Chapter 5: Eastern side of continental Myanmar. Appx. 1300 BC

The following day saw Morning and her mother up early. With the weather still remaining unseasonably warm, they knew the warriors and gatherers would be out searching for game and any edible plants still available. Every extra morsel they could gather now meant more food as winter ended and food supplies were low. Hunting for game in the snow wasn’t impossible, only extremely difficult. Morning and Day wanted to accompany their respective teams and show their worth. Doing so would prove to Evening’s parents that Morning (Bear) was a suitable mate for their widowed daughter.

कोहरायुक्त प्रातः (Foggy Morning) waited with the hunters as Morning approached. He introduced the warrior to the clan’s hunters and asked them to allow Bear to accompany them. There was curiosity about the newcomer but no adverse reaction. मृगशिकारी (Deer Hunter) led this trip, and as the newest member, Bear automatically assumed the rear position. It would be his job to ensure no animal, human or otherwise, could sneak up behind the hunting pack. Bear would only get the chance to make a kill if the pack stumbled upon a herd of deer. However, at this time of year, most of the deer herds would have followed the sun south, where the temperature was warmer, so stumbling on an entire herd would be unlikely.

The hunting pack found deer spoor about three hours out from the village. The tracks showed a full-grown buck protecting an injured smaller doe. At Deer’s signal, three warriors peeled to their right and sprinted in a semi-circle, hoping to get ahead of the two deer. Two more repeated that action, except they circled to the left. Deer and another hunter followed the tracks. Their job was to herd the deer towards the waiting hunters. Bear guarded the rear about a quarter mile behind Deer and his companion.

As she moved quietly through the sparse bush, Morning (Bear) felt her instincts raise her hackles. As the hunters pursued their prey, they, in turn, were being hunted. Morning knew they were hunted but wasn’t sure by what. She was convinced that the hunter wasn’t human, but whether animal or subhuman, she didn’t know.

Dropping further back, Morning began searching for what pursued them. Up ahead, she heard the whooping and hollering of the hunters attacking the two deer. She could tell by the exuberant yells that the hunt was successful, with both deer brought down. The problem was that she still hadn’t found the animal hunting them.

Slipping in a silent circle, following her instincts, Morning crept through the woods, looking for the animal she knew would soon attack the hunting party. Sheer luck allowed her to find the Bengal Tiger sneaking up on her hunters. A bird had landed on a branch about ten feet to Morning’s left. The movement attracted Morning’s eye, and when her eyes found the bird, she saw the large cat’s silently swishing tail. The tiger was about to pounce upon the men surrounding the downed deer.

With no time to think, Morning roared and leapt at the tiger’s back, swinging her axe in a vicious arc at its head. The warriors around the deer froze momentarily before snatching their spears up and turning towards the sound.

The cat moved with sight-defying speed, and Morning’s axe missed its head, only severing part of the Bengal tiger’s ear. It turned and snarled at Morning. Morning stared death in the eye at that moment and found it didn’t scare her. She knew she couldn’t stand against the two-hundred-and-fifty-kilo animal for long, but she was determined to survive long enough for the hunters to arrive and kill the animal.

The animal crouched and then leapt at Morning’s head. Morning dropped backward and drove her axe’s point upward. The point entered the tiger’s chest as smoothly as a hot knife into butter. As the tiger’s leap took it over Morning, the axe split the tiger open from its throat’s base, nearly to its anus. The tiger landed, collapsed, snarled, twitched, and didn’t move.

Morning was uncertain about what had happened, so she leapt to her feet and spun to face the tiger, expecting to face another charge. She saw the downed tiger and its entrails hanging from the gaping wound in its chest and stomach. The adrenaline rush of fear and relief hit her, and she staggered before falling onto her ass. The other hunters streamed into the clearing just as Morning fell. They saw the slain Tiger and automatically assumed Morning was injured.

Deer put his hand on the back of Bear’s (Morning) head and lay her back, expecting to see the worst. He was amazed to find that the only blood on Bear was the tiger’s. “अहं भवतः नाम व्याघ्रः वधकः इति करोमि (I name you Tiger Slayer),” he said, awe evident in his voice. “Welcome to the tribe.”

