Chapter 4

Miro spread his hands wide. “His words indicate an indeterminate time, Agreya. He is unable to state how long it may be, as the political situation is unstable at present, and may remain so for some time to come. He wishes to keep you out of the way and safe from harm.”

“Harm? I am the eldest daughter of a Chief! I should not be subject to any harm, Miro.”

Miro glanced worriedly at John, then replied, “If his enemies want to get at him, you might be seen as a possible hostage to prevent him regaining his status. You know about status, Agreya. Taken as a hostage may involve harm.”

“Oh.” She had not thought of this. “They would think my father would want to protect me?”

“That is so, but political circumstances may force him to disregard such threats.”

“Wait a minute! You think he would abandon me to allow him to win back control?”

“Such things have happened in the past, cousin, both with male and female offspring involved. On occasion the hostage gets killed. Power plays can require power actions in response, on occasion, regardless of familial concerns.”

Agreya spun round to stare at Numa and then at John. “Can this be so, Chiefs?”

Numa looked to John to reply, not wanting to speak to the truth. He accepted the duty.

“Agreya, politics is a dirty business, almost like war, and sometimes in order to gain a final victory you have to accept some losses on the way. As Miro said, sometimes a hostage has to be lost in the course of the battle.”

“You chiefs all see me as a low value gaming piece in the course of power politics?”

The guard stepped forward to stand close behind her, as a precaution.

John replied slowly, “Reluctantly, but yes, at times that is the way it must be. Your father wishes to protect you from such a possible outcome, thus he suggests you remain with us, safe and secure.”

“So I don’t matter?” she accused John. “Now I am nobody?”

“Think, girl: Did you matter before, when you were offered to me in marriage, to secure an alliance? You seemed to think you were a very important gaming piece at that time, but still a gaming piece in power politics. All that has happened is that the politics have changed, and your value has accordingly reduced, not you yourself; your value. This is the game you have played in tribal politics. Did you not see that?”

“Oh.” She stopped suddenly. She needed to think instead of react, she realised at last. “I am still a gaming piece?”

“Indeed so. It is the way of the world. Kekona recognised the pattern, and offered herself as a replacement gaming piece, as she felt that it would be a good deal for her and your father; and it was. She was much wiser than you, Agreya.”

“So I have come to believe. I have been listening to her since I came to this tribe; listening to her - really listening to her - for the first time. She has explained how this tribe works, and it was a surprise. Women are not just people who belong to men, but persons in their own right, and can adopt any trade that a man can take, even a warrior, I am told.”

Miro looked at her in surprise. This was not what he expected of the former haughty daughter of a Chief. He spoke to her, “Cousin, have you adopted the views of this tribe?”

“I have, Miro. Not without misgivings at first, but the more I have seen, the less I have concerns. This tribe is more powerful that it first appears, and Kekona made a truly wise choice in offering herself to the High Chief, a choice I thought was a sacrifice at the time. I was mistaken. I made the bad choice in assuming my social value to be higher than it really was. The High Chief recognised my folly and accepted Kekona instead. I was the loser, not her, though I did not realise it at the time. She is happy, I was not, afterwards.”

“I see.” Miro paused to consider. “Then you do not object to staying here in this tribe for what might be a long period of time? That action will protect your father.”

“I see that now, Miro. Tell my father that I will remain here to allow him more space and time to recover his position. He has my support in that venture.”

Eyes now wide open, Miro acknowledged her more informed decision.

“Your words show wisdom, Agreya. That pleases me, cousin. You have grown in stature in my eyes, and I will so inform your father when I see him. It may take some time to find him.”

John noticed that he wisely did not reveal even the tribe where Rondo was taking refuge. Certain information is best not shared widely.

Agreya was pensive for a while. The others waited for her to say something more before Miro left. At last she made a decision, and turned to John.

“High Chief John, I have been a failure in my father’s eyes, and Kekona has shown me how I should have behaved. I did not give Kekona the respect she deserved as my sister, and I have since apologised to her. She forgave me, surprisingly. It may because she is a wife of the High Chief.

The circumstances of living within this tribe have also affected me to an extent I did not expect, yet I found Kekona’s explanations unbelievable. That said, I have become changed in so many ways that I have a new outlook on life.

I am now less important than my younger sister, a social nonentity really, but I find that this community is a comfortable one to be among. I am willing to stay here for as long as I am acceptable to you both, High Chief John and Chief Numa, as a visitor and as a relative of Kekona. I beg your permission to live here and in that way protect my father’s position in the southern tribes in the only way possible. I will work for the tribe as my Chief directs.”

