Chapter Text
Shinji raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he squinted into the distance. There was some sort of bluish gray smoke rising far off in front of him, far enough across the grassy, shrub strewn plain that he could not make out the source. It did not look like it came from one of the rare, great conflagrations that would sometimes occur—those would belch huge swathes of smoke into the air that could be seen and smelled from vast distances. And animals would flee from the path of the devastation. Instead, Shinji could see what looked like carrion birds circling the vicinity of the smoke. It was all quite strange.
“Hhhrru, grakak rrallll,” Shinji said to his companion. Pen Pen lowered his sleek, avian head for him to ruffle the crest of brilliant red feathers adorning it. Shinji ran his hand down along his long, thick neck to place it at the huge predator’s shoulder, which was at his own eye level. He braced himself against Pen Pen and leapt atop his back. “Uffah, Pen Pen,” Shinji said, placing his hands on either side of the base of the bird’s neck. Pen Pen bounded towards the source of the mysterious smoke.
Even with Pen Pen’s speed, his long, curved legs acting like massive springs for him to lope great distances—sometimes even gliding on his enormous black and white feathered wings when a jump would take him down a hill or over a depression—the sun had still fallen noticeably in the sky by the time they reached their destination.
Shinji dismounted, giving Pen Pen one more pat as he did, and retrieved his spear from the leather straps that secured it onto the avian’s flank. In front of him was a small copse of trees and a huge direwolf carcass. He approached warily, snorting and snuffling the air with his nose to try to work out what he was seeing. He could certainly smell smoke, but the trees were not damaged by fire. The direwolf did not smell decayed—in fact, it smelled like a fresh kill.
That made him more wary. Where there was one direwolf, the pack was not far away. And where there was a fresh kill, the one who made the kill was usually guarding it. He tightened his grip on his spear and held it in front of him, glossy black glass tip angled toward the carcass. His eyes scanned around as he approached, and he strained to listen for anything. But all he could hear was the wind, and the sound of the long grass brushing along the coarse, dark brown hair covering his body.
Well, he could hear Pen Pen circling around to approach the body on the flank. But he had expected that.
He was under the tree cover now, standing directly in front of the body of the direwolf. The scent of blood was strong, and so was another scent. One he couldn’t quite identify. But what drew his attention more than the beast itself was the small circle of stones set up not far from it—within the circle was a pile of white and gray ash. Shinji cocked his head at it. He had seen the aftermath of fires before. But he had never seen one look like that before. The odd scent was stronger now, too, and it was something that inexplicably made his mouth water. It was like a mix of the smell of smoke and meat, but with more—more something. It was coming from the area around the circle of stones and pile of ash.
Cautiously, Shinji poked at the ashes with the tip of his spear. Buried within were the half charred remains of sticks, but nothing that looked edible. His stomach growled audibly. Finding whatever it was that was making him so hungry was now his top priority. The direwolf wasn’t going anywhere, and Pen Pen was watching the perimeter. Shinji stabbed the butt end of his spear into the ground and crouched over the ashes. They were cool as he ran his fingers through them, and he was finding more debris from something that had burned. He grunted in frustration when what he thought was something edible turned out to be bitter, burned bone that crumbled into dust as he tried to chew it.
“Yyyyyrrrraaaaa!”
Shinji jolted up in surprise as a blur of red dropped from the tree above him. Before he could so much as yelp, there was a creature pinning him to the ground and holding something to his throat.
“Hrwa otobo bergatta, taba,” the beast snarled at him. She snarled at him. Shinji could see, as she bared her teeth at him and stared him down with wide, frightening blue eyes, that she was an ape like him. Just, red, instead of dark brown. And a girl. A very scary, very attractive girl, whose kill he was very sorry for disturbing.
“Graa,” Shinji said, throat tight as the weapon at his throat made speaking feel like a dangerous prospect. He could only hope an apology would smooth things over with her.
“Taba!” She was straddling him, using her legs to pin his arms to his sides, and had the hand not threatening his neck gripped tightly in the hair at the top of his head, forcing him to look at her.
“Graa?” He repeated, not sure how apologizing had enraged her further. He was sure another apology would get his point across.
She growled wordlessly and brought her face closer to his. Her hand tightened in his hair, pulling at it and making him wince—then he was suddenly free as a huge black and white blur collided into the girl and sent her sprawling away.
