Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 10

Besides orgies most nights, three significant things happened to Ezra during his stay at the mountain camp.

The first was meeting Tamar's adoptive mother, Judith. She was one of the shepherds and, with unexpected delicacy, Solange arranged for her to meet Ezra beside the sheep-pen, where they could talk privately.

"Solange told me you've met my daughter, that you've news of her," Judith said.

"I'm pleased to say Tamar is a friend of mine. She helped rescue me when my ship crashed and brought me to the Woodlanders. You should be very proud of the way you raised her."

"I am."

"But did Solange tell you that she and Wildchild have gone to the White Mountains in search of her real mother?"

He didn't try to disguise the truth or soften his words.

"She did and though I don't fully understand what drove her to leave, she's still my daughter and I want her back. Did she say anything about me, was it my fault she left?"

"Tamar said nothing at all about you and nothing derogatory about any of the Herders, except she feared how they might punish her if she was caught."

"I don't think Solange will punish her now; but did she really say nothing about why she left? Did no one drive her away?"

"She never said anyone drove her away but only what called her to leave. It's not your fault, I'm sure, though I understand you may feel rejected."

"Rejection is painful, but it's my fault. I deserve it; and it's nothing compared to feeling that my daughter might be unhappy, or in danger, or hurt."

"She's brave and resourceful. So is Wildchild. There's also a third girl with them, a Woodlander. All the Woodlanders believe the girls are safe and will come back successful."

"Successful?"

"I know Solange thinks her mother is dead but the girls don't believe that."

Judith looked down. He was reassuring and disturbing at the same time.

"Come back where?"

"Judith, I'm sorry to tell you, Tamar allowed herself to be adopted into the Woodlander tribe. I don't think she means to come back to you at all."

"She must hate me."

There was a pause between them.

He spoke softly:

"Can I ask you a difficult question?"

"You want to know why I took her?"

"Yes."

"I don't know. I saw her, a helpless bundle in the arms of a woman dressed in rags with dirt on her face. I felt sorry for her. She was so small and so beautiful. I loved her at once and I took her. I couldn't help myself. Do earth women never do it?"

"They do: baby-snatching one of the few crimes only women commit."

"I know I did wrong but, at the time, all I could see was a daughter I couldn't have myself. I reasoned afterward that the other woman didn't really love her, or not as much as I did. I pretended - we all pretended - we'd done Tamar a favour, giving her a better home, a stronger tribe to belong to; but I was lying. We all were. I even thought of taking her back but our chief at the time forbade it."

"Judith, is there anything I can do?"

"Only, when you see her, please tell her I miss her and want her back, that I don't blame her, that I will always be her mother, if she'll let me."

"I will."

The second significant thing was shearing the sheep, an operation that involved most of the available women. The animals were rounded up a dozen at a time and driven down the mountain into the pen. Here a woman with ancient steel shears clipped off their woolly coats before releasing them to run back up the hill. Vera was one of the shearers who took turns with the only pair of shears in the tribe.

She called Ezra over and showed him how to do the job. The skill was to keep the sheep from fighting back by cutting carefully and working quickly. He started quite well but accidentally nicked a bit of skin and had to struggle against an enraged beast. He gave the shears back and held the animal while Vera quickly finished.

Ezra was in a quandary. His laser-knife would be perfect for this task but he didn't want to reveal its existence to the Herders before he could be certain they had no aggressive ambitions toward the other tribes. He had seen how much they squabble and bitch among themselves, though he'd not yet seen any actual fights; but he remembered how much Wildchild and Tamar feared the Herders, so maybe he'd seen only the tribe's good side. On reflection, he decided not to show the Herders his laser-knife.

The shearing was over and the tribe could relax. Vera was sent to be with her mother and Ezra asked Megan to take a day off and go for a ride with him. This was the third significant thing that happened.

"I want to visit the ocean," he explained. "How far is it?"

"About twelve miles," she said, "if we follow the mountains, which end in cliffs over-looking the sea. If you just want the beach, though, I know a good spot about fifteen miles away."

This suited his plans. He wanted to explore 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 go for a ride with you."

Early next morning, they headed straight across the plain and reached the coast five miles north of the cliffs, where the long crescent of the beach began, the same beach that led to the Mariner Settlement, about sixty miles further on. His sunken ship lay on the sea-floor 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 questing 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 to him.

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 it was clear 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.

Next day Solange invited him for a walk in the mountains.

It was an hour to the snow-line, along paths of loose and crumbly rock, where over-hanging crags loomed menacingly, fringed by mad crystal fingers of ice - rain-water that froze over-night 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 breath-taking. Above them, eagles circled.

"Well," she opened, "are you going to tell me why you exhausted one of my horses just to visit the sea-side?"

"No. ... Are you going to 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 in a population 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 really 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, then they will simply take over. They'll break up our tribes, steal our lands and live like kings, using us as slaves."

"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. Now, 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 own ideas on the matter."

She didn't say what they were, though, and he needed some time to think through what she said. They walked in silence back down to the camp and sat apart at dinner, brooding and contemplating.

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

After a day's ride, they pitched the tent on bare ground below the snow-line, 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 just to huddle to stay warm.

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 own tall peak and next flat one. Passage was blocked by a wall of rock that had clearly 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 snow-line."

"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 had burned off the mountain mists and the central spine of the mountains was clearly 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 rode 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.

It was when they reached the base camp again that he discovered that the expedition was just a pretext, a ruse to get him into the mountains.

As Ezra dismounted his horse, the women took their lassos and threw them over him, pinning his arms to his sides. He thought it was a joke at first 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 manhandled 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 really 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 really 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 and you are the only one. When the cloning kits run out, the other tribes will have to come to us; then we'll have the whip-hand. Do you think, if the Cloners got you, they would ever let you go?"

"How can they stop me? And how did you think your own 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? I think women can be very persuasive, especially young pretty ones."

"I don't believe you," he repeated. "I think this was another test: one 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 pen-knife hidden in a side pocket of his trousers. By squirming, he managed to get a finger on the knife and ease it out 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.

By now, Megan and Ash had returned to the tent and were standing 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 the pain and gabbling, pleading for forgiveness, explaining that she had to obey her chief.

"Forget all that," he said abruptly, handing her a bladder. "Pour this water over your wrist and keep pouring 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 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. It was only a flesh-wound, thank God. 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 really so he could be alone with Solange. He wouldn't shame her in front of the tribe but he was going to 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 realise your irresponsibility caused me to wound three women I care for."

"Three?"

"I think it's time to put an end to 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 on 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 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 stronger 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 the pain.

"What do I have to do to convince you?" he demanded.

Her reply was a whisper:

"... pass a final test."

"There are no final tests where women are concerned. You'll simply make a new test for me."

He whipped her a few times more, just to make his point. At last she said: