John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 46

We didn't tarry during our trip home. We left the invader's camp at a fast trot, half of those mounted on horseback went ahead and half of us stayed behind the wagon. It was probably two hours before sunset when we got back. All the new women would be living on my side of the canyon but arriving with the wagon pointed out a fuck up that I had allowed to happen. The covered entrance that Daaggo had erected made it impossible to back the wagon in.

"I am sorry John, I should have made some way to open all the cave's entrances large enough to accommodate the wagons." Daaggo said.

"You have nothing to apologize for Daaggo. I am the leader and knew full well that we would need to allow for this. It is my fault but it is nothing to worry about. There are plenty to help unload the wagon and we can correct this oversight at our leisure next year. It is far more important to have a good covering during the winter than it is to back the wagons in now." I told him.

"Still I should have remembered." Daaggo persisted.

"And I should have remembered doubly. No matter how much you blame yourself you are blaming me more so I hope that you can just forget it for now."

"What should I forget?" Daaggo said then and I realized he was trying to make a joke.

"I can't remember either." I said and we both laughed.

Everyone fell to unloading the wagon and we were through with it in less than half an hour. The new women were jolted by the culture shock and my mates and the others reassured them and began explaining. I asked then if they could begin the tour with a demonstration in the kitchen and my mates laughed at me and said that the kitchen would be in use right away.

Hell I didn't care if they laughed at me as long as they started cooking. I wasn't really hungry but since I had been placed in this time it seemed that I was ready to eat whenever there was food around. Argent probably had a hand in it and I didn't care, I had noticed that no matter how much I ate I suffered no weight gain. What could be better than being able to eat all that you wanted and not having to worry about becoming a lard ass. Come to think of it there was something better than that and I was reminded of it as my short-skirted mates began bustling around in the kitchen.

I slipped unnoticed into my office to wait for food and to check on the camp we had just left. When I sat in my chair and clicked for the video menu I was able to find the views around the other camp in only minutes.

Apparently the dead men we'd returned had been buried already and there was now some kind of meeting taking place. Jato had the floor and he was standing and addressing a group of about thirty men. I couldn't hear what he was saying of course and I dearly wished that I could.

Suddenly a spear streaked from behind one of the nearby huts and into Jato's back. It didn't knock him down but I thought that it was probably a mortal wound. He turned around to see where the attack had come from of course and when he did another spear struck him in the chest, and a few seconds another hit him.

There was no doubt that these would be fatal and the one in his chest had probably pierced his heart. He fell to the ground less than a minute later and his killer walked into view. He was apparently a little smarter than Jato because he had a man slightly behind him covering his back.

I didn't know the killer but I had seen him before. I did know the one covering his back, he had been with the men we captured coming up the river and was one of those that had tried to keep a hidden knife when we had told them to put down all their weapons.

The killer began addressing the seated men then and he was not challenged by any of them. Of course they were all seated, he was standing with another spear ready in his spearcaster and the one watching his back was armed too.

"God damn I wish I could hear what he is saying." I said aloud in my frustration.

Less than twenty seconds later a text message popped up onscreen telling me to right click for other options. I did it at once and one of the selections was for audio. I clicked it and could hear perfectly.

"We are not going to let this John tell us what we can and can't do. He is just a man and can be killed like any other man. He has killed many of us and has caused more to be killed and he must be dealt with." Killer said.

"He did not trouble us until we tried to capture the woman from Barbo's camp." A sitting man that I didn't recognize said.

"What does that matter? Why can he keep us from taking over other camps? We have the weapons to do it and the men and we will do it." Killer said.

"It seems that John and his camp have some weapons of their own." Another man said.

"We will have to be more careful from now on." Killer said.

"We have been careful before, sending men to slip up on him at night, and he was able to stop them." First sitting man said.

"That was Cardiato's fault, he sent men who did not want to go. I will lead a group tomorrow night and we will not be found out. Five men have agreed to go with me and I know that I will not be betrayed by any of them. We will leave an hour after sunset and will be in place to kill this John as he comes out of his cave in the morning." Killer said.

