She carefully built the fire up, and then dragged the deer over into the light. The stone knife she'd taken from the hunter seemed to be extremely sharp. She cut the deer open and shortly had a slice of liver broiling on a sharpened stick. She cut off a strip and began to eat as soon as the meat was hot.
Seeing Logan watching her, she motioned at the cooked liver with her knife hand, mumbling something with her mouth full. He scooted over, pulled the tanto knife from his belt and cut off a chunk for himself. , he thought, or, perhaps it was just because he was hungry. Either way, he wanted more. He cut another strip off and ate it. It was very good
As he was chewing, he became aware that she'd stopped eating, her mouth partway open, with her eyes fixed on his knife. He grinned in realization and said, “You've never seen a steel knife, have you?”
She jerked her eyes up to his face, saw that he was grinning, and flushed. She looked down and resumed eating, obviously chagrined that he'd been making fun of her.
Logan decided that he'd gone long enough calling her simply, 'The Girl”. He gestured to his chest and said, “Logan.”
She looked at him, inquisitively.
He repeated the action.
A slow smile came over her face. She swallowed with a gulp, then pointed at his chest and accurately repeated, “Logan.”
He grinned and nodded. “Yes! Logan.”
She mimicked him precisely, “Yes! Logan.”
He pointed at her and cocked an eyebrow.
She gestured to herself, somewhat dismissively, and said, “Serensaa.”
Logan didn't quite catch the inflection, so he pointed at her again.
She looked at him as if evaluating whether he was mentally competent, then pointed at him and said, “Yeslogan,” then at herself, repeating, “Serensaa.”
Alarmed, he tried to correct her, “No. Not Yeslogan, Logan.”
This seemed to be confusing. She frowned, and said, “Yeslogan,” again.
Logan realized that he'd gotten off on a path that would only become more difficult to correct the farther he went, unless he carefully straightened it out immediately. He considered the problem for a moment, then pointed at her and said, “Serensaa.”
She smiled and repeated, “Serensaa,” pointing at herself.
He then pointed at himself and said, “Logan.”
She frowned and repeated, “Logan.” Then she pointed at him, and said, “Yeslogan?” with an upward inflection to her voice, which he recognized as an interrogative.
He pointed at her and said, “Yes, Serensaa,” Then he pointed at himself and said, “Yes, Logan.” He could see her lips moving as she soundlessly repeated his words.
Then he pointed at her and said, “No. Logan,” followed immediately by pointing at himself with, “No. Serensaa.”
She puzzled that out for a bit, but then a gleeful look came over her face and she laughed, a cheerful, musical sound that he found totally entrancing.
She leaned forward, shoved her finger onto his chest and said, “No Serensaa, yes Logan.” Then she pointed at herself, saying, “Serensaa, no Logan.” Finally, to demonstrate mastery of the concept, she jumped far ahead in a way that he hadn't thought of. She pointed at him, saying, “No Yeslogan, Logan.”
It was his turn for his mouth to open in amazement. She'd demonstrated that she was far cleverer than he'd believed a primitive human might be.
He wanted to keep going. He pointed at the fire and said, “Fire.” She followed along. They covered deer, knife, wood, and sand in short order. Then things got a little too complex. Nevertheless, it was a great start.
The two sat watching the fire and listening to the swamp sounds. Frogs, gators, the snap of the fire, and once, far off, the sound of wolves howling. The firelight dimmed, and Logan was reminded of how tired he was. He stretched out beside the warmth.
Despite it being mid-summer, the temperature at night had fallen more than he was used to. It seemed cool, even cold. The sand was warm, though. The girl stretched out so that her head was close to his. They lay there, watching each other until Logan fell asleep.
He awoke with a start. The fire was out and it was dark. Serensaa was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have the memory of some kind of sound, a sound that held danger. He looked around, searching for her, then stood up. If there was something coming, he'd better climb a tree.
He moved over to the nearest pine. It wasn't very thick, and it had branches well within reach. Just as he started to climb, she appeared out of the darkness, grabbing his arm.
It startled him, and Logan gasped, placing his hand over hers.
She used her oft-repeated gesture of placing two fingers on his lips. That, more than anything else, alerted him to the fact that there was some kind of danger nearby. He nodded assent, and she removed her fingers.
Taking his hand, she led him rapidly through the trees. They moved into a reedy area and she continued to pull at him, finally stopping where they could see out across the water to the west. Huge shapes moved along out there.
Logan stared. He couldn't quite make them out, but then their nature gradually came clear. It was a large herd of mammoths or some other elephant-like creatures, he couldn't quite tell. It was too dim. The animals faded into the distance, moving south. Logan realized he'd been holding himself tensely, worried that they might have to run for it. He let out a long sigh.
His companion turned her head to look at him. They were standing quite close, and for some reason that he preferred not to rationalize, he leaned forward a few inches and kissed her.
