Chapter 31

John paced up and down outside the Shaman’s hut while the impotent Mabana asked his wives to use John as a sperm donor on his behalf. He waited to hear cries of horror from the women, but there was silence, or not much more than murmurs from inside, and the sound of a few kisses if John’s ears told him truth.

He waited patiently, his stomach grumbling at his rushed meal.

Salla poked her head out, and told him, “We have a drink for you, Shaman John.”

She chased a couple of children back inside the hut.

He recognised that the use of his name in the invitation was a good sign, and entered right behind her. He remarked, “I liked the sea food here. Our meals at home are mostly meat concoctions of various kinds, or vegetable stews, or a mixture of both. We need to have vegetables as well as meat in our diet, to stay healthy, as a clever shaman once told me.”

Salla informed him, “Mabana knows the same. I am sure you will like this drink to top it off. It is one of Mabana’s favourites,”

They settled down and the ladies served the two men, before pouring out their own portions. John noticed that the children were quite old, ranging from about eight or nine to around thirteen. Mabana noticed John’s interest in the children, and explained, “The children are all from Salla’s first husband, who drowned at sea in a storm. I took her in and we have been happy, but no children from me. Tula was invited by Salla to join us, to help with that difficulty, but she has no children either. You may see my problem.”

“I do, Mabana my friend. It is not unknown, but unfortunately seldom reversible.”

“That is my opinion, thus I need a friend to assist. My ladies appreciate our predicament, and will do what is necessary to rectify the situation. That is so, my ladies?”

Both women nodded gravely, adding, “It is so. We will do what is required for our husband. He needs a child of his own, or the appearance of it.”

Mabana added, “Fortunately John is a good-looking man, with abilities to admire. We will be fortunate if you ladies produce children anything like him. At the suggestion of the ladies, I will take the older children with me to my professional hut tonight, as part of their learning about the work of a Shaman.”

He turned to his guest, who recognised the removal of the observant offspring as a deliberate act to stop tongues wagging later.

“John, after we conclude our business, I have to attend to a number of things in the village, which the children will observe and learn from. This will take me most of the evening to conclude, so I leave it to you to entertain my ladies in my absence.”

“I will do my best, Mabana. Hopefully you won’t have to ask me back again.” John gave him a brief grin, then became solemn again.

Shortly after, Mabana took his leave, pretending he had important duties to perform, the youngsters following him out. The others allowed him to do this, and before he led them out, John shook his hand, wrist to wrist, in a gesture that he had found was usual in this society. Hand to hand was less normal; possibly due to a weapon or tool being held by one or the other at the time.

Tula went to deal with clearing up after the meal, while Salla took John to the back of the hut, to their sleeping quarters. As a dutiful and caring wife to Mabana, she made sure to warn John, “Your task is purely to impregnate me; nothing else. How do you want me?”

John told her, “On your back, legs open. It is a position I am most familiar with. When I have fired inside you, try to lie with your hips slightly raised, to help the baby stuff to stay where it will do the most good.”

She disrobed and lay down as prescribed. John regarded her for a little, trying to get aroused. Her body was still in good shape after several children in the past, but she was making no attempt to exploit her attractions; which didn’t help John.

He apologised, “I need to get your sex parts to moisten, so if I may help,” and used his fingers to delicately stimulate her clit. This caused her to react more than she expected, but her slit immediately moistened. John found himself stiffening also, so quickly lay down and inserted his cock into her waiting vagina. He was able to begin a slow stroking and was quickly fully seated.

Salla had by now relaxed with the unfamiliar attentions, and lay flat, trying to stay formally inert, but as John continued stroking in and out, she found herself responding, pushing back to each of his inward strokes.

They played stupid, she pretending nothing was happening for a while, as John slowly speeded up his actions, then she placed her arms round his body and held him, encouraging him to finish. Despite his own attempt at being impersonal, his body refused that tack, and as soon as she gasped an orgasm, he ejaculated into her.

They both almost collapsed, with John’s cock still inside her.

She whispered to him, “You know what you are doing, Chief John.”

“I have had plenty of practice with my wives,” he admitted. “On top of that, you were more ready than you said.”

“Perhaps. I will warn Tula about you; tell her to participate a bit more, for this will speed up your seeding of her.”

Once they both had recovered sufficiently, they got up and dressed again. John explained it would a be a little while before he could perform the deed again, so she should go and speak with Tula in the meantime. He would sit and meditate for a while.

After a while, John felt more able to got his penis to show willing, and called through, “Tula? Can you come here, please?”

She crept through, already naked, and displayed herself to him in the dim light from the lamps in the hut.

“What do you think, Shaman John? Am I good looking?”

“You are indeed. Shaman Mabana is lucky to have you for a wife. Are those breasts as strong as they look? Your nipples look hard now.”

“I have always had good breasts, but I have not a had a baby to suckle on them. Will you give me a baby, John?”

“I will do my best, Tula. Please lie on your back with your legs wide apart, preferably with your knees up.”

Tula was more enthusiastic from the start, clearly briefed by Salla. She welcomed John to stimulate her, and was quick to become slick for him. She was nothing like as reticent as Salla, and participated fully with the fucking. She came almost immediately, to her own surprise, suggesting that Mabana’s lovemaking was pretty basic: in and out. Tomorrow he expected that they would give Mabana some tips on what to do to encourage them, but for now she concentrated on persuading John to ejaculate towards her womb.

When he had fired, and expected to relax, she insisted that they continue. He was able to stiffen under her ministrations, and after a while he fired again, to her delight. She quietly told him, “If you have to come back, John, I wouldn’t complain, but if this gets me a baby, I will be happy.”

“Thank you, Tula. You are a lovely girl and a good wife to your husband. Work with Salla to make Mabana a happy man and a father, and you will be a great family to meet in future.”

They got up, and Tula found from somewhere some absorbent material to wipe him and then herself. They went to get dressed and Tula was quickly accosted by Salla. There was a whispered accusation and a spirited reply, then Salla walked over to John.

“I may be forward, but I think you owe me another load of your manstuff, in case the first load didn’t get through.”

John lifted his eyebrows in feigned surprise. “I can’t perform to order, dear lady. It takes time for a man to recharge his vitals. Do you know how long Mabana will be?”

“No, I don’t, for this is the first time ever that my love has sought this kind of assistance. You are being honoured by this event.”

“I am aware of that honour, and I accepted it as a mark of respect between Shamans. As I think Mabana will stay away as long as possible, a second attempt at pregnancy may be possible in a little while; perhaps after I get a cooling drink of water?”

She gave a nod, and went to a corner to lift the lid from the family water jar. She returned with a pottery beaker filled with water, and John drank thirstily, before handing it back and thanking her.

“You do pottery around here?”

Salla looked surprised. “We don’t, but another village down the coast does. I hope they still do, after the depredations of the pirates. Ask Mabana; he might know more, for he gets them to make some special dishes for his dispensation of herbal concoctions. He told me he didn’t want them to mix, so each dish is kept for a particular medicine.”

“That would make sense.”

“Want anything else besides water?”

“Don’t tell me you have beer as well?”

“Not at the moment, though we do get a supply of beer from time to time. It is pretty insipid, but more tasty than simple water. Drink too much and you get what we call ‘drunk’. Have you ever been drunk, John?”

“Not for years. Some of my soldier colleagues used to drink a lot of alcohol of various kinds, but I didn’t have much of a taste for it except as a nice tipple occasionally.”

“Do they still drink a lot of beer? I am assuming you have access to beer yourself.”

“No, they are not here with me, and our two tribes don’t have beer, as far as I know. Certainly I haven’t seen anyone even remotely drunk.”

Salla said, confidentially lowering her voice, “We have a couple of fisherman here that get a bit rowdy after a few beers, singing loud songs comparing fish to women; pretty terrible they are.”