They talked and argued about it for who knows how long but I had the main details now and I left my office for food. I was smiling to myself about what I intended to do this time. The most difficult decision for me was going to be whom I chose to kill the killer. I was sure that he had at least two mates now since he had killed Jato. What the hell, I would try to get a look at his mates to see how attractive they were. If they looked good enough I might kill him myself, I had surely passed up a prime mate when I let Danlo take care of Cardiato.

Our meal was nearly ready when I left my office and headed for the table. I didn't reveal what I knew until we were finished eating. As Jaada brought me another mug of coffee and a couple of very tender kisses I decided that it was time.

"Jato has been killed already and there is another raid planned by the other camp for tomorrow night."

They all just looked at me silently. I didn't intend to tell them how I knew and I doubted that they would question me about it.

"The one that seems to be the new leader has five others that will accompany him and he seems to think that we won't know about them and that they can sneak up on us and kill me when I leave my cave the next morning. Many of us will be waiting for them as they leave their camp and I intend for us to kill them all without warning and without alerting the others. That means that some of you will need to practice with the bows and arrows between now and then."

"Do you mean that we will wait in hiding and kill them as they come toward us?" Raalto asked.

"That is what I want to do."

"Good, it is time that we quit giving them more chances to bother us. I'm sure we are safe enough with the weapons that you have given us but I don't see any need to let them keep trying." He said.

"I have come to the same conclusion and I meant what I said about killing half the men in the camp. I only intend to kill those that we don't feel we can trust though and it may not be half. When we leave that camp next time we will be bringing all the living people to join us. There will only be dead bodies left in the camp." I said.

"That is an even better plan. Even if a few who are treacherous are brought here it will be easier to deal with them if we don't have to go looking for them." Racaato said.

I spent the next hour outlining my plan to them and then we all went to the practice cave to give the bows and arrows a workout. Raalto reminded me that a spear would be as stealthy as the bows and arrows and that most all of them were more familiar with spears.

I asked them to keep practicing with the bows and arrows and said that any that weren't comfortable with them tomorrow could use spears if need be. We only needed to be quiet while killing the six who were intent on attacking and we wouldn't need to use spears or arrows after that.

I spent an hour satisfying myself that I would be able to do my part and then left to go to my office, asking Georgo to come with me.

After we'd entered and sat down to talk I sensed that Georgo was unnaturally reserved tonight. Thinking about it I figured that he was probably suspicious of how I had gained the information I'd claimed to have. I decided to show Georgo the video and audio from the other camp. If he wasn't overwhelmed he could be a big help by telling me who was who in the camp.

"Georgo I have a new and more powerful gift from the spirits. I can hardly believe how powerful it is myself but I can't deny that it is here and I want to show it to you. I have to tell you that it puts us in a position of grave responsibility. The spirits would not have given the gift if they hadn't intended for me to use it. Those are my thoughts on it anyway. After you have seen it I would like to hear what you think."

"I am always aware that gifts from the spirits bring responsibilities with them." Georgo said.

Without further adieu I clicked on the video icon and the view was the one I'd left it on. I assumed that my click had only confirmed that I wanted to include Georgo for this session. The meeting must have been over but that didn't detract from Georgo's amazement.

"Do you remember the day when you viewed this before and it made your stomach queasy?"

"I will never forget?" He said.

"The spirits have allowed me to see many more areas now; earlier I observed a meeting at this spot, it was a meeting in the other camp. Jato was killed from behind while he was speaking and the one that killed him is the one that is planning to sneak up on us to kill me."

"But where are they now?" Georgo asked.

"I'll see if I can find them." I said.

I went back to the thumbs for this area and looked around at them, finding a different view that seemed to have people gathered. I clicked on the thumb and it came up on the plasma display, showing us that it was a smaller gathering than I had seen before. The killer and his cover guy were talking to four other men and I assumed that this was the raiding party for tomorrow night. I brought up the audio.

