After they had packed and prepared meat for travelling, which did not taken long, they cooked some broth for nourishment and then waited.
Vig did little, mostly standing watching the creature who for a long time just kept walking into the stone. After several hours it just stopped and disappeared, presumably it had lost interest and walked out of view. Vig assumed it had gone down the path again, but how far down he did not know.
When it did not appear again he walked back to his place, sat down and waved for Jig to join him. An uncomfortable drone of murmured voice rose around the cave, but no one said anything out loud.
Jig was visibly hesitating to go, but he really had no choice. He was an orphan after his father had died during a hunt and his mother had coughed herself to death in a sickness they called the white death, which left him without any family protection within the clan, placing him at the bottom of the hierarchy. People would not like to see him mistreated but they would not sacrifice themselves to protect him, so he really had no choice but to go when he was summoned.
Vig did not smile as he sat down, but he did not show any undue anger either, no matter how irritated he was. He needed Jig to be the bait that would make it possible for them to escape. If he could have done anything he wanted, he would just have thrown the boy to the creature, let it feast on his flesh and then take it down, but that he could not do. The clan was a strong organism but it could be broken, and Vig needed them, so he had to restrain himself.
“Look at me boy,” he said, waiting for Jigs face to look up.
The boy lifted his head slowly, afraid to get Vig mad, which was a smart move on his part.
“Now listen here. You have done some very stupid things, things that could have gotten us all killed, and if you don't start acting like a man that is what will happen, we will all die, do you understand?”
The boy just looked at him.
“Now, we will have to try and defeat this creature...”
“You mean Askil?” Jig said in a low voice.
“Does that creature seem like Askil to you,” replied Vig angrily.
“No, I just meant...”
Vig shook his head, “Don't think, just listen and you might just survive. Maybe you will even show that you are a man instead of just a stupid boy. Can you do that, or should I just throw you to the creature and be done with you?”
Now the boy nodded, and then empathetically shook his head at the threat, “I will be a man.”
“Good,” said Vig, and patted the boys back awkwardly one time.
“You will have a special task when we take down this demon. You are quick on your feet, so I will give you the best spear we have and you will keep the demon occupied while we place leather straps around him like so,” showing the boy how the leather noose fitted over his finger, and how the noose closed when he pulled on the end.
He looked scared again. Jig was not very big, starvation had kept him small and skinny, so the task seemed very daunting to him.
“I...I can not hold it in place, it is to strong.”
“You either do this or I will feed you to the creature,” stated Vig, tired of reasoning with the boy, all the time snapping his fingers as he talked.
“I will do it,” Jig said quickly, afraid to simply be thrown to the demon, showing some false courage that did not translate into his still shaky and low voice.
“Good! Show me you are a real man and I will forgive what you have done. Do really good and I will bring you into my family.”
Vig did not know about the carrot and the stick, but nevertheless that was the principle he used, offering threats and rewards to make people do what he wanted them to do. Manipulation before that word had been invented.
The possibility to get higher in the clan was a real reward, and being associated with the leader was the quickest way to achieve that, so Jig felt a bit better. He was still scared, but the risk versus the great reward seemed to make him at least functional.
After Vig had dismissed the boy Tarik came over and sat down next to him, “You want Jig to fight?”
Vig looked at him and said, “He is the only one that can. He is too short, and fumbles too much to put the noose around the creature. With a spear he at least has a chance, giving us a chance in return.”
“I could do it,” said Tarik.
“Your to old, and we can not loose you. We will need your counsel when we talk with the ancient ones. No, Jig has to do it.”
He should feel regret over this boy sacrifice, he knew he should, but he didn't. People had looked up to him, seen him as their most merciful leader, but he had never done it for them, only for himself.
Vig fed everyone, even the old or hurt, not for their sake, but for the standing that gave him in the clan, and that standing made it possible for him to do almost whatever he wanted to do. So he rationalized why he needed to survive and why Jig needed to die. Inside he was scared, angry, frustrated, doubting himself, but most of all he wanted to live. All those emotions boiled into a person that seemed unstable and prone to sudden acts of violence, directed mostly at the boy, something the clan had started to pick up on.
Vig made everyone wait; he wanted the creature as far away as possible from the stone, and being scared he also wanted to postpone it all as long as he could. The moaning still kept coming into the cave, an unnerving sound that some of the people tried to escape by covering their ears.
