Page 41 of Caveman Alien's Bride

It’s a smart thing to say, and I recognize it from a video I once saw about interrogation techniques. The interrogator confesses to a similar and fictional crime of his own, to get the suspect to think that his act was completely normal and harmless.

But it doesn’t work on Dren’in.

“Everyone was staring at the women,” he says. “Not just me. I slept all night and saw or heard nothing.”

Nobody’s seen Piper in the night. The last anyone saw of her was when Korr'ax carried me to the cave and Piper followed right behind.

“Who broke ladder?” I ask. “Why?”

Korr'ax thinks about it. “Piper would have had to climb down the ladder. At some point the ladder would have been spotted there and someone would have checked what was going on. The ladder is too big to hide if it were not broken. And it’s not completely broken. Some of the ropes holding it together have been cut with a blade.”

“You think she leave alone.”

He shrugs. “Nobody heard anything, including me. It would be hard for a man to get into the cave, drag Piper out without her making a sound, climb down the ladder with her over his shoulder, and then… well, then what? He didn’t pass through the gate.”

Unless the gatekeepers are in on it,I think to myself. Because Dren’in was right — lots of guys were staring at Piper. “She could still be here in the village.”

“We will check every cave once more, and every hut,” Korr’ax says.

I sigh, worrying about my friend being kidnapped or worse. “I go check her cave again.”

I climb the ladder, half hoping to find Piper lying there. But there’s only the skins and furs she slept in. Her sword is gone, which is a small clue that she wasn’t taken by force.

Looking through the furs, I find nothing until I happen to turn one of them over. There’s charcoal writing on the pale white back of it.

Dear Bryar!

I had to leave. I told you I don’t want to be a third wheel. Don’t blame yourself, please. This is all about me being crazy. I keepimagining that these guys will trade me to some other tribe in exchange for iron or gold or something.

Sorry!

Piper

PS: Don’t look for me. Live your life and be happy. It’s just that MY life is not here.

I sag to the ground, my face scrunching up.

Damn. She really had it much worse than I thought. I’ve been too busy with myself and my own concerns to notice. Now she’s alone in the jungle somewhere, with only a small sword to protect herself with.

Where did she go? Back to the beach? Perhaps I will never know.

“Sorry,” I sniffle. “I promised we would always be together.”

I wipe my tears, climb down the ladder, and carry the furs up to the ‘penthouse’.

Korr'ax is there, waiting. “She left nothing?”

“Only the furs.” What more do I tell him? At least he should know that none of his men kidnapped her. “She go alone. No tribesman take her.”

He raises his eyebrows. “How do you know?”

12

- Korr'ax -

“She tell me.” Bryar shows me the back of a sleeping fur. There are rows of small drawings on the back of it, but I don’t understand them.

“How did she tell you?”

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