Chapter 70

I had no time for Sygor, literally. I came back to the settlement late in the afternoon. I was tired, both emotionally and physically, from the two ceremonies that I’d presided over down south, but ready to press on and finish up what I’d started that morning. I was on a very tight schedule, since even on horseback it would take over an hour to ride to the mouth of the valley and where I wanted to hold the final ceremony, and stopping to deal with the fact that Sygor had shown up out of nowhere wasn’t something I could do. At least, that’s the way I saw things. Thankfully, I learned that matters were in hand, and others had dealt with Sygor.

“Rugar took charge of the situation,” Clara informed me, in a reassuring manner once I’d recovered from the initial surprise. “He’s got people babysitting him, for now. I’m certain there won’t be a problem.”

I wasn’t as certain about that as she was. In fact, I had visions of Sygor making a scene while I tried to officiate during the ceremony. The thought gave me an instant headache. I winced as the pain hit me right between the eyes. Clara sighed.

“Do you need something?” Clara asked softly, although with concern in her voice. “I can make you some willow bark tea if you want, before we head off to the ceremony. It shouldn’t take me long.”

“I rather have a beer,” I declared dismissively, shaking my head in an effort to clear it, as I spoke, “and I’d like to know where the hell he is? I don’t see him around here.”

“He’s not,” Clara replied promptly, looking even more concern now than she had a moment ago. “He’s down at the mouth of the valley with everyone else.”

I looked instinctively as Clara said the word, turning my head southward as I did. Of course I didn’t see anything. We were too far away to do so with the naked eye, and where we were standing, woods stood between us and the distant site anyway.

My party and I were standing outside the main settlement, facing it. The Gateway had put us down well away from the settlement but up from the valley floor, so when we appeared we wouldn’t step into any trouble. Clara had been waiting for us, well away from the arrival point. She’d walked down the slope once the Gateway had disappeared.

In a manner of speaking it made sense that Sygor was where he was, although he certainly hadn’t been expected. The thing was that I had left orders with Rugar that morning before taking off to the south to conduct the other ceremonies. As mentioned before, the site of the ceremony was a good distance from the settlement. Even on horseback it took time to get there. Since we didn’t have horses for everyone to ride, it meant that people had to head there earlier in the day. Even with the help of ATVs pulling trailers filled with people, there were too many people now in our camp for everyone to travel from one point to another at the same time. Thus I’d told Rugar to organize a shuttle to move everyone who wanted to participate, so that everyone would be in place when I returned from the south which he had done. Besides my party, Clara, and a handful of women who’d remained behind at the settlement to await my return; the bulk of the community was to the south, at the ceremony site.

“Is that how Sygor was found?” I asked out of curiosity, glancing back at Clara in hopes of clarification. The thought had just popped into my head.

“Oui, it was,” Clara admitted with a bit of a smile and a hint of levity in her voice. “He was taken by surprise.”

“How so?” I asked pointedly.

Clara smiled and told me.

It turned out that Sygor had ridden into the valley near midday hoping to get to the eastern side in an attempt to avoid our community. His goal had been to navigate his way through the valley, and into the now clear mountain pass. He hadn’t expected to run into anyone. Unfortunately for him, he did.

Rugar spotted him well before Sygor was even aware that he’d been seen. Clara told me that Rugar had headed to the ceremony site with the first group of participants to make certain that all went okay, and that Sygor had stumbled into them.

“He didn’t spot them coming?” I asked with disbelief in my voice.

“Sygor’s not in that great of shape,” Clara admitted. “I went and checked on him when the word came that he was at the ceremony site. He’s a little worse for wear as he’s been living rough this past month, and he’s got a bit of a fever. I don’t think he was paying too much attention to where he was going.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, and told Clara. She assured me that she’d seen to his immediate needs, and that Rugar had him corralled for the time being, under the watchful eye of Durt and Tonko, as well as a couple of the women from the village including Rugar’s mate. That brought up other questions.

“What about his mates?” I asked with concern in my voice. “Why aren’t they looking after him?”

“Because Sygor is being pigheaded, as usual,” Clara sighed in reply. “Tisa and Sapha are there, with their families in tow to support them, but Sygor wants nothing to do with them. He babbled on a bit about being banished. Rugar set him straight on that point, as did Taka, his sister, and they let him know that the banishment was only for three months. It quieted him down some. The medication I gave him helped settle him as well, but he still wouldn’t speak with his mates. It’s a pitiful situation, and I feel sorry for the two girls and Sygor’s son, but there isn’t much that can be done.”

