Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 08

Parched and hungry, they none the less easily managed the next two days. It was downhill and their goal lay straight ahead. The girls rose early on the final morning, buoyed by the prospect of leaving the dry tundra and drinking from the cooling stream. They saw black specks circling in the sky over the valley - eagles for sure, and proof they would find animal life there.

The girls stopped talking and picked up the pace. They could smell the vegetation long before their feet touched the small outlying clumps of grass. When the tussock grass gave way to a lush meadow, they began running.

As they sprinted toward the shimmering river, there was a jostling in the verdure around them. Hundreds of small animals escaped out of their way. The girls didn't stop to identify them as birds, lizards or whatnot but leapt and skipped through the meadow, barely taking time to drop their back-packs and strew their clothes onto the grassy bank before jumping into the shallow stream to wash off the grime and dust of their journey, dunking their baking heads in the cold fresh water.

Sitting naked on the muddy bed of the river, they splashed for joy. Around them swam large brown fish: hungry trout, nonchalantly grazing the girls' legs as they gobbled at insects on the surface. Tamar was the first to try grabbing one of the fish but it wriggled free. She lunged after another but it also escaped. Carlin took up the chase and the girls laughed as they flailed around in an energetic but forlorn quest for a piscine dinner.

Wildchild decided to try a different method. She climbed onto the bank to fetch an arrow, which she plunged into the water like a spear. She had no more success than the others, however, and soon the river turned muddy brown from the girls' frenetic efforts.

Then Wildchild stood still. She had noticed what the movement in the long grass had been. Small brown and white animals with bulbous eyes and long floppy ears were cautiously appearing out of the tussocks and gathering to feed on the sweet soft grass of the meadow. Wildchild recognised them as rabbits and meant to eat one or two of them roasted for dinner that night. She didn't know they were descendents of children's pets that, alone of all mammals, had avoided the sterilising x-ray storm by living in caves.

Wildchild climbed out of the river and crept carefully toward her bow and arrows. Carlin saw her leave and followed, crawling silently on her belly. The girls reached their bows, attached the strings and tied their quivers onto their backs. Naked as the legendary Amazons, they went to hunt feral bunny rabbits.

Tamar stayed in the river, waiting for the obscuring mud to flow away. She planned to be more patient, taking a position a few feet from the bank and crouching down with her arms under water, her hands flat on the river-bed, palms upward. She waited for the fish to come near. One did so, seeking the protection of her shadow.

Tamar was too sudden. She tried to throw the trout out of the river but she didn't make good enough contact and the fish hit the bank, wriggled a few times and fell back in.

Tamar bent down again and was more patient. Her back was hot from the sun while her arms and legs were turning blue from the cold water; yet she endured. Sure enough, another trout sought the shelter of her shadow and this time Tamar waited for it to swim directly over her hands. She bent her fingers up in preparation of throwing the fish and accidentally touched the fish on the bottom of its belly.

She expected the trout to swim away but, amazingly, it stayed put. She touched it gently on the underside with her other hand and it actually moved backward over her fingers. By accident, Tamar had rediscovered trout-tickling. Now she gently tickled the trout until it was directly over her hands and, in one swift movement, stood up while raising her hands and threw the trout far enough onto the river bank that it couldn't wriggle back.

With a shout of triumph she clambered out of the river to claim her prize. There she found Wildchild and Carlin, grinning in satisfaction of their own hunting expedition. They each had a rabbit skewered on an arrow, slung nonchalantly over their shoulders.

Wildchild gutted the rabbits and trout by the river-side and washed them while Tamar plucked long tussock grass to wrap the food and store it in the empty swag bags. Dried in the sun and dressed again, the girls carried on their quest, happy to know that there was plentiful food to sustain them.

As they gathered up their packs, a swift movement over the river caught their attention and they turned to see an osprey dive low over the shallow river to snatch up a trout that had carelessly stayed too long near the surface. The fish was almost as heavy as the bird but she beat her powerful wings and turned her catch so it was streamlined facing the way she was flying and carried it to her nest.

The girls admired their skilled fellow hunter as she disappeared into the shadowy crevices of the looming cliffs. Then they continued on their quest, plodding upstream in search of the Miners.