She bobbed her head in the direction of Numa, who nodded, and gave a greater bow towards the High Chief as the ultimate authority.

John directed his gaze to Numa, who spoke for them both.

“Agreya, daughter of OverChief Rondo and sister of Kekona who is wife to High Chief John, you are welcome to stay with us for as long as you abide by the rules of this tribe. You will be given tasks as appropriate for the benefit of our tribe, and you will be one of us. Most of our women bear children to increase the tribe’s numbers in future, but not all do that. I, as Chief and wife of the High Chief, am also a mother and I hope to have more children for our family; more and more responsibility I have to say.

You may go back to whatever duties you have been called from, Agreya.”

“Thank you, Chief Numa.” She turned and went.

Miro grinned. “This is a shock,” he admitted, “But a better shock than her attacking me for telling her what life in the tribes is really all about. Kekona in her position as wife of the High Chief will have power over Agreya and help her behave. I will return to my uncle and give him the encouraging news. This will enable him to fight more strongly for his position as OverChief.”

Once he had departed, Numa looked into John’s face, speculatively.

“My darling man, that woman is going to start thinking over her position, and want to improve it.”

“You think so, Numa my love?”

“I know so. She will shortly seek to become another wife to you. She can already see that her sister has high status among women of the tribe as wife to you, and she will have heard that Noma is my sister and so know that marrying sisters is not prohibited. You know that in general I have no objection, but she needs to prove herself worthy before I will allow it to happen.”

“Ah, I take your point, my love. What do you suggest?”

“In this instance, we test her willingness to partake fully in the life of the tribe. To do that, we see if she will be willing to have a child to add to our numbers. The old Agreya would see that as coming only after she had established herself as a Chief’s wife. A baby without first marrying would be seen by her as concubine status.”

John commented, “And what is wrong with concubine status in our tribe? You know I ordered that we view all women as equal; single, concubine, wife or widow, tradesperson or warrior.”

“Yes, dear. You and I know that, but she comes from a status-conscious community, and sees it differently. She needs to change her mindset to that of this tribe.”

“And how do we achieve that, my darling?”

“Nothing immediately. Let it lie and see what happens. She may try to persuade you in some way to marry her. You must insist on her having a baby first. That will put her in her subordinate status as she sees it. She then has nine moons to work on you later, but we also have nine moons to work on her, getting her to see life as we do.”

“You are an exceedingly wise wife and Chief, Numa.”

Numa acknowledged the truth of that statement, giving John a gentle kiss.

Three days later, Numa advised Kekona that she should expect John in her bed that evening.

“Just me? No other wife?” she asked the Chief, aware that John had been fucking two wives each night recently.

“Just you, Kekona, for a variety of reasons, one of which is your sister being there and we don’t know how she will behave during your joining. This is a precautionary measure for all parties involved.”

“I understand, Chief. I have been telling her much more about life in this tribe, and how different it is from our home tribe, but I don’t know how she will behave when John and I are fucking my baby into me – if it is not already there!”

“When did you last have your bleeding time, dear?” Numa asked.

“I haven’t noticed, Chief. Is it important?”

“Well, having your bleeding time says that you are not pregnant at that time. Missing a bleeding might indicate that you are pregnant, but not always. It is not a definite answer, so you should wait until you have missed two bleedings, one after the other. That is a better forecast of a baby on the way.”

“Why did nobody tell me that before?” she exclaimed in annoyance.

“Some tribes are better at informing their women of such things than other tribes, Kekona.”

“Well, thank you this time, my Chief. You are being a mother to me. I lost mine at a young age, I was told.”

“Losing your mother may be the reason you did not know, Kekona.”

“Oh. That may be the explanation, for my father did not remarry. Most men know little about women’s bleeding times.”

Later that evening, as Kekona and Agreya settled down to try to rest, one of the other wives stepped by the bed to tell Kekona that her husband was on the way. A few minutes later, John was at their bedside and speaking to Kekona.

“My wife Kekona, may I attend you in your bed?”

Kekona threw her furs aside, showing him that she was naked. “My arms await you, my dear husband, as always.”

John knelt down and slid his body in beside hers. “I worship your body, Kekona, and hope that you will grace it with a child eventually.”

There came a snort from the other side, as Agreya reacted to the soft encouraging words. John looked at Kekona in the low light of the oil lamp nearby, and raised his eyebrows. Kekona raised a finger to her lips before speaking.

