In Which Our Hero is Entrapped in an Orgy

A momentary frisson of fear ran along my spine as I sprawled in the small tent, my arms lashed above my head with leather bindings and my eyes covered with a thick binding of cloth. I wriggled upon a fur mattress and strained my ears, but all I could hear was the heavy footfalls of Sally Mead Mug as she walked about me in the small tent. I swore I could hear the sound of her palms rasping together as she regarded me. I tried to remain calm and collected – but my mind was inevitably drawn to the fact I was completely nude. My clothing had been cut from my body, leaving every inch of my athletic, green body on display for the amorous half-ogre and there seemed to be very little I could do about it.

“Sally, uh,” I said, but she cut me off with a quiet coo.

“Shh...” Her finger pressed to my lips. The alarming fact that she was close enough for such an intimate touch sent a crawling sensation through my belly, and made my member twitch ever so slightly. I flushed, angrily, then tossed my head a bit, trying to dislodge the blindfold that wrapped about my eyes. It didn’t work.

And then...

Salvation.

The tent flap slipped open and I heard a voice I had always thought was quite beautiful, but never before realized quite how beautiful it was: Virginia, coming to my rescue yet again. “What are you doing, Mead Mug?”

Sally laughed. “He’s too sumptitious to untie -hic- and I ain’t gonna lie and says he’s not, savvy?” Her palm pressed to my chest, and I felt her fingers draw the lines of my muscles, tracing them gently. The touch sent goosebumps crackling along my body and arched my spine a fraction. I gulped, then heard more footsteps and, ah, of course. The sound of Maggie’s quiet gasp and Gillian whistling low and steady. I had very little in the way of modesty or shame – not after the life I had led – but this was pushing against the edge of even my tolerances.

Here I was, bound, naked, and blindfolded, and being ogled by four women of four different races and four different backgrounds like some kind of delicacy. I supposed I should have been flattered. And a part of me was enjoying the attention – my cock had grown even harder, and was now laying across my belly, as if to draw attention to my length and girth. I squirmed, trying to subtly wiggle myself in such a way as to get my member between my thighs, where I might keep it more concealed. The end result, I fear, was less than efficacious in anything but inflaming the passions of my spectators – as the only noise that came from them for a few moments was Maggie whispering: “By Alberich.”

I stopped my wiggling, my cheeks now nearly black with my blush. I sagged against my restraints and said: “I’m rather glad that you are all all right. The ship’s fine, right?”

Silence.

Slowly, Virginia said: “Yeah ... s’ ... fine...” I clenched my jaw, trying to control my heart beat. Maybe if I calmed myself, my member would stop being so ... engorged and become significantly less distracting. I simply needed to-

“You fit that inside you?” Gillian broke my concentration.

Virginia let out a loud meep noise. Then, sounding as it she was biting her lower lip, she said: “Yeah...”

Gillian chuckled, quietly, while Maggie asked. “Did it hurt?”

“A tiny bit. At first,” Virginia said. “But, uh ... uh, uh, why are we talking about this!? Sally, untie him!”

Thank the gods, I thought.

Sally chuckled. “Vir- hic- ginny, you, you see...” I heard the sound of her butt thumping to the floor dangerously close to my head. Her palm went back to stroking my chest and I felt her lean up against the side of my arm. The fullness of one of her breasts pressed against one of my knuckles and I squirmed ever so slightly, the leather straps straining and creaking against the tension I was placing them under. But, alas, they were well made. And they did not break. And Sally kept talking. “Back in Coldbath-”

“You went to Coldbath prison?” Gillian asked, sounding shocked.

“Once or twice!” Sally scoffed it off. “Now, -hic- we’s had a saying in Coldbath: What happens in ta yard stays in ta yard, see?”

There was a long moment of silence.

Oh boy, I thought.

“Uh...” Maggie sounded as if she had shifted closer. Her voice was quite soft. “W-Where’s all his hair?” I could practically feel her eyes on my belly, on my ... my member twitched at the thought of Maggie looking at the firmness of my balls, nestled between my legs.

“I, uh, don’t know...” Virginia admitted. “I rather like it.”

I gaped, too stunned to even respond. But then another palm pressed to me – a rough one, calloused by long, hard work. Maggie’s hand. She was slowly, tentatively caressing my flank, feeling the smoothness of my side. I remained perfectly still and swore I heard Virginia mutter ‘oh to all the bloodiest hells with it’ and then heard the tent flap swinging shut. Knees pressed to the ground around me and my cock was so achingly hard it nearly hurt. My mind said that this was entirely ... completely ... this was...

