The Token by Kevin Bird (the little red hen ebook .TXT) 📖

cycle the water table was close to the surface here.
Walking over to it, he knelt on the grass and realized that there was a print after all, since the blood had soaked into the ground creating a kind of blue mud. The print was clearly not one of his stock and was larger than his spread hand. Based on the impression made in the mud, there seemed to be only three toes with all apparently ending in a sizeable claw. He then noticed there seemed to be another indentation pointing in the opposite direction from the other three; it also seemed to end in a large claw. Except for the blood, the print and a small tuft of short blue hair, there was nothing to show what had happened. Jacob thought how this was reminiscent of Blake’s experience and he felt just as angry and frustrated as his friend had.

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“Bella, I’m home!” Jacob shouted as he walked in the door taking his heavy work boots off. Even with the events of the morning he found himself still remembering to make sure not to track mud into the clean house; as strong as he was, he never liked to tackle an upset Bella if their was any way to avoid it. Strong farmers still had to defer, in many ways, to their strong farming wives if they were to enjoy peace at home.
“Jacob!” His wife rushed up to him, crushing him in an embrace. Tough she might be, but she loved him dearly and had no fears of showing it.
She had been a beautiful young woman when Jacob had first met her a lifetime ago and a galaxy away and she had not lost any of that beauty in their hard years here. The brown skin and lined eyes from the outdoor work they shared had only added character. He knew he was biased, of course, since he loved her equally.
Her upbringing on a distant world in a culture different to that of Jacob’s had been one of the things that had attracted them to each other. She was an exotic to him, not only physically attractive, but also strong willed and smart. She had learned his language after adolescence, much as Blake had done, and he still found her accent and sometimes broken tongue quaint, though she got annoyed if she heard it described it so.
The girl that joined them in the embrace had completed their family and Jacob felt the pang that was a mixture of fear and joy; he couldn’t bear the thought of anything destroying what they had built and so he was always conscious to enjoy each day, each moment.
“Why aren’t you at your lessons, Bettine?”
“She so scared for you I told she could wait till you home got back,” his wife told him breaking the embrace. “You OK?” She seemed to be looking deep into his eyes to see if he was going to lie to her.
“Yes, I’m fine.” He turned to his daughter, and Jacob felt his heart do a little flip at the prospect of anything threatening her in anyway. How time had flown by! She would soon be old enough where maybe he shouldn’t feel this protective, but he knew instinctively that that day would never come. “Now, go to your lessons and don’t make me tell you again.” He ruffled his big fingers through her tawny hair, softening his words. “Oh, Bettine, thanks for paying attention to what’s around you and letting me know so fast about the missing blue.”
“Thanks dad, I’ll see you both later,” she said as she hugged them both and then ran out of the door, obviously feeling very proud of herself.
“For just a girl she’s turning out OK!” He said with a smile on his tanned face.
His wife punched him in the arm at his words.
“A good job I know you joke or you be in serious trouble. We women of this family do not take abusive men much lightly.” Bella poked him in the chest to emphasize her point then, smiling, hugged him.
“What we going to do Jake? We only have three more cycles before Token. Cannot let them take my baby,” she said close to tears. She was standing at the kitchen sink twisting a cloth in her hands and staring out the window at her pride and joy as she ran through the yard.
“I’ll ask Blake to help me spread the word to the others, and we’ll have a meeting tonight if possible. I’m getting worried now too. We need to do something quickly,” Jacob said running the back of his hand along his wife’s cheek. She was a strong woman who had spent these years working hard by his side and he knew that Bettine was her only weakness, if it could be called that. She was often over protective of her, but since they had lost their first child shortly after birth, Jacob could hardly blame her. “But don’t worry yourself about it too much. We’ll sort it out. Now, how about some breakfast?”


