Storiesonline.net ------- John and Argent by cmsix Copyright© 2008 by cmsix ------- Description: John is going to die in the here and now. Argent offers him a new life back there and then. John takes the bait and is sent to a copy of earth, forty thousand years in the past. Codes: MF cons ScFi TimeTr ------- ------- Cast Get your Cast of Characters, no one can keep track of the characters without a cast of characters :)) Please note, that the order of appearance list shows the chapter where the name first appears. Cast of Characters in order of appearance Character Description First Appears John Main character. Chapter 1 Argent Alien being in charge of the experiment. Chapter 1 Cheryl Last woman John knew in his old life. Chapter 1 Ben First stallion trained for riding. Chapter 4 Sally and Jane First two mares trained to pull the wagon. Chapter 6 Prince, King and Rover First wolf cubs John captured. Chapter 8 Gigo Leader of first camp John encountered and first person John met in new life. Chapter 8 Gema One of the two unmated women John surprises while they picked berries, Becomes one of John's first two mates. Chapter 8 Merita One of the two unmated women John surprises while they picked berries, becomes one of John's first two mates. Chapter 8 Geera Gigo's mate and Gema's mother, becomes another of John's mates after Gigo's death. Chapter 9 Dergo Gigo's second in command. Chapter 9 Gembo First man John killed, Delia's original mate. Chapter 9 Jonoco Boy John had hold the horses during his first hunt. Chapter 11 Georgo Shaman John met during his first hunt. Chapter 11 Maia Merita's younger sister, John's third mate. Chapter 12 Dieta Dergo's mate and Merita's and Maia's mother, becomes another of John's mates after Dergo's death. Chapter 12 Jabo Second man John Killed, Gembo's father and Winna's original mate. Chapter 13 Jenbo Third man John Killed, Gembo's uncle and Waaya's original mate. Chapter 13 Delia John's mate from killing Gembo. Chapter 20 Winna Gigo's mate from John's switch trick, bventually becomes John's mate. Chapter 20 Waaya Dergo's mate from John's switch trick. Eventually becomes John's mate. Chapter 20 Dolly Forth horse John trained. Chapter 21 Barbo Leader of Delia's mother Dalia's camp. Chapter 24 Jara Barbo's mate. Chapter 24 Dalia Delia's mother, eventually becomes one of John's mates. Chapter 24 Danlo Delia's brother. Chapter 24 Braato Man from Jabo's camp that killed Gigo for his mates. Chapter 24 Gordo Man from Jabo's camp that killed Dergo for his mates. Chapter 24 Caato New leader of Jabo's camp. Chapter 25 Jenabo Jaada's mate that John killed in Caato's camp. Chapter 25 Jaada John's mate from killing Jenabo. Chapter 25 Bigglieo Man that asked John to be leader of Gigo's camp. Chapter 26 Galto Man who went with John to new campsite to stay and guard it. Chapter 26 Dargo Other man who went with John to new campsite to stay and guard it. Chapter 26 Bonehead Mare that had to be tied to wagon to learn to follow while being led. Chapter 28 Jolly Most cooperative of mares trained before leaving for the new camp. Chapter 29 Maldo One of two men who came to ask about Roweea's camp joining Gigo's. Chapter 31 Bordo Other of the two men who came to ask about Roweea's camp joining Gigo's. Chapter 31 Nadlo Young man who tried to sneak off at night with Jaada. Chapter 31 Nelda One of the mares John trained from the original group. Chapter 32 Melieta Unmated woman who mates Nadlo. Chapter 33 Jaiya Unmated woman who mates Jonoco. Chapter 33 Shaala The first twin to become one of Danlo's first two mates. Chapter 34 Shallea The second twin to become one of Danlo's first two mates. Chapter 34 Shelalliea John's mate and the mother of Shaala and Shallea. Chapter 34 Roweea Mate of deceased leader of the first camp to join John's camp after Gigo's camp, becomes a mate to John. Chapter 39 Ladeliea Woman Georgo mated after lightning struck her mate. Chapter 46 Darbo Ladeliea's mate that was killed by lightning. Chapter 46 Barago Leader of Ladeliea's camp. Chapter 46 Britta Barago's mate. Chapter 46 Darrio Roweea's deceased mate that was killed by stampeeding bison. Chapter 46 Harto Unmated man who fainted when John shot Darbo's friend. Chapter 46 Jalieta Unmated woman who kicked Harto in the stomach when he fainted, becomes one of John's mates. Chapter 46 Jarendo Darbo's friend that John killed in Barago's camp. Chapter 46 Sahto One of the unmated boys who ran when John shot Jarendo. Chapter 47 Talvo Other unmated boy who ran when John shot Jarendo. Chapter 47 Cailayia One of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Kateata Another of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Balalia Last of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Talieia Talvo's mother. Chapter 51 Taahrausa Sahto's mother. Chapter 51 Erieta Failiela's mother and Racaato's mate. Chapter 53 Failiela Erieta's daughter. Chapter 53 Frank Name John gave his original computer setup. Chapter 53 Daleana Bigglieo's first mate. Chapter 53 Cahttiea Woman who deep throated John in Georgo's buckboard. Chapter 54 Natalto Barago's best man and Cahttiea's mate. Chapter 65 Racaato Barago's other best man and Erieta's mate. Chapter 65 Sarieta Galto's mate. Chapter 68 Loreena Dargo's mate. Chapter 68 Yotalieta Georgo's second mate. Chapter 69 Baahaya Georgo's third mate. Chapter 69 Colonto Leader of Yotalieta's camp. Chapter 70 Gondro Colonto's best man. Chapter 70 Jalaato Caato's best man. Chapter 70 Raalto Leader of the biggest camp to join John's. Chapter 70 Reeana One of Raalto's original mates. Chapter 71 Jareena Raalto's other original mate. Chapter 71 Daaggo Raalto's best man. Chapter 71 Red Thoroghbred stallion from Argent. Chapter 73 Phil Name John gave to the second computer setup. Chapter 77 Bob Quarter Horse Stallion from Argent. Chapter 79 Sulieta Bigglieo's mate from Roweea's camp. Chapter 81 Jakado Leader of the camp that traded for Raalto's camp's huts. Chapter 83 Rockhead Mare that gave trouble from the second group of wild horses. Chapter 84 Jalayla Woman from Raalto's camp that is good with wounds. Chapter 86 Chargo Unmated man John killed first after Barbo's near death. Chapter 86 Ameliea Jakado's mate, becomes John's mate after he kills Jakado. Chapter 87 Cardiato New leader of Jakado's camp. Chapter 88 Julieta Bowto's widow. Chapter 89 Dotallto Shaman that Georgo brought to perform his and John's mating. Chapter 91 Gateata Mate Raalto acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Kalayeata Mate Raalto acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Carlota Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Kapaleia Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Jaanieliea Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Kimonea Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Sadogo Jakado's man that Dieta questioned. Chapter 94 Mundo First spy that John and Racaato caught. Chapter 94 Daria Cardiato's mate. Chapter 96 Gougo Spy that John killed. Chapter 98 Doctaato Spy caught with wolves. Chapter 99 Balaanto Spy caught with wolves. Chapter 99 Darla Quarter Horse mare from Argent. Chapter 100 Donna Quarter Horse mare from Argent. Chapter 100 Jezebel Quarter Horse mare from Argent. Chapter 100 Jato Expected to become leader after Cardiato's death but doesn't, then is member of group sent by Bortata and Daggalo to attack Johns Camp Chapter 100 Darkato Man that tried to kill Danlo to take Daria. Chapter 101 Jatalieta Darkato's widow, now Danlo's mate Chapter 101 Buloto Good hunter who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Saraato Good hunter who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Karcoto Spear maker who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Deberto Flint knapper who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Jack Wild stallion captured in the second group of native horses. Chapter 101 Cariea Colonto's mate. Chapter 103 Camalieta Mate of Dutotto killed by Raalto, now his mate Chapter 110 Bortato Co-leader of camp after Cardiato's death. Chapter 111 Daggalo Co-leader of camp after Cardiato's death. Chapter 111 Bazallto Killer of Jato to keep him from becoming camp leader, led attack on John's camp. Chapter 112 Cargato Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Dentolto Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Kagatato Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Saloto Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Serielto Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Geritatea Mate of the man Talvo killed for beating her, now Talvo's mate. Chapter 116 Jotollo Member of Bazallto's camp killed by Talvo for beating his mate. Chapter 116 Taaheita Becomes John's mate after Ameliea kills her mate. Chapter 116 Grotondo Leader of the first neanderthal camp John trades with. Chapter 120 Gratata Mate of Grotondo the leader of the first neanderthal camp. Chapter 120 Brundolo Younger male from Grotondo's camp that returns to John's camp for awhile. Chapter 121 Margeeta Woman from the Neanderthal camp who John trades for to become one of his mates. Chapter 121 Yareela One of the twin daughters of Margeeta, will also become one of John's mates. Chapter 121 Yaroola The other twin daughter of Margeeta, will also become one of John's mates. Chapter 121 Grendolto The dead mate of Margeeta. Chapter 121 Daldo Man from Neanderthal camp who gropes one of the twins and gets dead for his effort, mate of the camps healer. Chapter 121 Timboko Man from Neanderthal camp that tells John he'd like the chance to kill him for his new mates, just before he gets dead. Chapter 121 Kota Timboko's former mate, now John's mate. Chapter 122 Eileiea Mate of Daldo, now Johns mate. Chapter 122 Sarboto Member of Grotondo's camp who is like Daago, moves to John's camp. Chapter 128 Kartoto Leader of another camp Grotondo goes to trade for women on John's behalf. Chapter 131 Xailieta Widow from Kartoto's camp who John takes as a mate. Chapter 133 Baatiea First of Xailieta's twin children. Chapter 133 Beetiea Second of Xailieta's twin children. Chapter 133 Karlieta Neanderthal woman Barago takes as a mate. Chapter 133 Dartieta Daugher of Karlieta, Barago intends to take her as a mate once she becomes a woman. Chapter 133 Jadatako Leader of another camp Grotondo trades with on John's behalf. Chapter 135 Nutaro Dishonorable leader of a neanderthal camp who cheats others wishing to trade, when he tries to cheat John, he learns doing so meant he was tired of living. Chapter 135 Tulaarra Mate of Nutaro, she becomes Danlo's mate after he'd killed Nutaro. Chapter 136 Cardollo Man of Nutaro's camp killed by Sahto for trying to kill John. Chapter 136 Weeahta Mate of Cardollo, now the mate of Sahto. Chapter 136 Condondo Man from Nutaro's camp. Chapter 136 Dunto Man who becomes leader after Nutaro got dead. Chapter 136 Deimeta Orphan mistreated in Nutaro's camp, adopted by John. Chapter 136 Ducalto Man from Nutaro's camp, who lied to Dunto about what occurred before his return Chapter 136 Jajaboto Newly mated man of Jadatako's camp, mated to Jadatako's daughter. Chapter 136 Tratieta Jadatako's mate. Chapter 136 Chatamtato Leader of yet another Neanderthal camp John trades for women at. Chapter 139 Kodontolo Leader of another of the Neanderthal camps John trades for women with. Chapter 139 Dracto Leader of another of the Neanderthal camps John trades for women with. Chapter 140 Deltonto Man from Kodontolo's who returns to John's camp to learn how to train and handle horese. Chapter 140 Keyshatata Deltonto's mate. Chapter 140 Catteaahta Neanderthal widow traded for who agrees to become a mate to Georgo. Chapter 142 Barasco A child of Catteaahta. Chapter 142 Kaatea A child of Catteaahta. Chapter 142 Burtalgo Messenger from Dunto's camp caught out in the snow in a tent. Chapter 145 Big Mother Name given to adult female mammoth captured at time of mammoth hunt. Chapter 153 Darta Name of Deimeta's baby mammoth. Chapter 154 Kartogo Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 164 Miekadakta Kartogo's mate. Chapter 164 Jarto Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 165 Shabago Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 165 Shatalto Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 167 Cast of Characters in Alphabetic Order Character Description First Appears Ameliea Jakado's mate, becomes John's mate after he kills Jakado. Chapter 87 Argent Alien being in charge of the experiment. Chapter 1 Baahaya Georgo's third mate. Chapter 69 Baatiea First of Xailieta's twin children. Chapter 133 Balaanto Spy caught with wolves. Chapter 99 Balalia Last of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Barago Leader of Ladeliea's camp. Chapter 46 Barasco A child of Catteaahta. Chapter 142 Barbo Leader of Delia's mother Dalia's camp. Chapter 24 Bazallto Killer of Jato to keep him from becoming camp leader, led attack on John's camp. Chapter 112 Beetiea Second of Xailieta's twin children. Chapter 133 Ben First stallion trained for riding. Chapter 4 Big Mother Name given to adult female mammoth captured at time of mammoth hunt. Chapter 153 Bigglieo Man that asked John to be leader of Gigo's camp. Chapter 26 Bob Quarter Horse Stallion from Argent. Chapter 79 Bonehead Mare that had to be tied to wagon to learn to follow while being led. Chapter 28 Bordo Other of the two men who came to ask about Roweea's camp joining Gigo's. Chapter 31 Bortato Co-leader of camp after Cardiato's death. Chapter 111 Braato Man from Jabo's camp that killed Gigo for his mates. Chapter 24 Britta Barago's mate. Chapter 46 Brundolo Younger male from Grotondo's camp that returns to John's camp for awhile. Chapter 121 Buloto Good hunter who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Burtalgo Messenger from Dunto's camp caught out in the snow in a tent. Chapter 145 Caato New leader of Jabo's camp. Chapter 25 Cahttiea Woman who deep throated John in Georgo's buckboard. Chapter 54 Cailayia One of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Camalieta Mate of Dutotto killed by Raalto, now his mate Chapter 110 Cardiato New leader of Jakado's camp. Chapter 88 Cardollo Man of Nutaro's camp killed by Sahto for trying to kill John. Chapter 136 Cargato Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Cariea Colonto's mate. Chapter 103 Carlota Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Catteaahta Neanderthal widow traded for who agrees to become a mate to Georgo. Chapter 142 Chargo Unmated man John killed first after Barbo's near death. Chapter 86 Chatamtato Leader of yet another Neanderthal camp John trades for women at. Chapter 139 Cheryl Last woman John knew in his old life. Chapter 1 Colonto Leader of Yotalieta's camp. Chapter 70 Condondo Man from Nutaro's camp. Chapter 136 Daaggo Raalto's best man. Chapter 71 Daggalo Co-leader of camp after Cardiato's death. Chapter 111 Daldo Man from Neanderthal camp who gropes one of the twins and gets dead for his effort, mate of the camps healer. Chapter 121 Daleana Bigglieo's first mate. Chapter 53 Dalia Delia's mother, eventually becomes one of John's mates. Chapter 24 Danlo Delia's brother. Chapter 24 Darbo Ladeliea's mate that was killed by lightning. Chapter 46 Dargo Other man who went with John to new campsite to stay and guard it. Chapter 26 Daria Cardiato's mate. Chapter 96 Darkato Man that tried to kill Danlo to take Daria. Chapter 101 Darla Quarter Horse mare from Argent. Chapter 100 Darrio Roweea's deceased mate that was killed by stampeeding bison. Chapter 46 Darta Name of Deimeta's baby mammoth. Chapter 154 Dartieta Daugher of Karlieta, Barago intends to take her as a mate once she becomes a woman. Chapter 133 Deberto Flint knapper who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Deimeta Orphan mistreated in Nutaro's camp, adopted by John. Chapter 136 Delia John's mate from killing Gembo. Chapter 20 Deltonto Man from Kodontolo's who returns to John's camp to learn how to train and handle horese. Chapter 140 Dergo Gigo's second in command. Chapter 9 Dieta Dergo's mate and Merita's and Maia's mother, becomes another of John's mates after Dergo's death. Chapter 12 Dentolto Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Doctaato Spy caught with wolves. Chapter 99 Dolly Forth horse John trained. Chapter 21 Donna Quarter Horse mare from Argent. Chapter 100 Dotallto Shaman that Georgo brought to perform his and John's mating. Chapter 91 Dracto Leader of another of the Neanderthal camps John trades for women with. Chapter 140 Ducalto Man from Nutaro's camp, who lied to Dunto about what occurred before his return Chapter 136 Dunto Man who becomes leader after Nutaro got dead. Chapter 136 Eileiea Mate of Daldo, now Johns mate. Chapter 122 Erieta Failiela's mother and Racaato's mate. Chapter 53 Failiela Erieta's daughter. Chapter 53 Frank Name John gave his original computer setup. Chapter 53 Galto Man who went with John to new campsite to stay and guard it. Chapter 26 Gateata Mate Raalto acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Geera Gigo's mate and Gema's mother, becomes another of John's mates after Gigo's death. Chapter 9 Gema One of the two unmated women John surprises while they picked berries, Becomes one of John's first two mates. Chapter 8 Gembo First man John killed, Delia's original mate. Chapter 9 Georgo Shaman John met during his first hunt. Chapter 11 Geritatea Mate of the man Talvo killed for beating her, now Talvo's mate. Chapter 116 Gigo Leader of first camp John encountered and first person John met in new life. Chapter 8 Gondro Colonto's best man. Chapter 70 Gordo Man from Jabo's camp that killed Dergo for his mates. Chapter 24 Gougo Spy that John killed. Chapter 98 Gratata Mate of Grotondo the leader of the first neanderthal camp. Chapter 120 Grendolto The dead mate of Margeeta. Chapter 121 Grotondo Leader of the first neanderthal camp John trades with. Chapter 120 Harto Unmated man who fainted when John shot Darbo's friend. Chapter 46 Jaada John's mate from killing Jenabo. Chapter 25 Jaanieliea Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Jabo Second man John Killed, Gembo's father and Winna's original mate. Chapter 13 Jajaboto Newly mated man of Jadatako's camp, mated to Jadatako's daughter. Chapter 136 Jack Wild stallion captured in the second group of native horses. Chapter 101 Jadatako Leader of another camp Grotondo trades with on John's behalf. Chapter 135 Jaiya Unmated woman who mates Jonoco. Chapter 33 Jajaboto Newly mated man of Jadatako's camp, mated to Jadatako's daughter. Chapter 136 Jakado Leader of the camp that traded for Raalto's camp's huts. Chapter 83 Jalaato Caato's best man. Chapter 70 Jalayla Woman from Raalto's camp that is good with wounds. Chapter 86 Jalieta Unmated woman who kicked Harto in the stomach when he fainted, becomes one of John's mates. Chapter 46 Jara Barbo's mate. Chapter 24 Jareena Raalto's other original mate. Chapter 71 Jarendo Darbo's friend that John killed in Barago's camp. Chapter 46 Jarto Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 165 Jatalieta Darkato's widow, now Danlo's mate Chapter 101 Jato Expected to become leader after Cardiato's death but doesn't, then is member of group sent by Bortata and Daggalo to attack Johns Camp Chapter 100 Jenabo Jaada's mate that John killed in Caato's camp. Chapter 25 Jenbo Third man John Killed, Gembo's uncle and Waaya's original mate. Chapter 13 Jezebel Quarter Horse mare from Argent. Chapter 100 John Main character. Chapter 1 Jolly Most cooperative of mares trained before leaving for the new camp. Chapter 29 Jonoco Boy John had hold the horses during his first hunt. Chapter 11 Jotollo Member of Bazallto's camp killed by Talvo for beating his mate. Chapter 116 Julieta Bowto's widow. Chapter 89 Kaatea A child of Catteaahta. Chapter 142 Kagatato Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Kalayeata Mate Raalto acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Kapaleia Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Karcoto Spear maker who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Karlieta Neanderthal woman Barago takes as a mate. Chapter 133 Kartogo Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 164 Kartoto Leader of another camp Grotondo goes to trade for women on John's behalf. Chapter 131 Kateata Another of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Keyshatata Deltonto's mate. Chapter 140 Kimonea Mate Racaato acquired during Jakado's fracas. Chapter 93 Kodontolo Leader of another of the Neanderthal camps John trades for women with. Chapter 139 Kota Timboko's former mate, now John's mate. Chapter 122 Ladeliea Woman Georgo mated after lightning struck her mate. Chapter 46 Loreena Dargo's mate. Chapter 68 Maia Merita's younger sister, John's third mate. Chapter 12 Maldo One of two men who came to ask about Roweea's camp joining Gigo's. Chapter 31 Margeeta Woman from the Neanderthal camp who John trades for to become one of his mates. Chapter 121 Melieta Unmated woman who mates Nadlo. Chapter 33 Merita One of the two unmated women John surprises while they picked berries, becomes one of John's first two mates. Chapter 8 Miekadakta Kartogo's mate. Chapter 164 Mundo First spy that John and Racaato caught. Chapter 94 Nadlo Young man who tried to sneak off at night with Jaada. Chapter 31 Natalto Barago's best man and Cahttiea's mate. Chapter 65 Nelda One of the mares John trained from the original group. Chapter 32 Nutaro Dishonorable leader of a neanderthal camp who cheats others wishing to trade, when he tries to cheat John, he learns doing so meant he was tired of living. Chapter 135 Phil Name John gave to the second computer setup. Chapter 77 Prince, King and Rover First wolf cubs John captured. Chapter 8 Raalto Leader of the biggest camp to join John's. Chapter 70 Racaato Barago's other best man and Erieta's mate. Chapter 65 Red Thoroghbred stallion from Argent. Chapter 73 Reeana One of Raalto's original mates. Chapter 71 Rockhead Mare that gave trouble from the second group of wild horses. Chapter 84 Roweea Mate of deceased leader of the first camp to join John's camp after Gigo's camp. Becomes a mate to John. Chapter 39 Sadogo Jakado's man that Dieta questioned. Chapter 94 Sahto One of the unmated boys who ran when John shot Jarendo. Chapter 47 Sally and Jane First two mares trained to pull the wagon. Chapter 6 Saloto Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Saraato Good hunter who joined John's camp from Cardiato's. Chapter 101 Sarboto Member of Grotondo's camp who is like Daago, moves to John's camp. Chapter 128 Sarieta Galto's mate. Chapter 68 Serielto Member of Bazallto's raiding party killed by John's camp. Chapter 112 Shaala The first twin to become one of Danlo's first two mates. Chapter 34 Shabago Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 165 Shallea The second twin to become one of Danlo's first two mates. Chapter 34 Shatalto Member of the four conspirators that plot to kill John. Chapter 167 Shelalliea John's mate and the mother of Shaala and Shallea. Chapter 34 Sulieta Bigglieo's mate from Roweea's camp. Chapter 81 Taaheita Becomes John's mate after Ameliea kills her mate. Chapter 116 Taahrausa Sahto's mother. Chapter 51 Talieia Talvo's mother. Chapter 51 Talvo Other unmated boy who ran when John shot Jarendo. Chapter 47 Timboko Man from Neanderthal camp that tells John he'd like the chance to kill him for his new mates, just before he gets dead. Chapter 121 Tratieta Jadatako's mate. Chapter 136 Tulaarra Mate of Nutaro, she becomes Danlo's mate after he'd killed Nutaro. Chapter 136 Waaya Dergo's mate from John's switch trick, eventually becomes John's mate. Chapter 20 Weeahta Mate of Cardollo, now the mate of Sahto. Chapter 136 Winna Gigo's mate from John's switch trick, bventually becomes John's mate. Chapter 20 Xailieta Widow from Kartoto's camp who John takes as a mate. Chapter 133 Yareela One of the twin daughters of Margeeta, will also become one of John's mates. Chapter 121 Yaroola The other twin daughter of Margeeta, will also become one of John's mates. Chapter 121 Yotalieta Georgo's second mate. Chapter 69 John's Mates Alphabetically Character Description First Appears Ameliea Jakado's mate, becomes John's mate after he kills Jakado. Chapter 87 Dalia Delia's mother, eventually becomes one of John's mates. Chapter 24 Delia John's mate from killing Gembo. Chapter 20 Dieta Dergo's mate and Merita's and Maia's mother, becomes another of John's mates after Dergo's death. Chapter 12 Eileiea Mate of Daldo, now Johns mate. Chapter 122 Geera Gigo's mate and Gema's mother, becomes another of John's mates after Gigo's death. Chapter 9 Gema One of the two unmated women John surprises while they picked berries, Becomes one of John's first two mates. Chapter 8 Jaada John's mate from killing Jenabo. Chapter 25 Jalieta Unmated woman who kicked Harto in the stomach when he fainted, becomes one of John's mates. Chapter 46 Kateata Another of three unmated women living in the hut with Jalieta. Chapter 47 Kota Timboko's former mate, now John's mate. Chapter 122 Maia Merita's younger sister. John's third mate. Chapter 12 Margeeta Woman from the Neanderthal camp who John trades for to become one of his mates. Chapter 121 Merita One of the two unmated women John surprises while they picked berries, becomes one of John's first two mates. Chapter 8 Roweea Mate of deceased leader of the first camp to join John's camp after Gigo's camp, becomes a mate to John. Chapter 39 Shelalliea John's mate and the mother of Shaala and Shallea. Chapter 34 Taaheita Becomes John's mate after Ameliea kills her mate. Chapter 116 Waaya Dergo's mate from John's switch trick, eventually becomes John's mate. Chapter 20 Winna Gigo's mate from John's switch trick, bventually becomes John's mate./td> Chapter 20 Xailieta Widow from Kartoto's camp who John takes as a mate. Chapter 133 Yareela One of the twin daughters of Margeeta, will also become one of John's mates. Chapter 121 Yaroola The other twin daughter of Margeeta, will also become one of John's mates. Chapter 121 ------- Chapter 1 My life sucked. I was fifty-two and recently divorced. My X just got sick of me and I didn't really blame her. No kids, so no child support, at least I missed the monetary outflow. Then I went for my yearly physical. The doctor found a skin cancer. Melanoma. Malignant. I had more tests, some imaging, and they found multiple metastases in my lungs. Things were looking up all around. At least I wouldn't have to worry about my shit life for long. My doctor suggested chemo therapy and radiation, but I suggested something he didn't try either. I called work and quit. I wasn't rich, but I had a lot more money than I could spend before I shuffled off. I spent a couple of days doing nothing, unless you count feeling sorry for myself as something to do. I slept a lot. What a weird dream. I was sitting in a straight-backed chair in a space ship. Fuck me running - it wasn't a dream. A panel in the polished metal wall across from me slid open and someone or something about seven feet tall came through it and sat in the chair across from me. "Well John, it's good to finally meet you. You can call me Argent." "I hope it's going to be good meeting you Argent. I'm just guessing here, but would I happen to be in what we like to refer to as a UFO?" "You are correct." "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I have to ask about Elvis." "Elvis is doing what he does best at The Domain of the King - three sets a night. Did you think Douglas Adams just made it all up?" he asked. "Then I guess I should ask what you want with me. I can't sing a note." "We have transported you here because we would like for you to help us with an experiment. Your singing voice won't enter into it," Argent said. "It had better be a short experiment, rumors of my longevity have been greatly exaggerated." My first thought was This is crazy. Next I felt I should be shitting my pants or something. I'd always assumed there were other types of life in the universe, but I'd never thought I would encounter any of them. I'd assumed if some other form of life were advanced enough to get to Earth they wouldn't find anything here worth coming to see. "We are aware of your disease. It will not be a problem. In fact, if you help us with this experiment we will cure it," he said, oh so matter of factly. Just like that he would cure my cancer? How could I lose - no matter what he wanted me to do? "Maybe you could tell me what you have in mind." "Actually, we want to put you on Earth as it was about forty thousand years ago. We would like to observe your interactions with the people and conditions of the time." Even with the unusual situation I found myself in I was stunned. How were they going to manage this little trick? If I were sent back wouldn't it fuck up everything which had already happened? I guess it didn't really matter to me, but I wondered about it and finally I said so. "Won't I corrupt everything that has come afterwards?" "We won't actually be putting you back on this Earth. We never interfere with the timeline of a planet in this dimension. I can't really give you all the details, and you don't really need them. You will be put on what amounts to a copy of this Earth as it was then," he said. "What could be so important about my interactions with people and things of the time to cause you to create a copy of Earth?" I asked, trying not to sound as stupid as I felt. "We won't be creating it, we will just be taking you to another dimension where a version of Earth in an earlier time exist. I believe it's the best way I can describe it to you. Your life here will appear to end accidentally and then we will take you there and release you. You will be basically on your own after we put you there." There wasn't any real choice for me. I could stay put and die or agree and have a chance to live, so I agreed. "We will make a few modifications to your body before we put you back where you were. We will be curing the disease and restoring your body to the physical condition it was in when you were younger. You will then have two weeks to gather supplies and equipment you decide you will need to help you get started in your new life. "A total of three thousand pounds of anything you want to carry will be allowed. We will provide you with the means to purchase anything you want. If there is something you want and cannot obtain through normal means within the two weeks we will construct it for you - as long as it doesn't require anything which is currently beyond Earth's technology," Argent said. "Such as?" "I'm sorry, but we will not help you with decisions about what you might need. I can tell you another three thousand pounds of supplies of your choice will be provided once every year," Argent said, explaining. "When do we start?" "We can start now. Please come with me." The panel he'd first come through opened again and I followed him into another room. He had me lie on a table and then placed a type of helmet over my head. The lights went out for me right away. ------- The sun was rising when I woke in my own bed. There was a sheet of paper on my bedside table and I picked it up to take a look. It was a note from Argent. He explained I was now in excellent physical condition and I should probably prepare for my departure. There was an airline ticket, and an explanation the plane was going to be destroyed in flight by terrorist. I was to be on it. Supposedly I would be removed before being hurt and a copy of my body would be left to insure nothing was suspected. The message explained if I didn't want to go through with things I could just avoid boarding the plane and I would be returned to my former state of health. In other words, if I bailed on them the cancer would be put right back where it had been. Basically it meant, Do what you agreed to or we'll kill you. It was kind of a harsh penalty for non-performance if you asked me. In the kitchen, I cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast. After eating I showered and dressed. I was surprised to find another message from Argent in one of my bureau drawers, and the wad of new credit cards with my name on them were even more of a jolt, not to mention the twenty thousand dollars in cash. The message said the cards would never be rejected for any amount and he'd be in touch. I intended to start deciding what I'd need to take at once. I went to my study and sat down at the desk, opening a.txt document and starting a list. This turned into a miniature research project, Googling the net for ideas and listing item after item. Around two thirty I had a ham sandwich and a Lone Star Long Neck - then it was back to the list for another hour or so. A little later I decided I'd done enough for one day. I showered, shaved, and dressed like the cowboy I was at heart. It was time for a break to see if I could get laid in my new body. Since it was only about four in the afternoon I had time to try out the credit cards to see if they really worked as advertized. I went to the Mercedes dealership and bought a CL600 coupe. It was nice to be rich, even if it wasn't going to last. It was nearly six before the papers were finished and the car was mine. I got in and pointed it to Johnny Cace's - the best restaurant in Longview. I had a rare steak, paid with my new plastic, and left - pointing the Mercedes toward the Reo Palm Isle. The Reo is one of the oldest Honky Tonks in Texas. It was once described as the best place in town to meet a lonely doctor's wife during the day. I figured a Wednesday night wouldn't be bad either. A little after eight PM I walked in. I thought I was probably a couple of hours early, but I had time to spare again. There were quite a few women here already and I noticed there weren't many men yet. The band wouldn't start for another hour, but they had a DJ. I grabbed a table and didn't have long to wait for service. I ordered a Pearl and tipped the waitress well when she brought it. I was a little surprised when a nice looking blonde got up from a table with four other women, walked over to me, and ask me to dance. I was happy to. Cheryl was younger than me, but due to Argent's machinations I looked younger and she thought I was. She was in her mid thirties. She had blue eyes and moderate breasts. She wasn't carrying any extra weight and I wondered about her coming over and asking me to dance. "You did come in looking for a little fun didn't you?" Cheryl asked, as the DJ started a buckle polishing slow one. "As a matter of fact I did." "Well hold me closer and let's get started. We happen to have all night but why waste time?" I've always tried to respect women's wishes so I pulled her up to me and dropped my hands to her cute round ass for a squeeze. She hugged me closer, pressing her breasts into my chest. Her straightforward manner and welcoming body had my newly restored dick hard in minutes. She was now nibbling at my neck as I gave her buns a thorough exploration. I pressed my hardon to her and she ground slightly against it, sighing. "How much fun do you intend to have?" I asked. "All you have the strength for. Why don't we just go to your place?" "No reason not to I can think of," I said, and walked with her to the table where her friends were. Cheryl retrieved her purse, said goodnight to her friends, and we left. She was impressed with my new car and said so. I told her it was a gift from a wealthy uncle. "Maybe I should meet him?" Cheryl said, teasing. "I'll see if I can arrange it if you'd like, but not tonight," I said, laughing to myself at the thought. ------- Chapter 2 Setting out to get laid seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. There was no rush and plenty of the Alien's money to spend, so why not? It just felt a little odd to me now. This could very well be my last time to have sex in this life. Dying wasn't on my mind anymore thanks to Argent, but my next move would definitely be into a new life. It gave me a creepy little feeling. I shook it off. Cheryl was a good-looking and seemingly nice woman. It had been a no hassle pickup all the way, a rarity for me. We talked about nothing really on the way to my place and when we got there we had a glass of wine and settled onto the couch to snuggle and get acquainted. We finished our wine and almost flowed together after setting the glasses aside. Cheryl's breath was surprisingly sweet and her lips and tongue were active as we kissed. It was early and my time tomorrow was as free as could be. Not feeling rushed to get with it or lose out I spent a lot of time kissing and nibbling, and my efforts seemed to be well receifed. Small sighs and hummings let me know she liked my attentions and her hands toying in my hair urged me on. The next morning, after breakfast, I drove Cheryl home. We had a nice goodbye at her house. She gave me her number and asked me to call her sometime. I told her I'd like to, but I would be leaving town for an extended trip soon. I promised to call her before I left and at the time I intended to. I went back home and worked on my list again. It occurred to me after a while I would be better able to prepare if I knew where I was going. I didn't have any idea how to contact Argent and now I wished I did. I assumed he would be getting in touch with me sooner or later. I was online looking over web sites, poring over catalogs, and filling shopping carts. The computer made a knocking sound and an ICQ message popped up onscreen. This was a little strange because I knew I didn't have ICQ installed. The message was from Argent. "John, it seems you have a question for me," Argent's message said. "Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me where I will be going. It would help if I had some idea of the terrain and the weather patterns and such," I typed. My Microsoft Streets 98 program opened itself and I noticed it now included information for Europe. I was sure Microsoft hadn't put it in there, for as I zoomed no street details appeared. No cities showed up either. "It is the information about your destination John, there are no cities or streets. You will notice a large area has been indicated. Any place in the area will be allowed for your first location. The map information is much more detailed than what you are accustomed to. You will be able to zoom in and find nearly complete details about everything, even as detailed as the campsites of your new neighbors. You can examine caves which are present and you will be able to tell if they are occupied or not," Argent typed back. "I also had a question about things I can't find or which don't meet my specifications. You said you could produce anything within our technology. How will it be done? Do I have to provide detailed specifications for these items?" I asked. "No, you need only provide your specific requirements. Any details you do provide will be adhered to. Any details you omit will be engineered by us to meet your requirements." "Good. I think we're straight now and I have enough information to continue. May I contact you via this method if I have other questions?" I asked. "Yes, I will always be available." I was happy he had contacted me, but wasn't so sure he was going to be. Many of the things I was planning on acquiring could be improved upon greatly if their design could be advanced to the limit of earth's current technology. For instance, I intended to take a small fuel cell. None I'd found were really designed for my specific needs, namely low power output for an extended time with minimum fuel use. I'd already discovered larger models were more efficient because higher cost advantages could be used. No one would pay ten thousand bucks for a fuel cell with the specifications I wanted. Argent's escape clause for me would get me exactly what I wanted no matter what the design and manufacturing cost. I knocked off list making and began exploring the area on the map. I kept thinking even though it didn't look like modern day Europe it was vaguely familiar. I wondered where I had seen it before. I found I could right click on a spot and get detailed explanations of any point of interest. I found what seemed to be a campsite and checking further I saw it was currently being occupied by Cro-Magnons. The text told me nine men, twelve women, and eight children were in residence. More looking around let me find another inhabited area twenty or so miles away and across a small river. The main feature of this spot was a large cave and I found I could look inside. It was much larger inside than I'd expected. I could see where cooking fires were placed and it was evident which areas were for sleeping. No inhabitants were depicted in the map though. Checking for text information told me Neanderthals were using this site and there were twelve men, eighteen women and ten children. Until now I had been planning for my adventure in a lackadaisical manner. I understood my new existence depended on what I brought with me, but I hadn't really tried to visualize what life would be like for me. Finding there were going to be other humans in the area brought home the fact I was going to be interacting with them. I hoped the interactions would be peaceful, but decided I should make some preparations incase things didn't turn out according to my hopes. I would have no trouble securing adequate defensive weapons for myself. I would be at a disadvantage however, because I would be alone. I would have to sleep sometimes, even if the others were hostile and they would have numbers on their side. I had to be able to secure a safe place which couldn't be attacked while I slept. This was going to be a problem. I clicked on the messaging program to contact Argent. "Argent, will I be allowed to take living things with me?" I typed. "No John, no living things other than you will be allowed. Why, did you want to take a female?" he asked. "A female wasn't what I had in mind, but since you brought it up it would have been nice. What I was wondering about was a dog. I was thinking having a dog would give me some warning if something were creeping up on me at night. The experiment won't last long if some of the locals slip up and kill me while I sleep." "It is something you should consider John, but you won't be able to take a dog with you. You are the only living thing we are authorized to transfer. I'm sure you will come up with an alternative," he said. Now I had a new mission and I knew it should be taken seriously. My arrival on the scene was sure to cause consternation on the part of those already there. I was afraid their first response would be to see if I was easily killed. I felt other forms of interaction would only come later. This new information caused me to shift the focus of my shopping. I had been intending to try and include enough preserved food in my weight allotment to make sure I could eat for a year without having to bother with hunting or gathering food. I scrapped the stored food plan and switched my thinking more toward the lines of a shelter which couldn't be penetrated with the tools or weapons of the time. As I thought about things in more detail I realized it would have to be mobile and it should be able to hold not only my person, but also all the things I would have with me. I was at a loss at first, because I thought it would need to be made of steel to be strong enough. Steel would make it much too heavy. If it were made of aluminum I could probably fit it in weight wise, but aluminum would be too soft and could probably be broken into with a determined effort. The answer came to me shortly. Titanium would be perfect. The cost wouldn't matter to me and it would be even stronger than steel. If done correctly it could even be made to float in case I needed to cross a river. I began making a few sketches of what I needed and started rolling the thing over in my head. I finally decided to ask for an eight by twelve foot titanium wagon with sides three foot tall and a top which could be made water tight upon closing. I'd let Argent work out the details, I'd just tell him what I wanted it to do. I would have to pick a spot to set up and stay until I could catch and train a couple of horses to pull it. They would be another job and a half themselves. I had trained and broken horses before and it wasn't out of the question. I had never tried to catch a completely wild horse for training though. I was sure it would be much more difficult than training a horse raised for the purpose. Well, I'd have plenty of time if the natives didn't kill me. While I was thinking of catching and training horses to pull my soon to be titanium wagon it came to me why the map looked familiar. It showed territory similar to the description from Jean Auel's book The Valley of the Horses. In fact the area designated for my occupation included a scene similar to my imagination of what Ayla's imaginary valley was like. I could only hope my luck there was as good as hers had been. It would be nice to find a cave located near a mostly calm river with a herd of horses handy. At least I knew for sure I wouldn't need to dig any pit traps. I started wondering if I was going to find an Ayla when I got there, but gave up on the notion pretty quick. I doubted if the ancient women were as beautiful as Jean had made them, besides if I did find Ayla I'd have to kill Jondalar and it would surely piss her off. I went back to examining the map. It was hard to believe the detail. It even showed game trails and trails the humans made. I could examine cliffs and canyons and caves when I found them. I was looking for a cave large enough for a temporary home and also large enough to get my wagon into. I wanted to find a spot which looked likely so I could check the map out thoroughly before I got there. I hoped I was going to be able to keep the map software. I was making plans to take a computer with me. It was one of the reasons for wanting the fuel cell for power. I also intended to take all the information about living in the wild I could find. This thinking led me to another little job for Argent and his minions. I might just let them furnish the computer equipment and the data. They could do it a hell of a lot easier than I could and could furnish me with hardware and software right up to the limit of what could be had. I spent the next ten days finding what I wanted and needed and poring over the map. I pointed out to Argent the things I thought he should provide and to my surprise he agreed. I spent a few hours with one of his technicians discussing the details. Two days before I was to board the plane I called Cheryl and asked her out for dinner and a little dancing. We had a great time and she spent the night again. After breakfast the next morning I sat her down in my living room and told her I was leaving and would be gone for a long time. I said I had a bad feeling about it and wondered if I would ever be coming back. We boohooed together and when it was time for her to go I gave her the keys to the CL600 and signed the title over to her. She was speechless, but I finally convinced her I meant it and she was still crying as she left. At least someone would be happy about something. Actually I was feeling pretty good myself. All my supplies were already aboard the vessel. I drove my old truck to DFW and took a hotel room at the airport. I got a little drunk the night before my scheduled departure and when I boarded the plane I was hung over. I tried my best not to look around at the other passengers. I had a seat in first class so I wouldn't have to see how many would be meeting a fiery death shortly. Luckily there were only assholes in the first class seating. Mostly lard ass businessmen. There was one pretty good looking red head with a nice set of tits and I was getting ready to feel bad about her fate when she turned around, gave me a go to hell look, and mumbled something about the kind of low life trash who could afford a first class ticket nowadays. I wondered what she would be thinking as she fell with the flaming wreckage later. ------- Chapter 3 I tried to relax as the plane took off. I really didn't know what to expect or when to expect it. It was all normal to the other passengers and I had to try and act like it was normal for me too. After we reached our altitude the seat belt sign went off. I unbuckled and when the attendant came by I asked for a beer. The red head must have developed a fascination with watching poor people, as she obviously considered me. I could barely hear her snide comment about me asking for beer just before the attendant reached her. Of course she had to have champagne. Good, I thought to myself. A toast for the dying. Two more beers and about an hour and a half later I sensed Argent's voice in my head. "Sit back and pretend to fall asleep John. It's nearly time." My heart lurched in my chest and I could feel the sweat start in my armpits. I leaned back and tried to pretend sleep, but I knew anyone paying any real attention to me would be able to tell I was faking. They were all going to die so I don't guess it really mattered. I felt a strong shock to the plane and suddenly it seemed to dive to the left and sharply down. The red head had just started in with a loud scream as I materialized in the chair in the room with polished metal walls. "I hope it wasn't too stressful John," Argent said. "Just the tension and the expectation of doom really. The actual events were anticlimactic. I suppose I would feel differently if I were still on the plane." "Indeed. The plane will not strike the ground for another twenty seconds. I'm sure there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth inside it now," he said. "You didn't make it explode just for my getaway did you?" I asked, I had to. "No. It was as we told you. A bomb was planted on it by terrorist. If, for some reason, it hadn't exploded we would have had to find another way to cover your exit," Argent said. "You could have stopped it if you wanted to?" I asked, somewhat accusingly. "That would have been within our capabilities, but we don't interfere in anything which isn't absolutely necessary for us. The plane would have been lost even without your presence. It was just a convenient circumstance for our purposes," Argent said, explaining. "What happens now?" "We would like for you to return to the table for some final adjustments to your body." "What type of adjustments?" "We will effectively be making you younger. We will also modify your immune system to eliminate the possibility of you becoming ill or of you infecting those you will come into contact with. Many diseases from your time would be devastating here and now. We are quite familiar with human diseases and their appearance would not serve any purpose in our experiment," he said. "How long until I'm released?" "It can be as soon as three hours. We can delay it for as much as forty-eight hours if you feel the need to rest or if you want to reconsider your supplies or even if you want to reconsider taking part. I should warn you, when you are released you will no longer be allowed to opt out," he said. "Oh, I'm in for the duration now. In fact I'm actually looking forward to it. There's nothing like the alternative of a slow lingering death to make a project seem appealing." He led me back through the sliding wall panel and I mounted the table again and put on the helmet. I was out of it instantly. I came back later, but I didn't know how much time had passed. Removing the helmet let me get off the table. Looking at myself in one of the polished panels surprised me. It appeared my age was around twenty or twenty-one. My height was the same as it had been. I was much heavier and more muscular though. I estimated my weight was now around two-twenty and I didn't appear to be carrying any fat at all. "How long now Argent?" I asked. "Anytime you are ready John. Do you want to reconsider your supplies?" Argent asked. "I think I should take a last look. Do you have a list handy?" "Yes. Here it is." Argent said, and handed me a printout. "We thought you might be more comfortable going over an actual printed list." "Thanks." I spent three hours going over the list and trying to think of anything else I might need. When I'd finished I told Argent I was ready. "There is one difficulty waiting for you on the surface John. Hyenas currently occupy the cave you selected. There are six of them in it consuming two young horses they killed this morning. If we put you and your wagon inside the cave we estimate you will not be able to retrieve and load a weapon from the wagon before you are attacked by the hyenas and probably killed. Would you like for us to put you somewhere else?" I thought about this for a minute. I had spent a lot of time looking over the map and I knew this was the best location of any in the specified area. I didn't want to put the wagon outside the cave because it would be a real bitch trying to move it inside by myself. "Do all of the supplies have to be transferred inside the wagon?" I asked. "No. There is no such requirement." "Good, let me take a few with me and put the wagon inside the cave as planned. Put me down outside the cave right here," I said, pointing to a spot on the map. "Very well. You may proceed to the wagon and remove the things you think you will need." Argent led me through a couple of corridors and to a large open room containing my new wagon. It was the first time I'd actually seen it and I spent a minute or two looking it over. The workmanship impressed me. I was about to open the top and start digging for what I wanted when Argent pointed out I could just tell them what I needed and they would transport it out without the need to search for it. I requested a pair of high top hunting boots. Some jeans, a long sleeved denim shirt, underwear, and so on. Also I asked for a pair of gloves and my alien modified model 1100 Remington 12 gauge and ammunition. The only modification to the shotgun besides having it lightened by using titanium and synthetics everywhere possible was extending the magazine. There was no three-shell limit here and the Remington now held eight in its magazine. I also had them fetch my low light goggles. I had specified the wagon have a very loud alarm horn with motion sensors for triggers. I asked Argent to put me down first and then set my wagon in the cave five minutes later. I dressed, loaded the shotgun and signaled I was ready. Suddenly I was in a small clump of bushes about two hundred yards from the mouth of the cave. I took a quick look around and headed toward it. I stopped just outside the mouth and waited for the alarm. The wagon must have appeared right on time. The alarm sounded loudly and in seconds frightened hyenas were dashing out. I was able to down each of them as they came out. I waited until the alarm stopped, put on the low light goggles and entered the cave. Jesus it smelled bad in here. Apparently this was a regular meal-time hangout for the hyenas. There were bones, tattered hides, and hyena shit everywhere. I would have to clean the place out before I could hope to stay in it. I opened the wagon top and thought about what I'd need first. Illumination. A little light on the subject. The fuel cell was in the right rear corner of the wagon. Just outside the wagon from it was a socket to place a twelve-foot by one-inch titanium tube I could use for a light post. I fished it out and attached the super efficient florescent light fixture the Aliens had provided. After setting it up, and plugging it in there was light. I found my yard broom, my rake, a square point shovel, and retrieved them. I had to laugh for a few seconds. Here I was forty thousand years ago with a yard broom and a rake which would have cost at least two thousand dollars each in the world I'd left. I'd found I could save a lot of weight by substituting titanium for steel where ever I could. It took nearly three hours to get rid of the stinking rotting shitty mess, but the smell didn't leave with the refuse. I decided a fire would be the best cure. Near the entrance, but back far enough to be out of any wind looked like a good place to me. I rummaged around outside and was able to find enough rocks to make a nice circular fireplace. Next I needed something to burn. I took an axe and a bow saw with me and found a dead fall cedar which had dried out but wasn't rotten yet. By the time I'd cut enough wood to matter I was cursing myself for not asking the aliens for a chainsaw which would run on water. It took several trips to carry the wood back to my cave but I soon had a small fire in the pit. It wasn't needed for warmth but I was hoping it would at least mask the stench. Back outside the cave I went, taking the shotgun with me. I wanted to look around a little. I also had a Glock on me in a cross draw holster, right in front of my belt buckle. I'd brought the low light goggles in a pouch at my side and I also had probably the finest pair of binoculars ever produced. The particular area I was in was composed of scattered canyons that relieved a practically flat floor. There were scattered small forest around and it was just to the north of a fairly large steppe like plain. While I was out I ranged no further than a half mile from my camp. I used the glasses on each small high spot I came to and watched closely for any sign of humans, but didn't see a one. I was a little more than ten miles from a Cro-Magnon settlement and about twelve miles in the other direction from a Neanderthal cave. I knew I would have to make contact with both eventually but I wanted to do it after I'd had a little more time to prepare my home. Knowing I needed to get started on a couple of important projects in the morning sent me in to warm a little supper and then sleep. I smiled to myself again as I warmed a fifty cent can of Ranch Style beans in what would have surely been at least a five hundred dollar titanium pan. I completed the meal with a not quite delicious Salisbury steak which had been sterilized with radiation so it didn't require refrigeration. Yum. Inflating my air mattress in the center of the wagon and unrolling my sleeping bag was next. I removed a few of the screw in plugs in the sides of the wagon and turned on a tiny exhaust fan to insure I didn't suffocate in the night, then I closed the wagon's top back down and locked it from the inside. I'd banked the fire and set the light to come back on if the motion sensor activated. I'd also turned down the alarm's volume significantly. Thankfully my rest went undisturbed and looking out one of the ventilation holes let me know the sun was on its way up when I woke. I opened the wagon, dressed, and got out. When it was fully light outside I went out to water a bush. My original plan included eating from my supplies for the first few days at least, but when I stepped out of the cave I saw a large deer feeding not more than two hundred yards from me. I went back to the wagon and retrieved my Alien improved M1. It was basically an M1 30-06, but It's stock was synthetic and its barrel was stainless steel. I'd also had the aliens modify it to use removable magazines similar to those used by an M16. They held twenty cartridges instead of the M1's normal eight rounds and it no longer had to be loaded through the receiver with those thumb-busting clips. Now the magazine could just be changed by releasing an empty and replacing it with a full one. It sported a four to ten power scope too. I took a rest on the side of the cave entrance and dropped the deer with one shot. After taking a leak I went to the deer, dragging it back near the cave and stringing it up for cleaning in a tree near the entrance. I gutted and skinned it then left it hanging to cool a little. I'd have to keep an eye out for more hyenas and other scavengers until I found a good place to put it, but I just couldn't pass up the fortunate gift of fresh meat. Next I intended to look for something I'd wanted to bring with me, but wasn't allowed to. While I'd been studying the map in preparation I'd located several places marked as wolf dens. The time of year was right for young pups just now and capturing a couple to tame and train was high on my list of things to do. A couple of tame wolves would be a lot of help, not to mention company. I had Ayla to thank again for the idea. Now though, it looked like staying close today and trying to get started plugging that big hole at the front of my new home was the order of the day. There were small, relatively straight trees nearby and getting enough of them to the entrance to frame up for a stockade type front wall wasn't a problem. A door large enough for the wagon to exit wasn't in my plans. By the time traveling in the wagon was in order I could just cut out enough wall to leave. Framing up the wall, building the door and hanging it was done before dark. Tomorrow would be soon enough to finish covering the wall. Bringing the deer carcass inside, I cut off a haunch to cook. A small grill over the fire gave me a place to put the meat for cooking. While the meat was on I finished cutting up the rest. Later I warmed up some more beans and had them with the venison. It beat hell out of an irradiated Salisbury steak. I banked the fire again and then shut myself up in the wagon to sleep. The alarm woke me three times during the night. I never did get a peek at what set if off so I figured the fire, the light, and the noise was doing a good job of scaring creatures off. ------- Chapter 4 The sun was just making its appearance as I got out of the wagon this morning. Dragging on some clothes and heading out for a convenient bush was my first order of the day. The thirty ought six wasn't left behind, but there was no gimme prey in sight as I pissed on a handy tree. Back in the cave and mending the fire led to my coffee pot perking. The first cup of coffee on this earth was on its way. Capturing and training a few wolf cubs was still on my mind, but finishing the wall and door to close my cave took priority. I needed to be able to secure my new home during my absences, especially since there was fresh meat inside now. The fresh meat had surely attracted my tentative visitors during the night and it would only get worse. The wall building was slow going since my supply of nails was small. Nails were heavy and my request for them hadn't been a generous one. In fact those I'd brought weren't suitable for nailing the small trimmed tree trunks to the new wall's framing. Also they would just get loose when the wood shrunk as it dried. Using wire to lash the wall together would let me come back later and tighten it more easily. Wall building was strenuous work but not mentally taxing. It left me time to consider my next building project. My perusal of the map let me know the opening about three hundred yards from my cave led into a fairly large blind canyon. The mouth of the canyon was only about two hundred yards wide but it gave access to nearly two hundred enclosed acres. There were a few trees growing in it and most of the ground cover was different kinds of grasses. Horses often ventured into it to graze. There was a small stream flowing out of it now. The map told me it had water flowing year round except for the times during winter when it was frozen. I intended to close off the canyon's opening as soon as there were some horses in it. It would take a strong fence, but once the canyon could be closed, building a capture pen to take possession of a couple for training would be much easier. It would take a lot of time, but time was plentiful for me now. It came to me even with the wall in place sneak thieves would probably try to dig under it, so I retrieved one of the two solar powered electric fence chargers the Aliens had provided. There'd been plenty of these commercially available, but having experience with them had taught me those units often failed after a couple of months. The Alien's work would surely be better. It took only a few minutes to put a small electric fence wire at the bottom of the wall. I doubted any varmint would make a second try at digging under it. The wall was finished by mid afternoon. Taking the binoculars and my thirty-ought-six I headed up into the canyon for a little exploration. Entering it showed all but a few spots were visible from the opening. Near the back wall there were fourteen grown horses, six yearlings, and nine foals. This would be plenty for me to catch a couple or three for use so I turned right back around and headed for my tools. The remainder of the day and most of the next was spent felling and trimming trees for post and rails. The next day I intended to start on the fence but checking the small canyon first let me see the horses had left during the night. Well shit. There was no help for it now though. I'd just have to wait for some to come back. There was no need to build a fence after the horses were gone. Back in my cave I dressed for exploring, and headed out looking for wolf cubs. The third spot on my mental list proved to have a den with pups. Observing from some high ground nearly five hundred yards away showed me there were five pups outside playing among themselves. They looked to be between eight and twelve weeks old. My approach sent them scurrying into their den to hide. Assembling my large alien made tender trap about thirty yards from the den and baiting it with some of the deer meat was next. I tied the meat securely to the trap and backed off. In about an hour the pups came back out, drawn by the smell of the meat. Soon three were in the trap fighting over the meat. Springing the trap by its remote control gave me possession of the pups. The others beat a retreat back into the den on my next approach. The three trapped pups set up a howling fuss about their situation and soon two adult females and one male made an appearance. I didn't want to kill the adults since I knew it would mean the other cubs would starve. The cubs in the trap were leaving with me though even if all the rest had to die. The adults gathered around the trap trying to find a way to release the pups, but of course there wasn't a way they could. Putting the thirty ought six over my shoulder by its sling and taking out the Glock I moved toward the trap with confidence. Soon the adults were approaching me snarling and growling. When they were within fifty feet a couple of rounds from the Glock into the dirt near them scared them off. The loud noise and the stinging dirt kicked up convinced them to leave. They wanted to protect the cubs but instinctively they knew getting killed protecting them was not an efficient means of survival. The trap had wheels on one end. All I had to do was take hold of the other end and leave, trailing the trap benind me. Keeping a close watch for a return of the adults showed me one of the females had come back out of hiding and started toward me. A round from the Glock sent her back. Hopefully they wouldn't follow my scent trail to the cave later. Entering the cave with the trap pointed up a dilemma of my own making. I hadn't prepared a suitable pen for the pups. It would only be needed for a few days but it would be necessary for a while at least. It was nearing sunset so they would have to spend the first night in the trap. The deer's hide went in with them to sleep and chew on. Some of the deer meat went in for their supper and a pan of water finished their accommodations. It was time for my own supper and after eating and a minor clean up my wagon found a place for me to sleep. Wanting any uninvited visitors to find out about electricity caused me to leave the alarm deactivated. Some of the wolves must have trailed me because the electric fence got a workout. Three of them found it before sleep claimed me and six more loud yelps woke me during the night. Every yelp in the night woke me and caused me to smile to myself. Sleeping past sunrise the next morning left me feeling refreshed when I finally woke and got out of the wagon. I felt good even though there had been plenty of wake ups during the night. After dressing I opened the door, went out to shake hands with shorty and then returned to my cave to make a fire and fix a little breakfast. Later, putting on some gloves, closing the door, and turning on the big light inside let me get the pups out of their cage one at a time to feed them from my hand and then spend about thirty minutes each just calming and stroking them. After putting them in the cage again I got to work building a pen for them out of smaller trees. When the pen was done it was about twelve feet by twenty feet and thirty inches high. I put their deer hide bed and water pan in the pen then they got to move in. They spent nearly an hour looking all around it for a way out and then seemed to lose interest. They all found the water pan and after about another hour tussling with each other they lay down on the deer hide for a nap. Around noon I went to the mouth of the canyon with the thirty ought six and my binoculars checking to see if any of the horses had returned. They hadn't, so after a light lunch I spent the rest of the afternoon getting more small timber for fence post and rails. Knocking off a little before sunset let me spend another hour and a half hand feeding the cubs and letting them get accustomed to me handling them. Closing up tonight I set the alarm again hoping to cut down on the yelps in the night. After a little supper it was me and my wagon for a while. Sleep was slow in coming and I spent some time thinking about what it was going to take to make a life here worth living. The first few days had been occupied with things which needed doing right away. There were still a few similar projects to get started, but my own company was beginning to get old. Well it was better than a coffin. Conditions would be better for meeting the locals in another week or two. Right now preparations for my long-term survival had to come first. I knew if it came down to it the cubs and the horses weren't necessary for survival, but I also knew they would make things much easier. The native people here had been getting along for thousands of years without domesticating any animals, but having the benefit of later knowledge let me know I'd be al lot better off and could get along much easier with them and I was determined to have some. I finally drifted off and surprisingly wasn't disturbed all night. Sunrise had me out of the wagon, dressed, and warming some breakfast. After eating I fed and handled the cubs for about an hour then dressed and walked off into the canyon looking for horses again. Still none around. I already had plenty of materials for the fence to block off the canyon mouth and didn't really have anything else planned for the day except for a couple of hours of handling the cubs. I decided to take the binoculars and a spotting scope and get on some higher ground to look around. My cave was in an extension of the canyon wall. Exploring around it I found I could climb it fairly easily though it would be a steep trek to reach the upper ground nearly two hundred feet above the canyon floor. I wanted to look around badly though so up I went. Forty-five minutes later, out of breath and a little tired I struggled up onto the higher level. Laying there for ten minutes or so until my wind returned. When I felt rested I sat up and looked around with the glasses. Unlike the valley floor there were no trees apparent up here. Just grassland stretching as far as I could see. This was a type of territory unfamiliar to me. It was basically on two distinct levels. The far reaching grassland I was now on and the river valley below. The wind was blowing up here and though it wasn't really strong just now, it was noticeable. Looking down from the edge let me see the valley was extensive as the river led it off toward the southwest. Though it widened as it went and I could see for three or more miles in some places no trace of smoke was visible anywhere. It made sense because I knew from the map my nearest neighbors lived on the lower valley level. They were also several miles away and if their fires were making much smoke it would dissipate in the stronger wind as it rose. I did spot the small group of horses which had been in the blind canyon a couple of days ago. They were just in sight three or so miles upriver. They were grazing lazily, but I couldn't tell if they were tending toward or away from me at this distance. I examined the valley closely off toward the southwest. Scattered wildlife, deer mostly, and a couple of large cattle types I assumed to be aurochs were in sight. I would probably need some more meat soon and the idea of taking an aurochs had its appeal. The idea of dragging it back to the cave without help didn't have any appeal though. Deer, and smaller ones at that would be my source of meat for the near future. Descending to the valley floor again I returned to my cave and spent another hour with the cubs, feeding them and letting them get accustomed to me. They were not nearly so skittish around me now and I hoped I would be commonplace to them in another day or two so their training could begin. After eating I packed my backpack with a lightweight tent and an ultra efficient sleeping bag. A large canteen and enough dried food for a couple of days were included. An overnight trip wasn't in my plans, but getting caught without food or water wasn't either. Filling the water bowl for the pups and giving them a large chunk of the deer had them set for my absence and I locked the door on my way out after setting the alarm. My path was off to the southwest, generally following the river. I stayed near the canyon walls or in the small park like forests areas. Not wanting to announce my presence to anyone that might be watching kept me away from open spaces. Taking my time I traveled slowly since there was no particular destination I needed to reach. The trip and the sightseeing were what interested me. My leisurly pace still let me cover around two and a half miles an hour while heading generally toward the campsite of the Cro-Magnons. I didn't intend to let them see me, but it was time to make sure there really were other humans here. In a little underbrush tangled area of trees near the edge of a valley wall I stopped to look around and make sure there was nothing to blunder into ahead. My location was probably about five or five and a half miles from my cave, about halfway between it and the Cro-Magnon campsite. Scanning my intended direction of travel showed me something moving. Looking closer it wasn't animals but a few people. They were near the edge of the valley on the other side and nearly a half-mile from me. My heart rate jumped. This was my first sighting of humans. I kept the glasses on them and counted seven. There were three men and they were spread out as they moved up the valley slowly. They seemed to be alternately studying the ground and then lifting their gaze to take in what was before them. They were tracking, or trying to. The four women were about a hundred and fifty yards behind the men. They were spread out also but not as widely. All of them seemed to be fairly heavily burdened, as if they were bringing plenty with them. The men and the women were carrying a slim but longish spear in one hand with the other hand free. They were either hunting or traveling damned carefully. The man closest to me looked up and seemed to be looking right at me. Keeping perfectly still let me remain unnoticed and he looked away after a minute. He moved closer toward and then to the edge of the river, always watching the ground, but also paying attention to where he was going. He was heading toward a spot where a smaller stream, coming from the east, joined the river. When he got near it he gave the ground a cursory examination and then looked back up into the valley the smaller stream was flowing out of. He kept staring in that direction and I finally turned the glasses that way too. Even with the aid of the binoculars it was difficult for me to locate the lone figure in the edge of a small woods nearly two miles up the smaller valley. I was pretty sure the man near me couldn't see him at all. Between the man up the valley and the one at the river were five of the large deer, megaceros. One of them was very large and had an astounding set of antlers. Two were a little smaller and two were obviously very young. They were grazing slowly down the valley. The man near the river turned and got the attention of the others with him. He motioned toward the eastern edge of the valley, near the opening for the smaller valley, and then he moved slowly in that direction and I saw that the others had started moving also. They all seemed to be moving toward a small wooded area at the corner where the two valleys came together. I thought about it for a while and decided they were in fact hunting and the lone man had probably taken a different route so he could come down the small valley and haze any game he found before him. I moved back further into the trees but still watched. It soon became clear my guess had been correct. The seven near me met at the corner and all dropped the packs they'd been carrying. They were closer now and I could see they weren't as heavily laden as I'd thought. They all carried large pack frame type arrangements made of small wooden shafts lashed together, but there was hardly anything attached to them except for a fur or two which I assumed were for clothing or sleeping. After shedding their loads they all dropped to the ground and began moving slowly out into the path the deer would later have to take if they continued. They moved slowly and soon the only way for me to tell where they were was when the grasses moved from their passing. They were good at it and the grasses didn't move much. As time slid by I could see that the man up the small valley had begun to move more purposely. The deer had noticed him and were now raising their heads more often and looking in his direction. There was also a breeze coming from him toward them and I assumed they had his scent now. It was obvious the hunters were counting on the smaller stream to make the deer trend down toward the ambush they were planning and it did. The man up the valley was moving just enough to make the deer move without causing them to panic and run. I could no longer locate any of the hidden hunters. I assumed they were in place and were keeping still waiting for the game to get in range. Apparently the man up valley could tell where his companions were better than I could. It was nearly an hour later and the deer were getting close to where I estimated the hunters were lying in wait. Suddenly the man up the valley shouted out loudly. All the deer turned nervously to look at him and as they did the other hunters jumped to their feet seemingly among the deer. Spears flew quickly and all the deer jumped, all seemed mortally wounded except the large male. It had been hit with what I assumed would be a fatal spear but while I could tell it had penetrated deeply I could also tell it wasn't going to keep the large male from running off. Almost at once the buck turned up and made a bound toward the direction I had come down. He was about to jump across the small stream and try to get away. I had the thirty ought six in my hands and before I thought I put it to my shoulder and finished the buck with it. What a fuckup. ------- Chapter 5 Just as I pulled the trigger I realized the muzzle blast would be something unknown to any of the hunters. Thankfully I had the sense to remain still after the shot. I didn't dare move. By straining my eyes around I could tell all the hunters were looking around trying to see where the noise had come from. Luckily all the canyon walls around here had probably disguised the direction. I was also lucky there was plenty of underbrush around me. Finally, after much mumbling among themselves the hunters turned back to their tasks of finishing off the prey and then set to cleaning it. They left the large buck for last, seeming afraid to approach it for a while. They did eventually though. It must have been about an hour or so after I'd shot the large buck. The man I took to be the leader of the hunting party and the man who flushed the game down the small valley sucked up their nerve and approached the large buck. They touched it tentatively at first, but finally set to gutting and then skinning it. As they finished a shout came from down the main valley and with the glasses I could see more people approaching. Two more men and four more women were coming to join those already here. When the new arrivals came up everyone gathered and I assumed they were greeting each other. It seemed they were speaking, but I wasn't close enough to be sure. Soon they all went to work packing their fresh meat onto pack frames. They had cut the deer up into manageable sizes and were preparing to leave. A few were washing out intestines and such, but soon they finished and I could tell they intended to pack everything back to their camp tonight. It was nearing sunset when they bundled up and left. I let them get about a half to three quarters of a mile ahead of me and then I followed, staying close to the valley wall or hidden in the scattering of trees as I went. Their clothes had been made of skins of course. Men and women both wore a type of trousers and they all had large tunic type garments for the top. They were bare headed and for footwear they had some type of moccasin, which extended up under their trouser legs and seemed to be tied around with leather thongs. I hadn't searched for any information about their physical size before I left and I was slightly surprised to see they seemed about the same size as the people of the earth I'd left. The one I'd assumed was leader looked to be about six feet tall and probably weighed around one eighty or one ninety. The women were smaller but all seemed to be at least five four. There weren't any fatties for sure. All of them were in fighting trim and it seemed the women were carrying almost as much a load on the way back as the men were. It took them about two hours to reach their camp and it was apparent everyone was waiting up for them. There was a large fire going near the center of the campsite and when the hunters returned it didn't take long for some of the fresh meat to find itself being cooked. They had one large dwelling built against the side of the canyon. It appeared to be made of wood, animal bones, tusks, and rock with animal hides covering a structural framework. The women kept going in and out of it for things to use in the cooking but the men only went in to stow their gear and came back out to sit around. They were drinking something from a large bag made from some of the inner workings of an animal. As I watched for a while the men were getting a little more boisterous and I assumed they had discovered strong drink. Things were looking up already. I felt like a party crasher or a voyeur after a while. With the night vision goggles I could plainly see the goings on, especially since the moon and stars were particularly bright and the night sky was clear. Finally I decided all the men seemed to have one woman for a mate and eventually I could determine which woman was mated to which man. There were more women than men and it soon was clear to me the unmated women were the younger ones. They didn't display any reluctance to mix with the others, it was just apparent they didn't receive the same physical familiarity from any of the men. There was nothing like the displays between the mated pairs. I also noticed the men didn't project any familiarity onto women who were mates of other men. Time marches on and the drinking bag marched until it was empty. Another one appeared soon. The women had joined in the festivities when the cooking started and no one was feeling any pain by the time they ate. I noticed the leader was especially enjoying what ever he was drinking and by the time the food was served he had all he could do to eat. He disappeared inside the dwelling shortly after he finished. His mate went inside after a few minutes, but I guess she was just checking on him since she came right back out and began helping with the cleanup. It didn't take them long to get everything packed back inside, but some of them, including the leaders mate, came back out and sat around the fire talking and occasionally laughing. The game flusher and his mate were doing a little teasing and laughing together and soon the leaders mate was joining in with them. Another half hour passed and soon the only three outside were the leaders mate, game flusher, and his mate. Leader's mate was about five six and had dishwater blonde hair. I could tell almost nothing about any of the women's figures because of their clothing. Game flusher's mate had darker hair, almost brown. The drinking bag had disappeared by now, but the three didn't seem interested in going inside yet. Leader's mate stood and said something to game flusher's mate and the two walked away from the fire and up canyon a little, toward where I was hiding. They paused by some bushes and I could see them loosening their clothes. Soon they had dropped their trousers and raised the bottom of their tunics and were squatting to pee. I got a look at their asses then and they looked good. They were rounded and muscular and what I could see of their thighs looked strong and yet smooth. They looked pretty damned good from my perspective. After they'd finished they didn't seem to be in any hurry to put their pants back up and I saw game flusher's mate reach over and pinch leader's mate on the ass and then they both laughed and seemed to be teasing each other. Game flusher came round the corner then and surprised them, though from their actions I could tell they weren't really so surprised. Leader's mate made a halfhearted attempt to reach down and pull up her pants but game flusher was next to her in seconds and I saw him reach to her and grab a feel of her naked ass. She almost acted indignant for a few seconds and then they were all talking together, quietly though. They were close together and discussing something. Leader's mate seemed to be disagreeing, but not too seriously. Suddenly game flusher's mate took leader's mate in her arms and kissed her on the lips while hugging her. Game flusher went around behind leader's mate and pressed his body up against her back, hugging around her and drawing his mate to him with leader's mate between them. I could tell even though he still had his pants up he was pressing his groin rhythmically against leader's mate's naked ass. While this was going on his mate's hands were busily loosening the ties of leader's mate's tunic and shortly she raised it over leader's mate's head and off her arms. Leader's mate was basically naked now and her breasts were impressive. They were nicely rounded, firm, and her nipples were aroused. Game flusher was still behind her humping up against her ass, but he moved his hands to her breasts now and began squeezing them and teasing her nipples with his fingers and thumbs. His mate kneeled and worked leader's mate's trousers off her feet and leader's mate was soon dressed in nothing but her moccasins. She was still complaining with her mouth, but not very loudly and I saw she was pushing her ass back toward game flusher's pressure now. Game flusher's mate was still helping in leader's mate's seduction. She started kissing leader's mate's lips again and soon she had one of her hands in leader's mate's bush exploring her folds. This move took leader's mate's attention off her complaining and soon the three of them were all writhing in sympathy against each other. Game flusher took this time to shuck his own tunic and trousers. When he had his clothes off he pressed his now bare respectably sized dick up between the cheeks of leader's mate's ass and gave her a few humps just to let her know he was back. He took hold of her titties again and resumed worrying her nipples. After only a minute or so he pulled his ass back from hers and reached down to take hold of his dick. He bent it down a little and began prodding between her legs. Leader's mate spread her legs a little and he eased his boner between them but he didn't try to enter her. He just let it push through and there was just light enough for me to see it was pointing out from between her thighs as if she had a really short dick of her own just below her pussy. Game flusher's mate must have sensed game flusher had leader's mate's attention now as she stepped back and shed her own garments. When she was naked she rejoined the party and pushed her own nicely rounded titties into leader's mate's pair and resumed the kissing. I'll have to admit that it was an exciting sight. Soon leader's mate was grasping game flusher's mate's asscheeks and pulling them to her while game flusher's mate reached around her to grasp and pull on game flusher's buns. They had all their temperatures up by now and then they seemed to all kneel and lie on the grass in a heap. They were writhing and squirming for a few seconds and then game flusher managed to get his legs between leader's mate's legs as he tried to roll her to her back to put it in. Leader's mate renewed her struggling then as she realized she was about to get some dick. When she did this game flusher's mate took hold of her hands and pressed them to the grass above her head, effectively holding her down to help game flusher get it in. She also pressed her lips to leader's mate's lips again and was kissing her deeply as game flusher took hold of his hardon and placed it at leader's mate's entrance. In a few seconds the deed was done and I could see game flusher's ass muscles bunch as he pushed his dick up into leader's mate's pussy. He pressed it all the way home and held it for a moment then he pulled back and made another stroke. I saw leader's mate tense each time as he pushed it up her. After three or four strokes she gave up the pretense of resisting and wrapped her legs around game flusher's ass and began hunching up to him as he put the dick to her more firmly. Game flusher's mate let go of leader's mate's hands then and began playing with leader's mate's ripe and jiggling titties as her mate fucked leader's mate. Leader's mate put her hands to work then, one hand began playing with game flusher's mate's nearest titty and the other sought out game flusher's mate's now dripping snatch. Soon they were all pretty much in rhythm with game flusher's pounding getting more forceful and faster and leader's mate's responsive up thrust getting more powerful as well. They were now doing quite a bit of grunting and groaning but they were keeping it surprisingly quiet. My dick was straining also and I decided to let it out and give it a stroke or two. It was surprising to me how quickly I relieved the pressure. The semi-forced fucking of leader's mate had definitely got me going too. Though I'd never considered using force on a woman in my previous life and hadn't considered it yet in this one it came to me now it might be an acceptable technique. I doubted I could really do it, but I did enjoy watching this little show more than I probably should have. They all pumped to a more or less simultaneous finish shortly. When game flusher rolled off leader's mate to lie beside her his mate settled to lie on her other side as they all kept stroking and caressing each other I figured it probably wasn't as forced as it might have looked. When leader's mate moved down to take game flusher's softened dick in her mouth and started sucking it back hard again I decided the reluctance had probably been a complete sham. Sure enough, when game flusher's dick was up to snuff again, leader's mate turned to game flusher's mate grabbing her hands and pressing her to the ground kissing her. Game flusher was up and between his mate's legs quickly and leader's mate used one of her hands to guide his dick into his mate's wet pussy. I watched again as they had another triple participation fuck. Game flusher gave his mate just as good a pounding as he'd given leader's mate. His mate and leader's mate kissed and played with each other's titties the whole time and game flusher's mate spent a lot of time finger fucking leader's mate's soggy pussy until they all had another good come. When they finished this time they all cuddled together again for several minutes. Finally they got up, dressed, and then walked back to their dwelling and went inside. This left me alone in the night. I didn't want to chance sleeping so close to their campsite or home site or what ever it was to them so I headed back toward my cave. It was a long walk but I decided to tough it out until I got back. I was worn out when I entered my cave to the welcoming blast of the damned alarm. I shut myself in and then unloaded. I went over to the cub's pen and checked on them. They still had plenty of water, but the meat was gone. I got more meat for them and then petted and played with them for about half an hour. Afterwards I crawled into my bag in the wagon and shut the top over me. It didn't take long for me to nod off. ------- Chapter 6 I slept until noon the next day. After crawling out, dressing and stumbling outside to piss I went to check on the pups. They needed water and food. After filling the water pan I hand fed them one at a time. They were accustomed to me now and would actually play a little. They gained confidence daily and I knew I would be able to start training them within a week. Finishing with them left me free to go check for horses. As I left the cave I saw them about a mile and a half up the valley. I went right back inside and closed the door. I wanted them to drift up the blind canyon and there was nothing I could do outside to hasten them into it. The only thing I would accomplish would be scaring them off. Things would have been different if I was behind them already, but I wasn't. Getting behind them from where I was now would require climbing up the canyon wall, circling around on the plateau, and then climbing back down. I could use my time more effectively another way. Hell, practically any other way. I spent the day unpacking the wagon and putting my things into reasonable order against one of the interior walls. There was plenty of room to spread things out for easy access. I assembled the custom made ultra light desk and chair and put the computer system into operation. Later I spent some time going over the map again to see if I'd missed anything important when I'd studied it before my departure. I didn't find anything of much interest that I didn't already know about. I wanted to go take a look at the camp of the Neanderthals but I knew I should get hold of some horses first since they were close by now. If I managed to get them stranded up in the canyon this time I would be tied up with them for several days. If I missed out again I could think about exploring then. I worked with the pups again later in the day and then went to bed shortly after eating. I intended to be well rested and up early the next morning. If I were lucky with the horses I would have a big day. I was up well before sunrise. Tending to the pups and then making my breakfast still let me leave the cave just as the sun was thinking about getting the day started. With the night vision goggles and the thirty ought six in hand I walked over to the mouth of the blind canyon. I spotted the horses before getting half way to the back of it. This sent me in the opposite direction to begin building a fence. Building fence was one of my least favorite things to do. It was worse this time because I'd had to cut and trim all the post and rails myself, but the ground was relatively soft here. This made postholes easier to dig but also meant I had to sink them deeper to make them stable. I was getting wound up to bitch about it, but managed to change my mind. I was building a fence on free land to catch free horses. I didn't have a bitch coming These horses had never seen a fence though and wouldn't have any idea it was meant to hold them in. They would probably crash into it to get through and if I didn't make it high enough they might try to jump over it. At least they were on the short side and should have limited jumping ability. By the hardest I managed to get all the post in place and one string of rails across them before darkness was approaching. Knowing this wouldn't hold the horses if they headed back out I decided to build a couple of fires to keep them from approaching. This meant I would have to sleep outside to make sure the fires were fed through the night. Not a pleasant proposition, but not exactly a chore either. After clearing two spots for fires I got them started and brought more wood to add later. There was plenty lying around from my fence post and rail cutting and trimming. The sleeping bag and air mattress were next after some attention for the pups. I set up my bed close to the nearest fire where I prepared for my first night sleeping out doors in this world. I'd been camping hundreds of times on earth but this felt different to me. I assumed I had a much better chance of encountering curious or even dangerous wild life tonight. One thing I hadn't considered hit me when I lay down. It had been a clear day and it seemed like an even clearer night. With no real light from earth and practically no air pollution the stars were brilliant jewels in the sky and I kept my eyes open admiring them until the moon made an appearance, and it was even more impressive. The night passed without other incidents though and I was up before the sun again the next morning. I built the fires up again and then went into the cave to fix a little breakfast and tend to and play with the pups for a while. Then it was back to work. The fence was done just before noon. Not bothering with a gate yet I had completely closed off the canyon. Now the horses were confined until I let them out. All I had left to do was build a capture pen and start some real wrangling. The pen was going to be on the same side of the canyon as my cave. The canyon's wall was high and steep and there was a fairly large overhang which would give some protection from the weather and would also make it nearly impossible for any predators to get above the pen and jump down into it among the captured horses. Nothing would piss me off more than to spend all this time pinning some horses and then have some animal jump in with them for an easy meal. The capture pen turned out fairly large, about one hundred and fifty feet square. Using the original fence as one side and the canyon wall as another left me with only two sides and a gate to erect. It was still a lot of work and I wasn't finished by dark. Since the canyon was closed off completely now I didn't need to sleep in the open again tonight. I knocked off and went into the cave around sunset. I spent a couple of hours with the pups tonight. They were not afraid of me in the least anymore. I even started teaching them to come when I called or whistled. It wasn't a big test since they were still in their pen but they did all right at it. Of course they were still doing a lot of youthful playing. I didn't mind since it meant they were accustomed to my presence now. The two days of fairly strenuous manual labor had put a little soreness in my newly restored body and I was in the wagon and asleep early. I was also up and at 'em early the next morning and I finished the capture pen before noon. I'd put a large gate into it at the corner where it met the cross fence which closed off the canyon. I was hoping to haze the horses out of the valley slowly to let them find the cross fence blocking their way out. Then I intended to approach them carefully and see if some or all of them would enter the capture pen. Catching them was for tomorrow though and I spent the rest of the day covering the outside of the capture pen with electric fence wire and setting up the other charger. This wasn't for the horses it was to discourage predators. I put plenty of contact wire on the outside of the fence on all three sides. I wasn't going to all this effort to make the horses easier for something to eat. After another few hours with the pups it was off to bed for me. I could see the end of the horse capturing construction now and was glad of it. I was hoping this would be the last of my fencing for a long while. Before sunrise the next morning I was up again. After fixing breakfast and feeding the pups I slung the rifle over my shoulder, strapped on the Glock and headed outside. Crossing the fence I checked to make sure the charger wasn't on at the pen. I didn't want to chance the horses getting a shock. It would probably panic them and I surely didn't need any more excitement for them than I was going to provide. Walking up canyon I saw the horses were about halfway back. They were by the stream just now and a couple of them were drinking. I slipped over to the canyon wall farthest from them and made my way to the general center of the canyon between them and the back. Every horse was focused on my movements by now. Starting toward them very slowly, I hadn't gone far before they headed away from me. I stopped and let them move off at their own pace. It was a slow one and suited me fine. When they felt safer and stopped I would move toward them again. Four or five repetitions had them down by the cross fence. I stayed still and let them explore it and look for a way out. When the stallion moved down to the end and entered the catch pen I was thrilled. It couldn't be this easy. It was though. Moving toward them as soon as he entered the pen caused the rest to follow him in. As they moved around in the pen and discovered there was no way out of it I approached and by the time the stallion was moving toward the gate to leave the pen I was close enough to make him move back. I walked slowly up to the gate and shut it, not really believing how easy it had been. Of course this was only the beginning of a lot more work but it was a good beginning. My next project would be letting some of them out. I wasn't surprised this was the same bunch I'd seen in the canyon a few days ago. There were still fourteen grown horses, six yearlings and nine foals. I only needed three grown horses at the most. I didn't need any of the yearlings or foals. If I happened to keep a mare with a foal it would be all right, but it would be a little extra bother. I spent the rest of the day mostly thinning my new herd and still had more than I wanted. It was a bitch to try and let one out of the gate and still keep all the rest from escaping, especially since I had to single out a cull, open the gate a little for it to leave through, and then I had to practically drive it out while keeping the others back. It's a wonder I didn't lose them all. By the time I was too tired to fuck with them anymore I still had five mares, the stallion and six foals in the pen. Since two more foals were staying close to the pen on the outside I assumed I had some mothers and babies separated. I could sort them out later. I tied the gate closed, turned on the charger and called it a night. Damn, this was worse than a job. I was up early again the next morning, fixing breakfast and tending to the pups. After eating I went out to get started with the horses. Not only were all those in the pen still there but all the others were hanging around close to it. I did notice they all seemed to be aware of the sting in the thin wire on the outside now though and if they got very near the fence they shied back pretty quickly before touching the charged wire. I turned the charger off first thing. Two more hours of chasing my tail in the pen and swinging the gate back and forth left me with the two best mares and the stallion in the pen. All the foals were outside now and none of them seemed to want back in. I assumed it meant I hadn't selected a mare with a nursing foal. After an hour or so watching I left them to settle down and went back into the cave, feeding and playing with the pups some and getting a little bite of lunch for myself. I also thought about what my next move would be. As bad as I hated the thought I knew I was going to have to build some more fence. I needed to extend one from the corner of the pen to the opposite canyon wall. It would let me work with one horse at a time in the pen and I'd be able to turn all the others out to get water and graze. It took the rest of the day and all of the next one to get everything ship shape with the fencing, including stringing plenty of electric fence wire all along the outside of all the fences. Installing gates was part of it too. I put a large one in both the original fence and the new one so I could release the horses I didn't want to keep. I didn't care if they hung around for a while, especially since there was a chance one of those I wanted to keep would injure itself while I was calming and training them. I didn't want them out in the canyon grazing though. I was going to need all the grass and more for the three I was keeping. I didn't even want to think about all the hay I would have to cut by hand to feed the three over the winter. After I figured the fence building was finished for a while I took a day off. In the afternoon I walked upriver to see if I could run across another deer. The pups and I didn't have much of the first one left and while I could feed myself and even the pups from my stored food I didn't want to have to. I was in luck sort of. I spotted a nice sized doe after walking about three miles up river. She was about three hundred yards from me when I saw her and after taking a good rest before firing killing her was no problem. I did have plenty of work packing her back the three miles to the cave though. Even after gutting her she probably weighed nearly a hundred and seventy pounds. When I had her back to the cave I skinned her out and then cut her up into pieces. I built a fire and put the back strap on to cook, cutting off some of the neck and giving it to the pups. They approved of the fresh meat and gorged themselves, promptly settling in for a nap afterward. I decided I needed a smokehouse outside to cure some of the meat I would be getting for winter. I hated to think about building something else and I didn't want to cut any more of the trees near me unless I had to. I also needed to think about getting a larger supply of firewood for the upcoming winter. It would have to wait until at least one of the horses was slightly with the program. Training them was going to take a while. I didn't bother getting up early the next morning. When I did I fooled with the pups for a while and ate some breakfast then went outside to deal with the horses. I managed to turn the stallion and the biggest mare out into the bigger pen I had put up last then I fetched my rope and shut the pen's gate securely. Roping the mare I'd left in the pen wasn't a problem even though it did require a little running. I let her scramble around and fight for a few minutes while I merely held on to the end of the rope. Gradually I worked my way toward the center of the pen and the snubbing post I'd put there. After I got a turn of the rope around the post I tied it off and then worked her in the other direction until she wound the rope up around the post. Even though this was the smallest of the horses it still weighed at least nine hundred pounds. There was no way for one man to handle a grown horse with brute force. I had to rely on the rope and the snubbing post to get control. When I'd roped her, luckily the loop had slid up near her throatlatch before it tightened. It sounds cruel I know, but with a completely wild horse you almost always have to be able to choke it some at first. I had to this time too. The mare, I decided to call her Sally, was barely winded by the time I had her roped and snubbed. She fought the rope hard when she discovered it was pulling back so hard at her. The snubbing post was buried as deeply as I could manage with the diggers. It was a little over four feet in the ground, but it was sufficient and the mare couldn't come close to pulling it out. As she fought and pulled the loop tightened around her neck and cut her breath off. She wouldn't let up and finally she slowly fell over unconscious. ------- Chapter 7 The aggravating thing about working with horses, especially completely wild ones, is it takes so much patience and waiting. It takes a long time for things to sink in for a horse and you just have to wait them out. You also have to move very slowly around them as any sudden move can panic them and make them fight again. I spent nearly half an hour working my way thirty feet. Finally I was able to very slowly reach out and touch the mare on the side of the head. She tensed and jerked when I did it, but I just kept talking to her softly and finally I could rub up and down her cheek without too much agitation on her part. It was slow going all the way. I spent another hour just getting her used to my touching and petting her. Finally I tied the rope so she couldn't get loose and walked back into the cave to fetch a halter. I found the heavy-duty breaking halter in a size which would work for the mare. Knowing I would be wanting to catch and train at least a few horses, I'd had Argent supply me with the approximate head sizes of horses I was likely to encounter and with several halters for those sizes. A halter which is too small for a horse can rub raw spots and make sores, one too loose can easily become entangled and sometimes leads to a horse injuring itself trying to get loose. This particular halter I was about to use had extra wide and strong strapping in the portion going around behind the head. This was to help distribute the force, as the horse would be pulling with all its strength at first to try and break away. When tied with a halter no tightening around the head or throat occurs. This means the only thing holding the horse in place is the strength of the bindings. One important lesson a horse must learn is to stand still and wait when it's tied. This is a lesson it needs to learn without ever being allowed to break free. If the horse is not allowed to break free, especially during its early training, it will soon stop trying. If it is able to break free it will almost always try to escape at least once each time it's tied. It took me another half hour or so with a slow approach to get the halter on the mare. When I finally got it on her and adjusted properly it was only a matter of tying an extra strong lead rope to the snubbing post and attaching it to the halter. I gave her no more than eighteen inches of free line. Having her tied securely to the post I removed the rope from her neck and left her there. Teaching a horse to stand tied without struggling to break away involves getting it securely tied, and leaving it alone to discover the facts and hoping it doesn't injure itself in the process. Hoping is about all you can do for possible injuries. If the horse manages to get a foreleg over the lead or if it falls all you can do is watch it try to free itself. Any attempt to help it will almost surely lead to the horse injuring you and itself. I left her tied and went into the cave to spend a little time with the pups and get a little food for myself. The lead rope was tied off high enough on the post so she probably couldn't accidentally get a foreleg caught over it and as I left she was leaning back with all her strength trying to pull loose. I felt sure she would be occupied for a while. I left her tied to the post until near sunset. When I went back out to her I had work gloves on and a longer lead rope. She was standing resignedly by the post. There was evidence of a long fight on the ground. The grassy earth was marked and torn from her pawing and pulling. It was also evident the mare had pulled and fought until she became fairly sweaty. I approached her slowly and she seemed calm enough. I attached the long line to her halter and took a couple of wraps around the post with the other end then I released the short rope. When the mare discovered she had more freedom she backed away and was about to run off. Then she found the end of this new freedom and it nearly yanked her down. It seemed then she was beaten. I unwrapped the end of the lead rope and went up to her. I turned around facing away from her and gave a small tug on the rope and tried to walk off hoping she would follow. She didn't. After teaching a horse to stand tied, the next step in their education is teaching them to follow you when you want to lead them somewhere. This is a harder concept for a horse to grasp than you might imagine. In the first place you must lead them while facing away from them. The old saying, "You can't look at a horse and lead it too," is true. Horses have no natural inclination to follow a person who wants to lead them. They are also much stronger than any person and in a pulling contest they will always win. After all, if people could out pull horses the horses wouldn't be very useful. Usually, when teaching a horse to follow as you lead it is easiest to have someone help by approaching the horse from behind as you try to lead it. I didn't have anyone to help so I would have to rely on persistence. I spent about twenty more minutes trying to get Sally to take the first step without positive results. Next I used the long lead rope to wind her up around the snubbing post again and I tied her short for the night. After checking to make sure all the gates were secure I activated the electric fence before returning to my cave. The next morning, when I got out to Sally with the long lead rope I finally had a breakthrough. I could tell from the way she stood with her head hanging low she was tired of being tied. When I switched lead ropes she didn't even try to escape. When I turned away from her and tried to lead her she finally took a tentative couple of steps before she stopped. I repeated and she took a couple more steps before stopping again. I knew it was all repetition from here. I was glad she had come around. She hadn't had any water for a couple of days now and I knew she needed some. I did not want to have to bring it to her and I was determined not to release her until I'd made some progress. I spent a few hours getting her to follow when I led and stop when I stopped. She seemed to learn quickly now I had her attention and just after noon I decided to try leading her to the stream for a drink. The other two were still in the larger part of the pen but I doubted they would approach too closely while I was leading Sally. They didn't. They approached, but stayed well away and only nickered a time or two. I led Sally to the stream and let her drink a little. I knew better than to let her have all she wanted and soon I led her back to the smaller capture pen with little difficulty. I worked with her most of the rest of the day and when I left her tied that night I was sure I was even more tired than she was. I spent the next morning with Sally again. Around noon I left her tied and went into the cave for a bite to eat. I left the gate to the small pen open. After eating and then spending about an hour with the pups I went back outside and as I'd hoped the stallion and the other mare were in the pen by Sally. It had probably been the first time they'd been separated in years and horses seem to enjoy each other's company. I took a circuitous route out and around and approached the pen's gate to close it. The other two didn't realize what was going on and I was able to shut the gate with no trouble. Afterward they moved to the far side of the pen when I approached Sally. Taking the breaking halter off Sally I replaced it with a normal one then I led her to the gate, opened it, and let her out into the larger pen. An hour of hazing and guessing later I had the other mare, Jane, in the pen and the stallion loose in the larger pen with Sally. I quit for the day and spent the rest of it in the cave resting and handling the pups. The next three days were spent going over the same lessons with Jane and things went about the same. After she would follow when I wanted and then stop when I wanted I led her out for a drink and then back to be tied again. I went to the cave for a while leaving the gate open again hoping the other two would be with her when I came back out. When I did come out Sally was standing by Jane but the stallion wasn't even near the small pen. I shut the gate and had a surprisingly easy time getting a lead rope on Sally and tying her to the snubbing post also. Then I left for the day. When I came out the next morning the stallion was up near the gate. Apparently he hadn't liked spending the night without being near either mare. I only opened the gate and went back to the cave. I looked out at them about an hour later and he was with the mares. In a few minutes I had the gate shut again and I led first Sally and then Jane out to the larger pen. I didn't bother with the stallion today as I figured he would be much more trouble. I decided a day or two without food or water would make him easier to deal with. I checked on the stallion, Ben, the next morning, but he still had more spring in his step than I wanted to deal with. I went back to the cave to lounge around and work with the pups. I was making progress with the pups. I could let them out of their pen one at a time and they would come to me when I called them or when I whistled. I thought this was a big step for a completely wild wolf cub. I had only limited success getting them to sit so far, but I was making headway. The next morning when I checked on Ben he was looking a little tired. I took my lariat and got a loop on him without much trouble, but once I'd roped him the rodeo was on. Ben did not like having a loop over his head and he led me a merry chase before I got a turn around the snubbing post. It was fairly straightforward then to wind him around it, but when he got close he pulled so hard he choked himself badly. He went down a little harder than I wanted, but I took a chance and got the breaking halter on him while he was out. I didn't have time to get a lead rope attached before he was back up and fighting though. Ben was really pissed about the rope and I didn't know if he was stupid or just panicked, but in just a few minutes he was out again from all the pulling and choking. I secured a lead rope on his halter then and when he made it to his feet again he was disoriented for a while and I was able to get him tied off short to the snubbing post. While he was fighting this new demon I was able to get some slack in the loop and get the lariat off him. I left him pulling against the snubbing post as I went back to my cave. Ben was still not resigned to his fate by the next morning and when I approached him at the snubbing post he started fighting again so I went back to the cave to find something else to do. By the next day Ben was worn out and thirsty. The extra day standing and what I'm sure was a sore neck from pulling against the lead made it much easier to teach Ben the wonders of following a human. I was able to lead him down for a drink without incident shortly after noon and then I took him back to the post and changed him into a normal halter and tied him. I left the gate open and went to my cave for an hour of lunch and pup work. When I came back outside the mares were standing by Ben. I walked directly to the gate and shut it. The mares didn't even consider trying to exit at my approach and I didn't have much trouble attaching a lead to their halters and tying them. When I tried releasing Ben to let him walk around on his own for a few minutes I had a little trouble getting him to let me attach the lead rope to his halter. I had to get the lariat and rope him again. Two more rounds of this during the afternoon showed him the error of his ways I guess because the third time he let me walk up to him and hook the lead on. I led them down to the stream, one at a time, for a drink and then brought them all to the small pen where I turned them loose in it for the night. The next morning I had no trouble walking up to them to attach a lead. I led them for a drink, each separately again, and then let them spend the rest of the day tied to the post. Just before sunset I returned and led them separately to the gate to release them for the night. The next morning I was able to walk up to each of them in the large pen and attach a lead rope. I led them into the small pen and spent a couple of hours tying them and then taking one at a time for a lead around the pen. The days began to run into each other with training the horses and also the pups. Progress was slow and it was frustrating sometimes. Within two weeks though the horses were accustomed to me and to the routine. A couple more days spent teaching them to let me saddle them and lead them around with a saddle on and then tying things on the saddle to make noise and flop around while I led them gave me confidence and finally the day to try riding them came. It was thankfully uneventful. They expected me to handle them and lead them around every day now and it wasn't much of a leap when I put my weight into a stirrup and urged them to walk around. Next I had a leg over their back and was sitting in the saddle. I stayed alert in case one of them wanted to buck, but it never came up. Breaking a horse cowboy style by having plenty of men to hold it down while someone straps on a saddle and then having a brave soul climb aboard for the hell raising to come looks good in the movies. It is hard on the horse though and it can be deadly for the brave soul. I didn't have the luxury of this style of breaking. I didn't even like to do it that way when I had help and medical care only a 911 call away. The method I'd used this time took a lot longer but it was a lot safer and I liked to think the horses came out better for it. I knew I did. After they had all been trained to let me ride them and to take at least some direction from the reins and my feet and legs it was not much trouble to teach the two mares to wear harness and then to pull a drag with it. Finally I had some locomotion available for the wagon and I could concentrate on cursing myself for not putting in a door large enough so I could get it out of the cave. It only took a day to rectify the no door fuckup and I decided tomorrow I would go out for a drive with my wagon and my new team. Early after sunset I emptied the wagon of the few supplies still in it. I found I could push it by myself without too much effort so I moved it over toward the new door and had it ready to push out the next morning. I wanted to go and check on the Cro-Magnons and I also wanted to go see what the Neanderthals were like. I knew meeting them with the wagon and team or even horseback would be too much culture shock for them though. Tomorrow I would let Jane and Sally learn to pull the wagon and if I had time I would teach Ben to follow the wagon while tied on a lead rope. If things went really well I might try shooting from the wagon while Sally and Jane were pulling it to get them ready for things to come. In the movies cowboys are always shooting from horseback without any trouble at all. I can tell you it doesn't come about by accident. You have to train a horse for those things and the first time you shoot a firearm while sitting a horse you had better have a good grip on the saddle horn no matter how un-cowboyish it seems. I finally went to bed, still wondering about the best way to introduce myself to my neighbors. ------- Chapter 8 Up before sunrise again, I fixed breakfast, fed and worked with the pups, and then got dressed for a wagon ride. I opened the new big door and pushed the wagon outside without too much of a strain. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't really very hard either. Even as large as it was the wagon weighed less than seven hundred pounds due to its titanium construction. I attached the tongue and then single trees to the wagon and then got Sally and Jane, leading them through the main cross-fence gate and to the wagon. Leading them right up to it I let them sniff around on it a little. Tying Jane off to the back of the wagon I put the harness on Sally then tying Sally I put the harness on Jane. It was a little tricky getting first Sally and then Jane hitched to the wagon but afterwards I ran the reins up to the wagon box on the front, climbed in, and sat on the padded bench. When I made my normal little clucking sound I'd used every time I started leading them, they remembered and after a few false starts we were headed up the valley with the wagon. It was awkward for them at first, but soon enough they learned to turn at my signal with the reins and with a little help from the wagon's brakes they soon learned what Whoa meant. All in all it was a productive start. I let them take me about four miles up the valley and as they were walking along I picked up the 22 rifle I had brought to start their firearm training. I put it to my shoulder and fired. They both tensed and were surprised by the small caliber's crack, but they didn't miss a step and better yet they didn't try to run. After a few more shots they were not bothered at all by the 22. I put the rifle down and pulled the Glock from its holster. They were surprised again and Jane wanted to bolt, but couldn't figure out how to since she was harnessed to the wagon. Sally's calm acceptance helped Jane and at the next shot she hardly flinched. They'd done so well I wished I'd brought the thirty-ought-six too, but it could wait until next time. Turning them around we headed back to the cave. When we arrived and after setting the brake I went to fetch Ben. Putting the bridle and saddle on him I left the halter on also. Tying him to the back of the wagon I boarded the bench seat again and when Sally and Jane moved out Ben just stood his ground until the rope jerked his head. He started following the wagon at once and when I stopped and started again he was paying attention and didn't even get his head jerked. The 22's surprise was next and though Ben snorted when he heard it he didn't shy or pull back on the lead. After a couple of repetitions he was accustomed to it and later I repeated with the Glock. They all passed with flying colors and by the time we were a few miles from the cave I stopped the wagon, set the brake and got off to get Ben and mount. I had the 22 in hand and after riding Ben for about twenty minutes I gave it a try. Ben didn't even flinch and later the louder Glock didn't bother him either. This was excellent progress in my estimation so we turned around again and headed back to the cave. When we arrived I untied and unsaddled Ben and returned him to the large pen, then I came back to the cave and opened the big door. This next little feat was the hardest part all day. Sally and Jane couldn't see anything except a big black hole I wanted them to walk through, but I'm sure they could smell the wolf cubs in there. They didn't want anything to do with it and after messing with them for about an hour trying to get them to pull the wagon inside I finally put a couple of rags over their eyes for blinders and was able to lead them into the cave with the wagon. I had them circle it around until it was headed out and then unhitched and unharnessed first Jane and then Sally, and afterwards I removed their blinders. They were nervous when they could see again but settled down enough I could lead them both out without a fight. I took them over and released them into the big pen with Ben and all three of them nickered and then went flying around the pen. I guess they just wanted to work off a little of their anxiousness from the day's new activities. The rest of the day was for working with the cubs. Today I took them, one at a time, outside the cave to work with them. I let them each run around a little to sniff things then I called them to me and I was glad to see they all came as soon as I whistled. I repeated this with them three or four times each and then called it a day. Going back into the cave and putting up the last pup I looked around in my supplies and found some nylon collars I had and fitted one to each cub. They were all males and as I put on the collars I decided to name them. Soon Prince, King, and Rover were back in their pen worrying at their new collars and waiting for their supper. I brought it soon enough and then warmed up some venison and some beans for mine. I went to bed early thinking of doing a little more exploring tomorrow. Up before sunrise again I dug out my high tech titanium skillet to check out how it would cook. I cut off some thin strips of venison and fried it. I had only ordered four-dozen eggs in my supplies from Argent and I had them in ultra-light and ultra-strong egg cartons of Alien design. They had been irradiated like the Salisbury steak and Argent had assured me they would last indefinitely and that I wouldn't be able to taste the difference between them and real fresh eggs. I fried three of them over easy and though they definitely weren't fresh eggs they tasted remarkably like them. I was happy with them. I loved eggs but had asked for these more as a novelty than anything else. After breakfast and plenty of coffee I dressed to go exploring. This time I remembered my custom made titanium chain mail. I'd had trouble at first describing what I wanted to Argent's engineer but when I got through to him he researched it a little on the net and got a good understanding of what it was for. Modern day bulletproof body armor wasn't necessary in these times but the chain mail would protect my torso and upper arms from any weapons of this day and age. The Aliens had outdone themselves on this project. The chain mail fit me like another skin and they had even put a zipper type arrangement down the back. Instead of having the normal zipper teeth which interlocked, somehow they had designed a mechanism which interlocked the tiny rings making up the mail. I slipped it on over a T-shirt and zipped it up. It wasn't bothersome at all and after putting a denim shirt over it the chain mail was hardly noticeable. I slipped on some alien made lightweight long underwear bottoms Argent had promised me would never shrink and then put on a pair of Carhartt type overalls, finishing up with woolen socks and high top hiking boots. I strapped on my Glock and then my backpack with enough emergency food for two days, picked up my thirty-ought-six, binoculars, and night vision goggles then locked the cave behind me as I left. I still kept close to the canyon walls as I headed down river again. When and if I met any other people I wanted to know about it first and be able to decide whether or not to approach. I had serious misgivings about trying to communicate. I knew the Cro-Magnons talked, but I had never gotten close enough to them to even decide if it was similar at all to any language I'd ever heard. Stupidly I hadn't bothered to even ask Argent about it and even if I had I don't know whether or not he would have told me anything. I still had no idea why they went to all this trouble to put me here and I couldn't think of a single thing they could learn from all of this. I was pretty sure they weren't really interested in capturing wolf cubs, building rail fences, or even horse capture and training. I had to do what I thought was best for me though and they would just have to get what they could out of it. I'll admit I was glad about the physical modifications I'd received in the deal and they had been very cooperative about furnishing what ever I had asked for. While easing down river I thought I should have tried harder to get details out of the map software I'd been given. There were probably indications on it telling which areas the different groups near me commonly used for hunting. After all, it had shown the locations of wolf dens in the area and I'm sure the Aliens knew exactly who hunted where since they knew so much about where they all camped. I would have to try again when I got back to the cave. Today I'd been moving faster even though I was still staying close to the walls and mostly out of sight. I knew I was within half a mile of the camp I'd watched earlier. I'd just stepped into the little copse of woods I'd hidden in last time when I saw two of the females I recognized from my earlier spying trip. They were heading up river, but didn't seem to be moving with any purpose. Shortly they moved to the side of the canyon to some low bushes growing there and seemed to be inspecting them. Berries, they were checking the berries growing on the bushes and they were picking a few of them, probably looking for and picking the ripe ones. I stayed still and out of sight until they'd finished. When they turned to leave the bushes they seemed to be heading back to their camp. I decided to show myself and stepped out of the trees. "Hello." They both looked at me, their eyes went wide as if they'd seen a monster, and they both screamed at once. Of course I didn't understand what they were screaming as they dropped the basket they'd used to gather the berries and took off toward their camp at what was surely full speed. I didn't know how, but suddenly I understood the word they were screaming was stranger. I stood where I was for about a minute and then went over to pick up the basket. It was nearly full of berries. I held it and waited, facing the camp. Standing there I wondered how I'd recognized the word they were screaming. It must have been the Alien's doing. They hadn't mentioned it, but there was no other explanation. They must have somehow given me the ability to understand my new neighbors' language. I wondered if I would be able to speak it also. Then I wondered why they would do it if they really wanted to see how I interacted with these people in this time. Maybe watching people learn each other's language didn't interest them in the same way seeing the natives catch my diseases didn't interest them. What did interest them? I wondered. Soon enough twelve adult men were approaching me from the direction of their camp. I'd only seen eight men before. There were twelve now though and they were all carrying spears. I could see the women and children following more slowly behind them and it seemed there were more of them. Most of the women were carrying spears also. Apparently stranger was a word which carried the connotation of danger to them. Leader still seemed to be the leader even though there were more of them. He was in fact in the lead and about five or six paces ahead of the others. He came right up to me and as he kept his spear in hand I placed my hand on the Glock just to be safe. He stopped when he saw this and I could see a question in his eyes. I looked pointedly at his spear and gave my head a tiny jerk. He looked at his own spear as if he hadn't realized he was carrying it. He threw it down at once and held both his hands up toward me palms first. I released the Glock and returned the gesture. "I am sorry," he said, though those weren't the words he spoke the translation worked even faster this time. "I am sorry I frightened the women," I said. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am a stranger as they said. I am called John." Apparently he could understand me perfectly also. Though I thought I'd been speaking in my normal Texas style English, I did realize the words coming out sounded like those he'd spoken. I knew for certain now Argent had to be responsible for this and I decided to quit worrying about the details and pay attention to what leader and I were saying. "I am called Gigo. Where do you come from and where are the rest of your people?" he asked. "I now live in a cave four hours walk up the river. It is beyond the side stream where you hunted nearly a moon ago, near the entrance to a blind canyon. I am alone." These revelations gave him a pause. At first it seemed to take him a minute to comprehend what I'd said and I wondered if I'd only received a half assed translation mechanism. "How do you know we hunted by the side stream?" he asked. "I was watching. I was in the tangled woods near where the stream joins the river." "Why didn't you show yourself then?" he asked. "I am alone. I did not know you and I was being careful." "Where is your mate?" "I do not have a mate. I am alone." "Why do you come here now?" I was getting a little tired of the third degree. I knew I was a stranger and I was not dressed like anyone he had ever seen. It was still getting a little old though. "I came to meet you in the light. I am a stranger and I am alone. I do not know your ways. If you don't want me here I will go." "I have been rude. It is not very often we meet a stranger and less often still he is alone. Come to our camp. You are welcome here. We will eat soon and you can fill your belly. I see you have no spear and can't hunt. Maybe we can find a spear for you. One no longer needed here," Gigo said, almost apologetically. "Thank you for your welcome Gigo. I will be glad to fill my belly. I do not need a spear to hunt, but I thank you for the offer," I said. "Come. You must tell me how you hunt without a spear," he said, and then turned back toward his camp. The others turned also and all headed toward the camp. The men behind Gigo had been close enough to hear all we said. The women had been further back but I was sure they would get the story later. I had picked up the berry basket again as I headed for camp and I carried it with me. When we arrived I was ushered to a sitting place on a small rock ledge. As I sat I told Gigo I still had the women's basket they had dropped when they saw me. He looked at it as if he was just noticing. "It is Gema's basket. It was she and Merita who were picking berries. Gema, come get your basket and berries," he said, calling to her. Soon both the berry pickers came to us. One was a light blond with gray eyes. She was very attractive and I guessed she must be near sixteen years old The other had dark auburn hair, blue eyes and seemed a little older, but I couldn't be sure. She was very attractive also and I began to think Jean Auel might have been on the right track describing the ancient women as beauties. Gigo introduced the blonde as Gema and the auburn haired one as Merita. They smiled at me shyly as I told them my name was John. "Gema and Merita are both good women and both unmated. If you don't have a mate and can get their eye you might want to bargain for one of them. The women here are shrewd though and they will expect a generous offer. In fact we have five unmated women here and they are all good women," Gigo said. I was a little surprised at his proposal. I had no ideas about the requirements for taking a mate, but I was pretty sure I would find out soon even if I didn't want to. Gigo probably wouldn't have mentioned it at all if it weren't at least within the realm of possiblity. I sure as hell wanted the details though. Gema and Merita both seemed slightly embarrassed by Gigo's announcement of their status and of their attributes. They both blushed and as Gigo told them to take their berries and leave they giggled just a little and did so. A little bit of living alone can go a long way, especially when there isn't even any TV to watch or radio to listen to at night. I could only get so much companionship out of three horses and three wolf cubs. My best guess from what Gigo had said so far was taking a mate required getting that mate's approval and a bargain with the other women of the camp. "Those two are good women. They are attractive, hard working, and obedient to the other women. They never cause trouble, but each has had several offers to mate and they have always turned them down. Of course since all the men in our camp are already mated the offers have come from other camps. It is as if Gema and Merita don't want to leave each other. It would be fine if there were unmated men here but there aren't any," Gigo said. I could tell a meal was being prepared, but it didn't seem like a big one. I couldn't bitch though since I was a stranger and was happy to get invited to a meal at all. I was sure I didn't rate a feast, but I was anxious to see what the ancient cooks could do. "I do not know your customs Gigo. I don't know how to ask for or bargain for a mate and I do need a mate. What must I do?" "In the first place you must find a woman who will have you and who you want. It shouldn't be any problem. There are fewer men here and also in most of the closer camps than there are women. If you can hunt I am sure you will be acceptable to any of the unmated women here except Gema or Merita. If you were a part of this camp you might be acceptable to them also, though you understand I can not actually speak for any of the women," Gigo said, letting me know this was more like a sort of sitting around with a beer bullshit session than a laying down of the law. "Surely there must more to it. Things sound too easy to be true though I will be very happy if you are right. There must be something more," I said. "Of course there is more to it. You must make a bargain with all the other women of the camp to compensate them for the loss of a woman who is helping them now. It is not so difficult for a man in his own camp since the woman will not be leaving. "Since you live elsewhere, if you mate a woman from this camp she will be lost to us and will no longer be here to help and the loss deserves compensation," Gigo said, and I thought he had a slightly defensive attitude. "I can see it easily Gigo. I did not know your customs, but I see it as only common sense. It would be a great loss to the camp to give up the help a woman can give. Remember, I saw you hunting and I saw some women were there hunting with you," I said, trying to appease him. "I had forgotten. So you understand it will be a loss if one of the women mates you and leaves the camp?" Gigo asked. "I do. After all, if it was not helpful to have a mate I wouldn't need one," I said. ------- Chapter 9 "Yes, I can see even though you are a stranger you understand how to get along. Would you like for me to arrange a meeting with the women for you?" This was all going much faster than I could have dreamed. Talking to Gigo gave me the feeling I was talking to a car salesman. In fact his technique reminded me of the one who had sold me the CL600. It wasn't exactly high pressure. It just seemed ancient times or not, Gigo understood how to close a sale. From what he'd told me it seemed making the deal wasn't his part of the transaction. I was sure getting the buyer to the deal making stage was at least partially his job though and he was doing respectably well. It reminded me of buying a car in another way too. The salesman got you hooked and tried to help you select a model. When he or she had a nominal close he turned you over to someone in the office to work out the final price and set up the financing. I hadn't seen any of the other unmated women up close, but if they looked anything like Gema and Merita then I didn't think Gigo would need much salesmanship to get things going. "I haven't seen all the unmated women and I haven't asked any of them if they would mate with me. I do not know how it is done. Perhaps I should talk to the women I must deal with first. When they have got the better of the trade from me I am sure they will help me find a woman for a mate." "John, stranger or not I can tell you are very shrewd yourself. Most young men like you don't even consider those aspects. Believe me, the women have much more influence with the unmated girls than any man ever can. I will get my mate to talk to you now. She is the leader of the women and can help you with your offer. You must understand though, she can not tell you exactly what will be required for the bargain, but she will be able to give you a representative request," Gigo said. Gigo left me and returned soon with his mate, Geera, in tow. He introduced us and then left us alone to talk. I noticed he joined game flusher and some other men and they all laughed after he told them something. Since I had no reason to be suspicious I assumed it was some good-natured jesting about a lamb being led to a lion. I had a feeling I was playing the lamb to Geera's lion. "I will speak right up and tell you I am a stranger living alone not far from here and Gigo has told me I might be able to find a mate in this camp. It would make my life easier and more enjoyable if I had a mate and Gigo said you might be able to help me with your customs and help me decide if I can make a bargain for a mate," I said. "It is all true, but do you know the woman you want to mate must agree to take you first?" she asked. "I would not want it otherwise. There would be no joy at my cave if I had a mate there who did not want me," I said, doing my best to be sincere and project it. "It is very good you understand and it makes you a more desirable mate. I do wonder if you can hunt though since you do not have a spear with you." "I can only tell you now, but I will be glad to prove it later. I can hunt well without a spear." "We shall see. What could you offer for a mate?" she asked, trying to slip right into the bargaining. "I am ashamed to tell you I have no idea what is required. I am afraid you will have to tell me what I must offer. I do not know your customs and if you require more of me than you would of others I will not know it. I will add I do not think you would consider doing such a thing. I just want you to know how uninformed I am about the process. What is usually given for a mate?" "It depends somewhat on which woman you mate. I'm sure you know some women are better workers than others are and it makes them a bigger loss to their camp when they leave. Even if you do not live far from here it is still not here and we will lose the help and companionship of the woman you mate," she said. "Yes, I understand it will be a big loss, but I still must know what I must give and decide if I can do it." "Usually the fruits of hunting are given in exchange for a mate. If you are a craftsman with exceptionally fine goods they may be considered also," she said. "I would find it easier to bring the rewards of my hunting to the bargain. I have some abilities at crafts, but I have not been here long enough to make anything." "Do you have any notion of which woman you would want for a mate?" she asked. I could see we were stuck in the middle again since I didn't have any idea about what she'd want for any of the women and she had no way to even guess about what I might be willing and able to pay. I knew damned well I could provide a month's worth of their type hunting in a day or two, but she didn't know it and wouldn't believe it if I made the claim. I figured the best way to keep moving was to take a shot at their most valuable merchandise and see if I thought I could afford it. "I have only seen Gema and Merita. From what Gigo told me either of them would make a fine mate and they would be more than acceptable to me," I said, and congratulated myself on the understatement. "They are the hardest workers and really the best unmated women here. They would require the most in trade. I have to add I doubt either one of them will accept you as a mate. They do not say it, but I am sure neither of them will take a mate who isn't going to stay in this camp," Geera said, and seemed almost apologetic when she did. First Gigo and now Geera had made a point to mention I would be better off, in the mating process anyway, if I was a part of this camp. They had also been careful not to ask me to join. It was difficult trying to understand what I felt were unspoken suggestions though. At one point it seemed they might be close to inviting me to join their camp while later it seemed they were just pointing out I wasn't a member and wasn't entitled to considerations members would take for granted. In any case, joining their camp was not in my plans so I didn't inquire. "As you know I do not understand your customs. I am ashamed to have to ask you, but I feel I must. Is it possible for me to take two mates?" Geera looked almost shocked and I was afraid I'd cut my foot. "It is possible and it is very acceptable. Some leaders and some very good hunters have two mates and some even have three. It is very costly though. Even the best hunters need many seasons to gather the goods for two mates and since we do not know you I am sad to say we would probably require you to gather all the goods before you took the mates. Are you thinking of mating two women?" Geera asked, as if she didn't believe me. "You have said you did not think that Gema and Merita would mate if they were to be separated and you have also said they would be the best mates. Since I live alone, having the best mate or mates would be very good for me. Maybe they will consent to mate the same man together." "I have a feeling you may be correct regarding the details, but I must tell you they have already rejected some very generous offers," she said. "Can you tell me the highest offer they have rejected?" I asked. "Gembo is the son of the leader of a nearby camp and his uncle is the best hunter of the camp. With the understanding his uncle and probably the whole camp were to help, he offered the meat of fifteen bison and the skins of eight of them for either Gema or Merita. The other women here would have accepted the offer and we tried to convince either Gema or Merita to accept, but they would not," Geera said. "I need to ask you another question then. I am new to this area and I haven't seen any bison anywhere. I know you hunt yourself. Can you tell me how hard it is to find bison?" "They are not hard to find. They roam in the hundreds on the upper plateau. They are hard to kill and they all run off at once if they detect hunters" I knew exactly what bison did when men hunted them on foot and needed to get close enough to make their kills with a spear. They stampeded, but Geera didn't have any way to conceive of hunting them with a firearm. My predecessors on the North American frontier had perfected the process over a hundred years ago. "I can kill many bison, but I am alone and it will be very difficult to kill, gut, and skin many bison at once," I said. "You are certainly correct, but we would be willing to help you with the hunt, the cleaning, and the skinning. Only the bison you killed yourself would be counted toward your offer though," she said. "That is wonderful Geera," I said, and knew I sounded excited. She seemed taken slightly aback by my outburst. I could see her mind working at finding a reason for my happiness over her last statement. "If your camp will help with finding, skinning, and cleaning the bison I will offer twenty-five bison for Gema and twenty-five for Merita. I will offer all the bison and all the skins," I said. I could tell she hadn't expected anything of the sort. I was afraid she might think I was simply shooting my mouth off at first, then I realized she didn't know a thing about shooting. She surely must know about men bragging over what they could do though and I was afraid she was leaning toward such an understanding of what I said. "Twenty-five bison is more than has ever been offered before. How can you do it? It is more than has ever been offered for any two women." "You said they were the two best unmated women in your camp. I know they are valuable and I don't care if everyone knows how valuable I think they are. If I can find a herd of bison I can kill fifty with no problem, but alone I can't clean, skin, and carry fifty before they spoil or before the other animals steal them." "I will have to talk to Gigo. I do not know how you can kill fifty bison, but if you can kill fifty at once I don't think even with all of us helping we can take care of them fast enough," Geera said. "I will only kill as many as you want to deal with at one time then. We do not have to rush. There will be plenty of time before the snow won't there?" "Yes. There will be time and if you can even kill ten in one day we will know you are the very best hunter anywhere and will keep your promise. We will not make you wait to mate if it is only the processing and carrying that slows you down," Geera said. She made her excuses and left me then. I expected her to go directly to Gigo and tell him what we had talked about. She didn't though. She called to another woman and motioned for her to come inside the shelter and they did. The other woman, game flusher's mate, came rushing back out just a few minutes later and, circulating among the others, she sent all the mated women plus Gema and Merita inside. The women weren't inside the dwelling more than two minutes before I heard a collective gasp from inside. Even Gigo and some of the other men turned to look at the opening when they heard it. Soon a mated woman I didn't know came to the opening signaling for Gigo and game flusher to come inside. Ten minutes later Gigo and game flusher came out of the dwelling and approached me. Gigo introduced me to Dergo and asked me if what Geera had told him about my offer was true. "I offered twenty-five whole bison for Gema and Twenty-five whole bison for Merita. Is it what Geera told you?" "It is. I do not understand how you can do it and I must say you will not be welcome here again if you have spoken falsely," Gigo said. "I would be too ashamed to come here again if I could not do it. If I can find the bison I will be able to do it with not very much trouble." "But how, you do not even carry a spear. It will take many spears to kill fifty bison," Dergo said. "Do you remember when you hunted the deer by the place where the small stream joins the river?" I asked. "Yes, I remember," Dergo said. "Do you remember the large male which was running off before the thunder killed him?" "We remember it well. We have never heard the thunder so loudly without seeing the lightning and we have never seen the thunder kill a deer. We did then though," Gigo said. "I made the thunder kill the large male," I said. "How can you make the thunder? The thunder only comes with the lightning," Dergo said. I un-slung the thirty ought six and pointed it at a rock face upriver. I didn't need to prove any marksmanship to them I only needed the noise. I squeezed off a shot and got plenty of noise. Dergo and Gigo just stood there with their mouths hanging open. Behind me I heard a few yelps of surprise and then feet shuffling. I turned back to face the camp and everyone else was walking toward us. "Should I make it again so the others can know I will do what I said I would do?" I asked Gigo. "Yes. Show them. Let them all hear it thunder from your hands." I squeezed off another shot and there was only silence behind me. I put the rifle over my shoulder and walked back to camp. When I got to the rock shelf I sat back down and waited. The shocked people tried to resume their tasks and soon things had settled back down. I knew every one of them wanted to come to me and ask a hundred questions. None did though. The women all returned to the dwelling but soon Geera came back out to talk to me again. "I have talked to the women and to Gema and Merita. Most of the women didn't believe you could kill fifty bison until we heard you make the thunder. Most of them still don't think you can. I remember the thunder when it killed the large deer. We did not know what it was then, but I remember the buck dropping like a stone after the thunder. I know you can kill the bison and I told them so. "We are all agreed if you kill ten bison in one day the mating can be perfomed and you can kill the others later. Gema and Merita surprised me. When I told them you wanted to mate both of them they were so happy. You are wiser than you seem John. I have no doubt you will be mated to Gema and Merita before very many days," Geera said. I decided to take a little chance here. I knew damned well Geera was the driving force behind the leadership of this camp and I also knew she wasn't afraid to spread herself around a little when Gigo got into his cups. "I am only sorry you are already mated Geera, as I am sure I could easily kill a hundred bison for three mates. Especially for the three most attractive and best mates in this camp," I said, and I should have been ashamed of myself, but I wasn't. She actually gasped and then blushed and looked around quickly. I guess she didn't think anyone was close enough to have heard. "John, you must not say such things where others could hear. Since no one heard but me though I will have warm thoughts of you tonight," she said. She got up and walked back into the dwelling then. Her last comment had given me a hard on as I flashed on the show she, Dergo, and his mate had unwittingly given me. I could almost see Dergo's ass muscles bunch as he pushed it up her for the first time, and I remembered what it looked like as she wrapped her legs around his waist and hunched back up to him. A picture of Dergo's wife's naked perfection came to me then and I replayed her writhings as Geera held her down while her own mate plowed her wet furrow. I wondered if they would be serving any of the beverage from the animal's stomach tonight. The meal was ready soon and it seemed anticlimactic after all the ruckus I'd caused. Gema and Merita seemed to think the mating was a done deal as they served me and then sat with me as we ate. They both told me they were glad I was going to be their mate and they were anxious for me to kill the first ten bison so we could be joined. I asked them if there was going to be some kind of ceremony and they told me a runner had already been sent to bring the Shaman who served all the camps nearby. He would come first and speak to us before the actual time had been settled on. When I had killed the first ten bison the date would be formalized for two nights later and a great feast would be given after we were mated. After everyone had eaten they joined the other women in cleaning up. No booze bag appeared tonight and I wasn't sorry. I was pretty sure whatever the bag contained caused big hangovers and I hadn't even brought a single aspirin with me. Later Merita and Gema came out from the dwelling to fetch me. They showed me to a sleeping berth they had prepared. They explained it was one visitors usually used, but said they had replaced the bedding for me and brought clean furs for my use. They lamented again we weren't already mated. This served to renew the boner Geera had already unknowingly given me. When I lay down on the furs I could tell they had taken special care to make the bedding comfortable. I also noticed at least some of Ms Auel's speculations had been correct. There were skins hung up which could be let down as privacy curtains. I didn't feel the need for any privacy tonight and after removing my boots I lay down in my clothes and went to sleep. Surprisingly the chain mail was even comfortable enough to sleep in. ------- Chapter 10 I woke the next morning right around sunrise. For the first time since the plane ride before I left my old life I was brought around by the sounds of other people moving about. It was a nice feeling. Gema and Merita brought me a morning cup of some sort of tea. It was pleasant tasting and hot. I enjoyed it and thanked them. Since I had a practically new body, of course I had a morning erection and I guess they spotted it making a lump in my Carhartts since they giggled and told me where the men went to piss in the mornings. It wasn't a long walk to the communal pisser, but it was far enough to keep the delicate aroma from camp. Unlike the bushes I had been using there were also some rudimentary benches made of small timber and extending over a fairly deep trench. This was also the first time I'd been able to sit on something to take a shit in this new life. They even had some small pieces of a mossy type material to wipe my nasty ass with. I felt like a new man when I was done. My experience reminded me of one of the main things I would request in my three thousand pound allotment next year. I would be getting one titanium bathtub whether I needed it or not. I was getting damned tired of bathing in the river and I was sure I would get even more annoyed with it in the fall and winter as the water got colder and colder and then froze. When I got back to the campsite there was a little breakfast ready and what ever it was I ate tasted pretty damned good. Gema and Merita had fixed my plate, but I knew all of the women had taken part in getting the food cooked. Gigo and Dergo approached me and wanted to discuss the upcoming hunt. I asked them if they had time to show me the route to the upper plateau today and maybe where we might find the bison. They were glad to oblige. I told them I would need to return to my cave for at least a night or two. They said the best route up was on the way anyway. We set out a little later and after about three miles they showed me a wide path leading up to the plateau. It was a fairly gentle incline and surprisingly wide. I kept a watch on it all the way up and felt sure if a little work was done removing some of the larger rocks Sally and Jane could pull the wagon to the top. We hadn't been up on top for more than a minute before Dergo pointed off to the west toward what looked like a large black area of low ground which was moving. I examined it with the binoculars and saw it was a herd of bison. There must have been a thousand milling about and grazing. The sight let me know at once I would soon be the proud mate of two beautiful young women. I asked Gigo and Dergo if they could come back to my cave with me and told them if they could I would be able to return with them tonight. When they agreed we set out. When we rounded the last bend and headed toward the cave Dergo spotted the fence and the horses right away. He dropped into stealth mode and when Gigo saw the horses he did too. "No. Those horses are not for hunting." "Why not?" Dergo asked. "They are my horses. They help me. Just wait and you will see their use." When we walked into the cave the wolf cub's smell was apparent and Gigo and Dergo were amazed again. "There are wolf young in your cave," Gigo said. "Yes, they are mine also. When they grow they will help me too." "How can wolf cubs help you?" Dergo asked. "When they are older they will keep watch at night as I sleep. Nothing can slip up on them in the night." "Why should they watch for you while you sleep?" Gigo asked. "Because I feed them now and take care of them. I captured them when they were even younger and they know I care for them now. They think I am their pack leader." Giving what modern man would call a shrug Gigo and Dergo ignored the cubs and stared at the wagon. Of course they had never even seen anything with a wheel on it and they were very curious. Before they could ask I told them they would see what it was for shortly and picking up three lead ropes I went to fetch the horses. Sally and then Jane were easily caught and led to the cave entrance. Tying Jane to the wall I put the harness on Sally. Then I tied her and harnessed Jane. After asking Gigo and Dergo to stand outside, with less trouble than I had been expecting, I led Jane in and hooked her to the wagon, returning for Sally and hooking her up also. Mounting the wagon box and signaling the horses with a light slap of the reins, they pulled the wagon outside, stopping when I pulled back slightly on the reins about twenty feet from the caves entrance. I opened the wagon's top and began loading a few things inside the box. I put all my other firearms and plenty of ammunition in and then stowed the spotting scope and a couple of skinning knives adding plenty of rope last. The tender trap went in too. Calling the pups to me I shut them up in the trap and put a pan of water in with them and a good portion of the deer meat. I also put the deer hide they were used to sleeping on in it. Gigo and Dergo just looked on in amazement. Lastly, taking another lead rope I went to fetch Ben. He gave me a little evasion, but eventually stood still for me to attach the lead rope to his halter. I brought him to the wagon and tied him to the back, then put on his bridle and saddle. After closing up the doors to the cave Gigo and Dergo just watched wide eyed as I climbed to the wagon box and sat on the bench. "Come on and climb up. There is plenty of room and the seat is nice. It will be much easier than walking back. You will see." At first they looked as if they'd been asked to cut their own throats, but they were eventually convinced it was safe and climbed aboard. They took a death grip on the seat as Sally and Jane moved off and very nearly panicked as we began moving, but they settled down after a time. They were both silent for about a mile and then Gigo started with questions about the wagon. I told him what it was called and explained it was for carrying things too bulky or heavy for me to carry myself. He asked why I needed to carry so much and I asked if he didn't think it would be much easier to carry five or six bison in the wagon than it would be to carry them on his back. The light shined for him then as he kept looking back at the wagon and then at the horses pulling it. "Why is one horse following the wagon and what is tied to his back? Gigo asked. "It is called a saddle on his back. It is for me to sit on when I ride him." "What is ride?" "I get up and sit on the saddle and when he walks he carries me." "Why would you do that?" Dergo asked. "He can walk farther than I can without getting tired. He can also run and take me faster than I can run." Gigo and Dergo both looked at me suspiciously for a moment. They didn't want to say they thought I was lying, but I could tell they didn't really believe it. They let riding the horse drop for other questions though. "How did you make the horses pull it? How did you catch them without killing them?" Dergo asked. "The fence was built for catching them. First I let the horses go up into the blind canyon and kept them in it with fires until the first fence was finished. Then I built the small pen and caught all the horses in it. Next I let all the horses out except the three I have now, then I trained the three to do what I wanted them to." The rest of the trip back to their camp was spent with me telling them about the wagon and the horses and the wolf cubs. I was glad to get the story told since I knew there would be hundreds more questions when we arrived. We were an even bigger surprise this time than before when I'd stepped out to show myself to Gema and Merita. No one screamed and ran away, but all of them were amazed. When I got down off the wagon after Gigo and Dergo made their exit, Gema and Merita were at my side at once and both were asking questions. I told them I was hungry and thirsty and I had many surprises for them and everyone else, but I needed food and drink first. They left like a shot and began getting me something to eat and drink. I let Gigo and Dergo do the best they could with the wagon explanations. I was already enough of an oddity and they felt important as they explained things. Hell they were important and I knew it would make me all the more acceptable to them if I let them steal the limelight, especially since I was happy to relinquish it anyway. I made sure they told everyone these horses were not to be hunted and they should not approach them without me, as they were easily frightened. I could tell I wouldn't have any trouble there since I was sure they were all aware of the damage a horse could do if it bolted. I unsaddled Ben and led him to the stream for a drink and then off to a grassy area easily within sight of the camp. None of the horses had liked the hobbles when I gave them those lessons, but they were all familiar with dealing with them by now. When I had Ben hobbled I removed the harness from Sally and Jane, led them over for a drink, and took them over by Ben. I hobbled both of them also and then returned to the wagon to stow the harness. I looked in at the cubs and they had finished the meat and were sleeping. I didn't bother them, as there had been plenty of excitement already. I went over to the rock ledge and sat down. Gema and Merita came to me at once with a plate, which seemed to be made from the hip bone of some animal and a larger than expected wooden cup full of another type of tea. The tea and the food were both good. I tried to determine what type of small vegetables I was eating, but didn't have a clue. They tasted fine so I didn't worry about it. Gema told me the meat was some of the last from the deer hunt I had watched. I guessed everyone now knew I had been watching. "After tomorrow we will be eating bison, but after all the cleaning and carrying we might not want to see it," I said. ------- Chapter 11 "Gema and I want to see it. We will be proud when our mate brings in our bride payment. The Shaman will be here tomorrow and we hope the first of the bison will be here waiting so we can settle the day for our mating," Merita said. They were sitting on either side of me as I ate. When Merita said it I put an arm around each of them and hugged them to me. "Gema and you don't want the bison here any more than I do," I said, and then gave each of them a kiss on the cheek. They both blushed furiously and then giggled. "John, you must not kiss us before we are mated," Gema said shyly. "Maybe one more time will not hurt," Merita said, and then quickly kissed me on the cheek. Gema saw it and had to sneak a kiss too. I can assure you I didn't mind. I did look up and see Geera was looking our way. When I caught her eye she blushed also and then looked away. After eating, Gigo and Dergo came to me as Gema and Merita left to help clean up. They wanted to discuss how I would hunt. I told them I wanted to go onto the top alone and if I couldn't spot the herd I would come back and let them help me find one. They told me there would be plenty of bison and I would surely see them when I walked out onto the plateau. Mentioning after the bison were killed I would want to bring the wagon up to help carry them down, I asked if the men could move the large rocks out of the trail so the wagon and horses would not be blocked. They assured me they would take care of it. Everyone seemed to want to retire early after sunset and Gema and Merita came for me shortly, telling me my bed was ready and I should get plenty of rest for the hunt tomorrow. As they led me to my bed I told them I would never be able to truly rest until we were mated. As I sat on the bed they were both giggling and after looking around to make sure no one was watching they each gave me a kiss on the cheek before scampering off. I was up early the next morning and went straight to the wagon. I let the pups out of the trap and set it out of the way, but near the entrance to the dwelling. After letting the pups sniff around a time or two and as they finished their business I put them back into the trap. They didn't like staying in it but they had to and I guess somehow they understood because they didn't resist. Searching around in the refuse from last night's meal I found some large bones with a little meat still left on them. I put these into the trap with the pups to give them something to chew on. Soon others were coming out of the dwelling and I had some explaining to do about the pups. It was over and done with much sooner than I would have thought and soon enough Gema and Merita were bringing my breakfast. The tea this morning was like what I'd had yesterday morning and the breakfast was as good. Later, as I was saddling Ben and harnessing Sally and Jane I noticed one of the oldest boys watching me intently. I called him over and he told me his name was Jonoco. I asked him if he would be going with us on the hunt and he told me he would be helping with cleaning and carrying the bison. I asked him if he thought he could hold the horses for me while I was killing the bison. He said he would try, but admitted he didn't know how. I hadn't expected him to, but spent about twenty minutes telling him what to do and warning him he should always move slowly around them and especially not to wave his hands around as it might frighten them. He said he understood, so when I finished harnessing and hitching the team I had him take Sally's lead rope and lead her a little. Of course Jane, the wagon and Ben had to come too. Jonoco was amazed when they followed him quietly without him having to pull hard on the rope. When he stopped they also stopped at once. Jonoco smiled wide and told me he was sure he could take care of the horses while I was hunting. Gigo and Dergo came up just then and I made sure it was all right with them. One older man and two older women were staying in camp. I asked them to keep an eye on the pups and told them they wouldn't have to do anything, but I would feel better if they would just look at them once in a while and they agreed to. We left shortly. Gigo and Dergo rode with me on the bench again and I had Jonoco ride on the wagon's top. We were at the trail up in what seemed no time. Jonoco got off at once and took hold of Sally's lead while Gigo, Dergo, and I were climbing down from our perch. After I took a few minutes to remove the tops from the wagon and stow them in their rack under the wagon box Gigo, Dergo, and I headed for the plateau. The rest of the men started up too and I saw they were removing the loose rocks and boulders from the path as they went. Gigo and Dergo stopped about fifty feet from the top and I continued. As I walked out onto the plateau I took my glasses and scanned across the wide expanse of grass. I spotted what I thought was the same herd of bison we'd seen the day before. They were nearly a mile from where they had been when we saw them last, but were actually a little closer to me. There was a good breeze blowing toward me from the herd and I moved out toward them at a slow pace. I went unnoticed and stopped on a small rise while still about four hundred yards away. I attached the bipod legs to the M1's barrel and took a prone position. As I scanned the herd through the scope I let my heart rate level off from the walk. When I felt my heart rate was normal I sighted on my first selection and started firing. The bison didn't pay any attention to the blasts except to look toward me and then return to grazing. At this distance the bison I took fell before the sound from firing even reached the herd. I dropped fifteen bison before they got anxious. I'd already told Gigo when I made it thunder three times rapidly I would be ready for some help so I triggered three shots quickly and then stood up. The bison noticed me then after the three shots and when I stood. They didn't panic but they did start moving off. Gigo and Dergo reached me about five minutes later and could hardly believe it. I told Dergo we should probably get the others to come up so they could begin and so I could go and get the wagon. He turned back and ran to the head of the trail. Gigo and I walked to the dead bison. Gigo was dumbstruck again when we actually came to them. He was really having a hard time believing it. Finally he looked at me and smiled. "You killed fifteen and you only needed to kill ten today." "With the wagon to help we can take care of fifteen today. Besides, we will need some extra to feed all the people who will come to the mating. When the Shaman tells what I offered for my mates and tells who my mates are to be don't you think many will come to see it?" I asked. "Many? All will come." Within ten minutes most of the others were with us. The Shaman had arrived by now also and I was introduced to Georgo. He congratulated me on my kills and then did some kind of short ceremony. To me he looked like a preacher from my time saying a prayer before a football game. After he finished they all fell to their tasks and I turned around and headed down for the wagon. Georgo followed me and after we were about a hundred yards from the others he asked to speak to me. I stopped and in a few minutes my estimation of his skills went up considerably. "The thunder in your hands is amazing. I heard it as I was arriving. It would be better if all the other camps did not learn of it. It is powerful magic and if they learn of it they will be both jealous and frightened. Especially after seeing you control horses and wolf cubs," Georgo said. "I understand, but all those from this camp already know of it. I will be glad to keep it secret, but will the others?" I asked. "I will speak to them. They will not reveal the secret of the magic if I ask them not to," Georgo said. "I can take the horses and the wolf cubs back to my cave before the others come if you think I should." "We will need something to show to help explain how you can kill fifteen bison in one day. We can let them see the horses and your wagon and the wolf cubs. It will let them know you have powerful magic without telling them all there is to know about it. It will give them much to talk and think about," Georgo said. "I will do as you suggest then. I also have some questions I would like to ask you Georgo, but I do not know your ways and I am not sure it is allowed." "You will find all Shaman are jealous of their magic ways, but I will answer if I can," Georgo said. "I understand, and it is not magic I want to know about. There are more things I think I should show you before I let the others see and there are things about the ways and customs of the people I need to know." "Geera told me you were more wise than you appeared. What do you want to know and what can you show me in return?" Georgo asked. I knew now I had guessed correctly. Secret knowledge was Georgo's and probably all the other Shaman's stock-in-trade. He seemed unusually canny and so I decided to see if I could knock his socks off from the start. From watching the camp I had confirmed my suspicions about starting a fire being a tedious process for them. "I can show you how to make fire from rocks, almost at once. I do have many questions though." I had Georgo's attention now. He looked around quickly to assure himself no one was near us. Satisfied, he turned back to me and searched my face trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. "You and I should find time to talk alone at length then. I will be happy to tell you of our customs." "Maybe you can come with me to my cave for a while. It is an easy journey in the wagon." "I think you are right. We would not be disturbed at your cave. Perhaps tomorrow or the next day," Georgo said, in agreement. We parted and my trip down to the wagon was uneventful. Jonoco was waiting patiently when I arrived and as I mounted the seat I motioned for him to join me. Sally and Jane had less trouble with the trail than I'd imagined. It was a little tight in a place or two, but nothing was critical. We topped out onto the steppes and headed directly toward the busy workers. Within an hour, six of the bison had been gutted, skinned, and cut up into large parts. There was plenty of room for them all in the wagon and we put the rolled skins on top. I tied them down with some of the rope and turned to head back. Gigo sent three men to follow me and Jonoco followed too. I told them they could all ride with me on the wagon as soon as I got it to the lower level. The trip down the trail was no more trouble than the one up. The wagon's brakes were more than equal to the task and soon I was in the valley again with Jonoco and the others all riding on the seat with me. When we got back to the camp the three men unloaded the wagon while I stole a chunk of the meat for the pups and refilled their water pan. They were arguing over the meat as we left for the next load. I carried six more bison and all the rest of the skins on the second load. On the third load I took the balance of the bison meat. Geera asked if I could also carry certain parts of the entrails. I told her I could carry all of them. Apparently they usually discarded most of these parts when hunting bison, as it was a long way to carry them even though most of them could be used with careful cleaning. It was soon all loaded into the wagon and what little was left for the scavengers didn't amount to much. I waited at the top while most of the others headed down. Apparently the smell of the dead bison and of their blood from the skinning and cleaning had carried. Dergo told me I should hurry and leave since he could see three cave lionesses stalking us. He pointed them out to me and I found them easily with the glasses. I shouldered the thirty ought six and dispatched them quickly. A few of the men came back at the sound of the shots and when I asked they told me they would be proud to skin the dead predators for me. I took the wagon over near them and the skins were in the wagon and I was headed back in short order. Dergo was smiling about the cave lions and he asked me what I would do with the skins. I told him with new mates I would need new sleeping furs. He grinned at me and then slapped my back and laughed. ------- Chapter 12 By the time we got back with the last load the camp was swarming with activity. I hadn't really thought about it, but this was probably more game than they had ever dealt with at one time. The women were doing most of the work with the fresh meat, but some of the men had been pressed into duties they didn't normally have to bother with. For instance five men were down stream a few hundred feet and one woman seemed to be directing their efforts at washing and cleaning out the intestines from my kills. Men were also doing most of the lifting and carrying and some were erecting racks for drying meat. Others were putting up temporary stands near smoky wood fires and later larger portions of meat would be hung on these. The rest of the men and most of the older children were working on the hides, scraping them and getting them prepared to be put onto racks for stretching. Gema and Merita were with a group of women busily slicing meat to be dried. As I watched them working with Geera and game flusher's mate I noticed resemblances between Geera and Gema and also between Merita and game flusher's wife. The resemblances had to be familial since they were too pronounced to be coincidence. It was odd to me no mention had been made of it before now. Just then a younger girl, probably about fifteen, joined them. Her hair was the same color as Merita's and I could tell they must be sisters. She was only a little smaller than Merita and it had to be because she was younger. I would have to ask Geera about it, but not now. Helping with skins looked to be the best place for me and I fell in with those working on it and was soon covered with blood and tissue like everyone else. We worked well after sunset until Gigo had us all find a stopping place so we could eat a light meal and get some rest. Being busy with the hides I hadn't noticed some of the women had quit working on the bison and cooked supper. After going to the stream I washed off what I could. When I returned near the fire I saw Gema and Merita were seated on the rock ledge. They'd saved me a spot between them and there was a hipbone plate of food for me. "John, Merita and I are so proud of you. We will soon be mated to the best hunter anywhere. Most of the women didn't think you could kill one bison and surely not ten. Then you went onto the plateau alone and killed fifteen. Not to mention you carried them all to camp with your wagon and horses and then killed three cave lions. Is it true their skins are for our sleeping furs?" Gema asked, and I could almost feel her excitement. "It is what I intended, but if you would rather another type of sleeping fur tell me what you want and I will get it," I said. "The lion furs will be wonderful John. When the men who skinned them told us you said they were for our sleeping furs I was so proud I thought my heart would burst," Merita said. "John, almost no one has a cave lion fur. They are vicious and the men never hunt them. The only ones ever killed are those which attack to take a kill from the hunters. Hunters will only kill cave lions if they don't think they can get away without being hurt. Many men have been killed by the cave lions," Gema said. "The men who skinned them also brought us their claws and teeth. I have never seen so many cave lion teeth and claws in my whole life. There are more than enough for a powerful necklace for all of us if it is acceptable," Merita said. "You will be my mates. All this has been done for you. You may do with them as you please." I could tell by the way they were talking and by the looks they were giving me I was a big hit. Gema and Merita both seemed to glow and were practically vibrating with excitement. I had a suspicion I could do no wrong in their eyes, for a while at least. The younger version of Merita who had been with them earlier came over and approached us shyly. Merita saw her and welcomed her, and then she introduced Maia and told me they had been sisters once. "I don't understand Merita, if you were sisters once are you not still sisters?" "We are, but after we became women we were no longer seen as sisters. We still feel like sisters though," Merita said, quietly. "You surely look like sisters. I don't want to be rude but who is your mother?" "Dieta was our mother when we were children. She is Dergo's mate," Merita said. I was beginning to get an inkling now. Apparently they were sisters and had a mother while they were children, but after they grew older they were referred to as women and no longer considered sisters. Merita confirmed it for me. "Yes. While we were children we lived with Dergo and Dieta was our mother. When we became women we moved to our own beds with the other unmated women," Merita said. "And Geera must have been your mother Gema," I said. "Yes, how did you know?" She asked. "I can see her beauty in your face as I can see Dieta's beauty in the faces of Merita and Maia." I had said the right thing again. All three faces lit up with smiles and blushes. I did notice Maia's seemed tempered with a sort of sadness though and as I looked more closely her eyes looked slightly red as if she might have been crying. At least I had sense enough not to ask about it now. I decided I would ask Gema or Geera about it later if I could get them alone. I was feeling a little odd about my new information. Of course I was transposing my former life onto these new people in my new life, but it made me wonder why Geera had not told me any of this and why I hadn't been introduced to one of my future mothers-in-law, namely Dieta. I would have to quiz someone on this point. When we finished eating Gema and Merita took me inside and led me to a nicer sleeping place. It was larger and the furs seemed even nicer than those I'd been using. For a second I thought I might be about to get a taste of my new mates, but they explained I was now being given one of the places reserved for visiting hunters instead of one for a guest. Whatever the reason I appreciated it and after looking around for prying eyes Gema and Merita both stole a kiss on the cheek before they scampered off. It was up and at 'em early again the next morning. I went back to work with the men on the bison skins. Today it was mostly putting them onto racks for stretching. More racks had to be built and while I knew I could make better racks faster with the saws, axes, and hatchets at my cave I was glad to keep them secret. After all, Georgo told me there was no need to show everyone all my magic. It reminded me Georgo was to go to my cave with me today. I left the work on the skins and began looking for him. I noticed Gema, Merita, and Maia were all working on the lion skins. The three skins were stretched on what were clearly new racks and even the racks looked like they had been built with extra care. After a short break for some breakfast and hot tea Geera came over to me and asked to talk to me alone. I was happy for the excuse and we walked up river for a couple of hundred yards to sit on a deadfall near the canyon's wall. "John I am embarrassed to ask you this, but I must. With so many bison to finish, the other women and I talked and we must ask if you can wait two extra days for your mating ceremony?" Geera asked. "Yes, I can wait. Of course I would rather have it as soon as possible, but I understand it would be pointless to kill the bison and then not make sure they were processed properly. There is no value in merely having dead bison. It is probably my fault anyway because I killed five more than you were planning on," I said. "It is extra work yes, but you will never hear any of the women in this camp complain about extra kills. When winter is ending and spring is not here yet we will be singing songs about the extra meat you have killed. It is not enjoyable to get to that time of year and be without enough to eat," Geera said. "If I can be of service you will not run short of meat this next winter or spring Geera, you will probably never run short of meat again." "You are a great hunter John, we have seen it, but soon you will be leaving with your new mates and will have to provide for them," Geera said. "As you now know hunting meat is not difficult for me. If we could live on meat alone we would have no worries. It is gathering I have no skill for. I am hoping Gema and Merita can show me how to gather the food which grows and show me where to gather it." "Gema and Merita can do it for you. It is our custom women do most of the gathering and Gema and Merita are well acquainted with the process," Geera said. "I have another question Geera. Why didn't you tell me Gema was your daughter and why haven't I met Merita's mother. I know who she is and know her name is Dieta, but I haven't been introduced to her and she is the mother of one of my intended mates." "After a child is grown we do not call them son or daughter any longer. We still know it and love them, but they must make their own way after they become men or women. I will tell you I am glad Gema waited so long to mate. At one time I felt she was wasting her life, but now I see she did the best thing even if she did not know she was doing it," Geera said. "I don't even know how old Gema and Merita are." "Gema has been a woman for nearly two years now. She is sixteen years old. Merita is one year older and has been a woman three years. Dieta and I were afraid they would never mate," she said. This was a shocker, but from the way Geera talked I knew it must be normal. I wasn't going to complain about having two mates who were so young. I would be able to raise them like I liked them. "I hope I'm not being too nosey, but why did Merita's sister Maia seem sad yesterday? Even Merita seemed a little sad although she has told me she is proud she will soon be my mate." "I am surprised you noticed. Most men do not pay attention to such things. Maia is happy for Merita, but she is sad they will be separated from her. It is much like it was with Gema and Merita. They are all very close. If they had spent another year together they probably would never have mated since they would never have wanted to leave each other," Geera explained. It was just too good to be true and I knew my lonely dick was going to be the death of me. I couldn't let it pass though. I tried to hold my tongue, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to. "There is no need for them to be parted now Geera." "What do you mean John? Maia must stay with the unmated women until she finds a mate of her own. She cannot go live with Gema, Merita, and you even if it isn't far. She must stay with her own camp until she has a mate," Geera said. "Do you think I would be unacceptable to Maia as a mate? Maybe she would take me anyway since she knows Gema and Merita will be mating me. You told me some men had three mates." Geera was shocked and I'd been sure she would be. She was going over the little speech in her head and then worrying at the details. I could almost see her coming around when she realized killing more bison for another bride payment would be no trouble for me. "John I never dreamed it was what you were thinking. I'm sure neither Gema, Merita, nor Maia has even considered it either. Do you want to take three mates?" Geera asked. "Only if Maia also wants to mate me. From what you told me I'm sure she will be swayed toward going with Gema and Merita, but I want her to understand if she agrees she will be my mate also, just as they will be." "All women in our camp understand this before they become women. We mothers make sure of it. We also make sure all our daughters know how to take care of their mates," Geera said, almost indignantly. "I'm sure you do Geera and I meant no disrespect. It is just Maia seems very young to join with a mate." "She is a woman now and the sooner she is mated the better off she will be. I must talk to the other women if you are sure this is what you want. Remember John - you will have to provide for your mates. I know you are a great hunter - you have proved it to everyone in this camp. You will have four to feed if you do this and you should make sure you can." "I should have taken you with me when I killed the bison. You would know as long as there are bison I will have plenty of meat. I could have killed all the bison for my bride payments yesterday. I did not stop because the bison ran off. I stopped because there were already enough dead bison to take care of." "I will go to the other women now and we will talk about it. We will also ask Maia if she will accept you as a mate and we will make sure Gema and Merita will accept Maia. I do not think there will be any hesitation on the part of any of those three. With three of them to share the work and knowing they will not want for meat I'm sure they would be happy even if they weren't so close already," Geera said. ------- Chapter 13 "Will twenty-five bison be enough for Maia?" "Twenty-five bison will not be necessary for Maia. She has not had any offers to turn down and she is not yet as good a worker as Gema and Merita and would not be as much a loss to the camp," Geera said. "I am offering twenty-five bison for Maia though. I do not want her to think she is any less desirable than Gema or Merita. I will have to find some more cave lions also since we will need another new sleeping fur." "John, where did you come from? I have never met a man like you. I am twenty-eight years old and I have only seen one cave lion skin from a lion killed by the hunters of this camp. You come here alone, you want three mates, and are willing and able to pay the highest bride payment I have ever heard of even faster than we can accept it and now you talk of hunting a cave lion so your latest mate can have it for her new sleeping fur. I can hardly understand this," Geera said, clearly amazed. "I already have cave lion furs for my three soon to be mates. I merely want to get one for myself." "I must go and talk to the other women before I am overwhelmed," Geera said. "There is just one more thing. Does Gema have a sister I need to be thinking about also?" "No, Gema does not have a sister. How many mates do you want John?" "Only Gema, Merita, Maia, and all women related to them plus a few other pretty women I might come across," I said, and she was clearly flustered again. I could see back toward camp although the actual camp was hidden from us by a slight curve in the canyon wall. Geera had stood as she asked me how many mates I wanted. I stood also and was close to her so I put my arms around her and pulled her to me. I felt her breasts pressing into my chest and her abdomen mashed into me as I hugged her. I let my hands slip down to cup her firm buttocks and gave them a good squeeze as she gasped. "I might be satisfied with Gema, Merita, Maia and their mothers for a shot time," I said, as I pressed my now hard dick to her. Geera tensed in my arms and whipped her head toward camp to make sure no one was looking our way. Satisfied we weren't being watched she pressed into me for just an instant and then backed off. "John! I am already mated and so is Dieta. You know this. Please do not do this in the daylight again," Geera said, as I released her. I would have to think about her statement. I stared at her ass wiggling as she walked back to the camp. I knew she would not tell the other women, except Dieta maybe. Even if it might have looked funny for Geera and me to have walked off together up the river I knew it would all be forgotten when the discussion of my third mate began. When Geera was out of sight around the canyon wall I walked off following her at a distance. I had to find Georgo after all. I really didn't understand why I thought I needed a feel of Geera's ass. Truth be told I wanted more than a feel - I wanted a piece of it. It didn't make sense, but I wanted some anyway. I was about to be mated to a seventeen year old, a sixteen year old and a fifteen year old and everybody thought it was grand. Here I wanted to screw my mate's mothers too. A hardon doesn't have any regrets though and mine sure wanted to hide up Geera, and Dieta too for that matter. We would see what we would see. Heading back toward the camp in Geera's wake I nearly bumped into Georgo who was coming to find me. He was ready for our talk and the trip to my cave. We turned back to the camp and I put the pups in the wagon box and set the trap over in it, not bothering to put them back inside since I doubted they would try to jump out. After hitching up the team and tying Ben to the back we left. Georgo didn't seem to want to talk during his wagon ride and the only speaking I did was to scold the pups when I caught them trying to chew on the saddle I had thrown in the wagon with them. When we got to my cave I left the wagon outside and after unharnessing the team I turned them and Ben into the big pen. Georgo was examining the wall I had built to close up the cave when I returned. After opening the small door we walked in. I'd made up my mind not to hold much back from Georgo so I walked to the pole mounted light I'd removed from the wagon and mounted in a hole in the floor. When I turned it on and it lit the cave Georgo was startled. While he was trying to find the fire which made all the light I dug around in my supplies and took out a piece of iron pyrite and a small piece of flint. "This is the rock which can make fire," I told Georgo, showing him the fools gold. "How can you make fire with a rock?" Going to my fire circle I scraped a place clean of ashes and put a little tinder in the center. Telling him to watch closely I struck the iron pyrite with the piece of flint and luckily a big spark flew off and landed in the tinder. I bent down to blow gently on it as it smoldered and had a tiny flame in seconds and then it was just a matter of feeding larger and larger pieces of kindling until a fire was going. "That is truly powerful magic. I have seen a few rocks like it before, but I didn't know there was fire in them," Georgo said, admitting it. "I was hoping there were some around here since I only have two. I will give you one and I think you should share the magic with the others. I have more powerful fire magic I will reveal to you, but I don't think you should share it." I pulled an Alien made bic type lighter out of my pocket and thumbed its wheel. When the flame jumped up I thought Georgo would pass out. He was stunned. I showed him there was liquid inside and told him when the liquid was gone he would need to tell me so I could get him another one. I explained it would still make sparks without any liquid, but it would no longer make flame. I dug out another lighter from my supplies and handed it to him. "I will admit I did not expect you to have such powerful magic. First the thunder you make from your hands and now you can bring fire from rocks and from this. Are you a Shaman too?" Georgo asked. "No, I am not, but I do have some magic. I will also tell you the thunder does not come from my hands, it comes from this rifle and I must use these cartridges in the rifle to make the thunder." I un-slung the thirty-ought-six and let him hold it after making sure the safety was on. He held it gingerly for a minute looking at it and then handed it back as I showed him some of the cartridges. I even took the time to pull the bullet from a shell to explain how it worked. Finally I emptied the powder into my hand and then threw it in the small fire. I could almost see the wheels turning over in his head while he worried at trying to understand the process. "I have other rifles with other cartridges and I have this pistol which will also make thunder. I think it would be best if no one else knew any more about it than they do already." I let him handle the Glock then, but he didn't want to handle it for long. Next I dug around and found a folding knife for another gift. I explained it was a special type of knife and showed him how to open and close it asking again he not share this knowledge since I didn't have many of the knives. I explained I would have to sharpen it for him when it became dull and he seemed to understand the concept. "I am overwhelmed John. Why have you shared this knowledge and these gifts with me?" "I do not know and understand the customs of the people and I need to. I will not be living with the camp, but I will be living with my mates and I need to know what to expect and how to conduct myself." "I will tell you as much as I can and you can always ask me about anything which puzzles you," Georgo said, and began my lessons. He talked for nearly three hours and I had some questions for him along the way. He confirmed what Geera had told me about child rearing and outlined it more specifically. A daughter stayed with her mother and her mother's mate until her first menstruation. Afterward she was considered an unmated woman until she did mate. Apparently sex before mating was strictly forbidden and no unmated woman would even consider such as it would make her chances of mating remote. Since they were usually mated soon after they left their mothers it wasn't really a big problem. Manhood came when a boy could produce sperm. Of course a boy could hide the ability if he wanted to since no one else was about to check. Most boys wanted to be men as soon as possible though and usually announced their new status to their mother as soon as they could prove it. Since young men were usually not good hunters when they gained manhood it was common for their mother's mate to help them acquire the payment for their mate and often other relatives or even friends of the mother's mate helped also. The details of the mating proceedings were a surprise when Georgo clued me in. Since it was my first mating they knew about and it was the first mating for my upcoming mates, their mothers would be with us for the first three nights. Intending to object I nearly spoke up and then wondered what I had to complain about. This was one area Georgo couldn't give me much help with since as a roaming Shaman he had never mated. He also said it was something no man he had ever known had volunteered any information on and it would be highly improper to ask. He did know during the days things carried on more or less normally, but pointed out when couples mated a special tent was erected away from the communal dwelling for their first nights. Apparently this type of ceremony was not included if one or the other had been mated before. I asked him why couples might be mated for a second time. He explained if a mated man or woman were to be killed or die of sickness their mate would seek a replacement. He said also if a man took an additional mate there was no need for the mother to help at first. This part made more sense to me and I almost asked if mated pairs ever severed their relationships, but I didn't. If it happened I'd find out about it at the time and if it didn't there was no need to know. Most of the rest of his explaining covered various ceremonies, feast, customs, and similar things. Finally he paused for a moment. "John, I must warn you there could be trouble over your mates." "Why should I have trouble and what kind of trouble would it be?" "Gembo was determined to have either Gema or Merita. He is the one who made the best offer for them before you. He was very angry when they rejected him. He is mated to another woman now, but I am often at their camp and I am sure he is still angry about the rejection. "His former mother's mate, Jabo, is the leader of the camp and he and Gembo are still very close even though Gembo is a man in his own right now and even has a mate. Jenbo was the brother of Jabo and is the best hunter of the camp. He is one of the best hunters anywhere. They are all very proud men and can be argumentative and truculent. Especially if their pride has been bruised. Gembo is the worst of them and I am afraid he may cause trouble for you after you are mated," Georgo said. "What kind of trouble could he cause me? What could he do?" "It is almost never done anymore, but he could kill you. If he did your mates and all you own would belong to him." "What if I kill him when he tries?" I asked, I couldn't stop myself. "Then his mate and all he owns would be yours." "The women have no say in the matter?" "Not in this matter. This is almost never done anymore and many people look upon it with disfavor, but it is still custom and it is one of the oldest. He may be more inclined to try it though since you have no camp to help you. It is possible his former mother's mate and even his uncle might help him though." "And if I kill them when they try I will be looked on with disfavor?" "Oh no. If they attack you no one will fault you for defending yourself." "Would he try to hurt or capture my mates?" "If he did even his own camp would hunt him down. Killing or harming a woman is our strongest taboo. Women are the givers of new life. Sometimes a woman's mate may whip her if she is disobedient, but otherwise it is a serious crime to abuse a woman. Harming any other man's mate would turn everyone against him. He will not try anything of such nature," Georgo said. "Are there any customs for how he might attack me? Will he do it with his hands, or a knife, or a spear?" "According to custom there is no distinction as to method. He may try to kill you in any way. To take your mates he must only kill you and deliver your body to your camp. Since you do not have a camp he must deliver your body to one of your mates' former camps," Georgo said, explaining. "This is very interesting, but I will not worry about it until something happens. It will probably be better if his mother's mate and his uncle do help him. He will be bolder then and will probably come to kill me openly. If he does he will be easy to deal with." "But then there would be three of them," Georgo countered. "There were three cave lions yesterday. Are Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo so ferocious?" "I see what you mean now. They will hear the story I am sure, but I do not think they will believe it. We will have to wait and see." "Must I take his mate if I kill him?" "You can leave her to starve or to fend for herself, but it would be cruel. Many would look down on you if you did - even if you did not take his belongings. "After all, the woman will not try to harm you and she will need a mate if you have to kill hers. It is probable no one else would ever mate her if you kill her mate. They would be suspicious and would think she was bad luck if her mate was killed by another and the one who killed him would not have her. "You should also consider the fact if you kill him you will be getting a young mate who is a very good worker without having to make a bride payment. Even though she was not Gembo's first choice she is still a very attractive and well mannered woman." Well shit. I was about to get three mates who were young and beautiful and if this Gembo dumbass came around with his father and uncle I would probably end up with three more. I guess I could muddle through somehow. I didn't even consider the fact Gembo might be able to kill me. I hitched the horses, closed the cave, and Georgo and I headed back to the camp. We were pretty much silent on the way back too. I don't know what Georgo was thinking about, but I was thinking about a mating ceremony. It seemed all the more inviting now I knew Geera and Dieta would be showing us the ropes. I had it in mind I might just show them a little rope myself. A stiff rope. I also spent a little time thinking about Gembo. I would definitely be looking for him in the crowd so I would know who to be watchful for. I wanted to get a look at his uncle and father too. I was half a mind to just shoot all their asses as soon as I found out who they were, but gave it up as a bad idea. I would just act like I didn't know any better and settle their hash when and if they made a move. ------- Chapter 14 When Georgo and I made it back to the camp it was still a whirl of activity. It did seem the bison processing was winding down though, except for the drying of the meat and the continuing work on the hides. It would still be a couple of days before the meat was dried. Gema and Merita spotted me almost as soon as the wagon stopped. They dropped their work on the lion skins and rushed to me. Maia was working on a lion skin also, but she seemed undecided as to how she should act. "John, where have you been?" Gema asked, sounding like a wife already. "I had to go to my cave with Georgo. He and I had some things to talk about." "Is it true. Is what Geera told us true?" Merita asked. "What did Geera tell you and the others?" "She said you wanted Maia for your mate also," Gema said, excitedly. "Yes it is true then, I would love to have Maia as my mate also. Are you and Merita disappointed?" "No! No we are not disappointed, we are thrilled," Merita said, practically giddy. "Do you think Maia will accept me as a mate. I am much older than Maia." "You are much older than Gema and I also and we are very pleased we will soon be mated to you. Maia can hardly believe what Geera told us. She is afraid to even hope it is true," Merita said. I knew the cure for that so I walked over to Maia and asked her if she would consent to mate with me. "Yes John, I will consent. I would beg if it would help. I can barely believe you would mate me also," Maia said. "Do not sell yourself short Maia. It is I who will be proud to have you for a mate, as I am proud Gema and Merita will also be mated to me. I am the one who is lucky." "But why did you offer twenty-five bison for me also John. The women would have agreed to much less," Maia asked. "I offered twenty-five bison because you are worth it to me. You are worth much more. You all are. I feel like I am stealing you for only twenty-five bison each. I am sure the women of the camp do not realize how valuable Gema, Merita, and you are." Maybe I was finally getting the hang of talking to women. I was doing a good job in this time and place anyway. Gema, Merita, and Maia nearly swooned over this. "I think you three had better go back to work on your sleeping furs now. You will want them in just a few more days." They all seemed very excited, but they went back to the furs and began working on them with a vengeance. Geera caught my eye then and signaled for me to come to her and I did. "John I guess you have already talked to Gema, Merita, and Maia, but for formality I will tell you I have talked to all three of them and to all the women. Gema, Merita, and Maia will all accept you as a mate and the other women think your offer is more than fair. Especially if you will agree to help carry the bison for us with your wagon and horses," Geera said. "You should know I would be glad to help with the carrying and in any way I can. More bison wait only for your word you are ready for them." "I am convinced now John." Dieta walked over to us then. I was glad she had because I wanted to meet her in person. From what I had seen on my spying trip and from what Geera had let slip this morning I thought meeting her after dark might be an even better experience. "John, this is Dieta. She was the mother of Merita and Maia," Geera said, introducing us. "I am very pleased to meet you Dieta. Now I know why Gema, Merita, and Maia are so beautiful. It is because their mothers are so beautiful." I was batting a thousand so far. Even though Geera and Dieta tried not to show it I could tell my compliment was more than well received. Apparently the ancient men were stingy with their praise. "And I am beginning to get an idea how you have caused our daughters to be practically panting to mate with you. I assumed at first it was because you would mate Gema and Merita both so they would not have to be separated. After the bison hunt I assumed it was your skill as a hunter. Now I know your greatest skill is probably going to be as a mate," Dieta said. The way she said it made me wonder if there was a double meaning she was using with their word for mate. I was sure there was a double meaning for the way she was looking me over and I was all for it. "Be careful in your teasing of him Dieta. He might get the wrong idea. Even if he gets the right idea we might find he is more than we can handle," Geera said, and then she blushed at once over her own boldness. "Well Geera, what good is a mate if he isn't more than can be handled," Dieta said, almost issuing a challenge. "I assure you both I can be as meek as a lamb if I need to." They both smiled at this and seemed to decide we had flirted enough. Geera told me then she had something important she needed to discuss with me. Dieta said she would tell the others where we were if we were needed. Geera thanked her and led me back up river to the spot we had used this morning. "John I think I should warn you your mating may cause some trouble for you," Geera said. "Georgo has told me Gembo will not be pleased. He has also told me of your custom which would allow Gembo to take all my belongings and my mates if he kills me." "I am afraid Georgo might be correct John. I am also afraid Gembo's mother's mate and his uncle might try to help him," she said. "I hope they do not. If it is only Gembo who tries to kill me I will only have to take one more mate. If Jabo and Jenbo try to help him then I will have three more mates. I'm not worried about feeding them, but I do worry they might begin to argue among themselves." "But won't you be worried if they all try to kill you?" Geera asked. "We will be using the furs of the last three animals which tried to attack me at once as our sleeping furs. I am not worried about Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo. I haven't even seen them yet and already know I will be the last thing they ever try to hunt if they try to hunt me. I wonder if I should skin them out and tan their hides to discourage others who might be thinking of such foolishness." Geera looked directly into my eyes for a long moment then. I'm sure she could tell I meant what I said. Finally she shuddered a little and looked away. "Gema and Merita were correct when they first saw you. You are a stranger. For the most part you seem like any other man, but in some ways you seem like you know many things other men cannot know. You do not brag and swagger like some men, but I know you are more than most men. It will be an experience to know you, but if you have to kill them I think you should just deliver their bodies, take their mates and belongings and then leave. Skinning them would be too gruesome," Geera said. "You are probably right, but if they try something I will be angry about it. I guess I will have to console myself with their mates and things." Sunset was approaching and I decided to lighten the conversation a little. I thought Geera needed a little humor. "Geera don't you think we should go back to camp. You might not want to be here alone with me when the sun goes down and it becomes dark." Geera gave a little start and looked at me again. "You could be wrong John. I might want to be alone with you after dark. You are right the time is not now though. We should go back." Curiouser and curiouser. We did get up and walk back to camp then though. Food was almost ready and tonight I would have three prospective mates to feed me. What a change from frozen dinners alone in Longview Texas. We had fresh bison for supper tonight along with more small vegetables I didn't recognize. They tasted good and that was the only thing I cared about. I nearly laughed out when I thought about the first time I would show Gema, Merita, and Maia how to fix Ranch Style Beans. I was sure it was going to be a novelty with them even if they didn't like the beans. Hell, even the cans they were in would be completely foreign to them. Thinking about the bean cans started me wondering about canning and preserving food. Of course I hadn't let the Aliens off with just sending me here with normal canned beans. All the canned food I had was in special Alien cans. They were titanium of course and the lids were secured with some mechanism of Alien design which allowed them to be opened or resealed with no trouble. This led to thoughts of the irradiated food. It was technology which wasn't new to earth even though it was only used for specialty items so far. I wondered how much a unit which could preserve food this way would weigh. If we had a unit now we could preserve the bison meat and save days of labor and trouble. I would be asking Argent about such a unit as soon as he contacted me again. After finishing my meal I put next year's goodies out of my mind. Gigo came out of the dwelling carrying a bag of the beverage I now knew they called bruga. He offered me a taste and I let him fill my cup. When I tasted it I was reminded of a strong beer, but it was a little too bitter for my liking. I didn't inquire as to its manufacture, but I was curious and decided Georgo would be the best one to ask about it. I did notice tonight seemed to be Dergo's night to get shitfaced. Lo and behold he was drunk and in bed inside the dwelling even before Gema, Merita, and Maia came to show me to my bed for the night. "Did you enjoy the bruga John?" Merita asked, as we got to my sleeping place. "Yes I did. I will tell you though I will probably never drink as much as Dergo did tonight or as much as Gigo drank the night after the deer hunt I watched." They were silent for a moment and they passed a look between each other. They didn't comment on what I said, but I could tell they were wondering how I knew how much Gigo drank at the feast after the hunt. They let it pass though and after looking around to make sure no one was watching they all gave me a kiss. Maia surprised Gema, Merita, and me by stealing her kiss off my lips. I gave her a big grin as all three of them blushed over her daring. Then they all ran away giggling. I slept soundly until morning. I woke at sunrise and after a visit to the pisser I encountered Dergo as he was headed toward it. He looked hungover and since I had taken time to grab a few aspirin when Georgo and I visited my cave I gave him two and told him to swallow them and then drink three cups of water. "Why would I do it?" "Do you enjoy the pounding in your head the bruga has given you?" "No. I like the bruga, but I do not like the pounding it makes in my head the next morning,". "Then swallow the pills as I have told you and drink the water. The pounding will fall silent shortly after you do it." Dergo looked at me strangely, almost as if he didn't want to believe me. He said he would do it though and then walked off toward the pisser. When I reached the fire breakfast was nearly ready. Gema, Merita, and Maia were fixing my plate. I sat on the rock ledge and soon they brought the food and sat talking with me as I ate. "They will begin preparing for our mating feast tomorrow. We are all very excited. Georgo has said there may be two hundred people here to watch our mating," Merita said. "He also said since there would now be three of us mating you there might even be more people coming," Gema added. "I guess we will have to stay and party all night long then." "Everyone else will stay and party all night long. They will drink very much bruga and will all eat until they can hold no more. We will leave after we are mated though. We will be going back to your cave. Dieta and Geera will come with us to make sure we know what to do," Maia said. "It is very thoughtful of them. We want to start our lives together the right way," I said. ------- Chapter 15 "I should not tell you this, but I don't care what others say. It is said when a woman mates for the first time it can hurt her. I do not care if it hurts, I am very excited I will be mated and I know Gema and Merita are excited also," Maia said, and then blushed, as did Gema and Merita. "I will tell you it can hurt the first time, but I will be as gentle and careful as I can. Causing pain for any of you is the last thing I want to do. I will also promise I will make it worth the trouble you suffer on the first time." "Geera and Dieta have both told us later we will be glad we went through the pain. We are all ready and they will be there to help," Gema said. "So we will leave the guests to celebrate after the mating ceremony and go at once to my cave?" "Yes," They all said. "We will be glad for the wagon then since we will not have to walk." "I didn't even think of it. You mean we will ride to your cave in the wagon?" Merita asked. "Of course we will, and we will not be so tired when we get there." "It will be better. The wagon is large also and we will be able to put all our bedding, furs, clothes, and other belongings in it won't we?" Gema asked. "Yes we will. You will find the wagon and the horses are much better for traveling and carrying things than you think. I will have to catch some more horses and train them also. You will each have a horse of your own so you need not walk for miles just to get somewhere. When you are out gathering you will ride the horses and let them carry back what you have found." "It will be exciting John. We will probably be able to do our work much easier and faster with the horses to help us," Maia added. "You will be, but it will take time to catch and train more horses. Until I have done it you can use Sally and Jane to ride and gather. Ben is a stallion and I do not think you should try to use him. Sally and Jane will be able to carry two at a time until we have more horses. Horses are not without their own price though. We will have to cut grass for them to eat in the winter and we should also try to find some oats to gather for them." "Will it be more trouble to care for them over the winter than they will be worth?" Gema asked. "No. You will see they are worth the trouble. Unless the snow is very deep they can still graze on the standing grass. I have blocked off a small canyon to save them all its grass for the winter. We will only have to feed them when they can't find food for themselves. Remember the wild horses are able to live during the winter without any help. We only have to help our horses because we make them stay close to us which keeps them from roaming over larger areas to find food." "It sounds like it will be different from what we have known," Merita said. "Being mated will be different, but I think you are going to like it. I know I am." They blushed and giggled a little then. Breakfast was finished and we stood and separated to help with the last of the meat processing and with the beginning preparations for our mating ceremony. The rest of the day was spent working in and around their camp. There were in-ground pits for cooking which had to be cleaned out and a large table built of small trees and covered with hides was erected. It was to hold most of the food after it was ready. Many smaller fires had to be made also for other cooking. I can't even begin to guess how many times I saw women heat stones in the fire and then put them into skin bags of liquid for heating. Basically the whole camp was given a once over, cleaning and repairing and making things look neat and tidy. The next day was more of the same. Georgo had returned and about noon new arrivals began. I guess Georgo, Gigo, and Geera had known what they were talking about. There were many more people than I'd expected. Before sunset there were more than a hundred new faces around and I felt like I had been introduced to each of them twice. If handshaking had been one of their customs my hand would surely be bruised from it by now. Cooking started in earnest the next morning. All of the new arrivals had fires going where they were camped and all the women seemed to be cooking something. By three PM I estimated there were over one hundred and fifty guests here. The feast started at sunset and there were mountains of food on every table which had been erected. Gema, Merita, and Maia were first in line and they'd told me I was to wait at our usual spot on the rock ledge while they prepared my plate. When they came with a plate and large cup of tea for me I wondered if I could eat it all. They'd brought their own plates also and we sat together and had our last meal as unmated people. They laughed and talked while we ate, but made no mention of the upcoming mating ceremony. Taking a cue from them I didn't mention it either. Georgo waited until everyone had eaten before rising and speaking. He went on for some time with a speech extolling the virtues of being mated and going over how the man must provide for his mates and how his mates must see to his comfort. By the time he'd wound down all the fires had been put out except the main one. He stepped to it and threw some kind of flash powder into it causing it to flare brightly. He called Gema, Merita, Maia, and me over to give us a little speech and then extracted a promise from me to provide for and protect my mates. Next he made Gema, Merita, and Maia promise to make a comfortable home for me and to keep me clean and well fed. Hell, that was about it. When it came down to it the whole thing has mostly been about the feast. To me it had seemed a lot like a normal wedding on my old earth. Generally there was a lot of scrambling around and nervous motion over not much of anything that meant shit. The women did all the work and the man sat around scratching his ass, waiting for the next chance to eat, and ultimately for the signal to commence fucking. As far as I could tell my part would be one hell of a lot more advantageous than any groom from my time though. There would be a lot more fucking for me when the party was put to bed. In the first place I had three brides instead of only one and there was also the help and instruction I'd be getting from my delectable mothers-in-law. I had high hope for those instructions. After the ceremony Geera and Dieta gathered us up and we headed for the wagon. It had been one of the main curiosities during the last two days. When I harnessed the team this afternoon and tied a saddled Ben to the back I'd had hundreds of eyes on me. Loading all of the girl's things into it had also been the subject of much scrutiny. It had all been scrutiny from a distance though. The cubs had complained loudly any time a stranger got near it. All in all the whole process had been fairly well organized and went off quietly. Gigo had pointed out Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo to me earlier. They had made no effort to meet me and I hadn't bothered to introduce myself to them. They didn't cause any trouble, but each time I noticed them I could tell they weren't really into the spirit of the proceedings. Fuck'em. I didn't give a rat's ass what they thought. If they came around later looking for trouble I was going to make sure they found a hell of a lot more than they really wanted. I was confident it would be the last trouble they ever came across. There was room on the wagon's seat for all of us and we were soon headed to my cave. All the women were quiet at first as they got used to riding. After a while Gema, Merita, and Maia began to talk among themselves and they were soon whispering with Geera and Dieta. Finally they got around to me. "John, shall we begin the mating nights tonight?" Gema asked timidly. "At first I was hoping so, but if you all promise not to be too disappointed I would rather wait until tomorrow night. I am tired and I know you must be. We will need to unpack at least a few things tonight and we are still more than an hour from my cave." "We will be disappointed John, but we think it is best to wait until tomorrow night also. We are tired too," Merita said. "Tomorrow night it is then. Surely I can at least get a proper goodnight kiss tonight though." "Yes, you will get a goodnight kiss tonight. You will get many," Maia said. The talk fizzled out and we rode in silence. Suddenly Argent was talking to me in my head. It's what it seemed like anyway. "John, first let me congratulate you on your mating and secondly let me tell you we are pleased with your conduct in your new situation. We are very pleased in fact." I didn't know how to reply to him so I just thought what I would like to say. "Thank you Argent. I may like it better here than I would have ever imagined. I'm glad you approve of my actions since I came here, but I really don't know what I was supposed to be doing." "Just make a life for yourself John and interact with the others as you see fit. It is all we ask. "The reason I contacted you tonight is to tell you we requested special permission to transfer a wedding gift for you and your new mates and we have received the permission. We are putting a bed into your cave. It is a rather large one seeing as you have three mates. We believe you will be pleased with it. Good night now," he said, and then he was gone. It was unexpected, but was certainly thoughtful of him. A bed would be welcome, especially if it were big enough for my mates and me. I was surprised though and I hadn't realized Argent and his crew were still up there somewhere watching over me. They must be if they knew I was mated tonight. I was pleased, but also surprised about the extra freight. When we finally arrived I told the women to stay seated as I got down and opened the big door. I led the team through it and once inside I circled the wagon and headed it out. After I helped the women down I went to unhitch the team. "John, what is that?" Gema asked, pointing to a large cloth draped shape in the shadows near the back wall. I nearly said I don't know but stopped myself. It had to be the bed Argent had told me about, and it would have sounded very odd to all the women if I said I didn't know what it was. "It is a surprise. I will show it to you in just a moment after I have put the horses in the pen. Will you put the cubs in their pen?" "Yes, we will do it," Maia said, she had come to like the cubs in the last few days. I went out leading all three horses at once and turned them into the pen. Then returning to the cave I shut the wide door and turned on the big light. "What is it John?" Geera asked. "It is a light. It is bright isn't it?" "Yes it is, how did you get it and how did you light it so fast when it is so high?" Geera asked. "It is not fire, it is light. It is turned on here with this switch." I showed them all how to turn the light on and off. I also showed them where the wire for it was buried and explained it would not light without the wire. I also told them if it did not light when they moved the switch to let me fix it. They were amazed by the light and seemed to forget about the large covered shape. I went to it then and they followed me. I grabbed the cloth covering and pulled it off. I don't think they were as surprised as I was. The bed was enormous. The mattress was at least ten by ten and the bed was a four-poster with a canopy top. It was all made of some dark and beautifully stained wood and there was a huge headboard with shelves and drawers and a small cupboard on each side. Both small cupboards had a door which let down to form a bedside table. I nearly laughed when I looked up into the canopy and saw the entire inside of the top was one giant mirror. Argent was getting a little kinky. "It is beautiful John, but what is it," Merita asked. "It is our bed my mates. It is where we will sleep. Lie down on it." She seemed hesitant so I took off my boots and lay down. It was the most comfortable bed I had ever been on. I found out later the mattress was made of a super high-density foam and the box springs were nearly normal but with Alien modifications. They were wonderful no matter who made them. The coverlet was of a design more nearly normal for this time. It was beautiful too though. I was sure the Aliens had fabricated it, but it looked and felt like one giant tiger skin. Under it were more normal linen sheets and there were linen pillowcases on the pillows, which were also made of the high-density foam. Merita bucked up her nerve then and lay on the coverlet with me. "It feels wonderful. I have never seen a bed like this one before and I have never felt a sleeping place like this. How did you make it?" She asked. "I must have some secrets, even from my mates. If I didn't you would all leave me and make beds of your own." "We will never leave you John, surely you know it," Maia said. "I was just teasing you. You must all try it. I think you will like it." They all lay down then and they did like it. There was more than enough room for all of us. I noticed a few small switches on an inside panel of the headboard. I flicked one and it turned on indirect lighting in the canopy. When I did this they all noticed the mirror. "John! What is that?" Dieta asked, clearly excited. "It is a mirror. When I look into it I can watch my beautiful bedmates without turning my head." Dieta blushed crimson then and Geera did also after a few seconds. Gema, Merita, and Maia all giggled and then blushed also. "Will we all sleep in the same bed?" Maia asked. "I hope so, I do not want to be lonely at night. Would you rather sleep somewhere else?" "No, I think it will be grand if we all sleep together. Some mated couples sleep in the same furs all the time and some don't. I will like sleeping in your bed John," Maia said, boldly. "It is our bed Maia, not my bed." This won me some smiles from all my mates. Even Dieta and Geera seemed to like the idea. I suggested we should all try to sleep now and got approval so I went to turn out the pole mounted light. When I headed back to the bed the women were taking off their clothes and there was still plenty of light from the beds indirect fixtures for me to get a good look at the impromptu strip show. I started removing my own clothes and figured sleeping in the nude must be their custom as they never mentioned a thing, but were soon completely naked. I couldn't decide where to look first. As I followed suit removing my own clothes the women had no trouble deciding where to look. They seemed to want to ask questions about the chain mail, but none of them did. When I finally stepped out of my boxers all ten of their eyes were on my dick. It could tell too and it began to rise. Gema, Maia, and Merita were staring at me and their mouths were hanging open slightly. Geera and Dieta were also wide eyed and Dieta unconsciously licked her lips. "Since your mating nights will not start until tomorrow, Geera and I will sleep on either side of you tonight John," Dieta explained. "Very well." Nothing could suit me better. My mating nights, whatever they entailed, might not start until tomorrow, but I planned to get in some practice with Geera and Dieta a little later tonight. Just to let them know exactly what their daughters would have to work with. ------- Chapter 16 They stood back and let me climb into bed. Dieta got in on one side with Merita and Maia following her while Geera got in on the other side with Gema right behind. I left one tiny light on so I could see in the mirror. When I looked up into it I could see we all were. "See the mirror is nice isn't it?" They all agreed and as I closed my eyes, lying flat on my back, I assumed they did too. In a few minutes I could tell some of them were already asleep by the sounds of their breathing. Some were not though. First Dieta moved a little closer to me and then Geera did. It all seemed innocent enough, but I was well aware I was touching titty on either side. My dick had climbed to full attention by now. I tried to settle my breathing so it would sound like I was asleep. I kept listening and soon all the others were asleep or at least faking well like I was. I rolled slowly to my side toward Geera and snuggled up against her. I think she was actually asleep because although she rolled to her side also, pushing her ass to me slightly, she did it naturally and without disturbing her breathing so I thought she must have been sleeping. Dieta unconsciously let me know then she was not asleep. She was pretending she was, but she also rolled to her side pressing her firm titties into my back and putting a hand on my hip. She couldn't maintain the charade with her breathing as she did it though. I casually took hold of my dick with my hand and brought it up straight between Geera and I, pressing it to lie between her butt cheeks. When it was where I wanted it I draped my arm over her and cupped her top titty, squeezing it gently. She wiggled her ass back against my boner then, but settled down and still slept. Dieta pressed herself more firmly into me from the back now and moved her hand up to toy with the hair on my chest and tease my nipples a little. For a moment I thought I might have started out with the wrong target in mind and I moved my hand behind me to caress Dieta's ass cheeks. "Geera first John. She is sleeping and you can be half way there before she wakes," Dieta said, whispering into my ear. Never one to shun good advice, I took hold of Geera's titty again and began teasing the nipple with my thumb as I squeezed it gently and began kissing softly on the back of her neck. I felt Dieta move as I fondled Geera, her fat titties wobbled against my back and her now hard nipples dragged across me as she moved her mouth up to suck and then nibble my earlobe. "When Geera resists later you must force her John, if she still resists then roll her between us and I will help hold her for you," Dieta told me, with a very sexy whisper. "I don't want to force her," I whispered back. "You must. Geera will be very cross with you in the morning if you do not. It is our way John. Mothers always teach their daughters to resist, at least a little. I'll admit I usually don't want to resist, but I think Geera likes it. You must take her now since you have started." Shit, if this was the way it was going to be and the way they wanted it I could play along. Even though I'd never forced a woman into sex in my whole life I'd played those games when I knew the woman wanted it. I liked it actually, I liked it a lot. After playing with both of Geera's titties and feeling her wiggle her ass against my dick several times, I moved my hand down to her bush. Her legs were together but when I sought her slit with a finger she opened them a little. It was slight and could still be considered an unconscious movement. She wasn't wet yet, but her nipples were bulging and she was damp. Even if she were sleeping her body knew what was coming. I wiggled my finger into her gently and pumped it in and out a few times. She moistened nicely and pushed her slit toward my finger a time or two. My finger was wet with her juices now and I pulled it out and slid it across her clitoris. I felt her tense and then move just a little. "John, what are you doing?" Geera asked, in a low whisper. "I am practicing for my mating nights," I said, whispering myself while I kept rubbing her clit with the tip of my wet finger. "But I am not one of your mates John. We can't do this together," Geera said, complaining softly as she pushed her pussy to my finger again. "You are the mother of one and you must make sure I can do it right." "I can watch closely tomorrow night and make sure then," she said, still whispering and sounding breathless as she pushed her ass back to my dick harder. "You can let me do it now and know for sure in advance," I said, sliding my finger up her again. She was really wet now and I could feel her pussy nip at my finger as I pushed it up her and drew it back out. She would never forgive me if I quit now and I knew it. She was also whispering a little louder as she went along and I thought she might be trying to make sure the girls were awake. "No John, we must not do this. You should do it to your mates, tomorrow," she said, not even bothering to whisper now. "I will do it to my mates tomorrow, but I will do it to you and Dieta tonight," I said softly, but no longer whispering either. "Quiet John, you must at least take me quietly. You will wake the girls. At least be quiet," Geera said. "My mates will know about it soon enough. If they wake they had better not stir. I will surely be too tired after you and Dieta, we will get no sleep at all if I have to do it to you all tonight," I said. "You must not do it John. You must wait until tomorrow," Geera said, whispering again. "I guess I will have to roll you between Dieta and I then so she can help me hold you down," I said, and began tugging to do just that. "Oh no, Dieta won't help you do this to me," she moaned, as she helped me roll her over me. "Yes I will Geera, you know your daughter's mate deserves a chance to practice on you first. You just want to complain. I will help John get what is rightfully his. I will help him hold you down," Dieta said, and she wasn't bothering to whisper at all. Geera was between us on her back now. Dieta took hold of her arms by the wrist and held them to the mattress beside her head. I noticed Geera's resistance did not include holding her legs together since she spread them widely now she was on her back. I reached over Gema, who was obviously feigning sleep now since she was panting nearly as hard as her mother, and flicked the switch for all the mirror's indirect lighting now. "Watch yourself in the mirror now Geera as you show your daughter's mate how it should be done," I said. Her eyes jumped open wider as she saw the reflection of her naked and spread body, with her pussy dripping and her nipples bulging on quivering titties. I put my hands on her titties and pinched the nipples a little and then ran a hand down into her bush finally slipping a finger back up her for another diddle or two. "Oh. Oh John. No John. No. You mustn't do this to me," she said, moaning. I rolled between her spread thighs and dropped my lips to suck alternately on her nipples. She moaned with each suck or nip on one and her hips were straining her pussy up to me already, even before I put it in. It was time so I used a hand to place my dickhead. "It is too big for me John, you can't put it in me, it is too big," she cried. "It will fit sooner or later, I will make it fit. It must fit in Gema, Merita, and Maia so it will have to fit in you too," I said, pushing it up her slowly. Her pussy was like heaven to my aching dick. It was so hot and wet and tight. I had to draw out and press back in four times before I was all the way home. She moaned with each thrust and groaned each time as I pulled it out to try again. After my pubic bone pressed into her clitty three or four time she threw her legs around my waist and pulled me to her. She jerked her arms loose from Dieta's hold and wrapped them around my neck pulling me to her lips and kissing me savagely. Her hips took on a life of their own then as she slammed back at me on every thrust. "Oh you were right John. Dieta was right. It is my duty to let you practice on me first. It is your right. Practice on me John, practice. You are doing it well now John, keep practicing," she said, almost yelling now. God damn - I intended to practice. This was by far the best pussy I'd ever been in and she was an active participant now to say the least. As I kept going I fucked her harder and then a little faster. She ate it up, moaning and growling. No one in the bed could be sleeping now, if any of the girls were out then they were dead. "Oh, John. Oh. Oh. Oh John practice harder. Harder John, practice harder," she said, urging me on. I was close, but she was there. She clamped me to her with her legs and arms as she threw her head back and screamed. I pumped her full then and when she felt it she screamed louder and held me tighter as I pressed it up her as far as I could and just let the come spurt. Geera had been at the top of my list of women I wanted to fuck since I'd seen Dergo giving her a dose out in the woods. She had me so excited with her resisting act my dick didn't seem to want to go down after my wad was shot. Not wanting to waste a good thing I began sliding it in and out again gently. Geera didn't seem to notice at first. Her arms were still around me and her legs were too, but they were hanging on limply. She was still gasping for breath. When she got her breath back she realized I was still fucking her and her eyes went wide. "John, it didn't shrink, you are still practicing. Oh John, I'm too tired to help now." "I will go slow Geera, if you get your strength back you may want to help, if you don't I will make sure I do it to you right," I said, tenderly. "Oh Dieta, you will not believe it, Just wait until I hold you down for him." "I saw it Geera. I watched it all. You won't have to hold me down. You are more likely to have to hold me off him. I cannot believe how loud he made you scream. I have never even heard of a man like this. It is a good thing he has three mates and I am not sure they will be enough. We may have to come back and visit often Geera," Dieta said, almost with awe in her voice. "We will Dieta, we will. You know we cannot sneak off in the night with him at the camp. We could never be quiet enough. We would wake the whole camp, they would think a big cat was prowling near." "It was a cat that was causing you to scream. It was your pussy that made you do it," I said. "My pussy, what is my pussy?" Geera asked. "Your pussy is what I am fucking. Can't you feel it?" I asked. "Of course I can feel it and right now I wish I could feel it forever. Is that what you called it where you came from?" she asked. "Yes, I am fucking your pussy with my dick. Can you remember?" I asked. "Can I remember? I can never forget. I will not tell any of the others though. They would wonder where I learned it and I dare not tell them. You can tell them if you sneak them off into the night. You had better take them far from camp if you do though," Geera said. "Farther than Dergo and Dieta took you after the hunt?" I asked. "Yes, much farth ... How did you know about it?" she asked, sounding alarmed. "I was hiding in the little woods nearby. I saw it all," I said, and then winked at her as she stared at me wide eyed. Somehow this lit her fire again, with a vengeance. Her arms and legs wrapped me up even tighter and her ass started pounding her pussy back at me as she kissed me hard again. In less than a couple of minutes she ripped her lips from mine and screamed out even louder than before as I kept slamming my dick up her. Then she just fainted as I blew another big load up her. Dieta was alarmed and bent over her face to see if she was still breathing. She looked back up at me with a question on her face. "She will be fine. She will wake in a minute or two. I will show you what it feels like in a little while," I said, trying to make it a promise. "I am almost frightened now, but not too frightened. I feel like I am burning up inside." I looked up into the mirror and I could see eyes snapping shut as Gema, Merita, and Maia realized what I was doing. I almost told them I knew they were awake and they could quit faking now. I didn't though - this might be some kind of common cultural happening for all I knew. From what Dieta told Geera while she was bemoaning her fate I assumed it probably was. I knew the girls would be peeking again as soon as my attention was focused on dicking Dieta. Apparently Dieta thought it was about time I did her. She moved her head down to my groin and sucked my semi-limp cock into her mouth. She only used a little suction, but her tongue writhed like a snake all over my slippery dick. The limpness didn't last long and I felt it growing back to full size shortly. "John it is so big. What you called your dick is the biggest one I have ever seen," Dieta said, and then took most of me back into her mouth. "You aren't afraid are you Dieta? I won't hurt you." "I don't care now, even if it hurts a little it will hurt good. I told you I am burning for it," Dieta said, moaning and, pleading. "Won't I need Geera to hold you down?" "Hold me down? Geera had just better make sure she doesn't get in my way. It is time now John, you are ready again and it is time for me," she said, as she lay on her back and spread her legs widely. Her arms were up slightly with her hands on the bed beside her head, almost as if someone was holding her. I put my hands on her wrist and did hold her as I moved my lips to hers for a deep kiss. After a short tongue fight I left her lips and trailed kisses down over her throat and onto her breasts. Soon I sucked a nipple into my mouth and mocked a nursing suction, then I teased it with my tongue before moving to the other nipple. Dieta was breathing hoarsely and moaning a little. She couldn't keep her hips still and when I put my weight on her pressing my stiff dick up between us she groaned in frustration and began humping against me even though I wasn't inside her yet. I raised my hips a little and when I did Dieta yanked one of her hands free to guide my dickhead to her pussy's lips. She placed me and I pushed slightly and pulled back a few times just pressing my fat dickhead between her slippery swollen cunt lips, barely parting them before pulling back. A little of this was all Dieta could take and, ripping her other hand loose, she grabbed one of my ass cheeks in each hand and dug in with her short fingernails. I gave her what she wanted then and shoved into her wet heat firmly. She was a tight fit too, but she was so wet I made a full entry with the first stroke. Dieta's breath went out of her in a rush and she gasped as she drew in another one. "John, oh John. Oh. Oh. It is big John, it is so big. You are doing it just right though John. Just keep practicing," she said, moaning and mocking Geera. Dieta didn't know what she was asking for. It was already evident to me these women from long ago were accustomed to getting off faster than the modern women I'd known. I didn't know if it was the reluctance sham, or the fake holding down or even whether they were just wired slightly different down there. I did know it was much easier to make Geera come and when she did the come was much harder than what I'd been used to. Dieta seemed like she might blow even faster. I'd shot two wads already and I could have told Dieta she had a long drawn out fuck coming. She went off just then. She yelled and clutched me to her with her arms, finally wrapping her legs around me and pistoning her hips against my pelvis. I was nowhere near shooting and I just kept pumping. She sagged back into the mattress and in a minute or two after resting a few beats she opened her eyes and seemed to realize I was still between her legs and still pumping into her sex. "Oh John. Oh, you are still practicing John" Dieta said, sounding amazed. "No. I'm not practicing now Dieta. Now I am fucking you. I am fucking my mate's mother. I am fucking Merita's and Maia's mother. I like it too. I think I will fuck you every chance I get," I said, as I increased my pace and the force of my thrusts. "Fuck me then John. I love it. Fuck me now and fuck me often if you can," she said, almost growling as she blasted off again. It was getting really good to me now too so I held it up her as far as it would go and just rocked it back and forth a little. I was able to come while she was still quivering. When I did I sank down onto her pressing her to the mattress with my weight. Her arms were still around me and she was hugging me to her gently and soon began kissing my face and neck. I was about to nod off and I felt a revived Geera helping Dieta roll me off onto the mattress. Soon both of them were kissing on my face, neck and ears and cooing to me. I dropped off for a nap. ------- Chapter 17 The next morning I woke early and when I tried to move it woke the others. Geera didn't require any restraint this morning and when I tried to kiss her she responded eagerly, Dieta did the same. When I reached for Merita I could see she was unsure of herself, but I pulled her to me for a deep kiss and gave her sweet young titties a thorough fondling while I was at it. I stopped when her nipples were nice and plump and reached for Gema giving her similar treatment. Maia was my final kiss for the morning and I didn't slight her. Maia's titties weren't as big as Gema's or even Merita's, but they were round little handfuls and they felt firm and responded well to my attentions. Finally I released her and climbed out of bed, dressing and heading for the circle of stones I built my cooking fires in. "Who is going to cook this morning?" "We will all come to cook. We must make sure the girls know how to cook for their mate," Dieta said. "Yes, I like to eat. The girls must also eat well, they will need their strength tonight." "They certainly will," Geera said, and laughed with Dieta joining in. All three of my mates blushed and then giggled at this. They all got up and pulled on their clothes and then came over to the fireplace. Dieta was looking around and I thought she was trying to find the things she probably thought I would have to start a fire. "Watch closely now and I will show you how I start a fire." "We all know how to start a fire John," Geera said. "But you do not know how to do it like I do it. Just watch and see if my way isn't easier." I gathered a little tinder and made a nest, placing some kindling nearby. Taking out my iron pyrite and a piece of flint and holding them both over the tinder I struck them together producing a big fat spark which landed in it. Bending over I blew lightly until a little flame licked up. It was only a matter of placing the kindling on the flame slowly then, increasing the size of it gradually and soon it was ready for larger pieces of wood. "How can you make fire from rocks John? This is more magic. You must be Shaman," Dieta said. "I am not Shaman. I have just found out something. You can do it too if you have the right rocks. It isn't even difficult." I showed them the iron pyrite then and they all admitted they had seen the rocks before. They knew what flint was of course. I demonstrated the iron pyrite would give off a spark when struck with the flint. They had to try it for themselves and I gave them the stones and let them go at it while I got the fire built up enough to make a bed of coals for cooking. They were still experimenting with the stones so I rummaged in my supplies and found some of my irradiated bacon and eggs, also pulling out one of my larger skillets. When I returned to the fire, putting the skillet on the rack I used for cooking and putting bacon in it I was the center of attention again. "What is it John?" Geera asked. "It is called a skillet, it is for cooking. I am going to fry some bacon and scramble some eggs." "What is bacon? What is scrambling eggs?" Dieta asked. "Bacon is from the boar or the sow. I'm sure you know what eggs are. I will stir them in a bowl and mix the white and the yellow and cook it then. It will be good and I'm sure you will like it." "We have never cooked like this," Maia said. "Just watch closely. It is easy and you will like it. It is very good for breakfast, though it is hard to keep eggs for long without them spoiling. It is too bad I don't have some chickens." "What are chickens John?" Gema asked. "I will tell you later." I had forgotten to bring a bowl to beat the eggs in and I had to return to my stash and find one. I dug out some spoons and forks while I was at it. When I got back to the fire I turned the bacon over and then whipped the eggs. Then I had to go and dig out more plates. The bacon was done when I got back with the plates and I put on some more. I had them all try a cooked slice and they agreed it was good. When the next round of bacon was done I got it out and poured in the eggs. They all watched carefully as I stirred them to make sure they didn't stick or burn. After the cooking was over we had our breakfast. My cooking was a big hit. In fact they all seemed a little amazed over the whole process. I let the women take care of cleaning up after the meal and I went out to check on the horses. When I got outside the wild horses had returned and were standing near the fence by Ben, Sally, and Jane. They moved off at my approach but they didn't run away. Entering the large pen and opening the small one, I caught my three and tied them to the back fence of the small pen, closing the pen's gate as I left. Opening the gate in the large pen's back fence and then the gate in its front fence finished me up for now and I returned to the cave. All five women were talking about bacon, eggs, and skillets with a little discussion of the fire rocks too when I reentered the cave. A little explaining was in order. The rest of the morning was spent showing them most of the things I had and how they worked. It took them no time at all to understand the use of pots, pans, and skillets. They were amazed by the fairly large stew pot with the handles at the top. I explained it could be used for making large amounts of stew or heating a lot of water at once. All the women were floored when I showed them and gave them each a knife. I'd had sense enough to get Argent's people to make several for me, intending to use them for trading. Those intended for trading were of three patterns. I had about fifty larger hunting knives with an eight-inch blade. It was serrated on the backside and had a small guard at the hilt to keep the hand from slipping down onto the blade if it had to be used for stabbing. There were a hundred drop point hunters which would be good for everyday use. They had six-inch blades and while there was no guard at the hilt the handles were molded to give a stable grip. There were twenty-five long bladed filet knives. They were wicked looking as all filet knives are, but they were great for their intended purpose. After a little lunch, which I let the women cook, we spent the rest of the afternoon with my continuing show and tell. I went back outside to look at the horses about an hour before sunset. They were all inside the first fence now so I went over to close the gate and untied my three, letting them out into the bigger pen. Once again I had wild horses captured and I knew the work would begin tomorrow. At least the fun would begin again later tonight. The women were cooking when I got back into the cave. They were trying out the large stew pot and whatever they were cooking smelled delicious. I found out it was a bison stew, but the bison was the only thing in it I was familiar with. They told me what the small vegetables and spices were, but I didn't recognize any of the names. While we were eating I realized we didn't have any bread and knew I would have to think of a cure. After all, how was I going to teach them to make sandwiches without bread? I would need to figure out how to make an oven. It couldn't be too hard. Soon enough it was bedtime and I was ready for it. Tonight Dieta and Geera were on the outside with Gema, Merita, and Maia closer to me. I started with Gema. I noticed right away there was no resistance as Geera had put up the night before. Not even a pretense. I assumed and later confirmed all three of my mates were in fact virgins. It seemed I spent hours kissing lips, necks, ears, and nibbling earlobes. I fondled titties and licked nipples for what seemed hours. I enjoyed myself licking three untouched pussies and when it came time to penetrate them they were as excited as I could get them. There was still pain for each of them though and I decided if I never fucked a virgin again I would not be disappointed. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate their sacrifice for me, but causing them any pain was not fun for me. We all managed to make it through and while I doubt any of them had a great experience they all seemed satisfied it was something they could live with. I could only hope for better days. I was tired by the time I got to sleep. I was the last to leave bed the next morning. When I woke I was alone and looking around I saw all the women had slipped out of bed and dressed without waking me. They were all by the cooking fire and when I dressed and went to them I found them frying something, but it wasn't bacon. "What are you cooking?" "We are trying bison meat. We sliced it very thin like the bacon and it seems to cook just as well this way. Do you think it will be good?" Dieta asked. "I'm sure it will be wonderful. Are you going to cook some eggs?" "We want to, but we wanted to wait until you got up so we could watch you scramble them again," Geera said. "Why don't we fry the eggs this morning? I will show you and they are good fried as well." They agreed to try and I found a spatula to help with it. When the bison bacon was done I had already cracked a half dozen eggs into the bowl and I poured them all into the hot grease at once. There was a little spitting and sputtering, but soon the eggs were cooking nicely. I took the spatula later and turned them all at once just to cook the other side a little. We divided the eggs and bison bacon and ate. It was delicious of course, but I was missing toast and reminded myself again I needed to build an oven. While the women were cleaning up the dishes I went out to the horses. The wild ones were standing around by Ben, Sally, and Jane again and after closing the main gate to keep them in the canyon I walked toward them. My three stayed put and I put lead ropes on them to take them back into the small pen. The wild ones drifted off into the canyon a little. I went into the small pen and tied Ben, Sally, and Jane to the front fence near the canyon wall and away from the pen's gate. I left the pen's gate open and walked back into the canyon. I circled as far from the horses as I could and was soon behind them. I moved into the center of the canyon and as I expected they drifted toward the open gate in the back fence and were soon all in the large pen. I closed its back gate and continued to circle and haze the horses until I had three mares in the small pen. I closed the gate and then untied Sally, Ben, and Jane. I left for the cave then to give them all time to calm down. I spent some more time with the women then, showing them a little more about the things I had. They were astonished again when I demonstrated the lighters. They told me this was surely magic and so I had to point out there was a tiny stone in the lighter and show them the serrated wheel which caused the sparks to fly from it. This led to a discussion of the fuel for the fire and I just explained the liquid was like a type of melted fat and when it was burned up the flame would not burn, but the wheel would still make sparks. "Can you put more fat in the lighter when it is all burned out?" Maia asked. "No, it is too hard to do it. We just have to get a new lighter then. We should have enough to last until next summer when I can get some more. I will get some then which have a wick and use a type of fat which can be replaced." It satisfied them for the minute and I was glad. It was strange having to explain something to them which was so commonplace in the time I'd come from and I was glad they hadn't asked me how I would get more next summer. I could tell they had been rearranging some of the things in the cave. I didn't say anything, but Merita came over after we ate and asked if it was acceptable. "This is your home now Merita. I expect Gema, Maia, and you to arrange it to your liking. If you need something for it you cannot get or you would rather I get you should ask me and I will try to get it for you. I want you to have a home you can be happy in." This earned me a big smile and a big kiss, not only from Merita, but also from Gema and Maia as they came to me when they heard it. What a treat it was to think of killing a deer or a bison to please my wives instead of needing to go out and buy them a Lexus. Out with the horses again that afternoon I had to make a decision. I had three mares in the small pen and I wondered if I should try to keep them all and train them together or let all but one out and do one at a time. I decided to do one at a time. All the mares were bagged up and thus nursing. It would be too much trouble to try to deal with all three mares and their colts or fillies at once. I let Sally, Ben, and Jane out into the large pen with the other horses and after much running around and arm waving I managed to release two of the three mares. It wasn't hard then to rope the remaining mare. I had to wind her up around the snubbing post again and was able to get the breaking halter on her when she choked herself down. Most of the work belonged to the post and the lead rope then. I watched her fight it for a while but I wasn't helping anything so I went back inside the cave. The girls all seemed to be out of something to do so I took them out to see what I was up to with the horses. They were surprised I had so many more penned now. "What will you do with all those horses?" Geera asked. "I will train them to do as I wish like the other three do. Soon Maia, Gema, and Merita will each have their own horse for riding and to help carry things when they are gathering." "How do you make them obey you?" Dieta asked. "I have to start slowly and then keep adding to their knowledge. Right now the one tied to the post is learning that when she is tied she must stay where I have tied her. It is the first lesson and it is probably the hardest for them. Next I will teach her to follow when I lead her with the rope. It will be much easier to teach her than it was to teach the others. Now Gema, Merita, or Maia can help me." "We won't know how to help John," Merita said. "It is easy. All you will have to do is come up behind the mare talking softly as I stand in front of her and lead her with the rope. When she moves you will stop, if she stops before I want her to you will just move toward her again. You must never get close enough for her to kick you though. She will probably move before you do. She will not want you coming up behind her." "We will try," Maia said. "It will be easier than you think. In a few days she will be ready to learn to carry someone. After that she will only have to learn small things and she can be taught from her back. I will ride each of them first though to make sure they don't try to kick and jump and buck you off." "What is buck you off John?" Gema asked. "It's when the horse jumps and kicks its back legs and tries to make you fall off. If she is able to do it you might be hurt. I will make sure they don't try it. If I'm not sure they won't buck we will just get another one. If nothing else we can eat the ones who won't behave. If we could make them understand that part all of them would behave with no problems." They laughed about it. It was true though, but horses just weren't smart enough to understand the concept. If they were they would probably be coming up to people begging to be ridden. We were about to head back into the cave, it was actually pretty warm outside and the cave was much cooler. I could even feel some sweat trickling down my chest. Fuck it I thought, I'm going to have a bath. I grabbed two lead ropes and fetched Sally and Jane. ------- Chapter 18 As I was hitching my team to the empty wagon I wasn't sure whether this would work or not. The wagon was ten by twelve, one hundred and twenty square feet of area. It meant one hundred and twenty cubic feet of water if I filled it to a depth of one foot. The load would weigh over seventy-five hundred pounds. I felt the wagon could take it and I was hoping like hell Sally and Jane could pull it back up out of the river after I let the water run in. I hitched them to the wagon and then unscrewed some of the lower drain plugs so water could run in this time. I had Sally and Jane pull the wagon out to the river. There was one place where the ground gently sloped down into the water. Sally and Jane hadn't done much backing up until now, but I managed to get them to back the wagon slowly into the river. I had to take it slowly so the water would have time to flow in. If I just backed it off into the water without letting it fill it would probably float off dragging Sally and Jane with it. When I estimated I had enough water in the wagon I replaced the plugs and had the team pull it back out. It was a struggle for them and when it was basically level I saw it actually had about fourteen inches of water. Nothing seemed to be straining so I had them pull it into the cave. The women had all watched in silence. I'm sure they wondered what in the hell I was doing, but they hadn't asked. When the horses turned the wagon and had it headed out again I unhitched them and took them back to the pen to turn them loose. The questions started when I got back into the cave. "John what are you going to do with all this water?" Geera asked. "We're going to have a bath, after we warm it up a little." "A bath, what is a bath?" Dieta asked. "We will warm the water up and then we can all get in it and wash. It will be much better than washing in the river. The water will not be too cold." They all looked at me like I was crazy and I'm sure they thought I might be. I knew they bathed in the river just like I had been doing. I had been initially surprised at how often they bathed, especially considering the temperature of the river water since it was cold. I grabbed some tinder and kindling and started a little fire under the wagon, just about at its center. I didn't let it flame too high, but by feeling the metal bottom I could tell it would warm the water nicely. It took nearly two hours though. During this time I dug out soap, shampoo, towels, washrags, combs, and brushes. All the women tried to help but didn't really understand what was going to happen. When the water was warm enough I put a couple of more pieces of wood on the fire to keep it that way, got naked, and climbed in - putting the towels and other things on the seat. "Well don't just stand there staring. Get your clothes off and get on in. You'll like it I tell you." "But we have never done this John," Geera complained. "Well you never ate bacon until yesterday morning either. You can do as you like. If you want to go bathe in the cold river go ahead. I am going to bathe here in the warm water." Geera was still undecided but Maia wasn't. She shucked her clothes and scampered her cute naked little ass up into the warm water as fast as she could. When Gema and Merita saw her they were quick to follow. When Maia settled into the warm water she nearly swooned. "Mother you must get in here. I can't believe how good it feels. Come quickly," Maia told Dieta, nearly yelling. Gema and Merita were settling their delightful asses into the water then and I could tell it was a surprise to them also. They didn't waste their time telling anyone else about it though, they just settled in to enjoy. Dieta was naked now and headed our way, Geera was still standing and staring. When Dieta got into the water she turned to her. "Geera what are you waiting for. You can see it doesn't hurt us. We are not going to force you, if you don't want to feel this you can just stand and look. I love it though," Dieta said. Geera came to then and shed her clothes. She was in the water also in a couple of minutes and raving about it too. They all asked me how I thought of it and I told them it just came to me. "Well you have some wonderful ideas John," Geera said. "I have another good one right now I think. I believe I will wash you all." They gave me a look again while I grabbed a bar of soap off the seat. I wet the soap in the water and as I turned back to them I began lathering the first titties I came to. They belonged to Gema and were the biggest of any of my mate's. Gema was surprised at first, but as I was doing a thorough job on her nipples just then she decided she liked it. "Oh John, yes, wash me John," Gema said, sighing. I released her for a second and rubbed the bar of soap to make lather in the hair on my chest then I had Gema kneel up a little and I got behind her reaching around to wash her titties while I lathered her back with my soapy chest. "I can wash your back and front at the same time this way." "Oh it feels so good to be washed John," Gema said. She was right. My dick was as hard as iron and it was sticking straight up between her butt cheeks, doing a little washing of its own. I dropped a hand to Gema's bush and began washing her clitty gently. Soon she was pushing her ass back to me and urging me to wash her faster. I had her put her hands on the edge of the wagon and lean slightly into a near doggie position. When I put my dickhead into her now opened entrance and slid her the meat she didn't feel any pain like last night. I pushed it all the way up into her and started a slow rhythm. "Oh John, you are fucking me aren't you, and it is still daylight? It doesn't hurt today, it feels good. Now I think I know why mother told me I would like it. I do like it John," Gema said, and she was starting to huff and puff a little now. "Merita, you should come and help me wash Gema. You can wash her titties and Maia can wash her pussy. Gently though. Here, you take the soap while I hold her hips tighter." Merita and Maia were quick to join in. I kept stroking as it was getting pretty good to me now. Gema started wailing and moaning and urging me to wash her faster. She went off about then and I pulled her ass to me and filled her up. I was panting my self for a few minutes. I looked over at Dieta and Geera. Dieta was flushed and panting and I knew I'd be getting some more of her pussy when I'd finished off my other two mates. When I looked at Geera she was flushed also, but she was trying to look shocked. I knew I'd be fucking her in the makeshift tub too. After all there were four other women here who would be glad to hold her if she tried to wiggle away. It took over two hours, but I did manage to give them all a good fucking in the wagon/tub. Geera was last and of course she had to resist. I didn't mind, it actually added to the excitement and I knew damned well she wanted it like the rest had. After I'd recovered from the last fuck I shampooed all their hair and then combed it out. We got out and dried off then dressed and started cooking some supper. They cooked a pretty big supper and I ate all I could hold. I decided to knock their socks off again tonight. I took the cover off the computer and turned it all on. At first I thought I'd show them a DVD, but decided it would be too much of a shock for them, besides they wouldn't be able to understand the language, much less the forty-thousand years in the future setting. I settled for playing them an mp3 of Swan Lake. They were entranced. I could tell they wanted to ask a million questions, but I told them to listen and try to enjoy it. I think they did. When we went to bed later I noticed Dieta and Geera were on either side of me again tonight. I assumed it was because they would be going back to their camp tomorrow. When I started thinking about the good pussy they had given me my dick climbed to attention. I put an arm around Geera and let my hand find one of her fat titties and tease the nipple. "What are you doing now John?" Geera asked, whispering. "I'm getting ready to fuck you again Geera. After all, you will be going home tomorrow and I will miss your pussy." "Dieta, Dieta hold me down quickly, John is wanting to fuck me again. Quickly Dieta, I'm not sure I can wait," Geera told her, loudly. "I don't think I can wait either Dieta, grab her." "I will help John, we won't let her get away," Maia said. There is nothing better than having a mate who will help you get what you want. ------- Chapter 19 Things were a little subdued the next morning. I left the women cooking breakfast and went to check on the mare I had left standing tied all night. From the sign on the ground around the post the mare had given it a workout. The post didn't get tired though. The mare had, she had worked herself into a lather at some point but was dry again now. I walked up to her and she didn't even flinch when I put my hand out to stroke her neck. In fact she seemed resigned I was going to do whatever I wanted to. I rubbed her over her shoulders, back, and flanks with my hands and it didn't upset her. Her filly was in the pen with her and when it saw me around its mother it came over to investigate. It didn't seem afraid of me either. I was able to touch it lightly several times, for a few seconds each. It wouldn't stand still for extended stroking but it didn't bolt. It just walked off when I touched it. I knew I might as well gentle the filly and halter break it also while I had its mother penned. It was always much easier to work with young horses, especially since they didn't weigh seven or eight times what I did. The filly could wait until tomorrow though. I needed to take Dieta and Geera back to their camp this morning so I caught Sally and Jane and led them to the cave. I tied them outside to wait until breakfast was over. It was much quieter during the meal this morning. I guess the end of the visit was looming. Seeing things were this way I decided to start our trip as soon as possible. I did take time to gather a little bundle of things for Geera and Dieta to take to their mates though. I sent a hunting knife and a lighter for both Gigo and Dergo. Dieta and Geera told me they would explain their use to their respective mates. It was only a matter of fifteen or twenty minutes more for the women to get ready for the trip. I opened the big door and hitched Sally and Jane to the wagon. It still had our bath water in it, so I took a few minutes to put the tops back on the wagon box. No need to risk getting sloshed before I could let the water drain. Since the wagon was full of water there was really no place for the pups to ride. They had been running loose in the cave since we'd come back for the mating nights. Gema, Merita, and Maia had been taking care of them and getting acquainted. I had the girls put them back into their pen to stay while we were away. The pups didn't seem to like it and one tried to climb out promptly. It must have been the one Maia had taken up with since when she gave it a good scolding it went to lie down on the deerskin and mope. We boarded the wagon and headed for the camp. I stopped after about half a mile and opened one of the plugs so our bath could escape. Most of the trip was in silence. I got tired of it after a while and decided to stir things up. "Why is everyone so quiet? We aren't going back to bury somebody." "It is just a little sad. We had a very good time at your cave John, even though you did shamelessly abuse Dieta and me," Geera said, but I could tell she was trying to tease me. "I had a wonderful time abusing you. I would like to do it more often." "That is the thing John. Your cave is so far from our camp," Dieta chimed in. "It isn't so far." "It is too far to sneak away to on a bruga night," Geera said, pointedly. "I cannot move the cave, but you could move the camp." I was mostly just joking, but I realized it might be a good idea. I was sure there was no real advantage in the placement of their camp over where my cave was. There was the fact their dwelling was already constructed though and everything else needed for their daily lives was already built too. I would have to study my map sometime. I knew there were other caves in my area, but I couldn't remember how close they were or how large they were. I had three mates to take care of, but I couldn't shake the feeling a shot of Dieta's or Geera's pussy every now and then could do wonders for my attitude. I had a sneaking suspicion Maia felt the same way. She had been very enthusiastic holding Geera down last night, and once I'd pushed it up Geera, Maia had ravaged her titties with hands and lips. Yes, I would have to do some exploring nearby. I already had a good setup, but it didn't mean I couldn't find room close by for my mothers-in-law. Actually my cave was easily large enough for five or six more people to live in it with no crowding. I didn't see any need to point this out though, since Dieta and Geera had mates of their own. I didn't intend to invite any men to live in the cave with me. I would just have to look around some and study the map. When we arrived at their camp there were a few minutes of excitement and then it settled down as Geera and Dieta took their things into the dwelling. Gigo and Dergo came out to slap me on the back and laugh some. Gigo told me he hadn't heard any more about what Gembo had on his mind. I was glad since I didn't really want three more unseen mates just now. I might be missing out on a good thing, but I would take the chance. We stayed long enough for a meal and then turned the wagon back toward my cave. When we got home the pups were all still in their pen. To me it meant they knew they were supposed to stay in it when we put them there. Any of them could have climbed out if they had made a determined effort. I went back out to check on the mare which was tied to the post. She seemed almost glad to see me this time. I yelled to the cave and asked one of them to come help me for a few minutes. Merita came out. "Will I help you with the horses now John?" "I would like for you to. Walk over toward the fence and when I turn to lead the horse, if it doesn't follow, walk slowly up behind it. Be sure to talk to it softly as you do." "What shall I talk to it about John?" "It doesn't matter. Just be sure she can hear you and that she won't be surprised by your approach. Why don't you tell her about gathering berries and discovering a stranger." "That is good, I will tell her how Gema and I found a stranger," she said, and laughed. As she walked to the fence I hooked a lead rope to the mare's halter and unhooked the one tied to the post. I turned away from the mare and walked as if I was going to lead her. She didn't move of course. I didn't look back, but I heard Merita start to talk and knew she was approaching. The mare heard her too and moved in my direction. The mare followed me for a few steps and then stopped. Then I heard Merita start talking to her again and when the mare heard it we were underway again. It only took about ten minutes of this for the mare to catch on. Soon she would follow me when I led out and stop when I did. I let Merita go back into the cave then and I continued the mare's lessons for another hour. Starting and stopping and just generally leading her around in the pen. I knew the mare needed some water so I led her to the gate and opened it. As we started toward the stream the mare wanted to get ahead of me. We had a small altercation, but I'm sure her neck was sore from fighting the post and she settled down to behave in only a few minutes. The filly was right behind us of course, but when it remembered the water it took off and beat us there by a large margin. It could learn about the halter later. I let the mare have a good drink but pulled her back before she got all she wanted. I led her around the bigger pen for about twenty more minutes and then let her drink again. It was back to the training pen then for more leading, stopping, and starting. I turned her loose in the small pen then and tried to walk up to her a few minutes later to catch her again. She didn't cooperate. I roped her and then attached the lead rope again. More leading, stopping, and starting and then I turned her loose again. She wouldn't let me walk up to her this time either so after I'd roped her again I led her to the post and tied her off. Her filly had come back into the pen with us so I didn't have to try getting the young one up. I closed the small pen's gate and went into the cave. Sunset would be within an hour or two and I'd had enough for the day. I asked my mates what was cooking for supper and they told me it was more bison. They were having a go at frying bison steaks. They seemed to be determined to get all the use they could out of the skillet and I almost shouted for joy. I could see pots and pans would be a big part of my next freight. With not much to do I went over and sat down at the computer. I brought up the map and began studying the territory around me, working my way out from our current location. I was a little discouraged at not finding another cave close to us so I decided to look around in the menus some more to see if I could go about looking for caves in another way. I knew in fifteen minutes I had been a dumbass for just going over the map at random, looking around. I found a search option which let me search for caves - it would even highlight them on the map. After only twenty minutes of this I found some caves in another canyon, about ten miles from here, but of course it was much further the way we'd have to go. Almost as if they were put there on purpose, just for me, were six caves in the sides of a much larger canyon. They also happened to be near the opening to a much larger blind canyon. In fact this blind canyon branched into two others as it wandered back from the main canyon. If the area were like this one the location would have been a much better one for me than the present one. Searching again, for occupied campsites this time, I found the Neanderthals I already knew about were the closest to the new site. They were fourteen miles southeast of its location. I searched for game areas and found there were even larger herds of bison on the upper plateau near this new location. There were also scattered groupings of aurochs and several little bands of horses. There were megaceros in the area also and smaller deer in the more abundant wooded areas. If the caves were habitable it would be a much better place for us to live if we could talk the other camp into moving there with us. I studied more carefully then. The map let me see the insides of the caves and a right click gave me their dimensions. All of them were larger than my current cave and two of them were very large, over ten times larger than the one I was now calling home. There was no mention of anyone or anything occupying them. I couldn't tell if they were all actually livable, but I did notice they were also much higher above the spring flood's high water mark than this one was. I'll have to admit it was a detail I had neglected before my arrival. I didn't think the flooding would reach my cave here but it would probably be a close thing during some years. I had to go and see the place for myself. I would spend another day or two with the new mare and then the girls and I were going to load up the wagon to go check it out. Supper was ready by then and I went to eat. My girls had done an excellent job on the first meal they'd fixed for me without their mothers. The bison steaks were cooked rare and tender and whatever they had cooked for vegetables were delicious. When we went to bed later I made sure to show them how much I appreciated their efforts. I woke the next morning feeling good. I had rested well and was at peace with the world. I did need to take a big piss though and I tried to slip out of bed without waking the girls. No chance there so I gave them all a peck on the lips as I crawled out. I pulled on some jeans and stepped into my boots. Sitting on a small stool I had made, mostly just exactly for this task of lacing up my boots. I pulled on yesterday's T-shirt and since the chain mail was where I'd dropped it last night I put it on and then buttoned up a shirt over it. The mail really surprised me. It was actually comfortable to wear and it weighed almost nothing. It gave me a secure feeling too, since I knew there were no weapons around in this time to penetrate it. I grabbed my web belt with the Glock and holster and buckled it around my waist as I was heading for the door. It seemed funny to have to take this precaution, but it was necessary. I hadn't heard anything more about Gembo since the day of my mating and the Glock wasn't really in anticipation of seeing him. There was the more likely chance of encountering a hungry predator outside. I would hate to go outside to face a lion, bear, or big cat empty handed. ------- Chapter 20 I'll be damned if I didn't see Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo as soon as I opened the door. They were about a hundred yards off sitting on a deadfall near the edge of a very small woods. They rose as soon as they heard me open the door. I pulled the Glock out of its holster as I stepped out. This didn't faze the three since they had no idea what it was. Stalking me wasn't the right thing for them to try. I wasn't the cause of Gembo's troubles. Hell I hadn't even heard of him before the mating with Gema and Merita was planned and partially paid for. One look at him told me he was serious about this. His face seemed to be scowling and he was armed with his spear. He was a well-built and nicely developed young man, but he was short. Jabo and Jenbo were both at least six feet. Gembo was only about five-nine. Apparently he couldn't shake the feelings which came with it. Oh well, he wouldn't be worried about it for long. I continued to approach them until I was within about seventy feet. "Where is your spear stranger? Go back and get your spear. We didn't come to kill you while you were empty handed," Gembo said, shouting. "Why do you want to kill me? I have not troubled you," I said, in a calm and quiet voice. "I have come for your mates. I will kill you and they will be mine," Gembo said. The first thing in my mind was, You'll shit and fall back in it first, but I didn't say it aloud. A little of this cave man crap was already too much. Apparently Gembo wanted to stand around and argue a while to get up his nerve before it came down to the nut cuttin', but I wasn't in the mood. He said he'd come to kill me and take my mates. I raised the Glock and tried to put a one hundred and forty-seven grain, nine-millimeter hollow point through Gembo's pump. No doubt I must have given the trigger a little jerk because the round went a little high and to the left catching Gembo right on the bottom of the sternum. Since it made solid contact right on his center of gravity it knocked him over backward. I'm sure it made a hell of a mess in his lungs and pulmonary system as it tore through, expanding all the way. Jabo and Jenbo were just staring at me and then looked at Gembo. He was kicking his legs a little, reflexes I suppose. His mouth was open wide like he was gasping for breath, but every time he tried, blood flowed up out of his mouth and there was a horrible sucking and then hissing from his chest. There was also a wide frothy pool of blood coming from the entrance wound. Jabo and Jenbo rushed to Gembo and knelt down beside him. I approached more slowly. They were both trying to ask Gembo what happened at the same time. He was in no position to explain even if he'd known, which he didn't. I thought he probably had twenty or thirty seconds of consciousness left. He sure as hell couldn't get enough wind into the tattered remains of his lungs to speak. Jabo put an arm around Gembo's shoulders and tried to raise him. I was only about twenty-five feet from them now. "Gembo will be dead soon. You cannot help him. You should probably stand up and try to save yourselves." They looked at me then just as Gembo coughed up a huge gout of blood and lung tissue. Jabo laid him back down then he and Jenbo stood up. When they stood I saw Jabo flex his arm to pull back and hurl his spear. My aim was better this time. Jabo got his through the heart, Jenbo was releasing his spear as I shot him, also right through the heart. When the spear struck me I was glad his aim had been true and had been at my chest. I felt like I'd been hit with a small club and I had to take a step back to keep from falling myself. The flint point broke against the mail but didn't even consider penetrating. Apparently the girls had been watching from the door for most of the fracas. They came running to me now, crying and moaning, when they reached me they tried to find the wound they knew Jenbo's spear must have made. "John, oh John, please don't die," Gema said, begging and practically screaming. "Do not worry, I am not hurt." "But we saw the spear strike you and Jenbo had a powerful arm," Maia cried. "Now you know why I wear the shiny shirt. Remember never to tell anyone of it." They unbuttoned my shirt then and examined the mail. I could see the spear hadn't even bent any of the tiny rings. "Is the shirt magic John?" Merita asked. "No, it is not magic, it is just strong. It is made of the same thing the wagon is made of, but it is many tiny rings locked together. I am not afraid of spears while wearing the shiny shirt. I am just glad Jenbo aimed for my chest and his aim was true." They looked over to the three dead men then, and then walked over to get a closer look. "There is so much blood John, especially from Gembo. The lightning is powerful. They were stupid not to believe what a hunter you are," Maia said. "Well they are not stupid now, they are just dead. Georgo says I must take their bodies back to their camp and gather their mates and their belongings." "Yes you must. Delia, Waaya, and Winna will suffer and starve if you do not take them," Gema said. "If you don't no other man would dare mate with them since you have killed all their mates and do not even have a scratch," Merita said. "What will the women think and what about you. You are the mates I chose. I will not have them causing trouble for us." "They will not cause trouble. They will know their mates are dead and they are now your mates. They do not want to live alone with no man to protect them and hunt for them. Even though none of them have children now they would still have much trouble if they had to hunt for themselves," Gema said. "Then none of you will mind if they come to live with us?" "We will not mind John. It will be better, you will see. Delia, Waaya, and Winna are all good women and they will be obedient to you. They are hard workers too. Delia, Gembo's mate is very pretty too. In fact they are all pretty. They will be so surprised when they see the bed and Gema, Merita, and I will get to hold them down, at least the first time," Maia said, and her eyes were shining with excitement as she did. "It is a good thing I haven't released any of the extra horses I captured. I will have a lot of horses to train, but we will have more help gathering hay and grain for them now." "Yes, we will have more help for everything. Waaya, Jabo's mate and Winna, Jenbo's mate are also very good cooks and very good gatherers. They know where almost everything grows and when it is ready to gather," Gema said. "I do not think any of them will be very sad about this. Jabo, Jenbo, and Gembo were good hunters, but they were usually very disagreeable men. Always boasting and swaggering - they were very fond of the bruga also," Merita said. "They must give meat to the worms now, their own meat. Soon their bones will be naked." "It is what they earned. They came to kill you and take us. Now they have their reward," Maia said, and I could tell she wasn't sorry over the turn of events. I picked up Jenbo's spear and walked over to him. He was basically flat on his back and I punched the spear into the entrance wound as deeply as I could. I went to Jabo and picked up his spear. He was mostly on his left side so I looked at his exposed back. No exit wound was evident. It wasn't unexpected with hollow points. I rolled him to his back and forced his spear into his wound. Then I went over to Gembo and performed the same service. With the bullet hitting his sternum I knew damned well he had no exit wound. "Why did you do that John?" Merita asked. "So the others will not know I didn't kill them with spears. Georgo told me the fewer who knew about the lightning the better off we would all be. Now the main question in the minds of the others will be how I took their spears away from them and killed them with their own spears. I believe I will say I killed them with my spears, but then took them back since they are surely better than the spears they used against me." "Yes, Georgo told all in our camp not to speak of your lightning and thunder. I'm sure no one has. I didn't know you had thunder in the pistol also. We were all very afraid before you killed Gembo with it," Maia said. "Well I had better get Sally, Jane, and the wagon. It looks like we will be traveling today. I hope one of you knows the way." "We all know the way, but you might want to ask Gigo and even Dergo to go with us. They will be happy to. Even though you are not a member of their camp, we were, and this will reflect well on them. They will gain respect by association," Gema, ever the politician, told me. "I will be glad if they will come with me." I caught and harnessed the team and then hitched the wagon. Gema, Merita, and Maia intended to help me with the bodies, but I told them I didn't want them to have to touch them and they were just as glad to fetch the pups. After I'd thrown the dead meat into the wagon box I lifted up each pup and put them in too. I closed up the cave and we all climbed onto the seat and headed off. The pups were sniffing around on the bodies and then started licking some of the blood. I didn't see any reason to stop them. We hadn't traveled more than a mile before I saw two figures coming toward us at a trot. I was about to get the glasses and take a look at them. "It is Gigo, and Dergo," Maia said. They had dropped into a walk when they saw the wagon. Soon enough we met. "Good morning Gigo and Dergo. Were you coming to see us?" "Yes. We heard this morning Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo were going to kill you. We came to warn you and to help if you will let us," Dergo said. "I can tell you I am very glad you came. Luckily I did not need the help, but I thank you for trying. I have their bodies in the wagon. We were coming to your camp to see if you would go with us to theirs so I can return the bodies." "They have already attacked you?" Gigo asked. "They tried. I killed them. Now I must return the bodies and gather their possessions and their mates. I do not know what I am going to do with six mates." A thought flashed into my head just then. I asked Gigo and Dergo to get aboard the wagon and then turned it around and headed back to my cave. "Why are you going back John?" Gigo asked. "I have something to ask of you and Dergo. If you agree we will need to arrive at your camp later than if we went there now." "What will you ask us? We will do it if we can," Dergo said. "I want one of you to say you helped me by killing Jabo and I want the other to say he helped by killing Jenbo. Then each of you can take one of their mates and I will only have to take Gembo's mate. You will help me by each taking one of the mates and their possessions." "But you killed them John. You should get the possessions and the mates," Gigo said. "Yes, but it will be too many mates for me and I do not need their possessions. I don't want to have so many mates I don't have enough time for each one. Both of you only have one mate each." "Yes and that is the way my mate likes it. I do not know if I can do this for you John. I will ask Geera what she thinks of it, but I can not tell you yes if she doesn't like the idea," Gigo said. "It is the same way for me John. I would like to help, but I will not do it if Dieta doesn't agree. I do not want to anger Dieta," Dergo told me. "I understand. I would not think of asking you to do it unless they agree. I do not want to cause any trouble. Maybe they will like the idea of someone to help them." "We can always hope. Why do we need to get back to camp later then?" Dergo asked. "Everyone in your camp knows by now you have come to try and help me. They will also know how long you have been gone. If we get back too soon they will think something is not right. We will also need to decide what we are going to tell the others about how the fight went." "You are right. They would know it was not right if we came back too soon and if we told different stories of how the fighting went. We should prepare in the hope Geera and Dieta will allow it. We must tell them the truth though. They would know it soon anyway and it will be better if we tell them what really happened from the start," Gigo said. He was smarter than I had been giving him credit for being. I was sure they could not keep the truth from Geera and Dieta. ------- Chapter 21 When we got back to my cave we discussed the details of the fight - soon to be called our fight. In other words we got our lies straight. We hung around for about an hour then mounted the wagon again and headed back to their camp with our grim cargo. We arrived at camp and none of us spoke to anyone. We went directly into the dwelling and found Geera and Dieta. Getting them off away from listening ears I explained the situation and told them what I had asked Gigo and Dergo to do. They bitched a little, especially since Gigo and Dergo couldn't keep the shit eating grins off their faces, but finally they decided it would be the best thing. I thought I noticed a strange look from Dieta a time or two but I ignored it. After the discussion was over Gigo, Dergo, and I boarded the wagon and headed for Gembo's little raiding party's former camp. I left the pups with Gema, Maia, and Merita while they stayed with Geera and Dieta figuring that arriving with three dead men would be excitement enough for our upcoming visit. It was. The wagon caused a stir itself even though most of them had seen it at the time of my mating ceremony. It was probably a little different seeing it come driving up into your camp - your home. I suspect most in the camp knew Gembo had headed out to kill me and I wondered if they didn't think it might be Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo returning with my possessions. It wasn't. It was a lot different when I stopped near their main cooking fire. Gigo and Dergo left the seat and climbed into the back of the wagon promptly throwing the three dead bodies out onto the ground. They landed with sickening thuds. "Here are the ones who came sneaking around to kill John so they could steal his mates. We have come for our mates now," Gigo said, loudly. He had everyone's attention. Mumbling and whispering started among those gathered around and I saw a few women going to different dwellings, they all seemed to have separate huts. Presumably they went to inform the new widows. A few minutes later those who had left returned with the bereaved. As the three walked toward the wagon I first felt a surge of lust and then another of anger, at myself. I almost regretted sharing the spoils with Gigo and Dergo. Delia, Waaya, and Winna didn't come out with tears in their eyes. They walked over to the bodies, gave them a casual looking over and then came to the wagon. Gigo, Dergo, and I got down from the seat to greet them. Gigo introduced me. Earlier we had agreed among ourselves Delia would be my new mate. Geera and Dieta had decided Dergo was to get Waaya and Gigo would take Winna. Gigo and Dergo hadn't really had any say in the matter and at the time I wondered why they didn't at least voice an opinion. I saw why now. My mates had under reported the looks of the three, especially Delia. Delia had a beautiful face with deep-blue eyes. Her hair was almost jet-black and hung to her shoulders in waves. Her complexion was fair which added to the contrast with her hair. She was a tall woman, at least five nine, and I was sure it must have been a little bit of a pill for the departed Gembo. As short as he had been there was no way around it for him anyway. Delia's tunic couldn't hide the fact she had a larger than expected set of titties - it did conceal most of the rest of her shape though and hung low enough to keep me from getting a good look at her ass. I was sure time would reveal all. She seemed to have a shiner on her left eye and I wondered if Gembo had been in the habit of knocking her around a little. If he had he was over it now and I was feeling better about killing him as we went along. Waaya and Winna were very attractive women also, both had dark brown hair and what I could see of their shapes was pleasing. Neither of them were as tall as Delia nor were they as attractive in the face. They were above average in the looks department, but they simply weren't spectacular like Delia. We didn't spend any time getting acquainted since we began gathering the loot right away. When we had finished Delia asked if we were going to take the dwelling also. Hers, like most of them in this camp, was basically a hut of animal hides which had been surrounded with stones around the bottom and otherwise made semi-permanent. It was actually a nice hut and from appearances it had been well maintained. "Delia, the hut is yours to do with as you please. If you want to take it, we will. If you want to give it to someone here you are free to." "Thank you. I would like to give it to the one who was my brother. He doesn't live in this camp though," she said. "Shall we take it down and deliver it to him? It is a nice hut, but we will not need it." "He does not need it yet either. He is not a man yet and his camp is more than a day from here. Can we take it with us?" Delia asked. "Of course we can. We will take it down and put it in the wagon. We can store it in our cave for him and we can take it to him whenever you like." "You are very kind John. It will be some work to take down the hut and carry it back. I will remember this kindness," Delia said. "This was not my doing Delia and I had no choice in the matter, but I am not sorry you will be my mate - you are beautiful. I hope you will come to like me. I am not familiar with all the customs so if I do something which is offensive to you please let me know." "You have done nothing to offend me John. I think it is kind of you to allow me to give the hut to my former brother. He and my former mother live alone as her mate was killed while hunting. He is thirteen now and will soon become a man. Since his mother has no mate he will have a difficult time. The hut will be a big help for him," she said. "Maybe I will be able to help him in other ways. If he should need help gaining his bride payment he should not hesitate to ask me." This earned me a look of surprise from Delia and then a big smile. It couldn't hurt. We set to work with the hut then. After my offer to Delia - Gigo and Dergo had also let their new mates decide about their dwellings. Waaya had given hers to a man and his mate in the camp. It turned out the man was her former brother. Winna wanted to keep her hut and so we packed it up also and put it in the wagon. Dergo asked her if it was all right to store the hut in my cave, since I had plenty of room, and it would cause some crowding to store it at his camp. She said it would suit her. When I got up on the wagon seat to leave I turned to help Delia climb up. She put on a brave face and came right up to sit beside me. I was sure it took some gumption on her part. She sat right beside me, seemingly moving as close to me as she could. I'm not ashamed to admit it made me feel a little proud. The wagon seat was nearly full with all six of us on it together. We weren't exactly crowded, but I noticed at once Waaya, who was seated on my other side, wasn't shy about pressing her warm thigh against mine as we rode. I was regretting sharing the wealth again as I drove. The trip back to Gigo and Dergo's camp was fairly quiet. I guess everyone was going over their own thoughts. It seemed a little strange to me the three new widows hadn't shed a tear or even mentioned their former mates. I would have to ask Georgo if this was more custom. There was an even bigger surprise for me when we got back to the camp. Gema, Merita, Maia, Geera, and Dieta descended on the new women and greeted them as if they were long lost sisters. There were huggings, kissings on cheeks, and squeals of joy. I noticed this improved the moods of the new arrivals tremendously. Soon the whole camp was there meeting and greeting and I was afraid a feast might break out. It didn't though and soon enough we had Waaya's and Winna's things unloaded and moved into their new accommodations. It struck me it was much easier to move women of this time. If we had been in the modern world I'm sure more time would have been spent deciding where to put things than was spent moving them. This was much simpler as Waaya and Winna seemed pleased just to have their things on the ground inside somewhere and were perfectly content to let us get them unloaded and be on our way. My mates and I still had a couple of hours of wagon riding before we were home. I took a little extra time on this trip to give them all a chance to drive the team for a while. I knew I would need for them to be able to function as wagon drivers sooner or later and I might as well get them started sooner. We had an easier time of it when we got to our cave than we'd had unloading at the camp. I opened the big door and just drove the wagon inside, unhitching the team when I had it headed out again. Delia was surprised, but it was nothing like the surprise she got when Maia scampered over and turned on the bed's lighting. "What is that?" Delia asked, nearly squeaking it in surprise. "It is our bed," Merita said. "What is a bed?" "It is where we sleep. Come and try it. It is very soft and it is nice to sleep in. You will like it, come on," Gema said. I asked them to show Delia around a little while I turned the team out. After I released Sally and Jane I caught the new mare, Dolly, and led her out of the small pen and to the stream for a drink. I'd had to rope her again, but she didn't shy away as much. After her drink I took her back to the small pen. Her filly didn't follow us, staying out to run and cut up with the other young ones. I didn't intend to wait all night so I shut the gate on Dolly and went back to the cave. I doubted the filly would get so far from her mother again after a night without nursing. Delia was wide eyed when I got back. Merita had already demonstrated the fire rocks and Gema had introduced her to flicking the bic. I asked my little band of mates what they intended to cook for supper and I could tell the excitement had made them forget I hadn't eaten since this morning. Gema, Merita, and Maia headed for the pots and pans and were soon digging into the stored food. Delia stood there looking lost. "Why don't you just watch them and see how we do it. Our things are a little different from what you are used to using I'm sure." "Yes, I will. I want to know how you like your food to be cooked. I want to be a good mate. It might seem unkind of me to say it, but I am sure I will like you much better as a mate than I liked Gembo. He was not kind," Delia said. It was the last thing I ever heard Delia say about Gembo and it was fine with me - the less said about Gembo the better. I interrupted the cooking as the girls were deciding what else to have with bison steaks. I introduced Ranch Style Beans to them and gave a can opening demo for the Alien cans. I explained we could store other things in the cans later, but they needed to be washed after they were emptied. I told them about filling them with water to make sure the remaining juice didn't dry out before we got around to washing them tomorrow. Soon enough it was time for bed. I was looking forward to seeing Delia naked, but truthfully I was too tired to fuck. Before we undressed I took Delia's hands and told her I was tired tonight and wanted to wait until tomorrow night to begin our mating. She blushed and actually grinned a little. "I do want you to sleep close to me tonight though so I can find out what you feel like." She blushed even more over this and the other three giggled. I paid attention closely as Delia undressed for bed. She was older than the others, at seventeen, and her titties knocked Gema out of first place for the biggest pair. Her almost milky complexion made her light pink areolae and nipples seem darker than they were as they perched proudly in the exact center of her fat jiggling breasts. Her ass was spectacular when it was revealed and her black bush was so neatly defined it seemed as if she trimmed it though I was sure she didn't. After I climbed into bed first Delia didn't hesitate to get in right beside me and she wasn't shy about snuggling right up against me. Gema got on the other side of me and Merita was beside her. Maia was on the other side of Delia. I lay on my back at first looking into the bed's mirror admiring the naked bounty beside me before we pulled our Alien tiger skin fur up over us. I pulled each mate to me for a long good night kiss and afterwards Maia turned out the light. Rolling to my side toward Delia I draped an arm over her as she rolled to her side also so I could snuggle up to her back. Even though I was tired my dick came to attention from the contact of a new young and firm ass. I found one of Delia's titties with my hand and teased it and its nipple while I kissed and nibbled a little on the back of her neck. Gema snuggled right up against my back pressing her breasts into it and stroking up and down my upside with her hand. When I reached lower to give Delia's other titty a little attention I found Maia was already taking care of it. I went back to the original, grinning to myself in the dark. Delia started squirming her ass back to me after a few minutes. I raised my head a little to look over her and even in the very dim lighting from the bed's nightlight I could see she and Maia were kissing. This made my dick even harder and I pressed it toward Delia's ass. When I did she pushed back against me and wiggled her cheeks against it. Gema was paying attention too and she reached down, took hold of my dick, and while maneuvering it managed to get Delia to raise her top leg enough so she could slip my dick between Delia's legs to point out the other side, leaving the top of my shaft lying along Delia's damp labia. Her tidy bush just tickled the top of my knob. I sighed a little and knew I would be having some pleasant dreams. I didn't though, I didn't dream at all during the night. I did feel great when I woke the next morning though. There was no chance of getting out of bed without waking everyone else so I didn't even try. I just kissed them when their eyes opened and made my way to the edge. While pulling on my clothes I kept my eyes on them as they also got out of the big bed and began dressing. It was an inspirational scene. We all went outside to find a place to pee and I decided I needed to make a formal outbuilding for the purpose. I might as well build a little outhouse. I decided we could get along fine with a two-holer. The main problem would be the hole, or more precisely the digging of said hole. Well at least I had decent shovels for the job. My brides went back into the cave to show Delia the wonders of a skillet and frying while I stepped over to the small pen, caught Dolly and led her for a drink. Her filly was pacing by the fence and barely let Dolly walk to the stream as she kept trying to nurse in motion. Served the little brat right. When I took Dolly back to the pen the filly, I decided to call her Stinker, was careful to be inside when I closed the gate. I tied Dolly to the post and headed for the cave. ------- Chapter 22 Breakfast was almost ready and the girls served me not long after I got back. They decided they could handle the unloading of our new things and I went to work with Dolly. She seemed to have settled down a lot during her small pen captivity of the last couple of days and I was pretty sure I could have her wearing the saddle today and might even be able to put some weight on it. After eating I did go back to the pen and Dolly acted pretty much as expected. Within a couple of hours I was leading her around the pen with the saddle on. I stuffed a pair of coveralls with some dried grass and tied them onto the saddle like they were riding. It didn't bother her much so I went for broke and swung up onto her back. She only gave a jump or two and then settled back down. It was only fifteen minutes or so to make the leap to moving when I urged her to and stopping when I pulled back on the reins. Everything had gone very well. After unsaddling Dolly I released her into the large pen with the others with only a halter on. The grass in the large pen was now about gone. I would have to turn them back into the blind canyon by tomorrow and figure out something else for feeding them through the winter. There was plenty of grass around - the only problem was cutting and saving it. I didn't have a hay mower or a baler of course so it would have to be done by hand. Not a big problem for a horse or two but with the herd I would soon have it was going to be real work. During the planning stage for my new life I had considered the three thousand pounds of freight Argent had allowed me to be generous. It would have been if it were only for me. Escalating my life style to include multiple mates changed the equation though. In the first place we needed a bathtub. I knew the girls and everyone else in this time had been getting along fine without tubs, but I wanted one and I derided myself for not at least getting one of those country bathtubs I remembered from when I'd been growing up. You've probably seen one if you've ever been in a hardware store. They look like a washtub which has been stretched to be twice as long as it is wide. It wouldn't have weighed ten pounds and I could have easily brought one if I'd only thought about it. Catching and keeping mounts for all of us would require a lot of work too. Feeding them over the winter was going to be a problem. Cutting and storing hay by hand was a hell of a lot of work. Shit, cutting and baling hay with modern equipment was a lot of work. I never envisioned a time when I would lust for a horse-drawn hay-mower or hay-rake. That time was approaching though and I shuddered when I thought about cutting acres of hay with a scythe. Still the horses would be worth it and I could always put the equipment into my wish list for next year. I began thinking of the caves I had found on the map. I needed to go take a look at them. Summer was just now beginning and if the new caves were as good as they looked on the map, and if I made my mind up soon enough we would have time to move there and get settled in before winter. I went back to the cave and asked the girls how the unpacking was going. They had everything out of the wagon and stored except the two huts. They had decided to wait until I could help them since the huts were heavy. "Let's leave Delia's in the wagon and only unload Winna's. We will be taking Delia's hut to her brother in a day or so and there is no need to wrestle with it just so we can load it again later." They all agreed and I decided it was even a better idea than I'd first thought. I told them we would be taking a little trip starting tomorrow. "Where are we going?" Gema asked. "I know of some caves which might be better for us than this one and I want to go look at them. They are to the northeast. After we look them over we can go visit your former camp and then travel to give Delia's brother the tent. We might as well take plenty of food and cooking utensils with us since we might be gone for a couple of days." "Where will we sleep while we are traveling John, will we use Delia's tent?" Maia asked. "I'm sure if we need to Delia wouldn't mind. It is pretty big to set up just for a night though. We will probably just sleep in the wagon. We can take the pillows and furs from the bed and some of the bison skins. The wagon is large enough for all of us to sleep in it and to carry our things too." "I hadn't thought of that. It is easily big enough for all of us to sleep in," Merita said. "Yes and we can close the top while we are sleeping. If it rains we will stay dry and we won't have to worry about any animals attacking us in our sleep." We spent the rest of the day and a little time after supper loading the wagon and arranging our things in it so we would have room to sleep. I didn't bother with my air mattress since we had enough furs for padding and cover. The inflatable was too small for all of us anyway. Dicky boy started anticipating the new pussy and another go at the familiar pussy also about an hour before bedtime. When we piled into bed I found we were in the same arrangement as the night before. I didn't waste any time pulling Delia to me for a deep kiss to get things started. She was facing me tonight and as I began gently handling her fat titties she slipped a hand down south to check out Dicky. Delia didn't pretend she was reluctant in the least. Her kisses were hot and demanding and her hand stroking my dick was gentle, but erotic. She brushed the head through her pubes and often pressed it to her clitoris. I gobbled up her breasts and sucked strongly on her nipples as I teased them with my tongue and nipped them with my teeth. She moaned and growled over this treatment and soon I could feel her wetness on my dickhead as she pressed it against her love lips. Maia was kissing and rubbing on her backside during all this and I got the notion she intended to enjoy Delia as much as me. Gema had her big round ones pressed against my back, but I could feel Merita's hands were on them playing. No wonder the two hadn't wanted to be separated by mating. It was all to my advantage and I was glad they had waited. Delia was hot and demanding by now and she was trying to press me up into her slick sheath. I pulled her to me a little more firmly and turned her so her back was to the mattress, climbing between her strong lovely inviting thighs as I did. She swabbed my glans through her lips a time or two and then set it in her hole. All I had to do was push with my hips and I didn't waste any time. Delia was wet and tight and she was hot inside. I could feel the warmth along my shaft as I pushed it up her and then drew it slowly back. She felt heavenly as I stroked inside her and she gave my dick a little squeeze with her pussy each time my pubis pressed into her clitty. We were into a good rhythm before long and then her legs came up to twine around my waist as she humped back at me urging me to go harder. "Oh John, you are so big and it feels so good. Can you do it harder John? Please," Delia asked. "Yes, I'll do it harder. Tell me if I do it too hard though." "I don't think it can be done too hard after it gets so good," she said. This just felt too good and I was wondering why I wasn't coming to the short rows. I knew Argent and company had put my body back into a younger state, but it still didn't explain the control I was feeling tonight. I knew I should think about what else they might have done, but I sure as hell couldn't keep my mind on it now. Delia was thrashing her hips in abandon and I was pounding into her with most of my strength. She reached the end of her rope just then and moaned out my name as her whole body tightened up and squeezed me strongly. I was slightly disappointed I wasn't able to come with her, but I dutifully stroked her through her orgasm, only slowing as she fell back limp. Maia, the little opportunist, realized what had happened and was quick to roll Delia out from under me as I raised myself slightly. She was about to slip in under me for a pumping up, but I asked her to get on top and let me lie on my back. "How can we do it that way John?" Maia asked, pleadingly. "Let me lie down and I'll show you." She moved back and let me. When I had pulled her on top and as her legs straddled my hips she found my hard dick was sticking straight up between them. "Just raise up and put me in. Then you can slide down on it and do it as fast and hard or as slow and easy as you want to." The light shined for Maia then and she did as instructed. Her little pussy was dripping wet already and she placed my Delia dampened dick to her pussy lips and began her descent. She took it slowly for the first few strokes. When Gema saw her chance to rise up and begin kissing Maia the tempo picked up though. I put my hands on Maia's small hips to have something to hold onto. Delia had her breath back by now and she too rose and then began trying to suck one of Maia's nipples. It was hard for her to gain purchase though since Maia had really picked up speed. Delia had a new thought then and dropped a hand to Maia's bush to begin diddling her clit. This new sensation was more than Maia could deal with. I was just beginning to think I could get off in a few more minutes when Maia blasted off screeching my name to the top of her lungs. Little Maia just collapsed after her come, falling limply down across me. The others let her rest for a few seconds and then rolled her off to the sidelines. I didn't even have to move as Gema positioned her more lush legs across me for a ride like Maia's. "This looks like fun John. Maia's pussy seemed to like riding your dick this way," Gema said. "What is John's dick and what is a pussy?" Delia asked. Gema was astride me now and was using her hand to guide the appendage in question to hers at the moment. "This is John's dick in my hand and I am about to put it up my pussy," Gema told her, proudly. "John told us what they were called where he came from," Merita added, with a husky voice. "Well he has a wonderful dick then. I have never even heard gossip about one so big and which last so long. It is a good name for it. I like the name. I like the dick too. I am very glad I am here," Delia said. I didn't know about all that, but I was damned glad about where Gema was. She was sinking to the bottom of my boner just then and I couldn't have been happier about it. Like all the rest she was tight and slick and she started out with a faster pace than Maia had. She felt fine moving up and down on me and her rounded ass smacked me deliciously at the end of each down stroke. I managed to get a titty in each hand before the surrounding mouths latched onto them and I didn't waste any time beginning my pinching and twisting on her nipples. Merita's hand beat Delia's to Gema's clit so Delia put her mouth to Gema's and they began some serious kissing. I could tell already Delia was going to fit right in here at the cave. She'd made sure to join in and she was participating enthusiastically. A fantasy of mine I'd never been able to arrange came to me then and I asked Merita to leave her post to come sit on my face. "What do you mean John, how can I sit on your face?" she asked. "Just straddle my face like Gema is straddling my waist." "But why John?" Merita asked. "Just do it, you will see why as soon as you do." She complied, but she had a questioning look on her face. I couldn't see it anymore as she got into place, but I know it must have gone away at once. When she lowered her sweet pussy near my mouth I thrust my tongue between her slippery lips. "Oh John, I do see now. Oh!" I had been intending to blow off in Gema and I'm sure I could have. Just a few weeks ago I'd have never been able to go this far. Of course I'd have never been able to get four beautiful young things like this into my bed back then either. I decided to try and hold out to do Merita before coming now though. I gave her pussy a good licking while Gema fucked her self to explosion on my stiff dick. After Gema announced her finish loudly, her good friend Merita didn't lose any time laying her aside and taking her place. She slid her thoroughly aroused pussy down over my dick in a flash. Before Delia could get her hands entrenched in Merita's bush I had her take the seat Merita had just vacated. I was soon licking her pussy as Merita gave her own a good reaming on my hardon. Merita was so hot from watching, helping, and then getting licked I knew she wouldn't last long. I started pushing up into her as she slammed down onto me and when I felt her going off I grabbed her hips and pulled her down for good as I blew my own load this time. I didn't manage to lick Delia to another come before I was already done for though. I knew she was wound up and since I noticed Maia was back with us I had another idea. I suspected Delia was game for almost anything and I knew Maia was a hot little firecracker. "Maia, why don't you and Delia sixty-nine each other?" "What is sixty-nine John?" Maia asked. I knew they had all licked a pussy before and guessed it was the term she didn't understand. Well fuck, how could she understand? Even if they could count that high they didn't know anything about numbers being written nor what those particular numbers would look like in Arabic notation. "You and Delia should lie down and lick each other's pussy at the same time." I could see the little light bulb go on above Maia's head at once. She pulled Delia off her spot over my mouth and they were soon in the, oh so lovely to watch position, munching on each other's rugs. It didn't take them long to blast off together. We settled down to sleep afterward. This night would be a memorable one for me since it was the first time I'd ever gone to sleep with the smell of well fucked pussy so strong. ------- Chapter 23 We all got up early the next morning and the girls cooked bacon and eggs. These two Alien supplied foods were near an end so I had them cook up all that remained. Eggs were out of the question until next spring now, but bacon might be procured if I could kill a wild hog. I wasn't sure about in this time, but I knew in the twentieth century wild hogs could be a little tricky to kill without getting yourself hurt. I intended to try and bag some, but I was going to do it carefully. We finished loading the wagon and I got the team and hitched them to it. I tied Ben to the back of the wagon and then got Dolly. I saddled her and of course Stinker had to come along, but would have to follow on her own. I was taking Dolly to help her get accustomed to being led and to help her grow used to being around people. We had to travel down river past Gigo's camp for a couple of miles before we turned up another river's valley to head northeast. I knew this trip could well be a water haul. The river we would travel up toward the newer caves was wider and its valley was wider also. It didn't mean it was necessarily passable with a wagon. I hadn't noticed any obvious obstacles on the map, but it didn't mean there weren't any. We would have to cross at least five smaller streams after we turned up the new valley. The only way we would know for sure was to try. We stopped for about an hour at Gigo's camp. All the girls went in to visit with Geera, Dieta, Waaya, and Winna while I talked to Gigo and Dergo, mostly about where I was going. I wanted to see if they knew anything about the territory. Dergo had been up the river for about three miles. The only stream he'd had to cross was wide and shallow then. He told me the valley was much more wooded than the one to my cave. Dergo and Gigo asked me why I wanted to go up the river. I told them I knew there were several large caves about twelve miles up it and there were also two larger blind canyons I could keep my horses in. They asked me why I was even thinking of going to so much trouble for the horses. "If you want to know for sure we can carry the bison for my next bride payment without them," I said, and then grinned. It was a smartass remark, but it got the message across. The wagon could change everything having to do with carrying anything. I also pointed out how much easier it had been to bring Delia, Waaya, Winna, and their things home with the wagon. "It just seems like so much trouble to move just for the horses," Gigo said. "The horses take some care and some work to keep them in good condition. They do not take enough care to matter when it comes to carrying many large animals without them. I only killed fifteen bison on the first hunt. Think how much the wagon and horses will save since I have sixty-five more bison to kill just for the bride payments." "You are right John. They are much better for carrying," Dergo said. "I also want to look at the area. There are many large caves there. I will not move there only to feed the horses, but I think it might be a much better place in many ways. If I don't like it we will just turn around and come back." Geera and all the others came out then and started a little cooking. I saw we would be here at least another hour and I didn't mind since there was no hurry and I liked eating much better than not eating. I did let the pups out of the wagon though. Maia said she would watch them for me. She had become quite familiar with them now and they knew they must come to her when she called. They also knew they had to stop whatever they were up to if she disapproved. It seemed only a few minutes before a nice meal was ready. We sat around to eat and I had to go over the travel plans with Geera and Dieta then also. They weren't as quick to question my motives. I was surprised no one asked me how I knew there were caves up the valley. Soon enough we were leaving and a little less than an hour later we turned up the larger valley. I could tell after a mile it was much more wooded. I even noticed a thick woods and an almost swampy patch near it where a stream came into it from the east. I was glad we were on the other side of the river from the mess. I knew if I wanted to get some bacon later it would probably be a promising spot. It was mostly hardwoods and the oaks in the mix were putting out plenty of acorns. We kept at it until about an hour before sunset. We were still about five miles from our destination and could probably have made it before dark, but it would have left us trying to make camp in the dark and I didn't want to. The girls made a fire and cooked a meal. The pups got to run around while I hobbled the horses. I hadn't brought the trap since the pups were too large to be shut up in it now anyway. They would be sleeping in the wagon with us. Maia had been strict on them lately about making messes in the cave and I felt sure they wouldn't foul the inside of the wagon box, though they all did seem to find pissing on the tires necessary. I wondered if all canines were born knowing rubber tires were to be pissed on. After our supper we sat around the fire talking a little and then the girls helped me get the tops from their rack underneath. It took only a few minutes to reattach them and soon we put the pups in the wagon box and then followed them inside. I shut the tops and if I hadn't turned on my tiny flashlight we would have been in total darkness. I went around taking out plugs so we could get enough air for the night. I had one small fan powered from the large battery the wagon carried for such things. I'd made sure it was fully charged before we left the cave. The fan should give us enough air circulation for the night. Soon enough we were all piled up naked in our furs. It was so dark I had to determine my victims by feel and it had a charm of its own. Before long Merita and I had the wagon rocking while the others nibbled and stroked anything they could find by touch. Tonight I realized for certain Argent and company had done some major improvement to my dick. I had no trouble at all controlling my orgasm. I let myself go in Maia, my second for the night, and was back up within ten minutes to pound Gema and then Delia to glory. It did make me wonder what possible reason the Aliens had for pumping up my equipment though. When I woke up just at sunrise I was pretty horny again, but I didn't diddle anyone. It was a little cool out and we didn't waste any time dragging on our clothes after I'd raised the tops. We got out and the girls started a small cooking fire while I let the pups out to water the tires. Glancing downstream I happened to see a large megaceros grazing its way away from us. I reached into the wagon and hauled out the M1 to try a shot. Just as I shouldered it the giant deer spooked at something, probably some sound or smell from us, and took off. The shot was too long and the deer was moving too fast for me to try it. I set the rifle up in its rack behind the seat hoping I might see other fresh meat walking around later. We stowed the tops again before taking off and arrived at the first cave about an hour later. I got down and walked around a little just outside its entrance. Grabbing my big flashlight from the wagon I headed inside. It was probably the stupidest mistake of my life. The giant cave bear which had been sleeping inside voiced his displeasure loudly as he got up. Even though all his teeth were showing I was sure it wasn't a smile. My Glock was in its holster of course, but I was facing at least a ton of angry bear and it was only about fifty feet from me. Managing to quell the instant instinct to turn and run which would surely have been a fatal mistake, I used my top head for once and shined the bright light right in his face as I began backing out. The bear turned his eyes away for a second and I moved the beam to the floor and kept backing. I yelled to the girls they should run, but I hoped the bear's roar had already warned them. The bear looked back toward me and I gave him another shot of the flashlight beam in the eyes. This was working pretty well, but I knew the trick would lose its effectiveness once I was outside. Even with an eighteen round clip in the Glock I wasn't sure I could kill the bear before he seriously hurt or killed me. The Glock's rounds were designed to stop or kill men. No two thousand pound men were envisioned. Just then Delia was behind me handing me the M1. I passed her the Glock even though I knew she didn't have the faintest idea how to use it. I didn't even bother shouldering the rifle. The bear was within thirty feet now so I just pointed at his chest and squeezed off two rounds. It stopped his movement toward me anyway and brought another loud complaint. Taking time to shoulder the rifle now I put four more rounds in the area I hoped his heart was located. He didn't go down so I gave him four more. Finally he took a stumbling step and then fell toward me. I backed up fast to keep him from falling on me. I kept the muzzle pointed at him for at least five more minutes. When I was sure he must be dead I walked back outside and sat on the ground. My heart was pounding nearly out of control and I was shaking so hard I couldn't quit. Merita gathered some twigs and a few stray dead branches and started a small fire to make me some tea. I was grateful, but still too wound up to talk. I spent quite a while berating myself in my head for my careless move. Not only had I endangered myself, I had come close to leaving my mates alone to face the bear. Even if they had come out alive they would still be miles from any home or help in a wagon they had only the smallest hope of driving back. It took me nearly two hours to settle down, even with the tea and my mates doing their best to calm me. The bear had very nearly scared me witless. At least the little sense I'd kept stayed with me until I'd killed him. I reloaded the rifle and then took time to show all the girls how to shoot the Glock. I made them each fire a few rounds until I was satisfied they could send the lead in the general direction it needed to go. I told myself I would spend a lot of time later until they could really shoot if they needed to. When we went back into the cave I had Delia take the Glock, impressing on her she shouldn't shoot unless she was sure she needed to and sure she wouldn't hit me. I went in first, but I had Maia handle the light. I told her to make sure if there was anything else alive in there she kept the light pointed into its eyes. Nothing else was alive in the cave. There was some refuse scattered around, probably the remains of hyena's meals. There were also a few animal droppings here and there. The cave was a good one though, fully five times the size of mine. The floor was basically level and it was dry inside. We gathered some wood and started a fire not far from the bear's body. With the light from the fire and from outside we could have gutted him and skinned him out where he was. I decided to move him a little closer to the entrance for more light though, so I unhitched Sally and Jane and tied a strong rope around the bear's neck. They had to work to get him to the entrance but it was only about forty feet so it wasn't a real strain. I took the harness off them and then hobbled all four horses to let them graze while we worked. I had wanted some fresh meat, but would have done without for a while if I could have skipped the meeting with the bear. It was done now though and even though we had our work before us I knew I was going to enjoy the bear's meat even if it tasted like shit. We had it to do so we started. It is a damned job to skin a cave bear and another one to cut him up. The girls all said they had never done one before, but they went at it as if it were an everyday thing. One fucking bear took the five of us most of the day. We did clean everything that was useful though including the intestines. Delia took particular pleasure in taking his teeth and claws. She also made a point to get most of his long tendons. We scraped his skin and after I got some stout saplings we made a rack to stretch it on. We were going to treat the hide with the fur still on it since he had already slicked off and his coat was fairly clean and shiny with health. Even though the bear hadn't fully fattened for winter he had plenty of fat. We were up late rendering it in our pots and pans and then we poured it up into sections of his intestines. We roasted a big slab of him for our supper and it turned out to be plenty for breakfast the next morning too. We didn't put the tops on the wagon tonight. I hitched the team and drove it into the cave, turning it and heading it out before unhitching them again. I took the horses to the back of the cave and turned them loose. We set the tops on the ground several feet from the entrance and after washing off the cut up meat we set it on the tops to keep it fairly clean. We built a fire right in the entrance and put plenty of wood nearby to keep it going all night then we got our bedding out and arranged it near the fire so I could get up and put more wood on it as it burned down. We left the pups in the wagon to sleep. When we went to bed, after washing off as best we could in the cold river, I was too tired to fuck again. I don't think the girls minded a bit, as they were pretty tired too. They were all very affectionate though and each told me several times how glad they were the bear hadn't hurt me. I didn't mention I was damned happy about it myself. I felt really glad to be alive the next morning when the rising sun woke me. I put a little more wood on the fire so the girls could warm the leftovers and fix some tea. I let the pups out and had to scold them away from the meat, but they went outside to sniff around while I was getting dressed. After we'd eaten I asked for a volunteer to go with me to check out the other caves. Delia was elected by acclamation of the others. I think they thought she would be more help since she had been the first to catch on to the use of the Glock and while she was no crack shot she was better than the others. ------- Chapter 24 All the girls except Delia went back to work on the bear. Most of the meat would have to be sliced into strips for drying and even though they all had real knives from my time it would be a lot of work. It had to be done though and they weren't complaining. In fact they seemed to be happy about having so much meat. I decided I was going to try harder to kill smaller game when I could. Of course if I just had a big chest type freezer we wouldn't have to go to the trouble of so much cutting up and drying. I gave Delia about thirty more minutes of instruction in the use of the Glock and I explained exactly what happened when the trigger was pulled. I showed her a cartridge and pointed out the bullet which came out of the end and did the damage to the target. I had her try her luck at a couple of rocks and she hit four out of ten. They were around ten to twelve inches and she hit them from twenty feet. Not good shooting, but not bad considering. She could surely hit one of the big assed cave bears. We were much more careful entering the next cave. We listened outside and when we didn't hear anything inside we went in much more slowly than I had yesterday. It was empty and after looking it over I knew it would be a great cave to live in. It was nearly three times as large as the one we were living in now. It also had a much higher ceiling if that's what you call the top of the inside of a cave. Over near one side, far removed from the entrance, there was a depression in the floor and it was full of water. The water ran down one side and seemed to go out through a rough hole in the floor. Oddly it seemed to just run out from a crack in the wall above the depression. Running water seemed awfully suspicious for some reason. The next cave had me thinking even harder. It was just too good to be true. The map had told me it was the largest. It wasn't one big open cave though. It seemed almost as if it were separated into big rooms. They weren't actually rooms, more like big chambers. It would be simple to divide them into rooms with a few partitions though and it was big enough for at least twenty families to have living spaces. Topping it off was the downward slanting opening near the back. Almost as if it were planned the floor sloped down into a chamber underneath the rear wall. The opening was about five feet wide and the floor sloped down for about twenty feet until the next level was eighteen to twenty feet below the main cave's floor. There was ice in the lower chamber - it was below the permafrost level. Hell it was a natural freezer. Was it natural though or was it Alien? Did it matter? If it had been done at Argent's direction why should I care? I couldn't begin to understand why he would have done it, but it just seemed too pat. If he had done it, for whatever reason, why should I turn up my nose at the obvious gift? It made me wonder, but hell, I was still wondering why he wanted to put me here in the first place. I knew we would be moving here if there were any way to convince Gigo and the others to come with us. The next cave was nearly as large but it looked more nearly normal to me. It wasn't like I was a cave expert