“Five seasons. I was lucky; when they found me, it was coming near to winter. I would have frozen without the shelter they provided.”
“Where do you go for the winter?”
“There are some caves, down in the southwest. It stays warmer there. Soon we will be turning back that way to make sure we arrive in plenty of time to make stores. I am surprised that Jarratt has taken us so out of the way. He must want to meet your tribe.”
Jenna felt a pang of guilt. By bringing them here, she might very well have caused the tribe some hardship. But they wanted to kill Haran, she reminded herself. “I could go on alone. I think I know the way.”
“Jarratt would not have it. He tries to keep all of us safe. If you cannot find your tribe, you will join us.”
“Whether I wish to or not?” Jenna asked.
“Yes. He will decide what is right for you.”
“But I know what is right for me. To be with my tribe, my family.” Haran.
“Jarratt will know that you are grieving for the loss of your family, if we can’t find them. So he will make the decision without your emotions being involved.”
“Is that what happened to you, Renu?”
For a moment, Renu cast her eyes down and Jenna saw tears shining bright, but she swept them aside. “I would have died on my own.”
“Did you try to leave?”
“Only after my arm had healed. I wanted to go back to the place of Yuri’s death. But I was told that the past should stay in the past.”
Jenna smiled. “In some ways that is true. But you should be allowed to do what you want. What if we left together, I could accompany you back to where Yuri died. We would be safe together.”
“I have grown used to the tribe.”
“But not always to the gara in your bed?”
Renu looked at her with large, luminous eyes, which held back the tears wanting to escape. “I cannot always deny them.”
“But you would rather?”
“I loved Yuri and my heart is still not healed. When I lie with another man then it is a hollow feeling inside me.”
“Then come with me to ask if we can go to where he died. Together we would be safe. Perhaps if we have a knife or a spear to defend ourselves.”
“The gara carry the weapons. Jarratt does not like the mara carrying them.”
“But you know how to use a spear. If you lived with Yuri alone you must have been able to defend yourself.”
“Yes, we hunted together,” she said, smiling at the memory. Then she straightened her back and added, “I have grown accustomed to the life here. But it is so different from what I knew before.”
“Then let’s go now.” Jenna took Renu’s hand and pulled her forward towards the front of the tribe. They had to brush past others, who gave them disapproving looks and muttered under their breaths. Yet Jenna saw a way out and she wanted to take it.
“I am not so sure,” Renu said, as they got closer to Jarratt. “No one has left the tribe.”
“Has anyone ever asked to leave?”
“No.”
Jenna suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She was encouraging Renu to do something she wasn’t too sure of. She promised herself that when they left the tribe, she would make sure she carried out her promise and that Renu could live with her and Haran for as long as she needed. Maybe it was time they started a small tribe of their own.
“Renu,” Jarratt said as they approached.
“Jarratt. I have come to ask that I leave the tribe to go and visit the place where Yuri fell.”
“Where he was murdered by the Dualis?” Jarratt emphasised the word.
“Yes. Jenna has offered to accompany me.”
“Has she?” Jarratt looked closely at Jenna. “I thought Jenna wished to go home to the mountains.
“Renu has told me about the death of her friend, and I said I would go with her to see where he fell. She would find comfort in it.”
“You do not offer to go so that you can escape us and go back to the Dualis who has claimed you?” Jarratt accused loudly.
Jenna paled, the feel of Renu’s gaze on her, penetrating her, was almost too much to bear. She had not the words to deny it.
“Jenna?” Renu asked, her voice a small tremble.
Jenna looked at Renu. She was about to speak when Jarratt interrupted. “Go back to your place, Renu. I will deal with this.”
“Renu,” Jenna said, grabbing her friend’s hand. “Please.”
“Is it true?” Renu asked.
“She will lie to you and try to cheat you, Renu. The mark is upon her; she is the mate of the Dualis and we will use her as bait.”
Jenna understood now. The mark on her neck must be exposed, the place where he had bitten her in the throes of passion giving her away. In one swift movement, Renu was pushed away and Jenna was flanked by two gara.
Bait. That was all she could think of. They would use her now to capture Haran. She had miscalculated the situation, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“Mammoth!” a cry went out.
All around her, the gara lifted their spears, ready to launch at the creature that was thundering along the track towards them. Now she knew why it was such a wide path; the big, colossal creatures used it as a way through the trees.
Panic ensued, not least because behind the first mammoth, another followed and maybe more. A herd. As they saw the tribe of Masu, they lowered their heads. These beasts were about to charge. Shouts and cries were all around her. The Masu scattered into the trees. For one moment, Jenna stood there, unable to move. The wonder of such a beast in the flesh was beyond her imagining. Big tusks lowered, their trunks like that of an elephant—but then instead of dry grey skin, they were covered in shaggy fur, some of it hanging off as the creatures moulted in the summer heat.
Then she realised the danger she was in. Turning to look about her, she dived into the trees, hitting the ground hard. Winded for a moment, before quickly recollecting the danger she was in, she rose to her feet. Not only did she need to run from the mammoths, this was also her only hope of escaping the Masu.
