Fire

by Fire [Evernight] (mobi)

  “Go straight to the shore and meet us there.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He turned to look at Flame who was staring in amazement at him.

  “Coms unit. Personal communications device,” he explained.

  “You were also writing on it though. Old Anny can write. She taught us some things so we could recognize where we went.”

  He watched as she drew a letter N in Earth language in the air. “That is used to show north, although we almost never saw signs with it on anymore. When Old Anny was young there were still many direction signs, but most had fallen down or been used by scavengers before us.”

  “Tonight you can show me what other letters you know. Would you like to learn to read and write? I’d be teaching you in Mu Araen though, not in Earth.”

  “You said you had stores of learning about how to grow plants and make solar fires. Would they be in your language?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that’s the language I need then. I would like you to teach me Mu Araen please.”

  “We’ll do that.”

  He hurried down the hill then slowed, aware her legs were much shorter than his, but she was close behind him.

  “Would I be permitted to teach Skye, Raine, and Terah as well? We all might need this learning.”

  Chad felt a little embarrassed. He hadn’t even thought of the other women, but of course they’d be much more useful to his people if they could read simple instructions.

  “Only Andreas can speak for Terah. She is his bride. But I expect he will agree.”

  Chad led the way to the seashore, Flame still walking behind him even when the path was wide enough for them to go side by side. He wondered if that was the way her people usually walked, or if she believed she must follow him. He could talk to her later. Right now they were needed.

  ****

  Flame was excited to see everyone gathered together again. She’d only seen them all once, at the meal they’d shared the previous night. Those memories had been pushed to the back of her mind because since then she’d been claimed by Chad and fucked so very thoroughly by him. Her breasts tingled and her cunt filled with honey when she thought of all the ways he’d aroused her desire. And then, not long ago, she’d taken the initiative and kissed him. She wanted him to know that she appreciated the way he’d taken care of her. Even when he’d spanked her it’d given her pleasure. It’d made her desire for him hotter than ever.

  There was a pile of purple uniforms on a rock at the back of the little beach, and all the men were naked apart from their underwear. Her new understanding of Mu Araen gave her the word. Briefs. The men’s undergarment was called briefs.

  Suddenly Flame had a horrible thought. She wasn’t wearing her panties. The ones Chad had brought for her were too big and instead of sending her to collect her pack and her own panties he’d told her to go naked under the coverall. If she took it off everyone would know. The cotton shirt she wore fell to her hips but as soon as she moved around it’d become obvious her pussy and ass were bare. Yet the coverall was heavy fabric and once it was wet it’d drag her down in the water. Wearing it would be dangerous.

  “Chad?”

  “What’s wrong, Flame?”

  “I can’t wear my coverall in the water. The fabric will be too heavy when it’s wet.”

  “So take it off.”

  “But I’m not wearing panties. They didn’t fit.” She didn’t say it was his fault, that she could have gone and gotten her own ones. He wasn’t to know they’d be visiting the sea today.

  “Damn. Just leave your shirt on. Once you’re in the water no one will know anyway.”

  She took her sandals off but left the coverall on as she stood on the beach while the men organized their net. It was much, much bigger than any net she’d ever seen before, and whatever it had been woven from was much finer than the nets her community used to make. Their fishing nets were thin sticks woven together as a frame, and then vines and coarse fibers to make the net itself. The fibers used on the Mu Araen net were so fine it was difficult to see them. They were also a lot closer together than her community would have made the net. It was very important to scavengers to always leave more for the future, so the smallest fish would always wiggle free from their net.

  These people must have had different rules, or maybe they’d throw back any fish they caught and didn’t want. Flame watched intently to learn how the warriors worked.

  One thing she couldn’t help but notice was how effectively they all cooperated with each other. Her people usually cooperated as well. When people worked together they were more likely to succeed. But sometimes someone, almost always an older man, disagreed with the way a project was being carried out, and refused to do what everyone else was doing. There was nothing like that here. One of the men was giving the instructions, and the other men were laying out the net as he said, spreading it out, marking the edges, and getting ready to walk it out into the water.

