The Great Escape Chapter 10, Part 5 of 6

The Great Escape
Chapter 10, Part 5 of 6

This suited his plans. He wanted to explore to the north along the coast.

"Do you think we can ride forty miles in a day?"

"Yes, if you want."

"Good. Will you come?"

"I expect so, and I'll ride with you."

Early the following day, they headed straight across the plain and reached the coast five miles north of the cliffs. The long crescent of the beach began at the same beach that led to the Mariner Settlement, about sixty miles further. His sunken ship lay on the seafloor somewhere between the two points.

Megan wanted to splash in the sea, so they hobbled the horses, stripped off, and plunged into the warm ocean. Lying on the beach to dry off, it was Megan who made the first move. With questioning hands and a soft mouth, she soon got a rise out of him. She climbed on top and rode him, bringing them both off together at a gallop, tits shaking and hair flying wildly.

Afterward, it was time to eat lunch and move on. They rode about ten miles along the beach.

Ezra searched for any feature he could remember, but the landscape was unfamiliar.

In mid-afternoon, Megan said it was time to turn back. She hadn't asked why he wanted to visit the ocean or ride along the beach, though he'd been looking for something. She assumed he'd not found it.

They got back in the early evening and went straight to bed. It was the first night in the mountain camp that he hadn't taken part in an orgy.

The next day, Solange invited him for a walk in the mountains.

It was an hour to the snowline, along paths of loose and crumbly rock, where overhanging crags loomed menacingly, fringed by mad crystal fingers of ice—rainwater that froze overnight and slowly melted away during the day. The air was crisp and sweet, and the views down to the camp and over the plain were breathtaking. Above them, eagles circled.

"Well," she opened, "will you tell me why you exhausted one of my horses just to visit the seaside?"

"No. Will you tell me why you arranged for me to talk to Judith but have kept Galatea and me apart?"

"No."

"Well, then?" He waited.

"All right. Judith needed comforting. I hoped you'd be kind to her. As for Galatea, she won't forgive Samothea, whom you will defend, and if she starts a row with you, you may leave.

Now, your turn."

He paused. The fact that Solange was open and frank didn't mean she was telling the truth.

"I'm not ready to tell you yet," he said, "but I do want to tell you something else about how I cannot start the re-colonization of Samothea on my own."

"Go on."

"Do you know what a 'genetic bottleneck' is?"

"No."

"It happens when too many people have similar genes, including abnormal or harmful ones.

When there's a lot of genetic diversity, harmful genes can be suppressed; where there is too little genetic diversity, harmful genes become a problem. Ideally, if I have sons and daughters, they should never mate, and, on the part of Earth I come from, it would be illegal for them to mate."

"I see. But if you're all we have, and the Cloners are running low on cloning kits, then what choice do we have?"

"None, unless more men come from Earth."

"Which you say is unlikely."

"Yes. But you hinted you knew why Mirselene thinks more men from Earth would also be unwelcome. Why is that?"

"I guess Mirselene thinks that if more Earthmen come, they will simply take over. They'll break up our tribes, steal our lands, and live like kings, enslaving us."

"Of course they won't! Women aren't property on Earth or not in my part of it."

"Really? If I were a man, I'd take my pick, like you do. Besides, they wouldn't need to kidnap and force a woman: we'd give ourselves willingly."

"I doubt it."

"You doubt it? How many Woodlanders have you slept with?"

"Four, so far."

"How many Mariners?"

"Six... er, I mean seven."

"And how many Herders?"

"I don't know."

There had been so many night-time orgies - and so many different women in the orgies - that he had no idea whom he'd fucked.

"Ten, Ezra, ten, or so they tell me. How many have you taken by force (not including me, of course, because I goaded you into it)?"

"One, but she goaded me as well."

"And did she reject you afterward?"

"No, the opposite. She vowed to follow me."

"So, you've already got twenty-one willing concubines, and you've not even met the Cloners.

So don't tell me the Earthmen wouldn't make slaves of us all."

It revolted him to believe it was true.

"In my case, it's just the 'rare male effect" he explained, "a well-known phenomenon in biology. If there were more men, you women would be much choosier."

