The Great Escape Chapter 7, Part 2 of 5

The Great Escape
Chapter 7, Part 2 of 5

Sharne and Dagma arrived to witness the end of this display and were unhappy. Asked why she had left her jacket on a tree, she said that the Mariners always worked naked, and besides, her restrictive clothing made her task of carrying logs more complicated than needed.

No one took this explanation at face value, but there was a simple solution: Kalyndra was given one of Urulla's smocks to wear after lunch.

It was a simple garment with a round neck and short, wide sleeves. It reached down to the knees of Urulla, one of the tallest Woodlanders. On Kalyndra, it reached the middle of her thighs. When she tied her rope hobbles around her thin waist like a belt, it looked more like a cocktail dress.

She swayed her hips when Ezra could see her. Hitching the dress even higher, she wiggled her bottom at him when she bent over to pick up logs.

Once, she leaned her forearms on a tree and pushed out her buttocks, emphasizing her voluptuous beauty. Smiling to himself, he turned his back, struggling to hide his powerful erection. He couldn't help wondering where she learned her repertoire of sexual teases, more significant than any Woodlander woman had yet displayed.

Those who saw Kalyndra's posturing before Ezra did not appreciate how hot she made him feel. Even the wise Annela, who had an almost telepathic understanding of him, was too preoccupied with her nursing duties to notice. All the Woodlander women seemed preoccupied now.

Casti and Dipti spent hours at Urulla's bedside, holding her hand and waiting for her to wake up. Parvinder and Annela looked in on the girl every hour and checked her wound; her breathing was shallow but not alarming, and her pulse was steady but not robust.

Thalassa was happy to do all the mundane chores: washing bandages, sweeping the floor, and fetching water. Plus, she was learning the Woodlander way of healing, making ointments, and preparing drugs from mushrooms and herbs. She was delighted to make friends with all the Woodlanders, but Annela was her favorite because she let the sweet Mariner girl feel her pregnant belly or press her ear to her bump, trying to hear the baby's heartbeat. Thalassa was equally delighted to learn that Dipti was also pregnant, having missed another period.

When Urulla opened her eyes on the morning of the third day, there was relief around the camp. She smiled and was given water, one spoonful at a time. In the afternoon, her nurses raised her head and shoulders to feed her some restorative broth.

When Urulla tried to speak, however, she coughed painfully. Nonetheless, Mirselene was pleased enough by the news to decree that her attendants had neglected their work for too long. She sent Dipti, Annela, and Thalassa out foraging for the rest of the day. She invited Casti to visit her chickens and help Pepi and Lenta with the calf, Jemima, leaving Parvinder in sole charge of the patient.

Deep in the forest, while the three woodcutters split a large fallen tree trunk into planks,

Kalyndra held the spare wedges and waited patiently for her next orders. Ezra took surreptitious looks at her whenever he rested. She was just as gorgeous as before, but today, she wanted to goad and rile him rather than tease and excite him. As she passed him the next set of wedges to hammer into the trunk, she said:

"If you're a man, why do you hide your manhood?"

This was a reference to Ezra's trousers. He generally went topless when he was working, but he was never entirely naked.

When he didn't answer, she said:

"I'm as tall as you. What sort of a man is no bigger than a woman?"

Whatever its purpose, this tactic brought no response from him and only contempt from Sharne and Dagma, who quickly finished the plank they were splitting and took her to work elsewhere for the rest of the afternoon.

Today's provocations from Kalyndra - so different from yesterday's sexual teases - puzzled Ezra, but he had no time to think about them. He was preoccupied with a more significant problem. Mirselene was acting very oddly to him. She seemed determined to start a fight. She spoke to him only in abrupt, commanding tones, demanding menial tasks and never thanking him. He let it pass as his share in her disappointment with Dagma.

She seemed to blame him as much as her daughter. She became even more bitter when Dagma's period began, and the girl missed her chance at getting pregnant this month. It wasn't Ezra's fault, but there he was in the camp, showing sexual interest in the slutty Mariner woman while confining Dagma to virginal loneliness.

As the woodcutters and Kalyndra set up for work the following day, Dagma had loaded Kalyndra with tools when the rope hobbled and gagged she wore as a belt fell. Ezra was nearby. To save her from putting down her load, he picked up the ropes and tied them back around her waist. It was a courteous gesture without any sexual meaning, but Mirselene had seen it.

"Ezra Goldrick!" she barked. "Come here right now!"

It was an order, not a request. Everyone heard it and looked up. Rather than cause a scene,

Ezra swallowed his pride and attended her.

"Go inside: we need to talk!"

