Page 29 of Caveman Alien's Bride

“You have a point,” I agree and take her hand. “Piper, I'm sorry if it turns out that I got you into a bad situation. I'll do what I can to make sure you'll be fine here. And I want you to be close.”

She squeezes me. “So far this isn't abadsituation. I'm just saying, let's prepare for things not being as great as they look right now. Hey,someonehas to be the wet blanket— hello.” She looks past me.

A man climbs the last steps to the cave and stands on the edge, staring at us. He has a sword and the stripes, but he's a little smaller than Zart'ox and much thinner. He's holding a big, round basket.

“What we can do, warrior?” I ask, trying out the language for the first time. The grammar is simple and the words are not hard to pronounce.

“Greetings, Woman Bryar,” he says, using words I know. “And Woman Piper. This is food for you.” He taps the basket and comes closer, looking more at Piper than at me.

We both take a short step back, and I reach behind me to touch the big mirror hanging at my hip. The man gives me a weird vibe.

“Thank you for food,” I tell him. “Put there.” I point into the cave.

He drops the pack on the floor right outside the cave. He says something, but I don’t understand it.

“I’m sorry, I not understand,” I tell him, having memorized a way to deal with something like this. “Ask my husband, Korr'ax, to help you.”

The man smiles and comes closer, towering over us. I don’t like the way he looks Piper up and down, so I detach the mirror. It’s the only thing I have that resembles any kind of weapon. We can’t keep retreating — I don’t want to get any closer to the edge of the cliff. It must be a sheer drop of hundreds of feet.

“Woman Piper isopiset,” he says, grinning. “I will help with that.” He quickly takes two steps closer and reaches out to stroke her arm.

But Piper evades him. “Hey, knock it off!”

“Thank you for food and help,” I tell him firmly in his language, wishing I knew how to say ‘now please leave’ in cavemanese. So I say it in English instead, assuming he understands the meaning from my tone of voice.

“Get going,” Piper barks, much less diplomatically. She has the scariest resting bitch face I’ve ever seen.

The man stops, and the smile vanishes from his face. He glares at us with pale eyes. Then he slowly turns, spits on the ground, and goes back down the stairs.

“Yikes,” Piper says when he’s out of sight. “I hope he’s not a typical caveman.”

“If he is, this could turn nasty,” I agree. “I hope the stuff he brought is nicer than him.”

We carefully take the lid off the basket, half expecting a snake or something. But it’s just a lot of tidy, leaf-bound packets of pemmican, grilled filets of meat, stews of roots and vegetables, as well as pots with juices andfritand two big, thick-rimmed mugs.

“They’ve got usable pottery and baskets,” Piper says as we dig in. We’re both famished. “But I think we can teach them a thing or two. Maybe we should make ourselves valuable in our own right.”

“We’ll become expert craftswomen,” I agree. “We can be the Coco Chanel and Donna Karan of this whole planet.”

“It’s a long-term goal, anyway,” Piper says. “Let’s come up with some short-term ones. I vote for getting ourselves some decent weapons for self-defense.”

8

- Korr'ax -

The pyre is being built outside the village wall. Because it’s a shaman’s pyre, it must be bigger than usual. The pile of logs is already as tall as me, but it must be double that before we can send Shaman Gerut’on to the Ancestors.

Two men come dragging a new log, and I help them place it on the pyre. “That’s a good and dry one. Good find, warriors. Now go get oil to place in the middle, so that the fire will be hot.”

“Yes, Chief!” They march into the open gate to the village.

At the same time, another man comes ambling out.

I nod at him. “Well, Dren’in?”

“I gave them the food basket, Chief,” Dren’in says. “That other woman, with the astonishing red hair — she isn’t married, you say?”

“She’s not,” I tell him absentmindedly. “Only Bryar is married. Tome,” I emphasize to prevent any misunderstandings. I amthe first and only man on Xren to get married, and I don’t think everyone understands the concept of marriage yet. “She belongs to me and must not be touched by anyone else. Only speak to her if absolutely necessary.”

---