The cliff-edges of the valley were pock-marked with holes too neat and regular to be natural. The nearest cave was empty but it was certainly evidence of the mining works they were looking for. A little way inside, a heap of fallen rocks prevented further passage. The next mine was the same. As they wandered up the valley, visiting each mine on the south side of the river, they found all were sealed a few yards inside by piles of rocks - doubtless a safety measure of the Miners when they finished digging.

They found no other sign of the Miners on the first day, though the valley was ideal for a settlement. As they explored, the girls picked up any dead branches that had fallen from the trees bravely clinging to crevices in the steep cliffs. They stopped exploring before evening and decided to spend the night in the last cave they visited. They left their backpacks and went to find straw and twigs to use as kindling. They also dug some tubers that could be roasted in the juices of the rabbits.

Wildchild made sparks by smashing the heel of her knife into a piece of flint and soon got a fire going. The fish was ready first. It was delicious. They also ate one of the rabbits but left the other for tomorrow's breakfast.

Next morning, the girls headed upstream into the mountains. All the caves they saw were closed off but they started to find abandoned machinery: small pieces at first, such as drill-bits and wedges, then larger apparatus designed to crush rocks or sieve gravel.

Toward the end of a fruitless day searching, Tamar showed the older girls how to tickle trout but they were all unsuccessful, so the archers took their bows and Tamar took her sling-shot and they went after the rabbits. Both the archers were successful and shot another dinner and breakfast.

Next morning they explored more empty caves. Leaving their packs in the last cave, they spent the afternoon hunting and fishing. The archers were unsuccessful this time. Unless they bunched together, the rabbits were hard to kill and Wildchild got angry. She growled in frustration but when Carlin came up to offer comfort, Wildchild snapped at her and ran away.

Carlin had never seen Wildchild lose her temper before. It frightened her and she didn't try to follow. An hour or so later, Tamar came back with a small trout. She found Carlin sitting disconsolately on a rock. When Carlin told her story, Tamar said:

"Leave her alone. She may snarl but she never hurts anyone. Don't worry, she'll be back tomorrow as if nothing happened."

"I only wanted to show I cared," Carlin whispered.

"She doesn't like that."

Tamar dismissed the problem with an elegant little shrug and gave her attention to a more immediate problem. She held up her fish.

"Can you light the fire?"

"No, Wildchild's got the flint."

"Have we got any other food?"

"Some raw tubers," Carlin said. "Can we eat the grass?"

"I tried. It's horrible."

"So, raw tubers and water for dinner. Yum!"

The girls settled down in a cave, raised the tent and, after munching on their meagre fare, rinsed their mouths and went to bed early, sharing the sleeping bag. Tamar chattered aimlessly until after it was too dark to see and then they slept.

Wildchild had climbed the valley to the mountain-peak. She reached the top in a couple of hours and took a look around. She saw the plain they had trekked across bounded by the ocean on the west. To the south, the large volcano they had climbed dominated the view, framed by the grey forest on the horizon. Eastward, the mountain range spread out, all white snow and brown mud, peak after unending peak, ultimately obscured by mist. Northward were four more valleys. Verdant and lush, fed by rivers from the snow-capped peak, the five valleys looked like the fingers of a hand pressed into a bed of moss.

She climbed back down and spent the night in the first cave she found.

Next morning, as the girls emerged from their tent, yawning and hungry, they saw a smiling Wildchild, a rabbit skewered on an arrow slung over her shoulder, her arms full of branches, ready to build the fire.

As they ate the roast bunny and the small trout, she told them about the other four valleys they had to explore. It was likely they would be seeking the Miners for a long time yet.

Brave and undaunted, they explored the final few caves on the south side of the valley, crossed the stream at a narrow point and began to investigate the north side, though with little hope. If the valley were inhabited, then they would certainly have been seen by somebody. Sure enough, all the mines were blocked off by collapsed roofs and none had signs of habitation. That is, until the morning of the next day, when they got to the bottom of the valley. There was temporary excitement because a cave had been lived in, though no one was there now.

When they reached the next valley northward late that afternoon, the first cave they saw had also been inhabited but was now empty. It seemed the Miners lived in the first cave they excavated and worked the other caves.

