Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 06

"Well, I told her I was with someone and she turned to go away when one of the freighter-crew, leaning on the bar next to Tatiana, said something in Russian and slapped the girl hard on the bum. She span around, shocked, but the man just laughed."

"Tatiana wasn't pleased and spoke to the man but he just waved her away and went back to his drink. He was a huge grisly bear of a man but she wasn't fazed."

"She tapped him on the shoulder. He slowly put his drink down and turned toward her. Then she punched him, right on the chin, with all her strength. He just slumped down to the floor, like a sandcastle in the rain."

"This had happened so quickly I couldn't do anything but now I had to move. I got ready to carry Tatiana out of the bar because, even if I could fight the bear when he got up (though I knew I couldn't), I certainly couldn't fight all the crew-members. But just as Boris recovered from the shock and made to get up (he was in a killing rage), a huge boot pressed down on his chest and an even bigger man stood over him."

"It was the master of the freighter. If freighter crews were tough, then their masters were even tougher and kept them in line. Boris was made to apologise to Hestia, which he did grudgingly, and then was sent back to the freighter to cool off."

"So what did he say to Hestia and why did Tatiana defend her?"

"It doesn't translate well but I think he said something like 'You're very expensive for a cheap whore. Let me have a feel of the goods.' You see, Hestia had tried soliciting him but when he found he couldn't afford her, he resented it. Despite her disapproval of entertainers, Tatiana disapproved even more of men who do not treat women as ladies."

"Which is something you learned from her?"

"Actually, it's something I've always known, or maybe I learned it from my father, but it was a good lesson to see a woman who certainly doesn't need chivalrous men to protect her none the less demand that men be chivalrous."

They were silent together a while.

"And have you never seen Tatiana again?"

"Oh, yes. Twice; and I introduced my sister to her."

"Danielle, the astrophysicist?"

"That's right."

"Do you think Tatiana was in love with you?"

"Of course not! I think she wanted just what I wanted: companionship and, as it turned out, amazing sex."

"Would you have noticed if she loved you, though? I mean, might she have pretended not to care, so as not to be a burden to you?"

Annela, the loyal hero-worshipper, could not conceive of a woman who knew Ezra and did not love him.

"I never thought of it." He was stumped for a moment. "But, if she could ask me to do ... er ... stuff to her that I've never done with a woman before or since, she'd hardly be reticent about saying she loved me."

"I don't know. What is all right to say between sex-partners might sound different between lovers."

"I suppose so."

He paused to think. The good-hearted girl sounded as though she was sad for Tatiana and this made Ezra wonder if he'd been thoughtless toward his Russian sex-mate. He was silent for some minutes.

"So, tell me what 'stuff' you did to Tatiana," Annela asked, interrupting his pondering.

"Not on your life," he replied, laughing. "Besides, we've talked too much about me. I want to know something from you."

"All right." She pushed him onto his back and climbed on him, resting her chin on her hands, her elbows on his chest. "What do you want to know?"

"What did you tell Sharne about sex with me?"

"Nothing that I didn't tell everyone else. Why, is she doing it wrong?"

"No, she's good. ... Better than you, anyway."

"Ooh!" She dug her elbows sharply into him.

"Ouch! All right, Madam, stop it! I'm sorry. You're the best!"

She left him alone.

"So what's the problem?"

"Not so much a problem as a peculiarity."

He paused to think how to explain without revealing too much private detail. The fact was that Sharne seemed to think she had to have sex with him every time he wanted it and, if she couldn't, as in the last few days, she hinted she would give him a blow-job. Because Ezra had the sense she didn't really want to do it, he didn't ask.

But he knew how important customs were to the Woodlanders. The power of custom kept the small society from disintegrating. He could excuse any of his own peculiarities by saying "It's an Earth custom" and it would be understood and accepted.

"I think Sharne believes it's an Earth custom for women never to refuse sex to their men. I was just wondering if this attitude is something she has decided for herself or if you had a hand in it?"

"I don't know. I only told them what we did together. I suppose they deduced what that implied about customs on Earth. Do men on Earth really allow women to refuse sex? Why would a woman ever refuse sex?"

"Allow? You're joking? As for why a woman might refuse sex: well, she might be tired, have a head-ache or just not be in the mood."