A warm, unfamiliar hand closed about my member. Sally chuckled. “You’ve been -hic- driving all us ladies crazy, boss...” Her voice was hot in my ear as she leaned forward. “N’ now, we get ta have our fun.”

“Mmm...” Gillian’s cultured, educated voice came at the same time warm, warm breath started to caress along my cock. My back tightened and I heard Virginia’s nervous chuckle. Her hands – familiar to me – were caressing my chest, circling one of my nipples.

“He, uh, likes it when you tease the tip a little,” Virginia whispered.

A slightly rough tongue slid slowly around the tip of my cock. I had known it was coming – but knowing that it would happen without being able to see the moment until it was upon me left me feeling like I had taken a step on a darkened stairwell, unaware that I had reached the final stair. Now, I was stumbling. Flailing. My mouth opened into a soft moan as Gillian’s tongue circled the head of my shaft. I could picture the gorgeous half-orcess leaning her head forward while she started to take my member into her mouth. I could feel the faint pressure of her small tusks, and I could feel her long, kinky hair teasing along my belly muscles.

“That’s how you do it,” Virginia said.

“H-How...” Maggie subsided into silence.

Sally laughed. “Oh, right, -hic- you’re the virgin.”

“I-I-I-I-” Maggie spluttered, sounding for all the world like a bubbling tea kettle. I’d have laughed, if I wasn’t straining to not thrust into Gillian’s slowly enveloping mouth. She was moving with the caution of someone who had never done something like this before, and the faint gagging noises that escaped around the slurping and moaning and sucking indicated that if I was anything but perfectly still, I might cause quite an upset. Finally, Maggie seemed to quietly succumb to some internal pressure, her voice subsiding. Then, her voice so soft I nearly could not hear her over the sound of Gillian working my shaft, Maggie let the single word escape her lips: “Yes.”

“Heh. Virginia! How’s the cutie at -hic- eatin’ carpet?”

Virginia sucked in a breath. Her hand was still stroking my chest.

“He hasn’t. On me. Yet.” Virginia admitted. My cheeks flared and I ducked my chin forward. “But I’ve seen him, uh ... s-serving other women.” She sounded faintly amused.

“You watch?” Maggie sounded shocked. The feeling of Gillian’s lips sliding down my cock paused, then reversed. She pulled all the way back and my cock immediately tingled all over – the feeling of the warm air of the tent brushing against spittle, cooling it, cooling me, was quite intense. I squirmed and moaned as Gillian coughed quietly, gasped again, then managed to get her own words out.

“You watch?” she asked, echoing Maggie’s shock and incredulity.

“ ... yes...” Virginia’s finger circled around my nipple faster and faster and faster. “Kinda been a bit of a voyeur since before I joined the Panarii. Didn’t, uh, get many chances. Until I met the Living One.” Her voice had become a husky purr.

“So, is he good?” Sally sounded like she was grinning her head off. Her hand had cupped my cheek.

“Virginia...” I rumbled, my voice tight. Warning.

“Godlike,” Virginia crooned.

Maggie let out a squeak. I only figured out what had happened later, after I had time to reconstruct the scene in my mind. But once I had time to think, the image was as clear as if I had seen it. The faint rustling sound – that was Maggie’s clothing being tugged aside. The grunt? Sally, taking the weight of the dwarfess into her own rather impressive strength. And then my face was covered with muscular weight and smooth skin and the slightly tangy taste of a pussy pressing to my lips. Maggie let out a series of dwarven curses I had never heard before in my life and my tongue darted out, sliding along her sex. I knew that I should have been obstinate ... but...

Fuck it.

This was happening – and it was far from the worst thing that had happened in my life. A rather large part of me was rather impressed with their gumption. And another part more than a bit delighted at the eagerness each woman was showing, in their own way. And so, I simply allowed the decadence of the moment to carry me – carrying with it that thought that Sally had oh so cleverly provided for us: What happens on the Isle of Despair?

It stays there.

