Chapter 24

After they'd both had a look they started talking with Mecha. I could hear and understand a few words every now and then but they were speaking much faster than I could keep up, especially Mecha.

The gist of it was Mecha and her type of people did not admire the Neanderthals even a little bit. According to Mecha, their biggest sin was they were thieves. They would steal kills from others, especially from Cro-Magnons. If hunting parties of both types ran across one another, the Neanderthals would try to steal kills - especially if they out numbered the Cro-Magnons.

I could see where that kind of behavior would lead to hard feelings. It wouldn't be critical for us, or I didn't think it would, since hunting wasn't that much of a strain.

That wouldn't be the case for Jockat and his people though. Besides it was bad form all around and I could see where allowing it to go on would cause grief sooner or later. I didn't think far enough ahead to reach what was surely a natural conclusion though and I didn't feel any better because none of us did.

We decided to bypass hunting now, even though there were still plenty of bison nearby. The Neanderthals had spotted us too and their body language, even from the three hundred or so yard distance, didn't seem to be welcoming. We decided to go on, remounted, and headed across the clearing.

I hadn't paid any more attention to them after that, but we weren't even half way across before Chris spoke up.

"Jack, one of them is running toward us with a spear raised. I wonder what he wants?"

I looked then and I knew for sure what he was after. Horses were food on the table for them and I could tell it was surely what was on his mind, even though he could plainly see we were riding most of them. Mecha's disgust took on a whole new meaning.

I raised my left hand, pulled out my thirty-ought-six and fired near his left side and in front of him. I could see the bullet strike the ground near him and I saw him flinch. No doubt my shot had thrown us some small pebbles or other debris that hit him.

He slowed for a minute and then redoubled his speed. If I'd thought they were starving I'd have killed some bison for them, but that wasn't his motivation, and even if it had been he could have communicated first. He was within a hundred yards now and my next shot was center of mass. It did more than slow him down this time. I could tell by the way he fell he was deader than shit.

The women who were the best shots already knew who they were and we'd made a point to assign them as helpers for protecting us. They fell out of line with me, pulling their long-arms from their saddle scabbards and we headed for the dead man. The other Neanderthals started toward him too.

Even though they were all carrying spears none of them were raised, and they weren't running to their fallen comrade either. Of course we reached him first - we were closer and mounted besides. None of us dismounted, but Mecha came up beside me and I hoped she was in a translating mood.

The biggest Neanderthal was the leader or at least seemed to be. As they arrived at the body he walked toward it, pushing the dead guys head with his foot as if trying to wake him. He spoke after a few seconds and I was right back to not understanding one single word.

"He wants to know if you want Greggo's possessions," Mecha said.

"Oh. I killed him and they're mine for the taking?"

"Of course," she said.

"I'm assuming it would be rude of me to reject them."

"Yes, I think so."

I dismounted and before I had time to even turn away from Red I heard Mary's shotgun speak and turned in time to see a fairly young guy's face disappear. I watched him drop.

The headman turned to face his men and started yelling something. He wasn't being kind. I wondered what the hell was going on, but Mecha was listening carefully and in a second she smiled.

"He was telling them if they were stupid enough to try killing us after they'd seen our magic they should just lie down and cut their own throats lest they make us mad enough to kill them all.

"Please tell him that we do not want to kill anyone and ask him if he would like more bison."

"What?" she asked.

"I'm going to go ahead and shoot a small one for us. It might give them something to do if I killed a couple for them while I'm at it," I said.

She nodded and spit it out. The leader seemed shocked and then he said something back I knew must mean yes. After Mecha confirmed my suspicion I turned toward three small bison, probably yearlings or a little older, and cashed their chips in. All the Neanderthals were shocked, both by the noise and the falling bison.

Another one made a fuckup then, though luckily it wasn't fatal. He took off toward the bison in a dead run, but the leader yelled something at him very loudly and he stopped in his tracks, turned around, and came back. He got a serious dressing down and then went to the first man I'd killed here, untied a piece of leather from around his waist and pulled it off.

