The Great Escape Chapter 7, Part 1 of 5

The Great Escape
Chapter 7, Part 1 of 5

Disaster for the Woodlanders came from a fight during the monthly trade meeting with the Mariners.

On the day before the monthly trade, Mirselene renewed her attempt to persuade her daughter, Dagma, to be Ezra's bedmate. She had been refusing for more than two weeks, and by her mother's calculation, she should now be ovulating. Mirselene began with kind words, appealing to her daughter's loyalty to the tribe, but was unsuccessful again and, losing her temper, drove her defiant daughter away.

Dagma spent the night in the forest and returned before her mother woke up the following day.

She hitched up her basket of goods and waited for the trading party on the route to the trading place. Unfortunately, she took her anger and resentment with her.

The Woodlander party had a good time and, by mid-morning, had concluded the usual preliminaries of sharing food and gossip. The pre-ordered goods had been exchanged, and bargaining for additional items was advancing peaceably when Dagma got into a dispute about the price of a wooden tool.

The argument turned into angry pushing when Dagma grabbed back the haft and appeared to threaten the Mariner woman with it. She was a tall, muscular woman called Kalyndra. The women grappled, and Kalyndra grabbed a stone knife from a nearby basket. Urulla moved in to try to separate the brawling women, but there was confusion. Arms flailed, and curses were shouted. Then a cry was heard. The women backed off, and there was Urulla, lying on her back with a bloody wound in her chest.

Kalyndra was still holding the knife. She screamed, threw it down, and ran away. Someone shouted, "She's dead!" and the other Mariners ran after Kalyndra, leaving their baskets of goods behind.

The Woodlanders thought Urulla was dead. Dagma was closest to the ailing girl, but she was in shock, unable to move. Casti acted first and knelt by her daughter, staunching the blood with her hand. Blood bubbled out of the corner of Urulla's mouth, and the girl went pale and silent.

"Get help!" Casti shouted. "Dagma! Don't just stand there; run for help!"

Dagma woke from her daze and, taking off her cloak, ran into the forest toward the Woodlander camp. A weeping Dipti knelt beside Casti, and they took turns putting pressure on the wound and staunching the blood flow. The other women stood around uselessly.

The Mariner settlement was closest, and it was only an hour or so before Belena, the chief of the Mariners, and a dozen of her tribeswomen arrived.

They brought water, bandages, and assorted medicines. Their nurse, Calliope, and her teenage daughter offered to help. Other Mariners carried a large tent roof on poles that they set up over the injured woman to shield her and her nurses from the sun.

Belena sat on a chair under another tent and set her women to put the baskets of goods back in order and sort out who owned what while they waited for Mirselene to turn up, as she surely would.

Dagma arrived back in the Woodlander camp, exhausted and sweating, barely able to talk.

Tears in her eyes, she gasped out the story to the disbelieving tribe. It was too great a disaster for Mirselene to apportion blame. What mattered now was saving Urulla's life. Her orders were swift and concise:

"Parvinder, pack your medicines. Annela, help her. Dagma, you need some water. Ezra, can you make a stretcher?"

Then, she retired to her hut to think through her strategy. Soon, Parvinder was ready with a bag of medicines, and Annela was also prepared. Ezra and Dagma had folded the strong tarpaulin sheet and tied it to two long poles.

Mirselene emerged from her hut, prepared to lead the rescue party.

"Annela, Ezra, you can't come."

"Madam, I can help Parvinder," Annela protested while Ezra asked, "Why on Earth not?"

Mirselene replied:

"Annela, you are pregnant. Ezra, do I need to explain? No time to argue. Stay and make up Parvinder's hut to receive Urulla. Help Lenta make us some dinner because we'll be famished when we return. Dagma, can you make the journey twice in a day?"

"Yes, mother," she said in a meek voice.

"Good. Let's go."

Mirselene led Parvinder and Dagma out of the camp, carrying the stretcher, water bladders, and the medicine bag.

Even with a light load and not stopping, it was more than a two-hour walk to the meeting place. They found the Mariners waiting for them. Calliope and her daughter were helping nurse Urulla. The other Mariners sat or stood around their chief under her tent. There was an empty seat next to Belena.

Parvinder went to look at Urulla while Mirselene took her place on the vacant chair.

"Sister," she said, "this is an awful business."

"Indeed, Sister," Belena said, "we are very grieved and sorry."

"Who is the culprit?"

"This is Kalyndra." Belena motioned forward a contrite woman.

"What have you to say for yourself, girl?" Mirselene demanded.

"I am to blame, Madam. I am very sorry. Please forgive me. Please tell me Urulla will live?"