She froze for a moment, allowing the kiss, but then pulled back, her eyes wide, bemused by the experience. It had been far more intense than he'd intended, he leaned forward again, but she turned her head away.
He stepped back, embarrassed, but then saw that she was coyly looking at him out of the corners of her eyes.
“Serensaa, I'm sorry. I thought that...I guess I don't know what overcame me,” he said, embarrassment thick in his voice.
She turned back to him as if she could understand every word. She murmured something in her musical voice. He took it to be an acceptance of his apology, but then she stepped closer and lifted her head, obviously ready for another kiss.
This time there was real fire. Logan reluctantly pulled back, breathless. What was he doing? This girl, this primitive child, couldn't know who he was. He felt like he was taking advantage of her. The thought hit him that she could never be his intellectual equal. She had no education, she had no manners, not that his were that good, but...she wasn't modern. She lived in a swamp.
She searched his face as these thoughts ran through his mind. He started to open his mouth again, and she placed her fingers on his lips, and slowly turned away, to lead the way back to the dead fire.
The sun was up. Not a word was said as they cooked and ate some more venison for breakfast. He tried not to look at her, but couldn't help but notice that she was watching him out of the corners of her eyes again. It was somewhat disconcerting. He didn't know whether she resented his actions or liked them and wanted more.
His dismay at his realization of their differences had faded as he watched her restart the fire and cook. She was perfectly able and well adjusted, given her milieu. She was a Paleolithic human and there was no comparison with a modern girl, but he also realized that he, a modern man, was barely able to survive in her world. In fact, if he hadn't met her, he'd probably have been killed or starved by now.
He inspected his calf. The knife slash had sealed itself and showed no signs of infection. Then he looked at the panther slash. Serensaa's rough treatment had worked. The cattail fluff and clotted blood had worn off, leaving a reddish healing scratch.
He looked up. She was watching him with a slight smile.
He grinned back at her, pointed to himself, and said, “No, Logan.”
Her eyebrows arched, then she smiled broadly, saying, “Yes. Logan. Yes, Serensaa.”
Logan wondered what she meant
, but his wondering was interrupted by a cracking noise from somewhere back in the trees. Both humans jumped to their feet, looking through the dimly lit trees. Nothing was visible, but the cracking sound came again. Then it was silent.
Logan looked at Serensaa. She glanced at him and moved her head slightly to the side in a half shrug. It was obvious that she didn't know the source of the sound.
Wordlessly, the two slipped into the trees, Logan close behind the girl. Her small, moccasin-shod feet moved carefully between brush and leaves, creating almost no sound. In contrast, Logan felt like he was making enough noise for a herd of cattle. His sneakers, now somewhat the worse for wear, crunched leaves and sticks that he could not seem to avoid.
At a certain point, she turned to him and held out her palm. He understood and held his position while she moved forward. He looked around, wondering what he'd do if she didn't return. In a few minutes she appeared in view, beside a distant tree, motioning for him to come.
He walked forward as quietly as he could. When he caught up to her, he noticed that she was far more relaxed than she'd been previously. Whatever it was must not be dangerous.
There was another breaking sound mixed with the rustling of branches just ahead. They slowed and Serensaa pointed. Logan could see something moving through the intervening trees. It was large, but didn't seem to be moving quickly.
They cautiously walked the remaining yards, and Logan finally saw the creator of the noise. It was quite a large creature. He wasn't immediately sure what it was, until it stood on its hind feet to reach an overhanging branch. Huge claws hooked the branch, pulling it downward to the animal's mouth. A long tongue came out and stripped the foliage from the branch.
The creature moved slowly and deliberately, and it was that style of motion that cued Logan. He suddenly realized that it was a giant sloth. Not aggressive, surely, but still well able to defend itself. The very size of its claws was intimidating and its forearms were thick and powerful.
The two watched the animal feed for a short time, then turned and retreated to the fire. On the way back, Logan noticed for the first time that the girl had carried one of the slim sticks that had belonged to the enemy hunter. He'd been too nervous to pay much attention before.
Chapter 12: PURSUIT
The two were almost back at their camp when Serensaa jerked to a halt, then moved sideways into some bushes. Taken by surprise, Logan stood there, looking at the bushes for a moment. She peeked back at him, and angrily waved him to follow.
He suddenly heard the sound of voices. Belatedly realizing what had alarmed her, he slipped into the undergrowth. She immediately moved away and he was hard put to keep up.
Serensaa set a fast pace, leaving no doubt in Logan's mind that the voices belonged to the men who'd killed her previous companion. After they'd gone several hundred yards, making a minimum of sound, she sped up, trotting steadily along towards the southern edge of the hammock.
They came out of the trees and moved into another cattail bed. She searched for a pathway through it, finding a beaten-down trail that the two followed. It occurred to Logan that gators probably made the trail. After that idea crossed his mind, he kept a nervous watch to the sides.
