She helped, and then helped him pull his off in turn. She rolled onto her back, and he moved over her. There was resistance, then a yielding. Serensaa moaned. Logan kissed her again and her arms pulled him down against her.
He kissed her, his mouth open. He couldn't get enough of her. He'd come into the past to find her, and now, at this moment, his desire for her was like a flash of lightning illuminating his mind to reveal a new knowledge. He wanted to be with her forever. He couldn't envision living without her.
Their tangled bodies moved in an increasingly urgent rhythm.
The light rays slanting into the alcove through the vines gradually slid lower and lower as the day progressed. The two were sleeping in each other's arms.
As the night approached, Serensaa disentangled herself, and went to the edge to look down. Logan joined her. The swimming mammoth was not moving now. The unfortunate creature had become exhausted and apparently drowned. It was floating near the middle of the pool. Its side was the only part that broke the surface. All was quiet from above. Perhaps the herd had given up.
Logan leaned out and looked upward. There was no sign of anything above. He pointed up, intending to indicate that they should climb out, but Serensaa signaled negatively.
She shook her head in what he'd come to recognize was her 'No' motion; a quick sideways nod, usually to the left. Then she pointed at the lengthening sun rays, lowered her hand to roughly the level of the horizon, then pointed at the east, after which she pointed up.
Logan understood. He'd become so used to trying to understand her without language that even cryptic signs from her conveyed information.
She wanted to wait until morning to climb out. That made sense. If they climbed up, there was still a chance that the mammoth herd would be in the area and resume the chase. Even if the mammoths were gone, the two humans would still have to find a safe space for the oncoming night.
His understanding was punctuated by the distant sound of some kind of cat screaming. In rage, or fear, he couldn't determine. He glanced at the girl. She smiled at him, then took his hand and pulled him back into the depths of the overhang.
Neither of them had bothered to dress, so this time, when she initiated another bout of lovemaking, things progressed more quickly.
They slept afterwards, and woke in the middle of the night. Logan surprised himself. He was more than ready to go a third time and Serensaa obviously approved.
Daybreak found them still tangled in each other's arms, drowsily kissing.
Logan felt that they should get moving again, but somehow it didn't seem important. Her kisses were far more compelling.
Chapter 14: THE FOREST
Hunger and thirst drove them out of their little paradise in mid-morning. The water below was green and wasn't very attractive. The dead mammoth, now beginning to bloat, made it even less so.
There was nothing to do, but climb up the rock wall and hope for the best. They needed to continue moving. If they waited around, their pursuers would eventually close the gap between them, provided, of course, that they were as good at tracking as Logan assumed them to be.
Once out of the enclosing stonewalls, the two scouted around cautiously. Branches had been broken off many of the trees in the general confusion, and there were a great number of mammoth tracks intermixed with dung piles. As for the animals themselves, there was no indication that they had remained in the area.
Serensaa was looking for something on the ground. She made an exclamation, stooped and gathered up three spear shafts. She'd discarded them before she jumped.
Logan had worried that the mammoths would hang around trying to rescue their comrade. When he looked down for the last time, the drowned mammoth wasn't really visible. All that could be seen from the edge of the pit was a soggy lump of hair, floating in the green water with some of the fallen vines. Perhaps the herd hadn't recognized it.
The two set out, Serensaa, as usual, leading the way. She headed away from the sunrise and now seemed to be favoring a slightly more southerly path.
Logan followed her closely. He'd been fascinated by her before, but now his feelings had risen exponentially to a new level. He found her amazing, both physically and mentally.
He understood that she had some kind of built-in compass. He thought they were approximately in the area of modern day DeLand, but he wasn't really sure. She, on the other hand, once again seemed to know exactly where she was going.
Logan didn't know their destination for sure, but what he did know was that they were walking through an area of sandy uplands. The trees were spaced a little farther apart, save for areas around the various streams they encountered, and there was a different type of coarse grass growing in the open places. He even saw cactus; something he was careful to avoid brushing against. The spines looked fierce.
Hunger was a problem. The tiger meat was still soaking in the sinkhole with the drowned mammoth. They had no opportunity to hunt, since there were herds of mammoths scattered around. They sidetracked several times to avoid them, but there didn't seem to be any smaller creatures that might be possible prey.
Logan was relieved when Serensaa discovered an opossum ambling along the ground a little before noon. She grabbed the unfortunate animal's tail and swung its head against a tree trunk. It went “clonk” and the possum ceased hissing.
She tossed it to the ground, and prepared to make a fire. They had been walking along the edge of a pine forest, but were far enough from the litter of needles that a fire wouldn't spread out of control.
Logan helped her gather sticks and the filmy bits of pine bark from the inside layer of the shed pieces. She cranked on her drill for a few minutes, ending with a tendril of smoke. A little blowing and she had a flame.
