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The Sands of Time

By: espeteroh



What follows is the most personal story I have ever written. I first wrote it 15 years ago and have modified and edited it many times since never being entirely satisfied. I'm still not. I suspect there are still errors in but it's time the world saw it. Only a very few have ever seen it. This is not an erotic story, there is no sex herein. It is rich with symbolism. That said, if you're looking for sex do not continue.

Jane looked at the wedding ring on her finger. Its luster was gone from the scratches it had borne. She felt tired, worn down and a bit sad. Jane closed her eyes and listened to her lungs pull in the air and slowly released it again. She heard the people about her conversing but did not hear a thing of what anyone was saying. Her mind drifted back to college and English Literature class. She could see the professor upon whom she had a formidable crush. She remembered how devastated she felt when she heard he was getting married. She smiled to herself thinking how foolish she had been. She swore on that day she would hate him forever. Looking back now her memories were fond and happy.

Then Jane wondered if that was the only love she ever felt. She wondered if she had ever really loved her husband Gary. She wondered if she had simply loved him for how he had brought her out of her depression when they met. Upon further reflection she felt certain she had never really loved him. She fixed on that thought for a very long time.

"Jane," a voice said. Jane did not respond. She had not heard it as she had become totally lost in her thoughts. 

"Jane!" The voice said now considerably louder. Jane thought she had heard something and brought herself back to a conscious state. "Jane!" The voice nearly bellowed as she gained her composure. She looked up into the face of her boss. She expected to see a very angry face. Instead she saw the soft face of concern. Jane's boss, Grace, an aging woman now in her early 70s, was known for a very her stern attitude in the workplace. Grace gave the appearance of being frail but she was actually quite the opposite. She moved around quickly and with agility. Her mind was as sharp as anyone who worked there as well.

"Jane, what is wrong?" Grace asked with an unmistakable voice of concern.

"Nothing," Jane replied nervously, "nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?"

"Jane, you have worked here for 12 years and you've always been one of my hardest workers. But just now, I walked in on you and it took me three tries to gain your attention. What is troubling you dear?" She said this in a very caring motherly way. Jane had never observed her like this.

"Oh it's nothing really," Jane lied, "I've been a little tired lately, a little stressed. I was just thinking of my vacation." She gave a most convincing performance so much so that she almost believed it herself.

"Okay, I can understand that. Lord knows you are my most diligent and hard working employee. But, if you do have a problem I expect you will come to me with it. It's important that I am aware of anything that might affect your performance here." Grace said to her with much concern. "Jane," she paused to assure she had Jane's attention, "you know you can come to me with any problem."

Jane was uncertain of how to respond so she simply said, "Yes, I know, thank you." She had been one of two women to receive a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard in her graduation class. The Harvard "B school" was still dominated by men. She graduated again two years later receiving a Ph.D. in business. This time she was graduated holding a 4.0 grade point average, a full half point higher than her previous degree. She felt that succeeding in grad school wasn't enough and that for her to be successful in the world she needed to excel. Jane had always been very meticulous about everything she did. She learned this from within herself during high school and carried it through college, job interviews and into the workplace. With those credentials Jane found a job very easily in a large multi-national financial company and rose quickly to the position of vice president that she now held. She felt she had become stagnated but she knew full well that it was the way of this particular business. She also knew she was the most senior and best qualified to replace Grace whenever she retired. Jane felt guilty about all the times she had prayed Grace would finally decide to retire. It was often said that Grace would die on the job before she'd retire. In rethinking her desires she realized that Grace had been a continual source of support. Jane knew she was good to her especially in her early years at the firm when mistakes in a firm that did not allow for mistakes happened. It was then that Jane decided she needed to feel comfortable and happy with her present position.

Jane's mind returned to the meeting she had to attend in five minutes and mentally prepared herself. In seconds she totally regained her composure. In a little over two minutes she had filled a legal size paper with notes and questions for the meeting.

Jane hated Friday morning board meetings almost as much as she hated Monday morning board meetings. At the meetings were a bunch of boring old men all dressed in identical conservative charcoal gray suits. She looked at each of them feeling confident that each was approximately the same age as Grace and that meant their retirement was imminent. At each meeting several of them stood up and gave a report on something equally as boring as they were. They droned on endlessly in monotone voices until the meeting ended mercifully.

Jane entered the mahogany-encased boardroom and sat to the left side and two down from board's chair. Protocol was strictly observed and although Jane was herself a stickler for detail there was something about protocol that made her a bit angry but she had never been able to nail it down. Almost as soon as she entered the room and sat down the rest of the board's members followed and took their respective places. It never occurred to Jane that it was possible they respected and admired her. Grace was one of the first to enter and as a senior vice-president she sat towards the head of the table. Jane felt protected with Grace there, near her, a curious feeling as Jane had good inner strength. Finally the chairman came in and in unison the entire board started to rise out of respect. The chairman motioned for them to stay seated, as he always did.

"I would like to keep this meeting as brief as possible today if you please," Mr. Eliot, the chairman announced. Jane sighed in relief and hoped she'd be passed over and be allowed to go unheard. It was then that she noticed feeling mentally tired and extremely desirous of being done with this meeting and the entire day for that matter. 

"Mrs. Coolidge, let's start with you," Mr. Eliot announced.

Jane quietly gulped at this unexpected event. She was not afraid to stand before the board having done it a hundred times before. As always, logic prevailed, Jane gritted her teeth and stood up. "Gentlemen and ladies," Jane said with her usual professional aplomb. "There were no new acquisitions this month however our strong positive cash flow in the European markets has made us an attractive suitor to a number of companies." Jane continued and completed within five minutes, something she knew the chairman appreciated. He stated his appreciation and requested that she meet with him later that day or Monday to go over the acquisitions. One time, much to Jane's surprise, he said to her on the way out of a board meeting, "I appreciated you short to the point reports. Too many people try to dazzle me with their brilliance when all they are telling me is a bunch of bullshit to give the appearance they are very important. Excuse my language, I'm sorry, it's uncalled for. It doesn't change the way I feel though." With that he turned and left. This puzzled Jane a bit as he was not known for getting down into the details of the corporate works. She resigned herself to it and made a mental note to make an appointment with his secretary at her first opportunity. She made an appointment see him Monday at eleven.

Later, when Jane arrived home, she paused to lie down on her sofa. She thought back to the episode at work. She thought about how she had lied to Grace. She hoped her charade was not transparent. She did not want to answer any questions about her private life. She had come to the conclusion that she was no longer in love with her husband, Gary, if in fact she ever had been. If she had been totally truthful with herself, she would have divorced him at least three years ago. Her quandary was a matter of what the consequences of such an action might be. Gary had become a senior vice-president at a large local bank. Jane had always believed that being in a position as this was ideal for both of them. Now she realized that without love it was a nightmare. She chastised herself for being so indecisive on her next move. It baffled her how she could make decisions at work that would directly affect the future of millions of dollars and thousands of people on a single decision she made. When she went home she felt as though she were a Casper Milquetoast. Jane got very angry with herself. She felt that maybe she should not have played out the charade of a happy wife. The board of directors expected people of her position and responsibility to take care of their private lives and keep them in order. Jane feared the company was now viewing her as a problem. She feared being relieved from her position for not staying within company principles. "I'm being paranoid." Jane thought to herself. "I've kept my private life very private. There is nothing to fear." She thought she was feeling paranoid still. Briefly, a thought of freedom, of a break from Gary passed through her mind. She knew she needed to divorce him but also feared that might raise her profile uncomfortably high. It made her smile to think of being free from Gary and then caused her to ponder that thought.

Jane was a very pretty woman although she never allowed herself to think this. At five feet ten inches she was taller than most women and a lot of men as well. She was always self-conscious of her height. Jane had a stunning figure and beautiful auburn hair and emerald green eyes. It wasn't often that she'd notice men watching her walk by on the street or how their eyes followed her as she entered a room. Most men were actually intimidated by her striking beauty combined with her high intelligence.

Suddenly Jane heard the side door of the house close. Gary was home from work. Jane quickly composed herself and rushed to the bedroom. She knew Gary would head for the living room. That gave her time to strip down to almost to almost nothing. This had aroused Gary in the past She hoped it would do that this time. Jane usually was home before Gary and always made it a point to meet him with a hug and a kiss first thing. She wondered if she had been going through the paces of the happy wife. Now she would find out. She pictured Gary in her mind. He was a very handsome man, a few inches taller than she, and always looked impeccably neat which he always was.

Now Jane wondered what she was going to do. She pondered briefly on the predictability of her marriage. They always did the same things at the same time. They always went out with the same people and to the same places. Jane was once an aficionado of string quartets. Now, however, she felt tired of them. They were to attend one that evening with their friends Ike and Jeanette Rourke. Jane did like their company.

She wished, however, they all would go somewhere else on this Friday night for a change. She did not know where or even care where. She felt herself angering. She shook it off and returned to her ritual.

It was Gary's custom to pour himself a glass of a California Port. Gary was extremely predictable, which for Jane was equal to boring. To all appearances outside the house, Gary was the perfect husband. He seldom complained about anything and was always considerate of her to a fault. Jane wondered why he never brought these actions home. For many months she had wondered what was making her so unhappy in her marriage. An answer never came. She had long ago given into a less loving marriage. It was usually a comforting enough thought for Jane. Gary always gave the appearance of being loving and warm. It was no more than a charade. Jane's frustrations would many times fulminate at some of the smallest of mistakes Gary would make.

"Jane, I'm home!" Gary called. Jane did not reply. "Jane, are you here? Honey, where are you?" Gary called out once again. Jane decided to stay quiet defiantly. She decided she was not his pet puppy dog bringing his slippers to him. She felt like railing up against him. She remained quiet though.

"I'm in the bedroom Gary," Jane finally responded. Jane was lying flat on her back looking straight up at the ceiling. Jane heard Gary grasp the doorknob and turn it. She saw the door open through the corner of her eye without having to move her head.

"Are you all right Jane?" Gary asked in a very sincere voice.

Jane got up on her elbows and looked down at herself. At some point Jane had disrobed to the point that she was wearing only panties and a bra. Jane possessed a stunning figure that she hid rather well beneath her clothing. At 39 Jane was an extremely good-looking woman. She lay back down on the bed and lamented her "advancing age." She knew she was good looking but never made much of it. Men still turned their heads when she walked by. Jane, however, never thought much of it or of herself as being attractive particularly to younger men and contrary to her own feeling of being good looking. Even though much younger men found her very attractive and told her so she knew no younger man could possibly desire a woman of 39. She also knew that young men who looked at her would see her as being used up sexually. She had pushed the sexy loving part of herself well down within her as Gary paid less and less attention to her.

Gary came into the bedroom. Jane rolled over on her side and smiled at him. He looked at her as if she were wearing a nun's habit. Jane felt herself becoming very angry with him. However, she decided her anger was an emotion that was worth showing. Recently, however, Jane had been telling Gary only part of the truth. She had not yet figured out how to tell him that she still loved him but she did not want to be with him any longer. Jane was a very loyal sort of person who found it extremely difficult to break any loyalty. So even though in her mind she saw herself somewhere else she still felt an overriding obligation to her marriage. Jane's delimma tormented her.

Gary removed his suit coat and tie. Jane idly watched him but her mind was elsewhere. It was a Friday night and she wanted to go out somewhere. She knew Gary's preference was to read The Wall Street Journal, and, "finish the week's business" as he called it. Jane found this incredibly boring. She too read the Wall Street Journal however she did this first thing in the morning at work. She always felt that by doing so she was as up to date on the current world markets and business affairs as she could be within reason. She also strongly believed that to the best of your ability when you finished work for the day you didn't bring it home with you. Of course that wasn't always possibly but she thought she did a pretty good job of it.

That evening Jane decided to tell Gary that she did not think he found her sexually arousing any more. He denied it. Then, thinking what she believed and had just said was foolish thinking, she told Gary she was sorry for being impatient with him. Again she lied and cursed herself for not being stronger at home. Gary always forgave her immediately and never brought up any incident again. Jane thought a little more about this. She chastised herself again. She thought of how Gary was horribly boring. He did everything very methodically. He lived his whole life as if it were on a schedule which it pretty much was. Gary was so predictable it truly bored Jane. Even this did not allow Jane to think about leaving Gary. She had always thought of it as an unfortunate situation and nothing more. Now she desired her freedom. Her marriage was dead. She was extremely unhappy within it and she knew it was time for her to move on with her life. Still, she could not find the courage to make the break. She cursed herself again.

"Are you all right?" Gary asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Jane said returning to the reality of her bedroom. "Gary, I don't want to go out tonight." Those words had slipped past her lips before she had any chance of reaching out and pulling them in. What she had really meant was that she didn't want to go out with him. Gary never got angry but still she feared his response. It bothered her that she could feel this way. Still, she did.

"Well Jane, you know we promised the Rourkes we would go with them this evening."

"I know but I still do not want to go out!" Jane said quite pointedly.

"What will you do?" This particular question caught her off guard. She had expected Gary to protest her desire. She wondered why Gary had said "you" and not "we." Did he have something or someone else on his mind? It sounded like he was still going to go out which was entirely unlike him. What was up? For as much as she wanted to take him to task she again decided against it. This galled her. Why, she wondered, could she not stand up to this man as she desired.

"Maybe I'll see if Leah is doing anything interesting." Jane said this because she knew Gary did not care for Leah and thought of her as something of an immoral woman. Jane always disagreed with him and said that her being single, divorced once, and in her late 30s did not make her immoral. Secretly, however, Jane did think of Leah as a very promiscuous woman and had actually told Leah that once. Leah laughed at her and Jane apologized for being judgmental. As she thought back on it now she felt she might actually be envious of Leah. Still, she liked Leah very much. Now she wondered if she did not envy Leah her independence. Leah had always been a good friend to her and so they always kept in touch from their days in college. As the years passed their paths in life seemed to parallel one another. They lived a mere 10 minutes apart. Then their friendship began to cool when Leah finally got married and then divorced almost as quickly. Leah did not return her phone calls or declined to go do something with her almost invariably. When Gary started to show Jane less attention she began to respond positively to Leah's calls and the two became very close once again.

Jane wondered if the imperfections she had found in Gary were not showing themselves in her desire to break away for an evening of unplanned fun. The type of fun she imagined Leah had, lascivious fun. Jane always felt guilty about such thoughts and then wondered why she felt guilty. She knew she had no good reason to feel that way yet she still did.

"And the Rourkes," Gary finally continued," what do we tell them? How do we excuse our rudeness?" Gary flared. This was a side of Gary Jane had never seen. She thought for a second and felt irritated by it. Jane felt herself pushing for a fight just so she could get what she wanted. It was totally illogical, she told herself, because she liked going out with the Rourkes.

"I'll tell them that I'm exhausted from the day's work and where I have to work tomorrow I need the sleep. Yes," said Jane, "that is what I think I shall do. I'll call Leah now and see if she has plans."

"Jane, do you hear what you are saying?" Gary said obviously annoyed. "We already have plans with the Rourkes. What's wrong with you tonight?"


The Sands of Time



"Can't you see that I hate you and don't want to be near you!" Jane thought to herself. She felt surprised not only by the thought itself but how strongly she felt it. If only she could bring herself to say these words she thought she would feel much better. But still, she could not and felt condemned to her life as it was. But in the end Jane decided she would give in and go out with the Rourkes. She would have a good time regardless of her previous feelings. She admitted to herself that she did enjoy the conversation the Rourkes provided. They seemed so much more alive than she and Gary.

"I'm sorry honey, I had a really hard day. Let's go out with the Rourkes as we planned. You're right. It would be horribly rude to cancel without good reason at this late hour," Jane said in all earnestness.

Gary smiled at Jane and said, "Great! I'll give them a call just to confirm that everything is still on."

