Past Loves Ch. 08: Bella and Huitzi

All characters and persons involved in sexual activities in this story are over the age of 18.

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8: La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Modern day Veracruz, Mexico): AD1549

Bella and Huitzilli

The sound of distant surf filled Huitzilli's ears as she made her way along the jungle path down to the beach. The feeling of the wet earth between her bare toes mingled with the sensation of the soft warm breeze blowing gently across her skin. She looked up and saw the far-off sparkle of the mid-day sun glistening beautifully off the breaking waves. She felt the sun's filtered heat wash pleasantly over her skin as it dappled through the thick green undergrowth of the forest.

It was a long walk through the thick jungles, craggy hillsides and eventually sandy shores of this land. The land that had once been the land of the Totonacs. But ever since the Aztec tax collectors had stopped coming for their ransom of food and sacrifices, nobody in her village had really been sure whose land it now was. Her father had told her that the land now belonged to a people called The Spaniards that, when he was a boy, had come from across the sea and thrown down their Aztec oppressors.

Nobody seemed to know much about these 'Spaniards'. According to her brother, who had made several trips south to their new town which they called 'La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz' they had paler skin, and strange words. But they had goods to barter and seemed fascinated with the gold that he had offered them in trade. They had even taught her brother a few words of their language, which he had passed on to her. Huitzilli could now say 'hello', 'food', 'water', 'please' and 'thank-you' in the language of the Spaniards, as well as a few words which she was told meant 'praise to the Christ God', the peculiar sacrificed god that they all apparently worshipped.

Huitzilli had even had daydreams of running off to this new exciting town, learning their ways and exploring the world beyond the confines of her home. At nineteen years old she had never been more than a few days walk away from her village. And more frustratingly she had yet to find a husband amongst the small selection available to her there. Most of the men were either already paired off or much too young for her. She had been looking forward to this rainy season's annual gathering of the local tribes, where she had been hoping that she would finally meet a mate.

It wasn't as if she was unattractive, she thought. But she had been told this by her grandmother, so she thought that didn't really count. She was medium height amongst her people, with long dark hair which she arranged neatly into a tidy plait behind her. She had a wide, round face with big dark brown eyes and a wide smile. Her body was well toned and lithe from all the hard work that she needed to do around the camp. And she had learned basket weaving from her mother, as well as oyster hunting, beer brewing and some woodworking, all of which she thought would make her more than an attractive match for any of the young men that she might meet at the yearly gathering.

Although, if Huitzilli was honest with herself, the idea of a husband was not something that particularly attracted her. She had always thought that the young men around her were often little more than foolhardy, loud, posturing idiots. She had always found the women around her to be far more intriguing and glamorous. The way they moved, their strength and resilience, their knowledge and power over things that men would never even come close to understanding. She had even had a few encounters with other women of the tribe, but none had lasted more than a few times. She always seemed to be much more interested in these dalliances than they were.

But for now, she was happy enough just being Huitzilla, she had friends and family, and the jungles were plentiful, and the seas were always filled with fish and oysters. This was where she was headed now, down to the shoreline on the hunt for seafood. There were many others who could also hunt for shells on the shoreline here, but none seemed to have a knack for it like Huitzilla. She knew all the best nooks and crannies where the biggest, freshest oysters liked to hide. Her neck was adorned with many of the pierced shiny pearls which she had extracted from their salty insides, and she wore the necklace proudly as a testament to her talent.

Finally she made it down to the beach and she ran out of the murky depths of the jungle gladly, loving the feeling of the bright, white sand between her toes and feeling the sea spray lightly kiss her skin. The ocean was a perfect crystal blue with peaks of white here and there where the surf broke against the reefs which lined the shoreline. For a moment, Huitzilla just stood on the sand, feeling the sun beat down on her from above, and listening to the roar of the sea and the calling of gulls up in the sky.