"It is agreed then that we will leave shortly after sunset. We will carry nothing but our weapons and a little food. After their show here today they will be expecting us to do as they have instructed. We will go up the river since there will be more cover that way." Killer told the others and after they all indicated that they would do it the group dispersed.

Georgo was shocked by the view we had and apparently also by the fact that we could hear them. It took a few minutes before he recovered.

"The spirits have indeed given you a powerful gift and I am ashamed to admit that I doubted you." He said.

I knew that this was beyond his comprehension but he had to yank it into focus somehow if he was going to be useful to me.

"The spirits are all powerful Georgo. They may do as they like but we can only do as they would have us do. We must use this gift they have given us to our advantage. Did you recognize any of the men they revealed to us?"

"All of them, the one that was speaking is Bazallto and he has always been argumentative, the one you said was covering his back was one of those that you had staked to the ground from the group that came up the river. His name is Cargato and he is no better and maybe a bigger troublemaker than Bazallto. Dentolto, Kagatato, Saloto and Serielto are young unmated men who have no doubt been persuaded that this aggressive style of treatment of other camps is the way to capture possessions and mates." Georgo said.

"Then they will discover the error of their ways tomorrow but they won't get any time to mend their behavior."

I went over my plans in detail with Georgo then, giving him all the gory specifics. He blanched at the brutal show that I intended to put on.

"It would frighten me if I came to see it in this manner and I am sure that it will make an impression on the whole camp. I can't think of a more frightening demonstration to make your feelings known and if you are able to proceed as you plan I'm sure that the whole camp will know that you intend to have your way." He said.

We left my office then and while Georgo headed back to the practice cave, intending to become more proficient with his bow, I headed across the canyon to find Mundo and the other men that had joined us from that camp. They were all very familiar with their spearcasters, excellent quiet weapons that could be used in this case. After speaking with them and telling them some of my thoughts they agreed that it would be the best way to end our troubles with their former camp.

When the practicing was over for the night my mates and I went to our bedroom. None of us were sleepy but when we were in bed all my mates dropped right off to sleep and I did also a few minutes later. Argent was getting good at making sure that I got my rest.

We all woke at nearly the same time the next morning and it was shortly before sunrise. There was no naked coffee service this morning either because the others had begun arriving before the coffee was even ready. After we'd eaten we all returned to the practice cave and I asked Georgo to bring Mundo and the rest of the men from the other camp to join us in it.

When they arrived, Mundo and his group were amazed to see so many people using weapons that were foreign to them. I showed them how to operate the target trolleys and encouraged them to try them out. After a couple of hours I thought that we had practiced enough and I sent everyone to pack the things that they would need for our outing.

About an hour after the noon meal we went to the horse caves to hitch the teams and saddle the horses. I was expecting a few items for tomorrow morning from Argent and I had no trouble finding where he had put them. We hitched both wagons and Georgo's buckboard, storing the bows and arrows for those that would be using them, in it. Everyone that used firearms would be bringing them also.

After we were organized and everything was ready we left, heading downriver to arrange our ambush. We traveled until we were about a mile from the other camp, leaving the wagons and horses and most of our people there. Raalto, Racaato, Caato, Danlo, Dieta, Roweea, Ameliea, Jalaato, Jonoco, Galto and Dargo went ahead with me to set up our ambush.

We found a place where the canyon was narrowed by small patches of woods on each side and set up to wait. Galto and Dargo were to take out Bazallto and Cargato. They were elected since they now had no objections to another mate or two each. Galto, who knew Cargato's mate, had decided that he would rather have her and so Dargo would be getting Bazallto's mate and Jato's mate since Bazallto had killed Jato.

Though we waited and grew anxious during the imposed hiding, when the time came it was almost anticlimactic. The men who were to be raiders were rather sloppy with their techniques. They came strolling up the trail, on a brightly moonlit night, seeming to pay no attention to where they were going and talking among themselves as if they hadn't a care in the world.

