Snatched by cmsix

Chapter 10

There was no way in hell I could deal with a Cashda now even if I had hold of one. Well, maybe if it was a foal, but probably not if it was grown enough to make it without its mother's milk. That didn't mean I wasn't happy to find there were some close to us. If nothing else I wouldn't have many problems hunting them.

With my rifle I could take one from long distance. I examined a lot of the hoof prints and as I'd seen before, they looked exactly like prints that horses left, only much bigger, they were easily half again the size of any earth horses I'd ever seen. It seemed that there were at least ten that had come here to drink and maybe as many as fifteen mature animals, while probably four yearling sized and maybe six to eight foal sized were in the bunch too.

I headed out in the direction they'd gone, hoping to get a look at them. I'd seen some from a long distance twice before, but from the talk about them I probably couldn't get very close, even if I was on their trail.

Two more hill climbs let me know I was wrong about that too. When I topped the second one from the river I could see the little band down in a small draw. I was probably within two hundred yards of them. There were fourteen mares, one stallion, five yearlings, and seven foals. They were grazing and it was obvious that they didn't know I was around. I thought it was a little odd though that they were all bays, but I guess stranger things could happen.

It seemed to me that I had been right with my first speculation about them. Somehow the Cashda, or the ancestors, had come from earth. My nose didn't do its amazing job on them and apparently theirs weren't doing that trick with me either.

In a way it made sense if they had come here from earth somehow. I had the ability for phenomenal nose performance on things that were native to Margata. If these Cashda, or horses, weren't native then it made sense that I wouldn't be able to smell them that well.

Just then the herd stallion made a loud snort, and glancing at him I could tell that he'd smelled me the old-fashioned earth way, probably. They didn't run off in a panic but they did start grazing away from me, and that was ok. I doubted they'd leave the area completely and I had no immediate use for them anyway.

The next hour or so I spent walking downstream and then back up it. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but it didn't hurt to see what was coming to drink here. I didn't see anything else out of the ordinary, or I didn't recognize it as such if I did.

Crossing back over the river involved another undressing and dressing and I was glad that my cups seemed dry enough to move now. I could tell that they would still be fragile but I'd just have to be careful.

Lunch had come and gone by the time I returned, but my mates had saved me a few tidbits. They were very curious about what I was bringing back with me and so I set them down near our hut and told them what they were.

"You mean after you get them hot in the fire they will stay that way?" Katia asked.

"Maybe. We'll just have to see what happens. If the mud was the right type, and if I let them dry enough before firing them, and if I haven't done something else wrong they should stay the same from then on.

"If it goes wrong somewhere I'll have to see about thinking of something else to do. I know that it can work, I just don't know exactly how."

"Well, I hope you can make it work. Bowls and cups take a long time to make and they don't last so long either. If these made out of mud from the river will work they should be much easier than days and days of carving and polishing a cup out of wood," Shaeta said.

"They will be even easier than you think, and more useful too, if I can get it right. Cups and bowls aren't the only things you can make this way. After I have it perfected I should be able to make large bowls for keeping food in and for cooking in," I said.

"You mean we might be able to put them in a fire and they wouldn't melt and turn back into mud?" Katia asked.

"They would not turn back into mud. They might crack or break, but even then they would not go back to being mud," I said.

This was plainly amazing to them, but they seemed to be giving me the benefit of the doubt. Shaeta had a good thought next though.

"Maybe you should not tell anyone else until you have made at least a few that work," she said.

"You are certainly right about that."

"The calf seems to want to go where we go now, it is almost like it gets lonely without us," Katia said, changing the subject.

"I don't wonder, it is accustomed to being with its mother and now that she is gone it might be lonely. It will get over that, with time. Is anyone complaining?" I asked.

"No, most of the women have learned to just shoo it away when it comes too close, and none of the men would say a word even if they didn't like it. They even seem reluctant to shoo it away," Shaeta said.

"I don't want the calf causing any trouble. Be sure that the women understand that I don't expect them to let it become a bother. I will make a pen if I need to."

"What is a pen?" Katia asked.

It was harder to explain than I'd have thought, but I finally used some of the scraps from the hut building to cobble up a small demonstration of a fenced enclosure. They understood easily after that but thought that it would be a lot of trouble.

"Maybe, but think how the men and even the women would like it if we had several grown thakas to pull all the travois. That would leave most of the men free for other duties during any traveling the Calak does," I said.

"But what other duties?" Katia asked.

"Why, anything the women think they should be doing," I said, giving maybe the first politically correct statement on Margata.

"My mother was right," Katia said, "You are very smart for a man."

"Maybe, maybe not. Have the two of you decided where you'd like for me to stack our firewood?"

They had and they showed me. With my saw, hatchet, and axe strapped onto my cart I headed back out in the direction of the place I'd killed Buttercup's mother. Then I spent the next three hours gathering, cutting, and splitting firewood.

Carting firewood on my dolly was a hell of a lot easier than hauling any damned thaka. There was no way in hell I could pile more than about a hundred and fifty pounds of wood on it. I had three cartloads and of course it took three trips. I stacked two loads where my mates had showed me it belonged and then I carried the last one to Denac.

He seemed happy to see me and I could tell almost at once that he was doing much better. I still wouldn't let him help with unloading and stacking the wood but he stood around and talked to me.

"I went walking out in the forest today and I have located a big bee tree. When you think I'm well enough I want to go and get the honey," he said.

"That is great, but unless there is some reason to get it right away I may have something that will help make it much easier," I said, thinking of making ceramic containers for it.

"That would be good, and there is no hurry. I hope you have discovered a way to keep the bees from stinging me so much," he said, and laughed.

"I hadn't even thought about that, but I did when you mentioned it and I think I do know a way," I said.

"How?"

