Chapter 23

23

- Alba -

“Alba? Are you all right?”

There are people around me, faces that are not cavemen. Oh, and it’s daytime. There’s a lot of light outside the cave opening. I know this place. It’s Korr’ax and Bryar’s penthouse cave on the top of the red rock in the Borok village. I’ve never seen it from below before.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “Why am I on the ground?”

“You’re in the penthouse,” Astrid says, kneeling beside me. “In the Borok village.”

“Okay.” I try to sit up, but I’m feeling kind of weak and my back is killing me. I check for the hair clip. It’s still there, so I relax again.

“Just stay down,” Bryar says. “Do you need something? A drink? Some fruit?”

“I’m not really hungry,” I tell them, relieved I don’t have to think of the caveman words. “Maybe some juice…”

Bryar says something, and a caveman boy takes off down the stairs.

“We think you’re sick,” Astrid says, worry in her dark eyes. “You’re so hot!”

“I do feel weird,” I admit. “You want to take a look at my back? I got cut pretty bad some days ago.”

Bryar puts a hand on my hip. “Can you roll over?”

Clenching my teeth from the pain, I slowly manage to roll over on my stomach.

“Your dress is ripped,” Astrid says. “And there’s a leather square stuck to your skin… I can’t really see much with the dress still on.”

I wince at the thought of having to pull my dress off, the way my back aches. “Can you cut it off me? It’s ruined anyway.”

“I got it,” Astrid says and draws a small knife from her belt. Still it takes her and Bryar a good few minutes to split the dress open from top to bottom.

I sense the two of them exchange glances when my back is revealed.

Astrid clears her voice. “It’s very red, Alba. All around that leather patch. Do you mind if we remove it?”

“Do it.”

“I’ll wash my hands,” Astrid says and goes over to the fire.

Bryar gets up too, and returns with sheets of leather and fur that she drapes over my shoulders and legs. “What happened?”

I give her a quick report about the Krast and Anter’az, skipping the more intimate stuff but probably not fooling the girls at all. “He asked me to leave, and we saw no reason to hang around there.”

“Dror’iz says they carried you most of the way, You were saying strange things and not being quiet in the jungle.”

“That does sound like me,” I confess. “It was not on purpose. Tell him I’m sorry.”

Astrid returns and kneels down. “I’ll just remove that patch. Ready?”

I close my eyes. “Go for it.”

The patch seems to come off easily enough.

“Oh,” Bryar says. “That’s…”

I hear both girls fight to not retch too loudly.

Then the smell reaches my nose, too. It’s a sweetish, foul odor I would never wish to smell ever again. “Oh no! What is that?”

“It’s… it looks like your wound isn’t healing right,” Astrid says, her voice tight as she tries to keep her cool. “I’ll clean it. Maybe it’s just the herbs that was put on it.”

“I’ll make Piper’s poultice,” Bryar says and walks to another part of the cave. “She and Bronwen aren’t here now, but we have the strong booze and the herbs. It sometimes works.”

For the first time, I’m starting to really worry about the wound. When Anter’az was dealing with it, I was sure it was probably going to be fine because it was him . But I remember him being concerned, although he probably didn’t let me see how worried he really was.

Astrid gets busy, carefully cleaning the wound with warm water. “There’s a lot of fluid. How deep was this cut?”

“Pretty much to the bone,” I tell her, starting to feel cold. “But Anter’az cleaned it, and he’s a good healer for his tribe.”

“Lucky it didn’t go into the spine,” Astrid says. “It’s really close. That smell, though. It’s like some kind of industrial waste. Okay, that’s the best I can do. It’s a little cleaner than before. We’ll leave it open like this until the poultice is ready. Getting some air might be good for it.”

“Sorry about t-t-this,” I say, teeth starting to clatter. The rock under me starts to feel like ice. “Causing you all this t-t-trouble. And that nasty smell. It’s not the way I w-w-wanted to come home.”

“Don’t worry, girl. We needed a project. Bryar, can I get these furs? She’s shivering.”

“Anything you need,” Bryar replies. “Let’s make you comfortable, Alba.”

They pack furs and skins around me, leaving only my back bare. It doesn’t help. I’m still shivering from cold, even though the air in here has to be close to a hundred degrees.

I get my drink of juice, and Bryar heats it up and helps me drink it. I don’t get much of it in me in this position, but I’m not that thirsty anyway.

“We’ll apply the poultice,” Astrid says and kneels back down. “It’s got a lot of strong alcohol in it, plus the best herbs we know. Those bacteria don’t stand a chance.”

She and Bryar apply the thick paste to the injury. If nothing else, it changes the smell in the room from foul to fresh and booze-y. And it doesn’t even sting.

“Nearly makes me want to order a tequila,” I joke. “If only we had lemons. And tequila.”