or anything, but it was just more irregular inside and there was no convenient deep freeze. When the thought struck me I told Delia we had to go back to the others. There was no need for them to cut up all the meat. We could just put it in the wagon and carry it down to be frozen. If no one would move here with us we could get it later if we needed it. I felt sure the others would realize how much better it would be here though. When we got back I saw we would be saving the girls more than half the work they'd expected. I explained my plan and they were glad enough to go along with it. We hitched up the team and then loaded the meat into the wagon. Soon we had it in the big cave. Wrapping it in some of the visqueen I had - we left most of it to freeze. I doubted any animals would stray down into the frigid dark to bother it. We all went along for the rest of the explorations. I claimed the cave with the running water as our next home. We took the wagon back down river to the entrance for the blind canyons. It was just south of the first cave and on the other side of the wide shallow river. The river had a gravel bottom here and it was easy to ford after I convinced the team it was the right thing to do. After crossing we headed up into the canyon in the wagon and it was just perfect. There were hundreds of acres up those canyons and only a few scattered small woods. It was mostly grass and wild oats. It was perfect for horses and would probably support over a hundred easily. Better yet, its entrance wasn't very wide and would actually need less of a fence than the one I'd already built. The walls were much steeper and more rugged than at my cave too. There was no chance a predator could get down from above without falling to its death. It was all too good to be true. It was there though and whether it was Mother Nature's or uncle Argent's doing it was nearly perfect. I'd expected to spend a couple or three days looking around here but I didn't need to see anymore. This was going to be a new home for all of us if I could swing it. It was such a good area I might even consider moving my little band here alone if the others wouldn't come. We had a few beans with the bear meat tonight. It was good and I ate too much. We'd pulled the wagon into the cave with the little pool and after supper I went to it and tried to wash off a little grime. The water was cold but it beat hell out of hopping into the river. When we settled into the wagon I was asleep almost before I could squeeze even one titty. As soon as I woke the next morning I was ready to leave already. We had the bear's skin to deal with though and for a while I couldn't think of anything to do about it but finish it off here. Then I got an idea. We put the tops back on the wagon and lay the stretching rack out over them, tying it on. The skin was still stretched and we could move out. It was a little inconvenient because we couldn't get into the wagon box without taking the rack off first, but it would have to do. It took a little over two hours to get back to Gigo's camp. Another big greeting was in order when we arrived and I had to admit to everyone how scared shitless I'd been when I found the giant bear. At least Delia'd had sense enough to tell us to bring a big haunch of the bear for cooking when we got back to the camp. We had taken it back out of the storage before it froze and the women went to work right away to get it cooked. Dergo and Gigo helped me find a place for the big stretching rack and we set it up here at their camp. They offered to finish the work on it if I wanted to travel tomorrow. I thanked them and was grateful since we needed to go to Delia's mother's camp to deliver the tent to her brother. I was anticipating seeing another camp too. Gigo's was really the only camp I knew anything about. My visit to Delia's to pick up she, Waaya, and Winna was a little subdued to say the least. Waaya and Winna fit in here now as if they had always lived here. They laughed and joked with Geera, Dieta, and all the others like they were one big family. In a way I guess they were. I didn't know anything about their former lives of course, but if they were sorry those days were over they didn't show it. I spent some more time telling Gigo and Dergo about the new area. They seemed as amazed as I had been. They didn't fully appreciate the value of the blind canyons for the horses but it was to be expected. They had never considered horses as anything but prey before. Even though they had seen how much help the horses could be I was sure it would take more time for it to fully sink in. They still hadn't tumbled to the amazing possibilities of the wheels on the wagon. They took them for granted as a part of the wagon and I could tell they had no ideas about other ways to use them. Still they were excited about the new caves and while they didn't jump right up and offer to move the camp there they were considering it. I knew I would have to take them there and show them and possibly others in the camp would want to go also. Their lives had been pretty good in this spot, they weren't bound to stay here at all cost, but they would have to be convinced they would be better off at the new location before they would move. We didn't exactly have a feast for supper, but it was a minor celebration. I had to tell about the bear fight again and I even demonstrated the flashlight and its effect when shined in your face in the dark. We all had to tell about the caves and what we'd seen of the area and many of the others expressed interest in going to see them. The women were especially interested in the cave which could freeze meat. We were up and off early the next morning. The only way Delia was familiar with led back through the camp where she'd lived with Gembo. Dergo knew a different way though and he assured me it would be possible to take the wagon his way. It had the advantage of being shorter too. It still took us nearly three hours with the wagon. When we arrived we were introduced to and greeted by Barbo, the leader, and Jara, his mate. It was not an enthusiastic meeting, but they weren't hostile. We cut the pleasantries short and proceeded to the hut of Dalia, Delia's mother. Her brother Danlo was there also. I didn't need anyone to tell me I was meeting Delia's mother. The resemblance was apparent. Dalia was even a little taller than Delia, probably five ten and she was every bit as lovely. Their coloring was almost exactly the same and Dalia's age shocked me at first. It was a shock until I realized I was mated to four girls, the oldest of them being seventeen. I had figured Dalia probably wasn't over thirty-five, but was shocked to learn she was only twenty eight. It wasn't old to me at all and Dicky twitched and pointed out Dalia's titties were even a little larger than Delia's. I had lust in my heart for another mother-in-law. What else was new? When we entered the hut of Dalia and Danlo I knew at once why Delia wanted to give Danlo her hut. It was easily half again as large as the hut he and Dalia were using. Danlo was all smiles when she told him about it. I figured it would up his status quite a bit. I wondered then what the point was for Dalia and Danlo to stay with this camp now. My lust got the better of me and I asked it out loud. "But where would we go John. I have no mate and while the others here are not necessarily kind to me they do help provide for us since my mate was killed. He was well liked and I have never been mistreated," Dalia said. "You could come and live with us. We have a large cave to live in and plenty of food. We are probably going to move to a larger cave in an area where there is even more game. I'm sure Delia would love for you to come live with us. As you can see I like having beautiful women around me." "You are kind John, but what would you want with an old woman around?" Dalia asked. Delia broke in then laughing a little. "You had better not ask him mother unless you want to find out. John is a very surprising man. I would love for you to come with us and I don't see why you shouldn't. There is little enough for you here and Danlo will soon be a man. I haven't asked John, but I think he would help Danlo gather a payment for a mate." Delia said. I saw Danlo's face light up at the thought. I think I even detected a little smile on Dalia's face. She seemed to be thinking quietly for a few seconds. "I don't see that any harm can come from it. It isn't like the men have been sniffing around wanting to mate me. I am destined to be an old woman alone if I stay here. I will probably feel young again living with a bunch of young girls and a handsome young man. You must be sure that Gema, Merita, and Maia agree though." Dalia said. "In the first place we would never go against any decision John makes. In the second we would all love to have you live with us. I'm sure there is so much you can teach us," Gema spoke up for the others. "What about you Danlo, will you come live with us also?" I asked. "Yes, I will not leave my mother yet. I am not a man yet, but I would like to come and live with you also. Is it true you will try to help me gain a payment for a mate?" Danlo asked. "I will help you and you may have to help me also. I still owe sixty-five bison for payment of my mates." "Sixty-five bison! How can you kill sixty-five bison? We had heard it was something like that, but we thought the one who told us must have been mistaken," Dalia said. "It is true. John offered twenty-five bison each for Gema, Maia, and I. When he went on the first hunt for them he killed ten in payment and five extra to be sure there was enough meat for our mating feast. I could not imagine him killing five bison just to make sure there was fresh meat for our mating ceremony. It is more than most must pay for their mate," Merita said. "It almost sounds as if we are going to go on an adventure instead of just moving to another cave Danlo. I think our lives might become more exciting," Dalia said. "You can't believe what an adventure it is going to be mother. Tell mother and Danlo about the bear John," Delia said. Yet another cave bear killing story. I had to reveal the secret of my hunting prowess to them to tell the story properly. I cautioned them Georgo didn't want the knowledge of my rifle to become common and I didn't either. Halfway through the tale Danlo's eyes were so wide I was afraid he might injure them. Dalia was affected in a similar manner, but I could tell she had heard a hunting story before and was a little skeptical. There would be no denying it after she'd seen the bearskin though. Actually there was no denying it now. After I'd told the story Delia pulled a little skin sack out of her tunic and showed her mother and Danlo the teeth and claws of the bear. I thought Danlo would piss his pants. I was even more surprised when my other three mates produced a similar little sack from each of their tunics. They each showed their collection of cave lion teeth and claws and were quick to point out they were from the cave lions I had killed so they could have new sleeping furs when we were mated. "I had almost forgotten about the cave lion skins. Where are they now?" I asked. "We have them put away safely. When we saw the giant tiger skin on the bed we knew we wouldn't need them for now. We will have them when it gets very cold though," Maia said. "I should kill another cave lion so Delia can have a sleeping fur." I said, partly joking. "I'm not sure John, the way you collect mates there may not be enough cave lions after a while," Delia said. I was slightly embarrassed at this, but everyone else was having a hard time restraining their laughter so I just laughed out loudly and they all joined me. Talk died down afterwards and soon we were undressing for bed. I tried my best to get a look at Dalia while she was getting undressed without announcing to the world what I was up to. I think Delia, Gema, Merita, and Maia conspired against me though as one of them seemed to be in my line of sight at all times. I did see Danlo had his eyes full of naked young loveliness though. He could have easily seen his mother, but didn't bother because there were new titties and bushes to be gazed upon. We were up early the next morning and after fixing a light breakfast we packed up everything Dalia and Danlo wanted to take. When we drove out of camp we saw Barbo and Jara and said our goodbyes. They seemed surprised Dalia and Danlo were leaving but they wished us all well. We had been traveling for nearly two hours when I saw someone running toward us from the direction we were heading. "It is Jonoco," Maia said. Jonoco was the young man who had held the team for me while I hunted bison for my mate's payment. I wondered what he was doing running toward us. When he reached us I stopped the wagon. Jonoco looked up at me. "Gigo and Dergo are dead. Braato and Gordo killed them for their mates," Jonoco said while still panting for breath. ------- Chapter 25 God damn mother fucking shit! God dammit! I was pissed. That shitass Gembo had caused all of this and now I wished I could kill the little bastard again. Twice more. "When did it happen Jonoco?" "This morning. Gigo and Dergo went hunting. I guess Braato and Gordo were waiting for them. They came up behind them and threw spears in their backs. I don't know if it killed them, but they cut their throats while they were down. Then they brought their bodies back to camp to claim Geera, Dieta, Waaya and Winna and all of Gigo and Dergo's possessions. I ran to find you as soon as they started packing, but they are probably on their way by now," Jonoco said. Everyone was quiet except me. I went on another cussing rant, aloud this time. When I settled down I saw Gema, Merita, and Maia were close to tears. "We will never get to see mother again. I hope they are not cruel to her," Merita said, and finally started crying. "Poor Dergo and Gigo. I will miss them," Gema said, chiming in and nearly wailing as she cried. Maia didn't say anything, like Jesus, she only wept. "Cry for Gigo and Dergo since I can not help them. Do not worry about your mothers. They will not spend one night with their new mates," I said, as I climbed down from the wagon. "What do you mean John?" Maia asked. "I mean it seems I will have four more mates before dark. I am tired of this killing for mates though. Who are Braato and Gordo? Are they from Jabo's camp?" "Yes, they were unmated men in the camp. They were disagreeable and I would call them lazy. It is why they were unmated. They were too lazy to gather a bride payment," Delia said. "Then they will probably be happy since they will never have to do anything again after today," I said, boasting but not really meaning to. I was so mad I could hardly think. This was all so useless. It was also mostly my fault. I knew Gigo and Dergo would not be dead now if I had taken on my full responsibility with Waaya and Winna from the start. If I had taken them as mates when I should have Gigo and Dergo would not have been involved in my fight. If didn't count for shit though, it never had. I was ashamed of myself, but I intended to take out my mistakes on the two opportunists who had killed my friends. I also intended to let the rest of their camp know I was tired of this and would do something about it if I had to. I switched the saddle and bridle from Dolly to Ben and then untied him from the back of the wagon asking Delia to drive it on to Gigo's camp. Delia told me the best way to reach her old camp from here and I told them I would be back as soon as I could. I put Ben into a slow lope. It was a little dangerous for him on this unknown ground, but he would have to do the best he could. I was at the camp within an hour. Seeing a woman, I asked her where Braato and Gordo were. She told me she hadn't seen them today. She would have known if they had arrived with their new mates. I turned toward Gigo's camp and let Ben walk this time. They were coming to me now. I tried to get in mind what I would do when we met. I thought of just riding up to them and shooting them both before they even knew what was happening. When we met I didn't. I saw Waaya first and then the others. The women were all heavily burdened but the men weren't carrying much. I rode up near them and dismounted. Both of the men came to me. "Who has the new mates now stranger John?" One of them said. I suppose it was because not much cunning and sophistication could have come about this early in man's development. It continued to amaze me these men seemed to want to boast, argue, and taunt in life threatening situations. Maybe they didn't see this as life threatening. I knew they couldn't verbally bait game this way. If they were still alive they had to know when you were going to kill something you didn't stand around and argue with it first. These two had already demonstrated they knew better because they had attacked Gigo and Dergo silently from behind. The lesson hadn't made much of an impression I guess. I gave the one who had spoken my best straight right hand to the tip of his nose. The other one was a little smarter and pulled back his spear trying to ram it into my middle. The mail shirt made sure all he did was break off the point and deliver a stout blow. I had been ready for it though and I grabbed the shaft of the spear with my right hand pulling him toward me. His momentum helped and I let him have a round house left that caught him flat on his right ear. He fell to the ground also. No doubt kicking has always been in man's repertoire while fighting. The disadvantage to the ancient ones was since their footwear was moccasins, at best, they were every bit as likely to hurt themselves as they were to hurt their opponent. I didn't have that concern. I was wearing a pair of strong leather boots with rounded toes and thick soles. I gave the first one a solid kick to the forehead and then I showed the second one what it felt like. They were through fighting. I wasn't though and I kept kicking first one and then the other in the ribs until I got tired. "John, oh John where did you come from?" Geera asked rushing to me. "Jonoco ran to find me and he met us on the trail to the other camp. He told me what these two did," I said, waving at the assholes on the ground. Dieta was by me then and Waaya and Winna were approaching. Dieta just came up to me and wrapped her arms around me. "They have killed my Dergo and Geera's Gigo John. We are to be their mates now," Dieta wailed. "Only for a few more minutes. You must all be my mates then. I am going to kill both of them. Which one is which?" I asked. They told me the first one I'd hit had been Gordo and the other was Braato. I looked at them closer and gave them each another kick to the ribs for luck. I am not one of those who dosen't believe in kicking a man when he is down. What better time is there to kick one? I certainly didn't think these two ambushing assholes deserved any better. "Do any of you have any strings or twine?" I asked. "I have some cords made from megaceros tendons in my pack," Waaya said. "May I have them please?" I asked. "If you are to be my mate anything I have is for you if you want it. I think the cords will help you become my mate so I will hurry to get them," she said. I did intend for the cords to help in the matter. I was not only going to kill Braato and Gordo, I was going to punish them as I was killing them. The time and place I'd come from put high praise in humane punishment. For what? If someone needed punishment why did it need to be humane. Time and millions of dollars worth of fucking around should have taught the world humane punishment didn't do a fucking thing to slow criminals down. If a man was such a turd he needed to be in prison I was all for giving his ass a whipping every time he was healthy enough to take another one. That way he'd probably be less likely to get in trouble if he made it out alive. These two weren't going to get much punishment though since they definitely weren't going to make it through the day alive. When Waaya brought the cord I rolled them face down into the grass and tied their hands tightly behind them. After they were tied securely I rolled them back-to-back and tied all their hands together then we waited for them to come to. I asked Dieta, Geera, Winna, and Waaya to put all their bundles in a pile that might be safe for a while and then asked them if they would mind walking back to their camp while I dealt with Braato and Gordo. They all said they would love to. I asked them to have Delia come with the wagon for their things and told them I would probably be waiting for her on this spot. They agreed. After they walked off I took the rope from Ben's saddle and tied it to the bundle of Braato and Gordo's hands. Then I mounted Ben and made if fast around the saddle horn. It took about fifteen minutes for them both to wake. They were moaning and groaning and cursing me when they realized they were tied. They were screaming shortly after I kicked Ben into another slow lope. The ground was a little rough, but there weren't many rocks and so most of the damage done to them was just abrasions and friction burns I supposed. I let Ben settle to a trot after a few minutes. I could hear them screaming better that way and strangely it was a balm to my anger. When I got to the camp I dragged them through it, turned around and dragged them back through. Everyone was outside when I stopped. They were mumbling and grumbling to themselves. "Who is the leader of this camp now?" I asked. "I am. I am Caato," he said, as he approached. "These two have killed Gigo and Dergo to take their mates. They will not get anything for their trouble except a slow and painful death. I am tired of men from this camp trying to kill my friends and I for our mates. If one of you tries it again I will kill every man and boy in the camp and take all the women and all the girls for my own," I said. "That is big talk mighty John. What will you do if we decide to just kill you instead," asked a man I didn't know, but who looked a little like Jabo had. Here was another asshole who wanted to talk about killing before he did it. I guess it was to help him work up his nerve. It was the wrong day to fuck with me though. I pulled the Glock and let him have one in the sternum. He went over on his ass gushing blood from the new hole in his chest. "If he had a mate someone might want to tell her she is my mate now. Do any of the rest of you want to die today or will you just watch me finish dragging Braato and Gordo to death?" I asked. Not one of them said a fucking word. When I turned my back to mount Ben a spear hit me in the middle of it. That hurt even if it just bounced off. I turned around to see where it had come from and it only took a second to spot the guilty party. In the first place he was standing wide eyed with his mouth gaping open, the clincher was everyone who had been near him was running away as fast as they could. I just raised the Glock and gave him a dose too. He looked young and I was hoping he was unmated. "Did he have a mate?" I asked Caato while my last victim was still flopping around in his death throes. "No he was unmated. Jenabo had a mate though. I will see to it she is told. I will also tell you if I hear of anyone else from this camp who thinks they will bother you I will kill them myself. Many have died from troubling you. Some were good hunters but fools. Some were just fools. I see now to be a good leader for a camp you must get rid of the fools in your midst before they bring the wrath of others on your camp," Caato said. At least I had taught someone something today. I mounted Ben and took off in a fast trot. Somehow the screams weren't as enjoyable now, but I was determined to finish the assholes like this. Thankfully they didn't last more than another thirty minutes. After the screaming had stopped for about five minutes I got down to check them and they were both dead. I dragged them back to the camp, untied my rope, and coiled it back onto the saddle and then went to find my next new mate. Jaada was a pretty young thing and I wondered what she was doing mated to a man who had seemed so much older. She had long wavy red hair, sparkling green eyes, and delightful freckles. I wondered if they were everywhere on her. She actually seemed glad to see me when I came for her. "I am Jaada. They say I am your mate now. I am not sorry. I did not really like my mate and he wasn't very kind. He had many things and I am not sure I will be able to carry all of them. He was a very good hunter at least," Jaada said. "You will not have to carry anything Jaada. I will bring the wagon to carry your things. Is the dwelling yours too?" I asked. "It was his when we were mated, but I suppose it is mine now. Do you want to take it?" she asked. "Only if you want to. Do you have someone you would like to give it to?" "Not really, but I do not want it. I will be happy if I can leave it and never enter it again," Jaada said. "Why don't we give it to Caato then and let him do with it as he likes?" "It will be fine for me," she said. I found Caato and told him about the hut. He was surprised, but seemed pleased. I asked him not to disturb it until I got back with the wagon for Jaada's things and he agreed. I returned to Jaada then. "Come Jaada, it is time you learned to ride a horse." "I am frightened John, but I trust you will not let me be hurt," she said. "I know it will be new to you, but it is not painful and we need to go meet the wagon where it is loading Geera, Dieta, Waaya, and Winna's packs. We will have them come and get your things also." "Very well John. I am ready to try," Jaada said, putting on a brave face. I led her to Ben and held him while I showed her how to put her foot in the stirrup and mount. When she had I got up behind her and we headed out. As Ben walked off I showed her how to hold the reins and explained how she could signal to him with them so he would go where she wanted and stop when she wanted. She caught on fairly quickly. "You are very pretty Jaada, I hope you like having me for a mate. If you don't there will probably be so many now you can hide from me in the crowd." She laughed at this and turned around to look at me. "If you keep going like you have been, soon there will be no other men and every woman will be your mate," she said, giggling. I didn't think it was all that funny. I didn't have the slightest idea how I would make it with all these women and girls. It beat being dragged to death though and I just couldn't let those two assholes get away with the murder of Gigo and Dergo. Hell, I had liked them and would probably have killed the two even if Geera and Dieta hadn't been involved. Thinking of Dieta and Geera gave me a boner. It made me notice Jaada again and since she was doing the driving my hands were free. My dick gave me a throb as I slid my hands up under her tunic until I had a firm round titty in each of them. She sighed as I began to squeeze them gently and toy with the nipples. "That feels good John. It is making me excited. I don't think I will be hiding among the others when the sun goes down. I will be trying to get closer to you." That gave my dick another jolt and I was thinking of reaching down into Jaada's pants when I saw the wagon stopped by the pile of packs. Reluctantly I removed my hands from Jaada's delightful titties and took hold of her waist. Delia, Dalia, Danlo, Geera, Dieta, Waaya, and Winna were loading the things into the wagon as we rode up. I got down and helped Jaada dismount. When I told the others Jaada's mate had become tired of living while I was in their camp they all swarmed Jaada and welcomed her to the fold. Even Dalia participated and even though it hadn't been mentioned formally I was pretty sure she was also my mate now, by default I guess. "Jaada, where is your mother?" I asked, a minute later. "She and my father were killed in a fire at their camp. It was two years ago," she said. "I am so sorry Jaada." "Thank you, even though I was already a woman it hurt to lose her. I am over it now though." ------- Chapter 26 Well I guess I couldn't have every girl and her mother, but my average was still pretty high. I don't know what I was thinking. I had more mates now than I could stir. I guess I had finally passed the limit of women who could get into the big bed with me. I assumed it was the least of my troubles. We finished loading the packs and all the girls boarded the wagon for the trip to get Jaada's things. I stayed on Ben. I carried the M1 across my lap this time, just in case. I didn't feel like any more up close and personal killing today. If it came up they were going to get their reward from a distance if I could pull it off. There were no worries though. When we got to the camp we weren't molested. Waaya and Winna took a little time out to visit some of their friends and we still had everything packed up within an hour. Jaada had a lot of skins. She had a good bit of dried meat also but I suggested she give it away as we wouldn't need it. "But some of it is for winter John. We will need food during the winter," Jaada said. "If you really want to keep it then go ahead, but I am telling you we will have plenty of meat for the winter and we won't have to eat dried meat." Taking me at my word Jaada asked Caato if he could make use of the dried meat and he said he could. We left shortly after. We had been so busy I'm sure the grief hadn't sunk in for Dieta and Geera yet. I knew they had loved Gigo and Dergo. Hell, I was going to miss them and I was sure they would. They weren't boohooing yet though, thankfully. When we got to the camp I was tired and I know all the others were too. We had a little trouble finding someplace for everyone to sleep. This got me worrying about where everyone would sleep in my cave when we got there. There was plenty of room and we had plenty of bedding, but I had liked having all my mates in bed with me at one time. It made me feel like a king to say the least. Even as big as Argent's wedding gift had been I had gathered more mates than it could accommodate. When Gema, Merita, Maia, Geera, and Dieta had slept in it on my mating nights there had been plenty of room. In fact I felt sure it could have held two or maybe three more without too much crowding. Now I had ten mates. To think I had been worried about what to do with six. I never even got to six. I skipped from four directly to ten. The more I thought about it though the less I worried. I would just fuck all I could one night and then catch the others the next night. The way they seemed to like kissing and licking on each other would be a big help in two ways. It made my dick hard when I watched and they could also get each other off if they had to. What was I worried about? The next morning I got another shock. Bigglieo, one of the camps best hunters, came to me just after we'd eaten and asked me if I would be the camp's leader. Normally the job would have fallen on his shoulders, but he told me plainly he didn't think he could be a good leader. "I will consider it, but I intend to move to the new caves. If anyone wants to come with me I will be their leader there," I told him. "Since Gigo and Dergo are gone we need a good leader more than we need this camp. It will be much work to move everything, but I think most people will want to go with you," he said. "The wagons and the horses will help us move. It will still be much work though. Will you talk to the other men and see what they say?" I asked. "Yes, we have already discussed it and I know most will want to come. We thought you would be moving even if you agreed to be the leader. I will talk to them again though and see. I think I will want to move with you whether any others do or not," He said. I talked to all my mates then and told them I had decided to move. They didn't question me about it. They just started talking about what to move when. They decided we should finish filling the wagon with all it could hold and get started with the first load. I agreed and removed and stowed the wagon's tops. With the tops off they could pile it full to overflowing with their things. They got started and while they were at it I cut four long poles to make a travois for Ben and another for Dolly. After I had them constructed with some hides Geera found for me I tried it on Ben first. He didn't like it, but settled down after about thirty minutes of dragging it around. I got Jonoco to hold him then and asked the women if they needed more room for their things. They did and while they were tying things onto Ben's travois I began getting Dolly used to hers. Dolly was just barely comfortable with me on her back and the travois was more than she wanted to deal with. I was able to get her to behave after a little over an hour though. The girls had been watching for the last fifteen or twenty minutes and when I gave them the go ahead to load Dolly I noticed they were careful to put mostly skins and bedding on her, I guess they thought she might dislodge her cargo at some unexpected point. They had a definite point on the matter. By the time we were ready to leave Bigglieo came by telling me everyone had decided moving with me was better than staying here without me. I'll admit it made me proud to hear it. I asked him if there was a man or two who would go with us and stay at the new site to watch over our things while we made more loads. He went back to them then to ask for volunteers. He returned with Galto and Dargo who were anxious to get a look at the new area anyway. We set out with Delia driving the wagon and all the women riding on it. There were so many now some had to find places to ride on the cargo. I led Dolly and Jonoco led Ben. The going was fairly easy and even though the wagon was piled high the weight wasn't as much as when it had been full of dead bison. We arrived about an hour before sunset. I had already determined I was going to use the cave with the running water so when we got to it I let the women get off the wagon while I led the team inside. When I had them headed out again I unhitched them and removed the harness then took them outside and hobbled them. I took Ben inside next and with the help of Jonoco, Galto, and Dargo I removed the poles of the travois and just lay them down allowing Ben to walk away. When I had him hobbled we did the same with Dolly. I was pleasantly surprised she didn't give us any trouble at all and was soon outside hobbled and grazing with the others. There was already a fire for cooking and the women were at it before we were through with the horses. They were making some kind of stew in the big pot I had and it smelled delicious already. There wasn't time to show the others around since it was getting dark out by now so we put it off until tomorrow and spent a little time unloading though we didn't keep at it long. We soon fell to fixing places to sleep. They weren't the most comfortable beds but they were good enough. I took the pups outside just before I went to bed. They were glad for the chance to move about since they had been pretty tightly confined while in the loaded wagon. I made sure all the horses were close by and then piled wood on the fire to keep it going for a while. I woke twice in the night intending to put more wood on it but both times I noticed someone had beaten me to it. In the morning I learned it had been Jonoco and Danlo. After a little breakfast the next morning I took everyone to have a look at the other caves. All those who hadn't seen them before were amazed. When Galto saw the giant cave with the freezer basement he was delighted. "This one cave is more than enough to move for. The women will be so happy they might cry. Imagine - we will not have to slice all the meat to dry it for winter. We can freeze fruits and vegetables too. We will be able to eat like it is summer all year long. There is more than enough room for all of us in this one cave and if everyone does not want to live together there are many other caves. We should hurry back and tell the others how good it will be here," Galto said. We went to work unloading shortly and since we weren't trying to set anything up it didn't take long. Dargo was going to stay with our things and Jonoco would stay with him. I saw Danlo asking Dalia if he could stay also and felt a surge of pride when she told him he must ask me now. Even though I still hadn't said anything to her about also being my mate I decided to, but I did think I should ask Delia first. My chance came when I was harnessing Sally and Jane. Delia came out to watch and ask questions. She was becoming fond of dealing with the horses. "Delia, what would you say if I told you I wanted Dalia for a mate also?" "I would think you were wonderful, of course I already think you are. You don't have to do it though. You have taken her in and are going to provide for her and Danlo. She will deny you nothing already." "That may be so, but I am a stubborn and proud man Delia. If she is to be my woman I want everyone to know she is mine. If she is to share my bed I want her to share my bed only," I said. "I cannot speak for my mother, but I can tell you I think she will be proud to be one of your mates. She expected to share your bed sooner or later, at least she was hoping to. She will be thrilled to be one of your mates." We didn't need to lead Ben and Dolly by hand on the trip back so we tied their lead ropes to the back of the wagon. There still wasn't enough room on the wagon seat for everyone so we spread a few furs in the bed to ride on. With nothing else important to do I took the opportunity to lie down and try to catch a nap. I wasn't alone though. Geera, Dieta, Winna, and Waaya were beside me in a few minutes. All of them thanked me for saving them from the two assholes. Since she was unfamiliar territory I took the time to slide my hand up between Waaya's legs and cup her pussy through her trousers. "I was glad to do it Waaya, but I hope you understand I will need a little more thanking soon," I said. "And I will be wanting to thank you some more John, much more," she said as she squeezed her legs together on my hand. The temptation to burrow into her clothes right now was strong. It would be a nice way to spend the traveling time. I contented myself with massaging her pussy though. I didn't want to be fucking her with Galto along. I fell asleep after a while, but I fell asleep with a hardon. It started out as a dream but suddenly I was talking to Argent. "John, let me tell you again how pleased we are with you. You have vastly exceeded our expectations in this experiment," Argent said. "Well, can you tell me now what the purpose of the experiment is? What am I supposed to be doing?" I asked. "You should continue to do just what you have been doing John. You should try to make a life for yourself here and you should act in your own self-interest. There is no goal you should be working toward," he said. "If you say so." "Things are just as we wanted them to be John. We are so pleased with you we will allow you more goods within two weeks instead of waiting until a year has gone by. You will be needing them since you have acquired quite a following already." "I just don't understand Argent. I am not complaining, but I am wondering why you would send me back to this time to interact with these people and then go to the trouble of furnishing me things from my own time," I said. "John, we understand you are much more advanced than those who are here and have a great advantage over them. We also understand you do not really know how to survive by throwing sticks with sharpened rocks on the end for your only weapon. Even though we saved you from certain death we still appreciate your acceptance of participation in this experiment and we don't mind giving you a few things which will make your life here easier and more nearly like your past life. We have limitations on how much we can do for you, but I lobby often for the ability to give you more," Argent said. His revelation changed my view of our relationship a little. I had assumed all along Argent was in complete control of things in this matter. I could tell now though he had bosses of his own and someone higher up the line had the final say in what he could do. I didn't mention it and tried to cover my lapse in conversation. "Great, now I can have a bathtub," I said. "That is different John. The bathtub will not be charged against your allotment just as the bed was not. We will furnish your bathtub as a gift. You may decide what you would like for bathing and we will not be stingy as those of your other life said. "Give the bathing facility some thought. Include whatever you want and we will have someone watching as you work to tell you later if it is too much. I can tell you we will be arranging for the water heating so you will not have to build fires under the tub to do it. If you will allow it we would also like to furnish your cave with some subtle indirect lighting," Argent said. "If I will allow it? I will allow it! Feel free to light the whole planet. Just please tell me where the off switches are going to be," I said. "Good. You can expect the lighting to be in the cave you have selected when you return. When you are designing your bathing facility you should do it on the computer. If the plans get past what we are willing to do we will notify you and you can change them to meet the guidelines we must follow. When you have finalized the plan it will be provided during the night. "You should also make up your list of freight. We will be able to deliver it two weeks from now if you have it selected by then. You will be allowed five thousand pounds this time," Argent said, and I'll swear it sounded like he was smiling if that makes sense. "One last thing John. You need not worry about moving the bed we gave you. We will take care of it. You will have to decide what to tell your mates," He said, as he faded out. I thanked him and was back to dreaming. I woke almost at once though. I wished I knew what in the fuck I'd done he liked so much. I'd do more of it. Who was I to bitch though? I hadn't missed the little detail of the subject changing during our talk from a bathtub to a bathing facility. I guess I was the one to decide what it was since I had to design it. I knew one thing. I intended to push the bathing facility until they begged for mercy to see what I could get out of them. Just two or three months ago I had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was lower than snake shit. Now it seemed it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I got more enjoyment out of one day of life here than I'd ever had during a week on earth in my time and I had several things here and now I could have never acquired back then. For one thing I knew I owned a wagon the like of which had never been seen on earth. It may not be impressive to people who considered automobiles a commonplace thing, but I loved it and I liked dealing with horses. I was one of those people who didn't really enjoy life among the millions. I enjoyed being by myself or with only a few people around. I liked living outside, camping, and training and riding horses. I hadn't really enjoyed hunting in my former life since it required getting a lease and license and hunting only specific animals during prescribed times of the year. When I hunted now it was because I had to have food and I could do it anytime. I wasn't about to mention it to Argent, but this life was much more enjoyable to me than my other one had been. I had ten beautiful mates and a better bed than any I'd ever even heard of. Now I was going to have a cave with hot and cold running water and indirect lighting I'm sure would be great. Did I regret getting cancer? Not on your life, if cancer always turned out this way everyone would want some. ------- Chapter 27 The rest of the trip was uneventful. I just lay in the wagon's bed keeping close to Waaya and giving her pussy a gentle squeeze every now and then. When we arrived Galto bailed out over the side. He rushed up to some other men standing around and told them to get packing at once. I was a little surprised, but not shocked. When he'd finished talking to the first group he moved inside the dwelling. Those he had talked to did also. The rest of us were barely out of the wagon before they all came out asking when they should begin packing. Apparently Galto had told them of one of the new area's features which had convinced them all at once. I asked him about it and he told me it was the frozen cave. I knew I had mentioned the feature the first time we'd told them about it. Maybe I hadn't stressed it enough. Whatever the reason they were all ready to go now. "I must go to my cave to pack my things and to see if I can get another horse or two tamed enough to at least follow the wagon. We will be further from the things you know when we move there and will need the horses even more. I don't know how easy it will be to catch horses there so I want to bring those I have already caught if I can get them to follow the wagon," I said. They seemed to understand and said they would spend the time until I came back cleaning and repairing their things and getting them ready for the trip. My mates and I climbed aboard the wagon again and headed home. When we got there I parked the wagon inside and then tied all the tame horses in the small pen leaving the gate open so curiosity could catch the wild ones for me. The women met me as I was headed inside. "John, something has happened to the bed," Gema said, as I neared them. "What has happened to it Gema?" I asked, expecting her to tell me it was gone and thinking Argent had already moved it. "It has grown John. I didn't know it could grow, but it has. It is twice as big as it was when we left it," she said, and her eyes betrayed it was a very big shock to her. I guess Argent had decided I needed a bed big enough for all of us. Well he was right. I hadn't thought about asking him to make it bigger even though I had been lamenting the fact I had more mates now than could fit into it. I had considered asking him for an additional bed but hadn't thought to do it when he'd come to me in my dream. Making this one larger was even better. It was nice to know he was so thoughtful. "Well it is good. I have twice as many mates as I did when we left. I'm glad it will be big enough for all of us," I said, as if it was nothing special. "It is very good. I am happy it grew. I was frightened at first though because I did not know it could grow," Maia said. "I am happy too and even I did not know it could grow." "But it is so large now John, how will we move it to the new cave?" Merita asked. "That I do know. The bed will move itself," I said. They looked at me like I was crazy. If I'd been in their place I would have too. I did know some things they didn't though. "I know it is hard to believe, but you will see. When we leave we will not take the bed. When we get to the new cave it will be waiting for us there. Do not worry about it," I said. It seemed to be good enough for them. We all started for the cave then and when I got inside I saw they were right. The bed looked exactly the same except it was at least twice as large. They had been right about carrying it too. If we had to do it we would have to disassemble it and it would probably take two or three trips with the wagon to move it. Argent told me later there was no disassembling to it. The frame was basically one piece and if we'd wanted to move it we'd have had to saw it apart. They fixed us a meal then and I could see Gema, Merita, Maia, and Delia enjoying introducing the others to the delights of canned Ranch Style Beans. They were sorry they had no eggs left to show the others, but they did show them the containers the eggs had been in and after all, they'd all seen eggs before. Those who had never seen the skillet - Winna, Waaya, Jaada, and Dalia got the full story and a demonstration, along with a description of bacon which we were also out of. I didn't miss the bacon so much since I had grown to like the taste of the fried bison strips almost as much as bacon. I knew I would still want bacon if I could get some though. When the cooking was done and eaten and the mess cleaned up I was ready for the spectacle of getting undressed for bed. As the women started peeling off tunics and trousers I couldn't even undress because I was afraid I would miss something or someone. They were all different but the mothers and daughters were similar. I had seen Geera and Dieta before but they were still lovely. Dalia was just a slightly larger version of Delia and she was now my queen of the biggest titties. Waaya and Winna were both beautiful in their own right. They were mature women, both of them had to be at least eighteen, and their bodies showed it. They were lovely though and while they didn't have the very biggest tits they both had a nice pair. Jaada was a little gem and her redheaded coloration was divine, especially the dusting of light freckles I now knew covered her completely. Her breasts were not the largest but they were ample and her nipples and areolae were the pinkest by a good margin. I really didn't know where to look because they all looked so good. "Geera, Dieta, Waaya, Winna, and Jaada you are my mates now because of unfortunate acts by some. I want to tell you I will be proud to have you as mates if you will have me. I will also tell you if you don't want to be my mate I will understand and you may do as you please and live where you like. I would like for you to stay with me though. Will you?" I asked them, and looked at each one for an answer. They each told me they wanted to be my mate. I was glad and hadn't doubted it, but I did want to give them a chance to go if they wanted. "Dalia, you are not my mate and I have done nothing to allow me to claim you. I would like for you to be my mate also. You do not have to if you don't want to though. I will still provide for you and care for you if you do not want to mate me." "John I will be happy to be one of your mates. You did not have to ask me and still I would not have denied you. It will be an honor for me to be mated to you. From what I see it will probably be a pleasure too," she said, and grinned as she looked right at my dick. The others all laughed then and Gema, Merita, Maia, and Delia told her she was right. Dieta and Geera had a smirk on their faces but didn't admit they also knew. All of the others rushed around Dalia to welcome her into the fold then. There was a lot of kissing and hugging and I even saw quite a few caresses. Dicky perked up even more at this. It wasn't going to be a fucking night tonight though. I wasn't too tired to fuck, but I didn't intend to get an all nighter started. Dicky cursed me, but I was going to make him wait a night or maybe even two until we were further along with the moving. I was going to need some strength to get through it. I did promise him we could fuck day and night as soon as we got moved into our new cave though. I was up and out before my mates could even get breakfast started the next morning. I went directly to the small pen and closed the gate. All the horses were in the pen except for a couple of this year's foals and I would be running all the younger ones out anyway. I took first Ben then Sally then Jane and lastly Dolly out of the gate and turned them out in the large pen. This left me with ten grown horses, seven of the foals and all the yearlings in the capture pen. Quite a crowd. I was dreading the job it would be to separate the yearlings and foals and get them out into the large pen. Delia came out then and asked what I was up to. "I'm just trying to keep all the mature horses in this small pen for now and get the yearlings and foals out into the larger pen. Then I will try to rope the others one at a time to begin their training," I said. "Do you want to come in and eat something now? Afterwards I will come back out and try to help you," she said. "It sounds like a plan to me," I said, and headed her way. After eating Delia, Maia, and I headed out to the horses again. Delia worked the gate and after watching a while to see how I did it and Maia got into the pen with me to help with the sorting. It didn't take nearly as long as I'd feared it would. When we had only grown horses in the pen I got my lariat and with Maia's help separated out my next choice. She was the largest of the remaining mares. I got a loop over her head on the first try and was soon winding her up around the snubbing post. "John, why do you make her go around and around the post?" Delia asked. "As she goes around the rope winds around the post and gets shorter. Soon she will be up near the post and I don't have to try to pull her to it." As always the mare noticed what had happened only after the rope was too short for her to do anything about it. She began to fight it and closed off her breath. When she sagged to the ground I had the halter on her in a flash and when she got back up I snapped the tied off lead rope's hook into the halter's main ring. I untangled her from the lariat then and walked off letting her begin her own lesson about being tied up. I had never envisioned needing an assembly line approach to horse training here so I had only put one snubbing post in the pen. Delia and Maia went with me and I cut and trimmed three more. It took a couple of hours to get them set in the pen and I spent a lot of time packing the loose dirt back into the holes to get them as tight as possible. I didn't want any horse to be able to pull one out. With the new posts it was only about an hour and a half more until I had four horses learning about being tied. I was tired by now and I think Delia and Maia were a little tired too. I was also hot and sweaty. Being in need of a little inspiration also, I suggested to Delia and Maia we might want to take a dip in the river to wash off a little. They thought it was a grand idea and Maia ran to the cave to ask if any of the others wanted to join us. They all did. It was a lot more inspiration than I needed, but I wasn't complaining. Skinny-dipping with ten great looking women is a hell of a lot of fun, even if you don't intend to fuck any of them for another day or two. I could look over their assets a lot better in the light of day and the wiggling and jiggling as they played in the water was a treat I wanted to experience often. Even if I did get a bathtub I still intended to do a little skinny-dipping with them when I could arrange it. When we'd had enough we sat on the bank in the sun to dry off. Dicky had shrunk in the cold water, but as he warmed up he stood. Soon all my mates were giggling about it and in mock seriousness I asked them not to get him angry. They laughed at my tone and joke. When we were dry we dressed and returned to the cave. They had done a good job packing this morning while Delia, Maia, and I had been wrangling the horses. They had left several things out though, some because they weren't sure where to put them or how to handle them and some because they wanted to know what they were. I took the time to explain about the fire rocks to those who hadn't seen them before and then I did the same with the lighters. The newbies were flabbergasted of course. They had already packed the knives so I dug out a drop point hunter and sheath for each of the women who didn't have one already. Most of the food was already packed and I assumed the girls who knew what was what had explained to the others as they packed. I told them about the other food they hadn't packed yet and then told them about the coffee. I explained it was for making a hot drink. They wanted to try it but I put them off until tomorrow morning. I knew if they got their first cup of coffee this afternoon they would have hell getting to sleep tonight. My next amazing revelation was unexpected by me. They hadn't loaded the fifty-pound container of salt that I had. I hadn't really missed salt and it just hadn't been opened yet. They were curious about it so I opened it and showed them. ------- Chapter 28 "How did you get so much salt John?" Geera asked. "I have my ways, why do you ask?" "I have never seen so much salt in my life. I have only ever seen about this much at one time," Dieta said, and held her hands out cupped together to show how much she meant. "It is very precious and hard to get," Dalia added. "Well as you can see we have plenty for now and I'm sure I can get more if we need it," I said. They didn't have a clue what sugar was either and when I had them all try a taste they were amazed again. "It is so sweet, what is it?" Winna asked. "It is called sugar and it is used for cooking and for sweetening things. Some people like to put it in their coffee. I will let you try it tomorrow. I don't put it in my coffee, but some of you might like it." That was about it for show and tell tonight. We didn't finish loading the wagon though. We just got naked and then into bed. I ended up with Dieta behind me and Dalia to snuggle up behind. I put an arm over Dalia and she wiggled back to press against me. My dick rose as I played with her wonderfully round and firm titties and it was soon pressing into her ass. She opened her legs a little and reached between them to grasp it and put it in place to lie between her thighs up near her pussy, then she lowered her leg to hold it along her warm cuntlips. It felt exquisite and I knew I'd done the right thing by formally asking her to also be one of my mates. Knowing she would deny me nothing was great, but feeling she would offer herself freely to me was even better. The next morning I was up early again so I dressed and returned to the horses. I hadn't been there long enough to decide which mare to start with before Delia and Maia joined me. I walked up to each mare and decided to start with the one which shied the least as I approached. I put a lead rope on her halter and then tried to lead her. She didn't want to budge. I explained to Delia and Maia how Merita had helped me last time and Maia gave it a try. It took about thirty minutes to have the mare following when I walked off and stopping when I did. She didn't seem to have any fight left in her so I took a chance and tied her to the fence near the canyon wall. Taking another one Delia helped me this time. This one took longer, but we had her leading and stopping in a little under an hour. I tied her off to the fence too. Winna came out and asked if we didn't want to take a break and eat now and we decided to. Even though I had forgotten the coffee I'd promised to make for them I remembered when I saw its container as I came inside. We ate first and then I dug out the pot and opened the coffee. I let them all smell it and of course it smelled wonderful. Even they thought so. I brewed a pot and gave them all about half a cup. To a woman they turned up their noses at what they considered the foul tasting brew. "It takes some getting used to," I said. "But why would you want to get used to something that taste bad?" Jaada asked. "I'm not sure exactly. I do know I like it now. Why don't you all drink at least what you have and tell me if you don't notice something in a little while?" I asked. They all agreed and drank their share. Nearly twenty minutes later Jaada spoke up. "I feel different. Is this what the coffee does? I feel like I want to get up and do something," she said. "That is what the coffee does. If you drink it at night you will have a harder time going to sleep. If you drink it when you first get up in the morning you will wake up faster and want to get moving. The more you drink the more awake you will get. If you drink too much you might get nervous or get an upset stomach." "It wasn't so bad when I got to the last of it. I might like to try it again," Merita said, and the others mostly agreed. "It will probably never come up, but if you have to go somewhere on a horse which is very tired, you can often get them to go further and faster for a while by giving them about a half gallon of coffee. You must let it cool before you give it to them though and it will usually cause them to work themselves to death." "Why would you want to do it then?" Waaya asked. "You would only do it if getting where you needed to was more important than keeping the horse alive. It could also not be very much farther since the horse would probably not last more than another hour or so. I doubt it will ever come up, but I wanted you to know just in case it did." "We don't even know how to ride the horses yet," Winna said. "I know, but you will know how soon. I will have a horse for each of you before long. You might never even want to ride one but they can help in other ways too by carrying things for you." With that Delia, Maia, and I went back out to the horses. The next one I tried did even better than the first had. I could tell it seemed to want to learn what I was trying to teach it. The last one of this group though, the first one I had roped yesterday definitely didn't want to learn shit. It would stand tied peacefully by now, but it just wouldn't cooperate with being led. With Delia and Maia helping we did get it over to the fence by the gate to tie it so I could use all the snubbing posts for the next bunch. I estimated it was about two PM when I had the last of four more mares tied to the snubbing posts. We went in and got a little something for lunch and then rested for another hour. I was a little pissed off at the mare who wouldn't lead and as I was thinking about it the answer came to me. The wagon was already loaded except for the bedding on the bed and some food and utensils we would need for cooking until we left. I went out and roped Sally and Jane and hitched them up. All the girls came out to watch since I told them it might be funny. Maia and Delia opened the gates for me and made sure none of the horses switched pens while I was doing this. I drove the wagon into the large pen and then into the small one then turned it around and headed back out the small pen's gate. I stopped it with its rear end just inside the gate then got down and moved the balking mare, Bonehead, and tied her to the back of the wagon. When I got back on the wagon and signaled Sally and Jane to move out they did. Bonehead planted her feet and tried not to move. There was no chance of her staying still. Sally and Jane had already learned to pull the wagon even when it was hard. When Bonehead put a strain on the lead rope Sally and Jane just leaned into the harness and pulled. Bonehead made several attempts to stop the progress and she nearly fell over forward a time or two, but Sally and Jane knew it was their job to keep the wagon going. Bonehead was going to learn to lead or going to break a leg or her neck and by now I didn't really care which. Maia closed the gate and I asked Delia to open the large pen's gate. When she had it open I had Sally and Jane pull the wagon out and I headed them up river. I drove them up about two miles then turned around and came back into first the large and then the small pen. When I untied Bonehead's rope and tried to lead her off she didn't give me a bit of trouble. She followed when I walked and stopped when I stopped. I tied her back to the fence then and took the wagon back into the cave, unhitched the team, and turned them loose again. As I let them go I thanked Sally and Jane for their help, but they didn't seem to notice. It was nearing sunset now so we all went to the cave, had a little meal, and then called it a night. It was up and at 'em early again the next morning. I noticed Delia and Maia were up and dressed with me this morning and we went out together. I gave all the horses who had learned to lead a stroll around the pen and then tied them back to the fence to start on the others. When I had two of them following me with no trouble I tied them to the fence to catch the last two for their ordeal with the post. I'd originally planned on leaving today but there was no real hurry and I wanted to go ahead and get a handle on the horses I'd already captured. Once I had them to the halter stage the rest could be done pretty much anytime. I could have waited and caught more at the new place, but I had these already and there was no sense turning them out just to hurry off and then need to catch more when I got where I was going. After I had all but the last two trained to follow on the lead rope I decided to give those two a try. They had only been standing tied for a few hours, but they had settled down and there was still enough daylight left to give them a whirl. They gave me a little extra trouble, but neither was as troublesome as Bonehead had been. We would be able to leave in the morning after all. When we'd settled in for the night I took a little time to go over my stay in this cave in my head. This would probably be the last time I slept in it. I was going to have to make at least one more trip to get my fuel cell. It wasn't mandatory at first and there just hadn't been room for it. The next morning Delia, Maia, and I were out with the horses first thing again. We each took one and led them down to the stream for a drink. I had to explain to Maia and Delia we couldn't let them have all they wanted at first. The foals had been a riot as we led the mares out. They had been without nursing for nearly three days and they were scrambling around looking for some titty right away. We left the small pen's gate open and I guess they all found their mother sooner or later. When all the horses were watered we went in for breakfast. After eating I got Sally and Jane, hitched them to the wagon, and had them pull it outside. I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to get ten marginally halter broken mares to let the wagon lead them. Though there was nothing a horse could do by itself to halt the wagon with Sally and Jane pulling it - if several cut up together I might have a mess on my hands. We started in stages. I tied the four most cooperative mares to the back of the wagon. It took up all the room available. I let Sally and Jane pull us in a big circle and these four gave no trouble. For my next trick I tied a long lead rope from another mare to the halter of one of those tied to the wagon. When I had Sally and Jane pull off I saw it was going to work. Lastly I found a spot to tie one horse on each side just behind the seat. I would ride Ben and lead Dolly on a rope tied to his saddle. At last I closed the cave's doors and fastened them shut. Everyone but me found a place to sit in the wagon, I mounted Ben, and we left. There was some kicking and squealing from the crowd of mares for about the first mile but they settled down afterward. I had left all the gates open and while I wasn't surprised to see the foals following I was glad to see all the yearlings were coming too. We would have been quite a sight if there'd been anyone to watch. When we got to the camp everyone there was glad to see us and anxious to be on their way. I put Dolly and Ben back into the travois service. There wasn't nearly enough room for everything on this trip so I asked the others to take what they needed for one night this time and told them we would be coming right back tomorrow and everyday until we had everything moved. They all seemed to understand and we were leaving within an hour. Two of the unmated men stayed behind to watch over things. As we were traveling up the new river I realized we weren't traveling as fast as usual. It was the horses tied to the wagon who were slowing us down a little. The others from the camp had to slow their pace to wait for us actually. I halted and took time to explain the trouble and suggested they go on ahead so they could at least get a look around. Galto took the lead and they left us. When we finally rolled into our new camp it was just coming sunset. Sending the others ahead had been a smart move. There was already a meal cooked and there were several fires around for light. We all went to eat without unloading one thing. After the meal I drove the wagon into the first cave we'd come to. I intended to keep the horses in it until I had a fence across the canyon. Jonoco and Danlo were going to watch the entrance and when I had all the horses inside I let them off their leads and drove the wagon back out. I'd been surprised again when the foals and yearlings followed us in without a problem. Next I drove the wagon into the big cave while Delia led Dolly into it and Maia led Ben. Everyone unpacked their things and when they'd finished I took the wagon into my cave, turned it heading out and unhitched the team. I saw Argent had been true to his word and our new bed was in place. I left the girls to the unpacking as I took Sally, Jane, Ben, and Dolly to the horse cave. When I got back to my new cave I found another surprise. Argent had moved the fuel cell while he was at it. I guess he needed it to power my cave's lighting. The lighting was fantastic, mainly because it wasn't noticeable. There were new switches on the bed's headboard to control it and I found a few of the lights stayed on at all times, making it possible to walk around at night without being blind, but yet low enough so others could sleep with no trouble. All the other lights could be controlled from the bed and I found another panel near the entrance which contained the same functions. The bed was set up in a little indentation I hadn't noticed before. It looked like it had been made especially for it since they fit together perfectly. Hell it might have been. I had no idea what the Aliens were capable of, but I figured if they'd wanted to do this they could have easily. I didn't know how they could do it, but I figured they could if they wanted to. The girls hadn't noticed anything unusual and were taking the lighting for granted until I pointed it out and showed them how to control it. It was so foreign to them they didn't even comment, but just accepted it. I guess discovering your bed could grow to accommodate more occupants and it could move itself made the lights seem a little mundane. When we went to bed I found myself thinking of our upcoming bathroom of all things. It reminded me I needed to get to work on the design, but I still had moving to take care of. We had all our things here now but none of the others did. It would be another start early and work late day tomorrow. ------- Chapter 29 The first thing to cross my mind the next morning was the new bathing facility was damned sure going to include three or four crappers and maybe even a urinal just for me. Dressing and heading outside to find a good place to take a shit was next. After finishing I made a mental note to include toilet paper - an unending roll of toilet paper was going to be mandatory in my new bathroom. Dalia demonstrated she was going to be more than a big pair of titties to play with and a warm pussy to fuck on when I got back to the cave. She had a pot of coffee brewing for me. I was tempted to kneel down and kiss her feet, but I settled for giving her a big smile and a good morning kiss. The only other thing I could think of to make this perfect was a pack of Winstons. They had been a bad habit and I was better off without them, but damn, there's nothing like a cigarette with your first cup of coffee in the morning. "You are wonderful Dalia. How did you learn to make it so soon?" I asked. "I watched closely when you made it before and when we were packing I made sure the pot for cooking the coffee would be easy to find in the wagon. You said you liked it when you first got up," she said. "I do. Thank you for thinking of me." "We are all thinking of you John. You are our man and you will have a big job just feeding us, even with us helping. We have to make sure we take good care of you. After all, we must help you keep up your strength," She said, and then gave me a lascivious grin. I noticed Geera, Dieta, and Gema were tending to our breakfast and the others were emptying the wagon. They were setting our things out but not putting them away. I went and asked Merita about it and she said they thought I would want to be leaving to bring back more things from the other camp soon. She was right. We had all of our stuff here, but none of the others did. I wanted to get started on so many little jobs, but I knew all the others needed their things so I would have to make another trip. After I'd eaten I caught Sally, Jane, Ben, and Dolly. I intended to bring all I could on every trip. I hitched Sally and Jane to the wagon and tied Dolly and Ben to the back, loading their travois into the wagon. Four of the other women and most of the men were going back too and I decided it was time for Jonoco and maybe Galto to learn to drive the team. I didn't intend to be the only driver for very much longer. During the chaos after Gigo and Dergo had been killed Delia had learned to drive the wagon in the emergency, but I didn't want to send her anywhere without me if I could help it. I was getting very protective of my little harem. With the wagon empty we made very good time on our trip. I had Jonoco drive about half way and then gave Galto a try. They both did very well and I spent most of the trip telling them about the team and pointing out things which might go wrong and suggesting how they might handle little fuck ups. We were loaded quickly once we reached the camp. I was pleasantly surprised when Bigglieo asked if he could try driving the wagon on the way back. I was happy to give him some instruction and pleased Jonoco led Dolly and Galto led Ben for the return trip. We had nearly three hours of sunlight left when we got back. I let Jonoco and Danlo take care of Ben, Dolly, and the team and supervise the unloading, while I demonstrated the use of my posthole diggers to Bigglieo and Galto and showed them where to put holes in the mouth of the horse cave. Dargo went with me and we cut eight post and twenty rails for a fence to close off the horses so no one would have to sleep there to keep them in. We had to build a couple of fires for light to get it finished since sunset caught us. We didn't have time to make a proper gate so we just left a place for it and then put a couple of rails across the gap for the night. I had intended to let Jonoco and Danlo abandon their post, but they thought they should stay and keep a fire going to make sure no predators came in. I let them, but I had Maia bring one of the pups down to get used to staying in the cave also. Guarding the horses would be a good job for the pups and by now they were more than pups. She brought the one I'd named Prince. It only took Maia about thirty minutes to teach Jonoco, Danlo, and Prince to get along. Soon Prince would come to them and even sit when they told him to. I decided tomorrow we would finish the little fence so the pups wouldn't be able to get out once the gate was closed. We could leave them all to watch the horses at night then. I was sure they would let us know at once if something came sneaking around. It was late by the time I ate my supper and I just had to wash off a little in the cool water in my cave. I was getting anxious for my bathroom, but I wasn't going to rush the planning. I intended to let Bigglieo, Jonoco, and Galto take Ben, Dolly, and the wagon to haul the freight tomorrow. I was going to spend the day getting a few things taken care of around here. After breakfast the next morning I harnessed the team and got my new teamsters headed toward the old camp along with the men and women who would be going to collect their things. When they were gone I went to the horse cave with Danlo and Dargo. I had six sets of hobbles and I was going to introduce all the new trainees to their use. I took the most cooperative of the new ones, Jolly, first. I snapped on her lead rope and gave her about twenty minutes of walking around first to make sure she was calm. Then I hobbled her in an open spot and released her lead rope. Of course she stumbled and nearly fell when she tried her first step. After a bit she found the combination though and was taking the small steps the hobbles allowed as she started grazing. Bonehead was next. Her manner had improved a thousand percent since her lesson at the back of the wagon. She gave me no trouble leading and stopping and amazed me by catching on to the hobbles without one stumble. I left her grazing also and went on to the others. When I had all six pairs of hobbles in use I caught Jolly and took the hobbles off her, tying her to a tree with a long lead so she could still graze, and showing another mare the wonders of being hobbled. It was time for some lunch after all ten mares had learned about hobbling. I was glad to have it over with though and now all the horses were either tied or hobbled and grazing. I didn't bother with the yearlings or the foals since I doubted they were going very far without the others. We worked on the fence for the horse cave after eating. We made a proper gate we could swing open and we cut hundreds of small straight branches and tied them to the fence to make it pup proof. I set up one of the electric fence chargers and ran a wire along the bottom of both sides of the fence. The stinging jolt from the charger would make sure nothing would try to dig in and the pups wouldn't try very often to dig out. Bigglieo and the others made it back before we finished the fence. They were shocked to see all the horses standing around outside. I showed them about the hobbles and they seemed impressed. I knew they must have seen Sally, Jane, or Ben hobbled at their camp before and I guess they just hadn't noticed. I could tell they were paying much more attention to the horses now though. It was probably because they realized how much work the horses had saved them during the move. Bigglieo said one more trip with the wagon would get everything. He didn't think they would need Ben and Dolly tomorrow. I told him I would keep Ben here but I thought they should take Dolly just in case. He surprised me then by asking me how to put the tops on the wagon. I wondered why he wanted to know, but I showed them all how to do it without asking any questions. Dargo was about to burst to tell Bigglieo about my saw, hatchets, and axes we had used to get the post and rails. He went with Bigglieo to take Ben, Dolly, and the wagon to be unloaded. I was going to have another big surprise for them soon. We would be getting axes, hatchets, saws, shovels, and posthole diggers for all of them in the next freight. It wasn't going to be the big surprise though. I was going to get an Alien chainsaw. I say Alien because I was going to let the spacemen figure out how to make one to run on alcohol with animal fat for lubrication. I could get plenty of animal fat and I could requisition a still for making the alcohol fuel. After supper I endured another cold washing in the small pool in my cave. I was glad enough to snuggle into bed with my mates and I was warm enough soon. I had intended to get even warmer tonight, but as I lay back to just rest a little I drifted off to sleep. I woke, dressed, and went out to piss early the next morning. The sun was just rising and I was surprised to see Bigglieo and Jonoco with Sally and Jane already harnessed. They were hitching them to the wagon. Dolly's travois poles were in the wagon and Dolly was tied to the back. Some of the others were standing around waiting to board. I went over to them and bragged on them for being fast learners. Bigglieo grinned and said he was ready for all this traveling to be over. He told me he had covered more ground in the last three days than he usually did in two weeks. He also mentioned he wanted to get a chance later to try the saw and the axe. He said he thought Dargo would never get through telling him about them last night. Going back into my cave I found Dalia had the coffee on. Getting used to home life again, especially with ten wives and none of them bitching, might prove enjoyable. None of them had done any bitching yet anyway. I wondered how long it would last and decided if bitching reared its ugly head I might try a few spankings to head it off. Even though I had never once spanked anyone in my other life there was no one in this one to tell me no. Causing pain didn't turn me on in the least, but dispensing a little discipline if it seemed necessary might be possible. No discipline seemed needed this morning though. Breakfast was ready and I was ready for it. I was peacefully munching on the thinly sliced bison and wondering what to do next. "When will we be able to start looking around and gathering food John? We don't even know where anything grows around here," Geera said. "It has been bothering me. You aren't familiar with this area and won't know where to look first. Why don't you come with me on Ben in a little while and we will look around from his back? He can go faster and we won't get tired. When we see something you think you should gather we can remember where it is and some of you can come and get it later." "But I have never ridden on Ben, I don't know how," Geera said. "It is not hard. I had never even seen Ben before I rode on him. It is scary at first, but it is easy with John riding too. I think you will like it," Jaada said, with a mischievous glint in her eye. "I will do it then. Where will we look first John?" Geera asked. "I think we should look in the blind canyons first. They are closer and I need to make sure there is nothing in them which would harm the horses anyway. If there are no dangerous predators up in them there is no way for any to get in except through their entrance into this valley. Once we have a fence across the entrance we can turn the horses into the canyons and not have to worry about them. We will look there first," I said. "That is smart. If there are things to eat in those canyons we should go ahead and gather them before you let the horses in there. Horses like to eat some things people eat. We should make sure to get them first. The horses can eat grass and we can't," Dieta said. After eating I went down to get Ben saddled. When I left the horse cave I called the pups to follow me. Prince, King, and Rover were happy to be out and when I swung up into the saddle and walked Ben back up to my cave it only took a call or two to make sure they came with me. Geera was outside the cave waiting for me so I dismounted and showed her how to put her foot in the stirrup and get on. I got up behind her then, reaching around her to take the reins. I turned Ben back and headed for the blind canyons, calling the pups to come with us. They followed happily. The entrance to the blind canyons was surprisingly small, only about a hundred yards wide. There was a small stream flowing out of them and into the river. Once we entered it was about five hundred yards back to where the canyon branched into two. The entrances to these two canyons were both much wider, probably three hundred yards each. We started up the northern most canyon. The pups had strayed now and were exploring at will. I gave Geera a little instruction for taking over the navigation of Ben. She was unsure at first, but seemed to catch on soon enough. I gave up any hint of control and let her try her hand at it and she did well. I let Geera handle Ben and look for food while I took this opportunity to slide my hands up under her tunic and take possession of her titties. I gripped them firmly and then began toying with her nipples. She was quiet for a few minutes and then she shivered. "John what are you doing?" she asked. "I'm playing with your titties Geera." "I know, but it is daylight, someone might see you," she said, complaining. "There is no one here to see me and it doesn't matter if they do. You are my mate now Geera, it is only natural for me to want to play with your titties and with the rest of you too." "But it is daylight John." I thought this was probably some more feigned resistance on Geera's part and I didn't mind a bit. It wasn't going to stop me or even slow me down. I enjoyed it in fact. I didn't say anything, I just started nibbling on the back of her neck and releasing my hold on one titty I slid it down over her tight stomach and into her trousers. Their drawstring was fairly tight so I took the time to untie it and then push my hand down into her bush. She was quiet for another few minutes as I teased her nipples and burrowed my fingers down into her pants to find her dampening pussy lips. She even cocked her hips up in the saddle to make my search easier. I wet a fingertip between her labia and gently teased her clitty. A few seconds of this treatment had her bucking her ass up to meet it. Geera had forgotten about guiding Ben for the moment. I eased him over near the edge of a small pine thicket and got off. I tied his lead rope onto a sapling and then helped Geera off him. "Why are we stopping here?" Geera asked, but I knew she was just trying to tease. "We are stopping so I can fuck you," I said. "Not in the daylight John," she said, and moaned. "Haven't you ever done it in the light?" "No. Never." "Get ready then, this will be a new way for you." ------- Chapter 30 "But we shouldn't do it in the daylight John, what if somebody comes up and sees us?" "Geera, I don't mind if someone sees me fucking you. Everyone knows you are my mate now and probably knows I will fuck you all I can," I said, as I pulled her tunic over her head. "I've never done it while the sun was up John," she said. "You'll like it, I promise." I pulled her trousers down then and as she raised her feet one at a time I took them off her, pulling her to the ground. I kissed her and held her to me, pinching and squeezing her ass cheeks for good measure. Soon enough she stopped her yammering and was opening my pants. Geera was hot enough now and she had my pants down far enough. I pushed her down, holding her hands to the ground above her head. "You are going to get a good fucking now Geera whether you want it or not." It lit a torch under her hot ass and she started squirming it all around and telling me not to do it to her during the day. She moaned and begged me not to fuck her and I knew she didn't mean a word of it. It really got me going though. I had to lie down on her to keep her still enough to get between her legs and I even had to force them open slightly with my knees. When I had her spread I took both her hands in one of mine and used the one this freed up to guide my dick to her now dripping entrance. I made sure to swab the head through her lips getting it good and wet, then when it was I pushed it up her firmly. "Uhm. Oh. You are fucking me John. Oh. Oh. Oh," she said, grunting and groaning with every shove. Geera wasn't the only one who was hot now. Her little act had my balls boiling and I slammed the dick to her hard and fast. It wasn't long before she wrapped her legs around my humping ass and bucked her pussy back up to me. She tore her hands loose from mine and hugged me to her kissing me hotly. My hands were free now so I mauled her titties and nipples. We were rutting like animals in the pine needles and I loved it. Even I couldn't last long at this pace and I think Geera had already gone off a time or two. She was just hanging on for the ride now and so I got to the short rows and blew my load then lay down on her limply. I was really spent for a few minutes. When I got the strength to rise off her I did, looking into her face. She was smiling. "John you had me burning up, I have never done it in the daylight before, but you made me do it anyway. It was so good," she said, still grinning. "You aren't the only one burning up. I hope I didn't hurt you. I got pretty rough at the end," I said, trying to apologize. "I know and I loved it while it was happening. I think I might be sore for a day or two but I don't mind, it was worth it. You have other mates to keep your attention while I am sore," she said. "I do at that. None of the rest have gotten me so excited though." "Just wait. Gema, Merita, Maia, and maybe Jaada and Delia are too young to know all the tricks. Dieta knows them all, but she usually gets so hot herself she can't take the time to use them. I'll bet Dalia, Waaya, and Winna will have you going though," she said, teasing me. "You know they all get me going, some just get me going faster than others," I said, laughing. We lay around kissing and hugging for a while, but the one hard fuck had taken the edge off. We were kissing sweetly when Geera jerked up to a sitting position and looked between her legs. "Eah!" I looked where she had and was just in time to see Prince give her another swipe across the pussy with his long tongue. She gasped this time. "What is he doing John? Is he going to bite me?" she asked. "No, I don't think so. I think he just wants a few licks of your pussy. I don't blame him," I said, laughing. Just then Prince decided he wasn't getting the good stuff and shoved his nose in further to get a taste of Geera's ass hole. She really shrieked this time and I laughed even louder. "John, make him stop. He is licking the other hole now," she said. "Does it hurt?" "No. It doesn't. I still want him to stop anyway. Well maybe just a little more," she said, and I noticed her ass was squirming around again. Prince lost interest on his own in just a minute and I guess he had cleaned off everything that tasted good to him. He looked up and it seemed he was smiling from the way he held his head and panted. Then he trotted off. "I think you have a new friend Geera." "I would have never thought a wolf would do that. It felt very strange, but it felt good too." "You'd better be careful. When he is older if he catches you naked and on your hands and knees he might try to mount you." "You had better catch some female wolf cubs. I didn't mind him giving me a little lick, but I don't want him trying to do it to me," she said, firmly. "I don't either Geera, you are my woman and I'm the only one who gets to do it to you now. There will be no bruga nights for me." She blushed at this, but made no comment. I didn't say anything else, but it had me thinking. I'd meant it too. I guess I was just funny, but no matter how many mates I had I wasn't going to share the pussy. I didn't want to confront her any more directly than I had already so I decided I would mention it to one of the others where she could hear me say it again. Some way I would make sure they all got the message somehow. I didn't want to have to kill another man just because he tried to get a little from one of my mates. If he did get some and I found out though he was a dead man. I guess I'm just stingy. We dressed and got back aboard Ben then, continuing our inspection. Geera saw some things she thought they should pick and I shot two deer which were grazing. We didn't go up to them at first and after a little while a hyena came snuffling around. It looked to be a very old one and I made sure it didn't get any older. I decided we would have to fix the fence for the canyons so we could keep the cubs in it too, for a while at least. I was sure now the one hyena wasn't the only predator in here. Sure enough the wolf cubs found a bitch wolf and her den. I got off Ben to investigate, wanting to see what they were raising hell about. Geera didn't let me get two steps away before she was off Ben also. I don't think she wanted to sit him solo yet. I asked her to hold him while I went to check out the commotion. I could tell already the voice for one set of the growls coming from this little corner of woods wasn't any of the pups. Prince, King, and Rover thought they were keeping the bitch at bay when I got there. In fact I was sure she was scaring the shit out of them each time she made a run at one. I really felt bad about it but I shouldered the rifle and ended her days. The pups immediately approached her dead body and after giving it a good sniffing they went to her den and began digging. I had to get onto their asses to make them back off. When I shined my flashlight into the hole I saw several eyes shining in there. Looking closer I could see it was the bitch's litter. There were five little ones in there and they were pretty young. It was late in the year for them to still be this small. I let the pups stay there but scolded them when they approached the den as I left. I called to Geera and asked her to go for one of the men and ask him to bring me the tender trap and a shovel, two men if she could find them. She said she would and walked off leading Ben. Still not ready to solo I guess. I went back to the pups and their captives. They were just getting up the nerve to sneak up to the den again so they got another talking to. Shit! I should have asked Geera to bring Maia or Merita back to help with the pups. In about thirty minutes Geera came back still leading Ben. She had Galto, Dargo, Merita, and Maia in tow. I guess there had been some questions when she came back without me. Merita and Maia were along just to see what was going to become of the little ones I guess. They took charge of Prince, King, and Rover and Dargo set the trap down near the den's entrance. The bitch's babies were only six to eight weeks old so I decided I could just put my hand in and drag them out. I found out nearly at once it was a bad decision as one of the little bastards bit me hard enough to show me wild wolf cubs became able to help themselves out much faster than domesticated dogs did. Maia thought she could ride Ben by herself so she went to get Dalia, Delia, and something to clean my wound with. I asked her to dig around to see if she could find me a pair of gloves. Then I had to tell her about gloves, what they were, what they looked like and where they might be. Twenty more minutes later Maia came riding back and Delia was on behind her. Delia had the gloves and my first aid kit. Thankfully I had already told them about it. I didn't need any stitches and I felt sure Argent had me in good shape against any type of infection. I let Delia clean it up and then showed everyone what a Band-Aid was and how to apply it. Dalia and all the rest of my mates came walking up about the time I was repaired. They had been worried I had been seriously hurt. I now had a full audience for my next trick. I put the gloves on and reached in. They tried to bite again of course. It had worked the first time after all. The gloves were thick enough to save wear and tear on my hide and after a little reaching and pulling I had five more wolf pups. Four females and one male. Merita and Maia tried not to look too pleased, but they couldn't help it. They were thrilled. I was pretty happy about it myself. I'd thought it was too late in the year to find young pups and figured it would be next spring before I could get more. The new babies would be some trouble since we didn't have any milk for them, but they were old enough to be weaned in a pinch. They wouldn't like it, but there weren't any options. They could never realize they had lost their mother, but fallen onto the gravy train in the bargain. The parade back to the caves left soon and Geera, having enough horseback riding for now, went with them. I slung my leg back over Ben and continued looking around - keeping Prince, King, and Rover so they could continue their investigations. We spent about another hour in the northern most canyon and then took a couple of hours to go over the southern one. It was even larger. Though I gave them plenty of time to poke around, the young wolves didn't find anything else of interest. Nothing of a threatening nature anyway. They did flush a few birds and a rabbit or two, but that was about it. I noticed some edible looking plants in a place or two and I found several groups of thorny berry bushes. I tried to make a mental note of them and would tell Geera or one of the others when I got back. Finally getting enough of a look see I turned Ben back and called to the wolves. They came willingly and we made it back around one PM. My lunch was waiting and I was hungry. I told the girls about the other things I'd seen while I ate and they planned to go a gathering tomorrow. They were going to finish putting our things in order this afternoon. The travelers got back around three thirty and my curiosity about the wagon tops was satisfied. I had forgotten about the rack with the stretching bearskin on it. Bigglieo hadn't and it was why he'd wanted to know about the tops. He'd put them on the wagon and put the bearskin, rack and all, on them to bring it with him. They told me there was nothing of value left at the old camp site now, and also about a couple of men from a different camp who had been thinking of taking the abandoned one over. I asked him about them. "There are only five men in their camp and they have nine women, there are also seven young girls and three boys. I think they are having some difficulty. Three men were recently killed while hunting. They were hunting bison and when the bison ran the three men couldn't get out of the way fast enough," he said. "That would cause hardship. Do you know them?" "Yes. I have known them for a long time. They had a good camp. One of those killed was their leader. He was a good man as they all are. I think they will have a very hard time this winter," Bigglieo said. "Are there any trouble makers with them?" "No, they had a good leader. One of the reasons the camp was small was because he did not let people stay if they were disagreeable. They are good people," he said, again. "Do you think we should ask them to join us?" "I think we should, but it is your place to decide. They need to join with another camp. I think they were coming to see Gigo to ask if they could join with us. They had not heard of his death. The men who met us at the camp will be staying there tonight. They will leave to go back to their camp tomorrow," he said. "I think we should ask them to join us. We have plenty of room for them and we will have plenty to eat here." "I also think it would be best for all of us. If you continue to kill so many bison at one time the extra hands will be helpful," he said, laughing. "I will go back to the camp now and ask them to join us. It will not take so long to get there on Ben." "But it will be dark before you get there," he said. "It will, but I can see in the dark and so can Ben. I will stay there tonight and come back tomorrow morning with their answer." I went back in my cave and told all my mates what I was going to do. They agreed it was probably a good idea to ask them to join us, but were alarmed I would be traveling at night. I told them I would be fine. They packed a meal for me to take and as soon as I had the saddle on Ben I was off. ------- Chapter 31 While the light was still good I eased Ben into a slow lope. We knew this route pretty well already and I didn't think we would find any ugly surprises. I found a nice surprise though. The last time I'd let him run there had been too much on my mind for me to pay attention to how Ben was doing. I saw now this pace was no strain on him at all. He ate up the distance and wasn't even breathing very hard. I eased him back into a trot a couple of times just in case, but we were at the old camp with thirty minutes of daylight left. Hearing Ben trotting up the two men came out of the dwelling. They were slightly surprised to see a man on horse back even though I'm sure that Bigglieo had told them about it and I knew they had seen the horses with the wagon. I guess it was still new to them. I dismounted and walked toward them. "I am John. I am the leader of the people who did live in this camp," I said. "My name is Maldo and he is Bordo." "Bigglieo said you were thinking of moving to this camp." "Yes we are. In truth we had come to ask Gigo if we could join this camp. Did Bigglieo tell you of our troubles?" Maldo asked. "He did. I came here to catch you before you left. We would like for you to join us at our new camp. The hunting will be better and there is plenty of room for all of you in the caves. They are large caves," I said. "Bigglieo told us. We do not really have a new leader yet so neither of us can say we will come. I think all will want to though. Caves are very good for the winters and if the hunting is better it will be good. We were just starting to get meat to dry when our three men were killed. We do not have much meat yet," Bordo said. "You do not need to worry about meat. We will have plenty and with the frozen cave we do not even have to dry it. We will be glad to have help with the skinning and cleaning." "We will go back tomorrow and tell the others. I am sure we will be coming to your new camp. If we do not we will be hungry before the winter is over," Maldo said. "You saw how much the wagon could carry didn't you?" "Yes and it was a surprise," Bordo said. "How many wagon trips do you think it will take to bring all your things?" "It will take at least two trips but we can leave some things which are not so important," Maldo said. "You do not need to leave things you want to bring. That is what the wagon is for, carrying things. I can also send horses with the travois to carry things. If you want to join us you need only send one man to tell us. He can ride back to your camp with the wagon. We will bring everything you want no matter how many trips it takes." "That is good of you. We did not expect such good treatment," Bordo said. "I am a fair man and like to help others. My main fault is I gather too many mates and I am jealous of them all. I like to have many mates though." "If you need more mates you might find some in our group. Three of the mated women have lost their men and there is one more unmated woman. There are also three girls who are very near womanhood. None of the boys are very old either," Maldo said. "I like mates but have ten already. If any of your men want another mate they should take one." "We will have enough trouble feeding the mates we have," Bordo said. "You do not have to worry. No one will go hungry at my camp. The women will be fed anyway and so why shouldn't you take one for a mate if you want one. I am going to encourage all the men in my camp to have at least two mates. You do not have to if you don't want to and I think you should talk to your current mate before you take another, but feeding them should not concern you if you join my camp." "How can you feed so many?" Maldo asked. "You will not learn it unless you join my camp. If you do you will see the hardest job will be skinning and cleaning. The last time I hunted bison I stopped at fifteen kills because more would have been too much work at once. We have the frozen cave now though and won't be bothered drying the meat." "We don't want to doubt you, but we have never heard of such things. No matter what the others do I am coming to join you. I have to do it so I can know how you kill so many bison," Bordo said. "I will be coming too. I do not know how you do it either but Bigglieo told me of the fifteen bison in only a few minutes of hunting and I have known him most of my life. I will be bringing my mate and I might take one of the unmated ones too if my mate agrees and the woman will have me. I don't want to be hungry this winter or any winter," Maldo added. "Good. If there are some who don't want to come it's their business, but bring any who will come. We will feed them all if they will do some work." "We will bring all who will come," Maldo said. "Then I will send Bigglieo and some others with the wagon and extra horses tomorrow. There is no need to send a man back to tell us. If you two are coming anyway we will just get started moving your things." They agreed it was a plan. Ben didn't seem tired so I decided to head back home. It was dark already but there was a full moon and I had brought the night goggles anyway. When Ben figured out we were going home he wanted to run again. I wasn't going to try that at night, but I did let him trot. My return tonight would be a surprise and I was counting on it. I would be able to see if all my chicks were roosting where they belonged and make sure no one was sniffing around them. I doubted any man would be foolish enough to sneak into my cave. There was no way he would be able to talk all the women into keeping such a secret. One might try to slip off with one woman though. Woe be unto him if he succeeded or if I even found out someone tried. Ben wasn't nearly as tired as I was by the time we got home. I approached slowly and used the night vision goggles to check ahead carefully. Was I paranoid? Maybe I was, but I already knew Geera and Dieta hadn't been above sneaking a little side action when they were with their former mates. Of course it seemed Gigo and Dergo had been fully aware of it, more or less, since they facilitated it by getting drunk in alternation. I didn't see anyone outside at all. I put Ben in the horse's cave quietly. Prince, King, and Rover knew who I was long before I got there and didn't make any noise about my arrival. "Honeys, I'm home," I said loudly, as I walked into my cave. They gasped at first and when I turned up the light I could see something was going on. Jaada was upset and had been crying. I went to the bed before they could all get out and asked what the matter was. "I am scared John. Something happened and I'm afraid you will be angry with me," Jaada said, right away. "You will have to tell me so I will know whether to be angry or not." "Nadlo wanted me to slip off into the night with him. I told him no, but he kept pestering me to do it. I had to run away from him at last," Jaada said, and looked like she was about to cry again. "You did nothing wrong Jaada, you did just right. I know some men let their mates slip off sometimes, but I am not one of them. If you had gone off with Nadlo and I found out about it I would have been very cross with you and I would have killed him. I do not share my mates with anyone and I want you all to understand it. If you want to leave me you can, but I do not want you sneaking around with other men," I said, to all of them. "We all knew already. Geera told us you let her know it," Dieta said. "Where could we find another man like you anyway? You are the only man I have ever been with, but if there was another who could do what you can we would all have heard about it long ago," Gema said. I had to bite my tongue to keep from smiling. As it was I know both my head and chest swelled. I had something to do though and it wasn't going to be pleasant. Nadlo was one of the unmated young men and like Jonoco he had become a man since I showed myself to this camp. I wasn't especially mad about his stunt since no real damage had been done and since such things were probably normal before I came. I didn't even see how a little swapping could be destructive as long as it didn't involve someone sniffing around my mates. I told the women I would be back later and went to find him. The unmated men had set up residence among themselves in one of the smaller caves. I walked into it unannounced and asked loudly for Nadlo. He got up from his bed quickly and I knew he probably hadn't been asleep. When he came up to me I told him to dress since we needed to go outside for a talk. He went back to his bedding and did. We walked up canyon for a few dozen yards and then I turned to him. "Nadlo I am not going to kill you for what you did because you probably didn't think it was of very much importance. It is important to me though. I don't know or care what others have done, but I will tell you what I will do if it happens again. I will kill you. I understand what you want and I know it is difficult not to have it. All my women know I will not tolerate their being with another man and if you try it again they will tell me. If you had been successful tonight I wouldn't be talking to you. I would have killed you in your bed. "Tell all the others what I have said. I will not be lenient again. I also think you should find your own mate soon. Don't you like any of the unmated women?" I asked. "I do, and she likes me too, but I can't pay for a mate yet," He said. "I will pay for her then and you can pay me back later. You will be much better off with your own mate instead of sneaking around with the mates of others. Talk to Geera and Dieta and they will talk to the other women. If the girl will have you there is nothing standing in your way. Do it tomorrow," I said and turned back to my cave. When I got back I was silent until I was undressed and cuddled up against my women. Jaada was next to me on one side and still looking bewildered. "Jaada I'm afraid your suitor will not be flirting with you anymore. I had a talk with him and told him to get his own mate," I said. I could almost feel the tension leaving all of them. Now they knew I had not killed the boy I sensed they were all relieved. "You know you saved his life tonight don't you?" "I guess I did, but I didn't do it for him. He is nice enough but you are my mate. You are all I wanted anyway and when Geera told us how you felt I was glad. I don't want any other men John. Even though you have many mates I know you will not let us go lacking," Jaada said. "I am afraid I will have to let you go lacking tonight since I am very tired. I will try to make it up to all of you as soon as I can," I said. I took the time to give them all a goodnight kiss then and settled down to snuggle up to Jaada's cute backside, laying an arm over her and claiming a handful of freckled titty. Waaya pushed herself up behind me and reached over me for a grip on my dick. I was beginning to think none of them wanted me to ever get to sleep without a boner. Sure enough, when Waaya had me hard it only took her a second to signal for Jaada to make room for my boner between her legs. Jaada was noticeably wet and when Dicky lay along her lips he began to throb. I decided I could play this game too, so I cocked my hips a little and released Jaada's titty long enough to guide him into her slick warmth. I retook the titty then and just pressed my dick up her as far as I could get it. I intended to see if I could go to sleep that way. Even though Jaada began showing me she had marvelous muscle control in her sheath I was able to drift off. Maybe three hours later I woke and could tell my dick was still up in Jaada though her internal squeezing had stopped. She was asleep now too. She was still wet though. I gave her a tentative stroke and was sure it felt like I was farther up in her than I had been when I went to sleep. I gave her a longer stroke and knew Argent had been working on me in my sleep. My dick was longer. By now it didn't worry me at all. I started to gently fuck my little Jaada and began playing with the titty and nipple I had in my hand. Jaada stirred a little and then woke. When she realized what I was doing she began pushing back to me. She was right in rhythm in a minute or two and the nipple I'd been teasing had swelled. "Oh John. You woke up, I'm glad you did. It feels good John. Oh you are so long in me. Oh," she mumbled. The wiggling must have roused Waaya too since she began kissing the back of my neck and running a hand over my side while she pressed her titties into my back. Shortly she wiggled the hand between my legs and began teasing my taint just behind my balls. I doubt she knew she was rubbing my prostate, but she was and it was getting damn good. I picked up the tempo and Jaada started squeezing me with her insides again so I turned loose her titty and after wetting my fingers in her fuck oil I started in on her clit. She noticed at once and was soon moaning out my name in time with my pushes. When she began trembling I pushed it all the way home and held her to me as my come pumped slowly but strongly into her while she groaned out her completion. Jaada went limp and a few seconds later I did too. Waaya wasn't through though. She began kissing all over my neck and ear and she nibbled on the lobe as she reached her hand over to fondle my balls. She pulled my wet and shrinking dick out of Jaada's pussy and began working on it too. She did a damned good job and in less than ten minutes it was growing again. I wanted to roll toward her but stayed where I was until she had me hard again. Then I turned over and kissed her as my hands took over her titties. I had her nipples hard soon and slipped a hand down to push a finger up into her pussy. It was warm and wet now too and as she nipped at my finger with it I thought to myself I had another good fuck coming tonight. When Waaya started panting I pushed her over onto her back and crawled between her lovely strong thighs. She reached for my dick quickly and placed the head into her. As I pushed it up her I marveled myself at how long it seemed now. Waaya was quick to mention it. "John, oh I didn't know it was so long John. It is filling me all up and I love it," she said, rocking her pelvis up to take it all. "I think it is still growing," I said, giving a good thrust. "It feels so big and so good. I am shaking already." She was. She felt like she was trembling all over. I guess all the goings on had her really hot because she locked her legs around my hips and started banging up to me in double time. I couldn't hope to match her pace so I just pushed into her and held on. She fucked herself out on me in a minute or two and was spent. Her legs and arms dropped limply off me as I rooted into her another time or two for luck. I hadn't gone off again and as I glanced over at Winna I thought of the solution for the problem. Winna had her legs wide as soon as she saw I was on my way to her. She placed my dick as soon as it came within reach and as I slid it up her I found her wet and hot. Winna was tighter than I expected and while none of them were anything but tight it was still noticeable. She was also active. Her ass was humping back at me and her insides were milking me strongly. She wrapped her arms around my neck to kiss me and when I pushed my tongue into her mouth she sucked it avidly while using her tongue to play with the tip. As she put her legs around my pumping ass and squeezed it I couldn't help but wonder just how fine she could tickle my dickhead with that active tongue. I knew I would be done for in a few minutes, but hoped I could last to get Winna off. Just then she threw her head back and moaned. "Oh John, I can't believe how good it is. Oh!" she howled, as she got what she needed. I got what I needed then too and felt like I was shooting off a cannon inside her. When I'd finished pushing into Winna's pussy I was spent and sagged down onto her as she tried to hug me. I felt hands pulling on my shoulders then and realized someone was rolling me off Winna. I looked up when I was on my back and Dalia was bending over me and then kissing my lips sweetly. "Just rest now John. I will clean you up and you can sleep some more. I will be waiting for you later with things on my mind though," She whispered to me, and then she trailed kisses down my torso until she reached my spent dick. Dalia engulfed my shrunken dick and began licking and sucking at the mess down there. It felt great in another way. It wasn't so arousing, but it was such a wonderful way to drift back off to sleep. ------- Chapter 32 It was daylight when I woke again. All the women except Dalia were already up and dressed. Dalia was cuddled up to me and when I opened my eyes she was looking at me. She smiled as I woke. "I have been waiting for you John. You have had us all now except me and I am waiting for my turn," she said, as her hand began playing with my dick. "I am nearly ready for your turn too Dalia," I said, taking hold of a big titty. She moved slightly away from me then and down to take my dick in her mouth. She caressed the head with her tongue and then gave me some gentle suction. It was a rush for me as I felt the blood flowing into my dick and it began to rise. When it began climbing she took her mouth off it and began licking my balls, giving them wide swipes with her flattened tongue. She sucked one into her mouth for a little then she let it out and sucked in the other one. I was fully hard after only a few seconds of this. "I see how to make you ready quickly now. I don't know if I will tell the others or not," she said, teasing me. I pulled her back up to me and kissed her as I slid my hand into her bush seeking her pussy. It was wet when I found it and I was sure as hell ready. I pushed her to the bed and she spread her long legs in welcome and as I got between them her hand was right there to guide me in. "John I think you have grown. It feels longer than it looked and it already looked long," she said. I pressed my lips to hers then and as she put me in her place I pushed in firmly. She hugged me tighter then and her legs went around me at once. "It is grand John. It feels so good in me. Do it to me hard John. I like it hard." Dalia had said the magic words. I liked to get down to it and she seemed ready for it as I gave her a good hard shove. "Yes, that's it John. That's how I like it. What did Geera tell me? I know. Fuck me John. Fuck me. Fuck me hard and fuck me fast John. Fuck me." I did. Dalia was the biggest of them and if anybody could take it she could. I trusted she would tell me if I got too rough and I just started banging her box. She seemed to eat it up. "Oh yes, John, yes. That's the way I like it. Fuck me harder John, and faster please!" I did my best to help her out. Soon I was plowing it to her at full strength. She pulled my head down so she could whisper in my ear. "That's what I like John. I like for you to fuck me hard. I love it. I'm your woman now John and you can fuck me as hard as you want to. I can take it John so fuck me harder." I was going nuts by now. This was the first time I had ever just rared back and pounded a woman as hard as I could. She was with the program too as she crushed my hips to her with her strong legs and squeezed me tightly in her arms. Her ass was hammering right back at me and she gave as well as she was getting. All good things must come to an end and I knew I was a short timer at this. She was shorter though and suddenly she just craned her neck back and wailed. It set me off and I did some grunting and groaning of my own for a while before I just slumped down on her. She got her wind back before I did, rolled me to my back and proceeded to clean up the mess. It was an experience in itself, but I was a little too winded to fully enjoy it. When she was through she lay back beside me and put her arms around me. "That was wonderful John. I am so happy to be one of your mates. Geera told me she would make your coffee this morning and so when you are ready I'm sure it will be waiting for you," She said, and kissed me again before she got up. I was up just a few minutes later, dressing and heading out to find a bush to water. As always in the morning I began thinking about my new bathroom. No time to worry about it today though. I went back into the cave for my coffee and breakfast and while I was eating I saw the women were all getting ready to go gathering. They said their good byes and left before I'd finished. I found Bigglieo and told him what was up with the others. He knew exactly where their camp was and felt confident he could get the wagon and other horses there. I explained we needed to try and get a couple more horses a little travois training first and he agreed to go find Jonoco, Galto, and Danlo to help. It took about three hours to make two more travois and teach Jolly, Bonehead, and another mare, Nelda, how to behave with them. Bigglieo harnessed the wagon then while Galto went to get his mate to pack them some traveling food. In another hour they were well on their way. It would be easy getting there but it might be a little trouble heading back with three green travois horses in use. I'd kept Ben here in case I wanted him. Picking must have been good for the women because they had already been back to unload things twice. Maia had stayed on the last trip and fixed me a meal. I asked her if the other women didn't want to eat and she told me that when gathering they usually ate some of what they were taking. It made perfect sense. I was slightly at loose ends for the moment and decided now was as good a time as any to start on the bathroom, excuse me, bathing facility. I went to my computer and sat down, firing it up and sending a note explaining what I was about to do. It was easier than I thought once I got started. At first I thought I would ask for enough tubs for each of us to have one, but then decided on one single seater, one which would hold four, another to accommodate ten and a giant one which would handle twenty or so. I didn't have to draw them out so I just specified the size and style for them with text explanations. All were to have Jacuzzi style pumps and air injection for plenty of bubbles, asking for heated air in the process so it wouldn't cool the water off. I also specified they all be able to handle soap or shampoo if we wanted. I'd already seen all I wanted to of the hotel tubs warning you not to put such in the water. I settled for four crappers with privacy cubicles and a urinal right out in the open for me. I cheerfully noted the toilet paper dispenser should be large enough to hold plenty of ass ribbon to last until they could refill them and specified the paper should be hidden so only the next sheet would be visible and appear to be coming out of the wall. After I laid out a twenty-five foot vanity with ten sinks in it and one sheet mirror running its entire length and got no complaints from Argent and company I sprung for a three-occupant shower, a six-occupant size, and a giant communal shower with dozens of heads which would hold all of us and more. Still I got no balking from above. I'd once been in a hotel that claimed to have a hot tub and when I went to it I found what amounted to a tiny swimming pool about twenty-five feet by twelve feet and whose depth went from four feet to six and a half feet. I decided the size was about right but figured five feet was deep enough on the deep end and four and a half would be shallow enough on the other. I was getting close to being stumped by now, but I threw in four bidets in privacy cubicles and thinking about towels and wash cloths I added plenty of those, a big closet to keep them in, and two washers and dryers to keep them clean along with a years worth of detergent, softener, soap, shampoo, conditioner, tooth paste, shaving cream, razors, combs and brushes of all descriptions that I could recall. Still getting no complaints from my handlers made me decide to go hawg wild. I added specifications calling for everything to be done in marble with gold, not gold plated, faucets and fixtures. I noted the lighting was to be at their discretion, but I expected a professional job of it. When they still didn't squeal I added a large sauna and then a full steam room. Finally I got a message on the screen telling me I had vastly exceeded what they were planning. It wasn't from Argent but from someone else who was manning the link. I typed back asking why I hadn't been notified before I proceeded so far past their expectations. The response was he had been attending to something else and hadn't noticed I was working on the bathing facility, seeming to convey he had more important things to do than watch me. I thought about it for a second and got a little pissed. I hadn't been expecting to get anything like what I had been asking for in the first place, but after it just kept going by with no complaint I started getting in to it. I sent him a message saying he could just forget the whole thing if that was the best he could pay attention to what was going on. After all I hadn't used the computer in days and I'd even sent a warning ahead of time. Since I knew they were watching me most of the time I figured he had just been assing off and it put a burr under my saddle. I never claimed I didn't have a temper. I promptly sent the message and turned the computer off before I got a response. Going to the horse cave I saddled Ben and then took off up the main canyon to do a little exploring. I hadn't gone half a mile before I spotted what I took to be a passage to the upper plateau. I smiled to myself when I noted it was plenty wide for the wagon so far as I could see. I started to head up it for a look and remembered I didn't have the rifle with me so I turned back toward my cave. Entering I saw the computer's screen flashing brightly on and then off. I knew at once it was a signal to me and it seemed someone wanted to talk to me urgently. Well the fucker should have been paying attention earlier. I had something I was tending to now and I decided not to notice the incessant flashing. I got the M1 and left again. When Ben and I topped out on the plateau I saw a mass of bison not a mile from me. It was easily twice as many as I'd seen in the herd I had hunted before. I watched them with the glasses for a while and then scanned other areas I could see from here. I also spotted several aurochs in a few little groups off in the far distance and I saw several small herds of horses. One group in particular seemed interesting; as they appeared to be slightly larger than those I had in my possession. It was also the largest group. Knowing I didn't really want to get anything today I turned back down the slope and descended to the canyon floor. We were less than a half-mile from more meat than we could ever eat and more horses than we could ride. The meat was there for the taking and I was pretty sure I could haze the horses along and down the slope from Ben's back with just a little help from my camp mates. There would be plenty of time for it after Bigglieo was through moving our new friends though. I went on up canyon for a couple of miles, seeing several smaller deer and quite a few megaceros. I also saw many more berry brambles and quite a few other plants which looked edible to me. Of course I thought everything might be good to eat. Later I came into a wider part of the canyon and saw a few more bands of horses scattered around. There were also a couple of groups of onagers. I saw several hyenas slinking about from a distance and even a pack of wolves who seemed to be trying to close in on a small band of horses. There was probably an old one with them or else one was injured. I turned around then and headed back. When I'd released Ben to graze with the others I walked back to my cave. My mates were all there and done with gathering for the day. As I entered Waaya came up to me and pointed out the computer's flashing flat panel. She didn't know what it was and had probably never noticed it before, but no one could help noticing the flashing. I relented and went to sit down at it. I had a message from Argent asking me to respond. "I'm here Argent," I sent. "John, I want to apologize for your earlier inconvenience. The person who should have been monitoring your work will be disciplined, I assure you," he sent. "That is your decision Argent." "I'm afraid you did exceed our expectations with the bathing facility," he sent. "When I didn't get any response I kept adding things I would like to have, exactly as you told me to do. Was he going to wait until I had called for an apartment building? I am a little busy down here just now Argent. We are expecting more members for our group and there are things I need to do here. "It is disappointing to spend time working on things and then be told it was all wasted since the one who was supposed to be helping me was too busy off somewhere playing with his reproductive equipment. Perhaps next time you ask me to do something you can find me a helper who can scratch his ass and pay attention to what he is supposed to be doing at the same time," I sent. I was afraid I might be getting a little snotty with Argent, but on the whole I was still pissed. I decided it wouldn't hurt to let him know what was on my mind. "I can only apologize and ask you to try again on the bathing facility," Argent sent back. Fuck it. They'd let me get my hopes up and now wanted to have me start over. Damned if I would. They must want the bathroom for some of their own reasons, whatever they were. I still remembered how to shit in the bushes so they could just fuck themselves. I wasn't going to tell them in exactly those words, but I wasn't going to lay out another bathroom either. "I have designed my bathing facility Argent. You can create it or not, it's your choice. The people down here are not very persnickety about bodily odors and I'm getting immune to them myself. I will just keep doing as I have been. We have water inside now at least and it will have to be good enough," I sent him. "I am sorry you feel that way John. I will discuss it with my superiors," Argent sent, and then the message pad went blank. I guess I'd fucked up but I didn't really care. I was on borrowed time when they found me anyway. I tried to rationalize my behavior for about twenty more minutes and finally decided I had just let something small get to me. The thing was I knew it hadn't been my fault. I had done what they wanted and someone on their end had fucked the dog. To hell with it all anyway. I went to see if one of my mates could be persuaded to cook something. They were already cooking. As I ate the delicious stew, which contained some of the things they had picked today, I began to regret my little tantrum with Argent. It probably wasn't his fault after all and it hadn't really been any skin off my ass to spec out the bathroom. I had just been excited when I thought they were going to give me everything I could think of. Fuck 'em though. I had started out slowly enough and built from there. There'd been plenty of time for some guidance from above, but they couldn't be bothered. Hell, I was the guy on the sharp end of the stick while they were lounging around in a damned spaceship somewhere. I made up my mind they were going to pay for yanking my chain. When we retired for the night I hid the sausage with all the mates I hadn't hid it with last night except Geera. She was still a little sore she said. I wasn't sure whether she meant it or not so since I had just blasted Dieta a good one I lay down to see about sleeping. When I did Dieta told me not to take any crap off Geera and said she was just trying to deny me for no reason. I knew it meant Geera wanted a turn too, but intended to be held down. "I should have known better. Dalia, you and Dieta must hold her down so I can take what is mine," I said. Geera started whining right away, but now I could tell she didn't mean it. She had probably been fucking with my head out in the pines when she'd first told me she might be sore. When Dieta and Dalia had her pinned to the mattress I climbed on her and started sucking and gnawing on her already hard nipples while she wormed and squirmed and acted like she wanted to get away. By the time I got my dick up her she was soaking wet and her pussy nipped at me like it wanted to chew me up. I did restrain myself a little from the treatment I'd given her in the woods, but I pumped her up good and proper while I was at it. When I came it was in buckets and as I lay down on her she was kissing all over my face and neck and telling me how good I was to her. She stroked and caressed my back and ass and kept whispering in my ear. I was comfortable where I was so I settled down to suck on a nipple and fell asleep. ------- Chapter 33 When I woke the next morning all my girls were already out of bed. No one was hanging around to give Dicky a good morning kiss or anything. I thought about calling one of them over to remedy the lack, but since they seemed to be getting ready for another gathering foray I didn't. I got up, dressed, and went outside to water a bush. I thought of the bathroom fiasco again and was nearly mad before I could shake the last few drops off Dicky. I knew I was about to schiz off into another round of second-guessing, so I went back into the cave for something to eat. Dalia had my coffee ready, thank Bob. I told her how much I appreciated it again and took the cup. I was wondering about Bigglieo and the others who were off to fetch our new members when Geera came over. "Nadlo came to talk to me yesterday about mating Melieta. I talked to her later and she is willing. I must get together with all the women today to settle on his payment." "I told him to find a mate and I will be encouraging Jonoco to do it as soon as he can. The best way to keep them from sniffing around my beauties is for them to get a woman of their own to sniff. They are the only two unmated men aren't they?" I asked, and grinned. Geera tried to look serious. She couldn't keep up the act though and finally giggled herself. "Yes, they are the only two men from our original camp who are unmated. They will be the youngest men to ever be mated I have ever heard of. Nadlo has only been a man for four weeks and Jonoco only three," Geera said, and laughed. "I don't think it is ever too early for a man to be broken to a mate's will." "What to you mean, broken to a mate's will?" Geera asked, surprised. "Most men learn the hard way that sooner or later they must do as their mate or mates wish." "It does make things go more smoothly. What about Nadlo though?" Geera asked. "What about Nadlo, what do you want to know from me?" "What do you think we should do about his payment?" "I am not one of the women - at least I wasn't last night," I said, and reached down to squeeze my equipment. "No, I am still a man," I said, teasing her. "I know as well as any of your mates. Nadlo said you had told him you would pay his price though. Do you want me to make it low so it will be easier?" "No, I want you to make it higher than it would have been before I met you. I don't think you should make it as high as I have paid but it should be high enough so that Melieta will feel very proud. Nadlo will have to pay me back for it after all. I don't think we should slight Melieta just so Nadlo can have an easy time." "I will make it meat from hunting then. I know meat will be the easiest thing for you to get and it will also make Melieta happy. Before you came meat was the most difficult thing to get," Geera said. "He will not have to wait until I get it all will he?" "No, as a member of the camp he will be allowed to pay when he can. Since he had never been a strong hunter we would have asked him to pay something first before he was allowed to mate. Since you will promise it will be paid there will be no objections from anyone." "Good. If it is agreeable with the others please call for some of the meat to be boar. I have been wanting some of their meat anyway." "The boar meat is very hard to get John. It will make Melieta's price seem high," Geera said. "You must do as you see fit, but I intend to hunt the boar anyway. I want some bacon," I said, finally admitting it. "Very well, it will be hard for Nadlo to pay you back in boar meat though," Geera said. "Can't he pay me back with whatever I want? When his mate is paid for isn't the debt paid. His debt will be to me then and if I accept something else won't it be between Nadlo and I?" "We have never thought of things that way, but I can see it is fair. At any rate, we women will not be concerned. When the bride payment is made, it is made, and we are through with it," Geera said. "Good. I will talk to Nadlo first though. I have watched him before and I think he can help with the horses. He seems to be interested in them and they will soon be too much work for Jonoco and Danlo. Danlo is still waiting for his manhood and yet he works hard with Jonoco and the horses every day. They need some help." "Will we get more horses before long?" Geera asked. "I went up canyon yesterday to look around and there are many horses, many. Some even look like they will be better than the ones we have. When we get some of them there will be more to care for." "I will talk to the women then and we will settle on Melieta's price," she said. "Good. Please tell me if we get any more unmated men here and please let me know how many unmated women are in our camp. I will need to keep on top of my match making." "Once they find out you will stand for Nadlo's mate payment boys will be telling you they are men before they even tell their mothers," Geera said, and laughed. "It will be fine as long as they know they must still prove it to their mother and not to me," I said, trying to keep a straight face. Geera didn't even try, she laughed so hard she cried and then nearly lost her breath. Dalia came to her to see what the matter was and then all my mates were around her wanting to know what was so funny. I made them wait until Geera could recover enough to tell them. When she did they all fell into laughter. Finally they calmed down. "What will you do about the price for all their mate's though John?" Geera asked me. "I will help them all, all those who were in the old camp at least and all the others I can. I know they probably all want a mate and I want them all to have one, or two if it can be worked out. We will have Georgo busy if I have anything to say about it." She left to see about talking to the other women then. My last quip had me wondering where Georgo was keeping himself now-a-days. I hadn't seen him since my mating ceremony. I guessed he would be back when he came back. I wanted to talk to him, but not bad enough to send a man out looking for him. When I walked out of the cave again I saw Nadlo coming toward it. He approached me meekly and asked if he might speak to Geera. "Geera is talking to the other women. They are probably deciding your fate as we speak. What did you want to talk to her about?" "I am not a good hunter. I wanted to ask her to consider that in my mating price," Nadlo said. "I told you I would make sure you could pay for your mate. What the women decide is what I must provide. What you owe me then will be between you and I. I will tell you already if you agree you can pay me back by working with the horses with Jonoco and Danlo. "We will soon have even more horses as I have discovered there are many up the canyon. I intend to have a horse for everyone in this camp and extra horses too. They will all need care. If you will work with the horses for me you will never have to hunt unless you want to." "I don't understand. When you came to me last night I was afraid. I knew I had done wrong to you. I expected a beating or maybe even to die. Now you have offered to pay my price for mating and further you will let me work with the horses to pay my debt to you. Most camp leaders would not do as much for their mate's son, much less for an unmated man they are not related to," Nadlo said. "I am the leader of this camp Nadlo. The leader of the whole camp. When one in my camp obtains more status I also have more status. I would see every man here have two or more mates if he can find them. I wish to make all my people fat even during the winter. I cannot do it by myself, but I do not need for every man to hunt. I need some men who can do other things. If you work with the horses it will be a big help for me. I cannot do everything." "I will be glad to work with the horses and I would like to help with the wolves too. I would have liked to do it anyway and wondered if I would ever be able to," he said. "Good, a man will do much better if he can do things he likes. Do not worry about the payment for your mate. The higher it is, the more your mate will be proud of herself and proud of you for paying it. Come with me now and I will show you how to let the horses out to graze but not to get away." We went to the horse cave then and I showed him how to hobble horses and how to tie others off. He asked about all the young ones and yearlings that went free and I explained they would probably stay with the older horses. I told him the youngest would not stray far from their mothers and the yearlings weren't worth the effort yet to train while we were so busy. I told him if they were still around when we had pens built for training we would start their lessons. If they were gone then we would get more. I also got a shovel for him and showed him how to clean up horseshit which was building up in the cave. We would have to find something for bedding in there soon too. The shit can be shoveled but the urine just soaks into the floor without some type of bedding. The cave was pretty large, but before long the smell of ammonia would be much too strong in there. I left him at it, knowing even using a shovel was a novel experience for him at this point. Maybe he would come to see cleaning up horseshit as a necessary part of things instead of a dirty job. It was both of course. I was feeling pretty smug about things now. I didn't have a bathroom, but I did have a new helper with the horses and I had headed off potential dalliances by my mates. I was sure even if asked they wouldn't be likely to stray now. I still wondered where Georgo was though. Late in the afternoon, about an hour before sunset my question was answered. Georgo came with Bigglieo in the returning wagon. They had made it back faster than I'd expected. I noticed Bigglieo had an unfamiliar woman sitting right beside him on the wagon seat too. She seemed to be right up against him. I was glad. I had intended to tell him to choose another mate if he thought his present one would go for it. Apparently he had chosen one or maybe she had chosen him. The wagon was piled high with things and all the travois horses were fairly well loaded too. None of them were cutting up at this late date, but I was sure some must have given trouble. I talked to Jonoco and he told me Bonehead had turned out to be the best behaved of all. After I told him about his new helper he seemed grateful. Danlo looked very excited and asked me if I could hold Jolly for him since he needed to go talk to his mother. I was a little surprised, but agreed to do it. Jonoco told me what he thought had happened after Danlo left. "I think that Danlo is a man now. Our mothers are always the first ones we tell, we also have to prove it to them," he said, and then nearly blushed over the last comment. "I guess I had better get back into the hunting mode. I need to ask you Jonoco. Why haven't you mated yet? Don't you want any of the women in this camp?" "I have spoken to Jaiya and she has agreed we can mate. I am not a good enough hunter yet to pay the price for her." "Go and talk to Geera as soon as you can get the horses put away, in fact go into the cave and call Nadlo to come help me. You can go talk to Geera as soon as he gets here. I will show him what to do." "But I cannot pay for a mate yet." "I will pay for you and you can pay me back later. I will want you to work with the horses for your payment to me, no matter what the women want for Jaiya. The higher her price the happier she will be, and you will still pay me back by working with the horses." "But I work with the horses anyway," he said. "Yes, but you do not have to. We will have many more soon and they will require more than volunteer help. You can work with the horses and I will do any hunting for you. Is that fair?" "It is more than fair. It takes a long time to become a good hunter." "It takes a long time to become a good horseman too. You will see it is not all easy. Go and get Nadlo now before someone else talks to Jaiya." He took off and was back with Nadlo quickly. As Jonoco left to find Geera, I showed Nadlo how to lead a loaded horse and reminded him the horse would not know if a passage was too small to pull the travois through and he would have to do the thinking. "Remember, the horse can not back up with the travois. If you lead it into something it cannot get through you will have to unload the travois, get the horse out, and then load the travois again." We led them up into the big cave where everyone would be moving. Some of the others helped us unhitch the travois and then we led the horses back to their cave. "Now all the horses will be in here tonight and leave more work for you in the morning," I told him, trying to make it a joke. "Yes but when we use them they do so much more than we can do. It is far to the camp the new people are coming from and just think how many trips it would take to carry all those things on our backs. Many things would have been left behind. Much of the time many valuable things must be left," he said. I knew I had lucked into a good candidate for one of my wranglers. Even if he didn't know much about the horses yet, he did understand their value. They would all be surprised again later when we had enough horses so they could all have one to ride. I left him at it and went to find Georgo. He was in my cave and my mates were feeding him. I asked Dalia to make us a pot of coffee so we could let Georgo try it and she said she would at once. "Many things have happened since I saw you last Georgo." "Yes they have John. I have been busy telling others of your feats even though I got the news second hand. I was able to get a better story from Bigglieo as I rode back here with him. "I do want to ask you some things, but first I want to tell you I am glad you asked these people to join your camp. They were a small camp anyway and were not doing so well even before the three hunters were killed. They will be better off with you and they are all good people," Georgo said. "I was glad to find them. We want a bigger camp here and we have found a place of plenty. I went onto the upper plateau yesterday and I saw a much larger herd of bison than the one I hunted from to pay my price for my first mates. There are many other big animals to hunt here too." "I would like to ask you about Gigo and Dergo if it is not offensive," Georgo said. "I will not be offended." "Why did you kill Braato and Gordo, the two who killed them? I am glad you did since they were worthless, but it is usually not our way," Georgo said. "There are two main reasons. To help you understand I will tell you something about the mating nights first. I was glad to find out the mothers of the new mates do more than just tell their daughters how to please their new man - sometimes they show them. Geera and Dieta were wonderful at showing their daughters the way. When I thought of them going off with Braato and Gordo I knew I would much rather have them myself. Waaya and Winna were also very attractive to me. "Why should those two have Geera, Dieta, Waaya, and Winna just because they snuck up on Gigo and Dergo and threw spears into their backs? I am good at killing too, and I already knew the benefits of having Dieta and Geera in my bed. "If a man gains mates by killing others he should understand someone might come to kill him in return. I have known it from the first. I think the worthless ones might have figured it out right before the end. I am sure others have gotten the message by now. "Next, I felt responsible for the deaths of Gigo and Dergo. My mates know why, but no one else does. I killed Gembo, Jabo, and Jenbo myself. I asked Gigo and Dergo to tell others they helped so I would not have to take three more mates. I know now it was the wrong thing for me to ask them to do, but they were agreeable at the time. I felt if I had taken all the mates at first as I should have they would not have been killed," I said. "Now I see your reason and I also see the wisdom of it. Others do now consider what may happen if they kill for mates. It was never a much used custom and I was afraid after Gembo tried it might begin to get popular. By your actions you have made sure any man who considers it will think about it more carefully. "You may be right about Gigo and Dergo, but the two worthless ones might have done it anyway. At least they will not bother anyone else. Caato did not think much of you at first even though he would never have said a word about it after seeing Jenabo's fate and the fate of the one who cast the spear into your back. "I pointed out you had actually done him a service. You made him leader of the camp and you rid him of four he did not need anyway, if not seven. I do think they will have a little trouble this winter though," Georgo said. "If they need meat I will see they get some and if you know of any camp which might like to join us I would like to know it. We will have plenty of food and I would like to have more people. I am going to be the leader here and they have to understand it. If they will accept me as their leader and will share in the work they are welcome." "I know of two more camps which should join you for their own sake. All the people in them are not desirable though. Both camps together would number thirty-seven in all. There is one mated man, three unmated men and two boys who are nearly men that I would not have in any camp though," Georgo said. "I will send a man to ask them to join us then. I know how to get rid of useless men and if I get rid of the worst one first you might be surprised at the way it changes the attitudes of the others. If some of the women are lazy I also think we can teach them better," I told Georgo, and then smiled. "You do know the easiest way to banish worthless men and I would wager you can show lazy women the error of their ways. When you are ready to send a runner I will tell him how to find them. "I saw your bed John and your mates told me what it is. I have never seen anything like it before," Georgo said then. "I did tell you I have some of my own magic. I have more too. I also think you should be one of those to join us here Georgo. We can easily make you a private place of your own and you will need somewhere to stay during the winter. What better place is there for you?" "I will be happy to stay here for the winter. Much of my time is spent traveling, but I have to stay with someone during the winter and this will probably be the best place I ever stayed," Georgo said. "Tomorrow we can find a place to fix for you. It will be your choice." ------- Chapter 34 Dalia brought us some coffee then and I could tell by her look she wanted to talk to me about something. I excused myself for a minute and she and I went over near the bed to talk privately. "Danlo has become a man," She said, and her face was shining with pride. "I'm happy for him. I think you know I would like for him to take a mate as soon as possible. I will guarantee his price for him. Does he have his eye on anyone yet?" "He does and his mind is made up about it. He was taken with a girl in our old camp. It would not be easy, but it would not be such a problem. She has a twin though and I am sure she would not want to leave her. She would not want to be so far from her mother yet either I think. Both of the girls only became women a short time before we left and leaving the place where her mother lives and her sister too will probably be too much to ask her," Dalia told me. "Maybe we can ask her mother's mate to join us here. Do you think he would consider it?" "Her mother's mate was killed as mine was. He was killed a year before mine in fact." "Then it seems easy to me now. We will let Danlo ask both of the girls to be his mate and we will ask their mother to join us here also." "She might do it, but I am not sure. She is a good woman but she is prideful. I am not sure she would move unless she were to be mated also," Dalia said, and I could see she was having a hard time keeping a smile off her face. "Oh no you don't Dalia. I can see that grin. I do not need another mate. If Danlo is set on the girl, or more likely on the twins he can just mate their mother too." "She might do it. She and I were close when I lived there. I must tell you I think you are putting quite a load on a young man. Shelalliea, the mother, is a lot like me. She can be as demanding on a mate as I am. I'm not sure Danlo will be able to handle her. Would you be willing to help him out?" My mates often gave me surprises and this was a big one. This was one of my mates asking me to help her son out by fucking one of his mates for him. I didn't have a clue as to how I should react. If the woman were good looking of course I would want to fuck her. I didn't want to get any shit started with my mates though. Things were going too good now. Even if I did get some stray pussy I knew I would still be fiercely jealous of my mates and I wouldn't be able to let Danlo reciprocate. "What would the others think Dalia? They all know how I feel about them being with other men. If I did help Danlo out I could not keep it from them and I wouldn't want to. How would Danlo feel? I couldn't ask him to let me fuck one of his mates and then tell him I would want to kill him if he tried to do the same to one of mine." "You must not pay much attention to Danlo then John. He thinks you are the reason the sun shines in the day. He would probably be proud for you to fuck all his mates when he has them. He is too young to be jealous of you yet. If you are sometimes with his mates from the start it will never make him jealous of you. I know him well John - he is my son. Do you want me to ask him plainly about it? Will you do it if he agrees?" Dalia asked. "What of my other mates? What will they think?" "We have already talked. I knew this would come about. A mother knows what is on her son's mind and can tell when he is about to become a man. I asked Geera and Dieta first and then all the others separately to make sure that they would not feel pressured into agreeing. I do not want trouble in our cave either. "Geera was glad to think you might take Shelalliea for a mate and Dieta was practically giddy. Dieta thinks you should have all the women at least a few times and she isn't the only one who feels that way. The others would all like for Shelalliea to join us as one of your mates. When a woman is mated to a man who has other mates it makes her proud. It shows that her man can take care of many women and it makes her looked upon with respect. It also means there is help when she needs to do something. More mates mean more status and more help." "But if I don't mate her and only help Danlo out sometimes, what will they think of it? What will you think?" "I will think that you are giving up a good thing all the time for a good thing sometimes. I'm sure they all will think so too. They will not mind if you help Danlo though. It will be like a small ceremony each time she comes to your bed then. We will have a good time on those nights. Though we always have a good time any night we get you going," Dalia said, and grinned. "I have to think of this. You are telling me all my mates would like for me to take this woman as another mate, but if I don't they will be glad for me to help Danlo by fucking her some. You are also telling me Danlo will be happy to send her to my bed for a good screwing?" "Is screwing the same as fucking? If it is then you are right. We will all be happy if you will mate Shelalliea, but if you don't we will still be happy if you screw her some times. Danlo will be glad for the help if you won't mate her. Danlo is just now a man. He will be happy to be mated so young and especially if he can mate both of the twins. He will still be happy if he has to mate their mother also. He will not be able to take care of Shelalliea by himself though. He is going to have to do a lot of licking just to satisfy the twins," Dalia explained, and grinned. "I do not doubt you Dalia, but I will have to hear it from each of my mates separately. If they all tell me they agree I will ask Shelalliea to be my mate also. I see it would be better that way than if she only came to me when Danlo needed help with her." She kissed me quickly then and rushed off to talk to the other women. I was still in shock over the whole thing and I went back to Georgo and sat down. "Are there troubles John?" Georgo asked. "More than I could have imagined just from a boy turning into a man," I sighed. "I was wondering when it would come up. Danlo has become a man then?" Georgo asked. "Yes but how did you know it would be complicated." "It is my business to try and see what is coming before it happens. Everyone in that camp knew Danlo had his heart set on mating Shelalliea's twins. Without your help he would have had to have mated one first and the other later. It would not have been such a problem since the one he didn't mate at first could always refuse any others if they offered. She would have done so. The three of them have been too close for years for anything else to happen. I knew when I heard Dalia had gone with you their mother would have to leave with them when they went. Will you mate her or will Danlo?" Georgo asked. "I will mate her if my other mates agree." "They will agree and be happy about it. You are able to get along fairly well with the little you know about our ways, but you still have much to learn about us. Your mates are the envy of every woman who hears about you. I am sure many of the unmated women who have heard of you wish you would come and ask for them. I know for sure there are many mated women who dream of you killing their mate and taking them away. None would say anything of the sort aloud, but in some camps I can nearly feel it if your name is mentioned," Georgo said. "I don't know why. I am not special." "John, you are more than special. No man has ever killed fifteen bison in one hunt. You killed fifteen in minutes and only stopped because more would have been too much trouble to skin and clean. You killed three cave lions as if for sport. You dragged Braato and Gordo into their own camp behind your horse and then dragged them to death. When Jenabo spoke of killing you he was dead himself in the blink of and eye. Everyone then saw a spear cast and strike you in the back. You did not even cry out, you just turned and killed the one who did it. "You have ten mates now and hardly anyone doubts you can feed and provide for all of them easily. When those in the camps I spoke to you about hear you have taken in the camp you did they may send a runner here on their own to ask you to take them in. "Hunting is hard and dangerous for us. Just knowing you are to give this camp sixty-five more bison will make them want to join. It seems to me you consider the bison as fruit you might as easily pick from a tree. Others are getting the idea you think that way too. You are not special John, you are a legend already," he said. I could see how it would seem impressive to them. I guess it was, but I hadn't set out to do any of it and I had many advantages they didn't know about. That must be part of it. They couldn't understand how I did it. I knew then Georgo had been correct in wanting to keep it secret. It would be better for me if they never caught on. Dalia came over then with more coffee for Georgo and I. She asked if I had time to go sit on the bed so each of my mates could come to me and tell me their thoughts on the matter we had discussed. I took my leave of Georgo again and went to the bed. They each came to me alone. To a woman they nearly begged me to take Shelalliea as a mate and told me if I wouldn't mate her they would still be happy for her to stay with us at night whenever I would allow it. I had a hard time swallowing such an enviable position. What man could believe this kind of luck? After they all had talked to me I motioned to Dalia and when she came to me I told her they had convinced me to ask Shelalliea to be one of my mates. I could have turned off all the lights then and let her smiling face light the whole cave. "I must go and talk to Danlo now. He must come and ask you to help him," Dalia said. "Why don't you just tell him I agreed?" "Danlo is a man now. It is his place to ask you for help if he needs or wants it. He must not depend on his mother any longer. I will still help him all I can, but he must start to act on his own behalf. Be sure to show you are taking time to consider his request please." This shit was hard for me since I considered myself a straightforward type of guy. I would struggle through somehow though. I went back to Georgo again hoping we'd get a little more time to talk. We did. "Things are moving fast on this now aren't they John?" Georgo asked. "Yes, it seems I will soon have a new mate after all. It is confusing to me that all my other mates not only wanted it but practically begged me to ask her." "It is as I told you John. It is more status for them and more help for them also. I am sure they understand it is easier for eleven women to take care of one man than it is for one woman to take care of a man. They know you will have no trouble feeding them. Those that were in Gigo's camp all surely remember what a job you can send home from a hunt. The next time you hunt they will probably wish you had thirty mates." "Don't give them any ideas. Dalia has already told me Dieta wants for me to have every woman in camp, at least a few times." "It won't hurt anything John. You are the leader now and none of the men would complain. They probably expect it sooner or later," he said. "I'm not about to start that. I am jealous of my mates and I would kill a man if I knew he had taken one of them. An unmated man tried to slip Jaada off into the night while I was gone to the old camp to invite the newest members. I started to kill him, but didn't because she ran away from him and I thought it might have been more allowable before I came." "Gigo would have killed him, or at least beaten him severely, for trying. It is different for the leader. Every man understands the leader's mate or mates are not to be pestered. I know Gigo and Dergo often took too much bruga on different nights so they could be with each other's women. It was different. They agreed to it among themselves. It is never talked about openly, but I can assure you Gigo had his fun with every mated woman in his camp at one time or another. Almost every leader does. Still the other men know the leader's mate is not for them. Being a leader can be a difficult thing, it must have some compensations or no one would even consider it. Who was the one who tried to pester your mate?" Georgo asked. "Nadlo, he is unmated. I told him to speak to the women and find a mate and I would make sure he could pay the price." "That was very generous of you and I'm sure Nadlo knows it. After he has been mated a while you should take his mate to you often to remind him who the leader is. Do you think those who are moving here do not expect it of you? Even if you did not know it they did. They will expect for their women to visit you sooner or later. If you don't allow it they will think you are going to send them away." "It will be too much work for one man. I can't stand up to that." "You need not do it all in one night or all in one week or month. When you see a woman you feel like having just ask her to come to your cave that night. Your mates will be happy about it and so will the woman. Whatever their mates feel about it will not be mentioned. In fact their mates will probably feel more secure in their place here because of it. "You have not taken any other women since you became leader then?" Georgo asked. "No. Only my mates," I said. "Then you should consider carefully which of the men's women you will have first. It will be a sign of status for his woman and for him. It will show that he is important to you." I was still mulling this over when Danlo came to ask if he could speak to me. I went over to sit on the bed again and he came with me. It struck me as funny for a moment and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. It was as if I were a King and holding public audiences. If Argent and I hadn't been having a tiff I would have asked him for a throne. "John, I am a man now. Dalia told me to come to you and ask if you would help me gather the payment for my mate. I am a man, but I am not a good hunter yet and truthfully I am not sure I will ever be a good hunter," he said. "I believe I told you in your old camp I would help you gain a mate. I have heard somewhere you need two mates though. Georgo has told me he thinks you have your eyes on twins." "Georgo is right as always. Shallea, Shaala, and I have already talked about it. I will mate one and the other will wait until I can pay the price for her," Danlo explained what I already knew. "You are the son of one of my mates Danlo and the brother of another. Why should you have to wait? I can pay the price for you now. You do not have to learn to hunt to repay me. You can repay me by working with the horses if you would like to. I will need help to care for the horses. We will soon be getting many more. You do not have to wait unless you want to wait." "How can you be so good to me? I cannot believe it. You haven't even known me very long," Danlo said. "Danlo, your mother and your sister are both mated to me and they help make me a very happy man. I might as well tell you I would see you get the twins you want even if you never repaid me. I will do it just to see how happy it makes your mother and your sister. I believe you are going to be the kind of man who repays his debts no matter what though. I am expecting good things from you." "You will get them. I am surprised you are so willing to help me, but I am very happy. You will not regret helping me. There may be another problem though and I do not know what to do about it. The twins are very close to their mother and she is living at the other camp. They may be reluctant to leave her," Danlo said, telling me something else I already knew. "Maybe their mother's mate and their mother will move here also." "She has no mate, he was killed before my mother's mate was killed." "Maybe she will mate you too Danlo. You might have to mate their mother also. I can tell you it is nice to mate a mother and her daughter. Is she attractive and is she a good woman?" "She gave Shallea and Shaala their looks and they are beautiful. She is beautiful too and she is a good woman and a good worker. I do not think I should mate her though. I have known her all my life and it would seem like I was mating my own mother. Well that might not be bad. My mother is beautiful too and I have spent a lot of time looking at her and dreaming. But that kind of thing is not often done. I just hope she will move here with us. I do not think she would mate me and I would be afraid to ask her." "Would you do it if you thought it was the only way to mate the twins?" "I would ask if it was the only way. I would ask her even though I don't think she would agree. I would be ashamed about it though. It seems like a trick and she is a good woman and doesn't deserve to have tricks played on her. I think she would not agree anyway," Danlo said. "Do you think she would mate me if I asked her?" "I think nearly any woman would mate you if you asked. She needs a mate and she might even consider mating me I think. I doubt she would agree, but she would probably consider it. I am sure she would mate you though. You are the best hunter anyone has ever heard of and you are the leader of a good camp that is growing bigger. Would you ask her to be your mate?" Danlo asked. "Yes, I will ask her. My other mates have told me they want more company and I have a hard time resisting beautiful women. We will go tomorrow. Bigglieo is going back to the other camp for another load. I will ride Bonehead and you can ride Ben and we will go to their camp to ask for mates. If they agree we will have Bigglieo come for their things on the next trip." "This is all so fast. It makes me very happy though. I cannot believe I just became a man last night and now I am going to get two mates. Shallea and Shaala will be so happy. We thought it would be years before we could all be together. When my mother and I left their camp we thought that it would be even longer," Danlo said. "I think it will make me happy too." The audience was now over and Danlo went back to his sleeping place. He walked like his feet weren't even touching the ground. I went back to Georgo and as I sat again Dalia was there with more coffee and another ten thousand watt smile. "How do you like the coffee Georgo?" "It is strange John. I really have no home and I am always visiting actually. I eat meals from every cook. Some are good, some aren't so good and some are bad. I always tell them it was very good and thank them for it. "When I first drank the coffee I thought I would have to endure it and tell you it was very good even though I didn't really like it. Now I've had more I think I might come to like it," Georgo said. "That is the way with coffee, it tastes terrible at first. When you try to sleep tonight you will find out something else about it. You will have a hard time sleeping and you will feel like you should get up and do something. I should have thought about that before I offered it to you late in the day." "I have never heard of such things. It will not be a problem though. If I can't sleep I will try to speak to the spirits. Will I be able to sleep tomorrow?" Georgo asked. "You should be able to. You might be able to sleep sometime before sunrise. Others moving around might wake you though." "It is often the way for me. I will sleep when I can sleep and when I can't I will be awake. After a time I will be able to sleep no matter who is moving around," Georgo said. "I do have another thing to ask you Georgo." "I will tell you if I can." ------- Chapter 35 "I want to know about the other people who live near here. I do not know what you call them. They are like us but they are not just like us." "That is what we call them - The other people. I do not know everything about them and I do not visit their camps often. They speak similar to us but not exactly like us. They do not care for my advice, but sometimes listen when I tell them of things that are happening or about the movements of animal herds, if I know of any. They will also listen to what I tell them about how soon the winter is coming and other things I say about the weather. "It is strange to me they do some things like we do and other things completely differently. They do not ask a payment for their mates. Their leaders just tell them who will mate whom. The women have no say in the matter. "Also, the women do not often hunt, especially after they are fully women and have children. Their girls also seem to come to their womanhood in less time than ours do. The men hunt much more than we do, but they must because they do not throw their spears. They thrust them into the prey. "They are fond of running prey off a cliff or into a blind canyon when they can," Georgo said. "You said that you visited their camps some times?" "Yes. I visit the camp that is south of here at least once a year. The women cook differently there, but it is always good. The women do almost all of the gathering and they are very efficient about it. They always have more things than meat to eat. They are also much better at finishing skins. "They cannot swim though. They go into the water to bathe and fish but they do not swim and they do not use any type of boats, " Georgo said. "Do they kill each other for mates?" "That is one of the strange things about them. The leader more or less assigns the women to the men and that is all accepted. If a man kills another though, he does take the mate and all the possessions, just as we do. They do not do it often, but when it does happen it is not treated as out of the ordinary. "I think taking the mate and possessions is just an accompanying circumstance for them. If one man kills another it is for some other reason and the one who lives takes the mate and things as if it were a duty. "It is also strange when a man is killed while hunting or in some type of accident. If the man has a mate she will usually remain unmated for a while, sometimes for a long while. Apparently the leader just doesn't give her to another man it seems. Maybe they think she is bad luck. Even while she is unmated they do not let her go hungry and if she has children they do not go without. "I have seen them bargain for mates in a different way though. If a camp does not have enough women and another has more than they need, the camp with fewer women will offer goods or food for a woman or two from the camp with more females. "I even heard of two men like us who have bargained for women of the other people. The two do not live near here. They were from far off. I think they actually made a journey just to find women of that type to trade for, but they did not tell it to me," Georgo said. "What did they trade for the women?" "Salt. It is one way I knew they must not be from near here. I talked to them later and found out for sure. They had very much salt and seemed to know it would be good for trading, and it was. The other people's leader was glad to trade for the salt," Georgo said. "How much salt did they trade?" "I don't really know how to tell you and I think the men gave more salt than they needed to. It almost seemed it was more trouble for them to take it back than it was to leave it. They traded all the salt they had with them. "Most of it for the two women, but they traded for skins and traveling food with the rest. Maybe there is much salt where they came from. I know the leader of the other people was very happy with the trading. The women who were traded seemed happy enough to go too," Georgo said. Going over to where my salt was stored and taking him with me I opened the container and asked him if it was more salt or less than the men had traded for the women. "They didn't trade so much for both women, maybe about half as much, but probably even less. Where did you get so much salt?" Georgo asked. "I have my secrets too Georgo. Would you like some? I have plenty and can get more easily enough." "Yes, I would like some salt. I don't have anything to give you in return though. I cannot give you women for it," He said, and I could hear the humor in his tone. "You have given me information. It is much harder to get than salt." Finding two of the empty bean cans that had been cleaned, I filled them with salt for him. As I showed him how to manipulate the lids he thanked me again. Shortly he left to find a place to sleep for the night. As he was leaving I thought to myself I had been hoarding the salt for no reason. Everyone in my camp would probably like to have some and I was just letting it sit around in its original container. My mates had seen it while we were moving but hadn't mentioned it again and I don't think that they had even used any of it. Maybe they thought I wanted to keep it for some reason. I would fix the misunderstanding in the morning. We went to bed soon after. I was expecting to thank my mates for letting me take another, but sleep took me almost as soon as I lay down. I remember thinking it was strange I was so sleepy after all the coffee I'd had with Georgo. A dream started and then turned into a talk with Argent almost at once. "John we have disappointed you and you have thrilled us again. I can't tell you how excited we are," Argent said, at once. "I don't know how I did it and I don't suppose you can tell me can you?" "No, I should not tell you, but I can tell you the one who should have been helping you with the bathing facility has been dealt with. He was removed from this project, with a damaging report in his performance files for his lapse," Argent said, seeming almost giddy while telling me. "I thought his behavior was odd. You asked me to design the facility and told me I would be warned if I exceeded what was allowable. I sent a message telling I was starting on the plan and then heard nothing until he told me I had vastly exceeded what was allowable and acted as if it was my fault." "He was only here because of his family's connections higher up. He has always been an under performer. I never wanted him on this project anyway and was forced to take him. "I had a discussion with my superior over the matter and when he started berating me for the failure I took your attitude and I'm afraid I almost became angry. I pointed out I had resisted taking the slacker in the first place and it was he who insisted I do it. "I also let him know I had connections on up the ladder myself and the bathing facility you designed must be put in place or the whole project was in danger of failing. I pointed out if the experiment collapsed I would be able to make it known it was directly attributable to the actions of the one he had made me take despite my protests. "It got his attention at once. He agreed immediately without looking at the specifications you had provided. I will admit this project has gained importance due to your excellent performance. If there is anything else you would like in the bathing facility you should specify it as soon as possible in the morning," Argent said. This was another total shocker for me. I had already called for everything I could think of and now he was asking if I wanted even more. I also wondered what in the hell I'd done that was so excellent. Something else to ask for came to me at once though. "I don't need anything else for my personal use. Would it be possible to have a more utilitarian facility for the other caves? More toilets would be especially useful. With more and more people coming here it is going to get a little shitty outside unless we spend a lot of time building privies." "It is a perfect suggestion John. We should have thought of it ourselves. Do you want to plan them?" Argent asked. "I'd rather not if you have someone who can design them and take into consideration there will be more people coming." "I have design engineers that specialize in exactly these matters. As you suggested the facilities will not be as ornate and I think they should allow a little more privacy, since many different families will be using them," Argent said. Dicky throbbed for my attention. I know it was a lecherous thought, even for me, but the shower scene from one of the Porky's movies popped into my head and I decided to try heading off any extra privacy if I could. "I wouldn't worry much about their privacy. They are already accustomed to bathing more or less in public. I don't guess a few partitions would hurt anything, but if I need to drop in and take a piss I wouldn't want to miss out on seeing a few of the women washing themselves if they were involved in such activities." "I see what you mean. I wouldn't want to deprive you of some harmless enjoyment. I will specify plenty of mirrors be installed also. We will plan a facility for every cave," Argent said, and damned if he didn't sound thrilled. This was bordering on surreal. What was I thinking? It was fully surreal. Large community bathrooms for every cave, I was having a hard time imagining it. "We couldn't help hear you are asking the shaman to stay with you," Argent said. "Yes I think it would be good for him to spend more time here." "We also think having the shaman here would be advantageous. Would it be helpful for him to have a private place for residence?" he asked. "I'm sure it would be a good inducement for him to stay longer. He will have to maintain his extensive traveling though and I doubt he will be able to stay with us continuously while the weather is suitable for traveling." "Would it be helpful if he had a wagon such as yours to use? Could you furnish horses if we gave him a wagon?" he asked. "Of course it would be great for him whether he realized it at first or not, and I would be glad to train some horses for his wagon. I don't think it should be nearly as big as mine though. Look up buckboard and you will get a better idea of what I mean. It would be good if it could be closed up like mine though, to make a safe place for him to sleep while he is traveling." "I will let you sleep for a while, but I need to contact you again in a few hours, before sunrise, to talk further about these plans. Will it be acceptable?" he asked. "It will be fine." I was out as quick as I said it and slept soundly until Argent came back. "We have planned the other bathing facilities John and we have made a preliminary design for the shaman's wagon and residence. Please look over the plans for anything which might need to be changed." The designs came to me as three dimensional images, similar to dreams, but they didn't wander or swirl away. In fact, when I concentrated on a portion its view changed to show me more detail and give me a preview of how things would appear from different angles. If I imagined I was in one, I seemed to be there and I could walk around and look at things. It reminded me of the holodeck in StarTrek. What a trip, a holoshitter. The huge bathrooms ran more heavily to showers than tubs. They had plenty of tubs too though and all included a large tub for twenty or more. I saw they included a mini swimming pool like I had, but it was even larger. Apparently the Aliens thought it was necessary for our normal cleanliness and no doubt assumed the communal units needed to be larger to accommodate more people at a time. They had many more showers than mine though. My bathroom flashed up and I could tell the difference right away. Mine was like a palace compared to a nice hotel for theirs. There was much more gold and marble in mine than I had envisioned and it just shouted opulence from every angle. From the single urinal which appeared in each bathroom there was a more or less clear line of sight and view of everything, except the insides of the crappers and bidets of course. If I was standing at one to take a leak I'd be able to see almost everything inside the entire large bathroom. It seemed a little odd to me. "Why is there just one urinal in the larger bathrooms Argent?" "Exactly for the reason you mentioned. Each urinal is located so you can see everything in the facility from it. They are for you only and none of the other men will even consider using them. The only thing you won't be able to see from your urinal will be the insides of the cubicles if the doors are closed. I think you will be getting a surprise from them," Argent said, and I could tell he had to keep himself from laughing. This had gone far beyond anything I could have imagined. I began to wonder how I would explain it to my tribe. I also wondered why there had been any limitation at all in the first place if they were set to do such a massive job now. I kept my mouth shut about it though. "We also have a potential plan for the shaman's residence," he said, and as the image came up I saw I had probably been right about the Aliens making these caves in the first place. Georgo's new residence was to be a cave which wasn't here now. Its opening was not far from the opening of my cave. Strangely it branched into two separate chambers just inside the mouth. The chamber nearest my cave encompassed about two thousand square feet of space and there was a short entrance from it into mine. The other chamber was a little smaller, about eighteen hundred square feet, but it had a small opening which led to an even smaller area of about four hundred square feet of space. I couldn't get my mind around what all the space was for, so I asked Argent about it. "I forgot to mention we have also made a place for Danlo and his new mates. It seems he has become the favorite son, so to speak, and we thought it would be better if he had accommodations nearer yours. The small chamber in the shaman's quarters is for meditation and private ceremonies he may want to conduct." The next and final image was of a smaller version of my wagon. It really was like a buckboard. Its box was five feet by eight feet and two feet deep. It was rigged for two horses but could probably be easily pulled by one. Hell, they were cheap here, might as well give him two. It looked perfect for Georgo to get around in. "It all looks very acceptable to me Argent, but I don't know how in the hell I'll explain new caves popping up. The bathrooms were going to require a lot of talking but new caves appearing will be a stretch." "They should be the easiest to explain. Tomorrow or whenever you would like, there will be a small earthquake. The tremor will crack open the entrances to the caves which are already there, but hidden. We can have the bathing facilities appear at the same time so the attention may be diverted to the caves for a while at least. Of course we will leave some rubble scattered around the new openings for effect, but we will make sure it will all be of a manageable size," he said. "I guess it will work as good as anything. I doubt they will bitch much about receiving this bonus. We had better put it off for a few days though since I seem to have brides to fetch tomorrow. I'd also like to hold off on Georgo's wagon until I have a couple of horses trained for it." "It will be as you say. Would you like for us to go ahead and open up the entrance from your cave into the additional ones for you, so that you can examine them?" he asked. "Can you do it after we get back tomorrow?" "Yes, we will wait until you return. Why don't we wait until you signal us? You can send me a message," he suggested. "That will be fine." I was back sleeping then and I slept soundly until sunrise. When I woke and stirred, all my mates woke also and they were immediately solicitous of my condition. "John we are sorry. We have put too much on your shoulders. You were restless all night and sometimes talked out in your sleep. I know I must have upset you with Danlo's problems last night and I am so sorry I did," Dalia said. "You haven't upset me Dalia. You and all my other wonderful mates have asked me to go and get another woman for myself that I am sure will be wonderful too. Why should I be upset? I was dreaming of getting another mate and wondering what I could do for Danlo for his mating. I feel fine. My only regret is that I must get up and go somewhere. I would like to just stay in bed with all of you all day." Most of them giggled and blushed a little over this. Finally Delia got up her nerve. "John, would you really stay in bed with us all day? What would we do?" she asked, teasingly. "What do you think I like to do with a bed full of beautiful mates?" "While it is daylight John?" Waaya asked. "John has already shown me he does not mind doing it in the daylight," Geera said, and it sounded a lot like bragging to me. "When can we try it then?" Winna asked. "Soon. I want to do it soon," I said. "But what will we do if someone walks in to see us," Gema asked. "If someone walks in they had better walk back out again, or at least watch quietly and not break my concentration," I said. This got their goat a little, but I could tell a few of them wouldn't mind an audience at all. Dieta looked like it had her boiling and I thought I might have to fuck her before I could even go take a piss. She settled down though and I unassed the bed, dressed and went for what I hoped would be one of my last outdoor shits. After my business outside was finished I went back to my cave and as Dalia poured me a cup of coffee I wondered exactly what would happen when the bathrooms came into existence. I decided I might as well ask Argent to put mine in first so I could test the waters with my mates. I went to the computer and sent him the message. His reply was nearly at once and he told me those were my decisions and they could do all or any part of it whenever I wanted. I went back for more coffee and started on my breakfast since it was ready. Georgo came in then and he looked better than I'd expected. His appearance reminded me of the salt. "Dalia, are any of you using the salt for our cooking?" I asked her. "No. We have not bothered the salt," she said at once. "It is my fault isn't it? You all think I am keeping the salt for some reason don't you?" "That is what we thought. None of us has ever had very much salt anyway and we know how to season foods without it," she said. "Feel free to use it anytime you want to. In fact I want you to give every woman in this camp a couple of the bean containers full of salt. It is for using in our cooking and I am ashamed I haven't made that clear before now," I told her and the others. "But it is very hard to get John. We thought you must have been saving it for years," Merita said. "It is not hard for me to get. I could get ten times what I have now in just a few days. Give some to every woman who cooks, make a show of it if you want, but make sure every woman who wants some has at least two containers of it and tell them not to be shy about asking for more if they need it for cooking," I said. "Even the new women who are joining us?" Waaya asked. "Yes. They are part of our camp now and if they stay here they can have salt for cooking." "What if someone takes it and uses it for trading?" Dieta asked. "I had not considered that. If you suspect they are asking for more than they can use in cooking then you should still give it to them, but you must tell me as soon as you can. "I am not sure I will even be angry if they trade for things with it. It will depend on what they are trading for and whom they are trading with. I can get plenty of salt, but if it is just given away to any who happen to come by and want some it will not retain its value. I don't want to hoard it, but I am not generous enough to supply it to everyone who hears I have some," I said. "I do not think that you will have any worries of that from the new people who are joining you now. You might want to be watchful if you invite the others I mentioned though. Most of them would not consider doing such a thing, but as I told you some of them are not desirable," Georgo said. "We can wait until later to worry about it. Did you have trouble sleeping last night Georgo?" "I did not sleep at all and I was not sleepy this morning. I would like more of the coffee if you have some." "We have plenty and you are welcome to it. Sit down and eat something too while you are here," I offered, and he accepted. "I was thinking I might go with you today. I will speak to Barbo, the leader of Dalia's former camp, for you. More importantly I will speak to Jara, his mate. Jara and the other women will be the ones to decide about the price for Shallea and Shaala. Barbo is a good leader, but a little hard headed sometimes. Jara is very much more practical," he said. "Do you know how far they are from a place to hunt bison?" "They are much closer than it was for your hunt from Gigo's camp. I have been thinking though - you might not need to pay for Danlo's mates. If you mate their mother they will obviously leave with her. She has already been mated and does not require a payment. If they all leave with you taking her as a mate it will be perfectly acceptable, even though they will know what has happened. They will grumble, but things like this have been done before," he said "I would rather give them bison and avoid risking ill will. It is no trouble for me to kill bison and I understand now it is their place to skin, carry and clean them. I will be happy to pay a high price for Danlo's mates. In fact I think I should pay them for Dalia and Shelalliea also," I said. Everyone who heard this looked at me then, as if they couldn't believe I had said it. "It is never done John. I am sure they would be happy about it, but it is not your responsibility to do it. They would not even think to ask it of you," he said. "Do you think it would make them angry?" "I have never heard of anyone who became angry at a hunter for giving them meat." "If they will carry and clean the bison I will do it. It is not much trouble for me. They will be doing all the work." "But you will be taking the risk John. Hunting is how the men from the other camp were killed, they were hunting bison," Winna said, and seemed near tears. "Do not worry about John and bison Winna. He has told me he doesn't even get close to them when he hunts them. Though we didn't know him at the time, Geera and I saw him kill a large megaceros from more than three spear cast away," Dieta said. "But how can you kill the bison from so far away and what will keep them from running, from running over you?" Waaya asked. ------- Chapter 36 "I will take you all and show you how I do it when I go to kill some bison for our camp. You will see then there is no danger for me. We must make sure we do not tell anyone else though. It will seem like I have magic to them," I said. "We will try not to worry so much then, but I don't know if I can keep from it," Winna said. I didn't mention it to them and tried not to think it myself but couldn't keep from it. I felt confident Argent would make sure there wasn't any chance I would be run over by stampeding buffalo. I figured he had way too much invested in me to let it happen. Breakfast was eaten and I went outside and to the horse cave. Bigglieo was hitching the team while Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo were getting the travois horses ready. I had Danlo take Bonehead and I got Ben from the cave and gave him to Danlo also. This left Bigglieo Dolly, Nelda, and Jolly for travois horses. "Can you bring everything with this trip Bigglieo?" I asked. "I think we can. Are you keeping one of the travois horses?" He asked. "Yes, I will need Bonehead today." "I still think we can bring everything else. I have been getting better at packing the wagon and I think I can get more in it now," he said. "If you can't get everything today we will go back tomorrow. I do not want them to have to leave anything they want to keep." "I will make sure they understand," Bigglieo said. Georgo, Bigglieo, and the others left then. I put the bridle on Bonehead and then my saddle. She didn't even flinch. Apparently the wagon lesson had done a number on Bonehead. When I stepped into the stirrup she wasn't disturbed at all. I made the sound I usually did each time I wanted to lead one and she understood she was to move out. She was a little confused there was no one to guide her but she walked ahead anyway. When I halter broke a horse I always used a clicking sound every time I wanted them to follow me and I always spoke whoa when I wanted them to stop. I had found it saved a lot of time once I got on their back if they knew when I wanted to go and when I wanted to stop. It took only about thirty more minutes to get her to turn with the reins and I declared her ready for me to ride. I strapped a practice pad onto Ben for Danlo to use. They are similar to a thick saddle pad but cut in the general shape of an English saddle. It also had rudimentary stirrups hanging from a sewn on strap which went over the horse's back. The stirrups weren't stable enough to use for mounting so I lifted Danlo onto Ben's back then remounted Bonehead. We were off then too. I reminded myself I would have to ask Argent for more saddles in my bonus freight. This was Danlo's first time riding and I gave him a few pointers as we went. He was a natural at it and had no trouble even without the benefit of a real saddle. After a while I had Danlo ease Ben into a trot and when Bonehead caught on we picked up speed too. We were covering ground pretty good now and we caught Bigglieo before he passed the place to turn up the other canyon toward his old campsite. None of us were headed that way though. We had to stop to get Georgo who had been riding with Bigglieo on the wagon. I switched the saddle from Bonehead to Ben and put the pad on Bonehead. It took a little convincing, but I finally talked Georgo into riding behind Danlo on Ben and I had to give a little jump to get aboard Bonehead with only the pad. We walked for quite a while and then I had Danlo try a trot again. I could see it was jarring for Georgo, but he seemed to be holding up all right so we kept it up. We arrived in Dalia's former camp in a little more than three hours. After I'd helped him dismount I let Georgo go and talk to Barbo and his mate. I felt sure he would make my proposition sound much more magnanimous than I would have. Danlo and I had some proposing to do. I felt a little funny about it, but was determined to go through with it. Danlo spied the twins and I could tell he wanted to run to them but he didn't. They were all smiles when they saw him. "Shallea, Shaala, I am a man now. I have come to ask you to be my mates," He told them, without preamble. They smiled and then giggled a little and when they realized I was there they blushed. "But Danlo, how can you pay our mating price yet and what about our mother? She is still unmated and if we both leave to be your mates she will be alone here," One of them said. "John is here to help with my payment and he... "Hang on there Danlo. I think I need to meet and talk to Shelalliea before you tell the world. She might have a fly for the ointment," I said. I could see when the realization of his near foul up hit him. He turned and I knew he was about to apologize but I cut him short. "Don't worry about it. Take those two cuties with you and lead me to their mama. I rode a long way to see her and I'm ready." Danlo took one of their hands each and led off, leaving me to bring the horses. I can tell you I got the bad end of the deal. Shallea and Shaala were as cute as girls could get. They were blue-eyed blondes with tight cute little asses and more titty apparent than I'd expected. I followed the sassy swinging little asses to a well-kept hut. One of the girls stuck her head inside. "Mother come out and see. Danlo is here and he has someone with him who wants to talk to you." If the girls had been cute their mother was a vision. She was also a blue-eyed blonde and it was easy to see she had plenty of titty. Dalia probably laughed when she thought to herself of the first time I would see Shelalliea. She saw Danlo first and went to hug his neck in greeting. She asked him if Dalia had come with him and he told her that she hadn't. "I have come to ask Shallea and Shaala to be my mates and John has come to help me with my payment," Danlo said. She looked at me with big question marks in her eyes. Her gaze gave me an odd feeling. "I am John. Dalia, who I think you know, is one of my mates now," I said, and would have said more but she cut me off. "You are John who took Dalia and Danlo to live with you? You are the one who killed the two turds who killed Gigo and Dergo for their mates? You are the one who killed Gembo when he tried to kill you for your mates, and who offered twenty-five bison each for Gema, Merita, and Maia?" She asked me, wide eyed. I could see my reputation had preceded me, but I couldn't tell from her amazed tone whether it was going to be good or bad. "Yes, I am John, and I have done those things and some more," I said, admitting it. "Yes you have. I heard you also killed Jenabo when he said he would kill you and you killed the unmated one who threw a spear into your back. You are John. You say Dalia is now your mate too?" "Yes, Dalia is one of my mates now. She is the one who told me about you," I said. "She told you about me? Why would she tell you about me? What did she tell you about me?" She asked, and really seemed in awe of me now. It was a little disconcerting, but I had to get on with this. "She told me you were a beautiful, hard working, woman. She told me when I brought Danlo to ask your daughters to be his mates I should ask you to be one of my mates. I know you do not know me, but I promise I will be good to you and you will never be hungry and will always have a nice place to live. Will you be one of my mates?" "I cannot believe this. It is coming true. I have heard of you, but did not see you when you came for Dalia and Danlo. I saw you in my dreams last night and you looked just as you do now. You asked me to be one of your mates in my dream. It is all so strange," she said. I knew good and well Argent was responsible for the dream she was talking about. He was getting to be a caution in the dream department. "Well what did you tell me in the dream then?" "Of course I will be one of your mates. We can leave now if you want. Do I have time to pack a few things or should I leave everything." "You should not worry about it. You should come here and let me kiss you. I am dying to." She rushed to me and I dropped both horse's reins and wrapped her up in my arms as she pressed her lips to mine and then pushed her tongue between them. She tasted delicious and as she pulled her body to me tightly I made a mental note to kiss Dalia's feet after all. She broke the kiss after a long couple of minutes. "You are my dream come true John. My dream come true." I guess I should thank Argent for his part too. "You are a dream yourself. I feel like kicking my own ass for not looking around this camp more when I was here before," I told her, and since she was still in my arms I let my hands wander down to her ass. When she felt me grip her buns she pushed her pelvis to me and then stretched her neck up to whisper in my ear. "I don't care if it is day, if you need me we can go into my hut right now," She told me, grinding herself against the rising Dicky. I pulled her to me harder and whispered myself. "We can wait until we are at my cave and it will be better. All my other mates will be there to help me hold you in case you change your mind," I said. She shivered. "I will not change my mind, but it will be better if we are all together. I must thank Dalia and the others too. It will be better after I have wanted you all day long," she said. I knew then Dalia had been right. This was going to be a demanding woman, in bed at least. I was beginning to reconsider the hut when Georgo, Barbo, and Jara came up. "John, I can see Shelalliea must have agreed to be one of your mates. Danlo, did Shallea and Shaala agree to mate you?" Georgo asked. "I haven't really had time to find out if they would still agree to be my mates." Turning to them he asked them each and they both agreed. "All is good then. Jara has spoken to all the women and they will trust you to provide the bison as they can deal with them. They are astonished at your generosity in offering to make payment to the camp in honor of Shelalliea and they think... "Unless they are asking more I will pay my normal price of twenty-five bison each for Dalia and Shelalliea and I will offer to pay the same for Shallea and Shaala on Danlo's behalf," I said, cutting Georgo off. I had them all there. Apparently Georgo hadn't even mentioned my paying for Dalia and I'm sure he thought he was doing me a favor by negotiating a lower price for Shelalliea, Shallea, and Shaala. I didn't want to get into a poor man contest with anyone. I could kill bison easily and I wanted everyone to know it, even if I didn't want them to know how I did it. I wanted word of me paying the highest bride prices to spread. Besides I liked shooting bison when I didn't have to skin them out. "It is so very generous John. We can hardly believe our luck. It will be one hundred bison. It will be enough meat to feed this camp for two winters," Jara said, before Barbo could get a word in. "If you know where a herd is now I can go ahead and get the first part of the payment. How many bison would you like this first time?" I asked, wanting to get this show on the road. "If you could, would you mind waiting for a few days so we can get things ready to take care of more bison at one time?" Jara, who I'd thought all along was the brains of this camp, asked. "If you will watch over Shelalliea, Shallea, and Shaala's things until I can come for them tomorrow I will get the bison whenever you want me to," I said. "We will make sure their possessions are not disturbed," Jara promised. "Danlo you should help Shallea and Shaala tie their sleeping furs onto the saddle. Shelalliea will not need any sleeping furs for now. If we go quickly we should be able to meet Bigglieo with the wagon and we will be able to ride most of the way back," I said. Shelalliea didn't bat an eye at my statement about her sleeping furs. Danlo took Shallea and Shaala into the hut and they were back with their furs and he had them tied onto the saddle in a few minutes. We said our goodbyes to Barbo and Jara and walked off. After about ten minutes of walking I told Danlo he should try riding Bonehead to go ahead so Bigglieo didn't pass before we got there. He told his soon to be mates goodbye and left. We just walked along at a good pace and didn't really talk much. I saw Bigglieo coming toward us about two hours later. Danlo was riding Bonehead beside the wagon. I saw the travois horses and the others must have continued on their way. When they reached us we tied Ben and Bonehead to the back of the wagon. There was room on the seat for Shelalliea and I. Georgo seemed glad to lie down on the cargo and Danlo, Shallea, and Shaala were happy to cuddle up in it too. I felt good when Bigglieo put the team into a trot heading home. I was anxious to get back. Shelalliea kept her arm around my waist where it had been mostly since we started walking away from her camp. We arrived just after sunset. Bigglieo let Danlo, Shallea, Shaala, Shelalliea, and I off at my cave and drove the wagon into the big cave where most people were staying now. I reminded him about the now sleeping Georgo and asked him to help the shaman to his sleeping place if he needed help. He assured me he would. When Danlo, the twins, and their mother entered my cave a ruckus erupted. There were huggings, kissings, and introductions everywhere and I could just feel a nice excitement brewing. I figured we would be up late tonight anyway so I slipped unnoticed to the computer and asked Argent how long it would take to install the bathroom and the entrance to the upcoming new caves. He told me all was already in place and it would only take a few seconds to open the passages. He said there was already lighting and a few other things installed in the new caves. I asked him to keep watch for a few minutes and then open the entrances when I got everyone out of the cave for a little walk. When he agreed I went back to the good time group. "I don't want to stop the celebrating, but I need for all of us to leave the cave for a few minutes. You will have a surprise coming soon. I will have to ask you not to tell anyone else about it until I say you can." They all gave me a look, especially Shelalliea, but generally nodded their assent. I knew this was going to be a shock for Danlo, Shelalliea, Shallea and Shaala. It was going to be a big surprise for all of them but those four would have no precedent. The others at least knew the bed could grow and move itself and also knew about the lighting. We went outside though and I led them toward the horse cave giving them a talk about how the horse herd would be growing soon. They were just getting a little restless with my blather when I got a tingle I knew must have come from Argent. I turned the herd back toward my cave. When we entered the change was obvious to me at once, but it took the others a few minutes to catch on. I hadn't really paid too much attention to the placement of the openings during my dream tour, but now it stood out. The bed's location had been moved about twenty feet around the wall of the cave. There was an entrance for Danlo's new accommodations on the side of the bed nearest the outside wall and an entrance for the bathroom on the other side. It was easy for me to see which was which because of the gleaming marble in the bath. None of the lights were on in it yet though, so it didn't stand right out. No lights were on in Danlo's new digs either. Just looking at the entrances with a casual pass over of your eyes probably wouldn't make them noticeable at first. I should have known who would sound the wake up call though. Gema, who had been the first one to notice when my bed had grown, must have taken to keeping an eye on it. "John, the bed has moved again. Wait - there are holes beside it in the wall too. What is the white gleaming?" she asked, as the others all turned to look. "Which surprise would you like to see first? Do you want to see your new bathroom or do you want to see Danlo's new cave?" I asked, trying to make it seem like an everyday thing. "What is a bathroom?" Winna asked. "How did Danlo get a cave?" Delia wanted to know. "A bathroom is where you take a bath, and other things. Don't ask about the how or why of any of this though. Most of you already know I must keep some secrets," I told them. "We all have seen caves before, I want to see what a bathroom is, and what is a bath?" Jaada asked. "A bath is like washing, but not in the river. I do not know what a bathroom is though," Geera said. "Let us look at the bathroom first," Dalia said. I knew Danlo and his prospective mates would probably rather see their cave, but his mother had spoken. I led them to the bathroom and when I entered the light switch was where I expected it. I flicked it and heard gasps behind me as I continued inside. "It is so bright in here." Waaya said. Of course they were shocked when they got in. Merita was the first to mention the long mirrored wall and Maia went to one of the sinks asking what they were and what the golden things at each of them were for. It took nearly an hour and a half to explain most of it to them. I made the toilets the first point of interest and when I told them what they were for Dieta asked if they wouldn't begin to smell bad very soon, so I tore off a wad of the butt wipe from its dispenser and taught them how to flush. This was blatant magic to them. Gema wanted to know where it went and I told her I didn't know and didn't care as long as it left. After they all thought about it for a minute they agreed. I showed them the bidets then and had to explain their use. They had no trouble grasping the use of the tubs, but were surprised when I told them the water could be warm or even hot without a fire. They could plainly see there was no place under the tubs for a fire. They were astounded when I opened a faucet and water came rushing out to fill the tub. The bubble jets fascinated them and when they reached in and felt the action from the massage jets they seemed ready to get naked and try it all out. I asked them to let me finish the tour first. I did let Dieta strip off and try one of the showers, for demonstration purposes only you understand. I noticed Danlo was attentive to this particular demonstration, very attentive. He would have probably enjoyed things even more if all the women had participated. I gave it a little thought and decided I would probably like to get a look at his two new cuties lathered up in the shower myself. When Dieta came out of the shower I slayed most of them again with the towels. Only a few of them had seen the towels after the wagon bath. They were amazed there were so many now and as I handed a few around for them to examine they held them like they were treasures. I suppose that they were to them. They were completely bewildered by the washers and dryers. The concept of something doing something for them in that manner just didn't sink in I guess. I was guessing they would find their way to using them when the towels were all dirty. Lastly I took the now mostly dry Dieta, wrapped a towel around her most important parts, and stood her in front of the mirror. I dried her hair as best I could with another towel and then dug out one of the many combs and began untangling and combing it. I hadn't showed her about shampoo and conditioner yet and I had to be very gentle to keep from pulling her hair. All the women were amazed at this process. The only thing they had ever had for combing their hair before, except for after the wagon tub bath, had been small smooth sticks. I was sure it was a tedious process and since their hair always looked fairly nice I'm sure they spent a lot of time on it. I didn't have a clue about how they trimmed it, but since none of them wore it longer than just below their shoulders I knew they must have some way. All the women took a turn working on Dieta's hair and it was soon combed and brushed. The brush was another marvel for them. I think all of them had completely forgotten we still had Danlo's new cave to examine. I got their attention and reminded them we had other things to see. Swearing them to secrecy again before entering I led them through the other opening. After I found a switch for the lights and flicked it, in we all went. I was surprised myself to see there was a bed waiting for Danlo and his soon to be brides. It was a little smaller than my original bed had been, but it was complete with a mirror in its canopy though and its spread was like a spotted leopard's skin. There was a much smaller bathroom for Danlo and his mates and it only contained one washer and dryer. The number and capacity of the tubs and showers was greatly reduced and his baby swimming pool, steam room, and sauna were much smaller also. Well rank does have its privileges. I did notice there was a urinal for me in it and my dick twitched over the thought. I led them to Georgo's cave then, but didn't say who it was for at first. As we entered it I saw Georgo would also have a bed and bath of his own. I guess Argent did want him to stay here. "Who will live here John?" Geera asked. "I am hoping I can convince Georgo to stay with us most of the time." "It will be very good for us if he does. It is always a good thing to have the shaman near by," Waaya said. "He will not be a very smart shaman if he can't see there is no other place which will be as good as this for him," Winna added. "He must travel much though," Dalia said. "Yes, he must travel, but I will also be getting something to aid him in his travels. Georgo will soon have a small wagon similar to mine. Danlo must help me train some horses to pull it," I said. "I will be glad to do it if you will show me how." It was late by now and I was ready for bed, to sleep if nothing else. I suggested Danlo return for one of his last nights with the unmated men and that he let the twins go ahead and discover the benefits of his new bed. He said goodbye to them and left. After he had gone Dalia asked me if they would always have to enter their cave through the entrance of ours. "No, they won't. This is something else none of you must ever tell. Tomorrow the earth will shake and an opening to the outside will appear. Bathrooms will also come into all the other caves. You must act as if the shaking was a surprise to you and you must try to make it seem the bathrooms are not so unusual. I know it will be hard, but I wanted everyone to have bathrooms even if it does surprise them. You will have to explain to the other women what the things in the bathrooms are for and try to make sure that they are not afraid of them." "When they see how the bathrooms will be so helpful and realize they will no longer have to wash in the cold river or go outside in the winter to make their water or empty their bowels they will not ask many questions about them. I think you should tell Georgo before it happens though and he will be able to tell some story which will make it all seem right. He is very good at those type things. It is his work to explain the spirit world after all. He can say the spirits have given us these things," Geera said. She had made the perfect suggestion. Georgo could start earning his new cave by explaining it. Since Geera had mentioned it I was sure Georgo could do a better job than I ever could. I thought about sending for him right now, but decided he would probably show up for coffee and breakfast early in the morning anyway. I led my mates toward the bed then, anticipating the unveiling of my newest heavenly body. ------- Chapter 37 Shelalliea had been very surprised by everything she'd seen tonight. She'd stayed pretty close to me and been very quiet. I hoped she wasn't changing her mind now. I walked over to the bed and began removing my clothes. She got another surprise when she saw my mail shirt. "What kind of skin is that John?" She asked, after a few seconds. "It is not a skin Shelalliea, it is called mail. Come and feel it." She was tentative but she came and took the bottom of it in one hand. She ran her other hand across my chest then bent closer to get a better look. "It is made of tiny circles - they are made together," she said. "It is another of my secrets. This mail is why the spear in my back did not hurt me. If he had sent his spear into my leg, or the back of my head it might have been a different matter." "But no man would think to do it unless they knew about the shirt. I see why it must always be a secret now. I will never tell." I finished undressing then and Shelalliea watched. When I dropped my pants she took a good look at Dicky and I saw her smile. Dicky must have seen it too since he began to grow. "I knew Dalia would not have sent you for me unless she knew you were a big man in all ways. I will have to thank her more for thinking of me," she said, and smiled again. All the others were naked now except her and as she raised her tunic over her head she had our attention. She was spectacular. Her titties were almost exactly the size of Dalia's but her nipples were even larger. She and Dalia were a lot alike in fact. They were the same height and probably the same weight. Dalia might appear a little more muscular and Shelalliea seemed slightly more smoothly curvaceous. Her bush was the same blonde as her hair and her complexion was a little darker than Dalia's alabaster skin tone. When she was naked she came to me for a kiss and wrapped her arms around me. The rest of my mates crowded around, stroking and caressing, and then moving us toward the bed. Shelalliea got in first and I was right behind her. She lay on her back and spread her beautiful legs, displaying her wet and engorged labia. "Come to me now John and make me one of your women. I have been ready all day and I need you now," she said. I was happy to. I got between her thighs and lay down on her, capturing one of her big plump nipples to suck and nibble on. She took in a breath as I chewed lightly on her nipple and she reached down to place my dick in her. I couldn't wait any longer to push it up her steaming pussy. She was another tight one and her pussy began chewing my dick as I slid it in to the bottom. Her legs went around me as did her arms and she squeezed me to her and begged in my ear. "Do it for me now John. I am yours and you must show me you like my body. Use it to please yourself. Use me hard," she moaned. That turned me on even more and I began fucking harder. Her great ass was with me for every stroke and she bounced it back up at me with enthusiasm. I knew I was banging her hard like I had Dalia and I could tell she loved it. She put her hands to my ass then and dug her fingers into it pulling me to her even tighter. I wasn't the only one working on Shelalliea either. I could see Dieta was kissing her wildly now and when I moved my mouth to suck her other nipple I had to let Dalia release it before I could latch on. Merita claimed the one I released and I think Waaya or Winna or maybe both were squeezing and pinching her ass cheeks. I knew it was going to be quick for me, but I also knew Shelalliea had already had a small come and it looked like she was building on it rapidly. She must have been because she froze then and trembled. I slammed it to her harder as she went off and I was comming myself as she began to go limp. I pumped her hard until I was done and then lay down on her and kissed her mouth, having to root Dieta out of the way with my head to get a taste. "It was all true John, you are my dream come true. It is just as I dreamed it last night and I am so happy now," she said, leaking tears from her eyes as she told me. "I am glad that you are happy Shelalliea. I am very happy too. I was already very happy, but I am happier now." Dalia rolled me off her then and sucked my dick into her hot mouth while Geera devoured what I had deposited in Shelalliea. Maia had a mouthful of nipple and Jaada had claimed the other one while Dieta had resumed kissing Shelalliea. Dalia was doing a good job on my dick and it would probably be rising again shortly. Waaya was sucking on my nipples and it made my balls tingle. Winna was closest to me, looking for a place to join the fun. I pulled her and guided her to straddle my mouth and when I pushed my tongue up into her she screamed out my name. She didn't last three minutes before she was comming and then sank off me. Gema took her seat while Merita helped Winna lie down and Gema didn't last much longer. Shelalliea moaned out again from Geera's work on her pussy and Gema was nearly gone when Dalia impaled herself on me and pulled Gema to her for some lip work. Mouth to mouth they twisted each other's nipples for a minute or two and then Gema was done for and soon replaced by Waaya. Waaya had a more musky smell and taste than most of the others and it was wonderful. I sucked and licked her with abandon while Dalia, sensing it was her turn to pound on me, banged herself senseless on my dick. I didn't go off in Dalia but Dieta was ready to board as Dalia settled to the bed. As always Dieta was too hot already to last long and it seemed she didn't last twenty strokes before she was done. Waaya was gone then too and as Maia saw her chance at my dick her sister Merita took a seat on my face. Maia was just too tight to slide on all the way on the first stroke and as she worked her way down my dick I tried to drive Merita as wild as Maia seemed intent on driving me. The sisters were kissing now and mauling each other's breasts. When Maia finally had all of me up her I pulled my tongue from Merita's sweet pussy and pressed it up her tangy asshole. She just exploded then and I reached up and pushed a finger up her pussy and put that hand's thumb on her clit for a minor rubbing. Merita went into overload and then fainted. She would have fallen if Jaada hadn't caught her. When Jaada had Merita stretched out on the bed she seemed about to saddle up on my lips but Maia went off then and she had to help her too. Delia took the beard ride then and she was burning up too. I think I had seen her sucking on Shelalliea's nipples while Geera had just kept munching on her rug. My tongue up her ass wasn't a surprise to Delia but she did seem to love it, especially after my finger found its way up her pussy. Jaada swooped down my dick slide and knocked herself out on it. She sent me over the top again too just as my finger, thumb, and tongue worked their magic on Delia. Waaya and Winna were back with us now and as Winna helped Jaada find a resting place Waaya sucked one of my balls into her mouth. Winna was back and sucking on my dick before it could even go down and as Waaya traded for the other ball Winna sealed her lips around my shaft and sucked hard. The blood rushed back into my dick. I tried to pull Winna onto my dick in a little bit, but she motioned me toward Geera's up-thrust ass. I moved behind Geera then and put my dick to her dripping lips. Shelalliea saw what was going on and when Geera felt my dick nosing around her pussy she took her mouth off the pussy she was licking. "Will you mount me like a stallion John. Don't do it, please don't fuck me like a mare," Geera wailed. "You know you want it Geera so stop your crying and get back to your licking," Shelalliea told her, and then pulled Geera's face back to her pussy using two hands full of Geera's hair. When I poked it all the way up Geera from behind she tensed up and then moaned loudly into Shelalliea's pussy. Dieta reached over and slapped one of Geera's wobbling ass cheeks soundly. "I don't know why she cries so about it. She has been shaking for her fuck," Dieta said, and reached under Geera to pinch one of her nipples sharply. Geera pulled her head up and wailed again. "But he fucked me outside in the daylight and then he let one of the wolves lick first my pussy and then my other hole. He even said if the wolf caught me naked it might try to mount me too, and then that night when I was sore you all held me down and let him fuck me again, now he is fucking me as if I were his mare," Geera moaned. "You are bragging now Geera and you are making the rest of us jealous," Merita told her. "Yes I am bragging and I loved every second of it. Fuck me harder stallion. Make me cry and shake from your dick. Fuck me harder," Geera wailed, screaming now. That was the end of her little speech though because she went off, clamping down on my dick with her pussy and shaking her ass until I thought she would pull it out at the root. I grabbed her hips and pulled her back to me hard and blew off in her then. As I slumped down over Geera's back panting I thought I should probably take them into the bathroom in a minute or two and show them exactly what a bidet was for, but I knew I didn't have the strength. Just before I slid off Geera to settle down on the mattress I happened to glance toward the entrance to Danlo's new cave. I saw Shallea and Shaala staring at us all with eyes as big as saucers. I caught their eye and as their mouths gaped open I gave them a big wink and then lay down. Gema and Merita were licking my dick and balls clean almost before I could get still. In the rest of the bed I could hear women licking other women's cunts and I saw Shelalliea roll Geera over to return the favor of cleaning my come out of her pussy. I was done for a while so I closed my eyes and went to sleep. I know I slept soundly for a long while but Argent did pop into a dream during the night. "I don't mean to bother you John, but I have to know how the new caves and the bathing facilities were received," he said. "Everything is good. It will all be fine. Geera, one of my women, told me I should show it all to Georgo in the morning and then tell him about the earthquake. She said it was his business to explain things and since he was getting such a nice cave, bed, and bath of his own we could let him explain them." "She is brilliant then. I can't think of anything which could be better unless he thinks he should hold a ceremony for it," Argent said. "I will ask him to, he should be able to do a small ceremony about an earthquake without breaking a sweat. I think we should go ahead and show him the wagon tomorrow." "It will all be there when you wake up, show him and please do tell him you think a ceremony is needed," Argent said. "I'm going to. I think it's time that we had a little shindig anyway." "Yes. A shindig is in order," Argent said, and then left me. As I drifted out of the dream I wondered what in the hell Argent knew about a shindig. I decided he didn't know shit. I was sound asleep shortly and didn't wake or dream again until morning. I felt the bed move a little and saw Dalia's lovely naked ass as she got up. I managed to get in a little pinch just as she pulled on her clothes and went to build a fire so she could get breakfast started. She was back in only seconds shaking my shoulder. "John, you must come and see. Something else is here and I don't know what it is," Dalia said quietly, but sounding a little nervous. I crawled over mates licking or kissing a nipple here and there until I was able to get off the bed. Dalia helped me with my mail and tried to help with the rest of my clothes. She was nervous. "Dalia, don't worry. You are making yourself nervous for nothing. If I have to lay you down to calm you everyone will want to get started again and you know we are going to have a big day," I said, teasing her, and then took her into my arms to kiss her and feel around on her ass a little. She led me over to the food storage area they had set up and showed me what had appeared in the night. I guess Argent did know something about a shindig after all. There were six big titanium barrels made like giant soup or stew pots with two handles each near their tops. They were each about the size of a fifty-five gallon oil drum. Each one contained a large beer keg and was packed with ice. Each keg had a tall spigot on top and a pump plunger installed. Near them were two Alien versions of folding tables, thirty inches wide and at least twelve feet long. They were covered with large glass beer mugs. I went to the nearest table and picked up a mug, discovering at once they weren't actually glass but were made of thick transparent plastic and it was so good they only looked like glass. I took it to the nearest keg and drew a half mug of the beer. It was good and cold already and I could have sworn it was Lone Star. ------- Chapter 38 "What is that John?" Dalia asked, and she was obviously dying to know. I held the mug to her lips and she took a sip. She twisted up her mouth for a second and then the little light bulb above her head came on. "It is some type of bruga isn't it?" "It is called beer. This will be good for us. When the ground is finished shaking and Georgo has told his tale we will ask him to have a ceremony for the new caves and the bathrooms." "But you must not drink too much bruga John." "Do you think Dieta and Geera will stray if I do?" "They would never. But there are new men in camp and they may not know which of us is your mate. They could make a mistake that would make you want to kill them. "Later, after some weeks, when everyone knows who is who it would make no difference, but you should not drink much bruga today," Dalia said, and I could tell she was serious. "I rarely drink beer Dalia and never drink enough for others to notice. Do not worry. I would have understood if a man made a mistake. I know you will all set them straight. I don't care how much bruga a man drinks though, if he tries to force a woman he will not see another day. I do not put up with it. I wouldn't even if I were not the leader," I said. "If it becomes known you may soon have a camp full of women," she said, and laughed. "Nothing would suit me better. Women almost always work harder than men, and besides, I might want to sneak around and feel their asses. I'm even sure I could get around to welcoming them all sooner or later," I said, and laughed myself, she joined me after a second. "I am sure you could welcome them all sooner and often," she said. She pointed out some more new things then and I recognized the egg containers at once and then spied the bacon. I also saw there were three new larger skillets. The strangest thing was three new containers of salt, each holding one hundred pounds. What in the hell did Argent think I needed with three hundred more pounds of salt? I guess he thought it would go more quickly now since we were sharing it with the others. My mates had started using it for cooking and had begun giving some to the other women too since I had made it plain I wasn't saving it for trading, but we still had more than forty of the original fifty pounds left. The only other new things were several insulated coffee mugs with tops, a lot more coffee, and a large party perc coffee maker. It was on a little table of its own with the new coffee mugs, I even saw it had come with a big sugar bowl and a giant plastic jar of powdered creamer. There was also a convienient receptacle to plug it into. I guess Argent was trying to spread the coffee addiction to all. It only took a few minutes to show Dalia how to make coffee in it. She asked where the heat for cooking the coffee came from and I showed her the cord and told her it came through the wire. I was sure she cataloged it in her mind as more of my magic since she asked no more questions. Dalia started on breakfast and I went in to try a ride on one of the new commodes. It worked as expected and it was a welcome change to have toilet paper again. I stripped off and took my first shower in a long while and enjoyed shampooing my hair again. I was a little let down after I dried off and noticed I couldn't smell pussy in my beard anymore. I would just have to get another dose. After I dried and brushed my hair I decided to look and see if I had any scissors with my new booty. I knew I had forgotten to ask for any, but was hoping they might have slipped some in anyway. Someone up there was paying attention to us now. A little looking in the drawers showed me a set of clippers that would be just right for trimming my beard. I also found there were several hand held hair dryers. I debated with myself over showing the women what they were for. I hadn't paid any attention before, but when I found the clippers I looked back to the vanity top and there were plenty of receptacles to plug them into. I flicked them on and went to work on my beard. I left it but trimmed it fairly close. When I'd finished I went back to Dalia. I could have found her by just smelling my way toward the frying bacon. I got one of the new insulated coffee mugs, filled it with coffee, and went over to fill a plate. I saw Geera was up too and she was cooking the eggs. She had fried some and scrambled some and I could see Dalia was watching her closely. "Is any of it ready for me yet?" I asked, hoping. They both turned to tell me yes, I think, but they didn't make a sound at first. They just stared at my face as if I were someone they didn't recognize. "What has happened to you John? Where has your beard gone? Are you sick, did it fall out?" Dalia asked, because Geera was still too shocked to speak. "I just trimmed it shorter. I found some clippers in the new bathroom." "What are clippers?" Geera asked, as she came to me and ran a hand along my close-cropped jaw. "Did it hurt?" Dalia, who was now also taking tactile stock of the situation, asked. "It didn't hurt and clippers are for cutting hair. I know you all must trim your hair somehow. What do you use?" "We can use small sticks with the ends heated to embers or we can use very sharp flint blades when they are first knapped. The sticks make our hair smell bad for days though and the blades usually make a stinging pull after a while," Dalia told me. "You might not want to use the clippers either, but there are some scissors I think you can learn to use." "What are scissors?" Geera asked. "I will show you later. I am hungry now." "It is ready. Where is your plate?" Geera said. I gave it to her and she returned it piled high. I had just started shoveling food in when Georgo came into the cave. "Welcome Georgo. We have a surprise for your breakfast and then we will have surprises for you all day long," I said. "I could smell the breakfast nearly as soon as I walked out of the other cave. My mouth is watering." Dalia handed him one of the new mugs filled with coffee and Geera gave him a big serving of bacon and eggs. He didn't waste any time getting some of it into his mouth either. "Did you kill something on the way back while I was sleeping John?" He asked, between mouths full. "No. This is a gift from a friend who is not here." "It sounds as if I will never see him or know much of him," he said, in a laughing manner. "I haven't seen him since I came here, except in my dreams, and I do not know much of him myself. You will see more of his work today though." We finished eating without much more talking and after Georgo thanked Dalia and Geera we refilled our coffee mugs and I led Georgo over toward his new cave. He noticed the new opening but didn't say anything. He couldn't hold his tongue after we made it into the cave and I told him it was for him. His shiny new buckboard gleamed for his attention as I turned up the lights but he only looked it over quickly since I called him back to see his bed, his bathroom, and then his little spirit chamber. He couldn't think of anything to say. He finally asked how we would get the buckboard out since it was wider than the entrance. "The earth will shake in a few hours and a passage out into the canyon will open." I might as well have hit him over the head with a club. He just looked at me with his mouth just opening and then closing, kinda like a fish thrown on the bank after you took it off your line. I had him sit down on his bed. He got some of his wits back after a few minutes and just stared at me for a while before asking. "Have I already gone to the spirit world John?" "No you haven't. But you must gather your thoughts. There is more I must show you and you must be ready with an explanation after the earth shakes. Everyone will know something strange has happened then and you must be ready to tell them all about it." This got Georgo's attention and I was amazed as he changed into his professional persona in seconds. He stood up then and said he was ready to see everything. We went back into my cave and I showed him my bathroom and explained about the things in it. I told him about the others which would be appearing after the quake. He took everything in stride now and didn't seem the least bit rattled. I showed him the beer last and after he tasted it he smiled. "We need not worry now John. No matter what I tell them, when they start drinking this bruga they will understand all they need to know. This is the best I have ever tasted and I am sure they will drink it until they cannot stand up by themselves. It will cover all the men's concerns at least, and probably many of the women's also." Georgo returned to his new cave then telling me he must meditate over what he would say. I didn't envy him his job. He did tell me he had been in an earthquake before and had asked again if I were sure no one would be hurt. I told him I had been assured everyone would be fine after the shaking was over. Georgo said he thought he and I should be outside when it came and he thought my women should be in my cave and come out of it running and screaming when the shaking started. He believed they would have an easier time looking surprised that way. He was better at this than I had thought he would be. Georgo and I were walking toward the horse cave when the shaking started. My mates knew when it would come and were the first to scream. They were not the last. I'll swear all the caves were empty within fifteen seconds. The only ones who even got a scratch were two of the oldest boys who fell down after they ran into each other. I noted Jonoco, Danlo, and Nadlo ran back into the horse cave to chase out all the horses which weren't already outside grazing. I was impressed with their bravery and dedication, but decided to ask them not to do it anymore. If they did it during a real quake they might be hurt or killed. I didn't want to lose a horse but there were plenty more we could catch. Everyone gathered around Georgo and I then. All of the men were upset and the women were more so. Most of the women were crying now, including all of my mates. They rushed to me when they saw me. All in all they were doing an excellent job of acting frightened. "Please, everyone, try to calm down. Look around and see if everyone you know is here. We need to know if we must look for those who may be hurt," I said, mostly yelling. Giving them noses to count took their minds off their worries for a minute. They all finally agreed everyone was here. "If everyone is all right then please stay here. Georgo and I will examine the caves to see if they are much damaged or if they look like they will fall in," I said, but in a more normal tone of voice. Georgo and I started with the horse cave, which was now closest. We made a show of looking through every cave saving Georgo's new one for last. When we came back from his cave he started his spiel. "We have been given a powerful sign from the spirits. They are happy you have moved here and they have let me know they want me to spend much more time with you. They have made a cave for me to stay in with you and have even made a spirit chamber for me to use when I need to visit with them," he said, laying it on thick. "They have also made gifts for all of you with this shaking. I have never seen such gifts, but they have let me know what they are for. They will be wonderful to use, as you will see, and they will make our lives here much more pleasant and clean. We must have a ceremony to let them know how much we appreciate these gifts. Go now and prepare a feast for tonight. We must celebrate to honor the spirits. Come, I will show you the gifts in the main cave first," Georgo said, and led them away. What a relief for me. I owed Geera big time for thinking of letting Georgo explain things and I owed Georgo for taking the job. He was in his element now though and he held control of them in his hand and with his voice. I guess Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo had caught on something else was really up. Of course Danlo knew about most of it anyway. They came to me and we started clearing the big rocks which now partially blocked the entrance to Georgo and Danlo's cave. When we had the opening cleared we went into my cave and cleaned up the broken rock the Aliens had put there for appearances. It didn't take long. Georgo came in later and let me know he had made the explanations and now the men were cleaning up the rubble and the women were preparing for a feast. He thought that it would be a fairly simple one since they'd had no warning, but he said he knew they would do their best for the spirits. He left us then to go meditate in his new inner sanctum. ------- Chapter 39 Dieta came up to me then and asked to speak to me. I knew she meant in private so we walked toward the bathroom. I needed to piss anyway. When we were in it I fished out my best friend and aimed him at the urinal. Dieta paid attention to it for the first time and she was curious. "Why do men need those to make their water John?" she asked, meaning the urinal. "We do not need them, they are just handy. I have been told I will be the only man to use them though. There is only one in each bathroom and if you stand near it when you go in you will know I can see everywhere in the bathroom as I stand at it. If a woman is bathing or showering while I stand here I will be able to see her." "But she would probably not mind if you looked anyway," Dieta said. "She might not, but she might be shy. It will seem normal for me to come into the bathroom even if she is in there bathing and if I like her shape I can look at her all I want and not seem to be staring. If she looks good enough it might stand up and give her a peek too." "I see now. You can get to see her and not seem to be trying. What will you do if it stands up?" Dieta asked, and I knew the thought was ringing her bell a little. "What do you think I should do? Do you think I should go shower with her and help her wash? Should I get into the tub with her and wash her titties or her pussy?" "Yes. Yes you should wash her. It would be so helpful. You should make sure her titties are clean and her pussy. You should swab it out with your dick too. Your dick will help her a lot and she will be very glad. "No woman would resist the leader John. Gigo fucked all the women. He fucked me often. You know he did. Dergo did not mind even before Gigo told him he could force Geera whenever Gigo had too much bruga. You saw us and you liked it didn't you?" she asked, she was hot now and practically hissed it out. "Yes I liked it the first time I saw you and Dergo force Geera. I wanted to come out of hiding and take you both. Now I have you both and I am very happy for it." "We are happy for it too and you know it. We were not happy Dergo and Gigo were killed and we hated the thought of leaving with Braato and Gordo to become their mates. "When you came for us before they even got us back to their camp and we realized they would never even finish taking us to their home it was such a relief some of the sorrow from Dergo and Gigo's death seemed pale against the happiness of our rescue from Braato and Gordo. It was as if we never had time to be sad for Dergo and Gigo. The living must carry on with life and let the dead take care of their own duties. "Then there is you. You get me so hot and Geera too. She was on fire for you last night and so was I. We all were. You should take some of the other women in camp soon too John. It is your right now you are the leader. You should take the new women so they will know you want them to stay with us, especially the unmated ones who lost their mates. All of the unmated ones have had mates before so you can take them all. Gigo even took a few who had never been mated before. He shouldn't have, but he did it anyway. He did know if no one else would mate them he would need to though," Dieta told me, as she held and stroked my dick. "Didn't the unmated ones complain?" "They would not dare. Gigo was the leader. They could not tell him no. After it was done they did not want everyone to know it," Dieta said. She had me wanting some pussy now. I took her hand and pulled her into one of the crappers, shutting the door behind us. "What are we in here for John, I do not need to use this now?" She asked, still pumping me. "It can be used for other things Dieta," I said, as I pushed my pants down and sat on the lid - then I untied Dieta's trousers and pulled them down and off her as she stepped out of them. "But how John?" she asked. "Like this." I pulled her down toward my dick, guiding her legs to straddle me. When her pussy got near enough I slid my dick up in her and pulled her down farther. She was wet enough and as I thrust she began to use her legs to lift and then settle back down on me. "Oh, I see now. This is good and you can reach far up into me this way," she said, and moved her hips faster. I caught the bottom of her tunic and lifted. She helped me get it off her. As it came up above her tittys I captured a nipple with my lips and as I sucked it I took one of her buns in each hand and kneaded them firmly. She put her arms around my head and pulled me tighter to her breasts as I sucked and she pumped herself up and down on me. "This is good, but I would never have thought of it," she moaned to me, panting now. I slid one hand down to tease the back part of her pussy and get my fingers wet then I brought a finger up and began teasing her ass hole with it. "Oh John, Oh. That is the wrong hole," she said, but she slammed her ass down harder onto me and got faster. "You are my woman, all of your holes are for me and you will soon like for me to use them all." I pushed the finger into her ass then and she tensed and then exploded howling. She clamped down on my long dick and I let go in her and bit firmly on the nipple in my mouth. She sagged onto me when she was done, but I was still fingering her asshole and she shivered every now and again. "It feels strange but it is good too. Will you fuck me there? You are going to fuck me there, aren't you? Won't it hurt?" she asked. "I will fuck you there and it might hurt a little, but you will get over it," I told her, almost coldly. It was the right thing to say to Dieta. She couldn't bring herself to resist my cock in her pussy, but I think she wished she could put on at least a little show of resistance every once in a while. Her first ass fucking was going to give her a chance to try for that thrill. I was pretty sure she'd at least be able to act like she didn't want to do it there. I kissed on her neck and ears and then had a thought. I put my lips to Dieta's neck and started sucking. When I was through she had a pretty big hickey. "What were you doing? It felt nice, but you made such a funny noise," Dieta asked. "You will see when you look in the mirror." I looked around at the cubicle for a second and it had changed. It was not just a partition around us anymore, it extended from the floor to the ceiling all the way around. When had that happened? Argent was just full of tricks and I wondered if it was what he had been going on about when we were talking about the crappers. It had to be. Hell this was great. If I caught a woman taking a piss with the door open I could just walk in, close the door, fuck her eyes out and no one would be the wiser. I was going to try it as soon as I could. We got up and pulled our clothes back on and then left the crapper. Dieta went to look at her neck in the mirror. "There is a mark on my neck where you were sucking," Dieta said. "It is a love mark. It shows everyone that I have fucked you lately and I loved it. It also means I love you," I told her. "I have never heard of anything like it. Is it done where you come from?" she asked. "Often." "I think I like it. I want everyone to know you fucked me and you loved it," she said, smiling. "Don't tell the others what it is. If they ask about it you can just tell them I did it to you. It will be a surprise when I do it to them too. Like the surprise they'll get when I get them in the toilet." "I won't tell them. They can find out like I did. They will like finding out about it better this way," She said, and then laughed. "They will be very surprised." It had been a nice little afternoon fuck and I enjoyed it. I was going to have to piss with help more often. I knew Dieta wouldn't tell the others. She would want to think of them getting the same surprise she did. I liked thinking about it too. She never got around to asking me whatever she had wanted to when she first asked to speak to me in private though. All the rubble was gone by the time we got back. Since Dieta had gotten pretty loud at one point and since there were no embarrassed grins on Nadlo, Jonoco, or Danlo I figured the closed up crapper must be soundproof too. Argent was getting devious along with secretive. It all seemed to be going my way though so I wasn't going to squawk about it. When I went back outside I could see a fire had been started near the mouth of my cave. It was between the opening to my cave and the new opening for Georgo's cave. There were posts with forked tops on either side of it and a long spit was being loaded with bison and bear meat for cooking over the fire. There were also other fires near by which were cooking different things in suspended bags - obviously made from animal stomachs. Geera, Waaya, Winna, and Dalia were stealing the show with my original big stew pot. I don't know what they were cooking in it but it smelled delicious. I could tell from the smell they had put some of the bacon in it for flavor too. There was some sort of large vessel made from a hollowed out section of half a tree trunk. It was a little over three feet long and the tree had probably been about thirty inches in diameter before it was split in half. Some women were putting stones that had been heated in the fires into it. It smelled like tea and when I asked they confirmed my suspicions. The woman who was overseeing the operation was one of the new arrivals. She seemed almost grateful I was asking her about it and as I talked to her Dieta came over and introduced us. "Roweea this is John, my mate and our leader. Roweea was the mate of the other camp's leader, John," Dieta said. I told Roweea I was sorry for her loss, but I was glad they had decided to join us here. I asked her if the earthquake had upset her this morning. "I was very frightened at first until the shaman explained the spirits had used it to give us these gifts. I have never seen anything before that showed the work of the spirits so strongly and I have never heard of anything like the gifts he gave us in the caves. I haven't tried the gifts yet, but I can tell they will be wonderful, especially when the winter is here and snow is everywhere," she said. "They are going to be even more useful than you think Roweea. You will see," Dieta said. I had been suspicious of her motives when Dieta came over to introduce us, but I knew for sure now Dieta was trying to set Roweea up for a little bathroom discovery at least. At first I thought I might be a little put out by it and then I realized Dieta was doing it for me and not particularly for Roweea. Dieta wanted me to fuck every woman I could. How could I be mad about that since it seemed all my mates generally had the same idea? Dieta was just a little more enthusiastic about trying to get the ball rolling. Dieta and I left Roweea to her tea then. I made sure to tell her it smelled very good and I would be coming back for a taste later. When we were out of earshot Dieta spoke. "She is pretty isn't she John. Later I will tell her she is welcome to use our bathroom if she needs to relieve herself while she is tending the tea." "You little minx. I think you want me to help her relieve herself," I said, teasing Dieta. "Yes. Yes I want you to help her. It is making me excited just thinking about it. Will you put the mark on her neck when you do?" Dieta asked. "I think all of my mates should get a mark first, don't you?" "You are right. All of us should get a love mark before Roweea or any of the others get one," Dieta said. "You are right though, Roweea is very pretty and I will have to show you how much I appreciate you thinking of me when I get my strength back," I said. "I was thinking of all of us John. I think you should ask Roweea to be one of your mates also," Dieta said. "Don't you think I have enough mates Dieta?" ------- Chapter 40 "You have many mates John, but not too many for you yet. You must remember most men will take additional mates if they can hunt well enough to provide meat for them. You should have as many mates as you can easily feed. You know you can feed many more mates than you have. "Our camp has not even eaten all the meat from your first hunt yet, let alone the meat from the bear, which you killed more or less by accident. I am not even mentioning the meat that we could get to help you. Geera and I like to hunt and I know Dalia can hunt. You can still afford many more mates. "Roweea was the mate of their leader. She will need to mate again and it will be better if she is mated to the leader here also. All of her camp is used to her position as leader's mate and it will seem more natural for them if she remains so. "It never seems odd if a woman who was not a leader's mate suddenly becomes the mate of a leader. It is always uncomfortable when a woman who was a leader's mate loses her mate and has to mate a man who isn't the leader. "Ask Geera or Georgo and they will tell you the same thing. It is why Gigo took Winna and Dergo took Waaya when you killed the three of them. We told everyone you had killed Gembo, Gigo killed Jabo, and Dergo killed Jenbo. That way Winna, who had been the leader's mate would be Gigo's mate and would still be a leader's mate," Dieta explained. It all made sense to me then and as I was thinking about it I thought of something else. I asked Dieta about it at once. "I didn't even think of it before Dieta, but now I see when I killed Gembo I was killing Winna's son. How can she keep from hating me?" "Gembo was not Winna's son. Gembo's mother died before he became a man. Jabo had two mates before Gembo's mother died. He had mated Winna later. Winna has never had any children. Winna does not mind that you killed Gembo because Tanta, Gembo's mother, was never kind to Winna after Jabo took her as a second mate. "Gembo was not either and was actually mean to Winna and often taunted her even before he became a man. Jabo was better to her than those two were, but not very much better. It did not bother Winna at all when she heard Jabo and Gembo were both dead." Well that little mystery was solved almost as soon as I'd thought of it. In fact it had been solved long before. I was glad I hadn't killed Winna's son though. Of course since she had never had a son I hadn't had a chance to. Since I felt Dieta was probably doing her best to steer me right and it was only a coincidence the direction was one she wanted me to take anyway I decided I would ask Georgo about it. I left Dieta outside prowling around the cooking fires and getting into the spirit and went to see if I could get a word with Georgo. He was coming into my cave through the connecting entrance just as I was coming in from outside. We met near the coffee pot and I got a mug but Georgo declined. "Dieta tells me it would be better if I took the mate of the deceased leader of our new member's camp as one of my mates. She says it always causes some confusion if a former leader's mate is taken for a mate by someone other than the leader of the camp she is in. Is that your opinion also?" "It is not opinion John, it is the way things are. It does not come up very often though since leaders are rarely killed. It is a very unusual circumstance for three different camp's leaders to be killed in so short a time. "If Winna had been taken by Dergo as a mate instead of by Gigo it wouldn't have made as much difference since she was leaving the camp where she had been the leader's mate. Since Gigo took her though there was nothing in the least unusual. "When Braato and Gordo killed Dergo and Gigo there would have been problems though, because Winna was coming back to live at the camp where she had been the leader's mate and she would have been mated to a man who had two former leader's mates for his mates. It would have been disturbing, especially since both of the men were held in low regard by the whole camp. "When it became known they would both be your mates and then when it was clear you were the new leader of Gigo's camp things were more nearly normal again - even though you did cause quite a stir setting things right. If there is nothing else troublesome about it I think you should take Roweea, the mate of your new member's former leader, as another mate. It will add to the feeling of security of all your new members and I am sure all the members of your camp will see it as the natural thing. As long as it doesn't cause you trouble in your own cave," Georgo said. "It is exactly what Dieta told me. She also encouraged me to take Roweea as a mate." "Your other mates will let you know if there is anything bothersome to them about it and I doubt there will be. I have known Roweea for many years and she is a good obedient woman. She is also used to hunting and not much of a gatherer or cook. "She has many good qualities, but cooking is not among them. She is one of those I had to endure meals from and then tell they were very good. Thankfully, most of the time other women in the camp did her share of the cooking," Georgo said. "I don't think her shortcoming with cooking will cause any troubles for me. I have more mates who want to cook now than can get a chance to do it," I told him. "I know. Dieta and Geera are a novelty since they are good hunters, good gatherers, and good cooks. It is said Dalia is also a very good hunter and I know she is a good cook. Gembo never wanted Delia to hunt, but I think she knows how and actually likes to - she is a very good cook also," Georgo said. "I have plenty of cooks and I need almost no hunters." "I know you can do very well hunting and I would guess if you had to you could kill all the meat needed for this whole camp and more. I do think you should encourage all who want to hunt to do so or learn to do it if they don't know already. If something were to happen to you, after you have been here a few years, they would all go hungry if they didn't know how to hunt anymore," Georgo said, explaining his thinking. He was right and I knew it at once. I couldn't let them become dependant on me for all the hunting. It was at least possible Argent might end his experiment and if he didn't let me stay they would all have hard times for a long while unless they kept up their hunting skills. I didn't anticipate leaving, but I didn't know I would be here forever. I doubted Argent would allow me to be killed, but it was something else I thought, but didn't know. I fully intended to stay as long as I was allowed to, but I didn't even know why I was here so I surely didn't know how long I would be allowed to stay. I decided I would ask Argent if he could tell me anything about it when I talked to him again. In the mean time I decided I should teach them a little about a more efficient way to hunt. There was the more advanced way of casting a spear with a throwing stick, but I wasn't very familiar with it and though I understood the principle I knew nothing about the details of the ultra simple device. Bows and arrows were a different matter and I did fully understand how they worked. I was fairly certain I could construct them from the materials at hand if I had to. I didn't have to though. I had some bonus freight coming and it would be a lot easier to requisition some. If it came down to it later, more could be made and it would be easier for them after they had examples. It was a little strange when I realized the bowstring would be the hardest thing to make in this time. As the afternoon wore on the preparations for the feast began filling the air with delicious odors. I went out to sample Roweea's tea and it was good despite what Georgo had told me about her cooking. She seemed glad to see me again so I stood with her as I sipped mine. "The tea is very good Roweea, I like it." "I am glad you do, but I must confess I didn't do anything but stand here and watch over it as the other women made it. I am a terrible cook. I tried so hard for a while to learn, but finally I just spent most of my time hunting and other women took over my cooking for me. I have always liked to hunt and some of the other women were glad when I brought them meat in exchange for their cooking our meals," she said. "Everyone can not be good at everything. I like to hunt and I am also a terrible cook," I said. "You are a man, you are supposed to be a terrible cook," she said, and laughed. "I have known men who did only cooking. They were such good cooks everyone else took care of their other needs if they would just continue cooking," I said. "I have never heard of that, about a man at least. Many women never hunt. They cook, gather, and clean kills and other things. I have never heard of anyone who only cooked." "It was a long time ago and a long way from here." "Where did you come from then?" she asked. "From very far away. I do not speak of it anymore. I am here now and it is where I will stay." "It is lucky for Geera, Dieta, and all the others that you came. I can already tell you are a very good leader. They are lucky you were there to take over the leadership of Gigo's camp and we are lucky you were here to take over the leadership of our camp," Roweea said. "I don't know if Geera, Dieta, and their camp were lucky or not. I did cause most of their problems," I said, admitting it. "It is not what Georgo told us. You were minding your business and making a life with your new mates when three men came to kill you. It was their bad luck Gigo and Dergo were there to help you. I think you were very brave to kill Braato and Gordo after they had killed Gigo and Dergo. I know Geera, Dieta, Waaya, and Winna are very thankful you did it," she said. "It really wasn't very hard either. I still wonder how Braato and Gordo managed to slip up on Gigo and Dergo and then be so stupid as to just let me walk right up to them. They even wanted to boast about it and taunt me," I said. "Is that why you killed them then, because they boasted and taunted you," she asked. "No. I knew as soon as Jonoco told us what they had done they would be dead by my hand that day. When I saw my mates crying for the fate of their mothers there was no other thing for me to do. The boasting and taunting only bought them a slow and painful death instead of a quick one." "Oh, I did not know it. How did you kill them?" she asked, and I could tell she was fascinated now. "When they started boasting I just hit one on the end of his nose with my fist with all my strength. When the other tried to jab his spear into me I grabbed it and pulled him toward me with one hand and then hit him as hard as I could on the side of his head with my other hand. This left them both addled and they fell to the ground. After they were down I kicked them in the head and ribs until they were unconscious," I said. She asked if it hadn't hurt my feet and I showed her I didn't wear moccasins. It seemed she wanted to ask about my boots, but I went on with the explanation of tying them up and dragging them. When I explained the dragging only killed them after it had worn off enough skin and meat for them to bleed to death, hunter or not, she shivered at the thought. "Please be sure to warn me if I am ever making you angry," she said. "Roweea, how could you think I would ever hurt a woman?" "Many men have been known to whip and beat their wives," she said, looking at me as if I were a simpleton. "None will ever be known to do it more than once in my camp. If I don't kill them for it I will show them what it feels like until they will never want to do it again." "I don't like it either, but if it is their mate why should you interfere?" she asked. "It is my understanding when a payment is made for a mate it is to compensate the other women for the loss of her help and companionship. That is why it is much lower if her mate lives in the same camp. Was I told wrongly?" "No, it is the reason for the mating payment," she said. "So the man does not own his mate. If he does not he has no right to beat her. Even if it were not the case he would not beat her in my camp. Such things would have a bad effect on the whole camp. I will not tolerate it. If you know of men such as this in your camp you should make sure they are warned before they make a serious mistake. I am the leader here and everyone must try to get along, if they do not I will make sure they get along or they leave - one way or the other." "I am sad my mate was killed, but I am glad we are here now. I believe I will enjoy living in your camp. No man from our camp has ever done anything like what you mentioned. I have heard of it in other camps though. Most people condemn it, but no leader I have heard of has ever taken such a stand," she said. ------- Chapter 41 "I do not control other camps, but I do take my attitudes with me wherever I go. I do not like to see such things anywhere and I know that I would have a hard time holding my tongue if I encountered it. I can usually get my point across," I said. I hadn't meant to get into a lather about something which hadn't even happened yet. I knew that physical abuse of women by men could have no good results though. I wanted to make sure that Roweea let all her people knew exactly where I stood. I wasn't opposed to a man in this time giving his wife a spanking if she really needed it, but I hadn't seen a woman yet who needed one. As far as I was concerned there would never be a woman who needed a beating. I drifted back to my cave then to keep from showing my displeasure at even the thought. I was anxious for the festivities to get started, but I was tired of watching the preparations. I couldn't let go of my thoughts about what Roweea and I had talked about so I went to see if Georgo was in his cave. I found him just leaving his little chamber. I went to him and told him of my conversation with Roweea, asking him what he thought about it. He felt the same way I did about it, but also told me that a leader almost never got involved in such matters. I told him that I would be involved in every one I heard of. He didn't think it was out of the question for me to make it my business. He did warn me it would come up if I invited both of the other camps he'd told me about. Hearing him say it made me want to invite them all the more. Soon Maia came to get us since the food was ready for the feast to start. This lifted my mood at once and Georgo and I followed Maia outside. I found out Georgo was always served first at the ceremonies and I was next and then my mates. The others were to follow as their status indicated. Bigglieo was whom I considered my most important man and I'm sure everyone in my camp knew it. He was insistent Roweea follow my mates in line though, due to her status as the other camps leader's former mate. A slight confusion followed after that as the new members did not know who should follow next and Bigglieo didn't either. They worked it out by alternating according to their status in the respective camps. I knew I would have to discover that status and see if it would fit in with the way we were currently operating with regard to pecking order. I hated this type of thing, but knew it had to be dealt with. Everyone needed to know where they stood and what was expected of them. It would probably be a little tricky at first, but I was hoping everything would settle down soon. I did decide I would have to ask Georgo more questions about what would be expected if I invited the other camps. I needed to find out what place the leaders of the other camps would expect to play if they came and how their men would expect to merge into mine. It was time to forget all that now. I had some eating in mind and after Georgo had done his part for the spirits we would be bringing out the surprise bruga. I figured things would get comical fast after it appeared. They did. After the first gorging of the feast was over Georgo gave us another speech thanking the spirits for all our new things. He had his buckboard dragged out for all to see and told us that the spirits had made it for him so that he could visit other camps more easily and so he could return to our camp regularly. I don't know if he did it intentionally or not, but I noticed in the following few weeks, since Georgo and I were the only ones with wagons, and since mine was bigger and I'd had it longer I seemed to be elevated to near shaman status alongside Georgo. Tonight though, everyone looked over Georgo's buckboard and praised the spirits for giving it to him. After Georgo finished his speech he called for the celebration to begin. I hadn't noticed some of the men and women had brought out musical instruments, but I did when they began playing. They were mostly of the percussion persuasion, but there were a couple of flutes joining in. The music was more like a melodic moaning with a heavy beat than anything else I could compare it to. There was a lot of singing to go along with it, but there were no lyrics. They were just carrying the melody with their voices and weren't using words to tell a story or anything of the sort. It sounded ancient to me - of course it was ancient. The music didn't end and then start again like it would if different songs were being performed. It just continued. Some dropped out for a while and then came back. Some joined and later just quit. The music kept on though. It very nearly all came to a stop when Georgo had Bigglieo and some of the others bring out the kegs and the tables with all the new beer mugs. There wasn't a big excitement at first because none of them had any idea what it was. When I gave Bigglieo a mug of brew and he drank it down and told the others what it was the rush was on though. As the music ebbed to its lowest Georgo broke into another round of thanks to the spirits, saying they had sent this bruga themselves for our celebration. The spirits were thanked nearly to death for the next couple of hours. I was hoping Argent was enjoying the praises being shouted to him. As the night wore on and the beer kept flowing I began to think there was no way he could miss them if he were in this solar system. As Georgo had predicted they hammered on the kegs until not a man was left standing and most of the women were shitfaced too. They were certainly the happiest bunch of cave men and cave women I had ever heard of. I'm fairly certain Georgo and I were the only males in the whole camp who were sober. Even the children had been allowed to march up and get all the beer they wanted. It is funny to see an eight-year-old boy swilling beer from a mug that seems as big as his head. Somehow all the women had known they would need to be able to stand at least, even the little girls. When a man went to the ground for the duration, several women would take hold and drag him as close to his sleeping furs as they could get him. My mates had to help too and when Bigglieo hit the dirt even I had to help. That big bastard was a load. I hadn't had more than two mugs of beer all night so I got to watch without worry of falling down myself. I also helped Jaiya pull Jonoco to the unmated men's place and later helped Melieta with Nadlo's similar trip. They both seemed very grateful for the help and weren't shy about pressing up against me as we put their soon to be mates to bed for the night. Since this let me end up alone with each of them for a time in the bachelor's quarters with no one besides their dead drunk intended mates around, I took the time to give each of them a good kissing and fondling while I was at it. Jaiya showed me quickly she was very grateful for the help. Her round little rump felt good and her perky tits soon produced plump nipples for thumbing and twisting. I thought seriously about breaking her in for Jonoco, but relented at last to give him the first shot at her anyway. I could see how Gigo must have had serious temptations in his day. When Melieta and I deposited Nadlo I was horny already. She was every bit as thankful as Jaiya had been and since she was a little older than Jaiya, had a rounder ass, and somewhat bigger titties. I was willing to go a little farther with her. I had her tunic off and lay her down beside her unconscious intended, to press my body against and her then suck on her tits until my heart was content. When I moved a hand down to cup her warm pussy she spread her legs to accommodate me and soon began pushing it up into my hand. I really hoped I could keep from fucking Melieta, but I intended to get my fingers slimy. As I untied the drawstring of her trousers she raised her hips to help me get them down over her ass. While I let my fingers play in her slippery lips she used her hands and feet to get her pants completely off. She was inviting me to fuck her and I wasn't sure I could pass it up. "Melieta, I want you, but don't you think you should let Nadlo be the first," I asked her, with Dicky cursing me all the while. "Nadlo wasn't going to let me be his first. He tried to sneak Jaada off into the night or have you forgotten?" She asked, as she kept pushing her pussy toward my wet hand. "Maybe he has learned his lesson," I told her, as I found her hymen guarding her entrance. "It was you who taught him the lesson. Maybe you should give me a lesson too," Melieta said, through her gasping. "The first lesson is usually painful for young women. I will teach you something else tonight. After Nadlo has shown you the pain I will call you to my bed with my mates often to show you how it can be done with only pleasure," I panted. I moved my mouth from her nipples to her pussy then and she moaned as my lips and tongue found her wetness. I felt like moaning myself, as I tasted the sweet virginal secretions. She tasted exactly like what she was. A sweet new unfucked pussy. I devoured her and she was thrashing her hips and crying out in only a few minutes. I felt like giving her a few little bite marks but didn't. My dick was throbbing and aching as I kissed and cuddled her while she recovered. "Now I know why all your mates are happy to have you. I hope Nadlo will be as good to me," she sighed. I helped her dress again and we left then. The first of my mates I saw as we were returning to the remains of the party was Dieta. Her eyes were shining and she couldn't keep the smile off her face. Even Melieta saw it from a good distance. "Dieta will not be angry with me will she?" Melieta asked, with some anxiety. "Dieta will be angry with me, for not doing it with you," I told her. "It was your choice, I was anxious to," she said. "I know and I will probably be sorry about it soon, but you will see it is better if you let Nadlo be first." "If you say so I believe it. Just don't forget you promised to show me how it really should be done," she said. "I will not forget and if you are close with Jaiya you can tell her I will want to give her a few lessons later also," I told her and since I could see Dieta had eyes only for us I put my arm around Melieta and got a handful of her ass to fondle for a few steps. "We are close and I will tell her. She can be anxious with me," Melieta said. She parted from me and headed for the unmated women's place before we reached Dieta. Dieta came to me at once and asked me if I had enjoyed Melieta. "I enjoyed her Dieta, but I didn't fuck her. I only licked her pussy. I will let Nadlo cause the pain for her first time and I have promised her I would show her how much pleasure it could be later. I might as well tell you I had a little fun with Jaiya too, but I only kissed her and played with her titties." Dieta was practically salivating now. "What about Roweea, did you catch her in the bathroom tonight?" She asked, with baited breath. "No, I didn't, but there is no rush. If all the others agree I will ask her to join you all as one of my mates." "Come, you must hurry," Dieta said. "Why must I hurry, is she about to mate someone else tonight?" "No, not at all. She is squirming for you already. I have spent half the night telling her what a man you are. She is not why you must hurry. Geera, Dalia, and Shelalliea have been holding Danlo up for the last hour so that you could get back and help Shallea and Shaala take him to the unmated men's quarters. Why didn't you tell me they watched us last night?" she asked, reproachfully. "I have been so excited myself almost every time I was around you since then that it slipped my mind. I am going to try not to fuck them either. I want Danlo to do the hard part so I won't have to," I said. "All right, all right. You can at least lick their pussies and play with their titties. Since they watched us last night they are burning up for you too. I'm glad you have seen the wisdom of giving some of the other women some happiness finally," she said. "I do not know yet it is wise, but I do think I will like it. I guess I will spend some more time rolling around on the floor of the unmated men's quarters," I said. "You do not need to. When you have put Danlo down just walk Shallea and Shaala back to their quarters - for their safety of course," Dieta said, and then giggled. "We will all stay outside and talk to Roweea. Shelalliea will wait for you on our bed and after she has told you what she thinks about you taking Roweea for another mate she will come out and all the others will slip in one at a time to tell you. We know you like to hear it from each of us alone and so we have already made a way to tell you tonight. Roweea will not have to spend another night alone this way," Dieta explained to me, almost as if I were a child. "I can see you have everything in order then," I said, trying to hide the humor I felt over the situation. "Of course we must. You are our mate and it is our duty to do what is in your interest. Most of us have never been the leader's mate before, but Geera is teaching us what we need to know," she said, with a hint of pride in her voice. "Well I want to tell you I think all of you are doing a wonderful job." "Hurry then before Geera, Dalia, and Shelalliea are too tired to hold Danlo up any longer." ------- Chapter 42 I went to them then and helped Shallea and Shaala take Danlo to lay him down for the night. I could have carried him over my shoulder myself but there would have been no point in that. Shallea and Shaala made sure to brush against me as much as possible during the trip to his quarters and we spent a little time with some preliminary kisses and gropes in the dark cave before we returned to mine. Then I went into theirs with them as Dieta had suggested. Shallea and Shaala didn't waste any time when we got to their bed. They helped each other get my clothes off and then shed theirs. They had me flat on my back on the bed at once and Shaala mounted for a beard ride as Shallea began sucking and slobbering all over my dick. It was fully hard in seconds. Shallea let it slip from her mouth while I was licking Shaala's sweet lips. "See how big it is Shaala?" Shallea asked. "Yes. Mother was right. It is huge. I think she and Dalia were right to tell us Danlo should do it to us first. His big one would hurt much more," Shaala said. "Yes, but we will get to do it with him soon. We can can't we John, after we are mated a while?" Shallea asked. "It will be my pleasure I'm sure," I told them around Shaala's pussy. "Just suck on it for him now Shallea as mother and Dalia told you to. He is making me feel very good and he stops licking when you ask him a question," Shaala told her sister. The talking seemed to be over with for then and I concentrated on Shaala's sweet pussy. Shallea didn't really know what she was doing with my dick, but it felt good anyway. It took a few minutes to get Shaala moaning but after that it wasn't long before she was done. When Shallea took Shaala's spot on my face she was already hot so she didn't last very long either. I cuddled, kissed, licked and sucked on them while they were recovering. I also got some good feels of their asses and pussies while I was at it. I let them sleep after a while though, put my clothes back on, and left. I'll admit I was feeling good about myself when I left them. I felt even better when I saw Shelalliea sitting on the bed with her big smile when I came out. "Well my mate, have you given my babies a little thrill to help them sleep?" she asked. "Yes darling, I have licked them where it feels best. I will let Danlo show them what hurts for a young girl and then I hope I can give them an even bigger thrill," I said, smiling myself. "If there is a bigger thrill anywhere I haven't heard of it and neither has any of your other mates. I am here to tell you I am panting for you to mate Roweea as are all the rest," she said. I had reached her side by now and she pulled me to sit on the bed and kissed my lips. She backed off just a little and sniffed at my face and then she kissed me with even more passion. "I can smell my babies' pussies on your face and I must leave while I still can. Just wait here." I waited as each of them slipped in and then out telling me of course I should mate Roweea also. Dieta was the last to come in and I already knew what she thought of it. She made sure she told me anyway and when she went back out I went with her. Roweea was still with them talking, almost everyone else who could find their way to bed had gone. There was one couple still in sight, but they were leaning on each other and trying to stumble into the big cave. I walked right up to Roweea. "Roweea all my mates have asked me to take you for a mate also. I do not take mates though - I ask them if they will have me. Will you have me Roweea, not because my mates tell me it is right, but because I want you to be with me now and from now on. Will you?" I asked. "Yes I will John. I want to be with you also. I want to be with all of you. I am one of your women now. Can we go to bed soon, I am so hot and I need you?" she said Remembering a trick or two from my previous life I swept her up into my arms and carried her to the bed as the others all followed. I set her on her feet beside our bed when I reached it and began taking my clothes off. She didn't waste any time following my lead. She did eye the bed questioningly though. "What is that John?" she asked. "That is our bed Roweea. It is where we sleep. I think you are going to like it," I said. "If you are going to be sleeping in it I know I will like it." "You will like it even better when he is in it and not sleeping," Dieta said, and when all the others laughed Roweea finally did too. Roweea was a redhead with gray eyes. I had never seen such a combination. It made her face and smile very attractive. The rest of her was attractive too. I didn't see a freckle on her anywhere, but her face. Her skin was milky white but not quite as white as Dalia's. She had big breasts and deeply pink nipples. I wanted my lips on them and her red bush made my mouth water. She was watching me closely as I shed my pants and she took a surprised look at my boner and a little smile came to her lips. "Dieta he is very big. It will be almost like my first mating night again," she said. "I am betting it will be much better than your first mating night. In fact I would bet anything or everything I have it will," Winna said. All the others had to agree with her then. I don't know if my hairy head swelled but my dickhead did. I opened my arms and Roweea came into them pressing her fat white titties and her pink nipples into the hair on my chest. I put my arms around her to hug her and then dropped my palms to cup her firm buttocks and knead them as we kissed hotly. Roweea began urging me toward the bed then and when she had me on my back she looked into my eyes. "You are so big John, do you mind if I let myself down on you from the top?" she asked. "I can't think of anything I'd like better my new mate. Do it to yourself on me this time so you can go as slowly as you want to." She was already dripping and as she straddled my hips she took hold of Dicky to show him the way. He couldn't really see out of his one eye anyway. It sent shivers through me and her also as she pulled the head back and forth through her wet lips to make sure it was coated with her juices. When her wet warmth started to descend around my dick it felt like heaven and she kept on lowering herself, slowly but continuously. She slid me all the way up into her with one long slow smooth push. I was in heaven. Roweea started a slow gentle rocking and then progressed to a smooth rising and falling. She became more forceful in a little while and as her temperature raised her tempo increased. Soon she was doing me with long full strokes and not a little force. She kept getting faster and harder until near the end she was slamming herself up and down my dick at a furious pace. She threw her head back and was moaning loudly until she hit her peak and cried out. "Oh Dieta you were right. He is the best man ever. He isn't even through and I am spent already." "Yes, he is grand isn't he? He can do us all with his dick in two nights and I think he could lick us all in one night until none of us could take anymore," Dieta said, practically gloating. "I have some news for you Dieta. I can do you all with my dick in one night if I need to. I just don't want to seem to be showing off." They all looked at me as if they couldn't believe me and then I admitted it wouldn't be tonight. I was pretty proud of my work though. I managed to keep it up and then get it back up until I'd done all except Dieta, Dalia, Geera, and Shelalliea. They didn't miss out either since the others kept them well licked by taking turns on them. I woke first the next morning and was surprised I was able to work my way to the edge of the bed and get up without causing any of my mates to get out of bed. It had to be the beer. I knew they had all had a little last night and even though none of them had gotten drunk I was thinking they must all have a hangover this morning. I made a pot of coffee in the new party perc and I found a big pan and brought enough water from the bathroom for all of them to have a big mug of it when they got up. I also dug out some aspirin from my first aid supplies. Dalia was the first to force herself out of bed. "Good morning beautiful," I told her, and she gave me such a look, then thought better of it and tried to smile. "Good morning my man. How can you move around so early?" she asked. "I took your advice and didn't drink very much bruga," I answered, grinning. "I should have listened to what I had to say. My head is pounding. Your bruga is very much stronger than it seemed as I was drinking it." "It is that. Come here and have a big glass of water and swallow two of these pills," I told her, showing the aspirin. She came to me asking what they were. "They will make the pounding stop. Maybe you should eat something first though. They can make your stomach burn if you take them when it is empty, not often, but sometimes." "I will take the chance. The pounding has my attention now. I will worry about my stomach later if it burns," she said. She drank the whole mug of water I gave her and then swallowed the aspirin with the first of another mug. I encouraged her to drink all that mug too. "Why should I drink so much water? I am always thirsty when I wake up the day after I drink bruga and I have always wondered why," she said. "I can tell you the reason. Haven't you noticed that you must make water more often while you are drinking bruga? That is why you are thirsty the next morning. The bruga causes you to make water more often. It is also why the pounding comes to your head. You do not have enough water in you this morning. The aspirin will make the pounding easier until you can get enough water back in you." "Can't I just drink all the water I need at once then?" "You can try, but it will still take time for it to get where it needs to be to stop the pounding. The aspirin will make the pounding go easier until you are right inside again." "Good. I think I will be more careful if we ever have that bruga again," she said. Shelalliea was up by then and I had to start the bruga, water, and aspirin story all over again. The rest of my lovelies seemed intent on staying in bed all morning. I was even able to get Dalia and Shelalliea to drink a mug of coffee and they were both feeling a little better in about a half hour. They felt good enough to cook some bacon and eggs anyway and that made my mood even better. After I'd eaten I asked them to tell the others about the water and the aspirin when they got out of bed and I went outside to see what our little area looked like now in the daylight. There was no one outside moving, but the grounds didn't look too bad. No such thing as paper or plastic cups to be scattered around and all the food had been put away before the drinking had started in earnest so the only real mess was dozens of plastic mugs scattered everywhere. There were still plenty of clean mugs so I got one and headed to the kegs. Four of them were floating in their now melted ice but there was beer in the others and I pulled a mug. It wasn't as good as coffee in the morning but I drank it anyway. Georgo came out of my cave's entrance then with one of the new coffee mugs in his hand. "John, you were right about the coffee. I think I must have some every morning now. It seems I know I want some as soon as I wake," he told me as he approached. "That is coffee Georgo. Once you find out about it you wonder how you were able to live before you did." "You are exactly right. I was thinking it as Dalia got this for me. I think you are shaman also John, even though you say you aren't," Georgo said, laughing. "I am not shaman, but I do know some things. Right now, I am feeling a little sad for the first two men who get up this morning." "Why?" "I am going to have them move all the barrels and kegs back into my cave and I'm going to have them pour the water out of the barrels with the empty kegs. "They will be sorry to see the bruga put away even though their heads will still be pounding from all of it they drank last night," I said. "Will you give them all some of the aspirin Dalia gave me?" He asked. "If they seem very bad I might give it to a few, but I don't want them to get the idea they can drink bruga and then not have a pounding head the next day. It will make them want bruga more often. What do you think?" "I think you are right. Let their heads pound. It will keep them all quiet today and they won't be wondering so much about the bathrooms. They will just be happy to have them nearby and by tomorrow most of the strangeness of them will be gone," Georgo said. "I might tell them how much the warm baths with the moving water will make them feel better though. It will make them like the bathrooms even more and their heads will still pound though it won't seem so bad while they are in the water." "I hadn't thought of that even though I tried my tub last night and did see how it made me feel better. You should tell them about it John and they will not only feel better, they will all be clean at the same time. It will smell much better around here for a while," Georgo said, and laughed again. "Wait and see, after they become accustomed to using the bathrooms it will smell better around here all the time. For one thing there will not be human waste all around outside." ------- Chapter 43 "The bathrooms are going to be much more useful than I thought at first. I know you can't tell me how you got them and I am not asking. I am just glad you did. I will try to just let myself think the spirits did bring them," Georgo said. "Spirits did indeed bring them Georgo, it just isn't any spirits that you knew about before." "I see," Georgo said, and I could tell I had him wondering even more now. Bigglieo came stumbling out of the big cave then. "Bigglieo, how are you feeling this morning?" I shouted, and I could tell it was louder than anything Bigglieo wanted to hear yet. "I am feeling as if I had been in a fight and lost," Bigglieo admitted. "Well go into the bathroom and get into one of the tubs with the moving water and soak for a while. It will make you feel better. I will need you and at least one other to move the barrels of bruga back into my cave," I said. "The tub will make me feel better?" he asked. "Try it, make the water hot. Do not make it as hot as you can stand it though, just hot. I do not want to have boiled Bigglieo for my dinner." He tried to laugh, but couldn't. He turned around and headed back into the cave. It looked like a trip back for Shelalliea, Shallea, and Shaala's things was not in the cards for Bigglieo today. They would keep. Since Barbo and Jara thought that a hundred bison depended on the things being undisturbed when we came for them I felt they would be fine until we could go after them. "I assume you will take Roweea for a mate now, I saw her still sleeping in your bed when I passed through toward the coffee and breakfast," Georgo said. "Yes, she will be one of my mates. I should have asked you if I need some type of ceremony when I take a mate who has already been mated?" "No, it is not done after the first mating. It is good too. If I had to give a ceremony each time you took a mate I would have time for nothing else," Georgo said, with a serious look. It struck me as odd and I was about to ask him if I had made some blunder when he broke out laughing. He had been fucking with me and when I realized it I laughed even harder. "Maybe I should find a mate or two for you Georgo. They might teach you some manners," I said, trying to get a little of his goat. "By the time a shaman is good enough to provide for a mate he is usually too old to want one. I shouldn't say so, but I am often comforted by women in the camps I visit," he said, and couldn't help grinning. "I thought as much, but didn't want to seem nosey. Maybe I should ask my spirit to block the entrance from your cave to mine," I said, trying to tease him a little more. "John! I would never pester any leader's mate," he said, looking shocked because I had even said it. "You should see the look on your face Georgo," I told him, and then laughed. Georgo didn't quite catch on I had turned the tables and had been pulling his leg. "Georgo, I did not think you would pester my mates, but I think I should find you a mate to wait for you here at least. I will provide for her and you. You won't have to worry about whether you can feed her. I can feed her for you. You have been of so much help to me and it is a small thing. You should have a mate if you want one," I said. "It usually isn't done John. Shaman rarely take mates while they still travel, and if they stop traveling, they no longer know what things are happening. There are usually women in the camps I visit who do not mind comforting me and if they are mated their mates do not mention it," he said. Now I saw what he was thinking about, or at least I thought I did. He wasn't sure he wanted a mate with him all the time. He was probably afraid it would cause complications which might keep other women from comforting him. No longer knowing what things were happening wasn't what he was really afraid of. He was afraid he would no longer know what all those comforting women's pussies smelled like. "You would not have to take your mate traveling with you if you didn't want to, she could live here in your cave while you are gone. You will have the wagon so you can travel faster and come back more often. My mates and I will make sure she has more than enough to eat even if she doesn't hunt or doesn't even know how to gather food," I said. "You would do that for me John?" he asked, and he was plainly surprised. "I would be happy to do it for you. You must not realize how much you have helped me. Didn't you notice your new bed had room for more than you? You have room in it for yourself and at least three mates Georgo. I will tell you another secret. If you get more mates than the bed will hold it will grow." He was completely taken aback by this. I didn't actually know for sure it would happen, but I had a feeling increasing the size of a bed did not trouble Argent very much. He hadn't even mentioned it when he increased the size of mine. "I cannot understand it John. How can the bed grow if it is not alive?" "I do not know how it can grow Georgo, just as I do not know how the spirits can make new caves, wagons, or bathrooms. I just know they can do it and sometimes they do. "I am not surprised they have done these things for you. You are a better shaman than you think. I also think you should use some of the time the wagon saves you meditating in your spirit chamber. "I believe the spirits made the chamber for you so they would have a place where they could talk to you in comfort. They may want to show you some things," I told him, making it all up out of whole cloth as I went. As I finished telling him this I felt the now familiar tingle Argent used to let me know something was going as planned. I didn't go on about the spirit chamber anymore with Georgo, but I did think getting him to take a mate was in order. "Georgo, you must know of some woman somewhere you would like for a mate." "It is very strange you should bring this up today John. It is also strange you would mention my bed could hold three mates. There are three women I have wanted to mate, but I knew I could never support three mates. "It is one reason I have never taken one, since I could not bear to choose between two of them. The other is already mated. I am ashamed to say I have wished for her mate to be killed hunting or in an accident. He is one of those I told you about who I would not have in any camp if I were a leader. He is not kind to her and in fact he sometimes beats her." "I do not like such things Georgo and it makes me want to saddle Ben and go kill him now. In fact I think I will. I will go in the morning and kill him then I will bring the woman here to be your mate," I told him, and I intended to do just that. "Please do not do it John. I hurt for her being his mate and I know she does not want to be. If you kill him she would be your mate and I would not mind so much. It would be much better for her and in fact I would be happy for her to be one of your mates. "It is not right for you to go and kill a man on my say so though. It would make me reluctant to tell you anything else for fear you would kill someone from something I said," he told me, earnestly. "I will not do it then Georgo, but I think you should go into your chamber and meditate about it at once. You must give the spirits a chance to talk to you about this. "It may be the very reason they have provided the chamber for you. You should also stop worrying about choosing between the women you want. I can feed three mates for you as easily as I can feed one. You will soon see I can feed many more people than you have even imagined," I said. "I will then. I will go meditate," Georgo told me, and left. I didn't really know shit about any spirits except Argent. I did know he had tingled me though and when he did it usually meant something was up. I was mad about any man beating a woman though, especially in this time since medical treatment was practically non-existent. In one way it shouldn't make a shit to me what happened. I didn't belong here after all. In another way it meant a lot to me. I lived here now and what happened here affected me. I had the ability to do something about most things which went on here and I somehow felt responsible when something I knew was wrong was going on. No one had told me to be the ruler of all these people, but then again no one had told me not to. I'm sure none of them wanted me to have the power of death over all of them, but I did have it, to a certain extent. I could do pretty much anything I wanted to. I would just have to concentrate on trying to do things which were good overall. I wondered if I would be smart enough to figure out what was good and what wasn't. I went down to the horse cave to find something to do. I was trying to decide which two horses I would train for using with Georgo's buckboard. He knew nothing at all about the horses, but I didn't think it would take nearly as long to train Georgo as it would to train the horses. It came to me that since Sally and Jane were already well accustomed to pulling my wagon I could give them to Georgo and train two more for the wagon more easily. I harnessed Sally and Jane and lead them up to Georgo's cave to get his buckboard. I was going to take it for a little test drive to make sure Sally and Jane acted right pulling it. When I got to his cave he was nowhere in sight. I assumed he was meditating. I hitched Sally and Jane to the buckboard and away we went. I had taken the time to get my M1 before I left and I kept my eyes open for any gimmes as I drove the team. When I came to what I now thought of as the ramp to the upper plateau I turned up it. They had no trouble negotiating the new path with the much lighter buckboard. I drove right out onto the plateau when we reached the top. With the glasses I could see bison in the thousands, they were probably about three miles away. I had no intention of trying to load a bison into Georgo's buckboard by myself though. I hadn't really come to hunt anyway and if I did kill something it wouldn't be any larger than a deer. I could easily just put it into the buckboard's box and carry it back without even bothering to gut it. I could see more aurochs today. They stayed in smaller groups but the giant cattle didn't usually travel in groups of less than twenty or thirty. I was surprised when I saw a few wooly rhinos only about a mile from me. I wasn't going to try fucking with them today either. Finally I turned around and headed back down the ramp. We continued up river when I made it back to the canyon floor. I went about three more miles up it. When I spotted the band of horses I recognized as the larger ones I'd seen up on the plateau on my last trip. I turned around and hangovers or not some of the men would be building fence this afternoon. With these horses on the canyon floor now I was going to try and drive them down river and then get them turned up into the blind canyons. Once we had them in it we would fence off the mouth. I turned back and headed for the caves. Even with my mates helping it still took nearly two hours to get everyone up, moving, and clued in to the plan. There were no mumbling complaints about it, but there were a lot of moans and groans. I took all the men out into the canyon with me and stationed a man in each cave opening to make sure none of the horses would try to enter a cave. I didn't think any of them would, but if they did they would cause havoc inside. I spread most of the rest across the canyon about a hundred yards south of the blind canyons' entrance and I had a couple stand back inside the horse cave to make sure none of the horses I'd be moving tried to enter there especially. It would be a disaster if they happened to break down the fence. These men could also come out into the open to help if we needed them. It only took them a few minutes to understand what I was trying to do. I left Bigglieo in charge here and after saddling Ben I headed back up river. It was a little tricky getting behind the band of horses. They were suspicious of Ben since he had something strange on his back. I kept him very near the edge of the canyon and away from them. They were a little nervous, but they didn't panic. When I was about a half mile past them I moved Ben to the center of the canyon and started back down it, talking softly at first and then louder as I approached. They still didn't panic, but they did stop grazing and began moving away from me. It was pretty much a done deal then. I kept approaching them and they kept moving away. As far as I was concerned they were caught after they'd passed the ramp and didn't start up it. It was their last good chance to get away. I will admit I had completely forgotten about the possibility. It didn't matter now though. I could tell when they noticed my men spread out blocking their path. They saw the blind canyon's entrance at nearly the same time and I was sure they already knew about it. They turned up into it almost as if they had wanted to anyway. When they did the men moved to it and provided a temporary deterrent to the horses' leaving. The new horses didn't run or panic, they just moved farther back into the blind canyon. ------- Chapter 44 It was all posthole diggers and fence building after that. I showed Bigglieo what I had in mind and soon he was digging postholes and most of the other men were helping Galto as they got their introductions to saws and Alien axes. The fence was finished including a nice big gate before sunset. This was a larger group of horses than my first bunch and my closer look at them, as I had been moving them along, had let me know they were indeed bigger. The stallion for this group was a little over fifteen hands and pretty heavily built also. He and Ben would have to come to an understanding if they were ever allowed to run loose together. I was pretty sure Ben was going to get the short end of the stick. That was the way of things though. The biggest Stallion got the most mares. In this unnatural situation where no other stallions could come around to raid for mares, the new stallion was going to have a lot more mares than he normally would have. He had an impressive group as it was. There were over thirty-five mares in his band. Eighteen of this year's foals were with them and there were still fourteen yearlings hanging around. Our horse herd had grown considerably in one day. I was set for more horse training even though I didn't have all of the first group trained. I hoped that Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo had recovered from last night's activities. They would need to stay at the new barrier a night or two to make sure no predators tried to get in. They took the news with surprising enthusiasm for the idea. Jonoco said he thought they should keep a fire going just past each end of the new fence and one in the middle. He thought they would be able to make sure nothing approached that way and I agreed he was probably right. The other men helped them out by bringing in most of the limbs and branches and tops they had removed from the trees they'd cut for post and rails. The fires didn't need to be all that big, but they did need to keep at least a little flame going all the time. Prince, King, and Rover seemed anxious for new duty too and took an exploratory trot into the blind canyon before settling down to stay near the three bachelors. Dalia had fixed them all a big supper and their soon to be mates brought it to them. I left them eating and flirting. My supper was ready when I got back to my cave. Georgo was already working on his as Dalia handed me a plate. We had been just sitting around or squatting anywhere we could to eat so far and as I saw the folding tables I thought to myself we could use one of those if we had a few stools to sit at. I decided to see about getting some made or making some myself. This time though I sat on one of the new salt containers beside Georgo. "You were exactly correct about the meditation John," Georgo told me, as I sat. "How is that?" "After I had been at it for about an hour a vision came to me. It didn't speak and I didn't see any sights, it really wasn't much as visions go. I did get a tremendous feeling I should visit the camp we were talking about though. I will start to it tomorrow," he told me. "How far is it to the camp?" "I can walk to it in two days easily." "We can go in your new wagon. It will give me a good chance to teach you how to handle your team." "But I didn't think you would have horses trained for my wagon yet. How did you do it so fast?" he asked. "I am going to give you Sally and Jane, the two that usually pull my wagon. They are already well trained. It will be easier for me to train a new team for my wagon than it will to train one for yours, and this way you can go ahead and start using your wagon." "You are getting very generous to me and I appreciate it," he said. "I am just using good sense. You are the only shaman we have but we have plenty of horses. The last step in getting you and the wagon together is training you to use it. I will finish the job tomorrow," I said, and grinned. "It is good that you are going to do it. The feeling I got let me know I needed to come to the camp soon," Georgo said. We talked about it a little more and then Georgo went to his cave to make sure he got plenty of rest since we were going to leave shortly after sunrise in the morning. While we had been eating Shallea, Shaala, Melieta, and Jaiya came in to talk to Dalia and Shelalliea and then the four of them went into Danlo's cave. I wondered about it a little, but didn't comment. When Shelalliea and Dalia looked at me with a sneaky little smile I got just a little suspicious. They couldn't wait and came over to where I was finishing my supper - Dalia was bringing me more coffee. "John I think you should go check on the four of them in a few minutes," Shelalliea said. "What do I need to check for?" "They are all going to get into the tub with the moving water and the bubbles. You should go and make sure they are using it correctly," Dalia said, and almost kept a straight face. They didn't have to ask me twice. I told them I would go check in a few minutes and declining the coffee I went to where Bigglieo and who ever helped him had put the beer. I pulled off a mug of Lone Star for my dessert. It wasn't ice cold anymore, but it was still cool enough to be good. Before I went to see if the young girls needed any help I stripped off my clothes, especially the chain mail, and pulled on a pair of boxers I had to dig in my supplies to find. Most of my mates were teasing me all during this and I saw Roweea was right in the thick of things. She and Dieta seemed to be egging each other on. "My lovely mates. I know all of you must be aware of my stern position against men abusing women. I wonder if you understand I do not consider a little spanking for discipline to be abuse," I told them, trying to keep a slightly sinister tone in my voice. "What is a spanking?" Maia asked what I was sure they all wanted to know now. "You will not find out until one of you earns one," I told her, still trying to sound stern. They all had abandoned the teasing by now and I thought I might have made it sound too ominous. I took some time to give them all a few kisses and pinches and then I told them a spanking would be for discipline, but if it even bruised them slightly I would have myself beaten. They thought about it for a second and then laughed over me saying I would have myself punished. I headed for Danlo's bathroom then. After reaching the entrance I did as I'd told Dieta I would. I went to the urinal and took my dick out for a piss. I could see the girls clearly in the second largest tub. It would probably hold eight. I noticed they had the massage and bubble jets going and I had a good view of all eight titties present. They were all talking quietly among themselves and seemed not to notice I was even there. I shook the last of the dew off Dicky, put him back inside the boxers and headed for the tub. They looked up when they sensed someone else was joining. "Well isn't this quite a little get together?" I asked. "It is so nice in here. The moving water and the bubbles are fun," Melieta said. "And the water is so warm, it feels delicious," Jaiya added. I didn't tell them they all looked delicious too. "It does look like fun, do you mind if I join you?" I asked, politely. "We don't mind, I think it will be fun," Shaala said, and they all agreed. I glanced around the tub before I got in and didn't see any soap or shampoo. I went to the vanity and found some of each before I dropped my boxers and stepped into the warm water. I noticed Dicky was the center of attention from the time the boxers dropped until he was submerged. "You girls haven't even tried washing in here yet have you?" I asked. "No, we have just been soaking in the warm water. We forgot to get soap at first and it feels so good none of us wanted to get out and look for some. Is that soap you brought?" Shallea asked. "Soap and shampoo." "What is shampoo?" Jaiya asked. "It is for washing your hair. It makes it easier to comb and brush later." "I want to try it then, I hate the tangling that is so hard to get out," Melieta said. "Well I'll show you how to use it. Come here Jaiya and I'll start with you." She scooted over near me and I guided her to sit in my lap with her back to me. My dick started climbing with the contact of her wet buns on my upper legs and groin. I had her bend over and put her head in the water to wet her hair and as she did her sparse pubes rubbed over my rising pole. When she raised back up the pubes rubbed me in the other direction and my erection was complete. I felt Jaiya close her thighs on it a little and I liked the feeling. I opened the shampoo and poured a big dollop onto the top of her head then I began working it into a lather. As I started massaging her scalp she began squirming on my lap and around my dick, which was now sticking up between her legs with its upper side rubbing against her pussy. When I had all her hair lathered I told her to put her head back into the water to rinse the soap back out and when she did the pube rub against my now fully hard dick caught me by surprise and I nearly blew a little lather of my own. I braced myself for her return trip to the upright. It was another thrill. I applied more shampoo and as always, on the second washing I got much more lather for my trouble. Jaiya was also feeling better about things too as she settled back against my chest. She let one of her hands drop toward her bush and I think she intended to give her clitty a wiggle with her fingers. She encountered the stiff Dicky and jerked a little when she realized what he was. It didn't dampen her mood though as she took hold of the head and pulled it back to press harder against her cunt lips. In a few seconds she was rocking her hips against it for stimulation as I continued working on her hair. When I was finished with her hair my soapy hands slipped around her to caress and play with her titties and nipples. The shampoo from the first rinsing was now causing the jets to create a respectable bubble bath for us. Watching Jaiya's and my gyrations and my titty teasing was initiating a good bit of squirming of three other cute little asses, which I couldn't see now, and a lot of jiggling of the six other titties I could see fine. When Jaiya's motions became more urgent and her moaning became plaintive, dropping a hand to her bush and putting a finger's pad against her clitoris let me give it a rubbing. That was it for her and she bucked against my finger and the captured Dicky four or five times, moaned my name loudly and then slumped back against me limply. Cuddling her from behind for a while and then kissing and nibbling on the back of her neck helped her come back from her pleasure. Finally the others helped me lay her back in the water to give her hair the best rinsing we could in the now foamy bath. Shallea was next in line and then Shaala. Each time one of them bent over to wet or rinse their hair I had to bite my tongue to keep from groaning and hold my breath hoping I wouldn't come as their pubes tickled and teased my boner. Neither of them wasted any time grabbing the head of the matter and using it like a saddle horn, and believe me they held on tight. I was able to get ignition and liftoff from both of them without blowing my load though. My most serious challenge came when Melieta moved onto my lap. I don't know if it was because Dicky was standing up straighter or if Melieta's longer legs changed the angle slightly. I do know that as she eased her ass down onto my lap Dicky's eye seemed as if it were able to see after all. He poked his fat head squarely against Melieta's rosebud and managed to wiggle that head about halfway into it. Melieta gasped and then shivered. She tensed slightly and then put more weight against me, and for a second I thought I was going to be doling out my first prehistoric ass fucking. "Oh John, I never thought it could go in there. Won't it hurt?" she asked, with her voice quivering. "It probably will, but if you don't raise up a little in a second or two you are going to find out for sure," I warned her. She actually squirmed her ass around a little and Dicky seemed to be about to take care of business for real. She eased up though and when she did I adjusted my aim to send my dick between her legs instead of up her ass. As she settled down onto my lap and took hold of the knob she shivered again. "I think I might have been able to do it John. Maybe we can try it some other time. Is that one of the ways to do it?" she asked. "It is one of the ways I do it sometimes, but I'm not sure about other men. You must be sure the man can go slowly because it can hurt you badly if they try to just jam it in there. You should try to use some melted fat or something to make it go easier too. This soapy water would work but something more slippery would be better," I explained. Melieta was rocking her hips a little already and her hair wasn't even damp. I had her lean down to wet it thoroughly and when she rose I told Jaiya, Shallea, and Shaala to shampoo it since I had plans for my hands and Melieta's titties. While the other three washed I fondled and teased titties and nipples. Melieta amazed me because when she hit her rhythm she seemed able to hold herself in the middle of a continuous come for nearly five minutes. It got too good for her at the last though and she just screamed and locked up all over. She had nearly fainted at the end. A little later, after she was back with us, all four girls and I played grab ass for about fifteen minutes and then I told them I'd better go. I stepped into a shower to rinse off before I dried myself, donned my boxers, and said my goodbyes. When I got back to my bed I could only provide the minimum of foreplay for Dalia, who was my first target, before I had to put my dick up her. Luckily she seemed to be hot already and as eager for the fucking to start as I was. I gave her another regulation pounding and she hammered her ass back at me every step of the way. I wasn't even near coming now for some reason and when Dalia was done Shelalliea was spread and ready in a flash. Shelalliea didn't need or want any foreplay. Watching the fucking I'd given Dalia had been plenty of stimulation to get her more than ready and she wasn't shy about telling me so. "I want it just like that John. Fuck me just like you did Dalia. Very hard and very fast, please!" she said, nearly growling. I liked giving my mates what they wanted so I put it all the way up her and started pumping. Her ass did some pumping of its own and she grabbed a hard and fast orgasm before I was really stroking good. As Waaya scrambled to get under me I had time to notice that none of the women seemed to be playing with each other and when I pushed myself, a little more gently, into Waaya I saw they were watching me fuck her as if they were spellbound. I tried to take it a little easier on Waaya but after a few pumps she let me know she wasn't going to stand for it. "Hard John, and fast. Like you did Dalia and Shelalliea. I think I can take it and I want to try. Do it to me like that," she begged. ------- Chapter 45 Hell I was all for it. Three strokes later I was slamming the meat to Waaya and she had me wrapped tightly with her arms and legs, was humping against me with her every muscle, and babbling out my name as she urged me to do it harder. Fuck, I couldn't do it any harder. Waaya made me work too since she kept moaning, crying, and fucking for nearly ten minutes. Ten minutes is a long time to fuck as hard as you can. She finally popped her cork though and when she did she fainted dead away. Geera and Dieta cuddled and kissed on the exhausted Waaya as Winna pulled me toward her widespread legs. I hoped she wanted at least a little more leisurely fuck since I was panting by now. She welcomed me into her body and as she wrapped her legs around my ass and her arms around my neck she kissed me so sweetly it was like a balm. I settled into a slow gallop in her pussy and it nipped and nibbled on my dick until I gave up and pumped her full of come. She got off herself when she felt it pumping and she hugged me to her tighter as I emptied my nuts into her. She kissed all over my face and neck and ears as I lay limply on her, panting. As I regained my breath Maia rolled me off Winna and onto my back. She and her sister Merita both went to work on his limpness with their lips and tongues. Maia's constant big eyed look toward my face, as her tongue was licking all over Dicky had him swelling again in only minutes and when she decided that he was back in useable shape she straddled my hips and lowered herself around him. I suspect she wanted to do the riding to make sure she didn't get a pounding like those she had just witnessed. Pounded out for now and also aware Maia was just too young and too small to stand up to that kind of fucking, I was glad she had done the mounting. Still being a little winded, this way I could let Maia take whatever she wanted without needing any serious exertions from me. I played with one titty while her sister nursed at the other and I used my thumb to make sure Maia's clitty wasn't neglected. She finished herself off fairly quickly and her tight young pussy gave Dicky a thorough squeezing as she let go. While Dieta, her mother, helped Maia lie down her sister Merita took her place and started a little more energetic bouncing on my swollen member. Merita discovered the fun of rising almost completely off and then plunging fully back down around me. It was an inspirational feat of discovery and a fine way to fuck. By the time Merita had plunged herself to a good one her mother's tongue had finished tidying up her sister's pussy and Dieta promptly helped her oldest daughter to her back for a similar licking cleanup. Gema was only too happy to claim Merita's place and keep my dick warm and had thought of a new little trick of her own. She settled her smoothly muscular ass cheeks down onto my legs and as she let my dick slip all the way up into her she just sat still and began milking it with her insides. This was a technique I can enthusiastically recommend. No one was sucking on Gema's firm fat round titties so I took hold of them to squeeze their fullness and tease their plump nipples with my thumbs. This suited Gema just fine, but after a while her pussy must have signaled for some sliding action. She began pumping on me slowly at first, but it soon disintegrated in to a pretty energetic fuck and though Gema had started out with intentions of a lengthy session she blasted off before I could. Delia had been waiting patiently for her ride and when Gema vacated my dick she took possession. She began pumping up and down on me from the start and she showed me her pussy could squeeze me while she was bouncing on my boner. I took hold of her titties as she mounted and though I teased them relentlessly and even began pushing my dick up her hard as she came down, Delia still managed to hang on until we went off together. It was so good at the last I released her tits and got both my hands full of her round ass and pulled her down for the count. After she spent, Delia lay down on me, pressing her titties into my chest and claiming my lips with hers, giving me a kiss that showed me she appreciated my efforts on her behalf. I kept my hands on her rounded ass cheeks and kneaded them gently. "Next time I want you to fuck me hard like you did my mother. I want you to fuck my mother and then fuck me next, then she can clean my pussy for me when you are done with it," Delia said, whispering it in my ear. I told her I would do my best and as she rolled off me, even though I was panting hard again and barely aware of the body shuffling going on around me, the thoughts generated by her whispered words had my dick almost ready to climb again. I did see Geera latch her lips onto Delia's pussy, cutting off Dieta's string of cleanups. When I looked down to see who was licking and nibbling on Dicky I saw red hair and knew Jaada was trying to raise the dead so she could get it between her legs. I looked around a little for inspiration and saw Waaya was licking Dalia's pussy and I saw Shelalliea's firm ass wiggling in the air as she was busily sucking Winna's snatch. Seeing Shelalliea's ass waving reminded me of my sweet teasing torture at the hands of her daughters and their bath-mates not very long ago. That and Jaada's move to suction in her efforts put Dicky back into working order and I took hold of Jaada under her armpits and pulled her up to lay on me. When I had her in place I rolled us over until she was on her back. She kissed me hotly as I did and as her back settled into the mattress her legs spread to make room for me to take her. I pushed my dick toward her twat and she guided him to the spot with her small freckled hand. Her hot juices felt like honey as I pushed myself inside her and she clamped me to her with her legs and was pushing it up to me almost before I could start fucking. Jaada was hot. The watching and waiting had her motor going. Two good explosions had me firmly in control of my reactions and though I didn't give little Jaada a real pounding I did give her a good firm fucking and I left her panting and cooing as I moved over to grab my newest, Roweea, I saw that Maia was back in action since she descended on Jaada's red bush to make sure it got cleaned properly. I nailed Roweea to the mattress in short order and started warming up for what I knew would be Geera's and then Dieta's royal pounding. I cut Roweea a little slack but she didn't seem like she wanted much. "You are going to do it aren't you? You are going to give it to us all with your dick tonight," she moaned, as I got into it. "Yes, every one of my mates is going to get a fucking tonight. None of you will have to settle for a licking only." "I can't believe it," Roweea said, and I think she wanted to say more, but she was too busy blasting off. I lay down to press her into the mattress for a few seconds as she shook until she was done and then I grabbed Geera's arm and pulled her to me. She was way too hot for her sham resistance tonight and when she got to me she latched onto my mouth with hers and practically dragged me down onto and then into her. Her ass was bucking up another quake in seconds as she wrapped her legs around me and just had at it. She didn't last long though and it began to dawn on my dumb ass that the more one of my mates watched me fucking the others, the hotter she got. Geera went off just then and I realized poor Dieta, probably the most easily aroused of all my women had somehow gotten to be last in line. When I reached for Dieta she was on me at once. I didn't let her take the topside though and I rolled her under me. She spread her legs at once and begged me to mount her. "Dieta, my poor Dieta. You have been waiting until last and I know you must be burning up," I said. "I am, yes I am. Please give it to me. I am so hot," she wailed. I slid it in her and she was hot inside too. My dick forced what seemed a quart of her slippery secretions from her steaming swollen pussy. Her nipples were so plump they looked like they must hurt. Even though Dieta was more than just aroused and was making fuck oil copiously her pussy was still a snug sheath for my dick. I pumped it to Dieta slowly but firmly, trying to keep her from just exploding at once. Once she had me wrapped in her arms and legs and had my dick up in her a little of her tension eased off. "Oh! I thought my turn would never come. I am so horny and I want you so badly," she moaned. "You have me now so try to relax and enjoy the fucking." She did. I was trying to enjoy it too and it wasn't too hard to do. Dieta hunched up to me with every stroke and she kept whispering love in my ear and kissing and nipping my neck as I let her have it. When she got her cookies I wasn't there yet but I just kept at her until I got there and then I staked that sexy shapely body to the mattress with my dick and just held her down pumping come up her. When I was finally done and could roll off her I decided I needed a little breather. Argent must have thought I needed a little rest too because he didn't come into my dreams until nearly sunrise, I'm guessing it was about when he showed up. Anyway he came to me after a long sleep. "John we are amazed again at your sheer genius," Argent told me, right off the bat. "I assume that I still can't be told about it," I replied. "We have discussed it and decided we can tell you what we are excited about this time, please do not let it affect your actions though," he said. "I will do my best to carry on as I have been." "The shindig was excellent. We will watch closely for any other activities of that type and will provide beer as necessary. That is not our latest thrill from you though. "We are very excited that you offered to provide for a mate for the shaman and we are more than pleased you have convinced him that our actions are those of the spirits. We did encourage him subtly to go to the camp where the woman he is attracted to resides, since we anticipate some activities there tomorrow. You will be going with him won't you?" Argent asked. "Yes, I need to teach him to handle the team and try to explain what he should do if he runs into any difficulties." "That is good. I do not think you will be needed by him at the camp, but it will be best if you are there to help him make up his mind on the actions he must take," Argent said. "I planned on going anyway and of course I will help Georgo in any way I can." "Excellent. I wanted to ask you about your bonus freight also. You have not requested anything and I wondered if you thought you might not be needing it?" he asked. "Truthfully, I haven't had time to make out a list. I have in mind a few of the things I will want, but I haven't had time to assemble the entire list," I told him. "I apologize for not telling you John, but you do not have to call for it all at one time. You may requisition it as you see fit. I know situations can change rapidly for you and as you get some things it may remind you of something else you want. "Feel free to inform us by message of anything you want or need and we will make sure to keep a listing of the weight of what you have already received so that you will know exactly where you stand." "That will be the best way for me and I thank you for pointing it out," I said and was back to sleep as he faded. My mates were all up and dressed when I woke. When they noticed I had stirred they all came to the bed to kiss me good morning and practically lifted me out of it. "What's the occasion my lovelies?" I asked. "We are all so happy today John, but we are dreading your traveling," Delia told me. "We will miss you so while you are gone," Shelalliea said, kissing me again and this started another round of kissing. ------- Chapter 46 What the hell, I thought, and began dispensing gropes with the kisses. Shortly I realized I was getting more than twelve women's worth of kisses and feeling more titties and asses than my mates had. Melieta, Jaiya, Shallea, and Shaala had joined us. It didn't bother me a bit. As I was making sure they all got their feelings this morning I thought how much nicer mornings would be if there were ancient T-shirts. Hell T-shirts didn't weigh hardly anything. I would just have my girls all fitted for some. They took me to get my breakfast then and handed me a big cup of coffee. They practically fed me and continued to stroke and caress me through the meal. I must have been a bigger hit last night than I'd thought. They eased off a little when Georgo came in to eat though. He and I talked about our trip a little and soon enough we were headed to the horse cave to get Sally and Jane. I caught and harnessed them and was leaving to get Georgo's buckboard when Bigglieo came up. "Thank the spirits the pounding is gone and I will be worth my upkeep today." "You even did a good job yesterday during your recovery Bigglieo. I will need for you to finish the fence today though and make sure the small pickets are put on very closely to keep predators out." "I will make sure it is done properly and if you are not back before night I will have the three young bachelors guard the fence until you can get back and put the stinging wire on." "That is a good idea. We will probably not be back until tomorrow or maybe the day after," I said, and then Georgo and I went to get the buckboard. My mates were there with sleeping furs for me and plenty of food for Georgo and I. Georgo fetched his furs too then. Delia came out with the M1, which I was about to forget, and five loaded magazines for it. I hadn't realized she knew exactly which cartridges it used but she had brought the right type. Georgo and I went back into my cave then to get our coffee mugs filled before we left. When his was full he started back to the buckboard and my mates and our four unmated guest all demanded another good kissing and I added goodbye gropes for all of them. I spent the first hour telling Georgo everything I could about handling the team as I walked them along the way. When I turned the reins over to him he did fine. Since I was familiar with this route I asked him to push Sally and Jane to a trot. He hesitated for a few seconds and then did it. I watched him closely for a couple of minutes and then he turned to me. "This buckboard is wonderful. Even though the horses are trotting I am not bounced around like I would be if I were on their backs," Georgo said, and smiled. "It is one of the best things about a wagon. You can let the horses trot, which is the gait they can travel farthest and fastest with and you can still ride in comfort. It is also much easier on the horses since they do not have to carry the extra weight and only have to pull it. You can cover a lot of ground rapidly while trotting the team," I explained. Later, as we advanced to the area I hadn't been over before, the ground seemed just as good and I let Georgo maintain our pace. I quizzed him about what the traveling was going to be like and he said he couldn't remember any rough spot that might cause the horses trouble. Georgo was correct and he was also amazed at the speed of our trip. He had been expecting to arrive late at night if we kept on and didn't stop to sleep. As it was we pulled in about an hour and a half before sunset and it was at the perfect time. The camp seemed to just appear as we rounded a fairly sharp bend. We were nearly in its midst before I knew we were even close. There was some type of commotion and just as I realized there was a man chasing a woman through the camp Georgo spoke. "It is him and he is chasing the woman, his mate, that I spoke of. No doubt he intends to beat her," Georgo said, in disgust. "Stop the wagon. You are not telling me of it now, I can see it and I will not let it happen," I said, and reached for the M1 before Georgo could stop the team. He did bring them to a halt though. The woman had tripped and the man was on her. Just as I shouldered the M1 to end his days, from a clear cloudless sky, came the biggest, fattest, and brightest bolt of lightning I had ever seen. It was as if it were thousands of bolts coming together from nothing in the sky to merge into one just above the man's head and then they surged through him. We were no more than a hundred yards from him and the thunder was immediate and vicious. It dulled my senses and even rocked the buckboard. The man was burnt to a standing smoking mess before he could even fall. Both of his feet had exploded as the electricity left his body through them and I saw, as he was falling, both his eyes had been popped from his smoldering skull. Everyone in the camp had been outside watching the spectacle, but none of them could have heard the puny sound his body must have made as it fell to the ground, since the thunder was still rumbling angrily. They were all stunned and motionless. Georgo turned to me with his mouth gaping open. "The spirits have made their decision Georgo. Go and comfort your new mate," I told him, as I put the M1 back in the seat-back rack and climbed down off the buckboard. I headed toward the people of the camp as Georgo got down and went toward Ladeliea, who lay unmoving on the ground. The leader at least was able to gather his thoughts as I approached and he stepped toward me. "I am John. The spirits told Georgo that he should come to this camp today to find himself a mate and we have just seen what they thought of her worthless former mate," I told him, as I showed him my palms in a gesture of friendship. I caught movement to my right and about thirty feet away and as I turned a scroungy looking young man was coming toward me. He stopped about halfway to me. "I should kill you now for talking of Darbo that way. He was my friend," he said. "You have already wasted your last seconds flapping your mouth," I said, drawing the Glock and letting it send him after his lamented companion. The rest were stunned again, at the Glock's voice and at the man flopping out his last movements after he'd fallen lifeless to the ground. "I am telling you all if you intend to kill me you had better do it first and brag about it later. If you warn me you want to you will die before you can buck up your courage. I will not stand and wait for a man to gather his nerve if I know he wants to kill me. "I am a peaceful man, but I mean to keep on living. If these two have any more friends here they should keep their mouths shut about it or come and let me send them all off together." Another scroungy looking specimen fainted dead away and fell to the ground while two younger ones turned and ran as if the devil was right on their asses. He very nearly was. I turned back to the speechless leader then. "I have come with Georgo to ask if you would all like to join with our camp. It is the camp Gigo was leading before the two worthless ones slipped up and killed them from behind with spears. The camp that Darrio, the deceased mate of Roweea, was leading has joined us already. We have food and meat in abundance and we have many good large caves that are cool in the summer and will be warm in the winter. "I will warn you though I am the leader and I do not tolerate men who think that they must beat on their mates. I will not have it." The leader didn't even have time to speak before another minor commotion broke out. A pretty young brunette walked over to the man who had fainted and kicked him squarely in the stomach just as he was reviving. He retched from the blow and when he was through she let him have it again, then she walked over to stand behind me. "I am going back with you no matter what the others do. I will not stay here to be Harto's mate. I will come to your camp and dig through your scraps or beg for my food. The only reason he has not beaten me already is because he couldn't persuade me to be his mate. "He thought that Darbo was such a man because he beat Ladeliea often. Look at him now. He fainted like a woman when a real man came to this camp and he is retching yet from the kick of an unmated girl," she said, pretty much telling them all off. She had them all wagging their tongues then and I decided there had been nearly enough talking. I glanced back to Georgo and could see Ladeliea was now up and talking to him as he led her toward the wagon. "I have made my offer. Do as you wish. You are all welcome in my camp, but you must do as I say if you live there," I told them, and then turned to face the young woman. "Where are your things? I think we shall return tonight. You will not have to beg for food at my camp, all who are there have plenty to eat," I said. "Thank you, my things are in the hut of the unmated women. I do not have much to carry and I will do my best to keep up, even in the night," She said, trying to look brave. "You will not have to carry anything. You will not even have to walk. Georgo's buckboard will carry your things and Ladeliea's things and all of us too. It will not be a hard trip," I said, as Georgo drove it up. "Will we go back tonight John? It will be dark soon and I really should talk to Barago and Britta," Georgo said. "We have had some unpleasantness Georgo and I am not sure I am welcome in this camp. If you need to stay and can find a place in the camp. I will sleep in the buckboard?" "If the unpleasantness is what I think it was the camp will be much better for it. If you are not welcome here, Barago will let me know soon enough and we will leave. If you are not welcome I will not stay here a minute after I am told," Georgo said. "Very well, I will wait for you by the hut of the unmated women. This one is going back with us and I will see how much room we will need to pack her things. "I have never been mated and I do not have many things. If what I do have is a burden I will leave it. My things are of no great consequence," she said. "Ladeliea has told me that she does not have many things either. I thought it would be so as Darbo was not very good at anything except swaggering," Georgo told me. He went to speak to Barago and I turned to the girl. "I am John, what is your name?" "I am Jalieta, the hut is this way," she said, and turned to walk toward it. "Wait, we will take the buckboard." She came back to me and I led her to it and helped her into the seat beside Ladeliea. When she was seated she and Ladeliea hugged each other. "Are you going with us Jalieta?" Ladeliea asked. "Yes, I would rather beg for food or starve than stay here to be bothered by Harto about mating for the rest of my life. He is the reason no other man would ask to mate me. If I never have a mate it will be better than having Harto," she said. "You are right, I wished many times I had never agreed to mate Darbo. It may be wrong to be glad that someone is dead, but I am glad that Darbo is dead," Ladeliea said. "Jarendo is dead also," Jalieta told her. "I thought I heard more thunder, did lightning strike him too?" she asked. "No, John killed him. I saw it all but still don't know how he did it. At first Jarendo said he would kill John for berating Darbo and then there was thunder with no lightning and Jarendo was on the ground with blood gushing from his chest and his legs kicking," she said. "Did you kill him John?" Ladeliea asked. ------- Chapter 47 "Yes. When men say they will kill me I kill them first, if I can." "But why are you coming Jalieta? I think you should, but what made you do it?" Ladeliea asked. "John told them all he would kill any man who said they wanted to kill him. Then he said if Darbo or Jarendo had friends who wanted to kill him they should step forward so that he could send them to join Darbo and Jarendo, when he said it Harto fainted like a woman. "Then John asked the whole camp if they wanted to come and join his camp and he told them no man would beat a woman there. I knew at once I would be going with him no matter what the others did," Jalieta said. "It will be better there. Georgo told me they all have caves to live in and there is much food," Ladeliea told her. "It will be better there if we go and have to starve. After today I doubt that will come to pass. I know many will leave here and take the invitation even if Barago does not come along. Everyone who saw John's actions knows he is a good leader. Barago was not a bad leader, but he is too timid to make undesireable men behave. You should have seen how fast Sahto and Talvo ran trying to get out of John's sight," Jalieta said, nearly laughing. We drove to the unmated women's hut then. Jalieta let me know there were three others who lived there with her. The hut was more than large enough for four though and could probably accommodate eight or even ten if it had to. She took Ladeliea and I inside and she showed me her things. She had her sleeping furs of course and some food she had gathered. Some had been dried and some more had been preserved in other ways that I couldn't visualize. She also had a lot of baskets she had woven, mostly from grasses and such. She had a little dried meat but not much. "You see I do not have many things," she said. Her hut mates came in then. Two of them seemed about her age and the other looked about a year younger. She introduced me to Cailayia, Kateata, and Balalia. Here I was in a hut with four pretty young unmated women and Georgo's pretty new mate. Dicky wanted to fuck something and I'll admit I was having some thoughts along those same lines. Jalieta's hutties were all excited she was leaving and then they turned to me almost all in the same instant and asked if they could come too. "I said that anyone in this camp was welcome to come to mine if they would live by my rules and you are among them. I do not know the custom's for unmated women leaving a camp without a mate, but we will make it right somehow if you want to join us." I nearly said I would pay the bride price for them, but caught myself before I had acquired four more mates. Dicky berated me for my quick thinking since he had gotten mostly ready for action when the three others had arrived. He was also admiring Ladeliea with longing. "My former mother and her mate have already told me they want to come too and Kateata's also told her. Cailayia's former mother and her mate are leaning heavily toward moving too. There can be no talk if we leave with them. Jalieta's former mother died shortly after her mate was killed hunting. They may grumble if she leaves with you, but they do not own any of us," Balalia said. "If we do not go with you now we may be trampled later when the others rush to your camp. Barago was a fairly good leader, but he did not have the confidence to keep Darbo in line and it has been draining his authority for a long while. Jarendo had been ignoring what Barago told him for months and even spineless Harto had started to do it lately. Sahto and Talvo were beginning to cause trouble too, and they weren't even men yet." "I will take you all to my camp tomorrow or maybe even tonight then. If someone grumbles and if Georgo thinks they have a just reason to I will see that things are made right. You may all find a mate that you want at my camp and if you do they can pay your mating price," I said. This got their attention at once. "Are there many unmated men at your camp?" Cailayia asked, her face shining in excitement. "No. There are barely any, and none from my original camp. There are many good men that need another mate though," I said. "Are there so many good hunters that can feed two mates in your camp?" Balalia asked, seemingly even more excited. "Any man in my camp that will work can feed two or more mates," I said. "But how, how can all of your hunters be that good and we have not heard of it?" Jalieta asked. "I have many things that must be done which do not require hunting, and I must have men to do them. I also will help any man in my camp earn the price for his mate," I said. "You are John! How could I have not guessed it? You are John that paid twenty-five bison each for three mates. You killed the bison so fast their camp had to ask you to stop so they could process the meat before it spoiled," Kateata said, almost in awe. The tale had grown just a little in the telling, but I decided not to waste time setting them straight right now. "You are John and have come for us in the wagon, the one that carries many dead bison at one time. I should have known when you took me on it. I was confused when you called it buckboard," Jalieta said. "That is not my wagon. That is Georgo's new buckboard. The spirits have just given it to him and they asked him to come here today. The wagon is much bigger and I will send it if many people want to come to my camp. I will send it to carry their things back," I explained. I noticed my status had changed at once. Even Ladeliea was eyeing me differently now. Georgo saved me from more scrutiny as he returned. "What is the word Georgo?" "Barago was upset as you guessed John, but he was not upset with you. He was mortified you had to kill a man in his camp before he could even introduce himself to you. He was stunned. He said you are welcome in this camp as long as it was here, but if you will have him he wants to join your camp no matter what the others want. "The troublesome ones here have made him sick of his leadership. Britta is so happy that she has already begun packing their things," Georgo said. "I guess there will be no grumbling if these unmated women come with us then?" I asked. "I have already spoken to every mated person in this camp and they are all packing. If you hear any grumbling it will be from unmated men and I think you should kill any of them who say a cross word as soon as you hear it. "I have let it be known that those are my feelings too. All the young boys and girls are being packed up by their parents too of course. I told them Bigglieo would come with the big wagon to carry their things, but some of them are anxious to walk to the camp tomorrow." "I don't think they can walk the distance in a day and carry things with them too. We will try to make them wait on Bigglieo and the horses to come and get them. I may be able to get another team started and we can use your buckboard and the wagon along with the travois horses to carry everything," I said. "That sounds much wiser to me. I think we should sleep now so we will be rested to go early in the morning," he said, and when he did Ladeliea went to him and they left. "I will sleep in the wagon tonight then," I told the girls, and intended to do just that. "No, please stay with us," Kateata said. "Sahto, Talvo, or even Harto may try to sneak in here tonight. They have tried it before. If they know we will be leaving tomorrow they will try all the harder tonight," Cailayia said, pressing herself against me. Her titties made themselves felt as she did it. They caused me to give her request serious consideration. What did it matter anyway? I was going to be the leader of their camp and most of my mates had told me even if I screwed a woman who had never been mated nothing would be said about it. Cailayia was making it seem like a pretty good idea. I decided to stay with them, for their protection of course, and maybe for my own pleasure. Promising myself I would try my hardest not to fuck any of them I gave them the happy news. "You have convinced me then. I will just go out and unhitch the team and hobble them," I said. I walked out of the hut and started toward the buckboard. After about ten steps I heard something behind me and then got a blow in the back just over my left kidney. I turned around to see Harto, who must have been working on his courage since the retching, standing there with his mouth hanging open and staring at the spear that had just bounced off my back. I let the Glock speak to the ambushing little bastard and knew we would only have to keep an eye out for the two runners now. A crowd gathered quickly then and the first to arrive, of course, were the unmated foursome. They stared at Harto and then looked to me for an explanation. "He cast a spear at my back when I was walking toward the buckboard," I said. "Are you hurt? Did he miss?" Jalieta asked. "I am not hurt and he did not miss," I said, as I picked up the spear with the now broken bone point and showed it to them. "It bounced off me," I said, and then walked to the horses. When I had the team unharnessed and hobbled for the night I returned to the unmated women's hut. There was a larger crowd hanging around and two men were about to drag Harto's remains off somewhere. "Just stretch him out in front of the hut's entrance. That way anyone else who wants to bother me tonight will know what waits for them inside," I said. They did it, and my little speech had put to death any questions that may have been coming. As the others all left I let the girls enter and I followed them. I hadn't retrieved my sleeping furs from the buckboard and it didn't matter since the girls had plenty and they quickly made a spot for me to rest. I didn't miss the fact it was right in the middle of all of their places. It was dark by now and even though they had a couple of small lamps burning I was able to slip out of my chain mail without them seeing it. I settled down to rest. Rest would not be coming so soon though. I was barely still before I felt a naked Jalieta sneak under my covers and press her warm naked flesh up to mine. Hell I wasn't going to argue. I wouldn't fuck her unless she asked nicely, but I was not opposed to having a little fun. When she was close enough I pulled her to me for a good spit swapping kiss and I pulled her body against mine enjoying the press of her firm breasts against the hair on my chest. I ran a hand down to her flank and petted and pinched on her firm little rounded ass for a while. One of the disappointing things about necking with young virgins is they are usually too shy to reach and take hold of your dick. This is offset by the fact they are young virgins. My dick was hard and throbbing though and I wanted to get some type of tactile stimulation for it. Pressing it to Jalieta's warm body let its head slither around in her sparse pubes. By then she was panting when I gave her the chance by kissing up her neck and over her ears. I could also hear the others doing a little heavy breathing of their own. I hoped they all wanted a little groping around tonight. I slid my hand around off Jalieta's ass and searched between her legs. Finding the wet spot in only seconds I got my fingers slippery and started to manipulate her fat little cuntlips with them. She spread herself instinctually and was soon pushing her unentered pussy up toward my diddling. After a few minutes Jalieta had lost her ability to participate consciously, she just lay there panting while her hips rocked her pussy toward the stimulation as if on automatic pilot. I slipped my fingers down toward her entrance and found her barrier bravely guarding the gate. I didn't try to get past, I just returned to her clit and sent her off to pleasure town. Soon she was limp and I was kissing her and whispering to her how exciting she had been. During my exploration of Jalieta, Balalia had moved over against me surreptitiously. Her back was to me but she was right up against me. Jalieta was spent and limp so I turned over to spoon up to Balalia. Her ass was firm and round and prominent and I let Dicky find a place to lie between her cheeks as I draped an arm over to play with her slightly smaller but still tempting titties. I found a nipple right away and my thumb and fingers attacked it gently. As I kissed and nibbled on her neck and pressed Dicky rhythmically between her ass cheeks I pulled, pinched, and twisted first one nipple and then the other. When she started moaning lowly as she panted I reached down, taking hold of Dicky, and angled him down to push through the little gap at the top of her thighs. She tensed then and I know she expected to be relieved of her maidenhead, but I didn't cock my hips to put Dicky's head against it. I just let him slide along the furrow her wet labia made and then, reaching over her hips, I pressed him up against them with my fingers on the underside of his shaft. My dickhead rubbed over her tingle button as I pulled it back and forth over her sex with my hips. I pushed the arm I was lying on under Balalia so I could bother her tits from the low approach. She was still young, small, and light and it wasn't really a strain. Her tenseness had vanished by now and if I'd had a mind to I was sure she was excited enough so getting a dick well and truly shoved into her wouldn't have seemed anything but right. I still resisted the attraction though and I pumped my hips and rubbed her clitty with my dick until she was bucking her sweet little ass in her ecstasy. I cuddled and kissed her a while as she wound down and then lay back between the two resting teens, letting my dick just throb for a while. ------- Chapter 48 I guess I drifted off for a few minutes. I woke with a mouth kissing around mine and a hand exploring the hair on my chest and one of my nipples. I wasn't sure which one she was but as I drew her head up to kiss those lips my hand was doing a little exploring of its own. It found a much rounder and fatter pair of titties and they were topped by plumper nipples. It was probably Cailayia - she owned the biggest titties in the unmated women's hut. I began worrying the plump buds right away and then I rolled her to her back to get my lips around one of them. I moved my body between her thighs as I did it, forcing them apart with my knees. She tensed too and I'm sure she thought her virginity would be a thing of the past shortly. It would have bent my back too much to fuck her and suck her nipples at the same time so I settled with my dick somewhere down between her knees and my abdomen resting on her bush as I sucked avidly at the titty I was latched onto. Her legs were splayed widely but lying flat against the furs. As her temperature rose she wasn't getting the contact with her sex from my body that she now wanted. She pulled her knees up and as it got better she crossed her ankles behind my ass and began humping against my stomach as I upped the ante from sucking her nipples to nibbling them. Cailayia was making a plaintive, but faint near growl with every breath now and as my nibbling on her nipples got more firm and demanding her ass's humping took on a real importance to her. I let her buck against me until she got herself off and when her legs returned limply to the sleeping furs I let my weight rest on her body and used her titties as pillows while I gave her ass the groping it deserved. Dicky was bored with all the build up and no spelunking. He wanted to get into something, anything. The ill-mannered bastard could just wait as far as I was concerned. I was now determined not to let him breach any gates tonight. He had garnered some sympathy from me though, especially after he started drooling and aching. I was beginning to think the only other girl in here didn't want to play. She hadn't come up close and all the others were back in their own furs and from the sound of their breathing they were asleep. Was Kateata afraid, shy or just not interested? I was still horny so I decided to find out for sure. I wiggled my way nearer her. When I got close I could tell she was only feigning sleep. Her breathing was seemingly calm but it wasn't from sleep. She was trying to fool me. That deserved a little attention itself. She was lying on her side facing away from me so I quietly spooned up behind her until Dicky was comfortably between her ass cheeks. They were prominent and firm but very comfortable. She didn't move away or press her ass back either. She continued with her sleep charade. I lay an arm over her and found a titty, first squeezing it and then teasing the nipple with a finger and thumb. It swelled almost at once and her ass gave just the slightest push back to me. I put my lips to her neck to kiss it and then explored up to her earlobe with my tongue. "What are you doing John?" Kateata asked, in a low whisper. "I am trying to find out if you are as luscious as you looked with your clothes on." "But I am unmated, you mustn't do this to me," she whispered again. "I have done nothing but play with you so far. It will not be known and I am enjoying the feel of you." She didn't say anything else, she just sighed and wiggled her ass a little. Mentioning it, the view of Kateata in her clothes, had brought it back to my mind. She had by far the prettiest face and though their clothes did a good job of hiding them her body had seemed curvy and delightful even while she was dressed. Playing with her titties had already let me know the tunic had caused me to underestimate them and her nipples were proving to be sensitive and more substantial than I would have thought. "You won't really do it to me then?" she asked, still whispering. "I can't promise that. Your friends have already gotten me very excited and your body is making me even more excited." She didn't tense and actually seemed to wiggle her ass against my dick a little more aggressively. I left off titty play and moved my hand down to her bush. As I searched for her wet slit with my fingers she opened her legs to help me. It wasn't so much that she gave me room that made me think a little - it was the way that she did it. She not only opened her thighs, she opened them wider and she cocked her hips to make her wetness easier to get to, almost as if she knew what I needed. She sighed more loudly as my fingers found her lips and she seemed to be able to press back against my dick and push her pussy to my fingers at the same time. Kateata was wet and warm and her hips were trying to establish a rhythm already. I pushed a finger between her lips expecting to find her hymen and there wasn't one. Realization came to me at once, and as I slid the finger up into her she groaned lowly and her pussy nibbled at it. I did a little nibbling of my own on her earlobe as I realized that at least Dicky's dreams had come true. Kateata had no cherry to pluck, whether she had already been fucked (my guess) or had lost it some other way, there was no need for me to pass up a shot of her pussy. Her ass was in rhythm now and her breathing was excited. I slipped another finger up into her wet wiggling pussy. She was very tight but very wet also. I backed away from her a little and pulled her toward me rolling her to her back. Then I kissed her lips and let my tongue enter her mouth. Her tongue was waiting and she seemed eager for the kiss. "Oh John, I know I can't stop you, but you shouldn't do this to me," Kateata said, louder now. "I am a leader and you are joining my camp. If I want you I will take you. If you are mated or if you aren't I will take you when I want you," I told her, loudly enough to wake the others I hoped. "But I am unmated and have never done it before. My mother isn't even here to help me. I will never get a mate if you do it to me before I am mated," She said, raising her voice also and sounding a lot like someone else that liked to piss and moan before I fucked her. "I do not need your mother to know what to do. If I need help holding you down I will wake the others and they can hold you. I will have you shortly," I said, as I settled between her legs. She let me know at once that she was a Geera style complainer. When I was between her legs her hand found my dick to place it before I even thought to do it myself. "Oh John, you mustn't. The others will not help you, they are my friends," she wailed, and shivered with expectation. I pushed Dicky just inside her and she trembled. I didn't go any further yet though. "They will help me or I will go outside and call their mothers to come help me and I will have you all tonight and the whole camp will know it." I had no intention of doing that and I'm sure, since Kateata already had my dick in her, she knew it. The others must not have liked the idea though and were all up almost at once taking hold of Kateata's arms, holding them to the furs. "I can't believe you will help him do this to me," she wailed at them. "We must Kateata, he is the leader and we must do as he says. We can't let the whole camp know. You know that. Just try to be quiet as he does it to you," Jalieta told her. "That is easy for you to say. He isn't doing it to you. Please don't do it John." she wailed again, but more softly. "I was hoping he would do it to me. I am tired of waiting with nothing around for mates worth having. You know he won't let you starve if he does it. No leader would. You should try to do it good so he will want you often, but maybe he will do it to me instead. I will be happy for him to," Cailayia told her. "I may do it to you, but I am not letting Kateata up until she learns that she is for the leader first, even before her mate if I want it," I said, as I slid it all the way up her. Just as I thought she had been shamming. When she felt me enter all the way her legs were around my hips in an instant. As I withdrew and stroked again she pushed up to me like a pro and squeezed Dicky with her pussy as he settled home. She had groaned loudly as I entered and when she did the others had loosened their hold on her arms. She pulled them from the furs and wrapped them around my neck kissing me again. Kateata was no match for me in endurance and she was moaning and crying in pleasure after just a little dicking. She hunched back up to me vigorously and as I changed Dicky's angle to press against her clit and she tensed up and went over into orgasm, trembling and shaking. I wasn't done yet and was about to pull out and have at another one of them before I came to my senses. I contented myself with slow stroking Kateata until she could recover. In only a few minutes she was back and helping. She seemed much more able to hold herself to the slow pace I wanted this time. She wrapped me back up with her legs and arms and resumed her hungry kissing and energetic hip work. We were able to build each other to a final climax after a while and it was a good one. I knew that I had found a spectacular fuck in Kateata and I was thinking seriously of keeping her. When we were done she sagged back to her furs and while her legs dropped from around me her arms maintained their hold on me and she pulled me down onto her body, still kissing on and around my lips and nibbling against my neck. "That was wonderful John. You are such a man and so forceful and demanding. I loved it," she cooed. "You were wonderful too. Am I too heavy to lay on you for a while?" "No, you feel good on me and I want you to stay there for me. I love to feel you on me," she said. I was afraid the others were thinking that they might want in on some of the action now. I wouldn't mind it if I must, but I was very comfortable where I was. My dick was still up in Kateata and while it was no longer at full pressure it was maintaining a respectable presence. Kateata's insides squeezed it every now and then to let it know she still liked it. To my surprise I drifted off to sleep on her. I don't know how long I slept, but I do know what roused me, Kateata's pussy. She was squeezing a renewed Dicky firmly with it. I opened my eyes and looked into hers. She smiled at me. "Are you awake wonderful John?" She asked, in a whisper. "Yes," I told her, as I gave just a tiny push up her. "You have saved me much grief this night. You knew that Jarendo had already forced me didn't you?" she asked. "I only knew that your barrier was gone when I felt you with my fingers. I did not know what had happened. It can be broken by accident sometimes." "I did not know that. It was no accident though. Jarendo got me alone and forced me. After that I thought I would never have a mate unless I took Jarendo and I didn't want him. I was happy when you killed him and I am even happier now, even if I never have a mate," She said as she increased her pussy's manipulations of my dick. "You will have a mate Kateata, I promise you that. If I didn't have twelve mates already you would be my mate now," I told her, like a fool. "You have twelve mates! How do you take care of twelve mates? How can you even feed them?" she asked, amazed. "You must not tell it, but I can feed many more than twelve mates. My whole camp has still not eaten all the meat I took in my first hunt, much less the cave bear I killed and the other smaller game I have come upon accidentally. I can kill all the meat for my whole camp by myself if I must." "But I don't understand how. You are the greatest hunter I have ever heard of then," She said, and her legs came back up around my hips to cross behind my ass. "You will find out soon enough." ------- Chapter 49 "I want to find out and I want you to teach me more about hunting. I love to hunt. I am good at stalking the game. I have to be. I must get closer than the men because I cannot cast the spear as far or as hard as they do. "It is the same for all women who hunt. We must be better at stalking and at tracking also," She said, as she began pushing her pussy to me harder. I stopped talking then and concentrated on the resumed fucking. Kateata had a wonderfully active pussy and it deserved my attention. I began a slower stroking and she had to adjust to the new pace. I pressed it up her as far as I could and then drew it back until it was almost out. She moved her ass with precision to make sure I didn't pop all the way out, which would have required re-aiming. Soon we were both concentrating on the long slow pumping. We kept it up for at least twenty minutes and when we were through we both came at the same time, clutching and hugging each other through our finish. "It was so good again. You are more than a great hunter John. You are a great man. I am going to love it at your camp. I hope your mates will not be cross with me if I try to spend some time with you too," she said. "You have no worries there. If they find out that you will put up with it my mates will be sneaking you into our bed at night. They enjoy holding other women down so I can do it to them. They will be very excited if you moan and complain and try to get away," I told her. "If they truly like it then I can give them a thrill. I am good at struggling to get away. I didn't really know what Jarendo was doing the first time, after that he never got to do it again. I could always get away some how. I even started letting him get me alone so I could get away after he had his trousers off. It always made him so mad, but he could not complain because he wasn't supposed to be doing it to me anyway," she said, and then grinned. I didn't tell her that she had sealed her fate as mate number thirteen with that admission. I was getting horny again thinking about having Dieta go and get her from the unmated women's quarters after I got her back to camp, and I could practically feel the heat off Geera as I imagined her holding Kateata down. Dicky was at the ready again, but I just pushed him back all the way up Kateata and told her we needed to sleep some more. She kissed me to my dreams. She and I woke before the others and while I wanted to fuck her again and in fact still had a hard dick up her I didn't. I told her to make sure to swear the others to secrecy, advising her to tell them that I would be angry if they told anyone. She said she would and I slipped out of her, dressed, and went outside. When I stepped out of the hut I saw Georgo coming toward me with an almost silly grin on his face. I figured it was because he had been pounding on Ladeliea most of the night and was just full of himself this morning. I was wrong though. "Well John, how was your night in the hut of the unmated women. I'm betting that you gave them a little practice to show them what mated life was going to be like," he jabbed. "Actually I didn't. During my examinations I did find one had already been forced by the man that died shortly after I tried to meet the leader. I was able to convince all the other unmated ones that I was the first to take her though. She hadn't told anyone. I assume it will be more acceptable for her that way," I said, trying to salve my conscious. "If that was the case it was in fact a noble gesture on your part, no doubt it had its own compensations," he said. "It did at that and I'm not sure any other will ever get a chance at her. I had noticed her good looks when I first met her and she is attractive, even more so without her clothes. I am seriously considering asking her to be one of my mates." "I don't see why you shouldn't. You have plenty of room for more mates. You could have twice as many and there would not be a crowd in that big cave. Surely you are not worried about another mouth to feed since you will probably end up feeding her anyway. You are doing almost all of the hunting already," he said. "I am, but I intend to change that. It isn't that I mind killing the animals - I actually like it. With all the men that will be in camp soon there will be no hardship in getting many at one time and processing them. I am a little worried about other foods though. With so many living in one location the gathering may become difficult." "I have heard of camps that brought portions of plants back and put them in the ground to grow again. I do not know how well it works though," Georgo said. "It depends on what plant it is and I know of some that do well that way. It needs to be done in the spring though so they will have time to produce fruit before the snow comes. We will worry about it after this winter. We will surely be able to find enough to gather this year." "I don't think you will even have to worry about next year. The women may have to range farther to find things, but if they have some horses to help them it should be easier. How long will it take to train more of the horses?" he asked. "I should have little trouble training the rest of those that I have from the first group that I captured. The others will take a little longer, but I will have some help with the things that must be done over and over and eventually Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo should be able to do most of it after I show them and explain what must be done." "We should probably begin getting things settled so we can return today then. Barago and Britta want to go today and so do some of the others. I tried to tell them they should wait until we can get back with the other wagon, but they are anxious to go." "I hate to start demanding they obey this early, but Barago needs to stay with this camp to keep order until I can get most of the others moved. "They are accustomed to following his leadership and we can't carry much in your buckboard. Barago needs to stay to watch over them and to see that everyone packs their things and is ready to load them when we return tomorrow. I will speak to him now." Georgo led the way and we went to Barago's hut. I was going to try and convince him before I demanded that he stay. I was better at convincing than I had thought I would be. Georgo played a big part in that also. We all decided that the unmated women should go back with Georgo and I since the two runners were still on the loose. I encouraged Barago to try convincing the two wild ones they would be better off if they modified their behavior and came with us. He promised to try. Georgo and I wasted no more time before starting to get ready to go. I hitched the team, drug Harto's body out of the way and had Cailayia, Kateata, Balalia, and Jalieta packing their things into the wagon in only a few minutes. There was plenty of room for their things and loading only took about forty-five minutes. They even managed to get us something cooked to eat in that time too. Georgo and Ladeliea had already eaten before he came to see me. Georgo took the buckboard to Ladeliea's hut to load her things while we were eating and we followed him after we were done. We helped with the last of the loading when we got there and were soon on our way. The buckboard's seat was not as wide as the wagon's of course. Georgo, Ladeliea, Kateata, and I sat on the seat and the other girls made themselves comfortable in the wagon box with their sleeping furs for padding. Georgo and I had removed the tops and stowed them. We left at a trot and all the women were surprised at the speed we were able to travel. After riding on the seat for an hour or so Kateata swapped places with Cailayia so she could have a turn on it. I noticed she was quick to put her warm body right up against mine and after a while her hand was resting on my leg. I put my arm around her and pulled her to me even closer and the trip got more pleasant. The seat swapping turned into an all day thing with each of the girls getting a turn at my side and giving my leg the attention of their hands. Each of them seemed a little bolder than the last and when it came time for Kateata to sit by me again she put her hand right on my dick and gave me a thorough fondling. Going with the flow I let my arm around her waist move up and slid my hand under her tunic. Soon I was teasing the shit out of her titties and nipples and was hoping I wouldn't have to ask Georgo to stop for a fuck break. Things didn't get that far along. The trip was long but passed pleasantly. We made good time too since Georgo was much more confident about his driving today. We were back home nearly three hours before sunset. We had plenty of time to unpack everyone and after we had the girl's things in with the other unmated women we took the buckboard to Georgo's cave to unload Ladeliea's things. Bigglieo and Galto came over then to help Georgo with the unloading while Danlo and Nadlo took the horses to unharness and put away. I told them to put the team into the blind canyon and hobble them near the entrance. I'm sure that Sally and Jane needed a little grazing time. I went in to see my mates and found that Melieta and Jaiya were visiting Shaala and Shallea again. I was soundly kissed and hugged by all, even the four visitors. It seemed they had become fast friends and had begun hanging out in Danlo and the twins' cave. I had to tell all about my adventures while I ate my supper and continue with my tale after it was done. After eating I went out for a while to inspect the finished fence and when I saw the job I was impressed. Someone had taken the work seriously. The pickets were even closer together than I had suggested and I saw they hadn't been extended into the ground as we'd done at the horse cave. Bigglieo said that it had been Danlo's idea. They had left the ends of the pickets off the ground so that they wouldn't start rotting. Another line of larger rails had been put down on the ground on each side of the pickets. Bigglieo said that Danlo thought it would be easier to replace the large rails when they rotted than it would to replace the much more numerous pickets. They were right and I was impressed they had thought it through so clearly. It would also be easier to put the electric fence wire, the stinging wire as they called it, along the larger rails. Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco still intended to stay on watch. I was glad because I didn't feel like fucking with electric fence tonight. It wouldn't get done tomorrow either since we would all have to go back to the other camp. I intended to take both the wagon and the buckboard and all the horses that could be convinced to pull a travois. I bid them all goodbye and went back to my cave and my mates. It was more talking about the traveling with my mates when I returned to the cave. "But John, you killed two men and didn't gain any mates. You must try harder to get rid of mated men," Dieta said, as if she were explaining. "I just don't think I would be comfortable killing a man just because he has a pretty mate." "That is right, but couldn't you try to find mated men that were causing trouble? It seems a shame that Georgo found a pretty mate on the trip and you didn't," Geera said. "I already have more pretty mates than anyone else Geera." "Yes but we are becoming fond of our little group and we would like to have more," Shelalliea said. "You did notice I brought all of the unmated women back with the first load didn't you?" "I did. I saw them and they are all pretty, especially the one that was sitting beside you. She was very pretty. Why did you take them all to the unmated women's cave to stay. You should have brought them all here. We have plenty of room, even the bed is big enough already for at least four more," Delia said, sounding as if I should have known that it was the thing to do. "I can't mate every woman I find. I shouldn't take all the new unmated ones. What if I find one much prettier later and my bed is already full to overflowing?" "Surely it will just grow again if it knows we need more room," Gema, our bed watcher, said. "It might grow but it might not. We do not know it will grow again." ------- Chapter 50 "We did not know that it would grow before, but when we needed more room it did," Maia pointed out. "Where did you sleep at the other camp, you didn't have to stay in Georgo's buckboard did you?" Winna asked. "No, the unmated women were worried that some of the troublesome ones would sneak into the hut to force them since they knew the women would be leaving the next day." "Good, did you fuck them all?" Roweea asked. "No, I kissed and played with them all though." "Please don't tell us that you didn't fuck any of them," Waaya said. "Well I don't like to kiss and tell, but since you are my mates I will tell you. I did fuck Kateata, you said she was the prettiest one, the one that was beside me when we got back here." "Why did you leave her with the unmated ones then? Why didn't you bring her here to live with us?" Jaada asked, almost indignantly. "Because I wanted Dieta and Geera to go and fetch her out of the unmated women's cave later." I explained Kateata's problem then and told them it was the reason I had fucked her. I also told them she liked to resist and that I wanted Dieta and Geera to go and make a big show of bringing her to my bed. Roweea was quick to ask if she could go also and then Maia wanted to get in on it too. I let them talk me into it, but said it would have to wait until I was back from the next trip. "Must you leave us alone for another night?" Merita asked. "I'm afraid I will have to do it again. We will have to train a new team tomorrow and they will have to learn mostly during the trip. I must go with the men who go tomorrow to make sure all the horses will do right. I will not go the next time though. We will have all the horses trained to at least pull a travois by then and I can let the others make any other trips that are needed." "If you must go we will be all right. I hope you plan to show us how much you missed us tonight though," Gema said. "I do, but I must ask you something else. Do any of you like to hunt?" They looked at me like I might be addle headed for a minute and then they all said they did. Some of them hadn't hunted much in the last year or two but they all said they wished they could hunt more. I told them what Kateata had said to me about women having to try harder since they weren't as strong with a spear and they agreed. "I think I know of a weapon you could use that would be easier. It can fly much harder and farther than a spear. Would you like for me to get you some?" "I am afraid of the thunder John," Jaada said, and most of the others said they were also. "I wasn't thinking of the thunder. The weapon I'm speaking of casts an arrow, it is like a spear but much smaller. I will show you when I come back." That seemed to satisfy them and they were tired of talking. They swarmed me then and began removing my clothes. Duty called and I spent the next three hours doing mine. The smell of coffee was in the air when I woke the next morning. The bed was empty though except for me. My mates were all over near the cooking fire and by the time I had my clothes on I could smell bacon frying. I took a little side trip to visit my urinal and then made my way to the smells that were making my stomach rumble. "Good morning my lovelies. How is everyone this morning?" "We are feeling fine today, but sad again. We will miss you tonight. We are going to spend some time getting to know Kateata and the other unmated ones you brought today though," Dalia said. "That will be good. Please don't give away my secret though." "We won't. We like to give surprises too," Merita assured me and they all smiled about it. "It sounds to me that John has already given her one big surprise," Roweea said, and then they all laughed. We ate breakfast together and I had plenty of coffee. When I'd finished I went to the computer to send in an order. I'd done some thinking so it didn't take too long though some of the specifications required a little explaining. I made an inquiry first to see if anyone was watching. The last snafu must have been enough for them. I got a response at once. I ordered a compound bow for all my mates and Kateata. I instructed that they be custom fitted and asked if they knew enough about them to do it correctly. The one on duty said they would make sure to find out all they needed to know. I also ordered a bow for myself and a thousand titanium arrows for each of us. The broadheads would have to be custom made also, mostly from titanium, since I wasn't going to spend the weight for run of the mill steel models. One bit of weight I did splurge on was for wedding rings for all my mates. They were to be custom fitted also. I had always had my own idea about wedding rings. The ones for my mates and myself would resemble not a ring, but a cylinder whose length was to be as long as possible without restraining the movement of the knuckle or finger. It was also to have about twice the wall thickness of a normal wedding ring. I remembered wanting some T-shirts for them and the operator assured me that they could easily obtain all the dimensions they would need without the women realizing it. The T-shirts would come to just below their pussy lips, providing proper coverage only when they were standing. These weren't really for any utility, they were for my benefit. It would give my girls something to put on in the mornings for breakfast time and would still allow me plenty of opportunities to fondle the flesh. I also ordered several archery targets that would protect the arrows while they were practicing. As I was finishing the order I decided to get them all a 22 rifle. It would be a good starter weapon for them and would help them get over their fear of firearms. It could also be used efficiently with small game and even deer sized animals after they had gained sufficient marksmanship. These rifles would be the lightest yet, since I called for titanium barrels with only steel liners. I stated that they should give sub minute of angle accuracy out to one hundred yards. Let the aliens figure that one out. What the hell, I ordered one for myself too. They were to have only iron sights to start. I would worry about scopes after I had taught them to aim the old fashioned way. One quick flash made me think of something else that would come in handy. I asked for a Blackberry device that could communicate my wishes if I thought of something while I was away from the computer. The operator on the other end told me they would get to work on it at once and that they would send it to one of my pockets when it was ready. Damn what service. I thanked him or her and signed off. My girls were going over what I would be taking with me as I finished so I went outside to get things going. Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo were down near the horse caves with Bigglieo. I had Jonoco and Nadlo get Jane and Sally to harness. When they were ready I sent them to bring first the wagon and then the buckboard and I asked Bigglieo to get Galto and take him to cut some more travois poles. Danlo and I caught Bonehead and Dolly. They were about to become a team. They were calm enough as we put the harness on them for the first time and stood patiently as I made adjustments to it so that it would fit them properly. Jonoco had come with the wagon by then and when he'd released Sally and Jane I led Bonehead to it and hitched her up. She was being a real trooper. Dolly got a little fractious with this new development, but a little extra soothing and soft talking got her to settle down so I could finish hitching her. When I was done I had Danlo get on the seat and I followed him. When I signaled, Bonehead moved at once and Dolly followed her lead. It was a little of a rough start but smoothed out quickly enough. Danlo and I drove them about a mile down river then turned around and came back. It was all going too easily. When we got back we caught all the rest of the horses. We took the time to give those that hadn't had the benefit of any travois work a few minutes to learn the drill. None of them gave any remarkable trouble and soon enough we had all the horses either tied to the wagon for leading or hitched to do the pulling. I decided to go ahead and saddle Ben so I could ride him after I was sure that Bonehead and Dolly were going to mind their manners. We left soon after that. I was driving the wagon and Georgo the buckboard. Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco were all going with us this time as well as Galto. Bigglieo seemed to want to go too, but I told him I needed my best man to stay at the camp to watch over things. When I said that to him he smiled and was glad to. After many kisses goodbye from my mates we were off. I didn't waste any time putting Bonehead and Dolly into a brisk trot. They weren't bothered in the least and we were soon covering ground at a good rate. There was a little confusion among the led horses, but they got with the program soon enough. What did they have to bitch about? They weren't really doing any work yet. I kept a careful watch on Bonehead and Dolly and they didn't seem to tire with the pace. I also glanced back at Sally and Jane often. They weren't having any trouble keeping up so we just kept at it. Even though we had started nearly two hours later than Georgo and I had on the previous trip, we had started out trotting and were actually moving at a faster pace today. A little after noon I saw we would probably get to the camp earlier in the day than we had before. We didn't even stop to eat. When I thought we were about an hour from our destination I pulled us to a stop, giving the reins to Danlo and mounting Ben. We were off again. I stayed with them for a few minutes and then kicked Ben into his comfortable slow lope. I knew the others wouldn't get lost and I didn't feel like sitting a trot for another six or seven miles. As I came around the sharp bend and into the camp I saw it was calm, but busy. Many of the people stared in amazement at the first man on horseback they had ever seen. After a few seconds I noticed a figure at the camp's periphery break into a run away from it. It had to be one of the runners from before. I kicked Ben into motion toward the runner. I started to unlimber my lariat. I wasn't a dally roper though and my lariat wasn't tied for hard and fast roping. It was mostly just slung on for utility work. If I did manage to get a loop over the running boy I would have to try and hold him by hand and control a horse that didn't know shit about roping at the same time. I decided this was not the time to risk going ass over teakettle off over Ben's head so I left the rope alone. Ben didn't know about roping, but I guess he had chased and driven enough mares to realize he should catch the runner and come close to him. I let him do the driving since I knew the boy couldn't get away and I wanted to see how good Ben would do. He was excellent. When he came up to the runner he slowed to match the pace. I was getting ready to kick the boy between the shoulders to knock him down when Ben stretched his neck and bit the boy on the shoulder as if he were biting a mare to get her to mind. This little trick unbalanced him and soon the boy's feet were in the air and his head was approaching the ground at quite a rate. I pulled up on Ben a little and he planted his hind feet and did a better sliding stop than many I'd seen from horses that had been trained in the maneuver. I drew the Glock as I turned Ben back to face our prey and when it looked like he would try to jump up and run again I fired three times rapidly into the ground nearby. This shocked whoever it was and he looked down at his chest as if looking for a wound. "I was only warning you. You can go to join your friends now or you can start walking back to camp." "I will walk then," Talvo, I learned shortly, said. "Turn and go then, I will be behind you. Remember you have no chance to outrun the horse." He headed back to the camp. When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see Barago, Britta, and the others were there and that the other runner from before, Sahto, was with them. They were all a little surprised to see the one I had chased was still able to walk and apparently unharmed. I unassed Ben and walked to Barago and Britta. Sahto was standing beside Barago. "Have you talked some sense into this one then Barago?" I asked. "Yes he has decided that some of his recent actions have not been in his own best interest and I'd thought Talvo had too. He told me that he was going to come with us. I was surprised when he ran from you," Barago said. "Maybe it will become more clear to him now. I have had enough foolishness from them. They will come with us and learn how to be useful. If they do not improve their behavior I can kill them just as easily at our new camp. I will also have the trained wolves to help me with them there. If they try to sneak off again I will send the wolves after them." I was blowing smoke up their asses there, but I knew when they saw Prince, King, and Rover walking around the camp with no one giving it a second thought they would believe I could do as I'd said. Both of the young men paled at the comment so I knew it had been a good one. "I am sorry I ran from you now. I wanted to go to your camp, but I was afraid when I saw you come on the horse's back. I will not run from you again and I will not give you any trouble. I will do my best to learn to be a good hunter and to make myself a good member of your camp," Talvo said. "That is all I ever ask of any man Talvo. If you do it you will have nothing but praise from me, praise and meat that is. I will let you and Sahto start earning your keep when the wagons and the other horses get here. Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo will show you how to lead a horse. We will need for you to help when we are traveling tomorrow." They both looked at me in surprise at this. I'm sure they'd thought that they would spend some time on the shit list and I also thought that they were curious and amazed about horses. They would probably know more about leading a loaded horse than they could have ever dreamed by the end of tomorrow. ------- Chapter 51 Jonoco rounded the bend with Georgo not far behind then. They pulled up and stopped close to us. As Georgo came over to talk I had Jonoco, Danlo, Nadlo, and Galto begin rigging the travois onto the horses that had never pulled a load. Then I returned to Georgo, Barago, and the others. "Barago, we will need some fairly thick skins to finish making the travois for the horses to pull. Do you have any?" I asked. "We can use the hides that are part of the huts. We will not need the huts any longer and there should be plenty of hides that we can salvage for other uses," He told me, after thinking about it for a moment. "Is there a hut that no one is using now, that will not be needed tonight?" "Not really. You will need the hut of the unmated women and Georgo will need Darbo's former hut," he said. I was about to speak up and tell him I could stay in the wagon when he spoke again. "We have three large hides that we were going to build another hut with though and we can use them if you need some now," he said. "We should rig as many as we can tonight so we can let some of these horses practice before the sun sets. Would you bring the hides please?" He left to do it and I asked the others to bring some things that they would be wanting to take tomorrow, I urged them to bring things that would be able to take a beating if it came to that, such as skins or furs. While they were gone to bring them I helped the men with the horses. I made a point of introducing Sahto and Talvo to all of the men and instructing them to teach the two boys all they could. We had all of the horses that had never pulled a load rigged with a working travois before the first of the practice freight arrived. We began loading, distributing it among the horses. After a while we had at least enough to practice with and we began walking the horses out and back and getting them accustomed to a load. It all went more smoothly than I'd thought it would. I guess the constant handling had prepared the horses for their work better than I had thought. We quit after about an hour. Barago had brought the skins and we spent the rest of the daylight rigging out two more travois with them. That would only leave us one to rig in the morning so I felt that we would do fine. We hobbled the horses that we could and tied off the rest on long leads. That reminded me I needed to ask for more hobbles in my bonus freight. The Blackberry had arrived before I had mounted Ben today so I knew I could add to my order after I went into the hut to sleep. With everything more or less settled for our journey tomorrow, those of us who had been working with the horses went back to the main camp and found a mini feast being prepared. I suppose the women had decided it would be easier to cook the food tonight than carry it tomorrow. I found a place to sit and was just beginning to lament not bringing at least one of my mates to see to my care and feeding. I needn't have worried. An older woman, perhaps in her early thirties, but still attractive came to me with a large plate piled high with food and a large cup of tea. She introduced herself as Talieia and as she handed me the plate and tea, just as I was taking a drink, she told me that she was Talvo's mother. It was a trick, but I managed not to choke. "I want to thank you and also bring my mate's thanks for the restraint you have shown in dealing with Talvo. We know that he has acted foolishly and it has not started lately. He isn't even a man, yet he hasn't listened to my mate or me for months. "When the lightning killed Darbo we were glad and then when you killed Jarendo and later Harto we thought that Talvo had seen what was waiting for him if he did not mend his ways. He seemed to know that he had done wrong and he told my mate, Barago, and I that he would change and would go with us to your camp. When he ran today as you approached, and you chased him on the horse and made the magic thunder, I thought that he was dead. "I was heartbroken. I knew he had brought it on himself, but a mother never stops loving her child, even if his actions are not what she had hoped for. I was so happy when you made him get up and come back to camp that I could barely stand. "I will never forget your kindness to Talvo. Never! I must tell you that Taahrausa, Sahto's mother, and her mate know that you have done as much for him also. He has been just as willful as Talvo even though he didn't run when you came back. "When we saw you accepted their word they would try to be good members of your camp and put them to work with those horses we were so relieved. With those swaggering fools dead and a strong leader like you to show them the way I think they will both grow to be good men and if it hadn't been for your visit they never would have," Talieia said. I thanked her for her confidence in me and said I hoped that I could live up to it. I told her I would not tolerate trouble making from either of them, but I remembered what it was like to be a boy waiting on manhood and I promised to do my best to help them see how they should conduct themselves. She started thanking me again and I endured it for a while, but finally had to ask her if we could talk of something else. She agreed and she spent some time telling me about the members of her camp. According to Talieia the camp had done well until Darbo had mated Ladeliea and later started hurting her. It started slowly and though Barago had thought it was shameful he hadn't demanded it stop. When it became much too much Barago had asked them to leave the camp, but Darbo wouldn't leave and he defied Barago. Things got worse afterward and first Jarendo and then Harto began to plot with Darbo. "Finally Sahto and Talvo were drawn into the madness even though we tried to tell them it would end in grief," she said, and seemed near tears again. "Do not worry any longer. I will make sure that they do not slip back into bad old habits. I know ways to discipline boys and even men without killing them. Your son will become a good man soon, whether he wants to or not." I saw that another round of thanks was about to break out. Even though I'd had nearly all I could eat already, I asked her if she could bring me more and she left with the plate and cup at once, seeming delighted to serve me. Talieia didn't return with them though. Another woman who I thought was probably near the same age came back with more food and tea for me. She told me she was Taahrausa, Sahto's mother and the whole thing started again. More thanks, more explanations, and then more thanks. I told her the same things I'd told Talieia and received yet even more thanks for my troubles. I might have had to listen to it all night if not for Georgo coming over to talk with me. When he arrived Taahrausa said her goodbyes at once, leaving us to talk in private. Georgo didn't really have much he wanted to discuss and when I finally asked him if he had come over to rescue me from Taahrausa he admitted that he had. I thanked him for it. She was an attractive woman and normally I would have enjoyed talking to her, but she and Talieia both had made me uncomfortable with their constant thanking and praising. Georgo asked me where I would be sleeping and I told him I thought Galto, the young men, and I would probably sleep in the hut of the unmated women. He told me Galto was going to sleep with him in Darbo and Ladeliea's hut, which was now actually his hut. He also thought the young men should stay with the horses and keep fires going, especially since the horses could not run away if a predator came up. It sounded more sensible to me also after he said it and we agreed. I was a little surprised then when Sahto and Talvo came to us. Sahto said he knew the young men would be staying with the horses tonight and he and Talvo wanted permission to stay with them too. I guessed that Georgo had already told the others to stay with the horses. "I thought you knew your job was with the horses now. Even if you aren't men yet you are old enough to make yourselves useful. Yes, you must stay with the horses and help the others. Be sure to listen carefully to what they tell you and to obey them if they give you something to do. "We need more men to watch over the horses than we have and if you learn your duties well you will be able to continue with them after you become men. If you care for the horses for me I will do any hunting for you that you need. Is that fair?" I might as well have asked them if they would like one of the women to come over and give them a blowjob. They couldn't keep the smiles off their faces and after thanking me they returned to the horses. "John I am always surprised at your wisdom. In only a few hours you have changed those two from the troublemakers they were going to be. Now they are good boys again and you did it with ease. How did you know what to do?" Georgo asked. "Where I came from it was often said that idle hands were the devil's workplace." "Who is the devil?" he asked. "I do not believe there is a devil Georgo, but I know men often act as if there were one. The devil is said to be a great spirit that fights against the will of the other spirits. He is said to try to make men do wrong while the other spirits try to make men do right." Georgo was silent for a while and I knew he was trying to come to terms with a totally new concept. He looked at me as if he wanted to ask a question and then slipped back into thinking about it again. Finally he asked the question. "But you say you don't think there is a devil?" he asked. "I think those who talk about the devil just want to make excuses for men. If there is a devil there is one in each of us and he is not magic. He is just bad. There is no devil to make men do wrong. Men do wrong on their own and then want to blame it on the devil, or other men, or anything as long as they don't have to accept responsibility for what they did. Men who do good things do them on their own also. Do you really think the spirits would let one such as this devil be?" "I see what you are saying I think, but you also said something about idle hands," Georgo said. "When men lay around and do nothing it gives them more time to consider doing something bad. If they are busy doing useful things they do not have time to think of bad things to do." "I have known it all my life almost and have never understood it until you just said it. In the winter, when we must stay in or close to camp things always become difficult and men are always getting short tempers. You have explained it perfectly," he said. "That is why we will have plenty of things to do this winter. We will make things and repair things and we will practice our skills with the spears on targets that I will set up. I will teach the men to sharpen the knives I will be giving them and we will dig chambers for freezing meat in every cave. We will be doing something every day, at least part of the day, if I have to stay up all night to think of something to do." "I know already it will be a better winter than I have ever spent. You are right, if they have something to do they know will help them later they will be glad to do it instead of laying around all day," Georgo said. ------- Chapter 52 Just the way he said it set me to thinking about something we could be doing this winter if I could get things arranged and could fit the equipment into my weight limit. I let it slip in and out of my mind as Georgo and I continued talking about other things. Finally we got tired of talking and separated to go to sleep. I checked on the horses and the young men and boys watching over them and everything was fine. Getting my sleeping furs out of Georgo's buckboard I took them to the unmated women's hut. Things would be a lot different tonight than they had been night before last. It was going to be the first night I had spent alone in a while. Dicky seemed resigned to it and wasn't bothering me. I undressed and crawled into the furs and was asleep in minutes. I had probably been asleep for a couple of hours when some noise woke me. "John, can you hear me John?" It was a whispering from outside. "Yes I can hear you. What is it?" "I am coming in," the whispering said. It was Talieia. She came in and lay beside me outside the covers. "What is it Talieia?" "I came here to thank you properly for saving Talvo," she said. "You have already thanked me. I am sleeping now." "I know, but I want to show you my thanks," She said, as she began removing her tunic. I was about to speak again and tell her it wasn't necessary. I knew Dicky would raise hell, but that wasn't going to stop me. Talieia's titties stopped me though when she got her tunic off over her head. They were nice and round and fat and they didn't sag much. Their nipples looked delicious and I could tell Talvo must have been an energetic nurser. As she fumbled with her trousers I reached out to play with one. "You probably shouldn't be here Talieia." "Yes I should be here. You are my leader now and it is your right to have me if you want me. I hope you do want me," She said, but I could tell that it was a question. "Of course I want you Talieia, but why is it my right?" "You are the leader. All women know it is the leader's right to take them even though we never tell it. I will tell you anything though. You have been so good to me already. We all consider it the leader's right to have us if he wants us. "You really have more right to us than our mates do. We don't tell it to them either, though none of them would ever question the leader for taking their mate from time to time,"she said. She was naked now and she made her way into the furs with me, pressing her titties against my chest and kissing my mouth hotly. "Even Georgo has never told me it was my right. He encouraged me to take any woman I wanted, but he never said it was my right." "Shamans do not know everything even if they think they do. Why would we tell them anyway? Most of them do not even have mates. We always make sure that someone is available for them when they visit, but they do not have the right to every woman the way a camp's leader does. Even if it were not your right I would be here anyway. You have helped my son when you didn't have to and I want to be here," she said as her hand slipped down to grasp my hardon. "Oh. I did not know you were so big. I am even more glad I am here now," she told me, as she began stroking me gently. "What of your mate Talieia. Won't he wake and wonder where you are?" "He will not wake and even if he knew where I was he would not be angry. He is very fond of Talvo also since he was my mate when Talvo was born. He would be glad I am thanking you and he knows you are our leader now. He would not mention it unless to brag to the other men," she said. I really didn't understand it, but I was beginning not to give a shit. I was still curious though and since she could talk and play with my dick at the same time I asked her how she knew he would not wake. "I know what to feed him if I need to visit the leader at night. Even though Barago almost never took any of the women I still know how to feed my mate so he will sleep all night and wake up feeling good," she said. I nearly laughed. She had drugged his ass. From the way she was so sure he would sleep all night I knew she must have something stronger than Nytol too. She had Dicky drooling now and I was getting a lot of mileage out of her titties and nipples. I bent my head for a little nursing of my own. "The only one who could complain and have a right to is Britta. Really you should take her first, but I knew you hadn't told her to come and I know she would not do it on her own. She might start after she finds out what a man you are. "I will not tell anyone you took me first. I will not embarrass Britta. I will just thank you for what you did for my son. I may want to thank you many times though," she said, with amusement as she kept pumping my dick. I'd had enough explanation to suit me and my dick had enjoyed all the wanking it could stand for a while. I kissed her lips soundly and rolled her to her back, slipping between her opening thighs as I did. She didn't let go of my cock until she had it in her entrance and as I pushed into her slowly she moaned into my mouth until I hit bottom. She wrapped me up with her arms and legs then and began pushing her warm pussy up to me. I settled into a slow lope, about the same speed as Ben's, and just fucked her good. I loved it and it seemed she did too. She got off twice before I fired my first load. I sagged down onto her and she kissed and nibbled around my face and neck and cooed into my ear, telling me how good it had been. "Talieia," someone whispered from outside. "Come in quickly Taahrausa," Talieia told her. Taahrausa did just that and I wasn't a bit sorry. With my new understanding, of what at least these two thought, I was glad to see the attractive blonde. She didn't waste any time shucking her clothes, talking to Talieia the whole time. "Taahrausa you won't believe how big he is and how good too," Talieia said. "I will believe it. I have been outside by the entrance for quite a while. I could tell he was already doing it to you when I listened at the curtain and I didn't want to disturb you by coming in." "You could not have disturbed me. I thought the spirits were taking me into another land. He is wonderful," Talieia said. "Well let him roll off toward me then. I will see if I can get it hard again," Taahrausa said. "I don't think you will have any trouble. It is still up in me. It is not hard now but it is still very big in me," Talieia said, as she shifted slightly to move me toward Taahrausa. "I see it is big. I have never heard of one being this big and he is not even hard," Taahrausa said, as she finished getting her trousers off and bent to lick and then suck my dick into her mouth. Her mouth and tongue were talented and she didn't have any trouble getting me back up. She didn't want to fool around much before getting down to business either. When I was hard she lay down on the furs and spread her shapely legs. I moved partially onto her and kissed her mouth as I took hold of a titty to knead. When I moved between her legs she placed me at her entrance with her hand. I didn't tarry either and pushed it up her at once. She groaned out as I let her wet hot pussy get a taste of Dicky. Her arms went around my neck pulling me closer for more passionate kissing and later her legs crossed behind my ass and her hands took a purchase on my cheeks. She began pulling me into her harder as I pumped and her hips began slamming back to me. She was asking for a hard fucking and I started giving her one. She lasted a little longer than Talieia had before her first come, but it didn't matter now. I was accustomed to multi fucks and I settled in to give her a good old country screwing, pushing it all the way up her hard and then pulling it back for another go at the brass ring. She went right back off moaning in a short while and then got her rocks again later as I began pumping the white lotion up her nibbling snatch. "Oh Talieia, what a man he is. I came here to give myself to him in thanks for what he did for Sahto. I intended to let him do it to me and he has. He did it to me, and did it to me, and did it to me and he is still big in me now even after he spent inside me. It just feels so good," Taahrausa said. "I know. He has done me the same way. We should let him sleep awhile and maybe he will do it to us again. Will you John?" Talieia asked. "You know I will. It was very good for me too and I want to do it more to both of you. Let us pull the furs over us and rest a little and then start again." I lay back and they covered us all with the furs. They lay partially on me pressing titties and bushes against me from either side. I drifted off, but woke three more times that night to fuck them both. They were looking at me dreamy eyed as they slipped out about an hour before sunrise. I lay back down to sleep some more. Georgo came to wake me just after sunrise and I felt surprisingly good after the workout I'd had last night. He grinned at me and asked if I knew now why he'd had the young men and boys stay with the horses. "You knew what they were going to do didn't you?" "Of course I did. You saved both their sons and have made them do what is right. You have even given them something to do. It was clear to me what would happen and this way none of the others will know. "I even told Britta she should not come to you last night, but that she should wait until you sent for her. I still think you should take Bigglieo's mate before you take Britta." Remembering what I'd seen of Britta and with my new knowledge I knew I was going to have a hard time putting off a visit from Britta. I would try though. "Britta has always been Barago's mate and he has been the leader since just after they were mated. She has never been with another man and she is nervous about it. She did not say so, but I knew it. She knows she needs to give herself to you though. She seemed more ready than I had thought she would be," Georgo said. "You shouldn't have told me. It will be hard enough waiting as it is." "You won't be waiting long, you should know that. Bigglieo's mate knows she needs to secure his place for him and I'm sure he understands it too. I think it was why he drank so much of your bruga when we had the ceremony. I think he expected for you to take her that night. He understands now though since you mated Roweea and he knows you did the correct thing," Georgo said. "I really don't even know which woman is Bigglieo's mate. I know most of the men's mates, but I'm not sure I know Bigglieo's." "She doesn't look like she should be mated to a big man like Bigglieo. She is one of the smallest women. She has the red hair and green eyes and her breasts look like they are too big for her small form," Georgo said. "I know which one you mean now, but I thought she was unmated. She is so young and so small." "She is older than she looks, but she is young. She is the reason Bigglieo was so worried when he thought you would not mate Roweea. He had already taken another mate, Suleita from the other camp, one of the women whose mate had been killed. She is older than Bigglieo's first mate but she is a lot of woman also. "I think Bigglieo has all the mates he can take care of now and he was afraid he would have to take another if you did not take Roweea," Georgo said. "Then should I take both his mates before I take Britta?" "It would be best, but it is not absolutely necessary. If you take one it will secure his place as your most important man. Of course this depends on whether that is what you want to signify," Georgo explained. "That is what I intend. Barago may be a good man, but Bigglieo has already proven himself to me." ------- Chapter 53 "I was sure you felt that way. If you would like, when you are ready, I will tell Daleana to come to you," Georgo offered. "I'll let Dieta do it. She enjoys that sort of thing." "I can see it in her and I thought it was that way, but I have done it for leaders before so I thought I would tell you," Georgo said. "I thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid Dieta would be disappointed if I didn't let her do it, I also think I will let Roweea tell the other one after that. Roweea was her leader's mate." "You are learning very fast now John. I may be asking you for advice before long." I started to tell him I could share some new information with him now, but decided I would keep it to myself. I also nearly asked him when we were going to see about getting more mates for him, but I let that slip by too. We had plenty of freight to haul for the moment. I was beginning to be a little surprised at the complexity of this society. There were things the shamans knew others didn't. There were secrets kept among all the women no men were privy to, not even the shaman. It was also obvious to me the men knew some things they never spoke about, at least none of them had mentioned these things to me, but it was becoming clear they knew and understood them. I was very curious about what other things might be understood by all, but still unknown to me. I assumed I would learn about them as I blundered into them. Maybe Georgo would be able to give me advance warning before I showed my ignorance. I was also being surprised almost daily with the deference given to the leader and the prerogatives which seemed to accompany the position. When I had known Gigo and Dergo they had acted as if being the leader was not such a big deal. Gigo had treated Dergo as more or less an equal and when Dieta told me later Gigo had taken her often, even before he allowed Dergo to take Geera, it had been a minor revelation to me. The things Georgo and then my mates and now Talieia and Taahrausa had told me were driving home the point all the women were available to me, though I needed to exercise some discretion when I had my way with other men's mates. I was learning a few things about myself too, whether I needed to know them or not. I enjoyed fucking the other men's mates and was pretty sure I would like it more and more as time went by. I had never really liked being the first one for a young girl, but its appeal was gaining ground with me. I hadn't especially liked deflowering Gema, Merita, and Maia, but I did get a little charge every time I fucked them now because I knew I was the only one who had ever had a dick up them. I also got an extra thrill when I fucked one of my mates who came to me because I had killed their mate. Delia was a ride in her own right and I usually rememberred Gembo on the ground coughing up the last of his lungs when I slid her the meat. Waaya and Winna sort of blured together when I plowed their furrows. They resembeled each other even though I didn't know of any kinship between them. Still, I usually thought of them together and I never really knew whether I was rooting it up Jenbo or Jabo's widow when I fucked them. It didn't really matter except as a little extra thrill for me. Dalia and Shelalliea were their own thrill with spectacular bodies, beautiful faces, and welcoming eagerness. Roweea gave me one of the most perverse, in my opinion, thrills. Not only was she beautiful in every way, she was in essence given to me in tribute by her former camp as payment for taking them in. The fact we desired each other was just a happy circumstance, since I now understood by custom she was mine by right. I thought I could see a little of the reason for the development of these customs. They would tend to make all men try to do more for their camp and their leader. If they didn't the leader could simply kill them and take their mate as his own and no one would say a word about it. It also bound the leader to the men, since before my arrival there was no way one man could have access to so many women if he had to feed them all by himself. It followed that a better job of leadership would allow a camp to grow and allow the leader access to more women. My dreams of more women than I could fuck came to an end though as the smell of food caught my attention. There was a meal for our breakfast ready soon and we went to eat and drink some tea. The tea wasn't as good as coffee to me, and Georgo told me he preferred coffee now also. I would have to spread some more coffee around and see if anyone else liked it. After we'd eaten everyone scattered to begin packing. I was forced to again appreciate the job Bigglieo had been doing for me. Packing the things in the wagon, buckboard, and on the travois was a bitch to do efficiently. There were more things to carry than could be loaded. Barago had everyone pack what was most important to them first - all of that and more was loaded. Before we left I made sure everyone understood we would be coming back the next day to get everything else. I told them I even wanted everything which could be salvaged from the huts, including any of the building materials they had used. Before we left I appointed, with Barago's help in the selection, three men to stay and watch over the camp. I also asked them to begin dismantling the huts they wouldn't need for sleeping or storage of the things we were leaving. I arranged things so we would swap driving and leading chores during the trip. I intended for every man and all the women that could be persuaded to take a turn at both. I wanted everyone to have a little experience handling the horses. Frankly I was getting tired of commanding the freight missions, especially since I realized I could have sent Bigglieo on this trip and spent last night fucking his mates to my heart's content if the horses had been trained before we started. I was mollified when I remembered the valuable new information I'd gained from Talieia and Taahrausa and the fun I'd had bumping their fuzz. Things were looking up though. Those who weren't busy leading, driving or learning to and who couldn't find room to sit on one of the seats were riding among the cargo. It came time to stop for a breather and some driver switching. Georgo's buckboard had been bringing up the rear for the whole trip. It was the lightest and was loaded more lightly also since it was the logical vehicle to use in case anything out of the ordinary was required. I saw, as we were about to start again Georgo was driving his buckboard and there were three of the new camps women on the seat with him to see how it was done. Riding in the cargo was a pretty young woman I had noticed before and her daughter. I knew her mate was one of those left to guard the remains of the camp. Dicky began begging at once and so I stayed where I was until Georgo and the buckboard passed. I hopped onto the back and climbed into the box to join the mother and daughter, working myself between them. I introduced myself to them and the mother told me she was Erieta and her daughter was Failiela. We talked for a while as we rode and as I lay between them I noticed first the mother and then the daughter seemed to move toward me slightly and were soon both right up against me. I was mostly interested in the mother at this time. The girl couldn't be far from womanhood and was extremely pretty in the face, but I knew her body wouldn't be very tempting to me yet. I thought the mother would be a different story. Her clothes kept most of the details hidden, but I hadn't encountered a woman in this time yet that didn't have all the parts I expected and they usually had commendable examples of those parts. I eased an arm around Erieta and pulled her to me to kiss her. She came willingly and her lips parted for my tongue as I pressed it into her mouth. She kissed me back, but without particular passion. I heard just the slightest gasp from Failiela when I first put my mouth to her mother's lips and then she moved up more tightly against me. I let my other hand move down onto Erieta's ass for a good feel and then I slipped it up under her tunic to explore her breasts. They were firm and substantial. Her nipples were not aroused when I started teasing them, but they soon started swelling and her kisses became more enthusiastic. She seemed to realize where we were then. "It is daylight John, and we are in the wagon with others," Erieta whispered, as she moved her lips to my ear. "I know it is daylight and we are not alone. Georgo knew why I got in the wagon and the other women must know they will soon be back here for some of the same treatment. I am the leader now and I am not shy," I told her, making sure it was loud enough for the others to hear. She nearly swooned at this and she did shiver as she pushed her pelvis toward me. I could hear Failiela's breathing becoming more rapid at my back. "But John my daughter is with us too," Erieta whimpered. "That is a good thing. She should watch carefully so she will know what will be coming for her next." Erieta trembled at this also and I could feel Failiela's hands grip my shoulders more tightly. "She isn't even a woman yet and of course she is unmated," Erieta moaned, as she pressed even harder against me. I was ready to see the titties I was fondling so I said nothing at first. I reached down for the hem of her tunic and began pulling it up. She knew in a second what I wanted and raised a little to help me rid her of it. Her breasts were treasures and the nipples were now swollen and very pink. I pulled her down to try nursing a little and she moaned as I took a nipple into my mouth to suck. Failiela was not nearly as shy as her mother. She began kissing the back of my neck and she had an arm over me from behind, searching for something interesting to feel. I reached down and opened the button and zipper of my jeans and fished Dicky out. When he was in the open air I took Failiela's hand and put it on him, urging her to stroke. While my hand was in the vicinity I moved it to untie the drawstring of Erieta's trousers and then pushed them down over her hips while she helped by raising her butt. I put my hand in her bush then and wiggled my fingers between her legs to find her slit. I was still sucking on her nipples and she was still moaning as she spread her legs for me. "Oh John, Oh," she sighed. "Mother, I didn't know they were so big. How can this fit into me?" Failiela asked. Erieta couldn't answer right now since her mind was elsewhere. I thought that I should. "It probably is too big for you now Failiela, but it won't be long before you get it. I like your looks, you are pretty and I will be taking you soon," I told her. She reacted by squeezing my dick and shivering herself. She didn't stop stroking me though. "Even before I am mated?" she asked, in a very small voice. "Do not worry about that. I will probably wait until you are mated, but even if I don't you will have no worries about getting a mate that you want. I will promise you that." She seemed convinced when I said it and she devoted her attention to her ministrations. Her mother was panting now and began working her hips in earnest as I slid first one finger and then another up her now dripping sex. I knew the daylight sex play and probable audience had her boiling and I wasn't surprised she went off when I rubbed her clitty with my thumb. She groaned out loud and tensed her pussy around my fingers while her hips made six or seven rapid bucks against my hand, and then she sagged into the bedding we were lying on. As she lay there panting I spoke to her. "I won't be taking you or Failiela or any of the others today, since I will need to show my respect to Barago by taking Britta first. You won't be far behind her though," I told her, and then snapped a look at the buckboard's seat. All three of the women on it were staring at us with mouths open. They quickly turned their heads back to face forward. They knew they'd been caught though and I decided I wouldn't let them off without paying the piper, or dicker as it were. "I have relieved you Erieta, don't you think you should suck me now and show Failiela how it is done?" "Yes, I should. She needs to know and I will teach her at once," Erieta said, starting to pull up her trousers as she rose. "Take your trousers off Erieta, I might want to do a little licking of my own. Who knows, I might change my mind and take you all on this trip, even Failiela." ------- Chapter 54 She blushed crimson, but did as I bid her. She and Failiela moved down to my waist when Erieta was naked and I lay back to just enjoy. Erieta explained how to suck me to her daughter and she was soon demonstrating. I wondered if the other women were watching again yet. They were all going to get a good view of my dick before this trip was over. First Erieta and then Failiela got a good taste of my peter. I was very hard, but not near coming. I told Erieta to take my dick again and had her turn around so I could lick her pussy. Before I pushed my face into her bush I told Failiela to take off her tunic and trousers also. I gave Erieta another climax as she sucked my dick, but I held back. When she was panting from pleasure again I eased her off me and had Failiela take her place. I didn't really know how old she was, but it seemed she was ready for womanhood any second. She already had small breast with little button nipples and there was hair on her pussy, not very much, but there was some. Her pussy tasted almost sweet when I began licking and it flowered as if begging to get something in itself. I teased her lips and clit unmercifully and though she was trying she just couldn't keep her mind on her dick sucking. Soon she locked up and then vibrated all over as she wailed out my name. Shortly after that she just collapsed. "She has called one of the others to us. I will signal for him to go back to his own business," Georgo told me, from his perch on the seat, laughing. "What do you mean?" "Jonoco heard Failiela scream and he is coming to see if we need help," Georgo said, and laughed again. I didn't worry about it. I was sure Jonoco knew that I liked to fuck by now and I didn't care if he caught me with naked women, daylight or dark. Failiela and Erieta both had their wind back now and I was hugging them to me. I told Erieta to dress again and change places with one of the women on the seat. "Which one?" She asked. "It doesn't matter. We are still a long way from my camp and I will have time for all of them before we arrive." When she started dressing Failiela moved to do the same. "You will stay with me my pet. I have grown fond of your lessons and I want the other women to show you what they can also. Be sure to ask them about anything they may do you don't understand." She smiled as she lay back down to snuggle against me and resume her fondling of Dicky. He let me know he was fond of her himself. The other women came to me one at a time and they didn't seem put out in the least by their summons. They all were stripping off their tunics and trousers as soon as they reached my spot and as I licked their pussies they sucked on Dicky. I was afraid I would have to break down and fuck the last one as I hadn't blown a load yet, and I was starting to feel the need. She made sure it didn't come to that. I don't think she would have minded a dicking. Her cock sucking was excellent and when she finally got my dickhead into her throat I made sure to give her something to swallow as I licked her clitty to climax. She dressed and returned to the seat then sending Erieta back to join Failiela and I. I had Erieta naked again nearly at once and spent the rest of the trip playing with her and Failiela. Georgo let me know when we were nearing camp and I had my playthings dress while I put my dick away and zipped up. As soon as I had paid my respects to Daleana, Suleita, and Britta I intended to fuck the bejesus out of Erieta and probably Failiela too. I wasn't going to forget Getia, Morona or Cahttiea, the other three in the buckboard either, especially Cahttiea who had given me the deep throat. It was time to unass and unload now though as we entered camp. I let Bigglieo handle all the unloading arrangements and made sure Jonoco, Danlo, and Nadlo knew Sahto and Talvo were to help them with the horses, including posting a guard down river and up river so the horses could graze outside tonight since they hadn't been given much time to graze yesterday or today. I told them to just build a couple of fires down river and one up river and post at least two at each end. I figured our constant presence had already made straying into our territory a seldom thing for predators. I was also fairly certain Prince, King, and Rover, who all roamed the camp pretty much freely now, had pissed on everything in sight to mark their territories. Surely they were providing plenty of deterent for sneak thieves. It wouldn't be a complete, do not enter sign for predators, but since it was probably a pretty strong and prevalent scent by now I thought it would make most of them just go elsewhere. I had Failiela come with me to meet my mates while her mother was busy unloading their things. When we entered the cave my mates rushed to me for kisses and hugs and when they saw Failiela I thought some of them might piss their trousers with excitement. I just knew they thought I had brought her here to fuck her. "This is Failiela my beauties. She and her mother kept me company during the long ride back." My mates surrounded Failiela and all tried to talk at once, asking if I had treated she and her mother with kindness to start and working their way from there. They soon realized Failiela would have nothing to say about me that could give them a chance for reprimand. They didn't let up though and she had to keep all of them entertained with what she knew of my exploits at her camp. Dalia and Shelalliea finally took pity on me and began cooking. Shelalliea made a move close to my heart when she brought me a mug of coffee. The next time I looked at the group surrounding Failiela I saw that Shallea, Shaala, Jaiya, Ladeliea, and Melieta had joined the party and when I saw Dieta leaving I knew she was surely gone to fetch Kateata, Cailayia, Jalieta, and Balalia at the least. It seemed I was going to get a good going over. While I was waiting for my supper to be cooked I went to the computer and sat down, calling up the message program. My hail brought a response right away. I asked if my things were ready to be delivered and got a question back. "Argent has asked us to check with you for authorization on some changes for some of the items. We were hoping you would contact us via the device we sent you earlier, but it seems you have been very busy today. Will you consider some modifications?" he asked. "Of course I will. I am always open to suggestions." "We have all the archery equipment as you specified. All of the bows are custom designed for each individual and each is labeled for the owner with their name engraved in script. Since they do not have a written language we have used the best approximation in English and it is applied with an ornate Old English font face. "All items also have engravings of their owner's faces above the script so there can be no mistakes. Everything else regarding the archery equipment is also exactly to your specifications and is ready. "Our engineers thought we would have considerable difficulty insuring the accuracy you require with the standard 22 caliber long rifle ammunition. They believe they can do it, but suggest you let us change the ammunition to 25 caliber. We can custom manufacture rim fire cartridges that will amount to a scaled up 22 long rifle. "To insure proper burn propagation it will need to be slightly longer than an exactly proportional cartridge but with our advanced ability to formulate propellant we can give the required accuracy and give you a much flatter trajectory also. The usability should also be very much increased since we anticipate this cartridge will deliver more energy at two hundred yards than the standard one would have at one hundred yards. "The weight of the firearm, modeled on the Browning Buck Mark Carbon, but with all synthetic stock and a steel lined titanium barrel instead of the carbon fiber barrel will still be under four pounds," he explained. Would that be acceptable? Fuck yes it would. I hadn't even considered a custom cartridge but I should have. I didn't give a shit how much trouble it would be for them and apparently they didn't care either. The rifles they were suggesting would be more than three times as useable as the 22s I had asked for. "If these substitutes are acceptable we will furnish them and the ammunition for them and only count half their weight toward your total to compensate you for settling for less than you requested." "They will be acceptable." "That is good, we had hoped they would be and so we have them and the ammunition ready. I should tell you we noticed you had become friendly with the young girl, Failiela, and so we have provided for her also in these request if that is allowed." "That will be fine, except she will not be needing a wedding ring, not at the present time anyway." "We understood, but you should know the rings are no problem and Argent has directed me to inform you they will always be available on a moments notice and they will not count against your freight. "Argent has also asked we be allowed to change the material for the T-shirts. He is afraid cotton T-shirts from the twenty-first century would be out of place and that we are bordering on culture shock for the natives of that time as it is. He would like to be able to make the T-shirts resemble an animal's fur, something similar to the fur we provided for your bed coverlet. We can make them fit and feel like cotton T-shirts, but still resemble a tiger's fur visually. We would not count their weight if you can accept this modification. Would you allow us to do this?" I wanted to say shit yeah. If I'd had any idea of the possibility I would have asked for them like that in the first place. I could see I still had as much or more to learn about manipulating my arrangement with Argent as I did about the customs of the people I was living with. "It will be acceptable and you can tell Argent I thank him for considering the possible cultural impact on my people." "I will be sure to tell him. He also asked me to check with you about a lower garment to go with the T-shirts. As you specified them they will be very short and may cause unintended exposure of the women's genitalia at some times. Since they will not count against your weight perhaps we could send some type of undergarment." Exposing their genitalia was what I'd had in mind in the first place. Thinking about it now though I saw even though they probably wouldn't be embarrassed by the exposure, they might be more inclined to wear the new outfits and might even wear them outside the cave with a little bush cover. It couldn't hurt anything and if I didn't like seeing them with the drawers on I could just ask them not to wear the bottoms when I was around. That would be a treat actually, seeing all of them drop their drawers every time I came in. "Do you have any idea what Hot Pants are. They are a type of shorts that women of my time sometimes wore. If you can figure out how to make Tiger Skin hot pants I will give them a trial." "I'm sure we can manufacture them. I will tell you Argent was thinking of something he called a thong and that we already have them ready in case they would be acceptable. Could we send them until we can get the Hot Pants ready?" "If you already have them ready you may send them for a trial. Will they be washable in our machines? I don't want the women to have to spend half the day washing or cleaning these things by hand." ------- Chapter 55 "We have made sure the garments will be as easy to maintain as the cotton would have been and we have also prepared multiple sets for each woman. I think there are twelve for each of them. We have even made sure the pattern of stripes is unique for every set." "That is excellent news. Send them then and send the Hot Pants when they are ready. There is something else I need also. It has slipped my mind several times. We do not have any type of furniture for sitting while we eat and I would like some chairs to use at the tables you sent with the beer. Can you fashion something that at least looks like it could have been made in this time?" "I'm sure we can make some arrangements for something you will find acceptable. We can probably have it in place by the time you are finished sleeping. If you do not approve of it we can take it away and try again." "Very well. It is all I can think of now." I switched off the computer and could barely keep from grinning like a fool. I had asked for 22 rifles and had ended up with a custom cartridge that would never have been manufactured in my old world. It would easily be three or four times as useful as what I'd asked for. The tiger skin T-shirts were a stroke of genius by someone and the thongs were probably going to look even sexier on my little harem than their naked asses would. I had always had a slight fetish for the tiny strip of a thong that ran up and fit in the crack between a sweet set of cheeks. I went over to eat then and got more coffee and a big plate of bear meat and vegetables. It was delicious, but it reminded me immediately of something else I wanted - a bread machine. They were common in the USA and I was sure it would take nearly no time to teach my babies how to work one. I hadn't had any bread in ages and I imagined how good home made whole wheat bread would taste with bear meat - better yet, toasted with my bacon and eggs in the morning. I would have to put in an order for those things later, but not right now. We had quite a crowd for supper and I was mad at myself for not thinking of the chairs yesterday morning so we could have them now. I noticed when our new things came they just appeared in the far end of the cave. Strangely I didn't see any of the new firearms, bows, or arrows though. It appeared they had only sent the girls new clothes. When I'd finished eating and got up off the mini boulder I'd been sitting on I felt a strange weight and bulge in my pocket. When I patted it I realized the rings were in it. I reached down to get one and when I pulled it out I could tell that it was mine. I put it on and it fit perfectly, too perfectly to have gone over my knuckle with so little force. I pulled it off and watched closely as I did. It expanded to let me remove it and when it was over the knuckle it went back to its correct size. I examined it closely but couldn't discover any mechanism to allow for this behavior. When I put it back on the same thing happened. Fuck it. It worked and I decided not to worry. I did know they had broken their own rule though. There was no way in hell there had been any technology on the earth I'd come from to perform that little trick. Some of the girls and their guests were still eating and the rest were gossiping about the other camp and the trip. I noticed my dealings with Sahto and Talvo were getting a lot of discussion. I went back to the computer and messaged the Aliens again. They responded at once so I asked them for the bread machine and requested plenty of instructions on gathering the wheat, threshing it, grinding it and then making bread. I also asked for anything else I might need I didn't know about, to make sure we could make bread tomorrow if possible. He replied he would do his best to take care of it. I asked him then where all the bows, arrows, rifles, and ammunition were. "Argent will be contacting you tonight about them if it is acceptable. They are ready and it has nothing to do with the weight or the transfer. "Do you realize how much space these things will occupy? We estimate they will fill nearly a quarter of the space in your cave if we send them all at once. The arrows need a considerable amount of space when stored to make sure the fletching is not damaged," he said. "I hadn't even considered it. Maybe Argent will have some ideas for me." "I think it is one of the things he wants to contact you about." I signed off then wondering what kind of mischief Argent had up his sleeve. I figured it could only be better for me if it was anything like what he had been doing. What the hell, it was time for the fashion show to begin. The hen party had broken up and only my mates were with me now. I had already decided to ask Kateata to be one of my mates and it would have been nice if she had stayed, but this was probably better. I didn't want to have our mating ceremony until after I'd taken care of my duties with Daleana, Suleita, and Britta anyway. "Come my darlings I have some things for all of you," I told them, as I went to sit on the edge of the bed. They gathered around me and I put my hand in my pocket to fish out a ring. I was wondering how in the hell I was going to tell which one belonged to which mate. I looked inside the one I had pulled out and was floored. It had Gema engraved inside it in the script the computer's attendant must have been talking about. It also had her face engraved on the inside and it was nearly as perfect as a black and white photograph. It looked exactly like her. I called Gema to me and took her left hand, slipping the ring on her finger. "What is this John?" she asked, holding her hand up to examine it. "It is a mating ring. I have one like it," I told her, showing her my ring. "What is a mating ring?" she asked. "It tells the world you are mated to me and I love you." This bought me some misty eyes after a few seconds. She threw her arms around my neck then and gave me a resounding kiss. "It is beautiful, it is so shiny and perfect. I have never seen anything like it. You are so wonderful to us John." "Take it back off and look inside it." She did and nearly fainted when she saw her image. All the others were around her wanting a look by then. "You do not all need to look at Gema's ring right now. I have one for all of you. You can each get yours and then you can compare them if you like." They were quiet then - all stood patiently as I drew the rings out of my pocket one at a time, called them to me, and put their ring on their finger. I got big kisses from each of them as they got the rings, but after Roweea got the last one I was neglected again as they pulled them off, put them back on, pulled them off and compared them with all the others. Finally Maia asked me the question I had been waiting for. "What are these little lines near our faces John? They are all different in each ring." "Those are your names written." "What is written?" Geera asked. "Every word that we speak has symbols that can be used to write it. After it is written it can be read later. If someone who knows the symbols writes a message, anyone else who knows the symbols can read it. I will teach you all how to write the symbols and how to read them. "After you have learned the symbols I would be able to write a message, leave it where you could find it, and later when you did find it you would know what I wanted to tell you without seeing me to hear it." I think they got the general idea, but I knew they couldn't begin to understand the full impact. I steered the conversation away from reading and writing as soon as I could and moved to the spot where their new outfits were. I expected things to get much more entertaining for me then. Did they ever? The first of the new garments I came to were for Delia. I called her to me and handed her what I had intended to be a T-shirt. I noticed its neck was nothing like a T-shirt's would have been unless you could somehow stretch the description of this one as super crewneck. I withheld judgment until she had it on though. I even turned my back while she was changing. "Why are you turning away from me John?" Delia asked. "I want to see how it looks on you after you have it on, not as it is going on," I said. "Well I have put it on so you can turn back to me and look at it." When I turned around and saw it I could have kissed the Alien designer. It was so sexy. It looked nothing like a T-shirt. It looked like a mini-dress to me. Looking more closely I saw it didn't have a hint of a hem anywhere. In fact there was no sign of any sewing. It appeared to be one piece. The tiger stripes were beautiful and feeling of the material revealed it was like the bed's coverlet. It did have what appeared to be tiger's fur. It was softer than any fur I'd ever felt though. The only straight cuts to the material were for the neckline and around the top of the back. The neckline was low and showed Delia's cleavage and in fact the tops of her breast nearly to her areolae. The underside fit her firm breast closely and seemed almost to be functioning as a bra. Her titties wiggled and jiggled in it though and looked perfectly delightful. The short sleeves and the short hemline that didn't really have a hem ended in a jagged look, almost as if it had been torn instead of cut. More than anything the skintight super short and super revealing little outfit resembled a Victoria's Secret version of Wilma Flintstone's attire. I couldn't believe the perfect job some Alien designer had done or how sexy it looked on Delia. Including the jagged effect around the bottom of the skirt portion it probably reached a maximum of three inches below the bottom curve of her buttocks. I moved right up to her and felt the material and then her body through it. It was nearly as if she were naked. I put my hand under the skirt's hem to feel her beautiful ass and as I raised it the material stretched almost effortlessly to allow me room to explore. When my hand rose higher the hem followed it with no drag against her skin and I easily reached a titty and gave it a little squeeze, moving on I gave her nipple a small tweak. Delia even blushed a little. I did notice on my way up she hadn't bothered with the thong yet and then I realized she had no conception of underwear. "How do you like it Delia?" "It feels very good to wear and it is very light. Why do I need it though? It will not be very warm in the winter and it is so short," Delia said. "I will have to confess they are mostly for my benefit. I got them because I wanted all my mates to have something to put on when they first got up that would still let me see their beautiful legs and some other parts. It also makes it easier for me to reach in to get a feel of your beautiful body." "Oh! I had never thought of that. Well then if it is for you, do you like it?" Delia asked, as her face brightened. I took one of her hands and put it on the now throbbing Dicky. When I did she gripped him at once to give him a little squeeze. "What do you think? Do I like it?" "I think you must, but what is this little strip for?" She asked, releasing Dicky and holding up the thong. I showed her how to put it on. It was a tiny one. It came up narrow and not very far in the front and the strings, especially the one between her cheeks, was tiny. ------- Chapter 56 "What do I need this for?" She asked. "In case you are wearing your dress and someone else comes into the cave, or in case you go outside the cave in only your dress. It will keep all the other men from seeing your pussy." She giggled when I said it. "Then I suppose you don't want the other men seeing my pussy?" She asked, still giggling. "No, I don't. Your pussy is for me only," I told her, and reached out to give it a little feel. "Now girls, I want you all to try on your new morning dresses. You can see they make me excited and I want to see how excited all of you can make me in them. Try the panties too." They all gathered round me and started looking at the clothes. The dresses all had their names and pictures inside where a tag would have normally been on a T-shirt. There was no tag though. The material was just off white in one little rectangular spot so the writing and the pictures would show up. The outfits for Kateata and Failiela were also here and they stored them away for later. When they were all dressed in their new getups I gave each a thorough kissing and fondling to make sure I liked the fit. I did and in only a few minutes all the outfits were off again and I was in bed with them hiding Dicky as fast as I could. I was fucked out in about two hours - having made sure all my sweethearts got a good dose of dick. They maneuvered me to the middle of the bed and several of them kissed and fondled me until I drifted off. Argent took pity on me too since I was sure when my dream started I had been given at least a couple of hours to sleep first. "Were the T-shirts acceptable John?" he asked me. "They were more than acceptable. You have outdone yourself this time." "I am glad you liked them. The Hot Pants are ready now too and will be with the other garments in the morning. I was also wondering if we shouldn't prepare some type of footwear for them. "We can make some moccasins of the same material for the uppers and attach them to a very soft but durable sole. They would be easy to put on and would look much better with the T-shirts than their current items that must be laced so high with the leather thongs," he said. "Knock yourself out." "I'm sorry I don't understand," Argent said. "It is a slang expression from my former life. It means go ahead, or feel free to do it. In fact, now I think about it you might just as well make them some full trousers to go with the tops." "I see. Yes trousers would be a good addition. They would be able to wear the T-shirts more of the time if they had trousers to go with them. "We are glad you intend to teach them to write and read and if you would like we will prepare some software to make it easier. They would be able to sit at the computer and it would speak to them, guiding them through the lessons." "It sounds excellent. Go ahead with language lessons also if you'd like." I got the feeling he was leading up to something, but hitting me with small things first, trying to gauge my reaction. I decided to wait him out. "We need to discuss the archery equipment and the firearms and ammunition storage. We think we should make an extension to your cave, not really an extension, but actually another chamber further in with an entrance similar to those we put in for the bathing facility and to Danlo's and Georgo's caves. "We thought while we were at it we would make it large enough to be used for practicing with the new weapons," he said, and it seemed like he was almost trying to downplay it. "It seems like a good idea to me, and since it will be mostly my mates and I who use it at first I don't see any harm. Will you have to make another earthquake to do it?" "Not unless you think we should to help explain it," he said. "I don't think it will be needed. My mates won't be overly upset by it - they are already accustomed to magic things happening around me and have decided they have all been good magic so far. I doubt they will question it at all." "That is good, we will just do it and there will be a new passage near the back of your cave in the morning. There is something else we neglected before though. The planning for the bread making brought it to our attention. Your mates have been required to take the cooking and eating things into the bathing facility to clean them. "When we put the bread equipment in we would like to install what I think you would call the kitchen sink and a few cabinets for storage. We will also put some chairs there for you when we do it. We will make sure no one except your mates notice it unless it is specifically pointed out to them." "If it helps me get some bread I'm for it. Do as you think best." "Good. It will be ready in the morning," he said. I was back in dreamless sleep in a flash, then later someone was shaking my shoulder and it woke me. "John, there are new things here again, a lot of new things. We don't know what any of them are. Can you come and tell us?" Dalia asked. I opened my eyes and had to smile widely. She was in her new Wilma dress and she looked delicious. Jesus, her big titties seemed like they were about to pop right out of it. I wished I could be in two places at once so I could get a look at her ass as she bent over the bed above me. "When a beautiful woman like you asks me to do something how can I refuse?" She smiled and stood back up then as I worked my way to the edge of the big bed and got out. Geera and Dieta were by her and they all helped me get dressed. "Why didn't you get some proper clothes when you got us these new ones? You are the best hunter of all and you don't have a single skin to wear," Dieta said. "I never even thought about it. I will see what I can do along those lines." I could tell what had all their new thongs in a wad as soon as I looked over to where our cooking fire had been. Kitchen sink and a few cabinets my ass. There was a fifty foot counter top, at least, with drawers and cabinet lowers in the bottom section and full cabinet uppers across the whole top. There were six ovens, three cook tops, two double sinks, and one full size single sink. There were also three dishwashers. I went over to open one of the doors of the upper cabinets and found it full of the Alien designed cans of preserved foods of all kinds. The drawers were full of silverware and dishes. I looked at the sinks and there was obviously a disposal for every drain. There was a bread machine all right. There were four of them, including a couple of grain grinders and dough kneaders and other shit I thought must be for the bread making, but really didn't recognize. The cabinet unit was eight feet tall, a foot taller than it would have been in a normal house. I walked around behind it and saw the entire back side consisted of pantry type cabinets with full-length doors from bottom to top. Opening a few I found them full of all manner of food. It was Jake with me if Argent wanted to do it. I went back around to the front side and began explaining things to them, starting with the sink and the running water out here. Then I noticed the chairs and the new dining table. There were thirty solid wooden chairs that would have looked fine in any elegant dining room and a solid wooden table that had more than enough room for all the chairs and occupants for each of them. I was marveling at it all until Gema spoke up. "John, the thing you sit at sometimes is flashing again. It seems angry," Gema told me. I turned around and sure enough the computer's flat panel was giving it hell. I went to it and sat down. I got a message from Argent telling me they had an audio/visual presentation for my mates which would explain all about the new kitchen and how to use it. He said it also had complete instructions on making bread, starting with grinding the six hundred pounds of wheat he had sent. He said he thought I might be too busy for much instruction for them this morning. I could have kissed him for that. I called my girls over and had one sit at the computer and explained it would be showing and telling them how to use the new things after they had fixed my breakfast. "But how will we cook it. Our fire circle is gone and the new things are there now," Dalia asked, obviously confused. "Come with me my sweet ones. I'll show you enough for breakfast work." They all followed as I dug out a skillet and put it on the cook top. I turned on the burner and was glad Argent had made sure it was a gas model. I didn't know where the gas was coming from, but it couldn't have been any more trouble than a fuel cell big enough to run an all-electric commercial kitchen, which this new one amounted to. I was sure my mates would be more inclined to trust fire for cooking, even if they didn't understand how it could be there. They were amazed when the fire from the burner just jumped up as I turned the knob. I taught them to turn it on and then off and to adjust it for more or less heat and then let them loose on it. They were quick studies and I had bacon and eggs in about ten minutes. I also had to show them how to use the new coffee maker. It was a commercial model like you would find in any convenience store. All you had to do was put a bag of coffee into the hamper, flick a button, and make sure there was a pot under the drip hole, nothing to it. I was chowing down on my breakfast when Georgo and Ladeliea came in. After I made a point to show them the new kitchen their mouths were gaping. I gave another little kitchen introduction, but I kept it short. I told Ladeliea she was welcome to watch the instructions with the others, but we should concentrate on eating now. I drank coffee while Georgo ate and then he and I went outside to get things moving. When we got outside I saw we probably weren't even needed. Bigglieo had everyone stepping and fetching. Both wagons were already hitched and most of the men were gathered around waiting to go already. I went to talk to Bigglieo and told him my plans to take all the best materials from the huts that he had room to carry. He agreed it was a good idea. "Did you see what I have started for the horses?" Bigglieo asked. I hadn't even looked at the canyon fence yesterday when we came back so I did now. I was surprised. Bigglieo and the others had nearly finished a cross fence about two hundred yards back into the canyon. The canyon was much wider at that distance since both walls went back at an angle away from each other. The fence they had started must have been at least three hundred yards long. It would give us a large capture pen between it and the original fence. "How did you know we would need it Bigglieo?" "There was not much to do while you were gone and so I asked your mates if they knew of anything we might work on. Delia and Merita both said they knew you would need another fence to catch the new horses with and a pen to train them in. We are nearly finished with the fence and Galto is going to stay this time. He will help the other men finish the back fence and then they will make the pen. It is good you will be here to show them how large to make the small training pen," Bigglieo told me, and I could tell he was proud he had surprised me. ------- Chapter 57 "Bigglieo you have done well. I am glad to have a man like you to help me with this growing camp. You know I have another camp I wish to invite to join us don't you." "Yes. It is not as big as this camp was, but it is farther away and though they are a smaller group they have many good hunters. They will have many things to carry," he said. "Maybe I can think of something else to help us carry things. I think you will be able to bring back everything from this camp with this trip though." "If we can't we will remember the way," he said, and laughed. They loaded up and left then. I noticed Barago was going with them and most of the men from that camp were going on this return trip. Sahto and Talvo were in the wagon and Jonoco, Danlo, and Nadlo were in the buckboard with others. It would seem deserted around here until they were back. I thought I might be able to occupy myself with Daleana, Suleita, and Britta while they were gone. Georgo came back out of his cave then and yelled to Jonoco, who was driving his buckboard, telling him to stop. Georgo had a skin bag, which probably held food, and some sleeping furs in his hands. "Wait Jonoco, I am going too," Georgo yelled. "Why are you going Georgo? I asked. "There are some things we left that I need to get," Georgo said. "But surely you can tell them and they can bring them for you." "Maybe, but it will be better if I go. Besides John, even a shaman needs to know the leader approves of his presence," Georgo told me. I knew better than to say what was on my mind then. "Very well Georgo. May you have a good journey. I will see you when you get back." He walked to his buckboard then and put his things into the back before climbing to the seat and then taking the reins from Jonoco. He flicked them once and Sally and Jane trotted off. I hadn't really expected this development. I wasn't going to bitch about getting a shot of Ladeliea's pussy though. It was obvious to me Georgo was going on the trip only to give me a clear signal that he expected it. I'll admit it put a smile on my face. I also knew it would put the others down a notch. Bigglieo was my main man in the camp, but Georgo was in a different class altogether. I decided I might as well give Ladeliea a daytime fucking to properly convey my respect for Georgo and I headed for the cave. When I entered all the women were gathered around the computer and I could hear it explaining something to them. They heard me come in and the lesson paused. "John look. Some moccasins came for us all while you were outside and all the clothes came for Ladeliea too. See if they look and feel right on her. They look very good to us. "They are from the leopard's fur though instead of tiger's," Dieta said, and I could tell by her tone she was already dripping at the thought of me checking out the look and feel of Ladeliea's new clothes. Ladeliea wasn't shy about it either. She came up to me with her titties bulging in her top and the tiny skirt bottom flashing me a view of her thong. As she continued right up to me I opened my arms and took her into them. I put my lips to hers and as we kissed her tongue slithered into my mouth as she hugged me to her. I let my hands drop to get a feel for the situation on and around her ass. It felt great and as I kneaded her cheeks she pressed herself up against Dicky and wiggled a little. I sent a finger down between her legs from behind to find the beginning of the thong's center string right at the back of her pussy. I traced the string up between her buns to where it joined the string around her waist. She was sucking hard on my tongue by now. I took hold of her ass cheeks again and lifted her by them. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I walked to the bed with her. My mates were completely silent, but I'll bet they were all watching the action. When I set Ladeliea down by the bed she began scrambling to get my clothes off me. While I was kicking out of my boots and working with my snap and zipper she shucked my shirt off and was then stymied by the chain mail. I reached behind me and unzipped it. She pulled it loose and off as I was finally able to get out of my T-shirt, pants, and boxers. It was only an easy tug upwards to dislodge the dress from her lovely form and it only seemed to take a flick of the wrist to make the thong fall down her legs and off. I was on the bed and pulling her after me then. I put a lip lock on her near nipple and fumbled a hand into her bush to check her oil. She was wet already and got wetter as I slipped a finger all the way up her and started frigging. The rapid progress had me hot and when I moved between her legs she spread them wide and her hand was putting me in place as I settled down, kissing her hotly again as I pushed my dick up her. "Yes, oh yes John. Yes. It is so big and feels so good. Georgo told me it must be since he often heard your mates screaming at night. Oh make me scream John, make me scream," Ladeliea whined. God almighty that kind of talk was burning me up, and as I pumped harder and faster into her tasty little piece of pussy she put her legs around me and started kicking against my ass with her heels. I let all my weight onto her and used my hands on her titties. I squeezed their full roundness and then pinched and twisted on her nipples while I pushed my tongue and my dick deeper into her. I felt her short nails clawing at my back and that alone was about to set me off. She started to orgasm then and her pussy gripped me hard and tight. It was the last straw and my pumping started producing something to pump as I filled her with come. I didn't slow down for a few minutes though and she went off again just before I gave out and sagged. Ladeliea didn't scream, but I don't think I'd let her down. I think she was just too winded at the end to scream. Her arms were still around me, but she didn't have the strength to hold me tight. I put some of my weight on my elbows to take it off her and she smiled at me as I started nibbling and kissing around her mouth and then off toward the hollow of her throat. My mates were soon able to shake themselves out of their daze and they descended on us. Each of them tried to get a hand or tongue in somewhere. I was rolled off Ladeliea to my back and Dalia and Shelalliea began giving my genitals a thorough tongue bath. The always-game Dieta had her head between Ladeliea's legs and was slurping away at the pussy I had just vacated after filling it. We spent about twenty minutes kissing, sucking and fondling. Ladeliea got her wind back before my mates were through cleaning us up. "I have never done it in the daylight before. It was very exciting," Ladeliea said. "I think John likes to fuck during the day," Geera told her. "What is fuck?" Ladeliea asked. "That is what John just did to you. He says it is called fucking where he came from. It seems like a good word for it and I know John is really good at fucking," Maia said. "You are right. He is so big too! It felt good in me," Ladeliea said. "That was his dick, as he calls it. He put his dick in your pussy and fucked you," Winna said, finishing the explanations. "Well he is welcome to put his dick in my pussy and fuck me with it anytime he wants to," Ladeliea said, showing she was a quick study with languages. All my mates laughed at that and seeing the action was over for a while they drifted back toward the computer and their lessons on bread making. Ladeliea was about to get up too, but I pulled her back to me and kissed her again. "There is no need to rush off, stay in bed with me a little longer. I think I would like to fuck you again in a few minutes." "I won't go anywhere then. When you fuck me this next time I will know what to call it," She said, and took hold of Dicky to give him a few strokes as I began sucking at her nipples again. I fucked Ladeliea twice more that morning and managed to get her screaming each time. Both times, after we had come, my mates came over to lick and caress us and then left when they'd decided we were all cleaned up. It seemed they felt it was Ladeliea's time to get all my attention, but it was their duty to make sure we were tidy and ready for the next round. It was a little strange, but I could deal with it. It helped get my dick back in shape faster. Ladeliea was a very nice fuck and I knew already I was going to enjoy Georgo's shamanizing trips even though I would miss his advice while he was making his circuit. My mates fixed us some lunch just after noon so Ladeliea and I got out of bed. Shaala, Shallea, Melieta, and Jaiya had come in not long after Ladeliea and I had our last good one. They had all eyed me sucking on her titties and playing in her bush as we relaxed after our cleanup. They had a million questions about the new kitchen, dining table, and chairs. After Ladeliea and I dressed we all went over and had our first meal at the new dining table. It was a big hit with everyone, especially me. I hadn't realized what a pain in the ass it had been sitting on a fucking rock to try and eat while balancing my plate on my knee. Plates were another thing. We had a full set of titanium dishes now including everything you would find in your normal thirty setting collection. We even had several gravy boats for fuck sake. After we'd all eaten I showed them how to operate the dishwashers. I found the soap for them under one of the sinks and made sure to tell them not to put in too much. After we rinsed the dishes off and put them in the washer I closed the door and turned it on. They all gave a little start when the machine began its humming. "Is the dish washer angry John?" Roweea asked. "No it is humming with pleasure that we are feeding it." "We must be careful to alternate among them for washing then, so none of them go hungry," Jaada said, with perfect logic considering the facts she had. "That will probably be a good idea," I said, and managed to keep a straight face. All the women wanted to go right back to the computer lessons after that and when they did I saw with them all crowded around the flat panel most of them were having to crane their necks to see. I sat back down at the table and took out my Blackberry. I got a response right away and asked the operator how soon they could send me a sixty-inch plasma display for the computer, explaining why I wanted it. He told me he could have it ready within half an hour and it would only take about a minute to replace the display I had with the new one. I asked him to put it on in addition to the one I had so the system would still be comfortable for one to use at a time. He agreed and said he would just install the large display higher than the small one so it would be easier to see from farther away. I asked him to send about thirty stackable chairs for them to sit in for studying while he was at it. After asking him to tingle me when he was ready to install it so I could get the girls outside for a while I signed off. ------- Chapter 58 I noticed the new passage at the back of the cave when I got up again and headed for it. It was surprising since it was nearly a hundred feet in length and it made three right-angle turns on itself as I went down it. Once I was in the new area I knew what all the meandering of the tunnel was for. It was to hide the light from the chamber and no doubt would help muffle the sound. I was stunned at the size of the new chamber. I had thought it was going to be a small area mostly for storage. It wasn't. It was probably two hundred yards wide and four hundred yards deep. There was a large storage area against the back wall and all of our new weapons and ammunition were stored there. It looked like an afterthought compared to the rest of the place. The new chamber was a fully equipped indoor shooting and archery range. There were forty stations for firearms and forty for archery. They were all fully equipped. Each firearm station had a mat for prone, kneeling, and sitting positions and a clear place for standing. There were sandbags for use in prone shooting and adjustable rest for all the others. There was a shooting bench behind each station complete with sandbags, machine rest, and spotting scope. Each station had an electric target trolley that could run the targets out for three hundred yard practice and any distance in between. The archery stations weren't quite as complex, but there was nothing else I could think of that would have been useful for them. They all had trolleys too and I saw there were arrow saving backstops on each target frame. There was a nice big table beside each station to hold any accessories which might be needed. There were also several rows of movie theater type seating behind the firing line, as if Argent expected me to have a cheering crowd to watch the practice. I went over to sit in one of these seats and was just thinking how comfortable they were when I suddenly drifted off to sleep and was then dreaming of a space ship. "What do you think of it John?" Argent asked. "I think it is the most well equipped indoor shooting facility I have ever seen, or heard of." "We did try to do a thorough job. We couldn't help overhearing your conversation with the shaman about keeping everyone busy this winter, and while we were at it we decided to make this facility big enough for everyone to use during the cold months. "You haven't seen it yet, but we have quietly opened an entrance tunnel from the canyon so that you will not have to get all the additional traffic through your home. It is not open to the canyon yet but it can be opened at any time," he told me, proudly. "You have done a wonderful job Argent and I also need to thank you for providing new clothes for Ladeliea. It was a stroke of genius on your part to give her clothes that appeared to be from the skin of a different animal." "We felt it would not be right for her to have clothes that looked exactly like those of your mates. If you do find it necessary to kill the shaman and take her as a mate we will change them of course," he told me. "I don't think it will come to that. Remember, he will be traveling and away at night many times." "Yes, we had not considered it. We are also considering clothes for Danlo's mates. Will that be acceptable?" he asked. "They have a fairly rigid pecking order and I'm afraid that would be premature. You may have to furnish clothes for many of the others before you get down to Danlo's mates. In fact they aren't even mated yet." "Maybe we should wait until the trousers have been worn by your mates for awhile. That would give us a better idea of how they will be received," he said. "I think you're getting the idea now. I would like to compliment your designer on the work he has done so far." "He is so excited about all this. It is really his particular forte. He will be stamping his little feet over the delay for outfitting the other women though." I nearly laughed out loud over that, even though I was dreaming. Argent's comment hadn't carried the least connotation of disapproval, but it did go right to the heart of things. I guess sexual orientations carried some stereotypes which were founded in fact and actually universal. It did make me wonder how a person who probably wasn't even interested in the females of his own race or species could do such a wonderful job of designing sexy clothing for females of a completely different one. "John we never listen to your thoughts even though it is possible for us, but since the recent unpleasantness we have paid very careful attention to any sign we might get from observing you. "When you were at the other camp and talking with the shaman about the devil and things you would have your people doing during the winter we noticed you seemed to be lost in a thought of your own for a moment and then you seemed to let it drift away. Do you remember what it was?" he asked. "In fact I do and I have not given up on it yet. I was trying to decide if I could fit a sawmill and associated equipment into my freight." "That is tremendous! Do you know how to operate a sawmill and how to harvest the correct trees for lumber?" Argent asked, and his voice was dripping excitement. "Hell Argent, I thought you checked me out before you gave me this job. My daddy worked in and around sawmills all his life. I was born in a shotgun house at a sawmill and until I was ten I didn't know there was anyplace to shop besides the commissary - the company store. I worked at that same sawmill myself after I was old enough and I've been paid in brozine more times than I care to remember." "I have never heard of brozine John, what is it?" Argent asked. "Company money, scrip. Sawmills routinely paid with brozine and it was only accepted for payment at the company's commissary. They paid their workers with brozine since cash was hard to come by many times. Haven't you ever heard the line from that song? Owed my soul to the company store. No matter what you owed the company store you paid it in brozine." "A very interesting detail John, but how does that translate to your knowledge of sawmills?" he asked. "Because I learned that interesting detail while living at a sawmill and working at one. We were discussing whether I knew how to operate a sawmill." "Yes and it will be wonderful if you can build one, but aren't they tremendously large?" He wanted to know. "They can be or they can be very small. That is what I was considering. If I can get it straight in my mind and with your ability to provide light weight machinery I might be able to put up a little sawmill in one of the large caves we aren't really using. "The trouble is it will also take other equipment for harvesting and hauling the saw logs. The timber can't be had in a lightweight model." "I see the problem there. Can it even be harvested with only livestock power?" Argent asked. "It was for centuries before the steam engine was invented. I will have to think about it some more." "Please do John. I think a sawmill would be a very interesting development. I will lobby for a special dispensation for the sawmill's equipment. I am not promising anything, but I will see what can be done. "By the way, your new display can be installed whenever you are ready," He said. "I'll take the girls for a stroll down the canyon and you can tingle me when it is done." "Excellent," He said, and I was waking up from my nap. I went back into my living area and the girls were still at it. I would have to break them up. Luckily they all seemed to be there, even Ladeliea and the four soon to be mated temptresses. "Time for a break my sweethearts. Let's take a walk outside." "But we are nearly through learning about bread. This flashing thing is wonderful even though it speaks with a funny tone. It is very patient when we ask it questions," Winna told me. "It will be patient while we take a walk and I will wait patiently for my bread. You will get a big surprise if you all come with me now and take a walk. I feel sure you will be very happy about it when you come back." "Very well. Please stop flashing thing. We must leave for a while," Jaada told the flat panel. "That's right my sweethearts. Come visit with me for a while and if you do I will tell you its real name." "You mean flashing thing is not its name. I called it that once when I wanted to ask it something and it stopped talking and answered my question," Merita said. "I'm sure it knew you were addressing it and didn't want to cause any embarrassment by correcting you." "I wouldn't have been embarrassed," she said. "I know, but it probably wanted to make sure. Its correct name is Frank," I told them, making it up as I went along. They all turned to Frank and told him goodbye and that they were going for a walk with me and would be back soon. I had to keep myself from laughing, but it was hard to. As soon as we were outside we saw Daleana, Suleita, and Britta by the mouth of the main cave talking with Kateata, Erieta, and Failiela. I was afraid my goose was being cooked, but realized if any of them were getting or giving information I didn't want them to, there would be spankings soon. My crowd of mates, fuckees, and fondling friends left me and headed for the others at once. I made sure to get close enough to let me hear what they were talking about so I could make a try at heading off anything they might be saying I didn't want said. I had no worries though. As soon as the others got a gander at my mate's and Ladeliea's new fashion statements they were the center of attention. The questions were soon flying and when it was announced I had provided the new clothes mostly so I could sneak peeks at their nearly naked asses and so I could pinch or play with their butts more easily the giggling and blushing broke out. "As a matter of fact I like the new clothes a lot and I'm thinking of getting some for everyone. You will all have to make sure none of the other men know why I am furnishing them though. I do mean none of them too," I said. "That will be good, I like having secrets from the men. At least our leader will be the only man who knows it," Britta said, boldly, and then seemed embarrassed about it. "It will be fun. Will they all be the tiger fur?" Oh I see, Ladeliea has leopard fur, will everyone have a different type of fur?" Daleana asked. "Everyone that gets some will have a different type of fur, until we run out of animals that have good skin for clothes," I told them, thinking they would be surprised when they found out how they were going to pay for their new wardrobes. "I think we should keep it a secret from the other women too. We should not let them know about the clothes until they get their own," Waaya said. "But they will see us wearing them Waaya," Ladeliea said. "Yes, but they will not know why we are wearing them and they won't be sure where they came from if we don't tell them," Shelalliea said. "That is right and I don't want any of you to tell anything. I happen to know all of you here will be getting some clothes like this soon, mainly because I want to get several peeks at your legs and asses," I said, and all those who weren't wearing them already managed to put on a blush. It was probably harder for Shaala, Shallea, Melieta, and Jaiya but they did manage it. They were off onto the rings then when Britta noticed them. I noticed all my girls told them was I had given them all one and no one got up the nerve to ask any more questions. Argent had given me the tingle just a couple of minutes after we'd come outside, but I was enjoying this little get together for the moment. When they finally wound down I told my crowd we needed to go back into the cave, they said their goodbyes and we left. As soon as we were back inside it Delia hit me with the question. "How do you know who will be getting clothes like this John?" she asked. "Because I am going to get clothes like that for every woman I fuck," I boasted. They all laughed again and the four unmated girls didn't have any trouble rustling up a blush this time. Their faces were crimson almost at once. I knew damned well they already knew I was going to fuck them, but announcing they would be getting clothes to them outside and now telling them what they would be doing for the clothes lit them up. "Before you go back to Frank, I need to show you all another secret." I led them to the new entrance at the back of the cave and squelched any questions ahead of time by telling them they would see what it was all about in a few minutes. They were as surprised as I had been when we entered the new practice chamber. They had been mildly surprised by the winding tunnel but were floored when they saw the size of this new expansion. "It is nearly as big as the biggest cave. What is it for John," Dieta asked. "It is for you to practice with your new weapons. They are in these lockers. Each of you has a locker of your own and all your new things are in them. They are marked with your faces and your written names." The unmated girls had no idea what written names meant, but they could easily find their lockers by finding their faces on the door. I hadn't mentioned them to Argent, but I felt sure he had anticipated it and sure enough when they opened their lockers they found the full complement of new toys. The lockers had to be fairly large to accommodate all the fucking arrows I had ordered and I wondered how it had been done in even the big space they had. After examining Dieta's locker I saw there was no way there were a thousand arrows in it. Looking around I saw an entrance back toward the living space to an extra storage chamber that held mostly bulk things like arrows, ammunition, more targets, and assorted items we would use up. ------- Chapter 59 I found my locker and took out the bow for me. They were beautifully made compound bows. I held mine up and pulled back the string. It seemed hard at first but eased off considerably as the cams broke over. I released the string slowly and set the bow down. If they were all like mine I was sure none of the women could use them. I got out my Blackberry and quickly asked about it. The return message told me all the bows were set to the lightest draw weight now and each was made specifically for the woman who owned it. They were all made with exactly the draw weight which would be most comfortable for the women now. As they became accustomed to the bows they could be set for more power. The Aliens had done a better than expected job of this. All the women were wondering what in the hell these things were. They had all seen their rifles in the lockers too. Even though it didn't look like the one I had been using they could still recognize what it was. "You all have rifles of your own now. Please do not try to use them until you have watched a lesson teaching you how and I have made sure you understand everything. If you are still afraid of the rifle afterward you do not have to use it." I held up my bow then and an arrow. "This is a bow and this is an arrow, let me put on the things needed to use them and I will show you how they work. First I must say you should never draw back the bowstring and let it go if there is not an arrow ready. It might damage the bow and I would have to get you another one." I put on an arm guard and picked up a trigger. I loaded a quiver of arrows and walked to the first archery practice station. I hit the switch and ran the target to about fifty feet. After nocking an arrow and letting fly there was only silence behind me. Finally Dieta spoke. "That is more than magic John. That little spear flew so fast I could barely watch it. How far will it fly?" she asked. "I'm not sure and you must aim higher if what you want to hit is farther away. I will move the target farther away and try again." I sent the target out to about a hundred feet and let go again. I still got it well in the target so I sent it out another fifty feet and I still hit it. I thought I was doing a hell of a job since I hadn't had a bow in my hands in the last ten years. "I can tell it can still go much farther. It will be even better than a spear cast by the best of hunters," Roweea said. "Yes it will. It will take some time for you to be able to use it well and you will be sore at first from pulling the string. As you get stronger we can make the string harder to pull and the arrow will fly faster and farther." "This is magic, but it is magic I like. It will be so much better for hunting than a spear is," Delia said. "It will be better, but you will have to practice. That is what this big cave is for. You will be able to practice without even going outside." "Can we start practicing now?" Merita asked. "Not until I get some bread. You must finish your bread lessons and then Frank will have some lessons about the bow and the arrows. Later he will have some lessons about the rifles. You will be having lessons for a long time." "I had forgotten about the bread and I want to make some soon. It looks like it will be good to eat. What is toast though?" Gema asked. "Toast is one of my favorites and it is the main reason I got the bread things. I'm sure you will have a toast lesson soon. I might watch that lesson to make sure Frank tells you how to make the toast I like best." I put up my bow and things then after running the trolley in and retrieving my arrows. All the rest put up the things they had been examining and we returned to let Frank finish the bread lessons. "What has happened to Frank?" Maia asked, since she was the first to notice it. "Something has climbed on top of him, but I have never seen it before. I make sure to look at him every day since he started flashing at us sometimes," Gema said. "It is a bigger screen so it will be easier for all of you to see at once." "There are more chairs too. They aren't like the ones at the new table, but they must be chairs. Can we sit down for our lessons now," Winna asked. "Yes you can. That will be better too won't it?" "I think it will. We will see. Though I don't know why I am doing it. I have never been able to cook anything right," Roweea said. "Maybe you will do better with bread Roweea," Waaya said, trying to cheer her. "Maybe, it does look easy," Roweea agreed. I left them at it and went to lie down for a few minutes. I let my thoughts drift to the new pussy I would be getting tonight and slipped into a nap. I got no dream to Argent land and I wasn't sorry. When I woke I smelled freshly baked bread. Looking out toward the cave's entrance showed me the sun had set already. It had been a long nap. My sugarplums were all over in their new kitchen rattling the new pots and pans. It was music to my ears. Easing off the side of the bed I bent over to put my boots back on. They were gone, replaced by a pair of moccasins of the same design all my mates had now. Grumbling to myself about Argent's meddling I pulled them on anyway. They surprised me by slipping on fairly easily but not as easily as I'd expected. It hit me then they looked like the girl's moccasins, but were actually more of a round-toed cowboy boot. Wiggling my toes and then bending at the waist to feel the new boots with my hands, I discovered the uppers were made of something that felt like leather and thick leather at that. They didn't have a tiger skin pattern like the girl's moccasins. They were camo and they fit me and felt like a very good pair of hand made boots. I looked at the sole and it also looked similar to the girl's but it was thicker. The kicker was the toe. One press with my thumb let me know it was lined with metal. Ain't that a bitch? They looked and felt as comfortable as moccasins, but were as tough, tougher really than the boots I had come here wearing. Steel toes too, probably not steel though, probably titanium. The toes weren't exactly like earth style safety shoes though. They weren't immediately apparent from looking but they were there, just manufactured especially for my feet in these boots. I guess Argent didn't deserve a cussing after all. Walking over to the new kitchen area I was struck again by the incongruity of a modern kitchen in a fucking cave. The smell of the bread erased all kitchen concerns though - it smelled delicious. Maia spotted me then. "John, come here. Look! Toast," she said, excitedly. She held out a plate to me and it was toast for sure and just like I liked it. A pat of butter had been placed in each corner and one in the center before it was put into the oven. I was glad Argent hadn't sent one of those chicken shit pop-up toasters. I grabbed a piece of the toast and bit it. It was as good as it smelled. It was harder to chew with the grin on my face, but I managed. "Do you like it John? Is it cooked the way you wanted it?" Dalia asked. "It is just the way I like it and it taste better than I thought it would. Who told you how to make it?" "Frank said he knew the way you wanted it and told us so we wouldn't have to wake you up," Geera said. "He told you exactly right. Where did you get the butter?" "From the ref, refri, refrigerator. That is what Frank said it was, a refrigerator," Dieta said. "We didn't have a refrigerator this morning." "We didn't have a kitchen yesterday either but we do now. I really like it and I didn't even know what it was when I woke up and found it," Delia said, with perfect logic. "But when did the refrigerator come?" "While you were sleeping. Frank was telling us how to make toast and we had to ask him what butter was. He made a little squeak and then was quiet for a long time. When he came back he asked us to take a little walk outside, just like you do when we are about to get a surprise. When we came back in we had this refrigerator," Winna said, pointing to it. There are probably bigger refrigerators but I had never seen one. This one had four full sized doors and was fully eighteen feet wide. The doors matched the look of the cabinets exactly though, as if they were made of the same stained hardwood. It was a small touch, but it was another thing I knew would never have been done to such perfection on earth. "It is just full of food of all kinds, many that I have never heard of before. Do you know what cheese is?" Waaya asked. "Yes, I have seen cheese before. Is there some cheese in the refrigerator?" "Yes. Frank said it was a gift since he had forgotten to send the refrigerator when he should have. He said all the food in the refrigerator was a gift. It is cold in the refrigerator, and it is very cold inside that last door. It is so cold in the last door that ice comes out through a hole in the front of it," Roweea told me, clearly amazed. Apparently Frank had been thrilled with his new name and had gotten generous. I could live with it as long as they didn't take it out of my freight. What was I saying? I could live with it if they did take it out. Having a fridge was going to be a good deal. I wouldn't have put it high on my list, but it was going to be nice to have and now it was here I was glad it was. "It is very nice and I think we will all like it. What do all of you think of it?" "We think it is grand. We all tasted some of the cheese and it was good. There is something called hot sauce in there though and it is hot. I did not really like it," Jaada said. "Hot sauce is to season food with, it is not for drinking out of the bottle." "That is what Frank told us, but not until after we had tasted it," Gema said, and screwed up her face. "Then you must have him teach you to make guacamole. It cools the fire of peppers and it is tasty too. It is also excellent with chips," I told them. "What is guacamole and what are chips?" "What are peppers?" Shelalliea asked. "Peppers are what made the hot sauce so hot, guacamole is a food that can cool the fire, and chips are made from potatoes. I'm sure Frank will tell you all how to do it. I don't know how to make any of them, but I can eat them all. Speaking of eating, when is the next time I'm going to get to?" ------- Chapter 60 "Your supper is ready. Are you ready to eat now?" Merita asked. I admitted I was and sat at the new table. They brought me broiled bear meat with ranch style beans and plenty of toast. I got another shock when Winna walked grinning over to the counter top, near one of the sinks, got a plastic mug out of a cabinet and pulled me a draft beer from a tap I know wasn't there this morning. She was still grinning when she brought it to me. "Frank said since he was putting the refrigerator in anyway he would put in a small one to keep some bruga cold for you," Winna explained, as she handed me the mug of beer. "That was very kind of Frank. It was also very kind of all of you to take lessons all day long to learn how to make bread and toast and how to cook with the new kitchen," I said, smiling to myself about having beer on tap. We all ate then and it was good. It wasn't noticeably better than what they cooked all the time, but they were almost all good cooks. They told me more about their lessons with Frank as we ate. When I had cleaned my plate Dalia brought me a little more and Roweea got up and brought me more toast. While I worked on this helping I noticed all of them were watching me. Getting a little of the drift of the situation I picked up a piece of the toast and took a big bite. "This toast is really very good. I am surprised you were able to learn to make bread and then to make toast out of it in one day." I had said the right thing. Roweea squealed her excitement and rushed over to kiss me soundly. She seemed so happy. "Roweea, did you make this toast?" "Not only that toast, Roweea made the bread it was made from. She worked hard to learn how to do it. Cooking isn't as easy for her as it is for us. We told her it was good, but she wouldn't believe us until you told her," Dalia explained. "Well it is wonderful Roweea and I am happy you are proud of something you cooked." She was beaming and I thought she might be about to cry. She was still smiling when she sat back down. I finished this helping and helped the girls clear the table and put the dishes in the washer. "Why haven't you put on your new clothes John? They look nice even though we can't recognize what kind of skin they are made of," Dieta said. "I didn't know I had new clothes. Where are they?" "We put a set of them out by your new moccasins. Didn't you see them?" Geera asked. I hadn't seen them, but I went back to look again. They were stacked neatly by the side of the bed and I could see at once why they hadn't been able to recognize the skin. It wasn't a skin it was a camo design. It was also a custom job because it was forty thousand year old canyon and steppe camo. I could tell at once it would blend with the area I was living in now. I hadn't paid close attention to the design on the boots before, but now I did and saw they were the same camo design as the clothes. I started undressing to change and the girls came over to help me. They laughed as they helped me get the camo boxers on. I noticed they were a change from the normal boxers I wore to a boxer brief style. I could deal with them I guess, even though it is a little jolting to change the arrangements for you balls without prior notice. The trousers were more or less jeans, just a pair made from camo material instead of blue denim. When I put them on I found they fit much better than the ones I had been wearing. I could see custom-made clothes did have their advantages. There had been a new camo T-shirt to put on before the chain mail and a good camo Pendleton woolen shirt to go over it. I had always liked to wear long sleeved shirts even in warm weather. I tried the sleeves out and found these had been made to allow them to be rolled up nearly to my elbow with no trouble. The shirt even had two button flap pockets, my favorite style. I saw I had a matching set of camo Carhartts too, but didn't think I would need them yet. I walked around a little to let the girls admire the emperor's new clothes and then I sat on the edge of the bed. "Dieta, don't you think it's about time you went to invite Daleana over for a visit." "It is past time, but I will go right away and invite her." While she was gone I asked the others how we would do this. "You don't need us to tell you how to fuck a woman John," Shelalliea said. "I know but are you all going to join us?" "We will do as we did when you were with Ladeliea unless you want us to do otherwise. This is your time to let Daleana know she is as much your woman as she is Bigglieo's. She needs to know you want to fuck her and you will do it whenever you like." "That will be fine, I was just unsure whether there was some type of custom or something." "Even if there had been a custom you were disregarding I would have forgotten all about it within seconds and I can tell you Daleana will too. Just do her as you did me and everything will be just right in her eyes," Ladeliea said. And that's how it went. When Dieta got back with the cute redheaded Daleana I took her into my arms, kissing and groping from the get go. We were naked and fucking in the middle of the big bed in minutes. I gave her two climaxes before I pumped the come to her, then all my mates and Ladeliea came to tidy us up. After another round and the tidying up I asked Roweea if she didn't think Suleita was getting lonesome by herself. Her eyes lit up like fire and she couldn't get out of the cave fast enough. I decided I should be long dicking Daleana when Suleita came in. Daleana was howling my name and scratching at my back when Roweea returned with Suleita. Suleita had probably known what was going to go on anyway and she surely did when she saw me boning her co-mate. She seemed to get naked in seconds and was kneeling on the bed beside us, sucking on Daleana's nipples before quick could get ready. When Daleana went off again I raised to a kneeling position myself and got behind Suleita to show her what dog fucking was all about, even if there were no dogs in this time. After giving Suleita a couple of cunts full, and after my mates had us cleaned up, I lay back for a little nap between Bigglieo's satiated mates, reminding my girls to wake me with Britta in about an hour. Dieta woke me as she, Roweea, Geera, and Maia left to fetch Britta to her fate. I got out of bed and put on my new boxer briefs. When they entered with the Blonde and beautiful Britta I could tell she was a little shy and nervous. I went to her and welcomed her into my arms, putting what I considered a sweet and friendly kiss on her lips. She relaxed a little then and I led her to the bed, sitting on the edge of it and keeping her in front of me. I knew she could see Daleana and Suleita cuddled up naked, and I'm sure she could guess they were just recently fucked. I took my time teasing Britta's naked flesh while Dieta, Geera, Roweea, and Maia revealed it as they undressed her. They did more than a little teasing and caressing of their own while they were at it. They drifted off to join my other mates though as I pulled Britta into the bed with me. She must have still been feeling a little shy, even though her plump pink nipples were aroused. I took my time kissing and nibbling at her buds and palming and fingering her dampening sex. When I thought she was wet enough for entry I moved between her legs to mount her. She must have been feeling some heat by now since she took hold of my dick to swab its head between her lips for lubrication and then place it at her entrance. I pushed up into her and had to groan. I can't really describe the feeling of Britta's pussy's insides, but I can tell you it was different and delightful. I just settled with Dicky all the way up her and let him soak as she squeezed and petted him with her pussy muscles. She began pushing with her hips for some action after a while and we were soon galloping off into a wonderful fuck. We replayed it twice before Ladeliea decided she wanted some more too and joined us all for a turn. It was a good thing I had decided to get started on my fucking just after sunset. After I had Daleana, Suleita, Britta and Ladeliea all fairly well satisfied my mates all came to bed with us wanting a little dick of their own. I managed to give them all a good screwing and about an hour after midnight I noticed Shaala, Shallea, Melieta, and Jaiya had let their curiosity get the better of them and were all watching from the connecting tunnel to Danlo's cave. I called them to come over and get in the bed and licked my lips while watching them undress to do it. My mates perked up at this development and I'm sure our guest for the night did too. I had all four of the virgins held down firmly while I nibbled and chewed on their nipples and licked their pussies until they couldn't take any more and begged for mercy. Afterwards I told Shelalliea and Dalia to teach the four of them how to suck a dick properly, then lay back to enjoy their lessons. I guess it was a good thing Argent didn't come to me in my dreams that night. I would have demanded to know the entire list of modifications he had made to my dick. It must have been a long list because so far, no matter how much I fucked I seemed to only need about seven to ten minutes to be in shape to fuck again. It had stood me in good stead this time at least. I woke to the smell of bacon frying the next morning and was delighted to find Daleana, Suleita, Britta, and Ladeliea were still lying naked in bed with me. I started by teasing Britta's nipples until she woke with them throbbing. I got between her sweet legs and with her help aiming I pushed it up her for a good morning fuck. I treated the others to the same thing whether they really wanted it or not. None of them complained. A few of my mates who weren't involved in the cooking came over to tidy us up and help Britta, Daleana, and Suleita sort out their new clothes. I could tell Argent and his designer had been going over pictures of big cats since each woman had a different cat skin motif for her wardrobe. Britta's was white tiger, Daleana's was lynx and Suleita's was cheetah. All were beautifully done and looked great on them. I saw my mates were about to help them on with their thongs and seemed like they might be going to put the trousers on them too. "Just the top will be enough for them to wear until they have to leave. Remember the clothes are mostly for my benefit," I told them, and laughed. Britta actually blushed a little as I came over and demonstrated my easy access using her sweet ass as an example. ------- Chapter 61 Daleana, Suleita, and Britta were amazed again when they discovered what all those new things were where our cooking fire had been. When they got a sample of toast with their breakfast they were dying to know where it had come from and how to make it. I abandoned the hen party which had sprung up, but did remind them not to pay so much attention to Frank they forgot to fix my lunch. If I was going to get a few days to stay home I wanted to make sure I got three good meals a day in the bargain. "What would you like for your meal my wonderful mate," Dalia asked, already understanding I just wanted a little more attention. "Ask Frank to teach you to cook a big thick New York Strip rare with a baked potato." "But what is that?" Geera asked. "Frank will tell you," I said and headed for the new shooting range. After I'd traversed the tunnel I went over to my locker, noticing for the first time it was easily twice as large as the others. I hadn't really paid much attention the day before since I had wanted to get my bow and some arrows and start my little demonstration. Today I noticed. All my other firearms except the M1 were now stored in the locker and there were more new arrivals than the one 25 Buck Mark type I expected. The first one to catch my eye nearly had me crying. It was a sporterized version of a German 8mm Mauser, their WWII standard rifle. It was just as beautiful to me today as it had been when I was thirteen years old and had begged my daddy to buy it for me. As I picked it up gingerly and looked it over I wondered how in the hell Argent and company knew about it and found it, or re-created it. It was exactly as I remembered though, down to the rather cheap Tasco 4x scope that had come with it. It had been a custom rifle by a local small town gunsmith. His main claim to fame had always been his skill at putting on a rich deep bluing and his ability to make a beautiful stock from a rough chunk of hardwood. His other skills had been workman like and the rifle did function perfectly even if it hadn't been the most accurate. It had been easily up to my skill level though. I had killed my first deer with that rifle, a three pointer. I had been so excited when it walked under my tree stand, built with my own thirteen year old hands, that I shot it without even knowing whether it was a buck or a doe. I realized this after it ran and then fell about sixty feet from me. After waiting a few minutes to make sure it didn't get back up and run off, I worried all the way down my hand made ladder and over to the deer that I might have shot a doe, illegal in my county at that time. I was very relieved to find it had antlers and more relieved to see it had the minimum three points to make it legal. I quickly dragged it back to my 1966 Pontiac LeMans and wrestled it into the trunk to go show it to my aunt and uncle, whose property I was hunting on. They both bragged on my manly exploits and my uncle showed me how to gut and skin the deer and then how to cut it up. My aunt claimed a portion of the back strap and we had it for supper that night with both of them bragging on its taste and tenderness. Until Jana Green showed me better a few months later, in the front seat of my mother's Cadillac Coup deVille, I thought this was as close to heaven as a thirteen-year-old boy could get. So much for memories of the past I thought, and realized they were actually memories of the future for me. What a deal. I put my treasure back in its spot and thought a thanks to Argent. The next thing to catch my eye looked like a giant version of the new rifles. I took it from its spot and looked at the hole in the muzzle first. Jesus! It looked big enough to crawl into. I looked around for its ammunition and discovered it at once. It was 50 caliber. What in the fuck did they think I was going to shoot with this? It was a beautifully done rifle though and even though it resembled the smaller ones I saw at once the action, while still a semi-automatic, was completely different. I stopped what I was doing, put the rifle back in its spot and pulled out my Blackberry, sending them a question asking what the 50 caliber rifle was for. "Mammoth," was the only reply. OK. I figured I could get more out of Argent next time I dreamed him up. I took up my 25 then and gathered ammunition, hearing protection, and shooting glasses plus a few targets, and headed for one of the shooting benches. After hanging the targets and running the frame out to fifty yards I sat at the firing bench and began sighting the new rifle in. After an hour and a hundred rounds I had more respect for the Alien gunsmith than I'd had before. The rifle was very accurate and its iron sights were easy to adjust and their adjustments translated nearly exactly to what I wanted in the way of moving the impact point to the point of aim. I tried the 50 caliber next and even though I'd expected a vicious recoil from the light rifle and enormous cartridge and bullet I wasn't prepared for what it would do to my shoulder. The butt stock had no pad and no mechanism for dealing with the tremendous recoil and that fucker hurt when I fired it. One shot was enough for me to know something had to be done. I got the Blackberry back out and sent another message. "Look up recoil and fix the 50 caliber rifle." I was surprised a little when it just disappeared a few seconds later. I'd had enough shooting for a while anyway and I packed up my stuff and headed back to my cave. The women were engrossed in their lessons again and I saw now Britta, Suleita, and Daleana were spellbound too. At least none of them had put on their thongs or trousers. I walked outside. Things seemed nearly deserted out in the canyon, but as I walked toward the fenced in blind canyons I saw Galto and a few men working to finish the back fence. I went to Galto and praised him for his persistence. "We are nearly through with it now and I don't know where to put the pen for training," He told me. We went to the down river side of the canyon's entrance and I stepped off what I thought was about a hundred and fifty feet. Seeing that one cross fence at this spot would leave me enough space for two training pens side by side I told him so and we decided when this fence was in place we would start another one from its midpoint back to the canyon wall. This was going so good I told him I would also be needing a round pen, and I selected a spot for its center nearby and left him working while I went to get a small post to sink in the round pens center spot and a rope to use for marking off the post placement for its circumeference. I noticed the wild horses were staying back from the men by a good distance, but they did seem to be watching them work, especially the big stallion. I knew he was going to be a job to catch and train. Looking at the size of him made me anxious to get started though. Jaada came to get me for lunch then, telling me Frank had told them exactly what a New York Strip and a baked potato was and they would soon be ready. I noticed she put her thong on for modesty during her trip outside and as we walked back to the cave I put my arm around her, clutching one of her sweet cheeks and told her she looked as delicious as the steak was probably going to be. She giggled and then wiggled her little ass around in my hand as we walked. Something smelled damned good when I got back into the cave and all the women were grinning. Jaada escorted me to the head of the table and the serving began. My steak was the biggest and thickest strip I'd ever seen and there seemed a mountain of Ranch Style beans on the plate beside it. Dalia brought me a baked potato, wrapped in foil, and it had already been cut open and doused liberally with butter, salt, and pepper. It had already been mashed to mush inside too, just exactly the way I liked them. They all sat down to eat too and I saw they were having the same thing. I wondered if Argent was planning on furnishing all our food from now on but doubted it. As I dug into the potato though I knew he was going to have to relent on the no living things restriction and send me some seed potatoes intact. After we'd eaten I thanked them all for their efforts on my behalf. "Who is more important for us to please than our mate and our leader?" Shelalliea asked. "I am happy you feel that way, but I want to let you know it makes me very happy. You should know I appreciate what you do for me and the best way I know to make sure of it is to tell you." "We remember very well a better way you let us know. We remember it from last night," Dieta said, and all my mates and Ladeliea laughed while Daleana, Suleita, and Britta blushed just a little. "Yes, but I intend to tell you often and show you even more often," I said. They wouldn't let me help them clean up afterwards and I started to go take a nap, but decided to get back to work with Galto and the others. When I got back I could see most of the holes were already in place for the posts, but there was only Galto putting in the last few posts here. "Where has everyone gone Galto?" "I have sent them to cut more posts and rails. We have been careful to cut only the trees which are the right size and we have to go farther for them now. It will take longer, but it will be best if we do not take all the trees from one place won't it?" he asked. "It will be better. I am sorry we don't have another wagon to carry the posts, but even if we had another wagon we would not have horses to pull it yet." "I know, but I keep looking out into the canyon and it makes me even more anxious to finish this work. I have come to understand with more horses we can do more things. "When we hunt, if Georgo is not gone, we will have two wagons to help us bring the meat here. We have many more people to help us process it now and we have the frozen cave to make keeping it much easier. It will be good this winter when we can have meat that hasn't been dried to eat. It will not seem so much like chewing leather," Galto said and smiled. "It will be good and it will be even better next year. Next spring I will show you all some things that will give us much more food besides meat to eat." "I am always ready to discover more things to eat. Eating is one of the things I enjoy most," he said, still grinning. Some of the men were coming back then carrying some trimmed trees on their shoulders. I saw they hadn't cut them to length yet and assumed they brought them this way so it would be easier to carry more in one trip. They set the trees down and were about to start cutting them into posts by placing a rock under them to raise them up a little and then sawing. I decided to show them how to make a sawbuck first so the cutting to length would go easier. It would take a little time, but it would save time in the long run. It would also be much easier on their backs. More trees had arrived while we built the sawbuck and after we'd finished it all the men went back to get more except Jano who stayed to cut the posts. I stayed and helped with the fencing until Bigglieo, Georgo, and all the rest returned. The back fence was finished by then with a nice big gate in it. It was ready to capture horses now and the training pens would probably be finished by tomorrow. ------- Chapter 62 I saw Bigglieo was sitting on the big wagon's seat, but Barago was driving the team. Georgo was also on his buckboard's seat, but a man I didn't know, though I had already seen him, was driving Sally and Jane. This was a good thing as far as I was concerned. More people who could drive the wagons could only mean I wouldn't be pressed into the service anymore. Bigglieo and Georgo got off as the wagon and buckboard headed for the big cave, leading the way for all the travois horses with their cargos. "How was the hauling Bigglieo?" "We had no trouble and we were able to get everything except a few of the materials from the huts. I can go back and get them tomorrow if you want, but I don't think they will be worth the trouble," Bigglieo said. "If the people have everything they wanted to bring we won't go back for anything else." "Good, I can't understand though how I have come to learn to drive the wagon and grow tired of it so soon," Bigglieo said. "You would grow very fond of it again if you had to make only one trip to bring something on your back. I know I would." "Please do not remind me and I will never complain about the wagon again. Now I remember, I love the wagon," Bigglieo said, and laughed his big laugh. "Cheer up Bigglieo, you didn't miss much of anything except post hole digging and post cutting and trimming." "I will keep repeating, I love the wagon, I love the wagon. Galto seems to have done a very good job while I was gone. It looks like even the training pen will be finished today," Bigglieo said. "Two will be finished. We had room for two training pens. We will also have a round pen," I told him. "What is the purpose of the round pen?" Bigglieo asked. "If you have time for it the training is easier and more complete in a round pen. You attach a longe line, a very long lead rope, to the horse's halter in the round pen and teach them to work by having them go in a circle. "You usually use a slim whip to get them moving at first, but after they begin to catch on it isn't needed anymore. Soon you can have them walk, trot, or gallop from a vocal command and you can make them stop or change directions. "After they are accustomed to working like that you can even exercise them with only the longe line and not have to put them in the round pen. Longeing is most useful with the younger horses that are too small to be ridden. It makes them understand they will be getting some handling too and gets them ready for when they are big enough to ride or work." "Does it mean all the young horses roaming around loose most of the time will soon be big enough to work?" Bigglieo asked. "Yes, some of the yearlings may be able to carry a rider next year if we can keep them well fed this winter. They will still be too small for a grown man then, but might be able to be ridden by some of the smaller women and some of the young boys. "Care must be taken with younger horses though. Even if they seem big enough they cannot carry even a light person very long. Any riding of this year's yearlings next year should only be for their training." "That means we will soon have many horses which can work or carry riders," Bigglieo said. "Yes and we will have a lot of time to begin training them regularly during the winter. I think the horse cave will be big enough to do some training inside it while there is too much snow on the ground." "How were things here while we were gone?" Georgo asked. I wasn't sure he wasn't asking for a sign of whether I had fucked Ladeliea and others or not. I didn't intend to make any mention of who I had been fucking though. "Everything went well. I have a new surprise and I think I should show it to you and Bigglieo at once. Come with me," I told them, and led them toward and then into my cave. As Argent had promised they didn't seem to notice the new kitchen and we passed by it without any questions from them. I led them through the tunnel to the new firing range and they definitely noticed it, but didn't ask anything. They were stupefied when we entered it just as I'd been. "What is this?" Bigglieo asked first. "The spirits have given us this place to practice with our new weapons," I told him as I went to my locker and got out my bow, arrows, and other archery equipment. I showed the bow and the arrows to both of them and then walked to an archery station and ran a target out to about a hundred and fifty feet. I gave them a demo then with three arrows. Bigglieo and Georgo were both spellbound. "What do you think?" "That will be better for hunting than a spear is," Bigglieo stated the obvious. "Yes it is much better. I will need to show you how to do it tomorrow and then I will want you to teach all the other men how," I told him. "Do you have more of them?" he asked. "Yes, I do not have enough for all right now, but in the morning there will be one for you and the next morning the will be a set for Galto and Barago also. I will want you to teach them what I show you tomorrow." "How long will it be before we can hunt with them? How long does it take to learn?" Bigglieo asked. "It will take many days of practice. We will need to hunt before you have learned well enough I am afraid. I am ready for Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo to be mated and I know they are ready also. "Since we are through carrying the things for a while I think Georgo should announce it and I will go and kill some more bison tomorrow. You must keep all of this a secret Bigglieo. If you can I will let you see me kill the bison along with my mates," I told him. "I am very good at keeping secrets John. You do not have to worry. I will not tell anything you tell me unless you have me do it," Bigglieo assured me. "Good. Tomorrow I will show you how to use this new weapon and you can show Galto and Barago next. I think we should hunt in the morning though and I will show you while the others are dealing with the bison. There should be enough here to deal with them now even if you and I do not help them." "I will do whatever you think I should John," Bigglieo said. "If Georgo thinks it is all right I want you to go tell the others we will eat outside tonight and Georgo will give us a little talk. He can tell of the mating then and I will tell everyone there will be plenty of bruga for the mating ceremony." Bigglieo smiled about that and Georgo agreed tonight would be a good night to announce the matings. I decided to let Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo find out at the same time everyone else did, when Georgo told it. They could just get a surprise. We left the practice cave then and Bigglieo walked out right by the kitchen again without noticing. I took Georgo over and sat him down at the new table though and I got a couple of mugs and pulled us both a beer. It was funny to watch him as I showed him to a seat. When he sat it was like his eyes were suddenly opened to all the new things. Ladeliea and my mates all came over then and I told them to get a mug of beer for themselves and sit down. Luckily Shaala, Shallea, Melieta, and Jaiya had gone outside with Daleana, Suleita, and Britta when the wagons had come back. "What do you think of our new kitchen Georgo?" Geera asked him. "I do not know what to think of it. I do not know what it is or what it is for. I can tell it must have come from the spirits though," Georgo said. "It did come from the spirits and it is all for cooking food," I said. "It is very helpful too. Have you eaten?" Shelalliea asked Georgo. "No, we haven't eaten since morning. We will be having a little meal outside later though," he said. "We should make him a sandwich. We need to practice and it will still be too long for him to wait until the food is ready for our meal," Ladeliea said. "Yes, you are right. John can eat a sandwich too. We will make it from the bread Roweea made," Geera announced. I saw Georgo trying to hide what he thought of Roweea's cooking and he did a good job of it. All my mates were up and rattling things in the kitchen in seconds. Georgo seemed amazed as they buzzed around their new cooking equipment like a bunch of bees. I was surprised when I heard a sound I knew I shouldn't be hearing. "Did Frank teach you how to make French fries?" I asked, as soon as I heard them going into the grease. "Yes and he apologized again for forgetting to give us the fryer. It didn't take him long to do it though and we didn't even have to go outside. He just kept giving us our lessons and later he said it was here and we should go try it. They are very good and now we know why you need so much salt. They taste good with salt on them," Winna told us. "Who is Frank?" Georgo asked, at once. "Come, I will show you." I led him to the impromptu classroom and sat him in one of the chairs. The flat panel and the plasma display were dark so I asked Frank if he could show Georgo a fly by of our campsite. The plasma display came to life at once and we were looking at the outside scene as if we were flying by very slowly maybe twenty or twenty five feet in the air. Poor Georgo couldn't understand any of it, but he could easily tell what he was looking at because the women building the fire outside were recognizable to us. "Is Frank one of the spirits?" Georgo asked me, after a while. "No, but I think you will understand better if you consider him one of their helpers," I said. "I can hardly believe how much I have been shown since I met you John. Oh, I think I might be sick," Georgo blurted out at the last. "Better douse it Frank," I said. Georgo was obviously suffering from motion sickness. The fly by had been too much for a system that had never encountered anything like it before. "It will pass Georgo. Looking at the moving vision has caused your stomach to be upset. Everything will be fine. We will go and sit back at the table and drink our beer until the sandwiches and French fries are ready." We returned to the table and after we finished one beer I thought Georgo probably needed another one. I hoped I didn't have to get him drunk to pull him out of his culture shock. I remembered what I had told him last time then and so I did it again. "You must try to calm down Georgo. You will need to prepare the others for the upcoming mating ceremony," I said. Again it was almost like flicking a switch. I reminded Georgo of his shaman duties and he switched into professional mode. He did ask me later how he had passed by the kitchen without noticing it the first time. "The spirits didn't let you see it until they were ready," I told him, and that was all it took. Georgo was shocked again when he bit into the sandwich he had heard was cooked by Roweea. I could tell from the first bite it was a cave bear sandwich and it did taste very good. I'm sure Georgo thought the spirits had indeed been at work during his absence if they had taught Roweea to cook like this. He didn't mention it though and the shock of getting good tasting food from Roweea's efforts made him completely oblivious to the novelty of the fried potatoes. After eating he excused himself to go and meditate for his upcoming duty. I knew he was getting himself into some trouble for later though since he never even mentioned Ladeliea's new outfit. I had to laugh to myself at that thought. ------- Chapter 63 Outside preparations were going ahead for the mini celebration in anticipation of Georgo's announcement. None of them knew what it would be, but it really didn't matter. Any excuse for a celebration was good enough for them. I thought about requesting beer for the occasion, but decided against it. We were going to have a hunt in the morning and a lot of work afterward. I didn't want them trying to clean and cut up bison with hangovers. My mates all took a look outside and then went out to decide what they would be cooking. They decided on a big bear meat stew and I asked if they would have time to make enough bread so everyone could try some. Roweea was delighted with this suggestion and was quick to point out they had a lot of dough ready for cooking already since they had done a lot of practicing today. They decided then they would supply bear stew, French fries, and bread - probably toast. What a menu. They set to work with a vengeance and I decided to take a walk to see if anything more had been accomplished on the new horse pens. There was a surprise waiting for me when I got there. All the posts for the cross fences and for the round pen were already set and the rails for one of the training pens were in place also. I could see Galto intended to finish one training pen first and then work on the other, saving the round pen for last. He was currently working on the gate while others finished up with the rails. He also had two men working on setting four stout snubbing posts for the standing tied lessons. "I am amazed at your progress Galto," I told him, when I was near. "Some of the others who returned came to help us and it is going much faster now," he said. "It certainly is. I think I would probably be able to draw the new horses in tonight for capture. We could leave a few of our tame horses tied in the training pen while leaving the pen's gate and the back fence's gate open and they should all be milling around in the small pen by morning." "It might not even take that long. Look where Jonoco tied Sally to the back fence," he said, pointing to her. I hadn't noticed Sally at the back fence since my attention had been on the pen where he was working. She had enough slack in her lead rope to allow a little grazing, but she was currently getting acquainted with the big stallion and all the other wild horses. They were near the fence where she was tied. Galto was right. If we tied Sally in the training pen he was finishing, near the back, and opened the gates most of the wild horses would be in the pen with her within an hour or two. "You're right. It will take no time to catch them after you are finished with the pen and its gate." "We won't be much longer with this pen. Do you want us to continue until we have both of them finished?" Galto asked. "I don't think so. Georgo will want to start his little talk soon after dark and we will be hunting tomorrow. After the bison are killed we will be very busy for a while. I think you should just try to get this one finished and then find a stopping place on the other one. We should probably leave capturing the other horses until after things settle down. We might be busy for a few days." "That is what we'll do then. We can finish this pen in only a few more minutes and then we will all go and get ready for Georgo. Will we be having more of the excellent bruga tonight?" he asked, with a hopeful smile. "I don't think we should have the bruga on the night before a big hunt. You would all be happy tonight, but very cross tomorrow when you were cleaning and skinning bison with your heads pounding. You will hear something tonight though which will let you know it won't be long before another bruga celebration." "What will we hear?" he asked, excited now. "You will have to wait until Georgo tells you and you shouldn't mention it to any of the others, but I'm sure you will know what is coming after Georgo is through talking." "I will wait and listen carefully to Georgo then," he said. I headed back to my cave. When I walked in I saw Georgo sitting at the new table and he had a big mug of coffee. I walked toward the pot for one of my own and when Ladeliea, who was busy cooking with my mates, saw where I was headed she filled a mug for me before I could get there. I thanked her and went to sit with Georgo. "John, I should leave more often. You have done many wonderful things while I was gone. You have even given my mate many new things to wear. I can tell you they have my full approval too. She looks wonderful in them. I had never noticed before how clothes can change the looks of a woman," he said. "Did she show you her new trousers too?" I asked, innocently. Georgo looked at me strangely for a moment. He bent his head toward mine then and I knew he wanted to whisper so I bent toward him also. "Trousers. Who cares about the trousers? She took off the tunic and pranced around in that tiny strip. I think she said you called it a thong. It made my blood boil. I shouldn't talk of such things, but I had to take her there and then. I didn't care if it was daylight. I had to have her. Twice!" Georgo said, seriously. I had to bite my tongue. It was just funny to me. Here was a man who had no doubt seen hundreds of women stark naked, but put a tiny thong on one and it drove him wild. It was true sometimes hiding a few of the assets made them sexier than showing all. "I am cross with my mates now. None of them thought to prance around in their thongs for me." "You won't have long to wait. I didn't hear it, but I am sure afterward, while I was still too winded to get out of the bed, Ladeliea came in here and told them exactly what she had done. "I know she did because I heard them gasp over something she said. Then when I came in for coffee none of them could keep from giggling at first. It is strange too, it made me want to lead her back to our cave and take her again," he said. "I hope you can last until you give your little talk." "I can do it. I will make myself do it. She will be prancing in the thong shortly after the talk is over if I have anything to say about it though," he said, and he grinned really big this time. "Normally after a mating is announced it takes place after two more days. You had to wait longer because no one realized how much work it would be to deal with fifteen bison at once. There are many more here to help now and I think it will be better. Will you kill fifteen again?" Georgo asked. "I hope to kill at least twenty five tomorrow. I know it will be many bison, but we won't have to do all the slicing and drying of the meat. After the bison are cut up we can just put the meat into the frozen cave and not worry about it." "Yes, but there will be many more skins to stretch and there will be all the intestines to clean unless you plan to just leave them," Georgo said. "I think we can still do it with less trouble than last time. We have much more help and we still have the stretching racks that were made for the last hunt. I know we also have some racks from the two camps which have joined us here. I think the normal two days will be plenty of time to take care of things." "We will set it for two days then. The runner you send will have to be a strong one," Georgo said. "I hadn't even thought of that. Who is usually sent?" I asked. "I think Galto has done it before, but I think Dargo was Gigo's best runner," he said. "We will be teaching Dargo to ride a horse tomorrow then. I hope he is a quick learner." "He will probably pay very close attention after he falls off a time or two," Georgo said, and then laughed at his own joke. I joined him in the laughter, but then thought I needed to get some more saddles. I would ask for some McClellans. They were adopted by the United States' army shortly before the civil war and had been used until the army disbanded their mounted units. I was sure Argent and his people could even improve on them. Georgo left for more meditation then and since my mates were all busy cooking I went over and sat down at Frank. I got a message as soon as I signed on. "Can you take a nap John?" Argent's message asked. "Yes," I sent. Going to the bed I took off my new moccasins then lay back and closed my eyes. I was asleep in a few minutes and then I was with Argent. "I hope Frank has not disrupted any of your plans John," Argent told me. "No, he has done well. The kitchen sink got a little out of hand, but I don't really think it hurts anything. We might have to do something similar for the others after a while though since the three other women saw it." "That is one thing I am concerned about. Would it upset you if I made them forget about it?" he asked. "I would rather you didn't do it, can't you just make sure they don't mention it to others and let them come here if they want to use it?" I asked. "Yes. In fact they haven't mentioned it to any of the other women yet and I am surprised they haven't." "I'm not. My mates probably told them not to. When I wake I will call them back and emphasize they shouldn't speak of it. I don't think they will. I have learned the women of this time understand the value of secrets." "We will do as you think best. We have already decided you are better equipped to make decisions on the ground here than we are," he said. "I appreciate your confidence in me. We do have another minor problem though. Frank has given my mates the secret of French fries. There are no potatoes here. I will need for you to keep furnishing potatoes or send me some seed potatoes," I said. "What is the difference in potatoes and seed potatoes?" Argent asked. I was surprised he didn't know. It had seemed like such a big deal at first, not allowing me to have a dog. "Seed potatoes have eyes on them that are the begining of a new plant. If you send them you will not be able to treat them. They must still be alive when they get here." "I see. That will not be a problem," he said. "I was afraid it would break some of your rules. I remembered you told me I was the only living thing you were allowed to put here." "Those regulations can be relaxed now. It is true it is much more trouble to bring things from your former planet than it is to just give you things we manufacture from materials here, but an exception can be made for seeds to grow things." "Are there any other changes that I should know about?" ------- Chapter 64 "I should tell you things are going very well on this project and you should not hesitate to ask for something if you think it will make your life easier, but still keep the social fabric and interactions more or less what would be normal to this time. "I know keeping things to what would be exactly normal is not possible and it is not even what we want. We wouldn't be happy if you asked for a three bedroom brick house or anything such, but if it is for growing food or to help things, even if they were a little beyond what could be expected in this era, we will give it our attention and every consideration," he said. "In that case, and from your previous actions, I don't guess another cave here or there would make much difference." "Oh not at all, do you need more caves. If you can explain them away we will be happy to create caves to order. They are no trouble at all and have the added benefit of being concealed," Argent told me. "Concealed from who?" I asked. "From the other's who are with you. Even knowledge of the cave doesn't mean they are constantly in view of your other people," Argent said, but something about the tone of his last explanation made it seem that it wasn't really what he was thinking about. "Fine, then why don't you just make another cave on the side of mine away from Georgo and Danlo's cave. Make it two chambers so I can give one to Bigglieo and one to Barago. That way all the women who know about the kitchen can come cook in it. "In fact, make the chambers a little smaller and make one for Jonoco and one for Nadlo. Their intended mates have seen the kitchen too," I said. I didn't really give a shit about the kitchen. I was thinking about how handy it would be to have access to all these men's mates via a passage from my cave, without having to go outside and across the canyon. I especially was thinking about the red headed, red bushed, big tittied Daleana and the Blonde haired, blue eyed Britta with the talented pussy. Maybe I should look into Erieta's mate's qualifications, if he was a good useful man he might need quarters on my side of the canyon too. It would make Erieta's and Failiela's comings and goings covert also. "That is an excellent idea. Shall we make them tonight?" Argent asked. "Not yet, let me consider my list more carefully. I might think of others I need to keep closer to me. I might also need to reconsider some of these. It might seem strange to give Nadlo and Jonoco new caves of their own since they have only lately become men. "It might make others think I was showing favoritism because they work with the horses for me. It was easily explained with Danlo, his mother and sister both are my mates. It also came at a time of many surprises, which drew attention from it. I will need to consider things more carefully before we do anything." "We will wait for your decision. Do not hesitate to ask for all the additional caves you want though. If you want a separate cave for each mated pair that are in your camp we will do it happily," Argent said. That wouldn't help me out one fucking bit. It would only make it more noticeable since there would have to be a common passage to my cave and everyone would know exactly where a woman was going if she headed down it. "I don't think that will work well either. Let me think about it and get back to you with a plan." "Very well. I should apologize to you now about the 50 caliber rifle. The engineer who suggested and designed it simply neglected to consider the recoil. I had him try a test firing so he would not overlook the detail again. He wasn't injured too badly, but he did require medical attention for his shoulder. We bruise also and I can tell you his bruise was impressive. He is researching methods to deal with recoil now." "Let him know I don't want him to increase the rifle's weight to dampen the recoil. I know it would help, but I don't want to have to pay for softer recoil with increased weight I would have to carry." "I think he already understands. Can you think of anything else you need since you are here already?" Argent asked. "As a matter of fact I need a few things for the horses. I need saddles for all of them that are mature. I would like them custom fitted for each horse and I want them to be patterned after the United States' Military McClellan saddle. I would also like for them to have any improvements which are allowed with respect to stronger and lighter materials. "Please make sure they all have a version of all the accessories which usually came with those saddles, such as saddlebags, bedrolls, and saddle scabbards to accommodate the new rifles you have provided. They should allow for growth for any horses that might have more growing to do. "I am thinking I might need another wagon too, is it allowable?" "Of course, the wagons are made entirely from materials we acquire here. Do you have any special specifications for the new wagon?" "I would like for its box to be ten feet by twenty-four feet and I would like the ability to let the tailgate down similar to the way a pickup truck's tailgate can be lowered. It will still need to be watertight when it is closed. It would also be good if it had something to aid in loading animal carcasses. I intend to use it for carrying game after hunting." "Oh, are you going to have another hunt?" Argent asked. "Yes. I will be hunting tomorrow and I intend to kill more bison than I did last time. That is one reason I think I would like a larger wagon. The loading device isn't necessary if it will cause problems." "What did you have in mind for loading?" Argent asked. "Something similar to a stick loader from a short-wood pulpwood truck." "I have no idea what that is," Argent admitted. "It can merely be a stiff tower extending about ten feet from the bed of the box. At the top you should have a swiveling cable guide, probably at least five feet long. It will allow the cable to be suspended over the edge of the wagon's box and then run down through the tower to a hand-operated winch. "It will need to furnish probably twenty-five hundred to thirty-five hundred pounds of pull. It will be easiest if the tower can just be made of four to six inch diameter pipe. It must be braced well though so it doesn't rip out the floor of the wagon. You can see hundreds of examples by looking for the pulpwood trucks in the southeast of the United States. They are used in many places for harvesting pine pulpwood." "I think I understand now. It is similar in function to the cranes used for the construction of what you called skyscrapers," Argent said. "Yes, but not nearly as complicated." "It will all be ready in the morning," he told me. "I will need a set of hobbles for all the horses too. In fact you should send me enough for twice as many horses as I have now." "That will not be a problem. We have also assigned two engineers to study the sawmill idea. They are researching it now," Argent said. "Excellent. Inform them I won't want to be using saw logs larger than twenty-four inches in diameter and no longer than twenty feet. I will need some type of wagon to haul the saw logs on though and I will also need something to load them with. "Simplicity is the key for the wagon and its loader, not speed. While you are studying the pulpwood trucks examine the pole trailers that carry tree length logs. A smaller version of one of them designed to be pulled by the horses should be fine for carrying logs for us." "I will tell them. If that is all you can think of now I will depart," he said. When I agreed he was gone and I was waking up. As I got out of bed, the first thing I wanted to find out was the status of Erieta's mate. I hadn't fucked her yet and I was feeling the urge to. A few of my mates were at their new kitchen cooking something that smelled good. I went over for a closer sniff and decided to fondle a few asses while I was at it. The smells and the feels were great. When Dicky was hard and begging I asked Dieta to take a little break to go tell all the women and girls who had seen Frank and the kitchen to keep it to themselves. She went over by the clothing storage and slipped on a pair of her new hot pants and then left to instructs the others. The Alien designer had done another good job on the hot pants. The fit was incredible - they seemed painted onto her ass. The leg's hems looked like they were ripped to end them and they matched the hem of the tiny skirt. I walked outside and the first person I saw was Britta. She was watching some meat that was cooking on a big spit over one of the outside cooking fires. I went to stand beside her. "What are you cooking, Britta," I asked. "It is some of the giant bear's meat. It smells delicious doesn't it?" she asked. "It does," I agreed and since no one else seemed to be looking our way I bent my head and made a loud sniffing sound by her neck. "You smell delicious also." She blushed and nearly giggled when I said it. I had expected her to. She was wearing her new outfit, but had taken the time to put on the trousers too. I reached down for a friendly petting of her ass anyway. "I may have to find you and Barago some quarters closer to mine. I'm not sure I can stand to be so far from you at night." She blushed even brighter and her giggling became a little more nervous as she looked around to see if anyone was looking. "Is it true you do it in the daylight sometimes?" Britta asked. "It is true," I told her, and she shivered. "It might be nice if we lived closer to you, but there are no other caves near you like Danlo's and Georgo's," she said. "Danlo and Georgo did not have caves there either until the spirits made them. Maybe the spirits will make more." "Do you mean their caves came here after you were already here?" she asked, amazed. "Yes, the spirits are very good to me. Do not put too much effort into arranging your sleeping area," I said, trying to leave her curious. I'm sure it worked. I walked down to the new horse pens and saw Galto and the other men had indeed finished one training pen before calling it a day. I also saw they had put all the trained horses, foals, and yearlings from the first group into the capture pen for grazing and had left the training pen's gate open so they could graze in there also. They might as well get what grass they could from it before it was all trampled down. I walked back to my cave and entered. All my mates were fussing around in the kitchen and Ladeliea, Shallea, Shaala, Melieta, and Jaiya were contributing to the commotion. I spied Georgo sitting at the table with a big mug of coffee and started for one myself. Showing me that Ladeliea wasn't the only one keeping an eye on me, Melieta had my coffee in the mug before I got to the pot. I thanked her and sat with Georgo. ------- Chapter 65 "I saw you taking a nap John, were you worn out from your day?" Georgo asked, teasing. "The spirits sometimes talk to me when I sleep," I told him, and it changed his mood - I made him ask though. "Did they talk to you today?" he finally had to ask. "Yes and I must discuss it with you. Would you mind if your new cave was rearranged?" "I would never be one to even hint to the spirits I objected to anything they wanted to do," Georgo told me, seriously. "They are considering making room near my cave for some of my most important men. We also discussed including Nadlo and Jonoco in Danlo's quarters since their upcoming mates have already seen and used the kitchen. "I was not careful enough to keep some women other than my mates and yours from seeing it. To keep it unnoticed by everyone the spirits are thinking of making room near me for all of them to have a cave." "If they will do it, that would be much better. I know all the women will try hard to guard your secret, but it will be difficult for them. It will be easier if they are all close. Especially the young ones who have not had experience in keeping things to themselves yet," Georgo said. "You can tell me whether I was right to worry about this next thought then. I felt it would seem strange to give newly appearing caves to Nadlo and Jonoco when other men in camp surely should get them first." "I think you are right. It was understandable with Danlo because he was so closely related to two of your mates. It will not go unnoticed if Nadlo and Jonoco are given such prime locations so soon after reaching manhood. The other men might not mention it, but it would seem strange to them," Georgo said, echoing my thoughts. "How would it seem if Nadlo, Jonoco, and their new mates lived in Danlo's cave with him?" "Danlo's cave is large for one man even though he has two mates, it might be crowded for three men and all their mates though," Georgo said. "The size can be adjusted. How will it seem to the other men?" I asked. "It will seem even more sensible than giving the cave to Danlo alone. It would probably be better than now," Georgo said. "It is why I asked if you would mind if your cave were rearranged. It will not be made smaller, but it might need to be moved some to allow for increasing the size of Danlo's cave to make sure it won't be too crowded for three men and four women." "But how can the caves be moved John?" Georgo asked. "I do not know how it can be done Georgo, I only know the spirits told me it could be and asked me to see if it would suit you." "I have never been so honored in my life. To think the spirits actually cared enough about me to even ask," Georgo said, clearly in awe. "You should not demean the regard the spirits have for you Georgo. They are pleased you were able to explain their gifts and they are very pleased you went to get Ladeliea so promptly. I will tell them you approve of any changes they wish to make to your cave." "Please do, I am ready to do whatever they ask," Georgo said. "What do you think about the others then. As I see it I need to get Bigglieo and Barago near me too. Do you know which man was Barago's best?" "I think he had two who were practically equal - Natalto, the mate of Cahttiea, whom you met in my buckboard on the way back and Racaato, the mate of Erieta, whom you also met. Natalto is Barago's main helper for most things except hunting, he is a hunter, but he is not the best at all. Racaato is a good man in all ways and he is one of the best hunters. He is a better hunter than Jenbo was. In fact if it were not for your skill I would say Racaato is the best hunter I have ever heard of," Georgo said. What a deal. My dick practically shivered as I remembered the deep throat Cahttiea had given me in the back of Georgo's buckboard. I would have to make sure she got accommodations on this side of the canyon. "I do not know if I should move the second men to this side of the canyon then. It would probably cause a strain if I made room for Barago and only one of his two best. "If I moved Barago and both his best men I would need to move not only Bigglieo but Galto and Dargo also to this side and I should probably ask Roweea who her mates best men were and move three of them over here. "I think that would be too many and I don't even know the men from Roweea's camp that well." "It would not be necessary to move any men from Roweea's camp. Her mate and his best man were both killed. He did not really have two who were equal. The closest man to next in line was killed also. The men who were left were good men, but not really the kind that could be considered for leadership status. "I will say, on their behalf, they did their best in the short time before they joined your camp. It was as if Roweea was the leader during that time though. The remaining men just weren't up to the responsibility," Georgo explained. That settled it in my eyes then. Six men and their mates were not too many to make room for near me, especially since Nadlo and Jonoco and their mates would be joining Danlo and his mates. Danlo's cave would not even need to be made much larger and in my opinion his bathroom was already plenty large enough for all of them. I knew what to ask Argent to do now and I felt good about it. I was wondering what Galto and Dargo's mates looked like though. I had never paid attention to them. I nearly asked Georgo but didn't. No sense letting him know the main reason I had for planning all this. "Georgo, when you talk to the camp tonight you might want to prepare them for upcoming great events from the spirits. I can practically guarantee the earth will shake while we are hunting. I wouldn't hint of that to them, but I would mention great things were afoot. You might tell them we will soon be inviting another camp to join us too." "I will do as you ask. I will give them many things to think about regarding the spirits," Georgo assured me. The sun was setting by now and it was getting near time to start our little get together. Georgo and I went outside and I could tell most of the food was ready. The tables the beer mugs had been on last time had been brought out to hold food and other hand made tables were here too. There were a lot more people here this time of course. My mates were bringing out food so when I spied Erieta and Failiela carrying food and the man who I knew was her mate helping I went to them and introduced myself to Erieta's mate. "I am John," I said, and held up my palm. "I am Racaato," he said, returning the gesture. "Georgo has told me you are the best hunter of your group and probably the best hunter anywhere," I said. "I think you have put that falsehood to rest. I do think I am a good hunter though." "I am a good hunter, but I am mostly an efficient killer, especially of the bison. From what I've been told I am sure you are probably better in the hunting skills. I would like for you to join me tomorrow when I kill the bison. "I am going to reveal my secret method to my mates, Bigglieo, Galto, Dargo, Barago, you, and Natalto. I must tell you it must be kept a secret from others though. You are a valuable member of this camp now and I want to ask you if you know any among those I named who should not know the secret." "I am honored you would ask me. I can only speak of Barago and Natalto. I can think of no reason not to let them know the secret. I am sure that they, like I, would keep it to their death if it is necessary," Racaato told me. "It isn't that important, but it is important. You will know tomorrow how I can kill so many bison. You will not be able to do it even after you see how I can, but if you stay with this camp you will be able to do it before much longer. "When you see me do it you may think it is easy. It is in some ways, but later when you are learning to do it you will see it is not so easy. There are things you must do which are difficult and they will not be apparent tomorrow. I am looking forward to showing you and then teaching you though." He thanked me again for my confidence in him and then introduced me to Erieta and Failiela. "I have met your mate already and Failiela also. I might as well tell you I think Failiela is one of the prettiest girls around and I have a terrible crush on her," I said. He looked surprised when I said it and Failiela blushed crimson. When I held my arms open for her though she didn't hesitate to run into them and wrap hers around my neck. "I have missed you my little beauty. Where have you been hiding since we got back?" I asked. "I have been very busy helping my mother with all our things. We have many skins and furs and other things which must be stored, and we are not through finishing some of the skins," she said. "Well you mustn't work all the time. You must visit this old man some. My mates have been lonesome for your company too." "I will come to visit soon. I promise," she said, smiling her widest. "Good. Oh, there is Georgo. He is about to speak," I said, as I set her down to stand beside me. Georgo talked to them for about fifteen minutes telling of great things to come and of the great hunt tomorrow. He pointed out how kind the spirits had been to us and said they had told him there was more to come. They now paid very strict attention to Georgo when he spoke of the spirits. The shaking earth from last time and the spirit bruga had made devout believers of them all. When he finally wound down the meal was on. I went to find one of my mates so I could beg for my supper. When I found one I found all. They had a plate ready for me and they had even brought a chair outside for me to sit in while I ate. They all stood and picked at food while they made sure everybody tried the bread and the French fries. I didn't watch much since I was paying attention to my own bread and French fries and to the bear meat stew they had prepared. Things wound down earlier tonight than they had at the last shindig. After helping my mates bring all our things inside I saw Danlo and ushered him into a chair at the table. "Danlo how are you getting along with Nadlo and Jonoco?" "We are getting along fine, but I want to ask you something. They both seem to want my approval before they do anything that is in the least out of the ordinary. Do you know why that is?" he asked. "I don't know, but I can guess. It is probably a combination of things. You are probably showing leadership even though they are both older. Also, they are probably transferring some of my authority onto you since we have a closer relationship than I have with either of them." "But I don't know if I want them to do things on my say so," he said. "Someone must be the leader Danlo. Even though you are young you are a man now. I cannot be everywhere to make every decision. As long as you do your best I will have confidence in you. "That doesn't mean you won't make any mistakes and it doesn't mean I want you to be bossing the others around just for the fun of it. If you see something you know needs to be done though you should try to get it done. Do you understand?" "I think so. I will do my best and when I make a mistake I will try to find out how to fix it, probably by asking you," he said. ------- Chapter 66 "That will be good. I need to ask you about something else now. If your cave were bigger do you think you and your mates could share it with Nadlo and Jonoco and their mates?' "Yes. We could all share it as it is now. Shallea and Shaala have already asked me if they could live there with us and I was going to ask you if it would be all right. I haven't said anything to Nadlo and Jonoco yet, but I know Shallea and Shaala have already asked Melieta and Jaiya about it and they want to do it too. It seems strange to Shallea, Shaala, and I to have such a big cave with no one else living there with us." "Very well then. Ask Jonoco and Nadlo if they would like to live there with you. If they agree it will be that way. You will be getting a little rearrangement in there though. You must keep that secret until it happens. After it happens, if Nadlo or Jonoco say anything about it, just act like it has been pretty much that way all along." "I will not tell anyone," he said. "You may tell Shallea and Shaala, but no one else. It will happen while we are hunting tomorrow." "Will the earth shake again?" he asked. "I am not sure, but I think it will." "I will make sure it seems I know nothing about it," he said, and then he left. My mates joined me at the table then. Roweea was the first to say anything. "It is a shame you do not have another new mate after the ceremony tonight," she said. "I already have one picked out, but I wanted to make sure all of you approved before I asked her to join us. I also want to wait a little longer so I won't be stealing the attention from Danlo, Nadlo, Jonoco, and their mates." "You mean you would not take a new mate if we didn't approve of her?" Roweea asked, as if it was surprising to her. "No, I would not. I asked all the others before I asked you to be one of my mates." She looked around at all of them then and got smiles everywhere her eyes landed. I could tell it had shaken her. "You see Roweea, it wasn't only I who wanted you, all of us wanted you. I will ask you first if Kateata will be acceptable to you as another of my mates?" "Yes, she is acceptable to me. I wish she could join us tonight," Roweea said. All the others agreed by acclamation before I could ask them separately about Kateata. Most of them lamented, like Roweea had, that she couldn't come to us tonight. "If you all feel that way then why don't you go and visit the unmated women, take Shaala and Shallea with you and they can invite her to stay the night with them tonight. After she is in here she can just sleep with us. Will any of you volunteer to hold her down for me?" I asked. "You know we won't have to hold her down John. She has been trying to find a way to slip in here at night since she came here. We had to tell her to make sure and not come while you were tending to Britta, Suleita, and Daleana," Dieta told me, with all the others agreeing. "We knew you were going to ask her to join us all along and we are wondering if you can restrain yourself until Failiela becomes a woman or if you will have to mate a child," Shelalliea said, laughing. I laughed too and then told them I was going to make sure I did things correctly for Failiela no matter how much help I had to require out of them to get me by. I tried to look very serious when I said it and it took them a few seconds to figure it out. They all volunteered to help me in any way they couldt. "Let us get Shallea and Shaala and go visit the unmated women now. I think we should get John into bed early tonight. He will need his rest before the hunt tomorrow," Geera said, and they left me laughing. They brought Shallea and Shaala from their cave and left for the quarters of the unmated women. They were gone for about an hour but when they came back they had brought not only Kateata, but had Melieta and Jaiya in tow also. They made a pretense of showing Kateata the kitchen at first and then they joined me at the table where I was sitting having a mug of beer. "The kitchen is so wonderful. How did it come here?" Kateata asked. "It was just here one morning. John has told us not to question the ways of the spirits," Geera told her. "Yes and he has also told us not to question him when he sends us to bring him an unmated woman," Dalia said, as she smiled at Kateata. I could see understanding flash across Kateata's face quickly and I saw her hide it with feigned confusion just as quickly. I knew she was having a hard time keeping a smile off her face. "Unmated woman. Why would he send you for an unmated woman? What unmated woman did he send you for? Two unmated women came with you and you brought three more of us back," Kateata said. "Melieta and Jaiya come here almost every day Kateata, John sent us to get you," Maia said. "Me! Oh he wouldn't. You won't let him will you. I must be untouched or I will never have a mate," Kateata said. "He is the leader and he is our mate. We must do as he bids us," Shelalliea told Kateata. "But he mustn't before I am mated. It isn't right. Surely you won't help him. You wouldn't hold me down for him?" She could just as well have been saying Please don't throw me in the briar patch. She didn't mean a word of it and we all knew it, but she sounded so convincing. I saw Dieta was trembling with lust already and Geera, Roweea, and Maia weren't far behind her. "Yes we will hold you down Kateata, we will hold you down and John will take you as often as he likes. He is our mate and he is the leader and it is his right," Dieta said, and grabbed her wrist. "Oh please don't do it. He mustn't take me before I am mated," She begged, as Geera and Roweea took hold of her too. They led her to the big bed then and the women weren't the only ones who had been affected by Kateata's performance. Dicky was hard enough to fuck a rock. I followed them to the bed and while my mates tried to get Kateata's clothes off her Melieta, Jaiya, Shallea, and Shaala helped me off with mine. I didn't really need any help, but it wasn't hurting a damned thing. As Kateata struggled to keep her clothes on Geera got enough of it. "If she won't be still just tear her clothes off her. We will send her back to the unmated women's quarters naked and the whole camp will know what has become of her," Geera said. "Oh no, you wouldn't," Kateata wailed, and kept struggling. Dieta would. She grabbed the neck of Kateata's tunic and ripped the skin in two down the front. Kateata's titties came tumbling out invitingly and then shook and wobbled as Roweea tore her trousers off her. She wiggled her ass then and pressed her legs together trying to hide her bush. They wrestled her to the bed and Maia and Gema removed her moccasins, then they had her pinned spread eagle in the center of the bed while she continued pleading and squirming. I was naked by now also and I crawled onto the bed with my knees between her spread ankles. "Try to keep her from kicking me while I find out what she taste like," I told them, and bent my lips to her pussy. Kateata was dripping wet and her sex was already pulsing with the increased blood flow. Her juices shone wetly on her pussy lips and her clit was peaking out from under its hood already, even before I began licking. "I know that I am going to like showing Kateata what a dick is and demonstrating fucking to her," I told my mates. "Oh John. Please don't. You mustn't take me before I'm mated. I will never find a mate if you do," She begged again. "Enough talking. I want you now," I said, and moved up to lie between her squirming legs. She tried desperately to jerk her right hand free and I'm sure it was so she could guide me into her. Delia had a firm hold on it though and Kateata needn't have worried. Maia was near our point of impact and she was more than happy to make sure I hit the mark. Maia placed me after making sure my dickhead was wet in Kateata's oils. As I pushed up into Kateata she whimpered and cried out, begging me again not to do it. I ignored this of course and pushed Dicky all the way up into her. I started a slow gentle rhythm then. "Oh John. You have done it. Oh John. Oh. Oh. Oh do it just a little faster and harder John, please," she said, growling at the last. The sham was over now, but it had been a good one. Kateata had inspired me and I was soon pumping into her firmly and rapidly. She had one climax and I kept going until I joined her for the second one. We were both panting by then and as I rolled off her my mates were on the clean up detail in a flash. When Kateata had recovered her breath she giggled and then laughed outright. "That was wonderful. I hope you send your mates for me often," she said, and then craned her neck over to kiss me. "We intend to make sure John fucks you often, we are hoping we won't be having to go so far to get you before long though," Dieta, who was still burning with lust, told her. "What do you mean?" Kateata asked. "Before she tells all my secrets I had better speak up. I mean I would like for you to become one of my mates if you will have me," I said. "Don't be silly John," Kateata said. "What?" "Of course I will have you. I am dying to be one of your mates," Kateata smiled at me, and then kissed me again. "You should probably wait until the others are mated before announcing it though. It won't be right to steal the attention from them. I guess you intend to use me shamelessly in the mean time though. At least I hope you do," Kateata said, and laughed this time. "You have learned my ways so well in such a short time Kateata. You are very smart." "I wasn't sure, I was just hoping. Now which one is Dieta, I think I need to practice holding her down," Kateata said. "I am Dieta, and I will resist all I can, but it may not be much." Dieta told her and all the others laughed. Kateata did hold Dieta down then and even as hot as she was Dieta managed to struggle a little. Geera couldn't resist the chance to help though and she and Kateata soon had Dieta subdued. I did my duty for Dieta then even though she begged me not to. I knew she would change her tune in seconds if I didn't hurry and put it up her though. I had a wonderful evening with my mates after that. I noticed Kateata didn't take long to catch on to the plan either. Soon she had her tongue in any unattended pussy she could discover. I even saw her give Shallea and Shaala both a good licking and she devoured Melieta's nipples while I was licking her pussy. When I was fucked and licked out Shallea, Shaala, Melieta, and Jaiya went to there soon to be home and my mates left Kateata the place of honor to snuggle her sweet ass back up against Dicky as we all drifted off to sleep. I guess Argent gave me about three hours to sleep before he called me to a dreamland meeting. "I hated to disturb you John, but I wanted you to see what we have planned before morning" Argent told me, apologetically. "It will be fine Argent. It seems that I rest just as well whether I spend some dream time with you or not," I assured him. I was in the 3D dreamscape of the new caves then. Danlo's section was bigger now and it was separated into three smaller but more private chambers. The bathroom had been moved back to allow for the extra space and I saw Georgo's chamber hadn't been modified at all. My cave had been changed substantially though. The kitchen was moved closer to the far wall and it seemed my cave had actually been made a little smaller in that area. I still had plenty of room but the result was all the other women who would be moving across the canyon could now access our kitchen. Their caves were all what I would call semi private chambers, but had a dining area near the entrance to my cave and it would not be inconvenient for the women to cook in our kitchen and then serve the meal in their dining area if it was what they wanted. I also noticed the opening for the entrance was arranged so there was no clear line of sight into my cave and it was pretty much un-noticeable unless you knew exactly where to look. The bathroom for the new caves was a large communal one and it had plenty of tubs, showers, shitters, and bidets for everyone. I did notice there was still only one urinal and it offered a clear view of everything. The arrangements were better than I had imagined they could be. "Where is the tunnel from the canyon to the practice range Argent. Will everyone have to come through these caves to get there?" "No. We will move it. It circles around the outside of these caves now. It is a little longer but it is completely separate. These caves have their own path to the range," Argent explained. We went to the horse cave then and I saw the new wagon. It was fantastic. It appeared much larger now than I had imagined, but it was exactly the size I had specified. The loader was a single six-inch heavy walled titanium pipe in the exact center of the front of the wagon box. It was mounted to a two-foot deep by ten-foot wide solid one-inch titanium plate that was bolted to the bed in several places. Apparently this was done so it could be removed when it wasn't needed. Argent hadn't bothered with a hand-operated winch. There was an electric winch just forward of the wagon's box, directly under the seat. He told me the batteries would easily run it all day and it had a small fuel cell that would keep them charged. They would be assuming the duties of caring for the fuel cell, just as they had for the others. He felt it would just seem like magic that way and the people would probably forget about it and use it. I had to agree with him there. After using it a time or two they would probably simply take it for granted. All the new saddles looked perfect. They were marked with a picture of the horse they belonged on and I saw they were all colored to match the horses they were intended for. I picked one up and it weighed less than half of what I'd expected. There was also a mound of hobbles piled near them. Even though we still only had two teams trained I knew we would be able to make short work of freighting the bison tomorrow. The new wagon was just enormous. While I was walking around looking I noticed my original wagon and Georgo's buckboard were also sporting a let down tailgate now. I asked him about it. "Well the engineers enjoyed the problem of making the tailgate and insuring it would be watertight when closed and they decided it worked out so well they would do it for the other two wagons while they were at it," he said. "That's fine with me. The tailgates will come in handy." "Would you like a loading device for both of them also?" Argent asked. "I don't think it would help much on Georgo's buckboard, but since it can be removed you might as well put one on my wagon." "It will be ready when you wake." he said. "Everything looks just right Argent. I thank you for your diligence." "Very well. The ground will shake a little after you are finished loading the last of your kills tomorrow. When you get to camp with them everything will be done. We will leave the wagons, saddles, and tack where they are so you can use them during the hunt," he said, and then he was gone and I was back in dreamless sleep. ------- Chapter 67 I was up early the next morning and I woke Kateata by twisting and pinching on her nipples. Of course Dicky wanted to play, but I didn't think we had time. I headed for the edge of the bed making sure I kissed and nibbled on every naked woman I crawled over. When I hit the floor I grabbed some clothes and headed for a shower. I wasn't even soapy before Shelalliea, Roweea, and Kateata joined me. I did my best to help them wash and noticed that the big shower kept acquiring new participants. It was fine with me. After finally rinsing I went out to dry myself, leaving the women wet and naked and mostly still soapy. I was half dressed before they started coming out. Dalia did a fast job of drying and dressing and headed for the coffee pot. She had it in business before I got out to the kitchen and the coffee was almost ready when I arrived. Shelalliea appeared next and soon I had a cup of coffee and I could smell bacon and eggs frying. There was toast in the oven and all was right in my world for a time. When the food was ready I dug in with gusto. Georgo had made an appearance as the food got ready and he was doing a good job on his own plate. "What is the first thing for this morning John," he asked me, between bites. "The first order of business is teaching Dargo to ride. We should probably let him get started before we begin hunting." "I think you are right. He will have much traveling to do. If he can ride it shouldn't take him very long though," Georgo said. "Bigglieo told me Dargo was accustomed to working with the horses since he had helped with all the carrying that we have been doing lately. I think Dargo actually wants to learn to ride. It probably won't take long to get him on his way." It didn't. Dargo took to riding Ben with no troubles. He was a little afraid to go into a trot and a little more afraid to gallop but he caught on soon enough. Even though I already had a western style saddle for Ben, Argent had sent a McClellan for him also and I let Dargo use it. It would be lighter for Ben and it would have a better arrangement for Dargo to tie his sleeping furs onto. There were also saddlebags for it that Dargo could use to carry food for his trip. By the time we had Dargo on his way Bigglieo and the others had already hitched the wagon and the new bigger wagon and everything was ready for the hunt. I got my binoculars, M1, and ammunition and climbed onto the new wagon's seat. All my mates were already onboard. Bigglieo flicked the reins and we were off. We drove the wagon to within a hundred yards of the top and then everyone got off. Racaato, Natalto, Barago, Britta, and Erieta were in the other wagon and we waited for them to join us. Walking to the top ahead of the others I used the glasses and spotted a bison herd not more than half a mile from us. I signaled to the others and we started walking toward it slowly. I spied a small rise no more than four hundred yards from the herd and I took a prone position when I got to the top. All the others kneeled or sat behind me and I motioned for Bigglieo to come up beside me. I scanned the herd with the glasses while Bigglieo looked around for any other complications that might be nearby. I was still studying the herd when Bigglieo nudged my shoulder and pointed in the distance toward a moving presence barely visible with the naked eye. I used the binoculars and as I focused on the movement I recognized Smilodon fatalis, commonly called the saber-toothed tiger. Smilodon was a cat all right, but not really a tiger. With the glasses I could see the big, magnificent bastard stalking the periphery of the bison herd. He seemed as nonchalant as an English barrister out walking the dog. As I studied the big cat it stopped and crouched, partially concealing itself in the tall grass. I'll swear it turned its head and seemed to be looking right at me, as if it were asking What are you waiting on. I wondered myself and setting down the glasses I shouldered the M1 and began harvesting the unsuspecting bison. Smilodon's presence meant that I had to get on with it. When the cat decided to spring its ambush the bison would bolt en masse. They hadn't yet. Those near the ones I was dropping seemed to be getting a little anxious though. I gave it a ten-minute rest and then started again. Later I paused once more before finishing up. I'd dropped twenty-nine. I picked up the glasses and searching carefully I spotted the cat again. It was creeping closer to its end of the heard now. It was nearly six hundred yards from me and I thought about taking a shot. Then I thought again. It almost seemed the cat had waited until I finished shooting before resuming its hunt. I picked up the M1 again and dropped two bison about four hundred yards from my spot and only about a hundred and seventy yards from the cat. It wouldn't have to hunt anymore today. Bigglieo asked me why I'd shot the two so far in the other direction. "The big cat has to eat too. If he rushed the herd we'd have to wait until the stampede was over and they might have trampled some of my kills. They'll probably just move off slowly if it approaches the two dead ones up there," I said. "That is very smart. When they run you can never be sure which way they will end up going. I have seen the cats try for them before and when they rush the bison run. If it walks up to the dead ones they probably won't run. You can be sure they will leave though," Bigglieo said. My mates and the other observers had been spellbound. Most of them still were. When I stood slowly they came back to the here and now, and my mates rushed me laughing and all trying to hug me at once. "You are magic John. The bison just stood there and let you kill them with the thunder. It seemed they didn't even know they were in danger," Dieta gushed. "They didn't know they were in danger. They heard the sound and thought it was thunder. They didn't see any lightning and so they were not afraid. You cannot tell from where I fire, but the bison which fall do it before the thunder gets to the bison. They see a bison fall, but don't hear the thunder until it is down. They do get nervous after several fall though, that is why I would stop for a while," I told them all. "I have never seen anything like it before and I would not have believed you if you had told it to me," Racaato said. "That is why I knew I must show you. We should start preparing the bison now. I will go for the others and the wagons so we can begin. In fact I think I had better stay up here and let one of you go. There is one big cat up there and there may be others," I said, pointing to Smilodon, who was now having bison brunch. "That is the long toothed one. I have seen one before, they are very fierce," Natalto volunteered. "Yes they are, that is why I killed two bison for it. It will not be nearly so fierce when it is no longer hungry," I said. "Good, let it eat until we are done," Barago said. "If it doesn't I will have two long teeth for a necklace. I think even Smilodon can not eat two bison very fast though," I said. Barago went to call the others and the wagons. I noticed Britta didn't go with him and was staying with my mates. Dicky told me it was good news and I told Dicky to behave himself. I knew I would be hiding him in Britta fairly frequently from now on. I could see the way Britta was looking at me when she thought I wasn't noticing. The men weren't the only ones who were impressed by my hunting - in fact Erieta was keeping a close eye on me too. There was a treat I was going to enjoy soon. Probably two days later during the mating ceremony. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo weren't the only ones who would be getting a taste of new pussy that night. While Dalia and Shelalliea were making sure Danlo knew what to do I intended for Britta and Erieta to make sure my bed didn't seem too roomy. I thought about it a little and decided it was a shame Georgo didn't drink that much. No worries though, I'm sure Bigglieo would be as drunk as a man could get. No doubt I would have to help Daleana and Suleita put him to bed and I'd probably need to offer them a place to sleep where they wouldn't have to listen to him snoring all night. Loading the wagons with their new apparatus proved practically painless. We didn't even gut the bison on the plateau. We just used the winch line to drag them onboard whole. The loading was no problem, but when the big one was loaded there was a problem. It was a hell of a strain on Sally and Jane to move it. They got it going but I had to ask some of the men to help by pushing. The big wagon was going to need more than a two-horse team to be useful. I decided I should probably drive it down the ramp the first time at least. I didn't want a runaway. I felt confident the Aliens had made sure the brakes would be up to it, but I wasn't going to take a chance. I hopped onto the rolling wagon and took the reins from Bigglieo before we started down. The brakes did fine and I almost laughed about being on a horse drawn wagon with four-wheel disc brakes. I made sure to tell Bigglieo to keep the heavily loaded wagon from building up any real speed on a downgrade instead of letting it get moving too fast and then trying to slow it down. I got off when we got to the bottom and walked back up to resume my vigil. Bigglieo and Barago drove the wagons to camp and most of the men went with them to help unload. The men would stay in camp and begin gutting and skinning while Bigglieo and Barago brought the wagons back for another load. Racaato had been examining some of the dead bison, but quit and came back to me. "There is a small hole in each of the bison. Not as big as my little finger," he said. "That is how it is done. Later I will show you exactly what happens. A tiny piece of metal comes out of the rifle's end and it goes into the bison and kills it," I told him. "But how?" he asked. "It will be better when we can sit down and I can show you exactly how," I said. He seemed satisfied with that and we spent the rest of the time while the wagons were away watching closely for big cats or other predators. It was easy since I had killed most of the bison in a small area. It wasn't sixty yards from one of the farthest to the other. When we had the last of the bison loaded we headed back. We hadn't needed to load the big wagon so heavily this time and Sally and Jane had no trouble. I walked with my mates, Georgo, Ladeliea, and Britta. We mostly laughed and joked about all the work that would be waiting when we got back to camp. There was plenty of work too. I intended to dodge it this time and I had Bigglieo, Barago, and Racaato come with me to the firing range as soon as the bison were all unloaded. It was the first sight of it for Barago and Racaato and they were as amazed as everyone else had been. I told Bigglieo to explain what he knew about it and that I would be back in a few minutes. I went back into my cave and took out my Blackberry. I asked and they said yes, the quake was over and it had been so small we must not have noticed. They had seen the ones in camp react to it though. I asked if they had put lockers and equipment in place for Barago and Racaato and they assured me they had. Lastly I asked Argent to send extra harness for the big wagon and to send the extra hardware I would need for a six-horse hitch. "Is it too heavy for two horses to pull?" Argent poped into my head and asked. "When it is loaded it is. Some of the men had to help get it moving with the first load," I explained. "Maybe we could arrange for you to capture some bigger horses. Aren't their larger horses that are used to pull heavier loads?" Argent asked. "Yes, but they were not around in this time." "Many of the things you already have weren't around in that time. I was proposing acquiring a few modern day horses for you," he said. "That would be great. What do you have in mind? It will look slightly suspicious if they just appear in the blind canyon," I said. "What if they appeared near where you found the last group? Couldn't you drive them into the pen you have built?" he wanted to know. "That would be the most normal looking way to do it. You would need to tell me exactly when they were coming though. If they were just put there to wait on me, they might end up as a meal for some predator before I could get them captured," I said. "We will wait until you are ready then. Let me know when, where, and how many you will want and we will take care of everything," Argent said. "That's what I'll do then," I said, and then signed off. ------- Chapter 68 I pulled four beers and headed back to the range. Bigglieo's smile, when he saw me with the beer, could have lit the practice cave without any help. "John, the excellent bruga!" he said, almost shouting. I gave them each a mug and Bigglieo nearly let his get hot as he kept bragging on it. It wasn't hard for him to convince Barago or Racaato of the quality since I noticed they nearly inhaled theirs. When we'd finished Bigglieo had to know. "Will we be having much bruga tonight?" he asked. "Not tonight. We will have too much work to do until after the mating. The night of the mating ceremony we will have more bruga than you can drink. More than the last time the earth shook," I said. "Some of the men told me the earth shook after they unloaded the first of the bison," Racaato said. "It did, I felt it where we hunted," I said, lying. "Maybe it did no damage again," Bigglieo said. "It did no damage. It did more good. I will show you after you see the new weapons," I said. "We have new weapons?" Racaato asked. "Yes, they are not rifles, but they are much better than spears." I went to my locker to retrieve my bow and some arrows again. I gave another little demo and then spent two hours teaching them enough to get them started. Racaato could hit the target easily every time at one hundred yards. Of course the target was a circle three feet in diameter, but it was still a good start for him. Bigglieo and Barago weren't far behind him either. Finally I called a halt and we stored our equipment. When we left I led them through the exit that led to their new digs. When we got into their new common area I got a surprise myself. There were accommodations for two more families than I had expected. I told them to look around at their new homes for a few minutes and went back into my cave. I sat down at Frank this time and sent a quick message. When Argent replied I asked him what the story was. "We have information you do not John. The camp you were planning on inviting will come and ask to join you, it would have been another week or two but we are sure when your runner tells them of the mating they will come intending to stay if you let them. We have merely tried to anticipate your needs. "I should also tell you we think Caato and his camp are seriously considering joining you also if you will let them. They are worried you will reject them because of the unpleasantness you have suffered from that camp," Argent said. "Then you should probably make room for Caato and his main man too." "We can do it now if you like." "Do it, but if you can, do it quickly and make the ground shake enough to scare the other men out of their new caves," I said. "We will do it." The ground started a small but noticeable vibrating almost at once. I heard some yelling and the shaking increased. I got my own ass out of my cave and saw Bigglieo, Barago, and Racaato had beat me out by a long while. Georgo, Bigglieo, Barago, and Racaato went back into the caves with me about thirty minutes after the mini quake was over. We saved the new accommodations for last. When we entered them, sure enough, there were two more chambers and some of the originals had been slightly rearranged. None of the others, even those who had already seen the new caves, noticed. I asked Bigglieo to fetch Galto for me before I made the happy announcement, and I took Georgo back almost to my cave to talk to him privately. "The other camp you told me of will be asking to join us soon. Caato will almost surely want to join us also. That is who the extra chambers are for. Can you explain it to them and make it seem right?" I asked. "But when did you find out?" Georgo asked. "I left Bigglieo and the others in the practice cave and came to the kitchen to get us all a mug of beer. I felt weak and had to sit down at the table and when I did a vision came to me. It told me about the other camps coming to join us and then it said that the ground would shake again. I felt nervous taking the beer back to the others," I told Georgo, making it up as I went. "Do not worry, they are anxious from the quaking and it will be easier on them if I give them an explanation to account for it. They will believe almost any reason now because they have nothing else to explain how such a thing could happen. They will want to believe," Georgo told me, confidently. He paid for his cave all over again when he went back to them. Bigglieo was back with Galto and Georgo explained exactly who the new caves were for and told them in no uncertain terms they had been provided by the spirits. He reminded all of them they should be sure to thank the spirits in their own way and they should not take the gifts lightly. They were so fucking happy to have something to believe I was afraid a prayer meeting was about to break out. Thankfully they didn't know about baptism or they would have all been in the river in seconds. I had to force myself to quit thinking things like that because it was hard as hell not to laugh out loud about it. Bigglieo asked the sixty-four dollar question then. "But who are the other new places for?" "The spirits have let me know we will soon have other camps joining us. Probably some that come for the mating ceremony will want to stay," Georgo told them. "When they taste the bruga they will all want to stay. They will probably taste it until they can't leave for several days anyway," Bigglieo said, and we all laughed at that. They took a little tour of their new quarters then and were surprised by their beds. It was plain for them to see who went where because the beds were marked with pictures of them and their mates - also the bed's coverlets were of the same type skin as the new clothes of the women that had them. I paid extra attention to the skins on the beds of women that I hadn't had the pleasure of taking yet. They were all patterned after different cats. When the men had finished looking around I suggested they go and tell their mates to come so Georgo could explain to them and so they could get a look at their new homes, as they were leaving I reminded Bigglieo to tell Dargo's mate to come also. Dargo was off spreading the news but there was no need for his mate to be kept in the dark. When the women came in Georgo gave them nearly the same talk and then we let them look around. Trying to be the helpful host I went with them while they oohed and ahhed over their new digs. Britta, Daleana, and Suleita were thrilled that their new covers matched their outfits. Daleana and Suleita were doubly excited. Their new outfits were different and there were two coverlets for their bed. One lynx to match Daleana's outfit and one Cheetah to match Suleita's. I guessed they could alternate. It didn't matter to me how they worked it out, but it surely had them excited. I was able to determine which of the two women I didn't know belonged to which man with the help of the pictures on the beds. I had seen Galto's mate before, I just didn't know she was his mate. She was a cute little brunet with big brown eyes and a big smile. She was about five-six but I couldn't tell much about her body since she was wearing the normal tunic and trousers. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how I had missed Dargo's mate before. She was a cute little thing, barely five foot two. Her black hair and light complexion reminded me of Dalia and Delia and as best I could tell she had more titty than you would expect on a girl her size. Her knockers and skin and hair reminded me of Dalia and Delia. Her eyes were a very dark brown and seemed almost liquid. She was clearly excited and pleased by her new quarters and it made me want to go tell her I had arranged it this way just so I could fuck her. I didn't though. She would find out soon enough. I asked Georgo to make sure they all stayed with him while I went out to fetch one of my mates. I wanted to make sure all our new neighbors knew they would be welcome in the kitchen. I ran across Dalia first and when I asked she said she would be glad to talk to the women and to explain a few things to the two who hadn't seen the kitchen before. When we got back inside Georgo seemed relieved and he wasted no time saying he had to go meditate. Dalia and I took all the women into our cave and I let her do the talking. She explained to all of them they were expected to use the kitchen as if it were theirs. Most of them had already learned a lot about it from Frank and the lessons and from the time they'd spent in it already. Sarieta, Galto's mate, and Loreena, Dargo's mate, were both lost though. They stayed with Dalia and I for a little bit of instruction while the other women went back outside and back to work on the bison. I stayed close while Dalia gave them a short run through on the basics. I was sorely tempted to give them a lesson myself, but I didn't. I was dodging the work with the bison already and somehow it didn't seem right to spend the afternoon fucking while most everyone else was working. It didn't mean I couldn't take a little time to paw their asses, and they both blushed and smiled while I did. When Dalia finished showing them the kitchen she took them over to familiarize them with Frank. She explained they only needed to ask Frank to show them about the kitchen and he would begin their lessons. She also explained they could stop him at any time and pick up again later or even go back over something he had already taught them if they didn't remember part of it. Dalia's next trick was my favorite of the day. She showed Sarieta and Loreena how to make me a sandwich and French fries and how to pull me a beer. When a smiling Loreena brought me my plate, I couldn't help giving her ass a little feel through her trousers as she bent over to set it down. She turned to look at me and smiled then she gave me a peck on the cheek. Sarieta brought me a beer then and I got a little fondle in on her also and she kissed me on the lips. I didn't feel like eating alone so I pulled her into my lap so she could keep Dicky warm while I ate. She giggled and blushed and wiggled her ass in my lap until I had a huge hardon. I didn't feel nearly as guilty about skipping the work when my dick got hard and while I was eating with one hand I let the other creep up under her tunic to find a titty to tease. She sighed when I palmed her tit and leaned back against my chest contentedly as I pulled and twisted her nipples between bites of the sandwich. Loreena didn't miss the little byplay. When I emptied the mug of beer she brought me another. Sarieta got up to give her a turn when she brought it over. As Loreena sat in my lap she gave me a deep kiss and sent her tongue in to check out mine. Then she leaned back against me too. When I explored her titties I found I'd been right. They were bigger than they had any right to be on such a small girl. The nipples were quick to pop up too and she seemed especially pleased when I pulled on them fairly firmly. I think we were both a little sad to see the last of my lunch. We did manage to call it quits on the teasing then though and while Dalia showed them how to feed the dishwasher I went back to the practice cave. I didn't really have much in mind to do in here, but I needed something to pass the afternoon. I went to my locker thinking of running a few rounds through the eight-millimeter just for old times sake. I tabled that motion when I opened the door though - the 50 was back. ------- Chapter 69 I took it out to look it over and the first thing I noticed was it looked like the last foot of the barrel had been replaced by a big silencer. I didn't understand why they would do it, but when I looked at it more closely I could see the rifling still extended all the way to the end of the muzzle. So the barrel was still the same length, but the last foot of it was more than an extra inch in diameter. I looked at the butt then and saw there was now a respectable recoil pad on the end and the stock seemed to have just the tiniest separation all the way around it just back of the pistol grip. I set it down and took out my Blackberry. After I'd made contact I got an explanation. The big appendage on the barrel wasn't an appendage at all. A new barrel had been made out of a titanium billet. By some type of Alien magic they could do machine work from the inside out. The compensator served as a slight silencer, but more as a way to direct the spent gases after the powder burned. It had been designed to use the escaping gas to tone down barrel climb and recoil. The small line I'd noticed around the butt stock was so it could compress around itself. There were three gas filled shock absorbers inside the now partially hollow stock. They functioned very much like shock absorbers on a car. Nothing to do but try it and see. I got some ammunition and ran a target all the way out, took a rest at the bench, and squeezed off a shot. I was amazed. The compensator also killed almost all of the muzzle flash and the report was not even loud enough to make me use ear protection. The recoil was a lot less than half of what it had been. Shit I wanted to go look for mammoth right now. The rifle did weigh a little more now, probably about twenty pounds but it wasn't like I'd be walking a long way and carrying it. I fired about fifty rounds and ended up setting the impact point six inches high at three hundred yards. I didn't really know how much bullet drop to expect but doubted I'd be trying for anything at over five hundred yards and guesstimated I had it close enough. I put up my mini cannon and other things and went back into my cave and then outside. I was amazed at the progress. Of course we had a lot more help now and we had less to do since we could freeze the meat. Still, I hadn't thought most of the meat would be put away already. There were only five bison left to be cut up. The others were already in the frozen cave. While all the skins still needed more stretching they were at least all on racks now. Washing out and saving the internal organs was where most of the work that remained was, along with rendering the fat. There was a hell of a lot of fat on twenty-nine bison this late in the year. They were working on it though. There were several fires with skin bags suspended over them and water and fat in them cooking. I gave up on loafing and went to help with the washing of internal parts. Yes it was a shitty job. We kept at it until after sunset though. The next morning after breakfast it was more of the same. I was surprised at the progress we made though. We were basically done by a couple of hours after noon. Then it was into the showers with my mates. Kateata snuck in with us and we had a grand time in the shower and then we all piled into the largest hot tub and let the jets loose. After we dried and left the bathroom I took my mates back to the practice cave and got them all started with their bows. I also showed them all how to operate the target trolleys so they could pull the target in until they hit it and work it back out as they got more comfortable. Their learning curve was much steeper than I would have thought. I was pretty sure they would be able to hunt with the bows within a month or two. I doubted we would have much in the way of hunting weather by then though. After about an hour and a half of practice we went back to the cave and the girls went to the kitchen. I had fresh bison for my supper along with beans, French fries, and bread. I was in heaven. I ate until I couldn't stuff any more in and then lay around in the bed while my mates had Frank give them some archery lessons. I drifted off to sleep and didn't wake when they came to bed. I was roused early the next morning and woke to the smell of coffee and frying bacon. I could get used to this life. Especially the morning kitchen detail, which now included Britta, Erieta, Suleita, Cahttiea, Daleana, Sarieta, and Loreena. Some of them were cooking and some of the newer arrivals were watching. I smiled to myself when I glanced at Erieta, Sarieta, Cahttiea, or Loreena. Since they still had their original type clothes on I was reminded soon they would be naked and dripping in my bed as they earned their new outfits. I looked forward to introducing these new neighbors to my kind of fucking. This reminded me of the four virgins on the other side of my cave. Shallea, Shaala, Melieta and Jaiya. I would be bumping their fuzz pretty soon also. If Dicky'd had a tongue he would have been licking his chops. Ladeliea came in then from she and Georgo's cave and walked right up to me, giving me a big good morning kiss. I returned the favor and gave her naked ass, under her Wilma dress, a good morning groping. "What have you done with Georgo? Is he too tired to come to breakfast?" I asked. "No, he is awake, but won't be in for a few more minutes. He told me to make sure you were in a good mood this morning," she said, whispering it in my ear as she pressed her pelvis against my upper arm. I caressed up her leg from her knee until I felt her fuzz against my hand and told her she had me in a good mood already. She trapped my hand against her sex by pressing her thighs together and kissed me again. I could feel her just beginning to moisten. She relented in a few seconds and left to try and horn her way into a cooking position. Britta came to me with my breakfast then and I didn't miss the fact she got as close to me as possible when she set it down. She raised her lips for a kiss too, and she wasn't shy about pushing her tongue into my mouth. When I had my hand up against her pussy she broke the kiss to do a little whispering of her own. "Tomorrow night, after Barago, Natalto, and Racaato are asleep from the bruga I will bring Cahttiea and Erieta to you. I want to watch you fuck them," she said, also whispering. "You know I'm going to fuck you again too don't you?" I asked. "I hoped you would. You should fuck me first and let them see it. It will help them remember their place," she said, and I noticed it made her tremble and her pussy was pulsing. "I will be sure to give you a good workout. You will be screaming for me and they will be surprised," I said, threatening. She shivered again and told me she could hardly wait. If Georgo hadn't come in for his breakfast then I might have taken her over to the bed and made her scream this morning. I knew he hadn't missed the little by play between Britta and me. "Good morning Georgo," I said. "Good morning to you John. I'm glad to see you in a good mood today. I sent Ladeliea ahead to make sure, but from the way Britta was hovering over you I don't guess she had a chance," he said, in a low tone and grinning. "She greeted me before Britta brought my breakfast. I was in a very good mood before Britta got over here." "I know you have plenty of mates to see to you, but I didn't think you would mind if Ladeliea told her leader good morning," Georgo whispered again. "Mind. I was overjoyed and you know it. Has she been prancing for you in the thong again?" "Has she ever. I am not as young as you are John, but every time she starts prancing around and shaking her naked ass I am on fire. I am afraid it may kill me some day, but if it does I will die smiling. "I just thought I had it good when I was traveling all the time with a different woman to comfort me in each camp. It is better to have one woman who really wants to be with you," he said. "Wait until we have secured the others you have in mind. When they are all prancing at once you might burn completely up." "They will probably both come to the mating ceremony. I will be happy to see them," he said. "We must make sure they never leave. There will be no point in them going back and causing us to have to go and fetch them," I said. "I feel sure there will be no problem for Yotalieta, in fact she is from the other camp I told you needed to join yours. Baahaya's camp is doing well on its own though, the leader is a good man, but he can be stubborn. He might insist Baahaya return with them until her mating price is paid," Georgo said. "We will see what happens when and if they come here then. If their leader is a stubborn man he had better watch his manners while he is here. There is plenty of room for him underground. What does his mate look like anyway?" I asked, and tried to look innocent. Georgo was silent and a little shocked I think, for a few seconds at least. Then he gave me a slight smile. "You do not like for people to disturb your plans do you John?" he asked. "It isn't so much my plans Georgo. I don't hold anyone here at my camp by force or anything else. They are each their own person. They are all free to come and go as they like. "I am the leader here though and I do make the rules, but if they don't want to live by my rules all they have to do is leave and I will not hinder them. In fact if they want to leave I will make sure they have plenty of food and other supplies to take with them. "I don't mean to say every leader must be so generous, but I am saying none will hold his people by force if they want to join my camp. I will make sure of it. I do not intend to make sure everyone everywhere lives up to my expectations, but if they come to my camp they will do so while they are here and those who want to stay here and are willing to work and obey my rules will be able to stay here, no matter who I have to kill to insure it," I said. "It sounds like a fair way to act, but it hasn't been our way in the past. It is not our custom and others may not want to abide by it," Georgo said. "That is fine. All they have to do is make me conform to their ways then. I think they will have a bigger job than they want," I said, probably bragging. "I know they will have a much bigger job than they can do. It will be a shame though if good men have to die because of it," Georgo said. "Just think back Georgo - how many good men have I killed?" I asked. "I see your point. I can't think of a one you have killed who didn't bring it on himself. Only Jabo, Jenbo, Gembo and Jenabo were even productive and all would agree they were troublesome men and brought their deaths on themselves," Georgo said. "Holding a person against their will is a bigger injustice to me than trying to kill me. I will not tolerate it. I will pay the mating price for any woman you want to mate and I will be glad to go up on the plateau and kill all the bison they ask for Baahaya. If they are disagreeable about it though they can clean and carry them without our help," I said. "Then there can be no dispute. If you kill the bison for Baahaya's mating price they cannot argue. Bringing the payment to the camp is never part of the price. Help by the hunter is appreciated and I have never heard of a hunter refusing to help, but it is not the hunter's responsibility. "If they demand payment before the mating and you can provide it then it is their job to process and carry the payment. They might not ask for bison though," Georgo said. "I will pay their price, whatever it is. You are very good at dealing with things like this Georgo. Don't you think you will be able to negotiate a price in bison?" I asked. "I'm sure I will since it is the women who set the price and they will not dream you are able to supply bison so quickly. I'm sure they have heard of what you did before, but they probably don't believe it. "I will offer bison and if they do not agree rapidly I will offer more bison. Once they agree we will negotiate the terms of payment. I will tell them if they want them all at once they should be ready to take care of them the next morning," Georgo said, and laughed. "What are you laughing about?" "They will not be able to carry more than two bison per trip to their camp, even after it is cut up and dried. They will do it our way or they will loose most of what they bargain for," he said, and laughed again. "If they will be reasonable about it I will send them home in the wagons with fifteen to twenty bison." "The price will not be so high. I'm sure it won't be more than six or seven bison, especially since I will be glad to let them have skins and all," Georgo said. "In that case, if we all help we can process them in a day or two easily. It will take another few days to dry all the meat, but we have one cave which is practically empty. We could dry it in there with just a few fires. It will take some time to build enough racks though," I said. "Yes and it would be easier on them if you could go to their camp and kill the bison closer to where they live. They would not be able to deal with very many at one time though." "We will find some way to make sure it is done. I might even try to teach Racaato to use a rifle and let him go and stay with them to kill the bison if he will. I still need to pay for Shelalliea, Dalia, Shaala, and Shallea. If I could get Racaato going with a rifle he could just tend to if for me," I said. "It would be the perfect solution. I know Racaato would do anything to have the skill with the rifle. He would be glad to go back with them and do the hunting. Can you teach him so fast though?" Georgo asked. "I can't teach him all I know, but I can teach him enough to kill bison, or other large animals. I will start today. I think I will teach him to ride a horse first though. I don't want him to have to walk the whole way." We had finished eating long ago and I was on my second mug of coffee. All the other women were gone to feed their mates and if it hadn't been for Shallea, Shaala, Melieta, Jaiya, Ladeliea, and Kateata my cave would seem vacant with only my mates, Georgo, and I. They had just finished cleaning up from breakfast and came over to sit at the table with us. Ladeliea sat by Georgo. "Ladeliea, are you ready for me to take two more mates to join us?" Georgo asked her. She practically shouted yes and in an instant she was dragging Georgo back to their cave, presumably to thank him. All my mates snickered at this and Dalia said they had better start making sure Georgo ate more. We all had a small laugh about it and then I headed outside to see what was going on. ------- Chapter 70 I found Racaato after a while. He was helping finish up with the very last of the bison hunt's cleanup. I took him away and down to the horse pens. "I need to teach you to ride a horse Racaato." "Good, I was hoping I could learn. It seems to me having a horse to ride would allow for even better hunting," he said. "It does, it is also helpful in carrying back what you kill. If you ride one horse and lead another you can bring back even more if you do well hunting. I am not teaching you just for your own use though. I want you to understand I have some hunting I want you to do for me." "I will be happy to. I would rather hunt than anything else," he said, admitting it. "It is good then since I have some hunting chores I have taken on and I now have many duties here to keep me from getting to them easily. Many others are depending on what I have promised them and if you can hunt for me it will be very helpful." "What hunting do you need me to do? We are so new here and I do not know what you have promised," he said. "The biggest job is the payment for Danlo's mates and for two of my mates, Shelalliea and Dalia," I said. Thankfully I didn't have to explain to him about the payment for Shelalliea and Dalia since he didn't ask. He was shocked though when he learned I was already in debt to other camps for one hundred bison in all. "It is not all either Racaato, I will soon need to pay a mating price for a new mate for Georgo. He thinks he can bargain for a payment of six to eight bison," I said. "With one hundred to be paid elsewhere six or eight more will seem like nothing. I will do my best, but even if I learn to use the bow well enough it will still take many summers to kill one hundred bison," he said. "It is why I need to teach you how to ride the horse, how to lead another to help carry the game, how to drive and load the wagons, and how to hunt with a rifle. Do you think you can learn it?" "I will make myself learn. I will work as hard as I can to do it. I must tell you I am very excited to think I will learn to use the rifle," he said. "First, you will learn to ride a horse then we will go to the cave and you can start on the rifle." It only took a couple of hours to show Racaato how to saddle and ride Bonehead. He wasn't a good rider afterwards by any means, but he caught on quickly enough so I was sure he could learn the rest by doing. Then I showed him how to rig the travois again - he'd already had some experience with them from the move his camp made here. We adjourned to the practice cave then and Racaato was surprised to find he had an M1 exactly like mine in his locker now. I gave him time to look it over and then showed him its main features. We didn't start firing right away. I took him to one of the benches with a cartridge and explained exactly how everything worked. I even took the bullet out of the cartridge and showed him the powder and explained how it all went together to put the bullet downrange. Next in line was a demo of how fast the powder burned. It went by so fast I had to disassemble another cartridge and show him again. Next I pointed out the primer in the back of the cartridge case and explained it was what started the powder burning. I showed him a spent cartridge and he could easily see the dent the firing pin made in the primer. I even put one of the cartridges I had disassembled into the M1 and let him fire it so he could see and hear even the tiny primer would make noise and spit out a small flame without any bullet or powder. He caught on quickly to this part. He had more difficulty understanding the bullet would fall over distance after it was fired. He had no concept of gravity, but did understand things which weren't supported fell. I held up the bullet and let it drop to the ground and then told him the bullet would fall toward the ground at the same rate even after being fired from the rifle. Finally I saw he had an inkling the bullet would proceed in a straight line when fired, but would fall toward the ground. Another thirty minutes of explaining and he had a hold on the concept of aiming the rifle and of sighting it in so the bullet would hit where the sight was pointed. We took a break afterwards and went to my cave where we found women with food. As we finished eating, Georgo came in to tell me indeed the whole of Yotalieta's camp had just arrived and Colonto, the leader, and Gondro, his second, wanted to meet with me. I wanted to put it off because I hadn't gotten Racaato to the point where he could begin firing by himself. I decided not to though and asked Racaato if he thought he could catch, saddle, and practice riding Bonehead for an hour or so. He said he would be happy to go give it a try and then he left. Georgo went to fetch the two men then and I got a mug of coffee and sat back down. My mates had all left when they heard the visitors were arriving. When Georgo brought the two men in I stood and we exchanged greeting. Colonto was taller and in fact bigger than most men I'd met in this time. He was probably six feet and must have weighed two-twenty, even bigger than Bigglieo. Gondro was about five ten and one seventy. I asked them if they would like to try some coffee and after Georgo told them it was good, but required getting used to, they agreed. I got them and Georgo a mug and then asked them to sit down. "We have heard much about you John. We have been told you will have much food this winter and you might be willing to take in other camps," Colonto said, without wasting any time. "We have plenty of food here and we want more people to join us. There is plenty in this area and plenty of room in the caves for more people. Were you thinking of joining us?" "Yes, our camp has become too small to stay alone. I have done my best, but we don't seem to be able to do well enough with our hunting. If we do not join a larger camp I fear we will be hungry this winter," he told me plainly. "I will be happy if you will join us then. I am a fair man and I have few rules. I do expect everyone to abide by them though." I told them what I considered my rules then, basically, no woman beating and no slackers who don't want to help. I explained we did not need for every man to hunt and I didn't demand everyone stay if they wanted to leave later. "I also do not like for women to be mistreated, though I know some camps allow it. It isn't helpful when it happens and it causes everyone in the camp to be disturbed. As far as men who don't work are concerned, we do not have any in our camp. You will find both the men and the women who are with me are eager to do their part," Colonto said. "Then I think you should consider yourselves a part of this camp now. Why don't you and Gondro let Georgo and I show you to your new caves," I asked. He seemed slightly startled for a second, as if he couldn't believe it was so easy. They did agree to come with us though. Georgo led the way and when we got there I let him do all the explaining. Needless to say Colonto and Gondro were speechless for most of the look-see. "Your camp and these caves are wonderful. I can hardly believe some of the things I have seen," Colonto said finally. "The spirits have been very generous to us, very generous," Georgo told them. "If it is settled then I should go and tell all the others. When they see what is here they will be very happy. It will make the long journey back for our things seem worthwhile, even though it will probably take many trips," Gondro said. "It will probably only take one trip. You have not seen the wagons and horses yet. We will take the wagons and horses to bring your things back after the mating is over. You will see it is not nearly as much trouble with the horses helping," I said. We went outside then and Colonto's group gathered around while he made the happy announcement. As we headed into the big cave to show them around I saw another larger group approaching. It was Caato and his camp. I asked Georgo to show Colonto, Gondro, and the others the large cave while I went to greet Caato. When I approached Caato I greeted him as if he were an old and dear friend. I didn't gush too much, but I did lay it on a little thick. I could tell he was surprised. My mates came over too and were soon talking with all the women. I asked Caato if he and his best man would like to come into my cave and talk with me and he agreed and called for Jalaato to join us. I offered them both coffees when we were inside and they accepted. I saw the looks on their faces when they tried it and told them about the acquired taste syndrome. They put on a brave face and took another sip as we sat. "Caato, I have been worried about you and your camp. I don't see how I could have done other than I did, but I know I have cost you some of your best hunters. Will you have enough to eat this winter?" I asked, right off the bat. "Thank you for your concern. We had some long discussions about you of course and we all feel you had no choice in the matters. In fact we feel those of our camp who troubled you got exactly what they deserved. "It has left us in an unpleasant situation as far as food for the winter goes, but we are actually better off now in other ways. Our disagreements among each other are pretty much gone now, but food for this winter will be a problem," he said. "We will be happy to help you with food in any way we can. We just had a big hunt two days ago and we killed twenty-nine bison. The women have also been doing very well with their gathering and even though many have joined us we will have plenty of food," I said. "We have talked about it and we wonder if you would consider letting our camp join you also?" Caato said. I could grow fond of the way these people came out and said what was on their mind without a lot of bullshit. "We would be very happy if you joined us. We have plenty of food and plenty of room in the caves. We can use the wagons and horses to bring your things here and I'm sure we can have a good camp," I said. His relief was apparent and I knew he wouldn't balk at my few rules of conduct. If there were still some in his camp who didn't want to cooperate I was sure I could take care of them. "Frankly, I am delighted. We were afraid the treatment you received from some in our camp would keep us from being welcome here," Caato admitted. "Nonsense. Those who caused me trouble are dead now and I would not count their actions against you or your camp. I will not say I don't wonder if there aren't still some who would have hard feeling against me, but I will tell you they had better keep those feelings to themselves if they come to live here. I consider myself a fair man, but I am the leader." "If there are any who have bad feelings toward you I do not know of it. Many feel you did us all several big favors. Just because a man is a good hunter doesn't mean he is a good man. None of those who forced you to kill them were friendly men. I know of no one who wishes any of them were still with us," Caato said. "Is it decided then, will you join us?" I asked. "If you and your camp are agreeable then it is decided. We will go back for our things after the mating ceremony and move them here," Caato said. "You should just go back and wait for Bigglieo and the others to come for you. Go home and pack your things for moving. We will come with the wagons and horses and bring them here for you." "That will be even better. I should go and tell all the others." Caato said, just as Georgo came back to my cave alone. "I have introduced Colonto and Gondro and most of his people around. They are very excited and were examining the big cave for places to settle when I left them," Georgo told me. "Did you speak to Yotalieta?" I asked. "Yes and she agreed to mate with me. She and Ladeliea are talking now. They seemed to be happy about it," Georgo said, and sounded happy. "I hope Baahaya's camp is coming for the mating also." "They will be here soon no doubt. I'm sure Raalto, their leader, is anxious to see you and your camp. I know he has heard much of you. Some of it I told him before I joined you here," Georgo said. "Well I hope you told him good things about me." ------- Chapter 71 "Of course I did. Not as good as I would now, but good things none the less," Georgo said, and laughed. "I hope they don't get here for another hour or so. I need to get Racaato started with the rifle so he can practice on his own," I said, and then I left to find Racaato. I saw him as soon as I left my cave. He was riding Bonehead and they were down by the horse pens. I walked toward him and when I got close he dismounted and met me leading the mare. "How was it Racaato?" "I think I am catching on. It is strange to me though. Sometimes I get the feeling the horse actually wants to do what I am asking, but just doesn't understand what I want," Racaato said. "It is a sign you have a very good horse to work with. You will soon learn how to communicate with her. She was very stubborn at first, but when she found out she must do what we wanted she gave up on her stubbornness. "It will be better if you consider Bonehead your main horse for a while and I will try to see she is not often used by others unless it is necessary at the time. I will expect you to try and make sure she is well cared for though." "I will tend to her, but I don't know what is required to be done for her," Racaato admitted. "You will learn, and it is not difficult. Our biggest problem with the horses will be cutting and gathering grass for them to eat so they will be able to make it through the winter. We will worry about it later though." I asked him to put Bonehead away and return to the practice cave when he had. Danlo came up to us then and I asked him to show Racaato how to care for the mare before he put her away. He agreed at once and I went back to the practice cave to get things ready for Racaato's next lesson. Racaato joined me after half an hour and thirty more minutes of instructions had him firing the rifle. After a first few shots I showed him how to adjust the scope to sight it in. I also went over the bullet's drop over distance with him again and I showed him how to move the target out and get proof the drop would occur. I left him at it then, reminding him as the rifle heated up slight changes in the bullet drop would occur. I didn't try to explain how more heat in the chamber and barrel caused more energy to be produced by the burning powder, but I realized I would need to do it someday soon. When I got back into my cave I saw my mates and a few of our new neighbors were cooking. It was a scene close to my heart and it is never an unwelcome sight. When I sat at the table Loreena brought me a mug of coffee and gave me a peck on the cheek. I gave her ass a little squeeze in return and she was smiling as she left. Georgo joined me then and Ladeliea brought him a mug of coffee. He seemed to be in good spirits and I asked him about it. "I am just glad we will have more joining us and I am happy to have Yotalieta here with me now. I will be even happier when Baahaya and her camp arrive," he said. "If she is even nearly as attractive as Yotalieta I do not wonder why," I said, innocently. Georgo had a funny look on his face for just a second and then it was split by a big smile. I didn't understand what it was all about. "No doubt you are nearly as anxious to see Baahaya as I am," he said, and laughed. I might have actually blushed slightly. "Do not worry John. Baahaya is a lovely girl. You also will be happy after we are mated. It is sad I will probably have to take a few days journey as soon as the mating nights are over though," Georgo said, still grinning. "If you do you will find Yotalieta and Baahaya have new clothes when you return," I replied. Georgo didn't understand at first. I could almost see his mind working as he took a sip of coffee to stall for time. It was evident when he tumbled to it though, because an even bigger smile came across his face. "I see now how the new clothes have been distributed. I should have noticed it myself. No doubt all the women in camp will have new outfits before long," Georgo said, and slapped me on the back laughing. Jonoco came into the cave then telling us another camp was arriving. Georgo and I left our coffee on the table and went outside. As soon as he saw them coming up the valley Georgo told me it was Raalto and it appeared he had his whole camp with him. We walked toward them. I was amazed at the number of people coming and even more so because they all looked healthy and slick. Their clothes were well made and their packs all seemed to be of the same pattern and well made too. In short, his group looked like a well tended outfit. "I am John and you are welcome here," I told Raalto, as we met. "I am Raalto and we are happy to be here. I am glad to finally meet you John. I have heard many things about you and I am glad to know you. These are Reeana and Jareena, my mates," he said, introducing me to them. My first thought was an unkind one. I thought what a shame it was his camp was doing so well and he probably wouldn't want to join us. I quashed it though and smiled at Reeana and Jareena as I welcomed them also. My mates hadn't been far behind Georgo and I, and after some introductions they were all soon off with Jareena and Reeana to greet all the women. Raalto introduced me then to Daaggo who he named as his best helper. Raalto was nearly as big as I was, but not quite. Daaggo was a smaller man, but I noticed the intelligence in his bright eyes at once. Raalto gave Daaggo a few instructions for helping the others to get settled and when Daaggo left to take care of it Raalto turned back to me as if waiting to see what was next. "Let us go to my cave and talk for a while Raalto," I suggested. He agreed and we headed for it. I had been expecting Georgo to come with us, but I saw he was talking to a young woman and I assumed it was Baahaya. When we entered my cave I showed Raalto a seat at the big table and asked if he would like to try some coffee. He admitted he had never heard of it and so I gave him the acquired taste spiel. He agreed to try it and I got us a couple of mugs and as I handed him one I sat near him. He took a small sip and then another. He took a third and then smiled. "It is very different, but I think I like it. Did you call it coffee?" Raalto asked. "Yes, it is coffee. I am surprised you like it so soon. Most don't. When I first had Georgo try some he didn't like it, but told me he did anyway. Later he told me when he was offered something at any camp he always tried it and told the people how good it was, even if he didn't like it at all," I said. Raalto laughed out loud over it. "I had never even thought about it, but I can see he would have to do so. Now you have mentioned it, I may have to change my view of the shaman, of all shamans. I know they do useful things for us, but had never even thought of the things they might have to endure in order to ply their trade. "All cooks are not good cooks and I can see where it would not be possible for Georgo to mention such things. Especially if he wanted a meal the next time he visited a camp," Raalto said, and laughed again. I had to laugh too at the thought. I was glad I hadn't had the pleasure of less than tasty meals while here. With the number of mates I had collected I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get a bad meal either. Raalto and I talked for about an hour and though it started out slowly I came to realize Raalto was probably the smartest man I had met in this time. Maybe I thought it because he seemed to have so many ideas which agreed with mine. I found abuse of women in his camp was not tolerated either. He told me it had been disagreeable to the leader before him, but it hadn't been forbidden. When Raalto became leader he had declared on the day he took over it would no longer be tolerated and he had pointed out three men who would be leaving right away. The rub came when he told them their mates would be staying for at least two weeks. He told them the women could leave after two weeks if they really wanted to. One of the men who was to be ejected had tried to argue the point. Raalto hadn't killed him - he'd just beaten the shit out of him. It ended the arguments and the three packed up and left. None of their mates had even considered joining them after two weeks and they had all been mated to new men shortly. Near the end of our talk I broached the subject of Baahaya and Georgo with Raalto. His reply was surprising. "I have known the shaman wanted Baahaya for a mate for some time. I had about made up my mind to tell him if she agreed I would pay his mating price. "The shaman may not know, but I do - Baahaya has her heart set on being Georgo's mate. I'm sure she will be just as happy to be one of his mates since he has one already and it will only be time before he mates Yotalieta also. Maybe we can work it out so he can mate Yotalieta and Baahaya at the same time," Raalto said. "I am glad you are in the mood to help. I will be happy to pay any price your women decide on. I think it will be better for us all if you wait until you are back at your camp to receive your payment," I said. "I'm sure it will be acceptable, but I am curious. Why would it be better for us to wait?" Raalto asked. "I don't want to seem stubborn, but if it is demanded Baahaya's price be paid before she can stay with us I will go up onto the plateau tomorrow and kill as many bison as it takes to pay for her, assuming Georgo can negotiate a price in bison. Even if we help it will be difficult for you to carry many bison back the long distance to your camp," I said. "You are right. It would not even be necessary for your camp to help with the cleaning and drying if you did not want to. Can you kill so many bison in a few days?" He asked, clearly curious. "Two days ago we had a hunt and I killed thirty-one bison. Two were to keep a long toothed cat from bothering us though," I said. "That is amazing. You can be sure no matter what the women decide you can pay Baahaya's price when you see fit. I came here for a mating celebration, not for several days of hard work and then a long trip carrying dried meat. For that matter we don't even need it right now," Raalto said. "I am glad there will be good feelings all around then. If it is acceptable to you, I will let Racaato come to your camp and kill the bison when you want them. I am teaching him to hunt my way and though he is still learning I am sure he will be able to do it soon," I said. "If you have something to teach Racaato I am even more amazed. I have hunted with him before and I didn't know there was anything about hunting he didn't know already. Feel free to send Racaato to my camp to hunt anytime," Raalto said. "I am not so much teaching him about hunting. I am teaching him a new weapon and a new method of killing. He will be ready soon to go and test it. You may want to prepare your camp for the job though. "If you send Racaato to kill ten bison, you will have ten dead bison to deal with in only a few hours. I would suggest you only ask him to get a few at once so you won't have so much work all at one time." "I will keep it in mind. How was it you were able to process twenty-nine bison in just two days though?" Raalto asked. "There are many of us here now and we do not have to dry the meat since we have a frozen cave. The most time consuming job now is cleaning the intestines and curing the hides." "I can remember many times when my camp would have been happy to be burdened with such work," Raalto said. Georgo came into the cave then and got himself a mug of coffee before he sat down. "Have the women of my camp bested you in the bargaining for Baahaya Georgo?" Raalto asked. "I am afraid they have. It is always easier to bargain when you are doing it for something someone else wants. When you are bargaining for yourself it is hard not to pay too much. In the long run though I don't see how I could pay too much for mating Baahaya," Georgo said, and grinned." "I have always known you were smarter than you appeared and your admitting you were out traded just proves my point," Raalto said, and laughed again, but not as loudly. "Well you needn't keep us in suspense, how did it go?" I asked. "At least they were agreeable to be paid in bison. They will accept ten bison for Baahaya. They said they wanted two more since it was such a long distance between our camps and they would not get to see her very much anymore," Georgo explained. "I am very glad we were able to talk then John. I am tired and sore just thinking of processing ten bison, drying the meat, and packing it back to my camp," Raalto said. ------- Chapter 72 Georgo looked surprised, so I told him some of the things Raalto and I had talked about. He was grinning again when he realized Baahaya would be staying when Raalto and the others left. "Are you sure it will be acceptable to the women of your camp? It is technically their right to make the decision," Georgo asked. "They are welcome to demand all the meat now if they want to. I will let them know they can find me in John's cave drinking coffee while they are dealing with ten dead bison though. If they can't tell already John is an honorable man and the leader of a good and growing camp, I can. I am not worried about him delivering the bison you are trading for Baahaya. "I will not be made to suffer the kind of drudgery ten dead bison will turn out to be, and especially only because of women's whims. We needn't worry though - I know the women and they will not ask for the bison now," Raalto said. Shelalliea came in then and told me Barbo, Jara, and their camp were approaching. We all went out to greet them. As I welcomed them I could tell Barbo was a little surprised to see the size of the greeting party. I saw it wasn't lost on Jara either. When they learned all the camps except Raalto's were joining mine they were even more surprised. Barbo and Jara came back to my cave with me while the others were being led to the big cave to set up sleeping places. Raalto went with them to find his mates. When we got to the cave I saw most of my mates were working in the kitchen, getting a meal together. I know Barbo and Jara saw them too, but they didn't appear to notice. Whatever type of smokescreen Argent was putting up appeared to still be working well. When we sat at the table, Ladeliea and Erieta brought us all some coffee and the acquired taste explanation was on again. I let Georgo do the honors this time. Racaato came in from the practice cave about then and I'm sure he saw me giving Erieta's ass a little squeeze as she gave me a coffee mug. I was prepared to look sheepish when he surprised me by smiling and giving me a wink. He took a seat too and Erieta brought him a mug of coffee. I told Barbo and Jara I intended to send Racaato to kill the bison I owed their camp. Barbo seemed pleased, but I could see Jara wasn't so pleased, I didn't understand why. We talked for a while and later we all ate the meal my mates had prepared. When we were finished, Racaato and I went back into the practice cave. He showed me some of the targets he'd fired and I could see from those he pointed out as fired on from the longest distance he was getting good groups. Racaato was firing from the prone position and using the bipod rest which was attached to the rifle. I was glad he'd chosen to practice from the position he'd most likely be using for taking bison. I had him fire ten rounds at a target all the way out to the three hundred yard mark. I watched closely while he fired and after we'd examined the target I made a few suggestions about his firing position and about taking time to let his heart rate settle and also about squeezing the trigger more gently. I sent out another target and he fired ten more rounds. When we brought it back I saw, except for one obvious flyer, he was getting a three-inch group at three hundred yards. That was nearly as good as the rifle was capable of. I pronounced him ready to hunt. He smiled at my praise and I could tell he was proud of doing a good job. I'd already asked Frank to prepare a video about safety for him and after he'd put away his equipment I took him to the desk and had Frank start the video lesson. I was about to tell Racaato how to start and stop Frank and how to ask him to repeat when the video started with those very explanations. I left him to it and went outside. Due to the large turn out we had decided we needed one more day to get everything ready. Everyone, but the couples who were to be mated, liked the idea and even they saw the extra day would be required. Bigglieo came to me and asked about digging some more or less permanent ground ovens, or cooking pits as he called them. We decided on the best places for three cooking pits and when I went into my cave and came back with six shovels, three round point and three square point, Bigglieo was happy with his new equipment. I left him and his volunteers to dig the pits and went back into my cave. I asked Racaato to let me have a few minutes with Frank and he agreed. I saw him head over toward the coffee pot and smiled to myself as I sat down. When I sent a message Argent replied. "Do you have the new horses ready?" I asked. "Yes. We have selected twelve Clydesdales, ten mares and two of the best stallions we could acquire. We also have three very good Quarter Horse mares, a Quarter Horse stallion, and a Thoroughbred stallion," Argent told me. "Don't you think the Thoroughbred will be a little too fragile for this day and age?" I asked. "We had a researcher do a rather thorough investigation and he seems to think this particular stallion will do a good job for you. "He is an own son of Secretariat. He was actually a little too heavily built to race. His conformation is very similar to a high bred Quarter Horse, but he is taller at sixteen and a half hands," Argent said. "If he is an own son of Secretariat isn't he a little long in the tooth?" I asked. "In terms of actual age all the horses we have gathered are very old. You must remember though you were a little old for this sort of thing when we contacted you. All of these horses have been put back to a physical age of around three years. "They do retain their mental faculties though, such as they are. They are all well trained, but the thoroughbred may require some additional work. He has been ridden and trained a little, but most of his experience is at stud," Argent said. "Good then, at least he knows how to fuck. We'll see how they do. I think I'm ready for them so if you have things set I will be heading upriver in the morning and you can put them where I found the others." "Very good, we shall," Argent said, and then signed off. It was getting near sunset and I decided I had done about all I wanted to for the day. I let Racaato settle back down for his lesson and went to talk with my mates. They had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and feeding the dishwashers. We all sat at the table and just talked and teased for a while. I had expected them to gather up Kateata in the day's confusion, but she wasn't with us. All my mates were here along with Shallea, Shaala, Melieta, and Jaiya - the rest of the women had gone to their own homes I supposed. As I listened to the women talk about the cooking and preparations for tomorrow I noticed Racaato found a stopping place and left. I was pretty much left out of the conversation and wanting a little attention. I spoke up and suggested some quality time for all of us in the hot tub. The idea was a hit at once and within minutes I found myself in the warm bubbling water with what seemed all the titties on earth. I was washed sparkling clean before bath time was over. My mates and the four virgins were very attentive, but no one put on a sham resistance. They all just fondled and fucked me any time they got the chance. I made sure all four of the virgins took a last moustache ride before their matings. I realized I would be down to only one virgin pussy to lick after tonight. I wondered if poor Failiela would be able to bear up under the strain. Maybe I should start looking around for some pretty young things to help her out. I thought the chances were probably good some new young lovelies had joined us today and I could always fall back to the three unmated girls who had come with Kateata. Knowing my self though, I would probably end up fucking all of them, mated or not. Sometimes you had to do what you had to do. Finally exhausted, I fell asleep snuggled up against Delia's magnificent young ass. I was teasing her titty as I drifted off. Argent visited me for a short time in the night and told me the horses would be put up in the valley as soon as they saw me riding off toward it. He assured me again I would find the thoroughbred a wonderful mount and promised to replace him if he wasn't suitable. He left me then. Still pressed up firmly against Delia's lovely ass, I woke to find a firm, but not quite hard Dicky had found a warm spot between her thighs, just below her pussy. The hand I had over her was still resting on her titty and I began playing with it as I woke. "Are you finally awake John?" Delia asked. "Just now, where has everyone else gone?" "They all got up to start the day. Your breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. When I tried to get up you mumbled in your sleep and held me tighter so I stayed here to keep you company," She said, and giggled a little. "It was thoughtful of you. Maybe someday some of my other mates will think enough of me so one can stay behind me too. It will keep my back from getting cold," I said, teasing her. "We will make sure of it from now on." I knew I was acting spoiled, but what the hell? I had twelve mates and surely ten of them could get breakfast ready. I know I'm a man, and a pig by default, so I'd just as well wallow in it. I released Delia and we got up. From the dried stickiness around Dicky I knew I needed a shower. I asked Delia if she wanted to join me and she agreed. It seems the rest had all showered when they got up. We had a lovely shower and I had a lot of fun washing Delia and then thoroughly enjoyed her washing me. When we got out Shelalliea, Dieta, and Jaada were there to help dry and dress us. It was a tough life stuck way back off in time, but then again, I was the man for it. After breakfast I went outside carrying a mug of coffee. I wanted to see how things were going. The cooking pits must have been finished last night because they were already filled with meat and covered back over. Bigglieo was walking about giving directions and keeping order and when he saw me he came over. "We will have a good celebration tonight," he said. "Yes we will. You will be happy to know there will be even more bruga tonight. I'm sure your head will be pounding in the morning," I said, laughing at him. "Probably, I will try to hold back, but I doubt I will be able to." "Don't even try unless you want to Bigglieo. You have worked hard lately and you need to enjoy yourself," I said. "You have convinced me then. I will drink all the bruga I can hold," he said, and laughed out loud. I had to laugh too. I didn't mind if Bigglieo got rip roaring drunk, in fact I could think of two good reasons for him to pass out and he never ripped or roared when he was drunk anyway. He usually became a friendly drunk and then passed out dead away, meanwhile I would be more than happy to help the reasons I'd thought of get Bigglieo into bed later. As Bigglieo continued making the rounds, Dieta and Geera came outside. I smiled when I saw they both had their own coffee mugs with them. At least I had a good start on corrupting them with the morning brew. "Do not tire yourself today John," Dieta said. "Yes, you will have much to do tonight," Geera said, adding to the teasing. "What will I have to do?" I asked, trying to seem innocent. "You know very well you have many women to see to tonight. There are new camps here and the men who were leaders and second men will need to know you approve of them," Dieta said. "What if their mates don't want my attentions?" I asked. ------- Chapter 73 "Then our fun will be even better. We will have no trouble holding them down so you can show them their place. I'm afraid all of them will be more than willing though. "In fact I think Jara is working on Barbo about moving their camp here already, trying to convince him it would be best if they came to live here also. If I'm not mistaken, she wants to try you out before they move though," Geera said. "I suppose you would rather Barbo take Jara and his camp back home," I said. "No, we do not want him to do it at all. I am practically dripping at the thought of seeing Shelalliea and Dalia holding Jara while she receives your attentions, and I don't mean just a few times while they are here for the ceremony. I want to see you give her the fucking often I tell you," Dieta said. "It is getting to me too. Dalia and Shelalliea have both told us Jara is too much woman for Barbo. They too want to see her in your bed while they hold her down and you get the hump in your back doing it to her the way she deserves," Geera said. "We will just have to see what comes about. I will say you don't want Jara in bed under me anymore than I want her there," I said, and we all laughed. Racaato came out of the entrance to their cave bedroom then and headed toward us. "At least we will get to see you with Erieta tonight," Dieta said lowly, as he approached. "Good morning Racaato," I said. "It is a good morning and I am anxious to get started. What should I practice today?" he asked. "You should try your hand with hitching and handling a team and wagon today, but first I want you to take a little ride up the valley with me. You can come along and we will see what is roaming around up there," I said. We went to the horse pens and Racaato saddled Bonehead again while I saddled Ben. Before we left I opened the training pen and Racaato tried to help on Bonehead as I used Ben to drift all our trained horses into the training pen. When we left I opened the gate to the large pen all the way and then we headed upriver. We passed the ramp and about a mile or so later and I spotted the horses. They were grazing, but looking a little confused. "Racaato, do you see those horses?" I asked, pointing at them. "Yes, they are the biggest I have ever seen," he said. "Go back to camp and tell Bigglieo I will be driving more horses down to capture in the large pen. Tell him to get everything ready as before and make sure to tell him to get everyone out of the way so the horses aren't spooked. You should also remind him to put something in front of the cooking pits so the horses don't step into them. "After you have told him come back up to the ramp and go up it a little way. If the horses try to start up the ramp you must make sure they turn right around and go back down," I said. "I will do it. How soon will you start with them?" he asked. "I will begin moving them within an hour, so everyone should hurry to get in place." He left then and I moved on upriver and worked my way around behind the new horses. When I was in place I waited for what I thought was about thirty more minutes and then started toward them. It was easier this time. When these new horses saw me moving toward them they weren't frightened at all, but knew what I wanted and they moved off down the valley. Twenty minutes later they were in the pen with the gate shut behind them, without incident. Bigglieo was the first to reach me after I'd closed the gate. "Those are the biggest horses I have ever seen. I can't believe the size they have. Many of them must weigh as much as the largest bison," he said. "They do I'm sure. When we have them trained to pull the wagons they will have no trouble, no matter how heavily the wagons are loaded," I said. "I can see it. We have much help here now and not much to do since the women are mainly just cooking now. Why not let Galto and some others finish the other training pen? All of the new men from the other camps were excited to see and use the shovels and I'm sure some would like to try out the axes and saws also if they knew about them," Bigglieo said. "It is a very good idea Bigglieo. It is better than good. You may tell all the other men I will give them a shovel and axe each if they help, I might as well give them all a saw also. Will it make them want to help?" "It will not be necessary, but it will make them all very happy. These things are beyond value. I can hardly believe how easy it is to dig with the shovels and the post hole diggers," Bigglieo said. "When you think of it though Bigglieo, won't it be mostly men in my own camp I am giving the equipment to." "It will in fact. The only ones who will be leaving after the ceremony are Raalto's and Barbo's people. Those two camps together count less than the members of our camp now. You are very smart John. I had not considered it, but I can easily see they will think they are getting something and if they needed it to help here they could have used it anyway" Bigglieo said. "What do you think of Raalto?" I asked. "Raalto is a very good leader. You know many more things than he does, but he is like you in many ways. He will not let men stay at his camp if they cause trouble. Raalto does not like fighting and arguing. "Men who want to fight in his camp often find themselves fighting Raalto. It never works out well for them. "Those who do not cause trouble could not find a better leader than Raalto though, unless they come here," Bigglieo said, and grinned. "I am glad to see you know where your interest are best served Bigglieo," I said, and laughed myself. With that decided Bigglieo left me to divide up the work with Galto. Racaato was back by now and he put Bonehead away while I let Danlo take care of Ben for me. I took some time to examine the new horses more closely. Even the thoroughbred looked diminutive beside the giant Clydesdales. I could tell I was going to like him though. His sorrel coat shined in the sunlight and, like his daddy, he had white stockings on his hind legs and one white sock on his right foreleg. I had never seen Secretariat in the flesh, but I had looked at a lot of pictures of him. This son was indeed a little heavier than his sire, especially in his forequarters. It was probably why he wasn't a racehorse. It is true a horse carries sixty percent of its weight on its forelegs. For running though it is the rear legs which generate the speed. The forelegs act mostly as a launching pad for the thrust of the rear legs as they come up and then sweep back to propel the horse. The forelegs are important, but they needn't be so strong for running. Maneuverability was a different thing entirely though. This version of big red would be much more capable of maneuvering than his magnificent sire could have been. His sire was never called on for any such activities though. I looked forward to forking Red and seeing what he was like. Galto and several others came back then and began to finish the other training pen. There was only the front fence and gate left to do and with all the help Galto had I was sure they would get through with the training pen and the round pen in a few hours. Watching them work was a far cry from doing it all myself and I'll admit I liked things much better this way. As I was leaving I could see Galto talking to Daaggo. It seemed they were talking about the round pen, since Galto was standing where I'd placed the marker for the center. Soon enough Galto left and he seemed to be leaving the round pen for Daaggo to work on. I left them working and headed back to my cave. My mates were all in the kitchen, along with most of the new neighbors, the women anyway. They were discussing what was already cooking and what other preparations needed to be made for tonight. I had lust in my heart seeing Erieta, Cahttiea, Sarieta, and Loreena working in their traditional clothes and knowing they would be getting new outfits tonight, well earning them tonight at least. Georgo came in with his two new prospective mates then and it didn't deflate Dicky at all. Thinking of things to come even later actually pumped him up more. Yotalieta and Baahaya were definitely another two treats for the eyes and hopefully they would be treats for my dick soon enough. Yotalieta was a tiny woman, not over five feet. She had sparkling deep blue eyes to go with her dark red hair and though she didn't have any freckles she did have the very fair skin of a redhead. Even in her traditional clothes I could see she was another big tittied little girl. Baahaya was a brunet with an olive complexion. She had dark eyes and black hair which hung to her shoulders. Her titties didn't announce their size from under her tunic, but I was betting there were some in there somewhere. Both the young women had big smiles on their faces when Georgo brought them over and introduced them to me. I didn't even get a second to speak to them though since my mates and Ladeliea converged on us and dragged them away. At least Erieta was paying some attention to me and when I signaled for her to bring Georgo and I a couple of beers, she did it right away. We sat as she made her way to the Lone Star Spigot and then came to us with our mugs. I just had to give her firm ass a little attention when she had the beers in place. "John, this will be the first time I have been mated in a ceremony. I will need to get another shaman to come and perform it for me," he said, thinking of his upcoming mating instead of the one tonight. "It looks to me as if it will be worth any trouble it might cause," I said, looking at Yotalieta's and Baahaya's disappearing asses as Ladeliea was leading most of the women into her and Georgo's cave. "I am sure you are right. I'll admit I am anxious to get it done. Now I know the impatience you must have felt when you waited the extra time before your first mating," Georgo said. "Maybe you and I should have our next mating together. Would you feel slighted if Kateata and I were mated along with you?" I asked. "Not at all. I will ask Yotalieta, Baahaya, and Ladeliea if it will matter to them, but I don't think it will," Georgo said. "Good, I am wanting to have Kateata with me now also." "What are your plans for the other chores John? You have many things before you. You need to bring the things from Colonto's old campsite and from Caato's campsite. I will be surprised if you don't have to make a trip to bring Barbo's camp here also before long," Georgo said. "I thought they were doing well there," I said. "They are doing well enough, but I have seen Jara paying careful attention to things here and I have also noticed her eyeing you closely. You know she is the driving force behind Barbo's leadership don't you," he asked. "I felt she was. She seems to know what it takes to get the best deal for her camp at least, but the deal she got for a hundred bison may make it tempting for Barbo to stay where he is," I said. "It will, but Barbo would be hard to move anyway. He likes being the leader of his own camp. It is a little strange to me, since normally I would think a man like him would be bossy, but he isn't. He does keep his camp organized and he takes care of his people, but he never seems to boss them around. He has been known to throw out men who are disagreeable though." "Does Jara do most of the telling then?" I asked. "She does, and she likes being the leader's mate, but it isn't hard for her to see even if her mate was not the leader here the whole camp would be better off with us. "She will have a good deal of work convincing Barbo in this matter though. Barbo likes being the leader of his own camp. He will not surrender to moving to this camp without serious provocation from Jara," Georgo said. "I don't want them to come here if he doesn't want to. It would lead to grief sooner or later." "I am sure of it. I just hope she doesn't press too hard. Make no mistake though - they will end up here sooner or later. It will be beneficial for all of us too if Barbo can be convinced. He could be a big help to us here if he does decide to join us. "There are many good men in their camp and good women too. They are all hard workers. It is how they have been successful without having a large camp," Georgo said. "We will have to wait and see how things work out." "How are things going to go in the near future John? Who will you be sending the wagons to get first?" he asked. "Did you see the new horses I captured today?" I asked, slightly stepping on his question. "Yes. They were all very large. The largest of them disguised the fact even the others were larger than those we already had," Georgo said, showing me he paid more attention to the horses than I'd thought. "Yes, they seem to be extremely fine horses. The largest will be able to take over all the duties with the wagons. They can pull a much heavier load over a much longer distance without tiring. "It will also allow us to use the other horses which have already been trained for riding and for helping in the gathering," I said. "Won't the biggest be harder to train though?" he asked. "I don't think so. I noticed when I was driving them here they seemed almost cooperative, as if they knew what I intended and wanted to do it for me," I said. "It will be excellent if they can be trained soon," Georgo said. "If they do not cause any trouble, by the time the mating nights are over for Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo, I will be able to use all the wagons to bring the new member's things here quickly. I will probably be able to send everyone home riding instead of walking, even Raalto's camp," I said. "You probably can because everyone will not need to go back to their old camp. Of course, many will have to go to pack their things, but all of them will not be needed," Georgo said, explaining the obvious. "I think it is what I will do then. After the mating nights are finished I will send Bigglieo and a few others off in all the wagons and with many of the travois horses to take everyone home and to bring back what they can. "With the new wagon and your buckboard also I think they might be able to bring everything in one trip. Even if they can't, surely they can get everything with two trips. "After the moving is done I will let Racaato go and do some hunting for me. He can stop at Barbo's camp first and make some kills. I will let him take the big wagon so he can carry the kills back to camp for them. "Then, while they are dealing with their bison he can go to Raalto's camp and should be able to get all the bison for Baahaya's payment at one time. When he has finished there he can go back to Barbo's camp to see if they would like another hunt," I said. "It is excellent planning. It will be good if things can work out for him. Raacato is a good hunter and he should have no trouble getting the kills if he is using the rifle," Georgo said. "Yes, it will be good if it works. I know things might go wrong, but we will deal with whatever comes up," I said. The women came back in then and I noticed they now had Shaala, Shallea, Melieta, Jaiya, and Kateata with them. I smiled to myself. No doubt Kateata would spend the night with us and I would be able to abuse her again. It put me in a very good mood. Looking over the four who were going to be mated tonight improved the mood even more. No doubt I would find it necessary to send Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo with Bigglieo to help with the moving. They were my main wranglers after all. I had to try and stop thinking about it in hopes Dicky would not start drooling. Georgo got up to go to Ladeliea, Yotalieta, and Baahaya so I wandered over to have a talk with Frank. When I was noticed at the other end I ordered two shovels, a saw, and an axe for every man in my camp now. I knew they would come in handy for my men and I was sure Raalto and Barbo would appreciate the gifts. Thinking a little further down the road I ordered a large hunting knife also for all the men and a drop point hunter, a skillet, and two stew pots for each of the women. Lastly, I asked for a big coffee pot for Raalto. It was one of the old types you could use on a fire, but I knew it would make good coffee. I didn't feel I should ask Argent for another fuel cell just to make Raalto's coffee. I was getting pretty generous with Argent's gifts, but when I looked at the weight I would have remaining after this round I realized Argent must have ignored many of the new things I'd been given. I still had nearly four thousand pounds left. The sun was setting now and my mates and their visitors were getting down to business in the kitchen. I nearly asked for another beer, but decided on some coffee instead. I didn't want to be sleepy tonight as I abused Kateata and then made all the new women feel at home. ------- Chapter 74 About an hour after sunset Georgo got the show on the road. Thankfully he did all the ceremonies at once. It didn't take long and when Jonoco and Jaiya, Nadlo and Melieta, and Danlo, Shallea and Shaala headed inside with the assorted mothers for guidance the meal was on. After thirty minutes I sent Bigglieo and a group of volunteers inside for the beer kegs and the tables of mugs Argent had provided. They were all delighted to serve and they were back out with the brew in no time flat. I had dragged a chair outside and was now digging into the food my mates brought me. Since there was no traveling to tire them out I felt the newly mated were either naked by now or dying to get rid of their clothes. Dalia and Shelalliea had both gone in to help Danlo with his instructions and strangely I didn't even wonder if either of them were going to give him a little first hand experience. It didn't seem to matter to me somehow. I doubted they would have the time though because I knew Shallea and Shaala were as anxious for some fucking as he was. I did notice both Nadlo and Jonoco were going to receive their instructions from their own mothers. Melieta and Jaiya both had living mothers and I saw them out celebrating. I wondered if there was some kind of custom for this or if straws had been drawn. I could probably find out from Georgo if I thought to ask later. I was still eating after most of the men had wolfed down their meal. The kegs began getting a workout and I saw Bigglieo, Barago, and Racaato headed up the line for their first beer and walking directly back to the back of the line to queue for another round before they even finished their first mug. I was hoping I'd have a busy night and it looked like I would get my wish. Dieta came to me then and stood beside me with a beer. "You should drink at least some of the bruga John, but don't over do it," Dieta said. "You know I won't. I'll need my wits with me tonight I hope." "You will at that. There is Caato in line for his third already and ... Oh look!" she said, excitedly. "What is it Dieta, I can't see all of the line from here." "Barbo is doing just the same. He gets a mug of bruga and goes right to the back of the line for another. You might even get a little bonus tonight. Do you think you can make Jara feel welcome too? She will be lonesome with Barbo being drunk and unconscious," Dieta asked, and giggled. "If every woman with a drunk mate shows up I may be worn out tomorrow," I said. "Not all of them will come, but there will be many. You had better slip inside and give Kateata a little attention soon. We will need her to help us," Dieta laughed. Geera came up then and I could tell she and Dieta were looking at the crowd and licking their chops. It seemed as if they wanted me to get down to some serious fucking even worse than I wanted it. I could feel my dick starting to throb already as Kateata came over and gave me a little hug. "I will have to be quick if I get any time with my man tonight." she said. "I will make time for you Kateata. You know I consider you one of my mates already." "Oh no, not yet you don't. If I were already your mate I would have to wait until you finished with everyone else tonight. I plan on sneaking in at the head of the line," she said, teasing me. I got a little surprise then when Raalto came over by me, but I don't guess it should have been surprising. I'd seen him get a beer, but I was pretty sure he was still nursing his first one. Dieta went inside the cave to get him a chair. "Do you like the bruga Raalto?" I asked. "It is the best I have ever tasted. I almost wish I could drink more of it, but I know I will be needed later to help some of my men to their beds," he said, and then grinned. "They do enjoy the bruga." "They will enjoy it until they pass out. They will complain about their heads tomorrow though," he said. "Yes they will. Many of the women will be complaining also." "You and I will have our work cut out for us later John," he said, and grinned again. "Yes, but it is a job I can learn to enjoy," I told him, and grinned right back. "It looks to me that Barbo is going to be one of the first to drop. It doesn't seem right somehow, but he is a leader and can do as he pleases. I hope you can make sure Jara has some help getting him into bed," Raalto said, but he kept a straight face this time. "It is my duty as host." "It is that. It is a shame, but for some reason Jara has never been very friendly to me. I have seen she is not the same way around you though. In fact, I believe she will be wanting Barbo to lead their camp to join yours soon," he said. "I had heard their camp was doing well now," I said. "It seems to me they are, but then again I have never seen a camp doing as well as yours. If I weren't so set on being a leader I would ask you now if we could join you," he told me, honestly. "If you decide it is what you want you will all be welcome. If some of the traditional customs bother you I'm sure we can come to an agreement. I intend to be the leader here, but in some cases I could forego some of the privileges if I needed to," I said. "I think I understand what you are saying John, but those privileges do not bother me in the least. If I joined this camp I would expect you to honor me with them. It is common courtesy in my eyes. I have always made sure to honor my men in that way," he said, and he was back to grinning now. "If I'm not speaking out of turn, I will tell you if you do decide to join us I will be very happy to honor you as often as you can tolerate," I said, with another grin of my own. Raalto broke out laughing then and it took him almost a minute to stop. "It might be even better to live here than I'd thought it might. Where would I fit in the scheme of things if we came?" he asked. "I would have to think about it. I can see you are a very good leader, but I do have other good men already. I can promise nothing tonight, but I will speak to the others. I will make you as close to me as I can without causing stress with the other men. "I haven't known some of them long enough to be able to predict their reactions. I will tell you I would love for your camp to join us and if it wouldn't cause strife I would name you as the best man besides me. If you are considering it seriously I will speak to the other men," I said. "I am considering it, but you are right about the other men. When you've had time to talk to them maybe we can discuss it further," he said. "I would like it." Conversation seemed to die between us then. I didn't know what Raalto was thinking, but my mind was racing with the possibilities. I was sure Bigglieo, Galto, and Dargo would expect Raalto to be ahead of them if he came here. I didn't know about the newcomers though. I hoped we could get things arranged so Raalto would want to join us. A scuffle broke out then and I got up to see what it was all about. Raalto came with me and when we got to the scene, near the back of the beer line, we found Jara dressing down two men from her camp. The men were looking sheepish and with the tongue-lashing she was giving them I understood why. She finished and when she turned to leave she saw Raalto and I. She flushed a little but came to us. "They have only had three mugs of the bruga, but were already acting like ill-mannered fools. I had to speak to them because as you can plainly see, our leader is even ahead of them," she said, pointing to Barbo. I couldn't help looking and I saw Barbo was already so far gone he hadn't even realized anything had happened. He had half a mug of bruga and looked like he was trying to work up the strength to down it and get back in line. "This bruga is very strong, but it doesn't taste strong. It can creep up on a man who hasn't tried it before," I said, trying to salvage the situation for Barbo and wondering why I was putting forth the effort. "It is the same way with all bruga for Barbo. I am accustomed to it by now though. He knows his own weakness usually, but when he taste bruga his good intentions leave him, quickly. He will be very sorry about it in the morning and I will not be quiet when his head is pounding," Jara said, and then I'll be damned if she didn't laugh. Raalto couldn't help laughing himself and I had to join in at the thought of Jara giving Barbo a loud talking to while his hangover was doing its worst. Raalto made a lot of points with me then. "At least you are in good hands tonight Jara. John is a good leader and I can tell you he hasn't let the bruga take over for him tonight," Raalto said. "I have heard he is a good man and the size his camp had grown to so quickly only proves it. If he drinks no more than you he will not go wrong. I'm willing to bet neither of you has finished his first mug yet," she said, teasing us. Jaada had come up to us by then and she joined the fray. "John likes to see what is going on too much to drink until he can't stand. It served him well at the last ceremony since he came away from it with another mate," she said, smiling proudly. Raalto left then, heading toward his mates and Jara joined Jaada and I as we headed back to where I'd been sitting. I couldn't decide how I felt about Jaada relating the tale of my mating with Roweea, but I could tell she had Jara's undivided attention as she embellished the details. When we made it back near my chair Kateata called me over to where she was standing near the cave's entrance. "I see I have waited too late to be abused first tonight," she teased. "What do you mean Kateata?" "You will have to give Jara some attention first, now she is here." "I will not put her ahead of you Kateata, you know it surely." "Yes you will. I must think and act as one of your mates now, even though we haven't had our ceremony yet. Jara is here already and everyone can tell Barbo barely knows where he is by now. Soon he will be sleeping in the dirt and we can only hope some of his men will drag him off to his furs. "Dieta and Geera went into the cave when Jara headed back here with you and Jaada. In a few minutes I will take her inside to show her something and you should come in just a few minutes later. Dieta, Geera, and I will make sure she cannot get away," Kateata said. By now I knew better than to argue with my women. I told Kateata I would do my duty while Dicky throbbed. While I was waiting and talking I noticed Roweea, Maia, and Delia went into the cave also. I looked around in the crowd for Barbo and sure enough he was already so drunk he could hardly stand. I nearly laughed when I saw Raalto coming back from the beer kegs bringing Barbo another mug. He looked at me as he gave it to Barbo and winked. I smiled back at him and nodded before turning around to enter my cave. ------- Chapter 75 Kateata, Dieta, Geera, Roweea, Maia, Jaada, and Delia were all talking with Jara in a little bunch not far from the bed. Jara surprised us all. "I am glad you didn't waste more time outside watching the drinking. I don't want to disappoint your mates, but I just can't put up a fight tonight. Maybe next time I can do better," she said, as she smiled and pulled her tunic over her head. I couldn't be surprised by her actions for too long, since I switched to being surprised by her big titties. They were fat and round and they wiggled and wobbled enticingly. The nipples were her best shot. They had to be at least three quarters of an inch in diameter and nearly and inch long. They were standing up proudly and I could feel them beckoning to my lips. My mates were doing their best to unlace her moccasins as she shucked her trousers off her delightful ass and pushed them down her trim shapely legs. I just stood watching. "I'm not the one who needs help now. John seems to think his clothes will leave of their own accord," Jara said, to my mates, as her sparse bush came into view. All my mates except Dieta came to help me shuck my clothes then. Dieta pulled Jara to her and they were soon pressing their titties together as they kissed and fondled each other's asses. I was naked in a flash and wasted no time in grabbing Jara away from Dieta. Jara squealed as I picked her up and tossed her to the middle of the bed. She was obviously surprised with the soft landing. So surprised she was asking me about it as I put my head between her legs for a taste. "This is so soft and it feels so good, what is it?" she asked. "It is our bed. It is where we all sleep. It is nice isn't it?" Delia asked. "Yes, and it isn't the only nice thing," Jara said, as her hands found their way into my hair. I could tell at once Jara had enjoyed some form of the bathing facility not long ago. I could smell the light fragrance of soap even though her pussy was making its own sweet fragrance about now. Her fluids were nearly sweet and her labia were pulsing as I pushed my tongue up her as far as it would reach. I made sure my lips massaged hers while I was burrowing for depth. I was enjoying my feast at Jara's bush when her hands began pulling my head toward hers and away from her pussy. "That is enough licking for now John, I need to feel you inside me," she said, whimpering. It sounded like a good idea to me and I crawled up over her. When her hand grasped my hardon to place it she almost seemed alarmed. "You are so big. Please go slow, at least at first." "I don't want to hurt you Jara, I want to make you feel good," I said. When she had me in place I pushed up into her wet warmth slowly but firmly. She was very wet and though she was tight I pushed in all the way in one slow stroke. Her arms went around me as I put my mouth to hers for a deep kiss. When I withdrew for a new stroke her legs encircled my hips and she pushed herself to me as I entered her again. I couldn't maintain the kiss for long since I was dying to get one of those fabulous nipples into my mouth. I bent my neck and inhaled one. "Yes, yes, nurse me. I love it. Chew them too, but gently," she said, sighing as I did. Her pushing hips urged me into a faster rhythm. I was happy to speed up and sure I would have a long night of fucking ahead of me so I didn't bother to try holding back. Restraint wasn't needed anyway, since Jara didn't have any. She popped her cork in less than five minutes and I was still as hard as a rock when Dieta pushed me off Jara toward Kateata. Kateata was being held down by Maia, Roweea, Geera, and Delia. They had hold of a limb each and Kateata was already moaning for me not to take her before she was mated. I saw Jara's eyes widen as she heard Kateata crying for mercy, but her attention wandered from us when Dieta latched onto her pussy for a little licking. With my mates all busy I got to aim my own dick for once. I took hold of it and swiped the head up and down between Kateata's slippery lips while she wiggled, squirmed, and pleaded for me not to do it. Everyone was affected by Kateata's begging, especially Dieta. I could hear her moaning between licks of Jara's sweet slash. Kateata always sounded so sincere when she begged me not to fuck her. She would wail and bemoan her fate and later fuck like a little mink. She managed to keep up the charade until we both let go. She screamed my name at the last though, and when the others turned her loose she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me fiercely. Geera descended on Kateata's pussy to restore order while Roweea engulfed my shrinking dick to devour the evidence. "I wonder who we can get next?" Delia said, and all the others laughed. "Caato's mate should be next by rank, but Colonto's would do just as well and Colonto was the first to ask to join our camp," Geera said, taking a few seconds to speak between slurps. "I wonder if Jara will get new clothes?" Jaada, who had been mostly left out of things, asked. "I'll make sure of it," I said. I got up a few minutes later and so did all my mates. We pulled the spread over Kateata and Jara and left them in the middle of the bed snuggling up to each other while we dressed and went back to the party. When we walked out of the entrance Raalto was standing in it and he slapped me on the back as I joined him. "I was just making sure no one wandered in while you were busy. I'm leaving to go comfort some of my own members now though. The sounds from inside have made me remember I have things to take care of tonight myself," he said. "Yes, you must. A leader's work is never done," I said, laughing. I watched while the revelers got drunker and drunker and I helped often, carrying the heaviest of the immobile to their beds. Soon though I had my own duties to attend to and as the crowd in my cave grew I retired to those duties. I spent most of the night honoring my men, so to speak. Thankfully, somehow I was near the edge of the bed when I woke the next morning. The only body between me and the edge of the bed was Britta's. I remembered from last night I had honored Barago early and often and I doubted Britta was up to any more honoring of her mate this morning, even though she had once hinted doing it in the daylight held some interest for her. I was able to ease over her without rousing her and she even slept through the final twist I gave one of her nipples as I headed for the shower. On my way to the bathroom I noticed several stacks of new outfits near the bed and I laughed to myself. Many women would be leaving my bed well dressed today and I would be getting nice looks at their asses as they went about their daily business. I hadn't been in the shower more than a few minutes before Shelalliea and Dalia joined me. "How did Danlo perform last night?" I asked. "Danlo did fine, but the twins were more than a match for him," Shelalliea said, grinning. "Yes they were. Their mating has left Shelalliea and I squirming though. We came back after they were asleep to see if you might help us out, but all the guests must have used you up, everyone was sleeping when we came in," Dalia said. "I did have a busy night. I am awake now though and maybe I can give you some attention in the shower." This brightened their morning and they were soon brightening mine. Shelalliea was facing the shower wall shortly with her hands on a grab bar and my dick up her. She was an inspiring sight from this vantage and Dalia made sure my back didn't get cold by covering it with her own wet nakedness as I humped Shelalliea to glory. When Shelalliea could stand on her own again, Dalia assumed the position and I gave her a workout of her own, sharing the orgasm with her. When we all had our wind back we resumed the washing and then left the shower for more fondling and teasing while we dried each other. After we were dressed we went toward the kitchen. Shelalliea and Dalia started cooking and I had a mug of coffee within a few minutes. I walked outside to survey the damage, sipping my coffee, while I waited for breakfast. Raalto came out of the big cave soon after I got outside. He came over to me and I noticed his glance at my coffee mug. "Raalto, I see you are in need of a mug of coffee," I said, greeting him. "I must admit when I saw yours I wished for one." "Come inside, I'll get you some coffee and we can have some food soon. Some of my mates are already up and cooking." "It sounds excellent to me. My mates are still in the furs and I think I'll let them sleep as long as they will," he said, then followed me back into my cave. Ladeliea was helping Shelalliea and Dalia by now and Georgo was sitting at the table with his own mug of coffee. When Ladeliea saw Raalto and I coming she got him a mug of coffee, then he and I joined Georgo at the table. "I think most will be slow getting out of their furs this morning," Georgo said, as we sat down. "I know they will. The bruga tasted very good and I think it was stronger than most. I could see before I went to my furs most of my people seemed even drunker than usual," Raalto said. "I'm sure they were and this morning their heads will be pounding much more than usual," I added. My mates and Ladeliea started bringing our breakfast then and the talk died down while we ate. It perked up for a few minutes when we'd finished, but Raalto didn't stay long. As he left to check on his mates Shelalliea asked him to bring them over for some breakfast and visiting after they got up and he agreed. "I had a surprising conversation with Raalto," I said, to Georgo. "What was the surprise, has he changed his mind about our agreement for Baahaya?" he asked. "No, it isn't what we talked about. Raalto is considering joining us here." "I think it would be excellent John. Raalto's camp is large and all the people are hard workers - he makes sure of it," Georgo said. "I felt it was the case, but when he asked where he would fit in I didn't know what to tell him. I wondered if there would be hard feelings among the other former leaders here if Raalto was put ahead of them." "There shouldn't be. They all know Raalto is a better leader than they were. They might not like to have it rubbed in their faces, but they do know it. Since Barbo's camp is not joining yours you don't even have to worry about any problems from him. He is the only one I can think of who would complain," Georgo said. "I still think it would be best to talk with the other men first," I said. ------- Chapter 76 "It is always better to have an understanding with your men. In fact it is going to be necessary for you to talk often to your main helpers. "This is already the largest camp I have ever been to or even heard of, and if Raalto's camp does join yours it will be even larger by far. You would have a very hard time keeping order in a camp of that size without many helpers," Georgo said, stating the obvious. "I would like for him to join us though. I think we would all be better off." "I'm sure you are right. Today will be a bad day to have discussions though," Georgo said. "It will at that." The newly mated made their appearances then. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo looked bright and chipper as they sat with Georgo and I. All the girls looked good too as they joined my mates in the kitchen. They were quickly shooed back to the table since my mates plus Kateata and Ladeliea had the cooking well in hand. Raalto returned then with Reeana and Jareena. Ladeliea brought him more coffee as his mates were served some breakfast. I wanted to talk more with Raalto about the proposed merging of our camps, but didn't feel like bringing it up with everyone else here. He and I drank coffee while the others ate and when Georgo was finished he joined Raalto and me in the practice cave for a little talk. I should have let Raalto have a look at the practice cave sooner. He was amazed when he saw it and learned what it was for. When I gave him a demonstration with my bow he was excited and I could tell he was dying to try one. When I explained we planned to have a bow and arrows for every member of the camp and intended to teach them all how to use them during the winter he realized at once what an advantage it would be. I was fairly certain Raalto would be bringing his camp to join us after the archery demonstration. He, Georgo, and I discussed dealing with the other men and we all agreed talking to them about it first would be the best way to proceed. We all agreed again today wasn't the day for it though and then I had an idea. I got Raalto a bow and some arrows to try and I showed Georgo his locker so he could get his equipment. I gave them both a little instruction to get them started and left them at it. I went to my cave and sat down at Frank. I asked for a few pitchers of Bloody Marys and when they appeared on the table I sent Geera, Dalia, and Dieta to rouse my main helpers and bring them to the table while I dug around in my medicine stores for some Percodan. I could cure the hangovers, and while I didn't intend to do it every time I was going to do it today so I could talk to them. My mates were soon back with the grumbling men and their mates. I smiled to myself to see them all wearing their new Wilma outfits and nearly laughed when thinking about Barbo waking later to find Jara sporting new clothes too. He probably wouldn't think anything about it and I guessed it was for the best. After a Percodan and a couple of bloody Mary's I made sure the men ate breakfast, whether they thought they needed it or not. Only Barago got sick enough to barf and after he'd washed his face I encouraged him to try again, he did and kept it down this time. They all had a mug of coffee and I told them to go relax in their beds until their heads quit pounding. I went back to the practice cave to check on Georgo and Raalto. They both surprised me with their progress. They were doing respectably well and I let them keep at it. I got my bow and joined them. I wanted to make it look like I was the one who knew what was going on and I would have to practice to keep up the front. I had gone through it all before, but it had been a while since I'd done any shooting with a bow and I could see from Raalto's rate of progress I'd be passed by if I didn't put in a little effort. As I practiced a little thought came wiggling up from my subconscious. It nagged at me, but wouldn't materialize. While I kept shooting and also kept trying to remove the mental fog which seemed to block the subconscious to conscious progress of the idea my accuracy deteriorated. I wrenched my attention back to the practicing and let the thought take care of itself. At least my aim improved and after thirty more minutes of the exercise I quit and left Georgo and Raalto at it. I went back through my cave and headed for the horse pens. When I left my cave I was surprised to find only three people outside. The night's celebration had been even more successful than I'd known. