Page 76 of Caveman Alien's Terror

“Not too fast, okay?” I plead because being blown off him is the thing that worries me the most about this.

We will go as fast as we need to. The first journey is not very long. The next, I don’t know. It will be up to you.

He takes me up into the sky, we fly out over the edge of the Mount, and then the jungle is a myriad of colors and shapes below us. Fresh air blows into my face, but I have no idea where we’re going.

Before I know it, we’re spiraling down. Praxigor finds a clearing and lands on all four legs. I get off and he Changes to his superman form.

“What are we doing here?” I ask, looking around. It all looks like any other spot in the jungle.

“It took me a while to find this,” he tells me. “And I’m not sure this is the right time. But I know it’s something you wanted.”

I look around and shrug. “What?”

He walks in among the trees. “Come along.”

We walk for a few minutes. In front of us is a giant tree, looking like an old oak on Earth, with many branches splitting off and reaching far to the sides and to the sky. I can’t remember having ever seen anything like it before. This single tree dominates a large part of the jungle.

“That must be really old,” I comment. “I wonder how it survived so long without getting knocked over by a dinosaur.”

“Someone made sure it didn’t happen,” Praxigor says. “Be quiet now. And go around the tree.”

I give him a searching look, having no idea what’s happening. But I do as he says and quietly make my way around the tree to the other side of the massive trunk.

And there, on the other side of a round clearing…

For a second I can only stare through the greenery and the leaves. My heart thunders in my ears. Then my knees give out and I sag to the ground.

Praxigor squats beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Like I said, maybe the time isn’t right. But I doubt if there’s any time that’swrongfor this.”

I don’t know what to say. Emotions are filling me up, and I can’t see straight.

I sob helplessly for several minutes, just weeping quietly while my dragon husband holds me.

Finally I wipe my face. “Should I… should I go over there?”

“Someone once told me,” Praxigor rumbles softly, “that a victory that’s shared isn’t half a victory, but two whole ones. Your friends say your victory is great. Perhaps you would like to share it with someone now, turn it into one of those win-win things you like?”

I take my backpack off, get to my feet, and straighten up, sniffling and trying to pull myself together. “Thank you, my love. For all this.”

I walk on, legs feeling shaky and all of me feeling tense. This could go either way.

I approach from straight ahead, being very obvious about it.

She stands up when she sees me, grabbing her spear. She’s wearing worse rags than me, looking like some kind of dried grass woven into crude garments.

I stop twenty feet away. For a moment we just stare at each other.

Giving a little wave, I feel my face scrunching up again.

For a few seconds she doesn’t move.

Then she slowly raises a dirty hand and waves, too.

“Hi, Cora,” I begin, but my voice won’t carry.

EPILOGUE

- Astrid-

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