Olivia

by R. Lee Smith

  “Her loss,” Olivia said, running one hand through the thick pelt of his shoulders.

  Doru hopped back onto the stump, the spear in one hand, and reached down to pull her up beside him. He caught her by the waist and let her hold him around the neck. “Maybe that’s why I care for you so much,” he mused, flexing his claws in the wood. “I’ve never known a woman so enthusiastic about being with me.”

  He bent his knees and threw out his wings.

  “Well, me and Chugg,” she said.

  He uttered a croaking cough, aborting the flight and nearly falling off the stump. “Chugg,” he shuddered. He glared at her, an impressive sight this close to him, and leapt into the air.

  She waited until they had gained enough altitude that he couldn’t drop her and said, “What about Karen?”

  “Never coupled with her,” he replied. “Despite the fact that she once crawled into the bath with me and applied her lean body to mine in the most astonishing manner.”

  “Well, that sounds fairly enthusiastic. Why didn’t you?”

  “She was Bodual’s mate.”

  She laughed at him. “He couples with yours!”

  “Only when I’m there!” He grinned at her quickly, then returned his attention to the mountain up ahead. “Besides, that’s different. She was throwing herself at every male in the tribe. I think the only reason she came after me so fiercely was because I was Bodual’s friend, because she thought that would hurt him the most. But she was doing more than simply sneaking around in dark places behind her mate’s back. She pressed that bare body against mine with complete abandon, but she never asked my name. I couldn’t get out of the bath fast enough.”

  “Perhaps she didn’t find an exchange of names to be very important. How long was it before you told a human yours?”

  “That was different.” He thought about it for a moment. “Three moons, I think. And only after Vorgullum admitted you knew his. We’d have done it sooner, but that Mojo Woman’s madness put a lot of us off. Imagine trying to trap a man’s soul in a candle just to frighten him. And humans are already so terrifying.”

  Olivia regarded him with some amusement. “Sure we are. The little bald defenseless ones.”

  “Defenseless, hell. Every time I come to your pit, I think I’ll never rise from it. I’m not a superstitious man, but sometimes I feel as though you’re drawing out a part of my soul. Sometimes I think you could kill me if you wished to, and with damned little effort. If I didn’t trust you so much, I’d never dare to sleep beside you.” He considered his words. “Of course, I have no idea if I could resist you, if you really meant to have me.”

  Olivia could think of nothing to say so she mock-growled and bit at him in a parody of mating madness. Doru laughed and growled back.

  Olivia said, “You make me feel sorry for Karen, though. She’s not like Carla. She’s just looking for someone she can live with.”

  “She may not hate herself, but she doesn’t like herself much either,” he replied. “And you’re right, she’s not quite as bad as Carla, but it’s a damn near thing.”

  “Sampling the goods, eh?”

  He barked out a laugh and landed close to the women’s entry shaft. At this hour, the mountainside was empty, but she could see patches of worked soil that proved someone was at least thinking of recreating Hollow Mountain’s garden. Doru took a moment to scan for trespassing males (or perhaps just for game; he was never really turned off in that regard), before returning his attention to her. “What do you want, Olivia? A list of the women I’ve coupled with? You’ll be disappointed.”

  “You could never disappoint me, o mighty spear-carrier.”

  He eyed her with a faint smile and an expression of reluctant acquiescence. “Well, let’s see, as humans go, there’s been only Tobi and only you, Carla and Karen’s efforts notwithstanding. As for gullan, there were the females I was bred to, but I’d rather not count them at all.” Doru tapped his claws against his spear haft, staring pensively at the moon. “Furluu, of course, on occasion. Chugg, the once. Ugh. My first, who suffered me once and never spoke to me again, understandably enough. And there was one female, now dead, who met with me in secret for several years before she caught the sour cough. I buried her. I think that’s it…no, there was one time with Golgun. She beat me in a riddling contest. Pity, that. I stood to win a whole box of thumperjuice.”

  He glanced at her, then smacked the haft of his spear against the stone. “Well, out with it, woman. Tell me yours.”

