Instinctively, Fabana knew what was about to happen. She bared her teeth.
“Oh, so you like to play rough?”
“Don’t touch me! I didn’t think you meant THAT.”
“Well what DID you mean?”
“I want a way out of here!”
“You do? Well you’re looking at it. But I want something for my trouble. Something you can give me. Come on honey, you’ll thank me later!”
“Don’t do this! I’d rather stay!”
“Your words say no, but your eyes say yes. You’ve never made it before with a male. If you had, you’d want this as much as I do. Maybe we can run away together.”
She began to stammer a prayer she learned in childhood. “Roh’kash ne nabu! Koh’pim ket ra mispa ojkhim!”
The private feelings she had been saving for her husband were about to be brutally exploited. She backed up again. “Please, in the name of God!”
“You will enjoy this. Calm yourself, Spotty. You’re not my first, and I’ll talk you through it. It’s really very simple, and when it’s over, you’ll beg for more. Trust me, honey bunch! Now just you stand still and let me handle the details.”
He started toward her again, and she sprang at him. She reached the end of her rope and was cruelly jerked back. “Leave me alone, Fielder!” she gasped. “Come at me again and I’ll kill you!”
His eyes glowed dully with loveless passion. “I want you, and by the gods I’ll have you!”
She started biting at the rope frantically. The sisal fibers stung her lips and tongue, but the rope did not fray in the least.
Fabana kept backing up further and further, and the dog kept advancing. She bided her time, waiting until he was far enough inside the circle that she could stage her last defense.
“Relax, honey. You can’t run and you can’t hide. So you might as well try to enjoy it. We’re going to have fun. Trust me.”
“I suppose so,” she said, drooping her ears and tail in submission. “Please be gentle.”
“I will. Hey, I don’t want to hurt you. We’re all friends here.”
She took in a deep breath, let it halfway out and held it. Suddenly she leaped at him. This time the rope did not stop her. She had not been trained in fighting, but neither had the dog. She closed on his flank and tore large hunks of his fur out with her superior strength, gripping him with her powerful arms. All thoughts of lovemaking fled from him, and he struggled to break her hold.
She knew she had to finish him. Tied up, she had to remain in that one place, while he could run away and recover, then come back when he had the advantage. If she surrendered to sleep, he would come ready to ravish her or choke off her wind.
She had him pinned where he could barely move, and could not afford to release him. “You’re right,” she growled, “I’m going to enjoy our time together. Now for love’s first kiss!”
She seized him by the throat and bore down with irresistible force. She felt something pop inside his neck and tasted warm blood.
He reached up in his death struggle and scratched down her face.
“Oh gods!” she cried, falling back and rolling in agony. Where there had once been an eye were now four parallel gashes. That side of her world was plunged into darkness and pain. Shrieking and yipping, she clawed the ground. “Roh’kash! Roh’kash!” she yelped. “Ne’b karssit dareh! Krekh toh, Fielder! Krekh toh, kresagit!!”
The dog, his windpipe crushed, crawled off a short way and collapsed, gasping. He stared at her imploringly, as if asking for his breath back. His jaws moved in silent words of terror.
Ed came running over. “What’s the bloody problem with you two??” He looked at the dog, prodded him with his shoe, and seeing his suffering was mortal, took his rifle and pointed it at Fielder’s head.
Fielder’s eyes grew wide. He held out a paw beseechingly.
“Poor wretch,” Ed said, pulling the trigger.
The sound of the shot made her freeze. She looked at the gaping wound and watched the unfortunate body twitch spasmodically. A red tide began to spread out on the ground, and the acrid smell of cordite and blood reached her.
Ed derisively said, “I should have known a stinking hyena would turn on me sooner or later!” He looked back at Fabana. “You made me put down my best dog!”
She dreaded the rifle he still held in his hand. “Roh’kash,” she whined, “I’ve always tried to live a good life. Take my spirit to your side.”
