Red Moon

Early that summer morning, Aiyena tribe resumed their journey towards the Serpent River, following the route that the elderly healer, Shima, had indicated just before she died. Muyen never knew why her grandmother had mentioned that name. She just hoped there was good reason for that. The three families had been walking southwards among ferns, bushes and towering Alerce trees. Their fur-wrapped feet sank into some puddles or mud over and over until they found a way out of the forest and continued along the coast, feeling the cool breeze on their faces and listening to the surf of the ocean splash against the rocks. Each member of the tribe carried furs, a set of tied spears hanging from their shoulders and sharp stones in their clothes to make axes and knives.

“Let’s stop here for a while,” said Iraya, Muyen’s mother. She took out some barberries and nuts she had kept in a leather bag.

With sighs of relief, they dropped their belongings onto the wet sand of the beach and sat there for a moment.

Every time they stopped, Muyen seized the opportunity to explore the place with her friend Yara.

“Let’s check what’s ahead,” Muyen said and ran back to the forest.

Yara followed her. Both girls came to a tall tree. Muyen’s hands grabbed the branches of the tree while her feet stepped on the trunk to propel her body towards the top. Yara stayed below looking at Muyen. From the crown of the tree, she could see grassland with a winding river in the middle. Beyond the vast land, ice and snow stretched towards the mountain range.

“Hey! There it is!”

“What? What can you see?” Yara hollered out from the ground.

“A clearing in the forest and a river,” she said and started to climb down. “Let’s go and tell the others”.

The girls ran back to the beach to join the group. After hearing Muyen talk about the place she had seen, the group decided to get there. They walked for a few more hours until they reached the course of the meandering river.

“We could settle here,” said Tayel, Muyen’s grandfather and the oldest member of the tribe. “I’m sure this is the river Shima mentioned.”

The families started to build the tents that would provide the group for some shelter and there was still time before the sunset. The teenagers gathered some reeds and roots and used them to make ropes. They collected different types of small sharp stones along their way to make flint knives, arrows, and spears. The rest of the tribe gathered some branches to cover the tents. They also had pelts to cover the floor and keep them warm during the cold nights. After a while there were three round tents near the river. The space inside each was big enough to shelter each of the families. They left a pit to make fire in the middle of each tent. When they finished, everyone was ready to sleep expecting to be safe and to find everything they needed in the new place. The tents fell into silence except for the crackling campfire and the rustling of the leaves under the bare trees around.

Muyen fell into a deep sleep. Within her unconscious images, she found herself among the tents of her tribe in the middle of the night. The glow of the red moon cast a frightening light on the surroundings. As the girl looked up to the sky, a strange feeling filled her chest. Suddenly, the red moon started to tremble, becoming larger and brighter before shattering into hundreds of burning pieces. A fire ball approached their encampment and hit the ground. Muyen could feel the ground beneath her feet rumbling. The earth shook violently, sending shockwaves flowing through the land. During this aftermath, she witnessed the devastating effects upon her tribe. Their tents lay torn and scattered around. Yet, amid the devastated landscape, Muyen sensed a glimmer of hope. She saw herself standing tall, encouraging the clan to unite and find a new path, which could lead them away from the forthcoming disaster.

“Aaaaaah!” Muyen took a deep breath in her sleep. She sat up and looked everywhere in the dark and silent night.

“Muyen! What’s wrong?” whispered Iraya. Her mother was the only one who had heard Muyen’s voice. Everyone else was sleeping sound. The journey had left them exhausted.

“Just a bad dream. It seemed so real.”

“Go back to sleep.”

In the morning, inside her tent, Muyen sat alone thinking about her dream. She still had vivid memories of it.

Can I trust my own visions? Am I truly the messenger of destiny, or a fool lost in illusions? A red moon. Is it a prophecy?

“Muyen!” Her mother interrupted her deep thoughts. “What happens?”

“Mum, it’s about last night’s dream. I dreamt of a catastrophe in this place after the moon turned red.”

“The spirits of our ancestors have whispered an omen to you. You are being the bridge between the past and the future. We must leave this place.”

“But we have just arrived.”

“I know. But this is not a matter of finding a better place. It is about our survival. When I was a little girl, I heard Shima talk about natural disasters that happened when the moon turned red. We call it the Blood Moon. I haven’t seen one myself, but she must be warning us now through your dreams. Tell the clan today.”

“Moving our tribe to an unknown land is a great responsibility.”

“As I said, if it announces a disaster, this is a chance for survival.”

