Chapter 4

The older girls had done their job and I walked around to see what they had done. All of the property was lying besides the bodies. I picked up a pouch and searched it. There were twenty gold coins, three silver and a small copper coin. These soldiers were rich.

As I checked things over, I found there was a problem. There was equipment and bedding for 22 soldiers. We had only killed 21. One must have gotten away or not been in the camp at the time. I saw no sign of him during or after the action. He must have been smart enough to hightail in out as soon as the shooting started or shortly afterwards. Maybe he saw the first three soldiers killed and was able to recognize that we had different and dangerous weapons.

He would be telling someone. He might wait until he got back to his camp or base. He might just run to the nearest town or village and bring back a mob. We had to move fast.

I gathered all the coins and put them on the table then called the three older girls over. They had to be ordered to sit side by side. I pushed a gold coin toward each of the girls and their eyes lit up. I did another and then another. I caught one looking at the small copper coin the most and I thought of an idea.

I pulled some coins from my pocket. There were a few toonies and a loonie. Among the small change were seven pennies. All the girls looked at the pennies now. I put my finger on a penny and moved one in front of each girls. They were much happier with copper than gold. It could be that they only knew of copper coins.

I gave each of the girls a sack and they happily put their pay into their new purse.

There was some rope around and I used it and the horse to drag the now naked bodies away from the house. It was difficult to get the girls to wash after handling the bodies before they would eat, but their fear now helped me. The girls ate but I was still near them.

When people live a harsh life, they age quicker than the people I knew. I had to make some assumptions and guessed the ages of those present. The youngest was around four. The next two were easy at around six and eight. The next two were nervous that I was looking at them. I figures they were about twelve and ten. The oldest one here looked about eighteen. At a guess, I figured the one that left, had to be around twenty. I had mentioned mother when I talked but it was possible that none of them were the mother. She might be away or even dead. Then again, girls got married at a young age when people on Earth had the same sort of situation. Samuel de Champlain remarried after coming to North America and did so to a twelve-year-old.

They finished their meal and I had the dishes cleaned by them. The oldest one was ordered to mount the last horse with a lot of shouting. We went back to being petrified. I walked the horse around the front of the house about ten times and then got another rider. This way they saw that nobody was being killed. I went through the six, two and a half times before I saw three horses coming our way. I gave my girls a kiss when they arrived.

"What did you find?" I asked.

Lauren said, "The well is further than what's safe. We hit a main road and it is filled with refugees. It is a good thing that they're not coming this way. Anyway, we found a ravine we can use to hide the bodies."

"Anything else?"

"The refugees looked very worried. We better hurry."

I used the available tools to cut some young trees. I had seen a travois in a book at school once and now used the design. Four horses were employed and the soldiers tents were used to form a net between the two poles. I got three bodies on each and we all set off with the horses. The ravine was a half hour away and we had to thread a way between some trees to get further in. I found a low spot for the bodies. We made the trip one more time and on the way back the last time I had the girls try to disguise the trail we had made.

We got to the road and stopped. Lauren and Tiffany had been talking while moving and now we had a decision to make. Lauren drew seven stick people beside a crude house. She drew soldiers with guns coming to get information about the dead. The next picture was of the seven people now dead themselves. When all that sank in she showed the seven people following three people but there was no picture of death. She went from one group of pictures to the other.

We walked back to the house and began to load all of the soldiers equipment on the travois. The blankets could be passed as nondescript but I was not sure. I made a pile of what the family could safely use and added all of my pennies. Tiffany had a few as well and these were added. I dragged the horses away from the stunned family and then Lauren pantomimed either the family staying or going with us. We waited only a minute then we left. We got near the forest when we saw the family running after us without their possessions.

Tiffany said, "I guess they want to come."

I said, "And now we have to dump this shit and go back for the rest."

Lauren stayed in sight while Tiffany and I dragged the military equipment into the forest. We emptied the travois, then Tiffany and I made the return trip. The seven girls were with Lauren now and I stopped to say, "We are going to get what was left. Keep a look out. Somebody could come on you from the forest. You better hide just in case. Keep Max close and don't let him get away."

Tiffany and I made the trip without incident. We even did some extra work to hide the evidence of our battle. When we rejoined the others we added to our cargo and left in a different direction than the portal. We stopped often for the underfed girls to rest. We came on occasion to rock. Here we stopped and I walked across hard surface to find a place to hide what we had taken from the soldiers. By nightfall we still had everything.

