Snatched by cmsix

Chapter 21

After we'd entered our hut my mates began teasing me about my new sweetheart, and I admitted openly and freely that I thought Lanita was a little treasure.

"Good. Here's hoping you start thinking of Nita that way too, and soon," Shaeta said.

"Of course Nita is a treasure. What Calak wouldn't be thrilled to have two healing women?"

"That isn't what Shaeta was talking about. The treasure she meant would be a little closer to your hut, especially at night," Katia said, and they both giggled.

"I haven't even considered such a thing. Should I? Do you think Breezus will put us together?"

"No, that is not Breezus' job. When a mated woman loses her mate, as Nita has, it is usually left up to a man in her Calak to take her in, with her permission of course," Shaeta said, explaining.

"What do you two think? Is it something you want?"

"We are your mates, mighty hero, we will obey your every whim so that we don't earn one of your fearsome spankings," Katia said, and she nearly got all of it out before they both started laughing at me.

"Even men are not stupid enough to believe that," I said, and it only caused them to laugh harder. Finally Shaeta caught her breath.

"Yes, we would like for Nita and Lanita to join us, even if we didn't like her so much already. She is a woman with a child and she needs a man to take care of her and her baby. For me, I think that Lanita has already made her choice and is busily going about making sure she gets you. She is very affectionate to Shaeta and I too," Katia said.

"In that case we wouldn't have a chance of avoiding it if we wanted to, and I can't think of a single reason to avoid it. As a man I may be just a dummy, but if the two of you want this, and Lanita wants it, and Nita wants it - I'll just give in and declare myself the winner. How should I do this?" I asked.

"You must ask her to become one of your mates. If she agrees, there will be a small ceremony with Zakat and Matatu, but there will be no feast or night of gajee drinking," Shaeta said.

"Don't worry my mate. Lanita will fall asleep early each night, and probably won't wake no matter how you make us scream. If she does she will pretend to be asleep anyway. Unless she giggles, but she will try not to," Katia said.

It sounded logical to me after they had it all explained. They told me if Nita agreed the ceremony could be tomorrow night, before supper, and that Nita and Lanita would just move into our hut with us. Hell, the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.

Nita wasn't over five years older than Shaeta or Katia and she was every bit as desirable. In fact, thinking of what I could tell about her figure through her clothes made my dick hard. Poor Shaeta and Katia had to help me relive the pressure. For some reason I slept like a baby afterwards.

As soon as I woke I realized I'd be asking Nita and Lanita to join our family, but that wasn't all I knew. I'd had a delivery during the night. I wanted to go check things out right away, but didn't. We dressed and headed for breakfast.

Almost as if they knew what was going to happen, Denac and Jekaycey didn't eat with us this morning. It didn't cause us to miss out on company though, for Nita and Lanita were there. Lanita came to sit in my lap as the women went to get our food.

"Would you like to come and live with Shaeta, Katia, and I?" I asked, as soon as she was settled in my lap.

"What about my mother?" she asked.

"Why I want her to come and live with us too. I want her to be one of my mates," I said.

"It would be wonderful. Do you think she will? Lanita asked.

"I hope so. What do you think?"

"I think she will. She has been lonely since Kaglao killed my Daddy. She cries at night sometimes when she thinks I'm already asleep."

"Maybe I can stop her crying," I said.

"I hope so. I hope you can make her squeal, like Daddy did," Lanita said, and then giggled.

"You will probably giggle if I do," I said, teasing her.

"Of course I will giggle if I hear it. What are children for if not that," she said, and smiled.

When the three of them returned I decided not to wait until we'd finished, and I thought I might as well use my talk with Lanita to any advantage I could.

"Nita, Lanita and I have decided that we would like for you to join Shaeta and Katia as one of my mates. It would make us both very happy. Wouldn't it Lanita?"

"Yes Mother, it would make us very happy, and I promise not to giggle too loudly if he makes you squeal at night," Lanita said.

