Page 30 of Valka

“I’m coming, too,” Elkva insisted. “If we die, they will go to another male. We must stand together to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Toska looked over at Louise. “If I die, it is with honor. Be proud.”

“Don’t die!” she demanded angrily.

“I will do my best,” he promised, then he followed Valka over the side.

“It has been an honor, Patricia,” Elkva said before he followed Oscal down the steps to jump down at the halfway point.

Patricia started crying.

“No! No, you cannot cry! Valka said no crying in his cave!”

“But he’s not here. And I don’t want Elkva to die. He’s so kind to me.”

“If you cry, they hear you, and it will distract them and they will all die,” Louise lied.

Patricia slapped her hand across her mouth to stop her sobs. “Really?” she squeaked out, furiously blinking tears out of her eyes.

“Possibly. Who knows how well they can hear?”

Patricia watched quietly while Louise tried to coax Delia to drink some more tea. Eventually her mind began to wander and she began to think about Valka and how devoted he seemed toDelia. “Why does Valka talk like he does, and none of the rest do?”

“I don’t know. But he makes himself understood.”

“True, but I can’t help but wonder why none of the others speak in broken sentences, but he does.”

“Ask him, Patricia. I’m sure he’ll tell you.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Patricia said.

“Nor do I, and does it really matter?” Louise asked.

“I suppose not,” Patricia said, looking around the cave. “It’s a nice cave, Valka’s got here. A really nice one. I wonder why some have caves and some have huts. Elkva said that the stronger you are, the more you contribute to the tribe, the better your home is. The less you contribute, the less nice your home is.”

“Patricia?” Louise said.

“Yes?” she asked, smiling.

“Shut up! We’re trying to help Delia, and our males are about to battle for their very existence and ours. Shut. Up.”

Chapter 11

Valka stood perfectly still, waiting for Raska and his males to come to him. They bellowed and growled and made a spectacle of themselves, and still Valka stood perfectly still.

At Valka’s side Katva stood strong, with Oscal beside him. On Valka’s other side Toska and Elkva proudly supported him as well.

As Raska got closer, shouting and screaming, Valka finally showed a little emotion… he smiled. In his element, perfectly at ease, uncaring if he lived or died with honor as he’d hoped to for more than ten years, he smiled broadly. Setting his feet in place, making himself a little more balanced in his stance, he raised his battle-axe over his head and with his other hand waved Raska in, all the while wearing that completely unsettling smile.

Raska’s steps stuttered for just a second as he realized this might not have been such a good idea. But it was too late, he was less than fifteen feet away from Valka and those who stood with him, and Valka had begun his assault, battle-axe drawn, still wearing that bone-chilling smile.

A cacophony of noise made up of bellows and guttural roars from both sides was almost drowned out as the clatter of weapons upon breast-plates and helmets took it to a new pitch.

At the last moment Raska tried to dodge Valka by taking on Katva instead. Raska’s blow glanced off Katva’s arm, leaving him bleeding. But Katva gave as good as he got, fending off Raska’s second blow so hard it knocked Raska’s arm back over his own head.

Valka in the meantime was battling two of Raska’s males, Oscal battled one, Elkva was battling one on his own, and Toska was battling two.

On realizing that Raska was having trouble with Katva, two more of Raska’s force rushed Katva.