She reached up behind her and undid the ties and thongs of fabric which held her woven tunic and leather shirt on. Then she eagerly stripped these off and left them in a safe pile under a tree by the shore, before grabbing her small obsidian blade and oyster basket and dashed full speed into the beckoning surf.

As usual the cold water of the ocean was a shock to her as she dove head first into its embrace. She felt herself gasp in pleasure at the shock of the water covering her naked skin. But it didn't take long for her body to acclimatise to the coolness of the water, and very soon she was floating happily beyond the breaking waves, allowing the delicious, clear blue ocean to hold her up like a mother holding a babe.

But she wasn't here just to luxuriate in her own personal paradise, so she made sure her basket was firmly secured around her torso and began to kick out for the reef. She was a natural swimmer, her mother had said that she always looked more comfortable in the water than she did on land. She certainly was able to hold her breath for longer than nearly anyone she knew, which was another good reason why she was so good at diving for oysters. She felt that today she would find an oyster to rival all the others she'd ever found.

- - -

Bella was rowing hard northwards in her little fishing boat that she had stolen from her brother. Her face was set in an expression of grim determination. She was not going back to Vera Cruz! The Major, and all his men would have to come and hunt her down and drag her kicking and screaming before she went back there. She thought that being born in this New World meant that she might be able to get away from all the stupid old traditions of the Old World. But no, she was still expected to marry some disgusting old creep, just because he was her Father's business partner?!

No, not her, not here, not now. She wasn't going to let him push her around like he had pushed around her mother, and sisters. She was going to go out into this New World and make a new life for herself. There was a whole continent out here, one where she wouldn't have to submit, and pray, and be grateful for every little bit of nonsense that her father and the other men tossed her way.

She had long been aware that her father was not just a provider for her and her siblings, he was also a bully and a cruel bastard. And ever since their mother had died, there was no-one to protect them from the worst of his behaviour. He'd already married off her two older sisters to convenient partners, and she'd never seen either of them again.

Bella also didn't think that she'd have made a very good catch for whatever partner her father had lined up for her. At twenty years old, she was young and willful, this she knew, but she had also been teased by her sisters for having small breasts and skinny thighs, with strong arms from helping around the house. She'd been called boyish, and her relatively short, dark hair-cut to keep the lice away had not helped this. But she thought that she was pretty enough, with a soft jawline and petite nose, and bright brown eyes. She had good teeth and skin too, she'd been lucky to inherit those from her mother, rather than her father and sister's more ruddy complexion. All in all, she may have in fact made a fine catch for any man, but she'd row this boat to Hell before she let herself get sold off like a prize mare to the highest bidder.

The anger boiling in Bella's stomach continued to simmer like a boiling over pot, but at the same time, other calmer parts of her mind were also raising their hands, insistent on drawing her attention to them. It was a big open continent out there, one filled with plenty of dangers. Wild beasts in the woods, poisonous plants and even tales of vicious, man-eating savages, just waiting for innocent young Christian girls to step out of the bounds of their town. Of course Bella didn't believe these tales any more than she believed what Father Emanuel had told her about God carrying the sun across the heavens every day.

There had been plenty of the native people in the town, down by the harbour, some poor wretches in chains, but others she had seen brightly adorned and wearing precious gems and gold on their clothing.

But another inconvenient question raised its head in Bella's mind as she continued to furiously row her little boat along the shoreline. What would she eat? She had a small pack of ship's biscuits that her brother had brought down by the harbour, but they would only get her so far. Beyond that she didn't really have a plan. It was something she would think about later anyway. Right now she had to concentrate on getting as far away from that miserable town as she could, before anyone realised she'd gone.

- - -

It was mid-afternoon before the screaming tightness in her arms and legs let Bella know that she'd gone as far as she could that day. Finally, she took in the oars and let the gentle current of the ocean drift her boat calmly in its embrace. She had a flask of fresh water with her and she gulped down its contents greedily, suddenly very aware of the bright hot sun above her. To her left, lay the distant, blue horizon, over which her father's ship had sailed a lifetime ago to bring him and her mother to this land. To her right lay an equally endless open stretch of pure white beach, with the thick lush jungles behind it, rising up and covering the low hills along the shoreline.

