Glade and Ivory Ch. 11

The noisy festivities that had continued through the day were well over when Glade eventually returned to her tepee. The village was now silent apart from the muffled snores of the Reindeer Herders asleep in the chill open air and the occasional howl or bark from distant nocturnal beasts. Ivory stirred as Glade rustled about. Her bleary eyes fixed on her lover. Glade was weary but her fatigue was quite different from that which had overwhelmed her apprentice.

"Have you...?" asked Ivory. She struggled to find the words to describe the duty for which the shaman had volunteered to substitute.

Glade nodded. "It was more exertion than I've had for many years," she confessed with a smile, "but I'm feeling fine. No need to fret." She pulled off her furs and nestled naked under the bedsheets next to her young lover. "You needn't be concerned about the stench of male sex on my body. I took the precaution of washing before I entered the tent."

Ivory smiled. It was an anxiety she'd not been aware of but somehow the knowledge that she needn't be so reminded of her sexual torment comforted her. She enveloped an arm round Glade's shoulders and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"Thank you," she whispered as she gazed lovingly into the shaman's large brown eyes.

Glade could see that Ivory was no more enthusiastic than she on the sexual congress that normally accompanied their being in bed together, so she asked: "Do you want to know what happened on the days after the slave rebellion?"

Ivory nodded. Glade's life story fascinated her. The world beyond the mammoth steppes was so alien. Even the notion of a climate warm enough that people didn't need to wear clothes, together with the titillating insight that many chose not to do so, was intriguing enough.

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"It took only a day or so for the new regime in what had been the Knights' village to take shape," Glade continued. "The emancipated slaves settled in clusters of huts near each other according to the tribes to which they once belonged. My tribe and Mimosa's were the ones most heavily represented, presumably because ours were the tribes most recently enslaved. It saddened me that there were so many whose tribe was represented by so few survivors. Some of the dispossessed chose to associate with our tribe, whilst others gathered together as a tribe of orphans. All the few surviving Knights chose to shelter with the Forest People. One virtue that distinguishes my tribe of which I'm proud is our total lack of race hatred."

"So what happened to the tribes of the orphans?" Ivory wondered.

"They were very nearly extinct. The Knights' policy of conquest and enslavement had the result that few of those from the many tribes that once roamed the savannah now lived in sufficient numbers for their tribe to survive. The Knights had been like a wild fire in the forest that burns up everything in its path."

The two most populous tribes were also the ones most unlike each other. Glade's tribe of Forest People was egalitarian and easygoing. Mimosa's tribe of Mountain Warriors was hierarchical and disciplined. Glade's people were pacifist and gentle, which was definitely not true of the Mountain Warriors. Glade's tribe knew nothing of clothes, whilst within hours of the village's liberation the Mountain Warriors were adorning themselves with the pelt of slaughtered animals. These were the first clothes that Glade had ever seen, though unlike those in the frozen north they were decorative adornments not used for keeping the Mountain Warriors warm and certainly not for reasons of modesty. Unlike the furs worn by Ivory's tribe, the animal skins were flamboyantly arranged such that the bosom and genitals were always on display. It was as necessary a part of the Mountain Warriors' culture as it was of the Knights' to flaunt testimony of their sexuality.

The Forest People had much time to make up after the years of servitude they'd suffered. Unlike the Mountain Warriors who found their release in violence and the wilful desecration of the religious icons the Knights had held so dear, Glade's tribe found consolation in sharing one another's bodies. And also with whomsoever else they were sheltering with. Not everyone from the other tribes appreciated this. Some soon made their excuses and settled in huts where they weren't surrounded by the ceaseless carnal recreation that was so natural to the Forest People.

"You lot are as bad as the fucking Knights!" complained one woman as she left the hut to live in one settled by people of a dark brown, curly-haired race. "All you ever do is fuck each other!"

Nonetheless, Glade was no more disposed to moderate her behaviour than anyone else from her tribe. The most natural thing in the world was to fuck. In common with her fellow Forest People she did so publicly and with as many people as were willing.

