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I fold my arms over my chest and glower at her. She shifts her posture and looks down, lowering her eyes and her tone.
“Zion,” she says. “Please, where is our prey?”
“She’s mine.”
Tyna lifts her eyes to mine. They are dark like the earth, rimmed with black charcoal and full of a venomous look. “We must kill her, Zion. She must die.”
“No.”
That should be enough of a response for them, but it is not.
“Bring us the girl!”
“She must die!”
More voices join with demands as the huntresses cluster around me, short, but fierce. These women are worthy of respect in spite of their feral intentions. They provide the tribe with its food. They suckle the young. They are the life of this world. I would never, ever hurt one of them. But I would likewise not allow them to hurt the girl herself.
“She is like you,” I say. I am not a frequent speaker, and I am even less of an arguer, but they must be convinced not to hurt the girl.
“She hunts?”
“She is female. She should be protected.”
“She is tainted. She is of star flesh. She will bring death to us all. She must die and be buried with this thing!” Tyna points to the beast I have slain with the rock.
“The beast we will bury,” I agree. “The girl is mine. Help me in this task.”
The huntresses grumble, but they set to work. The soil is soft and pliable and with dozens of hands we create a large enough pit to push the star mount into in a matter of hours. By the time the sun is at its greatest height, there is little evidence that anyone fell from the stars. We breathe collectively with relief as we place the last of the grass sod back into the place from which it was taken when we began digging. The roots will knit back together and make a blanket under which the mount will become part of the earth. This is the proper way of things. That which is buried, does not rise.
“You should let me kill her,” Tyna says as the huntresses begin to trail back to their homes.
“You should go home, before you anger me.” My voice is rough. I will not tolerate that speech. With Tyna, angry words often become angry actions.
Her eyes narrow. I see jealousy written plain on her features. I have never chosen a single mate among the tribe. I have been free to take each of them as they please and I desire, tasting the delights of a dozen sexes. It is understood that is how it shall be. They came to me willingly, but some did not use their bodies as vessels of pleasure. Some of them hoped to make their sexes a snare. Tyna is one such huntress.
“You were supposed to be mine,” she says bitterly. “Until the star girl fell, you were going to be mine.”
“I am not prey for you to hunt and claim, Tyna. I choose my mate, not you. Go home. Now.”
She pouts, her fearsome face falling into a scowl. It is not love that attaches her to me so, it is pride. There are few unclaimed warriors in the tribe. Most men have chosen their mates and established their hearths. There are new boys growing to age, of course, but I have remained solo longer than most. It has become something of a matter of pride for one of the huntresses to capture me. Most of them know that is not going to happen, but Tyna has never given up hope. I like her, but she is not my mate. I do not feel the heart-call for her. I do not feel the way I did the moment I laid eyes on my girl from the stars. There was more than an attraction then. There was a knowing. The moment I saw my star girl, my heart began to beat only for her. That is how a mate bond feels.
Tyna obeys me and leaves. She needs to find a mate of her own, one worthy of her heart. And I need to return to my little captive.
I do so in a good mood. Her mount has been slain and buried. The connection to the stars has been severed, and so the ill-fate that might otherwise have followed has been repelled. Now she can begin to live her new life, to look upon the stars as we do, and to become one with me.
Chapter Six
Tselia
He must have tied me up before he left me, because when I wake up, the fire is out, I am alone, and I am secured to a ring in the floor by those damn vines that seem to work so perfectly for the purposes of restraint. It’s as if this planet has deliberately evolved to capture me.