Crashing through the trees, she didn’t think of trying to conceal her escape, only to put distance between her and her foe. Only when a shout rang out did she realise they would not simply let her go. A spear hit the tree next to her, piercing her heart with fear. They wanted her; it didn’t matter if she was dead or alive.
Running faster, the lower branches of the trees snagging her clothes, she pushed on further. When she had to change course to avoid a thick clump of foliage, she risked a glance behind her. Only one followed her, the others too preoccupied with fending off the mammoths and getting the tribe back together and out of danger.
Tiring now, her breath was coming short and sharp, her lungs burning. Behind her, she could hear the shout of the gara following her and the sound of his breathing, as he got closer. They both knew he would catch her; he was fitter and faster. So he did not use the spear, he would capture her alive and drag her back to Jarratt.
This bait was too tired and she stumbled to the floor, giving him the chance he needed. With a sickening thud, he hit her across the back, making her stay down. Her hands only just stopped her from going face first into the forest floor, but he had knocked the wind out of her and she knew she was finished.
“Mate of the beast,” he said, and she turned to see him undoing the hide pants he wore. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, there was no breath in her to scream. He was going to rape her.
His hand went to her hip, and he grabbed hold of her skirt and ripped it from her. She tried to draw air into her poor lungs, but she couldn’t, and panic grew with her fear. The gara knelt down behind her and she closed her eyes, trying to blot out the pain she knew would come. All she could do was pray it would be quick and that her baby wouldn’t be hurt if he was too rough.
And then he was gone.
A growl, low and menacing, as Haran took the gara’s feet from under him as he l
aunched himself on to her captor. She lay on the floor, watching the big cave bear and the man fight. A new kind of fear gripped her. The gara had a knife.
Chapter Nine - Haran
A blood rage took over him. The sight of his mate sprawled on the ground in front of this Masu took away his sense of fear. It was replaced by the need to kill. For Haran, this was a new experience. He had never before killed for anything other than for food, and he had never killed a Masu. But his bear wanted to. So very, very much.
His claws swiped the man away from Jenna, causing red streaks to appear on his arms that matched the red stains these Masu daubed on their faces. It ran down to his hand, crimson, the smell filling his nostrils and fuelling his need to kill and avenge his mate. The Masu was not finished yet, though; in his hand was a knife. A short handle attached to a piece of flint that had been honed to a deadly blade.
Circling his adversary, Haran drew him further away from Jenna. His first thought was to always protect her and he knew the Masu could easily turn and stab his knife into her if her thought he was about to lose to the bear. Masu were cruel, they showed no mercy, and they lived to give the greatest pain and grief to others. A thing this Masu would never do again.
Far enough away now, he attacked the Masu, knocking him down with his bulky body. He went to bite his neck, but the Masu waved the knife dangerously close to his side. One slip and the knife would go into his heart, so he pulled back and circled again.
Each time the Masu tried to get to his feet he charged. Over and over, he slipped back to the ground. But Haran knew he didn’t have time on his side. He needed to finish this and get Jenna away from here before reinforcements arrived. It would not take long for the Masu tribe to drive the great beasts away.
He had been so lucky to come across them grazing peacefully in the shade, further up the forest track. If the Masu had come upon them, they would have skirted around them quietly, leaving them undisturbed. But Haran saw his opportunity and drove them in a frenzy down the path, hoping his actions would not lead to Jenna being trampled.
It seemed the Spirits had smiled on him for once. Would they continue to now, or were they playing with him, offering him hope before taking it away from him? The Masu in front of him was getting weary and Haran took his opportunity to strike. He feigned a swipe to the right and then drove his head into the Masu’s chest to knock him down. His teeth closed in on the hand that the knife was in and he bit down hard. The man screamed and Haran released him; it was now time to go for the kill.
“No, Haran,” Jenna gasped behind him.
He turned his wild eyes on her, at once relieved to see she was sat up and yet confused that she would prevent him killing this Masu who would do her harm. But then she was one of them. Would she rather he was left to live because he was one of her kind? Despite all he had done, all he would have done if Haran hadn’t come to her aid.
He snarled, his big sharp teeth so close to his victim’s neck he could see the blood pumping through his veins, waiting to be spilled on the forest floor.
“Haran, if you do this they will never leave us alone. Let him live. Let’s go back to the mountains where we belong.”
He listened to other words; they confused him. But as he let his blood rage ebb away, he saw what she was trying to do. With much snapping of his jaws, and a few clawmarks that would scar this Masu for the rest of his life, Haran released him. Only as the Masu tried to rise did he deal the blow that would knock him unconscious.
Then he was by Jenna’s side. Encouraging her to rise to her feet and then he led her towards the mountains, making sure they left plenty of tracks.
Chapter Ten - Jenna
Still not recovered from her running from the gara who had attacked her, she stumbled on after Haran, knowing they had to move fast. Her legs were leaden and her breathing was still too shallow to run. The big bear lumbered in front of her, looking back in concern. Yet still he led her on.
