Chapter 25

“Thanks, my love ... I think! You are content with that proposal?”

“I am. Once Gana and Rana are protected from pregnancy, I have no objections to you making them happy with sex if they want it, but marriage had best be postponed a bit longer, so that Ranga can enjoy married life without her sisters encroaching on that enjoyment. I know I was the one who pushed you to marry Noma right after me, but that was more for her protection from other men, so it was a different circumstance. She soon fell in love with you anyway.

It is amazing how all your women fall in love with you! I wonder how that happens?”

“Yes. It must be something to do with my odd pheromones or the nanites; I don’t know which, but I don’t really care. I just enjoy the results!”

Numa responded, “I am happy with your love, no matter where it originally came from. Our son is the result of that love, and I don’t intend him to be an only child.”

“Thank you, Numa. You are not just a wonderful wife, but a great Chief as well.”

“Talking about our child, it would be sensible for you to go cuddle your other children. Their mothers would not be pleased if you ignored their young ones.”

“True. Good advice. I’ll get on to that right away.”

Interestingly, the cave interior space had been rearranged to allow one section to be for the new or almost due mothers to be accomodated, almost like a maternity ward. One of the wall panels had been erected as a divider, to show where the segregated area started. John saw the hand of Vickie in this action, and when he spoke to her later, she accepted responsibility.

“It is sheer practicality, John. Keeping the new mothers and those about to pop all together in one area makes everything easier. The baby noises are kept away from the normal functioning of the tribe; the almost-mothers get a place to rest their weary backs without being bothered by other adults or even children; and the carers have it easy to switch between patients if they are all close together.”

“Very well judged, Vicky my love. You have kept busy despite your pregnancy.”

“I try to do what I can. You, on the other hand, are forever collecting more women and making them pregnant as well. You are a real satyr, my man.”

“Not at all, darling. I simply react to circumstances, and when circumstances force me to rescue women, I do. If they insist on being fucked, what am I to do?”

“What you actually do is take every chance you get to fuck them, John. I suppose this is just you being a man, trying to fertilise every woman that becomes available to you.”

“You have to admit I do manage to fertilise them quite successfully.”

“You do and it is surprising how keen they are for you to do them. This must be your pheromones imposing on your women, making them want you. These chemicals affect me as well, for I am just as keen as ever to have you make love to me, despite our baby getting in the way now. To think that I started out avoiding getting entangled with you. Have I changed so much?”

“I like you as you are, Vickie darling. I like you just the same, any time I see you. You are always a desirable woman and always will be in my eyes when we are old and grey.

Talking of women, Vickie, I am told that Ranga is desperate to get married to me and start fucking, but I had said not until her body is developed anough to birth a baby in safety. Well, between her and Sheila, they have got her on contraceptive herbs so that I no longer have any excuse for not marrying her. She can fuck and not get pregnant.”

“I had heard. Sheila should not really have given in to Ranga’s demands, but former bitch Sheila has turned into a big softy, and gave in to the girl, just as she quickly gave in to you and has her own baby dues shortly. I am astounded I don’t get jealous of all your women.”

John sought help now.

“Vickie, my love, can you help me understand an oddity about these girls? I think Ranga is fifteen, Gana is fourteen and Gana is thirteen, or thereabouts; no-one has exact ages. Now, how can that be about ages; only a year between them, despite breastfeeding? Breastfeeding usually means two years between children.”

“Oh, I see. You didn’t know about their past lives, did you? Gana’s mother was a second wife of Mongo, but she died when Gana was born. Bertha then regarded all the children as her own children from then on, so these three just think of themselves as sisters in the same way; daughters of Bertha. Why are you asking now?”

“Numa tells me that Gana and Rana have also gone onto the contraceptive herbs; that’s why.”

“Really? That’s a bit odd. I know they are both women, as they have their monthlies, but they have no need for contraceptives, for they have no men sniffing round them so far.”

“Vicky? Remember back when Ranga recovered from the rape? She said she wanted to be my wife? The other two said they did as well! Had you forgotten? It seems they haven’t.”

