Page 68 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Anghar

V antos groans as Shemza and Rardek lift him using a strange contraption made of branches and material that I have never seen before. A human invention, I guess. Perhaps they are less helpless than they first appear.

“Get him back to the village,” Gregar says. “Take whoever you need to help you.”

“Rardek will be assistance enough.”

“Take Grace, too,” a female voice says and I start, looking round.

She is a human female, whoever she is, but she speaks raskarran words.

Her belly is rounded with a youngling, and another, a little boy, clings to her neck, his face pressed to her, his little tail wrapped around her arm.

My stomach does strange dances inside me, my heartspace beating so hard I am surprised I stay upright.

A human female with raskarran younglings?

“She’s a healer,” the female says, her accent not of a Deep Forest tribe. “She can help. Grace?”

Another human female steps up beside her. They exchange a few human words. Then the one called Grace nods and goes to follow after Shemza and Rardek.

“Ellie!”

I turn at the sound of my linasha’s name and see a group of females, led by the fierce one with a spear, rushing towards her.

“ Msogladureokay, ” the fierce one says, as a little one with short, messy hair throws her arms around my Ellie. “ Wuzthatyushootingthaguy? ”

My Ellie nods in answer to whatever the question was. The fierce one grins, a wild, almost feral grin.

“ Fuckinbadass,” she says.

I do not know what this means. She has used none of the few words I know.

But my Ellie looks pleased. I touch her arm, then gesture to my tribe brothers.

I gesture for her to stay, wanting to give her time with her tribe, but her eyes are glued on the other female and the youngling in her arms. I see the shock in her expression, the wonder.

“ Whosethat?” She turns to the fierce one with her question.

I leave them, though it is a wrench to part from my Ellie. All the fear and the fight in my heartspace has left me exhausted, craving the comfort of her touch. But she needs time with her tribe, as I need a moment with mine.

I go to Gregar first. Guilt pinches at my heartspace.

I do not wish I had not run after my Ellie - she would have been taken by the Cliff Top tribe without me there to defend her, and just the thought of that puts a cold stone in my stomach.

I only wish I could have been in two places at once, protecting my linasha and my tribe both.

“Looks like you arrived at just the right time,” Gregar says to me, gripping my shoulder in greeting. “I am glad to see you, brother.”

“As am I glad to be back with the tribe.” My eye catches on the male I do not know as he approaches the human female with the youngling. He has another youngling in his arms, a female, her little face damp with tears of fright. He sweeps his arms round his family, drawing them close.

“It has been a strange time since we parted,” Gregar says, noting the direction of my attention. “We must get back to the village. I thought we were safe here, but apparently I was mistaken.”

I see that thought weighs heavily on him, his mouth down-turned. He turns to the female.

“Sally, are any of the other females hurt?”

“No,” she says. “No one is hurt. Just…”

Her eyes travel in the direction of the village.

“Vantos is a strong warrior,” Gregar says. “It will take more than those injuries to keep one such as him down.”

I know Gregar is speaking to reassure his tribe, that he may not fully believe those words. But I do. Vantos is far too stubborn to succumb to a few injuries.

“Is your linasha well?” Gregar asks, turning back to me.

“She is,” I say, angling my body so he can see past me to where my Ellie talks with her tribe. “Yours?”

Gregar nods. “Back at the village. I wish to return to her soon. Shemza and the others will arrive ahead of us. I do not wish her to worry for her tribe sisters a moment longer than necessary.”

“Then let us go,” Maldek says. “We can return later to deal with the bodies. The tribe should be together right now.” He grins at Sally and tickles her youngling’s cheek. “All of it.”

We walk together back towards the village. It is not far from where we are and we walk at a pace, all of us eager to be safely within the confines of the village. I expect my Ellie to walk with her sisters, but she comes to my side, tucking herself against me.

“Hurt? ” she says.

“ No .”

I feel a tension releasing in her body. I tap on the pack on her back, taking it off her shoulders and placing it over mine instead. She smiles at me, handing back my bow as well. I think of my plan to make her some boots and decide I will also make her a bow of her own.

But my eyes keep tracking to the youngling the female called Sally carries, a longing developing in the pit of my stomach.

