The Further Erotic
Adventures
Of Jaffa La'Feilom
by Trystl
Synopsis
Now, with arms and legs again, Jaffa returns with Tesholi to help govern the strays. Being a whole human, instead of Amorian (or a legless stray) it is decided that Jaffa might be able to sneak back into the City of Eapar to buy some supplies that, while not absolutely needed, would be very useful. Tesholi objects that it�s too dangerous. Jaffa thinks that some sort of arrangement can be made to form a trade alliance�their magic for the things they need from Eapar.
Somewhat reluctantly, Tesholi agrees to let her go. While Jaffa�s in the city Tesholi�s worst fears happen and she is seen by Shekar. He studies her for a while from hiding, amazed by the similarity, but thinking that she looks too young to be the same stray who no longer comes around him. He follows her as she buys the supplies, but before she starts to head back home he finally decides to stop her for a chat.
The look of recognition in her eyes when she sees him, confirms who she is even though afterwards she tries feebly to deny it. He demands, as is his right, to see her papers�but she panics and bolts. He tackles her, and takes her to a magistrate to draw up papers making her officially his property. He keeps her tied up, but he treats her reasonably well, at first. He takes her to events where Lenar will be and makes sure that he notices her. Meanwhile he asks Jaffa to tell him how she got her legs to grow back. When she refuses to tell, he begins to torture her suddenly and mercilessly. Finally, she creates a tale about falling into a fissure in the earth somewhere in the forest. This dropped her into the UnderCaves, wandering for a long time�barely managing to stay alive as the sea of moving earth tossed her about at its whims�finally she happened upon the Cavern of Youth where her legs grew back�which is why she appears younger. She uses her real adventures to add realism and an accurate sense of danger to her claims, but she keeps any hint of the strays or Tesholi out of it. She tells how she began to grow younger, and as she did her limbs magically grew back, but by the time they were whole again she was almost so young that she couldn�t get back out again. Fortunately, her wanderings took her through a corner of the Cavern of Aging. Then she fell into some water and almost drowned. She finally washed up, exhausted, on a shore, but it was her misfortune to reemerge on the same isle where she started.
She was trying to find a way to secure passage back to her home isle, Feilom, where her father would almost certainly be more than willing to give her rescuer a huge reward for her return. Shekar ignores the idea of returning her to her father. He has other plans.
Of course, nothing short of a story like this would have satisfied his curiosity, but telling it backfires on Jaffa. Now he wants to know where the entrance hole is located. Knowledge of a new entrance into the UnderCaves is an extremely valuable thing, even if it doesn�t turn out to be a gateway that is useful to humans, just being known as the discoverer of another entrance to the UnderCaves would make him a celebrity of sorts.
Despite more torturing, Jaffa insists she doesn�t know where the entrance is. She makes up a story about being chased by young boys and not knowing where she was running. She lost them; but was also lost herself.
Jaffa doesn�t want to show him the real entrance, because it�s the home of the strays. But to keep from being tortured she happily agrees to help him look for this fictitious hole in the earth. After the first fruitless day, Shekar decides to torture her some more out in the wilderness to help her remember. Meanwhile, he�s still taking her to the social events and flaunting her in front of Lenar.
There�s a small, (unfriendly at first) scene between Lenar and Shekar, wherein they come to some unknown agreement that has something to do with Jaffa. Shekar promises that it could make them both famous and wealthy, and suggests they put aside their past differences.
At a social, Lenar�who has been eyeing her openly since she reappeared with Shekar�manages to get Jaffa alone for a few moments of heartfelt discussion. He pours out his heart, saying how many times he�s regretted his rash act of anger: when he had her legs cut off. Jaffa professes regret too, but explains that it was Shekar�s doing. Lenar says he realizes that now. He tells her about his meeting with Shekar and says that he admitted that he�d done it purposefully to cause Lenar to do exactly what he did. He asks if she can forgive him. Jaffa says she can� and a hint of her old fondness for him is actually rekindled, despite everything.
Lenar offers to help her escape, but Jaffa suggests that perhaps Lenar can legally get her away from Shekar, if he still has her old papers from before her legs were removed. In her mind, Lenar would be much easier to manipulate into letting her do what she wants, so she explains that when Lenar released her after the osteoectomy, she was a stray, without papers. Shekar had first claim to her, so if Lenar had tried to get her back Shekar could have drawn up papers to prevent it. But Shekar never drew up those papers. But now that Jaffa had her legs back, she could�in a sense�be considered to be the same person she was before her legs were removed. Thus, the old papers might once again be argued to have priority over the newer papers that Shekar had drawn up.
Lenar pursues this avenue, and the three of them go before a magistrate to settle the issue. Lenar argues that Shekar�s claim that Jaffa�s legs regenerated is absurd. He maintains that Jaffa�s legs were never removed and that Shekar stole her and has been hiding her for all this time. Jaffa agrees, and the magistrate is inclined to believe them. They take Shekar away to be held for a future trial�for the willful theft of Jaffa, Lenar�s property.
Jaffa goes home with Lenar, and she is treated even better than before�there is no question this time that he is grooming her to be his consort; and moving towards that event very quickly.
