John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 60

"What are you staying out of the way of?"

"The moving, that's what. I tried helping at first but I was only a hindrance and when I finally realized it I came to the table for coffee. I will sit here and drink it all day long if I have to." Georgo said.

"Isn't most of the moving done by now?"

"All of the widows and unmated women have finished but there are still many things that need to come from the other side of the river. I am certain that they will get here faster without my help." He said.

"I hope that they can come without my help either. I don't mind saying that I am lazy, I will help if I'm needed but I will sit here and drink coffee with you unless they ask me to do something."

"An excellent plan and it shows that you are a good leader. If you did try to help, since you are the leader, they would ask for your approval about everything. You would slow them down even more than I would." He agreed.

"All is right with the world then. We will sit and drink coffee and act as if we were planning something important. I might call a few more of the leaders in to help us in a little while. They are probably holding things back also."

"That is an excellent idea, do you mind if I go for them now?" He asked.

"I don't mind at all, bring them back here for coffee and a meeting."

He left me then and while he was gone I tried to think of a good excuse for a meeting. I couldn't but I wasn't worried since I felt that anytime I could eliminate micro-management I was doing well. There was no need for my main helpers to make decisions about the day-to-day personal lives of all the others.

They came in a few at a time and Georgo had been forced to send a warmly dressed man to the other side of the canyon to find Racaato. I only made small talk with the others until everyone was seated and had a mug of coffee. Daaggo wasn't present but I let that go since he was still working around the entrances. I decided not to do anything to bring this meeting to order until one of them asked about it. Caato finally did.

"What type of meeting are we going to have John, Georgo told us you wanted to have a meeting?" He asked.

"We are going to have a do nothing meeting, we will just sit here and talk while the others are taking care of their chores."

"But they will be wanting to ask us questions about things, they have asked me dozens already today." Colonto said.

"Think about what they were asking you Colonto and see if you feel they would have come looking for you to ask if you hadn't been there." I said, making sure that they all heard.

They were all quiet for a few minutes and so I continued.

"They are moving their own things and arranging their living spaces and they shouldn't need much guidance. They are only bothering you about it because you were there. If they have something that they really need help with I'm sure that they can find you easily enough. We can sit here and drink coffee until it is time for lunch and then we can eat. After lunch we can have more coffee if we want to."

"I think I understand what you are saying now. We were probably causing a delay instead of helping even though we didn't realize it." Colonto said.

"I think you are right and I also think that they didn't realize it either. Since you were close by they kept asking to make sure that they were doing things the right way. With us all in here they will make up their own minds and if it doesn't suit them they can do it a different way later and no harm will come of it. Meanwhile we can sit here and we might think of something that could actually help us all and if we don't no harm will come of that either."

That was all the talking for a while and we did just sit there and drink coffee. Daaggo came in after a while saying that he had done what he could about the entrances for now. He sat down with a mug of coffee and finally asked what the meeting was about himself. I let Raalto and the others explain but Daaggo was quick to catch on with this concept as he was with almost everything.

Lunchtime came soon and I was happy that I was already in place to participate. Geera, Dieta, Delia and Waaya had done most of the cooking today and they had made plenty. I was happy again when Deimeta entered from Danlo's quarters and came right over to sit in my lap while she ate. She had turned into a real little sweetheart and I enjoyed having her around immensely. I was anticipating the look of surprise she'd have when Mundo finished his project.

After the meal Deimeta went back to her playing and all my mates except Kota, who stayed to tend the coffee pot, disappeared back to the task they had been busying themselves with. Probably they were giving more cooking lessons. Georgo, all my leaders and I stayed at the table. We got a surprise about an hour after the meal when the man Danlo and I had rescued was led to the table by Eileiea. She showed him to a seat near me and then she and Kota fixed him a plate.

"I am John, I am the leader of this camp." I said after he was seated.

"I am Burtalgo, from Dunto's camp, which you recently visited. He sent me here with a message for you and I'm sure that you know what happened to me. Eileiea told me that you and one of your men rescued me and I thank you for it." He said and I was glad that he didn't ask how I knew that he was in trouble.

"We were glad that we could help. What message did Dunto send?"

"Dunto sent several men out hunting the day after your visit and though they killed three bison it was not a good hunt. Two of them, Targoto and Budingo were killed when some of the bison ran over them. There are now two widows with children at our camp and Dunto sent me to see if you would like to trade for them?" He told us.

"Yes, we would like to trade for them and we will go there in a wagon to get them as soon as the snow has melted. Did Dunto tell you what he wanted in trade?" I asked.

"No he did not but I'm sure that if you have more salt he would trade for that." Burtalgo said.

