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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Crisscross Moon - 25. Chapter 25

25.

After he woke, the boy went back to the entrance of the hidden cave. Again, he hoped to see the women and children, but he saw only men. He looked at the hillside where the cave entrance was and tried to think about where the cave might be. He remembered going down the long tunnel, but he wasn't really sure how long it was. And when he was crawling in the dark, he sometimes didn't know if he was going up or down. The tunnel had turns and drops. It suddenly seemed to twist or get wider. He thought that he was probably going into the hill, but maybe the cave was under the hill. And maybe the cave he was looking for was under that.

That made it more likely to have a stream, since water ran down. The boy wanted to climb a tree, so he could see the hillside from further away and get some idea how large it was. He thought it might also give him some idea of where the hidden cave could be. If the hill was smaller than he thought, the cave would have to be under it.

But in a tree, the boy would be too easy to see. And he could be trapped. The girl's warriors could easily come after him. So he thought about the hill and how it connected to the other hills. The hills near the girl's village were almost all connected. One went into another with sometimes only a small pass between them. And those passes also had caves though they were often no more than holes in the hillside. The boy thought he was looking for a deeper cave.

He tried to remember the ones he'd seen near the village and tried to imagine where there might be more like them. There were several deep caves on the village side of the hill, and he was sure there were more on the other. They'd be far from where the warriors were, so they'd be safer to explore. And there was no reason one of these caves couldn't connect to the hidden cave. There was no reason the new entrance had to be near the village. That was another reason the boy was trying to figure out how big the hill was, so he could see how far he needed to go on the other side of the hill.

It wasn't an easy climb. Even the women didn't go to this part of the forest unless they'd run out of firewood or berries. As the boy climbed, he tried to track where he was going. He needed to remember which hill had the hidden cave, so he could explore that and the hills it connected to. Once the boy reached the other side, he looked around. He'd been there often so hadn't really explored it. He tried to see how many caves there were and learn if they were shallow or deep. Also if any of them were in the right place. He explored some of the shallow caves and then some of the deep ones. But he didn't find the stream he was looking for.

He'd brought food with him but never really thought about eating it. Instead, he kept thinking about the girl. He wondered what she and the women and children were doing. He thought they might all be fine because they'd been in the cave before. It was familiar, so the children wouldn't worry. But because the entrance was blocked, the women might.

The boy didn't bring water with him, either, because there were always streams. He found water in several of the caves, but it barely wet his feet. He could sometimes feel where it came out of rocks and where it went back in. But the holes were all too small for him to do more than reach in.

He used torches in some of the caves, because he wasn't at all worried that the warriors were near. The light made it faster to search, so he could move quickly. That was good because he didn't want to be trapped by warriors in a cave, especially one he didn't know.

He didn't want to be trapped at all. He didn't want to fall into a hole, or run into a lion, or get bitten by a snake. Most of the snakes wouldn't hurt him, but the boy was still taking a chance. He was taking a lot of chances, even trying to explore as quickly as he was. He'd been taught to move slowly, to always be careful. And he was doing nothing like that.

The older warriors in his village wouldn't like what he was doing, and they wouldn't understand it. They were good men. The boy also lived in a peaceful village, and his warriors only attacked when they had to or when they thought they were going to be attacked. But there were things they'd never do. And rescuing women and children from another village was one of them. Even if the people in that village were friendly to them, and it was their fault the women and children were trapped. It was more important to protect your own families.

When the light began to fade, the boy thought about going back to his sleeping cave. He was safe there, but it was easier to stay on this side of the hill. Still, he knew he had to go to the hidden cave. To make sure the women and children were still inside.

When he got there, there was no sign of them. There were only two younger warriors at the entrance, different from the ones who'd been there before, but only two. Clearly, the older warriors weren't thinking about an attack. The village was also almost empty, and the boy thought the other warriors were in their meeting house, talking over what to do. He wondered what he'd tell them if he could and what the warriors in his village would try next. They wouldn't simply leave their families.

The girl's village was so empty, the boy could almost walk around in it. He wanted to go into one of the huts and take a blanket. He'd been wanting one all the time he'd been in the forest and always hoped he could get the girl to bring one to him. He could piece together small animal skins but had never learned to weave. That was no use to him. Still, the boy just left the village. He wasn't taking another chance.

Lying in the dark in his own cave, he thought about the girl. He could easily remember what she looked like but couldn't remember how she sounded. She hadn't talked much to him. She'd always seemed too afraid. She'd give short answers to his questions or nod or shake her head. When she did talk, she asked questions the boy knew her husband or warriors would want to know about. There was little else she needed to say.

He kept coming back to why he wanted her. He thought about that as much as he thought about her. He just did. He never found a reason. He wanted her no matter what she thought of him. No matter how much she always seemed afraid. Or mostly seemed afraid. The one time she hadn't was when she helped him into the tree.

And that was it. The moment that changed everything. The moment that never changed. The moment that made him want her.

He kept seeing her hand reaching back to him. He kept feeling it grab his. He wasn't even sure by then he'd seen her face.

Would it have mattered? Would it have mattered if she wasn't young? If she wasn't someone he'd want? Yes. And no. And yes.

It wouldn't have mattered because she still would have always saved his life. It would because then he wouldn't be interested.

As he tried to fall asleep, he thought about the girl's warriors. They were still doing women's work, and he wondered how long they'd go on. They'd finally need to go on a hunt. They soon would run out of food. The boy also knew this was a good time to attack the village. The warriors were tired, almost weak. He wondered if the village had many enemies. All villages had some, but some places were safer to live than others.

He wondered what would happen if the warriors were attacked. If they would they hide in the cave and try to protect themselves, or if they'd they try to protect the village? He wondered what would happen if they all were killed. What would he do then?

He couldn't protect the village by himself. He couldn't grow food or gather enough or hunt alone to feed everyone. He couldn't even bring some of his own warriors and their families to help.

His leader would laugh at that. His warriors would laugh at him. They'd all tell him he was being stupid. And he was. He had been.

What would he do if all the men in the village were gone and the women and children never got out of the cave? There was a chance he'd killed an entire village just from being stupid. The boy could hardly think about that. All he tried to think about where there might be another entrance to the cave. But he knew there didn't have to be one, and he didn't want to think about that, either.

(continued)

copyright 2018 by Richard Eisbrouch
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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The young warrior seems to be warring with himself and his guilt.  Yet, he still searches for a way to rescue the girl and others trapped in spite of the danger to himself.  

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