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CC6
Clancreb

Chapter 6: time passes

Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling
Earth’s Children is owned by Jean M. Auel


(much of this chapter might be better served by a time skip. Not necessary to read)

Spring turned into Summer and then Autumn. The Clan now had three new hunters and no trouble hunting enough meat to feed the Clan over the winter. In part, this was because the three new hunter’s all had the ability to duplicate Creb trick of using magic to propel sling stones at supersonic speeds, which allowed them to bring down large animals at a distance. The limitation on the Clan’S ability to hunt was how much meet the women of the Clan could butcher, then dry and how much space they had in the cave to store the meat. Gathering of plants, especially the ones that could be stored over the winter was suffering, and Brun had to cut back on hunter so the women had more time to forage.

One day, Creb came back to the cave from a trip to hunt some birds with his sling to find bruises on the face of his mate.

“What happened to you?” signed Creb.

“Targ used this woman to Relieve his Needs,” signed Aba. “He was not gentle, like you are.”

Creb was enraged by this! Technically, a man could use any woman he wished to Relieve his Needs. But the custom was that a man was supposed to ask the woman’s mate before using her. Targ had not only been rude to Creb the Mog-Ur, but he had also hurt his mat in the process. Creb wasn’t certain why he felt so strongly about the man’s bad manners. But it was mostly that he didn’t like to see his mate injured so.

Winter came and went. The clan had survived again.

Ebra had a daughter. This girl was born to her in the time that should have been Broud’s. This girl should have been Broud! Instead, that name was held by a boy born two years earlier. Aba had another son. This one was named: Zab. Drona, Vara and Vera had daughters, that were named: Droka, Voka and Vrooga. Dona had a son, who was named: Dek.

In the Spring, Bon had a successful manhood hunt. Now there were three unmated men in the Clan. And Vara still showed no signs of becoming a woman. Crebs male sibling, Brev had also become a man. This was a man who had never been born in Creb’s past life. The same was true of their female sibling: Braca

The Sling had become a popular weapon. Four of the men of the Clan were able to use magic with their sling. And two of the boys showed signs of being able to use magic too.

Another year passed through the seasons and into Winter. The Clan had survived one more year.

Iga died giving birth to a son, named: Goov. This boy would have been Creb the Mog-Ur’s acolyte and successor. But in this life Creb had already made his son, Zeen his acolyte. This left two men and three children without a woman at their hearth. Brun decided that since Iza had no children, She and Targ would move to Zoug’s hearth, which had become Targ’s hearth now. For there was still no woman to be Grod’s mate.

Brona also had a daughter, who was named: Ika.

Crab, Geeb, and Vorc all had successful manhood hunts with clan spears. Crab and Vorc were both also proficient with using magic with a sling. Greeb was not. The Clan now had eight unmated men. Three hearths were home to three different men. While some men had more than one mate. Something had to change.

Brun had several long meetings with the men before he had it all worked out.
Grod, would be made the new Second Ranked Hunter and get Uma as his mate. Since she was too old to have children, Grod’s siblings, his mother’s children, would move to his new hearth.
Zoug would remain at Targ’s hearth.
Zeen was still waiting for Vara, who still was not yet a woman.
Bon, was mated to Brona, who brought all her children to his hearth.
Brev, was mated to Vora, who brought all her children to his hearth.
This still left a middle-aged man and two young men with no mate. But it made for a more harmonious Clan that eight un-mated men did.

Broud was still a child, but was just starting to learn the sling. Several other children were too. Broud was also starting to learn the bolo, and Brun had made him a smaller, lighter version to learn on.

Another year passed through the seasons and into Winter.

Vera had a daughter, who was named: Drorna. Ebra and Dona each had a son, named: Crun and Gren.

Vara finally became a woman and was mated to Zeen, who had been waiting years for her.
Creb’s female sibling: Braca, also became a woman. She was, by now, fully trained as a medicine woman. This meant the Clan had three of them. Creb didn’t no feel right performing First Rites for his own female sibling. And he was starting to feel no longer young. So he asked his acolyle, Zeen, to perform her First Rites as well as any future women of the Clan. Afterwards, Braca was mated to Crab.
Grova also became a woman. And after Zeen performed the first Rites, she was mated to Greeb. Bona also became a woman, who was mated to: Vorg the toolmaker. Like the man of his brith hearth and his male sibling, Droog. Vorg was skilled at the knapping of flint.

