Page 67 of Caveman Alien's Bride

My mind is dark. Even if Piper has found a way to get home to Earth, we can’t know how safe it is. Or if we’ll really end up there. I would strongly prefer not to trust those gray little aliens to take us home, if that’s what’s going on.

Maybe she just wanted to get me out of the tribe? To join her on the beach or wherever she lives now? No, that’s not her way. She wouldn’t trick me.

I have many strong urges to run back to the village and tell Korr’ax everything. Whatever happens from now on, I will have to live without him.

I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work. He brought light and life into my hopeless, fearful existence.

Now that light is gone, and the fear and hopelessness are coming back.

Finally Dren’in stops and looks around with twitchy motions. The jungle is as dark here as anywhere else, which means it’s not completely dark. There’s always some bioluminescent plant making eerie green light.

“Is this where Piper is?” I ask, one hand on my sword.

“It’s the meeting place,” he whispers, not really answering my question.

The jungle is quiet around us.

I back up to a tree and pull my sword out. This is making me really nervous.

Several tense minutes go by.

I’ve just decided to go back to the village when the first man with green stripes comes into view.

Scrambling to get away, I run right into the hands of another.

But I’ve been caught before, and this time my sword is out.

I slash the blade at the man, and he screams. Not checking where I struck, I sprint through the undergrowth while fast steps follow me. A heavy bundle of leather is thrown in front of my feet, and I stumble and fall, dropping the sword. Immediately strong arms pin my hands behind my back and lift me back on my feet.

“Here she is,” the Krast man behind me triumphs. “We have her!”

The smell of sweat and stale frit washes over me as the men from the Krast tribe gather around me, staring and grinning and laughing.

“She’s ours! We have a woman!”

I glare at them, but I don’t engage. I know from experience that kicking and screaming isn’t going to work against cavemen three times my weight. I will bide my time and then escape the first chance I get.

The men struggle to light a torch.

“So this was your plan, Dren’in?” I call to the Borok man. “To betray me to the Krast?”

“They agreed to make me the chief of the Krast if I gave them a woman,” he says with a creepy smile. “That was a good deal.”

“You didn’t see Piper at all,” I spit. “Whose hair was that red one?”

“ItisPiper’s hair,” Dren’in says. “I went into her cave and took the furs and leathers. I found the hair there, and I kept it. I never thought it would bethisuseful.”

“And the words? ‘Get going’? Who teach you them?”

Dren’in comes closer and looks down at me. “You don’t remember? They were Piper’s last words to me after I’d kindly brought you the food basket. I don’t know what they mean, but I will always remember them.” He grins, showing me brown teeth and two broken fangs.

“You’re an outtriber and an outcast,” I hiss at him, not knowing a lot of derogatory terms in this language. “Korr’ax will kill you!”

He looks away. “I will be the chief of the Krast tribe and very hard to kill. And I will Mate with the tribe’s woman. Korr’ax’s wife.”

Krast men push him aside and tie me up with rough, bark-braided ropes. They’ve given up lighting the torch. Three of them take one rope each, and then they drag me along with two in front of me and one behind.

One of the Krast men limps along with a bleeding gash behind his knee, sending me angry glares.

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