Nordic Bound

by Henry Morgan

  ‘She’s part of the deal,’ Snejana said calmly. ‘It costs money to set up this sort of operation. She is coming with me to Burgas. She can make a lot of money down there. Lots of oil-men, lots of sailors.’

  ‘Then she comes to work for me,’ Viktor added. ‘I have costs too.’

  Justin took out the gun and pushed it across the table. ‘Forget it,’ he spat, and then turned to Catherine. ‘I can’t let you do this.’

  She brushed his cheek with her hand. ‘Let’s not go over it again,’ she said calmly, and dragged the gun back across the table and left it in front of him. ‘You have no choice. You must get out of Russia, with or without your bitch friend.’ She paused. ‘And I have to find a way to live.’ She gave him the softest of kisses. ‘It was special to meet you.’

  Both Viktor and Snejana eyed Catherine with avaricious intent.

  ‘What is it to be?’ asked Viktor.

  Chapter 11

  David and the girls had spent a day travelling south along the Gulf of Baydaratskaya. He considered heading across the ice, which never saw the bow of an ice-breaker, but that would keep him nearer to Novaya Zemlya and the high radiation Leonid had told him about when they left the Olga. This route was safer and it skirted the Ural Mountains, but it was arduous. The freezing temperature had crept into the caribou-skin tepee last night and the three had huddled under the furs. David knew, if he ever had any doubts, that the push eastwards was going to be hard. He had already used two of his chemical cooking containers, which also heated the tepee. At this rate he wouldn’t have enough to see him across to the land of the Chukchi unless the weather began to break. But it was still only March and although the days would start getting lighter from now on, it would only take one severe storm and their insufficient equipment would be unable to keep them alive.

  The morning had started off early, but David found himself so exhausted from the previous few days that even the sight of the girls waking with their legs entwined did little to encourage his libido. Old habits die hard, though, so he indulged himself with the girls before they ate some charqui and continued on their way.

  It was another Arctic day to contend with, but at least the snow had stayed away. In his haste to put as much distance between him and Amderma he had chosen to cross the frozen Obskaya Guba. It wasn’t going well and he’d badly misjudged the distances between shores. So badly in fact, that they had no choice but to make camp on the ice or risk going around in circles and using up their fuel supplies before they got to Norilsk.

  The ice was solid but they made camp near a large breathing hole abandoned by some walrus. It hadn’t had time to freeze back over yet and David sent Mishka to collect some slushy ice for coffee. The Arctic was almost free of salt and the ice held none at all.

  The coffee was very welcome and warming and the three stayed out of the tent to enjoy the night. It wasn’t warm by anyone’s temperature scale, but it was very much milder than the previous night. Another two chemical heaters were used but David felt more confident; perhaps it was the caffeine.

  The night was temperate enough for David and the girls to sit outside on the trailer of the ski sled, though they were wrapped in furs. All around them was ice and some distance away, to the front and rear, was a thick dark line. It cut through the velvet blue sky and delineated the low hills and sparse coniferous trees that had managed to establish themselves in the harsh climate. The three sat in silence with just two feet of opaque ice between them and the murky depths of the Kara Sea.

  David looked to the heavens and did his best to remember the few constellations he’d learned in secondary school when Mr Bruce, the maths tutor, insisted on teaching them astronomy instead of trigonometry. The Great Bear dominated the sky – the Russian Bear, David mused, huge, powerful and uncompromising.

  The quiet was broken when Teena stood up and walked towards the walrus hole in the ice. In the deathly silence of the northern night she appeared to be the only thing moving, and her actions attracted David and Mishka’s attention. They watched impassively as she flicked the protective skins outwards, gathered up her skirt and squatted to pee. The sound of her escaping liquid was quite audible, though her body was in silhouette. David liked to watch the girls urinate; it showed a total openness in their behaviour, an acceptance on their part that they had no secrets and could hide nothing from him, even the most private of functions.

