Free The Lost Level by Brian Keene Page A

will be without your ears or nose or
perhaps your fingers.”
    We proceeded in silence again for a while. A pall seemed to hang
over the jungle. It wasn’t until the vegetation began to grow thinner and more
sunlight shined through the openings that we talked again. When we did, I asked
Kasheena something else that had been on my mind.
    “How is it that you speak my language?”
    She laughed. “Perhaps it is my language that you speak, Aaron
Pace.”
    I nodded, agreeing that the semantics were correct. “Do all of
your people speak English?”
    “Is that what you call your language? English?”
    “Yes.”
    “That is what we speak, though we do not call it that. It is a
funny word.”
    “Do you know how your language originated?”
    She shrugged. “I only know that we have always spoken it. I
assume it was the language of our ancestors.”
    “So, maybe your tribe came from the same place I did.”
    “Perhaps. I do not know. I know that my father’s father was not
our first chieftain. There were several before him. It is said that the first
people came here from the sky.”
    “From the sky? You mean, like in an airplane?”
    “I do not know what that is.”
    “It’s a…we have them back on my world. They’re a means of
transport. Like a chariot.”
    “I do not know what that is, either.”
    “A chariot is a cart that people ride in. It’s usually pulled by
some sort of animal. An airplane is similar to that, I guess, except that it is
powered by mechanical means. People sit inside of them and fly through the sky.”
    She squinted at me, as if trying to determine if I was teasing
her. Then she shook her head.
    “That is back on your world. We do not have airplane chariots.
But our ancestors did not come from elsewhere. They came from the sky. The sky
is here, not elsewhere.”
    “But the sky they came from could have been my sky.”
    “I do not know. Perhaps. I saw what I thought was a metal bird
fly overhead when I was a girl. Maybe instead of a bird, it was one of these
airplanes. But I do not know where it came from.”
    I decided to try another question. “Your uncle’s skin was a
different color than yours. Is that common in your tribe?”
    She nodded, making an expression that seemed to indicate she
thought this observation very odd. “We have many different colors. Why? Is that
unusual on your world?”
    “Not at all,” I said. “I’m just trying to determine some things
here so that I can better understand. Like where your ancestors originally came
from, for example.”
    “We have never worried much about these things, Aaron Pace. My
people are more concerned with important matters, like finding food and
defending our village and making offspring.”
    “Do you….” I faltered, feeling my ears turn hot. “Do you have any…children?”
    Hands on her hips, Kasheena tossed her head back and laughed.
    “No.” She shook her head. “Not yet, for I have not chosen my
mate. But I will soon. Already, my people urge me to do so.”
    “Why have you waited?”
    “There are certain things I must do first. There are tasks and
feats required of all men and women in our tribe before we can select a mate or
before those we choose can offer their consent.”
    “Like what?”
    She shrugged. “I must walk across the fire. Hunt and kill enough
to feed the entire village for one night. Nothing too difficult. I have
completed many of them already. And until I finish the other tasks, I am
content to wait for one who I deem worthy.”
    “Do you have many…suitors?”
    She frowned, clearly not understanding the word.
    “Many potential mates,” I said. “Do you have many who are
interested? Or who you are interested in?”
    “A few,” Kasheena replied. Her smile grew playful. “But I am in
no hurry to make up my mind, no matter how insistent the others in my tribe
are.”
    “Good to know,” I said.
    Now it was Kasheena’s ears which turned red. I noticed her smile
grow wider.
    It matched my