The Great Escape Chapter 5, Part 5 of 5

The Great Escape
Chapter 5, Part 5 of 5

In the dark, she could not see him stifle a yawn, but she could hear the sleepiness in his voice.

"And you'll call me 'Darling,' will you?"

"If you'll let me."

Ezra planned to call all his bedmates 'Darling' or 'Sweetheart' because, as a typical man, he was highly likely to contact one of them by the wrong name.

"Can we go to bed?" he asked.

"All right."

Sharne wasn't tired, but if he was, then she could do nothing. She took his explanation at face value and suspended her judgment until tomorrow. Maybe he was sincere and did not think she was ugly.

She undressed and lay on the bed. He did the same and lay next to her. Only their arms touched. Then he took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers. They lay like that until he fell asleep only a minute later. Perhaps he didn't hear her quietly say, "I forgive you."

In the morning, Sharne woke before Ezra. She was lying on her side, and he was lying against her, his front to her back, an arm around her waist.

It was how he slept with Angela. She thought he might have been dreaming of Annela because his hard cock pressed against her bottom.

Her stirring woke him, and he pulled her into a closer cuddle.

"Good morning, Sharne," he said, his early-morning brain performing wonders.

"Good morning."

"Well, isn't this cozy?"

She had to laugh.

"I suppose it is."

"Damn it!" she thought to herself. "I'm a grown woman of thirty-six, not a neophyte of twenty. I can say what I need and want. I could say, 'Fuck me now."

She didn't need to. He rolled her onto her back and rolled himself onto her, his hands under her shoulders. She automatically put her arms around his neck and spread her legs.

"Now, to make up for last night. You want it?"

Her affirmative answer was muffled because he had pressed his mouth against hers, and soon, she was responding with an enthusiastic tongue to his kiss.

She felt his hand move to her breast and his fingers toy with the nipple. His cock was warm against her thigh and belly. Curiosity made her put a hand down to feel it. He lifted his pelvis so she could put her hand around his cock and dropped his hand to her pussy, and began to massage her, his fingertips softly diddling her clitoris.

She loved it. She began to moan and gripped his cock.

He kissed his way down her neck and shoulder and began to lap at a nipple. At the same time, he began to rub his fingers across her vulva. She was already wet, and her inner lips squelched as he patted her. She arched her back and spread her thighs wider, moaning deeper in her throat.

Her nipples were black and rubbery. He sucked at one and then the other; he took as much of a tit as he could into his mouth and gave it a good licking and suck.

Her tits were more extensive than Annela's but not as firm. Ezra cursed himself for making the comparison. He basted them while slipping an exploring finger into her vagina. She arched and bucked her pelvis to swallow his finger.

He felt around and found her G-spot and the tight ligaments and muscles that gave her the best sensation. She moaned her disappointment when he removed his finger from her vagina, but he returned to rubbing her outer lips and clitoris. One tit or the other was in his mouth now, and he licked and sucked greedily.

When he began to kiss his way down her chest and over her stomach, she had to let go of his cock. She laid her hands flat on the bed and surrendered herself to whatever Ezra wanted.

His lips traced the outline of her taut stomach muscles as he worked his way across her belly, returning to kiss up the sides of her stomach. Her athletic waist was thin from front to back but straight from ribs to hips. Her thighs were round and robust, and she had large, round buttocks that were sensitive to his hands. Doggy-style was going to be fun, he thought.

Ezra enjoyed making love to Sharne, who seemed to respond to everything he did.

He kissed down to her thick black pubic hair and parted the tight curls to tongue her clitoris. That got her engine going. She tasted good, and he gave her clit a tongue-lashing which revved her up into second gear. She bucked her pelvis. Her moans were throaty and urgent. They ended with a disappointed sigh when he pulled his mouth away from her clitoris.

He wanted a look at her pussy. He folded back her brown labia to reveal the smooth pearly pink lining inside and ran a teasing finger along the slit and around the entrance to her vagina. She groaned expectantly, liking his touch but wanting more. She got more teasing. He flicked his tongue into her slit and licked around her labia, raising her tension by sucking her lower lips or her clit but not giving her any absolute satisfaction.

Satisfaction came when he plunged a finger into her vagina, angled upward to find the rough spongy patch. It was third gear now, and she was bucking rhythmically. He pushed in another finger and jerked it quickly up and down. Her twat made a sloppy noise as she soaked his hand. She came again and then crunched herself up, raising her knees and trying to move his hand away, rolling to one side.

