Olivia (97 page)

The Great Spirit was lying atop her, still hard but not moving.  He had turned his face into the hollow of her throat and was lapping at the sweat of her skin, contented as a cat with cream.

He sensed she had returned, and with a low sound of reluctance he pushed off and out of her, then crouched back and watched her slowly gain her feet.  His eyes were banked coals of immense satisfaction.

“
That was pleasant sport indeed
.”   His voice was thunderous, relaxed and contented, for all that he remained erect and undiminished. “
And well savored.  I look forward to our next compromise
.”  And then he’d vanished, again taking the lights and warmth from the room.

Olivia had stumbled through the tunnels to discover three days had passed.  Her seasons never affected Vorgullum for more than one night.  Either the Great Spirit was more attuned to them or…or she was already changing.

Now Olivia looked at Amy and said, “What’s going on in the world, birthday girl?”

“Whole lotta nothing.”  Amy stretched languidly and stretched out next to Olivia, propping her head up on her crooked arm.  “Sarah B. is almost done with being pregnant.  Liz is pregnant but holding it together.  Ellen and Anita are both getting huge and pregnant.  Cheyenne is freaking people out and pregnant.  Beth is still an itty bitty bit pregnant.  Nobody else is pregnant.  I would like to get through one whole day without saying the word pregnant.”

“Smugg?”

“Smugg is a perfect little leather-winged angel.  Damark is crazy about her.  How’s Somurg?”

“Doing a pretty good impression of his father, most of the time.”

“Which one?”  Amy lifted a hand in mock surrender as Olivia started to scowl, and said, “Sorry, I know.  Touchy subject.”  She made little circles in the bedding with her finger.  “Tina wants you to go to town and get more syringes.”

“Ah shit, I forgot all about that.”

“No prob.  She’s got enough for four more episodes, she says, but with Liz, that could mean four weeks or four days.  Who knows?”

“I’ll get Doru to take me later on.  What time is it?”

“Just after six.”  Amy smiled faintly.  “I keep expecting Kurlun to pop in with a present.  I could use another can opener.”  Her lip trembled slightly.

Olivia slipped her arm around the other woman’s shoulders.

“Oh, where are they?” Amy whispered.  “Why don’t they send a scout back, just once in a while, just to let us know!”

“Try not to worry, Amy,” she said gently.  “Vorgullum said it was going to be a long trip, but it’ll be over soon, and you’ll be wrapping your ankles around his shoulders in no time.”

Amy started, and giggled into her hand.  “Who told you about that?”

“Like something like that wouldn’t get around.”  Olivia rolled her eyes teasingly.  “Making me look bad.”

“Yoga classes.  Best fifty bucks I ever spent.” 

Sudjummar finally lifted his head and peered over Olivia’s shoulder at Amy with a great show of surprise.  “Um…hi,” he said, clearly wracking his brain in an effort to remember whether or not Amy had been there when he and Olivia had tumbled into the pit in a thrashing kinetic frenzy the night before.

Amy immediately switched to gullanese and put on her sexiest, smokiest voice.  “Hey there, Iron-Tooth,” she purred.

Sudjummar looked faintly impressed with himself.  “This is Amy, right?” he asked, glancing at Olivia.

“Well, clearly I didn’t make enough of an impression,” Amy huffed and started to rise.

Sudjummar caught her wrist and thrummed sleepily.  “I’m sure I could spark a memory with a little effort.”

Amy giggled again, looked at Olivia for help.

“She’s playing a joke on you, Sudjummar.”

He released her at once, flustered.  “Oh, sorry.”  He watched her leave, then turned to Olivia and said, “What was that all about?”

“Amy was just telling me how time passes.”

“Time is such a trick, isn’t it?”  He wrapped an arm around her waist and rolled onto his back, draping her easily atop him.  He crooked his other arm behind his head and thrummed at her.  “Best to make the most of it.” 

She considered it.  His easy-going morning arousal had sparked her power, but after so many sessions with the Great Spirit, she could control it.  Still she was tempted; she hadn’t once been with him without that power boiling through her, and it might be nice, she thought, just to relax and make love.  And he might think it was nice, too, not to end up in half a coma.

“I have things to do,” she said at last, and pulled back out of his reluctant grip.  “And so do you.  I keep you in this pit too much as it is.  That pile of broken tools in the forge is almost as tall as I am.”