When Bazallto and Cargato crossed the spot we had decided on, Galto and Dargo released their arrows and though their aim wasn't the best, the arrow through Bazallto's throat and the one in Cargato's upper abdomen were fatal. The other four were lucky enough to get two arrows each and the whole group was down and dead within seconds.

Dieta, Ameliea and Roweea dropped their bows, pulled their Glocks just for safety's sake and rushed to the corpses. It only took them seconds to see that they wouldn't need their pistols. They pulled their knives then and began the first of the gory work to be done, seeming to enjoy their task.

As I'd planned, while Jonoco went back to bring the others to us, Dieta, Roweea and Ameliea cut the clothes off the dead men and then relieved them all of their ears, balls and dicks. Then they carved tiny sticks to place in their eyelids to make sure that all of them stayed open.

When they were through we loaded the bodies and ourselves into the wagons and those of us that were riding remounted and we pulled up to within three hundred yards of the camp. It seemed to be asleep for the night when I crept up to look it over so I returned to my group and we spread our sleeping furs to rest.

I woke about three hours before sunrise and roused my people. We walked toward the northern edge of the camp where there were two medium sized trees growing about thirty feet apart. Danlo went up one with a line and tied it fast about twenty feet up. He came down and went up the other tree with a stout loop of rope that had a pulley attached to it. He tied the loop around the tree and fed the other rope through the pulley, throwing its end to us on the ground.

We brought the dead bodies up and spaced them out on the rope, tying a loop around their necks and the end of it to the rope between the trees. When this was done we brought up one of the Clydesdales and attached the end of the cross rope to its harness. It didn't even strain as it pulled the rope tight and suspended the mutilated dead bodies by pulling the cross rope taunt. Danlo used a long thong of rawhide to secure the tension of the rope through the pulley and then came down. We unhitched the horse and took it back to the others. Then we waited for sunrise.

As the sun started peeking up over the horizon I signaled all my people to insert the foam earplugs I'd given them. We had practiced this move also. I walked near a big open spot just inside the edge of the camp and pulled a half stick of dynamite, already fused, from my pocket. I lit the fuse and threw the dynamite into the open spot, hoping I was far enough back to avoid damage.

When it went off it seemed even louder than the thunder from the lightning that killed Ladeliea's first mate. I immediately lit and threw the whole stick then and as it hit the ground I had sense enough to back off about a hundred feet. Many of those in the camp that had heard the first blast were coming out of their huts now to see what was happening. Luckily none of them had time to come toward the spot where I'd thrown the last stick.

The noise was noticeably louder this time and most of those that were outside were knocked down by the blast, probably more from fear than anything else.

Of course our horses were spooked but no one had lost their seat. Dieta rode up to me leading a wide-eyed Red and I mounted him with only a little trouble. We entered the camp then, many of us mounted and many more in the wagons.

As the others came out of their huts we herded them all into the center of camp. We directed their movement by hand signals since I was sure that none of them could hear again yet.

When we were sure that everyone was outside we moved them to the trees to see what had become of their raiding party. To say that it made an impression would be quite an understatement. Most of the women turned away from the sight and when they tried to leave we let them. We made the men stay and get a good look though.

I made them stay there for about an hour before we herded them back into camp. I stayed on Red as some of the others had the women of camp join the men. When they were all assembled I spoke to them from Red's back.

"It seems that none here pay any attention to what I say. I was here just two days ago telling you that if you tried to sneak up on my camp again I would come back and kill half the men here. I see that none of you believed me, or perhaps you didn't think we could do it. Which of you now doesn't believe I can do it?" For once I got no lip from anyone.

"This camp is no more, all the women and all the men I let live will be joining my camp. The women may leave now to begin packing their things. You men will each be questioned; if you lie I will know it and you will be killed before you can finish lying. If you tell the truth you will probably be allowed to live, no matter what the truth is." I said.