  She blinked, then took a fraction of an instant to decide on how much to tell him. “After my first, there was another man and we were together almost a year, but we lost touch after he left college. That’s it for me and humans, but there were some near misses. Vorgullum, of course. And…Kodjunn.”

  “The sigruum?” Doru looked impressed.

  “Sudjummar, which you know. Logarr, after the challenge. And you and Bodual.” She debated briefly, not wanting to sound either bragging or blasé. “And the Great Spirit.”

  “So, let me see,” he said, counting them off on his hand. “You’ve lain with the leader, the sigruum, the metal-maker, the chief hunter, the chief hunter’s best friend, a blood challenger, and a god. That’s impressive as hell, Olivia.”

  “Any recommendations for my next conquest?” she inquired wryly.

  Doru leaned on the spear and considered it. “No,” he said at last. “You’ve already won the biggest, strongest, most important male of all—me.”

  “Well, if you want to keep me,” Olivia said, “you had better make yourself worth my attention. A woman doesn’t live on a man’s spear alone.”

  “But it sure passes the time,” he added, tossing his to the ground and seizing her by the waist. The tenderness of his kiss belied the sheer strength in his hands, but then he released her and took up his spear again. “Training is over,” he said apologetically. “I need to be doing something to put meat in our stores. You can climb down by yourself, can’t you?”

  “Sure. Bring me back a bear,” she teased, slipping on her climbing claws. “I want to wear the teeth.”

  He eyed her intently for an instant, then flew off.

  5

  Shortly after dawn, Wurlgunn strolled into the common cave with a ferocious gulla-eating mountain hare in one hand and pleasantly said, “You aren’t going to believe this.”

  There were several dozen tribesmen gathered already, most of them females setting optimistically about getting the hearth-fires ready for a victorious feast. They all looked up expectantly as two other hunters arrived, lugging an enormous bundle of meat between them.

  “Damark!” Amy cried, leaping up. “Is that an elk?”

  One of the litter-bearers shook his head. “It’s a bear,” he panted.

  Olivia’s jaw dropped. She was not alone. For a moment, there was absolute silence, and then a tremendous communal howl of pleasure rang out from the throats of the gullan.

  “Bear fat broth!” Thurga bayed, and jumped to help the hunters with their burden.

  Doru appeared in the doorway, his chest swelled with pride. He beamed at Olivia, spear in one hand, belt-pouch in the other. “My people,” he said grandly. “There sits my worthy mate, who bid me hunt a bear. Her love was my only armor, and I stand before you without a scratch.” He held out the belt-pouch. “The teeth,” he said.

  “Teeth?” Thurga gasped, the lure of the bear’s fat forgotten. “You took the beast alone? For trophy?”

  Quite suddenly, Olivia remembered that the only time any gulla was permitted to take display trophies from a kill was if that hunter had stalked and killed the beast without aid. She looked wide-eyed at the bear meat still being brought before the tribe and realized this was no yearling bear, but a full-grown male. Her legs turned to water and she dropped back onto the bench, staring at Doru with a curious blend of admiration, horror, and awe.

  “Alone, I paced the forests,” Doru began, crouching theatrically. “Alone, I found the first tr
acks.” He stalked the imaginary bear, spear held at the ready. His eyes lit on Bodual, who was helping to spit the first haunch of meat. “And then I found him!”

  Bodual yelped and took off running.

  Doru took two bounding leaps and landed in front of Bodual, a damned impressive movement, catching his friend in one hand and thrusting the spear between Bodual’s arm and ribs. Bodual staggered back dramatically, moaning, groaning, rolling his eyes, and holding the spear in place with both hands.

  “Such a battle commenced, I am astonished you could not feel the thunder the beast made when at last it dropped to the earth,” Doru continued.

  Obediently, Bodual tossed the spear away and fell over on his face.

  Doru strode towards Olivia and dropped to one knee. “It could never be glory enough for you. Command me, Olivia. Ask me for a lion.”

