Chapter 25

“Can anyone tell me if you have lost anybody on the way?” John asked the refugees.

Most of them looked blank, but a man, who seemed to be their leader, told John, “We can’t be certain, but I think we are all accounted for.”

As he spoke, there was a wail from a woman, “Kalari! Where’s my sister? Did the beasts get her?”

Everyone looked around, and someone shook the shoulder of a girl who had collapsed into sleep.

“Kalari! Your sister is worried about you.”

The girl got up groggily, and called out, “I am here, Sisti!”, and the woman rushed to her side, to make sure she was all right. There was a degree of hugging and whispering between the two females.

John remarked with a grin to the man, “I think that NOW you are all accounted for.”

The man grinned back, “Yes. Thanks for coming. I presume our lad got through?”

“He did, at great speed, so he is having a well-deserved rest. We didn’t need him other than to show us the direction. He was almost spot on. A good lad.”

“He is. Tojo is my nephew, so I knew he was reliable if given an important task like this. By the way, my name is Tofu.”

“Nice to meet you, Tofu. Before we go on; are you all wanting to join my tribe, or do some of you want to join the Farfarers, who are a larger tribe, more established?”

“All of us have accepted that you have rules that we have to abide by, but we were not sure if that applied to the other tribe. Our group all like these rules, especially the women, so they have held off making that decision until the situation was clarified.”

John affirmed, “The same rules apply to both tribes, since about a moon ago, but the women of this tribe can give you details of what each tribe is like. The warriors around you are all women of the tribe.”

The man gaped. “I noticed a warrior with obvious breasts, but I didn’t like to ask, in case it was a shemale: I have heard of such people.”

“Tofu: all these warriors are women trained in the art of war, as a sideline to their normal duties for the tribe. I am very proud of them. They are as good as any male warrior, I can tell you.”

“Astonishing! Is it the same in both tribes?”

“It is, though they are more recent in their training. We expect most of our women to volunteer for the training, and this means that in any attack on the tribe, we have got a greater force of defenders than otherwise. That can be important, as you know.”

“That is so. If our old tribe had been so prepared, the pirates might have been repelled. It was a sad day when all our old folks and children were killed or scattered: I don’t know the numbers that might have survived, for we had no way of knowing.”

“Are your group all from the one tribe, then?”

“No. Sorry if I suggested that. It was a generalised comment. I think we have members of at least three tribes with us. They have all agreed that life with your people offers a better future than trying to get back to their original tribes.”

“Numbers of men and women, Tofu?”

“Mostly women. Many of the men were killed defending our tribes, or were slaughtered by the pirates afterwards, if they were not fully fit, for being slaves. Any injury meant being killed, as far as they were concerned. I am glad they all died; they deserved it.”

“Hmmm,” mused John. “We don’t have that many men in either tribe, so unattached men are few. Will your women find it acceptable to become a second or third wife?”

Tofu shrugged. “I have no exact knowledge, but this lot are either widows or single women, mostly raped by the pirates, so I think they will be glad to just find a man who will care for them and any babies they produce.”

“We may be able to induce abortions for those women who would like to get rid of the rapist’s progeny. Our medicine woman is checking on the availability of herbs to do just that. Are you married, Tofu?”

“No. I was but my wife died in childbirth, and the baby died as well. I was desolate at that shock, and have since not sought a new wife in my sadness. Perhaps it was as well, given what happened to me: nearly being sold as a slave.”

“Once you settle down here, Tofu, you might find a wife or two from your present caravan, as you will have a lot in common, and know their need for consolation. Now let’s get on and do the last stretch to the cave.”

“You live in a cave? Is it big enough for all of us to join?”

“I think so. We have plans to build huts outside as the population grows. It seems to be growing faster than expected!”

“What about water and food supply? Will we overload your resources?”

“Don’t worry about that, Tofu. We can cope, I assure you.”

“That is fine, Chief John.”

