Page 38 of Caveman Alien's Bride

- Bryar -

I look at Piper. “Did you catch what he said?”

“No. Something about a tribe?”

“A tribe and a totem something,” I ponder as we follow Korr'ax’s wide back.

Piper looks around. “I have to say, Bryar, this is a super impressive village. For the Stone Age, I mean. They’re really making good lives for themselves here.”

“Feels like that’s the secret to living on Xren,” I agree. “Organize into a tribe and live behind a high fence.”

“I think you did the right thing coming here. You’ll be safe here. And word is that you’re enjoying the nights, too.” Piper gives me a mischievous smile.

My cheeks go hot. “Sorry. I know everyone heard me. You’d think the chief of a whole tribe would have the sense to close the damnwindowbefore… well, you know.”

Piper lightly cuffs my shoulder. “It’s cool, Bryar. I’m happy for you. A bit envious, maybe. So you’re fine with all this now?”

I hesitate. “I’m fine with being safe. I’m really enjoying that part. Being able to eat my fill? Yeah, that works for me. Being forced into a marriage with a caveman alien? Not as fine with that. And having zero control over my own life? Also not a big fan.” I touch the necklace-slash-collar around my neck.

“That might be the tradeoff they all make,” Piper ponders and nods at some cavemen we pass. “In the tribe, they’re safe. But itisa dictatorship, and even the chief isn’t free to do whatever he wants. The tribe is always watching him.”

“A dictator, huh? I was thinking of him as a mafia boss. But I guess it’s basically the same thing. Yeah, you have a point. There’s not much freedom for anyone here. Maybe we shouldn’t expect to be the only exceptions.”

We follow Korr'ax to an open square where the ground has been trodden to dirt. Several boys are fighting with metal rods, the oldest ones seeming to coach the others.

Korr'ax picks up two metal rods and hands them to us. “Swords. You both want weapons. But first you must learn to fight with them.”

The rod is heavy, but manageable. The boys form a wide circle around us as Korr'ax shows us how to use them. He has us hack at wooden poles and big leather targets. After a while I realize he’s not showing us how to use them to sword fight, but to defend against predators.

Piper and I are motivated, so we quickly learn the basics while we work up a sweat.

Korr'ax leaves us with the boys while he goes on an errand. The kids give us shy smiles and show us some tricks with their metal sticks. Piper and I smile back and try to chat with them, and we understand each other somewhat. The boys are just like kids everywhere, and it’s difficult to believe they were grown inside a plant.

“They must be clones,” Piper says and swings her metal stick at a target. “Those Lifegivers are some kind of cloning devices.”

“They do seem too weird and useful to just exist naturally,” I agree, thrusting my own stick at a pole and pretending it’s a not-raptor. “But I guess we’ll never know what they are.”

Piper wipes sweat off her brow. “I don’t know. Why were we taken here in the first place by those terrible little aliens? Why haven’t we seen them since? I have a hunch we were supposed to meet these guys, but we were dumped in the wrong spot.”

“If so, there’s a chance those saucer guys will be back,” I point out. “For what that’s worth. All right, I think I’m done with this exercise.”

Korr'ax comes back, carrying two swords with belts and sheaths. He pulls them both out. “Your swords. These are children’s swords, but neither of you could handle a full size one.” He gives us one each. They’re about two feet long and no thicker than butter knives. They look perfectly sharp.

Two boys come running, carrying a huge shank of some terrible dinosaur between them. They hang it on a pole, and Korr'ax points at it. “See if your weapon is sharp enough.”

Piper marches over, forehands her sword like a tennis racket, and hits the dinosaur piece with a loudwhack. It cuts through the thick skin and into the meat. Watery blood starts drippingout.

“Sharp enough,” Piper says and fastens the belt around her waist. “Your turn.”

I wind up and slash at the dinosaur piece, and the sword vibrates as it makes a deep gash. “Not bad.”

“Practice every day,” Korr'ax tells us. “You will be the terrors of every Big. Small but fearsome.”

Piper attacks the dinosaur piece again. With her grim face and her red hair flowing in the breeze, she reminds me of Merida, the heroine from theBravemovie.

I leave her to her practice and spend the rest of the day around Korr'ax as he goes about his chief business. He runs a pretty tight ship, and I can’t help feeling proud when all the grim-faced warriors in the tribe clearly respect him a great deal.

He’s good with them, too — he has a light tone and makes little jokes, but nobody is in any doubt about what he’s ordering them to do.

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