by Calista Skye
But. There’s hardly any chance of going home to Earth, anyway. Bune can’t fly anymore, and the evil little Plood aliens that dumped us here were shot down right after. They will not be back to get us, because they are dead. Why not make this into a good home for the rest of our lives, like I sense that the lab coat girls are determined to?
I’m not sure it’s a good idea to live my life here as if it’s only temporary. Everything points to us girls being stranded here forever. So why deny myself the joys that being with a good caveman can provide? I’m only human. I need companionship. With a good man. And in fact, I’ve never felt more human and in touch with myself than here on Xren. Everything is reduced to its basics on this primitive planet. And I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.
“Hungry?” Car’rakz stops and turns around.
“Yes,” I admit. “Walked for long way.”
He gets the roasted turkeypig out of his bag and hands me the water pouch. It’s heavier than before, so he must have found a stream not far from our camp site.
I chug down a good quart of the tepid liquid, then wipe my mouth and stand still. “Water is near.”
“Yes,” Car’rakz says, chewing on meat that drips with fat. “It’s a good place to stop for a break.”
I can definitely hear the sound of running water nearby. “Water is clean? You said is dirty when rain a lot.”
“It hasn’t been raining for a while. Hopefully, it won’t be too dirty.” He points to the trunk of a fallen tree. “You can rest.”
I sit down on it, taking the weight off my feet. “Maybe can wash… um… body.” I point to all of me.
“Maybe,” Car’rakz says and remains standing.
“You good warrior,” I say to build him up a little after the dactyl incident. “Kill many Bigs highly easy. Then also not kill when is not needed.”
He shrugs. “Any man must be able to kill Bigs. And to spare his blade when the jungle offers a way around danger.”
“You make me safe,” I state, just so he knows. He needs all the encouragement he can get. “Very skilled warrior man.”
“Except with irox,” he admits. “I can’t… I don’t see them as ordinary Bigs.”
Ah. An opening in his emotional armor. I just look up at him expectantly to get him to continue.
He doesn’t.
“Why?” I prompt as gently as I can.
He draws breath to speak, but then he clenches his jaws and looks away.
I rip a piece of meat of the rib I’m holding and chew. “Maybe think, Tamara not understand. But I scared, too. Of jungle and irox and Bigs and dragons. Being scared not is bad! Is highly smart. Very dangerous jungle!”
I can see him struggle.
“Everyone scared,” I state. “Tribesmen, women. Everyone.”
“Nobody else freezes up when an irox attacks,” he says tightly. “That thing would have killed you. If we hadn’t been saved. By gray ghosts!” he spits and stomps off in among the trees.
He’s just brimming with self-loathing. And it’s so unnecessary for a great guy like him.
But that dactyl did give me an idea.
14
- Car’rakz -
I can’t face Tamara after my shameful failure to protect her from the irox. It would have killed me, and then proceeded to attack her. The outcome would not have been in doubt. I failed for the second time!
Holy Ancestors. She must be beyond herself with anger. But she’s too polite to show it.
No man in her tribe has ever failed like that. It’s a certainty. I must be the worst excuse for a man she has ever met.
I may indeed be the least worthy male on Xren.
I suddenly feel a connectedness to my tribe. Since the Stripening, I have felt that the other tribesmen are weak and focused on the wrong things. But now I have been confronted by me not being better than them. At all. Who am I to judge them?
Saved by gray ghosts. By a complete coincidence. Tamara even knows more about those than I do. And if the story is to be believed, she only came to Xren a little over a year ago. While I have lived here all my life.
I reach the stream and stare down into a quiet pool of clear water. A ruined warrior stares back. I only have half a face. And I am a coward when faced with irox. A coward with a broken sword. Why is Tamara wasting her time with me? Mating with me, even?
I walk back to where she’s sitting, calmly eating her lunch.
“Your back is to the woods,” I growl. “Anything could come out and attack you, and you wouldn’t be able to call for help before you were dead.”
She looks behind her. “I not hear any threats.”
“Some threats make no sound.” I point to where I came from. “There’s water in that direction.”
She gets up and brushes dirt off her round behind in a movement that is so charming and alien and clearly feminine that I feel the old swelling in my crotch.
“Is it fast river?”
“Not too fast.”
I get my bag, and soon we’re on the sandy bank of the clucking stream.
Tamara squats down to test the temperature with her hand. “Is cold, but not… cold cold.”
“It’s cool water,” I agree. “Not too cold.”
“There are dangerous beings in water?”
“I don’t think so. They don’t like water that moves like this.”
“You save Tamara if being come, try to eat?”
I can feel my jaw clenching. “If I don’t freeze up.”
She laughs with her bright, yet mature voice. It’s the most wonderful sound I have ever heard.
“You not will freeze! Car’rakz is sometime silly warrior, say things are funny!”
I frown. I think she misunderstood. Of course, I don’t think the water is cold enough to freeze me.
But before I can explain, Tamara has pulled her dress off and is sticking one toe into the still water in the pool.