It surprised not only Nita, but Katia and Shaeta too. They recovered quickly enough though and did some giggling of their own, along with another pretty blush up Nita's neck.

"I will be happy to join with you Carl, and to become one of your mates, if Katia and Shaeta agree," Nita said.

"Of course we agree," Shaeta told her, "Carl is much too well trained to ask you without our approval first."

This surprised Nita, and I don't think it was what Shaeta said, but that she said it in front of me. She was at a loss for words for a few seconds.

"No need to look so surprised. When we asked Carl about training the cashda he said he would have an easier time training them than women had training men," Katia said.

That was it for Nita's control and she burst out laughing, keeping it up until tears were streaming.

"I don't know what's so funny," Lanita said, "I didn't have a bit of trouble training you to hold me in your lap and feed me."

The rest of us lost it then while Lanita sat in my lap smiling at her own joke. She was too smart to be so young, but I knew she would keep things interesting.

One of the best things for men about living in this time and place was that the women took care of all the little details and usually got huffy if a man tried to help them. The men didn't need to worry their thick skulls about domestic duties.

After we'd eaten, all of them left me to my own devices, even Lanita, while they were off to clean and put away the bowls then buttonhole Matatu and Zakat about the evening's upcoming nuptials. At least Denac came over to join me after they'd left.

"Jekaycey told me something was going to happen this morning that we would interfere with if we ate with you. By the look of it you'll be getting a little more crowded in your hut," he said, teasing me, or trying to.

"I suspect that's why Shaeta had me build it so large to start with. It seemed too big at the time, but now I think she planned on Katia's arrival from the start," I said.

"Better you than me," he said, laughing.

"Don't count yourself out yet, Denac. Seems to me that Jekaycey has found a friend among the new women too. Remember, yours is not to reason why," I said.

"What does that mean?" he said.

"It means that your best policy with a mate is to always listen carefully and then try to do exactly what she tells you to do."

He roared with laughter and then told me he considered it the best advice he'd ever had.

"You are right. After all, she has control of most of my food and all of my pussy," he said, and laughed loudly again with me joining him this time.

"What are you two up to?" Jekaycey asked, as all the women in question came back.

"Denac and I were just talking about how nice it was to have women in our lives so that we would know what we were supposed to be doing."

"Well it can't be any better than having a man who appreciates you and who will mind," Katia said.

"One who is well trained you mean," I said.

"There is that too," Jekaycey said.

You two should run along and play now. We have things to take care of," Shaeta said, and then they all, including Lanita, laughed at us.

"Come along Denac, we have been dismissed," I said, leading him around to the back of my hut.

"Aren't we going to the canyon where the cashda are?" he asked.

"Yes, but I had a feeling when I woke that something had been left for me in the night."

Something had, some things in fact, as in more than one. I spotted a pair of posthole diggers first and then saw two round point and two flat point shovels. Lying near them were a nice drawknife, a spoke shave, a tenon cutter, and a hub-boring tool. Stacked beside these were eight wagon wheel rims. I was almost ecstatic. I would have been thrilled with only the rims, since they would be by far the hardest mandatory items to make. I could have managed without some of the tools, but not without the rims, or not nearly as well anyway.

A little more investigation let me find a shingle cutting froe, a brace, a nice box of bits for the brace and a couple of dozen chisels, some for wood and some for metal. Last but certainly not least was a set of blacksmithing tongs. I knew that the shed was going to need to be moved forward on the agenda, but by now I thought it needed to be workshop size instead of just a shed.

"What is all this, Carl?" Denac asked.

"There are several new things that will serve us well later, but for today these will be invaluable. They are posthole diggers."

"What are postholes?" he asked.

"We will have to put post into the ground to make other fences for catching and training the cashda. They will not let us just walk up to them and hop onto their backs."

"I can understand that. I'm glad that you seem to know how to go about it, and I am anxious to learn," he said.

I took a shovel and let Denac carry the posthole diggers and we headed for the canyon. Half way to the river we did an about face and headed back for my stash of new tools.

