16-17

16

Little Rożek grew very quickly, much faster than the other children in the cave. All the adults watched him with poorly concealed amazement. No one could pass him without looking directly into his single, yet large, eye. The color of that eye was hard to describe; it looked like a rainbow in the sky. Even though he was only six months old, he was already sitting up on his own, trying to walk, and even speaking quite clearly, and his vocabulary was growing with each passing day. His mother was delighted that her son was learning everything so quickly, but also saddened by the expressions on the faces of his tribesmen as they watched the boy.

"Dejo, there's Dejo." The little boy pointed to the space in front of him, in the direction his uncles had set off before he was born. He was dressed in warm furs, though over time, hair had grown all over his body. His mother, however, dressed him as other mothers dressed their children.

"What are you saying, son?" Merga leaned over the boy and took him in her arms. He wasn't very good at walking yet, and he often fell on his bottom.

"Dejo, there's Dejo and Zion."

"How do you know that, Grandma told you?" The boy shook his head. "So how can you know that, they've been gone for so long, they don't keep in touch.

" "Accounts?" Rożek tilted his head and looked expectantly at his mother. Their conversations often went like this, and he was still learning new words, though he spoke many of them in his own way.

"They keep in touch, no one has heard them for a long time.

" "I do.

" "What are you doing?

" "Sliśe.

" "Do you hear what you hear?

" "Dejo, śliśe."

Merga, surprised, looked at the boy as if seeing him for the first time.

"We're going to Grandma's."

She went down to the cave, as usual. When she passed the fires, the Frostoids sitting around them watched them closely, as if afraid the little one might hurt them.

"Mother," Merga said, walking over to Sanada, who was preparing a meal. For some time now, the animals had begun to roam again, and as usual at this time of year, there was plenty to eat.

"What's the matter?" Senada slowly raised her head from the pot.

"Rożek says she can hear Dero.

" "How so?" Deno approached the fire, as usual, out of nowhere, her footsteps always quiet, as if she were always hunting and didn't want the animal to hear her.

Merga told her what her son had said.

"That's interesting, it looks like we need to start training him now. Undress him and put him on my lap."

When she took him on her lap and told him to close his eyes, she felt the boy relax in her arms; whenever he felt bad, he calmed down in her arms.

17

"Strange." Dero raised his eyes to his brother. "I have a feeling that whoever I contacted, but it wasn't my grandmother or great-grandmother, I sensed it was a child."

"How's that for a child? Children aren't strong enough to communicate over such distances, at least not any we know of.

" "Exactly.

" "Try again."

Dero sat closer to his brother, signaling for him to join him.

Concentrated, they sat for a moment, trying to reestablish contact. After a moment, Ker joined them, and then Kukularz, resting his large black wings on Der's shoulders.

Eventually, they succeeded, but they didn't hear not only the child again, but also their grandmother. Dero was surprised again, but tried at all costs not to lose contact. It was rare for more than one Frostoid to be contacted at once.

"It's incredible what happened there, I don't understand any of it," Dero said.

"Yes, you're right, it seems that in our Cave, and even in our family, there are creatures that look like the monsters that torment our father.

" "Not quite. Because they're not monsters, but one, and not a monster at that, but our sister's son." And he's incredibly strong for such a little one.

"From everything Grandma Deno has told us, it seems that if we have children, we can expect them too. Until now, I didn't want to marry because I thought I was too young, and now I suspect that even if I did, no one would want me because of that unfortunate child.

" "I fully support you. I do love my sister, but she's made quite a mess.

" "It's probably not her, but our mother, or better yet, our father, marrying a woman from a completely unknown tribe.

" "It's strange, but if it's as you say, then those monsters who serve the Lord can't be entirely evil either," Ker interjected. "What exactly is that?

" "It seems our mother's grandfather was a shaggy-haired man, which means our race somehow interbred with the Stag race, but how?"

"We don't know, and sitting like this, we won't figure anything out. Let's go to sleep, everyone's asleep now, the Gundere are asleep except for the guards and me," said Kukularz, curling up and hiding under his wings. "Sweet dreams, new friends.