  Flame found herself hoping there were fish in this ocean. She knew there were supposed to be, but she also knew from hungry nights in the past, that fish didn’t always get caught in a net. Some of them seemed to be wise enough to avoid it, and other times they simply weren’t where they were expected to be.

  Raine had skills at finding fish. She was always the first to see the bubble in still water or the slight ripple that showed a fish was hiding under the edge of a river bank or behind a rock. Flame wondered if they’d be carrying the net out to some rocky outcrops not too far from the shore. She also hoped the water wasn’t too deep. She could swim, they all could, but not very well. Once again, Raine was better than the rest of them, although none of them were truly expert.

  Skye and Raine were waiting off to one side where they must have been told to stand. Flame stayed by her sandals, unwilling to remove her coverall until the last minute. She ached to go and talk to her friends, but that would mean getting undressed and once she was walking around people would see her bare behind.

  Terah was with the blond leader, her warrior. It was fitting that she, the firstborn of the four of them and always their leader, should be the bride of the Mu Araen leader. Flame wondered how Chad had known she belonged to him. He was clearly correct because the language had come to her just as he’d said it would. Well, he’d used words she didn’t understand back then, but now she realized that unleashing her power was that she would know the language and could communicate properly with him, although there were still many things she needed to learn.

  Flame looked at each of the warriors, wondering if one of them would be for Skye or for Raine. It seemed logical that their warriors would be here as well, yet no man was claiming either of them. Chad had said he recognized her scent. She wasn’t sure how that worked. All Mu Araens smelled different from Earth people to her.

  She also wondered why they all had purple eyes. Maybe it was a Mu Araen characteristic. Certainly their uniforms were purple so the color must mean something to them.

  Just then one of the men yelled out, “Women, come here.”

  Flame slid the coverall off her body and walked very upright, hoping her shirt hid her nakedness.

  The men ranged themselves around three sides of the net and picked up the edge of it. It was hardly even a frame. It was a thicker piece of fabric, but still hard to see. Flame was sure it would trick the fish.

  “You women take the fourth side. We will go first so you remain in the shallower water. Hold it down as low as you can. I don’t want all the fish swimming underneath it get away. We can’t go as deep as I’d like anyway since you’re all so short.”

  The man seemed disgruntled, but Flame didn’t want to tell him they could swim. He might think they were very good swimmers and go out much too deep for them if she said that.

  The sea got deeper only gradually so they were able to walk many paces from shore before the water was up to Flame’s neck. The man, who the other men called Duncan, instructed them on how he wanted them to hold
the net and they waited silently and completely still in the hope that fish would be trapped. All the women had done this many times and were good at waiting. Flame noticed some of the men grimaced and frowned but no one moved until Duncan gave the word to lift the nets up and walk it back to shore.

  Flame was pleased to see they had caught some fish. Not very many but one was big enough for several people to eat.

  She used her new counting words and decided there were ten plus three fish, enough for all of them to have one to him or herself, which was an absolute feast, plus the big one for some of them to share another day.

  However Duncan was very annoyed. “These women are useless. I know we could do better if we went much deeper into the water.”

  Flame was glad he spoke in Mu Araen so her friends didn’t know what he said.

  However Raine spoke up very hesitantly. “Masters, may I speak?”

  She looked very frightened, yet determined.

  It was Andreas, Terah’s warrior, who answered her. “Speak.”

  “If we took the net over there to those rocks we would catch more fish. The fish are swimming in and out of the rocky outcrop and hiding in the crevices. Fish prefer to rest during the daytime and they like a place without turbulent water.”

  “How would you know?” sneered Duncan.

  Flame longed to speak in Raine’s defense, but wasn’t brave enough to answer. However Terah was. “Raine understands water and fish. We are scavengers. Catching food is how we survive.”