"You liked that?" he asked as she lay there, breathing heavily.

She didn't answer, but when he leaned over her to hold her, she grabbed him, pulling him in for a kiss and holding him tightly. She had strong arms, and he had to keep the bedstead to lever himself into the proper position to push her onto her back. He forced her legs open with his knees, lay on her, and sank his stiff cock into her expectant willing twat.

Their first moments of coupling were thrilling. She was pretending to be fighting him, and he had to use all his strength to force her arms onto the bed. He gripped her hands in his, fingers intertwined, and pushed them with bent elbows beside her head. Then he slid his cock into her again, fucking her slowly and then pumping faster as she responded with passion, gripping his hands hard and raising her knees to put her legs over his back.

It turned her on that he was taking charge so forcefully. Her gasping moans were earthy and loud, forced out of her by every thrust, until she finally reached a peak and, holding her breath, shook with a joyful spasm.

He pulled out and lay beside her, letting her rest a minute; then, he lay back and invited her on top. Sharne was trying to practice what Annela had explained about sex with a man because she climbed on him with relish and positioned herself in almost the right place the first time. She shuffled a little, put her hand down to guide his cock, and then enveloped it in her well-lubricated vagina.

Lucky Ezra, indeed! Annela's lessons had given the Woodlanders the idea that the woman is most often on top during sex. This was due to Ezra's injury, but it suited him well. If he was going to be having sex twice a day, which Annela had also taught the Woodlanders was expected, he needed to conserve his energy. The Woodlanders were fit and healthy, and none were as strong as Sharne, so why shouldn't they do most of the work?

He sucked her tits again as Sharne rode him, her firm thighs keeping up the rhythm effortlessly. He lay back and let the sensual pleasure run over him. The sight of her stomach muscles bunching, her tits jiggling, and beads of sweat on her forehead as she rode him were delightful. Her low moans catching in her throat were also a turn-on. He caressed her waist as he relaxed back, trying not to succumb to the erotic dance, trying to make the fucking last as long as possible.

She sped up her thrusting and leaned backward again. Annela's lessons were learned well. He couldn't resist much longer. She felt another climax imminent. She grabbed his hands and held them hard to her tits as she pumped him fast. In a minute, there was a blank look on her face; her eyes rolled up, and he felt the spasm in her body. Her thighs juddered. His spasm followed at once, and he spun warm white semen into her greedy snatch.

She pumped her pelvis a few more times as the tension ebbed away. His hands were still holding her tits. He guided her gently down to lie on him and relax. It was a few minutes before she could talk, but her first words were:

"Yes, I forgive you. Yes, I want it. And yes, I liked it very much. When can we do it again?"

The day after Ezra took Sharne as his bedmate, Annela left Wildchild and Tamar in her hut as she went to do her morning chores. There, they conferred and reached a decision. Later that morning, when the girls saw Ezra taking a rest from constructing the new crapper, they took him a short way into the forest for a private talk.

Tamar said: "Can we tell you something?"

"You can tell me anything, though I can guess what you say. You're leaving for the mountains soon, aren't you?"

"Yes. We've decided to go at the end of the week. We wanted to tell you first because we like you best. Though we like Annela best as well. And Carlin and Erin."

"I understand. I wish you luck."

Though he preferred the girls would stay, Ezra knew they were determined and entirely able to survive independently, so he would never try to dissuade them. He said:

"I know you'll be careful, but I hope you'll have a safe journey because I want you to return."

"We will be careful, and we both want to return." Wildchild nodded in agreement.

"Can I help you prepare for your journey?"

"We need as much dry food as we can carry."

"Of course. We can go and harvest figs tomorrow and dry them in the sun. Would that be useful?"

"Thanks, Ezra, I'll come with you," Tamar said. "Wildchild is going hunting."

"Mirselene will allow you to fill your swag bags with dried meat and salted fish. You can also have any share I'm due."

"Thank you."

"I said I wouldn't ask you again to guide me to where my ship sank, but I've been thinking: what if I could guarantee your safety from the Herders?"

"How?" Tamar asked, and Wildchild showed a wary interest.

"What if the Woodlanders could agree with the Mariners? Mirselene gave me the idea when she discussed negotiating for a new cow. You told me I'd need the Mariners' help to dive down to the ship, so what about an alliance between the two tribes? Would the allied tribes have enough people to scare off the Herders?"

"Maybe, but the Herders have horses." Wildchild was shaking her head.