"I think that I have some more salt and we will take some with us when we go."

"Good. I have done my duty then but it was only with your help. When the snow started and I put up my tent I wondered if I was going to add to the number of widows instead of tell you about them." He said.

He seemed to be through with the message and I stayed quiet to let him eat. I was sure that he must be very hungry now. Even though he hadn't eaten in a day or so he took his time. He was able to handle another serving though when Kota asked him about it.

This meant another trip out into the cold for me and it was probably going to be pretty cold during the mammoth hunt, not to mention the rest of the winter. I excused myself and headed to my office while asking my leaders to carry on with the meeting in my absence unless they had other things they needed to take care of.

I sat down and messaged the spirits, as Georgo thought of Argent and company. Argent was the one that replied and he took a few lines to tell me that he had been impressed with my rescue of the stranded Neanderthal. This was a surprise since he had never mentioned exactly what he had been pleased about before. I shook it off though because I had other things on my mind.

"Argent, I have noticed that I didn't do such a good job of requesting cold weather clothing with my first order. I'm wondering if there are other materials that would have served me better."

"My engineers have mentioned that to me before and they have some ideas along those lines. They would not have helped you in the first order though because the material they are considering uses a little technology that wasn't available on earth. The technology isn't very complicated but it was beyond what was available. We have already received permission to let you have the use of it though." He said.

"Very good, can I ask your engineers to use their own knowledge to design cold weather gear for all of us then?"

"They would be happy to do it for you. I will have them start on it at once. Will you be needing multiple sets of it for each member of your camp?" He asked.

"I don't think so. We won't be doing much out of doors during the winter but I would like for everyone to have at least one set to use in case we have another emergency like the one we just dealt with.

"I see, won't you also need it on the upcoming mammoth hunt that I have heard you mention?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm sure we will. Perhaps you should send two sets for those who will be going on the hunt. Have you also found out how many want to go along? I'm sure that those who know of it have been talking about it."

"Everyone in your camp knows about it by now; at least they have all heard a rumor and I can tell you that almost all of them want to go. All of the men would like to go; some more than others of course and most of the women want to go." Argent said.

"I should have known that. Everyone can not go along, we can't leave the camp unguarded while all of us go mammoth hunting."

"Actually you could. We can make the camp invisible to any who come upon it while you are away." He said.

"That may be true but it would be strange to all my members to just leave the camp empty. It would require explanations of things that would be to complicated for them to understand and if we have Georgo tell them to trust the spirits we will be setting a precedent that I don't want."

"I understand." He said.

"It would also cause us to travel much too slowly. Even though we have the two wagons and the buckboard, not everyone can ride in them at once. We will probably be very cramped for space on the way back anyway. If the hunt is successful we will have much more to bring back than we leave with."

"I see and I should have realized that. Perhaps we should send you more wagons." He said.

Before I replied I thought that over. I didn't see any harm in getting another wagon or two out of the process and in fact if I did this correctly we might gain even more.

"We could take more people if we had more wagons but we don't have enough of the Clydesdales to pull more than one more wagon. We could cut the teams down to only two horses per wagon for the traveling to the hunt. That would let us take six wagons but then we would not be able to load them heavily enough for the trip back since even the bigger horses would be strained from so much weight."

"Then maybe we should send more horses also. Are four per wagon enough?" He asked.

"Four per wagon work fine but that would mean twelve more of the Clydesdales."

"I'm sorry John but it seems to me that it would mean sixteen more. With six of the big wagons and your original wagon you would need twenty-eight of the Clydesdales to have a full team for each wagon. Am I missing something?" He asked.

Once again Argent was adding gifts to gifts. I had assumed that I might be able to get three more of the big wagons and have a total of six, including Georgo's buckboard. Argent had jumped on six for the count of big wagons and apparently didn't intend to include the original wagon or the buckboards in that count but he had included the original wagon in his count for teams.

"You're correct Argent, it was I who forgot the original wagon." I agreed, letting my mistake gain me four more Clydesdales.

"I'm sure that you will be able to use the bigger horses when the sawmill gets going also, won't you?" He asked.

"We can probably find many uses for them and for the extra wagons but will there be room for all the new wagons and horses in the horse cave and will we run short of hay now?"

"These details are less than minor concerns for us John, we will make sure that everything is taken care of." He assured me.

"I am glad for your generosity Argent and I will take as many people on the hunt as I can."

"Oh that is excellent John, we look forward to the mammoth hunt and we hope there can be another celebration, perhaps in the shindig cave, when you return." He said and it seemed that he was very excited at the prospect.

"If you supply the beer again I can guarantee it." I told him and signed off.