When we got there I picked up the brace and the box of bits and other tools, grabbing a two-pound hammer while I was at it. As we'd been heading out the first time I had come across the idea of using pegs to hold the fences together instead of rawhide thongs. Pegs were easier to make and would probably be stronger anyway.

We stopped at the river to get naked below the waist for the transit. This was getting to be a bother and I wished it wasn't necessary, since it was time consuming and the reward, dry clothes, seemed small.

Most of our crew was sitting around on their asses, just now recovering from the breakfast that four of them had gone after this morning. They got to their feet as soon as they saw us though and were anxious to do something, anything it seemed.

We left half of them adding to last night's fence but I told them to only cut more trees for rails, and that I'd come and show them how to make the attachments later. Denac, the other half of our workers, and I walked on into the now enclosed pasture.

We had the cashda captured already, sorta. They couldn't get away, but there was still plenty of room for them to avoid us. I did a little planning and then showed everyone how posthole diggers worked. I was surprised to see them all waiting anxiously for their turn to try them out.

The rest of the day was mostly old-fashioned work. We had to cut more trees for the posts, and then some smaller ones to make dowels to use as pegs. Luckily the newness of the diggers hadn't worn off before all the holes were in place, and there'd been quite a few needed.

Once we had the pen built, we started on the chute I'd decided to use instead of trying to rope these monsters with the rawhide lariats. I wasn't nearly as worried about breaking a lariat as I was about being dragged all over creation if I actually roped something that didn't want to be roped.

Shortly after noon our food was delivered and I was happy for the break. My mates, Nita, and Lanita had come with the group and I ate with them, holding Lanita in her now expected seat. I'll admit that I let the break run longer than it really needed to. As they left, Shaeta reminded me not to stay until dark tonight, since I had an appointment.

Even though the chute had to be larger and stronger than any I'd ever seen, and though we had to tamp hell out of all the posts, not to mention the pain in the ass of cutting dowels, drilling holes for them, and hammering them in turned out to be, we still had things eighty percent done by about an hour before sunset.

I told the workers that they could come on back to camp tonight, since I was sure the cashda couldn't get out, but they said they'd stay just in case. Half of them did return with us to pick up food for them all, but every one of them said they'd rather stay out to make sure nothing went wrong.

The mating ceremony for Nita, Shaeta, Katia, and I took place before the meal. I was glad it was short and that all of the women we'd rescued looked happy about it. I hoped they would put their ordeal behind them and get on with their new lives, though I figured it would take more time.

We ate together after the business was taken care of, with Lanita in my lap and all my mates and I clumped together onto the one large rock that was getting too crowded for such. I needed to take a day off from cashda tomorrow and build some damned furniture, or at least cut some logs into manageable sizes so we could drag them up for seats. We weren't the only ones that were scrambling for a place to sit.

Later, when we headed to the hut Shaeta told me I'd be seeing a little surprise when we got inside. I wondered what could be surprising inside the hut but once I entered I couldn't miss it. Our hut seemed to be carpeted now.

Of course it wasn't a carpet, the floor was completely covered with furs. It didn't take that many either, since they'd finished with the giant vadeesey's hide without me noticing. In fact, I hadn't even seen them working on it.

"How did you ever get it ready so soon?"

"Almost everyone helped some. It doesn't take that long when there is plenty of help," Katia said.

"But why did we end up with it?"

"Because you're the one that killed it, silly. Not only that, you killed it before it injured anyone at all. Darita did a lot of the work, since you saved her so much patching up," Shaeta said.

"I have never seen a vadeesey fur off the vadeesey. How did you ever kill it, Carl?" Nita asked.

"With the weapon you saw me using at the loner's camp. It came with me. It was still a close thing though. Vadeesey take a lot of killing."

"Well, I think it is wonderful, and so soft," Lanita said, from where she lay squirming on it.

We talked a little and then undressed and went to sleep. Even though I enjoyed seeing them all bare assed in the candle light, I was just as glad that it seemed to be custom for sex to start on the second night after you were mated, or later. It wasn't that I didn't look forward to dipping my wick in Nita, but it seemed more comfortable somehow if you didn't rush to bed and start fucking.

