Terra Prima

The Megaloceros Giganteus

Set didn't get much sleep that sixth night, so he left the tent (giving a few men orders to guard the draped-fur door and let nobody in or out but him) before sunrise to pass the news that there would be a majka hunt as soon as the scouts saw a large-enough herd. By the time he slipped back into his personal kurar room, Issi was blinking the sleep from her eyes, her dark, wildly tangled hair creating a dark halo around her head.

He's have to get someone to brush through her hair, he decided. With that in mind, he crouched down in front of her, locking his eyes on hers. "Stay here," he told her, even though he knew she didn't understand. To emphasize his point, he touched her lips. They parted, and Set's muscles went taut as he resisted the urge to push her down on the furs. Then, he touched the bed beside her hip and patted it. "Stay," He said firmly.

"Eknyul kas'ar?" Issi questioned.

"Stay," he repeated, getting up. When she rose to follow him, he shook his head and pointed back to the bed. "Stay." Her blue eyes turned on him, confused, but she sat down anyways. "Stay," he said firmly.

"Eknyul? Eknyul kas'ar?" She sounded so confused that Set wished he could speak the Invader's rough, complex language. He nodded.

"Eknyul kas'ar, Issi. Eknyul kas'ar." He left the kurar and barked an order at the two men guarding the entrance not to let her out, but if they harmed her, he would feed them to Merrikh. It was a threat that worked. Both were just barely past their manhood ceremonies, and neither wanted to be eaten by a Mask before they could mate and work towards raising their statuses.

A good status was necessary to make a good mating for offspring, and status could only be elevated while mated to at least one woman or when you became a Rider. Both of the boys were still old enough to attend the Hatching every summer but neither could do so if they were dead. Set himself didn't have a mate, but having a Mask made up for it. Once he mated Issi, however, he would do anything to bring himself a stronger reputation. He wouldn't let any children of Issi's be mated badly.

His children with Issi would be pleased and content in their high-ranked matings, Set was determined.

A good status would ensure that their offspring would find good mates, ones that they would enjoy keeping company with. His own sister, Caoimhe (kee-va) liked Nurkiet well enough, but additional affection would develop over time. Nurkiet would treat her with the respect, consideration and affection she was due as his official mate. He severely doubted that Nurkiet would have the fangs to take any un-official mates. Caoimhe was beautiful, intelligent and ruthless after betrayal. She'd shunned Set's younger sister by an unofficial mate of their father because she had become the unofficial mate of a male that Caoimhe wanted.

Caoimhe made both their lives miserable, until the male took his new unofficial mate, abandoned his official mate and two sons, and ran to live in another tribe and officially mate Jaite, the sister. Caiomhe, however, wasn't satisfied. The male, Gaztei, had promised he would make Caoimhe his second official mate, and she didn't take kindly to his mating with her younger sister. Despite Jaite's beauty-superior even compared to the seductive Caoimhe-she would never live her life unharrassed, due to the fact that to Caiomhe, the betrayal of an illegitimate, slave-ranked sister running off with the man she was to mate was unforgivable under any circumstances.

Set was almost glad to see his youngest sister sold off. Perhaps Nurkiet, a strong man in his own right and one of inestimable will, could tame his wild, Mask-like sister, who enjoyed bloodying her fangs.

Said female walked past him-her clothing less revealing than that of a slave woman's, but no less provocative, as she was not officially mated yet. As an unmated female of high status, she wore the same loincloth skirt pulled up between the legs and tied around the hips with cord, excess draping over, that Issi did. Over her breasts, she wore a band with a long fringe that bounced and swayed as she moved, bumping her tan, smooth skin. He nodded to her, and she bowed slightly at the hips, the beads in her hair that signified that she would soon be Nurkiet's mate clacking together.