Her first and most treasured fuck was with Tree Shrew, while being cheered on by Macaque and, rather less enthusiastically, Dignity who clung tremulously to her lover. Tree Shrew had only experienced sex with men during his years of slavery, but he much preferred to fuck rather than to be fucked. Tree Shrew and Glade were vigorous and insatiable lovers who paused only to recuperate before they resumed their coupling. Glade's cunt had known so little pleasure during her years of service to Lady Demure. It had been her mistress whose welcoming fleshy lips had most often enjoyed the internal penetration of fist and fingers. She never reciprocated and neither Quagga nor Mimosa was inclined to offer her vagina much more than the most hesitant attention. Now she was being fucked by a man's cock and, what's more, where she most enjoyed it. This was a treat Glade couldn't get enough of.

Naturally enough, there were other bodies than just Tree Shrew's for Glade to savour. There was Tapir who in his years in the Knights' service had acquired a taste for anal intercourse, but this was a pleasure Glade allowed him for only a brief moment. There was Pangolin whose greatest pleasure was to lick and chew Glade's clitoris in the hope she might ejaculate on his face, which she didn't always have the spirit to do. There was Macaque who, with the nervous but willing assistance of Dignity and the rather bolder Fern, smothered Glade with passionate kisses and licked her vagina clean, while she was also being fucked by Tree Shrew. There were so many combinations and configurations to enjoy after the years of the Knights' unimaginative lovemaking.

As Glade chewed at the growing stubble about Dignity's crotch, she was reminded of Demure whose vagina was the one with which she'd been most intimate for so long. Despite her joy at no longer being a slave, she was surprised to discover that she was yearning once more for those pink inner lips and that hard clitoris.

"After all the suffering you'd endured?" remarked Ivory with astonishment.

"Despite all my years of experience, amongst so many different tribes and with so many men and women," said Glade, "the passions of the flesh and the avenues it has taken me remain the greatest of all mysteries. As much as I recognised that Lady Demure regarded me more as a plaything than a lover, I'd come to feel affection towards her. She had, after all, been the person, male or female, with whom I'd most often made love in all those years."

The way in which the village was now organised wasn't at all to Glade's liking. When she watched the Mountain Warriors preen and stride about, she wondered how long they would remain tolerant of those in their midst whose way of life was so very different.

"They're as bad as the Knights," remarked Macaque bitterly when a Mountain Warrior had been chased away after he'd unsuccessfully demanded that Dignity be surrendered to what he believed were her just deserts. "It seems we've deposed one set of tyrants only for them to be replaced by another lot that's just the same."

Glade understood Macaque's sentiment. After all, her lover was in real risk. Furthermore, there were also physical similarities given that the Mountain Warriors' skin was as black as that of the Knights. Skin colour varied amongst the enslaved tribes in the Knights' village. There were as many with black or very dark skin as there were those with the brown skin of the Forest People, but the comparison with the Knights was unavoidable. Glade also had to admit that her tribe was too pacifist—meek even—to have taken up arms against their oppressors. The rebellion could only have succeeded if it was led by a tribe with a culture as violent as that of their captors. It was part of the Knights' tragedy that amongst the last tribes they'd subjugated should be one whose rebellion was most likely to succeed.

The Forest People also lacked the Mountain Warriors' practical understanding of social organisation. It was inconceivable for one Forest Person to take prominence over another. This made them even less able to stand firm against the Mountain Warriors' demands. Indeed, when the Mountain Warriors did want to speak to a representative of the Forest People they were frustrated to not find anyone who would volunteer for the role.

"I don't fucking care!" said Lady Mimosa, as she was now styled. "One of you will speak for your tribe and it is of no concern to me who it is."

Glade, Tree Shrew, Fern and a handful of other Forest People stood by the shrine to Rock Baboon that had become an unofficial meeting point for the two tribes. Ahead of them stood an equal number of Mountain Warriors, together with women from other tribes who'd chosen to shelter with them and were now treated more as servants to their new masters than as their equals. Lady Mimosa wore a leopard skin fastened about her shoulders, a necklace of pebbles cascaded over her full bosom, and leather bracelets adorned her arms and legs. Her crotch and nipples were uncovered, whilst the stubble of hair on her head was hidden beneath an overbearing headpiece of bird-feathers. The hair on her head and crotch was short and stubbly. No one, not even the surviving Knights, were shaving any more. This was a custom that had died along with the Knights' gods and their sacred icons.

