Page 15 of Caveman Alien's Bride

There are still more sheets in the stack, and I hurriedly pull off the porn one and place it on the ground, image down.

The next one is scary. It’s a snake, but if the trees are to scale, then it’s a giant one. The head and tail look a lot like the sea monster that we spotted just an hour ago. But here, it’s not in the ocean. It’s on the shore, on what could be a beach, and it’s coiled up. The head appears to be flinging trees and dinosaurs every which way. It’s how an eight-year-old would draw a terrible monster going crazy in the woods, and it’s pretty effective.

“Trok,”Korr'ax says and points at the monster. “Veldee falee.”

“A trok,” I say and point. “We saw it just a while ago. Are you saying it might come ashore?”

“This is just getting better and better,” Piper mutters.

Korr'ax points out to sea, then to our hut and the rest of the beach in a sweeping motion that’s pretty obvious: all this will be destroyed. “Deteh blial odelakt.”

I point to the drawing. “You’re saying we’re in danger here. Okay. But you have more drawings.”

He pulls the monster drawing off the stack.

The next one is him and me. I’m behind him and he’s got his sword out, surrounded by dinosaurs on their backs. The sword is dripping with blood. He’s plainly killed a dozen of the things.

“He’s saying: ‘I can protect you’,” I take a guess.

“Imagine the time it must have taken him to draw all this,” Piper marvels. “And he hasn’t even made his sales pitch yet. It’s coming, though.”

“It does feel like he’s selling something,” I agree. “Okay, caveman. What you got?”

Korr'ax pulls the sheet away, and beneath is a drawing of him and me. Fully dressed, I’m relieved to see. Or at least as fully dressed as we are right now. In the drawing, there’s a third person. It looks like another caveman. He’s between us, holding both our hands, and he’s put them on top of each other.

“A wedding?” Piper guesses. “Is that some kind of priest? And there’s an altar, right?”

I get a sinking feeling. “I think he’s made his sales pitch.”

The next sheet is the final one. It’s only Korr'ax and me, holding hands and smiling. Between us, he’s drawn lines in many colors. One thick, black line goes from his hand to my neck, where there is definitely a necklace drawn in. Or something else…

“Yep, it was a wedding,” Piper says. “Now he’s put a collar on you. You know, like all married couples do.”

My sinking feeling deepens. This can’t be good. “And he’s got me on a leash.”

4

- Korr'ax -

To my great surprise, Bryar doesn’t immediately kiss me or embrace me with fervor.

She probably doesn't understand the drawings. I was never the best artist, but I had my tribesmen to help with most of these. The Bigs especially, which some of them draw quite well.

I suppose I'll have to explain them, although the whole reason for taking days making these drawings was because Bryar clearly doesn't speak any intelligible language.

I grab one sheet and hold it up. “Korr'ax and Bryar. I am protecting you against the Bigs. See? With my sword. Like I did against…” I leaf through the drawings, “... this rekh. But we must be together. And this place is not safe, because of thetrok. Thistrok.” I point at the drawing of the trok, which took me a full day to complete and is my special pride. “It will come here and destroy everything before it lays its eggs in the sand. This is not a safe place. But when we get married, we will be together and I can protect you.”

Bryar looks at me with an expression I don't recognize. “Uh-huh. Eye think wee gedit.”

I scratch my head. It all seemed so obvious and clear back in the village, when I drew these explanations with my men. But now, I realize that most of this may be hard to understand. Does Bryar know what marriage is, for instance? I barely did before the Tretter shaman reminded me of the things that the old Borok shaman taught us boys many years ago.

I spread all the drawings out on the sand.

“Wedding,” I say very clearly and point at the drawing of Bryar, me, and the shaman. “Marriage.” I point at the drawing of Bryar and I being married and happy. Surely the smiles I drew on our faces should be obvious and highly persuasive.

The two females chirp with each other, looking out at the ocean and back at me.

Bryar puts her hand on the other female. “Piper.”

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