Shame of Man (10 page)

He ignored her. He was sorry that he could not do what she wished, for she seemed to be a nice enough girl, but he could not mate with anyone like a sister. He reached the pool, plunged in, and swam down to the exit hole. He was more confident now, knowing the route.

In a moment he was out of the stick hut and stroking toward the surface. Lee came out immediately after, and reached the surface the same time he did. “Path,” she said. “Swim no.”

Because there could be traps in the water away from the path, he realized. So he found the raised path and put his feet down. Lee came to walk in front of him, to show him the way, because the path was not straight. It wavered around like a moving snake, and now he saw that there were sharp shells and pointed sticks lining it, bad for any feet that strayed.

On the beach the women had a fire going, and were cooking more fish.
The smell wafted over the water, making him hungry. He had not realized how good fish was, having eaten little of it before this.

“Food,” Lee said. “Hue eat.” She was trying to get him to delay his departure. She was desperate.

But it wasn't right to take the tribe's food if he wasn't going to join it. “Hue go,” he repeated. “Food no.”

She turned to face him, walking backwards, as they emerged from the water. Her face was wet, and more water was coming from her eyes. “Lee bad?”

There were a number of water folk within hearing, but they seemed not to hear. They were declining to intrude on private business.

Hue realized that she was upset. How could he answer her? He paused at the edge of the water. “Lee good. Lee Hue help. Lee girl sister. Hue mate sister no.”

“Lee sister no!” she cried, refusing to understand.

Finally he remembered the name of his true sister. “Hue sister Bee,” he said. “Bee Lee. Hue mate no.”

She tried another ploy. “Lee Hue help. Mountain. Hue owe.”

That gave him pause. She had indeed helped him on the mountain, after the accident. He might have died there, if she hadn't tended him. He did owe her.

She saw that she had found a persuasive argument. “Owe. Mate.”

This, too, was standard. Such a debt had to be repaid in kind. He had to save her life, or mate with her, or find her another man to mate with. Because she wanted a mate. It wasn't just a matter of joining the tribe, but of evening the score. But how could he repay her, when none of the ways seemed feasible?

“Hue think,” he said, and walked inland, away from the lake and the food.

“Day day day,” she said, following him. “Hue stay, think.”

That was a fair request, in the circumstance. She wanted him to remain here as long as he was allowed, so that he might change his mind. But that meant he would be taking the tribe's food and shelter and protection, when he wasn't going to join it. That wasn't right either. “Hue think,” he repeated, walking on.

Still she followed. “Show path,” she offered, eager to please him even in this.

“Show path,” he agreed with resignation. It seemed that she wasn't going to let him out of her sight until the issue was decided.

The forest thickened, then thinned. Lee grew nervous. “Path no,” she said, pointing. “Tribe bad.”

The territory of one of the raiding tribes. Obviously that would not be good, because they had lost a man in yesterday's raid. If any of them recognized Lee, they would impale her on a spit and roast her alive.

But as Hue turned, seeking another path, he noticed something. “Bee,” he said.

“Lee no Bee,” Lee said sharply.

He smiled. His true sister's name happened to match that of an insect, and Lee had thought he was confusing her identity again. “Bee buzz,” he clarified, pointing as another bee flew by. Some names emulated creatures; some did not. He wondered fleetingly what had happened to his sister of that name. She must be with the tribe he had left. The tribe to which perhaps he should return.

“Bee,” she agreed, shrugging.

“Bee bee bee,” he said. “Hive near.” He couldn't explain how he knew, but he had always been curious about things, and had learned how to fathom where bees nested. It wasn't just the direction they flew, or even the direction they flew when loaded. It was how many there were, and how the directions changed slightly. He and his sister had enjoyed the challenge of finding bees, and leading the tribesmen to the honey. He had seen several bees here, and the way they were flying made him sure they lived close by. “Tribe honey?”

“Torch,” she agreed. Fire and smoke drove off the bees so that their honey could be taken. It was a chancy operation, but worth it for the wonderful stuff.

They pursued the bees. But then Lee's sharp senses caught something else. “Man, woman,” she whispered urgently. “Near.” She looked all around, trying to orient on what she had heard.