“Okay,” Astrid says into the awkward silence. “Is this you saying weird things again, Alba?”

“I don’t think I’m delirious,” I tell her. “But it is a weird thing to say. I’ll just shut up.”

I stay there, on my stomach, feeling alternately cold and hot, shivering or sweating. I doze off a few times, having strange dreams.

At one point the girls support me to help me get up and eat something. I dutifully chew down a piece of fruit, but it doesn’t have much of a flavor. They keep me steady while I walk around a bit on the flat bit of rock outside, with a view of the dark jungle below us and the moon Yrf above. Here and there in the jungle I spot pinpoints of light that must be campfires.

I try to figure out which way Anter’az’s village is, and I think I got it. But there’s no light in that direction.

“Figures,” I mutter. “All dark there.”

The moon hangs above us. Full moon. Or almost full. What was it about the full moon? Oh yeah. The Krast tribe selects a new chief. One who will hopefully not cast Anter’az out for not killing me.

“It should be you,” I state into the night. “You’re better than all of those other ones put together.”

“I keep saying that,” Anter’az says with a charming smirk.

“Let’s get you back inside,” Bryar says. “This place is all yours now, Alba. We’ll sleep right beside you.”

“Thank you,” I say, feeling the fever get stronger. “I’ll try to get better. Sorry about the smell.”

They help me get down on a heap of furs and skins, then replace the poultice with a new one.

“We’ve sent runners to get Piper,” Bryar tells me as they apply the fresh mix to my wound. “She came up with this stuff. Maybe she has a better one now. And we’re thinking Bronwen will come, too.”

I turn my head, trying to get comfortable. “So it’s that bad, huh?”

“We’re not used to infections,” Astrid reminds me. “But it’s something we’ll have to learn to handle. We’ll do the best we can.”

“Thank you,” I repeat and close my eyes, feeling dizzy.

- - -

The shadows dance and writhe, twisting into grotesque shapes that claw at the edges of my vision. Spiders scurry across the ceiling, their beady eyes fixed on me. I try to scream, but my voice is lost in a cacophony of whispers and screams.

A giant dinosaur looms over me, its face a mask of grotesque features. It opens its mouth, revealing rows of jagged teeth, snarling at me with the promise of pain and death. I try to run, but my legs won’t move. I’m back in the tunnels, desperate to flee but stuck in the muddy floor…

“Alba?”

My eyes fly open. Astrid and Bryar are standing beside me, worried. I can barely focus on them because the walls pulse with a sickly green light, and their shadows dance and contort, taking on the shapes of monstrous creatures. I hear whispers, soft and insidious, that seem to come from every corner of the cave. I hear my own fast breath echo from the rocky walls. The terrible stench of my wound fills the cave.

“Shit,” someone says. “It’s not looking good.”

A cool, wet rag is placed on my forehead.

“It’s all right,” Astrid coos. “Piper will soon be here with the new poultice.”

But even in my fevered state, I know it’s not going to be enough. This is getting desperate. I need much stronger stuff.

“Anter’az,” I wheeze. “Get him.”

“Anter’az is in his village,” Astrid says mildly. “You’re safe with us, too.”

“He has the medicine,” I tell her, concentrating to express myself properly. It’s a challenge, because there’s a spider on the ceiling and it’s hissing at me. “Use that word. Medicine. He knows what it means. Dror’iz. Tell Dror’iz to get him. He knows. Anter’az.”

I fall back into the darkness. I’m back in the tunnel, still stuck with something terrible clinging to my back, pinching and biting…

- - -

My eyes fly open, and I twist around to look up.

It’s dark, but I’m not alone. There’s a big shape in here, throwing a flickering shadow that fills one wall and most of the ceiling.

I hear splashing of water.

“Don’t hurt me,” I plead in the caveman language.

The shape slowly turns around. Owlish eyes stare at me. “I would rather die than curl a hair on your head.” The deep voice resonates through the cave. “See? I’m washing my hands, like you taught me.”

I relax. “You came.”

Anter’az comes closer, no expression on his face. He holds his hands up to let the air dry them as he looks me up and down with an icy stare. It’s the stare of an expert, coldly and emotionlessly planning his actions. I instinctively know I’ve never been in safer hands.

“Turn her around.”

Strong Borok tribesmen gently grab me and turn me face down on the leather sheet I’m lying on.

“Light.”

Someone throws a handful of powder on the fire, and the flames whoosh up, turning blue and bright.

Beetle shell, I think to myself. He got that in Vral’s Cave. Our cave.

Someone kneels beside me and bends down to speak in my ear. “You are sick because of my tribe. But now I will cure you. You can relax now. Let go.”

I follow the calm rumble of his voice deeper and deeper until there’s only darkness.