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«Riya
«Here, Riya
Riya
«Why?» she said, in a voice so strangled that Blade could barely understand her.
«There are dangerous animals in this forest. I did not think there were any, but now I know I was wrong. You must have a rifle and ammunition, to defend yourself against the animals.»
«You did-I-«, then a wordless choking noise. For a moment Riya
«I do not want you to be killed by the animals,» said Blade, smiling. «Why should I? That would make me stupid and cruel, like the soldiers.»
Slowly, as if all her joints were rusty, Riya
He held her gently and kissed her on the forehead and on the eyes until she stopped shaking. At last she straightened up and he let her go. She stepped back and nearly tripped over the rifle.
Blade laughed. «Riya
«You will teach me how to shoot the animals?» she said. «I know this gun, but only-«She fumbled for the words, then went through a pantomime of firing it from the hip on full automatic. «Is that good for the animals too?»
«No. With the animals, you must fire one shot at a time. But I will teach you that, and other things as well. Then you will be safe from the animals as long as we are in the forest.» This was the first time he'd even hinted they might sooner or later be moving on.
«What if there are more animals than there are shots for the rifles?»
«Then-«He hesitated, then decided to take the risk. «Then I suppose we will have to go somewhere else, where there are no dangerous animals. Do you know such a place?»
Only a trained eye like Blade's could have detected Riya
Then the moment passed. She frowned and slowly shook her head. «I do not think I know such a place. Do you?»
«No.»
«Then we must make this place safe for both of us. Is that not true, Blade?»
This time he reached out and drew her to him with one arm, to kiss her on both cheeks. She did not protest, but smiled up at him until he let her go.
Chapter 8
Blade and Riya
Blade decided that was enough practice. Riya
Blade also told Riya
Blade still didn't know if the bat-cats would be a menace or only a nuisance. He thought of strengthening the shelter, then decided against it. Before he could build anything able to resist the bat-cats, he and Riya
Giving Riya
The prospect of facing bat-cats didn't change their daily routine much. Blade built bigger fires at night and made his morning trips shorter. When they bathed, they bathed one at a time, the other sitting on the bank with rifle in hand and eyes on the sky.
The trees around their bathing place grew thinly, leaving more open sky than Blade liked. On the other hand, the next nearest place for bathing was two miles away, and the path to it led through several large clearings. Unless bat-cats could land on a dime, they were safer where they were.
Certainly the beasts were prowling the forest. Three nights in a row Blade awoke to their screams and growls. They were never as close as they'd been the first night, and he never bothered looking for their victims. He wondered what was bringing them into this part of the forest all at once. The nights seemed to be growing colder. Was the change in the weather causing a migration of the wildlife so that the bat-cats had to follow their food supply? If so, how thickly would they gather? Too many carnivores in any one area would eat the forest bare of game. Unfortunately it wouldn't take too many bat-cats to make the area of the camp unpleasant for Blade and Riya
On the tenth night, the screams of the bat-cats and the wild cries of their victims were louder than ever before. Either they were hunting closer to the camp or it was a larger pack. Blade not only woke up but found it uncomfortably hard to get back to sleep. He finally dozed off again as the forest outside began to turn gray.
He awoke to find Riya
Blade took Riya
She didn't wake up until Blade was fully dressed. Then she rolled out from under the blankets, pulled on her own clothes, and smiled at Blade. As usual, the smile turned her face into something warm and appealing. It also hinted that she'd known exactly what she was doing when she crawled under his blankets.
Half an hour later, Riya
Her skin was a shade darker than before, from weeks of soot and grease no cold-water scrubbing could remove. It hadn't lost any of its beauty, though. Her silver-white pubic triangle stood out like a beacon. The sunlight shining through the trees overhead turned the drops of water on her skin into sparkling jewels and threw moving patterns of light and shade on her throat, shoulders, and breasts. Riya