John laid a hand on his arm. “Tofu? A minor change, please: I am now designated as High Chief John, with overall responsibility for the two tribes. They each have their own Chief nowadays: Chief Numa for John’s tribe, and Chief Maranga for the Farfarers tribe. They are both female Chiefs, you should note and be aware of. Both women are strong leaders.”

“Very well, High Chief.” he turned towards his caravan of rescued people, almost all of whom were women, “Everyone! Time to continue: we are nearly at our destination, thanks to John and his warriors.”

With a few moans and groans, they got to their feet. The warriors noted the change, and checked that the surroundings were free of predators. One collected hand signals from the others and reported to John, “All set for moving, High Chief.”

John nodded, saying, “Get them moving then; one stage to home, I would say.”

“Sir!” she acknowledged and got on with the job, and John noted with a smile that the warrior was his young wife, Gimla. She was being very military to show her prowess as a warrior. John appreciated that dedication to duty.

The caravan of people, flanked by the warrior team, moved on again, and reached the cave clearing without further incident. The duty guard raced to the cave to notify the tribe that John and the team had returned, and there was a file of refugees to be cared for.

The fires were boosted to heat up food for the incomers, as well as hot drinks of herbal tea if they preferred that to a cold drink. Anticipating raped women among the newcomers, Sheila started on her preparations for abortion medicine, to administer it as soon as was possible.

Numa looked at the arrivals with a more jaundiced eye, and observed their tattered clothing, their bare feet and their dirty countenance, and ordered her lieutenants, “Girls, these newcomers need washed, new clothing and to be measured for moccasins, in that order. As soon as they have fed, get started on the washing. Raka, you can start collecting materials for the washing, including a comb for their hair.”

Her women set to, and once the food was consumed, the few men of the party were sent for washing first. Men of the tribe were sent with them to instruct them in the washing techniques, and the reasons why, for future reference. The females were next, after the men were back at the cave being measured for new clothes and footwear.

The men and women were astonished at such generosity, but were told, “If you join the tribe, this is normal; if you go to the Farfarers tribe, it is now also normal there. Either way, we treat you as guests for the moment.”

A man came over to John to ask, “Is it true that you want to know more about the pirates?”

John explained, “I only want to know about them before they attacked villages. I need to understand where they came from and why.”

The man apologised, “I can only tell you what I overheard them saying. One who was slightly drunk was telling another, ‘I never want to go back to the army. This is the life for me.’”

John raised his eyebrows. “That was all he said?”

“Yes, but the other man told him, ‘If they catch up with us, you’ll be in deep shit, so make sure you get as far away as possible.’ I don’t know what that all meant, but that is what I heard.”

“Thank you,” John enunciated. “It is a useful bit of information to add to what else I know. Do let me know if anything else comes to mind.”

As the females started to come back from the stream, now naked, Sheila had them line up in an orderly queue to receive a temporary wrap-around until their clothing was prepared and their moccasins were sewn. Each female placed a foot on a pre-marked hide pattern, to see if any had a foot that matched an already made moccasin. Nearly half fitted the pattern, so they were able to be issued with a pair of moccasins right away. The others were told it would take some while before their new footwear was stitched, and their feet were individually marked on fresh hide as a pattern for their set, and a mark was made with charcoal on the hide: a cross, circle, square, arrowhead, squiggle, and so forth. The same mark was drawn on the woman’s leg, and she was told, “When you come back for your footwear, show this mark and we will know which pair to give you.”

Vickie had arranged this procedure, and Numa was fascinated at how easy this made the preparation and issuing of the correct moccasins to each owner. Vickie explained that in another time, she had learned about planning, and how to organise an event efficiently.

Numa was suitably impressed, and told her, “As your Chief, I now appoint you as my official organiser for anything complicated. It will be your job to make the complicated much simpler and easier to accomplish.”

Vickie’s mouth dropped open, then it occurred to her that this was a compliment to her abilities, and simply said, “Yes, Chief Numa. I will take that job on.”