It was during the Spring that Uba, the First Ranked Medicine Woman of all the Clans and mother of the Leader Brun, the Mog-Ur Creb, the medicine woman Iza, the hunter Brev and the medicine woman Braca caught a fever and died. Neither of her medicine woman daughters were able to save her. And her death meant that Iza was now the Senior Medicine Woman of the Clan.

Summer passed into Autumn and Winter again.

Iza still had not brought a child to Targ’s hearth. But Other women had. Aba, Brona, Braca, Grorva and Bona, all had sons named: Cray, Bik, Crac, Greerv and Von.

Broud and Krug had a successful manhood hunts. Like many of the men of this Clan, they were adept at using sling magic. Currently, this Clan had nine men who could use the sling magic that Creb had invented. Hunting was easy for them if they could find the game.

Uka, Drasa, and Greda all became women this year. After Zeen performed their First Rites, they were mated. Uka was mated to Vorg. Drasa was mated to Vorc.
Uma was getting to old to raise children. And so, She became Krug’s mate. While Gred became Grod’s mate. Iga’s children remained at Grod’s hearth.

Zab, the son of Creb’s mate: Aba, was now old enough to start learning to learn the sling. But it was not going well. He had not done well in his first session, missing the target more often that the older boys. After a few tires, he threw down his sling.

“This is not Clan!” waved Zab, as he threw his sling down on the ground. Zoug had made this sling for him personally. But the boy did not seem to care. “Sling hunting is not real hunting! Real hunters use the spear. This boy will not cheat and kill animals with a stupid sling. This boy wants to learn to hunt with a spear like Brev does!”

With that, the boy stomped off, leaving the other boys speechless. Zoug could not understand what was wrong with the boy. Surely he had seen how often the man of his hearth brought down game with his sling. Surely his Clan memories must be telling Zab how difficult it was to feed a Clan before Creb started doing magic sling hunting.

When the incident was brought to Brun’s attention, he banned to boy from training with his spear for another year. In response, Zab started running as much as he could to build up his endurance and speed, skills that he would need when he was hunting with a spear.

Throughout the growing season, Zab continued to be a source of frustration for Creb. None of his mate’s other sons had been so willful and stubborn.

The Seasons pasted and another Winter came.

Ebra, Greda, Vera, Dona, Vora, Uka, Drasa and Vara all had children. Greda, Vora, Uka, and Drasa all had sons named: Grok, Bror, Vog, and Drorc. Ebra, Vera, and Dona all had daughters named: Broka, Drora, and Oga.

But when the mixed woman Vara had her son, it was a difficult delivery. The woman almost did not survive and the resulting baby had a forehead bump. Not as large as his mothers had been at that age, but you could tell that there was some Other in the boy. Zeen had not completely defeated her totem. When he heard the baby cry Creb had hobbled over to Zeen’s hearth. When he realized that the baby might be rejected, Creb spoke up before Brun could make his judgement:

“Look! He had she same head bump as his mother!” signed Creb. “The Mog-Ur thinks that all of the children of the woman, Vara will resemble their mother in this way.”

Brun took longer than usual to examine the newborn. He was about the pronouce the boy deformed. But the signs of his brother had made his reconsider. Finally, he made his pronouncement:

“The child his mixed Clan and Other.” signed Brun. “If he lies until his naming day, he will be allowed to live.”

Zeen and Vara let go of the breath they were holding, as Vara wrapped her crying son and held him to her breast.

When Spring came, Brev was allowed to have his manhood hunt. He had already for several years been bringing meat to the hearth of Bon, his mother’s mate. And by now, he had become adept enough at channeling magic through his sling to break the sound barrier. But Brun made him use a spear to prove his manhood. His hunt was successful, and he became a hunter of the Clan.

