Gazda would never have dared to think it! And yet, the idea cheered him.
Then he hooted worriedly, gathering his limbs beneath him to retreat for each of these creatures put short sticks in their mouths that the first Fur-nose set alight with a flickering finger!
Was it thunder-hand returned? Did that weapon have other uses also?
The night ape trembled upon his perch, watching the plumes of smoke rise from the invaders’ noses and mouths.
Gazda barked to bolster his courage as they plucked these burning sticks from their lips and held them in their hands like smoking fingers!
What was this? Had monsters taken over his lair—monsters bearing thunder-hands of cloud and flame!
And would death soon leap out to strike Gazda? Baho had said there would be a noise like thunder...
The night ape tried to calm himself and summon his blackback courage, so he ignored the smoking fingers and focused on the heavy garments that covered the invaders from foot to neck.
Only hands and heads were left exposed, just as they were depicted in the skin-stones.
Then another male came out to join the three!
And Gazda could contain himself no longer. Growling and panting quietly, he crept back along the branch to reach the trunk.
This fourth creature appeared much younger and was also white of skin.
The night ape hooted, and snapped his teeth when this last invader pressed fire to a stick in his mouth and soon his head and hands were smoking, too, as a rank smell of burning leaves floated into the air.
Gazda looked at his own white fingers, curled them into hooks and straightened them again. He cautiously set his index finger to his lips, but no fire or smoke came forth.
If they were night apes upon the platform was thunder-hand something Gazda could learn to do? It would be a potent force for him to carry on the hunt.
The males communicated very little as the smoke drifted off of them, and when they did it came as incomprehensible noise. Their voices, while deeper than the females, were capable of heights that Gazda had never heard among the male apes of Goro’s tribe.
These strangers also yawned frequently exhibiting their small canines as they groaned. Despite that show of weariness, they stood erect in a threatening posture and appeared restless. Their body language reminded the night ape of the tension that often accompanied groups of blackbacks that were sizing each other up to challenge for dominance.
Then came the muffled fluting voices of the females in the tree-nest, rising and falling like music as they chattered until the males in deeper tones rasped an answered.
What was this ritual?
Why did the females stay inside? Did they fear the thunder-hand?
Gazda wished they had come out, too.
The sky had darkened to pitch by the time the males extinguished their burning fingers and retired to the shelter of the tree-nest.
When the door closed Gazda moved forward from branch to branch and leapt into the clearing where he crept stealthily through the wet grass until he crouched by his lair.
A scent struck him and drew a flash of ire that curled his lip. There between the uprights, boards and boxes beneath the tree-nest he nosed out the skins he had prepared and dried—half-buried and twitching with maggots—and near to that he found his bone-face trophies and the discarded bones of Fur-nose!
The night ape scowled up at the tree-nest. A snarl twitched across his features and pulled his full lips away from his fangs.
Invaders! To come into his lair and cast his property away! Thunder-hand be damned!
Growling, Gazda vaulted onto the roof and landed silently near where he had eavesdropped before.
Gentle and subdued sounds came from inside. The chatter ran back and forth between the males and females, rising and falling in pitch and volume.
And for a moment, he was reminded of his own tribe bedding down after sunset. Did these interlopers sleep in the night? Were Fur-nose’s kind more like Goro’s apes?
When orange light flickered from the nearest opening, Gazda moved into position over the window to watch.
And his breath caught, for an old female was lying in his bed. Her red cheeks and white hair reminded him of the old male he’d seen earlier. She lay beneath a large covering and appeared to be asleep.
The young females were closer, whispering as they undressed.
Gazda barely contained an anxious hoot as they picked at strings that bound one another’s garments to their bodies, loosening them with dexterous fingers until sheets of fibrous material began to slump about their lower quarters.
Still more strings loosed and another layer fell away to show another. Beneath that was a sheet of thin webbing that each helped the other peel up over her head. That action left them with soft clutches of material about their breasts and hips that formed a flexible under layer.
As they worked, even more material fell and crumpled, collapsing eventually into heaps from which they stepped with long white legs!
Gazda panted happily, pleased by this revelation, remembering the puzzling pictures of females in the skin-stones. These night apes hid the true length and shape of their legs!
He grunted his approval for it was plain they were not so different after all.
Then he gasped and clutched tight to the roof’s edge, for the females had started peeling the skin off of their legs! Gazda almost barked a warning, but held back when their disturbing actions revealed pale, pink skin on the rounded thighs and calves beneath.
What strange creatures! His mind raced, his heart pounded...and...
Something in Gazda’s savage breast had been awakened as the females disrobed. Passion rose in pitch and urgency as each hidden shape was revealed. He struggled to contain the surging impulse as the last and most desirable action came, as they removed the stout shells that encased their ribs and soft white breasts.
The night ape panted quietly, anxiously, shifting his weight from hand to hand as he watched. A pink mist had descended over his eyes and the females fairly glowed.
Heat burned within his