"Now why doesn't he show me that type of enthusiasm?" Jane thought to herself. She also thought this to be a curious phone call to make. The O'Rourkes always kept to plans that had been made and they always called if they were forced to change plans, which was very seldom. She decided she was being paranoid again and to make nothing more of it.

The Rourkes were at the front door of the Lyceum when Jane and Gary arrived. Ike Rourke always purchased the tickets for the four of them on such evenings. Jane was happy to see Ike. He was always polite and kind to her. He usually engaged her in an interesting conversation so she had come to look forward to that. Jeanette Rourke, on the other had, annoyed her possibly because she seemed a bit flighty but more likely because she thought Jeanette to be very superficial. The two couples went inside seating themselves in the orchestra seats. Inside the old building it was hot. Though the evening was becoming comfortably cool the circulation of air was poor inside the hall.

A string quartet performed at the Lyceum. On a good evening about 100 people would go there. This particular evening was dedicated to Bartok. Jane hated Bartok and wished they were playing Bach instead. She enjoyed Bach very much. At the intermission Gary and Jeanette excused themselves to the rest rooms leaving Ike and Jane to chat. Jane had been in this identical position several times previously at the concerts. For some reason she never remembered them. Ike was good company so it didn't bother her when Gary and Jeanette went off together. It had been a long time since she had been alone with Ike. She had always enjoyed such times because they always seemed to have a lively and uplifting conversation. On similar occasions she'd enjoyed talking with the husbands of their other friends. As Jane thought about this she reflected on how little in common she thought she had with other women. The single exception was her preference to talk with Leah. Still, she loved talking with Ike. It never bothered her that people might notice her with Ike and gossip. She conceded it to senseless rumormongers.

Jane and Ike made their way outside to get a breath of fresh air. They agreed it had been stuffier than usual inside. There was a small garden bench outside and just around the corner of the building. They sat there.

"I've hated these things for years. Tonight's even worse. I hate Bartok" Ike said catching Jane by surprise. "I wish that once, just once, we would go somewhere else, particularly when they play something we don't really like. Or, are you ready for this?" Ike said in a joking voice, "We could stay at home! Can you imagine? We all stay at home on a Friday night! Imagine the possibilities! It boggles the mind." Ike laughed.

Jane was entirely surprised by Ike's statement. It could just as easily have been her saying that. Jane found a new side to Ike, after so many years, and she liked it. She also wondered what was making Ike more animated in his conversation than she had ever seen him.

"Ike, I've got to tell you, I didn't want to leave the house tonight but Gary persisted, so, here I am." She said in resignation.

"Well, I don't think staying at home is all that wonderful. I guess once in a while would be good. With our jobs we need a release. I think we talked ourselves into this as being our best release. Now I wonder about the logic of such thinking. Years and years ago we vowed ourselves to do this as an excuse, convincing only ourselves, that it worked. What do you think Jane? Do you think I'm possibly right?"

"Yes, I do think you are right but years and years Ike?" Jane queried, "We've only known you for six years!"

"Well, that qualifies doesn't it?" he said with a jocular tone to his voice.

"Yes, I guess it does." Jane was half laughing when he made the comment and had as large a smile as she could. Jane felt good. Suddenly she found herself putting together the idea of feeling good and being with Ike. "Oh my God," she thought, "what am I thinking?"

"I needed to get some real fresh air before the concert resumed." Ike said, "I'm happy we came out to take a few good deep breaths of fresh air."

"I'm happy you thought of this too." Jane said..

"The company's pretty good too." Ike continued.

Ike looked up into the sky and remarked, "Look at all those stars. It's so clear it's like you could just reach out and touch one."

Jane sighed and said, "It sure is nice. I could spend a lot of time just staring off into space like this." Jane looked at Ike and smiled.

"Jane, I'd like to tell you something and please, I mean this as your friend."

"Sure Ike, what is it?"

Ike placed his hand along side Jane's face and moved it back through her hair allowing her hair to comb through his fingers. "Jane, you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure to know." Ike's absolute sincerity did not allow Jane much room to brush off his remark. "Why did he say that?" she wondered.

"Is he just flirting with me or making a pass?" Jane wondered "He's just being nice."

Jane was about to say something. She stopped and looked up at Ike. At five feet ten inches Jane was a rather tall woman. Ike, however, stood six feet and one inch so Jane still had to look up slightly at Ike. Before Jane could say a word Ike bent down and kissed Jane lightly yet warmly on her lips. Jane made no move to push Ike away. At first they kissed tentatively and then longer and lovingly.

"Oh!" Jane said with a start. The gasp had no sooner escaped Jane's lips than Ike began to apologize.

"I'm sorry Jane. I don't know what came over me to do such a thing. Please Jane, accept my apology." Ike's sincerity was unmistakable. He was noticeably nervous as well. He believed he had wronged Jane's sense of morality.

"Wait," Jane said interrupting. She looked directly into Ike's eyes but said nothing. Ike became aware that Jane wanted to say something so he politely waited for her. "Ike, Ike I liked it. I feel guilty as hell but God help me I like it! But Ike, it's not right. You have Jeanette and she's much prettier than I am. She's a bright gorgeous blonde and that figure of hers, well, I can only tell you that we women notice these things too. Women always dress to get approval from other women you know." Jane had no sooner allowed these words to cross her lips when she asked herself why she said anything about how women dressed. She decided it wasn't worth worrying about. She put her hands on Ike's shoulders, stood up on her toes and kissed Ike, long and full of passion.

Ike did not know what to say so he said nothing. He felt confused by Jane's action. He decided as the silence continued to pick up their conversation again. Then he changed his mind and allowed some of his feelings to spill forth.

"I know Jane and you are right about everything you said. Jane, it's our marriage. It's not fun any more. I still love Jeanette but she's so predictable I can set my watch by her."

"Ike, we've been good friends for a number of years and the last thing I want you to feel is that you have wronged me," With that Jane threw her arms around Ike's neck. She pulled him down to her and gave him another kiss that could not be mistaken for anything less than a truly loving kiss. As she held Ike and was held by Ike she could feel the warmth of his body on her. She could also feel how hard his body felt. He must exercise regularly she figured. She felt herself enjoying this far too much and pushed herself away from Ike gently. She thought how she was wronging her husband however that brought to mind how insensitive he had been especially lately.

"Now Ike," Jane said in a very commanding voice, "I have just initiated a kiss with you which, I might say, was really good. I am not sorry I did it and I do not feel guilty for having done it. You are my dearest friend and as my friend I kissed you. So, let's get on with being friends, all right?" She lied. She felt it necessary to relieve Ike of any guilt. Jane realized, however, that Ike was having some confusing feelings of love towards her as was she for him.. Even more, she liked the feelings and desired them to be consummated.

"Jane," Ike said, "you never cease to amaze me. You take what appears to be a most complicated situation and are able to break it down so that it is suddenly very simple. Thank you, you are so good to me."

Jane smiled, kissed her fingertips and placed them on Ike's cheek. She considered telling him her real feelings however decided it wasn't one her better ideas.

"Ike, I think we should go back in before we really do get into some sort of trouble."

"You're right. We don't need any rumors starting about us. Heaven knows, they might be true!" The usually serious Ike joked about the incident fearlessly.

Then Ike became pensive again. Jane knew from experience that this meant Ike was re-thinking something he'd said or done. It wasn't difficult to figure out what that would be.

"Jane, I'm still worried. What if they find out. What will we say?"

"Ike, they're not going to find out. You're just feeling a little paranoid. Let's just put it down as a learning experience between two very good friends and leave it at that, okay?" Jane remarked in her most pragmatic way. "It felt like more than just a kiss to me Jane," Ike pointed out.

"Ike, it was more than just a kiss. I love you Ike and that is as far as it can or will go, the end," Jane said strongly.

"I guess you're right," Ike conceded. "This entire incident was just two people allowing their needs to be met by situation and nothing more. Let's get inside. It's getting a bit chilly out here." Jane smiled at Ike but said nothing. Instead she took his hand and headed back inside. Upon trying the side door through which they had come outside Ike quickly discovered it was now locked. He stated that they simply needed to go around to the front and go in through the front doors. They were quick to find those doors locked as well. Ike tried every door he could find and all were locked. What would have really frustrated anyone else Ike took in stride. "Jane, it looks like the best thing we can do is sit out here in front and wait for the concert to end." Jane agreed and took a seat on the bench again. Ike sat next to her.

"It's really getting chilly out here," Jane commented. Jane had put on a summer evening dress even though it was late in September. Such a chilly evening like this one was quite the normal for that time of year. Ike took off his suit jacket and placed it over Jane's shoulders.

"Thank you Ike. You are a truly considerate person," Jane said as she snuggled in close to Ike. "I know it sounds silly but you know, shared heat and all. Why should either of us catch a chill?" Jane pulled Ike much closer to herself. Again Jane looked up into Ike's eyes. This time Jane reached up, put her hand behind Ike's neck and pulled his head down where she gave another passionate kiss. "I'm not going to apologize Ike. I do have a lot of loving feelings for you and since I like you so much, well, I simply want more of what I haven't had in so long." Jane felt she was a conservative sort of person and this was a total aberration of what she believed she would normally do. Then Jane thought she might have been lying to herself for years. She thought that maybe this was her true identity and she had in the past not allowed for its possibility.

Ike said nothing and returned Jane's kiss with more and more passion. Occasionally he'd caress her breast feeling her hardened nipples against his hand. Jane made no attempt to stop his advances. His actions brought warm feelings within her and she had not felt this in a very long time. He, as did she, became reassured and more comfortable with their actions. He, as did she, desired to make love right then. Both Jane and Ike, however, were feeling sleepy and soon enjoyed each other simply by hugging.

Although Jane's logic escaped her a little Ike seemed to have no problem with accepting it. It now allowed him something he desired, closeness with Jane. Jane placed her head on the front of Ike's shoulder. She again looked up in Ike's eyes and she saw a kind man for whom she was feeling some undeniably strong feelings for him. They were soon both asleep happily in each other's arms.

"IKE!" Jeanette bellowed. "What are you two doing?!" Before Ike could answer Jane awoke and asked, "What is going on here?"

"You know very well what's going on!" Jeanette barked, "What have you two have been up to?" She paused trying to find the right words, "I don't know but I'm sure it's no good."

"Well, let's see." Ike responded calmly. "We were locked out. We sat down here. Jane was chilly and I gave her my jacket to keep her warm."

Jane continued, "I was tired when I arrived here so I fell asleep and by the looks of it I did so on your husband's shoulder. I think that about covers it." Jane said like she was verbally spanking a group of first graders.

"Ike, come, I think we need to get home. You look very tired." Jeanette said in an angry tone of voice.

Ike got up from the chair, looked back down to Jane, smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "So we'll see you and Gary again soon?" Ike asked

"I'm sure we will." Jane responded desiring it to be sooner than later. Ike then left following Jeanette.

"I'm sorry Gary," Jane said from the chair, "but I really was just outside the theater door. Gary said nothing. He walked to the car and drove home. Not another word passed between them for the rest of the evening.

A strip of sunlight pushed through the window and directly on Jane's closed eyes. The sunlight opened Jane's eyes slowly. She immediately covered them from the light and then repositioned herself so she could look out the window and enjoy the beginning of the day. Jane's mind wandered back to the events of the previous evening. She could not seem to make much sense of it, at least for now. She felt comfortable lying in her bed enjoying its warmth. She looked over at Gary asleep next to her and suddenly her comfort waned. Jane felt certain that she must still love Gary for she felt no urge to leave him. Yet something was missing, something she could not put her finger on. It was something that brought the idea of leaving him in her mind. As she lay there looking at Gary he stirred from his sleep, opened his eyes and smiled at her as she looked upon him.

"Been awake long honey?" Gary asked. He was now acting as if nothing had happened the previous evening. Jane didn't understand this. He seemed so cheerful, just the opposite of the night before. Why didn't he seem aware of it now she wondered.

"No, no, only about five minutes or so," Jane replied.

"I'm sorry Jane. I know you told me you had something to do today but I've totally forgotten what it is."

"I've got to go into work for a little while today." Jane responded, "I should be home by noon, one at the latest." With that thought Jane got out of bed and went into the bathroom and showered. Jane took great pleasure in her Saturday morning shower. It was one of two days she didn't feel rushed, she could luxuriate to her hearts delight, and so she did. The hot water ran down in little rivers over the form of her body as she allowed the stiff spray of the water to hit the back of her neck. This was one form of relaxation she thoroughly enjoyed. Again she became self-conscious of her naked body and again she surveyed it. She decided this time that she looked better than she had allowed herself the previous evening. After a while Jane realized she still needed to get to work and so she turned off the water, stepped out of the tub, wrapped a large towel around her body and another smaller one around her hair. She moved into the bedroom. Gary watched her all the way. On a whim she allowed the towel wrapping her body to fall from her. There was no reaction from Gary at all. Convinced he was daydreaming about something else she gave a "humph!" of disapproval and turned her back to him. He made no response to her actions. Jane muttered "asshole" but not loudly enough for him to hear. She dressed partially and put on just a modicum of make-up. She finished dressing in the bedroom putting on a nice pair of hip hugger jeans and a comfortable blouse.

Jane did not mind going into work on an occasional Saturday. Today was one day Jane really did not want to go to work. She resigned herself to the inevitable and headed out. The sun was shining brightly and the weather was warm.

Jane rationalized that working Saturdays was a certain way to insulate herself from what seemed to be the interminable discussions, arguments and polls over the Bush -- Clinton race during the week at work. Jane was a registered Republican however she liked Hillary Clinton and thought a change was needed. She genuinely liked the idea of a strong well-educated woman in the White House. She wiped these thoughts from her mind. She didn't want to get all caught up in politics when that was the very thing she wanted to escape. Jane was ready for work and Gary was still in bed . "I'm off to work hon, okay?" she said.

"Of course. Have a good day and give me a call when you get there, all right?" Gary inquired.

"Why do you want me to call?" she asked him. Gary had never done this before in all the times she had gone into work on weekends. Jane had occasionally called but never had Gary requested it of her.

"I just want to know that you are safe and sound," Gary smiled back at her, "and how about a kiss before you leave?"

"Sure," Jane replied, "I'll be happy to." She wondered why he suddenly showed some emotions.

"I just want to hear your voice," he said, "I think I need to do more for you." This last statement took Jane totally by surprise and left her feeling good. Gary was trying to change himself, she thought.

"I'll call you as soon as I get there, I promise."

Jane got in her car, a new Mustang. She had always loved Mustangs from when they were first produced and now that she could afford a new one every year if she so desired she assured herself she would have one when she wanted it. She had gotten a 5-speed, 5-liter car. She loved its feeling of power. Then Jane thought again of Gary's uncharacteristic interest in her and began to wonder why he was changing especially after the previous evening's events. Her mind was not able to let go of that thought. Jane could not find an answer for it and that bothered her.

The drive into the city was very easy. The traffic was quite light as she had suspected it would be. Jane arrived at her workplace, turned into a side alley and parked her car in her assigned space at the rear fence. Usually she'd enter through a rear door. It was locked on weekends so she was forced to go around to the front where the security guard let her in. She proceeded directly to her office, sat back in her chair and looked out the window before she started in on her work. The streets of the city were not cluttered with traffic, parking was easy, and, most of all, she could get a lot of work done without interruption. Jane thought of how much of a creature of habit she had become. She laughed to herself about it.




The Sands of Time



Jane gazed through her office window at some boaters on the river and envied them. Jane could not help daydreaming of the previous evening's events. A half-hour passed before she realized she hadn't yet done a bit of work. She corrected herself and got down to work. Jane worked for a little over four hours before deciding she was happy with what she had accomplished. She straightened out her desk and left the building. Jane turned the corner of the building and proceeded down the alley toward her car. She had just about reached her car when she heard a voice say, "Miss, Miss, could you help me please?"