Vickie looked horrified for a moment, then relaxed.

“Oh my God! Sorry, John. I keep forgetting that the age for marriage here is as soon as you become a woman. You don’t intend to marry them at this time, do you?”

“Certainly not! But if they go on the birth control, there is nothing to stop them engaging in fucking, and I assume I am still the intended target as their sex partner.”

“Oh, of course! My old life still pushes me at times, though back then there were many thirteen-year-olds engaging in sex, according to the number of births we had to early teens. I try not to think about such things.”

“How effective is Sheila’s herbal birth control? Do you know?”

“Not really, for you need to wait a year to be sure it is working; to tell whether there are pregnancies or not. I don’t know all who are using it and whether any have got pregnant despite taking it. Sheila might have had some feedback. It may be that some of the plant books tell you about effectiveness; assuming they are talking about the same herbs. The effectiveness may have changed over the thousands of years involved before the books were written.”

John begged, “Can you be a darling and check with her? I have to go and negotiate with Ranga.”

Vickie chuckled, “Good luck with that!”

John went looking for Ranga and found that she was working on the moccasin-making production line. The women had split up the making into different jobs; drawing the pattern of the feet, cutting the leather, making holes for the leather lacing, sewing the lacing to the sole and upper sections of the footwear, then either adding an insole for comfort or adding an extra sole on the outside for harder-wearing use. The women with the most acute eyesight worked on moccasins for children, as everything was so much smaller. Ranga had been given the supervisory job, making certain that all the tasks for any specific pair of moccasins was done to the highest standards, so that there was no issue over quality. Good demand depended on high quality products, leading to a high reputation by word of mouth. A good reputation was essential to encourage more orders.

“Ranga? Can I disturb you?”

She looked up from her concentration on a pair of moccasins, giving them a final inspection as she sat there.

“High Chief! You are looking for me?”

“Indeed so. We have to make a joint decision today.”

“Eh? Oh, yes. You mean, about us?”

“Correct. Can we take a walk outside where we will have no ears listening to us?”

She scrambled to her feet, a smile all over her face. She checked to be sure that she was being observed, then grabbed hold of John’s hand and pulled gently.

“This way, High Chief,” she said loudly as she led him to the outside of the cave. Once outside, she looked anxiously at his face to see how far they had to go.

“Just down the slope a little, Ranga my dear.”

She scarpered further down to an open spot away from anyone. “Here?”

“This will do nicely. Let’s sit down on the grass.”

John seated himself and Ranga hurriedly sat next to him, as close as she could, then stared up at him adoringly.

“What have you to say, High Chief? Is it time?”

“It is time. I have been pushed into an inescapable spot, where I have no option but to marry you and take you to the furs for sex. This is entirely the result of you making use of contraceptive herbs to prevent pregnancy. It means that you and I can marry and have loving sex, knowing there is no threat to your life through a dangerous pregnancy.”

“Oh, goody.” Ranga beamed her pleasure at him, and grasped both his hands. “You will soon make me your woman?”

“I will. This is much earlier than I expected, for I did not anticipate you using this avenue to avoid pregnancy.”

Ranga pouted. “I didn’t do it to upset you, John; just to make it easier to have our marriage.”

“Oh, you did that, I can tell you. We can proceed with the marriage ceremony, but as for your sisters, forget it. They are still too young for me to marry them, even though they are embarking on the same path: the contraceptive herbs that you have been using. Tell them that marriage is not on the schedule for quite some time. I don’t want them trying to charge in when we are having our first married sex!”

Ranga giggled, “They will be furious at that. They thought this was the route to marrying you!”

“After we are married and you are happily fucked, I might consider letting them find out what fucking is all about, once we are certain the herbs have functioned as they are supposed to.

Just to be clear about this, how do you know for certain that this herbal treatment works? How do you know it will prevent pregnancy? I hope it is not simply ‘a traditional remedy’, for you know what I think of traditions: these are unreliable.”