Sharne and Dagma waited to see if Ezra would join them immediately. However, the interview seemed lengthy, so they took Kalyndra to work with them in the forest.

Inside, Mirselene confronted Ezra.

"You are not to touch that woman."

"Do you mean Kalyndra?"

"Of course, I mean Kalyndra. You're not to touch her. She's off-limits to you."

"Off-limits?"

"I'm serious, Ezra. I've seen how you look at her and how she looks at you. I can read the signs, and I don't want you having sex with her. It's still Dagma's month and will soon be Urulla's. I won't let you insult them by bedding someone else."

He just stared, not trusting himself to reply.

"Besides, if you and she are bedmates, you'll talk. You'll mention your ship and your plan to salvage it. We've had this discussion. I don't want it known about until I have made a trustworthy treaty with the Mariners. Do you understand?"

"Of course, I understand."

"I don't want you mentioning your ship to anyone again, Ezra."

"Good God!" he exclaimed.

"Women talk, Ezra. The story will get around. I want your weapons kept secret."

"And when will you make this treaty?"

"When I'm ready to trust Belena, which is not far away."

"This is absurd. I'm sure they'd make a treaty when I've explained how beneficial my tools can be."

"Now I am even more persuaded that you can't be relied on. Your pride prevents you from taking my advice seriously. It makes you over-confident. You think that, just because you're a man, the Mariner women will obey you?"

"How can you say that Mirselene? I have never thought any such thing."

"Kalyndra's wanton display has inflated your ego and made you arrogant."

"Arrogant?

"I have given my orders and will no longer listen to you questioning them. If you want to live among us, Ezra Goldrick, then I forbid you from having sex with Kalyndra and from discussing your ship with another person, including Annela!"

Ezra was furious at being given such orders and in such a manner. He opened his mouth to answer, but Mirselene held up an imperious hand to still him and declared: "I have spoken!"

Then she turned her back on him.

With fury in his heart, Ezra swallowed the obscene response he was about to make and stamped out, punching the doorpost as he went, which broke from its socket.

He strode into the forest, walking far enough away that he could no longer hear the noises of the camp. There was no one about it. He leaned against a tree and tried to figure out why Mirselene provoked him.

Then he heard footsteps. He turned and saw Kalyndra. After depositing an armful of logs at the camp, she had seen him storm out of Mirselene's hut. She followed him into the forest.

He waited to hear what she wanted, but she stared boldly at him. Her look teased him as much as her wanton posturing and silly insults.

"What are you staring at?" he asked nastily.

"Whatever I want."

"Well, stop staring."

She stayed still, defying his orders, holding his gaze, her chin raised.

"This is not a good time for you to provoke me."

"What's wrong, Ezra?" she asked mockingly. "I saw how Mirselene treated you. Don't you like it?"

"I warn you, get on with your work!"

"Poor little man! Having to take orders from a woman!"

That did it. As far as he could tell, Kalyndra's "wanton display," as Mirselene called it, had set the chief off, taking it out on him.

He grabbed the rope that tied Kalyndra's wrists together and pulled it roughly to lead her further into the forest. She followed silently. Half a mile on, he stopped by a fallen tree. He bent her forward over the trunk and tied her arms to a gnarly stump. Then he pulled off the rope belt she wore around her waist and used it to tie her ankles apart, spreading her legs wide.

He pulled her smock over her head and down her outstretched arms. He yanked her head up brutally by her hair, fed her the robe gag, and tied it tightly around the back of her head. Now,

Kalyndra was secure and vulnerable. She waited silently, panting a little, sweat glistening on her back, but all this time, she hadn't tried to scream for help nor offered Ezra a moment's resistance.

He broke a switch from a nearby tree and began to whack her bottom with it. She was still silent, though the sharp pain made her grunt. After twenty strokes, she was emitting muffled yelps. The sweat ran in rivulets down her back. Another twenty strokes, and she was feeling it.

She struggled hard not to cry out. Her bottom was hot and throbbing. He started whacking her thighs. She stiffened in protest.

Ezra's cock was hard and straining, but his only thought had been to punish her - until he saw the dampness glistening on her slit. Creamy droplets moistened her pubic hair. She was aroused and bucking her pelvis into the tree trunk.

He stopped whipping, loosened his trousers, slipped out his cock, and stuffed it straight into her pussy. She was wet enough for him to slip in. There was no obstruction.

Ezra fucked her hard. Her moans were muffled, but she didn't cry out, not even when he gripped her luscious breasts fiercely. He pounded relentlessly into her, occasionally slapping her firm buttocks, whose crimson welts from the whipping were still hot and angry. She rested her forehead on the fantastic bark of the trunk and bit down on her gag but made no protest.