I returned to the table and Kota brought another mug of coffee for me. All the leaders were still talking and they were discussing things they might do to keep our people occupied after the move.

"I think that our next big project should be digging a frozen cave in these quarters." I announced.

"But how can we know it will be frozen even if we dig one out?" Caato asked.

"If we dig it deep enough it will be frozen, you will see that as we are digging."

"Then where should we put it?" Daaggo asked.

"Let's go now to the new biggest cave and pick a place."

Most of us took our coffee mugs and started toward the new cave. I spotted a good place for our new walk-in freezer as we approached the inner entrance. I stopped just opposite the entrance that led outside.

"We will start here and dig straight back into the cave wall; when we have a good sized entrance leading back eight feet or so we will start digging a ramp, slanting down as we go. Once we are deep enough to know it will be frozen we will expand into a large room for storing the food. It will be close to most of the people here and yet not too far from my cave either."

"It does seem like the best place for it. If it is frozen when we get deeper." Daaggo said.

"It will be frozen. Tomorrow I will take some men to the storage in the horse cave to get digging tools and we will start. Who would like to supervise the digging?"

"I will be happy to do it." Daaggo volunteered and the others seemed happy to let him be the point man.

Apparently the end of the discussion must have changed the appearance of their body language. A couple of men came up to them, one with a question for Raalto and the other wanting to speak to Racaato. John thought both his helpers did a good job of putting the question back to those that asked it and before others could approach they went back to the table.

When they were seated again Racaato asked about the upcoming mammoth hunt, wanting to know how many they should take with them.

"How many do you think would like to go?"

"Everyone wants to go, or nearly everyone." Racaato said.

"I was afraid of that but we know that everyone can not go. In fact some of us gathered here would need to stay."

"Then I should take this time to tell you that I would be happy to stay here in camp. I have been on a mammoth hunt before." Bigglieo said.

"I would just as soon stay also." Colonto said.

"I will stay here if you need for me to but I very much want to try out my rifle on a mammoth." Racaato said and then Raalto was quick to agree and Caato was not far behind them.

"Have you finished your count of those that want to go Racaato?"

"I have spoken to every man and woman in the camp. I was surprised that all of the other people said they would go and seemed to think that it would be required though none of them appeared anxious to make the trip. There are only ten women and six men from our people who did not want to go but they all said that they would if they were needed." Racaato said.

Kota was still in the kitchen so I asked her to join us. I was slightly puzzled by what Racaato had told me.

"Kota, have you ever been on a mammoth hunt?"

"Yes, Grotondo has made two mammoth hunts since I became old enough to help. They require much traveling to the hunting place and then much work after a kill is made. Carrying the meat back is more hard work. The mammoth meat is some of the best though." She said.

"When Grotondo made his mammoth hunts, how was it decided who would go along?"

"All who were able went on those hunts. Only men and women who were too old and children who were too young did not go to help. Once there were not enough of us to carry back all the meat and it was very distressing to leave it. Grotondo considered building a rock shelter to store the leftover meat until we could return. It would have frozen overnight and should not have spoiled before we could come back but he decided that there was not enough meat to justify the building and the additional trip to retrieve it. We cooked some of it and all made ourselves nearly sick eating it." She said and laughed at the last.

"So you are saying that if a mammoth hunt was planned that everyone who was able to help went along?"

"Yes, we had a small camp and all of us were needed to help carry the meat back. I've heard that in larger camps it is not always that way. Surely with the size of this camp you will not need everyone to carry back the meat." She said.

"No, we won't need everyone and we will not be carrying the meat back. The horses and wagons will carry it back for us."

"That will make for an easy trip. You might not need to have very many go at all." She said.

"We will need some to go but there are many more wanting to go than we can take with us."

"You can count on me to stay here and wait patiently for you. I will miss you while you are gone but I will not miss the long walk, especially if I am not needed there." She said and grinned.

"We won't even be walking Kota, we will ride there and back in the wagons."

"You are making it sound easier and easier every time you say something. Is there some particular reason you are telling me all of this?" She asked.

"There is, we were puzzled that none of the women who came from your people seemed to want to go on the hunt. They all agreed to go if they were needed but none expressed any interest."

"They are like me and have no idea that there will be almost no work. Most of them have probably never been on a mammoth hunt but I know that they are all aware of how much work it could be. Many of them might like to go after all. I'm not saying that they are lazy and want to avoid work but you must realize that days and days of carrying meat is not something that many people would ask to be included in." She said.

"Thank you Kota, we should have realized the problem ourselves, now that you have told us about a mammoth hunt for your people I see why none of them were anxious to volunteer."