This stopped Ranga on the spot. She recounted, “I asked your wife Shiela about a herbal treatment to prevent pregnancy. She put me off for a while so she could do what she called ‘research’ on it. A day or two later she came to me and told me that there were several treatments that seemed to be effective, but only one was available here using local plants.

Even there, she said the ‘books’ were unclear – she called it reticent - about properties related to sex. She said that the books were all written by men and as it was the midwives who had the knowledge of contraceptive herbs, that information got missed out, as the men did not want to admit they knew little.

The herb she said she could use had a funny name, called ‘petiveria’ in her language. It was hinted at being used for abortions or a contraceptive in this area, so she showed its picture to some of the local women and asked them what it could do for a woman. They told her it worked as a helpful contraceptive, but not every time, so Sheila said I could safely take it but without a full promise of it working. She said it should work for most women for most occasions, but she didn’t know what the circumstances were where it failed to work. It may have been the woman’s body that was at fault, or the way she used the herb.”

“Hmmm. I know enough about herbs to know that some plants work if you use an infusion of the leaves, but not the roots, or the other way round. Was Sheila sure about what part of the plant was used?”

“She told me she boiled up the whole plant, and then strained the liquid which had to be allowed to evaporate slowly to keep the active ‘chemicals’ in the juice. She explained that what she gave me was a small portion to be taken each day, so that I didn’t get too much at one time. She said too much could be dangerous. I had to take it for three hands of days, without any bad signs, before I was to consider it as working in my body.”

“And have you had any ‘bad signs’ at all?”

“Nothing. It tastes a little bitter, so I wouldn’t want to take too much any one day, for that reason alone.”

“Have you grown more as a woman in the last few moon cycles? I am wondering if your body has developed better for birthing; just in case your medicine isn’t fully effective.”

“My breasts have got larger, as you can see, and I think my hips are a bit wider: do they feel that way to you?”

John placed his hands round her hips and tried to remember.

“They do seem to be, and are you fully recovered from the raping by the shaman?”

“Physically, I recovered well, but I had many sudden memories of terror for a long while, but that has faded as time went on. The women here have been very kind to me and my sisters as we recovered. We have become part of what is now Numa’s tribe. You saw me working with the team that makes moccasins. That is part of what I do to fit in with the tribe. After I marry you, John, I want to keep doing that, if I may. I want to feel I am a useful part of the tribe, not just a Chief’s wife.”

“It is your choice as a woman, Ranga. Being a wife should not restrict you in what you want to do for the tribe.”

“John!” came a shout from the cave. It was Sheila. John called back, “Come and talk, Sheila. I need your expertise anyway.”

Sheila waddled down to join them, cupping her tummy bulge as she did so, not consciously thinking about it. She greeted Ranga first.

“Hi, Ranga. Are you negotiating with my man?”

“I suppose so. He is questioning me about your contraceptive herb; wants to know if it works.”

“Aha. The ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything... ‘will you be pregnant in 43 days?’ “ she laughed at her own joke as Ranga looked puzzled at this joke from thousands of years in the future. Sheila let it pass; she had made her point. “Well, John, are you satisfied?”

“In a way, Sheila my dear wife. I am certain that no-one is 100 per cent sure about such herbal remedies.”

“That is the way of it, my darling man; no birth control is ever perfect. Do you know, the books that we have are very careful in not overtly mentioning the contraceptive qualities of any plant, except in an aside that refers to it in Latin terms that ordinary folk would not understand. The authors are afraid to outwardly mention such qualities as contraceptives or abortion treatments, can you believe?”

“Yeah, I get it. It is probably not so much the authors but the publishers that the omissions come from. They were scared that they would get stick from the anti-abortionists or even the Catholic church, so they edited the text to excise any clear reference which might get them into trouble. Stupid in itself, but understandable from a business standpoint: the publishers wanted to sell those books, and did not want the ‘pro-lifer’ - as they called themselves - extremists putting the brakes on sales by boycotting the bookstores.

These are the books that were available for putting into our private library for here, so that is what we got. What did you do?”