Annela laughed.

"Now you're joking! A head-ache? Sex is the best cure for a head-ache! And she would always be in the mood if she had a good lover. ... I allow them 'tired'."

"Very gracious of you."

"But is it really the custom on Earth for men to accept such paltry and dishonest excuses? What's the real reason for women to refuse sex?"

Ezra was stumped again.

"I suppose that, for some, it is a way of controlling the man. Other women may genuinely not enjoy sex, or the man is not a good lover. Many reasons, I guess. The point is that an Earthwoman need not be entirely compliant in sex or eager to please her man all the time."

"Really? Well, what will you give me not to tell the others they can refuse sex whenever they want?"

"Ha, ha."

"You know, I would never refuse you sex, not without a very good reason."

"I know it, Darling. Nor would I ever refuse you."

"Well, that's obvious!"

"Why is it obvious?"

"Because I'm irresistible!" She spoke triumphantly, sitting up.

"Really?"

"For sure. I could seduce you anytime."

He remembered her failed attempt to seduce him two months ago.

"How would you seduce me?"

"Easy, I'd lean into you, very close, and whisper in your ear: 'Would you like to fuck me?' Then, ten seconds later, there you'd be, stark naked, mouth watering, cock erect - seduced up to the eyeballs!"

"Up to the eyeballs?"

"Yes, the eyeballs!" she affirmed, confidently.

He laughed. "Well, I don't deny the efficacy of your seduction technique, Annela, though I lament your execrable English."

"Execrable! What a lovely word! 'Irresistible Annela's execrable English!' I like it!"

"It's not a compliment."

"Are you sure?"

"Come on, we should go back to the orchard. We can't leave the others to do all the work."

He pushed her off him, stood and then helped her to her feet. She leaned into him and they kissed.

"I could seduce you into staying here with me," she said as he held her. "I could use my execrable English."

"You're incorrigible."

"Even better!" she exclaimed. "Incorrigible Annela's execrable English. Or should it be Execrable Annela's incorrigible English? or maybe Adorable Annela's irresistible English. I am adorable, aren't I Ezra?"

She was in a girlish mood, almost euphoric. She danced around him as they walked slowly back to the orchard.

"You are adorable, to me ... but I have poor taste."

She was going to punish him but decided she preferred to turn pirouettes instead, eventually getting dizzy and falling into him, laughing. She loved that he held her so firmly whenever he caught her.

"How about Incorrigible Annela's adorable English?" she asked, skipping off again.

Annela prattled like this all the way back. He was pleased she was so happy. He hoped Sharne would also be happy.

It was late afternoon when they met up with the woodcutters. The foragers had already gone. Sharne and Dagma were collecting the cut branches to take to the camp. Annela skipped over to Sharne, kissed her cheek and whispered, "Thank you, Darling."

"Did it go well?" Sharne whispered back.

"Oh, yes! I explained to him what's what. He understands. You don't have to worry about pleasing him. .. But, Sharne, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Does Ezra ever talk to you about me?"

"Not really."

"I don't mean trivial stuff, like my favourite sex position (on top, leaning back, by the way), which you can ask me yourself any time, but something secret or embarrassing, like what I scream when I climax?"

"Of course not."

"I know it. He's discreet. That means you can trust him. So talk to him. Tell him everything that bothers you, and everything you want or need or hope. Don't be shy. And never doubt that he loves you."

Sharne was silent a minute. Annela had read her mind perfectly.

"You're a witch, Annela."

"I know. Shall we go back to the camp? You're due to be disappointed that Pepi doesn't miss you as much as she ought."

"That's enough witchcraft, Miss. Besides, Pepi is doing fine."

"I know, I'm just teasing."

So, after loading Ezra up with a pile of wood so big he couldn't see over it, they trundled back to camp, chatting gaily.

Sharne did speak to Ezra and they reached a state of real communion in the last few days of her month, when her period had passed but there was no hope of her getting pregnant. It didn't matter. They had sex - sweet, loving, indulgent sex - once more, for its own sake and vowed to come together to try again. And so, with a smile on her face, Sharne let Ezra go on to his next bedmate.