Jaffa feels torn. This represents the most advantageous possibility of a future life that she�s been presented with for a long time�yet she feels torn about her promise to Tesholi concerning the UnderCave-strays. She tells Lenar that she made a promise to friends who helped her when she was a wild stray, and she can�t feel right being with him unless she can help them in return. She suggests the trading scheme that Tesholi suggested, and mentions that it could easily make him even richer. Lenar seems excited about the possibility, but he�s nervous about letting her out of his sight. Shekar�s friends might do harm to her still. Her plan is to make arrangements for meeting Tesholi away from the home of the UnderCave-strays on a regular basis. Jaffa will stay with Lenar and be their ambassador, so to speak; working the trades between the two cultures.
Finally, Lenar agrees with her plan to contact Tesholi�insisting only that she wait until the next day. He�s seen too little of her lately, and he wants her to himself for this evening. Jaffa would have preferred leaving in the evening, but his words are so sweat she agrees. Lenar excuses himself to go to the bathroom and tells one of his servants to run a mysterious message to an unknown person.
Shekar is hiding when Jaffa leaves Lenar�s place, and he has a tech-item: a spyglass that lets him see from a great distance. Tesholi is very careful, waving goodbye to Lenar and making sure that he doesn�t follows her�but she isn�t really expecting to be followed by someone else and certainly not from such a great distance as the spyglass allows.
Still, Jaffa is somewhat leery as she approaches the pond, so instead of diving straight into it she enters the stream and swims down it for a good ways, spilling over the waterfall and swimming much of the way underwater, using a reed to breath so she wont be seen. Thus Shekar doesn�t know exactly where the entrance is, but he knows close enough to have the place watched and eventually figure it out.
Jaffa meets with Tesholi and recounts her misadventures. She tells Tesholi that if they want to have trading with Eapar, she�ll have to return and become Lenar�s consort�which she implies (honestly) isn�t such a bad fate. Jaffa has a good bit of stuff for their first trade�and returns with some of the magic from the UnderCaves. She suggests a meeting place where they can meet sporadically. There�s to be no regular schedule, so casual observers can�t guess their meeting times. Only three times are predetermined�so incase the first one is missed the second or third will still stand. At each meeting, new times and places will be decided on.
But as she emerges from the water and begins to walk back she notices, Shekar and Lenar waiting for her together. She walks around, so that she comes up from behind, to confront them, (ostensibly to retrieve her clothes which she took off before diving in the water). They reveal their plot to discover the entrance to the UnderCaves. At first, Lenar was going to pretend to help by assisting in her escape. But then when Jaffa came up with her plan, he improvised. But the whole scene with the magistrate was staged�it wasn�t even a real magistrate, so she still belongs to Shekar�which is okay with Lenar, because since he and Shekar have become friends he�s lost his jealous streak for the man�and he hasn�t really regained his full interest in Jaffa, that was just an act. Shekar, on the other hand (because of his sadistic streak) is quite fond of owning Jaffa.
Anyway, they insist that she tell them where the entrance is now. They know its close and that it�s somewhere under the water right around there. They can discover it on their own if they have to, but it would save Jaffa from being tortured if she would cooperate. If she does, she will be rewarded by being allowed to become Lenar�s consort for real; she will share in their wealth, their fame and the arrangement will continue more or less as agreed. Except, of course, that everyone will know where the entrance is; and the strays there will be strictly guarded and controlled to make sure they don�t misbehave. If she doesn�t, she will be tortured, at the very least and may even have her legs removed yet again. �Without anesthesia this time,� Shekar threatens.
Jaffa pleads with them that it isn�t necessary to do all that. She shows them what she has brought as their share of the trading and tells them that if they insist on trying to capture the caves themselves, they will only succeed in �killing the goose that laid the golden egg.� They are impressed with her stash for trading, but only that much more determined to find its source and harvest it without restraint.
Jaffa can�t think of anything else to do; so she manages to break free and immediately dives into the water, using her reed to disappear among the weeds as best she can. Then she goes back to the stray�s cave and gives them the dire news. Tesholi institutes strict rules: no one is to go topside again for several weeks. Thinking that this will discourage them�but there are certain things that are needed from the topside, including the joy of seeing sunlight. So eventually, they begin to return to the surface. When they do, one of the strays is captured by a bear-trap-like device that doesn�t kill her but pins her helplessly. Even Tesholi can�t release it, as she don�t have the key that unlocks it. All they can do is to kill her to prevent her from being taken captive.
Sometime later, when the strays try to exit from their caves and surface on the water they are tangled in nets the men had waiting. Shekar and Lenar�s men have been hiding out in the mountains literally for days, (much like deer hunters) just waiting for them to come out. The strays are thus captured alive, and they are tortured (and teased and raped) to get them to tell where the entrance is�although in truth they already have a pretty good idea, from their months of covert watching. The torture is mostly just for fun. Afterwards, if she�s a quality animal, the girl may be taken back and put into the pet system.