The third and fourth valleys followed the same pattern, with a cave that was inhabited and others that were mines. If the remnants of the Miners were in these mountains, then it would be in the last and furthest of the valleys. If the fifth valley also failed them, then there was a mountain-range stretching for hundreds of miles to explore, but no clear indication where habitable valleys or mineable hills might be found. The alternative would be to begin the long trek back, knowing they had failed.

With their usual courage and Tamar's buoyant optimism, but with little real hope, the girls trudged around the tip of the fifth 'finger' and worked their way uphill into the final valley.

6Kalyndra and Thalassa return to the Mariners

It was mid-afternoon when the trading party arrived back in the Mariner Settlement.

The settlement was an oblong of fifteen wooden huts in good condition about one-hundred yards from the beach, nearby the wide muddy estuary of a shallow river. Inside the ring of huts was an open space with a camp-fire on one side. Dusty foot-paths ran down to the camp and the ever-moving dunes wrapped the feet of the huts in a sandy blanket. The air above the camp shimmered with a heat-haze; but, at ground level, a cool salty breeze wafted in from the milky-blue ocean.

There was noise and bustle as they trooped into the camp. Women and children ran out to greet them, eager to welcome back their friends and gaze in innocent wonder at Ezra. He was well used to meeting curious women who kept their distance from him. Even the children, boisterous by nature, held shyly back, clinging to their mothers' skirts.

In the ring of huts opposite the camp fire was a beached fishing-boat. The Mariner chief, Belena, lived here and was on the look-out for the perfect moment to make her entrance. Emerging from her boat-house into the square, Belena greeted Ezra with open arms:

"Welcome to our home, Ezra. All the comforts of the Mariners are yours. Please ask for anything you want. Did you have a good journey?"

"Yes, Madam. Thank you."

"And how is young Urulla?"

"She has made a strong recovery. Also, she has forgiven Kalyndra."

"I am gratified to hear it. Is Mirselene in good health?"

"She is and sends her greetings."

Belena motioned forward a curvy brunette woman.

"Salema will show you where you'll stay. Join us for dinner when you're ready."

Salema was middle-height with nut-brown skin, long curly dark hair with sun-bleached highlights, a clear complexion (except for some freckles) and sparkling hazel eyes. As the women safely stored the perishable trade-goods under awnings, Salema beckoned Ezra to follow her to a nearby hut. She pushed aside the cloth door-hanging and walked inside. The hut had a high sloped roof, a large wooden bed, a low table with a bucket of water and a tall cabinet with some cloth towels, sponges and a comb. He dropped his bag beside the bed.

"I hope you'll be comfortable here," Salema said. "Don't wait to ask me if there's anything at all I can do for you."

She gave him a smile that couldn't have been more lascivious if she'd practised it for a year.

"I'm sure I'll be very comfortable," he replied and thought to himself: "So, that's how it's going to be!"

He freshened up with the clean water and then joined the tribe at a long bench under an awning near the fishing-boat. Belena sat at the head of the table.

"Come and meet us all," she said and introduced him to six matrons, eight fertile women (including Thalassa, now she was eighteen) and four girls, aged three to fourteen. Two women were missing: Belena's daughter, Gerta, was currently at the Cloner City, bearing a daughter, accompanied by a matron, Salema's mother, Helen.

Ezra didn't try hard to remember any names. He would acquaint himself with his new friends over the next few days, but he recognised the four women he'd met in the forest, the youngest and prettiest of whom was the twenty-year-old Cressi. He also noticed that Salema was the mother of the three-year-old girl, Della. Belena sat Ezra down on her right.

Thalassa sat at Belena's left, elevated to this special status as a belated birthday honour. Encouraged to tell how she celebrated her birthday, she described the feast, the dancing and her magnificent birthday present. Of course, she had to fetch the medicine chest to show it off, earning coos of admiration. Also, of course, now dancing had been mentioned, Ezra had to promise to dance with all the women. Bowing to the inevitable, he agreed graciously.

So began a joyful repast that featured grilled fish and nicely roasted vegetables that the Mariners bought from the Farmers at prices the Woodlanders could rarely afford. It was good food and Ezra ate with his usual enthusiasm, bordering on greed.