I didn't really know whether I'd be able to tell who was lying and who wasn't. I was going to see if I thought I could though. I spotted the site of the meeting I had watched with Argent's help and I went to it, telling them that the spot where they planned the last raid was a good place to question them. I saw that revealing this tidbit shocked many of them.

I had Jonoco and Nadlo stand beside me with their rifles and I told them quietly to be ready to earn another mate.

Raalto began sending men from the camp to me, one at a time then. I sat down on a convenient large rock and cursed myself for poor planning since I hadn't brought a chair from home.

It was mostly my mates with their.25 rifles guarding the group of men. I guess one of the men thought that it would be easy to bully his way out past Ameliea. She didn't waste any time showing us all that the.25 packed plenty of punch to deal with a cave man. I realized that I had never asked Georgo who would have to take the widow if a man's mate killed a man. I was sure that I was going to find out later today.

Ameliea's quick action pressed home the point to the captives that they were going to do what we said or die. In fact she made mention of it herself as she kicked the dead one in the face while his body lay there bleeding.

When Dieta came over to take her place for a minute, Ameliea took out her knife and performed the mutilating surgery on the man she had just dispatched.

The remaining captives were completely silent while they watched this process and there was no more trouble from them; they waited very patiently and quietly for their chance to speak to me.

My worries about detecting lies were put to rest by Argent, who must have been watching closely. I was asking probably the third or fourth one some questions about what he had thought of the raids that his leaders had organized against my camp. He was happy to announce that he had been shocked at the behavior and that it was repugnant to him. Argent tingled my neck and confirmed what I'd been thinking. I interrupted him then.

"How many mates do you have Chondoulo?" I asked.

"I have only one mate. Why do you ask?" He asked.

"Raalto, this one is lying and has one mate. Who is next in line for another mate?" I shouted.

"I believe it is Nadlo." Raalto answered, yelling also.

I turned in time to see Nadlo lowering his M1's barrel and then he smiled slightly as he cashed in Chondoulo's chips.

"Dieta, do you need another penis or ball sack or perhaps another pair of ears?" I asked her loudly.

"Always. Dalia and I think that we can make very nice amulets out of the sacs." She replied.

Bigglieo came toward me laughing a little, grabbed one of Chondoulo's dead arms and dragged him back near the bunched captives. Dieta left her post and seemed to take pleasure in making exaggerated movements cutting the corpse's ears, dick and nut bag off him; giving a wicked little chuckle every minute or so.

Only one more tried to lie to me during our talks, he was quick to furnish another mate for Jonoco and Roweea got a turn at gathering body parts. The other men all told me the truth, at least they did according to Argent and I felt that he was in a position to know.

Twelve of the men told me up front that they had been anxious for the capturing of other camps at first but had lost confidence in the procedure as men started to die trying it. Only eight of those left alive had been wholly in favor of it up to the time that Jato was killed and only three admitted that they only changed their thinking after they saw what had become of Bazallto, Cargato and those that accompanied them.

After the interviews were over there were forty-two men still alive and every swinging dick among them promised me that they were anxious to join my camp and would be on their best behavior from now on. I gathered them back into a group and told them that beating on women made me much madder than sneaking up on my camp. I explained that if they had ever done it before they had better make sure that they never even thought about doing it again. Surprisingly this didn't seem to make any of them nervous at all. I hoped it was because none of them ever did such things but I reserved judgment.

It was just after noon and I was glad to see that the camps women had taken time off from their packing to cook. Mundo and his group came up then, leading the rest of the trained horses that we were going to use for travois work. It was actually Sahto and Talvo that were leading the way.

When they'd secured the horses they came over to eat too. I'm sure that they were as hungry as any of us since they'd had to start this way just after sunrise this morning.

After the meal was finished we packed up all that we could get loaded and it was nearly everything. Another trip would be needed tomorrow but all that had to be left this time could easily be brought in the two big wagons tomorrow.