Sheila looked at Vickie wonderingly, then asked her, “How come you are good at organising things? I didn’t hear that before.”

Vickie explained, “When I started to remember more of my past, I realised I had a degree in business administration and economics. With that background, you have to know how to organise!”

John overheard the talk about moccasin making, and intervened with a matter that had come to his attention.

“Ladies, On my way here today, our route passed through a patch of muddy ground, and I found my feet slipping on the wet surface. This shows one drawback of the moccasins: the soles are so smooth, that you cannot get a decent purchase on muddy ground. Any ideas on how we could improve the design?”

Sheila commented, “We don’t do a proper tanning process yet, just apply some salt to preserve the hide: that is why we buy in a fair quantity of salt. We should include at a minimum some tanning with tree bark, but we need to use the best species of tree, but willow is fine, so we can use the bark of trees where we find willow withies.

However, that doesn’t solve your query, John. I just wanted you to realise that our current moccasins are not long-term footwear. What you are seeking is best applied to tanned hides. You can add an extra layer on the sole, and score it to make it rougher; or we could glue very thin strips of bamboo to the sole, and the bamboo strips will act like boot tacks, and grip the ground. You have to take into consideration that tacks or other protrusions on the sole will make the sole slip on hard flat surfaces like sedimentary rock. It is swings and roundabouts, but as most of your walking is done in forest, grassland, or sand, bamboo strips may do the job for you. We can add them to your other pairs of moccasins, if you don’t mind waiting for a while: the hide glue needs time to set properly, for we don’t know the best way of making the glue, so have to give it extra time.”

John was grateful. “I am happy with that, Sheila. I would encourage the tanning, as that will give our moccasin product a better reputation for longevity. Vickie could market the tanned version as ‘the new improved moccasin’, just like companies back home pushed their products.”

Vickie smiled at the idea. “I can do that, darling. Just give me some time. Our marketing will perforce be by word of mouth, but that is no bad thing.”

John suggested, “Why don’t we tell the new people that the moccasins we are giving them is the basic model, and that later we will have a new improved version available, should they decide to stay with us?”

“We can do that, John,” said Numa, “But they all cost us in time and effort, even the basic moccasins, so don’t run these down in your eagerness.”Sorry, Chief,” said John. “I was just throwing out ideas. You will decide on the timing of the introduction of any new ideas, I am happy to say. I am now in an advisory capacity only!”

“Thank you, High Chief. Your suggestions are always welcome.” Numa thanked him, and added to that by giving him a kiss and a hug.

Sheila informed Chief Numa, “Numa dear, I have gone through my materials for an abortion preparation and I have almost enough to dose everyone if they want to lose any baby that may have been forced on them; but I need to collect more of the ingredients. Can I have a couple of protective guards, so that I can go as far as is necessary to find the herbs and so on?”

“Yes, provided you first dose the women with what you have.”

“I see your argument, Chief. I will do that before I am ready to leave on the search.”

Numa moved to another topic, and called Gomla over.

“Gomla, you are great at talking with people. Can you go round all the new arrivals and find out who wants to stay here and why; and who would prefer to go to the Farfarers? Check with each of them about their expertise, abilities and talents, so that we can encourage the ones we need to stay with us. We don’t need fishing experts, but most other qualities are welcome, unless we already have enough. Don’t refuse people with unneeded talents, as they may be good at mothering children instead. Now go to it, girl: I want the answers today!”

“Yes, Chief Numa.” Gomla went off on that errand.

John had sat down in a quiet place to think. What could disrupt an entire army, other than force of arms? He first thought of poisonous gas, but remembered that it had been tried and showed its faults when the wind direction changed and blew back to the attacking side. Poisoning the water supplies?

That works when the enemy depends on static sources such as dams, tankers, and so on. Here, the water supplies were from flowing streams, so any contamination would quickly be swept away, as well as harming the civilian population that also depended on the same sources.

Could he repeat the feat of contaminating food sources? That was not so easy with a large army spread over a wide area, and probably using various means of procuring food. Was there any other avenue of approach, perhaps again appealing to the avarice of the troops?

