The Great Escape Chapter 9, Part 5 of 6

The Great Escape
Chapter 9, Part 5 of 6

"Please ask Ezra if he cares about meeting Solange."

She headed to the hut, but he'd heard and pushed aside the cloth to step out. He was more significant than the
Herder chief expected. She liked what she saw, especially that he kept her gaze.

Solange was of middle height but carried herself with such dignity that she seemed taller. Very strong and aggressive, she wore a leather jacket and leather shorts. Her sandals were tied up about her calves. Black and purple tattoos ran up her legs and arms, across her shoulders and chest, making her skin seem darker than its natural brown.

She walked up to him for a closer look. He stared back, unmoved by her aggression.

"I hear you're potent, Earthman. Let me see your loins so I can judge for myself."

"Go fuck yourself!" he replied.

Solange laughed.

"I heard you've already got two of your Woodlander whores pregnant."

Ezra smacked her. It was a back-handed slap to the face, not a punch, but he battered her. She went sprawling onto the floor, her arms and legs flailing. The Herder women tried to rush forward, but the Mariners were ready with their spears, so they held them at bay.

Solange was stunned but not unconscious. His strike rattled the teeth in her jaw and robbed her legs of their strength. She tried to rise, but her knees buckled. She raised an arm from the floor to signal her women not to resist.

"You are stronger than I thought," she said, sitting up and rubbing feeling back into her jaw. "That's good to know. You also don't take insults lightly. That's also good. I like you, Earthman. Help me up."

Ezra stayed still.

"Sister?"

Calliope nodded to Devon, who carefully laid her knife out of reach and helped Solange stand. She lent on
Devon took a second as her strength returned.

"Thank you," she said, brushing dust off her tunic. "Sister, I will take those refreshments you were kind enough to offer."

She sat at the table and indicated the other Herder women, saying to Calliope:

"You remember Galatea, my lieutenant? And this is Ash."

"Of course. Welcome, ladies. Come and make yourselves comfortable."

"Ash, you stay with the horses. Galatea, come and join us," Solange ordered.

"I'll send Ash over some food," Calliope offered. "What about watering your horses?"

"We'll take them to the stream when we leave."

"It's high tide. It'll be brackish now. You should go upstream."

While Galatea made her way to the table, Ash tied two of the horses' reins together, but she hobbled Solange's
mount, preventing the bad-tempered nervous animal from bolting.

Now, Ezra got his first look at the two Herder women and immediately tried to hide all signs of recognition. Ash was a small, Chinese-looking girl, skinny, with waist-length straight black hair and a leather tunic, but it was Galatea he recognized. She had wavy black hair, a good tan, and electric pale green eyes: the very spit and image of Wildchild.

He felt Solange was looking at him and hoped he'd given nothing away, but she didn't speak. The awkward moment passed when Ferne joined Calliope and the Herders at the table so the chiefs and their deputies could discuss politics. The other Mariners continued with their jobs, bringing breakfast and preparing to go fishing, though some of the wary ones stayed nearby, holding their weapons. They sat on the benches near the campfire. Ezra sat with them.

"I expect you're wondering how I know you'd exiled Belena," Solange said to Calliope.

"Not really. I guess one of the Herders met her on the way to or from the Cloner City."

"One of my braves saw an old woman limping alone on the prairie. She turned around and gave her a lift to the city, then she reported the outrage to me."

"I'm glad your rider helped Belena. We had to expel her, but we didn't want her to suffer. I repeat, though, her temporary banishment was under our laws, which she broke."

"How, exactly, did she break your laws?" Solange demanded.

"By tyranny, bullying, and other crimes that are none of your damn business, Sister."

Solange gave Calliope a good look and found a quiet strength in the woman. She always became less aggressive when someone stood up to her.

"She's a friend, Calliope. Belena and I had fun times together. She was good to you, Mermaids, and drove a hard bargain with the Cloners."

"She wasn't good to all the Mariners, Solange," Ferne said gently.

The Herder chief paused a second.

"I accept that," she said. "Belena's philosophy is: 'The strong should dominate; the weak should submit.' She put it into practice."

She ignored Calliope and Ferne's hard stares.

Solange could be at ease anywhere. Twenty feet from her spear, surrounded by armed Mariners and slapped almost unconscious, she was as relaxed as a lion in a herd of gazelles. She tasted her food.

"Calliope, this soup is good," she said.

As the two chiefs and their lieutenants discussed the existing treaty between the tribes, Odette and Juniel shyly approached the table. Calliope noticed them first.

"Yes, what is it, girls?"

Odette spoke.

"Madam Solange, can we stroke your horses?"

"Of course you can, but you must approach from the front. If you go behind them, they may kick. Better still, how'd you like to ride a horse?"

"Can we, can we?"

Solange called over to her tribeswoman.

"Ash, give these girls a ride. Does anyone else want to go? Ezra, can you ride?"

"No!" It was almost a shout. "No, thanks," he repeated in a normal voice.

"I understand," Solange said. "You're still angry with me. Don't take it personally. I was only testing you."

"Did I pass?"

"I said I liked you, didn't I?"

Solange returned to her conversation with Calliope and Ferne as Ash helped Juniel climb onto a horse. Galatea also came to help and lifted Odette by the waist, heaving her onto the horse in one go. That feat of strength proved she was Wildchild's mother.

Ash told the girls to hold tight as she walked the horses out of the camp. They were back relatively soon, ready to give rides to other Mariners. Della and May, aged 3 and 6, insisted on going, so Galatea and Ash had to mount and carry the girls seated on the horses' necks.