I pitched our four-man tent and threw the blankets into the tent and signalled the girls that they were to use it. It was a tight fit but this was still roomy for them. I hobbled the horses and let them graze. I got the girls fed, then I gave Max his food. Tiffany, Lauren and I talked in the dark after we ate.

Lauren said, "What are we going to do with them, Hugh?"

"That's what I was thinking about all the time. The best I figure would be for us to make a home for them in the forest. We go home and bring back food for them. I can hunt and they can dry meat. There has to be some cleared area where they can farm. I can help them with that and supply seed."

"What about after?"

"I have not committed myself to take care of them forever. When the fighting runs down we help them integrate themselves back into their society."

"They could come with us too. They can work on your farm and learn some skills. They'd be safe."

"Safe! They may not have the soldiers after them but they will have everybody from our civilisation doing the same thing. The girls can't speak our language. They're young and anybody seeing them will say they should be in school. The people that work for me are employees that I'm friendly with. We can't tell them the truth and they will see the girls. If they see the girls, they will talk. The girls can't be hidden if they're going to work."

"They can stay inside the house."

"Sure, but we have visitors."

"They can hide then."

I made the girls take my position and I took Lauren's. More ideas came out and we saw more problems. It was when we came upon a compromise that an idea came to me.

"How about this? They come to our house. I purchase some lumber and we build a home for them in this world but near the portal. Life will be rough but they'll think they have a palace. They farm the land and the four horses will help them. We can even give them some pups and the dogs will guard them. We bring them back to our world a few at a time so they get educated."

The girls thought about this proposition. It didn't cover everything but it was certainly a start. I went to sleep with the cell phone to wake me. Lauren and Tiffany were going to keep watch until it was my turn. I knew enough to tell them not to talk or they wouldn't hear someone approaching.

It was hard to wake up but I knew it was important to all our lives. I kissed the girls and let them have a chance to sleep. For the next few hours, I didn't do anything but think until it started to get light. I started to make breakfast when the youngest came out of the tent squeezing her mons. She ran for a few steps then squatted. When she saw me she froze but I only smiled. I was sure she was not shy about being seen but more by being caught away from her group. She finished her pee then hurried into her tent.

I made enough food for everybody and ate enough myself. The newcomers may not trust me yet so I picked up the plates and opened the tent and put them inside. The residents hurried to the back of the tent. I fetched the spoons then the pot of food and put them inside and closed the flap.

It was a half hour later that the next girl came out and had a pee. She did so while watching me very carefully. The rest came out in pairs but did so with a bit less fear as the proceeding ones made it back safely.

A few hours after dawn I woke up my girls and got them fed. It was Lauren who was my go-between and got the rest ready to move once more. A few hours later, I found a shallow cave suitable for hiding the military equipment. It could be valuable and I didn't want it destroyed by neglect. I even went so far as to clean each of the weapons. Photos were taken just for fun. I retained the food, blankets, one uniform, all the pistols and one of the rifles. There was enough loose rock nearby that I was able to seal up the cave.

The travois was loaded with rock now to take the place of the weight we had removed. A tracker could see how deep the ruts were and know something happened. In the course of a few hours, the rocks were slowly thrown out and I put the girls in so they could ride. It was becoming hard to find a path for the travois so we simply made camp again. Tomorrow we would walk or ride.

I was tired and went to sleep early. All of the girls sat together and tried to communicate. I was woken by a hand on my shoulder and I saw that it was dark. Tiffany whispered to me, "The horses are nervous and Max is growling."

I stretched once and got up on my knees. My rifle was held in my hands as I listened for intruders. Eventually I stood and moved toward the horses. I heard some quick steps and knew it was four legged. I waited another ten minutes before I said, "It was an animal. I will take my watch now. Get some sleep."

I stayed with Max and he settled down to sleep while I continued to search the darkness for a threat.

The next morning the procession started once more. The first was the girl of around ten. She watched me while she peed but before she got into the tent I whispered, "Wait!"

She stopped dead in her tracks. I pointed to the place where the plates were and drew a circle in the air followed with me shovelling food into my face. She thought for a second and got the plates and went back and got the spoons. When the food was ready, I put it in the tent. The girls were at the back but not as tightly packed as last time.

Tiffany got up not long after. The other girls had washed the plates and spoons and were cleaning up the camp. The four year-old squatted and did her business and used some leaves without regard to who was around. I saw Tiffany smile then step out of her pants and peed into the air as she stood. The littler girl seemed to be amazed at this and tried to copy but she was empty.

"You're a showoff but I love you anyway."

"I'm feeling sexy and I have no pants on. You want to show the natives how we do it?"

I felt myself rising and said, "You are a cruel woman. I want to get home today. I've got a lot saved up for you."