My tongue delved into the first dwarven pussy I had ever tasted. And I found that dwarven women’s taste was stronger than that of a human, and definitely more ... earthy. That was the only word I could think of for the exotic flavor that slid along my tongue as I lapped blindly at Maggie’s sex. My tongue found her clit with every long movement, the tip flicking against her eager pearl, and the sounds that escaped from Maggie were somewhere between shocked and delighted. “O-Oh! Oh bugger!” She groaned. “I didn’t ... oh yes!” Her strong, blacksmith hands gripped my hair, and I felt her almost gripping onto my blindfold in her excitement. She started to grind my face into her sex, her thighs and her hips moving as she gasped and moaned.

“Heh.” Sally chuckled. Her voice was hot in my ear as Gillian, who had taken a few moments to simply stroke my cock slowly with her hands, building up her courage to once more attempt to slide me down her throat, started to lick the tip of my cock again. “You like ruinin that, -hic-, girlie for her future husband?”

I made a muffled noise of assent as my tongue thrust in deep. My fingers ached to plunge into a girl’s pussy, to fondle some breasts. But I was restrained. Held back. And needing to rely upon my tongue and my lips alone was adding an extra ... challenge. Gillian, meanwhile, had managed to get half of my cock into her mouth. And a second set of lips and another tongue – this one softer and more gentle – was teasing the line of my belly, getting closer and closer to my cock. Warm weight was sprawled across my body. Virginia’s weight.

Her lips and Gillian’s lips met as Gillian drew her mouth back to draw a breath. Both of them were so eager to suck on my member that they were nearly committing sapphism – not that there were any constables to lock them up for breaking the law. My eyes closed behind my blindfold as I heard Maggie’s voice growing hotter and faster. She was arching her back, bouncing atop me as she cried out in bliss. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh Rayburn!” Quite suddenly, the pressure of her pussy against my face went from intense to all encompassing and I realized that Maggie had begun to sag atop me. Soon, most if not all of her weight was pressing to my face. This quite pleasant smothering was combined with the pressure of lips – the tusks making it quite clear that it was Gillian – pressing down against my pelvis. I could hear Virginia’s quiet croon, and heard Gillian’s shocked, almost choked moan. The vibration through my cock was far too much. My back arched and I drove up into Gillian’s mouth, shuddering as I spurted into her again and again and again. I felt her drink me, even as Sally lifted Maggie off my face, the dwarf still mewling quietly.

“There we go...” Sally rumbled.

Gillian’s lips slipped off my cock, leaving my member sagging in the air, glistening and wet and spent. I groaned, my whole body glittering as if I had been running for quite some time. As I licked my lips clean, I managed to get my breath under control. I spoke, despite the white flashing behind my eyelids. “Satiated, ladies?”

“Oh, fuck no!” Sally said. “Do the thing, Ginny!”

“Huh?” Virginia herself sounded a bit dazed. My sharp ears picked up a faint slick slick slick noise. Was Virginia pleasuring herself? The thought almost made my member surge to life again – but while the mind was willing and the spirit eager, my flesh had been through quite a lot in the past two days. I’d been stricken with amnesia, beaten up by several ruffians, set to marching through a jungle, and seduced two very fine women – both of which needed my help quite desperately, now that I considered it.

In a word, I was spent.

“You know...” Sally’s voice became playful, and she used her admittedly limited vocal range to try and imitate the sound of Virginia’s healing magic.

“That won’t restore him that way!” Virginia exclaimed.

“Right,” Gillian said, quietly, her voice husky.

“ ... I think,” Virginia said a moment later.

My head jerked up.

“Well, try it -hic- then!” Sally said, jovially. I felt two large, firm breasts mash against my shoulder, and a broad face press to my chest. Maggie, nuzzling me. Her rather incredible density was oddly comforting as Virginia touched my body. Once again, I felt her magic crackle. Then fizzle, dissolving against my technological aptitude. Virginia made a quiet growling noise at the back of her throat. Magic hit me again and again, fizzling and fizzling and-

And then energy surged into my body and my cock slapped against Virginia’s wrist, so rapidly did it come back to full hardness.

“Cheers!” Sally said. “Who’z first?”

“Well,” Gillian said, sounding as if she was wiping her face off – her voice growing muffled, then clear intermittently. “I am the only half-orcess here. And that’s a ... very fine...”

“Cock?” Sally suggested.

Gillian’s incredibly posh accent cracked. “Y-Yah.”

“Maggie’s the virgin, though,” Sally said, sounding like she was pondering something. Maggie’s lips, which were pressed to the space above my left nipple, paused in their slow exploration of my green chest.

