Lovers in the Woods (20 page)

“You’re quite demanding,” she whispered in
mock accusation. “Do you have something in mind beyond
sleeping?”

“Maybe sleeping with you, my radiant
lady?”

“Is there a reason you are hopeful that I
might agree?”

He put an arm around her waist and led her
toward their hut. “Is there any reason you might have to
disagree?”

“Hmm, let me think. You didn’t shoot the
beast today to give me as a trophy.”

“In my defense, I state that the Horlyn did
the job before I could.”

“Ah, next time then?”

“
Next time.” He opened the flap for her,
breathing hard from his anticipation. “I might enchant you with a
bundle of jokes instead.”

“How nice.” She laughed and lay down on the
pallet.

There were few clothes to drop and their body
heat made a blanket superfluous. He gently stroked her hair.

“You are a marvelous woman, Ray. I’m really a
lucky guy.”

“From the first moment we met.”

He kissed her forehead, smiling. “Who is
arrogant now, hmm?”

“
If I hadn’t saved your sorry ass, you’d be
in the hands of Sanjongy, don’t you think?”

“Don’t remind me. It makes me shake all over.
Please, don’t ask questions. Not tonight,” he begged her when she
was about to do just that.

“All right, no questions.” She kissed him.
“If you don’t take me now, I’ll go out and take everybody
else.”

“I guess I don’t want that.”

“I know.” Her hands traveled down his ribcage
to his hips. She frowned. “Wait a moment. Is there someone
outside?”

Sajitar pushed himself up once more to have a
look and found Grenkyl and Bajan standing in front of the hut,
looking innocent as puppies.

“What are you doing here?” he asked through
the slit of the flap. “Don’t you have your own home?”

“Why, do you mind us listening?” Grenkyl
smiled and shrugged. “It’s fun to hear what you talk about
and…later. What you do, I mean.”

“
Come on, folks, give us some privacy,
okay? How can a man do what’s his right if you’re standing outside
to judge?”

“No, just…listening,” Bajan stated. His face
blushed with excitement, but he had the courtesy to look down.

“And I don’t want you to listen or watch or
whatever. Can you respect that?”

“
Sure.” Grenkyl turned, unhappy. “But you
know it’s common around here. This is no closed society, not flats
and houses and everybody has secrets. You don’t need any secrets
here, Saji. And we don’t want you to start them.”

“Maybe later. Right now, I wouldn’t sell
tickets.” He let go of the flap and turned, exhaling. “Is
everything here free to watch?”

“Attractions are few. So we have to serve.”
Rayenne patted the empty space beside her. “Come, listeners or no,
I want you close to me.”

“
How shall I say no?” he replied, and
pretended to think about her invitation.

“
If you don’t get over here now, I’ll pull
you down.”

“I so love your threats…”

Chapter
Nine

For
another two weeks,
Rayenne and Sajitar lived with the settlers and shared their daily
chores as well as their meals. Ray learned to weave and do
needlepoint and was fascinated by the variety of material the women
used to create clothes, blankets and rain covers. There were
spiders that spun nets strong enough to hold fruits, and certain
caterpillars shed a substance that spiced soups like pepper. Shells
of hard beetles were used for bowls and the bones of slaughtered
animals were sharpened to knives and forks.

Sajitar regained his health and accompanied
the men on their hunt for small beasts to enlarge the menu.

Grenkyl was the most skilled hunter among
them, and led the hunting party south. Sajitar and Dorin
accompanied him on the quiet march, looking out for tracks and
signs, lances ready if a Tusk-turner was looking for them to become
his dinner. They hunted and caught animals the size of guinea pigs
and larger and were content enough to decide and return to the
village on the second day.

Grenkyl was taciturn even after the
successful hunt while they took their frugal meal around noon.
Sajitar interpreted the glances as rejection and was about to
comment on it when Grenkyl put down the waterskin and wiped his
mouth to ask, “You know that you cannot keep her away from us for
another moon, right?”

