Chapter 17

It took four weeks for us to empty the compound, and in truth we still left a lot of stuff behind. Unfortunately, it started raining near the end, making dragging travois and crossing fords much more difficult than they had been previously for my people. It actually rained all the way home to the cave, on the last trip.

The locals moved in with little or no problem. By that point the communication issue had been resolved. It also helped that all of them knew at least half of the people in my budding community. Rugar had rotated people from time to time as the weeks dragged on, so that everyone had gotten an opportunity to visit the compound and to help out in dragging stuff back. It meant that Sygor and his people got to meet a lot of my people, and friendships were made.

Sygor, Taka, Ruba, and the rest of the Plains People weren’t the only new faces in the cave, and to that fact I owed Uttar and Vedic a big ‘thank you.’ Clara had sent Uttar and Vedic to their old village to conduct the trade for the wild oats I wanted. The negotiations didn’t take long. The village needed meat for the winter so the chief demanded that in trade for what we were asking of them.

When Uttar and Vedic went hunting right after the trade deal had been concluded. They’d returned just two hours later, much to the surprise of the Hilltop people. They’d made two fresh kills in prepayment for the oats that the village would collect for us, dragging them back on a travois that they’d kept to help with hunting. The men of the village had been suitably impressed. All the men knew Uttar and Vedic by sight, and by reputation. They all knew that for the last few years the pair had been eking out an existence by trapping small game and trading goods for meat and material. That two old and injured men had returned with fresh kills, and so quickly, got people talking. Talk led to questions, and naturally questions led to answers. Uttar provided the answers.

Uttar and Vedic drew straws for who got to go and show the villagers where the oats were, and who got to go hunting again. Uttar won and would go hunting, while Vedic would lead the villagers. Naturally, when Uttar went out, other men came along to see how he did it.

Uttar, being an old hand at hunting, knew where to find ample game regardless of the time of year. His injuries and age only meant that it took him longer to get from one point to another in a normal day. By that point the weather had begun to turn. The days were cooler and shorter. In response, many of the grazing herds had started looking for places to shelter for the winter. Some headed for the forests and woodland lots, while others headed into cul-de-sacs and secluded hollows up behind the hills that lined the valley walls. One such hollow was not too far away from the village, and Uttar headed there.

In one afternoon Uttar dropped six cows and a young bull for the village. He did it by stealth, using the tree-line to get him within bow shot range of the herd that he’d located; and with patience. He dropped a couple of animals and then moved as the herd moved. He held back his friends and acquaintances when they wanted to rush out to spear the rest of the herd. He assured everyone that he’d bag enough to pay the village for their service, and he did just that. Once the last animal was dropped that could be carried back by the men with him, Uttar was ready to call it a day. He stayed and helped dress out the kills, and then he helped load them up on the travois being dragged by the villagers.

Uttar wasn’t the only person influencing our neighbours with the wonders of our community. Vedic had led the reaping team to where the wild oats were growing. That had been a two day trek for them. Along the way, Vedic showed some of the young boys and girls who’d been sent with the women to help, the skill of downing a bird with a sling. Vedic was not as good as Gort or some of the other younger people in our cave, but he was still capable. By the time they’d made their first camp near the far end of the lake, Vedic had dropped four birds. He did the same the next day, plus he dropped a deer with his bow for everyone’s supper. The pair of hunters who’d come along to protect the women and children were impressed by Vedic’s skill. He’d picked off the deer just as it started bounding away. The range had been sixty yards.

Thus I found new members of our tribe awaiting me on my return from the compound. I’d been forewarned by Rugar, so there wasn’t any great surprise; but, it was still eye opening to see our cave beginning to fill up.

Kobo and Sika had come to join their daughter in our cave. Now in his thirties, Kobo was beginning to feel his age. As a hunter, it was something he really couldn’t afford if he wanted to maintain his status in the village, and feed his wife. He’d seen the ease with which Uttar had met the trade agreement with the village. Using just his bow and his years of hunting experience; Uttar had achieved in an afternoon, by himself, what the whole village would have had to do together, if they had wanted to do as well. That had impressed Kobo, greatly. He had approached Uttar directly to see if he and his mate could come and live in the cave. More importantly, he wanted to know what he needed to do or trade, to obtain a bow like Uttar had used.

Durt and his mate, a young woman called Fayma, had joined the community as well. The reason was the same. Durt wanted a bow. He had also been impressed by my killing the bears. He wanted to do the same. He brought with him his son, Wutar, who was a boy of seven; and his mother, Yuma, who was widowed and was forty-one.