Glade's people were confused by Lady Mimosa's demands. They addressed each other in the same tongue, about the only legacy left intact of the Knights' culture, but there was still a gulf of understanding between them.

"Well, it'll have to be you," said Mimosa who addressed Glade by the word in the Knights' vocabulary that most nearly approximated to her name. "You were my companion during my years of thraldom to the vile and perverse black bitch. I shall forever honour the bond that grew between us. It is this bond alone and the value I attach to it that has protected those who shelter with you."

It was obvious that Lady Mimosa was referring to the handful of Knights sheltering in the Forest People's huts and who never dared to venture outside for the very real fear of being slaughtered by the Mountain Warriors.

"Although it is an honour to be considered spokeswoman for my tribe," said Glade diplomatically, knowing how unseemly it would be in her tribe to seek such preferment, "I shall do so only as your friend, not as one more senior than my fellows."

"Have it your own way," said Lady Mimosa. She almost spat out her contempt for the Forest People's alien ways. "It really is of no concern to me how you naked brown tree-lovers organise yourselves."

"What is it you want to say, my friend?" asked Glade. She was careful not to address Mimosa with an honorific that would antagonise her people's egalitarian customs.

"It is intolerable to me and my people that you should shelter devils in our midst," said Lady Mimosa, while her court nodded in unanimous agreement. "There is only one fate worthy for such scum and that is death. We are prepared to permit them a short and merciful death, but they cannot remain alive. If you do not surrender to us the devils in your care, then we shall have no choice but to seize them from you. Should any one of you resist us, we shall kill whoever dares come between the devil and our ancestors' rightful revenge. We shall give you just one day to come to a decision. If you fail to decide rightly then we shall take action. There will be no further debate. There is nothing that you can say that will deflect us from exacting moral retribution."

There was a pause as Glade and the others absorbed the news that they had half-expected. Glade glanced at Fern who was standing beside her. Macaque had wisely stayed behind with Dignity. It was obvious now that the provocation of a Knight, however innocent of crime, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, as she would be, with Macaque, would have enraged Mimosa and her entourage. Now that they had made clear how little mercy they were prepared to show, there was no likelihood that Dignity's life would be spared.

Glade had learnt well from her years with Lady Demure. Tact and a modicum of accommodation was always the most advisable stance to take when confronted with unreasonable demands.

"We shall discuss your demands amongst ourselves and come to a decision," she said. "I just hope that our show of compassion to those so desperate to seek our charity doesn't prejudice our future good relations with you and your tribe."

Could anyone in her tribe be as tactful as Glade? She very much doubted it. Already she could sense the bridling outrage amongst the Forest People who shared the view that, dreadful though the Knights' crimes had been, not all of them deserved to die.

"So what did you do?" asked Ivory. "Did you see sense and sacrifice the evil black savages? Surely you knew that the game was now up and you had to submit them to what they deserved?"

"Is that what you think, sweetest?" asked Glade slightly reproachfully. "No one deserves to be punished because of someone else's crimes. A race or tribe doesn't deserve to be annihilated because some or even the majority of it has behaved abominably."

Ivory frowned. It was obvious to her that the Knights of the Savannah who had shown so little mercy to Glade's tribe should expect no reprieve. However, she'd come to understand that in this way, as in such others as Glade's promiscuity and her lack of veneration towards the spirits, there was a gulf of opinion between them that could never be bridged.

"If you didn't do what Lady Mimosa demanded, what did you do?" asked Ivory as she rested her cheek on her lover's shoulder.

"There was remarkably little debate about it," said Glade. "Just as Mimosa believed that it was unthinkable that we shelter the few remaining Knights, so too did my tribe find it inconceivable we should do otherwise. As there was no other choice available to us, we decided, with very few exceptions, to leave the village almost immediately. Soon enough, anyway, that the Mountain Warriors would be ill-prepared to stop us."

"And where did you choose to go?"

"That's not a difficult question to answer," said Glade. "Our tribe was used to the comfort and shelter of the forest. For us, the years in the open savannah were a time of purgatory. What we wanted to do was return home to the forests of our birth. Those who accompanied us from other tribes knew nothing different so the prospect of choosing a life where the sky was hidden under a canopy of leaves was rather less inviting, but what choice did they have? They preferred our tolerance and liberty to the ways of the Mountain Warriors."