  The fish they’d caught had been put in a large pot with seawater in it. Flame couldn’t identify them all, but they looked just like ordinary fish to her and she was sure they’d be good to eat. Some kinds of fish had a lot more bones in them than others, but they were all adults so a few bones shouldn’t matter. They were all too smart to swallow one. Besides, the bones were good to use for sewing. She would save some to make the clothing Chad had given her fit better. First she’d have to find a plant with strong fibers to use as thread, but having fish bones for a needle was half of what she needed already supplied.

  The warriors straightened out the net again, and then they walked it through the water and formed a ring around the rocky outcrop. This time they didn’t wait as long, maybe because the men were getting tired of waiting, or possibly because Duncan wasn’t convinced Raine was correct. However, when the net was raised there were a lot of fish in it. More than Flame could count. She was hugely relieved that Raine had been vindicated.

  The men began to grab the fish and drop them into the pot, but Chad said, “There’s too many for that container. The women will know which ones are good to eat. We should prepare them now.”

  Flame looked at Andreas who simply nodded, so she and Terah went across to point out the varieties they recognized.

  “Andreas, Raine will know more than I do,” Terah said.

  Duncan raced across the beach and grabbed Raine’s arm. “Raine, Raine, Raine. Raine knows fucking everything. Who are you, bitch? Why have you been sent to torment me? Your scent is driving me wild, making you me crave you, but I don’t even like you. I hate you.”

  Everyone on the beach stopped what they were doing and stared silently at Raine and Duncan.

  In the silence Andreas spoke. “You’d better learn how to like her, Duncan. And don’t even think about hurting her. That woman is your bride. Take her to your room and get to know her properly in a civilized manner.”

  Flame stared as Duncan kept hold of Raine’s arm and began marching up the hill off the beach, and back toward the village. Raine hurried along behind him, her arm outstretched from where he gripped it.

  “Fletcher, take over here. Herman, you’re still in charge of the ship. Terah, Flame, Skye, tell them what you know about the fish.”

  ****

  It was only hours later, after all the fish had been cleaned, filleted, and frozen for later eating, and the mess had been cleaned up, that he realized he and Flame had never eaten lunch. He prepared a snack for them both to take to his room, so Fletcher could take over the galley and begin preparing the night meal, and went looking for Flame. She, Skye, and Terah were sorting though a pile of fish bones.

  “What are you doing? Why didn’t you put the bones through the mulcher?”

  “What is mulcher?” Flame asked.

  “It turns food scraps into nutrients for plants. Now you answer me.”

  He hadn’t realized he must have sounded tired and grumpy until she jumped to her feet and said, “Sorry, sir. Fish bones are wonderful for sewing. We’ve saved some of the ones we want to use to make sewing kits so we can fix our clothing. There are enough for all of us.”

  “But we already have plenty of needles and thread and all that you need to make or mend clothes. Why would you want fish bones?”

  “You have needles? More than one? Really?”

  “Yes. I’ll show you tomorrow. Right now I’m hungry and haven’t had my lunch. Come with me now.”

  Flame hurried to his side and followed him out of the dining room, up the narrow circular stairway, and back to his room. He put the food on his table and handed her the sandwich he’d made for her.

  “Food? For me? But we already ate this morning.”

  “You might be used to eating only once a day but I’m not. Eat, unless you truly can’t fit it into your belly.”

  He sat on the side of his bed and ate his first sandwich, drank half the water, and ate his second sandwich. He had a little more water and began to feel better. Chad looked across at Flame who was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She was nibbling on the last of her sandwich so he gave her the water bottle. Carefully she tilted it, sipped, and slowly drank before taking a second sip.

  “Are you worried about spilling it?” he asked remembering what she’d said about the spoon.

  “Of course. We haven’t found a river yet. What will happen if your water starts to run out?”