As the afternoon passed and the moaning stopped, people started to get restless. The talking grew louder with some fragmented sentences about his inactivity, so he had to do something.
Vig finally crawled out of the cave and carefully made his way down to the stone, there peering out through the cracks. The creature had not moved far away, it stood just a bit down the path looking confused, slowly turning its head from side to side as it sniffed and chewed the air.
Looking around he found a small unevenly shaped pebble that he weighed in his hand as he kept watching the abomination.
After some moments of hesitation he made up his mind and threw the pebble in a high arch over the creatures head, making sure it would fall on the hillside with the hope that it would make as much noise as possible on its way down.
The rattle of stones and snow intermingled with some chipped off ice pieces got the creatures attention. It suddenly looked like a thing with an all consuming purpose, sniffing, turning its head quicker, letting out a moan and after just a few seconds it started walking down the path out of Vigs sight. The moaning faded as the creature walked away, putting some distance between it and the stone.
Vig remained on the gravelled covered snow to make sure the creature did not come back. When the cold started to creep through his cloths, making his body shiver ever so slightly, and it was still out of view, he lifted his head just a bit.
His hearth started pumping faster as the fear of being grabbed got more acute, but still he could not see it. So he lifted his upper body at bit more when something grabbed his jacket, and as he pulled harder something tugged harder at it, making him almost screamed right out.
It took a few seconds before Vig realised the arm had only got snagged. After some deep slow breaths he freed the arm and continued to raise his body until he could see the creature, it was about half way down the path standing still, having lost interest in the sound that was there no more.
He had unconsciously kept his breath when he saw it, but now he let it out as he lowered his body until he was again on the ground out of sight, and then he quickly crawled back to the cave.
Again sitting by the fire he waved for the people to gather closer to him, but showed with one finger that they should be quiet about it.
“The creature is down the path, but it is too late to do anything about it today. Tomorrow we will fight it, kill it if we can, pin it to the ground if we can not. When it is neutralised we will leave, all of us, and go to the ancient ones. Jig will distract it, I will put a noose around its head and pull it down to the ground, then you,” here he pointed to four women, “will bring spears, stone and more leather straps. The demon is attracted by sounds, so you all have to be quiet now and tomorrow,” he half whispered to them.
He made sure everyone understood their tasks, and made double sure that Jig understood his. When he was satisfied, he told them to get plenty of sleep as it would be a hard day tomorrow. Finally he asked for some meat, which he got from someone, he did not know who.
The sun was now so low that evening and night came quickly, and as it did they let the fire die down to not attract the demon's attention.
With no light in the cave, worrying for tomorrow, and nobody except Vig having had any real food in any quantity, they did not sleep much. People were thinking about what was coming tomorrow, with Jig in particular running through all the horrible things that could happen to him. He saw the creature biting into him, ripping out his flesh, Vig throwing him to the creature laughing madly as he himself screamed.
Tirak went over to Jig when there was still some amber coals giving a faint light, putting his hand on the young boys shoulder, “Don't worry it will be fine, and remember that we will be there also.”
The boy nodded, maybe the kid felt a little bit better, maybe he would do all right tomorrow.
“Just keep moving, the creature is slow and you are fast so you will do fine, and when you do Vig will look kinder on you,” he said, knowing that the boy was not fast and that Vig did not seem to look too kindly on anyone these days, least of all Jig, no matter what he would do.
Vig had assigned some of the younger children to keep a lookout, but as he also had his doubts about the coming day, sleep alluded him. During the night he kept looking out into the darkness, trying to catch a glimpse of it. The spasmodic low moans told him it was not far off, it was still out there looking for something to kill and consume.
Vigs logic knew it was better that way, as long it did not wandered off they could take care of it, but his spine felt cold and his hand shook violently every time he heard that primordial sound.
As the night passed and the sun started to climb over the mountains Vig did a final check, he could not see it but he could hear it moan, and that was good news in a bad way.
The whole clan was ready and waiting for him, no one had really gotten any sleep. He asked them to remain quiet and told Jig to come with him.
“Bring the spear and don't make a sound,” he whispered.
Jig nodded, grabbed the spear, topping over a clay bowl that luckily did not break. Vigs anger flared up again, he wanted to scream and hit him, but he kept his anger bottled up.
“Be more careful,” was the only thing he whispered, nothing more, but in his mind he saw himself ripping the boys head off.
At the opening he held his palm out, showing that Jig should wait there. He made sure the leather strips were sturdy and that the greased up nooses could slide easily, and only after that did he crawl out.