He heard it too. And they were near hostile territory. Those could be folk of the raider tribe. Yet the bee nest was so close. Did they have to give it up?

But perhaps they could return to it another day, when there were no enemy near. It was better to turn back now.

Lee's head turned. “Behind!” she hissed, realizing.

Indeed, it was too late. There stood a man and a woman, barring their path back. They must have spied Hue's footprints and followed, silently. The man was about Hue's size, hairy and grim; the woman was full grown, furred and sleek.

And—he knew them. Suddenly it came back. “Bub!” he said grimly, putting his hand on his axe. “Sis.”

Lee stared at him. “Hue know?”

“Hue know,” the other man agreed.

“Bub take Hue mate,” Hue said. Bub had joined their tribe in a rare cooperative hunt that Hue had not been able to participate in, and when he departed with his share of the meat, Hue's mate had gone with him. That had been one element of a more complicated situation that had left Hue outraged and disgusted, and he had left the tribe. He would have liked to kill Bub, but it wasn't allowed; the man had been there under truce, and the woman had gone with him by her own choice. Fae—he had thought she
hated Bub, but she had deceived him in that. His rage remained. Now they were on relatively neutral ground. There was no truce. Hue lifted out his axe.

Bub lifted his hands, empty. “Wait,” he said. “Bub tribe males few. Bub take woman. Bub give woman. Sis.”

And Sis stepped forward, smiling. Her woman scent surrounded her. Bub had no respect for her as a person, yet her sex appeal was strong. It would be easy to mate with her.

But it came at a price. He would have to join Bub's tribe, and be subordinate to Bub. And see Bub with his former mate. Maybe it was a fair trade, for Sis was certainly a compelling woman. But there were complications Hue didn't like, among them the fact that he neither liked nor trusted Bub or Sis.

Lee stepped forward to intercept Sis. She would not stand by and see her chance for mating be lost. But she was not yet grown, while Sis was not only grown but armed. That was one of the things about her: Sis could fight somewhat in the fashion of a man. She would destroy Lee.

Hue didn't want that. Lee was a good girl, and forthright about her wishes. She did not deserve this. “No,” he said, pulling her back. Then “No,” to Bub.

Bub considered. He could renew his offer, or he could fight with Hue, or he could retreat. He shrugged and retreated. He backed away, and Sis paced him, sending Hue a final sultry look before she disappeared into the forest.

Hue remained still, concealing his reaction. But Sis had achieved her aim; she had made him desire her, however guiltily. Somehow he knew that it would have been a remarkable experience with her; it was almost as if he had mated with her some time, so knew how it was. But his memory was not enough; it gave him no such encounter. It was probably just a fancy.

“Hue Lee protect,” Lee said, pleased.

“No,” he said gruffly. “Sis like no.” Yet that wasn't really true. Sis had tempted him strongly; it was the situation he didn't like.

Then he realized that he had just denied doing Lee a favor that might have abated his debt to her: saving her life. Because Sis could have killed her, and he had stopped it. He had missed a useful chance.

But Lee did not let it go. “Lee owe,” she concluded.

Maybe. But probably not enough for her to let him go. “Bee,” he reminded her.

They moved on, and he oriented on the faint music of the massed bee buzzing, and soon located the nest. It was not a huge one, but it surely had a nice supply of honey. Lee nodded approvingly. “Tribe owe,” she said.

Because he had found something good for it, he realized. So perhaps he was earning his keep, these three days. That made him feel easier.

They started back toward the lake. But Lee had more on her mind. “Day day day more,” she told him. “Challenge.”

The three days grace wasn't the limit? Provided he did something special to earn the extension? This was new to him. “What?”

“Lee owe. Lee show. Challenge.”

As she described it, Hue realized that it was a ritual endeavor that could give a foreigner another three days with the tribe, before he had to mate with a water folk female. He had done Lee a favor, so she was doing him one. She would teach him how to do the ritual, so that he might have more time with the tribe before deciding about the mating. Of course he still wasn't interested in mating with her, but at least this meant that he would have more time to find some other way through. It wasn't as great a favor as she perhaps thought, since it only postponed the time of decision, but it was still a nice gesture on her part.