***

After a slow trek through the forest, it was three weeks before the intrepid young explorers reached the terminal lake with its swans and geese. The glacier towered over the lake like an ice cathedral. Here they stopped to decide their best route onward.

The longest way was around the lake, through a thigh-deep stream with ice-cold water and across the valley to the west of the volcano. They would be exposed and vulnerable to a posse of horse-riders, though it was unlikely any Herders would be this far from the coastal plain.

The shortest route was straight across the glacier where they were; and the hardest route was to skirt the forest edge for a few miles and then to cross the glacier at a narrow point higher up, which would put them east of the volcano. But it was a steep climb and was probably just as steep on the way down.

They left their backpacks at the forest edge and, taking their water bladders, climbed the rocky escarpment that took them onto the edge of the glacier. It formed a dam a hundred feet above the lake. The ice was streaked with blue and grey from crushed rock and had deep crevices worn down by melt-water rivulets that poured into the lake as small waterfalls, sometimes carrying blocks of ice with them.

There were a few patches of snow in the shadows of over-hanging crevices where the hot sun couldn't touch them and the ice formed finger-like sculptures. Carlin had never seen snow or walked on ice before. She bent down to touch the cold ground. She lifted a handful of snow to her mouth to taste it.

Wildchild found a clear pool and tasted the water. It was sweet. She drank her fill and then charged her water-bladder. The other girls did the same. Now it was time to venture out onto the glacier to survey their route.

It was soon evident that the shortest route would be impossible without climbing equipment. The crevices were too steep and jagged. Bare hands could make no purchase on the sheer ice-walls and who knew how much bigger the crevices would be further out, where the rivulets were proper streams?

Now they had to decide whether they preferred a hard climb for the rest of the day, hoping to be able to cross the glacier higher up tomorrow. Or should they make for the valley floor, which was dry and had neither shelter nor food? While they were discussing, they heard the screech of a large bird-of-prey high above them, wheeling across the glacier. They looked up.

"She's an eagle," Tamar said to Carlin. "We see them in the southern hills, where the Herders pasture the sheep. If we don't watch carefully, sometimes they take lambs."

"I've not seen one before," Carlin said. "I've seen peregrines. They fly above the forest and go after the pigeons. What can she eat here?"

Wildchild had been asking herself that. She didn't think eagles ate other birds, so maybe there were animals for the eagles to hunt - and for her also to hunt. Seeing the eagle helped her make up her mind. She returned to her pack, picked up her bow and pointed up the glacier. The other girls concurred and the three set off on a steep climb over the grey rocks, occasionally dipping into the forest for an easier path with roots to haul themselves up by.

They erected the tent early that evening and slept in the shelter of the forest leaving themselves a short climb up to the glacier. It had taken Carlin a couple of nights to get used to sleeping in a tent, almost exposed to the night rain and on a hard lumpy surface, but she liked it now. It was more companionable than a bed in a hut because the three girls slept together in a sleeping bag with Tamar in the middle (who loved being cuddled on both sides).

The sleeping bag was an innovation that Tamar and Wildchild adopted from their new tribe. Before, they had slept in their clothes, keeping each other warm as best they could on the cold open plain. It was warmer in the forest, though, and they adapted quickly to sleeping naked in a light cotton bag. Even now, at four-thousand feet altitude, where the night-rain fell as large drops of snow, it was plenty warm enough in a tent under the protection of the trees.

Next morning they foraged for breakfast (keeping the dried foods for when there was no more foraging) and then set off to cross the glacier, less than a mile wide at the point, walking on a bed of fresh soft snow. They could appreciate the raw beauty of the clean white glacier, which turned at a right angle higher up and disappeared behind a wall of mountains to their right.

On the far side of the glacier, they stopped for a view of their future route and to look back where they had come. They could see the end of the terminal lake five miles away and a thousand feet below on their left. In front of them was the dirty grey murrain wall and beyond that was the brown volcano, white smoke rising from its peak. Behind was the forest, which crept up as close to the glacier as it could and climbed as far up the hill-side as climate allowed.

In the far distance, beyond the volcano and across the dry valley, there were more white-tipped mountains.

"How do we know the miners live in those mountains over there and not in the mountains here?" Carlin asked, pointing first to the distant hills in front and then to those to their right.