“Mmm?” she asked. “Oh, nay. A dwarf lass never gives up her virginity for anyone but a dwarf!” She paused. “T-Technically, a dwarf lass doesn’t even talk to non-dwarves.” She nuzzled against my chest, then licked my skin with a tiny little movement of her tongue. It was very soft, very tentative. I squirmed a bit and frowned ever so slightly as Gillian shot back.

“So, maybe you shouldn’t get to ride him first,” she said, her nose bumping against my cock, her hands cradling my hardness again.

“Ladies!” Virginia said, sounding shocked. “Do you think maybe we should, oh, I don’t know, ask Rayburn what he prefers?”

“Nah,” Sally said. “Guys like being tied up and ridden.” She paused, then belched loudly. “At least, all the ones I’ve tied up n’ ridden have!” She guffawed. An icy silence followed, and into that silence, I spoke.

“Thank you, Virginia,” I said.

“S-Sorry sir,” she said, sounding a bit abashed, as if she had realized just how far she had allowed herself to be carried.

“And if you are going to ask me my opinions on this little escapade for the first time,” I said, my voice mock serious – though the hardest thing was not my member. No. It was keeping myself from smiling broadly. I kept my face serious as I continued to speak: “Then you should know that if you had simply asked me if I wanted to be tied up, blind folded, and seduced by four incredibly beautiful women ... I’d have said no.” I grinned, ever so slightly, letting the mask slip. “Which is why I must thank you all for forcing the issue. As it was.”

I heard every sigh of relief – and felt at least half of them against my skin.

“Now,” I said. “As it pertains to who gets to ride me next...” I paused. “Maggie does seem to have the most noble cause.”

“Whaaat!?” Maggie squaked.

I grinned. “No one should be consigned to marriage to a dwarf without at least having sex for pleasure once in their life,” I said, casually. Maggie slapped my belly, just enough anger in her hand to make it sting a bit.

“Oi! Those are me-” she started, then yelped. I could hear Sally shifting and could feel the weight of Maggie’s body sliding off my chest. I ducked my head forward, letting my chin rest against my chest as Sally handled Maggie’s body, pressing the dwarf down onto my lap. Maggie squirmed a bit, which meant that her sex was brought against my cock and ground against it. The more she wriggled, the more her folds slipped against my cock, and the more her wriggling became entirely desultory. Despite her best attempts, the young dwarfess started to let out tiny, husky moans. Her sex stopped grinding against me entirely by accident, and began to slip up and down my cock with little rolling motions of her hips. Her palms pressed to my chest and I heard Sally rumble quietly.

“Want me to let ya go, Maggie?”

“Mmm...” Maggie moaned – but I felt her weight remain constant. I wondered how Sally was holding her. Had she placed her hands upon Maggie’s shoulders, to ensure that she would remain rooted in her spot? Whatever the answer was, it was keeping Maggie in place. This was good, as it meant that she would continue to grind against me, her sex so incredibly moist that she was nearly frictionless. But it was also unfortunate, as it prevented her from moving herself to a position where I might plunder her sex, and take her virginity.

Gods...

Why was the thought of taking a woman’s virginity always so appealing to the most base, regressive portion of my mind? I wondered if other men felt such an impulse, or if it was purely an aspect of my orcish blood?

“Y-You look quite ready, Maggie,” Virginia said, her voice husky.

“Indubitably,” Gillian added, a slight hitch to her voice. Over the slippery noise of Maggie’s sex and the quiet groans escaping from her lips, I could hear Gillian’s own fingers sliding into her sex. She was enjoying the show, it seemed.

Maggie’s breath caught. “W-Well, then! Get it over with!” she said, her voice trying to sound gruff, trying to conceal the girlish excitement that this youth of a mere two centuries was feeling at the idea of finally surrendering her maidenhead. The sudden shift in weight made me think that Sally had released Maggie’s shoulders, and Maggie tentatively rose up and off my member. My cock lifted, but it slipped against her sex, teasing her but not settling into place for penetration. Before Maggie could lift her palms off my chest, a dainty, human hand closed around the base of my cock.

