Chapter 239: Preparations

Day 4

“This is too much like work!” I huffed to Kip as we neared the top of the volcano. We were on the opposite side of the island from the ship and if I had figured correctly, we should come out on the rim just above the waterfall.

I took a seat on a large rock on the rim as I looked out over the ocean that surrounded the island. That it was an island, we had confirmed three days ago, our second day here, when I set out to walk the entire circumference of the island. Accompanied by half of my security force, and sticking to the beach as much as possible, it had taken us the whole day to hike all the way around and back to the ship.

The next day, (Day 3) we finally ventured into the interior of the island to look for the gate. That was a little bit of a let-down because there was a fairly well-worn path from the lagoon straight to the gate. It took us less than fifteen minutes to cover the distance from the shore to the gate.

The gate itself resembled a large upside-down horseshoe carved out of the rock face of the cliff, and it was only when we drew close to examine all the hieroglyphics carved into the horseshoe that the gate seemed to come to life. The center of the horseshoe became a milky white. Out of curiosity, I withdrew my sword and inserted it halfway through the opening with no resistance. On a whim, I simply stepped through the gate and disappeared.

I was gone less than a minute before I stepped back through to the island, but I now had an idea of what we would be facing on the other side.

Kip, Penny, and I had spent the last two evenings discussing the gate with Ne’mara and some of her ladies. While each of them had been brought here through the gate, they were all, except one, blindfolded and tied, and brought through in two-wheel carts pulled by something that faintly resembled oxen by their description of them.

The Kuardians were ruled by the Joppa family. The father, Heddon called himself king and had two sons, and a small army and a large navy. Their army, commanded by Neilon, the youngest son, supposedly had around three dozen soldiers, mostly armed guards at the palace, while their navy, commanded by Lassos, the elder son, was said to have more than three hundred sailors and a dozen raiding ships.

Their kingdom, called Gerwayne, was basically a large island, as were most kingdoms on that world. The ladies had no idea whether our island was on the same world or not.

As for the Kuardians, I discovered that they were sort of a cross between Vikings and Pirates. They seemed to spend a lot of time on their ships, even while in port. And their world must be mostly covered by water, for none of the women had the faintest idea of traveling to other kingdoms except by boat. They did tell us that the Kuardians were constantly at war with their neighboring islands and tended to kill everyone who got in their way.

And wherever they went, they traveled by water. There were very few carts and no hint of roads.

According to the women, most villages on this world were on a coast. When the Kuardians came, they would sail into a port, capturing the breedable females, raping and killing the rest, pillaging whatever they wanted, especially food, then burning everything else. Then, with their captives, they would sail back to their home island. They rarely did anything with the conquered villages. It seems that they were not into land acquisition, but only food stuffs and female sex slaves.

When they returned home, the young girls who survived were confined to large barracks for breeding. Those that did not get pregnant soon were given over to the men of the army. Once the army’s men tired of the women, they would bring them through the gate to the island, mostly because they did not want to feed or care for them. If they lived or not did not seem to matter to them. Their navy would just go and find some more.

Although they did inform us that the Kuardians usually came only once or twice a season, they didn’t know why. They did know that it had been almost three hands (a hand equaled approximately twenty five to thirty days) since they were here last. They had brought seven girls with them and spent several days abusing them before they left. Only four of those girls had survived.

Ne’mara, nor any of the other ladies had ever heard of the Armor of Life which didn’t surprise me.

And as I mentioned earlier, we spent all day yesterday (Day 4) hiking to the top of the volcano on the other side of the island. We learned little, but the view was nice. Then, that evening we spent reviewing everything that Ne’mara’s group or tribe had shared with us and formulating our plan. Finally we adjourned to sleep on our ideas.

Day 5

Good morning, my little Indian Princess,” I said to Rose as I rolled over to get off the berth we had slept on last night. Late yesterday, we had moved all the bedding indoors in the face of an approaching storm. I started the evening in Ileana’s berth, then moved to each of my other three wives. It seemed that they had all claimed executive privilege for the night. Then when I thought I was through and ready to sleep, Eve and Rose came to claim me, which at that time, Ileana, Hanna, Abby, and Sandy decided to shove me out of their bed and told me to go with my Indian maidens.

Rose muttered something unintelligible and pulled the blanket up over her head. Rose, like Mikeya, was not a morning person.

