His eyes narrow. “Left a safe place in the night? To enter the jungle alone? A small woman like you?”
Now I hear someone else say it—it’s clearly an absurd idea. Callie feared the jungle just as much as me. And at night, it feels twice as deadly as in the daytime. She wouldn’t do that. No sane person would. And none of the spears were missing.
It finally hits home, the conclusion I’ve feared all day. Because Cora was probably right, and Callie only stayed in the saucer because of me. And that led to her death only a day later.
Because ofme.
My face scrunches up by itself. Oh, Callie…
No.I can’t lose control in front of this freaking caveman.
Kenz’ox looks up at me with piercing eyes. Then he slaps the ground next to him with one massive hand. “Get some rest. We leave at sunrise.”
Well, I’m not going to walk back through the jungle myself at night. So I might as well do as he says.
I sit down with some daylight between me and the giant stranger, then lean back against the tree. It’s not very comfortable, and I squirm.
Kenz’ox reaches over, grabs my shoulders, and easily pulls me closer to him so that I’m leaning on him and the frontpack. My first impulse is to scramble to get away, but his hand holds me in place.
“Don’t worry, Todora. Aker’iz won’t eat you. Her teeth are still very small. But sharp,” he says after a pause. “You are right to be wary.”
I slowly relax, keeping a firm grip on my spear and making sure it’s pointed at him. Thisismuch more comfortable. The warmth from his massive body feels good. But heisa caveman alien. And this can’t possibly be safe.
Kenz’ox puts both his hands around the bottom of the frontpack in a protective movement. “It is sad when the jungle takes a friend. Often we think we should have kept better hold of them. We feel that we had the power to stop the woods. Sometimes we think we did something wrong to cause our friend to be taken by the jungle. See that tree?” He nods upwards.
“Yes,” I sniffle.
“It is right above us. Is there a drok in that tree? How many rekh are hiding behind that bush? Is there a kronk looking at us right now? Is an eperal burrowing under us? Is there a hyl nearby? Is an irox preparing to dive on us?”
“I not know,” I admit.
“Neither do I,” he rumbles. “They could be anywhere. That’s the jungle. It can kill any of us at any time. It nearly killedme tonight, and only you stopped it. If you hadn’t, little Aker’iz would have starved to death.”
I nod in the darkness. That was the only thing that went right today.
“Your friend may be gone, but that was the jungle,” Kenz’ox finishes. “That wasn’tyou.”
It’s the weirdest thing—his words make me feel better. Maybe it’s the deep, secure bass of his voice that makes my chest shake, or maybe it’s that I don’twantto feel guilty about Callie. Or maybe I totally get what he means: sometimes there’s nothing we can do. I did tell her to go with Cora. It’s not a hundred percent my fault, anyway. Just ninety-six point something.
I also don’t want to bother him with my problems. He’s left his entire tribe over this little baby, so it’s not like he doesn’t have worries of his own.
“I want find her,” I state. “If she not killed.”
“If she’s still alive, she will search for you also,” Kenz’ox says. “No Bigs or Smalls take prisoners… hmm.”
I glance up at him. “What you say?”
He adjusts the frontpack. “The tribes don’t take prisoners either. But if they see a woman…”
“No tribe close here,” I tell him, because that’s what Sprisk said to us. “Not see man. Only…” Damn it. I told him I had a big tribe with many warriors. He didn’t believe it, but is it wise to let him know for sure that I’m alone? “Only not see man,” I finish feebly.
“Outcasts, then. No, hopefully not. There’s no telling what they might do if they come upon a woman in the jungle.” He reaches into the frontpack and adjusts something around the baby.
BabyBjorn! That was it, the frontpack brand on Earth. This caveman invented a similar thing right here on his dinosaur planet. Not bad.
I’m not sure what to think now. From what Cora told us, the tribesmen are perfectly fine kidnapping women. And for the girls in Cora’s tribe, that seems to have worked out fine for both them and the cavemen. But if Callie was taken by a tribe or a band of outcasts, that might be worse than just being killed and eaten by a dinosaur.
But it’s the only thing thatcouldmean she’s still alive. So in a weird way, I’ll have to hope for that.
