Chapter 14
Two weeks later.
Valka woke to a soft hand stroking across his abdomen. He opened his eyes and looked down to find Delia’s silver hair spread out across his chest. He smiled to himself, still surprised every day that he woke to find her still with him and not just a dream he’d had.
He lifted a hand and ran his fingers through her hair. “Like silver,” he said, his voice more gruff than usual from sleep.
“In my world it’s called gray, and it’s a sign of getting old.”
“Delia world stupid.”
Delia laughed.
Valka smiled to himself, loving that he made her laugh. “Rib hurt?” he asked, dropping her hair from his fingers and running them over her side instead.
“Not like before. I’m feeling much better.”
Valka’s chest rumbled in irritation. “Valka kill Skala more.”
“I don’t think you can. Once you kill someone, they’re dead. You can’t do it again. But I like that you wish you could.”
Valka very gently pulled her closer for a hug. “Delia safe.”
“I know. Thank you for that.”
“Delia hungry?!” he asked, completely changing his tone.
“Yes, are you?”
“Valka always hungry,” he said.
Delia sat up slowly, so that Valka could get up, which he did as soon as she was clear of him.
“Valka get egg.”
Delia’s skaevin trilled at him.
“Skaevin hunt eat!” he shouted at the skaevin as he pointed toward the entrance of the cave and away from them.
“He’s hurt,” Delia said, “he can’t hunt.”
“Not hurt,” Valka said.
“Well, he was, and now he’s used to us feeding him.”
Valka grumbled under his breath, but still grabbed a few fish already smoked over the fire and walked nearer to the cave’s entrance, tossing them to the skaevin who caught them before taking flight and leaving them as he did most mornings.
“Bye, George!” Delia called.
“Who George?” Valka asked.
“The skaevin. That’s what I’ve named him.”
“Why?”
“Because when my people exclaim, “By George!” it means, oh my goodness, will you look at that?!, or at least something along those lines. And when anyone sees a skaevin for the first time, they’re certainly shocked and will exclaim at least that. So, I named him ‘Bye George’ so I’m telling him goodbye each time he flies away, but also exclaiming ‘By George!’.”
Valka stood there looking at her as she giggled.
He had no clue what she was talking about, but she seemed delighted with whatever she’d just tried to make him understand, so he forced a laugh. “Ha. Ha.”
Delia really started laughing harder. “Oh, oh, no, don’t make me laugh that hard. My ribs aren’t ready yet,” she said, still laughing and holding her side.
“No laugh!” he said, clapping his hands trying to make her pay attention to what he was telling her to do.
“I’m trying. Oh, okay, that’s better,” she finally said, getting herself under control. “Thank you for feeding Bye George.”
Valka flashed her a quick grin. “Welcome.”
“Valka cook now.”
“Okay.”
“Valka?” a male voice called.
“Oscal,” Valka said to Delia.
Delia nodded and pulled the fur up closer over her chest. She knew Valka didn’t like the others getting a glimpse at what he considered his.
“Come!” Valka shouted.
“Thank you,” Oscal said, walking into the large cave.
“What?” Valka asked, as he broke Delia’s eggs into a stone bowl he then rested in the hot coals of the fire to cook.
“I have news,” Oscal said.
Valka looked at him expectantly.
“I came to tell you that our scouts have returned with news on the other females,” Oscal said.
Valka was squatting over the fire, watching Delia’s food cook, but stood quickly when he heard what Oscal had to say. “Alive?”
“I think so. I don’t know which other females they could be, so they must be those that our females arrived with. We’ve learned that the weasel people found a group of females near the swamps, and have absorbed them into their tribe. Surely they are ours, don’t you think?”
“Not ours. Ours here,” Valka said.
“But they arrived with ours. That makes them ours.”
“No. Weasel female.”
“They may want to come to our tribe, be with their friends, meet some of our males!”
Valka shook his head.
“We should go after them,” Oscal said.
“Oscal have female,” Valka said.
“Not for me. Mine is a good female. For the others. There are still males that need mates.”
Valka leaned over and grabbed the stone bowl, using the edge of the fur breech cloth he wore to transfer the hot bowl to before he started blowing on his fingers.