  The hair on his neck bristled and an involuntary shiver tingled its way through his body. He thought that was strange. Something was different; it wasn’t an excited shiver, it was a frightened tremble.

  He peered into the darkness and saw only the dark outline of Teena. He turned to Mishka. Her eyes were wide open and he sensed she felt the same as him. Both of them turned to the squatting girl, and saw it together. There, coming out of the hole in the ice was a shadow. A long thin black pole as long as a walking stick… now twice as long. It tapered to a point, like a spear, now taller than a man. Beneath it a bulbous wet mass bobbed and a high-pitched scream emanated from its leathery body before it released a spume of foam that covered the peeing girl. The sudden splash of icy water took Teena’s breath away, but it returned with a strength of its own and her screams rent the Arctic night as she leapt to her feet and scurried back to David and her sister. The three watched the black pole move in a slow circular motion like some bewitched broom handle. Occasionally a sad cry emanated from the creature, but it remained in the black water.

  Nerves finally began to settle when all three of them realised the monster was nothing more than a rare narwhal lost beneath the ice and desperate for air. The creature displayed some distress, but there was nothing to be done. Somewhere out there in the vast Kara Sea there must be some open water, but this narwhal had made its way into the inlet and found itself starved of air. Quietly and almost serenely the ivory tusk sank back into the icy depths and hopefully on to free water. David and the girls could only hope.

  The sudden appearance of one of nature’s most secret creatures was a wonderfully warming experience. The two girls leant on David’s shoulder and all three stared at the empty space where the giant tusk had so proudly been displayed just seconds earlier. It was a close moment for everyone, and hands began to explore in an effort to keep the feelings alive. The girls kissed, David fondled breasts and slowly bodies became entwined on the sled trailer above the ice and beneath the star speckled sky.

  When Teena kneeled alongside her sister and both girls pushed out their tight bottoms David felt the icy breeze blow across his cock before it was engulfed first in one warm vagina, and after a few wonderfully slippery strokes, the other. His naked back gathered ice particles that heightened every sensation and made every feeling twice as intense. He rode on Mishka’s beautifully formed bottom with measured, powerful thrusts while her sister knelt behind him and nuzzled his bloated balls. With one hand she cupped and squeezed them while her other ran sharp nails along his refrigerated skin, raising electric lines of excitement.

  When his orgasm came it arrived in a boiling tumult of semen that coated the inside of Teena’s sexual sheath. David looked to the heavens, and for no other reason than it felt right, he howled, an animal roar that escaped his straining throat to announce his male prowess.

  Teena joined him by wailing at the sky, and all three slumped together. Ignoring the cold they spent the night on the ice, to wake as the dawn was just breaking.

  David pulled himself up to the end-bars of the trailer and stretched. As the morning haze left his eyes and the world came into focus it felt good to be alive. He shook the girls awake and hopped off the trailer to relieve himself.

  It was then he saw them.

  Just a few indistinct blurs near the shore. At first he thought they might have been bears, until the unmistakable blink of a headlight revealed them to be soldiers. They may have been out on exercise – then again, they may not. His mind travelled back to their departure f
rom the Olga and the Mig flypast. He couldn’t take that chance and barked orders for the girls to break camp. They were also relieving themselves and the sudden shouts from David startled them into a panic. They ran across to him and David immediately pointed to the figures moving through the trees. To his dismay the girls then pointed to another group moving on the opposite bank.

  ‘Fucking great,’ he groaned through gritted teeth. He motioned frantically for the girls to pack up and reached for his telescope. The first group were definitely soldiers and he could make out the officer returning his gaze through his own binoculars. The second group were far less easy to distinguish because they kept themselves low behind some rocks. The girls called David to the packed sled, but he had to make a decision about which way to go. The girls made that for him.

  ‘Nentsy,’ cried Mishka, pointing towards the second group. ‘They Nentsy. Friends.’

