Chapter 10 #3
I cling to him. “I wish I wasn’t so afraid of heights.”
“You are who you are. Make no apologies for it.” He presses a kiss to my forehead. “I would change nothing about you.”
He always knows what to say to make me feel better. I burrow against him, clinging to his big strong body. He might not want to change anything, but I do wish I wasn’t such a coward.
“Hold still,” he tells me after a moment, and I feel his hands go around my waist. He pulls at the wide leather belt I wear and tugs it off.
Surviving on the ice planet (for humans, anyhow) is all about layers, and I tend to wear several furs and then belt them tightly around my waist, going over it twice.
That way the furs catch no wind and don’t let a cold breeze in.
He takes my belt and ties my waist to his, cinching the length of leather through the bone circle so we are roped together. Pashov takes my hand and puts it on his shoulder. “Arms around my neck and hold me tightly.”
“What are we doing—”
“You are holding on to me,” he says. “And I am going to get us both down.”
But he’s already got Pacy. I’m going to be a dead weight on his front, and that’s going to make it hard for him to climb. “Pashov, I don’t know—”
“I do. Hold on to me,” he says, and hitches me up a few feet off the ground, so now my feet are dangling.
I give a little whimper of fear and cling to his neck. He’s not leaving me with much choice.
“Keep your eyes closed.”
“Pashov!” I cry out when I feel his body shift. “I’m scared!”
“Do not open your eyes, then,” he tells me. “I have you.”
“Don’t let me fall!”
“Never. Trust in me, Stay-see.” I feel his big body flex as he moves.
Oh god. Is he climbing down already? I fling my legs around his waist and cling to him with all my might.
I try to focus on everything but the fact that I can feel his body sway, or that I can feel him grunt with exertion.
That I can feel the muscles in his arms straining.
Pacy babbles happily to himself, the burbling nonsense syllables sounding loud and uneven as they echo off the canyon walls.
Then…Pashov’s body thumps hard, and I feel the impact of it move through my body as well. I swallow a nervous little scream.
He pats my back. “We are down, my mate.”
“W-we are?” My eyes are still tightly squeezed shut.
“Yes. You can stand on your own now.” To his credit, he sounds very patient and not annoyed with me at all.
I dare to open one eye and glance around.
I see nothing but ice and shadow, and I look down.
Sure enough, Pashov’s big furry boots are planted firmly on the snow.
I slide one leg down off of him and feel solid ground beneath my feet.
I burst into tears.
“Come now,” my mate soothes, cupping my face. “It is not so bad as that, is it?”
“I’m just relieved,” I tell him between tears. All the frantic, nervous energy being sapped right out of me through my tear ducts. I feel drained. I rest my face against his chest, sniffling. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”
“You are not a mess. We all have fears.”
I want to ask what he’s afraid of, but I know the answer. I think of his nightmares, always about cave-ins. Well, that particular fear is justified. I can’t blame him for that.
His hands slide to my butt, and he cups it. “Besides,” he teases. “I got to enjoy your legs around my waist, and now I get to put my hands on this round bottom of yours.” He pats it, teasing. “No tail. So strange.”
I hold my breath. That…that’s our old joke. He always grabs my butt and makes cracks about my lack of a tail. I wait, hoping he’s going to say something else. That he’ll remember more.
But he just gives my butt one final pat. “Come. Let us get to the new home-place and see what your howse will look like.”
My house. Not his. Not ours. Mine.
I don’t know what to think. Man, talk about mixed signals.
PASHOV
This place is nothing like I had imagined.
I have lived my entire life in the sheltering walls of the tribal cave, and even though I have been told what this vee-lage should look like, my mind pictured it differently.
I could not envision a place where so much stone is so neatly set together.
The stone under our feet locks together like fat fingers, dusted by snow.
It feels hard on the boots, and I wonder why anyone would set stone in the ground like this with such regularity.
“Cobblestones,” Stay-see murmurs as she comes to my side. “Nice.”
Is it? It feels strange under my feet. “What are they for?”
“Um?” Stay-see gives me a strange look. “To make roads. Floors. To keep the ground even. So it doesn’t get slushy or muddy. And it’s good for wheels.” She nudges me. “I don’t think you guys are up to wheels yet.”
“But you have seen this before?”