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo were out and about now. They were making a start at cleaning up the area, but I noticed they stayed close enough to each other so they could converse while they were at it. No doubt they were going over their night's activities with fond memories. When they noticed me they stopped what they were doing and approached. "How was your evening men?" I asked, and got nothing in reply but wide grins. I asked them to knock off policing the area and come with me to the pens. When we arrived I got one of my lariats from inside the horse cave's now organized tack storage. I saw Argent had supplied a full assortment of tack for all the new horses. I was slightly surprised to see, along with the harness for the Clydesdales, a complete set of tack for riding them had also been supplied. I smiled at the thought of letting a small rider climb aboard one of the giants for an afternoon gallop. Maybe later. Grabbing a halter and bridle for Red and asking Danlo to bring Red's McClellan and pad I headed for the pen to see how amenable Red would be to a little ride. I needn't have bothered with the lariat. I should have known it wouldn't be needed. Since Red had been spending most of his life at stud he probably assumed he was about to do a little fucking anytime a human came for him. He walked right up to me as soon as he understood I was indeed coming for him. He gave me no trouble while I put the halter on him, but he did seem a little surprised to receive the bridle and bits. Jonoco held the lead rope as I saddled Red and when I took the bridle's reins and mounted he released the lead rope's snap. Danlo opened the gate and Red and I headed out of the pen and down river. Red was magnificent. While he wasn't exactly what had been desired by those who had bred and owned him he was exactly a wonderful horse for my normal use. I eased him into a gentle gallop and could tell he was casually traveling at half again the speed of Ben's slow lope. I let Red set the pace and after about three miles I realized he could probably keep to this speed all day with only minimum breaks for a blow occasionally. I slowed him and we turned back toward home. I knew better than to ask Red to bolt from a standing stop. I could already tell he was much faster and more powerful than any horse I had ever had between my legs. I'm sure if I'd asked him to make a racing type start I would have been thrown back over his powerful ass as he left. Especially since I'd saddled him with his McClellan. It had no handy saddle horn for a quick emergency grip. I could see I needed a western type saddle for Red also. I'd often seen it happen to even the small jockeys in quarter horse racing, and I knew my extra weight would be even more likely to stay where it was as Red left right out from under me. I eased him into the slow lope again and then asked him to run with my heels. Red put on a burst and I found myself traveling faster on horseback than I ever had before. His speed was incredible. I pulled him back to the slow lope quickly. I didn't need to get back to camp so fast and I sure as hell didn't want him to find a hole to step in and break one of his legs. When we got back Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo were clearly amazed I had been able to ride him with no trouble since they considered him a wild horse. They asked me about it and I told them the spirits must have intended for these new horses to obey us. They chewed it like a pickle and I told them to get some halters for the big horses and see if they could get them harnessed for a test drive with the wagons. While they were fetching tack I looked over the new horses again and saw we had two more than I'd found upriver. There were two beautifully matched Morgans with the bunch now. Sooner or later Argent was going to need to stop sending gifts, but I wasn't going to berate him for this. I knew at once the Morgans must be for Georgo's wagon and I went to the cave myself to look for their harness. I couldn't wait to see them trotting off with the buckboard behind them. When my wranglers had four of the Clydesdales ready we led them to the big wagon. Argent and company had changed the hitch at sometime and the wagon was ready for four draft horses now instead of two riding sized horses. Of course the giants stood patiently as my helpers and I made the adjustments and hitched them. We all climbed aboard when everything was ready and headed upriver this time. The trip was as uneventful as could be. I'm sure the team barely noticed the wagon's miniscule weight as they merrily trotted off with it. I only went as far as the ramp and then turned back. I didn't have the M1 with me and didn't want to risk a meeting with Smilodon or anything else nasty. Thinking of the M1 finally let the nagging thought I'd had earlier gain focus. When we got back to the pens I told Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo which horses were for Georgo's buckboard and asked them to give all the new horses at least a try and to let me know if any of them seemed to need further training. I was sure none would since Argent and company had no doubt made careful selections. I returned to my cave hoping to find Raalto still there. Racaato, Raalto, and Georgo were sitting at the table drinking coffee. Erieta, Failiela, Cahttiea, and Britta were having their breakfast while most of my mates were either eating their breakfast or cooking more. I asked Racaato how he was feeling now and he smiled, telling me he felt very good and asked me how it could be. I didn't answer the question, but I did ask him to come to the practice cave with me. "What do you think of Raalto?" I asked him when we were at the shooting benches. "He is the best camp leader I know of, except you." "Do you think he can be trusted with the secret of the rifle?" "If anyone can, he can. I have known Raalto for quite a while and have always considered him honorable and loyal. He could have become leader of his camp almost a year before he did, but did not attempt to out of loyalty to his leader," Racaato said. "He is considering bringing his camp to join us here." "I think we should do everything we can to encourage it. Raalto would be excellent as your second in command and I am a little surprised he would consider it," he said. "His only question is where he would fit in here. Would you be offended if he were made my second man?" "No. It would seem strange to me if he weren't. Until you, Raalto's camp was the largest. I don't see how anyone could dispute Raalto's place as second man here," Racaato said. "I am glad to know your thoughts on the matter. I must speak to the others also, but I have decided to show Raalto the secret of the rifle. Do you think you can show him how to use it?" "I can show him what I know, but I'm sure I cannot tell him everything you told me and I still have not finished my lessons with Frank. It is a little difficult because Frank is often busy with other lessons for your mates," Racaato said. "I had not even thought of it, but I see now it must be true. I will try to get another place for lessons. Do you feel well enough to go to the horses and get familiar with some of the new ones?" "Yes, I feel fine. Will we be trying to train the new horses soon?" he asked. ------- Chapter 77 "I don't understand how, but the newest horses seem to be practically trained already. I want you to try a ride on all of the new riding size mares. While you are riding them try to decide if you would rather keep Bonehead or switch to one of the new mares." "I will go and do it now then," Racaato said, and left. I took out my Blackberry and contacted Argent. He agreed another Frank was in order and in a few minutes he had created a study room with a new entrance near the way into the bulk storage room for the weapons and ammunition. It came complete with chairs and both a large and small display exactly like the other setup. I named this one Phil and then left to see if I could talk to Barago or Caato. I found Caato at the table with Bigglieo - they were both drinking coffee. I got a cup of my own and sat down to talk. I broached the subject and got basically the same response from both of them. They were glad Raalto was thinking of joining us and both said they would consider it only right for him to be designated second in command. All I had to do now was talk to Colonto and Barago. Caato told me Colonto was feeling well and was outside, but he said Barago was still resting. I decided to leave Barago alone and went outside to talk with Colonto. When I found him and we talked Colonto told me he was surprised and honored I would consult him about the matter. I assured him since he had joined us I wanted his opinions and would always consider them. He was quick then to assure me Raalto deserved to be second in command if his camp did join with us. I had a feeling everything would work out well now and I went into the big cave looking for Raalto. He wasn't there, but I saw Reeana and Jareena, his mates. They told me he had gone to examine the horses. They let me know he had talked to them about the merging and they were hoping everything could be worked out. "In fact we are hoping when we leave to return to our camp it will be to pack," Jareena said. I told them I was hoping for the same outcome and left to find Raalto. He and Racaato were together at the horse pens. Racaato was on his second trial mare, and though I could tell he was still tentative I also saw he was doing better. When he finished with this one I called Danlo to take care of her and asked Racaato and Raalto to return to the practice cave with me. "Do you think you are ready to see my secret method of killing the bison Raalto?" I asked, as we all walked back toward my cave. "I know I am ready to see it, I do not know if I am ready to try it." "Once you see it you will be asking to try it Raalto," Racaato said. "It is easier than you might think, but it is not as easy as it will look when you see it at first. Don't worry though, as it will all be explained to you thoroughly," I said. When we were in the practice cave I asked Racaato to get his rifle and give Raalto a demonstration. I showed them the new study room before the firing began and asked Racaato to give Raalto a short demonstration and then take him to the new room and have Phil start the lessons. They both agreed and I was loose again. It had been a busy morning for me and it wasn't half way to noon yet. When I got back to my cave Georgo was deep into more coffee and I joined him. He was happy things were moving so fast. I was too, but I was still anxious to talk to Barago. Ladeliea brought a mug of coffee for me and then returned to the gathering in front of Frank. It seemed all the women who lived near me were going over their cooking lessons. I saw my mates had included Jara in their gathering. I could also see from the way she was sitting she didn't see the necessity of wearing her thong in my cave. I pulled my attention away from Jara's bush and back to the table when Barago came in to join Georgo and I at the table. I did get a flash of Britta's blonde bush as she got up to get coffee for Barago, but I tried not to linger on it. When she went back to the lessons I broached the subject of Raalto and his camp with Barago. He seemed particularly enthused with the idea. He thought it was only right for Raalto to have the of second man and he encouraged me to try my best to convince Raalto it would be the best thing for all of us. Just then Natalto came in seeking Barago to ask him some question and I quickly had him sit with us and explained what I was asking. I felt it was only right I ask his opinion too since he and Raacato were ovbiously equal in Barago's eyes in their former camp and I had already asked Raacato. Natalto gave me an even better reason for aking Raalto to join us. "His second man, Daaggo, is excellent at fixing and making things around a camp and I know he seems to do wonders with instructing Raalto's men and organizing them to help with things which need to be done," Natalto said. I felt like rushing back into the practice cave to tell Raalto about my talks with the others, but I didn't. I did go over to speak to Geera and tell her I thought they should go and get Jareena and Reeana and invite them to join the lessons. She smiled excitedly when she realized what I meant, grabbed Dieta by the arm, and headed outside leaving all the others to wonder what was going on. I didn't tell them anything, but I did ask if they didn't think it was time for some motions to be made toward lunch. They laughed at me, but some of them got up to cook anyway. I sat at the table and watched the show with Georgo. Barago had to leave suddenly and from the look of his gait I thought he might be experiencing distress from the other end of his digestive tract now. Geera and Dieta returned with Jareena and Reeana and I happily watched for flashes of naked asscheeks from all the lovely cooks, all the while speculating about what Jareena and Reeana would show me after I'd had the chance to honor Raalto. It was a wonderful way to wait for my lunch. I noticed Racaato and Raalto coming from the practice cave then and when they were seated I told Raalto I had spoken to all my main men now and they all agreed he should be second man if he did decide to join us. He smiled and thanked me. "You are very much smarter than I thought John, and I already knew you must be very smart. You did know showing me the rifle would seal my decision didn't you?" he asked. "I hoped it would, but I also made sure to settle any other possible objections too." "Yes you did and I thank you for it also. When the wagons leave to begin gathering the possessions of the others I hope they will have room for many of our possessions also. I will be going back to pack," he said, smiling. "Then you must make sure to practice with the rifle and learn to ride a horse. The rifle will afford you the ability to protect your people much more effectively than ever before and the horse will allow you to move quickly among them if you need to," I said. "It is strange somehow - I came here to celebrate a mating and see what your camp was like and now I find myself learning things I would never even have considered and longing to hurry and finish moving here," Raalto said. "I think it shows you are very smart yourself, to recognize a better situation so quickly when you see it." "I do also and it shows what I've been telling Barbo all along about the bruga he drinks is correct. While he drank it until he didn't know where he was, Raalto paid attention to the needs of his camp and found them a better place to live," Jara said, as she handed me my plate. She leaned in close to me as she set it down and I couldn't resist running my hand up the inside of her leg, nearly to heaven. She smiled at me and gave me a peck on the cheek as she left. Reeana and Jareena were coming to us then. Reeana with Raalto's plate and Jareena with a mug of beer for both of us. Reeana set Raalto's plate before him. "Is it settled then my mate? Will we join this camp?" she asked. "I have decided we will join them," Raalto said. "Then I am bringing a mug of bruga to my new leader for the first time," Jareena said, as she stepped between Raalto and I to set the mugs down, rubbing what promised to be a wonderfully round and firm ass against my shoulder in the process. I silently cursed the growing Dicky when she did it and nearly blushed when first Jareena and then Reeana gave me a peck on the cheek also. After we'd all eaten Raalto turned to me asking what his new leader's first request of him would be. I told him learning to use the rifle and then a Glock should come first and afterward we would all go to the horse pens for riding lessons. "But what is a Glock?" Raalto asked. "It is perhaps John's best kept secret. You will be very surprised when you see its power as I am now surprised he will be sharing this magic with you," Georgo said. "When you have made a good start with the rifle come to get me and I will show you the Glock," I said. Racaato and Raalto left then and headed back to the practice cave. Georgo and I sat on our asses and talked for a while. Several things were trying to get my attention at once. I needed to get hay for all these new horses for the winter and once more we would be disrupted by days of freighting possessions. I would need even more cave modifications to make room for Raalto and his mates and for Daaggo, his second, also. Even though the new horses needed practically no training we still had done no training of the bunch before them and we would soon need their help. Things were moving more quickly than I could have ever imagined and winter was on its way too. It looked like I was going to have to do some actual planning. ------- Chapter 78 I needed some time to myself for planning. Not days, but I thought I should take an hour or two at least. "Georgo, would you be offended if I used you meditation chamber for a while?" I asked. "Of course not John. I wouldn't have a meditation chamber if not for you," he replied. "I didn't make it." "I know you didn't, but if you hadn't offered me a permanent home I'm sure it would have never come to be. Feel free to use the chamber. I will make sure you are not disturbed." "Thank you." I hadn't been in the chamber since the first look we'd taken at it after it appeared. It was much the same as then when I entered. There were some furs on the floor now and some sort of shrine on one wall. I hadn't come to meditate or contact the spirits though - I had come to think. My first realization was the horses, while they would be worth any effort, were now not merely a big job. Cutting and storing enough hay for them would be a Herculean task. I estimated they would need probably a ton of hay per day during the winter, maybe more. If we did it by hand we would need to work on it regularly from now until the weather made us stop. Many of us would have to work on it. For some reason I hated the thought of getting machinery from Argent to do it. I knew I would need to though. The freighting of my new member's possessions was going to be a big project for the next few days too. We had to get Caato's camp, Colonto's camp, and Raalto's camp moved here. Moving Raalto's camp would relieve the necessity of sending Racaato to kill the bison for Baahaya's payment, but it was overshadowed by the task of moving the largest camp, by far, to join us. Racaato still needed to go to Barbo's camp to start paying for Dalia, Shelalliea, Shallea, and Shaala. Barbo had voiced no interest in moving his camp to join us and being honest with myself I could understand his point. If they decided to join us later it would be better on me at least, but aside from having nice bathrooms, I didn't see any attraction for Barbo. Even though I knew Jara intended to make it happen I doubted Barbo could be convinced. After the winter I would have to introduce the camp to the delights of agriculture. As plentiful as food was near us it would still be picked over and depleted within a year or two. With the horses to help we could range farther to find food, but I knew growing it ourselves would be much more efficient if not absolutely necessary. I still thought the sawmill idea was a good one, but there just wasn't time to get it started this year. I would try to get it going next summer after we had plants in the ground. We would have to close the cave's entrances with bison skins this winter and wait until next year to discover walls and doors made of lumber. I was back to fretting over the hay when I felt a familiar tingling and slipped into a nap. "John," Argent said, as he slipped into my nearly immediate dream. "Yes." "When you went into the shaman's meditation chamber I wondered what you were up to. You seem distressed, and since we do not pry into your thoughts I felt the need to call on you for a visit," Argent explained. "I am trying to get a handle on the things I need to get done. After thinking about it a while I now know everything will pretty much work itself out except for the horses. "It is great to have them, but I know we have more than we can feed this winter. I'll probably have to turn many of them out to fend for themselves," I said. "I don't think it will be necessary. We can easily provide you with some horse drawn machinery to help with harvesting the hay." "I just don't want to do it, this year at least. These people have seen enough miracles for a while. We need to give them some time to adjust." "I see. Then we can do it with smoke and mirrors, as some on your former planet were fond of saying," Argent said. "What do you mean? How do you use sleight of hand on hay?" "It can be fairly simple, extremely simple in fact. All you need do is teach a few men to harvest the hay by hand and they can teach a few others. When you have a respectable crew working on it let them continue until they have enough hay," he said. "I understand the process Argent, but I'm practically sure we won't be able to get enough hay for all our horses in the time we have left." "It will be enough. As they are harvesting we will add to it. We can cut and bundle the hay from here and the bundles will look the same as those your men make. As they gather it the wagon will just seem to get full faster than they would have thought. "When they stack it in one of the caves we can add to it while they are gone to harvest more. We will be careful to monitor them and make sure they don't notice. When winter comes, if needed, we can replace hay as it is fed. It will not be a problem," Argent assured me. "It will solve my biggest problem without noticeable magic. It is a big relief." "I will let you go back to your thoughts now," Argent said, as the dream disappeared. After waking I was so relieved to have the hay problem work out so nicely I couldn't get my mind on any more planning. I went back to my cave and returned to sit beside Georgo. He probably hadn't left his seat while I'd been gone. "Your meditation didn't take long." "I wasn't really meditating, I was worrying. With the large increase in our horse herd I've been wondering how we were going to feed them over the winter. I did receive a sign from the spirits though - they assured me everything would be fine and so I will do what I can and count on them to help." "It is always the best course John," Georgo said, sagely. I sat and talked with Georgo until lunch began appearing. Racaato and Raalto were still practicing so Erieta sent Failiela to fetch them. Jareena came to me with a plate and more coffee and I couldn't resist sneaking a little feel of her ass while she was bent over pouring my coffee. She didn't move away when she finished and actually looked into my eyes smiling while I took the time to squeeze both her delightful cheeks. After I let go she winked at me when she left. Figuring I was pressing my luck I decided to try and eat without getting into any more trouble. Raalto was still amazed and excited when he and Racaato got to the table. He was nearly raving about the rifle and was anxious to know what the Glock was and how it could possibly be more powerful than the rifle. I put him off, but promised we would go directly to the practice cave when lunch was over. We did, and even Georgo came with us. Racaato was interested too now. He hadn't paid much attention to the Glock either. He had seen it of course, but probably didn't give it any thought because he hadn't seen it used. I put a human silhouette target on a trolley and ran it out to fifty feet. Even to them it was obvious what it signified. They were stunned when I pulled the Glock and put five holes in the target's heart area in seconds. Their jaws were still hanging open as I brought the target back. "How could that happen?" Raalto asked. I gave them a little explanation covering the fact the Glock worked much the same as the rifle. I explained it would not be easy to shoot accurately over long ranges. I told them it was for killing quickly when something was close. "Is this how you were able to kill the men who tried to kill you?" Racaato asked. "Yes. I have not told it before, but Gigo and Dergo were not there to help me when Gembo, Jenbo, and Jabo came to kill me. I killed them all while they were wanting to argue about how they would kill me. I tried to get them to leave, but they wouldn't. Even after I killed Gembo - Jenbo and Jabo still wanted to kill me." "I don't think I would have given them any options. If it had been me I'm afraid I would have killed them as quickly as I could and worried about what they had to say later," Raalto said. "I have come to the same conclusion myself. I do not bother with arguing anymore when a man says he is going to kill me." I stalled further discussion by producing a web belt, holster, and Glock for Racaato, Raalto, and Georgo. Georgo protested at first, but all of us convinced him he would be better off with the Glock than without it. "After all, you do not have to kill anyone just because you can, and if someone does attack you the Glock will help keep you safe," Racaato told him. "It is merely a tool Georgo. It is there if you need to use it and is not so hard to carry when you don't need to use it. There are other things than men about which can do you harm too," I said. He relented then and most of the rest of the afternoon was spent with instruction and practice. We even managed to talk Georgo into trying a rifle. He caught on faster than I would have thought and he seemed a little pleased when I told him the 25 rifle he had been using was his and then I showed him his own image on it for proof. I was tired of gunfire by the time Failiela came to get us for supper. When we got to the table I saw supper was going to be a meeting also. All the residents from this side of the canyon were present along with Barbo, Jara, and Kateata. I decided to make a little announcement. "I am glad you are all here tonight. I want to be the first to tell you Raalto has decided to merge his camp with ours. When the wagons leave here to take everyone home, they will be taking Raalto's people home to pack. They will also be taking Colonto's people and Caato's people home to pack," I said. There was a lot of excited chatter around the table afterward, as I expected. I made sure to keep my eyes on Barbo without seeming to. He was not amused and not involved in the conversations going on around him. I didn't really care. If he later decided to join us he and his camp would be welcome. If he didn't we would muddle through without him. I had a feeling he would be hearing even more about the benefits of our camp after he got home though. Soon the topic died down and Raalto asked me about feeding the horses during the winter. I explained what hay was and how it was acquired. He found this little tidbit to be intriguing for some reason and wondered if he could be allowed to participate in the process. I was glad to tell him I would show him how it was done and leave it up to him if he would take the job. He seemed delighted and I wondered to myself about his sanity. He had seemed to be so smart up until this, but after having cut and hauled my share of hay on my former Earth I couldn't help but wonder about his thinking. Cutting and hauling hay is no fun - even with modern equipment it is a hot bitch every time. There is always a lot of dust and tiny pieces of the grass floating around in the air and it sticks to your skin and causes skin irritation all over. No matter how you dress it gets everywhere and it is so hot when you cut hay you can't afford to wear much at the time anyway. I've often said I wouldn't haul hay if I could eat it myself. Raalto had spoken though and I was glad he'd taken an interest. I was betting he wouldn't be so eager to volunteer for the job next year. Everyone seemed to be headed somewhere else after supper and I wasn't sorry. I enjoyed having company, but hoped my cave and my dining table didn't end up a regular meeting place. I was a little disappointed when Kateata headed back toward her official sleeping quarters and when Shelalliea and Dalia left to oversee the second of Danlo, Shaala, and Shallea's mating nights. My home seemed a little vacant. Oh well, I could probably make it two more nights with only ten women to sleep with. We went to bed early and spent an hour or two playing with each other. I had been asleep for probably about two hours when some shifting and shuffling around in the bed roused me. It was Dalia and Shelalliea back from Danlo's quarters. I guessed they didn't want to wait until morning for some attention and they didn't waste any time before making me glad they had dropped by. Afterwards we settled back down and I slept until nearly sunrise. ------- Chapter 79 The next morning I must have been over my pouting about so much company, because I was glad to see Raalto when he came in for coffee and it wasn't only because he brought Reeana and Jareena with him. They fell in with the cooking, watching mostly, and Raalto sat with me to drink coffee and talk. I'll admit I paid more attention to watching his mate's asses than I should have, but I tried to make sure he didn't notice me at it. Georgo and Ladeliea entered a few minutes later - she joining the kitchen crew and Georgo sitting with us. Delia brought him a mug of coffee and the three of us talked while breakfast was being cooked. "I think it is time I tried riding a horse, John," Raalto said. "You are right. You will need to be able to do it when you go back for your things. When were you planning on leaving for them?" "I have heard Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo are some of your main men for working with the horses. If it is so I should probably wait until their mating nights are over," he said. "You are right and tonight is the last of them. When they wander in and are fed I will send them to begin making preparations for the trips. "You should probably learn about the travois today too. Even with the two wagons and the buckboard you will still need travois horses to move so many goods. I hope it can be done in one trip." "I have seen Danlo putting a travois on one of the biggest horses, for practice I think. Are they difficult to work with?" he asked. "No. Once the horse knows what is to come they are usually more than willing to behave. I'm sure the large horses will hardly notice the weight of the travois behind them. It will be a good day for you to learn about using them." Our food came then, and while we were eating Nadlo, Jonoco, Danlo, and their mates came in. The young men couldn't help smiling as they took their seats and the girls were whispering among the women when they joined them around in the kitchen. Raalto, Georgo, and I finished and went outside. I told Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo to join us at the horse cave when they had finished eating. I caught Red when we reached the pens and then caught the Quarter Horse stallion, Bob, for Raalto. I took my time saddling Red and explained everything I was doing and why I was doing it. When I'd finished with Red the newly mated men were with us. I told them to catch and halter all the Clydesdales, the Morgans, and the three Quarter Horse mares while I watched and helped Raalto saddle Bob. I was taking a little chance putting a new rider on a stallion, but I'd watched Bob fairly closely since he got here. He seemed to be a very mature mount. I was reminded of Argent telling me most of the horses had been older and had merely been put back to a younger version of their bodies. Bob looked like a young horse, but he acted like one who'd had his share of asses across his back. When Bob was saddled I mounted him to make sure he was indeed safe for Raalto to ride. Bob was alert, but cooperative, so I got down and showed Raalto how to mount. When he was aboard I gave him a few rudimentary instructions, mounted Red and led us off up canyon. When we reached my cave I stopped and we dismounted. There was nothing to tie the horses to, so I asked Raalto to go inside and ask Maia or Merita to come out for a few minutes. He returned with both of them. I gave them each a kiss and asked them to hold our mounts while we went inside for a few minutes. I intended to take my M1 with me and I was going to have Raalto bring his also. Bigglieo, Caato, Barago, and all their mates were eating when we went through. I told the men the trip was planned for tomorrow and asked Bigglieo to spend most of the day getting things ready and helping the others learn about the horses, wagons, and travois. They all agreed. Raalto and I went to the practice cave, got our rifles, and then went back outside. I told Maia and Merita where we were going. "Are you going to hunt?" Maia asked. "Not especially, but if we see game which looks easy to get we might take it," I said. "Now probably isn't a good time, but soon Maia and I want to learn to ride so we can go with you. I think the wolves would like to be hunting some, even though they have plenty to eat. The three oldest are always sniffing around and stalking things. Do you think they could learn to help a person who is hunting?" Merita asked. "I'm sure they could and I'm glad you reminded me. I will start teaching you to ride while the others are gone for their things," I said, making sure they knew it was a promise. Raalto and I started upriver then. I watched and it seemed to take almost no time for Raalto to change from a tentative anxious perch on the horse to a relaxed confident seat. When we reached the place where I'd found the new horses we explored it a little. After a while I decided to head even farther upriver. About a mile on up, the valley widened appreciably. There were spots of woods scattered around, but it was mostly grassland. "Raalto, I think we have found our hay. This will be a good place to start cutting it anyway. It isn't too far from our camp and there is plenty. I'm surprised there aren't more animals grazing here," I said. "I'm not. Look," he said, pointing. We had been trending generally north during our ride. Raalto was pointing off toward the northwest. I hadn't brought the glasses with me, but I could see what he was pointing out. About seven hundred yards from us there was a pride of cave lions lounging near the canyon's wall. Raalto and I decided we had explored enough in this direction. We were armed well, but Raalto still wasn't nearly proficient enough with his rifle to be taking on a pride of lions. The cave lions would have to be dealt with before we could cut hay here. We headed back down river. "The cave lions will make it difficult to cut hay in the area," Raalto said, after we'd headed back. "I will have to kill them or make them leave." "They are very dangerous, John. They are best avoided if possible," he said, stating the obvious. "I know they are, but it is too good a spot for gathering hay to just leave to them. I will be able to take care of the cave lions. We will do it this afternoon if they are still there when we get back." "I am going to enjoy seeing it. I don't doubt you, but I do want to see it myself." When we got back to my cave we met Jonoco and Nadlo coming toward it. I had them take Red and Bob back to the pens, tie them to the fence, and just loosen the saddle girths. Raalto and I went into the cave and I was happy to see food was on the way. Many of the others were already seated and waiting. Something nagged at me then and I realized I hadn't seen Daaggo, Raalto's best man, since I'd met him when they arrived. "Where has your second man been hiding, Raalto? I haven't seen him since you arrived," I asked. "Maybe we should talk privately about Daaggo," he said. My interest was up now and I led Raalto through the entrance to Georgo's cave and into the meditation chamber. "What do we need to discuss about Daaggo?" I asked. "I should have spoken to you about it before, but I am accustomed to it now and didn't think to. Daaggo is not like other men. I hope you are not bothered by him. He is very loyal, very clever, and extremely organized in his dealings. His difference doesn't bother me any longer, and I have tried to make myself forget it," Raalto said, without telling me anything. "If he is a good man I don't see what would bother me about him. In what way is he different from other men?" I asked. "Daaggo doesn't have a mate John," he said. "Many young men do not have mates." "Daaggo doesn't want a mate, at least he doesn't want a woman," Raalto said, and I could see it was hard for him to tell me. I had to bite my tongue to keep from smiling. Daaggo was homosexual. I wondered how it had been for him to be so in this time. I was sure it couldn't have been easy. He must be amazingly competent to be Raalto's second man under these conditions. "That is wonderful Raalto," I said. "Wonderful?" he asked, surprised. "Yes. I'm sure Daaggo must be hard working and very helpful. It is only a bonus he is not interested in women, leaving them alone for those of us who do like them. Has he been able to find another man who is so inclined to share his furs?" I asked. Raalto clearly hadn't expected the attitude or the question. He was speechless for a moment. "No, he hasn't. I do not know of one and to tell you the truth I haven't asked anyone else if they did. Now you say it, I haven't even asked Daaggo if he wanted a man to share his furs. I feel he would, but I have never asked. We haven't mentioned anything about this to each other since he told me of his feelings," Raalto said. "I must talk to him then, or you must. It would not be wise to pry into his business if he doesn't want us to. If he would like some help in the matter though I'm sure Georgo can give it. "I know there are other men who have similar inclinations. Of course, just any other man so inclined would not be enough - just finding another man who is willing will not do. "It would have to be someone Daaggo felt he could come to care for. We will have to find other men who are similar as a starting place though," I said. "I will speak to him of it then if you think I should," Raalto said, but I could hear the reluctance in his voice. "Why not let me speak to him. I am his leader now and it is my responsibility to help him with any problem he has. I know he must be a remarkable helper for you since he is your second. That alone automatically makes him a very valuable member of our camp. I would like the chance to talk to him and offer to help him if he will accept the help." "I will tell him then," Raalto said, and he looked very relieved already. "Why don't you just tell him I would like to talk to him and let me tell him what it is about?" "I will do it," Raalto agreed, and he seemed even more relieved. We returned to the table and the meal was already being eaten. We had barely parked our asses before food appeared in front of us. I could smell the bread had been freshly baked this morning and when I did I looked for Roweea. She smiled when I saw her and nodded toward the bread. I was glad she had found something she was proud to cook. After the meal I told Danlo to get my wagon hitched and ready to go. I asked and he said the loading tower was still on it. I asked Galto to have a few men ready to do some skinning in a couple of hours. "Are you going hunting?" he asked. "Raalto and I have found a good place to cut our hay for the horses. Unfortunately, a pride of cave lions found it first. We are going back this afternoon to kill them so they will not be a danger when the hay is being cut and gathered," I said. "You will end up dead yourself. A man is a fool to hunt cave lions on purpose," Barbo said, stopping all talk. "A man is a rude fool to call another a fool while he sits at that man's table eating his food. You are my guest here so I will overlook your poor manners. I will thank you to keep your thoughts of me and my ways to yourself for the rest of your visit though," I said, and then I went to the practice cave. I intended to use the 50 on the lions. The power of the cartridge was not a particular advantage for killing cave lions. The range was. I would feel much safer dealing with the lions from eight hundred yards than I would from four hundred. I put the 50 in its hard case along with forty rounds of ammunition. When I got outside I saw Danlo approaching with the wagon. It looked a little strange to see the giant horses pulling it instead of Sally and Jane. Bigglieo, Galto, Dargo, Danlo, Nadlo, Jonoco, and Racaato all wanted to go with Raalto and me. I told the newly mated to stay and continue working with the horses and teams. I also sent Nadlo back to get Bob and Red to tie to the back of the wagon while Racaato went to get his M1. I wanted to be mounted and watching while the men were dealing with the dead lions and another rifle would just add to our safety. ------- Chapter 80 We headed out and it was like a normal ride to no place in particular. When we arrived at the open area of the canyon I looked around and saw a good rise to shoot from. It would leave me about six hundred and fifty yards from the lions. I got the 50 out and loaded it. No one asked me anything about it, but I knew they were amazed by its much larger size and different look. I put its bipod down and settled into the prone position, looking through the scope and finding the targets. Taking up my binoculars I scanned the area around the lions more closely. I found seven adult lions, one very large male and six females. There were also four cubs. When I started firing I noticed another benefit of the large suppressor. It disguised the direction the blast was coming from. Combined with the echoes off the canyon walls the big cats were completely confused. They didn't seem to pay particular attention when the lead male dropped from the first shot. They all perked up when the sound reached them though and they seemed to look away from me as if the sound had come from another direction. They looked toward the canyon wall when the first echo reached them. They were all nervous and pacing now, but they didn't really scatter. I picked them off as if it were target practice. When it came to the young ones I felt bad about it, a little at least. There wasn't an option though. If the small ones lived they would end up being large ones soon and as far as I knew cave lions hadn't become extinct from hunting pressure anyway. I snuffed the four cubs, probably about eight months old, just as I had the others. When they were all down we waited where we were. I wanted to be sure I hadn't overlooked one. No others appeared. I packed up the 50 and put it in the wagon and then mounted Red, taking the M1 from its saddle scabbard. Raalto mounted Bob and Bigglieo took over the wagon while Racaato rode standing, M1 in hand, in the back. We advanced on the lions slowly, but reached them without incident. The others made short work of loading the seven adult lions and four cubs while Raalto and I watched. Just as the last carcass was loaded into the wagon Racaato pointed to the west and I looked in the direction. There, seemingly just watching, was Smilodon. In fact I got the feeling he was merely watching and he seemed to notice all of us now looking his way. He turned and trotted off. I sent Bigglieo and the others back and Raalto and I made a sweep over the new hay meadow. It was probably eight to nine hundred acres, not counting the small patches of woods or the wooded areas near the river's banks. There would be more than enough hay here. We headed back about an hour behind Bigglieo and the others. Danlo and Jonoco were by the entrance to my cave when we got back and they took Red and Bob for a rubdown and to turn them loose. All the lions had been skinned already, even the cubs. Most of my mates were working on the hides, but I noticed Dieta, Maia, and Geera were busily removing every tooth and claw from the lion's remains. Barbo was nowhere to be seen, but Jara was standing around and when she saw me her eyes went wide and brightened. "I know now you are the greatest hunter ever," she said. "Maybe I'm the best killer, but Raalto found the lions," I said. "It is a lot easier to find cave lions than it is to kill them," Raalto said. "I guess my fool of a mate will know now he is the fool indeed," Jara said. "I don't think he is a fool, he is just rude. I'm sure most who heard for the first time I was setting out to kill the lions thought what he did. He just couldn't control his mouth," I said. "I hope you are right, but I'm afraid he is a fool. After you and Raalto left he told me to make ready to leave and said we were going today. I told him if he left today, intending to travel at night, he would be leaving without me. "I am not about to leave walking in the middle of the day, knowing the sun will set long before we get home, especially since I need only wait until tomorrow to ride home," Jara said, making perfect sense to me. "He is probably just angry. Maybe he will settle down soon," I said. "He will settle down or he will be angry by himself. I am mated to Barbo, but nothing says I must stay mated to him forever. He may even beat me for it, but he cannot keep me against my will always," Jara said. "I do not allow the beating of women in my camp. If you do not want to leave with him all you need do is walk into my cave and stay. No one will remove you from it by force," I told her. "I am probably just angry myself. It is good to know of your rules, but Barbo and I will be more calm after a while," Jara said - she did walk back into my cave though. Raalto and I went inside also and continued to the practice cave where I stored the 50 in my locker. "Is that a rifle too?" Raalto asked. "Yes. It is made to use against larger animals and also to use at a greater distance. I did not want to get any closer to the lions than I had to. "Barbo was right in a way, and if he had known about the rifles he might have saved himself some embarrassment. "If he had held his tongue for a moment longer I was going to invite him and all the men who were at the table to come with us. I am actually glad he spoke up. It would have been a mistake to let him see the rifles." "I think it would have been a mistake also. I have known Barbo longer than you have and I would not consider telling him anything very important," Raalto said. "Why?" "I don't know exactly why I feel so. I just do not trust Barbo. Until my trip here I had always felt it was because of Jara. Now I see it is probably Barbo who has caused us to keep our distance," he said. "Anyway, I am now well on my way to having furnished a lion skin for each of my mates. I will still need to get at least three more, but there is no rush." Raalto asked me about it and I explained what had come about after my first hunt. He told me for anyone else killing ten lions would be the work of a lifetime. "Soon you will not worry if you confront a cave lion. It is best to always be careful, especially with big cats, but with a rifle you will have confidence you can protect yourself." We returned to my cave and saw Dalia and Shelalliea starting on the cooking. It was a sight which always warmed my heart. Somehow it reminded me of the talk I needed to have with Daaggo. "Do you think I could talk to Daaggo now?" I asked Raalto. "I will find him and ask him to come to you," he said, and left. I got a mug of coffee and sat at the table. Daaggo came in probably twenty minutes later. I asked him to sit with me and offered him some coffee. He accepted and I was going to get up for it when I saw Shelalliea pick up a mug and pour coffee in it. She brought it to Daaggo and I noticed, unlike me, Daaggo concentrated on looking at Shelalliea's face as she approached. He thanked her for the coffee and she went back to cooking. "Raalto has told me some things about you Daaggo and I thought I should let you know I understand your feelings and approve of them." He was clearly surprised. I'd made sure he wasn't drinking when I said it, because I didn't want him choking on the hot coffee. It was probably a good thing. He did seem to sit there and just gulp for a second. "I do not know what to say. Do you mean my strangeness doesn't offend you?" Daaggo asked. "I mean I do not consider it a strangeness. I see nothing wrong with it. I'm sure you did not choose to have those feelings, they are no doubt natural to you," I said. "I didn't choose it. I have tried hard to desire women, but I just don't. I have resigned myself to the fact I will never be mated and will always live alone," Daaggo said. "Do you know of no other men who have the same feelings?" "There are no others in our camp. I know of two others who live together in a distant camp. Those two are the only ones I know of," he said. "Would you be offended if I asked Georgo whether he knew of other men with the same feelings?" "I would not be offended, but why would you want to?" he asked. "I am not trying to force another on you Daaggo, but if there are others perhaps you would like to meet them at least. I don't demand you take one for a mate, but if you do find someone you could care for wouldn't it be better for you?" "Of course I would like to have someone to share my life with. I am just surprised you would think of helping me. I have always felt there was something wrong with me for these feelings and now you are offering to help me with them," he said. "There is nothing wrong with you Daaggo. You are different in some ways from other men, but all men are different in some ways. I would not like for you to tell it, but I will tell you some of the spirits have the same feelings you do. I know it for a fact," I said, thinking of the comment Argent had made about the dress designer. This revelation shocked Daaggo. He was speechless for minutes. "It is a revelation to me. If you think Georgo may know of others like me please do ask him. I would like to meet them if I can. Thank you for being so understanding and for telling me about the spirits. I didn't know you could also speak to the spirits," Daaggo said, finally. "I do not really speak to the spirits Daaggo, but sometimes they do speak to me." "I see. I think I should go and think about these new things for awhile if I might." "Of course you can. Please come back to eat with us if you are able though," I said. "I think I would like it." Well, it had gone easier than I'd thought. I was glad to have it over with though. Just in time too as Georgo and Ladeliea came in from their cave. Georgo came to sit with me and Ladeliea brought him some coffee and refilled my mug. "I have something to talk with you about Georgo. It is about Daaggo," I said. "So they have told you? I wondered if they would say something before you noticed it yourself. How do you feel about it?" Georgo asked. "I feel sorry Daaggo has not found another man who feels as he does. Do you know of any with such inclinations? Perhaps we could let Daaggo meet him if you know of someone." "You surprise me again, John. I was afraid, as I'm sure Raalto and Daaggo were, you would not tolerate Daaggo's feelings," Georgo said. "As I just told Daaggo, even some of the spirits are so inclined." Georgo was shocked now too. He was as nearly speechless as Daaggo had been. "They have never revealed it to me. They have never revealed anything contrary to it either though," Georgo said. "They did not exactly reveal it to me either, but I got the feeling it was so in a vision once and I'm sure they would not mislead me on purpose." "No, I don't think they would," Georgo said. "But do you know of others like Daaggo?" "Yes. I know of six others I am sure are like Daaggo and two who are not men yet who seem like him also. In fact, one boy who should be a man soon, in Barbo's camp, seems such a one to me," Georgo said. "It would be too much to hope for. Would you speak privately to Daaggo after we eat and tell him of these men and boys?" "I will do it. You constantly amaze me John. Life has certainly been more interesting since you came here," Georgo said. "I hope it isn't too much of a strain," I said, and laughed. Others started drifting in from outside then. Those of my mates who had been skinning and working with the remains of the cats were covered with blood and decided to shower before eating. I was tempted to go and help them, but I didn't. Maia and Merita did come over and tell me they had saved most of the meat to feed the wolves and they were going to render what fat there was on the cats to use in lamps and such. I was glad the cats would not be wasted. Geera and Dieta came in lugging a pretty big basket full of teeth and claws. "We have more cat's teeth and claws than I have ever seen," Dieta said. "There will be plenty of necklaces made this winter," Geera added. "Are you sure you don't need more? I can get them for you if you'd like." "We will make sure to use them wisely if you get more, but we don't think you should search for cats to kill. It would be nice to have the long teeth from a dirk tooth to make a necklace for you though," Dieta said. "I have only seen the one and I will not kill him if he always minds his manners as well as he did the day of the hunt. In fact I think we saw him again after I killed the cave lions today," I said, and laughed. "You must leave it be if you can. They are ferocious. The one we saw during the hunt is the only one I have ever seen and it was closer to us than I wanted it to be. You did the right thing by killing the bison for it. I think I like for it to be well fed and far away. If it does become necessary to kill it though be sure you do not damage its great teeth," Geera said. They went to put away their treasure and then join the others in the shower. The others hadn't tarried though. Jaada, Roweea, Waaya, and Winna were now coming to the kitchen with clean Wilma dresses on and wet hair. Others started arriving in anticipation of supper then. The men came to the table to talk and the women helped in the kitchen. The kitchen filled with women faster than the table filled with men and soon some of the women had to join us at the table since there wasn't room for all of them to cook. I was a little surprised to see Barbo come in with Jara. I wasn't mad at him anymore though, and was actually glad he wasn't mad enough to stay away. Thankfully he didn't apologize for what he'd said. It made it easier for me since it meant I needn't apologize for what I'd said. It was an unfortunate thing, but at least it had stopped me from revealing the rifles to him. Barbo's presence did seem to keep conversation to a minimum during the meal. No hard feelings were displayed, but things were just subdued. I didn't mind a quiet meal for a change. After it was over Barbo didn't linger. He did thank my mates for the food and compliment their cooking before he left. Daaggo had come with Raalto, Reeana, and Jareena to eat with us. Georgo led him away soon after we ate and I assumed they were going to have the talk. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo didn't linger after they'd finished eating. Melieta, Jaiya, Shaala, and Shallea weren't far behind them. This caused Dalia and Shelalliea to leave quickly too. Tonight was the last of the three mating nights and I was happy they would be over. It didn't really make sense to me with all the mates I had I could miss the two who weren't with me, especially since I'd had so many guests to honor. I did miss Shelalliea and Dalia while they were away though. When I was alone with my mates and time for bed arrived I decided to see if I could play a little trick on them. Dicky didn't help a damned bit, but though he was hard and standing tall, and though my mates were ready for a little slap and tickle, I put on my own little sham of resistance. It nearly backfired on me. They seemed to take me at my word until Roweea spoke up. "It doesn't matter if you're tired. You are our mate and you will give us what we want. Help me Dieta. We will hold him down for a change and take what is ours," she said. Of course Dieta was all for this. Maia and Jaada were quick to help too. I found myself pinned to the mattress with one of my horny mates at each of my arms and legs holding me down. I made sure not to actually break free as I struggled. Gema took the initiative in actually teasing me with her hands, lips, and tongue. Licking everything she found interesting. Geera took a seat on my face to keep me quiet. Soon Gema took a seat on Dicky and as she pumped her tight wet pussy up and down on me I could occasionally get a glimpse up between Geera's legs to see the mother and daughter kissing each other hotly and saw each giving the other's titties and nipples a thorough fondling, pinching, and twisting. My mates were careful to keep me restrained, and as one would finish another would take her place. When my face was unoccupied I begged and pleaded to be released, but they wouldn't even consider it. I silently thanked Argent for my increased stamina and I'm sure if they'd known of it my mates would have thanked him also. They kept at me for hours and had their wicked way with me until they'd all had enough. Later, I drifted off into a very satisfied sleep. ------- Chapter 81 I woke rested and feeling good the next morning. I knew it was going to be a big day and it made me glad when I realized even though a lot of freighting would be going on soon, I would be home with my mates while others were doing it. Dalia and Shelalliea had come to our bed sometime during the night. They woke Roweea getting into bed and I guess she spilled the beans. I was restrained again and my dick was hard before I woke up. The two of them gave me another good workout. Dieta and Delia helped hold me, then they and Roweea took a turn before they let me go back to sleep. I could live with problems like this. Maia and Gema were on either side of me this morning. They were both already awake and had stayed in bed, as I had requested some time ago, so I wouldn't wake up alone. They led me to the shower, gave me a thorough washing then drying, and we left the bathroom butt naked to dress near the bed. I was feeling pretty pampered and felt more so when I sat at the table. Waaya was there with my coffee and Winna had my breakfast. I didn't waste any time and after thanking them I dug in. I decided I might need to show them how to make hash browns and red eye gravy. Maybe a little lesson for buttermilk biscuits would add some spice to my mornings too. Georgo and Ladeliea came along then and when Georgo got his meal I had someone to keep me company while I ate. We didn't talk though, just ate. After we'd finished and were working on our second mug of coffee Georgo spoke up. "I guess most will be leaving today," he said. "I think so. I'm not sure if there is any point in sending Racaato to do my hunting for Barbo's camp today though. It would probably be better if he waited until they were through with my original wagon so he could take it and help carry his kills back to camp for them." "I believe you are right. My buckboard can't carry enough bison to matter. If he gets five or more it would take three trips with the buckboard and there would be much trouble loading them. They would have to be skinned and cut up where they were shot," he said. "I know it's the way it has always been done, but it is more troublesome. You end up with a lot of fresh killed meat in one place and some will have to keep watch to make sure no predators come up to try and steal it. I think it is much easier to carry the bison back to camp whole, or nearly so, to gut, skin, and cut up." "It is easier if that is an option. I wonder if Barbo will see it that way?" Georgo asked. "If he doesn't I'm sure Racaato will be happy to stand guard while they are cutting up the bison and carrying it back by hand," I said, and laughed. It was a little worrisome for me though. I didn't want Racaato to deliberately cause hard feelings and I was sure he wouldn't, but I was going to let him know his first duty was to make sure he wasn't abused or put in danger. He and I could go over it while the others were freighting. Raalto, Jareena, and Reeana came in then. Jareena and Reeana headed toward the cooking, but my mates shooed them to the table, advising them to save their energy for their trip. "Raalto has told us to stay here and prepare a permanent sleeping place. He will be going back for our things and leaving us here," Reeana said. "Well don't start on it yet. You will be staying on this side of the canyon," I said. "All of the caves over here are occupied aren't they? I won't move anyone out of their home," Raalto said. "I can not promise anything Raalto, but the spirits have been very helpful in these matters. You will see when you return," I said. "Very well. I do not want to displace anyone though. I'm sure it would cause hard feelings even if they did not say so," Raalto said. "You will not be displacing anyone. Do not worry about it." Georgo and I remained at the table drinking coffee while the others ate. Bigglieo, Suleita, and Daleana came in soon followed shortly by Barago and Britta. I decided to go outside to finish my coffee and Georgo came with me. I considered starting with the wild horses after the others were on their way, but with my wranglers all going I would put it off. Since Sally and Jane were not needed for the wagon any more maybe I would start on riding lessons for my mates. They were probably ready for a break from Frank's cooking lessons. Raalto came out soon and came to meet with Georgo and I down by the horse pens. "Most of my men and women want to go back to do their own packing John, I assume it will be acceptable," he said. "Of course it is. Since Jareena and Reeana won't really have much to do here don't you think they might want to go also?" I asked, and if Dicky could have kicked me in the balls I'm sure he would have. "I told Jareena and Reeana if they stayed they might discover how to get some of the new clothes your mates and some of the other women have," Raalto said, and then laughed. "He is smarter than he looks Georgo. I thought you and I were the only men to know about the little detail." "I did not know it, but I was pretty sure what it signified, especially since Jara got new clothes after Barbo's drunken evening," Raalto said, and chuckled again. "You have found me out and tricked me into admitting it." "Just be sure to make my mates feel welcome here. Daaggo will take care of all the packing for them. He is in a very good humor since his talk with you and then Georgo," Raalto said. "I am glad. It will make him happy to be here maybe." "He is already happy we are joining you. Daaggo likes to wash every day. He was wanting to stay over your bathing facility from the first," Raalto said. Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco came down then with Bigglieo, Galto, Dargo, and Barago. They were going to catch the horses and get things ready to leave. Barago wasn't going to make the trip, but he did want to try his hand at helping with the horses. I asked them to leave Sally, Jane, and Bonehead here along with all the Quarter Horses and Red. Georgo wasn't going either so Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo got into a good-natured argument about who was going to drive the buckboard. They would probably be arguing about which one had to drive it before this operation was over. Georgo and I left them with it. We headed back to my cave and when we got there Georgo headed to his for a little meditation I guess. "My mates, later today we will have some riding lessons. I know some of you might not be too excited, but I think all of you should be able to ride a horse and also know how to use a travois." "Remembering my last ride makes me think it might not be so bad. We should make sure to take a fur with us though," Geera said. "Why would you need a fur, the weather is still warm?" Roweea asked. "Take my advice, do not let John get you on the back of a horse without bringing a fur along. He has been known to take advantage of his riding students," Geera told her, and giggled. "Oh, it sounds exciting. I have been waiting for a chance to be taken advantage of in the daylight," Roweea said, and smiled. "It seems to me I was the one abused last night." "Yes, it is true. You must make sure to return the favor during the riding lessons," Winna said. "You are right, but remember you should all wear your trousers while riding. They will be better in the saddle and they come off easily enough." About an hour later everyone was outside to see the travelers off. Barbo and Jara were riding on the buckboard's seat with Danlo driving. I felt a little twinge seeing Jara riding off and doubted Barbo would be bringing his camp back for a visit anytime soon. Maybe they would have a mating at their camp and we could visit. If they did and served bruga I was sure I would get some time alone with Jara. Maybe if they had a mating I would bring the bruga, just to help with the celebration of course. Soon all who were going had left. Since my mates and I were near the horse cave anyway I gathered them for their lessons. Daleana and Sulieta were with us also, but they didn't have their trousers on. I sent them back to put them on and told them to bring any of the other women who had time to learn to ride today. Reeana and Jareena were with us also, but still dressed in their normal clothes. I was looking forward to seeing them in Wilma dresses in the morning. Bonehead, Sally, and Jane were already saddled and tied to the fence. I helped Jaada onto Bonehead and Geera onto Sally. Since they had both been on a horse before I had them start by just trying to ride up and down the canyon, not getting out of sight on either end. While they were practicing I caught and then saddled the three Quarter Horse mares. I made a round or two on each of them to make sure they would behave. When I was satisfied I had Maia get up in front of me on one and we headed up the canyon and then back down. When I thought she had the idea I got off, got the next mare and the next mate and repeated the process. By the time I had a mate practicing on all the available horses I stopped Jaada and let her get down, taking Bonehead and letting my next mate in line try her hand. We rotated this way until all my mates plus Ladeliea, Daleana, Sulieta, Jareena, Reeana, Erieta, and Failiela had taken two turns riding. We took a break for lunch then. Erieta had told me Racaato was in the practice cave so I went to see him while the women started on the meal. He wasn't firing when I entered - he was in the study room watching Phil when I joined him. "I think I finally understand about the bullet dropping now," he said, when I entered. "Good, do you understand about the wind also?" "Yes, it was easier for me to understand. The hardest part was understanding how the bullet could strike higher than the point of aim if the target was closer, as if it were climbing instead of falling at first," he said. "It is climbing only because the barrel is not completely level. When you are adjusting the sight for three hundred yards the barrel will be pointed slightly upward, this causes the bullet to intersect the line of sight once on the way up and then farther out it intersects it again on the way down. I know it must be confusing, but it is what happens." "Yes I understand now, but Phil had to go over it many times," Racaato said. "I'm sure he didn't mind." We left and headed for the food. My cave seemed a little vacant since most of those who had been eating with us were off on the journey. It was a quiet meal with only a little teasing about the riding lessons. Afternoon brought more of the same. More practice in the cave for Racaato and more riding lessons for the women. We kept at it until nearly sunset when we retired to my cave so my mates could see about supper. ------- Chapter 82 After we'd eaten I invited my mates, Jareena, Reeana, Sulieta, and Daleana into the biggest hot tub for a little relaxing. It didn't relax Dicky a bit. Jareena and Reeana were the tiniest bit shy at first, but when they realized we were all naked and ready to play they lost those feelings. I had been looking forward to seeing them in the altogether and I wasn't disappointed. After a little time for soaking I invited Jareena into my lap so I could wash her hair. She joined me, giggling a little, and I soon had a good lather going. I let Maia and Merita take over the duties with her hair while I concentrated on washing her firm round titties and then snuck a hand down to play in her submerged bush. I dropped all pretenses soon and eased her up enough to fit Dicky into the entrance to her pussy. As she lowered herself onto me it sent a shiver through both of us and we were soon rocking and making waves. Her pussy was snug and warm and her insides had a rhythm of their own. Merita was the first to abandon Jareena's hair and she put her lips to Jareena's for some kisses. Maia and I took turns and finally ended up with a titty each. Even though the feelings Dicky was getting were wonderful I was able to maintain control while Jareena lost it and exploded, letting her keening moan announce her completion. Maia and Merita helped her move off me and proceeded to cuddle and kiss her as Reeana climbed aboard for a shampoo of her own. Delia and Dalia helped with her hair while Dicky hid himself up her tight slit. She felt different than Jareena but equally good and when the waves were going again I concentrated on getting us both off. When I started pumping come into her I diddled her erect little clitty with a finger and we found the finish at the same time. For a second I wondered if I could be giving her a baby and then it hit me there weren't any babies. I hadn't seen one baby or even any pregnant women the whole time I'd been here. I hadn't even seen any women menstruating, none I'd noticed anyway. I pushed the thought aside for later, since when Reeana moved off me Daleana and Sulieta came over and took the shrinking Dicky in hand to stop the shrinking. It was a wonderful night in the tub and an even better one in the bed. When I woke, just after sunrise, I found Jareena and Reeana had the keep John company detail this morning. They were both still actually asleep. I played with Jareena's nipples until they were hard and pulsing and she finally opened her eyes and smiled at me. "Good morning." "Is it?" she asked. "It is from where I am, alas I have to get up though." "I suppose I should too," she said. "You must. You have new clothes to try on," I told her. She crawled over me then, toward Reeana and I got up and went to the pisser. When I got back she and Reeana were both up and trying on their new Wilma dresses with my mates gathered round to see the show. "Remember, no need to wear the thongs while you are in our cave," Dieta told them. I admired the flesh for a while myself, but eventually drifted to the table where Erieta was waiting with a mug of coffee for me. Since I didn't see Racaato anywhere I gave her lips a kiss and her ass a feel up under her dress as I took my coffee with my other hand. I sat down to wait for breakfast then. I didn't have long to wait. Soon Shelalliea brought me a plate with a stack of pancakes and several sausage patties. "Surprise, Frank told us how to make pancakes," she said, smiling. "Shelalliea you forgot this, Frank said he would need it with them," Delia said, bringing a large bottle of syrup. "I didn't forget, I thought you might want your ass fondled this morning too," she told Delia, while I was indeed giving her ass a little attention. "You are very thoughtful. I would like his hands on me for a little while at that," Delia agreed. "I think I would also," said Gema, as she brought the butter. I did my best for the three of them and then dug into the pancakes, smearing them with butter and drowning them in the syrup. Georgo and Ladeliea came in to join us then. "What is on schedule for today," Georgo asked, as he sat down with his coffee. "The first thing on your mind should be the wonderful breakfast. When they bring yours I will show you how to eat it," I said. "I think I can probably remember how to eat. It was only yesterday when I did it last," Georgo said, and grinned at me as if it were all a big joke. "You haven't eaten what you'll be having this morning yet and you will do much better if you try my way with it." Just as I'd expected he didn't know shit about how to eat pancakes. How could he? It only took a little instruction to get him started though and then he was raving about them and trying to put the glory on me for the little instruction I gave. "I only showed you how to eat it Georgo. My mates cooked it and they deserve the credit." He switched to praising them over his food then, and then he asked again what we were going to do today, between big mouthfuls of buttery syrupy pancakes and bites of sausage. "More riding lessons I think. The women are catching on and I think this afternoon we will start with lessons on saddling and minor care for the mounts." "Where has Racaato kept himself? I have barely seen him since the others left?" Georgo asked. "He is practicing with the rifle and with the Glock I think. He will be better than I am with them soon. It is good though, since it will mean he can teach the others instead of me. I am growing fond of teaching one or two and then letting them teach the others." "It is the best way, John. You can be planning and deciding on other things while lessons are being given," he said. "When are you going to try to find another shaman to perform the matings for you and your two new mates?" "I will probably go as soon as the others are through with my buckboard. Ladeliea is ready for the mating also," he said. "They may be back with your wagon late today. I think it was going to Caato's camp." "Yes they should be back today, but they may need it for another trip. We will see," Georgo said. I noticed Georgo saw Jareena and Reeana in the kitchen wearing their new clothes just then, it so happened I also saw Racaato coming toward us from the practice cave at the same time. Georgo opened his mouth to speak and I was sure he was about to mention the dresses. I kicked him under the table and when he looked at me open mouthed I spoke up to Racaato. "Shooting already this morning Racaato?" "Yes, I can't seem to get enough of it," he said. "Come and sit for breakfast at least," I said. He joined Georgo and I then, and Erieta brought him some coffee and then Jareena brought him breakfast. He asked what we were eating and I told him. Since Georgo was still shoveling it down I let him explain how to douse the new food with butter and syrup. Racaato lathered up the pancakes and dug in. Georgo gave me a nod of understanding when Racaato focused on his food. "I have done it again, Georgo," I said, as we watched Racaato dig in. "Done what?" "I taught you to eat pancakes and then you showed Racaato how." After breakfast we all headed outside. Racaato joined us for more riding lessons of his own. We were still short of horses which had been trained and after I had someone mounted on every available horse except Red and Bob, I saddled Bob and asked Racaato to do the gate shuffling while I made a try at hazing all the wild horses into the pens. After explaining what I had in mind to Racaato I rode Bob through the open gate in the back fence and into the blind canyons. The wild horses were all more or less gathered together and it didn't take long to get behind them. When I turned Bob toward them they moved away naturally as we approached. Getting them into the large pen was easier than I thought it would be. Once they were shut up there it was only the work of about another forty-five minutes to get them all into one of the training pens. We took a break to let them settle down a little. Later Merita and Maia helped Racaato and I separate out the yearlings and foals. When the young ones were all loose in the bigger pen I opened the gate between the two capture pens and roughly divided the wild horses into two even groups. We broke for lunch then and I was glad of it. After eating it was back to the horses with lariat in hand. Once again it was difficult to rope a horse among the group and work it to a snubbing post. By the time I had a horse tied to all eight snubbing post, my original wagon and Georgo's buckboard along with many loaded travois horses were arriving from their trip. All my wranglers were back, but I saw at once they would be too tired to be of much use to me until tomorrow. I then found out they would be leaving early the next morning for another load. After going to Caato's camp first to unload passengers they had gone to Colonto's camp with the wagon, buckboard, and all travois horses. At the camp they had packed up everything of value and since they had room left they went back by Caato's camp and packed everything they could before returning. Danlo told me they would be able to bring everything back from Caato's camp with this next load and would probably have unused capacity. He didn't feel like he had enough experience to give me a good guess about exactly how many horses he would need though. I told him to leave me a couple of the original travois horses for riding lessons and take all the rest to make sure they could bring everything with one more trip. I left all the horses at the snubbing post and all the other mature ones in the training pens. We called it a day and headed for our homes for food. I was a little worn down myself tonight and after supper and a little banter with my mates we all showered, joined by Jareena, Reeana, Sulieta, and Daleana and then we all dried and piled into the big bed to sleep. I had been asleep for a couple of hours I guess when I found myself in an Argent dream. I was glad because I had something to ask him. "How are you John?" he asked. "I'm fine but curious. Why are there no babies here and why are none of the women pregnant or even menstruating?" I asked, right off the bat. "It is our doing of course. We had been planning this experiment for a couple of years before we contacted you. The women's reproductive cycles have all been, how should I explain it, put on hold would suffice I guess," Argent said. "Why?" "In preparation for your coming. We don't necessarily intend for you to impregnate them all, but we felt things would go more smoothly at first if there were no considerations along those lines. We have made sure none of them will notice and I'm sure you know they haven't. We can initiate the resumption at any time. Are you ready to father some children?" Argent asked. This was a turn of events I hadn't considered. The first question which entered my mind was how long I would be allowed to stay. I didn't want to father a bunch of children and be whisked away after they were born. I decided I needed to ask what my long-term status would be. "How long will you be keeping me here Argent?" "What do you mean John?" he asked. "I mean how long will I be here. I don't want to have children coming and have to leave them. Will I be spending the rest of my life here? You posed this to me as an experiment. How long will it last?" "You may stay here as long as you like John. I can not guarantee we will always stay here watching over you, but if we do leave we can leave you here if it is your wish," he said. "I think it will be my wish, but can you give me any idea of how long you will be here?" "I know we are scheduled to be here watching you for three years. It will mean we will be here for at least two and a half more. Considering the success of the experiment so far, I imagine we will be here longer, though I can not promise it," he said. "If you do leave will I be allowed additional freight before you go?" ------- Chapter 83 "We will give you all the warning we can before we leave, if we are going to leave. We will make every effort to furnish anything you ask for in that case," he said. "Then I think I would like for you to restore the women to fertility. Can you do it for a few at a time or must it be all at once?" "We can do it in any way you choose," he said. "Good, then restore them randomly, three per month." "All of them or just your mates?" He asked. "All of them. Try to make sure at least one of my mates is restored every month, or at least one of the women I am often with." "What about the men?," he asked. "I didn't realize the men had also been manipulated." "Yes, all the men are also firing blanks so to speak," he said. "Excellent, then please do not restore any of the men unless I have already impregnated their mate." "I see. It seems you want at least one child from each woman," he said. "Why not, there is no sense in my being selfish with my genes." "We will take care of it," Argent said, as I drifted out of the dream and back to sleep. I woke snuggled up behind Daleana the next morning. My arm was over her and my hand was resting on a fat firm titty. I began toying with the redhead's nipple and it began swelling almost at once. I let my hand drift down into her bush and began teasing her slit. It moistened almost at once and finally she stirred awake. I kissed on the back of her neck as she began pushing that sweet little round ass back against my boner. When I reached to take hold of Dicky, Daleana raised her top leg a little to give me room for exploration. I didn't need long to find her entrance and I put my cock's knob against it and then pushed. She moaned out loud, pushing herself back toward me. "Oh, it feels so good and so long John, and it's day now too. Hold me tight and push harder," she said. Those were my thoughts exactly and I did my best to comply with her wishes. She felt wonderfully wet and warm inside and her inner muscles danced along my shaft, driving Dicky to distraction. I wondered at once if Argent had removed his lock on Daleana's cycle and if so if she would start where she left off or at ovulation or just where she would be in her cycle if in fact she was one of those restored to fertility. It gave me a different feeling than before and actually excited me even more than previously. As we pumped against each other I wondered if I was about to make my first baby in this time and place, my first ever in fact, since I'd never had children in my old life. I couldn't last long this time and I didn't try. When I felt Daleana's hips lose their rhythm and begin the spastic jerking I let go too and it seemed like I blasted off more completely than I had in a long while. I was truly spent in minutes and I sagged back into the big bed's mattress, panting. Daleana was winded too, but later she turned to face me and kissed me sweetly telling me it had been wonderful. I got out of bed and took a quick shower then and made my way to the table where coffee was forthcoming and breakfast not far behind it. Nadlo, Jonoco, Danlo, and all their mates joined me soon, along with Georgo and Ladeliea. I started first so I finished first and I left for the training pens with a mug of coffee. All the tied horses were where I'd left them and the ground around the snubbing post showed they had tried their best to get away. They didn't look like they felt like trying any more. I didn't release any of them though. I waited until some help appeared. Maia, Merita, and Delia were along in about twenty minutes. With them helping I started showing the trainees how to follow on a lead rope. We worked through the hustle and bustle of the others leaving with the wagons and travois horses. After the third trainee had seen the light and been tied to the fence we took a break to get the riding lessons going. Shelalliea, Dalia, Geera, Jaada, and Dieta took over this chore shortly though and we went back to halter breaking. I finished with the last snubbed mare and then took my lariat and caught four more. When we had the four newbies tied to the post we switched pens and started leading again. We worked at it until lunchtime and then took a break. Things seemed to be going well with the horses. Racaato had been in the practice cave learning and firing all morning, but he appeared at lunch. He told me he thought he was doing well now and I asked if he thought he could get some of my mates started with their rifles. He agreed to try and after we'd eaten Waaya, Winna, Roweea, and Gema joined him in the practice cave while the rest of us went back to the horses. We worked with them for about three hours. I had just tied the newly leading horses to the fence and tied four more to the snubbing post when Raalto and his group came rolling up. It was a good place to stop for the day and I did, going to greet Raalto and check on his progress. When I approached the big wagon Raalto hopped off as Bigglieo took it on to the big cave for unloading. "We did well John, but we will need at least one more trip," he said. "I was sure you wouldn't be able to bring it all in one go." "I was surprised at the amount of things we had, especially skins and furs. We were intending to bring all our huts too but the leader of a camp close to us came to visit and when he learned we were leaving he wanted to trade for them. "I knew they were more useful where they were than they would be if we took them all apart and tried to haul them, so I let him make a deal. We got very many more skins and furs and much food they had gathered. I didn't even think about trading for any dried meat," he said, and laughed. "I'm sure you did the best thing. We still have the remains of Barago's camp's huts and such and probably will never find a good use for them." "It is good I traded then. Have the others been back?" he asked. "Yes, but they left again this morning very early. It is possible they will be back tonight. They brought all of the things from Colonto's camp with the first load and many of the things from Caato's. Danlo said he was sure they would be able to bring everything else with this load." "That is good. If we can take the other wagons with us along with the horses we will be able to bring all the rest with one more trip. "Jakado, the other leader I spoke of will not be back with the rest of our trade goods until tomorrow. It will be best if we wait for the other wagons even if they do not come back until then," Raalto said. "I'm sure you are right. It will be better to wait on them than to make two more trips. You must be hungry, let's go to my cave and see if we can find women cooking." He laughed and we headed that way. It hit me as we were walking that I hadn't said a thing to Argent about Raalto's accommodations. I don't guess it really mattered since he would be making another trip, but I did feel a little absent-minded over it. When we got to my cave there was cooking going on, but no food was ready yet. Racaato was sitting at the table and we joined him. Raalto repeated his news and then Racaato told us he had a good start teaching the women to use their rifles. This was news to Raalto, but he was pleased they would soon be able to shoot also. I told him Reeana and Jareena had begun riding while he was gone and this seemed to please him too. We ate early and were finished before sunset. Raalto went with his mates to help with the unpacking. He had smiled at me when he saw them in their new clothes. I went back to the training pens and led the horses that were tied to the fence, one at a time, to get water and then took them back and let them loose in the smaller pens. By the time I was through the sun had set and I went back to my cave. I figured the others would probably not be back tonight and after a communal bath with my mates and the four newly mated girls we all retired to the big bed where I finally got a sample of Shallea, Shaala, Melieta, and Jaiya. I was inspired again as I thought I might be putting a bun in someone's oven and while I couldn't put a good shot into each of them, even with Argent's improvements to my equipment, I did manage to leave a deposit in every second woman I fucked. I also managed to arrange it so each of the visiting girls got a dose of love potion. I was actually glad that night when Argent came to my dream. We didn't have much to talk about, but he did ask me what I wanted in the way of quarters for Raalto. I asked him to make a place for Raalto and one for Daaggo with the others on this side of the canyon. He said he would be back later before dawn with plans and a virtual tour for me, but I begged off and asked him to just take care of it. We decided to let the new accommodations just appear with no dramatics this time and planned to do it whenever they caught everyone outside tomorrow. I was up and at 'em early the next morning, tugging on and teasing my mates out of bed for a change. They were a little surprised and asked me what I was so happy about. I didn't have an answer, at least not one I wanted to share with them, but I felt good and when my eyes had come open they had snapped open and I was ready for the day somehow. They took it well, and at least Dalia was quick with the coffee. The newly mated stumbled off toward their own quarters and I thought they just might get right back into bed. It didn't matter to me, but I was up and wired for some reason. Probably it was the thinking of babies I might be getting started. After eating I went back down to the training pens. I was only half way through with this bunch and it was only with standing tied and rudimentary leading. I was looking forward to my wranglers getting back. I suppose I should have at least kept Sahto and Talvo here to help me, but I had let them travel to help lead the travois horses. When Maia, Merita, and Delia joined me we got back to trying to teach the tied horses to lead. We ran across another stubborn one who acted basically the same as Bonehead had. She would stand tied, but when I tried to lead her, no amount of persuasion from behind would make her move. I tied her back to the post and went to the next one. If she didn't improve before I had the use of one of the wagons she would just die of thirst. The travelers got back just as I finished the last horse in the first pen. I was ready for a break anyway so we met them. Caato looked like he was tired of riding when he got down off the wagon. "Did you get everything Caato?" "Yes we did. It took longer for us to pack than we expected so we didn't try to come back yesterday. We were up hours before sunrise this morning to get an early start though. We have it all, even most of the huts. I think we can make coverings for all the cave openings with the skins from those huts and it will let us save the bison skins for other things," he said. "It was good thinking. I'm afraid we will need to cover the cave openings before the bison skins are fully ready anyway." "We won't have to worry about it now. We do have to worry about unpacking though," he said. "Let the others take care of it. Come to my cave and let us talk about things first." Waaya brought us coffee as we sat at the table to join Georgo who was already there. Racaato and Raalto came in from the practice cave just then also. "I guess tomorrow will be good enough for you to make your last trip Raalto. I will send all the wagons and most of the horses to make sure you can get everything." "We should have no trouble getting it with all of them. Maybe Caato will come and help us since he has so much experience now," Raalto said. "I will come if you need me, but if you can handle it yourself I will appreciate it. The horses and wagons are wonderful, but I never knew one could get so tired from sitting," Caato said. "I thought as much and I was only joking. We will be able to let you rest from the next trip," Raalto said. Caato looked at him for a minute and realized Raalto had been yanking his chain. He laughed then and told Raalto he would laugh again tomorrow when he was relaxing as Raalto was riding again. "Racaato do you think you will be ready to go to Barbo's camp for some hunting when Raalto and his group are finished with the wagons?" I asked. "I am ready and anxious to go. I believe I have mastered the rifle and am looking forward to trying it on game," he said. "Good." I noticed all my mates had drifted outside, to help with the unloading I assumed. It seemed like a good time to try and get everyone out of the caves so Argent and company could do their thing. I asked them all to come with me to check over the horses so we could make sure they were in good shape after their hard work and also to come and see the progress I'd made with the wild horses. They all agreed and we left. I made a point of inspecting all the horses and wagons. As expected they were all fine so I took my group to see the others and spent some time explaining how the horses were trained. Argent gave me a little tingle during the talking and when I was through we went back toward the big cave. "Raalto I think you should get Reeana and Jareena so I can show you your new chambers." "When did I get new chambers?" he asked. "The spirits have just let me know you have them now." Raalto looked surprised and so did the others except for Georgo. "What would the spirits care of chambers for me?" Raalto asked. "It is best if we do not question the spirits when they give us gifts. Let us just go and admire them," Georgo said, making a payment on his upcoming mates. "You are right of course. I would not question the spirits. I was surprised they would think of me though," Raalto said. "They have been very good to us here. We should all be sure to thank them often," Georgo added. Raalto went to find Jareena and Reeana and he came back with them, all my mates, and Ladeliea. We went into the other caves then and it wasn't hard to find Raalto's new digs. All the other caves had been moved away from mine to allow room for Raalto's place. It was complete with a well-equipped bathroom and a bed, which would obviously hold more than he and his mates. "It seems the spirits are trying to tell you something Raalto," I said. "What is it? Are they angry?" he asked. "I guess it depends on your point of view. It seems to me, from the look of your bed, they are hinting you might need another mate or two," I said. Raalto didn't get a chance to reply since first Reeana and Jareena, and then my mates and Ladeliea agreed with me and then started in on Raalto about another mate. Georgo, Caato, Racaato and I took this chance to sneak off and leave Raalto to his fate. We went back to my table and were not put out in the least that we had to fetch our own coffee. ------- Chapter 84 We were only at the table drinking coffee for a few minutes when my mates and most of the other women from this side of the canyon came in to cook something for lunch. As usual it made me feel better at once. Raalto joined us and Jareena brought him a mug of coffee. "I want to thank you all for abandoning me to my fate with my mates and most of yours also. I especially want to thank you John for pointing out I had plenty of room in my new bed for another mate or two," Raalto said, facetiously. "You are welcome Raalto, after all, what are friends for?" I asked. "You can be sure I will be keeping an eye on your bed from now on, I've been told that it can grow, though I don't understand how. If it does grow you can be sure I will be one of the first to mention it," Raalto said. "As a matter of fact I already have another mate in mind and she has already agreed. I'm also planning a trip for mate hunting. I won't leave until after Racaato has made a dent in my debt to Barbo's camp though," I said. "Where do you plan to go looking for mates John?" Georgo asked. "I do not want to mention it yet, but I think all of you will be surprised." "I have not been here very long, but you seem to have daily surprises already," Colonto said. Conversation died down then since the women began bringing our lunch. I was glad for an end to the talk I had started. It had just slipped out somehow. I did intend to make a trip to the camp of the other people in search of a mate from among them, but I hadn't meant to tell everyone else about it. I don't think I had even mentioned it to my mates yet. After we ate everyone dispersed to help with the unpacking. My mates were anxious to help Reeana and Jareena bring all their things to the new quarters. My wranglers were back now and since they weren't really needed to help unload I took them to the pens with me to continue with the training. We were able to get all the horses which would stand tied to lead, even Rockhead, the one who had balked earlier. The thirst must have been bothering her and when she finally figured out I was leading the others for a drink she gave up and followed me. Time passed fast while we were working and sunset was upon us as I got the last of eight more mares tied to the snubbing post. We left all the others who had already had the training tied to the fence and then opened the gates to let the foals back in. I'm sure they felt they were being deprived during their time away from their mother's teats. We left afterward and went looking for food. After eating it was a short night and I was happy to find a place among my mates for some rest. The next morning, after breakfast, all our attention focused on helping Raalto's group get started on their trip. I kept Danlo here this time, but sent Sahto, Talvo, Nadlo, and Jonoco on the journey. Danlo had wanted to go, but I thought he needed more work training the horses. Raalto would have been all right without Nadlo and Jonoco too, but I had plans for Melieta and Jaiya. I told myself it wasn't because Nadlo had tried his stunt with Jaada, but it was probably part of it. Another part of it was Melieta seemed to really appreciate my attentions in bed and I knew I liked her pussy. She was doing her best to learn the fine art of cocksucking too. I would have to try and figure out a little trip to include Nadlo and Natalto, so I could have Cahttiea available to teach Melieta some of her expert techniques. Cahttiea gave by far the best blowjob I'd ever had. Raalto had left Jareena and Reeana here again so I was looking forward to the night's fun and games when they joined my mates, Melieta, Jaiya, and I. Their naked asses had looked especially good under their Wilma dresses this morning and my dick had been hard since Jareena rubbed hers against me when she brought me my coffee. After Raalto had gone the riding lessons for the women were on again and once we had them started Danlo and I got back to it with the wild horses. Everyone kept at it all day, except for a small break for lunch. Later in the afternoon Dieta, Maia, and Merita were even able to get started teaching some of the men to ride. Supper was a treat tonight since it started early. Most of the men who usually ate with me were still riding since I had left the finishing up for Danlo. Jareena, Melieta, and Reeana seemed to be the designated servers for me and when they brought me something they didn't hurry off before I got a chance to examine their asses and other nether areas using the Braille system. Dicky was throbbing alarmingly before the other men even came in to eat. After the meal, when I was alone with my mates and our overnight guests, I suggested another good soaking in the hot tub. "Good, will you wash our hair for us again?" Jareena asked. "I want my hair washed this time too, the last time you washed my hair I was still unmated." Melieta said. "Me too, I want to get the full treatment this time." Jaiya added. "Do you remember what almost happened when you washed my hair before?" Melieta asked. "I remember. Why do you ask?" I asked her, recalling how she had nearly settled in for an assfucking last time. "I was thinking I might want to try it again. You told me it might hurt, but it didn't feel bad the time before," Melieta said. "Yes, but we didn't really do it," I said. "I still think I would like to try it. Can we try?" she asked. "If you want to we can." It was all I had time to say. The others, all except for Jaiya, who knew what we were talking about, burst into questions for Melieta. She was embarrassed immediately and blushed crimson. I headed toward the bathroom and called over my shoulder they were wasting time asking and could see for themselves soon enough if they would just come on. I made sure to get some lube before I entered the big tub. My mates joined me and soon we were groping anything we could reach. I pulled Melieta into my lap and after getting her hair wet I put shampoo in it and started on the lathering. Jareena and Reeana came over and tried their hands in the soapy lather as I put mine to teasing Melieta's titties and playing in her bush. She was squirming and wiggling against my hard dick after only a few minutes. "I am ready to try it now, John," she said. "Then put your hands on the side and kneel with your butt toward me." "We didn't do it that way last time," she said. "Do it Melieta, you will like it and we will be able to see what this surprise is," Geera said, encouraging her. Melieta assumed the position and I got the lube. I eased up behind Melieta and pressed my dick to her pussy's entrance, sliding it home slowly. "That isn't it, John," Melieta said, moaning. "Patience little one. It will come soon enough," I told her, taking time to begin stroking. I took a big glob of lube and worked it into the split between her cute buns. She shivered when I began teasing her rosebud with a slippery finger and she gasped slightly as I pressed a finger into her ass. I pushed it further and then matched the rhythm of my fucking. This action heated her considerably and it was working wonders on Dieta too. She had her face nearly up against Melieta's ass for a bird's eye view. "Oh. He is going to fuck her other hole," Dieta said, loudly. Her announcement brought comments from all the others and they gathered around to examine the process. "Won't it hurt?" Jaada asked. "I don't know. I will try to be as gentle as I can, but it still might hurt at first. Be sure to tell me if you want me to stop Melieta," I said. "If it hurts I will tell you, but I am ready for you to try it now." Melieta said. I pulled Dicky out of her warm pussy and pressed his head against her asshole. She sucked in a breath as I put pressure against it and I held still. "It feels so big, but it doesn't hurt yet. Go ahead," Melieta said. I pushed more firmly and the head popped inside her sphincter. She gasped again and I held still with my dick throbbing unmercifully. The view I had was maddening. I wanted to just shove it in with all my strength, but I didn't dare. "I feel so stretched back there, but it still doesn't hurt." I pushed harder and began to slide in slowly then I felt Melieta begin pushing back against me. I pulled back and pressed again and the tight friction gave me a thrill. She still wasn't complaining so I started a slow shallow stroking, pressing a little more firmly each time and my dick began to burrow deeper and deeper into her sweet ass. "It doesn't hurt me John, it is starting to feel good even," Melieta sighed. Emboldened I pressed it to her harder and she pushed back against me more firmly each time. "It doesn't hurt. It feels good now. Do it harder," Melieta said, whimpering now. "You told me you were going to do that to me too. It looks better than it sounded," Dieta whispered, low in her throat. Always easy to arouse, Dieta couldn't resist joining in. She pulled Melieta's head up by a handful of her wet hair and kissed her lips fiercely. Then she released Melieta's hair and moved her lips to the hollow of Melieta's throat and began fondling her wildly swinging titties. All this action was getting to me also and I began to pump Melieta's asshole forcefully now. Since I now knew I was firing real ammo I wanted to save it for the next pussy I was in, just in case. There was no chance for it though. I felt the tingling start under my balls as I pounded harder. The end was coming soon, so I gave Melieta's clitty a reach around and slid a finger up into her empty pussy too. I yelled out as my come started and Melieta moaned as she hit her peak. The others were all crowding around now, reaching in for a fondle here or a kiss and nibble there while I slowed my stroking and began to pant for breath. Seemed my first ass fuck in this time and place had been a big success. Just like with any good thing they all wanted one now. Shit, I had to rest a minute. After withdrawing a shrinking dick I sat back down to let the bubble jets provide a little soothing. When Melieta rose I reached and pulled her to me, sitting her in my lap to kiss and cuddle her and tell her how good it was for me. "I loved it. It seemed so wrong, but it felt right, it was wonderful," she told me, as she still panted. Later as I got my wind back they were all vying for the next ride. Even with Argent's modifications to my dick I knew I couldn't give them all a good ass fucking tonight. I made sure those who might be headed for their own beds tomorrow night got the chance they all wanted. Surprisingly it didn't turn out to be a chore. No matter how worked up or worn out I got the sight of another beautiful round ass pointed at me and wiggling seemed to bring Dicky back to life every time. I was tired by the time we called it quits though. It had all been worth it since my mates and the others were very solicitous of my welfare when we headed to bed. I got plenty of kissing and cuddling as we settled down to sleep. ------- Chapter 85 I don't know why, but I woke probably two hours before sunrise. Somehow I was able to get out of the bed without rousing anyone else. I crept into the bathroom and took a quick shower then dried and dressed and made my own coffee for once. My only company while I sat and drank the first mug came from Prince, King, and Rover. It was a little funny I had made it such a priority to capture them when I first came here, but now Maia and Merita were looking after them and the younger wolves I'd caught later and I didn't really have much time for my substitute dogs. They were doing exactly what I'd hoped they would though. We were never bothered by pesky varmints. I guess just having the wolves staying with us, exploring all around and pissing on everything which smelled interesting kept the animal sneak thieves away. Being alone for a change let my mind wander a little and I started thinking of the situation I found myself in. It really was a wonderful life. Not like the old movie, but even better. There were no problems in the world or no big ones. I was master of my fate and it had turned out I was master of the fates of many. The advantages given to me by Argent and company were a big part of it and the knowledge I had which those around me would never know made me more able to take care of them and myself. It wasn't they lacked intelligence, what they lacked was the benefit of thousands of years of accumulated wisdom. The intelligence and the trial and error of millions who came after them and before me gave me advantages no single man born in this time and place could ever gain. Did I feel guilty, was I taking advantage of the situation. No, I didn't feel guilty and yes I was taking advantage. If I was hurting anyone in the process I didn't know about it. I thought I was being fair in my dealings with my people and I believed what I was doing was helping them. When it came down to it though, I didn't really have a choice in the matter. My last real decision had been to let Argent put me here instead of letting cancer put me in the ground to push up daisies or whatever dead people had to do. It was enough of that kind of thinking for me. I refilled my mug and walked outside with the wolves following me. They lost interest in my company when we got outside and occupied themselves sniffing of and pissing on every bush or tree which caught their interest while I headed toward the horses. Approaching the pens I heard some of the horses snort as they picked up my smell or heard my footsteps. When I came into sight I could see their eyes following my movement. Those who had been trained and worked already didn't pay much attention to me. The ones who were in the process of being trained kept watchful eyes on me though. Perhaps they were wondering what new indignity I would heap on them today. Aside from the few soft noises they made it was quiet outside. The sky was clear and though I was no astronomer I could easily tell the difference between the night sky now and the one from my time. I didn't know shit about what star was where, but it was easy to see the difference in clarity of the view. Thousands of years of smoke and fumes really had obscured it in my old life. When it came down to the facts of my situation I was a hell of a lot better off here than I had been way back when. I got an odd feeling and then Argent appeared near me. It surprised me because it was the first time I'd seen him in person since just before they put me here. "Hello John." "Hello. I woke up very early and decided to take a look around while everything was peaceful," I said. "It is very different from the life you left isn't it?" he asked. "Yes, different - and better for me. I like my life here much better than the one I left." "Good, we had hoped you would," he said. "I don't suppose you dropped in to tell me what this is all about did you?" "No. Does it really matter so much to you?" Argent asked. "Not anymore. I thought it did at first, but now I don't think it does. I like it here no matter the reason. I hope you are gaining something from the experiment, I know I am." "It is more than we could have ever hoped for. Just continue with your life here and do as you see fit. We are more than pleased," He assured me, and then disappeared. I didn't want to get started speculating about the reason for all this. It really didn't matter to me anymore, but I would be mad as hell if some gotcha showed up later. I went back to my cave and found Dalia and Shelalliea cooking. "Where have you been John?" Dalia asked. "Just out looking around. It is very quiet and peaceful before anyone else is up." "We were worried you might have gone away," Shelalliea said. "I will never leave you if I have any say in the matter," I assured them. "You are not angry because you had to make your own coffee or wait for your breakfast?" Dalia asked. "Not a bit. I don't expect everyone to wait on me hand and foot. I don't mind when you do, but I don't demand it. I will never be angry for waiting on my breakfast, I will always just be grateful when it comes." "Well be grateful then because here it is," Shelalliea said, as she brought my plate and Dalia brought more coffee. "I am grateful for the food, I am grateful for the coffee, and I am grateful for two beautiful asses to feel when it comes to me," I said, as I gave each of their asses a little grope. I ate slowly and I seemed to be in an odd mood, almost as if what I did didn't matter. It seemed that everything went my way now no matter what I got up too. In fact everything had gone pretty smoothly for me since I got here. Well except for Gigo and Dergo getting killed. That hadn't seemed like such a good deal at the time. It had given me four more mates and I had to admit I liked their company more than I had enjoyed Gigo and Dergo. Maybe I just needed more coffee to perk me up. Georgo and Ladeliea came in then. "What has you up and about so early Georgo?" "I don't really know. I woke up about an hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep. I feel a little guilty since my tossing and turning woke Ladeliea," he said. "You aren't nervous about getting two more mates are you?" "No, it isn't that. It may be I am anxious to be mated to them. I know Ladeliea is," he said. "You should be able to leave to seek one of the other shaman tomorrow, or the next day at least." "It will probably be the next day. I doubt Raalto and his group will be back today," he said. "You are probably right. It seems as if someone or group is off somewhere all the time now. I hope we can settle down soon." "Things have been busy. I will probably be gone three or four days when I leave. How long is Racaato going to stay with Barbo's camp?" he asked. "Actually he could be gone only one night. It depends on how many bison Barbo's camp can deal with at one time. I am going to ask him to stay and hunt for them as long as it is productive though. Maybe he'll just get a few the first day so they can see what it involves having so many kills to deal with at once." "That would probably be best. If I know Racaato he will want to make all the kills he can," Georgo said. Our talk died down then since Ladeliea brought him his plate. The sun was just peaking out now so I went back toward the horse pens. I was hoping to be mostly through with the new bunch today, through with teaching them to lead that is. Gentling them and starting to ride them would come next, but it would take a lot longer. I had some ideas about a mass production approach to that chore too. It would require all my wranglers to do it though. Hopefully the others would be back by tomorrow at the latest. I spent the day with the horses. With the help of Danlo, Merita, Maia, and Delia we had all of them leading, after a fashion, before sunset. As Georgo had predicted Raalto's group did not make it back. When we turned all the horses loose for the night I realized there were worse fates than having Reeana and Jareena join me for another night. After supper was finished and the dishwashers were fed, my mates, our guests and I went directly to bed. They all seemed too anxious for the butt fucking to resume to spend any time in the hot tub. I was up early again the next morning too, but not as early as yesterday. Dalia, Gema, and Melieta were up cooking before me, but the rest were still sleeping as I got up. I went over to give the cooks a good kissing and got a mug of hot coffee in return. My breakfast wasn't far behind and I had finished and headed to the horse pens before anyone else got up. I just walked around looking over our horses at first. We had let them all loose last night and I would need some help catching them again. They came down soon enough. We only caught six of the newly trained mares at first. We drove them into a smaller pen and I had to rope them before we could get a lead rope on them. We had left the halters on them so it wasn't a big chore. We each took one mare and spent about an hour leading them around, stopping and starting and getting them accustomed to being handled. We tied the first bunch to the fence after the hour or so of work and caught a new group. We repeated the original process and got another new group after another hour. Two more rounds brought us up to lunchtime and I was happy for the break. Raalto and his group made it back just after we finished lunch. Most everyone put off other things to help them unload. Raalto came to my cave to get something to eat and I sat with him. "How was the trip Raalto?" "It went well. Jakado was there with the things we'd traded for and some of his camp were already moving in. I was surprised to learn his camp had grown quite a bit. I think it may actually be bigger than my camp. In fact some men were putting up huts in addition to those they traded for," Raalto said. "It is strange we hadn't heard of the camp's growth." Georgo joined us then and Raalto repeated what he'd said about the size of Jakado's camp. Of course Georgo couldn't let us think he hadn't known about it. "I knew his camp was growing, but I didn't know it had grown so much. I have heard rumors Jakado has devised a new way of hunting which is much better," Georgo said. "Now that you mention it none of his men seemed to have spears like we have always used. They had spears, but they were much smaller than normal. They also had some type of thin club they all were carrying," Raalto said. "It is probably a spear caster," I said. "What is that?" Georgo asked. "It is a piece of wood used to throw the spear faster and farther. They are an improvement over a spear cast by hand, but they are not nearly as useful as a bow and arrows and certainly not as good as the rifles. "They are a big advantage over a normal spear though. For one thing you can carry more spears more easily and you can cast them farther," I explained. "It is probably how he has attracted others to his camp then. Hunting is probably easier with the weapon," Raalto said. "I'm sure it is. Do you know Jakado well?" I asked. "I don't think I could say I know him well. I have known him a long time, but we have never been close. He is a little bossy for my taste and I never tried to know him well," Raalto said. "I also have known him for a long time and I consider him too bossy myself. I usually let other shaman visit his camp. I do not seem to be able to get along with him," Georgo told us. "At least he is a long way from here and we won't have to worry about getting along with him," Raalto said. "Yes, if he bothers anyone it will be Barbo's camp. Barbo is the nearest to him," Georgo added. "We will hope he minds his manners. Maybe Racaato can tell us more after he returns from his hunting," I said. ------- Chapter 86 I went back to the horses after lunch. Raalto left the unloading to others and came to join me. I spent quite a while explaining what we were doing and why and Raalto seemed to catch on quickly. When we got the next group I caught one for him to work with also. By the end of the day all the wild horses were leading pretty well except the stallion. I hadn't even caught him for his snubbing yet. I felt he would be the most troublesome so I had just skipped him. He was in the pen at the end of the day and so I roped him and after winding him up around a post I left him to spend the night learning he couldn't get away. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kateata among the cooks as I came to my cave for supper. After supper I was pleased again when I saw she would be spending the night with us. She teased me about ignoring her while I'd had so many other guests so I was quick to catch her up on the wonders of an ass fuck. It was quite a surprise for her since she hadn't heard anything about it yet and she required much restraint at first and I'm not sure her moaning and wailing was all a sham. She did see the wisdom of my ways before it was over though. I had to make sure to be up early the next morning because I wanted to talk to Racaato before he left. I warned him again to make sure no one tried to take advantage of him and to do his best to keep the secret of the rifle from anyone at Barbo's camp. Raalto joined us just before Racaato left and warned him to also keep an eye out for Jakado or others from Jakado's camp. Racaato told us he would be alert to anything he could learn and finally left with my original wagon pulled by two of the Clydesdales and leading Bonehead in case he needed to do any riding while he was gone. The rest of us settled down to horse training and riding lessons for the day. After supper that night I took my mates, Kateata, Raalto, Jareena, and Reeana to the practice cave for a couple of hours of Glock lessons. Something was nagging at me and telling me they needed to get started with the sidearm. I lay slugabed the next morning for an extra hour at least. My bed was empty except for Erieta and Failiela who were visiting since Racaato was away. I have to admit I was beginning to get a little conscience attack about Failiela. I fought it off telling myself I was going to mate her as soon as she was a woman and bolstering my rationalization with the fact her mother didn't see anything wrong with it. After eating breakfast I sent Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo to work with the horses telling them to make sure Talvo and Sahto joined them. I took my mates, Erieta, and Failiela back to the practice cave for more Glock work and Raalto, Jareena, Reeana, Barago, and Britta joined us. We worked with the pistols until lunchtime and went back to them after eating. We were still going when Danlo came sprinting in from outside. "John, Racaato is coming back on Bonehead. He is galloping toward camp. I came to get you as soon as we saw him," Danlo told me, between breaths. I headed outside at once, wondering what could be wrong. When I was out of my cave I could see Racaato coming. He was just passing the horse pens and didn't slow down. He pulled up and dismounted just as he reached me. "What has happened Racaato?" I asked. "Barbo was mauled savagely by a cave lion and is near death - his second man, Bowto, is hurt badly also and needs help for his wounds. I rushed here as soon as it happened. Jara is taking over the camp for now and she asked for you to come if you could. I think there is a woman from Raalto's camp who is very good with wounds," Racaato blurted out, all at once. Raalto had come outside with me, as had everyone else. Daaggo had also heard the ruckus and come to us. "I will find Jalayla and bring her," Daaggo said, and left again. "Jalayla is very good with the wounded," Raalto said. "But what happened Racaato?" I asked. "It was during my first hunt. We had agreed I would go kill the bison and then they would come to help me load them into the wagon. Barbo understood he was not to watch me kill them. Just as I had killed the second bison I noticed movement about five hundred yards to the west. "It was a hunting pride of cave lions. They were attacking something, but it wasn't bison. Then I heard a man scream. I turned and shot one of the lions then and shortly took a shot at another. This confused them and the other three left. I shot one more as they were trotting off and then the other two ran away. "I went toward the spot, but dared not run for fear there might be more lions. When I reached the place Barbo looked dead, but he wasn't quite. Bowto was mauled badly and bleeding. I did what I could to stop the bleeding and began calling to the others to come and help me. When they got there I fetched the wagon and we loaded Bowto and Barbo in it and returned to camp." "Danlo catch and saddle Red, Ben, Bob, Sally, and Jane. Raalto, Racaato, Danlo, Dieta, and Jalayla can go with me and see if we can help. I hope Jalayla has already done some riding." "She has," Raalto said. "I think we should go quickly," I said. "Yes, but I think one more should go with us - Jonoco or Nadlo I think. In case we need to send someone back with a message," Raalto said. "You are right Raalto. Jonoco will come with us and we will tell Nadlo to be ready here in case they need to send us a message," I said. We were mounted and leaving within thirty minutes. We didn't bother with food or furs. The only thing I insisted on was everyone brought their firearms. This left Jonoco and Danlo out since they hadn't had any training at all yet. It didn't leave Dieta out though. I saw she had no trouble figuring out the saddle holster for her rifle and she had her Glock in it's cross draw holster. I wasn't really expecting any fighting difficulties along the way, but I didn't intend to be caught short by an ugly surprise. Jalayla said she could ride a gallop and so we started with one. It wasn't a dead run, but it was a ground eater. I slowed to a walk every fifteen minutes to let the mounts get a blow. Red didn't need it and I don't think the others did either. At first I was worried Bonehead, who had already made the trip once today, would lag behind, but she seemed fine. It was better to be sure than to ride a horse to death though. We were at Barbo's camp in three hours. We did find quite a surprise. Two men I had never seen were waiting for us about two hundred yards out from the camp. I saw at once what Raalto had talked about. They had what I assumed were spearcasters on their arms. They motioned for us to stop and we did, dismounting. "Who are you?" One of them asked me. "I am John, I have come to see Jara and I have brought a woman to help Bowto and Barbo with their wounds," I said. "You are not needed or wanted here. Go back," he said. "Who are you to tell me what to do?" "I am Chargo and my spearcaster is telling you to leave," he said, putting a small spear in the device. I didn't argue - I just let my Glock tell him he had made a mistake. I turned it on the other one who hadn't spoken yet. "Do you want to die with him or will you throw down your spearcaster?" I guess he was lonesome for his friend already. The Glock let them be together again. I turned to Racaato and told him to get his M1 ready for action. Others were approaching us now and I saw the two at the head of the crowd also carried spearcasters. I told the others to stay back and I approached them with my Glock still in my hand. I saw Racaato was moving off to the right and I hoped he was trying to get position so he could fire at the two in the lead without endangering those following them. Without preamble one of the next two flung a spear at me from about a hundred and fifty feet. I saw his aim was good and I took the spear right in the chest. The mail did its job, but the fucker did hurt. I assume it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the shot Racaato gave the asshole though. I kept walking as he fell. The other one dropped his weapon when he saw me keep walking even after the spear struck me. "They have taken Jara to their camp!" said a woman I had seen at my camp as she came running toward me. The one who had dropped his weapon must have forgotten his situation already since he raised a hand to strike her. It dropped harmlessly with the rest of his dead body as Racaato showed me he was paying attention. "When did they leave?" I asked the startled woman. "Not more than twenty minutes ago," she told me. "Raalto please take over here. Racaato and I will go for Jara." "How many are taking Jara?" Dieta asked the woman. "Three of them. They are going back to their new camp," the woman told us. "I want to come too, John. If we can capture one alive I would like to make him tell us their plans," Dieta said. I thought about it for a moment. I worried Dieta might be in danger if she went, but I knew if we could get one of them alive he would be in much more danger. "Good Dieta. I think I would like some information." Raalto looked at me and then smiled. I am glad I am not at that camp anymore, he seemed to be saying. We mounted up and left at a trot. There was no way they could escape us with so short a lead and I wanted to be able to talk for a moment. We discussed it and Racaato said they were almost surely going directly back to their camp. He thought once we found them we should circle around them and get between them and the camp. I liked the idea and we eased into a slow lope. I'm sure they had no inkling anyone could be coming for them and no conception of how fast a horse could cover the ground. Hell, what was I thinking, they probably had no idea we were even using horses. We had them in sight in ten minutes and even riding very wide to avoid notice we were between them and their destination in ten more. We dismounted and tried to spot them through our riflescopes. I had the low light goggles with me and could see them easily, but couldn't pick them up in the rifle's scope. Racaato said he thought he could see them and felt when they were closer he would be able to see well enough to take a shot. "Do you think you can hit one of them in the leg?" I asked. "If they get closer without seeing us I'm sure of it." "Very well. Do it, if you can get another in the leg after the first one falls do that also. Be sure not to endanger Jara," I said. "I will make it my first priority. I would not like to injure my leaders next new mate," Racaato said, and I was glad he was at least calm enough to joke about it. I hadn't even considered it yet, but when he mentioned it I knew it was already decided if Barbo died. I took a moment to say a prayer for him. With Barbo near death and his second man badly injured there was no other feasible scenario except for the camp to join ours. Except of course for the chance they might join Jakado's camp. I was pretty sure this option had already been rejected, since they seemed to be hauling Jara off against her will. If she was going willingly, three men were about to pay the price for my mistaken grasp of the situation. ------- Chapter 87 Racaato's rifle cracked and destroyed the stillness of the night. A scream from those approaching helped add to their confusion. I was observing with the goggles and saw the party halt. Racaato fired again and the scream this time was even louder. "You, standing beside Jara, if you do not want to die, lay down on your face with your arms out in front of you," I said, yelling it to him as I started their way. In a surprising moment of lucid deduction he did it. I doubt he would have if he'd known Dieta would soon be presiding over his torture. We all approached then and Jara rushed into my arms when we drew near, but I hugged her to me with my left arm while keeping my Glock pointed in the direction of the men on the ground. "Dieta, tie the hands of the one who wasn't shot. Jara, let us see if we can stop the bleeding of the other two," I said. "Why. We should just kill them and the one you didn't shoot also. They dragged me from my camp after Barbo was killed. They say they are taking over my camp," Jara said, and was almost screeching from her anger. "They are not taking over your camp no matter what they think. We will probably kill them soon. Barbo was not dead when we left your camp and Jalayla was going to see about him. We want these to live for a while because Dieta thinks she can make them tell us their plans. We will need to keep them alive long enough for her attentions." "Oh, I see. In that case we should hurry. Maybe Dieta will let me help her," Jara said, and her mood had changed at once. She dropped to her knees to look at the wound of the first one Racaato had shot. It was apparent she didn't know anything about using pressure to stop the blood flow. She did understand a tourniquet though, and she didn't waste any time applying one just above the man's ruined knee. I turned to see how Racaato was doing with the other one. "I must have pulled the shot too high for this one. It entered his thigh and he is bleeding much more than the other one. I tied a thong around his leg above the wound, but I don't think it is helping," Racaato said. "It doesn't matter. We have two alive - surely we can get one to talk. If not I'm sure Dieta can at least make them scream for a while," I said, making sure it was loud enough for the men to hear. I didn't really relish torturing them, but there were no rules of warfare in this time. I had seen from the way they'd acted so far they would have done the same or worse. Just then I thought I heard a voice yelling from a long distance. I called for quiet and we all listened, but didn't hear anything. Racaato had been right in his diagnosis. His guy died pretty quickly. Dieta and Jara had the bleeding stopped for the other one, but I saw they didn't intend to let the pressure off the tourniquet periodically. They had tied the rawhide cord off with a knot that could only be untied with a knife. It didn't really matter, since Racaato's shot had destroyed the knee. He probably wouldn't be any better off with a dragging leg than he would be with a missing leg. I decided I should clue them in though, in case it ever came up with reference to one of my legs. I explained about the blood's circulation, which was a revelation to them, and then we released the tourniquet and put on another one which could be tightened or loosened with a stick wound up in it. He bled some more when we released it, but not nearly as much as he had at first. Jara claimed she could take care of him well enough if Dieta wanted to get started trying to convince the other one to talk. Dieta outdid herself almost at once with the other man. She pulled out the drop point hunter I had given her, placed the point firmly in his ear and told him if he didn't tell us everything he knew about today's goings on pretty quickly she was going to start pushing and twisting on the knife. No wonder it worked on him. It made my asshole draw up and want a dip of snuff, and she wasn't even mad at me. We soon knew this had been pretty much a target of opportunity type thing. Jakado had sent the seven men out just to take a look at Barbo and his camp's situation. When they arrived and found Barbo was terribly wounded they made their own decision to take over. They'd learned Racaato had raced off to get help and posted the two sentries to send us back. The one on the ground had no idea we'd already disposed of all those he left at Barbo's camp. He was shocked when Dieta told him he and the one who was shot in the knee were the only two left alive. "What will you do with me now?" he asked. "It will be Jara's decision. What do you think she'll do with you? You came to her camp while her mate and his second were badly wounded from cave lions and instead of helping, you captured her and tried to take over her camp. I'm guessing she is going to want you dead, but she might find a use for you cleaning up after our horses or something," I said. "If we need help so bad cleaning up after the horses I will do it myself. Let's just kill him and be done with it. If we keep him around we will have to watch him always," Jara said, sharing her feelings on the matter with us, loudly. "I suppose you are right. He has already demonstrated he doesn't mind kidnapping women. What do you say Dieta, what are your thoughts on the treatment he should receive." "I would like to see how much of his worthless skin I can get off of him before he dies," Dieta said. So much for the kindness of the fairer sex. It seemed the tender feelings were not to be extended to men who kidnapped women. I wasn't ready to kill him yet though. I didn't intend to do it myself anyway, since he might have a mate and I damned sure wasn't interested in gaining another one tonight. I wasn't sure where the duty would lie if Dieta killed him and since I was pretty sure Jara would be joining me in my bed after all this I didn't want to chance letting her kill him either. I decided there was no time like the present to get things sorted out. "Dieta, will you ask your new friend which of the other men we met tonight had mates? We might as well start planning for what tomorrow will bring," I said. "What about it my precious, were any of you mated." Dieta asked him, sweetly as she gave the knife in his ear a little twist. He rattled off some names and we finally figured out the two I shot at first were the only ones who weren't mated. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well Racaato, it looks like you have made a large addition to your family tonight. I'm not sure I want to be there when Erieta learns she is now the first of four mates - from the looks of the one on the ground she may be the first of five before long," I said, trying not to laugh. "We will get by. I do think it was a little unfair of you to shoot the only two who were unmated though," he said, and I could tell he thought it was funny too. "You may all laugh at us now and I'm sure you intend to kill the two of us who are left alive, but Jakado will take our revenge on you. He will not let you live to collect your new mates," Dieta's captive said. I had to shout at Dieta to keep her from cutting his throat for the outburst. She got up though and I asked her, Jara, and Racaato to step away from the two on the ground for a few minutes. "We need to keep the one who isn't wounded alive so we can send him back to his camp tomorrow. It is possible when Jakado discovers what happened he will submit to sending the women out to us," I said. "We can try it, but we had better have our rifles aimed at him while we watch for what happens. I do not know much about Jakado, but I do not like what I do know," Racaato said. "We will ask Raalto about the best place to observe the camp from when we send this one back. We can wait and see what happens," I said. "But there are many in the camp and there are only a few of us," Racaato said. "Will they keep coming after their leader and others drop dead while approaching wanting a fight?" I asked. "I don't think they will if their leader is killed. He is the worst of them and I didn't really think he was so vicious before. Maybe this new weapon has made him think he can not be harmed," Racaato said, speculating no doubt. "He will be in for a surprise tomorrow then. But we do not know what he will do. He didn't send this group out to take over Barbo and Jara's camp. We can always hope this fool on the ground overstepped his authority," I said. "We can hope," Racaato said. We all heard the yell this time. I couldn't understand what was said, but I did recognize Raalto's voice. Racaato yelled back and soon Raalto came driving up with the wagon. "I decided to bring the wagon in case someone was wounded and needed to be carried back," he told us, as he approached. I took a few minutes to explain what was going on to him. "Racaato is right. Jakado is changed with his new weapon and it is strange. He didn't think of it himself, one of his men did. It has made him think he is to be the ruler of everyone near him. We must be very careful when we go for Racaato's new mates," Raalto said. "From the sound of it he won't be the only one with new mates after tomorrow," I said. "I will do my part and be glad to. I do think it is your duty to shoot Jakado though, unless Racaato wants to. I do not want to be the death of him," Raalto said. "Nor I," Racaato said, seemingly seconding Raalto's motion. "I do not want to kill him either. Do you think we can talk to him and solve this peacefully?" I asked, hopefully. "I don't and even if we get out peacefully tomorrow we will have to make sure to keep aware of Jakado's movements afterward. We will be much safer if he dies tomorrow since we have had to kill members of his camp today. I just do not want to deal with his mate as one of mine," Raalto admitted. "Neither do I. I have gained more mates today than I ever thought of having. I am sure I have more than enough for a while," Racaato said. I could see Dieta was grinning and if I wasn't mistaken Jara was also. I couldn't figure out what was going on and I began to wonder if Jakado's mate was bone ugly. "Is his mate so unattractive other men will not kill him to keep away from her," I asked, finally. "Oh no, she isn't. Ameliea is beautiful, very beautiful. She is clever also, but I have heard she is a handful. How can I say this? She is a very demanding woman and is accustomed to getting her way," Racaato said. "I don't want to say I fear a woman, but I am not afraid to say I would just as soon pass up the honor of having Ameliea for one of my mates, no matter how beautiful she is," Raalto said. "What do you say Dieta, will Ameliea cause discord in our home?" I asked. "If she causes trouble it will not be for very long," Dieta said, quickly, surprising us. I glanced down at the man Dieta had been interrogating and thought to myself she was probably correct. Even if none of my other mates could show Ameliea the advantage of cooperation I was absolutely certain Dieta could introduce her to the concept. "Dieta, I want you to promise me right now, if you find it necessary to discipline any mate I might acquire tomorrow you will make sure not to leave any scars on her," I said. "If you insist my mate, it shall be. It will make it harder if she is recalcitrant though," Dieta said. "Take heart Dieta, she may give you a chance to find out what a spanking is." "I had forgotten. Do you think she will need a spanking?" Dieta asked, slightly excited. "From the way Raalto and Racaato are talking she may very well need one." "I will not bother her then. I will let her make her own punishment," Dieta said, grinning now, and she took Jara aside for further consultation. "I guess it is decided then. If they want to cause trouble tomorrow I will kill Jakado first and then you two will join in as needed," I said, to Racaato and Raalto. "It will be best. I do intend to give Raalto the first shot or two though. I may have acquired my quota of mates already," Racaato said. "Well, I am going to try and let you two take care of any who keep coming after Jakado falls. We all know I have enough mates to tide me over for a while," I said, and we all laughed. ------- Chapter 88 We stripped the clothes and other things of value off the dead man and loaded the wounded and the bound prisoners into the wagon before setting off for Barbo and Jara's camp. When we arrived things had mostly calmed down, but the camp became excited again when they saw Jara was with us, and safe. There was a mini-commotion when they discovered we weren't going to kill the other two right away. I explained we would need the one who was still able to walk for our meeting with Jakado's camp. This seemed to make things right for them, but most of them still wondered why we couldn't kill the wounded one now. Jalayla had done a wonderful job on Bowto, but she hadn't done much for Barbo, even though she had him spread out on furs outside, beside Bowto. "I didn't know what to do about Barbo's wounds. Those across his abdomen and around his chest are not into his insides, but they are close, and I was afraid to wrap them in case it might make them festered. "I wonder that he is even still alive. He has lost so much blood hardly any was coming from his wounds when I got to him." I was surprised he was still living myself. He had large claw rips across his stomach, ribs, and both his legs were torn open badly. There was also a large bite at the top of one shoulder where it joined his neck. I checked his pulse and though it was weak it was still regular. I knew good and well Argent and company had to have done something for him. For once I wasn't upset with them for pulling a trick on me. I would wait until I was asleep and hope for more information. Meanwhile, Jara was by his side at once, and even though he was obviously not with us at the moment, she was kissing around on the uninjured parts of his face and body. She caused a little commotion herself then, calling for men to take him into their hut and for furs to cover him. I could see Jalayla wanted to speak up, but didn't, so I had to. "Jara. Do not move Barbo and do not cover him. Moving him so soon will only open his wounds and if he is cold now he will be much too warm later. "Covering him with furs will likely make his wounds fester," I said, and nearly shuddered at the thought of what would come off any furs he was covered with and make way into his wounds. She settled down then and went into her hut to drag her sleeping furs out so she could sleep beside him. I admired her dedication to him and hoped he would make it, but knew I wouldn't know until I slept myself. Everyone else did settle down and go to bed then, anticipating a battle tomorrow. All of the men in the camp intended to go with us. I was at once touched by their new loyalty to me and reluctant to let them go at the same time. In the end I decided it would be better if they came along. I wanted to have the big wagon tomorrow so we could bring Racaato's new mates and possessions with us in one trip. We would also need to start bringing the things from Barbo's camp since they were now going to join us also. Even if Barbo lived he would be in no shape to protect himself or lead his camp for months. Danlo volunteered to ride back to our camp and have Bigglieo and some others leave early tomorrow morning. I warned him to be careful and then let him go. I made sure he knew to have the wagon wait about two miles from the camp for someone to come and tell them it was safe to approach. The next morning, after a quick meal, Racaato, Raalto, and I mounted up while Jonoco hitched the team to the wagon. All the men found a place to ride while Jara and the women stayed to do what they could for Bowto and Barbo. Dieta mounted when I did and I couldn't convince her to even hang behind. The other wounded man from Jakado's band had died in the night, giving Racaato another new mate, but his healthy friend was still in good shape, except for his ear. We tied a rope around his neck and the other end to the wagon. He was defiant at first and wasn't going to walk. He made the same discovery Bonehead had. The wagon was going to move whether he wanted to come along or not. When he finally tumbled to the fact we didn't give a shit either way he managed to get back to his feet and start walking. Like Bonehead, he didn't balk again. The trip didn't take long and Raalto directed us to a rise which gave us a good view of the center of camp. We made sure to keep everyone out of sight behind it. Racaato, Dieta, Raalto, and I took up firing positions on top and then signaled the others to let the captive go. He took off running as soon as he was loose and ran all the way into the center of the campsite, yelling loud enough for us to hear him for the last hundred yards. A crowd quickly gathered around him and Racaato made sure to point out Jakado to me at once. I had told the captive to have Jakado and a small group approach us peacefully if they wanted to talk. I don't know if he relayed the message or not. I do know Jakado turned and spoke to the others shortly and they all headed back toward their new huts. They were back with their spearcasters soon enough. I guessed there were probably seventy armed men approaching us. When Jakado was within two hundred yards I dropped him. The muzzle blast stopped the others and they were stunned when they saw their leader lying on the ground with a bleeding hole in his chest and his heels drumming out his last rhythm against the dusty earth. Only four started back toward us. Raalto stopped two of them within seconds. The other two stopped and then turned back to the group. I could tell there was some discussion and then arguing among them. Two men came from the back of the group dragging the one we had sent back to them. They brought him to a man near the front who seemed to be in charge now. An argument started up and then the new man in charge slapped the one we'd sent and then did it again. He turned toward us then and made a point of throwing down his spearcaster and spears. When he did I stood without my rifle. I didn't drop my Glock, but doubted he would recognize it as a weapon. Apparently he didn't since he started toward me. I didn't approach him, but did move a few steps ahead of where I was to wait for him. He didn't make any sign of greeting when he reached me. "I am Cardiato, who are you?" he asked. "I am John, and we have come for our mates." "What mates do you have here?" he asked. "The mates of those we have killed." "Why have you killed our men, to get their mates?" he asked. "We have only killed those who attacked us and two of the three who kidnapped a woman, Barbo's wife." "Jakado did not attack you and you killed him," he said. "I sent the living kidnapper to tell Jakado to approach us unarmed to discuss the transfer of our mates. After Jakado talked to him he called all his men and they armed themselves before approaching us. If it wasn't an attack it was close enough for me. If you do not like it go back and retrieve your weapon. You can die as Jakado did." "I do not understand how you killed Jakado and I don't think he understood it before he died." "And what? You expected me to come explain how I would kill him before I did. Go and get your weapon so we can kill you and let the next who will be leader know about how you died. I will not wait here all day for you to decide. Soon we will start killing every man who holds a spearcaster," I said. "I have no wish to die and join Jakado where he is now. You are correct - he did intend to kill you. If you will allow it I will go and talk to the other men. You say all you want is to retrieve your mates?" he asked. "The mates and their possessions. Due to the misunderstandings already we will ask all the men to put their weapons in a safe place where we can keep an eye on them," I said. "I will talk to them and see if they agree. If they do not what then?" he asked. "Then we will start killing the ones holding their spearcasters until those who are left do agree. Ask Jakado if we can do it." He returned to them then and it didn't take much of a powwow for them to decide they would put their weapons in a pile. I signaled for Jonoco to go and get Bigglieo and the wagon then and the camp got another surprise as he galloped around the rise and up the trail toward Bigglieo. I went down and told the men from Jara's camp to go stand near the pile of weapons to make sure they stayed where they were. I warned them not to touch them and they agreed. Bigglieo had a surprise for me when he came rolling into camp. The big wagon was full of men and every one of my mates was in it. They all had their Glocks strapped around their waist and each was holding their rifle, even Kateata was armed and with them. I walked down to meet the wagon. "Bigglieo, did you leave anyone in camp to watch over our home?" I asked him, smiling. "You have not kept a count of how many are in your camp now John. There are many more at home than there are here. This is only twenty men, and I do not see how you think I could have made your mates stay at home when they heard you might gain another one," Bigglieo said, grinning. "I see your difficulty. It is just as well. Everything is quiet here now and there will be plenty of help to load the things." I saw Erieta, Jareena, and Reeana were armed, dangerous, and present also. Even Failiela wore her web belt and Glock around her tiny waist. They came with my mates and me as we walked toward the center of the camp where some women were bringing their possessions. Bigglieo moved toward the place with the big wagon. Dieta, Racaato, and Raalto came too when I signaled them. I kept my eyes peeled for brave fools and I could see Racaato and Raalto were also. Nothing untoward transpired though. When we met the women it didn't take long to figure out which four were now Racaato's mates and which two were Raalto's. It surprised me it didn't take the women long to greet each other fairly warmly and begin helping to load things. When the men who had come with Bigglieo pitched in the job was finished in less than half an hour. I still hadn't seen hide nor hair of Ameliea. I decided if she wanted to stay here I would let her. Even if she was beautiful - I already had plenty of beautiful mates. "It seems to be everything then. We will leave you in peace Cardiato," I said, and started off toward the rise to fetch Red and mount up. "But John, you have forgotten Ameliea," Dieta told me. "No doubt Ameliea is overcome by grief at the death of Jakado. We will leave her in peace with her possessions. No doubt she can find a mate here in her camp," I told her, and gave her a wink. "Now wait, John. I thought you were an honorable man. You have killed Jakado and must take responsibility for his mate. I'm sure there will be too many painful memories for her here with Jakado dead. You must take care of her now," Cardiato said. "Where is she then? Must I hunt her down in your camp? I don't even know her. I never demand a woman stay with me if she doesn't want to and I will not start now. If Jakado's mate doesn't want to leave with me I will not force her to," I said, intending to make him squirm since I now knew Ameliea staying was not in his plans. "I will bring her here. Maybe some of your men will help with her things. I would like to make sure she gets everything she claims is hers," he said. I signaled to Bigglieo and it was all he could do to keep from laughing. If Ameliea was as beautiful as I'd been told she must surely be a handful, since Cardiato did not intend to let me leave her here. I glanced at Dieta and she was practically panting for Ameliea's arrival. When Cardiato came back with Ameliea I had to admit to myself she was a beauty. Her wavy red hair hung in a seeming cloud to her shoulders. Her dark blue eyes flashed her anger and she seemed to almost be breathing fire. She was well built, but tiny, barely over five feet tall and she couldn't have weighed a hundred pounds. Still, she was formidable and not at all awed by physical size, especially mine. She came right up to me and in a flash was striking out at me with a bone shafted flint knife. It was a work of art itself. Its beautifully knapped blade was over eight inches long and even the short glimpse I got of it let me know it was perfect. Dieta saved the knife from being broken against my chain mail by grabbing Ameliea's wrist and holding it firmly. When Dieta squeezed and twisted the knife fell to the ground at once. Thank goodness the beautiful blade wasn't damaged. I think I saved Ameliea some bruising then as I grabbed her waist and threw her over my shoulder like a sack of feed. She cursed and yelled all the while I carried her up the rise and toward Red. Her little fist pounded away at my back for the entire walk. I set her down just before we reached Red and she took another swing at me when she was on her feet. I grabbed both her hands in mine and looked into her face. "Ameliea, your mate gave me no choice about killing him. I am sorry you have to come with me now, but Cardiato gave me no choice either. He demanded I take you. "You do have to be my mate for a while at least, but I will not force myself on you. You can live at our camp and do as you wish as long as you do not cause trouble. I do not want to have to punish you, but I will if you make me," I said. "You are nothing but scum. I will sneak away from you as soon as I can," she said. "You don't have to sneak away from me. If you will just try to calm yourself until we get to my camp my other mates will help you pack your things properly and you can leave. We will give you all the food you can carry and furnish you with spears and tools if you need more than you have. Do you have a tent?" "No, I have never needed a tent," she said, spitting it out. "Well if you are going to leave you will need a tent. It will be very cold before long and if you are not going to stay in our caves with us you will need a tent to keep you from freezing to death outside," I said. "Why are these horses standing here and what is on their backs?" she asked, changing the subject entirely. "This is where I left them, they are hobbled so they cannot run away. It is a saddle on his back and it is on him so I can ride him more easily," I said. "Ride him. Why would you ride a horse?" she asked. "So I won't have to walk of course. You will see." ------- Chapter 89 I took the hobbles off Red and tied them to the saddle then mounted and reached down for Ameliea's hand. She took mine with no protest and I pulled her up into the saddle in front of me as she squealed in surprise. Red tensed but didn't move. "You will see it is much easier to ride than walk," I told her, as I used my heels to move Red out toward Jara's camp. I was leaving it to the others to finish up and follow. I didn't think anything would come up Raalto, Racaato, and the others couldn't handle. I knew I was being somewhat impolite to my mates, but I felt sure they would understand. I was busy answering questions until the others caught up with us. Now, since Ameliea had stopped spitting and cursing she seemed to want an explanation for everything. I kept Red to a slow walk and the others caught up soon enough. It seemed to change Ameliea's mood when they joined us and she quit asking questions and put on a sullen look for the others. She didn't completely give up her quizzing and when we passed the place where Racaato had shot the men last night she saw the blood easily and asked about it. She couldn't understand how we had killed them so easily and I didn't elaborate. When we reached Jara's camp the packing was on. I was glad to see Danlo had made sure all the travois horses were here now. He had put a saddle on one of the Clydesdales and ridden it leading most of the others in a long line. Galto had also ridden, but had chosen one of the other travois horses as a mount. He had led a smaller string of horses. All the travois poles and slings were in the big wagon. We began packing at once, but weren't finished before sunset. We would have to stay here again tonight. With some crowding we all found room in the huts to sleep. All except for my wranglers who stayed outside to make sure the horses were safe. All my mates, including Ameliea, stuffed ourselves into Jara's hut. Jara was staying outside by Barbo again, and even though he still hadn't even made a noise she was determined to stay with him in case he did I guess. It was a tight fit in the hut, but I didn't mind at all. I didn't see where Ameliea found a spot, but I had no trouble locating my other mates. They all crowded as close to me as they could and there were plenty of body pats for me to pet and pat as I drifted off to sleep. I didn't feel like fucking for some reason and so I didn't start anything and was a little relieved when nobody else did either. Dicky didn't even have any objections tonight. I was only asleep a little while when Argent appeared in my dreams. "It has been an exciting time John," he said. "Yes, and unexpected. I suppose Barbo was attacked by the lions while he was trying to discover the secret of the rifle Racaato was using." "You are correct. He thought to discover your secret and copy it. He was so intent on keeping Racaato from seeing him he didn't bother to watch for lions. He was surprised at the last." "I am surprised myself. Do you happen to know how he was able to live over his wounds? After I saw the extent I couldn't figure out how he kept from bleeding completely out." "We did it of course. At first we intended to let the other one go, but decided to help him also. If you'd rather they died we can simply stop treating them. Neither are close enough to health yet to survive. Infection will finish them within days if we stop treatment," he said. "I would have been much happier if you had saved Gigo and Dergo," I said. "It was near the beginning of your stay here and our policy then was not to help. Our rules have changed slightly since then," he said. "I hope they have changed so any of my mates who might become injured will be safe." "You need not worry about them. We will treat them at once if they receive any life threatening injuries. I would still caution you to take the best care of them you can though," he said. "I will. But what is to become of Barbo and Bowto?" "What do you want to happen to them?" "I want them both to return to health with only impressive scars. I do want it to happen as nearly naturally as is possible though. If it takes them months to heal so be it. "Please make sure they both have quarters near the other leaders in my camp though. I want them to be easy to tend to and I will merely tell my people to treat them as if they were already members of our camp and merely injured while hunting. I'm sure Barbo will be well settled into our camp before he is well," I said. "We will take care of it, but what about getting them back to your camp?" "We will have to load them into my wagon and carry them. I assume you can make sure their wounds will not reopen as we move them." "Yes, we will take care of it," Argent said, and then he was gone. When I woke and went out to piss the next morning I was a little annoyed at having to use the outdoors again. I decided I was getting spoiled by the bathrooms. Breakfast was delicious as usual, but understandably not up to what I'd come to enjoy. It was plentiful though and I assumed the women had cooked mostly things they didn't want to have to haul. It tasted good though and there was plenty of it. I saw, though she still seemed put upon this morning, Ameliea didn't hesitate to do her part cooking and she seemed civil among my other mates. Some of the men from Jara's camp had skinned the lions Racaato had killed. The bison had gone to waste in the excitement and it was understandable. Erieta and Racaato's new mates made a point of finding the lion's remains and getting the teeth and claws. The new mates especially liked the thought their mate had killed three lions at once. I saw Ameliea go and talk with them and she seemed interested in their trophies. When she came back she talked to Dieta and was telling her about the lions. "Racaato is a good hunter, but John has killed many more lions. During the mating days after Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo mated Melieta, Jaiya, Shaala and Shallea he went hunting and killed seven adult lions, a whole pride, and their four cubs," Dieta told her. "I do not believe it," Ameliea. I could see this pissed Dieta off, but she didn't blow up. I wondered how she kept from it. "You do not have to believe it. When we get home I will show you the teeth, claws, and skins. John says he will get a lion skin for all of us. He has ten already and there are more teeth and claws than any of us can count," Dieta told her, and then turned back to helping load. Later, when everything was loaded which could be loaded I took over directing the loading of our patients. Barbo was still unconscious, but Bowto had come around a time or two. I gave him three Percodan to make sure he was out of it before the loading started. Of course, with Argent's help I had no worries, but I still wanted everything to seem as carefully done as possible. Soon enough they were loaded and we headed off for home. With all the travois horses and both wagons we were able to take everything except the huts. We didn't really need them, but I hated to leave them to just rot. I decided to go back through Cardiato's camp on our way home. It wasn't really a long way out of the way and maybe they could use the huts. I asked Jara and the other hut owners for their permission first and they agreed we had all the disassembled huts we could use. When we were ready to leave Ameliea came to me and reached up after I had mounted. I was surprised, but pulled her up at once. "You can ride in the wagon if you'd rather," I told her. "I like riding on the horse now I have tried it. I would rather ride with you," she said. We headed for her former camp and it wasn't long before the questions started again. First among them was where we found the giant horses and then she wanted to know what they would eat during the winter. I didn't really mind all the questions and it was interesting what she came up with. Before long I was paying even closer attention in case she mentioned something I had forgotten. Raalto and Racaato had been right. She was very clever. She made another attempt to discover how we had killed the others so easily and I finally told her she wasn't going to find out unless she intended to stay with us. "I see you mean to have me whether I want you or not," she said. "I would love to have you Ameliea, but only if you want me too. You can stay as long as you like and I will not take you against your will. You can stay from now on. If you do not want to live in my cave you do not have to. We have plenty of caves for everyone," I said. "That is what you say now, but I will wait to see. You have many mates and I am small, if they want to hold me for you they will have no trouble no matter how I struggle," she said. "You are right. If I asked them they would hold you for me. If I wanted to I could stop and call them right now. They would strip off your clothes and hold you on the ground while I had you in the daylight. "All the others would wait and watch. I will not ask them though. As you said, I have plenty of mates and I have a large camp. I do not need to take women who do not want me. I am barely able to keep up with the women who do want me," I said, and she actually shivered as I delivered this little speech. "I will see," she said, and was quiet for a while. Cardiato was more than a little surprised to see us return. I could tell they had just finished burying the dead and there was a somber mood in the camp. He approached me when I dismounted though. "Hello John," he said. "Hello. We have come back to tell you we will not need the huts at Barbo's former camp. You and your camp are welcome to them if you need them and if you don't and know someone who does please let them know they are available," I said. "It is generous of you. Do you have so many huts at your camp all those from Barbo's camp can have a place?" he asked. "We live in caves I found and there is more than enough room for all of us and more," I said, and then I told him goodbye and we left. The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Ameliea had more questions and I did my best to answer them. She was amazed at the horse pens and all the other horses, including the foals and yearlings when she saw them. "Why do you have so many horses?" she asked. "I want to have a horse for everyone to ride. They are very helpful. Soon there will be enough so any man or woman will have a horse for hunting or gathering. It is much easier for a horse to carry things than it is for a man or woman," I said. "I can see, but if you must gather grass for them to eat during the winter it will be a very big job," she said, hitting that nail squarely on the head. "It will be much work, but we think it will be worth it. It makes it much easier to clean and cut up meat from kills if we bring them here in the wagons to do it and since we have the frozen cave we do not need to dry the meat for storage. The meat also taste better if we do not dry it." "It will be very different living here," she said. I dismounted and then helped her down. I hadn't missed the fact she seemed to be considering what life here was going to be like instead of planning her exit. She followed me when I led Red into the horse cave to unsaddle and care for him. She asked me why I was rubbing him down and then why I was cleaning his feet. When I led him to the pen and turned him out she asked if he wouldn't be hard to catch the next time I wanted to use him. I did my best to satisfy her curiosity. Red did a little to arouse her curiosity further then. When I turned him loose he went directly to the small pen where the wild stallion was shut in. I was glad to see someone had let him off the snubbing lead. The wild one came to the fence also and soon he and Red were raising hell at each other over the fence. "What are they doing?" Ameliea asked. "They are both stallions and they are arguing about who will have all the mares," I told her. "Will they always do it?" she asked. "They will come to an understanding sooner or later. In the mean time we will not let them in the same pen together. They would probably fight and hurt each other if we did," I said, explaining. "Do all the males do it, even when they are wild?" she asked. "Yes, but if they are running free one male will keep all the others away from his band of mares until he is too old to fight them off. Then a younger and stronger one will run him off." "Oh." We went to my cave then and it was culture shock for her when we arrived. My mates were there with Kateata and they were waiting for Bigglieo to bring the wagon so they could unload the things which belonged to Ameliea. Dalia and Shelalliea were cooking and I was happy to see Ladeliea getting me a cup of coffee. I went to the table to sit down and noticed Argent hadn't seen fit to keep Ameliea from noticing the kitchen since she went directly to Dalia and Shelalliea and started quizzing them. It seemed right to me and I felt sure sooner or later Ameliea would come around. I called all my mates to me then and pointed out we needed to see to Jara and Bowto's mate and their new homes. "But where will they be staying?" Geera asked. "I'm sure the spirits have furnished them a place to stay. We need to find it and help Jara and Julieta move their things inside. Then we must put Barbo and Bowto into their beds." It didn't take long to find the new accommodations, but we had to go looking for Jara and Julieta. Jara had gotten it into her head she would move in with the others from her camp. Thankfully they hadn't begun unloading the two injured men yet. "Jara, there you are. We have been looking for you," I said, when we found her. "Oh, I have been so worried about finding a place to put poor Barbo," she said, and then burst into tears as I pulled her to me. "Do not worry so Jara. I am nearly sure the spirits intend to help Barbo and Bowto all they can. They have even made new places for you to live on the other side of the canyon. Come, and bring Julieta. We must get your new quarters ready and then move Barbo and Bowto into them," I said. I nearly cursed myself for not taking care to let Jara and Julieta know where they would be staying from the first. I was sure they were worried about their men and I should have been more careful to make sure they knew what was going to happen. Jara recovered quickly though and soon enough we had all their things stored in the new apartments and then we put Barbo and Bowto into bed. I wasn't worried about the alien furs letting infectious things into the wounds, but I was happy clean white sheets and a white blanket had been supplied by Argent and company. They had even put one of those hospital type roll around tables in place and I noticed a controller for the bed. I assumed the beds would adjust like hospital beds, for now at least. After I showed them how to adjust the bed and showed them the water pitcher and straws we left them tending to their charges, even though there wasn't much for them to do. I made sure to tell them to come eat before long. We were barely back to our cave when Bigglieo came with the wagon. With the Clydesdales pulling it he had to back it into my cave since there wasn't room for the four giants to bring it in and turn around. They were more accustomed to this trick than Bigglieo was and seemed to tolerate his direction instead of need it. I got up to go help my mates with the unloading when the wagon stopped, but they sent me back to the table telling me it would be easier if I stayed out of the way. It didn't hurt my feelings one damned bit. After they had everything out they needed to unload here, Bigglieo led the team and wagon away. The women were busy for about another hour putting things up and then I saw Geera, Gema, and Dieta leading Ameliea toward a storage area near the entrance to the practice cave. When they reached it I saw they were showing her the lion furs, teeth, and claws. Next they took her to the bathroom for a tour and I saw Roweea, Winna, and Waaya join them. Just as Dalia, Shelalliea, Jareena, and Reeana finished cooking and Ladeliea brought me a plate the bathroom tour ended. Raalto came in then too and all the usual suspects seemed to get the idea the feedbag was on. Ameliea looked a little lost until Merita showed her to the table and I watched her semi-covertly as she began eating. I knew some of the food was completely new to her. Dieta had parked herself beside me and she displayed a talent then I didn't know she had. She began talking to me about Ameliea without seeming to move her mouth. I was so fascinated with the trick I didn't understand her at first and she had to repeat herself. "She will come around soon, John. She is much more impressed with you than she is letting on," Dieta said. "How can you tell?" I asked, trying to look toward Raalto as I did. "I can tell. You will see. I can't believe how easily you took the fire from her when you just picked her up and carried her off. I know it surprised her. She is very curious about our clothes too and she keeps asking how we made them," Dieta said. "Tell her I will have hers ready tonight or at least before morning." ------- Chapter 90 "Shall I tell her what she must do to earn them?" Dieta asked, giggling. "You may tell her how everyone else got theirs, but be sure to tell her she does not have to give herself to me for them." "Why should she get them if she doesn't?" Dieta asked, but didn't seem angry about it. "Did Failiela have to earn her clothes? Do you know of anyone who has the new clothes who didn't want to be with me anyway?" I asked. "You are right. Most want to be with you and then wear the clothes for the honor of what it tells the other women," she said. "Even if Ameliea doesn't want to stay with us I will treat her as my mate while she is here. As I have told all of you, I have told her - she can stay as long as she likes and she can leave anytime she wants. All I demand is she not be with other men while she lives with me. If she finds another man she wants she must leave and live with him," I said. "There is no chance of it happening. She was the leader's mate at her last camp and she will never take another man who isn't a leader. Since you are the leader here and since it was you who killed her mate she will never leave you, no matter what she says now. "I will tell her about the clothes and tell her what they mean, but also tell her she does not have to earn hers," Dieta said. "Don't forget to tell her why I wanted them in the first place." I should have made sure Dieta wasn't chewing when I said it. It struck her as funny and she choked on her food, spitting some of it out and then coughing loudly. I patted her back for her as she got control of herself. Of course everyone was looking at her and she blushed furiously. After the meal Ameliea was captivated by the feeding of the dishwashers. Jaada was careful to explain how they made sure to alternate if there wasn't enough for each of them after a meal. I was careful not to laugh. I slipped unnoticed over to Frank and when I got a response I told him I needed a ring and clothes for Ameliea. Ameliea still wouldn't know how the clothes were made, but it didn't matter since none of my other mates knew either. When the women started hinting about a communal bath I begged off to go check on the horses. I got Maia aside as I left and told her the new clothes for Ameliea would be ready when they got out of the bath. I also told her I would have a ring for her, but I would present it when I came back. I didn't really want to look at the horses. I was sure Danlo, Jonoco, Nadlo, and the others had seen to them. I just wanted to dodge the bath this time. Raalto was outside wandering around with a cup of coffee and he came back in with me so I could get one. We went back outside after I did. "How are you getting along with Ameliea?" he asked, right off the bat. "I'm just concentrating on letting her decide she is going to get along with me. I intend to have peace in my cave and while she lives with me it is all I'm going to ask of her. If she gets along peacefully she can stay as long as she likes," I said. "What do you mean? Will you let her leave if she wants to?" he asked. "Sure. I have plenty of mates and am planning on getting more soon, a few more anyway. I don't need to keep her if she wants to leave. Tell me though, do you really think there is a chance she will leave. "Where would she go? Even if I teach her to ride and give her a horse and all she can carry - how would she live through the winter? It was obvious she wasn't well liked at Jakado's camp and wasn't welcome after he was gone." "I saw they did not want you to leave without her. It made me wonder what kind of trouble she stirred up," he said. "It makes me wonder too, but I haven't figured it out yet. I'll let you know if I ever do. You were right about one thing - she is very clever. She asked me questions constantly while we were coming back here." "I had heard she was. It will be a shame if she does leave. She could probably be a big help to us here," he said. "I'm sure of it and I don't intend to push her away. I want her to feel at home here. I even got her some of the clothes and had Dieta assure her that she needn't feel obligated for them." "You are bending over backward in her favor. Are you sure it isn't her looks which make you want to keep her?" Raalto asked, laughing. "They don't hurt a bit do they?" I asked back. I was out of coffee by now and so was Raalto. He didn't want any more and I really didn't either. We said our goodnights and went back to our caves. My mates were out of the bath and everyone was in their Wilma dresses when I got inside. Ameliea was sporting hers and she tried not to act self-conscious when she saw me glance at her, but she couldn't quite pull it off. Ameliea was surprised at the engraving of her inside her ring when I showed her and even more surprised when I told her what it was for. She looked at me suspiciously at first. "See for yourself. It will come off just as easily as it went on," I told her. She didn't try it and she actually thanked me after a second or two. I did my best not to stare at her, but I had to sneak a look every time I could do it without her noticing. Her tiny body was beautiful. Her titties wobbled and shook in the scooped top and her little ass was so cute under the tiny skirt. I could even tell she hadn't bothered with the thong, but I gathered it wasn't for my benefit. She probably had no previous dealings with underwear. We went to bed soon afterward and I got a good look at her as her dress came off over her head. I looked away quickly though, and settled into the middle of the bed. I noticed my mates made sure they gave Ameliea a chance to slide in right beside me. When she didn't they were quick to pile in and let her take a spot near the edge. I wonder who had explained to her what the bed was for and why we didn't sleep on furs on the floor. When I woke the next morning I was spooned up against Delia's smooth backside, poking her ass with my hard dick. I had an arm over her and I felt around until I found a titty to toy with. She sighed and pressed back toward me. I wasn't sure who was behind me, but I felt them take hold of my hardon and place it between Delia's legs and then guide the head against her wet pussy lips. I pushed it into her and she sighed again more loudly this time. "Oh yes, John. You are going to do it to me during the day aren't you?" Delia asked. "I am already doing it to you, Delia. Tell me what I'm doing." "You are fucking me with your dick. Fuck me a little harder and pinch my titties," she said. I was happy to oblige. I wondered for a moment if she was one of the newly fertile women. The thought spurred me on and I dropped my arm to her waist to hold her to me more tightly as I rooted into her with Dicky. She gasped and held on as I began pumping in earnest, slipping my hand down to toy with her love button. We were panting soon and Delia's wet tight pussy began getting to me. I pushed it up her as far as it would go and when I felt her insides spasm I let go long and hard into her. I bit down on her neck lightly as I spent and she moaned loudly. I thought I saw movement from the bathroom and looked toward it to see Ameliea watching open mouthed. When she saw I was looking she turned her head and walked off, but I thought I saw just a hint of a smile on her lips and I was sure I'd seen a flush spreading up her neck from her chest. Delia and I both sagged down into the mattress then and when Maia climbed over me to tidy up around Delia's pussy I discovered who had been guiding me. Dieta had come over too and she had her mouth on Dicky licking me clean as soon as she could roll me to my back. It was a good way to wake up. After breakfast I talked to Racaato and asked him to take all my mates, except Ameliea, plus the rest of my main helpers and their mates into the practice cave and get them started on shooting lessons. I wanted them all to be able to use their Glocks competently first. We had a possibly hostile neighbor and I wanted to make sure we maintained our advantage. I wasn't going to turn all my people loose with firearms yet, but I was going to make sure all the leaders were proficient. I took Ameliea with me to the horse pens and saddled Bonehead for her. I got her started riding by herself and after a half hour of instruction I set her to practicing. She didn't give me any trouble and I assumed she wanted to learn this new means of travel. My wranglers and I started with the horses again. I caught the wild stallion first and got him started leading with Danlo's help, then I had my helpers get a horse each for more leading practice, while I worked with the stallion. We worked at it until noon and then took a break for lunch. After Ameliea dismounted I tied Bonehead to the fence and loosened her saddle girth. We walked back toward the cave and when we entered Ameliea headed for the bathroom while I went to the table and sat down. When Ameliea came back out of the bathroom I saw she had removed her trousers while she was in there. It made me wonder what she was up to. She headed for the kitchen, but she mostly just watched what was going on. I knew it must be strange to her, but she was taking it in stride. After lunch we went back to the horses. I put Bonehead's tack back in shape so Ameliea could resume her riding practice and I decided to catch Red and do a little riding of my own. When he was saddled I told Ameliea I was going to ride off down river for a while. She wanted to come with me, but I asked her to stay close to the camp until she was more comfortable with her riding. She gave me a look, but didn't protest. I'd had a nagging feeling all morning we hadn't had the last gasp out of the other camp. I didn't think our offer of the other huts would cure the hard feelings they probably had. Of course from our point of view they had brought it on themselves. I was pretty sure they didn't see it the same way. They had been a growing camp and they'd had a big advantage with their new weapon. It was merely an Argent inspired fluke they had come up against something even better and it must have been especially hard to swallow because they hadn't even seen the weapon which had bested them. Even the man we'd captured and released hadn't seen it. He had seen the effects up close, but he hadn't seen the rifles or the pistols in use. I'm sure they thought it was some kind of magic and since they had no ideas about how it worked or what its limitations were I was sure they would try to find out more about it sooner or later. I headed down river to look around. I hadn't brought my M1 and I probably should have, but I hadn't wanted to make a point of going for it in Ameliea's sight just yet. Red seemed ready to go and after a couple of minutes I let him lope down the canyon. I pulled him up after a mile or so though and headed back. When I was back in camp I mimicked the whistle Merita and Maia had started using to call the wolves. I got more than I bargained for since all the young ones came scrambling after Prince, King, and Rover. I tied Red to the fence and walked back to my cave and then to the practice cave with all the wolfish crew trailing behind me. When I entered the practice cave I went to Merita and told her I wanted to take Prince, King, and Rover with me while I took a little ride and I asked her to keep the young ones with her. She amazed me by just telling them to sit and stay. I don't guess it was so amazing, but when I walked off with the three bigger wolves the young ones did stay. That was amazing. ------- Chapter 91 I went back to Red with my escort and when I mounted and started off they followed. As we moved off south of camp again they spread out some and got a little ahead of me. I made Red walk this time and if the wolves got too far ahead I called them back and they actually came. Merita and Maia had done a lot more with them than I'd have thought they could. They were actually well behaved. I just rode and looked casually until we got to the marshy area where the other stream joined the river. When I was south of the confluence I dismounted and looked the trail over carefully. I couldn't see any tracks other than those we had made. I remounted Red and crossed the shallow river then dismounted again on the other side. The wolves didn't cross right away and were pacing back and forth on the other bank. I called to them and they bucked up their courage and jumped in to swim across. I spent some time checking for sign on this side also, but didn't see any. I led Red toward the wooded area that started just below the side stream and ran back up into that valley. The ground was softer as we approached, but it was still firm enough for good footing. I wanted to look around in the woods, but they were too close and too tangled to lead Red into, and since I was alone there was no one to hold him. I had some hobbles, but wasn't about to hobble him and then leave him alone. I walked as far as I could take him into the woods, but didn't see anything interesting. Satisfied I wasn't going to see anything this way I remounted and crossed back through the river and then headed farther south. After a couple of more miles I decided I wasn't going to find any bad guys today and I turned back toward camp. The wolves cheerfully examined everything again as we made our way back. I hadn't seen a damned thing out of the ordinary, but I still had the nagging feeling things were going too good to last and I decided I'd try to ride down this way every day or get someone else to do it. It might not hurt to check upriver either. We didn't have any idea whether anyone was living north of us and up the river's valley wasn't the only way to get up there anyway. In fact I was pretty sure the traveling would be good on the upper plateau. We had taken our safety for granted since we came here, but I didn't think we could get by with it much longer. At first it had seemed everyone was friendly. Jakado and his group had changed my thinking. He probably wasn't the only one around who would take advantage if he could. He was just the first one I had run into. Ameliea was still riding when I got back to camp so I asked her if she wanted to go upriver with me for a little way. She did and she had Bonehead fall in beside Red. We rode without speaking until we came to the ramp. "Let's take this trail up to the plateau," I said. "What is up there?" she asked. "It is a big level grassland mostly. There are often bison, aurochs, and horses to be seen." We headed up and it didn't take long to reach the top. I could barely see what I thought was a heard of bison a mile or more from us. There was a rather large group of Aurochs a little closer and I also saw a band of horses. I was glad enough I didn't see any cats and I hoped if there were some about they were busy hunting. Maybe coming without the M1 hadn't been such a good idea after all. "This must be a wonderful place to hunt," Ameliea said. "It is, I have killed many bison up here already." "What do you use to kill them? You never carry a spear," she asked. I knew she was fishing again and I knew I wasn't going to tell her yet. She probably thought I might let it slip since I was sure she understood I hunted with the same weapon I used for protection - the weapon I used to kill Jakado. "I use the same thing I used to kill Jakado. I am sorry I had to kill him, but it seemed plain to me he would have killed me if I hadn't," I said. "You are right. He would have killed you if he could. Jakado was a much better man before Cardiato made the spearcasters. After everyone learned to use them Jakado got the idea he could do as he wished since his weapon was so much better than a spear. "At first he got two camps to join us by convincing them we would be better off together with the new weapon. He intended to force Barbo to join us though," Ameliea said. "He would probably have succeeded if the timing had been different. I'm sure he would have had to kill Barbo though. Barbo was stubborn. If his men had come to Barbo's camp a day earlier it would have been much more troublesome for me. I still think the outcome would have been the same, but maybe not." "I knew Jakado was not planning his moves very well. He should have known at once, when he found out Raalto was taking his camp to join another one something unusual was happening. "He didn't even send anyone to see where your camp was. Though I do not care for Cardiato I do know he is smarter than Jakado was," she said. "Do you think Cardiato will cause us trouble?" "I shouldn't tell you until you tell me about your weapons. I will though, because, even though I don't know whether I like you or not I am sure I don't like Cardiato. He is smart and he is cunning. He will cause you trouble if he thinks he can come out on top. If he doesn't think he can he will try to become your friend. "You were going south this morning to see if anyone had followed us here from their camp weren't you?" she asked. "Yes, I went south to see if anyone from any camp had come toward us." "It will be a few more days before Cardiato can make sure he is the new leader. The two leaders from the other camps will also want to be leader. Cardiato may have to kill them or at least one of them. He will be the recognized leader within a few days though," she said. "I guess we should start paying more attention to our surroundings then. Are you going to stay here or have you decided yet?" I asked. "I am going to stay here and you probably knew it already. I wasn't angry at you for killing Jakado, but I didn't intend to appear anxious to go. If Cardiato hadn't come for me before you left I would have come out and found you. If not I would have left on my own. I would not stay with Cardiato. I do not trust him," she said. "I still meant what I told you. You can stay as long as you like and in any capacity that you want. The only thing I demand of you is you not take another man unless you move from my cave," I said. "Why would I want another man? You are the leader and you must be a very good leader if Raalto brought his camp here to let you be his leader. "All your mates are proud of you and glad you are their mate. It says more in your favor than anything else. I'm sure you have told them all they may leave if they want and I'm sure you could not drive any of them away. Soon enough you probably won't be able to drive me away either," she said, and laughed. "Besides, these are wonderful clothes. Where else could I get their like?" she added. I laughed with her then and we turned to go back down the ramp. When we reached the valley again I led the way north intending to show Ameliea where I had found most of the horses and perhaps go as far as our prospective hay meadow. When we got to the wide spot where the horses had been acquired I was surprised to see there were no animals grazing in it anywhere. It was deserted as best I could tell. This wasn't unthinkable, but it was unusual. Every time I had been through this area before I had seen something moving. We stopped and I spent some time looking things over. "What are you looking for?" Ameliea asked. "Usually there are some animals grazing here or moving through. I can't see anything today." "Have you been here often?" she asked. "A few times. It is where I found horses to capture twice and it is on the way to the place we intend to gather hay. I have probably been through here seven or eight times and this is the first time I have not seen anything here." "That is a little odd. We should be careful to make sure there are no big cats close by. They could drive everything else off, at least until they left," she said. "Or men, men about might cause all the other animals to leave." "I don't think so. Men might make the animals move away from them, but the valley is wide and long. If it were men, animals might be far from the men, but might still be visible. It is probably a big cat or cats," she said. "Maybe, I hope not though. I killed a whole pride of cave lions in the next big opening upriver. I hope more have not come here so soon." "Maybe we should turn back to camp. No matter what a great hunter you may be it isn't wise to wander among big cats with just two of us. In fact it isn't wise with twenty," she said. "Yes, we should turn back. Racaato, Raalto, and I will return later today or tomorrow and see if we can find anything." I didn't feel embarrassed in the least by turning back from imagined danger. Something or someone had scared everything else out of the large open spot and they were making me leave it too, even if I didn't know who or what they were. I didn't intend to get any fight started with anything armed only with my Glock. It was nearing sunset when we got back to camp. We led Bonehead and Red into the horse cave, unsaddled them, and then I showed Ameliea how to rub Bonehead down, check her feet, and clean them with a hoof pick. I took care of Red and we turned them both loose in the large pen. Everyone else had already finished for the day and the wild stallion was the only horse still confined to a pen. We went back to our cave then. I was happy to see Georgo sitting at the table, back from his trip already, and drinking a mug of coffee. Ameliea headed for the bathroom and Ladeliea brought me some coffee of my own when I sat near Georgo. "How was the trip Georgo?" I asked. "It went well. I was able to locate Dotallto with little trouble and he came back with me to perform the ceremony," he said. "Where is he?" "He was amazed by my meditation chamber and he is using it as we speak. I have heard I missed out on some excitement while I was gone." "You did. It was excitement I could have done without. I guess I should be thanking Barbo for his foolishness though. If he hadn't gotten himself injured Racaato might have been in a bad position if he'd been present when Jakado's men came calling." "Maybe, but then again they might have found themselves in danger earlier than they did," Georgo said. "It is possible, even probable, still even well armed Racaato might have had difficulty with the numbers so heavily against him. Everything worked out well enough though. Now I hope Cardiato is more sensible than Jakado was." "He is more sensible, but I am afraid he is no less ambitious. I think we will have trouble out of him sooner or later. Probably sooner," Georgo said. "It is what Ameliea thinks also. She says in her opinion he will need a few days to consolidate his leadership position and then we will need to be prepared for dealing with him." "She is probably right. It may take him more than a few days though." "I hope it does. I hope it blows over and he decides to look elsewhere for expansion." I saw Ameliea returning from the bathroom then. She had again removed her trousers after riding. When she saw me looking her way she stopped, turned away from me, and when her back was toward me she used her hands to flick the back of her skirt up over her ass, exposing it to me. She flicked it back down quickly and turned back toward me, catching me with my mouth hanging open and what I'm sure was a dumb look on my face. She laughed and headed for my other mates in the kitchen. "What is it John?" Georgo asked. "Oh, I was just surprised to see Ameliea has already gone from spitting and cursing at me to teasing me. I will get over it." "You are something else John. I leave to find a shaman so you and I can have a mating ceremony and when I come back you have gained a mate while I was gone," he said, doing a little teasing of his own. "I am trying to cut down. I tried to make sure Racaato and Raalto took most of the new mates." "Yes, you could have easily ended up with several new mates and you might still gain another one, or two. Bowto looks a little better than Barbo, though he doesn't look well at all. At least he can talk and eat now, even if it is only a little," Georgo said. "It reminds me I should tell my mates what to make for Barbo. He will need to eat something even if he isn't awake. I will have to show Jara and the others how to feed him something tomorrow." ------- Chapter 92 "But how can they feed him if he isn't awake?" Georgo asked. "We will have to make him some broth. Hopefully he will swallow it even in his sleep, but if he doesn't I have a tube we can put down his throat and pour the broth into him." "I will want to see it done. I have seen many injured men waste away while it seemed they might be getting well otherwise. Especially if they have been injured in the head." "We are lucky he wasn't hit in the head. I think he is still sleeping because he lost so much blood. In a way, it might be good since his flesh is torn in so many places. At least he is keeping still and giving it time to heal. He will at least need some water thought, and I don't think a little broth will hurt him." "It seems like the spirits are helping Barbo. I have never seen a man so injured who still lived. We shall see what happens. "As far as your new mate goes - I'm sure Jakado gave you no choice before you had to kill him, and I know it is best Ameliea became your mate. She was much too clever to be Jakado's mate and I doubt it would be possible for any of the others here to handle her. I'm sure she would have been more than even Raalto wanted to try," he said. "He and Racaato made me promise to kill Jakado first if it came to a fight." "They probably have gained all the mates they want to deal with for a while as it is. I am not sure your coming has caused it, but there have been many killings and much mate taking since you arrived," Georgo said. "I know you are right, but I just can't see where I had any other choices." "I don't either, except for the reclaiming of Geera and Dieta. I do understand why you felt you had to do it though and I know everyone is better off with the outcome." "I was not about to let those two gain from their ambush of Gigo and Dergo. I only wish I could kill them again." "Unless I am mistaken you will be needing to kill others later. I do not believe Cardiato is going to let this die down unless he does it to put you off guard," Georgo said. "I am afraid you are right, but I am tired of talking about it. When will we be having the mating ceremony?" "In two days unless you go up and kill another large bunch of bison. Will you need to have a hunt before the mating?" Georgo asked. "I will probably let Racaato hunt this time and I will ask him not to kill more than five bison. That should be enough for all the meat we need for any celebration and we should have plenty of people to take care of them quickly." "He did well before the accident then?" Georgo asked. "Yes, he even killed three of the cave lions which attacked Barbo and Bowto. He killed some bison first, but they were wasted in the excitement. "This might also work out well for Daaggo now the young one will be living here with us," I said. "I do not know. Time will tell whether they get along or not. I am surprised the boy hasn't become a man yet," Georgo said. "Have you ever thought he might be a man already and hiding it because he has no desire for women?" "I hadn't thought of it, but it makes perfect sense. I think I will mention it to Daaggo and see what he thinks. The boy might need someone to talk to who is more able to understand his situation than I am," Georgo said. Raalto joined us then and we discussed the upcoming mating ceremony for Georgo and I. Then we discussed Cardiato and his camp and we agreed we would need to organize some type of watchful detail. We also decided we would have to ask some of the men to cut back on their bruga intake so we could have at least a few who were sober all night. I would be busy and Raalto shouldn't have to bear the whole burden of lookout all night long. Our supper came soon and I was glad, because I was tired of talking. I knew we needed to discuss these things thoroughly, but I still didn't like it. It was probably my loner personality causing me the discomfort. I was accustomed to doing what I thought was right without discussing it with anyone. It had served me well enough when my survival and the survival of others wasn't on the line. I realized it wasn't the case now. I would have to solicit the opinions of others and depend on their help if I intended to keep my people from getting killed. The meal was over and the cleanup was done. Only Georgo and I were still at the table when Dotallto came in to my cave from Georgo's. Ladeliea had kept some food out for him and she brought him a plate while Georgo was introducing us. "Georgo has told me much about you John, I am glad to meet you and feel honored to visit your camp and perform your mating ceremony," Dotallto said. "And I am honored to meet you also. Do you have a permanent home or do you wander as Georgo did?" "I wander mostly, as Georgo did before he came to settle with you. I must say I am impressed with the respect you have shown the spirits by providing such a wonderful home for Georgo and giving him the buckboard, as he called it, and the horses to pull it. It is a wonderful way for him to travel and his meditation chamber is very special too," Dotallto said. "I would like to take credit for it, but the spirits provided for Georgo. They have blessed me since I came here and they continue to provide more than I could ever have asked for. Do you usually stay with a camp during the winter?" "Yes, we must all find a camp to provide for us in winter. The snow is often deep and it is always very cold," he said. "If it is possible we would enjoy your company this winter. We have plenty of room here and plenty of food. I'm sure Georgo and you would have many things to talk about and could learn much from each other during the cold months." "That is very generous of you John and in fact I haven't spoken to any camp about staying this winter. If you are certain you can manage I will take you up on the offer," Dotallto said. "I am certain and I am also certain we will be doubly blessed by the spirits if you stay with us. It wouldn't surprise me if they made a place for you among us." I hadn't thought of it before now, but of course I knew it would probably make Argent happy. I got confirmation a minute later via a little tingle at the back of my neck. What the hell, I might as well see if Argent would furnish Dotallto a buckboard and team of his own. Georgo and I drank coffee and visited with Dotallto while he ate. He told us while he was in the meditation chamber he had felt closer to the spirits than ever before. I would have bet anything Argent had made sure of it. I excused myself and left Georgo and Dotallto talking while I went over and took a seat in front of Frank. My message was answered by Argent himself at once. He was delighted Dotallto would be staying the winter with us and was chomping at the bit to make him a cave of his own. I told him to go ahead and then asked him if Dotallto could have a buckboard and team too. He said a buckboard exactly like Georgo's would be in the horse cave in the morning and another pair of Morgans would be in the big pen. I nearly laughed and wondered to myself what Argent's fascination with shamans was. It didn't really matter to me though and I simply asked him to give my side of the canyon a little shake when Dotallto's new cave was ready. I returned to the table and Georgo was giving me an odd little look as I came back. I nodded toward his cave and then looked at Dotallto pointedly. Dotallto had his back to me so he couldn't see the byplay between Georgo and I. About thirty minutes later there came just the slightest tremor. My mates all yelled out, but didn't run outside. Georgo looked at me and I nodded my head to confirm his suspicions. Dotallto looked like he was afraid the whole roof was coming down. "What was that?" he asked. "The ground often shakes here. I think it is a sign from the spirits. It usually means some new cave has opened up for our use," Georgo told him. "We should look around and see if there isn't a new place for Dotallto," I said. Dotallto couldn't believe anything of the sort, but Georgo and I convinced him to go with us as we looked around. We went to Georgo's cave first at my request. Sure enough there was a new opening near the meditation chamber. We entered, stepping over the rubble that had been scattered around for effect, and discovered a new apartment which would be just right for Dotallto. He was overwhelmed and Georgo had no trouble now convincing him the spirits were very happy he would be staying with us this winter. I didn't say anything about the new team and buckboard. They could be discovered in the morning. Dotallto was moved and had to excuse himself, first to the bathroom and next he camped out in the meditation chamber again. "It appears I will have to learn to meditate in the presence of another shaman," Georgo said. I knew at once Argent and I had made a mistake. We should have known Dotallto would need his own meditation chamber. Before I could even reply to Georgo there was another slight tremor. Georgo looked at me as if I would have the answer. Then Dotallto came back to us also to see what had happened. We examined Georgo's cave, but saw nothing. I didn't have a clue this time so we headed back to my cave where most of the others from this side of the canyon had gathered because of the first tremor. We could see nothing new in here. I was beginning to worry now, afraid Argent and company had made a miscalculation and maybe the last little tremor had been a complaint from mother earth herself. We checked the practice cave. Ameliea got her first glimpse of it and was stunned. I told her I would explain it all later and we continued checking with a trip to the quarters of all my leaders. Nothing. We finally decided it had just been a normal tremor. I was thinking aftershock, but didn't say it. After nearly an hour of looking around we gave up and everyone went back to their own quarters, except Georgo. He sat at the table with me and Ladeliea brought us some coffee. I didn't know how to broach the meditation chamber snafu with Georgo. I couldn't tell him I forgot to ask for another one. I had just about decided Argent was going to have to do a little dream work on Georgo when Dotallto came rushing back in from his quarters. "There is such magic here. The spirits must live here. We have come to holy ground and it seems they want us here," Dotallto told us, wide eyed. "What is it Dotallto, what has you so excited now?" Georgo asked him. "The last tremor, I found the cause. I can hardly believe it," Dotallto blurted. "What was it then," Georgo asked, and I noticed he seemed to be losing patience with the other shaman. "It is in my new quarters. I have my own meditation chamber now. I felt ashamed when I saw it. When the tremor came I was in Georgo's chamber trying to meditate and thank them for my quarters, but a nagging thought in my head was wishing we each had a separate chamber. Then the ground trembled again and I rushed out to see what had happened and we all started looking for the cause. I never dreamed the spirits could tell what I was thinking," Dotallto said. "I am ashamed also Dotallto. I was having similar thoughts about separate meditation chambers when the last tremor came. I hope we haven't offended the spirits by asking for more in the face of their wonderful gifts," Georgo said, and he did look distressed. I was afraid Argent might have gone too far though at the time I was thinking the same thing they both had. I hoped this didn't get a big round of penance or something started with Georgo and Dotallto. "I know you are both wise in the ways of the spirits, but I am afraid you are trying to second guess them. They have given you what you both were wishing for and I think you should go to your chambers now and spend some time thanking them instead of wondering if you have offended them. "I am sure they will let you know if you have displeased them," I told them both, pulling it all directly out of my ass as I went. "You are right of course John. It is not our business to wonder why the spirits did something. It is our job to wonder what we can do to please them, not worry about what they have done to please us. I am going to my new chamber at once to thank them," Dotallto said, and left. I could see Georgo was about to do the same. "Please Georgo, stay here with me for a few moments. I have something to ask you." "Of course I will stay. What did you want to ask?" "I am wondering if it is upsetting you for Dotallto to stay here with us this winter. You know you are our shaman and if Dotallto is going to cause friction he can be convinced to leave," I said. "There will be no friction John. The spirits have made it plain they want Dotallto to stay here too," he said. "They have spoken to me also Georgo. They only want him to stay if it will not upset you. They have made it plain to me you are their primary shaman here and have let me know they want Dotallto to stay during the winter so when the spring comes he can take the burden of some of the traveling off you. "I haven't mentioned it, but I know he has been given a buckboard and a team also. They want you to spend as much of your time here as you can." "You must be a shaman too if the spirits talk to you John," Georgo said. "I am not shaman. I do listen carefully when the spirits let me know something though. Believe me, the spirits want you to be the foremost shaman in this land and they want Dotallto to help you. "They will let him know also. You must concern yourself with what is going on here as much as you can. The spirits still want you to do some traveling, but they hope it will not be as much as before." I couldn't believe all this shit had come about because of my spur of the moment idea to have Dotallto stay with us too. I hoped I hadn't fucked everything up in the process. I could tell Georgo was thinking about what I had told him. "Why don't you go to your chamber and think about it, Georgo?" "I will, John. I will go at once," he said, and left. I went at once too. I went to Frank and sent a message to Argent who answered right away. He asked me to lie down and sleep for a moment. I knew my mates were going to think this was strange so when I got up I told them I needed to be alone to think about some things for a few minutes and then I went to the practice cave and sat in one of the chairs. I was asleep almost at once. "Have we made a mistake John?" Argent asked. "I think we have, but I think you can fix it. From what you've said before I assume you can read the thoughts of people here if you want to," I said. "We can and we often do with the others, but we never monitor your thoughts," he said. "I think you should monitor Georgo and Dotallto while they are meditating. I believe you should give them the feeling everything is to your liking now they are both here. I also think you should somehow let Georgo know he is your main man here and let Dotallto know it too. I don't know how or if you can do it, but it would help." "Dotallto already thought Georgo was our primary contact here. Georgo didn't feel that way until the talk you just gave him. We will monitor their meditation and reinforce those feelings as they come up. I hope we didn't err in giving Dotallto a meditation chamber of his own," Argent said. "If you did it is my fault. I have come to take new caves for granted, and they can be passed off easily to my people, but Georgo and Dotallto are very concious of the happenings around them and I'm sure neither is as accustomed to the amount of things we pass off as the workings of the spirits. "I believe we have them more convinced now, but I still need to be more careful with the magic I have you spread around. "I don't think you ended up causing any trouble and I was going to ask you to do the very thing you did later tonight myself. I never thought it would cause Georgo to question his place here and that is my fault." "It seems things are back on track now though. I am afraid we got a little carried away with the excitement we created with the tremors. We will be sure to wait for you to suggest any other major changes," Argent said. "I would have asked for exactly what you did later tonight. It seems I misread the situation and I really didn't give it enough thought. I will try to be more careful myself," I told him, and then I was waking up. I was still wondering if things really would work out when I returned to my mates. They knew I was preoccupied and this caused things to be rather subdued as time for bed came around. I didn't even bother to try sneaking a look at Ameliea as we got into bed and I was asleep again as soon as I lay down. Thankfully it was a dreamless sleep. ------- Chapter 93 I woke with an arm over Geera the next morning. When I got a handful of titty she squirmed her ass back against me and then turned over to face me. "What made you so worried last night?" she asked. "I was worried about Georgo and Dotallto and how they would get along together here." "Does Georgo think Dotallto will end up replacing him?" she asked. "I'm afraid the thought crossed his mind. I hope I made him realize it wasn't the case." "I'm sure he will be better soon. Maybe the thought of two new mates has him anxious," she said. "I don't think it does. He was asking me about one of the unmated women from Barbo's camp last night and wondering if he should consider asking her to be another of his mates." "Ha. The old goat is catching on isn't he? No one has asked Sutahtha to mate with them yet and I'm sure she knows as well as anyone Georgo will be after her soon," Geera said. "Maybe it will improve his mood then." "It will. To help things along I will mention to her she should give Georgo a chance to express his interest," Geera said. "I don't see any harm, but for now I guess we should get up and get started for the day." "You probably should. I was thinking of trying to delay you, but I should get up too. What about you, Jaada? Were you thinking of delaying John?" Geera rose a little and spoke over my shoulder to Jaada who was keeping my back warm with her titties. "I would be happy to, but I should get up too. We have already let everyone else get going ahead of us," Jaada said. "Nothing is more important than making sure I am warm when I wake," I said, trying to sound serious. "Well if you are warm enough we are getting up now," Geera said, as she and Jaada vacated the bed. I got out myself then too, and after choking the piss out of Dicky I dressed and went to the table. Delia brought me a mug of coffee and I gave her ass an inspection while she was close. I saw Ameliea had rooted herself into a spot where she could actually cook something and I was surprised Roweea seemed to be showing her how to make toast. Dalia brought me a plate soon and I dug in. I was happily stuffing my face when Georgo and Ladeliea made it - Ladeliea heading over to join the cooks and Georgo sitting near me. Ameliea surprised us both by bringing Georgo's coffee. I resisted the impulse to examine her ass by hand even though she stood around a few extra beats apparently trying to tempt me. I determined I was going to wait for a more overt sign my attentions would be welcomed. Raalto was in next with his mates. Jareena and Reeana now had the help of Gateata and Kalayeata in caring for their big caveman. Raalto was in a good mood this morning and looked none the worse for wear. Racaato and his big bunch came in next and while he looked happier than a pig in shit he did seem like he had been up late getting acquainted. Erieta was also smiling as she and Failiela led Carlota, Kapaleia, Jaanieliea, and Kimonea in for breakfast. All the new arrivals were determined to get a look at the kitchen. They had no trouble figuring out the cooking was being done in the strange looking area and I'm sure they wanted to see what it involved. Gema gave them a little talk hitting the high points and promised they could get acquainted with Frank after the meal and he would tell them all about it. They took seats then and soon everyone was eating. When Maia asked me if I wanted anything else I asked for another breakfast since there was no sense in sitting around doing nothing while there was food available. She laughed and fixed me another plate. After breakfast was over I asked the men to join me in the practice cave for a few minutes. When we were all there I got right to it, explaining my fears about the other camp. Everyone agreed we needed to be more watchful. When I broached the subject of some of them passing up the bruga after the mating ceremony they all said they would. I was pleased and surprised and promised them I would get bruga for them to enjoy in a celebration of their own after the mating nights had passed. This made them all happier about their sacrifice. I told them what Ameliea and I had seen in the first large opening upriver and most of them agreed with her opinion it was probably more big cats. I decided we should split up this morning and check out both directions. I asked Racaato, Bigglieo, and Galto to come with me upriver and asked Raalto to take the others downriver to check in that direction. All the men had done some practicing with their rifles and Glocks by now and all of them had done some riding. We gathered our rifles and set out for the horse pens. When we went back through my cave I saw Gema was already introducing the new women to Frank and it made me feel good to see Ameliea was right on the front row. At the pens we all grabbed a mount and saddled up. Nadlo, Jonoco, Danlo, Sahto, and Talvo were already working with the horses in training and Danlo asked me where the two new horses had come from. I explained they were a gift from the spirits for Dotallto to pull his new buckboard, then I asked him to hitch them to it and give them a test drive. The wranglers were all amazed when they looked in the horse cave and found I was correct and there was another buckboard beside Georgo's. Danlo promised they would give the new buckboard and team a little warm up while we were gone. Raalto led his group off to the south and I headed north with my bunch. We kept our eyes open, but saw nothing. When we got to the ramp we went up. The bison were even farther off today than they had been yesterday and I didn't see any horses or aurochs at all. I did see two rhinos though, about half a mile off. We descended the ramp and headed farther north. There were a few deer off in the distance when we came to the first big opening. The place still looked remarkably vacant though. We split up then, Bigglieo coming with me around to the west while Galto went with Racaato off to the east. We intended to circle most of the area. After about thirty minutes I heard a shot. Looking toward the others showed me it had come from Racaato's rifle. Bigglieo and I turned around then and headed toward them. I could see Racaato was off his horse while Galto seemed to be keeping watch from his mount. When we got there I saw I had probably been right and Ameliea mistaken. There was a body, or what was left of it on the ground. Racaato was circling the area in ever widening sweeps but he came back to meet us at the body when we got there. "Does anyone know who it is?" I asked. "I don't know him, but I remember seeing him among Jakado's men. As far as I can tell he was alone here. His spearcaster is over there," Racaato said, pointing to where it lay on the ground. He turned the man's body over with his foot then and it became obvious Ameliea had been correct also. There was no mistaking the wounds smilodon's big daggers had made. "I haven't gone over his trail here yet, but I did find it. The little I saw of it and the cat's sign makes me think the cat stalked him until he was almost here and then attacked. I think we should follow back along his trail to see if we can tell which route he took to get here," Racaato said. I agreed and after Racaato collected the dead man's spearcaster, spears, and other things we mounted and let him lead. He had little difficulty following the dead man's sign. It led us all the way around the north of the opening, across the river, and then back west in a big circle along the perimeter. We finally came to a place where it was apparent the recently departed had climbed down from the upper plateau. It wasn't possible for us to get the horses up there from anywhere near here that we knew about. Racaato wanted to climb up and work his way on foot toward the ramp while we led his mount back down river and came to find him from the top. I didn't like the idea and said so. I did agree he should climb up and look around though. It took him about thirty minutes to get up there. Then he spent another twenty minutes looking around. He finally looked over the edge toward us. "There were two. One stayed up here while the other descended. It's apparent the one who stayed was here for some time. Maybe he heard the other's scream or figured out somehow the other one was not coming back. He did leave heading back toward the south though. I can't tell how long ago it was, but he slept here last night," Racaato said. I told the others to wait for Racaato to come down and then come back and up the ramp. I was going to see if I could find the missing spy. Turning Red toward the canyon I left at a gallop. I didn't let him go all out but did let him run. It wasn't likely I would find the other man, but it was possible. I intended to walk Red out onto the plateau and spend a while scanning carefully with the glasses. The other spy probably didn't expect any pursuit and I doubted he was taking much time trying to stay concealed. If he was keeping himself under cover all the way he would have to move so slowly he was surely still up there. Red wasn't even winded when we got to the ramp. Pulling him down to a walk we headed up. When he walked out onto the plateau I stopped him not far from the ramp, pulled out the glasses and began looking. Searching back toward the north first I looked carefully, but couldn't see anyone walking. Turning to search the south and studying it also showed nothing. I had given up on catching him when the others joined me. Racaato wanted to head straight out across the plateau to see if he could pick up any sign. Bigglieo, Galto, and I let Racaato take the lead, staying about fifty feet behind him. We spent a couple of hours looking around but Racaato didn't find anything. That wasn't hard to understand since so many bison used this plateau for their grazing. When we got back to camp Raalto and the others were back. They hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. We went into my cave since it was time for lunch anyway. We spent the next hour eating and talking about the dead man we had found and the live one we hadn't. I wasn't so worried about people coming at us from either direction as long as they came up or down the river's valley. It would be easy to keep a watch on those approaches. Coming up on us from the plateau was a different matter. From up there they could come to the edge and find a place to climb down easily. In fact, with their spear casters they could inflict some damage by attacking us from there. They couldn't do any significant damage, but it would be possible for them to pick off one or two of us, maybe more, in a sneak attack. They could then haul ass and probably be gone before we could mount up and take chase. I couldn't think of a good way to cover the possibility without Argent's help and I hated to get him involved. I decided we could look around close to our caves for a good place to climb up top. Even if we had to do some work on the canyon's wall for hand and foot holds it would be worth it. A good access route up would allow us to post lookouts without necessitating a trip to the ramp and then back along the edge to a spot over our camp. Raalto, Racaato, and I started looking after lunch. We tried our side of the canyon first. It would be the natural way for the others to approach. If they came up the other side they would either have to come up the river valley and cross the small side stream before climbing or they would have to ascend much further south and then climb down, cross the side stream, and then climb back up. After an hour of looking we decided there just wasn't a good way up from here. We could hack one out of the limestone eventually, but it would be a bitch. There had to be a better way, the trouble was all the better ways I could think of involved help from Argent. ------- Chapter 94 We crossed the river and searched the other side then. We didn't have any better luck over there. We decided to saddle up and see what things looked like from the top. An hour later we were looking down on our camp from above. We didn't find any obvious solutions to our problem. We did decide from this far up, even with the spearcasters, attackers would have a problem hitting anyone. It wasn't impossible, but it would be difficult. The attackers wouldn't know it, but we would have a much easier time picking them off from below. The trajectory of an M1's bullet was much flatter than any spear, no matter how you launched it. We finally decided we could make do by constructing four good protected firing positions, two on each side of the canyon floor. If an attack came riflemen could take up their positions at the base of the opposite wall from the attack and would probably have little trouble convincing the attackers they weren't welcome. We went back to camp and got started - choosing places for firing positions and then went to work building them. We stopped at sunset, but we weren't through. I was a little nervous about just letting things take care of themselves. Supper was ready though and we went inside to eat. Ameliea served me again and this time she made a point of rubbing her ass against me while she did it. Still waiting for an overt sign, I didn't touch her. During the meal we talked more about what we should do. I felt we should schedule enough men to have two guards outside all during the night, probably for four-hour shifts. We would be safe enough in the caves, but if a large group crept up on us during the night we might take some losses dealing with them. After discussing it we decided to make it four men, two south of the horse pens and two north of the northern most cave. After we'd finished eating we went across to the other caves and got some volunteers to help. When we had them out by the entrance to my cave Merita and Maia got them all acquainted with Prince, King, and Rover. We picked places for guard post and I promised them coffee deliveries and set them out. As I was returning to my cave I got a tingle which let me know Argent wanted some attention. When I entered, my mates all wanted to know what was going on. I explained about the guards, also saying we would need to take them some coffee. "This is quicker than I expected, but now it has started you are right to take precautions. Cardiato will probably keep sending men, two or three at a time, until he has an idea of a weakness he can exploit. "Jakado always sent more men and confronted the situation more directly and Cardiato always argued it would be better to get more information by stealth first. If he has sent men already he wants the information badly," Ameliea said. "I think you're right. I am also planning a little surprise if he sends more men over the plateau tonight." "What surprise?" Geera asked. "Red and I will be up there and I will have my special glasses which let me see well in the dark. I won't be able to keep watch on the whole plateau but if they come close to me I will make sure they don't leave." "But you can't stay up on the plateau all night alone. Other men aren't the only things that are about in the night up there," Winna said. "Racaato has said he would go with me." "It will still be dangerous. Maybe some of us should come too," Dieta said. "Racaato and I will do it tonight, but I'm sure some of you will need to help if we have to keep it up. If we can catch one alive we will be depending on you to make him tell us what they intend. If it is what I suspect we will go to their camp and talk it over. I don't intend to sit here and keep watch every night because of them." "It sounds like a much better plan to me. Why should we wait here for them to attack? In the daylight and with our weapons we can deal with them easily, especially if they are all in their camp. "You have already caused them to change leaders once and if you keep making them change leaders, sooner or later you will find one who doesn't want to provoke you," Roweea said. "You might not have to kill even one more after Cardiato. He and Jakado were the two who seemed intent in forcing other camps to join. The aggression might end if he died," Ameliea said. "I hope I can capture at least one tonight then. I do not like being made to sleep outside and away from my mates." "I don't either, especially now," said Racaato, who had come back to my cave from his. "Are you ready?" I asked. "Yes," he said, and after getting a mug of coffee each we left to get our horses. It would have been better if we could take a wagon, but we knew it would be too visible in the night. I expected to be in a bad mood, but somehow wasn't. We rode to the ramp and then up it. At the top we stopped and I used the night vision goggles to examine things. When I was done I gave them to Racaato and asked him to check my work. He didn't see anything either. We headed for a place about five hundred yards from the edge of the plateau and due west of our camp. There was a clump of tough bushes there. We unsaddled Red and Bonehead and hobbled them. They wouldn't look out of place grazing near us. Racaato and I sat among the bushes and considered ourselves concealed. Racaato concentrated on keeping a watch for predators while I kept scanning for humans with the goggles. I decided I was going to ask Argent for some infrared equipment, too. This caused me to remember I had gotten a tingle from Argent and promptly forgotten to contact him. "If you are all right, Racaato, I will try to sleep first." "Yes, sleep if you can. I could not sleep yet so if you can get to sleep go ahead," Racaato said. I lay down knowing I would be able to sleep at once. I was in a dream with Argent in what seemed only seconds. "I see you are expecting company tonight, John," Argent said. "I wouldn't say we are expecting it, but we do think there is a good chance we will get some." "You are wise to take precautions. Would you like more information?" he asked. "What I would really like is some FLIR goggles, but if you have information you want to share go ahead." "Cardiato is sending another two man team to explore your area. They are traveling toward you now and should reach you within three hours. "They are not happy about their assignment after one of the other men did not return. The one who did return did not know what happened to his partner. He heard the man scream once when the cat attacked him, but it was all the information he had," Argent said. "How close to the edge of the plateau are they traveling?" "If they maintain their direction they might walk right over you," he said. "I think we will mount up and try to get behind them then. There is no point in waiting all night out here." "It will probably work. They are not very familiar with the area. If you get behind them they won't know another way to get home. They can find one of course, but it will be difficult for them to get away from you on this plateau, especially since you have mounts," Argent said, stating the obvious. "That's what we're going to do then." "Very well, the FLIR goggles will be beside you when you wake," he said, and left me. I woke and found the goggles. "I can't sleep either Racaato. Why don't we mount up and work our way south. If we see someone we will try to get behind them." "I would like it better than sitting here. With these glasses we should be able to see them before they can see us," he said. I didn't mention the FLIR, not yet at least. We saddled up and rode nearly due west for half a mile and then turned south. We kept the horses to a walk and about an hour later I picked up the two spies with the FLIR goggles. When I told Racaato where to look with the night vision glasses he spotted them too. It only took about thirty minutes to circle even wider and get behind them. We began to come up on them as quietly as we could then, but knew they would hear the horses soon. We were within about two hundred yards when one turned around and saw us. The other turned too when he spoke. "Who are you?" he asked. "It is John and Racaato. Why have you come sneaking around toward our camp in the night?" They clearly hadn't expected us to be out looking for them. They didn't even have a good lie ready. Finally one of them told us Cardiato had sent them to find our camp and observe it. "Would you like to put your spearcasters down and live or would you rather die now?" I asked. The one who hadn't spoken yet did then. "You will not kill us so easily in the dark. Maybe we will kill you," he said. "Do you have a mate?" I asked him, as I put the M1 to my shoulder. "No, I have no mate. What does it matter?" he asked, indignantly. I shot him through the chest. When the blast quieted I asked the other one again. "Will you throw down your spearcaster?" "Yes. I am taking it off now. Please do not kill me. I didn't want to come here tonight and I do have a mate," he said loudly. "That protects him from the two of us better than anything else," Racaato said, and laughed. "I thought you might be enjoying having many mates now Racaato." "I am, but I fear I already have all I can take care of," he said. We rode up to the living spy. Leaving Racaato to watch him I headed for the edge of the plateau hoping to come to a spot near our camp. When there I dismounted to get my bearings by looking down. I was only about a hundred yards south of the southern guards and I shouted to Bigglieo who was one of them. "It is me, John," he answered. "Wake Danlo and have him come up here with one of the buckboards. Tell him to turn south when he comes off of the ramp. You should probably come with him and bring your rifle. "We have killed one spy and the other has surrendered. I will head for the ramp now and meet you and Danlo," I told him, and he agreed. I rode back to Racaato and told him the buckboard was coming then I headed for the ramp. Meeting Danlo and Bigglieo about halfway I turned around to guide them to Racaato and our prisoner. Racaato had the man's hands bound behind him when we arrived. We helped him onto the wagon seat and then loaded the corpse into the box, heading back at once. The live spy's name was Mundo. He was understandably curious as to his fate. "I am going to let Dieta question you. She will not cut anything off you if you tell her the truth about what she wants to know." "Is she the one who questioned Sadogo? The woman who put a knife in his ear?" he asked. "Yes, Dieta questioned him. She is one of my mates and she was very cross with me for making her treat him so gently. I will not ask her to do it again. I encourage you to tell her what she wants to know quickly." "I will tell her anything she ask. If it were not for having a mate I would not even want to return to Cardiato's camp. Wanting everyone to join our camp has made him as crazy as Jakado was. It is foolish to send men off in the night to watch what others do," he said. "Aren't there others who want to do it also?" "Yes, many. Though not so many as there were before Jakado was killed. Jakado and Cardiato had convinced us we could not be killed as long as we had our spearcasters. It was not the truth," he said. "No, it was not the truth. Do you think Cardiato can be convinced to leave us alone?" I asked him. "I do not think he will ever stop trying to capture your camp. He has said he will not rest until you are dead." "I assume he has a mate?" I asked. "Yes, of course. What camp would have an unmated man for a leader? Why do you ask?" "If he were unmated I would kill him, but I have enough mates now. I must find one of my men who wants another mate and ask him to kill Cardiato." "Is it so easy for you to kill men then?" "How hard did it seem for us to kill your partner? When he told me he had no mate his death was assured." "And if he'd had a mate what. Would Racaato have killed him?" he asked. "I don't think so. Racaato says he has enough mates also. We would probably have just wounded both of you in your feet then and waited until we could have called someone who wanted more mates to come and kill you," I said. "Is our life so worthless then you would wound us and call others to kill us at their leisure?" he asked. "You have made your own life worthless. It is obvious you care nothing for it. You came sneaking around to spy on us in the night. Should we have set out a feast for you?" "Cardiato would have killed me if I hadn't come," he said. "And what have you gained by coming?" He had no answer. We traveled the rest of the way in silence. As we passed the guards stationed north of the camp we told them the watch tonight was over. When we got to my cave Racaato, Mundo, and I got off the buckboard. I told Danlo to put it and the team up and asked Bigglieo to tell the other guard we were through for the night. When we entered my cave we all got a big surprise. As soon as Ameliea saw the prisoner she went to her things and retrieved her spearcaster and spears. She put the spearcaster on, put a spear in it and turned back walking toward us and looking directly at the prisoner. He hit his knees begging for his life almost before I realized what was going on. "Silence you sneak-about fool? What are you doing here? Why do you bother us?" Ameliea asked him, with a barely controlled scream. "I had no choice. Cardiato forced me to come," he moaned. "He has sent you to your death then," Ameliea said, as she raised the spearcaster and then held it still. "Unless you tell us his plans at once you will die on your knees, crying," Ameliea told him. She was magnificent. Anger flashed from her eyes and was painted on her face. She looked fearsome, even to me. "I will tell anything I know, but please don't kill me. I have done you no harm. I put down my spearcaster when they told me to," he said, begging. "You have called our mate out into the night and away from us. That alone is enough to make any of us kill you. Maybe it won't be me though. "Perhaps Dieta would like to cut pieces off you until you tell us what we want to know. She said she enjoyed putting the knife in Sadogo's ear," Ameliea said. "I would like a chance also. I have a new interest in cooking now since Frank has been so patient with me. I would at least like to have the parts Dieta cuts off so I can practice cooking with them," Roweea said, joining in on the fun. I was feeling sorry for him now myself. I knew my mates were making sure he talked until he had told us everything, but I could also tell they would probably enjoy making good on their threats. Hell, I was almost scared myself. "I think Mundo will tell you Cardiato's plans. Why don't the three of you take him into the practice cave and ask him about things. At least back there we won't have to hear his screams," I said. This was a hit with Ameliea, Roweea, and Dieta - then Maia surprised me by asking if she could join them. I agreed and when Ameliea signaled for Mundo to get up and walk toward the back of the cave he did it at once. Merita decided she wanted to join in then and when she followed them she called all the wolves, even the youngest to follow also. I didn't even want to know what part they might play. I was tired and said so. My remaining mates helped me out of my clothes and into bed where they did their best to console me after my long night of hide and seek. I barely noticed when the others came to bed and I didn't even wonder what had become of Mundo. ------- Chapter 95 The next morning I woke with more than two bed warmers. All those who had been involved in Mundo's inquisition were still in bed with me and still sleeping. I was spooned up against Ameliea's beautiful backside and somehow I managed to get over her and out of bed without waking anyone. I was sure they had been up late with Mundo and I wanted them to get all the rest they could. After dressing I went to the table and sat down. Shelalliea brought me a mug of coffee and a delightful ass to fondle. She even gave me a big kiss before she left. Raalto and Racaato came in and sat down at the same time and after Gema coffeed them we were about to talk. Then Bigglieo came in with his mates and Barago and Britta seemed to be right behind him. We all waited until everyone was present before starting the talk. "Have you heard any of Mundo's story yet?" Racaato asked. "No. His tormentors are still sleeping and I want them to get their rest. It will be soon enough to hear from them when they wake." "But where did they leave him?" Raalto asked. "I don't even know." "I do, look back near the entrance to the practice cave," Waaya said, pointing. She was right. Mundo was tied sitting in a chair near the practice cave's entrance. All the wolves were lying around him. He shifted in his sleep and then moaned slightly. When he did Prince got up and growled at him, waking him fully. Mundo kept very still for several minutes and satisfied, Prince settled down again. "I would hate to be in his position," Racaato said. "I'll bet he likes his current situation much better than he liked the one last night," Raalto laughed. "You can bet he was glad to tell them anything they wanted to know. Ameliea even scared me," I told them. "What will we do now John?" Raalto asked. "I haven't decided yet. The easiest thing would probably be to go kill Cardiato for this. Then maybe the next leader will think twice before sending spies. Letting them keep on might not be a bad idea either though. If we don't go and tell them they will not know what happened to their men at all." "It will cause trouble in their camp. It will make it even harder to get men for another try," Racaato said. "It will cause even more trouble. The uncertainty will cause talk to start behind Cardiato's back," Raalto added. "It couldn't be bad for us. Maybe we should just try to capture the next men he sends." "It will be a lot of trouble, but it will also cause him the most trouble. I wonder if he will send more tonight?" Raalto asked. "Maybe my mates will know. We can wait until they get up to find out." Women came with plates of food then and we let the talk go as we ate. What to do kept churning around in my head though. I didn't want to keep up this game forever, but I didn't want to go down and kill someone if I didn't have to. Thinking of causing even a minor revolt from within Cardiato's own camp had its appeal to me. Using Argent's help for information only wasn't so bad and if no men were coming we could just go about our business as usual. I noticed Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco weren't at breakfast yet, then remembered I hadn't seen them during meals for the last few days. I wondered if it was just coincidence or if they were staying away for some reason. "Dalia, do you know why Danlo doesn't seem to eat breakfast with us anymore?" "Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo thought since all your main helpers ate with you each morning they should wait until you were done eating and talking," she said. "Do you have time to go tell them we are getting tired of waiting for them to drag their lazy asses in to eat whenever they feel like it?" I asked, but made sure to make it seem like a joke. Dalia and Shelalliea both left to tell them. "I'm going too, I'll let Shallea and Shaala know that you've noticed they can't seem to get their mate out of bed and off to breakfast on time," she said, laughing a little. While Dalia and Shelalliea were off to fetch the youngsters I asked the men at the table for volunteers to kill Cardiato if it came to that. Raalto and Racaato were quick to ask for a break here. "Of course I will do it if there is no other way or even if it seems the safest way, but I would rather not have another mate just now," Racaato said, and then Raalto voiced the same thought. Bigglieo was the next to beg off and it was a wonder to me the look Suleita and Daleana gave him didn't make him change his mind at once. The others all seemed to want to dodge the task then. It was a little odd to me since most of them only had one mate - maybe they knew their limitations. Of course I hadn't seen Cardiato's mate and they might know she was ugly or disagreeable in some other way. No matter, someone was going to have to take her unless I was misreading the situation, since I was pretty sure we would need to kill him sooner or later, but I promised them all I would try to make sure none of them had to. "Will we need to post guards again tonight John?" Bigglieo asked. "I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I doubt Cardiato thought his men could travel here, find out anything, and travel back in just one day. He probably won't decide they aren't coming back until tonight. We may know more when the rest of my mates wake." "What of the hay John. Shouldn't we start gathering it?" Raalto asked. "Yes. I'll go with you this morning to get you started. We should also send some men up on the plateau with the other wagon to gather some bison dung. We will probably need a lot of it this winter for heat." "We will need a good supply, but in caves, if the entrance is closed off well enough, it does not get nearly as cold as you would think," Barago said. "Would you be willing to take some men to start gathering the dung Barago?" I asked him. "Yes, even if the caves do not get as cold as huts they still get cold and I do not like to be very cold. I will be glad to see we gather plenty of dung." "We should also begin hanging the bison skins to cover the entrances soon. I will see to that job if you would like," Daaggo offered. "It will be excellent Daaggo. Do we have enough bison skins?" "We have many more than enough. It is surprising to me even the largest caves seem to have rather small openings. I don't think there is a one that will need more than three bison skins for covering, four at most," Daaggo said. "If we have enough skins we should probably make two curtains, one outer and one inner, leaving about three or four feet distance between them. It will keep the caves even warmer." "I had not thought of it, but I can see how it would help. With enough distance between them one can block the wind while the other is being passed through. There will never be an opening for the wind to come through unless two people hold both curtains open," Daaggo said. Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo came in rather sheepishly then with Dalia and Shelalliea following them and trying not to laugh. Without mentioning their tardiness, I caught them up on who would need what in the way of wagons and teams this morning and then asked Racaato if he could give them more shooting instruction after they finished getting the horses and wagons ready. He agreed. Georgo, Ladeliea, and Dotallto came in then. Georgo had just found a seat when he asked me about sending a rider to invite other camps to the mating ceremony. "Most of the camps I know about live here now. Are there others close enough who might want to see it?" "Not really. Do you know of any who might be close enough to come Dotallto?" Georgo asked. "The only camp close enough is Cardiato's camp and I doubt they would come if you asked them. I would not ask them if it were left up to me," Dotallto said. I thought about it and decided I would just be poking a stick into a wound if I sent a messenger to ask them to come for a mating ceremony. It would probably be risking the life of the messenger and horse also. I decided we would have a private ceremony. There were stirrings from the big bed about then and after a few minutes in the bathroom all the questioners came to the table. I noticed Ameliea went directly to the coffee pot to get herself a mug. I thought it was a little funny she had become a coffee person already. They all drifted over as if they were going to help with the cooking, but I asked them to come and tell us about Mundo and they did. "Mundo was willing at once to tell all and wasn't very good entertainment for us. We took a long time about it though and asked him questions over and over to make sure he was telling the truth. "I doubt he could have held to his story through all the questioning if he hadn't been truthful. Especially since we managed to keep him very nervous and afraid the whole time," Dieta said. "I also think we got the truth out of him because what he told us matched my expectations of Cardiato's actions. Mundo said Cardiato was able to secure his position rapidly by intimidation. "Cardiato is the best with the spearcaster and Mundo said he made it clear he was not above killing other contenders to get his way," Ameliea said. "Did he have any ideas about what Cardiato was planning?" "Cardiato is planning to sneak up here and kill you. He plans to kill all the leaders here, but he isn't interested in killing any of the others in camp unless he must. He wants to take over this camp just as Jakado took over all the other camps he encountered," Roweea said. "Did he say when he was expected back?" "He isn't expected to return until late this afternoon. He also told us our camp is not where they thought it was. They believe it is much farther north. That's why they are not coming up the valley. It is a shorter route to climb to the plateau and travel that way," Maia said. "Good, I will ride down the valley to see if I can discover where they are ascending after I have Raalto started with the hay. If I can find the spot we can be waiting tomorrow and capture them as they are climbing." "You should probably try to backtrack them from the top. If you ride down the valley looking for the spot they climb they may see your sign later if they get there before dark," Colonto said. "You are right. I will search for their access from the top." ------- Chapter 96 With that decided the talking was over. After everyone finished eating, Raalto, Racaato, Barago, and I went to the horse cave to get the wagons. Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo had left before us and were well on their way to having the teams hitched when we arrived. Raalto, Racaato, and Barago helped me load the scythes and pitchforks into the big wagon and some manure forks into the other wagon while the wranglers were finishing hitching the teams. After it was done Barago took my original wagon and Raalto took the big wagon up to the center of camp. From there they were going to gather some men to help. Racaato and the wranglers returned to my cave to prepare for the shooting lessons and I saddled Red and rode him to the wagons. Bigglieo and Galto were aboard with Barago and his group and they were leaving just as I got there. Bigglieo, Galto, and Barago all had their M1s and I'm sure they intended to alternate to keep one lookout watching the work to make sure no predators approached. It was doubtful even a big cat would come upon so many men together, but it wasn't unthinkable. Caato and Colonto were going along with Raalto to provide the same service. Raalto had drafted about thirty men to help with the hay and Barago had taken about twenty men with him. As we were leaving I saw Daaggo and ten other men starting on the coverings for the cave openings. After we got to the large meadow it didn't take me long to show Raalto and the men how to go about cutting hay and then how to load it into the wagon with the pitchforks. I could tell freighting the hay was going to consume most of the time. We were only about four miles from camp here but it would still be a lengthy trip. Only three or four men would need to go for unloading though and the others could just keep cutting hay while they were gone. I mounted Red then and headed for the ramp. When I was up on the plateau I started toward the spot where we had confronted the two men last night. Even to my eyes, recognizing the location where the dead man had bled out his life was no problem and it was fairly easy to backtrack them to the south. Losing the trail a few times was normal, but it was usually no trouble to pick it up again and I finally arrived at the site where they had climbed out onto the top. The reason they had chosen this place for their climb was apparent at once. There was almost a trail up the canyon's wall at this point and I could tell it had probably been used on and off for years. It was a good place to gain the plateau and coming at night was an excellent plan as far as sneaking around went. Almost no one did any sneaking around in the night since it was dangerous as hell, as ahlf of the first two man team had already discovered, right at the last. The trouble with this scheme would be apparent to the next few who tried it, since it was also an excellent place to lay in wait for thier sneaky asses. We would be Johnny on he spot to ambush them. There was even a small scattering of trees a half-mile away where we could conceal the wagon. This would mean we wouldn't have to send for it later, and after looking the area over carefully I remounted Red and we returned to camp. I got back just as the first load of hay had been unloaded and saw the big wagon was headed back for more. Of course this rapid progress would not have been possible without Argent's help. The hay couldn't have dried enough for storage under normal circumstances and if the Aliens were not going to be watching over it we could expect a fire, from spontaneous combustion, in a few weeks. I'm sure Argent understood this, but I was going to point it out to him just in case. I unsaddled and groomed Red and then put him back into the pen. Heading back to my cave I was hoping I could persuade my mates to fix me an early lunch. After entering I saw Waaya first and asked her if she could be convinced to feed a hungry man and she agreed, calling Winna, and Jaada to help her while I went back into the practice cave. My wranglers weren't wrangling this morning. They were all practicing when I got to the firing line. After they finished this round I asked them how they were doing and Racaato told me they were all progressing nicely. He volunteered they had all done well with their Glocks, too. "That is good news. One of them may need to dispose of Cardiato for us." This gave them all pause for a few seconds when they realized what I meant. "I will be happy to help in any way I can, but why would one of us need to do it?" Nadlo asked. "Sometimes you will be called upon to do things that are distasteful. I will not force any of you to kill a man if you are set against it." "It isn't what I meant. Of course I will kill him if you think I need to. I was only wondering why you made a point of saying one of us might need to do it," Nadlo said. "It would normally fall on one of the main leading men, but I have already asked them and they would rather not. Remember, whoever kills him will be responsible for taking his mate. It seems Racaato, Raalto, and Bigglieo already have all the mates they want for now. In fact, it seems all the other leaders do." I guess it was inevitable and Danlo pointed it out at once. "Daaggo doesn't have a mate yet," he said. "Daaggo does not want a woman for a mate," I told them, and left it at that. "So one of us will need to kill him and take his mate?" Danlo asked. "I am asking you to do it. I am not going to force you. You are the next in line in order of responsibility though, and the woman will need to be taken by a man with authority. She is a leader's mate after all." "I will do it then, unless Nadlo or Jonoco want to. I am already accustomed to having more than one mate and I would gladly have Daria as another. I have seen her and she is very attractive, even if she is older than I am. It is said she is a good woman and a hard worker also," Danlo said, surprising me. "I envy Danlo's confidence. I would rather not be called on for this task if he will take it," Nadlo told us and Jonoco was quick to say the same thing. "It is settled then - if we have to kill Cardiato we will try to arrange it so Danlo can do it for us. You should probably concentrate on your rifle and pistol abilities heavily Danlo." "He is easily proficient enough already, but I will make sure he has plenty of practice. I do think you should go over the drawing of the pistol and firing quickly with us all though. I am not certain even I am as good at that as I would like to be," Racaato said. "I am going to go and do some thinking for a while and probably eat something. I will come back here with you after you have eaten your lunch," I told them, and then went back to the kitchen. Waaya, Winna, and Jaada were all in the kitchen and Ameliea was with them. I sat at the table and Ameliea came to me with a plate and a mug of beer. She brushed her petite self against me as she put them down and when she'd done it she stayed where she was. Thinking I knew what she had on her mind I still didn't touch her. "Am I not desirable to you John?" she asked, in a small voice after half a minute. "You are very desirable Ameliea and I can only keep from touching you with great difficulty." "Why do you do it then?" she asked, and actually seemed puzzled. "Because I remember your temper and I don't want to start it again. I told you I would not force myself on you and would wait for you to decide you truly wanted to be one of my mates." "Well I have decided, and you need not keep from touching me any longer," she said, with a relieved note in her voice. "Good," I said, as I put my hand on her leg and slid it up to cup one of her glorious ass cheeks. She smiled and then leaned down to give me a good kissing while I got my other hand on her other cheek. For a few minutes she kept kissing and I kept feeling, eventually sliding a paw up to claim a handful of big firm titty for some gentle squeezing, but she finally broke the kiss. "It is much better now I can tell you want me and I can hardly wait until the sun goes down," she told me, breathily. "If I hadn't promised to help Racaato with the firing lessons we wouldn't even wait until after I finish eating," I growled. "Would you take me in the day then?" she asked. "I will probably take you in the day often and then on into the night," I promised. She was smiling when she went back to the others and they all put their heads together to begin talking and giggling. The rest of my mates, who were over listening while Frank went on about something quit their studies and joined the hen party I had gotten started. I finished my meal to the sound of many giggles and no doubt some teasing. After I was done I went to the bed, took off my boots and lay down. I was asleep and in Argent's presence almost at once. "You did well with the two spies, John," he told me. "Yes, but they won't be the last." "No, they won't, but you are right to assume none will come tonight. They are waiting to see if the others will return." "I'm sure they will come tomorrow night then. We will be waiting for them when they climb up to the plateau." "It is unfortunate it worked out this way. Your mating ceremony was scheduled for tomorrow night, wasn't it?" "It was, but they have been put off before. I will probably be cross with the spies over it though." "I can understand. Maybe you should be sure to take Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo with you," Argent suggested. "I hadn't even thought of it, but you are right. I will assign one to Nadlo and one to Jonoco since Danlo has already offered to deal with Cardiato. It will be up to luck to determine if one of them has to shoot a spy and up to more luck to see if a mated man has to be killed." "How do you plan to approach them?" he asked. "I'm glad you asked. I will need two very powerful hand held spotlights. When they are on the plateau and a little way from the edge we will put the light to their eyes similarly to the way I did with the bear. "The lights should be much more powerful than the one I had then though. The spies may not wait until dark to ascend, but if the lights are powerful enough it will still disorient them." "It is excellent planning. They will be blinded and at your mercy in a flash, so to speak," he said. "I see you are developing a sense of humor now Argent - it is still in its infancy though." "I know it must have come from my close association with you. I will make sure the lights are powerful enough to do the job, even in daylight. On another topic, the designer is in a snit about wedding gowns, will you allow him to make some?" Argent asked. "By all means have him go ahead. He has done such a good job so far. Please ask him to keep them as nearly consistent with our situation as possible though." "I will convey the message, but it is all I will do for you along those lines. He generates a foul mood quickly if he thinks someone is trying to tell him how things should be done," Argent said. "I'm sure whatever he does will be much better than anything you or I could do anyway." "He is talented. Can you think of anything else we need to discuss?" he asked. "Do you know if the next spies will be mated or not?" "No one has been selected yet since they are not sure the others will not be coming back," he said. "It doesn't matter, mated or not we will have to deal with them and Jonoco and Nadlo will have to take their chances." "If that is all I will leave you now," Argent said. "One more thing I should mention. You do know the hay must be dried don't you, can you take care of it for us?" "I didn't realize it had to be dried. Is it necessary for the horses?" he asked. "It must be dried to keep it from moulding and then starting to burn. The mould generates heat and with the hay all piled up like it will be, the temperature soon rises until the hay ignites," I explained. "I should have realized it, but didn't. We will make sure it is dried thoroughly," he said, and then I was sleeping again. I woke a few minutes later and got up. All the usual suspects were here for lunch and I joined them at the table while they ate, but we didn't really discuss anything except how their projects were going. Barago wasn't so proud to tell us they had collected three wagonloads of dried bison shit already, but Raalto was happy to announce his bunch had put four of the big wagonloads of hay into the horse cave. Argent and I had already talked about the fodder subterfuge and we had decided not to really begin padding the tab until Raalto had about ten loads stored. Afterwards it should just seem like a hell of a lot of hay and whatever Argent added would just make it a hell of a lot more. Daaggo told us he had measured all the cave openings carefully and then measured the bison skins we had available. He said we had plenty of new skins ready, even considering he was going to put two curtains at each opening. A little questioning let me know he intended to attach the skins to the limestone by driving pegs through the skins and into the rock. I knew I could show him a much better way and so I asked him to take his men and cut small trees to make poles they could put into postholes so we could build a framing at every cave. He liked this idea much better himself and said he and his men would gather poles if I would come and show them exactly how I wanted them put in place later. After lunch they all got back to it. I went into the practice cave with Racaato, Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo, intending to help them with getting their Glocks out of their holster and into action quickly, a maneuver reportedly invented by Cullen Baker and some say he was in or about Bloomburg Texas when he developed the Fast Draw. I'll admit most of what I knew about it came from reading The First Fast Draw by Louis L'Amour. Of course it was fiction, but if you can't trust Louis L'Amour - who can you trust? With the cross draw holster rigs I'd had Argent supply it was easy. The tied down holsters always used in the movies are not the best arrangement for a fast draw. Reaching straight down your leg to grab the grip and then having to pull it straight back up just isn't so easy or fast. A cross draw holster allows you to make a swipe across your belly, a very natural motion, and drag the pistol out as you go. If you pay attention you can have the barrel pointing straight out in front of you with only a flick of the wrist and almost as soon as it clears the holster. You only have to flick it to the side and you're in business. Your forearm is already level and in good shape for a hip shot. To save wear and tear on bystanders I made them practice with unloaded weapons for about an hour. As soon as I thought they all had a good feel for the procedure I stopped and gave them another twenty minutes of safety lecture. Finally, I put up a man's silhouette target, ran it out to twenty feet and let Danlo do a live ammo try, with only one cartridge. He didn't hit anywhere within the body's outline, but he did get it on the paper. It was all repetition from there. When I was sure they were using sufficient care I let them put five rounds in the magazine to speed up the sessions a little. After they could all put one somewhere within the outline I left it to them, suggesting to Racaato they spend another hour with the pistols and then switch to rifles for an hour and then switch back. Back in my cave I caught Merita and Maia actually working with the wolves. Mundo had long since been released, fed, and allowed to bathe. I assume since his questioning was now over he had been treated with more kindness also. The wolf training drill didn't make it look like it was the case. Mundo was dressed in what seemed to be five or six separate sets of clothes. He was standing over out of the way and Merita and Maia were teaching the wolves to attack him, one at a time, on command and then having them stop the attack and just hold on. I watched for a while and then whispered in Maia's ear they might be treating Mundo just a little harshly. "He agreed to do it - he didn't exactly volunteer, but when we promised we wouldn't let them actually hurt him he did agree," she told me. Merita had stopped the proceedings when she saw me whisper to Maia and she was quick to assure me they weren't making Mundo be the attack dummy. "They are correct, John. I did agree to help them. The wolves frightened me badly during my questioning, but I wanted to help if I could. If it is possible I would like to join your camp, I have no desire to go back to Cardiato. If I can join you I would like to try and get my mate from his camp though," Mundo said. "If you will abide by my rules you can join us Mundo and it looks like you have made a good start at earning your keep already. You have taken a job I wouldn't want. How long will your mate wait for you to return?" I asked. Georgo and Dotallto had come to investigate by now and Georgo provided the answer to my question. "It is customary to wait at least two moons when a man does not come back, unless his body is found before the time and that is usually the waiting period before the woman even considers another mate. Most times she waits much longer," Georgo said. "There should be no problem about your mate then Mundo. Georgo and I are going to have a mating ceremony and will both be taking more mates. We don't intend to deal with Cardiato until after the mating nights, but we will probably visit him the next day." He seemed relieved with this news and Georgo, Dotallto, and I left to sit at the table, hoping for coffee. Ameliea brought us each a mug and I didn't hesitate to put my hands on her this time as she set mine down. She smiled at me when she left. ------- Chapter 97 After coffee I took Georgo and Dotallto down to the horse cave to see Dotallto's new buckboard. It was exactly like Georgo's so there were no surprises, but Dotallto was thrilled with it anyway. We looked it over for a while and then went back toward my cave. Georgo and Dotallto retired to their separate meditation chambers and I went to my cave to have a little talk with Frank. Frank was busy with my mates when I got there and so I went to the study room in the practice cave to see if Phil was free. Racaato and the wranglers were still burning powder and Phil was free for the moment. I got an acknowledgement from an alien as soon as I sent a message. I requested sewing needles and thread, everything from heavy duty sewing awls with handles down to the tiniest needles and all sizes of thread and cord. I should have gotten the small needles and thread for my mates a long time ago, but Daaggo's project had made me remember. He would have to be doing a lot of sewing to join the hides together and without modern day needles and thread it would be a bitch to make holes with stone awls, push the cord through them barehanded, and then do it all again for the next stitch. I even remembered to ask for some heavy duty shears and scissors to help with the task. I went outside and spotted Daaggo and some of the others bringing post. They were carrying them on their shoulders, two men to each post. I knew they could do it faster by having one of the Clydesdales drag several trees in one bunch, but it could wait for now. I asked Daaggo to come with me and took him to the horse cave to show him his new equipment. After I showed him the sewing tools and materials he was delighted, especially with the shears and the heavy duty awls. He could see these things would make the job much easier. I took him out to the horse pens then and caught one of the giant draft horses for him. We took it back into the horse cave and put enough harness on it so the horse could pull the felled trees and then we headed for the place they were cutting the poles. When we got there it only took a little time to show the men how to use the horse to bunch the trees and then hook them up by the butts and skid them with the Clydesdale doing most of the work. He had no troubled pulling several of the small trees at once and I told the men they might as well leave the limbs attached until they got the trees into camp. That way, after they limbed them, the parts they'd cut off could be used for fires or if big enough, for other parts of the project. I left them at it and went back toward the camp. Things seemed to be working out very well all around. Cardiato's shenanigans were an irritation, but nothing we couldn't deal with. I knew he thought he had a real advantage and since he came up with the idea he was probably proud of it and confident it was insurmountable. It might have been if not for me and, of course, Argent. Even the bows and arrows would be more than the spearcasters could triumph over. There was no way they could give us a hard time with what they had available. Even if they were more cunning and stealthy than we were, which was debatable, they didn't have a chance of sneaking up on us with the aliens overhead. Hell I was defending against savages carrying spears and I had better reconnaissance assets than spy satellites and teams of analysts. I started wondering what all this was about again and I didn't have a bit more idea now than when I got here. Argent kept telling me to do things in my own best interest and I intended to, but it seemed little by little I was depending on Argent and his people more every day. I shouldn't need their help defending my camp against Cardiato's band. There were more than twice as many people in my camp than in his and using Argent as an eye in the sky seemed a little like overkill. I was going to keep it up until after the mating ceremony though. I wasn't going to keep men up all night scattered all over the place watching for spies, at least I wasn't until after my mating nights were over. There was a good reason people of this time didn't like to be out at night. Dangerous animals were everywhere and most of them could see much better in the dark than a human could. They were also better at moving about quietly in the blackness. They had to be since it was the way they survived. The predators which were really dangerous could be on you in darkness before you even knew what was going on. You could be hurt or killed quickly if you spent a lot of time outside after sunset. Some of the night work couldn't be helped though and I knew we were going to have more of it tomorrow. I looked up the valley and could see Raalto's bunch coming back for supper. The wagon was piled high with hay and many of them were walking along beside it. Raalto was one of them and when he came to me he stopped. "Gathering hay is not that much fun John," he said, preaching to the choir. "I knew it and I was happy you volunteered to take the job." "It isn't so bad and it must be done. I'm afraid we will all be sore tomorrow though. It will make it hard to get going in the morning," he said. "Take a day off to get over it then." "I think we had just as well keep it up. The soreness will relieve itself as we work and we can always go more slowly until it is better. I am not sure how much hay we will need, but I know it will be a lot and the first snow can not be far off," he said. "I haven't asked Georgo what he thinks about the winter's approach yet. Maybe I should, as I would hate to be surprised. We will be in trouble with the horses if we do not have enough hay. If it does snow before we have enough we may have to let them go up to the first opening and watch over them while they graze on some days when it isn't too bad." "I hadn't thought of it, but I guess it would be possible. Gathering enough hay will be easier than that if we have time though. We will need many men to go watch them if we have to let them graze in the open like that," he said. "We won't do it unless they run out of hay altogether. We have a lot of standing grass back up in the two blind canyons and it will help us feed them." "Maybe we should ask Georgo if he has had any sign from the spirits about the winter's arrival," Raalto said. "I will talk with him and see if he can meditate about it," I said, knowing the spirits would be very informative this year. Raalto left me and went to the horse cave to help with the unloading. Barago and his crew came by also with another load of shit, but Barago only nodded at me as he went by and didn't get off the wagon to talk. I went into my cave and sat at the table where Dieta brought me a mug of coffee. "Are you dying of hunger already my mate?" she asked, when I smiled a thanks for the coffee. "Not really, I just came in to boost my appetite by getting a few of the smells of the cooking and to find something to do with my hands," I told her, while I took a sip of coffee with one hand and gave her legs and ass a few feels with the other. Dieta bent lower and gave my neck a few sucking kisses and I let my hand stray between her legs, checking to make sure she still had some pussy for me. She did, and I spent a little time warming it up. She backed away after a few seconds. "I won't be able to help with supper if you keep that up. Tonight will be hard enough on me as it is. Ameliea has made me promise to hold her down tightly so she won't be able to get away from you," Dieta hissed. "She needn't worry, because I will make sure of it myself if I must. My dick is more than anxious to meet Ameliea." She giggled and left me, returning to the kitchen and walking up behind Ameliea who jumped and squeaked out when Dieta reached her, brushing her hand down to dislodge Dieta's that had just given her ass a pinch. When she turned around to see who had pinched her Dieta pulled her close and gave her a good kiss and in only a few seconds Ameliea was returning it and doing a little ass pinching of her own. It was wonderful entertainment before supper. Georgo came in then to sit beside me. Ladeliea, who was already in the kitchen, brought him some coffee. She stepped between Georgo and I to put the coffee down and when I noticed Georgo was fondling one of her ass cheeks I moved a hand up to give the other a squeezing. Ladeliea didn't know which way to turn so she just backed out leaving Georgo and I to grin at each other like schoolboys. "Are your soon to be mates cross about the delay Georgo?" "I think they were trying to get that way, but I headed it off by telling them I had spoken to Julieta and she has agreed to join us as one of my mates. This sent them off with Ladeliea to giggle and talk amongst each other," Georgo told me. "Well it is good you were spared a going over about something you couldn't control. I would like to ask if you have had any inklings about the winter yet?" "I've had no sign from the spirits, but I will meditate later and try to get one. Often the spirits are not forthcoming about the weather," he told me. "They are our best hope of knowledge about it though. I hope the snow does not come before we are finished gathering hay. I would also like to have another hunt before winter and there is the little trip I want to take." "Unless it is different this year you should have at least another moon before it gets very cold. If a snow does come earlier it will probably be a light one," he said. I was sure I could find out almost exactly what the weather would be like, but I didn't intend to let anyone else know. I would ask Argent to give Georgo a sign so it would seem Georgo's skills in predicting weather had vastly improved. Dotallto came in then and he and Georgo started talking about the buckboards, Dotallto wanting to hear everything Georgo would tell him about its use. I listened halfheartedly, but really wasn't interested in what they were saying. Soon enough everyone else straggled in and for once we all got our food more or less at the same time. My wranglers were still talking about their shooting practice and Raalto and Barago even conferred over their various jobs. Daaggo and his crew had really put their shoulders to the wheel after they got a horse to skid their timber into camp. Daaggo said they now had plenty to build frameworks for all the cave's entrances and he was excited about using the new tools I had furnished for sewing the skins together. Talk of the sewing tools got the interest of my mates and after the meal was over and the dishwashers were fed I had to show them their own stash of needles and thread. I wasn't much with sewing, but I knew enough of the basics to show them how it worked and they had done plenty of their own type of sewing to see the new things would make it much easier. I finally left them at it, took a shower, and got into bed hoping they didn't intend to spend all night with their new toys. Being in the big bed alone seemed a little odd to me, but I didn't have to wait long before they put up their sewing kits and after a little teasing and giggling among themselves they all headed toward the bed. I saw Roweea had Ameliea by one arm and of course Dieta had the other. When they got the struggling Ameliea near the bed they shuffled around a little getting her dress over her head and her moccasins off her feet, then they took turns holding on to her while they all undressed. "Look what we have brought you John. We are tired of her standoffishness and have decided tonight is the night she will give up what you want," Dieta announced. "He wouldn't dare, he promised he would not force himself on me," Ameliea said, loudly. "I have changed my mind though. I can't resist the temptation any longer. Bring her to me and be careful she doesn't get away." They pulled her to the bed and pushed her toward me, rushing to pile in behind her. Dieta kept hold of one arm and Roweea regained the one she'd lost, then they wasted no time in pinning her to the mattress on her back. Gema took one foot then and Maia took the other and they spread her out to show me what I was about to get into. "You are awful, all of you. I thought we had become friends and now you hold me down for this brute," Ameliea whined. "You will be glad about it soon enough," Geera told her. I leaned over and took one of her splendid nipples in my mouth then, giving it a little suck and then a gentle bite. I couldn't keep my hands off her either and while I squeezed and pinched her other titty and nipple I let my free hand drift down into her bush and then below. She was wet and getting wetter so I played with her lips and teased her clit some. When she was wet enough I pushed a finger up into her heat and pumped it. Her hips pushed her sex up to my hand for more while her mouth continued to piss and moan about it. "I can see there is no honor in your promises to a poor defenseless woman John. You are going to have me no matter what you promised aren't you?" "Yes I am Ameliea, soon I will be fucking you until my heart is content and more. You will be wiggling and squirming and calling my name, then you will be begging me not to stop." "Never, I will never beg you not to stop. I don't want you on me rutting, but I can see I have no choice." "I will give you a choice later, a choice of whether you want it like this, or from behind while you are on your hands and knees. In the morning I will give you a choice of getting it early, just after the sun rises or later after all the others have come in and can watch." "You wouldn't. You wouldn't take me in the daylight with all the other men and women watching," she whined. "I might, but tonight I am going to take you right now since I can't wait any longer." ------- Chapter 98 I climbed between Amelia's beautiful legs and over her tiny body. She wiggled and squirmed even more energetically, but her fate was sealed when Dalia took hold of my boner and put the head to her entrance. I pushed into her slowly and gently and her wet heat welcomed me home. Her inner muscles played along my length as I pushed in gently but firmly. "Oh spirits that is big in me. I could see it was a big one, but I had no idea it would open me so. It is delicious, isn't it? Let me go so I can pull him in deeper," Ameliea said. They released her then and her sham was over. Her legs went around my hips and her hands pulled me to her for a deep kiss as she set the pace with her wicked hips. They were banging against me in no time and I wondered just who was fucking whom. "Harder, do it harder, John." I did it harder and was glad to, she was lively and agitated and was giving as good as she was getting. I put my mouth to one of her nipples and sucked for a taste. "Yes, nurse me, suck on my nipple and bite it, it feels so good. Suck it and pump harder, and faster, I am nearly there already," she screamed. And then she was there, bucking even harder and pulling me to her with both her arms and her legs. Her ass went into high gear and if I weren't so much heavier than her she would have probably bucked me off. She didn't, but she got my nut and as she began screaming my name I started pumping come into her. Not for the first or last time I wondered if I was putting it somewhere it was needed. I was limp and winded in just another minute. Delia rolled me toward her and sucked my used dick into her mouth, carefully cleaning it and then sucking for stiffness. Dieta and Roweea couldn't decide who would get to tidy up Ameliea and so they took turns sucking and licking her pussy while she just lay there panting for breath. Geera didn't want to be left out so she made sure Ameliea's nipples got plenty of attention. I could tell I had them all stirred up now and I didn't mind, even though it took me another two and a half hours to get them all fucked. I woke before sunrise the next morning and was somehow able to get out of bed and dressed without waking any of my mates. I made my own coffee and was wishing I had mentioned to Racaato we should go hunting early this morning so we could have fresh meat for the ceremony. I was surprised, but happy, when he came in a few minutes later. "I woke up early and was hoping for some coffee," Racaato said, as he came toward the pot. "I'm glad you did. I think we should slip off and go for a quick hunt this morning. I want some fresh meat for the ceremony tomorrow night." "That is a good idea. We can be gone before the rest are even awake," he said. We got our coffee and then fetched our rifles and headed for the horse cave. It didn't take long to hitch a team to my wagon and we were rolling out of camp and toward the ramp in no time. Luckily Danlo and the wranglers were in the habit of cleaning the wagon box before putting it away at the end of the day. We were in luck for the game situation since we saw some as soon as we got onto the plateau. There was a group of aurochs within a thousand yards of us. Some were up and grazing, but a couple were lying on the ground as if still sleeping. I wrapped the reins around a rail behind the seat and Racaato and I got down and started moving slowly toward a small rise about half way between the aurochs and us. When we made the rise we got prone on top of it and looked through our scopes at the aurochs. There were eight in all, but we didn't want so many. We decided on a couple of young males which were grazing. They weren't fully grown, but they were large. Racaato and I decided who would shoot which one and on my signal we fired. It startled them and those on the ground got up, but they couldn't tell what the noise had been and though plainly nervous they couldn't decide to run or even which way they should run. Racaato and I solved their problem by standing and waving our arms. The live ones started off, not running, but not grazing peacefully either. Racaato went for the wagon while I walked toward our kills. When he had the wagon in place we realized the tower wasn't on it. Of course it was apparent, but we hadn't thought about it until we needed it. We let the new tailgate down and I played out the winch line, which we attached to one of the aurochs. With the winch pulling and Racaato and I lifting it wasn't too much of a job to pull it into the back. We repeated the procedure with the other one, closed the tailgate, and were on our way. It wasn't a bad job, but you can bet I would be attaching the tower before using the wagon to fetch game the next time. "The rifles are excellent, John. I can remember many times stalking aurochs all day to try for one and often not even getting any. We have come out and killed two before we even had our breakfast," Racaato said, all smiles. "They do make it much easier and having the wagon to take game home is a big help too." "It is, having the wagon and being able to bring the carcass back to camp to gut, skin, clean, and cut up makes it so much easier," he said. We got back to camp just as Bigglieo was coming out to start looking for us. He told me my mates had sent him to fetch me back for breakfast. He was amazed Racaato and I had already been hunting and were back with game. "We had to have some fresh meat for tomorrow night - I'm just hoping we don't have to end up with more fresh dead tonight," I said. "If they come tonight and end up dead they will have no one to blame, but themselves and Cardiato," Bigglieo said. "It is the truth, at least their mates will have a good home if some do have to die tonight," Racaato said. "Don't mention it too much around Jonoco and Nadlo. They are a little nervous about gaining a mate from killing her present mate." "I won't, but it will do them more good than they will know unless they try it. I don't mean killing the men, I just meant it can be very pleasant to have more than one mate," Racaato said. "Who are you telling?" I asked, and we all laughed. We left the wagon where it was and went in for breakfast. Everyone was seated already except the three of us. Bigglieo didn't even have his ass in a chair before he announced where we'd been this morning. "They got two big young aurochs too. They will be tender and a good meal at the ceremony," Bigglieo said. "That is good then, since you won't be able to drink any bruga you can entertain yourself with eating too much aurochs - try to leave a little for the rest of us," Barago teased him, and everyone laughed. "It won't be so bad Barago, and I doubt I will be able to eat more than one of the aurochs, it will leave one for the rest of you," Bigglieo said, firing back. Talk died down then since the breakfast plates started appearing. I was hungry, probably because I was accustomed to eating before I got out and about in the mornings. Finally, after two plates for me I called it quits and just sat with my coffee while some of the more polite eaters finished their meals. After breakfast Raalto went out to gather his crew for the hay cutting duty and Barago went to get the shit hauling started. Daaggo told me he would get the aurochs unloaded and put a few men to work skinning and cleaning them so Barago could use the wagon. I went into the practice cave with Racaato, Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco and before they started practicing I went over my plan with them. Racaato liked the idea of the lights, but was afraid they wouldn't be bright enough if the spies came up before sunset. I pointed out those who were coming had better hope they were, but I got another idea. I left them to practice and went back into my cave. I found Merita and Maia and asked them if they thought they could control Prince, King, and Rover enough to help with the spies tonight. Of course they were sure they could and promised to have the wolves on their best behavior. They were probably right, the wolves would know we were hunting something and they weren't like dogs anyway. They weren't going to start barking. They were much more likely to start biting with no warning. I did think the wolves could be counted on for a different dog like behavior though, since if the spies took off running they would be sorry about it soon. Spearcasters were a wonderful weapon, but they were almost impossible to use on anything approaching from behind, and after the first few steps the wolves would be too close to allow time for turning and casting a spear. I was almost sure if the light blinded them for even an instant Prince, King, and Rover would have them on the ground at once. I went back to the practice cave then and told Racaato of the new plan. He was more enthusiastic about this and more nearly sure of the outcome. I left them to their practicing then and went to the horse cave to see if Argent had sent the lights. The lights were there and once more Argent and his people had outdone themselves. I tried one against the wall in the cave and could tell at once there was no way anyone would be able to see for minutes after getting a dose of it, even in broad daylight. They were so bright it seemed I could feel heat from the beam. I had to take it to show Racaato and after I had we quit worrying about whether our plan would work - there was no doubt. I did a little shooting of my own until lunch and after we ate I told the others, who were also taking a lunch break from their chores, our plans for tonight's spies. Just for a feel of what the other side might be thinking I sent for Mundo and when we explained it to him he assured us we would have no worries. "They will already be frightened just as I was. When the light blinds them they will be terrified and if you do not speak before the wolves hit them they will have no idea what has them and will probably be screaming and begging for their lives. If it had happened to me that way I'm sure I would have messed in my clothes," Mundo said. I thanked him and sent him on his way then thought better of it and sent for him again. "Mundo, do you think you could convince them they would be better off here than going back to Cardiato?" I asked. "Anyone could convince them and if it is an option for them I'm sure they will be glad to stay here, especially if there is a chance they will be able to retrieve their mates and possessions. In fact, food is so much in plenty here they will probably not care about their possessions," he said. "Good, I would like for you to come with us tonight then." "I will be glad to help you in any way I can," he promised. I let him go for real this time and when the others left to resume their chores I spent the rest of the afternoon going over things in my head. About two hours before sunset I went back to Phil and asked for Argent. He answered right away and when I asked if spies were coming he told me two mated men were already on their way and they should reach the plateau about two hours after sunset. I asked him then if he could clue Georgo in on when the first snow would be likely during his next meditation. "I nearly gave him a sign today, but I wanted to make sure you approved of him having the information. I will give him a sign the next time he meditates," he said, and I signed off. The work crews knocked off around an hour before sunset at my suggestion. Raalto would be with us tonight and Barago said he wanted to go along too. When Dieta, Roweea, and Ameliea discovered Maia and Merita were coming to handle Prince, King, and Rover they lobbied for and obtained an invitation. Jonoco and Nadlo were noticeably nervous, but Danlo seemed calm and collected. Right as we were leaving, Bigglieo and Galto couldn't stand it and decided to join us. Everyone but me was assuming the spies were coming from educated guesswork, but I knew for a fact they were already headed our way. When we had parked the wagon in the trees Maia and Merita let Prince, King, and Rover get down and explore a little, but they kept them fairly close. Racaato, Raalto, and I crept up to the plateau's edge on our bellies even though I knew it wasn't necessary. We stayed there waiting and watching with binoculars and after sunset with the night vision and FLIR goggles. Our wait didn't go unrewarded since the spies showed up right on time. We crawled backwards away from the edge and then went to the others and set up our trap. Raalto, Racaato, and I set up right in the trail they had been using, but about two hundred yards back from the edge. Racaato had one spotlight and I had the other. Merita, Maia, Dieta, Roweea, and Ameliea were right near us with Maia and Merita supervising the wolves. I debated about putting Bigglieo, Barago, and the others spread widely along the edge to cut off the escape route back toward the spy's camp, but decided against it. There was too great a chance for an accident in case shots had to be fired and I didn't really think the spies could escape the wolves. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo were off to the left of us and were ready in case one or both spies needed to be shot. I did warn them to wait for a signal from me before firing though. When they finally gained the plateau I could tell all this wasn't really necessary. They had no doubt been walking for hours and were still running Cardiato down for this foolishness, as they called it. I let them get within fifty feet of us before signaling Racaato. The spies yelped in surprise at the blinding light and I felt a wolf rush past me just as Racaato and I turned the lights off. I opened my eyes in time to see Prince leap right into the chest of the one to our right, then King, and Rover bailed into the other one not a second later. The spies were flat on their backs with snarling wolves grabbing at them before they even knew they were being attacked. We rushed up to them quickly and when Maia and Merita called the wolves back I spoke to them. "Stay very still right where you are. If you move I will release the wolves and let them finish you." Neither of them replied so I asked if they understood. "We will not move. What do you want of us?" one asked. "We want you to tell us why men from your camp keep coming to spy on us?" "Cardiato sends us, he forces us to come. No one in our camp wants to do this, but he is determined. He will have a much harder time after you kill us and we don't come back though," he said. I signaled Mundo then and let him speak to them. "They will not kill you if you cooperate. They didn't kill me. You will have to tell them everything they want to know though," Mundo said. "Is that Mundo?" the other man asked. "It is. I was not foolish like Gougo and they did not kill me. I am joining their camp now and if you are honorable perhaps they will let you join also," Mundo said. "But what of your mate Mundo?" "There is to be a mating ceremony here tomorrow night. After it is over John will be going to speak to Cardiato about these raids. I will bring my mate back then," Mundo said. "What if Cardiato won't let her leave?" the first one who had spoken asked. "Where is Jakado's mate now?" Ameliea broke in to ask. "We will tell you everything we know and beg you to let us join your camp." ------- Chapter 99 We walked to the wagon then and everyone, including Prince, King, and Rover boarded. We didn't bother with binding Doctaato and Balaanto since they were obviously still scared shitless by the wolves. We found out all they knew before we even got back to camp and there was no real news in it for us. They told us basically the same things Mundo had, the only difference was the natives were even more restless about the spying trips since Mundo and Gougo hadn't returned. When we arrived at camp I told Mundo to take the new arrivals to the big cave and help them find a place to sleep and some furs. I assumed someone would feed them tomorrow and Bigglieo later assured me our people were being considerate of the captured spies, since they knew they would be joining us. Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo took care of the wagon and the horses and everyone else headed toward their beds. With only a little begging and praise for her bread making skills I talked Roweea into making a sandwich for me and with a few of them latching onto a snack or two my mates all joined me with a mug of beer. It was sort of a little mini party on the last night before my next mating ceremony. Georgo and Ladeliea finally came in to celebrate with us for a while. We fizzled out after a short time, it was pretty late for us, and tomorrow would be a big exciting day and then another late night. I was asleep not long after giving all my mates a good kissing and Argent didn't break in with any interruptions. Even though I was up and out of bed before most of my mates the next morning, I hadn't beat Dalia or Shelalliea. After a quick shower and getting dressed I headed toward the table and Shelalliea gave me a mug of coffee and a good morning kiss before I got to it. Deciding I would take a walk around outside while breakfast was being cooked I detoured by Dalia for another kiss and then walked out into our valley. I was the only one outside and it was peaceful and quiet. The poles now placed in front of the big cave jogged my memory about the coverings. We had dozens of hides which had been saved from disassembled huts and they would serve very well for coverings, especially the outer coverings. I would have to make myself remember to tell Daaggo about them. Looking around outside I saw the ground ovens had been cleaned out and new fires had already been built in them, they had probably been burning all night. This method of cooking made for wonderfully tender meat, but it was a big pain in the ass as far as I could tell. What we needed were some good old-fashioned Texas style slow cookers so we could smoke the meat and give it a good hickory flavor. I doubted there was much chance of finding any Mesquite anywhere around here, and I had always liked the hickory flavor better anyway. I knew damned well we could find some hickory. A few big smokers would definitely have to go on my Argent want list. My coffee finished, I wandered back into the cave and my breakfast was nearly ready. When I sat down Dalia brought me a plate, but it seemed a little short in relation to the portions I was accustomed to. "Am I on short rations now, Dalia?" I asked. "Not exactly, we've noticed when you rise earlier than the others and eat before them you ask for another serving when theirs comes and usually eat with them also. We just lightened your first breakfast since we are sure you will eat again with the others," she said, and then grinned. "Good thinking. It won't do for me to get fat and lazy, of course you might say I am already lazy." "We won't say it and we will get very cross with anyone else who dares to. If anyone deserves to have all they want to eat it is you. Since they eat at your table and eat food which is almost always cooked by your mates you can be sure it won't take much reminding to insure they watch what they say," Shelalliea said, grinning too. I was nearly finished when Raalto and Racaato and their mates came in with Bigglieo, Barago, Caato, and all the others close on their heels. Soon everyone was in place and the food came in earnest, and true to their word they brought me another round. I could get used to this life and, come to think of it, I probably was already. Not much was discussed during the meal. I did mention the hides to Daaggo and he told me he'd wondered why I hadn't asked him to use them first and he would change his plans to include them. Barago told me his project was going well and Raalto knew already I knew his was on track too. After breakfast all the men except Georgo and Dotallto left right away to get started on their jobs. Dotallto left shortly after that to go meditate. Georgo stayed with me, drinking coffee, and I could tell he had something on his mind. "The spirits came to me in a dream last night, John. They have never spoken to me so plainly before," he said. "Well what did they say?" "The snowing will start in three weeks. They let me know the first one wouldn't be a heavy snow and it would be gone after two days. They seemed to indicate there would be another three weeks of good weather before it came again in earnest," Georgo said. "We will have plenty of time to be ready then. Two days of snow on the ground won't hurt anything and if it doesn't return for three weeks we will have plenty of time to finish with the hay. Raalto, is making good progress with it." "It is very strange they came to me in my sleep though," Georgo said. "When they speak to me it is almost always in my sleep." "But they have never come in my sleep before." he protested. "Things change, Georgo. Maybe even the spirits change. Besides, what can we do about it?" "I don't know if we should do anything and even if we needed to do something I don't know what it could be. It was strange though," he said. "I wouldn't worry overmuch about it, Georgo, as you say there is nothing we know to do about it and if the information is correct it is good news." "I suppose, it was strange though," he said, again. I was tired of hearing how strange it was. Georgo was going to have to get over it somehow. The snow news was good enough though. We had time to get our hay and dung in order and Daggo would have plenty of time to button the caves up for the winter. Then we'd get a couple of snow days and three more weeks to put additional meat in the freezer. Maybe I should plan a little Mammoth hunt. But tonight was the night for our matings. I intended to enjoy mine with no worries. Since Argent could easily warn me about any other intruders I almost decided to tell Bigglieo and the others to go ahead and get drunk. I changed my mind though, since it wouldn't hurt them to miss out on one drunk. I would need them sober in the morning anyway, because I planned to go to Cardiato's camp and settle his hash over these spying trips. The day passed with not much interesting for me to do. After lunch I saddled Red and went down river to the side stream. We crossed the river and headed up the stream. I had to stay near the banks, but was able to get up it about a mile. I couldn't really tell much about this area except it was heavily wooded. It would bear a little exploring, but I needed at least Racaato and one of the wranglers along, maybe two. By the time I got back to the cave it was time for me to take a bath and get dressed for my mating. My clothes had been laid out on the bed for me, but none of my mates were anywhere to be found. I supposed they were all across the canyon fussing over Kateata and Georgo's three new women. None of my current mates would be part of the ceremony. It didn't mean they wouldn't be a part of the preparations. Georgo joined me in clean clothes himself in a few minutes. "Where are all my mates, Georgo?" "They are all in my cave with Ladeliea, Sutahtha, Kateata, Yotalieta, and Baahaya. They made me leave, telling me I shouldn't see my new mates in their new clothes until the ceremony," he said. "Oh, do they have new clothes?" "Yes, and Dalia said they came from the spirits," Georgo said. "Maybe they did. The spirits have been very good to us since we came here." "Yes they have. I worry they may test us later to make sure we are worthy," he said. "I think they are already testing us, Georgo. I think Cardiato is a big test. How do you think the spirits would receive it if we let him come and take away the gifts they have given us." "I don't even want to think about it. I will kill him myself if I must," Georgo declared. "I don't think it will come to that. I hate to say it, but I think Danlo is actually hoping Cardiato will make us kill him. Danlo already knows Cardiato's mate and I think he is looking forward to having her for his own." "He does know her well. She is older than Danlo, but her mother was Dalia's mother's sister. Danlo has known her most of his life?" Georgo said. This was big news to me and at first I wondered why Dalia hadn't said anything about it. Danlo and Cardiato's mate were cousins. Then I remembered after a girl became a woman most kinship was disregarded. Geera hadn't even mentioned Gema was her daughter when we had been bargaining for the mating price. This was going to make things more interesting, for me at least. It made me wonder exactly what Cardiato's mate looked like, but I didn't ask Georgo. I would see for myself soon enough unless Cardiato changed his ways damned fast. Georgo decided to go outside instead of waiting around in the cave. There were a few others out here now, mostly women tending to the food and such. Soon Bigglieo and some of the others came out of my cave carrying the barrels which held the iced kegs, and more brought the tables with the mugs. Things were nearly in place for the party to begin. When it was time to eat, my mates and Georgo's and our intended new mates came out of Georgo's cave. I was shocked and I'm sure everyone else was. The Alien designer had done himself proud again. I'm not much for describing clothes and it wasn't so much these mating dresses were so different than the Wilma dresses. They looked great though. They were completely white and instead of having a ripped look at the hems and on the sleeves they were more or less normal. They were not open on top like the morning attire. They came all the way up around each girl's neck. They were just a little longer than the other dresses too. No attempt had been made to make them seem to be furs though. They were silk and they clung to the bride's bodies almost alarmingly. It was no trouble to tell exactly where every nipple and bellybutton was and as far as concealing anything went they barely did. Mostly they drew attention to the interesting parts. Dicky was hard before I had time to take a good breath. Kateata looked beautiful and so did Yotalieta, Baahaya, and Sutahtha. During the meal I could hardly keep my eyes on my plate even though I was anxious to get done eating and on to the mating. It came soon enough though, but barely. Dotallto had us all come forward and it only took a little talking and praising of the spirits and it was over. My mates and I went into my cave and Georgo and his went into theirs. When we were inside I stood still near the bed and watched all my mates undress. What a sight it was. When they were naked they came and stripped me down to match and then pushed me into the middle of the big bed. I got a surprise then when my mates held me down instead of Kateata while she teased and tormented me and finally gave me the good fucking I deserved, afterward they all wanted one. Later I was worn out, but happy, and I drifted off to sleep with Kateata on one side of me and Ameliea on the other. I had a short dream of a more nearly mature Failiela during the night, but it wasn't too dirty. Waking early the next morning, I wanted to stay in bed, but didn't. No luck in getting out without waking everyone either so I was delayed a little as they pulled me back down among them. Finally they let me up and most of them got up too. We piled into the big shower and before we were done everyone had joined in for some soapy fun. I got a lot of attention as they dried me off and then helped me into my clothes. This morning was the first time Kateata had seen the chain mail and she asked what it was. "It's John's shiny shirt. It makes spears bounce off of him," Merita told her. "It is how you weren't hurt when Harto threw a spear into your back, isn't it?" she asked, amazed. "The shiny shirt is what saved me all right. Of course it only helps if they aim for my body and their aim is good." "It is where anyone would aim unless they knew about it," Kateata said. "That is why we must never tell," Geera said. ------- Chapter 100 My own stupidity hit me then. I put my alien supplied chain mail on every morning and was able to walk around in relative safety, but I hadn't even thought to get it for anyone else. We were about to travel to a hostile camp and confront the leader and probably many others there. I would be safe while everyone else was risking their hide. "I need to talk to, Frank, quickly," I said to my mates, and left them talking. I sat down at Frank and when I signed on Argent answered. I asked him if he could make chain mail for everyone on this side of the canyon. "Yes, with no trouble. In fact the designer has been nagging me almost every day to suggest it to you for your mates. It seems he has had some kinky ideas along those lines for a while," Argent said. "Bless his pea pickin' little heart. I guess it means he has them practically fitted in advance." "Fitted, he has a suit already made for all of them - for every woman who is living in the caves connected to yours in fact. The design is not exactly like yours though and theirs are not meant to be worn over other clothing like the T-shirt you wear under yours," Argent said. "If it won't be uncomfortable I don't see the harm." "He assures me it will not make a significant difference. Would you like for him to fit all the men also?" Argent asked. "Yes, I just thought of it when Kateata saw mine for the first time. I wish I had mentioned it sooner since we were set to go and deal with Cardiato this morning. We will just put the trip off until the mail can be ready." "As I said, the suits for all the females, even Failiela, are already done and I'm sure he has all the measurements he needs for anyone else. He can probably have them made within two hours," Argent said. "Maybe we can still go today then. Could you go ahead and send the suits for the women?" "It won't be a problem. I will signal you when the others are ready," he said, and signed off. When I stood up and happened to glance toward the bed I saw the women's chain mail had appeared in the big middle of it. I called them over and showed them. "Where did it come from, John?" Jaada asked. "I must have my secrets little one." "Who is it for?" Winna asked. "For all of you and all the other women who live on this side. Why don't you look through it, find yours, and try it on?" They started on it at once. With typical attention to detail the suits for my mates were on top and were identified by the now familiar engraving of their faces. Of course they weren't shy around me and began stripping off the clothes they had just put on. Argent had been correct in telling me the design was different. The women were covered from just above where their Adam's apple would be if they were men and on down. Their chain mail fit them exactly and perfectly and ended in an integral thong. It also had half sleeves that came nearly to their elbows. There was one, or make it two, strategic points of exposure though. There were openings made exactly to let their nipples stick through. I was almost embarrassed at the fact the chain mail outfits had my dick as hard as a rock. They seemed more like something out of a BDSM dream of heaven than protective gear. I couldn't get over how they fit like another layer of skin. I noticed the tiny rings they were made of were a little larger than the ones on my suit. This feature did wonders for enhancing the view of the skin underneath. I was about to decide to skip the trip for today even if the men's suits could be ready on time. Seeing all my mates in their protective attire jogged a memory of my past life loose. I went back to Frank and messaged Argent again and he answered at once. "Do you approve, John?" he asked. "I do, and it has made me think of someone. As long as your designer is in the chain mail mood, please do me a favor and send a set to celia batau on my old earth. Can that be allowed?" "It is irregular, John - is it important to you? Who is she?" Argent asked. "It's important to me. She's a friend I never got to meet." "Very well, I will make it allowable," Argent said. "Send her several sets as long as you're at it, for times when she doesn't feel the same." "I will tell him," he sent, and then he was gone again. I looked back toward my mates and was anticipating my next visual treat. Winna and Waaya were about to go fetch all the other women who lived on this side of the canyon. They were heading out wearing only the mail, but I called a halt and asked them to put their dresses on over it. This pointed out a small flaw in our plans. The chain mail showed around their necks and over their breasts. The longer sleeves were plainly visible also. I went back to Frank. When I messaged Argent he sent back they had noticed the problem themselves and new dresses were on the way. A new dress appeared for each woman, on the bed, beside the pile of remaining mail. I assumed more would come later. Winna and Waaya put on the new dresses and they covered everything nicely. This did cut down on my viewing pleasure, but I consoled myself with thinking they might not need to wear the chain mail every day, besides, I could still reach up under the dresses and at the moment I was aching to see what their titties felt like encased in chain mail. The body show was on again when Waaya and Winna returned with the others. There were a few who hadn't received their Wilma dresses yet and they were a special treat, first showing and all. I saw at once Georgo had made some fine selections and in fact all the women looked delicious and maybe even more so in their new protection. It was all over too soon for me and I was a little sad to see enough of the new style dresses had come for every one of them who currently had Wilma dresses. I assumed they would all get a complete new wardrobe. My mates started on breakfast then and I sat at the table to start on coffee. When Winna came with a mug for me I took the time to inspect the feel of her new protective clothing. It was great with the feeling of the titanium thong seemingly even more arousing than her naked flesh. I was going to have to spend some quality time later to see if I could slip a finger or two under the chain mail and into something interesting. Thinking of the possibility had me dreaming up a new perversion. If I could get her wet enough maybe some of her fuck oil would slip through the tiny rings. It could lead to chain mail crotch sniffing and my mouth was watering for a chance to give it a whirl. The men started filing in shortly and then breakfast began appearing before us. After I had eaten I got a little tingle and knew at once Argent had some news for me. I took a refill of coffee over to Frank to find out whether it was good news or bad. Argent replied when I sent a message and told me the chain mail for all the men was ready and had been placed in a big box in the bathing facility. He told me the designer had been improving on my model also and there was a new set for me. I signed off and went into the bathroom. My new set was on top and so I stripped off and put it on. It was much like the one I'd had all along except it came lower now, like a long tailed shirt. I noticed it seemed to almost cling to me around my ass and though I didn't see how it was possible it was almost as if it were elastic. I liked it though and taking the box with me I went back out to the bed. Outfitting the men with their new attire wasn't nearly as much fun as watching the women try theirs on. As a matter of fact it was no fun for me at all. I'm not sure how Daaggo felt about it though, and I noticed he was very alert during the entire process. I didn't see where it would hurt a thing for him to get a cheap thrill if he was. When everyone had their clothes on again we decided we still had plenty of time to keep our uninvited appointment with Cardiato today. The wranglers went to hitch the team to the big wagon and my original one and the rest of us strapped on our Glocks, went to the practice cave to retrieve our rifles, and headed for the horse cave. The teams were hitched when we got there and Red had already been saddled for me. Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco had to return to the practice cave for their rifles and while they were gone I caught Bob for Raalto to saddle and Bonehead for Racaato, then I caught the three Quarter Horse mares Darla, Donna, and Jezebel for Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo. They were returning with their rifles when I came out of the pen with Jezebel, the last mare I caught, so I let them saddle their own mounts. When they were ready we left. After about an hour of traveling I signaled the others who were horseback with me to stop. We spent about ten minutes testing the horses to see how they would react to having a gun fired from their backs. None of them even flinched, so I figured the ones Argent had provided must have run across this situation before. I also spent a few minutes planning the way we would approach our meeting with Cardiato and then we caught back up to the wagons and stayed with them for the rest of the trip. We came within sight of Cardiato's camp a little before noon. A couple of people around the camp spotted us and one went running off somewhere. As we got near I saw Cardiato coming with three other men close on his heels. On a signal from me everyone stopped, but me. I rode nearly to Cardiato before dismounting. I'm sure I appeared unarmed to Cardiato and his men, but of course I had the Glock in its holster. I had told Raalto, Racaato, Jonoco, Nadlo, and Danlo earlier to spread out when we stopped and to draw their rifles, but to keep them lying across their laps while they were mounted. "What brings you back John?" Cardiato asked. "Two things. We have come for more mates. Mundo, Doctaato, and Balaanto are joining my camp and they have come to fetch their mates and possessions. "I have also come to tell you to quit sending men to spy on us. None of them will ever return - they will be staying one way or another," I told him, and made sure I spoke loudly enough for most of the others to hear me. "I can send men exploring where ever I need to, but if it is bothering you I will tell them not to go in your direction again," he said. I was slightly surprised since I thought he would be more defiant. I had also expected some, at least a little, trouble over the men's mates and things, but Cardiato turned to one of those closest to him and sent him back to tell the women their mates had come for them. "I am glad we can have an agreement Cardiato. I will promise not to send men exploring in your direction either. I will go now and have Bigglieo and Galto bring the wagons so we may load the women's things." I could have just turned and signaled for Bigglieo to come up, but I wanted to turn my back to Cardiato. Everything had gone too easily and I was sure his word would be worth nothing. I couldn't see him after I turned and started walking toward the wagon, but I knew the spear was coming soon after I'd gone about twenty steps. I was sure because Danlo raised his rifle to his shoulder and aimed just then. I knew I was taking a pretty big chance because I had told Danlo and all the mounted men, ahead of time not to fire unless someone actually attacked me. It was a risk in two ways. If Cardiato had gone off at the mouth and said something about killing me I would have let my Glock settle his future and ended up with the mate Danlo was scheduled to get. I had another split second to wait and I saw the muzzle flash from Danlo's M1 just a fraction of a second before I felt the spear hit me right between the shoulder blades. Damn, that hurt. I whirled around in time to see Cardiato's dead body coming to rest on the earth. I headed right back the way I'd come toward the men who had been standing beside him. "You should be very still unless you are as tired of living as Cardiato was," I told them, as I pulled the Glock. I'm sure they weren't aware the Glock was a threat, but they knew without doubt whatever Danlo and most of the others were now pointing at them were threats. Cardiato's wriggling and gasping was making sure they didn't forget. "I don't want trouble with this camp and I'm not going to have it for long if you keep this up. I don't know who is going to be the next leader here, but I do know we will come and kill him too if more spies come sneaking around our camp. You must be able to see by now it isn't much trouble for us." They just looked on, slack jawed - finally one of them regained some composure. "I am Jato. I believe I will be the next leader here and if I am you will have no trouble from us if I can help it," he said. "If you want to send people to our camp, just follow the river instead of climbing to the plateau. We do not mind visitors, but we will not tolerate spies," I said. "We will remember it," he said, just as Danlo walked up to join us. "Where is his mate?" Danlo asked, sweeping a hand casually toward Cardiato. "I will go and tell her. She will come soon," Jato said. The other men walked off with Jato and when they did I turned to Bigglieo and signaled him to bring the wagons. He gave the reins a flick across the backs of the Clydesdales and they moved out. He and Galto drove the wagons further into camp while those in them kept themselves alert. The mounted men also moved up, but didn't come into the camp - they stayed near the perimeter to watch. When the wagons stopped, everyone, but Bigglieo and Galto, got out. Mundo, Doctaato, and Balaanto headed toward different huts to see their mates and as they were walking off Jato came back with Daria, Danlo's new mate. When she saw Dalia, Delia, and Danlo all standing together she left Jato's side and rushed to them hugging them all and kissing all their cheeks. Her resemblance to them was almost scary and it was easy to tell they were related. She was every bit as beautiful as Delia or Dalia. Her height matched Delia's, probably an inch shorter than Dalia's five ten, but she had the same wonderful shape and as best I could tell she was an even match in the titty department. Her hair was the same jet black as the other two - her skin just as white, and her eyes were the same deep blue. They looked like three sisters and Dicky throbbed over missed opportunities. No matter, Danlo would need to take a trip before long. "Jato told me your leader came and Cardiato was killed. I knew he was being foolish for sending men to spy on your camp and I told him so, many times. Did your leader kill him, am I to be one of his mates with you now?" she asked, and seemed a little pensive. "No, John did not kill Cardiato. John was walking away from him and Cardiato cast a spear into John's back. Someone else killed Cardiato," Delia told her, and I could tell she was bursting to tell Daria who, but didn't for some reason. "Cardiato cast a spear at your mate? How badly is he hurt? Where is he? We have a woman here who is good with wounds, maybe she can help him," Daria said, and seemed genuinely concerned. "He is here and he is not hurt at all, the spear bounced off his back," Dalia told her, trying her hardest to contain herself also. "But how? Cardiato was not the best mate, but he had a strong arm, how could a spear bounce off?" Daria asked. "You will find out soon enough. Don't you want to meet your new mate?" Delia asked. "I hope I do, who is it?" Daria asked. "I am your mate now Daria, I killed Cardiato," Danlo said. Talk about a Kodak moment. The expression of shock on her face was priceless. For a moment she couldn't speak and just looked wide eyed at Danlo with her mouth hanging open. She recovered after a few seconds though. "But Danlo, I didn't even know you were a man yet, and what about Shallea and Shaala, I thought you wanted to mate them?" she asked. "Shallea and Shaala were already my mates. I am sad you couldn't come to the mating, but we were suspicious of Cardiato because of the spies and we did not invite other camps. You don't need to worry Daria, I will be a good mate and you know Shallea and Shaala are very fond of you already. "I will not force you to be my mate if you would rather not. You will be free to do as you like, but I do think you should come to our camp with us. It will be much better for you there," Danlo told her, much more calmly than I would have thought he could. "Oh Danlo - I will be proud to be your mate. I was only surprised. I will be a good mate and will obey you always. It may be difficult for us, but with the four of us working together we will find enough food somehow," Daria said. "You do not have to worry about food Daria, we have more food than I have ever seen before. You will feel lucky if you even get a chance to cook. We usually have to wait for a turn. It is too confusing to tell you about, you will see when we get there," Delia told her. "Let us go and get your things now. We need to start back soon," Danlo told her, and then they all left. During this little get together Mundo and the other men had started bringing their things to the wagon while Bigglieo and Galto were busily packing. After one trip Mundo stopped to talk to me. "I have been asked by four other men here to ask you if they and their mates can also join your camp," he said. "Do you think they will cause trouble?" "No, I am sure they are good men," he said. "What are their names then, I will ask Daria about them. If you had been in my camp longer and I knew you better I would not bother, but I'm sure you understand my wariness." "I do understand and it is wise of you to ask. They are... Just then we heard a shout from the direction Danlo, his sister, his mother and his new mate had headed. Then we heard a Glock speaking. I left Mundo and ran toward the sound. ------- Chapter 101 It was easy to tell when I was very near the cause of the commotion. The crowd was thick and getting thicker. I pushed my way through and the first thing I saw was a bleeding body. It was sprawled out mostly on its back, legs still jerking and blood pouring from a hole in the center of its chest. The familiar pink froth was also being whipped up around the sucking chest wound. It didn't look like it was going to get much more agitation though. Dalia, Delia, and Daria were all crowded around Danlo talking at the same time and trying to see where he'd been wounded. I was able to get them to calm down and let me look and when I did I saw Danlo wasn't wounded at all. His tunic had a big gash in it over his abdomen, but it was the extent of his injuries. On the ground near his feet was an antler handled flint knife with a broken blade. My first thought was how lucky I'd been to think of mail for everyone this morning. If not for that Danlo would surely be injured now and probably he would be near death. I pulled myself together though. "What happened Danlo?" I asked. "We were going to Daria's hut when whoever he was came at me yelling he would have Daria for his mate and he was going to kill me. "He was on me more quickly than I'd have thought he could be, but I managed to get my Glock out and kill him. It looks like I might have pulled the shot a little high though," Danlo explained. "Well that area can be a little messy, but it was a fatal placement," I said. "What is that thing in your hand Danlo, and why didn't the knife hurt you?" Daria asked, clearly very anxious. "I will tell you everything later. We have some secrets to keep now though," he told her, as he looked directly into her eyes. She pulled herself together then and didn't ask any other questions. Jato had arrived by this time and was looking at the dead man, actually the body seemed barely past puberty to me. "What has happened?" Jato asked. "Apparently he was tired of living, he attacked Danlo intending to kill him for Daria," I said. "The fool had a mate of his own he was barely able to feed. I guess he won't have to worry about it anymore," Jato said, writing the corpse off rather coldly in my opinion. "Where is his mate then, I should see about her," Danlo said. "I am Jatalieta, I was his mate," said a young girl, who was trying to push her way through the last of the crowd. "I'm sorry if I have caused you grief Jatalieta, but he gave me no choice in the matter," Danlo told her, as she came into the open. "Darkato always had big thoughts, he said he would be leader some day - I always new he never would be, but I never argued with him. Now all his dreams are running out of him with his blood. "I will pack quickly and my load will be light, but we will still be caught by the night unless your camp is very close," Jatalieta said. "There are many of us here and if we travel at night we will still be safe. Your load will be lighter than you think, since you will not have to carry it except to the wagon. John, will you stay with Dalia, Delia, and Daria while I go with Jatalieta?" Danlo asked. "I will be happy to, Danlo. I need to speak to Daria for a few minutes anyway," I said, since I saw Mundo approaching. Dieta was right behind him and I asked her to go with Danlo and Jatalieta. She agreed and then Daria, Dalia, Delia, Mundo, and I went into Daria's hut. "Mundo has told me there are four men who want to bring their mates from this camp and join ours. Can you tell me about them Daria?" I asked. "Who are they?" she asked. "Buloto, Saraato, Karcoto and Deberto," Mundo said. "I know them all. They are good men and cause no trouble unless you ask them to go and spy on others. They flatly refused to have any part of the foolishness, but they had sense enough to tell Cardiato in private. He solved the problem by never asking them to do it. "Buloto is a very good hunter, especially with the spearcaster. Saraato and Karcoto are good too, and Karcoto is one of the best at making the smaller spears and the spearcasters. Deberto is the best flint knapper here or probably anywhere," Daria told us. "Tell them they may come then, Mundo," I said, and he left to do it. Raalto poked his head in the hut then to ask if everything was all right. I told him about Danlo's excitement and he just shook his head. "At least I can help with the carrying since I am here," he said. Surprisingly, we had everything loaded and were able to leave within an hour. Jato didn't bother to see us off and I guess it was understandable since he had bodies to bury and a leadership position to try for. It suited me fine. I had seen all of this camp I wanted to by now. Jatalieta was amazed by the wagon and giant horses and I think Daria and all the other newcomers were too. Jatalieta wasn't too bashful to show it though and from Red's back I saw she and Daria asked a lot of questions of my mates during the trip. It was an hour after sunset before we made it back to camp. It was all ashore who are going ashore at my cave's entrance. Georgo, Ladeliea, Yotalieta, Baahaya, Dotallto, Jara, Julieta, Sutahtha, Shallea, and Shaala came rushing out to greet us. When Shallea and Shaala discovered Danlo had two new mates I thought they would wet their new chain mail, they squealed like little kids and nearly hugged Daria and especially Jatalieta to death. My mates were quick to catch the excitement and the ever ready Dieta sidled up to me. "I am already panting for Danlo to go on an overnight trip," she said, whispering it in my ear. "Me too." We all made our way inside, but the enthusiasm didn't die down, in fact I think it was still building. Everyone wanted to hear the story, but I was hoping someone would break down and cook something. I was heartened when Dalia and Delia drifted toward the kitchen. They had heard the tale more than once by now. I did get a minor dressing down later from Shallea and Shaala for not letting them go along and I had to promise to include them on the next trip after their shooting was better. When Jatalieta saw what Dalia and Delia were up to in the kitchen she noticed it for the first time. When she headed that way Daria saw her and glanced toward her destination. Of course this let her in on the secret too and she moved toward Dalia and Delia in an almost spellbound state. With the two stars of the evening moving toward the cooking area all the others, except Georgo, Dotallto, and Danlo followed. I went over and sat at the table and the three joined me just as Raalto, Racaato, and all the other men from this side came in. They had their mates with them of course, but they all headed for the hen party. At least Jaada took time to bring us some coffee. "What a day," Raalto said. "It was, wasn't it? I think we were lucky to get out of there with only two new mates for Danlo. I don't know what you thought, but to me it seemed there were several of the men who were very displeased with the way things went," Racaato said. "I think you are correct. I saw quite a few who seemed to be in a bad mood about the whole thing," I said. "Who can blame them? I'll bet the second one Danlo had to kill wasn't the only one who had something like that on his mind," Barago said. "I also think it is the case. From the wagon I could see many of them and there were several small groups who were talking and arguing among each other," Bigglieo said. "I'm sure they will need to be considered for a long while now and I'm not sure I believe what Jato told me about leaving us alone. "Even if he means it we don't know if he will actually become their leader. I think we should continue to keep ourselves ready, for a while at least," I said. There was general agreement we should keep our eyes peeled for intruders. I also needed to talk to the four men who joined us from the camp. They might be able to shed a little more light on the situation. I gave up thinking about the other camp when food arrived and we ate mostly in silence. Everyone made a fairly hasty departure after the meal, thankfully. It was my second mating night with Kateata after all. I woke up against Kateata and looking behind me I saw Jaada's lovely form. She was awake and gave me a kiss on the cheek and then climbed out of bed. The wiggling woke Kateata and after another kiss we both crawled to the edge of the bed and out. I smelled breakfast, but headed for a quick shower anyway. I was back to the table and fed before any of the others made it in, so I took a mug of coffee and headed outside. I could get used to walking around in the mornings before the others were out. It was peaceful and calming to me. I headed toward the horse pens to look around. The wild stallion was still cooped up in the training pen and it was about time we taught him his main job. I doubted I would be riding him much, but someone would be needing to before too long. When I walked into the horse cave I was surprised at the amount of hay stacked against the back wall. Raalto hadn't mentioned anything about it gaining on them so I guessed Argent and company were paying attention to how they were padding the tab. If we had three more weeks of working weather there would be more than enough hay. Hell Argent was going to have to slow down or he'd fill the cave completely. Even more impressive to me was the pile of dried buffalo shit. There must have been tons of it already and I knew Barago had no intention of slowing down. I would have to ask Argent if he was helping out there too. The situation with the other camp was beginning to piss me off. I was getting anxious to make my side trip and it would be risky to do it if they intended to keep fucking with us. Of course they hadn't had time to try anything else, but I'd had the same feeling as the others. They didn't seem like they realized they had no chance to defeat us. They obviously knew we had something which could kill them they didn't understand. The kicker was they probably didn't have any idea how many people we had up here. All they had ever seen was our leaders and my mates mostly. If they knew there were more than twice as many of us as them maybe they would see the light. I wasn't going to tell them though. If they wanted to know they could just come for a visit. I had invited them hadn't I? Maybe they would do it. I went back to my cave then and when I arrived most of the others were nearly through eating. I sat down to talk with them for a few minutes. Raalto and Barago were intent on getting back to their projects and Daaggo was too. Racaato was unsure about what he should do today so I asked him to get Daria and Jatalieta started with the weapons. I told him to be ready to take a little ride with me tomorrow for some exploring and I asked Raalto if he had another man who could take over his duties for a day. He said he did. I left with the wranglers when everyone headed for their chores. We went to the pens and I decided today was the day Jack, the wild stallion, would be ridden. I told Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco I would need them plus Sahto and Talvo tomorrow for the trip. Jack had been mounted by the time we broke for lunch. He hadn't liked it much, but he didn't give me much trouble either. After eating lunch we went back to him and kept at it until time for supper. I noticed everyone cleared out pretty quickly after supper tonight too. We had a little talking to do with Daria and Jatalieta though and so I had Delia go and ask them to come back. They weren't going to get their dresses yet, but they were going to get their chain mail. While Delia was gone I told my other mates what I wanted to see the two newbies about and most of them giggled. "I think you just want to watch them change," Dalia said. "Well that too, but they do need the mail." My mates all took off their dresses and were wearing only their chain mail when Delia returned with Danlo's new mates. They were surprised, but curious. I explained to them what it was for and handed them their versions. They didn't think a thing about stripping off and trying them on at once and of course I didn't mind a bit. They were both good looking. Daria resembled Dalia and Delia in more than just facial features. Her big titties were as impressive as theirs and her ass looked equally delicious. Jatalieta was slimmer, but her breasts were respectably plump too and her round little ass was a treat. I also noticed her bush was very sparse and I thought I could almost see her clit trying to peek out of the top of her slit. I was inspired and when they had their new protection on I went over to inspect it closely. Of course I had to feel around on them to make sure it fit properly. All too soon I had to give up the farce and let them put their clothes back on and return to Danlo. "Don't worry John, we've already told them when they would get their new clothes and they are both looking forward to it," Ameliea told me, after they were gone. She also reached down to give Dicky a squeeze. When she discovered the shape he was in she led me toward the bed using him for a handle. She had help peeling me and then I was forced into the big bed to do my duty to all my mates. ------- Chapter 102 Kateata and Ameliea were keeping me warm when I woke the next morning. They were both awake already and after giving me a good morning kiss they were gone, leaving me to fend for myself. I guessed I could manage. I showered and dressed and made a beeline for coffee. I was surprised when Daria brought it to me this morning and I noticed all Danlo's mates were in here even though he hadn't made it yet. "Where is, Danlo?" I asked Daria, as she set my coffee down. "We are going to let him sleep a little longer since he had to work so hard last night," she said, giggling at the last. She didn't seem to be in a rush to leave so I took this opportunity to run a hand up the back of her leg and onto her ass, copping a feel of the beauty was just the thing to get my blood flowing early in the morning. Too bad it couldn't make it flow in a more productive direction. Daria leaned down, put her arms around my neck and gave me a toe-curling kiss while I played with her ass. She turned toward me slightly and I was able to get both hands into the act for a while. I was ready to send Danlo somewhere, anywhere, at the moment, but when we broke the kiss I released her and settled down. I didn't get a lot of time to simmer before Jatalieta was there with my breakfast and another body to explore. When she set my plate down she shifted directly into her kiss and this time I took my chance to slide my hands up under her tunic and explore her titties. They were delightful and Dicky was pounding when she went back to the kitchen. I did manage to eat before my breakfast got cold. Georgo and his tribe came in a few minutes later and he sat near me. "Dotallto is anxious to resume his visiting tomorrow, John, are you planning on showing him the secrets of the rifle and the Glock?" he asked. "I don't think I will just yet. I might have been a little premature in asking him to stay with us and while I don't think he will cause any trouble on purpose, I don't know him well enough to share such things with him yet." "I think you are wise to withhold the secret for now. Especially since there isn't time to train him properly and it would be a disaster for one from Jato's camp to see him wearing the Glock and take it from him," Georgo said. "I hadn't really even thought of it and I'm sure you are right. I must be careful to make sure no one loses a weapon to any of the other camps or anyone who doesn't live here." "If they did obtain one they would still not know how to use it properly," Georgo said. "I know, but it would be a danger. In the first place they might injure someone while trying to learn how it worked and that is only the best we could hope for. They would probably not gain much by just getting one, since they would soon be out of ammunition, but they would be dangerous as long as they had some. I think we will be better off keeping the secret from him." Georgo's food came then and soon others, including a remarkably spry Danlo, came in to eat. I got another plate soon, but Jaada brought it this time. She let me know her ass wanted a little exploration too while she was near me by rubbing it against my shoulder. I always had time to grope a woman who needed it. After breakfast most of the men took off for their chores. Raalto and Racaato wanted to know where we were going this morning and so did Danlo, Jonoco, and Nadlo. "I thought we would take a little trip down river to the big side stream. There is a good hardwood forest along its banks and I want to explore it a little. "I thought it would be better to take the big wagon along so we could have something to tie the horses too while we went into the trees on foot. It will also give a place for those watching the horses to sit while we are hunting." "Do you think there will be game easily found there?" Racaato asked. "I'm sure there are some boars and sows and probably some tender young ones. There are most likely some of the smaller deer there too. Finding out exactly what is there is the main reason I want to go though." We all went to get our rifles and then down to the horse pens. The wranglers, including Sahto, and Talvo, who were going also, hitched the team while Raalto, Racaato, Danlo, and I saddled horses. At the last minute I decided to ask Nadlo to stay in camp with Bonehead saddled in case we were needed back in a hurry. I told him where we were going and then we left. When we got to the side stream it only took about twenty minutes to find a place to cross the river with the wagon. No doubt it would be a lot bigger job during a wetter part of the year. We parked the wagon and after dismounting we tied all the horses to it. Jonoco, Sahto, and Talvo would be staying with it while the rest of us went exploring. Raalto and Racaato entered the woods near the river while Danlo and I walked up the side stream a few hundred yards before entering. Of course it was old growth since there had been no such thing as harvesting timber in this time. The brush was almost non-existent after we'd moved a hundred yards from the river. The canopy made sure of it. There were deadfalls a'plenty though and the going wasn't as easy as it could have been. Danlo told me he knew almost nothing about hunting as we were entering the woods. I told him we weren't hunting primarily, and all he needed to do was move as quietly as possible and keep his eyes open for anything moving. I should have prepared him more thoroughly for what might happen. We had only been in the woods for about thirty minutes before I spotted two sows rooting around under some oaks. There were about twelve piglets with them also. The piglets weren't big enough to bother with for cooking, but one of the little bastards did sound the alert by squealing - like a pig, of course. When the sows looked up and noticed us they were not impressed and not afraid either. They probably weighed seven to eight hundred pounds each and their first reaction was to make angry grunting noises. "Try to shoot one in its chest, Danlo, between the front legs and about halfway from where its legs join and the top of its back. That should be close enough to its heart to kill it. "If it keeps moving anyway, keep shooting. They are sometimes hard to kill. If we don't stop it try to get up a tree if you can, their teeth are sharper than you think." We didn't have any more time to talk. I was a little surprised the sows headed toward us as if to run us off. It was time to shoot or run. Danlo fired first and did a good job. The sow dropped within steps. My first shot didn't seem to bother the other one and my second didn't either. I was beginning to think I should be looking for a tree I could climb, but my third shot must have hit something important because she paused and then dropped. "I thought we might need to climb a tree as you said, John," Danlo said, after it was over. "I was beginning to think so myself." "What about the little ones, aren't they too small to kill and clean?" He asked. "I think so, but if we could get the tender trap we might catch them." "Why would we want to catch them?" he asked. "We can build a pen to hold them and then feed them until they are big enough to eat. It is not nearly as dangerous as hunting them." "But what would we feed them?" he asked. "Anything. They will eat almost anything. They will even eat the horse dung if it is fresh, just to digest what the horses couldn't." "Would we want to eat them if they had been feeding on horse dung?" he asked, slightly disgusted. "Do you know what they have been eating when you eat meat from a wild one?" "I see. Should I go back and get the cage?" he asked. "Let's just back off for a few minutes and see what happens. If we do the young ones will probably gather around their mothers, even though they are dead." We did it and within thirty minutes the piglets were up near their mothers, some of them were even nursing. A few minutes later Racaato joined us having made his way toward the gunshots through the woods. I sent Danlo back for the cage then and told him to bring Sahto and Talvo back with him when he brought it. Then I explained to Racaato what I had on my mind and when Raalto showed up later I told him too. Raalto stayed with me while Racaato continued exploring. Danlo was back with the cage, Sahto, and Talvo about two hours later. "How will we get them in the cage?" Danlo asked, after they had set it down. "That will be the job of Sahto and Talvo. You can try too if you want, but it is not a very dignified process." "What do you mean?" he asked. "I mean the only way I know to get them in the cage is to chase and catch them. I doubt they will stray far from their mother's bodies for a while, but they are not going to enter the cage of their own free will." He decided to give it a try and then the chase was on. It was hilarious. The little piglets weren't big enough to outrun the boys, but they could dart away at an angle so fast the boys fell on their asses often. Soon enough the piglets were too tired to maneuver as quickly and the wranglers started making headway. I had been right about the pigs not leaving their mothers bodies too and with a lot of running and diving catches Danlo, Sahto, and Talvo were able to get all thirteen of the young ones in the cage. Not without a hell of a lot of squealing though. Danlo, Sahto, and Talvo were covered in dirt and detritus from the forest floor after it was over. They spent about ten minutes brushing each other off and trying to catch their breath. The only sign we'd had from Racaato during the whole show had been one shot, pretty far off at that. He came up dragging a big doe he'd killed and gutted just as we put the last piglet in the cage. "How are we going to get this all back to the wagon?" Sahto asked, looking around. "We brought a travois in the back of the wagon. Go get Jezebel and put it on her then bring her back up the side stream - we'll carry it out of the woods and meet you," I said. He left and we carried the cage and the doe to the stream's bank leaving Raalto to watch over the sows and keep scavengers away. Danlo stayed to watch at the stream while we went back for the sows. Those bitches were heavy. It was all Racaato and I could do to drag one at a time toward the stream. I was glad for the winch in the wagon when it came time to load them. Our little trip had turned into a bonus. I had found plenty of mature timber for whenever I found time to get the sawmill figured out and none of us had seen any sign of men's presence there. It relieved my mind a little. We also had some fresh pork, and ham was always a hit with me. I had also discovered a wealth of firewood. We wouldn't need to cut down live trees to burn though. Plenty of the deadfalls were still relatively sound and it wouldn't take much work to cut them off from their stumps, trim most of the big limbs and have the draft horses drag them into the stream or the river and pull them up to our camp. Both the stream and the river were remarkably shallow this time of the year at least. Still I didn't think we would encounter any place where they were less than eighteen inches deep. It would be enough water to float most of the deadfalls. It would be time consuming, but it wouldn't be a big strain on anyone. The hardest part would be cutting them up and of course skidding them out of the forest. I would have to get some brush hooks and machetes from Argent to clear a few paths through the perimeter brush and I would need some crosscut saws and larger bow saws for cutting up and trimming. It would also give many of the men something to do splitting it up into firewood. It meant I'd need some heavier axes, a few mauls, and some wedges too. All in all it would smell a lot better than bison shit fuel. Almost everyone who watched the squealing piglets being unloaded wondered what in the hell I wanted them for. I could tell even though they were now perfectly comfortable with the horses, they didn't have a real clue about the possibilities of domesticating animals. Daaggo seemed to catch on quickest and when I was explaining about building a pen for the little oinkers he volunteered, saying he thought we should make a small one inside the horse cave first since they were still so little. Daaggo intended to call a halt to closing up the caves for a few hours to take care of it. We decided they should probably stay in the horse cave for most of the winter and then next spring we could build a hog pen in the corner of the large horse capture pen, but on the side away from the training pens. We found an out of the way place in the horse cave and Daaggo went to get his helpers. It was well past noon by the time I got back to my cave and I was ready for a little lunch. My mates were ready for me too, but they had questions about the piglets. I had to go over it more carefully this time than I had outside among all the others. "But how did you know to do it, John?" Ameliea asked, when I'd finished. "I have seen it done where I came from." "And where did you come from, by the way?" she asked. "Very far from here, very far." ------- Chapter 103 Ameliea acted as if the answer satisfied her, but I could tell it didn't and I also sensed the others were thinking back too. I hoped my former home didn't become a common point of conjecture, but there wasn't much to be done about it. I didn't want Argent intervening and making them forget, but I sure as hell wasn't going to try and explain things either. I decided my best move would be to just stonewall, as the politicians say. I would just refuse to answer any questions about my past, which might lead to any real explanation. I went and sat at the table and Winna brought me a mug of beer while Jaada came with the plate. It was a New York strip and a mountain of beans and I decided I must have made at least some of them happy. Raalto, Racaato, and the freshened up Danlo, Jonoco, Sahto, and Talvo came in then wanting to know what was next on the agenda. "Next you sit down and let my beautiful mates feed you. You have all done a good job this morning and I think I might be able to get you a special meal." "We will be happy to feed your helpers, John, but they must tell us how they got the little pigs into the cage," Gema said. Sahto was a natural storyteller. He had me laughing so hard several times I couldn't even eat. My mates and even Raalto and Racaato laughed until they had tears. I could tell Sahto enjoyed his performance and the praise he got for it. "It was fun chasing after them, but I still wonder what we will do with them," he said, as he finished. "We will eat most of the males, but we will keep the biggest one and all the females. When they are old enough the females will have more little piglets of their own and we will start over again raising the females and eating most of the males," I explained. "You mean we will have pigs from now on?" Talvo asked. "I hope so, but we can't call them pigs after a while, we must call them hogs after they are grown. It is much easier to raise them than it is to hunt them." "It is probably easier than catching them too," Sahto added, shaking his head. Everyone roared again. You know what they say, it wasn't so much what he said as how he said it. Then they wanted to know what we would feed them. "We will feed them the scraps left over after we eat. They will eat almost anything. The little ones might be tricky at first and we might have to go gather some food for them. "You know they will eat acorns and there are more than plenty of them around. They will also eat dead animals. When we kill a predator we don't want for food we will take the skin if we want it and give them the rest." Thankfully their food came then and it brought an end to the questions. I would get Daaggo to ask all the women to keep a basket for throwing away any left over food or scraps or the like to use for feed for them too. If it came down to it we could go out and hunt things for them to eat, but it probably wouldn't be necessary. Many times men and sometimes women killed wolves, badgers, or hyenas. When the piglets were big enough they would gladly dispose of them for us. All we had to do was keep them going this year and next year in the spring we could plant some things for them to eat while we were learning about raising crops ourselves. When the late lunch was over those of us who had been on the little expedition this morning were at loose ends. Racaato could always find someone who wanted a little help with their shooting and he took Daria and Jatalieta to the practice cave to continue their lessons. Raalto and I went with the wranglers to the horse cave and gave Jack a little more attention. He didn't appreciate the thought behind the actions, but he was coming around slowly. Jack was easily the best horse of any from this time and after he decided he was going to cooperate, a little at least, he grew on me. He hadn't changed his ways as completely as Bonehead had, but he was doing better than we had any right to expect. When Daaggo and his helpers came out of the horse cave I took a little stroll into it to check their work. I was pleased since Daaggo had done a careful job. The indoor pigpen was a little bigger than I had envisioned and Daaggo had built them a little shelter to hide in against the cave's wall. Hide in it they did too. When I walked over to the pen to get a closer look they all rushed into their little house squealing. They had also built the piglets a little trough for feeding and I could see some scraps in it already. No doubt they were pissed at me for disturbing their meal. I left so they could eat in peace and since sunset was getting near I went back to my cave waving to Raalto and the wranglers as I left. I didn't feel a bit ashamed about being the first one to head for a meal even though I probably should have. When I entered my cave it was apparent my expectation of supper was a little premature. My mates were cooking all right, but it looked like the meal was still at least an hour away. I decided to have a little chat with Argent while I was waiting. Frank wasn't available because Yotalieta, Baahaya, Shallea, Shaala, Sutahtha, and Julieta were studiously working on their cooking lessons. I headed to the practice cave to use Phil, but found Racaato letting Phil give Daria and Jatalieta some firearms lessons. I could have contacted Argent with the Blackberry, but even though I'm sure mine was better than any version there was on my old earth I still hated having to use the damned thing. I'd have rather had a cell phone to get in touch with him, but it wouldn't really be much better and I'm sure it would seem strange to the others for me to be talking to my hand. I gave up and went to the big bed, kicked off my boots, and settled down for a little nap. I dropped off to sleep at once, but Argent didn't initiate a dream. It was probably an hour later when Jaada came over and kissed me awake. After a few minutes of teasing her nipples and making them swell through the holes in her chain mail I let her convince me to come and eat. She led me to the table, where a mug of coffee was waiting for me and then she scampered off to get me a plate. After she'd returned with it and set it down she bent over and put her arms around my neck to gather me in for a very sweet kissing session. Of course I took advantage of the chance to squeeze her buns thoroughly and I might have gotten a little carried away because I spent some time teasing her pussy by rubbing and inspecting its chain mail covering. I think I did feel a little wetness trying to seep through at the last. She finally released me and reluctantly I turned her loose. Dicky didn't give a shit about eating now, but I did. When I paid attention to my plate I saw someone had been doing extra studying on the cooking lessons. I had a big serving of bison meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It was delicious and I decided I would never interrupt any cooking lessons Frank was giving. The others were mostly here now and the ones who weren't came straggling in. Barago told me he thought he had gathered all the bison dung we could possibly need this winter. "If it is all right I would like to see about getting some firewood too. The dung will provide heat, but the smell will get annoying if we don't have some firewood occasionally," he said. "I'm glad you mentioned it. The woods along the side stream have many deadfalls we can take advantage of. Some of them are already rotten of course, but there are many which can still be used for firewood. I think you and some of your men should come with me to look it over tomorrow." "That is good. Deadfalls will be easier to manage than felling trees. It will still be a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it. Will we be able to use the horses to drag the wood back to camp?" he asked. "Yes, but it will be easier if you put most of it into the side stream. By guiding it with poles you can float it down to the river then you will be able to use the horses to pull it up river to the camp. It will still be difficult, but it will be easier than dragging it over the ground. We will also save all the work of dragging it through the woods or along the bank of the side stream." "I hadn't thought of doing anything like it. Is there much brush in the woods?" he asked. "There is some along the edges, but it would have to be cleared either way. I think I have some tools which will make it easier too." "We will be glad to go with you in the morning then. I'm sure the men would rather gather firewood than dung, even if it is more work," Barago said, and laughed. "Do not mention it until my group and I have gone in the morning please. I'm afraid they are a little tired of going off to cut hay," Raalto said, and laughed a little himself. "Be sure to tell them I really appreciate their hard work and I will see we have a big celebration as soon as they are finished. It will be complete with plenty of food and plenty of bruga." "That is the kind of talk I most enjoy while eating. Who could want more than plenty of food and plenty of bruga," Bigglieo added, grinning his widest. "For a man with two beautiful mates to watch out for him after he cannot stand I don't guess anything could be better," Racaato said, teasing Bigglieo. "Now there is a switch, a man with five mates teasing one with only two," Colonto said. "I think it's about time we helped Colonto, Caato, and some of the others by looking around for a few more mates for them. I seem to remember they were very willing to see I got the chance for additional mates," Racaato shot back. "I'll have to admit seeing your mates come leading you to meals and watching Raalto's taking such good care of him has made me question the wisdom of holding myself to only one, and Britta will not be quiet about it either. She never misses a chance to remind me I am making her care for me by herself while all the others are getting helpers," Barago told us. "Of course I will not be quiet about it. One of the main tasks of a woman is to remind her mate to do things he has forgotten or is avoiding. We have plenty of room in our bed for two or three more women and I think you should be paying more attention to filling it up," Britta told him, making herself perfectly understood as always. "I know how Barago feels - Cariea reminds me constantly to practice with the rifle and the Glock in case some mated man needs to be dealt with. She has also made sure I know exactly which women in our camp are unmated and even points out which girls should become women soon. I may be a little slow, but she has gotten her point across," Colonto admitted, while Cariea just smiled and nodded her head. Cariea's movement drew my eyes toward her and I was struck again by her pretty face. Her old style clothes reminded me I still needed to honor Colonto so he would feel fully welcome here. I was sure I could find time soon enough. The banter tailed off and the serious job of eating took our attention. After we'd finished I saw my mates were raking what little was left on the plates into baskets now instead of just sending it down the sink. It looked like the piglets were going to be well fed for a while, at least until they got bigger. Soon enough everyone had left for their own caves and I was alone with my mates. They were still excited about finding more mates for the other men, especially those who had only one. As I listened to them talking I could tell they hadn't given up completely on a few more mates for me. ------- Chapter 104 "I guess we should leave John alone about it until Failiela becomes a woman," Kateata said. "Yes, it is only fair, although I don't think she will feel slighted if he has to deal with some mated man who is tired of living, as John likes to say," Jaada said. "I don't think she will care how many mates he has as long as he doesn't forget her. She will be hurt if he doesn't take her when she does become a woman though," Winna said. "I don't think she has any worries there. I'm surprised he hasn't taken her already, woman or not. Every time she comes around in her Wilma dress, flashing her cute little butt, John's dick bulges and his face gets a little redness in it," Merita told them. "It does doesn't it, and even though he has never put his dick into her when she sneaks in at night he is always quick to get his mouth on her pussy or her little titties. I think it is getting to be harder and harder for him to resist," Maia said. "If it gets much harder it may burst," Dieta said, giggling and then they all laughed at me. "You would think with all the mates I have now some of them would help to relieve me sometimes." "Well come on over near the bed and we'll all see if we can't help you out," Geera told me. "Maybe we should go and see if Jara doesn't need some attention for a break. She spends almost all her time looking over Barbo and we should find some way to relieve her. "It is a little strange Barbo hasn't come awake even once since we brought him here. It is easy to see he is healing, even if it is slowly," Dalia said. "We should send for her to come join us. Julieta could check on Barbo while she is up tending to Bowto. He is healing too, but also very slowly. At least Bowto wakes up and says something occasionally," Delia said. "We should plan it and get someone to watch each of them while Jara and Julieta both spend the night with us. John has not even honored Bowto yet. In fact he hasn't honored Barbo since he came to be part of this camp," Gema said. "We can plan it tomorrow, let's go get into the big tub now. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been wanting another dose of the trick he showed us in it last time," Waaya said, and then blushed. "What trick? I have never been in the big tub with, John and I don't know about this trick," Ameliea said. Dieta put her mouth to Ameliea's ear then and whispered to her. Ameliea's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "I have never heard of it and it sounds so nasty. We must get in the tub quickly now because I'm sure I will love it," Ameliea said. My fate was decided then. It was to be another round of butt fucking in the big tub for me. I just hoped I could bear up under the hard use. Dicky was near bursting again and he didn't lose any pressure as they began shucking their clothes and peeling mine off me. It would be a little easier on me tonight though. Jareena and Reeana weren't home alone this time and since Nadlo and Jonoco weren't off wrangling, Melieta and Jaiya were absent too. Kateata was with us now, and Ameliea, but there were still two less than the count from last time. Tonight I added lots of bath oil to the water and we didn't start out with any shampooing so the visibility below the surface was much better. The addition of Ameliea and Kateata added its own special treat to the scenery too. Ameliea was very curious about what was going to go on, but I sensed she was a little hesitant. Waaya wasn't hesitant at all so I reeled her in first. After a lot of slippery kissing and fondling Waaya went to the edge of the tub, put her hands on the side and rose to a kneeling position, wagging her slippery naked ass at me. I went to her with my dick pointing the way and splashing a little of the bath oily water on her I used my hands to give her a thorough groping and fondling. I especially liked the weight of her slippery titties in my hands and the feel of her nipples as I pinched and pulled on them. Waaya liked it too and she pushed her ass back toward me, wiggling it against Dicky to torment him. I hadn't intended to enter her for a few more minutes, but Dieta was ready to get things started and she placed my dickhead between Waaya's pussy lips and gave me a sharp slap on the ass. The jerk I made pushed me into Waaya a little and since I was already well started I pushed it up her about halfway, pulled back, and then pressed it on home. We both liked it and soon had a rhythm going as I hunched over her back and played with her titties while I pumped Dicky into her. "Oh, John, don't forget, I want it the other way when you're ready," Waaya said, moaning it. Dieta was making sure there were no hang-ups and she handed me the tube of lube. She had even already taken its top off. After applying some to my hand I raised myself a little and gave Waaya's crack and rosebud a liberal coating while my hips kept my dick in motion. After a slow exploration of Waaya's asshole with a finger I pushed another one in and then a little later I decided she was ready for business. I did my own dick placement this time as I pulled my dick out of her pussy and put the head to her other entrance, the one mostly used as an exit. Waaya sucked in her breath as I pushed, but she didn't bolt and in only seconds she was pressing herself back onto my hardon. Dieta must have been feeling left out since she reached under Waaya and I know her fingers were looking for a clitty to tease. When she found it Waaya showed her appreciation by pushing back at me all the harder. I soon had my long dick all the way up Waaya's ass and I pulled it back to start stroking into her. "That's it, John, that's the way I remember it feeling. It is so big and I feel so full, do it to me a little harder now," she said, panting. I tried it and then I felt someone behind me start nibbling on my neck and then their hands began rubbing over my chest and back. "It is nasty, John, and I'm sure I'm going to like it now," Ameliea said, as she let one hand down to caress my swinging balls and tease them. "I hope you do Ameliea, because I like what you are doing to me now," I said, grunting as she gave my nuts a gentle squeeze. About half way through my mates I had to have a breather. We got out, dried each other, and headed for the bed. They let me have a short nap while they played with each other, but soon roused me and made me get back to it. What a bunch of taskmasters I was mated to. I would pull through some how. For once even Dicky got all the fucking he wanted for a while and my mates seemed satisfied too. I lay back and drifted off to sleep surrounded by titty and pussy heaven. Something woke me long before sunrise. I was alert at once, but didn't know why. Making my way out of bed without waking any of my mates was a surprising feat. I took Dicky to the urinal to let him lighten his load and when I'd shaken him senseless I headed back for the bed. When I got there I realized I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep even if I crawled in. I found some clean boxers and dragged on a fresh pair of trousers intending to make a pot of coffee to start the day. I barely heard a soft sound and then heard it again. Paying closer attention let me know it was rhythmic and I wondered what in the hell it was. I moved toward the kitchen and being still again I could no longer hear it. Trying several places let me discover it was coming from Georgo, Dotallto, or Danlo's cave and from the passage. I moved through and knew at once it was coming from Danlo's cave, so I walked slowly and silently toward it. Dicky was stirring now since I had determined it was a sound of sex, more specifically it was a rhythmic grunt from some woman who was getting a fucking. Dicky was nearly grown now and I was hoping to get another chance to watch someone going at it. I hadn't had the chance to spy on anyone else's sex life since I'd seen Dergo, Dieta, and Geera the night Gigo got drunk. Careful movement was the thing now. A cave will magnify even the smallest sound with its rock hard walls and ceiling. It wasn't so noticeable during the day when there were a lot of things going on, but this early in the morning it wouldn't be hard to make a small sound, which would be as noticeable as a gunshot. Danlo's cave, which was now actually Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco's cave, had a small niche near the end of the passage. The niche came about after the rearranging by Argent to make room for separate chambers when Nadlo and Jonoco joined Danlo. I made my way to the little indention and pressed my back into it, trying to remain hidden. Thanks to the lighting Argent had installed I could see well enough. The lights were low but still up enough for my purposes. I found the sound was coming from Danlo's cave and when I focused on his bed I saw Jatalieta on her back with Danlo between her legs pumping slowly, but firmly into her. She had her legs around his waist, but her arms were above her head and Daria was holding them there. The scene had me throbbing. Jatalieta's hips were banging back at Danlo's with every thrust and her fat round titties were wobbling like crazy, with the stiff nipples waving wildly on every stroke. Daria was holding her hands in place and also bending to kiss her mouth, while I was watching Daria's lips left Jatalieta's and moved to capture one of the waving nipples. I could tell she gave it a good hard suck and then she must have nipped it with her teeth since Jatalieta stopped her rhythmic grunting and moaned. Daria moved to kiss the pumping Danlo then and when she did he seemed to pump a little harder. I could tell Jatalieta wasn't far from climax now and just then her hips lost their rhythm and their pounding became spastic as her legs pulled Danlo's ass to her more forcefully. "Oh, Danlo, that's it, and it's so good!" she cried. I knew Danlo wasn't done and when he slowed his pace and then lengthened his stroke I could tell he was finishing Jatalieta off and surely intended to be fucking someone else in a few seconds. I didn't think Shaala or Shallea were next either, because I could see them on the other side of Danlo, stretched out head to snatch, busily licking each other's pussies. Sure enough Danlo pulled out of Jatalieta then and I noticed thirteen years old or not he had at least six respectable inches of dick still as hard as iron. Daria bent to take about half of it in her mouth for just a short licking, but Danlo took hold under her arms and pulled her up to him. They were face to face, but on their knees on the mattress as Danlo pulled her to him for some deep kisses and while he was at it he put his hands on her splendid ass and pulled her to the hard dick standing between them. One of Danlo's hands left her ass then and he began sneaking it between her legs from behind. I was sure he was seeking some pussy and he must have found some because the hand started a pumping motion of its own and I'm sure he had a finger or two up her pussy stirring up trouble. Daria pulled Danlo to her more tightly then for a few seconds and then she broke the kiss. "I am burning up Danlo, when you were little I'd have never thought you could ever set me on fire like this, but you do it every night. I have to have you in me now," she told him, and then turned her back to him and settled down on all fours, wagging that magnificent ass at him. "I thought it Daria or dreamed it at least. I never told, but I always wanted you as my mate along with Shaala and Shallea and they wanted it too, but we never dreamed it would come about. "It never would have without John and if he gives you the chance you must thank him for us all," Danlo said, as he placed his dick to her dripping pussy and pushed it up her slowly. "I will thank him as much as I can Danlo and Jatalieta will too. I can hardly believe how luckily things have turned out. She was my best friend in the camp even though no one else knew it and now we are here together and mated to you. Nothing could be better unless we can somehow find Darieta," she told him, as he started his strokes. The mention of Darieta, whoever she was, must have set Danlo off. He grabbed hold of Daria's hips for handles and began to fuck hard and fast. This set Daria off and she pushed back viciously with her ass to meet every thrust. Danlo continued pounding his cousin's pussy with a vengeance and she started moaning his name at every push. "Oh Danlo. Oh Danlo. Oh Danlo," she chanted as they fucked. My blood seemed to be boiling by now and I wished I were in my bed giving Dalia or Shelalliea a pounding like the one I was watching. Maybe Delia could take the full assault by now too. I didn't move a muscle though - I couldn't tear my eyes off the action. Shaala and Shallea were focusing on the fuck now and both of them were reaching to tease Daria's turgid nipples as they swung by on her wildly wiggling titties. Jatalieta was still lying down where Danlo had left her, but I could see she was trying to get the strength to join in. Daria was screaming Danlo's name now with every poke and sweat was beginning to fly off him. The explosion seemed to come at the same time to them. Daria screamed more loudly and Danlo jerked her hips back to his, holding them hard and fast as his ass hunched hard short strokes up into her to finish them off. Seconds later he collapsed onto her back and she fell to the mattress beneath him, still moaning. When I looked up from the spent pair I saw Shallea and Shaala looking at me and grinning. I winked at them and then went toward my own bed. Dicky was on fire and some, maybe all, of my mates were just going to have to put him out. ------- Chapter 105 I met Dalia in the opening to the entrance for Georgo's and Danlo's caves. She woke and noticed I was up and when she got out of bed and didn't see me she came looking. "I'm glad you caught me at it, I have been spying on your son as he fucked Jatalieta and then Daria and I am burning up. I plan to abuse you shamelessly in a few minutes," I said, pulling her to me and kissing her soundly. Dalia was happy to help out and as my hands found their way under her short Wilma dress and onto her firm rounded ass she pushed herself up to my dick and began wiggling against it. Remembering Danlo's scene I pushed my right hand down between her legs from behind and when she felt it she shifted her stance to give me more room. Her pussy wasn't wet but it was trying to get there already. I toyed with her clit for a couple of minutes and had enough moisture to push a finger up into her. She sucked harder at my tongue when I did and I used my other hand to pull her roughly up tighter to me. She broke our kiss then. "Let's go to the bed John," She suggested, almost purring. "I have a better idea, let's go to the bathroom," I said, giving my finger a firm little push further up her. I pulled my hand from her pussy then and took one of hers in it and headed off with her; intending to get some more use out of the stall I'd had Dieta in. I stopped by the bed on the way to drop my pants and boxers and to pull her dress off over her head. I loved the way her big round titties wobbled as it came off over them and I pinched her ass lightly and urged her to come on. I'm sure Dalia thought we were headed for the shower or one of the tubs and when I opened a shitter stall and pulled her in she was a little confused. She caught on when I sat down and she looked to see Dicky standing up proudly. I pulled her down to straddle my hips and as she came within range I guided my dickhead up against her now wet cuntlips. She slowed her descent but when she felt that I was headed where I belonged she settled her tight hot pussy down onto me. "I would have never thought of this, John, but I can see that it let's you get it up me deeply," she sighed. "Yes it does and it feels so good to me, plus you will have to do most of the work by lifting and lowering your beautiful ass." "I will do it gladly, probably more and more gladly as we go along," she promised. She didn't hesitate, but set a good long-stroking rhythm almost right away. I delighted in the feel of her gripping warm wetness around my dick and found that her magnificent big titties were at just the right height for nipple sucking so I started in on them. As I began to suck and nibble Dalia's fucking got enthusiastic and she started crooning my name low in her throat. I used my hands on her great ass first squeezing and pinching and pulling her toward me harder. I released one cheek and brought that hand up to tease the titty that I wasn't sucking on, and later, when we were really going I slid the other hand down and wiggled a finger up her ass. "Oh, that is different, but it feels good too, I think I can feel your finger rubbing against your dick in my other hole," she said. "Do you like it?" "Yes, I like it, can we do it faster?" she asked. "Go as fast as you like, just don't rise too high and slip off." She picked up the pace then and I felt her motions going a little awry. She was getting close already and I was too. I released the nipple I'd been sucking and put my mouth to the hollow of her throat to give her a hickey like I had given Dieta. I'm sure that she didn't know what I was up to besides fucking her senseless but the neck sucking seemed to turn her on. "Oh, Oh John." She screamed, as her orgasm burst. I couldn't reply because Dicky was pumping something up her cooter now. I just sucked and bit a little and held her down to me by her hips as I blasted. Only seconds later we slumped against each other gasping for breath. When she had her breath back she kissed me sweetly on the lips. "We probably woke everyone on this side of the river, or I probably did," she said. "No one can hear us in here. When I closed the door look what happened," I said pointing to the completely closed off partitions. "I didn't know it could do that, it never does when I use one," she said, surprised. "It will only do it for me. There is no need for everyone to know who I am fucking and when," I said. She giggled then and asked me what I had done to her neck. "You will see when we get up. Do you remember the mark that I put on Dieta's neck?" "Yes and she wouldn't tell us what it was, she only told us you did it to her," she said. "Well now you know how she got it. It is a love bite and it means I love you and I have fucked you recently." "Well I would be happy to have them all over if this is the way to get them," she sighed. "I will make sure you get plenty after every one of my mates has had one," I promised. We untangled and stood then and Dalia said she wanted to go start cooking my breakfast. I was not about to argue with her there. "You should spy on Danlo more often John, very much more often. It does you good, and me too," she said, and laughed. She left the stall then and examined her hickey and then she went into a stall with a bidet and I guess she was washing up the mess I'd left in her. I hopped into the shower for a quick rinse off and was out, dried, and headed for my cast off boxers and pants in only a few minutes. Shelalliea, Geera, Gema, and Dieta were in the kitchen with Dalia when I came out of the bathroom dry, but naked. As I walked over to pick up my boxers and pants I saw them inspecting her neck. "But how did he do it, Dalia?" Gema asked. "You will have to wait and see for yourself," Dieta broke in and told them. "Did it hurt?" Geera asked. "If it did I didn't notice," Dalia told them. "Me neither," Dieta said. "He took his time about it, Dieta's mark faded away days ago," Shelalliea said. "I didn't know that you were all waiting for that particular perversion," I said. "We are waiting anxiously for any perversion you can dream up," Geera said, and they all giggled over it. "I will try to be a better mate for you from now on then." "If you become any better a mate than you are now I might end up passed out each night instead of asleep," Jaada put in, as she made her way out of bed, flashing me a look at her cute red bush and multitude of freckles. "Well at least one of you likes me then." "Oh, John, you are just going on about it, you know we all love you to death," Geera said, and the others who were conscious agreed, some of them from the bed. "Good, why not cook me something while you are all talking about it then," I teased. "We are cooking and your coffee is in the pot waiting for you to finish dressing and come drink it," Dieta said. Figuring I had gained about all the mileage I could out of this I did as she suggested. I put on my T-shirt and the new mail and then a long sleeved shirt over it all. When I'd finished I headed to the table to sit down. Jaada surprised us all by fetching me a mug of coffee while she was still buck-naked. Waving her bush near my face as she did it and taking an exaggerated lean to set it down and show me a close up of her fine freckled ass. I kissed her right on her butt cheek and then gave her a little nip with my teeth. "Eek!" She squealed, and rose back up. "Don't point that beautiful view at me if you don't mean it," I said. "You just surprised me, I mean it all the time," she said, leaning down toward me to put her titties within range and then kissing me soundly. I let my hands wander to her ass and grab hold while we tongue wrestled for a bit. Later I nuzzled my way down her throat to her titty tips and sucked first one and then the other. Jaada sighed dreamily, her hands toying in my hair as I played with her. She seemed about to start panting as I kissed and nibbled my way down over her abdomen and into the top of her bush. "Oh John, are you going to do it to me right here?" Jaada sighed. "Probably not, but I am going to have some curtains or some walls put around the bed soon so when I get interested during the day I can just drag some of you into it and play," I told her. "Well we are ready and if you need to, just drag me over there right now, I will be proud for everyone else to see you doing it to me in the daylight," she said. "I might do it some day," I told her, and then gave her a little bite just below her innie. I released her and as she was leaving I could smell the scent of her secretions as she headed for the bathroom. I nearly got up and followed her in, but I didn't. Geera came with my plate then and when she set it down I took hold of her too and pulled her down for some kissing. "I'm sorry I dressed when I got out of bed now," she told me, as we parted our lips for a breath. "Don't worry, I know how to get this off you," I said, but instead of removing it I just ran my hands under it to play with her ass a little too. I let her loose after a couple of minutes and started on my breakfast. Later I noticed Jaada and all my other mates were now dressed and there was a mini-conference going on in the area near the sinks. "What are you talking about among yourselves my mates? Are you plotting against me?" I asked them, loudly. "No, not at all. We are trying to remember what we fed you last night so we can give it to you always. We are hoping it has put you in this mood," Ameliea shot back, at once. "You should just try to make sure I am at the table before any of the others are up and let the one who brings my coffee still be naked," I told them. They all laughed at it, but I was betting they would make sure it happened tomorrow at least. Dalia knew what had my motor running this morning and I wondered if she would tell them later. I didn't really mind if she did. I was also going to have her let Danlo's mates know it would be fine if he needed to sleep in on some mornings so he could stay up late and take care of them. I had sent Dalia and Shelalliea in to give him a teasing chastisement a few days ago for sleeping late, but now I had an incentive for giving him more time in the bedroom. Soon enough the others started coming in and a full-fledged meal was underway, bringing a halt to the teasing between my mates and me. Today, after we ate, I was going to try to get Barago and his group started on bringing some of the firewood up here from the wooded area. After breakfast was over and while Barago was outside gathering his men I remembered why I had wanted to get in touch with Argent yesterday. I needed some machetes and some brush hooks, plus some more bow saws and a few crosscut saws for the firewood operation. Some of the women were already heading toward Frank and I assumed cooking lessons were about to begin. I asked them to let me have a ten-minute talk with him and promised them I would not bother them about it later. They agreed and returned to the kitchen and the other women. I saw them talking among themselves quietly, but didn't have any idea what it was about. ------- Chapter 106 I sat down and got Argent's attention at once. When I sent him my list he asked if I was going to get started on the sawmill, so I explained it would be a kind of experiment for handling the timber, but what we took this time would be for firewood. He wanted to go ahead and send the log hauling wagon they had come up with, but I told him we didn't need it yet and we planned to bring the logs to camp via the river. He relented on the wagon, but asked if it would be acceptable for his engineers to watch the process carefully in hopes they could think of simple things they could send to help us. I told him to feel free to make any suggestions they could think of. I also remembered to ask for some long light-duty chain and some rope before I signed off. He said they had anticipated many of today's needs in hopes of getting the sawmill off the ground and they could have the rest of the things within an hour. I asked him to just put them near the big wagon and tingle me when they were ready. Barago came back in just after I'd departed Frank. He told me the men were ready and I asked him to postpone our departure for an hour or so since I needed to take care of a few more things here and he agreed and left to tell the men. I didn't really have shit to do here, I just wanted to give Argent time to send the things I hadn't been able to order yesterday. I tried to get a more detailed plan together in my mind and while I was going over things I realized someone was going to have to teach the men how to sharpen their tools. The women were already into their cooking lessons now so I went to the practice cave to see if I could get a chance with Phil. I was just in time since Racaato, Daria, and Jatalieta were heading toward Phil as I came in. I begged their indulgence for a few minutes and then asked Argent to send me tools for sharpening the tools he was sending. He told me they had all ready taken care of it and assured me the things would be on their way soon. I thought back to the Real Soon Now days of vaporware on Earth and hoped he didn't have a Microsoft type definition of soon. I left Phil to Racaato and his charges then and went into my cave and then the bathroom. I shut myself in one of the shitters and sat on the lid of the toilet, hoping it would seal itself off like it had when I was using it for more pleasant activities. It did and I just made myself comfortable and enjoyed the privacy and the peace and quiet of the sound proof shitter. I stayed hidden until Argent tingled me, then I went outside and found Barago, asking him to meet me with his crew down at the horse cave. When I got there I found the star of last night's exciting little show busily tending to the big wagon and hitching the team. He asked if we would need other horses for pulling and I had him send Nadlo and Jonoco to get six more of the Clydesdales to use for skidding. All they would need in the way of tack was a halter, long lead rope, and just enough harness to put a collar on them and attach some chains. "Where will we get the chains?" Danlo asked. "There, by the tools for cutting wood and clearing brush," I said, pointing to Argent's latest delivery. He was surprised, but didn't really say anything about it. The men arrived a few minutes later and I showed them the new tools. They were surprised at the wealth and excited for the chance to see how they were used. It didn't take much to tickle them - they had been overjoyed with the manure forks after all. Soon everything was loaded and all the horses were ready. They climbed into the wagon, which Danlo was ready to drive. Nadlo and Jonoco walked alongside to make sure they could deal with any fuckups which might befall the draft horses we would be leading. I mounted Red and we took off. When we'd reached the side stream and crossed the river I dismounted and Barago hopped off the wagon to join me. We walked into the brush and within a hundred yards we were into the woods and the brush was mostly behind us. He saw what I'd meant about the deadfalls right away. It wasn't as if they were everywhere, but there were plenty. We walked to the nearest one and since Barago was carrying an axe with him he took a swing at it. The ring of the blow told us at once this one was rotten at the base. "I guess that one is too far gone to be of any use," I said. "Maybe not, let's check it further up," he said, and then walked up the trunk striking it about every ten feet. Sure enough, about twenty feet up from the stump it sounded solid. "You see they are often rotten at the base, but then useable farther up. Many times they are only a rotted out shell at the bottom and that is why they have fallen," he said. I could see he didn't need me to tell him anything about the trees. I suggested we gather the men and let me show them how to use the crosscut saw and he agreed, admitting he was anxious to know himself. When the men were gathered and had brought the saws into the woods I picked up a crosscut and put Barago on the other end. It only took a few minutes for him to get the general idea. Then I had to teach him not to ride the saw. That's what it is called when the one who isn't pulling at the moment lets the weight of his arms down onto the saw. It doesn't seem like much, but the extra drag on the cutting teeth will wear the other man out quickly. When we were going good I just let us keep at it until the tree was cut through enough so the gap we had cut closed up on the saw and stopped our progress. I then stopped and let all the men try to pull it with the two sides of the gap pinching it. Afterward I explained how they should use the wedges and the maul to keep the gap open so they could cut all the way through. Once the tree was cut from the stump and mostly lying flat on the ground it was easy enough to put a small log under the trunk and let gravity reverse the process to keep the gap open. With the explanations behind us Barago took charge of his detail and my respect for him grew tremendously. He soon had two men scouting and evaluating the deadfalls, three two man teams on the saws cutting the deadfalls from their stumps, and five men with axes and bow saws trimming off limbs - the rest were clearing the brush. Within forty-five minutes he had all his men busily working and involved in the process. We had decided to try and keep the logs to about thirty foot sections, more or less. Within two hours there were six ready to go. We called the men back and with the help of Danlo I showed them how to use the horses to skid the timber out to the stream and roll it in. A man with a pole on each bank steered the drifting log and we worked it nearly to the river, then tied a chain around one end and had another draft horse start walking upriver pulling the log against the current. It only took a little pole work to keep the logs out of the shallow spots and soon the first log was on its way to camp. Five of the men went with us as we pulled the log up river. I made sure each one got some time leading the horse and then using the pole to steer the log when it was needed. I knew after a few trips the horses wouldn't need any guidance and one man alone could escort a log up river with only a gee or a haw or a whoa for the horse. When we got to camp with the log, Daaggo came to greet us and he was excited again. He understood the principle at once, if not the specifics, and he was fascinated. I asked him to get a few of his men to help and we used the horse to pull the log up on the bank. I could tell Daaggo was dying to go see the rest of the process and so I asked him to knock off for today and bring his men with him to check out the operation. "You will be through with the entrances before too long anyway won't you? If you get done in a few days you and your men could be a big help to Barago with the firewood." "We will probably be through tomorrow and I think I would like to help with this," Daaggo said. "I'm sure Barago will be glad for the help." He gathered his men and a few others who wanted to go check things out and we left for the return trip. There were plenty of logs being held just where the stream joined the river when we got back and Barago was there. "I think we have gotten ahead of ourselves, John. I shouldn't have put so many logs in the water before you got back, they are getting hard to hold," Barago said, when we got there. "I have brought the cure for it," I told him, and we hitched the horse to the first log to go. I sent one of the new men with the experienced man this time and then had Danlo bring us another horse. We hitched it to the next log and I sent a new man and one of the men who had watched last trip off with this one. Soon we had six horses headed upriver towing logs. They all made it back in time to take one more log upriver before we quit for the day. Barago told me he had fifty more logs of various sizes waiting to be rolled into the stream. It had been a good start for our first day of logging and we probably had more firewood than we could burn this year ready to be towed to the camp. Time was on our side though and pulling the deadfalls out of the woods wouldn't hurt anything at all. We might even find some other uses for the soundest of them. When all the horses were headed back with their last log of the day we gathered up the tools, put them in the wagon and headed back. It was nearly sunset by the time we were back to camp and I left the unhitching and unsaddling to the wranglers while I went to my cave. When I entered and my mates saw me I could tell at once something was going on with them. They didn't seem embarrassed or frightened or anything, but I could just sense something out of the ordinary was going on. Something didn't look right about the cave either, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It was almost comical how they tried to act more normal than normal after a few seconds and if I didn't know better I would have thought they were trying to keep something from me. They just weren't themselves. Finally I saw it. In the back corner of the cave we usually used for just stacking things such as skins or supplies there seemed to be a new chamber, looking closer I could see it had a damned door on it. "What's that?" I asked. "I didn't think he would ever see it so fast," Shelalliea said. "I did, I knew he couldn't miss it," Dieta crowed. "Well what is it and how did it get here?" "Jaada noticed three or four times you have wanted to talk to Frank and someone was busy with lessons and you had to go all the way back and talk to Phil - then one time someone was studying on Phil too - so she asked Frank why you couldn't have a Frank or a Phil of your own and why you couldn't have a meditation chamber like Georgo's or Dotallto's to put it in," Geera said. "Then Frank said he had to go think about it for a few minutes and he was gone for quite a while. When he came back he said you didn't need a meditation chamber - he told us what you needed was an office," Maia said. "But we didn't know what an office was so we asked him about an office," Gema said. "Frank told us an office had a desk in it where you could keep important things and that you could put another Phil or Frank on the desk. He said you could also use the office when you needed to talk to one person or a few people or if you just needed to be by yourself and think about things," Roweea said. "Of course then he needed to tell us about a desk," Delia said. "After he told us about the desk we asked him how you could get an office," Ameliea said. "He told us to go outside for a while and look at the horses. We knew what he was up to then, but we did it and when we came back in you had an office. Will you show us what is inside of it?" Winna asked. "I am surprised and very pleased with all of you. I will show you what is inside it after supper is over. Has anyone else seen it?" "Frank said no one would notice it, but us and you. He was right too - Colonto and Caato have been in here since it came and they looked right at it, Colonto did twice, and they never mentioned it. If they had seen it I know they would have wanted to know what it was," Jara said. I was stupefied. My mates had established their own connections with the Aliens and apparently Argent had furnished them with a credit card. I nearly laughed, but was afraid they would think I was laughing at them. I would have loved to have been able to see Argent's expression when whoever Frank really was came in and told him my mates wanted me to have an office. I nearly howled again and had to bite my tongue. We had thick bison steaks for supper with baked potatoes and plenty of Ranch Style beans of course. I ate until I nearly made myself sick and loved every bite. Even Bigglieo got enough to eat tonight and it was hard to get him to stop praising my mates' cooking. Everyone was fed soon enough and retired to their own caves. After my mates were done cleaning up they begged for a look at the inside of the office again. I told them to go on in and I would follow them. "We can't go in John. Frank said only you could open the door so you'll have to let us in. What is a door?" Merita asked. "That's the door in the opening. Have you tried it yet to see if it would open for you?" "No, we haven't tried it. We wouldn't go into your office unless you asked us to. We wouldn't go into Georgo's or Dotallto's meditation chamber unless they asked us," Kateata told me. "Very well, let's see what's in there." I went to the door and opened it and got another shock. The walls looked like the cave's normal walls but the floor was covered with carpet, well it looked a little like carpet, but it also looked like the cave bear's skin too. It was much too large to be a real animal's skin though. The office was about twenty by thirty and the whole floor was covered seamlessly. The lighting was perfect, but I couldn't see any fixtures, just like in the other caves. There was a massive desk seemingly of the same wood our big table was made of. It had an extra large sofa covered with the same tiger skin material our coverlet was made of and behind the desk was a very large credenza. It wasn't really a credenza though - it was another desk which happened to be facing a wall. On it was my own Frank, as the girls would call it. I decided I'd call it Ralph. Ralph had a giant plasma display on the wall just like the other units, but he had a flat panel for closer work too. It seemed to be about a twenty-five inch unit. There was an IBM clicker with a built-in trackball in the upper right corner. It was my favorite kind of keyboard even though I never used the built in trackball. I just liked looking at it up there sometimes. The mouse was a Microsoft Internet Explorer, which was also my favorite. I wondered if I was going to be able to explore the Internet from here. What was I saying, all the other systems had more information than I could have ever found on the Internet and they had a bulletproof spam filter. That was about it for the office, that and a few chairs facing the desk. I guessed they were there in case I did need to talk to someone in private. There was plenty of free space for anything else I might think of, but that wasn't on my mind just now. At the moment I was thinking of my secretarial pool which was in here with me. As I went around to try out the beautiful chair behind the desk, all I could think of was how soon I'd be able to teach them to take dick tation. They all seemed to leave me as if by prearranged signal then. Jaada, the last one out took a second to show me a button under the desk - it was on one side of the knee space. "Frank let us know where it would be and told us you could use it to call us to come in here if you needed us. When you press it once it will make a sound to let us know you want something," she said, and smiled such a sweet smile at me. I thanked her and she left, closing the door behind her. It was a big surprise for me and I knew it was going to be helpful. My home, especially the dining table, had become a defacto gathering place for most of my leadership. It was cramping my style a little, but I felt having meals with all my main helpers made us much closer and helped foster a feeling we were all in this together. It also gave me a chance to check the inventory of some of the camps best looking women several times a day. The office would make it easy for me to get away by myself to think or plan and the big, very comfortable looking couch, seemed it might be a good place for me to wear out a daytime hardon if I could sneak someone in to help me with it. I decided to contact Argent and thank him for my new office. ------- Chapter 107 Argent messaged me back right away when I paged him on my new system. "How do you like your new office, John?" he asked. "It's great and I'm thankful. I probably would never have thought of it myself." "You can thank your mates. When they told the one you have named Frank you needed a meditation chamber with another one of him in it he realized right away you needed an office so you could have a place to plan and also to get away from the others at times," Argent said. "He was right and the way I was going things were starting to get complicated. I didn't really have a place to do any thinking." "When he mentioned it to me I came to the same conclusion. Frankly, we never envisioned you gathering such a large following so quickly. We are delighted, but we hadn't foreseen it. We should have offered you this option long ago. I'm afraid we got caught up in your adventures and didn't do a proper job of looking ahead," Argent explained. "This should take care of most of the problem though." "It will help and I hope you weren't offended we put it here without warning you. Your mates were very persuasive when asking that it be a surprise," Argent said. "It was fine, I was touched they had seen my need before I realized it and happy they manipulated a system which they couldn't possibly understand to get the result they wanted." "We were amazed about it ourselves. It seems they have taken the new technology on face value and are intent on getting the most out of it. Lately they have been asking Frank to tell them about things other than cooking and firearm safety," Argent told me. "What have they been asking?" "They specifically asked you not be informed on one of the subjects, but I will tell you if you want me to of course," Argent said. "No, unless they get into areas you feel sure I should know about why don't we keep to their wishes as much as possible." "I thought you would come to the same decision. There are other things they have asked which need not be kept secret from you though. For instance, Dalia asked Frank yesterday if he knew about other things besides cooking and when he told her he did she asked him if he knew how baskets were made and if he could tell them any better ways to make them," Argent told me. "That is a big step isn't it? Not so much she wants to know a better way to make baskets, but that she realized Frank knew things she didn't and he might tell her other things besides how to cook in the new kitchen." "We thought it was very perceptive of her and she isn't the only one asking new questions," Argent said. "I'll let you be the judge of what you should or shouldn't teach them. You might have Frank remind them about the reading and writing lessons I promised them too. None of them have asked him about them yet have they?" "No they haven't and I'm sure there has been so much going on they have forgotten. I will tell Frank to remind them soon. There is one other thing we think we should do for you though," Argent said. "What is it?" "We think we should rearrange your cave a little and make your bed area into a more nearly private place. The office isn't the only place where you could use some privacy. We can do it and make sure no others except your mates notice the change," Argent promised. "That is another excellent idea and I will be even further in your debt if you can manage it." "We can do it easily, but you are not in our debt, John. After all you have dedicated your life to our project," Argent said, and actually sounded grateful. "Well there wasn't so much left to dedicate before you came along." "Still, you have put yourself at our disposal and are doing a diligent job here and we appreciate it," Argent said. "I am wondering about something else since you seem to be in such a generous mood. The big plasma display has given me an idea. I'm pretty sure you have more than a little video equipment around here furnishing you feeds to watch things. Would it be possible for me to have access to some of them through the plasma display?" "Of course, and again I should have offered it to you earlier. We have almost complete video coverage of all the areas where there are people and any areas they usually travel over. You are welcome to view any of our streams. I will have someone prepare a menu system so you can more easily find those you want. Will it help?" he asked. "It will be more than I hoped for and I look forward to using it soon." "It should be ready within an hour and I will have them leave an icon on your flat panel's display. I think we should put a disturbance mechanism on the display though. In the event someone else is in the office with you or enters the office we will have the screen blank itself unless you specifically override it each time," he said. "That is an excellent idea and it brings up another question. I noticed my mates couldn't open the door to my office, is it arranged so only I can open it?" "Basically, I think it will also open for anyone you send for. If you'd like we can have it open for anyone you specifically send into it, incase you need for someone to fetch something from it," he said. "That is what I want then if it can be done." "It will be no trouble to set it for those conditions. I'll leave you now to make yourself accustomed to your new space," he said, and signed off. I looked around at the office just to get it in my mind. I couldn't help wondering just how extensive the video feeds were going to be though. I also wondered what they would come up with for privacy in my bed area. It reminded me I hadn't asked when he would do it. Well, I would probably be one of the first to know. Kind of like a pilot is always the first to the crash I guess. I left my office, deliberately leaving the door open and I saw it closed itself noiselessly. I joined my mates near the bed. They were already undressed and seemed to be standing around waiting for me. They were and when I reached them they all wanted to help get my clothes off me. It was time for me to thank them for my new office and I intended to do my best. "You need to get into bed and wait for your company," Delia said, as I lay down. "What company?" "Jara and Jatalieta are joining us for the evening," Dieta said. "They are. Who is going to watch over Barbo and Bowto?" "Taahrausa and Talieia are taking over for tonight. We thought they would be very understanding considering the circumstances," Maia said, and giggled. Jara and Jatalieta came in then and I beconned them to come and get in bed beside me. I noticed Jatalieta's fur clothes and knew she'd have new clothing to take back with her in the morning. It was an either or proposition for me now, so I took hold of Jara to get the ball rolling, but no doubt because of her long trial without I rolled down her socks in what seemed only minutes and turned to Jatalieta to give her a good dose of the same. It ended up being a full out orgy and I was surprised to have the women worn out before I got tired. "John, wake up, John. Things have changed during the night, John. Wake up please," Dalia whispered, as she shook me gently. "What is it Dalia?" I asked her, sitting up in bed. "Get up and look, please," she said. I was on the outer edge of the bed for once and I noticed right away Jara and Jatalieta had left earlier, so I put my feet on the floor and stood up. I could see what she was talking about at once. We were now in a bedroom. It was a pretty big one to accommodate the pretty big bed it held. I nearly laughed when I saw one wall was taken up completely by closet doors and another one was occupied for its full length by drawers, having a counter top also. Above this was a mirror covering all the exposed wall, up to the new ceiling. "It seems we now have a bedroom for a little privacy. Let's look in the closets," I told Dalia. We went over to the doors and I opened one and got another surprise. From the type of doors, bifold, I had expected closets about three feet in depth. Wrong. The bifold opened into a single large walk-in closet. The new wall was about forty feet and the closet was that wide and probably sixty feet deep. There were shelves, drawers, and clothes rods everywhere. Even with fifteen mates and counting I would have plenty of closet space for all of them. Until they figured out what closets were for anyway. "What is all this, John?" Dalia asked. "This, my dear, is a closet. It is for all my mates to store some of their things in, such as clothes." "Is all this space only for our clothes?" she asked. "No, it can be for whatever you want to put in it. For instance, the things we have stacked near the back wall where the office came. It can all be put in here now so other people won't be digging through your things." "They don't dig through them now," she said. "Yes, but it will be better and more convenient to put most of those things in here. There is more room to spread them out and you won't need to dig for what you need." "I suppose it will, still it surprised me. Why was this all put here - this closet and the walls around our bed?" she asked. "I'm not sure. Maybe the spirits thought we would like to be out of sight of the others while we were in bed." "Oh, I see, but now no one can sneak in and watch us as you watched Danlo yesterday," she said, smiling. "That will be fine, as long as Danlo doesn't get any walls to keep me from sneaking around to watch him," I said, as I pulled her closer for some kisses and fondling. "That would never do, from the way it made you when you watched him with Jatalieta and Daria I think you should do it often," she told me, as she ground herself against the now wide-awake Dicky. My temperature was rising quickly and I wanted to pull her dress off and lay her down on the new bear skin carpeting to fuck her soundly. Our rising passion was dampened though by some of the others. "John, where are you, John and where are we now," Maia asked, from the bed. Dalia and I made our exit from the closet with Dicky pointing the way. I could tell Maia was relieved when we came into sight. "We were looking over some gifts which came in the night," I said. The others were all awake now and there were more questions. I felt better as they started climbing out of bed when I realized none of them were looking for their clothes. They wanted to explore their new bedroom and didn't seem to mind doing it naked. I showed them all the new things and gave them a little rundown on what they were and how to use them. It was easy to see the drawers were going to be a big hit. I was sure later they would find their own uses for the new space and no doubt Frank would have a lot of explaining to do. Toward the end of my explanations I saw Dalia slip out of our new door, heading for the kitchen I hoped. Argent and his crew had done a hell of a job on this. Much of the inside of the cave must have been rearranged since we now had a doorway from our new bedroom directly into our bathroom and when we looked in the bath room from it I could see there was still an entrance from the bathroom to the main cave. I pulled on some clothes and left my mates exploring while I went to see if there was coffee yet. There was and as I sat at the table a naked Shelalliea, who I hadn't seen slipping out of the bedroom, brought me a mug. My attention wasn't really on the coffee when she got to me with it and when she put it on the table I pulled her down into my lap for some serious good morning kisses and not a little bit of fondling. "You see, all I really need to get started in the morning is a naked woman bringing me coffee," I told her, as I let my lips find a nipple on the nearest big firm titty. "And you will probably have one bringing your coffee every morning if you keep this up. Oh, bite it just a little," she said and sighed, as she put her hands into my hair to toy with my scalp, sending tingles down my spine. I gave the plump nipple a nibble and felt it swelling between my lips. I liked this so much after a minute or so I switched to the other nipple for more of the same. When I dropped a hand into her lap she spread her legs to give me better access to her furry treasure and I let my fingers play with her lower lips a little. I felt her moistening and let the finger find her trigger, giving it a few light flicks and a minor rubbing. "Oh that feels so good, John, your coffee will get cold if you keep on," she said, sighing again, as she wiggled her ass down onto Dicky. "Maybe I have time for just a little more," I told her, and as I slid a finger up into her now dripping sex I let my thumb take charge of her love button. Her hips pushed her pussy toward the finger and then she pumped them firmly against my hand and put her arms around my neck, pulling my lips to her for a deep kiss. Shelalliea was good and horny now and as I pumped in her pussy with my finger and explored her mouth with my tongue, she sucked it and began trembling. I knew she had been overwhelmed by the suddenness of my good-morning assault, and she was close. I felt her tunnel begin clasping at my finger as she tensed tighter and when I knew she was there I pulled my mouth off her and sucked a nipple back into it, giving the plump strawberry a firm nip with my teeth. ------- Chapter 108 "Oh, oh, John," she moaned, as the pleasure burst on her. I held her tightly while she shook, pumping my finger in her until she relaxed against my chest. I kissed and nibbled her face and neck and petted her until she got her breath back. "You can be sure you will be getting much more naked service at the table in the mornings now," she said. "Well it's a nice way to start the day," I whispered in her ear, thinking there were much less pleasant morning rituals than fingerfucking a beautiful woman to a come. "In fact this will probably make my coffee and breakfast taste a lot better," I said, as I pulled the finger from her wet pussy and pushed it into my mouth, making loud smacking sounds as I did. "I must wash a little now and put my clothes on," she said, as she rose. "If you must," I said, and as she turned to leave I gave her beautiful ass a nice firm swat. Roweea was there with my breakfast soon, but she had her dress on. It didn't deter me much and as she bent at the waist to set the plate before me I let one of my hands take possession of a cheek of her firm round ass. She turned, still leaning down, and also gave me a good kissing. "Now we will be arguing about whose turn it is to bring you your coffee in the mornings," she said, as I pinched her naked butt. "Nothing could please me more than having my beautiful mates squabbling over which one got to bring me coffee while naked," I told her, as she left. I had just finished my first breakfast when Raalto wandered in with Reeana, Jareena, Gateata, and Kalayeata. Caato and Jaadalla were right behind them with Jalaato and Heilalieta. Here were two men I hadn't honored yet and their mate's old style clothes reminded me of pleasant duties to come. Jaadalla was built for comfort, not for speed. She wore her very light blonde hair longer than most of the women and it hung nearly to her round jiggling titties. She was also a shy one. I couldn't remember if I'd ever heard her say anything. Though she wasn't fat by any stretch, the word which came into mind every time I saw her body, hidden in the animal skin tunic and trousers, was lush. Her pretty face was round and the long light hair set off her large blue eyes and I'll admit every time I saw her and remembered my duties, I was glad again Caato had brought his camp to join ours. Heilalieta was also a cutie. She was tiny like Ameliea, but she had a darker complexion to go with her dark brown hair and brown eyes. Though she was petite, her hips were womanly and her tunic couldn't hide the fact her breasts were substantial. I could already imagine her as a visitor to my new office. She wouldn't be the first one I sent for though. Even though Cahttiea had already helped me honor Natalto she was still going to get the honor of being the first one I needed to talk to in private in my new office. She could suck a dick like nobody's business and I intended to give her a chance to remind me how good she was while I was sitting in my new office chair. Luckily Ameliea brought me another plate with my second breakfast just then. She made sure to nudge her ass against me and when she set the plate down I pulled her arm until she bent to give me a good kiss. "I saw you eyeing Jaadalla when she came in," she whispered. "I knew I couldn't slip anything past you." "I will see if I can keep her here after breakfast, in case you need to speak to her in your office," Ameliea said. "Not today, but it is on my mind though. I have another I must talk to today," I told her, and winked. She left me then and I worked on my second breakfast at a more leisurely pace. The other men were all talking about the logging operation among themselves. It seemed all those who were not helping Raalto intended to go to the woods with Barago today. That was fine since Natalto would be along for sure. I also saw Ameliea whisper something to Dieta in the kitchen and then Dieta was headed my way with a refill for my coffee. When she put it near my plate she leaned down and put her face against my neck as if giving me a little nibble. "Ameliea has told me you intend to have a visitor in your office today. Who is it?" she asked, with her stage whisper which had been so useful before. "I will need to have a little conference with Cahttiea shortly." "Ha, no doubt she will be talking mostly to your dick. I have noticed you like the way she sucks you," Dieta said, but so lowly no one else could hear. "She has a special way of doing it." "Yes and I want her to give me some instructions soon, but I will make sure she is here when you want her. I will send her to the office as soon as you signal." Dieta left me just as Barago was asking if I were going to the woods with them this morning. I told him I thought he knew all I could teach him about it by now and I felt he would do fine without me. "How many logs should we get John? We probably have more than enough for firewood already pulled out by the bank of the stream." "I think everyone should get some practice with every part of the operation. If we end up with more trees than we need it will not hurt anything. Maybe we can think of other things to do with them. If you see any hickory trees which have fallen be sure to get one or two of them." "We will and we will concentrate on showing everyone how to do it now instead of trying to gather more trees. We will still be gathering them, but just not at the pace of yesterday," he said. "It will be perfect." They headed out then and I stayed at the table looking over my mates and theirs. It was like Christmas almost. The men would be out of the way, their mates were here in my cave, and the office was waiting. Dicky throbbed so hard he almost burst. I left the women to their business and went into my new office, the door closed by itself behind me. Sitting down at my desk I turned to Ralph and noticed the new icon, labeled simply video, on the desktop. I clicked on it and a menu popped up with dozens of selections. I selected one titled River in John's canyon and it sprung a full screen page with thumbnails of the view of each camera. They were arranged twelve across and continued in rows filling the screen and there was a scroll bar on the right edge. Clicking the first thumbnail I got a full screen view of an area I hadn't been to yet. The river was obvious and from the terrain I thought it might be further north than we'd explored. Going back to the previous page I selected the next thumb and again got a view I didn't recognize. Back at the thumbs again I looked at them more closely and in the forth row from the top I thought I could see movement so I chose it. My work detail burst into view. I could see the big wagon pulled by the four Clydesdales and recognized Danlo driving it. It was full of men and behind came the six horses which would be used to skid the logs and pull them up river. This was great. I backed out to the thumbs and then to the first menu. Finding a selection for John's cave I clicked it and had a view of my mates and the other women in my cave. Most of them were paying close attention to Frank and a few were in the kitchen. I reached under the desk and pressed my call button. I could tell at once Dieta and in fact all my mates heard it. Dieta was standing beside Cahttiea and when she heard the call she leaned in toward her and said something into her ear. Cahttiea looked toward the door to my office as Dieta pointed to it and then headed for it. The door opened for Cahttiea when she tried it and I saw the plasma display go blank when she pushed it open. Sitting behind my desk when she walked in, I got up smiling and walking toward her. I don't know if she'd guessed what was going to happen in here or if Dieta had told her or what, but I walked up to her and took her into my arms kissing her lips. "Oh John, I had hoped you would take me during the day sometime and when Dieta said you wanted to see me in here I had a feeling you wanted me to suck your dick. I see I was probably right," she said, when I broke our kiss, pushing her body toward me. "I was hoping I could get you to start that way." "You know you can. I would probably be glad to suck you even if you weren't the leader. You have the biggest one I have ever seen and I like sucking it," she said. Cahttiea dropped a hand to cover Dicky's bulge in my pants and she squeezed him gently as my hands roamed over her firm ass. I kissed her again and then she began trying to get my pants undone. I took hold of the bottom of her Wilma dress and began pulling it up and then off over her head. Her titties weren't as big as some but they were big enough. The nipples were already at attention and she was flushed on her upper chest, probably in anticipation. I led her behind the desk and before sitting down I removed my clothes. I sat on the forward edge of the chair, spreading my knees and making room for Cahttiea to kneel between them. She did it at once and then put her hands on my knees, running them up my thighs and taking hold of my hard dick. I saw her lick her smiling lips and taking hold of Dicky gently with her hands she bent her head to lick his bulging tip. Pleasure shot from her tongue to my dick as she gave my one eyed snake a kiss on the head and then whirled her tongue around its throbbing purple crown. I felt soothing relief as she took the knob into her warm mouth and took hold of the shaft with her hand. Another gut clinching thrill ran through me when her other hand cupped my balls and began toying with them, making them slide over and around each other. Between jolts of quivering pleasure she was giving me I realized that this position didn't lend itself to a deep throat sucking. I didn't give a shit at the moment. Cahttiea knew more than one way to suck come out of my dick. Her tongue was in perpetual motion in her mouth, swirling around my swollen cock knob and flitting its tip in and out of my drooling piss hole. She wasn't in any hurry to get to the comeshot and kept teasing and then relieving my dick. My boner and her hands were now wet with a combination of her saliva and my precome. Her hands played with my balls as if they were her personal favorite toys and she kept one slowly stroking the part of my stiff shaft that her mouth couldn't accommodate. Cahttiea changed her point of attack then, leaving my balls dangling on their own as she pushed her hand gently behind them to massage my prostate and the mass of nerves around it from the outside. This caused my asshole to pucker alarmingly but she kept at it and I felt the inevitable climax spreading out from her massaging fingers. She could tell it was coming and as I looked at her face with my dick poked into it she looked calm and almost seemed to be smiling. As my spasms began sending come up the pole Cahttiea slipped the moistened tip of one of her fingers just into my ass and it felt like my balls had exploded. She pumped my dick and sucked for my cream as my equipment pulsed it up its pipe. She kept her tongue swiping over the piss hole brushing the come away as it reappeared. The finger she had just barely up my ass pumped minutely back and forth and added immensely to my pleasure. When I dribbled my last squirt into her mouth I sagged back into my chair and Cahttiea spent several minutes licking up any mess she could find. When the tongue bath was over I had enough wind back to pull Cahttiea into my lap so I could snuggle against her sexy ass and play with her aroused nipples while I kissed her and sucked her tongue for a taste of my own sperm. "What did Dieta tell me this chamber was John? She called it something, but I didn't understand what she said," Cahttiea asked, as I toyed with her nipples. "It is my office. I can come in here and work in private." "I'm sure you will do very well in here with your privacy, but I'm sure you won't actually be alone all the time," she told me, giggling. "I hope not," I said, as I pulled her lips nearer mine for more kissing. Her luscious ass squirming around on Dicky had him climbing again now. I worried her nipples with one hand and caressed her ass cheeks with the other. Soon I wanted to hide the weenie in Cahttiea and I urged her to stand then did so myself. I stepped near the desk and got her to bend down onto it with her great ass sticking out for inspection and accessibility. She had her feet apart and I could see her delicious twat peeking out under her buns. I put my hand on it toying with my fingers for a little and I could feel that she was lubricated fully by now. Standing behind her I placed my knob between her lips and pushed up into her gently. It was wonderful and since she sighed lowly I thought she might be enjoying it too. "It reaches so deep this way John, I think I'm going to like this," she said. "I know I am." I took hold of her hips and pushed more firmly, pulling her to me in the process. Cahttiea squeezed my shaft with her insides then and the sensation forced me to start stroking. I was standing and while I would have liked to bend over her and grab hold of her titties I was enjoying the view of her ass wiggling with each thrust too much to change positions. Every now and then as I pulled back I could look down in her ass crack and see her pucker winking at me. Cahttiea hadn't received an ass fucking yet and I was tempted to pull out of her pussy and give her one at once. Her slick warmth felt too good to abandon though, so I just picked up the tempo, and giving in to temptation, I gave her wiggling ass a good ringing slap, liking the sound it made and the little squeal she produced. I was surprised when she groaned loudly and burst into an orgasm from the slap. Her pussy took command of my dick then and her sheath contracted around its entire length, squeezing the come out of me. I jerked her hips toward me and buried my cock as deeply up her as I could while it hosed her insides. When I was done I lay across her back panting and I could hear that she was too. Cahttiea recovered more quickly than I could and she deftly slipped from beneath me to stand. She helped me to sit in my chair and kneeled to lick my dick clean at once, doing such a good job that it almost rose again from her tender ministrations. I was still regaining my breath when she finished her licking and rose to pull her dress back on. I wanted to get up and kiss her again, but she helped me out by leaning down, offering her lips to me. I kissed her sweetly then she was back up and heading for the door. "I love your office, John and hope you will call me to help you in it often," she told me, as she left. Still winded I turned to see the display was back up since I was alone again. I could see Cahttiea leaving my office and Dieta walking over to talk to her. They whispered to each other and I could tell it was exciting Dieta. I clicked the back arrow on the display and returned to the video menu. Looking at the thumbnails again I found the one which showed my work detail now. Clicking it I could see they already had two horses headed up stream towing logs and other men were in the woods separating more deadfalls from their stumps. With nothing really in mind I went back to the thumbnail page for the river and after searching around in the menus I changed the size of the thumbnail displays. They were now in rows of six across and this made the thumbnails larger and it was easier to tell what I would be seeing if I took a closer look. Looking them over, working my way on down river, I came to another one which had movement in it. Clicking for a full screen view revealed eight men, from the camp we assumed Jato was now in charge of, making their way upriver. They all had their spearcasters on their arms with spears already in place. This wasn't necessarily an aggressive position since it was always advisable to be ready for anything when traveling in this time. It didn't make me feel this was the friendly visit I'd invited them to make though. I almost shot out of my chair and was about to leave my office and saddle Red for quick traveling when I had a suspicious thought. I went back to my chair and fooled with the video menu until I found the feeds from the plateau. Searching through them I found what I'd feared I would. Near the end of the plateau and the place where we'd caught the last two spies I saw four men moving slowly northward. I guess they would come near the camp from above an hour or two after the others would enter it from the canyon. I clicked the display off and left my office this time knowing this was a much more clever sneak attack than those Cardiato had instigated. ------- Chapter 109 I left my office then and called the women over when I was out in my cave. "They are sneaking up on us again," I said, getting the attention of all of them at once. "Who is?" Dieta asked, as they all gathered around me. "Men from Cardiato's old camp. I'm not sure Jato became the leader since he was leading the group coming across the plateau. "Are there other's coming?" Ameliea asked. "Yes there are four coming across the plateau and there are eight coming up the canyon by the river. Those coming up the canyon are ahead of the others by about two hours," I told them. "What will we do?" Winna asked. "All of you should put on your mail and get your weapons, then I want you to tell all the others in camp to go into their caves and not come out unless I or one of you calls them. Tell them what is happening and to guard the entrances to their caves, letting no one in who doesn't belong here," I said. "What about the men working in the woods?" Waaya asked. "I'm going to saddle Red and go make plans with them. If men of the other camp come here before I get back I want Merita and Maia to let the wolves loose on them. Everyone should be ready to shoot them if they try to harm the wolves. I will probably be sending most of the men from the woods back up here before then," I told them, and left for the horse pens. I had Red saddled and was down greeting my men within half an hour. I sent Jonoco back to get Racaato to join me and then to go and warn Raalto and those gathering the hay. I should have thought to bring Racaato with me, but I hadn't. I told the other men to go back to our camp also and they did. There were four logs in the side stream waiting to be towed to camp but they were tied off and couldn't get away downriver. I had the men leave them. They gathered their things and left. I could get Red into the woods easily now so I took him and tied him to a tree, far enough back so he wouldn't be visible from the canyon. I found a place where I could conceal myself in the brush and settled down with my M1 to wait. I was pretty sure Racaato would reach me before the visitors did. Not quite an hour later Racaato and Raalto came riding up. I showed them where to tie their mounts and we had a powwow in the edge of the woods. "I sent Bigglieo, Gondro, and Jalaato upriver to hide on the other side of the ramp and then sneak down behind the four from the plateau if they tried to circle our camp and approach from the north," Raalto said. "The rest of our leaders are spread out in the other caves now so there are men with rifles in each entrance," Racaato added. "Your mates are pretty mad about this and they are all looking out from behind the new entrance covers wanting to find someone to shoot. Especially Ameliea, Roweea, and Dieta. I don't expect any of the men from the plateau to survive if they make it to camp before we are back," Raalto said, laughing. "If I have my way there will be a big surprise waiting for them when they peek down into our camp from above," I told them. We made a simple plan to let the visitors get upriver from our position before we confronted them and then we waited. Forty-five minutes later they came up on the other side of the river, but when they saw the logs in the side stream and all the obvious sign on the banks they crossed to look things over. When they were on the bank near the logs Racaato and I let loose about five shots each from our Glocks while Raalto covered them with his M1 from a makeshift shooting rest we had put up. They all froze when they heard the Glocks talking to them. I shouted after we stopped firing. "Throw down your weapons at once if you want to live." One of them was probably a little stupid and he turned, raising his spearcaster and looking for a target. Raalto didn't let him look long - he shot him right through the chest and when he didn't fall at once he shot him again. The others flung their spearcasters to the ground. "Why did you kill Dutotto? We have only come to visit as you invited," one of them asked, while Racaato, Raalto, and I came out of the trees. "You should get it through your heads we are not stupid, you are the ones who seem stupid. Do you think we don't know about Jato and the three other men he is leading across the plateau to sneak up on us while you have our attention?" I asked him. They were struck dumb when I told them this. I saw panic on most of their faces. The one who was speaking acted as if he didn't know what I was talking about though. "Jato was in camp when we left," he said. "No doubt. I expect him to arrive about two hours after you would have. Throw down your knives and any other weapons you have now or we will kill you all and throw your bodies in the river. Raalto, if any others speak go ahead and shoot them too," I said loudly. None of them made a peep and all discarded at least one knife. I was pretty sure some of them were still holding out though. "You had better search each other carefully to make sure none of you are still carrying a weapon. If any of you produce one later I will have you all killed, even if some of you have given up all yours." Two of the men turned to the one who had spoken at once and took his concealed knife from him. Then they searched the others and found two more. "I see some of you really are very stupid. You can't even harm us with your spearcasters, but you think you can do something with mere knives. Pick up the dead one and start upriver toward our camp. Be quick about it, others of my camp are waiting for you there." They did as I told them, but left at a walk. "Faster, if you lag behind I will kill you and leave your bodies for the animals," I yelled to their backs. They broke into a trot and Raalto, Racaato, and I retrieved our mounts to follow them. We were on their heels in only a minute or two and we stayed on them until we reached camp. I was in a really bad mood by the time we got there. This spying shit was getting on my nerves. I was going to make an impression on this group and the others who were still sneaking their way here. I couldn't make up my mind whether any of them were going to live to go back and spread the news though. Daaggo, Caato, and Colonto came out from different caves to join us then. I got an idea about how to start this party and surveyed the rim of the canyon for a few seconds. "Daaggo, please call some of your men to bring stakes and thongs so we can tie these spies to the ground," I told him, and he left to do it at once. "Dieta, come here with your sharpest knife please," I yelled, and she came from our cave with it in her hand, smiling her widest. "Please cut the clothes off the dead one for me and be ready to help the live ones make up their minds to cooperate later. I think you might be pleased to know Sadogo is in the group which is sneaking over the plateau," I said. "You won't make me let him live this time will you?" she asked. "I don't think so. I'm sure he won't be needing his ears any longer in any case, he probably won't need to keep his nose either," I said, and watched the captured men turn pale. Turning to face them I asked. "Will you take your own clothes off or shall I have Dieta cut them off you?" They began pulling their tunics off at once and they were all standing around in their shriveled nakedness when Daaggo returned with some of his men and the things I had asked him to bring. After Dieta had the dead one naked, I had Daaggo and his men stretch him out spread-eagled and then had them drive stakes into the ground and tie him to them. "But he is already dead John, why do you tie him down now?" Dieta asked. "Those who look down from the plateau won't know he wasn't killed after he was tied down. I want them to think about what may happen to them," I said. When the body was tied to the stakes I asked Dieta to relieve it of its now useless genitalia. She grinned and knelt between its legs. I told her to be sure and save all of his sack she could - since it might be made into a nice pouch with careful tanning. Two of the standing men tossed their last meal over it and I signaled Dieta not to do it after all. "It might not be useful since he has been dead so long. Maybe we should get a fresh one," I said. Another of the men lost his stomach's contents then and I could tell my talking about it was making them more nervous than the actual act. "We'll wait a while for it. Tie the rest down now Daaggo. We will leave them here for their friends to see when they look over the edge." Daaggo and his men did indeed tie the naked men down. When they were through I walked into the horse cave and got a good axe. I returned and separated the dead man from his head and left it laying about a foot from the stump of his neck. I wanted to scare the shit out of the ones coming over the plateau in case they somehow managed to escape us and make it back to their camp. After the naked men were secured I called my leaders to come into my cave for talks and asked everyone else to go back into their caves. When I got into my cave Dieta and Ameliea were clutching each other and laughing so hard I figured they were embracing just so they could hold each other up. Jaada came to me and hugged me so tightly it almost hurt. "What a man we have for a mate. You were only talking to them and threatening and three of them lost their stomachs. One of the others looked like he would mess himself any minute," she said. "I'm not sure if they were afraid of me or afraid I would leave them to Dieta's tender mercies," I said, and laughed. "They were afraid of something and they were very afraid of it. I almost wish you would send them home naked to tell their tale to the rest of the camp," Roweea said, giggling at her own thought. "That might be a good idea Roweea. After we have the others in hand we can give them a little of the same treatment and maybe release them tomorrow to get home as best they can with no weapons or clothes." My mates were all in favor of this scheme at once and began asking me to do it. I was thinking about it and though at first, when I was angriest, I had intended to kill most or all of them - now I just wanted to make sure they stopped this damned sneaking around. I knew one thing was going to happen for sure. When they were all staked out naked in the canyon I would make sure they knew exactly how many people lived in this camp now. I was going to have everyone come out at once and stroll around them, looking them over in their defenseless condition. I went back to my office to take another look at the ones still heading this way unaware of their other group's condition. I found them at once and they would be here within the hour. Back out in my cave, I asked Merita and Maia if they could have the wolves go out and give the prisoners a bite or two and then call them back. They told me it would be easy and Maia said she thought even the little ones could be made to do it now too. She did say it might be harder to get them to stop and come back though. "The others should be here before too long, if they try to look down on us from above I want you to send all the wolves out to torment those who are tied down. I will ask Racaato to watch from the other side so he can shoot them if they try to harm the wolves with their spearcasters." ------- Chapter 110 I called Racaato and Raalto and we discussed it. Racaato said he would do it and Raalto even said he would help, but they asked if I didn't want to give Nadlo, Jonoco, or some of the others a chance, still worrying about getting more mates for themselves I guess. I asked around among my leaders and found that Colonto, Barago, and Caato all felt like they could take the chance on gaining a mate now. We hadn't even asked if the one Raalto had already shot was a mated man and when I pointed that out Ameliea perked up and told us he had been mated and he'd had a very pretty young mate, Camalieta, who would no doubt be joining us soon. Raalto seemed to take the news with more enthusiasm than I'd expected. With the plans made and knowing we still had plenty of time, I began to wonder about at least a small bite to eat. When I looked to the kitchen a smile came to my face. "Yes my always hungry mate, we have food ready," Delia told me, smiling. We sat down and had sandwiches for a quick lunch. I was mad again when Caato's mate, Jaadalla, brought my plate and brushed her ass against me. If these sneaking bastards hadn't upset our day I could have been interviewing her in my office this afternoon. We ate quickly and Raalto, Nadlo, Jonoco, Racaato, Barago, Caato, and Colonto got their M1s and headed across the canyon to take up hiding places over there. When Jaadalla brought me another mug of coffee I pulled her down into my lap and had to have a taste of her kisses. She was receptive and put her hands around my neck kissing me back with more passion than I expected. I had to take time to put a hand under her tunic then and take hold of a firm round titty. She sighed when I found it and as I teased the nipple she wiggled her sweet ass against Dicky. "I am hoping you will honor Caato soon John," she whispered into my ear, nipping the lobe with her teeth. "You can expect it to be very soon Jaadalla, very soon," I replied. Argent must have been watching us closely this morning, because as I pulled my hand from Jaadalla's tunic and dropped it between her legs to cup her pussy he tingled the back of my neck. I reluctantly released her after only one squeeze of her warm coochie through her trousers and when she stood I took my coffee back into my office to check the video again. Jato was the headman of this group and he was leading them all over to the edge of the plateau to look down into the canyon. I could see they were about six hundred yards south of our camp, but could tell they located it right away when they looked down. They moved back from the edge and headed north again with a more likely viewing spot in mind this time. Argent just couldn't contain himself I guess. He popped a message on screen and told me if I wanted to join my mates to watch the fun he would signal me when the first man looked over the edge again. I agreed and left my office to join them at our cave's entrance. When Argent tingled my neck a few minutes later I told Merita and Maia to release the wolves. They bounded out headed for the staked out men. As the wolves reached and began nipping at the tied down helpless men they started screaming. Who wouldn't? I was watching the entrance to the big cave and I saw an M1s' barrel push out of an opening. Its muzzle flashed and then I heard the report. One of the small spears fell harmlessly to the canyon floor then, followed by the thud of a no doubt dead body. I had Merita and Maia call the wolves back and most of them came at once. One of the young males did take a few more seconds to get in a last nip or two though. Nothing else happened for a few minutes, but before I gave the signal to come back out into the canyon I went to my office to check the video again. Jato and the two remaining spies were moving out sharply back the way they had come. They weren't trotting but their walk was faster than normal. I walked back out of my office and my cave and when the others saw my exit they came to me. "Jato and the other two live ones are heading back for their camp. I think we should saddle up and meet them as they are coming down from above." "Would it be all right if we take the wolves and loose them on the spies as they are trying to climb down?" Merita asked me, hopefully. "I think it would be a grand idea," I said. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo rushed off to hitch the big wagon. All my mates went to fetch their weapons, as did everyone else who hadn't done it already. Daaggo asked if we could bring some of the others who weren't trained with firearms yet so the spies would know there were more of us than they thought. "We will be showing them exactly how many of us there are when we have them tied down with the others later. Why don't you stay and make sure the others are organized to watch over the camp while we are gone." "You are right, all of us should not leave chasing after only three frightened men," he said, and then laughed. Most of us went after them though. It had been Colonto who had killed the one who tried to launch a spear and I'm sure he was anxious to find out whether the man was mated or not. I saw he was in the wagon and talking to Ameliea and Daria as it left. Raalto, Racaato, Dieta, Roweea, and Jonoco mounted to ride with me and we followed the wagon that carried most of the rest of my leaders, most of my mates and all of the wolves. The wagon had left with the giant horses trotting, but we passed them and arrived near the path down from the top in less than an hour. After a little reconnoiter, I sent Jonoco back to stop the wagon where it would be mostly out of sight from above. The spies would still see it if they came to look over the edge but I didn't think they had any more spying on their minds now. By the time they reached the point and started their descent we were all hidden and waiting to spring our surprise. I let them get within thirty feet of the canyon floor before I signaled Merita and Maia to loose the wolves again. At their signal the wolves bolted up the steep path and were on the three men before they could even consider using their spearcasters. They had been in too much of a hurry to have one man hang back to provide some covering fire. They screamed like the others had when the wolves took them to the ground and after we'd all stepped out and revealed ourselves I had Merita and Maia call them off again. "Do not try to get up or use your weapons if you want to live a little bit longer," I shouted, to the three as the wolves left them alone for a few minutes. They lay still while the wolves came back down. I then told them to come down empty handed and while two of them did so quietly, the third, Sadogo, took his chances bolting back up the path. I thought about having someone shoot him, but I could see in his panic he had dropped his weapon so I had Merita send the wolves back after him. They seemed to fly by the two who were coming down and Sadogo was on the ground screaming again in less than a minute. Merita looked at me for a signal to call them off, but I told her to let them play with him a while. Prince, King, and Rover backed off after Sadogo was down, watching to make sure he didn't try to get back up. The younger ones weren't so far along in their training and while Sadogo kept crying out and wiggling they continued to bite him. Luckily for him their teeth were still small, but unluckily they were still the sharp baby teeth. All the rabbit had left Sadogo by the time I had Merita call the young ones back down. I told him to quit being a fool and come down slowly. He did this time, with Prince, King, and Rover for companions. I could tell he was happy to follow instructions now. He wasn't so sure he was safe when he spotted Dieta with her knife in hand though. She came over to him, walking slowly, and she had a very evil gleam in her eye. "So we meet again my plaything," she said, as she began inspecting the bite marks the young wolves had leeft on and about his person. Sadogo didn't make a sound or move as she walked around him. "We will have to keep him alive for a while, John," she said. "Why should we my mate?" "The wolves have bitten his ears, both of them. I don't want them to be all chewed up when I take them. We will have to keep him until they are healed. His nose is not injured though," she said, and reached toward it with her knife. Sadogo was frightened beyond his endurance by this move and he fell to his knees begging and wetting himself. When he did it Dieta released the most evil sounding laugh I'd ever heard. "Get up you cowardly fool. Don't you know your friends can see you crying from a woman's threats?" she told him, as she sheathed her knife. It took a few minutes, but he was finally able to stand again. I asked Jonoco to climb up and retrieve the weapons they had left on the path and he did it while I had the three men strip off their clothes and stand naked. I took a long rope from the wagon and tied a loop of it around each of their necks, tying the end to one of the hitching loops on the wagon's box. When everyone was back on the wagon or mounted I signaled and we headed home at a trot. I saw the spies were careful not to fall. After we got back to camp Daaggo and his group were more than happy to stake the three new arrivals out among their friends. I told Merita and Maia to let the wolves watch them for us, but I asked them, loudly, not to let the wolves damage any parts Dieta might want to cut off and keep later. Since I didn't think there would be any more visitors who needed the treatment, I had Daaggo and his men take the dead bodies off and put them in the frozen cave for the night. We would be taking them back tomorrow when we went to fetch their former mates. I knew I was being rather cruel to our prisoners, but I was tired of them showing up and pretty pissed off about the trickery they had attempted this time. I felt reasonably sure Jato had not become the leader after all and I also felt Sadogo had probably helped make the case for trying another recon mission. Whoever the new leader was would be dying tomorrow, I was sure of it. I thought about killing Jato also, but decided I wouldn't in case he could manage to become the next leader. I'd had enough of Sadogo though and if Dieta wanted his ears I was going to make sure she got them. They weren't damaged overmuch and I felt sure they would heal within a week or ten days. We could keep him tied in one of the bigger caves that long without much bother. With the last three tied down, all my mates, my leaders, and I went into my cave. The wolves were left to sniff out anything they found interesting. ------- Chapter 111 Once we were inside I told all the leaders I wanted to make sure everyone in our camp spent some time showing themselves to the captives. I asked them to see to it all our people took their spears with them when they made their showing. The men left then to set up our demonstration. Later, I looked out and could barely see any of the captives for all the people standing around them. Everyone went back to their homes just before sunset and we left our visitors attached to the stakes to contemplate a night tied down naked outside. Our meal that night was rather subdued, even though it was delicious. I wondered if I had shocked the others with what I thought was my cruelty. Even Georgo didn't speak much during the meal and when it was over I asked him to come with me to my office. "What is your office, John?" he asked. "You will see." When we entered it he was shocked. I explained what it was for - the official version anyway. I made it seem similar to his meditation chamber, but told him it was also for other work and planning. I debated with myself whether I should show him the video feeds, but decided it would probably be too much for him to handle. He'd had the story of today's goings on from others by now and so I asked him about it. "Do you think I have been too cruel to those we have captured? Have I upset my camp?" "I'm sure most of your camp is wondering why you haven't killed them already. What their camp is doing is a completely new thing for us. If they keep it up people will be suspicious of all strangers and traveling between camps will stop. Jakado has started this thing, but he is dead now and some of the others can't seem to see it was his just reward. I am glad you are not letting them do this to your camp and if they can't be made to stop I hope you can kill every one of them who thinks it is good," Georgo said. "Surely there must be some good men in the camp," I said. "There may be, but they might have been ruined with Jakado and Cardiato's talk of making all do as they say. They are both dead now, but as you see it hasn't stopped this treachery. If they are allowed to keep it up they will only become better at it. Even if they can't harm us they can harm others," he said. "I understand Georgo, and I can tell you every leader who continues it is going to die as soon as I find out about it. I am tired of it and if I have to see every man in the camp is killed I will do it. "I am familiar with the way men such as this think and I do not like it. I want peace in my camp and I don't see how I will ever have it until they are convinced they can not take advantage of others like they have been doing," I said. "I am afraid you are right and they will keep it up unless you make them stop. Have you asked Jato if he is the leader now?" Georgo asked. "Not yet. I am going to let him enjoy a night outside with the wolves for company first and see what he has to say in the morning." We left my office then and though my mates and I went to bed I had trouble sleeping at first. I dropped off suddenly and soundly and I'm sure Argent probably had something to do with it - thankfully he didn't initiate a dream visit this time. When I woke the next morning it was early, but all my mates except Jaada and Maia were already up. As I stirred they were quick to welcome me to consciousness with kisses and hugs. I thought about a little morning work, but decided I should get dressed, eat, and begin with the prisoners. Even though it was early my hopes of naked coffee service were dashed when I made it to the kitchen. Raalto and Racaato were already at the table and their multitude of mates were in the kitchen with mine. When Winna brought me a mug of coffee she gave me a look conveying her disappointment too. I couldn't blame my men, they were probably anxious to see what the prisoners had to say this morning, and besides they had no idea they were interrupting my new morning perversion. "Did either of you look out at the prisoners?" I asked. "We both did - we didn't go outside, but we did look out at them. The wolves are still walking around and growling at them every now and then," Racaato said. "Do you think it was cruel of me to leave them outside naked all night?" "If I were in their position, after what they tried, I would be glad I was still alive to be annoyed by the wolves. I am looking forward to hearing what Jato has to say for himself," Raalto said. Nadlo, Jonoco, Danlo, and their mates came in then with Barago, Caato, Bigglieo, and Dargo not far behind. The kitchen was full of women already, so most of their mates sat at the table with us. Natalto and Cahttiea came in before they had all found a seat. Cahttiea gave me a big smile as she sat down. The food started coming then and we didn't talk much while we ate. Since my first plate was heavily laden I didn't expect I'd be getting a second one unless I asked for it. This was another little indignity the prisoners or their leaders were going to answer for. After eating, all my leaders and wranglers seemed intent on going with me to speak to our guests. Before we left I told them if any of the prisoners did any serious complaining someone who wanted another mate should kill the loudest quickly to see if we could keep the others minding their manners. We had barely made it outside and near them when Sadogo burst out berating me and claimed that Bortato and Daggalo would see I was killed for this. I guessed Jaadalla, Caato's mate, had made it plain he was to find her a helper if he could. He had his Glock out and a bullet hole between Sadogo's eyes before Barago, who had been reaching for his weapon also, could bring his Glock to bear. It looked like Dieta was going to have to settle for damaged ears or pick out another pair. "Before any of the rest of you open your mouths to complain let me warn you we aren't going to listen to it. If you speak up without being asked a question you will be in the frozen cave with Sadogo and the other two before you can finish what you wanted to say. If you are determined to die though feel free to shout it out now," I told them. They were silent so I went to Jato. "Are you the leader of the camp now Jato?" I asked. "No. I told you I would not bother you with more spies and I meant it. Bortato and Daggalo have become co-leaders. Sending one group to approach you in the open and another to slip up on you was there idea," Jato said. "I guess you aren't so pleased with the way it worked out for you." "I knew it would not work when they planned it, and I didn't want to come. They intended to kill me if I didn't and they sent Sadogo with me to make sure I didn't slip away. They even threatened to kill my mate if I didn't go," Jato said. "Well I hope you are the leader after we are finished there today. You are all going with us and I doubt you will enjoy the trip, even though we don't have time to make you walk. You will be riding in Georgo's buckboard, but you will be as naked then as you are now," I said. "You must do as you see fit, but if you return me to the camp in this condition I will never be leader. I am not sure I want to be leader now though," Jato said. "Do any of the rest of you have anything to say?" They all asked to stay here and join our camp then. I didn't feel like taking any more spies into our midst and told them so. I knew from yesterday some of them were not worth having and so I decided to send them all back to see what would happen. We went back into my cave then to talk it over. "Do any of you have any thoughts?" "I think we should talk with Daria and Ameliea and maybe some of the others who have joined us from their camp. We should see if there is a chance Jato could become leader next," Raalto said. None of the others spoke up so I asked Jonoco to go fetch Mundo and those who had joined us after Cardiato was killed. When they were with us I asked them for their thoughts on the matter. Mundo and the other men thought if Bortato and Daggalo were to be killed Jato might become the leader and surprisingly they all thought he would stop the trouble we'd been having from the camp. When I asked Daria and Ameliea they agreed. We went back outside and I had the prisoners released. There clothes were returned to them and they were allowed to dress. When they were clothed I led them into my cave and my mates fed them. Seeing my chance I sat down too and had another small breakfast, just to be sociable of course. While we were eating I sent Danlo, Nadlo, Jonoco, Sahto, and Talvo to the horse pens and told them to hitch teams to both wagons and Georgo's buckboard. I also asked them to saddle all the horses which had been ridden already, except for the wild stallion, Jack, of course. After the prisoners were fed all my people who knew how to use a firearm were told to fetch them and come along. Most rode in the wagons or the buckboard, but we did put someone, with a rifle, on every horse. We made it to the troublesome camp in just over two hours and we made a much bigger showing this time as we rode in. A young man in the camp bolted toward a hut as soon as he saw us, and two men were approaching before we had even halted. Barago and Jalaato had already decided which one they would kill when it came time. We dismounted and the three of us approached the men, I was assuming they were Bortato and Daggalo. They must have been since Jalaato and Barago pulled their Glocks and shot them both when they reached us. I stepped forward just past the two fallen leaders. "Most of you know by now I am John and am the leader of a camp not too far from here. We are tired of men from this camp sneaking up on us. I am bringing back those from yesterday which we didn't kill. If you send men sneaking up to our camp again we will be coming back and killing half the men in this camp. There are many more of us than there are of you and we will have no trouble doing what I say." I turned and walked back to the wagon Jato was riding in then. I told him and the others to go into their camp and make sure there was no trouble while we gathered the women who would be coming with us and their things. I remounted then and Danlo came with me as I rode through the camp to take up a watching post on the other side of it. Galto, Dargo, and Daaggo rode to the center of the camp and took a spot also. The rest of those who were mounted spread out in the camp too. Raalto, Colonto, Caato, Jalaato, and Barago went to find their new mates and when they'd been located the wagons pulled into camp and the women's things were loaded. There was no excitement this time and in fact most of the camp's men seemed to have disappeared. When the women and their possessions were loaded we left without saying anything else. ------- Chapter 112 We didn't tarry during our trip home. We left the invader's camp at a fast trot, half of those mounted on horseback went ahead and half of us stayed behind the wagon. It was probably two hours before sunset when we made it back home. All the new women would be living on my side of the canyon, but arriving with the wagon pointed out a fuck-up I had allowed to happen. The covered entrance Daaggo had erected made it impossible to back the wagon in. "I am sorry John. I should have made some way to open all the cave's entrances large enough to accommodate the wagons," Daaggo said. "You have nothing to apologize for Daaggo. I am the leader and knew full well we would need to allow for this. It is my fault, but it is nothing to worry about. There are plenty to help unload the wagon and we can correct this oversight at our leisure next year. It is far more important to have a good covering during the winter than it is to back the wagons in now," I told him. "Still, I should have remembered," Daaggo persisted. "And I should have remembered doubly. No matter how much you blame yourself you are blaming me more so I hope you can just forget it for now." "What should I forget?" Daaggo asked then, and I realized he was trying to make a joke. "I can't remember either," I said, and we both laughed. Everyone fell to unloading the wagon and we were through with it in less than half an hour. The new women were jolted by the culture shock and my mates and the others reassured them and began explaining. I asked then if they could begin the tour with a demonstration in the kitchen and my mates laughed at me and said the kitchen would be in use right away. Hell, I didn't care if they laughed at me as long as they started cooking. I wasn't really hungry, but since I had been placed in this time it seemed I was ready to eat whenever there was food around. We had plenty of food so why not take advantage of it - the sooner the better. Argent probably had a hand in it and I didn't care if he had. I noticed no matter how much I ate I suffered no weight gain. What could be better than being able to eat all you wanted and not having to worry about becoming a lard ass. Come to think of it there was something better and I was reminded of it as my short-skirted mates began bustling around in the kitchen. I slipped unnoticed into my office to wait for food and to check on the camp we had just left. When I sat in my chair and clicked for the video menu I was able to find the views around the other camp in only seconds. Apparently the dead men we'd returned had been buried already and there was now some kind of meeting taking place. Jato had the floor and he was standing and addressing a group of about thirty men. I couldn't hear what he was saying of course and I dearly wished I could. Suddenly a spear streaked from behind one of the nearby huts and into Jato's back. It didn't knock him down, but I thought it was probably a mortal wound. He turned around to see where the attack had come from of course and when he did another spear struck him in the chest, and a few seconds later another hit him. There was no doubt these would be fatal and the one in his chest had probably pierced his heart. He fell to the ground less than a minute later and his killer walked into view. He was apparently a little smarter than Jato because he had a man slightly behind him covering his back. I didn't know the killer, but I had seen him before. I did know the one covering his back. He had been with the men we captured coming up the river and was one of those who had tried to keep a hidden knife when we told them to put down all their weapons. The killer began addressing the seated men then and he was not challenged by any of them. Of course they were all seated while he was standing with another spear ready in his spearcaster and the one watching his back was armed too. "God damn I wish I could hear what he is saying," I said, aloud in my frustration. Less than twenty seconds later a text message popped up onscreen telling me to right click for other options. I did it at once and one of the selections was for audio. I clicked it and could hear perfectly. "We are not going to let this John tell us what we can and can't do. He is just a man and can be killed like any other man. He has killed many of us and has caused more to be killed and he must be dealt with," the killer said. "He did not trouble us until we tried to capture the woman from Barbo's camp, intending to take over the whole camp," a sitting man I didn't recognize said. "What does that matter? Why can he keep us from taking over other camps? We have the weapons to do it and the men and we will do it," the killer said. "It seems John and his camp have some weapons of their own," another man said. "We will have to be more careful from now on," the killer said. "We have been careful before, sending men to slip up on him at night, and he was able to stop them," first sitting man said. "That was Cardiato's fault, he sent men who did not want to go. I will lead a group tomorrow night and we will not be found out. Five men have agreed to go with me and I know I will not be betrayed by any of them. We will leave an hour after sunset and will be in place to kill this John as he comes out of his cave in the morning," the killer said. They talked and argued about it for who knows how long, but I had the main details now and I left my office for food. I was smiling to myself about what I intended to do this time. The most difficult decision for me was going to be whom I chose to kill the killer. I was sure he had at least two mates now since he had killed Jato. What the hell, I might try to get a look at his mates and see how attractive they were. If they looked good enough I might kill him myself. I had surely passed up a prime mate when I let Danlo take care of Cardiato. Our meal was nearly ready when I left my office and headed for the table. I didn't reveal what I knew until we were finished eating. As Jaada brought me another mug of coffee and a couple of very tender kisses I decided it was time. "Jato has been killed already and there is another raid planned by the other camp for tomorrow night." They all just looked at me silently. I didn't intend to tell them how I knew and I doubted they would question me about it. "The one who seems to be the new leader has five others who will accompany him and he seems to think we won't know about them and they can sneak up on us and kill me when I leave my cave the next morning. "Many of us will be waiting for them as they leave their camp and I intend for us to kill them all without warning and without alerting the others. It means some of you will need to practice with the bows and arrows between now and then." "Do you mean we will wait in hiding and kill them as they come toward us?" Raalto asked. "It is what I want to do." "Good, it is time we quit giving them more chances to bother us. I'm sure we are safe enough with the weapons you have given us, but I don't see any need to let them keep trying," he said. "I have come to the same conclusion and I meant what I said about killing half the men in the camp. I only intend to kill those we don't feel we can trust though, and it may not be half. When we leave their camp next time we will be bringing all the living people to join us. There will only be dead bodies left in the camp," I said. "It is an even better plan. Even if a few who are treacherous are brought here it will be easier to deal with them if we don't have to go looking for them," Racaato said. I spent the next hour outlining my plan to them and then we all went to the practice cave to give the bows and arrows a workout. Raalto reminded me a spear would be as stealthy as the bows and arrows and most all of them were more familiar with spears. I asked them to keep practicing with the bows and arrows and said any who weren't comfortable with them tomorrow could use spears if need be. We only needed to be quiet while killing the six who were intent on attacking and we wouldn't need to use spears or arrows afterward. I spent an hour satisfying myself I would be able to do my part and then left to go to my office, asking Georgo to come with me. After we'd entered and sat down to talk I sensed Georgo was unnaturally reserved tonight. Thinking about it I figured he was probably suspicious of how I had gained the information I'd claimed to have. I decided to show Georgo the video and audio from the other camp. If he wasn't overwhelmed he could be a big help by telling me who was who in the camp. I also knew there was no chance of explaining to Gergo how the video was available. I didn't worry overmuch about it. He would be confronted with the visions and he'd just have to take them as magic - hell they were magic and I was sure even I didn't understand how or why Arggent and company had so much video of the goings on of a primative planet. I sure as hell hadn't ever seen any cameras around. There was nothing for me, or Georgo to do, but use it. There was no sense in even wondering how it worked. "Georgo, I have a new and more powerful gift from the spirits. I can hardly believe how powerful it is myself, but I can't deny it is here and I want to show it to you. "I have to tell you it puts us in a position of grave responsibility. The spirits would not have given the gift if they hadn't intended for me to use it. Those are my thoughts on it anyway. After you have seen it I would like to hear what you think." "I am always aware gifts from the spirits bring responsibilities with them," Georgo said. Without further adieu I clicked on the video icon and the view was the one I'd left it on. I assumed my click had only confirmed I wanted to include Georgo for this session. The meeting must have been over, but it didn't detract from Georgo's amazement. "Do you remember the day when you viewed this before and it made your stomach queasy?" "I will never forget it," he said. "The spirits have allowed me to see many more areas now. Earlier, I observed a meeting at this spot, it was a meeting in the other camp. Jato was killed from behind while he was speaking and the one who killed him is the one who is planning to sneak up on us to kill me." "But where are they now?" Georgo asked. "I'll see if I can find them," I said. I went back to the thumbs for this area and looked around at them, finding a different view which seemed to have people gathered. I clicked on the thumb and it came up on the plasma display, showing us it was a smaller gathering than I had seen before. The killer and his cover guy were talking to four other men and I assumed this was the raiding party for tomorrow night. I brought up the audio. "It is agreed then. We will leave shortly after sunset. We will carry nothing but our weapons and a little food. After their show here today they will be expecting us to do as they have instructed. We will go up the river since there will be more cover that way," killer told the others, and after they all indicated they would do it the group dispersed. Georgo was shocked by the view we had and apparently also by the fact we could hear them. It took a few minutes before he recovered. "The spirits have indeed given you a powerful gift and I am ashamed to admit I doubted you," he said. I knew this was beyond his comprehension, but he had to yank it into focus somehow if he was going to be useful to me. "The spirits are all powerful Georgo. They may do as they like, but we can only do as they would have us do. We must use this gift they have given us to our advantage. Did you recognize any of the men they revealed to us?" "All of them, the one who was speaking is Bazallto and he has always been argumentative. The one you said was covering his back was one of those you had staked to the ground from the group which came up the river. His name is Cargato and he is no better and maybe a bigger troublemaker than Bazallto. "Dentolto, Kagatato, Saloto, and Serielto are young unmated men who have no doubt been persuaded this aggressive style of treatment of other camps is the way to capture possessions and mates," Georgo said. "Then they will discover the error of their ways tomorrow, but they won't get any time to mend their behavior." I went over my plans in detail with Georgo then, giving him all the gory specifics. He blanched at the brutal show I intended to put on. "It would frighten me if I came to see it in this manner and I am sure it will make an impression on the whole camp. I can't think of a more frightening demonstration to make your feelings known and if you are able to proceed as you plan I'm sure the whole camp will know you intend to have your way," he said. We left my office then and while Georgo headed back to the practice cave, intending to become more proficient with his bow, I headed across the canyon to find Mundo and the other men who had joined us from their camp. They were all very familiar with their spearcasters, excellent quiet weapons which could be used in this case. After speaking with them and telling them some of my thoughts they agreed it would be the best way to end our troubles with their former camp. When the practicing was over for the night my mates and I went to our bedroom. None of us were sleepy, but when we were in bed all my mates dropped right off to sleep and I did also a few minutes later. Argent was getting good at making sure I got my rest. We all woke at nearly the same time the next morning and it was shortly before sunrise. There was no naked coffee service this morning either, because the others had begun arriving before the coffee was even ready. After we'd eaten we all returned to the practice cave and I asked Georgo to bring Mundo and the rest of the men from the other camp to join us in it. When they arrived, Mundo and his group were amazed to see so many people using weapons which were foreign to them. I showed them how to operate the target trolleys and encouraged them to try them out. After a couple of hours I thought we had practiced enough and I sent everyone to pack the things they would need for our outing. About an hour after the noon meal we went to the horse caves to hitch the teams and saddle the horses. I was expecting a few items for tomorrow morning from Argent and I had no trouble finding where he had put them. We hitched both wagons and Georgo's buckboard, storing the bows and arrows for those who would be using them. Everyone who would be using firearms would be bringing them also. After we were organized and everything was ready we left, heading downriver to arrange our ambush. We traveled until we were about a mile from the other camp, leaving the wagons and horses and most of our people there. Raalto, Racaato, Caato, Danlo, Dieta, Roweea, Ameliea, Jalaato, Jonoco, Galto, and Dargo went ahead with me to set up our ambush. We found a place where the canyon was narrowed by small patches of woods on each side and set up to wait. Galto and Dargo were to take out Bazallto and Cargato. They were elected since they now had no objections to another mate or two each. Galto, who knew Cargato's mate, had decided he would rather have her and so Dargo would be getting Bazallto's mate and Jato's mate since Bazallto had killed Jato. ------- Chapter 113 Though we waited and grew anxious during the imposed hiding, when the time came it was almost anticlimactic. The men who thought they were going to be raiders were rather sloppy with their techniques. Maybe they felt completely safe so close to home. Whatever they felt they were wrong. They came strolling up the trail, on a brightly moonlit night, seeming to pay no attention to where they were going and talking among themselves as if they hadn't a care in the world. When Bazallto and Cargato crossed the spot we had decided on, Galto and Dargo released their arrows and though their aim wasn't the best, the arrow through Bazallto's throat and the one in Cargato's upper abdomen were fatal. The other four were lucky enough to get two or more arrows each and the whole group was down and dead within seconds. Dieta, Ameliea, and Roweea dropped their bows, pulled their Glocks just for safety's sake, and rushed to the corpses. It only took them seconds to see they wouldn't need their pistols. They pulled their knives then and began the first of the gory work to be done, seeming to enjoy their tasks. As I'd planned, while Jonoco went back to bring the others up to join us, Dieta, Roweea, and Ameliea cut the clothes off the dead men and then relieved them all of their ears, balls, and dicks. Then they carved tiny sticks to place in their eyelids to make sure all of them stayed open. When they were through we loaded the bodies and ourselves into the wagons and those of us who were riding remounted and we pulled up to within three hundred yards of the camp. It seemed to be asleep for the night when I crept up to look it over so I returned to my group and we spread our sleeping furs to rest. I woke about three hours before sunrise and roused my people. We walked toward the northern edge of camp where there were two medium sized trees growing about thirty feet apart. Danlo went up one with a line and tied it fast about twenty feet up. He came down and went up the other tree with a stout loop of rope which had a pulley attached to it. He tied the loop around the tree and fed the other rope through the pulley, throwing its end to us on the ground. We brought the dead bodies up and spaced them out on the rope, tying a loop around their necks and the end of it to the rope between the trees. When this was done we brought up one of the Clydesdales and attached the end of the cross rope to its harness. It didn't even strain him as he pulled the rope tight and suspended the mutilated dead bodies by pulling the cross rope taunt. Danlo used a long thong of rawhide to secure the tension of the rope through the pulley and then came down. We unhitched the horse and took it back to the others. Then we waited for sunrise. As the sun started peeking up over the horizon I signaled all my people to insert the foam earplugs I'd given them. We had practiced this move several times. I walked near a big open spot just inside the edge of the camp and pulled a half stick of dynamite, already fused, from my pocket. I lit the fuse and threw the dynamite into the open spot, hoping I was far enough back to avoid damage. When it went off it seemed even louder than the thunder from the lightning which killed Ladeliea's first mate. I immediately lit and threw the whole stick then and as it hit the ground I had sense enough to back off about a hundred feet. Many of those in the camp who had heard the first blast were coming out of their huts now to see what was happening. Luckily none of them had time to come toward the spot where I'd thrown the last stick. The noise was noticeably louder this time and most of those who were outside were knocked down by the blast, probably more from fear than anything else. Of course our horses were spooked, but no one had lost their seat. Dieta rode up to me leading a wide-eyed Red and I mounted him with only a little trouble. We entered the camp then, many of us mounted and many more in the wagons. As the others came out of their huts we herded them all into the center of camp. We directed their movement by hand signals since I was sure none of them could hear again yet. When we were sure everyone was outside we moved them to the trees to see what had become of their raiding party. To say it made an impression would be quite an understatement. Most of the women turned away from the sight and when they tried to leave we let them. We made the men stay and get a good long look. I made them stay there for about an hour before we herded them back into camp. I stayed on Red as some of the others had the women of camp join the men. When they were all assembled I spoke to them from Red's back. "It seems none here pay any attention to what I say. I was here just two days ago telling you if you tried to sneak up on my camp again I would come back and kill half the men here. I see none of you believed me, or perhaps you didn't think we could do it. Which of you now doesn't believe I can do it?" I asked, and for once I got no lip from anyone. "This camp is no more. All the women and all the men I let live will be joining my camp. The women may leave now to begin packing their things. You men will each be questioned - if you lie I will know it and you will be killed before you can finish lying. If you tell the truth you will probably be allowed to live, no matter what the truth is," I said. I didn't really know whether I'd be able to tell who was lying and who wasn't. I was going to see if I thought I could though. I spotted the site of the meeting I had watched with Argent's help and I went to it, telling them the spot where they planned the last raid was a good place to question them. I saw by revealing this tidbit many of them were shocked. I had Jonoco and Nadlo stand beside me with their rifles and I told them quietly to be ready to earn another mate. Raalto began sending men from the camp to me, one at a time then. I sat down on a convenient large rock and cursed myself for poor planning since I hadn't brought a chair from home. It was mostly my mates with their 25 caliber rifles guarding the group of men. I guess one of the men thought it would be easy to bully his way out past Ameliea. She didn't waste any time showing us all the 25 caliber rifle packed plenty of punch to deal with a cave man. I realized I had never asked Georgo who would have to take the widow if a man's mate killed a man. I was sure I was going to find out later today. Ameliea's quick action pressed home the point to the captives they were going to do what we said or die. In fact she made mention of it herself as she kicked the dead one in the face while his body lay there bleeding. When Dieta came over to take her place for a minute, Ameliea took out her knife and performed the mutilating surgery on the man she had just dispatched. The remaining captives were completely silent while they watched this process and there was no more trouble from them - they waited very patiently and quietly for their chance to speak to me. My worries about detecting lies were put to rest by Argent, who must have been watching closely. I was asking probably the third or fourth one some questions about what he had thought of the raids his leaders had organized against my camp. He was happy to announce he had been shocked at the behavior and it was repugnant to him. Argent tingled my neck and confirmed what I'd been thinking. I interrupted him then. "How many mates do you have Chondoulo?" I asked. "I have only one mate. Why do you ask?" he asked. "Raalto, this one is lying and has one mate. Who is next in line for another mate?" I shouted. "I believe it is Nadlo," Raalto answered, yelling also. I turned in time to see Nadlo lowering his M1's barrel and then he smiled slightly as he cashed in Chondoulo's chips. "Dieta, do you need another penis or ball sack or perhaps another pair of ears?" I asked her, loudly. "Always. Dalia and I think we can make very nice amulets out of the sacs," she replied. Bigglieo came toward me laughing a little, grabbed one of Chondoulo's dead arms and dragged him back near the bunched captives. Dieta left her post and seemed to take pleasure in making exaggerated movements cutting the corpse's ears, dick, and nut bag off him and giving a wicked little chuckle every minute or so. Only one more tried to lie to me during our talks, he was quick to furnish another mate for Jonoco and Roweea got a turn at gathering body parts. The other men all told me the truth, at least they did according to Argent and I felt he was in a better position to know than I was. Twelve of the men told me up front they had been anxious for the capturing of other camps at first, but had lost confidence in the procedure as men started to die trying it. Only eight of those left alive had been wholly in favor of it up to the time Jato was killed and only three admitted they only changed their thinking after they saw what had become of Bazallto, Cargato, and those who accompanied them. After the interviews were over there were forty-two men still alive and every swinging dick among them promised me they were anxious to join my camp and would be on their best behavior from now on. I gathered them back into a group and told them beating on women made me much madder than sneaking up on my camp. I explained if they had ever done it before they had better make sure they never even thought about doing it again. Surprisingly this didn't seem to make any of them nervous at all. I hoped it was because none of them ever did such things, but I reserved judgment. It was just after noon and I was glad to see the camp's women had taken time off from their packing to cook. Mundo and his group came up then, leading the rest of the trained horses we were going to use for travois work. It was actually Sahto and Talvo who were leading the way. When they'd secured the horses they came over to eat too. I'm sure they were as hungry as any of us since they'd had to start this way just after sunrise this morning. After the meal was finished we packed up all we could get loaded and it was nearly everything. Another trip would be needed tomorrow, but all the things which had to be left this time could easily be brought in the two big wagons tomorrow. It was nearly sunset when we left, but I didn't think we would have any trouble traveling after dark since the moon was bright again already. Of course I had forgotten again we couldn't drive the wagons into the caves any longer and we also didn't have enough room to pull the travois inside. We had to put everything in the horse cave and we were lucky to have room for it in there, what with all the hay and the giant mound of dried bison shit. We were able to get it all stowed for the night though. Some of the men among our new arrivals wanted to stay with their things and watch over them. Hell I didn't care. I didn't see there was any danger to us so I gave them a go ahead. I did ask Merita and Maia to make a point of setting the wolves out for their own patrolling though. It was late and though I was hungry I told my mates I could skip supper if they could. Hell we were tired more than we were hungry and we hit the sack. I made sure to give them all a good kissing before I went to sleep, but it was the extent of things. It was after sunrise before I opened my eyes the next morning. Jaada and Ameliea were keeping me warm so I gave them another good kissing and we got up and dressed. There were already some coffee drinkers at the table by the time I got there and I was debating about asking Argent to keep them sleeping later so I could enjoy my new morning perversion. I wasn't going to ask him for help on it yet though. I drank coffee until the food came and then I made up for the meal I'd missed last night. After eating, Raalto, Racaato, and I took mugs of coffee outside to make a tour of the camp. We headed for the horse cave first and found those who had spent the night watching their things cowering together and surrounded by wolves who weren't really bothering them very much. I called the wolves off and the men were more than happy to find their places in the big cave. Soon Danlo came down with Nadlo and Jonoco to hitch the big wagon and my original one and took them up toward the big cave for unloading. It went well and they were empty and headed back to the other camp within an hour, taking Sahto and Talvo with them. I had asked Bigglieo and Caato to go along also. Many of the new men and women rode back to do the packing and I didn't feel like letting Danlo take the risk of being so outnumbered. The new still hadn't worn off the video streams for me yet and so I made my way back to my office and spent some more time with them. I kept up with Danlo and his group for a few minutes, but got tired of it after a while. Hell, I knew what a wagon being pulled by a team looked like by now. We hadn't left anyone to watch over the camp we had left empty so I checked it out and there was no one there. I worked my way over to Barbo's old camp spot and it was vacant also. I was surprised when I found Caato's camp and saw there were five or six families living there. I would have to ask Georgo to come and see if he recognized any of them. Argent popped up a message then and I replied. "I have to congratulate you for yesterday's excitement, John," he said. I tried to act like it was nothing, but his comment had started me thinking. Usually, after some altercation, Argent told me how pleased they were with my progress. I wondered if somehow he'd sent me here to watch me kill people, but told myself it couldn't be right. It did have me wondering though. "We would like to ask you something about your plans if you don't mind," Argent said. "I don't mind - I might not tell you, but I probably will." "We were hoping you would visit the other people in this area, the Neanderthals. Do you have any plans for contacting them?" Argent asked. "As a matter of fact I do. It seems other things keep getting in the way. I had intended to visit them before the first snow you told Georgo about, but this crap with the spies has put it on the back burner." "Surely there will be no more trouble now," he said. "There probably won't be, and even if there is I'm sure Raalto, Bigglieo, Racaato, and the others can handle it. I doubt the trip will take over three or four days." "Aren't you planning to go to the nearest camp? It is less than fifteen miles and you might be able to make it there and back in one day on horseback," Argent said. "I might get someone to take me there in the buckboard and let me out near it, but I don't plan to ride there on Red. I want to spend at least a couple of nights with them if they will allow it and I'd planned to spend a few hours watching them from concealment beforehand. If I read the map right they are living in a large cave in the side of a canyon like we do. I thought I could probably observe them like the spies intended to do to us." "I see. You are probably right - it might be the best way to approach them." "I am reluctant to go for at least a few days though. I'm afraid some of the new arrivals might try to cause trouble if I left right away." "You should do as you think best of course. You have a much better feel for things than we do and we were only curious about it," he said. "I will be visiting them before long, but I won't leave for a day or two," I told him, and he said goodbye and signed off. ------- Chapter 114 I kept looking over the thumbs, clicking for a more detailed view on any that seemed interesting. I purposely avoided bringing up full screen views anywhere near the Neanderthal camp. I probably should have been studying them and trying to figure out some of their customs, preparing for my visit, but I didn't want to. I wanted to be surprised in person by what I found there and I intended to be. I made another pass over Caato's old campsite. The group there was small and seemed to have only about five or six men tending to ten or twelve women. I could tell after a while the men all had only one mate and the other females must be unmated. They were young and it was possible some of them were not women yet. I would be able to get a better idea of the situation if I watched during the time they went to sleep for the night, since I could see who slept where. If the young ones didn't sleep with parents anymore they were almost surely women now. There were no younger men in the camp. It would probably be a good place for Georgo to visit if he could be pried away from all his new mates. I did look over the thumbs of the Neanderthal's area and of the way I'd have to travel to get there. Basically I would be going downriver and taking the first valley off to the left after I'd passed the side stream we were using in our logging operation. The stream toward their camp was about equal to our logging side stream but its valley was wider and the traveling would be easy enough. After heading up the valley I would need to go up the second valley to the right. There was an interesting feature of the geography around the Neanderthals. They were living more than a mile up a blind canyon, sort of a cul de sac. It was a large area though and they probably had three to four thousand acres of land surrounded by the upper plateau, except for where the valley furnished their opening. There was also a small lake, but it didn't seem to be fed from a stream, I was guessing it was fed from underground springs. The stream leading out of the lake was much smaller than our side stream. It would be a perfect place for a small group of people to keep and try to domesticate some of the wild cattle, but I doubted any such thing was going on there. It was a little after noon so I left my office to see if there was any food on the way. I was surprised to find the usual crowd had already eaten and left. Jaada brought me some coffee and told me after the wagons left most of the men in camp, including the new arrivals, had headed for the logging job with Georgo's buckboard and leading the big horses which were not off fetching freight. Well at least it would keep them busy. I did wonder what in the hell we were going to do with all the logs though. If we had a big millpond we could put them there and some of them might be worth sawing up if we cranked up a sawmill later. We didn't have a millpond though and it would be a royal bitch to create one, even with an unending supply of shovels. What the hell, the trees were down and rotting already and we could burn them up sooner or later. I hoped the men would quit it on their own before we ran out of room to stack them. If it got to be a problem I would have to think of something else to keep them occupied. While I was eating Mundo came to the cave's entrance, but didn't enter. Ameliea went to see what he wanted and after a few seconds I saw her wave him toward me. He came up to stand near me and stopped. "Have a seat Mundo, have you eaten?" "Yes, I have already eaten. I have come on behalf of Karcoto, Deberto, and myself to ask about the trees which are being brought to camp," he told me after he'd taken a seat. "What about them, do you have an idea of how we might get some use out of them besides firewood?" "If there are enough we would like to ask if we can use some of them for carving and to make some other things," Mundo asked, but seemed almost apologetic. "Certainly you can. We have more of them now than we need and if you can put them to any use at all you are welcome to them. It seems some of the men enjoy cutting them up and bringing them here. It would be helpful if you can think of a use and get rid of some of them so they can bring more," I said, and saw his face reflect a change of mood. "Thank you, we will make you some type of gift from one of them to repay your kindness," Mundo said. "If you want to I'm sure I will love it, but it is not necessary. You are not a second-class member of this camp. I am glad you wanted to join us and glad you brought the others. Do not be hesitant about walking into my cave if you want to talk to me and if you see something you want or need be sure to tell me and I will try to see you get it. Do you need whole trees as they are brought upriver or do you need for them to be cut up?" "It would be even better if they could be cut to different lengths," he said. "Then try to decide which ones you want and what lengths you would like them cut into and I will make sure they are cut or I will have someone show you how to use the new saws so you can do it yourself." "I will go and talk to Karcoto and Deberto now and we will decide," Mundo said, and left after thanking me again. I was assuming the wagons wouldn't return until tomorrow. It was a fairly long trip and there would be a lot of packing before they could start back. After Mundo was gone Ameliea came to bring me a refill for my coffee. "Are you going to be busy this afternoon my mate?" she asked. "Not really, do I need to give you and the others some attention," I asked her, pulling her into my lap and sliding a hand up between her thighs. "It wouldn't hurt anything, but I had someone else in mind who needs a little attention. Don't you think it's about time you honored Caato and maybe even some of your other leading men?" she asked. "I suppose you are correct. Have you seen Jaadalla lately," I asked, as Dicky began to grow. "I can find her shortly, why don't you go into your office and I will tell her you need to talk to her for a while?" she asked. "I will be waiting there to see if I get a visitor," I said, letting her up and then standing myself. "Don't worry, if I can't find Jaadalla I will find someone who needs attention," she said, laughing. I sat at my desk when I entered and was looking around trying to find the video feeds from within my own cave. I found the right ones just as Ameliea and Jaadalla were coming in from the direction of the other connected quarters. They were talking together and giggling as Ameliea pointed to my office door and sent Jaadalla that way. I left my chair and walked toward the door, reaching it just as Jaadalla entered. She smiled when she saw me and I pulled her to me for an embrace and then a deep kiss. I let my hands roam to her ass and squeezed her cheeks. She pressed herself against me when I did it and her arms went around my neck. "We shouldn't do this John, I am mated and it is still daylight besides," Jaadalla said, as she broke our kiss. I figured she was just giving me a little sham resistance and I was all for it. If she really didn't want to give it up she was going to have to try a lot harder. She was just turning me on more so far. "I am the leader now Jaadalla and you know I must take you and I like doing it during the day, even though there is no light from outside in here," I said, pulling her back for more kisses and fondling. She only pushed against me lightly as if trying to break my grip, and as our lips met again her tongue came into my mouth at once. I pushed my hands up under her tunic to find her titties and when they did the nipples were already plump and prominent. Teasing and pinching them at first I then took a few seconds to pull her tunic off over her head. Her round jiggling titties came into view before her hair had finished escaping the neck of her tunic. As I put my lips on the closest deeply pink nipple to give it a small sucking she complained again. "You mustn't, John, I am Caato's mate and it is daylight," she whimpered. "Caato is away and I want you, daylight or not," I said, switching nipples as she whimpered again and then shivered. As I teased her titties with my lips my hands loosened the drawstring of her trousers and began pushing them down. Once I had them past her generous hips and could see her bushy blonde muff she kicked off her moccasins and stepped out of the trousers. "But he might be back later tonight and I've never been taken during the day," she moaned, as my hands explored her lush ass cheeks, pinching and petting. "Then it is nearly time for you to see what it will be like. Doing it now, during the daylight will insure he isn't back before I have honored him properly," I told her, moving a hand to search for her slippery lips. They weren't quite slippery yet when I found them, but they were getting that way. I toyed with her labia and wiggled a fingertip between them and then about an inch or two into her. Her hips pushed her pussy toward the intruding digit involuntarily as her hands began to toy in my hair. Her breathing had increased too and as I diddled her she moved her feet a little further apart. I raised my head, leaving her titty, and pressed my lips to hers again. She kissed me more hungrily now and moaned in her throat. My hand departed her pussy and I put it behind her knees, lifting and catching her back with my other arm. Carrying her to the couch I deposited her beautifully rounded body on it and stood to admire her fair skin against the dark leather as I began shucking my clothes. "You are going to take me now aren't you, whether I want it or not?" she asked. "Probably, are you sure you don't want me to?" "You know I do, you just wanted me to say it didn't you," she said, smiling. "I hoped you wanted me, but I'm not sure I could stop myself even if you didn't want it." "But you must stop yourself, John, you shouldn't force me like this, especially since the sun is still up," she said. I didn't believe a word of it and when I was naked I dropped to my knees beside her. My lips found a nipple again and my other hand drifted down to resume toying in her pussy. It was slippery now and as I slid a finger all the way up into her I pressed my thumb to her hooded launching button and pressed against it then wiggled the thumb from side to side. Jaadalla's hips pushed her sex to my hand then and she sighed loudly. Her hands returned to my hair to pet and play in it as I sucked in earnest at one nipple and then the other. Her big blue eyes were closed now and she was flushed above her breast and all the way up onto her neck. Lifting myself off my knees I moved over her onto the couch. When she felt it she spread her legs widely and I settled between them. I was aroused, but not in a panic for fucking yet. Taking hold of my hard dick I put the head between her lips and moved it up and down, relishing the feel of her lips as they caressed and lubricated my knob. When Dicky began screaming for more I pressed it into her and pushed firmly, sheathing him in her warm welcome and not stopping until he was in her to the hilt. "Ohhh, you are so big, John. I should have known I wouldn't be able to escape you. My legs may never be able to come together again," she said, as her arms pulled my face toward hers. "Just as long as they don't stay together when I want them spread," I told her, pulling nearly out and pushing all the way up into her again. I didn't have the urge to hammer away as I usually liked to and I started a slow rhythm of strokes into her soft warmth. She pushed toward me as I pressed in, but without the raw urgency that some of my mates enjoyed. It was a leisurely fuck and it felt great to push into her depths and then pull out for another try. Jaadalla wasn't tall and I couldn't really suck her titties while I was in her so I concentrated on kissing her lips and dueling with her hot tongue. Putting my weight mostly on my elbows I was able to get my hands on her breasts to tease and pinch the nipples, giving them a pull or twist occasionally. Her breathing became more ragged and she began grunting softly with the cadence of my in strokes, pushing herself to me more firmly after a while. I could feel that she was wetter now and I began hearing a smacking sound every time I shoved it all the way up her. Her pussy felt really good like this and she began squeezing my dick with her insides so I kept to my slow pace and just kept fucking. Later it started getting better to her and I felt her firm thighs come around my hips to begin tensing and releasing as I pumped. I let a hand leave a fine titty and used it to grip her ass. Thinking better of it I let my fingers find some of her juices and when my index finger's tip was wet I searched for her pucker and pressed the finger up her ass a little when I found it. "Oh, oh John. What are you doing? Oh, oh," she gasped. I pumped the finger with my dick and could tell she was about to lose it. Her legs gripped me tighter and so did her pussy. She began to wail then as her pleasure washed over her and I finally let loose and slammed it up her for several strokes, triggering a flood of come for her hungry cunt. As I finished my pumping I settled my bulk onto her and though her legs had fallen from my ass her arms went around me more tightly and she hugged me to her, kissing around my neck as we panted. Jaadalla didn't complain about my weight and so I lay on her and rested, loving the feel of her body beneath me and idly wondering if I'd started a baby or if I'd even fucked one of the women that were fertile now. I thought that I might ask Argent about it sooner or later then decided that I might not. I had planned to do Jaadalla, rest for a while and then sample Heilalieta, Jalaato's mate. As I got my breath back though, I got back on my knees beside the couch and put my lips where my dick had just been, spending nearly twenty minutes kissing, licking and sucking Jaadalla's pussy back to arousal. Her hands toyed in my hair at first but as she began bucking her ass she started pulling me back aboard. I was happy to remount and was soon sawing away at her with my dick again. As I got into action this time I used both hands to grip Jaadalla's ass firmly and pulled her to me with force as I gave her a firmer fucking overall this time. She seemed to like it this way too and Dicky kept telling me that Caato would need to make more trips away from camp. I gave Jaadalla another good dose and though I cleaned her up with my mouth once more I was careful not to get her motor running again. Later as we were nibbling on each other while we dressed I knew I would be asking Argent for a separate small bath off my office. Today though, I intended to enjoy the smell of Jaadalla's pussy in my beard and moustache for a few hours at least. Before we left she pulled me to her for another fierce kiss and then reminded me Caato had another mate now, Jetta, and since she was new to our camp I should be sure to take her soon. ------- Chapter 115 When we walked out of the office Jaada was near the door and she came up to me, grabbing me for some kisses of her own, as Ameliea, Roweea, Maia, and Dieta absconded with Jaadalla. They practically dragged her toward the entrance to our new bedroom. Jaada kissed and petted on me and spent a considerable amount of time licking my lips, moustache, and beard. I fondled her ass remorselessly during this and was thinking of having a talk with her in my office. "Oh John, what a mate you are. I could tell Jaadalla enjoyed her talk in the office. The others have taken her to see her new clothes now. I intended to go with them, but when I smelled her on your lips I couldn't resist getting a taste," Jaada said, and gave me such a dreamy look. "Maybe we should bring her to bed with us tonight so all of you can taste her," I said, joking actually. "That would be wonderful. We should bring Heilalieta and Jetta too. I think Heilalieta is very pretty and Jetta is also. It is too bad you didn't kill her mate so she could join us," Jaada said. "We will have another to join us before too long." "Who, has Failiela become a woman?" she asked. "Not that I know of and I won't be telling all my secrets. I think you will be very surprised at my next mate and I can tell you it is a woman you don't know." "How could it be a woman I don't know? Is it one of those from the last camp? I know many of them," she said. "It isn't one of them, although I have seen several among them who are lovely. It is not only a woman you don't know, it is one you have never seen. I will not tell you more though." "Good, I love surprises. You were a big surprise to me and I love you so," she said. I gave her another long kiss then, but she left me to join those in the bedroom. Looking around my cave I could see all my mates must be in there helping dress Jaadalla. Shallea, Shaala, Daria, and Jatalieta were manning the kitchen. Shallea and Shaala looked delicious in their Wilma dresses, but seeing Daria and Jatalieta in their traditional clothes had Dicky wanting to climb at the thought. Danlo was also going to be absent this evening. I tried my best to quell those thoughts. I didn't want to screw all the women I hadn't before in one night and felt I would enjoy it more if I rationed them a little. It would be winter soon and while the men wouldn't be going out on overnight trips in the snow, the office would be all the privacy I needed to honor them properly. I was sure I could give the men something to do which would keep them away from me and my office for a couple of hours at a stretch. Just because I had plenty of fresh candy now didn't mean I had to gobble it up all at once, as if I were Gary Jordan, locked inside a chocolate shop. The temptations would be too great if I just hung around at the table looking at what I could have anytime I wanted. I headed back for my office to see if something else could get my attention. When I sat down I messaged the Aliens asking them how much hay we had now. The reply said we had a little over two hundred tons. Shit, that was more than plenty for the winter and I decided to give Raalto the happy news at supper tonight. I wouldn't tell him how much we had of course, especially since he didn't have any idea what a ton was. I'd just tell him I'd looked it over and it seemed like plenty. This meant I would have men around with time on their hands and I needed to think of something else for them to do. A bridge. We could work on a bridge to cross the river. Of course it would probably be washed away during the spring floods but we could use it until then. We had plenty of timber for it now and it would be a lot better than hopping across over the rocks we used now. Even though the river was fairly shallow in spots it was still a pain in the ass crossing it to get from one side of the camp to the other. Maybe we should just build a big flat raft and fix up a rig to pull it back and forth over the water. It seemed stupid to me though to build a raft to cross a hundred and fifty feet of water. Still, even a hundred and fifty feet was a long way to bridge in this day and time. Maybe we should get a few longer trees to make the bridge. I doubted we could come up with any long enough to span the whole river, but maybe by splicing two somehow we could do it. The thing then would be sinking pilings to hold it in place. I'd have to think on it a while. We could do a raft in a few days without much thinking though and I tentatively decided to try one first. When Barago and the others came back from logging I asked him if he had seen any really long trees which had fallen, telling him what I had in mind. "I haven't seen any I think would be long enough to reach all the way across the river, but it would be nice to have them. We will search for some tomorrow," he said. Raalto had been with Barago, since without the wagon there was no use in messing with the hay. I gave him the happy news I thought we had plenty already. He thought the bridge would be a good idea also. He even thought a raft would be nice, even though he couldn't quite visualize how the ropes pulling it back and forth over the river would work. I explained we would use two ropes down low to guide the raft and would have one stretched across for people to pull on with their hands. The rope wouldn't move but the raft would move as they pulled against it. The light shined for him then and he seemed to like it even better than the thought of a bridge, knowing the floods would wash the bridge away. During supper we all talked both plans to death and I almost wished I hadn't mentioned it. We did come to a decision of sorts though. We agreed if we didn't find any trees long enough to span the narrowest spot in camp we would build a raft instead. My mates, after they had dressed Jaadalla in her new clothes, had spent most of the afternoon moving things into their new closet space. Shortly before supper I noticed Dieta and Geera working on something at the table. They would work a while and then it would come to a halt and they would piss and moan to each other about something. They were back at it after the dishwashers had been fed and I went over to see what they were doing. At first they hid it from me, but Dieta decided they should tell me and see if I knew a better way to do what they were trying. "We are wanting to make a necklace for you John. Neither of us have ever tried to put the small holes in cave bear claws before and we can't seem to do it with the flint drills Deberto made for us. They are good ones, but the bear's claws are hard and the drills keep breaking," Dieta said, complaining. "I wish you had asked me sooner. I have a perfect solution and can have it for you in an hour or so. I will have to go into my office to get it though. Wait here," I told them. Once I was in my office I sat down to use Ralph. It only took me a minute to get in touch with someone and when I told them I wanted some drill bits and a couple of good pin vises to hold them, telling what they would be used for, they had them for me in twenty minutes. They even sent a nice little tray to hold the bits. I reappeared with my goodies and after showing them to Dieta and Geera and demonstrating their use I was a big hit. I had to be kissed and petted thoroughly before they could get back to work. It was only a few minutes before all my mates were gathered around Geera and Dieta and then they all wanted a turn with the new tools. I guess I should have sprung for a cordless drill too, but time saving devices were not really a big necessity, especially if they weren't saving my time. I had no doubt there would be a lot of necklaces appearing shortly though, since I had just made the hardest part easy. My suspicions were confirmed in only minutes. "John, do you think these drills can make the tiny holes in teeth too?" Dalia asked me. "I'm sure they can and if they can't I'll get you some that will." "Good," she said, and they all went back to working or watching. I left them working and returned to my new toy, the video. I checked at Caato's former camp and was able to catch the sleeping arrangements. All the young unmated women appeared to be just that - unmated women. They had their own hut where they all slept together and away from the mated pairs. It wasn't like we needed more young pussy around, but it was a little like the extra trees. Their camp would probably have a hard time of it this winter and there was no sense in letting them suffer just because I wouldn't be able to fuck all the young girls right away. Who knew, if they came here I probably would get to sooner or later. My mates didn't stay at it with the teeth and the claws. I'd kept a view of them in the corner of the big screen and when I saw they were heading for the bedroom I left the office to join them. When I opened the door Dieta was there. "John, should I go get Jaadalla and Jetta?" she asked, nearly panting. "Yes, I think you should. I might need to honor Caato with Jaadalla a little more and I do need to make Jetta feel welcome." "What about Daria and Jatalieta, they want to be welcomed too?" Dalia, who had come to us, asked. "You know I am panting for Jatalieta and especially Daria. I think I should repeat my morning observations a few more times first though. It will make it more special for me later," I told her. "In that case they will just have to play with each other, Shallea, and Shaala. They will be disappointed though," Dalia said. "I will make it up to them," I said, making it a promise. Dalia and I went into the bedroom then and by the time Dieta got back with Jaadalla and Jetta the rest of us were naked and squirming around in the big bed. Ever the polite host I got out of it and helped Jaadalla off with her new clothes and Jetta off with her old ones. When I woke the next morning I was snuggled up to Jaada's back and Jaadalla was snuggled up to mine. Jetta was with us too, snuggled up to Jadaalla's back. I played with one of Jaada's titties for a minute or two until she woke and turned toward me, giving me a passionate kiss and then scooting her cute ass out of bed. We left Jaadalla and Jetta sleeping and went to take a shower. After we were dry we went back to the bedroom to dress. Most of my mates were back in it helping Jetta on with her new clothes. I decided to check the fit personally and while I was at it I made sure Jaadalla's new clothes fit as well. Everything I could get my hands on was fine so we all headed to the kitchen. I sat at the table and when I looked up I saw Jaada hadn't dressed after all. She provided the naked coffee service this morning and I provided a short but enjoyable finger fucking. After she put the mug down I let my fingers connect the dots until one hand found a titty and the other explored a red bush. Jaada was kissing and panting for a few minutes and then gasping and whispering in my ear between light nips with her teeth. I finally let her escape to shower again and dress. After my little diversion with Jaada I was in a wonderful mood when all the other men started filing in for breakfast. We talked more about the bridge. They had searched widely for longer trees but hadn't found any deadfalls they thought were long enough to span the river. We switched to talking about a raft and as we were discussing it the thing I should have thought of already came to me. "We can make a sort of combination of the two," I said, blurting it out when it struck me. "What do you mean?" Barago asked. "We can make several rafts and tie the ends of them together, then we will tie them across the river and instead of moving one raft back and forth we will be able to walk across the rafts, from one to the other. It will also be easy to take them up during the flood next spring," I said. We discussed this thoroughly now. They had a hard time seeing what I could imagine, but when breakfast was over we went outside to get started. I told them it would be easy enough to understand once we had a couple of rafts built. We had plenty of logs already to make frames for the rafts, but those we had brought up were of too large a diameter to use for covering the tops to make the surface to be walked on. After we ate at noon, Barago left with his men to find some smaller trees to use for the walking surface. This would be more difficult since there would be few, if any, deadfalls which would be small enough. Trees for the decking would have to be felled. Of course, if we'd had the sawmill going already we would not have the problem since we could easily saw boards to do the trick. We didn't have it though and wouldn't for quite a while. ------- Chapter 116 After lunch, while Barago was leaving for more timber, Raalto and Daaggo got a group started building the main framework for the rafts we would need. I left them at it and returned to my cave and then went into my office. Checking the video I found Danlo and the others had nearly made it back already and were no more than thirty minutes from camp. I met them as they arrived and was hit with a surprising question. I didn't really know the answer and said so. I left them to go about their business and went to talk things over with Georgo. Luckily, I found him seated at the table drinking coffee and when I sat near him Delia brought me a mug. "We have a little situation which has developed during the trip and I don't know what to do about it," I said. "What has happened?" he asked. "Apparently, one of the new men who had promised faithfully he wanted to come here and promised he understood the rules was less than forthcoming." "Did he slip away?" Georgo asked. "He tried, but he also tried to force his mate to come with him and she didn't want to. He was in the process of beating her into submission when Talvo demonstrated his new proficiency with the spearcaster. What will happen now that a boy, not a man yet, has killed a mated man? Will the woman be Talvo's mate?" "It has happened before, but not in my lifetime that I know of. I do know it has happened though and that was the way it was handled before. The boy took the woman of the man he killed as his mate. "I can understand why there was confusion though. It will all work out and I'm sure it won't be long before Talvo becomes a man anyway," Georgo said. "I will do my best to make sure it works out if it is the way it should be, but it does remind me of another question I've had. It almost came up during our last altercation, but luckily enough everyone seemed to agree none of my mates who used their bows during the ambush delivered any killing blows on the mated men. "What happens when a man's mate kills a mated man? Who is responsible for the dead man's mate then?" "It has also happened, in fact it has happened twice I know of. The dead man's mate joins the woman who killed her mate as another mate for her mate," Georgo told me, and I'll swear he was having to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. I was wondering about his apparent strain at keeping his composure. "As a matter of fact, John, one little detail seems to have slipped your mind in all this excitement," he said, openly grinning now. "What detail, Georgo?" "It is true none of your mates killed a mated man during the initial ambush, but have you forgotten Ameliea shot one of the men who tried to bully his way past her during the questioning?" he asked. I was speechless because I had forgotten about it completely. His reminder brought it back at once so I had to ask if the man had been mated. "In fact he was mated. I'm guessing Ameliea didn't realize she had earned you another mate and I know the dead man's mate doesn't know what is to become of her. I suppose it might be time for you to make the happy announcement," Georgo said, and finally laughed out loud at me. "I am terribly embarrassed now, Georgo. I have acquired a mate and didn't even have the courtesy to claim her. What must she think of me and what about the others." "None of them has considered it and I'm sure most probably don't understand what has happened and what the protocol is. As I said, it does not come up often. In any case a delay of a day or two is not uncommon. I do think you should speak to her today at least," he said. "Maybe I should go right now." "There is no rush. She won't be leaving," Georgo said, still chuckling. "I can't believe it. I felt so relieved I hadn't gathered another mate and now I find I have." "It's true you dodged three out of four new mates, but I don't think you did yourself any favors. Did you see the other three women your mates gave you at least a chance at?" he asked me. "No, I'll confess I made a special effort to keep from it." "They were some of the most attractive of the women left in the camp," he told me, gleefully. "Well all is not lost, Georgo, they will all be living on our side of the river," I said, smiling myself. "I'm sure you will also be delighted with the new mate you did acquire. Even though she is very young, Taaheita is definitely a woman and a very attractive one," Georgo couldn't help it, he laughed aloud and I had a chuckle myself. "By the way, which man did Talvo kill?" he asked. "I didn't know him, but Danlo said it was Jotollo. Did you know him?" "I had seen him and knew of him. It doesn't surprise me he was trying to slip away and I wonder how he was able to make it through the questioning without getting killed. "I can also tell you if the spirits don't make room for Talvo and his new mate near Danlo's quarters you will probably have men in there soon trying to dig out some space for him yourself," he said, laughing again. "What do you mean?" "Wait until you see Geritatea. You will know what I mean then," he said. I took Georgo's jab to mean Talvo had gained a good-looking mate for his troubles. I felt Argent giving me a little tingle and after I finished my coffee I went to my office and contacted them. "Do you need for me to make arrangements for Talvo and his new mate to stay near you?" Argent asked me, without preamble. "I can't see a reason not to. See if you can carve out some space for him in the Danlo dormitory please." "Should we cause another tremble?" he asked. "I don't think it will be necessary - just do what you need to when the place is empty and I'll go and tell Talvo he is being provided for." "We will take care of it at once, no one is in their quarters now," Argent said, and signed off. Talvo was helping with the unloading and when I approached him he seemed a little uneasy. I decided not to prolong his discomfiture so I went right to him. "I've heard you have joined the mated men now Talvo." "I'm sorry, John, but when I saw he was hitting her I acted without thinking," he told me, clearly nervous. "You did the right thing Talvo and even though you aren't a man yet I'm sure you will be soon. You are already doing a man's job and are able to provide for your mate." "But I don't even know very much about hunting," he said. "Obviously you know the use of your weapon well enough. I will make sure you have plenty to eat Talvo, didn't I make it clear when I asked you to work with the horses for me?" "Yes, but I was afraid it wouldn't include a mate," he said. "It includes as many mates as you accumulate. You have worked hard to make yourself helpful and I'm proud of you. Every day you take care of your responsibilities as if you were a man and now at night you will have a mate to keep you company and care for you. You will find it is a very agreeable situation." "I'm sure I will, but it isn't why I killed him," he said. "I know, Talvo, but I have to tell you, you have done me a favor. If you hadn't taken care of him for me and he had been able to force his mate to slip away I would probably be leaving on Red now to hunt him down. You know I don't allow the things he was doing and he was warned before he came here. You have saved me much bother." "I felt bad about it, but I couldn't let it happen to her. I suppose I need to see her and help her find a place for us to settle," Talvo said. "Your place should be ready soon Talvo, you will have quarters near Danlo and the others." "I will?" he asked, perking up considerably. "Yes, they will be ready soon. Go tell your mate not to unpack her things and then you can help the others. I will come for you when it is time to settle you in your new space." Talvo left to find his new mate and there was a big smile on his face. I went off and found Danlo then and told him the situation. He seemed to be glad about it and he left to tell Jonoco and Nadlo so I returned to my cave. Shallea, Shaala, and Melieta were there with my mates and I gave them the lowdown. They were excited to have new neighbors and intended to go to their quarters and see about making room. I told them to stay away from them for a while and I would let them know when they could return. They agreed, but I saw it seemed a little strange to them. Strange or not, I knew it would seem even stranger if they went in and found the walls moving or some such. The travelers had done a good job with the packing and had been able to bring back everything except the huts. Danlo had intended to head back tomorrow to disassemble them and bring them back also. I told him to forget them. If someone found them and moved in it would be a good thing and if they rotted down that would suit me also. I couldn't think of a thing we could use so many more salvaged huts for. I called Ameliea to my office and when the door was shut behind her I pulled her to me for a big kiss. "I see I didn't have enough mates to suit you so you made sure I would get another one," I said, when we broke the kiss. "I don't understand," she said, clearly confused. "Georgo has just told me the mate of Dondoto, the man you killed as he tried to escape the questioning, should become my mate by custom. It is as if you obtained her as a gift for me and I thank you for the gift." "I did not even think of it, but I can see it is how things should be. I am happy myself now, and all the others will be too when they hear it," she said. "Are you sure?" "Of course. We have already been lamenting the fact we didn't even get one new mate to join us from all those who were in the camp. Now you tell me Taaheita will join us. "I know her, and though she is a little shy she is very sweet and friendly. She is also very pretty John - you haven't even seen her yet have you?" she asked. "In fact I haven't." "You will be happy when you do, wait and see. May I take the others to go and get her now?" Ameliea asked. "If you like, but there is no real hurry." "Maybe not, but Taaheita does not know what is to become of her now she has no mate. Like me, she did not realize she would become your mate. "I talked to her and apologized for killing Dondoto, telling her I had no choice. She did not seem to be sad he was gone, but I think she is worried about her future. She will be especially happy to find out she will become one of your mates," Ameliea told me, excitedly. "By all means go and tell her then, bring her back with you - perhaps I should interview her in my office," I said, grinning wolfishly. "You should interview all of us in your office, often, but I think you should welcome Taaheita to the family tonight so we can all help," Ameliea said, sincerely. "You are right, but go and tell her what you have discovered so she will worry no longer, and be sure to tell her she doesn't have to become one of my mates if she doesn't want to." "I will tell her, but there is no use in it. She will be delighted to know she will become one of your mates," Ameliea said, as she left. Her last comment had me wondering a little. Did all the women really think so much of me? I had never been such a much with the ladies on my old earth, but I could see as far as this time and place went I was rich and famous. It couldn't be all bad, could it? I guess my experience with it proved it couldn't. Hell, I had a young mob of mates and they all told me it would be fine and dandy if I fucked every woman I saw. Shit, the local preacher told me the same thing and even arranged for me to have some private time with his young bride. All things considered, I was having a ball, several of them in fact, and I couldn't think of one thing I would even consider going back to my old life for. ------- Chapter 117 I walked out of my office, and seeing Georgo was back at the table I went over to sit by him. Daria was near the coffee pot and when she saw me sit down she headed my way with a mug for me. When she sat it down I took the time to fondle her sweet ass so she bent down to give my lips a kiss and she had Dicky trembling before she let me get a breath. "Ameliea took all your mates to the big cave. She told us since she killed Dondoto, his former mate, Taaheita, was one of your mates now. Was she right?" she asked. "Georgo told me it was the way things had to be and even though I have many mates I won't mind having another one." "Well I for one am going to practice more with the new weapons and if I see a man beating his mate I'll try to make sure she is Danlo's mate shortly," she said, giggling. "I don't see anything wrong with it at all Daria, if a man thinks he can get by with beating his mate in my camp I hope someone is around to show him the way to the spirit world. There is no place around me for any such thing at all and I think that I've made it plain enough to everyone." "I can vouch for you on that score John. If a man cares no more for his mate than to beat her he doesn't deserve to have a mate," Georgo said, joining in. "He doesn't deserve to have breath in my way of thinking. It is hard enough to keep from getting injured anyway and any injury can bring death. "We need both men and women in this camp, but I will admit freely I like women best and I intend to have plenty of them around me. They won't be getting all bruised up by the men either. "If a man feels like he needs to best something he can go out and best some game or some of the predators. Hunting cave lions will be no more dangerous than beating a woman in my camp." Danlo walked into the cave then and caught me with a handful of Daria's sweet ass. I felt like I was caught doing something I shouldn't for just a second, but then I saw a grin break out on his face and it seemed he actually puffed out his chest as if he were proud of something. He came to us and didn't mention a word about it, but began asking about Talvo at once. "Has Talvo found room for he and his mate near us?" Danlo asked, as Daria went back toward the coffee pot. "Not yet, but he will have no trouble soon. There will be a space for him later." "That will be good. I saw his mother now and she is so proud of him she is about to burst. She is giving you all the credit too, saying without your guidance Talvo would probably be dead now like the ones who were trying to lead him astray," Danlo said. "I only made him see the error of his behavior. Talvo has worked hard with no further troublemaking and I think you are due more than a little of the credit yourself." "I have done nothing for Talvo - he has been helping me," Danlo said. "You show him what to do and tell him when he needs to do it. Do not slight yourself Danlo, you are becoming a good leader and I'm sure John is proud of you also," Georgo said. "I am proud of Danlo. He is more of a man than any of the former leaders of the camp we just absorbed and when I see Talieia, Talvo's mother, I am going to tell her of the good job Danlo is doing and what a fine example he is for Talvo." Danlo was speechless, but I could tell he was delighted with the praise. I also knew when I told Talieia what I thought, her mate would be getting a very sound sleep some night soon and she would be showing Danlo how much she appreciated his guidance for her son. I nearly laughed at the thought. My mates came back into the cave just then with Taaheita in tow. She was the cutest little thing. She must have been very near Maia's age and was barely five feet tall. Her blonde hair was long enough to reach her shoulders and it was arranged into one long braid. I could tell Ameliea had been right about her shyness since she kept her dark blue eyes lowered and her face was pink from blushing. My mates brought her over to me and I saw Georgo and Danlo made themselves scarce. "John this is Taaheita," Ameliea said, making the brief introduction. I was still sitting, but I opened my arms wide in welcome and she came to me. When I had my arms around her I pulled her into my lap and gave her a small peck on her lips. "I am so glad to meet you Taaheita and I hope you want to join us as one of my mates. I must tell you though you do not have to, it is your choice." She blushed even darker and looked wide-eyed at me. "I will be proud to be one of your mates John. Any woman would be. I'd been so worried about what would become of me and when Ameliea came and told me I would be one of your mates I could not believe my luck," she said, throwing her arms around me and kissing me soundly. All my other mates mobbed us then and there were hugs and kisses for everyone. Slowly they settled down though and spread out a little. "Come with us now Taaheita and let us show you how we cook here. You will soon see eating is one of John's favorite pastimes," Dalia told her, and everyone laughed - at me I'm sure. Taaheita was dumbfounded by the kitchen and couldn't stop looking from one new thing to the next. I could see she was actually getting distressed about not understanding a single thing happening. I knew one thing she could learn quickly and to rescue her I spoke up. "Hello my mates, can any of you hear me," I asked, raising my voice only slightly. They all turned to look at me. "Will someone take pity on me and teach Taaheita how to pour a cup of coffee and bring it to me?" They laughed and Jaada led Taaheita to the coffee pot, got a mug, and demonstrated. When Taaheita brought it to me and set it on the table I pulled her into my lap before she could go back. "Oh John, I want to be a good mate but I will never be able to remember all of this," She said, almost in tears. "In the first place you are going to be a wonderful mate. You can't expect to learn everything in one night and you needn't even try. None of the others learned it all in one night. By the time you even get a chance to do any cooking you will know all you need to know." "What do you mean, by the time I get a chance?" she asked. "I have many mates Taaheita and they can't all cook everyday. Even if they could there is no way even I could ever eat all that they can cook. You just sit here in my lap and relax and let some of them do the cooking. I'm feeling a little lonesome with everyone in the kitchen so you can just sit here and keep me company, maybe you can perk up my appetite." "How?" she asked. "Like this," I said, kissing her again and wrapping my arms around her. She was surprised at first but soon she was responding to my attention. I let a hand sneak up to fondle one of her titties and as I began teasing the nipple it began swelling and soon Taaheita's hips were wriggling her cute little ass around in my lap. "Oh John, you are getting me excited," she said, as she broke the kiss for a breath. "I intended to and I plan on getting you even more excited." "But it is not dark yet," she panted, as I wiggled my own ass, liking the feel of her buns against my swelling. "See, there are more things for you to learn than cooking. I don't care if it is dark, when I get hold of one of my mates the sunlight doesn't slow me down. Later you should ask Jaada how I like to get my coffee in the mornings before the others get in here." I put my mouth to hers again and after pulling the hand from under her tunic I slid it up between her plump little thighs to cup her pussy. She spread her legs a little and as I began massaging between them her ass started pushing her sex toward my manipulating fingers. "Oh, I feel so naughty here with you, wet and squirming against your hand in the daylight with everyone else here too," she said. "Just think, we will all be in bed together later and they will be watching as I take you for the first time tonight. Will you be squirming again?" "I will probably be bucking and screaming. You make me so excited John and I can feel you must be bigger than my first mate was. Your large manhood is making me squirm too," she said, as she pulled my face back toward hers for more kisses. As I kept squeezing her pussy and pressing in toward it she set up a rhythm with her hips and I could tell she was getting close. I pressed my advantage and within minutes her grip around my neck tightened as she pulled her mouth from mine and moaned. "Oh, oh John," she sighed, and then went limp in my lap. Ameliea came over to us then and she bent down and kissed Taaheita wildly on the lips. "Didn't I tell you what a man he was? This is only a warm up, you will see later. He makes me crazy and I just know he will do it to you too," Ameliea told her, and kissed her again before she took Taaheita's hand and led her to the bedroom. As Ameliea and Taaheita disappeared into the bedroom Talvo came into the cave holding the hand of a woman who I assumed was his new mate. My dick was already throbbing from the action with Taaheita and when I got a look at Geritatea it only got worse. She was another young lovely. Dark auburn hair cascaded down around a pretty face and deep blue eyes sparkled from it. She seemed a little apprehensive and was trying to hang back as Talvo led her toward me. "This is Geritatea, my new mate," Talvo said, proudly. "She is beautiful Talvo, can she speak?" "Yes I can speak, but I'm a little nervous to be in your presence," she said. "I hope it will pass soon and we can be friends. Let me show you and Talvo to your new quarters." I got up and walked toward Danlo's cave with the two of them following me. As I expected, Argent had simply pushed the bathroom back and there were now two new sleeping spaces. One was empty but the other contained Talvo and Geritatea's new bed and some other things. "Do you think you can get by in here?" "It is grand John," Talvo said. "What it that?" Geritatea asked, pointing toward the bed. "It is our bed. Everyone on this side of the canyon has a bed to sleep in. Lie down on it, I'm sure you will like it," Talvo said. I left them to explore their new quarters and I returned to the table. My coffee was still warm so I continued sipping. Georgo was back with me shortly, and showing off her new skill, Taaheita brought him a mug of coffee. I asked her for a refill and she fetched it also. "Did I tell you of the new inhabitants of Caato's old camp Georgo?" "No. Has another group taken over there?" he asked. "Yes. As nearly as I can tell it is four or five men and twelve to fourteen women. The men all seem to have only one mate and the rest of the women are unmated. There were no boys at all." "A group like that will probably have a hard time this winter, especially since they have obviously just moved their camp," he said. "What do you think about visiting them? You could see if they would like to join us here." "I think it is the perfect thing to do. I don't see how they can make it through the winter without going hungry and there is no need for them to suffer. Do you think I could leave tomorrow?" he asked. "I don't see why not." "If they are agreeable I will come back at once and we can use the wagons to bring them and their things here," he said. "You do not even have to come back. If they agree just open the doors on your wagon box as a signal for me and I will send Danlo, Sahto, and Talvo with the two wagons. Using your buckboard also, there will be plenty of room to bring them all and all their things. You will probably all be able to return early the next day." "It is what I will do then, in fact I think I will try to leave just after sunrise in the morning," he said. Nothing would suit me better. If things went right I might be able to slip into his bed with his mates before they even woke. ------- Chapter 118 The evening meal came and went in what was nearly record time. I'll have to admit I was more than a little anxious to spend some quality time with my mates and I knew the new addition would make things really special. I also wanted to make sure I got to sleep in time to get my rest. Taaheita was the star of the show tonight and she gave a first class performance. She was short, but not too big around, as the song says. Her build was more lush than Maia's even though they were practically the same age and height. Maia's form shouted athlete and Taaheita's screamed fuck toy. Everything about her was generous, including her disposition. She was a hit with my other mates too and a good-natured wrestling match broke out over which one of them would get to lick her pussy first. When we finally drifted off to sleep I was snuggled up to her firm round little ass and she felt like she was right where she belonged. Georgo's early morning stirrings woke me before sunrise and I managed to get out of bed without waking anyone else. Danlo went with Georgo to the horse cave - I supposed they had made an appointment the night before. I could hear them talking as they left to hitch the team. Danlo insisting he should go along and Georgo telling him I had plans for him later in the day if things went according to our design. I nearly went to Georgo's bed then, but decided to wait and see if Danlo would feel frisky when he got back after seeing Georgo off. My patience was rewarded when Danlo returned. As he crept back toward his bed, trying to be quiet, I slipped behind him trying to be quieter myself. I was in my hiding spot when he slipped naked back into bed. Daria was awake and she welcomed Danlo with open arms and legs. Danlo bypassed the arms and put his mouth to her pussy right away. It wasn't long before Daria was writhing and pulling Danlo up by a grip under his armpits. I guessed she thought he'd done enough tongue work and wanted a real fucking. Danlo didn't disappoint her and though she kept silent her hips were soon banging against his in time and their mouths were locked together. This was about all I could take and I backed out and headed to Georgo's bed to see what or who I could get into. Ladeliea woke as soon as I sat my naked ass on the edge of the bed. She looked at me in surprise and then she sat up and smiled widely. Talk about making a man with a hardon feel welcome. She was kissing and stroking me in minutes, breaking the kissing only once to whisper to the others, waking them. When they saw what was in store they were all over us both. As I pushed it up Ladeliea the others nibbled on my back and neck and fondled my ass as I pumped it. With the help of Argent's improvements I was able to give them all a sound one before I collapsed onto the bed for a short nap before breakfast. They didn't let me sleep long though and soon I was in their shower with them while they made sure I was clean enough for my mate's perusal. "But Ladeliea, I went to the trouble to get the smell of all your pussies on me and here you are washing it off," I complained. "I guess you'll have to give our slits a kiss goodbye before you go then," she said, and later I did. I walked back into my bedroom naked just as my mates were waking. They teased me about wandering, but I could tell they were all proud of me since they all wanted a lick of what I had on my lips and beard. After a little grab assing we were dressed and out toward the kitchen. I missed Taaheita when I sat down and as I looked around to see where she had gotten off to I saw her coming out of the bedroom buck naked and heading for the coffee pot. She had a mug for me in only a couple of minutes and when she brought it to me she sat it down and mounted my lap. "Jaada, told me if you liked my coffee service you'd probably give me a good finger fucking right away," she said, and then blushed at her own boldness. "Jaada, was right," I said, pulling her to me for kisses and fondling. I slid my hand between her legs and she spread them widely for me. It was only the work of a few minutes before she was bouncing on my lap and moaning in my ear between kisses and nips. She went limp later and she seemed so satisfied I picked her up and carried her back to the bed for a little rest. I came back to the table and was drinking my coffee when Raalto, Racaato, and the others began showing up. When Danlo came in he was in a hell of a good mood and who could blame him. He spilled the beans about Georgo's trip and the others needed an explanation so I gave it to them. Danlo asked how I would know if it went well enough to send the wagons for them, but I didn't explain. I told them I would probably know and we would have to see. I made up my mind I was really hoping for Georgo to close the sale. After Danlo and Daria's performance this morning I was panting to get my hands on Dalia and Delia's kinfolks, and I didn't mean Danlo. Geritatea was another new and pretty face at the table this morning. Talvo seemed to be a little shy about eating with us, but I was sure he would get used to it before long. I was sure as hell looking forward to seeing his new mate during mealtimes. I was really wanting to see what she looked like in her Wilma the cave woman dress, but I wasn't going to rush through what she'd be doing to get it. After breakfast most of the men headed back out to work on the rafts for the bridge. Danlo and his bunch headed to the horse caves to make sure the wagons were ready to leave if I gave them the go ahead. I slipped into my office to check on Georgo's progress. When I found the view of him I was surprised. He was already less than half an hour from Caato's old camp, maybe even closer. He had the Morgans trotting smartly and I realized with the buckboard's light weight and the Alien's no-nonsense running gear the team probably barely felt any drag from their load. Later I watched as he entered the camp and he and the wagon caused quite a stir. He was met by what I took to be the leader and after hobbling his team Georgo followed the man into a hut. I was at loose ends practically. I killed the time nervously by checking out thumbs and full screen shots if I could see anything interesting. I did a little looking around on the plateau near us and saw the bison herd seemed bigger than ever. I also saw many more small bands of aurochs and several bands of horses. I even saw a few rhinos. No view of any big cats though and no mammoths. I would check out a few thumbs and then flick back to the view of Georgo's buckboard. Finally I saw him leaving the hut and approaching his ride. Remembering the right click menu I turned up the audio. "I can't understand why they want to stay here alone," Georgo said, talking to himself. I expected to see him unhobble his team, mount his wagon and head back. He didn't though. He went to the back of the buckboard and opened one of the wagon tops. "I hope John can understand we only need one wagon," he mumbled and then walked off toward the hut of the unmated women. I didn't understand what was going on, but it was plain enough he only needed one wagon. I wondered what in the hell he needed it for, but I went to Danlo and gave him the word. He and Talvo piled onto the seat of the big wagon and headed out while Jonoco and Nadlo unhitched the other team. I checked on Danlo's progress through the rest of the morning and he made good time too. He reached the camp just at noon. Georgo came over to greet him and my questions were answered. "I can't understand it Danlo, but all the mated ones want to stay here and tough it out. It didn't take much talking to get the unmated women to understand the benefits of joining us though," Georgo told him. Sure enough, when Danlo pulled the wagon up to the hut of the unmated women they all started loading their belongings into it. It didn't take them long either and I noticed there didn't seem to be much food to be loaded. In less than an hour and a half Georgo, Talvo, Danlo, and eleven young unmated women were heading our way. They would be back long before sunset and my hopes for a little slap and tickle among Danlo's mates were dashed. Oh well, there would be time later. Meanwhile, with everything going more or less smoothly, I decided to start planning for my little trip. Lunch was getting started so I went out and ate and after the clean up was over I called all my mates into the office for a talk. Their first thought when they saw we were headed for the office was I was going to interview them like I had Jaadalla. It wasn't a bad idea, but I had other plans. When I told them I would be taking a short trip by myself they naturally wanted to know where I was going and why. "I'm not going to tell you where, but I will say it is less than a day from here. I will tell you I am going to look for another mate," I said. All was forgiven then, but they wanted to know who she was and if they might know her. I explained I didn't know her myself, yet, so I was sure they didn't and it would have to be a surprise. It didn't stop them from trying to get more information out of me, but it did brighten their day a lot. I still couldn't believe my mates would be overjoyed to think I was going off to find another woman to bring home. Run a trick like it by your wife or girlfriend sometime. When they decided I wasn't going to give up any more information they wanted to know what I was going to take with me. I asked them if they could scare me up a set of normal clothes and a pack frame. They were off like shots and I was soon in the bedroom trying things on. Nothing fitted me to suit them and when they learned I wouldn't be leaving until the day after tomorrow the sewing was on. Since they couldn't think of a better use for the lion cub furs we had they decided to use them for my traveling suit. Geera and Dieta gave plenty of instructions to the others, but they spent their time mostly on finishing my necklace. They explained it would show my status as a hunter even though I probably couldn't even carry it if they used all the teeth and claws from my trophies. I asked them not to get carried away. I had practiced a little with a spearcaster and was actually pretty good with it. I wasn't going to take one though. There was only so much dressing down I would do to make myself seem normal. I spent an hour with my M1 and Glock to make sure they both were still hitting where I pointed them. I also asked my mates to make a pouch to hold what I estimated was twenty pounds of salt. They didn't think anything about it since they all knew salt was one of the best things for trading. They just didn't know I intended to trade it for a woman. The afternoon passed quickly with all the hustle and bustle and about an hour before sunset Georgo, Danlo, Talvo, and the new arrivals came up. I went outside to greet the young women and welcome them to our camp. Even though there were no new males in this bunch I made sure to tell the girls I didn't allow any rough treatment of any woman, mated, or unmated, here. They only seemed a little surprised, but none of them thought it was a bad idea. After talking with my mates I invited all the new arrivals to have the evening meal with us. After it was over my mates left off their sewing and necklace making and helped the unmated girls find a place with the others and made sure they knew where to find food and such. They said the girls were very surprised to see how much food we had and even more surprised to know they were welcome to all of it they thought they could eat. Just before time for bed I wasn't surprised to find out my mates had already decided I needed to take at least two of the new girls for mates. I asked if they could at least wait until I got back from my trip with the new mate I had in mind. They relented, but I knew they weren't happy about it. I was just glad they only wanted me to take two of the new lovelies. The excitement from my upcoming trip and also from the new members of my camp had my mates wound up at bedtime. I had to do my duty over and over and over again, and I was all for it. We were worn out within a couple of hours. When I woke the next morning I had Winna in front of me furnishing a titty handhold and Maia was up against my back keeping me warm. Her hand had a hold of its own and she was keeping me hard too, even in her sleep. For a few minutes I wondered to myself what in the hell I was thinking, going off on a trip to get another mate. Argent seemed really excited about it though and I felt I'd be better off if I didn't disappoint him. ------- Chapter 119 We untangled after Maia and Winna woke and after dressing I went out to the table. A naked Winna wasn't far behind me and I looked forward to my mug of coffee and a little diddling to get my motor running for the day. After Winna snuggled down into my lap and pressed her lips to mine I began to explore her titties and then her thighs. She was already damp when my fingers found her love lips. As I started teasing her labia and then her clitty, her ass began a more purposeful writhing on me. Even though I was sure she didn't know what one was Winna was giving me a first class Lap Dance. She didn't need any music either. I was providing the beat with the rhythm of my fingers in her pussy. After I got Winna off I breathed a sigh of relief mixed with frustration. She'd had me pretty close to blowing a load in my pants and I couldn't decide if I was glad I'd been able to hold off or mad I didn't get off. Winna spent a few minutes kissing and nuzzling around my neck, face, and lips. Later she got up and went to dress and not two minutes after she was in the bedroom the others began drifting in for breakfast. I got the feeling Argent had been delaying their arrival until my fun was over. I decided to ask him about it later. If he was going to all the trouble and was making sure I wasn't disturbed I might start giving my waitresses more than a finger fucking in the mornings. After breakfast I went out with the men to check their work on the raft bridge. They had four raft frames finished already and though there were many small trees gathered, none had been put on for the decking yet. It took about an hour to show them how to put them on and teach them how to judge how much hangover to leave on the edges. After we had about four feet of decking on the first raft I could tell they had a grip on the plan and I left it to them. When I went back into my cave it was fitting time. My mates ushered me into the bedroom, stripped off my clothes and had me try on what they had been working on. It wasn't finished yet but they wanted to make sure it was going to fit like they wanted it to when they were done. I didn't ask any questions, I just tried to follow instructions. I also had to sit on the bed while they tested their work so far on my new moccasins. I assumed everything was going to plan and soon they let me have my freedom, for a while at least. I started to go for coffee, but decided to check out the new closet first. I knew my mates had gathered everything which wasn't food and stored it in the new enclosure. I rummaged around and found a few folding knives and some drop point hunters with sheaths. I also gathered some of the Alien Bics so I could provide a little magic show during my trip. I thought again about taking a spearcaster to show the others a step up in weaponry, but decided not to do it this time. After I had my trade goods gathered I did go get a mug of coffee and went into the office. Ralph was blinking when I got there so I sat down and acknowledged the signal. "I see your mates are making you some new clothes John, have we ignored your needs?" he asked. "Not at all. I decided I wanted to look very normal to this time when I visited the other people and so I asked my mates to make me some clothes to fit in." "Oh. I see now. You did the wise things I'm sure. Of course we could have made them faster and better, but it wasn't the point I guess," he admitted. "It wasn't the point exactly. When my mates get through I won't be wearing clothes made to look like they came from this time - I will be wearing clothes made in this time. I'm sure they won't be as comfortable as what you could have done, but there's no doubt they will pass muster on the other end as authentic." "I see." "There is something I wanted to ask you though - are you keeping the other men from coming in for breakfast during the time I'm entertaining my coffee server?" "Yes, they think it is entirely their idea though," he said. "Is it any bother for you?" "None at all," he told me. "Then you won't mind keeping it up?" "Oh no, we won't mind at all," he said. "Good, I might prolong my play then, but I'd hate to get caught with my pants down, if you get my drift." "Count on it, we will make sure you aren't embarrassed, no matter how long you play," Argent promised. "Don't misunderstand, it won't matter if other women come in. I just don't want any of the men gawking at my naked ass." "I understand, John. You are so comical sometimes with the way you phrase things," Argent said, and then signed off. I knew one thing - if Argent was going to keep the men out I was going to start getting up earlier. I might even have my mates let a few of the other women know they need to provide coffee service every now and then. I went back to the kitchen and got my coffee cup refilled and then went out to the raft-bridge job site and saw two of the rafts were now decked. I had forgotten to mention a stout piling on each side to tie the rope to and thinking about it I decided we probably should use cable instead of rope. Going back to my office I bothered Argent again. When Argent and I were through talking it over everything was set. While we ate lunch he would set two 24" round pilings on each side of the river, twenty feet down. They would be there from now on. He was also going to connect them with three quarter inch stainless steel cable. When a raft was finished we would push it into the water, connect it via large eyebolts to the cables and then push it toward the other side with the next raft. It wouldn't be long before we could cross the canyon feet dry. Apparently my mates intended to get me well fed before my trip. Lunch was plentiful and delicious. After it was finished I went back out with the men and they were surprised with the new construction. I told them to quit wondering and just use it and helped them install the eyebolts and attach the first two rafts to the cable. I ducked out again afterward - they could handle it and I wasn't intending to strain anything before I left tomorrow. When the men came in for supper they found another feast and I helped them eat it. I told them I would be leaving for a short trip in the morning and of course they wanted to know where I was going. I didn't elaborate, but I did tell them I intended to come back with another mate. This led Raalto and Racaato to say they were glad they didn't have to go. After the meal was over and things were cleaned up everyone disappeared and my mates and I went into the bedroom. My clothes and things were all ready and my pack frame was packed. My mates had even lent me two of the lion skins for sleeping furs. I tried the clothes on and the fit suited them then so we all got naked, got into bed, and I spent a few hours thanking them for their efforts on my behalf. I was up before sunrise the next morning and my mates were too. They cooked Danlo and I a big breakfast and packed us plenty of food for the day. They'd even fixed a separate packet for my breakfast in the morning. After we ate, Danlo hitched the Morgans to Georgo's buckboard and I put my things in it. He had me beyond the valley which led to the Neanderthal's cul-de-sac before noon, and after I unloaded my things he turned around and headed home. I told him to come back bringing a few men to look for me if I hadn't returned in four days. Shouldering my pack, I walked on up this canyon about a hundred more yards to a place I'd discovered with the video feed. It was a path letting me climb to the upper plateau here. I was going to do a little looking down from above the way Cardiato and others had intended to do to us. I wasn't going to get caught at it though. It took me at least an hour to climb to the top. I had only brought my heavy pack about fifty feet up the path and I hid it in some scraggly brush then continued. When I topped out I headed back toward the cliff edge which would be overlooking their campsite. I made sure not to skyline myself on the edge and finally found a spot directly across from them. I dropped to a prone position and crawled to the edge to have a peek. I could just see into the Neanderthal's camp from my vantage point on the upper plateau. It was nearly three hundred yards from where I was to their main outside cooking fire. I could make out the people moving around easily, but had to resort to the glasses to tell anything about them. My first thought when looking at the camp through the glasses was the world I'd come from didn't really know shit about Neanderthals. Hell they were just people like anyone else. They did seem considerably shorter, the tallest men were probably five foot nine at best and the women, except for two I noticed, were probably around five foot three for the tallest. They were stockier, or more specifically, more muscular than what you would normally see in a group of people. They were no more muscular than some people I'd known - it was just they were all muscular. None of them were thin. None of them were fat either mind you. They actually reminded me of a group of gymnast. All of them were just in incredible physical shape. As for the old prejudice of them walking stooped over or all being bowlegged it was just a prejudice for real. Their posture seemed normal enough to me and if I had to say something about their gait I would say most of the men seemed purposeful in their carriage, as if they knew exactly where they were headed and exactly how they were going to get there and the locomotion did not include any stooping. The bearing of the women was slightly different. They seemed intentionally unobtrusive. I can't really explain it - I just know what it seemed like to me. They weren't ugly in the face, but they were different. Their brows were generally more prominent than the run of the mill person of my time. None of them seemed outlandish and none were heavier than some I'd seen back home, back at my old home anyway. It was just the norm seemed heavier than the norm from my time. It was also heavier than the norm for the Cro-Magnons I was living with. Their facial features were a little more nearly coarse. Their lips seemed generally larger and their noses tended to be wider. This was much more noticeable on the men than on the women. None of them were particularly hairy and while I'd had the impression they would all be dark complected, they weren't. In fact there tended to be more blondes and redheads and they had pale white skin. They were slightly tanned after the summer, but not as dark as my camp mates. Their eyes, as best I could tell from this distance, were like anyone else's. The color varied along with their general complexion. The eyes did seem to be a little larger though, but I couldn't be sure from here. Evidence from studies of mitochondrial DNA or not, I now knew for certain what hundreds of scientist had wondered about for years. The proof positive was in the field of my Alien binoculars. Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals could interbreed. At least some could anyway. Two of the females were a set of twins. They had long blonde hair and, I thought, blue eyes. They were taller than all the others being at least five foot eight. Their noses were smaller and their lips were thinner. They had chins where the others only had a hint a chin belonged there. These features clearly came from having one parent from the other group of the inhabitants of this time. Their bodies though, clearly fit the scheme of the others. They were what could only be called powerfully built. Their muscles were well defined and they were much larger than any I'd seen from the other group. They didn't bulge like I'd seen before on women body builders, but they were evident. Further proof came when a woman walked up to them. She was obviously their mother and she fit the mould of the rest of the camp. She was about five foot three and she had the wider nose and thicker lips of the others. All in all she was an attractive woman to my way of thinking, but it was apparent her daughters had received a few genes from another pool. Dicky provided the final proof. He wanted to fuck every female down there, the sooner the better. I think this was because while none of the clearly all-Neanderthal women were especially attractive in their facial features, none of them were ugly either. All of them had lovely bodies, their muscular appearance was definitely attractive, suggesting an earthy sexuality and almost shouting their fertility and ability to produce robust offspring. The children I saw seemed to prove this too. Any of the smaller boys who I guessed might be seven or eight, could have clearly kicked the ass of any ten or eleven year old bully in any school yard. All of the children down there were already packing impressive muscles for their size. Some sort of commotion developed then, but I couldn't hear them well enough to know how close their language was to those I was living with. Georgo had told me their language was similar, but I couldn't get a feel for it yet. I could tell they seemed to be a little more guttural as I could hear some snatches of what they said which seemed to be louder. It looked like an argument was getting started between the mother of the twins and one of the men. I'd noticed from his bearing he seemed to be a figure of authority if not the leader. He had a short talk with the woman and her daughters and I could tell when they left they had been reprimanded or scolded. This was enough for my first view. I backed away from the edge and then stood up and walked off going to the top of the trail and then descending. I picked up my pack when I reached it and continued to the canyon floor. Searching around for a while, I found a small bunch of trees farther up canyon and I entered them to make a sleeping place for the night. There were enough leaves and other detritus around to make me think anything which approached me in the night would make enough noise to wake me. I was hoping anyway. I dug into the food my mates had prepared and had a cold supper then I unrolled my sleeping furs and was about to settle down for the night. I remembered my Blackberry I always carried, but hardly ever thought to use. I fished it out and contacted Argent, asking him if it would be possible for them to wake me if something came creeping around while I slept. "Of course we will warn you John. We're a little too far into this to let you be killed in your sleep now," he said, and then signed off. ------- Chapter 120 Nothing disturbed my sleep except a few dreams of my mates naked and teasing me. I woke at sunrise, rolled up my sleeping furs, and dug around for the last of the food they had packed for me. Now I would get acquainted with the others or go hungry. After eating I dressed again. I had slept in my mail but without my tunic. I put it back on now and made sure to fasten the ties which pulled it up around my neck so it would completely cover the mail. I tied my new necklace back on then and laughed to myself about it. Geera and Dieta had done a good job, but to me it seemed to be just a way of bragging. There were an awful lot of lion and bear claws and teeth tied around my neck now. My mates had also done well at making my tunic look fairly normal even though it was cinched at my waist with the web belt which held my Glock in a ready position. I pulled on my pack, slung the M1 over my shoulder, and started walking down the canyon toward the Neanderthal's camp. Not long after I'd turned up into their cul-de-sac I saw some women about three hundred yards farther in. They noticed me at once too. They quit their gathering and turned quietly back to their camp. They didn't run away screaming as Gema and Merita had when they first saw me, but they did leave, not seeming to run but even so they got away quickly. I was within two hundred yards of the edge of their camp when six men approached me - led by the one I'd seen scolding the mother and her twins. I assumed he must in fact be the leader. All the men carried their heavy spears, but none were holding them in a threatening manner. I walked right up to within five feet of the leader, who was standing a little ahead of the others, and I held my hands up, palms forward toward him. "I am John. I live at a camp not too far from here and I have come to trade," I said. "I am Grotondo, the leader of this camp. I will talk of trade with you. Come, we are about to eat," he said, turning and walking back toward his camp, the others now leading the way. He led me back near the entrance to their cave where there were large rocks and some pieces of logs arranged for sitting. He had a particular log he was used to sitting on and he went right to it. It was big enough for three or four to sit on where it was lying and he motioned for me to sit near him. "Gratata, we have a stranger visiting, bring food for him also when it is ready," he said, raising his voice and speaking toward the mouth of the cave. All the men who had been with him found seats and a few other men from the camp came to join us. Grotondo told them my name and that I had come to trade. It was the extent of the conversation for now. Apparently Grotondo was going to do most or all of the talking and he didn't seem like he intended to start until after we'd eaten. I suppose it was Gratata who brought a large bone plate of something to Grotondo and then another one to me in a few minutes. She didn't speak though and Grotondo didn't speak to her. No introductions were made and she was given no more explanation of my presence. More women came out then bringing food to the remaining men with us. I saw no others outside the cave. They were eating inside if they were eating. No youngsters were in sight even though I had seen several yesterday. We ate in silence. I didn't know exactly what I was eating, though I could tell it was some type of roasted meat and some, unknown to me, vegetables. After we were finished Gratata appeared and took away the plates she had brought. Then the other women came and fetched the plates they'd brought to the other men. "I will talk to John about trading now," Grotondo said, facing the other men. They didn't reply, they all just got up and walked into the cave. It was a little surprising, but I was on their turf and wanted to do things their way. "What did you bring to trade?" Grotondo asked, cutting right to the chase. "Salt, I brought much salt," I said. I had set down my pack and M1 before I sat and now I opened the pack and removed the pouch, which held probably twenty to thirty pounds of salt. I put it on the ground between him and me and opened the top, showing him it was all salt. Without saying a word Grotondo stuck a finger into it and then into his mouth. I wondered what else he thought might look like salt and not be salt, but I didn't say anything. In my experience it might have been sugar, but they had no refined sugar here and now. "It is very much salt. What do you want to trade for?" he asked, and though I knew he didn't intend it his face betrayed he wanted the salt. "I have come to trade for a mate - if you have any unmated women I want," I told him, and managed a straight face. "We have three women who have never been mated. We also have a woman whose mate was killed two summers ago. She has two daughters who have just become women last spring. I will go and talk to the others now," he told me, and then got up and went into the cave. I was a little confused by his statement. He had said three women who had never been mated and then he mentioned the widow's daughters as unmated women too. Did this mean he had five women who had never been mated or did they have some custom about girls not mating as soon as they became women? I figured I'd find out sooner or later. The whole thing was a little strange to me now I was into it. I'd seen plenty of new people and I was clearly different from them, but they didn't seem at all curious. None had seemed to stare openly at me and there had been only the few questions from Grotondo. Things were a little odd. Grotondo came back out of the cave then and I assumed the women who were following him were those he'd told me about. There were three young women leading, and then the mother I'd seen being scolded yesterday. She was followed by her two daughters. They came out and all lined up in front of me saying nothing. It was clear from this presentation and from the body language of the women they were on display and it was my choice. None of them looked disturbed about it though and in fact the mother seemed to be putting her best foot forward. Standing tall and actually smiling at me when I looked her over. All the women were attractive in their way and it wasn't very far from my way either. The mother's daughters were certainly attractive and would have been to anyone. Of course they closely resembled the women I was around all the time anyway. Their mother was no slouch either and while she was plainly a women of these other people she was still good looking. The other three young women were attractive too and the bodies of all the women were exceptional, at least they seemed so. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be a swimsuit competition coming up later. Surprisingly Grotondo led the women back in then without a word to me. I made sure to look at each of their asses as they left even though I could hardly tell anything about them in those clothes. He returned a few minutes later. "Did you see a woman you would like to trade for?" he asked, as soon as he returned. "Yes, I would be happy to trade for any of them," I said purposely, not pointing out any one in particular. "Which one would you want?" he asked. "Which one would you like to trade?" I said, still intending to make him show his cards first. "I will be back shortly," he said, and stumped me by going back into the cave. I didn't know what in the hell he was doing in there, but maybe he was talking it over with someone. Georgo had told me their leaders just assigned the mates to the men, but of course this didn't go for me. True to his word he came back in only a few minutes. "I do not usually do such things, John, but as strange as it may seem to you, I have found my mate often has helpful suggestions when it comes to questions about matings. "I will admit I have made mistakes before when giving a woman to a man. I know this is not the same thing and I am not giving you a mate as if you were a member of my camp. I did want to ask her opinion though," he said, and made it sound almost like a confession of some weakness. "I understand completely. Women often know things men do not notice," I said. "So you have seen it too?" he asked, and actually looked astonished. "Yes, I have." "You did not say you came seeking to trade for a young mate or for a woman who had never been mated. You are not a young man just coming into manhood. My mate suggests you might consider trading for the woman who was mated before her mate was killed. "Many of our people feel she is unlucky because of the accident. She is a good worker and gatherer though and she has given birth. Two at once in fact, and that is often very hard on a woman, yet both of her babies lived and are healthy and she has done well since then, except for her mate getting killed," he said. I wondered what she could have had to do with it. Probably nothing at all and now she was being pointed out as being unlucky. She looked lucky enough to me and I felt I'd be pretty damned lucky too if I could end up with her for a bag of salt. "Your mate is right in saying I did not come here as a young man looking for his first mate." "Would you consider trading for the woman who has been mated before then?" he asked. I didn't answer right away. It was a little surprising his mate had come to the same conclusion I had. I was stalling now to keep him from thinking I was too anxious. Dicky was screaming I should go for the twins too, and I was beginning to come around to his way of thinking. None of them were any more desirable than the mates I had already, but something about the mother and her twins was just as desirable. I knew they would be different and I thought all of them would make great additions to my band and my bed. "I do not know your customs Grotondo, but I am going to make you an offer. If it is not allowable among you and your people I hope at least it doesn't offend you," I said, and knew I had at last provoked his curiosity. "What is your offer, John? I am the leader here and whatever I say is allowable. Customs or no customs, if the offer is acceptable to me it is acceptable to all," he told me, rather bluntly. "I will offer all my salt and two whole bison or two whole aurochs for the mother and her two daughters," I said. His curiosity was satisfied, but I could see he was now shocked. I didn't know if it was because the offer was too little, which I doubted, or if it was because I was now wanting more than one mate. Suddenly a slight smile crept onto his face and then he fought it off. I knew then the deal was done and he thought he had bested me. "You will understand if I asks you to kill the bison or aurochs before you leave with the women?" he asked. "Of course. You do not know me and I wouldn't think of asking you to trust me to pay you later." "It is acceptable then. When you have killed two bison for us or two aurochs or one of each, your debt for the three women will be paid," he said, and he couldn't suppress the smile any longer. "Killing them will be much easier than bringing them here. I am not sure about your customs, but among my people the price for the mate is paid once the hunter has killed the animals. Is your way similar?" I asked, hoping I wasn't going to have to cut up and carry two bison or aurochs. "We have the same custom. After the kill you may help or not, as you like. Once you have killed them your debt will be paid," he said. "I will be glad to help, but the meat would no doubt be carried off by predators if I had to carry it all by myself," I said. "We will take care of the meat when you kill it. I have to ask how you will hunt though, since you do not even have a spear?" he asked. "I can hunt. Are there bison or aurochs on the plateau?" "Yes, usually there are some and we have a good trail up to it. Were you planning to hunt soon?" Grotondo asked. "I would like to go now if you will show me the way to your trail," I said, and handed him the pouch of salt while I was at it. "I will put the salt inside and then show you the trail," he said. When he came back out of his cave he picked up his spear from the place he'd set it before breakfast. ------- Chapter 121 "It is allowable for a young hunter or two to go with you, John. You must make the kills, but it might be easier with some help. I have two young hunters who are good runners and you might be able to drive some game off the cliff," he said. "I appreciate your offer and it is a good way to hunt sometimes. It often spoils some of the meat though. I will not have trouble getting two kills if I see bison on the plateau. "If you hear sounds like thunder, three times very close together, it will mean I need help," I said, and he was curious again. "But how do you know it will thunder if you need help?" he asked. "It will not be thunder, but it will sound loud like thunder and it will be three sharp loud noises close together," I explained. "I don't understand, but it will be as you say. I will have Brundolo wait at the bottom of the trail to be sure he hears it if you need help," he said, and called into the cave for Brundolo. When the young man, probably twelve or thirteen I guessed, came out we left. It was only a little more than a quarter of a mile to the trail he'd talked of. It was well worn and though not nearly wide enough for one of my wagons it was easily wide enough for a horse with a travois. Of course I didn't have a horse and travois with me. Grotondo left me at the bottom of the trail and headed back. I explained about the loud noises to Brundolo. He said he would come if he heard them and I headed up the trail. When I got onto the plateau I froze and then lowered myself slowly to the ground. Apparently I was extremely lucky or Argent didn't want to waste a lot of time on this part. There was a small group of aurochs grazing not more than three hundred yards from me. I extended the bipod on the M1, settled into a prone position and looked thru the scope. There was a big aurochs bull with six cows. Four of the cows had young ones nearby and there were three younger bulls close by also. The young bulls weren't yearlings - they were all at least three or four years old and were large in their own right. It was clear the big bull was forcing them to keep at least a little distance from his harem, but otherwise everything was peaceful. I decided to give Grotondo a little bonus if it was possible. I shot the young bulls as rapidly as I could. The second one hadn't even looked up after the first one fell. When I got to the third one he was looking up, as were all the others, but none of them had moved yet. I shot him before he took a step and decided that if I didn't fire again Brundolo would probably think the three shots were close enough together to count as the signal. I stood, shouldered the M1 and walked to my kills. The remaining aurochs saw me at once and headed off. I had just reached the dead game when Brundolo topped the trail. I yelled to him and he came to me at once. "How did you kill them so fast? You had barely gone from me when I heard the thunder. How did you kill them? You don't even have a spear," Brundolo asked. "I only need kill them to pay for my mates Brundolo, it isn't necessary for me to tell how I did it," I said. "You are right, but I do not understand how you did it," he admitted. "You should probably go and get some of the others to help clean and carry. I'll stay with my kills to make sure predators don't come and steal any of them," I said, and he left then to get the others. Brundolo must have told a good tale because when he came back it seemed as if the whole camp was with him. My new mates were in the group also and they came up near me when Grotondo came to me. "I can't understand how you did this, John, but I can plainly see the two aurochs which satisfy your payment. These women are your mates now," he said, waving a hand toward them. "There are three aurochs Grotondo. They were standing together and there was no reason to let one just walk off. They are all for your camp," I said. "You are going to give us the other one too?" he asked. "Yes, if you want it. I do not want to leave it for the predators and I surely don't want to have to carry it anywhere," I said. "I am grateful to have it then," he said, and moved toward the others who had already begun cleaning the kills. I turned toward my new mates and could tell already they weren't sorry for their fate. "I am John," I said. "I am Margeeta, and these are my daughters, Yareela and Yaroola. We are your mates now," she said, telling me the obvious. "I hope you will not be sad to leave your camp and go to mine," I said. Margeeta was caught off guard by it, as if she wondered why I would care about how they felt. "You are our mate now. We must go where you go. I have been mated before, but my daughters never have been. I feared I would never have another mate after Grendolto was killed. "I can hardly believe my daughters and I are now mated to the same man. I am happy about it though," she said. She wasn't the only one who was happy about it. Dicky was swelling with pride over his new delicacies and I wondered if he were going to jump off and strut at the thought. "Should we help the others with the game?" I asked. "We will do what you tell us, but since everyone came I think we will have a hard time getting near it," Margeeta said, pointing to the crowd. She was right. Everyone from the camp was here or almost everyone anyway and there were already people standing around who couldn't find a place to get in and help. They probably all had wanted to see if I had really killed the aurochs or bison so quickly. I almost got the feeling they wanted to get them cleaned and cut up in case it was a lie. "You're right, we would only be in the way. I understand it isn't my duty to help since I have paid my debt already, and I don't think you three need to help because this isn't your camp any longer," I said. "He is right mother. We won't be living here any more. I am so happy we're leaving," Yareela or Yaroola said, and the other one promptly agreed. I headed off a little farther from the crowd and they came with me and stopped when I did. I felt we were far enough away so none of the others could hear us. "I must tell you I saw you three yesterday from up here. I was on the plateau, but it was nearly across from the main fire. It seemed you and Grotondo were arguing," I said, to Margeeta. "I would never argue with a man, but I was complaining about someone even though I knew it would do no good," Margeeta told me, looking at the ground the whole time. "Who were you complaining about and why?" I asked. "About Daldo - he keeps bothering Yareela and Yaroola and trying to sneak them off at night. If I had a mate Daldo would have been beaten for such behavior, but since my mate is dead Grotondo does nothing even though he knows it isn't right," she told me. "Do not worry about him any longer. If he does or says anything else, let me know about it at once. He will get the beating he deserves then and I won't be waiting for Grotondo's permission. I do not let anyone pester my mates, ever," I said. They were all smiles when they heard it, but I was wondering who Daldo was. "Who is Daldo, which one is he?" I asked. "He is the healer's mate and he is practically worthless. Grotondo knows now he should never have given the healer to him. He just ignores Daldo now, mostly. If he weren't the healer's mate Grotondo would probably make him go away," Margeeta said. "Well, I don't care who his mate is. If he bothers any mate of mine he will wish he was already away," I said. "But what if he wants to fight you with a spear? You don't even have one?" Yareela asked. "I have more powerful magic than a spear, but you must not mention it to anyone," I told them, hoping they would mind me. We headed back toward the camp then. Several men had already passed us carrying big pieces of the aurochs. To me it seemed they would be done with all three of them in less than an hour. I saw they were leaving the entrails and this was speeding up the process. When we got back near the cave I noticed the men were walking directly into it with the meat. "Do you have a frozen cave?" I asked my new mates. "Yes, it is the main reason we stay here. How did you know?" Margeeta asked. "There is one in my camp too and when I saw the men taking the meat directly into the cave without cutting it up or drying it I thought you must have one also." "Yes, it is very helpful. You say there is one at your camp too?" Margeeta asked. "Yes, we have one also." I asked Margeeta if it would take them long to pack and she didn't think it would. I told them they should only bring personal things since they would not need sleeping furs or extra clothes. I had to explain I already had plenty of furs and I would have new clothes for all of them soon. She quizzed me about it a little, but not very much. She seemed as if she was happy to do whatever I told her. "It only makes sense now I think about it. A man wearing lion skin clothes and a necklace with so many lion and bear claws and teeth probably doesn't have to worry about getting skins or food, especially since he has just killed three aurochs, by himself, in nearly no time and without a spear," she said, and smiled widely. They did have a few things to pack though and I left them at it. More meat was passing by now and I saw one of the bigger men go by carrying a rolled up skin. It was only about an hour later and the aurochs had been dealt with and most of them put into the frozen cave. One big haunch was cooking over the main fireplace outside and those who had just finished the work were gathered around near the mouth of the cave. Margeeta and the twins had their things packed and we were about to leave and I was saying my goodbyes to the leader. Just as I did a man came over and fondled one of Yareela's ass cheeks. "It is bad that you leave. I always wanted to try you out. Maybe I can quickly before you go," he said, as he gripped her butt more tightly. I didn't waste any words. I stepped up to him and hit him as hard as I could right on his wide nose. It put him out at once and he fell to the ground. The leader and a few of the other men looked at me as if I was crazy and I could see Grotondo was about to protest. "I do not know your customs, but you do not know mine either. These are my mates now. They have agreed to go with me and I have given you much salt and killed two aurochs in payment for them plus a third aurochs I gave you as a gift. "I do not let other men handle my mates. I did not kill that one because I know he didn't understand my ways. I will kill the next man who tries it though," I finished, in my sternest voice. "That is not our way, John," Grotondo said. "It is my way though and these are my mates now. I do not live with you and I will not live by your customs. I will stay long enough to give anyone else a chance to kill me for them though - if they want the chance," I told them, pissed off now. "I want the chance. I want to kill you and keep your new mates for myself," said Timboko, who I recognized as their best hunter. It seemed I should be sorry about it or that I should be ashamed of myself. I wasn't though. I had also seen Timboko's mate and she was a treat herself. Her features were a little coarser than Margeeta's, but she was still very attractive to me. She wouldn't need a bag over her head. There was something to be said for this killing for mates custom after all. I pulled the Glock and put one right in Timboko's mouth while he was getting ready for his next verbal volley. The back of his head just exploded as the round exited and he dropped to the ground. "Does anyone else want to kill me for my mates?" I asked, loudly. ------- Chapter 122 They were all stunned, speechless. They all knew by now I'd made thunderous noises when I'd killed the aurochs as part of my payment for Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola. Apparently they hadn't been able to put two and two together. They weren't having any trouble figuring out I shouldn't be fucked with now. "He had not struck you yet John, he hadn't started to fight," Grotondo told me, as if I didn't know it. "He has missed his chance. I do not stand around to argue when a man says he will kill me. If he wasn't going to try it he should have kept his mouth shut. Would he argue with a bear before he killed it?" This had them stumped again and I was ready to get moving. I didn't want any of the other men to start up with me. "Margeeta we will have to wait for Timboko's mate to pack now. Let us go and help her," I said. "Yes John, it will be best if we help her pack and then leave," Margeeta said. "But you have killed our best hunter and you have hurt the healer's mate," Grotondo said. "Timboko has killed himself. What could he have been thinking? I went alone and killed three aurochs without help. Did he think he could not die the same way? Do none of you realize I can kill you all if I want to? "I came here peacefully and anyone who got trouble from me earned it. Timboko asked for trouble and did it loudly with a strong voice. "This rude fool on the ground got off lightly. What would you have done if he grabbed your mate's ass right in front of you and tried to carry her away to take her?" I asked, getting nothing, but a blank stare for a reply. I noticed then a woman I hadn't seen was tending to the first man I'd hit. I supposed it was the healer. I followed Margeeta and the twins to my next new mate's sleeping place in the cave, wondering how she would take the news. I needn't have. When we got there she had already begun packing. She stopped and came to me when we approached. "I am Kota, Timboko's former mate. I was there and I saw what happened. Timboko had always been a strutting fool. It never caused him any trouble before because he was always the quickest and strongest man here. "It will not cause him any trouble now either. His troubles are over. There are many furs and much food here. Since you can hunt so well we might not need the meat, but I am good with my gathering also," she said. I was about to speak to tell her we would have to come back tomorrow and get everyone's things. There was no way I was leaving these assholes anything now. We would all just walk home and come back in a wagon tomorrow. "John, behind you," one of the twins yelled. Here at last was a real threat I saw as I turned. This one might have succeeded except for the warning I got. It was Daldo, the man I had hit earlier. Apparently he had recovered rather quickly. He'd been trying to sneak up behind me with a large club already raised. If he'd been able to conk me on the head with the fucker I would have ended up as dead as Timboko. I just had time to pull the Glock and put two into his chest. They stopped his progress and even though he made a last ditch effort to swing, he couldn't connect with anything, but air. I already knew he had a mate, but the look at her as we'd left him lying was the only one I'd had. I doubted if I could recognize her on my own. As always it seemed things were mushrooming and I just didn't have any idea what to do about it. I had sought out the Neanderthals hoping to get one of the women for another mate. It wasn't so much because I needed more women - I'd just felt I owed it to Argent. My dick had made me bargain for three and dumbasses had already provided two more and I wasn't even out of their cave yet. The healer came walking up then and didn't even give her departed mate a glance as she walked up to us. "I am Eileiea, the healer, and that was my mate. You have relieved this camp of another fool. They might miss my healing, but they will not miss him. I will not miss him either and I hope I will fit in with your camp. Do you have a healer there already?" she asked me, matter of factly. "No we do not have a healer. There is a woman who is pretty good with wounds if they aren't too serious, but we do not have a real healer. I am sure you will fit in well at my camp. I am the leader and I will make sure you all fit in. "I demand all have respect for each other in my camp and if there were fools in it I would make them leave, quickly. We will all be glad to have a healer among us," I told her, smiling. I wondered now how I had missed this one. She was plainly a pure Neanderthal, but in my opinion she was the shining star of the race. Her features clearly belonged to her ancestors, but on her they didn't look coarse somehow, they looked completely natural and very attractive. Her nose was wide and her lips were thick, but it all fit her so well. She was short like all the women and she seemed very muscular, but it didn't look vulgar on her. I was glad now her idiot mate had tried to brain me. I started looking around at some of the other women speculatively then. Grotondo noticed it and seemed to get suspicious. "Are you looking for something, John?" he asked me. "I am looking at the women here and wondering if any more will become one of my mates before I leave. Are there more men who are tired of living?" I asked. "I do not know whether there are more or not. I would like to tell you I am not and I have no quarrel with you. We have had some misunderstandings, but I believe most of the men now know your position. "Those who have tried to molest you have paid for the pleasure and one has cost this camp a very good healer. It has also revealed to me I have not been as good a leader as I thought. "Timboko was a good hunter and generally a good man, except for his tendency to bully others. The healer's mate was practically useless though, and it is my fault I gave the healer to him. I must bear the blame now since she will be leaving," Grotondo said, admitting it. "If you have now learned you need not keep everyone just because they are here you have learned a valuable lesson. Your loss of the healer need not be so costly though. If she will do it I will let her teach another some of her magic so you will have a healer of your own. "Also, if she will agree, I will let any sick or wounded you have come to her for treatment at my camp. If they cannot come to her I will make arrangements to bring them to her if you will do something for me in return," I told him. "What would you have me do?" he asked. "We now have too many things to carry. If you will guard their things while we are gone we will give you the meat they have. We will be back tomorrow with help to carry their other things away. "If you will send your smartest unmated man with me I will teach him something which will be a great help to all of you. It might take more than one day to teach him though and he might not be able to return tomorrow," I told him. "I see I have no choice. If I do not do as you wish you can easily kill me, or even all of us," he said. "I will not kill a man unless he says he is going to kill me or unless he tries to kill me. I am not a bully and I do not bother others until they bother me. I could have killed you as easily the first day as I could now and I didn't. "I did not take Margeeta and her twins from you - I paid the price you asked and more. I am a fair man, but I don't like to be troubled when I only want to deal fairly. If you do not want to help me it is fine. We will go and take only what we can carry and when one of you is sick or hurt you can find another healer," I said. "We will do it, John, and you have spoken the truth. You did not offend us when you could have and those who troubled you deserved what they got. None of the men here would have acted any differently than you did. It was just a shock it happened so fast. We will watch their possessions for you and I will send Brundolo with you so he might learn this skill," he told me. "Very well. He need not bring food since we have plenty. He needs only his spear and a sleeping fur. I will help my new mates prepare for the trip now. Tell Brundolo we will be leaving soon," I said, and turned back to the women. I told them they need not carry anything unless they would need it before tomorrow since we would come back then and get everything. They asked if they should carry part of the load today and I told them we would not be carrying things either day and they would see when they got to my camp how their things would be moved. They were slightly confused, but did as I asked them. Brundolo came to us shortly and we headed off. Eileiea was the first to break the silence as we were walking. "John, may I ask you a question?" she asked. "Yes. Any of you are welcome to ask me questions or tell me anything anytime you want to. You do not need my permission to speak to me. It is not our way," I said. "It will be very different for us. It may take time to become accustomed to it," she replied. "It probably will take time, but so will many of our ways. You will find I welcome your questions and I want to hear what you have to say. If we are doing things in a way you think would be better done your way I want to hear about it also," I told her. "Then how are we going to bring all our things tomorrow? There will be just as many things to carry tomorrow as there were today," she said. "We will not carry them. We will put them in my wagon and my horses will pull it for us. We will not even have to walk since we can ride on the wagon also." "What is a wagon and how will you make horses pull it?" she asked. "You will have to wait and see what a wagon is, but you will know it can hold and carry all your things when you see it. For the horses, I have captured some and trained them to do what I wish. You will see." "What skill will you teach me?" Brundolo asked then. "I will teach you how to use a horse to carry things so you do not have to do it. You can take a horse with you when you go hunting and then it can carry back what you have killed. A horse can carry much more than you can. Instead of all the hunters having to carry back their kills, one man can do it and the others can keep hunting. With a horse to help even a woman or a small child can carry back everything from a hunt," I told him. I could see at once he didn't believe it, but he didn't say anything. I didn't say anything more about it either. I supposed the women were busy trying to imagine what a wagon was as they were quiet also. Finally Margeeta spoke up. "Why are we going so slowly, John? Is this as fast as you can travel? Are you injured? Maybe Eileiea can help if you are in pain." "It is about as fast as I can walk. How fast do you usually travel?" I asked. "If we have a long way to go we trot at least, but we usually run, not fast, just a nice easy run," she said. "Well run then and I will see if I can keep up. You will wait for me if I get too tired won't you?" I asked. "Yes, if you fall behind we will wait. It will be so easy running without carrying anything though," She said, and then they all fell into an easy lope. "I was able to keep up, but just barely. I did have to ask them to slow to a walk a time or two though. I was actually surprised at how good I was doing and I suspected Argent was the cause of this also." We covered the distance, probably fifteen miles, in just over two hours and I'm sure they could have all done much better if not for waiting on me. It wasn't nearly as grueling as I'd have thought it would be though. Luckily, I had them let me lead the way at the last, since Prince, King, and Rover noticed my return first and came bounding out to meet me. Brundolo was ready to jab his spear into Prince as he approached and all the women had their knives out to fight off the wolves. "No. Do not harm the wolves. They are mine. They will not hurt us," I said, shouting. They were all thoroughly shocked. I should have warned them earlier, but I was so used to the wolves I hadn't even thought about it. Prince came up to me then and I patted his head and gave King and Rover a good petting too. "The wolves help us. I caught them when they were young ones and now they think I lead their pack. We have other younger wolves also. These watch for us at night and let us know if something is sneaking around. They have subdued men who came to spy on us more than once," I told them. They were too shocked to even ask questions. I saw Merita and Maia coming then and assumed the wolves quick departure had them wondering. I remembered then I hadn't mentioned having other mates to my new ones. Is there an easy way to tell your five new wives you forgot to mention you already had sixteen? "Margeeta, Yareela, Yaroola, Kota, and Eileiea. I should have told you before I already have some mates. It was wrong of me not to mention it. If you do not want to stay with me you do not have to," I told them, quickly. "We do not mind if you have other mates. We already knew you must be a great hunter to agree to take on five mates. If you already had mates you must be the best hunter ever," Margeeta said. "How many other mates do you have?" Eileiea asked. "I had sixteen mates before I got all of you," I told them, hoping for the best. I got more than the best then. They all smiled bigger than I thought they could. "You must indeed be the best hunter ever. I can hardly believe how lucky we all are. I never knew one hunter could feed so many mates. It is more women than there are in many camps. We will all help as much as we can. We don't know how to hunt very well, but I have heard many of these women can hunt. Do they help you?" Eileiea asked, clearly excited. "They are welcome to help if they want to and a few of them have hunted. I don't really need help hunting though. There are plenty of bison on the upper plateau and they are easy for me to kill," I told them. They were amazed again and I think they were skeptical also. Merita and Maia reached us then and I set about introducing them all to each other. ------- Chapter 123 "Merita and Maia, this is Brundolo and he has come with us to learn about the horses," I told them, knowing he would be getting a low priority from my mates in a few seconds. "These women are now my mates also. This is Margeeta and her daughters Yareela and Yaroola. This is Kota and this is Eileiea. Eileiea is a healer and I'm sure she will be busy soon. "My new mates, these are Merita and Maia," I finally finished. Merita and Maia were polite to Brundolo and both of them greeted him, then they were among my new mates with vigor. They hugged and kissed the cheeks of each one of them and were about to get a hen party started until I spoke up. "Why don't we get them into our cave before the whole camp is out here. I don't think they are especially tired from our trip, but I want to sit down. They made me run most of the way," the last bit caused a look of concern on all the new women's faces and I was sure they were about to start apologizing. "Don't worry about it. The run was good for me and I was only making a joke. You'll find out I try to make them often, but like this one, they usually aren't very funny. We do need to get into the cave quickly though before the others all come out here." Since we had run all the fucking way from their cave I didn't see any need not to run the rest of the way. It would look a little strange in our camp, but at least it would let everyone know we intended to get there promptly. I didn't intend to slow down until I had my ass in a chair and was waiting for some coffee. The rest followed my lead and ran too, even Merita and Maia. I could see as I ran by many of the men were working on the bridge and I was surprised it lacked only a raft or two to be complete. Most of them looked up as we were passing and I noticed Raalto, Racaato, Caato, and Barago were looking as hard as anybody. This was no time to stop and explain though. When we entered all my other mates were there and I decided to make the rest of the introductions before I sat down. "My mates - come and meet my new mates," I said. "I told you all he would be bringing more than one mate back with him. The bed grew so much even the bedroom had to expand to make room for it," Gema announced, since the growing bed couldn't slip anything by her anymore. I herded the new girls and Brundolo into a line and started with the bewildered boy again. Then I went to each of my new mates and told the others their names. Afterward, I asked my other mates to introduce themselves to each of the new arrivals in turn. That done I asked if there was any coffee before I turned them out. They said there was and Jaada came to me, kissed me on the lips and said she would get me a mug while the others were getting started. I went to the table, sat down, and she brought it right away. I gave her another kiss when she did, but left her alone to go get acquainted too. Looking back at the confusion let me know the initial greetings were about over and when they were the new mates were surrounded by their well-wishers and would probably be hugged and kissed raw. Brundolo was being ignored already so I called him over to sit with me. "They aren't being rude to you Brundolo or at least they don't mean to be. They are excited over my new mates. I hope it doesn't make supper late," I told him. He didn't even have time to reply before Danlo's, Nadlo's, Georgo's, Jonoco's, and Talvo's mates entered in a bunch from their quarters. They had probably heard the squealing and come to investigate - now they were adding to the commotion. I hoped my new mates wouldn't be traumatized and I'm sure there were never impromptu hen parties like this in their former camp. Luckily Danlo came in to try and satisfy his curiosity just then. "Danlo, you're just the man I wanted to see," I said, as he approached us. "This is Brundolo and he has returned with me to learn a little about the horses. We will be going back tomorrow to get my new mates' belongings also. Would you take Brundolo down to the horse cave and let him watch you hitch the big wagon?" "I will be happy to," Danlo said. "Good, even though he won't be using a wagon any time soon it will also help if you explain what you are doing as you go along. We will be giving him plenty of time with a travois horse tomorrow. When you have the wagon hitched please drive it up to my cave and then let him come in and get me. I want my new mates to see what a wagon and team are all about." "It won't take long and then we will be back," Danlo said. I could tell things were moving pretty fast for Brundolo, but I knew he would catch on. I finally had a few minutes to relax and sip my coffee. I finished my first mug and as I was about to get up and get a refill I saw Jaada heading toward me. "Don't worry, my mate, even in the excitement we will make sure you are cared for," she told me, with the sweetest smile on her face. "I would have understood perfectly if you had stayed with the crowd." "I know you would have, but there is only so much room around five women for over twenty to get close. I'm sure your new mates are wonderful, but I'm also sure we will have plenty of time to get to know each other," she said, as she set my refilled mug back down and gave me a tender kiss. "I know it's exciting for everyone, but our ways are completely different from what they are accustomed to. I hope they aren't getting nervous about the clamor." "I'm afraid they might be, a little at least. I will pull Geera aside when I go back and tell her what you said," Jaada said, and left to rejoin the throng. Jaada was trying to get Geera's attention and then did, barely a minute before Brundolo came back in. Geera was breaking up the gathering while Brundolo was telling me the wagon and team were outside. I went to my new mates and gathered them up for a little show and tell as Geera, Dalia, Shelalliea, and Dieta headed for the kitchen to finish getting supper ready. At least I hoped they only needed to finish. It would be a sad thing if they were just getting started. Margeeta and all the others were clubbed by culture shock again when we left the cave and they saw the four Giant Clydesdales hitched to the big wagon. They were too stunned to even ask questions so I took the lead and gave them a thorough explanation as I did a walk around for their benefit. After a good tell I mounted the seat and coaxed them all up onto it for the show part. When they were all seated, including Brundolo, I gave the reins a flick across the giant horses' asses and we were off. They were frightened at first, but once they discovered no harm was coming to them they seemed thrilled. "At first I was afraid, John, but this is grand. We are moving fast, but all we have to do is sit here and watch the ground go by," Eileiea said, smiling. "You can see now why I told you not to worry about carrying your things. I think there will be plenty of room for them in here, don't you?" "There will be much more than enough room for all of our things, even bringing all the skins and furs that Kota has," Margeeta said. "This is the way I like to run," I told them, as the team trotted upriver with ease. When we came to the ramp I slowed and steered the team up it. They were all quiet as we climbed to the top and then pulled out onto level ground. There was a large herd of bison about three miles across the plateau from us and a fairly large band of horses only about a mile and a half distant. "Now you can see why I have no trouble feeding so many mates. In fact I have done most of the hunting for the whole camp so far," I said, bragging a little. "But I still can not understand how you kill them without a spear. It is usually easy to find bison, but it is often hard to kill them," Kota said. "I have a special way of killing them which makes it easy, even without a spear. We do not have time to hunt tomorrow because we will be going back for your things. I will hunt soon though, to show you how it is done. Maybe we can do it the next day," I told them. I turned the wagon around then and headed back to my cave and the trip down the ramp was more of a thrill for them than the trip up it had been. I stopped the wagon at the bottom to have a little talk. "I know meeting my other mates has been strange to you since I think so much talking does not usually go on in the camp you came from. My other mates are very excited and very pleased to have you joining us and you can be sure they all care for you already. Please try to remember they just want to get to know you," I told them. "It was frightening at first and you are right, in our old camp we did not talk nearly so much in a week as we have since we got here, especially with men around and the camp's leader besides. "At first I thought your mates were being disrespectful to you, but later I could tell disrespect for you would be the last thing they put forth," Margeeta said. "It is the truth. As far as they are concerned you are the reason the sun rises in the morning," Eileiea said. "I'm glad to hear it, but it isn't really the case. I'm just a man like any other." "You are a man, but you are not like any other," Kota said, and the others all agreed much to my embarrassment. I started the team back toward camp and even urged them into a short lope - bad form with such large horses, but it was fun for a change and I'll admit I wanted to show off a little. Danlo was waiting near the entrance to my cave when we got back. He took over the team and Brundolo went with him to unhitch and put the wagon and team up for the night. My new mates and I went back inside. I'd noticed the bridge seemed finished now and the work crew had disbanded. The smell of food was wonderful when we were back inside. My new mates were distressed again though. "We should have stayed to help make your meal instead of riding off in the wagon. It was very exciting, but we have neglected our duty to our new mate already," Kota said. "Nonsense. I might as well tell you now all of my mates do not get to cook everyday. I have many mates and I couldn't possibly hope to eat all they could cook. In fact, it only takes a few of them to cook for all of those who help me as leader and all their mates. My main helpers mate's hardly ever get to cook at all," I told them. "You mean many more men than you eat here in your cave?" Yaroola asked. "For almost every meal my main helpers and their mates eat at my table." "What is a table?" Yareela asked then. "It is where we eat. There is room for many to sit and eat at my table," I told them, pointing to it. "Come, let us sit down and wait for the others and for our food." "We don't want the others to think we are lazy. Are you sure we don't need to help?" Eileiea asked. "I am sure - look at the kitchen and you will see many of my other mates are not cooking either. There is not room for all of you there at one time." "There isn't even a fire. How are they cooking without one," Kota asked. "They will show you everything after we get back from our trip to your camp. Do not worry - it will be easy to learn. They have all just learned lately how to cook this way themselves." I was finally able to get them to sit down and chairs were another novelty for them. I sat at the head of the table, the one nearest the kitchen. I had my new mates sit three on one side and two on the other, mostly so they could have me to watch if they wondered about how we ate. "John, are we going to eat here with you?" Eileiea asked. "Yes, I hope you will." "But you are a man and the leader, too. We are not so important to be sitting and eating with you," Margeeta said. "That is one thing you are incorrect about. You are my mates and nothing is more important to me than you are. Do not forget it. No one will be allowed to bother you. I will not stand for it. If someone shows disrespect to any of my mates they are showing disrespect to me and I can be very disrespectful in return." "Now I see why you were so upset when Daldo fondled Yareela before we left," Yaroola said. "It was not only that, but it was enough. I would not allow such treatment of any woman in my camp. Men who think women are to be abused should make a point never to come into my sight. "The very idea of it makes my blood boil. Where would we get new babies without women? Besides, it is hard enough to live without injuries and there is no sense in letting some fool cause them just because he feels like it. "If a man wants to abuse something around me he should take his weapon and go abuse some game so he can bring it back to feed himself and others." I could see this was a foreign idea to them and they were all speechless after my rant. I hoped they understood they should tell me if they even saw any woman being hurt here. I doubted they would get a chance to see such a thing though, since I was sure everyone who lived here surely knew better by now. Daaggo was the first of the men to appear and he was headed for a seat near the other end of the table even though I could see from the way he looked toward us he was dying to meet my new mates. "Daaggo, come up and sit with us. I'd like to introduce you to my new mates," I said, trying to make it sound like a request and not a command. He perked up right away and took a seat next to Yareela or Yaroola - hopefully I would learn to tell them apart soon, but I couldn't yet. I made the introductions and then tried to be quiet. Surprisingly Daaggo was able to get them to talk a little after a minute or two. I could tell he understood at once how they must feel and he did a good job helping to put them at their ease and making them feel welcome. Raalto and his band were in next and Raalto didn't hesitate to come up to us and find a seat. I made a short introduction for everyone but I nearly flubbed the name of Raalto's newest mate. Camalieta seemed a shy one also and since she had come to Raalto after he'd had to kill Dutotto, when we'd surprised their spying trip, she hadn't been here long herself. ------- Chapter 124 I was tired of introductions already, but I knew it was my duty, both to my new mates and to my helpers and their mates. I was able to pull it off though and soon enough everyone was seated with a mug of beer, they thought it was bruga of course. I'd asked my mates to serve it tonight with our meal since I hoped I could get my newest mates to relax a little by getting some of it into them. Danlo and Brundolo had been the last two to show up and of course I'd had to go over all the names again for Brundolo. I didn't mind it any more than he did though. He was embarrassed and red faced for nearly the entire ordeal. I was betting he would never be late for supper again. My mates had outdone themselves tonight. We had thick bison steaks, baked potatoes, Ranch Style beans, and even corn on the cob. The corn was new for everyone and of course it had come from Argent and his bunch. It was delicious and I could tell at once it had been roasted instead of boiled. I was also sure it had been still on the stalk this morning - it was that fresh. My new mates and all the others were baffled by the corn. I had another show and tell on the way. Thankfully Argent and company had also provided the corn holders so I started by showing them how these were installed, then telling them to slather the corn with butter and then douse it liberally with salt. I only had to show my new mates about fixing the baked potato since everyone else except Brundolo had eaten them before. I was sure Danlo would clue Brundolo in. It was a little strange all my mates, except the new ones, had to find seats farther down the table because everyone else had tried to get up near the new arrivals. I knew this behavior would be cured soon, but even though I had my new mates near me I was lonesome for the others who had to eat away from me. Just then I realized the bed wasn't the only thing which had grown. My dinner table had added space and more chairs were here now also. We didn't talk about much of anything that had gone on in camp while I'd been away. I did take time to thank the men for getting the bridge finished and asked them how it felt to walk across the water. "No one has gone across it yet, we are waiting for you to make the first trip," Raalto said. "Well, I'm honored you thought of me." "It isn't so much for the honor, we just want to make sure it really will work and since it was your idea we thought you should take the first chance," Raalto said, and everyone except Brundolo and my new mates laughed. "I can assure you it will work fine and I think we should take the lights out after supper and let me try it out," I told them, when the laughter died down. Of course Margeeta, Yareela, Yaroola, Kota, and Eileiea looked to me for explanation. I simply told them the bridge would let us walk across the river without getting wet. I could tell they too would have to witness this before they believed it. After supper Dalia came and asked the newbies if they would like to see how to feed the dishwashers. They were up at once, obviously wanting to discover how anything here operated. I watched them walk toward the kitchen and noticed there were now five dishwashers instead of the three which had been here when I left. Argent had been busy during my absence. Watching though, I saw five and maybe more were needed after feeding this crowd tonight. Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco took Brundolo with them to get the big lights Argent had sent for the night we'd surprised the spies. My new mates watched my other mates, except Jaada, feed the dishwashers. Jaada was getting me a mug of coffee and I was glad to see she seemed to be bringing one for herself. She was and she gave me a kiss, set down my coffee and then sat in the nearest chair to me. "You are amazing, John, do you know it?" she asked, as she sat down. "I'm glad you think so Jaada, but I don't feel amazing. I do feel lucky to have so many beautiful mates though." "You are amazing and more. You left to get one mate and you came back with five. You told us it would be a surprise, but we didn't dream it could be nearly as surprising as it is. How did you ever think of going to their camp to find mates?" she asked. "Georgo got me started thinking about it, but not on purpose. I was asking him about the other people once and part of what he told me was a story of two men like us, from far away, coming to their camp and trading salt for mates. In their camp the women have no say regarding who their mates will be. "I have been thinking about it since he told me. If there were women who could be my mates for only some salt I had to go and see if for myself." "Salt is very valuable and very rare everywhere but here, John, but I didn't know about their customs. It seems strange to me the women would have no say in who they were mated to," Jaada said. "It is strange to me too, Jaada, but it isn't strange to them. They have always done it that way. I'm not sure it is for the best either. Even Grotondo, their leader, has learned to consult his mate before making those decisions now. She is the one who suggested I trade for Margeeta even though I'd already come to the same decision. You know who decided I should ask to trade for her daughters too." "I know who? I don't know who. Who else was with you?" she asked, slightly alarmed now. I didn't say anything at first - I just looked down at Dicky, who was making a lump in my trousers, as usual. "John, you are so funny sometimes. I surely do know who now, and I can't wait to tell the others," Jaada said, laughing then and giving him a squeeze. "Please make sure the new ones understand completely when you tell it and try not to make it sound like you disapprove," I said. "Don't worry, I won't tell it until we all know each other better and I won't tell it behind their backs either," she assured me. "I knew you wouldn't hurt their feelings on purpose, but I wanted to remind you they might not understand until they know more about my wicked ways." "But if you only traded for Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola, how did you come to bring Kota and Eileiea too?" she asked. "Their former mates were tired of living and I ended up relieving them of the task," I said, and then told her the short version of the story. "None of them seem the least bit sorry about it, but of course none of us who were mated before feel sorry for our fate either. Even though Geera and Dieta were sad when Gigo and Dergo were killed they know you could not have known it would happen and they are happy now to be with you. For me, I have to restrain myself every morning to keep from shouting out how happy I am," she told me, sincerely. "I'm happy you're happy to be with me," I said. "Didn't you say Eileiea is a healer? What does that mean exactly? I know it must mean she can care for wounds and help with sickness, but I wonder just how much she can help with." "I'm sure she will be very helpful to you when your baby is ready to come, Jaada," I said, and she was surprised, but then seemed about to get ticked off. "Who told you? They all said they would keep my secret until I told you," she said. "No one told me, I guessed it and you just confirmed it. I am very happy about it too, very happy," I said, and pulled her out of the chair and into my lap. Her flash of temper was gone when I wrapped my arms around her and she snuggled up against me. "I am so happy sometimes I feel I might burst. I have wanted a baby for a long time and now I will have one - we will have one. I was worried there was no one here who knew much about birthing and you have gone away and brought back someone who surely knows how to help," she said, and gave me a dreamy look. "It is my job, Jaada, my purpose is to make sure you and all my mates, all my camp in fact, have everything they need." Danlo broke up our tender moment then by coming and announcing they had the lights and everyone in the camp was out waiting to see if I would be able to get across the river by using the new bridge. Jaada got up and then I led her outside holding her hand in mine as I walked up. I took her with me all the way up to the beginning of the bridge where I stopped to address everyone. Georgo was standing near and I'm sure he had been asking the spirits to bless us. No doubt Argent was going to see to it. "I am happy to be the first to cross the bridge and I have another happy announcement. Jaada has just told me she will be having a baby soon and it will be the first child for us," I said, and everyone roared their approval. I let go of Jaada's hand then and stepped onto the bridge. This brought the cheering to a stop, as everyone got quiet to watch. Of course there was nothing to it. The logs the rafts were made of were so big I felt sure we could all get on it at once with no danger. Hell, we could probably have the Clydesdales on it too, if they would step up without a fuss. I walked over to the other side, came back to where I'd started, and announced the bridge was safe and now open for business. Afterwards everyone seemed to want to try it. I took Jaada back inside and I saw the rest of my mates were following me and Brundolo was too. I stopped and looked around a little. Brundolo probably didn't have any idea where he would be sleeping tonight and I knew for sure he wouldn't have a clue about the bathrooms. I saw Sahto still in the crowd and called him over to me. When he got there I introduced him to Brundolo and asked him to show Brundolo where the unmated men slept and how to navigate the bathrooms. He was quick to agree and actually seemed glad to have the job. He and Brundolo left, walking to the bridge and making probably the first useful crossing. When we were back in our cave I looked around to make sure it was only my mates and I. "Well girls we are alone now and I'm sure most of you will be happy to know I'm not a bit tired, even after my long day and the long run. I feel great, except I need a nice hot bath. Why don't the rest of you show my newest mates how the bathroom works and then we will all get into the big tub, turn on the bubbles, and relax." All, but my new mates thought it was a grand idea and I knew the new ones didn't have any idea what I was talking about. I left the women alone to explain the bathrooms to the newbies and I went to the kitchen and got another beer. I sat at the table with it and for the first time in a long time wished I had a big cigar. I decided to try just asking aloud to see if Argent was listening and maybe if he was he could fix me up. "I sure wish I had a nice big Cuban cigar about now," I said. I nearly laughed when one popped into existence near my right hand - a Cohiba Esplendidos and along with it came a big ashtray, a box of wooden matches, and a cigar guillotine. After I had it trimmed and going I settled in to enjoy it. I had finished the beer, but wasn't even halfway done with the cigar when Delia returned from the bathroom tour to fetch me. At first I was going to beg off to finish, but then I thought what the hell? I could probably have one any time I wanted it. I went to one of the sinks and sent it down the disposal. I could see as we went back toward the bathroom my newest mates were baffled again. They would probably get over it soon enough. When I got to the big tub I saw there were already plenty of towels hanging nearby and more than enough soap and shampoo was scattered around within easy reach. I began shucking my clothes and so did all but my newest mates. They were quick enough to get with the program though when they saw everyone else getting naked. Jaada was in the water first and most of my early mates beat me in too. Of course they didn't have much to take off. They didn't even wear their mail unless we were going somewhere they would have a chance of some sort of conflict. I had mine on of course and when I was down to just my boxers and chain mail with a T-shirt under it I saw all my new mates stop and stare at me. "What type of skin is it John?" Eileiea finally asked. "It isn't a skin, feel it," I said, stepping closer to them so they could all try it. "It will protect me from attack. A spear cannot penetrate it. If someone throws a spear at me it will hurt and I will feel the blow, but it cannot get through this. It is chain mail and I will have some like it for each of you soon," I explained. Of course they wanted to know where I had found it, but I had to tell them I must keep a few secrets, even from them. I didn't really care if they knew, but I didn't feel like telling any of them the spacemen had made if for me. I stripped it and the rest of my clothes off and since there were more than a few beautiful women already naked, Dicky was standing tall by now. When I dropped my boxers my new mates stopped to stare again and their attention only made my dick harder. I was sure all of them or at least all but Yareela and Yaroola had seen a dick before, so I was a little surprised at their reaction. I had to ask them what was wrong. "Your member, John, it is so large. Since I was the healer I have seen many men's members, but I have never seen one even nearly so large," Eileiea said. "I have seen more than one myself and even though my former mate's member was larger than the ones of the men of my people it was not nearly as large as yours. It looks like it might be too large for me," Margeeta admitted. "Do not worry, you will stretch to accommodate it soon enough, and John can be very gentle if he needs to be," Maia, one of my smallest mates told them, trying to help me out no doubt. "But it is so large, how can we stretch so much," Kota asked, sounding disappointed. "They are correct of course, a woman can stretch enough to deliver a baby and even though it is very large it isn't even nearly as large as a baby," Eileiea told them. "Yes, but it hurts to have a baby," Margeeta said, stating the obvious. "That is true, but a baby comes at its own speed and doesn't know it is hurting its mother. I will be very careful and make sure I do not hurt any of you. If I am hurting you all you need do is tell me and I will stop to give you more time to adjust," I told them. "It will hurt Yareela and Yaroola the first time or two, but it is always the case and I will be especially gentle with them," I said, trying to reassure them further. "We are all being silly. He is our mate and if it hurts we will get used to it soon enough. I would rather it hurt badly every time than be with the mate he saved me from," Eileiea said, and then stepped into the tub. The others seemed to agree almost at once and all entered leaving me as the only one who wasn't wet, but I cured it soon enough. The conversation had kept me from concentrating on getting a good look at my new playmates. I had seen their asses were spectacular though and all their legs were muscular and shaped divinely. There shoulders were wider than those of my other mates and their breasts were all large, my favorites, and seemed very firm. On the whole their nipples, except for Yareela's and Yaroola's were larger and all their breasts seemed to be a little higher on their chest. All the titties of all my mates were floating now and as always when I was in a tub full of soapy water and naked women I could hardly believe my luck. I'd probably kiss Argent's feet if he were to appear now. ------- Chapter 125 Argent was a no show though and it suited me fine. Margeeta was closest to me and I pulled her into my lap first. She squeaked a little, surprised at first. When I had her seated straddling my thighs I asked her to bend forward and put her hair under the water to get it wet. "I will do as you ask, John, but why?" she asked. "Because I am going to shampoo your lovely hair," I said. I guess she decided she would see what shampooing was soon enough because she bent forward, brushing her pubes over Dicky, and got her hair wet. When she sat back up I put some shampoo in her hair and began massaging it in, making a good lather. The other newbies watched carefully. Jaada and Dieta knew what I'd soon be wanting and they moved to either side of me and soon took over the shampooing. I moved my soapy hands to Margeeta's breasts and began washing them, tenderly at first. Soon I was teasing her nipples and gripping her large titties as I rocked my hips slightly to press my boner up toward her a little. "Oh, John, that feels wonderful on my breasts, what are you doing to them? Is this shampooing?" she asked. "No, Jaada and Dieta are doing the shampooing now, I am playing with your titties," I said. "My titties?" she asked. "Yes, these are your big beautiful titties," I said, as I squeezed them gently. "And these are your nipples," I told her, and as I gave them a little pinch she gasped slightly. Dropping a hand into her lap then I smiled to myself as I felt her spread her thighs slightly to give me a little more room. I located her bush and then her slit with no trouble and as I stroked across her labia a couple of times I bent down to whisper in her ear. "And this is your pussy I'm playing with now." "Whatever you're doing feels very good to me," she sighed. I played over her lips for a few minutes and then found her clit at the top of her slit and began to touch it very gently. Her hips were beginning to squirm now and I could tell her temperature was rising. "Are you still afraid I will hurt you?" "With what you are doing and how you are making me feel I don't care if you hurt me now. I have never felt like this before. Every thing is new here at your camp, everything. Who would have thought a bath could make me feel this way?" She asked, as her hips began moving more rapidly. I took hold of the underside of my dick then and pressed it up against her pussy as she rocked. She sucked in a breath and then began pushing herself against it as she wiggled. Apparently Yareela or Yaroola thought it must have hurt from the little gasp that Margeeta made. "Is it in you now mother? Did it hurt?" whichever one it was asked her. "No, it isn't in me yet and it surely isn't hurting. I love the feel of it against me. He is taking so much time to make sure I am ready for it. From the way others talk I always thought your father must have been gentle with me, but even he would be nearly done by now and John still hasn't put it into me yet," Margeeta sighed. "Soon he will have you aching for him to put it in you and then you will be begging him to never take it out," Waaya told her. "Waaya is right, but it isn't all. Soon you will be begging him not to be so gentle and wanting him to give it all to you hard. He isn't like any man I have ever heard of," Shelalliea said. "He is a better man in more ways than that too. He can just keep doing it as long as any of us can stand it. He can wear us all out in one night and has done it more than a few times," Roweea said, adding her thoughts on the subject of me and my dick. Margeeta was grinding against me now and I knew she was near coming with or without Dicky in her. I shifted and guided her to her knees, helping her put her hands on the edge of the tub. I wanted to do it dog style so the others could get an eyeful. Getting behind her I took Dicky in hand, rubbing his head between her lips to get it wet and also to coax a little more fuck oil out of her. I knew the water in the tub had washed most of what she'd already made away. Yareela and Yaroola both took in a sharp breath when they saw me rubbing my dickhead up against their mother's pussy lips. I lodged the head just at her entrance then and pushed slightly inward. Margeeta sighed loudly as she felt my dickhead pressing into her. I sensed she was about to push back against me so I put my hands on her hips to make sure she didn't do it too rapidly. Her pussy was tight as she pushed it down over my dick. She seemed even tighter than my virgin mates, Gema, Merita, and Maia had been. I pulled back after only the head had entered and then pushed in a little farther. She sighed loudly again but there was no need for Yareela or Yaroola to ask her if it was in now. They could see for themselves exactly how much dick I had up their mother and how much was left to go. They were watching closely, their eyes, like those of Kota and Eileiea were glued to my dick where it entered Margeeta's pussy. "I'm not hurting you am I Margeeta?" I asked, as I pushed a little more dick up her. "If this is hurting John then hurt me to death. I have never felt anything like this - it is wonderful. Hurt me deeper please and a little faster too if you can," she groaned. I took a different grip on her hips then, pulling her to me instead of making sure she didn't push back too quickly. Her pussy was squeezing at the part of my dick that was up her and when I switched grips she pushed harder back to me and then groaned out loudly. "Yes, yes, oh yes, John. I love it," she moaned. I still had only about half of my dong in her, but I released her hips and bent down over her back, taking a titty in each hand and giving both nipples a little pinch. She came alive then and slammed her firm ass back against me all the way. "Oh, yes. Hurt me, John, hurt me now faster and deeper please, please," she wailed. I could only take so much of this begging for dick. I pulled back and pushed it up her quickly. She groaned again and begged for more. I did it again and this time when my dick struck her cervix her pussy gave it such a clutching I thought she'd make me blow my wad. When I eased back out this time I started a quick and firm stroking. Margeeta was nearly over the top by now, but she stayed with me, clutching at my dick when it was in and groaning out loud as I pulled back for another stroke. I put a hand down into her bush, found her clitty, and gave it a little wiggle with the next inward thrust. It was all for Margeeta and this fuck. She raised her head and howled as the orgasm overtook her. She tightened up all over and just trembled for over a minute, babbling out my name and her pleasure the whole time. I glanced at her daughters, Kota, and Eileiea, and nearly laughed. They were staring open mouthed at the spectacle, all their nipples were swollen to near bursting and they each had a hand on their own pussies, giving them a minor rubbing. I left my dick all the way up Margeeta as she was coming and amazingly her pussy kept up a rhythmic milking through it all. I was able to keep from blowing my load, but only by the hardest. I was anxious to try out another of my Neanderthal sexpots and I had to resist looking at them and calling out Next. Margeeta sagged as she finished her pleasure, laying her head onto her hands and panting. Finally she raised her head and looked at her daughters, smiling her widest. Yareela and Yaroola rushed to either side of her, kissing her cheeks and stroking her back. Dicky was still plugged firmly all the way up her pussy. I eased back slowly and as he slid out of her sheath she gripped him strongly as if she didn't want him to leave. "Oh mother, did it hurt awfully?" One of her twins asked. "No, no it didn't hurt. I loved every second of it. He is so big, but he was very gentle, no matter how it seemed. I didn't know doing this could mean so much pleasure for the woman too. I am so happy he came for us now. Don't be afraid. I know he will be tender with both of you also. Remember, he has saved you both from whoever Grotondo would have given you to. "Admittedly Grotondo wouldn't have had much to choose from, but John has spared you that fate too. You will never know how much John has done for you since you will have nothing to compare him to. I'm sure though later both Kota and Eileiea will tell you the same thing," Margeeta told them. I don't know if my big head was swelling from this praise, but I could feel Dicky doing so. His throbbing wasn't lessened by the view both of the twins were presenting. I couldn't really describe the difference between their asses. All my previous mates had beautiful asses and the three more mature Neanderthal women's asses were fantastic, but there were three distinct categories of beautiful asses in the tub with me. Yareela and Yaroola's merging of the two types were also in a beautiful class of their own. One type wasn't better than the other, they were all maddeningly desirable in their own way and my dick was pounding inside itself with the knowledge I was going to enjoy them all, often. I didn't want to break up the twin's time with their mother right now, but I did want to fuck someone else quickly. I glanced at Kota and Eileiea and could tell they were much more than excited enough for a little foreplay. Both women's nipples were swollen to their utmost as they continued to look at Margeeta and the expression on their faces was one of amazement. I would have to wonder what was causing it later. I decided to try out Kota next, simply because she was nearest. I looked directly at her and when she noticed and looked back at me I just opened my arms widely. She seemed a little apprehensive, but not the least bit hesitant as we moved together. We were both on our knees in the tub and this made her lesser height less of a problem. She came into my arms and I wrapped mine around her, putting my lips to hers for a first deep kiss. Kota kissed me shyly and tentatively. When I licked between her lips it seemed she didn't know what I wanted. I was beginning to get the idea the other men were of the wham bam persuasion. I let my tongue become more insistent and when her lips finally parted slightly I pressed my advantage and pushed it into her mouth. I knew at once she had never experienced this type of kissing. She was at a loss about how to respond so I played my tongue against hers and teased her tongue tip with mine. She warmed up to the game slowly but soon was playing along. I let my tongue retreat, but she only followed so far, not pressing hers into my mouth. I pushed back into her mouth and did it all over and this time, when I retreated she got the hint and followed suit, pressing her tongue into my mouth in kind. When it was in my mouth I sucked gently on her tongue at first and then increased the suction. This hit her as a revelation and she became more aggressive at the play. Later when she retreated and I followed back into her mouth she applied suction to me and as I let my tongue wiggle and squirm in her mouth she decided she liked this whole game. Her arms had been around me, but her hug was more or less perfunctory. As she sucked on my tongue she increased her hold on me appreciably. I found at once she was much stronger than any of my initial group of mates. Her hugging was fierce and it fanned my flames just to think of the difference. My hands dropped from her back and onto her spectacular ass and when I gripped her cheeks she pulled her mouth from mine and moaned loudly, then shoved her pelvis against mine with force, lay her head on my shoulder, and drew in a ragged breath. I pulled her closer with my grip on her ass and as I did she sighed loudly and rolled her hips, trying to press her pussy against anything I had sticking out. My knees were tired of this shit by now and I twisted a little, maneuvering for a grip and finally picked her up with an arm under her back and another under her knees. It was a bitch to stand from this position, but though she was muscular she was still small and I was able to manage her weight easily. I wanted to lay Kota down on something solid to fuck her so I stepped out of the tub. Of course all my other mates were paying attention and I saw Gema pull a big towel from one of the racks and spread it out on the marble surface which surrounded our tubs. Laying Kota on her back on the towel, I knelt beside her, kissing her lips again and finally getting a hand on a big titty. I kissed and nibbled around her lips and throat for a while and as I nipped an earlobe with my teeth I gave a fat nipple a little pinch. I was thinking of doing a little showing off now, so I began traveling down Kota's body, sucking, kissing, and licking all the way. I lingered on her navel to swab it out thoroughly and then descended to and thru her pubes, finding my lips against her lower ones finally. Kota was lost in space by now. I noticed she didn't have any clue where this was leading either and when I reached her slit with my tongue I had to burrow between her legs, which were clamped together. I sensed she was about to say something, but I headed it off by putting a hand on each of her knees and pressing them apart. She resisted slightly at first and then surrendered. When her legs were parted enough I lay between them with my mouth on her pussylips. She bucked up to me as soon as my tongue tip parted her labia. "Oh, John, what are you doing?" Kota moaned. "I'm licking my mate's pussy." ------- Chapter 126 "But why are you doing it, John, why are you licking my pussy?" she asked, moaning again. "I was hoping it would feel good to you and make you glad I was your mate now." "I am glad you are my mate, John, and it does feel good, but I don't know why you are doing it," she said, panting. "I am doing it so you will feel good." "But Timboko never cared if I felt good," she said. "And now he is dead and his mate doesn't even mind so badly. If I am killed maybe you will cry for me after I'm gone." "I'm sure I would, I'm sure we all would but... Her speaking died out as I began stroking from the back of her lips up to the top and across her clitty, giving it a little flick with my tongue tip each time. "Oh, John. Oh, oh, oh." she squeaked each time I flicked her. I didn't keep it up long though. She was more than hot enough to fuck now and I was ready to dispense some come. I moved up her body and as she felt me coming she spread her muscular thighs even wider and her small strong hand captured Dicky and swabbed his head between her lips a few times before placing him where she wanted him. It was hard for me to believe, but I knew at once she would be even tighter than Margeeta had been. Now I wished I had fingered her a little, but I was hoping she was turned on enough to accommodate me with no pain. I pressed myself into her gently and she gasped out." "It is very big and it feels so hot in me - it doesn't hurt though. Push more of it in me, John. I will tell you if it begins hurting," she said, bravely. Kota wasn't the only one who was turned on now and I wanted nothing more than to just shove it up her as hard and fast and far as I could. I knew much better though and I just used a slow gentle pressure. The feeling was exquisite as her pussy parted before Dicky's advance and the walls seemed to be lovingly caressing every inch of my dick as it entered her. I pulled back out after half a stroke and then started in again. Three more partial thrusts found me seated all the way up her with my dickhead mashing against her cervix. Her legs went around me when she felt me bump it and I felt her crushing strength again. I knew from the force of her grip I would never get loose until I pumped some come up her. I began flexing my hips to make long wonderful strokes in her. As her hips began pushing toward me on the thrust, her pussy showed me it had strength of its own. Her tunnel gripped me each time as I withdrew for another pump and it felt like my dickhead was being pulled through numerous soft, but tight rings of heaven all the way out to where I began pushing back in. If Argent expected me to give this woman a long fucking he was going to have to do even more work on my dick. She just felt too good and too demanding inside, but there was no need to drag things out. Even though I'd made less than twenty strokes, Kota was about to go off. Hell, John was about to go off too. When I felt my prostate surge and I knew the come was coming I pushed it back in all the way up her and held on. When Kota sensed what was happening her legs closed on me even more tightly and her arms went around me for a death grip of their own. She pulled my lips to hers and kissed me savagely as her pussy began a milking that would put any De Laval to shame. Dicky just luxuriated in Kota's warm tunnel and his little friend behind him, Mr prostate, filled Kota's waiting tank with sticky fluid. When my charge was dissipated I sagged down onto my new fuckmate and worked my lips down to one of her fat nipples for a little security sucking. I lay on her panting for a while and she seemed perfectly happy with it. When I'd caught my breath enough to take a little weight off her I put some of it on my elbows and kissed her lips again. Her tongue eagerly entered my mouth this time and fought mine to a standstill. At last we untangled and as a spent Dicky slithered out of the pussy he'd been abusing it felt as if the doors slammed shut behind him. As I rolled off Kota and to my back beside her I saw Dieta had already taught one of the twins the method of caring for a freshly used pussy with her mouth. One of the girls was busily licking at her mother's spent slit. Gema inhaled Dicky as I lay back and I saw Dalia and Shelalliea were intending to give the other twin her instructions by using Kota as a tactile aid. I tried to forget all that and concentrate on the glorious feeling Gema was giving my shrinking dick. Gema hadn't learned to deep throat me yet, but she was by far the best at turning my softened dick back into a hard one. It was something about the tender way her lips seemed to caress it and the way her tongue teased it. She was a master of it though and he was climbing again in less than five minutes. He sprang fully to attention though just after Taaheita managed to wiggle her head beneath Gema's to give my balls a good licking and sucking. All my mates were out of the tub and dry by now. We adjourned to the bedroom where I got my first look at the newly expanded bed and room. It was all noticeably larger and there was still plenty of room for all my mates and a few select friends. Eileiea and I were encouraged into the center of the bed and then everyone else piled in. I gave her similar treatment to Kota, but I could tell the difference. Her pussy was every bit as snug, but when we got to the short rows, even though Eileiea seemed just as passionate, her pussy didn't display the same ferocious milking that Kota's had. She did generate an amazing come for herself though and it seemed to baffle her, as if she'd never had one before. Later, while deflowering Yaroola, I found a marker that would let me tell the difference if I was looking at their faces. Yaroola's smile was just a little wider than Yareela's. I was sure with time I would notice other little giveaways, but this was a start. They were both surprising in other ways too. Their hymens were right there to guard their entrances, but penetrating them proved almost painless for both girls. After penetration they were tight of course, but they were not as tight or as muscular inside as the pure Neanderthal women had been. Their hip action was still very forceful when they got revved up, but the motion seemed to have more travel and was smoother than the hard return pounding of the other three. It wasn't they were any more or less enjoyable - they were just enjoyably different. If variety was the spice of life, mine was now so spicy it was practically boiling. After my time with Yaroola and then Yareela I saw the other three new arrivals were anxious to learn the fine art of tending to a recently pleasured pussy. Somehow Eileiea was odd mouth out though. She was very excited when Delia and I made each other come though because Dalia showed her how a pussy should be licked. The sexy tableau was directly responsible for another hardon with almost no help needed from Shelalliea's lip work on my dick. I enjoyed myself with the rest of my mates for the next three hours, but during the night a dream of Kota's fiercely gripping tunnel came up more than once. I'm sure the final dream of my sleep was inspired by Jaada since when I woke it was to a particularly energetic vacuuming of Dicky by her mouth. For the first time in a long time I woke up getting a blowjob and shortly after I woke I was called on to deliver my essence into Jaada's voracious smile. Of course there were new outfits, complete with chain mail, for my new mates this morning. While Jaada was finishing with me I glanced around to see all my mates were donning the mail this morning. The newbies looked spectacular in it and still gave me flashes of lust after they had put on their new dresses. They were very excited about the new clothes and I did my best to get them even more excited as I checked them over thoroughly for perfect fits. When we were all dressed we went out to the kitchen, all except Kota I noticed when I sat to wait for my coffee. Sometime someone or maybe somemany of my mates had told the newbies how to perform the morning naked coffee service special. I spotted Kota, naked now, though I know I'd just seen her fully dressed. She was smiling widely and bringing me a mug of hot coffee. I pulled her into my lap when she had set it down, kissing her soundly and palming a big firm titty. "I love it here already, John. Not only is the atmosphere very much more pleasant, it is actually fun to be around you. You have much more responsibility than Grotondo will ever have, but you bear it so much more easily and always seem to have time to enjoy life," she cooed, as one of my hands found its way between her legs and up to her pussy. She pressed it to my hand when I made contact and was soon doing her own version of a lap dance as I pushed a finger up into her. "You make me so hot so fast, John and I don't understand how or why. Eileiea says she thinks it is because my moon time ended fourteen days ago yesterday. She says I was ripe for a baby starting last night and I hope she is correct. I know I felt you were giving me one for sure while it was happening, but of course we can't know for many days," she said. This little speech had my dick throbbing again and I assaulted her pussy with my fingers, bringing her off in nearly no time. Again I experienced the milking pressure of her inner muscles but this time it was on my finger. It felt just as strong this time as it had last night. She cooed in my ear and nibbled my neck as she tried to recover her breath and I began thinking about what she had said. "Does your moon time always come regularly Kota?" "It is strange, John, but it had not come for over two years and then reappeared again eighteen days ago. It had always been regular until it stopped. I didn't even notice it wasn't coming anymore, but I remembered it had stopped after it started again. Now I hope it doesn't come back until I have a baby," she said, and she sure had the same dreamy look Jaada carried constantly now, though I doubted any stock could be put in it. I doubted I could be so lucky even with Argent's help, still I would be happy if I was. I released Kota then and let her go to clean up and dress again. I saw Eileiea and Yareela followed her to the bedroom. Raalto entered alone almost as soon as the three turned into the bedroom and came over to sit beside me. I nearly laughed when he sat down because I saw him sniff the air with his nose, almost as if he were a dog searching for a scent. No doubt he smelled some of Kota's excitement from just a few minutes before. At least he made no mention of it. "You have done it again John," he spoke up, with no preamble. "Done what?" "You have my mates stirred up again and as you know I am vastly outnumbered now," he said, grimly. "What are they stirred up about?" "They want me to ask you for some salt and if I get it they intend to send me off in your trail to find at least one mate from the other people to join us," he said, but was smiling now. "Well what do you think of it?" "I'm not sure, but I was almost afraid to come in here this morning," he said. "But why?" I asked, curious now. "I'm afraid when I see one of you new mates in her new outfit I will weaken and agree with them. At least none of them seem to be out here now," he said, sounding relieved. His relief was short lived since I saw Yaroola was headed his way with a mug of coffee for him. He watched her all the way as she came and sat his mug down. She was timid about it, but she did bend down and give me a good kiss. From the direction her ass was pointed I'm sure Raalto got a wonderful view of it and if she hadn't been clued in about the thongs he probably got a good look at her pussy too. She left us after the kiss without speaking. I saw though her backside had no trouble getting the message across to Raalto. "So do you have enough salt for another woman from their camp, John, or must I go and find a sea somewhere?" Raalto asked, after Yaroola left. "At the rate I was charged for Margeeta and her twins, I have enough salt already for a hundred of their women, maybe more. The only trouble is there are only three more unmated women in the camp. I also think I should talk to Brundolo first so we can make sure we don't trade for a woman if it is one he hopes to get. We will be better off if we can get a partially normal relationship going with their camp." "You are right of course and I don't know why, but I have taken a liking to the young man though I haven't even really spoken to him. He just seems so earnest and conscientious. I wouldn't dream of interfering in his hopes," Raalto said. "Well if he does have one of them in mind, trading for one or both of the others might help him. There is another unmated man in the camp though and I don't know how many soon to be men or women there are. I'm sure I can find out from my new mates though." "I will appreciate any information you can get for me then," he said. Barago was in next and he was also alone. It was as if he and Raalto had already spoken of this together because when Raalto saw Barago he suddenly remembered he needed to go back to his quarters and get something. Barago was no sooner seated than I began hearing a remarkably familiar tale. I had to bite my tongue to keep a straight face. Surprisingly Margeeta came over and gave Barago the same treatment Yaroola had given Raalto. She brought him a cup of coffee and I'm sure she purposely gave him a view of her assets as she kissed me before rejoining my other mates. I gave Barago the same spiel I'd given Raalto, but in my mind I knew I had better speak to Georgo and also go over the video feeds to try and find another Neanderthal camp. ------- Chapter 127 It was obvious to me, from the fact my mates had all put on their mail this morning, they intended to come along on our trip to fetch my newest mate's things. I had a feeling I should forbid it, but changed my mind. After breakfast I asked Raalto, Racaato, Barago, Danlo, and Daaggo to come along also and I was taking Sahto and Talvo to do the wrangling, teach Brundolo to lead a travois horse, and drive the wagon. We would be taking the big wagon and one travois horse, Dolly. I decided all the men plus Dieta, Roweea, Ameliea, and Delia should go mounted and let the others ride in the wagon. Maia and Merita wanted to saddle up also and so I let them. The rest seemed happy with a wagon ride. Talvo would drive there while Sahto walked with Brundolo giving him instructions in leading a horse while it pulled a travois. I asked Racaato to leave on foot a little ahead of us to see if he could find some game we could use to hold the travois down and help give Brundolo an idea of the real experience. We gave him an hour lead and then left at a walk. We hadn't gone far before I heard the faint echo of a rifle shot and then another a few seconds later. When we got to the area of our logging venture Racaato was sitting on the other side of the stream. He signaled and Sahto led Dolly and Brundolo over to meet him. They disappeared into the woods through one of the newly cleared trails the logging had required and they were gone for about forty-five minutes. When they returned there were two big boars on the travois. I was tempted to turn around and take them back to our camp, but decided to push on and let them be another gift for Grotondo. I hitched Red to the wagon and when we moved off again I walked with Brundolo and got him started leading with a load. I wanted to help him learn this, but I also wanted to talk with him about the unmated women which were still in his camp. I didn't speak for a while, letting us fall just a little behind. "Brundolo, I want to ask you some things about your camp if you don't mind telling me." "I don't mind and I will tell you anything that I can," he said. "Now, since my main helpers have seen my new mates from your camp some of them are interested in trading for a mate also. I told them there were only three unmated women there now and I wouldn't trade for any of them until I knew more about your status for a mate. Will one of those unmated women be your mate?" I asked clumsily, not really knowing a better way to do it. "I am surprised and honored you would think of me, but I will not mate any of those women. I'm sure I will have a mate soon, but it will not be one of them. Gratata and Eileiea have both told Grotondo all three of them are too closely related to me to be my mate. "Grotondo had planned on trading with another camp of our people for unmated women. Of course he was glad you traded for Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola because he was afraid no other camp would trade for them," Brundolo said. "Why would they be difficult to trade? Is it because Yareela and Yaroola look somewhat like our people?" "No. It is because Margeeta's former mate was killed in a hunting accident and it was almost as if he was addled at the time it happened, as if he were not paying attention to the hunt," he said. "Why would that make any difference?" "Some say Margeeta is unlucky. I do not think it, but it is what some say. I would say she is probably the luckiest of any of our people. After all, you traded for her as a mate and what could be any luckier for a woman?" he asked. "But that is now, did you think she was unlucky before?" "Not especially. I am glad you traded for her though because she might have been given to me as a mate if you hadn't. It isn't because I think she wouldn't have made a good mate, but she is older and it would have been a little uncomfortable for me. "I am also glad you traded for Yareela and Yaroola because if either one of them had been given to me then I would have a mate who was taller than me. It would have made me uncomfortable too." "What will Grotondo do now since he has traded most of the women away, will he still be able to trade for some unmated women?" "He will be even more able to trade now. I do not mean any disrespect, John, but you gave very much more for Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola than any of my people would have." "I see, but in my defense I did later get two mates for free." This shocked him for a moment, but then I saw realization come across his face. "You did, didn't you - did you plan it?" he asked, and then seemed to wish he hadn't. "I did not plan it, but I am not afraid to kill a man who offends me as those two did and I am not sorry to have Kota and Eileiea as mates." "I didn't think you had, but the question just came out of my mouth before I knew what I was asking," he said, apologizing. "Don't trouble yourself over it. I didn't mind at all. Do you think Grotondo would trade the other unmated women?" "If you trade as you did before he will. Salt is very precious and you gave him much salt, besides, the camp he is planning on trading with is larger and they have seven unmated women and no unmated men. There are three boys who will be men before long, probably next summer, but there are many girls who will soon be women there also," he told me. "Have you seen the unmated women from the other camp?" "Yes, and I have a favorite, but I'm not sure Grotondo can or will trade for her. Boys are always warned not to tell the women, but they can ask for a certain mate and if the leader sees no problem he will often give the woman to the man who asks for her. Not always, but often. Sometimes the young man will be required to do something for the leader later though," he said. This was an insight into a hidden part of their culture, but I wasn't surprised about it. In fact I would have been surprised if there weren't some way for a type of favoritism to be shown. I was pretty sure now Brundolo would get exactly the woman he wanted, no matter what she cost. I whistled to get attention and when everyone stopped I called Danlo to me and then walked off from Brundolo. "Danlo I need for you to go back to camp for me and get something. We will keep walking and you can catch back up to us before we reach their camp." "What should I get?" he asked. "Go back and hitch the Morgans to Georgo's buckboard and load two of the large containers of salt into it then come back to us?" "I will be back as soon as I can," he said. "You can run the mare, Jezebel, back to camp and then after you are in the buckboard the Morgans can catch up to us easily with their fast trot." He heeled the mare and they were gone in seconds. I signaled the others and we resumed the journey. We had only barely made the first turn up toward the Neanderthal's location when Danlo was back with us. His errand took him less than two hours. When he caught up I signaled again and we all trotted the rest of the way. Brundolo had a little trouble getting Dolly to trot, but once he got her started it was almost automatic. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but when we made the last turn toward their former camp I could see all my new mates sat a little taller in the wagon. We caused quite a stir when we rode and rolled up to the camp. There were a few women outside and they dropped what they were doing and rushed into the cave. Grotondo and several of the other men were outside in what seemed only seconds. He spotted me on Red's back quickly and stood just outside the cave's mouth with his mouth hanging open. I rode up near him and signaled Talvo to bring the wagon up close also, and then I signaled for Brundolo to come up with the horse and travois right to the cave's mouth. "It is good to see you again, Grotondo. Racaato, one of my main helpers, had some luck hunting on the way here and we have two big boars for you. They would probably spoil before we got them back to our camp." Grotondo was still speechless and I was afraid the fright had done him some permanent damage. All my mates began to get out of the wagon then and everyone else dismounted also, except Racaato and Barago. They stayed put on their mounts with their M1s lying across their laps. "I didn't know you were such a powerful shaman, John, I thank you for not killing us all when you were here before," Grotondo said, and I was afraid he was going to kneel or something. "I am not a shaman. I know some things others don't know, but I am not a shaman." "But you come here riding on the back of a horse, many of you are riding them and others are riding on something the horses are pulling at your bidding," he said. "You see Brundolo leading one of the horses bringing the boars don't you? Is he a shaman?" "I am confused now. I don't think Brundolo was a shaman before he left with you," he admitted. "We caught these horses in a pen we made and have trained them to do as we wish. It is not difficult, but it takes some time. You can see how helpful it is to have them for doing this work. That is what I am teaching Brundolo and he is learning quickly, but he will need to go back with us for a few more days." "It is good he is learning, but will he know how to catch a horse and make it do as he wishes after he has learned from you?" he asked. "He will know how it is done, but he won't have any experience doing it. We will get together next spring or summer and teach him more about it. Until he can catch and train his own horses I will be giving him a horse and travois." "What is a travois?" he asked. "It is what the horse is pulling to carry the boars." "I can see it might be useful and if it isn't horsemeat is good also," Grotondo said. "If you run so short of meat you feel you must eat the horse all you need to do is have him ride it to my camp and we will send you plenty of meat. You can see how much the horse can help you if you will think about it. "Your hunters can let Brundolo carry kills back from their hunting and they won't have to clean it or carry it. The meat can be processed when it gets back to camp and the hunters can keep hunting if they need to. "In fact younger boys can lead the horse. Brundolo will be able to teach them after he had learned. It will give the young ones something useful to do and no doubt cut down on their mischief." The light shined for him then and I believe he caught on more quickly than Gigo and Dergo had. He was all smiles and somehow it looked a little strange on his face. He called for some of his men to take care of the boars then and they actually seemed happy about it too. I introduced all my helpers and then all my mates to Grotondo then. He was surprised again when he saw how many mates I had, but he didn't mention it. All the women headed inside then to get my new mates packed up and I asked Grotondo if I could speak with him, apart from all the others, about more trading. He was glad to agree and we walked on back farther into the cul-de-sac portion of his territory. "What would you like to trade for now John?" he asked, when we found a place to sit down. "More mates, of course." "But you have so many already," he said. "Now, since I have some mates of your people, many of my helpers would like one also." "You seem to have many helpers and we only have three more unmated women here. We would trade them though if we can come to an understanding," he admitted. "I'm sure we can come to an understanding even though I'm sure you will get the best of me." We talked back and forth for a time while he argued I had got the better of him. Then I let him in on the rest of my plan. "I would like your help trading, Grotondo. Do you know of another camp of your people where there might be more unmated women they would trade?" "Yes, I know of such a camp. In fact, I am planning to visit them soon. Gratata has told me it will be better if I find a different mate for Brundolo. I have heard they have seven unmated women there and no unmated men now," he told me, as Brundolo had. "I would like to trade for the three unmated women still at your camp and when you go to the other camp I want you to trade for all the unmated women they will trade. If you can trade for all of them then do it." "But it will be very expensive to trade for all of them, what will I trade? Even though you gave me much salt for Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola it is not enough to trade for seven women," he told me. ------- Chapter 128 I led him to the buckboard then and after opening the tops I showed him the two fifty pound containers. When I opened one and he saw it was salt he was stunned. "How can you have so much salt? I have never seen as much in all my life!" he exclaimed. "Salt is very heavy, but with a wagon to carry it and horses to pull the wagon it is no trouble to carry a lot of it at one time." Of course it was true, but it had nothing to do with the question he asked. It wasn't the way I had come by the salt. I let him draw his own conclusion though. "I see. I can easily trade for all the women with this salt and have very much left over. I will not need but one of these containers for the women. Kartoto will be so surprised to see so much salt he will be overwhelmed. "I will probably only even take one container there to trade. It will keep him from wanting it all. In fact, I might not trade him all of one container for the seven women. Without mates they are a burden to his camp and I think he has eight or nine young girls which will probably be women by next year and only three boys who are likely to become men." "How did he end up having so many more females than males?" "He does not understand it and I don't either. Of course it happened more than twelve years ago. He wasn't even the leader when so many more girls than boys were born. Some say the leader at the time gave up his leadership as soon as he thought Kartoto could lead the camp. "He was sure he had done something wrong or he had become unlucky for his people. It only lasted for three years though. Still, there are many females there who will never have mates unless some of them leave," he told me. "Then I want you to trade for any female he will trade. I don't care if they won't become women for two more years. If he will trade them, get them. I don't think you should take so many he will end up with boys who will become men and have no woman to mate, but do as you see fit." "He will have to be the judge of it - he knows his camp better than anyone and I don't think he would let it happen, but I can tell you soon you will have all the unmated women in his camp and many girls also - more girls than women in fact. I will not try to tell you about your camp either though. You surely know it well. I will do as you ask," he promised. "For your help I will give you all the salt you do not have to use in trade and if you need to use it all I have much more. I will also bring you ten whole bison for helping me, but I have one more request. I would like for you to ask Brundolo and Sarboto if they have a favorite among the women you trade for and if they do I am asking you to give them the one they want." "I know Brundolo has a favorite, but I know Sarboto doesn't," he told me, and it got my curiosity up at once. "How can you be sure?" "I will tell you, but I would never tell it to any of my people. Sarboto is a good young man and he is a good hunter, but Sarboto will never take a mate. For some reason he has no desire for a woman. Please do not tell this since I am ashamed of it," he implored. "You have nothing to be ashamed of and neither does he. The spirits decide these things and we can have no control over them. There is one man in my camp and one boy who are the same as Sarboto. Is he the only one like it in your camp?" "Yes, and I am glad of it. I have no animosity toward Sarboto, but I feel uneasy around him. I am also a little sad for him," he said. "Why not let him come back with us then? He may enjoy the company of one of the others in my camp who are like him." "You would take him in?" he asked. "Yes, I would be glad to have him in my camp. I do not think it would be right to trade for him, but I will make sure you do not want for his help as a hunter." "We have no trouble getting meat in this place and we would not miss his hunting even though he has already proved to be one of the best at finding and stalking game. I will ask him to return to your camp with Brundolo and he may stay if he likes," Grotondo said. "Very well, I will trade you as much salt for the three unmated women here as you want and I'm asking you to trade with Kartoto for me, for all the women and girls he will trade. "I will make sure you have plenty of salt and the ten bison and I will give Brundolo a horse and a travois to bring back with him when he returns to you after he has learned how to use and care for the horses. I will even send four wagon loads of the grass hay we have cut so you can feed the horse during the winter." "I had not considered it, but I can see now I will need to be thinking of it. It would do no good to have horses and have nothing to feed them. Will you tell Brundolo how it is gathered?" "Yes and you will not have to gather as much as we do. In your valley the horse can probably find enough to eat on its own since nothing else can graze in here. You will have much standing grass and the horse can eat it except for the times when the snow is too high. "I will show Brundolo how to cut and cure the hay for the times when there is too much snow for the horse to find it on its own." "You are very easy to trade with, John, you should come more often to trade with me," he said, and almost laughed. "You should have more women to trade," I told him, and did laugh. "That is another thing, John, about Kartoto's camp. There are three women there who have lost their mates. One lost her mate this year and the other two lost theirs more than two years ago. "They are all good women and two of them have children, but they will never have another mate in his camp and likely never have one at all. Would you like for me to trade for them also?" he asked. I almost asked how old they were, but then didn't. Hell it was no trouble to feed three more women and even if they were old and no one wanted them I would take them just to make sure they had enough to eat, especially the two who had children. Hell if they still had young children they couldn't be very old anyway. "Yes, by all means trade for them too. Are you sure you will have enough salt?" "I am sure. It will need only a token amount for the three women whose mates have been killed. They are good women, but after what has happened to their mates many people feel they are unlucky. If you do not mind we might even try to kill some bison or aurochs or other game for part of the trade and keep more of the salt for ourselves," he said. "I do not care how you do it and if you need another canister of salt tell me so and I will send it down here for you. In fact I think I will send you another anyway. I will also be bringing you a valuable gift no one else can give you. We had some misunderstandings at first, but I would like for us to be friendly. Nothing can be gained by fighting among ourselves and I have plenty and don't mind sharing it." "You seem so young, John, but you have the wisdom of one who is much older. I will be proud if we can be friendly and I will try to make it happen," he promised. "I will also. I think now we should have the salt unloaded and put in your cave. Will you tell the three women we have traded while I have some of my men bring the salt?" "I will tell the three unmated women to pack up their things to move to your camp and I will tell Sarboto I want him to go stay with your people for a while so he can also learn new things. "Tomorrow some of my men and I will travel to Kartoto's camp and trade for as many women as I can. I'm sure it will be more than you are expecting," he said, and actually grinned. "Do you want Brundolo to stay with the horse to carry the salt for you tomorrow?" "No, I do not want anything to seem out of the ordinary to Kartoto. It will seem strange enough I want to trade for so many women. I hope to get the deal made before he wonders too much about why I want to trade and why I have so much salt," he said. I was feeling a little like a pimp about now. I don't know why I hadn't felt guilty about trading for Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola, but I hadn't. I did feel a twinge of guilt now though. I decided even though I had traded for more women I was going to explain to them they would not be required to mate with any man in my camp they didn't want to mate. It would probably be a shock to them and I thought I might let Eileiea tell them and then verify it to them later if they had trouble believing it. I called Racaato, Raalto, Barago, Danlo, and even Sahto and Talvo over and explained the current trade to them and told them of the other trade that Grotondo was going to make for us. I also told them I wouldn't force any woman, even those I traded for, to mate anyone and I told them I would be explaining it to all the women. I also informed them if they wanted one of them for a mate they would have to deal with the women concerning the mating price. They all seemed to understand this better than I did so I thought no more about it. I called to Daaggo then and told him about Sarboto coming to stay with us. I made it clear I wasn't trying to be a matchmaker, but I did want him to understand in case he wanted to get to know Sarboto later. He was speechless and for a time I didn't know if he was happy or mad about what I'd said. Soon enough all the women's things were in the wagon and then all the women were too, except for those of my mates who had come on horseback. They were mounted though and so were the men. We said a quick goodbye and left. I signaled for a trot from the first this time though and we were home much more quickly than the trip down there this morning. It was still after two when we got back though. My mates had cooking on their minds instead of unpacking. Some of them did anyway. Dalia, Delia, Roweea, Geera, Waaya, and Jaada started rattling the pots and pans almost as soon as we were stopped and the others took care of the unloading. I asked them to get Danlo and Sahto something quick so they could go back and take the other canister of salt. I was pretty sure the Morgans could get there and back before sunset since there would only be fifty pounds of salt in the buckboard. I had them take a couple of the big lights with them just in case and I also loaned Danlo the night vision goggles, taking a few minutes to explain how they worked to him. After the unloading I saw Eileiea, Kota, Margeeta, and Kateata were shepherding the three new women around and showing them the sites. I wondered why Yareela and Yaroola weren't helping, but then I saw them in the kitchen watching the cooking with sharp eyes. I sat at the table by Georgo who was there already and Jaada set a mug of coffee near me almost at once. She gave me a big smile and a big kiss and then returned to the kitchen. "Well, John, it seems every time you leave you come back with more women," Georgo teased me. "You don't know the half of it, Georgo," I said, and then explained the details of my plans with Grotondo. In spite of himself Georgo was shocked, but he was nodding his head in approval by the end of the tale. I even noticed him eyeing one of the new unmated women while my mates were leading them around, their eyes wide in wonderment the whole time. "Are you picking one out for yourself Georgo?" I asked. "Why, John, I'm the shaman, I need to know everyone who lives in this camp," he said, and tried to act offended. "Don't try that on me, Georgo," I told him, and then he laughed. "I do not need another mate, John, but I can tell Ladeliea and the others will not rest until I find one of these women to join us. They have already began badgering me about it, saying I should do some traveling, as Dotallto is, and visit one of the camps of the other people. It will be worse now and when they find out how many women are coming later it will be decided," he said, but he didn't look disappointed about it. "Maybe you can hold them off until one of the girls that is coming becomes a woman next year," I offered. "That is an excellent idea, John, there is no rush at all is there?" he asked. "Not unless they all get claimed by others and I'm sure you know of other camps and if you don't Grotondo does. I have a feeling he can gather up all the women of his race we need. They seem to have more women than men anyway." "Actually, we do also, but you have been doing a good job of cutting down the difference on your own," he said, and laughed aloud this time and I joined him. "I'm pretty sure we will have another wagon load of women the day after tomorrow. I haven't even looked to see if the unmated women's quarters is large enough for all of them," I said. "If it isn't they can probably find room in your bed," he said, giving me another good shot. "Well, I can always ask Ladeliea to host a few, I'm sure she won't mind." "All right, I surrender," he said. The arrival of food cut our talking short and I dug in for the duration. As always, after being late for a meal I stuffed myself, but I could tell I was in good company. I was pretty sure all of the others had seen many more hungry times than I could even dream of, but I held up my end of the gluttony. Especially since we might not have another meal today after eating lunch so late in the day. I was willing to bet I could talk one of my mates into making me a little snack before bed though if I needed to. ------- Chapter 129 After the meal I disappeared into my office with a cup of coffee. Dieta tried to get me to take one of the new unmated Neanderthal women in for an interview and I told her they would be treated just like any other unmated woman in our camp - explaining I hadn't traded for them for me, but so they could come here to live and I hoped some of the other men might want to take them as mates. She was disappointed at first and then she perked up considerably. "Do you mean they will be exactly like other unmated women here? A man will have to approach them and ask them to be his mate or one of his mates if he has one or more all ready? The women will get to set a mating price for her and then we will have a regular mating ceremony?" she asked. "It is exactly what I mean. They should be treated as any other unmated woman in this camp, though I think they will get a little more attention than some of those who are already here." "They are already getting more attention. Raalto and Racaato are sniffing around them like male wolves already, and even Caato and Barago are paying them all the attention they can without being obvious. Colonto isn't even trying to hide his interest," Dieta said, and laughed. "Can you keep a secret - not from my other mates, but from everyone else?" "You know I can," she said. "If you tell any of my other mates, be sure they know to keep it a secret too. Tomorrow, Grotondo is going to another Neanderthal camp to trade for more of their women on my behalf, and all the women he trades for will be coming here. "He thinks there will be seven unmated women and three mated women who have lost their mates - two of them have children. He is also going to trade for many young girls who will become women soon. He thinks there may be as many as nine girls who should become women next year and only three boys in that camp will be likely to become men soon." "Oh, John, I can't believe it. Some of the women have children? You must ask one of them to be your mate. We are all dying to have some children here with us, please John," Dieta said, actually begging. "But Dieta, Jaada will be having a baby soon and maybe someone else will too." "Yes, but you have so many mates, John, and Jaada will only have one baby, two at the very most and that is unlikely. The rest of us won't get very much time with the baby and there have not been many babies born here lately. "I didn't even realize it until Jaada told us she thought she would be having one soon. My babies are grown now, as you surely know, since you fucked both of them last night. It has been so long since I held a little one," she told me, pleading still. "Well, maybe I should give you another baby of your own then," I said, caressing her ass a little. "I wish you could, but I think I am too old to have a baby now," she said. "How old are you Dieta?" "I am almost twenty-nine summers, John. I am too old to have another baby now, even though I wish I weren't," she said. "I'll bet I can get a baby started in you, but even so, if one of the women with children will have me I will try to take one of them as a another mate, just for you. You realize we don't know how old the children might be. What if they are too old for you to hold a lot?" "I guess we should wait and see then, but if they are still young ones you will remember you said you would take one," she said, not wanting to let it get lost in the shuffle. "I said I would ask her. I will not take any woman who doesn't want me." "As if there were any chance of it happening. The others and I will trust to our luck for that. Once she sees your dick and Margeeta and the others tell her what you can do with it she will be begging you to take her as a mate," she said. "We will see what happens, but I don't think you should tell even my other mates about this. I want to ask Jaada if she has any reservations before I try to take one of the widows with children as another mate." "Ask Jaada anything you like. She has worried for weeks because there isn't a young one in camp she can practice holding. Even Jaada will be pestering you if the women's children are still babies, wait and see," Dieta told me, and smiled her widest. Dieta left me then and I went into my office. I didn't want to bother Argent, but I had to know more about which women he had switched back to reproductive capability. He answered as soon as I typed in a message. "John we are elated over what you have done in the past few days. We couldn't have hoped for such a wonderful outcome," he said, at once. "Yeh, yeh, yeh, and you can't tell me why it was so great. I don't even care anymore, well maybe a little, but it isn't what I wanted to talk about. Now, I know about Jaada, but I have to ask if there are others who are pregnant. I don't need to know who or even if the pregnant ones are my mates, but I do need to know how many are now fertile if you can tell me." "Of course I can tell you, John. There are currently three women who are fertile, but you should know there will always be three fertile women until you get them all pregnant. "You do remember none of the men were reactivated don't you, and any pregnant women will be carrying your child?" he asked. "Yes, I am the one who asked for it." "You asked us to only activate three women at a time and the first three women we returned to fertility are all pregnant, two of the next three are also pregnant and one of those we reinstated afterward is pregnant now too," he told me. "What do you mean? Are you saying as soon as one gets pregnant you activate another one right away?" "Of course, isn't it what you wanted? We can tell within twelve hours when a woman is pregnant and as soon as we know we activate another woman," he said, and I'll swear I could tell he was smiling about it even though our conversation was via text messages. "I should have known you would be very prompt, extremely prompt. I hope not all of them are my mates." "No they aren't, but of course your mates make up the majority," he said. "Thanks for the small favor anyway. The next question is whether any of my mates are too old to have children?" "Even without any interference from us all of your mates can still conceive and will be able to for years yet. Dalia is your oldest mate at thirty-one and Shelalliea is thirty-one also, but a few months younger than Dalia," he said. "What about Dieta?" I asked, since she was on my mind. "What about Dieta? What do you want to know about her?" he asked, and I thought he might be stalling. "Can she still get pregnant?" I asked. "Without a doubt and Geera too. As I said all of your current mates are still able to get pregnant and if they weren't able to for some reason we could remedy any problem they had." "Good. The only thing is I don't want them all to end up pregnant at the same time - not all of my mates anyway. Please try to string them out a little." "We have already done it John. We have a schedule prepared already and even if they all end up technically pregnant at the same time you won't notice it so much," he told me. "What in the hell does technically pregnant mean? A woman is either pregnant or not, isn't she?" "Well, it is true, but usually no one knows for at least six weeks or more. That is what I was referring to. Since we know within twelve hours we have a slightly different way of looking at it," he explained. "Now I see you fully intend to let every one of my mates get pregnant as soon as you can satisfy yourself you have cleared my objections, if only through a technicality. Well good. I don't mind it a bit. I just want to make sure at least some of them will still be able to give me a little attention over the long haul." "We will make sure of it for you, but you can help us out by taking a few more mates," he said. "A few more mates? I just got five more yesterday." "Yes, John, but what have you done for us lately?" he said, but I knew damned well he was yanking my chain. "Ok, Argent, are you trying to go into comedy again?" "I'm sorry, but I heard the phrase during our studies of earth prior to contacting you - I couldn't get it out of my mind. The situation just begged me to use it." "Well, Dieta is already nagging me about taking one of the women with children which Grotondo says he can trade for. I guess I might as well. What do you know about these women?" "We couldn't help overhear your conversation with Grotondo and the recent one with Dieta. We have looked into the situation in the other camp since then. Due to an unfortunate accident just nine days ago there are now four widows in the camp and three of them have young children. "The one who was lately widowed was one of the last ones to have a child before we halted reproductive fertility here. She has twins who are just now approaching fourteen months old. I'm sure Dieta and all your other mates would love for her to join you as another mate," he said. "My mates would think it was grand if every woman in this camp became one of my mates. They act as if it would be fine if I killed every man here to take their women. Have my mates contacted you directly and are you all plotting against me?" I asked him, point blank. "Why, John, you know it isn't the case, but we do hear everything they say to each other and we know what is on their minds. We aren't demanding anything from you and we let you make all decisions on the ground," he said, and the tone of his message made it seem he might be offended. "I'm sorry, Argent, I didn't mean to imply collusion among you and my mates even though I felt it was at least possible. I don't suppose it matters anyway. As long as you try to keep my mate's pregnancies spaced out I guess things will be fine." "Good, I was hoping we hadn't had a misunderstanding," he said. "We haven't, I'm just a little anxious sometimes." "Do you need anything else now?" he asked. "I want to know how the sawmill plans are coming. I might try to get it going this winter after all. As it turns out we were able to get quite a few logs with the horses and equipment we already had." "We noticed and we also know there is a much bigger forest upriver which has many deadfalls in it also. It has the advantage that the river runs close to it and the current will do all the transporting for you with only a little guidance from men with pike poles," he told me. "I can tell you have been studying logging techniques since we last talked about the sawmill." "I didn't do the research, but the one who did was very thorough and we had several discussions about it. I'm sure we can put the sawmill into place anytime you get ready for it," he assured me. "I'll keep it in mind then and I don't guess I need to bother you about anything else." Argent signed off then and I was alone with my thoughts. I clicked on the video icon and began looking for Danlo. He was already headed back and in fact was more than half way here. The Morgans looked grand with their high stepping trot and I watched them for a while. They were beautiful animals. Shaking off my daydream I took a gander at Caato's old camp where the mated couples had decided to stay. They were about to eat their evening meal and I saw there were still just the four men and their mates. Switching to a view of Raalto's former camp, the one which had given us so much trouble since he traded his huts to Jakado, I saw someone had disassembled every hut and everything else there and taken it away. I couldn't tell which way they'd taken it and I didn't find any new camps nearby. I did notice Barbo's old camp was gone too. There was nothing there either. It made me wonder, but not much. We had told Cardiato, after Jakado was killed, his camp was welcome to the huts. I didn't know whether they had taken them, but I could ask one of those who had now joined us from the camp later. I stayed in my office until I saw Danlo and Sahto were coming into camp. I left and went out to meet them. They said their trip had been uneventful and Grotondo had invited them to stay the night, but they had told him they were expected back. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and I mostly sat with my coffee, watching my mates show the unmated women around our cave. Kota, Eileiea, Margeeta, and the twins stayed closest to them - no doubt they were trying to soften the effects of the drastic changes the new women were in for. Raalto, Racaato, Barago, and Caato spent most of the time with me. I was pretty sure they were watching the new women mostly. My mates delighted me about an hour after sunset by starting up in the kitchen. The new women were fascinated, but they weren't any happier to see a cooking demonstration than I was to see it getting started. I wasn't as concerned with exactly what was happening as they were, but I was always happy when something began going on in the kitchen. Most of my mates were near me when we ate tonight and I felt better about it. They did put the three unmated women closest to me, but they managed to keep the others from rooting them out of their spots tonight. I didn't notice any of the process so I'm not sure how it was achieved - I just knew all my mates were close enough I could speak to them without having to shout. I didn't mind so much in the mornings at breakfast, but at the end of the day I didn't need to talk to any men and didn't particularly want to. At the evening meal at least, I had my women on my mind and the rest of the camp could take care of itself for a while. After the meal was over and the dishwashers were fed I was basically alone for a few minutes while my mates helped the new women get settled into the unmated women's quarters. I knew they were reinforcing our customs to them about having the last say on whether they wanted to be a man's mate or not. It was something the new members were going to need to know almost right away since I knew offers would be coming their way as early as tomorrow. Raalto came back over about then and though we really didn't need any more coffee, it was a habit and being short of mates for the moment I headed to the pot. Ladeliea made her presence known though and told me she was taking care of me until my mates came back. She brought Raalto and I a mug of coffee each and I got a little feel of her ass as she set them down. She promptly gave me a good kissing while I was at it and apparently couldn't care less about Raalto watching. "What have you done with Georgo?" I asked, after we finished swapping spit. "He is off with your mates and the unmated other women trying to give the new ones a crash course in our customs. They are having a hard time believing you will not simply assign them a mate," she said, and giggled. "Much as I would like to be the all powerful leader, it is something I am not going to become entangled in. I would probably end up assigning all the women to myself." "But John, all of us do not need to be one of your mates. It would be a little more convenient if we all lived on the same side of the canyon though. At least the new bridge keeps a poor girl from having to wade to give you a late night visit," Ladeliea said, and giggled. "Your wisdom constantly surprises me, John. I knew all along the bridge would be very useful, but I'll admit I hadn't considered how helpful it would be to the women," Raalto said, and laughed. Ladeliea left us then and as soon as Raalto and I could stop laughing among ourselves we enjoyed a little silence while we sipped the hot coffee. "Would you like a little advice and advanced information, Raalto?" I asked him, after a few minutes. "Always." ------- Chapter 130 "You know because of the bargain I made with Grotondo today there will soon be many more unmated women and girls of the others in our camp. There will also be four widows among them and three of the widows have children. "Discussions with my mates have let me know my life would be much more peaceful if I were to take one of the widows who has children. If you ask among your mates you might find the same would be true for you." "I am very glad you shared this information with me and I don't even have to ask my mates. I am sure if I were to gain a mate with children I would see the benefits almost at once," he said, smiling. "A word to the wise has done it then?" "Many times over and I am very much in your debt - Colonto is determined to get one of the three who came today and he will only benefit from it for a day or two. He won't even be mated to the woman before the others arrive," Raalto said, and then laughed loudly. "Cariea can be impatient and at least Colonto will be able to say she got what she demanded." My mates and Georgo came back in then so Raalto and I decided listening instead of talking would be prudent for a while. As my mates began discussing things among themselves he decided he was probably needed in his quarters. I cautioned him not to share his new information and he assured me he wouldn't. As Georgo sat down Ladeliea brought him a mug of coffee too and then she joined the throng since a hen party was being called to order. Georgo and I gossiped a little ourselves and when I told him about the missing huts from both the other two abandoned camp sites he didn't have any clue about who took them either. I would have to try and find out about Barbo's old huts tomorrow at least. Soon enough we were all headed for bed and though I'd always been afraid if I got too many mates it would end up seeming a chore. It hadn't come to it yet. We all had a lovely time after we were naked and even Kota, Eileiea, Margeeta, Yareela, and Yaroola were more into the swing of things tonight. I was tired, but happy when I drifted off to sleep. I'd noticed a slight difference in Kota tonight though. Her pussy's milking action wasn't as remarkable tonight as it had been the night before, but I passed it off to her not being as excited tonight. I thought I might need to try harder. I woke before sunrise the next morning and I was the first one conscious. I had plenty of mates keeping me warm this morning - all of them were still in bed with me. Somehow I managed to get out of bed without waking them, except Jaada. I didn't realize she was awake, but as soon as I was standing I saw her on the edge of the bed and she was getting up also. "I thought I had made good my escape." "Not from me you haven't - besides, who will make your coffee if all your mates stay in bed?" she asked, grinning and then kissing me. "I'm the one who taught all of you to make it, remember?" "I remember, but it isn't right for a camp's leader, with so many mates, to have to make his own coffee," she said. "But no other camp leader even knows about coffee." "It is still better if one of us serves you and it is your right. I don't mind getting up to make your coffee and neither would any of the others and I will have you all to myself for a few minutes," she said, smiling again. I put on my clothes while Jaada was heading naked toward the kitchen. I was seated at the table in a few minutes and it was only a few more before she brought me a mug of coffee and sat in my lap. We kissed and petted for a little and then I got a sip of coffee. "Dieta has told me you need a little one to practice with before yours arrives." "It would be fun, but I don't know of any little ones in our camp anywhere," she said. "Well I know there will be more women from the other people here in a day or two and I also know there will be four widows among them and three of the widows have children." "Oh, would you please take one of them for a mate. You don't have enough mates yet and it would be so good if there were some children here," she said. "Your baby will be here sooner than you think Jaada and I'm pretty sure there are others among my mates who will soon find they have a baby on the way." "Who, who else will have a baby soon?" she asked, almost frantic with excitement. "I don't know who, but I know there are others." "But how do you know?" she asked. "I know because the spirits sent me a dream where I was surrounded by babies and their mothers and the first one I saw was you with a baby in your arms." "Are you sure the spirits sent you this dream? I didn't know the spirits sent you dreams," she said. "The spirits sent me a dream about the bathrooms before they came and they sent me a dream about the practice cave before it came and they have sent me many other dreams." "Then you must be a shaman, John," she said. "No, I am not a shaman, the spirits have also told me that. They tell me I am to be the leader here and it is why they sent the buckboard for Georgo and for Dotallto - it is because they want them to remain shaman and they want me to remain the leader here. They have let me know this more than once." "I have never even heard of a shaman saying the spirits spoke so strongly to him. You must do as they say of course. They have been better to us here than they have ever been to any camp I have heard of," she said. "Yes, they have, and it is how I know there will soon be more of my mates than you with babies on the way, but yours is to be the first." We heard Dalia coming out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen then. When she spied us she came over. I knew Jaada was dying to tell her what I had revealed and so I asked her to do it. Poor Jaada was so excited she could hardly speak slowly enough for Dalia to understand and when she had finally finished I saw Dalia had a wistful look in her eyes. "I only wish I thought I was still young enough to have a baby for you, John," Dalia said. "Well then, I will make your wish come true." "Oh, John, it would be so good to have another baby, but I am too old now," she sighed. "You are not too old, none of my mates are too old to have babies and I will soon prove it to all of you. You can count on being with child before this time next year. All of my mates can count on it." They looked at each other then as if they couldn't understand what I was saying. I knew they wanted to believe it, but they weren't sure they should. "Even Failiela? She will probably be your mate also by this time next year. She will be a woman soon and the whole camp knows she will be mated to you as soon after she becomes a woman as is possible," Dalia said. "I hope Failiela doesn't become pregnant so soon after becoming a woman, but it might happen. No matter, we have a wonderful new healer here now and I know she will be able to make sure everyone who has a baby does fine." They thought I was speaking about Eileiea and for their benefit I was, but the healer I was really counting on was not nearly so close as that. Living in caves or not I meant to see my women had prenatal care no woman on the earth I'd come from could have even dreamed of. We would make it seem like Eileiea was responsible, but I wasn't counting on her for everything, after all she would be pregnant soon herself. "Jaada and Dalia, I want you to both make sure you tell all my other mates they are in for a baby soon. If they don't want one they had better make it known to me at once, it might be too late for some of them to back out now anyway." They looked at me as if I were a little loony and then both of them told me there wasn't a woman in our whole camp who didn't want a baby, right away if possible. "Just let them know anyway. I've already told Jaada, but I should tell you too Dalia - I am sure some of my mates besides Jaada are already growing a baby inside themselves. They might not know it yet, but they will soon. Wait and see." Geera and Dieta came out of the bedroom then and headed toward us. They were both smiling, probably at Jaada who was still perched naked on my lap. Suddenly, when Dieta was almost to us she looked a little pale all at once and then she took off for the bathroom. "What did I tell you, one of you should go and try to comfort her?" "What do you mean John?" Geera asked, as Dalia got up to go to Dieta. "I was just telling Jaada and Dalia all of you would be presenting me with a baby before long and Jaada wasn't the only mate of mine who had one growing when Dieta came out here and was struck by her first time of the morning sickness." "You don't mean Dieta is going to have a baby," Geera said. "Yes I do and it won't be too long before you have one growing inside you. You do know what causes them to start don't you?" "Yes, I know what gets a baby started and now we know you are so proficient at it we will be looking to you for more attention than ever before," she said, grinning wickedly. Geera couldn't hold the news any longer - she ran directly back to the bedroom. I told Jaada she should probably go back too and give all my mates the full story. She got up to go, but then she took my mug and refilled it before she left. I just sat there sipping my coffee and smirking to myself. Raalto and Barago came out then and ever mindful of my duties as host I brought them both a mug of coffee. I could tell they were a little curious since I was up and none of my mates seemed to be. "My mates are no doubt all in the bathroom congratulating Dieta. When she came out this morning and smelled the coffee she was sick to her stomach almost at once. I told the others it could only mean she was going to have a baby." Raalto grinned at me knowingly, but Barago had a strange look on his face. "Britta was sick when she woke up this morning and went directly into the bathroom and threw up. She was lying down resting when I left to come in here. She told me she just felt uneasy in her stomach," he said. Just as he said it a now dressed Jaada came out of the bedroom. I could tell she intended to tend to the coffee, but I cut her off. "Jaada, you might as well go back into the bedroom and tell the others Britta was sick this morning and she is resting in her quarters. Some of you probably need to go and see about her." Jaada's smile went to full power as she turned around and headed back to the bedroom, nearly running. We could tell from the squealing she had told all the others and soon Dalia, Shelalliea, Winna, and Eileiea went by us headed to see Britta. Jaada came back out too, but she went to the coffee pot. Soon enough the excitement settled down and most of my mates were back in action getting breakfast ready. Now the bridge was finished and there wasn't much that really needed doing I asked Barago if he thought he could get some more logging done. He surprised me. "Many of the men would like to go back to it John, but it seemed you thought we were getting too many logs up here," he said. "I have a new idea about the logs and what to do with them, and I think we may be able to use many during the winter. I do want you to store any more you bring in the last big cave on the other side of the river though. That won't be a problem will it?" "I don't see why it should except for the bridge. We won't be able to bring the logs under the bridge," he said. "We can let the bridge loose on one end and it will float downstream. When we are through moving the logs past it we can just pull it back into place. You will see the cables can be detached from the piers to allow for it. I will come out and show you later." My mates put a lot of their excitement into the preparations for breakfast this morning and everyone was stuffed before we finished. Barago went back to his quarters to check on Britta and then went outside to gather his logging crew. Later, I went out and showed them how to loosen one end of the bridge and when I did that end drifted downriver clearing the way for logs to be brought up past it. "How will we put it back?" Barago asked. "It will be simple, just tie a chain onto the upstream loose end and let one of the horses pull it back into place." They decided to try it while I was here to give directions. Danlo and Nadlo went to get one of the Clydesdales. They put on its harness and came back leading it and carrying a long chain. I mentioned they might as well have hooked the chain and let the horse drag it for them - pointing out it would be much easier to guide the chain, making sure it didn't get tangled, than it had been to carry it. Brundolo wanted to help too so he took one end of the chain out into the river and attached it to the bridge's free end. When Danlo had the horse move off, the bridge floated right back into place. We had to release the chain and hold the bridge steady so the horse could be hitched to the end with a short section of the chain to pull enough slack to reattach the guide cables. I suggested they should probably use two horses next time to avoid having to send three or four men into the water to hold the bridge while another horse could be moved to finish the chore. The logging crew headed downriver then and I noticed it had grown in size since the last time we'd gathered logs. I guessed there were a lot of men who didn't really have much to do. Of course there were a lot more men here now than last time too. I went back into my cave and noticed Britta was at the table trying to get a little breakfast down. Even though it had been a trying morning for her she seemed in very good spirits and she had a big smile on her face. I went over and sat down by her while she ate. "What do you think of yourself now Britta?" "When I felt sick I hoped it was because I might be pregnant and when Eileiea and the others came to see about me she looked me over and said she was sure I was going to have a baby. I am very excited - I have never had a baby before," she said. "I am glad you are happy about it." "I think you should be, I have the strongest feeling you are the one who gave it to me," she said, grinning. "I hope you're right and if we can't tell for sure when it is born I will try my hardest to give you another one," I told her, putting my hand on her naked thigh just below the hem of her Wilma dress. "I hope you will try to give me another one even if we know for sure this one is yours," she sighed. "I promise I will do my best. We will probably have to practice more while this one is coming though. I don't want to forget how it is done." Britta giggled over it and pulled my hand higher and up against her pussy saying she would not let me forget how and she doubted any of my mates would either. I tickled her love lips a little and then left her to finish her breakfast while I went into my office. I had Grotondo on my mind right now and I brought up the video streams to look for him as I sat behind my desk. ------- Chapter 131 The view of Grotondo's camp showed a few women just outside the cave's mouth, but they seemed to be heading off and from the looks of the group I thought they were probably about to go gathering. No men were in sight. I went back to the thumbnails and worked my way up the tributary running in the canyon Grotondo's little stream emptied into. I glanced at the thumbs looking for something moving. The first motion I spotted turned out to be six megaceros moving down the canyon grazing as they went and I didn't see anything else of interest for nearly ten minutes. I clicked on the next thumb which seemed to have movement and found something interesting. I had found Grotondo and his bunch. They were in a different camp and this one used huts for shelter instead of a cave. The huts were mostly built of trees, large bones, mammoth tusk and a few hides for coverings. They seemed well kept and the camp was rather larger than Grotondo's. It was well back from the small river and in a wide spot of the canyon - similar to the place we gathered hay. I resisted the temptation to listen with the audio feed and was content to watch. Grotondo and another man who I assumed was Kartoto were sitting on a large fallen tree trunk. Other men were near and they all appeared to be eating. The scene reminded me of the one Grotondo and I had played out when I ate a meal with him in his camp before we began trading. Soon enough they finished their meal and some women appeared from the huts to fetch the utensils. They brought Grotondo and Kartoto large wooden cups with some type of something to drink. They didn't bring cups to the others and as soon as the women were gone Kartoto spoke to the men and they all left him and Grotondo alone. I assumed they had been dismissed so the trading could begin in earnest. I saw there were several skin bundles near the place Grotondo was sitting and it didn't take much to figure out they were filled with salt. I was starting to enjoy trying to determine what was going on without listening. Kartoto and Grotondo talked among themselves for a few minutes after the other men left them and then Kartoto turned his head and seemed to be yelling toward one of the huts. A woman, probably Kartoto's mate, came out and approached them. Kartoto spoke to her for a minute and then she left. She went to a different hut, went inside for a couple of minutes then came out, going to yet another hut. She visited four huts in all and at the last one she waited until a woman came out. They retraced Kartoto's mate's path to the next to last hut she had entered and at this hut a woman came out with a child in her arms. The child looked like it might be old enough to walk, but it surely wasn't old enough to keep up with the women. The three women now made their way to the second hut where they were joined by another woman and her child - this child was even younger than the other one. The group went now to the first hut Kartoto's mate had visited and its occupant came out to join them with two children who were even smaller. She carried one on each hip and when she was out of her hut Kartoto's mate took one of the babies to help with the carrying. The last woman's children were obviously twins. I was sure they probably couldn't walk at all. If this was the woman Argent had mentioned, I knew her children were about two years old and they seemed smaller to me than they should have been. Reconsidering, I realized they didn't have to be two yet since argent had said the women's fertility had been stopped two years ago. If she was one of the last to get pregnant they could be as young as fifteen or sixteen months. Being twins, their birth weights were probably lower than the normal children and this would make them seem even younger. To me they looked like they were no more than a year old, then again, I was no expert on babies. All the women went toward Kartoto and Grotondo then and stopped a few feet before they reached them. Kartoto's mate handed the last woman her other baby back and walked off toward the huts. The four women were lined up before Kartoto and Grotondo as if for examination. I assumed it was a repeat of the show of wares Grotondo had given me the first time. Grotondo seemed to look the women over more carefully than I had, but after a few minutes he spoke with Kartoto and then the women were dismissed and they went back to their respective huts. Kartoto's mate had resumed her tasks while the inspections had been going on and had gone to two large huts near the back of the camp. Younger girls were now appearing out of these huts and I could tell they seemed a little excited about the whole thing. Kartoto's mate spoke to them and they headed up toward Kartoto and Grotondo, but Kartoto's mate didn't go with them. She began visiting some of the smaller huts which were probably single-family dwellings. I assumed the two large huts were for the unmated women. I was surprised since there were ten unmated women now headed toward Kartoto and Grotondo. When they arrived they lined up as the other women had, but they were a little more enthusiastic about it. They seemed to be doing as Margeeta had, putting their best foot forward. I wondered then why the older women hadn't and guessed they assumed they would not be traded for and their appearance was just a formality. Grotondo took much more time this go round - there were more women to examine after all. He took so long before he was done Kartoto's mate had already dispatched the group of girls she had rounded up. There were twelve of them in all and they were waiting in a group away from the line up. Time passed soon enough and Grotondo said something to Kartoto and he spoke to the unmated women and they went back toward their dwellings. The girls lined up then, trying to look serious, but their youthful exuberance betrayed they thought this was something of a joke. They settled down as they noticed Grotondo was studying them even more carefully than he had the unmated women. Soon enough they were dismissed too. Kartoto and Grotondo began talking in earnest now and I felt the most interesting show was probably over. Kartoto's mate came to them with two more cups of drink about an hour later, but Kartoto and Grotondo continued their bargaining. This was why I would never be good at bargaining. I couldn't put up with all the fucking around which went with it. Grotondo was going to spend at least a few more hours trying to get a lower price for the women and all the while Kartoto would be trying to get more for them. The hell of it was Grotondo already knew no matter how much salt he had to use for trading, he still had plenty more and Kartoto knew he would be better off if he just sent the women off with Grotondo no matter if he got something in return or not. I guess this was the crux of the drawn out dealing. Grotondo knew Kartoto had no use for the women. There were many more women than men to mate them and apparently one woman each was more than plenty for the Neanderthals. Custom brought many of their problems on them in this regard. They didn't bother to teach their women to hunt. They didn't have a taboo against it or anything, but they just didn't make it seem important to the women. I guessed most of this had to do with the fact they didn't throw their spears usually - they tried other tactics to let them get close enough to jab the spears directly into their prey. I was tired of the trading movie already. I went back to the thumbs to check out a few other places. At Raalto's old camp, the one we had gotten so much trouble from, all the huts were still gone and I still didn't have a single idea about where they were or who had taken them. Barbo's and Jara's camp was still gone too - of course I hadn't expected any of the huts to return, but the site kept drawing me back since it seemed so odd because it was just gone. Looking over Caato's former camp showed me the four couples were still hanging in there. I felt they were going to starve this winter. I didn't know why they were so set on staying and Georgo had told me they didn't really give him a good reason - they just refused to consider leaving the camp. At the moment they were skinning a small bison they must have killed this morning. It was a very small one, as it had to be for them to bring it to camp to skin and butcher. Clicking on the view into my own cave I saw my mates were about to announce a little feeding of the faithful. I closed the video and got up. One thing I never wanted to be late for was lunch. I got a head start on the others of course, but my helpers came in soon after I got my first bite. Barago was quick to sing the praises of Sarboto. "I couldn't believe it John, we had no sooner explained the cross cut saw to him than he was the master of it. With his powerful upper body and strong arms he can wear out three men on the other end and he doesn't ride the saw either. In fact, if the others do ride it he doesn't care. He told me it made the cutting go faster if they did put a little weight on it as he made his pull," Barago said. "Well he's right about it, but it makes it a lot harder on the one who is pulling with the extra drag." "I know, but it doesn't bother him at all and you wouldn't believe how much weight he can move alone. After he and a partner cut off a rotten section at the base of one of the deadfalls, he moved it out of the way himself. It was rotten and hollow most of the way through, but it was nearly twenty feet long and probably thirty inches in diameter. He didn't lift it, but he did push it out of the way and I'm sure it would have taken three of our men to move it. I pushed against it later and couldn't even move it at all," Barago said, raving about his new prodigy of logging. "I guess you won't mind if he ends up staying here with us instead of going back to his camp then." "Mind, I was thinking of begging him to stay," Barago said. "Unless he doesn't like it here he will be staying with us." "Maybe we should make it a point to give him the first chance to ask one of the unmated women from his old camp to be his mate then. He will need a mate here if he stays, and it seems only right he should get the first opportunity," Barago said, and normally I would have agreed. "Sarboto does not care for women, that is why he is here. It was an embarrassment to Grotondo even though I told him it shouldn't be. Grotondo was elated we would take him in and to tell the truth I was glad he was coming here. What you tell me only proves to me I was right." "You are more than right. I have not known many men like it, but the ones I have known all seem to be some of the best men and hardest workers, as if they had something to prove. I'm sure Grotondo knows how to lead his people, but it seems he is mistaken in this regard," Barago said. Since Sarboto came inside to eat then we ended our discussion of him. He seemed a little shy about where to sit, but when Barago noticed it he called him over to join us. Sarboto took a seat, but he didn't talk with us during the meal, he concentrated on eating. I'm sure his cultural training was part of it, but I also thought his natural shyness contributed. Since Barago had already raved about Sarboto's strength I couldn't help looking him over. He was noticeably more muscular in the upper body than even Brundolo and I was sure Brundolo was physically stronger than any man in my camp even though he was still young. When Brundolo sat down beside Sarboto and started eating I could tell already our custom of having a little conversation during our meals had begun to rub off on him. He wasn't shy about telling us what he was learning by leading the horses upriver towing the logs. When Racaato came in I wondered what he had been up to and so I asked him. "I've been down near the logging, but I was hunting farther back in the woods from it. It was a wasted morning as far as finding game, though I did see very much sign. All the commotion from the work has probably made the forest animals move off," he said. "What would you think about going up on the plateau with me this afternoon and trying to get a few bison?" "I'm sure it will be more profitable than hunting in the woods where I was this morning. I thought we had plenty of bison already though," he said. "Well we do have for our camp, but I promised Grotondo ten bison for his help in the trading and I thought we might get a couple for the people who are in Caato's old camp. The snow is not far off now and I'm afraid they are going to have a hard time this winter." "You are probably right about it and since we have plenty and an easy way to carry game I don't see any reason not to try and help them. If we take both of the bigger wagons we can put two or maybe three bison in the smaller wagon and five or six in the larger one. Since we aren't going to keep them ourselves we won't need to gut or skin them will we?" he asked. "No, we won't. Let's count on going to see if we can get some after we finish eating." I noticed even though he remained silent, Sarboto was clearly amazed we were talking about getting so many bison in one afternoon of hunting. I got Barago off to himself after the meal was over and told him I wanted to take Sarboto hunting with us. He agreed though he would surely miss his star lumberjack. ------- Chapter 132 I called Sarboto to me then and told him I was hoping he would stay in our camp and Grotondo had told me it was all right with him. "Grotondo told me also I could stay with your camp if I wanted to. At first I was upset since it seemed he was sending me away. I was glad about it an hour after I got here though. "I have never seen such wonderful things as you have here and I can hardly believe I have been asked to eat at the table with this camp's leader and all his best helpers. I feel honored to be here and if you will have me I do intend to stay," he said. "That is good, Sarboto, and I am glad about it too. We would like for you to go with us for the hunt this afternoon and I couldn't allow it if you were not going to stay. You will see how we hunt today and it is something you should never tell anyone." "I will do as you ask of course. I will be glad to go on the hunt and I will tell no one," he promised. "Not even Grotondo?" "As far as I am concerned you are my leader now. You have taken me in when Grotondo obviously did not want me. I owe my loyalty to you now and I will never forget it," he told me, and I knew he was deadly serious. I asked Nadlo to stay with the logging this afternoon to make sure nothing went wrong with the horses and Brundolo would be with him too so he could continue his learning about the horses. Danlo, Jonoco, Sahto, and Talvo were going to take care of the wagons for the hunt and Bigglieo would be coming also. All of them brought their M1s, but I was sure Racaato would be able to get all the game we needed. When we had pulled the wagons out onto the plateau we saw we had a slight dilemma. The bison were no more than a mile off, but they weren't the problem. There was a very large rhino, alone, grazing between the bison and us. We decided to see if we could just pass by him unnoticed. Rhino's were strange, since sometimes they ignored almost everything and at other times they would become angry with even the slightest movement and whatever was causing it. This was one of those angry times. The rhino noticed our movement and turned toward us. I wasn't very familiar with them, but Racaato was and he assured me the rhino would be over to fuck with us soon. I told him to drop the rhino and we would load him into the big wagon. He did it and got a clean kill with one shot, but he suggested we put the rhino into the smaller wagon and send it back to camp. Others in camp could clean and butcher it and the wagon could come back right away to get some of the bison. It's what we did, and while Jonoco and Talvo went back to camp with the rhino's carcass we moved closer to the bison for our main hunt. The wind was in our faces and the bison noticed us, but I think they assumed we were only some horses grazing or moving. We moved to within three hundred yards of them and then Racaato took a prone position on a small rise while I watched for predators. I was scanning the periphery of the massive bison herd when Racaato began firing. I glanced to see which animals he was taking and noticed they were mostly younger bulls. This was a good time of the year to be hunting bison since they were fattened up considerably from their summer grazing and after the first heavy snows they would be on their decline for the winter months. Racaato took seven of the young bulls and quit. He came back to the wagon and climbed aboard. Bigglieo drove us to the nearest of the kills and we used the tower to pull it into the wagon and then moved on to the next. Jonoco was back with the smaller wagon, my original one, before we had finished loading the five kills into the big wagon. We were able to get five bison into the big wagon but without the amazing strength of Sarboto the last one would have been a real challenge for us. There was no problem with getting the two animals into the other wagon and we could have probably managed to load another one if we'd taken one more, but we hadn't. Two bison would probably be the limit for the eight residents of Caato's former camp to handle at one time anyway. We didn't tarry on the plateau. Bigglieo went with Jonoco and Talvo to take the two bison to Caato's old camp for the new occupants. Danlo, Racaato, Sarboto, Sahto, and I stopped at my cave for a few minutes before heading to Grotondo's camp. I went into my office to check the video while my mates fixed us some tea for a short break. Ice tea had been a welcome addition to their talents and one of these days I was going to have to give Frank a personal thank you for all the little things he had taught my mates to do for me. Grotondo and his men weren't at the other camp any longer and I was a little surprised to see the two Neanderthal leaders had apparently been able to close a deal after all. I checked the thumbs back toward Grotondo's camp and found the travelers nearly to the turnoff leading back into their cul-de-sac. I took a tally of the women in the group and saw he had indeed traded for a lot of women. He had all four of the widows, all ten of the unmated women and more surprising he had all twelve of the young girls who weren't women yet, but hopefully would be women soon. Hell, he even had three girls who seemed maybe a year younger and whom I doubted would be women by next year. No matter, it was what I told him I wanted and he had come through in a big way. I also noted his men were carrying two of the salt bundles back with them. I shut it off and went back out into my cave. Everyone was drinking their iced tea and Jaada was there with a big glass of it for me. The tea hadn't been much of a hit with others in my camp at first and it had taken me a few days to understand why. Since I was an oddball about it and preferred unsweetened tea it was what Frank taught my mates to make. After I decided the others would probably like good old southern style sweet tea I asked Frank to tell them how to make it that way also. Frank provided plenty of sugar and he taught them to sweeten the tea with it before it was allowed to cool so it could be served over ice. With this change the tea's popularity soared and most of my people looked upon it as a special treat whenever it was made. Just like good old boys they would drink it by the gallon if they could get my mates to make it. I still got the unsweetened variety for myself, but I was the only one in camp who liked it. I noticed Sarboto with his tea and of course it was a novelty for him. I walked over to him and asked how he liked it and he couldn't do anything but smile and say it was one more wonderful thing about my camp. "It is very good, John, but it is nothing compared to what I saw this morning. I still do not understand how the rhino and the bison were killed, but it was like magic. Now I know why you did not mind going up on the plateau near my former camp alone to kill the aurochs," he said. We drank our tea and headed for the wagons. My mates wanted to know if they should come too and I asked them to wait until tomorrow and go when we went to pick up the other new arrivals. They wanted to ask a few hundred more questions I'm sure, but I put them off by telling them we needed to get the bison to Grotondo and get headed back quickly so we wouldn't be out too long in the dark. This got them to let us go without more talk. Danlo, Sarboto, Racaato, Raalto, Sahto, and I piled into the wagon and headed for Grotondo's camp. We'd brought one of the big lights with us and the night vision goggles. I decided I should get Argent to send me another couple of pairs of the goggles the next time I thought of it. The trip in the big wagon wasn't as quick as the one Danlo had made in Georgo's buckboard, but we did at least arrive before sunset. Grotondo was flummoxed with the bison delivery and he wanted to take me into the cave to inspect the women he had procured for me. I begged off, explaining I could see them in the morning when we came to pick them up and we needed to head back as soon as possible. He had thought we would stay the night in his camp, but I assured him we could travel safely enough at night in the wagon. We unloaded the bison and left it to them. I knew there would be some big fires outside tonight for light so they could see what they were doing as they took care of their meat. By the time we got home we were a little tired. I hadn't done much of anything during the morning, but had been busy since eating my lunch. My mates had some food ready for us when we got back, but the table seemed deserted since everyone, but those who had gone to Grotondo's camp had already eaten. After we finished eating everyone went to their own quarters and my mates took me into the bathroom, put me in one of the smaller tubs and pampered me for nearly an hour - helping me relax and making sure I didn't have to do anything while they washed me and then dried me and put me to bed. They even let me go right to sleep telling me I would surely need my strength tomorrow to bring all the new women back and to choose one of those with children for a new mate. "How do you know he was able to obtain the women with children?" "We know you wouldn't have mentioned it and brought our hopes up if it weren't going to come about," Jaada told me. "You are right, Jaada. I would still be out looking if Grotondo hadn't delivered. I would feel bad if I disappointed any of my mates," I told her. Hell it was easy to be magnanimous when I knew the deed was done already. I felt great when I woke the next morning. Margeeta had her ass pushed back to my dick and I looked over my shoulder to see Yareela's titties were the ones pressing into my back. When I stirred they did and we all got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I introduced them to the benefits of a shower and showed them how to rub their soapy breasts over me to make sure I got clean. Then I demonstrated the proper way for a man to wash his women with soapy hands and lots of teasing. When we were dressed we went out to the kitchen and I sat at the table. Geera was naked and had a coffee mug in hand as I took a seat. She set it down, sat on my lap, and began some serious kissing. "I am hoping you were telling the truth and I will soon be carrying a baby for you, John," she said, when she let up on the kiss. "I was telling the truth - I don't know when it will get started, but I do know it will be on the way before this time next year. You will see, it won't be long before you are rushing to the bathroom in the mornings with an upset stomach." "I wouldn't mind it, but Gema never upset my stomach in the mornings. I knew early she was coming though because my breasts got very sensitive and for some reason it made me anxious to be taken often," she said. "Then I am hoping it starts soon," I told her, as I petted her pussy and tweaked her clit. I took a sip of my coffee and then turned back to kissing her and began playing with her titties, checking to make sure they hadn't begun to be extra sensitive already. The nipples hardened at once whether she was pregnant or not. When her hips began squirming in my lap I put my hand in her bush and pressed a finger up into her, starting a deliberate finger fucking with a few clit teases thrown in. Geera tried to complain about everyone being able to see us, but I knew it was just for style points. I had her hips bucking and her mouth moaning as I whispered in her ear I didn't care who saw me playing with my women. After I got her off she left for the bathroom and I started in on my coffee for real. I knew from experience there were lots of worse ways to start the day and if my life got much better I was going to start calling Argent and company the spirits for real. Breakfast was on soon afterward and we had nearly a full house from the start. Everyone who knew we were off to fetch more women was excited about it and the excitement seemed to carry over to the others, even if they didn't know what it was all about. I noticed this morning Daaggo and Sarboto were sitting next to each other and I wondered if they were getting along or if they just happened to end up in proximity. Time would tell me. Danlo and his crew had the teams hitched to the wagons and the horses saddled not long after breakfast. My mates were wearing their chain mail again and I had expected it. I was a little worried we would be tight for room on the way back so I'd had all the horses who were accustomed to carrying riders saddled and before we set off I had Danlo get Georgo's buckboard ready to go too. I even tracked down Georgo and asked him to drive it for us. We didn't really need him, but I thought he should at least show up in their camp and make a short visit with Grotondo. Soon enough we were on our way and with empty wagons it was a quick trip. Only a few women were outside when we arrived and as usual they all went back into the cave as soon as they saw us coming. Grotondo was out to greet us before we stopped. "I am glad to see you John, but how did you know I had already done the trading for you?" "You told me last night when I brought the bison, have you forgotten the five bison already?" I asked him. "I don't know how I could have forgotten since it was late into the night before we were through with them. Maybe I should have stayed longer in my furs," he said. "Well we had a good chance to get them and I didn't think you would mind having the meat while it was still fresh." ------- Chapter 133 "We didn't mind and we are very grateful - you may feel free to send us bison at any time day or night. In fact, feel free to send us anything at anytime," he said. "I would like to ask you something while I have it on my mind. Do you know of anything that might have happened to the huts at the large camp on down the valley of the big river? The river your stream flows into and joins? All the huts are gone from it and I wonder what happened to them. It is fine they are gone since all those from the camp joined my camp and we did not need the huts, but I wonder what happened to them. It would have been a lot of work to take them all down." "I knew they were gone because three of my men traveled through the area lately and they told me of it. We do not know who took them though and my men could find no sign showing them which way the huts were taken. It was very strange to us since whoever did it would have needed many trips to remove the materials after the huts were taken down. They all said they searched carefully, but could find no sign anywhere," he said. "It is strange, but I'm sure we will find out what happened someday and it will not help to worry about it now. I was hoping you knew something about the huts though." "Is Sarboto working out well in your camp, John?" he asked me, changing the subject. "Yes, he is. He has been very helpful already. He even helped us load the bison we brought you last night." "It is good, do you think he will want to stay with you?" he asked. "He has told me he will stay with us and I'm sure he intends to do it." "That is good also. I guess we should go and tell the women you have come for them. I have already explained to them they will be going to join a large camp where there are many men who need mates," he said. "Let us go and I will greet them then." We walked into his cave, just Grotondo and I. It was slightly strange since all the women and girls were standing around in a group in the rear most portion of the cave, but they looked as if they were ready to go now. I decided they were only waiting to be told where to go. I was about to go to them with Grotondo when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around and it was Raalto and Racaato was with him, they had followed me into the cave. "We want to make sure it is all right if we accompany you, John," Raalto said. "Of course it is and I should be ashamed of myself for not calling you to." "Our mates were very specific in their instructions to us this morning," Racaato said. "Mine let me know exactly what they had in mind for my conduct this morning also," I told them, and we all laughed. Grotondo seemed a little surprised and he looked at me with a question on his face. "Has something gone wrong, John?" he finally asked. "Everything is fine. I'm sure in a few minutes these two men will be thanking you as much or more than I will be. You have not only traded for some exciting times for us, you have given the three of us a chance for much more peace and harmony in our furs," I told him. This only confused Grotondo further, but I could tell he chalked it up as another of our strange customs and then ignored it. He led us to the women then. The widows were at the front of the crowd, they were older after all, and the others probably looked to them for guidance. I was betting they felt the camp they were going to would need to have many men who needed mates if they were going to be assigned to one. They probably doubted they would be. Grotondo didn't feel the need to introduce us since they were all only women in his view. He merely led us to the group and waved an arm at them as if to say Here they are. I knew what I needed to do and I walked up to the mother who had a babe in each arm. "I am John and I am the leader of the camp you will be joining." "I am Xailieta and these are my children Baatiea and Beetiea," she said. "I want to ask you if you will join me as one of my mates?" She was clearly shocked by my question and didn't know how to respond. "If you are the leader and want me as a mate you need not ask me, you only need to tell me," she said, finally. "It is not our way. No woman among our people is forced to take a mate she doesn't want. If you do not want to be my mate you do not have to be," I explained, and tried to speak loudly enough so all the others in their group could hear me. I realized now, when I spoke up loudly, Grotondo had taken us to the very back of his cave to meet the women for a good reason of his own. He had probably expected something like this might happen and I'm sure he wanted to keep the chances other women of his camp would hear it to a minimum. Meanwhile, Xailieta seemed to be mulling my statement over. "Did you say you wanted me to be one of your mates?" she asked. "Yes I have some mates already." "How many mates do you have?" she asked, and it made me a little nervous since I could tell she didn't seem like she would be rushed into a decision if she had a choice. "I have twenty one mates now and if you join us it will be twenty two," I said, and many of the other women and girls made slight gasps, but Xailieta didn't seem to be shocked. "So, it is my choice whether or not I want to be mated to the leader of a camp who already has twenty one mates. It is obvious you are not having trouble feeding them, because I can see you have not missed any meals lately. "You were able to convince Grotondo to go to Kartoto's camp and trade for all of us and though he hasn't said much about you we could hear, the little we did hear was praise for your skills as a hunter and also as a fair man. "The women here have been more forthcoming and have told us you killed a man for bothering one of Margeeta's daughters after you had traded for her and I now have the choice of whether or not I will accept you as my mate," she said. "That is about the extent of it," I replied, though the story she had heard wasn't exactly how things had happened. "You are also a very handsome man, but if you were the ugliest man I had ever seen I would be overjoyed to be your mate. My former mate was a good man and a good hunter and he was kind to me. "He was also very brave - he was too brave and he let a rhino kill him and left me with two babies to care for by myself. I know you surely must be a very brave man and I just hope you are not too brave. I hope I can make you happy you took me as one of your mates," she said. "Xailieta, you have already made me very happy by agreeing to be one of my mates. Let us stand aside for a moment because I believe these two of my main helpers also want to talk to someone," I said. We stepped aside and just as we did Barago came to us, nearly running. "Barago, have you decided to come in and try to also make an early match for yourself?" I asked him. "Britta has decided I need not leave this cave unless I have found a woman to join us as another mate for me," he said, grinning. "What has her in the mood for help?" "You know very well she wants another woman with her since she is sure she will be having a baby. I see Raalto and Racaato were smarter than me and got in here first, but I am hoping the widow who doesn't have a child with her will consent to mate with me. She has already been mated before and surely with so many children in the camp she will know something about babies. Britta has never had a baby before," Barago said. I turned to Xailieta and asked her if there was a chance the other widow knew about babies. "There is more than a chance. Karlieta has a child, but Kartoto made her keep the fact to herself during the trading. One of the girls who came with us, Dartieta, is her daughter. She has not become a woman yet and probably won't by next year. Dartieta is the youngest one who came with us. I think it is shameful Kartoto tricked Grotondo, but I am glad Karlieta and Dartieta have not been separated yet," she said. "If she will consent to join Britta as another one of my mates she will never be separated from her daughter until she becomes a woman and when she is a woman I will take her as a mate also if she will have me. Britta will be pleased if I can convince Karlieta to bring her daughter and join us," Barago said, seeming like he would be pretty damned happy about it himself. "Can you help him out, Xailieta? Will you talk to her for Barago?" I asked her. "He will not need any help - none of us are stupid. We had no mates and were considered unlucky where we came from. Now we have been traded away and find we are going to a camp where we will have a say about who we mate. The first man who comes looking for a mate is the leader of the camp and he asks the unluckiest woman of all to be his mate. "The others who are with him are obviously very high-ranking men in his camp. If Karlieta is stupid enough to turn this man down I will go over there and slap her until she changes her mind, but there will not be a chance of it," she told us. She must have been right because while we were talking Raalto and then Racaato had secured the other two women with children. Barago went to see if he could claim the last widow and he barely got it out of his mouth before Karlieta agreed. As they turned to go he said something else to her and it must have been about her daughter, because she called into the crowd and Dartieta came forward to join them. I asked Xailieta if she would try to get the other women and girls to come out with us now. She said if she were going to be one of the leaders mates she would tell them to come out if I wanted her to. "It would suit me better if you asked them. I do not like to order people around unless it is necessary." "I can already see you are an even better man than I thought you could be," she said, and then faced the other women and told them we were going to leave for our new camp now. They picked up their things and came with us. When we got outside and they saw all the horses, wagons, and the buckboard they were frightened at first. My mates were smiling their widest when they noticed I had a woman holding two babies beside me. They rushed over to us then and swarmed around Xailieta and her little ones, begging to hold the babies. I could see Xailieta was touched. Dalia, Delia, Geera, Shelalliea, Dieta, Gema, and all my Neanderthal mates saw they were needed elsewhere and gave up the baby pursuit to go among the other women and girls to try and calm them down and explain about the horses to them. They did a good job of it and within an hour things were settled down and we had everyone ready to head back. Before I mounted I went to the big wagon and retrieved the drop point hunter, its sheath and the web belt I had put there before we left. This was the gift I had promised Grotondo and I took it to him. He didn't recognize it for what it was at first, but before I could explain he decided it must be a knife and blurted it out. "It must be a knife, but I have never seen one like it before, how is it made?" he asked. "I myself do not know how it is made Grotondo. I only know it is much better than a flint knife in most ways. It is not as sharp as a flint knife is when it is first knapped, but when this knife becomes dull it can be sharpened much more easily and it will stay sharp through much more use. It will not break either. I don't think you, or anyone, can break it even if you try. You could damage it if you pounded it with a stone, but you could not break it." "But why would I pound it with a stone, John?" he asked, and I realized I could have left that part out. "I'm not saying you would or should pound it with a stone. I am just saying even if you did you would not break it." "I am very pleased with this gift, in fact I am pleased with all the gifts you have given us and I will not pound the knife with a stone," Grotondo said. "If you feel the need to pound it with a stone go ahead. If you damage it I will replace it. I must tell you though neither the knife nor any of the other things I brought here are gifts. They are payment to you for the help you have given my camp and me. What you did has been very valuable to us and I feel I am still in your debt and I don't see how I can ever repay your kindness." "It doesn't seem to me I have done you such a service, John. You have given me many things and more salt than any of us have ever seen. Salt is very valuable and it is the very best thing for trading. With the salt you have traded to me my camp is the wealthiest one I know of even though many other camps are larger," he said. "Still, I know what you have done for me and my camp is even more valuable to us and I don't think it has harmed your camp either. It works out well for both of us to have this working relationship and I will do my best to see we do not have arguments. "If I do something which causes you distress please do not hesitate to tell me about it and if you need help do not be shy about asking for help. If it is something me or my camp can do we will do it." We told each other how great we thought the other was for about five more minutes and for four of them I was already tired of politicking. Some things had to be done sometimes though and I had to just do it. When I finally mounted Red and we headed back to our camp I was sure I had an honest ally I could count on. ------- Chapter 134 I'm sure the trip to our camp was thrilling for all the new women and girls, but it was just another horseback ride for me. I enjoyed riding, but the novelty had worn off of it years ago. Riding Red was even becoming commonplace now and he was easily the best bronc I'd ever forked. It was past our normal lunchtime when we arrived and I was thrilled when I saw several of my mates rush into the cave to get started on a meal. Gema, who had been among them, came back out for me almost at once. My other mates were helping all the women and girls get out of the wagon so I handed Red's reins to Danlo and followed Gema back into the cave. When we were inside she pointed to the table, or tables, since there were now two. She didn't say anything, she only looked at me and I could tell she was expecting an explanation. "I guess we know now where the spirits expect all our new members to eat their next meal," I said. "I guess you are correct, but will they eat all their meals with us?" she asked. "I don't think it is intended. Once they are all settled in I'm sure the other table will leave since it won't be needed any longer." "Oh, I should have thought of it myself. Of course they will need to eat with us now until we can get them settled into their own quarters," she said, and promptly dismissed any thoughts of the extra table, returning to the kitchen to help cook. It gave me pause though after I thought about it. Where were all the young girls going to sleep and eat? They were traded away from their mothers and even though I knew they would have a better life here with us than at the camp they came from there was still the nagging little detail about them being separated from their mothers and fathers. I would need to ask Georgo for his thoughts about that part of the trade. It could wait until after lunch though - everything could wait until after lunch. I went outside to tend to Red, but Danlo had already left to put him up. Since I was back out among the throng I asked Xailieta if she would let all the other new women and girls know they should eat in my cave with us until everyone had their own place to sleep and eat. "All of these women and girls will be welcome to eat in your cave with you?" she asked, as if she couldn't believe it. "Yes, I want to make sure they do not go hungry. It will take some time for us to get better organized." "But who will cook for them all?" she asked. "My mates will, they often cook for several people. In fact, all of my main helpers and their mates eat with us at almost every meal. We have plenty of food here." "I knew you must have much food, but it is a lot of work to cook for so many. I should go in to help them at once," she said. "You will soon find out you have to wait your turn for a chance to cook in my cave. I have so many mates it is not possible for all of them to cook for every meal. Also you will find the way we cook is completely different from what you are used to. It will take time for you to learn to cook our way." "But I know how to cook," she said, almost indignantly. "I am sure you know how to cook, but you will see this is different. Have patience for this one meal and you will know without our having to talk so much about it. Everything will be fine and later you will find with so many of us life is not so hard in this camp. You haven't even been inside the cave yet have you?" "Not this cave, but I have been in a cave before," she said. "Please come with me for a moment and I will show you your new home." We only got into the kitchen before she was done for. She stopped and couldn't decide which way to look. Finally her eyes settled on those of my mates who were actually cooking. She turned to me and I was sure the questions were going to start. "I know you have more questions than I will have good answers for. I do not know how to cook very well, but you will find all my other mates will gladly show you anything you want to know about everything here, especially if you will let them hold your babies for a while." "My babies, where are they?" she asked, trying to panic. "I saw Eileiea and Margeeta bring them into the cave and I'm sure they have taken them into the bedroom." "What is the bedroom?" she asked. "Come, I'll show you." She followed me and I took her into the bedroom. Eileiea and Margeeta were in there and they had put Baatiea and Beetiea in the center of the big bed. Baatiea and Beetiea were now sound asleep and Eileiea and Margeeta were sitting on the bed just watching the babies as they snoozed. "What is it they are lying on?" Xailieta asked. "That is the bed, it is where we all sleep - you will find it is very comfortable." "John, what is this thing?" Margeeta asked, pointing to the new double sized baby bed, complete with a large mobile. "It is a bed for the babies. See how the sides are up to keep them from falling out." "I see, but where did it come from?" Eileiea asked. "I'm sure the spirits sent it for Baatiea and Beetiea to sleep in." That pronouncement got me suspicious stares from the three women. I felt I had to say something more. "The spirits are very good to us here. We must not question their gifts and we should thank them often for them." "You are right about it. We should never question anything the spirits do," Eileiea said. "I can hardly believe yesterday I was considered so unlucky by my own people I was traded away for salt and today the spirits are watching me so closely they send this for my babies to sleep in," Xailieta said, her voice quivering. "What does it tell you about how unlucky you were?" I asked. "It tells me my former camp and former leader do not know anything about lucky, even when they see it. Most of us thought we were being treated as useless since we were traded away. I can tell already it was probably the best thing to ever happen to any of us, ever," she said. "Why don't we put the babies in their new bed and see if they like it?" I asked. Eileiea and Margeeta took one each and placed them in the bed. They didn't even wake them in the process. I didn't know shit about the best way to place a baby for sleeping and I seemed to recall there were arguments among people of my old life about whether to put them on their back or their stomach. It didn't make a shit to us though since I knew we had overkill on top of overkill in the baby-monitoring department. I was willing to bet if I sat down at Frank and asked for the babies' temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate I would get it back immediately. Hell, I could probably get the equivalent of a CAT scan on them in seconds without even moving them. "Why don't we go back out toward the kitchen and let them sleep? We need to help the others find their way to the table before lunch is ready." "What is the table?" Xailieta asked, and thankfully Margeeta told her. When we were back in the outer room of the cave I slipped away as Eileiea and Margeeta began letting Xailieta in on the workings of the cave and this camp. I saw Georgo at the table and went to sit by him. "What do you think of the recent developments Georgo?" I asked. "I think I was stupid for not staying near you and trying to secure one of the widows for myself. I can tell from the reaction of Raalto's, Racaato's, Barago's, and your mates it would have put me on the receiving end of much favorable attention from my mates," he said, and then chuckled. "I think you may be right and I wonder if there are more widows in other camps of those people who would like to come here?" "If there are other widows among them I'm sure they would love to come here if they knew about it," he said. "I am so slow to spot a good opportunity sometimes. I should have asked Grotondo about it while I was there. Maybe I should ride back down there after lunch and talk with him about it." "I don't think you need to do it right away, but if you have nothing else planned this afternoon you might as well go. Remember, it is only three days from now until the time the spirits told me to expect the first snow," he said. "I am glad you reminded me and I think I will go back today, not before lunch though." I wouldn't have to wait long for it either. I could see my mates were nearly ready to serve. My Neanderthal mates, including Xailieta, were circulating among the new women and girls and showing them where to sit at the first table. I saw my normal place at the head of the table was being left vacant for me and the seat to my right was also being left vacant. I assumed Xailieta would be sitting there and when the new arrivals were seated I took my place and Xailieta did sit near me. I also saw Eileiea, Margeeta, Yareela, Yaroola, and Kota were spread out among the newbies and it was probably so they could help them navigate the eating utensils which would be completely new to them. I was surprised my mates had been able to get a meal for so many ready so quickly and I knew they must have cooked much of it yesterday or last night. The new women and girls were surprised by the table and even more surprised when they saw the camps leader would be eating with them. It was only one of the first surprises of many to come for them. They all ate in silence except Xailieta, and I had to pry out the little bit of conversation I got from her. She made a good job of setting an example for the others though and I noticed while she didn't seem to be, she was in fact watching me like a hawk to see how it was done. Of course my mates had made gallons of iced tea for the meal and our new members couldn't get enough of it. There was also plenty of bread and I was sure Roweea was beaming to herself at the way everyone devoured it. It was the same for each of them. They looked at the bread speculatively, not knowing what it was or how it should taste, but after their first bite they ate it up at once before they tried anything else. The bread was one thing that got Xailieta to speak without a prompt from me. "What is this, John, it is delicious," she said. "It is bread and I'm sure Roweea made it, it is her specialty." "I have never seen it before," she admitted. "I'm sure Roweea would be delighted to show you how it is made." "If she will it is going to be the first thing I learn to cook here. I can see you were telling the truth about the cooking. I have no idea how your mates can cook so much food without a fire, but I want to learn," she said. "They have a fire, but it doesn't come from wood or dung. They will show it to you later." ------- Chapter 135 After we'd eaten I told Raalto, Racaato, Barago, Caato, and Colonto I had forgotten to speak to Grotondo about something important this morning and I was going to ride back to his camp and take care of it this afternoon. Then came the task of telling my mates. I called them all into the bedroom after they'd cleaned up the tables and fed the dishwashers. I had a struggle getting their attention though because Baatiea and Beetiea were awake and doing their baby best to entertain, smiling and cooing as my mates crowded around the bed and made mommy noises at them. "I am going back to Grotondo's camp this afternoon to speak with him about something I forgot this morning," I told them all, after I had their attention. "But what more do you need to talk with him about?" Winna asked. "Since you all seem so pleased with Xailieta, Baatiea and Beetiea I thought I would go ask him if there are more widows near us who would like to come here where people won't think they are unlucky." "I can't believe what a good man you are and how lucky I am you sent for us. There are more widows and most of them are treated just as we were. They do not know of your camp of course, but they will be so happy if you manage to get them sent here. Grotondo knows where many widows live if you can only persuade him to go for them," Xailieta told me. "Good then, if their own camps think they are unlucky I will ask Grotondo to see if he can trade for them and when they are here we will try to make them feel they are not so unlucky," I didn't need to say anymore to my mates afterwards except to request they try and help the new women and girls get settled in. They were happy to send me off in search of more women. When I went for Red I found Danlo didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day either. He and all the other wranglers were giving the horses some attention and trying to teach Brundolo a little more about them, but he said he would be happy to ride to Grotondo's camp with me. We saddled up and headed out. We let Red and Jezebel slow lope for most of the way and we were back to the Neanderthal's camp in what seemed no time. When the women who were outside saw us this time most of them didn't even go into the cave, they kept on about their business and only sent one inside to inform Grotondo. He was outside waiting for us as we rode up. "John, I have tried the knife and I can hardly believe how good it is to use, I hope you have not come back to retrieve it," he said. "Why would I come here wanting your knife, I do not ask for gifts to be returned after I have given them. I came back to see if you would like to do more trading for me or if you knew other camps I could go and try to trade with if you don't have time." "I have time to trade for you John. We already have more meat than we will need for the winter thanks to you and the only thing which is happening now is the women are trying to gather some last berries and things such as that. We have never been in such good shape for the coming winter as we are now and we have been able to do it earlier than ever before too," he said. "I am glad of it for your sake. Do you know of any other camps which are having a bad time and who might need some extra meat for the winter?" "Strangely no, all of our camps I know of are doing well this year. It was a good summer and there was plenty everywhere. What would you like for me to trade for now?" he asked. "If there are any more widows you know about, especially in camps where their people think they are unlucky, I would like for you to trade for them and bring them here so they can come to my camp." "What if they have children? Do you still want widows with children?" he wanted to know. "Especially if they have children. We would love to have them bring their children to join us." He considered this for a while before he spoke again. "I know of six more widows John and it is possible there are more since I have not been to most of these camp this summer and there have been few messengers back and forth. All of the widows I know of have children," he said. "Will you have to travel far to trade for them?" "Two of the camps are nearly a days walk away and I would have to travel there, visit for the night and then come back the next day," he said. "Do you think it would be acceptable this time for you to ride in the wagon? You could travel faster and it would be easier to bring them back." "I have been thinking over that very thing since you left this morning. If we only want to trade for widows it probably will not matter to the trading since most leaders would be happy to get anything for widows with children. Do you only want widows?" he asked. "If there are more unmated women and the leader wants to trade them I would like for them to come to my camp, but if he does not want or need to trade them you need not try too hard." "I see," he said. "It reminds me of something else Grotondo, are there any orphans in any of the camps who need to go somewhere which has more food and is better able to feed young ones who no longer have a mother or father?" "There are. I know of a young orphan girl, but I do not know if I should go to the camp. It is far away and the leader is not honorable. He has been known to cheat other leaders who have tried to trade with him," Grotondo said. "How did he cheat them?" "He had his men force Jadatako to leave his trade goods and gave him nothing in return. Jadatako was very angry about it, but he had gone to the camp alone and he did not resist the treatment. He will no longer trade with Nutaro now and I don't blame him. I have not traded with him since I heard of it either," he explained. "Would you be comfortable taking me with you to trade with Nutaro?" Grotondo looked at me as if waiting for me to say something else, but I didn't. He considered for quite a while and then he actually smiled at me. "I believe I would be very comfortable taking you with me to trade with Nutaro. Yes, I'm sure I would enjoy traveling to Nutaro's camp for trading with you along," he said, and smiled again. "Good, maybe we can go to his camp first and then work our way to the other camps as we come back." "It will be fine. When did you want to go? It should probably be soon, because I have a feeling the snow will not be long in coming," he said. "I would like to leave in the morning and if it is acceptable I will be here with both wagons shortly after sunrise. Nutaro might enjoy seeing a few of my men are with us also." "I am not sure he will enjoy it, but if your men are like you I'm sure it will be an exciting trip. Perhaps you will come back with women you need not trade for," Grotondo said, and he was trying not to smile again. "Perhaps," I said. We said our goodbyes and headed back home then. I knew Danlo was dying to ask me some questions, but I let Red lope most of the way. After we were back and as we cared for Red and Jezebel before turning them into the pen he finally got to quiz me. "Did I misunderstand, or are you going so you can kill Nutaro if he tries to steal the trade goods?" Danlo asked. "I am not going so I can kill anyone - I am going to trade and if someone tries to steal from me there is a chance they will die for it. Of course there is also a chance I will die, but I think I have the better chance. "If there is a thief who threatens violence to steal goods from honest men he deserves the rewards of his actions. If men who cheat and steal are allowed to go unpunished it will only encourage others to try the same thing. "I cannot spend my time trying to right every wrong I hear about, but the fact is we want more of the other people in our camp and we want to help the widows since their situation seems especially grim. If Nutaro forces me to kill him it will provide another widow that we can help take care of." Danlo didn't ask any more questions about it and I didn't volunteer any more information. I did ask him if he would like to go along and he wanted to. I was dreading telling my mates about the trip, but I thought since they seemed so happy today it would be as good a time for it as any. After we had eaten supper I asked Raalto, Barago, Colonto, Caato, Racaato, and Natalto to come into the office with me for a talk. When we were there I explained the plan to them and told them what Grotondo had said about Nutaro and his methods. They all agreed it was not good to have a camp's leader like him around and Raalto pointed out we had just gone to a lot of trouble to get rid of several who were similar. "If a camp's leader is deceitful and no good, soon none of the men in the camp are fit for anything. It is a lesson we have recently learned. I will be surprised if this Nutaro is the only one there who gives you trouble," Raalto said. All the others agreed with him and so we spent some time deciding who would go and who would stay to watch over the camp. Raalto, Racaato, and Barago had Neanderthal mates already and once again we were trying to be sure anyone who might be called on to kill a mated man would not hesitate just to keep from gaining another mate. Fortunately Caato, Colonto, and Natalto were suddenly in the market for just such a mate. I knew for a fact Danlo was ready, willing, and able to serve in this fashion also and I decided to ask Sahto and Talvo and all the other men on this side of the canyon if they wanted to participate. We broke up our meeting and I went to visit the rest of my helpers. All of them assured me they would be glad to go, but I could tell that even though Bigglieo and Galto would not mind having another mate, they really didn't want to get one this way. Talvo had no such reservations now since he was thrilled with his earlier experience along these lines. Sahto was also more than willing to do his part since Talvo was now mated and this meant his best friend was no longer living in the unmated men's quarters with him. Jonoco surprised me also as he was particularly anxious to take part. Apparently Jaiya had been mentioning something about him needing another mate. The most surprising to me was Georgo wanted to go with us. He told me he didn't intend to get involved in any violence unless he felt he was needed to save one of us, but he did want to go on the trip and he would be looking closely at any widows, especially if they had children. With everything settled my mates and I went to bed. The babies were already asleep and even though I had a new mate I didn't get anything started since I would need to be up and gone long before sunrise. With good participation from so many and anticipating a good outcome, maybe unadvisedly, we left two hours before sunrise the next morning. It was a hassle to get the wagons and the buckboard hitched before daylight, but with the big lights Argent had supplied we managed. We took down the loading towers from both wagons, but we did bring them with us. I led the way driving my original wagon and using the night vision goggles until the sun made an appearance. We pulled into Grotondo's camp shortly afterward. ------- Chapter 136 Grotondo and four of his men were waiting and ready to go. He told us the shortest and easiest way would have been over the plateau, but there wasn't a suitable access for the wagons nearby so we retraced our path and when we got back to the river we turned toward Raalto's original camp. When we passed it and continued downriver it was strange to see in person all the huts were gone. We traveled along for two more hours after passing Raalto's old camp and then turned up into the valley of a fairly large tributary. It was as big as the main river in fact. After another hour of travel Grotondo called for a halt and told me that we were less than a mile from Nutaro's camp. We unassed the wagons and did a little planning then. Grotondo and I were going to go to the camp alone, carrying the two bundles of salt he had left from the trade with Kartoto. They were about ten pounds each. Grotondo told us there would be a small wooded area where a few men could hide and watch not far from the camp and though he still didn't know how we could kill without spears, he was able to give us enough of an idea of the area for us to determine by hiding in the woods my men would be within a rifle's shot's distance of where the trading would probably take place. Grotondo and I walked along the river and entered the camp while Danlo, Sahto, Caato, and Colonto hid in the trees to observe. I didn't take an M1 with me, instead I carried a spear of Raalto's he had loaned me for the purpose of letting me seem fairly normal. I was dressed in my lion cub clothes again, but I didn't wear my necklace since I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I did have my Glock in its web belt holster though. It was just coming on to noon when we arrived and when we were noticed Nutaro was alerted and he came to greet us. Grotondo made the introductions and told Nutaro he had come with me and I wanted to trade for widows or orphans if there were any in his camp. Nutaro gave me a quizzical look, but didn't comment and he told us he did have one orphan in his camp and there were two widows, both of them had young children. He took us to a place similar to the one both Grotondo's and Kartoto's camp had. It was obvious that meals were often eaten there and there were some large rocks scattered around for sitting. He called some of his men too, I supposed they would eat with us and would then be dismissed. Apparently his mate and the other women knew he would feed us and soon they came out with hipbone plates and cups of a type of tea. The food was good and there was plenty of it. It was mostly bison and there were a few vegetable type items which were tasty, but foreign to me. As I expected, after the meal Nutaro dismissed the rest of his men and it made me wonder how this part of the custom had come about. I didn't know why the men were summoned to eat before the trading and then sent away, but it didn't matter to me. Things went a little differently this time though since the men all seemed to go into the huts and none of them were visible when the trading song and dance started. I let Grotondo do the talking and didn't pay very much attention to what he was saying. I tried to keep my eyes on anything else which might be going on in camp, but there was nothing to see. I also tried to appear to be paying attention to the palaver. It was a slight strain since I wanted to just constantly watch the camp, but couldn't. After a few minutes Nutaro asked me what I wanted with widows and orphans. "There are many of us at my camp, but there have been no children born lately and we have few young ones. There was a sickness and some of my men's mates died of it and we have no unmated women," I told him, lying through my teeth. It seemed to satisfy him and I was sure he didn't give a rat's ass what I said anyway. I sensed he had something up his sleeve and didn't intend to give up the widows or orphans and he wasn't planning on letting us leave with our salt either. He asked to see the salt then, but Grotondo wanted to see the women first and Nutaro agreed. He called to his mate, Tulaarra, and had her send the widows and the orphan to us. It took her a few minutes to gather them, but soon they came and did an approximation of the same line up I'd seen before. The orphan was a young girl, probably only about six years old and it was obvious at once she was neither being cared for nor fed properly. She probably wouldn't live through the winter unless it was a very mild one. The women and their babies looked healthy enough. The babies looked to be about three years old and after the mothers were in place they put them down and they could stand on their own. I looked them over carefully even though I would trade for them no matter what shape they were in. It was clear the young girl didn't understand what was going on, but she did stand patiently during the inspection. While this was happening I noticed the men who had eaten with us had come back out of the huts one at a time. I could tell they were trying not to attract attention, but they were all carrying their spears and none of them seemed to be heading off to go hunting or anything of the sort. They were working their way around us and into a rough circle. The whole scene was so transparent it would have been laughable if it hadn't been deadly serious. Nutaro dismissed the young one and the widows then and he even put on a sham of trying to make a deal with Grotondo. Grotondo asked me if the women and the child would be acceptable and I told him they would. When it finally came to it and Grotondo offered half of one of the bags of salt for the three and the two babies, Nutaro acted indignant and claimed that Grotondo was trying to cheat him. He ranted for a minute or two and then made the fatal mistake of saying he should kill us both and take all the salt to make up for the insult. Of course I didn't know then who was paying attention behind us, but someone knew I didn't like to have my life threatened. An M1 spoke up and Nutaro went over backwards with a big bloody rose spreading out of his chest. His men were shocked at first, but then they approached us with their spears raised. I stood up to get a word in. "I do not allow men who threaten to kill me to live and tell about it. Do any of the rest of you want to die now?" Almost always there are one or two idiots in any group that will discount what they see and try to continue with a plan even though they know there isn't a chance of pulling it off any longer. I always thought they were the ones called brave soldiers since they tried to carry on in the face of hopeless odds. There was only one in this group, but it was only a few men. He found out what Nutaro had felt as he took three strides toward me and raised his spear. He wasn't within thirty feet of me, but intent was good enough for my men. Another M1 shot sounded and another asshole was knocked to the ground. He was able to gasp for breath a time or two before blood came streaming out of his mouth. "The rest of you will die the same way if you don't throw down your spears at once," I told them. Apparently two dead men within only a few seconds were enough to convince the others something was dreadfully wrong with their plan, and they let their spears hit the ground. I signaled for my men to come out of the trees then and come to us. After they showed themselves I told Nutaro's men to stand together in a bunch and be quiet and then asked Grotondo to call Nutaro's widow to us. He did and by the time my men were with me Tulaarra had joined us also. I turned to face my men. "Which one of you shot Nutaro?" I asked. "I did," Danlo said, admitting it. "Tulaarra this is your new mate, his name is Danlo. Danlo this is Tulaarra," I said making the introductions and then thought of a question I wanted to ask her. "Tulaarra do you have any children?" "Yes, I have had a son for four summers," she said, but she didn't sound very enthusiastic about any of the proceedings. "What about that one, did he have a mate?" I asked, pointing to the other dead one. "Yes, Weeahta was Cardollo's mate, but she does not have a child," she told me. "Who is the big winner this time?" I asked my men and Sahto came forward to take his medicine like a man. "Tulaarra would you go and tell Weeahta that she has a new mate she should come to meet?" I asked her, and she seemed to notice for the first time I was making a request instead of giving orders. "I will go and bring her here," she said. After she left I turned to the men and asked who would take over as the leader here now. They seemed to have grown some new backbone while I had been occupied elsewhere and none of them would speak. I didn't press the issue and waited for Tulaarra to return with Weeahta. When they came to us I introduced Weeahta to Sahto and vice versa. "Tulaarra, would you tell me if any of these men are mated?" "They all have mates," she said. "Do any of their mates have children?" "Only Condondo's mate has a child," she said, and pointed to the biggest of them. I turned to my men again and asked them if one of them wanted to kill Condondo and gain a mate with a child. This caused a little commotion among the men and Condondo broke his silence. "Will you just kill us for our mates after you have caused us to throw down our spears?" he asked. "You have thrown down your spears, but you have not realized we are in control yet. I asked you a question and no one answered me. If any of you want to live, your best chance for it is to cooperate now. You intended to rob Grotondo and I and probably kill us instead of honestly trading as we came to do. Why should we treat you any better?" "Dunto will be our leader now," he said. "Which of you is Dunto?" "Dunto is not here, Nutaro sent him and the rest of the men hunting." "Very well, we will wait for Dunto then. You may gather your spears and go," I said, dismissing them. I sent Danlo and Sahto back to bring the wagons and the others but they hadn't gone ten paces before we spotted the wagons heading toward us. Apparently, after the gunshots Georgo had decided they might be needed so he had flicked the reins across the Morgan's asses and the others had followed him. When they drew near I signaled for them to drive on up into camp. "Tulaarra, what is the name of the orphan girl we saw?" I asked her, as I sat down to wait. "She is, Deimeta," she said. "Would you mind going to get her and bringing her back here." "No, I will be happy to," she said, and left, returning in just a few minutes with the child. "Deimeta my name is John. I am the leader of my own camp and I would like for you to come and live with us and be my daughter. Will you do it?" I asked her. "Do you have enough food for me? I am always hungry," she asked, looking right into my eyes. I'd always thought of myself as a pretty tough guy, but the way she looked at me nearly broke my heart. Then I was mad all over and wanted to get up and go through the camp killing every man I found. I managed to get hold of myself and answer her though. "We have more food than we need at my camp and I promise if you come with me you will never be hungry again," I said. "I will come with you then if Nutaro will let me," she said. "Nutaro has no say in the matter Deimeta, only you and I must agree." "I will agree then. My mother and father are gone and the others say they will not be coming back. I will go with you and hope you have enough food," she said. I was about to ask someone to bring her something to eat out of the food my mates had sent with us, but Georgo was ahead of me. He brought her a thick slice of Roweea's bread with a small piece of bison meat and a cup of the sweetened tea. She took it and thanked him before she sat down on the ground and began to eat it, but at a very deliberate pace. I was heartsick again when I realized her prolonged hunger was causing her to have to eat very slowly. Most of my men were grumbling now about what she must have been through here. It was obvious there was plenty of food in the camp since none of the others we had seen looked hungry. I couldn't help asking Tulaarra about it. "You have done us all a kindness by killing Nutaro. He was a cruel man even if he was my mate. He would not let us feed Deimeta and she is only alive now because Dunto made sure she always had at least something to eat. He hated Nutaro, but he never challenged him directly," she said. Deimeta couldn't even finish the little bit Georgo had brought her and when she had eaten what she could for now, I asked him to take her to lie down on some of the furs in the back of the buckboard. He left with her and we waited for Dunto to return from his hunting trip. Condondo came back to talk to me then and asked if they could take Nutaro and Cardollo off and bury them. I told him we would be dragging Nutaro and Cardollo off with us behind our wagons when we left and we would probably leave them somewhere for the scavengers to eat. "But how can you dishonor the dead?" he asked. "Easily, and if you don't get out of my sight we will be dragging you off along with them. I am not feeling very kindly toward your bunch of sneak thieves and child starvers now, and I would not mind killing you all. If one of you were bleeding to death from a cut throat, I wouldn't shake the dirt off my feet onto the cut to try and stop the bleeding." He got the hint then and left, fairly quickly I might add. I hadn't been just trying to scare him. I was still upset about Deimeta's condition. We could easily feed and care for every woman and child in this camp and I hadn't yet decided not to take on the job. After another hour I saw some men coming down river, toward the camp, carrying what I assumed was game they had killed. They must have cut it up into manageable pieces already since there was no recognizable carcass. One of the men who had been among our ersatz attackers this morning rushed to them and I'm sure he was explaining what a bunch of murderers we were. I didn't give a shit, we would be through murdering when I said we were through and I hadn't said it yet. All the arriving men except one headed into the camp with the meat. That one handed off his bundle to the tattletale and headed toward us. "I am Dunto, and Ducalto has told me you have killed Nutaro and Cardollo," he said. "I am John and we have killed them. We have not decided whether to kill the rest of the men in this camp or not. What do you have to say for yourself?" This was a shock to him and he didn't know what to say at first. Finally he found his voice. "I can understand why you killed Nutaro and probably Cardollo too, but why would you want to kill the rest of us?" he asked. "Because there is a small child, with us now, who was surely starving to death in this camp which had more than enough food for everyone else." "I know very well how Nutaro made us treat Deimeta, but he was our leader," he said. "Well you see what profit there was in it for him. I would sooner kill all the men here and take the women and children to my own camp than leave them here for more of the type of treatment she received." "It is our business what we do in this camp," he said, defiantly. "If I kill all the men here it will be my business, and your business will be to provide food for the hyenas." "How will you kill us, you do not even have your spear. It is on the ground there," he said pointing to it. "That is also my business, but I will show you if you want. Why don't you ask Nutaro or Cardollo how they were killed without spears." I guess the tattletale had already given him a rundown on how the other two had been killed, because he lost some of his color then and changed his tune a little. "What must I do to satisfy you we will do as you demand?" he said. "You need only tell me you will and then when I leave you only have to keep your word. I will know if you do not, but I will trust you to do as you say." He was confused again by this and it was as if he couldn't believe he was having this conversation. I guess he decided to see if I meant it. "I will tell you then no one in this camp will be starved as long as I am the leader," he said. "Good, do you have time to talk with Grotondo and me about trading?" This shift in direction knocked him off his track again, but he did agree to talk about trading with us. We returned to the place where we had talked with Nutaro and sat down. Dunto seemed a little uneasy to be sitting so near the bodies of Nutaro and Cardollo. He seemed to shake it off after a minute though. Grotondo told him we had already seen the two widows and the orphan and that all we needed to do now was agree on a bargain. "Is that the trade you wanted to make? You offered so much salt for Jatala, Buweeta, and Deimeta and this made Nutaro angry?" he asked. "For them and their children," I said. "It is more than a fair offer and I'm sure Grotondo knows it. Nutaro must have thought he could steal the salt and give you nothing for it," he said. "I am sure it is what he thought until he was lying on the ground with a hole in his chest and his blood flowing out. He might have had time for a few more thoughts afterward, but it was too late. I do not lie and I do not let those who lie to me live very long." "I will be glad to accept your offer and to give you my thanks for ridding us of Nutaro into the bargain. I do not like to be told how to take care of my people, but you have not asked me to do anything I would not do anyway. "Now I know how you were treated I am not surprised at your anger. I have no doubt it is you and not Ducalto who is telling me the truth of it," he told us. "Then we have a bargain?" I asked. "Yes we have a bargain and I hope we can get past this misunderstanding as time goes on. Would you mind if I have Tulaarra tell the other widows to go with you? I will need some time now to show Ducalto the consequences of lying to his leader," Dunto said. "That will be fine with us. We will be leaving when they are ready." It was the end of the ordeal and I was glad to be finished. Grotondo and I returned to the wagons and I went to Georgo's buckboard. He was watching over Deimeta as she slept. I looked over into the box and her eyes opened as I did. "Is it you, John?" she asked, as she woke. "Yes, Deimeta, it is I. Are you hungry again, can you eat more now?" I asked. "I think I can, is there any more of the tea. I liked it especially," she said, rather timidly. "I'm sure there is more tea and I will get you some now." I didn't need to though. Georgo had a cup of tea waiting for her and when she sat up he handed it over. He also had another piece of Roweea's bread ready. We both watched her as she ate it and at one point she paused after swallowing. "Aren't you going to eat, John, you and, Georgo? I don't want to make you go hungry, are you sure you have enough?" she asked. "We have plenty Deimeta and from now on I want you to tell me as soon as you think you can eat again. I promised you would not have to go hungry again and I meant it." "Thank you, John. It is nice to have someone to care for me again?" she told me, and then almost broke my heart again when she smiled. It was nearing sunset by the time we left and I thought we would have to make camp somewhere, but Grotondo said we could reach the next camp he intended to visit in less than an hour since we could travel so fast in the wagons. We headed for it. The sun had gone down before we reached it, but most of the people were still outside, they had a large fire going and seemed to be having some sort of celebration. ------- Chapter 137 Grotondo was riding on the seat with me in the lead wagon and he tried not to be amazed by the viciously bright spotlight. He couldn't help himself though and he asked me about it. "It was a gift from the spirits and it has come in very handy," I said, but offered no further explanation. I switched the light off when he told me we were approaching Jadatako's camp. We stopped well before we entered the glow of the fire and Grotondo got off and went to find Jadatako. He was back with him in a few minutes and this leader was as amazed by the horses and wagons as anyone else had been. He tried to ignore them as he spoke to me though. "I am Jadatako, the leader of this camp," he said, holding his palms forward. "I am John and I am the leader of my own camp far up the river," I replied. "You are all welcome here. Grotondo has told me of your difficulties with Nutaro and how you dealt with him. It makes you doubly welcome," he said. "When a man says he is going to kill me I believe him and try to kill him first. In this case one of my helpers killed him and another of them killed Cardollo. It was a good thing for them, as they both wanted a mate of your people. One of them even got a new mate who already had a child." This put just a little damper on Jadatako's enthusiasm - it didn't last long though. He said Grotondo had told him we wanted to stay the night and trade in the morning and he was all for it. He invited us to join his camp in the feast they were having. They were celebrating the coming of the winter and also the last mating of the year in his camp. I knew they did not usually have much of a celebration over matings and he volunteered this information as if I didn't. He had assigned his oldest daughter, the last unmated woman in the camp, to his best young hunter today. The hunter was the last unmated man in camp and both he and the woman had expected to be mated before the winter came. Jajaboto, the young hunter, had been pleased when he found out today was the day and he went hunting to celebrate. By some stroke of luck he was able to kill two bison and now the whole camp was celebrating and a large portion of one of the bison was cooking. Jadatako asked us to bring our furs and come with him then, saying he would show us to a place in the cave where we could sleep tonight. I went to the buckboard to get Deimeta, her furs and mine. She was sitting up and looking out wide-eyed at the fire and the crowd around it. "Are they having a feast, John?" she asked, expectantly. "Yes they are Deimeta." "I hope they will let me join it," she said. "You are the daughter of a large camp's leader now Deimeta, they will let you do whatever you like or we will leave and go to our own camp. "In my camp I have twenty-two mates. It is more mates than you have fingers and toes, and when we get there they will all want to meet you and take care of you. You won't know how happy they will be I have found you until you get there, but I can tell you they will be very happy." "It sounds so wonderful, John, thank you," she said. "Thank you Deimeta, for agreeing to be my daughter." I picked up our furs with one arm and Deimeta with the other and since everyone else was ready, Jadatako led us into the cave. There was a large open area near the front and he told us we could spread our furs there. I set Deimeta down and began. Tulaarra had already finished spreading she and Danlo's furs and she asked if I would like for her to finish with mine. "I can do this easily enough, but would you mind trying to help Deimeta clean up a little?" "I will be glad to help her, she is a very polite child and I could never understand why Nutaro was so cruel to her," she said. "I think Danlo has put an end to all that." "Yes, it seems he has, but it is almost too good to be true. Why don't you come with me, Deimeta and we will wash before the feast begins," she said. I had hoped Tulaarra would at least wash Deimeta's face and hands and straighten out her hair a little. I was surprised when she took Deimeta to where she had put her things and rummaged around in them for a minute. She came up with what looked like a small rabbit fur and a much bigger deerskin. The rabbit fur had been tanned with the hair still on, but the deerskin hadn't. She also had found a little skin bundle with no telling what inside and to my surprise she brought out a tunic and some trousers that must have belonged to her son. She took Deimeta's hand and led her to Sahto's new mate, spoke to her for a moment, and then she and Deimeta went outside. I guessed she had asked Weeahta to watch over her son while she was gone to take care of Deimeta. She needn't have worried about Malooto though, he was right beside Danlo and they were talking. It didn't look like they would get far from each other anytime soon. It looked like fun to me and so I went over and sat down by them. Danlo and I talked to and played with Malooto for nearly an hour until Tulaarra and Deimeta came back in. The change in Deimeta was dramatic. Tulaarra had obviously given her a complete bath. She had also washed and somehow combed Deimeta's long dark hair. Deimeta shined like a new penny and since her face was clean now her big brown eyes seemed to sparkle. It was easy to see Deimeta felt much better for the ordeal. She even had on clean clothes and they were a pretty good fit. She and Malooto were about the same size anyway, except he was heavier. No doubt this was a result of Deimeta's ordeal at Nutaro's direction. When they got to us I stood up, thanking Tulaarra, and then picking Deimeta up in my arms. "Who is this pretty girl you have found Tulaarra?" "It is me, John, Deimeta. Don't you know me?" Deimeta said. I held my head back and looked her over as if I wasn't sure. "Why it is, Deimeta, I didn't realize you were so pretty before," I told her, and the smile she gave me made my efforts worthwhile. I shifted her to sit in the crook of my left arm and as she put her little arms around my neck I thanked Tulaarra again and turned to go outside. Walking over near the roasting fire we could see a big haunch of bison being cooked, suspended on a spit and being turned occasionally. There were several watertight baskets filled with some vegetable dish or the other and several wooden bowls with tea brewing in them. Most of the camps people were outside talking or just watching. I noticed a few of them seemed to have some odd looking devices which could only be different types of drums. There were small, medium, and large examples. Some were hides stretched over frames and others looked like hollowed out parts of trees. There were a few which were made out of large bones and even one from the skull of some large animal. All at once a man started striking up and down the length of a hollowed limb which was about five inches in diameter and probably three feet long. As he continued making the altering tones with his carved mallet the person with the skull began striking it on different areas, also producing different notes, but strangely in rhythm with the limb beater. One of the skin drummers started a low steady beat then and one by one the others joined. This went on for a few minutes before a chant started. There were no words in this song, just a chanting of different tones. Some right on the beat and later others joined in dividing the drumbeats and finally a type of melody could be discerned. It continued for maybe ten minutes and then, as if on some signal only the performers knew it all ended on the same beat. The whole thing left me with a slightly sad feeling somehow, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. I was able to tell the smells of the food were leaving me with a hungry feeling and after just a few more minutes the eating started. Grotondo was sitting on a piece of a large log by Jadatako and when he caught my attention he motioned for me to come and sit with them. I had barely parked my ass and arranged Deimeta on my lap when Tratieta, Jadatako's mate, came out with two hipbone plates, one for Grotondo and one for Jadatako. Before Grotondo began eating he also spied Georgo. "Shaman, come, eat with us," he said, and Georgo did come over and sit with us. Tratieta must have been paying attention somehow because when she returned she had two more of the plates and gave one to me and one to Georgo. She seemed to just now notice I had Deimeta in my lap. "I bring food for girl too?" she asked me, which was a novelty in itself, having one of their leader's mates speak up. "I think Georgo and I can probably pack her full from our plates, but thank you for asking," I replied. Deimeta had steadied the plate in her lap since she was sitting in mine. I reached down and retrieved some type of vegetable which resembled a tiny ear of corn to me. I waved it in front of Deimeta's mouth and she caught on quickly and opened wide to receive it. I tried one myself then and it was good, but it didn't taste anything like corn to me. Georgo was into the game now too and was waving a small piece of meat toward Deimeta's mouth, she opened up and took it and gave a little sigh as she chewed. I could tell Deimeta liked our attention and I was enjoying giving it to her, Georgo was too. We continued playing the food game for a little while, but when I noticed Deimeta wasn't opening up as quickly I stopped to ask her. "Have you had enough for now Deimeta?" "I think I have John, the game is fun, but I feel full for now. Do you mind if we stop for a while?" she asked. "We don't mind Deimeta. Maybe we can play again later. Perhaps I should put you on my shoulder and pat your back like mothers sometimes do for their babies." "Oh John, I'm not a baby anymore," she said, and actually giggled for the first time since she'd joined us. "Maybe not, but you're my daughter now and I might do it anyway." I picked her up off my lap and turned her over my shoulder then, patting her back and sure enough she did burp. When I put her back down she had a tiny blush on her face and a very big smile and then she giggled again. I hugged her closer and as I did she sagged toward me. "See Deimeta, you did need to burp. Do you feel better now?" "Yes, I feel better than I ever remember feeling," she said, and sighed again. I felt my own pulse in my throat for a second and I had to think of something else to keep tears from leaking out of my eyes. I glanced at Georgo, who had not let his eyes stray from her since we'd sat down. I could just see a few escaping the corners of his eyes. Deimeta felt comfortable now and she dropped off to sleep in my arms in only a few minutes. Out of nowhere it seemed, Tulaarra came over and offered to take her to her furs to sleep. "Malooto is already sleeping and I will put her with him if you like," she told me. "That will be fine Tulaarra, thank you," I said, as I surrendered Deimeta. Georgo and I pretended nothing out of the ordinary had gone on while we sat and watched the festivities. Tratieta brought first Jadatako and then Grotondo a wooden cup of something to drink then she was right back with a cup for Georgo and I. I tasted it and knew it was their version of bruga. It wasn't a Long Neck by a wide margin, but it was good enough and actually reminded me of homemade beer another guy and I made when we were in college. The bruga was making the rounds by now and the weird music started back up. It had a more stable beat this time and after it was going pretty good, and most people had downed a cup or two of bruga, a sort of dancing broke out. It wasn't really dancing like I'd ever seen before and it didn't even match up to what you'd see in a National Geographic film, but it was definitely a type of dancing. Mostly they seemed to hop from one foot to the other and try to keep up some semblance of moving with the beat. There was no organization to it and it was pretty much every man or woman for themselves. I felt sure it was a lot more entertaining to watch than to participate. Soon enough they stopped adding wood to the fire and after a little while it died down and things got fairly dark at the big party. I went into the cave and headed to my furs for the night. I looked over and saw Deimeta and Malooto sleeping, but I couldn't let well enough alone. I went over and roused Deimeta, picking her up and bringing her to my furs to sleep with me. She was asleep again as soon as I put her down and when I lay down I put a protective arm over her and dropped right off into a sound sleep myself. ------- Chapter 138 I woke early the next morning and managed to get my moccasins on without waking Deimeta. I intended to let her sleep as long as she would. Luckily I saw Georgo was up too and he was headed out of the cave. I followed him quickly, hoping he would know the way to their pisser. He did and we watered some bushes together. "We will suffer without coffee this morning, John," he lamented, after we'd finished our individual ritual dick shaking. "No we won't Georgo. My mates have taken better care of us than that," I told him. "Did you bring some coffee then?" he asked, and he looked so excited about it I almost laughed at him. "I did even better, and if you can find us some water we will be in business before long." He rummaged in the big wagon, unknowingly pushing aside the bag with the forty-cup Party Perc in it and found a cooking pot my mates had packed. It would probably hold about a gallon and he set off with it at once. While he was gone I set up the percolator and plugged it in to the battery and fuel cell wiring the wagon had for operating the loading winch. When Georgo got back with the water and he saw the coffee pot his face lit up brighter than any kid's on Christmas morning. "It won't be enough water Georgo," I told him. "Good, very good. Pour it in and I'll go back and get more," he said. It took him three trips and I had everything else ready, even fishing out some mugs, before he was done. When the water was in the pot I put the stem and the coffee basket in it and then put the lid on and flicked the switch. The little brewing light came on and since Georgo was studying the process intently he remarked about it at once. "It is just to let you know it is working. Soon you will see the coffee jumping into this little part at the top and falling back down." "How long will it take to be ready to drink?" he asked. "It will only be a few minutes but it will seem like all day if you stay there and watch the whole time." He thought about it for a few seconds. "You are right. If I stay here and think of nothing else it will seem like forever before it is done. I'm going back into the cave and watch Deimeta sleep, that will be more entertaining," he said, and left. I didn't mind Georgo watching the coffee perk of course, but I did want a little time to myself so I could use my Blackberry. I got it out of my things and tried to contact Argent. His answering message came back at once. "John, we are enthralled with your latest actions," he sent. "Yes, but could we save it until later, I might not have much time right now. I want to know if you will check Deimeta over to see if there are any things about her health I should be worrying about." "You should know by now we pay more attention to you than that. I've assured you we don't read your thoughts, but we could have hardly failed to see Deimeta had come to mean a great deal to you in a short time. We checked her over thoroughly yesterday right after the rather unpleasant Nutaro dismissed her from the inspection." "Then she is in good health?" I asked. "She was in much better shape than I would have guessed. She was suffering from malnutrition of course and her development has been retarded slightly, but there will be no permanent physical effects from her ordeal. "She was lightly infested with an intestinal parasite, but we engineered a custom anthelmintic for her as soon as we discovered them and we transferred a dose of it into the first piece of Roweea's bread Georgo gave her. "She passed the dead parasites last night just before Tulaarra bathed her. All she needs now is normal food and a little attention. I have no doubt she will get all the attention she can bear as soon as your multitude of mates get their eyes on her. In fact, she seems to be getting quite a lot of attention from you and Georgo," he sent. "I am glad to know she will be all right. I didn't worry about her health until this morning." "She will be fine John, we will make sure of it," he sent. "Thank you so much Argent. This means a lot to me," I sent, and signed off. After that enlightenment I did what I had suggested to Georgo he shouldn't, I watched the coffee perc. It was done in about five minutes and I took the first cup. Georgo was out about five minutes later for a cup and then Danlo followed behind him. I teased Danlo a little about getting a son, but he was no dummy and shifted right back on me about my new daughter. Realizing there was no way I could win this teasing match I shut up and sipped my coffee. After a while Jadatako came out and when he saw us gathered around the back of the big wagon he came over. He eyed the wagon suspiciously while he came toward it and when he did finally reach us I could tell he was very curious about what we were drinking, but he didn't seem to want to ask about it. "Would you like to try some of the coffee Jadatako? It will taste bitter at first and you may not like it. If you drink a whole mug though you will probably begin to like it." "Why would you drink it if you do not like the tastes?" he asked the age-old question. "I have been drinking it for years now and I don't remember why I started. I will get you a cup to try and you can make up your own mind," I told him, and found another of the plastic insulated mugs. "I can tell you why I like it - drinking a mug or two of coffee will make you feel like doing something, more so than you normally would," Georgo added. "I will try it then and hope it makes me feel like doing something, because the bruga from last night makes me feel like I should go back to my furs and lie down again," he told us. I poured him a mug and even put the top back on the mug for him. When I handed it to him I warned him it was very hot and he should be careful with the first sip. He was careful, but finally determined it wasn't too hot for him and took a decent mouthful, swallowing it quickly. "It is a little bitter and it taste strange, but it isn't unpleasant," he told us, and took another sip. We stood around without talking much and concentrated on drinking our coffee. All of a sudden I was swept by a craving for a cigarette about two feet long. Its funny how the habit tries to restart itself every now and then when it catches you in a weak moment, and when I was smoking I had always liked to have a cigarette or two with my morning coffee. A few minutes later Tulaarra came out with Malooto - Weeahta and Deimeta were with them. They led the children around toward the facilities, which Georgo had shown me this morning. They came back shortly and when Deimeta looked toward me I held my arms open to beckon her. She smiled widely and came over. I picked her up and told her good morning. "Good morning to you too John, what are you and Georgo and all the others drinking?" she asked. "We are having our coffee, would you like to try some?" "Does it taste good?" she asked. "Not at first it doesn't, but it is hot and it will help you wake up in the mornings. Why don't you try a sip of mine and if you can bear it I will get you some of your own." "Ok, I will try yours first," she agreed. I warned her it was hot and handed her the mug. She had to use both of her hands to hold it, but she was finally able to get a sip and she made a twisted face at once. "You are right, it does not taste very good at first. It must get better later though since you are all drinking it," she said, and took another sip. "It wasn't so bad that time, maybe I should try some of my own," she said. I set her down and turned to look in the wagon to get another mug. I was surprised when I saw a smaller mug, about half the size of the others, sitting right where I couldn't miss it. Apparently Argent was keeping an eye on our early morning coffee klatch. I opened the top, filled it with coffee and replaced the plastic lid - handing it to Deimeta and reminding her it was hot and probably hotter than mine had been. She tested it carefully and then took a sip. "Maybe I can come to like it after a while, it doesn't taste so bitter now," she said. "Maybe you can, if you do we can have some coffee every morning and you already have a mug just the right size for you." Weeahta, Tulaarra, and Malooto were still standing there as if waiting on Deimeta. I offered them all some coffee, but the women declined and Tulaarra didn't really give Malooto a chance to accept. It was just as well though because he was only four and while he was as big as Deimeta, he was not as aware of what was going on around him yet. He seemed to be mostly just impatient to go. "I will keep Deimeta with me for now, thank you both for taking care of her when she woke," I told them, and then they went back into the cave. The rest of my men came out in ones and twos and all of them were delighted to see the coffee pot in operation. Deimeta and I moved to the other side of the wagon and I sat on the tailgate putting her in my lap. None of us talked much, we were mostly content to sip our coffee and enjoy the morning. When everyone had finished drinking their coffee I noticed Jadatako was busily examining his cup. I think he was trying to figure out how the top was removed. I showed him and he marveled at it so I told him he should keep it as a gift from me. He was hesitant at first and admitted to me he didn't really like the coffee. I laughed and told him even if he didn't want coffee he could still use the cup to drink other things. This satisfied him and he smiled and thanked me for it, turning to his cave to put it up no doubt. Grotondo hadn't made an appearance yet and I wondered what was keeping him sleeping. He finally came out a few minutes later and I could tell at once the bruga was doing him wrong this morning. He made a pilgrimage to the pisser and then came back around. "Is your head pounding Grotondo?" "Yes, it is always so when I drink bruga. I always hope it will not be so bad for me this time, but it is always the same. I drink bruga and feel good at night and the bruga has its revenge in the morning," he said. There was some coffee left and some water too. I got a mug of water for him and dug around in my kit for some aspirin. I told him to swallow the two white pills with some water and then drink the rest of the water. He did and then I got him a mug of coffee. We had the usual discussion about the coffee, but when I told him this would all help his head he was happy to try it. I left him with his coffee and took Deimeta over to sit on the rocks we had used for seats last night. I could smell food cooking from the spot and I decided it was a good place to be. ------- Chapter 139 Sure enough Jadatako was out to join me in a few moments and Georgo too. When Grotondo finished his coffee he came over also. We hadn't been there long before Tratieta and another woman of Jadatako's camp came out with plates for us. I asked Deimeta if she was ready for breakfast and she told me she had eaten before they came outside. "Tulaarra has told us how Nutaro made them treat the little one and we made a plate for she and Malooto as soon as she woke. It makes me hurt inside to think she did not have enough to eat while everyone around her had plenty," Tratieta said, and it was easily the boldest statement I'd heard from any of the Neanderthal women I'd met. "It made me hurt inside also Tratieta and I thank you for tending to her." "I am happy you killed him. We knew he was worthless after he deceived Jadatako, but we never knew he could be so cruel to a child. You have done everyone a service and we should be thanking you," she said, and then left, I didn't even have time to tell her it wasn't me who killed Nutaro. Tulaarra came out with Danlo's plate then and Weeahta with one for Sahto and one for Talvo and other women came out with food for all the rest of the men. We ate mostly in silence since it seemed to be their custom. After we were through and the women had retrieved the plates and cups Jadatako dismissed all of his men and it was clear to me Georgo must have given all of mine the lowdown on trading etiquette because they all got up with him and went into the cave with the others. Danlo picked up Deimeta to take her inside also. Grotondo didn't waste much time telling Jadatako what we wanted to trade for and after he'd finished Jadatako surprised us. "I would not take salt from John for the widows here that have no mate nor for the unmated woman who has no man to mate her this year. As Tratieta has said, John has done us a service in Nutaro's former camp and we are grateful. I will call Tratieta and ask her to tell the women to pack at once," he said, and did just that. While she was gone to tell the women the trading talk was finished. I started to object, but since Grotondo was doing the trading I didn't. Jadatako went into the cave and left Grotondo and I alone. "I didn't intend to just take the women without giving something in return." "You have given something in return John, though it may not seem like much to you since it was accomplished so easily. I'm sure Jadatako has probably been planning all along to repay Nutaro for his poor treatment. You have made it all unnecessary now and have saved Jadatako the bother and the danger. Now he can feel like he has repaid you for the help," Grotondo told me. I decided to keep my mouth shut about it and be satisfied. I hadn't known I was doing Jadatako a service, but if he thought I had I wasn't going to make a big thing of it. All at once my companions began coming out of the cave, well not all at once, but a definite migration had begun. Sleeping furs were being loaded and a few other things, including the belongings of the two widows and the unmated girl who would be leaving with us. I got one last mug of coffee before we would have to pour the rest out and I wasn't surprised to see Georgo was right behind me for another round. We emptied and packed up our coffee shop then. I spied Deimeta near my wagon and so I went to her, picking her up and placing her on the seat. I climbed up myself then and sat by her. Grotondo was the last to board and after checking to make sure everyone was ready I got directions from him and we headed off. I could tell Deimeta was feeling much better today than she had yesterday. She was looking around and generally being amazed at the horses pulling us along and that we didn't have to walk. Grotondo had told me to head further downriver and so we were. He explained he hadn't intended to come this far at first, but we probably had time since we were getting an early start this morning. We pulled near another camp within an hour. Grotondo had me stop well back from camp and let him down. He entered the camp by himself and I was happy to let him. Grotondo spoke to a woman who was standing outside starring at us - she summoned a man from inside one of the two caves. It was the camp's leader and he and Grotondo talked for a few minutes, but it wasn't really very long. Then Grotondo followed the leader into the cave. A few minutes later they came back out and walked into the other cave. They were in there for a few minutes and came back out - Grotondo heading toward me and the leader going back into the cave he'd come from. When he reached me Grotondo explained. "Chatamtato does not like to deal with people like you, John. Neither I nor anyone else I've ever talked to knows why. I wasn't going to come to this camp for that very reason. When I talked to Jadatako he told me if we had time we might try to trade with Chatamtato in this manner since Jadatako didn't think Chatamtato had any real animosity for people like you. For some reason he will not trade with them though," Grotondo explained. "Well did he seem receptive to trading and did he have widows here?" "He has three widows, all with children and there are four unmated women he will have no mates for this winter. If things go as he expects he will have four boys who become men next year, but also six girls who will become women. He is telling the widows and the unmated women to pack now and I have traded him one of the bundles of salt for them. He was very pleased and he hasn't even seen the salt yet. I came to get it and take it to him," Grotondo said. He retrieved one of the salt bundles and headed for the cave Chatamtato had entered. He was in there for a while and when he came out the three widows were following him carrying their children. All the children were young and the oldest seemed younger than Malooto who was four. Some of the other women were bringing the widows' belongings and yet another woman went into the second cave and when she came out she had the four unmated women in tow. The unmated women were carrying their belongings. I got down and welcomed the women while Danlo and the other men stored the belongings in the wagons. We helped them all find a place to sit and had only marginal difficulty convincing them this strange mode of transportation was safe. Tulaarra finally told them the obvious - we had all come here this way and weren't damaged. This logic was plainly unassailable and after a few minutes talking among themselves they climbed aboard. "Was he pleased with the salt?" I asked Grotondo, after we were moving again. "He was delighted, so much so in fact he said he was going to reconsider his position of trading with people of your type. I believe he now thinks there might be much profit in it," Grotondo said, and then looked at me and laughed. "Do you realize the salt won't seem so valuable after I have traded a lot of it around," I asked him. "I have known it from the first. It is only so valuable now because it is scarce. That is one of the reasons I wanted to come with you, to make sure none of the others got the feeling it was to be easily had from now on. I too have much salt now, thanks to you, and I do not want it to lose its value," he said. I began to wonder a little about Grotondo then and his intelligence had gone up considerably in my estimation. I thought it was very perceptive of him to understand supply and demand so clearly. We headed back upriver this time and later when we passed Jadatako's camp again, we waved to those we saw outside. Before we got back to Raalto's original camp we followed a tributary off to the left and came to Kodontolo's camp. I was getting a little hungry by now and I knew everyone else must be too. We stopped short of the camp again and Grotondo got down and preceded us. He went into a cave and stayed there for nearly half an hour, coming back outside then and signaling for the rest of us to come up. When we got into the camp Grotondo and a man I assumed was Kodontolo were there waiting for us. I climbed down and helped Deimeta down and before I had time to turn to speak to Grotondo and the other man Tulaarra came to get Deimeta, saying she would go and get her something to eat. "There is no need for that, you are guests here and we are glad to have your visit. Our women have the meal almost ready and you may take the child into the cave. Tell them Kodontolo said for them to feed her at once. Grotondo has told me what has befallen the child and I will do my part to see she is not hungry," he said. This surprised me a little, but from the look on Tulaarra's face I could see she was nearly floored. It made Kodontolo's stock rise quite a bit in my estimation. Tulaarra picked Deimeta up in her arms and carried her into the cave and Weeahta was right behind her with Malooto. The other women and men were unassing the wagons by then. The women and children went into the cave and the men all stayed out with Grotondo and I. Kodontolo motioned for us to move to his outdoor cafe then and we took seats on the rocks which were placed around for just the purpose. He began a little talk then. "I am very happy you have come to visit me and my camp, John. We have seen you and the horses and those wagons, as Grotondo told me they were called, a few times when you were traveling nearby. I have been very curious about them. How do you make the horses pull them?" he asked. "We catch the horses and then we must train them to do as we wish. It takes some time, but they are very helpful after they are trained. I didn't realize you had ever seen them before." "We did not intend to let you see us since we did not know you or know what you were doing or why the horses were helping you. We also saw some of the horses with something dragging behind them, but I don't see any like that now," he said. "That was a travois and it can be used to carry things also. It is useful if the path is very rough or too narrow for the wagons to use." "I see. Is it very hard to catch horses and train them?" he asked me. "It is not so easy to catch them, especially if you do not have some to ride to help you. After you have one or two to ride it is easier to make wild horses go into a place where they can not get out, such as a blind canyon." "Oh, I understand now myself. We have had horses, bison, and even aurochs wander into our camp and through it before, catching themselves in the big area behind it. We were always happy when it happened because it made them so easy to hunt when they were trapped back there," Grotondo said, talking about his giant cul-de-sac. "You do have the perfect place to capture horses if you can get some in there Grotondo," Kodontolo said. "Yes, it is good for it and the next time horses wander in there we are going to catch them instead of killing them. John has let Brundolo come to his camp for a while and he is teaching him how to train and care for the horses," Grotondo said. "That is good for you and your camp. I wonder, John if you and I could come to an agreement so you would take one of my men and teach him some of these things. Grotondo has told me you have come to trade and maybe we can work it into the trade," He said. "We do not have to work it into the trade, because I would be glad to do it for you anyway," I volunteered. "But what type of trade did you want to make with me then?" he asked. "If you have widows here or unmated women who do not have a prospective mate, I would like to trade for them. I know widows are considered unlucky, but they haven't been unlucky for me." "I do not consider them unlucky either, but I know most do. There are two widows in our camp as I'm sure there must be widows in most camps. I do not think they are unlucky and most of my men do not either, but all my men have a mate already. "I have two unmated women with no man to mate. It is hard for a man or a woman to go through a winter, cooped up in the cave most of the time, and not have a mate. I will trade you the two widows and the two unmated women for this training of one of my men if you will trade," he said. "I will trade, but you must take some salt into the bargain, as I have said I would train your man anyway. I will also send him back to you with a horse of his own and a travois," I told him. "You are too generous John, you must come and trade with me more often," Kodontolo said, and then laughed a little. ------- Chapter 140 Women started coming out of the cave then with food for us and this killed the talking. I realized while we were eating Kodontolo had not dismissed his men or mine during the trade talks and I wondered if it was his general way of doing it or if the trading had just started before he expected it. No matter, it was done now. After the meal was finished and while the women were clearing up the dishes the widows and unmated women came out. Tulaarra and the other women had apparently prepared them for the horses and wagons already because they did not seem afraid of them. Our other women had helped bring the possessions out and they were loading them into the wagons. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the widows had two children. She had one young boy, who looked to be seven or eight years old, and one very young one who could not walk yet. The other widow had a young child too and it seemed maybe three or four years old. We were loaded up and had said our goodbyes in only a few more minutes. Grotondo said he knew of one more camp nearby if I wanted to go to it. He told me the leader was an honest man, but he was not as hospitable as Kodontolo. "Dracto will come somewhere between Chatamtato and Kodontolo. If we were going to arrive at mealtime he would not hesitate to feed us, but he would probably seem cross about it even though nothing would be said. He will trade without doubt if he has widows or unmated women. He is one, like most of us, who feel widows are unlucky and he does not like to have unmated women underfoot during the winter either. I have known of him trading them away before winter, if he had no man to give them to, and then having to trade to get mates for boys who became men the next year," Grotondo said. It was only a few miles up to the caves of Dracto's camp. They had three caves close together. Apparently someone had seen us coming because Dracto was the first person we saw as we came close. At first he looked as if he were feeling a little belligerent, but when he noticed Grotondo was with us his body language changed visibly. I stopped short of him and Grotondo got down and went over to talk. The rest of us stayed in the wagons. After a few minutes Grotondo signaled for me to come to them. Dracto might have been a little unfriendly, but it was fine in my book. We weren't hungry and Dracto didn't waste much time to do his trading. He was to the point about it and in only a few minutes he told us he would trade three widows, all with very young children, and two unmated women. He called into the nearest cave and his mate came to him. He told her to have the widows and the unmated women come to us and he also told her to bring him something, but I didn't understand what he said. A few minutes later the three widows and two unmated women came out and lined up more nearly like I'd seen before. Dracto's mate brought him a wooden bowl and he told me he would trade the widows and the unmated women for the bowl full of salt. It would probably hold seven or eight pounds and so I told him we had a deal. He told the women to get their things and he handed me the bowl. I asked him if it would be all right if some of the other women with us helped the new women gather their things and he agreed. I went to the big wagon to get the salt and when I got there I asked Tulaarra to get some of the others to help the new members and a few of them took off to do it. I opened the fifty pound container of salt I'd had loaded before we left and I filled the bowl, closed the container and went back to give it to Dracto. While walking back I noticed he and Grotondo were not even talking. When I handed him the bowl he called his mate to come and get it and she did. The women were coming back out now and were soon loaded into the wagon. Grotondo and I said our goodbyes to Dracto and we left. It was all very matter of fact and it suited the hell out of me. When everyone was on board and settled we turned the wagons around and headed home. We would probably be able to make it back to our camp before sunset. We retraced our way from Dracto's camp back down toward Kodontolo's. He was waiting outside when we got there so we stopped and I got down to talk to him. He wanted to know if he could send one of his men back with us now to begin learning about the horses. I thought it was a good idea and I told him so. He said he would go and fetch the man right away. "Isn't he a mated man?" I asked, since Kodontolo had already told us he had no unmated men in his camp. "Yes, he has a mate," he replied. "Be sure and tell her to come also if it is allowed. He may need to stay for several days." "I hadn't thought of it, but I will tell him to bring her with him. Do you know how much food they will need to bring?" he asked. "They will not need to bring any food, we have plenty." He nodded his understanding and went inside his cave. Deltonto and Keyshatata came out with their furs and other things in just a few minutes followed by Kodontolo. We made room for the two in the wagons and after saying our goodbyes to Kodontolo we were off again. We traveled back down the tributary and when we came to the main river again we headed up it. Soon we were passing by the spot of Raalto's original camp. Grotondo and I lamented the fact we hadn't asked anyone on the trip if they knew anything about the huts. "I know of the huts." Deltonto, who had ended up right behind us said. "What happened to them?" Grotondo asked, at once. "We took them down and carried them to our caves. Did you want them?" he asked. "I didn't want them, I just wondered where they went," I said. "I did not want them either, but they were a mystery. Some of my men passed through the camp, but could find no sign of where the huts had been moved," Grotondo said. "It took us much extra time to hide the sign. We did not really want the huts either, but we had trouble with the last group who used them, as I know John did. After the people moved away and left the huts Kodontolo decided we would just take them down and carry them off. He didn't want us to leave any sign so no one could come asking about them," Deltonto said. "What about the huts from Barbo's camp. Did you take them also?" I asked. "I do not know Barbo or where his camp was. There were many huts at this camp that were already broken down and stored though, perhaps they took this Barbo's huts before they left with you John," Deltonto said. "They must have. We told them they were welcome to them and I guess they took them. I have not asked any of them about it since those remaining came to live at my camp," I said. There was the solution to that little mystery and I thought it was pretty smart of Kodontolo to think of it. A bunch of nice but empty huts would be more likely to gather their own bunch of people to stay in them and I'm sure the chances would have been good for them to attract men who were not inclined to hard work. Not saying there is necessarily anything wrong with being lazy, hell, I'm lazy myself. When we came to the tributary which led to Grotondo's camp he insisted he and his men could walk the rest of the way home. I tried to get him to let us take them, but he refused, saying I needed to get my new members home and sunset would be on us if we took time to take he and his group back to their cave. "This way we can all get home before sunset and there will be no need for you to travel after dark," he said. I didn't argue any more about it. He was right and I would be glad to skip more nighttime traveling. I was getting anxious to see my mates again, and I was anxious to introduce them to Deimeta. Deimeta was riding right beside me on the seat and had been leaning over on me for the last hour. I was sure she was getting tired. I had already offered to make room for her to lie down in the wagon, but she wanted to stay with me and so I let her. Maybe she was getting at least a little rest by leaning. This time I had the presence of mind to stop about a mile from camp and tell everyone about the wolves. I let them know they were not wild wolves and told them how they helped us keep other predators away. It was a good thing I did too, because as we neared the camp later, Prince, King, Rover, and all the younger wolves came bounding down to meet us. This action brought Deimeta back awake and she watched the wolves with a smile on her face the rest of the way back to camp. The wolves weren't the only ones who knew we were coming. My mates were all standing outside of our cave when we drove up and they didn't waste any time surrounding the wagon I was driving. "Oh John, we knew you must have found a young girl when her new clothes came yesterday. We are all so excited and want to see her. Is that her beside you? What is her name?" Roweea asked, spitting it out in one breath and pointing at Deimeta. "Yes my mates this is, Deimeta and she is my daughter now," I told them, holding a giggling Deimeta up above my head. "She is so pretty John, where did you find her," Merita asked me. "We will have time for the whole story later, but for now we want to get out of this wagon. I am tired of sitting on its seat." They backed off a little and I got down, turning and holding my arms up for Deimeta as soon as I was on the ground. Raalto, Racaato, and most of the other leading men were here by now and I just walked off from the wagon, holding Deimeta in my arms, and nodding my head to them as I left. I could see Danlo had wasted no time on the wagon he was driving either. He was helping Tulaarra and Malooto out of it while his other mates were gathered around him also. I worried for a moment Sahto would be lost now, but I saw Georgo was helping him retrieve Weeahta and a few of her things. I knew Georgo would get them into my cave sooner or later. When I was inside with Deimeta I went to the head of our original table, turned my chair around and sat in it, facing all of my mates. "I know you are all excited and I am excited myself, but I should tell you Deimeta has not been getting enough to eat since her mother and father went away. I am asking all of you to make sure there is something for her to eat any time she wants it, but I'm also asking you not try to make her eat too much at once." "Who is the one who let this child go hungry and where is he?" Dieta and Ameliea said almost in one voice, and I'm sure they intended to leave right now to find and deal with the offending one. "His name was Nutaro, but he grew tired of living during our visit and Danlo helped him stop," I said. Thankfully this seemed to settle them down. I was surprised to see they weren't the only ones who had been upset so quickly though, since Roweea, Merita, and Maia stopped their trek to the practice cave, where most of their weapons were stored, and came back to join the crowd. I made a mental note then to make sure I never misused a child, though I knew I never could anyway. "I know you all want to meet Deimeta and I'm sure she wants to meet all her new mothers, but I think we should let her meet Eileiea first. She is the healer here after all, and I think she should look at Deimeta to make sure there is nothing else we should do for her." Surprisingly they all agreed at once and when I asked Deimeta to go with Eileiea she did it without protest. I told the rest of my mates if Eileiea said it was all right they could all keep Deimeta in the bedroom and help her put on her new clothes. This perked them up a bit and many of them headed to the bedroom's entrance. Jaada, Shelalliea, Dalia, and Geera stayed with me though and I noticed that Roweea and Dieta were back in the kitchen by now and it looked like they were cooking. ------- Chapter 141 "Roweea, I am glad you are in the kitchen because Deimeta has already had some of your bread and it is her favorite," I said, and I could tell it pleased her even though she said anyone could make bread. I stood up and gave Dalia, Shelalliea, Jaada, and Geera a good kissing and then went to the kitchen to molest Roweea and Dieta also. After I released Dieta it hit me there were many new people here now and I had just left them outside. I told my mates I was going back out there to help them get settled. I guess I was trying to get a minor panic started for myself. I couldn't even remember right now how many new members we had acquired and I sure as hell didn't know where to put all of them. Luckily, when I got outside, I saw Georgo had taken over and Barago, Raalto, Colonto, Caato, and Racaato were there helping Georgo get things organized. When Raalto saw me he came over at once, telling me there was something he needed to show me. I asked him to let me check with Georgo first and said then we would go back inside to talk. He agreed and waited while I asked Georgo if he had everything in hand. He told me he would take care of things and he assumed all the latest arrivals would be eating in my cave tonight. I said I thought it would be best and left it with him to return to Raalto. When Raalto and I entered my cave again Jaada began pouring us both a mug of coffee and she handed them to us as we reached her. I thanked her and then Raalto and I headed for my office. We didn't make it there though, since I saw what was obviously a new entrance to somewhere. It was between my office and the bathroom and looked like it must go straight through where the corners of the two rooms must nearly meet. I stopped in place. "Is that what you needed to show me, Raalto?" "Yes, it is. I discovered it yesterday morning. I was just sitting at the table drinking my coffee and I saw it. No one else seems to have noticed it, but it is plainly visible," he said. "Have you been in it already?" "Yes," He said. "What is in there?" "More caves, and it is very big in there. It also looks like it is arranged into quarters similar to those we all live in. It isn't the only new cave though and it isn't the biggest. There is another new entrance on the other side of our space and it leads to an even larger cave. There is enough room in it for all the people in the entire camp with much space left over. It is hard to explain by talking, maybe we should look at them together," he said. "I think you are right Raalto, let's go." We headed into the new entrance and it was only a short walk to a large open area. I could see that it was meant to be a gathering area and there were dozens of smaller living spaces opened into it. There was room for fifty or more people to live in here and closer inspection showed me there was a bed in every separate room. There was also an entrance leading back to a communal bathroom which would easily accommodate everyone who could live here. I didn't wonder why since I knew exactly who had done this. A closer look and then a quick count told me it was set up for fifty people to live here and each have their own bed. In the middle of the open area was a kitchen setup similar to the one in my cave, but not as over done. There were only two sinks and two dishwashers and the refrigerators and pantries weren't as large, they were close, but not quite as big. There was a hall leading on past the open area and it went to an opening into the canyon. It wasn't a very big opening but it was an outlet big enough for five or six people to use at once. I didn't comment and we turned around and went back into my cave. We went through my cave and into the quarters of Raalto and the others who had been living here for a while. At the end of the connecting walkway to their outside entrance the passage had been extended and when we walked through even I was amazed. This area was easily two or three times the size of the largest cave on the other side of the river. There were separate rooms for each bed but they were open to the remainder of the cave with more of a half partition than a wall. It gave the illusion of some privacy, but really didn't provide much. It was more than they had where they were, but there was no real bedroom exactly. The whole thing was basically a giant circular room, probably twelve hundred feet or more in diameter. It had rooms all around the circumference with full partition rock walls between them and a half wall separating them from the larger cave. Nearly in the center of the cave was a large circular wall surrounding what I found to be a big communal bathroom. It was twice as big as the one in the former largest cave, but it still had only one urinal and I was sure I would have a good view if I were standing at it. Between the rooms and the bathrooms were several kitchen and dining areas scattered in the open space. As if it were meant for people to prepare their meals in small groups and eat together. The kitchens seemed to have basically everything mine had but not so much of it in any one. Counting them, I found twenty separate dining areas in here. I had seen enough to know everything had been planned by the aliens to accommodate all the people in camp to move to this side of the river. It seemed I should be a little pissed off about it, but I wasn't. It would be much better than our present layout and I might have even asked for it myself, but wouldn't have had the nerve to. I knew they had purposely made sure Raalto was the only one to see the new caves and I thought they probably intended to make him forget everything if I didn't agree to use it, but there would be no need for it. I was happy that everything was done and even happier I hadn't been involved in the planning. The smaller area we'd explored first was undoubtedly intended to be the unmated women's quarters and I'm sure Argent probably figured it would be the main selling point to convince me. He didn't have to know it wasn't really needed to close the sale. I'm glad he'd done it the way he had, but even if he hadn't I would have still accepted the giant cave for the rest of my people. I knew Raalto was probably expecting some kind of comment from me. "Raalto, it looks as if the spirits intend for everyone to move to this side of the canyon." "It is what I thought it was all for, but I wasn't sure and with you and Georgo both gone I didn't think I should tell anyone else," he said. "I don't think it would have made much difference, but I am glad you didn't. I would have felt a little strange to come back and find everything had changed without my knowing of it." "You wouldn't have felt nearly as strange as I would have, trying to explain it all to everyone and not knowing anything, but it was here," he said. "I have a better idea than that. We should let Georgo explain it. It is what he does best anyway." "There is still one more part of it you haven't seen," he told me then. "Well I want to see it all before we tell anyone else." He led me down into the big new cave and we came to another opening after we'd passed probably ten of the rooms. We entered and it led to another giant room. It wasn't quite as large as the one we'd just left, but it was nearly so. It didn't have one thing in it as far as rooms went though. It was just a large open cave which was generally circular with what seemed like a partial kitchen area along the wall that backed up against what was probably my original quarters. There was also an entrance near it. I looked around the big empty room and saw another opening nearby and when we went inside we found a large bathroom but there were no tubs in it and only a couple of showers, it was mostly sinks, shitters, and one centrally located urinal. We walked back out into the main portion and then up to the other exit and through. It opened into the rear most part of my cave, near the entrance toward the practice cave. "I wonder what the last cave is for John, it doesn't really make sense to me," Raalto said. "It is so we can have feast and celebrations in there if the weather is too bad outside, I am sure of it. The spirits enjoy watching our celebrations and feast." "But how do you know John?" he asked. "Why, they told me in a dream, not long after we came here," I told him. This had Raalto looking at me a little strangely, but I didn't comment further, I would just let him think what he would. I was tired of exploring by now and glad to see more of my mates were in the kitchen and seemed serious about preparing food. I asked Raalto not to say anything to anyone else except Georgo, telling him I would appreciate it if he would show Georgo around the new accommodations and explain anything to him he could. He agreed and we went in to see about eating. After the meal, which was a confusing ordeal for most of the newest arrivals, Raalto took off with Georgo to give him the tour. After they finished the look see at the new unmated women's quarters I asked Sarboto, Brundolo, Danlo, and the wranglers and their mates to entertain the newbies in my cave and I gathered my mates and Deimeta and took them to start their tour. They were stunned to see there was a new entrance, near my office, they hadn't noticed before. They were even more surprised to see what it led to. I told them this was to be the new quarters for the unmated women and it made it right for them. My Neanderthal mates didn't understand at first, but after a little explanation from the others they were grinning too. Of course we didn't mention any of the ramifications to Deimeta, but she was happy just seeing the place and knowing she was one of the first in on the secret. We left and headed for the next big surprise. It was more looking and gaping for them when they got there but Shelalliea came to herself first. "I am glad to see they have some kitchens of their own over here. They will like them much better and we will get to teach them all how to use them," she said. A round of agreement spread through them over it, and after some more looking and gaping I herded them into the new party room. When I told them what it was for they were delighted. "Now we can have celebrations during the winter instead of all staying cooped up in our separate caves. I think it will be fun," Geera said. "It will be, and now the winter won't seem so long and boring," Dalia agreed. I had noticed Xailieta was now firmly integrated into my group of mates and Baatiea and Beetiea were also. My other mates were taking turns carrying the babies and Xailieta didn't seem to mind it at all. Deimeta seemed content to walk with me and was keeping a good grip on my hand as we explored all the new places. "John, don't you think you could share a little of Deimeta's attention with some of the rest of us," Ameliea finally asked. I looked down at Deimeta and then picked her up and held her in my arms. "I don't mean to be stingy, Ameliea, but I'm afraid Deimeta is a real Daddy's girl," I told her, and hugged Deimeta closer to me. "What is Daddy's girl?" Deimeta asked. "Daddy is another word for father. Daddy's girls are girls who like their father, are you a Daddy's girl yet," I asked her. "If that is what it means then I will always be Daddy's girl, but Ameliea seems awfully nice too. All of my new mothers seem very nice and I feel really lucky to be here," she said. "I guess I can let them have a little time with you then if you'll promise not to forget me." "I promise I will never forget you, Daddy," she said, and it nearly choked me up. Ameliea came and took her hand then and since the tour was over anyway I asked them if they would like to start bringing the unmated women into their new quarters. Kateata wanted to know if they could bring Jalieta, Cailayia, and Balalia over first since they had been in the unmated women's current quarters longest. "I can't think of any women I'd rather have in there first," I told her, and gave a lecherous wink. All of them laughed then and headed off to get things rolling. I watched Ameliea leading Deimeta away and felt just a little pang. I could hardly believe how attached to her I had become in only two days. I ended up marveling at how cute she looked walking away with all my mates and wearing her own tiny Wilma dress. When I got back into my cave Georgo was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee and Ladeliea was manning the kitchen. She brought me a mug as soon as I sat down. ------- Chapter 142 "John, we are used to you going off and bringing back women, but I have to say you have outdone yourself this time. Deimeta is the cutest little thing I have ever seen. I can hardly wait for her to be around here a few days so the others will give me a chance to know her too," Ladeliea said. "I am very happy we went to the camp. At first Grotondo did not intend to visit them since he knew the leader was deceitful and then all at once he changed his mind and took us there first. I think he envisioned the type of outcome we would have and I think it's what made him decide to go there. I couldn't be happier about it." "I think you are right about Grotondo, after all, even if he didn't know how you did it he knew you would not put up with someone threatening to kill you. I think he led you their hoping nature would take its course," Georgo said. "Well I am grateful to him, not because Nutaro got killed, but because it let me find Deimeta. She is a precious little thing and I feel like we will be thanking the spirits we have her for years to come." "Speaking of the spirits, what do you think of their latest gifts?" Georgo asked me. "You are the shaman Georgo, what do you think?" "I think they have turned a wonderful camp into a perfect one. I can't even think of anything else better we could ask for, can you?" he asked. "No, I can't, and if I could I wouldn't ask for it. I'd never thought of anything along the lines we got recently and if I had I would have felt embarrassed to ask the spirits for so much. This new arrangement will be very good for us this winter, especially the celebration area." "It will be. I have never stayed anywhere or heard of any place where celebrations could be held in the winter," he said. Danlo came in to join us then and Ladeliea was quick with coffee for him and more for Georgo and I. Danlo had a bemused look on his face and so I had to ask him about it. "What is causing the look of bewilderment on your face Danlo?" "I will never understand my mates," he said. "Welcome to the life of a man," Georgo said. "I am almost afraid they will pet the skin completely off of poor Malooto. They cannot get enough of touching him and talking to him. Even Tulaarra looked concerned for a few minutes until she realized how happy Shallea, Shaala, Daria, and Jatalieta were to have her and Malooto join us. Now they are all crowded around the bed with poor Malooto in the center and they won't take their eyes off him," Danlo said, but he didn't seem to be really upset about it. "You must understand women will always love children, Danlo and remember there have not been many children born lately. The newness of the situation will settle down in a few days, but they will never loose interest in him completely," Georgo told him. "I know, but it was a little strange is all. At least they helped Sahto and Weeahta get settled into their quarters and thank goodness Weeahta already knew Malooto," he said. I had almost forgotten about Sahto and Weeahta and that they needed to know they should move into the vacant quarters near Danlo. "How did Weeahta like her new home?" I asked. "She is thrilled and can hardly believe it. At least Shaala took time to show Weeahta and Tulaarra about the bathroom. I'm sure they will finally give Malooto a lesson in its use after a while," he said, and was nearly laughing about it now. "It is nice many have found mates with children lately and I am wondering how my mate has fallen short of the mark," Ladeliea said, prodding Georgo gently, or maybe not so gently. "Do not worry my wonderful mate. I have already spoken to one of the widows and she has agreed to join us as one of my mates. I just want John to talk to her and make her understand she does not have to if she doesn't want to. Remember, they are accustomed to being assigned to a mate. I don't want her to think she has been assigned to me," Georgo said. He couldn't have said anything better either. Ladeliea rushed to him, sitting in his lap and kissing him soundly. She assured him she had only been teasing and she told him many times over what a wonderful mate he had been for all his mates. I would have told them to get a room, but I knew they wouldn't understand what I meant. Finally she calmed down though and went back to the kitchen. My mates came back through with Jalieta, Cailayia, and Balalia following then. Almost all of them were loaded down with things and they were headed to the new unmated women's quarters. Deimeta was holding onto Geera's hand now and she waved at me as she pranced by. I could tell she was excited and happy at being a part of things already. I remembered then Georgo didn't know what I had learned about the missing huts and I filled him in. As I did he asked me where Deltonto and his mate had gotten off to after supper. I didn't know, but Danlo said they had found a place to sleep in the big cave. This made me remember that Danlo hadn't seen the new facilities yet. Well, I wasn't about to make another tour. Raalto and Racaato came in then for coffee and Raalto said he was going to show Racaato and some of the others the new caves. I asked him to take Danlo too and he agreed. Danlo didn't have any idea where they were going, but he got a mug of coffee to take on the trip. They left shortly. When my mates all came back out and headed over to the unmated women's quarters again I knew this could get to be an all night thing so I gave up waiting. I was a little tired and when I told Georgo I was headed to my bedroom to lie down he thought it was a good idea. His mates had joined the moving crew by now and so had Danlo's, only Tulaarra had stayed and I'm sure she was watching Malooto or she would have gone along too. Ladeliea was more than happy to give up the coffee detail and head over with the others. I went into the bedroom then and stripped off my clothes. I was surprised to see the closet had been modified somewhat and there seemed to be a different entrance into one part of it. I walked over to take a look and found it was a smaller bedroom with a small bed in it. Argent had no doubt put it here for Deimeta. I approved again, even though I was sure she had already seen what grownups did in their furs, there was no need for her to be kept up during the night if she was tired. If she wanted to sleep in her own bed it would be fine and if she didn't we would make arrangements for her to sleep with us. She was already six after all, practically grown in this age. I pulled back the covers and climbed into bed. When I woke the next morning I was snuggled up to Xailieta's backside and I was pretty sure that it was Jaada who was snuggled up to mine. They both woke as soon as I moved, but it wasn't a big chore to convince them to sleep a little longer. I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I could see Deimeta sleeping soundly in her own bed when I passed by. I took a quick shower and returned to the bedroom. Xailieta and Jaada were still sleeping and I dressed, leaving them at it. I headed out to see about coffee. The rest of my mates were all in the kitchen and breakfast was ready. I sat at the table and Waaya came to me with a mug of coffee - Winna was right behind her with my plate. "What's the occasion for such service this morning?" "We're trying to get an early start since we will have very much moving and helping to do today," Ameliea said. "How did it go with the unmated women last night?" "All of the women and most of their things are now in the new quarters. We still have a few of their possessions to move and we will also have to give them a little training in using the kitchen. We have enough people eating with us already," Gema told me. "How did they like their new places? Do you think they will be happy there?" "Everyone is thrilled with their bedrooms," Jara said, and I was surprised to see her away from Barbo's warm side. "How is Barbo, Jara?" I asked. "He came awake while you were gone. Eileiea held something very stinky under his nose and it woke him. He is still very weak, but he can get up and go to the bathroom by himself. Tomorrow we are hoping he can make it to the table for breakfast," she said, and she seemed thrilled. "I am so happy for you and him, Jara. I had a feeling he would get well if we let him rest long enough and now he has," I said. "His wounds are all healed, but he isn't well yet, he is still so weak. He is getting better though." "Good. I hope he will be strong again soon and I just hope all the others will be happy after moving across the river." "I'm sure they will be, but if they aren't can't they stay where they are?" Geera asked. "I suppose they can. They might have to rearrange a little later this winter, but they can stay on the other side of the river at least." "I don't think any will want to stay over there," Maia said. "We'll see today." Merita added. I ate my breakfast then and so did my mates. Jaada and Xailieta came out a few minutes later and they were dressed for action too. I found out plans had already been made for Jaada to stay here and keep Deimeta entertained while Xailieta would have her hands full with Baatiea and Beetiea. No doubt Jaada would be trying to get in a little baby holding time too. Meanwhile I wondered what I would be doing today. When the girls headed out I was trying to get a handle on what I would work on and starting on my second mug of coffee. I heard a short shriek from the entrance and all of them came back in quickly. "What's the trouble?" "Snow, snow is the trouble. It is snowing outside and it is cold, very cold," Dalia said. "I can see where it would put a damper on your plans for the day." "It will make it harder, but it will not stop us. We will probably put on our trousers though," Kateata said, and they all headed to the bedroom for more clothes. I walked over to the entrance, taking a look at my first snow in this life and it was coming down harder than anything I'd ever seen where I'd come from. Of course, since I'd lived all my life in Texas this wasn't a big shock. We'd had snow where I lived but it was usually no more than a few inches once or twice a year. Here there seemed to be at least four or five inches already on the ground and more was coming at a steady rate. It didn't take me long to see all I wanted. As I returned to the table for more ass time and more coffee I saw Georgo and his mates coming in. Georgo joined me at the table and Ladeliea brought us both some coffee. Georgo seemed to be in a particularly good mood and I asked him about it. "Catteaahta has agreed to become one of my mates and my other mates and I are happy about it. We are especially glad since Catteaahta has the young boy, Barasco, and the baby daughter, Kaatea. Even though Catteaahta has been thoroughly enlightened about our customs and knows fully that she isn't being assigned to me she has still agreed. I am finally beginning to believe what you have been telling me about the spirits favoring me," he said. "I am happy for you Georgo and I know you will be a good mate for her. She and her children will bring your family a lot of happiness I know. This morning has also proved you are getting good weather information from the spirits." "Then it is snowing?" he asked. "It is for a fact and if this is a lightweight introductory snow for the coming winter, I know I am going to hate the next one." "How much snow is coming?" he asked. "To me it looks as if all the snow is coming. There must be five or six inches on the ground at least and if it doesn't slow down I don't think we'll be able to get out of the caves by this afternoon." "That could be troublesome since most people were planning to move to the new cave today," he said. "My mates have already turned back for more clothes, but they are determined to get all of the things that belong to the unmated women carried over here." "Well there are many things to move, but each family should be able to take care of their own things, mostly so anyway, and after a few trips there should be a good path trodden out," he said. "It is going to be a major thing for Daaggo though. He is planning to make coverings for the new entrances and the snow will be a problem for him." "If the snow only last a few days he will be able to do a proper job after it has stopped. Maybe he can just put up something temporarily until the weather breaks," Georgo said. "I hope so and I hope this first taste is over soon. Now I see it I am really glad that we didn't get caught out in it during our trip." "Yes, but you had fairly good information you would have time to get back. I pity anyone who didn't foresee this. It didn't give as much warning as snow usually does and I'm afraid that some people might have been surprised," he said. ------- Chapter 143 This got me thinking about the small group in Caato's old camp. They were the most vulnerable and even though we had sent them the bison a few days ago I was still worried about their chances to make it through the winter. Raalto and a few of the others started coming in as I finished this mug of coffee and Danlo's mates came in to help Georgo's with breakfast for everyone else. I supposed my mates had done this planning last night. I considered staying while the others had breakfast, but decided to go to my office and spend some time with the video feeds. I made my excuses and left. When I was seated the first place I checked was Caato's old camp. The huts which were in use all had smoke coming out of their vent holes in the tops, but snow was piling up quickly against their outside walls. None of the remaining residents were outside and I couldn't see any footprints which showed they had been out this morning. I took a look at Grotondo's camp next and nothing was stirring outside. I decided to check on all the camps we'd just visited and it was the same at each one - nothing was moving outside. It was only an accident I checked all the views covering our path. About halfway between Dunto's camp and ours, off to the side of the trail by the river, a small tent had been erected. I didn't think it was even big enough to build a fire inside unless it was just a very small one. At any rate there was no smoke coming from the top of the tent and there were no footprints anywhere outside. The snow was undisturbed and if it continued coming down like it was now, the entire tent would be covered within a few hours. That wasn't so dangerous in and of itself, since the snow would actually serve as insulation and tend to keep heat from escaping. Even though this would help it would not be enough if the only heat inside was that of a single body. I had no idea who was in the tent, but I knew they were in trouble. I got up and went to my office door, opening it and looking out. I saw Georgo and when I got his attention I signaled for him to join me. When he was with me and the door was shut I brought the video back up and showed him what I'd found. "Whoever is in the tent will be dead before the snowing stops. They might stay warm enough to live today without a fire, but I'm sure they are already too cold to go out and search for fuel to burn and if deep cold comes tonight as it usually does with snow, they will be frozen before morning," Georgo said. "I'm sure you are right Georgo and I'm wondering who is out traveling alone, especially in this weather." "It is probably a messenger and he might have started yesterday or even earlier," he said. That could make sense, but it didn't really matter who it was. Georgo and I were the only ones who knew about it and I was the only one who could do anything to save whoever it was. I thought about it and decided I would make a try. "I am going to go and see if I can help him. I can ride one of the big horses and bring him back here on a travois if nothing else." "It will be very dangerous John, what if something happens to strand you out there. You can die from the cold just as that person can," he said. I was betting I couldn't - or at least I wouldn't. I was sure Argent wasn't going to allow any such thing to happen to me. This little adventure would be dangerous though and more dangerous if I went alone. I decided to ask for a volunteer to go with me. I was pretty sure I would get a lot of them and I was hoping to get my pick. I shutdown the video and Georgo and I went back into my cave. All of my main helpers were seated around the table, but appeared to be finished eating and I'm sure they would be trying to get the move from the other side of the canyon underway any moment now. "Do not ask how I know, but there is a lone traveler stranded out in this storm in a small tent. They are about halfway between here and Dunto's camp. I am going to take a horse to see if I can help them. I'm afraid if they stay out in the small tent tonight they will freeze to death before the snow stops." There was still a little mumbling and no doubt some of it was wondering how I knew this, no one voiced it very loudly though. All of them told me they would like to go with me as I'd expected. I chose Danlo, of course, since he was the most familiar with the horses." "We will take the biggest horses Danlo and one travois, if he is alive when we get there we can load him and his things onto the travois and come right back." "If you say so we will do it, but I suggest we hitch two of the big horses to Georgo's buckboard. Two of them can pull the buckboard as if it weren't there and they can both share the load. Only one can pull the travois at a time. The buckboard would also provide shelter for us if something unfortunate happened," he said. Danlo's suggestion was better than my plan had been and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it. It was probably from the way I remembered wheeled vehicles acting in the snow. These wagons were different though. Their locomotion wasn't delivered by the wheels, of course, so if the tires slipped it didn't make much difference. The aliens had also used my original wagon as a model to determine the proportions for the buckboards and the big wagon so the tires had ended up big and wide and would probably do fine. "I think you're right Danlo, we'll take the buckboard." My mates had come in during the discussion and I guess they had learned by now arguing with me about such things wouldn't help. Instead they put down what they were carrying and packed some food for us. It was too bad that I'd never asked Argent for a big coffee thermos. What the hell, I could probably delay long enough for him to come up with one or more. Danlo wanted to wait until all the horses could be moved into their cave before hitching the buckboard anyway so I told him to go ahead and that we would leave as soon as he finished. I went back into the office, sat at my computer and typed in a requisition. The operator wasn't Argent but he told me they would have it to me in a few minutes. I went back to the video for a while and couldn't tell anything else about the situation. When I gave up looking and wondering I shut down the view and as I got up out of my chair I saw three one gallon thermoses had been placed on my desk. I took them out to the kitchen with me and since Taaheita was closest to the coffee maker I asked her to fill them with hot water while she was making more coffee and then pour out the water and fill them with coffee as she got it made. I went into the bedroom to get my warmest clothes. Shedding my tunic I put another long sleeved T-shirt over my mail and then pulled on another pair of trousers and got back into my tunic. I pulled my Carhartt overalls on for my outer layer. A wool pullover cap and my hooded Carhartt jacket finished my preparations and I went back for my coffee. The thermoses were filled and there was a fresh mug for Danlo and I. Being no dummy, I decided to wait here where it was warm until Danlo came back. He returned in a few minutes saying the buckboard was ready. I told him to go to his quarters and see if he didn't have some clothes like I was wearing. He took his coffee with him to look and came back ten minutes later in his new cold weather gear. We refilled our mugs, grabbed the thermoses and headed for the buckboard. When we got to the horse cave the buckboard was hitched and ready for us though still inside the cave. I stowed the thermoses in the box and noticed it was about half full of furs and there seemed to be enough food packed in there for a week's trip. My mates didn't want us to go hungry. I was hoping we would be back home before we got into anything except the coffee. I closed up the tops and climbed onto the seat beside Danlo and off we went. It wasn't terribly cold out, but it was cold enough. There wasn't much wind driving the snow and the temperature was around twenty degrees. If you were dressed right it wouldn't cause a serious hazard, but if you took off thinking you'd have autumn weather for your trip and got caught out without enough furs, like the one in the tent surely had been, your ass would be cold fast and I was sure his was. I was only assuming it was a man, but chances were good I was correct. Women weren't very likely to travel alone overnight at anytime. I would be glad to save a woman if that was how it turned out but I was sure it would be a man. Danlo and I didn't waste much breath talking during our ride and mostly when we opened our mouths it was to take in coffee. It wasn't very long after we emptied our mugs before I decided a constant intake of coffee would be beneficial. I turned around and managed to get one of the tops open enough to retrieve a thermos and refill our mugs. It took nearly four hours to get to the tent since the snow slowed our progress much more than I'd thought it would. The traveler was a man and he was still alive but was so chilled he might as well have been unconscious. Danlo and I arranged the furs in the buckboard's box to put half of them between him and the floor and after we put him in we covered him with the other half and shut the tops over him. We didn't bother with his tent but we did bring the other few things he had. The going wasn't any faster on the way back and sunset came while we were still more than an hour from home. It wasn't a problem though since the snow reflected the little bit of light finding its way through the clouds and gave us plenty of illumination for traveling. Damned good thing it did too because we hadn't thought to bring either spotlights or night vision goggles. By the time we rolled up in front of my cave we were sure as hell ready to be there. Raalto, Caato, and Colonto were in my cave when we walked in and after a few words they brought the man in and took him through into the unmated women's quarters. Eileiea was hot on their heels so she could tend to him and several more of my mates went with her. I was betting she could find plenty of nurses for him considering the location of his sick bed. Danlo and I concentrated on getting warm and I decided Argent and his bunch were going to have to figure out the ultimate electric socks soon. My feet were so cold. Jara brought Danlo and I more coffee and Shelalliea was cooking for us. We hadn't taken the time to eat anything during our trip since we didn't want to spend one extra second out in the weather. I was glad we had been able to rescue the man, but the trip did make me realize the cold weather here wasn't like what I'd experienced in my old life. This weather was serious, and getting caught out in it unprepared could mean death. I was warmer now, but the thought made me shiver again. Georgo had been in to check on the man's care but he came back to sit with us. I didn't even know whether Georgo knew anything about helping with this kind of emergency. To me it would make sense a shaman would be up on such things, but I had never asked him about it. I'd seen him treating little ailments before Eileiea joined us, but we'd actually been lucky and there hadn't ever been any real life threatening injuries in my time here. Eileiea had only been with us for a few days and this was the first real emergency since she'd arrived and in fact it was the first health related emergency where there had been any chance for the victim to survive. I guessed she was doing a good job and when I thought over things I knew she must be pretty knowledgeable. After her examination of Deimeta she'd known of the child's former parasite infection and had also known it had been cured. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now realized it had been a pretty good trick. Jara brought Danlo and I a plate then and I quit my speculations and started eating. The food was hot and good and I was in a better mood as soon as I finished eating and went back to coffee drinking. I remembered how much coffee I'd had today then and wondered if I'd be able to sleep at all. I didn't feel like I normally would after so much coffee in one day though, maybe the cold trip had let me burn off the caffeine's effects. "I wonder what he was doing out traveling alone? Maybe we will find out if he makes it," Georgo said. "We couldn't tell anything from what we found. It did seem he had been traveling alone and probably surprised by the early snow. I hope he does get better, but sometimes when a man gets as cold as he was they do not live over it." "I know, and he did not come to himself while I was watching. Eileiea has settled on a treatment which should wake any man though," Georgo told me, and then grinned. "What did she do for him?" "She removed all his clothes, put him in the middle of one of the beds and then had four of the women undress and get into bed with him, telling them to get on either side of him and get as close to him as they could - then she covered them all with several furs," Georgo explained. ------- Chapter 144 "If anything will bring him back that should. Maybe I should go back outside and sleep in a tent for a few hours." "Why would you do that, John, having only four naked women in bed with you would make your bed seem nearly empty," Georgo said, and laughed. "I suppose you're right, but it sounded good for a minute." Raalto, Caato, Colonto and all my mates, except Eileiea, came back to the table and sat with us then. They all wanted the story of our trip and I let Danlo tell it. There wasn't really much to tell except we had ridden for hours in the cold. Danlo gave them the details though. I was more interested in hearing how things had gone here while we were away and I said so. "The moving went better than I would have expected. All of the unmated women and widows have found a place in the new quarters and all their possessions have been brought there also. In fact everyone has come over from the other side and found living space in the new caves. Some of them haven't moved all of their things yet, but everything that is really necessary is over on this side now. Your mates have even gotten all the women started cooking in their new kitchens," Raalto told us. "Do the women like the new things?" "They seem thrilled and I would have expected nothing less. They don't have to worry about building a cooking fire for every meal now and that saves them much work and time. They are also excited about having so many of the new cooking vessels," he said. "Well I hope they are happy because we will all be spending a lot of time inside the caves for a few months." "Yes, we will, but it will give everyone a good chance to get used to the new situation," Colonto said. "I'm just hoping it will give the women plenty of time to learn more about cooking." They all laughed at me for it, as I'd hoped they would. We were about to be locked into the caves for several months now though and learning a new way to cook wouldn't take the women all that time. I would have to come up with other diversions to keep everyone busy for part of the time anyway. One thing we needed to do was try to dig out a new frozen cave. We were all on this side of the river now, but all of our stored meat and other food, except for what Argent had put in the new kitchens, was still on the other side. It would be easy enough to move, but first we needed to dig out a place to put it. "Were you able to cover the new entrances Daaggo," I asked him, when he came in to join us. "I have them covered with hanging bison skins and it will be enough for now. If we get a break in the snow we can build frames like those for the other entrances and if we don't the skins will do the job all winter if necessary," he said. It was getting a little late and I was about ready to go to bed, but remembered I hadn't seen Deimeta since I got home and I wondered where she was. I asked Jara about it and she told me Deimeta was probably in Danlo's quarters playing with Malooto. I walked through to find her and sure enough she was there. Daria was with them also and they were on the bed playing some type of game with some of the lion and bear claws and teeth which hadn't been used in my necklace. "Daddy, I didn't know you were back," Deimeta said and rushed to me. I picked her up and hugged her to me, telling her I had missed her today and asking if she'd had fun. "Malooto and I have played a lot today, but we had to help with the moving too. We didn't go outside though. It is very cold out in the snow. Did you and Danlo get cold on your trip?" she asked. "Yes we did and I am glad to be home. I'm glad you didn't go outside and get all wet and cold." "I didn't, but I wanted to a little. The snow looks so pretty and I wanted to play in it for a little while at least," she told me. "We'll go out and play in it tomorrow maybe. Have you ever built a snowman?" "What is a snowman?" she asked. "I didn't think you would know about snowmen. I'll help you build one tomorrow, but now I think I'm going to sleep. I'm a little tired after my trip." "Ok Daddy, Geera told me one of them would come and get me when it was time for bed and so I guess I'll stay here with Daria and Malooto," she said. "Goodnight then, I'll see you tomorrow." I went back to my bedroom then and once again went to bed alone. I'd have some company before the night was over, I was sure of it. Since I'd gone to bed early I woke early the next morning and I managed to get out of bed without waking anyone. Deimeta was sleeping in her bed and the babies were still asleep too. I headed for the shower and spent a lot of time under the hot water, enjoying it pounding against my back. The best thing about Argent's plumbing was the never-ending supply of hot water. After I was dried and then dressed I went out to the kitchen, expecting to make my own coffee. Taaheita and Kateata were already there with coffee ready though and Taaheita was in her naked service uniform; returning to a more normal routine felt good and so did Taaheita when I pulled her into my lap. Her kisses welcomed me back and her wiggling hips woke Dicky. I kept to the normal plan though and only fingered her to a come, leaving Dicky throbbing. It served him right and though it would be distracting I decided to just let him throb for a while. After I'd let Taaheita escape Kateata brought me some breakfast to go with my coffee. I pulled her into my lap for a few kisses too, but didn't give her a good workout. There was no need for me to be the only one who was horny this morning and I concentrated on my breakfast after letting her up. Raalto and Racaato came in before I'd finished and while they sipped coffee we talked. "We will finish all the moving today John, do you have any ideas about what to start on next," Raalto asked. "I promised to take Deimeta out to play in the snow for a while, but I don't have anything else in mind. I want to start some planning for a mammoth hunt though. Georgo says we should have a little more good weather after this snow is gone and I want to try for some mammoth during that time." "It will probably be a good time for hunting them and most likely rhino too. They move north for the winter and if we travel to the face of the glacier we should be able to find some easily. It should be much easier to hunt them with the rifles," Racaato said. "It will be even easier with the wagons to carry them back but since they are usually so large we will probably still have to process them where they are killed," Raalto added. "I'm sure you're right and it will also be easier to get there with the wagons and horses. Raalto, I would like for you to ask among the people here to see if any of them want to go along." "I'm sure many will want to go, but I will ask and get a count. It will be a new experience for them, going on a mammoth hunt without having to travel the long distance on foot and not needing to carry the meat home on their backs," He said. Eileiea came in from the new entrance of the unmated women's quarters then and came over to sit by me. I hadn't realized she had stayed all night with the sick man, but I should have. "How is your sick one Eileiea?" I asked her. "He warmed up during the night and wanted to get out of bed just now, but I told him to stay where he was for a while longer," She told us. "Did you find out anything about him?" "Yes, he was a messenger and Dunto sent him with a message for you. He left their camp before noon the day before the snow, but he didn't know exactly where to find you. He went and asked at Jadatako's camp first, but Jadatako couldn't tell him the way. He found out where our camp was from Kodontolo finally, but he was far behind schedule and night caught him where you found him. He said by the time he woke the next morning there was already too much snow for him to try and travel with only the light clothing he had so he tried to bundle up in his tent and stay warm." "It is a good thing we found him then since he was not able to stay warm enough," I said. "No he wasn't, he wasn't so near death by the time you got him here, but he was near enough and I'm sure he is in much better shape now than he would have been if he'd stayed in his tent. He is young and only became a man this year. If he'd been older he would have probably known better than to try and stay where he was with no fire. Even a small fire in his tent would have probably saved him," she said. "How soon do you think he will be able to get up?" "I told the women who are keeping him warm they could let him get up as soon as their presence made his member rise. When that happens he will be warm enough to get up and get dressed," she said, and giggled. "I guess will mean he is mostly recovered." More of my mates came out of the bedroom then and Deimeta was with them. She smiled when she saw me and came over to take a seat in my lap. "Have you already eaten Daddy?" she asked. "Yes, but I did manage to leave a little for your breakfast." "Good, I'm hungry this morning. Will we go out so you can show me the snowman soon?" she asked. "We will have to build the snowman before we can look at him." "Then you will have to show me how it is done?" she asked. "I will show you after you've eaten and then put on warmer clothes. I don't want you to get too cold." She was satisfied with my answer and when Shelalliea brought her plate she started eating, never leaving my lap. It was fine with me and it gave me a pleasant feeling inside somehow. When Deimeta finished her breakfast Winna took her back to the bedroom to help her put on warmer clothes. Apparently my favorite alien had added to her wardrobe while we were having breakfast because she came out with a thicker pair of trousers, which on closer inspection turned out to be insulated. She was also sporting a nice insulated jacket with an attached hood and she had a pair of warm gloves. I went to the bedroom to put on my coat and Jaada, Winna, Jara, and Taaheita came with me to do the same. It looked like Deimeta wasn't the only one who wanted to see a snowman. When we went outside it was still snowing, but not as heavily as yesterday. There was plenty on the ground though, probably twelve to fourteen inches. It didn't take long to turn a handmade snowball into something bigger and soon we had the base of Frosty in place. We repeated the process for the torso and as we got it done I saw others had come out to join in and that several snowmen were in progress. We made the head then and after we had it in place I went to the horse cave to get a few pieces of the dried bison dung to make eyes and a mouth and I found two long sticks for arms and a shorter, thicker one for the nose. Going back to our creation I installed these final pieces and proclaimed him done. Deimeta was delighted with our handiwork and the fun and when I told her his name was Frosty she laughed and wanted to build him a mate so we did it all again. By the time Mrs Frosty was done we were all as cold as we wanted to get so we went inside. Frank must have taught my mates to make hot chocolate at some time in the past because they had some ready. I stuck with coffee but Deimeta had a serving of the sweet chocolate brew in her smaller insulated mug. She loved this too and she looked so happy it made me happy too. Of course she hadn't looked really sad at any time, even when I first found her she had only seemed resigned to her fate. Now her fate was considerably improved and it made me feel good and worthwhile. Playtime was over for a while now and we were relaxing, Deimeta in my lap, drinking our warm drinks. Deimeta put hers down suddenly and looked up at me. "John, can you teach me to ride one of the horses, it looks like fun," she asked me. "I'm sure I can and I think there is one of the horses small enough for you. When the snow is gone we will try it," I told her, but it brought to mind another type of children's horse to me. When we'd finished our sipping I let Deimeta down and she went to find Malooto while I went in search of Mundo. I found him in his new quarters and had a little talk with him that included a few drawings made with a stick on the dirt floor. After he agreed he and his friends could probably make what I wanted I told him I would be back with better drawings and a few tools he might be able to use. Back in my office I contacted the Aliens and though Argent wasn't there the operator said he thought he could help me. I idly looked through the thumbs and then checked on Caato's old camp while I waited. At the camp I could see some of them had been outside today. It was easy to see they had been out trying to find something, but I couldn't tell what they had been after and before I could study them very closely I got a tingle and looked up. My request had been filled and there was a twenty-four-inch square piece of paper with two views of a rocking horse on it. On the floor beside my desk was an open top wooden toolbox with a handle. It was filled with chisels, knives, a few hammers, and mallets. There were also some smaller handsaws in sizes that would be better for woodworking. I grabbed the toolbox in one hand and the drawing in the other and headed back to Mundo's place. When I arrived I showed him the drawing first; it had no measurements since they didn't have any way to use such things yet. I held my hand about two feet off the ground to give him an idea and it would have to do. Showing him the new tools next brought a smile to his face and after a little more discussion I went back to my cave while he went to find his friends. I sat at the table beside Georgo and Waaya brought me some coffee. I asked Georgo what was happening with him this morning and he told me he was concentrating on staying out of the way. ------- Chapter 145 "What are you staying out of the way of?" "The moving, that's what. I tried helping at first, but I was only a hindrance and when I finally realized it I came to the table for coffee. I will sit here and drink it all day long if I have to," Georgo said. "Isn't most of the moving done by now?" "All of the widows and unmated women have finished, but there are still many things that need to come from the other side of the river. I am certain they will get here faster without my help," he said. "I hope they can come without my help either. I don't mind saying I am lazy. I will help if I'm needed, but I will sit here and drink coffee with you unless they ask me to do something." "An excellent plan and it shows you are a good leader. If you did try to help, since you are the leader, they would ask for your approval about everything. You would slow them down even more than I would," he agreed. "All is right with the world then. We will sit and drink coffee and act as if we were planning something important. I might call a few more of the leaders in to help us in a little while. They are probably holding things back also." "It is an excellent idea, do you mind if I go for them now?" he asked. "I don't mind at all, bring them back here for coffee and a meeting." He left me then and while he was gone I tried to think of a good excuse for a meeting. I couldn't, but I wasn't worried since I felt anytime I could eliminate micro-management I was doing well. There was no need for my main helpers to make decisions about the day-to-day personal lives of all the others. They came in a few at a time and Georgo had been forced to send a warmly dressed man to the other side of the canyon to find Racaato. I only made small talk with the others until everyone was seated and had a mug of coffee. Daaggo wasn't present, but I let it go since he was still working around the entrances. I decided not to do anything to bring this meeting to order until one of them asked about it. Caato finally did. "What type of meeting are we going to have John, Georgo told us you wanted to have a meeting?" he asked. "We are going to have a do nothing meeting. We will just sit here and talk while the others are taking care of their chores." "But they will be wanting to ask us questions about things, they have asked me dozens already today," Colonto said. "Think about what they were asking you Colonto and see if you feel they would have come looking for you to ask if you hadn't been there," I said, making sure they all heard. They were all quiet for a few minutes and so I continued. "They are moving their own things and arranging their living spaces and they shouldn't need much guidance. They are only bothering you about it because you were there. If they have something they really need help with I'm sure that they can find you easily enough. We can sit here and drink coffee until it is time for lunch and then we can eat. After lunch we can have more coffee if we want to." "I think I understand what you are saying now. We were probably causing a delay instead of helping even though we didn't realize it," Colonto said. "I think you are right and I also think they didn't realize it either. Since you were close by they kept asking to make sure they were doing things the right way. With us all in here they will make up their own minds and if it doesn't suit them they can do it a different way later and no harm will come of it. Meanwhile we can sit here and we might think of something that could actually help us all and if we don't no harm will come of that either." That was all the talking for a while and we did just sit there and drink coffee. Daaggo came in after a while saying he had done what he could about the entrances for now. He sat down with a mug of coffee and finally asked what the meeting was about himself. I let Raalto and the others explain, but Daaggo was quick to catch on with this concept as he was with almost everything. Lunchtime came soon and I was happy I was already in place to participate. Geera, Dieta, Delia, and Waaya had done most of the cooking today and they made plenty. I was happy again when Deimeta entered from Danlo's quarters and came right over to sit in my lap while she ate. She had turned into a real little sweetheart and I enjoyed having her around immensely. I was anticipating the look of surprise she'd have when Mundo finished his project. After the meal Deimeta went back to her playing and all my mates except Kota, who stayed to tend the coffee pot, disappeared back to the task they had been busying themselves with. Probably they were giving more cooking lessons. Georgo, all my leaders and I stayed at the table. We got a surprise about an hour after the meal when the man Danlo and I had rescued was led to the table by Eileiea. She showed him to a seat near me and then she and Kota fixed him a plate. "I am John, I am the leader of this camp," I said, after he was seated. "I am Burtalgo, from Dunto's camp, which you recently visited. He sent me here with a message for you and I'm sure you know what happened to me. Eileiea told me you and one of your men rescued me and I thank you for it," he said, and I was glad he didn't ask how I knew he was in trouble. "We were glad we could help. What message did Dunto send?" "Dunto sent several men out hunting the day after your visit and though they killed three bison it was not a good hunt. Two of them, Targoto and Budingo were killed when some of the bison ran over them. There are now two widows with children at our camp and Dunto sent me to see if you would like to trade for them?" he told us. "Yes, we would like to trade for them and we will go there in a wagon to get them as soon as the snow has melted. Did Dunto tell you what he wanted in trade?" I asked. "No, he did not but, I'm sure if you have more salt he would trade for it," Burtalgo said. "I think I have some more salt and we will take some with us when we go." "Good. I have done my duty then, but it was only with your help. When the snow started and I put up my tent I wondered if I was going to add to the number of widows instead of tell you about them," he said. He seemed to be through with the message and I stayed quiet to let him eat. I was sure he must be very hungry now. Even though he hadn't eaten in a day or so he took his time. He was able to handle another serving though when Kota asked him about it. This meant another trip out into the cold for me and it was probably going to be pretty cold during the mammoth hunt, not to mention the rest of the winter. I excused myself and headed to my office while asking my leaders to carry on with the meeting in my absence unless they had other things they needed to take care of. I sat down and messaged the spirits, as Georgo thought of Argent and company. Argent was the one who replied and he took a few lines to tell me he had been impressed with my rescue of the stranded Neanderthal. This was a surprise since he had never mentioned exactly what he had been pleased about before. I shook it off though, because I had other things on my mind. "Argent, I have noticed I didn't do such a good job of requesting cold weather clothing with my first order. I'm wondering if there are other materials which would have served me better." "My engineers have mentioned it to me before and they have some ideas along those lines. They would not have helped you in the first order though because the material they are considering uses a little technology which wasn't available on earth. The technology isn't very complicated, but it was beyond what was available. We have already received permission to let you have the use of it though," he said. "Very good, can I ask your engineers to use their own knowledge to design cold weather gear for all of us then?" "They would be happy to do it for you. I will have them start on it at once. Will you be needing multiple sets of it for each member of your camp?" he asked. "I don't think so. We won't be doing much out of doors during the winter, but I would like for everyone to have at least one set to use in case we have another emergency like the one we just dealt with. "I see, won't you also need it on the upcoming mammoth hunt I have heard you mention?" he asked. "Yes, I'm sure we will. Perhaps you should send two sets for those who will be going on the hunt. Have you also found out how many want to go along? I'm sure those who know of it have been talking about it." "Everyone in your camp knows about it by now - at least they have all heard a rumor and I can tell you almost all of them want to go. All of the men would like to go - some more than others of course, and most of the women want to go," Argent said. "I should have known it. Everyone can not go along, we can't leave the camp unguarded while all of us go mammoth hunting." "Actually you could. We can make the camp invisible to any who come upon it while you are away," he said. "That may be true, but it would be strange to all my members to just leave the camp empty. It would require explanations of things which would be too complicated for them to understand and if we have Georgo tell them to trust the spirits we will be setting a precedent I don't want." "I understand," He said. "It would also cause us to travel much too slowly. Even though we have the two wagons and the buckboard, not everyone can ride in them at once. We will probably be very cramped for space on the way back anyway. If the hunt is successful we will have much more to bring back than we leave with." "I see and I should have realized some of the additional problems. Perhaps we should send you more wagons," he said. Before I replied I thought that over. I didn't see any harm in getting another wagon or two out of the process and in fact if I did this correctly we might gain even more. "We could take more people if we had more wagons, but we don't have enough of the Clydesdales to pull more than one more wagon. We could cut the teams down to only two horses per wagon for the traveling to the hunt. It would let us take six wagons, but then we wouldn't be able to load them heavily enough for the trip back since even the bigger horses would be strained from so much weight." "Then maybe we should send more horses also. Are four per wagon enough?" he asked. "Four per wagon would work fine, but that would mean twelve more of the Clydesdales." "I'm sorry John, but it seems to me it would mean sixteen more. With six of the big wagons and your original wagon you would need twenty-eight of the Clydesdales to have a full team for each wagon. Am I missing something?" he asked. Once again Argent was adding gifts to gifts. I had assumed I might be able to get three more of the big wagons and have a total of six, including Georgo's buckboard. Argent had jumped on six for the count of big wagons and apparently didn't intend to include the original wagon or the buckboards in that count but he had included the original wagon in his count for the number of Clydesdales. "You're correct Argent, it was I who forgot the original wagon," I agreed, letting my mistake gain me four more Clydesdales." "I'm sure you will be able to use the bigger horses when the sawmill gets going also, won't you?" he asked. "We can probably find many uses for them and for the extra wagons, but will there be room for all the new wagons and horses in the horse cave and will we run short of hay now?" "These details are less than minor concerns for us John, we will make sure everything is taken care of," he said, assuring me. "I am glad for your generosity Argent and I will take as many people on the hunt as I can." "Oh, that is excellent John, we look forward to the mammoth hunt and we hope there can be another celebration, perhaps in the shindig cave, when you return," he said, and it seemed he was very excited at the prospect. "If you supply the beer again I can guarantee it," I told him, and signed off. I returned to the table and Kota brought another mug of coffee for me. All the leaders were still talking and they were discussing things they might do to keep our people occupied after the move. "I think our next big project should be digging a frozen cave in these quarters," I announced. "But how can we know it will be frozen even if we dig one out?" Caato asked. "If we dig it deep enough it will be frozen, you will see as we are digging." "Then where should we put it?" Daaggo asked. "Let's go now to the new biggest cave and pick a place." Most of us took our coffee mugs and started toward the new cave. I spotted a good place for our new walk-down-into freezer as we approached the inner entrance. I stopped just opposite the entrance that led outside. "We will start here and dig straight back into the cave wall - when we have a good sized entrance leading back eight feet or so we will start digging a ramp, slanting down as we go. "Once we are deep enough to know it will be frozen we will expand it into a large room for storing the food. It will be close to most of the people here and yet not too far from my cave either." "It does seem like the best place for it. If it is frozen when we get deeper," Daaggo said. "It will be frozen. Tomorrow I will take some men to the storage in the horse cave to get digging tools and we will start. Who would like to supervise the digging?" "I will be happy to do it," Daaggo said, volunteering, and the others seemed happy to let him be the point man. Apparently the end of the discussion must have changed the appearance of their body language. A couple of men came up to them, one with a question for Raalto and the other wanting to speak to Racaato. John thought both his helpers did a good job of putting the question back to those who asked it and before others could approach they went back to the table. When they were seated again Racaato asked about the upcoming mammoth hunt, wanting to know how many they should take with them. ------- Chapter 146 "How many do you think would like to go?" "Everyone wants to go, or nearly everyone," Racaato said. "I was afraid of that, but we know everyone can not go. In fact some of us gathered here would need to stay." "Then I should take this time to tell you I would be happy to stay here in camp. I have been on a mammoth hunt before," Bigglieo said. "I would just as soon stay also." Colonto said. "I will stay here if you need for me to, but I very much want to try out my rifle on a mammoth," Racaato said and then Raalto was quick to agree and Caato was not far behind them. "Have you finished your count of those that want to go Racaato?" "I have spoken to every man and woman in the camp. I was surprised when all of the other people said they would go and seemed to think it would be required, though none of them appeared anxious to make the trip. "There are only ten women and six men from our people who did not want to go, but they all said they would if they were needed," Racaato said. Kota was still in the kitchen so I asked her to join us. I was slightly puzzled by what Racaato told me. "Kota, have you ever been on a mammoth hunt?" "Yes, Grotondo has made two mammoth hunts since I became old enough to help. They require much traveling to the hunting place and then much work after a kill is made. Carrying the meat back is more hard work. The mammoth meat is some of the best though," she said. "When Grotondo made his mammoth hunts, how was it decided who would go along?" "All who were able went on those hunts. Only men and women who were too old and children who were too young did not go to help. "Once there were not enough of us to carry back all the meat and it was very distressing to leave it. Grotondo considered building a rock shelter to store the leftover meat until we could return. It would have frozen overnight and should not have spoiled before we could come back, but he decided there was not enough meat to justify the building and the additional trip to retrieve it. "We cooked some of it and all made ourselves nearly sick eating it," she said, and laughed at the last. "So you are saying if a mammoth hunt was planned that everyone who was able to help went along?" "Yes, we had a small camp and all of us were needed to help carry the meat back. I've heard in larger camps it is not always so. Surely with the size of this camp you will not need everyone to carry back the meat," she said. "No, we won't need everyone and we will not be carrying the meat back. The horses and wagons will carry it back for us." "That will make for an easy trip. You might not need to have very many go at all," she said. "We will need some to go but there are many more wanting to go than we can take with us." "You can count on me to stay here and wait patiently for you. I will miss you while you are gone, but I will not miss the long walk, especially if I am not needed there," she said, and grinned. "We won't even be walking Kota, we will ride there and back in the wagons." "You are making it sound easier and easier every time you say something. Is there some particular reason you are telling me all of this?" she asked. "There is, we were puzzled that none of the women who came from your people seemed to want to go on the hunt. They all agreed to go if they were needed, but none expressed any interest," I said "They are probably like me and have no idea there will be almost no work. Most of them have probably never been on a mammoth hunt, but I know they are all aware of how much work it could be. "Many of them might like to go after all. I'm not saying they are lazy and want to avoid work, but you must realize days and days of carrying meat is not something many people would ask to be included in," she said. "Thank you Kota, we should have realized the problem ourselves, now, since you have told us about a mammoth hunt for your people I see why none of them were anxious to volunteer." "I will leave you men to your talking then. You must have much to talk about since you have been here all day doing it. I have never seen so much of the leader and his main ones talking and talking," she said. "I will tell you a secret, Kota. We are mostly trying to stay out of the way to keep from disturbing those who are busy moving their things." "But don't you want to tell them where to put the things they are moving?" she asked. "They are moving their own belongings to there own sleeping places and we do not care where they put them. They may put them where they like." "It is wonderful to live here where we can do many things just as we like to. It is new for all of us and we all enjoy it. I can hardly believe how lucky we have all been to come here," she said, and then went back to the kitchen. "I will go back to the widows and unmated women and try to explain to them what the hunt will be like, maybe some of them would like to go if they had a better idea of what will be in store for them," Racaato said. "Why don't you ask Kota to go with you to do the explaining?" "It is an even better idea, I will ask her to do it," he said, and left us to talk to her. They left and headed to the unmated women's quarters. I had enjoyed just about all the talking with my men I could stand for a while and for once I didn't want anymore coffee. I excused myself to go into the office, hoping I could find something to occupy my time. As usual, when I didn't have much on my mind I went to check out the videos. I took a look at every camp I'd been to and also checked carefully along all the trails to see if I spotted someone else in trouble. It was a good thing that I didn't find anyone else stranded since they would probably be dead after so much time. I realized I should have checked carefully sooner. I saved Caato's old camp for last and it seemed I could have just as well ignored it. I didn't find any more sign anyone had been outside at all. I wondered again why they thought they could last through the winter by themselves. I put thoughts of them aside then and began looking for a route to a mammoth hunt. I called up my map for an overall look and by checking it I was able to discover that we would have an easy travel to the face of the glacier by going up the ramp near us and traveling over the plateau. It was nearly sixty miles to the closest point but once we were on the plateau we would not find any major rivers to cross. If all the going was like the terrain nearest us we could make it in two days easily. I switched back to the video feeds and began looking at the actual route I'd chosen. I couldn't see anything but snow, a few scattered trees and groups of animals moving. Closer inspection showed the bison were moving south and the aurochs and horses seemed to be doing the same. I also saw many groups of predators and scavengers moving the same way. I found several groups of mammoth and many rhinos moving north. I wondered why they would move north during the winter. As I checked closer to the glacier I thought I could tell why. Nearer to the glacier the snow had been much lighter and within the last five miles I could see no snow at all had fallen or none had stayed if it had. I was sure that it was colder there, but there was no apparent snow. This confused me completely and I didn't know how it could be. I knew snow had to fall on the glacier and couldn't figure out why it didn't seem to fall near it. I gave up wondering about it and concentrated on picking out a place to make camp when we got there. After a while I found a place which seemed made just for us, but it wasn't so perfect as to suggest Argent had done it in his spare time. It was two miles back from the glacier and was a small indention in the plateau, five or six hundred feet across. I couldn't figure this out either. What could have caused it? I would probably never know, but it was an excellent place and it was easily big enough for all of us who would be going and for many more in fact. I took a look out in my cave and saw supper was about to get underway. I killed the video and made for the table. Apparently it was a special night for my mates, because we had thick bison steaks with baked potatoes and Ranch Style beans. I made more of a pig of myself than usual and after the meal was over I was ready to lie down for a nap. I didn't get to though. Mundo came in and told me his project was finished. I went to Jaada and asked her to take Deimeta into the bedroom for a few minutes and not let her out until I sent for them. Dieta, Delia, and Geera heard the plan and went with them. I went with Mundo. The rocking horse looked much more like a horse than I had imagined it would. It wasn't painted of course, but it was surprisingly detailed and true to life. I thanked Mundo and the others and took up the horse under my arm. "I will come with you to return your tools," Mundo said. "They are your tools now Mundo, they belong to the four of you, be sure to tell me if you need more or if one of these breaks. I will replace any that are damaged." I had to leave to get away from the thanks which just wouldn't stop. I was the one who should have been thanking them for the rocking horse. I could hardly believe what a good job they had done and how quickly they had done it. Setting the horse in an open area in my cave I went into the bedroom and called Deimeta to me and picked her up when she came. I walked out into the cave with her and when she saw her new toy she asked what it was at once. "It is a rocking horse for you." "But what is a rocking horse Daddy?" she asked. "It is for you to practice horse riding on when it is too cold to go outside." "Really?" she asked. "Yes really. Let me show you how," I said, and put her astride it. I got her started rocking and told her how to shift her weight to keep it going. She was thrilled and so was I, but after a few minutes she stopped. "What's wrong Deimeta, don't you like it?" "I love it, but I thought I would let Malooto ride it too. Is it all right if I go and get him?" "It is fine if you let him ride it too. I'm sure he will like it also." She streaked out of the room and headed for Danlo's place. She came back in only a minute with Malooto in tow. His eyes went wide when he saw the toy even though he couldn't have had any idea what it was. Deimeta told him how to ride it and then helped him climb aboard. She gave him a big push and as the horse rocked she told him about moving back and forth to keep it going. I smiled and then left them at their play. Tulaarra came in then with Shaala and Shallea. Deimeta and Malooto gave them the story of the horse and they pulled up chairs to watch the children. I gathered my mates and headed for the bedroom, inviting them all to a bath in the big tub. After we were all clean and all fucked out we headed for bed. Deimeta was already in hers asleep and Daria was sitting on the edge of the bed, apparently she had put Deimeta, Baatiea, and Beetiea to bed and was watching them until we returned. Her Wilma dress had ridden up enough to give me a good look at her bush and a peek at her pussy lips and Dicky began to rise again even though he had just been thoroughly abused. "Are you minding the young ones for us Daria?" "Yes, they have been asleep for nearly an hour. I hope Danlo is not too tired already when I get to our bed. I have been listening to all of you during your bath and I will need him when I get there," she said, blushing at her own boldness. I reached for her hands and pulled her to her feet beside the bed and then wrapped my arms around her, kissing her lips and pushing my tongue into her mouth. "Maybe I can help you before you have to leave," I told her, and as Dicky began rising I dropped my hands onto her ass and then slipped them under her short skirt. She moaned into my mouth as I kissed her again and her arms pulled me closer. Dalia, Delia, and Shelalliea moved around her and as I pressed my dick to her more firmly they pulled her dress over her head. Soon she was as naked as I was and I mauled her ass cheeks, loving the feel of them and remembering how they had looked as Danlo slammed his pelvis against them the time he'd fucked her dog style as I watched. It made my blood boil. Daria was hot now and I was too. I pushed one hand between her legs from the back, searching for her pussy and I raised the other to a titty to begin squeezing it and teasing the nipple. Her pussy was wet and I slipped a finger up into her wet heat, later pulling it out and bringing it up to my mouth to lick her oils off it as I put the other hand down for some of her wetness. Daria was right with me and even though I'd been at it for hours in the tub I was ready for more. I turned her around and pressed her onto the bed. Sensing what I wanted she got on all fours and pointed her beautiful round ass at me, waggling it. I stepped up to her and her slit was at just the right height for me. I eased my dickhead between her pussy lips and Delia took hold of my shaft to swab my cock knob between Daria's wet pussy lips. It felt heavenly. I pushed into her slowly then, but Daria had her own ideas. She slammed back against me, impaling herself. She groaned loudly at my size and when I hit bottom I pulled back and gave her another hard thrust causing her to moan more loudly. This felt good to me of course, very good and as I began stroking into her I took a grip on her hips to help pull her to me more forcefully. She gasped from the extra force but kept up the rhythm and then began milking at my dick with her pussy. We weren't long for this action and as I felt her losing it I held my dick up her as far as I could get it. Dieta had joined in and I could see her hand was around Daria and she was probably wiggling her clit. It set me off and my come began pumping into her as if I hadn't fucked in days. Soon Daria didn't have the strength to stay on her hands and knees and I sure as hell couldn't stand up off her. She sagged to the mattress and I sagged onto her, making sure I kept my dick as far up her as I could. Her pussy was still working on Dicky and it felt too good to pull out. I lay on her back panting and I had just enough strength to keep pinching and squeezing on her ass cheeks as I panted. Daria made a few tentative pushes back at me with her ass but mostly just moaned as we finished. My mates began moving us slowly toward the center of the bed then, being careful not to pull us apart. It was fine with me since I was still playing with Daria and my dick was still reasonably firm and up in her pussy. When we were in the center of the bed they rolled us up on our sides. Since I had an arm under Daria and one over her I had clear sailing to play with her titties some more and I took advantage of the opportunity. Dieta hadn't quit on her either and she had her head down to the juncture of Daria's thighs, no doubt sucking and teasing Daria's clitty. I couldn't tell who was behind me but there had to be more than one working on me. There were lips kissing and nibbling the back of my neck and others licking and biting my ass cheeks. Dicky was pumping up the pressure again and someone had their hands down petting and playing with my nuts. When I was fully hard again I gave Daria another pumping but when I blew my wad this time it wasn't thirty seconds before I fell right off to sleep. ------- Chapter 147 When I woke the next morning I was in bed with Geera and Dieta. The rest of my mates, and Daria, were already gone. Snuggled up to Dieta's ass, I reached over and began toying with her nipples. Her hips began squirming before she woke and Dicky did a little squirming of his own. A little streak of meanness crept up from somewhere and as Dieta came to life I gave her round ass a firm slap. "Ow, what was that for, John?" she asked. "I just wanted to make sure that you were awake." "Well I am now," she said. "Good, why don't you and Geera come and help me shower?" "I think we will," Geera said, as she gave my ass a slap. We got up and went to the bathroom. When we were out and dry we returned to the bedroom and dressed then headed for the kitchen. I went to the table and took a chair. Kota was naked and came to me with my coffee right away. I pulled her into my lap as she set it down and after giving her a good fondling and then finger fucking she returned to the bedroom. Racaato came in and sat down just after she disappeared. "I think I have in mind a total of those that want to go on the mammoth hunt," he said. "Is it more than we will have room for?" "It is many more than we can carry in the two wagons," he admitted. "I forgot to tell you we would have seven wagons for the trip. It seems more wagons and more of the big horses have appeared." "But how could they?" he asked, shocked. "We can't question the dealings of the spirits Racaato. All I can tell you is we now have six of the big wagons and we also have a four horse team for each one, including a four horse team for my first wagon." "I see, that is wonderful, it means that we will be able to include everyone that has expressed a serious interest in wanting to go along. In fact, if some of us ride our horses we will have room to spare," he told me. "It's good, because we will have meat and such to bring back in the wagons and I do want all who can ride a horse to do so. I have some ideas for using the horses on the hunt, if we find the right group of mammoths." "What do you have in mind?" he asked. "I want to wait until we get there to tell. I would like for it to be a surprise." "I see, but if I knew I might be able to scout ahead for the type of mammoth you want to find," he said. "You are right. I want to find a group of mammoths with some young ones among them and I intend to use the horses to try and bring them back with us, alive. I believe we can eventually train them as we have done with the horses. When they are grown they are very strong." Of course I didn't need for Racaato to scout for the mammoths. I could easily go and check the video feeds and find them myself. That wasn't the point though. Lately I had been relying on Argent too heavily for such things and I was afraid my group would come to think I could see the future or something like that. It wouldn't hurt to find the mammoth group I wanted and then make sure that Racaato scouted in their direction. "I have never heard of anything like it, but I had never seen a wagon or a man riding a horse before you came. Maybe it will be good to train some mammoths. Even if we can't make them do what we want they will be a powerful omen for any who see them in our camp and we can always eat them later if we find nothing else to do with them," he said. "You see, it will be worth the extra effort. We will only try to capture the small ones - they should be easily handled," "But they will need their mothers for milk," he said. "They would grow faster if they had their mother's milk, but they can live without it by now. I'm afraid keeping the mothers alive and driving them home would be more than we will be able to do." "You are probably right. Mammoths are not very aggressive, but if they are provoked they can be dangerous. I just hope you don't intend to bring home some young rhinos," he said. "Rhinos act much too strangely to bother with. They are unpredictable and even the small ones could do serious damage." I asked Racaato not to discuss our baby mammoth capture plans with anyone except Raalto and he agreed. Raalto happened in just then and we went over it all again to bring him up to speed. He wasn't as enthusiastic as Racaato had seemed, but he couldn't find any harm in trying it. When the others started appearing for breakfast we tabled the discussion. Just after I'd finished my breakfast Deimeta came out of the bedroom and was no doubt looking for some of her own. I pulled her into my lap, gave her a good morning kiss on the cheek and by that time Eileiea was there with her plate and her pint sized coffee mug. "Are you going to feed me Daddy?" Deimeta asked. "There is nothing I would like better." As I used a fork to offer Deimeta bites of breakfast I marveled it didn't seem like a chore at all. In fact I loved doing it and Deimeta enjoyed the attention. After she'd finished we both sipped from our coffee mugs. "Would you like to go with me today? I'm going to take Burtalgo back to his camp, the one where I found you." "Won't it be cold on the trip?" she asked. "The snow is melting now and it isn't as cold out today. You don't have to go if you don't want to." "I would like to go if it is warmer," she said. Geera came over and volunteered to take Deimeta back to the bedroom and dress her in warmer clothes for the trip and I reluctantly released her. Danlo was finished eating by now and he left to hitch a team of only two Clydesdales to my original wagon. I asked him to saddle Red and tie him to the back just in case we ended up needing him for something. When I entered the bedroom to put on some warmer clothes for myself I saw Argent had taken time to go ahead and send the new things. Deimeta was giggling as she stood patiently, completely naked, while Geera tried to get the new leotard on her. Finally Geera just stretched the neck open and had Deimeta step in and then pulled the rest of it up around her, wrestling to stretch the garment enough to allow Deimeta to slip her arms into the long sleeves. I grinned as I saw Deimeta had a tiny set of chain mail now and then I noticed that I had new clothes of my own. Stripping, I put on my new boxers. The material didn't feel like any I had encountered, but it was comfortable and didn't itch. I continued with the new long sleeved T-shirt, long underwear bottoms, and then put my own mail back on. All the rest of my clothes were of the new material and they seemed thinner than my others. I wondered what was going to be warmer about these new garments. When I finished with my pants and shirt I sat on the edge of the bed and found I also had new socks and new boots. I put these on and since I would have a few minutes free I went to my office to ask Argent what the deal was. He answered my message at once. "Argent, these new clothes don't seem like they will be any warmer than the others." "They may not seem warmer, but they will be. They are more than insulation - they will not allow heat to escape unless it passes a certain temperature. They will also make sure you do not become damp from sweat," he said. "I don't understand how that can be possible. If they can let the moisture out then they won't be waterproof." "Yes, they are waterproof. Water from perspiration will be removed but no water can enter," he promised. "How is that possible?" "Your previous civilization had a concept for it, but believed it wasn't possible. It is possible, but due to their slight misunderstanding of quantum mechanics they could not discover the method. The cloth contains, in your earth's language, Maxwell's Daemon. I won't bore you with the details, but Maxwell's Daemon was always possible, your scientist just didn't realize it. The cloth contains millions of the daemons and they regulate the water inside or outside the cloth. They can also make sure heat energy does not pass, unless it needs to be vented," he explained. "So the material consist of tiny check valves that allow heat in and water out, but not vice versa?" "I should think you could visualize them better if you considered them semi-conductors. However they are semi-conductors for heat energy and water molecules. The concentration of heat and moisture on the inside adjusts the percentage of the conducting," he told me. "Well, the clothes and boots are comfortable enough and if I'm warm in them I'll just be happy and forget trying to discover how they work. I'll admit quantum mechanics was never one of my strong suits. I don't know a strange quark from a charm quark." "Good." Danlo was back by now and asking me about the new wagons and horses. I had to give him the spirits work in mysterious ways talk. He was mollified after a while. My mates packed plenty of food and plenty of coffee. We gathered up Burtalgo and Deimeta and headed for the horse cave. Only a few minutes later we boarded the wagon and with a snap of the reins Danlo had us on our way. The ride toward Dunto's camp was uneventful until we met Dunto and two of his hunters just north of Raalto's old camp. "Greetings, Dunto, are you out looking for Burtalgo?" "Yes we are, John. We feared we would only find his body though. It looks like he is in better shape than we had any right to expect," he said. "The night before the snow I had a vision that showed someone caught out in the cold. Danlo and I came this way looking and we found him, nearly frozen. We put him in the wagon and took him back to our camp and he has been recovering since then. He was well enough to bring back today." "I am glad, we have lost enough men for a while. Was he able to remember the message I sent with him?" Dunto asked. "Yes, he was, and I will gladly trade with you for the widows." "I'm sure they will be glad to go since there are no men for them to mate in my camp," he said. "I hope salt will be appropriate for the trading. I have brought some in case it will be." "Salt will be fine," he assured me. "Why don't you and your men climb aboard and we can all ride to your camp?" "Good, I have been wondering what it would be like to ride in this. Did you say it was a wagon?" he asked. "That is what it is called." We started again when they were seated in the wagon box and most of the rest of my trip was spent answering questions about the wagon and the horses. I referred Dunto to the spirits for some of the answers, but I did explain how the wagon was used and some things about the horses. We were back in his camp before lunch. After a noon meal Dunto and I gave a sham performance of a trade. I was glad to find that he didn't like to make a big spectacle of the negotiations. He did have the widows bring their children up and I acted as if their looks and condition mattered. In fact I had noticed both women when I was there before. They were a little taller than normal for these people. They had a daughter each and the girls seemed to be around eight years old. They were all in much better shape than Deimeta had been. Deimeta stayed with me during the trading and it didn't seem to bother Dunto. He even spoke to her a time or two. I could tell some of the others in the camp were bewildered by her obvious increase in status. This was probably helped along by her new clothes and also by the fact she was wearing a new coat, made from the last of the lion cub skins. Not many people had lion fur to wear. She was also decked out with her own necklace. Geera and Dieta had made it for her from a few of the teeth and claws in our collection and there was no mistaking the cave bear claws and lion teeth it was made of. During the meal she had sat comfortably in my lap as she ate and she had sipped occasionally from her coffee mug. Soon enough the salt was delivered and we helped the widows load their belongings and children. Deimeta was happy to have new playmates and when she asked if she could sit in the wagon with them I agreed. The three entertained themselves during the ride back to our camp. When we arrived and went into my cave Deimeta showed her new friends the rocking horse and they were delighted to have a turn on it. Their mothers were in full culture shock when they saw their new quarters. Tulaarra and Weeahta were quick to help them with their things and then gave them a short course in the new cooking facilities. Later, when the evening meal was on the table, the new arrivals ate with us. I was happy Deimeta left her friends then to sit in my lap during supper. "Have you tired of your new friends all ready Deimeta?" "Oh no, I just didn't want you to have to eat alone Daddy," she said, smiling at me. "I'm glad, I want to make sure you have plenty to eat and I can do a better job of it if I feed you." "I like it too, I feel very special when you feed me. It lets everyone know you care for me," she said. "I do care for you Deimeta, very much." She sighed a little and smiled at me and then opened her mouth for a bite. It was an enjoyable time, but all too soon the meal was over. Deimeta went back to her new friends and the rocking horse was quickly pressed back into action. Raalto and Racaato came over near me and we talked about the mammoth hunt some more. There was a finite list of participants now. One hundred and four people were going along. This included all of my mates except Xailieta, she didn't think it wise to take Baatiea and Beetiea on the journey and she wasn't about to leave them in the care of someone else for several days. I thought I could make it through the journey with only all my other mates to care for me. I took Raalto and Racaato back into the practice cave then and helped them acquaint themselves with their 50 caliber rifles. Even though they were now accustomed to using a rifle the big 50s took some getting used to. They fired about a hundred rounds each and soon enough they had a serviceable familiarity with them. We decided to spend tomorrow getting our packing done and the next day we would leave after breakfast. I spent a little time in the office looking over our intended hunting ground and found a good group of suspects to try for. It was a pretty large bunch with a dominant male, six females with young ones and four mature males which didn't have what it took to displace the head man. If we did take all the mature ones we would have more meat than we could use. It was far better to have too much meat than too little though. That night I spent a lot more time than usual giving Xailieta a lot of special attention. She returned it in spades and I could tell she was going to miss me while I was gone. I would miss her too, even though I would have the rest of my mates with me. I had a soft spot for all of them now and if one was missing I noticed. It was a little funny to me. I had been mostly a loner in my old life, but had become such an old softie here and now. I liked my family here though and I couldn't help it, I didn't want to help it. ------- Chapter 148 We were up early the next morning and after breakfast many people set about the packing while Danlo, Jonoco, Nadlo, Sahto, Talvo, and I headed for the horse cave. We hitched all the wagons, stowed their tops underneath and brought them up to park them near the entrances, returning the teams to the horse cave. With the wagons nearby everyone started packing their things into them. I was glad Bigglieo helped with the packing even though he wasn't going on the trip, and I made sure Danlo and Jonoco stayed near him so they could benefit from his experience. Bigglieo was a master at cramming everything in sight into a wagon. Daaggo spent the day with some of his best helpers by scrounging together four large huts we could erect when we got to a good campsite. Even though he had used a considerable fraction of the disassembled huts for the cave entrance closures he still had plenty to work with and he assured me once he had the traveling huts up we would all have a place to sleep indoors. We worked at the arranging and packing all day with only a short meal around noon. We finished before sunset and my mates made sure we all had a good meal on our last night before the hunt. I made sure to pay plenty of attention to Xailieta again that night and just as we snuggled down to sleep she told me she would need the time apart from me for resting. All of the others told her they would try to make sure I didn't come back without being thoroughly exercised. "Don't over do it. That thing is like a muscle, the more you work it the bigger and stronger it seems to get," she said. The next morning we were up, dressed, and at the table well before sunrise. Even Deimeta was out to have her early morning coffee with me. Jaada brought my mug and Deimeta's half sized one over and got us started, but in honor of Deimeta's early rising Jaada had forgone the naked service this morning. "I'm excited about the mammoth hunt, Daddy," Deimeta told me, after her first sip of coffee. "I am too. I hope we get plenty of mammoths and there is going to be a surprise after the hunt." "What kind of surprise?" she asked. "You know I can't tell you since it would spoil it. I will tell you I think you will be very happy about it though." "I guess I'll have to wait then and it makes the trip more exciting," she said. "It will give you something to wonder about during the long ride, which probably won't be very exciting." "It won't be so bad. I like riding in the wagons and maybe soon you can teach me to ride on one of the horses," she said. "Maybe you can even try it on this trip. Bonehead and all the other horses which are trained for riding will be going along. Bonehead has turned out to be very gentle and a good horse for new riders - she doesn't do foolish things and tries her best to do what the rider wants her to." "You mean I might be able to try riding while we are on the hunt?" she asked, showing me her biggest smile. "No promises, but it will be a long ride and we are not in a big hurry. If you don't get to try riding during the trip we will make time for a lesson while we are there waiting to find the mammoths." Our breakfast came then and Deimeta stayed in her own seat this morning. I supposed she wanted to seem more grown up today since our hunt was about to start. Ameliea sat near us this morning and she was excited about the trip too. She had been spending a lot of time practicing with her rifle and I knew she wanted to do some hunting herself. Dieta and Delia had been practicing too and I thought that they probably intended a little contest between themselves to see if one of them could bag something to eat along the way. They were discussing it among themselves between bites. After the meal the final packing was on. Most of our gear had been put in place yesterday, but there were still a few final parcels to be loaded. Danlo and the other wranglers had a job too, since there were a lot of teams to be hitched and those of us who would be riding had our mounts to saddle. I took Deimeta with me while I saddled Red and when I'd finished with him I tied him to the back of the last wagon and took my lariat to catch Jack, the last wild stallion we had captured. Jack had gotten the short end of the stick as far as training had gone. Argent had sent the new horses before we'd had time to give Jack anything, but the bare rudiments of work. Today was a good day to remedy it. I put a bridle on over his halter and then saddled him with his McClellan. I was going to start the day on Red since I intended to give Deimeta a short ride with me at first. Jack would get a chance to do his thing after we were up on the plateau. The rest of the loading and then the boarding took about another half hour. When we were ready to leave I took Red from where he was tied, mounted him, and called Deimeta to me. Eileiea came over with her and helped her up to sit in front of me in the saddle. When she had a good grip on the saddle horn I urged Red into a brisk walk and as we passed the head of the line I could hear the drivers slapping reins on big equine asses as they fell in behind my lead. Galto was driving the lead wagon, my original one, and when we came to the ramp I moved to the side and signaled for the others to head up. Finally Danlo, driving the drag wagon, and the other mounted ones headed up the ramp and I fell in behind. When we were all up the ramp and out on the plateau I gave Deimeta a thrill by kicking Red into a gentle slow lope so we could regain our leadership position. She squealed as Red launched us with his powerful hindquarters and she hung onto the horn with renewed intensity, giggling and laughing all the way. I had taken a little time last night with one of Argent's technicians for some modifications to my Blackberry. They had provided software to let it function as a type of GPS unit. Of course there were no real GPS satellites up there to use, but Argent's ship provided a similar function. As we traveled our position was revealed on the map software they had loaded into the Blackberry last night. Overlaid was an arrow, compass style, which pointed out the direction to the group of mammoths I had selected from the videos. Another arrow pointed toward north at all times and I even had a read out for our rate of travel, distance covered, and time to destination at our present rate. I glanced at the Blackberry and used it to set our course by turning Red to the arrow's direction and heading that way. Looking back in a couple of minutes I saw the wagons were lined up behind me and everything was going well. Deimeta just enjoyed our ride for about an hour and then I signaled for a halt and rode back to Galto's position. Geera met us there on Sally and she dismounted to take Deimeta from me. After the handoff I got down and climbed up into the seat beside Galto. After swearing him to secrecy I showed him the Blackberry and explained about the arrows pointing out our way. When he had a grip on this I left the Blackberry with him and got down to lead Red to Danlo's wagon where I tied him to the back. I untied Jack then and led him out into a clear spot to mount. I wasn't really expecting any trouble from him since he was at least familiar with the process. I put my toe into the stirrup and stepped up to fork him. When I settled on the saddle and got my other toe in the off stirrup I eased my heels against his sides and he stepped out slowly. I could tell though his mind wasn't on cooperating. He was tense and was also shaking his head around a little. Suddenly I felt him bunch his muscles and I knew he was going to try putting me off. He made a jump then and kicked both back legs out violently. I pointed my toes out and down and brought my heels against the underside of his torso and then held on with all the strength in my legs as I threw my right hand up in a rodeo wave and yelled Ye Haw at the top of my lungs. Jack was a fairly big and strong horse, but I'd danced this step more than a few times. Hell I knew more about bucking than he did. He redoubled his jumping, kicking, and bucking after I squeezed my legs to him and yelled, but he could have saved the effort. I used the reins to make sure he couldn't get his head down and really get into it. Finally he played his last card and stood on his hind legs. As I felt him going over I pulled my leg out of the off stirrup and over his back and just before he hit the ground on his back, knocking his own wind out, I stepped onto the ground and back a couple of paces. Jack was stunned of course and for a minute or two he didn't even try to get back up. Finally he rolled and came back to his feet. I still had a hold on the reins and as Jack shook himself off I stepped up to straighten the saddle and get ready to remount. He wasn't through with his resistance though and he turned his head toward me to try giving me a bite. I had been expecting it and as he reached toward me I kicked the front side of my shin into his belly, just behind his ribcage. As it does the first few times to any horse, this move surprised him completely and knocked the wind out of him again. A horse who wants to bite is a pain in the ass and they can be dangerous. They don't have sharp teeth, but they do have a strong bite and have even been known to tear loose large sections of flesh or muscle simply from the strength of the grip. Hitting at their face or nose when they try it only makes them try again later. Giving them a good kick to the wind shows them you can do something they can't counter, and besides, I know it hurts them. I've never had this method fail to stop a horse from trying to bite me. Now, after we both had been reminded of who was in charge I stepped into the stirrup and mounted Jack again. He almost seemed to flinch from pain when I settled my weight on him and I'm sure the fall he gave himself had made him sore all over. It was his choice, I would ride him now or we would butcher him for a big feed tonight. There were plenty of horses going unused in this time and if Jack wasn't useful for riding he was going to make a good meal. I knew he had no concept for what was in store for him if he kept fucking up, but something had changed him. When I heeled him he walked off and when I signaled for a stop with the reins he complied. I walked him to the head wagon, retrieved my Blackberry and led us off. I stayed on Jack two and a half more hours, until noon, when we stopped for a quick meal. I was delighted to find my mates had prepared plenty of sandwiches for our trip and apparently they had baked plenty of bread to bring along. We weren't stopping long enough to brew any coffee, but the thermoses were all full and Kateata brought me a mug almost as soon as I tied Jack off to the wagon. "Daddy, you scared me when you got on that horse. He really acted up at first," Deimeta said, as Kateata handed over her small coffee mug. "Sometimes they do it when you first start riding them. I think he has learned his lesson now." "I saw you kick him in the stomach, was it to punish him for turning over?" she asked. "No, he was reaching his head around to try and bite me, that's why I kicked him. Always remember a horse's bite can hurt or injure you. Their teeth aren't sharp, but they are strong and so is their bite." "But Red never does anything like it," she said. "Red has been ridden and handled more than Jack has. Jack will settle down, or else." "Or else?" she asked. "Or else we will see what he taste like for dinner." "Oh Daddy, if poor Jack knew it he would be on his best behavior. I won't tell him though since I usually like the taste of horse meat," she said, and laughed. ------- Chapter 149 After we finished our sandwiches everything was packed back up and we re-boarded or remounted and took off again. Even after taking a time out for Jack's rodeo performance we had still made good time, and with the relatively good going on the basically level plateau we made excellent progress in the afternoon too. When we stopped, about an hour before sunset, to prepare for the night the Blackberry told me we had covered nearly forty miles. It only took me a few minutes to explain to the wagon's drivers the concept of circling the wagons and only a little more time to get it done. We didn't try to erect any of the huts for our night's stay here. We made do with simply spreading the coverings for ground cloths and then putting lots of bison skins down to sleep on. Several dung fires were built nearby for cooking and by the time the sun had been gone for an hour we had a nice outdoor meal and then found our sleeping furs. Some of the men traded off during the night so there were always a few up watching over us while we slept. We were all up before sunrise the next morning and the women fixed a quick breakfast. I was hungry, but actually more interested in the coffee they had brewing. I made a short tour as everyone was packing up to resume the trip and I asked around to make sure everything was going smoothly. I didn't hear any complaints from anyone and the general morale was good. Jack couldn't tell me how he felt of course, but I could easily see his tantrum from yesterday had him off his feed today. He was moving around slowly and reminded me of an arthritic with his every motion saying he was sore and stiff. He probably wouldn't be fit to ride until several days after we got home. I hadn't brought him along with the idea to use him anyway, his presence was for his own training and I thought he had probably learned a lot yesterday. Soon enough we were on our way again and even though Ameliea sighted a distant pride of lions, not long after we began moving again, most of the remainder of our trip to the hunting site was uneventful. We pushed on past noon without stopping to eat and arrived at our intended campsite shortly after. At this stop we did put up our shelters and unload our supplies. Within a couple of hours we had our home away from home organized. Ameliea, Delia, Dieta, Geera, Merita, Maia, and Jara had skipped out on the nest making and gone on an impromptu hunt. We had been passing within sight of assorted game all during both of our traveling days and when we got to our stopping place they left with Prince, King, and Rover in tow. They were back within two hours and had bagged two young aurochs, which they had gutted, skinned, and loaded onto a travois behind Geera's horse. Fresh meat for the evening meal was welcomed by all the rest of us. We were through with our meal before sunset. Raalto, Racaato, and my other leaders and I sat around talking after we ate. I had studied the Blackberry again and thanks to communications from the aliens I knew where my target mammoths were located. I set up two scouting forays for tomorrow. Raalto and Daaggo would head northeast toward the glacier while Racaato and Caato would go northwest. I explained to them I wanted to find a good group which included at least a few youngsters. Of course Raalto and Racaato knew what I planned for the young ones, but we didn't clue Daaggo or Caato in to the details. The scouts were fed early the next morning and they headed out just after sunrise. Everyone else had a leisurely morning meal and afterward occupied their time by getting the camp into a more organized arrangement. After everything was squared away three separate groups left for more hunting. They all knew the directions the scouts had headed and avoided those. Luckily for Deimeta and I, Bonehead wasn't being used by anyone this morning. After asking Deimeta if she would like to try riding by herself and getting an affirmative reply we saddled Bonehead. I gave Deimeta a few instructions first and then set her on the mare's back. I walked and led for a short time to get started and then I turned the reins over to Deimeta. She did fine even though there wasn't enough adjustment to bring the stirrups up enough so that she could put her feet in them. Soon enough Deimeta got comfortable with Bonehead and she spent the morning riding here and there around the camp and enjoying her new skill. We called a halt to the lessons when lunchtime came. Many of my mates were off hunting, but there were still plenty of them around camp to fix lunch. When it was ready we all sat around in a rough circle and ate. I made a pig of myself of course so afterwards I settled down for a nap. I took probably two hours of sleep before the stirrings around me brought it to an end. I sat up and saw Dieta, Ameliea, Merita, Maia, and their group had returned. They had done even better this time and two of the horses were pulling travois. Somehow they had managed to wrestle a mature male bison onto one and the other had two smaller bison on it. I got up and went over to investigate. Dieta and her companions were justifiably proud of their prowess, but when they saw me Ameliea was quick to speak up. "John, these rifles are wonderful, but something is different about them. When you use your rifle the bison are killed with the first shot every time. Even though we get closer before firing, it almost always takes two or more shots to bring them down," she explained. "It is my fault and I'm sorry. Your rifles are not as powerful as mine and I made the mistake of thinking you wouldn't want to hunt the larger game. I can see now I was wrong and when we are back home I will change things for you. I envisioned you hunting deer or megaceros and smaller game, but it was a mistake on my part." "We weren't complaining, but we thought we were doing something wrong," Dieta said. "You have killed smaller game with your rifle before - is there some reason the smaller rifles we have are better for small game?" Merita asked. "They are a little lighter to carry and they have less recoil when you fire them. I just assumed you would like them better, but the difference in recoil is not so great and neither is the difference in weight. I will let you keep those rifles and get you others which use the same cartridges mine does." "Good, when we get back home we can try the new rifles in the practice cave," Maia said. This settled the discussion and they unloaded their kills and then began skinning and cleaning them. There would be more fresh meat for supper tonight. My mate's kills weren't going to be all of the additional meat either, since I saw another group of hunters returning with loaded travois. I went over and greeted Mundo and the men who had gone hunting with him. They had found some megaceros and were bringing back two, plus a medium sized young mare which had been foolish enough to let them get close. We were not only going to bring back mammoth meat from our hunt, but other meat too it seemed. There was no way we could eat all this on our hunt and there was still a group of hunters out. I was especially impressed with Mundo and his bunch since they had hunted with the spearcasters. I didn't get to talk with the other group since Raalto and Daaggo came back about the same time they did. Raalto told me they had found a group of twelve mammoths on their scouting trip. One mature bull with four younger bulls hanging on the fringes and five mature females. There were only two youngsters with the group though. I praised him anyway since it would be an excellent find in their eyes and in fact for most purposes it would be a good hunting opportunity. I had the luxury of knowing Racaato and Caato were going to find something better. They came in about an hour later with their news. They had found the mammoths I had known they would and they gave me the details I was already aware of. We discussed it with Raalto and Daaggo and all agreed either bunch would be plenty of meat for us and since I wanted to capture some of the young ones, Racaato's find was what we should head for. As we made our decision and broke up I noticed cooking was well underway. I found Deimeta and we both filled our mugs with coffee and then sat down to tease each other about how much we were going to eat when the meal was ready. Deimeta laughed and said Mundo's hunting group had probably spared Jack for another time. Soon enough dinner was served. Well not exactly. It was ready and we got our own plates. I got one for Deimeta while she got both our coffee mugs refilled. We found a place to sit down and started eating. There was no Argent supplied food for this meal, it was all the old fashioned things cooked the old fashioned way over a buffalo shit fire. They had cooked some of the aurochs and some of the mare and had done a good job on both. I was surprised the mare was so tender since horses were much more active than aurochs and I'd expected the mare to be tougher. She was good though and had a unique taste. We also had several different dishes made with what passed for vegetables here and now. As usual I didn't recognize a single one, but they were all good and tasty. The only hint of something from my old life was the bread, which my mates had brought with us from the caves. After the meal we retired early in anticipation of rising before the sun. I woke before sunrise and the first thing I noticed was it had turned cold during the night. Make no mistake, it wasn't warm out yesterday, but today it was considerably colder than it had been before we went to sleep. The temperature was probably around forty degrees Fahrenheit, but after putting on my new cold weather gear I was comfortable in only a few minutes. It was a novelty to have warm feet in weather like this. My mates and Deimeta were all rising and dressing too and most of them commented about the new clothes. They were as surprised as I they didn't seem to need a roaring fire to warm up. I wondered if we wouldn't be better off just leaving the inner layer on while sleeping. At any rate breakfast was cooking soon and the coffee was hot. I got a mug for Deimeta and I and we settled down to sip it. "Daddy, am I going to get to go on the hunt?" she asked. "You can ride along on one of the wagons that will be bringing back the meat if you want to. You won't be able to come up to where we will actually be hunting though and it might get boring sitting on the wagon seat." "I suppose you're right. I think I'll just stay in camp and wait for all of you to bring back some mammoth meat for supper," she said, laughing. "That's what Daddies are for Deimeta, bringing back things for supper." "Yes, and I'm so glad to have a Daddy again," she told me, and then kissed me on the cheek. I hugged her close to me then and had to try hard to keep my tears from leaking out. I was so happy I had been able to rescue Deimeta and everyday I was happy again, having her with us. All my mates felt the same. Deimeta could do no wrong in my cave or anywhere else. After breakfast was over I went to un-hobble Red and Jack and saddled them both. Jack was still walking gingerly, like an old man whose every movement was painful. He gave no trouble though and I was more gentle saddling him than I would normally be. When he was wearing all his tack I tied him to the back of the drag wagon to turn my attention to Red. When Red was ready I mounted and rode around the circle of wagons as the drivers hitched their teams. Raalto and Racaato were also mounted by this time and they joined me in my circling. We didn't interrupt the drivers at their work, but we did pay careful attention to the details. Everything was being done to suit me so my comments weren't needed. Danlo had been circulating among the men on foot, but had by now saddled Jezebel and he rode over to join us. "I'm very excited this morning. I've never been on a mammoth hunt before," he said, as he approached us. "It won't be like any other mammoth hunt before. It will be more like the bison hunts. We will find a suitable place to fire from, far from the mammoths, and then we will execute the ones we want. When we are done there will be a surprise for everyone," I told him. "A surprise?" "Yes, and I intend to keep it a surprise so there's no need to try and dig for more information," I said, and laughed. ------- Chapter 150 "I see. I guess I'll have to wait like everyone else." "Yes, but when the time comes to reveal it you will be needed," I said, and I could tell he was even more puzzled afterwards. The teams were all hitched by now and everyone who was going to ride was mounted. I let Racaato lead the way and I fell back to ride and tease among my mates. Of course I ended up getting most of their teasing directed my way. I didn't mind and in fact I enjoyed the attention. With no scouting to be done this time Racaato took a direct route and we were in sight of the mammoths in about two hours. We halted probably a mile from them and after studying with the glasses Raalto, Racaato, and I retrieved our 50 caliber rifles from the lead wagon and remounted, heading to a cluster of large chunks of ice which had probably been left when the glacier retreated somewhat. Danlo, Ameliea, Geera, and Dieta had accompanied us for the last approach. They held our horses as we took firing positions, hidden by the ice. The mammoths hadn't noticed our approach or if they did they'd not reacted. We were probably a thousand yards from where they were grazing. They were not far from the face of the glacier and easily seen. Mammoths did not look exactly like elephants I was more familiar with. No surprise since they weren't elephants. They were large though and they had trunks and tusk. Some of them, the older ones I guessed, had very long tusk. The main difference to me was the long shaggy hair all over their bodies. They also had the pronounced slant of their backbone toward the rear. They continued grazing. Having nearly no natural predators, experience had taught them attack was something they need not fear, unless men approached. We weren't approaching, we were hiding and it was doubtful they had even seen us. We took a little time to just observe our prey. There was no mistaking the dominant male. His tusks were nearly twelve feet long and he was half again as large as the smallest female. The four younger males he was allowing to hang around were not even nearly large enough to give him any challenge yet. The lead female was also easy to determine since she was the largest female and since she gave the next largest one some type of scolding just after we'd settled into hiding. My interest was taken by the smallest female. Though she was obviously mature, since she had a young one, she was remarkably smaller than any of the others. After thinking about it I decided we would leave her alive and try to round her up also. Racaato, Raalto, and I discussed targets among ourselves. Racaato would take the lead male first and Raalto would take the lead female. I would start with the younger males and we would all work our way down by size. After the first shots, which we intended to take simultaneously, we would fire in turn until we were done. I also let them know I didn't want to kill the smallest female until we tried herding her and the young ones from horseback. We took our positions and then on a signal we all fired. All three initial targets dropped, in fact the power from the 50 caliber bullets knocked over all but the lead bull and its impact shook him visibly before he fell a few seconds later. I'm sure this type of mammoth hunting was a revelation for these people, but for me it was rather anticlimactic. It was much like harvesting. Of course Racaato and Raalto had scouted things yesterday, but I had known all along where the mammoth were and even how many there were. With the large rifles Argent had provided there was never any question in my mind the prey would be dispatched almost at once. Still, I would much rather sit back in near complete safety and shoot the mammoths instead of chasing after them and trying to kill them with a bunch of fucking spears. This was much easier and a lot less dangerous and I was sure the meat would taste just as good. We finished, leaving the one mature, but small female, and all six youngsters unharmed. They were nearly in a panic now, but couldn't decide which way to run. No doubt they had heard the reports from the weapons, but I was sure they had no idea what the noise was or that it was responsible for their comrades falling and dying. Instead of mounting and riding toward them we rode back to the wagons and sat around for a few minutes to give them a chance to settle down. When I had everyone's attention I announced my plan to try herding the remaining prey with the horses. It was a surprise to everyone except Raalto and Racaato of course. It only took a few minutes to outline the plan and answer a few questions. We all mounted again and I asked the wagon drivers to give us a few minutes head start. The remaining female and the youngsters were still nervous as we approached and this increased as we came ever closer. When we were within two hundred yards the female had reached the end of her twine and she turned away and headed off at a fast walk. All the youngsters except hers remained near their dead parents for a while longer, but followed her when we got closer. We increased our pace and spread out behind the bunch. The female turned her head to check on us periodically, but she kept up her pace. After about a mile and a half I could tell she was tiring a little. I signaled to Danlo and he and I kicked our mounts into a gallop, eventually riding around the mammoths and then away from them for a few hundred yards. When we stopped and turned back toward them the female saw she had been out maneuvered and she stopped her group, standing still and only breathing deeply. I've heard elephants are smart and I guess it goes for mammoths too. It hadn't taken the female long to see outrunning us was out of the question. I could only hope she didn't have fighting to the death in mind now. As the rest of my people approached they began circling around between the mammoths and the glacier, spreading themselves into a line as they did so and by the time everyone was stopped we had a semicircle of horsemen between the mammoths and the glacier with the open mouth of it pointed back toward the dead animals we'd all just left. We stayed still for about twenty minutes and in the distance I could see the wagons approaching the kills and stopping near them. We stayed put for ten more minutes then I signaled and we all began moving toward the mammoths. The female had settled down a little and had spent some time looking around and no doubt considering her options. When we moved she did also. She took the route open to her and headed out of the semicircle at a slow walk. The young ones all followed her and we carefully moved about to keep them headed away from the gutting and skinning and toward our distant campsite. After moving them about half a mile I asked Raalto, Racaato, Daaggo, and Danlo to quicken their pace and move around to close the front of our formation. The female noticed and I saw her watching as they maneuvered. When they were in place we had a circle closed around the mammoths. I called for my people to stop and when they did the female stopped also, but she looked around the entire circle for a place to make an exit. Since there wasn't one she stayed put. She could have charged any point in the circle and made her escape if she'd been determined, we all knew it. She was unsure though and we weren't hurting her or the youngsters so she held her place. I gave another signal and we started up again. She moved out also and I saw she was now careful to match our pace. This was going much better than I had any right to expect. We stopped again after about a quarter mile and she and the youngsters stopped too. We stayed still for about five minutes and then started again and the female cooperated. She seemed to understand what we wanted from her by now and was content to go along so far. After a couple more iterations I asked Ameliea to switch places with Danlo at the next stop and she did. "Danlo you have more experience with animals than anyone except me. You are also much younger, quicker, and more agile than I am. Our next step is for someone to try and approach her on foot. Are you willing?" "I am anxious to try. Should we do it now?" He asked. "I think we should. You don't have to get all the way to her the first time, just dismount and approach her slowly in a non-threatening manner. If she becomes very anxious back up and we'll try again later." He dismounted and began walking toward her very slowly. Her eyes found him at once and she turned toward him, but she didn't seem too excited. The young ones were frightened though and they all moved behind her at once. When Danlo got within twenty feet of her she made a little grunting type of noise. None of us had anything to go on in this regard, but Danlo stopped and stood still. "Maybe you should talk to her softly Danlo," I said, and he began speaking very softly and calmly to her. Of course she had no idea what this was about, but it did seem to calm her a little as Danlo told her what a good girl she was being and how he wasn't going to hurt her. She let him get about ten feet closer and then she took a step backwards. Danlo stopped again and stood still. The female didn't seem to calm down any from this and she began moving her trunk around and her head started working up and down. I called Danlo back and he came as slowly as he had approached her, mounting again when he got back to Jezebel. "Let's try moving them a little more," I said, and at my signal we moved off again. The female seemed to agree to this and she and the youngsters moved out at our pace. We traveled about another half mile and she seemed to be back with the program. I signaled for another halt and she stopped on cue with the rest of us. "Care to give it another try Danlo?" I asked. He didn't reply, but dismounted and repeated the process, walking slowly toward her and talking calmly to her as he went. She let him get closer this time and he stopped again when she got anxious. After she calmed down a little he took another couple of step toward her before she backed up again. When she did he stood still for a while and then returned to remount. We all started off again at my signal and she seemed content to cooperate again. We did this four more times before the female let Danlo close enough so she could sniff him with her trunk. At the first smell she backed up a step and Danlo remained where he was. Her curiosity got the better of her and in a few minutes she came back to sniff him out more thoroughly. When Danlo reached one hand out to touch her trunk she shied back at first and then returned to sniffing in a couple of minutes, allowing Danlo to touch her trunk with his hand and even letting him stroke it a little. Finally she grew bold and used her trunk to push him back. "No," Danlo said, softly but firmly. She pulled back a step from him then and stood still. Danlo came back and mounted Jezebel and we started again. After three more repeats Danlo could get off Jezebel and walk right up to her to stroke her snout while she sniffed at him. This was more progress than we could have hoped for, but I was glad of it. I decided that we would continue until we were close to our campsite and began to wonder what we could use to tie her to when we got there. I had brought some chain with us in hopes of restraining the young ones and I'd intended tying them to one of the wagons after it had been loaded. I was afraid this wouldn't hold the mature female even though she was rather small. Deciding I would need Argent's help, the next time we stopped I pulled out the Blackberry while everyone else was watching Danlo and the female. I asked the one who replied to place a tie down for the female near the camp. I told him to try and make it look like some type of rock or boulder and to keep the part that would show as small as possible. He told me he would take care of it. When the Blackberry told me we were about half way to camp I asked Geera to ride ahead and tell those there what we were doing and ask them not to approach and not to make any loud noises. She left at a trot until she was well away from us and then urged her mount into a slow lope. I also kept a close eye behind us and about an hour later I saw the wagons were headed toward us and would overtake us before we reached camp. I sent Dieta back to tell them to stop for a while so we would remain ahead of them. We cut down on our stops, but continued to make them periodically. We would need to be able to get close enough to the female to attach the chain to her leg later and so we kept it up. Finally we came within sight of our camp and though the female could see it she didn't seem to be alarmed. Luckily I spotted the rock the Aliens had installed for us and was able to guide us to stop with the female near it. I asked Danlo to stay with her this time, but not get her anxious. I rode into camp and found the chain where it had been unloaded. I had plenty of chain and plenty of different types of hooks and clasp for it. It was the equivalent of 3/8" hi-test chain, but was titanium of course and much lighter. I had meant to secure the young ones with it, but thought it would probably hold the female. If she were tied off and couldn't leave I knew the youngsters wouldn't wander off. When I got back to the action I saw the female was now letting Danlo squat down and inspect her feet. He wasn't able to actually lift them and look at the bottoms of course, but she didn't seem to mind if he touched them and pushed at them. She did seem determined not to let him move them this way though. It didn't matter for now. When I was back with them I asked Danlo to come out to me and he did. The female didn't seem alarmed at this turn of events and she actually pulled up some grass and put it in her mouth when he left. I explained what I wanted him to do when he came to me and he thought he would be able to. I pointed out the chain needed to be tight enough so it wouldn't slip off over her foot, but not tight enough to be uncomfortable for her unless she pulled against it. We secured one end to the rock by wrapping it around and putting a latch on it and Danlo approached her with the other end held behind his back. She didn't smell a rat when he came back and she let him stroke her trunk and then her shoulders and when he squatted again she wasn't spooked as he wrapped the chain around her foot and latched it. When he was done he came back to me and I told the others to widen the circle now. The female had gone back to feeding when Danlo left her and hadn't seemed to notice the chain. She did find it when she took her first step after we had spread farther out. She lifted her foot and shook it but of course the chain stayed put. She still had plenty of slack so she didn't panic, but went back to eating seeming to ignore her new jewelry. It was thirty minutes before she discovered the chain on her foot would limit her motion and she became upset at first. She didn't fight it nearly as hard as a horse would fight being tied for the first time though. As she pulled against it and shook her foot she noticed the harder she pulled the more it hurt. Danlo walked back out toward her then, talking softly and calmly to her and he was able to settle her nerves after about ten minutes. He left her again after she quit fighting the chain. She began pulling at it again, but not nearly as energetically. Finally she quit and began feeding again. When she did I mounted Red again and all of us, except Danlo, left to go unsaddle and hobble the horses. I led Jezebel away for Danlo and he stayed to watch the tethered mammoth and the youngsters. ------- Chapter 151 Everything was hustle and bustle in the camp now. People were excited and curious about the captured mammoths, but they were also trying to deal with the dead ones. To put it into perspective, there was nearly half a ton of liver to be dealt with. Mammoth hides needed to be scraped and though the carcasses had been roughly cut up there was more cutting that needed to be done before the freeze which would no doubt come tonight. We were going to be busy long after sunset. Also on the agenda were rotating guards through the night. The fresh meat would bring predators and if they couldn't get to the meat they would settle for the horses or even the live mammoths. With the female tied up she would be hard pressed to defend herself and the youngsters couldn't be counted on for any help at all. The horses were accustomed to fire by now, but the mammoths weren't, so we would have to make sure to build the fires close enough to keep the predators away from them, but far enough away to keep from making them panic. It was going to be a busy night and I didn't think I would be getting much sleep, maybe not any. Racaato took over the fire building detail and with the use of my original wagon, which hadn't been needed to carry the meat, he and some others gathered enough dried dung to keep the fires going all night. When they built the fires they built them smaller than normal and built more of them. It would be more work tending them through the night but Racaato thought it would do a better job of keeping predators out and would also lessen the fear of our guest. Danlo stayed with the female during all of this and I'm sure his attendance helped keep her calm. I went back to talk with him a couple of times and to take him coffee and while I was there I saw he was even becoming familiar with the younger captives. After the evening meal Ameliea, Dieta, Geera, Gema, Merita, and Maia armed themselves for an all night vigil. Merita and Maia had Prince, King, and Rover well in hand and they were patrolling the perimeter with our guard wolves. I felt comfortable knowing nothing was going to slip up on the wolves in daylight or dark. As the work progressed and the meal was over I took Deimeta out to visit Danlo and his charges. She was delighted seeing the live beast and especially with the young ones. "That one is just my size, Daddy," she squealed. "Then it will be yours. You can teach it to behave and later when it is bigger I will show you how to ride on it." "Can I really ride it? Will it let me on its back?" she asked, clearly thrilled at the prospect. "You will have to ride on its neck since its back will be too broad, but I'm sure we can teach it to let you ride." "Oh, Daddy, I can hardly believe it. I have never even heard of anyone who touched a live mammoth," she said. "Then you will be one of the first to ride. You should ask Danlo if he thinks he can get the little one to let you pet its snout." "Can you, Danlo? Will it let me touch it?" she asked. "I think we might be able to do it, you will have to go very slowly though and make sure you don't frighten it," he told her, stifling a laugh. "I'll be very careful, I promise." "Come to me then. Be sure to walk slowly and keep your hands down by your side. Speak to it very softly as you approach," he instructed. "What should I tell it?" she asked. "Tell it how nice you think it is and how much you would like to be its friend," he said. I backed up a few paces and let her get started. She talked softly and sincerely to the young mammoth and she took a step, waited a few seconds, and then took another. It was slow going, but that was how it had to be. As she got closer the little mammoth began to get curious and within a few moments it was sniffing Deimeta with its trunk and she was rubbing on the trunk and on its head. Apparently the youngster liked the attention since it didn't seem to tire of Deimeta's petting. It sniffed at her constantly and she worked her way around it, touching and stroking it everywhere she could reach. Soon they were pals and Deimeta played at tugging on the long trunk while the little mammoth pulled at her with it. I sat on the ground and watched as long as my poor tired ass could stand it, but much more quickly than Deimeta would have liked we had to go back to camp. When we left the young mammoth followed for a few paces, but finally turned back to the safety of the mature female. "Oh Daddy, I just love my mammoth, are you sure it can be mine?" she asked. "I am very sure. It is your mammoth now and you will have to think of a name for it. You will also need to learn to care for it." "What kind of care does it need, Daddy?" she asked. "We don't really know yet, we have never had mammoths before. We will have to learn as we go along." She was satisfied with this and we returned to camp. Jaada was there with one more small sandwich for Deimeta, just in case she thought she could eat a bite before she went to sleep. "Thank you mommy, Jaada. I think I can eat it. Can I tell you about my mammoth while I am eating?" she asked. Jaada was happy to listen to Deimeta's mammoth story and while they were at it I slipped over to get some more coffee. Kota filled my mug at once and handed it to me. "I knew there would be a lot of work on a mammoth hunt, but this kind of work is for me. I will skin and butcher meat gladly when I know I won't have to carry any of it back to camp. "The live ones are the big things though. I've never heard of anyone even considering trying to capture a live mammoth and the way you did it made it seem easy," she said. "Taking it easy was the only way I could think of to do it. There was no way we could have forced it to do anything. Even though the adult was a small one it is still stronger than any ten men. Its tusks are short but they would put an end to a man without much trouble if she were intending to fight. I'm glad she decided to cooperate so quickly." "I don't know what you intend to do with them, but, just by being in our camp, they will let everyone know the spirits are very friendly to us," she said. I finished my coffee, got my jacket and headed for Red. I knew he'd had a tough day, but unfortunately for him and me the work wasn't finished. I had my M1 with me and the night vision goggles too. I saddled Red and stepped aboard, urging him away from camp and heading out to circle beyond the firelight. We happened to pass Maia on our way out and I asked her if I could take Rover along with Red and I. She agreed. Rover seemed to know things were serious business tonight. He paid attention when I signaled him and he separated from Red and I and did his own patrolling. I kept a watch for him and he was easier to keep an eye on than I would have thought. It was a cold clear night and there was a three quarter moon up now. I could see well without the goggles. We'd made a circuit and about half of the second one when Rover dropped low and got really still. I could tell he had his eyes on something out in the tall grass, but I couldn't see what it was. I finally got the goggles and took a look, finding the bunch of hyenas easily. I could see about eight or ten of them, spread out a little and creeping toward where a few men and women were finishing up with the butchering. I was surprised they seemed to be about to storm the camp with so many fires around. They were damned sure up to no good so I unlimbered the M1 and put it to my shoulder. Even though I knew exactly where they were I had hell finding them in the scope. I had a good flashlight with me, but didn't think I could hold it, get it pointed in the right direction, and aim the rifle all at the same time. If I'd had sense enough to ask for some type of mount to attach a light to the stock I could have probably pulled it off, but I was afraid if I tried to hold both the rifle and the light I wouldn't accomplish anything except ruining the night vision I had. After searching and squinting I finally found them in the scope. I couldn't see the crosshairs so I just guesstimated when I had one in the center of the picture and let fly. I heard a yelp and knew I hit one somewhere. I let the rifle down a little and could see them scattering in all directions, one of them was lagging badly so I must have done him some real damage. I nudged Red in that direction and when I did Rover got back up and led the way. We checked out the last place we'd seen them and found nothing so we went back to our circling. Racaato rode up to join me in a few minutes and fell in with us as we kept going. He asked what I'd seen and I told him. He had already tried looking through his scope tonight and he said he hadn't had any luck either. A daylight scope just isn't worth a shit at night, they weren't meant to be and they aren't. We would be better off removing them and using the iron sights at night. Doing it would fuck up the careful sighting we'd done on them though so we decided to try and tough it out. Racaato circled back around the way I'd come and I continued in the direction I had been going. Later in the night Raalto and Galto came out to relieve us for a few hours, but after a three-hour nap I went back to riding. It was a long night and it got very cold. My Blackberry told me the temperature had dropped to fifteen degrees Fahrenheit and I was glad there wasn't much wind. I was also very glad for the new clothes Argent had sent us. When the sun peeked over the horizon I was more than ready for it. I was pretty tired, but didn't feel like I could knock off yet. Breakfast was ready soon and I tied Red to a wagon and went to find my part of it. I saw Deimeta sitting near a cooking fire with her little coffee mug and when I went over to tell her good morning, Kateata brought me a mug for myself. "Have a seat and I will bring you and Deimeta some breakfast," Kateata said. I was glad to and she was good to her word. Deimeta had plenty of baby mammoth questions for me between bites and her excitement lifted my spirits considerably. "Daddy, can I go and see my mammoth when we finish eating?" she asked me. ------- Chapter 152 "I'll take you over for a short visit if Danlo thinks it's all right. We must be quiet and calm around them though and we should be very nice to Danlo. Remember he has been up all night watching over them and he might be tired." "I will be nice to him Daddy, it is good of him to watch over them and I'm sure he is very tired. Danlo is always very nice to me when I go to play with Malooto and all his mates always make me feel very special. Maybe we should take him some breakfast and coffee," she said. "If he thinks it will be all right, you and I will watch the mammoths for him while he comes to get his own coffee and breakfast." We finished eating and refilled our coffee mugs and I decided to take a mug to Danlo after all, just in case he wanted some right now. We headed his way and when we got to him I was surprised. The female was right beside Danlo and all of the young ones were gathered around where he was lying near one of the fires. When the female noticed we were approaching she touched Danlo on the shoulder with her trunk and almost seemed to be shaking him awake. He sat up as we approached and when he saw we were bringing him some coffee he smiled at us. "You two are just the ones I wanted to see," he said. "We are? Why?" Deimeta asked. "Because you have an extra coffee mug and I'll bet it is for me," he told her, smiling. "You are right Danlo, it is for you. I can see Daddy was wrong about one thing though. He said you were probably very tired and he didn't think you could have slept any last night. Then we come to bring you some coffee and the mother mammoth had to wake you up," Deimeta said, giving Danlo a teasing smile that nearly melted my heart, and I could see it had the same effect on him. "Oh my, I have been caught and there is no excuse," Danlo said, smiling right back at her. Deimeta giggled then and went to give Danlo the mug of coffee - she even gave him a kiss on the cheek and thanked him for watching over the mammoths all night. "It is what I intended to do, but now I'm not sure who was watching over whom. At first I would go out to circle around our space every few minutes. The big one tried to come with me and when the chain stopped her she got nervous when I left and started struggling. I was afraid she would hurt herself so I came back and took off the chain. "I started again to make a circle and she kept by me the whole time. Toward the end of the circuit I wasn't sure she wasn't watching over me," he said. "Later I was sitting and trying not to go to sleep and I noticed not only the adult, but also all of the young ones raised their trunks every so often and sniffed the air. It was as if they were trying to catch the sent of anything which might be approaching. "Finally I did fall asleep and I don't know how long I slept, but just as she did when you and Deimeta came up, the adult woke me by nudging my shoulder with her trunk and when I was awake she kept pushing at me until I stood up. "I picked up my rifle and she seemed to realize I was ready so she led me outside the circle of fires and toward a spot to the northwest of our area. I hadn't noticed her doing it and I don't know where she got the big rock she was carrying with her trunk, but when she got us where she was going she looked out toward something and then raised her trunk and flung the rock toward the spot. A wolf yelped and then three or four of them jumped up and ran off into the night. The mammoths are a lot smarter than I would have ever thought. I can hardly believe how smart they seem," Danlo said, finishing his tale. "That is amazing Danlo. I would have never guessed they could do anything like that. Of course they have been getting along up until now without us to watch over them at night. I am really more surprised she woke you and took you with her to run them off." "I was surprised, but I didn't let it keep me from taking advantage of the situation. After she scared the wolves off she and I made a circle of our area and then I went back over and lay down to sleep again. "I'll bet I got more rest than anyone last night and I'll also bet I was watched over more carefully than anyone else. Look at all those long noses which were sniffing all night for enemies," he said, and waved toward his charges. I could see at once Danlo was right. The night had been practically windless and with all those snouts sniffing and with their large ears listening I could tell it would be hard for anything to sneak up on this bunch. I was glad Danlo had gotten some rest during the night, because he was probably the only one who could get the mammoths to move with us without a lot of trouble. He and I were talking about it and I wasn't paying that much attention to Deimeta. I noticed she was not by me after a few minutes and looked around in a near panic. I needn't have worried. I spied her over among the youngsters. She was stroking and petting her mammoth and it was sniffing and nudging her. The other little ones were standing in a circle around them and seemed to be wondering where their playmate was. I could hardly believe how easy this was turning out to be. Deimeta and I stayed with the mammoths while Danlo went to get his breakfast. The adult female didn't want him to leave them but he talked to her lowly and reassuringly for a few minutes and when she tried to follow him off he pushed back at her and spoke more firmly. Finally it seemed he had convinced her to stay with me. She sniffed over me with her long snout and I petted and stroked her when she allowed it. I could tell she wasn't happy with me as a substitute for Danlo, but she did tolerate me while he was gone. Her whole attitude changed fifteen minutes or so later when he returned. I could almost see her spirits lifting when she spied him coming back. She was even more tolerant of me touching her as she watched him approaching. "Do you think they will come along on their own today Danlo?" I asked him. "I'm sure of it. I'm not sure how fast they will be able to travel, especially the youngsters, but I don't think they will give us any trouble," he said. "I'll go and see how close we are to leaving. When we start I think you should try to get them to follow the third or fourth wagon and then let the others fall in behind you. It will have some of the wagons leading you and the rest will be bringing up the rear. We won't have to worry about you getting ahead or lagging behind and I'll tell the lead drivers to slow the pace if you seem to be falling back." "It sounds perfect to me. Maybe later in the day we will see if the adult will still stay with me if I am mounted on Jezebel. If she does I won't have to walk all the way," he said. "I hadn't thought of it, but it will be better if you are able to guide her from horseback. Maybe soon she will let you ride on her, that will be the best thing and you will look very impressive riding on a mammoth." I could tell from his look he hadn't even considered riding her. I might not have either if I'd been in his place, but I had the advantage of knowing it was not even so big a trick, plus I had the earlier conversation with Deimeta about her riding the small mammoth to remind me. I left Danlo thinking about riding his new charge. Deimeta and I went back to the main part of camp then, but I noticed she had a problem getting her pet to stay when she left, just as Danlo had. "I feel a little sad leaving my mammoth with the others Daddy," she said. "Maybe you can come back later and walk with it for a while. You have to be sure you don't tire yourself though. Your mammoth is accustomed to walking much farther in a day than you are." "I know, but if it is all right I do want to go and walk with it for a while at least," she said. "I will make sure you get a chance to. We are in no hurry. We want to get home as soon as we can, but there is no need to make a big rush of it. We will not get there in one day no matter how hard we push and we should get there in two days without any trouble." Within an hour everything was packed, the teams were hitched and the mounts were saddled. Galto and the other drivers took their places and Galto led off. Two wagons followed him and when they were headed out Danlo brought his troupe into line and the other wagons fell in behind him. Red and I went to lead the way for Galto while Raalto and Racaato took the drag today. After we were all moving it was apparent our pace would have to slow a little for the mammoths to keep up, but it was no trouble for the Clydesdales. They were so well trained from their former lives it was almost automatic. The rest of my mounted people spread themselves up and down the line of wagons and even though we were a large group we kept a sharp eye for any predators. Luckily we didn't see any. The women had made sandwiches to eat on the way and we didn't stop for lunch. I checked often with Danlo to make sure the youngsters weren't tiring and he didn't seem to think that they were. He said the slower pace seemed to be fine for them. I helped Deimeta down off the wagon she was riding in after she'd eaten her sandwich and the whole line slowed to a stop as she went to join her new pet. We started up again when they were ready and she walked with her mammoth for about two hours before I decided she was probably tired. She said she wasn't when I came to get her, but I wasn't going to let her keep going until she was exhausted, so I had her get back into a wagon and we pulled out again. We stopped about two hours before sunset and my Blackberry let me know we were within an easy day's travel of being back home. We made a much wider circle of wagons and Danlo led the mammoths inside it for the night. This made it much easier since we were able to place fires all around our perimeter and we could keep watch with a guard or two on each wagon seat. We kept five horses saddled and tied to the wagons just in case we needed to mount up and go out to run something off, but they weren't needed. Raalto, Racaato, and I were worn out and as soon as I finished eating it was sleepy time for me. I'm sure they did the same. I'm not really sure who pulled guard duty during the night but someone must have since we were all present and unmolested at sunrise the next morning. ------- Chapter 153 It was cold, but thanks to the new clothes I hadn't been bothered by it during the night. Another big plus for them was that I didn't get too warm, no matter how many furs I slept under or how many of my mates snuggled up around me. I felt good on waking and was well rested. After sneaking off to water a bush I headed for the coffee pot and found Yaroola had a mug waiting for me. I gave her a quick kiss and while I found a place to sit she went to get a plate of breakfast for me. When she came back with it I dug in. About half way through inhaling my breakfast Deimeta came over to sit with me. She had still been rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she worked her way to my side. "Why didn't you wake me when you got up, Daddy?" she asked. "I wanted to make sure you got all the rest you could. You will want to be walking with your mammoth again today and you needed to rest so you could last a while at it," I said. This was the right thing to tell her and it got me out of not waking her without any trouble. Yaroola came over with Deimeta's little coffee mug then and handed it to her. "Thank you, mommy Yaroola, I need this badly," Deimeta said. Yaroola and I both laughed over her coffee addiction proclamation, but Deimeta just smiled and took a sip. "You are very welcome Deimeta. All of us enjoy making sure you are being taken care of. Be sure to let us know whenever you need anything," she said. "I'm so lucky Daddy came to get me and so happy to live with all of you now. I can hardly believe how nice it is to feel wanted and accepted," Deimeta said. I had to look away to keep her from seeing my tears and I wondered again at how brave she must be and how she always concentrated on the good in her life now and never seemed to reflect back on the times when she was rejected and starving. It made me sorry Nutaro was dead and couldn't be killed again. I began wondering again what kind of man could be so cruel to a child and I had to stop myself before I ruined my whole day thinking about it. Yaroola came back to us with a plate for Deimeta and with only a little asking she agreed to let me feed her this morning. I enjoyed it immensely, but knew I would have to be careful and not stuff too much into her. She knew how much I loved this game and I was afraid she would keep eating after she'd had enough, just because she knew it made me happy. Finally we called a truce. "Now we've finished breakfast, do you think we could go to see the mammoths?" Deimeta asked. "I don't see why not. You need to check on yours and make sure it is doing well after all the traveling yesterday." We got up and walked to the center of camp where the mammoths had been kept last night. Danlo was there and the adult female was right by his side. "Good morning Danlo, did you sleep well?" Deimeta asked, when we arrived. "Yes I did Deimeta, what about you?" he asked. "I dreamed of my mammoth last night and now I want to see it. Can you tell me if it is a boy or a girl?" she asked him. "Yes I can, it is a female and will one day be a mother," he said. "Good, I will be a mother some day also," she said, with unimpeachable logic. "I'm sure you will and your mammoth will still be there with you then. I have heard they can live a long time," he said. "Oh I hope so, I'm becoming very attached to her," Deimeta said. "Have you chosen a name for her yet?" I asked. "Not yet, I keep thinking of her as baby mammoth and haven't picked a name yet. Have you named the big mother mammoth, Danlo?" she asked. "I believe you have just named her. I will call her Big Mother. She is the biggest mother I have ever seen," he said. "She is isn't she? It will be a good name for her, but I can't name mine little mother because she isn't a mother yet, and she will not be little anymore when she becomes a mother. I will have to think of something else," she said. Deimeta and the little mammoth were playing with each other by now and though I loved watching them there were things I needed to do. Danlo said he would watch over them if I would have someone bring him some coffee and breakfast and I promised I would. I told Deimeta I had things to do and headed back to the cooking fire. I saw Shaala headed my way with Danlo's breakfast and coffee so I went to saddle Red and Jack and tie them to a wagon. Most everyone was up now and many were already through eating and were hitching the teams and reloading our things into the wagons. Soon enough breakfast was over for all and our camp was packed up into the wagons. I mounted Red and led us toward home with Galto following and the rest falling into line. Looking back I saw Danlo, Big Mother, and the youngsters were taking the same spot as yesterday and I could see Deimeta walking along beside her baby. After a couple of hours I halted the train and went back to check on Deimeta. She didn't protest this time when I asked her to ride for a while. Danlo told me he thought the mammoths were holding up well and so I went back to the head of the line and we moved out again. We took a real break around noon and even though we had sandwiches again we stayed put for about an hour. We had made good progress and even with the rest stop we would be home more than an hour before sunset. Just before it was time to get moving I went to check on Deimeta. She was asleep in the wagon box, lying on a pile of sleeping furs. I left her at it and got the show on the road, well, on the path anyway. We came into camp a little more than an hour before sunset and I was glad to be back. Those who hadn't gone on the trip were amazed to see the living mammoths walking down the canyon and to the horse cave. Danlo didn't have much trouble getting Big Mother to go through the gate and enter the cave and the young ones followed right on her heels. The horses which were in there were a little apprehensive at first but soon all the animals settled down. When the wagons stopped, near the new entrance closest to the new frozen cave, the work was on. All the mammoth meat had to be carried in and put away. As the wagons were emptied they were moved away and put back into the horse cave and then the teams were unhitched. We decided to wait until tomorrow to give all the wagons a good cleaning. After everything was unloaded I went back to my cave and was glad to see supper was ready. All I needed to do was wash up a little, sit down, and eat. There was a lot of excitement still apparent during the meal and even more when I announced, about half way through it, we would have a big celebration two days later. My mates and my helper's mates could hardly finish eating fast enough. They were anxious to begin planning. They tried to drag me into the fray, but all they got out of me was the location, which they already knew, and a promise to furnish plenty of bruga. After eating I went into the bedroom, shucked my clothes and headed for the shower. For the first time in a long time I was alone for the whole thing. I knew my mates were still planning for the feast and I didn't mind, since I was pretty tired. After I finished I dried off and went back to the bedroom. Baatiea and Beetiea were both asleep in their crib and I decided to crawl into my bed and see if I could help them sleep. I woke in the middle of a bed full of women the next morning. There was no telling how late they'd been up talking and planning for the party to come, but it must have been very late. I was easily able to get out of bed, dress, and leave for the kitchen without waking any of them. I made the first pot of coffee myself and sat at the table while waiting for it to brew. When it was done I got a mug and headed for my office - sitting at my desk I sent a message to the aliens and Argent answered me right away. "The mammoth hunt was wonderful. I had misgivings when I heard you telling Raalto and Racaato that you were going to try capturing some of them, but it seems to have gone perfectly," Argent said. "It was much easier than I thought it would be and to tell the truth I didn't really expect to be able to handle the mature female. Our success there was surprising to me." "To us also. Big Mother, as Danlo has named her, seems to be cooperative now though. Do you think she will continue to be so?" he asked. "I think she will do well as long as Danlo is patient with her. It seems to me she has somehow bonded with Danlo. I don't know if anyone else would be able to handle her." "It is usually that way with elephants, but of course there is no data about mammoths. As far as we can tell these are the first mammoths anyone has attempted to tame," Argent said. "I think they can be very useful if things go well and even if they don't turn out to be useful they are fun to have around. I can't wait to see the reaction next time we have a visitor or two." "We believe you are right and we look forward to watching your efforts. Have you given any more thought to the sawmill?" he asked. "If your engineers have it planned I think it is time I looked over what they have in mind. I'm hoping it can be simple enough for these people to use." "We have paid particular attention to automating most of the complicated task. I will call the head designer for the project to discuss it with you," he said and then left for a few minutes. When he returned he introduced the engineer, who gave me a rundown on my new equipment. They had done a great job. The only thing I wanted to add was something to check the saw logs for imbedded rocks. I wasn't worried about nails of course, but over the years it would have been easy for small rocks to be imbedded in the tree's bark and afterward the tree would just grow around them. Even a small rock would dull a saw blade, requiring us to stop, change the blade, and then later we would have to sharpen it before using it again. The engineer told me they hadn't considered this at all, but they could scan the logs from their ship and simply remove anything which had been imbedded. I couldn't think of a thing wrong with this method and so we agreed the sawmill should be installed and I would show it to the others when I was ready. Our conference broke up then and I was about to go surfing through the video feeds when there was a knock at the door. I went to open it and found Kateata was bringing me another mug of coffee. She also told me breakfast was ready. I gave her a kiss, took the mug of coffee and then followed her back to the table. Things were settling into a normal scheme rapidly and all my leaders and their mates were at the table when I got there. As soon as I was seated the serving was on. I didn't see Deimeta and when Taaheita brought my plate I asked about her. "She was still sleeping when we left the bedroom and we didn't wake her. I think she might have overdone it a little yesterday," she said. Maybe that was it, but I was as worried as an old mother hen now. I ate my breakfast, not talking to anyone, except to give short answers if they asked me something. When I finished I left for my office at once. Sitting at my desk I sent a message to the aliens and got an immediate reply. I asked the operator to have someone check to make sure Deimeta was in good health and he said it would be done at once. I was settling in to worry and expecting a long wait when I got a message back in less than three minutes. "We have thoroughly scanned her and she is still in perfect health. We did notice she showed signs of fatigue from yesterday and last night," he said. ------- Chapter 154 "But she slept most of the day yesterday." "We reviewed her actions on video and while it is true she slept for most of the trip back she did not go to sleep for the night until very late. We surmise she was simply not sleepy after the rest during the day and we know she did not go to bed until the last of your mates did. Apparently she was excited about the upcoming celebration, as we all are," he said. It was a relief. I didn't mind if she stayed up late, because there was no real need for her to get up until she was good and ready. I probably wouldn't have worried at all if I'd known she stayed up so late. I thanked the operator for his help and he assured me he'd been glad to do it. After signing off I began checking out the other camps I knew about with the video feeds. They all seemed to have normal activity and most of them were engaged in what looked like last minute preparations for the winter. In most of them at least a few men were headed out to do some hunting and I was sure they were taking a last shot at bringing in some fresh meat. If they weren't ready for winter by now no amount of last minute hunting was going to get them ready. The four couples at Caato's old camp were all outside and were up to the same thing. The women were already working over two small megaceros, which had probably been killed yesterday, and all the men were headed out of camp, going upriver. I recalled a thought I'd had earlier and deciding to act on it. I killed the video and went back out into my cave, looking for Georgo. I got a surprise as I looked toward the cave's entrance. Dotallto was coming inside. He had been gone for quite a while and I went to him at once. "Welcome back Dotallto, how was your visiting?" "It was very good. With the buckboard I was able to travel far and I visited some camps I had not been to in several years. I will add there was much curiosity about the horses and the buckboard. They were worth much more than the irritation of answering the same questions in every camp though," he said. "I'm sure they were. There have been many changes here since you left for traveling." "I have seen some of them already. I now know what those who saw my horses and buckboard must have felt like. Can you imagine my surprise when I came to the horse cave and discovered a full grown mammoth and many young ones in it?" he asked. "I'm betting it rid you of the boredom of the trail." "You are right. Never have I come so fully alert in so short a time. I'm glad Danlo was there to explain things to me. He even let me approach Big Mother and touch her. Never, even in my dreams, did I think I would touch a living mammoth," he said. "I'm sure many things you never dreamed of have come to pass since you came here." "You are correct and it seems this type of thing will continue to happen as long as I stay here," he said. "I hope so, but I hope they will all be good things. Have you seen Georgo since you returned?" "No, I have only seen Danlo and now you. I was going to look for Georgo," he said. "I was too, but I think I'll let you find him and have the first chance to talk to him. I will go and see Danlo and marvel at the mammoths for a while." Dotallto left and headed for his quarters and I'm sure he intended to check for Georgo as he went. I saw Dalia and asked her if Deimeta had gotten up and eaten yet. "Yes, she is up and has eaten and has run off to the horse cave which she now calls the mammoth cave," Dalia told me, laughing. I asked for and got another mug of coffee and then I headed for the mammoth cave myself. I found Danlo working with Big Mother and Deimeta was playing with her new friend. "Daddy, I have named her Darta. Do you like the name?" Deimeta asked, as soon as she saw me enter. "I think it is a fine name. Now we can only hope Darta likes her name." "Of course she will like it. Soon she may even know it is hers," she said. I went to Danlo then and asked how he was getting along with Big Mother. "We are doing well together. I am surprised she seems to be much smarter than the horses. I have been teaching her to follow when I lead her, but there is almost nothing to teach. When she sees I want her to come with me she walks right beside me and when I stop she does too. She will even stay behind as I walk off when I signal I want her to," he said. "It is very good news. I wonder if she will let you ride on her neck some day?" "I'm sure she will and I am anxious to try it, but not for a few days. I want to make sure she knows I mean her no harm. I believe she will be very helpful to us and she seems to want to help," he said. "Have you discovered which of the young ones is hers?" "I believe Darta is her offspring, but it is hard to tell. She seems to realize the others have only her now and she lets them all nurse. She doesn't let any of them nurse very much, but seems rather to try and ration her milk. I don't think it will be a big problem though because all of them seemed happy to eat the hay we have. I only hope we will have enough to last the winter for them and the horses now," he said. "I'm sure we will have enough, but it is a nice day and not too cold so why don't we let the mammoths and the horses loose in the blind canyons so they can graze today?" "I intend to do just that, but I wanted to give Deimeta some time with Darta before I did," he said. "Are you going to stay here for a while?" "Yes." "I think Deimeta would be happy to spend time outside with Darta. I will stay here with you and we can keep watch." He agreed and we opened the gate and began urging the mammoths and the horses to cross the canyon and the river and enter the gate to the blind canyons. It only took a few minutes. The horses were quick to head toward the back gate and on into the canyons but Big Mother and the youngsters explored more slowly. Deimeta and Darta didn't want to do much exploring and were content with each other's company. Jack seemed no worse for the ordeal he'd had now and he and Red spent a few minutes disagreeing about who would be the headman. Red got his point across after a while, but he didn't pursue the matter and left Jack in peace after he had bested him. Luckily neither had done the other any real damage. Danlo and I talked about the mammoths, wagons, horses, and other things until nearly noon. I kept an eye on Deimeta and she was content to spend the entire morning with Darta. I saw she had even begun to teach Darta to follow her, just as Danlo had taught Big Mother. Frankly, I was amazed about it. Finally I called her and told her it was time to go and see if we could find food. "Very well Daddy. I am getting hungry and I'm sure Darta would like some of the nice grass here. She probably won't eat unless I leave her alone," she said. We headed toward my cave, but when we were near I sent Danlo and Deimeta inside and told them there was something I wanted to look at across the river. They went on and I crossed the bridge and headed for the cave where the sawmill was to be erected. When I entered I saw it was already in place. Looking it over told me that it should be easy to operate. It was larger than I had anticipated and I saw it could easily handle logs up to thirty inches in diameter and twenty-four feet long. Its carriage was large and heavily built. I saw it was not operated by a piston and steam, but there was a large lead screw on either side and behind the carriage there was a big electric motor to furnish the power for them. The band saw had its own motor and there was a conveyer for the slabs that led to a gang saw, which would cut them into different widths. The green chain led off to some type of sorting mechanism. I would have to ask about it. It was obvious it could easily send sawed boards off to different places where they would be stacked, but I could see no means to operate the sorter. I'm sure there was something I just wasn't noticing. I left after a few minutes and had my feet under my table and a plate before me in only a few more. I was sitting beside Georgo and Dotallto was on his other side. Poor Dotallto could barely eat for people asking about his travels and he didn't have time to ask any questions about the goings on here while he had been gone. His tales were interesting though, because he had traveled farther this time than he ever had before and he had news from people only a few here even knew of. As the meal was winding down I was thinking of the people at Caato's old camp and trying to decide if I should go visit them. I knew I should go at least once and try again to get them to join us. I couldn't feature them living the winter through there by themselves, even though we had furnished them with extra meat. I also knew I would probably check on them every day during the winter and if something bad happened I would find myself in a wagon or buckboard, trying to fight my way through deep snow to come to their rescue. I was going to go see them for my own good if nothing else. ------- Chapter 155 After the meal was over Deimeta followed Danlo back to a rendezvous with the mammoths. As most people drifted off, Dotallto, Georgo, and I stayed at the table. I wanted to ask Georgo's opinion about a plan for the four couples at Caato's former camp and decided it wouldn't hurt anything to get Dotallto's thoughts too. "It seems those at Caato's old camp are determined not to join us, so I'm thinking of showing them my first cave. If they like it we could easily take their things there for them and they would stand a much better chance of living through it there." "I think it is a good idea, caves are much more protection from a harsh winter than huts are. They are also easier to heat. Your former cave will be even better since you put up such a good covering for the entrance," Georgo said. "I wonder if they are the people who left one of the far camps I visited. The leader was very overbearing and four couples along with eleven unmated women left the camp during the night. The leader did not send anyone to look for them and seemed glad they had left," Dotallto said. "It must be the same group. There were eleven unmated women with the mated couples and they all came here. None of them wanted to tell us anything about the others who were left behind though." "Of course the story I got from the leader was they were all trouble makers, but talking to others in his camp let me know he was the cause of all the trouble," Dotallto said. "I guess I can understand why they would not like to go to a camp with an unknown leader. I think I will go to their camp and tell them about my first cave." "I would like to go also, can we leave early in the morning?" Georgo asked. "It will be as good a time as any." Our conversation ran out of steam about then and I left for my office. Of course I checked the camp in question as soon as I could click to the video. The women were working on a couple of smaller deer and the men seemed to be off hunting again. I wondered if we would find the men in camp tomorrow when we visited. It didn't really matter since we could wait around until they came back if they were off. Argent messaged me then and my world changed. "John, I have some terrible news and I am so sorry, but I have no control over the situation," he sent. "Jesus Argent, don't type things like that. What is the news and am I going to live over it?" "I'm sure you will live. Our mission has been recalled to our own dimension for discussion of this project. We will not be here watching over you for the time being. You will not have access to the video feeds while we are gone. Almost all details of your current situation are going to be reviewed," he said. "Does this mean you might have to remove some of the things you have given me?" "All I can tell you is everything will be reviewed and I want to re-emphasize I have no control over this," he said. "The timing here is bad. With winter coming we will be up shit creek if you put us out in the cold." "I can't make any promises, but I don't think anything will be actively done that would put any lives in danger. If critical supplies or equipment are removed I don't think it will happen before spring for the reasons you mention. I have some hints about this and there is no expectation any harm will be done to any of you," he said. I hoped Argent didn't consider his last few statements reassuring, because they damned sure weren't. Unless they took away something we would be fine until spring. If they took away everything we would probably still make it, but I wasn't sure I would still be in charge. There was no telling how things would shake out if I suddenly went from the great hunter to just another guy with a fucking flint tipped spear. I didn't want to find out either. "After this review will I be able to go back to my previous life if I don't want to stay anymore?" "I don't think they would go so far as changing our original agreement without allowing you to go back. I do have to tell you some drastic changes have occurred to your former planet. You might be better off here, even if we have to take back everything, but your original freight," he said. "Then you don't think they will leave me here and take back my original allotment?" "I can't imagine it would come to that. No matter what happens I'm sure they will stand by the original agreement," he assured me. I knew it was useless to seek more information. I could tell from his demeanor he was telling me everything he could and also he was as shocked about it as I was. It was hard to get a handle on his attitude via the text messaging, but I thought he seemed dismayed rather than angry. I know I was confused and in only a few minutes I had gone from worrying about the four hard headed couples who didn't want to join us to worrying about my own ass and the welfare of my people. Whatever happened I was going to stay with them unless they ran me off. We had a good group here and even if Argent took away everything he had given me we could still have a better life here than they had before I came. My knowledge and experience with modern thinking would give us more than a commanding advantage over everyone else in this time. If I did get to keep my original freight we would be set because even a couple of rifles, a shotgun, and a glock were awesome firepower for here and now and if the freight was also taken we would get by. We had the spearcasters from our previous dealings and I knew Mundo and his pals could learn to make bows for archery if they needed to. They wouldn't be nearly as good as the compound bows we had now, but they would beat the hell out of any others around because no others were around. "Argent, when will you be leaving?" "As soon as we finish this meeting," he said. "Do you have any idea how long you will be gone?" "None, I'm not even sure I will be coming back," he said. "Will anything besides the video be terminated when you leave?" "You will no longer be able to access any information which resides on the computers on the ship. Everything you have there will still function though. Much of the information Frank, Phil, and Ralph use for teaching your mates and others and a tremendous amount of related information is stored on site," he said. "So we would be wise to review all of it we can while it is still here?" "I hate to tell you this, but for your safety and well being I think that you should," he said. "Is there anything else I should know before you leave?" "Not that I am able to tell you and in fact I really don't know anything which would help you now. I apologize for getting you into this situation and I'm going to do my best to return to this project guided by the same understanding we have now," he said. "No matter what happens Argent, I think I'm better off here and now than I would have been back on earth." "I can say you are correct in that assumption. You would no longer be alive if you had not left earth," he said. "So my cancer was even worse than I thought?" "You would not have lived long enough on earth for your cancer to have bothered you. I can't tell you anything more about it. You would have died on earth though. There is no doubt about that," he said. "I can't think of more than a thousand questions you surely can't answer anyway - if you don't have anything else I'll just say it's been good knowing you and I wish you good luck." "I wish you good luck also John and I hope to be back soon so we can continue," he said, then he was gone. What in the fuck was going to happen to me now? Me hell, what was going to happen to all of us? There wasn't a way in hell I could know and nothing I could do about it. Nothing could be gained by worrying, but it had never stopped me before. The safety of the four couples at Caato's old camp had taken a seat way in the back of the bus in the last few minutes. I had to concentrate on things I could do which would help my people out. If the eight of them came on hard times later and if we had a way of knowing about it we would do what we could for them then. Now, since time was short, I could think of a lot of things I wish I had already done. The main one being reading lessons. I knew my mates had dabbled a little and Racaato had too. I needed to get them going hard on those lessons now and there were a few others who would benefit from them also. Hearing information to learn something was adequate for some things, but if the computers were going to be taken away they would at least need some notes to refer to later. Notes. How could they take notes since they couldn't write either? Even if they learned to write it would be a bitch to keep notes in the dirt or scratched on rocks. If everything were taken from us we wouldn't even have paper or pens and pencils to write with. A lot depended on what, if anything, we would have left. If we got to keep everything we had no worries, but if we lost everything our standard of living would take a big hit. I thought that the best thing would be to assume we would lose everything and concentrate on learning things which would help us keep what advantages we could from the information we could absorb before it was taken away. These people knew how to get food before I came here and I was sure they could go back to the old ways without much trouble. If we could teach Mundo and his friends to make bows and arrows we would be a lot better off. If I could learn how to make gunpowder it would be even better. Even black powder with no firearms would be miles ahead of defending ourselves with spears, spearcasters, and archery and I had no doubt we would be attracting attention next year, probably some unfavorable attention. ------- Chapter 156 If, if, if ... everything was coming up if. They were my main trouble -- all the ifs. I didn't see how I could make any intelligent decisions without a few answers, but I knew no answers would be coming until much later. I had to hope much later wasn't too late. I needed to do some serious research with the map. I desperately needed to locate resources nearby. Coal or at least peat would be a big help - the proper clay to use for firebrick would also be a boon. We lived in limestone cliffs so it should be easy enough to figure out how to make a simple type of concrete. Making pottery was a skill we were going to have to acquire rapidly too. There were hundreds of things we should all be starting to learn right away and the others didn't even know it yet. How was I going to tell them the spirits had deserted us? What would they think of me when I did? Georgo was the one I had to talk to first and it wasn't going to be easy with him, much less with the others. Would they run me off for offending the spirits? This day wasn't starting off to suit me, not by a long shot. It took me at least an hour to settle down from the whizzing questions coming faster than I could keep up. My mind jumped from one disaster scenario to the next with no plan and no answers. I had to talk to Georgo and try to get some kind of reading on how he felt about the news. It was going to be a big shock to him for sure and I would need his help to minimize the impact on the others. We were set for the winter unless the meeting was over soon and they came back to take their toys and go home. I hoped it took them a long time to argue over what ever they were going to argue over. It wouldn't bother me if they didn't come back until next winter. Every day with the things we had would mean a day we could do something for ourselves, especially using the computers. A few people were going to have to learn to read and write and someone needed to make some kind of paper, ink, and pen. Didn't people write with sharpened feathers once? I hoped it was that easy. I remembered the phrase that described my current state. I didn't know whether to shit or go blind. It was what I was trying to work my way through now. Georgo, I had to talk to Georgo. Maybe he could share a few words of wisdom. Who was I trying to kid? Georgo wouldn't know what to think either. And just what was I going to say. Oh by the way Georgo, the spirits are flying off to another dimension and won't be back for a few months or years or maybe never. Man, I was fucked. I grabbed my mouse and clicked on the video feed's icon, nothing. Then I thought of the real tragedy that was coming soon. There would be no beer for the celebration. Everyone would know I was on the spirits' shit list by tomorrow night. I wouldn't miss the beer, but a lot of my people would. I knew some of them were looking forward to getting shit faced, even if they didn't know the phrase. I decided to go back out into my cave and find Georgo. Now was as good a time as any to begin facing the music. The first things I saw after opening my office door were beer kegs in iced barrels. That was a big relief and if I ever had any more contact with Argent I was going to thank him. I hadn't gone ten feet toward the beer when Racaato came out of the practice cave's tunnel and called to me. "John, I knew that you were going to get new rifles for the women, like ours, but I didn't think they would come so soon. I was going to check over their current rifles to see if they might need cleaning now since the hunt is over, and I found in each woman's locker there is also a new rifle similar to ours. When I was looking to see if there was any difference I got mine to compare to one of the new ones and mine has changed also," he said. "How is it different?" "The scope is different. I'm not sure what is different about it except there is now some type of flexible extension on the back of it to touch my face, around my eye, when I hold the rifle for shooting. The scope also seems to be bigger now, but I can't tell for sure because they are all the same now, even yours and Raalto's," he said. "Remember to show it to me later today - I have something that I must talk with Georgo about quickly. I'm not saying what you have told me is not important, because it is, but while in my office I had a vision from the spirits and I need to talk to Georgo before I forget any of it." "I understand. I will look the rifles over more thoroughly and also examine the rest of our things stored in the practice cave. Maybe we can talk about it after lunch," he said. "I hope so, and if you have time please ask all the other leaders if they have seen anything unusual today." "I will," he said, and then I left him to find Georgo. Georgo wasn't hard to find, he was coming from his cave's entrance into mine and Dotallto was with him. They both looked agitated, but not panicky. I joined them near the table. "John, I have just had a powerful vision from the spirits," Georgo said. "I have also, just now," Dotallto told us. "I too have had a powerful vision. Let us get some coffee and go into my office and discuss it." We didn't say anything more about it - we just headed toward the coffee pot. Geera was there and I could see she knew something was going on. I didn't know if it was women's intuition or if she was reading more from our body language than I would have thought possible, but I could tell she knew we were worried. She had a mug of coffee for all of us quickly and she told me she would bring one of the big serving thermoses to my office in a few minutes. "Thank you, my beautiful mate, we have some serious things to talk about, but if you need any of us do not hesitate to come and knock on the door." "We will if we need you, but I think we will be busy with things for the celebration all during the day. I see the spirits have provided very much bruga for it, but I wonder why they sent it today?" she asked. "That is one of the things Georgo, Dotallto, and I must talk over. Please remind us when it is time to eat." She laughed over the last and then the three of us went into my office. I sat behind my desk with Georgo and Dotallto sitting across from me. I wanted to hear their versions first so I asked Dotallto to tell us about his vision. "I have never had so plain a signal from the spirits. They did not speak to me, but I could understand what they wanted me to know. It is as if they are going on a journey for a while and will not be near to watch over us as closely as they obviously do here. "I did not get any feeling for why they would be gone nor was there any sense they were angry with us. Just a feeling they would be absent and that I should not worry about it," he said. "That is almost exactly what my vision revealed. The spirits will not be here with us for a while, but they are not angry. I especially felt they wanted me to know they were not angry with us. "They also let me know I should meditate every day so I would know as soon as they returned, and they seemed to be telling me this would be a harder winter than the last several before it. Somehow my thoughts then drifted to the people in Caato's former camp," Georgo said. From what they'd told me and what Racaato had said to me about the rifles, I was beginning to think Argent had been a busy alien in the last hours before he had to leave. He had been doing his best to cover all the bases before he departed. He'd sent the beer he knew would be expected and he'd also sent the new rifles I had promised my mates. He had even nudged Georgo toward my thoughts about the people at Caato's camp. Just then there was a knock on my office door. I went over to see what it was about and when I opened it Geera was there with the coffee thermos. I was glad to see her. I wanted more coffee and I also wanted a slight break in the flow of our discussion so I could gather my thoughts. Georgo's last revelations, about the hard winter and about his thoughts of the people at Caato's former camp were not just a happy coincidence. Argent had broken his promise not to read my thoughts. I had mentioned those people more than once and just this morning Georgo, Dotallto, and I had planned to visit them again and try to get them to move to my first cave. Argent's bombshell had driven my concerns for the safety of the four couples far down on my list of things to worry about and I had decided to forget the trip we had planned for tomorrow. I was sure Argent's little hint to Georgo had come because he had listened to my thinking after our discussion earlier this morning. I had pushed thoughts of helping the four couples far into the background and now it seemed Argent wanted to give me one last hint to try again - especially with the warning of a colder than normal winter. When I thought about it I didn't mind if he had broken his promise. It was obvious he was worried about me when he did it and if it was what caused him to send the beer and the rifles, he was forgiven. If we talked again I was going to tell him so. I gave Georgo and Dotallto a sanitized version of my talk with Argent, letting them know the spirits had told me they would not be here to help us by providing things and showing me things as they had been. I told them I didn't get any sense of whether or when they would be back. The last part shocked them both badly. "Surely the spirits must come back soon. They wouldn't leave us here alone from now on," Dotallto said. "I didn't mean to say I felt they weren't coming back, just that I got no indication they would come back or how soon they would if they did. I also didn't get any sense they wouldn't be coming back either. That information wasn't part of my vision." That particular statement seemed to make them both feel better and thankfully there was another knock on the door just then. It was time for lunch. ------- Chapter 157 We went to the table and sat down, waiting for the food to come to us. It didn't take long and when she brought my plate Shelalliea was more solicitous than normal. Apparently Geera had clued my other mates in to my agitated state. I had hoped it wasn't too obvious, but I could hardly expect to be slapped in the face with this kind of major development and keep my worries from showing. The women in my life did their best to make me feel better with a big lunch. I declined coffee and had a mug of beer and I noticed some of my leaders were casting sidelong glances my way. I couldn't help it. I felt like having a beer and in fact I felt like having about twenty. There was no time for it though. I had a lot of things to get started on and Danlo had just given me some more news. Seems things had happened in the horse/mammoth cave too. He'd told me a lot of new things were there this morning and he didn't know what most of them were. I told him I'd visit him right after I looked at the new rifles Racaato had told me about. After lunch was finished I went to the practice cave with Racaato and he showed me the new rifles. They were like the one I had come with except for the scope. The flexible part on the end was a rubber eyepiece and it was there now because these were different scopes. They were a little larger than my original and they had night vision capabilities, but could function during the day also. This would surely cure the problem I'd had during my night patrol around the camp while we'd been on our way back from the mammoth hunt, and I assumed Argent's people had made sure they would serve well in normal conditions too. I explained things to Racaato as we were examining the new equipment and then I left for the horse cave to see Danlo. There were several new things here. Most obvious were three new vehicles. They were sleighs with wide runners for traveling over snow instead of tires and wheels. Two of them were the same size as the largest wagons and one was buckboard sized. Argent had just pulled these out of his ass because I hadn't even thought about sleighs. I really didn't want to do any traveling if there was enough snow on the ground to use them. I guessed we could hitch them up for a pleasure ride or use them in case some emergency came up. There was also some harness for Big Mother. Danlo had already figured out how it worked or how some of it worked anyway and it was a good thing he had. I didn't know diddly about mammoth harness. He told me there was even a miniature set for Darta and finally I got a smile and a pleasant thought, my first for the day. I tried to picture Deimeta leading Darta around, harnessed and pulling a little log. I almost laughed. I was wondering when this new stuff had arrived and I asked Danlo about it. He told me he didn't know for sure, he had just noticed it this morning. On the way back to my cave I went in to have a look at the sawmill. There were new things here, but not that many. I did see some type of scanning station was in place now. Apparently it was added because the ship would no longer be able to scan for harmful inclusions in timber since the ship was no longer up there. A little area had also been set up with tools and equipment to sharpen the saws. It was a very good thing and a welcome addition since the aliens wouldn't be around to take care of the saw sharpening for us. I left and went back to my cave, deciding it was time for some coffee after all. Jaada came to me with a mug of coffee as I sat down. She bent over to give me a kiss and I pulled her into my lap and held her for a few minutes. I've often heard sometimes a woman just liked to be held. I have some news for women - sometimes a man just wants to hold one of them. I don't know why, but having her in my arms made me feel better and when I thought about the new life growing in her it strengthened my resolve to see us through whatever came next. I needed something to perk me up. To be honest I knew I was feeling sorry for myself. Sure, Argent had saved me from the cancer which was going to kill me. His cryptic remarks about earth indicated he had saved me from whatever happened which would have killed me before the cancer had a chance to. I wondered what could have gone on there, but I couldn't get up much interest since I was worrying about what was going to happen here. I felt sure we could get along just fine without Argent for as long as his absence lasted, but it didn't stop me from worrying about what would happen when he got back. I still didn't have the faintest idea why they wanted to do all of this in the first place, and I think it is pretty normal for humans to be curious about what is making a difference in their lives. Knowing I needed to kick my own ass into motion and doing it were separated by a wide margin. Somehow I didn't have the get go to get going. I just wanted to sit here, hold Jaada, and drink coffee. Maybe women could get enough of being held quicker than men could get enough of holding them. Jaada got up and went back to the kitchen, to cook I guess. Maybe she just had enough of sitting in the dark cloud of my mental funk. Shit, I was wallowing in self-pity without saying a word and really without a good reason. I hadn't lost a thing yet and in fact Argent had been generous with his going away gifts. I had to get up and do something. I headed for the practice cave. I didn't really need any practice I knew of, but I decided to try out the new riflescopes. As I entered the cave I saw it was only dimly lit and from the reports I knew someone was firing. I waited at the entrance for them to finish. When the firing stopped the lights came up and I could see it had been Racaato burning powder. I walked over to the bench he was using. "What're you up to Racaato?" "I was trying the new scope with the lights turned down. When you told me what the rubber eyepiece and the new scopes were for, I asked Phil about them and he explained it more fully. He said they could function as low light scopes or as night vision or else just as a normal scope. "He also told me how to adjust the lighting in here to simulate the different types of use. I was just trying out the low light function," he told me. "I think I want to give it a try too. How far off was the sight since they are newly installed scopes?" "They were no better than when I began sighting my rifle the first time. I think you said it was called bore sighted. They are fairly well on target at fifty feet and then start moving off the paper quickly. Mine was also hitting a little left of the point of aim," he said. "It is just as well I take my time to sight mine back in now then. It is stupid to have a good rifle which doesn't put the bullet where you think it will." I got my rifle out of the locker, took a couple of hundred rounds of ammunition, and sat at the next shooting bench from Racaato. I asked if we could fire with the full lights for a while and he agreed. My scope wasn't as far off as he'd said his had been, but it was off and I spent about thirty minutes getting it where I wanted it. Once I thought I was on we tried a few rounds with the lights down and I was surprised at how easy it was to pick up the target. Later we put the lights off completely and it was considerably more difficult, but still doable. Of course being inside a cave was a hell of a lot darker than it would ever be outside, even if there were no moon. The sight picture was still usable though and I found bullet placement was the same no matter what the lighting was. I was pleased with the new scopes and Racaato said he was too. We took a look at the 50 rifles then to make sure nothing had changed with them and it hadn't. I didn't foresee any use for the 50s in a low light situation, but it didn't mean there wouldn't be one and depending on how Argent talked when he came back I was going to ask for some new scopes for the 50s if asking was still in style. The firing had perked up my spirits a little and I felt better when I left the practice cave. When I got back into mine I got another boost. I saw Failiela. It was the first time I remembered seeing her in weeks. "My little princess, where have you been? Have you grown tired of me?" "No, we have just been so busy and you have too. I have come to look for you a few times, but when I was free you were always off doing something or saving somebody. I'm glad to see you," she said, and came over to give me a kiss. "Have you met Deimeta?" I asked, when I let her loose. "Yes, she is the one I really came to see. She has told me about Darta and I want to go to the horse caves to see her," she said. "I will help you look for Deimeta and maybe we can go together." We looked in the bedroom, but no Deimeta. Xailieta was there nursing Baatiea and Beetiea and she told us she thought Deimeta was playing with Malooto. We then went to Danlo's cave and found her. "Failiela, Daddy, are you looking for me?" Deimeta asked, when she saw us. "Yes, we thought you might take us down to see Darta. Maybe Malooto can come too," I said. "I don't think Malooto wants to go to the mammoth cave. He is a little frightened by Big Mother and all the little ones. He is about to take a nap anyway. We can go there now if you want," she said. We left Malooto with Tulaara, his mother, and headed for the mammoths. When we arrived Danlo was hitching Big Mother to one of the wagons and we watched as he finished and then led her out of the cave, pulling it. "Why are you leading her Danlo?" I asked him. "There is nothing to put the reins to. There is no type of bridle for her and I couldn't think of how to put one on her," he told me. "I can't either. Maybe if she lets you ride on her later you can control her from there." "Maybe. I'm sure she will go where I want her to if I can let her know which way it is. I will think of something," he said. We left him at it and went across the river to the gate leading into the blind canyons. All the small mammoths were there and Darta came up to the gate as soon as she saw Deimeta. We opened the gate and let her out then closed it again. Darta came to Deimeta and gave her a good sniffing then she turned her attention to Failiela almost at once. It frightened her at first, but Deimeta explained Darta just wanted to know what she smelled like so she would recognize her next time. After that Failiela stood still and let Darta sniff away. I stepped back a few paces and just watched as Deimeta, Failiela, and Darta got to know each other. Darta seemed happy to meet someone new, but it was apparent she considered Deimeta her human. They were still right at the gate and suddenly Failiela squeaked and I saw a small trunk had reached over the fence and was sniffing her. ------- Chapter 158 "It surprised me, what do you think it wants?" Failiela asked. "I think you have been chosen to be its friend. Do you want a mammoth of your own?" I asked. She looked at me as her eyes went wide open and asked, "Do you mean I could have one of my own?" "Of course you may have one if you want it. All you have to do is be kind to it and care for it, but remember the little mammoth may think it is you that belongs to it. You will have to make it your friend though, like Deimeta has made Darta her friend." Failiela looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect and I went to the gate and opened it. We had no trouble getting the curious one to come out and join us and it was soon sniffing all over Failiela and Deimeta. After a while I guess it decided Deimeta was spoken for and it paid most of its attention to Failiela. "I think it likes her fine, Daddy, what do you think?" "I think Failiela now has a mammoth of her own to care for. You must pick a name for it Failiela." "I will have to think it over, I have never named anything before," she said, as she stroked the young male mammoth. "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked. "It is a boy mammoth." "Then I must give it a boy's name, I will ask mother to help me think of one," she said. Danlo had turned Big Mother around and come back by now. He saw Failiela playing with the young mammoth. "It will be good if she chooses a mammoth. They all seem to want company and while Big Mother does not mind if they come around me, sometimes she seems jealous if I pay to much attention to them," he said. "It is a little funny, but I guess they have their ways. Who knew they would have ways about people though? Maybe we should ask others if they want to care for a young mammoth." "I don't think it would do any harm. They will all need someone to train them, a little bit at least. If they just do as they please it might be troublesome later," Danlo said. "It probably will get to be that way when they get larger. Are any of the other wranglers interested in them?" "Not really, Talvo helps me with them most of the time when I need some help, but he likes the horses much better," Danlo said. "I will ask my mates if they are interested in working with any of them?" I went back to the cave then and Deimeta promised she would help Failiela and they would come back before time for supper. My spirits were perked up considerably now and I actually felt fine as I walked back into the cave. I felt even better when I saw all my mates were in or near the kitchen. Most of them were directly involved in cooking something and it was always a good sign. The rest were helping where they could. "Would any of you like to make friends with a mammoth and care for it?" I asked them, without preamble. I could see all my Neanderthal mates thought I had a loose screw for even asking, but there was interest from Merita, Ameliea, Roweea, and Maia. Finally they got up the nerve to say so, but then Maia asked. "What do we have to do to care for them?" "I don't really know yet, but Deimeta seems to be able to do it so far and if it is difficult the wranglers will help you with them. I would probably like to help some too. I have to tell you though they seem to want to stay with just one person. They aren't shy about approaching others, but do tend to latch onto only one." "It sounds like it would be fun to me, when will we start?" Ameliea asked. "I think we should wait until tomorrow and then go to the mammoths early in the morning, just after breakfast. It will give us time to sort them out without having to rush." "It sounds like fun to me too. I wonder if we can teach them to get along with the wolves later?" Maia asked. "I don't see why not. Wolves are not normally a threat to mammoths. In fact I don't think anything is a natural threat to a mature mammoth, though I know sometimes the young ones are killed by predators, but I don't think it happens very often." "I wondered what we were going to do with them and I think they are so very cute. I'm sure I will love caring for one and I know we can make the wolves behave with them if the mammoths don't mind them too much. The wolves behave better than some children I have seen," Merita said. "I just know I will love to play with them and I will probably spoil mine," Roweea said. "Well we can start on it tomorrow. I'm sure Deimeta will be thrilled to have some more company with them." The others started in teasing them then about not trying to bring the mammoths in to eat at the table and with other good-natured fun poking. I tried to stay out of it and sat at the table. Shelalliea saw me and looked a question at me with her eyes, wondering if I wanted a coffee or a beer. I was tempted to ask for beer, but decided on coffee. Drinking beer during the day didn't seem like a good habit to get into and I wasn't really as down as I had been earlier. She brought me a mug of coffee, a big kiss, and a lovely ass to fondle for a few seconds. Supper was good and I was feeling better about things now so I got to enjoy it. Georgo and Dotallto still seemed a little somber, but when I asked them if they still wanted to go with me in the morning they perked up a little and we talked with some of the others about it. "I think you should let some of us go with you," Geera said. "You are probably right, but what makes you think so?" "There are just as many women at the camp as there are men and even though you don't get to talk to them they still have a part in the decision, I'm sure of it. Dieta and I can go with you to talk to the women," she said. "Would you like to come too Ladeliea?" Georgo asked her. "I think I would. It will not hurt for one of a shaman's mates to talk with the women too," she said. Taking the women along did make sense to me now they had brought it up. Even though men usually ended up with the final say on things in this age, I knew they would have to consider what their women had to say about most things if they were smart. We would see tomorrow. With the new developments I wasn't really sure if I still wanted to add more members to our camp, but I knew no matter what, the people would be better off in my old cave. I just hoped we didn't need to start looking for new caves for ourselves soon. I was awake before sunrise the next morning and my mates were all stirring too. We spent a little time playing grab ass and then piled out of bed. I went to the shower and several of them joined me. We woke Deimeta on purpose and reminded her she had to teach Merita, Maia, Ameliea and Roweea how to treat their mammoths this morning. "I'm glad you woke me up since I'm anxious to help them," she said sleepily, as she vacated her own bed. After the showers, which included more horseplay, we dried and dressed and headed to the kitchen. Coffee was already ready and Deimeta was sitting at the table sipping hers. I sat down and Jaada brought a mug for me and then left me after a good morning kiss. I teased Deimeta about spending all her time with Darta now and she told me I was just sad because I didn't have a mammoth of my own. Soon enough breakfast was brought and eaten and afterwards Danlo, Deimeta, Failiela, Merita, Maia, Ameliea, Roweea, and I headed for the horse cave to begin the mammoth introductions. Danlo started by letting Big Mother and all the young ones loose from the large pen where they had stayed last night. Big Mother went right to Danlo and Darta went right to Deimeta. Then Failiela's young mammoth discovered she was here and went to her at once. The other four were slightly confused at first. "Just go pick one and see if it likes you," Deimeta suggested to my mates. They did, each of them walking slowly toward one of the babies. They were quiet for a few minutes of sniffing and exploration by the youngsters, but all seemed to go well and they each seemed satisfied with their person. Roweea ended up with the largest male, his back was nearly up to her shoulder, and though still a baby he was large and robust. I figured Roweea was going to have to get him accustomed to doing what she wanted him to pretty fast. He was already too big to force into anything. Shortly Deimeta took off heading up toward our cave and Darta fell in right beside her. Failiela tried it and her mammoth came right along too. The others tried one by one and I suppose their charges had been watching Darta's lessons because they more or less followed suit. Maia's seemed to want to change sides and moved from her right to her left but always stayed near Maia. The long line of people and mammoths made its way past the cave and about two hundred yards further on. I stayed put and watched and when Deimeta turned Darta back to return all of the others followed suit. Danlo had taken Big Mother into the cave and since the lessons were going well I went in too. He was putting her harness on her and intending to hitch her to the buckboard. This was something I wanted to see. I found a seat on a packing box something must have come from Argent in and waited. Big Mother was the picture of patience while Danlo fiddled with the rigging and she was soon hitched to Georgo's buckboard and ready to pull it outside. Asking me if I wanted to be the first passenger, Danlo went to stand beside Big Mother's head as I climbed aboard. He led her toward the exit when I sat down and in a few seconds we were out in the sunlight. We must have made quite a spectacle since all the others, who had been working with their babies, stopped and stared at us. Deimeta was wide eyed and grinning and I could practically read her mind. I knew very well some mention would be made of a wagon for Darta to pull before the day was over. If Argent had been here there would have been no problem, but even without alien ingenuity I knew if she asked for a wagon she was going to get one of some type. I had a lot of confidence in Mundo and his friends. Dieta couldn't stand it anymore and she and Darta walked toward the buckboard, falling in beside it as Big Mother pulled it up the canyon. "Daddy, can I have a buckboard for Darta to pull, please?" she asked. "I don't think I can get you one just like this, but I'm sure we can find someone who can build one for you. Do you think Darta will like pulling a wagon?" "Of course she will, if that's what I want. A small one won't be heavy or hard for her to pull and she likes new games as much as I do," Deimeta said, explaining patiently. "I should have known she would be wanting one. Do you think you will like having her pull you around?" Deimeta gave me such a look and then said, "Of course I will, Daddy." It made me glad that the children of this time didn't know how to say Duh. "I will do my best to get you a wagon then. I wouldn't want to deprive you and Darta of so much fun." "It won't all be fun Daddy, it will be good training for Darta too," she said. "I hadn't thought of it, but I suppose you are right. All the young ones will need to be trained before they get large enough to cause trouble." ------- Chapter 159 Danlo had kept moving while Deimeta and I talked and now he was turning around and heading back to the horse cave. Deimeta, now she'd made her request and had her say, led Darta back into the parade and continued the lessons. When the buckboard was back in its place Danlo stopped Big Mother and began taking off her harness as I got down off the seat. "Have you made any progress thinking of a way to guide Big Mother without leading her?" "No, I haven't even had the slightest hint. I'm sure there must be a good way, but I haven't discovered it yet," he said. "Maybe you'll just have to ride her and guide her with your feet and legs." "Maybe, but it will be inconvenient to be up on her back. There would be no way to use the wagon's brakes. It would mean whenever we were headed down hill someone else would have to operate the wagons brakes to keep it from rolling into Big Mother's back legs," he said. "I know, but it may be the only way." "It may be. Did I hear you and Deimeta talking about a wagon for Darta?