Chapter 13: The festival

I woke early but I knew breakfast would be late. Needing to pee, I hobbled painfully to the toilet and wondered if I would ever be free of pain again. There hadn't been one day since I landed when I could more freely and could run or jump without many of my muscles protesting. My arse hurt but it was nothing like as painful as after the strap and the cane so I suppose that was something to be grateful for. On the way back I met Sanle dragging Roger along. She giggled when she saw me. "You can pass him back to Riku or give him to another girl," I said to her.

"No way. I'm keeping him until you have to take him back! Even if I have to poop alongside him!" She smiled broadly and Roger didn't seem too displeased.

Maevu was awake when I returned to bed. Tentatively I tried lying on my back and found I could do so without too much pain. My arse was definitely very tender but it wasn't unbearable and perhaps one of the good things about my stay was that my sexuality had come out. "Play with me and then fuck me Maevu, but be gentle please," I whispered. He did and was very careful until I became fully aroused and told him to do it properly. Shortly afterwards I almost regretted telling him that as his thrusts rekindled the pain in my bottom but I knew I'd withstood a lot more pain and I was only giving Maevu what he deserved.

We showered and when I returned to the bedroom, I was most surprised to find Nurse Muniba standing there. "So you've got yourself into more trouble and I have to come all this way on a festival day to sort you out!" She tried to make her voice sound severe but it didn't quite work and she'd hardly finished the sentence before she broke out into a smile. "Not too much extra damage," she announced when she'd examined me. "Just don't get yourself into any more trouble at the festival. I thought that Sumala was supposed to be looking after you?"

"He is when he's not chasing other women," I teased knowing that he was awake and listening, "But how did you find out?"

"They brought the four men into the prison and charged them with having consumed alcohol, which is an illegal substance. I guess they'll have a turn at the whipping post when the court convenes tomorrow. They didn't actually do anything else that was illegal. Fucking a woman and spanking her for resisting is not a crime but as you are sort of under the Major's protection, I wouldn't mind betting the court will be pretty severe with them." Turning to Sumala she went on, "You'd better tread carefully with the Major too when you get back. He wasn't too pleased with what happened."

It was painful to walk down the stairs to breakfast and sitting on a hard chair caused more discomfort. "I think I'll give the festival a miss," I announced to the others but they would not hear of it and insisted that I go with them.

Sumala was particularly insistent. "I'm not staying behind to baby-sit you just because you've a bit of a sore arse. Today is a proper festival day, not just a day off work type day and there'll be lots going on and things for you to see and do. You're coming whether you want to or not!"

"What's so special about this festival then?" I asked for the umpteenth time.

"You'll find out later." Sanle had told Roger but no one would tell me. With everyone ganging up on me, I had little choice and in the end I was glad I went although I came back very sore yet again.

About a dozen of us, mainly younger age group people, walked slowly to Chapoti market square. At first I complained about the pain in my arse but the others only laughed and I realised that I was 'doing a Roger' and stopped my whining. As usual, after moving for a short while, the pain eased and as we became part of an increasing crowd, so I more or less forgot about it.

To my surprise and delight the whipping post, had been removed and in its place an animal, I guessed to be a wild boar, was being roasted over an open fire. All around people were dancing, many of them in colourful tribal costumes, to the heady rhythmic beat of drums and a strange stringed instrument about the size of a base guitar but which was only a box with a pole and a string. Despite the apparent crudity, it made a deep, resonant sound. The women wore brightly decorated headwear and skirts and danced bare breasted; the older, less firm ones flopped in all directions and combined with the erotic movements, I rightly deduced that this was some sort of sex festival. "It is to celebrate fertility rites and a lot of mating will be done today so be prepared," Sumala finally informed me.

All our feet began stamping in time with the drums and before long we'd linked arms and were dancing and laughing, my sore arse forgotten until I collapsed and sat down hard on the ground. I was extremely thirsty and dying for a drink by that time but so it seems were most of the crowd and the stall selling flavoured water was surrounded and unable to cope with the demand. We joined those struggling for a position where we could catch the attention of the servers but it looked a hopeless task.

"Would you like to come to my home and have a drink with me?" I turned and came face to face with Wyche. I gave her a hug and gratefully accepted her offer but pointed out that there were now six of us in a little group. Besides Roger and I and our partners, Maevu had tagged along with a slightly younger girl, N'Boro.

"That's no problem, Ellie, I've my assistant with me too. I don't think you've met Veo." She introduced us to an attractive girl perhaps a few years older than me.

"Hello Ellie," she smiled hugely and gave me a hug and did the same to Roger. I expect she knew the others because she just nodded a greeting.

We followed her to a fair sized wooden building to the east of the town but only about half a mile from the market square. Inside it was cool and I was glad of the respite from the heat and once my eyes had become accustomed to the lower light level, I saw the whole of the ground floor was one large room. Plants hung from every conceivable space; from the ceiling joists, from the wall studding and from frames erected across one end of the room. The indefinable mix of smells was like a very overpowering potpourri that pervaded the place and seemed to even enter our heads. I took a number of photos and I noticed Roger using his camera too. Wyche gave us a quick tour. We saw the various mortars and pestles she used to grind the dried herbs, the little furnace for melting and breaking down minerals, the decorative clay bowls used for mixing the ingredients and the little round wooden boxes used when she sold balms and salves.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, "You came for a drink and not to learn my business. Suma and Maevu, would you mind bringing those pitchers upstairs, and then we can drink and talk in more comfort."

Upstairs I found a similar miss-match of chairs and couches to those in the community home and to everyone's amusement, I managed to choose a hard spot on an apparently soft seat. My little yelp caused everyone to laugh and I had to retell the story of my rape and spanking, although none of them considered it rape. Wyche looked thoughtful at the end but at the time didn't comment. I asked about Veo.

"Veo, like me, is a childless woman," Wyche explained, "Maybe in the past somewhere we have the same ancestor but who can tell? Maybe if we had one of the modern DNA tests that would reveal it, but we have the same physical defect, neither of us has ever had a menstrual period. It seems we were born without ovaries and the ability to produce eggs or at least our ovaries didn't develop at puberty. My predecessor was the same and I learned the art of making healing potions from her and now I'm training Veo. That way we can be useful members of the community. Oh, we've both been fucked often enough but without any eggs inside us, there was never any hope of pregnancy and men only now fuck us for pleasure. Many steer clear of us believing we are witches or have some magic but they come quickly enough when illness takes them. Are you pregnant yet?"

"Probably. I'm several days late with my period."

Wyche paused and again looked thoughtfully at me. "Will you be going into the park later?" she asked.

"Yes," Sumala answered for me.

"I don't know. What happens in the park?" I caught the smiles that spread across the faces of the natives when I gave my reply.

"I have already told you this is a fertility festival Ellie," Sumala could hardly suppress his laughter, "What we didn't tell you was there is a sort of orgy in the park later on. We weren't going to tell you until we were in the park and you couldn't chicken out." The others thought it a huge joke but I wasn't too pleased.

Sanle shared my concern but for a different reason. "Roger and I are not going," she stated, "I'm not having him waste his sperm on any girl that thrusts her cunt in his face. He's mine and mine alone until he has to go to work the day after tomorrow."