Free Shame of Man by Piers Anthony Page B

snarling, holding another flesh-cutting stone. She hated Bub, who had once tried to abduct her, and meant to help Hue fight. This was unusual behavior in a woman, but not unknown. Considering that Sis often helped her brother fight, this was just as well. Hue would surely lose if both Bub and Sis attacked him.
    “No!” Sis cried, surprisingly. “Fight no.”
    Both men looked at her, startled. So did Fae.
    “Cave Hue,” she said. “Bub Sis no.”
    She was correct. Hue and his party had taken this cave first. But since when had Bub and Sis ever honored such conventions? They had never cared much about anything except power and opportunity.
    Bub looked out onto the landscape. Fire stones were falling more thickly, denting the ground and making the grass burn. There was no retreat that way. He would rather fight.
    Then Hue saw that Bee and Lee had found sticks and come to stand behind Fae. They were small, but not as small as they once had been, and they knew how to club small animals. They could indeed help enough toenable Hue to prevail. Sis, more devious than her brother, had seen that the outcome of this fight was in doubt.
    “Truce,” Sis said, saying a word she seldom did.
    But Hue knew better than to trust either of them. “No.”
    She considered just a moment. Then she tried another ploy. “Sex.”
    Both Hue and Bub looked at her, dismayed. Enemies did not engage in sex, unless it was rape, and there would be a fight to the death here before there could be any rape.
    Sis put down her stone. “Hue Sis sex,” she said. “Truce.” She took a step toward Hue, her arms spread, hands open. She smiled, suggesting that she would enjoy it. Was it possible that her seeming grudge had masked desire? So that her brother wouldn't suspect her of disloyalty? No, more likely she was simply trying to deceive Hue about her feeling, to make him agree to it.
    Bub looked at her, appalled. “No.”
    Fae echoed the sentiment. “Sex no.” The last thing she wanted was such a connection between her mate and her enemy.
    “Fight,” Bub said, though without force.
    Sis gazed back at him without flinching. “Bub Fae sex.”
    Now Hue was appalled. “Fight,” he said, agreeing with Bub.
    But Fae was coming to understand what Sis was proposing. Those who had sex together did not fight. Even enemies could make a truce by sharing sex. They would not fight until another day. Not even an untrustworthy person would violate that, because it went deeper than agreements. It was the way it was. Sis was offering a way for them to share this cave without fighting.
    Still Hue and Bub demurred, not wishing such a truce. They had been enemies too long. They did not want to be even temporary, tacit friends.
    Sis took another step toward Hue. She was very close, and the woman smell of her was strong. He found himself tempted. He had always hated her for her bad ways, yet always also been intrigued by her healthy body. He couldn't help reacting.
    She took one more step, now almost touching him. She reached up to take his hand, the one with the axe. She brought it down and set the stone against her throat. She let go. He could cut her and kill her with one stroke. She had offered her life.
    And of course he couldn't take it. Slowly he moved his hand, taking the knife away, dropping it to the ground.
    Bub, seeing him disarmed, started to come forward. But Fae moved faster, dropping her own stone, intercepting him. Bub had always been interested in her, but she had never wanted him. Now she was offering. He hesitated, then dropped his axe. He knew this was the only likely way he would ever have her, and her acquiescence was better than rape.
    “Sis want,” she said, drawing Hue down to the ground with her. He realized with a shock that she was doing this not merely as a way to establisha useful truce, but because she desired him personally. He had not known she felt that way, but the smell of her suggested it was true. She had the heat of unfeigned