Page 31 of Caveman Alien’s Horn (Caveman Aliens #26)

31

- Sprisk -

I’ve seen a couple of weddings before, so the procedure is not new to me.

Astrid the shaman asks me if I really want this, then clenches her hands over her ears when she sees me draw breath to reply.

I say ‘I do!” so my voice echoes mightily from the totem wall behind her.

Astrid winces, cautiously takes her hands off her ears, and asks Cora the same thing.

“I do,” she says softly, and this time Astrid doesn’t need to cover her ears.

Astrid says more words that I really like to hear, and then we turn around and face the village and the clan.

They all clap their hands together and drums beat wildly. I think to myself that maybe the Foundling clan would need some drums like that, just for the most solemn occasions.

“ Kis,” a woman yells. “ Kis!” It’s taken up by the other alien females, then the tribers. “ Kis! Kis! Kis!” the crowd roars.

I bend down so I can hear what Astrid is trying to tell me.

“They want us to kiss,” she says, so excited her cheeks are a rosy red.

“I know how to do that,” I inform her, before I show her and everyone.

The crowd roars with approval. If this continues much longer, I’ll have to change my opinion about tribes. At least about this one. Perhaps they’re not as arrogant as I thought.

The women come over to congratulate us. They’re very interested in Cora’s dress, which nobody knew about until now, except for Astrid. She’s both the shaman and something called ‘ madeovhonr’ , which I think is unusual. But she helped Cora with everything up until this moment, including the dress. It’s made from the long sheet I wove in the clearing, and now the women are touching it and cooing and squeaking and being all alien.

“Well done, clansbrother,” Brak says when he works his way through the crowd to slap my shoulder. “Your life just changed for the better.”

“That’s the way it feels,” I agree, dizzy from all the people and the noise. “I never dreamed I would be married. Even when you and Noker married your wives. It seemed so… right, as if that was the only possible outcome once your wives met you.”

“Oh, we suspected you would try,” Noker chuckles, as he too slaps my back. “Especially when you vanished at the same time as Cora.”

“But I didn’t try,” I protest. “I never thought this would happen. I just saw her being so alone, and I couldn’t stand it.”

“It’s true,” Bakitan says as he slaps me too, more measured in his force than the two others. “He thought Cora would hate him because of his spikes. I knew she wouldn’t, because who can hate a half glyx? Sprisk, old Melr’ax is asking for you.”

“Oh.” I make my way over to Cora. “The old shaman wants to see us.”

She comes with me to the hut where Melr’ax lives.

Inside it’s dark and so hot it feels like being back in that clearing during the explosion. Old Melr’ax is sitting in a chair, his legs up, so thin and pale that I think he might be dead.

“Ah, young Sprisk,” he creaks, and the glint in his eyes is the same as always. “You’re married now, eh? To this remarkable alien female with a gift for receiving newborns? Yes, I have heard of you, Cora. The tribe can speak of nothing else but the mysterious woman who came, made sure the first baby born in the tribe — a girl, even! — was born safely, and who then vanished in the jungle. There was considerable sadness in the village after that. We thought you had seen us and found us not good enough to join.”

“I find this tribe and village wonderful,” Cora says calmly. “But is possible to see a fine place and still not want to live there always. Perhaps that place will seem wonderful for longer if one not see it every day.”

“This is a deep one,” Melr’ax says with a little chuckle. “Take good care of her, Sprisk. I suspect she is everything any man could ever want or need. That also means, as the old tales say, that she will give you the challenge you need, when you need it. And Cora, I’m happy you could see past my young clansbrother’s unusual appearance. There are remarkable things beneath that horn and those spikes.”

“I saw it,” my wife says easily, giving me an amused glance. “Not right away, perhaps. But before it was too late.”

“In all the Foundling clan,” Melr’ax whispers, already getting exhausted, “there were never better men than Brak, Noker, and Sprisk. Their half-Big nature somehow makes them stronger and more whole than us other men. I can now go to the stars with my head held high. Things turned out fantastically well for us Foundlings. Dear me, I never knew the jungle to be this cold .” He closes his eyes.

Some boys in attendance put a leather sheet around the old man’s bony body.

I lead Cora out into the fresh air and wipe the sweat off my forehead. “He likes it warm.”

She looks at the closed door to his hut. “He doesn’t seem to be well.”

“He really doesn’t. But he’s promised me to not die on our wedding day. He made no such promise about tomorrow.”