Temptations were few in number: women could not be offered, for few would volunteer their services. Drugs were not common in this era, other than a few natural occurrences. Alcohol? Did beer get brewed or spirits distilled in this time?

That idea was worth exploring. Warriors who are drunk are much easier to overcome, and they are not likely to confess to that failure afterwards. Magic spells would be the probable excuse. The question was: are these processes in use anywhere, and if so, can they be upscaled to produce enough quantities to entice an entire army to imbibe?

He challenged Sheila.

“Sheila my darling, do you know anything about early brewing or distilling? Did either exist back in this period?”

She frowned. “John my love, you don’t need alcohol, do you? I thought you knew better than to attempt to get drunk!”

“Sheila, I have no intention of even imbibing the stuff. I am looking at possible ways to subvert the enemy warriors, and getting them drunk is one option. Beer is not very high strength, so much slower to get high on, but spirits, while excellent at that task, are not so easily made, I believe.”

“Hmm ... yes, that is a fact. Beer was being brewed back in the stone age, as far as is known from analysis of residues in pots. Spirits are another question altogether, for that requires distillation; a process that did not appear until the last millennium before Christ. I think an Arab invented the process, distilling alcohol from wine.”

“So you don’t think it possible for spirits in this period?”

“Highly unlikely, but not impossible. Freeze distillation may have been tried, but not in tropical locations such as we are in now. Freeze distillation is fairly crude, as it involves removing water ice from a frozen alcoholic concoction to concentrate the alcohol. Heat distillation is a technical level probably beyond stone age man’s abilities.”

John was disappointed. “Bang goes that idea. No drunken troops then.”

Sheila was not so certain. “Beer can have quite a high alcohol content – about 5 per cent is a strong beer. Drink enough of it and you will get drunk; that is certain. But will enough of the enemy drink enough of your beer to make them unable to resist our warriors taking over?”

“A question indeed,” surmised John. “Mind you, how many of them would have sampled beer before? If they are new to it, it should have a stronger effect on them, would you say?”

Sheila snorted, “You are the expert on alcoholic consumption, John. Women have a low tolerance of alcohol, though; so I expect a man who hasn’t drunk alcohol before would have a similar reaction.”

“A hit, a very palpable hit,” declared John, quoting from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’. “Do we know who brews beer in this time and place?”

The women all looked at John with blank faces, and Numa told him, “Go ask the men. They are more probably able to answer that question.”

John blinked as he realised the truth of this statement. He meandered off to find some men to quiz.

Unfortunately, none of the men were able to help. They either knew nothing about beer or didn’t know what tribe made it. John was back to square one.

He remembered that the alcoholic drink mead was made from honey. Every locality suitable for humans has bees sharing the area, so honey should be an available trade. He asked Numa.

She looked at him as if he was stupid.

“John, almost every tribe has access to honey. It is simply a matter of what you need it for, to go to the effort of harvesting it at the right time of the year. This is not the right time yet, so we haven’t been looking. Why the sudden interest in honey?”

“It is used to make the alcoholic drink mead. I am trying to get hold of an alcoholic drink that can be used to disable opposing troops.”

“Once again, mead is often made by tribes from their local honey, but only in fairly small quantities. How much did you envisage using?”

“Oh, hundreds of gallons, I should think.”

“John, dear, what are gallons? I have not heard of that measure.”

“Oh, of course. Let me see, that gourd there, the one you use for holding water for heating up, that is about half a gallon, so two hands by two hands by one hand, approximately.”

“That is a HUGE amount! Nobody makes it in that quantity, and if they did, it would cost a lot in trades to get it produced for us.”

“All right, Numa. I will strike that idea down as well.”

“John, stop me if I have it wrong, but you are looking for any means of incapacitating the enemy, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, what about the plant drugs that make people hallucinate? Couldn’t these be used? Sheila might be able to find enough to satisfy even you!”

