This place was ideal for a rest. A long row of very thick trees, standing so close together that they could have counted as one, formed a natural wall on one side. The trolls that were not fighters within Haki’s wanderers had set up camp here, while the fittest and warriors used the other directions. There were only a few access points, as homemade barbed wire barriers of thorn bushes had been set up on the other trees, creating a well-defendable protective circle around the almost treeless resting place.

  With half a dozen females, accompanied by two warriors, Nira’theba had just returned from fetching water, and each of them had a stretcher with several drinking tubes hanging from it on their shoulders, which they set down near the central campfire made of small tree trunks. It had been a strenuous task, but nevertheless Nira’theba, after taking two of the drinking tubes, walked through the camp with her head held high and full of energy, as she had in the last few days.

  Today, too, the one or other glance of her group was directed towards the female. Some because of amazement, some because of frustrated puzzlement. The same was thought as whispered: Why did this female radiate such confidence at the moment and, above all, where did she get the newfound self-assurance that made her immune to the familiar negative impressions?

  Privacy was hardly possible in this camp either, but between two tent shelters that provided some cover, a hand suddenly shot out and pulled Nira’theba towards her. It was Haki, and she looked angry. “Couldn’t you keep your mouth shut?!” she growled as quietly as possible.

  The shock had briefly frozen Nira’theba. “Haki! Don’t scare me like that!” she breathed a sigh of relief before she really noticed the bad mood of her friend. “I suppose he spoke to you.”

  Haki didn’t let go of the hut-dwelling female’s arm, indeed, she pressed her fingernails a little harder into her flesh. “Yes, and he called me a liar!” she spat out between her lips, hurt. “Do you realize that I only did it for his own good?!”

  “I... don’t understand,” Nira’theba confessed, withdrawn, her eyes falling on her own arm, and she tried unsuccessfully to free herself. ”Our group made an honest bargain with him. How can a lie be for his own good?”

  Haki pressed her fingernails into the hut-female’s arm so hard that clear marks remained before she let go of the arm with a swing. “His progress was too slow, too little for the jungle and for our group!” the warrior said, which was partly true. “But what is he, hm? A warrior, bred according to a simple pattern, where success is rewarded. After I implemented that, he began to make significant progress.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Nira’theba replied. She recognized the truth in these words, because the gladiator had only started to achieve results after a certain point. Nevertheless, she questioned one point of this logic. ”But why only you? It’s obvious that many more females want him and could reward him.”

  “Pah, now yes,” Haki snorted contemptuously. ”In the beginning, none of them wanted him, even though I told them about his strength. Now they’re all coming crawling.”

  “It’s not so much about what other females want as about Blood Tusk. You took away his choice.”

  “You’re neither hunter nor warrior, you don’t understand,” Haki said confidently, her anger moderating a little. She didn’t know that her friend had mated with the giant. ”Too many females aren’t good for his focus, and as strong as he is, his mind isn’t as sharp and he would be too distracted.”

  “Are you sure that was the only reason?” Nira’theba questioned. She didn’t seek confrontation, but she also didn’t shy away from it when it came to troll values.

  Haki’s eyes shifted sideways for a moment. ‘What other reason could I have?’ she replied insignificantly.

  “Because you want him all to yourself,” Nira’theba surmised. Of course Haki was responsible for the giant and should teach him, but Nira’theba could still see how much her friend was going overboard, trying to tighten her grip on him.

  “And if it were?” Haki replied with his chin up and his arms crossed. ’A strong troll conquers what he wants.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Nira’theba admitted. Nevertheless, she maintained that the warrior had taken the easy way out. ”But you lied and took advantage of his ignorance. You tried to keep any competition away from him. It’s not a conquest if you don’t really have to fight.”

  “Against whom?” Haki murmured, her eyes narrowing. Male against male, female against female, friendship or not. No matter the situation, few were filed against their instincts, just as Haki was not against hers. ”You?”

  “Any female that’s available or willing,” Nira’theba replied. She didn’t want to give her friend a hint about her mating. ”These are the laws of the jungle.”