He pulled up the gun and pointed it at her. Fabana whimpered and trembled, cowering on the ground. She waited for death. It never came. He lowered the gun and stared at her eye. The end of the rifle barrel wavered uncertainly. Then without ceremony, Ed bent down and grabbed her by the collar, pulled his sheath knife and held it near her throat. Silently she prayed, “La’kuneh, dear maleh, come for my spirit.” The blade grazed her neck, pricked her, then with a quick upward pull, it bit in two the collar she had so hated.
“Get out, Spotty! Let God be your judge.”
She cowered in terror and could not move.
He picked her up bodily and hefted her toward her old homeland. Then picking up a rock, he stung her flank with a well-placed throw. “Get out, damn you!! If you come back, I’ll kill you!!”
She took one last look at the man that saved her life. She knew where she belonged, and she turned away. Without looking back, she slinked away toward the border of her old home.
CHAPTER 17: ODYSSEUS RETURNS
Fabana had walked for two hours in the hot sun. She was used to pacing a short distance from side to side. The distance to cover seemed almost impossibly vast, and she was weakened by her wound. Her grinding thirst pulled her to the side of the small watering hole she found. Without caution, without even looking around, she stumbled to the bank. Looking down into the water to take a drink, she saw something horrible looking back at her--a face delicate and fresh on one side and hideously scarred on the other.
She was in the middle of her first season, but she knew no male would ever want her. She howled pitifully. “Why, Roh’kash! Why me! I’ve never known the company of a male, and now I’m so horrible!” She collapsed by the bank and sobbed brokenly.
A small group of hyenas heard her and came out of the brush. They wondered who the stranger was. Fabana looked at them apprehensively. “Who are you?” she asked in common speech. “I don’t want trouble. I used to live here, and I’m trying to find my family. Do you know my okash La’kuneh?”
She smelled human and spoke common speech. They wondered if she was truly one of theirs.
“I remember La’khuneh,” the large male said in common speech.
“Jalkort?” She looked at him closely. “Jalkort, is that you?”
“I’m Jalkort. Should I know you?”
She broke into tears. With almost painful reluctance, she said, “Bih hyannicha! Moh keth Fabana!” Gaining strength, she almost shouted, “Bih hyannicha, Jalkort! Moh keth Fabana!”
“My gods!” Jalkort’s tail wagged so hard, his whole back carriage swayed. “Fay! Fay!” He ran forward and kissed her face on the good side. “Barkhal, Roh’kash!” He nuzzled her and rubbed her full length. Seeing the scar, he said, “I’ll rip the devil that did that to you! I’ll rip him alive! Where is he??”
“He’s already dead. I had him in a death choke when the man got his bang stick and put him out.” She tensed up and asked, “How’s Mom?”
Jalkort looked down. “Oh, Fay!”
“What is it, Jal? Is she....?”
“The fire. I’m so sorry.”
“How about my brother and sister?”
Jalkort nuzzled her sadly. He didn’t have to say a word.
She nuzzled him back, a tear running down her cheek. “Then you’re all I have left. Oh Jal, please lean on me!” When he sat by her, she rested her cheek against his and wept bitterly. “I smell like a human and a dog. I want to be rid of that scent.” Bitterness began to well up inside her and she added, “I want to forget that life,
to blot it out forever. The man took my freedom, and that dog tried to take my pride. Look what he did to me!”
Jalkort looked at her good side in profile. "Actually, you’re a rather handsome female. Your children will only take your good looks, not your wound."
“What children? I will die forsaken, and you know it!”
“Our children,” Jalkort said. “Bal dareth, Fabana?”
“You can’t possibly mean it!”
“I do.”
“But look at me!”
“I am looking at you. I’m hunting, and I never take my eyes off my prey. No matter what anyone else thinks, you’re beautiful to me. I always knew you would be my bak’ret.”
Tears began to stream down her face. “There is a God,” she sobbed. “There really is!” She kissed him and said, “Dareth koh, Jalkort! Dareth koh!”
