again, staying more alert. Ancestors curse me! I let her presence distract me for one second too long. This time it ended well, but I really have to concentrate. It was far too close to disaster.
We walk on for another hour, until there is a small hillock in front of us. Dolly starts walking up the incline.
I catch up with her. “Better to walk around the hill than up.”
She looks up at me. “Oh. I was thinking we could take a short rest up there. Maybe there is a nice view.”
I look around again, trying to find a reason to continue. But there’s no danger nearby that I can sense. “Very well. A short rest.”
There is indeed a view from the top. No tree can grow on the bare rock, so the sky is open and the sun shines down on us.
Dolly points across the valley. “I think that must be the place.”
It looks like half a mountain, one that has somehow been cut off halfway up. I know what happened, of course. The spaceship that was Bune recently took off and flew a long distance away, where it landed, controlled by Chief Delyah.
It left its lower parts, which now look like a half mountain. It also looks like a fresh wound in the landscape, dark and strange against the wildly growing jungle around it.
Dolly opens her backpack. “How about some brunch?”
“Bruns?”
She takes out several packs, a water pouch, and a small, lidded pot. “Yes. Not the first meal of the day, and also not the noontime meal. Something in between.”
She sits down on the bare rock and places the packs on the ground, opening them. There’s meat and mixed vegetables and fruits. I was always impressed by the foods in the female alien village, and this is quite impressive for a meal to bring on a mission in the jungle.
But I must not be distracted. The jungle is always a threat, even when it seems peaceful. Especially when it seems peaceful.
“You want to sit down?” Dolly pats the rock beside her.
I really want to. But if danger comes while I’m sitting down, it will take me longer to react.
“I must remain standing.”
“You sure? It will taste better if you sit and relax a little.”
I scan our surroundings. I was never before aware how many places the jungle has where a Big or an angry Small could be hiding. Every bush is a potential ambush, every rock an assault waiting to happen. “I cannot relax. Your safety is entrusted to me.”
“Okay. You know best. I will prepare something for you.” She busies herself with the food packs.
I walk a little distance away, checking that no danger is hiding behind a nearby tree.
Nothing. As well I knew. I would normally never bother checking something like that. My jungle sense tells me that there is no danger within yelling distance, but it’s overpowered by a tension I can’t shake off.
The sun is shining, the visibility is good, the air is clear. Everything is different from the day when I failed so badly. Then why am I so tense?
It must be her presence. If I were here alone, I would probably enjoy this spot, with its view of a part of the jungle I have never seen before. It would fill me with wonder. Right now, it all fills me with dread.
I scan the skies for irox and dragons. But there is not a single speck to be seen, not a cloud.
Sunbeams shine on Dolly’s long hair in its breathtakingly female braid; her small hands work quickly and skillfully with the food.
Don’t come back, Brax’tan said. As if I would hesitate to fall on my own sword if anything at all happened to her.
A venomous, many-legged Tiny the size of my fist drops to the ground from the top of the tree. I absentmindedly flip it up into the air with the tip of my sword, then chop it in half when it reaches the top of the curve.
Hopefully, he was right. Hopefully, his trust in me is well placed.
Dolly turns. “Come and get your simple brunch, Brank’ox.”
She pronounces my name with a funny, alien lilt. It is the most wonderful sound I have ever heard.
When she sits like this, her garment tightens around her front, and the twin globes become more prominent. Such a weird thing, and yet so alluring.
I walk over there and accept the leaf she’s holding out.
She smiles. “I hope you like it. When you’re done, you may have