Both women relaxed against the curved wall of wood. As Kiera tried to imagine a herd of huge beasts crossing the river, a disturbing thought suddenly flashed through her mind. Her stomach tightened in despair. Anxiously, she bent around the tree trunk and gazed across the open meadow. Sooleawaa grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back behind the tree.
“If the lead caribou sees just one person,” Sooleawaa explained, “the whole herd will panic and do something unpredictable. We must not allow that.”
“Where are the children?” asked Kiera.
“They are kept safe in the thick bushes just downstream of the meadow. Why?”
Kiera allowed her head to bang backwards against the log. “I was supposed to see Shawnadit before the herd arrived.”
Sooleawaa smiled. “I'm glad to see that you two have become such good friends. Don't worry. She will be kept safe until after the herd passes. You can see her then.”
Kiera nodded. There wasn't much she could do about it. She tried to focus on her hunting responsibilities. “So what happens now?”
“We wait until the great leaders of the herd cross the river and pass by. We do not hunt them. They are the strongest and wisest of the herd. If we kill them, the safety of the whole herd could be compromised. We hunt only the animals that follow the leaders. They are the oldest and weakest. By doing this, we strengthen the herd as well as acquire the meat we need for the winter months.”
“But what…”
Kiera's voice drifted off as she heard a rumble, like that of an approaching thunder storm. She looked up, but the sky was still radiant blue. Loose dirt rattled off the old log and slid down her neck. She had heard stories of the earth shaking in places like Iceland, but she had never experienced the terror of an earthquake before. She grabbed hold of Sooleawaa, frightened.
Sooleawaa smiled. “They are almost here.”
Kiera felt dizzy, her heart pounded, and she put her other hand up against the log for balance. She glanced down at her arrows. What could a little arrow do to animals that could shake the earth?
Then the unseen river exploded with a thundering crash. The air suddenly filled with inhuman moans and grunts, squeals and thumps. Kiera curled into an even tighter ball. It sounded as if the earth herself had opened up and begun to swallow the river whole.
Kiera cried out as the most magnificent animal she had ever seen leaped over their heads, its grey-tan body sailing gracefully overhead, eclipsing the entire morning sky. Thick hooves clacked in front of her on the rocky soil. Upon landing, its massive hind legs propelled it into a mighty gallop towards the safety of the nearby cedar forest. Kiera had never seen such a magnificent animal before. It looked something like the wild deer she had seen near the Viking settlement, but so much larger! And the antlers! The intricate, branching horns that adorned its head were simply magnificent!
Her thoughts were broken by a caribou galloping to the right of the log, then another one on the left. A second, then a third, came flying by in rapid fire. So many caribou poured over and around their hiding place that Kiera began to feel dizzy. She felt as if she were an insignificant pebble at the bottom of a frothing river of fur and hooves. The noise was absolutely deafening.
Kiera fought the hypnotizing effect of the herd, lifted her bow and looked to Sooleawaa. Sooleawaa shook her head. They waited for what seemed like an eternity. Kiera could only guess that a thousand animals had now passed them, all reaching the safety of the forest in the distance. The size of the herd was staggering. She had never imagined that animals could live in such huge numbers.
Suddenly, a new noise echoed throughout the landscape. High-pitched screams began to build above the echoes of thundering hooves. Sooleawaa looked to Kiera, and she needed to yell in order to be heard over the caribou.
“Kiera, when we rise, scream as loud as you can. Fire at the nearest animal. They are tired after the crossing. Remember to aim at the chest. Ready?”
Kiera nodded tersely.
Sooleawaa rose, bow in hand, and let loose a frightening scream. Kiera loaded her bow and followed her friend's lead. She started screaming, too, but not out of excitement, out of terror. The largest buck she had ever seen was galloping directly at her! It must have heard Kiera's scream, because just at the last second, it started to veer left. At the same time, a blur flew across Kiera's field of vision and embedded itself into the white triangle of fur that marked the glorious animal's chest. Kiera watched as the buck gave a snort of surprise and pain, then careened head over heels onto the rocky soil beside her. Another caribou, a doe, couldn't stop in time and slammed into the buck's tumbling body. Kiera could hear one of her legs snap from the impact, and together they came to a writhing halt. The rest of the herd continued to stream over and around them.
Kiera, in shock, was brought back to reality by Sooleawaa shaking her shoulder.
“Come on, Kiera!” she shouted above the chaotic confusion of Beothuck howls and the bellows of panicked caribou. “We do not have much time! Shoot!”
Kiera raised her bow and took aim at a large doe, one of a dozen in a wall of fur coming towards her. The doe's eyes were wide in exhaustion, her nose flaring for air. Kiera released the arrow. It sailed just over the doe's forehead and landed harmlessly in the river.
“Too far away,” yelled Sooleawaa, felling a second caribou, which flopped to a halt in front of their stump. “Wait, then shoot! Try again!”
Kiera reloaded the bow and scanned for her next target. There were still so many rushing towards her. She wondered if she simply fired it at the right height, whether the arrow would hit something. Then she remembered Sooleawaa's words. She waited for what she thought would be a shot that couldn't miss. Out of the frenzied charge, a young male came straight at her. Kiera raised her bow and stared down the shaft of her arrow. The caribou saw the log. At full gallop, he raised his front hooves and put all of his power into his hind quarters. She released the arrow. The caribou launched himself skyward just as the arrow struck between his front legs. The caribou flew over Kiera's head at what seemed to her an impossibly slow speed. The caribou was so close that she fell backwards and watched the magnificent animal continue to sail over her head. With the world upside down, she witnessed the caribou come back to earth. Instead of a graceful landing, the front legs collapsed, and the animal fell onto its side, a cloud of dust billowing up from the collision with the ground.
Kiera lay stunned at the sight until Sooleawaa pulled her back up. “Keep going!”
Kiera shook herself and looked again towards the river. For the first time since the herd had arrived, she could see flecks of the greyish-blue river between the dozens of caribou still attempting to cross and catch up to their leaders.
Kiera spied something much smaller than a caribou moving near the water's edge. It took a couple of steps, then curled up like a ball. A moment later, it straightened itself and ventured forth a couple more steps. Kiera's heart stopped in recognition. It was Shawnadit. The little girl had her hands cupped over her mouth, trying to shout, but the stampeding caribou easily drowned out any attempt at communication. Kiera didn't need to hear the words. She knew Shawnadit was calling out her name.
“Sooleawaa! Look! Shawnadit! She's out there!”
Sooleawaa lowered her bow slightly and joined Kiera's gaze. “Great Spirit have mercy on her! She is right in the middle of the herd!”
“We have to help her!”
“No! If we leave this log, we will be killed!”
“I'm going!”
Sooleawaa grabbed her shoulder. “Don't! Shawnadit is right at the water's edge. That's the safest place for her to be! The tired animals are just leaving the water and not moving at full speed. They will go around