Page 22 of Caveman Alien’s Horn (Caveman Aliens #26)

22

- Cora -

I don’t see how I can say no.

I did before, when Astrid asked me the same thing. But things have changed. Now I totally get why the girls would make love to their alien males, and not think too much about the consequences. It’s just not that kind of planet. Tomorrow you might get eaten by some flying dinosaur or stung by an insect the size of an umbrella, so you might as well get what little pleasure you can today. And the pleasure with these guys can be monumental. I don’t blame the girls at all anymore. Now I’ve done the same thing myself.

I don’t reply to Korr’ax right away. I want him to know that this is not an easy thing for me. But I can see that Sprisk understands that I will be leaving. His powerful jaw is clenched like a steel bear trap, spikes trembling with the tension.

I get up. “Sprisk, can I talk to you, please?”

“I’m right here.” He doesn’t show any sign of moving.

“I think I will look closer at that big musrum in the middle,” Korr’ax says and strides away to get out of earshot.

“I won’t try to keep you here,” Sprisk says with a cold bitterness. “I know you want to go to the tribe and be part of it. Everyone does. I’m the only one who doesn’t.”

“An Earth woman needs help, and she think I can give her help. Would you refuse if was a Foundling needing you? ”

“I don’t know. Perhaps you are a better person than I am.”

“I not think so. Why not you come along? You know the tribe already.”

“I’m a Foundling,” he growls. “Not a triber with a long sword. I never wanted to be like them. I like it here.”

“I’m not going to stay there,” I begin, although I’m not really sure. This place was good for a while, but the giant mushrooms are becoming more scary than cute. And I can’t deny that I’m ready to be a part of a community now. Sprisk healed me, pulled me out of my tiny comfort zone, broke me out of my painful shell, and let me get used to being around others after years of solitude. Now I think I can handle more than just him. At least sometimes. “Just come with me, keep me safe. I have to do this. When Bryar has her baby, maybe we can come back here.”

“Korr’ax will keep you safe,” Sprisk says with a coldness that both scares and provokes me. “He has a big sword. I’m just a unicorn.”

Why must he be so unreasonable? “Sprisk, just—” I stop as I spot something by the side of the fire. “‘What is that?! ”

He glances over. “That is the leg of the gresk we’re eating.”

I squat down and pick the leg up by a nasty string that’s cut into it, almost to the bone. I’ve seen something just like it before. “You trap this gresk?”

“Setting a snare is easier than having to search for them. It saves time for making the loom.”

I don’t like what I’m hearing. “Is how you hunt sometimes?”

“Sometimes. Gresk are easier to catch like this. I don’t have to stand still and hope one will come along.”

The snare looks just like the one that caught the vismonks close to my tree. Right after Sprisk had been there.

This one’s dug into the poor victim’s leg, too, just like back there. And there’s a greasy residue.

I go all icy inside. I hated seeing what happened to those vismonks. What kind of person would go hunting for those things?

I don’t get it. It’s the jungle on planet Xren. Sure, there are no rules, and you get your food any way you can. I’m not enamored with using snares to trap gresks, but I get it. One gresk could feed a good few tribesmen for a day.

But vismonks clearly don’t have much meat on them, so trapping them can only be from cruelty. That’s what Diana, the vismonk leader, said. The cavemen are afraid of them for no reason and try to hunt and trap them.

That’s why they didn’t like Sprisk, I suddenly realize. They knew it was him. That’s why Eric always kept his distance.

“Sprisk,” I say flatly. “I must ask. Have you set trap before? Recently?”

I swear he winces, and that says it all.

“I helped trap your friends,” he says heavily. “It was me. I made the trap, and I made sure it would work. I set it and hid it well.”

Damn it! “Oh, Sprisk…”

“I was going to tell you. But I never found the right moment. And I was having such a good time these past days. I’m sorry. I know it was a bad thing to do.”

For a while neither of us speak. I don’t even know what to say. I so wish he hadn’t done that. But on the other hand, it makes things easier right now.

“How many you trap?” I finally ask.

He sighs. “Just the three. We wanted them for the clan. But they were hard to catch, so we decided to trap them. As it turned out, it didn’t work. We didn’t get them.”

“It didn’t work because their friends help them.”

He looks away. “Yes.”

I don’t even know what he wanted those vismonks for, and I’m not going to ask. Diana said the snares were set specifically to catch vismonks, so it must be for some cruel purpose. Because nobody would trap them to eat them.

I drop the gresk leg and straighten up, feeling numb. “I will go with Korr’ax now. To help my friend give birth.”

Sprisk doesn’t reply.

I walk into the hollow tree and quickly change out of my straw outfit and into the ‘Chanel’ dress Astrid gave me. Quickly packing the backpack, I’m soon out again and wave to Korr’ax to come over.

“Goodbye, Sprisk. I hope to see you again soon.”

He stares into the fire. “The trap was not nice. But it was necessary.”

“ Necessary?!” I ask in disbelief, anger welling up in me. But then I decide to not take the bait. “Necessary. I see.”

Korr’ax stoops to pick up his sword belt. “You are very welcome in the Borok village, Foundling Sprisk. Anytime, as are all your clansbrothers. I would wish to stay and enjoy the food I can smell cooking right now, but instead I will hurry back to my wife with Cora. The birth could happen at any time. Why don’t you come with us?”

“I’m a Foundling. I wasn’t made for a village,” Sprisk drones flatly. “But thank you for the offer, Chief.”

I glance at Sprisk. “Thank you for the loom. And for everything.”

He keeps staring into the flames. I get the strong feeling that if Korr’ax hadn’t been here, with his long sword, Sprisk wouldn’t have let me go. He would have kept me here, whether I wanted to or not. And that is the kind of Sprisk I would expect to trap vismonks for fun.

Korr’ax helps me through the creek and up the other side.

At the portal I stop and look back.

Sprisk is still sitting there, alone in his clearing, surrounded by giant mushrooms.

A part of me is desperate to run back there, embrace his giant body, and promise to never leave.

I turn around. “Let’s go.”

Halfway through the portal, the smells and the heat of the jungle hit me like a sledgehammer.