They returned to the beach, where Lee avidly reported on what had happened. The tribesmen were interested; a bee nest was always worthwhile. A man named Itt, who seemed to be the competent one in this respect, organized a small party. He led several men with torches to see about the honey, with Lee showing the way.

Hue now felt free to eat. There was still some roasted fish left. Most of the women had eaten and gone; they were foraging along the shore. As he approached the dying fire, there was just one other who it seemed had not eaten. This was a very thin woman with almost no sign of fur on her body, except at her head and crotch, so that her bulging breasts stood out. She carried no baby.

There was just one fish left in the hot ashes. The woman glanced at it, then at him, and stepped back. She was yielding the fish to him.

Hue shook his head. “Hue foreign,” he explained, not touching the fish. In any tribe, the natives had precedence over the foreigners. Even the women. He was hungry, but he knew better than to violate the protocol.

“Ann outcast,” she demurred. Outcasts were last for food, too.

He looked more carefully at her, seeing that she had another oddity: there was a wedge of flesh or bone just below her mouth, jutting out beyond the projection of her teeth. That must be why she was outcast in a tribe that didn't care about her breasts or furlessness: she was malformed of face. It didn't seem to interfere with her mouth, but it spoiled whatever appearance she might have had.

The foreigner and the outcast. It was not really coincidence that they each had come last to the meal. He was probably as distasteful of appearance to her as she was to him, because he was furred. So they had that in common: their deviance from this tribe's norm.

He brought out his axe, picked up the fish, laid it on a rock, and cut it into two pieces, head and tail. He offered the head to her. “Hue Ann share.”

She seemed surprised. “Share,” she agreed, taking the head. She smiled.

He returned the smile. He had done the right thing. It was better for both of them to be somewhat hungry than for one to take all of the fish.

They sat on two rocks and chewed on their portions. Hue realized belatedly that the single fish might have been intended for Ann, because they hadn't allowed for an extra person. But what would have happened if Lee had stayed to eat? Then, ordinarily, Ann might have gone hungry. That would explain why she was so thin.

They finished. Ann went to forage, and Hue went to relieve himself and then just wait, because he had no place in the tribe. He sat again on the rock and thought about Lee. How was he going to settle with her?

In due course the bee party returned. Itt was smiling. They had a wooden pot of honey, and were pleased, though sting-welts showed on the bodies of several of them.

Lee joined Hue. “Good,” she said, licking her lips. She must have had some of the honey.

That afternoon Lee showed Hue about the challenge. One section of the shore had been scraped out to form a pool closed off from the lake. A big fish would be driven into that pool, and he would have to catch and kill it. If he succeeded, he got the extra time; if he failed, he was banished. It was a simple and fair test of a foreigner's mettle.

But it was likely to be a problem for him, because he had no expertise in catching fish. Maybe a water folk native could do it, but Hue would probably fail.

“Hue swim good no,” he said ruefully. “Catch fish no.”

“Lee show,” she said eagerly. “Lee fish. Hue catch.” She waded into the pool, which was a little over waist deep on her. “Hue catch,” she repeated, beckoning.

He laughed. “Girl catch yes,” he said. “Fish catch no.” Because no person had anything close to the swimming ability of a fish.

“Catch,” she insisted.

So he waded in. He realized that she might just want to have him grab onto her, in the hope that he would discover her to be sexually desirable. She was endlessly inventive in that respect. Once he caught her, he would let her go, and he would not have to make the point again.

But the moment he approached, Lee swam away. She pretended to be the fish, swimming lithely in the pool, challenging him to catch her. He tried, changing course to follow her. But though he had swum into the stick dome well enough, he had none of the speed and maneuverability she did. She had been raised in the water, and could do things in it that were simply beyond him.

He leaped for her, thinking he had her, but she slipped past and was
gone, leaving him with a double armful of water. She giggled right behind him. He whirled, grabbing, but she was gone again.

This was not as easy as he had anticipated. Still, he knew that it could not be all that difficult to catch a girl in a small pool. He had simply to stop being clumsy.