He'd been arranging small sticks in a rough tee-pee shape while she worked. She turned and poked the flaming wad of bark and grass under the pile. A little more blowing and they had their fire.
Logan turned to get the opossum. It wasn't there. He stood up, looked around, and saw its tail end as it trotted slowly around a tree on its way into a thick clump of palmettos. He pointed and said, “It's getting away.”
Serensaa dashed after the escaping creature, returning a moment later, swinging it by the tail. She whacked it against a tree to stun it again, then quickly cut its throat with one of the stone spear points. Logan had observed that she used these implements as convenient knives as well as spear tips.
She skinned and cut up the beast, then jabbed a slender stick through the body. She stuck the stick into the sandy soil, arranging it so that the carcass was directly over the flame.
It wasn't long before the smell of roasting meat made Logan's stomach begin to churn. When he felt like he couldn't wait any longer, she sliced off a hind leg and handed it to him.
Before, she'd always started eating first, only handing him food when she realized he was watching her. Now her attitude had changed. She was far more companionable, walking mostly beside him, rather than leading. He'd noticed that she smiled at him a great deal more often, too.
It was nice to see that she felt at least a little similar to the way he felt about her. She'd suddenly transformed from a good looking girl, similar to ones he'd previously only dreamed about, to an amazing being who was incredibly dear to him. He wanted to be near her all of the time, and he was prepared to fight to the death to defend her.
That idea led him to move closer to where she was sitting. She glanced up in surprise from her dedicated eating. Seeing his expression, a slow smile crept over her face. She tossed the possum bone over her shoulder and grabbed him, pulling him close and smearing possum grease over his face as they kissed.
He kissed her back tenderly. She said something softly, and indicated the rest of the animal. There were only a few bites remaining. It had been a small opossum to start with. Now that both hindquarters were gone, there wasn't very much usable meat left.
They picked at the carcass until they finished it off, after which she
buried the fire with sand.
Logan wanted to start another session of lovemaking and she seemed to be tempted. They kissed repeatedly. Finally, Serensaa kissed him firmly, then pushed him away and indicated that they should start walking. He sighed, knowing that they'd eventually have to stop for the night. He hoped they could find another secure location. He couldn't quite imagine making love to her in a tree, although he was quite willing to attempt it.
They found a small lake and washed the possum grease off of their hands and faces. The lake was dark with tannin, but quite clear. Logan could see fish swimming under the surface. He pointed them out to the girl. She nodded affirmatively, rubbing her stomach as if to indicate that they were good to eat.
The two went around the lake and found that it overflowed into a swampy area. They followed the edge of the swamp to the south for nearly the rest of the day, before they found a spot where they could cross to higher ground.
By late afternoon, they had arrived on the bank of a swiftly running stream. The water was crystal clear and cool, indicating that it had welled up from underground. Logan tried to think of what stream it might be. He had believed they were near DeLand, but now he was completely unsure. They might be farther south as far as he knew. Then the course of streams and even their existence might have changed from her time to his. His geographical knowledge, which was spotty at best, was probably not very useful in his current time.
Logan felt like they'd walked forever. He had no yardstick to indicate how far they had come. It might have been twenty miles or more a day.
He missed the ease of his motorcycle, even as cranky as it was. On the other hand, he was happy that his legs had grown accustomed to walking. He was not suffering from the hike the way he'd been for the first couple of days.
Regardless of where they were, it was getting dark and not just because the sun was ready to go down. There was a huge, black wall of clouds welling up from the northwest, and another storm front looming in the east.
Logan had lived in Florida all of his life, and he knew what was to come. The wind from the Atlantic and the on-shore wind from the Gulf were piling clouds high over the center of the peninsula. A huge thunderstorm was in the making. He drew Serensaa's attention to the clouds. She nodded, and turned towards a more open area where there was a sizable stand of palmettos.
The girl began cutting some of the large fan-shaped leaves free from the small palms. Logan pulled his knife and cut more. Seeing that he had understood, she cut some straighter branches from a tree. Then she stripped long fibers out of the palm fronds, quickly rolled them into thicker cords between her hands, and then used them to tie the branches together to make a low, tent-shaped framework.
They used fibers to tie some of the fronds to the branches, then interlaced the stems together, making a mat of overlapping leaves that would shed water. It didn't take as long as Logan had feared, which was fortunate, for the first large drops of rain were falling by the time they had finished.
Serensaa crawled inside and Logan followed. With the two of them inside, their improvised shelter was full. The two lay side-by-side with no room to sit up. He put his arm over her, and she turned to kiss him. As she did, the storm hit full-force. The wind picked up, blowing hard gusts of rain across the leaves. The drops made a racket as they struck the firm palm fronds.