Jane stopped and turned to see who was calling her. There she saw a casually dressed man of medium build and good looks. She walked slowly towards him. He looked to be in his late 20s, had blonde hair and a very attractive smile. "How can I help you?" Jane was the proverbial Good Samaritan.

"I'm looking for Pie Alley but obviously this isn't it so could you please direct me to it?" He asked.

Jane came to within a few feet of him. She turned away from him and said, "Sure, go back down this alley and turn. . . " Jane choked as she felt an arm grasping her tightly by the neck and dragging her backwards. Jane flailed at the man but he was far too strong and she couldn't reach back far enough to even touch him. He dragged her to the rear of the parking lot and to the side of an old Pontiac. There he threw her to the ground and quickly pulled out a long knife.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SCREAMING!" He barked at her in an obvious agitated state. Jane was about to scream but stopped when he said that. Jane remembered being told that the rapist only cares about hurting people and one method of deterring his raping her was to lay back, not struggle and take it. She did remember they had modified that by saying she should fight as hard as she could, especially by scratching and gouging at and around the eyes if she felt her life was in immediate danger. She also remembered another other thing, when it became obvious he was going to rape her. She knew she had to put up a struggle and try to dig her nails into his skin, preferably his face. She would not move at all unless it came to that. The man took his knife and placed it at the opening of her blouse where it went under her jeans. Slowly he pulled the knife upward quickly popping each button on its route. Jane put up a struggle and did manage to put a deep gouge in his face with her fingernails. Jane noticed an angry grin on his face. It scared her. He didn't seem at all bothered by her scratching him. He seemed to be enjoying it and this scared her much more. The knife continued to cut through her bra through the front connector as if it were not even there. This display of the knife's sharpness heightened Jane's already extreme fear. Then she realized it was just a form of intimidation meant to scare her so that she would lash out and validate his reasoning for becoming violence. Once again Jane had put up a good fight trying in vain to fend him off but now she lay there perfectly still. Then, resigning herself to her fate, Jane pulled off a weak smile as if she were giving in and enjoying it. To the contrary, she was trying to gain some time so she could rest a bit and regroup her thoughts. To back the indication of submission she pulled her blouse open. Inside she was scared more than she had ever known. Still Jane was able to remain compose as she allowed her breasts to come into full view of the man. This action brought a broad grin to the man's face. He reached down and squeezed each of her breasts several times. It was obvious to her that he was enjoying himself. Her nipples became hard and tall seemingly betraying her. Somewhere in her mind the thought crossed as to how such actions would look in court. Jane was quickly becoming less and less able to continue the charade. Still, by showing him this she hoped he might feel he would lose interest. Her fears began to turn to extreme fear. In a fit of rage Jane struck out at him again, trying to hit him with her fists and claw at him again. This time she failed.

"DON'T DO THAT!" he yelled. He seemed more annoyed and angry than hurt. Then she thought she had a clear shot to bury her knee hard and directly into his groin and disable him at least briefly. When she kicked up at his groin. He moved slightly and her knee landed on his thigh. Immediately his eyes widened in a way that scared Jane to tears. She sobbed heavily.

The man now had the grin of a person enraged and ready to be very violent. He looked down at her rather large breasts and ran the tip of his knife around her nipples. She felt certain he had cut her there. He had. She could see a little blood appear on her breasts. He did nothing further for a few moments. Jane was crying profusely now and was unable to stop. He stared at her breasts for a few moments longer and then said, "Nice tits you got there lady. Maybe I'll cut your nips off to keep as a memory of you." A vicious smile again crossed his face. A minute passed, a long minute. With that Jane thought he might not be as serious as he said. She thought he might just be some perverse individual who got his kicks from intimidating women and then staring at their semi-naked bodies. Still, she knew in her heart that this was her rationalization of the situation into one that was easier to take. She felt certain she was wrong.

In a fleeting moment. Jane let out an ear piercing scream and then yelled out as loudly as she could, "HELP!! HELP ME!" Suddenly Jane felt a pain in her head and then on her face and then another to her face. She had never felt such pain before. It seared through her body as if it were a white-hot iron impaling her. Jane tried to say something to the man. She choked. It was at that moment that she realized her jaw had been broken. The man cursed her and told her he would kill her if she made another peep. Then he hit her directly in the face again with his fist. The strength of his blow slammed the side of Jane's head into the pavement and briefly knocked her unconscious. When she came to she was drowsy but aware enough to feel her jeans being pulled down. Then, as she became more conscious, Jane felt the man enter her and suddenly her worst fear was realized, she was being raped. She could feel the cold roughness of the pavement upon her buttocks. Jane struggled against him as best she could forgetting how it would probably enrage him further and possibly allow him to kill her. Then, again trying where she failed before, she managed to swing one of her knees taking direct aim up into his groin and hit him squarely and with great force where she had aimed. Her panties had pulled against her leg as she heaved it towards him. Still, she hit him so hard he fell away from her in obvious pain. He held himself where her knee had landed. She felt surprised she had been able to do it She had been stronger than she thought she could be. She felt her panties fall from her legs. They had ripped apart quickly when her leg strained them. He is immobilized, she thought.

"YOU'RE DEAD FOR THAT LADY!" he screamed at her, "WHEN I'M DONE I'M GOING TO FUCKIN' KILL YOU YOU FUCKIN' BITCH. YOU'RE ALL BITCHES ANYWAY." He surprised her by getting up in obvious pain and managing to yell that. She feared for her life again.

Once again he hit her on the side of her head knocking her partially unconscious one more time. When she regained consciousness this time she could feel his weight upon her. She felt the man's hips slamming into her and hurting her each time he slammed his body into her hips. How could he hit her so hard she wondered briefly? Jane slowly opened her eyes and looked up into the eyes of her rapist. What she saw scared her more. There was an unmistakable rage in the man's eyes. He seemed to be seething at the mouth as he raped her. Somehow he continued to slap and hit her. Jane was perfectly quiet when the man struck her in the jaw again and yelling some more obscenities at her. She had come to feel numbed by the experience. She didn't remember that later on. She had resigned herself to a certain death and with that she lapsed into complete unconsciousness.

When Jane opened her eyes again she was looking directly into a bright light. It was then she heard someone saying, "Insert it into the I.V. stat. I want any pain she has relieved quickly."

Jane tried to say something as her hand reached out to a woman in a white coat. "Mrs. Coolidge, don't try to talk. Your jaw is broken in several places and has been wired so your jaw almost entirely shut. You have just enough movement to get a straw in your mouth. Also, do try to remember as much as what happened." the woman stated. "The police will be here later. They need to know what happened in as much detail as you can remember. They'll be asking a lot of personal questions, very personal question."

Jane thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Do you know where you are?" the woman asked. Again Jane thought a minute and shook her head no.

"You are at St. Jude's hospital, in the emergency room," she replied.

"Mrs. Coolidge, since you have been raped we are required by law to do a number of procedures that are out of the ordinary. We have what is called a rape kit. We must find any sperm samples we can and we must also take pictures of all your injuries. This will require us to have photographs of your breasts and groin area. Mrs. Coolidge, do you understand this?"

Jane nodded to the woman, looked about herself and slipped back into a sleep state.

Jane was quickly awakened. "Mrs. Coolidge, will you give us consent to do all these procedures. We must have your permission."

Jane nodded to the woman that she would consent. The woman quickly put a clipboard in front of her and pointed where she wanted Jane to sign. Jane signed and once again lapsed into unconsciousness.

Once again Jane regained consciousness. She remembered giving permission for something. At first Jane didn't know what procedures she had agreed to. As her memory came back she did remember the procedures and showed an outward feeling of fear. Knowing what they consisted of Jane became scared and very embarrassed. She didn't want them to do it. She continued to slip in and out of consciousness. When she woke up again and looked around she recognized herself as being in a hospital room. There was a lack of a second bed so she assumed she had a private room and that suited her.

Slowly she began to feel the throbbing pain that seemed to encompass every part of her body. Then, suddenly, she felt the sting of a needle going into her leg.

"How are you doing?" A feminine voice asked.

Jane looked first to one side of the bed, then to the other where she saw a woman in a white coat. She recognized the woman as the same one she had seen in the emergency room. She looked at the woman and smiled remembering that she had been told her jaw had been wired shut so she assumed she still could not speak. She smiled at the woman. She remembered her voice as being soft and showing great concern for her well being.

"Jane, I'm Dr. Leary. I just gave you a shot of morphine to relieve you of the pain you must be feeling. I'll be your doctor while you are here at St. Jude's. It is very seldom that I am in the emergency room but I was using it as a short cut to my car when you came in. I saw you and knew immediately what most likely had happened to you. I almost never do ER treatments. Actually I'm a psychiatrist but St. Jude's is trying a new psychiatrist/physician program specializing in rape and similar cases. A surgeon, did reconstructive surgery on your jaw. Laser technology was used to do some bone fusing. Right now you have a plastic mold holding your jaw together but not so restrictive that you cannot talk. It will be difficult, painful at first for the next two or three weeks. It will be best if you restrain yourself from talking at all or as little as possible. You should be rid of the apparatus in a couple of weeks and your jaw should have healed well enough to move freely. Still, you may still need another, less restricting prosthetic devise to support your jaw. In the mean time you and I are going to be meeting to talk about what happened to you. I'm sorry, I should have asked your permission to do that. I am more concerned with your mind than I am with your physical troubles right now. Is that all right with you Jane? Would you like me to follow this through of do you have a therapist you'd prefer?"

Jane attempted to vocally answer yes when the doctor's admonition hit home. In just moving her jaw slightly an enormous pain came over her. She then nodded her head in a yes motion. Jane looked at Dr. Leary and saw her smile in response.

"Don't try to talk Jane," Dr. Leary said, "I've gotten a clipboard and pad of paper so you can write what you need when it's too painful to talk. I'm going to leave you now but I'll be back later to check on you. If the pain becomes too great don't be afraid to push the call button. I've ordered Demerol. You can have it once every four hours." Jane nodded that she understood.

"There's someone out here who has been waiting to see you. Shall I let him in?"

Jane smiled and nodded yes.

"All right but only for a few minutes. I'll see you in a few hours. I want you to get a lot of rest so you take it as easy as you can, all right?" 

Again Jane nodded yes. Dr. Leary smiled, patted Jane on her foot and left the room leaving the door open. A few moments later Gary entered. He walked towards her tentatively. Gary looked into Jane's eyes as he sat down on the chair next to her bed. Gary was unable to say a thing and so he took Jane's hand and held it. Gary held her hand quietly, pensively. Jane wished he would say something, anything.

As his silence became more prolonged Jane felt herself becoming angry with him. Then, suddenly, Jane remembered what she had gone through behind the building where she worked. As she thought about it she shivered and began to cry, a muffled cry because of the pain in her jaw. Now there was a pain in her stomach brought on by the realization of the rape. This thought left a feeling of nausea followed quickly by her stomach heaving forth its content. She felt a nurse holding her until she could vomit no more. Tears rolled down her cheeks in rivers. The nurse left as Jane regained her composure. Gary felt helpless and did nothing. Jane hurt and felt angry at the same time. Gary was almost entirely inept when she needed consoling and so it was now. Finally she turned her head away and pulled her hand from Gary's grasp. She wished he would go home. He said that he understood how she felt having gone through this experience. Jane knew it was a lie because she knew he was incapable of any feeling for her. She fell asleep from her shot of morphine.

"I'm sorry hon," Gary said. Those were the only words he said. He didn't realize she was already asleep.

The next thing Jane heard was the sound of the door closing. She thought is was just Gary leaving the room. She didn't realize four hours had passed since he left. Jane pushed the button for some medication to take care of her pain. The nurse gave her Demerol and Jane was soon asleep.

Jane woke up to see a nurse pulling open the shades of her room. The sunlight seemed blinding to her. She lifted her arm to cover her eyes and noticed the I.V. in her arm. The she heard a man's voice. She turned to look at the man in her room and then noticed a nurse was there as well.

"Where do you want this?" The man asked the nurse. Jane looked at the man then she flashed back and saw the face of her rapist. When she looked at the man his face was exactly that of her rapist. Jane felt as if she were still going through the rape. She started to scream uncontrollably. She was overwhelmed with fear. She continued to scream feeling the pain in her jaw and remembering the ugly incident.

She heard a nurse yell for help and a doctor. Two orderlies entered the room and restrained Jane while she was given a sedative. She continued to struggle against the men with all the energy she could find. She could only see the face of her rapist and so she fought the orderlies. The orderlies held her down for quite some time while a nurse put four restrains on Jane. The nurse was quite surprised to see the strength and energy Jane still had when she felt Jane should have felt the effects of the drug already. Suddenly Jane heard, "JANE! JANE! It's all right. You are safe Jane. It's all right." The voice was that of a woman and a familiar voice. She stopped struggling although she could not stop crying. She had no memory of how she became so agitated. She felt extremely confused. She saw Dr. Leary standing beside her and tried to grab her arm to pull Dr. Leary to her. "Jane, what is it? What did you see?"

"He was here. I saw him. That man, he was here! He's going to rape me again, I know it!" Jane wrote quickly on her pad of paper.

"Jane, that man was an orderly. He was not the man who attacked you. You are safe here."

"But he told me he'd find me and kill me if I said anything to anybody. How do you know it's not him?" Jane said, sobbing almost uncontrollably.

"Jane, he's an orderly who has worked here for years," Dr. Leary replied.

"But he looks so much like the guy," Jane replied now more coherently.

"Jane, you and I will be talking a lot about what happened to you. I will try to help you through this and get you back into good shape as quickly as possible. However, the police are here and need to ask you some questions. I've instructed them that they must be brief. I don't think you are in any condition yet to answer such questions. The police have been very persistent. Do you feel up to it? I can keep them out if you're not." Dr. Leary asked.

"You said you were coming back to see me last night. Where were you?" Jane asked. This was the last question Dr. Leary expected of Jane.

"I did stop by Jane but you were fast asleep. If the police ask about any details that become too painful, you don't have to tell them, tell me. I'll tell them they cannot ask any more questions after they've been here a short time. I'll be here when they are. As your therapist they must allow me here and respect my demands." Jane smiled at Dr. Leary.

"What police?" Jane asked, her voice slurred.

Dr. Leary stepped outside Jane's door and told the police that Jane had fallen asleep again and was in no condition to talk yet. She advised them to return in the morning. They groused a little but left almost immediately. Dr. Leary then walked directly to the head nurse. She did not allow the nurse a second to say a thing. "Mrs. Coolidge is very disoriented. You know she is a rape victim and I expected she'll be agitated for the time she is here. I know you're trained in this so please be careful with her." Before the woman could answer Dr. Leary continued. "Another thing, you make absolutely certain that your shift and all other shifts understand this Mrs." She paused and looked at the nurse's nametag. "Mrs. Costello. Do you understand?" Dr. Leary had been very terse with the nurse and sheepishly the nurse responded yes with a nod of her head.

The police were waiting patiently outside Jane's door when Dr. Leary arrived at Jane's room the next day. She asked them to wait a second to see if Jane could answer questions. She returned a minute later and took the police into Jane's room. Jane never believed there could be so many questions about anything. Their questions were all so very personal. The fact that a female police officer was present was of no relief to her. The police questioned her for almost an hour before Dr. Leary ushered them out when Jane indicated the pain in her jaw was too great. The next day the police returned again and again questioned her for almost an hour. Afterward they asked her doctors about forensic tests when she was brought in and other information they would need in identifying the culprit. Dr. Leary advised them that a complete rape kit had been done with pictures as well. The hospital had already done a positive test of sperm and had labeled it. Jane's description gave them a good picture of her assailant. Some weeks later after Jane had been released from the hospital the police admitted they did not have a suspect at that point. Jane's frustration quickly rose high. Jane restrained herself.