"I will leave you men to your talking then. You must have much to talk about since you have been here all day doing it. I have never seen so much of the leader and his main ones talking and talking." She said.

"I will tell you a secret Kota. We are mostly trying to stay out of the way to keep from disturbing those that must move their things."

"But don't you want to tell them where to put the things that they are moving?" She asked.

"They are moving their own belongings to there own sleeping places and we do not care where they put them. They may put them where they like."

"It is wonderful to live here where we can do many things just as we like to. It is new for all of us and we all enjoy it. I can hardly believe how lucky we have all been to come here." She said and then went back to the kitchen.

"I will go back to the widows and unmated women and try to explain to them what the hunt will be like, maybe some of them would like to go if they had a better idea of what will be in store for them." Racaato said.

"Why don't you ask Kota to go with you to do the explaining?"

"That is an even better idea, I will ask her to do it." He said and left us to talk to her.

They left and headed to the unmated women's quarters. I had enjoyed just about all the talking with my men that I could for a while and for once I didn't want anymore coffee. I excused myself to go into the office, hoping that I could find something to occupy my time.

As usual, when I didn't have much on my mind I went to check out the videos. I took a look at every camp I'd been to and also checked carefully along all the trails to see if I spotted someone else in trouble. It is a good thing that I didn't find anyone else stranded since they would probably be dead after so much time. I realized that I should have checked carefully sooner.

I saved Caato's old camp for last and it seemed that I could have just as well ignored it. I didn't find any more sign that anyone had been outside at all. I wondered again why they thought they could last through the winter by themselves. I put thoughts of them aside then and began looking for a route to a mammoth hunt.

I called up my map for an overall look and by checking it I was able to discover that we would have an easy travel to the face of the glacier by going up the ramp near us and traveling over the plateau. It was nearly sixty miles to the closest point but once we were on the plateau we would not find any major rivers to cross. If all the going was like the terrain nearest us we could make it in two days easily.

I switched back to the video feeds and began looking at the actual route I'd chosen. I couldn't see anything but snow, a few scattered trees and groups of animals moving. Closer inspection showed that the bison were moving south and the aurochs and horses seemed to be doing the same. I also saw many groups of predators and scavengers moving that way also.

I found several groups of mammoth and many rhinos moving north. I wondered why they would move north during the winter. As I checked closer to the glacier I thought I could tell why. Nearer to the glacier the snow had been much lighter and within the last five miles I could see that no snow at all had fallen or none had stayed if it had. I was sure that it was colder there but there was no apparent snow. This confused me completely and I didn't know how it could be. I knew that snow had to fall on the glacier and couldn't figure out why it didn't seem to fall near it.

I gave up wondering about it and concentrated on picking out a place to make camp when we got there. After a while I found a place that seemed made just for us but it wasn't so perfect as to suggest that Argent had done it in his spare time. It was two miles back from the glacier and was a small indention in the plateau, five or six hundred feet across. I couldn't figure this out either. What could have caused it? I would probably never know but it was an excellent place and it was easily big enough for all of us that would be going and for many more in fact.

I took a look out in my cave and saw that supper was about to get underway. I killed the video and made for the table. Apparently it was a special night for my mates because we had thick bison steaks with baked potatoes and Ranch Style beans. I made more of a pig of myself than usual and after the meal was over I was ready to lie down for a nap. I didn't get to though.

Mundo came in and told me that his project was finished. I went to Jaada and asked her to take Deimeta into the bedroom for a few minutes and not let her out until I sent for them. Dieta, Delia and Geera heard the plan and went with them. I went with Mundo.

The rocking horse looked much more like a horse than I had imagined it would. It wasn't painted of course but it was surprisingly detailed and true to life. I thanked Mundo and the others and took up the horse under my arm.

"I will come with you to return your tools." Mundo said.

"They are your tools now Mundo, they belong to the four of you, be sure to tell me if you need more or if one of these breaks. I will replace any that are damaged."

I had to leave to get away from the thanks that just wouldn't stop. I was the one that should have been thanking them for the rocking horse. I could hardly believe what a good job they had done and how quickly they had done it.

Setting the horse in an open area in my cave I went into the bedroom and called Deimeta to me and picked her up when she came to me. I walked out into the cave with her and when she saw her new toy she asked what it was at once.

"It is a rocking horse for you."

"But what is a rocking horse Daddy?" She asked.

"It is for you to practice horse riding on when it is too cold to go outside."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes really. Let me show you how." I said and put her astride it.

I got her started rocking and told her how to shift her weight to keep it going. She was thrilled and so was I but after a few minutes she stopped.