"Maybe, maybe not, but that's what Mirselene thinks. I have my ideas on the matter."

However, she didn't say what they were, and he needed time to think through what she said.

They silently returned to the camp and sat apart at dinner, brooding and contemplating.

The final test

In the last week of his stay, Solange took Megan, Ash, and Ezra on an expedition into the mountains.

They were looking for an easy passage to the southern plain. Walkers could climb straight over the crags, and some of the nimblest riders could maneuver their way through, but the majority of horses would balk at the narrow paths, and too many of the clumsy cattle would be lost down crevices or trampled by a panicking herd. Ezra's geology knowledge and prospecting skills made him an ideal addition to the expedition.

After a day's ride, they pitched the tent on bare ground below the snowline, where a small mountain stream trickled into a natural pool. This would be their camp. They ate dinner and settled down for the night. Ezra was weary from having so much sex and was happy the girls wanted to huddle to stay warm.

The next day, they set off to find a track in a hanging valley they had seen last year. It had been wide enough for a pair of horses but too precipitate for cattle, but it was a good place to start searching.

The track no longer existed. Soft volcanic rock had collapsed to rubble and half-filled the valley. They left the horses and climbed the nearest peak for a look around.

"If only I had some dynamite and a bulldozer," he said, "then I could make you a road wherever you wanted."

"Wherever?" Solange asked.

"Well, more or less. I could build it right there," he said, pointing to the next valley. There was a deep cut between their tall peak and the next flat one. The passage was blocked by a wall of rock that had collapsed from the mountain.

"I'd blast the large rocks to fragments and bulldoze them flat to make a smooth surface. The whole road would be below the snowline."

"Could we do it by hand?"

"Not a chance, not even with the help of the horses."

"Well, we'd better keep looking."

They rode on until the morning sun burned off the mountain mists, and the central spine of the mountains became visible.

"Do you want to see the southern plain?" he was asked. "I expect we'd get a good view from the next peak."

This was interesting. They traveled as far as they could and then climbed on foot. The view was worth it. They breathed deeply and stared out at the blue-grey horizon.

When they reached the base camp again, he discovered that the expedition had been just a pretext, a ruse to get him into the mountains.

As Ezra dismounted his horse, the women threw their lassos over him, pinning his arms to his sides. At first, he thought it was a joke and laughed, saying, "Very funny."

When they pulled the ropes tight, and he fell to the floor, he was less amused.

"Come on, let me go."

"No," said Solange as she knelt behind him. "Not yet."

She slipped coils of ropes over his wrists and fastened them behind his back, leaning on him to get a purchase.

"Ow! Shit. What are you doing, Solange?"

"We're kidnapping you, Earthman. We're keeping you as the property of the Herders."

"Bollocks, you are!"

By now, his feet were tied together as well, and he was fully trussed up.

"Curse as much as you like, Ezra; we're good at knots. You're staying with us."

The girls forced him into the tent.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Solange ordered. "You girls go and sort out the horses."

She sat down to watch him. He lay on the cold floor of the tent, fuming and cursing.

"Damn you, bitch! Do you think you can keep me here forever?"

"Not forever, of course," Solange said. "Only a little while; then you'll co-operate, and we won't need to restrain you."

"Bollocks to that," he repeated. Then, a little more calmly:

"Come on, Solange, tell me what this is about."

"We're keeping you with us to stop the greedy Cloners getting hold of you."

"I don't believe you."

"You should. The Cloners certainly want you."

"So what? Everyone knows I'm here. You can't hide me."

"We can if we take you to the south side of the mountains."

"What good would that do you?"

"None until we move the entire tribe to the southern plain. Then we will have just as much pasture and you all to ourselves."

"Just for one man? This is ridiculous. What about new cattle from the Cloners? What about the produce of the Farmers, Woodlanders, and Mariners?"

"Is it ridiculous? Samothea has no future without a man; you are the only one. When the cloning kits run out, the other tribes must come to us; we'll have the whip hand. Would they ever let you go if the Cloners got you?"

"How can they stop me? And how did you think your plan would work? You can't tie me up for the rest of my life. Nor will I fuck any more Herders when you treat me like this."

"Really? Women can be very persuasive, especially young, pretty ones."