From behind, she looks almost more alluring than from the front. Her shoulders are narrow and delicate, and then the curve of her back swells to the most scandalous proportions down by her hips. Her behind is impossibly round and luxurious, with a deep, long cleft in the middle.
I swallow in a dry throat as the fabric of my pants is stretched again.
Tamara clumsily jumps into the deep pool, then squeals a little. “Is highly cooold!”
She frolics for a while as I scan the jungle and the sky for dangers.
“Not is c-c-cold,” she says after a while, her teeth clattering. “C-c-car’rakz also dip!”
It is very tempting. The edge of the jungle is far enough away that I should be able to spot an approaching rekh or other danger.
I leave the sword on a rock, easily within reach from the water. Then I drop my pants and jump in.
Tamara squeals once more as she’s caught in the splash, then comes in close and throws her arms around my neck. “Is f-f-fun to swim in water!”
“It is cold,” I observe. “But not dirty.”
“Car’rakz highly smart,” Tamara says. “See water not dirty. Is very clear water! Even alien woman see is clear.”
She splashes my face and laughs, then lays back and kicks her legs, splashing me even more. “Very wet Car’rakz.”
I dive down into the water and swim down to the bottom. Then I locate Tamara’s shadow and kick from the bottom as hard as I can. As I zoom past the woman, I grab her waist and take her with me out of the water. She squeals in surprise and fear before we fall back down with a splash that creates huge waves in the small pool.
“No fair!” Tamara splutters and wipes wet hair out of her face. “Car’rakz is dolphin, not told me!”
I tread water and hold her up while she gets her breath back. “Dofin?”
“Doll-fin,” she repeats. “Is Small on my planet. Lives in water, very likes to shoot out of water into air. Just like Car’rakz. Can do like this?” She twirls one finger around in a circle.
I dive back down. One of the few good things
about the village where I grew up was the rapids not too far away, where Xis’tan and I would play most of the evenings. It was a relatively safe way to pass the time. And now I’m remembering some of the tricks we did.
I reach the bottom again, squat all the way down on the hard rock, and then release all the power in my legs, shooting up from the water and attempting a somersault in the air.
I only half succeed, and I fall back in the water, back first.
“Is very good trick,” Tamara says when I reemerge, placing one dainty hand on my chest. “Like dolphin. V-v-very strong Car’rakz.”
“You’re cold,” I state and lift her out of the water so just her feet are still under. “I will dry you off.”
I walk ashore while still holding her on straight arms over my head. She’s not very heavy.
I put her down and use my hands to wipe the water off her. It’s not very effective, but it gets me in close contact with all of her. Her skin is soft and perfectly smooth.
She’s perfect.
And I am so much less than that.
She comes in close and puts her palm on my thigh. “Very strong Car’rakz. Jumps so high from water, looks crazy. Highly much power in legs!”
Her hand so close to my crotch gets my manhood stiffening after the cool bath.
She slides her hand up until she’s holding on to the stiffness. Her eyes are glassy when she looks up at me.
I almost give in, and my manhood twitches in her hand.
I turn away and put my pants back on.
“Not want Worship?” Tamara asks, and I can hear the puzzlement in her alien voice.
15
- Tamara -
“We have a long way to go,” Car’rakz growls. “The sooner we get there, the better.”
I put my dress on without another word, and then we’re on the way again.
Dammit. I thought those fun times in the water would get him in a better mood. And for a moment, I think he enjoyed himself. But now he’s shut down again.
We keep walking for many hours until the sun starts to set. Nothing is being said, except my sporadic requests for water and food to keep me energized.
The terrain keeps getting more mountainous, and the trees are nowhere near as tall or dense here as in the part of the jungle where my tribe is.
Finally, Car’rakz stops and points behind me.
I turn, and then I see the jungle behind and below. It stretches all the way to the horizon, a rich green and red and yellow landscape that I can feel is just teeming with life everywhere.
“That’s beautiful,” I say softly.
“Xren is pretty,” Car’rakz says. “And deadly.”
I turn my head and smile. “Not if you have strong man to protect you.”
He doesn’t smile. “So make sure to get one who can protect you against everything.”
“You can.”
“Apparently not.” He turns his back.
“Car’rakz!”
“Yes?” He stops.
I look around fast. Ah. That one. “Take out your sword!”
He draws his weapon so fast, his arm is just a blur, then quickly looks all around for threats. “Where?”
I point to a tree, high up the trunk. “See branch there?”
He frowns. “It’s not alive.”
“But I want. Be good dolphin warrior and jump to cut off with sword.”
His frown grows deeper. “You want that branch?”
I smile sweetly. “Please.”
“Why?”
Yeah, he is many things. A pushover who will do anything you ask him to is not one of them.
“I just want. Have idea.”
“Idea for what?” Gah, he’s stubborn.
“You see.”
“How about that branch?” He points to one much lower down.
“No. That only. You jump like dolphin. Cut with sword.”
He stares me down for three heartbeats, and I make a mental note to not do this kind of thing too often. His eyes are burning into me, even as I flutter my eyelids in the sweetest, most Bambi-like way I know.
