Chapter 15: Winter in the Wilderness

My experience of surviving a Thurnian winter in the wilderness is less traumatic than I anticipated. However, venturing more than a few hundred metres from the caves must be reserved for the periodic milder days. The caves in which we live are cold, but not unbearably so. The forest shelters us from the worst of the winter gales. In the open farmlands inhabited by Thurnians, the gales can plunge temperatures well below freezing. Fire pits inside the cave mouths are used both to cook and provide some warmth in the caves. However the supply of dry fuel is limited, and the smoke from the fire needs venting, often to the detriment of warmth.

Everyone is kept busy during the day, either hunting and foraging, or making and mending clothing and other items the commune will need when it sets off on its trek. In the evenings there is entertainment and an abundance of sex. The elves use any excuse for a party. The three orphans are treated to a rite of passage ceremony by the elves, which officially makes them adults. Cassandra and I, along with the four Elf Maidens who arrived with us, also become full members of the community. That’s an excuse for no fewer than six parties on successive nights. Makareta also transitions into adulthood during winter adding an eleventh Elf Maiden to the community. With at least three Elf Maidens in heat at any one time, Drew, Seamus and I are kept extremely busy satisfying all the Elf Maidens as well as ensuring Cassandra and Egbertha receive their fair share of attention. The caves at night soon degenerate into a wild orgy that makes no attempt to shield the activities from the view of the five adolescent elves who are likely to reach adulthood in the coming months. Only the sleeping younger elves are left in ignorance of what happens at night.

By unspoken agreement between us, neither Drew nor Seamus fuck Cassandra, and I, in turn, do not have sex with Egbertha. It soon becomes apparent is that Egbertha is pregnant. Drew admits that during the last Rutting Season he and Egbertha discovered that she was in heat. In the poorly supervised environment of the orphanage, he and Egbertha found it easy to make the most of the situation. Now she is expecting Drew’s child and it is presumably the reason Drew refused to leave her behind. It’s a hard enough life being an orphan without adding the burden of a pregnancy.

Our life settles into a comfortable routine which makes the days quickly pass. The nightly sex orgies gradually reduce once several of the Elf Maidens become pregnant, and cease emitting the pheromones needed to induce an erection in males. There’s no way to tell which of us is the father to an Elf Maiden’s child, and in practise it doesn’t matter. The child will be a female and a clone of her mother.

Cassandra’s periods of morning sickness soon end. Egbertha seems to have avoided the problem entirely. By late winter the preparations for our trek north are complete and Akenehi announces that we will be leaving in two days time. It’s another excuse for a party, and yet more sex. My cock is feeling the effects of constant use, but so far it hasn’t failed me on my nightly mission to plough as many female pussies as I can. Drew and Seamus even have a private competition to see who can fuck the most Elf Maidens in different sexual positions in the course of one night. I keep clear of that competition as I feel responsible for ensuring Cassandra and Egbertha aren’t ignored. Although I never fuck Egbertha, she often joins Cassandra and me in bed, and I have learned how arouse both women without the need for an erection to motivate me.

The final preparations for our departure are briefly thrown into confusion when two adolescent elves arrive in the commune. It’s a miracle they have found their way here, and it’s lucky that they arrived before our departure. They are starving and exhausted after travelling alone from one of the western cities. They were expelled from the city for refusing their overlord’s demands to work longer hours. They travelled to Fallowfield over the pass in High Ridge, which is a commendable accomplishment in the depths of winter. The villagers suggested that they try to find our community, although they only had the vaguest idea of the commune’s location. Fortunately the residual tracks left by the mules all those months ago helped the observant elves find their way to us.

The adolescent elves go by the names ET45 and FY33. Apparently the law permitting elves to use names rather than their birth serial number hasn’t been applied in the ghetto where they lived. The factory manager who employed them refused to call them by anything other than their serial number. Their sorry tale of persecution and exploitation is one I’ve come across several times before, and only highlights the injustice young elves must endure. Any attempt at protest invariably results in the offending elf being thrown in jail. The worst offenders are then expelled from the city, often in foul weather to minimise their chance of survival. My earlier attempts to amend the laws to remedy the situation have so far come to nothing.

Food and clean clothing are provided for the new arrivals, and the elves are allowed to rest while our preparations for departure resume. When given the choice of coming with us or travelling to another elven community, they both decide to join us on our travels.

Early the next morning we depart on our northward journey. Our party consists of five Thurnians, eleven Elf Maidens, seven adolescent elves, and fifteen younger elves, four of whom are too young to walk. The six mules are loaded with an assortment of supplies, tools and utensils. Each person is expected to carry his or her own personal belongings. It’s an exercise in how to travel light, and several of the elves decide to discard some items when we stop for our first rest. Fortunately, Cassandra and I had few possessions with us in the first place so it isn’t a problem that affects us. Duties such as leading the mules and carrying those too young to walk are shared among the elves. Only Akenehi and her chosen trailblazers, Horowai and Makareta, are exempt from the rotation of duties.

It doesn’t take us long to travel beyond the range of the maps we purchased in Fallowfield. I’m not sure what benefit Akenehi thought she would get from them. Only the High Ridge far to the west of us acts as a guide to our location and direction. The dense forest means we only occasionally catch a glimpse of the ridge. Makareta climbs a tall tree to scout the area around us during our afternoon rest break on our fourth day of travel. Her confidence and agility in climbing the tree again reminds me that the wilderness is the elves natural habitat.

She returns ten minutes later and makes a report to Akenehi. I’m surprised when Akenehi calls me over to discuss what Makareta has seen.

“What do you know about the ancient history of Thurn?” Akenehi asks me.

“Um. Cassandra and I both researched Thurnian history when we were students,” I reply.

“Do you know anything specific about this part of the continent?” asks Akenehi, after Cassandra joins us at Akenehi’s request.

“Only that the western cities were founded about six hundred years ago,” says Cassandra. “The earliest reference to the settlement at Reak is dated about two hundred years ago, although it’s likely people were living there before that. The villagers said that Fallowfield was little more than a hunter’s seasonal camp until around fifty years ago.”