“Which? The songs or the men?”

“Both, I would say. What are you doing, John?”

“Just fondling your breasts, Salla. Do you not like it?”

“It is ... interesting; makes me feel a bit unsteady. Why did you do that?”

“Touching a woman’s breasts, especially the nipples, can help her to get ready for a man’s attention. Did neither husband do that to you?”

“No. It was straight to my nether regions with his prong, and pushing in. You didn’t do that, I noticed.”

“Perhaps if Mabana did more of that, his sperm might have a better chance, but I suspect the problem is within his body; not that he can do anything about it. It can happen to the best of men, Salla.”

“Tula got you to go twice. Can you go a second time with me, to give me a better chance at a baby?”

John became aware that his pecker had risen with all this talk, and agreed.

“I think we could try again now, and see what I can manage.”

His second bedding of Salla was marked by more enthusiasm on her part, and he was able to perform before long. Tula came over to ask of them, “Are you two nearly finished? We don’t want Mabana to see you enjoying yourself too much, Salla.”

“John has just come in me again, Tula, so that we have both had two amounts of his baby juice inside us. Have you prepared some furs for John to sleep on tonight, once Mabana gets home?”

“He has a spot nearer the doorway. That way he is out of the away if Mabana wants either of us, and if John needs to get up early, or needs a pee during the night, he can go out and do his business without disturbing us.”

The pair got up and tidied themselves, then John got Tula to show him his sleeping place, so that when Mabana re-entered the hut, John was lying down peacefully, ready to sleep.

Mabana simply grunted his approval, looked at his wives in the dim light, and when he got nods, gave another grunt, and indicated that he wanted to get to his sleeping corner. No-one else spoke, and that seemed to satisfy him.

In the morning, John slipped out early from the hut, and asked the first person he saw, where he would find Fresno. He was directed to a particular hut, and found Corvo and Kalima standing together at the entrance. The looked comfortable with each other.

“Ah, Corvo, good morning. Kalima, Good morning. You must have met each other very early today, or did your discussion go on all night?”

When Kalima blushed, Corvo announced confidently, “The second version is more accurate, John my friend. We got to know each other more ... intimately, and Kalima wants to get to know me better; purely to help me grieve, of course. She knows how to cope with losing a partner.”

Kalima simply nodded to reinforce his statement. John reckoned they had spent time checking their compatibility in bed. It seemed to have been a success.

John declared, “I have to speak with you about your new task for me, Corvo, but we will wait until after the marriage ceremony. I presume you will accompany Kalima there?”

Kalima suddenly started.

“I didn’t look after Cleema last night! And with her having Jenka with her. And Fresno, too. Whatever did they do?”

John gave her a penetrating stare.

“Kalima. Fresno would make sure that the girls were not abandoned. In your absence, he would stay with them, to make sure they remained unharmed. In fact, he would want to stay as close as possible to them; as close as possible.”

He finished with another strong look into her eyes, trying to get her to understand that the trio would indeed have been as close as possible, all night. She finally got the message, and gasped.

“My Cleema?”

John and Corvo both repeated, “Yes, your Cleema!”

John extended it further: “Your Cleema and Fresno: yes. Jenka and her Fresno: yes. They are getting married today, remember, so what’s your problem?”

Kalima let out her withheld breath, and sighed. “My Cleema getting married...”

Corvo gave her a quick cuddle, and whispered, “If you want more children, Kalima...”

She turned her face to Corvo, and told him, severely, “I would need to be married, Corvo!”

Corvo spread his hands. “If that is what it takes, then you can marry me, Kalima.”

Her face lit up, then she grabbed Corvo and kissed him solidly. “That sounds good to me, Corvo,” she claimed, and he grinned at her.

“Not today, Kalima. Today is for Cleema and her new family. But tomorrow, perhaps...”

At John’s urging, they headed for Kalima’s official home, and the presumed happy threesome.

They were still asleep. Yes, asleep, the three of them tangled up together; and naked. That told a lot.