The trail gradually submerged until they were wading along hip deep. This didn't help with Logan's apprehension. He lagged behind, trying to watch everywhere at once, until she stopped and hissed at him, making an exasperated motion of her arm to indicate he should keep up. When they reached the edge of the cattails, the water was chest deep and covered with torpedo grass interspersed with taller maiden cane.
Serensaa turned back to the west and headed along a course that would skirt the hammock. Logan believed that was probably a good idea. No sense continuing in the same direction they'd been following. It would be too easy to track. This would get them out of sight a little faster and might throw off pursuit. There was a heavy growth of reeds between their path and the trees, providing cover. They would have to be very unlucky to be seen from the shore.
A distant screaming cry came from far back in the trees on the hammock. Serensaa looked around, startled, then sped up, practically leaving a wake in the water. Logan realized that the men, whoever they were, had found their trail and were now following.
The two moved from reed bed to reed bed, always trying to keep a screen of vegetation between them and their pursuers. The morning sun beat down, its heat ameliorated only slightly by the puffy clouds that marched westward overhead. Despite walking in water, sweat poured down Logan's face, getting in his eyes and making it hard to see. He kept wiping his arm across his eyes, attempting to clear the burning sweat away, but it didn't help much.
The only thing that made their slog through the swamp slightly bearable was that the mosquitoes didn't bother them. Most of the bloodsuckers weren't active during the day, and those that were often provided a quick snack for the innumerable dragon flies that filled the air.
The dragon flies took turns perching on the extreme tip of reeds, a look-out position from which they launched themselves like small, colorful, metallic-hued rockets towards any unfortunate insect that came by. Logan never tired of watching their activity. It gave him something to do besides slog along, following Serensaa.
For her part, the girl seemed to have no doubts about where she was going. They'd passed two hammocks that provided some visual screening from potential pursuers. She had set a westward course that only deviated enough to keep the intervening clumps of trees between them and the hammock where the pursuers had discovered their camp.
Logan periodically looked over his shoulder, anticipating a group of spear-carrying warriors hot on their trail, but nothing came in sight. He wondered if the voices they'd heard belonged to the men he'd seen kill her companion, or perhaps some totally unrelated group.
Maybe it had been some other group of men; men who wanted nothing to do with them and who were now fleeing in the opposite direction. He didn't know. All that he knew was that Serensaa wasn't stopping, and that he was both tired and hungry.
In the middle of the afternoon, she finally halted for a brief rest in the water off the west edge of a large hammock. Looking coyly at him out of the corner of her eyes, she indicated that he was to remain where he was while she moved into a reed bed. The water was shallow here and they were mostly walking on sand with a shallow covering of decayed vegetation.
Logan waited, shifting his weight back and forth in the hot sun. After a bit, he heard the sound of water trickling faintly and realized that she was relieving herself.
She came out shortly after that and started onward. Logan, now in a rush to empty his own bladder, said, “Wait!”
She looked at him inquisitively. For some reason, he found her attention embarrassing. He realized he was blushing as he pointed at the passage into the reeds that she'd used. She grinned companionably as he walked through the opening, increasing his discomfort.
There was a small open area that she'd apparently used. He took care of his needs there.
As he came back through the screening reeds, there was a splash, followed by a crunching noise as something forced its way through the tall vegetation towards them. Serensaa whirled, grabbed a flint-tipped stick from her pouch, and stuck it into the end of the slim shaft she had been carrying.
Logan suddenly realized that the shaft had become a spear. She was holding the spear pointing directly at whatever was coming.
There was a rustle in the reeds, then a crunch, as a pony-sized, striped animal popped its head out and stared in shock at them. It obviously hadn't detected them in its flight from whatever had startled it.
The girl lunged forward, driving the flint spear-head directly into the beast's lower chest under its upraised head and long, rubbery nose. It squealed loudly, jumped, then staggered. A gush of blood rushed out of the wound, and the animal slumped to its knees, then slowly toppled over on its side.
Logan was astounded. Serensaa had killed it as effectively as if she'd shot it
with a rifle. She squatted and removed the short fore-shaft with its attached point from the wound. It had come out of the spear socket when the animal jumped.
Turning towards him, she motioned for him to help her drag the creature into the open. As they pulled on its forelegs, there was a grunting roar from deep in the reeds. He recognized it as an alligator. From the sound it was a large one.
Serensaa jumped at the noise. She quickly used the spear-point to cut off a rear quarter. As she finished, the gator appeared, its toothy head coming through the reeds. It stopped for a moment, sizing up the situation, and then it lunged forward. Its jaws snapped shut on the animal's foreleg and it backed up, dragging the creature with it.
Paradox: On the Sharp Edge of the Blade Page 12