CHAPTER 18: IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Fielder’s brutal advances had prejudiced Fabana against her own natural inclinations. She was afraid that Jalkort would come to her in the night with dull glowing eyes the way Fielder did to have his way with her. But she would endure it for the sake of her love for him and to bear his pups.
Jalkort drew up almost timidly to her. “How bright the stars are tonight.”
“Yes,” she said stiffly. Her muscles tensed. “They are bright, aren’t they.”
“We’re alone now,” Jalkort whispered. “Safe from the eyes of night, this small part of the world is our private kingdom, and you are my queen.”
“Come on. Get it over with,” Fabana said tensely.
“Get what over with?” Jalkort said with a gentle laugh. “You’re such a timid creature. That’s what I love about you.” He pawed her, then came down on his front legs and wagged his tail. “Hey, I bet you can’t catch me!” He tapped her on the shoulder and ran a short distance, then said, “You’re it! Come on, Fay! Work off that fat, honey bunch!”
“Fat??” She ran after him. “I’ll fat you!”
He bounded over a row of bushes like a gazelle. She followed, just skimming the top.
She looked around for him, but didn’t see him anywhere. Then she looked back and saw him hiding at the base of the bushes with a rakish grin on his face. “Gotcha!”
Fabana laughed. “You little fakir! You never change!”
“That’s right,” Jalkort said. “I’m still your friend. See, I’m not so scary am I?”
“Well, no....” She looked into his warm hazel eyes. “Well, yes. You’re the most scary and wonderful thing I’ve ever seen.”
He drew close to her face and nuzzled her gently. “I can be patient, as patient as you need me to be.”
She smiled and rubbed his cheek gently with hers. “You’re my best friend, and against all hope you’re my husband. Whatever you want to do is fine by me.” She pawed the ground uneasily. “Will it hurt?”
He chuckled. “No, my darling.” He pawed her face and smiled. “You’ll feel loved, very loved.”
She looked into his eyes and saw the honesty and openness that liberated her love for him. “I’m ready. Make me feel loved.”
“Are you sure?”
Trembling with mixed fear and desire, she whispered, “Yes. I’m sure.”
Fireflies like tiny shooting stars brought the splendor of the heavens close enough to touch. In the distance, a lion sang an ancient song of the joys of owning territory. Another lion roared back in eerie antiphony. The acacia leaves whispered wordless messages of peace and love. Fabana felt very happy, safe, and loved as he said she would. With Jalkort, no one would stare at her. With Jalkort, no one would shake their head in pity.
FABANA:
I looked into the water, and I dreaded what I’d see
A tortured face with ugly scars was looking back at me
I shied to go on living, and I wanted just to hide
And yet he doesn’t see that face, but one that lives inside
JALKORT:
She ran before the hungry fire that burned our world away
I thought our love was buried deep in some dark yesterday
Our path had forked, the dream had died,
like grass our love had burned
But life renewed amid the ash, and with it love returned.
BOTH:
The day before was void of hope, you were a sweet regret
A sad dream tugging at my heart I tried hard to forget
Then fate decreed our paths would cross,
our love was meant to be
Tonight the stars of Heaven smiled because you came to me.
Jalkort and Fabana went to a place where fear and shame could not follow them, a place found only in the heart where scars do not make ugliness and the boundary between two hopes is removed. They were one love and one spirit burning brighter than the sun, and everything the light touched was made pure and holy. Fabana felt her old sadness washed away in the tide. With it washed away the clinging traces of Spotty. She was Fabana, daughter of Kelvar and wife of Jalkort!
She discovered her special heritage with the help of her husband. Born to an ancient line, she knew the joy and comfort of a husband as her mother and grandmother did before her. All fear was gone. She floated in a pink sky on a golden cloud of joy, warmed by the sunshine of his love. She drew nearer, ever nearer to the sun, and finally trembling like a dry leaf she was swallowed up in the sweet caress of its fire. “Oh, Jal! I love you, so much!”