"We don't, for sure," Tamar replied, "it's just what we were told - Go past the volcano to a lush green valley and in the valley there are caves where the miners work."

Wildchild grunted something to remind Tamar:

"That's right. Ezra said what to look for. He said the mountains are all volcanoes. They've grown so high because the younger ones have pushed up the older ones."

Carlin gave a puzzled exclamation.

"I don't know what it means, either. That's what he said. Anyway, the miners would have dug near the younger volcanoes because that's where the precise metals would be."

Wildchild gave a laugh.

"'Precious' metals," Tamar corrected herself.

"So those are the youngest volcanoes?"

"The highest are the youngest, he said."

Carlin stared out into the distance, shielding her eyes from the morning sun.

"I can't see a green valley."

"Nor can I," Tamar agreed. The land between the volcano and the further mountains was flat but it was scorched yellow and brown.

"So the valley might be on the other side of these mountains here," Carlin suggested.

Wildchild signalled to the others, took a handful of gravel and threw it onto the flat icy surface of the glacier. She used the end of her bow to draw a map.

First she made a long shallow crescent with a crude fish in the middle.

"The ocean," Tamar said, unnecessarily.

Then Wildchild drew a three-sided box to the right of the ocean, leaving the far right edge blank. She drew a tree in the middle and, in the gap between the coast and the forest, she drew an animal which was probably a cow but might have been an elephant or a giraffe.

The girls tried not to giggle.

Ignoring them, she filled in more details. There was a mountain range to the south (she didn't bother drawing a sheep) and a large river to the north that flowed east to west. The river started in mountains in the north-east, which is where they were. A large squiggling line represented a much larger range of mountains that curved from the north and down the east side of the forest. The northern range were those they could see beyond the volcano. The eastern range was invisible from within the forest, though the mountain they stood on was one of its foothills. The valley before them cut into the north-east range; but where the mountains started and ended was all left vague.

Lastly, Wildchild made a series of jumping dots with her bow from her 'cow' (which was apparently a horse) up the coastal plain to the north-east mountains and then she pointed at Tamar.

It was clear: Wildchild believed the Herders who snatched Tamar had taken the coastal route to the White Mountains, where they met the miners.

With Carlin satisfied, they set off down the soft gravel slope of the murrain wall, slipping knee-deep into the powdery clay and sliding some of the way on their bottoms. Half-way down there was a rocky ridge that connected the mountain to the right to the lone volcano in front. They scrambled up the ridge and strode on toward the volcano, which they would meet half-way up its side.

As they approached, they could see the lip of the volcano shimmering in the hot air, changing colour in patches from grey-green to yellow and back again. It was a curious phenomenon and the girls were interested to know what was causing it.

They agreed to climb over the volcano rather than go around. They could get an even better view of their route from its peak. They didn't fear the volcano's soft white plume feathering into the sky but climbed the muddy slope, sometimes finding hand-holds in dry pumice slabs.

At the top, the rim was obscured in wispy clouds of what they had taken to be smoke. They could now tell it was steam. They could also smell it: an unpleasant vapour with the stench of bad eggs. They carried on regardless and, from the lip of the crater, at last saw what was causing the steam. The crater had a muddy flat surface in which were many rock-pools, gently bubbling with internal heat. The water was sulphurous, staining the rocks yellow and black.

The floor of the crater was a yellow and grey-green mat, changing its colours like a kaleidoscope. Tamar took a few steps down from the lip into the crater and the floor shimmered leaving a brown semi-circle around her where the bare floor was revealed.

"It's lizards!" she cried out.

The floor of the crater was a mat of thousands of reptiles, large and small, of different shades of grey, green and yellow, plus some brown ones that were hard to see. They had scattered out of her way into the shadow of the lip of the volcano. It explained what they had seen from a distance, when the lizards were sunning themselves on the volcano's rim.

Now another puzzle was solved: these must be the animals that the eagles feed on. Sure enough, they heard the shriek of an eagle in the sky overhead. Wildchild and Carlin thought of trying for one of the larger lizards with their bows but they decided they'd save their arrows for more delectable fare.

From the north side of the volcano they could see their route clearly. Across the dry plain and tucked into a notch in the foothills of the distant mountains, almost at the limit of vision on a hot hazy day, a small green valley was visible.