Perhaps it was the good dinner or her warm welcome back to Kalyndra and Thalassa, but Ezra was charmed by Belena, who made sure everyone had enough food and were part of the conversation. He particularly admired her kindness to Thalassa and her obvious delight in the two youngest children, whom she lifted by turn onto her lap and fed the tastiest morsels. It seemed to him that the Mariners were just as benevolent as the Woodlanders.

With dinner finished, it was only an hour or so before the night rain would hit the beach. This was nearly two hours before the rain reached the forest, so the Mariners would already be bedded down while the Woodlanders were still feasting.

As Ezra might have predicted, the Mariners devoted this hour to grilling him on anything they could possibly want to know about being the only man on a planet full of women. He answered honestly and resisted only questions that offended the privacy of his bedmates. It was an exciting revelation that Kalyndra and he were already bedmates but he skirted the question of how it had come about.

Once the question of bedmates was raised, an expectant hush followed and all faces turned to Belena for her judgment. She addressed him:

"Ezra, you are our guest and whom you take as a bedmate is your choice but will you agree to be guided by me in consideration of what is best for the tribe?"

"Of course, Belena."

"Good, then I'm leaving all decisions until tomorrow. You can rest tonight."

There were sighs of disappointment around the table, which she ignored.

"Tomorrow, we'll have a swimming contest, so my women can show off their skills. Then we'll have lunch on the beach."

The children were excited by this and there was a buzz around the table among the adults, who seemed to be split into two factions, those who said Kalyndra would win the contest and those who said a woman called Devon would win.

Sent by Mirselene to be her eyes and ears in the Mariner tribe, Ezra's first thought was that the Mariners were less worried than the Woodlanders about the dangers of jealousy and factionalism. Also, cautioned to watch Calliope's reactions carefully, he saw only a doting love for her daughter; and if he missed the fear for Thalassa's safety that Mirselene had witnessed, he also saw little relief at Thalassa's safe return. This was something to puzzle over.

The discussion didn't last long. The cold wind from the sea had picked up. Now rising clouds and a darkening sky meant it would soon be time to pack up the meal and disperse to the huts; but the women wouldn't let the day finish until Ezra had made good his promise to dance. A whisper circulated the table, then someone began clapping out a rhythm which was soon joined by others tapping their spoons on their bowls. A tune was hummed and a nudge given to Thalassa, who asserted her birthday privilege again and led Ezra onto the patch of ground by the table.

He took the thin elegant girl with the beautiful smiling face and the long chestnut hair in his arms and began to swing her around. The Mariners got up for a better view and formed a ring around the couple. They applauded every time he span Thalassa and were delighted with the performance, which couldn't last long. Distant thunderclaps over the ocean and the first drops of night rain signalled the evening was over. Ezra kissed Thalassa on the forehead then they helped clear dinner away.

In bed, Ezra tried to recall which of the women he had met was Devon. Then he remembered. She was a demure brunette, an athlete in her early twenties. Ordinary-looking with heavy eye-lids and a slightly sad demeanour. She seemed to be friends with Thalassa and Calliope.

Ezra was happy to spend the first night alone. He was beginning to crave an occasional relief from constant shagging (so long as the relief did not endure too long). His bed was comfortable and he quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

Next morning, Kalyndra fetched him from his hut to show him around.

Many of the Mariners were already up, doing their chores, building the camp-fire for a new day, laying out the rain-scoured cooking pots or setting up long wooden spits from which some of the day's catch would be hung to be smoked or grilled.

Out of the camp toward the beach, on a flat surface, were a dozen large leather sheets, pegged to the ground. Some women were ferrying buckets of water from the sea and pouring their contents onto the sheets. These were salt-makers. They would return to the task many times during the day to refresh the water as it evaporated, leaving the salt to crystallize on the sheets. From there it would be collected into leather pouches or used to salt the fish.

There were no crops or domestic animals but fish were plentiful, dried in baskets in the porches of the huts or hanging from strings under the awnings. The smell of fish was omnipresent, except when the salty breeze wafted in from the ocean.