“Waaaaaarrrrrrk!” Pen Pen screeched. He hopped to position himself between Shinji and the red ape that was recovering from being thrown by a beast more than three times her size. She rose shakily onto her feet, holding her stone knife in front of her, knees bent, clearly ready to fight. Shinji watched from between Pen Pen’s legs, still laying on the ground but propping himself up slightly with one arm.
“Utubi tol!” The girl shouted, baring her teeth again. Shinji was amazed—she wanted Pen Pen to attack her? She certainly sounded sincere. Even thrilled at the prospect. He scrambled to his feet as the other two sized each other up.
Pen Pen ducked his head down and coiled up for a mighty leap. Shinji knew he could be on top of the girl with one swift movement, tearing into her with his deadly claws and wicked beak. The girl shouted out a laugh and braced herself, falsely assuming she would be able to withstand whatever she thought was about to happen.
“Pen Pen, tuk!” Shinji nearly tripped over himself as he hurried over and reached up to place a hand on Pen Pen’s wing. “Tuk,” he repeated, trying to sound soothing rather than scared. “Tuk.” Pen Pen relaxed slightly, no longer ready to jump in for the kill. But he still watched the threat in front of him.
Shinji kept a wary eye on the girl who watched as he dug into one of the leather bags strapped to Pen Pen’s side. He fished around for a moment then held out a fist sized fruit.
“Thonga ro,” Shinji said, stepping around Pen Pen and still holding out the fruit toward the girl. “Bumo sokat. Graa?”
She flicked her eyes between the fruit in Shinji’s hand, Pen Pen’s fearsome visage, and Shinji’s deep blue eyes that he hoped looked sincere. He certainly felt scared, of her and for her, and he was sincere in his offer. They had no reason to fight. He approached her, still wary, and he could see Pen Pen tensing out of the corner of his eye. He stopped when his outstretched hand was within arms reach of the girl.
“Taba,” she said with a sneer. She reached out and snatched the fruit from Shinji. He sighed in relief and Pen Pen chirped out an exasperated wark.
“Eewanak Shinji,” he said as the girl tore into the fruit. The rind was not thick and her impressively sharp teeth tore through it easily to expose the juicy white flesh beneath.
“Asuka,” she said around a mouthful of fruit. “Brrrip, guh?” Juice dribbled down her chin and into the fur on her chest. She brushed at it idly with the back of the hand that was still holding her knife. “Suma ton, taba?”
“Shinji,” he told her, not answering her question. This Asuka girl was certainly something. Charming may have been part of it, but she should realize he had just saved her life—being rude was no way to thank him.
“Taba,” Asuka reiterated, grinning at him. She was, Shinji noticed, not for the first time, beautiful. It was almost as scary as when she had been baring her teeth at him, her face close enough to his own that she could have bitten his nose off. “Suma ton?”
“Kokadan, meb tibby gragob,” Shinji sighed. She could call him what she wanted. It wasn’t like he could stop her. And answering her question would probably make her less likely to attack again. Besides, what harm was there in telling her where his tribe was currently camped?
“Kokadan,” Asuka repeated after him. She popped the pit of the fruit into her mouth and noisily sucked at it, clearly deep in thought. “Rikrit!” She pronounced, spitting out the pit suddenly and jogging over to the direwolf carcass.
“Rikrit!” She repeated, looking over her shoulder at Shinji and pointing emphatically with her knife towards the body. He tilted his head in confusion. She had not seemed amenable to sharing just a moment ago. Now she wanted to split this hunt?
“Juba,” he said to her, and shrugged his shoulders to Pen Pen’s questioning look.
The two of them worked together to break down the carcass while Pen Pen circled, on the watch for predators. Asuka scraped meat from skin with her stone knife until Shinji pulled out a glass one, made from the same material as his spearpoint. She watched, eyes wide in fascination, as the glass—infinitely sharper than any stone could ever be—sliced through meat with ease.
Demanding hands pried the glass knife from Shinji’s grip, and he let her take it. As she made experimental cuts with it, he began dividing up the meat, bones, and other useable material from the body. Asuka insisted on him taking most of it, and he loaded it into the leather bags affixed to the straps on Pen Pen. She watched as he did, eyes narrowed at them. When he was finished, Asuka surveyed her remaining bounty, making shooing motions with her hand, clearly dismissing the other two.