“Oh yeah. Mostly in older cities. But I’ve seen it.” She seems relaxed and comfortable at the sight. “I wonder what the houses will look like.”
I am curious about this as well. I gaze around us.
The crevasse walls grow higher as we walk forward, and they block out a lot of the sunlight.
The shadows make it colder down here, and I worry my mate will suffer.
I hold my worries back, though, because Stay-see seems excited.
After the trouble getting down here, I do not want to take her back out of the valley.
Not if there are metlak up there. She will be safest with the tribe.
The crevasse winds around and splits. We turn a corner, and there ahead, I see the vee-lage.
It is so…strange. Squat piles of rocks form regular, small caves neatly lined up in a way that looks unnatural and makes my mind hurt to see.
Some are topped by leather suspended by poles until it forms a high triangle of sorts that points up at the sky.
Smoke rises from a few different leather triangles, and I see people walking between the little stand-alone caves.
“Oh wow,” Stay-see breathes at my side, clutching my arm. “Check it out. They look like teepees on top of walls. I wonder who thought to do that.”
“I will ask,” I tell her. If it is important, I will find out for her.
“I’m sure we’ll find out.” She continues to hold on to me as we walk forward.
Her eyes are wide, and she can’t stop staring.
“It looks like everyone’s setting up in the small houses.
I wonder what the big one is for.” She gestures, and at the far end of the rows of howses, there is a larger stone building, still with no top to it.
“Maddie said there was a pool there, right?”
“I believe so—”
“Stacy!” An excited squeal erupts from one of the tee-pee howses as we pass it. It is Jo-see, the chattery one. She springs out, practically dancing with excitement. “You guys are here! That’s wonderful! I’m so excited to see you!”
“Josie,” Stacy calls out, extending her arms. The smaller one flings herself at my mate, and the two women hug. “How was the trip here? Did everyone make it all right?”
“We did! It was great.” Jo-see beams at me. “Making our way down was a little hairy, but Harlow’s talking about setting up a pulley and a lift of some kind. I haven’t seen her this motivated since the earthquake.”
My mate gives Jo-see a gentle smile. “It’s been hard for her—the ship was her baby.”
“Where is the chief?” I interrupt. “He will want to know we have arrived.”
“I think he’s out hunting with a few of the others.
Gotta get in the last-minute brutal season supplies and all that.
” She shrugs. “We’ll find Georgie and let her know you guys are here, though, and she can pass it on.
” Jo-see snaps her fingers and then waves her hands in the air, all excitement.
“Oh wait! You guys need to see your house!”
“Our house? Someone picked one out for us?” Stay-see looks at me.
I am crestfallen when I realize she must be waiting for me to correct Jo-see. “I will be staying with the hunters,” I volunteer.
Both women stare at me.
“What?” I ask.
Stay-see gives a little shake of her head and turns back to Jo-see. “Will you show us where the house is? I’d love to see it.”
“Of course!” She links her arm with Stay-see’s and leads her forward.
“It’s over here in the center of town. You guys weren’t here, and the floors are warmer closer to the main lodge—that’s the big building on the end there—and so we thought it’d only be fair if we drew numbers out of a basket to see who got to pick first. You ended up being number three, and Georgie picked for you guys.
” She beams at my mate. “You got a fantastic house! Mine’s on the outskirts, but I don’t really mind, because Haeden says it means I’m that much closer to him when he comes home from hunting, and you know how much I miss him when he goes out. ” She sighs.
I stop listening as Jo-see starts to go on and on about how impressive and wonderful her mate is.
The female chatters like she will run out of air if she stops, but Stay-see does not seem to mind.
She glances back at me every now and then, but seems content to let Jo-see lead her forward.
I gaze around the vee-lage. To the back of the cluster of dwellings, I see Hemalo helping my brother Zennek and his mate set up their tee-pee atop their cave.
Two human females are walking to the big lodge, holding a conversation, with their kits on their hips.
I can hear the murmur of voices and the sounds of hammering.
Somewhere in the maze of stone that is now our home, a kit cries.
It feels very strange to be in this place and realize this is home.
“So, Croatoan? For real? That’s what we’re calling this place?” my mate says, and I am drawn back to the conversation and her sweet voice. “Who came up with that?”
“Who else? Liz.” Jo-see gives a little snort. “But you have to admit, it does fit. The whole abandoned village and mystery thing.”