  They started off as fast as the sled would take them, expecting the first group to take up the chase. They didn’t. Initially that worried David, but then he realised they were travelling in a large all-terrain truck. The officer had obviously decided not to trust his vehicle on the ice, fearing it wouldn’t take the weight. To travel around the inlet would put almost a day between the pursuing soldiers and them. That allowed David to slow down and contemplate those in front of him.

  Some Nentsy lived in the Kolkhoz, the state’s collective farms, but others persisted in the old-nomadic ways, living off their deer, fishing and trading. Fortunately, both appeared to hate the Russians, but there was good and bad everywhere and David wondered how much he was worth to the authorities. Was it enough to turn an enemy into a collaborator? He was about to find out.

  With less than a hundred yards to go the shore came alive with a dozen shouting men urging them to hurry. David proceeded cautiously, but the girls began waving and shouting in their own language. The sled left the ice and ploughed into thick snow, sending it up in a great flurry. A fallen log upended the sled and all three were sent sprawling, but they were picked up by the Nentsy and dragged away into the trees and out of sight of the soldiers.

  ‘Th-thanks,’ David panted, but the man who helped him just grinned until Teena translated his gratitude, then his grin turned into a laugh and David was helped up a nearby hill while others went to fetch his sled and equipment.

  Everyone gathered at the top of the hill and David was amazed at the sight before him. A caravan of around thirty mobile Nentsy homes was waiting in line. Each was about the size of a small bus and made of animal skins wrapped over wood, and they were pulled on sleighs by teams of reindeer. Each one also had a little stovepipe in the roof coughing out small clouds of smoke. That meant fire and warmth, and when one of the Nentsy pointed at David and then towards the caravan David eagerly took the cue. He called the girls over and made sure his sled was to come with them, then set off towards the relative comfort of the vans.

  Inside everything was cosy and warm and extremely bright. The Nentsy wore bright clothes made mostly of some sort of heavy wool, and not the furs the Lapp girls preferred. The van David found himself in belonged to Fyodor Grabar, a middle-aged man with a young attractive wife who was sitting near a slit in the van’s skin. The slit allowed a set of reins in while it stopped the heat from escaping. From her position, on a small wooden bench, Natalya could steer her reindeer. Not that they took much steering, except for the first team in the caravan; after them, each team followed the one in front.

  Fyodor’s first act was to offer some hot potato soup, which David and the girls devoured in seconds. As they ate Fyodor threw a clump of coal-black peat into the stove, which sparked immediately into life and sent a wave of heat through what was best described as a mobile home on ice.

  David and the girls began to relax, when outside came a great cry. Fyodor saw the apprehension on David’s face, and spoke to the girls.

  ‘We’re moving off,’ said Teena. Natalya shook the reins and the vehicle juddered for a foot or so before beginning to glide.

  ‘Thanks for helping us,’ said David.

  Fyodor smiled broadly, understanding not a word of David’s language, but he recognised the tone and knew what was meant.

  For the next few hours the caravan swayed like some great well-fed snow snake east towards Norilsk. Inside each van a family busied themselves doing what Nentsy families did. Many of them made belts that signified the life of their families. While some young girls were starting on their first belt, others were adding to ones that had been in the family for generations. David noticed that the pretty Natalya was beginning a new belt, perhaps for a hoped-for addition to the Grabar family.

  ‘How did you find us?’ asked David. The girls translated the best they could and there was much laughter between them all as they tried to discover what each was saying. David noticed Natalya hiding her smiles shyly behind her hand, and found it curiously erotic.

  The Nentsy had been aware of them for quite some time. Some of the men had been out searching for deer that had strayed away from their small herd, and saw David’s party. The men reported to Fyodor, who was one of the tribe elders. He told them to keep watch on them, not knowing if they were Russians on some scientific expedition, ‘Coming to see what more they could take from the Nentsy.’

  The arrival of the soldiers had confirmed that they were enemies of the Russian state and that was good enough for Fyodor and the other elders, who decided that any enemy of the Russian state was a friend of theirs; hence the rescue.