Kalima said loudly, “She must be here, somewhere!”

This woke up the trio; Fresno yawning, while Jenka and Cleema squealed at the sight of their visitors. John reassured them. “We just wanted to check that everything was fine with you three. Are you still intent on getting married today?”

Both girls called out happily, “Yes!”, while Fresno smiled as he said, “Yes, I think I might survive the ceremony.”

The adults at the door stepped back to allow the younger folk to get cleaned up and dressed, and John queried whether they had soap and shampoo available. Kalima assured him that the tribe had obtained a load of supplies from John’s tribe in recent days, and that a deal had been set up to swap fish for soap, now that they had organised sufficient cooling containers that would keep the fish fresh for enough time to arrive in good condition.

She went on, “Some of the men are making even more cooling containers, to allow us to trade fish with other inland tribes.”

John was pleased at this activity. The more trade between tribes, the better the relationships should be between the tribes.

Corvo hovered around Kalima for the rest of the morning, with Kalima preening with the previously unexpected attention. In John’s opinion, she had become more beautiful in just one day, thanks to Corvo’s approach, so that she no longer viewed herself as an old widow. She was suddenly an attractive mid-thirties woman daring to envisage a new life with a new man her own age.

At the mid-day meal, Mabana sought out John. John assumed it was to invite him to a rehearsal of the wedding ceremony, but it was more important than that. Mabana wanted to congratulate John.

“Shaman John: My wives tell me you have taught them ways to make lovemaking more pleasurable, and they showed me this morning. It was an eye-opener! The ladies are now much keener on this activity than they were before, and I expect to benefit from it.

On top of that, if either one of them turns up pregnant, we will celebrate that as well. You still want to participate in the ceremony this afternoon?”

“I am happy to do so, Mabana. I think this young trio will make a successful family.”

“Then come with me to my place of work, and we can go over the words which we have to recite during the ceremony. The headman does the easy bit: the declaration to the tribe at the end. You and I have to be word perfect throughout.”

John accepted his responsibility, and buckled down to learn the unwritten script off by heart, under Mabana’s tuition. It was all fairly straightforward, some of it repetitive and thus simple to learn, bit by bit. It was knowing which section came next in the ceremonial; that was the doozie; you daren’t stop in the middle while you thought about what comes next. It has to flow smoothly, especially where there was a switch of Shaman partway through.

When it came to the actual reality, everything went off without a hitch, and even the Headman remembered his lines for the declaration of marriage. Cleema and Jenka both kissed their new husband on the cheek, to stay within decorum. Last night they had practised consummation of their marriage, so they knew what tonight would be like.

Corvo let John know that he would need to be released early in the evening, as he had plans for him and Kalima. John asked if he intended to marry Kalima, and was granted a single word, “Yes.”

So John rearranged his schedule, setting an hour aside for briefing Corvo on what information (or pseudo-information) he would be passing on.

This boiled down to information that would imply a date in fifteen days’ time, when the first attack by the opposition forces would come. There would be no specific time or place, but by dropping hints at several tribes, there would be a conclusion to be drawn that pointed to a specific valley as the route to be taken by the attacking army.

The matter of timing would affect when the invader forces would be able to be present to resist the attack. Too early, and they would start running out of supplies and water, for that particular valley had no stream running through it as a water supply.

That was why John had selected that valley as the notional attacking route. There would have to be a decision at headquarters as to when the ambush would be set up; how many men in the ambush force, and what supplies and equipment would be stashed there in advance. Scouts would have to be sent in to work out which positions were best suited for the ambush itself. In some cases, engineers might have to make some alterations to the terrain to make high level trails more easy to negotiate by the soldiers, but the alterations also had to be disguised so that they were not obvious to the advance guard of the attack force.

The intelligence to be gathered by the invaders had to be believable but indistinct; filtered through a number of persons so that what the invaders got to hear was just enough to convince them, but without enough detail for any one source to pin down time and place. The one detail that would come through would be the date of the push. That would encourage the planners to get together to work out what they would do once they had the fuller information that they needed.