Sajitar had expected several accusations,
but that was not one of them. When he didn’t reply at once, Grenkyl
went on,

“
She’s a woman of our village now and we
all can woo her to share our bed. It’s not up to you to decide whom
she prefers.”

“I didn’t tell her to stay with me, if that’s
what you mean. She does this of her own free will.”

“You bet!” He spat on the ground.

Sajitar pursed his lips, checking Dorin, who
pretended to be absorbed in eating the remains of a fruit. He did
not even look up.

“Ray makes up her own mind. She decides. If
she doesn’t want another man there will be no other man in her bed.
It’s simple. And as far as I know—”

“You know nothing of us!” Grenkyl was up on
his feet so quickly, Sajitar had no time to evade. He grabbed
Sajitar by the collar and pulled him up to thrust him hard against
the next trunk. “You came here and now try to make up new rules!
You walk around like a proud cock, telling everyone that Ray only
wants you! Who do you think you are? The best stud around?”

Saji put his hands around Grenkyl’s
wrists, but he could as easily have tried to wrestle a Horlyn.
Grenkyl’s arm muscles were hard like rope and just as strong. He
could not break his grip. Though he knew Grenkyl would not easily
kill him, he worried how far the older man would go.

“I don’t keep her from you or anyone
else!”

Sajitar saw the blow coming, but it was too
late. The back of his head hit the trunk and his vision exploded in
a million stars. He cried out.

Grenkyl grunted without letting go.

“
You pull her away the moment one of us
only looks at her! But I’ll teach you manners!” Grenkyl hit him
hard enough to split his lip and the third punch sent Sajitar to
the ground, bleeding at the eyebrow. His conscious mind took a long
time deciding whether to give up or stay put and finally settled
for a blurred vision of the surroundings and the promise of a
headache worthy of any hangover. Grenkyl spat on him, his fists
ready if Sajitar dared to stand up. “You either give her free or
we’ll have this meeting again before the moon phase is over. Your
choice.”

Sajitar tasted blood on his lower lip and
looked up where Grenkyl stood like a god of wrath. He smiled
wearily, wiped his brow and came away with more blood.

“
If you think that hitting me gets you Ray,
you’re mistaken.” His voice slurred, but he went on, “She has her
way with men, and you don’t gain a rotten leaf by smashing my
face.”

Grenkyl bent to pull Sajitar up again, who
held his hands up in defense.

“
Maybe the message wasn’t
clear enough.
You’ll stay away from her
, hear me? There’s dancing tonight to
celebrate the hunt and I don’t want you close to Ray. I will ask
her. And I don’t want to see your bloody face around.”

Sajitar shook his head slowly. The movement
hurt.

“
You don’t listen, Grenkyl. Even if I leave
early, do you think she’ll happily dance with you and forget me
because you’re such an excellent charmer?”

Grenkyl bared his large teeth to a wicked
grin.

“
Who says you’ll return with us tonight? I
think I’d better leave you here somewhere.”

“And what will you tell the others? That I
loved the flowers so much I couldn’t part with them?”

“I’ll come up with something.” Grenkyl thrust
Sajitar down once more. He remained on the ground, grimacing. “Or
even better—you’ll come up with an excuse to show your face only
tomorrow.”

Sajitar closed his eyes and sent the image of
him sitting bleeding on the ground. He had not seen any Horlyn
around the whole day and maybe the attempt to make contact was
nothing but an idiotic move to delay his fate, but he had to do
something. Grenkyl looked as if he would do more than thrashing to
keep Sajitar away from his beloved.

Grenkyl drank from his waterskin and put
it away. Dorin shouldered his bag and waited for the two men to
come. With the second attempt, Sajitar made it to his feet, but
needed the trunk to support him. He took a deep breath.

“
I thought you all belonged to one big
happy family. Are you the black sheep, the brawler no one talks
about?”

Grenkyl shot him an angry glare.

“
Every family has its problems. And these
days that’s you. There are fewer women than men here, you know
that. Who can blame me for taking my chances? I want to be a
father, too.”

