“That’s what I thought,” Cora muses as she gazes down on the campfires outside the gate. “That I would never get married. And then I changed my mind.”
I just nod. Korr’ax isn’t the only one who wants me to get married so that the tribe will calm down a bit. The girls also want that. The way things are, I’m a problem for everyone.
“Stop there!”comes a muffled shout from the campfires. “Intruder!”
I guess tempers are running hot there, too.
I sigh again. It was different when Riley was also single. But now she’s so in love with Nator’ax she walks around with a constant grin on her face, so I can’t really expect much sympathy from her, either. And I don’t want to dump my own problems on others.
“Stop him!”The commotion from below goes on, with more shouts and the sound of weapons clanging.
“I hope they don’t kill each other down there,” Cora mutters. “Looks like they’re chasing someone.”
“Someone should throw a bucket of ice at them,” I reply. “Or use a firehose. Cool them down.”
Cora turns away. “Mhm.”
I don’t know what to do. If that flying saucer was reliable, I might steal it and command it to take me to Earth. But that might mean certain death. We don’t know if it will work in space anymore, and anyway we don’t know if it can even travel the several light years to Earth. It wouldn’t be a good way to go, stranded in empty space with only the Myron the Plood for company. But I’m warming to the idea of trying.
“Anyway,” Cora says and hides a yawn behind her hand, “I’ll go and get some rest. If Alba goes into labor, they know where to find me. Good night.”
“Good night,” I reply mechanically. “I’ll go to bed soon, too.”
She skips down the stairs.
Yeah, she’s a happy camper with her alien husband. And as the tribe’s midwife, she has a status that’s just under Korr’ax and about the same as Astrid, the shaman.
Not that I care about that, but I’d love for some attention that wasn’t just about me getting married.
“Intruder! Stop!” The shouting has spread to inside the gates. Probably one of the men from another tribe has gotten tired of waiting and vaulted over the fence. Well, if he wants to see me, he’ll have to make his way past several layers of caveman guards, each one dead set on being the one I marry. They’re not going to allow a rival up here.
Maybe I shouldn’t show myself at the top of the Red Rock. I don’t understand how anyone could see me from down there, but-
A sudden fear grips me. Something’s wrong. The hairs on my arms stand up and I have a strong urge to hide.
“Oh dear gold,” a smooth, deep voice says behind me.
I nearly jump out of my sandals, spinning around. Then my heart sinks in my chest and I know I’m dead.
Because what I’m seeing is all predator.
“A virgin tied to a rock. How wonderfully old-fashioned.” His voice is all frozen silk, if such a thing were possible, icy and deadly and crystal clear. Just like his eyes, silvery and golden and luminous in the dark.
He’s just as big as any caveman, dark as obsidian in the night, shot through with a network of golden lines all over him. But he’s not a caveman. He’s the opposite, and he makes me want to crouch down and cry in terror.
“I’m not tied to the rock,” I weakly rasp out the only thing that comes to my petrified mind.
There’s the noise of many furious cavemen running up the stairs.
The invader tilts his head as if to listen, then gives me a gaze that goes right through me. “Are you sure?”
He turns his back to me and calmly walks over to the edge of the plateau, the very image of confidence, taking up a casual contrapposto stance, looking out over the jungle, unspeakably beautiful from this angle, too, all muscle and control. “A perfect view. You can see every place you can’t go.”
I don’t know what to say.
There’s loud yelling and the sound of weapons clanging as the guards storm up the stairs and onto the plateau.
Then the intruder moves, faster than any man could, faster than most tigers could, just a blur of black and gold as he passes the guards and zooms down the stairs before they can even raise their swords.