It was slightly surprising but not alarming the next morning when I woke and discovered that Lanita was sleeping comfortably on my chest. When I moved a little her eyes opened and then she gave me the cutest little smile.

"Good morning Daddy," she said, and I nearly choked up.

"Good morning my little princess. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, and it was even better after I found this comfortable spot," she said, giggling.

"Well we'd better wake everyone else up. Something important is going to happen soon."

"What?" she asked.

"Breakfast, of course. What could be more important?"

"Oh Daddy. You men are all the same. Always looking forward to your next meal."

She was right in one, but I wasn't ashamed in the least. Even though I wasn't sure what I was eating most of the time, it was always delicious.

All were awake by now and it was another treat to watch my mates wriggling into their clothes. More so this morning since I had a new one. I was surprised that Lanita could dress herself with only a little help tying on her moccasins, and it gave me a good feeling to do that chore for her.

Lanita and I went to tell Buttercup good morning while my mates headed toward the main fire to help with the cooking. After a little attention for the calf, I spotted the four from the horse canyon who had come to fetch breakfast for everyone over there. We went to meet them and I was happy because it was going to save me some wading.

After a greeting I explained that I needed all but two of them to come back to camp after they'd eaten.

"Two can watch the cashda for the day. I have some things we need to do near the fallen star. Be sure to bring all the tools back with you, we'll need them today," I said, and they agreed that they'd pass the word.

Lanita led me over to sit by Denac and wait for our food then. I explained to Denac that I'd be making furniture today.

"What is furniture?" he asked.

"Mainly we'll be making something to sit on while we eat. These rocks are getting crowded and there aren't enough of them anyway. Most people have to sit on the ground."

"You are right about that, but what will we make?" he asked.

"The trees near where the star fell are all dead, but most are still standing. They are dry now and we can fell them and then cut them up and bring them here. It would be better if a few of the cashda were already trained to work, but we can make do by hand this time. At least we have plenty of help now to use the saw."

"Yes we do. Plenty. Have you noticed that all of them seem to be trying very hard to please?" he asked.

"Yes, but it seems like even more to me. I think they really like to learn new things and that they don't mind working for their supper while they're learning. They have already been very useful to us."

Our conversation died off when the food appeared, until we'd finished. Then Katia asked me what excitement I had planned for the camp today.

"Furniture."

"What is furniture?" she asked, just as Denac had.

"Furniture is something to sit on that isn't a handy rock. Denac, the workers, and I are going to the burned out place and we'll be cutting some of the dead and dried out trees to bring back here for people to sit on, especially while they're eating."

"That makes sense, but won't it be too much work? Especially since we won't be able to move it when the camp moves," Nita said.

"By the time the camp moves we might be able to move it, but that's no matter. Surely we'll be here long enough to get some use out of it, and besides, I don't want to sit on the ground to eat. My tools will make it easier to cut anyway."

"Well I won't complain if we have something better to sit on," Shaeta said.

The workers must have wolfed down their food, because they were back at camp half an hour after we'd finished eating. They seemed anxious to get going, so we did.

They were assholes and elbows after I told them what I wanted, and there was really nothing much for Denac and I to do. There was no chance we'd get a turn at the saw when we taught the others how to use it.

After they had several of the trees down I had them start cutting them up. We cut about forty two-foot sections off to use as single * chairs * and ten eight foot sections for putative * couches *. The handy part was that we could roll them back to camp without much bother.

We had our new dining suite back to camp before eleven and I asked Caloe about the best places to put them. She was very surprised but happy about it. She showed me where she thought the best spots would be and so we got to it.

Once we had them arranged around I had the guys start in with wedges and the sledgehammer. We split off flat surfaces on the longer log * sofas * for easier seating and then sawed up what we split off for more firewood. We were done in time for lunch and everyone seemed to drop by to thank Denac and I, as if we'd done the work. I explained who had done the hard part and that Denac and I had mostly watched them work.