I sighed heavily on hearing that and then I shook my head, rubbing my forehead as my headache started to throb once again. With nothing else to say, I let the matter go, and called for my horse. I had a ceremony to perform and the day was getting shorter.

The remembrance ceremony went off without a hitch. To my surprise, it turned out to be the best ceremony of all three that I’d participated in that day. It wasn’t only because this time, once the ceremony was over with, I was able to hang around for the party. It was also because of how the community reacted, once the ceremony began.

My party and I arrived well before dusk, which gave us plenty of time to get set up, and to ensure that everything was in place and ready when we were. With the help of Uttar and Vedic, and a few of the younger men in the community, we quickly moved the monument from the trailer that I’d been using all day as a temporary stand to the stone cairn that would serve as a permanent base, once the ceremony was completed. Once situated and secured, and once the ritual pyre was put in place and a fire was kindled in it, we were ready to begin.

At first, the ceremony progressed just as it had during the other two ceremonies down south. Once we were ready to begin, I had Wodon intone a blessing on the gathering, and then, once we had everyone’s attention, I gave my speech, explaining once again why we were gathered and what we were about to do. I mentioned that not only were we interring the ritual ashes beneath the monument once we had completed the ceremony, but that we were also interring the ashes of the three warriors that had been killed in the taking of the base. That news was received well by everyone. Then I called forth the first supplicant which was when the ceremony started to change.

I called Ruba forward first. I’d planned it that way, and I’d spoken to Ruba about it while planning the ceremony, asking her to be the first since her village had been the first to suffer because of Winslow’s goons. Ruba had agreed to do it, without any reservation. To my surprise, when she did step forward, she wasn’t alone. Runa, her daughter, was with her, as were Weya, Ova, Taka, and their children. Even more surprisingly, Sygor was with them.

What shocked me the most when I spotted Sygor coming forward with the others, wasn’t the fact he was there. It was instead his appearance. I hadn’t seen him while I’d been setting up. Actually, I’d been avoiding him in case it provoked an outburst. Seeing him then and there, with the others, gave me pause. Sygor didn’t look himself. He looked spent, for the most part. He’d lost weight since the last time I’d seen him, and he carried himself like a man on the verge of collapse. Outwardly, he was a mess. His hair was limp and unwashed, his clothing soiled, and his person appeared to be unwashed. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Even more disturbing was the fact that he was being led by the others, and he was not resisting the prodding that moved him out of the anonymity of the gathering and into the view of everyone there.

I let matters be at that point, accepting whatever was about to occur for the sake of the ceremony and hoping that Sygor wasn’t about to do something stupid. He didn’t and neither did the others. What they did, added to the ceremony.

Ruba spoke for a fair number of those who’d died in her village because of O’Quinn and his buddies, and the fact that Winslow hired assholes. She spoke for the village chief and his family, to whom she was related through her mate. She spoke for two village elders and their kin, for her mother and father and for a younger sister. Finally, she spoke for her mate who’d been one of the first to die.

With each name Ruba held up the figurine representing them, holding above her head just as the others down south had done, while I intoned the person’s name and told the spirit who they were. Then to my surprise, as Ruba handed the figurine to Runa to throw into the ritual pyre, the girl intoned the name again, and those gathered with her behind her mother; Taka, Sygor, and the others, intoned the name again. Then as Runa threw the figurine into the flames, the community intoned the prayer that I had murmured for the dead, calling upon the Bear Spirit to protect the dead. It went on from there for the remainder of the night, with each name called and each figurine thrown into the flame. By the time Sygor stepped forward to hold up the figurines of his dead first mate and their child, everyone was repeating the name and everyone was calling on the Bear Spirit, adding their own prayers to mine. It was a very powerful moment.

Sygor didn’t make it to the end of the ceremony. He collapsed seconds after he’d tossed the figurines of his first mate and their child into the flames. His collapse brought the ceremony to a halt for a brief moment, while Taka and Ruba helped him to his feet. His mates, Tisa and Sapha, came forward to help lead him off. I gave them time to do that, and no one complained. Then, once he was gone, the ceremony went on.

The ceremony lasted long into the night. Ohba and her people came next, then Ozmat and his people. After that I called forward the people from the south. They took the longest, but no one cared. Once they were done, I called Nola forward to speak for her people. She was followed by Izma and all the Plains People who’d survived Winslow’s torments. The last group to come forward was the Hilltop People. Zedak led that group speaking for his mate and child.

