Glade and Ivory Ch. 05

"Are you saying that he didn't really want to fuck her?"

"I don't think he did. I don't think he was unusual in that way. But the Knights of the Savannah had to have children, otherwise there would never be another generation and, as chief of his village, Lord Valour needed them more than anyone else. As you may have already guessed, Lady Demure for all her haughtiness and stature wasn't delivering."

"She couldn't have children?"

"A lot of men and women can't have children. I don't know why but it is so. Of course, it wasn't obvious that it was Lady Demure who wasn't capable and this uncertainty was something she had no compunction about voicing, as it became evident to me as I came to understand her tribe's language. She often said she was prepared to let one of his lieutenants fuck her to provide the children he needed, probably knowing that his pride wouldn't allow her to strike such a deal. Her argument was that it was he who was lacking was proven by her facility for orgasm, which was thought to be related to fecundity. This was a rather persuasive argument. It was only much later that I discovered that whether or not her husband was lacking, Lady Demure was definitely not a woman destined for motherhood. I don't think she'd have made a very good mother anyway."

Ivory sighed as she considered her own plight. Would she ever be a mother? Would Chief Cave Lion be the father of her child? It wasn't a thought that had crossed her mind before, although she knew it should have done.

She also wondered about the spiritual life of the Knights of the Savannah. "Their religious festivals? The ones you said were concerned with fertility? Which spirits did this vicious tribe worship?"

"It may seem strange to you, but these people didn't worship what you call spirits. Theirs was a very hierarchical religion, exactly like their society. There were a number of minor gods governed by a greater god who was more powerful and wise than the rest of them put together. The Knights of the Savannah didn't have the creativity or imagination to come up with such a religion themselves. They borrowed or stole it from the tribes they'd conquered. The tribe that Quagga came from had a remarkably similar religion. There was one god for the Sun, one for the Moon, another for the rain, and so on. Naturally enough the Knights believed the gods looked exactly like themselves and nothing at all like people from Quagga's tribe. The god who governed fertility was the one of the highest status and his wife. Not, as you might have thought, the god or goddess of love or sex. Such a notion was beyond their comprehension. Perhaps if the men had spent more time fucking women rather than each other they'd have had more children, but, no, it was always some kind of divine providence that determined who had children and who didn't."

"What's a 'god'?" wondered Ivory who'd never heard of such a thing.

"Well, your tribe worships a lot of spirits. There's a whole load for the weather. Another lot for the wild life. Another bunch for good health. And in addition there are the spirits of your ancestors. These people had one god for one thing. Another god for another thing. So, they had fewer entities to worship, but they were quarrelsome and had conflicting demands. I can't help thinking that someone should come up with the idea of one god or maybe none at all. Then, perhaps there'd be less time wasted in ceremonies and rites and more time allocated to more important tasks."

Ivory didn't like Glade's blasphemous musing. It was disrespectful of the spirits that governed her life. She didn't like to think of a universe without purpose or meaning. She was comforted by the thought of her mother's spirit watching over her and Ivory hoped she might understand and even approve of her relationship with Glade.

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The following day the two women set off out of the village to another wood that Glade knew. This was on the other side of a nearby mountain and entailed an arduous climb up one side where roamed ibexes, bear and snow leopards. Fortunately, they didn't need to go to the top where the spirits of rain congregated before a storm. The two women shivered in the piercing cold wind and throughout the whole day. Ivory looked forward to returning to the warmth of the tent she shared with Glade.

They couldn't talk much together as the wind carried their words off into the billowing black clouds above. When they eventually reached the shadow of the wood, the air was cool and there was a steady drizzle around them. Ivory wished that there was more of this dampness on the steppes below where it would have been much more welcome.

It was dark when the two women finally returned to the village through the gloom of the shadowy savannah. They warded off wild animals with flames burning on sticks they had dipped in animal fat. All Ivory wanted to do was rest in the shared bed, wrapped in Glade's arms and with that dildo once more burrowed inside the moist lips of her labia. But when they finally parted the hides to the tepee they found a boy of less than twelve summers awaiting them. It was the Chief's oldest son.

"At last!" he said. "I thought you'd never return. My father wants the shaman's apprentice to visit him in his tent."

"He wants to see me?" asked a startled Ivory. "When?"

"Now," said the boy. "And not with the shaman. Alone."