If this female has carried three younglings, then surely my Ellie could carry them also.

Will she want younglings? Does the thought fill her heartspace with joy as it does mine?

Maldek comes to my side, trailed by the messy-haired female. Maldek seems amused by her, but not enchanted the way I was with my Ellie.

“Her name is Sam,” he says, as my Ellie and the other female talk. “She talks a lot and I do not understand a word, but I like her. She has a fine spirit. I hope she finds a mate among our tribe brothers and is very happy.”

“There have been no further matings?” I say.

Maldek shakes his head. “The sick one, Lorna - she has been too ill to enter the dreamspace, so there is hope with her yet. Perhaps the others, too. We have not been close to the village until this day. Maybe tonight a few more will enter the dreamspace.”

“I am sorry your linasha is not among them, brother.”

Maldek shakes his head. “Do not be sorry. I still have more cause for hope than I have ever had before. Lina is alive, and she looks out for our tribe. If I prove myself a worthy male, perhaps Lina will bless me as you have been. If not, then at least I have lived a life of worth, rather than one of hopelessness.”

“So you can be wise occasionally,” I say.

Maldek grins. “Fix it in your memory, brother, for I think it will not happen again soon.”

At last, we come to the familiar break in the trees that opens up into our village.

The few remaining elders of the tribe, my father among them, wait for us.

They stand protectively around a human female with long dark hair.

Her eyes track over the females, her lips moving as she looks at each in turn.

Checking they are all there, all safe. Then she spots me and my Ellie and her eyes go wide.

“Ellie,” she says, rushing forward. “ Yourokay.”

“ Yes, ” my Ellie replies.

Gregar steps up beside the other female, putting an arm around her shoulder.

“Anghar,” he says, indicating me.

I incline my head to my new chieftess. She is quite beautiful, with proud features and eyes that spark with intelligence and spirit.

But she is not my Ellie.

“This is my linasha, Liv,” Gregar says, his chest puffed up with pride. “Already she carries my youngling. Lina blesses us greatly.”

“You are blessed, indeed,” I say. “May this be the first of many for you both. This is my Ellie - she is going to make a very fine hunter.”

“ Theretalkinboutus,” my Ellie says to Liv.

“ Probablybragginbouthowluckytheyare, ” Liv says, rolling her eyes, but looking up at Gregar with nothing short of adoration in her expression.

I smile. I think I like this Liv for Gregar. I think her fiery spirit will keep Gregar’s own spirits raised in trying times.

I turn back to the rest of the village, looking for my father among the elders.

There is much activity among the tribe - excitement over the females, the younglings.

The females look a little uncomfortable.

It is not surprising when my tribe brothers stare at them all with such wonder.

Liv departs from Gregar’s side, going to the other females.

“We must see them settled in the spare huts,” Gregar says to me. “They stand just fine, but they are not made up for living in. We will need pelts, supplies, clothing. Things to make the females comfortable.”

I think of the bag of pelts I abandoned in the forest. They would be useful for the tribe, but we are not so poorly supplied that I need to fetch them now.

“I will see to it that supplies are distributed and the females are made comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Gregar says. “I must think on how to best defend our tribe with my best warrior injured. I hope the Cliff Top tribe does not return in force, but until we are sure they will not, we need extra patrols. Extra watch.”

I look to the rest of the tribe. “They will all wish to do their part to protect the females and the younglings.”

“I know,” Gregar replies.

Once initial introductions are over, Liv and the female who speaks our language - Sally - start to get everyone organised.

I open up the old huts, used by families long since passed into Lina’s embrace.

There is a heavy mood among the raskarrans as I pull the doors open, reveal the shells of homes inside.

When the sickness passed and the survivors had to try to find a way to carry on, the elders had us remove all the personal items from each of the now empty huts.

Clothes, tools, pelts. All of it boxed up and placed into our storage hut.

The one normally reserved for excess food supplies.

I think some would have had the huts ripped down so they did not have the reminder of those we lost, but we are taught to appreciate the land and what it gifts us - not to squander those gifts by destroying things that are not broken.

And so the huts stayed, a monument to everyone gone.

A reminder of our sorrow. That sorrow is thick with the tribe as each of us remembers someone who once resided within.