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Eerie winds trail across the frozen glacials and miles of snow, the sound of the strong whips of wind only being broken by the sound of a thundering noise of another.
One pounding sound after another, footsteps.
A herd of woolly mammoths trail across the snowy wasteland, miles upon miles of rough terrain covered by this powdered fall. The mountainous beasts seem wary as they traverse between two cliff sides, of course such a personality would be natural in an environment like this, but the eyes of the members in the rear of the herd dart around far too quickly as if they know something is behind them.The herd follows their leader, a female matriarch, her age signified by the scars she has carried for decades. The leader of the herd lets out an ear tearing trumpet noise urging the herd to stop. All members reach a halt as the Matriarch of the herd stops, they've been met with a cliff, a high and steep one at that.
The members of the herd wait in confusions as the Matriarch urges through trying to make her way to the opposite end of the herd. Halfway into the herd a loud yell is heard, not of a mammoth. No, this call is different, following this eerie yell a mammoth lets out a sharp trumpet.
One of the herd is injured, no… Danger.
The herd is thrown into a panic as more trumpets go off. The matriarch ushers through but gets stuck in place by the panicking herd. The herd urges the young calves towards the cliff away from the threat. The matriarch who has lived longer than most likely knows what threat looms. As she gets closer to the direction of the threat she can see long projectiles flying through the air from the higher cliff sides towards her kin. These projectiles, she's witnessed them in years prior recalling the scars left on her chastity. One of the apex predators of their time.
Humans.
The matriarch trumpets causing the mammoths to charge the origin of the projectiles. As the herd charged small figures draped in woolly clothing erupted from the hills, humans, not the ones we know of today, but our primitive ancestors. As the humans make their move they target the oldest and weakest of the group, the matriarch, though she has lead the herd for decades her years have caught up to the megafauna, her body not as able as it used to. The humans know this and have begun to target her, the herd thrown into a panic aimlessly run, protecting their young rather than focusing their efforts on eliminating the enemy. As the herd flees the old matriarch is cut off as the humans lead her away from the rest of the herd, strategically hurling projectiles to direct her. She's surrounded, any direction she maneuvers she is prodded with their sharp sticks or they're hurled into her flesh.
However, this old leader will not go down without a fight. The lead human who has taken the front post of the attack lets out loud tells and grunts directing the rest how to attack. The matriarch recognizes this and does a final charge toward this human, the dozen of humans yell in panic as the mammoth does this. When hope seems lost for the human leader a spear is tossed into the eye of the matriarch mammoth, this sudden attack causes her to move off course. As she tries to redirect herself a younger hunter jumps from a one of the cliff sides onto her back and plunging a spear into the back of her head. With this, the old leader falls. Her corpse is surrounded by these primitives, a hard fought battle that she was unable to win. The young hunter approaches his kill and kneels in front of it. He utters vocalizations, thought unintelligible it is clear to signify respect for the hunt. The leader of the pack of humans approaches the young hunter placing a hand on his shoulder. He grunts in a tone that conveys acknowledgment.
"Uko" The tribe leader utters "Good kill"
The younger hunter, Uko, lowers his head in appreciation. The pack leader calls to the rest of the pack, he pulls out two different stones while a pack member takes out a bundle of sticks and some dead fibers from his bag and clumps them up. The pack leader clashes the two stones release sparks which ignite the fibers and in turn the sticks creating a campfire.
"Cut" the tribe leader says as he points to the mammoth carcass with one of the stones. The rest of the pack pull out knife's made from and bones and begin flaying their quarry. Uko, our young hunter approaches the felled beast with a primitive stone knife of his own. He works with his tribe mates to cut the hide of the mammoth storing it in large patches in a few packs. Once they've packed their fill of wool and hide they work into the flesh, carving the meatiest and fattest parts. They separate what they will consume and what they will carry with them. By now they've made use of the front leg of the mammoth and some of its abdominal fat. As the others continue carving flesh, Uko makes his way to its tusks. He drags his hands along the giant tusks. He grabs a long serrated edged stone from his pack and saws at the tusk. He attaches a foot long worth of the tusk to his pack and turns to the campfire seeing that they have begun to cook some mammoth carvings while snacking on small raw bits of flesh.
"Kon!" Uko shouts, The pack leader turns over as Uko presents the chunk of mammoth tusk. Kon, the pack leader, grabs the chunk and observes it. He places it on his leg and grabs a bone club from his side and breaks off the tip and attaches it to a necklaces. He stands up from the campfire and wraps the necklace around Uko's neck giving him a pat on the shoulder. He heads to the fire as the pack members eat the freshly cooked mammoth, Uko joins eating as much as he can before they abandon the mammoth's body.
Uko observes his pack members, 5 other members, 2 women and 3 men. The women consist of a pair of twins, muscled and padded with enough weight to keep them mobile, but enough to be warm. They've been on enough hunts to be considered active hunters. The men consist of Kon the pack leader, Wola, and Maho. Uko recalls Kon as the strongest and smartest which led him to be the pack leader. Being a pack leader means he's a veteran hunter. Wola is the oldest of the group, but due to injuries he's become weaker despite being able bodied. He's a weakened veteran, but his experience outweighs his lack of strength Maho is the youngest and weakest yet he's shown his usefulness during the few hunts he's been on.
While Uko is lost in thought Kon stands up and claps his hands over his head, it's time to get moving. The band of hunters pack up what they can carry, 2 spears each person, some wool, and a good amount of flesh for the tribe back home. They evenly distribute to cargo among eachother and make way into the snow.
It's time to reunite with the tribe.