Now that he was a man, Brev was eligible to be mated the next time a woman become available. But Broud had already done without a mate of his own for a year since becoming a man and he was the future Leader. In Creb’s previous life, Broud had been four years later and Oga, who had just been born this year became his mate. Instead, Ebra had birthed a daughter the year Broud was supposed to be born and the man named Broud had come earlier. Aga was the only girl to become a woman this year. And so after Zeen had performed he first Rites, she was mated to Broud. How could this be? She was supposed to become Droog’s mate after Vera died. But she hadn’t died yet, and Broud had already waited a year for a mate. Once again, things were not how Creb remembered them from the first life.

Iza still had not brought a child to Targ’s hearth. This was no surprise to Creb the Mog-Ur. Her totem had not been defeated in his previous life until Uba. So it was comforting to seen this repeated in this life. Also, having two men at her hearth seemed to be helping improve her life as Zoug was much more persuasive than Creb had been at persuading Targ not to beat his mate so hard. But the beatings were happening more frequently, especially after Zoug had Relieved her Needs and she had been too demonstrative to the older man in her appreciation for what he had done for her. Targ was one of the men of the Clan that thought men should Relieve their Needs in the traditional Clan way, and not care about the Needs of their mate’s.

As the warm part of the year continued, so too did the problems for Creb with his mate’s son: Zab. The boy simply had no interest in anything Creb tried to teach him. He seemed ashamed to be living in the hearth of such a crippled man, even if he was able to provide me for the hearth with his sling. Instead, the boy idolized Dorv and Grev and Brev, all men that hunted in the traditional Clan way with a spear and eschewed ranged weapons like slings or bolos.

The seasons turned through Spring, Summer and Autumn. By the time Autumn arrived, Vara decided that since her mate, Zeen had become the man that performs First Rites and teaches new women how to Relieve their Needs, that she would take it upon herself to attempt to teach the men who wouldn’t Relieve the Needs of their mates, how to do so. And so she began attempting to entice men like Grev and Brev and Greeb to give her ‘the Signal.’ But she soon learned that although these men were happy to use her to Relieve their Needs. They were not at all interested in her Needs or Relieving them. By Winter she gave up on them as a lost cause.

With two medicine women, more children were living to reach adulthood than Creb remembered. But Ursus can give and Ursus can take.

That Winter, an illness swept through the cave and Ursus took many of their older members. Ona, Vorn, Vasa, Grev, Greeba, Bok, Drona and Uma were all taken by Ursus. This left the men Dorv and Krug without a mate. And the Boy, Crug and the girl Droka without parents. Bon, took Dorv and Crug into his hearth and Creb took the girl Droka into his hearth. Aba had wanted a daughter and never had one until now.

Brona and Bona each had a daughter, named Beva and Ovra, whom Creb remembered as the future mate of Goov. Aga had a son, which Creb The Mog-Ur went again and named Brac, even though it was twelve years too early for the boy Creb knew by that name. But it had been the name of the first child of Broud’s mate, so he used the name.

Lun, Droov, and Vred all became hunting men of the Clan after they had successful hunts. But their were no available women to be their mates. So they had to stay at their old hearths of their mother’s mate.

Still took years from manhood, Zab continued to cause problems for Creb. The boy had no respect for the mate of his mother and resented to the fact that all his older brothers could do sling magic, but he could not.

Another year of seasons went by into Winter. Next summer they would be going to the Clan Gathering.

Greda, Vera, Uka, and Drasa, had daughters, named: Groda, Verga, Vuka, and Vorca. Dona, Braca, and Vara, had sons named: Den, Brab and Var. This time, Brun immediately accepted Vara’s mixed child as part of the Clan. Iza remained childless.

When the Spring came, the Clan had manhood hunts for Zig and Crug, which were both successful. After they became men, the Clan had no trouble hunting and storing enough meet to survive the winter. By the end of spring they had accomplished this.

Zeen performed First Rites for Greva, who was mated to Krug.

It was now time to go to the Clan Gathering again.


My login for ecfans no longer works. I have lost that e-dress since I started the account that therefore can’t have a new password sent to me. There is some problem with my e-mail that prevents Diane from seeing my e-mails asking for help. So I can not add to this on ECfans, which is the main site for EC fics.