Lost_Mate of the Cave Bear

by Harmony Raines

  “Gara. I see. Do you not have one gara to one…?” She had no idea of what the women were called, so she pointed around at the other women.

  “Mara.” Renu shook her head. “No, the tribe is one. We share everything.”

  Jenna took a while to think this over while she peeled the skin of some roots that looked like sweet potato. They did not have a partner, a mate; they shared everything. That made her worried. If she were part of this tribe for now, would they expect to share her too? She had hoped to tell them that she had a man, a gara, already in her own tribe. Now that might not be enough to deter the advances of a determined “gara with a stiff stick.”

  “Thank you, Renu. I would like to share your bed tonight.”

  The other women giggled again and Renu looked up and smiled. “We are going to share my covers. That is all.”

  Jenna understood now the differences between her words and theirs. Everything could be misconstrued; they were so much alike and yet so different. It was the same with Haran, but language had become less of a barrier between them the longer she had been here. He picked things up so quickly. As her thoughts turned to Haran, she looked out over the plains around them and into the distance, wondering if he was out there or if he had abandoned her. Far away, almost out of sight, she could see the hills where she belonged. Was he hidden in fear in his cave? Or would he come here and save her? Or be killed?

  The camp was well guarded and there was no way that he could get in or she could leave unnoticed. She was stuck here for now, her only hope was that tomorrow they would cross into the forests she could see looming in front of them as they had walked. If the cover was thick, she might be able to disappear like a wisp of smoke. But these gara were hunters, it would never be that simple. If they didn’t let her leave, she was beginning to wonder if this might be her life from now on. And she hated that one of the gara might take her to his bed. Would she be able to deny him, or did she have to submit to the whim of a man in this world?

  Trying to push her worries to one side, she helped cut up some hard flat bread with a flint knife Renu passed her. If she could, she would have hidden it in her clothes for protection. But she didn’t want to risk raising suspicions, and she also doubted she could use it to hurt someone. The thought of killing anyone was alien to her, as alien as she was to this old Earth. She wasn’t like them; she had never been trained to bear arms.

  But what she had been trained in was geography and history. While she mindlessly chopped up the bread into rough chunks, she hoped she had her directions straight and she would lead them to the mountains. She had to appear to know what she was talking about. To be true with her directions, so that they didn’t uncover her lies.

  As the stars began to appear in the sky, while they sat down for their meal, she watched them, noting those that were familiar to her. Always pleased to see the North Star; it confirmed her calculations were correct. They were heading to the mountains. But they would find there, she didn’t know, because she still couldn’t tell exactly what year this was.

  The wormhole was not wholly accurate, and although she could tell to within a few thousand years, that was it. There were places she imagined where the ice age still held the land firmly in its grip. If her mountains were covered in snow and ice it would lay open her deceit. All she could hope that she would be gone from their camp before that became an issue.

  “Good?” Renu asked.

  “Yes,” Jenna answered. She hadn’t had any kind of bread since she had come here. And she had never thought about making it herself; after all, she didn’t want to pass her knowledge on to these people. It was one thing they had warned her against at Tworn. That if she messed with things too much, if she disrupted the timeline, then the repercussions would be momentous.

  That had not stopped them sending her back here, though. Which had made her realise just how much they needed the baby she carried. As the fire blazed in front of her, the wind bought sounds of animals she had ever heard before to her. Her eyes grew heavy and she found herself drifting back into her old world, and imagining the end of the human race.

  The irony was not lost on her. Here she sat with the very first of her species, eating their food, listening to their low murmurs as they talked quietly to each other. And inside her was the very thing that could save their offspring. And yet if they knew what she carried, they would cut it from her and kill it.

  Why was the human race always so bent on its own destruction?

  Chapter Five - Haran

  He had followed behind them, keeping out of sight in the daylight. Although he knew he could outrun them in bear form, he didn’t want to alert them to his presence. Now it was dark, he decided it was time to get a closer look at the camp. He needed to see how their guard system was set up and how tough it would be to penetrate.

  Circling the camp, he moved in closer with every turn. Lifting his snout in the air, he tried to locate her, but she was lost amongst the Masu. Now he realised why he hadn’t been able to tell they were there on the hillside. Living with Jenna had made him used to the smell of the Masu. At least in his human form.

  Ever closer he came to the danger that was the Masu. They had keen eyes, but that was the only sense that worked effectively, apart from their ears, and Haran had learned long ago how to move silently over the ground. Closer still, his bear having more courage than his human form ever would. Or was his courage magnified by the need to see her, to know she was still alive in this world, still safe?

  Four guards as far as he could see, as the night grew blacker around him. No moon tonight to illuminate him. No moon to cast its deathly light on Jenna. She was hidden from him and his heart ached for her. It took all his resolve to stop himself from charging in there and taking her by force.

  Inwardly, he ridiculed himself. He knew he would never have the courage to storm their camp. Not like this, when so many stood on guard. He would have to bide his time and follow them. In the coming days, he would find a way. He had to bring her back to him. Her and the child she carried.