The tribe has arranged a wonderful feast for us, unlike any I’ve seen before. This also has to do with the newborn girl. Bryar and Korr’ax carry the little bundle down to the ground, so she can take part in her first tribal celebration. They say she’s big, but to me she looks impossibly tiny.

This time the drums beat lounder, and the chanting is louder. Even the dragon Praxigor stands at the edge of the crowd, looking metallic and dangerous, a superior smirk always on his face.

Well, he’s a guest at my wedding, so I should greet him.

I walk over, for the first time in my life wishing I had a sword by my side.

“Praxigor! You honor us with your presence.”

He turns and arches an eyebrow. “Indeed. My wife tells me I should also feel honored because I was invited. So I will say that I do. I wish to compliment you on the explosion! I saw it from some distance. I doubt there has been any such conflagration on this planet for a long time, possibly ever. Well done. It looked admirably hot.”

His voice is icy and smooth, but I’ve been told that is simply his way and that I should not be alarmed about it.

I give him a tight smile. “Thank you. It was not on purpose, but the heat was great. Although perhaps not comparable to your dragon fire. But I'm sure it reminded your two helpers of that. Before they burned up.”

He raises both eyebrows. “Ah, my two surviving lackeys? It's regrettable that they made trouble for you. I would have taken them out of their misery some time ago, but my wife has suggested that I do less killing than what seems natural to me.”

“Ah. Mine has done the same thing.”

“Hmm. One wonders if those alien women know what they're doing.”

We both look over at Cora and Astrid, in deep and loud conversation with all the alien women.

“We can only hope,” I state. “Because for us husbands, not doing as they suggest may be… unwise.”

“Precisely.” His smirk turns almost friendly. “I’m surprised you both survived the explosion. Now you just have to survive the many trials of being married. Though they say the ideal is to not survive it. Puzzling, but it makes some sense.”

I nod slowly. “Are those trials really that bad?”

“We shall both see, I think. I’m nearly as new to this as you are. So far, I have never had a less trying time than I have living with my Astrid. I think it must be limited how bad it could get.”

“Wise words,” I reply. “And yet, when someone has your heart in their hand, they have great power over you.”

The dragon nods once. “Foundling Sprisk, I have thought the same thing.”

There’s a great amount of drinking of frine, but Cora and I only take small sips. We don’t need any help feeling happy.

Cora looks extraordinary in her wedding dress, sparking white and as light as air. The colored threads I used while weaving it stand out, and I’m glad I didn’t use too many of them.

I’m more and more convinced that this tribe is not as rotten nor as arrogant as I thought before. If they were, would they make this huge party for a mere Foundling and an alien woman who was never a part of their tribe? I highly doubt it.

After a while, Cora leans into me. “Want to go?”

I get to my feet. “Dear friends, the bride says that you have all made so many rude jokes about our wedding night that she’s quite shocked. Now she insists we get to our cave, where we shall spend the night weaving many plain fabrics.” I sigh deeply.

“Sprisk!” Cora slaps my knee in mock outrage. “We not going to do that! We have to make the loom first!”

Everyone laughs.

We leave amid many more jokes, going up the stairs to the Mount. The ‘penthouse’ is not available because there’s a very young tribesgirl living there now, but we’ve been given a smaller and still perfectly nice cave halfway up.

I take Cora into my arms and kiss her deeply, more intensely than I want the others to see. “You’re my wife. We’re married.”

“Completely married,” she says, eyes shining. “Forever.”

The drums are still going down by the totem wall, and the happy laughter from the party reaches us.

“It’s not a bad tribe,” I state, running one hand down Cora’s side. “What do you think?”

“It’s better than I thought,” she coos as she strokes my chest, making small rainbows. “But I’m not sure I want to live here.”

“Nor in the clan,” I add as I impatiently help take her dress off. “I think you and I were made to rely only on each other, not on them.”

“We can come here sometimes, if they let us,” Cora says as her dress drops to the floor, as lightly as a dry leaf. “And we’ll give them nice fabrics.”

“The nicest we’ll keep to ourselves,” I state as my new ‘kilt’ also drops, much heavier. “You’ll always wear the finest clothes.” I pull her into me.

She laughs. “You usually don’t want me to wear clothes at all.”

I kiss her again. The world has changed and become whole. She screamed the first time she saw me. But after that, I’ve made her scream many times, in a much better way.

“I'm a unicorn,” I growl. “You told me all about them. Of course I want you naked when you ride me.”