Everyone in the cavern stopped what they were doing and stared at me. Tarak squeezed my hand, drawing my full attention.
I looked up to find he was smiling and beaming with pride. “This is my home and these are my people.”
His people? Like he was the same species as all the others or was he the leader here?
“Savrix, who is this? Is she from the main dekes?” An older female was the first to walk up to us and ask the questions that the rest of them undoubtedly had.
Tarak looked down at me with brows furrowed. “I do not know.”
“You don’t know?” The female looked shocked. “Where did you find her?”
“I was near Orsu’s den when I found her being attacked by a boar. I did not have time to ask her where she was from.” Tarak was firm but respectful in his response and the female, who nodded her head in understanding.
“Should we take her to the other dekes?” the male with the long red hair asked.
“Can I come?” the youth who had attempted to approach me asked.
Tarak shook his head. “No. She stays with us, under my protection. I alone will face the consequences if she is from the other dekes.”
Under his protection? I liked the sound of that…for survival reasons, of course, and not because it was sexy.
“Come.” Tarak tugged on my hand and I followed him out of the cavern. I could hear the murmur of many voices as we left. It was safe to say I was probably the first human they’d ever encountered.
Tarak led me down a narrow passageway lit with oil candles that lined the floor. We eventually stopped in front of an opening that was covered with a curtain made from an animal pelt.
Behind the curtain was a small private cave that had its own small fire pit on one side and a pallet bed of furs on the other. There were a few shelves that had been carved out from the rock wall that held necessities such as bowls and cups. Baskets similar to the ones I’d seen in the den lined the walls and were full of wood, dried fruit, and dried meat.
Tarak sat down in a wide wooden chair and motioned for me to sit on the only other chair in the room, which was a stool with a soft fur on the seat acting as a cushion.
“Are you from the other dekes?” Ok wow, he got straight to the point.
“First of all, what is a dekes? I don’t have that word in my language.”
His brows furrowed in confusion. “A dekes.” He repeated himself as if the word was self-evident. “A group of people living and working together,” he explained.
So I was right, a dekes was a tribe.
“My dekes is here in the mountain. The other dekes is in the valley. Is that where you are from, the valley?”
“Okay, when you say,my dekes,do you mean the group you are a part of or do you meanmyas in you are their leader?”
“I am their Savrix, yes.” Ok, I felt like I was starting to get a handle on things now. Dekes was a tribe and Savrix was leader.
“No, I am not from the other dekes or the valley. I am from a place called Earth. I was taken from my home and placed on a ship that crashed here.” What was it the computer called this planet? “Valo Prime, the ship crashed here on Valo Prime.”
Tarak nodded his head in understanding, “My people came here from another place long ago. The goddess led us to Valo Prime where we have made our home.”
“Did your people get here on a spaceship?” For a man wearing an animal pelt for clothes, he knew more than I thought he would.
“No, I do not know what a spaceship is. The elders say the goddess brought our ancestors here through a miracle. We celebrate her miracle at the turn of the season before the air gets cold and the snows arrive. This will be the three hundredth season since the goddess brought my people here.”
I nodded my head. These ancestors must have gotten here by using a spaceship, right? But how did that information get lost over the generations?
“Will your dekes and the dekes in the valley join together for the celebration?”
Tarak tensed at my mention of the other dekes. There must be some animosity there. The others seemed very concerned about if I’d come from there and even suggested I be returned.
“Yes, it is the one day the two dekes unite.”