  The tribe was dead silent. The only sounds were the snapping of coals and spitting of juices from the roasting meat. Olivia could feel the eyes of every jealous female, the incredulity of every male.

  “No lion has a chance against you,” she said, smiling. “If there were mastodons left in the world, I would ask you for that. It might keep you busy for all of two days, and that includes the time it would take to make me presents of the teeth.”

  He smirked at her, and then stood up again. “Well,” he said, in a normal tone of voice. “Let’s not forget Wurlgunn.”

  “I caught a rabbit,” Wurlgunn said brightly.

  “You’re so brave,” Beth said with a smile.

  Doru dropped onto the bench beside Olivia, cast the clothing she’d been sewing a dismissive glance, and said, “Bodual got a rabbit, too. So did Damark, for that matter. Lots of rabbits out there tonight.”

  “And one less bear,” she agreed.

  “What did you want with the teeth, anyway?”

  “I wanted to string them together and wear them. I didn’t expect you to actually get them for me. You really killed the bear yourself?”

  “Well, I didn’t think I could get him to stand still long enough for me to pull them out,” he said with a smile.

  She opened the belt pouch and looked at the bloody teeth. They were very big. “Good heavens, you’ve got the claws in here, too.”

  His chest swelled and he smiled broadly at her, but the smile soon faded. “Do you know what my first thought was when I realized it was dead? I thought, ‘Wait until Vorgullum hears about this. He’ll want to rush out and do the same for his mate.’ And then I remembered who his mate was.”

  “I asked him for the same thing, once,” she remarked, pulling out one bear’s tooth and peering at it in the firelight.

  “I know. He spent three days trying to find one before he had to give up and hunt for real. When he sees you wearing those…” Doru sighed and glanced over his shoulder at the roasting meat. “Great Spirit, give me the strength to let you go again.”

  Without thinking, she said, “You’re strong enough to beat him in a challenge.”

  “I’ll admit it crossed my mind,” he replied, showing no surprise at her comment. “But I’d never hurt you that way. You should be free to choose. Since you aren’t, I will do as much as I can to keep from hurting you.”

  “You really are noble, aren’t you?”

  “Too noble,” he agreed sourly. “The Great Spirit only knows where I get it from because my father was an ass.”

  Hodrub, lugging a huge billow of bloody bearskin in both arms, crept cautiously into the room and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Doru?”

  Doru straightened, lowered his wings and took up his spear with an air of resignation. “Yes, Hodrub, what is it?”

  Hodrub licked his lips, took a deep breath, and said, very quickly, “I just saw Tobi scrambling down the mountain with her claws out.”

  “I took those away,” Doru said, startled, and then shook that off and roared, “How in the hell did she get out? Never mind. I want a guard at the entry shaft day and night from now on, and one in the women’s tunnels as well. I am going to get that bird-brained little idiot back and if she gets out again, I’ll have someone’s hide for a pit cover!” He stomped off, his hand clenched dangerously around the haft of his spear.

  Bodual sat down beside Olivia and hooked a claw into the belt pouch so that he could peer at the claws and teeth. “Easily the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen,” he said calmly, “was Doru baying for us to join him while he stood over that mountain of a dead bear. Not to sound jealous or anything, but how am I supposed to top that? I couldn’t even give you the rabbit ears, because I needed help to corner the little nuisance.”

  “Well, I guess you’ll just have to overwhelm me with your magnificent pit-presence.”

  “That I could d—uh oh.”

  She looked a question at him, but he was staring past her. With a sinking heart, Olivia glanced around and saw Huuk making his way towards them. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she said. “Only an idiot would make a play for me as I sit here with a handful of bear’s teeth, when the whole damn tribe knows who got them for me.”

  “He’s not kidding and Doru’s not here for the moment. And he is an idiot, but in a minute, he’s going to be an idiot demanding that you either yield or take yourself to the women’s tunnels. He’s going to pound me into mash.” Bodual started to stand up, fanning out his wings.

  Huuk stopped in front of them, deliberately ignoring Olivia to focus the intensity of his attention on Bodual. He was not a big male, but he was bigger by far than lean Bodual and he had the scars of past battles proudly displayed on his chest. “Your mate?” he inquired menacingly.