The last additions to our community were Tonya and her two daughters, Trika and Trona. Tonya was a widow who saw little hope for herself and her two daughters in the village. Trika was of marrying age, but no adult male wanted her. There were no boys in the village close enough to manhood, for Tonya to hold out hope of snaring him as a mate for her daughter, thus as a provider for her and her other daughter. Tonya had gone to gather the wild oats as it gave her and her daughters the chance to do some foraging for their own needs. Vedic had impressed Tonya with his skill as a hunter, and for his willingness to teach new skills to the children who’d come along to help with the gathering. Tonya was surprised upon returning from the gathering to find that at least two families were going to go and join the new tribe. After a talk with Sika, whose daughter already lived in the cave, Tonya decided to throw her lot in with my community. She realized that her options were better with my people than with her own.

I didn’t mind any of this at all. I had so many projects in mind for the winter, that I needed all the hands that I could get to help me out. While it meant more mouths to feed, it wasn’t as if we were hurting for supplies any more. We had meat and vegetables put away for the winter. We had all the supplies from the compound; and, we had basket upon basket of wild oats put away that could be used by humans and horses. I figured we’d be fine.

Bath time that night was held indoors. It was pouring outside. There was no way I was washing in the river which was now threatening to overflow its banks, and then walk back up to the enclosure and into the cave. It was too wet, too muddy, and too cold!

My women still made a spectacle of it, though. After supper had been eaten and the dishes had been cleaned, Ramie had filled a pot with rain water and had put it to heat.

That was something else that was new for many in my community. Dishes had been few and far between for my people. Most had a set of wooden bowls. I’d started making them at night, sitting by the fire before bedtime, when I hadn’t been whittling a bow or making arrow shafts. As always, my women had continued making them for everyone in the cave, when I was off managing other matters. They’d made enough for everyone. With them, they’d made wooden utensils. We had a great cottage industry going. Now however we also had cups, bowls, plates, and metal utensils from the kitchen container that had been part of what we’d taken from the compound, and as such, Clara was now coming down on hygiene. In the past, people in the village had simply rinsed their bowl and utensils in the river; but now that we were cave-bound, Clara had insisted that everyone wash and dry their dishes in a pot of hot water. It had been going on in the cave for a week and most people had gotten used to it. Regardless of that new custom, a second pot of water had been put on for the maintenance of the old custom of bathing me.

I wasn’t the only one to get a bath that night. Gabby did as well. It was a good thing that we’d become so used to public nudity and sex in a communal setting, because the women of the cave made certain that our baths were anything but private!

Much to my surprise, I received my customary blowjob as well. Tonight’s lucky lady was Binda. That had taken me by surprise. She was one of the last women in the cave that I’d expected to offer to participate. I did thank her, afterwards. She had done an admirable job of it, and she’d done it in the nude as well. I kissed her when she stood and I pressed her naked form to mine and I offered her any relief that she might need. That night, she declined, though she did promise me that sometime very soon she would come and visit my furs.

Gabby and I found two women awaiting us after our baths. Clara was kneeling expectantly upon our big bear fur anxious to greet Gabby home in a proper manner, and Zeya, the young mother whom I hadn’t bedded yet, was there, waiting for me. I smiled on seeing the young woman who was half my age and smaller than even Clara in height and build. She had long lost any weight that she’d put on during her pregnancy and she was now as thin as a rake. The only things that were large on her were her breasts. As the source of sustenance for her four month old son, Zeya’s breasts were heavy with milk.

I was gentle with Zeya. We’d exchanged kisses in the past and she’d graced me with a blowjob once or twice. In return I had diddled her to pleasure, however I had been sensitive of her body’s need to recover from giving birth, and with Zeya’s attending physician as my regular bed partner I was kept from going too far with her. Tonight, however the sky was the limit, and I intended to make it a memorable evening for the girl. I just didn’t want to leave her battered and bruised.

Amazingly, I kept things tender through out most of our lovemaking. Zeya loved to kiss, so we kissed a lot. More importantly I kissed her everywhere. I kissed her lips, her jaw line, her earlobes, her neck, her collarbone, and then her nipples. By that point in the game, Zeya’s milk was flowing freely. It embarrassed her for a moment, but when not only I, but Clara and Gabby reassured her that it was not only fine, but normal, each of us sampling a bit of it for ourselves in the process of easing her discomfort, Zeya relaxed and accepted that things would get messy.