It was a sort of rudimentary belt with a knife scabbard attached. He then picked up the spear and brought them both to me. When I took them he retreated and the leader turned toward where women were working on the kill they'd made earlier and yelled something at them. About half of them headed toward us.

As they approached I got a serious shock. Most of the women were between five two and five four. They were not nearly as unattractive as learned scholars of my time had thought, though they did look different and shorter. That seemed natural since the men were shorter too.

Almost to a woman they had brown eyes and dark brown hair. One of them was seriously different. I'd have wanted to call her Ayla except she had dark red hair and deep green eyes. She was nearly as tall as I was and she was not petite in the least. It was obvious she was a big strong woman, but she was a raving beauty, to my eyes anyway. I had that good old Jimmy Carter lust in my heart right away, as if I didn't have more than plenty of women already.

When they reached us the others stayed behind the rest of their men and I could tell they were trying to look unobtrusive. The redhead walked right up to the leader and he started telling her something. She agreed with him and then looked at the dead guy and nearly smiled, but not quite.

Next thing I know she comes over to stand by me and starts talking, but it was in the same language Mecha and the others spoke, or nearly the same. At any rate I could understand her.

"I am Sahnay. You have killed my mate and now I am yours. What would you have me do?" she asked.

I should have been surprised, but it went with the way my luck had been going lately and I wasn't disappointed.

"Do any of them understand the language you're using now?"

"No. They won't even try. They think it's beneath them," she said.

"I don't mean to pry, but how did you come to be with them?"

"The one you rid us of killed my mother and father during the night and captured me several years ago. He took me as a mate when I became a woman. I am glad you have killed him, but I will be sad to leave my daughter. She is only four years old."

"Wasn't she one of your mates possessions?" I asked.

"Yes, but they are picky about such things. They will do their best to keep children, even if they aren't their kind. I do not know why," she said.

"Mecha, please ask the leader why he is trying to hold back my possession," I said, pulling my Glock while I was at it and letting it hang by my side along my right leg. I never thought I was much of a fast draw anyway, so I wasn't a bit ashamed by my small head start.

Mecha barely had the question out of her mouth before the leader shouted something at Sahnay and actually made a threatening move toward her. A round from the Glock, between his feet, helped him regain his focus.

I was beginning to see why Neanderthals died out and Cro-Magnons lived on. The Neanderthals were too damned ornery to live and the Cro-Magnons must have killed them for it.

The leader nearly fell backwards but it wasn't the only excitement. One of the others started up with a spear. I shot him through the upper arm and he lost interest in his previous plan right away. At least he was kind enough to let the others know the magic I was using hurt, and he kept letting them know until he was hoarse.

Mecha, please tell him I am tired of his sneaky games and I will kill all the men and take all the women and children and everything else if he doesn't bring me the possessions of the first one I killed.

"May I speak?" Sahnay asked.

"Anytime you want to."

"You should let me speak to him. He understands I know him and won't let him get away with anything. I'm going to tell him we will kill them with your magic weapons and that I'll then lead you back to the camp and you'll kill all the men there too," she said.

"Tell him anything that will make him do what we want."

"I want to look at that arm that's still bleeding," Mary said.

"Sahnay, please tell him Mary wants to treat the man's arm also," I said.

"I will."

And she did. It was plain from her voice she was telling him exactly how the cow ate the cabbage and it was also plain it irked him. It did the job though and Mary did hers also. Lucky for the one who'd been shot I didn't hit bone. Mary cleaned and bandaged the wound.

The headman did some yelling back toward those still standing around the first kill and they all headed our way.

Sahnay's daughter was easy to spot. She was obviously the youngest child but she was taller than some that were older. Sahnay stepped out so the youngster could see her and made a clapping motion with her hand. As soon as she did the little girl smiled wide and ran to her. I moved beside them.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"She is Cinqua," Sahnay said.

"She is very pretty, may I hold her?"

"Of course you may," Sahnay said.

"May I hold you Cinqua?"

"Yes," she said, shyly.

I bent down and picked her up.

"I think you will like living with us. Do you see our wolf?" I asked, pointing to Missy.

"Yes. I am afraid of her."