“You are a genius!” John exclaimed. “Get them stoned, perfect.”

“Stoned? John you are not proposing to stone them, are you?”

“No, Numa. That is a phrase from my era, regarding the effect of hallucinogenic drugs. It means ‘badly affected’ in the sense of being unable to think coherently. This is exactly the condition we want the enemy in. The trouble is in getting them to take enough of the intoxicant to achieve this end. We need to market the drug to them as simply offering a mild euphoria, and do that by keeping the dosage we sell them low. Once we are ready to overcome them, we vastly increase the dosage level, and then we can basically walk over them.”

“So how do you go about that plan, John?” enquired Numa.

He told her, “We prepare a large quantity of the drug, and make up joints – joint is a word for a short smoking stick, where you inhale the smoke caused by slow burning – make them to our initial recipe. We get all our traders in the general vicinity of the enemy to trade these for almost anything, as long as they sell. The trader should explain how to use them. Once the enemy start using them, they will be back for more.

When we think we are ready to pounce, we switch the recipe to the high dosage level, and make sure these go to the enemy warriors.”

Vickie admired John. “That sounds a great plan, John. Have you got enough time to implement it, for it is going to take weeks, by my thinking?”

“I hope so. This is where my scout, or spy, comes in. He needs to tell me how the enemy is organised, and where they are based, so we don’t miss out part of the enemy army.”

Numa was still confused.

“How will you get them to take your ‘joints’, John. How can you persuade them that they are worth taking?”

“The usual way with drugs, Numa: offer a free sample. That is usually all it takes, because these drugs are addictive; they will want more after they try them.”

“I still don’t see what you expect to happen, to allow you to overcome them?”

“Oh. It is fairly simple. We get a load of the enemy high on the drug, then our warriors go amongst them and remove their weapons. An army without its weapons is completely ineffective, as any of their intended victims with access to a weapon can kill them. Without arms, they will retreat to either get new weapons or stay well away from the area. Their other problem will be that many of them will be addicted to the drug, and if they can’t get access to it any more, they will suffer badly from withdrawal symptoms.”

“Gosh. That sounds horrible.”

“Their victims would tell you more horrific tales about their previous actions, Numa. We are not proposing to kill them, just frighten them. They may not readily associate their disarming with the suppliers of the drugs, which would be even better.”

Numa glanced to one side, then said to John, “I think we should postpone this discussion for a little while, John. There are important matters I must attend to, but I don’t want to miss this topic.”

John was slightly miffed, but agreed.

“All right, my love. We’ll continue this later.”

Numa went on, “First, I need to see you outside about our defensive preparations.”

This surprised John, as he saw it as the tribe’s decision, not his any more. However, he got up and walked with Numa out to the clearing, and walked down towards the stream. Numa got close to John and spoke slowly and quietly.

“John, I noticed we were being listened to by the two men whom came to us from the enemy army. I thought it advisable to keep our deliberations away from their ears until we know for certain whose side they are on.”

John started, as he had not been so observant. He silently reprimanded himself for such a lax attention to his surroundings.

“Sorry, Numa. My attention was too much on my ladies, and not on what was happening around us. I will try to not let your attractiveness divert me from being aware of my surroundings. Do you think there is doubt about their conversion to our way of thinking?”

“Nothing so definite, my darling. I am merely taking precautions as Chief, just in case our newish arrivals are not all they purport to be. I may be completely wrong, but I would rather be wrong than fail my tribe.”

“A wise strategy, my wonderful Numa. Now that we have that clear, is there any defence question that you actually have for me?”

“There is. When you talked about the fisher encampment, you described how they had cleared all the forest for some distance around their village; and how it was being used as a defensive measure?

“Yes, I did.” He suddenly twigged her idea. “You think we should do likewise near the cave?”

Numa explained her reasoning. “The stream is our main water supply, and if an enemy could reach the stream without coming out of the forest, that could prevent us having safe access to that water. I know we have the pool in the back of the cave, but I would prefer to have that as a reserve.”