Then he shrugs, squats down, jumps straight into the air, swings the sword, and cuts the branch off at its base.
He lands as softly as a cat, and the fabric of one pant leg splits all the way up to his hips as the thigh muscle flexes with the impact.
He hands me the branch.
“Thank you.” I carelessly toss the branch aside.
I’ve never seen yellow eyes darken. But his do. While at the same time becoming more luminous with what has to be anger.
An angry caveman.
I realize that I’m playing with fire.
“Did not really want branch!” I say quickly. “Want see Car’rakz jump.”
Still, he pins me with his piercing eyes.
“Want see Car’rakz jump high,” I try. “See? Jump so high! Very strong legs has Car’rakz. Is good for killing irox!”
Okay, I guess frowning is better than just staring.
“See gray ghosts? Jump high, attack irox when irox about to attack. Is weak moment for irox!”
Finally, he finds something else to stare at. He half-turns and looks up at the place where he cut the branch.
I let my breath out, unaware that I was even holding it. “See? Very high! If jump when irox attack, surprise irox! It not expect danger come from prey, highly suddenly! Is what gray ghosts do. They kill irox, Car’rakz! Small gray ghosts kill irox easily. Car’rakz much bigger and stronger than gray ghosts.”
I have no idea if this is how other cavemen actually kill the dactyls. I know that Jax’zan killed a whole bunch of them once, protecting the lab coat girls from a whole swarm of dactyls. But if it works for gray ghosts, it might work for a caveman as well. Especially one who can jump ten feet into the air. The gravity on Xren is less than on Earth, and the cavemen have insanely thick thighs. Car’rakz has the thickest I have seen.
He looks back at me. “When the irox comes down, it will sometimes attack with its beak first.”
“Sometimes. But when it does, can’t fly too low,” I pull out of my ass. “If goes too low, irox risk crash into ground. When wants to get thing that’s very down to ground, has to use talons. To use talons, has to push them in front. Weak moment!”
So, I’m not too sure about any of that. But I have been carried in a dactyl’s claws, myself, so I feel like kind of an authority on this. The point here is to get Car’rakz a place to start. Somewhere he can go in his mind next time he has to defend himself — and me — from a dactyl.
Car’rakz is looking up at the tree again, and now he’s scratching his chin thoughtfully. “I would have to jump at the exact right moment. It doesn’t take the irox long to turn in the air.”
“Yes,” I agree enthusiastically. “At the exact right moment. Also slash sword at best place on irox. Where is best place?”
He thinks. “The throat, probably.”
“Very good,” I state. “All needed to kill irox, jump very high in air at exact right moment, slash heavy sword at throat of flying irox. Highly easy for Car’rakz!” I’m trying to give him some confidence, but I might be overdoing it.
“Highly easy,” he repeats, thinking.
“Yes. Car’rakz now practice. See tree? Now get high branch for Tamara.” I point to one that’s slightly lower on another tree.
He walks over and looks up, then squats like before.
“Wait!” I shout and run over to him. “You think. Irox now attack. Is closer, is closer. See it changing position in air! Now!”
The huge caveman acts like a freaking spring and whooshes into the air, casually cuts the branch off at the top of the curve, and then lands again with the branch in his hand.
“Highly good!” I encourage. “Irox is dead, head now cut from body. Car’rakz is very triumph!”
I see the tiniest smile on his lips, but I think he’s probably mostly amused by my cheerleading. But hey, I like the guy, and I’d love to see him beat his fe
ar of the dactyls.
I point to another tree. “Oh no! Is highly big irox, coming to murder Tamara! Car’rakz must save! Heeelp big warrior, save!”
He sprints over to the tree, goes down low, and bounces into the air, chopping off a branch that hangs even higher than the one I had in mind. And then he just keeps on bouncing, taking more branches off.
His display of insane power and strength makes me happy. He’s so alien, but at the same time he’s more human than most of the Earth men I met.
And he turns me on. He’s a bundle of power and skill and confidence, and the fact that he has this one weakness just… I don’t know. It makes him better, I guess. Because it’s often the little imperfections that really make us fall for someone.
So am I falling for this guy?
Well, my pussy is. Seeing those muscles flexing wildly, knowing how he can fuck me, seeing how dangerous he is and remembering the feeling of him between my thighs, me opening myself to him… It makes liquid heat pool at my core.
Car’rakz stops jumping and collects the branches in a bundle, then drags them over to me.
He wipes sweat off his brow. “It’s not the most effective way of collecting firewood. But I suppose it works.”
“See?” I enthuse. “See how easy to kill irox?”
He gives me a sideways glance. “Killing branches is easy. Irox will be less so.”
I touch his hard forearm, like taught steel cables underneath warm satin. “Maybe not, Car’rakz. Maybe not.”
He takes my hand, and we walk further up the mountain.
I’m actually feeling a little tired. “Is far yet?”
He points straight ahead. “No. We’re there.”
I squint against the light from the setting sun. “Where?”