John had done his own planning; acting as if it was a real attack. He decided that the attack would start at dawn with an advance guard creeping into the valley to ensure that their passage was clear of obstacles. Signals would be arranged to say whether the way was clear or not. Smoke signals would be the simplest: White smoke for ‘all clear’; dark smoke for ‘not clear at present’. The enemy would only see signs of smoke without knowing what the signals meant, so they would wait for further indications that the attack force was entering the valley from the higher end.

He worked out what sort of information should leak through to the border tribes, and that was what Corvo would distribute on his travels.

What John would NOT tell Corvo was that all of this was unreal; made up. Corvo must believe that what he was talking about was real. His talking would thus be more easily accepted. Corvo would not stipulate where the attack would come, but would willingly tell tribes that it was not through their territory. It was the job of the invader intelligence men to collect the stories and construct the true attack line out of it.

So John told Corvo that the main attack would come through that valley, but instructed him not to reveal that to anyone. He was permitted to allay the fears of tribes in other areas by telling them that he did not think the attack would come their way, but that he was not certain. He was also to say that he did not know how large the attacking force would be, just that they expected to be able to push their attack through.

The information he was to collect in turn was the line that the invaders’ information collectors used to come from and report back; direction and distance, measured by how long it normally took the soldier to come back again. He was to draw lines on a basic hand-drawn map, indicating what he was told. That map, with its lines added, was what was needed back with John within two hands of days of Corvo leaving on his tour.

John told Corvo that an additional piece of information was wanted about the headquarters site, where the leaders’ tent would be pitched, amd the general size of that tent, compared to othet tents in that area. He needed to know if it was in a piece of low ground to hide it among trees, or on high ground to keep it dry if it rained; just general information about the position of the leaders meeting place.

John needed the remaining four or five days to filter his archery team through enemy-held territory for their attack on the headquarters. Two days should be enough to get into the general area; one more day to find the target and locate a fire point to use, and estimate the distance for a fire arrow to travel in the dark, to match what his archers could manage on a regular basis. He hoped all the leaders would be together in the one tent, and that the hide tent coverings would burn; they would certainly smoke and stink from a fire arrow, and if the stitching was finished with pitch or resin as waterproofing, it could burn more readily.

John asked Corvo to go back through what he had been told, so that John and he were clear on the details. He was excellent at repeating his orders back, so John was satisfied.

“Can you go tomorrow morning, Corvo, as time is important?”

He looked embarrassed, and admitted he had promised to marry Kalima as soon as possible.

“I had hoped to make it happen today, but if time is short...”

“Please, Corvo. Either marry her immediately, or leave the ceremony until you return.”

Corvo was startled. “I could do that today? Now?”

John told him it was possible.

“Either both of us – Mabana and I – can perform the ceremony, or I can do it myself, now that I have the words. As well as being a Shaman, I am also a Chief, so I can pronounce the final words of declaration as well.”

“Please! Please do that, High Chief John.”

“You go get Kalima and tell her, and I’ll find Mabana and check with him.”

The two went their own ways, and John found Mabana where he had left him, still chatting amiably with the Headman.

“Excuse me gentlemen, but Corvo and Kalima want to get married today, before Corvo leaves on his job for me. Do you two want to participate as before, or shall I do it all myself?”

The two men looked at each other, and smiled. The Headman said quietly, “I was hoping that Kalima would find someone. As she has, let’s all get the ceremony done!”

Mabana asked John, “Should we invite Cleema and her new spouses, or leave them to cement their new relationship?”

As they were speaking, Corvo returned with a bubblingly happy Kalima, and behind them were Cleema, Fresno, and Jenka, keen to be there to see Cleema’s mother wed. There was no need to ask.

With the easy cooperation of the Headman and Mabana, the wedding went very quickly and the declaration of valid marriage was made by the Headman. John was pleased to see it completed, for now he could send out Corvo on the morning after.