The Sands of Time



This story and or any portion of this story may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copy write owner, except for the brief quotations used in a review. 

This is a work of fiction, names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events or locals is entirely coincidental. I used some of the works in the book Fire Starter to base the first two chapters on, after that it was all my work. 

Many thanks to my two fine editors Barney R, and John M for making this story flow better with less spelling mistakes. 

Copy Right 2016 Red Tempest 

The Sands of Time 

By Red Tempest 

Chapter One 

This takes place on the planet Surnova during the end of their dinosaur period. The humans here evolved faster than did their counterparts on Earth 

Hi, my name is Red Hawk. That was the first bird my dad saw when I was born, hence the name. I am the chief spear maker for our tribe. I have been since my dad was killed by the bite of a poisonous snake. I started learning the trade when I was four years old, that was thirteen summers ago. The chief spear maker title has been in our family for as long as I have known. My Dad was, so was my grandfather and so was his father. 

There was a lot to know about spear making. I needed to know how to pick the right stones to chip into a spear head. I had to make sure and get the right shaft. Each hunter in our tribe takes a different type of spear shaft. Wolfgard our chief takes the heaviest and Stumpy takes the lightest shaft. I needed to have plenty of inventory, to take care of each hunter. 

Then there was the ritual, where I captured a bird and gave the chant and released the bird. If the bird flies straight, then so will the spear. I had to make sure and pick the right bird, because each bird will fly in different patterns. 

Usually when they go out to hunt, I stay back and help protect the women and elderly. The fire starter and the shaman also stay back with me. If we are planning to stay in an area for a while, then the tents will spring up, if not we sleep under the stars. The tribe was ever moving in search of food. 

Usually once a year we head to the Great Meeting Grounds to mingle with other tribes. We trade with each other. Also the males of age look to take a mate. The females of age may be taken as a mate from another tribe. It was written in the tribe laws that are carried by the shaman, that we should not mate within the tribe. Nobody questions the tribal law. 

At the last Meeting Grounds gathering, I met up with an old spear maker. He gave me a throwing stick. 

He told me, "This stick has great magic in it. If I am worthy the stick would reveal the magic to me." 

I played with the stick, but for the life of me, I couldn't get it to work. The stick wouldn't show its magic to me. 

The tribe came to a great meadow. The were some giant bison grazing there. The hunters started a fire drive to trap the bison against the river. But one spot in the meadow was green and didn't burn like the rest of the meadow. The worst hunter Stumpy was there to try and block the bison escape. He failed when he stabbed at a big bull bison and his spear was just brushed off. The rest of the hunters tried to get there to help him, but they were too far away. 

I have been practice with the magic stick. I was beginning to get the hang of how it worked. I could throw a spear farther than Wolfgard could. The problem was controlling the throw. 

The hunters came back to the fire in the late afternoon. They were tired and hungry from chasing the giant bison. Just when they started to settle around the fire for the night, Wolfgard leaped to his feet with club in hand. A pack of wild dogs swept in to attack. The hunters went on the offence to protect the women. This was one of my few chances to use a spear or club without violating tribal laws. 

One of the dogs got past the hunters and reached the women. I ran back and attacked the dog with a crushing blow to its head, killing it. The damage was done, one of the women was injured. It was Sparrow, Wolfgard's daughter. The dog had mangled her thigh and it was bleeding. The shaman and women were working on her leg to stop the bleeding. 

We had food to last a few days. Dog meat was ok to eat, but did not give us the fuel and strength that bison meat does. The tribe rested for a few days. It gave me a chance to re-supply my shafts and stone tips. 

As usual the need for food caused the tribe to break camp and wander in search of food. The strong survive and the weak and injured perish. Wolfgard led the hunters, the women followed, and I brought up the rear with a few other men. The women folk tried to help Sparrow keep up with the hunters, but they were falling behind. 

The hunters stopped on top of a hill that overlooked the valley. In the meadow below was a woolly rhinoceros, a very dangerous animal with two deadly horns on its snout. The hunters approach the beast in a semicircle, pinning the rhino between them and the river. 

The grass was green and too low to use as a fire drive. 

The hunters were closing in on the rhino, when I got out my magic stick and heaved a spear at the rhino. The spear came off my stick wrong and just sort of wobbled towards the rhino, striking the beast. The enraged rhino charged the closet hunter which was Stumpy, goring him on his snout horns. 

Wolfgard whirled and shouted at me, "You have broken the tribal laws for the last time Spear Maker, now you are not part of us. I banish you from our tribe." 

The hunters grabbed all the extra spears and left me standing there. The women looked back at both me and Sparrow, as they followed the hunters. They knew that two lone humans didn't stand much of a chance without the tribe. 

I stood there stunned at what just happen. I knew we needed to get back to the old camp site. I hoped that there were some hot embers to make a fire. I had watched the fire maker many times make a fire and knew that he used dead wood. I headed back there as fast as I could go, but stopped suddenly. I noticed that Sparrow wasn't following me. 

I looked back and she was just standing still. I walked back to her and helped her walk back to the old camp site. When we got there, I started to blow on the ashes. I blew the ash off and got down to some hot embers. I then went into the woods looking for some dead wood. I got a couple of large branches and threw them on the fire. We both watched, but nothing happened. 

"Break some of the twigs off the branch and put them on the embers," Sparrow said. 

I followed her advice and soon I had a roaring fire going. Now I had a new problem, it was burning up the wood faster than I could get it. Soon I was throwing anything I could find, both dead and green wood. I notice that green burned slower than the dead wood. I went back into the woods and got a large supply of both types of wood. 

My next problem was getting us some food. I took out my magic stick and the two spears that I had with me and went hunting. I got lucky and the stick worked fine. I brought down a nice buck. On the way back I passed an over turned tree. I could hear some barking and growling. The roots had made some type of a den and there were two pups in there. I grabbed them and took them back to the camp with me. I figured to tie them up. When the time came and we were short of food, we would have these two pups to kill for food. 

We have been here for over two weeks and Sparrow's leg was healing to the point that she no longer limped. The two dogs have both grown, must weigh ten to fifteen pounds by now. I have modified my spears into large darts for my magic stick. I spent a lot of time working on this and our food supply was getting low. She brought me berry cakes for dinner. 

"Where is the meat?" I asked. 

"You haven't been hunting, we are all out," she replied. 

I untied the two dogs, planning to kill one of the dogs to for dinner. She darted in, and snatched it out of my hands and dashed off towards the rocks, with the other dog in hot pursuit of her. That pissed me off and I chased her in anger. She stumbled and I caught up to her and the dogs. She turned around and her eyes got wide with fear. I turned and looked back. 

There between us and the fire was a Sabre Tooth Tiger. 

I should have never let a predator get between us and the fire. The cat knew it had us trapped. I slowly worked Sparrow back towards the rocks, the cat slowly walked towards us. Suddenly the two dogs attacked the cat. While the cat was busy with the two dogs, we raced back to the fire with the cat chasing us. The cat had killed one dog and the other was nipping at its back legs. 

When we got to the fire and I grabbed my throwing stick and darts. When the cat came into range, I fired off a dart hitting it in the back. The cat reared up on his hind legs and I fired the next dart right into its throat. There was still a lot of fight in the cat, but the third dart into its side put the cat down. 

I skinned both the cat and the dead puppy and gave the meat and skins to Sparrow. I went over to my pile of wood, and get some more wood for the fire. When I got back, she had some of the cat meat cooking on the fire for our dinner. I gave the surviving male dog a nice choice piece of the cat meat. 

I had killed a few deer and now we had deer skins to lay on for sleeping mats, and the cat fur was a blanket. We lay next to each other on the deer skins. Sparrow was a year younger than me. She had brown hair and eyes, with a lithe body and budding breast. 

She rolled next to me and gave me a kiss. She looked at me with those soft brown eyes. 

"Red Hawk, please make love to me? I don't want to die, without knowing what it was like to have a man thrust his... his thingy into me," she asked me with a kiss. 

I have never been with a woman and had no idea on just what to do. We both had watched our elders have sex. Most of the time the woman just bends over and the guy puts it to her from the back side. Every so often a couple will have full sex, where the man will suck on the woman's boob, and finger her pussy. But that was usually done in the privacy of a tent. 

We both took our furs off and laid there next to each other. I leaned over and gave her a kiss, and squeezed her small breast. I pinched her nipple, which caused her to flinch. I rubbed and played with both of her boobs. Her little nipples stuck up straight and hard. 

"Suck on them," she urged me. 

I went down and sucked on both of her boobs and nipples. I could hear her breathing increase to a pant. Her hands pushed my head down on her boobs harder. I bite her nipple a little too hard and she yelped in surprised pain. 

I rolled her over on her stomach. She raised her behind up toward me. I rammed my cock into her and she gave a sharp scream. 

"Are you ok?" I asked her with some concern. 

"I think so, but just hold on for a little bit until I get used to you being inside of me," she said with tears running down her cheeks. 

She started to move and I started to thrust my cock back and forth inside of her. Soon we had a rhythm going and she started to moan. I could feel something funny start to happen to my cock. I gave a groan as I shot my load of cum deep into her pussy. 

Being a seventeen-year-old, my cock seemed to stay hard forever, I kept ramming it into her. I could feel her getting sloppy from the combination of our cum mixing together. Her pussy was tight and her muscles were gripping my cock with each thrust. Soon I felt that same feeling again and I shot another load deep inside of her. 

We rested for a while and then I remounted her from behind and rammed my cock deep inside of her again. I fucked long deep and fast. I could hear her moaning and groaning with her breathing coming in gasps. I again could feel that feeling in my cock, and I dumped my third load of the night deep into her pussy. 

Finally, I pulled out exhausted. We laid down on our deer skin to sleep, with her curled up next to me. 

In the morning, I was putting some wood on the fire. I heard her grunted a couple of times. I looked over at her and she had her lovely naked ass pointing at me and she was shaking it. I dropped my furs and walked over to her. I knelt down and put my cock into her pussy. She was dripping wet and I slid right in. I pounded away at her, with her gasping and grunting with each thrust. It wasn't long and that feeling came over me. I made another deposit of cum deep inside of her. We both collapsed panting from the exertion. 

After a while, it was time to move, the game was getting scarce. I have nine darts now in the holder she made for me from the dead puppy's hide. I knew what stones to use to start fires with and gather some of them. We loaded up what we could take and left. I had no idea where to go, so we started to trek off toward the north. 

After a few months of wandering, I approached a small group of men in their camp. I had left Sparrow and the dog back in the woods, while I checked this out. They were slavers, which attacked tribes to steal their women to sell to other tribes, or use as sex slaves. 

The slavers spotted me and chased me into the woods where I had Sparrow and the dog waiting. I entered the woods and I turned to make my stand. I took the first couple of slavers down fast with my darts. Now there were just two of them. They backed off until they could figure out what just hit them. 

I sent Sparrow out into the open to incite them. Which worked perfectly, when they saw her, they immediately charged forward and I dispatched the remaining two. 

I searched their bodies and took a hatchet and bone knife off the leader and hatchets off the other three. Their spears and clubs were junk next to mine. I grabbed my darts out of their bodies. We walked slowly into their camp. There we found two naked girls tied up. They told us how a large group of slavers raided their tribe camp and stole them away from their families. This happened while the hunters were away hunting for food. The group then split up, with these four escorting the girls back to their main camp. 

The oldest was called Robin, and her friend was called Fawn. Robin was just a year older than me, and Fawn was around Sparrow's age. They both had dark hair and brown eyes. Their bodies were similar to Sparrow's. 

I now had a problem on what to do with these two girls. I couldn't just leave them and they didn't know how to get back to their tribe. I could see no other choice but to ask them to join us, but that met two more mouths to feed. 

After hearing their story, I decided to head back to our first camp site. I knew when the slavers found this camp site, the dead men and the girls gone. They would be seeking revenge. It would be best if we were long gone by then. 

Chapter Two 

After hearing the girls story, I decided to head back to our first campsite. I knew when the slavers found this campsite. They would be seeking revenge. It would be best if we were long gone by then. 

I went around about way to try and confuse the trail. We back tracked a lot. Between the walking, finding food and shelter, there wasn't any time for Sparrow to copulate with me. We spent a lot of nights up in trees for shelter. The dog slept at the base of the tree. There wasn't much that was going to harm a full-grown dog. 

One night I heard the dog growl. I climbed down to the lowest limb and there challenging the dog was a dire wolf. The biggest of the wolf family, a large male can get five feet long and up to 175 pounds in weight. 

I leaped down to help the dog. I grabbed my club and spear, and attacked the wolf. Between the dog and myself, we took the wolf down. I hacked off the legs and handed them up to Sparrow. 

I cut off some more of the meat and handed it to the girls. We ate in the dark. The dog was below eating his share of the wolf. Hopefully the scavengers will clean this mess up. But if the slavers come this way, they will know that we were here. Because there was only a few predators' that can kill a full grown dire wolf and man was one of them. 

It took over a month to get back to our old campsite. When we got there I immediately set out to get some fire wood. With the girls help we dragged up a bunch of branches and logs. I got some kindling and soon the fire was going. 

Next it was time to go hunting. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of game that was here. I decided to make a map of my territory and divided it into quarters. I would hunt one quarter at a time. The dog got on the scent of a buck and it ran in front of me. I took it down with one dart and hauled the buck back to camp. 

The girls were busy making baskets and getting our water skins filled. We cleaned the deer and had a good meal. After dinner I went out and got some more wood. When it got dark, we rolled out our deer skin bedding. 

Sparrow stripped and snuggled up to me. She grunted a couple of times and shook her pretty ass at me. I was ready, as it had been a while. I plowed my cock deep inside of her. It didn't take me long and I shot a load of cum inside of her pussy. 

The other two girls watched us fuck and they both stripped their clothes off. They both bent over and shook their pretty asses at me and grunted. 

"Have you ever done this before?" I asked them. 

They both shook their heads yes. 

"The slavers did that to us almost every night," Fawn said. 

I moved over to Fawn and rubbed my cock over her pussy lips. She was wet and my cock slid right in. I pumped her for a while and she was moaning and groaning. 

"Ohhh!! that feels so good," she yelped. 

I lasted a lot longer this time, since I had dumped a load into Sparrow earlier. After a few minutes I could feel that funny feeling in my cock and I shot some ropes of cum deep into her pussy. 

"I need to rest for a while," I told Robin. 

She gave me a disappointed look. 

I laid down and went right to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up and put some more wood on the fire. 

Robin was awake and she crawled over to me. I started to rub her breast, they were bigger than Sparrow's. Her nipples stuck out farther than Sparrow's did. I dropped my head down and started to suck her nipples. 

"Suck them harder," she cooed. 

She then rolled over and stuck her ass up in the air and I slammed my cock inside of her as far as it would go. I pound her hard until I made her scream out in delight. I filled her full of my hot cream. 

For the next few weeks I fucked the girls continuously. Each tried to outdo the other in fucking me. They were running me ragged, between fucking the three girls, getting enough wood for the fire and hunting for food on the table. 

The dog and I were out hunting north of our camp, when we came across a cave bear. This bear was huge close to 1000 lbs. Something spooked it and it started to lumber back to his cave. A pack of huge dire wolves swept in and attacked the bear. 

When the dust cleared the bear was still standing and the wolves left licking their wounds. At least a third of the pack laid there dead. There was no way that bear should be alive. A pack of dire wolves will kill anything. The bear had the perfect defense, protected on three sides by his cave. 

Watching this caused me to do some thinking on the way back to camp. The girls and I needed some place safe to stay. The cave looked like a good idea to me. I got back to camp and discussed this idea with the girls. 