Two


Here in the mountains the night was already beginning to cool, and not a cloud marred the heavens. In one direction the light of day was now fading; and in the other, the stars were already appearing bright and sharp, soon to bring icy cold with them. As the sun began to drop, orange and gold behind the mountainous horizon, we awoke with images sent and received.
The connections between us meant these pictures were much the same, a mass of black shapes feeding on a large motionless body. The feeling of joy and comradeship rang strong through these images, and now it was time to put the touch of reality to them. We looked to each other for assurance, for a further sign of our bond, without which we would have been completely lost long ago in a world full of changes.
A family, a pack, a group, there were many ways of describing us. None were truly accurate, and none were used by the few of us that were left. There had been a time when we were many and we had a name for ourselves. However, we did not send it anymore; it was a thing reminding us of an evil past; it was now forbidden. Many lives had passed and many stories told, then forgotten, since the days our name had been used. One day, we hoped, we would once again use it and be proud, secure in ourselves and our future. But for now that future was far from certain.
In our past there had been creatures that were not content to live on this world together with us and would do anything to destroy us; since our big awakening we had hoped they were now gone. After a very long time away from the outside world, we had sallied forth from our caves and had been pleasantly surprised to find our would-be killers apparently gone. Our world had changed in the past, not for the better, so we hoped that now we could reverse our misfortunes and live again as we had in the past….free.
This night we had more immediate things to attend to. We were hungry. Tonight would be a hard night. The difference between the light of the day just passing and that of this new night was small. Much of our success relied on our advantages in darkness. None-the-less, we had no choice. Hunger, thirst, and a primal urge that could not be controlled were our masters. The hunt must go on.
We brushed against each other’s bodies rubbing black, smooth shoulders against each other mingling scents, a further sign of our commitment to one another, especially important prior to a hunt. We must always feel totally at ease with those around us, secure in the knowledge that we were all working towards the same goal, that of finding food and making sure all came home safely. Now and again one of us would raise its head and give off a soundless howl to the night sky. Then the images that passed among us were powerful and uplifting. We felt invincible as we had always been in our distant past. We wanted this again now.
As we prepared to seek out our prey, clouds began to roll gloriously across the starlit sky. A dark night! Good. The images in our minds spoke to us of the pursuit ahead and the joy of the darkness. Our numbers had grown and the recent trips we had made out of our caverns had all been successful. Each night we had come home with full bellies, both for ourselves and those who had remained behind to care for our young and old.
In a final grouping, we intermingled and again sent images of a successful hunt, reaffirming those bonds that kept us together where no external compassion had ever been shown us. We raised our heads to the newly veiled moon and let out a silent howl, heard only by us, and then we were off! This night we would head in the opposite direction from the previous night so as to surprise the prey animals.
The younger ones pushed off down the hill first. Using powerful hind legs they playfully bound ahead, leaping from rock to rock, tree trunk to tree trunk, instinctively practicing the moves important to preying on animals stronger and larger than us. It was usual for the younger ones to take the lead. They were inexperienced, yes, even foolhardy, but who amongst us had not been the same way? This was how they must learn, as we had in our time. At least, while some of the elders were still around to offer support and direction, these youngsters might survive long enough to look at future youngsters with the same feeling of fear, envy, and strained patience as we now did them. We all knew, even the youngest among us, that as the evening wore on, there would come a clear time when our rigid structure would be enforced; then the young would fall back to watch as we took the lead. Learning was a process where errors were expected, but not at the price of going hungry. The time for the younger ones among us to prove themselves would come all too soon.
Tonight some would get the chance to test how well they had learned and how ready they were. We elders realized that we must let them try sooner than later, so long as it did not affect the final outcome of the hunt; we would be there to make sure it did not. We would assure that all in our family would eat well tonight, and the young would become of more use to the group through the experience.
The scratching sound of hundreds of claws on the rock surfaces as we bounded from boulder to boulder was loud in the otherwise silence of early night time, but we would slow ourselves as we approached our prey and once again become the stealthy hunters we were born to be.
As the steeper cliffs and large boulders gave way to a flatter terrain, covered in smaller rocks worn down over time by rain and wind, we slowed our forward momentum. The younger among us knew their time for fun was over and they calmed down, willing to watch and learn. For most of them, tonight was not their time.
This new food source was strange to us and was clearly not like any natural animal with all its instincts intact. Nothing we had hunted in the past had ever been found in such large numbers and in such small areas unable to get