For himself, he wanted to get back to his tribe, to see how archery practice was progressing. He needed to have a decent number of competent archers able to deliver arrows consistently to a known distance so that when they fired in the dark, there would be a strong possibility of the arrows mostly landing where they were aimed.

He wanted to pace off a standard distance equivalent to firing from cover into an HQ tent roof; then have everyone practice placing an arrow that length over and over again, until it was in muscle memory. They must be able to fire such distances without having to think about it. He didn’t care if any of them were slightly less accurate over shorter or longer distances, as long as they could make the standard distance with consistency; that would be fine for the effect John wanted.

He double checked with Corvo that his briefing had stuck, and that he promised to leave on the morning. John told him that he would be doing the same thing.

Having dealt with that, John asked Mabana if he could have the same bed tonight; no ulterior motive, as he would be dashing off at first light. The Shaman smiled happily.

“Certainly, John. You will always be welcome at our home; particularly so if the girls have babies to show you.”

“That is a long way hence, Mabana,” John chuckled.

“Possibly so, but if you are back sooner, and they have bulging bellies, that will make you pleased.”

“Pleased for you, Mabana. Pleased for you, my friend. They will be your babies.”

John accepted an evening meal, and some dried food in his pouch for the morning trek, and slept well on his door-side pad. He sneaked off at first light without disturbing his hosts, and enjoyed the brisk walk homewards.

He was back at the cave by early afternoon, and so still able to partake of the lunchtime meal prepared by the tribe. They had developed a tradition of devising a meal together. Everyone assisted in preparing it, cooking it in large gourds and some deep pottery dishes, and later in eating it communally. It helped integrate the tribe, Numa felt, so she encouraged this practice. It also helped to produce a wider range of dishes for mealtime choices, making the food much less mundane.

After a filling meal, John asked if he could speak with all the budding archers, as a group. Numa arranged that, and they assembled outside the cave.

“Ladies and gentlemen, We have a target to aim for, but we will be shooting our arrows in the dark, and they will be fire arrows. I must be certain that all the archers who come on the attack are able to shoot a fire arrow to a specific distance. That distance will be determined today, and I will apply it in my advance planning for the attack.

First, I will have you all shoot one arrow as far as you can comfortably do so. The team will choose itself by that measure. All those who can reliably shoot their arrow to an adequate distance will be selected for further training with fire arrows. After each archer makes his or her trial, I will get that archer to stand in a line and as each succeeding archer shoots his arrow, he or she will be positioned in that line relative to the position of that arrow. That will conclude with a line of people, who will all stay still until I have examined the layout of the arrows. I will choose those that cluster together, and that will become the choice of the team for further training.

Does everyone follow that plan?”

One of the smaller women asked, “If we can’t manage the distance you choose, can we get another try?”

John looked pensive before replying. “The basic requirement is consistency. I am not looking for a great distance, but a length that all my archers can achieve time after time, with little variation. Your size is not the determining factor, simply your ability to manage the chosen length consistently. Ask what most warriors can do, and aim to match that. I will allow you all to practice your skills for consistently and compare yourselves to others. Tomorrow we will do the test for real, and it is up to you at that point. Is that fair?”

“Yes, High Chief. It seems fair, thank you.”

“Next point: We do all our initial tests on the level; that is, across the clearing, left to right or right to left. Both are acceptable. Sending an arrow uphill or downhill will depend on what data we get about the site we hope to attack. It may be on a hill, or in a depression or valley; the siting will determine how we attack, but for now, we stick to level ground for our distance testing.”

He saw some eyes light up in understanding, while others simply accepted these strictures as the High Chief’s instructions.

Once he had dismissed them, they broke up to several groups. Some went to start practising, some to attend to jobs they were already detailed for, and others to plan their archery for later. John was pleased to see them so quickly occupied. None were at a loose end. In fact, he wondered if there was still a warrior on guard duty at the forest trail.