We spent a week getting prepared to attack the bear. When the wind became right, I put the plan into effect. I had the dog attack the bear and chase it back into its cave, the girls and I hauled up branches, grass, and muck grass. Soon I had a fire going, thick with a heavy yellow smoke, that the wind was blowing right into the cave. 




The Sands of Time



It wasn't long and the bear came charging out with its hair standing up on ends, making it look twice its size. I was depending on the fire to keep the bear at bay. I fired the first dart and it buried deep into the bear's chest. 

The bear charged me and I dashed back into the smoking fire, hoping this worked. It did, the bear stopped short of the fire. The dog kept attacking the bear, keeping away from the bear's lethal paws. 

I fired the next dart and struck the bear on the side of his neck. I could see blood spurting out from that wound. The bear began to act really odd. The third dart I threw, buried deep into the bears side. 

The bear stumbled and went down. He got back up and lumbered off toward the end of the clearing. The dog and I chased the bear. I knew the bear wouldn't last long and it was a valuable resource of meat and hide. The dog over took the bear and kept circling and barking at it. I arrived and put one more dart deep in its chest. The bear toppled over dead. 

I quickly built a couple of fires around the dead bear to protect it from scavengers. I raced back to the girls. They were busy cleaning out the cave. I got there and started to build a fire in the middle of the cave. The cave filled up with smoke and we dashed out coughing. This wasn't something that I figure on. Now how was I going to get rid of the smoke? I ran back in and knocked the fire apart, letting the smoke disperse. 

I moved the fire out front closer to the mouth of the cave. I gathered the girls up and we headed back to the dead bear. I skinned the bear and we hauled the meat back to the cave. We put it on a shelf in the back. There was a lot of smoke around the meat, and I hoped it didn't hurt the meat in anyway. 

We went back to the old camp and gathered up our supplies. We filled the water skins full. Then we went back to our new home. The one drawback to the cave, was the lack of water nearby. 

My whole life I lived and slept under the sun and stars. I wasn't sure if I could handle living in a cave. I did this for the girls. The girls had all stopped their once a month moon bleeding. I didn't know what that meant, but in a short time I would find out. 

Sparrow and the girls were busy digging at the ceiling of the cave. I didn't ask what they were doing. Women were always doing busy work. In a short time, they dragged in some rocks to stand on and got longer sticks to dig with. I came back from hunting one day and the fire out front was gone. I dropped the buck and rushed to the cave. There in the middle of the cave the fire was burning and the smoke was going out through the hole they had dug in the ceiling. There was always a pall of smoke over the ledge where the meat was stored. 

I had it made; three girls to fuck, a cave to stay in, plenty of food and water. Who could ask for more? Little did I know that soon things would change! 

The dog and I were hunting out toward the eastern edge of our territory. The dog started to growl in his chest. I looked in the direction the dog was looking and out in the distance toward some trees. A rabbit was standing there for a second and when it was struck by a grass serpent. The rabbit ran a few steps and stopped, and dropped over. I knew about those grass serpents, one bite will kill you, as it did to my dad. 

The dog and I proceeded with caution, even though I knew just where the serpent was. It was coiled by the rabbit, staring intently at the dog, that was sniffing it from a distant. Suddenly the snake struck at the dog, but fell way short, because the dog had already jumped back out of the way. I picked up a large rock and smashed the snake's spine with it. The snake twisted and turned in a death dance. 

I grabbed a couple of darts and opened the snake's mouth with them. The snake in a death jerk clamped down on them, coating them with a clear liquid. Not paying any mind to the liquid, I was still not able to figure out just how the snake killed. We left the snake, it was food you eat only if nothing else was available. 

The dog and I headed back to the camp. Along the way the dog chased up a nice buck. I grabbed one of the darts that had the snake liquid on it and threw it at the deer. At the last second a gust of wind pushed my shot high and the dart just grazed the back of the deer. The deer ran about ten steps, and reared up on its hind legs, and toppled over. 

I rushed over to the deer and in my excitement I finally understood the serpent's power. It was the liquid in its teeth that kills when the serpent bites its prey. I hoisted the deer on my shoulders, I filed that knowledge in the back of my mind for further study. 

The next day the dog and I headed out in the northwestern direction of our territory. The dog started to have a low growl in his chest. I looked out toward the west, and just coming over a knoll was a group of men. It sure looked like the slavers had found us. It had taken them along time to unwind the trail that I left them. 

I turned to go back to the cave, setting up numerous false and double false trails. I went through the river and climbed trees. I swung to the next tree using a vine. Finally, after a number of hours I arrived at the cave. 

"It looked like the slavers had found us. I laid some false trails, but that won't stop them for very long," I told the girls. 

"We will need more food and water," I said. 

The dog and I tried to hunt, but we found nothing. 

We grabbed the water basket and filled it up, and our couple of water skins. The girls picked a bunch of berries and other fruit. We got back to the cave with the berries and water. Next we needed more wood for the fire. All four of us dragged up branches and logs to keep us in fire wood. 

Now comes the hard part, waiting. The cave was the best place to make our stand. It was obvious they are determined to find us, considering the amount of time they spent tracking us. 

It was late in the afternoon, by the time they entered the far end of the clearing. I stood in the mouth of the cave waiting for them. The leader saw me and started to scream and holler as loud as he could, he pointed at us in the cave. The rest joined in. I counted fifteen of them out there. They kept the screaming and jumping trying to scare me. Then they started to charge in my direction. 

I waited, I had practiced this many times. I knew just how far I could throw a dart from here. When they got into range, I let a dart fly. True to aim I struck a warrior in the chest, taking him out of the fight. I grabbed another dart and killed another warrior with it. They stopped and retreated, I killed one more before they got out of range. The leader dashed up toward me and I threw a dart at him but he ran back out of range. They kept doing that, but I resolved not to waste darts on those types of moves. 

It got close to dark and they made camp at the other end of the clearing. A camp fire sprung up, and two slavers went into the woods to hunt for food. They came back with a deer for dinner. 

I left the dog out front to guard, and I went back into the cave. Sparrow brought me a piece of meat. I figured it to be rancid, but it tasted good with a smoky taste. Looking up at the meat, it's stored on the shelf with a haze of smoke around it at all times. 

The smoke must do something to the meat to keep it from spoiling. 

I slept sporadically getting up often to check things out. I could hear the cough of the Sabre Tooth Tiger as it ate the remains of the three slavers that I killed. In the morning, I walked to the front of the cave, I could see the leader studying me and the cave. I counted and there were nine guys in camp, three are dead, that means three guys missing. I could hear some digging. They were above us, trying to dig through the smoke hole. All day they were up there digging in different spots. They created a lot of dust in the cave, making it hard for us to breathe. 

When it got dark they went back to their camp. I watched as the two that went hunting, came back empty handed. It would be a hungry camp tonight. The next day they were back at it, digging on the roof. Then the unthinkable happen. A rock dislodged from the ceiling and struck the water basket, knocking it over spilling all of our precious water. We all sprang towards the basket, but too late. This was something our enemy must not learn of. It would change their strategy and they could just wait us out until we went mad from lack of water and rushed out of the cave. What water was left in skins would last maybe a day or two. 

We tried to conserve what little water was in the skins, but all day long they dug above us, creating plenty of dust, choking us and making us thirstier. I paced back and forth, trying to decide on just what to do. To go out at night, it was just asking for trouble with all the predators out there. A daytime run would be hard with the slavers watching our every move. 

It was dark out and I told Sparrow to hold the dog. I was going to make a run and get us some water. I grabbed the water basket and the empty water skins and left. I walked quietly by the sleeping slaver's camp. I got to the water hole without any trouble so far. I filled up the skins and then the basket, but I was careless and forgot that the water would gurgle as it goes into the basket. 

The slavers heard that noise and their camp was awake. I grabbed the half full basket and crouched down and coughed like Sabre Tooth Tiger. They weren't buying it and started to charge toward me. I raced in a straight line to the cave, but they were between me and the cave. 

Suddenly the snarl of the real Sabre Tooth Tiger, and one of the slavers screamed when the tiger attacked him. The rest quickly scrambled back to the safety of their fire. The tiger showed up just in time and I made it to the cave. Now we had enough water, I hoped. 

Later the next morning, I was walking through the cave. I stumbled over a drying stick stretching sinew. I disengaged it from my foot. It slipped from my hand with a snap against my foot. Something about that action caught my eye. 

I grabbed it and pulled it back a few times making the sinew snap. I drew it back further and broke the stick. The stick was too small. I bounded over to my stock pile of shafts, and found one that was green. I looped the sinew around both ends and pulled it back. The sinew snapped against my cheek, stinging it. 

"Twist three of them together," Sparrow said, to as she entwined them together and handed it to me. 

I bent the shaft and looped the sinew over both ends. I pulled the sinew back and released it. It hummed a pretty tune. I fitted a dart in and shot it against the wall. After a trial and error period, I made some adjustments to both the bow and darts. I finally got it right and could hit the target time and time again. 

I figure I had one chance at this, it was early morning, and they all were in the camp eating. The leader was between their camp and my cave studying the situation, talking with one of his men. I grabbed the dart with the serpent juice on it. I walked out of the cave and took aim at the leader of the slaver's group. I checked the wind and distance and let it fly. It struck him on the right shoulder. He leaped up and down in a pure rage. Then he staggered a few steps and fell over dead. The rest of the slavers fled the area in terror. 

It was a few months later and I had gone through many different types of bows. I remade my darts into arrows. Now I have a pouch that carries fifteen arrows. I have no need of the serpent juice, as the arrows do the job just fine. 

Today my main job was to escort the girls down to the spring to tar some baskets and get some water. All three of them are supporting large bellies now. Suddenly the dog growled and I looked up to see a group of people approaching us. 

It was Wolfgard, the shaman, four women, and four children (two boys and two girls ages around 12-13). 

"Stop what do you want from us?" I shouted at them in anger. 

"We seek food and water," Wolfgard croaked back at me. 

"From us, what gives you the right to expect that," I laughed. 

"It was my biggest mistake to banish you from the tribe," Wolfgard replied. 

"We ran out of spears and tried to steal some from a different tribe. We suffered a serious defeat and half of our hunters were killed," he said. 

"They are our people and he is my father," Sparrow said to me with tears in her eyes. 

I thought about what she said to me and I looked them over. They were nothing but skin and bones. 

"All right we will help you out," I said. 

Chapter Three 

"What is this wild dog and those camels doing here?" Wolfgard asked. 

"The dog is a valuable member of our clan and I will show you later on just what the dog can do," I responded. 

"The camels I captured a summer ago when their mother died. I was going to kill them for food, but then thought about the dog. I decided try and tame them. Now instead of us carrying our possessions, we can pack them on the camels," I told him. 

I made a netting out of some vines and hemp. I took the netting and fit it over the camel's back. We then can attach baskets and other containers to the netting. That way the camels can haul them for us. 

The girls had finished with their baskets and loaded them on the backs of the two camels. We all went back to the cave. 

"What is this?" the shaman asked in a shrill voice. 

"This happens to be our home, I killed the bear that was in this cave," I informed them all. 

"There was plenty of space for the women and children inside the cave. If you don't want to sleep in the cave, then you can sleep at the front entrance." I said to them. 

The girls took the women folk and the children into the cave to show them around. Both Wolfgard and the shaman looked a little dubious at the cave. 

I took Wolfgard with me and left the shaman there to figure things out for himself. I showed Wolfgard my bow and arrows. I told him all that has happen to us since the tribe banished both Sparrow and me. 

We had extra mouths to feed, so I sent the dog off to locate some game. Shortly he chased a nice buck by us and I dropped it with one shot from the bow. I shot the deer at a distance that Wolfgard could only dream of. I just proved how deadly the bow and arrows can be. He was amazed by what I had done so far. 

"When we get back to the cave, I will make you a nice bow," I said to him. I knew he was an expert with the spear, so I figured it would not take him long to master the bow. 

We got back to the cave and the shaman was there waiting for us. 

"We need to rebuild the tribe and I have some ideas on how to do this," he informed both of us. 

"The two young girls are just about ready to come into breeding age and the four women are still able to bear children. Wolfgard and I will breed with the four women. We will wait a summer or two to let the young girls get older before breeding with them. You will maintain breeding with your three women folks. After the passing of many summers the tribe should begin expanding and revive," he stated. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++ 

The passing of time has a habit of doing it faster than anyone in the tribe could seem to grasp. The next fifteen years seem to come fast for the tribe. The tribe had entered a period of tranquility, staying in the meadow where the cave was. We managed our resources and stayed out of the way of trouble. 

In those fifteen years the women gave birth to eighty children of whom sixty-five survived, thirty-five boys, and thirty girls. These children would be the building blocks to strengthen our tribe. 

Wolfgard, myself and the ten oldest boys (12-15 age group), made up the first group of hunters. All the boys when they reached the age of ten, were taught how to use a bow and spear to hunt with, and a club and knife for close quarter combat. At the age of twelve, the boy would go out for their first hunt. 

The shaman was teaching the boy that came with them and one of his son's about tribal customs and laws. They were to carry on when he died. I had taught all the boys ten and older the basic survival rites: how to make a fire, how to trap animals for food, how to hunt, and how to build temporary shelter. The girls were taught how to make fire and shelter also. 

Wolfgard and the shaman both were starting to show their age. They both wished to make one more journey to the Great Meeting Grounds. We haven't been there since a few years before my ouster from the tribe. I agreed that we should go. Both Wolfgard and the shaman knew how to get there. Once a year, when summer ends and fall starts the tribe's gather to meet at the Great Meeting Ground. 

"It was time to make the trek to the Great Meeting Grounds," the shaman informed me one day. 

"It will take over one turning of the full moon to get there," he told me. 

We closed the cave up to keep unwanted guests out. Loaded up the two camels with the goods we want to take with us, gathered up the children, and went west toward the Great Meeting Grounds. 

Sparrow had just given birth to our seventh child, a girl, seven weeks ago. She had produced seven children, five boys, and two girls. War Hawk is my oldest boy at age 15. Fawn and Robin have produced twelve children between them, five boys, and seven girls, and they were both with child now. Tribal custom states that you should wait at least two full moons, before having sexual intercourse with your mate. 

Sparrow was making gestures that she wanted sex, even though she had just given birth over seven weeks ago. Over the years, our sex life had improved since the first time she stuck her ass up in the air, and I jammed my cock into her pussy as deep as I could. We both like to try different things that made us feel good in our sexual experience. 

It was our first night of our journey, and Sparrow was hungry for some sex. We moved away from the other members of the tribe and stripped off our furs. She moved up close to me and we started to kiss. Our mouth's parted and our tongues gently touched each other. The passion grew as our kisses became fiercer. I was pinching her nipples and squeezing her boobs. She was moaning into my mouth. 

I moved my head down and started to suck on her breast. I could taste the warm liquid, as her milk leaked through her nipple into my mouth. I continued to suck her tit, drinking her milk, until she pushed me away. 

"Save some for the baby," she gasped at me. 

I moved her around and entered her from the rear. Her pussy was dripping wet. I know we were supposed to wait, our desire for each other over took us. We fucked like two long lost lovers. 

We laid there panting from our great stimulating sex. I looked up and both Fawn and Robin were there watching us. I smiled at my three girls, we all cuddled up next to each other and we fell into a restful sleep. 

Although the tribe was young, the bow helped to even the odds. With Wolfgard, the shaman, and myself to teach these youngsters, I am sure that our tribe will survive, and thrive. 

We were getting close to the Great Meeting Grounds. We began to encounter other tribes, who were going in the same direction. Some of the tribes Wolfgard knew and others were strange to us. There was an unspoken universal peace between tribes as they marched toward the Great Meeting Ground. 

