Helix and the Arrival Read Online Free PDF

head, no problems. As for the woods – I go there by myself all the time.’
    I don’t reply, because everything she says is true.
    â€˜Let us go,’ says Ug. ‘We are meant to be at Speel’s by noon for our Learning.’
    â€˜That’s another thing,’ says Saleeka. ‘Why is it that just because I’m female, I don’t get taught the same Learnings as you?’
    â€˜You’re not missing out on much,’ I say.
    â€˜A caveboy’s Learnings are important,’ says Ug. ‘They teach us the sacred knowledge – who we are and where we come from.’
    â€˜Exactly! That’s the stuff I want to know,’ says Saleeka.
    â€˜I’m more than happy to pass on the “sacred knowledge”,’ I say. ‘You’ll soon realise that it’s about as sacred as my brother’s nostril hair.’
    â€˜I am going,’ says Ug. ‘I have had enough of you both.’
    I follow him down the mountain, down, down, down, for a Learning with Speel.

Speel’s cave is the largest in Rockfall, even larger than Korg the Magnificent’s. The reason the Storykeeper’s cave is so big is so that it can store piles and piles of stone tablets.
    Most of the tablets record boring stuff like:
    Marriages: Jerg (fourteen) married Barb (thirteen).
    Births: Jerg begat Sherwin and later he begat Helix. (Note: there is no mention of his wife Barb, even though she did most of the begetting.)
    Arrivals: Sherwin, son of Jerg, passed his Arrival after tripping and falling spear-first onto a poison-fanged rock monitor.
    Deaths: Great-great-uncle Berg, aged forty-two, died after a long life, when he choked on a piece of charcoaled meat.
    The most interesting tablets, though, are the ones referred to as ‘sacred’. Some of the sacred tablets were written at the beginning of time by the first ever Storykeeper, Zeel. They record important subjects such as:
    Fleg and Fler, the first ever cave couple from which all other mountain folk came
    the river people, those evil, nasty, wicked folk who live in the lowlands below the mountain
    natural disasters like the Great Drought, when the mountain streams went dry and we ran out of water (apparently the fault of the river people); and the Great Flood, when everything except the top of the mountain was flooded (also known as ‘Our glorious revenge over the river people for causing the Great Drought’)
    the laws and other rules and regulations telling mountain folk how they are supposed to live. For example, it’s forbidden to marry your first cousin (unless there’s a shortage of folk your age – then it’s perfectly fine).

    Ug and I arrive at Speel’s cave. A thick skin hangs from top to bottom, covering the entrance. Strung in a nook carved into the outside cave wall is a length of bandiquoll gut. This is called a ‘bandi-twang’. When a bandi-twang is plucked, it makes a sound that lets the cave owner know that someone has come to see them. Our cave hasno need for a bandi-twang, as it’s so small from front to back that we can see and hear when someone is coming to visit. Plus, if Dad or Sherwin ever caught a bandiquoll, we would eat every bit of it including the bandi-twang parts.
    I pluck the bandi-twang and the sound reverberates into Speel’s cave.
    â€˜Enter,’ comes a voice from deep within.
    We walk inside. The walls are lined with torches fuelled by animal fat, a luxury that regular cave folk would never consider.
    Behind a raging fire in the middle of the cave, on a thick pile of skins from large animals that he certainly didn’t hunt and kill himself, sits Speel. The flames flicker high in front of his face, making it seem like he is separated from us by a wall of fire. This must be the hottest cave in Rockfall. Droplets of sweat are already starting to form on my forehead.
    Near the back of the cave, next to a second fire, sit Speel’s