For a moment or two, Bella sat in her boat, still feeling her anger simmer inside her, but also aware of the sun now beginning its descent back towards earth. She had gotten nearly a day away, which she hoped would be enough to make sure that she wasn't pursued. And now she had to think about what to do next.

She was interrupted by some movement out of the corner of her eye. Something large and fast in the water nearby drew her eye towards the movement. As she looked overboard, she thought that she saw the flick of a fin, or maybe a fish-like tail disappear beneath her boat. She quickly turned to look over the other side, making the shallow vessel rock dangerously as she did so. But she definitely saw it more clearly this time, and what she saw took her breath away.

Looking down through the crystal clear waters, Bella could make out the lithe, beautiful form of a woman, moving with ease through the water, just above the rocky sea floor. She seemed to be looking for something amongst the small crevices and cracks between the rocks, her long brown arms reaching out ahead of her, pulling herself from outcrop to outcrop. Her mane of thick black hair flowed freely behind her as she swam, almost long enough to cover her naked torso and even her round, shapely behind as Bella viewed her from above. Because of how she was swimming, with her legs out behind her, for a moment Bella was sure that she was looking at a legendary mermaid. But then the woman in the waters flexed her legs in one long stroke in the water to propel herself towards something on the sea bed.

As Bella watched from above, the woman in the water retrieved a small knife from a basket she had tied to her waist and used it to pry a large oyster out from under a large boulder. Bella watched fascinated as the woman below placed the mollusc into the basket which she could see carried several other shells as well, before she kicked off again towards a new target. The woman must have been holding her breath now for a good few minutes at least and Bella found herself fascinated by how easily she moved through the water, eyes always cast down towards the sea floor, supposedly searching for more oysters.

Finally, the woman below turned her head upwards and kicked off a rock to make for the surface. Bella pulled her head back within the boat and hid. Which was a ridiculous thing to do, this woman would clearly see the boat silhouetted against the sky, but for some reason she was embarrassed for this woman to know that she had been spying on her. In the next moment she heard something break the surface of the water and a deep gasp of breath not too far away. Bella wanted to risk a glance over the gunwale, but did not want to risk being spotted by the strange mermaid woman.

- - -

Huitzilla surfaced in the water not too far from the floating object that she had seen from below. It was long and oblong in shape, not unlike a wide canoe, or massive leaf. But as she wiped the salt water from her eyes and slicked her hair back out of her face she saw that it was definitely a boat of some kind. It looked like it was empty, and it bobbed freely in the tide as it pulled both her and the boat gently northwards.

She had more than enough oysters from the day's outing, some of which she knew would have nice big pearls inside, but she had yet to find her elusive 'big oyster'. And she was curious, so she took another deep breath and swam under this boat a few more times, and ran her hands along its smooth underside. Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her and she surfaced again right next to the floating vessel and gently knocked on the side.

'Hello?' she said in what she hoped was a friendly voice.

Bella squeezed her eyes tight shut as the woman in the water knocked on the side of her boat and said something in a language that she didn't understand, maybe she was a native?

'Um... Hello...' Bella replied finally, raising her head up a little way and looking down over the side of the boat.

Huitzilla recoiled slightly as the person in the boat replied to her in the language of the Spaniards. She had been told to steer clear of these people because they were dangerous and carried sickness. But when she looked up over the side of the boat she saw only a young woman, probably about the same age as her, with a scared and worried expression on her face. She was dressed very strangely in a long orangey-brown garment which covered her whole torso and arms and seemed to continue down further, but she couldn't see that far from her position in the water. She had paler skin than anyone Huitzilla had ever seen, but by no means as pale as those of the stories she'd been told, and her hair was long and dark, but tied up behind the head. The woman's brows were thick and dark, as were the long thick lashes which framed her eyes.