“J-Just aiming it, sir,” Virginia said, sounding as if she was speaking to the wall, not to me. I opened my mouth to compliment her accuracy, but before I could, Maggie dropped her entire personage onto me. Maggie was quite short, being a dwarf. Maggie was also quite curvaceous, being a dwarf. This meant that her rump slapped against my thighs like a drum, and as she fell forward and mashed her breasts to my body, it felt rather remarkable, especially compared to the more petite sizes of Virginia and other women I had lain with. But what was most striking in this case was not curves nor height.

No, it was simple density.

Dense bones, dense muscle, dense stubbornness, all alike combined to make Maggie’s thighs and my thighs meet with a meaty whump, and her breasts nearly drove the breath from my lungs. I let out a low wheeze, my arms straining against my leather binding. Maggie’s face was pressed between my pectoral muscles and she breathed heavily against my skin – in a loud huff huff huff way, as if she was preparing herself for a sprint. Which did make sense, dwarves were natural sprinters.

“You okay?” Virginia asked, her voice very soft.

“Mmmmmh!” Maggie groaned out, then put her palms against my chest. Slowly, she levered herself up and never before did I ever hate this damn blindfold more. I strained against it mentally and physically – though there was painfully little I could do from a physical perspective. I could only imagine how she looked, with my cock filling her tight dwarven pussy, with her hair cascading around her body. Had she undone her pony tail? How did she look, once she was stripped naked? I had thought I felt belly muscles, but I couldn’t see them. Were her nipples broad, were they small and delicate? How did her face look as she adjusted my girth and my length.

Slowly, huskily, Maggie spoke.

“Nnnow that’s right...” she sounded faintly drunk. She lifted her hips half an inch up, her sex so tight and so wet that I nearly slipped out of her, even with only that tiny amount of clearance. Then she drove down, her thighs making an audible slapping noise. I could then feel her hair brushing along my chest, teasing me as she leaned herself forward, rocking her hips up and down, up and down, up and down. She rode me fast and she rode me hard, and the weight of her body kept me pressed down. It was all I could do but to hold onto the lashes that kept me tied up and try to not climax too quickly. Maggie’s breath came in short, sharp grunts, and I swore that my cock was bumping against the entrance to her womb with every little movement.

Maggie leaned forward even more. She could not reach my lips with hers. Instead, she kissed against my chest, her arms reaching forward to grip my shoulders. She dug her fingernails in, her hips rising and falling, faster and faster and faster. Her breath huffed against my chest, and she managed to get some words out. “Albericht! Oh fucking yes!” She mashed her face against me, moaning into me. Her sex clenched on my shaft as if it was a fist and I found myself unable to move, unable to think. My back arched and my balls tightened. Cum spurted into her womb. My cum. And from the first blast to the last, the only noise that escaped from Maggie’s mouth was a high pitched, keening cry. She clung to me as if I were a life raft, and she shuddered in utter bliss.

By the time I was done emptying myself into her ... my member was softening and Maggie was managing to merely breathe, as opposed to nearly hperventilate. Her breath warmed my neck and she caressed my shoulders, rubbing my green skin with her roughly textured fingers.

“ ... so, uh...” Sally’s voice was husky. “Ginny.”

“Yeah?” Virginia sounded dazed.

“D-Do the thing, I want a turn,” Sally whispered.

Magic chimed. Fizzled. My body remained soaked with sweat, and my member remained slowly softening. But something more had happened: My wrists had become so slick with my own sweat that they were beginning to escape their bindings. I began to straighten my hands, to try and make them as narrow as I could, as magic fizzled again. I strained ... and then my right hand was free. I grabbed my blindfold and yanked it off just to in time to see Virginia passing out – her magic pushed so hard that she had simply run out of energy. I caught her with one arm, awkwardly. This ended up with her joining Maggie in the sprawl across my chest. I groaned as I laid back, my left arm still pinned above my head.

Sally and Gillian looked at me, their eyes wide.

“Out!” I said, pointing.

Sally narrowed her eyes. Then, grinning, she nodded. “Aight, sir. Next time!” She gave me a sloppy salute, then stood, walking out of the tent without a stitch on her body. Gillian, who was similarly nude, looked at me with wide eyes.

I looked at her. Then, quietly, I asked. “Might you get this, ah, binding off?”

Gillian nodded. She scurried forward, then untied the leather binding. But as my arm was freed, she looked down at me with a speculative expression. I, meanwhile, was trying to get the women off my chest so that I might get up. I had nearly gotten my hands on them, to properly lever them off, when Gillian sprawled atop me as well, nearly completely muffling me.