The last pair of supplicants to come forward that evening was Carmen and Gus. Originally I hadn’t planned to include the uptime people, other than as spectators like many others in our community who hadn’t suffered directly because of Winslow and his army of thugs, but after having spoken to Clara and Gabby about it, and then having spoken to Wodon and a few of my advisors, I’d agreed to letting them participate. After all, as Carmen and several others pointed out to me, they had suffered as well at Winslow’s hands.

To my pleasant surprise, the community accorded the names spoken by Carmen and Gus the same respect that had been accorded the names spoken before by the rest of the community. In a manner it made me proud of my people and what I had accomplished. It didn’t take long as their list of names was relatively short. Then we were done.

Thank God and the spirits for the feast and the party that followed it. We really needed it.

In a manner of speaking, the feast turned into a massive wake. It hadn’t been planned that way, but that’s how things eventually ended up. I didn’t really mind.

The feast was something that had been planned in advance of the ceremony, and had been organized by the women of the community. The men had travelled north via the Gateway to get the meat, and the women had done the rest. They had travelled down the valley to the site of the ceremony early in the day with Rugar, when he’d gone down to start setting things up, and they’d taken charge of everything. While one group sited where all the temporary hearths would be, another group started preparing food, and another designated where people were going to sleep. That was something that needed to be thought of in advance. There wasn’t a hope in hell that everyone at the ceremony would now turn about and trudge several miles back to the settlement to feast and party. If we tried it, people would be going off to bed once we got there. Instead, we stayed where we were, and got down to the business of having fun.

Nobody really minded. We’d all slept out under the stars at least once or twice in our lives, and considering that it was late June and the weather was great, there was nothing to complain about. It also helped that by the time people started heading to bed, they’d all eaten well and many of them had a buzz on.

That had been my contribution to the feast. I’d laid down a variety of wines, spirits, and homemade brews the previous fall in hopes of coming up with an alternative to herbal tea every day. I’d been somewhat successful, having achieved a palatable red wine, and ended up sharing it with the gathering. It wasn’t as deep and full bodied in flavour as a good French or Italian red, and it certainly didn’t have the same alcohol content as a bottle of wine from back home, but it was smooth and it did have a bit of a kick to it. It helped people to relax which, in turn, also helped people do some wild and crazy things.

“Having fun?” Clara asked at one point, well after everyone had eaten and most people had gone off to bed, leaving only the dedicated party goers to see the night out and the morning in.

“I am,” I admitted without reservation, flashing Clara a warm smile as she slipped in beside me, pressing her body up against my side.

I’d been watching people for the past little while. Once the ceremony had finished and folk had broken up into groups, with each group finding their own spot at a fire ring, to gather and chat and to enjoy the festivities, I had meandered about, mingling and making myself available so that if someone wanted to speak to me they could. Now that most were off in their furs, I’d found myself a rock to sit on, off to one side, so that I could sit and watch everyone for once without people knowing I was doing it. I’d watched people dance, and others get drunk, and I’d seen a few people that I’d never have expected to do things out of the norm, do them. One of them had been Rugar, who to my surprise, left the fire with his mate on one arm, and a woman that I had seen about the settlement but hadn’t spoken to before, on the other. I guess that miracles really do happen.

“Are you ready for bed?” Clara enquired in a voice that let me know that going to bed didn’t mean going to sleep. As she spoke, she pressed into me, while gazing up into my eyes. Naturally that made me lean down and kiss her. We kissed for a very long time.

I didn’t need to be asked twice. By the time we broke our embrace Clara’s free hand had wandered south to rest pressed up against the front of my buckskin trousers, and my manhood had sprung to life. I was actually willing to take her then and there, if she’d allowed me, but that never happened. Instead she tugged me by the hand, once she realized she had my full attention.

Predictably, my bed furs were sited at a central location, with the furs of many of my women orbiting my sleeping space, and beyond them, radiated the sleeping furs of many of my leaders. My women knew I liked to put on a show and most of them enjoyed being part of the act. When I got to my furs, I found them not only full, but that many who’d been waiting for my return had decided to start without me. It didn’t really matter though, seeing that watching was half the fun.

“Strip,” Clara ordered brusquely on our arrival at the sleeping area, her voice filled with urgency. I obliged her.