"All right, I have more thinking to do, but if I can ally, will you reconsider?"

There was a short silent conference, and this time Wildchild nodded.

"We'll think about it," Tamar said, which satisfied Ezra.

"Good girls. So when will you announce your departure to the tribe?"

"Tomorrow, at the feast."

"Very well. I'll support you all I can, though I wonder why anyone would object.  By the way, please don't mention my plan to anyone yet."

"Of course we won't."

With that agreement, they walked back to the camp. Ezra was thinking seriously about how to salvage his ship, and he knew he would need Mirselene's agreement, which he could not predict, as she was distrustful of the other tribes.

Part of Ezra's motivation in supporting the girls on their trek to the mountains was also the fact that Wildchild would be eighteen in a few weeks. By his agreement with Mirselene, Ezra had to take all the fertile Woodlanders age eighteen or older as bedmates, and it concerned him that, now Wildchild had been adopted into the tribe, she might want to be his bedmate after Urulla. Or she might be persuaded by Mirselene to agree to be his bedmate. The problem was that Ezra still thought of her as a child.

When Wildchild and Tamar rescued him from the sea about six weeks ago, she had looked at him at about fourteen by Earth standards. Although both girls had put on a spurt of growth in the last month or so, she still looked about fifteen or sixteen. Having the two of them go on a reasonably safe adventure to the mountains would push that problem away for some time.

At the feast the next day, Tamar made her announcement. There were exclamations of concern and attempts to dissuade the girls, but there was no real pressure because Mirselene, who had authority and vast persuasive powers, stuck to her word. She had promised to help the girls all she could when they decided to move on, and she repeated her promise now, adding to her sincere hope that the girls would return safe and successful in finding the Miners.

Then, in a rare moment of silence, a thin, quiet voice spoke, someone rarely heard in large gatherings. It was Carlin who had summoned up the courage to say something.

"Mother," she said, "I would like to go with Wildchild and Tamar if they will take me."

"No, Darling," Erin responded automatically, "I don't want you to go. It's too dangerous."

Carlin blushed red and looked down. There was silence. The tribe waited for Mirselene to speak, but the great woman was unwilling to interfere with the mother and her daughter. The silence continued. Out of sympathy for Erin, no one asked the obvious question until Ezra spoke up:

"Forgive my interference, Erin," he said, "but what danger is there? If it's too dangerous for Carlin, who has lived in the forest all her life and can handle a bow and arrow, then surely it's too dangerous for Tamar. But so far as I can see, we have only tried to dissuade the girls from leaving because we want them here with us, not because we fear for their safety."

Erin looked unhappily at Ezra but did not answer. The shock of Carlin's sudden declaration had made her forbid it. She realized it was not such an outrageous idea if she had thought about it.

Annela knew Erin to be well-balanced and biddable. She took her friend's hand and said:

"Darling, I think you should reconsider Carlin's request." It was typical of Annela to call Carlin's brave declaration a request. "Wouldn't this be a wonderful experience for her? She could see the ice lakes and volcanoes and perhaps even meet the Miners. Wouldn't you have wanted to go on a great adventure before you were too burdened by work and motherhood? I know I would have had there been the chance."

Erin had indeed had an adventure: she had trekked to the Cloner City and lived there for nine months while she conceived and bore Carlin. How could she forbid her daughter from enjoying her adventure? She was almost persuaded when Mirselene herself spoke up.

"It is your decision, of course, Erin. You oversee your daughter until she is eighteen, and I know she is a dutiful girl who would obey you. But I also wish I'd had a similar opportunity when I was her age. I'm not sure I would have been so dutiful if my mother had forbidden me."

Carlin's look of joy when their chief supported her finally persuaded Erin. With tears in her eyes, she hugged her daughter and said, "All right. You can go, but promise me you'll be careful and not take risks."

"I promise, Mum," the girl assured her, "but I don't yet know if Wildchild and Tamar are willing to take me."

Curiously, no one had thought to ask the girls, who conferred quickly and decided that three would be better on this trek than two. Carlin was very welcome to come.

Besides accidents, the only real danger might have come from the Herders, but the girls were safe in the forest, which stretched to the foot of the White Mountains, and it wasn't very confident they would meet any Herders in the mountains themselves.

It had been seven weeks since the newcomers had been adopted into the tribe. Wildchild and Tamar had stayed this long because they enjoyed life in the forest, picking up tricks and skills for their future trek, especially archery. Wildchild said it was time to move on, and because Tamar had finished reading all four books of Mirselene's library, she agreed.