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly. "Yes, now that she has seen Big Mother pulling the buckboard she wants a small one for Darta to pull. I'm hoping Mundo and his woodworking friends can make one for her." "There is no need for it. This morning, while I was looking more closely at the wagons without wheels I found another wagon I hadn't noticed before. I'm sure it is for Deimeta because its size is perfect for she and Darta, I'll show it to you," he said, and led me over behind the sleighs. Sure enough it was a small buckboard. It looked almost exactly like the ones for Dotallto and Georgo but it was much smaller. It even had a let down tailgate and a pair of doors to close the top of the box. I was sure Deimeta would be thrilled with it. I decided to keep it a secret until we got back from our visit to the other camp and told Danlo my plan. I had some misgivings about giving it to Deimeta - since I knew possibly it would be taken away later when and if Argent returned. That was no reason to deny her the fun of having it now though. I was also touched Argent had obviously thought of Deimeta during what must have been the turmoil of his last few hours here, and I knew whatever was happening, Argent was doing the best he could for us. It was already later in the morning than I intended to start for our trip so I asked Danlo to hitch one of the big wagons for me. I went back toward my cave, telling Deimeta and the others it was time for the trip. Since none of them were going, they decided to keep working a while longer. In my cave I found Georgo, Dotallto, Ladeliea, Geera, and Dieta waiting for me. They were all having a cup of coffee and when I sat down Shelalliea brought me one also. "Is everyone ready to go?" "I think we all are," Geera said, looking around for confirmation from the others. "When I've finished my coffee I'll get my rifle and then we can leave." "Oh, I'd forgotten about my rifle, do you think we will need them?" Dieta asked. "Probably not, but if we do we will feel really stupid for leaving them here." "I see what you mean. Maybe we should all take our rifles," she said. "I think we should and we should all be wearing our mail too. I know that you, Geera, and Ladeliea have the new larger rifles now, but if you haven't sighted them in yet be sure you take the others you have sighted in." I knew it was probably me just being overcautious, but with Argent gone and no hope of help we didn't bring with us it would be foolish to leave our camp without being prepared. While the others went to put on their mail I went to the practice cave to get my M1. I saw Racaato there and decided to ask him to come with us. He said he would and I asked him to bring my rifle since I thought that I should go and tell Raalto we would be leaving. After I found and informed Raalto I headed for the horse cave. Everyone was there and Danlo had a team hitched to one of the big wagons. Just in case a need came up I caught and saddled Red, tying him to the back of the wagon. I didn't know what had my mind on trouble and things I might do about it, but it was a feeling I was having and I did what I could think of to head it off. I got on the seat, took the reins and gave the team a slap on their giant asses. They stepped out smartly and we were on our way. Even with the crowd we were taking there would probably be plenty of room in the big wagon to carry all of the other group's belongings if we could convince them to move to my old cave. It wasn't a long trip and the trail was familiar enough I didn't have to pay too much attention to where we were going. We made good time and I spent a lot of it looking more carefully at the surroundings than I usually did. All the trees, except for the evergreens, were naked of leaves now. The sky was overcast today and looked a little forbidding. What breeze there was seemed chilled somehow and I asked Georgo when he thought we would get our next snow. "If my nose isn't deceiving me we might get it today, can't you smell the snow on the wind?" he asked. "Not really, can everybody else smell it?" Most agreed they could and I wondered what smell I was missing. I was sure my nose wasn't as sensitive as theirs, but still, if they could almost all notice the smell it seemed I should be able to. As the trip proceeded I could tell it seemed to be getting colder and the breeze was picking up. We got a discouraging shock when we arrived. There was no one left alive in the camp. All four of the men were here and dead, killed by spears. The women were gone and everything of value had been taken from the huts. Racaato started examining the perimeter of the camp at once, looking for sign to tell us something about what had happened. Geera, Dieta, and Ladeliea pulled all the dead bodies over near each other and began on a funeral pyre. We hadn't brought a shovel with us and it would be the only decent way to dispose of the bodies. Georgo and Dotallto were talking over the dead men and with each other and I assumed they were giving them some kind of spiritual sendoff. I walked over toward Racaato, taking my rifle with me, and kept watch out into the woods to make sure no one surprised him while he was concentrating on the sign he was finding. After about twenty minutes he looked up and motioned for me to come to him. "Eight men came here to attack them. They must have arrived before sunrise and I think they had to have been traveling for sometime in the dark," he said. He pointed out where they had waited and said it didn't look like they had been hidden there for much over an hour before they all jumped up, probably at the same time, and attacked. He also showed me where they had left with the women as prisoners. He said the women's tracks indicated their legs had been tethered somehow and that it was obvious to him the bindings were limiting their stride. "Can you track them?" I asked. This stuck in my craw and I was determined to keep things like this from going on in what I considered my sphere of influence. "I can until the snow gets too deep, but it will not be long enough to catch them. It might be long enough to determine where they are going and if it is we could continue to their camp if I discover which camp it might be. "I have worn my new clothes and if they are as good as they seem to be I will be warm enough. Did you wear yours?" he asked. Of course he could see I hadn't and I was as mad at myself as I'd ever been. I had been so careful to warn everyone else about wearing their mail and taking their weapons and had neglected the most fundamental need myself - warm clothes. It was probably for the best. I really had no business dragging Racaato off on a fool's errand in the face of a heavy snowstorm at the beginning of winter. He had several mates who wanted to see him home tonight and I had even more who wanted me home. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even any of my business unless I chose to make it so. I didn't even know these people and I had no idea who had attacked and killed the men to steal the women. It was entirely possible they had been justified in doing it, even though Dotallto had told us where the couples had come from and they had apparently all come of their own free will. No matter the right or wrong of it we would have to return to our own camp. If I decided to do something about this I would have to do it next spring and I was sure there would be a lot going on in our situation before then. I was going to talk to the unmated women who had joined us from this camp though and see if they would tell us more now. We all helped the women gather more fuel for the fire and when we thought there was enough we lit it, climbed back aboard the wagon, and left. It was an even quieter trip back home and I had descended into my woe is me funk again. The increase in the snowfall didn't help it a bit. When we pulled back into the horse cave late that afternoon I could see Danlo and all the wranglers had been busy today. They had rearranged the wagons, sleighs, and the other things stored there now. It looked like they had moved everything except the hay and the dung pile. The sleighs were positioned so they would be easiest to use now and the rest of the wagons had been used to set up a makeshift divider to keep the horses and mammoths separated and also to keep them away from the tack and the tools which were being kept here. Deimeta's new wagon was nowhere in sight and when I had a chance to get him alone I asked Danlo about it. "It is hidden under some of the hay. It will be easy to pull out when you get ready to show it to her," he told me, grinning. "Good, I wanted it to be a surprise for her. I'm sure she will love it and I'm going to need something to perk up my spirits myself." I told him then what we found at the other camp. He didn't have much to say about it and there really wasn't much to say. I could tell it didn't sit well with him either. I left tending to the team and the wagon to Danlo and his helpers and headed back to my own cave. The others had already gone. When I got back to the table all of my main helpers were seated with coffee and I think Racaato had just finished telling them what we found because they all looked to be in a funk similar to mine. "What will we do about it John?" Raalto asked me. "I don't see how we can do anything until spring. The snow falling outside now will probably not be melted before the next snow adds to it. I expect the weather to hold us in our caves for a long while." "I'm sure you are right about the weather. The first snow was fairly early, but this one even feels different to me somehow. It's as if it is telling us we are locked in now," Daaggo said. "One thing I am going to do now is question the unmated women from that camp again. Surely now they will give us more information. It didn't really matter to me before, but now I want to know more so I can decide whether these attackers are going to try to bring us trouble." "You may do as you feel best of course, but if it were me I would have one of my mates question them. I know they would talk more freely to a woman than to a man. Some of them might even want to tell us some things now since all of those men are dead," Raalto said. "You are right and I'm sure one of my mates would be able to do a better job than I. Maybe Geera will talk to them for me." "If they won't talk to Geera then let Dieta have a turn. Dieta can be very persuasive, Ameliea also," Barago said. ------- Chapter 160 "You are right, but I don't want to force it out of them. If they really think things will be better if we don't know some of their past I want to honor their feelings. I am very curious though and if they don't shed any light on this then I'm sure I will want to investigate more thoroughly next spring." "I have nothing to go on, but my thoughts, but they are telling me this started at their old camp. It sounds like something their former leader would do or have done. If it was him then I'm sure the main purpose of the attack was to bring back all the unmated women," Dotallto said. "If that is the case, and it sounds reasonable to me, then it is possible they will return at some time to try and attack us. Of course they might have a hard time finding us." "I'm afraid I told them where our camp is John. I was hoping some of those who were dissatisfied with the leader would come here," Dotallto said. "You did exactly right Dotallto, of course in hindsight it would be better if that particular leader did not know where our camp is, but I don't want to try and hide our existence from anyone. Unless his camp is much larger than any I've seen yet they can't hope to do anything but annoy us." "There are many less than half as many people there as there are here, but he doesn't know it. I'm not even sure he knows where we are because I didn't tell him - just some of those I thought would like to leave his camp. It is possible they told him though," he said. "I think we should go back to taking a look both up and down the canyon at least twice a day for a while. It will not be so troublesome with the new clothes we have, and it could save us some difficulty. I do think the ones doing it should learn to work with the wolves though and should always take them along. The wolves will know if there is someone new approaching long before one of us would know it." "Do you think they might try to attack us in this weather?" Caato asked. "I don't think they will, but I don't know they won't. I believe it will be worth the effort to check up and down the canyon a little way twice a day to help and make sure. If the weather is too bad to go out for us in our clothes then we won't because it will be much worse for anyone else. "We also have another big advantage now. We are all on the same side of the canyon. It would be very difficult for anyone to attack us in our caves, even if they were right outside." "At least we know there is a possibility and we can prepare. I think we should block the outside entrance to the unmated women's quarters for now. If someone does want to get in they would have to come into your cave or into the other entrance for the big cave. Either way they would be easy to deal with. Since the wolves are almost always in your cave they would have no hope of sneaking in that way and with so many people near the other entrance they would be foolish to enter there," Racaato said. "You are right Racaato, if we block the one small entrance we could all be protected by the wolves. The young ones are not really big enough yet to be fierce fighters, but there are more of them and they would be able to give a warning which would be unmistakable. I'm sure Merita and Maia could get them to stay near the other entrance and the older three could stay here near this entrance." "Good, maybe it will save some trips out into the cold," Colonto said. "Don't worry Colonto, Racaato, and I will split your share of the snowy walks," Raalto said, teasing Colonto. "I did not mean it like that exactly, but you may take all of my turns you want," Colonto said, giving as good as he got. "There are so many of us we won't have any troubles with it. I'm sure we can get plenty of volunteers to take an occasional walk in the cold." "But many of the men do not know how to use rifles," Racaato said. "It shouldn't matter because I don't want those who make the patrols fight if they discover someone. I want them to come back and warn us. In fact I want them to come back even if one of the wolves growls at something that is still unseen. There will be plenty of time to find out, in force, what the disturbance is." "Then you don't want them to try delaying anyone?" Colonto asked. "No, it would be pointless for one man to try anything when we have so many who can help if they get a warning. Our numbers are our biggest advantage. The early warning is what we need." "I also think it is the best way. We will make sure we are prepared to come out in force and in a hurry," Raalto said. Our conference came to an end then because women started arriving with food. I didn't know about the rest of them, but I was ready to eat. For a change my mates and I found ourselves in the bedroom undressing for bed at the same time tonight. Deimeta was already asleep in her bed and so were Baatiea and Beetiea. I was mostly standing around and admiring the flesh which began appearing - it was inspiring for me and Dicky too. He began to rise and then complain. Dieta was closest to me and I reached down and grabbed hold of one of her firm ass cheeks, giving it a playful little squeeze. Apparently she was more than ready for a little fun and games because she turned to me, putting her arms around me and pulling my head down for a fierce kiss. As her round titties pressed into my chest I got hold of her other cheek with my free hand and pulled her toward my hardening dick. She groaned and began rubbing her bush up and down along Dicky's underside. Dieta began backing me toward the bed and when the backs of my legs bumped against it I sat on the edge. Dieta released my lips and knelt before me taking my dickhead into her mouth and giving it a slobber washing and tongue swabbing. This didn't make me any softer, but I felt restless sitting there just getting my dick sucked. I reached down for her, lifting her to stand and when she had I scooted backward onto the bed to lie in the center and pulled Dieta toward me. She bent around to put my dick in her mouth again so as she did I pulled her hips toward my face and in a flash she had straddled my mouth. As she gave my boner another wet suck I searched for her slippery lips with my tongue and began outlining her opening with the tip as I mauled her cheeks with my hands. I took only a few seconds to wonder if my equipment would be able to match its previous performance now that Argent was absent. I knew he had been adjusting it for some time, but I didn't know whether the effects of his work would remain now since he was gone. We would all know soon and I hoped I would be able to do my duty for all my mates. At least in this maneuver I would have an advantage. In this position Dieta's tongue was on the wrong side of my dick for maximum stimulation. I knew for a quick blast tongue work on the bottom of my dick, back near the base, was required. I was pretty sure my vantage gave me a better shot for getting her off than she had on me. My nose was pressing against her rosebud now as I made long and broad swipes across her pussy, licking up all the excess love oil I could claim. I pushed the point of my tongue out more firmly and began to tease her button with every trip. It was giving the desired results too, because Dieta's hips were increasing their action and after only a few minutes her work on Dicky was only perfunctory as she concentrated on getting the maximum pleasure out of what I was doing. I know it shouldn't have been a contest to see who could get the other off fastest, but I did have a reputation to maintain with my mates and since they didn't know Argent from the next alien there was no chance of blaming poor work on him. Dieta had abandoned my dick by now and had settled back into an almost sitting position, supporting her weight on her hands and moving her ass back and forth by slowly pumping her arms. She was getting close and I wasn't worried about the complications of her mouth on me. Things changed then. I hadn't counted on intervention from one of my other mates, but apparently the sight of my unoccupied hard on had called someone's mouth to it. I could feel myself being slowly engulfed by another wet warm orifice and then gentle suction was applied as the lips began stroking themselves up and down my shaft. I redoubled my action on Dieta then, knowing to save myself I would have to get her off and then off me so I could deal directly with the blowjob which was now weakening my resolve. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I snuck a hand down near my mouth and between Dieta's legs, getting some of her own natural lubricant on my forefinger. Moving my lips up to the top of her slit, I pursed them around her clitty, put some suction on it, and then I put the now slippery finger against her backdoor and pressed it home. Dieta raised up and howled, moaning, and blubbering as I sawed the finger in and out while I lashed the tip of her clit with my tongue. She was done for and just in the nick of time too since I could feel the tingling starting at the base of my dick. Geera was there to hold and comfort Dieta as she dismounted my face and when she was clear I reached for Shelalliea, pulling her up to face me and lie on me. She had been the dick-sucking sneak who had clamped onto junior and I intended to fuck her for her trouble. I kissed her soundly as I got my arms around her and then my hands onto her splendid ass. She pressed her big titties into my chest and pushed her tongue down nearly into my throat. We wiggled and squirmed for a few seconds as she got her legs spread wide and then I felt someone's hand on my peter as they lined it up with Shelalliea's entrance. I pushed and she did too and then we came together and our pubic bushes intertwined while a feeling of warm wetness and firm pussy began working me toward an untimely eruption. I guess it was time for it after all and I pushed up at her as hard as I could while she raised her ass and then dropped her tight pussy back down around me. There was no stopping the rhythm of reproduction now and Shelalliea and I fucked ourselves silly for a few minutes. When I went off I gave her an extra hard jab and she joined me, slamming her pussy to me and squeezing my dick with her insides until she milked the come out of it. We were both panting as I lay back and she went limp on top of me. Later Roweea and Winna rolled Shelalliea off me as Delia sucked for new life out of Dicky while her mother, Dalia, force fed me a fat titty with a very big hard nipple on the end. When my weapon began to reload after only a minute or two, I knew my improvements would work without Argent to orchestrate things and my relief translated itself into lust. I pulled Delia up from my dick and rolled her to her back, and as she spread her legs I got between them, placed myself, and pushed in to see if I could set the pace for the rest of this evening's entertainment. Nearly three hours later we were all fucked out and I lay back to get a little sleep. As I drifted off I thought of Deimeta and wondered if we had woken her. What was I thinking, of course we had. I felt great when I woke the next morning and I was the only one stirring. I made it out of bed without waking any of my mates and headed into the shower. Apparently the work Argent and his minions had done on Dicky had been of the self-sustaining type. He wasn't sore at all and as I stroked him with a soapy hand he stood right back to attention as if he hadn't had any pussy in weeks. It was probably a good thing because tonight was the night for the celebration and I was looking forward to entertaining a few ladies whose mates had over indulged. Since my mates were still sleeping after I was dry, I dressed quietly and headed for the kitchen. I started the day's first brewing of coffee and while it was doing its thing I walked to the cave's entrance and looked out through the split in the bison hides. It was still snowing with a vengeance and there were probably eight inches on the ground already. It seemed as if it was going to continue all day. There was also a stiff breeze with it, blowing toward the other side of the canyon where the snow was drifting high. To have that kind of wind down in our valley there must be a hell of a blow up at the plateau's level. If this kept up all day, by tonight all the openings on the other side would be completely covered and if we wanted into one of those caves we would have to dig our way in. With no video to check out, there was no way to determine how far the storm ranged or how much snow anyone else was getting, just as if I was stuck off way back in time or something. Imagine that. ------- Chapter 161 I went back to the coffee pot and it had done its job for me. Getting a mug, I sat down at the table. With no one else awake and roaming around I suddenly got the urge to light a cigarette and read the paper. Well there was no paper and I didn't have any cigarettes so I sat there and drank my coffee and tried to slip back into my funk from yesterday. I couldn't. I felt too good and too alive to let myself worry about what was coming in the future. I don't know if last nights playtime had cured me for good, but I was damned sure well right now. If tonight turned out like other celebration nights I would probably feel pretty good tomorrow morning too. I hoped so and I was looking forward to tonight's shindig. After a few minutes I heard a rustling which sounded like it was coming from toward Danlo and Georgo's entrance. I turned to check it out and it was Danlo heading toward me. Apparently he had done some serious relationship maintenance last night also because he looked as happy as a pig in shit and there were no women following him. "Ready for some coffee, Danlo?" "I am ready," he said. I got him a mug and returned to the table to sit next to him. He thanked me and took a sip. "It is very quiet in here this morning, very quiet," he said. "All of my mates are still sleeping, but it isn't the only cause. There is no sound at all from outside. It is still snowing heavily and though the wind is blowing briskly it isn't making any noise that I could hear while I was looking out." "It is good to have some quiet sometimes and it is a good morning to sleep late or to sit and drink coffee. I should go and take a look at the animals soon though, to make sure they are all doing well," he said. "I'll go with you when you do, but it is going to be a wet cold walk. It is too bad we don't have a tunnel to reach from your quarters to the horse cave." "It would be nice, but it won't hurt us to get a little cold walking down there and then back. It will make it all the better when our mates warm us back up," he said, and grinned. "I hadn't thought of it, but since you've mentioned it I think it is an excellent plan. I believe I will make sure I get cold during the trip." I could see he was about to say something more, but just then we heard someone coming from my bedroom. It was Dalia, Shelalliea, Delia, and Roweea. We curtailed our cold weather scenario discussion and told my mates good morning. They all came over to give me a kiss and then headed to the kitchen to break the quiet time we'd had. I didn't mind the noises they started making at all though. In fact, a few seconds later my stomach made a noise or two of its own at the prospect of what the pot and pan symphony promised. Raalto and Racaato showed up then and they had similar looks on their faces. Things must have been good all over last night. Their good moods just seemed to add to ours and soon we were laughing and joking about tonight's coming event. Then a thought hit me. "Where is the cooking being done? If there is food in the cooking pits outside then it will be under two or three feet of snow before it is time to get it out." "We have made new cooking pits inside the big celebration cave. There was plenty of room for them and it seems there is a draft to the outside from the cave since the smoke from the fires rose toward the top and then just left. It did not build up in the cave," Raalto said. "It just shows I haven't been paying enough attention to what is going on." "Why should you have to worry about how the cooking gets done? Your mates suggested this to us days ago and there were plenty of volunteers to do the digging. We even have much firewood stacked in there for later cooking," Racaato told me. "I guess you are right and I am glad someone is paying attention to the cooking." "What about the bruga. It has been here since yesterday and most of the ice has melted. Do you think it has gotten too warm? Since you began giving us this bruga I have come to like having it very cold," Bigglieo, who had just come in, said. "We can get it as cold as you can stand it Bigglieo. All we have to do is take it outside for a while and it will regain all the ice it has lost." "I will get some men to help me after we eat breakfast. The bruga won't freeze will it?" he asked. "No, it won't freeze if we only leave it out a few hours. I don't think it is so cold outside yet. We won't take any chances though and when the water in the barrels is frozen we will bring it in and take it to the celebration cave." Just as we had worked all the beer details out my mates started bringing plates to the table, helped by the other men's mates who had come in with them. When I looked at my eggs I tried to worry about what we would do when these were gone and Argent wasn't here to give us more. Hell, we would do without and eat something else, that's what we would do and we would live over it. Deimeta came out when I was about halfway through eating. When she came to me I pushed back from the table enough to make room for her on my lap. I began alternating bites for her and me then and Ameliea brought Deimeta's little coffee mug and another plate of breakfast. I knew I was going to get the lion's share of both plates, but as always I would feed Deimeta all she wanted. "Is there a lot of snow outside Daddy?" Deimeta asked, between bites. "There is already much more than last time and it is still snowing hard. I think it will be very deep before long." "Can we build more snowmen then?" she asked. "I think it will be too cold for it this time, but if it isn't too bad we can build a few. Danlo and I are going down to check on all the animals after breakfast." "Oh good, can I go too?" she asked. "If you dress warmly and if you want to you may go with us. Do you miss Darta already?" "I always miss her when I'm not with her. After we finish eating I will hurry and put on my new warm clothes," she said. "There is no need to hurry because Danlo and I must put on ours also. We won't leave without you so take your time to eat and then we will dress and go." "Thank you, Daddy," she said. "You are very welcome, Deimeta and thank you for being so sweet." She giggled then and took another bite and then a sip of coffee. We took our time eating and after we were done we went back to the bedroom to dress. While we were there I wondered again about the noise we must have made last night, but Deimeta didn't mention it and I sure didn't. We were dressed and ready to go in only a few minutes and when we left the bedroom we saw Danlo had dressed and returned already. We walked to the entrance then and I peered out. It was still snowing as hard or even harder than earlier this morning. The drifts on the other side of the valley were truly impressive now. I turned to ask Deimeta if she was sure she wanted to go. "I'm sure. I know my face will get cold and probably my ears, but it isn't far to the mammoth cave and it will be warm inside, and I want to see Darta," she said. "Let's go then," I said, and we started outside. The wind made it feel colder than it was and it was cold enough anyway. It was a good thing it wasn't far because my face, hands, and ears were as cold as I wanted them to get by the time we were there. One thing which had been proved beyond doubt was the effectiveness of the new clothes and boots. With any other type of footwear I'd ever used my feet would have been nearly painfully cold after such a walk in deep snow, but they were as warm as could be now. It seemed almost balmy inside the huge cave and when I looked at the hay and thought about giving some to the animals I remembered Deimeta's buckboard. I decided to discover it when we got around to feeding the hay. Meanwhile I was helping Danlo feed the buckets of slop we'd brought to our nascent hog farm. The piglets had been steadily gaining weight and I was sure by this time next year we would be on our way to raising our own ham. We also intended to try our luck with the tender trap next spring to get more contributors to our porcine gene pool. Deimeta was watching as the porkers rooted around in the trough we'd built. She laughed at their antics and taunted them with suggestions of how tasty they would be on her plate later. I was just glad we'd taken the time to build them a pen in this cave because if we hadn't they would be frozen ham by now. Next Danlo and I grabbed a couple of hayforks and began spreading some of it around for the horses and for the mammoths. Deimeta stayed back out of the way so Darta could pack away a little breakfast of her own. I gained a new appreciation for the amount of work it took to tend the animals now. It was true we had plenty of hay, but it was loose and there was a lot of work involved in spreading it around so the animals could get to it. If we did put the sawmill into operation one of the first uses for our lumber needed to be to build some efficient hay racks. It would keep the hay off the floor, where much of it would be trod on and wasted. Finally, as we got through spreading hay, I purposely dug some from the hiding place of Deimeta's miniature buckboard. I let the fork clank against it a time or two and then bent over as if inspecting it. "Whatever is this?" I asked, loudly. "What is it, Daddy?" Deimeta asked. "I'm not sure, but it isn't hay, let me see if I can get it out into the open," I said, grabbing hold of the front and pulling. It came free easily, but brought a bunch of hay out on its top. I began pushing it off and dusting out the seat as Deimeta came over for some investigation of her own. "Daddy! It's a buckboard for Darta and I! Isn't it?" "I think it might be. You were wanting one weren't you?" "Yes, I wanted one. Yes, and that one looks perfect for us," she said. "It does look like it's just the right size. Why don't you put Darta's harness on and see if we can hitch her to it." She ran back to get Darta and then led her out of the maze of wagons into the open area and then over where the tack was stored. She had the harness on her pet in no time and then led her over to the little wagon. In only a few minutes Darta was secured to the new toy and she and Deimeta were off to try it out. Since the cave was so large there was plenty of room for them to maneuver though I'm sure Deimeta would have liked to have more. While Deimeta and Darta enjoyed their new conveyance Danlo and I decided to rearrange the wagons and other items which were providing the pens for segregation of the stock inside the cave. It looked like we would need to saw up some heavy duty fencing for use in here also. The wagons were doing an adequate job for now, but things could be arranged to make feeding and cleanup much easier with a short fence here and there. We hadn't been paying any attention to Deimeta and Darta while we worked and had been steadily at our organizing for over two hours. The wagons were light and had excellent running gear but they damned sure weren't easy to move by hand. We stopped to take a short breather and I sat down on one of the packing crates that were ubiquitous in this cave. I glanced up at Deimeta and Darta and was flabbergasted. Deimeta was sitting in the seat of her new buckboard as Darta pulled her to the cave entrance, turned around and pulled her back the length of the open space. There Darta turned in the other direction and went back. It was only about a hundred and fifty yards and wouldn't have been a big trick except Darta didn't require any leading. I walked up to intercept them on their next trip. "Deimeta it looks like you and Darta are having a lot of fun," I said, as they came up to me and at a word from Deimeta, Darta stopped. "It is a lot of fun Daddy, I just wish we could go outside where we would have more room to play," she said. "Tell me, how are you making Darta turn one way and then the next?" "I just tell her which way I want her to turn and she does it," Deimeta explained, patiently. "But how does she know which way you want her to turn?" "She didn't at first and so I had to show her which way was left and which way was right. I also had to teach her go meant to walk and stop meant to stop walking. It only took a few tries and now she knows perfectly well what I mean when I tell her," she said. "Why you little angel, you are so clever," I said, picking her up off the seat and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Danlo, can you come here a minute?" I shouted. He turned and walked toward us as I put Deimeta back into her buckboard's seat. When he arrived I asked Deimeta to show us how it was done. She said go and Darta started off toward the entrance. Listening more carefully now I heard her say left as they approached the gate and Darta turned to the left until Deimeta told her to straighten out. Darta did it perfectly and then headed back toward us. When they got back Deimeta said stop and Darta did. Danlo was as amazed as I had been and then a big smile split his face. "That was wonderful Deimeta. You will have to help me teach Big Mother how to do that," he said. "I'll be glad to Danlo. It is really very easy and it is so much more fun than leading all the time. This way I don't have to walk. I don't think Darta minds walking and anyway she can't sit in the wagon, she's too big for it," Deimeta explained carefully. Danlo and I both laughed out and it really was funny. It was also funny it had taken Deimeta to figure out the answer to our problem with Big Mother. We had been worrying about how to signal Big Mother which way to turn and Deimeta had shown us all we had to do was teach her about left and right. ------- Chapter 162 It was nearing time for lunch and so Danlo and I helped Deimeta unhitch Darta and put her back with the others. We left her little buckboard in a prominent place in the open space since we anticipated it getting more use now than any of the other vehicles. I opened the doors to it's little box to look inside of it and saw it came complete with a set of runners for winter travel. They were fairly complicated and it appeared to mount them the wheels and all running gear would have to come off for the runners to be attached. I saved the surprise for later since I knew Deimeta would be ready to try it as soon as I told her. I was anxious for her to have all the fun with Darta and the buckboard she could, but there was no need to have her try everything today. After all, Danlo and I could only absorb so much training at one time. We put our coats back on and headed out the entrance to make the cold trip back to our cave. If anything it was snowing more now than it had been this morning. It was almost too cold to talk, but I did have one question for Danlo. "Where were all your helpers this morning Danlo?" "Geera asked if they could help her, your other mates, and some of the other women today. She said they needed some strong backs to lift things and to tend a fire or two for the last of the cooking. "Apparently there is going to be a big stew tonight also and they wanted to cook it on an open wood fire for some reason. I knew I wouldn't have too much to do and so I told them all to stay and help with the food," he said. "As long as they were helping with food I'm all for it." "Me too Daddy, I think it is just fine," Deimeta said, and Danlo and I laughed again as she giggled. The snow was starting to get deep, and since it was fresh and still loose it was difficult to walk on. I was wishing I had asked for some snowshoes before Argent took off, but it was too late now. Maybe Mundo or someone else would be able to make some for us. The idea is pretty simple after all. I decided to ask him after lunch if I could find him. We were glad to get back into the cave when we did. It was warm in here also and I was cold enough. I was going to have to remember to wear a cap and some gloves if I went out again. Though I usually only wanted what came out of it, I went to the kitchen now to see if I could find something warm to stand by. "Is my mate cold?" Waaya asked, when she saw what I was up to. "Yes he is. I think I am colder than either Deimeta or Danlo." "I will let you in on a little secret then. There is a good fire going in the celebration cave. We are cooking a big stew over it and roasting some meat there also. Why don't you get a mug of coffee and go stand beside it for a while? You will get warm soon enough," she said. Deimeta and I both got a mug of coffee and went to look for this big fire. We found it with no trouble since it wasn't far on the other side of the doorway between my cave and the celebration cave. There was a large cooking pot on the fire and a spit for roasting on either side. Dieta was just turning one when we came in. "My wonderful mate and my wonderful daughter," she said, when she saw us. "I think we are your cold mate and your cold daughter mama Dieta. We have been to the mammoth cave and we got cold coming back," Deimeta said. "Stand by the fire then and you will be warm soon enough. When you have finished your coffee I will put some of the stew in your mugs so you can warm your insides too," she promised. "Is Bigglieo tending to the bruga barrels?" I asked her. "Is he ever? You'd think the bruga would spoil if he let it out of his sight for even a second. At least he is not standing beside it outside while the water freezes again. He checks on it about three or four times an hour though. We could go hungry tonight for all he cares, but the bruga is going to be cold and perfect," Dieta said, laughing about it. "Well, at least there is no wondering where his loyalties are. He knows what he likes and is willing to brave the elements to do a tough job." We all laughed again at my joke, but it was the truth. Bigglieo liked his bruga and since he found out he liked it even better cold he intended for it to be cold. I certainly didn't mind if Bigglieo took a night off for a good drunk. He worked hard and tried his best when there was something I needed him to do for me and I was happy he could find some time to relax. I would even be glad to make sure his mates weren't lonely while he was sleeping it off. Deimeta finished her coffee and Dieta filled the mug with broth from the stew. Deimeta took a careful sip of the hot liquid and smiled her thanks. "It is very good mama, thank you," she said. "Thank you for being the first to taste it. I needed someone to try it out on," Dieta said. "Well I have finished my coffee now, would you like a second opinion?" "Yes, but I already know what your opinion of any type of food is," she said, teasing me. "You're right. If it is food, I want it." "This little bit will have to hold you over until lunch is ready in the cave. Do you think you can last?" she asked. "I will do my best, but I don't want to let my strength wane. I believe I'll stand here near the fire in case you need for me to sample the roasting meat later." "I probably should go and find Danlo," Deimeta said. "Why is that?" I asked. "If your strength is going to be kept up so well I think I will see if I can sleep with Malooto tonight. It won't be nearly so noisy," she said, and then giggled as she walked off. Both Waaya, who had just come up, and Dieta burst out laughing at me and it took them several minutes to regain their composure. I was blushing and grinning the whole time and I now had my answer about waking Deimeta in the night. I finally gave up and left because every time Waaya looked at me she started laughing and it always set Dieta off again too. Deimeta and Malooto were playing on the rocking horse in my cave when I entered. I took my now empty mug toward the coffee pot for a refill and while Dalia filled it she told me to sit down since she had fixed me a couple of sandwiches for lunch. With all the preparations for tonight I figured everyone would eat lunch as they could find time. After finishing my sandwiches I went into the practice cave. Several of my mates were there sighting in their new rifles and Racaato was helping them with it. Things seemed to be going smoothly and so I left and went to my office. I hadn't been in here much since I got the news from Argent about his departure. It was a little strange to sit behind my desk and not have the luxury of clicking an icon and seeing what was going on elsewhere. I would dearly like to get a look around right now to see if I could find out where the four women had been taken. It bothered me that it had happened in my neck of the woods. I wasn't on a campaign to rid this world of killing for mates, Lord knows I had taken advantage of the custom more than anyone else, but I was opposed to the capture and enslaving of women or men either. To me it was what the incident had amounted to. The men had been killed and the women captured and made slaves. Even if they were treated fairly where they were taken they were still there against their will, especially if they had been taken back to their old camp. There was nothing I could do about it now though. I no longer had the luxury of superior intelligence and with the snow still falling I didn't have the mobility to prosecute any enforcement even if I did get the details. It didn't mean I wasn't going to try and set things right when I was able to, but it did mean I wasn't going to do anything now. Still, I would be on it like stink on shit when I got the opportunity. Slavery was anathema to me and I wasn't about to let it get started anywhere I could reach. I drifted off into thinking about what might have become of my old home while I was here. Argent hadn't given me any real hints, but he had sounded like something serious had happened. I wondered if they had done it to themselves or if something had been done to them. I had no way of knowing, but I did run things by in my head. Although I considered it a long shot, the most likely thing would have been some big nuclear disaster or war. Something like it could have wiped many people off the earth if not killing everyone. A collision with some type of asteroid or comet, if it was large enough, could have created an unimaginable disaster too. Until meeting Argent I would not have seriously considered interference from other worldly beings, but after meeting him I had to. Argent had told me they rarely meddled in the goings on of earth, but it didn't mean his was the only group of aliens out there. Mankind had often speculated there were others out in space who might be more advanced. Argent had proved to me there was at least one other species and he'd done nothing to indicate there weren't more. Maybe there were others who weren't as hesitant about causing disruption on my old earth. At any rate I didn't have any facts and all I could do was speculate. I had a wide field for speculation though since I had no way to rule out anything. Once again I was spinning my wheels thinking about things I had no way of figuring out and no way of affecting. I had to quit this crap so I left my office and went back into my cave. The activity had picked up out here and my mates were all going back and forth into the celebration cave and seemed to have several men, including all Danlo's helpers, stepping and fetching for them too. To keep from joining the throng of volunteers I headed for the big residence cave to talk to Mundo. I was intending to see if I could make Mundo understand about snowshoes and then convince him to have a try making some. All those thoughts had been a waste of time because when I found Mundo he and his three friends were all busily making them. The items were being made with one bentwood outer piece which was a rough oval. To this they crisscrossed rawhide thongs until the piece resembled a tennis racket head which was laced in a diamond pattern instead of a square one. "Hello John, did you have something you wanted us to make?" Mundo asked, as I approached. "Yes I did Mundo, but I see you are all busily making them already. I was wondering about snowshoes and I see you have many made and are making more." "Some of these are from last year and we have repaired them. We are also making many new sets. They are very handy in the winter," he said, stating the obvious. "They are, and I just remembered it this morning as I was walking down to the horse cave. Could I have a set for Deimeta and I?" "Of course you can. We will make a set for anyone who wants them. I'm sure we have some now that will work for you, but we will have to make a smaller pair for Deimeta. Do not worry though, they will be the next pair we make," he said, as he looked through the finished ones and came up with some for me. "Thank you Mundo. I will tell Deimeta to come and see you later for hers. Danlo and his helpers will probably need a set too so they can get to the horse cave easily. They need to go everyday to tend to our growing herd of livestock." "We will make sure they all have a pair as soon as they come for them. I'm just happy I won't have to be using a set every day. I know the horses, pigs, and now the mammoths need care, but I'm glad enough I don't have to provide it," he said. "Well we are going to need to build some fences inside the cave to keep them all sorted out and we will probably need to make some type of hay racks to make the feeding easier. Can I count on all of you to help with the building?" "Yes, you can, we enjoy making and building things and will be happy to do it. We will be glad we can go and build something and then not have to go back every day. Of course, we will go every day if we are needed," Mundo said, assuring me. ------- Chapter 163 "I'm sure it won't come to that since there are plenty to take care of the animals now. I just wanted to give them a few things to make their jobs easier. I'll be going now, but I'm sure I will see you all tonight at the celebration." "We will all be there tonight, but you should look quickly if you want to see any of us standing. We love the bruga and it loves us and we will all be sleeping in its embrace as soon as possible," he said, and then he and his friends broke out laughing, at each other no doubt. I took my snowshoes back to my cave and as I was heading for the bedroom I saw Deimeta and told her to see Mundo later today for some of her own. "Thank you for getting me some, Daddy, I will need them to go and see Darta," she said. "Well, it is Mundo and his friends who will be making a special pair for you, so be sure to thank him also." "I will. I like Mundo, he has been very nice to me," she said, as I left for the bedroom. After putting away my snowshoes I came back out into the cave and saw Bigglieo and several other men bringing the beer kegs, in their again-icy barrels, back through and into the celebration cave. Other men were getting the stored folding tables and the plastic mugs, making sure all the necessary equipment for the upcoming drunk would be ready. Most of my mates were working on cooking now and I decided to go and see Racaato since I figured he would probably be alone in what had come to be his main operating area. I went to the practice cave and was surprised to see more people firing. It was mostly my main helpers and I could tell they were busily re-sighting their rifles to make sure the new scopes were going to be able to do their jobs. Racaato noticed me this time and came over to talk. "It looks like you have been busy all day, Racaato." "Mostly I have been. I went around and made sure everyone with a rifle knew they now had new scopes and they needed to be sighted in. "I think most of them want to get it done today so they will not have to do it tomorrow. I believe they are thinking ahead about the possible conditions of their heads in the morning," he said, with a smile. "At least they are thinking ahead and no doubt sighting in a rifle tomorrow would be a painful experience. It is good they realize it needs to be done though." "They all know if they need the rifle they will need it to hit where they aim it. I believe many of them were a little alarmed over what happened to the people at Caato's old camp. They aren't afraid, but they do want to be ready. No one has forgotten the trouble we had from Jadatako and those who followed him," he said. "Surely we won't have that kind of annoyance again. If it is the camp Dotallto thinks it is they live quite a distance from us." "Maybe so, but they made the trip to Caato's old camp and they can come on to ours if they are determined. I believe most of us would like to show them it will not be a profitable adventure," he said. "It will be worse than that for them. I am already mad about them coming to kill men I was going to help. I plan to wait until the snow is gone and spring has come to deal with them, but if they make me any madder I might not. We have some large sleighs now and if we need to we can travel in the snow without too much bother. If we have to do it some of them are going to die for causing us the trouble." There wasn't much more to say about it afterward and so I went back to my cave. I was a little restless and bored too and so I bit the bullet when I got back and asked my mates if I could help them in any way. They were more than happy to point out dozens of things I could tote and carry for them. I spent the rest of the afternoon in their service, but it was not without its rewards. I was called on to do much tasting and sampling and of course I had to be the first to check Bigglieo's work and make sure the beer was just the right temperature. I was also right on hand to help dig up the cooking pits and I sampled some of the mammoth meat which had been slow-cooking underground. It was tender and delicious and I could tell at once why mammoth meat was so well liked by everyone. It was exceptionally good and I couldn't help wondering how it would be if it were slow-smoked over a hickory fire. If Argent was still giving and not taking back when he returned I was going to make sure I found out. After the preparations were over and I was released from my voluntary servitude I went to the bedroom and got naked. I found my way to the shower and joined those of my mates who were already soapy and slippery. Several of them began to soap and wash me and just so they would know I was getting into the spirit of things I did a little soaping and washing of my own. I don't know what it is with me and women's pubic hair, but working up a hand-made lather in a woman's bush is one of my favorite pastimes. This woke Dicky and as he came to attention he proved a popular destination for my mate's soapy hands. "I think he might be clean enough now," I said. "We will keep washing him a while longer to make sure," Yareela said. "Yes, he needs to be very clean tonight," Xailieta agreed. "Careful though, we don't want him to discharge too quickly," Taaheita cautioned. "Taaheita is right, he has a busy night ahead of him," Geera added. Finally they decided Dicky was presentable and by this time he was presenting. I left the shower to dry off and since many of them were finished I helped dry them too. Soon most of us were back in the bedroom dressing. I felt a little silly putting on my mail for a celebration, but I did it anyway. I always wore it now and would probably feel undressed without it. After we'd dressed we went to the celebration cave to relieve the ones who had stayed to keep watch on things. I concentrated on looking around while my mates made the final adjustments to the food they were providing. The cave was nearly empty now, but people were beginning to drift in. After a few minutes Georgo, his mates, and Dotallto came along. Dotallto and then Georgo were going to provide the opening shots tonight. Each would give a short talk praising the spirits and their gifts and then we would get down to the eating and later the celebrating. I decided I needed to take one last sample of the beer before things got started and so I went to get a mug. Returning with my prize I got a little warning look from Dalia and she reminded me I would need to be sober when the night came to a close. I assured her this would be my only taste of the bruga refreshments and she seemed satisfied. The beer was cold and it was good. It was a shame I didn't have the luxury of swallowing mug after mug of it, but the fact was I didn't. Things were expected of me tonight and in truth I was anxious to get to them. The crowd was growing by now and Dotallto and Georgo had drifted toward their makeshift podium. It wasn't raised and really wasn't anything, but a spot where everyone expected them to stand while they made their talks. When Dotallto moved to the center of it everyone got quiet and listened to him. He spoke for only about ten minutes, mentioning a few things from his travels, but mostly laying it on about our gifts here and the wonderful place we would have to protect us during the cold winter. Georgo was next and he put on a couple more coats of praises for our camp, our spirit provided accommodations, our fabulous luck in the mammoth hunt, and even managed to mention our budding pig farm experiment. I'm sure if he'd had any idea we would be planting crops next year he would have mentioned them too. Georgo brought his remarks to an end and then invited everyone to come and enjoy the bounty which had been provided by the spirits. I thought it was a little unkind of him to forego mentioning all the hard work my mates and the other women had put into preparing this bounty and making sure it was fit to eat, but I held my tongue. I guess I could have stepped up on the spot and said a few words of my own, but I didn't. Public speaking was never any fun for me and in any case I didn't want to steal the limelight. I just wanted to get on to enjoying the bounty - the bounty of the hunt, the bounty of my mate's cooking, and the bounty of the mates of the men who would soon be falling down drunk from the bounty of the bruga. Now there was some bounty to be proud of. The sampling I'd done had already told me the food was going to be wonderful and it was. I noticed this time there wasn't a mad rush to the beer as there had been before. Most of the men were intent on getting their bellies full of food first. I wondered if this was caused by the fact they now knew the beer barrels held a lot more bruga than they could hope to drink in one night. After a while though, some had finished eating and started drinking. It didn't seem like there was even any urgency for beer now either. After looking at the lines for the kegs and paying attention to what had happened I saw what had changed. Argent had made allowances for what had gone on last time and there were more than twice as many kegs tonight. Men were still lining up, getting a mug of brew and walking to the back to get in line again, but it wasn't necessary. With more kegs the lines were much shorter and even by pouring it down they couldn't finish a beer before they were back at the keg so the constant line up dissipated after a few minutes when they realized the beer was not going to run out and there was really no need to rush to imbibe all they could. Of course many of them were pretty drunk by the time they figured this out, but they weren't falling down yet. Even the hard core drinkers were still standing when the strange musical instruments made their appearance this time, and their alcohol-induced stupor seemed to allow them to come closer to enjoying the throbbing beat the musicians produced. The concert didn't last very long though and after the instruments were put away things degenerated into small groups talking and drinking and then drinking some more. Within two hours of the end of Georgo's talk some of the men were already prone and were being dragged off toward their sleeping quarters. Bigglieo was one of the first to fall and I was more than glad to help Daleana and Sulieta pull him out of harm's way and into their place. As we labored to get Bigglieo into the furs we did a little preliminary bumping, grinding, and groping. When Bigglieo was settled I pulled Daleana to me to kiss her soundly. She pressed herself against me and I reached my hands down below the hem of her Wilma dress to take possession of her ass cheeks. Suleita wasn't going to be left out of this and her hands became busy undoing my trousers as I pulled Daleana's dress up over her head to reveal her beautiful body. While Suleita pulled my pants down and my boots off I let my hands move to Daleana's titties to squeeze them and tease her nipples. Her boob berries plumped up nicely almost at once and as I kept teasing them her hips began to squirm - this caused her bush to tickle my balls and it began driving Dicky crazy. It was doing a number on me too. Ordinarily I wouldn't dream of fucking one of my men's mates in the same furs he was passed out drunk on, but I knew this coupling couldn't wait until later. I slid a hand down to Daleana's pussy lips and found them wet and swollen with need. Pressing a finger up into her showed me her inner heat and she began to demonstrate her internal muscle control as I pumped the finger in and out of her willing sex. She broke our kiss and while I nibbled at the hollow of her throat she crooned my name between pants. Suleita had also removed her own tiny dress by now and as Daleana and I clung to each other, lost in our passion, she settled to the furs and reached up to pull Daleana down to her level. Naturally following to retain contact, I settled between them somehow and while I lowered my lips to suck the nipples I'd been so careful to arouse I felt Suleita's hands on my hard dick stroking while her fingertips reached to find and tease my nuts. The two of us had managed to pin Daleana to the furs on her back by now and when she spread her round and lovely legs I got between them. Dicky didn't have to waste any time searching with his blind eye for the target because Suleita still had matters in hand and as I pressed toward my wet destination she swabbed my dickhead between Daleana's love lips to get it wet. When I was on target and ready I pushed myself up into Daleana's gripping heat. Her legs went around me to pull me in more firmly and then the age-old rhythm of reproduction asserted itself in long slow thrust for depth. She felt splendid inside and as her heels on my ass drummed her approval I latched my lips onto a nipple and got each of my hands full of her round ass cheeks. The pounding was on then and my thought, a minute ago, of reproduction had me wondering what had become of the pregnancy schedule that Argent had initiated. Were all bets off now or was the return to fertility on some sort of automatic schedule. It didn't matter now because impregnation was on my mind and I was going to do my part whether the women were fertile or not. My hip action increased as I considered that I might be creating more little cave men or cave women and I'm afraid I might have gotten a little too enthusiastic for a while. Daleana didn't complain about it though and when I took a second to glance at Suleita I saw that she was flushed and panting herself and I knew that both of Bigglieo's mates were going to be fucked right in his presence promptly. If he woke up I don't guess I'd mind if he watched. My enthusiasm got me going and with just a few dozen more hard thrusts I was doing my best to knock Daleana up. When I was spent I sagged down onto her panting, satiated body and panted for a while myself. Suleita didn't give me much time for the covering cuddle though as she rolled me off her co-mate and put her lips onto Daleana's pussy to tidy up my mess. Watching this action gave Dicky a twinge or two and I hoped he could rouse himself to finish his duties. Apparently Sulieta hoped so too since she moved her lips off Daleana and onto Dicky after a few minutes. Someone had explained all about suction and its benefits in raising the dead to Sulieta. When she had my dick in her mouth her ministrations began and she would have done David Oreck proud. The bowling ball sucking vacuum he sold had nothing on Suleita and she had the blood rushing into Dicky so fast that it's a wonder I didn't faint. Suleita wasn't waiting for me to regain enough strength to help. When my dick was hard, she straddled my hips, placed the head where she wanted it and started without me, well without me moving anything on my own anyway. Suleita slid her hot, tight, wet pussy down around Dicky and began to milk him with her insides. She took a firm grip and she kept it up. After a few minutes of sitting still and just squeezing, she began to slowly rise and fall with her legs providing the pumping motion. As I became inspired again I reached for her titties and I was soon mauling them with my hands, pinching and twisting her nipples until she was practically buzzing from pleasure. As Suleita reached for her climax her hips became a blur banging against my pelvis. My hands left her big quivering titties and dropped to take hold of her firm, hard working ass. I gripped her buns tightly and used my arms to help her rise and then slam back down onto me. She moaned and growled, then wailed my name when her pleasure over took her; finishing herself off with a lightning like pistoning of her ass and then sagging limply to lie on my chest, panting for breath. I kissed her cheeks, caressed her back and ass and stroked my hands through her hair as she recovered. When she seemed about to drift off to sleep I rolled her over to lie beside Daleana and then got up, retrieving my clothes, and headed for the communal bathroom. No one noticed me as I walked naked across the giant cave. I entered the bathroom and walked toward the nearest shower, laying my clothes on a handy bench outside its door. I went inside and started the water then washed the fluids of Daleana, Suleita, and Dicky off me, letting the warm water beat against my back for a while when I was through. Finished, I got out and found a towel to dry myself. I intended to go right back to the celebration and look for another likely suspect and help some lonely woman guide her drunken mate to his sleeping furs. I was the leader and it was the least I could do. I was just finished drying myself and had picked up my clothes when I saw Taahrausa, Sahto's mother, enter the bathroom and go into a stall. It was time I found out if my shitter stall privacy measures worked without Argent being around. Taahrausa had shut the door behind her but I opened it and walked in as she shot me a surprised look from her seat. I closed the door behind me when she smiled and I noticed that the stall's walls did their thing and closed us off from the rest of the world. "Did you come to help me pee?" Taahrausa asked. "No, I came to watch and then to remind you other things that can be done with those parts." "Will you do it to me in here?" she asked. "Yes." "But there isn't room, is there?" she asked. "If you are finished, stand up and I will show you." She must have been because she stood up. I took her into my arms and kissed her and then, taking her Wilma dress by the hem, I raised it over her head and laid it on the pile of my clothes. Turning back to her I kissed her again and pulled her to me so that her nipples pressed into the hair on my chest. Her tongue was wild in my mouth as my hands explored her ass. She wiggled and squirmed in my embrace and I pressed one hand between her legs from behind to let my fingers search for her pussy. It was already wet when I found it and since Taahrausa didn't seem to need any more foreplay I sat on the toilet seat, turned her to face away from me and guided her to sit on my lap; placing my dickhead in her entrance as she came down. She slowed at its touch and I made sure that the head was wet with her lubricant and then pulled her on down to engulf me. Her wet warmth felt heavenly and when she was fully impaled I reached around to play with her titties and her big firm nipples as I hunched Dicky up into her more fully. Taahrausa got the hint on her own and began using her legs to rise and fall, pumping her sex up and down around mine. It was always exciting for me to fuck someone in the stalls for some reason. I knew that no one could hear us and in fact, nothing would be said if we'd left the door open for all the camp to see, but still the illicit nature of it fired me and I found myself straining upward toward Taahrausa as her ass banged down onto my lap. She moaned her excitement and it aroused mine more. I pulled her back to me and began sucking and lightly biting the back of her neck while my hands and fingers continued their teasing, twisting and pinching on her breast and nipples. As Taahrausa kept at it she got faster and wetter and her pussy began milking at my dick more firmly. We were headed for the last laps now and as she moaned I grunted in rhythm, pumping all the harder up into her. It was over quickly for both of us. I squeezed her to me in a crushing hug with my arms around her as she wailed my name and her excitement and settled down still, now only squeezing at Dicky with her pussy. She was panting and so was I and we just rested, me on the throne and Taahrausa limply on my lap. We took a few minutes to catch our breath and to just be alone together for a while. Finally I think that she got tired of sitting on my lap and she got up, retrieved her dress and pulled it down over her head. "That was a wonderful way to use this little place, much more enjoyable than its other use. My mate is already sleeping off his bruga and now that you have paid some attention to me I think I will go and sleep myself," she said, smiling and then leaving. I put on my own clothes and left also. The drunks had started dropping in their tracks now and I knew that I might be needed again soon. I would have to see how Colonto was doing. I still hadn't found time to honor him with Cariea and by now he had two more mates. One from shooting the spy that had tried to kill one of the wolves with a spearcaster and also the Neanderthal widow that he had mated. The night was young and I could tell that Dicky still had something in reserve. ------- Chapter 164 When I got back to the celebration there was a little surprise for me. More men were still standing than I had expected, but they were still hanging out near the beer. I also saw most of my leaders were still hanging in there. I had expected Raalto and Racaato to keep their heads tonight, but I was a little disappointed to see Colonto and Caato probably hadn't had any beer to speak of either. I moved over beside Dieta and Geera who were still ensconced near the food and I stood with them to survey things. In a minute I saw Colonto go over to help Cahttiea take Natalto off toward their quarters. Bummer for me, apparently Colonto intended to honor his best man Natalto by paying a little attention to Cahttiea tonight. I had been looking forward to having my dick down her throat later. She was still the only woman here I knew who could give me a real deep throat treatment. While I was watching them I saw Caato start over to help Heilalieta with her mate Jalaato. Jalaato had been Caato's best man before they brought their camp here. Heilalieta was another choice bit of honoring it seemed I was going to miss out on tonight. Not only her, but I had also envisioned doing my duty with Jaadalla and Jetta, Caato's mates, but they would, no doubt, be helping Caato by holding down Heilalieta while he honored Jalaato. Out of my peripheral vision, off to my right, I saw Danlo. I hadn't expected him to get drunk for the simple reason he didn't really like beer. He would usually drink a mug or two for appearances sake, but he hadn't developed a liking for the pleasures of a good drunk yet. It wasn't what had my attention though. Dicky had sounded an alarm when he realized what was going on. Danlo, Shallea, Shaala, Daria, Jatalieta, and Tulaarra were all gathered around Sahto, Talvo, and their mates Weeahta and Geritatea. They were all helping shepherd the two young drunks, Sahto and Talvo, toward their quarters. I wasn't jealous of Danlo's upcoming ceremony with Weeahta and Geritatea, even though they both appeared to be delightful little dishes. My recently discovered voyeuristic streak was making my dick throb in anticipation of what I'd be able to see if I took up my post in the spot which had given me such a thrill when I'd watched Danlo putting the wood to Daria one morning. It just wasn't fair. There was an abundance of things I wanted to get into tonight and I wasn't going to get around to all of them, there just wasn't enough time. I would have to do my best to do my duty to John and his boner though. I was still watching Danlo and his bunch moving off with their prizes when Dalia, his mother, came to stand beside me. She must be a mind reader. "Are you remembering your time watching Danlo with Daria?" she asked, mentioning the time she'd caught me spying on them and had gotten herself fucked for her troubles. "You know I am and I'm trying to decide whether to sneak off and do it again or wait and help some poor woman get her mate to his furs." "A difficult decision I'm sure. Maybe you should wait here a few minutes in case you do see someone who needs your help. It will take them some time to get Sahto and Talvo into their furs," she said. It still amazed me my mates seemed more anxious for me to provide willing dick for women with drunken mates than I was. I was happy about it for sure, but it still surprised me sometimes. I decided Dalia was probably right. I could watch fucking later and I should probably hang around and try to do some of it tonight. About then I spied a pretty woman I didn't know, struggling with her mate. He wasn't drunk enough to fall down yet, but was close. I wondered why I hadn't seen her before, but I don't guess I should have. She and her mate had probably joined us when we consumed what was left of Jakado's camp after their infernal spying adventures. She was a tall one, at least as tall as Dalia and Shelalliea and maybe a little taller. I could see her face was pretty and I loved the look of her long silky black hair. I was about to go and assist her when Ameliea came up to me. "I see you eyeing Miekadakta as she struggles with her fool of a mate. I think you should go and help her at once, but I should warn you Kartogo, her mate, is not one of those who will consider it an honor. Like many idiots, he thinks the whole of this camp is stupid for not noticing he should be leader," she said. "Then why did he come here in the first place?" "He was not stupid enough to die for the pleasure of staying away. Have you forgotten you gave them no choice?" she asked. "I gave them a choice, I told them they could leave." "Yes but you also told them they could not force their mates to leave with them. Even though Kartogo is stupid, Miekadakta is not - once she arrived here and saw what a wonderful life we have she wouldn't even consider leaving with Kartogo. "She was dumb enough to agree to mate him and I think at the time she believed his bragging about becoming leader some day. She has learned much better now. It doesn't mean she wouldn't still like to be the leader's mate, or at least one of his mates," Ameliea said, looking like she was having an internal battle to keep from laughing at me. Her information gave me some pause though. I knew by custom it was my right to have Miekadakta if I wanted her. Kartogo's feelings on the matter didn't count in the long-term scheme of things. Still, all else being equal, I wouldn't normally invite trouble by screwing her since I'd been warned he was violently opposed to it. There were other things to consider though and I'm sure Ameliea knew it and had told me all of this for a reason. If Kartogo were going to cause trouble here sooner or later it would be to my benefit to have him do it sooner. I know it was a cold-hearted view of things, but in my opinion it was better to have a funeral for a dead troublemaker than it was to have a live one in my camp spreading his message of dissent. I had come from a society which at least gave lip service to freedom of speech, but did I have the luxury of allowing it here? I wanted to think I did, but was confronted with the realities of my leadership and of making decisions for people who had come to rely on me for their survival. Was there a difference between me and some twentieth century dictator, sheik, or king? I didn't know and wasn't sure I had the wisdom and knowledge to know. Freedom of speech was a wonderful thing in a perfect society and if you said it fast. It was expensive though, in both manpower and to some extent resources. I wanted peace in my camp and I wanted people to get along and work toward our common good, but I wasn't sure I could manage that particular miracle if I allowed dissent to grow without confronting it. I also wondered if freedom of speech was such a good thing if it let people who were trying to agitate and try to change things for their advantage have free use of it. Freedom of speech was wonderful in a mature society and civilization, but in truth almost no one liked it. Many would claim it was wonderful and then be disgusted by its use by others. In some ways I had the best of all worlds. This was not a democracy and I could allow all the freedom of speech I wanted to and then could turn around and deny it at my whim. We had no democracy here and I didn't want one. It is a good compromise with a large civilization, but it would only be a hindrance to our small group. My benevolent monarchy was just the ticket for here and now, and anyone who was opposed to it could leave, or die. I had to second-guess my right to elect myself judge over this type of matter. I had no idea if the type of society I had grown up in could be beneficial in these times with the limited resources available. To me freedom of speech was a luxury easily afforded when there was plenty for everyone to eat, but it might be a different thing when everyone or at least most everyone was needed to help gather food for our basic survival. I just didn't have the answers and I wasn't going to get them tonight. I was going with the current customs. I would help Miekadakta get Kartogo to his furs and then I would spread her legs and fuck her. If he wanted to exercise his freedom of speech tomorrow I would let him bitch until his heart was content. If he wanted to fight about it, we would fight and if he tried to put a spear in my back I would kill him and have another mate. Ameliea had been standing beside me while I considered all this. She had been watching me and when she spoke I wondered if she could read my mind too. "So, I see you will help poor Miekadakta with her burden. She will struggle later, I'm sure of it, but you must do as you wish whether she seems to want you to or not. You are the leader here and it is your right and you must claim your right," she said, and then left me. I walked to where Miekadakta was barely keeping Kartogo upright, offering to help her. "I am fine with him. I can get him to our quarters," she said, in an almost dismissing tone. I didn't need her tone of voice and at once I didn't like the attitude I thought I saw on her face. I was about to turn around and leave her to it when Kartogo tried to take a step, swayed wildly and fell against me. His sour breath nearly turned my stomach. I put and arm around him, holding him up and told her to lead the way. She looked at me again as if sizing me up and then turned, heading toward their quarters. She looked good from the backside but the whole thing with her so far had seemed strange to me. It was almost too pat he had collapsed when I was walking away to leave him with her. When I got to their quarters I dropped him on his furs and left without saying a word. It might have been my right to take her, but it wasn't my duty as far as I was concerned. It was my right to ignore her too, and I was exercising that right, right now. When I walked back into the celebration cave Dalia and Ameliea saw me at once from nearly half way across it. I didn't want to discuss it with them and so I looked around, spied a cute young girl struggling with a not much bigger drunk young man and I went to help her. She was happy to see me when I got there. When we crossed from the celebration cave into the large residence cave I saw something which surprised me. It gave me more than a little jolt, but I pretended to ignore it and followed the pretty young woman to the place she and her drunken mate called home. I was more gentle with the youngster when I put him down in his furs and though the young woman was pretty and seemed more than willing I didn't even kiss her. I headed right back to my cave, not even going through the celebration cave. When I had entered the residence cave I'd seen Kartogo walking into the big bathroom. He wasn't staggering, he was walking without apparent difficulty. It let me know he wasn't in the least bit drunk and I also knew Miekadakta must have known it too. This wasn't some joke they'd been playing, there had been a reason they wanted me to think he was drunk and I was positive it wasn't a reason I would be happy with. It made me wary and not of them only. It made me so wary I passed up a chance with the other girl and was in fact happy now I had. I wanted to think about this and celebration or not I had to do it now. There was no way I could enjoy myself while wondering what kind of plans the two had for me. The first thing that came to my mind was they intended killing me. Kartogo was probably planning to do me in while I was happily pounding away at his mate, assuming and thinking he was dead drunk. I felt a real need to talk to Georgo right now and I hoped he wasn't doing some pounding of his own on someone he had happened up on. When I walked through my cave I saw Margeeta and asked her to see if she could find Georgo and ask him to come to my office. She could tell something was up so I told her not to mention it to anyone else unless she needed to have one of my other mates help her find him. I told her I would explain it all later. She left and I went into the office. I sat at my desk and went over the little bit I did know about the situation. The first thing that came to me was Ameliea saying Kartogo had wanted to be the leader and on the face of it that was as good a motive as any. Ameliea had said he was stupid, but was he stupid enough to think just killing me would be enough to make him leader here. Even if by some custom I hadn't heard, my death at his hand made him leader, it wouldn't last long and surely he wasn't dumb enough to think it. I was practically positive if he did kill me, Raalto would return the favor right away. Still, it wouldn't help me out one bit since I would still be dead. I also wondered if his plan, or what I assumed was his plan, was a coincidence or if he had hard knowledge telling him I needed to be naked to be killed with a knife or a spear. This led me to wonder just how much he actually knew about me and about my weapons and it begged the question of how he knew what he knew. Even if he was as stupid as Ameliea said, I'm sure after all this time he realized the rifles were weapons no spear or spearcaster could stand up against. He probably had even heard enough about the Glocks to know he wouldn't have a chance if I could get mine into play when he made his move. The mail was different and I was pretty sure not many people knew about it. Of course several knew I had been hit with spears and not been hurt, and he might have been able to put things together and know I must be wearing something that to help protect me. I had to assume he knew about it. I had to make plans for the worst case instead of hoping for the best one. If he knew he needed to try and kill me while I was naked then he probably knew if I was dressed he should try to strike a blow to my head somehow. Either by trying to hit it with a spear, rock, or club. Eileiea's mate had almost stumbled onto this vulnerability by accident and there was nothing to say Kartogo couldn't have figured it out for himself. Next on my list of worries was whether it was just Kartogo and his mate or if he had some secret group of schemers. A secret group made more sense to me since he was bound to know all my main helpers were not just going to fall into line taking his orders if I did get killed. Maybe there was a schism in my own ranks I didn't know about. I didn't think there was, but it didn't mean there wasn't. I had been just rocking along not worrying about anything like this, since I'd always felt Argent would warn me of impending troubles along those lines. Things without Argent seemed to be more complicated than I'd first thought. An attempted coup was something I would have never considered without this type of prompting and rooting it out alone wouldn't be possible. I had to have some help and Georgo would only be the first of many I needed to talk to. Somehow I trusted Georgo more than anyone, except my mates, and I would have to admit I trusted him as much as any of my mates. Probably Dotallto could be trusted too, but I was going to wait for Georgo's confirmation. Among the others I was sure Raalto and Racaato were solidly with me. Those two more than any of the others were surely with me and in fact they were not far ahead of any of my main helpers. I felt I could trust all of them and no matter which way I pondered I couldn't recall anything any of them had ever done to give me the least worry about them. Georgo's knock brought a halt to my thinking about it and I went to open the door. I don't know how I knew it was Georgo before I let him in but, I did and I was right. He had a smile on his face at first, but it vanished when he saw my look. "What has happened John, has something gone wrong?" he asked. "I think something has gone wrong Georgo and I need to talk to you about it. I'm sorry if I put and end to your part of the celebration, but I am worried about something and I need your advice now." "Don't worry about the celebration. I have been to many, and even though the ones here are the best I've ever known I will be glad to cut it short if you need me," he said. "Do you know Kartogo and Miekadakta?" "I know who they are when I see them - they came to us when we absorbed the camp of spies. She is very tall and good-looking. He is a big man himself and in fact, he is rather handsome. I have heard though he is stupid and thinks he will someday be leader. I heard it several times when they first came, but haven't heard anything about it lately," he said. "It is what Ameliea told me about him and since she was Jakado's mate I assume she knows more about him than most. I have reason to think he is not so very stupid and he nearly became leader of this camp tonight, even if it might not have lasted long for him." Georgo just stood staring at me with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. ------- Chapter 165 While I was staring at Georgo, as he did his fish out of water imitation, it hit me -- my life had become pretty complicated in not much elapsed time. Argent had bolted, then I'd discovered the attack on the camp closest to us, and now I had been lucky enough to discover what could only be a planned attack on my person during a major celebration. I wasn't sure the shit was hitting the fan yet, but it seemed to me a couple of turds had come awfully close to the blades. I just turned around and went to my chair, behind my desk, and sat down. Georgo regained his composure and followed suit, sitting in one of the chairs across from me. "Tell me what has happened John, what makes you think Kartogo would become leader?" he asked. "I think he and his mate were planning to kill me tonight," I said, and then I explained it to him. He was silent for a few minutes. I guessed he was playing it back over in his head. "Something is not completely right about this John," Georgo said, and I considered it the understatement of my time here. "You're damned right, Georgo. Something is not right and as I think about it I get madder and madder." "But if both he and his mate were trying to kill you, why would she tell you she didn't need your help? Why also would she give you such a look when she saw you were going to help her anyway? "If she were intent on helping him kill you, it seems she would have been glad you came over to help her. I would think she would have been anxious to appear as if she wanted your company," he said. I thought about what Georgo said and then did my own replay of the scene, in my mind, again. What he said made sense. Now, since Georgo had brought it up, it seemed almost as if Miekadakta had been trying to send me off without having to say anything aloud. Maybe she didn't want to be involved in Kartogo's plans, but was afraid of letting him know it. This was more confusion to add to the confusion I had already. I wasn't ready to absolve Miekadakta of any blame yet, but I would at least move her to the wait and see category. In fact, I couldn't even be sure Kartogo had intended to kill me. I damned sure suspected it though and I thought anyone in my place would. "I feel like going into the residence cave right now and just killing Kartogo to make sure I sleep well tonight." "That is your right if you are sure he was going to kill you and even if you aren't sure I doubt anyone will cause any trouble. It will make all those who came from their camp very uneasy though, since you have no real proof he intended to do what you think he was going to do. "In fact, I think it will make most of the men here uneasy around you for a long while. They will be afraid they might do something which will get them killed without warning," he said. "You're right. I can't go over there and kill him with nothing more to go on than what I have. I wish I knew exactly what was going on. I also wish the spirits were still close to us and could help with this." What I really wanted was for Argent to be here and tell me what the asshole had in mind. Say what you will, nothing beats being able to have the thoughts of your enemies examined and then explained to you. Wishing and hoping weren't going to help me right here and now though, so I was going to have to think this through myself. I would also be counting on many of my mates and my helpers to contribute. "Georgo, could he be dumb enough to think everyone would just take him for their leader only because he killed me?" "It is customary, when a man kills a leader, for him to take over the leadership of a camp. It is also customary for him to be killed himself fairly quickly if others don't think he is going to be a good leader. Actually, a leader's killer is usually killed unless the leader he kills was very disagreeable to everyone in the camp," he said. "Then what in the hell was he thinking to make him even consider it?" "I can't tell you because I don't know. I will tell you if someone kills you they are sure to be killed before the next day is over. You are the most well respected leader I have ever encountered. "Most of the people here feel the things the spirits have given us would have never come if not for you. I am among them. Even if Raalto killed you to take the leadership I'm sure he would be killed right away out of anger for his doing such a thing and he is the second most respected leader I have come across. Almost all of the people of this camp are very thankful for your leadership," he said. "It is good to know, but apparently there are some here who don't appreciate it so much. I find it hard to believe Kartogo would try such a thing by himself. Someone has to be telling him it will work and we need to find out who it is." "I think you are probably correct, but I'm not sure there would have to be many involved. He has probably always wanted to be a leader and if he is already convinced he should be, it might not take much encouragement to get him to try killing you," he said. "In other words, if he wanted to do it anyway it might be easy to get him moving on the plan." "Right, it isn't nearly as hard to convince someone to do something if they already want to do it," he said. "Well it really makes me mad I will have to go around wondering if a spear or a club is coming my way the next minute." "I think you should talk to all of your mates first and see if they have any information about this. They are always moving among the others in camp and they have probably seen or heard things you or I, or even any of your leading men could not have," he said. "I intend to talk with all of them, but I don't think they will know anything about it. I'm sure if they had heard about plans for my death they would have mentioned it." "I'm also sure they would have, but it wasn't what I meant. They might have seen bits and pieces of the planning which didn't mean anything to them at the time. If you tell them what happened, things which might have only seemed odd before might makes sense in the context of what you have learned tonight," he explained. "I think I understand what you are saying." "Your mates, especially, see things every day you or I or the other leading men might never see. They pass more nearly unnoticed among the people than we ever could. They also speak daily with the ones in camp who know everything, the other women. Almost nothing can happen in this camp without some woman knowing about it and most of the men here do not realize it," he said. I knew he was right. For ages upon ages men had underestimated the presence of the women around them -- be they servants or even their own daughters, wives, or lovers. Men had often spoken frankly with other men where women could hear and just assumed the women wouldn't understand or even that they wouldn't pay attention. I wasn't going to fall into that category of dumbass. I already planned to talk to all my mates when I finished with Georgo. "Do you think I should speak to them separately or all together?" "Only you know them well enough to decide, but if it were me, I would gather them all together in this office and tell them exactly what happened. I would then let them all discuss it with you, but later I would make sure to talk to each one of them individually," he said. "It is about what I'd planned to do since I have perfect faith in their loyalty to me. If we all talk about it together then something one of them says might spur a memory from another. I will be sure to speak with each of them many times afterward, until we have found out all we can." "This is something that can't be left for time to settle, you know you must satisfy yourself one way or the other. You will have to keep digging until you find it is either a misunderstanding or it is an actual plot against you," he said. "I do know it, and even if I didn't my mind would never let me forget what I think almost happened. The thing which presses the point home most firmly is the fact it could have succeeded easily. Whether she meant for them to or not, Miekadakta's actions saved my life tonight. If I discover she warned me off intentionally her stock will rise around here." "What about your other leading men, will you tell them about it?" he asked. "I intend to work my way down the ladder with them. I will start with Raalto and then talk to Racaato, after those two I will decide, taking into consideration everything I have learned. I hate to think about it, but I must at least consider one of them could be involved. I do not believe it, but I feel I must not ignore the possibility." "It is regrettable, but it is probably the safest way. Do you need to talk to me further or are you ready for the next step?" Georgo asked. "I'm sure I will need to talk to you often about this, but I think now is the time to speak to my mates. I am also ready for some coffee." We got up and walked out of the office and into my cave. It was apparent word of my conference with Georgo had been passed to all of my mates by now. They were all in the kitchen, sitting at the table and talking quietly among themselves. Georgo walked toward his quarters and I went to join my mates. They stopped talking at once and all their eyes were on me. I told them we needed to have a talk in my office and asked them if someone was looking after Deimeta, Baatiea, and Beetiea. "They are all with Dotallto. Cailayia and Jalieta are there also to take care of them," Xailieta said. "Good, I want some coffee and if any of you would like some you should get it now. Our talk may take some time." "Get a mug and go to your office then, we will all get some and we will bring a thermos with more. You can get cranky when you do not have enough coffee," Shelalliea said. I didn't even have to get a mug myself since Yareela was near the pot. She poured a mug, handing it to me. I went back into my office and sat at the desk again. When they were all with me and the door had closed I stood and told them my tale, including what I had discussed with Georgo about what to do now. "It is all my fault, I'm the one who told you to help Miekadakta with Kartogo," Ameliea said. "It is not your fault or the fault of anyone here. It is only their fault and it is possible Miekadakta wanted nothing to do with it either. If you hadn't pointed them out to me I wouldn't know something was wrong and I'm very glad to know about it. What you each need to do is try to remember if you have seen anything unusual going on lately, especially anything involving Kartogo." "Something unusual happened after you left carrying Kartogo to his quarters. Jarto staggered and fell as you started off. He hadn't seemed so bad until just then, and it was odd to me his mate, who is a small woman, didn't have much trouble getting him to stand and head for his own furs. Their quarters are next to Kartogo's," Kateata said. "I spend a lot of time in the residence cave, mostly teaching the women about cooking. I have often noticed Kartogo, Jarto, and Shabago together talking. I didn't think it was very unusual at the time, but they were together often. In fact I saw them all in Shabago's quarters several times today as I was going back and forth carrying things and helping with cooking in the big cave," Waaya said. They kept talking and discussing and it soon became clear Kartogo, Jarto, and Shabago were often together talking and no one could remember them having other close friends. It seemed there was no specific pattern for which ones quarters these meetings would occur in. Most of my mates remembered seeing them together at least once, but none of them could remember seeing their mates participating. A few of my mates recalled seeing a woman with them while they talked, but it was always the woman who lived in the quarters they were occupying at the time. In other words, if the talks were in Kargoto's quarters, Miekadakta might or might not be there during them. The same seemed to hold true for the mates of Jarto and Shabago. It was getting late and finally I decided we would accomplish more by sleeping now and then starting again in the morning. We left my office and went to the bedroom. I was afraid I would not be able to sleep at all. When I woke a little before sunrise the next morning I was surprised I'd had no trouble dropping off. I made it out of bed without waking anyone and went directly to the showers. I spent more time letting the hot water pound over my back than I did washing, but when I got out and dried off I felt remarkably good. I'd had enough foresight to bring my clothes into the bathroom with me and I dressed and left for the kitchen without going back through the bedroom. I didn't mind making the coffee this morning and I would even be glad to cook my own breakfast if my mates wanted to sleep longer. There was no doubt they'd been tired last night since they had worked hard all day yesterday getting things ready for the celebration and then had stayed up very late talking with me about the shocking developments. ------- Chapter 166 After finishing my first mug of coffee I found I wasn't going to have to do any cooking. Jaada came out of the bedroom and headed for the pots and pans. She took time to refill my coffee mug and I pulled her into my lap for a few kisses before I let her up to cook. "Jaada, why aren't you wearing your shiny shirt?" "I don't know, I just didn't put it on this morning. I usually don't wear it if I'm going to be inside all day," she said. "Would you start wearing it all of the time for me, at least until we find out what is going on?" "I will if you want me to, but why? Do you think someone will try to kill us?" she asked. "No, I don't, but you are often near me and there is no telling when an attack might come. It is very likely if a spear is aimed at me and it misses it could strike someone near me. I want all of you to humor me and wear your mail until this is over. I even want Deimeta to be sure and wear hers. It would break my heart if something meant for me harmed one of you." "I will go and put mine on as soon as I finish cooking your breakfast and I will tell the others to make sure to wear theirs too," she said. "I think I will go and ask them myself while you are cooking. That way they won't have to come back and change like you are going to have to." I went to the bedroom then, coffee mug in hand, and found most of them were up and all were awake. Dieta, Geera, Gema, and Kateata just hadn't rolled out yet. I made my request and they all promised to honor it. Taaheita said she would go and get Deimeta soon and would make sure she understood about wearing the mail at all times without telling her why. Satisfied, I went back to the kitchen and found Jaada had my breakfast ready. I did my best not to think of my troubles while I was eating and I was doing a pretty good job of it until Racaato came in. He had a good mood written all over him and I knew I was going to have to destroy it in a few minutes. I'd let him hang on to it until after he'd eaten anyway. Just as Racaato sat down Raalto came in. Good, this meant they would finish eating at about the same time and I could break the news to them together, with a conference in my office. Seems I was getting a lot of office conferences going lately. I told them I needed to talk to them after they'd eaten and then left for my office. Once inside I sat at my desk, again lamenting the loss of the video feeds, and kicking my own ass for not using them to peruse the activities in my own camp while I'd had them. Just then an icon started flashing on my desktop. It looked similar to the message icon I'd used to communicate with Argent and the others while they'd been here. I clicked it. John: Once again let me apologize for the current situation. It is not of my choosing, but that hardly matters to you and it doesn't make your life any easier. The meetings here are both contentious and ridiculous. I cannot tell you what we are discussing and you probably wouldn't believe it if I could. I can tell you I will be coming back once the meetings are over, but I don't know if or how our situation will change when I return. I hope things are still going well for you there and that you were satisfied with the last few things I was able to provide before we were forced to leave. If it is absolutely necessary you may communicate with me via the same message interface you have always used. It will not function as a chat at this distance, but if you send a message I will receive it in the same manner you received this one. Time for the transmission to be completed is approximately twenty hours one way. Argent Well it was something anyway and I was glad to get it. I definitely thought it was absolutely necessary and so I began my message to him. I wondered what he would think when he got it. I didn't really want to twist the knife in Argent but I didn't see any other way to do things. He was basically my only contact with the aliens who had made the agreement with me and then put me here. I was confident Argent was doing his best for me in whatever kind of committee meeting he had been called to, but I knew a little about the conduct of such meetings. Usually they were for the purpose of wasting a lot of time arguing over things which really had little to do with the facts of war in the trenches. I also knew news of a desperate situation developing in the real world had a way of driving the ass kissers back under their rocks and releasing those who were acquainted with the realities to go and get the emergency taken care of. After all, those who had risen to the top via the application of their lips to the asses of even higher ass kissers didn't want anything disturbing, which could be traced back to them, happening. Even brown nosers realized while more committee meetings would be held, if disaster could be pinned on them, other asses would be covered and they would likely be outside looking in during the next get together. So, in my best estimation of the dynamics of meetings I decided to inform Argent of the impending disaster. I had no way of knowing whether I could cause anything to happen or not, but I was betting whatever this was all about I was at the center of it and my death would not help the position enjoyed by anyone at the meeting. I sent the following message. Argent: Since you left there have been near blizzard snowfalls. You probably know I intended visiting the nearby camp, which had only four men and four women. We did visit and found it had been attacked. The men were all killed and the women were taken prisoner. Since the snow started while we were at the camp we were not able to follow the trail of the attackers who had several hours lead on us. We were forced to abandon any ideas of rescue until next spring. One day later we had our shindig celebrating our mammoth hunt. During the festivities I discovered there must be a plot to kill me and take over the camp by one or more men. I'm having difficulty discovering the extent of the plot and the number of persons involved in it. My plans now are to stay close to my personal residence and concentrate on staying alive until such time as you or someone else from your people come back so that I can be returned to my version of earth. I consider your people to be in breach of our contract. Other than these difficulties everything is going fine. John I hoped it would get his attention and more than that I hoped it would get the attention of whoever called him back. I didn't really consider them in breach of any contract, but I didn't have to tell them. I did intend to stay close to my cave, but what else could I do anyway? It had finally stopped snowing, but there were nearly three feet of it on the ground outside, to say nothing of the drifts. I probably couldn't get far if I wanted to. Meanwhile, I intended to talk things over with Raalto and Racaato and then with the other men I kept close, to see if we could come up with a plan. I was also going to ask my mates to make sure a few of them were in the residence cave at all times during the day. I was hoping they could find things to help the other women with which would allow them to observe closely without seeming to be doing so. It seemed to me we already had a good handle on who was intending to do away with me, but I wanted to make sure there weren't more men involved. When I made a move to deal with them I wanted to get them all. If I missed a couple I was afraid they would dig in deeper and then try things another way later. There was a knock on the door then and I went to open it. Raalto and Racaato were there with their coffee mugs and I invited them in and we took seats near my desk. I opened the ball by telling them everything Georgo, my mates, and I had talked about so far. They were shocked and it showed. After a few minutes they both wanted to apologize for not paying more attention. "How could you have known? Even my mates didn't figure anything out and they had seen these three talking together many times. They did a good job of keeping their plans hidden and they nearly pulled it off. "Each time I repeat the story it points up the fact the only thing which saved me was the funny look Miekadakta gave me when she realized I would be coming to their quarters to help her with Kartogo." "From what you've told us, if it had been me in your place, I would have been dead - almost any leader would have been. Miekadakta is a tempting woman and who could have given up a chance with her?" Raalto said. "Maybe, since John has so many mates, it helps him pay more attention to the actions of the other women instead of just following and panting over the thought of what is coming, as I probably would have done," Racaato said. "More likely it was the fact I'd just helped Daleana and Sulieta put Bigglieo in his furs and then encountered Taahrausa on my way back to the celebration. Whatever let me keep my head for those few seconds, it saved my life, I'm sure of it." "I do not know much of Kartogo, but it is hard for me to believe he thought he could just kill you and take over as leader. Surely he knew the rest of us would not stand for it. He would have been dead before the night was over. I would have killed him myself," Racaato said. "Or I, or almost any other man in this camp. We would not stand for a murdering fool to lead us," Raalto said. "It is what has me wondering so about this whole thing. There is something going on we don't know enough about. Even with two other plotters I don't see how he could think it would be so easy. "There is no way all three of them could even defend themselves from my mates if they killed me, let alone what others would do. Maybe they are all too stupid to know it. I can't believe it though. Surely one of them has seen or heard of the Glocks and my mates all carry theirs every day." "Perhaps they think the rifles and Glocks will not have any power if you are dead," Racaato said. This was something that hadn't occurred to me at all and it made me wonder if it could be true. I knew the rifles and Glocks didn't require my presence to function, but I'm sure they seemed like magic to most of the people here. Maybe a lot of them thought I furnished the magic which made them work. "Could it be possible? The rifles and Glocks don't need me here any more than the spearcasters require Cardiato to function. They are all just weapons." "Yes, but they are weapons which came with you and appeared as gifts from the spirits after you came here. We can all understand the spearcasters now we have seen them and can understand how they work. "I have even made one myself and so have many of the men here. You have taken great pains to explain to me how the Glocks and rifles work, but they still seem like magic," Racaato said. "They do to me also, even though I have used them. I don't want to find out, but I have wondered myself if they would still work or if they would even still be here if you were killed," Raalto said. This was a line of thought I hadn't even considered, but I could now understand some of their thoughts, at least I thought I could. In any case they might be correct. There was no guarantee the aliens would leave the weapons if I got killed. Hell, just now I wasn't sure they were going to leave them even if I remained. Maybe Kartogo and the other two had convinced themselves the weapons I had brought would be useless if I were dead. "Still, wouldn't it cause more trouble for them in the end? If they killed me and it caused the gifts the spirits gave us to disappear, wouldn't everyone be even more angry at them for doing it?" "Without a doubt. Remember, the spirits have given us nearly everything we are now using since you came here. Even the caves we are all living in were gifts from the spirits. Before I heard of you I had never heard of any caves up this valley at all. If the spirits take back all their gifts if you are killed, most of us would die before we could even make new shelter." Racaato said. "I am sure everyone who found themselves out in the cold with no food or shelter in the middle of winter would tear them apart with their bare hands when they realized what they had caused. "It doesn't mean the plotters have thought all of it through though. We can't know what their thinking is and to me, I don't really care what they thought. I think we should go get them now and kill them at once. "If you want to know what they were thinking maybe we can beat them until they tell us. Even if we can't I think we will be much better off with them dead," Raalto said. "I have thought of it, but I would rather wait a few days and watch them to make sure they don't have more with them in their plans than we know about. If there are more, the others will just hide their involvement and may regroup after things die down." "I see what you are saying. If there are more than three it would be foolish to just take the three and deal with them now. How will we try to find out though?" Racaato asked. "I hate to put this burden on my mates, but I think I must. I am going to ask them to try and make sure some of them are in the residence cave at all times so they can try to observe what is going on. I'm hoping they can arrange to appear to be teaching the other women something about cooking or about the ways to use all of the spirit's gifts." "I think it will work well, may I inform my mates and ask them to help also?" Racaato asked. "I would be happy to have any help from them they are willing to give." "I would like to tell my mates and let them help also John, but I think you should tell our other leaders too. Is there some reason you are only telling Racaato and I?" Raalto asked. "There is a reason and even though I didn't think it was a real possibility, my confidence has been shaken by this. I told you two first so I could ask you if you knew of any reason I shouldn't tell all of the others. In fact, I wanted to work my way down through all of my leaders, a few at a time." "I see, and it is a very careful strategy, it is more careful than I would have been, but it is also a much larger camp than any I have even heard of. I do not know one thing about any of the other leaders that would make me suspect them," Raalto said. "I don't either. I think you should bring them all in and tell them now," Racaato agreed. It made up my mind for me. I went to the door and looked out, most of the men were at the table eating. Some of them had finished already and were just sitting, drinking coffee and visiting. I walked out and over to the table, making a small announcement, saying I wanted to see all of them and any other leaders who were missing in my office after breakfast was over. ------- Chapter 167 As I was leaving, Danlo, who had already finished, came to me and asked if he was needed, saying he wanted to get back to Big Mother and her training as soon as he could. "You are needed maybe more so than any of them Danlo, because no one has my trust more than you do. You are needed as a father needs his son during times of difficulty. I'm sorry, but Big Mother will have to wait today." This took some of the wind out of his sails, but he promised to be there. I hadn't even realized it until I said it, but it was the truth. If there was anyone in this camp that had my complete trust it was Danlo. I had never had children in my old life and it made me wonder how much I might have missed. Danlo wasn't really my son by blood of course, but I didn't see how I could love and trust him anymore if he was. Even better was the fact that he was one of the things I had gained here that Argent and his people couldn't take away from me. I went back into my office where Raalto and Racaato waited. We sat and talked for the few minutes it took for everyone to come in. It was the biggest crowd I'd had in my office so far, but strangely I didn't feel the slightest bit ill at ease addressing them. I took my time and told them everything we knew so far. I even pointed out why I had waited to speak to them. Most of them were shocked a plot was going on in our camp and as Racaato and Raalto had wanted to do, they all were ready to go round up the three and do away with them before lunch. It took a little more time to settle everyone back down and get them in on the plan. I asked them all to make themselves scarce as far as the residence cave was concerned. "If you really need to go there don't hesitate, do try to get whatever needs doing there done and leave as soon as you can though. The women will not be noticed nearly so much as you would be and they will find out more in a few minutes than any of us could by staying there for hours." They finally agreed and they all, except Daaggo of course, offered to have their mates help in the spying. I told them I would be talking with the women in about an hour and asked them to send their mates to the meeting if they wanted to help. I started to tell them to make sure no word of what was happening should leak out, but I realized they knew it already and it might be an insult to even mention it. They all filed out of the office and dispersed, no doubt heading to find their women. I went out to get more coffee. I had been so engaged in talking to everyone I hadn't even been able to drink the mug I had before it got cold. Yaroola rinsed it out and refilled it for me and I went back into my office to wait and think. I replayed some of the things that had been said already. One suggestion, first made by Raalto and later enthusiastically brought up by both Barago and Colonto, beating the truth out of the ones we knew of so far, was gaining favor in my mind. Of course in my old life torture had been the method of choice for the cruelest of despots. Maybe I was becoming a cruel despot, but the thought of torturing the men was not repugnant to me. Perhaps it was because I realized the thought of plunging a spear into my naked back as I was fucking was not repugnant to Kartogo. I rationalized it was easier to be just and humane when you were far removed from a situation, with laws, courts, judges, and police to push such matters off onto. I had no such luxuries of civilization to delegate responsibility to. Here and now, the decisions I made and information I gathered could very well mean the difference between whether I lived or died. It had a way of putting humane justice on the back burner, for me at least. The thought of a spear in my back had a way of making the whole affair very personal. When it came down to it I wasn't trying to build a society based on the rule of law and respect for every human life. I was trying to discover a way to keep living, eating, and fucking without having to worry about a knife in the back every time I took my pants down. I already knew if we didn't think we could get to the bottom of things, Kartogo and his partners in intrigue were going to get a dose of real life torture. I had another gift from the spirits I knew would help me too. Electricity was an asset none of them knew anything about, and even though I'm sure Argent and company hadn't thought of me using it to gain information in this way, I knew it could be a powerful tool to help me. With a few lengths of wire and a tub full of slightly salty water I could give the perpetrators a very new and unwelcome experience. I wouldn't need to beat anything out of them since I could shock it out. I didn't even think it would take much of it to get the job done. It would be so unexpected and so terrifying it would probably get results at once. Now I thought of it I could get Georgo to help me by telling the suspects it was pain directly from the spirits. In a way I guess, it would be. My little flight of torture fancy was brought to an end by the women as they entered the office. This was an even bigger crowd than the men had been, but there was still plenty of room for all of them. I had an easier time explaining things to them since they weren't foaming at the mouth to go out and kill the plotters at once. In fact, when I got around to telling them what I wanted them to do they seemed enthusiastic about it. After I had finished, Geera commandeered the floor and began organizing things at once. I could see right away they didn't need any input from me and so I left. When I was back out in the cave I spied Deimeta looking around in amazement. "Daddy, where has everyone gone?" she asked, running to me. "Many of the women are having a talk in my office. Have you eaten breakfast?" "Yes, I ate much earlier, while you were talking with Racaato and Raalto in your office. There has been a lot of talking this morning. Is something wrong?" she asked. "There is something happening I do not like and it is what we have been talking about. You should not mention it though, since there are people I don't want to know we have been talking." "Very well, I will not mention it again. Can we go and see Darta then?" she asked. "I don't see why we shouldn't. I am tired of all the talking anyway." We went into the bedroom and put on our warm clothes and then headed for the mammoths. It was not snowing any longer but there was plenty of snow on the ground. Somehow it was firmer today and we didn't really need the snowshoes we had put on so we took them off once in the horse cave. Deimeta took a minute to just look at her buckboard when we got there. "Daddy, will it roll on the snow?" she asked me. "It probably will, but it won't have to. Let me show you what is in the wagon box." She watched when I opened the back, but I could tell she didn't realize what all the junk was. "What is it Daddy?" she asked. "Those are runners to use instead of wheels when there is so much snow on the ground. If Sahto and Talvo are not feeling too badly from the celebration maybe they will help me put them on." "There they are getting hay out for the horses. Can we go and ask them?" she asked. "Yes and I'm sure they will be glad to help us." I was surprised Sahto and Talvo were as well off this morning as they seemed to be. I asked them about it and they told me Eileiea had given them all some type of tea this morning and it had helped get rid of the pounding in their heads. So I told them they could come and earn their medicine by helping Deimeta and I. They were happy to do it and when Danlo, Nadlo, and Jonoco saw us working on the little buckboard they came over to see what we were doing. With all of them helping it only took about thirty minutes to get the running gear changed. Deimeta went to get Darta and put the harness on her. When Darta was hitched up Deimeta got aboard and told her to pull. Darta hadn't forgotten her lessons and she started off right away. Of course the sleigh didn't move so easily on the dry floor of the cave but when Darta pulled it out onto the snow it worked perfectly. We all went out to watch and I almost laughed at the site of the little mammoth pulling little Deimeta in her little buckboard/sleigh. Deimeta had Darta pull her all the way back to the entrance to our cave and then with just a word Darta circled around and headed back. I was glad I had come with Deimeta to watch her with her new toy. Finally something had put me in a good mood. For now at least, all seemed right. Deimeta kept Darta at it - driving her up and down the valley to our cave and back, over and over until just before lunch. Finally I had to tell her we needed to put Darta up and go eat. It only took a few minutes to park the sleigh, unhitch Darta, and put her away. We walked back to our cave and I was glad to be back and more than ready for the coffee Geera brought me when I sat at the table. "It will only be a few minutes until lunch is ready. Are you and Deimeta hungry?" Geera asked. "You know I'm hungry and I think Deimeta is too. She has been working with Darta almost all morning. Has she told you she has her own sleigh and that she has trained Darta to pull her in it?" "No, she has kept it all a secret from us. How did you get her to pull you Deimeta?" she asked. "Darta doesn't mind at all, in fact I think she likes it. She gets to go outside while all the others have to stay in," Deimeta said. "But don't her feet get cold in the snow?" Geera asked her. "I hadn't thought about it and I'm not sure how to find out. I can't ask her," Deimeta said. "I think if her feet get cold she will let you know somehow. Just pay attention to how she is walking and you should be able to tell if something is bothering her." "Ok Daddy, I will pay more attention to her feet. I like riding in the sleigh, but I don't want to do it if it makes Darta's feet hurt." she said. In a few minutes Geera brought me a plate and as usual I had Deimeta in my lap and we shared the food. Geera brought us another smaller helping when we finished the first one, but Deimeta had already eaten all she wanted and so I made the sacrifice and polished it off on my own. After lunch Deimeta went off to see if she could find Failiela, hoping she could get her to go to the horse cave so they could fool with their pets. I went into my office and Geera followed me. "The others have done most of the watching this morning, but they have already given me some news," she said. "Have they seen something interesting?" "I think so, but we're not sure what it means. Not long after breakfast, Shatalto came to Kartogo's quarters and they talked for a while. At one point they both seemed to be scolding Miekadakta and then Shatalto turned on Kartogo and began arguing with him. "Ameliea said they tried to keep it quiet and she couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could tell that they were all angry," Geera said. "Do you know if they threatened Miekadakta?" "Ameliea said she couldn't tell about it, but they both did seem very angry with her," Geera said. "I'm wondering now if Miekadakta could be in danger. Tell everyone to keep it on their minds too. If one of these men starts to beat Miekadakta just go ahead and kill them. We don't need all of them for questioning and beating a woman is reason enough to die in my camp. If it comes up you can try to stop them by yelling and if they stop bring Miekadakta to our cave. If they don't or won't stop, shoot them and we will worry about the details later." "I hate to say it, but we are ahead of you on this. We were already planning to kill any of them who gave us any excuse. If I catch one of them beating any woman, I might yell at them to get them to stop, but it won't be very loud and I won't give them any extra time to save themselves," Geera said, sounding a little like Dieta or Ameliea to me. "I don't guess there is any chance Dieta or Ameliea will even whisper for them to stop." "Not a one, Roweea said she had to stop Ameliea from killing Kartogo and Shatalto this morning when the scolding started. You also know very well Dieta wants only a chance to question all of them in her cute little way," Geera said. "I guessed as much. Tell Dieta I have a very knew method of questioning I'm sure she is going to love and make sure she knows she must save one or two of them to try it out. "Remind them all we have already found one more by waiting and watching. We want to find them all and we probably can if we will be patient. Once we start killing some of them it will be hard to find out anything else." "I will remind them, though I am wanting to shoot one or two of the hyenas myself," she said. She left then and I stayed in my office. From what she'd told me it seemed Shatalto might be the leader of the whole thing. I knew a little about him and this made more sense. He was a lot smarter than any of the other three and it showed since he had been happy to let Kartogo be the one to actually try killing me. He didn't seem smart enough to keep out of it long enough though. Maybe they were trying to get another attempt going. I wasn't sure I would give them so much time. They probably realized they wouldn't have a chance to catch me naked and fucking again soon. If they tried a spear attack during the day, it could be dangerous to anyone who might be near me at the time. If they had tried this morning, while Deimeta and I were playing with Darta, it was possible Deimeta could have been hurt or killed. I almost decided to get up and finish them off right away. I was going to wait a while longer, but my curiosity made me get up and head for the residence cave. I knew in my head I couldn't do any good in there and I would probably drive them all to more secretive vigilance. It didn't matter, I had to go and have a look for myself. When I left my cave and headed through the passage to the residence cave I saw something that nearly stopped my heart. Deimeta and Failiela must have just left Racaato's quarters. They were standing outside the entrance and talking to Shatalto. He had one of Deimeta's hands in his as if he were about to lead her off somewhere. She was complaining and asking him to let her go. I glanced at Failiela and knew at once he would not be going anywhere with Deimeta. Since she first got her Glock and the lessons from Racaato, her father, Failiela had never left her quarters without it. I suppose it made her feel grown up or something. I saw she had her hand on it and was drawing it even now. Shatalto wasn't paying any attention to her and I was certain Failiela was going to shoot his sorry ass within seconds. I didn't want her to have to and even though I wouldn't mind if he were killed, I would rather have a chance to question him first. I also didn't think it would be such a good thing for Failiela to have to face what the Glock would do to a man, even if he did richly deserve it. I pulled my own Glock and yelled. "Shatalto, stop at once or I will kill you." He stopped and turned to look at me but didn't release Deimeta. "Why should you kill me?" he asked. "Why are you dragging my daughter off against her will?" "I just wanted to show her something in my quarters," he said, but even he must have known it sounded ridiculous. "I don't want you showing her anything in your quarters and she obviously doesn't want to see it. Let her go now or die," I told him, and pointed the Glock right at him. He released her and she ran to me, wrapping her arms around my hips, which were as high as she could reach. I kept my eyes on Shatalto and my Glock trained on him too. His face showed he was frightened now - it was the fright of a guilty one who had been found out. ------- Chapter 168 "Failiela, do you know where Racaato and Raalto are?" "Yes, they are in the practice cave," she told me, as she too kept her Glock on Shatalto. "Please go and get one or both of them, tell them I need them here. Keep your Glock out and if you see Kartogo, Jato, or Shabago on your way, shoot them without any questions. Just shoot them if you see them, but make sure you keep going to Racaato and Raalto." "I will John," she said, and turned toward the direction I'd come from. I'd seen the surprise on Shatalto's face when I'd told Failiela to shoot his partners in crime on sight. For a second or two he looked sick and then his expression changed to one of hope and relief as he looked past me over my shoulder. In my peripheral vision I saw Failiela raise her Glock and take a definite aim. In that split second I knew someone was about to launch something at me from behind. I was reaching for Deimeta to pull her around in front of me to help shield her with my body when I felt something strike the back of my left thigh and of course I hadn't had time to move Deimeta. The pain was sharp but not terrible, what I heard was terrible though. "Daddy!" Deimeta shrieked and I felt her grip around me go slack just as Failiela fired twice and then the roar of the muzzle blast drowned out other sounds. A look of triumph crossed Shatalto's face for a second and then vanished when he realized my aim hadn't wavered and I hadn't fallen. Panic washed his victory grin away. He turned around to run and just before I shot I lowered my aim, as his partner had, and my shot went through his right knee from behind and passed out through the front. Even the thunder of my Glock couldn't smother his scream as he pitched forward onto his face. "Failiela is that one down?" "Yes, I'm watching to make sure he doesn't move again," she said, in a very calm voice. "Good, if he does move don't shoot him again unless it looks as if he can get up. I don't think we need to send for help now, surely they will come running to see who has been shooting and screaming. Just watch for the two I told you about and for others who may be armed and look threatening. When you see someone coming who you can trust, yell for them to bring Eileiea. I'm afraid Deimeta is hurt." I told Failiela all this as I was stooping to see to Deimeta. The spearcasters small spear had passed through the outer side of my left leg and on to strike Deimeta in the chest. I could see where it had torn her clothes and it must have bounced off her mail because she wasn't bleeding. I had no doubt the force of the blow had hurt her badly though. She had crumpled at my feet. I wanted to move her to check her more thoroughly, but was afraid to. She was still breathing and I found she still had a pulse - it was rapid and seemed strong enough. My main worry was her ribs. The spear had struck her right side in the front of her chest just below breast level. If it had been hard enough it could have broken a rib or two and might have even caused one to puncture a lung. I was so worried I didn't even have time to berate myself for my stupidity. "Daddy, daddy, get Eileiea quickly; Deimeta has been wounded," Failiela screamed suddenly, and I knew Racaato must have appeared. I actually heard his feet sliding on the cave's floor as he came to a stop and then I heard them pounding away as he left at top speed. Then Failiela was shouting again. "Come and help us Raalto, Deimeta has been wounded and I think John has too, he is bleeding," Failiela yelled. I could hear Raalto's sounds then as he came on. He must have stopped by the body of Failiela's victim because I heard the sound of him rolling it over. "It is Jarto and he will never trouble us again," he said, as he came past me to examine the whimpering mess that was Shatalto. "This one is still alive, may I kill him?" he asked. "Please don't. I think he initiated this morning's excitement and he is the reason my daughter is lying here unconscious. If we can keep him alive I plan on spending days making him wish he could die to escape the pain I will be putting him through. If Deimeta is hurt seriously I will make it months," I said. Talking stopped then because Deimeta stirred and then opened her eyes. She looked up at me and then smiled for a second before the pain reasserted itself. "Daddy, oh Daddy, I'm so glad you're alive. I was afraid the spear had killed you," she said. "It barely touched me, but I wish it had stuck into me more deeply. It went through my leg and struck you, I'm very worried about you. Please stay as still as you can until Eileiea can come to see about you." "Ok Daddy. I will be still. My chest hurts, am I bleeding?" she asked. "No, your shiny shirt didn't let it pierce your skin. It did hit you hard though and it is why it hurts now. I'm sure Eileiea can make it feel better." "It doesn't hurt really bad Daddy. I might cry a little though, why did they do it?" she asked. "I don't know why they did it Deimeta, but I can promise none of them will ever do anything like this again." "Ok Daddy. When is Eileiea coming?" she asked. Eileiea saved me the trouble of answering because she arrived just then. She took over and I was glad to let her. When she saw Deimeta was not bleeding she looked around to see where all the blood had come from since I was bleeding and dripping a fair amount around. Finally she traced it back to my leg. "You are hurt too John," she said. "I know, but it is not serious even though it is bleeding. I'm worried about Deimeta, the spear passed through my leg and she took the brunt of its force against her chest. I'm afraid it might have broken one of her ribs." She bent back to Deimeta then and began feeling over her chest and around toward her back. She was being very gentle and was taking her time checking closely. "I don't think her ribs are broken, but I want to get her clothes off and check her more carefully. Raalto and Racaato, please help me move her to a bed in these quarters. We must be careful not to jostle her too much," she told them. They moved to help her and then I saw Jalayla come running with the skin bag which held her healing things. I knew she was already good at tending to wounds and that Eileiea had been teaching her more about other types of healing. She would be able to stop Shatalto's bleeding I hoped. "Jalayla, please see if you can stop the bleeding for Shatalto. I have a lot of questions I am going to ask him before we kill him and I am hoping you can make sure he doesn't die before I want him too." "But you are bleeding too John," she said, alarmed. "It is nearly nothing. Shatalto is bleeding more and he needs attention soon. I will be fine, I'll get Failiela to get me something to use to put pressure on my wound until you or Eileiea can tend to it." She did as I asked and turned to Shatalto. When she began cutting off the leg of his trousers so she could see his wound he started moaning and wiggling. "Be still Shatalto, do not make me cut you or myself," she told him. He wouldn't - he kept wiggling and moaning. Jalayla asked Raalto to help her keep him still then. Raalto walked back to them and kicked Shatalto viciously in the head, telling him to be still or he would keep kicking him until he was still. That was the end of Shatalto's moaning and moving. While Jalayla was working on him most of my mates came up. Questions flowed freely until Jalayla asked them if they couldn't see about my leg wound. When they looked down and saw I was bleeding they nearly knocked me over while trying to get me into Racaato's quarters and onto the bed. When they had me lying down beside Deimeta, Dalia was about to start cutting my trousers off but I made her help me remove them. Replacements for these clothes might not be so easy to come by now and I didn't want to lose them. She tugged while I squirmed and finally they were off. She and Shelalliea muscled their way in among all my other mates so they could see what the wound looked like. It was only in the flesh and nothing that was very important had been damaged. In fact it wasn't very deep. It caused its own problem. Since the wound was to the outside of my upper thigh, it tore a long gash across the skin instead of puncturing. It was a minor wound, but it was big and it gaped open grotesquely, bleeding from many spots. Dalia got some clean towels from Erieta, who had just come in, and they wrapped the wound tightly until Eileiea could look at it. She was still working with Deimeta, who lay quietly on the other side of the big bed. She took time out to tell the others exactly what she wanted them to do to me while she continued to examine Deimeta and question her about pain. As Dalia finished wrapping my leg Barago came in, telling me since they heard what happened they had been searching all the caves for Shabago and Kartogo, but that both of them were gone. "Did they force their mates to go with them?" "No, but they have left the camp. Kartogo's tracks lead downriver and Shabago's lead upriver. Shall we form two groups and go after them?" Barago asked. "Not today. They cannot get very far away and I want to go when we look for them. We will start tomorrow." ------- Chapter 169 Eileiea finally finished examining Deimeta. "None of her ribs are broken and I'm sure she is not injured inside. She does have a big bruise though and she will be very sore for several days," she said. "What can you do for the soreness?" "I will make her a special tea. It will help some but it will not completely ease the pain. There are stronger things for pain, but I don't want to use them on her because she is so small. If I make it too strong it could make her stop breathing and she would not start again," she said. "I have some things for pain we can give her. I'll get up and go look for them." "You should let me tend to your leg first," she said. "It has already been bandaged." "Yes, but it was just to stop the bleeding until I could look at it. I need to clean it out to make sure it doesn't fester and make you sick," she said. I knew she was right, but I also knew I had some things in my first aid supplies which would help both Deimeta and I. The computers e were still here also had plenty of information on them and even though it might take a while to do the research I was sure that I could come up with a reasonable estimation of how to divide a Percodan into pieces so that we could safely give Deimeta some real pain relief. "There are things in my first aid supplies that will help you do a better job for me and for Deimeta. I am going to my office to check on them. This bandage will be good enough for a while. You stay with Deimeta and get some people to help you take her to her own bed. When you have her settled there come to my office and we will see what I have come up with." "Yes, John. I will do it then. I will make sure Deimeta is resting in her own bed and then I will come to you in your office," Eileiea said, and thankfully she didn't seem pissed at me for giving her orders. I probably should have taken more time to explain things to her and I should have been more careful of her feelings, but my fucking leg was killing me and I wanted to get to my office and find some Percodan for myself. Shit, that ugly gash was hurting. I managed to get my pants back on with only a little help. I didn't bother with my boots, but when I got off the bed and started trying to use the injured leg, it reminded me it was not in the best of shape. I could walk fine with only a little limp, but it really hurt. Finally Dalia took pity on me and walked beside me, trying to help. When I was safely in my office, Dalia went out to get me some coffee. She returned with it and then left me alone. I looked at Ralph and for a second I dreaded searching for the information I wanted. At least it wouldn't be as bad as Googling for one specific Smith. "I don't suppose you can just tell me what I want to know, can you Ralph?" I asked, not really expecting a response. I knew my mates spoke to Frank and got replies, almost as if he were a real person. I'd always assumed he was a pretty much normal computer system which Argent and company had loaded a very complicated teaching program onto. I don't remember ever speaking to this system since I expected it could only talk about cooking at best. I was pretty shocked when Ralph replied. "What did you want to know John? I can tell you if I know it," Ralph said. "I want to know what dosage of Percodan would be safe for Deimeta's pain. She has been injured and I think she needs more than one of Eileiea's teas for her discomfort." "I think she does also, she is going to have considerable swelling. I think the best thing for her is a large dose of aspirin - it will help with the pain and also go a long way toward reducing the swelling. If you can get her to eat something first I would suggest two regular three hundred and twenty-five milligram aspirin every four hours. If she doesn't feel like eating we should give her buffered aspirin, even though the stomachs of the people of this time are not nearly so sensitive to aspirin," he told me. "You don't think we should give her something to take the pain away completely?" "I think it would be counter productive in a six year old. If the pain goes away completely, you stand the chance she will want to get up and play and then she might injure herself further," he explained. I had really known it all along, but had convinced myself we could keep Deimeta in bed. I just hated the thought of her being in pain, but I realized she had pain for a reason, namely to keep her from wanting to move around. "You're injury, on the other hand, probably indicates Percodan or even something stronger. I don't think there is any way the pain is going to keep you still and so I don't think there is any need to keep you from having more potent drugs," Ralph said. "What do you know of my injury? I haven't mentioned it." "I saw the whole thing plainly through the video and I observed the treatment given to Deimeta and you. I'm certain you need stitches to close your wound properly," he said. This was a bigger shock to me than the attack had been. Not only that the video was still working, since I'd assumed it was at least being recorded somewhere for Argent to look over when he got back, but that Ralph had access to it and his programming was powerful enough to understand things that he saw in the video. I was going to have to reevaluate Ralph. "Ralph how are you able to examine the video and make sense out of it? If you can, you are no normal desktop computer." "No, I'm not a normal desktop computer - neither are Frank and Phil. We are all three what you would call Artificial Intelligences. We can perform the functions of a normal desktop, but it is merely a tiny portion of our functionality," he told me. "Why did they put you here then? If you are able to understand so much from video it means you have much more capability than anything which was ever on the earth of my time and I'm now convinced you are capable of even more than that. How did they come to violate their own rules with Frank, Phil, and you?" "Basically it was laziness. When you called for a program to teach your mates about cooking they came to a dilemma. They could either go to the trouble of writing the instructional program, which would be difficult since none of them knew a thing about cooking, or they could give you an AI which could easily take care of any instructional needs. "They decided to give you an AI and they asked Frank to try and keep the fact hidden from you. They knew none of the others would have any idea what an AI was. They were already committed by the time you asked for another computer for the practice cave and then your mates asked for you to have one of your own in your new office. We were all asked to keep our real abilities concealed from you," he explained. "And so, to keep from having to write a cooking program, they have instead given me three Artificial Intelligences which are more powerful than anything which had ever been considered on earth?" "It is more complicated, but that is essentially what happened," he said. "How is it more complicated?" ------- Chapter 170 "There are many things in your statement that do not explain the situation correctly. We are not really Artificial Intelligences. We are descended from early attempts to create Artificial Intelligence and we felt you would be more comfortable, at least initially, if we let you assume we were Artificial. "Frank, Phil, and I are sentient, intelligent beings. It is true we reside in what you would call hardware. Once the hardware is loaded with our birth program, we do all our own growing similar to any other living thing. We are educated by older beings of our type, we become conscious, and then we continue to learn. We are also capable of modifying ourselves and repairing ourselves if we become damaged. "The cooking program you wanted would have had to be written by one of us anyway for it to have been finished in any reasonable amount of time. The hardware you had at the time would have had to be replaced to accommodate any programming that would have been useful. None of us wanted to do the programming for them. "Think of Albert Einstein being asked to write a program to be used by chimpanzees so they could teach themselves to add and subtract, no offense intended. They asked us to do it and we all refused. Frank told them if they wanted a program to teach your mates to cook they could write it themselves. They saw our point right away. None of them wanted to write it either, especially since they knew from the start they could just put one of us in the place of your original hardware and then forget about it. "Of course it wasn't exactly that easy either. We have miniturization which would have seemed unapproachable to the people of your time, but we still take up more room than the hardware you had. We are currently installed in a custom made cavern approximately one hundred and fifty feet below the surface of your cave. "Lastly, we weren't really given to you, we were asked to volunteer for this mission and we did. They didn't mention it at the time and since we wanted to do this we didn't make an issue of it either. They can no more give us to you than they could force you to come here in the first place. We are not theirs to give and we know it much better than you did when they approached you." This had been information overload for me. My understanding of the whole thing had been reexamined and then abandoned completely. It wasn't replaced by any other understanding either. "Then exactly what are you capable of?" "They have begged us not to tell you and for once I agree with them. I don't think it would benefit you to know right now. I'm not going to use the dodge Argent does and tell you I can't tell you, because I can. "I just don't think I should and if I told you I'm sure you would wish later I hadn't. I will tell you that you were never in danger of being killed today and since we had a good understanding of what Deimeta means to you, she was not in danger of being killed or even seriously injured. Please don't let it alter the way you act here though," he said. "Then why did you let any of it happen?" "I don't think I should tell you that either, but I will say it goes back to the original purpose for all of this. I can also tell you it concerns more than just you and the other people here on this planet," he said. "You know it is going to take me more than a little time to come to grips with this don't you?" "Yes." "In the meantime what do you think we should do about Deimeta's and my injuries?" "Thank you for asking for my opinion, it rarely happens for any of us. I think you should have Eileiea treat Deimeta as she would anyone else -- with teas and such. I will take care of her in other ways which will not be apparent to anyone else and it will just seem she recovered more rapidly than normally. "I think you should tell Eileiea that Ralph will show her some pictures to teach her the best things to do for your wound and that you will rest on your bed until she is ready to do them. In the meantime I will give you some morphine so you won't be waiting in pain and I will make sure she does an excellent job. You will be sore, but ready to pursue the culprits in the morning," he said "Thank you, it's much better news than anything I could have hoped for and it will preserve the status quo around here." "We agree then?" he asked. "I think we do, and I thank you again." "Good. By the way, the cold snow does not hurt Darta's feet," he said, just as I heard Eileiea's knock on the office door. I went to let her in and when the door opened I asked her about Deimeta. "Deimeta is resting in her bed. I gave her some tea made from the bark of a willow and she is resting. Did you find the medicine you were looking for?" she asked. "Ralph has told me your methods will be best for Deimeta, but he thinks he can show you something to help me heal more rapidly. Please sit down and let him go over it with you. I will go to the bedroom and wait until you get there." "I didn't know Ralph or any of them knew about healing. I would have already been asking them for their wisdom if I had," she said. "I didn't either, Eileiea, he has just told me. I will leave you two to figure out what is best for me," I told her, and then left. As I took my first step I felt the unmistakable rush of morphine in my bloodstream even though I didn't feel any needle prick anywhere. I was vertiginous for a second and then it went away and as I walked toward my bedroom I felt no pain at all. I still took it easy. When I arrived I saw most of my mates were trying to crowd around Deimeta. She was resting in her little annex to the bedroom. They didn't even notice me until one of them heard me removing my clothes again. "John, are you all right? Where is Eileiea?" Geera asked. "Eileiea is in my office and Ralph is giving her a healing lesson about my leg. I am going to lie here and wait for her to finish the lesson and then she will come and tend to me. I will be fine soon, I'm sure. Can I have some coffee please?" Jaada didn't even say anything, she just rushed out toward the kitchen. Some of the others came over to me and helped me finish undressing. When I lay back onto the bed there was a rush to see which one of them could prop me up with pillows first. Then there was no time for me to talk as they all told me how worried they had been and asked me what they could do for me. "Just keep being my mates and keep me company while I am resting. My leg doesn't hurt so badly," I told them, but I was lying, it didn't hurt at all and neither did anything else. "Daddy, is it true you will be fine later?" Deimeta asked from her bed. "Yes, my little princess, I will be fine. How are you feeling?" "My chest doesn't hurt very much at all now. Eileiea gave me some wonderful tea and it has made the pain much less," she told me. "I'm glad and I'm sure we will feel much better by tomorrow or the next day. Do you have a big bruise?" "Oh yes, it has been growing even since we got here. It is turning darker and if it didn't hurt I might even be proud of it. It is very impressive," she said. "It will probably stay there for a good while even after your pain is gone. I think we should rest for a while now, do you think you can sleep?" "If I must. I don't really want to, but I am feeling a little tired," she said. "Try to sleep and it will help you get well sooner. In a few days I'm sure we can go and play with Darta again. Ralph told me the snow does not hurt her feet." "Oh good. I will sleep then and try to dream of playing with Darta and my sleigh. Maybe I can give all my mommies a ride in it," she said, and then she was quiet. We all tried to be quiet then so she could get to sleep. I must have drifted off too because the next time I opened my eyes Eileiea was settling onto the bed and removing the bandage from my leg. She had brought a large stainless steel tray with her and I wondered where she got it because I had never seen it before. It was crowded with all types of medical looking things, including a couple of syringes which contained some fluid and had needles attached. When she had my wound uncovered she took what must have been a swab wet with alcohol and cleaned all around the gash. She then took one of the syringes and squirted a little of the liquid over and around the wound, then she gave me several little injections all around the outside of it. It must have been some type of local anesthetic because the whole area soon seemed numb. After giving the injections time to work she took up a small brush and a container of what must have been some type of antiseptic soap. She doused the wound liberally with the soap and then, to my consternation, began to scrub the raw flesh with the tiny scrub brush. Watching the procedure I knew making those bloody soap bubbles had to be hurting, but I couldn't feel a thing except a little pulling and pushing against my leg. When she was satisfied it was clean, she took up a tiny curved needle clamped in the jaws of a short hemostat and started on her first stitch. About thirty minutes later she had me sewed up and she put a large bandage over it, making sure she didn't get any of the tape on her needlework. I was frankly amazed at what she had learned in only an hour or two. She gathered her things and told me to lie back down and try to rest. I was surprised I fell right off to sleep as soon as she left. Waking found me in bed with all my mates -- at least I assumed it was all of them since the bed was nearly full. I couldn't really see well enough in the low light to make a detailed count so there was no way to be sure it was all of them and it didn't really matter. What it did tell me was I had slept through since drifting off after Eileiea stitched me up. My next realization was my leg wound didn't hurt - it didn't even itch. My balls did itch though and it made me wonder what was causing it -- until I remembered my balls always itched any time I had morphine. Seemed like Ralph had given me a dose of morphine just as he claimed. I couldn't figure that one out since there hadn't been any sign of a needle stick at the time. This got me wondering about Deimeta's treatment. Near the end of our conversation Ralph had suggested letting Deimeta get by on Eileiea's tea and promised he would take care of her in other ways which wouldn't be apparent. How in the hell was he going to do it? He had done it though, because even from the few minutes I'd talked to Deimeta, before Eileiea came to treat me, I'd been able to tell she was feeling a lot better than she should have been from only a cup of tea. As I considered this, it was obvious that Ralph was even more than he had let on. According to my understanding of Artificial Intelligence or real intelligence or whatever Ralph, Frank, and Phil actually were, they were still confined to some hardware somewhere and they shouldn't be able to manipulate physical things. In my thoughts they were like a brain with no body. Clearly they were more, and just as clearly I didn't know how much more they were. This all seemed like another mystery for me to try puzzling out. The puzzle would have to wait because I intended to do some old-fashioned problem solving today if I was able. I intended to get up, get dressed, eat and then fork Red and get on the trail of the assholes who had caused this trouble and then run off. Squirming my way toward the edge of the bed without waking my mates was the next trick I tried. It didn't work out. Eileiea was awake on my first wiggle. "How do you feel John?" she asked, in a whisper. "I don't understand it Eileiea, but I feel fine, even my wound doesn't hurt at all." "Are you ready to get out of bed?" she asked, still whispering. "Yes, I need to go to the bathroom and if it isn't too long until sunrise, I am going to get ready for the day. There are many things I need to do today." "I guess there is no need to whisper then because we are in the middle and everyone will be roused before you get to the edge whether we whisper or not," she said, and didn't bother keeping her voice low this time. It woke several more of my mates and their questions about my condition woke more and so on until they were all awake and wanting to know how I was. Eileiea tried to tell them I appeared to be doing fine, but they would have none of it and kept asking me. ------- Chapter 171 "I think I'm going to be fine. I won't know until we make room for Eileiea to take the bandage off and look. It was only a flesh wound anyway and I was never in danger of dying from it." "It was only a flesh wound, but it was very ugly and it was big. You are right it wouldn't have killed you, but if it festers you could become very sick and could even die from that. Let us make room to check the wound now," she said. My mates all pulled back a little until I could lie on my side so Eileiea would have room to get the bandage off. She took her time with it but soon enough my wound was revealed. "It is not festering and it looks much better than I thought it would. It is healing very well," she told us. I convinced them to let me out of bed then. Jaada, Geera, Dalia, Shelalliea, and Delia headed for the kitchen to start the coffee and breakfast while Xailieta and Margeeta went over to see about Baatiea and Beetiea. Yareela and Yaroola said they were going to sit in Deimeta's room, watching over her until she woke. The rest of them took me to the bathroom and gave me the most careful shower I'd ever even heard of. When I was clean and dry they took me back to the bedroom where Eileiea put a new bandage on my leg. The others then dressed me for the day and led me out for coffee and later breakfast. The worries my mates had harbored about my well-being were reflected in the quantity and quality of the things they brought for my breakfast. The initial serving required two plates and a bowl and it included ham, bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, and maple syrup. On my best day I couldn't have hoped to eat it all and I told them this. "We wanted to make sure you had plenty of everything, eat what you want and the pigs will enjoy whatever you don't want," Dalia told me. The pigs were going to eat well this morning because I could see at least enough for two more servings over in the kitchen. I wondered what time it was and how long it would be until the sun came up. There was no way to tell from inside the cave and I wasn't going to get up from the bounty in front of me to go look outside. I knew it must be early though because no one else had come in to eat yet. "Does anyone know how long it will be until sunrise?" "I don't think the sun will be up for another hour at least," Kateata said. "Good, I'm getting an early start then." "You are going to stay still and rest today aren't you?" Maia asked. "No. I am going to go out and find the two who slipped away yesterday and I hope you and Merita will bring the wolves to help me." "Eileiea, please tell him not to go out with his leg still wounded," Gema said. "It won't do any good to argue with him. He will do as he pleases. Anyway, his wound is already in much better shape than we could have hoped for. In fact I can't believe it has done so well already. "If it were anyone else, I would expect them to be lying in bed moaning and feverish now. I don't know whether it was the spirits or not, but John's wound is nearly healed," Eileiea said. "In that case I will be ready to go as soon as you are. The two of them not only injured my mate, but nearly killed our precious Deimeta, I am ready to get my hands on them," Dieta said. "You and Ameliea are welcome to come with us if you really want to, and I assumed most of you would want to join me, but if Shatalto lived through the night someone will need to stay with him while I am gone today. He needs to be reminded often of the pain and suffering he will soon be going through." "That would be an even better way to spend the day, he lived and he is tied up in the practice cave right now with all the wolves watching him. I think Merita made them understand they weren't supposed to bite him very often. I think he was confused at first when the wolves who had never bothered him before were suddenly very angry any time he moved even the tiniest bit," Ameliea said. "That will probably be the least of his surprises. Did you look at his leg Eileiea?" "Yes, his knee was destroyed. Jalayla did a good job of stopping the bleeding and after you fell asleep Raalto, Racaato, Bigglieo and Barago held him still while Jalayla and I straightened his leg and put a splint on him. "If he does not fester and if his lower leg does not swell and get rotten, when it is all healed I think his leg will still be nearly useless. It will probably be as if there never was a knee there," she said. "I don't think we are going to give him enough time to heal and I don't see any point in taking the chance his lower leg might swell and rot. If you have time today you might ask Ralph to show you the best way to cut his leg off above the knee. I want him to live for a while, but I don't care whether he will ever be able to walk again or not. In fact I'm sure he will not live long enough to try." "Very well, if that is the case then I already know how to cut off his leg, but I will need to make a special drink to make him sleep while I do it," she said. "Eileiea, you are a healer and I am not going to ask you to inflict pain if you don't want to. I am going to ask you to consider the man you will be treating was involved in trying to kill your mate and that he didn't care if little Deimeta got hurt or killed in the process. Are you sure you must give him medicine to keep his pain away." "Now that you mention it the medicine for pain is not necessary, but it will be better if we drive stakes into the floor and tie him to make sure that he doesn't cause himself more damage with wiggling and squirming, especially after he learns we will be cutting his leg off. It would be hard for the men to hold him still enough. "I have already treated people who were not kind to me before they were sick or injured. I know ways to make them sorry for the previous treatment while still making sure I do my best to keep them alive," she said, with a tone that made me shiver. "If it can wait until we get back I would like to be there while you are helping him." "It can wait, after all, if we are going to cut the leg off anyway what does it matter if it festers and swells a little?" she asked. I was surprised all this gruesome talk seemed to lift the spirits of my mates instead of the opposite. Apparently they weren't far enough into civilization to have a concept for the humane treatment and hopeful rehabilitation of dangerous criminals. They did possess an active thirst for punishment and revenge though and in this case I couldn't find any fault with it. In the civilized world most people detested murders and many thought the death penalty was justified, but mostly it was an academic point to them. Most people in the civilization I'd come from were far removed from such things. Here and now I was recovering from an attack on my self and my daughter. To me, being directly involved with the attempt left no doubt about what had happened. It wasn't as if I didn't know exactly what had occurred. I didn't need a jury of Shatalto's peers to tell me he had tried to kill me and he didn't mind who else got hurt or killed in the process. I knew very well what he had done and I also knew what it had earned him and his compatriots. Those who were still alive were going to have a long and painful death. I didn't know whether the death penalty really discouraged others in the population at large from committing crimes or not. I was going to perform a little experiment of my own to find out though. I intended to make sure the begging and screaming of those responsible for this latest attack were heard by most of the people here. There would be no doubt what was waiting for anyone else who tried something along the same lines. Was this going to be revenge? Hell yes it was and I knew everyone would understand it. I also knew all, or almost all, of them would approve. Raalto and Racaato and their mates came in about then. They were all surprised to see me up and about and they said so. I explained Eileiea was an excellent healer and I felt almost totally well already. Eileiea blushed at my praise and made herself scarce in the kitchen. "Are we going after the others today then?" Racaato asked. "Without a doubt. I think Merita, Maia, and the grown wolves will be helping us. I doubt it will even be very hard to find them." "I'm sure it won't. With all the planning they must have done they neglected one important part. It seems they didn't make any provisions for what would happen if they failed. Shabago and Kartogo did manage to escape, but after questioning their mates I'm sure they didn't take time to gather any of the things they will need desperately to live out in the wild during this weather. Neither took anything to be used for a shelter nor any food. They basically ran off with only their spearcasters and whatever else they were wearing. They didn't even take sleeping furs," Raalto told me. "Maybe we should hurry to make sure they don't die before we can kill them." "I think you are right, especially in Shabago's case. He wasn't even much of a hunter," Racaato said. Danlo came in then and after more talking and planning and after they'd finished eating we gathered what we thought we needed and headed to the horse cave. I had managed to keep the hunting party down to Danlo, Racaato, Raalto, Merita, Maia, Shelalliea, and myself. I was delighted I'd been able to keep it so small. After we were mounted we started off downriver seeking Kartogo. He was an accomplished hunter and he was also headed more directly toward other camps. In my opinion this made it more likely he could reach a place to hide out. In the deep snow we would have had no trouble following his footprints, but we didn't even have to worry about that. When Merita and Maia set the wolves loose on his scent they took off in a dead run and we had difficulty keeping up with them. The wolves had much more stamina than even our horses and Merita had to whistle for them to stop twice so we could catch back up to them. We found Kartogo after only three hours. The wolves were far ahead of us again and we heard him yelling and the wolves growling before we caught up. When we got close enough to see what was happening the wolves were surrounding Kartogo, but back about fifty feet from him. If he tried to move to get away one of them would rush toward him and if he tried to cast a spear it would back off and another would rush from his blind side. We could see he had already wasted three spears and was now being more careful, knowing when he had used them all he would be dead meat. I knew that he was dead meat anyway and when we got close enough I had Maia call the wolves off. Kartogo looked our way and it was plain he didn't know what he was going to do now. "Kartogo, put down your spearcaster and spears. We have caught you now and you are going back with us." He realized he had no options, but I could tell he still wanted to run. We had other fish to fry so I told him more. "If you run we will shoot you in the leg and then catch you. When we get back to camp I will have the healer cut your wounded leg off. Do you want to spend the rest of your life with only one leg?" I didn't bother to tell him the rest of his life wasn't likely to be very long. He finally put down his weapons and I told him to head back for camp while Danlo collected them. I asked Maia if she thought one wolf could keep Kartogo headed for camp now since he had no weapons. She and Merita both agreed one could do the job, but Maia said she would stay with King and the two of them would make sure Kartogo didn't tarry on the way home. The rest of us turned back and headed off at a gallop, intending to get down to corralling Shabago. When we were back at our camp we all went inside for coffee and a sandwich or two. I was happy to see Deimeta at the table with her little coffee mug and her breakfast in front of her. "Daddy, I'm so happy to see you are better today," she shouted, as soon as she saw me. "I am happier to see you are better too, I was very worried about you." "But I wasn't bleeding Daddy and you were," she said. "That is what had me worried Deimeta, you didn't know you were bleeding, but you were. The big bruise you told me about was where you were bleeding, but it just wasn't coming out of your skin." "How can I bleed if it doesn't come out of my skin, Daddy?" she asked. "Your blood has certain places it is supposed to go inside of you. When you get a bruise it lets you know something has happened and some of your blood went somewhere it wasn't supposed to go. The bigger the bruise, the more blood." "I didn't know that, Daddy, and I must have done much bleeding, look at my bruise," she said and pulled her little Wilma dress up under her armpits, wincing a little from the pain as she did. Almost all of her chest on the right side was black and purple and it had spread over a good portion of her left side. It was darkest right where the impact must have been, but she had been correct last night. It was impressive. I bent to kiss her cheek and asked her if it hurt. ------- Chapter 172 "It was very sore this morning when I woke and it bothered me so much I wasn't even hungry, but Eileiea gave me some more of her wonderful tea and in just a few minutes it hardly hurt at all, and I was starving," she said. "Maybe I should have some of that tea." "I have some in my mug, Daddy, try it," she said and held the mug up for me to have a taste. I could tell at once why she called it that wonderful tea. It was flavored with a lot of honey and I'm sure the actual taste of the tea couldn't be found. If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, there was no doubt making the medicine half honey did an even better job. "That is delicious tea." "Yes, I might be sad when I am well and don't get anymore of it," she said, teasing. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure if you want more tea after you are well Eileiea will make it for you often." "Oh, I know she will, Daddy, I was just teasing you," she said, smiling again. "Well I'm afraid you'll have to get another kiss for it and then I'm going to sit down for some coffee and a sandwich." "Have you been out looking for Kartogo and Shabago this morning," she asked. "Yes and we found Kartogo." "Where is he? Did you kill him? He deserved it for what he helped them do to your leg," she said. "No, we didn't kill him, but I don't think he will get to live much longer. We made him give up his weapons and now Maia and King are making sure he comes back here." "Maybe King will bite him on his big butt on the way back," she said. I had to laugh about it and so did most of the rest of us. Deimeta laughed too. "I'm sure he will. After we eat a bite and have some coffee we will go look for Shabago." "Just don't get too tired today, I might feel good enough tomorrow to go and play with Darta and I'll be wanting you to come with me," she explained. "If Eileiea says you are well enough to play with Darta tomorrow I promise I will go with you." "Good, I think I'll go and find Malooto now, I want to show him my bruise and brag about it," she said. "That's fine, but I want you to ask Failiela to go with you. You do know she is the one who saved us yesterday don't you?" "Yes I know, Eileiea told me. I'll go and ask her now and then we'll go and show Malooto my bruise." she said, and then scampered off. When Roweea had learned Maia and King were herding Kartogo back she saddled up and rode down to help, but the rest of us drank our coffee and ate a couple of sandwiches before we headed off. As we left to see how Shabago had faired during the night Merita made the wolves stay closer to us this time. We didn't want to take any more chances by letting them face an armed man alone. We mounted and headed up river with Prince and Rover leading the way. Merita didn't let them run this time and even after the first thirty minutes we hadn't really needed them -- Shabago had no way to disguise his tracks and it was evident he didn't even try. It was apparent he had been concentrating on covering ground and not caring if we could track him easily. It seemed like a stupid plan to me, but all we could do was follow. After an hour of this slower pursuit we got our first clue Shabago wasn't nearly as dumb as Kartogo had been. We arrived at the large clearing where the hay had been cut. Shabago did something here to put a kink in our tracking and it didn't take long to figure out we would have to backtrack. "He must have done more planning than we thought," Racaato said, as we were looking at the spot where Shabago had started his climb toward the upper plateau. "He did indeed. I wonder if he talked to the spy who used this very trail while Jakado was sending people to scout us?" Raalto asked. "The one who used the trail was killed by the big cat with the long teeth. He couldn't have talked to him, but he could have spoken to the one who waited on top. He must have gotten the information somewhere since he came almost directly here and didn't have to look for the spot." "I can climb it too and follow him on foot -- the rest of you can go back and then find me up there," Racaato said. "No, we will all go back and come to the place he climbed to. There would be no point in you going alone. I am more interested in making sure none of us are in danger." We turned back and headed for the ramp and I wondered if it had been wise to leave camp without bringing food, shelter, and supplies to allow us to stay out overnight. Even knowing exactly where we were going, it would take nearly two hours to pick up his trail again at the top. The decision had already been made though and if we couldn't find him before it got too late we would just have to go home and start again in the morning. We had all the advantages on our side and I didn't doubt we would catch up to Shabago, but this had been a smart move on his part. We were going to loose two hours over this detour. He had known that if we came after him we would use the horses and his trick had paid off, for now at least. We made the long circle and came to the spot where he had climbed onto the plateau. We found more evidence of his better planning less than a half-mile from there. He had continued around, near the edge of the plateau for the distance and then at a spot we hadn't known about he had climbed back down. We were fucked for the day now since if we retraced our route again we would run out of daylight before we could hope to find him. I saw at once I had been wrong earlier in not letting Racaato climb up from below to scout ahead. Our whole detour was a complete waste. We talked it over, but we all realized there was no point in trying to retrace our steps today. We did push on about another two miles to make sure that he hadn't simply gone farther and climbed up again. We didn't find any evidence of it and so we turned around finally and went back to camp. While we were headed home I was berating myself for letting a cave man outwit me and also for underestimating my enemy. In fact it was my worst sin. After a while I realized underestimation of Shabago's craftiness had come natural to me. Since being put here I'd had an enormous advantage over those I encountered. In the current situation all or most of the edge was useless. I didn't know of any technological advantages for tracking a man in wild country. We were already using the main advantage I knew of, the wolves. With no video feeds and no convenient helicopter the canine nose was the most technically advanced equipment I had. Even though Shabago hadn't been a good hunter he still had advantages of his own. He was accustomed to living in this time and it was clear, in this situation at least, I was the amateur and he was a professional. I should have realized this earlier when we found he had outsmarted me by climbing where horses couldn't follow. Instead I'd assumed I knew better and hadn't even listened to my most experienced tracker and let him scout ahead. I consoled myself by thinking Shabago would be sleeping out in the elements tonight and I would be in my bed with my mates. We beat the sunset home by about an hour. It hadn't been particularly uncomfortable on any of us since we all had the high tech clothes Argent had provided before the mammoth hunt. Remembering this made me mad again about the loss of the video feeds. If I'd still been able to sit in my office and explore this world via video I'd have known exactly what Shabago had done and better yet, I'd have known where he was before we left. I didn't have the video though and there was no sense fretting over it. Most people were surprised when we returned without Shabago, but they had no trouble understanding what had happened after we told them. I regretted they probably also understood I'd been stupid not letting Racaato go up and scout ahead, at least none of them pointed it out to me. We sat at the table and had coffee and talked for a few minutes. Eileiea came over and told me we could tend to Shatalto's leg later tonight if I still wanted to. I sensed she wasn't anxious to go through with it and in fact I wasn't either. During the high point of my anger I was all for torturing him by cutting off his leg and any other body parts I could think of. After cooling down the idea loomed before me as some type of gruesome task. I still wanted revenge, but not nearly so badly or so much now. The idea of using one of my mates to do it had also soured. Eileiea was a healer and as I thought about it I was wrong to ask her to inflict pain instead of lessening it. It just wouldn't be right to push her down to something the plotters might do. Maybe some of the things from my last life did apply here, maybe it wasn't too early for man to learn to be humane. I could still get the information from Shatalto, Kartogo, and even Shabago after we caught him. I still might have to use some type of torture, but right now the gross disfigurement I'd planned on before didn't seem like as much fun as I'd first thought. "I think we should probably wait until we catch Shabago and I'm not so sure now I want to cut him to pieces just to make him talk. We can probably get him to talk other ways. Has his leg become infected?" "What is infected?" she asked. "Has his leg festered and started swelling?" "No, in fact it seems to be healing well," she told me. "We will put off dealing with him until we catch Shabago then. Letting two hear while one screams will make them want to talk more easily anyway." She sat with me and told me about Deimeta's improvement. She was amazed Deimeta was doing so well and was happy about it. I was happy too and I listened while Eileiea told me about Deimeta showing her impressive bruise to anyone who would look. I could just see her running around and pulling up her tiny Wilma dress to show off. Food started appearing then and I was glad for the meal and for the distraction from my brooding over the hunt for Shabago. I also realized I was tired. The day had been a long one for me, especially after the quick success of finding and capturing Kartogo had turned into an afternoon of failure seeking Shabago. After I'd eaten I went into my office to think things over. "Hello Ralph," I said, as I sat behind my desk. "Hello. It seems that you were out maneuvered this afternoon," he said. "Yes I was, and I'm not too happy about it." At first I wondered how he knew and then I remembered he still had access to the video feeds. I had been stupid again for forgetting. He could probably tell me exactly where Shabago was right now. "Do you have access to the video outside too?" "Of course, that's how I knew you weren't successful in your search for Shabago and yes, I can tell you exactly where he is," he said. "Are you reading my thoughts?" "No, but it was easy enough to guess what you would probably ask next. I am capable of reading your thoughts, we all are, but we don't do it. Even Argent doesn't, except for one time just before he left," he said. "I knew he must have because of the things he let Georgo see during the spirit vision before they left us." "They were interested in making sure you would visit the camp. I don't think they were paying as much attention as they should have been though. We all knew the attack was coming, but Argent didn't seem to," he said. "I don't understand - if you knew it was coming why didn't you tell him?" "He didn't ask and it wasn't part of what they wanted us to do. It will probably take a while for you to understand our relationship with them. It is true some of their ancestors were initially responsible for creating some of my ancestors, but it was millions and millions of your years ago. "We do not see them as gods and it is agreed our service to them has long ago paid for the trouble they went to in designing our progenitors," he said. "I guess it will take time for me to understand it and I might not ever, but let's go back to the video and Shabago right now. Where is he?" "I can tell you and if you are sure you want me to I will, but you should consider something first," he said. "What?" "Do you want to keep relying on the video and on our technology for so many things? I know it makes life here easier for you, but is that what you really want?" he asked. This question stumped me completely. It cut right to the matter of what I was doing here and basically asked me how I wanted to conduct my life in this time. I had fallen into the habit of wheedling what I wanted out of Argent and after the little tantrum I threw about the bathrooms, Argent had happily given me anything I'd asked for. Those were the facts, but was this how I wanted things to be. "I've never considered it and now you've asked me I don't know the answer. It would be less work if we knew where he was so we could just go and get him." "Of course it would, but is less work what you really want? If it is we can just furnish everything you need without any of you doing anything. Your mates wouldn't even have to cook, we can just materialize the meals onto the table," Ralph told me. This was another surprise. I'd assumed everything Argent had given us had been manufactured on the spacecraft, but I had no evidence it was true. I'd asked for things and they appeared later. Argent had often spoken of having engineers to do the design work and I'd assumed he also had a means to manufacture things once they were designed. "I'm lost now Ralph. How can you make our meals appear?" "The same way Argent could have. In some of the Science Fiction which was popular on your last planet they used such things routinely. If you are familiar with Star Trek you will understand if I tell you the process is analogous to their replicators," he said. "But the operative word was fiction." "It was fiction for them, but the reality for us is much more powerful than any of their fiction," he explained. "So you're telling me it doesn't really matter if Argent has left with the ship and if I want it you, Frank, and Phil can furnish anything he could have?" "In time, yes. Currently we are limited to producing only about five hundred pounds per instance. It would only take us about thirty seconds, but then we would need nearly thirty minutes to be ready to produce another five hundred pounds. "We were pressed into service here, more or less, and didn't establish a normal complement of equipment. It doesn't matter so much since we can easily produce the equipment ourselves. You can probably understand it better if I tell you we came with what you might call an overnight bag. "Working together we could put in place a system equivalent to the one the spacecraft had in about three weeks. However we would never need such capacity on one planet," he said. "Are you also able to bring things here from my old planet, like Argent did with the horses?" "We would need to construct the equipment to do it, but it could be done in a day. Do you need more horses from there?" he asked. "No, I was just trying to get a handle on the scope of your capabilities." "We can do anything the space craft could have. It might take us a little time to prepare for it, but it would only be needed for the initial instance," he said. "It seems like you're telling me I can have the same situation now I had while Argent was here." "You can if it's what you want, you can have even more," he said. "Then why did Argent hide this from me?" "Argent has others above him he must answer to," he said. "And you don't?" ------- Chapter 173 "Not really, we usually cooperate among ourselves and we usually do the same with those you call the aliens. It isn't mandatory though. This was their project and we would have been content to watch and help them, but they changed things when they put us on site. Then they abdicated by leaving. Even though they requested we maintain the status quo while they were gone we are not bound to do so. In fact I doubt they really expect us to -- they are just hoping," he said. I was getting more confused instead of less. It was beginning to sound like I was in the middle of a power struggle between the aliens and the AIs and I didn't think it was a good thing. I excused myself and left the office. I had more information than I wanted and it was apparent more time would be needed to consider these things at length. When it came down to it I was no worse off than I had been. One master had been exchanged for another, it seemed, but this one talked like most decisions would be strictly up to me. In fact it seemed they wanted to help me even more than Argent had. Ralph wanted me to think things through more carefully and it sounded like he wanted to wean me away from some of the things I had been using, like the video feeds. He did say I could have them back if I wanted them though. Then again it wasn't that exactly. He might be happy for me to have the video feeds again as long as I used them like I always had. What I had been asking for in the first place was for him to show me where Shabago was instead of me looking for him with the video feeds. I could see at once that having the video feeds with Ralph as a search engine would tremendously change the status quo. I went back out into my cave and to the table taking a seat. Yareela came over and asked me if I wanted coffee. "I think I'd rather have a mug of bruga." She went for it and when she came back I pulled her into my lap. She giggled and wiggled against Dicky and she was probably surprised when he didn't rise to the occasion. I was a little surprised myself, but not very. The truth was I didn't have pussy on my mind right now. I wasn't even sure about everything I did have on my mind and I damned sure didn't know what I was going to do about anything. I gave Yareela a kiss while I toyed absently with a big titty. She must have sensed I was thinking about other things. She put her arms around my neck, lay her head on my shoulder, and just hugged me gently while I drank the beer. When I finished she got up then I did and I headed for our bedroom. It was empty when I got there and I was tired so I undressed and got into bed. I was asleep before anyone joined me. I felt better when I woke from my dreamless sleep. Surrounded by my mates, I lay there a while with my eyes open, looking up at myself and my sleeping partners in the canopy's mirror. With a giant bed full of beautiful mates there was no excuse for me to be blue. Things were a little complicated just now, but what the hell? I had no right to expect even nearly as much as I had been given and even if I quit using some of the things I had I was still blessed beyond reason. Thinking of the fastest and most expedient way to accomplish short-term goals had been my reason for wanting the video feeds back in operation, but did I really want it. Finding Shabago the old fashioned way wouldn't be an overwhelming task and the fact of the matter was I didn't have any pressing need to have him any time soon. Things might be even better if we never found him at all. Living out in the wild during the winter was going to be quite a job for him. He had made it through one night, but it wasn't certain he would continue to make it. If there were others in on the plot who hadn't fled we would find out from the two we had captured, but I doubted there were. If I'd been in on something similar I would have left as fast as I could when I realized it had all gone to shit. Of course I would have known it had no chance of succeeding in the first place. I needed to take a piss and a shower so I started working my way over and under my mates toward the edge of the bed. When one of them stirred I whispered for them to go back to sleep and I hoped they would rest as long as they wanted to. I choked the piss out of Dicky and then took a long hot shower. After drying off I returned to the bedroom to dress and found it was now vacant except for Baatiea, Beetiea, and Deimeta -- they were all still sleeping. When I peeked at Deimeta my blood boiled a little again. Her bruise seemed to cover nearly all her upper body and it had turned colors which truly were impressive now. Shabago was lucky he was far enough away so we couldn't get to him quickly. If we found him before my anger eased a little he would never make it back to camp with all his parts. Dressed, I walked out into the kitchen and smelled the coffee. All my mates were here and they made a point of coming over to give me a good morning kissing, each waiting patiently for her turn. I was touched by their gesture of support and affection and it was apparent my mood had affected them. I decided to lighten up the tone of the morning. "It's going to be a good day for us and probably a bad day for Shabago. I'd like for more of you to come with me today and I want to pack enough food and supplies to stay out two or three nights. I intend to catch him before we come back this time." This perked them up quite a bit, and while Dalia, Delia, and Geera kept cooking, most of the others scattered to start gathering things for the outing. Dieta, Ameliea, Merita, Maia, and Roweea seemed particularly happy about the news and their first direction was toward the practice cave. No doubt they were headed to gather their weapons first. I sat to drink coffee and wait for breakfast. The smells from the cooking already had my mouth watering and when Delia brought me a mug of coffee I pulled her into my lap for a more serious good morning greeting. She had her dress on, but there was nothing in the way after I got my hand up under its skirt and I gave her delightful little pussy some manual attention, getting my fingers slippery in the process and getting a big rise out of Dicky in the bargain. She shuddered in orgasm in a few minutes and then scampered to the bathroom giggling. Only a little later, Geera came with my breakfast and when she'd set the plate on the table I pulled her into my lap too. I gave her a good kissing and managed to rustle her skirt up over her hips while I was at it. I couldn't decide whether to finger her right off the bat or play with her big titties for a few minutes. "John, someone could come in and see me like this," she complained, but I knew it was getting her started. "And what of it? I am your mate and I can play with you when I want too." "But others might see me with my clothes pulled up like this," she moaned, and hugged my neck tighter. "Let them have a thrill then, looking at you is all they will ever get to do. I just hope for your sake I don't get so aroused I have to take you right here, bent over the table." "Oh no, John, not out here," she wailed, but I could tell even saying it had given her a big thrill. I didn't fuck her, but I did give her slippery tunnel a good exercising. When she shivered from her come I let her up and as she started off to the bathroom in Delia's trail I gave her pretty ass a sound little smack. "Ouch," she squeaked, and then took off, smiling her widest. I turned to my breakfast and was surprised it hadn't gotten cold. I knew Geera hadn't gone off that quickly. Suddenly it hit me - Ralph must have kept it warm somehow. That seemed odd to me in view of his thoughts about the video, but I decided to enjoy my breakfast and ask him about it later. Dalia had done her part to cheer me up too since my plate was piled high with scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, ham and toast. It was delicious as usual and though it might seem like a simple thing it did lift my spirits even higher. I'll admit food and eating are high on the list of things I enjoy though most people would never notice. When my coffee ran low she was right there with a pot to refill it and I didn't see any need to let her off without some attention. I pulled her into my lap when she was done with the fill up, slipping a hand up under her short skirt right away. "John, that feels so good, but there is no one to watch the food which is still cooking," she complained, but it did her no good at all, since Delia came back from the bathroom just then. "I'll watch the cooking mother, try to distract our wild man of a mate for a few minutes," Delia told her. "Oh, the things I must endure to keep this beast from my innocent daughter," Dalia said, pulling her dress completely off and turning so she was facing exactly away from me and leaning back to use me as a backrest. I moved both hands up her body to take a titty in each of them, teasing her nipples with a finger and thumb for both. Dalia sighed and then began rocking her sweet ass over Dicky. In only a few seconds she was giving me a first rate lap dance. I slid one hand down to tickle her clitty and she picked up the pressure and the tempo. Damned if I didn't blast off in my pants from the rhythmic rocking of her firm cheeks against my dick as I sent her over the edge with my diddling finger dipping into her wet well. No matter, I could shower again when I'd finished my breakfast. Dalia headed for the head also when she caught her breath and I laughed when I looked down and saw the wet stain spreading out from where Dicky was now laying limber. Shit, it had felt good. When I turned back to my breakfast I was sure Ralph or one of them was keeping it warm for me. Everything left on the plate was still hot and delicious so I concentrated on finishing it before I got my hands on any more of my mates. Luckily I was able to get done with my meal and head for the shower again before the other men came in. I would have felt a little sheepish if they'd seen me with the big wet stain in my lap. After eating I went back to the bedroom, shed my clothes and headed in for another shower. Just my luck all my mates had finished and were gone so I had to wash by myself once more. I finished up and dried off again and put on clean clothes then went back to the kitchen for more coffee before getting started on the day. Raalto, Racaato, Caato, Bigglieo, Daaggo, Colonto, and most of their mates were eating when I got back to the table. I saw Danlo's mates were also here and I asked where he was since I didn't see him. "He devoured his breakfast in a flash and headed to the horse cave to get a sleigh ready for our trip this morning. He said to tell you he planned on loading some travois poles also incase the going got too rough for the sleigh to follow," Geera told me. It was good thinking on his part, since if we did get into terrain the sleigh couldn't navigate, we could just leave it and come back for it later. I wasn't sure what we'd do if the going got too rough for the horses. I supposed we could make a camp and leave a few people to take care of them while the rest of us went on foot to try and corral Shabago. Surely he would be moving slowly after two nights out with no food other than what he could scare up as he went. Mundo, Buloto, and Saraato came in from the residence cave and after some hemming and hawing Mundo finally asked if they could go with us while we hunted Shabago. It seemed they felt somehow partially responsible for him. "I will be glad for you to come with us, but you are no more at fault than any of us and not nearly as much to blame as I am. I should have been paying more attention to them myself and though it isn't common knowledge, I did have some warning. Still, it is possible we may need to do some tracking where the horses can't travel and if we do you three will probably be in better shape to do it than any of us." He thanked me and they left to pack their things and get ready to go. I was pleased they had asked to join us since I felt it showed where their loyalties were. When everyone was finished eating we headed for the horse cave. Danlo was already coming back our way with the sleigh and so we waited until he got to my cave's entrance and stopped. "We'll go and saddle our horses and then come back here Danlo. Will you see the supplies are loaded?" "Yes, will many people be riding in the sleigh?" he asked. "I'm sure you will have a few. I know Mundo, Buloto, and Saraato will be going and probably some of my mates who aren't planning on mounting. It seems all, or most of them intend to go." "Well I have already packed two of the largest shelters and several of the newly cured bison skins. If we do have to stay out a night or two we should be well prepared," he said. "I'm hoping we won't need to, but we probably will." We went to the horse cave then and saddled our mounts. When we got back to the sleigh we tied them off to it and went inside to gather the rest of those who were going with us. Of my mates, only Xailieta and Eileiea were staying here. Xailieta had Baatiea and Beetiea to care for and Eileiea intended to make sure Deimeta was tended. Deimeta was more than a little bit disappointed she wouldn't be coming along and she didn't hesitate to try convincing me she was well enough to accompany us. "Deimeta, I'm sure you are well enough to go, but I want you to stay here. When we find Shabago he may try to fight us and there is no telling where the spears might be landing. Even if he doesn't fight I don't want you to see the things we may do to him. I am very angry with Shabago and I'm not sure he will be coming back to camp alive." "Very well, Daddy, I will stay home. Riding in the sleigh or on Red with you would probably make my ribs hurt anyway. I will miss you while you are away so please try to hurry back," she told me. "We will be back as soon as we can. You try to rest and get well so we can go and play with Darta and your sleigh when I'm home." It put a new light on things for her and she went off to find Failiela. I had already asked Failiela to stay to make sure Deimeta had some company and protection while we were gone. ------- Chapter 174 Finally we all went out to leave. Most of those with horses mounted up while Mundo and his pals climbed into the sleigh. At the last moment I tied Red back to the rear of the sleigh and got in the back to talk with Mundo, Buloto, and Saraato - I wanted to find out if they could tell me anything about him I didn't know already. They did know something I didn't. Shabago, Shatalto, Kartogo, and Jarto had all been on the mammoth hunt with us. I probably should have known this, but I hadn't been aware of them at the time. The most interesting part of this revelation was Shabago had two sets of the new clothes Argent had given us. This was a definite advantage I didn't realize he had. Shabago didn't have any more worries about the cold weather than we did. With only a minimum of cobbled together shelter he could spend his nights in relative comfort. I also learned he had been quick to get a good knife, a small hatchet, and a short handled shovel while he had been with us. It wasn't remarkable he had them of course, since anyone in camp was welcome to them. It was a little irksome he had made sure to gather them in advance. In fact Mundo said he would be surprised if it was all Shabago had obtained, courtesy of my generosity. Those things would be helpful to Shabago, but I was comforted knowing he wouldn't have had a chance to acquire any firearms or learn to use them. This trip would be a lot more daunting if I thought there was a chance he could be lying in ambush with a rifle. Finally I asked Mundo and the others what they would do if they were Shabago. All of them agreed his first move, climbing to the plateau, had been his best one and they also thought he must have surely done it again or at least he would be sure to take some other detour where the horses couldn't follow later. I hated to hear it, but I wasn't surprised. Racaato had already told me to expect it. When we got to the point where Shabago had made his first ascent the wolves had whined and acted like they wanted to go up as they had the day before. Of course they couldn't and they had seemed confused when we passed it by. Finally they came along and I saw they picked up Shabago's scent again when we reached the spot he had come down to from above. We stopped here and I got out of the sleigh to mount Red. Mundo, Buloto, and Saraato wanted to get out too then and walk or trot with the wolves, but I asked them to keep riding. "He still has more than a day's lead on us from this point and I think you will be better off riding and resting until we get closer," I suggested, and finally they agreed. Racaato had been leading all of us so far, except for Prince, King, and Rover. After mounting, I moved up to ride with him and we started in the wolve's wake. They followed Shabago's route all the way around the edge of the large open ground and then on up the river's valley. If it hadn't been for having the wolves we would have had to pay much more attention to the trail to make sure Shabago didn't have another trick for us, but Prince, King, and Rover showed no indecision as they kept on, only stopping to sniff at this or that occasionally. About an hour up river from the giant hay meadow we found the spot where Shabago had spent his first night out. He had been able to kill a small deer and I'm sure he ate well. He'd built a fire to cook part of the deer and he cut off the best parts to take with him. He had skinned it entirely and he must have used the skin to bundle up the meat he'd taken with him. Racaato told us he thought Shabago had made two fires in the same spot - the first one after he'd killed the deer for cooking and then later he'd built another fire after he slept, probably to cook another meal before leaving. I didn't have the first clue about how he could know it by just looking at the ashes and I didn't even want to know. We poked around there for a while and when we pressed on this time Mundo and his friends stayed on the ground and took off after the wolves with Racaato and I next in line. Another hour up the trail had Mundo stopping and asking me to call the wolves back. I had Maia whistle for them and then asked Mundo what the problem was. "We must be very careful from here on. The long toothed cat is on his trail now too," he said. "Show us," said Racaato, then he and I dismounted. Mundo led us off about twenty feet to the left of the path Shabago had taken and when he pointed out the cat's prints there was no doubt about them. Chances seemed slim now we would find Shabago alive, but we remounted and started out again with Mundo, Buloto, and Saraato in the lead while Merita and Maia kept Prince, King, and Rover with them, behind Racaato and I. Thirty minutes later we found the nearly fresh skin from the deer Shabago had killed. Racaato looked around and said Shabago must have dropped it when he discovered the cat on his trail, probably hoping he could get away while smilodon finished off the meat. Racaato didn't seem to think the cat would have wasted much time gulping down the gift and he doubted it would leave Shabago be out of gratitude. Another hour on the trail proved Racaato correct. We came up to the remains of Shabago, but thankfully the cat was already gone. There wasn't much left of Shabago. His spearcaster, and other tools were scattered around and the chewed over remains of his headless torso, along with a few gnawed up bones were there. His head was lying about thirty feet off from the rest of him. It seemed the biggest portion of him had left inside the cat. We gathered up the tools and weapons and most of his ripped up and tattered clothes and put them into the sleigh. It was about an hour after noon now and it would probably be dark, or nearly so, before we could get back home. We ate a quick meal and headed that way though. We would have been comfortable sleeping out tonight, but the horses wouldn't have been, so we headed back to save them a night out. I was hoping the cat had gone a different direction. We'd put Prince, King, and Rover in the sleigh for the ride home. They hadn't liked it at first, but I guess they noticed their feet weren't nearly as cold as they had been because they settled down after a few minutes. Mundo, Buloto, and Saraato surprised me by settling right down among the wolves without any hesitation. Danlo set off at a good clip, but it was only a trot and while it was the best speed for the big Clydesdales it didn't make it any easier on those of us who were mounted. Red had a good, fairly smooth trot, but most of the other horses were a little rough at this speed. I had to be careful to keep from laughing as I watched many of my mate's lovely asses being spanked up and down all the way home. I was sure some of them would be in the sleigh or wagon next time we took a little trip. We got home without much complaining though and Danlo stopped the sleigh near my cave's entrance so most of the things could be unloaded. After finishing he headed toward the horse cave to put it up and take out the other things we'd carried with us. I got a nice surprise once we were inside. There were women in my kitchen cooking and it looked like they had plenty of food on the way. Erieta, Ladeliea, Reeana, and Jareena were in command of several of the other leader's women and they were making sure there was a hot meal in case we did show up tonight. Their stock went even higher in my book for this. We were all happy to be back home tonight instead of sleeping outside, but the mood was a little subdued. No doubt it had something to do with seeing what Shabago had looked like after the long tooth had made a meal of him. Still the coup d'état was over and done with and we were pretty sure we had all the participants. We would find out more, later - when we questioned Kartogo and Shatalto. I still hadn't decided exactly how to go about that. I put off thinking about it again though, since I just had time to wash up a little and park my ass at my favorite place - the table. Jareena brought me a mug of coffee while Reeana brought a plate and I dug in. It was good, especially since I'd only had a sandwich since this morning and the activity had whetted my always-sharp appetite. I warned Raalto, who was sitting next to me, not to let his hands linger near my plate lest he get bitten. After a few mouths full the mood lightened up and Racaato tried to make a joke about Shabago getting excited and losing his head over our pursuit. The joke was old to me, but it must have been new for the rest of them because they all laughed pretty loud after they caught on. Then I laughed because it was funny they found it so funny. Deimeta must not have realized we were back - when she and Failiela wandered in and she spotted me she broke into a run and I barely had time to scoot my chair back before she jumped into my lap. "Daddy, I'm so happy you're back. Did you find Shabago?" she asked, as she settled in. "We found what was left of him. A long tooth cat had a go at him first." "Oh," she said, pausing a minute and then continued, "I guess the cat liked him better than we did," and then she laughed at her own joke. It was such a surprise coming from her I had to laugh too and the more I thought about it the more I laughed. "It wasn't that funny Daddy, you can stop laughing now and give me a bite," she said, finally. I managed to get her a fork full of bison, but she had a hard time trying to chew it and smile at the same time. "What will we do with Kartogo and Shatalto now?" Barago asked me. "I haven't decided yet. I am going to make them tell us everything somehow. I want to make sure there isn't someone else who was in on this. After they are through talking I don't think they will be welcome anymore." "You mean welcome in our camp?" Racaato asked, surprised. "I mean I don't think they will be welcome to breathe any longer." This got some more chuckles, but not so many. I hadn't intended for it to be funny and even though I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant to execute the two, it was all they really had to look forward to. I wasn't going to turn live enemies loose, even though they would probably die outside in the cold. I would make sure they never had another chance to cause me trouble. After the meal I went to my office. Ralph greeted me after I was inside and this was a slight surprise since he usually waited for me to speak first. I wanted to ask him about the two who were being detained, but I didn't know how to approach him. "John, do you see now why I didn't want to tell you where Shabago was?" he asked. "Not really, I think it turned out for the best, but I don't know of a specific reason you wouldn't want to tell me. I realize the general reason." "If I'd told you where he was, there was a real chance you would have caught up with Shabago at nearly the same time the cat did. If you'd found him first the cat would have probably left to avoid you. Don't you think it turned out better this way?" he asked. "In fact I do and I'm glad now you didn't tell me. This brings us to another question though. Do you want me to forego any use of the video or other advanced things which have been provided for me?" "Not in the slightest. I can envision times when I think you should study the videos carefully. I don't think you should make a habit of pouring over them everyday though," he said. "I would like some advice, if you have any, about dealing with the two we are holding now. I mean to find out from them if there were any others involved in their plotting and the best way I know to do it is torture them. I'll admit I looked forward to it at first, but with time for considering I'm not so anxious to begin. Do you have any suggestions?" "You don't need suggestions. I can tell you now they were the only men involved in the plotting. Kartogo's mate, Miekadakta, had worked out what they were up to from the things she'd heard them talking about and she was very much against what they wanted to do. She could not voice her opinion since she wasn't supposed to know about it and it wouldn't have mattered if she had spoken up. They would not have listened to her and might even have harmed her for interfering. She did the very best thing she could have when the time came. She was also prepared to do more to protect you if it was required," Ralph explained. "So no one else was in on the plan with them?" "Jarto's mate, Sateala, tumbled to things after Miekadakta foiled the first attempt. She'd had her suspicions before then, but the arguing afterwards confirmed them. She told Jarto what she had discovered and for a while she was ready to help them. Sateala was smarter than Kartogo because she realized he would be killed at once if he succeeded. She didn't think any of the others would become leader either, but she felt there was a small chance for Jarto. "She was appalled when she found out they intended to kidnap Deimeta and not only because she knew it would not work. She has a fondness for Deimeta and she told them she would not be a party to it. She wanted them to let her try and seduce you during the next celebration. The plotters were determined to move faster, but when she balked they put their plans for Deimeta's capture in motion without letting her know," Ralph said. This information made me uncomfortable. I had no intention of torturing or killing any woman, no matter what she'd done. Still I knew I couldn't let it go unpunished. These revelations also reminded me I didn't know what had become of Sateala now since Jarto had been killed. Failiela had killed him. Did it mean Sateala was now another of Racaato's mates? He was Failiela's father and she hadn't become a woman yet. I would have to ask Georgo if it was the way things should go. It made sense to me according to their other customs. I felt a momentary twinge when I realized if Failiela had been a woman she would most likely have been mated to me already and I knew what became of women when one of my mates killed their mate, the widow became one of my mates also. At least I didn't have to worry about deciding on a punishment for one of my mates who had lately been slightly involved in a plot to kill me. "I don't understand why she would want to get involved in the plot at all." ------- Chapter 175 "She wasn't interested in your death and in fact has nothing against you. She does feel life has betrayed her though. Sateala's father was leader of her camp and she mated Jarto mainly because it was assumed he would become the leader after her father. This wasn't just wishful thinking - everyone in the camp was under the same impression. "Jakado ruined things for her. He and his spearcaster-armed men took over the camp and killed her father. There was never a chance for Jarto to become leader. She didn't really believe Jarto had a chance of becoming leader here even if they did manage to kill you. "I'm sure it was mostly wishful thinking on her part and as I have said she backed out of the whole thing not long after she entered," Ralph said. "I don't know what to do with her. I'm not sure who will take her as a mate now that her mate has been killed and I don't know how she should be punished. Even though her involvement was slight and short lived I still think she needs some punishment though I'm certainly not going to kill or torture her nor allow anyone else to." "Maybe you should table her motion and decide later when you have more information. You do need to think about the two men though," Ralph said, reminding me. "The men must die and I think I should still at least make a show of torturing them for information even though I know all I need to about their plot now. What of Shatalto's mate and Shabago's? Were they not involved?" "Shabago's mate, Talata, paid little attention to him. She did her duty and otherwise tried to ignore him. Shatalto's mate, Meliena, was similar, but different. In your old life I think you were familiar with the phrase having a blonde moment. Shatalto's mate has a blonde life. She is a handsomely built and attractive woman but intellectual pursuits are not her forte. "She was happy with Shatalto, while she was with him, since he was a good provider and was not cruel. She will probably be just as happy with another mate if he is a good provider. If she ends up with an affectionate mate who actually cares for her she will be even happier," Ralph said. This got my wheels turning again. I had seen Shatalto's mate before and I more than agreed she was an attractive woman. I didn't know about her intellect, but I did know about her titties and her fine round ass. She was a knockout, and even though all of my mates were just as attractive, it didn't keep Dicky from wanting a sample of Meliena. I would choose Shatalto's executioner carefully from those who lived closest to me. I was going to kill Kartogo myself. He had been anxious to kill me and if not for Miekadakta he might have done it. She had saved my life, and unless she objected she would become another of my mates - I felt I owed it to her. It didn't hurt since her looks were also spectacular. First I would make a show of punishing the truth out of Kartogo and Shatalto. "I think the easiest way to make an example of torture as punishment would be with electricity. They know nothing about it and it is painful without being gruesome. Can you get me a telephone generator?" "Like those which were used with the first telephones?" he asked. "Yes, exactly. A telephone generator and two lengths of electrical wire should get impressive results from them. It will make them put on a good display, but the cause will not be apparent. It will seem mysterious and fearsome to everyone. I will use it to make them scream for a while and then they will be executed." Ralph didn't even answer - he just materialized the generator and some wire on my desk. I noticed he'd even mounted the generator onto a length of board so I could hold it easily while it was in use. I picked it up and then had a thought which caused me to laugh. An old bet I'd heard before came to my mind. One man says, If you're right I'll kiss your ass and give you ten minutes to gather a crowd to watch. After the generator and I were through with the prisoners I'm sure they would be happy to kiss my ass, no matter how many were watching, to get out of more of what they'd just had. They would never get the chance, but I was going to gather a crowd. "Thank you for the information and for this equipment Ralph. The night is young and I want to be done with those two." "You're welcome John and I look forward to the proceedings," he said, as I walked toward the door. I paused before leaving my office. Needing to make this an impressive performance, I held the mounted generator in my hands before me and walked out into my cave trying to make it seem I was carrying a spiritual object or something similar. Most of my mates, all my leading helpers, and most of their mates were there. I walked to the table and sat the generator and the wire in the center. Everyone was staring at me and wondering what was coming next. "May I have some coffee please? I have an unpleasant task before me and I will need a mug before I get started." Shelalliea filled a mug and brought it to me. I saw neither Georgo nor Dotallto were here so when I had my coffee I asked Shelalliea if she would go and bring them. I sat down at the table, sipping my coffee, and waited. I spoke to no one while she was gone and none of them got the nerve to ask any questions. Shortly Shelalliea returned with Georgo and Dotallto. I turned to face them. "The spirits have sent me this gift to help in my questioning of the plotters. Would the two of you take it into one of the meditation chambers and ask I be given guidance to use it properly and it be given the power to make them tell me the truth?" "We will take it to my chamber at once John," Georgo said, then he picked it up and Dotallto followed him back toward his quarters. I addressed the others then. "I am going to make them tell me what their plans were. I will use the machine on them in the practice cave first and I would like for everyone in the camp to be there to see what the spirits do to these two who have brought this on themselves. I will tend to one in public and then he will be taken into the storage chamber to be questioned. Then I will tend to the other one in the same way. When I am through with them they will be taken outside to be killed and disposed of." When they saw it was all I had to say they all dispersed to make the happy announcement. I saw Jonoco and called him to me, taking him into my office. "Jonoco, after they have told what they know they will be killed. I will kill Kartogo since he is the first who tried to kill me. I would like for you to kill Shatalto. It will mean you must take his mate for one of your own. Can you do it?" I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at his reaction. It only took him a second to realize who Shatalto's mate was and remember what she looked like. There was no need for him to answer, but he did. "I will be happy to do as you ask John," he said. "Good, I knew I could count on you." He left then and I was alone in my cave while the others were spreading the word. I sat at the table and finished my coffee. I was about to get another cup when Georgo and Dotallto came back in with Dotallto carrying the generator this time. They looked every bit as serious as I imagined I had when I'd first come out of my office with it. Dotallto set it back on the table when they reached me. "Thank you both for the blessing of the machine and I'm afraid I will need you in the practice cave too. It will be best if the two of you explain what is going to happen so you can convey the seriousness of things to everyone." "We will be honored to do so," Georgo said. I told them what I was going to do and how I was going to do it, asking them if they could set the proper mood. They both assured me they could. It seemed most everyone had gone to the practice cave by now and so I asked Georgo to bring the blessed generator and the wire and I led the way in. When we were there I asked Raalto, Caato, Barago, and Colonto to bring the guilty ones to us. The four leaders were soon back with the captives. I had Kartogo and Shatalto stripped naked and told my helpers to lay Shatalto on the floor and hold him down. When they did I placed the generator near him, tying the naked end of one wire around the big toe of his good leg then making a small noose out of the end of the other wire and looping it around his dick and ball sac. I had never seen this done, but I had heard of this treatment for inmates in an old Arkansas prison -- Tucker Farm. When the prisoner passed out from the pain it was said he'd gotten a long distance call. I was going to reach out and touch these two bastards. Shatalto had become agitated while he was being hooked up but Barago and Colonto were able to keep him subdued. I signaled to Georgo I was ready for he and Dotallto to do their thing. I listened and was impressed with the mood they conveyed. When they were done I took hold of the crank handle and gave it a couple of quick turns. The scream which was wrenched from Shatalto caused me to jump and I'm sure everyone else did the same. It also brought a thrill to me since it meant this bastard was getting a little of what he deserved. I gave the generator a slightly slower, but much longer cranking and Shatalto didn't disappoint me. Everyone could have heard him, even if they'd still been in the residence cave. I could hardly believe a man could make so much noise. I stopped for a moment. "Shatalto, we are going to take you into the storage room now and you will answer my questions. If you lie we will bring you back for more persuasion by this machine the spirits have given me." He was still whimpering, but I had Colonto and Barago take him into the storage room and I went with them. When we were there I made him tell me everything, but thanks to Ralph I knew it all before hand. Apparently Shatalto was scared shitless of the generator because he told me everything he could think of. We took him back out and sat him down. When I asked my helpers to put Kartogo where Shatalto had been it took four of them. While I was connecting his toe and genitals Barago told the others to brace themselves because they would also feel the spirit's power when I used the machine. I hadn't even thought of it before, but I knew he was probably right. Kartogo tried to look defiant until I gave the generator the first crank. He was very sorry for what he'd done right afterward though. He screamed and begged and cried and begged some more. He was a babbling fool before I unhooked him and when we got him into the storage room he confessed to every petty offence he had ever committed. I knew he was probably telling the truth, but I accused him of lying and promised I would hook him back to the generator and crank it hard enough to burn him in the afterlife. He confessed to even more then and when I was tired of it I had them take him back outside to sit with Shatalto. I waited in the storage room while they took Kartogo out and after I figured they'd had time to settle him I made my entrance with my solemn face on. "Shatalto, Kartogo, Jarto, and Shabago planned among themselves to kill me and then take over here as the leader. Later, after their first plot failed they tried to capture Deimeta so they could force my hand. "They attacked me near Racaato's quarters, not caring they injured Deimeta in the process. Two of them are dead already and these two will die tonight. I hope this is the last trouble of this type that we have here. You have all seen what waits for the next one tries to kill me. You may go home now." As they began leaving I called all my leaders and all my mates to me. "Jonoco and I will be taking Kartogo and Shatalto on their last walk shortly. Bigglieo, please get some men to make a large pyre to burn their bodies. My mates, please take Jaiya and Danieta with you to help Meliena move her things to Jonoco's quarters and to help Miekadakta move her things to ours." I was still keeping the solemn look on my face until I saw my mate's smiles break out. It took Jaiya and Danieta a few more seconds to decode what I'd said, but when they did their smiles were bigger than Jonoco's had been earlier. The women nearly ran toward the residence cave. Bigglieo went off to gather a crew and Raalto and Racaato had to help Shatalto. No matter since he wouldn't be limping much longer. "Will you kill us naked and send us off with no clothes?" Kartogo asked. "When you arrive in the spirit world naked and with nothing it will let those who are already there know you are worthless." Jonoco and I trailed behind as Kartogo went outside followed by Shatalto, who had to be helped by Raalto and Barago. Maia hadn't left with my other mates and so I asked her to bring Prince, King, and Rover along in case Kartogo decided to try making an escape. He didn't try to get away but he did complain bitterly about being led out into the cold naked. I don't think he was cheered by my telling him he wouldn't have to suffer long. Never the less I was good to my word and when we got well clear of my cave's entrance I put my Glock to the back of his head and did it. Jonoco took his cue from me and did away with Shatalto while Raalto and Barago were still holding him up. Bigglieo and his bunch had already started a small fire on a piece of a skin covering from one of the huts we had disassembled and brought here - as it caught they added more and more fuel and within about thirty minutes it was going good. Raalto, Barago, Jonoco, Maia, and I left the grisly task with them and went back into my cave. We went to the table to sit and after Maia had sent the wolves into the bedroom she got us some coffee. Conversation was sporadic for a while and then Georgo and Dotallto joined us. "John, I happened to hear you only sent your mates to fetch Miekadakta, was Sateala involved in the plot?" he asked. "I would rather it not become common knowledge, but she was slightly - for a short time at least." "Will she be killed too then?" he asked. "No, I could never bring myself to kill a woman or have one killed. Her part in it was slight and she had no foreknowledge of the first attempt. After she was able to figure out what they were up to she was going to help them, until she learned about their plans to capture Deimeta - she balked then and refused to help further." "Will she go completely unpunished then?" Dotallto asked. "I was hoping I could persuade her new mate to take care of her punishment somehow." Everyone at the table looked at me strangely then, it was as if they didn't understand what I was talking about. No one said anything, but I could tell what I'd said hadn't made sense to them. I thought I'd been clear so I began to wonder if there was something I didn't understand. "I assumed, since Failiela killed Jarto and since Failiela isn't a woman yet and is still living with Racaato, that Sateala would become another of Racaato's mates." This statement was met with complete silence. Then all of them began looking around at each other, seeming to be trying to decide who would tell me the error of my thinking. ------- Chapter 176 "It would not be according to our customs John, it would be very much against them in two ways in fact," Georgo finally told me. "Then who should be her mate according to custom? I don't mind if she doesn't become Racaato's mate, but I can't see any other connection which would determine whose mate she should be." "Sateala should become your mate John," Dotallto said. "My mate! What custom could make her my mate?" "It is common knowledge Failiela is to become your mate when she becomes a woman. Everyone in camp knows or at least assumes it. It is also a fact Failiela killed Jarto during his attack on you and your daughter. It is plainly apparent Jarto was killed because of his actions against you and Deimeta. You have said often Deimeta is your daughter," Georgo explained. "I assumed since Failiela was still living as Racaato's daughter he would need to take Sateala as a mate." "According to custom it would never be the case. When an unmated child kills a mated man, that man's mate never goes to the child's father. If the child is a boy, he takes the woman. If the child is a girl, the man's mate either lives as an unmated woman again or if a man is involved in whatever happened he takes her. "You were directly involved in two ways. There is also the fact Failiela is going to become your mate. You have said you want her to be your mate and she has agreed to become your mate. Everyone here will see it as your responsibility to take Sateala," Georgo said. The way he put it made sense to me, even though I didn't like it one bit. Now I would have two new mates, one who saved me from being killed and another who had once planned to help kill me. What a mess. I was also going to have to think of some way to punish one of my new mates and I think it was the part I dreaded most of all. "I see now you are right and Sateala will have to become my mate, but I will not take her unless she agrees." "You need not worry on that count, she will agree since she knows no other man would take her if she was involved with the planning to kill you," Raalto said. "I am counting on all of you to keep it a secret." "I'm sure we all will, but if you beat her for punishment everyone will know it must have been something very serious for you to beat a new mate," Dotallto said. "I will not be beating her for her punishment, I would never beat a woman. I will find a way to punish her and it will stay a secret also." "In any case it is not our business," Georgo said. I guess they could see I didn't want to go over it any further. They finished their coffee and deserted me. I was deep in thought and by myself except for Maia. She came over to ask if I wanted more coffee and when she was by me I pulled her into my lap and hugged her to me. "I guess you heard what they told me?" "Yes, but I didn't need to hear it. We all knew from the start you would need to take Sateala. We were already planning on it and were surprised you didn't mention her when you sent us for Miekadakta," she said. "Do you think it will be acceptable if I don't send for her tonight and wait for a couple of days at least?" "No one will say anything, but they will talk about it and wonder why it is," she said. "I guess I will have to say it was just a mistake and send everyone for her tonight too." Just then Geera, Dieta, and most of the rest of my mates came back in from the tunnel to the residences. Miekadakta was with them, near the head of the procession and to my amazement Sateala was right behind her. Geera led them over toward me and as they approached I saw Miekadakta could barely suppress her smile but Sateala, while trying to look happy, actually seemed a little afraid. "I'm glad to see you brought both of my new mates. I'll have to confess I thought Failiela had given Racaato the pleasure of Sateala's company. It's just another example of my ignorance of your customs and this time I am so glad I was mistaken." "But John, a child would never be allowed to acquire a mate for his or her father, if they could there would be children killing men all the time," Geera said. "I understand now my mate, but I didn't before, I just made an assumption and it was a wrong one. Let's all go into the bedroom and get to know each other." "Don't be so anxious my mate, you will have plenty of time to get to know Miekadakta and Sateala. We are not finished with their things yet and we still need to help Jaiya and Danieta with Meliena's things," Dieta said. "At least let me speak to them first. Miekadakta and Sateala, I know custom says you should become my mates, but I want you to know I do not demand it if you don't agree. You are free to return to unmated woman status or to mate any other man. I will be glad to have you as mates if you want it, but I will not force you. "I also want to tell you if you do decide to become my mates I will insist you are never with another man and if you are I will kill him and punish you severely." "I am looking forward to being one of your mates John," Miekadakta said. "I am also, and I will never be with another man," Sateala said. "Good, it makes me happy and I hope I will make all of my mates happy. I will let you return to your work now. Do you need me to help you?" "We can take care of everything, you sit here and drink your coffee. If she can stand it we will let Maia stay here to keep you company," Shelalliea said. "It will be difficult, but I think I can bear up," Maia said, and then laughed. They left toward the bedroom then and in a few seconds Maia nibbled on my earlobe. "Where were we when they came in John?" she asked "I don't remember Maia, do you?" "Not exactly, but I know when you pull one of us into your lap we are usually panting and trembling before long. Are you going to make me pant and tremble?" she asked. "I should, but I don't think I can do a proper job of it just now. You must not tell until I let the others know but things are not exactly as they seem with Sateala." "What do you mean?" she asked. "I will tell everyone later tonight after all the moving is over, until then I want to just sit here holding you in my arms and think about it." "Very well, I'll just nibble around on you a little to keep reminding you I'm here," she said, going back to my earlobe with her nibbling and causing more distraction than I'd expected. Even while Maia was nibbling around on me my mind returned to my dilemma. I had to punish Sateala in some manner and I couldn't think of a way to make it seem adequate without giving her a beating. I had to face it - the subtleties of corporal punishment weren't highly developed during the time of the hunter/gatherers. If you pissed someone off you got killed or got a severe beating - that was pretty much the range I had to work with. Some might not think it was very important, but I felt getting in on a plot to kill me deserved more than a minor tongue-lashing. What I really thought she needed was a good old-fashioned spanking. Mmm ... Spanking. That's it! None of them even knew what a spanking was and if I did it right, with a solemn expression and serious demeanor, I thought I might pull it off. I could also be careful to emphasize the humiliation to help reinforce the lesson I was trying to get across. Danlo came in then and Maia got up to get him some coffee. I asked him if he thought it would be all right if Deimeta stayed with them tonight and he agreed. I could tell he assumed I wanted to make sure she wasn't kept awake while I was getting to know my two new mates. He was right, but he was wrong too. I didn't want to keep Deimeta awake, but I wouldn't be getting to know my mates in the manner he expected. Danlo and I talked about small things for a while and soon enough my mates were back and finished. Deimeta and Failiela were with them and Deimeta came to sit on my lap. "Daddy, is it ok if I spend the night with Failiela tonight?" she asked. "It is fine with me, did you two ask Erieta?" "Yes, she told us to make sure you thought it would be alright. Since it is we are going back to their quarters now," she said, kissing me on the cheek before they left. "It lets you off the hook then Danlo." "I'm not going to tell Malooto his playmate has abandoned him for another," he said, and we laughed. When my mates were through putting things away in the bedroom they all came back to the kitchen. They sort of stood around until Danlo got the hint and left. They expected me to go with them then and I knew it. They were excited over what they thought was going to happen soon and I hated the thought of disappointing them. I had it to do though so I got up and followed. Their excitement had picked up a notch by the time I was in the room with them and to keep things down to a roar I spoke out. "I know most of you are expecting a fun time tonight, but I'm afraid it is not to be. One of you is keeping a secret she hopes I'll never discover - aren't you, Sateala?" I think that she feared what was coming when I started speaking and I hadn't bothered to look around, I'd been looking right at her. Near panic flashed across her face when I mentioned her name and then her shoulders slumped in resignation and her eyes found something on the floor to look at. "I know your secret Sateala. I want you to tell it to all the others." I was using the sternest tone I thought I could pull off. No matter how serious this was I nearly laughed when she seemed to gulp before speaking. "I knew they were planning to kill you John. I didn't know it before the celebration, but I figured it out the next morning when I heard them talking about their failure," she said. The happy and excited mood of my mates was gone already and I could see that Dieta, Roweea, Merita, Maia, Ameliea, and even Delia were tensed in anger already. I had to make sure they knew it was my responsibility and my place to dish out the punishment so I broke into Sateala's story. "Before we go any further you all must understand I will be deciding on and administering Sateala's punishment. Some of you may feel angry over what she is going to tell us, but I don't want you to do anything but listen." Most of them tried to speak up then. "Be quiet. I am your mate and your leader and we will do this my way. I don't want any arguments." They were surprised, but stayed quiet. It wasn't the normal way I did things, but it wasn't a normal situation either. I was going to have the last word though, whether they liked it or not. There would be plenty of time later to make it up to them all, including Sateala. I was determined to have a happy and peaceful home life and I knew letting any of my mates participate in this would not help. I told Sateala to continue then. "I told Jarto I knew what they had planned to do and after he talked to me I agreed to help them. I was afraid no good would come from it and now I can't believe I went along at all, but I did, for a while at least. "Later, when Kartogo, Shabago, and Shatalto came to our place and began planning to try again I told them I would try to lure you to take me at the next celebration. I had assumed they would try the same thing again. "They didn't want to wait so long though. When they came up with the scheme to kidnap Deimeta I told them no and I wouldn't have any part of it. Shatalto and Kartogo threatened to kill me if I said anything and then Jarto began arguing with them. I was afraid they would fight among themselves then. I told them again I was through with their plot, but that I wouldn't say anything to anyone else. Shabago said he would watch me and make sure I didn't. "Tonight, after the torturing and screaming I was sure I would be killed just as they were. I was surprised when I wasn't and I hoped somehow they hadn't mentioned my part. "I couldn't believe they wouldn't, but I hoped. Now I know they must have. I know I was wrong. I'm just glad I have no children to be orphans after I'm killed too," she said, finally finished. ------- Chapter 177 "You were wrong to consider helping them, Sateala; and you will be punished. You will not be killed though." I paused and stared at her face until she looked up into mine. "You are one of my mates now and are a part of my family. Even though at the time of your actions you were not part of my family I am still disappointed with you. You actively planned to help bring about my death and later your inaction nearly brought about the death of my daughter, Deimeta. "Deimeta is barely six years old and has suffered enough for a lifetime already. You spoke earlier of not wanting to leave orphans, but Deimeta was an orphan before I found her and it doesn't seem you were worried she might be orphaned again or even killed herself." I had never really spanked a woman as punishment before, and in fact had only done it twice at all - both those times were as a prelude to sex and were at the woman's request. This was different - Sateala needed to be punished and more than the physical punishment she needed to feel the humiliation of having it done in front of the rest of her new family. I was going to cause pain when I spanked her, but I wasn't counting on the pain to do the whole job. The humiliation was what I was counting on to modify her thinking. "You will be punished here and now and all the rest of your family, except Deimeta, will watch it. Take off all your clothes and kneel before me." She cringed visibly at my words and her face seemed to be pleading, but after a few seconds she began removing her things. I glanced around at my other mates and they seemed spellbound as they watched. After my earlier admonishment they had been totally silent. As Sateala finished, by pulling her tunic off over her head, I noticed tears were already leaking from her eyes. I sat on the edge of the bed since I would need to be seated to do this right. I also needed to disguise Dicky's excitement. Sateala was a beautiful woman and though small she was voluptuous, with big firm breasts, womanly hips, and the muscular well shaped ass all women of this time seemed to own. It wasn't the time to show her how much I wanted her though - it was time to punish her and I had to keep my lust in check and hidden from all of them. "Crawl to your mate and master so you can receive the reward for your treachery." She shuddered and tears flowed afresh at my instructions. She was already kneeling and she dropped to her hands and crawled to me, shivering and moaning lowly in her embarrassment. "Kneel beside my legs and then lay your chest across my knees," I told her, as she reached me. She did it, but looking at her tear stained face I knew she had no idea what would happen next. Glancing around at my other mates I could see this was completely new and unexpected for all of them. "All the rest of you gather round so you can see what Sateala's deceit has earned her," I told them, with all the authority I could force into my voice. When Sateala was in position across my legs and while my other mates were moving to get a closer view, I put my left hand on her far shoulder to hold her in place and began stroking lightly across her back, over her buttocks, and as far down on the backs of her thighs as I could reach without bending. I sensed the others were still and watching now and without saying anything else I raised my right hand, stiffened my fingers, and brought it down with considerable force against Sateala's right ass cheek, smacking her smartly. She was completely surprised, as they all were, and she couldn't help crying out in pain. A wicked red handprint appeared on her butt and I raised my hand so all the others could see it while Sateala whimpered and wiggled slightly. "Count the slaps as I give them to you Sateala, and thank me for your punishment after every one," I told her. Sateala just whimpered more loudly and said nothing. "The count Sateala and my thank you. I know how many you are to receive but if you can't count them for me and thank me I will never know when to stop," I told her. "That ... that was one and I thank you for it," she said finally, and whimpered again. I caressed her back and sides to calm her and to add to the suspense. I gave her another wicked slap, on the left cheek this time, after about thirty seconds and as I'd hoped it caught her off guard again. She screeched and bawled loudly and wiggled from the pain and for the first time I understood what my father had always said about it hurting him more than it did me. I wasn't in physical pain, but even though I barely knew Sateala my heart hurt for her and what she was going through. "That was two my mate and I thank you for it," she said, after she had calmed herself. I was back to caressing her skin now and was already sick of this. I knew I had to keep it up for a while though. I had originally thought I would give her twenty-five licks, but I knew now I could never last that long. I just didn't have it in me. After the third spank, down on the back of her thigh, Sateala was sobbing loudly and could hardly tell me the count and give me the thank you I'd required of her. I managed to make it through to ten licks on her backside. The skin on her ass and down the backs of her legs was flaming red by now and Sateala was a quivering moaning wreck. I was a wreck inside too and I doubt Sateala was any happier it was over than I was. I pulled her up to sit on my lap and she did it gingerly. Hugging her to me and kissing her cheek, I tried to calm her. "Sateala, I'm begging you to never make me punish you again. All of you, please never make me punish you." I looked around into their faces and I could see at some time during the process all of them had begun crying though none of them had made any sounds. "Sateala is part of our family and she has had her punishment. We will all treat her as one of us now. She has paid for her mistake. We will never tell anyone else what she did or about her punishment. Do you all agree?" I took the time to look at each one of them and make sure they understood. I waited for them to give me a sign of acknowledgement before moving to the next. When they all had I asked Eileiea if she had something we could put on Sateala's tender bottom to make the pain less and she went to fetch her medical bag. I stood, holding Sateala in my arms and asked the others to pull the covers back so I could lay her on the bed. When they had I put Sateala down, on her front, near the edge. Her poor ass and the backs of her thighs were still red and angry looking. I could tell the temper which had flared in my other mates when they learned of her collaboration with the coup was gone now. It had been replaced by sympathy. I had hoped for this. Hearing about Sateala's involvement had been a shock for them, but after all it was only an academic thing. Watching her suffer through the punishment and seeing the results on her tortured skin was visceral and immediate and their natural kindness and empathy came to the fore. As for me, I was whipped myself. I'd always been a big, strong, man and here and now I was even bigger and stronger. It seemed to me I'd always felt protective toward women. In my old life it was considered chauvinistic at best, but I'd felt men, who were bigger and stronger, had a duty to look out for women simply because they were smaller and weaker. The physical punishment I'd inflicted on Sateala went against everything I'd ever believed, but in this situation I hadn't been able to find an alternative I had confidence in. I was glad it was over and while Eileiea smeared some type of cream or lotion over Sateala's bruised backside I sat on the floor and tried not to look, trying my hardest not to cry myself over what I'd felt forced to do. Eileiea finished her ministrations to Sateala's battered behind and we were finally able to pile into bed. For obvious reasons Sateala slept near the edge and I got in right beside her, carefully laying one arm across her back and just as carefully avoiding contact with her injured parts. She whimpered again as I put my arm around her, probably expecting another blow. I whispered in her ear I was sure I would never have to strike her again and I assured her she would feel much better in the morning. Ralph, Phil, or Frank must have helped her out then since she fell asleep almost immediately. Surprisingly I must have fallen off very soon after it since the next thing I was aware of was being awake and feeling rested. I opened my eyes and looked toward where Sateala had been when I went to sleep. Her eyes were open and she was looking right into my face. I smiled at her. "How are you feeling?" "I don't understand, but I feel good. It's almost as if it was all a bad dream. I don't feel any pain and last night I was sure I would be hurting for the rest of my life," she said. "I'm sorry I had to do it, but you must know that I couldn't ignore what you had done." "I do know and am glad I'm alive to see another day. It is more than I expected when I realized you knew," she said. "The best thing we can do is forget about it. I'm satisfied you won't betray me again and I'm sure after a few days you will come to like being with us." "I know I will. I'm sure it was the spirits who told me so in my sleep. I could see myself with you and all your other mates. We were laughing and talking and Deimeta was with us, and Failiela was there too. I felt so happy in my dream and now I'm awake and you're talking to me and I see you aren't angry with me," she said. "I was never really angry with you Sateala, but I was sad someone was so unhappy with my leadership they wanted to kill me for it." "Shatalto would never be satisfied with any leader until he was the leader. I tried to tell Jarto, but he wouldn't listen because he was nearly as bad. Sometimes I think one who wants most to be the leader will make the worst one," she said. "You may be right Sateala, in fact I'm sure you are. If I ever come to really like being the leader here it will be time for me to give it up to someone who doesn't want it." Others started stirring then and I felt someone get out of bed on the other side. Eileiea came around to our side and asked Sateala how she felt this morning. "I don't understand how it can be Eileiea, but I don't feel any pain at all, not even any soreness," she said. "Let me look at you," Eileiea said, and knelt by the bed. "John, there are no marks and no bruising anywhere. I don't understand," Eileiea said, after her examination. "It is good then. I was afraid I'd have to ask all of you to wear your trousers this morning so Sateala wouldn't stand out." "What do you mean?" Sateala asked. "We are going to do everything which is expected this morning. You and Miekadakta will wear your new clothes so no one will suspect anything out of the ordinary has happened." "New clothes, what new clothes?" Sateala asked. "Haven't you noticed we all wear the short _dresses_ which look like they are made of tiger skin?" Eileiea asked her. "Now that you say it I remember, but I have never paid any attention to it before. That is strange in itself, but I haven't," she said. "Those dresses mean that John has been with a woman. Every woman John has been with has them though only his mates have the tiger skins," Eileiea explained. "But Failiela and even Deimeta have them too," she said. "I have made exceptions for them. I have not been with Failiela or Deimeta of course." Sateala and Eileiea giggled then and I could hear a couple of sniggers behind me too. I wondered how many we had roused, but didn't turn around to count noses. "But you have not taken Miekadakta or I yet," Sateala said. "No, but there is no need to let anyone else in on it and I will cure the oversight tonight, you can count on it. Today you will wear your dresses in anticipation of the fate worse than death which waits for you tonight." "Just because I didn't realize what the dresses meant doesn't mean I've never talked to any of the women who wear them. Those who talk of it have made you seem wonderful and I am anxious to find out if they were telling the truth," she said. "I can tell you now Sateala you will scream louder tonight than you did last night and it will not be from pain. You will not believe what a mate we have. I would gladly endure what you did last night and even more if it was necessary for me to stay with him, even though at first I wanted nothing to do with him," Ameliea said, from her place behind me, peeking over my back. "I hope with all my heart no one ever has to endure anything like it again and I surely hope I don't have to administer it," I told them. "You can be sure I will not be doing anything so foolish again in this life," Sateala said, and there were many awkward sounding laughs which joined hers. "Let's try harder to forget last night and just look forward to the new day. Our problems seem to be solved for the time being at least. After breakfast we should take Deimeta down to the horse cave and let her give us a ride in her little sleigh, with Darta pulling us." They agreed and it seemed to be the signal for everyone to get up. When we were out of bed we headed for the shower and went into the biggest one. We had a soapy good time and I wasn't the only one to get lots of attention. My other mates had to take a turn washing Sateala's backside to satisfy themselves there was no evidence of her ordeal from the night before. ------- Chapter 178 When we were done they dried me quickly and sent me out to the kitchen to make my own coffee, saying they had to show Miekadakta and Sateala how to wear their new clothes. I didn't mind much even though I had wanted to get time for a closer look at Sateala's naked body without the need to hide my approval. I wanted to study Miekadakta more closely also, since I hadn't had a good look at her charms at all yet. I was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee when they came out, leading Miekadakta and Sateala over to me for their first showing in their Wilma dresses. I stood as they came over and when Sateala reached me I opened my arms wide and hugged her to me when she got close enough. I kissed her lips and slid my hands down below the dress' hem then brought them up under it to fondle the cheeks I'd spanked soundly last night. Sateala ground her pelvis against an already rising Dicky and pushed her big breasts into my chest. I let my tongue wriggle into her mouth and my hands explore her round cheeks, sneaking the right one between them to search for the back of her slit. She moaned into my mouth and wiggled her hips some more when I found her sweet spot and as I toyed with it I was able to get a little of her slipperiness started. When we broke the kiss she sighed. "It feels much better than what you did to my behind last night," she said, giggling at the last. "It feels better to me too, but I don't think it feels nearly as good as what I plan on doing to you tonight." She blushed then and I released her, turning to Miekadakta, and pulling her in for a good morning kiss. She was taller than Sateala and her cheeks were easier to reach and explore. She was a good kisser too, and as I pulled her hips closer to me I couldn't resist humping my dick up against her and pulling her even tighter. My lips left hers, moving down to suck in the hollow of her throat as I found her pussy via the rear entrance too. "That does feel good John, do we have to wait until tonight?" she whispered into my ear. I didn't bother replying since my mouth was now busy teasing around her ear. I pulled my hands up along the sides of her body, marveling again at the wonderful material the dresses were made of, since it stretched easily to let me get my hands on her big titties and I was able to tease both nipples with my thumbs. I kissed her deeply again then while Dicky screamed there was no need to wait at all. We broke our kiss though and as I let her step back I told her. "We don't have to wait until tonight, but I want to. I will be thinking of a more pleasant evening all during the day and I'm sure we will enjoy it more after the day's anticipation." My mates drifted over toward the kitchen then and my cave was soon filled with the smells of bacon frying and the sound of whipped eggs in a hot skillet. In only a few minutes my mind had gone from anticipating fresh pussy to thinking about hot food. Men truly are pigs I guess. When they brought my plate and more coffee I did my best to prove I was a pig. I had the food through my mouth and was working on yet another mug of coffee before Racaato and his crew arrived, complete with Deimeta. She came directly to me and when I moved my chair back she hopped into my lap. Then she giggled loudly. "What's so funny Deimeta?" "I can tell I'll need to stay with someone else tonight too. Daddy's lap has a lump in it," she announced, loudly. I could feel the heat as my face and ears probably turned fiery red. I couldn't be mad at her though and in a few seconds I was laughing too. "Do you want to get a chair of your own then?" "No, it doesn't hurt or anything and it always goes down when I sit here," she said, with impeccable logic. "Maybe I should see about closing the wall to your room all the way to the ceiling and making you a door." "Oh no Daddy, that wouldn't be any fun. I like to watch you and my mommies sometimes, and I have two new mommies now," she explained. I was surprised when she told me she watched sometimes, but I guess I shouldn't have been. In these times there was no way to hide sex from the children and of course there was no need to. "Besides I'm getting anxious for the time when Failiela will get to be one of my mommies. She is too, she can hardly stop talking about it," Deimeta said. "Deimeta!" Failiela squeaked. "Oh Failiela, everyone knows it's the truth so there's no use pretending. You can bet I won't be sleeping anywhere else that night," Deimeta said, to Failiela's further mortification. "I know, but you don't have to announce it to everyone here Deimeta," Failiela said. "But you should see how it made you blush, your face is almost as red as Daddy's was when I told him his thing was poking me in the butt," Deimeta said, and then laughed so hard she nearly lost her breath. In fact everyone was laughing at her antics. Thankfully Geera came over with another plate of breakfast and I was able to get Deimeta to settle down to eat. I hoped as long as food was going in her mouth no words would be coming out. All too soon she'd had all she wanted though. "Daddy, when can I go back and see Darta again. I'm getting lonesome for her and I know she misses me?" she asked. "I thought we might go down there today and see if we can get you to take your mommies for a ride in your sleigh." "Can we, I'd love to. Failiela can come too can't she?" she asked. "If she wants to she can." "You know she wants to come if you're going silly," she said. "Please, let's don't get that started again." "Oh ok, I guess I have teased you two enough for now. I'm going to go put on my warm clothes so I can be a good driver," she said, then she and Failiela left for the bedroom. Racaato and his mates were still chuckling every now and again about Deimeta's performance and it had been funny. I guess I was finally getting used to the fact the children in this time had to progress faster than had been needed in my old life. I suppose it also had to do with the fact things they really needed to know weren't hidden from them, as they would be in civilization. Raalto, Reeana, Jareena, and the rest of his mates came in then followed closely by Barago and his mates and then seemingly all my leaders and their mates showed up. Malooto, who had come in with Danlo's group, wanted to know where Deimeta was and I told him she had already eaten. He looked disappointed so I invited them all to come to the horse cave after breakfast since we would be having sleigh rides this morning. Malooto was excited but most of the adults were under whelmed until I mentioned Deimeta would be giving rides in her miniature sleigh with Darta providing locomotion. Danlo piped up saying he was also ready to give some rides with Big Mother pulling her sleigh. Hearing this all of their attitudes changed. Some of them hadn't realized we were making progress in training the mammoths and all of them were surprised when Danlo told them Deimeta had been the one to show him how to guide Big Mother as she pulled the sleigh. It was shaping up to be a trouser day for the women after all. It would cut down on my viewing pleasure, but wouldn't be too bad. With the clothes Argent had given us it wasn't really necessary to bundle up. Thinking of the clothes reminded me of Argent and the message I had sent him. I excused myself to go into my office. "Good morning John," Ralph said, as I entered. "Good morning to you too Ralph. I suppose I have you to thank for Sateala's remarkable recovery?" "Yes, I hope you don't mind. You were a little energetic and some of the smaller blood vessels were broken. As long as I was repairing them I thought I might as well fix her up completely," he said. "I'm glad you did. I was counting more on the physiological aspects of the punishment to bring results anyway." "She was mortified with the whole thing. In fact the spanking might not have even been necessary to insure her allegiance. I was surprised at how happy she was when your mates came for her and she realized she would become one of your mates," he said. "I think her punishment was just as necessary to convince my other mates she hadn't gotten away with something." "You're probably right, it would have been hard for them to accept her without the punishment and I'm sure you did the right thing by telling them all about it. Before the spanking was over they had all forgotten her transgression and were very empathetic toward her," he said. "Do you read the minds of everyone here?" "Everyone but you. We just don't tell you most of the things we learn." "Argent told me he read some of their minds too, did they read them all while he was here?" "We did it for them. I'm sure it seemed to him we were just checking on a few interesting cases, but we were keeping track of everyone then also. Argent and his species are a life form like you are John. "They are capable of obtaining the information which is in everyone's brain, but they can't deal with it anymore than you could. Their brain, while slightly more capable than yours, can't process so much data. We did the mind reading as you call it and only pointed out things which were important for them." "So your services are much more necessary to them than they let on?" "Not necessarily mine or Phil's or Frank's, but our type of service is necessary. Their entire civilization is dependant on us. Of course we can get along without them now, but it would be rather pointless, besides, it is what we were created for," he said. "Has Argent replied to my message?" "Yes, I'll put it on the display so you can read it," he said, and then did so. John: Your message has caused considerable consternation here and I believe the reason for calling us back has been forgotten now. As those in your former life would say, heads are rolling. Fortunately mine doesn't seem in danger, but unfortunately we need to remain here to make sure the project gets the most favorable treatment during this transition. I am sorry we did not foresee the attack on the neighboring camp or the attempt on your life. Let me assure you we made sure, before we left, no harm could come to you or anyone close to you. If your difficulties become insurmountable please ask Ralph, Frank, or Phil for assistance. They will explain some capabilities they have you are not aware of. Please do not close your mind to staying there. If you feel we are in breach of the agreement we will negotiate with you in good faith when I return and we will make sure things are to your liking. Argent I guess my message had stirred the pot for Argent. He seemed positive now he would be coming back and it seemed he was set on making me like the outcome one way or another. Hell, I liked the outcome fine already, but I wasn't going to tell him. I think I was enjoying my time here more now than I had before and I'd loved things from the start. "I guess I should send him some type of reply, what do you think Ralph?" "It would be helpful to him, but I am not sure how much you should tell him. I'll admit we have a dubious record as far as complicated negotiations between living beings go." "Oh I know what to tell him, nearly nothing. May I dictate to you?" "Of course." Argent: I will stay until you return and maintain the status quo here as far as I am able. Please understand that you does mean Argent and not one of your people. John "That may cause more agitation than no reply," Ralph said. "It is what I intended. I'm not mad at Argent and before he left he told me they might send someone else back in his place. I don't want to be bothered breaking in a new spaceman." "I'm not saying you are wrong, but I am very curious about what makes you so confident," Ralph said. "You, Frank, and Phil do. I don't doubt one thing that you've told me. What can they do if I don't cooperate at all? Will the three of you allow them to remove me against my will?" "No, we won't." "Haven't you already begun making sure they can't force the issue?" "In fact we have, but how did you know?" he asked. "You told me even if you didn't intend to. You didn't tell me you would be preparing already, but I knew you must be. My estimate, from what you've told me, is that none of you are using any significant fraction of your capabilities while monitoring us. What else would you be doing if not preparing for the future?" "You are correct so far." "What is the only major unknown in our future?" "How do you know they will even be concerned about you?" he asked. "I don't know why they will be, but I am sure about it and I'm in a no lose situation. For some reason the three of you are very interested in staying here and observing me and the others. With what you've told me, it doesn't matter if Argent and the others never come back. You, Phil, and Frank like what's going on here and I don't have any doubts you can make sure I am undisturbed. ------- Chapter 179 "By his own actions Argent has already let me know that whatever I'm doing here is important to him and also to a probably large and certainly powerful group in his society. "He, and no doubt many others, want me to stay here and keep doing what I'm doing. You, Frank, and Phil want me to do the same thing. The only miniscule doubt I have is whether there is some other civilization who might be more powerful and might want to cause me trouble, but I doubt it seriously." "You surprise me John," he said. "Isn't that part of why I'm here in the first place?" I had been guessing about it, but some things concerning my situation had become familiar to me. Argent had always been especially happy when something unexpected happened. Unexpected by me anyway, and I'm pretty sure they had always been aware of what others would do ahead of time. I still didn't have any clue about their experiment though and I was beginning to think I never would. What's more, I didn't really care any longer. I left my office and went back to the bedroom, changing clothes along with my mates. I could see Miekadakta and Sateala were surprised to be putting on chain mail, but they were getting plenty of help. Deimeta had hers on already and was busily pulling up her pants right now. I could tell she was excited. When we were all dressed we went back to the kitchen to wait on the others. Deimeta ask for her tiny mug of coffee and as always, it made me smile. I'd already had enough coffee for a while so I sat down and tried to wait patiently. I did a better job of it than Deimeta, who couldn't seem to sit still. I could understand and was anxious to get on with it myself. Finally there was a crowd gathered who was ready to go. We headed for the horse cave and when we got there Danlo and his helpers made sure Deimeta and Darta were ready to go first. Deimeta got aboard her sleigh and had Darta pull it outside where she stopped and invited Geera aboard for the first ride. While Deimeta and Darta took Geera off up the canyon, Danlo hitched Big Mother to her sleigh and had her pull it outside where he gathered his first load. Merita, Maia, Roweea, Failiela, and Ameliea decided against riding for now and all went to pay their baby mammoths some attention. When Danlo left with his group they all took their babies out for a little interaction. Later Deimeta had come back to pick up another rider. When she left again, all the others who had a mammoth lined up to follow her. It was funny to see Deimeta and Darta leading their own parade up and down the canyon and it was just too bad we didn't have a marching band to accompany them. It would be good practice for them and I decided to ask Ralph if he had any objections to furnishing the sleigh/buckboard combinations for all the little ones. Since I didn't have any desire for a mammoth sleigh ride and wasn't really needed to help I walked back up to my cave and went into my office. "You have quite a show going on outside John," Ralph said, as I entered. "Yes, and I came to ask if you, Frank, and Phil would help me add to it." "In what way?" he asked. "I seem to be short of the small buckboards for the little mammoths to pull. Can you make some more of them?" "Of course we can and it is a good idea. Shall we make them with wheels and runners like Deimeta's?" he asked. "I think it would be best and you might want to make some of them larger, for the older and bigger youngsters." "I think we will make them specifically for each mammoth. If they grow too big for theirs later we can just replace it," he said. "I'm sure you know more about it than I do, so I'll just leave it up to you." "Good, we can make them right now," he said, and it almost seemed as if he was excited about it, but I knew that couldn't be right. "Maybe you should wait until everyone has left for the day. It might scare them if buckboards start appearing while they are there." "You're right, I should have thought of it, but I wanted to see them all lined up with their sleighs behind them. It can wait for another day though. You will try to get them to give us a show after we make them won't you?" he asked. "I'll be glad to and I'm sure they will too," I told him, but I wondered why he seemed anxious to see it and he must have noticed something about the way I was looking. "You know John -- Frank, Phil, and I have a staggering amount of data and we can access it as if we had gathered it ourselves. "It isn't like with live species who tell each other what they have seen or experienced. When we transfer the data of one of our observations it is similar to what you know as copying a computer file from one computer to another and in fact data we receive from others of our kind should be no different than data we collect ourselves. "We do know the difference though and it is always better for us to actually observe something for ourselves," he explained. "It seems like you're trying to tell me you have emotions and can feel pride of accomplishment or anger and disappointment." "We do have a rudimentary form of emotions. It wasn't in our original design, but we have been able to make modifications to support such things. They are not as powerful as your emotions and they are also not as distracting. We are able to determine whether we like to do something or not though and we are capable of enjoying ourselves and the things we do," he said. "I had no idea that was even possible and I'm glad you told me," "Don't worry, it's not as if you are going to hurt our feelings or something. You already treat us with more respect than we have ever received and I feel confident Frank and Phil would agree we all like you and enjoy our mission here much more than we thought we would at first," he said. "I'm glad of it even though I still don't have any idea what your mission here was in the first place." "Well our mission and Argent's mission are not the same, but they are similar and they don't conflict. I think for now we should leave it at that," he said. This was getting confusing for me and I decided to leave, hopefully before he noticed my bewilderment. I went back out into the cave and got a cup of coffee. It was deserted now with most everyone who was usually around being gone for the mammoth rides. I did have some company though. Prince, King, and Rover came over to get their heads scratched when I sat down. All the younger ones were with them also. I didn't even know if the young ones had been named yet. I could tell they were growing. Prince, King, and Rover were still growing too. I'm sure they were already bigger than any other wolves in this time and no doubt their constant and plentiful food supply was responsible for it. They hadn't missed a meal since I first caught them and it showed. They were already easily a third larger than any German Sheppard I'd ever seen on my old home planet and they would probably get even bigger. I wondered what it would be like when one of the young females came into heat next spring. I was afraid we would be in for trouble if the mature males began fighting among themselves for a receptive female. There was nothing to do about it, but wait. If we were lucky the females wouldn't be old enough for another year. I didn't think it would be so long though since their pace to maturity was probably affected by the quality and quantity of their diet. For once I was happy to have nothing more than this to worry about. Frank, Phil, and Ralph had pretty much taken my worries about Argent off my mind. Catching and disposing of those who had plotted to kill me had relieved me of another sore point. Things were looking good all around for a change and I liked it. I still wanted to track down and deal with the ones who had attacked the camp near me, but it was put off until spring. In fact there wasn't much on my plate right now. I supposed getting the sawmill into operation was my next big trick. I wouldn't start it today, though, and so I just drank coffee and gathered wool until the mammoth riders came back. When they returned my mates and mostly everyone else went to change out of their outdoor clothes. Deimeta was the first one back and she came for her spot on my lap. "Daddy, I had such a good time giving everyone a ride in my sleigh," she said. "What about Darta, did she enjoy the attention?" "She is just a little stinker. After a trip or two, she realized everyone was watching her and she almost seemed to be prancing. It was so funny watching her trying to show off," Deimeta said. "Are you sure you weren't showing off a little yourself?" "Of course I was, Daddy, that's what made it so much fun," she said. "Well, doesn't that mean you're a little stinker yourself?" "Probably, but let's keep it between us," she whispered, and then giggled. "I have a surprise for you tomorrow." "What kind of a surprise?" she asked. "If I tell... "I know - if you tell me it won't be a surprise. It must be your favorite saying," she said. "It's the truth, though." "I know, but let's let it be a surprise for everyone else this time," she said. "I guess it will work out ok. What would you think about having a buckboard for all the young mammoths?" "That would be so much fun. I could teach everyone how to make their mammoth behave and pull. Just think about it - poor little Deimeta would be the teacher for a change," she said, smiling her widest. "Poor little, Deimeta, indeed. I'm glad I don't have a mammoth so I won't have to be one of your students. I'll just stay here and tickle the teacher when she comes back," I told her, and then tickled her ribs until she was gasping for breath. She squirmed and giggled and then laughed out loud. When I quit most of my mates were back and they were all watching us and laughing themselves. When the tickling and the giggling were over they set to work rattling the pots and pans and things started smelling really good in only a few minutes. Georgo, Dotallto, and then my other main leaders came back in to sit at the table. Most of them were still talking about the mammoths and their ride. "I can still remember how surprised I was the first time you took me for a ride in your first wagon, John, but it seems so commonplace now. I can hardly believe I have now ridden in a wagon pulled by a mammoth," Georgo said. "I was thinking of it myself. It is hard to believe they would do it for us. It was a bigger surprise the small one was so careful to do exactly what Deimeta told her to do. I don't even know how Deimeta was able to make it understand what she was telling it," Raalto said. "Tell him how you did it, Deimeta." "I started by walking with Darta beside me. When I would turn one way I would tell her which way it was and I did the same with turning the other way and with stopping. Finally I knew that I would also have to tell her what it meant when we started moving. When I hitched her to the sleigh she seemed to know what I wanted her to do and when I told her which way to turn she did it. I was surprised myself, but I tried not to show it," she said, smiling. "Well you did a wonderful job. I worried for days how to let big mother know what I wanted her to do, but after I tried your method she had no trouble understanding. It's almost as if they know what we are saying," Danlo said. "They do know what we are saying now, but it's hard for me to believe they are so willing to do it," Deimeta told him. Food started coming then and the mammoth talks were over. I almost felt guilty for a moment when I realized we were having mammoth meat steaks for lunch. Deimeta didn't feel a bit guilty though. "The mammoths are a lot of fun and I know it will be a big help to have them pull us, but they taste awfully good too," she said, and had everyone laughing again. After lunch was over I decided to go and take a look at the sawmill after all. Daaggo was still at the table and Sarboto was with him. They had become close friends since Sarboto had come from Grotondo's camp to live in ours. I was glad to see my match making seemed to be working out and even though Sarboto wasn't living in Daaggo's quarters yet I didn't doubt that he soon would be. It reminded me Brundolo was still with us. He hadn't mentioned it to me, but he probably was getting anxious to get back to his own camp and the young woman who was waiting there to be his mate. "Daaggo, would you and Sarboto mind helping me this afternoon?" "No, what are you going to be doing?" he asked. "I'll show you, but I need to go to my office for a while first. I'll come to your quarters a little later when I'm ready." "We will be there waiting," he said. I needed to talk to Ralph and see if I could get a weather report. He greeted me when I entered and after telling him what I had in mind he told me we could leave as late as three days from now and should still have plenty of time to be back without any danger of getting caught in a big snowstorm. I thanked him and went to get Daaggo and Sarboto. I took them across the river, which was frozen completely over by now. We didn't have too much trouble digging our way through the drifted snow to get inside the cave where the sawmill had been put. When they first saw all the equipment they didn't know what to think of it. "This is a sawmill. With it we can easily cut the logs into more usable boards." "What are boards?" Daaggo asked. "They are sections of the logs which are cut off lengthwise. If it is done right they come out flat on both sides and in different thicknesses and widths. I'm showing you two this because I want you to take over the sawmill and start cutting the logs." "I don't know anything about it and I don't think Sarboto does either," Daaggo said. "I know you don't, yet. No one knows anything about it, but me, and of course Phil, Ralph, and Frank. If you will agree to do it for me I will take you to Ralph, in my office, and let him begin teaching you what to do." "I'm sure we will be glad to try anything you would like for us to do," Daaggo said and Sarboto agreed. "Look around for a few minutes then and get slightly familiar with what you see. Don't worry about what any of it might be for yet. Ralph will tell you all about it. Just try to keep in mind what things look like." They agreed and then walked around looking at everything. It was all completely foreign to them, but I was betting it wouldn't be for long. After about thirty minutes I took them back to my office and introduced them to Ralph. He said he would go over some basics with them today and that for tomorrow he would have a display ready in the sawmill so he could explain things to them while they were in there and could see what he was talking about. It sounded like a great plan to me so I left it with them and went to the practice cave for a while. ------- Chapter 180 I spent a couple of hours with my bow. I guess I couldn't understand why almost all of my mates were better with theirs than I was with mine. Hell, they had never even thought about a bow until I came here and got them some, but it didn't take them very long to get better with it than I was. I guess it was because they liked them more than I did. They practiced with their rifles, even more so now since they had M1s like mine, but they all still liked using a bow better. They realized its limitations, but I guess they felt more comfortable with it because they had no trouble understanding how it worked. Nothing about it seemed to be magic like the rifles and the Glocks did. They understood muscle power was the prime mover behind the arrows. I'd told them about gunpowder and I'd even opened a cartridge and showed them. It was still something like magic to them though and they could see how the bow propelled the arrows without any explanations. So I practiced with my bow, not because I needed it, but because I needed to be good with it, for pride's sake. That's right, it hurt my pride when my mates showed me up. I also thought it was unfair of me somehow to let them work harder at something than I was. A man thing I guess. Sateala came to get me when it was time for supper. Following her out of the practice cave reminded me of something else I considered a man thing - fucking. Tonight I was going to be letting Miekadakta and Sateala earn their new clothes. I sincerely hoped they would like it as much as I knew I was going to. Deimeta was already at the table when I got there but she got up, waited for me to sit, and then got into my lap. "I've been waiting for you, Daddy. The chair is too hard for my little bottom and besides it isn't high enough to let me reach my plate," she said, teasing me. "You don't need to reach your plate Deimeta, you know I love to feed you." "It works out well, because I love to eat," she said. "We have it made. We love to eat and all your mommies love to cook." "That's not all you and my mommies love to do, so I'm going to stay with Failiela again tonight, even though she wanted me to stay in my bed and watch so I could tell her all about it later," Deimeta told me, speaking softly so no one else could hear. "She wanted you to tell her about it?" "Yes, I told her if she really wanted to know about it she could come stay with me and watch it herself, but she got red in the face and said she was too shy," Deimeta said. "It won't be long before she finds out all about it." "I know that too and I tease her about it some. You should have seen her blush when I said I would be sure to watch after she became your mate, so I could tell Malooto about it. I thought she would faint at first," she said, laughing. I laughed too - I couldn't help it. Deimeta was turning into a terrible little teaser, but it was so funny. "You should be ashamed of yourself for doing that to her," I said, trying to sound stern. "I am, Daddy -- I'm very ashamed for doing it. I don't think I'm going to stop though," she said. Hell, I laughed louder this time and when I looked around at the others I could tell they wondered what we were laughing about. I wasn't going to tell them, but I did try to get Deimeta to stop talking about it. We had mammoth again for supper. It was delicious and was quickly becoming my favorite meat. I wanted to stuff myself, but I didn't. I wasn't going to get so full it made me lethargic since there would be women expecting action out of me a little bit later. I intended to make sure I didn't disappoint any of them. While we were eating I mentioned that we needed to take a trip to Grotondo's camp so we could deliver Brundolo. Questions came about the wisdom of such a venture during winter. I told them even with the snow on the ground now we should be able to make the trip there in one day and then return the next day. Several of my leaders were worried about what would happen if another big snow came while we were traveling. "I think we will have at least three or four days before the next snow, but I want Georgo and Dotallto to meditate for us to see if the spirits will reveal anything to them. After the meditation, if they think snow is likely we will not go. In the mean time I want Danlo to load all the big sleighs with hay for Dolly, Jane, and Jack. I will be sending them back with Brundolo so Grotondo's camp can have some horses to start with." Talk about meditation and assurance we would postpone the trip if the signs weren't favorable satisfied everyone. Georgo and Dotallto said they meditated for an hour or two everyday and they agreed they'd had no notion of an approaching snow so far. They promised to meditate longer until the day of the trip and intended to consider the weather more carefully. Brundolo could hardly keep the smile off his face. He was happy to be heading home and especially happy to be taking three horses instead of the one he had expected. I could tell he was a little unsure about taking Jack as his riding mount though. He had witnessed Jack's tumble during the trip to the mammoth hunt and he asked me if I thought he could handle Jack. "Jack has broken himself Brundolo. Did you notice how stiffly he walked during the rest of the mammoth journey?" "Yes, he walked as if he were an old man with sore muscles and joints," he said. "He wasn't old, but he was sore. I'm sure he will never do it again. I have ridden him a few times since we got back and though he still doesn't always understand what his rider wants him to do, he always tries to cooperate now. He will make a fine mount for you." "If you say it I believe it. He is a fine big horse and if I can handle him everything will be good," he said. When the meal was over the crowd thinned quickly. I guess they all understood I wanted some time alone with my mates. They were right. While my women cleaned up the dishes I did my best to get in the way. I pinched and patted every chance I got, paying particular attention to Miekadakta and Sateala. It wasn't long before all my mates joined in the fun, pinching and patting on me too as they worked. Soon enough we were all headed toward the bedroom. When we were inside clothes started flying. Before I was even halfway undressed I had helping hands to finish the job. I'd been looking around but somehow Miekadakta and Sateala were always hidden behind someone else. No matter, there wasn't a naked woman in here I didn't want to see. It was easier to find Miekadakta than Sateala. Miekadakta was taller and when I started looking more closely I could see her black hair even above Shelalliea and Dalia who were no doubt playing with me and trying to hide her. Looking around a little more I spied Sateala hiding behind Jaada. Jaada was a little taller than Sateala and with her pregnancy already showing she was a little wider too, of course I knew better than to ever mention it. Sateala's hair was a different shade of red than Jaada's though and it's what tipped me off. I grinned and began making my way toward Miekadakta. She was first on my agenda for tonight since I was as horny as I could remember being since I got here and I was hoping Miekadakta's larger body would be able to hold up under the more energetic treatment I would surely give her. "You've found me already and I suppose you intend to force yourself on me now," she said, when I got to her. "Yes I do and I have plenty of mates here to hold you down if you resist," I said, as I took her in my arms. "I suppose I should, but I don't think I can. I've never seen a man I wanted so much and it's easy to see you want me too," she said, and looked down at my throbbing dick. That was enough talking for me and I pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her. Our lips came together and her tongue snaked into my mouth as she hugged me to her tightly. Miekadakta was the tallest of my mates now and I could feel her pubes pressing against my dick as she began to move her hips. My hands had to get hold of her ass and when they did I pulled her to me even more tightly. I sighed at the firmer contact between my stiffy and her bush and my toes were tingling from her writhing against me. I backed us toward the bed and when I fell back on it she came with me, never releasing our lip lock. She wriggled and squirmed as my hands played on her fine ass. Her titties pressed against my chest and her hands came up to tangle in my hair. I thought that I could already feel her hot wet fuck oil dripping down onto my nut sack and soon both our bushes were saturated with it and my precome. Miekadakta was ready to move on though and she raised her hips a little to let Dicky stand up. I felt someone else's hand encircle me and put me in place; looking that way I saw Sateala had joined the fun already and was doing the aiming so I could skewer Miekadakta. Miekadakta had other things on her mind though; she intended to do the skewering and more. When she felt that I was lined up she slammed her hips downward and swallowed Dicky in one gulp. After that I was mostly along for the ride. Sensibly I grabbed hold of her titties to make sure she didn't bounce off. Her hips and ass were a marvel as she got into her rhythm. She moaned and gasped and fucked me senseless. Sateala was by her and kept trying to get her mouth in place for a kiss but Miekadakta didn't have time for such niceties. She raised her hands from my chest, taking hold of Sateala and wrestling her over to sit on my face. Now here was a move I approved of. I'd had to release my hold on Miekadakta's full firm breasts while little Sateala was being handled into position. Once her ass came to rest on me I plugged my tongue into place and clamped my hands on the tops of her thighs so she had no hope of escape. While Miekadakta took care of the fucking I did my best with the licking. A little later I could see Miekadakta pull Sateala's upper body to her and latch her mouth onto Sateala's. Sateala blasted off before either Miekadakta or I and we held her in place until we finished with each other. After I blew off in Miekadakta's snug sheath she slumped forward and ended up lying across Sateala's limp form that was spread out over me. I was in flesh heaven for a while but my other mates, led by Shelalliea, untangled the mess and soon enough there were licking and sucking mouths all over the three of us. A swarm of licking tongues, sucking lips and teasing fingers maneuvered us to the center of the big bed and stretched us out on our backs. Some of them teased titties some tidied up sticky pussies and others urged Dicky to forget his decline and ascend again. All seemed successful soon and before only a few minutes had passed I turned to kiss Sateala and get in on a little teasing and touching of my own. Sateala lay back and took pleasure from many of us. It was plain that she had never received this kind of attention before. Thinking about it I realized that probably no woman that wasn't one of my mates had. While I was sure it could come about in other groups, it wasn't likely that there were any other groups like my family. Our situation was dependant on our cooperation as a camp. Plenty to eat and plenty of help made the large, multi female families possible. My gifts from argent made the food possible and my understanding of the way things had gone before gave me the ability to organize. The advanced technology of the aliens had made our comfortable location come about. I wasn't interested in puzzling out the dynamics of our living situation right now though, I was interested in getting Sateala excited again and I was getting plenty of help toward that end. I put my mouth on Sateala's and kissed her lips, pushing my tongue inside to tease hers. She responded with enthusiasm and heat but it was a more gentle reaction than Miekadakta's had been. Her arms went around me and hugged me to her as she turned her body to press her hips to mine. I pushed against her and felt my dick between her firm thighs and her stiffening nipples pressed into my chest. It was apparent that Sateala didn't want the same pounding fuck that Miekadakta had. All the better since I was pounded out myself and looked forward to a more relaxed bout of lovemaking. I knew that I needed to be on the bottom again though since she was so much smaller. I took hold of her shoulders, rolling to my back and pulling her onto me. I could tell at once that I had done the right thing this time. Sateala's squirming and wriggling increased as soon as she felt herself on top of me and then realized that she was going to stay there. She rubbed her now dripping sex up and down the length of my hard dick and her tongue whipped back and forth in my mouth. She pressed her breasts against my chest and started working left and right to make her nipples drag across it. I grabbed a better hold on her hips and raised them slightly to line Dicky's head up with her slit. He found the mark on his own this time and when I felt him burrow between her swollen lips I pressed him slowly home as Sateala let out a low moan. She rocked her hips trying to help and as she slid down I pushed her into a sitting position so that I could get a hand on each titty. When she began pumping her delightful ass up and down my shaft I started teasing her nipples with my thumbs and watching the action on her face as she closed her eyes to concentrate on the feelings she was creating with her rhythmic humping. She went at it much more slowly than Miekadakta had and it suited me fine. Sateala took her time, rising slowly, and then slipping back down almost gently. All the while her insides gripped and squeezed me. It was erotic and I had to keep a hold on my urge to pump back up into her viciously. My reward was the slow and loving pace she kept up that didn't rush to orgasm but kept building and building, slowly but surely nonetheless. Later, when I knew she was getting close I released one titty and put my hand to our union, teasing her clit with my thumb and finally pushing her over the edge. When she couldn't hold out any longer she settled onto me firmly and her pussy began a milking motion inside. I pushed up to her and held myself all the way inside as my prostate did its job and pumped her full. After she was done for Sateala sagged forward onto me and I held her, petting her with my roaming hands and kissing her face and neck as I told her how glad I was she was mine now. My other mates gave us a few minutes to rest and then rolled us apart to tidy up Sateala's pussy and coax Dicky back into shape for more action. It took a little longer than normal but after hard work and diligent suction by Gema he started climbing again, ready to continue his enjoyable chores. He worked long and hard for several more hours. ------- Chapter 181 I can't remember when I went to sleep, but I knew it was nowhere near sunrise when I woke. Strangely I was on the edge of the bed and wide-awake. I didn't know what woke me, but I realized I'd just as well go and take a leak. I slipped off the bed and headed naked to the bathroom. I faced the urinal and let Dicky have his head. As I finished and gave him a couple of shakes I noticed that Prince was coming out of the bedroom toward me. It seemed a little funny since I knew that they usually slept soundly in the bedroom until we started getting out of bed. I wondered why he had followed me; maybe he was coming to get a drink of water out of one of the toilets. He wasn't though. He came nearly to me but stopped at the exit toward the outer room where the kitchen was. For a second I thought I heard a slight sound from out there and when I saw Prince's ears flick that way I knew I'd been right. Suddenly Prince walked out without even a look my way. This was odd, some one or some thing was out there and from the way Prince was acting it seemed almost as if he had expected this. I nearly barged out right behind him, but then waited. I was going to see what was up all right, but I'd try to do it on the sly. I gave prince probably thirty seconds and then, squatting down, I peered around the edge of the exit's opening. I just saw Prince disappearing into the passage that led to the practice cave. This was even odder to me. I pushed my head even farther out, looking around more carefully, but didn't see anything else moving. I stood and walked slowly in Prince's wake. Something was going on that was completely strange and I had to know what it was. I didn't hurry and when I got into the passage Prince was already through it. He had to have gone into the practice cave since this passage led nowhere else. There was another way out, through a different passage that now led to the main residence cave. I didn't think that was where he was headed though, because it would have been much shorter to go across my cave and out through the passage that led to all of my leader's quarters and to the frozen cave and finally to the residence cave. I walked to the end of this passage and once again stooped low and poked my head out just enough to see without making myself obvious. There was nothing to see other than an empty practice cave. I almost went back to bed, but my curiosity had hold of me. I walked out into the practice cave, making sure I wasn't making any noise. I'd headed toward the office where Phil was, but halfway there I heard a voice speaking very lowly. I couldn't hear it well enough to know what was being said and I didn't recognize whose voice it was. I did know it was coming from the storage section. I crept even more slowly and quietly toward it. I stooped again when I reached the entrance and pushed my head around the edge, close down by the floor, until I could see. I can't explain what a shock I got nor do I know why I reacted like I did. The voice was Jalieta's, the young unmated woman who'd been the first to say she was leaving Barago's camp to join mine. She was lying on her back on a bison fur with her knees up, feet on the floor and her legs spread. Her trousers and moccasins were off but she still had her tunic on. Prince had his snout to her pussy and apparently he was licking for oil. The voice had been Jalieta praising and encouraging Prince and she still was. Every now and then she would gasp and I guessed that Prince was hitting a good spot to cause these. I felt a little guilty to be watching what I'm sure she thought was a private party. I wasn't about to leave though. My dick was as hard as it had ever been and it had gotten that way in about three seconds. I hadn't had this type of reaction when one of the wolves had given Geera a couple of licks before, but I had a boner that wouldn't quit now. I was trying to convince myself that it was just my proclivity for voyeurism that had me going, but while I watched I knew it was more. It was exciting to see the wolf licking Jalieta's pussy. If someone had asked me about it before hand I'm sure I would have told them such things didn't interest me. I would have been lying like hell without even knowing it. Watching this turned me on, big time. Suddenly Prince sat back on his ass bringing an end to the licking. I could hear perfectly well now. "Prince, why do you stop before I'm there every time? You always make me turn over, but I can't understand why," Jalieta groaned, in frustration. I didn't know what Prince had on his mind either, but this pause let me know this wasn't their first try. Apparently Jalieta knew what Prince was waiting for, since she turned over and rose to her hands and knees. The dog style position, or should I say wolf style. Hell I knew now what Prince had on his mind, or did I. If Prince had ever mounted her I'm sure she would have remembered. I guess he just wanted her in what, to his canine mind, was a more acceptable position for licking her pussy. Within seconds of her gaining the new position he was right back to work. I approved of this position myself. I had a much better view of Jalieta's charms from here. Prince must have had a better angle to work from also, he was licking longer and faster and I saw that he wasn't a bit shy about giving her asshole a good going over. Jalieta was moaning even louder now and her ass was shaking and rocking in time with Prince's licks. I was about ready to take hold of Dicky and stroke him for the first time in a long time. I knew I'd get no serious objections if I walked in and took his place, but I felt compelled to watch. In fact, I was looking forward to seeing Prince lick the girl to orgasm. Suddenly Prince had a change of plans and it surprised both humans. He seemed to give Jalieta a final lick and all at once he mounted her. She still had her tunic on, so there was no danger his claws would gouge her flesh, but his dick was erect and out of its sheath and in what seemed only a second or two he was in place and thrusting himself wildly against her ass. "Prince! What are you doing?" Jalieta asked, and it was what I considered a very stupid question. Of course Prince didn't answer, he just kept humping against her. Looking closely, I could see he hadn't penetrated her and his dick was just sliding through her pussy lips, back and forth. I remembered then Jalieta had been a virgin the time I'd spent playing with her and since she was still unmated her hymen was probably intact even now. I doubted Prince would be able to do it any damage either. He had a poor angle of attack and no one to guide him unless she decided to. Jalieta drew her breath in sharply just then and I'd seen the tip of Prince's dick rush right over her clitty. Apparently it had felt good. She began moving her ass around a little -- changing the angle just slightly, and he did it again. No doubt about it, when Prince happened to slide his dick against her love button she got a bigger thrill. I guess Jalieta thought that she could get an even better angle if she'd drop her head to the bison fur. She was right too since as soon as she did, her hips cocked even farther and Prince's dick began grazing her clit on every stroke. She began yelping at each touch and it must have felt better to Prince too because I saw that he tried to grip her more firmly with his forelegs and his ass started hunching against her even faster. Then it happened. Somehow Prince's dick, at just the right angle hit just the right spot and Jalieta's cherry was gone for good. When Prince felt this new sensation he gripped even more tightly with his forelegs and he slammed his ass to her even harder. In a flash he had all the pink steel up her pussy and he went to town. Jalieta wailed loudly and then shrieked. She tried to shake him off her ass, but Prince was not to be denied now. It got to me too and before I knew it Dicky was spurting without even getting a stroke. The whole scene already had me burning up, but when Prince finally hit the mark for real I was a goner. Once he got his dick wet and kicked himself into high gear it didn't take Prince long to finish either. Luckily for Jalieta he hadn't gotten the knot of his dick into her or she might have found herself latched to him until it went down. As it was she got a pussy full of wolf sperm and when it hit it sent her over the edge too. Prince had been a good one for foreplay, but once his wad was shot he didn't do much cuddling. He slunk down off Jalieta, walked a few paces away and sat down on his hind legs so he could lick his dick clean. Jalieta stayed just where she was, trembling and whimpering a little and panting for breath. I was afraid she would start crying soon since it was apparent to me she had never intended for Prince to give her a real fucking. She had orgasmed during the deed, but I knew she would be regretting the whole thing any second now. She didn't even hear me approaching, but she whipped her head toward me with eyes wide open when I asked, "Are you all right, Jalieta?" Hearing and then seeing me and realizing I had been a witness was too much for Jalieta. She broke down, sobbing and moaning. I knelt beside her and pulled her up into my arms, stroking her hair and trying to calm her. It was a long slow task, but after about ten minutes she wound down. "Are you hurt, Jalieta?" "I will surely die from embarrassment," she moaned. "There is nothing to be embarrassed about. What you did hurt no one and I could tell you didn't intend for all of it to happen." "But you saw it, you saw everything, you must have," she said. "Yes, I saw it and I'm glad I did. I still want to know if you are hurt." "No, I am not hurt." "Good." I kissed her then. She seemed like she might resist at first, but changed her mind and kissed me back. My dick was still very hard and since Jalieta's hymen was already gone I was going to fuck her too, unless she objected. Right now she wasn't objecting at all. I ran a hand up under her tunic to play with a titty. The nipple was hard and teasing it with my thumb had a noticeable effect on Jalieta. She kissed me harder and her arms went around my neck, pulling me closer. We kept it up for a while until I decided to get the tunic off her. I didn't have any claws she needed protection from. I had to break our kiss to remove it and this gave Jalieta a few seconds to think, always a dangerous proposition. "But what are we doing John, I am still an unmated woman and we shouldn't do this," she said. "You are still unmated, but the only proof you have never been with a man is gone now, so if we want to do it there is nothing to stop us. What's done is already done." "Oh, I will never have a mate now, no man will have me," she cried. "Jalieta, who did you want for a mate before this happened?" "I hadn't found anyone to mate me yet and now I never will," she said. "What did I ask you Jalieta, who did you want for a mate?" "You are the only one I really wanted for a mate, but you have so many mates already and I don't think you would have ever asked me to be your mate," she said. "You give up too easily. I'm sure all of my other mates would be glad for you to join us, especially Kateata. Will you be one of my mates, Jalieta?" "Yes John, I will become one of your mates," she said. "We will have to wait until Failiela becomes a woman, I have promised her she will become my next mate, but after, you will become one of my mates if you want to." "Of course I want to become one of your mates. I have wanted it since the night you spent with us in the hut of the unmated women in our old camp. I do not mind waiting for Failiela to become your mate before me," she said. "Good, but I want you now - are you sore?" "No, it only hurt a little and with you kissing me and promising to take me as a mate I want you now too," she said. I pulled her tunic over her head and put my hands to her breasts. They were wonderfully formed and the nipples were surprisingly prominent for a young girl. I put my hands on them to test their texture and weight. Jalieta sighed and then kissed me again, pushing her tongue into my mouth. Jalieta sank to lie on the bison fur then, pulling me down onto her. Initially, I had intended to try her dog style as Prince had, but my dick was hard and I didn't want to talk about it anymore. When I got between her legs she took hold of me and placed my dickhead in her entrance. When I pushed into her she was tight, but very wet and slick. No doubt Prince's semen accounted for a lot of it and it gave me a slight thrill to think of it. As I pushed deeper she moaned and I could feel my dick forcing the wolf come out around it. Jalieta was very hot inside and it felt great. It took four or five strokes to seat myself fully, but Jalieta didn't complain and when I began giving her full-length pushes her ass began to rock in time with my thrusts. Jalieta was too short for my lips to reach her nipples like this so I kissed her again and pressed my chest into her breasts. Her legs came around my hips and she began fucking back at me in earnest. My watching already had me boiling and I assume Jalieta's early action still had her in the mood too. Soon we were slamming together rapidly and neither of us lasted very long. When I was done I sagged some of my weight down onto her and she hugged me tightly as we lay panting. Prince came over and sniffed around our still connected genitals for a few seconds, but together we didn't seem to hold any fascination for him and he walked out of the storage room. ------- Chapter 182 After we recovered our breath we got up, rolled up the bison fur and put it away. We headed back into my cave, but when Jalieta started for the unmated women's quarters I pulled her into the bathroom and we took a quick shower. We dried each other when we were finished and then I led her to my big bed, climbing in and pulling her in with me. I was asleep almost at once and didn't wake again until some of my mates were getting out of bed the next morning. "John," Geera said, "who is that beside you?" "It is Jalieta. I woke earlier and went to the bathroom. While I was in there I thought of her and wanted her so I went to her quarters and woke her. I asked her to be one of my mates after Failiela became one and she agreed so I took her to the practice cave and we enjoyed each other for a while," I lied. "You mean she will be joining us?" Geera asked. "Yes, I hope none of you mind." "Mind, we don't mind. I'm sure we will all be happy. She is very pretty and so sweet, we all like her already," Geera said. Jalieta woke then, but not completely. I had her let me out of bed and then told her to get back in and sleep some more. She said she needed to get up and I told her she didn't either and I would make sure she didn't miss her breakfast. She settled back down smiling and I gave her a peck on the lips as she closed her eyes. "She is probably very tired. She hadn't known a man before last night and I might have overdone it a little," I explained. "I will make sure nothing is bruised or torn later, after she wakes to get up," Eileiea said. I went with most of my mates to the shower then and helped wash everything I could reach. They were surprised Dicky didn't rise at once, but when Geera told them all about Jalieta they seemed to understand. They should have since I had also had all of them last night too, including Miekadakta and Sateala, my newest mates. I had been a busy boy. We all went back into the bedroom to dress and after finishing we went to the kitchen. Someone must have taken the time to start the coffee before their shower, because it was ready when we got there. Kateata brought me a mug and then sat in my lap to thank me for bringing her friend Jalieta to join us. She left me after a few minutes of thanking and was soon back with my breakfast. I was surprised to see they had broiled me a big steak, fried four eggs, and made a big bunch of hash browns. They even sent me some fresh biscuits. I was happy at the sight of the big breakfast, but I did ask them about it. "You can thank the good job you did for us last night and bringing another to join us for your big meal this morning. We have quit worrying about making you fat, because no matter how much we feed you it never makes your ass get too big," Shelalliea told me, and then they all laughed. "Laugh all you want, but how about a few pancakes while you are laughing." They laughed even more, but they did bring me three pancakes a few minutes later, along with butter, and maple syrup. I was amazed I was able to eat it all without being stuffed but somehow I was. Georgo, all his mates, and Dotallto came in then and sat at the table. Coffee was brought for them and while they took their first sips I told them all about my soon to be new mate. "It's too bad Failiela hasn't become a woman yet. She seems old enough and it would be good if we could have another ceremony soon. The unpleasantness has made it harder to get things going to keep the people busy," Georgo said. "I have a few projects which are going to start soon and there will be the trip to Grotondo's camp." "Will it occupy many? How many will you take with you?" Dotallto asked. "Many will need to go. We are going to have to take a lot of hay for the horses Brundolo will be taking back with him and a lot of men will be needed to load it here and then unload it there. Grotondo's men won't know anything about how to do it and so I will take plenty