To be truthful, I’d always found funerals a bit of a downer, and until I’d travelled to the here and now I had always had problems understanding how people got horny at them. I’d heard the tale more than once over the years, discussed both scholarly and salaciously. I just never understood how it could happen. Since coming here I’d learned that others didn’t think the same. Clara always got horny at a funeral, and recently, I’d benefited from that fact.

Clara being horny helped a lot. She had me on my back and lying between Gabby and Katherine within seconds of shucking my clothing, and she impaled herself upon my already stiff prick, only a second later. In no time she’d popped a well needed orgasm out, letting everyone about us hear, and she’d ridden me to a second one, only a few minutes later, knocking her socks off in the process without milking me dry. That left me ready for round two, which saw Gabby straddling my face and a very pregnant Katherine bouncing up and down on my cock, while breast milk spurted from her nipples. She got her world rocked, as did Gabby, and then I moved on. I blew my load into Marta who snuck into bed while I was settling Gabby down beside me, claiming her turn. After that it was a very long night.

The Sygor situation did not get resolved the next day as the gathering woke late. There was no helping it, given the fact that most of us had partied into the wee hours of the morning. Dawn was long gone by the time my bladder woke me, and the smell of food reached my nose.

I learned over breakfast that Sygor had disappeared during the night. I couldn’t believe my ears. I’d asked Rugar about the man, in a casual manner over a cup of tea, while waiting by one of the hearths for some breakfast.

“I’ll check on him once we’re done here,” Rugar had promised me then and there, just as our food had been handed to us, and true to his word, he did, once he’d finished eating. That was when we learned Sygor had taken off.

“We should go after him,” Balto insisted during our ride back to the settlement. He was seated on one side of me, riding his mount and Rugar was riding on the other side, trying not to get involved in the conversation. Balto was pissed off.

“Balto, you’ve said that more than once today, and I understand your feelings on the matter,” I told the man as kindly as I could, given the circumstances, “but the fact is that Sygor shouldn’t have been here at all. By the law of the council, Sygor is banished for two more months, and the fact he was amongst us yesterday, was against the rules. Technically, I should have killed him. Do you want me to do that? What would Sapha think?”

“No, I don’t want you to kill the boy,” Balto grumbled in reply, shaking his head from side to side as he did, “but I would like you to track him down and kick his ass. He’s being a total fool.”

I agreed with the man. When Rugar had told me that Sygor had disappeared in the night, I had called his mates to my fire so I could chat with them. I had also called Balto and Taka to join in the conversation. When we’d spoken, the truth had come out.

Sygor had left near dawn, parting from his mates and his sister, and leaving because he knew the consequences of the fact that he’d returned before his banishment was up. The women had provided him with clean clothing, a fresh mount, a packhorse and supplies, and Sygor had taken them along with his weapons and had ridden off towards the north.

“At least he has said he would return,” I reminded Balto after a moment or two. “It means that he hasn’t abandoned his family.”

Balto muttered his thoughts in a low, inaudible manner in response to my reassurances. It was a sensitive matter for the man.

I let Balto stew for a while, and out of courtesy I let Rugar be. He, too, was pissed off at Sygor. The young hunter had burnt several bridges in the last couple of months, and even Rugar had cut the young man loose in response to his actions. Instead of drawing him into a conversation, I turned my mind towards what little the young man had bothered sharing with those who’d spent time with him yesterday. He hadn’t said much, but what he’d said was of some consequence.

Durt, Tonko, and a few others had kept him company at Rugar’s request, and sometime during the hours they were together, the two hunters had been able to draw Sygor into a conversation about his trip north. What he had told them was of some interest. He’d encountered a band of Forest People three days north of Burton’s settlement, and then a number of River People villages, between that point and the southern compound. He’d admitted having little trouble with either group of people, although he did admit that the River People had been friendlier. He’d also spoken to Tonko and Durt about hunting and what game he’d taken during his trek to the north.

What I was concerned about was what Sygor had told the tribes and villages that he’d encountered on his trek. In the mood he’d been in he could have told them anything, including warning them against dealing with us. Neither of the young men had asked Sygor about that as it simply hadn’t come to mind. Regrettably, for now, and unless I followed Balto’s council and went after Sygor, I wouldn’t know that answer until he returned.

Even so, I decided then and there that I would be sending Burton a note, warning him of the presence of the Forest People in the vicinity of his new settlement, so that he would be prepared, just in case trouble turned his way.

Life in the settlement, and in the tribe as a whole, improved after the remembrance ceremony, and in a manner of speaking it happened overnight.