  Once more, he cursed ever finding her. Yet his heart was filled with love, something that these Masu had taken from him once before. They would not win this time. Not without a fight.

  Chapter Six - Jenna

  They sat around the small fire, the dark all around them. If she closed her eyes and let her senses roam, she was sure she could feel him out there somewhere. To turn and look would be to bring attention to him, so she stared resolutely at the fire and prayed he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to rescue her. If there was one thing, she had seen it was that their spears were very sharp and they knew how to use them effectively. It would only take one strong, true aim to bring him down.

  “Are you tired?” Renu asked.

  “Yes,” Jenna answered. “It has been a long day.”

  “How many days were you on the hillside?” she asked.

  Jenna didn’t want to talk about it, not when others stopped their conversation and listened too. “Only one or two. I went there to rest and to wash and drink.”

  “Did you not get hungry?”

  “I gathered fruit and some nuts. Craynuts they are in my tongue.” She was glad Haran had taught her the names of fruits and nuts that were foreign to the twenty-second century. It made her lie more believable.

  “Ahh, we don’t come across them very often. They are full of energy. Good for walking over long distances,” the chief said.

  “Yes. We did not have them on the mountain. At first we thought they were so very strange to look at that we wouldn’t try them.”

  “But when your belly is empty it is necessary.”

  “It is how we learn,” Renu said. “Although sometimes this can be dangerous.”

  “Yes, many things that are unknown are dangerous. Such as the Dualis,” the chief said.

  “And how would I know a Dualis?” Jenna asked, although she would rather it had not come up in conversation at all.

  “They have different fac
es.” He gestured with his hand, raising it higher over his forehead. “And they are ugly and small, but with big broad bodies. If you saw one, you would know.”

  He stared at Jenna and she held it. There was no way he was going to see the lie on her face. Then he looked away, out into the distance, before lifting his eyes to the sky. “It is time for sleep. Tomorrow we walk again.”

  With soft murmurs they all rose and obediently went to their shelters. Jenna kept her eyes down, not making contact with anyone, especially the gara. She did not want any of them to think she was encouraging their advances. But she felt their eyes on her. Watching her as she went to lie next to Renu. They got under the soft hides but the night was still chill, and Jenna wished she wore the furs Haran had made to fit her. As she rested her head on the fur mat they used as a pillow, she struggled to believe that only this morning she had been lying in Haran’s arms.

  Hugging herself, she tried to imagine he was here, holding her tight and telling her it would all work out. But she didn’t believe the words she told herself. How could she escape this tribe when they were constantly on the look out for danger?

  Eventually, exhaustion overtook her; a mixture of walking and nervous anxiety had sapped her strength and left her weary and numb. As her eyes closed she hoped she would wake up and this would all be a distant memory, just as her other past life had been.

  ***

  However, when the sun was only just appearing over the horizon, the world around her came to life. The tribe began their morning ritual of making breakfast. Dried fruit and nuts, eaten quickly before camp was broken and the packs shouldered. Then began a morning of walking until her feet were on fire, and she hobbled along. Gradually, she worked her way to the back of the short train of Masu. Hoping she might lag behind and then slowly disappear. But always one guard stayed behind her, flexing his spear in his hand. She guessed he wanted to prod her with it as though she were an animal so that she would keep up.

  It occurred to her she was bringing his displeasure down on her and she might live to regret it. So she tried to keep pace with the others, thankful when they entered a forest. The cool air soothed her and the soft pine needles under her feet were a welcome relief from the heated earth and small sharp stones of the dry plain they had crossed.

  The forest also represented her best chance of escape. All she had to do was slip away. But she would need a diversion. To keep her mind busy and off her sore feet and empty stomach, she began to go through all the scenarios that would lead to the tribe being too preoccupied to watch where she went. Apart from a stampede of mammoths or a swarm of bees, she had nothing.

  On her own, it was impossible, and there was no way she could send a message to Haran, if he was even following her. It was while she was lost in these thoughts that they came to a halt in a small glade next to a welcome river. Here they sat and ate dried meat and more fruit, while Jenna put her feet on the cool water and let it take the soreness from her.

  “Your feet are still sore?” Renu asked.

  “Yes. They feel as though I have walked through fire.”

  “Here,” Renu said, offering her a small wooden cup filled with a salve of some kind.

  “What is it?” Jenna asked, smelling it. There was the scent of something similar to Aloe Vera and some other herbs she couldn’t put a name to.

  “The medicine women, Sera, let me have it; in return we have to do her chores tonight.”

  “Thank you, Renu. You don’t have to.”

  “When I joined the tribe, no one looked out for me. I had a big cut on my arm,” she said, gesturing to a faint scar on her right forearm. “Nearly died of the fever that took me. So I would like to help you before your feet cause you so much pain you cannot walk.”

  “What would happen if I couldn’t walk? Would they leave me behind?” Jenna asked, a small worm of an idea beginning to form in her head.

  Renu shrugged. “I do not know. Perhaps. Or perhaps we would make camp for a few days and wait for you to heal.”

  “Would they do that for an outsider?”