  “We are not just animals,” Haki countered, at least convinced that the hut-female wanted the giant for herself. ”We are higher. We have more. For us, the will of the tiki applies and the tiki has let me find him. I was the only one allowed to see his true power and I saved him. He belongs to me because he was sent to me.”

  Nira’theba believed some of this, but it also made one thing certain for her. “If that’s the case, you don’t have to worry and don’t have to resort to such tricks. However, we don’t even have a simple priest who could help us understand the presence of Blood Tusk. We don’t know what exactly the tiki want with him or if they have any plans for him at all.”

  “You see, you doubt! You are like the rest and that is exactly what I wanted to spare him from.”

  “Are you saying that you can interpret the will of the tiki?” Nira’theba asked cautiously but suspiciously. ”So a huntress and warrior will now also become a wise woman or even a priestess?”

  Religion was a hot potato in the end, for many cultures and for trolls even pure fire, which is why even Haki was now cautious in expressing her convictions. “I just want to say that I believe in it firmly ... until the tiki bless us with a wise troll who can teach me better.”

  “And until then, my and the other trolls’ faith is as good as yours,” Nira’theba concluded. She really didn’t want a fight with Haki, when the huntress had helped her and especially her pups so much. ”And besides, it probably won’t matter in the end. He remains insistent in his desire to leave. So you better enjoy the time he’s with us.”

  “And that’s why I’m the only one worthy of him,” Haki insisted, just as much and more so. She saw the giant more and more as her possession, given to her. ”Everyone wants to let him go, but not me. That’s conquering. That’s fighting. That’s what a true troll does. I won’t stop, even if your chatterbox has caused me trouble and he wasn’t pleased that I wanted to focus his thoughts.”

  “I think that no matter how simple a troll’s mind is, no one likes being lied to.”

  “Just don’t talk to him anymore, understood?”

  Nira’theba blinked. Had she just heard that? “He doesn’t talk much anyway, but are you really that afraid of losing this fight?”

  “Fear? Fear of what?” Haki growled before the thought occurred to her. Without restraint, she pushed her body against that of the hut-female and she sniffed along her arms and towards her neck. ”Did you and him...?”

  Nira’theba didn’t let that go on for long and she gently pushed the warrior away. “If he had, he would have told you,” she said as an excuse. The rain a few days ago had washed away every little, intense scent of pleasure from her and the gladiator’s body immediately after mating. However, she was very surprised that the giant had kept the multiple fucks a secret and was lying for the sake of peace. ”He is a direct-word troll, is he not?”

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  “He is,” Haki growled softly. She believed the words of the hut-female and she backed away. “Just like me, and I swear to you, if you didn’t have your whelps and we weren’t from the same tribe, I would have torn out your loose tongue.”

  Nira’theba accepted that and nodded with her eyes closed. ’That... would have been your right.”

  “My right, yes,” Haki said defiantly. She felt hurt because the gladiator didn’t want to touch her at the moment. “If he has the choice, I have it too.”

  “Of course you do,’ Nira’theba agreed, and after her friend—for that’s what she still was—took another deep sniff through her nose, she watched her leave, tense.

  Nestled before a larger tree, with a thicker root side, was Sa’Thuks’ lair and the leader was currently sitting with his three females around a fire, where an everdevil sizzled over the flames. “Look,” he said. “Our great everdevil hunter has arrived.”

  Haki had killed several everdevils with fangs that day before Blood Tusk had confronted her about the lie. She stepped up to the fire. “The three of you, leave us,” she demanded. “Now.”

  The females of Sa’Thuk looked at him, and he looked at Haki, assessing and serious. “Away with you,” he agreed to the demand. The females followed the words without the slightest grumble and they left the two alone. Sa’thuk “So, is there a good reason for this dramatic appearance or why are you interrupting my soon-to-be meal?”

  Anger, jealousy, frustration, insult. These were a lot of feelings at once that had been brewing in Haki over the last hour and without a sound, she threw her bow aside and took off her protective leather and the top underneath.