They did get messy as the night moved on. I tasted her sex, and gave her pleasure like she’d never known before and in return she rode me through her orgasms and mine. While she did her milk ran down her chest, through my fingers, and it pooled on my stomach. I tasted it a couple of times during our pleasure, suckling a nipple to get her over the top, once. It was sweet and tasty. In the end I filled her womb as I did all the women who lay with me. Zeya didn’t stay the entire night. Her son called for her after her last orgasm, but she did assure me that she would join me again, very soon.

As for Gabby, I think her cries had been almost as loud as Zeya’s had been. Clara had obviously reminded her that Clara was as talented at giving pleasure as I was. Once Gabby was spent, and Zeya was gone, both women cleaned me up, lapping up both Zeya’s juices and her spilt milk. Their combined efforts restored my ardour to the point that Clara claimed the services of my cock. I did her on her back with Gabby lying beside us, playing with Clara’s tits. I pounded her in a fashion that I had spared Zeya. It left Clara drenched in sweat and muttering my name over and over again as we went to sleep. It had been a long day and an enthusiastic reunion. I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

I mentioned that, didn’t I? We’d dragged back all the mattresses, pillows, and bedding when we’d left the compound. It was glorious making love on a mattress again, instead of the hard ground. It was even better to fall asleep on one!

We woke in the morning to the first snow of the season. It was heavy like the rains had been the day before. I took one look at the sky, and I knew we’d be snowed in for a while. I hit the latrine first, and then checked on the horses. I made certain their troughs were free of ice and they had feed. I also threw a skin over each animal, to make certain that none suffered from the weather. By the time I got back into the cave I was ready for something hot to eat. My fingers were cold and my hair was covered in melting snow.

We were looking at six long months if not more. It wasn’t going to be all that bad. We had plenty of firewood, plenty of wood for carving, and plenty of jobs that needed to get done. We’d be starting on them today, once breakfast was over. I had saddles to make. I had a total of five that had to be done, though I was aiming at making more. Agar had offered to trade a horse per saddle I made. If I gave him the three I promised it would mean three more horses for my people. I’d want saddles for them, as well.

Saddles weren’t the only thing that I needed to make over the winter months. I planned on making bows for every man in the cave, and a couple more for the women. True we had quite the arsenal squirreled away in our storage cave, but we still only had a limited amount of ammunition. Some of that ammunition had already been expended, so we actually had less than what had been brought here. I wanted to keep the firearms in reserve, though I’d be training some of the hunters to use them properly, and to clean them. Sygor, Tonko, and Gort already knew how they worked, though Gort hadn’t fired one yet. I preferred that everyone use a bow for hunting, and that we left the firearms for our defence.

Naturally the women would be part of any project I started. I would do most of the rough work, like carving out the basic bow from the wood that I’d set aside for making them. Then a woman would take over the job of sanding them down. They’d be doing the same with making the saddle. I’d cut and shape the seat and saddle horn and I’d supervise the cutting and shaping of the skins, but the women would do the sewing and all the little details that needed to be seen to in completing the finished product.

In addition to these two major projects, I intended to introduce a new technology to the lives of my people. I was going to make a loom. The people knew how to weave; I’d seen woven baskets and mats being used by all three cultures that I’d encountered, but none of them wove cloth of any type. I planned on kick starting that development over the winter. I wasn’t an expert in the topic, but I was sure that I could figure out the basics with a little trial and error effort on my part. I’d introduce a couple of box looms to the cave for the women to learn on. Vedic had plenty of string that we’d acquired from the Horse People when we visited them and traded. I’d make the box looms a foot square so they will be easy for the women to use. If they worked out then the women could make swatches of fabric that could be sewn together to make towels, scarves, blankets, hats, and other items of clothing. In time I’d try to make a larger loom. The only thing keeping me from doing that was access to material. We needed wool or flax or something like cotton and we needed a lot of it if we were ever to produce something like woollen tunics and dresses for people to wear instead of buckskin shirts and pants.

I intended to employ both the men and the women through the winter. Keeping everyone busy was the real challenge of living communally in a cave. Uttar and Vedic would be easy to recruit since both were already skilled craftsmen. Encouraging the others would be the biggest chore that I would have to accomplish in the coming months. Some were already picking up the hints of my intentions, but others were still very traditional. I wouldn’t push anyone, but I would point out that people worked in my tribe.

We’d play as well. Checkers had already become widely accepted. Chess was still limited to Clara, Gabby, and me. The others hadn’t acquired the mental agility needed to play the game and enjoy it at the same time. Backgammon was slowly catching on, as were cards. Cards were a favourite of the children.

It snowed continuously for a week. By the time it had stopped there were three feet of snow on the ground in the enclosure and we’d been shovelling it daily to keep a path open to the latrine and one open to the horses. I feared what I would find outside the palisades wall.