Page 28 of Caveman Alien's Touch

The throng of panicking Borok men thins out. The swarm is a yellow and brown wall coming towards me fast, the hum unbearably loud.

I spot Alba and grab her around her waist, then turn on the spot and practically fling her inside the gates. “Run! Up the stairs!”

I turn around and grab the side of one gate, pushing it closed. Two Borok men close the other.

Sarker’ox and the drummer boy are the last to pass inside the gate before the gates slam shut.

I jump up on the guard tower to see outside the wall.

The sight is terrible. The swarm is larger than I thought, and it looks most of all like a thick, brown landslide oozing out of the jungle. There may be men out there, completely covered in the creatures.

“I wonder where Unin’iz is,” I mutter.

“He won the race,” the tower guard says beside me, voice shaking in fear. “But that was the last thing he did. He didn’t come back inside the wall. Now he must be under that swarm, being eaten.”

“They may be laying eggs inside him,” I say flatly, because that’s something flying Smalls often do. “All the dead bodies must be burned when this is over.”

The first member of the swarm bumps softly against the palisade, then turns to the side and hits it again, the hum piercing to my ear. I’m not worried about them breaking through the thick wall, but they are flying things and may be able to pass over it and into the village.

“Stay here for three dozen heartbeats,” I tell the tower guard. “Cut down any creature that comes over the wall. Then run to the Mount and get up to the top.”

“Yes, Chief!” the Borok man says breathlessly, so happy to have a command to follow that he gives me the highest rank he knows.

I jump down and run as fast as I can back to the Mount. Everyone has the same idea. Brak and several Borok tribers stand at the foot of the stairs and urgently push the men and boys up the stairs.

“Melr’ax is safe!” Brak calls to me. “Get up here yourself, Noker!”

I stare back towards the gate. The guard is running towards us, unable to wait for as long as I told him. I can see why — dozens of the flying terrors are flooding over the wall like water running over a round rock.

The guard passes me without looking up and continues up the stairs, breathing hard.

“We must keep them from flying up along the side of the Mount,” Sarker’ox frets. “There must be men placed all over the side of the Mount to cut them down if they try!”

Finally the Borok men get over their first shock and start to act properly. They climb higher and go out on ledges and narrow shelves in the rock, swords bare, ready to defend the Mount to the last.

“It’s the best we can hope for right now,” Brak says, knife in hand. “The women are safe on top of the Mount, as are the boys of the tribe. And our shaman.”

“They’re only safe if none of those things get up there,” I counter, having trouble speaking because I’m breathing hard from all the running. “I must stand here and fight them off.”

He slaps my back and grins. “As will I, brother!”

I grab his wrist and squeeze hard to get his attention. “No other clansbrother shall fight this low on the Mount! You are needed elsewhere. Go as high up as you can and defend your wife and the other women! They allmustbe kept safe, and I don’t trust the Borok men to protect them right.”

His mouth opens and closes as he thinks. Then he sees the sense in my order and grabs the back of my head, pulling me close until our foreheads touch. “I shall see you in the stars, clansbrother!” He turns and bounces up the stairs, his clawed irox feet scraping on the rock.

The brown wave of the swarm comes closer, leaving every dead object alone. But they must be able to sense living things, because they’re coming straight at me. Their wings beat so fast they’re invisible, and the deep hum is deafening.

I turn and send a glance up the Mount. I’m the first resistance the swarm will meet, but those that get past me will be met with swords all the way up. And at the top, the most capable fighter on Xren is protecting Bronwen. While I can’t see a way for me to get through this alive,hisvictory is as good as certain.

I chuckle to myself as I ready my spear, wiping it clean. Soon I’ll be in the stars. “You won the game, Unin’iz. But Brak will win the fight.”

The first creature comes within striking range.

11

- Bronwen-

Coldness goes down my back as the wave of giant locust-like insects flows over the wall and across the ground in the village. It’s like seeing a tsunami, an unstoppable light brown wave that keeps coming. There must be tens of thousands of the things, flying with translucent, papery wings

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