The strays begin to stay in the UnderCaves almost exclusively, instead of going out regularly to collect food and other thing. Many feel reasonably safe again, thinking the men will give up after a while, but Jaffa feels a sense of urgency. Less incidents are occurring because the women are staying in the caves, but when they do go out it is increasingly more likely that men will be waiting to harass them.
The loss of the outside world�s bounty reduces the variety of their diets, but isn�t necessary for survival. Certain evasive and preventative steps are taken, for instance, a moss that becomes a very high, oxygen-producing mixture when placed in a special solution, is used to help them swim under water for longer periods: by placing the moss in a specially designed upside-down bowl. Another bowl (which holds the moss mixture) is suspended inside the much larger bowl. These are positioned at numerous places around the pond and allow the strays to swim for vary long periods underwater�thus avoiding being seen by the men, since they don�t need to surface and when they do surface it can be further away from the entrance to the cave. This allows them to scout the pond and make sure the boys aren�t waiting for them.
Shekar realizes what it means that the women are staying so long in the caves. There is almost certainly an entrance into the UnderCaves. Some of the boys think that they�ve simply captured or killed all the stray�but Shekar convinces them that the chance of discovering a great find is worth the risk of mounting an expedition. They have to raise the funds to do it right. But even if it�s just finding another (unusable) entrance to the UnderCaves it would give them considerable recognition. The likelihood of gaining wealth and recognition increases because (as far as they know) it�s human women living in the UnderCaves, which implies that it�s a safe route of some kind, and thus may be useable as another gate, or at worst as a place they can safely enter to harvest some of the UnderCaves magic.
Jaffa senses that the men are closing-in on their doomed little paradise. Their only hope is to dismantle or destroy everything and leave, traveling so deep into the UnderCaves that the men can�t follow. Then wait it out and come back when the men have given up�if they ever do.
Jaffa pushes this reasoning, but it doesn�t go over very well. Even if the women agreed with her, there are obvious problems. How do they keep the women from floating away and becoming lost in the Earth�s shifting? And yet Jaffa is more and more convinced that to stay is almost certainly to be caught again.
The women start debating whether they should leave. Jaffa is convinced that the men won�t stop until they�ve found the caves and destroyed everything good about it. She manages to convince the others to start planning: scouting the UnderCaves for a new home, setting up a more vigorous watch, and setting up ways to quickly destroy everything of significant value if the men come. They start drying and storing foods so they could make a long journey into the UnderCaves.
Unfortunately, before the women get very far with these endeavors the men mount a raiding expedition�which is planned and executed rather successfully. They capture a goodly portion of the women, and there�s no time for the women to destroy the various production rooms. Thus, although they loose the greater magical items from deeper in the UnderCaves�which only Tesholi could collect�the boys have an effective farm that will continue to produce material for them. And they have the captured strays to run the place for them. New strays can be brought in when the old die off, so they can be work mercilessly and punished for every little misstep.
The boys set up a camp and play with their captured strays right there, while they explore the living areas and all the wonderful foods, magic materials and such that are being produced. The captured strays will be needed to explain how to take care of and use many of the magical discoveries. And the boys intend to use these strays and others to run the place as a farm�once their priority to the UnderCaves entrance is established. (This may involve buying the property of the pond and mountains�which was already done before the raid.)
Only a handful of the strays escape with Jaffa and Tesholi. They flee into the UnderCaves completely unprepared. A few more are lost�they are humans and few of them have even Jaffa�s limited shaping abilities. It soon becomes evident that eventually all will perish if they can�t find a new home in a stable region where the women won�t be subject to floating away on the Earth currents whenever Tesholi goes to sleep.)
At last, they manage to find a spot that is relatively stable and not too far away from their confiscated cave�They can make a temporary home.
However, two things become apparent fairly quickly: 1) The boys aren�t likely to leave their old cave area on their own. If the strays had managed to destroy everything before leaving, perhaps�but now the boys plan to set up a little farming system (probably using the enslaved strays) and beef up the production considerably to make this farm a productive business venture, and 2) the strays wont survive for an extended period if they don�t find a better place to live�with better access to easy food and shelter. Among other things, a pack of Golden Badger claim this as their territory, and the women can only just manage to hold them off as a group. This means they can�t separate, however.
It is decided that since they are here anyway, Tesholi will attempt (despite the grave dangers) to take all the women to the Cavern of Youth and restore their arms and legs. Only 6 or 7 are left anyway, now, and their chances of surviving are far greater with legs. Jaffa feels she should stay behind to set up the camp as decently as possible for the women�s return; and more importantly to keep an eye on the men and what they are doing. Reluctantly, Tesholi argues the point, thinking they should all stay together. They�ll need Jaffa�s help on the dangerous trip. But Jaffa argues that the men won�t be satisfied with the farm, they�ll keep pushing into the caves, trying to take more and more for themselves. They need to be stopped, and in the mean time they need to be monitored. At last, Tesholi reluctantly agrees and leaves Jaffa to watch the camp while she takes the women to get new legs.