“To start with, I followed the clues after whittling down the possibles by geography. It had to be plants that are available in this general locality, then I had to decode the entries, looking for the technical words, such as anti-implantation, abortifacient, emmenagogue, and sperm motility, as well as contraceptive. The trouble with plants is that many of them have multiple uses, as a tea or similar application, so the contraceptive action gets mentioned in passing, if at all, such as with the Mexican plant rue having multipurpose actions.

That is why I consulted local herbalists for their take on the subject. I got a number of responses, not all of which agreed with the books on plants, so either there are assumptions being made here that are not provably valid, or this world has variations in the effectiveness of some plant remedies.

That is why I recommended the one for Ranga as the most likely to work, but with the proviso that there is no guarantee of complete effectiveness.”

John was impressed at Sheila’s attempt to do her best in the circumstances.

“Thanks, Sheila. You have done your research but ended up like the rest of us, with being unable to say with certainty what will work. You will have to continue your research checking local users for effectiveness. Once you can show a herb that is 95 per cent effective, that may be enough for us to market it to other tribes in a made-up form.

Getting back to the original discussion, if Ranga feels so strongly about getting married and having sex, she still takes the risk that she might get pregnant, right?”

“Yes. By the looks of her now, her chances of a successful birth have much improved in recent months, but we should hope for the drug to do its job and prevent the pregnancy occuring in the first place. John, you have to remember that in this era, fourteen-year-olds having a baby is quite common; so the human body at this time and place, on this new Earth, may have a better adapted pelvis for early childbirth; we just don’t know enough to be certain.”

“What about Rana and Gana? It seems they are taking the same drug, with the same intent to have sex.”

“You should have observed from their breasts that these two girls have developed faster than Ranga, and may already be capable of birthing a baby, so if they want sex with you, and are taking the herbal treatment, it comes down to you being willing to fuck them if they ask. You have no problem fucking all the rest of us women, I have noticed. Most if not all of us are expecting your babies, stud!”

“Yeah, well, that is just a combination of my fertility and your fertility, isn’t it? But what I don’t get is that the locals have been using herbal remedies for hundreds if not thousands of years, but don’t know for certain what works, and when it should work?”

Sheila snorted, “Listen, our own medical fraternity were prescribing treatments in Europe for hundreds of years that didn’t work at all. Nobody did proper tests for evidence. Imagine, for almost any ailment you have, the treatment was blood-letting? I ask you, seriously?”

John looked uncomfortable, and a memory came to him.

“Now that you mention it, the doctors were not very knowledgeable for an awful long time. Doctors are as much controlled by peer pressure within their occupation as children in the school playground. There was that famous example where a single historical test for microbes in a human stomach showed none. From then on, for many decades, it was a tenet of medicine that all stomach acid was sterile, so stomach ulcers were inevitably deduced to be from an imbalance of the gastric acids. The treatment was antacid – bismuth tablets, I think.

Then a medical researcher untrained in that accepted claim found a bacteria present in a number of human stomachs of people with stomach ulcers, and reported that this had to be the source of stomach ulcers. He was lambasted by doctors everywhere who all ‘knew’, without evidence, that the stomach was bacteria-free, because everyone at medical school said so. No-one paid attention to his factual studies because he HAD to be wrong according to long-term medical lore. It would be stupid to check the facts as they already knew the answers, they thought. How often we have heard that stated: ‘we know what the answer must be, so we don’t need to check for proof’.

He went off to Australia, but was given the same push-off by the medics there, and ended up doing testing on himself: infecting himself and a colleague with the bacteria in question, H. Pylori. They both got gastritis as a result, but cleared it by taking standard antibiotics, and this got his experiment noticed. Others did their own unbelieving tests, and found the same astonishing results.Facts were now known.

Shock. Most of the world reassessed their knowledge base, and began using antibiotics, with instant success.

Despite this demonstrable proof, it took many years before doctors in the USA ceased prescribing antacid tablets – which did nothing for the problem, only relieved symptoms! The pharmaceutical companies were making good profits from these tablets, so kept pushing them at the U.S. doctors.”