Caloe was really surprised after lunch when I approached her for placement advice of shithouses. It didn't take much explaining for her to see the advantages and she helped me pick out a spot that was well away from camp, but close enough to be handy.

Denac and the guys were surprised when they found out what our next project was, and Denac couldn't seem to see the need for it.

"What is the thing that usually causes a Calak to move, Denac? Don't they usually leave when it is too hard to keep from stepping in shit when they walk somewhere?" I asked.

"You're right. It is either that or a lack of game from all the hunting," he said, admitting it.

"Well, with decent places to shit and cashda to carry us out further away from camp for hunting, we can move less."

Four of the men were digging the holes for our waste and the rest were cutting small trees for the construction. Denac was helping with the shovel work and I was mostly watching when Matatu came over to talk with me.

"Carl, Zakat thinks he is well enough to make another try at our journey. Can you go with us in the morning?" he asked.

"No, and I am not going to let Zakat go either. Even if he thinks he is well enough, he isn't. I don't want to have to build another litter so we can carry him back in a mad rush. I also have some important things that I'm doing right now and I can't leave them."

"But Zakat is insistent that we go, and I feel the need strongly," he said.

"Very well, if you insist. Have both the healing women and Caloe come to me and tell me that Zakat is well enough to go, and I will let him. I still do not have time to go with you, but I will let him leave if they agree. If they do not tell me he is well enough, he isn't going."

"What gives you the right to make such a decision? You are only a new member of our Calak. I am Matatu," he said.

"I don't want to get into an argument about it. I have the right because I am the best fighter in this Calak. You, and especially Zakat, know it. If you don't want me in the Calak any longer all you have to do is tell me to go. I will take my mates and any that want to go with me and make my own Calak," I said.

He left in a huff, but I knew he'd get no backing from anyone else. I was pretty sure that if I packed up to leave and form my own Calak, Matatu would end up being alone in a Calak of one.

I wasn't trying to throw my weight around; it was Matatu that had been trying to pull that shit. What he was being drawn to could very well be important to us, but I wasn't giving up a chance to ride there just so he could get to it faster. He could just get glad in the same moccasins he got mad in for all I cared. I respected him, but he wasn't the end of the world. In fact, he was beginning to remind me of a preacher, and they were people I didn't hold in high regard at all.

The little scene kept eating at me and finally I decided that my mates and I were going to make a journey of our own, if I could talk them into it, of course. We'd move over near the cashda for a few days, or even a week or two. It would let me spend more time getting them going.

We had one shitter finished by an hour before supper, and Denac assured me he could get the others up tomorrow, but he was suspicious.

"Where will you be tomorrow, Carl?"

"I am planning on moving my mates and I over to stay by the cashda for a few days. Matatu has decided it is time to go exploring again. He asked me to go and I told him no, so he went off in a huff.

"He may very well have a vision about a wonderful place to live, but I don't have one. Besides, I don't want to have to spend a day and night running back and carrying Zakat again, and I know Zakat is not well enough to travel yet."

When we got back to camp Caloe came to see me right away, but it wasn't to tell me Zakat was well enough to travel. In fact, it was the opposite.

"I grow tired of Matatu and his vision of a wonderful place. Shaton is not well enough to go off again and he knows it. I thank you for telling him that you won't go," she said.

"That isn't all I told him. I told him that Shaton was not going unless you and both healing women said he was strong enough. I will not let Zakat leave without your permission and the healing women's approval," I said.

"But how will you stop him. He can be pig headed sometimes," she said.

"He couldn't best me when he was healthy. I don't want to do it, but I will fight him again for the leadership if he insists on going. I know that he is brave, and I think he is the best we have for Zakat, but if he can't see that it is foolish to take such a trip while he isn't well, he is no longer fit to be Zakat," I said.

"You are right, and even I didn't think of that," I am going to explain things to him now. I expect you to make him see the light if I cannot," she said, and then left.

