Page 64 of Caveman Alien's Heat
The chief looks at me, then at Riley.
“If we don’t try,” she says, “Nator’ax and I have no way of going back before the dragon comes. If we can’t leave, and you murder this honorable warrior for no reason, and keep me as your captive, then the dragon will kill you all. You know this.”
The chief’s gaze drifts over his people, the men with their spears, the boys at the edge of the firelight. “You would have me trust this thing that hides beneath the ice. You would have me trustyou. And you would have me send her away.”
Riley goes very still beside me. She understands that the chief is in a difficult position. The shaman just told him that he may command the dragon, but the chief knows that could be wishful thinking.
Crelt’ax inclines his head. “Or you trust what we know. What has always guided us.” He places his one hand against his chest. “Wedo not chase what vanishes into the deep. We prepare for what comes to us. I am prepared.”
The chief’s grip tightens once on the hatchet. “No one returns to the glacier. The thing beneath the ice is gone from the world of men.”
Riley’s fingers close around mine, hard.
The chief rises to his feet. “We will prepare for the dragon. Our shaman will command it.Ifit comes.”
The murmur that follows has excitement in it.
It’s done. The gathering breaks. Orders are given that the spears must be sharpened and watches set. Everyone is commanded to look at the sky as much as possible.
Crelt’ax lingers a moment, studying me with a strange look on his face, then turns and walks to his cave.
I walk over to Riley. “It sank into the ice. I didn’t know it could do that.”
“Me neither. I never heard of it happening. Do you know why?”
I shrug. “I suppose itcouldbe because you weren’t there. Or any other of a dozen reasons.”
She takes hold of my hand. “You tried. And the saucer is still there. I don’t think it tried to destroy itself. Just to get away.”
“Maybe it should have flown, then,” I growl. “It may still be there, but will it come up if we ask it?”
“It will do what it wants,” Riley says calmly. “But this makes everything harder. They still fear the dragon, but now they think the shaman can tame it?—”
Four men come over, three of them holding spears as if they are going to use them. “Warrior Nator’ax of the Borok tribe, our Chief Hoker’iz requests that you surrender your sword to us. We shall keep it safe.”
“Safe until you murder me,” I reply calmly. “And then I’m sure it will be safe until the dragon comes and burns you all to ash.” I pull the weapon out of its scabbard and swing it once through the air. “I could take down all four of you before you could move.”
One man points his spear at Riley. “Let’s not see if that is true.”
I feared it would come to this, that the tribe would take my sword. I’m surprised they didn’t do it before. I have fantasized about what I would do, thinking about slashing them all to ribbons, about becoming the dragon myself and killing ten of these men before they’d inevitably kill me. I have seen them use their spears, and they are deadly with them. But I have sworn to protect Riley, and I can only do that as long as I’m alive.
I hand the sword over to the unarmed man. “Oh, it’s true. But I’d rather the dragon took you all. I won’t live to see it, but when my end comes, I will know that your end will be much worse. Treat my blade well, for it will be honored by Chief Korr’ax. It will be dragon steel by then.”
I grab Riley’s hand and push the spears aside. “Now let us rest. We will no longer worry about the fate of your tribe, for it has condemned itself. Those killed by a dragon do not go to the Ancestors to join them, but I’m sure you know that. Or hasn’t your lying, one-armed shaman told you that? Why is he so desperate that you should all die?”
We walk to the cave that’s ours. For now.
Inside, we embrace, hard. We both know things just got much worse.
“You did well,” Riley says against my chest. “There was no way to change their minds. They’ve been set on this since they first saw us. Only now have they realized that they want it more than they want to live.”
17
- Riley-
When I get up the next day, the air has changed. The cold has a new sharpness to it, and the air smells more metallic, so much so I imagine I feel it on my tongue. The stillness of the wintry surroundings seems deeper than before, but I can’t place it.
Men are already moving with purpose. Everything is happening faster than it should. Bundles get carried from one cave to another. Spears are checked, and then checked again. The drying racks are taken down, the various dinosaur skulls too. A pair of hunters who were laughing last night now work in silence, heads tilted as if they’re listening for something far away.
