- Xark'on -

My mind is spinning like crazy. I know what that creature in my trap is.

It's a woman.

That's what was spying on me. A woman!

All the signs are there. The smallness. The roundness. The thin, child-like voice that's still completely adult in a way that my brain struggles to handle. The protrusions on the chest. The wideness of the hips. The size and roundness of the rear. And... I swallow in a dry throat, feeling my crotch swell. And the slit.

Right where the shaman told us it would be. It was so easy to see when she was in the net with her head down and her garment in disarray.

Two seasons ago, seeing a woman on Xren would probably have shocked me out of my wits. Now, the effect is not as strong. Much has happened these past seasons.

But a woman this close? It still makes me feel as if I'm standing beside myself just watching.

This is what the shaman told us about. A woman in the woods.

No, not a woman. The Woman.

The Woman who would be found in the jungle and who would then go to the Ancestors and get the tribe their own women back.

It's very confusing. I never believed in the myth. In truth, until recently I didn't really believe that there ever was such a thing as a woman, a being much like us warriors but still much different. A human who could give birth to offspring. Female offspring. Living birth even, without laying eggs like all other beings here on Xren.

I think that was what made me doubt the whole thing when I was just a boy. We have the Lifegivers. They give us babies to perpetuate the tribe. Why dream of this nonsense with women giving living birth to females who will grow up to be women too? It's too fantastical, as I realized when just a boy.

If they wanted us to believe in something, maybe say that the woman will lay eggs that hatch to reveal a baby. I mean, this woman here is tiny! A Lifegiver is much larger. How can this little creature give birth to anything other than an egg? I saw that little slit just now. That egg would have to be quite small. Miniscule. Far smaller than the babies we lift out of the Lifegivers.

It just makes no sense.

But now I don't know what to think. This is plainly a woman, as described by Shaman Crex'or years ago. This is what he dedicated his life to. The Woman in the jungle and the return of our own women.

The woman is on the ground, staring up at me as if she's never seen a warrior.

Could she in fact be The Woman?

Would The Woman spy on me for weeks? Would The Woman be hunted by a rekh? Would The Woman be caught in a trap? Would The Woman display her sacred slit so casually to a lowly warrior like me?

I don't think so. She's a divine being, a sacred envoy from the Ancestors.

And all the recent events also make no sense if this is Her.

It's too much for my warrior head to process. This is more suited for a shaman.

If our tribe had a shaman, that is. Then I'd take her straight to him. But after Crex'or, nobody felt the calling.

She's standing up from the ground, and her fluid, elegant movements hypnotize me.

She strokes her light hair out of her face in a movement that is so alien the breath sticks in my throat. The sun catches her eyes, and their size and softness add to my astonishment. They're a light gray, and they bring her face such... brightness. Or is it the size of them? They seem to fill her whole face.

But then there's the mouth too, with those full lips and the white teeth that don't have any fangs, as far as I can tell. But still, she is plainly an adult creature.

An image flashes through my mind. Her on her back, that garment gone, me between her thighs, my manhood uncovered, ready to plunge into her—

My crotch swells dangerously at the thought, and I shake my head hard to get rid of that fantasy. There will be a time for things like that.

She looks up at me with an alien look on her face. “Thank you. I think it would have killed me.”

I nod. My rod in her slit might indeed kill her. It would plainly be far too big.

Then I feel the blood drain from my face. Can she read my thoughts?

“What would have?”

She frowns, and her face looks even more attractive, if such a thing were possible. “That rekh.”

Ah. “It would.”

With considerable effort, I tear my eyes from the woman. The rekh still on the ground, barely moving. It's stunned and probably injured, and it poses no threat to us anymore. That's one reason I prefer the hammer over the sword—it can kill, but it doesn't have to. With a sword, any fight turns messy from the beginning.

The woman looks around, and this would probably qualify as an awkward silence if she were another warrior. But with a woman, I'm not sure there can be any such thing as awkwardness.

“You've done good work, warrior. What are you building?”

Her speech is strange. It is correct, but it is as if she's singing the words. Where on Xren does she come from?

“An important thing,” I state, not wanting to reveal this secret to anyone, not even a woman. Only the chief of my tribe knows of my undertaking.

“Ah.” She places her small hands on her wide hips and looks at the first beginnings of my gigantic trap. “You must have been working for a long time.”

And you have watched most of it from your hiding place. “I have.”

With one impossibly slender finger, she points at the smaller net trap where I caught her. “That is yours?”

“Yes.”

“Why you trap me?” Her head is tilted to one side, and it seems to me her neck is too long and elegant to carry her head.

“I wanted to...” I begin to explain, but then my head snaps around. That was a sound I've been hoping I wouldn't hear for a long time yet. It's a long, ululating call with a strangely compelling note to it, a friendly 'come hither' with an undercurrent of amusement and barely contained menace.

Troga is here, and I really don't want to be. If I can hear that sound, it's because it's come closer than is safe. I was distracted by the woman and wasn't on my guard, even here.

“What was that?” the woman says, looking in the wrong direction, fooled by Troga's trickery.

“That's Troga,” I say tightly and scan my surroundings for an escape. How do I get away from here?

Running up the hill the woman came from would be the most obvious way. But Troga knows that too. And if she makes that sound, then it means she knows we're here, and she wants us to know she's coming. She's devious. She wants us to go up the sides. It's very steep and it will slow us down, and we'll be easy for Troga to spot. And then...

There's only one thing to do: the unexpected.

I grab the woman and toss her over both my shoulders, noting in passing that her skin is smooth and cool and that her scent makes me dizzy. But if we escape this, I can explore her more later.

Now, I run away from the hill, straight towards Troga.

At the same moment it strikes me: Troga has not shown herself in this part of her trench for a long time until now, right after this woman came here. That can't be a coincidence. There's some mysterious attraction there. Maybe it's because they're both female?

I had been worried about how to lure Troga into this dead end of her domain when the trap is ready. But now I think I have a solution.

This woman might be the perfect bait.