  Sa’Thuk looked unmoving at the breasts and back at the troll’s face. “I know what touched you,” he said reluctantly. ”Give me just one very, very good reason to do the same.”

  While Nira’theba’s self-confidence had been boosted, Haki was plagued by enormous doubts and needed reassurance, which is why it could only be the leader of the wanderers for her. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?” she replied provocatively and proudly. ”You’re giving up the best female in this group to a stranger? Allowing him to inseminate me and make me pregnant soon? No wonder I preferred him to you and the others from the start.”

  “The best female of the group, eh?” Sa’Thuk questioned. He could be an impulsive hothead, but he didn’t let himself be provoked like a whelp at every opportunity either. ’Do I know this group?”

  “Surely,’ Haki said, and she glared belligerently with her eyes. ”It’s one that wasn’t saved from extinction by its leader a few days ago.”

  “Probably because the leader had already sacrificed an arm for his group a few days before,” Sa’Thuk countered, swelling his chest and raising his entire, yet not quite healed, arm, whose forearm and hand looked more like those of a cub. ”And he was therefore not at full strength.”

  “But in the jungle, only the strongest survive, even with only one arm,” Haki said, while she unfastened the short, leather shorts. ”Or is a healthy arm in the end no longer enough to properly satisfy a female?”

  To question both fighting ability and sexual prowess was an effective taunt for almost any troll male, and for an extremely dominant one like Sa’Thuk, such a doubt could not be left unanswered or he might as well have stuck the knife in his own chest. “My tongue alone sends every female over the edge!” he snarled, his teeth showing, but he too had mastered this game and remained seated. ”Come here and I’ll show you, unless you’re afraid you’re no match for me, inbetween the fur as well as in combat!”

  Haki was not about to take that lying down, and no sooner had their shorts come off than she leaped over the fire like a wild cat of prey and landed on the troll, who caught her halfway before they fell over each other.

  Along the tree wall, far enough away from the emerging passion to not hear it, Nira’theba returned to her resting place. “Oh, what are you doing here?” she marveled at the presence of Zalun and his family, who were not only keeping the three puppies of the hut female company, but even preparing a meal for them.

  “We weren’t sure how long fetching water would take,” Ma’rhia answered. She was Zalun’s female and only a little younger than Nira’theba. ”So we thought we could cook for your puppies, too, so they wouldn’t have to wait too long and you wouldn’t have to rush.”

  “That’s, um, very kind of you,” Nira’theba thanked her, feeling a bit embarrassed, and she sat down by the fire. ’Have you recovered from your injuries?”

  The question was addressed to Zalun, whose body had healed except for a few scratches. ’Yes. That revenant thing was hard to kill, but it lacked strength. I had more serious wounds than that.”

  “And he has a good healer,” Ma’rhia sighed as she prepared wooden bowls for the meal. They were small skewers with pieces of meat and pineapple on them. ”Who will cut him down a bit next time if he continues to recklessly put himself in harm’s way.”

  “I was the only one who could have won a fight without weapons,” Zalun said calmly. ’That’s why I was chosen. It wasn’t my choice.”

  “Yes, damn Sa’Thuk,’ Ma’rhia growled very softly. ”He wants to lead, then he should risk his own life.”

  “With one arm?”

  “I’d rather do anything than lose you.”

  “Oh, come on, losing,” Zalun played everything down and he grabbed his worried-looking daughter and son to lift them up in a silly way. ”Ma’ma really believes I would leave her and my little wildlings.”

  This line worked on the whelps and they cackled, with Ma’rhia silently accepting it, but not particularly convinced.

  Nira’theba smiled weakly, while her puppies were also infected by the playful laughter.

  From a small but thick bush that Djar’Ku had converted into a covered resting place, the old warrior watched the exuberance at Nira’theba’s resting place. “That was really decent of you,” he said, squeezing juice from the inner flesh of a pineapple peel. “You’ve caught the tribe fever, huh?”