We camped for the night and spent the next day hunting to re-supply our food. We set up a smoke tent to cure the meat. There was a nice spring nearby to fill our water containers. Once we had enough provisions to last for a couple of weeks, we left. We were only a day or so away. 

We came through a small set of hills and a there in front of us spread out in a huge valley was the Great Meeting Ground. We could see that many tribes were there already. We cleared the hills and found a decent spot to set up camp. 




The Sands of Time



I had the bows and arrows hidden within our supplies. The men all just carried spears and clubs, like the rest of the other tribes. I didn't want to tip our hand that we had such different weapons from the others. I feared that some would try and steal them from us. Also sometimes something new and different, could cause an all-out war between tribes. I didn't want them all to gang up on us and wipe our tribe out. 

I left War Hawk in charge. Wolfgard and I went to meet with some of the other chieftains. The shaman and his two assistants went to meet with other shaman's. That was the main purpose of the meetings, to renew old acquaintances and make new ones. To trade ideas and stories (I kept quiet about the bows) with each tribe you meet with. 

There were all kinds of events to test the strength of your tribe's best warrior. This was also the time when young men go from tribe to tribe looking to take a mate. We had twelve children between the ages of 14-15; five boys and seven girls. The boys each took a mate, and we lost five of the girls to other tribes. 

The women folk did a lot of trading between the different tribes. Our use of the camels simply amazed the other tribes. Unfortunately, the dog died a few years ago and I hadn't been able to replace him yet. 

We spent a week with the other tribes at the Great Meeting Ground. We were having a good time. One of the big problems at this event, was raiders. They pick their spots and attack tribes that were unprepared, stealing their women and goods. Wolfgard made sure to post guards at all times, so we weren't caught unprepared. 

It had been a great week and I had lots of fun meeting with many new chief's and their tribes. It was about time for the great chieftain party, which signaled the end of this year's Great Meeting Ground event. In the middle of the party, a loud cry went up, and we were under attack. 

Chapter Four 

In the middle of the party, a loud cry went up and we were under attack. All the chieftains ran back toward their tribes. Wolfgard and I raced back toward our tribe. The only weapons we had on us were our knives. We came upon a couple of raiders attacking some women folk of another tribe. We made quick work of them as we slit their throats. 

We got back to our tribe and I was so proud. War Hawk had the bows out and the hunters in formation with their helpers behind them handing out arrows. Looking out in front of them, there was a pile of dead raiders. Wolfgard and I grabbed our bows. We helped the young hunters defend our tribe. The raiders attacking our side of the camp soon fled in full retreat, we were killing them one by one, with the help of our bows. 

"Have a few hunters go out and retrieve the arrows, and kill those raiders still alive. Wolfgard and I are going to go help some of the other tribes," I told War Hawk. 

"You did a great job here," I praised him. 

"Let's take two of those special spears that were dipped in the snake liquid," I said to Wolfgard. 

We grabbed the spears and our clubs. We left to help the other tribes. I didn't want to expose our bows to the whole group if I could help it. We were the only tribe on the south side of the camp, and I hoped that the rest of the tribes were too busy protecting themselves to notice us using the bows. 

The fighting was the heaviest on the north-west side of the camp, which was where we went. The first raider I saw had a spear and shield. I used the butt of my spear to knock the shield aside, and raked his neck with the tip of my spear. Within a few seconds he dropped his weapons clutching his neck, he dropped over dead. I grabbed his shield and looked for another raider to attack. 

The fighting was fierce, with many dead on both sides. I noticed a few raiders standing in the back watching the battles. They were issuing commands. I whistled at Wolfgard and point out toward them. We sneaked around the backside of them. 

"I will take the one on the right. You take the one on the left," I whispered to him. 

We attacked and threw our spears at them, hoping to just make contact and let the snake magic work for us. Both spears struck the leaders, and they jumped up and down in anger. Within a couple of seconds, the snake magic worked, and they both laid there dead. 

When the two leaders toppled over in a strange unexplainable death, the warriors surrounding them fled in terror. We grabbed our spears and stripped the two dead leaders of anything of value. With the loss of their leaders, the tribes were able to drive the raiders out of the valley. 

It was a great victory against the raiders/slavers, they suffered a devastating loss. Hopefully this will bring the tribes some peace for a while. With most battles, the victors reap the spoils and they stripped the bodies of the dead, keeping the valuables. 

There were some major losses for the tribes, some of the chieftains were killed or seriously injured. We were lucky that Wolfgard drilled us to be ready, and just what to do if there was an attack. War Hawk reacted quickly in getting our hunters ready and in the proper positions. We suffered no losses, very few injuries, mainly to Wolfgard and me. We both sported many cuts and bruises. 

Wolfgard and I met with War Hawk to set up our strategy. We directed him to move the dead bodies away from our camp. Also, to set up a couple of fires on the south side of the camp. I then surrendered myself to Sparrow and the girls. 

They took me back to our tent and washed my wounds clean, and put some awful smelling sap over my cuts. I laid down on my sleeping skin. I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly. I slept 

the whole night away, waking up just before first light. Damn, I was stiff and sore. I'm getting too old for this shit. Fighting is a young man's job. 

I got up and hobbled out to talk with War Hawk. He filled me in on the quiet night. 

"There were no signs of any raiders, and the only noises were the predators eating the bodies," he informed me. 

"You did a great job and I am very proud of you. Go get yourself some food and some sleep. I will take over for you now," I told him with pride. 

A short time later Wolfgard joined me and we discussed the attack last night. We both decide that even though War Hawk did a suburb job, one of us should be here at all times, until we broke camp. 

"I will stay here, why don't you go check with the other tribes, and see what was going on," I told him. He nodded his head in agreement and left. 

Thankfully we had plenty of food and water and just had to forage the forest for firewood. On our trips into the woods, I did some scouting around for signs of the raiders, but I couldn't find any. It appeared that they had left the area licking their wounds. 

Wolfgard arrived back in camp around the mid-day meal time. War Hawk was up at this time. The three of us sat down to eat our meal and discuss what action to take next. 

"Most of the tribes plan to leave at first light tomorrow," Wolfgard informed us. 

"That sounded good to me, we will inform our tribe to prepare to move out at first light," I said. 

Both Wolfgard and War Hawk nodded their heads in agreement with me. 

The seven days we spent at the Great Meeting Grounds was fun. I made some new friends and picked up a few useful ideas. Most tribes didn't seem to be any more advanced than we were. None of them had bows, or weapons with the snake magic on them. Other than the raider attack, the rest of the time was productive. 

At first light we broke camp and said our goodbyes to the other tribes that were close to us. We started our journey back to the cave. Once away from the Great Meeting Ground, I had the hunters get their bows back out. I didn't want to be caught with our pants down, if a band of raiders attacked us. 

The journey home was uneventful, taking just less than two full moons of travel to get home. The cave and large meadow was just as we left it. Within a month of getting home both Robin and Fawn gave birth; Robin to a girl and Fawn to a boy. 

That made twenty-one children that I have produced with the three girls. 

It was decided that the tribe was getting too large for this valley to hold and support all of us. Wolfgard and myself and a half dozen hunters are going to head north in search of a new home for the tribe. I left War Hawk in charge while we were gone. 

After five days of following the river and marching through some thick forest, we came upon a large clearing. A tribe was there defending its self from attack. A group of raiders were intent on destroying the tribe. 

I looked over to Wolfgard and he nodded back at me, in agreement that we must help this tribe. They camped near us at the Great Meeting Ground. I motioned to the hunters to spread out. 

"Pass the word do not fire until I do," I said. 

When everyone was in position, I gave the word to fire and arrows rained out onto the raiders. After a short battle we had killed all the raiders. We walked into the camp to assess the damages. Most of their men were dead. The chieftain, a few men, and some of older boys did survive, as well as a lot of their women and children. 

The chieftain and Wolfgard knew each other 

"I have no idea on what to do now; I think our tribe is finished. We need your help," he said to Wolfgard. 

"We need to help this tribe, or they won't survive. I'll take them back to our main camp, you go ahead and look for a new place for us to live," Wolfgard said to me. 

I nodded my head in agreement. 

"There is a large valley toward the northwest that you might check out. I was there once many summers ago. It's about a fifteen-day walk from here to get there," the chieftain told me. 

Wolfgard left with the other tribe, heading back to our campsite by the cave. The hunters and I went northwest to check out the valley. 

The river was off to our west, as we continued to march through the clearing on the edge of the forest. I hope to find that valley soon. The clearing ended and we reentered the forest. I was in the lead, when we exited the forest. We walked to the top edge of a very high cliff. Looking down I could see this huge valley with a couple of rivers running through it. 

"Spread out and observe the valley. Look for any signs of other tribes that may be living there," I told the hunters. 

We spent the rest of this day, and the better part of following day watching the valley. I could see lots of game, but no smoke or any other signs that the valley might be occupied. 

We backtracked into the forest and went to the west to find the river. We followed the river toward the valley. It ended with a huge waterfall over the cliffs into the valley below. It reformed and flowed north into the middle of the valley, where it joined with a river flowing east to west. 

Getting down there from here would be a challenge. The hunters and I probably could make it, but getting the whole tribe down this way won't work. We followed the cliffs around, until the cliffs started to gently slope downward. We were able to get down and enter the valley. It was a lush valley with plenty of food. It looked like there were some caves in the face of the cliffs that needed to be checked out. 

We spent two days checking the whole valley out. The lower caves in the cliffs were accessible, and appeared to be uninhabited. Later on we would figure a way to reach the upper caves. There were a few ponds and springs in the valley and also the rivers. 

"This place will do. Let's head back and get the others and make the move here," I said as I looked at the hunters. 

They nodded in agreement. 

We followed the river part way back to camp. It took us twenty days to make the trip back. That night we held a big meeting with both tribes. 

"This valley will work out just right for us. There was plenty of room, lots of water, food and game. There are caves in the cliffs and room to pitch our tents. I think that this will be the right move for us to make to go there," I explained this to both tribes. 

There were many conferences and lots of discussions, but in the end it was agreed by all to make the move to the valley. 

"What about us?" the chieftain of the other tribe asked to Wolfgard. 

"You can come with us and join us there in the valley, or you can stay here. It was your choice," Wolfgard said to him. 

"We can't protect ourselves now. We need your help. We'll join your tribe and make this move with you," he replied back to Wolfgard. Wolfgard looked at me and I nodded back to him, letting him know it was ok by me if they joined our tribe in this move. 

We packed things up and loaded food and water on the camels. It was a long trip to get there, taking almost two full moons. Finally, the day arrived when we entered the valley. All members of the tribe were amazed by how pretty the valley was. 

On my first trip here, I staked out which caves were going to mine and my family's. I got some starter wood and made a small fire in our cave, to see just where the smoke would go. It seemed to drift toward the back of the cave and then disappear in the back somewhere. 

Like the bear cave it left a curtain of smoke in the back of this cave. The girls got busy getting the two caves cleaned out and ready for us to move into. While they and the rest of the women were getting the caves ready, War Hawk lead a group of hunters on a hunting trip to re-supply our fresh meat. 

Wolfgard, the shaman, myself, and the other chieftain, sat down together. We discussed the merger of the other tribe with ours. Wolfgard let the other chieftain know that I was the chief of our tribe and what I said must be obeyed. They discussed numerous topics and everything was agreed upon by all of us. 

It was surprising just how long we were there discussing tribal procedures. It was getting close to dark when War Hawk and the hunters arrived back in camp with four nice deer. Some of the men were down at the river spearing fish. We were going to eat well tonight. 

The last six months had been busy, with going to the Great Meeting Ground, the battle with the raiders, the trek back home, and the move to this valley. I hadn't spent much time with my three girls. Sparrow was letting me know that it was time for them (meaning her, Robin and Fawn). The younger kids were in the next cave watched over by a couple of the older girls. 

Our sleeping skins were laid out and my three ladies were laying there naked, waiting for me. What can I say they all looked great? 

"Ok who is first?" I asked with a wolfish grin on my face. 

Both Fawn and Robin looked at Sparrow, who pointed to herself, indicating that she was to be first. 

I reached for Sparrow to rub her breast and pussy, but she was having none of that. She pushed me away and bent over shaking her lovely ass at me, and grunting a few times. That was her way of saying fuck me long, hard and deep, because I'm ready for you right now. 

I put both hands on the sides of her ass and held her firm, and I plowed my cock deep into her pussy, she was soaking wet inside there. I fucked her hard and with each thrust, she grunted loudly. I could feel her liquids start to drip off my sack. My cock started to throb with that good sensation feeling. I held her tight to my body. I had my cock buried up to my sack deep inside of her hot pussy. I fired my seed deep into her womb, while she howled in pleasure. 

We collapsed in a heap and I rolled off Sparrow panting for air. Both Robin and Fawn approached me, they started to fondle my cock, using a rabbit skin to clean the juices off of it. As soon as they got me hard again, Robin mounted me and guided my cock into her waiting pussy. She impaled herself on my cock, taking my shaft completely inside of her pussy. 

She paused for a couple seconds and then started to rock back and forth. Then she began to bounce up and down on my shaft. I could feel her liquids start to run off my cock and sack. I wasn't sure if I could empty another load so quickly. But Robin's hot pussy, got my shaft heated up and I could feel my sack tighten up. She was grunting and moaning as her pussy was locked tight to my cock and I started to pump my seed deep inside of her. 

She flopped down into my arms. I held her tightly as we both were exhausted from our efforts. She rolled off me and fell instantly asleep. Fawn cuddled up next to me on the other side. We all drifted off to sleep, I needed some time to recover. 

In the middle of the night, I needed to get up and relieve myself. I exited the cave and took a piss. I then walked the camp, checking on the night guards. We ran three shifts of guards, with all the older males taking a turn. They reported to me that all was quiet so far. I then returned back to the cave. 

Fawn was awake and waiting for me to return. I laid down next to her and we started to kiss. She used her tongue to probe my mouth. My hands were busy with her boobs; I softly squeezed and massaged them. My fingers worked on her nipples, I felt them get hard under my gentle rubbing and pinching. 

I moved down and started to suck on her boob and lick her nipples. My hand was softly caressing her other boob. 

She brought my head up for a passionate kiss. "I am ready for you right now," she moaned into my mouth. 

I moved over on top of Fawn, she spread her legs wide apart to give me better access to her waiting pussy. I slowly entered her wet hole and gently started to fuck her with long deep strokes. Soon we got a rhythm going, as I start to fuck her harder. She wrapped her legs and arms around me tightly, as her liquids flowed against my cock. 

"Oh Red Hawk that feels so good," She cooed into my ear. "Fill me with your seed." 

A couple of strong pumps and I unload my seed deep inside of her. We lay there gasping and panting, as both Robin and Sparrow were watching us fuck. 

Chapter Five 

The story was now being told by Red Hawk's son, War Hawk. 

I just lay to rest my father Red Hawk, and now I'm chief of the tribe. A few years ago a sickness attacked the tribe and many died including, Wolfgard, my mother Sparrow, and my Aunt Robin. The shaman also passed away before the sickness came. My Aunt Fawn was still alive, and helps me. 

I'm now training both of my son's, War Eagle, and Thunder Bird, on just how to be chief. I have four boys and five girls, from my three wives. The tribe was strong with more than 200 members now. It was a full time job getting enough food to feed all the tribe members. 

The tribe was sort of split into two segments. The original tribe my father started was mainly in the caves and on the North side of the river. The tribe that joined us after the raiders killed most of their men, was on the South side of the river, living mainly in tents. Some of our original tribe members had joined them. 

Sometimes I feel that since my father has died, there was a difference that I can't just seemed to understand, even though I'm chief of both tribes. Almost like two separate factions at work here. 

At least once a year, maybe more, a different tribe wanders by our encampment. It was my father's way to make them feel welcome. As per custom the young males would take a new wife. In return we lost our sisters, daughters, or female friends to the other tribe's young men. This exchange was good for the tribe, the new blood helped to produced healthier children. 