The exodus from the village took place before the Sun had progressed much further across the sky. As the Forest People had hoped, Mimosa's tribe was wholly unprepared for the sight of so many people, including the few remaining Knights, trekking into the wide open spaces in the direction that all of them so well remembered as the path that had originally brought them to the village. Precautions were made to hide the Knights in the centre of the procession so that they couldn't be easily picked off by the Mountain Warriors strolling about the village armed with the weapons left behind by the village's original masters.

"How many were you?" wondered Ivory.

"Our band made up about a third of the village's original slave population. There were perhaps as many as thirty of us. We were a large enough body for us to have little to fear from the lions and hyenas of the savannah that would happily attack us individually. There were more Forest People than those from any other tribe and less than a handful of the Knights whose lives we were saving."

"You must have been frightened about leaving the sanctuary of the village," Ivory remarked.

"We were rather more frightened about the wide open spaces of the savannah," said Glade. "Few of us had ever been allowed to wander beyond the village, so we had little idea beyond our fragmented memories of what it was like to walk under the blue open sky. I was aching to tread once again on the soft mossy ground of the forest, to no longer have to squint in the bright light, and to pluck fruit from the tree. Furthermore, we all believed that it was the spirits of the forest that protected us. In the savannah far away from their influence, we were vulnerable to predators and the unfriendly spirits of an alien world."

Ivory's only faith was in the spirits of the mammoth steppe. She couldn't understand how anyone could find solace in the dark shadows and dripping leaves of a forest. But the spirits that guided her at the moment dragged her back to sleep on Glade's comforting bosom.

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Glade's tepee was brightly illuminated by the filtered light of the sun when Ivory once more gained consciousness. She soon became aware that she wasn't alone. Glade was sitting cross-legged in front of the hearth while opposite her sat Chief Cave Lion and, beside him, the Reindeer Herder chief. Ivory sat up sharply and gripped close to her naked breast the furs that served as blankets.

"I see you are awake," said the Chief. "I trust you are well rested?"

Ivory nodded. "Yes I am, my lord."

"Good. Good," said Chief Cave Lion. "However, you will be sad to know that it is today that the Reindeer Herders will be leaving us."

"Our herd is restless," said the Reindeer Herder chief. "More than two days in one place and not even our tamed wolves and all the spirits can restrain them. It is with regret that my people and I shall depart. But we shall take with us the memories of your fine entertainment and delicious food."

"And food not just for the stomach," Chief Cave Lion reminded him with a smirk, nodding at Ivory's naked body.

"We must leave very soon," resumed the Reindeer Herder chief, addressing Ivory. "My wives have permitted me one last fuck with you. It will be many seasons until once again I can savour flesh as fresh and unscarred by the elements as yours."

"Then we shall leave you," said Chief Cave Lion as he raised himself up off the floor. He made his way out of the tent, while Glade kissed Ivory almost chastely on the cheeks.

With that, Ivory was left alone with the Reindeer Herder chief. At first she was apprehensive, especially as the man disrobed himself almost as soon as Glade had departed. His penis was already erect and twitching with excitement. However, Ivory had recovered from her efforts rather better than she'd expected. The sight of this man's naked body arose in her the lust she feared was lost forever. Although her crotch was still sore from the pounding to which it had been submitted the day before, it was soon lubricated by her vaginal juices and the Reindeer Herder chief's penis slipped inside her with ease.

Ivory enjoyed this lovemaking rather more than any she'd experienced the day before. This was because the Reindeer Herder chief was both more considerate and more skilled than his fellows. His thrusts were leisurely and deep. They only gradually built up a tempo that were in time with Ivory's reciprocal thrusts. He was a muscular man. He was able to lift Ivory's whole body off the ground even though she gripped him only by the grip of her labia and her thighs wrapped around him. He took his time to ejaculate, which he did when Ivory also climaxed. And this wasn't the first time in their lovemaking that Ivory came to an orgasm. Despite her weariness, she achieved satisfaction not once, not twice, but several times. Only with Glade had she ever before enjoyed such recurrent release.