"I don't believe you," he repeated. "I think this was another test that's going disastrously wrong for you."

"Wrong?"

All this time, Ezra had been squirming in his bonds. Solange thought it was frustration, but it was something else.

Because he didn't completely trust her, Ezra had kept his penknife hidden in the side pocket of his trousers. By squirming, he managed to get a finger on the knife and ease it into his hand.

He turned it on.

"Yes, disastrously wrong!"

He burned through the wrist straps, sat up, and brought the blade under his ankle bonds, ready to cut through them.

Megan and Ash had returned to the tent and stood beside their chief. When Solange saw Ezra's hands were free, she made the mistake of pouncing on him again. He instinctively lashed out, sweeping an arc of red laser light that sliced through the ropes and hit the three women.

He caught Megan on the arm and grazed Ash on the chest, but the blade stuck against Solange's waist, scorching and burning. He switched it off immediately, but the damage was done. Solange looked down at the bubbling scar on her side and fainted. Megan and Ash held their wounds and screamed.

The damage from the laser blade was much less severe than the pain, which was excruciating. An acrid smell of burning flesh filled the tent. Ezra looked around and saw a water bladder. He grabbed it and poured it over Solange's waist. Shouting to Megan and Ash to get water, he rushed from the tent to refill the bladder from the pool. He found another two bladders on the horses and brought them back.

Megan was crying from pain and gabbling, pleading for forgiveness and explaining that she had to obey her chief.

"Forget all that," he said abruptly, handing her a bladder. "Pour this water over your wrist until I tell you to stop."

He gave the same order to Ash, who was pale and quiet, probably nauseated. He emptied the bladder over Solange again.

He kept going back and forth, filling the bladders from the mountain pool and then emptying them on the girls' wounds. The icy water numbed their skins and began to soothe their wounds. Soon, the pain was bearable, though the scars looked flushed and angry.

Megan and Ash poured the freezing water until their skins turned blue and their teeth chattered. After an hour, Solange opened her eyes. She was in pain but in no medical danger.

Thank God it was only a flesh wound. Ezra was as relieved to see her awake as he was angry at her.

It was too early to talk. He made her comfortable and tried to get her to sleep again.

In the morning, the girls had painful scars but no real damage. Megan and Ash were all right to ride, so he sent them back to the mountain camp, ostensibly for medicine but so he could be alone with Solange. He wouldn't shame her in front of the tribe, but he would have it out with her, one way or another.

"Are you awake?" he asked her.

She didn't say anything. She just smiled. Not her usual happy smile but one of resignation.

"You realize your irresponsibility caused me to wound three women I care for."

"Three?"

"I think it's time to end your tests."

"Why do you call it a test?"

"What else was it? Your plan could never have worked, and you're one of the most intelligent
women in Samothea, so I'm sure you knew it. What I don't understand is what the test will prove."

"Why does it have to prove anything?"

"You're right. I should have twigged. You've tested me all during my stay with the Herders just for the fun of testing me. You knew my character the first time we met or at least the second time. What on Earth could you learn by kidnapping me?"

"How do you know who I was testing?"

He thought about it. She hadn't admitted that her plan was absurd, but maybe she was testing Ash and Megan to see if they'd stay loyal to her if she ordered them to attack Ezra. It didn't matter.

"If I am going to be part of the Herder tribe," he said, "then I'm going to have to change our relationship somewhat."

"So, you are going to overthrow me."

"No, I'm not. I'm going to stop you from testing me."

"How can you do that?"

"Oh, easily."

He had the lasso and whip from her horse. Solange tried hard to resist as he tied her wrists to her ankles, but he was more potent and much heavier. He propped her up on her knees, her face on the blanket and her bum sticking up in the air. He began walloping her buttocks, using the handle of the whip, raising welts, and leaving compression marks.

"Ow, shit!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"Getting your attention before I ask some questions."

"What questions?"

After six strikes, he stopped.

"When will you cease testing me?"

She gasped out her answer, struggling with the pain in her buttocks.

"When you ... ow! ... pass the test."

"I have passed all your tests."

He whipped her again. She breathed heavily and grunted with pain.


To be continued