!” Jun shouted.
With its wide horns, the bison had found no escape in the dense forest. Now Sila stood in its only path to freedom.
Somehow, one arrow remained in her quiver after the fall. She nocked it as the beast charged, slowed somewhat by the arrow Jun had put in it, the arrow that should have killed it. She crouched, letting it come closer. Her aim and timing would have to be perfect. The bison lowered its head, its long, curving horns aimed right at her.
“Sila!” Jun shouted again, his horse racing past as he tried to distract the beast. His second arrow flew high of its mark. The bison kept coming.
Forty paces. Thirty. Twenty. There was the spot, the narrow span of chest visible between its shoulder and the massive bulk of its head. Sila let the arrow fly and leapt aside, narrowly avoiding a slashing horn. She rolled and came up in a crouch, then ran toward Shadow to retrieve her spear.
But there was no need. The bison was down and breathing its last. She walked over to it, her heartbeat gradually returning to normal. Jun, off his horse, approached from the other side, silent for now. She knew he would never interrupt such a sacred moment.
The bison’s eyes still glowed with the light of life. She spoke the traditional words of thanks to the bison for giving its life that the People might live. To Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, for keeping all the hunters safe. To Ada, Mother of the Five Peoples, for ensuring the game was plentiful. The prayer done, she ended the animal’s suffering, drawing her chert-bladed knife across its windpipe. The beast’s lifeblood gushed onto the green summer grass, the light went out of its eyes, and it was over.
Jun came a step closer, his light brown skin glistening as his chest rose and fell, the sunlight playing across the ripples of his abdomen. She concentrated on his eyes, two wide, pale moons.
“Sila, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking to bring food to our people. What were you thinking?”
“That I was about to see my best friend trampled or gored. You know better than to get separated from the rest of the Hunt, especially this close to the Howling Forest.”
The forest wasn’t living up to its name today. No wolves howling, nor any other beast out of nightmares. The horses grazed calmly nearby, not rearing and snorting and threatening to run off as they usually would.
“You’re the one who’s always wondering what’s in there, and beyond.”
He gave the trees a glance. “But what if…?” The lost look on his face was both sweet and provoking.
“What if what?” She turned away to check on Shadow. The horse seemed all right, but she had to make sure. It was a miracle the mare hadn’t snapped a leg. Then there would have been two animals to butcher, and a long walk home.
“What if you hadn’t jumped in time?” His voice was quieter, as if he didn’t want to speak his fear.
“But I did, Artemis be praised.” She took a strip of old, soft leather and began cleaning her knife, giving silent thanks to the Goddess of the Hunt.
“You might have slipped. Or jumped too late.”
She tossed her head back to get the hair out of her face. “Would you ask Drin or Tio these questions?” Drin was the Chief of the Hunt, the most revered hunter among their people.
He shook his head. “Sila, you know that’s different.”
“Different how?”
He looked away. “Don’t make me say it.”
Of course he couldn’t say it. It was forbidden. No young hunter could take a woman from his own village as a mate. Not that she wanted a man anyway, not Jun or any other young hunter. Yet she sometimes had to remind herself of this when Jun was nearby.
“I understand,” she said, her tone softening. “But I’m fine. I know what I’m doing, little brother.”
“Don’t call me that!” He always protested when she used this pet name for him, and not just because at nineteen he was only a year younger and had long ago grown a hand taller. They were of different parents, though the Wise Women called all the children of the village brothers and sisters. She only called him “brother” to put him off.
He was still glaring at her when the rest of the hunting party rode up. She braced herself for the tongue-lashing from Drin. It would be a thousand times worse than anything Jun could offer.
Ever since she’d first picked up a bow, Sila’s only dream was to follow Drin’s path, to become Chief of the Hunt. But this was no way to do it. Hunters were supposed to work together, not dash recklessly off, no matter how valuable the prey. Yet in the moment, it hadn’t seemed reckless at all, simply a challenge to match her skill. Those were the moments she lived for, and she wouldn’t let Jun or Drin take them away.
She put a brave face on, gesturing at the fallen animal as her leader dismounted. “Ada provides, my chief.”
“I see Ada hasn’t provided you with the sense of a gopher. You’re a fine hunter, Sila, but if you do that again, you’ll be foraging for tubers and berries with your mother and sister full-time.”