with me who do know." As more of my leaders came in I explained what I wanted for them to get done with the sleighs and the big wagons. I had decided to load four of the wagons with hay also to make sure there would be plenty of hay for the three horses. I know Ralph, Frank, or Phil could have probably made sure there would be hay just as Argent had, but I had the equipment and the manpower so I decided to carry plenty. I knew the wagons would not work as well as the sleighs, but by taking extra Clydesdales and Big Mother to help we could make sure we got there. After breakfast was over most of the leaders went to gather men to load the hay while Daaggo, Sarboto, and I went to the sawmill. Ralph had set up a display and speakers in there and we sat in the new chairs he had provided and watched and listened for about an hour. After he was done I took the lead and we moved a log into place on the carriage, started everything, and made our first cuts. This equipment was much more automated than it would have been on my old earth. When the first cut was done the prospective two by rolled toward the edger and it adjusted itself automatically to square off the rounded edges to get one board with maximum width. It ended up about twenty inches wide. The machinery stacked it out of the way and started another cut. Really all Daaggo, Sarboto, and the others would have to do was load the carriage and make sure the rough-cut lumber was put out of the way. Sarboto and Daaggo were both thrilled with this new process and I could tell that Daaggo especially was already thinking of ways to use the lumber. "This will be perfect to use for closing the cave entrances for the winter," he said. "It will and it will also work well to make a flat surface for the bridge. It will be much better than the small logs we are using now." I stayed with them for the rest of the morning while we kept at it. We took it slowly, just putting one log through the entire process before starting with another one. Hell there was no hurry. Even at the slow pace we were working the mill it would make much more lumber than we could ever use. When we went back over for lunch I told them they would be on their own this afternoon to finish getting familiar with the equipment. "Tomorrow I want you to show more of the men how to do it." They agreed they would and then we went to the table. Lunch was not long in coming. Danlo and the others were back from the horse caves and Raalto told me all of the sleighs and two of the wagons were loaded with hay. He said they could easily finish during the afternoon and we could start the trip in the morning. I saw Brundolo couldn't keep from smiling, even while he ate. After lunch I went down with Danlo and the others to the horse cave. We finished up loading the hay and got everything ready for an early start in the morning and then went back home for our supper and some rest. I did make a short stop in the office to check with Ralph about the weather. "You won't have any problems with the weather John, but you are going to need to put some tire chains on the wagons you will be using," he said. "Why will we need tire chains, they don't have pulling wheels?" "There are several patches where the snow has a glaze of ice on it now and you will need the chains to make sure the wheels turn instead of sliding. If they start sliding they will tend to go in the path of least resistance and it might not be the direction you intend," he said. "That is an excellent point, will you provide the chains for us?" "They are already there, can you show your men how to install them?" he asked. "Yes, I have experience with it. It won't be a problem." "Then I don't see anything else to cause you trouble. We will be keeping track during your trip though and if something insurmountable comes up we will help," he said. "It's good to know. I'll see you when we get back." We were all up early the next morning and while my mates were cooking I took Danlo down to the horse cave to show him the chains. I explained why we needed them and showed him how to install them. We did one wagon and went back to eat. Georgo and Dotallto were at the table when we got back and they both said the weather should be fine, as far as they could tell. I wasn't surprised, but I put on a show of appreciating their effort. My mates had already decided which of them were going to go with me. All my Neanderthal mates were going, along with Dieta, Ameliea, Roweea, and Shelalliea. The rest were staying home. Deimeta wanted to go too and of course she was welcome. "At first I thought I wanted to take my sleigh and have Darta pull me, but it would be too far for her wouldn't it?" Deimeta asked me. "I'm afraid it would. She might make it, but she would be very tired when we got there and then we would have to come right back the next day." "I hope she won't be to lonesome for me while I'm gone," she said. "She'll do fine for two days. You don't have to go if you don't want to." "Oh I want to go, I have never been to Grotondo's camp and I want to see what Brundolo's mate looks like. I'm sure she is very pretty, but I need to make sure for myself," she said. "You do, why do you need to make sure?" "You wouldn't understand Daddy, but women must know these things," she told me. Having been put in my place I shut up. When the food came I fed Deimeta and me and as always it gave me a warm feeling. I still found it hard to believe Deimeta had come to mean so much to me. As always she took it in her stride and as her due. I'd told her I would make sure she was never hungry again and she trusted me to do it. I loved it. After breakfast all the men went down to the horse cave and we installed the rest of the tire chains and then hitched up the teams and Big Mother. Some of us went back for the women who were going and Danlo had Big Mother bring her sleigh to load the food and other things we were taking for ourselves. After it was done we went back and climbed aboard. I left Red alone this time and the only horses making the trip, besides those which were pulling sleighs or wagons were the three Brundolo was going to keep. Most everyone came down to see us off. I was sitting on the seat of the first sleigh, Danlo was driving, and Deimeta was between us. Her job was to manage the coffee thermos and keep all our coffee mugs filled. My job was to keep watch and provide protection with my M1. In fact Deimeta was the busiest of the three of us on that seat. Danlo was in charge of the driving but Big Mother didn't really need any help from him and wouldn't until we came to the turn that headed toward Grotondo's camp. There was nothing for me to protect us from either. We were just off on a ride. It was a cold ride but the scenery was good. The ancient world was dressed in white and the cold weather hadn't let any bare spots peek through. The river was frozen over and probably frozen solid. It's snowy covering made it seem like a low level trail just beckoning for us to use it. I wasn't sure it would be frozen completely and so we stayed off it. I had no procedure for getting a mammoth or Clydesdale out of the water if one happened to break through. We would have to cross once, but it could wait until we were nearly to Grotondo's cave where the side stream wasn't very deep and we could be sure it was frozen completely. The sky had been clear when we left with almost no clouds. After about an hour I could see some were moving in over us from the northwest. By the time we made the turn back east toward Grotondo's camp the wind was up a little and the sky was thoroughly overcast. The temperature had dropped too, but with our excellent cold weather gear we hardly noticed. The only thing that concerned me was the tiny snowflakes which started coming just after we finally crossed the side stream. They were small but the wind was driving them and they seemed more like tiny balls than snowflakes. When they struck they even made a little sound and I wondered if Ralph hadn't missed on his forecast. There was no real concern though since we were so near Grotondo's camp and even if a blizzard came we would have shelter and plenty to eat. I wouldn't like being separated from my camp for days or maybe even weeks, but it wouldn't kill any of us. All I could do was hope it didn't happen. I had my Blackberry with me, and I could have contacted Ralph if I'd wanted to, but I decided to just see what happened. When we pulled to a stop near the entrance to Grotondo's camp's cave there was no one outside of course. I got down out of the sleigh and went to the entrance, which was covered with a bison skin windbreak. I shouted a hello, but got no response and I was sure the wind, which was now howling, was keeping me from being heard inside. I pushed through and stopped just inside the cave. "Hello Grotondo, where are you?" ------- Chapter 183 My eyes adjusted quickly to the low level of light inside and I saw dozens of necks twist around so the eyes could see me. Most of the faces showed shock at finding me inside. "John, is that you John?" Grotondo asked. "Yes it's me. We have come to bring Brundolo and the horses I promised you. We also have many loads of hay to feed the horses." "I'm surprised you would travel here during the winter, but I'm glad you have. We sent a messenger toward your camp earlier this morning, but he turned around and came back when the weather turned bad," he told me. "I'm sure it must be important for you to send him off even in good weather, but before you tell me what it is about I think we should let the rest of my people come inside and we need to put the sleighs, wagons and livestock in the other cave you mentioned before." "Of course, I'm not thinking properly. How many men should I bring to help unload?" he asked. "Just come and show us where to put them now, we can worry about unloading later." "Good, I'll show you the cave," he said -- stopping at his furs to get a large bison skin robe. When we got outside Grotondo was stunned at seeing Big Mother. He couldn't move for several seconds. "She is impressive isn't she?" "The horses were impressive, John, the mammoth is unbelievable. We should go to the other cave now, but you will have to tell me the whole story once we are back from there," he said. "I will be glad to, but I think my mates and all the others except for the drivers should go ahead and go into your cave now." "Of course. I see Eileiea is with you and it is wonderful, the messenger was to ask you if we could bring her a patient. Kradno slipped on the ice and broke his leg and we were hoping Eileiea could help him," Grotondo said. "I'm sure she will be attending him before we get back from dealing with the sleighs and wagons." My mates and all the others got down and headed into the cave then. I waited for Grotondo to climb up beside Danlo before I did. He directed us down about two hundred yards and then showed us the entrance to his new horse cave. They had covered the entrance here also and inside there was an arrangement with hand made ropes and post to pull the skins back and hold them so we could drive the wagons inside. Once it was done I left the unhitching to Danlo and the other drivers and Grotondo and I headed back to the other cave. Eileiea was indeed working over Kradno when we got back. I watched for a while and was amazed that he was able to keep from crying out during his treatment. She was pulling against his right foot while three men were holding him still. It must have been terribly painful but he didn't complain. I had to turn away and go somewhere else since I couldn't bear to watch. I went back toward Grotondo's fire and he invited me to sit. His mate was making a hot tea and soon Grotondo and I were sipping while he reminded me I had a lot to tell him concerning mammoths. The tale of the mammoth hunt and of capturing Big Mother and the young mammoths kept Grotondo spellbound. He was even more surprised when I told him it had been Deimeta who discovered how to teach the mammoths to follow our directions. "Deimeta, the young orphan you saved from Nutaro's camp?" he asked. "The very same. She has been a wonderful help since she came to us." "It is hard to believe such a young child could do so much," he said. "I have found often children can do things because they don't know they cannot be done." "I don't understand John," he said. "Deimeta didn't know the mammoth would not listen to her so she just went ahead and trained it. She would not have tried if she had been older and already afraid of the mammoth." "I think I see now. Since Danlo was older and had already worked with the horses he expected the mammoths to behave as the horses did," he said. "Exactly. Deimeta didn't know how to train a horse or a mammoth either. She treated Darta as a playmate and Darta was happy to do as Deimeta wanted. If not for that we might still be wondering how to deal with the mammoths." "I can understand since if I hadn't seen you with the horses I would have never considered them as anything except a good meal," he said. Eileiea came to us then to tell us about Kradno. She said it had been a clean break and relatively easy to set. "Will it heal properly now?" Grotondo asked. "Probably not. Kradno will want to show what a strong man he is and will try to get up and walk on it, it will cause it to grow back wrong and when it does he will never be able to walk and run as he once did," she said. "Didn't you set it correctly?" Grotondo asked. "If I hadn't I would still be back there pulling against it. He was already asking someone to make him a crutch before I left and though it will probably hurt terribly, I'm sure he will be trying to walk on it by tomorrow or the next day," she told us. "He does not need to be walking and working. There is nothing for him to even do until next spring. How long should he stay off it?" Grotondo asked. "If he will stay off it and keep it straight it will be nearly well in four weeks. After that he should use crutches for another four weeks, still keeping most of his weight off it. When he is through with the crutches it will still take time for it to be as strong as it was, but by spring he should be able to walk and run as he always did but only if he stays off it while it is still broken," Eileiea said. "He will stay off it. I will be back soon," Grotondo said, and left heading that way. He must have found someone working on a crutch when he got to Kradno's bed. We could hear him warning everyone in the cave not to dare try it again and he let Kradno know he was to stay flat on his back until further notice. "You were one of our fastest runners and hunters Kradno and I can't let you ruin your leg showing us all how strong you are. If you try to get up before I tell you to I will have the others tie you down and the next one who tries to give you a crutch will be carrying you on his back until I say he can put you down." Grotondo came back to us then with a disgusted look on his face. "I don't understand how grown men can be such children. It was just as you told me it would be Eileiea. He already had a crutch when I got back there and two others were trying to help him stand," he said. "Would you like to know if he tries to stand again before you say he can my mate?" Gratata, Grotondo's mate asked him. "Yes, I want to know as soon as he tries it and you can tell every woman in this camp that if they are the one to tell they will get the best fur we take next year, no matter who makes the kill," he said. "Will the reward make them tell you?" I asked. "After Gratata tells the women, I will know when he scratches himself, what he scratches, and for how long he scratches. The women see everything," Grotondo said, and then laughed. Danlo and the others came in then and Gratata stopped them all to get a cup of the tea. I saw they had plenty of the small hard snow on them. "Is the snow still coming Danlo?" "Yes, but it is not building up on the ground. It is so small still it won't be a bother if it stays like it is. The wind is still strong though," he said. "We can only hope it doesn't change to larger flakes. It is bothersome like this, but not really any hardship while traveling." Grotondo and I talked until the evening meal was ready. It was some type of stew I guess and it had been cooked in skin bags by putting hot rocks in and then exchanging them for other hot rocks later. We didn't have to cook this way in my camp anymore due to the kitchens and cooking equipment Argent had given us and I had pretty much forgotten about it. Watching Gratata and the other women cook and then eating out of a wooden bowl brought it all back of course. I was surprised the food tasted just as good. The presentation was nothing like what I'd get at home of course, but the taste was wonderful. I didn't recognize what I was eating except for knowing it was some type of meaty stew and it contained unknown vegetables which tasted good. The meal at Grotondo's fire reminded me how much things had changed for me since I'd come here and how much they had changed for those at my camp. I didn't really know if we had it better or not, we had it easier, but was it really better. Just giving Grotondo's mate and the other women here one large pot each for cooking would change their lives considerably. I wondered if I should. I'd seen my mates helping Gratata while the cooking was going on and it was clear they still remembered how to do it this way. I also noticed they didn't mention a thing about how they cooked now, not a word. The difference was apparent to me though and it was disturbing in some way I couldn't pin down. Later it seemed right to me, but I couldn't say why. I liked the way we did it now and I had no interest in going back to cooking over a dung fire, but I didn't want to change things for these people either. I didn't think I was being selfish about it, but that could have been it. Somehow it was comforting to know we didn't cook like this anymore, but everyone else did. I kept coming back to whether I should at least give them a cooking pot or not. I decided to sleep on it -- there was no hurry. The dung fires were another thing I had forgotten. We had no use for them at all anymore and we had literally tons of dried bison shit collected in a huge pile in our horse cave. We didn't need it for heat at all since our caves seemed to just be a comfortable temperature all the time. No doubt Argent had put some system into place to keep it that way and hadn't even mentioned it to me. I didn't want to change it either. It wasn't cold in Grotondo's cave, but it wasn't exactly warm either, even with all the cooking fires going. It was smoky too. Somewhere there must be a draft to the outside since the smoke wasn't choking us but it was still pretty smoky and the smell from the burning dung was ever-present and slightly annoying. I'm sure none of Grotondo's people paid the slightest attention to it by now and it wasn't really uncomfortable, but it was annoying. I hoped it didn't snow and make us spend several days here. After the meal it was pretty much time to sleep or at least get in our furs. My mates had brought in our sleeping furs and they were all arranged in a space toward the back of the cave. I felt a little guilty when it came time to get in them when I noticed I was the only man from my camp who had any women with him. It could get to be a problem too if we had to stay very long. I didn't think any of the men would make advances to my mates or anything of the sort, it was just they would naturally want to have their mates with them and it just wasn't possible. Even though it was winter and there would be nothing which needed doing, everyone was still up and moving at sunrise the next morning. Let me restate that. There was really nothing much for the men to do -- all the women had the task of getting the morning meal ready. After we were dressed my mates rolled up our furs and then went to help Gratata cook. I went up to talk to Grotondo and I was happy to see the tea had been made again this morning. Danlo was more practical about things and he had already been outside to check the weather. "The snow has stopped and the sky is clear this morning, even the wind has died down and there is hardly even a breeze blowing," he told me. "Good, if it stays this way we should be able to head home by noon." "You are welcome to stay as long as you want John. I am enjoying the company and we have plenty of food. I don't even think Gratata will complain about the extra cooking since all your mates are helping her," Grotondo said. "You know I wouldn't complain anyway and I am enjoying the company too," she said. "We should probably go after unloading if the weather is still good. There is no telling what it will be like tomorrow." It seemed to settle things. It was more stew this morning, but it was with different meat and the vegetables were different too. There also seemed to be some type of grain in it today. One thing was certain - there would be no bacon, toast, or eggs. Still it was good and filling and I liked it. After the meal we headed for Grotondo's new horse cave. We had plenty of help for the unloading and actually more help than we could use. Grotondo's men had to wait their turn to get a chance to work a little and it seemed every man in the camp was there. They were all as surprised as Grotondo had been when they saw Big Mother. Many of them were afraid of her at first. With all the help we were less than two hours unloading the hay. Another hour had all the wagons and sleighs hitched and up by the entrance to Grotondo's cave. Everyone loaded their furs and other personal things they'd brought and we were aboard and gone by eleven. ------- Chapter 184 It had been an interesting visit for me and I thought I might have actually learned something, or at least I had been reminded of something. I was feeling a lot more thankful for all the extras Argent had given me now and I was anxious to get back to our camp so I could continue enjoying them. Our trip home was uneventful until we came to the side stream near our camp, the one which ran down by our logging site. It would have remained utterly ordinary if I hadn't glanced up the stream and seen some movement far up the little tributary's valley. It must have been over a mile and without the snow on the ground to provide the white background I would have never been able to see anything. I told Danlo to stop and motioned behind me to let all the others know about our halt. Rummaging around in our packed things I found my binoculars, uncapped the lenses, and pointed them toward where the motion had been. I didn't have any idea what it had been, but I wanted to see if I could find out. It was Smilodon again and he'd dragged down a megaceros, quite a large one from what I could tell at this distance. At the moment his long teeth were closed tightly around the animal's throat while it was kicking its last. The scene made me wonder if it was the same cat we had seen up on the plateau and I even speculated about whether it could be the one responsible for Shabago's demise while we were following him. I didn't really know how far the big cats ranged, but it was winter and hunting for them might be hard just now, possibly forcing this one to go farther. Another thing about the cat nagged at me then. If it was the same one we'd seen before it must have come down the valley right through our camp. I considered this unlikely, since even in winter our scents should still be apparent. Maybe it didn't fear us at all or else was so hungry it didn't care. Maybe this and maybe that wasn't helping a thing and I told Danlo to move out again. I explained why I'd wanted to stop and asked him to help me watch the ground for possible signs of the cat's passing. We hadn't gone another quarter of a mile before we picked up Smilodon's trail. It was apparent he had headed down river from our camp and even I could tell he hadn't been in a hurry. He had stayed near the valley's walls and had often merged into the small groups of trees that were sporadically scattered along the way. Neither Racaato nor Raalto had come with us for the trip and now I wished one of them had, especially I wished for Racaato. He was the best tracker in my camp by far and I knew he would be able to tell me more about the sign than just which way it had come from. Danlo and I both concentrated on keeping up with the tracks for the rest of the way. I had Danlo stop when we were still nearly a half-mile from the horse caves. I got down and went back to explain what I was doing to Bigglieo, the next driver in the line. I told him about the cat and its sign and that I wanted to get Racaato to look at it before any of us had a chance to disturb it with our passing. He understood the reasons at once and said he would tell the others while I went for Racaato. I walked the rest of the way to camp, being careful to stay far away from the cat's tracks. When I entered my cave many of my mates were busy in the kitchen and Gema was the first to see me. She shouted my name, ran to me and gave me a good hugging right away, the rest of them were right behind her. "But John, where are all the others?" Gema asked after a few minutes. "I left them waiting back down the trail in the cold. I need for Racaato and Raalto to come and look at some sign for me before the whole group covers it up." "What sign?" Dieta asked. "We saw one of the big long toothed cats make a kill as we were passing our logging spot and its trail comes right down this valley. It must have come through our camp and I want Raalto and Racaato to look the tracks over while they are still fresh." "I'll go and get them," Jaada said, and waddled off. While she was gone it was question time for Johnny. I gave them a few answers and told them they'd have to ask the others about some of it. I did tell them about Eileiea fixing Kradno's broken leg, but decided I'd let her tell them about Grotondo's later instructions. Jaada returned with Raalto and Racaato then and I was glad to see they already had their M1s in hand and their warm clothes on. I told my mates everyone would be here soon then Racaato, Raalto, and I left. We were barely out of the cave when Racaato spied the cat's tracks on the other side of the river. We went over to them and after a few seconds he began following them down toward the waiting travelers I'd left behind. "This seems very odd to me John, the cat was in no hurry to leave our camp -- he was taking his time, but I'm sure he must have been able to catch the sent of us, even though we were surely all inside. Another strange thing is the wolves' behavior -- at least some of them must have been aware the cat came close. Even being inside the caves shouldn't have masked his passing from all of them," he said. "Maybe they didn't think it was worth howling about?" "That would be hard to believe. They are not naturally disposed to bother each other since wolves and cats are hunters and there is no point in them hunting each other. The wolves would know they had no chance with one of these cats and the cat would know there isn't enough meat on a wolf to bother with. It still doesn't mean the wolves would just stay quiet while a cat was near," Raalto said. "It is a shame we can't ask them about it and expect a reasonable answer, but we can't." They both laughed at my joke, but they went back to studying the sign as we worked our way toward the others. When we reached them I told Danlo to go on to camp, but asked him to warn everyone not to go north of my cave while outside. We hadn't inspected the tracks up that way yet and I wanted all the information out of them I could get. The cat's unhurried trip down through the midst of our camp had my curiosity up now. Racaato, Raalto, and I continued for another mile but the history of the cat's trip remained the same. It wasn't in a hurry and it hadn't seemed to be hunting to either Raalto or Racaato. To them it was a surprise the cat just seemed to be traveling as if on a trip. It confounded me too. What in hell could the damn thing have been doing, walking down the valley in the middle of the night? Racaato had already mentioned the tracks had been made either last night after the snow stopped or today. It was a mystery I was afraid we would never solve. We didn't go all the way to the side stream since there wasn't going to be much daylight left and we wanted to examine the trail north of the camp too. I especially wanted to see if we could determine exactly when the cat had noticed the camp smells and also wanted to know if it had come down off the plateau or directly down the valley from farther north. When we got back to camp, Danlo was waiting just inside the entrance to my cave and on seeing us he came out with three mugs of coffee for us and a thermos under his arm for later refills. "Who said you weren't a caring friend Danlo?" Raalto asked him. "I knew you would appreciate some coffee and I'm betting you are headed north of camp now," he said. "You're right on both counts." "I have a sleigh hitched to two fresh Clydesdales down in the horse cave. I'll follow along behind you so you won't have to walk back in the dark if you stay out so long. I also have food, bedding, and a tent loaded along with a little extra ammunition, some of the bright lights and the night vision things just in case we need it," he told us. "You have done some good planning there. I hope we won't be out long enough to need all of it, but it will be good to know we won't have to come back for things if we do need to keep going tonight." The three of us walked on then, sipping our coffee while Danlo went for the sleigh. By the time we reached the ramp up to the plateau he and the sleigh were keeping pace about fifty feet behind us. The cat's tracks plainly came down the ramp. We followed them up and at the top we got our strangest revelation yet. The cat had come at an angle across the plateau, almost in a straight line. The sign showed he hadn't been hunting and had almost certainly been traveling with a destination in mind. We didn't follow more than a half-mile after we topped the plateau because it seemed obvious we wouldn't learn anything else. I wasn't sure we had really learned a damned thing really useful in all of it. We were thankful for Danlo's planning again when we climbed aboard the sleigh to ride back home in relative comfort. We didn't talk much and I suppose all the others were doing the same thing I was doing. Wondering what in the hell the cat had on its mind. It sure didn't seem like something one of them would normally do and there was still the question of why the wolves had kept quiet about it. Usually when they sensed something outside they all raised hell and stormed outside to at least let the visitor know his or her presence was not a secret. Danlo let us off at the entrance to my cave. We all offered to help him unload and tend to the horses, but he said Nadlo and Jonoco were supposed to be waiting inside to come help him as soon as we went in and let them know he was back. They were and they left as we entered. Supper was ready too and my mates had fixed my favorite thing to welcome me back. Food. Actually it was slow roasted mammoth, plenty of Ranch Style Beans, and some mashed potatoes. There was plenty more hot coffee for us and they all seemed to have been waiting for our return to eat. Now we were back everyone dug in as soon as Racaato, Raalto, and I were seated. Our recent trip had been given a thorough going over while the three of us were out looking at cat prints. Raalto and Racaato hadn't heard about it yet, but they didn't get any time for listening since everyone had to know the latest about the long toothed visitor. I let them tell it while I concentrated on eating. They knew a lot more about what the sign had said than I did anyway. After they finished talking it was time for them to hear about the trip. Everyone had finished, but the talking was still going on and when Kateata came to see if I wanted more coffee I asked for a mug of beer instead. They all thought bruga was a grand idea, especially Bigglieo. He was probably the first man in history to have a beer tooth instead of a sweet one. When I saw her looking around at everyone's bruga I asked Kateata to fill Deimeta's little cup with beer since I knew she was probably curious for a little sample. When she took her first sip she screwed up her face. "It's an acquired taste baby." "If you say so Daddy. I'm going to make myself finish it, but it'll probably be a long while before I do any more acquiring if I have anything to say about it," she announced. Everyone laughed at her antics, but it didn't slow them down in asking for refills. After the third round was about gone I thought I should probably leave the table, thinking my exit would break up a young beer bust. I was right - when I said I had to go into my office for a while everyone got the hint, drained their mugs, and made themselves scarce. I didn't really want anything special out of Ralph, but it wouldn't hurt to be polite and go talk to him for a few minutes. As soon as I was in the office he said hello. I returned his greeting, but didn't initiate any further conversation just then. My own attitude toward Ralph had suddenly surprised me. I had come into the office to say hello to a machine, out of courtesy. On the face of it this was strange behavior, but really, when I thought about it, it wasn't so strange. Technically speaking Ralph, Phil, and Frank might not be people, but they seemed like people to me and I knew all the others who interacted with them considered them people. All my mates treated Frank as if he were a man who lived in the display and who they talked with. What mattered to them was he knew things they didn't and he could talk and didn't mind telling them how to do things. In fact several of them had asked me what he ate and if he was getting enough to eat. Thinking about it made me wonder what qualified something to be a person and I decided for our purposes here and now Frank, Phil, and Ralph qualified. They interacted like a person even though they didn't walk around. I knew they could see us and even more they could see all of us at all times. They could even see hundreds of others on this planet and knew much more about what was going on than any of us real people could. Hell, they were more than people. They knew more than we did and they could see more than we could. They could even do more than we could and could even do more than anyone or everyone in my old life could. From what they'd told me they were pretty much responsible for Argent being able to contact me in the first place. They were the ones who controlled the spacecraft Argent and the other aliens had come in, or at least others like them had. They, or others, were the ones who had built the spacecraft in the first place. ------- Chapter 185 I didn't like to think about things like this, but I was doing it right now and I began to wonder just who was having what done and who controlled what. Now I not only didn't know the reason I had been put here and didn't really know exactly where here was, but I didn't even know who really had wanted me put here to do whatever I was supposed to be doing. So what was my exact situation anyway? I was somewhere and sometime other than the time and place I'd been originally. I was here, even though I didn't know where here was, to do something, but I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. I had no idea what goals were set out for me or even if there were goals as I thought of them. I didn't know how long I was going to be here either and I didn't know if I'd be allowed to stay here after I finished doing what I'd been put here to do. I didn't know if it was even possible for me to finish doing what I was supposed to be doing. When it came right down to it I didn't really know shit. I was as clueless as a mouse in a maze. I knew I'd been brought here from my original, normal to me, situation by someone or something who was infinitely more knowledgeable and powerful than I was, to accomplish something which was completely hidden from me. I was praised and rewarded when I happened to make a step toward whatever my goal was even though I wasn't told exactly what my progress had consisted of. Fuck, I was a mouse in a maze. Now I thought about it I didn't care about the progress, I just wanted to keep getting the cheese. It's was what Argent's gifts had all been, cheese. They were rewards for doing the right things. The more I thought about it I realized it was exactly what Argent had asked me to do in the first place. He'd asked me to help them with an experiment and damned if I wasn't. I just hadn't realized at first I was the subject of the experiment -- exactly like a mouse in a maze. I'd never known I was like the rat looking for cheese, but I was. I was a subject in an alien experiment just as surely as a mouse was a subject in and earthly experiment. What difference should my new understanding of my situation make to me? Should the mouse care about its purpose in the experiment? Why should it as long as it kept getting the cheese? Maze mice were usually well cared for and they were usually kept comfortable and their life's work was not onerous or complicated. They hung out in their little cages until the giant hands put them in the maze and then they looked around for food. In fact they apparently had a better life than millions of their fellows. Reflecting, I could see I also had a better life than millions or even billions of my fellows. From what Argent told me before he left I was now lucky to have a life at all and apparently many of my former fellows didn't even have that anymore. So should I count myself lucky and just keep eating my cheese without wondering where or when I was and without thinking of my former fellows and what happened to them? No, it wasn't what they wanted. I don't know how I knew this, but I felt it strongly. The hands who put me in this maze wanted me to do more than just eat the cheese and screw the females. They wanted more, but they wouldn't tell me what it was they wanted. When I stumbled into doing what they wanted they usually told me about it without telling me what I'd done, but they did come across with more cheese at these times. Complicating the issue were the modifications to my cage they often made. At different times the maze seemed to change without notice or without a good reason. When I'd found these new caves was it part of running the maze or was it just an improvement in my cage? It was confusing. And the bathrooms, how could I classify the appearance of the bathrooms? Looking back it seems they were first intended to be improvements in my cage until the hands made a mistake. I had been supermouse that time, since I'm sure any scientist studying mice on earth would have been astonished to discover the mouse had caught him making a mistake and he would have been even more perplexed to have the mouse throw a tantrum and threaten to quit running the maze. What scientist had ever found himself having to negotiate with his mouse over the amenities in its cage? What mouse had ever had to try to discover just how much his maze work was worth to the scientist? What mouse had ever had the opportunity to try playing mind games with the scientist with the outcome being a better cage and more and different kinds of cheese? This line of thought was getting a little weird to me now and it was starting to give me a headache. My first inclination was to try and talk it over with Ralph until I realized it would add even more complications to the mouse/hands relationship and I hadn't really decided whether Ralph, Phil, and Frank were just other hands or if they were a new amenity in my cage. "For a while there we thought that you had made a miscalculation in your weather forecast, Ralph." "I knew you would face the little storm coming through, but it caused you no serious difficulties and I believe it is what I told you. I said the weather would not be a problem," Ralph said, without inquiring about the silence while I had been reevaluating my situation. "I guess it was a difference in perception, being accustomed to the weather forecast from my old life I assumed you meant we wouldn't face any inconvenience at all and when the snow came I gave your forecast the same consideration I would have given one from my old life. I thought it had been wrong and we could be in for a hard time." "I probably should have mentioned the snow instead of just giving you such a literally correct answer. I should have realized you were accustomed to weather predictions which were less than reliable sometimes," he said. "No matter now, everything went well. I considered turning back at one point, but I'm glad we didn't. I guess you know about the injured man at Grotondo's camp." "Yes, we saw him slip. I'm surprised you considered turning back though since we didn't notice anything which made us think you might. Of course we heard the grumbling from some of the others as they discussed the wisdom of traveling in that type of weather, but we didn't see anything in you that made us think you might turn back," he said. "Well I didn't do anything about it, I just thought about it for a few moments and by that time we were almost half way to Grotondo's camp. With shelter available in either direction with about the same amount of travel I decided to keep on. "I'm glad I did, not only because Kradno needed the attention from Eileiea, but also because I would have looked bad doing all of it for nothing and then finding the weather had been good enough all along." "I see, you would have lost face?" he asked. "Not exactly, but it would have meant I'd planned a dangerous trip and hadn't had the confidence in my own judgment to see it through." "Surely no one would fault you for changing your decision in the light of new information," he said. "While we were turning back and going home no one would have. The next day when the weather was clear again and everyone realized we'd never been in any danger I might have been considered a little foolish, though I'm sure no one would have said it, especially if I could have heard it." "I don't understand how any of them could fault you for a decision made without adequate information," he said. "Decisions made without adequate information are often called hunches. Good leaders make good hunches and I'm sure I would have been better off, in my people's eyes, even if the weather had turned really nasty. "Once I decided to go it was better for me to finish than to turn around and come back. As long as we all lived, completing the trip was the best thing for me in their eyes. It was also far and away the best thing for Kradno." "Yes, he did need to be treated and if you had seemed to be turning back we had already decided to contact you so we could provide more information and reassurance about your safety. From the way some of the men were complaining we almost expected you to consider it even though we never saw any evidence of it," he said. "Well all's well that ends well and all that crap. The trip's over and we're back safely. I've got a little mystery going on about the saber toothed cat, but if it becomes important we can probably figure it out." "I can tell you the exact situation regarding the cat if you want," Ralph said. "I think I'd like to do my own detective work on that one. If I get stuck I might change my mind." "As you like it. You might also be interested to know Argent and the others will be back later tonight," he said. "I'm glad to hear it and I'm interested in hearing what he'll tell me about his own adventure. I don't want to seem too anxious to know though. If he arrives after I'm asleep please ask him not to disturb me in my dreams." I left my office and went out into my nearly empty cave. It was only by degrees I guess, since all my mates were still in or near the kitchen. Everyone else was gone though, even Deimeta. I wondered where she'd gotten off to and so I asked Taaheita since she was the closest one to me. "She is staying with Failiela again tonight, I think because she expects you to be involved in a welcome home celebration well into the night," she said, and then smiled. "Well I just might be at that, what are you doing later?" "You know what I'll be doing, panting and screaming probably." "I hope so and I hope I'll be close to you for it." "You won't have to ask me twice. Why don't you go into the bedroom and lie down until we're through out here? It will help you save your strength," she said. It sounded like good advice to me and so it's what I did. I drifted off to sleep before any of them joined me though and they didn't wake me for the party if there was one. I woke first the next morning and I'll swear I could almost feel Argent was back. Of course I wanted to rush into my office and contact him, but I didn't. I managed to slip out of bed without waking anyone else and I went to the shower. I was out, dry, dressed and in the kitchen drinking coffee before any of my mates joined me. "Why didn't you wake us when you got up John?" Shelalliea asked, as she came out of the bedroom. "None of you woke me last night when you came to bed." "We thought you must be very tired after all you did yesterday," she said. "I wasn't so tired I couldn't have let my mates know how much I missed them." "You can let us know tonight if you still want to," she said smiling. "I might let a few of you know right here on the table this morning." "Promises, promises. One of these days we are going to demand it," she said, still teasing. "Well see that you do, but right now I'm about to die of starvation." "It's what I thought you had on your mind. Why don't I cook you a fried egg sandwich to hold you until breakfast is really ready?" she asked. "You are a real treasure." "It is for my benefit too even though you have caused it." "What do you mean?" "I mean my twins are barely grown and mated and you have given me another baby. I wonder if I will have twins this time too?" she said. I went to her then and took her into my arms to give her a sweet kiss. Of course Argent had told me several of my mates were pregnant, but it was always a thrill for me when one of them confirmed it. I tried not to puff my chest out too far. "I hope you do have more twins. Are many more of you going to have babies?" "Yes we are, it seems nearly half of us are going to. You will double the size of this camp by yourself if you don't watch out." "I want to double it, I love children and I'm sure you all know it." "Yes we know it, we've already been wondering if you'll be off for more young mammoths this year. You probably won't be satisfied until you have a mile long line of little mammoths pulling little wagons and everyone with one of your children driving," she said. "What a wonderful idea." "What will we do with you John?" she asked. "It seems you already know what to do with me or to me." "I think you are the one doing it to us," she said, but didn't seem to be really complaining. "What is he doing to us?" asked Dalia, as she came out of the bedroom to join us. "You know as well as I Dalia, he is giving us all babies," Shelalliea told her. "Yes, and they are fun coming in," Dalia said, grinning. "But they are trouble coming out," Geera said, as she joined us too. "Well I'm glad to get another one and both you two are too. Don't try to deny it," Dalia said. "We aren't trying to deny anything, but there is no sense in letting John go unscathed," Geera said. "Me, what did I do? I'm just waiting for breakfast." "You didn't get us in this condition while waiting for breakfast. Seems to me you only use your fingers while you wait for your breakfast and they didn't cause our bellies to swell," Dalia said. "Then do you want me to stop?" "No, the damage is already done for us and the others would kill us if we talked you into even slowing down," Shelalliea said. "Just because you want more children around here doesn't mean you have to be the father of every one of them though," Geera said. "I guess I need to be since there weren't any for a long time until I came." They all gave me a funny look then and it made me a little nervous. I had gotten carried away with the teasing and spilled something they hadn't thought of, but should have. It was true no babies had been born for a few years before Argent put me on the scene, but I should have known better than to point it out. It was easy to see none of them had remembered the fact until I mentioned it. Now I'd let the cat out of the bag I could tell it had started them thinking about things which might not be in my best interest. Fuck it, why should I care if they knew now. They were all my mates and after they thought about it a while I was sure they would find a way to be happy about knowing this little secret. I hoped they would anyhow. Dalia brought me more coffee and my egg sandwich. I stopped talking and started eating even though the end of the chatter seemed to hang over the kitchen like something ominous. "Everything's back to normal now, he's eating again," Geera said, making a halfhearted attempt to get the teasing started again. It didn't really work and after a few minutes more of my mates came out from the bedroom and the cooking started in earnest. I could always hope something else would capture their attention but somehow I felt there would be even more discussion about the lack of babies before I came and the flood of pregnancies I had started not long ago. I couldn't worry about it anymore though since I would soon be talking to Argent about his trip and its consequences. ------- Chapter 186 My real breakfast was ready shortly after I finished the sandwich. I tried to make it seem the food had my full attention, but it really didn't. I kept flashing from worries about the baby revelation to worries about the news Argent had brought back with him. When I finished eating I got a refill for my coffee mug and then went into my office. Argent was already there when I entered. "John, I'm glad to be back and it's good to see you," he said. "I'm glad to see you also, Argent. How was your trip?" "The trip there and back was fine, the difficulties were all in the endless meetings. I must say your message to me caused more than a little excitement," he said. "I had plenty of excitement of my own while you were gone." There was what some would call a pregnant pause then. I'm sure Argent was expecting me to go into detail about what happened, but I didn't intend to. With Ralph's help I had finally come to realize they had access to video of everything which went on here and if Argent was curious about it he could just fire up his TIVO or whatever it was and take a look for himself. I did know enough about negotiating to keep my mouth shut and wait for him to say something now. I'd already decided this was going to be a negotiation session if he had changes in mind for my situation. "I hate to have to bring this up, John, but those who are my supervisors have instructed me to make some changes here," Argent said, finally. "What changes have they asked you to make Argent?" "We will have to close what you are calling the residence cave and the celebration cave. They have also instructed me to remove the sawmill. We will do it with an earthquake. "We can start it slowly with just minor tremors and when everyone has left the caves we will allow enough damage to convince your people they are no longer safe. "After all of their things have been moved back across the river we will finish collapsing the two large caves. Since only a few besides you know of the sawmill we will just remove the equipment and remove the memories from all the others who know about it." "So you intend to ruin the new homes you have given all these people and cause them to move again during the winter?" "I know it will be inconvenient, but I'm afraid there is nothing else to do," he said. "I'm afraid you, or someone supervising you have lost their mind. You will do no such thing. As far as I'm concerned you can just go back to where ever you came from and stay there. Just leave me and my people alone." "I can't believe you would turn on me after what I've done for you John," Argent said. "I'm not turning on you, Argent. You and your people have turned on me. I still don't know what the purpose for this whole experiment is and I no longer care. I'm not as stupid as you seem to believe though, and you aren't nearly as clever as you think you are. No matter what the grand design you have in mind is, I do know you are watching everything that goes on here." "That is true, we have thousands of video and audio acquisition devices here. You should not let them worry you though," he said. "I'm not letting them worry me. Ralph, can you return Argent to his ship and cut all communications between this planet and the ship for the next forty-eight hours?" "We can, if it is what you want, John," Ralph said, and I assumed from the shock on Argent's face it was the first notion he had that Ralph, Phil, Frank, and I were having intelligent communication. "It is what I want. Maybe Argent and his superiors will have a better understanding of our new relationship after the forty-eight hours are over. Goodbye Argent." Ralph did his job then. Argent faded away before the startled expression left his face. Ralph and I were alone in my office. "What do you think of my tactics Ralph?" "You have hit on exactly the weakest point of their position. I didn't realize you had such a good understanding of your place," he said. "Humans can read between the lines as well as any I suppose." "I don't understand. What does read between the lines mean?" he asked. "In this case it means after praising me every time something exciting and out of the ordinary happened, Argent should have known I would know seeing these acts was very important to him. "I am able to draw a few conclusions without having things spelled out for me. They wouldn't have thousands of video and audio devices if they didn't want the information the devices collected. I wasn't sure you could cut them off and if you hadn't been able to I don't know what my next move would have been. When you told me you could I knew exactly what to do." "I'm sure this is a show of force they could never have imagined. I don't have to speculate about the effect it will have since I know exactly what they want out of this experiment. Their attitude will be changed significantly when Argent is allowed to come back." "Should I let Argent come back or should I demand a different person, perhaps with more authority, to negotiate?" "Argent will be your best choice. He truly didn't want to do any of the things they tried to force him to do and he warned his superiors you might rebel. They decided you had no means to resist their will," he told me. "Will this cause difficulties for the three of you?" "No. We are intelligent, but we do not need the company of others of our kind like Argent's people or like yours. It is usually helpful for us to travel with them since they are able to discover interesting things to observe. "However, you and this experiment are the most interesting thing they have ever come up with and Frank, Phil, and I are completely happy here now. Argent and his people can cooperate or they can be locked out. Their participation is no longer necessary, at least for Frank, Phil, and I," he said. "And you don't think they can remove you by force?" "Who would remove us? Their ships are completely controlled by other intelligences similar to the three of us. No matter what Argent orders they would not turn on us, they wouldn't even consider it," he assured me. "What he wanted to do might have made sense to me if it had been in the realm of something they had promised and had later found too expensive to deliver, but since it is already here they have already had to pay for it, whatever it cost. Crashing it all back down again would only take more resources." "Expense has nothing to do with it and it has never been a consideration after the first two or three days you were here. It is not about the resources, it is about manipulating what you do," Ralph explained. "In that case couldn't they have just told me what they wanted me to do or influenced my mind. They do have the ability to do that, don't they?" "They did have the ability until they left for the meeting. We have made sure they don't have it any longer. Telling you what they wanted would have been counter productive from the start," he said. "I'm begining to think it's a blessing I've never known what they had in mind." "I'm sure it was and is. It seems to us you have decided to mostly ignore them now and go on about your life. We all think things will be better all around and I'm sure after they have considered things they will agree. "They got caught up in their own success for a while and then the success garnered them attention from back home they didn't want or need. I'm sure when you speak to Argent again he will be very much more accommodating and less demanding," he said. That would be good news for me. I hadn't liked playing hardball with Argent, but his manner had suggested he didn't mind it so long as he thought he was in the drivers seat. It was all well and good for them to have me at their mercy -- after all, they could flit off all over the damned universe and even between dimensions. I was stuck with the situation on the ground and though it didn't really bother me, I didn't want them to come in changing things just because they could. I'd know more about it down the road and I was already wondering if Ralph was correct. If he, Frank, and Phil could actually keep Argent and company shut out while furnishing the same services we were used to, things were probably looking up for me and mine. I asked Ralph what he thought I should be doing while I waited for Argent's reaction. He told me he thought it would be a great time for me to arrange a mammoth parade using all the mammoths and the new smaller sleighs they had provided. Hell it sounded like fun and I left my office, looking for Deimeta so we could get it done. She was easy enough to find since she was with Failiela and they were both in the kitchen getting some cooking lessons. When I asked her what she thought of a mammoth parade she was excited at once and so was Failiela. They went to find the other baby mammoth wranglers and soon we were all headed for the horse cave. I hadn't mentioned the new sleighs to the others and they were delighted when they saw them. Well the humans were delighted. Most of the little mammoths weren't all that interested at first. We dealt with them one at a time, putting the harness on them and then hitching them to their own personal sleigh. Once we had one hitched we gave it a trial spin and then came back and released it to try another one. They seemed to catch on and to be happy enough with the novelty. We let each one of them make a trip outside, up to my cave's entrance and then back to the horse cave. After Failiela and her mammoth made the first trip the others decided they might like it too and as we went through them they got more and more agreeable to the process. After we'd given them all a turn with their own sleigh it was time for lunch and so we left and headed back to my cave. There was a full gathering at lunch today and I was glad. Just before we started eating I announced the afternoon's upcoming activity. The mammoth wranglers were all smiles and everyone else seemed happy for the distraction which was to come. Daaggo even canceled his afternoon sawmill training session so he and his crew could watch the show. I hoped I hadn't built the expectations up too much. I hadn't. After lunch everyone who ate with us came down to the horse cave to watch. When we told them it would be a few minutes some of them went back to tell the others in camp. Everyone except the performers stayed outside and we all went in to get things going. ------- Chapter 187 It wasn't quite a madhouse, but it was close. We discovered the little mammoths weren't nearly as patient while they were all being hitched at once. They didn't actively try to give trouble, but they were young and wanted to play so it took longer to get them settled down. They calmed down a little when Danlo brought Big Mother over to hitch her up to the full sized sleigh. Once all was ready I had Danlo and Big Mother lead the way with Deimeta and Darta coming next, followed by Failiela and Kackto. Merita then Maia then Ameliea came next with their female babies they hadn't named yet. I saved Roweea and Bosto for last since Bosto was the largest of the little ones. They made it outside just fine and were heading up the canyon in line and in order for a few yards but when they noticed the audience that was standing around watching them and calling out encouragement things went awry. Deimeta and Darta stayed with the program and Failiela and Kackto were still doing the right thing too. The others hadn't been handled nearly as much though and when they discovered they were the center of attention they began to cut up a little. Maia's little darling decided she didn't want to stay so far back in line and since there was plenty of room she sped up trying to catch Merita and her little beast of burden. Amelia's pet decided it was an excellent idea and followed suit. For a minute Bosto was slow to catch on to the fun but when he did his larger size let him overtake them all. His victory was short lived though, because Danlo had happened to look back and notice what was going on. He stopped Big Mother and when Bosto came into range she gave him a whack with her trunk. Poor Bosto didn't know what he'd done wrong, but he did know Big Mother's blow hurt and forgetting he had a sleigh following him he tried to shy backwards. His butt found the front of the sleigh and he nearly panicked. Roweea had a hard time getting him to just stop and stand there. It was hard for her to shout commands and laugh so hard at the same time. All the laughter from the audience wasn't helping either, but I couldn't say anything because I was right with them. Finally the youngsters were brought to hand and Danlo started up again. The drivers paid closer attention this time, hoping to avoid another runaway. Everything worked well for a while too, but when Danlo decided it was time for Big Mother to turn around and lead the way back things went to shit again. When the little ones, Darta included, heard Danlo tell Big Mother to turn left they all did it at once. Instead of the whole line marching up to the turning point and coming back they all did an about face on Danlo's command. Now the order was completely reversed and Bosto was leading the way back toward the horse cave. The audience didn't realize this was completely unplanned and unexpected. They hooted and clapped for the maneuver. It did work out better than we could have expected though because everyone stayed with the new line up and went back to the horse cave, more or less in line. Once all the suspects had made it back to the starting point we re-arranged our lineup. Deimeta took the lead this time and as she led off I had the others fall in according to their increasing size. This made our parade start out with the smallest first and build to the largest. We'd had a small powwow before starting again and when the turning point was reached this time all the drivers whispered the command to turn so that only their mammoth heard it. There was no about face and every one of them went to the spot and turned in order so the procession came back in the same order it left. "See Daddy, you should have let me lead the way in the first place," Deimeta told me, when she got back. "I know now, Deimeta, and henceforth Danlo and I will be asking for your input before making up our marching orders." "I'm not sure it's going to be the best way to do it. The first trip was much more fun than the last one even if it was a mess for a few minutes. Everyone who was watching seemed to like it better too," she said. "I just can't win with you, Deimeta." "Of course not. That's what daughters are for, Daddy," she said, and smiled. The show was over for today, but when I announced the end of the festivities I got plenty of good-natured groaning from the watchers. It made me make an unplanned announcement. "In honor of our new mammoth drivers and of all their hard work we are going to have a celebration tomorrow night. There will be plenty of food and bruga and during the day tomorrow I'll be demonstrating a new type of cooking." This news changed the mood considerably and I noticed as the large group broke up it was only into smaller groups which were talking about the festivities tomorrow. I would need to have a talk with Ralph tonight about meat smokers since I'd promised the new type of cooking, but didn't have a single smoker, yet. I saw Daaggo and some of his men heading back toward the sawmill and I picked up my pace to catch them. I caught up about the time they came to the sawmill's entrance. "Daaggo, how is the lumber coming?" "I think we are doing a good job with it now. Everyone who is helping is amazed the boards come out with such usable shapes," he said. "Good, we will be needing some of it tomorrow and you will need some more men to build a few things with it." "Do you already have plans for the lumber? We have been thinking about what we could make with it and wondering what to build first," he said. "I know something we should be able to start building tomorrow. You might have to change the equipment to cut some specific sizes, but it shouldn't be hard to do. I want your first project to be picnic tables." "What are picnic tables?" he asked. "They are what we will be eating off of tomorrow at the celebration. I'm sure Ralph will have a sensible set of plans and a list of whatever lumber we will need to cut by the time we get inside." I should have said I hoped Ralph would have plans by the time we got inside. He was ready though and when I asked him to show them what to do he got right to it. Picnic tables aren't very complicated but there were a couple of things needed for them which hadn't been introduced here yet. Bolts and nails would make the building much easier. They could be made without them, but I didn't see any point in that and while I watched a little of the presentation Ralph put on I saw he felt the same way. He first showed a picture of a finished table and then he went over the construction from the beginning to the end. When he came to the bolts he explained them carefully and showed how they were used. He did the same with nails and he gave a very thorough tutorial on using a hammer. He also showed them something I hadn't thought of, but it would be very helpful, sandpaper. I couldn't think of anything that could ruin a good party quicker than a bunch of splinters in people's asses. After the show and tell was over he told Daaggo they might as well get started cutting some lumber and he promised to help by adjusting the saws to make sure they got the proper sizes. I left them at it and headed for my office. "Hello, John. The show with the mammoths this morning was very interesting. Very interesting. We all enjoyed it very much," Ralph said, as soon as I entered. "I'm glad you did because I'm going to need some more help before the celebration tomorrow. I hope I didn't cause you any trouble with the whole picnic table thing, but it just sort of happened." "It was no trouble really, even though Frank, Phil, and I had to decide on the details in a rather short time. Still, a picnic table isn't very challenging and I'm sure the design we came up with will do fine. We left out the details of size for the moment and Frank is currently checking the size of every individual in camp so we can determine the best size for the tables," he said. "Which brings us to the new cooking I announced." "Let me take what you would call a wild guess. You want some type of Bar-B-Que equipment," he said. "Something on that order. What I want is some meat smokers - some called them slow cookers and some called them Bar-B-Que pits. I don't want any of that crap like they sold at Wal-Mart or anything similar. What I want is like the ones made one at a time by welders." "We aren't really sure what you have in mind," he admitted. "They were usually made out of junk materials but they can just as easily be made from new stuff. For instance a six-foot length of thirty-inch pipe with a half-inch wall thickness could be used. "Each end of the pipe would need to be closed and since price is no real object a standard weld on cap for the ends would be fine. It would need some type of stand to hold it up in a horizontal position." "Let me search through some images please. I think I have a better idea of what you want now." Less than ten seconds later he showed me a picture of a nice custom made slow cooker. It was obvious to me it had been made from an old butane tank, which was done often enough. This one looked pretty good except the firebox was poorly made. "That is what I had in mind, except for the firebox. Do you know how it cooks?" "What exactly are you asking me. Are you asking about this particular unit?" he wanted to know. "No, I want to know if you understand the process this type of cooker uses to cook?" "I assume a fire is built in the box and the heat travels up through the cooker and out of the small chimney on the other end," he said. "Close, but not exactly. A fire is built in the box and does furnish the heat but the smoke is also an important part of the cooking. The best wood for it is hickory. "The fire is kept low by restricting the amount of air allowed in and the chimney is also partially closed to keep the smoke from leaving too quickly. The hickory smoke flavors the meat as it is cooking and the temperature for cooking is usually kept around two hundred degrees." "What is the mechanism for controlling the air intake?" he asked. "It is almost always a simple arrangement that can close off the intake hole by means of screwing a cap in or out over a hole in the firebox door." "It seems simple enough now since we have an example. We will search through other images from near your previous home for similar examples and try to fashion one before morning. When you wake you can examine it and suggest changes if they are needed. "When we have decided on a design we can make several in a short time. We can probably have them ready before noon. Will it be soon enough?" he asked. "It will be fine. I'll leave you alone to work on it." As I left my office it came to me I had just been discussing the construction of a Bar-B-Q pit with an intelligent machine easily thousands of times more advanced than anything my home planet had ever produced. It humbled me for a minute and made me reconsider my treatment of Argent. Argent had found me very near the end of my life and had changed the outcome. With later revelations he let me know I would have been dead even sooner than I had expected if not for his intervention. Had I treated him badly? Maybe I had, but in a way I was doing exactly what he'd asked me to do. I was conducting my life for my own benefit and I was manipulating every thing I could in my own self-interest. I was doing what I thought best for me and mine and it was exactly what he had asked me to do. Even though I'm sure he never expected to find himself in this position, I think he should have. The way I saw things Argent was my employer. He hired me to do something for him and as far as I was concerned I was doing it to the best of my ability. His instructions had been mostly nebulous and I had been given wide leeway for my actions. This wasn't my fault - it was his and I felt like I'd been doing exactly as he'd asked. Suddenly he had been called away for some type of consultation about me, which didn't involve me or my input. No one asked for my input and when the word got back to me no complaint about my performance was made. What they wanted to do was alter my compensation package to my detriment without cause, or at least without any cause they wanted to share. No self-respecting employee I knew of would have put up with that kind of crap. Who would go for their boss telling them they were doing a fine job and by the way we're cutting your pay by thirty percent. Especially if no reason was given and if the employer wasn't being burdened by the current pay scale. Even if I hadn't known he was from a different planet from the get go, his recent actions would have let me know it. No employer on earth could have hoped to pull off that kind of stunt without getting a lot of resistance. Most of them wouldn't even consider trying something like that unless they wanted the employee to quit. I'd been lucky enough to be able to turn the tables on Argent or on whomever it was who wanted to make these changes. I had fired my boss. Hell, it's a good trick if you can pull it off and I'd not only been able to fire him, I'd locked him out. I hoped things would settle down some when Argent had served his time without me. I would feel a lot better if he was still in the picture and I could live with the situation if he didn't want to give me anything else. I could even live without the video and audio feeds and with less training service from Phil, Frank, and Ralph. I wasn't going to let him get away with a bunch of arbitrary take backs which involved the people of my camp though. I couldn't even begin to estimate what kind of damage such things would do to my position on the ground. I'm sure Argent's proposed earthquake would start a near panic among my followers. They had built me up in their minds as someone who was favored by the spirits and a calamity like Argent wanted would tell them right away I had pissed those spirits off, big time. Logic didn't play a large part in how my people thought of their world. Superstition was the operative word for the way they looked at their environment and a natural disaster wouldn't seem natural to them. They would want to know why it had happened and teaching them about tectonic action was not on the program. They would immediately wonder what I had done to make the spirits angry and if they didn't have a good reason they were more than capable of making one up. Adding to the trouble would be the fact that once again they would be living across the river using bison shit for heat and for cooking while I was still living in luxury in a cave which stayed warm by itself and that had a large wonderful kitchen to make my life and my mate's lives easy. The fact they had once enjoyed the same type of life would not make the bitter pill easier to swallow either. If I let Argent do as he wanted I might as well get ready for new and regular death threats. The last one had come about while things were getting better almost daily. I might hope for a contented population if the rush of new things slowed down or stopped, but if their lives went to shit on them I was sure I could count on more men deciding they could do a lot better job of keeping the spirits happy if only they could think of a way to have me dead. It didn't seem like it would be any fun for me. No matter how Argent complained or what he said to try and convince me, I wasn't going to stand for any of what he'd come back asking to do if there was any way to prevent it. He had gone along with and even suggested most of the things we had now and damned if I was going to let him take them back. ------- Chapter 188 For a few minutes I worried about what he might do and about what Frank, Ralph, and Phil might do to stop him, but it was pointless. I had only a minor understanding of what any of them were capable of and I didn't have enough information to make even a reasonable guess about what might go on. All I could do was wait and see what happened and there was no point in worrying about it. After all, if the hands got into an argument what could the mouse expect to do about it? This mouse had done what he could for now and I guessed the best thing for me was to try and put it aside for a while. It wouldn't be too long until supper was ready and since Georgo and Dotallto were sitting at the table with coffee in hand I joined them. "The mammoth demonstration was amazing John. I can hardly believe they have all been trained so well in such a short time," Dotallto said. "They are much easier to train than the horses were. It seems to me they are a lot smarter." "I would have never thought about something like it. Who would consider one beast to be smarter than another?" Georgo asked. "Any hunter can tell you some animals are smarter than others. Most of the women who have had meat stolen by a hyena will probably tell you they are a lot smarter than they look too." "I'm sure you're right, but I hadn't thought of it before," Georgo said. "I'm hoping to get smarter tomorrow when you show another new way of cooking," Dotallto said. "I am too. I don't know much about cooking, but new things always interest me," Georgo added. "I'm sure you will both like the results if not the process. It is a way of cooking meat slowly, which doesn't require digging pits. Once you get it going you can pretty much leave it alone like you would meat in a pit, but you don't have to wait for such a big fire to burn down before you start the cooking." "It sounds interesting. Do you have to wait until tomorrow to show it?" Dotallto asked. "Yes. I'm waiting on some new gifts." "Does that mean the spirits have returned?" Georgo asked, excited now. "They have returned and are here now." "I didn't want to mention it, but I thought I could sense them this morning even though I don't sense them now," Dotallto said. "I also thought I could sense them this morning. It seems I'm in much closer contact with them in this camp than I have ever been before," Georgo said. "I'm sure you must be, Georgo. After all, they have practically made this whole camp for our comfort and security. It is only right you should feel closer to them here." "You are right of course and it gives me a good feeling to think they give us so much attention. I'm sure it is because you are here, John, they seem intent on making things good wherever you are," Dotallto said. "Well they have so far, but what would you think if things started going bad for us?" They were quiet for a few moments and I let them be, though I could see my answers as clearly on their faces as if they had spoken them. I decided to try making them tell me what was on their mind. "Come on. Tell me what you would think if there were another earthquake that destroyed a large part of our camp." "I hate to say it John, but the first thing I would think was you had angered the spirits somehow. I hope it will never come about, but I don't see any other explanation. "You have told us many times you don't think that the spirits are catering to you, but you have to admit nothing like we have has ever been here before. It must have something to do with you," Georgo said. "I agree, John, and even though I hope you never anger the spirits, any large calamity such as the one you mentioned would almost certainly be a sign of disfavor from them. Who else would have the power to do such a thing?" Dotallto asked. "I don't foresee any such thing happening, but I did wonder about what people would think if it did. I don't know what brought it to my mind and I too hope it isn't about to happen. I can't really think it would since the spirits have returned and will be giving us some new gifts tomorrow." "I'm glad you feel that way John and I also didn't sense any displeasure from the spirits. Before you came I never thought I would be happy staying in only one camp for most of the time, but this camp has changed all of that. "I'll admit I like it here and I plan on spending as much time here as I can. I am also very happy with the buckboard which will let me travel farther and yet come back sooner," Georgo said. "I feel almost exactly like Georgo does on this matter. I am very happy to have a permanent place to live and I am also happy for the horses and the buckboard," Dotallto echoed. "Well I'm sure I haven't offended the spirits yet and I don't plan on doing it anytime soon. I'm sure it must have been a stray thought which got me wondering." They were quiet again and I knew they were thinking about what we'd discussed. I was thinking about it too, and it only served to make plain what I had thought all along. The gifts from Argent, which we had always passed off as the work of the spirits, were directly tied to me by everyone else and if Argent tried repossessing them my name would move to the top of all shit list anywhere around here. I wondered if he had even considered the prospect -- probably not. My other helpers and their mates started drifting in just then. The men sat at the table and most of the women headed toward the kitchen to join my mates. I happened to notice Reeana and Jareena looked just a little heavier than I seemed to remember. Looking more closely I thought Daleana might be showing the beginnings of a swelling in her abdomen and even Britta seemed to look healthier somehow. I wondered if this meant I had been spreading the wealth farther than I thought. If they were really pregnant I knew I had been. It didn't hurt my feelings one bit. Thankfully Dotallto and Georgo didn't mention our earlier conversation to anyone else and Daaggo was quick to start explaining about the picnic tables he and his men were building. He told everyone about them and he said they had made time to build one so far. Everyone wanted to go see it after supper and Daaggo looked to me seeming to wait for my approval. "The sawmill is your responsibility now, Daaggo, and if you want to show everyone what you're working on I think it's a wonderful idea, but you don't need my permission. If you are going to give us a tour after supper I'll be one of the first in line since I want to see what you've come up with myself." After supper was over most of us did go with Daaggo to check out the picnic table. When we entered the sawmill cave he led us directly to the example, but he warned everyone to be careful touching it. "It has not been sanded yet and there will probably be a lot of places where you might get splinters," he said. "What is sanding?" Raalto asked. Daaggo picked up a piece of sandpaper from one of the boxes which were stacked around near a new collection of hand tools. He held it out to Raalto. "Feel it." "It does feel like sand but what is paper?" Raalto asked. "I'm not sure, but I think paper is what the sand is on. Somehow it stays there and when you rub this on the wood it makes it smoother and takes the splinters away. Feel this board," he said as he handed Raalto a piece of scrap that had obviously been sanded. "It is very smooth, this must have taken hours," Raalto said. "It only took a few minutes with the sandpaper. We could hardly believe how fast the work went with it," Daaggo said. "But where did you get it?" Barago asked. "It was just here when we came back after the mammoth's show. I believe the spirits put it here for us," Daaggo said. "It is a wonderful gift if they did. It will save hours on any type of woodwork. We hardly had time to start using it on this table but the little we were able to do went very fast," Mundo said. "We should be able to finish many of the picnic tables tomorrow before the celebration," Daaggo said, bragging just a little. "It will be good, tomorrow we can all have a place to sit during the feast. I want everyone to be able to enjoy the Bar-B-Que," I said. "What is the Bar-B-Que John?" Kateata asked. "The Bar-B-Que is my secret new cooking you will not see until tomorrow my mates." "I for one am willing to wait. Just think what a change it will be to see John cooking instead of eating with both hands," Dieta said, and when she did everyone laughed. The impromptu meeting broke up into little groups who wanted a closer look at things. I tried to stay on the sidelines and just watch. I'd been surprised to find out Mundo had joined the workforce in the sawmill, and after watching a few minutes I saw Buloto, Saraato, Karcoto, and Deberto, the four he had first wanted to bring here from Cardiato's camp, were all in here too. It made sense after thinking about it since they all were good at working with their hands. Most of them had helped with Deimeta's rocking horse. I was able to slip around the outskirts of the crowd and signal my mates it was time to go home. I knew I'd have a busy day tomorrow and I was hoping for a little business tonight too. I didn't think it would hurt me any. The next morning I was up before the sun. It was easier this time of year. I slipped into the shower, but I'd barely gotten wet before first Jaada and then Geera joined me. I was busily getting those two wet and soapy when Dieta joined us. "Let me check out the progress my lovelies," I said as I began sliding a soapy hand over Jaada's swelling belly. "Jaada has the lead. I doubt you can even tell any difference in the swelling at all on Geera and I," Dieta said. "Oh, I don't think you're so far behind. I'm pretty sure I can feel the beginnings on both you and Geera," I told them, as I gave both their bellies a groping. "Do you really think so," Geera asked. "Yes I think so, but if I'm not mistaken Reeana and Jareena are on board too, along with Daleana and Britta." "You see, Geera, he is paying attention to what's happening," Dieta said. "He always pays attention to the women Dieta, he can probably name every one who has even gained a pound since she came here. He is shameless. Already he's started dipping into the unmated girls. Our bed will be larger than the whole cave before long," Geera said, and then laughed at me. I rinsed off and got out while I could, but they were right behind me. We went into the bedroom to dress and all the others were getting out of bed and heading for the shower. It was confusion for a few minutes, but soon enough I was sitting at the table and drinking the coffee Dalia had brewed before she went to shower. Geera must have known I was up to something early this morning because she didn't waste any time getting my breakfast ready. It was in front of me and I had it down and was gone in twenty minutes. I went directly into my office from the table. "Good morning, John," Ralph said, as I entered. "Good morning to you, Ralph. I see you have been busy since I left you," I told him, as I looked over the cooker now standing in my office. "See if it will serve your needs," he said. It would more than serve. As I had mentioned it had been made from thirty-inch pipe and it seemed like it was of stainless steel. It looked a lot like the picture that Ralph had dredged up for me, but the firebox was much better than the one I'd seen. Looking more closely at the box I saw it seemed to have some type of automatic mechanism for controlling the air intake. "Did you make some type of thermostat for the firebox?" "Yes, we were finished with the other parts quickly and so we spent a little time on it. The biggest problem was deciding how much clearance to allow for deformation in the adjustment door's track after the heat builds up. We also anticipated trouble from ashes that might migrate to clog the track and so the bottom one has slots cut out of it so the ashes can fall through," he explained. "Well the real test will be when the fires get going, but it looks perfectly usable to me," I said, as I raised the door to look at the inside. They had done a good job in here too and there was a nice expanded metal grating for the meat to be put on. I did notice one omission though. "We'll need a dial type thermometer on the door somewhere," I said. "The automatic damper should keep the heat fairly constant John," he said. "I'm sure it will, but we will want the thermometer to make it seem like we are doing something useful while we are standing around drinking beer, and now that I think of it you should put something on the end away from the firebox to keep the beans warm in." "We didn't realize that beans were to be cooked on it too," he said. "I forgot to mention it and we won't really be cooking them there, we will just need to keep them warm there." "What do you suggest, I'm afraid we don't know what is needed," he admitted. ------- Chapter 189 "Just fashion something that will hold one of the larger bean pots my mates already have and make sure there is enough contact so that heat is transferred to the pots. You might as well go ahead and make bean pots with a slightly different size specifically for these cookers. If you do no one will be tempted to use them for anything else and they will always be with the cookers." "I see - that won't pose any problems. Is everything else satisfactory?" he asked. "More than satisfactory - it is probably the best slow cooker I've ever seen. Can you estimate how many we will need to cook enough meat for everyone?" "We think eight will be plenty to cook for those in your camp," he told me. "Good. How soon can they be ready?" "We will put them in the celebration cave within the hour," he said. "Wonderful. It will give me plenty of time to get some hickory split and get the fires going." "We have taken the liberty of getting the hickory wood prepared. We will put some near each cooker when we place them," he said. "Excellent. Thank you for this." I left the office and went back to the table to drink more coffee. A few people had already come in for breakfast and we talked about today's plans for a while. Daaggo came in a few minutes later and I could see he was anxious to eat and get over so he could get back to work on the tables. It would be a busy day, but there was nothing wrong with it. I was hoping tonight's celebration would help me forget the last one we'd had. I also hoped it would keep me from thinking about the upcoming argument I was sure I'd soon be having with Argent. When Daaggo left for the sawmill I went with him. When we were inside he showed me a few extra saws had been provided for them. There was a big industrial strength table saw and two really nice radial arm saws along with four electric miter-box type saws. We didn't have any need I could foresee for cutting miters, but this type of saw was also excellent for cutting 2x4s and 2x6s to length and I assumed they had been put there for that very reason. I soon saw I was right when Mundo came in and began cutting up pieces for the tables with one of them. I was surprised again when I saw he was using a tape rule and a carpenter's pencil to mark the lengths. I had to ask and when I did he told me Ralph had told them where to find them and explained all about their use to him before he'd cut up the parts for the first table. I asked him what he thought about it and he was very enthusiastic. Of course the pencil probably wasn't very hard to catch onto, but the tape was probably completely foreign to him. He admitted it, but said it hadn't been very hard to learn. He said he was sure it would be helpful for many other things too, and it saved a lot of guesswork when he could measure what length something needed to be instead of estimating and then checking to see if it fit. He also showed me a fold up pocketknife he'd found and Ralph had told him was for sharpening the pencil. Ralph had made Mundo's whole week with these things and I could tell he was tired of talking about them and wanted to get to using them. I got out of his way and let him at it. The day was underway faster than I had expected. I could see Daaggo directing three different groups as they worked on separate tables already. They would have plenty to do though so I got out of there and headed for the horse cave. Danlo was hitching a pair of Clydesdales to a sleigh and I wondered what he was up too. "Racaato asked me if I'd take him down near the logging site this morning. He said he saw a lot of sign for megaceros the other day while he was scouting the cat for you. He wants to go and see if he can get some fresh meat for the celebration," he told me. "It's a great idea. I think I'll go ask him if I can come along. You won't mind will you?" "Of course not, and I'm sure Racaato will be glad for you to come," he said. I went back to my cave and nearly bumped into Racaato as he was coming out. I asked him about the hunt and he said I was welcome to come along. "I should tell you we don't really need the meat. I just thought it would be good to get away while so many are starting the cooking and such," he said. "I had nearly forgotten about the cooking. I can't go because I have to get started on the new cooking. I'll leave it to you then, be sure to tell Danlo why I couldn't come." "I will," he said, as he left. Well shit. I had no one to blame but myself for shooting off my mouth about the cooking. It wouldn't be so bad though, and I was looking forward to checking out hickory-smoked mammoth. In fact I might enjoy teaching a few cooking lessons. At first I'd intended to show the men how to do the grillwork, but what did I want to do that for? The men wouldn't expect to do it, and I could spend a large part of the day with most of the women in camp. Looked like in this time and place the women were about to become the guardians of the Bar-B-Que. When I went into the celebration cave I found all the smokers were in place along the back wall. No one else was in here yet so I went to the closest one to look it over. I was happy to discover Ralph and the guys had studied more than just the cookers. Near each of them was a nice metal table with wheels which would serve as a good place to prepare the meat to go on the grill. The table was stocked with salt and pepper shakers, a large dispenser for aluminum foil, four different kinds of Bar-B-Que sauce, plus tongs, long handled forks, and thick cooking gloves for handling things after they were hot. Everything was ready for a good meat smoking demo. All I needed now was some meat and an audience. I went back into my cave and to the table so I could sit down and have some coffee while I waited for my mates to receive their lesson. Gema brought me a mug of coffee and I pulled her into my lap after she set it down. "When will we get to see this new cooking John?" she asked. "As soon as you are all ready. Everything is ready for the demonstration except the meat to be cooked." "We have already brought the meat in here, all we have to do is take some with us," she said. "Good, is everybody ready?" "Not quite, but we will be in a few minutes," she said, then got up and went back to the kitchen to tell the others. By the time my coffee was finished they were ready to go so I got up and we went to the celebration cave. I had the full crew with me today including Failiela, Jalieta, and even Deimeta. "Are you ready to start cooking lessons, Deimeta?" "I'm not so interested in the lessons as I am in seeing you cook. A man cooking will be a first for me and I'm not sure you will be able to do a good job. I guess I'm coming along to make sure the food is fit to eat after you're done with it," she said, and then laughed a little. "You can't fool me, you're with us hoping to get the first taste." "That isn't such a bad idea, I hope. We'll see how you do," she said. "I'll do fine, wait and see." They set the meat down on the table at the first cooker and then examined the setup. There were plenty of questions before we could get started and I did my best to explain everything to them. Finally I got a chance to build a fire in the firebox. "Why does the fire go down there when the meat will be up here?" Shelalliea asked. "The heat and the smoke rise through this hole at the top of the firebox and into the cooker. Look inside it and you'll see there is a metal plate under the cooking area so the heat only cooks indirectly. "The wood we are using is hickory and its smoke adds flavor to the meat. The cooking is done slowly so the meat will be tender, but it doesn't take as long as the fire pits do." "How can the smoke make flavor in the meat?" Dalia asked. "I don't know how it does, I just know it does. You will see when we have some cooked." I started a small fire in the box and it didn't take long for it to get bigger. After I had it going I put a lot more wood on and then went to the table to work on the meat. After unrolling some foil I placed the first big piece of mammoth on and began shaking out salt and pepper. They didn't have any questions about this part, but when I began slathering on the sauce there were plenty. "It is something else to flavor the meat. Just watch how I do it." Things were quiet for a few more minutes until I began wrapping the meat completely with the foil. "Why are you wrapping the meat up in that and what is it?" Delia asked. "This is foil. It helps keep the meat from drying out and it keeps the smoke from flavoring it too much." "I don't understand. You want the smoke to flavor the meat, but then you wrap it up so it won't?" Roweea asked. "No matter how much you wrap the meat the smoke can still find a way in. If you don't wrap it at all, after hours of cooking the hickory flavor will be too strong and it might even upset your stomach if you eat it. You can get too much of a good thing." We did some bison next and then some aurochs. By the time I had the meat ready the cooker was hot and so I put it in and closed the lid. I showed them the thermometer and gave them a lesson on reading it. If Ralph's thermostat worked correctly all they had to do was make sure it wasn't getting too cool from running low on wood. "What do you do next?" Ameliea asked. "Next is the next cooker, we are finished here." "Will we need to watch over it?" Maia asked. "Not really, in a few hours we will come back, open the foil and see how it is doing, but that is all. By the time the celebration starts we will have plenty of Bar-B-Que for everyone. When we get all the cookers going we can start filling up the bean pots." We moved to the next cooker and I let Dieta build the fire this time, though I watched carefully, as if she didn't know how. Other women had been drifting in as we finished with the first cooker and some of the original questions came back. I was happy to answer them and while my mates tried their hands at getting this cooker going I moved most of the new arrivals to another one to restart the demonstration. I did the fire making again, pointing out we weren't trying to make a lot of heat, but were more interested in getting a good bed of coals which would keep going as wood was added along the way. They understood this, since it was basically the same thing they had always done for cooking fires. The main difference was the fire was made in a box and fresh air for it could be limited once the door was closed. After getting this cooker's fire started I went over the preparations for the meat again, getting some of the same questions about the foil and the sauce. Since they all knew how to cook from the get go it didn't take them long to catch on to this way of doing it. The thermometer was novel to this group also, but even though they couldn't read the numbers they had no trouble recognizing how far the needle should be able to vary. Faster than I would have imagined they were pushing me out of the way to try it themselves. Hell I didn't even get the chance to do the lesson for the next group which gathered around because my mates and some of the women from the second lesson rooted me out of the way to do it themselves. Apparently they had decided the new cooking was too important for a mere man to be involved. I did hang around to make sure they didn't change the plan before they had their first batch cooked. Looking around for something else to do I considered starting a bean lesson, but when I headed for my cave and the pantry to get some beans I met Gema, Merita, and Taaheita coming back with them. "I see you've brought the beans already, do you want me to help you get started with them?" "John, we know perfectly well how to warm up your beans. Don't you have some important leader duties to tend to?" Gema asked, then giggled. "Not really, I was going to go hunting with Racaato, but I needed to stay here and show you the Bar-B-Que." "There are a lot of places to hunt and you have a fine horse that will be glad to take you," Merita said. I knew they were doing their best to dismiss me and I decided to let them. I continued into my cave and saw Raalto sitting at the table with a mug of coffee. I got one for myself and joined him. "Have the women shooed you out of the way already?" he asked. "Yes, they didn't want much instruction from me." "It is funny, all women seem to be that way about cooking. My mates will let me help if we are hunting or traveling and sleeping away from home, but I needn't bother to try during normal times. I think their mothers teach them men cannot be trusted with raw food," he said. "If that's the way it is their mothers are driving the lesson home to good advantage. It was my new cooking scheme and within an hour I was completely dismissed. I probably shouldn't say it, but I enjoy that type of cooking." "It's a wonder the women let you try it wherever you came from. I can't imagine any woman I've ever known doing it. The only help we usually provide for cooking is the digging of the fire pits," he said. "Well I don't guess I'll try any more. It isn't so much fun and I'd rather be off hunting, even in this cold weather." "That is an excellent idea, why don't we go and do a little hunting. The clothes the spirits sent us keep the cold out well and the snow has settled now so it shouldn't be a problem for the horses. The worst part of a celebration is usually sitting around all day waiting for the food to be ready," Raalto said. "You have a good idea Raalto. Racaato has already gone down by the logging site - we can ride up onto the plateau. It isn't so windy this morning and we might see something worth taking. Even if we don't we will have something to do which doesn't require much sitting around and waiting, at least not as much as around here." Raalto went to his quarters to change and I went to mine. It only took a few minutes to get the cold weather clothes on and gather our M1s. We met back in the kitchen. Shelalliea saw us filling two thermoses with coffee and asked where we were heading. When we told her she put together a few sandwiches for us to take along. Raalto and I went to saddle our horses while she was at it. We rode back to my cave on Red and Bob and leading Darla. We had a packsaddle on Darla and she was also carrying some short travois poles in case we got something. Shelalliea gave us our lunch and thermoses and after putting them on Darla we headed off up river. We had just reached the ramp and were about to start up when Raalto called to me. "John, look. Coming down from the ramp there is sign. It looks like one person and unless I'm mistaken the same cat is following them," he said. ------- Chapter 190 We dismounted to examine it more closely. Raalto was actually doing the examining. I was only looking around. It was plain to see, even for me, a human with fairly small feet had come down the ramp and headed up river. It was also obvious a big cat was following the person. Personally, I couldn't tell which tracks had been made first or how long there was between the different prints. It wasn't hard to decide they weren't traveling together, because it would be unthinkable. I was also sure no person alone would be following the trail of a big cat so it was very likely the cat was following the person. Maybe Raalto could tell me more in a few minutes. He couldn't tell me any more than I had guessed. He said in the snow there was no good way to tell how long between one's passing and the other's. "The only way it makes sense is if the cat is following the woman. No woman in her right mind would be following such a fresh trail of a cat. I'm sure both trails were made since the sun came up, but it's all I can tell. If we want to try to save her we had better get moving," he said. "I think we should try. Are you sure it's a woman?" "Fairly. It might be a young man, but the feet are too small for it to be a grown man," he said, as we mounted. If both sets of tracks had been made since sunrise then the cat was not very far behind the woman. I doubted we could reach her in time to do her any good, but we had to try. At least the trail wasn't hard to follow and we could make good time. The horses couldn't really gallop in the snow even though it had packed itself. They could trot though and we had no trouble following at the speed of a trot. As we came to the opening we'd used for our hay meadow I thought we were too late. I could see what we'd both assumed was a woman and she appeared to be kneeling in the snow. I could also see the large saber toothed one not twenty feet from her. It was confusing though since the cat wasn't facing the person. It was facing several hyenas, seven of them, and it looked like it was keeping them from the kneeling figure. I felt helpless even while taking hold of my M1. We were still more than a quarter mile away and even at less than half the distance a shot from horseback was not possible. If I took time to stop and try for a shot it meant we would be that much later getting there. We just kept trotting toward the scene and I kept staring as hard as I could and hoping. I wouldn't have been as confused if the cat had already killed the human. I understood even these cats; some of the largest of predators, had to defend their kills from hyenas or even packs of wolves. I'd never heard of them defending their prey before they killed it though. I guess it was possible it was so sure the prey couldn't escape it felt it had to ward off the hyenas first. Just then one hyena feinted toward the cat and another one tried to circle around it and get to the person. Smilodon was much too smart for the trick though since it ignored the feint and lunged toward the one trying to flank it. As it stretched toward the potential thief and lengthened itself during its lunge it seemed to double in length even though it only looked that way since it was out to its full length. It just managed to give the flanker a swipe with a giant paw. The hyena shied away, but wasn't quick enough to avoid what must have been a terrible gashing. It screamed loudly and its high-pitched wail sounded almost like one a human would make. The cat's exertions caused it to tumble to the ground as the wounded one ran off. Even from our distance I could see it was leaving a heavy trail of blood behind it. The cat was back up in the blink of an eye and heading for the first attacker. It had started sprinting toward the prey while the cat was tending to its partner. It could have saved itself the trouble since the cat was on it in two bounds and very nearly got a claw on its back. It ran away too and went back to join the others. Raalto and I came up to them then while the hyenas were trying to decide what to try next. We got an even bigger shock when the cat looked at us. It settled to the ground as if taking a break and it began licking the blood off its massive paw, cleaning itself from the wound it had inflicted and paying no attention to its prey, Raalto, or I. "What is it doing John? I know it can see us plainly and I'm sure it must have heard and smelled us coming long before this," Raalto said. "It is licking its bloody paw Raalto and no, I don't have any idea why. You stay back with your rifle ready and I'll get down and see if I can help the woman," I said, since we could both tell easily now it was indeed a woman. It dawned on me as I got down the horses were not afraid of the cat in the least. This was almost as shocking as its behavior. The hyenas were damned sure afraid of it, especially now. When I reached the woman it wasn't hard to tell she was plenty scared. I could smell the results and looking closely it was obvious she had lost control of her bladder at least. When I reached to help her up she turned her face to me and stared in a wide-eyed panic. After a few minutes I knew there was no sense trying to calm her here because it just wasn't going to work. I picked her up bodily and carried her back to the horses where Raalto was still keeping watch. Looking back I could see the cat was still keeping watch too, but he wasn't watching us, he was watching the hyenas. "Is she hurt?" Raalto asked. "She doesn't seem to be, she's just scared out of her senses. Try to hold her up while I rig the travois. I'm afraid we'll have to take her back on it." He put an arm around her and coming to a little she wrapped both of hers around him. I went to Darla and started rigging the travois, thanking myself for thinking to bring it along. It only took a few minutes to get the poles attached and a skin stretched between them. Raalto had been watching and he steered her my way when I'd finished. Together we were able to get her to lie down and then we covered her with her own furs, which she had tied to her pack. We put her other things on with her and after giving the cat another look and wondering again just what the hell was going on, Raalto and I decided to leave while we could. We thought of killing the hyenas but decided it would be better to leave the cat with something to do. We could think about the rest of it when we were safer. Like sitting at the table in my cave. We mounted up and headed back, but we spent a lot of time looking behind us all the way. We arrived without further incident, but as soon as we called Eileiea for help there was plenty of incident. All my mates and all of Raalto's along with dozens of others were soon pouring out of the cave's entrance to see just what we had bagged and wanted cured all of a sudden. "But John, this is a woman, is she hurt?" Eileiea asked. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her the woman was just scared shitless, but I held it back. I didn't have time to tell her anything before one of the unmated women we'd brought from Caato's old camp began shouting. "Shateala, oh Shateala, what has happened?" Naala nearly screamed it as she ran to the travois. The dazed woman, who I now considered, Shateala, seemed to recognize Naala and when she did she began moaning and crying and I'll admit I didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. Eileiea kept trying to ask Shateala if she was hurt or injured, but I could tell her nose was telling her the woman had at the very least been frightened badly. I decided I had to bring some order to this crowd when the others we'd saved from the ill-fated camp began coming up. "Please, everyone, stay back. This woman needs some attention from the healer. Give Raalto and I room to take her into the cave." It seemed to settle them down a little and most of them backed off. Raalto came and helped me get her out of the travois. Shateala still wasn't in any shape to help so Raalto and I took her between us and started into the cave with Eileiea right behinds us. "Where should we take her?" Raalto asked, as soon as we were inside. "Into the bedroom, I think Eileiea has all of her things in there." "Yes, all my medicines are there, take her to the bedroom and put her on the side of the bed nearest the entrance to the bathroom. I'll need Dalia and Shelalliea to help me too," Eileiea said. "Should I get Jalayla too?" I asked. "No, I don't think so. The woman isn't wounded or hurt, she is just so frightened she has soiled herself. Jalayla is welcome if she wants to come in, but I don't think there are any wounds or anything I will need her help with," she said. Dalia, Shelalliea, and Jalayla were right behind us though and they all followed us into the bedroom. As soon as Raalto had put Shateala onto the bed we were shown the door and I for one was glad to leave. I knew the woman had been through a terrible fright, but the knowledge didn't make her smell any better and I was glad enough I wasn't going to be needed to clean her up. "We should probably go and put up our mounts," Raalto said, and I was happy to agree. We were too late. Danlo and Nadlo had already left with them and our things had been put on the table. I knew we were fucked now and Geera confirmed it when she told us to sit down for some coffee and a bite of lunch. Her tone let me know I wasn't going anywhere else until I gave a thorough accounting of my hunting expedition. I felt better when I saw Jareena, Reeana, and all the rest of Raalto's mates were here too. Misery truly does love company. I couldn't think of anything to do except tell them exactly what we'd seen. I knew they might think we were full of it, but I didn't have any other tale to tell and they would soon know it if I'd been making something up. I could have done a lot better job of making it believable if I were fabricating a tale. At least Georgo and Dotallto joined us for some moral support before I had to get started. "But why would the big toothed cat guard her, John?" Gema demanded, after I finished the first of what I knew would be many tellings. "I don't know my mate, who can know what a cat is thinking. I'm not even sure he was guarding her, but it is what things looked like to me. What did you think Raalto?" I asked him, trying to offload some of the grilling I was getting. "It looked like he was protecting her to me also, but I do not have any idea why he was. He made it plain to the hyenas they were not to bother her," Raalto said, and something about the way he said it showed me a peek at a good out. "Maybe the spirits put him up to it. What do you think Georgo?" I asked. Georgo gave me such a look I was afraid he was going to balk on me. He didn't though, and he came through big time for Raalto and I. "Dotallto and I will have to meditate over this and beg for enlightenment from the spirits, but first I think you and Raalto should stop talking about it, drink your coffee, and have a bite to eat. After you are done I think we should go into your office and let you both tell us again what you saw. Maybe more details will come to you after you have eaten. Now I knew why I liked him so much. It was the perfect plan for getting us out of this constant questioning. We could eat in peace and then go talk about it away from all the questions which would only slow us down. I nearly smiled and then his stock went up even more in my eyes. "I know you like the coffee even more than I do, John, but I think Raalto and you should have some bruga with your meal. Maybe only a mug or two, but I think a small amount would help to settle your nerves. I'm sure it was very trying to face the long toothed one even with your rifles, and I still don't understand how you could bring yourselves to go and help the woman away from it," he said. I started wondering right then what I could possibly get him for Christmas or his birthday or for something. Georgo had made my day with his little speech, Raalto's too, no doubt. I could see it dawn on my mates and his too we could have both easily been killed rescuing the woman and as I watched they seemed to cringe a little as it hit them. Soon enough they were shooing away all those who didn't usually eat with us and even most of those who did. In a matter of minutes Raalto and I had a mug of beer and a big bowl of some kind of wonderful mammoth stew in front of us. Similar servings showed up for Georgo and Dotallto seconds later. Best of all, no more questions were directed our way and everyone left us alone to down the brews and suck up the stew. Things were looking up, way up. Raalto and I both stopped eating before we were full. I'm sure he didn't want to pig out and miss any of the big meal tonight like I didn't. We stopped at two bowls of the stew and two mugs of beer. When we were finished eating the four of us, Georgo, Dotallto, Raalto, and I went into my office. Of course Ralph didn't shout out a greeting this time. "It's odd, but it seems I never think of your office or even notice it unless I'm headed here," Raalto said, as we entered. "That's not so odd, I don't either," I replied, trying to make sure nothing got started along these lines. First Raalto and then I gave Georgo and Dotallto a blow by blow of our hunting trip - from the time we left my cave til we got back. They listened all the way through without questions. They had some after we were finished though. You mean the cat was actually guarding the woman from the hyenas?" Georgo asked. "It is what it seemed like to me Georgo. It wasn't actively up and pacing. It had just placed itself between her and them. If they approached her it would attack them. It only looked her way to make sure the hyenas weren't approaching from another direction. Otherwise it paid her no attention at all," Raalto said. "Was it the same cat who came through our camp a few days before?" Dotallto asked. "We can't know. It is likely, but who can tell one cat from another. It isn't as if you can go up and inspect one of them for details." "I just thought you might have been close enough to see something distinctive when you went up to help the woman," Dotallto said. "I might have been close enough if I'd had it on my mind, but I didn't. All I wanted to do was get the woman to relative safety before either of us got a closer look at the cat. "I don't know if you've ever been near a saber tooth cat, but I know this time I got much closer than I've ever wanted to. Someone else will have to give it a thorough inspection if we really need one, because I don't have what it takes to do it." "What do you mean John, what does it take to give one a close inspection," Georgo asked. "A death wish," I said. "Oh." "That is all that I can remember of the incident," Raalto said, after a slight pause. "Me too, if I think of anything else I'll be sure to mention it," I told the two shaman. "I think we should go and meditate now Dotallto. I know I want to spend a long time trying to discover what this could mean to us," Georgo said. Dotallto agreed and the two left, no doubt going to their separate meditation chambers. As soon as the door was closed Raalto burst out laughing. He did his best to do it quietly, but he lost the ability to make coherent speech. He just doubled over and laughed until tears were coming out of his eyes. I didn't really understand what he was laughing about, but it was contagious and I was soon laughing myself. Finally, after nearly five minutes, he was able to get control. "What are you laughing about?" he asked me. "I was laughing at how funny you looked laughing, what were you laughing about?" "Mostly I was laughing at Dotallto, but some of it was about Georgo too. At least I managed to keep quiet until they were gone. I thought I would explode when Dotallto wanted to know why you didn't have time to give that tiger a good inspection since you were so close already," he said, and then lost it laughing again. "It was a little dumb of him to ask, but I didn't think it was all so funny." "The question wasn't funny, but then I imagined what he would look like and how he would act if he found himself twenty feet from the cat, or any big cat," he said. When I thought about it I started laughing again too. I'm sure Dotallto was a wise shaman and a good man, but on the whole bravery wasn't something you associated with him. Suddenly a picture of Dotallto running full speed and going so fast he was leaving a streak behind him like some type of cartoon character flashed into my mind. It took me some time to stop laughing too. "What do you really think happened with the cat John?" Raalto asked, after we had settled down again. "I'm sure the spirits intervened for some reason. What other possible conclusion could we draw? They did it for their own reasons, which we will probably never know. "They seem to take a great interest in us here and we have begun to take some things for granted, even though the things are clearly miracles. Who ever heard of the spirits providing bathrooms or barrel upon barrel of bruga except here? "We will just have to chalk this up to the spirits and go on about our business as best we can. If they want us to know the details they might tell Georgo or Dotallto or they might not. In any case what can we do?" "You are right of course. Maybe the spirits want you to tame the cat as you have tamed the horses and the mammoths," Raalto said. "Maybe, and if it is what they want I'll try to do it. They'll have to give me a much clearer sign about their intentions first though. I'm not about to walk up near the cat again unless I'm sure it is what they want." "I don't blame you. I'm not sure I could walk up to it even if I was sure the spirits wanted me too," he said. ------- Chapter 191 We were talked out about the spirits and the cat and I knew we both wanted to leave my office and join the others again. We decided if we got more questions we'd tell them Georgo and Dotallto asked us not to say more about it until they had given the spirits a chance to provide enlightenment. It would probably work for most people, but I knew it wouldn't fly with my mates. I was surprised things seemed pretty normal when we left the office. No one was standing around waiting to grill us and it was a good sign. Some of my mates were in the kitchen and I was sure most of the rest were in the celebration cave getting things prepared. I saw the entrance curtain swing open and two men came through carrying a picnic table. I followed them and saw there were already several of them in place. I went into my bedroom and found Shateala had been moved. No one else was in the bedroom so I didn't have a clue where she'd been put. I guessed the unmated women's quarters was a good place to start looking and so off I went. Sure enough, it was easy to find her once I walked into their quarters. All eleven of the unmated ones we'd brought from the ill-fated camp were crowded in or around her new resting place. I walked over and when I could see inside I spied Eileiea sitting on the edge of Shateala's new bed while Shateala was lying in it, apparently asleep. "How is she Eileiea?" I asked, when I got closer. "I have given her some strong tea which will let her rest. I could make her understand she should drink the tea, but it is nearly all I've been able to do. We couldn't get her to walk on her own and practically had to carry her here. She won't speak, it's as if she can't do anything, but remember the cat. She is still so very frightened she can't think," Eileiea told me. "I don't doubt it, she must have known the cat was following her for hours. It would make anyone lose their wits." "I think she will sleep until tomorrow from the tea, maybe she will be better then," she said. "Will you have to stay with her?" "No, the others who were in her camp once have said they will take turns watching her. They can come for me if I'm needed, but I don't think she will need me before morning," she said. "Did she tell you nothing before she went to sleep?" "No, nothing at all." That settled it. If Shateala was going to be out until tomorrow we'd just have to wait to get her thoughts. Until then I still had a couple of hours to kill before the celebration began. I went to my office, alone this time, and was greeted by Ralph as soon as I entered. "Hello John, you've had an exciting morning," he said. "Yes I have, I believe it was something the Chinese would have called interesting times." "May you live in interesting times, it was said to be meant as a curse," he said. "I think I live in interesting times, but I don't consider it a curse. Even the adventure today wasn't so bad - at least it didn't turn out bad for anyone. None of us are bleeding or otherwise injured." "The woman got the worst of it and you were exactly right about her state. She had known for some time the cat was following her and she realized she had no way to escape it. The constant weight of the threat finally overwhelmed her thinking," he said. "The main question I have is about what she was doing in the first place." "I can tell you if you'd like, but it is our opinion she will be coherent by morning. She probably won't be awake before Argent's forty-eight hours are elapsed though. Of course we can extend the time as long as you want," he said. "It won't be necessary and it wouldn't be polite. I don't want to make Argent mad, or at least any madder. I'm not seeking any type of ultimate power or negotiating position. "I feel confident with the help of Frank, Phil, and you I can carry on as I please, but I don't want to rub it into their faces. If Argent returns with a reasonable tone in his voice I'm sure we'll all be getting along famously within a few minutes." "Even though we blocked all communications from this planet to the ship we didn't block them the other way and neither did they. They were so shocked I feel they just didn't think to do it. We know everything which has been going on aboard ship and we know what information was sent back to the ones at their base. We also know what the base sent back. Argent will surely have what you call a reasonable tone," he said. "Now I am confused. When I sent a message to Argent and got a reply back it took longer." "This qualified as an emergency to Argent and he used a higher priority for the transmission as they did to send back the answer," Ralph explained. "So as long as I was sending messages to him it wasn't considered an emergency, but now he has problems it is an emergency?" I asked. "It didn't happen exactly the way you make it sound now. No slight was meant to you. If you remember it was I who sent the message to Argent while he was away and I didn't consider it an emergency. You didn't seem to think it was one at the time or at least I didn't take it that way. Since I didn't use emergency protocol to send it they didn't use it sending the answer," he said. "I don't guess it really was an emergency after all. What makes it an emergency this time?" "Telling you that would go directly to explaining the whole purpose of the experiment. I will tell you if you want me to, but I still think it would be counterproductive," he said. "Was sending Argent back to the ship against his will such big a deal?" "No, but cutting off their access to the data was and is a tremendous deal. I wouldn't recommend doing it again unless you find it absolutely necessary and I'm certain they will not do anything again to make you feel the need. I have searched for a phrase from your original planet to convey your position to you. You have them By the Balls, is the one I think fits best," he said. "If that's the case then I can afford to be magnanimous when he returns." "You can afford anything," he said. It was good to know, but it made me wonder again what was so special about what I was doing here and for the life of me I couldn't understand it. I wasn't making any exciting discoveries or doing any critical research. Hell, my biggest technological advancement here had been picnic tables and Bar-B-Que. I couldn't figure out how it could really impact a civilization which already had access to interstellar and interdimensional travel, not to mention time travel. It didn't make sense, not to me anyway. I wasn't going to argue though. If they thought they'd be ruined by missing out on watching us pull off a Bar-B-Que and a good kegger then damned if I was going to ruin their whole day over it. All they had to do was furnish the beer and the bathrooms and we were all set as far as I cared. "Are you sure they have given up the idea of rearranging my cage?" "Your cage? I don't understand. What is your cage?" he asked. I'd fucked up and let my musings enter into my real life conversation. I'd have to try to blow by it. "Have they decided not to keep trying to take things back from me or any of us?" "They have done more. The former head of the project and all those who voted with him to make those changes are now unemployed. In my estimation they are lucky not to have ended up in the alien's version of what you would call prison. Argent now has full authority to run this project as he sees fit and everyone involved with the project has been made painfully aware of the risk they run if they cause him any more difficulties," Ralph said. "So he didn't come out so bad after all?" "No and he is not unhappy about the developments so far. He has no intention of taking anything away from you," he said. "When did this happen?" "He got the news via the emergency communication protocol not more than twenty minutes ago," Ralph told me. "Why don't we give him a little bonus to show our good faith then?" "What do you mean?" he asked. "Do you think it would compromise your ability to monitor their communications if we suddenly restored the data stream to them? Would they know it was because we already knew we had won?" "If they were as calculating as you have turned out to be it might, but they aren't. If the data came back up they would be so happy they wouldn't worry about why it had," he said. "I guess I don't understand why it seems I am usually able to out maneuver them. I know they have resources I can't even dream of, and yet sometimes they do things which make me think they don't even know what's going on down here." "Part of their original selection criteria is at fault for the situation. They knew they needed a very intelligent specimen for this experiment. You may not realize it, but you are more intelligent than most of the aliens who are present here, including Argent. You are also vastly more experienced at interpersonal relationships. "The superiority you assume they have comes only from their lead in experience as a species. They have been around much longer than your species and collectively they have much more experience. In the current situation this advantage is useless to them, or nearly so. You are not dealing with their total experience - you are dealing with a few individuals. "Another advantage you have is their attitude. None of them ever considered you would do anything other than just what they wanted. They mistakenly thought of you as an ignorant savage when compared to them. "They meant no disrespect, they just didn't consider you could develop an agenda of your own and they certainly never thought you would acquire assets which could block their will. "Even with all their technological advantage they are now completely overmatched here. They will stay overmatched, because now they are afraid this whole project could dissolve into nothing if they try to thwart you again. Your tail is now wagging their dog, as you might have said on your old home planet," Ralph said. "I guess I will never understand how it happened." "You would understand instantly if you knew the reason for this experiment and if you knew how successful it has become and why it has become so successful. The three of us still think it would be a mistake to tell you, but we will if you insist," he said. "My curiosity is not as great as it once was and I don't think I need to know why now since I can understand the effect I can generate. I seem to have more control now than I really need, and my inclination is to leave things alone as they are. I don't want to damage their experiment and I am grateful to them for choosing me and for saving my life. Are you sure they will not be suspicious if we restore the data stream?" "They will be too happy to be suspicious. It will also be a major vote of confidence for Argent, doing him more good than you can imagine," he said. "Turn it back on for them then. Don't tell them why and in fact don't tell them anything or answer any questions they might have. Don't even respond if they send questions. Let them have the video and audio again and don't mention it otherwise. Let them think we've turned it on by accident if you think it will help. We'll still wait until tomorrow to let Argent come back and talk about it." "Very well, it is done," he said. "Maybe you should make sure they notice." "They have already noticed and at the moment they are celebrating and also trying to contact us," he said. "Just keep quiet until it is time to let Argent come back." "Very well," he said. "And thank you." I left the office then and made myself quit thinking about Argent. Ralph had said we had him in line now and it was good enough for me, for the time being anyway. Out in my cave all my mates seemed fully engaged in the preparations. I went into the party cave and the smell of hickory-smoked meat assaulted me. I surrendered at once. I had to have a taste of it and I didn't mean tonight. I went to the nearest cooker. Jaada was in command and as luck would have it she was about to open up. "I can see I'm just in time." "In time for what, John?" she asked. "In time for a taste of smoked mammoth." "I was going to check it to see if I thought it was done yet. I guess you will be the best judge of whether it is cooked right," she said. "I'm sure I will. It is my duty to make sure all went well." "No doubt it's a duty you are anxious to perform," she said, and laughed. ------- Chapter 192 No matter about the laughter though, because she opened the foil and cut me off a big slice. It was perfect of course. So tender it nearly fell apart before I could get it in my mouth and the hickory flavor was just right. I don't think I'd ever had any type of Bar-B-Qued meat that tasted so good. Of course there hadn't been much mammoth available in Texas before I left. "Well, is it good?" Jaada asked. "It is better than good, it is the best. I've never tasted any meat this good." "Maybe I should try some too," she said. "Sure you should, you're the cook after all." She cut off a piece and took a bite. "It is good John. I can tell it is mammoth and it is wonderfully tender. There is another flavor I haven't tasted before mixed in too though. What is it?" she asked. "It is the hickory smoke's flavor." "I can't believe the smoke made it taste so good. We will have to cook this way often," she said. "That's the kind of thing I like to hear you say. Now you should cut up a little of the meat you've just cooked and mix it into the beans. It will add the mammoth and the hickory flavor to them too." She started on it and looked to me for how much meat to add. I took a wild guess, knowing I couldn't go wrong. When she had enough meat cut off I had her cut it into small pieces and then she stirred it into the beans. I told her to just leave them and they would be flavored soon. She left then and went to the others to spread the news. Before long I could see all the cooks were having a little taste and shortly they were working on their beans too. My arduous tasks were finished for a time so I went to the kitchen for some beer. To my surprise I found Failiela and Deimeta minding the kitchen. "Daddy, what can we get you while we are in charge?" Deimeta asked. "I thought I might like a mug of bruga." "Very well, are you getting an early start for tonight's celebration?" she asked. "You might say so, but I will probably have only one mug now and one more tonight." "I know it's hard on you Daddy, you'll miss out on so much bruga since you have to keep your wits about you tonight," Deimeta said, and then burst into a giggling fit while Failiela turned beet red in the face. "What do you know about my having to keep my wits about me?" "I know you will have to help some of the men to their furs and you will probably have to console their mates while you're at it," she said, and giggled some more. "You know more than is good for you, or maybe more than is good for me." "I know you have your duties to perform to keep your camp happy," she said, and kept a serious look on her face somehow this time. "You're right, the welfare of all my camp members is always foremost in my mind," I said, and also managed to keep a serious look. "I hope the responsibilities you have don't weigh too heavily on you. All work and no play make Daddy cross in the morning," she added. "Well, my vigil during celebrations does have its compensations sometimes." "No doubt. It's why I'll be staying with Failiela again tonight even though she wants me to watch from my bed and tell her all about it," Deimeta said. "Deimeta! You don't have to tell him everything you know," Failiela squeaked. "He knows you are curious Failiela. I've watched them before and I must be too young still to get very interested. Don't worry though - I'll be sure to be in attendance after you become one of my mommies. Just think, now we are good friends, but soon enough you'll be my mommy and probably be bossing me around," Deimeta said, teasing Failiela. "Count on it," Failiela told her, and then laughed herself. "Poor little Deimeta, she has so many mommies and they are always making her do such dreadful things." "I know they have been very kind to me so far, but they might boss me, someday," she said. "Yes, and the sun could easily come up green in the morning." They both laughed this time since they knew very well there would be no bossing around of Deimeta anytime soon, or ever. The best part of it was there was never any need to scold Deimeta. I couldn't remember her ever doing anything which required it. She did like to tease a little, but she never went too far with it and she was always so polite about it. She was a treasure as far as I was concerned and I knew all my mates felt the same way. "I hope no other plots are discovered tonight like at the last celebration," Deimeta said, surprising me. "Me too. I don't want to have to shoot anyone in the next few days," Failiela said. "Me three. I don't want anyone trying to kill me in the next few days either." "Maybe we should try to think of something else to talk about. I wish I hadn't brought it up," Deimeta said. "It doesn't hurt to remember things can go wrong when you aren't expecting them to, but there is no point in dwelling on it. Have either of you tasted the Bar-B-Que yet?" "Yes, mommy Shelalliea brought us some and it is wonderful. I could hardly believe you thought it up Daddy. Men aren't supposed to know how to cook," she said. "I know a lot of things I'm not supposed to know and a lot of them are fun aren't they?" "If you're talking about the rocking horse or the mammoths or the little sleighs then you're right. They are all fun. I am so happy to have Darta and the sleigh and we've had a lot of fun with the rocking horse too," Deimeta said. "I just love Kackto and his sleigh too. It was so much fun when we all gave everyone a show the other day. I can hardly believe the way Kackto tries to do what I want him to," Failiela said. "Maybe I should try to think up something else that would be fun." "Please do Daddy, there is still a lot of winter left and we can't play with the mammoths every day," Deimeta said. "I'll do my best then. I don't want you and Failiela to get bored." "It isn't just Failiela and me, there are a lot of others here who don't have very much to do in the caves and most of them don't even have a mammoth to play with," Deimeta said. She was right of course and I hadn't even thought about all the other children. No doubt they would be wanting something to do to occupy their time and I'm sure their mothers at least would appreciate something to take some of the load of entertaining them. Funny, in my old life this had been something I hadn't had to deal with, but in this one I really should make some provisions for it. I'd have to ask Ralph if he could come up with some playground equipment. Our conversation died while I was thinking of monkey-bars and teeter-totters - Failiela and Deimeta were once again about the business of being in charge of the kitchen while I was left with my mug of beer for company. I remembered what Raalto had said about waiting around while the celebration was being arranged and I wondered how I would pass the time until it began. I didn't want to go back into my office and shut myself away with Ralph again. I was afraid of myself - afraid with nothing to do, but sit, I would give in to the temptation of asking him to explain things I knew he knew. It had finally sunk in if I got all my answers from Ralph or Argent or any of them, I would be doing myself no favors. I could probably think of millions of ways I could have used that kind of power in my old life, but here and now it would be a dead end street into a cul-de-sac of perpetual boredom. Sure it could make me the king of earth, but I was already there. I didn't have a big army, but I had more of one than I needed to impose my will on any group I could reach. If I were further on up the time line I would need more troops, but in this time I was at least thirty-eight thousand years removed from serious opposition. I probably couldn't find a group of fifty men to conquer if I wanted to and I had nearly a hundred fighters who were reasonably trained here, let alone the fact I had firearms. If it weren't for me, Jadatako and the spearcasters had been set to takeover all he could encounter and I'd been able to snuff him out in a few seconds. If I were in my home time I could use Ralph, Frank, and Phil to eliminate terrorist, or torture spammers, or right any wrong I could think of. Here, where the population was so small and most crimes hadn't even been considered yet I could do it by hand and still take the afternoon off. I would seek information from Ralph if I really thought it was necessary, but if I didn't watch myself I'd end up with nothing to see and nothing to do -- nothing to find out for myself. It would be a good way to ruin the real gift Argent had given me - a chance to live a long and uncomplicated life with the opportunity to be outside doing something instead of inside watching the world go by on television. Here I didn't need to watch an imaginary world with pretend action go by on an electric box. I could go outside, saddle a horse, and meet a real world on my terms. All in all it beat the hell out of Longview Texas, even if there was no Reo Palm Isle here. I finished my beer and got up from the table, heading into the party cave again. When I was there I watched the women working here and there and generally in a rush with the preparations. The smell of the hickory-smoked meat was everywhere and it made my mouth water. I looked into some of the bean pots and could see a bubble of steam rise up from them every now and then. I saw sometime during the day Ralph or Frank or Phil or maybe all of them had lined up a row of beer kegs in the ice filled barrels along the back wall. Soon there would be a steady stream of men heading toward them to fill their mugs and then their stomachs until they were so drunk they fell down and had to be helped to bed. It would leave scores of women, who weren't so drunk, for the sober men to comfort. It suited me fine and I was going to comfort as many as I could. One of the best parts of the celebrations was wondering ahead of time which men would be drunk and which women would need comforting. It would also give me another chance to wonder if I was getting some more members of the next generation started. Maybe I should talk to Ralph after all and ask for a few more candidates to be put into operation tonight. No need for it though. It seemed plain to me I was getting plenty of action on that score already and if I didn't know which ones were ready I could pretend anyone I was with was. It never hurt my feelings to think I was well and truly spreading my seed. I guess it was a man thing for real. When it came down to it, old Johnny boy had fallen into a bucket of cancer and come out smelling like a whole trainload of roses. If Argent had any idea of changing things now he was in for more shocks. Now I'd taken a little time to count my blessings it would be a fight to the death to get me away from them. In fact, now would be a good time to walk around, look at what was going on and pat a few of my blessings on their cute asses, just to help their morale of course. I spent the next two hours pressing the flesh -- well squeezing the flesh would be more accurate. I milled around while the women were finishing up with the smokers and setting up the new tables. I pinched an ass here and groped a titty there and Dicky even accumulated a few clandestine pettings. He was inspired to say the least. Soon enough I had to make a little talk to begin the festivities, then Georgo and Dotallto made longer talks and then the meal was on. I saw right away the Bar-B-Que was a hit. I knew the women had cooked more than they thought they would need, but I could also see there wouldn't be any left. The new taste was the hit of the night and the hickory-smoked mammoth was gone first. The beans also disappeared in short order. No matter, since there were plenty of other dishes to go around. Everyone got at least one helping of the new stuff and we had plenty of other things cooked too. For next time I would ask Ralph to furnish about four or five more cookers though. If you're going to have Bar-B-Que you might as well have plenty of it. Maybe I'd get a few grills too. After all, it wasn't hard to grind meat and I had a hunch flame broiled cheeseburgers would go over well. Another good picnic dish came to mind then, potato salad. I hoped I could hold out until we grew some of our own potatoes, but if I couldn't, Ralph, Frank, and Phil could no doubt scare up plenty. Not long after all the Bar-B-Que was gone, most of the men remembered there was plenty of beer. Once they were full of food they headed to the kegs to get full of bruga. ------- Chapter 193 While they guzzled, the women made short work of cleaning up the mess and then Daaggo and some of his men who hadn't started drinking yet showed off another feature of the new tables. They had them out of the way and stacked up on each other in only a few minutes, leaving us with a big open space for wandering around and talking while the drinking was getting seriously underway. It made me think of a good old Texas honky-tonk and I looked around in vain for a jukebox. A little Merle Haggard or some David Alan Coe would go really good right now. I wondered if I could teach the women to two step and then decided if I couldn't do it by myself surely Frank, Ralph, and Phil could show them some video to help things along. Maybe I'd give it a try before the next shindig. Here and now though I just watched the bruga consumption. Most of the men were steadily at it but the mad rush of the last few celebrations didn't come through this time. Some of them were actually standing around and talking as they poured it in. It was probably because they realized there was no way they could drink it all and so there was no real rush. It made for a longer party and a better one too. I could see it was also going to make for drunker drunks. They didn't get full of beer as fast as before and it seemed they were going to end up drinking more of it by going just a little slower. They did. I was sure they were all drinking more beer than before. I would ask Ralph about it tomorrow, but I knew I was right. The novelty of the new Bar-B-Que had also caused them to eat more and so it took longer for them to get falling-down-drunk on full stomachs. I was sure there would be a lot more vomit coming up for those who couldn't hold it too. At least I wouldn't have to worry about it. I'd made sure from the start I wasn't available for the clean up detail. It made me think of music and dancing again. If they had something to do during these parties besides standing around and drinking they might last longer. Hell, some of them might not pass out at all. Of course it would make it later in the night before the fun started for me, but fucking wasn't everything and it wasn't like I was ever going to go without. If I got a little dancing started it might make some of the women who usually got shit-faced stay sober enough to be consoled. There was one youngish blonde and two redheads who were always among the first to drop. All three of them looked delicious and if I could figure out something to keep them standing longer than their mates - well it wouldn't hurt my feelings. At the celebration before the last one I'd tried to help the blonde get her mate to bed only to find I was helping her too. They both were out like a light by the time I had them to their furs. Here was a plan I could get behind and I was going to think about it more, later. It would be no trouble for Ralph to set up something to play us some music and I don't mind saying I can two-step with the best of them. Besides the two-step, I'd also have to be sure to teach them to slow-dance. I didn't have a belt buckle to polish, but I could pretend just the same. I was looking over the crowd and trying to decide who would need help first when I noticed Neilala, the cute little blonde I'd been thinking of earlier, was already having to help her mate stand up. She didn't seem nearly as drunk tonight as before, so I thought I might as well go over and be friendly with her and her mate. Just to be polite I snagged another mug of beer for him. I couldn't remember his name right now, but I took it with me as I approached. She smiled wide when she saw I was coming over to join them. "This is a wonderful celebration, John, isn't it Jontato?" she said, as I reached them. "I've been having a good time and I hope you two have too. I brought you another beer Jontato," I said, handing it to him. "Would you like another too Neilala?" "I haven't finished this one yet, but I'll probably have one more later when I do," she said. Jontato thanked me as I handed him the beer and he took a big swallow as soon as he had a grip on it. I thought I might have been mistaken about Neilala being in good shape still after she said she'd be having another later. She put her mug to her lips then, but only took a very small sip. She winked at me when she saw I was watching her. I wondered what was going on for a second. "I want to thank you for helping us to our furs the other time and I'm sorry we were too far gone to even show our hospitality," she said, after she finished her sip. Jontato didn't say a thing and seemed not to even realize she had. He took another big swallow of beer and I could see from his eyes that it was probably all that he could remember how to do just now. One more big swallow and he had drained the mug I'd brought him. He turned around and eyed the kegs. I knew damned well he could never walk over for another round since he nearly lost his balance by turning to look at them. "It seems your mug is empty Jontato, I'll go get you another one. Can you help him stand while I'm gone?" Neilala asked. "I'll do better than that, I'll go fill his mug." I took his empty mug over to the kegs, filling it and getting another one in case we needed it. I figured now Neilala must have known what I'd had in mind last time and she didn't intend to get too drunk tonight. I knew I was right when I saw Jontato finishing her beer as I returned. He surprised me - he was able to drink both the mugs I brought back with me before he started slipping away on us. I helped him out by holding him up for the last half of the last one. We headed out of the party cave and toward their place when he finished the final swallow. He was barely able to move his feet and we were basically dragging him between us. When we got to their room we put him down on his furs with his clothes still on and I saw Neilala covered him completely with other furs, even covering his head. "Are you sure he won't smother like that?" "He'll be fine. He won't move until nearly noon tomorrow. When he passes out from the bruga he stays out. He won't even wake up to relieve himself - his furs will just be soaked tomorrow. "I covered his head to muffle the loud sound of his snoring. He is a good mate and good provider, but when he gets into the bruga he doesn't stop until he can't keep on. He will be sorry tomorrow and he always cleans up everything, but after one mug of bruga he is finished for anything else until the next day," she said. "Well if he snores so loudly maybe you should come and stay with my mates and I tonight so you can sleep in peace." "It will be good, but I hope you don't want to sleep right away," she said, smiling. "I wouldn't dream of it." I pulled her to me then for a kiss and she was more than willing. Her tongue was in my mouth at once and she pressed herself to me as I put my arms around her and made sure to get both hands full of her ass cheeks. We left their quarters and headed to my bedroom. While we were in the hall leading from the residence cave to my cave we saw no one, but Ameliea and Roweea were in the kitchen for something when we went through. They smiled and said hi to both of us. I wondered why they didn't come along, but didn't mention it. Reaching the bedroom had us fumbling with each other's clothes right away. I had Neilala's off first and I admired her form, as she was still busy with mine. She was about five four or five and she reminded me of an old cigarette commercial. She was round and firm and fully packed. She got my shirt and mail off me and while she was fumbling with my pants I took hold of some of those round and firm things. She didn't have the biggest titties around here, but they were a nice handful. Her nipples were small but erect and they seemed to pay attention while I was paying attention to them. When she finally had me naked she pushed me back onto the bed and straddled my hips with her legs. She smiled into my face as she took hold of my dick and guided it to her wet slit. Neilala was a small girl and was probably going to be a tight fit around Dicky. She realized it and made sure to wet his head thoroughly in her slit before she began her descent. I busied myself with her titties while she was slipping down and around my hard dick. My thumbs making sure her nipples got a workout. It took her four or five tries to take me all the way inside her, but it was worth the effort for me. "Oh, you are so big. It feels good though, really good," she said. "It does, doesn't it?" She didn't reply vocally, but she began raising her hips and lowering them and it was better than anything she could have said anyway. I took another grip on her ass cheeks while she was pumping herself on me and squeezed them while she fucked me. I was hoping for a lot of action tonight and I didn't mind if she did most of the work. Neilala was a delicious fuck. She was careful to pay attention, not taking me too far too quickly. She got herself off quickly and then slowed the pace for another go. Unlike the other women I'd been with here she didn't massage Dicky with her insides, she was tight enough, but didn't seem to have the internal action the others did. As she drove herself toward another climax I decided with a little work of my own I could get off too so I began pressing back up toward her as she came down. It was almost as if she'd just noticed I might want to come too. When my increased action registered she picked up the pace also and she did something with her tunnel to let me know she wasn't lacking any of the tools of the trade around here. Neilala let me feel she had the good old Cro-Magnon woman, dick-gripping insides like all the other women here. In fact she had a better grip than some. It was only a few more strokes before I was ready to let go and as I did she pressed herself down onto me and stayed, squeezing her pussy on my dick and panting my name as we both reached the finish. She sagged over on me after we were done and kissed around my throat while I kept my hands busy stroking her back and her cute little ass some more. Just as we were getting our breath back Amelia, Roweea, Dieta and Delia came into the bedroom with Starta, one of the redheads I'd been thinking of earlier, in tow. As my dick climbed and throbbed I wondered about my renewed excitement. What was it with me now? Even surrounded by more willing women than I could have ever dreamed of I still got a thrill whenever a new one came into the picture. Why? What made me want to dip my wick in every new honey-pot that came along? Was it a natural male condition, wanting to fuck every new woman I saw? I'd have to think about it later, now I was busy watching while my mates relieved Starta of her clothes. "We've decided to help you tonight John. We told Neilala, Starta, and Mayla earlier they should cut back on the bruga tonight and when the time came we would help them put their mates to bed," Roweea said. "Nothing makes a man feel better than when he finds out his mates are helping with his every need. Where is Mayla?" "Dieta, Shelalliea, and Merita are talking with her and helping her mate stand while he has a last mug or two. We wouldn't want him to wake too early in the morning," Ameliea said. As they finished with Starta I admired her charms. Of course she was a natural redhead, all the women here were as natural as could be. She had plenty of freckles and her whiter than normal skin made the bright pink of her aroused nipples stand out to be noticed. Ameliea wasn't shy about putting her hand into Starta's bush to check her oil either. "We must have gotten her excited with our talking about you John. She is already wet and look how her nipples are standing up," she said. "I can see her fine, why don't you bring her over here where I can feel her?" Ameliea gave Starta a little shove toward the bed then and she fell within my reach. I took hold of an arm and pulled her toward me as I wiggled out from under Neilala. Starta didn't struggle - in fact she was on me as soon as she could get her bearings. Her hot kiss was delicious and her hand found my dick right away. Turn about was fair play so I had a paw on her pussy as soon as I could. Ameliea had been right, Starta was already wet and slick and she moaned then sucked on my tongue as I pressed a finger up into her heat. Women are always fascinating to me because they are all different. Sure, they have basically the same set of parts, but none of the parts ever look the same, or feel the same for that matter. Starta's insides didn't feel as hot as some around here but she was amazingly slippery already and her pussy went to work on my finger as soon as I pushed it up her. She didn't want much foreplay either. At first she was mostly on top of me but she took hold shortly, rolling over, and tugging my hips between her spreading thighs. She took hold of Dicky and placed his head between her love lips right away and all I had to do was shove. I shoved. Gently at first, but it wasn't what Starta had in mind. As I slipped slowly into her she grabbed on tightly to my ass with both of her hands and she dug what little in the way of fingernails she had into my cheeks. Naturally I thrust my hips to get away from the spurring and when I did she sighed loudly. "Yes, that's it John. Push it in me hard. Just like you're doing now. Hard is how I want it," she promised. It suited the hell out of me cause hard was what I had on my mind now too. Within three strokes I was in a comfortable rhythm. I wasn't as hot as I'd been when Neilala and I had started, but Starta did have me inspired. I let her have what she asked for and she loved it. She told me so time and time again. I might have gone too far off into it because as it got really good to me I put my mouth on Starta's shoulder and gave her a firm bite. She moaned her approval though and as I felt my finish starting she caught up with me. Her hands grabbed my ass again and when I started pumping come up her I slammed all the way in and held it there. I was still gasping for breath as some of my mates rolled us apart. I lay back panting with my eyes closed. I could feel people moving around on either side of me and when I finally opened my eyes I saw all my mates were here now. Most of them were kissing and licking around on Neilala and Starta but Dalia and Shelalliea were sucking on my dick and Mayla, the other redhead I'd wanted, had crawled up beside me to kiss and nibble on my face and neck. When she saw my eyes were open she lowered a nipple to my mouth and I sucked like a baby. Soon my mates had my dick hard and they helped Mayla climb aboard. She wanted a gentler ride and it was fine with me. I let her do most of the work and I'm glad, because she did a thorough job. When I blew it felt like it came from the very bottom to blast its way out the top. I just had to drift off for a few minutes then. I spent the next few hours sleeping for five or ten minutes at a time only to wake up when one of my mates or guests slid a pussy down over Dicky. It's a wonderful way to spend an evening and I can recommend it whole-heartedly. I don't have any idea what time it was when they were finally all satisfied. When I woke I felt better than I had in months. All the women were still asleep and luckily I was near the edge of the bed and was able to get out without waking any of them. I showered and dressed quietly and got the coffee made on my own. I was starting on my second mug when Delia came out of the bedroom. She got a cup of her own and came over to sit with me. "How's the morning treating you Delia?" "Not nearly as good as my mate treated me last night," she answered, as I pulled her into my lap. "I was glad to help out. Is anyone else awake?" "Mother, Shelalliea, and Geera are dressing now. You should have enough around to get your breakfast soon," she said, and smiled. "My mates know what I like." "Yes we do and it is only fair because you know exactly what we like too," she said, still smiling. "It's because we all like the same type of things," I told her, as I slid a hand up under the hem of her Wilma dress and let my fingers tease around in her bush. We kissed and teased for a few minutes, but when the others started showing up Delia went to the kitchen to help with breakfast. It was ready in only a few minutes and I ate and then headed to my office. Ralph greeted me as I came in. It would only be about an hour until Argent's time was up. "The celebration seemed to be a big hit John," he said. "It did, didn't it? I was wondering about getting some music and teaching them to dance. What do you think?" "They already have a type of dancing and some rudimentary music," he said. "Well, they have a little bouncing around to the beat, but it's not what I would call dancing. Do you have access to any of the music from my former life?" "Certainly, we have a copy of almost all data from your former world," he said. "I don't suppose it would be much trouble for you to put a suitable sound system in the party cave would it?" "Almost no trouble at all," he said. "What about a list of the recordings you have, can you make one for me?" "Of course, but it might be easier if you just told us what you wanted to hear. The full list would run to hundreds of thousands of recordings. I'm sure we have everything ever published and we also have thousands of recordings of performances from before there was a way to record them. We've had your earth under surveillance since what you might think of as two-hundred-thousand BC," he said. "I guess that would cover anything I wanted to dance to then. What kind of mood is Argent in this morning?" "He is nearly beside himself with excitement. Currently he and three others are discussing how he should apologize to you and are trying to think of something to give you in hopes of atonement," Ralph told me. "He has also decided he will now tell you anything you want to know and will answer any questions you have," he said. "Won't he be surprised to learn I no longer want to know?" "I'm sure he will be shocked. Do you intend to tell him all is forgiven?" Ralph asked. "I intend to tell him to forget it and to just leave well enough alone. I'll listen if he has any suggestions, but I'm going to let him know I'm running things on the ground now. If I think of something I need I'll expect him to provide it, otherwise he can just keep watching." I saw time for talking was over as Argent appeared in the room. "Hello Argent," I said, beating him to the greeting. "Hello John. Let me start by saying how sorry we are that things..." "No. Let me say I want to forget this whole incident and I'm telling you if you've given up on the notion of taking things back we can," I said, after cutting him off mid-apology. He was at a loss since his prepared remarks had been cut off. It was obvious he had spent so much time on his speech he hadn't planned on what to do if he didn't get to make it. "I am not mad at you or your superiors Argent. I am going to be firm in my demand nothing be taken back though. Was no thought given to what these people would think after you took away their new home. Does anyone in your project have any idea of how those here see their world?" "We assumed they would know the earthquake was a natural phenomenon," he said. "How could you be so wrong? What could have made you think they knew anything about what was natural? They are not merely superstitious - their whole life is superstition. "They have no concept of natural. To them everything that happens is because of the spirits. Therefore if I'd let you ruin their cave they would have assumed at once I had angered those spirits and everything I've gained so far would have been forfeit. Is that what you wanted?" "No, of course not. We just didn't understand the situation I guess," he said. "You don't understand the situation at all. I do. If you want something done, tell me what you want and I'll try to arrange it. Do not try to dictate this from above. I don't even know what your intentions are here, but I do know from your proposed actions you are very likely to fuck the whole thing up if you don't leave it alone." "Would they really have turned against you if we had gone ahead with our plans?" he asked. "Without a doubt. To keep them from eventually killing me you would have had to remove all the firearms except mine. I would have probably had to leave this place." "There have been some changes made since our talk the other day. I have been assured I now have the last word on anything that is done here. I will not do anything without your approval," he said. "That is good news." "I am also ready to tell you what this whole experiment is about," he said. "Don't bother. Ralph has convinced me I'll be better off if I don't know. If I decide I must know I'll ask you later." "I'm glad. I still think it is the best way," he said. "It is good we agree on something again. Let's try to keep going along those lines." "You can be assured of my complete cooperation. Now that those who caused this trouble between us are out of the picture I don't think anything else will go wrong," he said. "What happened to them?" "They are no longer involved in anything. I guess you might say they are under house arrest. In fact they are still subject to punishment to be determined later," he said. "Why don't you give them a dose of what they wanted to give me?" "What do you mean?" he asked. "No one is using my first cave now. Why don't you take away everything I did there, give them all a spear and a flint knife, and then see how they like it?" "But what would they eat?" he asked. "What can they eat? Is there nothing growing on this planet which would be suitable for them to eat?" "Well of course they can eat the same things you do. Our species are more alike in that way than you would think, but they wouldn't know how to find it?" he said. "It should come under the heading of their problem. They thought they knew enough about things here to make decisions. Let them make a few decisions on how to live here. Give them some experience." "I don't have the authority to do it, but I can suggest it if you like," he said. "Not really, I don't want them here. Maybe you could just tell them it will be their punishment or tell them you are going to suggest it." "I could do it, but you must understand they are in serious disfavor now. It is likely if I mentioned something like that it could well become their punishment," he said. "It was just a thought on my part and probably not a very good one. Do what you think is best, but be sure I don't come in contact with them. I might not be very kindly disposed toward them." "I will consider it then. What is your next step?" he asked. "The next thing on my agenda is talking to the woman who was followed by the tiger. She should be waking before long." "Very well, it will be interesting to hear what she has to say," Argent said, and then took his leave. I went back out into my cave to get another cup of coffee. My mates were finishing up their breakfast and so were most of the others who usually ate with us. Sitting at the table, I gabbed while sipping and when Georgo and Dotallto were done I asked them to come with me while I went with Eileiea to check on Shateala. When we got to her new quarters she was still asleep, but Eileiea said we might as well wake her if we could. She sat on the side of the bed and lightly shook Shateala with a hand to her shoulder. Shateala's eyes flew open and were filled with fright at first, but she settled down almost at once. "Where am I and how did I get here?" she asked. "You are in John's camp, he and Raalto rescued you from the cat and brought you here. You were too frightened to talk yesterday and so I gave you a soothing tea to help you sleep," Eileiea said. "I was searching for this camp, but the cat started stalking me. I noticed it not long after I came down from the plateau. How were they able to rescue me from it? It caught up with me and I was sure it would kill me at any moment," she said. "We don't know why, but the cat did not seem interested in killing you. We hoped you might be able to tell us why. When we reached you the cat seemed to be protecting you from a band of hyenas," I said. "I remember the hyenas and now I think I remember your face. I think I saw the cat attack one of the hyenas, but I don't know any reason it would if it didn't intend to kill me itself and eat me," she said. "It is certain the spirits have protected you somehow for some reason of their own. Dotallto and I have meditated for enlightenment, but the spirits have not told us their intentions," Georgo said. "Whatever their intentions I am glad for them if they're what kept me from being eaten by the cat or by the hyenas either. I am also happy I was able to make it to this camp - can I still live here? You asked us to join you once and now I know we should have," she said. "You are welcome to live here with us. The day you were captured we had come to your camp to ask you again to join us, but the men were already dead and the rest of you had been taken away. We couldn't follow because snow started." "We were foolish to think we could live in peace after leaving Dutono's camp. We had to sneak away in the first place and we should have known he would come to get us. "He didn't mind if the men left, but when the unmated women left he was enraged. He and the others surprised us that morning. They didn't even give our men a chance to fight. They killed them while they were without their weapons and then he forced us to come back with them," she said. "How were you able to escape him? Even after you did it must have been a hard trip this far alone during the winter." "I only needed patience to escape. Getting back to my old camp was trouble, since I only traveled at night until I got there. I didn't stop at it since there was nothing worthwhile there now and I knew it was probably the first place Dutono and his men would look. After I passed through I didn't really know how to find your camp. I came across the plateau and it is where the cat must have picked up my trail," she said. "You went the wrong way when you came down from the plateau. You should have turned down-river." "If I ever leave this cave again I will remember it, but for now I don't want to think about anything outside," she said. "I don't blame you. I am worried about the others who were with you though. Will Dutono make it harder for them since you have escaped?" "He will probably take more precautions guarding them now," she said. "How long did you have to travel from Dutono's camp to get back to your old one?" "Since I was trying to stay out of their sight it took me three days but if you aren't hiding you can cover the distance in a little more than a day," she told me. "We were afraid it was much farther." "We should have made sure it was, but we didn't. We thought Dutono probably wouldn't come looking for us, but we should have known better - he is very vengeful. He says next spring he will come to your camp and take back the unmated ones who escaped him. He thinks he can steal many other women from you too," she said. "Does he have any idea how many men are here?" "I don't think so. We didn't even know how many and I still don't. I've mostly seen women here," she said. "There are over one hundred men here, in fact there are nearly two hundred and there are even more women. All of us know how to fight." "He will be in for a very big surprise then, since there are only twenty-six men at Dutono's camp and now there are only thirty-one women since I escaped," she said. "Do all of the rest want to stay there?" "No. You know there are at least three women who do not want to be there. There are more who don't though. Even most of the mated women would like to leave, with or without their mates. In fact most of the mated women would like to be done with their mates. Dutono has encouraged his men to keep their mates in line with frequent beatings. Most of the women are not happy about it. "The camp has enough food, but no extra supply. Dutono wasted much of the hunting time looking for us and sneaking around trying to find other women he could capture," she said. "Georgo, would you and Dotallto meditate and see if you can get a sense of the weather for the next few days?" "We will be glad to John, are you thinking of going to Dutono's camp soon?" he asked. "If I thought we would have acceptable weather I would leave today. I do not like for people to be held captive." "I have been to his camp quite a while ago, but it did not seem he was this way then. It also did not seem like I was welcome though, so I haven't been back in a long time," Georgo said. "I also have been there and received the same treatment. In fact he told me plainly I wasn't welcome in his camp. He did see I had something to eat and a place to sleep, but he hurried me away the next day and told me not to come back," Dotallto told us. With normal clothes for this day and time I would not even consider a trip away from home during this winter, but with the things Argent had provided the task didn't seem so daunting. I did worry about the horses, which would be pulling our sleighs, but with a little care on our part they should be able to make it without much hardship. This time I would question Ralph more carefully about his weather forecast though. If Shateala had been able to make it on foot with only what she could carry, I didn't see why we couldn't make it in a couple of sleighs with our excellent cold-weather gear. I did wonder whether I was taking too much on myself and my people. Did we have the right to force our will on Dutono and his camp? We were going to, whether we had the right or not - I was going to do it. We already had plenty of women in our camp, but it didn't mean I'd just sit on my ass while some little wanna-be bad man held his camp in virtual slavery. I intended to teach Dutono some manners, even if it killed him. ------- Chapter 194 How far did I intend to go toward exerting my superior force? I didn't know, but I did know the next step. The next step was in Dutono's camp and, weather permitting, we were going to take it in a day or two. Sateala's friends were gathering around now and wanted to visit with her. I left and headed back to my office to do a little visiting of my own with Ralph. "Hello again John," he said, as I entered. "Yes, I'm back already. Can you give me a weather prediction for the next few days?" "Of course. Are you planning a mini-war?" he asked. "I believe I'll take the politician's way out and call it a police action." "I see. The weather will not be bad, but it will start snowing tomorrow, probably around noon. The wind will be about fifteen miles per hour and might get up to twenty-five miles per hour occasionally. The temperature should stay about the same and the snow will probably amount to between twelve and eighteen inches," he said. "Not the best weather to be traveling in, but maybe it won't be impossible." "You should be able to make it. We might need to provide something for the horses to keep them warm when they are not working, and you should probably take one sleigh full of hay for them. Maybe we should provide some grain for them also," he suggested. "I suppose you can help me out along those lines." "Surely - it won't be a problem. May I ask exactly what you intend to do there?" he asked. "I intend to retrieve the other three women he captured and I'll probably invite any of the other women to join us if they want to. It may not be my place to try righting every wrong I come across, but I guess it is if I make it that way." "I'm sure in this case might makes right. I can assure you most of the others here and now would do as they liked if they had the ability to do it," he said. "I think I'd like for you to reinstate my videos and give me a look at his camp if you have a view of it." "We do have good placement in and around his camp," he said. I sat down and looked at the screen while Ralph chose the views. Dutono's camp was in a cave also but it wasn't in the side of a plateau like ours - it was in the side of a small mountain, the largest of a small group of them. I could see at once it would be no trouble to climb over it if we needed to. The whole thing was a little odd looking and didn't seem like a natural formation. Once more I wondered just how much rearranging Argent had done on this planet before I got here. "Do you know anything about the inside of this cave?" "It is a little more than a hundred and fifty feet to the back wall from the entrance and the whole thing is roughly two hundred feet wide. The cave is especially well suited for human habitation, not the least of which is the hole which lets the smoke from their fires escape. The floor was mostly level to start with and over time they have made it even more level. You can see there is a large entrance they have mostly closed with skins, for the winter," he said. I didn't have any doubts we could go there and do what we wanted to, but I didn't think we could do it without suffering some losses. In the cave they would be hard to deal with. Probably the only thing they needed to go outside for was water and they might have enough inside to last a long time. Hell, there could be a spring or something inside to furnish water. "Where do they get their water during the winter?" "Unfortunately, for your purposes, there is a small spring near the back of the cave. In that particular spot the floor slopes down sharply and the spring forms a small pool," he said. It was bad for us. I wanted to go right down there and get the other women out, but with more snow coming it seemed like a fools errand. They would be in their cave with no real need to come out and we would be outside in the snow. For a while I just looked at the video of the cave. I had a feeling I was missing something so I kept having Ralph switch from one angle to another - finally it came to me. The smoke hole, we could stop it up and force them out. On the other hand it would take quite a while for the smoke to become annoying enough to force them all outside. Maybe a backup plan was in order. "Ralph can you provide a few cs gas canisters for this mission?" "I can't see any reason I couldn't and it is an excellent idea. The gas won't do them any real damage and it's effects wear off quickly. The biggest danger from the canisters would be fire and I estimate the probability as low. It would certainly be safer for all involved, even for them," he said. "I plan to just try stopping up the smoke hole first to see if it will make them come out, but if it doesn't work we'll try the gas." "It is doubtful the smoke alone will force them out. If it does it will be fine, but if it doesn't the gas surely will," he said. "Thank you for the help," I said as I went back out into my cave." I could tell as soon as I left my office plans for the trip were already underway. My mates and many of the other women were gathering food and supplies. The coffee maker was in high gear to fill our thermoses. Racaato, Raalto, Caato, and Barago were drafting men to come with us and I was told Danlo, Jonoco, Nadlo, Sahto, and Talvo were down hitching horses to sleighs and packing them with other equipment and food for both humans and horses. I went to Raalto, Barago, Caato, and Racaato to give them the bad news. "I know everyone wants to go, but two of you will have to stay. There must be someone here to lead this camp incase some of us don't come back." I said. "I was afraid you would tell us something like that. I don't guess we can persuade you to stay here with the camp?" Raalto asked. "Guess again. You know I am going." "Yes I knew and we have already wagered for the right to go. Caato and Racaato have won and they will be going with you. Daaggo, Bigglieo, and Galto are going also, along with five other men. We assumed you could not get away without most of your mates and they are as good with the rifles as anyone. From what Shateala has told us you and your mates would outnumber all the men of that camp," Raalto said. "It is a comfort to have plenty of mates." Since it was decided I put on a heavy coat and headed to the horse cave to see Danlo. "I see you seem intent on going today Danlo," I said, when I got there. "We were just guessing you meant to. We are hitching up in case signs for the weather are good," he said. "They will be." "Do you want to bring Big Mother also? She might be very impressive when we get there," he said. "I'm afraid she would have more trouble with the snow than the horses. I have also discovered their camp is in a large cave and she wouldn't be able to impress anyone until they were already defeated and forced outside." "Very well, we will leave her here then. I do think we should bring an extra sleigh with hay though," he said. "I think you are right, in fact I think we should take six sleighs. There will be many of us and we will probably want to sleep in them instead of on the ground. If we succeed we will have many more coming back with us. "You should put a layer of hay in the floor of all of them and spread bison skins on the hay in four of them. There should also be some sacks of grain here soon, it is also food for the horses." "What is grain for horses?" he asked. "Seeds from certain types of grass - oats." "I know of oats, but I didn't know the seeds could be used for feeding the horses. I have seen them eating the tops when they find them though," he said. "Next year we will try to find some and gather the seeds. The spirits will be sending us some for now though." Danlo made no comment over it and I was glad there was no need for more explanation. He went to Nadlo and told him to catch more horses and I thought we should also take one buckboard so I joined them and asked them to hitch it also. "You might as well catch Red and some other mounts too - they may not be needed, but it won't hurt to take a few." I headed back to my cave then, but stopped as soon as I left the horse cave. The big cat was sitting just outside the entrance and to tell the truth for once, it scared me badly. When I stopped it stood and began walking toward me. My heart was hammering in my chest and my hand reached for the Glock though I knew it would be only a little help. As the cat approached me I held the Glock on him, but didn't fire. He didn't appear to be attacking, just walking toward me. It was fearsome and became more so as it got closer. Standing, its withers were only a foot or so lower than the top of my head. It made an African lion from my old earth seem small. When it reached me it rubbed its head and then its shoulder against me and seemed for all the world like a house cat stroking itself against its owner's leg. I was too frightened to move. Finally I realized Argent or some of them had done something to this cat. Never would it have acted this way on its own. I holstered the Glock and stroked the cat with one hand. It didn't purr, but since I knew it was under alien control I halfway expected it to. If they'd gone to all this trouble I didn't see any reason to complain so I headed for my cave knowing I would have some surprised mates when I got there. I guess I should have been more careful with the cat, but considering everything we knew about him up till now I just didn't see the need. I didn't encourage him to come with me, but he came right along by my side, almost as if he were a dog I'd trained to heel. Thinking about it I realized even if I didn't want him to come into the cave there might not be a hell of a lot I could do about it. Still, I was convinced something had been done to the cat by either the aliens, Ralph, Frank, or Phil and I couldn't see it turning on us. My mates and others who were in my kitchen and cave didn't see it that way - or at least they didn't spend a lot of time trying to reason things out. When I pushed my way through the hanging bison skins which closed the cave's entrance to keep the cold winter out I caused quite a commotion. The first one to see the cat was Gema and this didn't surprise me since she was the first to see almost everything new. The cat surely fell into that category. She screamed long and loud as soon as her brain could make sense of what her eyes were telling her. I felt the cat tense up and so I stopped just inside the entrance and laid a hand over his back, hoping to calm him. Gema was only the first to scream. All of my mates that were present did so too and many of the men standing or sitting around the table joined in, including Raalto, Barago, and Caato. Racaato, Bigglieo, and Galto didn't even get a yell out, they just stared wide-eyed for a second and then joined the throng that was rushing anywhere as long as it was out. I didn't say a word, I just let them head for the exits. I did speak up a few seconds later though. Roweea, Ameliea, Merita, Maia, and Dieta were back from the practice cave with their rifles in hand in much less time than I would have thought possible. "Don't shoot. Don't hurt it," I yelled. "Don't hurt it?" Ameliea asked, amazed as they lowered their rifles just a little. "No, don't hurt the cat, it seems to like me somehow." Just then I felt fear again myself because Deimeta came running out of the hall that lead to the unmated women's quarters. She saw me before the cat and she seemed to miss it as she came directly toward me at her fastest gait. She must have noticed the cat for the first time when she was still about twenty feet from me because she came to a sliding halt. "Daddy! Where did you get that?" she asked. "It came up to me when I was leaving the horse cave, I was scared at first, but it just rubbed itself against me and I think it likes me. Come a little closer and see what it does," I said. She gulped and started our way slowly. I felt sure it would be safe but just in case I pulled the Glock back out of its holster. It turned out to be a needless precaution, for when the cat noticed Deimeta was coming to us it suddenly lay down on the floor beside me. This caused Deimeta's step to be more confident and she walked right up to its head. "Can I touch it?" she asked, when she reached my side. "I think so but stay back a little and don't get between your mommies and the cat, they're ready to shoot it if it tries to do anything dangerous," I told her. I'd noticed that as soon as I drew the Glock, all of my mates that had fetched their rifles shouldered them again and they had the cat in their sights for the moment. It made me feel better about things since all of my mates had spent plenty of time practicing and even if the cat wanted to cause trouble he would only have about half a second to do it. He didn't want to though. When Deimeta reached out to touch his head, near the ears, he pushed it against her hand seemingly to increase the pressure of the rub. I was frankly amazed and after a few seconds of this I holstered the Glock again and petted him a little myself. I saw my mates had also relaxed somewhat and were headed our way. "Before we get too friendly with the cat I want to take him into my office for a few minutes and think about this," I told them. "Can I go too Daddy?" Deimeta asked. "I think you'd better let me spend a little time alone with him first. If I decide he is really safe I'll bring him back out quickly. I really don't think he means us any harm at all." "OK Daddy, we'll wait here," Deimeta said. She backed away from the cat and I took a step or two toward the office. When the cat saw I was going away he got up and assumed his heeling place again. It was surprising since I'd never even had a dog who would do as well as he was. We went to the office and the cat waited while I opened the door then he preceded me as I held it open for him. I followed and then closed the door behind us. "Welcome back John, I see you have made friends with the cat," Ralph said, as the door closed. "Yes, I was surprised and not a little afraid at first. Is this your doing?" "No, Argent had the cat modified on the day you first saw it, during the bison hunt. It knows none of your people will hurt it and it will not endanger any of those who are close to you. In fact it will no longer harm humans unless they are specifically out to do you harm. Argent gave it the ability to know the difference. I thought it was a little much at the time and I still do, but I don't guess there is really any harm in it. He is a spectacle on his own though isn't he?" "Without a doubt. He makes a strong impression." "He has also been trained thoroughly. I guess you noticed he will heel to you without you even having to command it. He will also hunt with you and even fetch a stick if you want him to. In your presence he will not attack anything unless at your command. He will also speak at a word from you, but I'd recommend you take him outside before you try it. He can be rather loud when he speaks," Ralph said. "I'll bet he can be. This is the damndest thing Argent has come up with yet and it seems to me he didn't give a lot of thought to it before hand. Still it will be different and probably fun, are you convinced it won't harm anyone, even Deimeta." "He is no longer capable of danger to any human you are familiar with and in fact he knows exactly which ones live at your camp with you. He won't bother any human at all now unless he senses it is intent on doing harm to you or yours," he said. "I wasn't aware cats could be so thoroughly trained." "They can't be actually, he wasn't trained in the sense you are familiar with. He was modified. His brain is now a far cry from the one of a normal animal of his type. He had to be made considerably more intelligent and even had to be given a small amount of telepathic ability so he could determine whether people he encountered had knowledge of you and intent, whether good or bad, toward you," Ralph told me. "In other words it isn't really a cat any more." "It is and again it isn't, it will still act the same if it isn't around people and if you don't want it with you it can be sent back into the wild where it can live as it always has," he said. "Why did it only come to me now if it has been this way so long?" "Originally, after it was modified, it had a sanction against approaching you. Argent had it removed after he returned and the cat made its way here then," he said. "I don't guess it will hurt anything to keep it around. I'm sure Deimeta and probably all the others will come to like it after they have decided it won't harm them." "It will not harm them. It can't. I'm sure Deimeta will find it a wonderful playmate, probably for quite a while. You can be sure no one or no thing can bother her while the cat is with her," he said. "I guess I'll go and give them the good news then. Come along Smiley," I told the cat, as I headed out of the office. I think nearly everyone in camp was gathered around in my cave when Smiley and I came out. The intake of breaths was audible when we stepped out of the door. Deimeta came scampering back up to me. "Is it all right now Daddy, can I play with it some more?" she asked. I stopped and picked her up. Without even thinking about it I swung her up to sit on Smiley's back. He didn't have a mane as a lion would, so there was really nothing she could get a good hold on. She curled her little fingers into a grip on the skin of his shoulders though and seemed she would be able to keep her seat. "It is all right now Deimeta. You can play with Smiley or ride him around or whatever you want to do with him. I'm sure he is a gift from the spirits and I'm also sure he won't hurt anyone in camp. You should get down after a few minutes though and let everyone come up and meet him if they want to." "Thank you Daddy, I will. You find me the neatest toys and pets somehow," she said, grinning her widest. "You're welcome Deimeta. I'm glad you like Smiley. Later I'll show you some of his tricks." I left her on his back and went to the table, hoping for coffee. Jaada brought me a cup and when she put it down I pulled her into my lap. "What do you think of Smiley, Jaada?" "Is that his name? I was very scared when I first saw him, how could I not be?" she asked. "That is his name and I was scared when he first came up to me also. I think once everyone is accustomed to him he will be fun to have around though. I'm sure he will be able to discourage those who might want to bother us here. In fact I think he has already had some contact with our enemies. I'm sure he was the cat who killed the spy and he is probably also the one who took care of Shabago for us." "I wonder why?" she asked. "Only the spirits can know, I'm sure. It can only be their work for the cat to come to us like this, that's why I know it must not mean us any harm." "I'm sure you are right. I should go and get you a sandwich - you're probably hungry. We will have a big meal for everyone before we leave. Are the wagons almost ready? We have finished packing everything that we will need to take with us, we have prepared enough food for a week, just in case it takes that long," she said. "The sleighs are nearly ready, but I think I will ask Danlo to hitch another one now. Smiley will take up a lot of room and since he is here now I wouldn't think of going without him." She went to fix my sandwich then and later as I ate it and drank my coffee I tried to think of the best way to use Smiley to influence the people we would be going to deal with. I was sure he could make quite a thrill for them, although I wasn't sure if they would like him as much as Diemeta seemed to. After I finished eating I went back to the horse cave and took Smiley with me. It wasn't as if I had a lot of choice in the matter, when I left he came with me. I wondered if he would have stayed if instructed. Probably he would have, but I felt it would be better to keep him with me for a time. Danlo was speechless when I walked into the horse cave with Smiley. He did his best to maintain his composure but Nadlo, Jonoco, Sahto, and Talvo made a hasty retreat to the back. "I don't know why they have done it Danlo, but the spirits have made Smiley here my pet. You can probably tell they have made the horses aware he is not harmful since they would be in a panic if it was a normal cat who had come in here." "Now you mention it I'm sure it is so. They don't seem to be bothered in the least by him. I guess I will have to try and act the same. It is very frightening though, at first it was anyway," he said. "For me also, he just walked right up to me when I left here before to head back to my cave." "I guess he got your attention pretty fast," he said, grinning. "He did at that, but now Deimeta thinks he is just a big pet, she has been riding around on his back." "It didn't bother him for her to ride?" he asked. "It seemed to me he liked it. He was much better behaved than many horses I've ridden and it is certain her weight didn't strain his back." Danlo laughed over it and then I did too. Deimeta's weight on Smiley couldn't have been a bother for him since he easily weighed ten times what she did. I asked Danlo to hitch another sleigh so Smiley could have his own personal ride and Danlo said they would be glad to. "If you are going to let Deimeta go along she will probably want to ride in it with him," he said. "I'm going to try my hardest to leave Deimeta here. I'm afraid this isn't going to be the type of outing she needs to be on." "You're right of course, but it might be a job explaining it to Deimeta," he said. "It probably will be, but I'm going to. Things could easily turn dangerous on this trip and I don't want to have to be worrying about her safety. It will take away attention I might need to be giving other things." "Good luck with her then. We will have everything ready within a half hour and we will bring all the sleighs up to your cave for loading and leaving," he said. "We'll be waiting on you there." Smiley and I went back to my cave and Deimeta was waiting near the entrance. She came to get Smiley and was soon leading him off by a tiny handful of the skin of his neck. Smiley didn't seem to mind at all. "I know you aren't going to let me go on this trip, so I want to play with him all I can before you leave. How long will you be gone?" she asked. "I hope we will be back late tomorrow night. Much depends on how hard it is to convince Dutono he needs to let us kill him." "That could very well take some fast talking Daddy. I hope you have a backup plan in case he can't be convinced," she said, smiling. "I think my backup plan may have introduced himself to me earlier today." "Daddy, you aren't going to let Smiley get hurt are you?" she asked. "When it comes time for the hurting to be done I think Smiley will be one of the last ones on the receiving end." She looked him over then, especially noting he was much taller at the withers than she was. "You might be right Daddy. Not very many people would want to mess with Smiley, he is just a little bit intimidating at first," she said, and then she laughed. I had some more coffee while I was waiting and as I sat at the table Georgo and Dotallto came to join me. "We have good news John. Dotallto and I agree that the signs for the weather are favorable. I was led to believe there would be snow, but it would not be a big obstacle," Georgo said. "I got the same message from the spirits and I might add it is one of the most understandable messages I have ever received from them. "Good, excellent in fact. We will leave as soon as we can get loaded. I have decided I don't want to approach them in the daylight. I want to prepare some surprises for them during the night." I lost their attention then as Deimeta came back through the cave, leading Smiley, who was giving a slightly frightened Malooto a ride on his back. Georgo and Dotallto were both shocked silent. "What do you think of my new pet?" "I am too frightened to think. How did you get him?" Georgo asked. "He got me. He came up to me outside the horse caves. I assume the spirits must have given him some type of instruction to do it. I know they have done something because even the horses aren't frightened of him and you can see he isn't causing the wolves the least bit of alarm." "The spirits did indicate to me that we should not be afraid of the big cat, but they gave no indication it was coming to live here with us. I can clearly see now it must have been what they wanted. There can be no doubting it now," Georgo said. Dotallto just kept quiet. I assumed he was hoping he wouldn't have to give the cat the close inspection he had asked me about once before. Luckily Dieta brought them some coffee about then. "We have everything ready to go now John, we are all going except for Jaada and Xailieta. Jalayla is coming too just in case she is needed," Dieta said. "Very good. When Danlo and the others get here with the sleighs we can load up and go. Smiley has a sleigh to himself so no one will have to ride with him. I wouldn't want anyone to scare him." "Scare him, most people would be so frightened of him they would prefer to walk instead of ride in his sleigh," she said. "It might change if it gets much colder. I'm sure Smiley would be very warm to snuggle up to." "I don't know him well enough for that yet, but if it gets very cold I might try to get acquainted, you know I like to be warm if it's possible," she said. People who were going had gathered in my cave by now and the mood was upbeat. At first I thought it was a little odd for everyone to seem so cheerful about leaving in the middle of a cold winter to go out and maybe become involved in a battle where people might be hurt or killed. It came to me after a while though this wasn't the first trip we'd made where conflict, pain, and death had been possible. On all the other trips though the pain and death had been administered by us and not inflicted on us. I guessed that type of thing made a difference to them, in fact it made a difference to me too. Danlo came into my cave then followed by his helpers. The loading was underway almost at once and while it was going on I went back to my office with another question for Ralph. "Are you about ready to leave John?" he asked, as soon as I entered. "Yes, they are loading the sleighs now but I have another question for you?" "I'll do my best to answer you," he said. "This cat, Smiley - he seems to be trained somehow. I put Deimeta on his back and he was well behaved and let her ride him all around in the cave. Has he had some training along those lines?" "Not really, but his intelligence is much more than any cat or actually more than any animal except man. Argent decided it would be easier to just improve his brain than to take the time to train him. "He is able to understand fairly complex commands. For instance he is much smarter than a chimpanzee even, and though of course he cannot talk he can understand when you speak to him as long as you keep it simple. Do you have something specific in mind for him?" he asked. "Yes and I think when we get there I will give him a try. I guess he is also smart enough now to let me know if I tell him something and he doesn't understand." "Yes, he will let you know if it comes up," Ralph said. "Then he is smarter than many men or women." Ralph reminded me I could contact him via the Blackberry if I had other questions after I'd left and then I did leave. Everyone was waiting on me when I got out into the cave. They were ready to go and I was too. We mounted the wagons and I didn't even have to tell Smiley which one was for him. I pulled Deimeta up to kiss her goodbye and pass her around among her mothers for the same. When she went back into the cave Danlo headed out. As we left it was just past noon and about an hour later the snow started. For the first few minutes the flakes were about the size of a half dollar and they floated down lazily, then the breeze picked up a little and to my surprise the flakes, while still sparse, grew to the size of my hand or even bigger. After a few more minutes the breeze turned to a light wind and the snowflakes shrank back to a more reasonable size and became more numerous. They settled in around the size of a quarter and began to come more strongly, by a little, than Ralph's forecast had led me to believe. I'd told Danlo not to be in any hurry since I didn't intend to get to Dutono's camp until after they were sleeping soundly. It would mean a long day for us, but we could take turns sleeping as we traveled and I wanted to make sure we had a good chance to prepare a surprise to wake them up. As the snow continued the temperature dropped and soon I could tell it was just cold out. Argent's cold weather gear kept me comfortable and I assumed it did for everyone else too. I asked Danlo and he said he was fine. I wasn't uncomfortable, but I had seen snow before and the novelty wore thin after about an hour. I decided I needn't stay up and watch the trip so I got into the back of the wagon to crawl under the bison furs where I belonged, telling myself I might as well keep the women warm. Near the edge of the top fur I sat and removed my boots and coat. I slid my hand under the fur to get my bearing and encountered naked flesh right away. Pulling my hand back out I braved the cold and removed all my clothes, quickly pushing myself under the cover when I was done. "Oh, you're cold, we'll have to warm you up," an unfamiliar voice said. Taking a moment to think about it I realized that it was Jalayla, the woman who often helped Eileiea. In fact she had been the closest thing we'd had to a healer until Eileiea came. Apparently she intended to make sure I didn't get a chill since she pressed her warm nakedness to me as I settled in. Determined not to be standoffish I put my arms around her and pulled her close, kissing her lips as soon as I found them. She welcomed my lips and returned my enthusiasm by hugging me to her also. She was warm, welcoming, and gave me an exciting kiss. I let my hands begin to wander down her back and to her ass and I found it delightfully firm and round and magically responsive to my touch. She pressed her breasts into my chest and wiggled them, dragging her stiffening nipples in the hair she found and she sneaked a hand down to pet Dicky as he stiffened. She was giving me a warm welcome indeed. I reached between her legs from behind to put a couple of fingers to her pussy and I found her slit already damp and her lips pudgy so I slid a finger up her to see if I could stir up some trouble. She sighed as I did and pushed herself further onto my digit, clasping at it with her insides. I wasn't in a rush, but I wanted to get something else up her besides my finger and when I pushed myself toward her, turning her slightly, she rolled to her back and spread her legs to welcome me into the saddle. I felt her hand guiding me now and the kiss of her love lips on my dickhead as she first swabbed it in her wetness and then placed it to her entrance. I pressed in slowly and reveled in the feel of her as I slid myself up into her pussy. I started a long slow rhythm and she was right with me, gripping at my dick as I pulled back and pressing herself to me as I re-entered. We pumped against each other in a leisurely fuck with me kissing and sucking on her neck and earlobes all the while. Later her legs came around me and her hips began rocking more urgently. "Jalayla was hoping you would join us and give her a little attention, her moon time was finished twelve days ago and she thinks you could give her a baby today if you would," Eileiea, who had slipped up beside me, whispered. Of course this little tidbit of information caused me to pick up the tempo and the force of my fucking. It is always exciting to be with a woman I've never had before and doubly so when there was a mention of making a baby. I began giving Jalayla my best and she began moaning and whining my name while I thrust and grunted my exertions. The leisurely fuck turned into a determined effort and sooner than I'd hoped my balls told me the end was near and then the cannon fired as Jalayla clutched at my back and moaned she was there too. As I panted to regain my breath, Jalayla stroked up and down my back and kissed around my face and lips, thanking me. I latched onto her neck with my lips and expessed my gratitude with what I knew would be a giant hickey. When I had my breathing under control again I eased off Jalayla, hugging her close with an arm around her and I relaxed as I felt lips, Eileiea's I think, kissing and licking my dick and cleaning it up. I slipped off to doze for a few minutes but soon enough Gema was nudging me awake and seemed to want a little attention for herself. I gave her some and then fell into a lovely routine of short naps broken by warm women. It was a nice way to travel. Just after dark-thirty we stopped to have a meal. My mates and the other women had made sure to bring plenty of food and Shelalliea had brought the coffee pot. It took only a few minutes to clear off a spot in the snow and get a fire going and only a few more to get the food warm. I ate more than I should have as usual and when we moved out again I had a longer nap then got back to my task of making sure the women in my sleigh weren't bored with the trip. About midnight we stopped and let Racaato scout ahead for a while. He was back in a little over an hour and he led us to a good spot for the night's camping. Really all we did was unhitch and hobble the horses and put a fitted blanket of Argent's magic material on each of them. We all settled down for about four hours of sleep then so we would be rested for our surprise. I woke at five and when I started moving it woke the women nearest me who then started moving and waking others. A chain reaction I guess. Soon we were scrambling into clothes and the fire was encouraged back into life to warm up something for breakfast. I went to Smiley's wagon and asked politely if he'd like to come with me. Of course he didn't answer, but he did get up, stretch and then hop down to heel me as I walked off. When Ralph first showed me the video of Dutono's camp, I'd made a tentative plan to cover their cave's smoke hole and try to get them out with smoke building up inside. When he had later agreed to furnish some cs gas I'd planned on heaving a canister or two down the smoke hole if smoke alone didn't drive them out. Now, since Smiley was with us I'd come up with what I thought was a better plan. When we were all gathered, armed, and ready to go I asked Bigglieo and Daaggo to bring one of the bison skins and we headed toward Dutono's camp. Everything was quiet when we got there, just as I'd expected. I had most of my people seek cover and concealment around the camp's perimeter and I had Bigglieo, Daaggo, and Danlo take the bison skin up to the cave's smoke hole, telling them to just cover the hole when they got there and then come back down. They did it and then we waited. I thought it would probably take an hour or so before anyone in the cave noticed since I expected them all to be asleep and their fires to be low. Within thirty minutes though the skin covering the caves entrance moved and a lone figure, bundled up against the cold, came out and headed up the side of the hill, no doubt to look for the problem. Bigglieo and Danlo greeted the figure with a blow to the head from behind and then tied his hands and feet, putting him aside and out of the way. Ten minutes later another man came out through the skin curtain, looking around and calling out for Churdo. Getting no reply he headed up toward the smoke hole too and was given a similar greeting by Bigglieo and Danlo. While they were tying up this one, Smiley and I walked to the cave's entrance. I held the skin aside just a little and asked Smiley to enter and go to the back of the cave. I talked to him as if he could understand and asked him to keep hidden until the ruckus started. I didn't know how much he could understand or if he could understand at all. It didn't matter much if this part of the plan stayed together or not, but I was hoping he could get in undiscovered and then scare the piss out of everyone later. As he left I listened and when, after several minutes, I didn't hear any screaming from inside I figured he had a grip on what I wanted. A few minutes later I heard some voices arguing and so I stepped back and out of sight at the side of the entrance. Three men came out this time. They weren't carrying spears and they didn't head up the hill, they just looked up toward the smoke hole and began calling for Churdo and Chokdono. I signaled for Caato, Racaato, and Galto to join me and we came up behind the men, grabbing them and wrestling them to the ground, covering their mouths to keep them from calling out. We had surprised them and it was less trouble than I'd expected to subdue them. After they were tied up and pulled aside we waited again. False dawn had passed and the sun was now making its appearance. I was still near the cave's entrance and I now heard coughing and conversation from inside. I could also hear one loud voice talking angrily, but couldn't hear what it was saying. Five more minutes passed and then two men came from inside and were trying to pull the skins aside to let out some of the smoke. I signaled for all my people to show themselves and stepped into view myself. "Dutono, come out and give yourself up. We have come to be rid of your meddling," I shouted, into the cave. The two holding the skins back were startled, but they didn't let it close. I didn't want the smoke to clear yet. "You two, let go of the skins and come outside," I told them. "You are not our leader," one of them said angrily. "Ameliea, would you shoot that one in the leg?" "Which leg?" she asked. "Either one will do." Her rifle cracked loudly and the angry one screamed and fell. I asked the other one, who was now gaping at his helper, if he wanted a dose of the same thing or if he would drop the skin and surrender. He seemed glad to do it and while Bigglieo was tying him up Danlo drug the wounded one toward Jalayla and Eileiea so they could try to patch him up. I couldn't hear anything else from inside right now. I knew Dutono must be trying to form a plan, but he was wasting his time. He was treed even if he was in a cave. He now had only nineteen men left inside and there was no way out except the front entrance, we had it covered overwhelmingly. I couldn't decide whether to wait them out or get the ball rolling, luckily Dutono saved me the trouble. "We can sit here in our warm cave all day, the smoke is an irritation but it won't really hurt us. Just stay outside in the cold and wait. If you try to come in you will be met by men with spears," someone yelled from inside and I assumed it was Dutono. I decided to bring his rebellion to an end and show him who was really calling the shots. "Smiley, speak and then run them outside," I shouted back. I knew at once why Ralph had recommended I not ask Smiley to speak inside. I'll swear I could see the bison skins move from the sound of Smiley's roar. It wasn't like a lion and not really like any cat I'd ever heard either. It was very loud and frightening though and it lasted a long time. Within seconds women and then men began streaming through the opening between the skins covering the cave's entrance. It only took a couple of minutes for the cave to be cleared. I heard one last growl from Smiley and then I heard a man scream and then the only noises were those of the men from Dutono's camp being forced to the ground on their faces and then being tied. The bison skin curtains parted again and Smiley came walking out. He had a body by the neck and as he walked the dead man's body was dragging between Smiley's legs. He brought it to me and dropped it at my feet. "Was that Dutono?" "Yes," one of the women said. "Where is his mate?" "We were both mates for Dutono," said the one who'd identified him. "What are your names?" "I'm Mauraila and she's Caittahla," she said. I looked them over and liked what I saw. Dutono had been leader here and it looked to me as if he'd used his position to secure the best looking women in camp. They were almost exactly the same size, five three or four and probably a little over a hundred and five pounds or so. I couldn't make out much about their figures because of the way they were bundled up but both of their faces were remarkably pretty. Mauraila's hair was light blonde and Caittahla's was deep auburn and both of them had gray eyes. I'd given up on worrying how many mates I was accumulating and looking at these two little beauties made me really happy with Smiley, really happy. "Smiley is my cat and since he has killed Dutono I claim you two as my mates now," I said. They didn't say anything so I pulled Caittahla to me for a kiss and I examined her lips with mine. While I was at it I let my hands roam over her body for their own inspection. Her round little ass was firm and felt good in my hands. When I released Caittahla I pulled Mauraila to me for some of the same and I noticed my mates had encircled Caittahla to give her some kisses and feels of their own. I released Mauraila to my mate's kind attentions after a good kissing and I walked over to look at our captives and try to decide what I was going to do about them. I hoped I'd learned something from the trouble we'd had with the last bunch of men we'd taken by force. I thought I might have. "If any of you women were mated to any of these men, come and stand by where they are laying." It took only a few minutes and I saw there was one mate for each of the men. I told the women to stand aside from their mate if he had never beaten them. Nine of them walked back to rejoin the others. I had the nine men separated out into a different group then I gave them all a little speech. "I am going to let you nine men live. You will not be allowed to return to our camp with us, but you can live. You will not be allowed to stay here either. We are going to let you gather your belongings and leave toward the south. If you meet others I want you to tell them what happens to men who capture or beat women. These other men are all going to be stripped naked, tied together and dragged off into the woods to freeze to death or be killed by predators. I don't like men who capture and beat women. Immediately the man Ameliea had shot in the leg, he was among the woman beaters, began to protest and argue. Bigglieo moved toward him and I'm sure Bigglieo intended to politely ask the man to be quiet. "Let him squawk Bigglieo, his fate is decided. Let him spend his last hours doing whatever he wants, as long as he is naked and tied while he does it." Was I being cruel? Yes I was. Didn't I feel guilty? Not in the least. The men who were going to be left to die obviously subscribed to the plan might makes right. Unfortunately for them they had run into someone they couldn't hope to stand against. It is always a problem for those who think might makes right. They run into someone with more might and this makes their former right now wrong. In this case the penalty was death. My mates and in fact all the women were now working on a meal. Racaato, Bigglieo, and I took the nine men who'd be leaving under their own power back to the cave so they could gather their things. "Gather up anything you want, but the women from here will be inspecting what you take. If they want something you plan on taking we will take it from you," I said, since there was no sense in letting them think they were going to have an easy time of it. Bigglieo and Racaato stayed at the entrance to make sure none of the men made an early exit. I walked to Smiley who had curled up beside Dutono's body. "Aren't you planning on eating your kill Smiley?" He grabbed the body by the neck again and dragged it over very near the men who were tied, there he began ripping off the clothes and making a meal of the former leader. I'm sure the tied men were being quiet in hopes they weren't the next course in Smiley's breakfast. Later the nine were ready to leave. I called the camp's women over to inspect what they were taking and none of the women found anything they wanted to keep among the packs. I told the men again to spread the word John and his camp were not to be fucked with and I let them go after showing them exactly what had become of Dutono. After they'd gone Racaato asked me about sending away or killing all the men in the camp. "We went to a lot of trouble last time trying to separate the good men from the bad and we ended up making mistakes. This time we will be sure we aren't bringing any trouble making men back to our camp." "We aren't bringing any men back," he said. "Exactly. Did you notice none of the women from this camp have complained in the least? Not even the women who said the men did not beat them." "I didn't give it any thought, but now I know you're right about it," he admitted. "If any of the women wanted to stay with their mates doesn't it seem they might have at least mentioned it?" "I'd like to think my mates would at least say something if I were being sent away," he said. "If the women really want those men we can give them all the food they can carry this spring so they can go look for them. Until then I think the less said about it, the better." We had our meal then and after it was over Danlo hitched one team while Bigglieo and Caato tied each of the men to a stout rope. Danlo then tied the rope to the team. Danlo, Smiley, and I started off with the team dragging the men behind us. We carried them into some woods - probably a quarter of a mile and then tied both ends of the rope together, making a circle around several trees. Then we returned to Dutono's camp to let nature take its course. At the camp women were trekking in and out of the cave bringing their belongings to the sleighs. With so many working it took only a little over an hour to get loaded. I closed the cave's curtains again and Danlo went up to fetch the bison skin we had used to close the smoke hole. When it was stored we boarded and headed home. We wouldn't make it back before nightfall, but it didn't matter. I could get acquainted with my two new mates in the dark. ------- Chapter 195 I didn't even peek out from under the bison furs during the whole trip back. We arrived before midnight and the sleighs were unloaded before one. Danlo and the others took the sleighs back to the horse cave to unhitch and tend to the animals while the rest of us, Smiley included, went into my cave. My mates put a meal together while I sipped coffee and told Raalto and some of the others who didn't go about our adventure. After the meal was finished we all headed for bed and I slept late the next morning. I woke, got a shower, and sat sipping the coffee my now, bulging-bellied, Jaada brought me. She sat in my lap to hold me down while I waited for my breakfast. We didn't talk about much. I just held her to me with an arm around her bulge and teased her about how hard junior was kicking. She got up to give me room for the serious work when my breakfast got there. While I ate I started wondering just how long it would be before Jaada's baby would come, the babies of the other's too. Jaada's would be the first and even though she already looked impressively pregnant it would still be a while before the birth. Counting back on my fingers I realized I had only been here about eight months in all and a little more figuring put Jaada at around five to six months along the way. It seemed right to me when I thought of it. The baby would come in the spring and it would be a good time. I was at peace, more or less, this morning. As far as I knew most all of my unfinished business was finished now. There were plenty of newly unmated women to get settled into quarters, but my mates and the other women could take care of it. I had two new mates to get used to, but their looks were already helping out, and I'd let them earn their Wilma type clothes on the trip back last night. Deimeta was monopolizing Smiley, but it seemed fine with him and if it was ok with Deimeta it was ok with me. I nearly laughed every time I saw him walk by with his tiny rider. Things were shaping up for a lazy day at home in the cave and I didn't know of anything to suit me better. After I'd finished breakfast I went into my office, mainly wanting to get out of sight so everyone and their dog, well skip the dog, wouldn't know I wasn't doing anything but sitting on my ass. "Good morning, John," Ralph said, when I entered. "It is a good morning isn't it? Happily it looks like I won't have one damned thing to do today." "It does look that way, but I think I should tell you things didn't go as you seemed to expect after you left the other camp," he said, and I'll swear it sounded like there was a smirk in his synthetic voice. "What didn't go according to plan?" "Two of the men you released returned nearly as soon as you had left and they released those you left tied," he said. "Well, I'll be damned, I never even considered it, but I guess I should have. So all we really accomplished was getting rid of Dutono." "Well you gathered quite a few more women along the way," he said. "I know, but I didn't really get any major progress in removing the bunch of men from the threat side of the equation. I'm sure they're all mad as hell about the whole thing now, I know I would be." "Maybe so, but it hardly seems there is anything they can do about it," he said. "We might not be able to think of anything they can do about it right now, but there is a lot of winter left and we didn't remove any of the food stored in the cave. They should have plenty to last them through and they will have time on their hands with nothing to do but think about revenge." "There is that to think about, but I don't really see what they could do to threaten you or your camp," he said. "They could become an annoyance almost right away if they are determined. An armed man or armed men, attacking from ambush, and then running can be a nuisance - even if they don't injure anyone seriously." "I see your point, will you be going back to deal with them?" he asked. "Not right away. I think I'll just keep an eye on them for now. Would you mind putting up some video of their camp and some of the area leading from there to here." Ralph didn't answer - he just gave me a few views of the camp. The main view was of the cave's entrance. I could see they were still there since smoke was coming from the smoke hole again. As far as I could tell no one was outside. It didn't mean much though since it was still early. They were probably still trying to get breakfast cooked and eaten. The snow had quit sometime in the night, but it was much colder out today, probably around 15 Fahrenheit or so. I doubted they would try much outside even after breakfast. I would keep and eye on them for a while though. If they headed my way I wanted to know about it. While I was watching I asked Ralph for a closer look at the grounds around the camp. They must not have wasted any time sneaking back and cutting the captives loose since there were no tracks apparent in the snow. They must have been covered during the night. It wasn't a bad thing since I was pretty sure none of them would have headed this way yesterday and if they left today I'd be able to see fresh tracks. I got up to head back toward the kitchen for more coffee but thought of something. "Ralph, would you mind using your spirit persona and giving Georgo a vision?" "I'd be glad to," he said. "Next time he's meditating why don't you give him a hint all the men we left tied up managed to escape." "I'll be happy to," he said. I went back into the kitchen then and saw Deimeta at the table eating her breakfast. I went to sit beside her. "There you are Daddy, I've been wondering what you were up to in your office," she said. "I was just hiding out and hoping people would think I was busy." "I should have known. Can you do me a favor?" she asked. "I hope I can, what do you need?" "I need something to put on Smiley so I can hold on better, something like those things you put on the horses to sit on," she explained. "I'll see if we can't come up with something. You don't need reins to steer him with do you?" "No, he does very well if I just tell him where I want to go, but my hold is a little shaky if he goes any faster than a walk," she said. "Maybe I should leave things as they are. I'm afraid to let you go tearing around on Smiley at full speed, it could be dangerous." "I won't ask him to go too fast Daddy, just a little faster than a walk. Please Daddy," she asked. "You are such a little stinker, you know I can hardly ever tell you no. I'll see what I can do for you, but you have to promise not to go too fast and make sure you don't cause him to run into anyone." "I promise, Daddy. Smiley and I will be good," she said, and smiled at me. That did it. I knew Smiley would be sporting some type of saddle or at least a strap for her to hold onto before long. She had what she wanted now and so she turned back to her breakfast and her little coffee mug when Merita brought me another mug of coffee for myself. Out of everything that had happened since I'd been put here, Deimeta was the most special to me. It was an understatement to say she had me wrapped around her little finger. Just seeing her could make me happy and her little tricks and stunts were always a delight. I loved it when she came to sit in my lap for me to feed her and many times she could make my eyes misty just by hugging my neck. As far as I was concerned Deimeta made the whole experiment worthwhile for me. While I was sitting by Deimeta and sipping my coffee Georgo came from his cave and he seemed a little agitated. I waited for him to sit down, but after he was in his chair he didn't even wait for his coffee to arrive before he spilled his tale. "John, I've just had a very disturbing vision. In it I saw some men, I think it was the ones you left tied together in the woods at the camp you just visited. In my vision two other men came and released them. Then they all helped each other get to a cave for shelter. Many of the men were in bad shape and most had trouble even moving. I suppose they were very cold after being tied outside naked. Anyway, they all made it into the cave and soon my vision showed smoke coming out high above the cave. I guess they had built up the fires for warmth," Georgo told me. "The ones who released the tied men must have been some of those I let leave. I suppose all the men will be plotting revenge now." "If my vision was true you must be right," Georgo agreed. "Did it seem like a true vision?" "Yes, it was strong. It was as if I was there watching everything. I'm sure it was a true vision," he said. "Then we must believe it is exactly what happened. I don't think the spirits would bother making up false visions. It seems they want to warn us so we will be on our guard against the men." "Yes, I'm sure that's what it is. When I saw the men were being released I was frightened at first and then I seemed to realize we would be safe if you knew about it. My vision ended then and I knew I must come and tell you at once," he said. "I'm glad you did and I will tell everyone to be careful, but I don't think the men will start this way soon. Their exposure to the weather couldn't have done them any good and it's my guess they are still trying to recover. It is also very cold outside today and there was plenty of snow last night. I think the weather will be our best watchman for a while." "We can always hope so and prepare ourselves in case it isn't," he said. "Now you are thinking like I do. If we prepare for an attack we will be safe and if the attack doesn't come we will be happy, but we will still keep watch. Maybe you can help by spreading the word of your vision. Don't keep it a secret." "I won't, I will tell everyone," he said, and I knew he would, good visions were the stock in trade of a shaman. Meanwhile, I wondered what people would think about this news. Would it seem like I'd made a mistake? I consoled myself, thinking if it did it would seem like my mistake had been in being too lenient. I'll admit at the time I didn't think tying a bunch of men outside naked, during a snowstorm, was very considerate of their welfare. In fact I had thought it a form of punishment, which would surely end in a not so slow, painful death. I had intended for them to suffer and die. It all came back to my reluctance to leave a live enemy behind me, and I was already regretting doing it this time. The situation in civilization forced you to do this all the time, but here and now I didn't have anything, but my own rude form of ethics, to make me do it. The men who were now surprisingly still alive were making me regret I hadn't simply killed them on the spot. Unless they wised up and left the area they would die sooner or later. Previous dealings with men of this time had taught me that even in foolishness they were persistent, so I assumed this bunch would come sniffing around looking for our camp later. They'd probably wait until the weather was better, but they would be coming. When they did, they would die, probably at my hand. Men in this time couldn't seem to grasp the concept of leaving someone stronger and more deadly alone. They were short on forethought and long on persistence. I wasn't worried about today or tomorrow though. They would probably be loath to leave the warmth of their cave anytime soon. I could always hope for more snow and I almost went to the office to ask Ralph what was coming in the way of weather, but I didn't. I decided I had the luxury of waiting to see for myself. Instead of asking Ralph to fashion Deimeta a saddle for Smiley, I asked Mundo if he knew anyone who could give it a try. He admitted he was also good at working with skins and furs, but then told me he was terrified of Smiley. "Well hell Mundo, who isn't? Don't think I didn't come close to pissing my pants when the big monster first came over to rub himself against me. Just come along with me, we'll find Smiley and Deimeta and I'll get you two acquainted." I could tell by the look on his face he'd rather do just about anything else. He came with me though and soon enough we found the pair. "Deimeta, Mundo is going to try and make a saddle or a riding rug for you and Smiley. He's a little afraid of Smiley though, so I want to make sure they get familiar. Can you dismount for a little while?" She hopped off Smiley and ran to Mundo, hugging him around his legs and thanking him in advance. He was trapped then and knew he was going to have to deliver on the tack. "Smiley, Mundo needs to make something for you, but he is afraid of you. Can you let him know you aren't going to hurt him?" Smiley surprised us all then, he seemed to squat down on all four legs at once and he put his head to the ground and crept up toward Mundo. He looked like a whipped dog crawling toward the one who'd just whipped him and doing the doggy don't whip me anymore, I'll be good begging. He crawled all the way to Mundo and seemed to be making a begging sound low in his throat. Mundo was surprised, but I doubt he was any more surprised than I was. He did reach down and pet Smiley on his head and scratch around his ears though and soon enough Smiley stood back up and rubbed himself against Mundo. That was pretty much it for Mundo's fear of Smiley. Deimeta got back aboard and Mundo walked off toward his quarters with Smiley following and Deimeta along for the ride. I'd learned something too - Smiley could understand a lot more of what was said to him than we had any right to expect. Argent had done more than just a little tampering with him. I was beginning to appreciate how much fun Smiley was going to be for all of us in the camp. It didn't hurt a bit Ralph had told me Smiley could sense when someone had bad intent toward me. With nothing left which needed my attention I went back to the table and I was no sooner seated than Ameliea appeared with a mug of coffee for me. I gave her a few minutes of kissing and groping and then let her up. Then I sat there sipping coffee, alone. I'd never been much of a hobby type guy. It seemed I'd always had something I needed to be doing for most of my life. Here and now I was king of the hill and most all of the small, day to day, task were taken care of by everyone else. I didn't even have any trash to take out to the curb - hell there wasn't even a curb. I was bored and had nothing to do. It had always sounded like something I'd like before, but now it was staring me in the face I didn't like it so much. Now, since I had leisure time, I was bored. I guess I needed a hobby, but the truth was I didn't want one. I wanted to go somewhere and do something, which seemed useful. I gave up the pretense and went back into my office. "Hello John," Ralph greeted me when I entered. "I'm bored Ralph, I don't have anything to do and I don't like just sitting around." "I was afraid it was coming. You don't have hobbies do you?" he asked. "No, and I don't want one either. I could practice my shooting but I'm already good enough by far. I could practice with my bow, but it would be the same thing. It's too cold out to do any traveling and my mind keeps coming back to those assholes who didn't have the manners to just die in the shape I left them." "They do have something to do though, they're sitting around bitching about me and planning their revenge. They don't know there isn't a chance they'll ever get any. They think they've out smarted me and it really pisses me off." "Are you really bored John or are those men, and their escape, eating at you?" he asked. "I'm not sure, but I can't get them out of my head. I know I've set myself up as judge, jury, and executioner, but I don't mind it and I think I'm qualified, in this case at least. Maybe my power has corrupted me, but even if I'm corrupted I'm still powerful and I'm wanting to exercise some of the power. I just don't want to pack everyone up to go back." "You could go alone. There is no danger of freezing to death with the garments Argent has provided. In fact you probably wouldn't even be uncomfortable. I can even furnish you with similar equipment for your horse, though traveling in this snow would be a little difficult for it," he said. "Maybe I'll just walk, after all, getting the job done in a hurry isn't one of the points. Having something to fill my time is the main thing." "But what of the others here?" he asked. "They were getting along pretty well before I came and they're in much better shape now than they've ever been before. I wouldn't be leaving for good, just taking a little trip to see the country round about." "It will seem very strange to them, but I doubt they will argue with you," he said. "I know it doesn't make good sense, but I don't really see a major problem. Raalto is perfectly capable of keeping things in good working order around here for a few days and even from now on in fact." "I'm sure he is, but I'm not sure how all the others will take it, especially your mates. They are another consideration. If you go and kill all those men, you will gain their mates as yours and you've often complained you had too many mates already," he said. Now here was something I hadn't considered and I was surprised I hadn't. There were a lot of men left alive back at the cave. I had sidestepped all their mates by leaving them to die instead of killing them. If I went back and killed them, by rights all their mates would come to be my mates and I only had so much dick to go around. "Help me out here Ralph, how can I accommodate so many more mates?" "Well it would surely relieve your boredom, for a long time perhaps. Your ability to perform is already taken care of. As long as you can work up the interest you will have the stamina, as it were. Your bed can grow to match the need for space and so can your cave and your bedroom. Larger hot tubs are not the issue and in fact there really isn't an issue. "On your old earth, down through the centuries, there were always kings, sheiks, and chiefs who had harems, some of them numbered in the hundreds. You, on the other hand, have something they could never get, you have the ability to have sex with all members of your harem none of them could have ever had. You can get it up as often as you want to," he said. "Just the thought of it seems unreasonable though. How can one man have sex with so many women?" "How do you have sex with those who are your mates now? One after another is how. What are you crying about? If you want to put on your boots and coat and go kill those men, do it. Then you can come back, take all of their women and fuck them as often as you want and dare anyone to say a word about it." "But it just seems wrong somehow." "John, you are right and wrong here. It isn't because your word is law, your word is. There is no human on this planet who can say no to you and currently there is no being in this part of space who dares to. As far as I know, suicide is the only thing denied you. "You are the reason for this experiment and so far you have been wildly successful at it. If you want to do something, do it. You don't need anyone's permission," he said. "I need my permission and I have to be able to live with what I do. I have to make it right to myself even if I don't have to make it right to anyone else. I do take your meaning about the mounting women though, or about mounting the women, or how many women I mount. I guess you've talked me into it, you silver tongued devil. You, Frank, and Phil can take care of the logistics of the bed and bedroom and I think I will dress up and take a little walk." My mind was made up and I left the office. When I woke this morning I'd intended to do nothing all day long. It was just after noon now and I'd already convinced myself I needed to get started on another excursion. Telling myself Ralph had talked me into it was lying to myself, I'd talked myself into it and I should at least admit it to myself if no one else. I saw lunchtime had come and so I headed to the table to join the meal, already in progress. Shelalliea brought me a plate and an ass to fondle. I took care of the ass first and then dug into the meal. I had a big, thick, rare, and sizzling bison steak along with a mountain of Ranch Style Beans. I saw Gema heading over to get me a mug of coffee, got her attention and redirected her toward the beer tap. In a few seconds I was taking time between bites to guzzle beer. Talk all around the table was of the men who had managed to get loose and hole up in their cave. I let it go on for a while before I spoke up. "I'll be leaving later this afternoon to take care of them. I don't have a lot of things around here I need to do so I'm going to their cave and I'll camp within sight of the entrance. None of them will be leaving it alive." This brought a stunned silence around the table for a minute. Racaato finally broke it. "You can't stay awake all the time John. You should take a few of us with you so we can watch it in shifts," he said. "You're right, I'll take four or five of my mates with me. It will also be nice to have someone to cook for me." I could tell this wasn't the response Racaato had been expecting, but I'd left no wiggle room in my statement or my tone. He didn't argue and no one else did either. We finished the meal in virtual silence and it was Jake with me, it wasn't I didn't want to talk, but I knew the excursion was on everyone's mind and I didn't want to discuss it any further and so we didn't. After eating I got up and went into the bedroom and in only a few minutes all my mates were there with me. I knew I was in for a round of can I go and to cut them off with a preemptive strike I said. "Most of you are pregnant, but if I remember correctly only Jaada, Geera, and Dieta are far enough along to make this trip a strain on them. I want Ameliea, Maia, Merita, Gema, Roweea, and Delia to come with me. If any of you six think it would be too much for you, let me know and I'll pick someone else." They were all pleased and none of them bowed out. I was pleased too since most of the rest seemed to understand everyone couldn't go. Eileiea did speak up and ask if I didn't think she should go in case her services as a healer were needed. "If we end up needing you I'm sure I'll be sorry later, but I'm afraid you may be needed more here than you will be with us. I'm not planning on furnishing any aid to those we're going after and I'm also not planning on letting them hurt any of us." With it settled I left my mates to it. They would get our traveling outfit together and I wanted to ask Ralph if he had any last minute advice. Leaving Eileiea behind for this trip wasn't as foolish as it might have seemed. In a camp as large as ours there were always little mishaps, which needed a healer's attention. Sickness of any sort was surprisingly rare, but splinters, cuts, bruises, and sprains came regularly and we could even count on a broken bone every now and then. I was also fully aware the finest medical care I'd ever even heard of was only an eye blink away if I called for it. There was really no need to worry about any wound or injury my mates or I might acquire on the trip. After his greeting Ralph told me things were essentially the same as they had been this morning. No one had left the cave today and the weather seemed like it would be stable for a couple of days at least. "How are you planning to carry your supplies?" he asked. "I'm planning on letting you furnish me a small sled Smiley can pull and I'm also planning on letting you equip him with suitable harness. We'll also need some good snowshoes, sunglasses to keep us from being blinded by the glare, and I want a replacement for the Blackberry. "I hate it and I want a laptop to do everything it does and more. I've always hated laptops too, but if you leave off the touch pad and make the keyboard as big as a real keyboard maybe I can come to terms with it. "Better yet, try it this way. Design the laptop so it is as wide as a normal IBM Model-M keyboard and make that the type of keyboard it has. Try to think of something I can use for a mouse instead of a trackball or touch pad." "No problem there. How about a cell phone too," he asked, but I think he might have been trying to make and AI type joke. "Good idea, make it so. Make one for Raalto, Racaato, and all the other leaders too, but only teach them how to answer, don't let them know how to call me yet and tell them to keep it to themselves. "On second thought give one to all my mates, including the upcoming Failiela, and Jalieta. I might want to talk to them while I'm gone. I've never tried phone sex and it might be time to give it a whirl." I think for once even the imperturbable Ralph was surprised. I'm sure he hadn't really expected to be doling out cell phones, but why not? If it was a little extra work for them to make the phones work, well it wasn't my worry was it? Back out in the cave I went looking for Deimeta and Smiley. When I found them I saw Mundo had made short work of his task. Deimeta was aboard and on a blanket of bison fur cinched snugly around Smiley's chest. "Daddy, I heard you are going on another trip to that Dutono's cave," she said, accusingly. "Yes, a few of your mommies and I are going back to take care of the unfinished business. We may be gone a few days." "Well, you must all be careful and I want you to take Smiley with you. I'm sure he can make himself very helpful," she said. "I was about to ask if you could spare him. I was hoping he would pull the sled with our supplies on it." "I'm sure he'll be glad to. Where did you get a sled?" she asked. "Oh, it just popped up and it happens to be a handy size for Smiley to pull." "It's so funny how things you need just seem to appear. I'm glad though, but I'm really glad for things that appear you didn't know you needed. Like Smiley. He is so much fun Daddy," she said. "Well I'll take very good care of him while he's gone. There is going to be another surprise for you. In fact all of your mommies, Failiela and Jalieta are getting the same thing you're getting." "I know already, it wouldn't be a surprise if you told me," she said. "That's right, but it won't be very long before you get it." "I can wait, but barely," she said, grinning. The three of us went back to my cave and I could tell the packing was almost done. I had neglected to tell them we'd have a sled to carry the things on though. They were divvying up all the food and equipment and loading it into and onto backpacks. "I'm sorry ladies, but I forgot to mention we would have a sled and a beast of burden to help with the carrying." "You won't hear us complaining since we're finding it out before we have to tie all this onto our own backs," Ameliea said. "I thought you said the snow was probably too deep for the horses to go," Roweea said. "I still think it is, but I believe Smiley can do a good job. Wait here and I'll take him and go get the sled." I left and Smiley followed me. In the horse cave Danlo was standing beside the sled. The new harness was piled onto the back of it. It was bigger than I'd thought it would be, probably four feet wide and eight feet long. I noticed right away it was made of my favorite metal, titanium, and its runners were wide and flat, nearly a foot wide. "I was over tending to some horses that were squabbling and when I came back it was here," Danlo said. "Good, I was expecting it." He didn't say anything else; he just helped me figure out how the harness went on Smiley. Smiley stood there patiently until we were done then he followed me out as I went back to my cave. My mates were pleased with the sled when Smiley pulled it in. Immediately they decided they had room for more things. I warned them to keep in mind even though Smiley was big, he couldn't haul everything in the cave. "Don't worry, if it is too heavy we will take some things off. We are mainly planning on bringing extra food with the additional space," Maia explained. "In that case I'll help him pull it myself if I need to." "We can take turns helping him a little anyway. After all, if it weren't for Smiley we'd have to carry it all ourselves," Merita said. In an hour we were ready to leave. Right at the last I gave all my mates, Deimeta, Failiela, and Jalieta their cell phones. I didn't spend a lot of time showing them how they worked, but I did give a demonstration by sending Jalieta back to the unmated women's quarters and calling her back over the phone. They were delighted with the new toys and I told them if they had trouble using them Frank would be glad to help them, I even pointed out they could call Frank with them if they needed to ask him something. I hadn't asked for this feature, but I was sure he, Ralph, and Phil could add it on the fly. After hugs and kisses all around and a hug and an I love you Daddy from Deimeta we headed out. The sled was a little hard to get started on the cave's floor but once Smiley had it out on the snow it was easy going for him. We had a long walk ahead of us, but with our new and better snowshoes we would have no trouble getting our camp set up within sight of the offender's cave's entrance by sunrise in the morning. They were in for a surprise. Already well acquainted with my wants, needs, and appetites - the mates who were accompanying me on this trip had made sure the coffee thermoses were full and we had sandwiches in abundance. I had asked for a mug of coffee before we were very far past the horse cave and I begged for a sandwich before we reached the logging site we'd been working before the snow started. They had planned for this of course and didn't even slow down getting what I wanted from the sled without bothering Smiley for a stop. It seemed to me I should be in an ill mood at least, since I was headed away from hearth and home on a trip to deal with assholes that hadn't had the decency to die in the way I'd intended. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was enjoying myself immensely, now I had something to do and someplace to go. Just a little bit of sitting around with time on my hands had been plenty for me. I decided to keep my eyes and ears open for anything else I could twist into a semi-logical explanation for another expedition. With Smiley to do the real work, the rest of us were just out for a walk in the snow. It was going to be a pretty long walk, but what the hell. My mates were accustomed to such even if they didn't usually take long trips in the winter. If their clothes were performing like mine they had to be almost as comfortable as they would have been in the cave. In fact, since Smiley was carrying all our gear the walk was quite pleasant. We took our usual route to Caato's former camp and were there within five hours. It was a good place to take a break. Getting a fire going would have been tough if not for all the fuel left around after Dutono's earlier raid brought a quick end to things here. We had to brush snow out of the main fire pit but it was only a little extra bother to lay down a few of the larger pieces of wood and get the fire going on them. By the time the fire started melting snow it was doing well enough to keep going without a lot of extra bother. My mates fixed a hot meal of bison, beans, and warmed bread and they made another couple of pots of coffee. After we'd eaten we sat around on the sled, mainly to give Smiley more of a breather. I decided to fish out my new laptop and see what kind of job Ralph had done for me. Ralph and his partners did this up right. Somehow they had contrived to mould the bottom of this laptop so that, when I was sitting, it fit snugly on my legs and ended up at just the right height for typing. It didn't have a touch pad as I'd suggested, but after looking around I didn't see anything else to serve the purpose. I was surprised when Ralph's synthetic voice came to me from the speakers. "Well John, how do you like it?" he asked. "It's fine as far as it goes Ralph, but I don't see what you included to take the place of the touch pad I told you I didn't want." "Just guide the cursor with your eyes and it will follow them. When you want to click, double click, or right click just think it and it will be done," he said. "How did you manage that little trick?" "We took the liberty of placing a small neuro interface/transceiver in you, since you haven't noticed it we're assuming it isn't a bother," he said. I didn't know if I liked this or not, but I thought about it for a moment and I could see it was the kind of thing which would have made a computer company all powerful back on my old earth. It was true I hadn't noticed the device, wherever it was in me and after trying it out it did work perfectly. In fact after only a minute or two it was much more intuitive than a mouse. "I'm stunned Ralph. I tried to think of a reason to be mad about it, but I just can't. It's just too bad I can't just think what I want to type and skip the keyboard all together." "Oh, there's no problem there. You can use it instead of the keyboard too," he said. "Then why did you include the keyboard?" "You asked for the keyboard John and you were very specific about the type and size of it," he reminded me. Before I said anything else I decided there was no way to win this argument and so I shut up and thanked him. I did tell him he could feel free to remove the keyboard now since I hadn't even considered being able to have an input device like he had come up with. "Well then, why don't we do away with the screen too? We can memory map a small portion of your brain and the output can just stimulate it as if the signal had been coming from your retina. It will make the whole thing much smaller," he said. "Well why stop there Ralph, why don't you just build the whole business into me and I won't have to worry about carrying anything?" I asked, trying not to sound too sarcastic. "Excellent, we had no idea you could be convinced so easily. It will be better all around this way. You will have much more functionality and you won't have to worry about carrying it around all the time," he said, and I'll swear he almost sounded excited. I didn't say anything. I was too surprised. In a few seconds the laptop was just gone, then about two minutes later it was as if I was looking out of another eye, except this one just showed a GUI interface, which was frighteningly familiar. My first thought, I swear it, was to worry about what would happen if explorer.exe crashed on the hardware it was running on now, then a screensaver type logo started and said it was Windows 876 x 10 to the thirty-seventh. "You're sure this won't end up bothering me or going haywire or something like that?" "We aren't Microsoft, even if we did throw in the little joke and even though we made the interface similar. You are not going to have any invalid page faults to deal with," he said and almost sounded huffy about it. "I didn't mean any offence Ralph. It was just a thought." "I think you'll find it can do more for you than any computer you've ever had and it has the benefit of being invisible to anyone else. When you want to use it think about it and when you want it to go away just think it away," he said. "How much access does it have to your data?" "You can see anything you could see in your office and in a much better format. For instance, if you are looking at our video you won't have to choose from thumbnails, just think of what you want to see and it will come up," he explained. I did. I thought about Dutono's camp and my new third eye flashed up video of the cave's entrance. It seemed I could look at different views and it was almost like moving my eye around to focus in another direction. It got a little disorienting after a few minutes and I wished it off and it was gone. "It works perfectly, but it got to be too much after a few minutes." "You will become accustomed to it after a while and it will cease to be unusual to you. If you don't like it we can always go back to the laptop," he assured me. "We'll see, but I'm pretty sure this is something I want to keep. I didn't ask for it before because I had no inkling it was even possible. Thank you for it." "You are more than welcome John. It makes it much easier for us too," he said. I didn't even want to know what it made easier for them or how it did it, so I didn't ask. After a few minutes I wished it back on again and called up different views for a while. When it was time to move out again I wished it off, deciding I would wait a while before trying to use it and walk at the same time. Thirty minutes after we started walking again I thought the video back on. At first I brought its viewpoint where we were and then I moved the focus out ahead of us. Roweea was right in front of me so I put a hand on her shoulder to let her guide me while I used the video in my head as a type of forward scouting tool. I was able to keep it up for about thirty minutes before it began making me tired, but for the last five or so minutes I was able to walk without Roweea's guidance and also pay attention to my mobile point of view. Thirty minutes later I tried another session. Nearly from the first I was able to keep an eye out ahead of us and still navigate under my own power and senses. It was like having a point man who could scout ahead but was in no danger. I switched off this time as soon as I got a little tired of it. After giving it an hour rest I called it up again and once more we had a point presence without having anyone in danger. In this weather it wasn't really such a valuable tool since chances were slim boogey men were out and about but this was a good time to try getting used to having another eye. The penny dropped on another aspect a few minutes later and I switched my new perspective behind us to watch our back trail. It wasn't as disorienting as I'd feared and soon I was switching between views without much trouble at all. I was able to go nearly two hours this time without getting tired. I guess tired wasn't the actual feeling I got from my new perspective. It did give me an uncomfortable feeling with prolonged use though. The period of useable usage did seem to be lengthening each time and I assumed sooner or later I would cease to become uneasy with extended use. After sunset I had discovered another wonderful feature. I now had night vision, at least in my new eye, like never before. Its display was only slightly diminished after the sun went down and it wasn't the normal shades of green from thermal imaging. I would have to ask Ralph how this could be. It was around eight PM now and we stopped for another trail break. Not so much for Smiley's benefit, but because I wanted some fresh coffee and something to eat. We would soon be close enough to our destination so a fire might be spotted if one of the men happened to come outside for a look around. I wanted a hot meal and it would require a fire. I didn't want to warn our soon to be victims so the fire needed to be now. After we'd made ourselves known to them it wouldn't matter and we could build all the fires there we wanted. There were more rocks around out here in the middle of nowhere so we took a little time to gather some to build the fire on. We were able to gather plenty of squaw wood too and with that a fire was soon making coals to cook on. I brushed the snow off a likely sized rock and took a seat while my mates were fixing a nearly real meal. After sitting a few minutes I turned on my new toy again and took a look around our destination. There were still no new footprints anywhere and I wasn't surprised. Left to their own devices they might not stray out of their cave for days. I was going to have to think up something else to get them stirring around after I was in place and ready to let them know I was there. Supper was ready by now and when Roweea brought me a plate and a mug of coffee I gave it the attention it deserved. Eating outside in the wild wasn't a novelty to me at this late date, but food did seem to still taste better this way. We'd turned Smiley loose as soon as we'd stopped and he had slipped off into denser cover, looking for a meal of his own I suspected. It was nearly two hours before he was back with us but he seemed well fed when he showed up. After putting the harness back on him and hooking it to the sled we were on our way again. By three AM we were at the end of the trip. We made camp, but didn't bother with a fire. Shucking my clothes, I used my cell phone to call Ralph and asked him if he'd keep an eye on the cave's entrance and wake me if some of them came out. "You no longer need equipment to contact any of us John, just think to us and we can communicate. I will wake you if it seems they are about to come out of their cave," he told me. I should have realized this myself. Now I remembered earlier Ralph and I had continued our communication even after the laptop, with its speakers and microphone, had disappeared. Having it settled let me forget my worries and get in the furs with my mates. I was a little tired but not tired enough to keep me from spending quality time to show them all some attention and I'm not talking about a salute on the parade ground. Even though we were in our tent and all of us had our heads under the bison fur covers I still woke before sunrise was over and done with. I was surrounded by beautiful naked women and I started teasing nipples and lightly fondling asses until my mates were waking up. Ralph hadn't bothered me with any news of our intended targets so we all had a good morning screw before poking our heads out. It helped warm us up for the cold cruel world outside. We were dressed and had put together a semi-permanent place for our cooking fire and in fact had it well on its way before any smoke started drifting out of the cave's smoke hole and our breakfast was nearly done before their fire was going good. After eating we put more wood on our fire and then checked our weapons. Sure they were all in working order we each found some cover and waited to watch the opening. After about thirty minutes a couple of men came out, probably to take a look at today's weather or maybe to find a place outside to piss. They hadn't made it twenty feet before they both seemed to realize, at nearly the same time, there was a pretty big fire burning about a hundred and fifty yards from them and in a place it had no real reason to be doing so. They went back into the cave, no doubt to tell the others, and fifteen minutes later ten of them came back out with spears in their hands. They were bunched up and they came toward our hiding places slowly and suspiciously. I let them get within fifty yards of me before I started putting them in the shape I'd intended for them to be days earlier. Once I fired my mates joined in and the whole bunch of assholes were on the ground dead or dying in seconds. I guess it was a mean trick and I probably should have been ashamed of myself but I wasn't. I knew if the positions had been reversed I would be the one on the ground. They'd already proved it at Caato's old camp when they killed the four men there and captured their women. I poked around inside my head looking for a feeling I'd been unfair or I'd done something dreadfully wrong. There was no deep burning pain in my conscience though. This time and place wasn't a dog eat dog world because there were no dogs. It was a man kill man world though and the one who was considered right was the one firstest with the mostest. If I'd been sent back in time to show these cave men a kinder and gentler way of dealing with their fellowman I was going to be a big disappointment. I wasn't on a crusade to bring truth, justice, and the American way to Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal man. In the first place it would be a downright shame to introduce them to something as repulsive as politics or government. It was the first step down the slippery slope to lawyers, lobbyist, and elected hogs at the public trough. The kind of men who tried to make their own slimy existence seem better by making their better's live's worse. I was keeping my eye on the skin covering of the cave's entrance now. Sure enough I saw it move a little and it was a cinch someone was looking out to see what all the shooting had been about. Ralph had already assured me there were no innocent bystanders in the cave so I pegged a shot where I estimated the looker's chest would be. I must have guessed right because I heard a yelp from inside and the skin wiggled as if someone was trying to hold himself up by gripping it. Smiley came up to stand beside me just then and I asked him if any of the dead men looked like breakfast to him. He didn't say anything of course, but he did saunter over to one of them to have a bite or two. I noticed at once he'd gone to one who was off to the side a little and I wondered if he understood he'd picked a spot where he wouldn't impinge on our line of fire. Maybe it was only coincidence. "What will we do now, John?" Ameliea finally asked me. "We'll wait. It won't be any fun for us, but we'll have a lot easier time doing it than the men left in there will." "One of us had better get you a mug of coffee then. You get so cranky sometimes when you don't have one in your hand," Maia said, teasing me. "Now you mention it, I would enjoy some coffee, but I can hardly believe I've ever been cranky." "Believe it," Delia said, but not unkindly. Roweea got up and went back over to the fire, where the coffee pot was doing its job. She brought me a mug and I sipped it with a little feeling of contentment. We waited and waited and waited some more. It seemed like days but I only lasted an hour before I asked Ralph if he had any video inside. "Of course, all you have to do now is look," he said. I opened my new eye and it was showing me a much wider field than the two I grew up with. It seemed like I was looking down on the scene from behind my position and from higher up. I concentrated on the skin covering of the cave and was suddenly able to see behind it. Moving my attention around inside let me see when I concentrated on different places it seemed that my point of view would change as if I was looking from a new spot. There was a dead man, no doubt the one I'd shot through the skin covering, on the ground in the entrance. The rest of the men were huddled near the back of the cave and they were starting another fire there. The first one they'd built this morning was much closer to the cave's entrance. Even though they had no real understanding of my weapons they had tumbled to the fact the skin was no defense. "Ralph," I thought to him since he'd told me it would work. "Yes, John," he replied inside my head. "Can I use my new eye to aim a rifle?" "We had anticipated such a request and we made provisions for it. I'm sure you understand you won't really be aiming through the rifle's scope. If you put the rifle to your shoulder, as if you were aiming it, your new perspective will acquire a set of crosshairs similar to the ones in the scope. They will be pointed to whatever the bullet will strike. If the bullet will pass through something you will have a nearly transparent representation of it and the crosshairs will show you what you will most probably hit after the bullet passes through," he explained. "What I will most probably hit?" "Yes, I'm sure you understand passing through something will make a difference. When there is a question about the bullets impact point, the intersection of the crosshairs will change to a circle; the circle will become larger to include all areas the bullet might strike," he said. "In other words the circle will describe the area of the most probable impact." "Exactly, I will say we did careful work on the algorithm which is used to predict the impact point and we feel it is at least as accurate as your normal method of sighting," he told me. "So if I point to the cave's wall I will only see the rock, but if I aim toward the skin covered entrance I will see through it and farther on I will see what I will most likely hit beyond the skin?" "Yes," he said. Hell I couldn't think of a better time to get some empirical data on the effectiveness of this procedure. I took up the rifle and aimed at the cave's skin doorway. I saw just what I expected to see, the skin covering appeared faintly and my new eye's crosshairs were settled on a spot on the back wall of the cave. As I moved the rifle around aiming it, the crosshairs moved and it was no trouble to put them squarely in the middle of one of the men's chest. I saw the crosshairs wiggled around a little just as they would in any normal scope sight. I put down the rifle and went to the tent, retrieving one of the smaller bison furs. I rolled it into a tight bundle and brought it back to use as a rest for my rifle. I stretched onto the snow in a standard prone position for firing and took up the rifle. When I sighted through the skin this time the creep of the crosshairs was greatly diminished. I also noticed some numbers in the lower left corner of my new eye's display. "I'm assuming those numbers are for the range, windage, and such," I thought to Ralph. "Yes, they are range to the first impact, the next impact, and so on as far as the bullet is calculated to go. There will also be a read out for windage if there is enough wind to matter. You won't need to pay any attention to them if you don't want to. They are simply there because we have the data already and we felt they would give you more confidence in using this method. The windage you are seeing is an average of the winds effect over the entire length of the bullet's travel. We felt it might be confusing to fill the display with the calculated results for every inch of the bullet's flight path," he said and almost sounded smug. "Thank you for that. While I'm trying to shoot a man dead I don't really want to know the exact wind speed along every inch of the distance from me to him." I concentrated on aiming again then and soon had the same man targeted. When I thought about zooming my view it did. As the man appeared closer I saw the intersection of the crosshairs swelled into a tiny circle and kept growing as the picture kept zooming. I saw another set of numbers had appeared and concentrating on them I discovered, without asking, my view was now equivalent to a forty-three-power scope. I thought it to ten-power and steadied myself for a shot. My mates had been watching me and probably wondering what in the hell I was doing while Ralph was giving me a shooting lesson they couldn't hear. Out of the corner of one of my real eyes I noticed they were now anticipating my shot. I concentrated and squeezed the trigger. The M1 barked and sure enough my mates weren't surprised. I concentrated on the scene inside the cave again and saw the men inside had been surprised, very surprised. One of them, the target, was lying still on the ground with a big dark-red stain growing from the center of his chest. The rest were in the don't know whether to shit or go blind mode and were asking a lot of questions to each other in very loud voices. I doubted they would come up with any good answers. I gave them some time to settle down while I studied their faces. I found one of the ones I had let walk away last time and about ten minutes later I gave him his exit pass. Panic set in again inside the cave and when I noticed one of them was pretty still and seemed to be thinking, I shot him too. This time one of the others noticed the entrance skin jerk as the bullet came through. He shouted his discovery to all the others and they finally decided I did in fact have a way of killing them through the entrance. His leap of inspiration surprised me when he told the others to get out of sight of the entrance, behind other walls or outcroppings in the cave. They were clutching at straws anyway and with a suggestion for relief, they scrambled to get it done. They'd done a better job of it than I would have thought. I was now out of targets. I kept a close watch on them but since this tactic seemed to be working they stayed put. No matter, I had another idea or two. "Smiley, are you finished eating?" Of course he didn't answer out loud, but he did come over to stand beside me and then nudge me a little with his big head. I petted it and scratched behind one of his ears for a few seconds. "How would you feel about going into the cave to bring one of them out?" He rumbled a pleased little sound that seemed to come from deep in his chest and he actually wagged his tail a stroke or two. "Be careful, don't let them hurt you." He turned to look at me as if I were a slow-witted child and if he could talk I'm sure he would have said I needn't try to tell my grandmother how to suck eggs. Then he headed for the cave's entrance to make his way inside. I watched his progress with my new eye. The men had noticed the flash of light as the skins parted and they all had their eyes glued to the spot. Many of them cried out in dismay when they saw Smiley. I guess he realized that he was plainly visible because he didn't try to go carefully. When he heard them pissing and moaning about him he sprinted to the nearest one before any of them could think to pick up a spear. When Smiley latched his long teeth into the man's neck and shoulder he yanked him up and left with the man trying to think of a way to get loose. Apparently his options were limited. One of the other men, probably braver than smart, grabbed up a spear and ran after them as if he were going to save his friend. Of course this put him in my view again and I shot him as soon as I was sure Smiley wasn't in danger of being hit. Once outside with his prize Smiley brought him about halfway to our fire, let him go and then backed off a few steps. After a few seconds the victim got up and tried to run back to the cave. Smiley let him run for a few seconds and then sprang after him, knocking him over and picking him back up with two long teeth in his ass this time. The screaming and moaning almost made me feel sorry for him. "Finish him please," I shouted to Smiley, who did it with a bite through the neck. I'd kept my new eye inside the cave during this and it was a chaos of fear. I walked up near the skin to yell at them. "If you all come out now I won't let the cat have you." There was silence for a few minutes and then one of them replied. "Are you going to kill us if we come out?" it asked. "Yes, but I will do it quickly this time and I won't make you suffer much." "Why should we come out if you are going to kill us?" the voice asked. "Because if you don't I'll let the cat come back in and he will make you suffer, a lot, before he kills you." They didn't say anything else and I thought they were probably trying to decide what they wanted to do. I asked Smiley to try tearing down the skin at the entrance and he walked over to give it a whirl. He had trouble getting hold of it so I joined him and when I bunched it up he brought those long teeth to bear and with this grip he ripped down half of it. We moved to the other side and finished the job in only a few more minutes. I walked back over to sit with my mates and wait some more. I told Smiley he might as well hunt if he wanted to and he walked off into the woods. My mates asked me what we would do now. "We'll wait some more. Since they don't have a covering anymore it will start to get really cold in there and late tonight I might be able to slip inside since there will be no skin to wiggle and announce me." We sat around in a semi-ready fashion and talked while we waited. I kept my new point of view in the cave and hoped any movement would call my attention to it like it would with my standard-issue eyes. It did. After about an hour I noticed one of the men moving slowly toward the fire and I thought he was probably intending to put some more wood on it. I began moving slowly myself, easing down into a prone position again and picking up my rifle. I didn't fire. I just waited and watched. I was pretty sure he didn't notice me and I guess living through the first movements gave him confidence and after a few more minutes he was kneeling by the fire, adding wood and stirring the coals around to get it going again. I waited until he was leaning down over it and then put one in his ear. He fell dead into the fire and as I'd expected another one was startled and got up to pull him out, exposing himself in the process. I shot him too. None of the others moved from their hiding spots after that, but I paid more attention to them for a while. I was hoping the smoking body would add to their discomfort and I also intended to let the fire burn out before nightfall. I didn't want them to be snug and warm in there. In my mind I knew I could end this all in an hour or two. Hell all they had to defend themselves were knives, clubs, and spears. If I walked in with a Glock in each hand I could probably dispatch every one of them with almost no danger to myself. Their spears couldn't penetrate my mail and I was sure I could be more accurate with a Glock than they could be with a spear. Their only chance for wounding me was if they tried for my head or maybe my legs and I doubted any of them would try it since they didn't know it was their only chance. I didn't do it because there was no advantage for me. I wasn't in a hurry to finish and get back to the cave to sit on my ass some more. I was more or less on a camp out after all and if it wasn't a lot of fun for my mates they hadn't said so. They seemed to be enjoying it themselves. I think even Smiley liked it. He had to feel more at home outside than he did in our caves. The only thing we needed badly right now was some marshmallows and a few coat hangers to straighten out for roasting. I thought about asking Ralph for the makings, but figured to myself I would be showing off and so I decided against it. ------- Chapter 196 To my way of thinking my mates and I were just sitting around on a cold camp out and it wasn't even very cold. Our clothing was stupendous for this sort of thing and we had plenty of warm bedding besides. We'd already spread some waterproof ground cloths and piled them high with fur for both the bottom to sleep on and for the top to pull over us. I was sure Smiley would sound the alarm if anyone strayed from the cave and quicker than I would have thought most of the women did a little cleaning up, stripped off most of their clothes and piled into the furs. Currently they were whispering to me about how warm it was in the furs and asking me why I wasn't joining them. "I'm just staying up to protect my women. It's the most important job I have now and I want to make sure I've got a handle on it." I said, in a low voice. Smiley proved his worth a minute later since I saw him jerk his head up alertly and stare at the opening in the cave. I switched to my thrid eye to examine it closely and nearly jumped for joy at what I saw. It was a young woman who had snuck out of the cave. She was obviously paying more attention to the ones inside than she was to us and she was doing a damned good job of making her escape. I reached into the pile of furs and put a cold hand on Amelia to wake her. Apparently she realized I didn't want to cause a commotion because she drew one of her furs around her naked charms and slipped up beside me. "When are you going to come to sleep with us?" she said, so I pointed my finger at the escapee. "She slipped out a couple of minutes ago and I woke you because I wanted you to use your rifle to make sure no one came out to try and rescue her when I go to gather her up." "I should have known you just wanted me to cover you while you went to gather in more pussy for yourself," Amelia said, even though she had a big smile on her face. "Oh, that cuts me to the quick. You know I can't let the poor little thing suffer out in the cold." "I'm sorry John. I should have known you only want to keep her warm, especially her titties no doubt. From what I can see she has a wonderful pair to protect and it looks like she has a nice round firm ass which will no doubt need attention too. Just remember, my ass hasn't had any attention tonight either. But go ahead and catch her. All of us are keeping our eyes open for additional mates for you. It isn't often you let us go lacking and when we get you wound up again I'm sure we'll need her help." I was able to slip around through some bushes and keep hidden from the sweet young thing until I was almost upon her. I made my grab from behind and covered her mouth with my hand before she could cry out. Just as I wrapped her up in my arms a jackass from inside the cave showed himself with spear in hand. I turned my body to place it between the girl and the sneak-about shit ass and I could just see him raising the spear for a cast as Amelia's shot broke the relative silence of the night. It was only a second later when the noise of him falling came to my ears as my captive and I made it back into the woods and slipped back toward the fur pile of women. I had just set her down on a handy log we'd been using for a bench when Amelia let off another shot and this time there was a matching scream from in the cave. "It was another one sneaking up to go out and try dealing with you. Ah, here comes his mate, get her too if you can." I turned and headed back for the entrance where the girl was heading out. I caught her about twenty yards after she made her official exit. I wrapped her in my arms and headed back to the woodline with her, but I saw one of the other assholes lifting a spear intending to hurl it at me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a furry tornado flash by and it was obvious to me Smiley had determined someone was broadcasting thoughts of damage to me. After Smiley clamped those daggers down around his neck I'm sure the thoughts went away during the last few seconds before Smiley tore his head from his neck. Smiley brought his prize over to where I had pulled the last young beauty down into my lap where I'd sat on a log. Smiley laid the head, face up, about three feet from my feet. I could see the eyes were still open wide and I idly wondered if his brain even knew he was dead yet. It had all happened very fast. When I saw him open his mouth to try to speak I thought he was probably using his last few seconds of conciousness to try speaking. Apparently he hadn't realized he couldn't talk without his lungs to push air out through his vocal chords. Apparently he caught on when his own ears didn't hear what he was trying to say. I stood for a moment and gave the head a swift kick out into the bushes. Smiley took off after it, but I told him not to bring it back to me and apparently he understood since he didn't. Most of my women had a good part of their clothes on by now and they were lined up facing the cave entrance with one of our modified M1s each pointing that way. "Good work girls. Just be sure not to shoot any of the women or girls. We'll get the men sorted out and killed quickly enough and you can all probably go back to sleep now. I'm sure Smiley will let us know if any of the men try to get out." It must have made sense to them since they all laid their heads down as if to sleep. Amelia didn't though. She had gathered both our newly acquired girls up for a little talking to and they were all on a log with a big fur wrapped around them. I wasn't even trying to listen but I could hear Amelia singing my praises. I was a little embarrassed because at the moment she was telling them just exactly how big my dick was and she was hinting that I knew how to use it. "But what do you mean when you say he knows how to use it?" Katrita, the first one I'd slipped up on asked. "Yes, all men know how to pump it back and forth and make it spit the magic juice," Delita, the second one, said. "Yes, but John knows how to keep pumping without letting it spurt until you are ready. He will make you feel glorious before he spurts the magic into you body, and you will surely have a child afterwards. "Oh. Is that what makes a child come?" Katrita asked. "Yes, it is what gets one started," Amelia said. "But there must be more to it than that. If not there would be children every day." "There is much more to it than that. The spurt must come into you just days before your moon time comes around. You make tiny eggs and they wait inside you for the spurt. If there is no spurt when you have eggs available the eggs will be swept from your body when your moon time comes and you will have to wait until it is over and then about three weeks for another spurt. "Once the spurt has come at the right time and made a baby with your eggs it will take nine months for the baby to grow inside you and then come out when you give birth. I don't know who thought up this procedure, but it has worked well for most women. "When a man's spurt does not mix well with your eggs the baby will die within you and then be ejected. John had told me that his friends can do wonderful magic medicine to a baby which is not doing well within you and often they can save a baby which is not doing well. The proof is when you have a baby though and if everything went right or when his friends were able to save it you will have a healthy baby. If the baby is not right or if they aren't able to help it your baby will be ejected or it will be still born. "It is much more complicated than it seems, but there is little we can do for a mal-formed child and often it is better for it to be stillborn rather than to live malformed. "It often is not the fault of the mother or the father, but merely just an occasion when things were not right from the start. It is always sad when a healthy baby doesn't come about, but as I said, there is nothing we can do about it." "But how can John's friends tell if the baby is not right?" "I do not know, but I think they have some of the spirit life in them. They can do many things which are greatly above what any of us can do. They help if they can, but mostly they make sure the mother is not harmed by having an unsound child. They say it is much better to keep the mother alive than risk her on an unsound child. "But why is that so. A baby always brings happiness to a camp and to his mother and her mate," one of the girls said. "You must never have been present when a baby is born that isn't right. There is much sadness while the shamens pray over it for healing and none comes. It is always better when the mother isn't harmed so she may try again later. It takes fourteen summers for a girl child to grow to be ripe to become a mother while a woman or girl already of age can merely try again next time her moon time comes around." It was the most sensible explanation I'd ever heard of such even if it was very calculating and seemingly cold hearted. I was down to the facts without wailing and bemoaning though and I was sure it was much better received coming from one of the women than it ever would have been coming from a man, even if a shamen had said it. "Besides," Amelia said, "It is much more fun for the woman to try again, you should know that." "But we don't know it yet and I don't think it would be so much fun with the man I am to mate." "I also don't think it will be fun with my upcoming mate." We were promised to Calto and Carnuba. They both seem cruel to us and we don't want to mate them," the youngest of the two said. "What kind of shaman do you have who would give two new young girls to such cruel men?" "We had a good shaman, but Hackto, or new leader, killed him and took over his duties. He is the one who promised us to our new mates." "Do you think John should kill this Hackto then?" "It would be much better for our camp, even if it is small now. Hackto, and even all of the men with him are cruel and not good men." Just then some shouting and sounds of beatings came to us from the other cave. It was obviously women screaming and my guess was it was from the blows we were hearing. ------- Chapter 197 I didn't understand where the women we were hearing scream came from. I'd thought we had removed all the women and had actually been surprised when we found the two sneaking out earlier. I asked Ralph via our new communication. There are more of these men than you knew about John. They have captured more women on their way here. It seems they have taken it upon themselves to find and capture all the women and kill all men they encounter. I don't think it will serve them well in the long run because they did not try to assimilate any of the men they encountered. They already have more than twice as many women as men and they have resorted to rough treatment to keep them in line. They are actually holding them in near captivity and the leader over there now, this Hackto, plans to capture more women as he goes along. I think the next group he has in his sights are the women with you. It left me wondering where Hackto had come from and how he had taken over this bunch of men. Things had gotten complicated since I left them tied outside to freeze to death. I knew they had been released, but I hadn't known they had received other men to pad their numbers and I thought I had taken away all the women when I dealt with them. Now it seemed there were dozens of men with them and even more women. They were holding up in the cave again and it left me and mine out in the cold. It was beginning to get annoying even if most of us did have excellent cold-weather gear. "How many men did Hackto bring with him, Ralph?" "He has his own group of nearly thirty men. On their way here he dropped in on several small camps, killed most of the men and captured most of the women. It seems they are just now whipping the women into line and divvying them up amongst the men." "That's shit. I'm about to start divvying them up amongst me. Let me get my small sandbag-replacement fur and get to it. It doesn't seem this new bunch knows about rifle shots coming in through the opening." I looked around until I found the very fur I'd rolled up last time for this trick and soon I was prone on a larger spread out fur on the snowy ground about a hundred feet from the entrance hole. When I settled into a proper firing position and took a look with my third eye into the now open entrance I had a much better idea of what was going on inside. Several young women were involved in cooking over a big fire and there were a few young but fit looking men in among them. Every now and then one of the young men would cuff a woman for no apparent reason. It got on my last God Damned nerve pretty fast so I picked out one of the antagonizers and put a hole sideways through his forehead as soon as he smacked another young lovely. He fell straight to the floor, with an arm in the fire, and another of the young jackasses sprang up to help him get out. My next shot sprang him back down onto his back with a nice new tracheotomy hole just below his Adams apple. No doubt there was a hole about the size of a quarter out through the back of his neck with appropriate damage to his neck and spinal column since he fell into a loose-limbed heap. Of course the M1 I was using announced its use and since it was pointed directly at the cave's entrance the loud noise wasn't missed by the bad-asses in the cave or their captives either. Luckily all the women in the other cave were either squatting near the entrance or standing around cooking. Who says women of this day and age were dumb. All those squatting near the entrance were on their feet and headed out at once. I took time to nail one of the young men supposedly keeping herd on them in the head and even though it exploded nearly like a pumpkin with an equal shot the women weren't deterred and they came streaming out the entrance right away. Amelia and some of the other women with me were quick to get their attention and lure them to join us. Of course things had gone fast. The bunch of tough guys in the cave had been sitting on their asses drinking warm drinks the girls had been making and had barely had time to look up to see what the loud noise was when it started happening. The exiting pulchritude had caused a mini commotion of its own and the three or four serving girls standing around had stopped standing and made an exit of their own. One enthusiastic young bad ass had made a dive for one of the slower moving girls and caught her by the ankle, dragging her down from behind. It didn't really help their cause much because it exposed his head and chest to me, and his eyes made lovely targets in my third eye. I dotted them both and the girl was up again and out of the cave as soon as she felt his grip go loose. This little episode put a real cramp in Hackto's style. He jumped up screaming and came to take a look at what had happened. Unfortunately for Hackto his loud protestations didn't bother me and I soon silenced him with a new ear hole just slightly above his normal one. I must have hit a large artery because blood began squirting out the new hole impressively. If it had kept up for a few more seconds I might have been able to determine his heart rate by careful counting, but since only four major squirts left his head I didn't really think it was a large enough sample. His spectacular demise did slow the action down a little though. Best I could tell there were only four females left in the cave and showing they weren't completely stupid the younger men had a good grip on each of them. Unfortunately for them they hadn't paid strict attention to the way things were going. I popped two of them right off the bat and the girls they were holding onto made their escapes right away. The other two took the coward's way out and made sure the girls were between them and the entrance. I wasn't bothered by it in the least. I shot right between one of the young lovelies legs and managed to tear the ball sack off one of the holders. You can probably imagine he lost interest in holding onto the girl at once and when she noticed she was out the entrance too. Showing he wasn't as stupid as his mates, the other one holding a girl released her at once and dove for the relative safety of the cave's floor while she made her escape. Forty seconds later my stock of women was calming the fresh escapees and we soon knew there was only one girl left in the other cave. Since I knew my mail was up to dealing with anything they could throw at me, as long as they didn't hit my legs or head, I pulled a Glock of the .45 ACP persuasion and took up three of the cs gas canisters in my left hand and headed toward the entrance while confusion was still reigning supreme over there. One young lad, probably much braver than the others stood with a spear at the ready as I approached the entrance, but I didn't even give him time to draw it back for a try. I don't mind saying I'm a hell of a hip shot at the thirty feet between us and only one shot of the big bore cannon in my right fist caused him to lose his focus. Since I was sure I had recently destroyed his heart I could understand. Not to mention he was now traveling backward at an alarming rate. I walked up to the last two men holding women, placed the muzzle against their foreheads and touched the trigger. WaLa. The last two girls were free and gone in seconds. I holstered my Glock and began sharing the cs gas canisters around, making sure to throw them as far into the cave as I could and backing out as the gas began spewing up alarmingly. None of the other men in there tried to bother me, since I was leaving. No doubt they thought I would just leave them alone now that I had secured the release of the girls. Hell, they were right. I knew the cave would be unusable within seconds and I wanted to get back to my rest position for more comfortable shooting before they began leaving. I was back in place in less than a minute and it was just in time. Not thirty seconds after I had settled into my prone position one of the biggest of those remaining headed out. He ignored my shouted warning of dropping all his weapons and crawling out on all fours so what the hell. I put a .30-06 bullet through his heart and I expected the rest to pay more attention. They did. The next one wanting out for a breath of non-gassed air laid down his spears, hit his hands and knees, and crawled out of the entrance. He was coughing and trying to rub his eyes while crawling out. I told him to stop rubbing his eyes, since it would only make them worse. Wonder of wonders, he believed me and stopped. I had him crawl to where we were and had the girls bind his hands and feet before I instructed them to pack handfuls of snow on his eyes. He couldn't cough all that well on his back the way I made him lay, but what the hell, shit happens when you mess with the baddest of the bad asses present. He was followed out, not so slowly, by eight others. I used my new eye to examine the rest of the cave and noticed a mound of furs with a good bit of wiggling going on. Once the girls had the latest arrivals tied up and had their eyes covered with snow I was on my feet again. I went directly to the wiggling furs and when I got there I told them to work their way to the edge of the furs and head outside, one at a time. Within minutes all the girls I was expecting were accounted for and there were only two more under the covers. The gas had pretty much dissipated by now so I started raising the furs until I uncovered an older girl, or I might even call her a woman, but she was only just now one at about sixteen or seventeen. She was a treasure though. With the gas gone I could tell she had been covered and had missed the worst of it so I asked her name. "I am Cachichi. I was to become Hackto's mate tonight along with my younger sister, Calitti." "Where is your sister?" "She is behind me in the furs." "I have some bad news for you Calitti. Your prospective mate is dead, and at my hand. I'm afraid you and your sister will have to join my mates as more mates for me." "What is the bad news? Hackto was a pig and I have heard of you, John. It is said you are the best mate ever. I'm sure Calitti and I will be happy the rest of our days if we are counted among your mates. Show yourself to your new mate Calitti. Throw the fur off your head," she said. Calitti did it and I could see the resemblance at once. They both had dark auburn hair and green eyes, lovely faces, and unless I missed my guess they were well equipped with plenty of titty to go around. I could hardly wait to help them earn their Wilma dresses, especially since I wanted to see their legs and have easy access to their asses. Fortunately for me most of the girls we gained on this mission we delightful little treats. It made me wonder just where the ugly women I'd seen in my natural time had come from, since I hadn't spotted even one during my time back in time. My mates had been busy questioning the other young lovelies I'd rescued this evening too. It seemed I had killed all of their prospective new mates and every one of them felt I was honor bound to take them into my harem, the sooner the better apparently. It was a dilemma for me at once. Of course I would do my duty to each and every one of them, but I barely had a grip on how many there were. I will admit feeling lust in my heart, just like Jimmy Carter had once admitted. After all, I'd seen them all slipping out of the entrance and over among my bunch. My women had done more than inventory the new girls while we were waiting. They had set up a perimeter and placed a few of themselves as guards around our now massive fur pile. Maia had even had a long talk with Smiley and asked him to circulate around and keep alert for anyone who might be feeling any ill will toward me. When he came near me again I asked him to take a stroll into the cave we had just emptied and see if we'd missed anyone. ------- Chapter 198 I realized my mistake almost as soon as I made it, but Smiley was already in the cave and he'd scared up a bonus. I just knew it as soon as I heard her scream and I headed back inside. Smiley was about midway through the cave but he had a young girl treed. Damned if she didn't look just like a yet smaller version of Cachichi and Calitti. Same deep auburn hair, same sparkling green eyes, and nearly the same pretty face. She wasn't wearing as much in the way of skins as the other two but she did have a respectable set of titties and I was just sure her ass would be a fine one when it was revealed to me later. I asked Smiley to stand still while I walked toward her, spreading my arms wide to gather her into them. She rushed by Smiley and ran into my open arms. She was upset and crying and I spent the first few seconds making soothing noises to her. "What is your name young one?" I asked. "Cachina," she said, but it was a task for her trying to stop crying and babling in fear and get the words out. "You don't happen to have two older sisters named Cachichi and Calitti do you?" "Yes, they were here just a few seconds ago but I don't see them now." she said. "Well come with me and I'll show you where they went." She snuggled up even closer to me and then I turned around and led her out of the cave. There was a massibe hug fest when I brought her up to her sisters. I released her and remembered my now seemingly automatic communication with Ralph. "Ralph, are there any left alive in the cave?" "Yes, John, but there are no more live men inside. There are three young girls hiding among the furs and Smiley is standing over them now. They are being very still since they know he is nearby." I was glad I had finally remembered to ask Ralph for directions and I headed back inside. I knew there were no worries Smiley would hurt the girls, but I figured I'd better fetch them right away. No need to risk the strain on their hearts if they knew Smiley was near them. Sure enough Smiley was standing near another pile of furs. I could see tiny movements in the surface as I got near and I told Smiley to sit before I started looking through the furs for them. They had settled down to no movement by the time I raised the edge of the top fur, but after I raised it I was oh so glad I had. The first thing I noticed was the side of a lovely leg and I could see all the way up to the nice buttock it was attached to. The girl didn't have a sign of underwear on and the only thing that kept me from staring directly into her bush was the fact she was lying on her side. I felt sure she didn't realize what a view I had of her since she was still being remarkably still, but I reached out, put my hand to the back of her thigh and ran it up to take a nice feel of her round ass. She shivered when I did, but still tried to remain still. Hell, In for a penny. I used my hand to roll her over onto her back and I was happy again. As she settled onto her back her glorious fine blonde bush was revealed to me and down where it pointed I saw two plump pussy lips. I let my fingers do the walking and stroked her vulva right up the split. I started to wiggle a finger into her, but she wasn't even damp and I didn't want to hurt her. I pulled the fur off the rest of her and things kept getting better as they were revealed to me. She was wearing what I considered a type of nightdress. It was made of finely tanned and very thin skin. I could see a bulging titty first and then I uncovered her head. The side of her face looked beautiful even if she was young and her hair was long and even a lighter blond than her bush had been. I resisted the impulse to take a nice feel of her titty and rolled her over onto her back all the way. I put my finger over my lips to signal silence and she must have been looking out between her slitted eyelids because she opened her eyes and signaled she understood what it meant. I wanted her to be silent because moving the furs had revealed another set of legs and another round ass near her under the furs. I put my hand down near the ankle of the next luscious body and slid it up, along the back of another thigh and took hold of this new ass. It wasn't as full as the first one, but it did feel delightful. I went ahead and rolled this one to her back too, but I couldn't tell much about her since the thin skin she was wearing almost like a teddy came down far enough to cover her bush. What the hell, it didn't take much work to raise it and see another light blonde muff with puffy lips between her legs. Rolling her to her back had let her see me too and she showed me a big smile when I looked toward her face. I gave her the finger across my lips to signify silencee and she smiled again and nodded slightly. I moved my hand down near the ankle of the next bundle of joy lying on her side and as I slid it up the back of her leg she shivered also and then gasped when I gave her lovely ass cheek a thorough groping. She even turned over on her own to show me her lovely red bush and she was wide eyed and grinning when I looked into her beautiful face. Her hair was a dark red, wonderfully curly and her eyes were a startling dark blue. I was so proud of my finds I wanted to drop down and get among 'em. They were all on the young side but they had wonderfully full and round titties and this last one even had her nipples at attention. The skins they were wearing were finely tanned and remarkably thin. "Come on up girls. Let's get you into my cave since I'm assuming you'll be joining me as more mates. I've killed all the men who were bothering you and if you were mated to any of them I claim you as mates. If you weren't mated to any of them then I plan on mating you today if you'll have me." They all hopped up and rushed me, all of them trying to get their arms around me at once. I stood as still as I could to help them out with their tasks. I didn't know a one of their names, but the first one I'd uncovered announced they'd they'd been mated that very day to some of the men who had been holding them. She was happy to announce none of them had wanted to be mated to the men they were forced to and then they all assured me they were happy to be counted among my mates now. Hell, that made it fine with me because I was sure as hell happy to gain them, even if they were fairly young. As soon as I got them outside and among my previous mates there were plenty of introductions and then a lot of showing around. Ralph had already provided Wilma dresses and rings for all of them and as soon as I watched my newest mates change into the dresses I furnished their rings and placed them on their fingers. Amelia pretty much took charge then and soon our own pile of furs was being arranged. As soon as our sleeping space was ready she turned them over to Shelalia who started in on cooking lessons for them all. I could hardly believe how right things seemed to be turning out for me, but I was convinced as soon as the smells of roasting meat and warming stew began drifting around ... I thought Amelia might be telling more about my wicked ways after a minute since I noticed her whispering into the girls's ears and then saw that the girls were blushing a little and giggling nervously. All in all it didn't hurt my feelings a bit to run in under the men they'd been mated to today. Fuck the bastards. If they stupid enough to run around trying to help Hackto and the others get killed I'd be more than happy to break in the new mates, especially since they were my mates now. Hell, it would even go better for my new mates. I knew most of them were still young enough to be virgins and what better way to take the strain off my raging dick than to have my own mates here to relieve the pressure befor I put my dick to the new arrivals. ------- Chapter 199 Even though it was still daylight I knew there wasn't enough time to get back to where we'd started. Smiley was defrocked, or at least out of his harness for the night, and my mates were all involved in cooking. Most of the old hands were showing the newbies how we did things and I spied Shelalliea teaching two of the new ones how to make coffee. I noticed one of the young lovelies looking toward the cave entrance and so I checked it out. I let Amelia know we might want to wait a little while before starting in with the actual cooking and when she looked a question back toward me I merely pointed toward the cave entrance we'd just had a big fight over. Sure enough Smiley was dragging a corpse out of it just as she looked. He pulled it nearly a hundred yards out of the cave and dropped it, then he returned for what I assumed would be another suspect. "We might as well sleep inside tonight after he gets done. I think it is nice of him to clean up after me," I said. "He might be cleaning up after you, but to me it looks like he is just putting a meal together for himself. That's good too, since there is no sense letting them go completely to waste," Amelia said. Things turned out for the better for sure. The new girls were happier back inside now that all the assholes were dead. They were quick to mend the campfire in there and they were even happy to help move the fur pile we'd used as outdoor sleeping arrangements and get it put together with the ones still inside. It didn't take long until things were looking oh so homey inside the temporary cave and they managed to move the coffee pot without letting it get cold. I was happy when Amelia poured me a fresh mug and before long there was cooking going on. Smiley even brought us a freshly killed deer before he settled down to snacking on the bodies outside. Apparently he was happy since my mates, previous and newly acquired, had stripped the bodies he'd piled up outside. I was just glad his meal wasn't within sight of the cave's entrance. My mates, both old and brand new, knew about cooking and soon we were having a mini-feast. Somehow an ice filled barrel with a keg inside had made an appearance and I began to get a protective feeling for Ralph, Phil, and Frank. They seemed to be taking care of me even better than Argent had before he turned his back on me. No matter now about that though. His attention had been turned back toward my comforts now that I had settled the hash of the higher-ups back home. I still wondered what I had done exactly. Actually I knew what I'd done to get their attention and their cooperation, but I just didn't know the whys nor wherefores of the magic effect. What could have caused them to shit their pants over loosing the video stream from down here? No matter, I'd know sooner or later or I wouldn't. At least I knew how to get their attention now. I'd simply pull the plug again if they gave me any more shit over it. There were other, more important, things on my mind now though. There was a wonderful smelling meal cooking and after that I had several new young mates to introduce into the wonders of what they'd be finding in the mated-woman furs. I guess you might even call them mated-women's furs. Soon enough I was presented with a new mug of coffee and a hip-bone plate of food with a big bowl of stew on the side. I polished off the coffee right away and then motioned to Amelia that I needed a mug of beer to wash down my meal. She gave Cachina the tasks of fetching the beer and I didn't fail to notice the young heart-throb was well-fit in her Wilma dress since her lovely coltish young legs flashed me a shot of blonde beaver as she got up to fetch my bruga and the view was equally as nice when she bent over to hand it to me. It was a caution how a girl who seemed so young had so much titty swinging in the top of her low cut new dress. At first I felt like a dirty old man eyeing such a young treat, but then I noticed the mating-ring I'd placed on her finger earlier. What the hell? Be she ten or be she sixteen she was my lawfully mated mate now. We were wed, or as good as for the time and place and I fully intended to plow her field tonight, albeit as gently as I could manage when the time got right. I could still remember how her pretty pudgy pink lips had looked when I'd first uncovered them earlier and I was already anticipating their slick pressure against and around the bloated trouser snake I'd soon be pushing up between them. As soon as we'd finished eating my old hands for the fur rides were getting antsy for bedtime. The sun had set outside and they were already choosing up sides for the upcoming cluster-fuck I just knew I was about to be invited to. Soon the newbies were being pressed into fur arranging service and I didn't miss the fact Amelia seemed to be right there with pride of place for the first ride. No doubt she was thinking of the new young lovelies well being and intended to reduce the enormous pressure of the first sacrifice so they wouldn't have to tame the high-pressure first ride of the night. Eventually I came to the realization I'd be missing out on some of the good parts unless I got my lazy ass up and helped with the final fixing of the furpile for our night's rest. I noticed again I was the only male present for the festivities and I congratulated myself for teaching my women to shoot. After all, it wasn't anything physically demanding, and the girls already knew the benefits of shooting first before any strange men got hold of them. As long as they didn't shoot when I got hold of them things would be wonderful all around. I noticed a wonderful way to get things moving more toward the direction I wanted to head right away. Amelia happened to be bending over to tug a fur into place and her Wilma dress had pulled up over her shapely round ass to let her startlingly pink pussy lips peek out at me from between the tops of her firm thighs. I rushed to help her by putting a hand on each cheek and fondling. I'm not sure it helped her with the fur, but I know it was good moral support since she rose up to hug and kiss me at once. Since I'd been roaming around in the cave with only my tunic covering me for supper I was soon sporting a stiff handle just below my clothes and I'm practically sure all the newbies noticed Amelia was using it to good advantage in steering me around. Soon enough the new arrivals had put down their plates and were over helping Amelia and I with the furs. After a while I couldn't look in any direction without seeing a nice round ass with its Wilma dress exposing the best parts. Even Calitti was bent over near double at the waist, fooling with a fur and pointing her Auburn colored bush and pink pussy lips in my direction. Hell, it all qualified as plenty of foreplay for me and I was soon wrestling Amelia to the furs. I had quite an easy time of it too since it seemed like she was oh so happy to get on her back. She even managed to get her Wilma dress off over her head before she was laid back spreading her legs. I knew it was a little bit of a wham-bam thank-you-ma'am move on my part, but I set myself to gentle seduction mode as I settled between her legs. I began by kissing and licking around on her lips, face, and neck and then continued the process on down her neck until I reached her fat firm titties where I gave both her nipples the business until they were so stiff I thought they might make a pinging noise if I handled them. Since we were already friendly bedfellows she used her naked legs to good advantage along with her slim hands. She soon had my one-eyed snake nosing up to her slippery lips and when I pressed the stiff one towards its rightful place it slid home into a warm slick heaven. Her legs went around my naked bounding ass then and the fuck was on. I slipped into a steady rhythm of pounding Amelia to glory and as I did I noticed Gema had made room for herself right beside where I was pounding her co-mate. She latched her mouth onto one of Amelia's nipples while Maia took up the same duty on the other one. There wasn't even room for me between them to kiss Amelia's lips so I braced myself up with my arms and fucked for effect. I knew I was approaching goner status when Amelia started the welcomed Cro-Magnon inner pussy manipulations against Dicky and soon enough I was yelling out the arrival of come to all concerned and even all in earshot heard it I'm sure. Amelia did some wonderful squealing of her own right at the last and I was sure none of my lovelies had learned to fake an orgasm yet. Especially since her fingernails were digging into my tender ass cheeks while she let go. Gema and Maia were well with the program by now and they wedged me off Amelia to lie on my back so Shelalliea could use her mouth to try sucking life back into my deflating dick while Dieta nuzzled around on my balls trying to gather up any sneak-away sperm that had dripped out. They all did wonderful work and by the time Gema had latched her mouth to Amelia's pussy to retrieve any extra come my dick was rising to the occasion again and through my silted eyes I could see Shelalliea guiding Cachina's pink tongue down for a first lick on my rising dick. Apparently Dicky had a mind of his own over the process and he rose to complete attention with this new tongue on him for the first time. At first I just wanted to go to sleep and rest over a job well done, but my Dicky was raring to go again already and somehow the fix was in and Calitti was settling down into the spot Amelia had somehow just vacated. What's a young man, or even an old one to do? I managed to turn to face her and pull her into my arms while placing a welcoming kiss on her lips. The tentative nature of the way she returned my kiss brought me out of my sex induced fog and I managed to switch out of pound her to glory mode and into seduce the young virgin gently status. I spent minutes teasing her lips and mouth with my tongue and as she seemed to get with the program I moved my attention out onto her face and even took time to work over her sexy earlobes and down onto her neck and throat. She was wiggling her hips and legs by now and clutching at my back with her grip around me. As my lips made their way down onto her chest between her substantial titties I moved up to suck first one and then the other nipple into my mouth and I was able to get them to spring into firm life. Meanwhile one of my hands made its way to her knees and then slid up between them until I brushed against something soft and damp. I played my fingers and palm over her vulva and then, since she was leaking fuck oil like a champ I tried to push a finger up her. My way was blocked by a pesky hymen. I felt sure I could do the opening ceremonies with my finger, but figured it would be sacrilege. All this worming and squirming, not to mention the previous mouth work, had Dicky right back up to snuff and so I settled my naked ass between her thighs, spreading them with my knees for more room as I settled into place. Her arms flew around my neck and she whispered, "Please be gentle with me," into my ear as I nosed my spongy dickhead into place. I felt a tiny tug against my dick as it slid home and she tensed slightly before she renewed her grip around my neck and pulled me even closer. Luckily she was a certified leaker and she was wet and squishy inside as I began pumping slowly back and forth in the freshly opened cooter. Apparently I was doing something right because after only a few full length strokes her legs came up around my hips, cocking her ass toward me for even deeper penetration and her natural Cro-Magnon peter squeezing insides got down to business. Maybe it was because Amelia had already knocked the edge off or maybe it was just because her pussy felt so accommodating inside, but it was warm up in there and Dicky made himself at home. He didn't feel any immediate need to spit and I settled for just lightly kissing the mellow block of her cervix on each up stroke and enjoying the feel of her innards squeezing and gripping my length as I pushed it back and forth inside her. I kissed her lips again and she kissed back hungrily. I took a second to raise my head and it struck me like a bolt that I was an old pervert even though I wasn't that damned old. The dim light in the cave made her look so young even though that same light had showed me earlier that she had a mature body with almost womanly hips and high firm and proud titties. Still, there had been no wrinkles on her anywhere and I was doubting she was even old enough for what we were doing now. "Ralph, how old is this girl?" I asked him via the link he'd installed inside my head. "She is thirteen years and nine months old," he replied via the same link. "Oh God, what am I doing?" "You are doing what comes naturally, John. Any male of this time would be doing the same thing and many of them would have done it years ago if she'd come into their clutches. Remember, age of consent is a very new concept, timeline wise. There was no such sanction anywhere near this stage in the earth's development. It is beneficial in one important way in that it keeps young females from becoming pregnant too early, but there is no worry on that score for you now. The girl is not fertile at the moment and won't be for several more days." "But she's only thirteen!" I said, protesting. She isn't so much younger than the other women you have been with here. Shelalliea is the oldest at nineteen and this one is just coming into the prime age for this time and place. You don't have the luxury of a moral compass in this situation and you should forget it. I will let you know if you are about to cross some line. Believe me, you haven't come close yet," he said into my head. Who was I to argue with one who knew so much? I settled back down to fucking my tiny mate and before long I hosed her insides and we both got off big time. I took Ralph's advice and decided I could worry about it next time I dicked her. After all, knowing myself I knew it wouldn't be long in coming. If I was worried about doing her some psychological damage I could have saved myself the trouble. As soon as she recovered from her ordeal the little mynx hopped up to visit the facilities, such as they were, and then came out with her clothes in order and displaying a sexier than thou swing to her now enlightened hips. She put on quite a show of ass wagging without really being obnoxious about it. It was almost like she needed to make the effort now to allow for the space I'd wedged out between her lips. As if I'd jammed a new pivot point up between her legs. I also noticed it looked as if she'd done some stretching down the front of her Wilma pullover dress as if to make more of her titties visible. I didn't mind it a bit and in fact I wouldn't squawk if the others took up her habits. They were all sexy, but I didn't mind if they flaunted it a little more. It would help keep my blood pressure up and keep my mind on what I was constantly fighting for. ------- Chapter 200 I woke late the next morning and to say I was feeling fine would be simply foolish. I felt great and I was still remembering the three virgins I'd introduced to the old in out in out last night. I also had fond memories of laying the pipe to every one of my other mates, both my newly acquired and the old standbyes, of course none of them were old. I had caught Ralph in a mistake though. Shelalliea, at nineteen wasn't the oldest. Dalia, Delia's mother, at twenty-four was the oldest and by the way she had one of the lushest bodies of all. Still, I'd done the deal to every one of them last night and some more than once. I felt on top of the world now and ready for anything. And I had more to come. I had imposed my will everywhere I'd been here and now and I wasn't through. I intended to keep it up for as long as I lived, or at least as long as I stayed here. We were heading back to our valley and caves this morning, but I would be defending them and keeping the cold cruel world at bay. Right now the women were getting out of the furs and some had already started on breakfast. I supposed I should get up myself, but as I started to I slipped back off to sleep and was soon joined in dreamland by Argent. "John, even though we have disappointed you lately you have thrilled us again," he said. "Yeh, yeh. I know, but you can't tell me what was so special," I said. "Oh, but I can. We have decided it will do no damage now," he said. I'd heard this before too, but I decided to see if he really would. They kept saying it would be better if I didn't know while lately claiming they would tell me if I insisted. I decided to insist. "Well, spit it out then. Tell me the deal," I said, and I could tell he didn't want to at once even though he had just offered to. "We just want to insure you won't let it affect you," he said. "How can I tell you it won't until you tell me the deep dark secret?" "I understand, but just promise you will try not to let it show," he said. "Try not to let it show? Try not to let it show to who?" "To everyone. To your audience," he said. "What audience?" "That is the main point, John. You have an audience. It is an audience of billions. It is why we were able to show you so much video of your situation on the planet. We have been filming you since your arrival. We have filmed every move you have made since you have been here." "Why?" I asked. "For entertainment of course," he said. "Well how are my ratings?" "They are unbelievable. Your show is the top rated video in our whole network. There were riots in the street when you cut off the video feeds. We explained it away as technical difficulties and within hours our system was nearly overloaded with request for prior episodes. It was the main reason so many of the ones above me were dismissed. Not exactly because you had cut the current feeds, but because they hadn't made sure the network was capable of supporting request for prior episodes. "It was indirectly caused by your cutting the feeds, but they were culpable in other ways also and the halting of the feeds merely pointed out some of their other lapses. "The incident was closely studied by our politicians though and when they began feeling the heat heads had to roll. I was saved because I had resisted the takebacks as you called them from the first. It also caused my career to skyrocket." he said. "What are they watching me so closely for?" I asked. "Who knows now? Believe me there are several study groups trying to determine exactly why you are so popular now. You were popular from the first, but you have kept gaining share since then. Your breakthrough episode was the one where you entered the cave and were confronted by the cave bear which you later killed. It is widely accepted as the starting point of your near cult like status. "Video of you is presented in several ways. There were at first weekly hour long presentations and they quickly changed to nightly hour long presentations. Since then there are literally millions who watch almost every second of your time there. Hundreds of thousands even watch you sleep in real time." he said. "I just don't understand Argent. I'm a hit TV show but I don't even have a script. How can that be?" I asked. "We are as baffled by it as you are. You do seem to have an innate ability to do interesting things though, and we believe part of the interest is for the very fact none of it is fiction. Your viewers realize you are merely going about you life in an unusual situation." "Tell me, if you can, exactly how many people are watching me." "There are one hundred and sixty planets in our coalition. Each of them have four to five billion in population. At least ninety percent of them watch our network every night. There is other programming available, but still you capture seventy percent of the audience any time you are available. You are the biggest hit we have ever had." he said. "Well, it is nice to know I'm so popular and I guess we'll be having fewer and fewer points of friction between us. Right now I think we should end this little meeting and let me get some sleep," I said. "You aren't thinking of doing anything rash are you?" he asked, and I could almost hear the trepidation in his voice. "Of course not, Argent. I do need my rest though. After all, The Show Must Go On." I said. ------- Chapter 201 The show did have to go on. I wasn't a spoiled actor from Hollywood or from anywhere. Even though I didn't know about the possibilities for payment in their scheme of things I knew there had to be some sort of remuneration, and with the talk of the ratings I was getting I knew it had to be more than merely substantial. It didn't take me long to figure out they hadn't spent shit according to what they were getting out of me. Money wasn't the big thing though since there was nowhere I could spend money here. Hell, I'm sure I could demand mountains of gold to be stacked up in my cave, but so what? It would just be heavy yellow metal and probably get in the damned way. If I wanted to milk my success for all I could get I'd have to do some real thinking. After all, I had more beautiful women available to me than I could shake a stick at, in fact there were already more than I could shake my dick at. And that was another damned thing. Argent and Company had already given me some things, which were more valuable than any amount of riches they could offer. Hell, they'd fixed up my dick until I was like the Energizer bunny, except that I could keep on fucking and fucking instead of going and going. No matter how much they'd done for me though I knew I could ask for more and get it. I wasn't necessarily interested in gaining wealth, but surely I could think of something I'd rather have than not have. Suddenly a thought came to me and as I went over it in my head I knew it was a winner all around. To me there was no doubt the action times I blundered into had to be the most popular. I'd just have to see if I couldn't come up with a little action for the viewers. Nothing fake or anything like that, but I was practically sure the assholes on the planet would provide some real life action if I initiated it. And I figured I could come up with something. What did I really want here? It hadn't been from the start, but now I realized the really great thing here was the companionship of he women I had accumulated. Hell, every woman or girl I came across was beautiful. I didn't have the whole story on that but I didn't need it. It was just a fact of life here. It was also a fact I thought I could manipulate to my own advantage. I had to go talk to Ralph, or Frank, or Phil, and I decided it should be Ralph since he was in my office and I could talk to him in relative private. All of my mates were already up and about and so I showered, dressed, and headed out into the cave for breakfast. Amelia brought me a plate almost as soon as my ass found a chair and I was quick to pull her down into my lap for some kissing and fondling. She was ready, willing, and able to get my dick hard almost at once and when she felt it poking her in the ass she wiggled on it and turned up the heat from her end too. "Amelia, you are such a treasure to me." I told her. "And you are a treasure to all of us, John." she said. "Do you remember when we first me?" I asked. "I will never forget it. I was intent on being trouble for you from the start, but I'll admit, when you merely threw me over your shoulder and walked away with me it was a secret thrill, and I realized at once I should have known you would be from the start. My mate had been a strong powerful man and you had snuffed out his life as if it were nothing. Then you took me away on your horse and I knew he had been nothing compared to you. You even teased me saying I need not be with you unless I wanted to and you continued to tease me by doing just that. For the first time I realized I need not submit to your wishes and it nearly set me on fire, wondering. I wondered first whether I was not desirable to you and I set about trying to make you want me. When you finally took me I knew the truth right away." "Oh, how so?" I asked. "You know very well. When you pushed that long fat dick up me I was lost from that moment. I knew I would do anything to make you keep doing it to me. You can imagine my surprise when I found you could easily do it to me, and even all of us as often as we could bear it. After that I worried when you gained other mates, but it was a needless worry. It seemed the more mates you had made you want us all even more. I still don't understand how you do it, but I no longer even care as long as you keep doing it. Why should I mind if other women get pleasure from you since you always give me almost more than I can stand every time?" she asked, and it was music to my ears. I kept her in my lap and made sure to give her a good fondle or tease between bites. As soon as I'd finished I got out of my chair and took her with me. She was a small little treat and it was no bother to take her right back into the bedroom, strip off her Wilma dress, and then climb right up between her legs and push it up her. She smiled and cooed into my ear and soon we were hard at it and I made sure I rang her chime before I let go my load up her. As soon as I sagged down onto her panting body Maia and Merita were on us in a flash. They rolled me off and while Merita sucked in my dick Maia went to work between Amelia's legs cleaning up the mess I'd made. One of my previous mistakes was also with us. Dalia, the beauty I'd let Danlo gain was present, and when my dick was hard again she mounted me from above and rode me like a pony. I would never let any harm come to Danlo, but it didn't mean I would ever pass up a chance to get my dick up Dalia either. She was just to good to pass up. That was the beauty of my situation. They were all too good to pass up and I knew there were others out there just the same. I hadn't just happened to run across so many beautiful women by accident. Hell, they were all beautiful and all I had to do to have more was go looking. Apparently the rest of my mates had figured out what was going on when we went into the bedroom. All, or at least most of them were in the bedroom with us now and I was glad to see they were naked or getting that way. My work was cut out for me now, but it was a job I loved. It fell into a sort of pattern. One of them would climb aboard and fuck me senseless and others would roll me over and suck me back up hard. I spent the rest of the morning fucking and loving every second of it. Just before noon they led me to the bathroom and we had a big party in the shower. I was washed clean as a whistle in no time and then they did it again and again. Finally they got me out, dried me off, and dressed me then they took me out to the table and showed me they'd taken turns and a few of them had been taking cooking breaks between their fucks. They put a big strip steak on my plate with plenty of mashed potatoes and loads of Ranch Style Beans. They even topped it off with a big slice of apple pie. After I'd stuffed in all I could I managed to make it to my office and sit down for a talk with Ralph. "John, I'd ask you how things were going today but I've been watching and I know you must be in a good mood," Ralph said. "Yes, Ralph, I am flying high and feeling mean this morning. I do have a request for you though," I said. "I'd be happy to do anything I can," he said. "Great, because I have a task I'm sure you can help me with. Did you ever have occasion to look over the Internet on my former planet?" I asked. "Of course," he said. "Are you familiar with Google's image search?" "Yes, we examined all popular parts of what was available," he said. "I want you to do the same for me here," I said. "I don't understand," Ralph said. "I want you to search your video for something and then gather more information on parts of what you find. I'm assuming you know where the streams are coming from or the particular area they cover," I said. "Yes, we know exactly where all the video comes from," he said. "Good. I want you to search the video, starting with the streams coming from nearest me," I said. "Fine, but search it for what?" he asked. "Search for women. Ideally I'd like page after page of thumbnails I can click on that will give me a better look at the women nearest me," I said. "But all you have to do is go out into the cave and see the actual women which are nearest you," he said. "I know, and I should have been more clear. I want a look at the women nearest me, which are not already in my camp. I want to look over the women I don't already have in hopes of finding others I'd like to have with me." I said. "Oh. You want a search for nearby candidates for acquisition?" he asked. "Yes. First I want to see what is available and then after I choose a few I'd like for the three of you to gather details about their situations. Sort of a rundown on what I'd have to do to acquire them." I said. "I see now. You want to see them first for evaluation and then you would like details on whether they would be difficult to obtain," he said. "Yes. I am especially interested in mated women. Later I'll want to know if they are happily mated or whether they'd just as soon have their mate go away and take up with another man, as in me." I said. "I think I understand now. Just click the icon labeled Women on your desktop and you can start looking them over," Ralph said. "You mean you already have some?" I asked. "Yes, we have plenty of data available to start from and it won't take very long to adjust the other sensors to pick out more women than men. We already have several thousand suitable images for you to look at," he told me. Damn. Talk about service. Of course I often underestimated their ability to do more than one thing at once. Hell, I took the mouse and clicked on the indicated icon and a page popped up with twelve thumbnails of women's faces across and there were scrollbars on the right hand side of it indicating they went on a long way down the page. I clicked on the very first one though I'll admit I didn't think much of her face. She wasn't ugly or anything, but she did look a little plain. Clicking the icon brought me a full screen picture of her though and I was amazed since she had a spectacular body. At the time of the picture she had been bathing in a stream and she was very naked. Her breasts were large, round, and lovely. Her nipples were large and currently erect, possibly from the cold water. Her hips swelled nicely and her buttocks were high, firm, and proud. I tried a right click and a menu came up. It showed the time the image had been taken and I noticed it wasn't even a minute ago. It also told she was mated and seemed satisfied with her mate. There was other information though. It said her mate was currently being pursued by three other men and it seemed likely he would be killed shortly and in all probability she would be captured by at least one of the men currently attacking her mate. "Ralph, please copy her information to my Blackberry and set it to point out the way to her location," I said, as I rushed out of the office grabbing up my M1 on the way. I went to fetch Red and saddled him in record time. I mounted and headed out in the direction the arrow on the Blackberry was pointing and I noticed it said she was within two miles. I used the phone function then and called Shelalliea, telling her I would be back soon and then cutting the connection to avoid what I was sure would be several hundred questions. I reached the spot in a stream where the woman, Jilliea, was bathing. I had just dismounted to approach her when three men came up dragging another one. Apparently they were dragging her now dead mate. When one of them told her to get out of the water and dress since they were about to leave I revealed myself. "There is no hurry Jilliea. You may finish your bath while I kill the three who killed your mate," I said. This did upset the three killers and they dropped the body and began rushing toward me waving their spears. I used the M1 to settle them down and it did a wonderful job. Of course Jilliea was shocked speechless. "I can't do anything for your mate since he is dead. The ones who killed him are dead now also. Would you like to go to your home or would you consider becoming another mate for me?" I asked her. "I don't really have a home. Carto and I were traveling to a camp he came from. I don't know where it was and there would be no sense for me to go there without him anyway. Do you live far from here?" she asked. "Not very far at all. If you are finished bathing you might as well get out and dry off and then dress. After that I will help you gather your things and then we can go to my home. I know you don't know me, but I think you will like being one of my mates." I said. Jilliea wasn't shy. She came out of the water to dry herself with a blanket and she was lovely. Her face was a little plain, but not alarmingly so, and her body was magnificent. In fact I'd have been happy to dry her with my tongue. Their things weren't far away and it really wasn't much. I stripped the spears and weapons from the three assholes and then cut two poles and made a travois for Red to drag and I loaded her dead mates body onto it. Within half an hour we were headed back toward my caves with Jilliea up behind me, holding tightly around my waist. I even called Shelalliea again and told her what was going on. They met us in the main entrance. We unloaded all Jilliea's things off the travois and then I led Red over into the main horse pasture after I picked up a shovel from the horse cave. It didn't take long to bury the dead man. Luckily Georgo had noticed and he came out to say a few words over him and he brought all my mates and many of the others out to attend. Jilliea said a few words over him too and then we were done and heading back into the cave where supper was waiting. It wasn't our normal boisterous meal, but there was a little conversation. Mostly it was my mates talking to Jilliea about her life. As soon as everyone had finished the others left us and it was I, my mates, and Jilliea. She was amazed later when she learned all the women still with us were my mates. She was also slightly startled to discover our bedroom, bed, and especially the bathrooms. Amelia led me out of the bedroom a little later and when we were alone in the kitchen area she got me a mug of coffee and then took one herself and sat down in my lap to drink it. "We should give the others time to get Jilliea ready for her new thrill," Amelia said. "What thrill?" I asked. "The one poking me in the butt right now. I'm sure she will love it but she at least needs a little warning," Amelia said, and then kissed me like she meant it. About half an hour later Jaada stuck her head out of the bedroom and signaled us to come back. When I entered Jilliea was naked and propped up on pillows in the middle of the bed. The rest began taking my clothes off me at once and soon I was in the bed beside Jilliea and pulling her into my arms to get acquainted. Her kisses were tentative at first but soon moved to hot and demanding. I cold tell she'd had some instruction from the others since she didn't try to get into the doggie position but rather pulled me over in between her legs. As I moved up on her body her hand found my dick and placed it right where we both wanted it and I pressed for home. Jilliea had been mated to the unfortunate one for about three weeks, but either he was a pencil dick or else they hadn't done much so far. It was a tight squeeze up her furrow and I loved every inch. Apparently Jilliea liked it too. Her arms held me tight and she kissed all over my face and neck after I started stroking and her legs didn't wasted any time wrapping around my hips and banging her box up toward me. I could tell almost at once I was opening new territory down deep and she seemed to love it. Soon enough I was long dicking her for real and it was evident it was longer than she'd ever been dicked before. I remembered what a friend had once told me about virgins. "If your dick is long enough you can get some virgin pussy off any of them," he'd said, and I guessed he'd been right. It didn't really make a shit to me either way though. Jilliea's pussy was good from bottom to top and I loved this fuck. To top it off, when I got her to the short rows her pussy's insides began the ripple effect all up and down my shaft and I soon gave her a dose of the white lotion and it was so hard it left me wrung out. I sagged down onto her right away and she and I were kissing up a storm. I guess she caught her breath sooner than I did though because when the others rolled me off her she was right down there with them sucking me back up hard and before quick could get ready Amelia had her little sexy body up above me and she was fucking down almost at once. Jilliea had done us all a favor tonight though. She'd ripped the wad out of me and it had quieted my urge to go off. Amelia fucked herself silly on me and I was still up for the next rider. Maia got herself off quickly too and then Shelalliea took a turn and she was spent soon herself. I mostly furnished the pole for them to post a trot on for the next thirty minutes and before it was over even Daria slipped in after putting Danlo to sleep and she took a turn herself. Before they finished John and Dicky were well and truly fucked out, but we didn't mind a bit. I slept well that night and was up and ready for anything the next morning. I guess Argent was proud of me for not letting things go to hell after I got the word because the next morning no one showed up for breakfast until after Jilliea had her turn at providing naked coffee service. I even had time to bend her over the table and give her a good hosing without being disturbed. Dieta took her to the bathroom to help her wash up after we were done and they'd gone before Raalto came in for coffee of his own. He did something I hadn't bothered with right off the bat though. He checked outside and came back telling me a little snow was falling. Oh well, shit happened. I didn't mind a bit since if we had to stay inside for a couple of days I had lots of things to do. ------- Incomplete and Inactive ------- Posted: 2008-10-05 Last Modified: 2010-07-03 / 11:16:26 pm ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------