"It is not my place to forgive you, girl, but your remorse does you credit. Our nurse will tell us how Urulla is."

"To be fair to Kalyndra," Belena added, "it was half-and-half who was to blame for starting the fight."

"So my daughter has admitted, yet your woman was entirely to blame for using a weapon.

This is utterly forbidden, as you know."

"Yes, I know. We are prepared to make restitution if you agree."

"I agree, but first, I will learn if bringing Urulla back to camp today is safe."

Parvinder was summoned, and when she was satisfied that she could safely leave her patient, she attended to the chiefs.

"Urulla is unconscious but stable," Parvinder reported. "She's breathing freely now, and the wound has stopped bleeding, but she's lost a lot of blood, and I don't know if the journey home will re-open her wound. I'm going to strap her up now. We tried to give her water, but she coughed it up."

"My settlement is nearer," Belena offered. "We have an excellent nurse in Calliope, and we will give Parvinder lodging, of course."

"Your offer is kind, Sister, but I think Urulla would be happier in her tribe and under the care of our two nurses."

"As you wish, Sister, my offer remains open should you change your mind."

"What do you say, Parvinder?"

"If you want us to take her home, Mirselene, then so long as we go slowly and are prepared to stop if she's in danger, I think it's safe."

With that, Parvinder returned to her patient. The bustle around the tent indicated they were removing her shirt and binding her wound with bandages. After this, Urulla was left to rest, watched over by Parvinder, while Casti and Dipti went to rinse the blood off their hands and
Calliope and her daughter returned to their tribe.

There was silence between the two chiefs for a few minutes. The Mariner women handed out small baskets of dried fish and cups of water, and though no one was hungry, the Woodlanders, knowing they had a long journey home, tried to eat. Even so, neither Casti, Dipti, nor Dagma ate a mouthful.

"Sister," Belena began, "your baskets of goods are over there. How will you take them and your girl?"

"We'll manage."

"If you say so. I am prepared to compensate you two women until Urulla is healed. They can help bear the stretcher."

It was customary in Samothea to compensate an injured tribeswoman in the form of Cloner Tokens, trade goods, or workers. One worker would replace the wounded woman until she healed, and the other would either nurse her or work in place of her nurse. The Woodlanders were the best at medicine and did not need a nurse.

Mirselene pondered the offer. She had a difficult decision to make.

The problem was that any Mariner in the camp would soon learn about the existence of Ezra and would indeed transmit that knowledge to her tribe when she returned. The Mariners had to learn sometime, especially if Ezra would ever salvage his ship, but Mirselene wanted to choose the time for that herself. But it would be suspicious for her to reject the offer of workers. Belena did not know that Ezra did the work of two younger women and ate the food of three. She thought the Woodlanders were too small a tribe to lose the labor of two women.

"Belena, I accept the offer of two women."

"Very good. Kalyndra! Step forward."

The girl did so.

"You will go with the Woodlanders to work in place of Urulla until she recovers."

Kalyndra silently nodded, but Mirselene was angry. Belena was up to her tricks, putting a sting in the tail of the just compensation.

"Kalyndra is Urulla's assailant!" she protested.

"Yes, and Dagma was the principal cause of the fight," Belena retorted.

"Besides, the girl has apologized and asked for forgiveness. She is a strong worker and therefore generous reparations."

Mirselene swallowed hard. She knew she would be forced to accept Kalyndra if she wanted compensation. She was bound to relent, but not without protest. She calmed herself down.

"Kalyndra is acceptable to us only if we shackle her wrists and ankles. She'll also be gagged at night."

"Do as you wish to her. Just leave no permanent marks or injuries."
Still, Kalyndra had not spoken.

"And whom will you give us to replace our nurse?"

Before Belena answered, Calliope, standing behind Belena's chair, pushed her daughter forward. Mirselene saw the movement and the naked plea on Calliope's face.

"I will work in compensation for your nurse," the girl said.

"No!" Belena objected. "Not you, Thalassa! Calliope, she is not appropriate."

Mirselene was careful not to let Belena see her glance again at the girl's mother. She saw the same imploring look and made up her mind.

"I do not know if she's appropriate, Belena, but she seems very scrawny."

"That's right, Mirselene, someone older and stronger would be better."

"I am stronger than I look, Madam," Thalassa said. "And I am learning nursing from my mother."

"Nursing, you say?" Mirselene asked. "How good is she at nursing, Calliope?"

"She is learning well and takes orders," Thalassa's mother said. "She is competent."

"Merely competent? I'm not sure we need another nurse. We have two."

Belena now asserted herself again. "Come back, Thalassa. The Woodlanders don't want you."