He growled, rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself to his feet.  “Oh all right.  Leave Somurg with me.”

Olivia had been gathering her baby-supplies preparatory to pawning Somurg off in the women’s tunnels.  Now she glanced cautiously back at him.  “You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.  We get along just fine, don’t we, cousin?”  He scooped Somurg out of his cradle and nipped lightly at the baby’s nose.  Somurg immediately punched his uncle in the eye and giggled.  “And he’ll give me something to do when I get bored trying to catch up with work.”

“But you’ll—”

“Bring him to you for feedings, yes.  And if I can’t find you, I’ll give him to Amy.”

She came to kiss him.  “Thanks.  I know it’s overprotective—”

He laughed.  “There are worse habits than insisting on nursing your son.  Oh, if you see him, tell Doru I’ve got his spear done,” he added.  “So he won’t have to come down and break the other wing after all.”

She promised, gave the sensitive patch between his wings a scratch for goodbye, and left while he was still growling after her to come back and finish what she’d started.  She stopped by the women’s tunnels only just long enough to make sure Liz was all right, and only then because it was on her way and she could borrow an empty backpack or three from Tina, who reminded her patiently three times about the syringes in the course of a two-minute conversation.

Then Olivia took herself out to the common caves, catching the band of gullan males and the two human huntresses on their way out for the night.  “Doru, can I borrow you?” she called.

He had been sighting down the shaft of a spear with an expression of deep dislike.  He tossed it aside immediately on hearing his name and trotted over eagerly.  “Is my weapon ready?”

“Yes, you can pick it up anytime, but I was hoping you’d take me into town again.”  She gave him her most winning smile.

His grin widened and he hauled his body back to its most impressive posture.  “Same place?”

“No.  We just need a few things.”

He deflated slightly, then tossed his horns at the hunters and told them to go on without him.  “Hodrub, stay with Sarahjay,” he added sternly.  “And Sarahjay, dammit, stay with Hodrub!  Mudmar, you lead the hunt.  Get another goat for Horumn.”  He started to turn towards Olivia, and then swung back one last time.  “And Tobi, for Urga’s sake, if you drop your spear again, stop fighting and call for help!  All right?”

“Got it!” Tobi sang, saluting him.  She wore her spear in a sling across her back, and as she ran out towards the chasm entrance, she drew her own pair of climbing spikes and slipped them over her small hands.

Doru shook his head slightly, watching her go.  “Lost her spear in the last hunt,” he muttered.  “Jumped a rogue stag with those ridiculous little metal claws.  Head on.”

“Was she hurt?” Olivia asked, appalled.

He bared his teeth, looking mildly chagrined.  “No, actually, she killed it.  Which means I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I didn’t even know she had a set.”

“You thought you were the only one?”  He chuckled.  “Let’s see, who else has them?  Sarahjay, of course.  Amy, I think. Tina, and I know Liz used to have some, but I think she gave hers up after she got heavy.”  He indicated a full belly with one hand.  “Of course, Vorgullum offered them to all the humans after he saw how quickly you took to them—all but the Beast, that is—but not many were interested.  And why not, we were always willing to carry them before, and there aren’t as many long drops in this new mountain.”

“You sound disappointed.”

He hooked his hand into claws and brought them up before her eyes.  They seemed pointier than she remembered them being.  “They need wearing down,” he explained.  “The flightless males are having an even worse time.  It’s not a bad mountain,” he said grudgingly.  “And I suppose it’s better for the humans, easier to reach the baths and all that, but I’ll be glad when Vorgullum says we can return to Hollow Mountain.”

“And if he never does?”

He shrugged his wings and shoulders in the same movement.  Then he grinned.  “If nothing else, at this rate we’ll have enough babies to start a whole new tribe in a few years.”

He walked her to the entry and held out his hand expectantly, shaking his head when she showed him her climbing spikes.  “Yours don’t need wearing down, and I’ll feel better if you’re in my arms.”

She sheathed her spikes unwillingly in her belt pouch and climbed onto his chest, locking her hands around his neck.  “You let Tobi climb it,” she observed, aware that she sounded sulky.

“I can’t
stop
Tobi,” he said, laughing, and started up.  “But she’s like a little snake…a senseless little snake.  And I’ll tell you this—if Tina ever knew she was climbing this wall on her own, she’d have my wings off.”

