The First Book of the Pure Read Free

unpalatable, wars and
such. I’ve seen enough of them, and fought more than enough in
other people’s wars. In all fairness though, I have started
some of my own.
    “I recall vividly how Gheret spoke of his
first remembered experiences. He’s likely the oldest man alive, and
as most of us, he’s worn various names through his long years.”

Chapter
2
     
    Gheret, First and Eldest
     
     
    Gheret stood watching as his pack mates tore
into the downed antelope. He flicked his long, dark, filthy hair
out of his face with a shake of his head. His handsome features
were hidden under the dirt and sweat of this pre-industrialized
culture. In good weather they swam in the river, but now, when the
chill was strong, they just stayed dirty.
    Flies and other vermin were already attracted
to the blood and gore and were rapidly making a nuisance of
themselves. The hunters cut their kill with stone knives and teeth,
having just taken it down with sharpened poles fifteen feet long.
They had learned to hunt as the pack they were. Several had herded
the antelope family toward the hidden pack hunters, who hunkered
down low, with their rock-sharpened spears on the ground. As the
animals got close the pack hunters crouched, set their crude lance
butts into the ground, and let the antelopes’ own speed and
momentum impale themselves on the crude lances. Three went down and
two couldn’t get back up. The hunters were on them, ripping and
eating raw meat, fighting for the tenderer, inside parts, as the
animal was shredded with their crude stone knives.
    The tribe was able to communicate, but could
not be verbally specific. “Gheret,” in fact, was just a guttural
sound that referred to him, as others were “Hoo,” “Duug,” and
“Bek.” They used crude gestures and guttural utterances to convey
their desires. When their desires were sexual, the males simply
fought, and the toughest in any given fight took the female in
question and did what males continue to do many centuries later.
With inhibitions non-existent, and not being gentle or particularly
loving, the pack members mated aggressively and often, fulfilling
the original purpose of sex. They brought enough offspring into the
world so that some survived to adulthood. They would then continue
the cycle.
    They were crude people, but people. They were
not inhuman primates, or a species flowing from the less developed
to the more developed, which would counter certain laws of nature.
Far later in his life, after studying the various sciences and
disciplines, he wondered at the logic of denying natural law to
argue that humanity had evolved instead of having devolved. Though
both sides of that argument are adhered to and fought for
zealously, he knew that early man had been people. Mankind has
always been mankind.
    Gheret had taken his share of females, either
from desire or a sense of need. The “why” didn’t really matter. He
favored the ones who could communicate more clearly, and seemed
more intelligent than the average pack brute. Members of the pack
used to occasionally gang up on him and beat him nearly senseless,
but still he would somehow rise to win. Eventually he became pack
leader, or tribe leader, allowing their behavior to mostly remain
in place, but changing it slowly to make them more able to endure
in their harsh world. Today he was hungry, and even with his
somewhat thinner build and additional height, he walked up to the
closest antelope and shoved two men aside. One snarled and struck
back, instantly regretting it as Gheret picked him up and threw him
twelve feet, ignoring him as the screaming savage lay on his side
in the dirt, clutching his broken arm, knowing if he were hurt
badly enough he wouldn’t live long. Gheret ripped a piece of flesh
from the antelope, now lying with the stillness of death, and tore
off a bloody piece with his perfect teeth. The fresh blood rose in
an iron rich aroma to his nostrils, and he bit into it with relish.
He had harnessed