Quarter Square (13 page)

We were jogging through broken patches of knee-high grass beneath a dense tree cover when my skin tingled and I pulled up to a sharp halt.

“Don’t worry about that,” Min called over her shoulder. “It’s the ward. It’s strong and fresh. We’re nearly there.”

Two miles farther on we stood on a rise of ground and watched the leisurely activity inside the enclosure below. The Axe settlement covered an area about half the size of a football pitch and consisted of wooden huts inside a high circular fence of split logs.

“I thought you said this was a temporary camp. It looks pretty permanent to me.”

“It is temporary. Kind of. They’re nomadic herders, and they follow traditional routes. That’s how I knew roughly where to search for them in summer. Every time they return to one of their settlements along the way, they tidy it up.” She frowned. “It does look well established, though, doesn’t it?”

I counted twenty-seven huts laid out in a horseshoe shape, with the open end aligned to the palisade gateway. At the far end stood a substantial oval-shaped building with an apex roof of timber shingles, but all the other huts were circular constructions with low-hanging conical grass roofs. Tethered goats grazed at the edges of three of them.

Eighteen people were visible in the open ground between the huts, and a bunch of shrieking kids chased one another round two of the huts. Like the adults, they were naked.

“Will said there are cannibals in the Wild.”

Min chuckled. “I’m sure he did. Don’t worry, love. The Axe won’t eat you. Look, they have cattle penned over there. And you’re my consort, remember.”

“Let’s hope they remember.”

“Come on, wimp. Let’s go and meet some old friends.”

I needn’t have worried. People noticed us the moment we walked through the gateway into the enclosure, and curiosity spread through the community. Within minutes the entire tribe seemed to be crowding around us, and they weren’t as naked as I’d thought. The women were bare-breasted, but all the adults wore loincloths. Everyone smelled warm and earthy and fresh. They belonged to the forest.

They were happy to see us. Some of them clapped, and several women sang together in a drawn-out single note. There was no doubt they knew exactly who Min was and accepted me as her companion.

The crowd fell quiet as a tall, well-built man worked his way through the jostling bodies. He must be the leader of the tribe, and I couldn’t help admiring his impressive silver mane, which merged with his beard and chest hair.

“Welcome, Min.” He spread his powerful arms wide. “Your presence honours us.” He bowed deeply to her, then grinned at me. “Welcome, Cayal.”

Min acknowledged his courtesy with a small inclination of her head. It was a rather regal gesture. “Thank you for welcoming us, Chief. What is your name?”

“I am Shad.”

“Shad, in this life Cayal is known as Joe.”

“Welcome, Joe,” he repeated, and in murmurs my name rippled through the assembled people.

“Prepare a dwelling for Min and Joe,” Shad commanded.

Three women peeled away from the back of the group and disappeared inside one of the nearest huts, then reappeared with their arms full of blankets and stone jars. A boy trotted into the hut with a broom, and clouds of dust billowed from the doorway into the air. It appeared Min and I would be accommodated in the tribe’s storeroom.

“They speak English,” I whispered.

“What did you expect? This is the Wild of Britain. There are other languages in the Wild. Original languages, with the kind of developments you would expect after hundreds or thousands of years. You’ll hear Welsh in Wales and Gaelic in Scotland, of course, but the common language everywhere is English.”

I felt dead on my feet. From the way Min rocked against my side, I knew she was wobbly too, and I wanted nothing more than to sleep now that we were safe.

Shad was a perceptive man. “Min and Joe need to rest. Clear a way for them.”

We were guided to our hut and ushered inside. Two women helped us out of our clothes, presented each of us with a clean loincloth and washed us reverently, while two more prepared a grass bed on the swept earth floor. They didn’t linger, but took our dirty clothing away and left us alone to settle in.

I was asleep before I closed my eyes.

I had no idea what time of day it was or how long I’d slept, but for the first time in days I felt well rested and safe.

Truly safe. It wouldn’t last forever. Sooner or later we would have to leave Axe land. But Min had said we were totally safe under the protection of the ward, and I believed her.