Meanwhile, Shekar isn�t satisfied with the farm. He purchases a couple of Amorian slaves who are known for their shaping talents, and uses spelunking techniques to begin exploring the UnderCaves. None of the other entrances to the UnderCaves are unmanned. They all have communities of Amorian�s and women who would easily kill any men who tried to venture into the caves with an Amorian guide. But here, there apparently are no such. Thus, Shekar convinces his band of men that the Amorians can be used in this way. They are bound carefully, and in such a way that if they try anything devious they can be placed in extreme pain. In addition, they use spelunking techniques, trailing a long rope.
When Jaffa realized the men were coming into the cave, she begins spying on them. She sneaks into their camp and frees a few of the women slaves. On the way back, she comes across a rope the men are using to explore the UnderCaves, much the way it would be used by spelunker exploring a cave, she sneaks over and cuts it.
This sets the men adrift, which is immediately noticeable; but they manage to get out anyway, without too much trouble. (Tell from an Amorian�s viewpoint�for if the Amorians had known they might have risked stranding the men, despite undoubtedly forfeiting their own lives and risking torture. But they didn�t know).
Back at camp, the men rant about the women, who they had all but figured for being dead or lost in the UnderCaves. But now they realize they�re still there and angling to hinder the men, so they start talking about ways to hunt the women out and kill them. And they decide to bring in more soldiers and militant types to protect the farm and perhaps even root out the women. Also realize now that there are other dangers. Wild animals, for instance, and perhaps they might run into a hive of Amorians who are even better organized than the strays. Already their produce has given Lenar and Shekar a great deal of clout, and they plan to use it. First to buy a rope that is metal reinforced so Jaffa�s pitiful tools can�t cut� Then when a guard comes to report that some of the slaves are missing, they vow to no longer simply use rope, but to keep the slaves bound in metal bonds with locks of a quality that without the key there will be no hope of escape�making rescue pointless.
Meanwhile, a scene told from the viewpoint of one of the legless women�Take up right as the women are getting out of a close scrap with one of the giant ants again, (they have to pass through the ants territory�but then they crawl from one of the safe passage that is too small for the ants, pass through their hive and back into another small tunnel.) One woman is lost while getting through, as an ant claims her and carries her away screaming.
�Will it kill her?�
�No,� Tesholi replies. �Although I�m not sure death wouldn�t have been a kinder fate for her.�
When she observes the men going off on a hunting expedition, Jaffa risks sneaking out of the UnderCaves and going back to town for much needed supplies. She takes some magic supplies with her for bartering, and she may waylay a woman with sexual advances�thinking to steal her papers�then (after a sexual scene) decides to use her own papers which she�s still got. There�s the risk that someone may recognize her as a fugitive�but it gives her an excuse to have magic and to need her supplies bundled as she does. So she forges a writ (not a very good likeness of Shekar�s handwriting, but good enough to fool the merchant. �Do you know Shekar?� she asks, ready to use the other paper if he does. �No,� merchant says. �But I�ve heard of him.�) The writ, gives her permission to exchange the magic items for supplies and money�since the magic is more valuable. Despite her clever ruse, the merchant claims to be suspicious�ostensibly because of her odd requests to have the merchandise carefully bundled the things up in plastic bags, and her request to build a harness which will allow her to carry much more than she normally could.
Jaffa tries to put the man off by saying she doesn�t have time, she�s wanted back quickly. Merchant says it will take that much time to package the supplies and build the harness�and since he wouldn�t be doing the work himself anyway it won�t take any extra time. Jaffa almost panics but then apparently manages to seduce the merchant into having sex with her as a means of distracting him from the magistrate. He orders one of his women to get started on making the harness, (after a little measuring scene). Then in an aside, he tells another go get a magistrate, as he leads Jaffa to his workroom.
The merchant pretends to want to tie her up, and reluctantly she agrees when nothing else seems to satisfy. He ties her up (chest tie, arms behind back and legs free but ankle pulled up even with thighs by a complicated waist and crotch tie); then has happy sex with her, by laying her belly down over the edge of the work bench and fucking her from behind as she hangs over the edge. (The waist and crotch tie keeps her feet pulled out of the way)
When he�s done he informs her that he�s sent one of his women to get a magistrate, then leaves her alone in the room laying as she is over the edge of the table. She manages to get up on the table without falling and uses her mouth to get a knife off its hook on the wall and �throw� it down to her hands. Then she begins cutting the ropes.
While hunting, the men happen upon a pack of Golden Badger, (whose fur is very valuable) and so they begin to track them. One time, when a single badger attacks them, they manage to kill it�although not as easily as expected because it is unusually large. Afterwards, they discover the reason is because it is a female�because of its lactating tits. Realizing that its lair might be around, and thinking what a coo it would be to find Badger young who they could raise in their farm, they torture the Amorian shapers until they agree to look for its lair, which they reason has to be fairly close by. After a little careful looking they discover a den with three or four young badgers which they take back to the camp to breed.