"We can sneak off for a while?"

Tiffany was not really teasing but she must know that we were still in a dangerous situation.

We broke camp and discarded the poles. The tents, our packs and all the equipment we had was tied to the horses. A few hours after we started, I scooped up the four year-old and placed her on the horse with the least burden. She screeched for a moment but soon she was smiling.

We were not to make it home as early as I thought. The weather had changed and was clouding up. It soon started to sprinkle and I knew it would be raining hard before long. We pitched our tent and one of the leather ones. To keep everything dry we pitched another leather tent and stored our property in it. The leather tents leaked but there was nothing I could do.

I made a meal before saddling one of the horses to do some scouting. Lauren knew what was expected of her and she looked ready to do it. I went back the way we had come and found that our tracks were being washed away but would still be recognisable by an experienced tracker. When I got far enough I found some rock and changed direction. My idea was to reconnoitre so that I would know this area.

My travels brought me past our original trail and I could still see some of our tracks in places. I got back to our camp near dusk and was greeted by not only Lauren and Tiffany but by the two older girls. Mine got a kiss and the others got a polite nod.

Lauren asked, "What did you find?"

"I went back to see if we were followed but didn't see anything. There's a route we can follow tomorrow that should be easy to get us home. We get to walk across rock much of the way."

"Good, I'm getting tired of being wet. I want my bed and I want you in it."

"Don't start that. I've been without too."

"We have been thinking of that."

"What?"

I got off the horse and Lauren lead me into the leather tent. My bullet ridden sleeping bag was on the bottom then there was Lauren's then Tiffany's. Lauren quickly took off her clothes and my lower head started to do the majority of my thinking.

Lauren tasted a lot stronger than usual but that was fine with me. She muffled her cries but I could still hear them through her thighs. She didn't get a chance to taste me because I soon moved into her. I rapidly had my orgasm but I stayed hard until Lauren had hers. We kept on until we both had one more.

Tiffany was naked and ready for her turn. She handed a cloth and a bar of soap to her sister. I started all over again and stayed to feed on Tiffany for a longer time as I recharged. Lauren came back in the tent clean but wet. Tiffany got her share and there was even a bit more for Lauren.

Somehow or other I didn't get my turn at watch but Lauren ensured me in the morning that the rules were followed.

I finally got up and found it still raining. I was fed this time. We broke camp soon after. Everybody was soaked or nearly so. With all the wet equipment, the young ones had to walk. We hurried but also let the children rest when they needed it. Our fuel was getting low but I used it anyway. I wanted everybody to have some hot food in them.

Lauren took the youngest and removed her soaking wet blanket then washed her in the rain. She did it non-threateningly enough so the child was happy. Tiffany brought out some shampoo but the child was told to keep her eyes shut. Of course she didn't. A couple buckets of rainwater was used to rinse her clean. Her hair was combed and her appearance was not that much different from the children I saw at home. Her eyes were slanted just a bit. Her skin was a light brown and all of their hair was dark brown or black. When I thought of the older girls, I could not tell the difference other than those I already mentioned.

Tiffany did the six-year-old next but by then our supplies were low. The girls got a wrung out but still wet blanket back to wear. The temperature had not risen much so I was concerned for their health.

Max, though, fit in well. The girls had been very frightened of him at first but they must have come to some sort of understanding. He had used his nose to sniff the girls crotches but after that he was a gentleman.

Though it was getting late, we pushed on until we were at the portal. An hour later we had unloaded the horses by the ladder. I went into the house first in case we had family over. It was cold here today too. There was some heavy plastic in the barn and I took the roll into the house. I cut a large section and put it in front of the portal. I helped bring the wet equipment into the room and placed the pieces on the plastic.

The newcomers were reluctant to come into this strange place and they had not really seen the house yet. The oldest came first, then the youngest. They were placed on the plastic with the blankets they still wore. Max came in second to last, then Lauren. Tiffany took Max quickly to the basement but he had to shake himself first.

I went back outside and removed the saddles from the horses and passed them up to Lauren and Tiffany. One of the ropes was used to tie the horses' bridles so they could eat and still move around.

By the time I got in, everybody was in the shower. Nine naked girls didn't leave any room in the shower so I used another one with the last of the hot water.

I started a large meal while using dirty laundry to keep the water on the plastic from damaging the hardwood flooring. Lauren and Tiffany were running around the house naked but I had to wear some clothes. Instead of inviting our guests to eat at the table, I took a large pot of food and some previously frozen bread to them.

After our meal, the two older girls and mine went to work moving everything that was wet to the basement and started doing laundry that could be done in cold water.

