Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 08

They waded the shallow river to the crapper on a sandy bank on the far side. From there they walked down to the beach, past rafts tied to wooden posts sunk into the mud of the estuary. Other rafts were dragged up onto the beach. All the rafts had baskets and poles or paddles stowed between the baskets. The Mariners paddled the rafts into the bay to fish or to dive for sponges and oysters.

The beach stretched for a mile in a shallow crescent, with two spits of sand-banks on either side, one of which sheltered the muddy estuary to the right, the other started from a line of rocks at the southern end of the bay. The rocks tumbled drunkenly into the sea, forming a line of sand-banks that stretched toward a large sandy island with an untidy toupee of palm trees. Between the shore and the island, spaced every few hundred yards, were more bamboo rafts anchored to the sea-bottom.

They sat silently, gazing at the ocean. Kalyndra has been very subdued and unusually silent ever since they'd left the trading place. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she got up, saying it was time for breakfast. They returned to share a meal of dried fish and vegetables with the whole tribe.

After breakfast, Belena showed Ezra her boat. About fifty feet long, it was sunk part-way into the sand and supported on its sides by wooden beams. The hull was breached by a huge rent that had been further opened to make an entrance and sleeved by wooden rails with a tarpaulin roof, it was warm and dry inside. The boat's engine was still inside but someone had removed all the electronic equipment. The bed and seats were still good. By Samothean standards, this was a comfortable and prestigious home, which Belena had to herself.

Kalyndra's mother, Ferne, a tall grey-haired woman who wore a cloth shawl over her leather skirt and jacket, announced they were ready for the day's events, so Belena led the tribe down to the beach. They carried food, water, seats and tent roofs to keep off the sun.

The women who planned to compete in the swimming contests stripped naked and ran on the beach or stretched to warm up. There were nine of them, all the fertile adults and Odette, an adolescent. The other women set up the seats and tables and began to prepare food. The children were sent off to play on the beach or splash in the shallows.

Ezra helped erect the large tent roofs and then sat on a wooden chair in the shade. He took a good look around. The golden beach was about fifty yards deep and fell at a shallow angle into the sea, which waved and shimmered in the morning sun. They were half-way between the estuary on the right and the rocky cliff on the left. The island was directly ahead with the line of rafts slightly to the right.

Ferne, who seemed to be second-in-command of the tribe and today was in charge of the meal, finished her preparations and came to sit next to Ezra. Kalyndra had spent last night in her mother's hut and Ezra was sure the older woman knew everything about what he and her daughter had done together. He was prepared for an embarrassing interview, but she only smiled graciously at him.

"How did you sleep, Ezra?"

"Very well, thank you, Ferne."

"I'm glad you and Kalyndra are bedmates."

"So am I," he said, smiling.

She gave him a searching look. Her eyes were black like Kalyndra's and had the same sparkle, but hers were amused where Kalyndra's were sensual. Her magnificent hair was grey and she was bowed a little in the shoulders, so she didn't quite reach her daughter's height any more; but she had been strong once and now was wise.

"Do you find us Mariners attractive?"

"Very much so." The question surprised him. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I noticed you avert your eyes from the swimmers when they stripped."

Ezra chuckled in admission.

"It's an Earth habit I don't seem able to shake."

"Well, they're doing a lot more stretching and bending over than they really need, so I don't see why you shouldn't enjoy the show. It's for your benefit."

Ezra had to agree and took in the delightful view. Devon had strong shapely legs over a thin swimmer's body with a muscular stomach and wide shoulders. She alone didn't seem to be showing off but stretched sitting on the sand with her back to him. The others were certainly showing off. The pretty blonde Cressi had cute small tits to match her cute small bottom. Three middle-aged women, Leanne, Elinor and Salema, had voluptuous hour-glass figures and, though he knew Kalyndra's body inside and out, she was still breath-taking.

As for Thalassa: he'd seen her naked before when she bathed in the Woodlander camp. She had a tight thin waist with prominent ribs and pelvic bones. Such a skinny girl might be physically attractive to other women but Ezra always encouraged her to eat more.

"I've forgotten some of their names," he confessed to Ferne.

"Well, in age, they are Althea, she's thirty-nine. Then Leanne, Elinor, Salema. There's three years between each of them. Then my Kalyndra: you know how old she is?"