Sheila laughed heartily. “Do you know that by today (back home) that old idea of sterile stomach acid never gets mentioned; swept under the carpet. It is all antibiotics immediately.

Well, I suspect the same happens in this era: someone will say that a certain treament worked for a patient, and everyone else accepts it as a standard treatment for everyone, without doing their own tests. That is why I am not promising everyone a complete cure or remedy for a problem; in fact, I am going out of my way to say it is not a sure-fire answer.”

John said to Ranga, “There you have it, Ranga. It might work or it might fail you. Do you want to go ahead and accept what might happen?”

“You are not going to say yes or no to me?”

“Nothing so definite. The law has changed. This is your choice, for it affects you personally, and you must decide for yourself. Marriage and sex, or wait longer until we are pretty certain you can birth a child in safety?”

“I have waited long enough, John. I will accept that Sheila has given me the best chance of protection, so I am willing to marry you now, John. Does that meet with your approval, Sheila?”

Sheila held up her hands in refusal to become involved.

“Don’t bring me into this decision, Ranga. It is your choice, not mine. I have given you what I can, and I hope it works, but that’s as far as I go.”

Ranga sighed, “Oh. You have both forced me to make up my own mind, but I feel up to pregnancy if it happens despite the herbs. Will you marry me now, John?”

“Yes, Ranga. You have made the decision, my dear. We can ask Chief Numa to do that ceremony tomorrow, if she is available.”

Ranga wrapped John in her arms, and hugged him.

“Thank you, John. All your wives say you are a gentle lover, so I am looking forward to that.”

“Oh, you have been doing a sex survey of my ladies, Ranga?”

“I just asked them, and they volunteered the answers, that is all.”

John stifled his laugh, and offered, “I hope I do them justice! Take yourself to Chief Numa and ask about a marriage ceremony. She has two more to fit in, so I hope she is not too busy.”

“More? Who is getting married? Anyone I know?”

“My two concubines, Delica and Decala. They are to be upgraded to wives, which they should always have been.”

“Oh, how nice! That is good of you, John. They are nice ladies and deserve the better status.”

“I know they are nice, but I was lax in persuading them to become wives, so I am correcting that fault.”

“Isn’t Delica expecting a baby?”

“She is. That is one of the reasons for marriage. I want all my children to be born to wives of mine, if at all possible.”

“Good plan, John. I hope I can add to their number eventually.”

“Ranga, I owe it to your parents to provide your mother with at least one grandchild. I miss your father, for he was a very nice man. He was tolerant of me, which is always a great start!”

“Rana and Gana want to have your children as well, John. Are you still agreeable to marrying them?”

“I have tried to encourage them to find another man as a husband, but if they are still determined that it be me, I will give in to them eventually. I said they would have to be mature enough to bear a child safely, but from what I am told, both are there already, more or less. However, marriage and sex are a little way off, for this is your marriage, Ranga. I don’t want your sisters muscling in and spoiling it for you.”

Ranga cuddled up to John again, rubbing her breasts against him to show her affection.

She spoke with Chief Numa the next morning, as Numa was nursing her son. The Chief nodded wisely.

“It is time, then. We will have the ceremony tomorrow once I have confirmed the herbal details with Sheila. Pregnancy should be avoided for a little while yet, in my estimation. You accept that judgement?”

“Yes, Chief. That is the plan, but it seems that the herbal treatment might not be entirely reliable. I have accepted that there is a slight risk of pregnancy, and if that happens, that happens.”

“You could always have John pull out before he shoots, but that is not his style and may not satisfy you either. It was never what I wanted, I can tell you.”

“I want his seed, Chief Numa. If I get pregnant, I will hope to have his baby. It is every girl’s dream to some day have the child of a Chief.”

“Right. Be at my throne after breakfast tomorrow. I will instruct John to be there at the same time.”