His ankle still hurt, but wrapping it up tightly managed the pain OK, and that also gave him some extra mobility. Slowly he crept forward, then paused and listened intently if the creature seemed to notice him or not, when it didn't he crept on.
At the stone he slowly got up on his knees and looked through the crack from which he could see the path going all the way down to the plain below. The creature was now moving around what had once been its mother. It did the same thing it had done before, walked a bit, stopped, sniffed, moaned, then walked again in something of a crazy concentric circle around the body.
Vig crawled back to Jig, “The creature is down on the plain, but it will come up the path as soon as it can sense us. You will stand by that outcrop, just beyond the stopping stone, and when it comes you will keep it there until I can put the noose around its head. I will lay on top of the outcrop, so don't let it get by you or you will die, understand!”
Jig looked at him while holding his spear so hard that his fingers turn pure white, and nodded.
“Now wait here while I make sure the others are ready.”
Vig went around to everyone in the cave and repeated what they should do, and when to do it, but most of all to come out as soon as they heard a commotion. Their task was simple, when the creature was down on the ground they would move the stopping stone and hand spears to Vig so he could pin it firmly to the ground.
After that Vig went back to the waiting boy.
“OK, wait for me to climb over the stone and up on the ledge, then you follow me as quiet as a mouse. When I start shouting, you do the same.”
Jig whispered in agreement, but even that showed no confidence. Vig wanted to kill him but he needed the boy, so instead he did what Tirak had done during the night, he patted him on the back, and forced a smile on his face.
“That boy will get me killed,” he thought again.
Vig made sure the creature was facing the other way, and then he started climbing over the stone. It was normally not a hard, but with his injured ankle, and the need to stay silent, it became difficult. He managed to climb on top of it, but when he tried swinging his injured foot over to the other side it instead slammed into the stone, producing a shooting pain that made him scream out loud before he fell down on the other side.
The creature reacted directly, all confusion gone as it started coming up the path with a single minded determination.
“Quickly get over here,” Vig shouted to Jig, but the boy was already over the stone and quickly took his assigned position under the outcrop, even though Vig had not had time to climb up to his position.
Vig got up on his knees, but when he tried to stand the pain shoot up through the leg, forcing out another moan, not that unlike the sound the creature kept producing.
As it approached on stiff staggering legs he tried to get on his feet again, but before he really had a chance to, he froze in place staring at Askils pale face, covered in blood and gore, coming after him.
“GET UP AND GET MOVING,” Tirak shouted, and that snapped Vig out of his inertia.
He blinked a couple of times, shook his head and that got the rest of the world into focus. The creature were almost at Jig, only a couple of meters between the tip of his spear and its blood soaked cloths.
Vig stood up, fighting through the pain, helped somewhat by the adrenaline his fight reflex had started pumping out. He tried to clambered up the side of the ledge, but he panicked when he heard Jig screaming, loosing his coordination and ending up falling back down on the path again. In terror he kept turning his head around without actually doing anything, his mind started to freeze again.
“GET UP, USE THE NOOSE,” screamed Tirak.
Meanwhile Jig did his best, but his best was not good enough. The creature did not fight him, it just moved forward and as it did it pushed the boy towards the stopping stone, ignoring the spear Jig had managed to lodge in its ribcage.
Vig got up on his feet again, limping badly, following the creature as it and the boy had passed him when he laid on the ground.
He watched in fascination as the spearhead started to protrude out of the creatures back. Jig had been pushed to the stone and being weak he rested the end of the spear against it, which just made it easier for the creature to get closer to him. It simply put its hands on the spear and pushed it deeper inside, then tried to grab the boy and when that failed it pushed the spear deeper again.
As all this was happening Vig had managed to catch up, but in his struggle and panic he had managed to close the noose, and with his trembling hands it was not easy to open it up again.
When he finally got it open, he directly flung it over the creatures head, which was just in time, as in the next instance it lunged forward and bit into Jigs head.
The boy screamed as his skull started to crack under those powerful teeth, but Vig did not care, he now had the leather strap around the creatures neck, which made him smile as the boy died.
Had he been slower it would have been to late, he would never have managed to get the noose over the head, had he been a bit quicker he might have saved Jig, but that last thought never crossed his mind.
“THROW ME A SPEAR,” he shouted as he prepared to pull the beast down on the ground.