On the morning the girls were leaving, the whole camp rose early to share a hearty breakfast and wish them a safe journey. Erin, Annela, Ezra, Sharne, Pepi, and, to Ezra's surprise, Dagma set off to walk the first hour with the girls. Erin embarrassed Carlin one last time by insisting on carrying her backpack. The girl was too shy to make a fuss but wanted to show independence from her first step outside the camp.

Wildchild changed the mood of the occasion, however, by doffing her large backpack and imperiously holding it out to Ezra to carry for her, like he was her native bearer. They laughed as he pretended to stagger under her hefty baggage.

When Sharne had taken up Tamar's backpack, the party could properly begin the trek.

They chatted amiably, trying to cheer Erin, but when they reached the far side of the banana plantation, it was time to let the girls go on their own. There were kisses and hugs all around. Pepi clung to Carlin even longer than Erin, who resisted weeping for her daughter's sake. Ezra thought he had a moment of absolute understanding with Wildchild when he said:

"I know you'll be back. I need you to come back!"

She smiled and kissed his cheek. It was the first time he had heard her kiss anyone.

The escorting party watched the adventurers slowly disappear through the trees into the dense forest.

After a mile, they would again pick up the small river that meandered through the forest to run by the Woodlander's camp. They would follow the river upstream, at an increasing gradient, passing small waterfalls and silent pools, to its origin in the terminal lake at a glacier in the foothills of the White Mountains.

Here, they would leave the forest and cross the glacier. Then, there was a dormant volcano to walk around, behind which the peaks of the White Mountains temporarily disappeared and across a valley to the mountains proper, when the challenging climb would begin.

Sharne explained this itinerary, but she stopped here because it had been a generation or more since anyone had been further than the slopes of the volcano, and she didn't know the terrain beyond. Dagma, who had been stomping along in silence, added the rumors she had heard, and the two got engaged in a discussion that could only be settled once the girls returned or the women themselves made the trip.

They walked with Pepi between them, holding her hands and occasionally swinging her up.

Ezra looked over at Annela. At first, she had walked with her arm around Erin, sustaining her friend at a sad time. Now Erin seemed comforted and was walking alone, deep in thought.

Ezra went over to Annela and said, "Hello."

"Hello, yourself."

"How are you?"

"Fine. How are you getting on with Sharne?"

"Very well, thanks. I love you."

"Shush! Ezra! She'll hear!"

"She knows. Everyone knows."

"But still, it's not considerate to me and Sharne."

"You're right, I'm sorry. I don't love you."

"Now you're being stupid."

He was pleased she could joke.

"You'll miss the girls more than anyone, I think."

"I will," she agreed. "I'm going to move in with Erin for a while. We'll comfort each other."

"Good idea."

They walked for a few minutes in silence. He wanted to take her hand, but that would be inconsiderate to Sharne. He also had a question about Mirselene and wanted to talk to Annela about it. This was partly habit and a sense of communion with Annela, which he did not yet have with Sharne.

"One thing puzzles me about Mirselene," he said.

"Go on."

"Why did she allow Carlin to go with the girls when children are so precious to the Woodlanders?"

"It seems a puzzle, but it's a calculated risk. She sees much less danger in the journey than others do. Also, I think there's a compliment to you here."

"To me?"

"I think she can see how potent you are and is generally optimistic about you impregnating many of us. Who knows how many Woodlanders there'll be when the girls return?"

"And while they're gone, there are fewer mouths to feed? I get it, though I'm sure Wildchild earns her keep, and I'd be surprised if Carlin and Tamar were a drain on resources."

"No, I don't think it's mouths to feed. I think it's that they are a distraction and maybe a cause for Herder's violence. But sending Carlin away with them means they'll likely come back here, perhaps to stay, which is what I think she wants - what we all want."

"That's true, but I don't know if Mirselene is as devious as you present her."

"Now, don't twist my words, Ezra," she scolded him, touching his arm. "I only meant she is far-seeing and looks out for the tribe."

"You must be almost as devious to look into her mind so convincingly."

"Me, devious?"

She was genuinely shocked for a second, then realized he was joking and laughed. Erin heard her laughter and came over to join the conversation. Dagma and Sharne had reached an impasse in their discussion, so Erin caught them up, swinging Pepi along.

Thus, a good-humored escort party was welcomed back to the camp that morning, having seen three much-loved daughters of the tribe begin to grow up and wend their way toward adulthood.



To be continued