As the two women stared at each other, Bella raised up her hand slowly and gave a little wave and a nervous smile to this strange water-dwelling woman. The next moment Huitzilla returned the gesture, with little flecks of seawater flicking from her fingertips as she waved back. Even though just her head and soldiers were in the air, the water was clear enough that Bella had a full view of the woman's body through the rippling surface. She could see the well rounded, full forms of her breasts floating weightless in the water, and the two hard dark tips of her nipples at the centre of each one. She could also make out her narrow waist, but wide rounded hips which melted down into powerful looking toned thighs. Bella realised that she was staring at this other woman's nakedness and blushed deeply before looking away and trying to focus on looking the woman in the eyes, rather than, anywhere else.

'Hello, I'm Bella, nice to meet you',

Bella said nervously. She didn't know if this woman could understand her yet, but she wanted to at least try and make a good impression.

The woman in the water swam up to the side of the boat and reached up to place a hand on the gunwale, supporting her weight on the boat and reaching up with her other arm to point at herself.

'Huitzilla,' she said in her strange tongue, then she pointed at Bella and cocked her head to the side, as if asking a question. Bella understood right away and smiled, before pointing to herself and replying,

'Bella.'

Huitzilla smiled back, and reached down below the water line to retrieve one of the oysters from the basket at her waist. She held it up between the two if them and said, in an unsure accent,

'Food?'

Bella laughed happily at the gesture. Even though Huitzilla clearly couldn't speak more than a few words of Spanish, she clearly knew enough to convey the most important things in life. She reached out and took the oyster gratefully, nodding her head as she did so. Then she offered her hand out, to pull this strange young woman aboard. Huitzilla seemed hesitant at first, and looked around her briefly, as if not wanting to be seen by other people. But the beach and ocean were completely empty, it was just the two of them drifting in the current. So she returned the gesture by reaching up and taking Bella's arm and scrambled ungainly on board.

Although she was expecting it, Bella still gasped in shock and surprise as the completely naked woman tumbled into her boat. She seemed slightly unstable out of the water and Bella instinctively reached out her arm to steady the young woman, realising as she did so that she was holding the arm of a strange, completely naked woman in a stolen boat miles from her home on a foreign continent. What was she even doing?!

Once the rocking of the boat had settled down a bit, Huitzilla smiled once again and sat down comfortably on the floor of the boat. Her skin was a subtle, woody brown colour with not a mark or a scar anywhere to be seen. The droplets of seawater still covering her seemed to glisten in the bright sunlight, and her long dark hair fell back off her head like a frozen onyx waterfall. Her breasts, now that they were free of the water, looked like two delicious ripe half-melons tipped with hard dark nipples, and her gorgeous flat stomach ran down smoothly all the way to her fully exposed navel and small patch of dark wiry hair between her legs.

Bella realised in horror that she had been staring at this woman's naked body now for quite a long time, her mouth completely open in shock and awe. The feeling welling up in her chest was strange and scary, but unignorable. She wanted to reach out and touch this woman, to run her fingers through her long moist hair, to run her hands over that soft subtle skin, and even kiss those full dark lips, smell her scent.

With a force of will Bella tore her eyes away from the naked beauty before her and pursed her lips chastely. If Almighty God could see what was running through her mind right now then she would surely be cast into Hell for all eternity. But then, she had already disobeyed her father, stolen her brother's boat and was now consorting with a heathen, so it seemed like she was probably damned one way or the other anyway.

During Bella's internal crisis, Huitzilla had been sitting quietly in the boat, looking up at her with a strange friendly smile on her face. As she looked back over and met those deep, dark soulful eyes once again, Huitzilla reached up her hand for her. Bella hesitated for just a moment before letting her instincts take over and took the offered hand. The skin was soft but rough, like her own. Working hands, but warm and with light pressure Huitzilla pulled Bella down to sit at the base of the boat as well until the two women were sitting in the gently rocking vessel facing each other not two feet apart.