I look around the clearing. Does it feel a little brighter? Is the jungle more colorful? Is the air fresher? Yes, definitely. “Being married is wonderful.”
“I like it so far,” Dorie says. “Mostly because I’m married to you.”
“And you always will be,” I tell her as I embrace her.
She hugs me back. “That’s the idea.”
“I wonder,”the Envoy says from the rock we’ve placed it on, “if this is the time for some talk about recent events. I ask because I’m not at all sure what’s happened. For one thing, there shouldbe several women here, not just one. Can I ask you to please explain?”
Dorie looks up at me and shrugs.
“I suppose this is as good a time as any,” I reply. “Before we begin, I will just ask you to speak as little as possible with that voice, or as softly as you can. Aker’iz doesn’t like the sound.”
The baby is busy in her playpen, trying to ram a stick through the mesh of the woven walls while talking her mysterious language to herself.
“Of course,”the Envoy says in a lower and much less grating voice. “Thank you for the hint.”
I sit down on the ground, and Dorie sits sideways on my lap. She’s wearing the same dress she wore when she left to look for Callie, although she did talk about wanting a “wedding dress,” which I think is tradition, too.
“This is why I’m the only woman here…” Dorie explains her life on the beach since the beginning, often using her alien language, which the Envoy also speaks. I already knew most of it, but it’s a gripping tale, fit for the campfire of any tribe.
I nuzzle her hair through the end of the story, which ends with yesterday’s battle. “You’ll always be safe now.” I touch the hilt of my new sword. Frant’ex took good care of his weapon, but it’s too short for my scabbard. One day I will reforge it and make it longer. For now, it will do. “Envoy, why did we suddenly meet the whole Tratena tribe in the jungle?”
“What they told you was mostly true,”the Envoy says. “I heard all their discussions. They were shocked that you left with Aker’iz and killed three men. The tribe was dazed for a while.Then the shaman suggested that someone follow you to see where you went. It was understood that you would find a good place to settle, being the most skilled jungle man and hunter they knew. They needed a new turf. So they sent three men ahead to track you while the trail was fresh, and then the whole tribe packed up and went after them. The three left a clear trail. The tribe was only a few days behind.”
“I met those three,” I admit. “It was their grilled skarn I took.”
Dorie turns toward me, surprised. “That was them? You met those three while hunting?”
“They let me have the skarn too easily,” I mutter. “They were too relaxed about having their dinner stolen. I knew they had something in mind, but I didn’t think it would be important. It didn’t cross my mind that they were waiting for the whole tribe to arrive.”
“Then, some days ago, the tribe met those three and sent them out again, along with three more,”the Envoy goes on. “They were ordered to kill you but leave the baby alive. Nobody believed that she was dead. They could not imagine Kenz’ox letting that happen.”
Dorie squeezes my arm. “They were right. They know you better than you think. Dex, were they going to kill Aker’iz?”
“In the village, you mean? After she was taken out of the Lifegiver and revealed to be female? Oh yes, very much so. Both the shaman and the chief were deeply repulsed and offended by her obvious femininity. They wanted her gone. I advised against it, but by that time I had little credibility in the tribe. I was relieved when Kenz’ox saved her, despite the heavy tollit took on both him and the tribe. But they soon changed their minds when he was gone.”
I look over at the playpen, where my Aker’iz is babbling softly. The old anger surges in me. “And then? What were their plans with her now?”
“Their most recent plan was to kill you, Kenz’ox, take Aker’iz, and raise her until she was ready to Mate. Then she would… I will try to express this in a neutral way. Hmm. She would become their common property, in a sense. A living Lifegiver, so to speak. I suspect the chief really planned to keep her to himself entirely. She would have had no choice in any of this, I should add.”
A growl starts deep in my throat. “Those honorless wretches!”
Dorie squeezes me. “It’s all right, my love. We won. They will never get her.”
“Where are they now?” I snarl. “I’ll finish them off. One by one.”
“They fled from the saucer’s weapons,”the Envoy says. “I would be surprised if they stopped less than three days’ march from here. I made the weapons display as impressive as I could. Most of the tribesmen will have burns on their bodies. Painful, but not fatal. Except in one or two cases, perhaps. Though I hope not. I estimate that they will stay far away from here for a long time.”
“But not forever,” Dorie says softly. “Someday they’ll return.”
“I predict the same.”
“I will kill them,” I growl. “I will go and cut them into pieces.”
“Is there anything special about this spot?” Dorie asks. “Or is it a random place where we landed?”
“It’s random,”the Envoy says. “I lost control of the saucer in the upper atmosphere and simply had to get it down somewhere. If it is your intention to have the saucer fly somewhere else, it may be possible. I would not recommend leaving the atmosphere.”