Unable to have the showers working because of the limited amount of fuel for the generator, I made my way starboard and slipped into the lagoon. In the five days we had been here, the water had barely risen a few inches. And since Ne’mara had confirmed that this planet did not have a moon, nor had she ever seen the tide rise or fall in the lagoon, Captain Tab was beside himself trying to find a way to get us off the sandbar.

I tried once to tell him that Thesan had put us here and when the time was right, she would probably remove us. But he wasn’t ready to listen. Besides, where could we go on this planet?

“Coffee, my prince?” Ileana asked me when I made my way back to the foredeck.

Most of us had adopted the naturalist lifestyle while we are stranded here, although Aida and Lydia both continued to wear modest one-piece swimsuits most of the time. Naturally, I was a big proponent of no clothes and so I was almost dry by the time I reached the foredeck. I had noticed that Captain Tab and most of his crew had joined our nudist ship as well.

“It’s the most practical solution,” Captain Tab had observed the first day. “We have no easy way to clean our clothes. And the heat can be almost unbearable at times.”

The lone holdout on his crew was his nephew, Larry. He just couldn’t bring himself to losing his shorts. But it was no secret that he enjoyed all the girls losing their clothes. Especially Barbara. Finally, Barbara got fed up with his leering and told him to get lost and not to come back around with his clothes on.

Penny wouldn’t let her security team participate in our shipboard nudity, while on duty, for practical reasons. But they were dressed down as far as possible for their responsibilities.

“Thank you,” I told Ileana. “I love you very much!” I thought only to her.

We had decided that we would take today, Day 5, as a day of rest. Then on Day 6, we would enter the gate all together as a group. Captain Tab and his crew would stay on the Edna Lorraine until we returned. Barbara had, at some private moment told her father that she was going with us. I didn’t hear it, but several of the girls reported that their argument lasted most of the afternoon. I stayed out of it. I figured that she was a big girl, almost twenty-six, and could handle her father without our help.

Captain Tab did come to me last night and begged me to watch out for her. I told him I would. He also came up with a two wheeled metal cart that they used to pick up trash and scrap around the ship. That would sure come in handy for hauling all our extra gear and ammunition.

Everyone spent the rest of the day getting ready. Several of the girls came to me to discuss their private concerns. Grace, Adriana, and Vickie were concerned about what might be happening at the company while we were missing. I explained that based on my past experiences, when we were returned to our dimension, it would probably be within moments of when we left.

“Well, in that case, we need to find that armor so we can go home!” Adriana stated. I had no doubt that they would spread that information to the others.

Nicky and her crew for the Foundation, Izzy, Amy, and Shelly, wanted to discuss their plans for Ne’mara and her people when we returned to our own dimension, but I begged them to wait until we were on our way home. I had too much on my plate getting ready for tomorrow.

Narvenia wanted to know if I would do something to generate enough power to send her latest update to her mom. I had to explain that all the times I had done it before, it had been an accident.

“Well, please keep me informed if you do it again,” she said. “I really want to get this update to my mother.”

And then there was Lydia and Aida...

“Michael, I want you to know that I really appreciate you bringing me with you on this trip. I’ve had a wonderful time ... well, most of the time. I mean, I’ve been to so many new places and tried so many new things. I flew in my first private plane and sailed on my first big boat...”

“Ship,” I interjected almost automatically.

“What?” Aida asked.

“It’s a ship, sweetie. Boats are for bathtubs,” I told her, parroting what Larry and Barbara had told me.

“Well ... whatever,” she continued. “Still, I’ve had a great time and I loved getting to know all your friends and all. But I have decided that I’m not ready to talk about marriage with you. I guess that means you’ll keep the property in Vermont, and I’ll get my uncle to reimburse you for all you had to spend on me, but I think it’s time for me to go home.”

Her sudden stop grabbed my attention because, honestly, I was only half-listening to her, expecting her to ramble on for a while yet.

“So what can I do for you?” I asked cautiously.

“Why, you can arrange for me and Lydia to get home. Today, if possible. I’m not very excited about going with you through that gate tomorrow,” she said with complete sincerity.

I suddenly became bogged down between incredulity and cachinnation.

“Michael! Don’t!” Izzy thought to me before I could say anything. “I’ll take care of it,” Then she suddenly appeared by my side and led both of the youngsters away. It was then that I noticed that Izzy always seemed to be the one caring for the younger girls. Just as she had with Trealyn back at the ranch.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I love you!” I thought to her.

“That’s good because now you OWE me!” she thought with a giggle. Izzy liked it when I owed her. And she always collected.