My father always said, a healthy tribe was a strong tribe and a strong tribe kept the enemies away. I missed him and his wisdom. Now the young tribe members, look to me for that leadership and wisdom. 

There had been an increase in talk about going back to the Great Meeting Ground. Since the attack by the raiders, on the Great Meeting Ground, fifteen years ago. The tribes now only meet every three years. We haven't been back since we came to this beautiful valley. The last tribe came through here four moons ago; they mentioned that they were going to the Great Meeting Ground this year. There was great pressure put on me to go, but we all couldn't go. 




The Sands of Time



After lots of discussion, it was decided by the tribal council, of which I am the leader, that 90 members of the tribe would go. Then it came down to who would go, and who would be staying. It was decided that the old and the young, and any woman with children would stay. Thunder Bird would be in charge, along with a group of hunters. 

We said our goodbyes, and loaded up the camels. We headed east toward the Great Meeting Ground. The journey would take more than a full moon to get there. We did the same thing as last time. We stopped a day short and loaded up with food and water. When we got close, I had the hunters put away their bows, and just be armed with clubs and spears. 

We camped in about the same spot, on the South end of the Great Meeting Ground. We did a couple of trial camp protection runs, just as Wolfgard did with me, about fifteen years ago. 

I left for a chieftain meeting and War Eagle was left in charge. I made my rounds to different tribes, I noticed a few had bows out, but all were a type of short bow, and very crude. Not one was as advanced as the ones we had. The arrows were also very crude compared to ours. I watched them shoot the bows at targets and they were lousy shots. Most arrows wobbled a lot in flight, because the arrow head was too large for the arrow. This caused the arrow to drop quickly when it lost speed. 

At the chieftain meeting, those chiefs' who had the bows were bragging about how good they were, and that they are more advanced than the rest of us. It was starting to make me gag. There was talk about games and contest with the bows to see who the best shot was. 

I was so tempted to run back to our camp, and get my bow. I would show them all, who was the best. But I could hear the words of my father ringing in my ears. He would preach patience and never give up the element of surprise. He would say that surprise was something that you just might need down the road. To give away that edge just might turn the tide against you. 

We had a good time at this meeting festival. I would spell War Eagle and give him a chance to meet other people. It was the custom of all the tribes that women were married off to different tribes. Yes, we lost some of our women and also we gained new family members. One of the big topics was the possibility of a very large raider tribe on the other side of the Spine of the World mountain range, way up toward the North. 

The festival lasted just over a week and the tribes broke up and headed back to their territories. Again it almost took us over a full new moon to get back home. Thunder Bird was there to greet us. 

"It was very quiet while you were gone, but we did have one small encounter with a group of what looked like raiders. They left when the hunters and I arrived at the east end of the valley," he reported to me. 

"I think that we need to start posting a couple of guards at both ends of the valley," I told him. 

I didn't like the sound of raiders scouting our location. 

"What we should do is construct six small blinds to hide our guards in, so they are out of sight. Do this at both ends of the valley, and they can rotate into different blinds, on different days." I said this to both War Eagle and Thunder Bird. 

They nodded in agreement. 

Work started on both ends of the valley, constructing different types of blinds for the guards to hide in. Also, I had the arrow makers start working on more arrows to double our supply. I had more bows and spears made for each hunter. This preparation kept the tribe busy for a while. 

I sent scouting parties out to check the area around us. On their return they would do some hunting to get us some fresh meat. The women were grinding up seeds to make a paste for tending to wounds. Other women were making paste type breads and other grain foods. They made more baskets and skin pouches to hold water. It seemed like we were preparing for a fight that may never come. But I just had this feeling in my gut that something wasn't right. 

After about four new moons of preparation and many hours of practice. Finally, our defenses were built. We dug many deep pits in different locations. The pits were then covered with branches to conceal the pits from view. Each pit floor is lined with sharp pointed stakes. We erected barricades of trees and boulders away from the camp toward the east. We had an area in front of the barricades cleared so they could not sneak up on us. The river on the south side of us helped to act as a barrier. 

A few days later a small worn out tribe came into the valley. They reported heavy fighting to the north as a very large group of raiders had attacked. We gave them some food and patched up their wounds. I gathered a dozen hunters and we went north to do some scouting. After a fast three-day march, we encountered the raiders. They were resting in a large valley. By looking at the size of their forces, there must be six to seven hundreds of them in the valley. 

We raced back to camp to prepare. I sent scout teams out to keep watch of the raiders and inform me of their location. The rest of the tribe started to prepare for battle. I felt that we were ready for anything. I could not have been more wrong. 

A few days later, Thunder Bird raced up to me and pointed to the top of the cliffs on the north side of our camp. There as far as I could see there were raiders' standing up there. I heard a scream and another one, and a third one. They had captured our scout team and threw them off the cliff. 

I called our tribe into battle action and recalled the advance guards from both directions. I figured it would take them about a day to get into position to attack us. I knew that they had bows; I just hoped they were not as good as ours. Their attack would probably come from the east, as it was very difficult to get to us from the west from atop of those cliffs. 

We had plenty of food and livestock. Camels and bison had been captured and put into a make shift enclosure. All the water containers were full and we had the rivers for water also. We had lots of firewood stacked in the caves to keep it dry. If they try a siege, we should be in good shape for a while. 

The raiders did attack from the East and we could see them in front of us. They were trying to light the valley on fire. The valley is very green and nothing seemed to burn very well, but the fires generated lots of smoke. 

Which I couldn't figure out, until I realized that they were trying to blind us with the smoke and sneak in through it. The smoke was one thing that can neutralize the bows. It was hard to shoot, if you can't see anything to shoot at. 

I had all the hunters fall back toward the center of camp, where the smoke wasn't as thick. The thick smoke took away some of our ability to defend ourselves. We could hear screams as some of the raiders fell into our pits. A short time later we could hear raiders, but we couldn't see them through the dense smoke in front of us. 

"They may try and shoot arrows at us, if so then get your shield up to protect yourselves from the..." I shouted at the hunters. 

The words were hardly out of my mouth and I could hear the singing of arrows in flight at us. 

"Shield's Shield's!!" I screamed as loud as I could. 

Even with the shields up, we still had a number of hunters go down with arrows stuck into them. 

"Form up and do not shoot until you see a target to shoot at," I hollered at the hunters. 

"Get those injured hunters out of here and attend to their wounds," I said to the women. 

Just then there was a loud scream and the raiders attacked. We fired volley after volley of arrows at them killing many. A few managed to get through and there was hand to hand combat then. We were holding our own so far. But what I didn't anticipate were the raiders scaling down the North cliff, using hemp ropes and vines. The cliff was covered with smoke, and we couldn't see them coming down. 

There wasn't a lot of them but they attacked us from the North side which was unprotected. Their attack caught me by surprise. Many of us died. I diverted some of my hunters to the North. The confusion gave the main force the diversion they needed to make a strong push. They were starting to overrun us. 

I took Thunder Bird aside and told him to take all the young hunters, women and the children. Get some supplies and escape to the West. We will try and hold them off. He disagreed with me, but in the end he did as I requested. He loaded up a some of the camels with supplies and they left. 

The fighting was fierce and we were outnumbered at least 3-1. Slowly they were beating us back. War Eagle and I were fighting back to back, when I heard him grunt in pain and he slid down the back of me. When I turned, two raiders shoved spears into my chest and I joined my son on the ground with our life force dripping out of us. As I was dying, I looked to the West and I could see no sign of Thunder Bird. I hoped he escaped. 

After War Eagle and I died, the rest of the tribe broke and tried to flee. The raiders chased them down and killed all the remaining members of the tribe. Our last hope of the tribe continuing, rested on the shoulders of Thunder Bird. 

Chapter Six 

The story was now being told by Thunder Bird. 

I left with twenty-five hunters, twenty-five women, and twenty-five of the older children. We took enough food and water to last us a couple of weeks. After that, we would have to forage for food and water. I led our tribe toward the west out of the valley. We then swung around to the southwest toward the river. After thirty days of walking we came to the valley where the tribe had first settled. A few of us tore down the rock wall my father had installed in the bear cave. The valley was lush, with plenty of game to hunt. 

We did our grieving while on the walk here, now it was time to put our grief aside and start to rebuild the tribe. We started by scouting our surrounding territory making sure it was safe. We hunted and planted a few crops like my father had taught us to do. 

Our new tribe we had one man who studied the ways of the shaman and one woman who had studied the uses of herbal medicine. 

It had been over a year now since the attack that killed my family and most of the other tribe members. It had been a real struggle at first, but slowly things started to work themselves out. We still run scouting parties to the north to make sure the raiders haven't followed our trail. 

When a strange tribe wanders into our territory, we check them out completely, before we make our presence known. Many times we would trade with those tribes, including exchanging women. A good source of information was by talking with the members of these various tribes. One tribe did tell us that the raiders had gone back North toward the mountains. 

Our tribe was growing stronger as the years went by. The last few years the tribe was starting to have new additions. The women were starting to give birth. We're training the older children how to hunt, and fish. How to survive by building a shelter and how to search for food. Also how to stay hidden when there seemed to be trouble. 

We taught them how to build bows and make arrows. We found some really good Ironwood to make new arrows. The wood from the Yew tree still seemed to make the best bows. I kept playing with the arrow heads, using different sizes of flint and even trying to use bone as a head. Trial and error method seemed to work the best, to find out which material would make the best arrow heads. 

We practiced with dummy arrows so we would not damage our good battle and hunting arrows. Most of the hunters were very accurate at 100 paces. Our best shooters could hit the target at more than 200 paces. We practiced daily and in various locations just to be prepared. 

Life appeared to be good for our tribe, we had food, water, shelter and nobody bothered us. Still something seemed wrong or was missing. I could not put my finger on this odd feeling, but it was there. 

I increased the patrols and the range that they covered. The patrols reported back that all was clear. There hadn't been any contact with other tribes, or raiders. I would go out with a patrol to the north, just to be sure. I didn't want a sneak attack to catch us off guard. But so far so good, with no contact with any of the raiders. 

A few months later a tribe came through our camp. They told us that this was the year, for the tribes to meet at the Great Meeting Ground. The location had been changed to an area a lot closer to us only about a ten-day walk from our camp. I needed to replace my wife who died of a fever six months ago. With a trip to the Great Meeting Ground and I could have my pick. 

When the time came, we packed up a couple of camels, and headed Southeast toward the new Great Meeting Ground. As in previous marches to the Great Meeting Ground, we stopped within a day of arrival and refilled our supplies, so we had plenty to eat and drink. The whole journey took ten days and we arrived along with a lot of the other tribes, close to the same time frame. 

This time we didn't hide our bows. After we pitched camp, I had the hunters practice protecting our camp. After an hour of drilling, I left for a meeting with all of the chief's. They all express sorrow about what the raiders did to our tribe, but glad that some of us made it out alive. The talk was of how the raiders were killing and capturing different tribes. 

"Why don't we put together a group of our best hunters? We go north and attack the raiders, wiping them out," I suggested to the other chiefs. 

It became deathly quiet, as they all studied me. 

"Who would lead this group?" One of the older chiefs asked. 

I looked back at him and just shrugged my shoulders. After all I was the youngest chief at this meeting. 

There was some major discussion about my idea, it seems that this has been talked about before, with no real conclusion ever came out of those discussions. They could never find anyone who would lead this group. Finally, after much discussion and finger pointing, 

"What about you?" The head of the chief council asked me. 

"I would have to have full control, no interfering or meddling by other chiefs or older warriors," 

I replied back to them. 

They all nodded their heads in agreement. After further discussion, it was decided that every tribe was to contribute ten hunters, and two camp workers. Wives would be allowed to go with their husband, but no children. They would be expected to help as camp workers. Finally, all the major details seemed to be worked out. We broke the meeting and headed back to our respective camps. 

When I got back to our camp, I called a meeting for all to attend and listen. I explained what was discussed at the chiefs meeting. A group of hunters would go north in search of the raiders, and the rest of the tribes would wait here for our return. All the hunters volunteered to join this group. I picked out ten hunters to go with me, and left my step-brother in charge until I returned. A couple of the wives volunteered to go as camp workers. 

After a couple of weeks of practicing with our weapons, the group was ready to head north. I had a hundred-twenty warriors and another twenty-five camp workers. I didn't realize what a major job it would be to feed everyone. I divided the warriors in groups of twenty to practice as a unit. There was a chief in charge of each group. 

One of the camp workers was Raven. She was the daughter of Lone Wolf. He was the head of the chief's council. She had been married once, but her husband was killed in a hunting accident. We seem to hit it off good right away. She was very pretty, with brown hair and eyes, and she seemed to be built better than most women in her tribe. She never had any children from her first marriage, and I had one boy from my first marriage. 

There are different laws in regards to couples who get married the first time, then those doing a second marriage. 

Late one night she came to my tent. She slipped off her fur clothing and crawled under the fur skin blanket with me. We kissed for a bit and I groped her breast and played with her nipples. She was squirming around in arousal. 

"It had been a long time for me, please stop fooling around and just stick your thing in me," she cooed at me softly. 

I moved to the back of her and she raised her ass up to me. I shoved my cock deep inside of her soaking wet pussy. She was tight and let out a sharp holler as I slammed my cock back and forth deep inside of her pussy. 

"OH, yes, that feels so good!" she yelped as I continued to fuck her furiously. 

I could feel her juices as they started to drip down my shaft, as I pounded away at her. Soon I got that good feeling in my cock, and I shot load after load of cum inside of her pussy. 

"I hope you make it a boy," she panted. 

"Is this your right time of the month?" I asked her 

She just nodded her head yes. 

After that night we were pretty much a couple and nobody thought any differently of it. She spent her free time with me in our tent. She was considered my wife, even though there was no formal ceremony to bind us together. 

The march north went smoother than I anticipated. We made really good time and could see the mountains in the distance get closer. I had scouting parties head out east, west and to the north. They were on the lookout for any raiders. They did come across a few tribes that never made it to the Great Meeting Place. They had been pretty much wiped out by the raiders. 

After a three-week march, we made camp in a clearing surrounded by a small forest. I led a band of ten warriors into the mountains, to see if we could locate the raider's hideout. We hid as a small band of raiders went by us, heading into the mountains. We followed at a discrete pace, so not to be seen. The path leads through a pass and into a large valley. The raiders' hideout was in this valley. 

I sent a couple of warriors back to the main camp, to inform them of our discovery and wait until I returned. The rest of us moved off the path and found some nice hiding places, where we can observe the raiders in the valley below. I guessed there to be between a 400 and 500 raiders in the valley. What we weren't sure of, was how many were out in raiding parties. 

They had numerous different tribe women as sex slaves and camp workers. I didn't see a single man in the captives they had. There were some children, mostly small and new born. We watched them for a few hours. I noticed that the raiders did nothing but lay around resting and eating. Some were fucking the sex slaves. 

I signaled the rest of the warriors that it was time to go. All the time we were watching them, I never saw a group come or go. We left the same way we got in there and we headed back to our camp. We scouted the area to get the lay of the land, as a plan was beginning to form in my head. 

There are seven of us that were at the commander's meeting that I had called. One chief to lead each of the four units of men, the fifth unit was mine to lead and two chiefs that assisted me with planning, and carrying out orders. I laid my plan out. I'm going to send three units (60 men) to the East side of our position and on the opposite side of the path from us that up went into the mountains. There were some small woods for them to hide in. They were to wait and attack any raiding parties that either went into or came out of the mountain hideout. We would do the same thing on the West side of the path. Hopefully this would lure out the main body of raiders, when they realized that they were losing men. 