“But how do I convince them to leave this place? What if we're leading them into even greater danger?”

“Muyen, we cannot predict the future with certainty, but we can choose how to be prepared to face it. Our dreams, our intuitions have guided us this far. Trust in them, trust in yourself.”

“Thank you, mum.”

Both left the tent. Muyen saw the whole group gathered on the beach and decided to tell them about her ominous dream. She approached everyone on the shore.

“Hey, everyone! Listen to me! I have something to tell you”.

The clan looked surprised by the girl’s call.

“I know it will be difficult for you to make a decision now, but I want to ask you something. Our ancestors have spoken to me in my dreams. Last night I saw a red moon torn to pieces and fireballs falling here around us. Everything around was burning. I think this can be a warning they are giving us. If that’s the case, we must leave this place”.

She saw Iktan, the leader of the clan approaching her. He stood next to the girl and addressed the clan.

“We can’t do that. We’ve been walking for many days. This is the best place we have seen in weeks”.

“I know. But our ancestors want to tell us something,” the girl insisted.

“I think it’s just a bad dream. There is no other sign about it, but your dream”.

The members of the family talked to each other exchanging their views about the warning. Yaku, one of Muyen’s closest friends also wanted to state his views.

“My father is right. I think we must wait until there are other dreams or warnings to make a decision”.

“Sometimes there is no time to waste”, Iraya interrupted to support her daughter. “You were not even born when we saw a red moon for the first time. And it was sad for our clan.”

“Let my grandfather talk”, said Muyen.

Tayel approached the rock where the others were and addressed the whole clan.

“I think we should wait. After the red moon shows up in the night sky, we will have three days to leave the place as far as I remember. It might not be so soon. Let’s just wait.”

The three families just listened and respected Tayel’s opinion.

#

Muyen didn’t hear a word about her dream in the next days. The families were getting used to the place and finding the necessary supplies they needed. They had already caught some small animals and collected the fruits and berries available in the surroundings. She accompanied her friends Yara and Yaku to practice their hunting skills. They would soon have their first experience hunting with the group.

One morning, just before dawn, they heard some trumpeting far in the distance. The parents of the group had decided to hunt the giant mastodons. They painted a cross on the teenagers’ faces with red ochre. This was the symbol used by all the hunters in the tribe before their expedition and it was also the rite of passage for Yara and Yaku. Muyen wasn’t old enough to join the group, so she just wished them luck and waved them goodbye. She was still concerned about the dreams she was having, so she decided to talk to Tayel.

“I had another nightmare, grandfather.”

“What was it about?”

“I saw Yaku getting hurt in his first hunt.”

“Well, Muyen, dreams communicate something”.

“Do you think that he will get injured, then?” she asked.

“It could happen. Whenever you dream about any member of our group, let us know so that we can be on alert. Dreams tell us about the future”.

“I’ll warn him, then.”

Muyen hurried to find the group. She saw them wading across the stream and climbing a small slope. She did the same and followed them. At the top, she raised her head and spotted them in front of a massive mastodon, eating from a tree a few meters away. She saw the hunters approaching the animal with stealthy footsteps. She didn’t have the time to warn her friend and stayed behind a bush observing the scene. The mastodon noticed one hunter coming near to its right and it faced the group in a threatening manner. The hunters escaped in different directions but came back near the animal and tried to hurt it. Yara stood in front of the mastodon, shouting while they surrounded the animal and while she got its attention, the others attacked from different sides. Iktan, who was near them, shot an arrow and hit the mastodon on his right side. It stepped back and pushed Yaku, who was getting closer. He fell on his back and hit his leg against a rock. The mastodon turned left, and Iktan seized the opportunity to thrust his spear into its skin. The mastodon walked a few more steps, trying to escape, but it started bleeding and fell onto the ground. Three other men ran into it and poked their spears until it bled to death. Two of them went to see Yaku, who lay on the grass with a wound above his right knee. Each of them held him on one side and helped him walk. In the meantime, the other men used their flint knives to butcher the animal. They took big pieces of meat and pierced them with the spears to take them to the tents.

Muyen couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Events happened just as they had occurred in her dream.

“How could this be possible?” she wondered and remembered her grandfather’s words. Now she felt bad for not having warned her friend. She remained there as she saw the men getting farther. When there was nobody there, she came out from behind the bush and walked around to explore the place. She was very worried about her best friend. Muyen wanted to know how bad the accident had been and headed for her grandfather’s tent. There he found Yaku.

