Chapter 24: Of Being With One & Then The Other

After the excitement with the saber-tooth, the crossing of the Plain became uneventful, its monotony being relieved, however, by the childish delight of Rooann and Iega by way of their novel experience of being bonded mates. Their daytime display of excitement and bliss, along with their nighttime noises of pleasure, became infectious with the clan members and several women and even some men talked with both of them and Martreen about "making love" training.

The weather remained fine, and we made excellent progress, and except for me missing Sheel and Roya (Thank the Earth Mother that I had Treeya and Martreen with me), the journey continued peacefully. The entire clan appeared to be in the best of spirits, laughing and joking, or interestedly discussing the possibilities which the future held for them, such as, what living near the steps would really be like, if hot springs were actually enjoyable to sit in, or could a cold food storage cave in fact keep meats fresh for an entire summer. These and many other questions kept Treeya quite busy with explanation.

It seemed the closer we got to home the emotional drain on me was like a saturated wet, humid, cloying feeling. It took every bit of will power I had to keep from jumping onto the back of one of the horses and riding as fast as I could to my other two mates.

The sun was still high in the heavens when we came upon a little fresh water pond surrounded by fifteen-foot tall twill grasses. Suddenly Dugut and Nugut bolted toward, and then around the small pond. As I craned my neck and squinted to catch a glimpse of the thing that had aroused the two wolves, it came upon me quickly on four legs with a rider on its back, and then deftly sliding off the horses back she was at my side, with parted lips, heaving bosom and disheveled hair, a bronzed and lovely vision to my eyes that took my breath away.

It was Sheel, and in less time than it takes for a single heartbeat she was in my arms. I clutched her to me afraid she might disappear, wrapping my arms tightly around her lithe body, and then after such a long time experiencing that remarkable and altogether delightful thrill that followed the brushing of my lips against the lips of Sheel.

"Oh how I do love you, Sheel!" I cried, "my dearest little wild cat in all the world."

She raised her eyes to mine, and then her smooth, brown arms encircled my neck and drew my lips down to hers.

"I love you Dac. I will always love you!" she said, and then she buried her face on my shoulder and sobbed. "We have been so unhappy." she said, "You've been gone for so very long that for the last two weeks Roya and I could not help thinking that you might be dead or at best hurt miles to the west, and as irretrievably lost to us as though you were, in truth, dead. So every day one or the other of us have been riding out to look for you."

As we stood there, momentarily forgetful of all else other than our newfound happiness, we were suddenly joined by Treeya and Martreen. Both women encircled their arms around Sheel so tightly that I thought that they would suffocate her with their embraces, then both women kissed her repeatedly.

Others of the clan gathered from every direction as we continued greeting Sheel. As the women congregated around it was easy to see that they were still in awe of the blonde huntress.

Sheel greeted them with a broad smile and hellos, and then with surprise in her voice she said to me, "You brought everyone with you?"

Martreen laughed, "Don't be so surprised, you know Dac and his new-age ideas."

Sheel returned the laugh, "You're right. I shouldn't be surprised by anything Dac thinks up," She good naturedly teased.

"He still surprises me." Treeya laughingly added.

For the better part of the next two hours, we four walked together, sharing the accounts of our adventures with lions, tigers and bears, given with frequent interruptions by Sheel who wanted to know even the most minute details especially concerning Dugut's and Nugut's selfless act of courage when they attacked the cave-bear to save Treeya and I.

"All I can say," Sheel told Treeya with all sincerity, "is you have no idea how happy I am now that you didn't listen to me when I told how stupid it was to raise these two wolf pups." She reached down to pet both of the wolves' heads.

"As I recall, you didn't take much convincing. And remember, it was you that found the pups in the first place anyway." Treeya responded while enfolding her arm around Sheel's waist affectionately.

"Yeah, well I'm just grateful anyway." Sheel answered back, then looking at Martreen, she said, "And, I'm also very happy that you're as good a healer as you are Martreen. I would have hated not being able to see this cute little face again." She cupped her hand under Dugut's chin lifting the wolf's eyes up to hers then she kissed him on his snout.

"Thank you Sheel," Martreen smiled, "but like I told you, it was Dac in a night thought that actually showed me how to save Dugut."

"I refuse to take responsibility for any of the night thoughts any of my mates might have!" I interjected jokingly.

"I don't know Dac," Sheel smiled at me shamelessly, "you might what to hear about some of my night thoughts before you decide that."

We all laughed.

"And what of you and Roya," Treeya asked, "did you and her have any excitement after Dac and I left?"

"Other than worrying about our mates it was relatively peaceful," Sheel answered thoughtfully, then quickly added, "Oh yeah, there was that one thing about three weeks ago after Roya and I had just finished feeding and watering the horses. Just as we got back to the cave, we noticed the horses starting to run around in an agitated manner. At first we thought that they were just 'kicking up their heels, ' you know, like they sometimes do at feeding time, but when they all tried to run into the back training corral, we noticed two jackals chasing after them. I drew my spear then yelling and screaming as loud as I could, I ran back toward the corral. As I got closer, I noticed that the jackals were both fully grown, and of a breed that was much larger than any I had ever seen before. Well anyway, the jackals eventually cornered our little spotted mare, and then one of them lunged at her face and clamped its jaws onto her nose. The little mare was whirling and kicking around so much I couldn't throw my spear for fear of hitting her, I didn't know what to do. Then from out of nowhere, two arrows came flying by me hitting both of the jackals. You wouldn't have believed it! Roya had returned to the cave, retrieved her bow and all the way from the top of our cave to the corral she had somehow managed the accuracy to hit both jackals' dead on. I was really impressed."

"That really was some kind of marksmanship." I responded impressed myself.

"Are the horses okay?" Treeya asked with concern in her voice.

"Oh, ever our little animal master," Sheel smiled to the younger girl, "Don't worry, they're just fine. After Roya took care of the jackals' we turned our attention to checking the horses trying to calm them down. Most of the horses were completely untouched, with the exception of the spotted mare and one of the black mares, which had also been bitten on the face. The injury to the black mare wasn't anything more than a scratch, but the nose of the little spotted mare was torn pretty good on the right side. We treated her with mullein leaf poultice for about a week and she recovered very nicely."

"Oh good," Treeya said with relief, "I always liked that little mare."

"You've always liked every little mare." Sheel teased.

We all laughed again.

That night the other clan members heard additional nighttime noises of pleasure filling their ears from more than just Iega and Rooann, as Martreen, Treeya and I welcomed Sheel with much more personalized passion than we were able to do during the day.

The following morning at breakfast, Sheel made a suggestion, "Dac, the clan is only a few days walk from home, and Roya is still as worried about you as I was... why don't you take my horse and go to her. I'll stay behind with Treeya and Martreen. I'm sure between the three of us we can handle anything that comes up."

"Yes Dac, I agree. I don't like the idea of Roya being all alone anyway." Martreen offered.

"I also think it's a good idea Dac. Poor Roya must be worried sick about all of us by now." Treeya agreed.

"You're right," I said agreeing with them, "I'll ride out first thing after breakfast."

I ate quickly then after saying our goodbyes I mounted and then rode off in the direction of our cave and our mate Roya.

The trip was uneventful, the coming winter wind held, and after ten hours' of steady riding the black shadows of the mountain sheltering our cave loomed close before my straining eyes. It was far too dark to distinguish whether anyone was outside or not, so I pushed my little mount harder and closed the distance very quickly.