I figured that would be the end of it but it wasn't. Darita and Nita came to me, and I knew something was wrong since they seemed to be coming for a consultation in their professional capacity as healing women.

"Carl, I don't know what is happening to Zakat, but he isn't thinking right. It started this morning when he wouldn't take the dose of medicine you gave me for him. He has not acted like himself all day," Darita said.

"Have you been giving him the tea?"

"Yes, he will still drink the tea," she said.

"Well do not make him any more of it. I think it is a combination of things. The infection he has is making a last all out effort to save itself from the medicine I gave you. You know he would not have lived without it don't you?"

"Yes, when you brought him back I was sure he would not live. The tablets you gave me for him have done something I have never seen, but it seems all of it will be for nothing now," she said.

"We can hope not, and at least he will know by the morning that he isn't in shape to be going on a journey. His fever will climb in the night, especially without the tea.

"He will be sweating all night and probably even worse in the morning. Maybe he will listen to reason then, if he doesn't, we will tie him down and make him take it. It is the fever that is making him talk this nonsense," I said.

"It must be. I have seen that happen before," Darita said.

"I have too, but I never understood it," Nita said.

"I think the fever has made his brain too hot to work right. He will be better after he is well, if he gets well," I said.

At least things settled down a little when it came time to eat. After we were finished Caloe came to see me again.

"It seems like Zakat is not doing so well now. At least he knows now that he cannot go with Matatu tomorrow. He was mad when I told him what you said though," she said.

"I don't doubt that he was mad, but I can't help that. I would rather have him alive and mad at me than call me his friend as he died. Did Darita and Nita tell you what he did about his medicine?"

"No, I haven't talked to them, except to send for them to look at him again, and perhaps give him some tea," she said.

"Zakat would not take my medicine this morning. I asked them not to give him any tea tonight. I think we need to remind him he is not well. The tea doesn't help against his infection; it only makes him feel better. I think he has been feeling too good."

"The nerve of him. Refusing his medicine like some naughty child. Believe me, he will be sorry for it and I'll bet he never does it again," she said, and then rushed off.

I don't know if Shaton was in any shape to understand the ass chewing he got when Caloe went into their hut. I do know that everyone else in the Calak heard and understood every word. But that wasn't the last of it.

Matatu had a respected position in the Calak, but he was an old man, and not much over six three to start with. Caloe was easily six one and she worked hard every day. After she laid the law down to Shaton she found Matatu like a heat seeking missile, but she was an ear-seeking missile.

She grabbed him by the ear, I swear she did, and hustled him off from the camp and then had her second serving of chewed ass. She called him everything but a human and told him that he would starve to death right in the middle of camp if he dared mention his journey again before she gave him permission. And finally, the thing was settled.

Needless to say the rest of the Calak was quiet. They seldom got such a clear example of just exactly who was running the show, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind at the moment. Matatu and Zakat were welcome to strut around and puff out their chest when things were going smooth, but Caloe had spoken, and no one dared gainsay her.

It was all I could do to keep from laughing; I had to bite my tongue. I was afraid that Lanita could feel me trembling and in seconds she let me know I had reason.

"Daddy, are you frightened or trying to keep from laughing?" she asked, whispering it in my ear.

"How did you know I was trying to keep from laughing?" I whispered back.

"I wasn't sure, but I didn't think you would be frightened, even though I was, a little at least. What was Caloe so mad about?" she asked.

"First, she was mad at Zakat for not taking his medicine, and second, she was mad at Matatu, just in case he had something to do with it."

"That's just silly. Everyone knows they must take the medicine the healing woman gives them. No one wants to be sick," she said.

"You'll see later, but sometimes men do things that aren't good for them."

"I'll bet Zakat won't pull that trick again though, and I think that probably hurt Matatu's ear pretty badly, being dragged around by it," she said.

"You're probably right, but I'm glad that I don't know for sure. I always take my medicine."

"That's a good Daddy. If you keep that up we probably won't have to talk bad to you very often," she said, and damned if she didn't laugh at me.