1
- Morgan-
The last flame flickers and dies, but neither Cora nor I put any more wood on the fire. It’s midnight, and I really should go to bed.
Cora slowly gets to her feet, puts her hands at the small of her back and leans back with a grimace on her face. “Someone should invent the couch. Or at least the armchair.”
I change my position on the hard, wooden bench. “I’d settle for a beanbag. Or a cushion that’s not just filled with grass. Or why not a-”
I stop as a big shape comes up the stairs to the penthouse and stops, staring over at us.
“Yes?” Cora asks, not too friendly - we’re not super happy about the tribesmen that act as our security guards and feel it necessary to check on us every fifteen minutes. “Has it started?”
“Has what started, Healer Cora?” the caveman asks, confused.
“The birth,” she says. “Alba is about to give birth. Surely that must be why you disturb us here, warrior?” Her cavemannish is good, with just a bit of an English accent.
“No, it’s to check your safety, Healer Cora,” the caveman says, looking at me. “Have you heard or seen any irox?”
“We have not,” I tell him. “And we have not seen any other dangers.”
He puts his head back and scans the dark sky. “They rarely come these days.” Then he walks a slow round of the plateau, one hand on his sword, looking very serious.
“If you think there are rekh hiding in our food baskets, I must disappoint you,” Cora says with some ice in her voice. “There are no irox, no rekh and no kronk. Well done, warrior. You kept them away.”
If the man hears the sarcasm, he doesn’t show it. “We are worried about the Plood. There are so many of them. Perhaps they are able to climb.” He goes to the edge of the plateau and looks down, three hundred feet or so down to the treetops of the surrounding jungle. “But I can’t see any.”
Cora rolls her eyes. “Then they must not be here yet. Well, it’s been a long day, warrior, and I’m sure you want to get back to your cave.”
He takes up a broad-legged stance, one hand on the hilt of his sword, loincloth looking new, his green stripes dark against his normal skin. “I will not sleep tonight. I will keep you safe, Healer Cora and Morgan. Atnag’ox will keep you safe.” He turns so I can get a good look at him.
“It’s like theBachelorette,” I mutter in English. “Except nobody gives me roses.”
“It’s a bit obvious,” Cora agrees. “But I’m sure they mean well.” She switches to cavemannish again. “All right, warrior. There are no threats here. Now perhaps you can go back to guarding the stairs?”
“Of course,” Atnag’ox says and walks slowly back to the stairs that lead down to the ground. “But I will be nearby. Call my name if you need me.” He sends me a long glance. “Atnag’ox is the name.”
I give him a pale smile. “Good night, warrior.”
He walks down the first steps, then stops and sends me another glance. “And to you, Morgan.” He descends out of sight.
I sigh. “That’s the fourth guard making rounds tonight. Do they draw lots?”
Cora shrugs. “Probably. Or Chief Korr’ax has told them which order they are to go in.”
“Showing me the various men of the tribe one by one. He really wants me married off.”
“He may well think you need a husband.”
I get up, too. “It’s a reasonable thing to assume. I guess not everyone is the marrying kind.” I wander out to the edge of the plateau and look down. There are no fires inside the village yet. But outside the gates there are several. The men from other tribes are keeping vigil, both to be ready in case they are attacked by dinosaurs and in case I were to come out there, seeking company. Not that I ever have, but it’s the only hope they can have.
Because I’m the reason they’re all here. I’m the last unmarried woman in the jungle, and all those men are hoping to be the man I marry. Of course their chances are low at the best of times - they are outtribers, and so not allowed inside the gates of the Borok village except by invitation.
I have considered telling Chief Korr’ax that the chances of me marrying a caveman are exactly zero, regardless which tribe he may come from. But I’m not sure he’d believe me. Some of the other girls were just as reluctant, then married in no time once they got some alone time with an alien male they liked.
And of course he wants me married to reduce tensions in the tribe. Every unmarried Borok man - basically all of them except a handful - wants a wife. And as the only remaining unattached woman, it has to be me.
I know there are conflicts inside the tribe that have to do with both me and the married girls. Basically, the unmarried men are feeling like second-class citizens in their own tribe, to the point where fistfights are breaking out on a daily basis.
