Chapter 57

The wedding turned out to be a smash hit! Everyone on the base came to it, regardless of the fact that most of the people didn’t speak our language. It was an event, it was an occasion, it was something to do that was fun; and, more importantly, somebody baked a cake! What more could a person ask.

We actually held two ceremonies that night. The first was a naming ceremony. From my perspective I wasn’t going to officiate a wedding of some person who wasn’t a card carrying member of my tribe. Thus, before I would celebrate the union of Sakkor to Doha, I actually welcomed them both into the tribe with all the pomp and circumstance that I’d employed during the naming ceremony I’d presided over back north during the Winter Solstice festival. Not only did I welcome Sakkor and Doha into the tribe, but I also welcomed Ozmat’s and Holgar’s future mates as well. We were going to have a triple wedding!

Well, it made sense to me. All three men would be heading north in the morning with Burton to help establish the new settlement. It would probably be the last time I saw any of them for a very long time. Most likely, it would be a while before Burton was in a position - or mood - to celebrate any event, let alone officiate at a wedding. By holding all three ceremonies at once, I was hoping to create a bond between the three hunters that would flourish in their new life to the north. I also hoped it would draw their mates into a friendship with each other having shared the occasion. Burton needed a strong, stable community, and I was doing my best to give it to him.

The celebration went on until dark, and there was plenty of feasting. The five aurochs brought in by Sygor, Sakkor, and Ozmat provided plenty of meat for the community, as did a catch of fish hauled in by Holgar who’d gone fishing that day with Joko in one of the local fisherman’s craft. They’d brought back a full net as Holgar’s bride price. The catch was well received.

I’ll also admit that the celebration helped to alleviate my bad feelings as seeing people coming together as a community made me happy. Watching the three couples trying cake for the very first time in their lives, and watching the expression of first, surprise and then wonder cross their faces, put a smile on my lips.

The dancing helped as well. Rita had a ‘boom box’ and she set it up for the entertainment of the crowd. It was a big hit with everyone, even those who’d never heard music before. I’ll admit it did cause a bit of a stir when it was first plugged in and Rita started to blast our favourite hits, but all it took was a little explaining to settle people down. By that point, most of the ex-slaves and those people we’d brought in since taking Winslow’s base had come to know that my people had access to some serious ‘magic’. While my people did their best to explain things like the ATVs, lights, and water coming out of nowhere, not every new member of our community was ready to give up on their old beliefs.

The music was a good surprise. I actually got pulled in by several of our uptime women for a dance. Rita started the ball rolling when she put on the first song. She came over and pulled me out into the open spot near the hearth that had been created to help cook supper and to symbolize the centre of our community during the naming ceremony. With a grin she told me she wanted to dance.

I’m not a great dancer. Give me a mess dinner and a formal affair and I can waltz with the best of them, but anything else was something I really couldn’t do. Still Rita insisted and I did my best. Then Kim cut in on the next song as she became the first of many. After an hour and a dozen partners I had to quit.

The best surprise that day came after the party. I was tired and I wanted to go to bed. Instinctively I knew going to bed didn’t mean going to sleep as I suspected that I’d find several young women in my bed when I got there. I was certain that Ohba would have a line of girls waiting at the bedroom door for me to purify them. I was wrong. Whilst my bed was occupied, it was occupied with a few people I knew already.

Beverly was there curled up beside Kim who was caressing the younger woman’s naked frame and nibbling on Beverly’s ear. I smiled at the sight. I also smiled at the sight of Alexa stretched out opposite Kim and Beverly, locked in a passionate embrace with Penny. She was leaning over the other woman, kneeling with her ass in the air. I definitely enjoyed that view.

“Can I join in?” I teasingly asked as I stepped into the bedroom, and started to disrobe.

“Most definitely,” Alexa muttered enthusiastically as she broke her embrace with Penny, and she sat up on her haunches, so she could look at me while I undressed. That was when I got the best surprise of the day.