Sila felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Off to one side, Jun covered his grin.
The sun had reached its solstice a few days past, leaving the hunters plenty of daylight to dress their kills and find a camp farther from the Howling Forest. Drin insisted on the move, not daring to spend the night near that fearsome place. The forest was quiet now, but who knew what sounds might come from it after night fell? No one had slept so near it since the Heroes of Old.
The Hunting Chief’s anger subsided once they were gathered around the fire. He presented Sila with one of her kill’s long, curving horns, as was her due, to add to her growing collection.
Afterward, with the sun setting behind them, she and Jun lingered at the dying campfire while the others saw to their horses or found spots to bed down. Even at this distance from the Howling Forest, they were still high up, with a good view across the Land. By some trick of the last light, it seemed they could see all the way across the only home they’d ever known, a distance of many days’ walk. Green grasslands alternated with stands of bur oaks and cedars and cottonwoods along the rivers, with here and there a shimmer marking a wetland. Overhead, the first stars had come out. The whole world was alive in beauty, filled with spirits. Sila just wanted to sit here and soak it in, to hear what the spirits had to tell.
But Jun didn’t care for any of this. “That dark line on the horizon must be the Howling Forest on the other side, don’t you think?”
“Could be, I don’t know.” She’d never been that far, only to her people’s hunting grounds, south and west of the village, and to the summer meeting grounds in the center of the Land.
“It’s not that far. We could ride there in a couple of days.”
“But why?”
“To see what’s over there.” She knew what he really meant—to see if anything lay beyond the Howling Forest, where it was forbidden to go. She’d seen the way he kept looking at it as they dressed her kill.
“It’ll be the same as here, but with the People of the Eagle or the People of the Deer. We’ll see all of them at the Rendezvous.”
They were silent for a time. More stars emerged as the sky turned black. It wasn’t long before a traveling star rushed by on its regular course across the sky. She’d sometimes see several of these in a few hours of stargazing, as if the sky world was speaking directly to her.
It seemed the traveling star had a different message for Jun. “Why does that one move so fast when the others almost stand still?”
“Ada only knows.” Everyone knew that Ada had placed the stars against the black dome of night to cheer the People and give some light when the moon didn’t show its face. How Ada chose to arrange them was up to her, and not for the People to question.
Yet Jun always did, constantly asking what made the stars change from season to season, and why some moved differently from the others. And always, what was beyond the Howling Forest, if anything. Why couldn’t he be content with the way things were? Sila put it down to him living alone. He’d been nearly an orphan from early on, when his father disappeared and his mother paired up with another man. Sila’s parents had practically raised him from then on, but he still had a lot of time to look at the stars and ponder.
Jun was silent, his gaze following the traveling star until it disappeared near the horizon. “The sky seems so huge, yet the Land seems so small. This can’t be all there is.”
Not this again! “But it is, the Heroes proved it.”
That got Jun’s eyes glowing. “Yes, and if only we could be like them. What bravery they had!”
Shortly after the Creation, the Heroes of Old walked in a great circle for days upon days, staying within a stone’s throw of the Howling Forest and the fearsome noises that came from within. Thus they showed the People the extent of the Land Ada had created for them.
“Yes,” Sila said. “Every child knows this. Why doesn’t it satisfy you?”
“No, the question is, why does it satisfy you? You’re not stupid, Sila.”
“How flattering.” She went back to looking at the stars, wishing the conversation would end.
“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…”
“Look at all this.” She gestured over the forests and meadows below them. “What more do I need? I like my life. I’ve found my path.”
He sighed. “But there must be something left to discover. Something must exist beyond the Howling Forest, otherwise why does Ada forbid us to enter? What is she afraid we’ll find?”
“Maybe you should ask Little Kit.” Two weeks past, Ada’s Helpers had deposited their people’s poorest trapper at the edge of the village, as happened whenever someone dared venture into the Howling Forest. Most didn’t try again.
“I’ve thought about it. But that would only make the Wise Women more suspicious.” He stared into the fire for a time, pursing his lower lip the way he did whenever he was trying to puzzle out a problem. “It sounds like Lytta was trying to scare Little Kit, with those terrifying visions he kept raving about.”
“But it was only his first attempt. You know what would happen on the third.”
“Do I? All anyone knows is that no one ever comes back.”
She had no answer.