"On the other hand," Mirselene said, pretending to think it over, "most nurses will just sit with Urulla while she recovers. My women have far better things to do, and an older woman would be bored, but Thalassa might be suited to the task. She looks about Urulla's age. How old are you, girl?"

"I'm seventeen, Madam."

"Then you'll suit us well. Belena, I'm happy with your compensation. Say goodbye to your mother, Thalassa. And you, Kalyndra, make your preparations. We'll leave straight away."

Belena was finished. She could say nothing without revealing to Mirselene why she wanted the girl to stay or why Calliope showed such profound relief, an emotion she hid from Belena as she tearfully kissed her daughter goodbye.

Four women carried Urulla on the stretcher, alternating when they got tired. They treaded as carefully as possible to avoid jolting the patient too often. Stopping occasionally, it was a slow journey back to the camp.

Carried delicately into the camp in the early evening, Urulla was taken straight to Parvinder's hut so her nurses could wash and dress her wound and make her comfortable. She still hadn't woken, but Parvinder was not worried, thinking that while she was unconscious, she was mending.

Kalyndra and Thalassa were left to stand next to the dais in front of Mirselene's hut, awaiting their orders. With perfect timing, Ezra appeared from one of the storage huts on the other side of the campfire and went to Parvinder's hut to ask after Urulla. The Mariner women saw him through the smoky flames, but he was a man. They stared, unable to speak. On the journey back to camp, no one had thought to mention the man in the Woodlander camp.

"That is Ezra," Mirselene said, appearing behind them. "You will meet him later. Meanwhile,

Thalassa is to wash and begin her nursing duties, and Kalyndra will go with Sharne and

Dagma, who will find you a bed and prepare you for work. Off you go."

The Mariner women obeyed in a sort of daze.

Erin took charge of Thalassa, and Sharne thought it best that she, rather than Dagma, showed Kalyndra where she would sleep. Of course, the women didn't go straight to work, but they were shown around the camp, including the new crapper, and given fresh water to drink.

At the feast that night, two topics of conversation were the Woodlanders' fear for Urulla's health and the newcomers' amazement at learning there was a man on Samothea—indeed, a fertile man.

Thalassa shared with Erin and Annela, but, valid to Mirselene's orders, Kalyndra was tied to the bedpost in the spare hut and gagged. She did not object, and the bonds were not very tight.

The next day, while Thalassa helped to nurse Urulla, Kalyndra was put to work carrying logs and poles back to camp. Her hobbles were removed, but her wrists were kept tied. She was strong enough for the task and even enjoyed the hard physical labor. It was not clear what she thought about working with Ezra.

When she first saw him, Kalyndra stared open-mouthed and was still fascinated by his unwomanly shape, beard, hairy chest, and hairy arms. She shyly observed him when she had a spare moment, modestly lowering her eyes when he caught her glances. Even if she'd had the courage to talk to him, her task kept her busy all day.

As for Ezra, the first thing he noticed was the beautiful woman Kalyndra was.

Age twenty-six, she was as tall as him, with long, wild black hair, black eyes, a broad nose with finely sculpted nostrils, a wide mouth, good teeth, and a feminine jaw. Her naturally olive skin was deeply tanned. Her neck was long, and her breasts were magnificent: large and shaped to be sucked. Despite her height, she was all curves, from elegant shoulders to a thin waist and flat tummy over-generous hips. Her buttocks were firm, and her long, long legs were graced with powerful thighs.

She was a Mediterranean goddess, designed to give a corpse an erection, but Ezra tried to ignore her, which was odd considering it was three weeks since he'd had sex, and his loins were feeling the strain of inactivity.

All day, Kalyndra worked hard, conscientiously, and silently. Strong and resourceful, she showed no disobedience and meekly accepted the rope restraints as her punishment.

On the second day, Kalyndra felt a little bolder and tried to get Ezra to talk, but he only replied to her ventures. He would say "Yes," "No," "Hello," and "Goodbye." The most he ever said to her was, "Here are some more logs."

The next day, Kalyndra tried to tease Ezra in overtly sexual ways. She usually wore a leather jacket and skirt. The coat covered only her shoulders and breasts. Today, she took it off when she started work and left it on a tree in the forest.

Now when Ezra worked nearby, her delectable tits were exposed to his keen admiration. She turned toward him and pushed out her chest. He gazed at a drop of sweat trickling over the plateau of a tanned breast into the luscious valley between. He focused on her large brown nipples, which grew erect when she saw him staring. She asked for some water, took a mouthful, and poured the rest of the bladder over her head and tits. Licking her lips, she ran her hands sensuously through her long, wavy black hair.



To be continued