  The van came to a stop, and for a moment David’s anxiety returned. Fyodor pulled back the heavy drapes that acted as a door and David could see that night had begun to fall and the group was setting up camp before anyone got lost in the darkness. Like some western movie the other vans began to form a circle and David saw the movement of people between vans, and a number of children appeared on the snow to play in the twilight.

  Fyodor dropped from the van and went out, presumably to consult with the other elders, and Natalya followed him to feed and secure the reindeer for the night. While they were gone David surveyed the van. It was cosy and quite spacious. There was the proverbial place for everything and everything in its place. The walls were covered in heavy blankets made from the winter wool of the reindeer. They were brightly decorated with beads of amber, malachite and jade; evidence of the trade the Nentsy conducted with other tribes. Utensils that had clinked happily during the journey now hung silent from hooks hammered into the wooden frame. Everything was silent and David relaxed and motioned for the girls to fetch his drinking horn. He considered there was enough time to take a few drinks before setting up his tent, and sat back on a hair-stuffed mattress to enjoy his vodka. It was warm, just as the van was, but he couldn’t allow himself to relax too much; there was still work to do setting up his own camp.

  The drapes opened and Natalya climbed inside. She was carrying a slab of meat that trailed blood, which Teena and Mishka looked at expectantly. Their eyes met with Natalya and words were exchanged, and the girls rose and went to fetch a small knife that Natalya pointed to, then all three squatted on the floor of the van and began to remove the small amount of skin still left on the meat.

  When Fyodor entered a few moments later the girls were rubbing salt and herbs into the flesh. He smiled and took down a pouch filled with loki, began stuffing it into a long wooden pipe and offered it to David.

  David refused, saying that he must set up his camp. The girls repeated what he said and Fyodor shook his hands and head in an exaggerated manner.

  ‘We sleep here,’ Mishka said.

  David smiled and answered that Fyodor had done enough for them, but Mishka was clever enough to only mention David’s gratitude. ‘You offend them if we not sleep,’ she told him. Relieved that he didn’t have to venture out into the falling night, David nodded happily and Fyodor returned his gesture and once again offered the loki. In return David offered his drinking
horn.

  Natalya left the girls washing some vegetables and went about the van lighting small oil lamps, which flickered and gave off a faint but pleasant scent. The loki pipe went back and forth between the two men until the girls presented them with the food, and laughed when David looked apprehensively at the raw meat. They were as relaxed as him and were having some fun, and David slapped Teena’s bottom and pointed to the stove. Natalya looked confused and the girls explained that he only ate his meat cooked. Fyodor laughed too.

  ‘He laughs because white men are strange,’ said Mishka. ‘You live all together and,’ she struggled for the words, ‘you eat food in metal tubes. You have to cut it out with a tool. He says why?’

  David shrugged his shoulders and Natalya offered him the plate again, but Fyodor picked up the meat and threw it on the stove himself. Then the four Arctic people ate while David waited hungrily on his reindeer steak.

  The four chatted amongst themselves quite feverishly and David found himself an onlooker, his thoughts concentrating on Natalya. Her contribution was less than that of the others on account of her innate shyness, which David found very attractive. She looked about the same age as Mishka and Teena, perhaps a bit younger, and her curves were less obvious. She had small breasts and her hips didn’t flare out in the way of his girls. She also had her hair cut in a crude bob that gave her an open honest look – a look of innocence that was no doubt a lie, given the age of Fyodor and the fact that she was his woman.

  Teena handed David his steak and the contrast between the girls became more obvious as he surveyed her large breasts, a characteristic she shared with her sister. The girls were also wearing fur skins and leather strappings to complement the amber jewellery he loved to see them wear. Natalya wore heavy, brightly coloured woollen clothes, including a high-necked top that encased her slim throat and seemed to mount her head on a pedestal. She noticed him watching her, and for a moment her eyes met his, but David did not look away. His gaze bore through the flicker of defiance she suddenly displayed, and even in the dim lights he could see she had become embarrassed by his attention.