Delia giggled, and Oscal tried not to smile at the fact that Valka had burned himself.
“Valka feed Delia,” Valka said. He walked over to the storage areas of his cave and grabbed up a scrap of fabric to hold the bowl with. He took it over to Delia and made sure she had it safely in hand and with her soup eater (spoon) before he went back to where Oscal waited by the fire. “Females weasel now.”
“We could raid their village. Say that they were ours first.”
Valka shook his head vehemently. “Female know Weasel. Not Cliffer.”
“You think it would be too hard to move them here?”
Valka nodded. “Leave females. More come.”
“Liuka and Hulda did return when we drove them away with their males. It won’t be long until they’re ready for a new male. They’d already be claimed if you hadn’t made it a law that the females get to choose which male they want. But there are only two of them.”
“Must take male. But female choose.”
“It does keep the males from fighting,” Oscal said.
Valka nodded again.
“What more?” Valka finally asked, trying to make Oscal cut his visit short. He always lingered too long as far as Valka was concerned.
“Elkva asked that I tell you that he and Patricia moved into Raska’s cave. They are settling in and he will come to update you himself soon.”
“Female cry?”
Oscal laughed. “She only cries a little when she’s happy now.”
“Why? Why?!” Valka demanded.
“I’m just glad I didn’t choose her, but Elkva seems happy he did.”
Valka shook his head. “Hate cry,” he grumbled.
Oscal laughed again. “I don’t hate it as much as you, but I do hate it, too.”
“Is there anything you need?”
“No, go home.”
Oscal laughed. “I could stay for a while.”
“No! Go!” Valka insisted.
“Alright, I’ll go. One of us will check in with you tomorrow.”
“No. Valka good. Delia close to good.”
“When she is all good, we’ll stop coming every day because then you will feel more comfortable leaving your home if you need to. Until then, every day one of us will come until your female is well enough to leave your cave with you. If you need something, or want a message delivered to the tribe, call for us. We will hear if you whistle for us.”
Valka nodded. “Bye.”
Oscal left, still laughing.
Valka grabbed more of the smoked fish and walked over to have a seat next to Delia as he munched on his breakfast.
“I really like him. He’s always smiling and laughing.”
“Oscal good,” Valka said.
“Do you mind if I ask you something?”
Valka’s gaze met hers as he sensed this was not one of their normal conversations.
“Why do you speak differently from the others? I mean, I don’t mind. I kind of like it. It’s charming to me. But, why? No one but you speaks as you do. Is it hard for you to make sentences?”
Valka’s whole demeanor changed and he sat chewing on his smoked fish as he thought about her question. She deserved the truth, but he didn’t like to talk about it. He looked over at Delia again, sitting patiently, waiting for an answer. “No.”
“So, you could speak like the others if you chose to?”
“Maybe. Valka learn only pieces. Then later, know more,” he said, tapping his ears, “but no talk more.”
“You could understand more but not necessarily speak it.”
Valka nodded.
“If you understood it, it would probably have been easy to learn to speak it. Did you ever try?”
Valka shook his head.
“No want to. Valka talk like Valka.”
“Oh, okay. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just wondered. Because I wasn’t around back then.”
She ate her eggs as Valka wandered back and forth, fidgeting, doing little things to keep busy, obviously uncomfortable.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He looked up and the words seemed to shoot out of him. “Valka not Cliffer.”
“Of course, you are. You live in a cave, on a cliff!” she said.
“Valka stolen.”
“From where, how long ago?”
“Long time. Valka home gone.”
“But you’re their fiercest warrior. You’re their Chieftain.”
“Now. When child, no.”
“Cliffers come to Valka home. Kill father, kill mother.”
Delia’s eyes misted over, imagining Valka as a child, doing all he could to defend his mother. “Valka,” she said, her heart hurting for him.
“Valka little. Valka strong. Valka fight male kill mother.”
“How did you end up here?”
“Valka no stop fight. Male laugh. Bring Valka to cliffs.”
“What about your home, the tribe you came from?”
“No tribe. Small. Family. Two, three.”