Jaffa manages to get undone just as the girl returns with a guard�not a magistrate. She hears this in an argument between merchant and girl. Then he asks other girl if the work is done �By the isles, if I�ve made a mistake about this girl we�ll want to get her on her way as quickly as possible.� �No problem, sir. Since it only needed to be functional, not pretty, it was a simple job. It�s finished.� Meanwhile, Jaffa has climbed out the window and shimmied down the outer wall. When the men go up the stairs, she slips in and gets her supplies, bonking one of the women on the head when she notices Jaffa. Unfortunately she lets out a screech anyway and so Jaffa runs, with her harness. A few blocks away she stops to put the harness on, then hearing pursuit, begins to run again. Making her way towards a patch of wooded area (that leads out of town towards the house where the children lived�she thinks about visiting them.) It�s more circuitous than other routes, but she�s certain she can loose them there.
The pursuit is more intense than she expected, however, and she ends up being shot in the leg. She can�t go the way she originally planned, but manages to loose them by swimming up a creek, that runs parallel to the road, and heads towards the house of the children� she uses the female child, (doesn�t trust the male who was always more difficult) to put the searching men off her track. After they�re gone, Jaffa answering a few questions about her renewed legs and such. And accepts the girl�s offer of medial attention and falls sleeps in the barn in her old hiding place. When she wakes, she scolds the girl for letting her sleep, but not to harshly. Then after hugs and kisses�and dissuading the girl from coming with her�she head back towards the pond and the UnderCaves. Although, having taken so much longer than she originally planned, she�s afraid the men will have returned�and she wonders how she�ll manage to sneak past them.
When the Golden Badgers return from their hunt and find the mother and babies gone they leave the area.
When men returned they called for a vet to look at and care for the animals.
Now the man is here, and fortunately, he tells them that they have a female, which means that in a few years she should be of breeding age. In a few months, the animals should be old enough to require a cage�or a fence if the men plan to keep them as pets. The men scoff a bit, but it gets Shekar thinking, and he tells them to knock it off.
The vet explains how to care for the animals�and suggest that the men let the women do it, but that they spend time with the animals themselves teaching them to obey, if they plan to make them pets. Shekar questions the vet as to why he thinks the animals will make good pets. The vet (who is also an amateur naturalist�and who had a wolf pup as a pet when he was younger) explains the probable social structure of this type of Golden Badger. �You said they hunted in a pack, instead of alone, which not only means that their sociable animals, it also means they�re smart animals that have learned to interpret the signals of their pack leader. If you become that pack leader in their minds, I suspect they�ll be totally loyal to you. Perhaps more importantly, these young ones showed almost no fear of me at all. They suckled on my finger and cradled my arm with theirs while I fed them�which suggests that they�re still young enough to think of whoever feeds them as their mother; and whoever orders their mother around as the pack leader. I�ve a book I could loan you, on how to raise and train dogs. It might prove useful, if you�re interested.�
Jaffa returns to the UnderCaves with the supplies. Using the system of air caches, she observes the men�s camp and realizes they�ve returned. So sneaks out of the water, and makes her way to a room where the slaves are kept. There, she gets a key, and then binds herself up like one of the slaves, including a mask and heavy shackles. Then she wanders through the rooms, taking the path least likely to have occupants� when she is spotted by man, she hides her carrying harness and pretends to be working one of the harvest ponds, but he tells her to take a tray of food and follow him to Shekar�s room. There she serves the food, hoping they don�t notice how much she�s trembling, and listens to the talk.
Lenar is questioning Shekar about his discussion with the vet; and Shekar imparts his vision: not only will they have a fur trade (if they want it) they can sell the animals as pets. And more importantly, they can use them to navigate the UnderCaves. Not only will it free them of the need to use the Amorians shapers, who they still need to torture to keep them doing what they�re told, but it would allow them to hunt down the stray women, fend off other wild animals, etc. If the vet proves to be right, the animals could have endless uses.
Then Shekar notices the serving girl and calls her over. When he asks her a question, she pretends to be gagged, not wanting to use her voice for fear of being recognized. �Being punished are you?� She nods, and he remarks on how much she looks like someone.
�I never noticed it before,� Lenar agreed, �but she does look a bit like Jaffa, doesn�t she?�
�Quite a bit, yes; enough to make me want to fuck her for old time�s sake. Care to join me?�
Lenar asks if they should take off her mask, so he can use her mouth at the same time Shekar takes her ass, but Shekar says that would destroy the illusion, so to Jaffa�s relief they leave it on and end up fuck her front and rear at the same time instead. Nice little torture scene, whipping her breasts and belly while being fucked from behind as he sits on a chair�all the while afraid the key will fall out of its hiding spot. They spend several hours with her, and when done, Lenar suggest that they keep her separated form the other slaves for a repetition of this. Shekar nods agreement and Lenar take her to his bed and chains her at the foot of it, much as he used to do.
When she thinks he�s asleep, Jaffa tries the key, relieved that it works. Then she begins working her way back to where she left the carrying harness. When strapped in she makes her way out of the men�s camp.
Tesholi�s group is trudging along, when a crack in the earth opens up and three of the women fall in, threatening to drag the others in by the ropes that attach them all. The one on the end slips her hand through the loop and allows herself to fall, which lightens the load enough to allows the other women to pull the remaining two up.