The room was well lit as it was something I always insisted upon (Why in the world would you want to make love to a woman in the dark?). In the light you can see everything, including the pleasure you’re giving her which to me was a major turn on. Of course, the light reveals everything. In that instance it revealed the fact that Alexa was pregnant. I just gaped when I realized it.

“Surprise,” Alexa chuckled happily. “You’re going to be a father.”

“Twice, although my bump isn’t as big as Alexa’s,” Beverly informed me, as she pulled away from Kim and pushed herself up so I could view her profile and the fact that she had a bump as well. “Still ... are you happy?”

“Yes!” I declared enthusiastically, moving towards the bed and the two women as I spoke, grinning broadly as I did. “I’m thrilled.”

I was indeed thrilled. I really hadn’t spent that much time with either woman since they’d joined our community. I could probably count the number of times I’d bedded both on one hand. It hadn’t been because I hadn’t wanted them. Unfortunately, there was only one of me, and a lot of other women. Even so, I was happy for both of them, and I was definitely pleased that I was going to be a father again. I showed them both how pleased I was by kissing them deeply when I got to the bed, and then once I was totally naked, I made love to them. I kept it slow at first; almost worshipful, while I stoked their fire, but in the end our lovemaking got wild. When we got done, there was nothing left for the other women. Thankfully, Penny and Kim knew how to entertain each other.

The next day was busy. Burton was heading out with his advance party to begin work on the new settlement. He’d been up since before dawn, and he already had a convoy of vehicles marshalled and ready to go. He was just finishing up preparations to depart when I showed up to chat with him.

“How’s it going?” I asked as I casually glanced about taking in the convoy and the people waiting for the word to pull out.

The convoy was a mix of vehicles and trailers that probably were never intended to be used the way we were using them. In total we only had six working trucks on the base and three of them were useless for the job at hand. One was the Cougar we’d captured that Kim had used during the assault on the base and two were the refuelling trucks. While all three were capable of cross-country travel; the bowsers having been constructed on the chassis of surplus military pattern heavy logistic vehicles, they weren’t designed to haul personnel and cargo around. That left us with three Humvee gun trucks. One, Burton had captured while down here playing cat and mouse with Winslow’s men, and the other two had been parked behind Winslow’s headquarters. We’d ‘captured’ them intact after the battle. All three were pulling a converted flatbed trailer.

The trailers were courtesy of Murphy and a couple of his buddies, plus a few volunteers. They’d been busy ever since I’d decided that we’d establish a new settlement down here in the south, besides maintaining the base. They’d had five days to do the work and from my perspective, they’d done a great job.

I’d taken Murphy aside once I’d made my decision. I’d told him what I’d done back when my people had first moved from our old cave to our new one. He’d promised me he could do better which I’d been certain he could. He’d had the resources and the people to do it with. Still, I was impressed.

Our biggest problem was the fact that the three Humvee gun trucks were our largest prime movers now that the five-ton stake truck was out of commission. I was going to send a team out today to recover it, but it wasn’t here now, and we didn’t have it working. Besides the three Humvee trucks, all Burton had to move his advance party were ATVs. They weren’t much, but they had to do. The only plus in our favour was the fact that the base had tag-along trailers for all the vehicles so Murphy had converted most of them.

Murphy had made wagons out of the trailers, much as I’d done, but not by using wattle. Instead, he’d used two-by-two posts, and plywood boards. He’d raised the sides of most of the trailers up by six feet. Regardless of the fact the trailers could now be stacked with goods without fear that they’d lose their loads. We still had to be careful how we loaded the trailers as the ATVs could only pull so much.

“We’re good,” Burton declared, drawing my attention back to him and the fact I’d asked him a question. “With the trucks, ATVs, and the horses, we should be okay. It’s still going to take a couple of weeks to get everyone there. I might have to actually walk some people to the valley, just to speed up the process and to allow us to move more equipment. Even so, we’ll be fine.”

I nodded my acknowledgement on hearing Burton’s reassurance. I already knew he’d be fine. I just had to ask.

“I see that all the drivers are uptime people,” I commented in a low voice, nodding my head towards the nearest ATV.