“You should have warned me about the accident”, Yaku said.

“What?”

“Syra told me you knew about the accident. She heard you talking to Tayel about it. Dreams are warnings. You know that.”

“I didn’t know until Tayel told me about it. Then I followed you to warn you, but it was too late.”

“I didn’t see you” Yaku said.

“I saw the accident. The mastodon stepped back and hit you. I didn’t know that future events could be seen before they happen.”

“Well, now you know. You’d better follow our traditions.”

Yaku was sixteen years old. As the leader’s son, Muyen knew that one day he would inherit that role and he had to be prepared for that. This was the reason why he was so concerned about becoming an adult, hunting and keeping the traditions of the tribe.

After a couple of weeks, the whole band got used to the place. They had built three tents and they had potable water from the creek, some vegetables from the surroundings and they had hunted deer, llamas and rabbits, so finding food was not a problem at the moment.

One afternoon, when Muyen and Yaku were near the encampment, they found a big cave. It was dark. Muyen suggested exploring it, but they needed some light. Both teenagers collected some tinder. Yaku managed to get a flat piece of wood and a straight stick. He took a flint and made a notch at one end of the fireboard. He inserted the stick on the notch, held it vertically, and started to spin the fire drill stick between his palms against the wooden platform. He blew on the wood from time to time to ignite the tinder. After a while, they could see how some smoke came out of the wood. Once it caught fire, Muyen gradually added some twigs and small branches until they got a sustainable fire. Immediately they got two long straight branches they had collected and approached one end to the fire to make torches. They tiptoed to the entrance of the cave and as the light went into it casting flickering shadows on the walls, a rabbit rushed out in front of them. Muyen’s scream echoed inside as they continued walking into the cave. Yaku moved the torch down and they could see big stones forming a circle and some ashes inside. They had not seen anybody during their whole journey. They looked at each other but didn’t say a word. Muyen feared that someone could show up.

“There might be some people somewhere.” Yaku finally said.

Muyen raised his torch and observed the walls of the cave.

“Look!”, she said.

There were some drawings on the walls. They could see what seemed to be a group of people and above them were four circles in a line. The first circle was small and red. It was followed by three yellow circles that were bigger than the first one.

“What is it?”

“It’s my dream, Yaku. Remember? The night we arrived?”

“Yes.”

“The red circle is the red moon. I saw a fireball coming from the sky. They are the yellow circles. No, wait! They must be three suns, meaning three days. I told you. Let’s get out of here.”

“Muyen, wait!”

Yaku followed her. Both rushed back to the camp.

As soon as they got there, Muyen hurried to tell everyone what they had seen. She stood in the middle of the three tents and called everyone’s attention once more.

“Listen to me, please, everyone! Yaku and I found a cave near here. We entered and saw a circle of stones with some ashes inside. And there was also a drawing on the wall. It contained a red circle and three yellow circles next to it. There was nobody around, though. The people who made all that may have left. I think the red circle means the red moon and the three yellow circles mean the days after the red moon. I never told you, but the Spirit of the Forest talked to me in a dream once. It said it would give me signs of warning. Believe me. We must leave this place.”

“Look up to the sky!” Yaku shouted as soon as Muyen finished talking.

The moon was getting darker and darker until it got a reddish hue. Everyone remained silent looking at it.

“Muyen, you are the bridge between our ancestors and the future. We should all face together whatever lies ahead. Our destiny is in our own hands, and I believe in the power of our unity,” said Tayel.

“The red moon beckons, and we will answer its call. We’ll leave tomorrow morning,”

added Iktan.

Muyen had seen how the river that flowed to the ocean near the camp was further divided and continued away from the sea and towards the heart of the forest. She suggested heading in that direction. It was the end of the dry season, so the river was low. At the crack of dawn, the tribe started the journey. They got to the place Muyen had indicated. There the whole group spent a long time looking for several sturdy pine tree trunks along the shore. They used sharp-edged stones to remove the bark and make the surface smoother. They put several trunks side by side next to the water and tied them with strong roots and animal sinew. Finally, they got four big platforms which they shoved into the river. Once they tested the stability and buoyancy of the makeshift rafts, they got on them and steered them with long poles downstream. The clan was soon swept away by the current.

In the evening, they had already reached the mouth of the river. When they were exploring the place, they all saw a fireball streaking across the sky above their heads at a great speed. Far in the distance, around the place they had left in the morning, there was a blinding flash of light and a deafening explosion. Everyone was shocked. Muyen felt relieved.

THE END