He saw a blurry shape thrown over the stone and heard the clank of wood against ice. Looking around he saw a spear close enough for him to reach without having to let go of the leather strap.
What had been Askil kept eating Jig who by this time had died, so it would not take long before it would start looking for its next target, so Vig had to act fast.
He had got his fright under control, it suddenly was so easy when it was his life on the line, the will to survive made him act more forcefully than he would have done to save someone else. Two deep breaths and then he pulled hard on the leather strap, forcing the creatures snarling head up. It tried to stand straight, but using the spear as a club he knocked the legs out from under it, making the creature fall on the ground facing down in a crazy V shape. Before he could use the spear he had, or stomp on its back to make it flat against the ground, it got up.
The creature grabbed the leather strap, and by using that it managed to get up on its feet. The hands of the dead man grabbed Vig and tried to get at him but he managed to hold the beast at arms length, all the time looking into a face covered in blood with a mouth full of human flesh.
Every time it lunched forward, Vig sidestepped and used the spear handle sticking out of the creature to twist it away from him, in the process pushing Jig's spear deeper in.
When the opening came Vig swung his spear again and knocked the creature to the ground, this time in a slightly lessened V shape. Before it could get up, Vig jumped on its back howling in pain and anger, flattening the body against the ground as the spear in its body almost got pushed straight through.
Standing on that shaky ground, he raised his own spear and thrust it down with all the force he had. The adrenaline gave him enough power to push it clean through the body until it hit the ground beneath.
From the corner of his eye he saw the rest of the clan starting to move the stopping stone. It seemed to take them forever, but fewer and weaker people meant a much hard task.
Vig kept holding down the spear with all the force he had, trying to keep the tip of the spearhead in the ground, and at the same time shouted, “Throw me a stone, quickly.”
No stone was thrown to him, maybe they had not heard him or had been too focused to pay any attention, so he kept struggling for his life as the stopping stone was slowly moved. Finally it was pushed to the side, and the rest of the clan came pouring out with additional leather straps, spears and rocks.
A women, Tare, slipped a noose around the creatures legs and pulled it tight, hindering its movement somewhat. At the same time Vig hammered down the spear with a rock someone had handed to him.
Tirak used a flint axe and chopped off one hand, but as it kept twisting even after it was separated, he did not try to do that with any of the other limbs.
When the spear was securely hammered into the ground, Vig stepped off the body and sat down well away from the creature. Now, totally drained of energy, holding his violently shaking hand, he only watched as two more spears were hammered into it, their ends split and wedged so it could not drag itself off them. The arms where tied and fastened to shorter pegs, after that it could only move its head, which they kept a healthy distance away from.
“Stay clear, don't get too close to it,” Tirak said, and went looking for something. He found a flat heavy rock that he picked up and laid on the creature.
“Get stones, pile it on him, as heavy as you can carry, and be quick about it.”
The clan started to create a funeral mound for the possessed remains of Askil without any help from Vig. The women, children, Tirak all looked at him, not with gratitude for what he done, but condescending for what he was not doing, so he got up.
He limped over to Jig, whose upper body had been torn to pieces, grabbed one leg and dragged the boy to the pile they were building. Going back to the stopping stone he picked up two more spears and one rock to use as a hammer. It did not take long to get the spears into the ground and to split the ends. He also tied the arms together and ran the end of the strap to a peg already in use for the same purpose.
“He never would have made a good hunter poor Jig,” said Tarek.
“No he wouldn't,” replied Vig.
“Cover his body with stones, and then get ready to move out.”
He heard someone say, “He should do it himself, it was his fault Jig died.”
Vig stared at the people around him with an angry, half mad face, until they started to cover the boys body with stones. People did not yet have the audacity to challenge him, but they would, it was only a matter of time, as he was loosing his grip over the clan. They did not respect him like they should, and to add to his problems he was also injured, which meant if he slowed them down there was a good chance they would just leave him behind.
“It is not fair, if only that stupid boy had been a bit stronger I would not have had to go over the stone,” he thought as he sat down, rubbing his ankle.
It was now mid-morning and they had to get going if they wanted to spend only two nights out on the plain.
“Get your things together and do not forget the flint,” Tirak said as he went inside to get his prepared bundle of pelts and spears.
Vig would have wanted some extra time to rest, but the people did what Tirak told them to do, so he also got up, limped into the cave and got his small bundle of things to carry.
It was a small, tired and weak clan that left the cave, accompanied only by muffled moans that drifted after them.