“Asuka,” Shinji said firmly.
She began arranging the meat in her pile, all extremely thinly sliced, into a bundle on top of a large section of cleaned skin from the direwolf.
“Asuka,” Shinji said again. “Kreepat undulo.”
Asuka growled but retrieved the glass knife from beneath a pile of skins, tossing it at Shinji’s feet. “Taba,” she muttered, returning to her work.
“Bropa kado, Asuka,” Shinji said, kneeling down to pick up his knife. She did not return his pleasantry.
Without anything more to say, Shinji started to turn to leave. It was more difficult than he thought it would be. Asuka was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her red hair, streaked with orange as it caught the rays of the departing sun, her striking blue eyes. Even the way she had leapt from the trees to ambush him had been as impressive as it was frightening. Watching her carefully wrap the remains of her kill, a paltry amount compared to what she had given to him and Pen Pen, he felt the urge to invite her with him. Back to his tribe.
He sighed. It was a nice fantasy. But that was all it was. What would a girl like her, who laughed and barked a challenge into the face of a killer bird like Pen Pen, want with a little ape like him, who the matriarch wouldn’t let hunt without Pen Pen’s protection?
“Uffah, Pen Pen,” he said, hoisting himself onto the bird’s back. “Uffah.”
“Warrrrk,” Pen Pen trilled as he started walking in the direction of home. The extra weight of all the direwolf material would slow them down. They were going to be a few days travel from the tribe. Shinji knew the others would worry, but given the bounty he was returning with, it would be worth the lecturing he would get.
———
Asuka dropped gracefully from the tree once Shinji and his formidable bird were too far away to see in the tall grass. She scrunched up her nose and lips and grunted at the pile of sliced meat and assorted bones she had left out and bundled up the corners of the direwolf skin it was sitting on. Once she had secured it to ensure nothing would fall out, she threw it over her shoulder, picked up her stone tipped spear, and began following the huge avian tracks. The direwolf carcass that had been her quarry was picked clean of anything she wanted, and the cute boy and his beast were carrying most of it to her next campsite. The rest of it could be left to the scavengers.
The grass rustled gently as she seemed to glide through the sea of golden brown, rippling in the breeze. It was hard for her to get the boy—Shinji—out of her mind. Ever since she had left her tribe, after her mother’s early death and her father’s indifference to her existence, she had lived her life alone. That didn’t mean she had never come across other apes before. Far from it. She spent her life constantly on the move, never feeling secure enough to stay in any one place for long. But there was only so much worthwhile prey, and she had, on more than one occasion, been confronted by another hunter, or even groups of hunters. Alone, she could always scare or fight off a rival. Even the males. There had to be at least a few tribes out there that were sharing stories of the red demon that would swoop in on the lone hunter, chasing them off their hunt.
But when she encountered groups, she had learned to keep her distance. Not that she was scared! She was the greatest hunter, the strongest fighter. But even weaklings could overpower the strong, if they worked together. Shinji, though. There was simply something about him. Something that made her want to take him for herself. And where had he gotten that shiny black knife? Asuka had never seen anything like it before. If she made him hers, she decided she would force him to tell her how to make one.
But that was all wishful thinking. Asuka paused and snuffled at the air, then crouched slightly. She listened carefully, tuning out the wind and the grass, even closing her eyes to focus. It didn’t help that she just saw that stupid, cute face of his when she was trying to concentrate. She grunted and shook her head, trying to force the image away. She had been following the tracks for a long time. It was nearing night. Any smart ape—not that she thought Shinji was one, but the bird seemed plenty smart—would be looking for a tree to climb and sleep in, or some other sort of shelter.
She could hear, faintly, in the distance, the warbling of the great avian monster. Her lips curled into a toothy grin and she began to slink in that direction, congratulating herself on her genius. Letting the pair think she was being generous with her kill, all to let them not only lead her to a safe living area, but carry nearly a whole direwolf’s worth of material for her had been one of the best ideas she had ever had. In just one day they had covered more ground than she could have ever hoped to, carrying so much.