The pair were there at the appointed time, and Ranga was attended by her younger sisters. John was attended by Delica and Decala, who were next to be married to him.

Ranga was granted the lead position due to her youth, and Chief Numa carefully performed the marriage ceremony they they were now using. This involved promises from both parties to be assiduous in behaving as a true and generous spouse through the years to come. John and Ranga gave their promises and Numa ended by declaring them husband and wife.

Ranga now joined Decala in supporting Delica for her marriage to John. Ranga and Decala held hands as they witnessed John marrying Delica; and then Delica and Decala switched pleaces for John to marry Decala. Once the third declaration had been made, all three women cuddled up to John and kissed him as much as they could.

Afterwards, the former concubines told Ranga, “You should now go with our new husband and enjoy lovemaking with him. We already do that with him regularly, so it is your chance to be with him tonight.”

Ranga hesitantly went to John and took hold of his hand.

“My husband, I am told by Delica and Decala that I am to be with you in the furs tonight ... or earlier if you prefer...” she looked up into his eyes with an enquiring gaze.

“If you have no worries about being in the view of others of the tribe, then the sooner the better, my dear Ranga.”

She spoke more strongly, “I am happy to let the tribe see that I am your woman; the eldest daughter of Chief Mongo is now the wife of the High Chief John!”

John smiled, understanding her viewpoint; this was a matter of family honour for a Chief’s family, one that had been defiled. This was the restoration of their honour, and she was the instrument of that restoration. She must be feeling very satisfied, John knew. He must make it easy for her to notify her mother in the Farfarers tribe.

He was concerned, however, to make her appreciate that being his wife was not simply a diplomatic triumph. It was a cementing of his family with that of Chief Maranga, Ranga’s aunt. On top of that, expansion of High Chief John’s family was a matter which his first wife, Chief Numa, saw as a reflection of his social status among the tribes. He knew that.

And it was so, for the Chief.

To Numa, Ranga was just one more wife being added to the collection of wives that she had amassed for her husband as a reflection of his power over a wide area. Being First Wife in this family, as well as Chief, was valuable in itself, for it improved her own status level among her own tribe and others that knew of them. She was proud of what she had achieved, and for having John’s first child – a son as well, to top it all. Life was good.

Delica came to Numa to ask a question.

“Chief, do you want to be with John and Ranga as they make love for the first time, or can Decala and me be there to help the youngster? Ranga may need some female advice as a learner about real lovemaking.”

“Oh, yes, I had forgotten she would need that. Her only sex experience was being brutally raped by the shaman after her father was killed; terrible memories. Thanks for your thoughtful offer, my new fellow wife, but as her Chief it is my duty to be there for her in case her memories overwhelm her. You two can have John to yourselves tomorrow night. Is that fine with you?”

Delica nodded. “It is. Ranga will be pleased to have you there to support and advise her.”

Later, John led Ranga over to the furs where he normally slept with one or more of his wives. Numa arrived shortly after, as Ranga’s female sexual adviser. Ranga was now aware of this and thanked Numa for her help.

She now asked John, shyly, “Will your wives not complain about us using these furs?”

“Ranga, as of today YOU are one of my wives, so they have nothing to complain about. Now stand in front of me, facing the furs.”

She did so, and he brought his arms round her upper torso, laying his hands on her covered breasts. He pressed his hands to her small breasts, her nipples hardened, and she found herself gasping.

“John, that is nice. Just hold them there.” She was not sure if she meant hold his hands still or hold her breasts, but it felt nice either way. He leaned down to kiss her on the back of her neck, and then the side. She swung round to face him.

“John, my husband, please kiss my lips. I have seen you kissing your other wives and they seem to like it.”

John did as asked, and was soon absorbed in this task, until he started poking his tongue into her mouth. She jumped, asking, “John, what are you doing?”

“It is called tonguing, Ranga. We can exchange touches by tongues in the mouth. You may enjoy it if you try.”

She did, inexpertly at first, but soon got the hang of it, copying John. She found his hands moving from caressing her back to caressing her rear end, and found it stimulating.