The end of their passionate encounter was just the beginning of their close bond. Fabana turned to meet her husband’s shining hazel eyes. He smiled gently and kissed her.
“Are you happy, Fay?”
“Delirious,” she said. “You are love.”
He went and rolled on his back in the sleepy savanna grass, and Fabana snuggled next to him.
“Aren’t the stars beautiful, Fay?”
She didn’t notice. Her gaze was turned upon him. “You make everything look beautiful. Even me.”
CHAPTER 19: UNCERTAINTIES
After the honeymoon, Jalkort had to return to the mundane reality of evening hunting and morning scavenging, but every moment he spent with Fabana was made to count. She would hunt with a group of females headed by Amarakh, and most of the males would trot off with Ber. But Jalkort would leave with Gur’mekh and a few chosen males who hung together almost as a clan within a clan.
When Fabana would return, and Jalkort saw her from across the field, he would run to her and forgoing words simply press his body against hers and nuzzle her. Her heart would almost rise to her mouth and she would paw him, knowing with some pride that new life was stirring inside her--life born from love.
Jalkort often spoke of Gur’mekh, his wonderful psychic gifts, and his big plans for the future. Fabana wanted to meet Gur’mekh, but it was more easily said than done.
Then one day when Jalkort came back from the hunt, he came trotting back with a lean, muscular male with a very intense pair of eyes that seemed to look right through people’s faces and spy on the heart.
“Here he is, Fay! You wanted to meet Gur’mekh!”
Jalkort’s pride was too clearly evident. Fabana nosed Gur’mekh’s cheek. “Jal speaks of you highly.”
“He speaks highly of you too, Fabana.”
There was something odd about Gur’mekh that disturbed Fabana. She could not quite tell what it was. Maybe his supposed gifts troubled her, but she was not sure. It would do no good to come out and ask him about his activities, so she tried hard to push her doubts to the back of her mind. She was wise enough to know Gur’mekh would pick up any strong suspicions whether she voiced them or not.
“Your husband is indispensable to me,” Gur’mekh said. “I believe that our sun is rising, not setting. That there are great things ahead for our race, and that those who have looked down upon us for centuries will come to respect us as children of Roh’kash.”
“Is something going to happen?”
“Something revolutionary? No. Something evolutionary, at leas
t for now. I believe that we have wasted the blood of our seers on petty concerns. I think that the psychic gift is a trust given us by Roh’kash for the betterment of our people. I believe that I must work to make the clan and someday the race better off than I found it. That’s what I will teach my children, and if the gift does run in families, we need to encourage our seers not to forgo marriage, but to do as my parents did, spreading the gift of Roh’kash until it becomes one with the race, and the race is one with it. A family united in blood and in spirit. Wouldn’t that be beautiful, Fabana?”
“Perhaps. And yet....”
“And yet?” He looked her in the eyes with his intense stare. She glanced down.
“And yet, there is some comfort in privacy. I mean, don’t you think things you’d like to keep to yourself? Like maybe being attracted to someone else’s mate?”
Gur’mekh was visibly upset, but quickly covered it. “Of course she doesn’t know,” he thought to himself. “Why, Fabana,” he said aloud, “If we all knew how we felt about each other, I think we’d choose the right partners in life. I mean, when I was growing up, my mom and dad would look at me, and I would feel drunk with love. I wish everyone could feel that way, even once in their life.”
“I feel that way when I’m with Jalkort.”
Jalkort kissed her, and the issue was soon smoothed over. Still from then on she distrusted Gur’mekh, and tried to encourage her husband to hunt with Ber instead.
CHAPTER 20: DEMRATH’S FAMILY
“Among the first of the Hyannicha were the brothers Mal’keth and Gol’shekh. Mal’keth was quiet and thoughtful, while Gol’shekh was loud and selfish. Yet though they were so different, the two brothers were seldom apart.
“Mal’keth fell in love with Baellea. But Gol’shekh was consumed to the bones with jealousy. And one evening he asked his brother, “Share Baellea with me, and whatever I kill you shall eat of first.”
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