“You know I came down on my own the very first night we found it,” she reminded him.

“Good for you,” he replied blithely.  “But I bet you a box of thumperjuice you went back up in someone’s arms.”

This was true.  She scowled.

“Well?”

“I had some help,” she said vaguely.

“Ha!  I’ll tell you what kind I like best when we get to the hive.  I’ve come to respect you a great deal,” he added, giving her back a pat on his way to find another clawhold. “But there’s independence and utter stupidity.  We don’t let our own young climb out until after they’ve fledged.”  He trailed off into wistful silence, thinking, no doubt of the fledging season to come. 

They gained the aerie and he pushed her helpfully over then sprang up beside her and opened his wings.  He scanned the tree line, grumbled something under his breath about Mudmar’s formation, then turned and peered out at the distant lights of human habitation.  “I suppose you need a whole hive and not one of their dens,” he said.  “All right, come here.”

He bent down a little so she could hop up and lock her arms around his neck again.  His hands encircled her waist and then he leapt out over space, dropping low in a glide over the tops of the trees.  He swept his eyes over the ground mechanically, grunted when he spied a small band of elk, then arched up and curved away towards the outlying town.

“You should learn to hunt,” he said, ducking his head against her ear to be heard over the roaring wind of their passage.  “You’d be good at it.  And I could use the help.  Vorgullum has forty-three hunters with him.  I have eight and a handful of elders.  And Tobi’s efforts notwithstanding, we’ve had to rely more heavily on our stores than I’d like, and there’s not that damn much in our stores in Dark Mountain.”

“Why don’t you ask the other gullan females?” she shouted.

“I
have
!  The same night, the same
hour
that Vorgullum left, I was in the women’s tunnels with an armload of spears!  I only found three willing to try and not one of them could get off the ground without help.  I put them with the humans, but when the game bolted, Tobi and Sarahjay charged forward and all three gullan dropped their spears and ran screaming.  Our own fault,” he snarled sourly, and shook his head.  “Maybe little Smugg will join me in the skies, but those other females are useless.  I couldn’t put a spear in their hands again if you ordered them to take it.  And believe me, if I thought it would make a difference, I’d ask you to order them.  Eight hunters—six gulla and two humans, and I hate to admit that the humans consistently bring back more food.  Even if they find no game, they’re expert raiders.”

He was swooping low over the outskirts of the city now.  “Tell me where,” he said, banking towards the commercial lots.

She twisted as best she could to see, and let go his neck long enough to point at one of the grocery/drug/souvenir shops so prevalent in small towns.  This one was called Big Bill’s Corner Market, and had a giant plastic statue of a lumberjack in the parking lot.  “That’s good,” she said.

“That’s still active, but we can wait,” he said, but touched down on the roof and set her on her feet. “This is a good place to raid.  I come here a lot.”

“Do you?”

“Oh yes.  They’ve got bigger places around, and when we really need food, we tend to raid those more than this one, but I like this place best.  Best damn thumperjuice in the whole world.  And it has light-makers, and some of those coverings you humans wear, and these.”  He hooked a claw in the strap of her backpack.  “And the jars the females use for storing herbs, and pots and pans and metal knives and just all sorts of useful things.  I love it here.”

He hunkered down comfortably to wait out the closing of the store and she sat down facing him and drew her knees up to her chin.

“Tell me of your Somurg,” he invited.

“Well…he’s little and noisy and hungry all the time,” she replied.  “He’s also messy and wriggly and extremely loud when he wants to be.  But he’s soft and warm…and when he isn’t spitting up on himself, he smells wonderful.  He’s started grabbing at things he wants, and since I’m one of those things, I’ve got a good patch of scratches.”  She opened the front of her leather vest slightly and showed him the upper swell of her breast.

Doru hissed sympathetically.  “I hope you’re treating those.  I’m old enough to remember what babies like to hold in their grubby paws.”

She fastened her vest, nodding.  “If those claws get much longer, I’m going to go after him with one of Sudjummar’s files.”

“To have such troubles,” Doru murmured.  He growled in the back of his throat and ran his claws over the gritty rooftop in small, discouraged circles.  “Tina has agreed to go to Gullnar when she’s in season, and when he gets back, of course.  Tobi said she would come to me, but she hasn’t.  I could push the issue if I wanted…but I won’t.”