We didn't have to wait too long and the first group of raiders came in our direction. There were twenty-five men in that raiding party and we took them out real fast. We dragged the bodies over to a pit and tossed them in, getting rid of the evidence. On the other side they caught a group of twenty raiders leaving the mountain hideout. After disposing of the raiders in rapid fashion, they brought the supplies and the captive women over to our camp. We had more space here to take care of them. 




The Sands of Time



This happened a couple of times, and I was having a conference with the chiefs in my group. 

"We must have killed almost hundred raiders. They must know that something had happening to their men. How odd they don't come out an investigate," I said. 

I sent three men back up into the mountain to spy on the raiders. I wanted to keep tabs on them and be ready, in case they planned to attack in force. We used different color deer tails as signals. A white tail means all clear, and a black tail (one dipped in tar) means trouble. We had plenty of tails all divided up with the commanders. My three spies had a set of tails also. 

I wasn't sure what happened, but one of our spies was waving a black tail for trouble. I didn't see the other two. The one with the signal got about half way to us before he toppled over with an arrow in his back. 

Suddenly the raiders boiled out of the mountain in full force. They were racing toward our position. They must figure they could over run us. I had the units form up into battle units. The first unit would fire their arrows and move back to let the next unit fire, and so forth. On the other side they were sneaking around to the backside of the raiders to cut off any type of retreat. 

My plan was coming together better than I hoped for. When the raiders got into range, the first group fired their arrows. By the time the third unit fired, the raiders had stopped their rush. On their backside my other division was firing their arrows, and we had the raiders pinned between us. When we ran out of arrows, the fighting was hand to hand. We had an enormous advantage, after the huge loss the raiders suffered from our bow attacks. We made short work of the remaining raiders. 

We had wiped out all the raiders, and our losses were twenty-five warriors either killed or gravely injured. I led a group of thirty warriors back up the mountain, while the rest were busy stripping the raiders of anything of value. There were about twenty raiders left in the camp. We finished them off in rapid succession. We stripped the camp of anything of value and had the camp women follow us out. When we left, we destroyed the raider camp. 

The march back to the Great Meeting Ground went rather slowly with the injured and the extra women and children with us. It took us four weeks to make it back, with a couple of the injured dying on the trip home. Once we got back, the tribes were glad to see us back as victors. There was a big celebration party a couple days later. Also, Raven and I were formally married. She was now pregnant with my child. 

A short time later my tribe left the Great Meeting Ground and headed back to our home campsite. I was sure that both my dad and brother would have been proud of me for taking revenge on the raiders, for what they had done to our tribe in the past. 

Chapter Seven 

The story was now being told by my great-great-grandson Grey Wolf, this story now jumps ahead 100 years. 

Hi, my name is Grey Wolf, and I'm the chief of chiefs of many tribes. I have only seen thirty summers, but our bloodline had been chief of chiefs since Thunder Bird was the first. 

When the tribes all come together at the Great Meeting Ground, we then call ourselves The Nation. 

The tribes had all thrived, growing crops, medical knowledge, and herbs. Our weapons have improved. We have domesticated horses, camels, and other animals. We were in a time period of tranquility. My main job now was ruling on disputes between tribes. We had an army that every tribe contributes hunters to. The army was more of a peace keeping force, keeping the peace between tribes. 

My two wives' Song Bird and White Dove have produced seven children; four boys and three girls. We name the first boy Red Hawk, after our tribe founder. He was being groomed to take my place, when I'm ready to step down as chief. My second boy Running Elk, was being trained to command our army. My last two sons are being trained as hunters. Training the girls was up to the women. 

Even though we have had peace for many years, our story tellers still remind us of our past history. They tell tales of the violent raiders, and what they did to some of our tribes. We have outposts in strategic places. Patrols guard our borders between the outposts. A couple of times a year, I led a group of hunters North into the mountains to check out the old raiders camp located in a valley within the mountains. So far the camp had been empty and showed no signs of anyone having been there. We never went any further than the valley in the mountains. 

We were beginning to enter the Stone Age, with our weapon masters starting to make stone weapons. They started by making stone pointed clubs that were similar to a mace. They would put holes in the club with sharp pointed stones being struck by stone hammers. The masters then would then tar the sharpened stone points into the club. Once the stone was secured in the club, the master would then sharpen the outer points. Later on we discovered a plant that produced a sticky substance, which worked better than tar. 

Second, was a stone axe, which did considerably more damage than a club would do. Also, they worked well in chopping down trees. Over time we made some stone bowls, but the work to do this was extremely painstaking process. They were shallow bowls. Once made, we could heat water and food in them. 

From the Great Meeting Ground, go North about halfway to the Raiders Mountain entrance, then go West about three days ride on horseback. There were a couple of large tribes that we traded with. They traded us some black wood (charcoal) for some of the items that we had for barter. 

We never traded our weapons. It was unknown what might happen to those weapons, and the possibility they might be used against us. Our weapon masters found out that by crushing pieces of the black wood, the pieces would burn hotter than our wood fires. But we had no idea on what to do with this discovery yet. 

To the South from the Great Meeting Ground, about three days' ride, we traded with a couple of large tribes that had some rock nuggets. One day a weapon master took some of the smaller nugget pieces and put it into a stone bowl. He heated the bowl over a wood fire, and nothing happened. When he put some of the black wood pieces in the fire, the extra heat started the nuggets to melt. He notices that stirring the liquid, it would coat the end of his wooden stick. When cooled it left a metal coating on the stick, which was very hard to remove. 

After going through a trial and error period. Using this process, we found that we could make two types of different arrows. The first was a flint head that was coated with this liquid metal. The other was a sharpened shaft end that was heated to a hardened state, and then coated with the liquid metal. We also could coat the axes and knives, and with a type of whetstone we could sharpen them. This whole process probably took us over a year to get right. We spent a lot of time just going back and trading for the raw materials that we needed. 

Up toward the North East almost against the mountains, five-day ride by horseback, were a couple of tribes we trade with. They traded us some crystal looking nuggets. 

They told us, "Crush the nuggets, and put the powder over our crops to help them grow." 

To the East of the tribes to our South, was tribe traded us some yellow looking nuggets. 

"Crush it up and use the powder with our medicines," They informed us. 

The crushed nuggets burned fairly easily, putting out strange smelling smoke. The crushed nuggets when mixed with healing herbs into a paste product, seem to work as salve for rashes, and cuts. 

After some trial and error, we combined the yellow powder and white powder together and used it on our crops. The results were simply amazing. The corn and wheat crops grew taller and fuller. Our crops and medicine took some major leaps forward with these two products. 

One of our weapon masters crushed together some of the white, yellow and black nuggets, in a stone bowl. After a series of tests, he touched the mixture with a lighted stick. The resulting explosion killed him, and hurt two other people. We had no idea on what just happen, or what he did to the mixture. I started an investigation into this accident. I was intent on finding out just what had happened and why. 

We recreated the accident and then I heated a stone red hot. Using a throw stick, I pitched the stone into the stone pot. The explosion threw the stone tree high into the air. Now we knew just what the explosion did. How do we use this find? I turned to a couple of weapon masters. 

"Figure out away on how to best use this exploding powder," I told them 

It had been a couple of years since all of these discoveries. All of our tribes have flourished with the advancements that have been made. Once every couple of years, when summer ends and fall starts, the tribes gather to meet at the Great Meeting Ground. It was soon time for us to pack up and head out to the Great Meeting Ground. 

We were getting close, we started to encounter other tribes. They were heading in the same direction. They all said hello to us as they knew that I was the chief of chiefs. As always there is an unspoken universal peace between tribes as they head toward the Great Meeting Ground. 

We camped for the night and spent the next day hunting to re-supply our food. We set up a smoke tent to cure the meat. There was a nice spring nearby to fill our water containers. Once we had enough provisions to last for a couple of weeks. We headed out. We were only a day or so away. 

We came through a small set of hills and a there in front of us spread out in a huge valley was the Great Meeting Ground. We could see many of the tribes were already there. We cleared the hills, and headed for the spot that is reserved for the chief of chief's tribe to setup camp. 

The army was out in full force protecting the perimeter to prevent any type of unexpected attack. Although there had been no sign of any of the raiders, we were going to be prepared just in case. 

There were all kinds of events to test the strength of the tribe's best warrior. This was also the time when young men go from tribe to tribe looking to take a mate. I thought that I might find a wife for me if the opportunity presented itself. Both of my wives past away in the last eighteen months. Song Bird to a poison snake bite, and White Dove to an illness. I figured now was a good time to look for a new mate. 

Our tribe had eighteen children between the age of sixteen to eighteen, eight boys and ten girls. The boys each took a mate, and we lost nine of the girls to other tribes. This helped to keep the inbreeding in check. My two oldest boys reaching the age of consent, both took new wives. 

Our weapon masters had meetings with other tribe's masters to show what we have done with the new powders. There was a lot of talk with both the masters and in the chief meetings on what and how to use the exploding powder. We already had shared with the army weapons master, the liquid metal that coated the arrow heads. 

By the end of the week, the weapon masters had come up with some ways to use the exploding powder. They filled a hollowed out gourd with the powder and pebbles and sealed the end with some tar. They had a hunter shoot it with an arrow that had its head heated. The hot arrow struck the gourd, causing the powder to explode shooting the pebbles out in different directions. 

They used the same principal using a gourd with a wick in the end sealed by tar. The wick was made of grass and tar so it would not burn down too fast. Light the wick and heave it as far as possible, or at your intended target. When the burning wick touched the powder, it exploded shooting the pebbles out in different directions Both processes needed some extra work and fine tuning, but the concept was what I was looking for. 

It was a great week. I had lots of fun meeting with all the chief's and their tribes. At one tribe camp, I met a woman called Silvermoon. I ran into her a few other times during the week. She was a first cousin of Running Bull, who was the chief of her tribe. She had been married once, but her husband died from some type of fever. We seemed to hit it off in a good way. She had brown hair and eyes. She was very pretty, and has nice size breasts. She had one child from her first marriage, a girl. She also lost one child at childbirth. 

Late one night she came to my tent. She took off her fur clothing and crawled under the fur skin blanket with me. We kissed for a bit and I groped her breast and then sucked her nipples. She was squirming around and I could smell her arousal. We kissed and fondled each other. 

"Oh Grey Wolf, it feels so good to be in your arms. It has been a long time for me to be with a man. I'm ready for you right now, please take it easy when you stick it in me," she softly said. 

I moved to the back of her and she raised her ass up to me. I shoved my cock deep inside of her soaking wet pussy. She was tight and let out a soft cry. I entered her pussy with a vengeance. I pounded her pussy with my cock. I slowed down and started to fuck her slowly, but soon I'm back to slamming my cock back and forth deep inside of her pussy. 

"Oh, yes, right there, don't stop, do it harder!!" She moaned as I continued to fuck her wildly. 

She started to cry out softly when her orgasm started, while her juices started to drip down my shaft. I continued to pound away at her. Soon I got that good feeling in my cock and I shot a load of cum deep inside of her pussy. 

"Oh, that felt so good," she said to me. 

I just kind of puffed back at her, and smiled. After a couple of days of her coming to my tent at night. We were a couple in the eyes of the tribes. 

"Why don't you stay here and share my tent with me?" I asked her. 

It was a roundabout way of asking her to be my mate. 

She smiled and said, "I was hoping you would ask and yes I will be your mate." 

She became my mate, and she and her daughter joined our tribe. It was a big honor to her and her tribe for her to become the mate to the chief of chiefs. It seemed like she took me to our bed whenever she could, at least a couple of times a day. 

Finally, she says to me, "This is my right time of the month, I hope you planted it deep to make it a boy." I just stared back at her with a smile on my face, hoping she was right. 

After ten days of fun, it was time for the great chieftain party, which signaled the end of this year's event. While the party was going on, up to the far north revenge was starting. 

The raiders had waited a hundred years to start their revenge. They started by destroying the outpost to the far north. They also took out any patrols that happen by. They captured the weapons from the dead warriors. Quickly the raiders worked their way down South, taking out the outpost as they advanced. 

Word reached us as we were about to break camp. A rider from one of the outposts, arrived to tell us what had happened. The whole camp was in an uproar. Slowly warriors from patrols and outposts that fled before the raiders had reached them started to filter in. They filled us in on what the raiders were doing and how far away they were. 

I sat down in a war council with the senior tribe chiefs, to figure out just what to do. None of us had ever been in a major war and we were lacking in battle strategy. We set up a 5-point plan 

1. Send our scouts out on horseback to check out the progress of the raiders and report back. 

2. Send out hunters to get in plenty of food, water and wood for fuel. 

3. Get the weapon master to make more arrows and axes. Also get the exploding powder 

bombs built. 

4. Start to fortify the area to the north. 

5. Get the army fully staffed with extra hunters and work on battle field tactics. 

The first scout reported back telling us the raiders were twenty-five days away and moving toward us fast. 

There are 25 tribes that make up the nations. The average tribe has somewhere between 100-150 members. Most tribes were generally split somewhere around 40 men, 40 women, and 50 children give or take in each category. Each tribe contributes ten hunters to the army, making our army 250 men strong. They are well trained by our weapon masters and commanding officers. 

Not all men in the tribes were hunters. Some do have other tasks. But all are trained in some form of tribal protection. If every tribe had twenty hunters available. Then that would give us a backup to the army of around 500 extra men. 

I started to give some of the chiefs tasks to do. Some worked with hunters training them. Some worked with the medical people on how to treat our wounded. A couple of chiefs had the task of working out a plan of getting our dead out of the way and buried. A couple of others had the task of feeding all of our hunters and warriors and the rest of the tribes in camp. 

Three chiefs worked on our defense. After about fifteen days of preparation and many hours of work, finally our defenses were built. We had dug pits and covered them with branches. 

The bottoms of the pits were lined with sharp stakes. We erected barricades of sharpen limbs and boulders away from the meeting grounds toward the North. We wanted to break up the raiders, so they wouldn't have a clear run to us. We had an area in front of the barricades cleared so they could not sneak up on us. We burned off all the grass in front of our location to the north, so they couldn't use smoke against again. 

We planted bombs at certain location in the center of the battlefield. Our hunters practiced hitting them with dummy arrows. We had bombs all over the place within the barricade area. It 

will be of our last line of defense. 

One of the tribes were trained horsemen. I had them training on guerrilla tactics, to attack the raiders from the side and back. They carried some grenades with them. I hoped an attack from a different direction might slow down the raiders. 

The river on the East side of us helped to act as a barrier. The mountains and hills to the West also helped to act as a barrier. The days seemed to flash past us, while the raiders were drawing closer. 

With the use of our horses, our scouts were able to stay ahead of the raiders. They kept us informed on the advancement of the raiders. Finally, we could see the dust that the raiders kicked up as they moved toward us. 

The next day I moved up toward the front to view the raiders. My, God, they covered the ground for as far as I could see. Must be thousands of them? We must be out numbered 10 to 1. We are going to be massacred, how are going to survive against so many. 

CHAPTER EIGHT 

Best guess they were maybe a day or two away. Our defensive team had been busy placing bombs in the right places and our hunters were practicing to hit their targets. The weapon masters had been busy making both bombs and grenades. Arrow and bow makers had plenty of arrows. The bow makers had back up bows and extra bow strings. The women were trained to get arrows and bows or strings to the archer who might need them. 

We had primitive shields made out of sticks and bark and animal hides. They might stop an arrow, but not much good against a club or spear. But they were better than nothing. Our weapon masters were busy making more of these shields. 

Our perimeter defense was designed to slow down the raiders and funnel them toward the middle. The hope was to then have the bombs and grenades put a hurt on their charging forces, with back up help from all of our archer's. 

I had twenty-five guerilla hunters ready to go up into the hills and plan their attacks on the raiders from the hills. They carried some grenades with them. I hoped an attack from a different direction might slow and confuse the raiders.