Skinning and field dressing the three animals took a solid two hours. The hunters had accepted व्याघ्रः (Tiger) into the clan, so he was included in the casual banter that accompanied their work. Morning was happy because her and her mother’s immediate future was now safe. They could live as clan members with the Negrito Tribe and add to the clan’s safety and prosperity.

Deer led the hunting party back into the village just as the last of the day’s sun dropped below the horizon. The remaining warriors had gathered towards the village’s end, where the party should appear. The party was late, and suspicion had fallen on Bear (Morning, Tiger). The elders had sent men to take and hold Day. Even Evening wasn’t above suspicion.

Deer and his hunting party walked joyfully into the village. They sang songs about the newly named Tiger’s valour and the hunt’s success. The villagers surrounded the party and listened as Deer spoke of Tiger’s fight with the tiger. Even though none of the hunters had seen the fight, Deer told a fanciful tale of how it happened. He made the Bengal tiger twice the size it was, and the fight lasting a gruesome fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of Tiger (Bear, Morning) effortlessly avoiding the tiger’s attacks before delivering the coup de grâce.

The villagers quickly changed from planning an execution of Day and possibly Evening to the mating ritual between the newly named Tiger Slayer and Evening Sky. As Tiger’s mother, Day held a position of honour in the brief ceremony. The ritual itself didn’t take long, but the celebration afterwards lasted well into the night. Finally, with dawn not too far away, Tiger and Evening were cheered as they entered Evening’s parents’ shelter. A woven grass covering had been installed to grant the newly mated couple privacy.

Morning, as nervous as she was on the night she married Eagle, took her new wife into her arms and slowly stripped the ceremonial cloak off her. She stepped back to admire Evening’s tight, compact body. Evening’s ebony skin glowed in the faint light. Her nipples stood proudly aroused on her chest, and Morning felt her cock thicken and stiffen in her loin cloth.

Evening shyly undid Tiger’s (Morning) loincloth and let it fall to the ground. Her delicate hand closed around Tiger’s tumescent shaft, and she sunk slowly to her knees. Opening her pouty-lipped mouth, Evening sucked Tiger’s cock into her mouth. Breathing through her nose, Evening swallowed and allowed Tiger’s entire cock into her mouth and down her throat. She didn’t stop until her nose rested against Tiger’s muscular abdomen.

Although Morning had done the same with her husband many times, she was nevertheless impressed by Evening’s ability to swallow her thick, 7-inch tool. The new sensation of having her cock sucked proved too much for Morning’s libido, and with a deep-throated growl, she ejaculated down Evening’s throat. However, that only served to ignite Morning’s lust. Growling again, she pushed Evening off her throbbing member and onto her back. Pouncing on the woman, Morning pushed Evening’s knees back and apart and ploughed forcefully into her cunt. Morning’s abdomen hit Evening’s pubis with a resounding thump.

“Yes, Tiger!” Evening gasped as her new husband took her. Crow was a great warrior, provider and hunter, but his lovemaking was weak and diffident. Evening wished to be owned, taken, and made to submit to her man. Her new husband was doing exactly that, and Evening was in heaven. Her fingers ripped skin from Tiger’s back as her thighs clenched his hips, and her calves pulled him into her. “Fuck me,” she demanded. “Fuck me hard and make me yours.”

As a whole, the villagers smiled and rejoiced as they heard Tiger’s deep growls and Evening’s high-pitched squeals and demands to be fucked harder. Tiger was a warrior who would add to the clan’s prestige, and the villagers knew they were safer than before his arrival. They were pleased and proud that a mere fourth-born daughter of a minor clan hunter could attract two such virile mates. That Tiger wanted to join her clan only added to Evening’s new stature. As the newly mated couple’s sounds reverberated through the village, many of the men began showing their mates just how virile they were, too. Soon, the sounds of vigorously fucking couples filled the valley.