"Bees do not do well in smoke. You should be able to help yourself a lot by building a small fire near the tree and having someone pile leafy brush on the fire to keep the smoke thick. It won't be perfect but it will help a lot," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure how much it will help, but I do know that bees do not like smoke at all, and I know it will help some. What kind of clothes do you wear when you do it?" I asked him.

"Just my normal clothes," he said.

"I have an idea that might help with that too. I will see if I can get my mates to make something that will keep at least some of the bees from getting to your tender spots," I said.

"That would be very good. Do you like honey?" he asked.

"I think everyone likes honey, but what I would like to have is the comb when the honey is out. I have an idea for something to make with it," I said.

"There is something you can make with the comb?" he asked.

"Yes, there is something very useful I can make with it," I said.

"I can probably find some honey comb tomorrow," he said.

"Don't you think the bees will object to your taking it?" I asked, joking him a little.

"I saw a spot where there was a fire, but it wasn't a big fire. For some reason it didn't burn many of the trees, but it did get them so hot they died anyway, almost as if the fire had been started and suddenly it rained and put it out.

"Anyway, it is a fairly large area and there's a chance a bee tree was among those killed. Maybe the comb is still there. It looks like it happened in the last year or two," he said.

"It wouldn't hurt anything to go look," I said.

"I will go with you anytime you would like. It isn't even very far," he said.

"Maybe we can go tomorrow, I will check with my mates to make sure they don't have plans for something they want me to do," I said, as I was leaving.

"I will be happy to show you anytime," he said.

My mates were helping get supper served when I made it back near the central fire, and they brought me a bowl right away, and brought their own too, sitting down on each side of me.

"How do you get firewood so fast?" Shaeta asked, while we were eating.

"It isn't that hard with my cart. It makes it much easier to carry," I said.

"Shaeta and I can see that, though no one else seems to pay it any attention. It isn't the only thing though; you must have some different way to cut it too, because the ends are always straight and smooth. No one could do that with an axe," Katia said.

"Yes, I do have a special tool for cutting wood, but I only have two, and one is very small, so I haven't made a point of showing everyone. I don't understand myself why no one else has asked about it. I will show you the tool when we are in our hut," I said.

They seemed mollified, but I noticed that they didn't waste any time cleaning our bowls and returning them to where they were kept.

Shortly after we'd finished eating we were in our hut. It wasn't quite dark outside yet, so we left the skin folded back. That made it easier for me to show them the saws but stay mostly concealed from everyone else.

They had no trouble seeing that it worked, since I demonstrated with a small piece of the firewood. It took a lot longer to make them understand how it worked.

"How did you ever think of that and how did you make it?" Katia asked, and I braced myself mentally for what I had to do.

My mind was already made up, that I wasn't going to lie to them about this. They had been too good to me and I wasn't going to return the favor with deceit. I know most men have no trouble lying for pussy but I had never been one of them.

Actually, I thought that a lot of the lying that went on for that purpose was not necessary in the first place. There was almost always a better way to go about it. For instance, keeping your mouth shut and just getting on with the physical courtship almost always worked if anything was going to.

Many times lying about something would make things, whatever they were, easier at the moment. Even more times than that, it would come back to bite you in the ass later. Whether you lied for money, help, or pussy you were going to be found out sooner or later and it usually cost you more in the end than telling the truth from the start would have. So now I had to tell my mates the truth.

"I didn't think of it and I didn't make the saw. They came with me when I came here, like many things I have. The cart for instance, or my clothes, or almost anything I have," I said.

"You came from another world," Shaeta said, but at least she didn't sound upset about it, which was astounding in itself.

"Yes."

"We are the luckiest two women on Margata," Katia said, and I knew she would not be gainsaid, but I sure wondered why she thought it was lucky.

"I knew that," Shaeta said, "but I had no idea we were this lucky."

"Well I'm not such a prize," I said.

"We didn't want a prize, we wanted a good man, and what you've told us is only proof that you are. We knew already anyway. It does answer some questions that we couldn't even really form though," Shaeta said.

"What?"

"I almost wondered about your cart, as you call it, but couldn't quite until you told us you were Meseeka," Katia said.

"I'm what?"

"Meseeka. You have already lived on a different world and you've come to live on another, ours," Shaeta told me.

"How do you know about that? I didn't know about it until it happened to me," I said.

"Our mothers told us, and the other women, but they don't speak about it much. We don't know how or why it happens. It is said there might be Meseeka among us but that we wouldn't know unless they told us. That's probably why we couldn't think to ask questions about your things," Katia said.

"They never told us that a Meseeka might not even know it. We only really know about, or have stories about, one woman. She was the first healing woman and she has been gone for many lifetimes," Shaeta said.

"I know I can speak for Shaeta and tell you that we both feel honored to be your mates. We did even before you told us," Katia said.

"Yes, we are honored, but I think we should still make sure to tell him what to do. He is still a man," Shaeta said, and then they laughed at me.

"I would be hurt if you didn't," I said.

"Is the use you have for honeycomb something you learned on the other world," Shaeta asked.

"And the cups, those too?" Katia asked, before I could answer Shaeta.

"Yes, to both. I still want to wait until I have some honeycomb to show you, but the cups are called ceramics where I came from, and many things are made from them. If I have the right kind of clay and can do things the right way we will be done with wooden cups and bowls," I said.

"We will wait for anything you want to show or tell us, and we will try not to bother you about things you don't want to tell us," Katia said.

"I will tell you everything I know if you want to listen, but not tonight. I have a new mate to make scream tonight," I said, and it made them both blush and giggle; then it made Shaeta close our door flap.

"Oh," Katia said, "we need a burning twig to light the lamp."

"No we don't," I said, fishing my Zippo out of my pocket and doing the deed.