"Yes, twenty-eight."

"Right. Next in age are Devon, Cressi, Thalassa and Odette. Odette is only fourteen. As you can see, she's Althea's daughter."

"And which others have children?"

"Leanne, Elinor and Salema. Their girls (Juniel, May and Della) are playing in the sand over there."

"I see. So how old is Belena's daughter?"

"Gerta is twenty-five."

He noticed an oddity and paused. He had a delicate question to ask about Kalyndra but, just then, Belena announced the start of the events, claiming everyone's attention. There were to be five contests. The first was a swimming race to the nearest raft.

As the women took their places at the start line, Ferne told him the favourites were Kalyndra and Devon. Salema and Elinor were good at long-distance. Leanne was a good all-rounder. Cressi had been steadily improving and Thalassa was also a good swimmer. The older women with experience might make up for their lack of speed in some events. Odette was taking part mainly for practise.

It was a running start from the line halfway up the beach. Belena shouted "Go!" and nine naked women ran down to the sea and dived in. They all swam breast-stroke. It was a close finish: Devon won by two lengths over Kalyndra, who was out of practise. Cressi came third and Elinor, Salema and Thalassa were tied in fourth place.

Next the women had to dive from the raft to the sea-floor to retrieve a selection of coloured stones. Devon won again. The third contest was holding breath underwater. Kalyndra won this, staying submerged nearly a minute longer than anyone else. The fourth contest was to swim as far as possible underwater toward the next raft. Kalyndra clearly had a natural talent for holding her breath. She came first, Devon was second, Cressi third. Elinor, Salema and Thalassa again vied for fourth place.

The women came back to the beach to rest before the final event, a long-distance race to the island. This would decide the contest, Kalyndra's lack of practise seemed to favour Devon. Ferne, who had given Ezra a running commentary on the whole contest, was on the edge of her seat, completely engrossed in her daughter's competition.

While the women stretched or rested, Belena came over to speak to Ezra:

"Can you swim?" she asked.

"Yes, Madam."

"Then I have a challenge for you. Take part in the final race and, if you win, then I will let you choose your own bedmates. If you lose, then I will choose them for you."

Belena was very confident; more so when Ezra hesitated, which he did because, though he was a capable swimmer, he was not sure he could beat Devon or Kalyndra, who were expert and very swift. Yet he was naturally brave and didn't care who chose his bedmates.

Ezra stripped down to his shorts and stretched for a few minutes before joining the competitors on the start-line. Some of the matrons also stripped off and joined the race.

The island was half-a-mile across the bay. It would be sensible to follow the line of fishing rafts, in case anyone got cramp or needed a rest.

Belena shouted "Go" again and, this time, fourteen women and one man ran down to the sea, some yelling for joy, the more serious saving their breath for a hard swim. They all waded in amid noisy splashes, some trying to swim too early, others lifting their legs high trying to run further into the surf than they needed, wasting precious seconds.

Devon and Kalyndra had already dived in but Ezra took a few more steps before he judged it deep enough for him to try swimming as well. He did a belly flop, put his head down and kicked hard while pulling strongly with his arms. Snagging at first on the sand, he kicked hard again and soon was buoyant and making good progress, turning his head to breathe every two strokes until he had established a rhythm, when he reduced to a breath every three strokes.

Not wanting to waste time looking to see how far behind the leaders he was, he concentrated on keeping his rhythm and breathing. His strokes were slower now and he kicked only twice for every arm pull. He knew he could easily keep up front crawl at this pace all the way, despite being so much out of practise.

Ploughing on, he looked up only to check he was going in the right direction, parallel to the line of rafts. He thought it odd there was no one directly beside him but thought perhaps they were taking a different line, knowing more about the currents than he.

With the fourth raft just ahead, he was half-way to the island. It was a good place to take a rest and see where his competitors were. He trod water and looked up. There was no one in front of him at all. Turning around, he saw a flock of bobbing heads far behind. As far as he could tell, they all swam breast-stroke.

It came as a revelation to him that none of the Mariners knew front crawl. Here was something valuable he could teach them. Ezra marvelled at how his luck had held for so long, giving him many easy victories. After catching his breath, he struck out for the island and was resting in the shade of a palm tree when the first of the Mariners arrived.