I stared up into the shadows beneath the low roof. The wooden planking of the walls continued to the apex of the roof, but these upper planks weren’t butted closely like the lower ones. Scraps of animal skins, soil and grass roots showed between the gaps, and I remembered the goats grazing on the other side of the compound. These dwellings were living, organic constructions.

There were no adornments or decorations, but I wouldn’t expect there to be anything like that in a storage shed. It was well built and dry. Someone could make it very homely with a little care and attention.

Distant sounds from outside carried to my ears, as if they came underwater, and I guessed people were staying away from our hut to allow us to rest properly. Those kids had probably been herded somewhere else. I could only imagine their excitement when they’d heard a goddess had come to visit.

My goddess. Her head rested heavily on my chest. I stroked her shoulder tenderly.

She stirred. “Mmm.”

I kissed her forehead, and she opened her eyes.

“Hello, love,” she whispered. “Sleep well?”

“First time I’ve slept well in days, weeks maybe. You?”

“I always sleep well among the Axe.”

“Why don’t you spend more time with them?”

She propped up on one elbow. “We get them into trouble. They never complain, they always consider it an honour to help us, but there has never been a single occasion when we’ve come to ask for their assistance that hasn’t resulted in their getting hurt. They’re so lovely. I hate bringing danger to them.”

She dipped her face to mine, and her hair brushed my face as we kissed. “They’ll leave us alone until we reappear, you know.”

Suddenly I was nervous. Our frantic first time the other day didn’t count. We shared thousands of years of history. We’d made love a million times. But for me this would be our first time together in relaxed circumstances, and I felt like a clumsy schoolboy alongside my beautiful goddess.

Once again Min’s passion threatened to dominate me. Her fierce desire swamped me, overwhelmed me, possessed me, until I kneeled up, pressed her back on the bed and kissed the soft skin beneath her fine pubic hair.

“Let me in.”

She opened her legs wide.

I buried my nose and mouth inside her and inhaled her heavenly, wet smell. Then, taking her bud delicately between thumb and forefinger, I drew its hood back.

She inhaled sharply.

Back in the old days when things were good between Carole and me, this was guaranteed to hit her jackpot. I hoped it would do the same for Min.

I moved the hood up and down and flicked the tip of my tongue sideways, just below her clit, back and forth, in time with my fingers.

“Mmm…” She stroked one of her erect nipples, and with her other hand on the back of my head, she tried to press me farther in.

I resisted the pressure but increased the speed of my movements, pushing her perineum gently, firmly, in the same rhythm.

Her movements became jerky, more intense, and she started to pant and moan.

I was bursting with desire too, but I wanted her to accept that I could love her without submitting to her control.

She cried out and pulled a fistful of my hair. Her thighs opened and closed on my head compulsively as her climax took her.

I flicked the tip of my tongue rapidly across her clit and gripped her bottom hard with both hands when she arched her body upwards and exploded in ecstasy.

When it was over, I kissed her tenderly.

“My lover is back. And he’s learned a new trick.” She pulled me up alongside her, wrapped her arms and legs around me and kissed me deeply.

We didn’t talk, just looked and smiled and touched, and the mask I wore for the rest of the world melted away. We made love again, as equals, as if we had forever and not a care in the world.

Later, when we were ready to appear in public, she showed me how to tie the loincloth. This intimate moment was like a continuation of our lovemaking, and I didn’t try to hide my silly grin. This was how our lives would be from now on.

We stepped out into the sunlight, and a rush of adoration filled me. Min was like a bare-breasted queen of savages, a true goddess, and I understood exactly how the Axe felt about her. It was an honour to stand at her side.

Jabbering excitedly, the gang of kids came screaming towards us, followed by their mothers and a couple of fathers, who herded them to one side and smiled apologies for all the fuss.

A statuesque, silver-haired woman with well-defined muscles and beautiful breasts strode across the compound and threw her arms around Min.

Min threw me a brief glance of surprise but returned the hug with equal strength and warmth.

Beaming, the splendid amazon held Min at arm’s length and studied her. “I am Anya. Shad is my husband. Meeting you is the greatest honour of my life.”

“I am honoured to meet you too.” Min nodded towards me. “This is Joe.”