  “Jarratt, our chief, does his best to keep us all alive and on our feet.”

  “Why? Don’t the weak and infirm put the rest of your tribe in danger?”

  “He sees that we are stronger together. If he left behind everyone that got ill or injured, before long the tribe would be too small to defend itself.”

  “I see. Yes, that makes sense,” Jenna said, pulling her feet from the cool, soothing water and drying them with the hem of her skirt. Looking up, she could see one of the gara watching her; Renu saw it too.

  “If they come for you and you do not want to lie with them. Tell them you are bleeding,” she said quietly, moving her eyes down to Jenna’s thighs. “Most do not like to mate with a woman during her moon cycle.”

  “I will remember that, Renu. Thank you.” Jenna looked around at the gara. “Is there no one gara that you like above all others?”

  Renu blushed and turned away. “No. Not a gara from this tribe. But there was one once.”

  “What happened?”

  “Jarratt told me that a Dualis killed him for his spirit.”

  Jenna stopped drying her feet and concentrated her full attention on Renu. “A Dualis? Why?”

  “Jarratt told me the Dualis thought me his mate and so he killed Yuri to take the part of him that I liked.”

  “Did you see anything? To know that was what happened?”

  Renu shook her head. “No. I was knocked unconscious in the attack.”

  “Have you ever seen a Dualis?”

  “I have seen bears and lions that might have been. But in their upright body, no.”

  “Are they as bad as Jarratt says?”

  “If one killed Yuri, then yes. I would drive a spear deep into the heart of any of them. Animal or not, they are evil.”

  “Because Jarratt told you so.”

  Renu looked quickly at Jenna. “Jarratt is the one who saved me. He provides for us all. Why would I not trust him?”

  Jenna placed her hand on Renu’s, knowing she had overstepped the mark with her accusations. “I know. He saved me, remember. It’s just that I have never seen a Dualis, and I cannot think that a creature would be so evil to kill an innocent man.”

  “Keep your eyes and ears alert for the Dualis, Jenna. And do not believe their whispered lies. For the beasts can talk and make you believe what they want you to believe while they plot to steal either your body or soul.”

  She rose then and made her way back to the others, leaving Jenna to apply the salve. Immediately her feet stopped burning. She gave herself a moment to enjoy the sensation of coolness that spread over her skin. Then a shout from Jarratt signalled their rest was over and they began their journey once more, winding through the trees that now were a mixture of pines and deciduous. If she lifted her head and gazed at the tree canopy, she could imagine she was at home in the future. That there were no Masu around her and the Dualis didn’t exist in life, myth, or memory.

  Chapter Seven - Haran

  They had entered the forest; this would be the best chance to rescue her, although it would still be near impossible. Yet he had to try; the longer he left, it the harder it might become. Then there were his other worries. First, what they might do to Jenna physically; his mind shied away from those thoughts. He could not bear the idea of another man being with his mate. It made his bear claw and scrape for release, and that would simply end in a spear in his big, lumbering body.

  No, for this to end well he needed to think this through clearly; the bear had to be contained. With the added cover of the trees, he managed to keep closer to them. When they sat down to eat and rest, he slowly worked himself closer. And then he saw her, sitting on the riverbank with her feet in the water.

  She looked happy, talking to another Masu woman. This is when his doubts crept in; now she had returned to her own kind, would she prefer to stay with them? Had she simply stayed with him because there was no one else to look
after her when she had fallen through the trees? Or did she truly want to be his mate?

  He sat still watching her, seeing her face change when the other woman spoke, looking in disbelief at her words. He wondered what lies they were telling her about their hate of the Dualis. Would she ever look at him the same way? Would she ever look at him in the face again and not be sickened?

  He watched them move off, trying to work out the best route to take to get in front of them. An idea was forming in his head, but the terrain was unknown to him and there might not be an opportunity to put it in motion. At the back of his mind was the constant reminder of what would happen to him if they caught him. The howls of pain, the screams of anguish as his parents were killed. This would not be how his life ended. And Jenna would not stay with them and be forced to watch them kill the child when it was born. He would get her away from the Masu. He swore it on the spirits that watched over the Dualis. Although he had long lost his belief that they did anything, other than escort the dead to the other realm.

  He had not made a sacrifice to them since his parents had been murdered. Yet he still could not allow himself to leave them unthanked every time he killed game to fill his belly. There was only so much the spirits withstood before they exacted their revenge.

  Haran skirted around the south of the forest, passing quickly and silently between the trees to get ahead of the small caravan. It wound its way along a wide path that mammoths must use when the cold came this far south. Some of the tracks looked fresh; he had never expected to see them in the summer, but they were his only hope. If only he could track them.

  Chapter Eight - Jenna

  Her skin prickled as she walked on through the endless trees. Did the bond between them connect them in a way she couldn’t understand? She was sure he was out there. Carefully she scanned the forest, not moving her head, only her eyes. But she couldn’t see him, and her disappointment hit her hard.

  With her feet no longer hurting, she walked alongside Renu, keeping up with her easily. “How long have you been with the tribe?”