Our guests went from being petrified to just terrified. Doors that could be locked were locked. We stayed together as much as possible. All of us slept in the basement on our own dry blankets. The others were made of wool and we tried to keep them safe and serviceable.

The toilet was frightening but it need to be used. Lauren showed the oldest guest what she was doing and then used her to translate what she saw was being done to the others. I was happy that I had installed one in the basement even if it meant I had to pump the effluent up to the septic system.

The next morning, I made a phone call to Mom and Dad to explain about Lauren being absent from work. Another had to be to Tiffany's school. Both would be remaining home for at least a while longer.

I cleaned all the wet weapons better and oiled them again to prevent rust. The rifle and all the pistols went into my gun cabinet. I started to go over what I had done wrong but now it was from the safety of our own home. If I had to do this again the girls would be dressed better and I would have a lot better equipment. This meant that I had to make some very special telephone calls.

Max, my weapons and I went back to our other world and checked on the horses. I had some grain that the horses seemed to like. I moved the rope so they could get at new grass with no trouble.

There was about a half kilo of gold in my possession. I took this to the barn and used an acetylene torch to melt the metal to hide its origin. I skimmed off any impurities and put this aside. The liquid was poured into some depressions I made in some clay I dug from behind the barn. The internet said that this would be worth about eleven thousand dollars if it were pure. Skimmed gold was at least 95% pure from this method alone.

Lauren went shopping that afternoon and came back with some clothes for the girls. Lauren and Tiffany had to do a lot of work for them to look civilised. Later in the afternoon, the two youngest were taken out to get some better clothes. There was a big fight about this and a lot of crying. Around six that night, the four came back with a lot of chicken and potato wedges. The two youngest were not nearly as frightened any more.

The next day the other four went out and came back with lunch and some nice clothes. I had checked the horses again and found nothing amiss. That afternoon we all went shopping. Lauren drove her car and I drove mine. We went to small shops first so the newcomers would not gawk as much.

I noticed that the girls went from speechless to the other extreme. Eventually it even looked like Lauren and Tiffany could understand what was being said. Next we visited the grocery store but here our guests stuck out. We met people we knew and we had to say that they were visitors from near China that didn't understand our ways or our affluent society. It seemed to work.

That night, I went on the net to find the weapons I would need if I went back. I also tried to make plans for this other world. It was a shame the portal to the other world was so near the shore. I would like to move it further inland and build a strong home around it. This meant stone for aesthetics but I wanted steel and concrete to take care of an enemy employing cannon. Cannon had to exist if the smaller calibre weapons did. To pay for all this I would try to see if I could get gold cheaper in that land. Maybe I could arrange some trading for things that were cheap here.

We all graduated to inflatable mattresses that night. When it got late I went down on Tiffany as Lauren tried to keep her sister quiet by putting her cunt over her mouth. After a while it seemed that we didn't need to hide anymore because all of the girls were awake. I just ignored my guests and did what I could to make my ladies happy.

There was a lot of interested spectators that had somehow lost all of their fears. This time I threw Tiffany to the wolves so to speak and the two older women put their fingers into Tiffany and sampled the wares. They seemed to like this and went for more.

While Tiffany was being consumed, I filled Lauren, then surrendered her to some hungry mouths as I recovered Tiffany and made both of us happy again.

When Lauren was being eaten I noticed that all of the girls wanted in on the feast. The two oldest almost had a fight to see who would get in there but eventually decided to share. Lauren was in no condition to argue. The odd thing was that the girls were not acting sexually to each other like I imagined they would.

When my girls were more than sated, they turned toward me and pulled close as if denying their charms to the two women. I was actually too tired to think about it by this time.

The next morning, I woke up with a bad headache. I took a few aspirin while I waited for the coffee to brew. The newcomers liked hot cereal for breakfast and I cooked a large pot for them. When I heard the toilet flush, I knew that somebody else was awake. A few moments later Caiti came out. She was the youngest. We were not able to get many words across but names were easy.

Instead of running back to the room, she acted strange but still came into the kitchen and tried to get on a chair. She still had no clothes on but then again, neither did I. She had difficulty climbing on top of the chair until I picked her up and put her in place. She froze at my touch but when I retreated to the stove, she started to relax a bit more.

I scooped out a bowl of cereal for both of us. I added some raisins and a few pieces of walnuts to mine. She was not used to sugar or milk and I wanted to keep her away from refined sugar if possible. I put one raisin and a nut together and one of each separated and put the plate in front of the child. She could not reach the table well so I got a phone book, thought better of it, got two and came back to the table.