“Yeah,” Burton murmured in reply. “I’ve recruited most of the uptime people from here to drive. That way when we get to the valley and dump our loads, I won’t be using my people to drive all the vehicles back to pick up another load. In the end, it will allow my people to focus on the settlement and it will allow Monty’s people to keep some of the vehicles here.”

I agreed with Burton’s thinking. We’d already discussed the distribution of the remaining vehicle pool between Burton, Monty, and me. At the moment, most of the ATVs would remain at the base to be used as needed in keeping it supplied and allowing Monty’s people to patrol the region to ensure their security. Later on, as the population of horses in the region grew, that situation would probably change. After all, even the ATVs would eventually breakdown.

“I need to speak to you about something,” I told Burton after staring off for a moment and thinking about that and then about what I wanted to say to him. I waved him off to the side and then spoke to him in a lowered voice.

“Alexa is pregnant,” I told Burton bluntly, causing the man to raise an eyebrow, “and so is Beverly. Both of them think that the kid is mine.”

“It’s possible,” Burton admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “Does that mean you’ll be taking them back up north when you leave?”

“No,” I responded firmly with a shake of my head. “You need both of them here. Besides, whether Alexa or Beverly wants to admit it, there is no way to be certain who the father is. I know that Alexa slept with other men besides me, and I know one of them was you. I’m not certain about whom Beverly slept with, but I think she took Ozmat for a spin, once, just to see what it would be like.”

“Yeah, the kid mentioned that once one night while we were down here having fun, and I was asking him about his plans for the future,” Burton pointed out, chuckling as he did. “We got onto sex. Beverly was his first. From the sounds of it he had a good time, though I can’t tell you if she did. I guess that’s not the point. I haven’t slept with her though.”

“It doesn’t really matter,” I told him plainly, “but I did want to let you know. I’m certain both of them will probably end up in your bed at some point down the road. I just wanted you to have a heads up about the babies. They’re showing so they’re at least four months along. I don’t think it’ll interfere with setting up the new settlement. Beverly looks good sitting at the wheel of that tractor.”

Burton chuckled at that. Beverly was driving one of the skid steer tractors and pulling a trailer behind it. The attachments for the skid steer were tied down on the deck of the trailer. Driving the tractor was the only way we were going to get it to the settlement. With luck it would make it there.

I left Burton there. I shook his hand and I wished him luck, and then I walked along the line of vehicles doing the same with everyone who was going on the trip. I ended up kissing several women, including Doha. She smiled happily when I came up to her as did Sakkor. I guess the wedding night had been more than nice.

Once Burton was on his way I went and saw Lottie off. She was transporting some supplies north as well as some people. I had some instructions for her, as well as a couple of the women who were going along on the flight.

“How’s it going here?” I asked as I strolled up to where the big Chinook was parked. “Are you all ready to go?”

Lottie turned at the sound of my voice and smiled warmly at me in greeting.

“Yes,” Lottie declared enthusiastically. “Everything is good and as soon as Sarah gives the word we’ll be off. Is there something you need?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a message to pass on to Clara,” I informed her, passing Lottie a sealed envelope as I spoke. “I’m sending a warning to Rugar and her about the next couple of drone flights that Monty will be flying for me. I’m having him send the drone up our valley and through the pass. Hopefully he’ll not spot anything, but if he does, we’ll at least know about it and be able to do something, especially if Winslow and his trained goons are marching south. Tell her to consider it a precaution.”

“I will,” Lottie promised as she took the envelope from me. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “I understand that two of the women heading north with you are aircraft technicians. I want to speak to them about stripping the Puma of parts before the helicopter starts to rust. We might not be able to get it back in the air again, and the parts are incompatible with either the Chinook or the Huey, but who knows what we might be able to do with the parts a year or two down the road? The turbines might be powering a hydroelectric plant. We’ll have to see.”

Lottie looked at me dubiously in regards to my suggestion, but she did agree that only time would tell and we’d have to see. In the meantime she led me onboard the Chinook and introduced me to the two technicians. We chatted a bit about what I wanted done.