“I am always glad to hear that my husband is pleased with me,” she said aloud, “Others are not always blessed with such kindness.” She grinned to show she was getting back at Agreya.

Pulling him down, she opened her legs wide and pulled his swelling penis towards her welcoming opening. He willingly pushed inside and slowly made love to his wife.

Their lovemaking became more and more strenuous, and Kekona squealed when an orgasm hit. The nanites had made orgasming an easier peak to reach, and she was happy with that improvement. The nanites had also made John’s penis harder for longer, and enhanced the output of his seed and the frequency of being able to do so. In the past, he needed about half an hour to recover sufficiently to produce another large spurt of sperm, but now only a few minutes was required.

For now, he concentrated on giving her another orgasm before shooting his jism towards her waiting womb.

That done, they collapsed in each other’s arms, satisfied with their act of love, John still on top. After a small recovery, Kekona whispered, “Agreya wants to be cuddled before sleep as a sign of your affection. Will you do that, my husband?”

John nodded, then thinking she might not see it, whispered back, “If that is the wish of my loving wife.”

He rolled off her, to the other side, and as he did so, Agreya opened her furs to let his come close. With a start, he noted that she was also completely unclothed, so that their cuddle would be skin to skin between them. He was unsure if he could manage a simple cuddle, but would try.

Agreya was so sure of herself that she failed to take into account the nanites that had been assimilated into her body for some time, from the moment when she first arrived. The nanites automatically took it that if any woman was with John in bed, and in close contact, this was an indication of sexual congress, and they pushed her responses accordingly.

When John put his arms round her and lay on top to cuddle her, she found her legs opening wide in welcome. For some reason, she failed to register this as wrong, and in moments she was forcing his member to the entrance of her vagina.

For his part, John had been quite prepared to cuddle her, but his own body took control and John’s john was swiftly inserted as required by the position, much to his own surprise. Even more surprising was that Agreya started pushing up, and demanding by her body’s action that he fuck her as much as possible.

They began the dance of sex, and Agreya found herself actively participating.

Her voice said quietly, confused, “What are you doing?” but she was really talking to herself. John’s response was to move faster and faster, pistoning his penis in and out, out and in, and her body responded automatically until his seed shot into her before she might have expected such a thing to occur. John’s orgasmic spurt seemed to trigger her own reaction, and she involuntarily shuddered in orgasm in response.

As John came down from his high, he looked into Agreya’s startled eyes.

“That was quite a cuddle, Agreya. What brought that on?”

She shuddered again, this time in horror at her actions. “I never expected that to happen, High Chief. What did you do to me?”

“Me? I simply reacted to your invitation and your encouragement. It seems that your body asked for my seed, and I gave it to you.”

“Your seed? What? You may have made me pregnant?”

“That is the way pregnancies get started, as I am sure you know. I didn’t notice any refusal or reticence on your part, Agreya. You seemed to enjoy what we were doing.”

“But that was not what I intended. I just wanted a cuddle, to let you see what a fine body I have.”

“You certainly did that, Agreya. You showed me what you were offering, and gave me your fine body and then asked for my seed. Admittedly not in words, but certainly by your actions. You pushed for me to fuck you, woman. Admit it.”

“That is what happened, but it was not me,” she protested.

“Who else was it then, my girl? Tell me that.”

“I don’t know!” she insisted. “It happened without me having any control over it. Oh, and what happened to my maidenhead? I didn’t feel it tear when you took me.”

John exclaimed, raising himself on his elbows, “The nanites! That must be what happened, but it has never happened that way before. They took over, in their quest to expand our numbers. They must have made your maidenhead easy to break, so that you didn’t notice it go. I certainly had no trouble, entering you.”

“What are you talking about, man?”

He stared at her, his penis still hard in her vagina. “You presented yourself to me, naked and in bed. The nanites took it from there.”

“What do you mean nanites? You are talking gibberish!”

He scowled at her, wondering how to explain it.

“Think of it as a beneficial disease that spreads between people, only this one controls our bodies to some extent. What happened just now was that disease doing its best to add a baby to our tribe.”

“That sounds nonsensical, High Chief, but for now I can’t think of anything better to explain what I just did. Oh. You are still inside me, I should mention. Is your seed also inside me, trying to put a baby into me?”

“Yes, you can be sure of that. I am good at making my wives pregnant, and any other woman who accepts my seed. Do you want to fuck again?”