Caiti was only a little apprehensive as I came near. I used hands to indicate that she stand up. I pulled out the chair a bit to help. When she stood I put the books down then put a placemat on top of that. Sitting was not much of a problem and the child came closer to where she could comfortably eat.

She didn't trust the new food, but in a while curiosity got her and all the samples disappeared.

I held up a raisin and said, "This is a raisin. Say raisin." I repeated the word six more times before she gave me a reply.

Walnut was learned quickly. I only gave her a few which she sprinkled on her cereal until she had to say the word again to get more. Three of her sisters came in at this time. Caiti was eager to tell them the words she had learned. I ladled out more cereal and Caiti used her words and got her reward. The others held out longer until they saw that their sister really liked what she was getting.

The girls ate their breakfast quickly and even indicated that they wanted more cereal. I took the pot and went around the table and served them. As soon as I was between the first two girls they turned to me and sniffed the air. When I was ladling out the food I was sure they were not only looking but trying hard to get their fill of my scent. The same thing happened when I ladled out more food between the next two.

When I came back to the table, I sprinkled fruit and nuts on all of their plates but now they just looked at me as if they were drugged. This reminded me of the odd behaviour of the oldest two last night. Both groups were different but both were odd. As far as I could see it was with the scent of me or of what I shot into my girls.

I left the girls after getting another cup of coffee. They may recover quicker if I were not around.

The last five were up and they came hurrying down from the shower. The woman that I guessed was around 20 was called Jonna. She was sort of pushy. When you consider that she was living on our sufferance, she would be a terror once she felt herself secure.

The one I considered 18 was called Kuenta. She was a nicer person but she was under Jonna's thumb.

Fislu was the twelve-year-old. Yesterday she was afraid of me but today she seemed to be seeing me as a man. Her gaze missed nothing as she looked at me. Then again, I liked girls young and Fislu didn't seem to be below that limit.

"Hello, ladies. What are your plans today, Lauren?"

Her reply was, "We were actually thinking of taking you back to bed."

"We?"

"Jonna likes to watch."

"What about Kuenta?"

"She and Fislu can watch. For some reason I figure that Fislu is years past due to be married. She needs to learn about men."

I liked the idea of showing Fislu all I knew about married life but something was nagging me. "How do you know all this?"

Lauren paused for a moment then said, "I really don't know. It's just a feeling I have. I seem to mesh with Jonna somehow."

When Lauren was my slave, she acted too meek and I worried about her. She seemed to be acting the same way now but I was sure that she was not a slave again. There was too much to do this morning. There was a friend I wanted to meet concerning some serious weapons. There was also a design to make a building. This would protect the gate to the ninth world.

"I would like to help but I don't want to be caught unprepared again. I have an appointment in an hour and that will take some time."

Lauren said piteously, "We need you."

"I need you too but it will have to be tonight. Sometime today I need to talk to a civil engineer."

I could have stayed a while because the meeting was not that precise but Lauren's actions irked me.

Willie Sheffield lived in Toronto. He lived on the fringes of the mob. He had gone to university with me and bragged about what he could do if the urge hit him.

I used my cell before I left to make the arrangements, and talked to him again as I got near the restaurant he wanted to meet me at. When I got there, he had not arrived yet. I had a coffee and waited. Even though I had talked to him just ten minutes before arriving, he was still very late.

He came over as if he were my best friend and took a seat. "Hi, Hugh. What can I do for you?"

"Let's walk and I'll tell you, Willie."

"Sure, if that's the way you want it."

A block from the restaurant I said, "I have a friend in South America that wants some full automatic AK-47's, ammunition, spare barrels and some spare mags. There are a lot of places that sell that sort of thing. Lots of countries make this gun or variants of it. What can you do for me?"

"Some of those guns are shit."

AK-47's were not illegal at all. When they were converted to full auto then it was a different matter. "Not all. Some have been retooled and are pretty good. I just need a good assault rifle."

"How many do you want?"

"I have seen them on the net for around four hundred dollars each. The rounds I hear are around twenty cents each."

"If you know all this then why are you coming to me?"

"I can't buy the guns in auto and I want a lot of them. I figure I can get a dozen rifles and six thousand rounds for six thousand dollars."

"So you just want me to buy them for you?"

"You have to negotiate because of the number and I want my name kept out of it."

Willie stopped to think and then said, "I can try, that's all I can say. You know that this sort of thing has to be in cash."

"OK, just a minute."

We walked into a small meat store and handed a paper bag to the butcher and asked, "Would you weigh this for me, please."