“I’ve sent instructions on this to my leaders in the north, letting them know that this job needs to be done;” I explained to the two women pointedly, “however, it might not get done right away. My people already have a list of jobs that need to be done, and most of those jobs involve feeding our people and preparing for next winter. This job isn’t priority one and it will take mounting an expedition with support from the people up there. You’ll have to speak to Clara once you get settled. You might be spending time cooling your heels and doing something else, such as sitting and learning the language we use. However, if you do head off to start stripping the helicopter before I get back, remember to make lists. Most of the parts can go into storage at the compound. That’ll save hauling several tons of equipment back that we don’t have an immediate use for. However, the lists will at least tell us what you were able to save and put into storage. If I need something, I can at least look at the list and see if we have it. Okay?”

It was okay. We chatted together for a bit longer, and then I wished everyone a good flight and the best of luck up north. I did the same with Lottie and Sarah. Then I got out of their way as they prepared to take off. Five minutes later the bird was in the air and I had other work to do. That’s when Helen confronted me.

“I want to talk,” Helen declared as I stepped away from the helipad and the command post container that stood beside it. She was standing on the access road that led up to the pad.

“What about?” I enquired casually, although I already had an idea what her reply would be. Still I let her say it herself.

“Why are you sabotaging my relationship with Burton,” Helen demanded to know. “It’s not fair. I’ve supported you from the start.”

I didn’t comment on that. Personally I thought she’d thrown her lot in with Burton when she’d realized who’d captured her and she’d only supported me to protect herself. I didn’t tell her that, though I wanted to. Instead I suggested we take a walk.

“We don’t need to take a walk,” Helen declared angrily. “We can talk right here.”

“We can, but it would be more comfortable elsewhere,” I pointed out, keeping my voice calm, but firm. “Wouldn’t you like to get a tea?”

“No I wouldn’t,” Helen snapped back curtly. “I’d rather you keep out of my relationship with Burton.”

“I haven’t involved myself in your relationship with Burton,” I told the woman bluntly, quickly becoming annoyed at her attitude. “However, I did spell out to Burton what his role would be as a leader of a community in the here and now, particularly one that is part of my tribe. I don’t expect the man to walk and talk the same as me, but if we’re going to make it work here like we did up north, he’s going to have to accept certain responsibilities.”

“Like fucking all the women,” Helen spat back at me. “God, you’re as bad as Winslow.”

“No, I’m not,” I shot right back at her. “I’ve never taken a woman by force and as you saw when Ruba tried to convince Carmen that the best way of getting me to do her a favour was to sleep with me, I didn’t go for it. Personally, I don’t care if any of the women at the new settlement share Burton’s bed, however, if one does show up wanting a roll in the hay, I expect Burton to do his job as leader and give her what she wants.”

“That’s not right, though,” Helen whined in reply. “He’s my man. You’ve sent Alexa and Beverly to share his bed and you’ve sent two bloody cavewomen to keep him company. I was supposed to go with him and help him lead the settlement. Now he’ll have nothing to do with me. He told me to get lost.”

“I doubt that Burton told you to get lost,” I responded with a shake of my head, “but I do think he told you the facts of life, and you didn’t appreciate what he said. The fact is that you’re not qualified to be a leader in a settlement. Oh, you could learn what you need to know, but it would take time and a willingness to try, and I don’t see that in you. That’s why I sent Alexa to the settlement with Burton and why I sent Zika and Mala. They have the background and experience that is needed to run a village. You don’t.”

“That isn’t fair,” Helen whined in response, repeating herself. “You didn’t give me a chance.”

“You’re right, there,” I told Helen bluntly. “I didn’t give you a chance. Burton did. From my understanding, Burton laid everything out for you and you balked at what he told you. When he gave you a chance, you refused it. All I did was to tell him to sort it out which he did. He told you no, and he accepted option two, which included Alexa, Zika, and Mala.”

“I should have been given a chance,” Helen asserted angrily. “It’s not fair. I should be his wife and his partner in the running of the settlement. It’s just not fair.”