Settling into a faster rhythm, he took her erect nipples in a pincer grip. She shuddered against the log, bucking and moaning.

Now her head was up, and she groaned in earnest, but he didn't care whether it was from pain in her tits or the pleasure in her pussy. The liquid pressure in his loins rose. He was building to his orgasm. He slowed his thrusting, making it last.

She breathed out heavily when he released her nipples but made no more sound, though rough bark dug into her tits and belly with every thrust. The wet slap of his thighs against her sore buttocks was the loudest sound in the forest.

His orgasm was almost upon him. Another thrust and another. He grabbed a handful of hair and yanked her head back to bite her hard on the corner of her neck. Now she screamed. It was her moment. He felt her vagina walls compress in spasms. Seconds later, he made the final thrust that took him over the edge, spurting his load into her soft, inviting cleft while she shook in her bonds. A few more thrusts and the throbbing was over. Ezra was spent.

He pulled out and left her tied up. Her juices, her sweat, and his semen dripped down her thighs while he sat on the tree trunk to catch his breath. He planned to rest a while and then turn her around for a second go, but he didn't get the chance.

A party of Woodlanders arrived. Kalyndra had been missed, and Mirselene sent out a search party that scoured the forest in concentric sweeps. The women seemed shocked at what Ezra had done. They untied Kalyndra, helped her into her dress, and led her back to the camp.

They also demanded Ezra come back to the camp. He obeyed silently, though none was strong enough to force him to follow. Kalyndra also remained silent the whole way back.

A trial was quickly convened, with Lenta, Mirselene, and Casti as the judges' quorum. They sat on the dais while the rest of the tribe sat on the benches below, except Pepi, who was sent to look after Jemima, and Urulla, who was in her hut, attended by Thalassa. Ezra and Kalyndra sat at opposite ends of the front bench.

Accused of rape and asked how he pleaded, Ezra quietly said, "Guilty and ashamed." No witnesses were required, and the judges were set to consider their judgment when Annela stood up and was granted permission to speak.

"We all know Kalyndra goaded Ezra," she said. "We didn't know how a man would react to such provocations."

"What of it, Annela?" Casti asked.

"Her actions mitigate circumstances and make a good case for clemency. We do not punish so severely when there has been provocation."

There were many nods and a few words of agreement around the tribe. The judges conferred in whispers, and then Mirselene spoke:

"We reject Annela's argument for clemency. Our duty as judges is to protect all the Woodlanders from a predatory man who might turn on any of them. Any woman's behavior might be considered provocative and therefore excuse sexual violence."

Annela again stood up to speak.

"Will the discussion of Ezra's punishment be made in public?"

"Why do you ask this?" Again, it was Casti who responded.

"Because sending Ezra away or punishing him in a way that would alienate him from the tribe would harm us all."

The judges also rejected this request. Mirselene said:

"Left to open discussion, the matter would never be resolved. The law is clear: judges alone decide the sentence."

Annela sat down, searching for something to say to clear Ezra or prevent his exile.

As the judges conferred, the women in the audience also debated the case. Their whispered deliberations gradually rose in pitch and volume. On the dais, Casti seemed animated, pointing first at Kalyndra and then at Ezra. Mirselene shook her head, and Lenta put her hand gently on Casti's shoulder with a sad smile.

The discussion seemed over, and Mirselene rose to demand silence, but before she could make her announcement, Kalyndra stood up and requested to speak. Mirselene answered her:

"You may speak, Kalyndra, but let me warn you. This court will no more listen to a plea for stringency than it did to Annela's plea for leniency. You may proceed."

"I do not ask for stringency. I do not ask for punishment because there has been no crime.

There can be rape only if there was no consent, but I gave my permission."

There was a commotion in the tribe, the hubbub drowning out the last words of her testimony.

Kalyndra waited for silence, which Mirselene commanded authoritatively.

"Ezra did to me only what I wanted. I wanted him to tie me up and use me. I regret only that he treated me too gently and that he was interrupted before he recovered enough to use me a second time."

Again, Mirselene held up her hand to quiet the audience's noise. If she also intended to interrupt Kalyndra's remarks, she failed because the girl carried on, saying:

"Chief Ezra can do anything he wants to me anytime, and I will thank him for it. If you exile him as a punishment, then I will follow him. He can whip me again, tie me up, and use me any way he likes, but I will always follow him."

There was such uproar now that Mirselene rose to her feet to gain control of the court. She spread her arms, and there was silence at last.

"This is an irregular statement and cannot count as evidence," she pronounced sternly and disapprovingly.


To be continued