It was nearly sunset when we left but I didn't think that we would have any trouble traveling after dark since the moon was bright again already.

Of course I had forgotten again that we couldn't drive the wagons into the caves any longer and we also didn't have enough room to pull the travois inside. We had to put everything in the horse cave and we were lucky to have room for it in there, what with all the hay and the giant mound of dried bison shit. We were able to get it all stowed for the night though.

Some of the men among our new arrivals wanted to stay with their things and watch over them. Hell I didn't care. I didn't see that there was any danger to us so I gave them a go ahead. I did ask Merita and Maia to make a point of setting the wolves out for their own patrolling though.

It was late and though I was hungry I told my mates that I could skip supper if they could. Hell we were tired more than we were hungry and we hit the sack. I made sure to give them all a good kissing before I went to sleep but that was the extent of it.

It was after sunrise before I opened my eyes the next morning. Jaada and Ameliea were keeping me warm so I gave them another good kissing and we got up and dressed. There were all ready some coffee drinkers at the table by the time I got there and I was debating about asking Argent to keep them sleeping later so I could enjoy my new morning perversion. I wasn't going to ask him for help on it yet though.

I drank coffee until the food came and then I made up for the meal I'd missed last night. After eating Raalto, Racaato and I took mugs of coffee outside to make a tour of the camp. We headed for the horse cave first and found those that had spent the night watching their things cowering together and surrounded by wolves who weren't really bothering them all that much. I called the wolves off and the men were more than happy to find their places in the big cave.

Soon Danlo came down with Nadlo and Jonoco and hitched the big wagon and my original one and took them up toward the big cave for unloading. It went well and they were empty and headed back to the other camp within an hour. Many of the new men and women rode back to do the packing.

The new still hadn't worn off the video streams for me yet and so I made my way back to my office and spent some more time with them. I kept up with Danlo and his group for a few minutes but got tired of that after a while. Hell I knew what a wagon being pulled by a team looked like by now.

We hadn't left anyone to watch over the camp that had been vacated so I checked it out and there was no one there. I worked my way over to Barbo's old camp and it was vacant also. I was surprised when I found Caato's camp and saw that there were five or six families living there. I would have to ask Georgo to come and see if he recognized any of them.

Argent popped up a message then and I replied.

"I have to congratulate you for yesterday's excitement John." He said.

I tried to act like it was nothing but his comment had started me thinking. Usually after some altercation Argent told me how pleased they were with my progress. I wondered if somehow he'd sent me here to watch me kill people but told myself that couldn't be right. It did have me wondering though.

"We would like to ask you something about your plans if you don't mind." Argent said.

"I don't mind, I might not tell you but I probably will."

"We were hoping that you would visit the other people in this area, the Neanderthals. Do you have any plans for contacting them?" Argent asked.

"As a matter of fact I do. It seems that other things keep getting in the way. I had intended to visit them before the first snow that you told Georgo about but this crap with the spies has put it on the back burner."

"Surely there will be no more trouble now." He said.

"There probably won't be and even if there is I'm sure that Raalto, Bigglieo, Racaato and the others can handle it. I doubt the trip will take over three or four days."

"Aren't you planning to go to the nearest camp? It is less than fifteen miles and you might be able to make it there and back in one day on horseback." Argent said.

"I might get someone to take me there in the buckboard and let me out near it but I don't plan to ride there on Red. I want to spend at least a couple of nights with them if they will allow it and I'd planned to spend a few hours watching them from concealment before that. If I read the map right they are living in a large cave in the side of a canyon like we do. I thought that I could probably observe them like the spies intended to do to us."

"I see. You are probably right, that might be the best way to approach it." He agreed.

"I am reluctant to go for at least a few days though. I'm afraid that some of the new arrivals might try to cause trouble if I left right away."

"You should do as you think best of course. You have a much better feel for things than we do and we were only curious about it." He said.

"I will be visiting them before long but I won't leave for a day or two." I told him and he said goodbye and signed off.