The falling woman (who happens to be the largest in the group by far�since she�s half Comilaun and half Cordobion) lands in a river and is carried along. Finally she climbs out on a shore and wanders for several days, with no hope of not dying. She is found, near death by the Kandic Amorian hive�later her daughter will become Sheshal (in the 2nd fall of KA story line).
Meanwhile, back at the stray�s camp, the absence of the Golden Badger has reduced the immediate danger to the strays who are in hiding�allowing them to feel safer and set up a much more efficient camp while they wait for Tesholi to return. And with Jaffa�s return, their supplies are no longer dwindling, despite the extra mouths to feed due to her releasing several slaves. When Tesholi returns from her successful trip, short two women, but all the rest with restored legs, Jaffa introduces her to the new women and fills her in on what her spying has revealed about what the men plan to do. Tesholi agrees that they have to find a way to stop the men; but isn�t sure what to do.
Jaffa thinks about it and decides that the she�s got to go to the Slarn and ask for their help. So she goes to Tesholi and they talk about it. Tesholi thinks it�s a terrible idea. She fears they�ll just capture Jaffa and feed her to the black river as a sacrifice, or (less likely but worse) put her in one of the harvesting vats to serve as regenerating food. But Jaffa insists that the men will come anyway if she doesn�t go�and with they�re plans, and the ingenuity of Zanadian technology, and the greed of it�s people, they will almost certainly conquer a great deal of it eventually. With hounds enough to guide them, they could conquer any of the hold out Amorian cities that tended to grow up at the mouths of most entrances to the UnderCaves. The only current protection they have is that the women provided Magic for the world of the men, and the men can not go into the UnderCaves to get it for themselves. Without this to balance out the power of men, the rebel women (and Amorians who ally to them) would be completely at their mercy.
Reluctantly, Tesholi agrees with Jaffa; but she knows that she can�t go herself or the Slarn will be hostile for sure, (seeing as Tesholi is Kandic). But she prepares Jaffa as best she can. Teaching her to speak several phrases in a rudimentary version of the most ancient and universal Amorian language. She also writes out a message (in the same language) on a piece of paper which Jaffa is to carry with her and hopefully show to the Slarn when they capture her.
With this done, Tesholi accompanies Jaffa as far as she dares, then leaves her to make the rest of the journey alone.
(Told from the Slarn patrol leader�s viewpoint.) She watches Jaffa carefully approaching�almost as if she knows where she�s going and is trying to be caught, but fearful. Leader suspects a trap, but orders her beta warriors to accost the intruder. With their spears they surround intruder, but then she starts speaking very awkwardly. Leader can�t quite understand it, but it sounds vaguely Amorian�if not strictly Slarn. But the intruder obviously doesn�t seem to be Amorian, and she doesn�t seem to understand Slarn when leader speaks, although she cowers fearfully and prostrates herself, almost as if showing respect. When the intruder reaches in her pocket, the leader stabs her. But all the intruder takes out is a piece of paper with writing on it that the leader can�t read. She takes it and orders the intruder to be bound.
Injured and bound, Jaffa is roughly taken to a room of small vats�here she is bound even more stringently before being forced into a vat of what appears to be water. She thinks they�re trying to drown her, and would have struggled if her bonds hadn�t been quite so total. They put her under and weigh her down and Jaffa is certain she is going to die. Finally she takes a painful breath and feels the liquid entering her lungs. Her body bucks in rebellion�but after a few moments she realizes that she�s not dying, she can actually breathe this water. Then it dons on her that this pool of water-like stuff must be one of the dreaded harvesting vats that Tesholi told her about.
Possibly a scene back with Tesholi, or at the men�s camp� showing their progress with things.
(Probably tell from POV of elder council member.) The patrol leader takes the paper message to the council of elders and tells them about the strange intruder and her actions, including her speaking in the strange slightly Amorian sounding tongue. The patrol leader asks if she should prepare the intruder for the harvesting vats, but the elder member is curious and asks to see the message.
She is surprised to recognize the tongue and she begins to read. Another elder asks her what it says and she reads aloud: �I have come in defense of the Earth Goddess and for her sake I must be heard. The UnderCaves are in grave dangers. Human men are even now raising animals that they intend to train to guide them into the UnderCaves. For the sake of the Goddess they must be stopped, for they will try to steal her gifts for themselves.�
The patrol leader says the letter is probably a trick, some kind of human trap, and that they should sacrifice the intruder to the Earth Mother Goddess and be done with her. But the elder decides that the intruder should at least be heard and argues for that. The others agree, and the patrol leader is sent to fetch the intruder.
Jaffa is pulled from the vat (upside down so that the liquid drips out of her) and tried out. Surprisingly, coming out is even more painful than going in, but she is none-the-less glad to be coming out�if a bit leery about what fate she is being lead away to. She notices her leg is healed, as she walks. She is taken before what appears to be a council, and as Tesholi instructed her, (without being overly eager�which might indicate an assassination attempt) she falls to her knees and prostrates herself without speaking and without being prompted. She stays there, as Tesholi instructed, until they bid her to rise�which since she can�t understand them takes what seems to be a very long time. She hears them talking, but is afraid to rise until they physically lift her.