  “I’m not sick,” Blood Tusk said. ’I’ve never been sick.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” Djar’Ku replied. He knew why Zalun’s family was staying at Nira’theba. ”Still, it was nice of you to send Nira’theba a little help and company.”

  Blood Tusk hadn’t had noble motives in mind, but practical ones. “Zalun didn’t stop asking how he could help me,” he mentioned. “Don’t need help, but Nira’theba does. Wanted to get rid of Zalun for a while.”

  “And you realized that she needed help.”

  “And? Everyone can see that.”

  Djar’Ku didn’t let up easily in his grandfatherly manner. “Well, you could have let him do anything, even counting stones.”

  “I can do that myself, I’ve done it often enough in the arena.”

  “The point is, of all the tasks, you asked him for this one,” Djar’Ku patiently emphasized. “And you didn’t have to do that.”

  “I know, so what?”

  “Never mind... let’s get back to your ‘female problem’,” Djar’Ku suggested, since that had been the current topic just a moment ago. ”I mean, it wasn’t okay that Haki lied, but it had the desired effect.”

  “I no problem with females. Lie problem,” Blood Tusk said. He spoke calmly, but every word carried weight. “Can’t trust.”

  “Now you’re exaggerating,” Djar’Ku replied. He meant it that way, but he also wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble. ”Believe me, I’ve had enough trouble with females in the past. That was relatively harmless and even flattering.”

  The gladiator turned to his translator on his shoulder for help. “Nargh, he says you’re taking Haki’s behavior too seriously,” Kriz’kriz translated. “You’d be better off taking it as a compliment that she wants you so badly.”

  “Nira’theba also wanted and that no lie,” Bluood Tusk mentioned in Trollish.

  Djar’Ku was not really surprised by this realization. ’You didn’t waste any time after you knew, did you?”

  “She wanted, I also. Why not?”

  “And you told Haki?”

  “No.”

  “Oh,” Djar’Ku murmured in wonder. ”Why not?”

  “She no ask,” said Blood Tusk. That was really his biggest motivation, but a second one played for him as well, even if he still didn’t like it. ”And Nira’theba speaks of keeping the peace. I get it. Your group is brand new and fragile, like an old sword. It’s no use to me if your group breaks. Then I won’t get to arena.”

  “Perhaps you are smarter than I thought,” Djar’Ku admitted, although he didn’t know whether to take that as self-interest or empathy and prudence. It was probably a mixture of all. ”But to your other question. Yes, I think we could find a good place for a village soon. If you stay a little longer and we can say that it is safe, your part of the bargain will be fulfilled and we will fulfill ours.”

  “Good,” Blood Tusk nodded in agreement. After that, his nostrils widened and he looked to the side, where he saw the warrior female who had marched with him in the rearguard. ”Ready?”

  “Yes, finally,” the female grinned. She was wearing nothing that she couldn’t shed quickly. ’The woodcutters stared at me too much, so it took longer.”

  Blood Tusk didn’t care that other males had laid their eyes on this female. He stood up and took her arm. ’Let’s forget about that right now, come on.”

  The warrior went with the giant in full anticipation, whereby Djar’Ku couldn’t help but ask a question. “What was that about peace?”

  “Haki doesn’t know them,” said Blood Tusk, with Kriz’kriz coming down from his shoulder. “Stranger trolls don’t like each other anyway, yes?”

  “Not liking each other is an understatement and a banality like ‘fucking’ can’t make it any worse,” Djar’Ku admitted as he watched the couple and Kriz’kriz landed next to him. He put the almost-gnawed pineapple peel down for the bird. ”Tell me, are you teaching him more than just our language?”

  Kriz’kriz pecked at the flesh and tore off the pineapple. “No, that would be a waste of time. I might as well teach a stone to fly and that would have far more chance of success.”

  “Then he is either smarter than he normally acts or there might be more troll in him than I thought and he suspects,” Djar’Ku murmured thoughtfully and slightly impressed.