Though I expected a handshake, I got a bear hug so vigorous it took my breath away. Slightly embarrassed at the instant thrill I got when her hard nipples rubbed against my bare chest in public, I glanced over Anya’s shoulder at Min, who grinned. Surely she knew what was going through my mind.

After releasing me, Anya grabbed us both by the hand, declared, “You must be hungry,” and strode off towards the cooking fire that blazed in front of the biggest huts in the village. “We have food prepared for you.”

As we approached the hut, Shad threw the animal-skin curtain aside and stood in the entrance.

“Come,” he commanded. “Eat.”

When the hot smell of roasting pork hit me, my stomach grumbled, my mouth filled with bitter saliva and my head swam.

Anya gestured to two vacant places on a woven grass mat beside the fire, and Min and I sat down cross-legged while she took her place next to Shad.

Several adults and two children were chatting around the fire, glancing at us constantly. Was this a communal fire for the whole village, or were all these people Shad and Anya’s family? I didn’t have to wonder for long.

“My son, Karn.” Shad slapped the muscular shoulder of a mahogany-tanned man in his thirties, who waved a friendly greeting.

“Karn’s wife, Keira—” Shad pointed to a lovely thirtysomething woman, “—and their daughter, Songa.”

I followed his nod and watched a dark-haired woman of about twenty carry an earthenware jug towards us. Keira handed us cups, and Songa filled them with light amber wine.

“She was named for you,” Anya told Min.

“You have a wonderful family,” Min replied.

“We have more,” said Anya. She pointed across the fire at a strapping young man who was struggling to contain two boisterous four- or five-year-olds. “Songa’s husband and their children, Du and Pynta.”

“You have a
big
family.” I laughed. I sized Shad up and tried to calculate his age. He was a fit, strong man. Difficult to say exactly, but I guessed he was about the same age as my dad, and already a great-grandfather.

He laughed too. “Bigger than you see here. There are more.”

Anya added, “Today or tomorrow you will meet our daughters, Vua and Tae, who will love you and serve you.”

Shad pushed the tip of a dagger into the huge boar roasting on a spit over the fire. He withdrew the knife, pressed its blade flat against the flesh to check that the juice ran clear and roared, “Eat.”

Songa delivered two plates of food to Min and me. The roast pork came with a sweet applesauce, pulped and juiced berries, root vegetables that might have been yams or wild potatoes and a salad of leaves and tender shoots, the whole thing washed down with the pale wine. After the sparse rations we’d survived on for the past three days, it was a feast.

While the meat was carved, food was dished up and shared, and more people bustled into place around the fire. The level of conversation rose, and Min and I smiled at each other.

They were generous hosts. Several of them tried to press more of the delicious food on to us when we cleared our plates, and refusing would have been churlish. An hour later I leaned back against the side of Shad’s hut, feeling as if I’d eaten my own weight, and belched.

Min nudged me in mock horror, but a chorus of belches followed mine, and everyone laughed in appreciation of my appreciation.

I was very happy and suddenly very drowsy, filled with deep contentment and wanting nothing more than to curl up to sleep with Min in my arms.

We made our excuses and walked hand in hand across the enclosure to our hut.

I slept dreamlessly and awoke refreshed, unsure of where I was. Then I felt Min’s sleeping presence, and everything came flooding back.

The hut was warm and dark and as silent as night, but a breeze lifted the edge of the door curtain and showed slivers of early-evening light. I reached out to stroke Min’s hair, not wanting to wake her, but it was another body that my hand found.

Two little people were on the bed with us. Du and Pynta, sound asleep, nestled into Min’s body and breathing in unison. Pynta snored softly.

As I gazed at them, a lump formed in my throat. It was a picture of pure trust. These kids had only just met Min, and they were sleeping in her arms.

It came as no surprise. She’d had the same effect on me.

The children woke when Min stirred. They both yawned and smiled shyly. Min hooked her hand behind my neck and pulled me down into her kiss. The kids moved, and we paused to see what they were up to.

Pynta gave us a charming wave from the curtain and disappeared outside, while Du sat cross-legged on the floor at the bottom of our bed, using his finger to draw pictures in the earth and humming contentedly.