Page 13 of Fall

Desh just laughed again. “Hey, think on the bright side. At least you canpick out a man and let him know you’re interested. You’re not stuck with anycreep who wants you.” He nodded toward Ugar, the disgusting man who’d gropedher before, who was lurking unpleasantly nearby.

Lenna sneered at the revolting man and looked instinctively back towardRone, whose dark eyes were glinting in the firelight and still focused on her.

She tried to imagine having Rone as a “mate” and couldn’t even begin towrap her mind around it. She could barely even see his face in all that hair.

The eating had mostly ended, and a couple of the men had gone to get whatlooked like pipes made of bone.

The music they played wasn’t like any music Lenna was familiar with. Itwas just slow, extended noise that had the same effect of a haunting wail. Oneof the older women started to talk, and Lenna realized after a while that shemust be telling some sort of story. The entire tribe was listening, as ifspellbound.

“A tale of an ancient warrior,” Desh whispered after a few minutes. “Theytell this one a lot.”

“What about the ancient warrior?”

“He climbed the forbidden mountain to claim fire for the tribes.”

“Forbidden mountain? Is that a real thing?”

“Yes. It’s in no-man’s land, but you can see the peak if you look northon a clear day. Apparently no tribe ever ventures there. It’s considered holyor something.”

The story went on for a long time, accompanied by the sound of themusic’s keening notes. Lenna studied the faces around her, trying to judge fromtheir expressions who might be nice and who she wanted to avoid.

It was difficult to tell. Only Rone and one of the women—who appeared tobe a previous mate of Tamen—ever met her eyes.

Eventually, the story ended and some of the Kroo finally rose from theirplaces. Lenna happened to be watching when a young woman went over to Rone—thesame young woman who had made a move on him the previous night.

“That’s Sorel,” Desh said, noticing her preoccupation. “Tamen’s oldestdaughter. She was the one who was almost kidnapped last year but they got back.She must have decided she wanted Rone last week, because she’s tried it on himfor several days now.”

As Lenna watched, Rone shrugged the girl away and got up, glancing overat Lenna before he walked away.

“Is he not interested in sex?”

“I’m sure he is. He just doesn’t want Sorel as a mate.”

“She’s pretty.”

“Sure. I think it has more to do with the fact that she’s Tamen’sdaughter, and Rone doesn’t want to be tied to Tamen that way.”

This piece of information interested Lenna, and she thought about it asshe went back to the cave with the others.

She moved to the same spot she’d slept the previous night, against thewall, close to Rone’s bed. She was so caught up in her thoughts about thestrange social dynamics of this tribe that she didn’t notice Ugar coming up toher.

He’d grabbed her by the shoulder before she realized he was there, andshe whirled around instinctively, using a self-defense move she’d learned atten years old, flattening her hand and using the heel of it to hit Ugar in thenose.

He choked on a pained exclamation and bent over, his eyes watering fromthe blow.

“Stay away from me,” Lenna said sharply, hoping he would understand hertone if not the words themselves.

She heard a noise from behind her and turned to see that Rone waslaughing again. He’d laughed the other day when she’d fought off Ugar as well.

She wasn’t sure what he found so funny about her getting groped by such acreep.

While her back was turned, Ugar reached out for her again. She wasgetting ready to hit him once more when Rone barked out something—loud andgruff—that evidently made Ugar stop.

Ugar muttered and glared, but he turned away and slouched back to theother side of the cave.

Lenna turned to look back at Rone, who was frowning in Ugar’s direction,and she felt a wave of surprised appreciation.

She’d definitely made the right choice in sleeping near Rone. At least hedidn’t treat her like an object.

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