"What's wrong Deimeta, don't you like it?"

"I love it but I thought that I would let Malooto ride it too. Is it all right if I go and get him?" She wanted to know.

"It is fine if you let him ride it too. I'm sure that he will like it also."

She streaked out of the room and headed for Danlo's place. She came back in only a minute with Malooto in tow. His eyes went wide when he saw the toy even though he couldn't have had any idea what it was.

Deimeta told him how to ride it and then helped him climb aboard. She gave him a big push and as the horse rocked she told him about moving back and forth to keep it going. I smiled and then left them at their play. Tulaara came in then with Shaala and Shallea. Deimeta and Malooto gave them the story of the horse and they pulled up chairs to watch the children. I gathered my mates and headed for the bedroom, inviting them all to a bath in the big tub.

After we were all clean and all fucked out we headed for bed. Deimeta was already in hers asleep and Daria was sitting on the edge of the bed, apparently she had put Deimeta, Baatiea and Beetiea to bed and was watching them until we returned. Her Wilma dress had ridden up enough to give me a good look at her bush and a peek at her pussy lips and dicky began to rise again even though he had just been thoroughly abused.

"Are you minding the young ones for us Daria?"

"Yes, they have been asleep for nearly an hour. I hope Danlo is not too tired already when I get to our bed. I have been listening to all of you during your bath and I will need him when I get there." She said, blushing at her own boldness.

I reached for her hands and pulled her to her feet beside the bed and then wrapped my arms around her, kissing her lips and pushing my tongue into her mouth.

"Maybe I can help you before you have to leave." I told her and as dicky began rising I dropped my hands onto her ass and then slipped them under her short skirt.

She moaned into my mouth as I kissed her again and her arms pulled me closer. Dalia, Delia and Shelalliea moved around her and as I pressed my dick to her more firmly they pulled her dress over her head. Soon she was as naked as I was and I mauled her ass cheeks, loving the feel of them and remembering how they had looked as Danlo slammed his pelvis against them the time he'd fucked her dog style as I watched. It made my blood boil.

Daria was hot now and I was too. I pushed one hand between her legs from the back, searching for her pussy and I raised the other to a titty to begin squeezing it and teasing the nipple. Her pussy was wet and I slipped a finger up into her wet heat, later pulling it out and bringing it up to my mouth to lick her oils off it as I put the other hand down for some of her wetness.

Daria was right with me and even though I'd been at it for hours in the tub I was ready for more. I turned her around and pressed her onto the bed. Sensing what I wanted she got on all fours and pointed her beautiful round ass at me, waggling it. I stepped up to her and her slit was at just the right height for me. I eased my dickhead between her pussy lips and Delia took hold of my shaft to swab my cock knob between Daria's wet pussy lips. It felt heavenly.

I pushed into her slowly then but Daria had her own ideas; she slammed back against me, impaling herself. She groaned loudly at my size and when I hit bottom I pulled back and gave her another hard thrust causing her to moan more loudly. This felt good to me, very good and as I began stroking into her I took a grip on her hips to help pull her to me more forcefully. She gasped from the extra force but kept up the rhythm and then began milking at my dick with her pussy. We weren't long for this action and as I felt her losing it I held my dick up her as far as I could get it. Dieta had joined in and I could see that her hand was around Daria and that she was probably wiggling her clit. It set me off and my cum began pumping into her as if I hadn't fucked in days.

Soon Daria didn't have the strength to stay on her hands and knees and I sure as hell couldn't stand up off her. She sagged to the mattress and I sagged onto her, making sure I kept my dick as far up her as I could. Her pussy was still working on dicky and it felt too good to pull out of. I lay on her back panting and I had just enough strength to keep pinching and squeezing on her ass cheeks as I panted. Daria made a few tentative pushes back at me with her ass but mostly just moaned as we finished.

My mates began moving us slowly toward the center of the bed then, being careful not to pull us apart. It was fine with me since I was still playing with Daria and my dick was still reasonably firm and up in her pussy. When we were in the center of the bed they rolled us up on our sides. Since I had an arm under Daria and one over her I had clear sailing to play with her titties some more and I took advantage of the opportunity.

Dieta hadn't quit on her either and she had her head down to the juncture of Daria's thighs, no doubt sucking and teasing Daria's clitty. I couldn't tell who was behind me but there had to be more than one working on me. There were lips kissing and nibbling the back of my neck and others licking and biting my ass cheeks. Dicky was pumping up the pressure again and someone had their hands down petting and playing with my nuts. When I was fully hard again I gave Daria another pumping but when I blew my wad this time it wasn't thirty seconds before I fell right off to sleep.