Serensaa broke off the kiss and grabbed at a corner of the structure. The wind was gusting so hard that it threatened to lift the shelter and destroy it. Logan grabbed another stick and held it in the ground. The shelter flexed and rattled under the impact of the heavy rain and the wind.
There was a sudden flash, followed by a huge “boom” and the smell of ozone. Lightening had struck nearby. Central Florida was subject to very heavy lightening. Being out in the storm wasn't something Logan wanted to experience, however there was nothing else he could do; nowhere else to be.
A second bolt struck, farther away, followed by a third, then a whole cluster of strikes all around them. Then there was a pause, followed by more strikes. The thunder cracked and rolled through the dark sky. The last lightning strokes seemed to be a little farther away, and Logan relaxed a little. The wind gusted harder as the trailing edge of the storm passed, then faded. The rain now fell directly downward softly, shedding off the palm leaf shelter.
They hadn't escaped the water, though. They were lying in a puddle. It was amazing how cold the rainwater was. The day had been sweltering, but now the two were shivering, trying to raise their body warmth.
Logan looked out of the shelter. The rain had changed to a sprinkle and the wind was almost completely gone. Serensaa was shivering uncontrollably, as was he. He turned to her and wrapped his arms around her slender body. She dug her face into the side of his neck and cuddled as tightly as she could.
The cold was miserable. Logan cynically wondered if their shelter had actually helped, or would they have been just as well off out in the weather?
He decided that it had helped a little. They would have lost heat more quickly if they'd been in the direct rain. As he concluded that thought, he found that he was starting to feel warmer. Their body heat and the small, enclosed shelter were combining to create a warm space, as the evening grew darker.
After a while, Serensaa lifted her head, stared into his face, then laughed quietly. They kissed again. That activity seemed to warm them even more, or perhaps it simply helped them to ignore their discomfort.
The tight space wasn't conducive to love making, but the two did their best. They wriggled out of their sopping clothes, and held each other close. There was a little difficulty getting started, but they worked at it, and presently, they became oblivious to everything but each other and their immediate sensations.
It was nearly full dark and the two were resting in each other's arms. They both jumped as something crashed in the bushes nearby. There was a bleat, followed by a ragged snarl, then more noises that sounded like a struggle. Then there was silence.
Logan had pulled his knife, now holding it towards the opening in their shelter. Serensaa fumbled at her pouch, then came up with a spear point that she mounted in one of the socketed spear shafts.
Logan considered trying to get his clothes on, but that would likely be noisy. He caught up another spear shaft, holding it so that the girl could mount a point in its socket. She did, quickly and without fumbling. Then she slipped quietly forward, out of the restrictive shelter into the nearly complete darkness. Logan gathered their clothes, shoved them out before him, and followed.
It was almost too dark to see. The clouds overhead had thinned, but it was still overcast, and the sun was completely down leaving just the final dregs of the dying light to filter through the trees. Logan listened with every nerve cell in his ears tuned for any sound.
All he could hear was a steady dripping sound as the water fell from the trees. He relaxed a little. Maybe whatever it was had run off.
There was a sudden burst of snarls, then the sound of fighting, followed by a screaming hiss. The activity wasn't too far away. Whatever it was, it now sounded like there was more than one of the things, and they were disagreeing over how to divide up the prey animal that had bleated.
He jumped as a warm hand grabbed his arm. Serensaa pressed two fingers against his lips to ensure he was quiet. They gathered their clothes, and she led him away from the sound. There was a nearby stand of low, scrub oaks and she headed directly for them. The clump of gnarled branches made a threatening shadow in the rapidly increasing darkness.
They slid through the closely spaced trunks, finally coming out on the other side. A larger tree was growing there. Logan could see its branches against the slightly lighter sky. The sun's after glow chose that moment to provide a little more light, and he could see it was a laurel oak.
Serensaa was already up the tree and perched on the first branch. Logan prepared to climb after her. A sudden crash of foliage behind him caused him to spin, presenting the spear he was carrying as a flimsy defe
nse.
A large form leaped out of the darkness with a snarl, struck the spear, and knocked him back against the trunk. Something slashed past his face, and there was a flash of brilliant pain across his upper chest and shoulder.
He fell to a sitting position, gritted his teeth to keep from crying out, and stabbed with the knife at the furry bulk. It thrashed, and then screamed. He stabbed again and again, pulling the knife hard sideways as each thrust went home.
He could feel the sharp blade cut through flesh with each stab. There was a sudden thick smell of feces, mixed with blood. The creature was slowing in its struggle. The wounds were having an effect.
He rolled, trying to get clear. As he did, he bumped into Serensaa's legs. She'd climbed down the back of the tree, and was leaning over him, stabbing with her spear at the dark form of his attacker.
Paradox: On the Sharp Edge of the Blade Page 15