After about twenty minutes, she had to stop. “Haran. I can’t go on. Just give me a couple of minutes to catch my breath.” He stopped, turning to look over her shoulder. Once satisfied there was no one perusing them, he came back to her. He nuzzled her with his short snout and then shimmered into his other form.
“We can’t stay here for long. If we run fast, we can get to the small stream that passes through the trees. There we can follow it away from the Masu, then we head to the mountains.”
“Are you sure they will follow?” she asked, her breathing easier now but her lungs feeling bruised.
“Yes,” he said plainly.
“So we head to the mountains, making sure they see our tracks and then double back on them?”
“That is the plan, a good plan,” he said, grinning at her. “I have taught you well.”
She laughed. “I’ve seen enough movies to know how to lose someone on your tail.” She looked up suddenly. It was the first time she had let anything about her other life slip.
Crouching down by the side of her he said quietly, “I have had some time to think about you and that day you fell from the sky. You are not like those Masu.”
“No, Haran. I am not.” She waited for him to respond, to ask her for the truth, but he simply stood up straight, looking in the direction they had come from.
“We must move.”
Instantly he changed into the cave bear and led her off again at a good steady pace. Now she had managed to get her lungs working, she found it easier to follow him. About a mile further on they found a small stream and followed it down river. It got wider and deeper, the going more hazardous, until they eventually left it and ran by the side of it. The trees grew thinner and an occasional gap in the canopy gave her brief glimpses of the mountain range they were heading for.
She wanted to ask him how he knew the way, but that would have to wait; right now, the more pressing danger came from behind them. A shout in the distance told them that the Masu had followed and were most probably looking at the place they had stopped to rest. Haran moved faster. Jenna just tried to put her mind elsewhere while her body stumbled on.
Aching, tired, but unable to stop, they began to head away from the river and towards the mountains. For the first time, Haran made her hide her tracks, showing her where to walk with his big bear feet. Occasionally he left a track. He wanted to slow them down, let them search for their footprints. She only hoped it would work.
The sun was disappearing behind the mountains when they reached the foothills. Haran headed for a place where trees covered the slopes; it would give them some cover. But before they had gone too far he stopped. Carefully he changed, so that he could speak to her.
“Climb higher. Cover your tracks. I am going to try to lead them away from here. I will leave enough tracks for them to think we have gone up over there to the west.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“We shall see, now go. Climb as quickly and as silently as you can.”
She didn’t hesitate, because she knew that speed was not going to help her. She had to keep herself concealed and that meant she couldn’t run on blindly, she would have to take her time. Watching Haran go, she hoped they would follow him, but prayed they would not catch him.
Jenna looked down at the ground; she had to avoid any soft mud. The hot sun hadn’t dried it all out under the shade of these trees, and she had to be careful. Holding onto the branch of a tree to steady herself, she put her foot on a stone and so began her journey up the mountain. One step after another, always listening for danger, she slowly rose up through the forest. In no time, she had broken out into a sweat, the concentration beginning to show. Every once in a while she hit a patch of hard ground and risked leaving a track, moving quickly over it on her tiptoes. All around her was quiet; there was no sign of Haran and no sign of her pursuers. Yet occasionally she had the feeling on the back of her neck that she was being watched. Yet every time she stopped and looked around, there was no one there.
“You are getting pa
ranoid,” she told herself for the tenth time.
Then she froze. A voice rang out behind her. She turned but couldn’t see anyone—there was nothing for it, she had to keep going. Another voice. She sobbed loudly as she realised they hadn’t followed the false trail Haran had laid. They were coming for her. She knew they would catch her, but what should she do, abandon her act to conceal her footprints and run for it, or hide? She looked around for anywhere that would give her shelter. Nothing.
Looking behind her, she could see three of the gara, spread out like you saw police doing when they were searching for evidence. She was doomed; she needed to go faster, but then they would see her and surely she couldn’t outrun them. She was too tired.
“Oh, Haran, what should I do?”
There was movement around her, and the feeling that she was being watched became incredibly strong. She looked through the trees, trying to see if anyone was there. Could it be possible that they had moved in front of her and were now closing in to trap her? She took two steps forward, deciding now was the time to run for it. But just as she did, strong hands came down and grabbed her, lifting her up into the lower branches of the tree.
Opening her mouth to scream, she was stopped by a hand covering it. She tried to wriggle out of the strong arms that held her fast, but it was impossible. Looking up into the face of her captor, she was stunned to see a Neanderthal, a man just like Haran.
“Dualis?” she whispered.
“Dualis,” he said nodding. “Dualis marked.”
“Yes,” she said, putting her hand over the place where Haran had bitten her, once her captor had relinquished his tight grip.
“Masu.”
“I am Masu. But not those Masu,” she said, pointing to the men that were now getting nearer.
“Bad Masu,” he said, his voice a hissing whisper.
She rested her back against the tree trunk. “Can they see us,” she whispered, her voice lost in the rustle of the leaves as the breeze blew down off the mountain.
Lost_Mate of the Cave Bear Page 3