I should have complained, honestly. As a gentleman and a scholar, I needed to get work done, not merely laying about in indolence and decadence with multiple beautiful women laying atop me like some ancient dragon.

I would get up soon, I promised myself.

Emerging from the tent and stretching my arms allowed me, at long last, to actually get a look at the amazonian camp that I had been taken too. The habitations built here were fairly small and modest, with a look as if they were often packed up and moved with great regularity. The women who had decided that life seperate from the men of the Isle of Despair was worth all the danger and the strife they had to face out here were, uniformly, a tough looking lot. Sporting pistols, swords, bows and more, they sat about the camp fire, cooking their hunt, stood on the edges of camp keeping watch, and looked out to the ocean itself.

One of the women approached me. She was a half-orc, like me, and was dressed in simple leathers and furs, with a spear serving as a walking stick. Despite its primitive nature, I could see that it was quite a battle tested weapon, held by a woman who clearly could use it. She eyed me, and I eyed her. She was, on the whole, rather plain, with a broad face, a flat nose that looked as if it had been broken several times, and with golden brown eyes. She had only one tusk, her other looking like it had been broken off and pulled at some point in her life.

“Rayburn Cog, at your service,” I said.

“I don’t care,” she said, her voice flat.

I coughed. “I take it you’re not exactly keen on having a male about.”

“No,” she said, frowning.

I nodded. “Well. Then I shall be brief. I and my companions are going to return to the encampment,” I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “We are here to find the Black Mountain dwarves, and they-”

The woman grunted. “Black Mountain Dwarves?” she asked. “There’s only one dwarf here. Thorovald Two Stones.” She spat. “Bastard.”

I inclined my head. “Be that as it may, I need to speak to him. But before I leave, I have to beg a question. There is a woman living in the encampment. She wishes to leave and join you.”

The half-orc frowned. She whistled a pair of notes and a human woman jogged over. The half-orc pointed at her pistol, a rusty looking flintlock. The human handed it to her, and she tossed it to me. I caught it, blinking in a bit of bemusement. The half-orc nodded. “Give her that. If she gets to us, she’s in.”

“I beg your pardon?” I asked, unable to stop a mounting horror from my voice. “There are dozens of men with muskets in that camp. She’ll be outnumbered a dozen to one!” Real anger underlined my words now.

The half-orcess sighed. Her head shook and she lowered her eyes. “And I feel for her. But this island is not safe. Anyone who comes to us must be able to take care of herself, and to take care of others. Men have taught me this lesson well: We cannot coddle the weak.” Her voice was flat. “If she cannot escape, then she will at least be dead. A mercy, compared to living in that hell hole.”

I frowned, looking down at the pistol.

The half-orcess sighed. “You’re going to help her, aren’t you?” she asked.

I looked up at her, lifting my eyebrows. The half-orcess rolled her eyes. “At the very least teach her how to shoot before she comes here, male.” She turned and started to walk away from me – towards the campfire.

I shook my head -revising my opinion of the amazon’s leader. It seemed it was less misandry and more a broader, more egalitarian form of pure misanthropy. Which I ... suppose was an improvement?

Once I had collected my comrades and my accelerator pistol and Virginia had given me a fresh set of clothes donated by Edward Teach – who apparently was to be sailing around the island to set down anchor off the shore near the male fortification – we set out back to the male encampment. At least, I had planned to set out ... but something nagged at me. It took me a little bit to figure out what it was: It struck me as I was strapping my pistol to my hip.

“Where’s Dogmeat?” I asked. “Is he on the ship?”

Virginia shook his head. “No ... Dogmeat?” she called out.

Dogmeat came scampering around the corner of one of the tents, his mangy tail wagging happily, a large chunk of meat in his jaws. His fur had the look as if he had been petted a great many times by many willing hands. I chuckled, then looked down. “You dog,” I murmured. Dogmeat looked up at me with his large, shockingly blue eyes. Then he wolfed down the meat, in two gulps. Once he was done, he barked, then walked up to my flank. I petted his head, smiled at Virginia, and we set out.

As I was quite lost – having been dragged somewhat off course by the amazons – we decided that it was best that we travel along the beach. This meant walking through shifting white sands, rather than through thick jungle. This had the advantage of lacking roots to catch us up and plenty of fresh breeze, but the disadvantage of being exposed entirely to the sun.