Helix and the Arrival (4 page)

‘Get. Off. Me. You. Bonehead!' the creature says to Ug, in a chokey voice.

‘Saleeka!' I scream, half in surprise and half in anger.

Ug rolls off her. ‘I almost finished you,' he says, shaking the knife in his hand.

‘Relax, big boy,' she says. ‘No need to get your loincloth in a knot.' She leans back against the rock face and blows the knotted hair from her eyes.

‘What were you doing, sneaking up on us like that?' I say.

‘I wasn't sneaking up. I saw you climbing and thought I'd follow –'

‘By jumping down on top of us? Real smart!' I say.

‘Anyway, what are you both doing here?' She turns to Ug. ‘I thought you were going to teach him how to swing a heavy club.'

Ug shrugs his shoulders and looks at me as if I'm a lost cause.

‘Why aren't you practising, Helix?' says Saleeka. ‘You need to practise! Your Arrival will take place at the summer solstice – that's only the mooncycle after next!'

‘Thanks for explaining the obvious, but what's it got to do with you?' I say.

‘What's it got to do to me? Maybe I don't want to be friends with some loser who fails his Arrival. It wouldn't be good for my image.'

‘Do you mean your I'm-a-scary-cavegirl-who-looks-like-a-cave-hyena image?'

She turns to Ug. ‘Sounds like Mr Soon-to-be-thirteen is a bit tense at the moment.'

‘Shut up!' I say. ‘You don't know what it's like to be turning thirteen and be expected to transform – as if by magic – into a caveman.'

‘You know what, Helix? You're right. Having recently turned thirteen, I didn't have to deal with any of that. Instead, I had to prepare to be married. Yes,
married
! At any moment, without warning, I could be offered to some bent-toothed, bushy-browed grunting cave idiot as his wife. How would you like that?' she says, pinching my arm.

‘Ow!' I say. ‘That hurts.'

‘Does it? Well, maybe you need to toughen up, caveboy.' She pinches me again.

‘Ouch! Stop it!'

‘Okay, that is enough,' says Ug.

Ug's deep voice turns us both quiet. We sit still like cavekids who have just been told off by their dad.

Ug decides to offer his thoughts. ‘Sure, Helix is a skinny runt who cannot throw a spear and is afraid of the woods, but that does not mean you should rub it in, Saleeka.'

‘Thanks for your support, Ug,' I say.

‘That is all right,' he says.

‘So, getting back to what I was saying before: you need our help,' says Saleeka.

‘How are
you
going to help me?' I ask.

She swishes some more hair from in front her eyes, revealing a crinkled forehead. ‘Is it so hard for you to imagine a world where I could be of some use? I bet I can throw a spear further and more accurately than you. And I can swing a heavy club above my head, no problems. As for the woods – I go there by myself all the time.'

I don't reply, because everything she says is true.

‘Let us go,' says Ug. ‘We are meant to be at Speel's by noon for our Learning.'

‘That's another thing,' says Saleeka. ‘Why is it that just because I'm female, I don't get taught the same Learnings as you?'

‘You're not missing out on much,' I say.

‘A caveboy's Learnings are important,' says Ug. ‘They teach us the sacred knowledge – who we are and where we come from.'

‘Exactly! That's the stuff I want to know,' says Saleeka.

‘I'm more than happy to pass on the “sacred knowledge”,' I say. ‘You'll soon realise that it's about as sacred as my brother's nostril hair.'

‘I am going,' says Ug. ‘I have had enough of you both.'

I follow him down the mountain, down, down, down, for a Learning with Speel.

Speel's cave is the largest in Rockfall, even larger than Korg the Magnificent's. The reason the Storykeeper's cave is so big is so that it can store piles and piles of stone tablets.

Most of the tablets record boring stuff like:

The most interesting tablets, though, are the ones referred to as ‘sacred'. Some of the sacred tablets were written at the beginning of time by the first ever Storykeeper, Zeel. They record important subjects such as:

Ug and I arrive at Speel's cave. A thick skin hangs from top to bottom, covering the entrance. Strung in a nook carved into the outside cave wall is a length of bandiquoll gut. This is called a ‘bandi-twang'. When a bandi-twang is plucked, it makes a sound that lets the cave owner know that someone has come to see them. Our cave has
no need for a bandi-twang, as it's so small from front to back that we can see and hear when someone is coming to visit. Plus, if Dad or Sherwin ever caught a bandiquoll, we would eat every bit of it including the bandi-twang parts.

I pluck the bandi-twang and the sound reverberates into Speel's cave.

‘Enter,' comes a voice from deep within.

We walk inside. The walls are lined with torches fuelled by animal fat, a luxury that regular cave folk would never consider.

Behind a raging fire in the middle of the cave, on a thick pile of skins from large animals that he certainly didn't hunt and kill himself, sits Speel. The flames flicker high in front of his face, making it seem like he is separated from us by a wall of fire. This must be the hottest cave in Rockfall. Droplets of sweat are already starting to form on my forehead.

Near the back of the cave, next to a second fire, sit Speel's stonehacks, Crag and Tor. The stonehacks' job is to chisel away, night and day, copying Speel's writings from animal skins, where they are first written, onto stone tablets. Crag and Tor lift their heads and stop chiselling as Ug and I enter. Their arms and shoulders are covered with rivers of veins trying to escape their thick muscles. A life of chiselling has made them like this. I think they resent caveboys like us, who are free to roam the mountain, as opposed to being stuck in a cave all day working for Speel. They go back to work, their facial expressions barely changing.

‘Sit down,' says Speel, squinting his singular eye at us.

We take a seat at the fire, opposite him. He stands up. It looks like he's enjoyed yet another big breakfast of hard-shell – the tender grey meat is still stuck in his beard and the shell of the poor, slow-moving creature sits discarded and empty, beside the fire.

‘Today we will continue with the Learnings. Your Arrival is drawing near. You must fill your minds with the sacred knowledge of our glorious people if you are to become cavemen in our clan.'

Ug is nodding. He loves any mention of the word ‘glorious'.

‘I trust you have both completed your homework,' says Speel, picking at the grey meat in his beard.

Homework? What homework? I didn't know we had homework
…

Ug pulls a small rock out from under his loincloth and presents it to Speel.

Thanks for reminding me about the homework, Ug!

Speel studies the rock, rotating it between his spider-leg fingers. He holds it up to the light of the fire and nods. ‘Very good, Ug. You have chosen well. It is indeed a sacred rock.'