  “Stand off.” Bodual lowered his horns. “We have too few hunters for me to kill you over a woman.”

  Huuk snorted. “I think the tribe could make do without another rabbit, and I promise not to cripple you for life if you concede to me now.”

  “Sit down, Bodual,” Olivia said suddenly.

  Both males looked at her in surprise. Bodual’s shock turned slowly to hurt. “Olivia,” he began.

  “Sit down,” she said again, glaring past him at Huuk. “You’re not going to fight him.”

  Huuk showed his teeth in a broad smile, holding out his hand.

  “You’re not going to fight him,” she said again. Olivia shrugged out of her jacket and stood in her leather vest and skirt, cracking her hands into fists and feeling the white-hot core of her power blaze out of her in rage. “I am.”

  6

  Huuk’s smiled wavered slightly. The cave had gone still, and he looked around, plainly wondering if anyone was going to step up and inform her that this was not an option.

  No one did. Bodual seemed as if he wanted to, but he must have seen something in her face because in the end he stood back and waited with the rest of them. He didn’t look happy, but he didn’t try to stop her.

  Huuk, having failed to find a mediator in the crowd, looked again at Olivia. “You surely don’t mean to do this,” he said.

  “The hell I don’t.” She had used her power against Logarr once, had thrown him across a cave and into the wall with it. She could do it again, and right now, after so much fighting, after losing Sudjummar and her son, she wanted to. She advanced on him, and he gave ground until they stood together in the center of the cave with the others in a curious ring around them. “Come for me, if you’re coming at all,” she said. “Fight me or concede!”

  Huuk blinked several times, hesitated, and took a half-hearted swipe at her.

  Olivia brought a surge of heat up and out of her to glove her hand; she caught his wrist, twisted it violently back to bring him forward and down and punched him in the throat. Huuk yanked his hand out of her grip and stumbled back, gagging. He slapped out at her again, and it was considerably less hesitant a blow. She ducked under his arm, spun on her heel and sent her foot like a piston in the armor of her power directly into his midriff.

  This time, he flew backwards, drawing in his wings with a hoarse cry of alarm and crashing to
the floor. He rocked to his hip, leapt to his feet and turned on her, horns lowered.

  She waited for him, channeling her power along her arm like an invisible spear.

  He lunged; she struck.

  Huuk’s entire body lifted off the ground in a single, brutal convulsion. There was an electric snap of discharged energy and he was flung violently the full length of the room to slam against the wall. He was on his feet with a blind howl of rage and he sprang at her with claws at ready, no longer pursuing a female, but prepared to kill an enemy.

  Olivia deflected him with a burst of power, then seized him by the horn as he staggered away and threw him to the ground. He toppled over, bent his wing, screamed with pain and sprang up again. She ducked behind him, balled up her fist around a pulsing globe of inner light, and punched him in the back of the head.

  He executed a clumsy somersault, his whole weight crashing down on his horns. There was a brittle crack and he jerked crookedly to one side. He managed to get his hands beneath him and look up groggily; his left horn was split lengthwise from the tip to the base, where thick black blood welled out around his scalp. Huuk reached up, took a streak of this onto his fingers, and looked at them without comprehension.

  “Holy God,” someone said. It sounded like Anita. “Stay down, you idiot!”

  “Concede, Huuk,” Bodual called. He sounded worried.

  The words seemed to bring the light of clarity back into Huuk’s eyes. The gulla looked hard at the broken shard of bone on the ground, and then up at Olivia. She could see him considering the idea of conceding blood challenge to a female. He stood up, spread out wings and claws and roared at her.

  “Come and get me,” she snarled back, pushing sheaths of power out over both arms.

  Huuk leapt, talons first, aiming for her chest.

  She visualized a jet of power like a shield bursting from her body and a moment later, Huuk was thrown back by it, twisting his wing under his body and yelping with pain. She raced her puppet after him, seized him by his remaining whole horn and threw him full-length, face-first into the wall.