Chapter 3

"Why you help us?" he asked.

"Because you needed help."

"But we not your kind."

"They weren't my kind either. They were here to steal your cave weren't they?" I asked.

"Yes, they want cave. Tell us to leave. We fight," he said.

"I don't steal, and I don't like people who do steal."

Even the girl in my arms gave me a funny look after that statement, but she didn't let go. The Neanderthal spokesman looked like he was about to say something else, but I cut him off, at the pass, as they say.

"My name is Bobby. What's your name?" I asked, setting the redhead that I'd learned was also gorgeous in front on her feet beside me.

"I am Chatako. My mother is Katala, my father is Choto, my sister is Chalala," he said, pointing at them in turn.

When I turned to the green eyed redhead I'd caught and gave her a questioning look she spoke up.

"I am Reanna."

"Well, it's nice to meet all y'all, even if it was a little exciting at first."

They seemed a little confused by this, especially the Neanderthals. I was pretty sure they understood all, or most of the words. It just seemed they had a little trouble parsing them for a few seconds, as if I'd phrased things in a way they weren't used to. Hell, I'm sure I had.

"Why you come back? You want our cave too?" Chatako asked.

"I'll admit I was looking for a place to stay, but I wasn't going to steal one. I'll need a place sooner or later, but I'd never put anyone out of their home, especially by force. I do need some information though. I just got here and know nothing of this place or of your customs."

"How you just come here?" Chalala asked, and then gave a semi blush as if she'd spoken out of turn.

"I don't know how I came to be here. I woke up naked and with nothing several days ago, upstream a few days walk."

They looked at me funny again, but didn't make a big deal of it. I was about to ask where we went from here when Choto spoke up.

"You can stay here now if you want. The cave is bigger than you can tell from the entrance. Chalala is your woman now and she is my daughter. You may stay as long as you like.

"You need to stay here this winter at least. You have two new mates and almost nothing. The snow will come soon and you all might starve if you have no place to stay."

Now that was downright neighborly, except, how in the hell did I get two mates? I gave Chalala a closer look now and I could tell I'd been damned lucky no matter what I'd done. No matter how she got to be mine I wasn't going to turn her down. Well, maybe face down a time or two, but not because there was a thing wrong with her looks.

Chalala didn't look like any of the Neanderthal drawings I'd seen in my schoolbooks. Her forehead didn't stand up tall like modern people, but it didn't look deformed at all and it actually wasn't very different. She had long brown hair and big dark brown eyes. Her face was pretty and her body was athletic, with more muscle definition than you'd see on most modern women. Not one of the muscles was out of place though.

She wasn't a classic beauty by any means, but she wasn't one of those put a sack over her head gals at all. Even if she had been, that pair of titties she was carrying would have made up for any case of the homely, which she didn't have in the first place.

Reanna had to be the other mate he was giving me somehow and she was sort of classically beautiful, or close to it. Her titties were the equal of Chalala's too. Reanna was taller though, probably five eight to Chalala's five five.

What the hell - variety was the spice of life. I could tell by the way Choto talked there was nothing strange about a man having more than two wives here. Now, if I could just figure out how the two got to be my wives, or mates, or whatever they were.

"As I said, I don't know your customs. How did the two of them become my mates?" I asked.

"The one you killed was my new mate, so I am your mate now. You also helped kill the other two and since Chatako is Chalala's brother he can't be her mate. Also, my mate was the one that killed Chalala's mate," Reanna said, as if that explained everything.

It probably did for them, and I guess it had to set things straight for me too. I sure as hell didn't mind the state of affairs I found myself in, especially with the way my dick had been acting up since I got here.

"I can understand that, but it isn't the whole story is it?" I asked.

"No, more of the others will probably come and try to take the cave now. We chose a poor one, it is too close to them," Chatako said.

"Then we'll have to be more careful to watch for them. It's good I made six spears when I got here."

"It is good you have spears, but you can only use one at a time," Choto said.

I didn't understand the significance of that. Hell, it didn't take long to throw a spear and pick up the next. I didn't ask any questions though and would have let it slide if Chatako hadn't asked about my spears.

"Why did you make them so small? It looks like they will break easily."

"I suppose they might, but I didn't expect to be fighting men with them. They are small and light so they can fly farther when I throw them."

This little tidbit got their attention and all of them stared at me, open-mouthed. I finally caught on from their stares and from looking at Chatako's spears that throwing wasn't the accepted way for using them here and now. Choto confirmed this with his next question.

"You throw your spears?"

"Yes, that is why I have six. I can throw one and then pick up another and throw it. If those that come don't know how to throw their spears six of them will be injured before they get close enough to fight."

It was easy to see the gears working in their heads then. Even the women understood the advantage I would have. Now I wondered how many might be coming around to cause us trouble.

"Reanna, how many are in the camp you came from?"

"Twelve grown men and four boys who will be men soon. Now there are only nine men after this fight today. The boys will not come until they are men though, and it will take some time before they learn what happened here."

"Did your mate come without telling others where he was going?"

"Yes. It was his idea, but Darto and Wedio thought it was excellent. They planned to surprise the camp when they had their own cave. They only became men less than a moon ago, and Bolloto was the only one with a mate. I know it isn't kind, but I have to thank you for killing him," she said.

"Why would you thank me for that?"

"My father and mother rejected him as a mate for me, and he killed them for it. He came after we were all sleeping and killed my father. Then he killed my mother also and there was no need for that. She would not have objected further."

"And everybody else in camp went along with that?" I asked.

"Not everyone, but Bolloto was the headman's son, and everyone else kept quiet, even though most did not like it."

"Then most of the camp would think Bolloto's death was good riddance?" I asked.

"Most, but not all. Bollo has his favorites and I'm sure they will not like it," she said.

"We can always hope they don't get underway before the snow comes," I said.

"Yes, we can hope," Choto said.

Katala brought the get-together to a halt then by reminding us all there were bodies to be disposed of. Chalala went into the cave and came out with a stout pointed stick that had a T-handle lashed to the dull end. She headed out into the woods with it and I followed causing Reanna to follow me.

When Chalala picked a spot I saw the stick was all they had to dig with. I didn't even let her get started before asking for the stick and digging her previous mate's grave. I had just started when Chatako came up carrying the body. He laid it down and left.

"Will we bury the others?" I asked.