“
You could’ve made it a fair fight, maybe
after dinner, and given me a chance to defend myself. This is
nothing but—” He stopped and straightened.

“A
Color-changer,” Dorin stated, surprised. “Hadn’t expected one
around here.” He turned to Grenkyl. “Do you still want to—”

“Shut up, Dor!” Grenkyl gritted his teeth as
he looked at the massive head of the Horlyn looming ominously a row
of trees away. He growled a curse. “And you, stranger, come along!
Hurry!”

The mighty beast was very quiet
and passive, but its presence
clearly irritated and frightened Dorin and
Grenkyl. They made their way back in haste, checking over their
shoulders to see if it followed. Sajitar did not even try to catch
up, but knew he was not in danger. Soon the thick branches obscured
the crude path and the Horlyn was gone from their view.

Sajitar sighed.
I’d never thought to
be grateful to see one of them
. He touched his swollen face. He wouldn’t see
anything from his left eye for days, but at least he would heal
again. It was a better fate than being left behind unconscious in
the wilderness. Judging by Grenkyl’s furious glance, he would have
suffered either another beating or being bound to the next tree
outside the village to become a Tusk-turner’s meal. He was close to
whistling when he got their catch to carry. Grenkyl did not look at
him the whole way back.

“
It’s almost time to leave,” he said to Ray
when he entered their hut.

She turned to look at him and
hissed
upon
seeing his bloodied face.

“It’s nothing, okay? I met a fist in the
woods and it won.”

She carefully examined the bruises,
grimacing. “And you accepted this fist lying down? You must have
been mightily in the wrong.”

“
All the same, let’s go tonight. There’ll
be dancing and drinking and they’ll go to sleep drunk. Then we take
our stuff and go.”

She hesitated.

“Ray, please, I’m fine. No need to rattle the
tree. I just ask you to come with me.”

“
Do you doubt that I want to
leave?”

He took her by the shoulders, touching her
forehead with his. “Ah, come on, you’ve never been so happy. Don’t
contradict! It’s true. It’s a great life here. You don’t have much
to be concerned about. That’s a good thing. I feel the
same.”

“And still you know that there’s a job
waiting to be done.”

“It’s your job, I know.”

“
Thanks for understanding.” She shook her
head. “I’m surprised, nevertheless, that I don’t have to pull you
out of here.”

He opened his mouth for a witty reply, but
realized it was not the time for jokes. “I don’t want to leave,
that’s true, but I guess this happy family has other plans about my
stay.”

“So you brawled about…what? Your place in the
hierarchy?”

He lowered his head. Even that movement
wasn’t painless.

“
Yes. No. In a way.” He gave her a light
kiss on her lips. “Let’s sum up and say, we’d both better leave.
The sooner the better.”

Rayenne smiled, but her worried frown
remained. “I hadn’t expected you to be the first to decide that we
should go.”

“If we don’t go tonight it’ll get worse.”

“
Agreed. We’ll fetch the B-horses and be
off as soon as the villagers are drunk.” She looked around for what
to pack, then turned back to him. “Don’t you think we should
explain our departure?”

Sajitar sighed and shook his head, putting
his hands on his hips.

“No, I’m afraid they’d let me go, but keep
you.”

“Lack of women?”

“Yep. And if I get it right, the Horlyns like
their little village to grow. Leaving is not on the list.”

She started collecting their few
belongings and the blanket she had created and sewn with
Nassaly.

“I wonder why the Horlyns protect the
village. Is it a kind of game? Do they play with us like cats play
with mice?”

“
I’d rather use the
term
experiment
. They watch and protect them. They even show the men where
to find food and they help the sick.”

“So they try to find the weaknesses of their
enemy.”

Sajitar shed his garment to wash at the
bowl, wincing when the cloth scratched his wounds. “You still have
that negative view of the world. Maybe they plan to protect their
woods by telling men about how to heal sicknesses
effectively.”

“And how do they communicate? Are they
planning to learn our language?”