(Back to elder�s POV.) The elder was a bit surprised by the human girl�s obeisance. She asks the girl if she can speak, and is even more surprised to hear her delivering what appears to be a memorized speech�for when the other elders interrupt her she just looks at them uncomprehendingly. And when she hushes the others to silence and urges the girl to go on she starts over at the beginning of her speech, which basically says the same thing as the letter only with different wording�The girl can�t accurately produce the sounds that would have been created with the tymbals, but she none-the-less is understandable and gives added emphasis because of her obvious fear of her situation, and yet her eagerness to be heard. When the girl is finished, she gabbers a few unintelligible words in another language (tears in her eyes) and again falls to the ground.
Without having the girl removed (since she obviously doesn�t understand) the elders debate what she�s said. The POV character argues in the girls favor, commenting on her belief that the girl showed sincerity� as she believes that tears are a sign of emotions in humans�as they are in certain other Amorian races. A debate commences, with some agreeing with the beta patrol leader, and others agreeing with POV character. After a few moments of the argument, she orders the patrol leader to take the girl away and let the healer have a look at her.
Jaffa is lead back towards the vats, and she fears that she�ll be put back in one� but instead she is strapped to a table (oh please, don�t be a dissecting table) and her body, particularly her sexual parts, are examined in a somewhat scientific way.
After what seems like a very long time, the patrol leader and a couple of others (from the patrol that captured her? Jaffa can�t tell�) come to collect Jaffa. They tie her arms carefully behind her back and attach a crotch rope as a leash, then follow her out of the hive.
Jaffa leads them back to the women�s camp; and when they arrive there is a small confrontational scene. Jaffa�s friends are offended by the way she�s tied and draw their crude gardening tools as weapons. The Slarn hold Jaffa as hostage while, Jaffa tells the women to put down their tools and that everything is alright. One of the women run away.
(Tesholi�s perspective.) One of the women comes to her while she�s working in one of the new gardens and tells her Jaffa has returned and there�s trouble. She hurries to greet Jaffa, and when the Slarn see her they become even more agitated, but she greets them in the old tongue. One of the Slarn (an Alph�which is partly why the debate over sending her was so intense,) understands the language. They converse briefly, Tesholi explains that she was the one who sent Jaffa�because she dare not go herself. But, she assures them, the danger is very real and she desperately needs their help. She is willing to show them, and then to come with them back to their hive (if they promise her safety) and discuss what needs to be done.
Jaffa (after being released) goes with Tesholi and the patrol leader (the Alph and a couple of beta warriors stay behind, still fearing it�s a trap) and they spy on the men�s camp. Tesholi explains to them what they see and what it means: the Golden Badgers, which are now old enough to be running around the open area of the men�s camp. But the Slarn is obviously highly agitated by what she sees even before the explanation.
When they return to the women�s camp Jaffa, Tesholi and the Slarn discuss what can be done. Tesholi says the Slarn need to come in and kill all the men and set up a camp themselves here so no more men will be able to force their way in. All she asks is that the Slarn allow the strays to come and live with them in harmony. The patrol leader dislikes the idea, but admits it is worth taking to the elders for consideration. Tesholi agrees to go with her back to speak with the elders, and Jaffa argues her way into coming along as well.
The other women are told to stay, although Tesholi is a little leery about that�both because of the Slarn and because of the danger from the men. But they stay behind and Jaffa and Tesholi go to the Slarn hive and talk with the council of elders.
Tesholi does most of the talking, although Jaffa insists she interpret her words as well as the Slarn. One of the elders expresses surprise, apparently thinking that Jaffa was Tesholi�s puppet, but Tesholi explains that they consider one another as equals�and that Jaffa volunteered to come the first time�against Tesholi�s wishes and despite knowing the dangers�because of her dedication to the �cause� of the stray women and the safety of the UnderCaves. The council members look at her with new respect and no longer begrudge Tesholi translating both ways.
The Slarn are reluctant to attack the men. Still slightly leery that it is a trap, for one thing, but also they are aware that the men had guns. They�ve witness the power of guns before and do not think they can prevail without it weakening them to the point of being critically vulnerable to their enemies�the Kandic, who live in the hive on the other side of the Slarn. And Tesholi also is a bit leery. She doesn�t want the Slarn taking over what she considers to be her territory�her hive.
Finally, one of the elders suggests a radical solution. They can release several of the giant ants, lure them to the camp of the men and let the ants kill the men.
Tesholi dislikes the plan, afraid it will make the area uninhabitable. No the elder says, only soldier ants will chase, and once they return the hive will be resealed to keep them in. Any soldier ants still outside the hive will return later and also be allowed in. And even if a few remain outside, they will be few enough to hunt down if they are a nuisance and they will die after a few decades in any case.
The real problem (one of the elder�s says) is the problem of how to lure them to the men�s camp�and what will happen when they get there. The ants will be attracted by the scent of women or Amorians�and also by a special potion of herbs and spices, which fools the ants. Several of the soldier ants can be driven from the hive and set on the trail of the women. It will have to be a somewhat large group of women to entice a large enough group of ants to follow. And the trail will have to be fairly recent. But if the women hurry the whole way they shouldn�t have any difficulty getting back to the men�s camp before the ants. Then they simply mingle with the men. The ants will instinctually kill the men, and take the women captive.