I sighed and shook my head in response to that declaration.

“Get over it, Helen,” I told her bluntly, “and move on. You now have choices to make. You’re a pilot. You could have been co-piloting the Chinook with Lottie north, but you haven’t stepped forward and made the offer to help out. As far as I know you really don’t have too many other skills. You need to decide what you’re going to do now.”

Helen glared at me at that point, anger filling her face. It was clear she didn’t appreciate me telling her the truth. She clenched her fists as if she was getting ready to punch me. I just met her glare and stared her down. Frustrated, Helen stomped her foot on the track she was standing on, and then she spun around without saying another word. Fuming she marched back towards the rest of the base.

“You didn’t make a friend there,” Monty called out, taking me by surprise.

I turned and glanced in the direction of his voice. He was standing at the entrance to the hanger, looking at me in a guilty manner, like someone who’d been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

“Sorry,” Monty apologized when I didn’t respond immediately. “I was working on the drone when the Chinook took off, and I’d come out to watch it fly away when Helen showed up. I sort of heard everything.”

“Do you want her to stay here?” I asked the man bluntly, taking him by surprise this time.

“Not in a million years,” Monty declared frantically, raising his hands before me in a reflexive attempt to ward off evil. “She’s of no real use to me, and I’m happy playing leader and head of the community. If some cavewoman wants to climb into my furs, she’ll be welcomed. If not, I’m certain that a couple of uptime women wouldn’t mind. I certainly don’t need a prude telling me what to do.”

“That leaves me taking her back up north, and personally, I don’t want her there,” I sighed in reply. “She’s going to be trouble.”

“Maybe Burton will take her back,” Monty said with a hint in his voice. “It always sounded like they were having fun, back at the settlement.”

“It’s not them having fun that’s the problem,” I told the man bluntly. “Helen’s not suited for a leadership role. Burton even acknowledges it. She’s a fun person, but that’s it. In any case it’s my problem now. I’ll have to sort it out. Maybe Gus will take her.”

“That’s unlikely,” Monty chuckled mirthfully in reply. “I’m certain that Gus is gay, however, I don’t really know. You can give it a try. Miracles could happen.”

I doubted it. I left Monty to his work as I had work to do, and now I had a problem to share with Kim. Boy, I was certain that she wouldn’t be happy to hear this news. I could just see her face. She was going to be livid.

Kim was livid, but she was livid with me. To her I’d mismanaged it. I doubted that, but I didn’t say so to her face. I was a guy after all, what did I know? Still Kim took my concern seriously as there was a good chance that Helen would do something stupid. Kim promised to speak to her so I left her to it as I still had work to do.

My next stop that day was the fishing village that stood down the hill from us and just outside the gate. I really hadn’t been there since the attack. I’d driven through it, and I’d ridden through it, but I hadn’t stopped to talk to anyone in it. I felt it was time to pay the new headman a visit and see how he was getting along. I also wanted to make him a deal.

I found the man standing on the stony beach speaking with a couple of youths who were working on repairing fishing nets. The man noticed me approaching and immediately frowned.

“Don’t worry,” I called out to him as reassuringly as I could. “I’m not here to cause you any trouble.”

My words of reassurance didn’t wipe the frown off the man’s face. In fact, his brow furrowed more as I spoke to him. It didn’t bode well. I just stopped and shook my head.

“This isn’t going to work,” I said to the man bluntly, “if you don’t give me a chance. Yes, I know that your village hasn’t fared well with people like me as your neighbour, but those people are gone. I’ve dealt with them, and with the Forest People. The people left on the base only want to be your friends. Can’t you give my people a chance?”

The man frowned at me impassively for a moment or two. While he did, the two youths got nervous. Both stepped away from the net they’d been mending and one of the youths pulled a knife. That got the headman’s attention.

“No,” the headman snapped at the youth, even as my own hand fell to my knife. “Do not cause trouble. You will die. Go and leave us alone.”

The two youths did as they were told. They backed away slowly and cautiously, and the one youth kept his blade drawn and in his hand. I watched them move off until they were some distance down the beach, then I turned my attention back towards the man.