Asuka followed the sounds of Shinji and Pen Pen to a small bunch of trees. She carefully approached, keeping the trees between her and the other two as much as she could, and stealthily climbed a particularly leafy one. Settling into a comfortable branch with plenty of cover to hide her, she peered down on her prey.
Shinji was retrieving some of the meat she had shared with him from the leather sacks tied to the bird. Those leather creations were another thing she would extract the secrets of once she made him hers. If she made him hers. Well, she would find out how to make them. No matter how adorable he was, tearing into the raw meat, ripping off huge chunks that he would then toss to Pen Pen, Asuka knew she was always going to be alone. That was just how things were.
Besides, how useful would someone like him even be? He may have those shiny black tools that could cut flesh far better than her stone ones could, but he was eating that meat raw. Asuka chuffed silently in amusement to herself. “Taba,” she whispered. She had known how to make fire since she was a little girl. Her mother had shown her. Fire made everything better.
As she settled back into the nice crook of her chosen branch, determined to rise with the sun and let the other two get a head start before she began tracking them again, she idly wondered how powerful her tribe would be if she took Shinji as her mate. They could start a new tribe, together, and they would have the black tools and fire. No other tribes she had seen had either of them, let alone both. With a yawn, and her head full of impossible dreams of red and brown children using sharp black tools and roasting meat over fires, she drifted off to sleep.
“Waaaarrrrrrrrrrrk!”
She woke with a start, unaware how long she had been sleeping. The warning cry of the large bird was still ringing in her ears as she grabbed her spear and squinted in the moonlight to identify the cause for alarm. She didn’t have to look long, however. From her vantage point inside her tree, she could see the grass rustling as huge shapes moved through it, towards the group of trees. It had to be the direwolves. The pack of the one she had killed. They had tracked her!
Pen Pen was pacing at the foot of a tree, and peering into it Asuka could see Shinji squatting and staring out into the field of long grass. Normally, Asuka would have thought him a coward—hiding from a fight was not the behavior she would expect from a strong male. But even she knew this fight was hopeless. She had only managed to kill the lone direwolf because it had wandered far from the pack. Together, they would easily have killed her. They were likely more than a match even for the monstrous bird.
The bird seemed to take offense to her assessment, as he suddenly leaped into the grass, huge feet and ever larger talons raked forward, moving so fast the direwolf he was attacking did not even have time to snap its slobber jaws at him. Those terrible claws sliced through the direwolf’s flank and Asuka watched, eyes wide, as it ran forward for a few more steps before collapsing onto the ground, whining and grunting. Pen Pen turned, trilling out a low, threatening “Waaarrrrrk,” as if daring the others to attack.
Attack they did. To Asuka’s dismay—a dismay that surprised her, as she had no reason to feel so attached to the bird—the direwolves circled around to surround Pen Pen. Rather than attacking one at a time, they ran around the huge bird, keeping his attention divided, one of them always coming close to attempt to snap its jaws around a vulnerable limb. Only for Pen Pen to hop away at the last second. It was an impressive sight, but Asuka knew it could not last forever. Direwolves were made for endurance. They would not stop until the beast was dead.
“Kokora!”
Asuka grunted in surprise as she heard Shinji yelling. He had just been shaking life a leaf, hiding in the tree, and now he was on the ground at the base of the tree, screaming like an idiot!
“Taba!” Asuka snarled, though she had to admit it was quite brave of him. She watched as he scooped up a rock and threw it with expert aim, striking a direwolf just as it was about to strike at Pen Pen.
“Kokora heeben!” Well, he had wanted their attention. Now he had it. Asuka felt her heart clench as the wolves broke off from Pen Pen and began to lope towards Shinji, who was scrambling back up the tree as fast as he could. He had just made it to a low hanging branch when a set of jaws snapped at the air where his legs had just been.
Without thinking, Asuka began to make her way over to him, leaping from tree to tree. She kept her attention mostly on the wolves, some of whom were leaping and snapping at Shinji, keeping him treed, while the rest returned their attention to Pen Pen. The bird had come back to Shinji’s tree, clearly intent on protecting him, but there was only so much he could do against the pack. For every strike of his mighty beak or curved talons, he only narrowly avoided a retaliatory bite or clawed swipe. And even with his massive size, the direwolves were still huge. Even a glancing blow could prove disastrous.