Then how do we free the women who are taken, Jaffa asks.
The women who are fleeing will have tip-sticks, the elder says. These are specially made rods with a substance on them that causes pain. This will help keep the ants away, especially if they all group together to keep them at bay�and drive the ants towards the men. The women in the camp who are captured, can�t be rescued. They�ll become �aphids� for the ants�producing phydmilk�there�s no help for that, but that is an important part of the plan, as their capture will distract the ants from the other women and Amorians, making it easier to fight off those few that remain after the men are all killed off.
Jaffa and Tesholi aren�t overly fond of this plan. Tesholi gripes that this plan will neatly fill the Slarn�s ant hive. But the Slarn elder say those women have to be considered casualties of war�no different than those lost in any other battle.
�Yeah, but those who loose their lives in a regular battle choose to fight. These women won�t have any choice.�
�But then these women won�t die, either.�
�I�m not sure death wouldn�t be a better fate,� Tesholi says.
After a little consideration, Jaffa asks if the ants can swim. When the answer is no, she suggests that they use the water near the camp as protection from the ants. They can even attempt to free some of the women in the camp while the ants are distracted fighting the men.
The elder says she understands now why Jaffa is considered an equal. And Tesholi and the Amorians agree to this plan.
Chapter Five--The Giant Ants[1]
Women and Amorians put their plan into action: Slarn wearing armor made out of the same material as the tic-sticks, goad several soldier ants to the entrance (which temporarily is a larger flap of fabric with the tic-stick material on it). There the ants pick up the scent of the women�and unarmored Amorians. Can�t wear the armor, or the ants won�t follow their scent. The unprotected women lead the ants to the men�s camp. Tesholi notices (remember she is a better shaper than the Slarn) that a few of the ants get a scent of the women from the women�s camp and divert to go there. It�s only two ants, so Jaffa tells Tesholi to take her tic-stick and one from a Slarn, and to go help the woman at the camp keep the ants at bay. Which Tesholi does.
Now, alone with the Slarn, she has no way of communicating. She tries to get them to enter the men�s camp and help release the women, but they apparently have no interest in that. So Jaffa goes in alone to try to free as many as possible before the ants arrive. After freeing several and telling them to release the others and then go hide in the river because the ants are coming� she is discovered by a guard and knocked unconscious then (partially?) binds her before the ruckus of the ants attacking draws his attention and he goes to see what is going on.
Tesholi arrives at the women�s camp in time to fend off the giant ant�and together they manage to kill one and fight off the other without anyone dying�although a few injuries are serious. Perhaps even fatal if not for the HealStone Tesholi uses to stop the flow of blood, etc. Then Tesholi leads the whole women to watch the attack on the men�s camp from a distance.
The plan appears to have worked almost perfectly. The men are all killed, or have fled into the water along with the women of who there appears to be many. A few of the ants take some of the women and get away�but all in all, the losses appear to be surprisingly few; and by the time they arrive the last of the ants are in full retreated, either with or without someone in tow. And the rest of the women are safely in the water.
Tesholi goes down to find Jaffa and celebrate their success�but Jaffa is no where to be found.
Jaffa awakes to the jarring motion of the ant�s peculiar gait. She is bound from the guard (and she realizes by a strong webbing material that is much like a spider web might be for an insect�very strong and slightly sticky, yet cool and light feeling to the touch�a variant of faux fiber, maybe) and can�t struggle as much as she might have, but she knows that even if she could she would not have been able to escape. Her body is draped over one of the ant�s supple limbs, (hard shell isn�t there as in smaller ants�more a covering of furry scales) and from the degree that it seems to slow the creature down, it seems apparent that it could have carried at least one more female if it wanted to.
When the ant returns to the hive it is allowed to pass by Slarn workers hiding out in the crags above the entrance of the cave. Then, when it is inside the entrance is sealed up by a curtain of the material on the tic-sticks�until the next ant is seen approaching�when it will again be pulled up.
The ant deposits Jaffa in a holding room, and without untying her leaves.
Several hours later, it seems, Another kind of ant (much smaller, without the soldier ants imposing mandibles) comes and removes the faux fiber binding. At first it doesn�t seem to notice the rope bindings. It tries to pick her up and make her walk, but Jaffa can�t�so it touches one of it�s antennae to her body and Jaffa receives a mild but unpleasant Jolt. It continues to do this, trying to get Jaffa to walk. She screams and tries to dance away, then finally topples over with the pain. The ant then explores her legs more carefully (the antennae now tingle instead of shocking) and apparently figures out the ropes which it removes from her legs, only.
It takes her to a very large ant, who it would appear is probably the queen ant. And pushes Jaffa towards the huge (alien looking) creature. It has a very long needle-like tongue which it uses to inject something into Jaffa�s bellybutton. This is quite painful, and Jaffa can�t help imagining that she�s been impregnated with embryo ants that will eat her from the inside when they hatch.
Synopsis to be continued...
[1] Logical place to insert the Giant Ants storyline�if I can find it!