The Days of the Deer Read Free Page A

Shampalwe had died he had become harsh and silent. Before, they said he fought with no fear of death. Now they complained they saw him fight with no regard for his life.

3
WHERE IS KUPUKA?

    The Husihuilkes lived at the Ends of the Earth, in the furthest south of a continent
its inhabitants called the Fertile Lands. The warriors’ territory was a forest
between the Maduinas Mountains and the Lalafke Sea. A forest crisscrossed by mighty rivers, with cypress trees growing right to the mountain tops, and laurels and orange trees reaching down to the
sea. The land of the Husihuilkes was a forest in the south of the Earth.
    A long way north from the Ends of the Earth, several days’ hard climb up a steep slope, lived the Desert Pastors, a tribe of llamel breeders that died out with the last oases. Still
further north, on the continent’s distant shores, was where the Zitzahay people lived. And beyond the Border Hills, the Lords of the Sun created a civilization of gold. Perhaps other peoples
lived and died in the mists of the ancient jungle, without ever emerging. And finally there were those who lived where the seas turned to ice and the sky was always dark because the sun forgot to
shine there.
    At the Ends of the Earth on the morning of the day the rains would start, Dulkancellin and his family drew near to the Valley of the Ancestors.
    When they were halfway there, Thungür asked his father if he could go on ahead a little. Kush and the girls were walking too slowly for him, and he did not want to waste the morning. His
wish granted, he wasted no time and was soon out of sight.
    The spot where the Husihuilkes were to meet was a rough circle, completely covered in spreading grass and surrounded by patches of big white mushrooms. Trees and bushes crowded in around it as
if they wanted to see the celebrations without trespassing.
    The family had almost arrived when they saw Thungür coming back along the path towards them. He was carrying something. From the way he was holding it with his arm outstretched it must be
very precious.
    ‘What has he brought? What can he have found?’ Kume wondered out loud. Intrigued by his elder brother’s excitement, he ran to meet him.
    Piukemán and Kuy-Kuyen ran after him. As they ran, they tried to guess, their words fragmented by their leaps: an animal’s fangs... a blue stone... a shell... a luku’s claws.
Behind them, Wilkilén shouted as loud as she could in her weak little voice:
    ‘An orange! Thungür has brought me an orange!’
    Thungür had come to a halt, the treasure hidden behind his back until they reached him.
    ‘Let me see!’ begged Kume.
    But Thungür shook his head. Kume and Piukemán understood that this time it was not a game, and that they should not surround and jostle their brother until they forced him to show
them what he was hiding. At that moment, Kush and Dulkancellin caught up with them. Dulkancellin had no need to say anything: he stared at his eldest son and waited to find out what had made him so
agitated. Thungür slowly brought his hand from behind his back. The others could finally see what he had been concealing from them.
    ‘Is that all?’ Piukemán protested. ‘A black feather, and not a very big one, at that.’
    For Piukemán and his two sisters, the mystery had been solved, and so they lost all further interest in the matter. The rest of the family, though, saw at once that this was a feather
from a golden oriole. Old Mother Kush, Dulkancellin, Kume and Thungür were all aware that, depending on the manner in which it had been found, a golden oriole feather could mean many things.
It was a message from the forest that could not be ignored.
    ‘How did you find it?’ asked Dulkancellin, taking the feather from Thungür’s trembling hand.
    ‘I had already skirted the marsh and was about to run down into the Valley. Then, just at the spot where the old holm oaks are, I heard someone calling my name. I covered my ears, but
still