“That makes for good defensive thinking, Numa. How far were you envisaging the clear felling of the forest?”

“At a minimum, more than an arrow’s flight beyond the stream, so that someone at the stream is too far away to be targeted by a bow and arrow from the trees.”

John thought for a moment.

“Distance for an arrow? That depends on the archer, his bow, and the arrow itself. Two hands times two hands times two fingers in paces would be an average distance, but a trained archer with a good longbow might make his arrow travel twice as far. I would go for something in between: two hands times two hands times three fingers of paces.

You know, it might simplify counting if we used the word ‘ten’ to mean two hands of fingers, and ‘hundred’ to signify ten times ten. It is easier than taking in hands and fingers. These can be imagined, and not spoken of.

Thus, we are talking of two hundred paces and three hundred paces. Can you take that into your mind and work with it?”

Numa nodded. “That sounds simple enough. It is just a matter of remembering the words. Ten times ten is a hundred. Ten times ten is a hundred. Yes, I can accept that. It is easier than remembering the sagas of the tribe.”

John’s eyebrows rose and he repeated, “Saga of the tribe? What saga?”

“Oh, you won’t have noticed, but the ladies have been memorising all the events of our tribe, and making a saga out of them. You just have to word it so that there is a rhythm to the story, and words just flow thereafter. Each of your wives has accepted an episode to turn into a section of the tale, so none of us has to remember it all; though one day a person with a very good memory will take on the task of remembering the whole saga.”

“Thanks for telling me of it; I was quite ignorant of it’s existence. Now, as to the clearing of the forest to three hundred paces, that will take a long time to achieve, so I suggest that taking out the trees on the edge of the clearing, all the way round, should be the initial effort. Some of the trunks and branches could be manufactured into a wide pen for the sheep to be kept within; though a watch will still be required, as certain predators are able to leap over a sheep fence and you could lose all your sheep in one predator attack.”

“So who is going to chop down all these trees?”

“I will volunteer to do part of the work. Most of it can be done by other men, but a few brawnier ladies may also be able to wield a flint axe. The ladies can concentrate on the de-limbing of the felled trees. This will provide plenty of firewood for storage until it dries.”

“Yes, I know. Green wood has too much water inside for good burning. The branches will have to be stacked in layers, with each layer perpendicular to the previous layer. That way, air can get through to dry the branches more quickly.”

“Can I suggest that each stack be not higher than a man or woman, then another stack started, and so on in a line. It will be obvious which stack will be first to be dry enough for use, and they can be used in sequence.”

Noma, the Chief’s younger sister, ran up to them to say, “It is about time for the arrival at the pit in the clearing, if anything is coming today. Do you want the area kept clear, Numa?”

“Yes, dear. Pass the word around, that everyone stays out of the clearing for a while, until we see what, if anything, happens.”

Noma rushed off to enforce that ruling.

John asked Numa, “Are you expecting more to come through? I would have thought that by now we had everything we are likely to get.”

“You may think so, John, but as Chief, I have to take precautions in case that assumption is wrong. I don’t want to see another man arriving with a fire machine like the last one: what did you call it?”

“An automatic rifle, Numa. One man can only use one rifle at a time, so sending him a second is not very clever, so I wouldn’t expect it. Mind you, I have been surprised before, so your decision is probably a wise one, my love”

“Thank you, John. I will be quite happy if the occasion passes without anything happening. We have enough worries without any additional concerns.”

The area cleared, some of the inhabitants watched from the cave for any action. Surprisingly, there was indeed some action, when a human appeared and fell through the brushwood into the pit. As the body was not vertical on arrival, the brushwood was fortunate in slowing the fall. The human must have been lying flat during the transition to here, and a voluble exclamation was heard as the body landed inside the pit.

As there was no sign of any offensive activity, just groans from the pit, John led the collection of inquisitive locals to the deep hole. He remained cautious as he got there, and signalled to everyone to halt until he had checked out the arrival from the future.