Caveman Alien's Riddle - Calista Skye Page 0,22
alive.
I force myself to look around for firewood. It takes me far too long, but by the end I have a pitiful little pyramid of sticks with kindling underneath.
Fumbling with the matches, I realize that even a tiny amount of moisture makes it impossible for them to make a spark. They need to be dried out completely.
I put them on a flat rock so the sun can do its thing.
The ground here is much softer than on the beach. Surely, if I lie down here for a moment, shaking uncontrollably, the sun will warm me up while also drying out the matches, and in a couple of minutes I can make a fire and save myself.
I curl up on the grass, trembling all over.
Yeah. That’s it.
- - -
“Ow!”
There’s a piercing pain in my shoulder, drawing me out of the dark, warm depths and into the harsh, icy sunlight again.
Two eyes are staring at me from close up. One blue and one bright yellow.
The pain goes away and becomes a dull throb again.
“Are you dead?”
“Yes,” I confirm, wanting to cry. I was so comfortable! Why did he have to wake me up?
Caronerax frowns. “Really?”
Something is moving right next to me, on both sides. Like I’m wrapped in coarse wool.
I don’t mind it, except...
“W-w-what’s that smell?” I manage, having serious trouble getting my lips and tongue to obey.
“Are you dead or not?”
“Not yet. But d-d-don’t give up hope.” I slowly focus my eyes. “Oh.”
That explains the smell and the wooly feeling. And the fact that I’m still alive.
“Such a weak species,” Caronerax frets. “Everything can kill you! Even… nothing!”
“These can’t k-k-kill me.” I shiver and close my eyes again. “Push them closer.”
Immediately, I’m lost in the middle of a whole flock of not-sheep, their furry and smelly bodies crowding me from all sides as the dragon heaps them onto me and pushes them close. They’re all unconscious or faking it, the way they usually do when they feel threatened. It’s some variety of playing dead that I’m sure is useful for the not-sheep, and which is now probably saving my life. Their living bodies are warm, and their hearts beat like crazy. It’s like being in the middle of a living fur coat, or a petting zoo gone wild.
“Where did you f-f-find these?” I manage, another bout of shivering coming on, but going the other way, heating up and not cooling down.
“Here and there,” Caronerax says, straightening up. “They are warm, yes?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He looks at me with no emotion on his face. “You took your garment off. Surely, that is unwise when feeling cold.”
The body heat from the not-sheep is seeping into my chilled limbs, and I know I’ll make it. “It depends. I think it was w-w-wise this time.”
He looks me up and down, his gaze invasive and not at all unpleasant. “I see.”
One after the other, the not-sheep come to life around me, moving and baah-ing in puzzlement, then promptly fainting again when they spot the striped dragon towering over us.
“How long was I... asleep?” I ask.
“Long enough.”
“Did you think I was dead?”
“Perhaps.”
“And you did what you could to save me?”
“Which I’m rapidly starting to regret. You’re less a living creature and more a question-asking machine, aren’t you?”
“Caronerax. I have to ask you one more thing. Did you actually kill Heidi?” Well, this is as good a time as any. I have serious trouble believing this guy is a murderer. He’s saved my life too many times.
He frowns. “What is Heidi?”
“The girl. In the village. You held her in your arms right before you saw me. During the earthquake. Did you k-k-kill her?”
“The word ‘kill’ implies some degree of death?”
“Um. Sure.”
“Then it’s totally inappropriate in this context. There was no death involved.”
A block of ice dissolves inside me. “She’s not dead?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I can only say that she was not dead when I dropped her. She may well be dead now, of course. How could I possibly know?”
I relax, enjoying the warmth of the not-sheep around me and the increasing heat from the sun on my naked skin. As well as the dragon’s gaze, a dragon who’s not nearly as evil as I thought.
In fact, is he evil at all? Rough and sometimes brutal, yes. Overbearing and crass, perhaps.
But not a murderer.
“Why did you lift her? Sorry, that was a follow-up question. Not a full question of its own.”
His dragon eyes flash, the yellow one more than the blue one. “I will answer if you promise