“Is that how it will be?” I asked the man sharply. “Will a blade be pulled every time one of my people visits this village to speak with you or to fish? We are going to be neighbours for a while. Can we not find a way to live in peace?”

The man looked at me critically for a second or two longer and then his shoulders slumped and he sighed aloud. When he looked at me again, there was resignation on his face.

“What do you want of us?” the man asked in a tired voice. “You may take whatever you want. Just leave us enough to survive.”

Now it was my turn to frown. I didn’t like what the man was suggesting. It was the second time that day I was compared to Winslow and I didn’t like it. I let the man have it, verbally, right between the eyes.

“I did not come here to be insulted,” I snapped at him, jerking him awake with my anger at him. “I came to you in peace. I haven’t harmed one of your people and I have not taken from you anything that was not given freely or traded for by my people. I had heard that the River People respected friendship. Perhaps I’ve been told wrong. Perhaps we cannot be friends at all.”

I stepped back and turned to go. The man actually let me walk away for a step or two before calling out. When he did, he begged me to stay.

“Please forgive me and my people,” the man pleaded. “We are wrong to treat you so. You have not done anything harmful to us and we should understand that. Perhaps we can work something out.”

“Perhaps,” I muttered coldly as I gazed at the man. “Will you listen to what I have to say?”

The man agreed.

The conversation proved a little one sided. I spoke and the man listened. I started with the news that I was leaving people at the base. The man kept his mouth shut, but his face betrayed his thoughts. He wasn’t happy with the news. I didn’t push the point. He also wasn’t happy when I told him that fishermen from the base would be fishing in his waters.

“They are the men that your old headman used as slaves,” I told the headman curtly when I noticed the frown on his face again. “They have decided to stay since their villages are gone. My people in turn have welcomed them into our tribe. In exchange for their willingness to fish, my craftsmen have begun building them boats that will help them fish in deeper waters, using better nets.”

This piece of news caught the headman’s attention. His frown faded and a look of curiosity crossed his face. Even as he thought about it, the headman turned his head and glanced at the ‘Heather’. It was at anchor near the mouth of the cove. He only looked at it for a moment, and then with expectation in his eyes, he looked back at me.

“Will they have boats like the big one?” the headman asked with a suggestion of hope in his voice.

“No,” I declared flatly, “but the craft they are making are sturdier than what you use, and most definitely bigger.”

Hendrick Coleman, the Dane power management expert and avid boater, knew how to build boats. He’d even participated in a longship building project while at university. We weren’t intending to build longships, at least not yet, but we were going to build boats that would allow a pair of fishermen to use it to catch fish. They would definitely be larger than what these villagers used.

The villagers actually used two types of craft. One was a skin boat that looked something like a soup bowl. One fisherman sat in the centre of it so that the craft didn’t tip and then he’d paddle it out into the cove. He’d go out with a partner in another similar craft and they’d drag a net between them. Once they hit open water, they’d come towards each other and they would draw their net together. Once the net had been closed, the two fishermen would paddle back, and draw their catch up onto shore. It worked relatively well. The only drawback to the system was that the men were confined to fishing in the cove. The small craft couldn’t handle open water.

That issue had been resolved with a different craft that the villagers used. It was a dugout canoe and the village had two of them. The canoe was a tree trunk that had been hollowed out through a lot of work that had been improved upon by the villagers, who had added rough-hewn planks to raise the sides of the craft and to increase the vessel’s ability to navigate deeper water. Each canoe could be paddled by two men. They still worked in tandem, dragging a net between them, but at least the villagers could take the boats out into deeper water in hopes of catching larger fish.

The man’s face dropped when I said that the boat wouldn’t be like the ‘Heather’. Obviously he’d seen it coming and going and he’d been impressed by it.

“The boats being built are almost done,” I told the man. “When they are ready to be put in the water, I will invite you on a trip. Perhaps you will enjoy it. Perhaps you will want a boat like what we are building, for your village. We will see.”