Meanwhile, Tiger was sweating profusely as she fucked the seemingly insatiable woman under her. Evening had climaxed at least three times and showed no signs of slowing down. So, placing her hand on Evening’s tight buttocks, Tiger rolled onto his back, dragging Evening into the female superior position.

Evening, giggling delightedly, placed her hands in the middle of Tiger’s powerful chest. Pushing firmly on her braced hands, Evening rode Tiger like she’d ride the mythical winged horses her tribe’s shaman told stories about. Tiger held her hips as Evening rode. Tiger felt that Evening was close to cresting again, and he began thrusting up to meet her descending bottom.

Suddenly, Evening’s head tilted back, and she screamed as another stupendous orgasm blasted from her throbbing pussy. Unable to last another stroke, Tiger rammed up into the slender woman above him and, with a roar, filled her tight pussy with cum. Tiger spat rope after rope of thick sperm into his new wife, and if Evening wasn’t already pregnant from lying with Crow, she most likely was now.

Evening giggled happily as she slowly fell off Tiger and onto her side. She was asleep before Tiger could roll to cuddle her.

The following morning, Tiger and Evening sat at a welcoming breakfast with Evening’s parents, वायुः उड्डीयते मेघाः (Wind Blown Clouds) and वृक्षाः कम्पन्ते (Trees Shaking), and his mother, दिनं प्रभात इति (Day Dawning). They were in the place of honour, to the chief’s left. Once everyone had been served, the chief stood. Holding his clay cup up, Mountain announced, “Today we welcome back our daughter, Evening Sky, and welcome to the clan Tiger Slayer, along with his mother, Day Dawning. Long may you live, and long may the tribe prosper.”

Tiger was asked to go with another hunting party as Day and Evening picked up baskets, ready to help the woman search the area around the village for anything that had been missed. The snows would be only days away at most, and the clan needed as much food gathered and preserved for the long winter as possible.

The warriors left the village daily, and Morning went with every hunting party. It was her chance to get to know the other hunters and fighters in the clan. If the village was attacked, or they encountered other humans or subhumans in their travels, they’d need to work together. The other warriors knew of Tiger’s bravery but didn’t know if he could work cooperatively with them if they faced an enemy. Tiger had to earn their trust so they’d trust him to do the right thing and protect their flank when they went into battle together. He worked cooperatively with the other hunters, followed orders, and did as he was told, showing his fellow hunters that he was part of the team and not just a gifted individual. Individuals killed enemies; warriors working as a team won battles.

Game was becoming scarce as the herd animals followed the sun further south. Each hunting party had to roam further and further away to find even one animal they could kill and bring back to the tribe. The Negrito had inhabited the valley because it was green and fertile and filled with much game. There was enough game, fruit, vegetables, tubers and nuts for the tribe to hunt or gather to survive the harsh winters.

The valley nestled in a circle formed by three rocky outcrops, making it a secure place to defend if the slavers returned, another reason the clan had chosen to settle in that valley. The outcrops made it difficult, but not impossible, for the village to be attacked from the north, east, and west. The only easy access was from the south, and the chief ensured warriors were always watching this approach. For some reason, Morning was wary of the outcrop to the valley’s east. But the fear wasn’t an urgent one, and Morning believed she, her mother, and their adopted clan were safe here for now.

The season moved on, as it does, and sorties outside the valley became close to impossible. In another few weeks, the winter would freeze, hardening the snow’s top and making travel in the open areas possible. However, hunting would still be nigh impossible because very few animals were stupid enough to be out in the open. Most of the big cats had followed the game herds south, but unfortunately, some stayed.

These were often the parents of late-season litters whose youngsters were still too small to travel south. These cats were hungry, and some weren’t afraid to raid the village. Their keen noses smelt the cured and frozen meat stored throughout the village. They viewed the humans inhabiting the village as food, too.

The rocky outcrops didn’t deter the cats, therefore, attacks could come from any direction. The village lost between seven and twelve members every year to marauding cats. Morning sort a solution to this problem. It was too late to gather tree branches tall and thick enough to build a palisade around the village, but Morning needed to keep the big cats back somehow.