It was Devon, followed shortly by Kalyndra, then Cressi, Salema and Thalassa. The rest arrived in a bunch. They all had the same thing to say: Ezra was mobbed by fourteen naked women amazed at front crawl, demanding he teach them the stroke. He was happy to do so, of course, and promised to give them all lessons.

Thus agreed, they swam slowly back to the shore to be greeted by a big lunch, set out and ready for the exhausted swimmers. The important matter of explaining front-crawl dominated the meal but, after lunch, a different important matter became pressing. Belena announced her challenge to Ezra, triggering an animated discussion, which died down only when she spoke again:

"Well, Ezra, I'm impressed with your swimming. You've won the right to choose your bedmates. So, whom do you choose?"

"Madam," he replied, "you know Kalyndra has already been my bedmate. Do you object if we remain bedmates?"

"Of course I don't object! She can do whatever she wants. So can any of my women, who are of age."

Here was an interesting difference between the Woodlanders and the Mariners. Mirselene was petrified of jealousy and at first strictly licensed Ezra's bedmates; but she would never dream of calling the Woodlanders "my women".

"For the four weeks of my stay," Ezra said, "I choose Kalyndra and the first three competitors to finish: Devon, Cressi and Salema, in the order they finished."

"Very well. ... Devon, if you want to, you are with Ezra this week."

There was cheering from some in the crowd and Devon's friends congratulated her but the girl herself remained indifferent. True to his task, Ezra glanced at Calliope's reaction. He could have chosen Thalassa, who came fourth, so he thought it was odd that Calliope looked more concerned, not less.

The tribe had a lazy afternoon at the beach, sunning themselves and running into the sea when they got too hot. Ezra was not used to direct sunlight and didn't much care for the heat, so he sat under a tent roof and chatted to Belena and Ferne. Kalyndra sat nearby, getting up every so often to offer them fresh water. Again, he got the sense of two factions: the group he was presently with and another group centred around Calliope, who sat beside the oldest Mariner, Yolande, Elinor's mother, and Philippa, Devon's mother. Their daughters, Elinor, Devon and Thalassa, lay in the sun nearby.

It was a lovely day. Waves lapped at the beach and the soft wind blew dusty sand over their feet, but small white clouds began to gather on the horizon as the shadows lengthened. In the late afternoon, they packed up to go home. There were some chores to perform before the night rain arrived: bringing in the dried fish, collecting up the salt and building up the permanent fire in the stove so it would last the night.

Kalyndra fetched a bucket of clean water to take into Ezra's hut. He followed her inside to talk to her.

"Kali," he said, "can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"You know why I asked Belena if we can be bedmates?"

"Yes, but we're not jealous like the Woodlanders. You can have any of us, any time you want."

"So I see. I just thought Belena might want me to try with women I've not been with yet. After all, you might already be pregnant."

"I'm not."

"I'm sorry. Well, maybe we'll be lucky this month."

"We won't be. ... Ezra, I know I should have told you but the subject never came up. ... I can't have children."

She said it so matter-of-factly that it seemed she felt nothing but he was sure it was the opposite. He sat her on the bed and put his arm around her.

"How do you know?" he asked. "Just because we've failed together? What if you went to the Cloner City?"

"I've been to the Cloner City."

"You have?"

"Yes, a year ago."

"What happened?"

"They tried and it didn't work. It doesn't always work but you only get one chance."

"Please tell me everything."

She paused for a while to keep her feelings steady. She had no right, she thought, to burden him with her problems.

"You know the Cloners have Cloning Kits?"

"So I've been told. They were for some domestic animal or other but now they're used for people."

"Well, the kits have testers, lots of chemicals, plastic jars and an applicator. They started off a few weeks before my period, taking a tiny piece of skin from one of my nipples. When it was nearly a week before my period, they took blood tests: one a day, until it was the right time, when they used the applicator on me. It squirted something inside me, then I was told to wait but nothing happened. I had my period, as usual."

"So why didn't they try again?"

"They said, because there are a limited number of kits."

"I'm so sorry Kali, but maybe we'll have better luck together."

"I don't think so. We've been bedmates two months already."

"Don't be disheartened," he said, getting up. "My other bedmates have been very lucky. I'm confident we'll be lucky together as well - and nothing will ever stop us trying."

She smiled for his sake, saying:

"I really don't mind. I'm not one of those women who must have a child."

"But you don't not want children?"

She parsed the sentence and smiled.

"Yes, I would like a child."

"Good. And you have answered one of my puzzles about the Mariners."

"What puzzle?"

"Why is it that Gerta, who is younger than you, is at the Cloner City? I thought it might be preferential treatment by Belena for her own daughter."

Kalyndra was shocked.

"Using cloning for preferential treatment? No, Belena would never do anything like that! No one would. I don't think the Cloners would allow it. No tribe would send a younger woman to the Cloner City if there is an older one to go first. Why did you think that, Ezra?"

Ezra had forgotten that Kalyndra didn't know of Mirselene's suspicions regarding the Mariners.

"I'm sorry, it was a stupid assumption. I forget how ignorant of Samothean customs I still am."

They let the matter rest and, as it was almost time for the night rain, went to say goodnight to everyone. Most of the women were milling around the camp-fire, chatting about the events of the day. He looked around for Devon. She hadn't spoken to him since before lunchtime, when he chose her as his first bedmate. He didn't know if she accepted him or not. She wasn't there.

Belena called to Ezra from across the camp-fire, reminding him to give the whole tribe swimming lessons the next morning. Then she went to bed, which was the cue to the others also to turn in. Ezra took a last look for Devon but couldn't see her. He did see Calliope looking at him and smiled to her. She smiled thinly back and turned away.

In his hut, Ezra washed, cleaned his teeth and stripped. As he felt his way to the bed, he heard the cloth curtain over the door swish open. Devon stepped inside. She carried a long lighted taper that she stuck into the ground near the door. Then she turned to face him. She'd been to bathe in the river and put her short leather skirt and jacket back on while she was still wet. The thin light of the taper reflected off her dripping hair and damp thighs, picking out her curves as she stood, arms at her sides. Her sad face was framed by long straight brown hair that faded into the shadows.

Ezra had thought Devon was the most demure woman he'd ever met, more so than any of the shy Woodlanders. He hadn't been sure she even wanted to be his bedmate; yet here she was, gazing at his naked body, biting her lower lip.

"Hello, Devon."

"Hello."

"Would you like to talk..."

He didn't finish the question because she took a forceful step and jumped onto him, holding on tightly to his shoulders, wrapping her strong legs around his waist, planting her mouth on his.

She kissed well, full of lust, turning her mouth until she found the angle she liked best, then using her tongue, running her fingers through his hair. He put his hands under her skirt to help hold her up.

They kissed like this, getting a taste for each other, getting turned on. His cock was soon hard and pressed against her buttocks. She began to buck her pelvis, rubbing her naked pussy against his stomach.

He turned and made to lay her down on the bed but she pulled her mouth away to say "Not like this."

She wanted him to stay standing. They kissed again. She rubbed her pussy up and down his belly, using him to build her arousal, until she was ready.

She reached down, grabbed his cock and angled it upward, pulling away with her pelvis, ready to launch. This time he broke the kiss to whisper in her ear:

"It may hurt."

"It won't," she said, and pushed herself onto him, enveloping his cock in a swift sure movement. She was tight but soaked and he slipped all the way in. She felt his heavy hot breath as she pumped herself against him with her strong thighs.

She had amazing stamina, thrusting hard, doing all the work. He wanted to help, to slow her down and last longer, but she kept up her rhythm. So he stood there, legs apart, a hot girl clinging to him, bucking her pelvis, her tight pussy massaging his stiff cock, not sure if he was fucking or getting fucked, but quickly rising to a climax.

She moaned quietly in her throat, her head back, her eyes shut. Ezra was sweating, the sweet rub on his cock building him up.

She lent back to increase the angle and now he helped, steadying her with strong arms under her back. She pumped the last dozen thrusts that brought him over the edge. He groaned and shook, splurging his cum into her, gripping her tightly until the spasm passed.

He tried to lie her down on the bed. He didn't know if she had cum and was going to play with her clitoris, to bring her off, but she resisted again. For some reason, she wouldn't have him lie on her. Instead, she got him to sit on the edge of the bed and sat facing him on his lap, his cock still in her pussy.