  “Actually they’ve found a well here. I haven’t spoken to anyone as yet about if they’ve tested how deep it is, but the well water is drinkable so there’s no immediate worry about our water supply. Drink up and enjoy.

  She smiled at him and took several more cautious sips, swirling each of them around in her mouth before swallowing. He guessed the habits of a lifetime wouldn’t easily be changed. He also thought, as the chef, maybe he ought to pay more attention to checking the well, but tomorrow would do for that. They could trap water when it rained and filter it if they needed to. The huge canopy protecting the ship would be the perfect surface to use to capture rain and they knew it was clean and untainted by any pollution or disease.

  Just looking at Flame reminded him of how much he longed to fuck her again. Chad’s cock was aching with need and so huge it pressed hard against his uniform. He stripped out of his uniform, and called Flame over to him.

  He tugged her between his legs and opened the coverall, brushing it off her body and down until it fell at her feet. He ignored the buttons on her shirt. It was too big for her anyway, so he pulled it off over her head.

  “Put my cock in your cunt and sit on my lap.”

  She climbed over him and did as he said. Her cunt felt damp on his thighs so he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  “I liked it when you kissed me. Kiss me again.”

  “I want to kiss you. You taste very nice.”

  Her lips were soft and warm against his and he pulled her body hard against his chest. She was so small and fragile in his arms, and yet he knew she was as strong and fit as he could ever hope a bride would be. She’d kept up with all their activities today without any complaints or any struggling. In fact, she was probably tougher than him, because he’d been extremely hungry and yet she hadn’t required food or drink, although she’d eaten it when he handed it to her.

  He pushed her hips down harder so his cock could stretch inside her. She was so fucking tight. Even though he’d possessed her several times now her cunt was still as tight as the very first time he’
d entered her. Flame’s inner muscles gripped his cock and held it in a warm wet embrace, driving him insane with the need to fuck her and fill her with his seed. He pulled her against his chest until her nipples were little rocks digging into his skin, and then he lowered his hand to her round little ass, and toyed with her rosette. All the time he touched her she continued to kiss him and press her mouth against his lips, his eyebrows, his nose, and then his jaw line.

  Chad tugged on her hair, pulling her back from him so he could stare into her face. “I love you, my bride. I can’t imagine ever being with anyone but you. You’re the only one I want and need forever.”

  He rubbed his finger over the bruise where her neck and shoulder joined. “I’m sorry if this hurts you, but I needed to claim you. I have to mark you, to label you as mine.”

  Flame wrapped her arms around his neck, her huge amber eyes gazing into his. “I liked it when you sucked my skin so hard. I liked it when you spanked me and when your cock slammed into my cervix. These things only hurt at the start, and then they give me enormous pleasure. When you touch me like that I come harder than ever. I liked the dildo as well.”

  He noticed her struggling for some of the words and that made his cock even happier. “The power between us is growing stronger. You’re learning more of my language all the time. I don’t want to hurt you. I only want to pleasure you. I’ll never deliberately harm you, only give you a little pleasure-pain to make you orgasm even more. Can you trust me?”

  “Of course. I love you, too. I was prepared to serve my master to the very best of my ability. But it’ll be so much better serving my warrior who loves me.

  “In that case my bride, let me see if I can find your cervix again. Press that sexy ass down onto my thighs as hard as you can on every stroke.”

  “Should I touch your nipples as well? I like it when you touch mine.”

  “Pinch them, bite them, as hard as you like.”

  Chad thrust his cock up inside her cunt, and then slammed her ass down on his thighs. He kept his hands on her hips, holding her tight, and grinding her body onto his thighs, letting his cock stretch and grow, fill and engorge until his balls were drawn up tight against his body and he ached to fill her with his seed. She licked and sucked his nipples but didn’t bite them. Later he’d bite her nipples and demonstrate how to do it to arouse her, but right now he was focused on giving her the climax he’d wanted to give her all day.