Asuka finally reached Shinji’s tree, landing after a leap and gripping onto the branch with one arm. She still had her spear in one hand. With the chaos of the battle, Shinji had failed to notice her approach. He appeared to be distraught, yelling at the direwolves and throwing anything he had to hand at them. He was ripping branches off the tree, raising them overhead and throwing them as hard as he could, but it was having little effect on the beasts.
“Taba!” Asuka called out to him. His head whipped around, and his eyes widened at the sight of her.
“Asuka?” He was breathless, his eyes were wide in fear or shock. “Asuka! Jobana kipo fud!”
“Brrrip, guh?” She said to him and smiled, hoping she sounded and looked as cool as she did in her head while doing it. With a nod of her head, she jumped down spearpoint first and landed directly on top of one of the direwolves below. Her spear, while not tipped with the mysterious shiny black that could cut through flesh like it was water, was still sharp enough. And it had all her weight and speed behind it. Her spear pierced through the direwolf, into its back, clear through and out of it chest. Asuka herself crashed into it, which broke her fall. She released her spear and rolled away from the crash, landing in a standing position, stone knife in hand.
“Utubi tol!” She bared her teeth a let loose a shriek of rage, daring any of the opponents to attack her. She got her wish as one shaggy gray direwolf leapt at her. Before she could roll away, the direwolf was knocked off its collision course by Pen Pen, sprinting into and through it. He whirled around after bowling through him to drive a talon into its neck before it could recover from being knocked aside.
“Wark!” Pen Pen shouted at her.
Asuka smiled at him, a feral grin, then hooted a laugh. She had known he was a terrible opponent to face in battle. But now he was fighting beside her! Maybe they had a chance against the direwolves after all. She returned her attention to the pack, ready for another one to make its approach. While she had Pen Pen’s help, this was still a dangerous fight. Not a time to get distracted.
What she wished she had was her spear. Her little maneuver, while really cool and totally worth it, had destroyed it. She hefted her knife and sized up the direwovles, who were once again circling their opponents. Warier, now, than they had been. They now realized the true threat Pen Pen posed, and the surprise addition of Asuka had turned the odds somewhat.
Not enough for them to reconsider, it seemed. Asuka rolled away from a lunging direwolf, slashing ineffectually at it with her knife. Meanwhile, Pen Pen continued to hop, leap, and dance around the tree that Shinji was still sheltered in, the boy’s cries and occasional thrown object interjecting in the battle, the direwolves as yet unable to catch the bird.
Their battle continued, both sides tiring. The teeth and claws seemed to be getting ever closer each time Asuka dodged them, and her stone knife seemed to be moving slower each time she reached out to strike. Until finally, she was too slow. One misstep, and Asuka found herself sprawled on the ground, panting, brandishing her knife wildly to fend off the direwolf that would surely be lunging in at any moment.
To her surprise, no attack came. Instead, she heard a shrieking cry and a thud. She looked up to see Shinji on the back of a direwolf, black knife in hand, stabbing and slashing at the beast.
“Taba?” She leapt to her feet as quickly as she could, scrambling to reach Shinji and the direwolf. She could see Pen Pen darting in and out from amongst the other beasts, keeping them away from the little apes. Asuka jumped towards the direwolf as it bucked and twisted its head, trying to throw Shinji from its back or grab him with its jaws. She grasped onto a fistful of gray fur and pulled herself on top of the beast beside Shinji, who was screaming incoherently as he stabbed at it. She joined him in his attack, using her heavier knife to beat the creature’s skull, relishing in the sickening crack her first strike caused.
Between the two of them, they dispatched the direwolf, though it was a messy kill. It eventually collapsed, with Asuka rolling away as it fell. It landed on top of Shinji and heaved out whining, shuddering breaths as it died.
“Shinji!” Asuka rushed back over to the dying beast and heaved against it, groaning and grunting as she struggled to push its weight off of Shinji. He added his strength to hers and together the two of them pushed the body off of him enough for him to roll away. Exhausted, Asuka and Shinji rose and turned to face the pack.
The direwolves were watching them, no longer circling. Pen Pen stood protectively between them and the apes, head low, legs bent, ready to strike if needed. With a long, keening Awwwwwooooooooooooooo, the largest of the direwolves turned and trotted away. Clearly, the three of them together were far more trouble than they were worth. The rest of the pack followed.