Ezra watched all this fun from a bench. His expostulation, declining a chance to ride a horse, was not because he was still angry with Solange but because he was petrified of the animals. He had been as long as he could remember. It had been a trial when his younger sister, Danielle, had gone through that horse-loving stage all girls seem to go through, and he was deposed to transport her to the stables and horse shows, where the mad beasts would nuzzle him, and so he thought to try to bite and kick him.

However, a reflex of male pride prevented him from admitting as much, so he kept his distance and looked on as fearless Mariner girls whooped and cried for joy on the backs of the insane creatures.

"Come here, please, Ezra."

It was Calliope. Solange had been discussing politics and now had something to ask him. He came and sat down at the table.

"Calliope has agreed to sell you to us Herders for three cows and eight sheep. What do you say to that?"

"I'd say that, though I've just met you, I'm shocked you've been bested in a deal: Calliope has got much the better of the bargain."

Solange laughed.

"I knew I was right to like you, Earthman. Why don't you come and visit us?"

"Why would I?"

"Well, for two reasons. First, my sluts will give you a hot welcome."

"You call the Herder women 'sluts'?"

"Believe me, Ezra, you will too, once you've met them."

"And your second reason?"

"So, you can see how life is meant to be lived on Samothea, not skulking in a forest eating nuts, nor pretending to be a mermaid swimming after fish, no offense, Calliope."

"None taken," she replied, smiling.

"No, you need to be on the open savannah, hot horse flesh between your thighs, an empty sky above you, riding freely between mountains and cloud-covered sea, your only companion, an eagle, screeching overhead."

"It sounds wonderful."

"We Herders have a saying: Grab life by the tits! You can't do that while making salt or picking berries."

"Or being a gay shepherdess, nursing lambs."

She laughed and slapped him on the back.

"Called me out on my bullshit! Well done! We're cowgirls as well, following stupid cattle around who only munch grass and make dung. But sometimes we go for long rides on the open plain, and when it's just you, a horse, a sea of grass, and the eagles, then life is beautiful. I want you to see it yourself; then you'll understand."

"I would like to see it."

"Well, why not? What's stopping you?"

"I'm a Woodlander. As you know, I have bedmates in the forest who need me."

"The Wood-elves can fend for themselves, for now. Do they still dance naked around tree stumps and write poems about mushrooms?"

Ezra laughed.

"I don't believe they ever did anything like that."

"Here, I'll make you a deal," Solange said. "I've confirmed the trade agreement with the Mermaids. So now I'll make a new trade agreement with your precious Wood-elves."

He glanced at Calliope.

"Don't worry, the Mermaids won't lose out," Solange assured him.

The Mariners got a commission for the goods they traded between the Woodlanders and the Herders because they didn't deal directly, just as they took a commission on the Cloner and Farmer goods they transported to the other tribes.

"We'll lower the prices for the Wood-elves and split the commission with the Mermaids. So, what do you say?"

"You'll begin trading with the Woodlanders directly just to entice me to visit the Herders?"

"Yes, that's my deal, though it's not for your sake. We should have resumed trading with them long ago, but the system was in place when I became chief, and you know how it's easier to keep things the same than to make changes."

"I know. Very well, Solange. I will be happy to visit the Herders."

"When?"

"In two weeks, at the next trade meeting with the Woodlanders. If you come to that trade meeting, I'll leave with you and stay one month at your camp."

"Excellent. Well, I'll take another bowl of your delicious soup, Sister, and then we'll be off."

Ezra said: "I may have a couple of favors to ask you, Solange."

"What favors?"

"I can't say yet. It depends on some other things happening."

"You're a mysterious fellow, Earthman. I won't commit to granting you favors, but I'll listen."

It was good enough. The prospect of an alliance between the Woodlanders, Mariners, and Herders was good for Ezra's plans to salvage his ship, but it would be perfect if he could get Solange to forgive Wildchild and Tamar, who could then guide the Mariners to where they rescued him. Now, however, he had the problem of telling his Woodlander friends that he wasn't coming back at the end of the month.

The following two weeks, Ezra mainly spent having sex. After Cressi and Salema made good their promise to Juniel by taking her mother, Leanne, as a bedmate. At the same time, whenever he had the time and strength in the mornings and afternoons, he did his duty to Devon, who was trying to get pregnant while she was in her most fertile period. Then, Odette's mother, Althea, boldly approached him one day and asked to sleep with him.

She was looking to get pregnant again, but lust was undoubtedly also a motivator, so passionate and eager was she.

He had sex with all these women, plus Kalyndra. Only Thalassa was left out of the fertile Mariners, but she was a patient and gentle girl who was content to wait, knowing that Ezra would be back.

He had never felt so much part of the tribe as now. Though he was shagging morning, noon, and night, he didn't feel like a human drone but like a husband: a man to be a father to whatever children his bedmates conceived. He told Calliope his hopes, and she was firm in her support: whether he had been inducted into the tribe, he was now a Mariner and always would be.

With just three days left of his visit to the Mariners, he was exhausted from his sexual duty and needed to rest.

He took two days off from both sex and work, relaxing in the shade, taking a swim, or wandering along the beach, always turning up on time for meals.

On the last full day of his stay, those who could be spared from their jobs went to the beach for a lazy day. They took tent sunshades, food, and drink. Ezra relaxed in the shade with the matrons while the children played noisily in the sand, and most of his bedmates went into the sea for a splash. It was a delightfully erotic sight when some of the women returned, running up the beach.

Water dripped off Kalyndra's succulent breasts and down her curved body and muscular thighs. Devon's sleek physique, sculpted stomach muscles, and shapely legs were more angular. The elfin Cressi had a frizzy blonde mane and blond pubic triangle, round legs, and pert breasts. Salema and Leanne stayed in the water.


To be continued