“Only a few families.”
Valka nodded.
“Valka hate Cliffers. Valka fight and fight.”
“Did they hurt you when you were a boy?”
Valka shrugged, not wanting to admit it either way.
“Valka grow big, learn fight hard. Valka want honor.”
“I’m so sorry, Valka.”
Valka shrugged.
“Valka be different, talk different. Fight different. Harder, fierce. Valka want honor. Honor mother memory.”
“That’s why you don’t speak like they do. And that’s why you’ve fought so hard to be as strong as you could. To be the most honorable.”
Valka didn’t respond as she sat there thinking.
“No matter what you learned here, you never forgot where you came from.”
“It’s why you don’t want to go after the females Oscal’s scouts heard about. Because it was so hard for you when you were brought here against your will, and you don’t want to do that to them if they’re happy where they are. If they’re already settled somewhere else, you want to leave them in peace.”
Valka nodded, his gaze on her face to be able to read her response, when he confessed the rest of what she hadn’t figured out yet.
“Valka, I’m so sorry you had so much pain as a child.”
He was still nervous and that told her that he was holding something.
“Is there anything else that you want me to know?” Delia asked.
He took a long, deep breath before blowing it out through his mouth. “Valka no honor,” he said, his voice not as loud as it usually was.
“What are you taking about? You have so much honor. You’ve done so much for your tribe already.”
Valka shook his head.
“Valka…”
“Valka no die.”
“What?”
“Honor die in battle. Valka alive.”
“Valka, that’s ridiculous! If you’d died in battle, who would have saved me? Not Oscal, or Elkva, or even Toska. They were all with their own females. Even Katva wasn’t in the village that day. But many were. Not one of them was brave enough to fight Skala. But you were. And you didn’t even hesitate. And I know, even if I hadn’t been yours, you’d have fought him and stopped him from hurting anyone, even Patricia.”
Valka looked at his mate, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“And your people, Valka. It’s only been a few weeks, but still, they are so much happier. So much more relaxed, and proud to be who they are. That’s because of you. Because you removed the threat that loomed above their heads for so long. That’s honor. What you did was honorable.”
“Valka old. Only old. All others die.”
“There are elders. I’ve heard you speak of them.”
“Not warrior. Not like Valka.”
“You mean your age. None that are of your age?”
“Yes,” he said nodding firmly.
“Because you’re a better warrior than they are. If they’d been as good as you, they’d be alive, too. But they’re not. So they’re dead. Too bad for them,” she said, her snippy attitude clearly showing.
Valka’s smile slowly started growing.
“Seriously, if they were as good as you, they wouldn’t be dead!”
Valka started chuckling.
“You see? You’re alive because you’re better than they were. And that’s honorable! To be that strong, that gifted, and despite what was done to you and your family, by some of the very same males that you had to fight beside, you’re still fair to those still in the tribe. You may grumble and complain, but you’d protect any of them that are still here. It’s who you are. And in addition to being Chieftain, you have friends. Friends that come visit you every day to make sure that you and I have all we need while I recover. And you have me, Valka. You have not only honor, you’re blessed. Your gods smiled on you, and rewarded you for all you went through and became despite losing so much as a child.”
Valka lifted his head a little, his chin coming up as he regarded his female.
“Valka choose Delia. Delia choose Valka?”
“I would choose you again, over and over and over, because I want you. I want you because of who you are in here,” she said, pressing her hand to her chest. “You have so much heart, and you’re honorable, and you’re strong, and you’re mine. And I’m so very proud of you.”
“Delia proud?” he asked, wearing a goofy grin.
“I am, and I’m sure your mother is proud on the other side, too.”
Valka grinned at her, and nodded.
“You are so good to me. How could you think you are less than anyone?”
He smiled at her. “Valka good.”
“Valka is the best!”
“Delia best.”
“I love you, Valka. I never could have imagined that I would find love again, but I did. With you.”
“Delia happy?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
“Valka love Delia.”
“Delia loves Valka, and I’m so very thankful that you found me, that you wanted me.”
“Valka always stay Delia.”
“I’ll always stay with you, too.”