He poked the fire with a stick. “Maybe beyond the Howling Forest there’s a place where no one would treat us as brother and sister.” He didn’t look at her as he said it.
She had to put an end to this. She was never going to pair with a man, and besides, Ada’s law kept males and females of the same village from lying together. But this wasn’t enough for Jun, and his mooning around had only grown worse over the past year. Sometimes he hardly talked to her. Other times he treated her as usual, though his obvious efforts at self-control strained everything between them. She hated it. They’d been best friends since they both could walk.
“I think you should take a mate at the Rendezvous,” she said. “You’ve proven yourself as a hunter. The Wise Women will give their blessing.”
“You think I want to bind myself to a stranger? I hardly know any of those girls.”
“That’s because you never talk to them. Every Rendezvous, you’re either hanging around with me or drinking with the other hunters. You’re too busy to notice all the girls giving you the eye.”
“So you want me to bring one of them back to our village? What then?”
The way he looked at her, the questioning look in his soft brown eyes—it nearly melted her resolve. Jun wasn’t the tallest or the strongest hunter, but he was quick of foot, quick of wit, and quick to laugh, at least when he wasn’t moping about her. The regular planes of his face, his smooth brown skin, and his thick shock of dark hair made him handsome.
But it was mostly his eyes. If she looked too long into them, her heart would beat faster, sending a warmth spreading from her center into her thighs. It was the same when one of her girlfriends rubbed balm into her sore muscles after a hunt. A safe feeling with a girl, but not with Jun. She always looked away from him, as she looked away now before speaking.
“Then you would stop feeling this way about me. We would go back to being friends, like we used to be.”
“But someday you’ll take a mate and move to his village.” She could hear the effort it took to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“Ha!” she scoffed. “What do I need a man for, when I’ve got my pick of half a dozen girls just in our own village?”
“Your followers, you mean.”
Followers—he loved to tease her by calling them that. It was going a bit far, though they did look up to her, she had to admit. She was the first girl to join the hunt since Val and Luri, the oldest Wise Women, were young. She’d just turned seventeen at the time, and a year later the Wise Women had declared her a woman grown, with the right to take her own mate.
“Any one of those girls could keep me happy. I’m a hunter, I need someone to gather and sew for me, and tend to my wounds. Only the other day, Brina said she’d never look at another hunter during the Rendezvous if I pledged myself to her.”
“You mean you’d become an auntie?”
“Sure. What’s wrong with that? No one says a thing about Val and Luri or the other female couples. The young mothers love the extra hands to help with their babies.”
“Nothing’s wrong with it. Except one thing. The most important thing.”
“Jun, can’t you see? It’s not just the law, and it’s not just you. Can you imagine me foraging with the other women, and with a couple of babes in tow? Or sewing and mending for a hunter? It’s bad enough my parents make me join in the foraging between hunts, but I’ll put an end to that after this Rendezvous.”
He shook his head. “I’d never ask that of you.”
“But the babies would come, and that would be the end of my life as a hunter.” No one, not Jun and not her parents, would keep her from following her path.
And then there were the Great Sleeps. Sila would never forget her first one, when she was five, and her sister, two. Ada’s Helpers arrived with scented smoke, putting the entire village into a sleep filled with sweet dreams. That wasn’t so bad. But afterward, the young mothers with two or perhaps three children found they could bear no more babies. And worse, her own mother had been ill and despondent for weeks after. The Wise Women said this was the way of the world, but Sila had vowed it was never going to happen to her.
“But don’t you want to know why, Sila? Why does Ada put all these rules and restrictions on us? If she even exists! No one has seen her in generations. Maybe she’s just a story the Wise Women tell us so we’ll follow their rules.”
This was madness. Of course Ada existed. Her spirit ran through everything, from the smallest blade of grass to the deer and the bison, and to the People as well. “What about Lytta? What about Ada’s Helpers? People have seen them, and not only Little Kit. The Wise Women didn’t just make them up.”
Jun had no answer for that. They sat in silence, but the questions hung between them, as thick as the smoke of the dying fire.
Come back Friday for Chapter 2, “Election Night.” It takes place in Minneapolis in 2040 as the presidential election results roll in. Like most US voters in 2016, Carol, Shondra, and Michael are shocked and dismayed. Only this time, the result could be far worse than anything we’ve experienced in recent years.