by Smith, Skye
They were seen by the tower watch, and the call went out to clear the sweat lodge, not that it needed clearing for the only folks in it were the children who had been called back from collecting fuel. The adults were working on a different problem ... keeping the heavy wet snow from collapsing the thatch roofs. Some had created crosses by lashing short studs to poles, and were using them to drag the snow down off the roofs. With the larger roofs, men had tossed ropes over them and then from both ends were pulling the ropes sideways down the roofs to dislodge the snow.
When Teesa reached the village, the sight of folk in hooded cloaks racing around with tall crosses made her stop, stare, and gasp. It was like something from the stories of the Catholic Inquisitors that Presbyterians told their children to scare them into good behaviour. Daniel had to push her to one side because he was trying to get the lad into the sweat lodge before his back, legs and feet failed him. Pushing her caused him to stumble, but he and his load were spared a fall because two big women dropped their crosses and ran to his side to take his load.
The four rescuers limped after the big women into the communal bath house, and then directly into the sweat lodge. The children who had been warming themselves inside it were already dressing to clear the way for them. All the traditional rules about cleansing yourself and disrobing before entering the sweat lodge were ignored, for the lads life was at stake, never mind the feet of the rescuers. Teesa led the women into the heat, and told the women to lay Teller out on the widest of the benches. They did so and then frantically began undressing him to get him out of the icy cloth.
"We should begin by rubbing his arms and legs to get the blood flowing,” Teesa told them.
"Nay Teesa,” one of them told her. "It'll take body warmth to bring him round, and meanwhile he should keep moving.” With that she shucked her own clothing and pulled the lad up into her arms and began to dance the limp body around the floor. The other woman saw her idea and shucked her clothing and joined in the dance. Though both women were middle aged and likely had children the same age as Teller, they were still fit and voluptuous. The lad was now held up by being squashed between their two warm bodies as they danced him slowly around and around.
A young girl came in to fetch a doll she had forgotten in her hurry to make room, and colder air swirled in as soon as she opened the door. "Outside clothes and boots are not allowed in the lodge,” she scolded. A weak bleating caused her to turn her head. "Animals are never allowed,” she scolded, "I'm telling.” And with that she fled the sacrilege of the soiled holy place. By this time everyone was nude and letting the hot dry air wrap them in warmth. The child was right of course, and they all stared guiltily at the piles of muddy clothing steaming away on the floor, and then the pile of wool that was the ewe, also steaming away.
The door opened again and Venka and Sarah rushed in fully clothed, so also ignoring the traditional rules. "Teller, oh Teller,” Sarah sobbed and then stared at the three who were still slow dancing, cuddle dancing, around the floor. "Will he be all right?"
"Yer lad'll be right as rain, love,” replied the woman who had Teller's face buried in her cleavage. "His blood is flowin' again. I can tell 'cause there is a throbbing big cock against my belly."
"You're sure?” Sarah said, as she snuffed up her last sob.
"Tell you what, I'll take him into my bed tonight just to make sure."
"Yes, I suppose it is time that he learns about women,” Sarah admitted. "Alright, but be gentle with him.” Though her Presbyterian in-laws would be shocked if they ever learned of it, there was a tradition in this village that teen lads should be taught sexual skills by middle aged women. Women who were beyond childbirth. Women such as the two now rubbing their bodies all over her son's. The dance was so erotic to watch that she felt a stirring inside her, and glanced over to her husband. Daniel was also watching the dance, and the eroticism was having a visible effect on him. Not just on him, but on the other two men as well.
Sarah went out of the lodge, but only long enough to disrobe and rinse herself so that she could enter again all cleansed. Teesa and the men took notice of the respect she had shown, and since they were now warmer and rested, they too left the lodge taking their clothes and the ewe with them, and returned only after they had cleansed themselves. As they came back into the lodge, they heard a child's cry from outside. "Catch that ewe. It should be in one of the animal houses. Catch it. It's running away."
Daniel sat on one side of Sarah, and Teesa on the other, and they watched the slow dance. Teesa called out, "I think he is just faking it now, just so the dance won't end. Let him test his own legs.” The two women slowly disengaged from the lad. Very slowly just in case his legs were not yet working and he fell. He didn't fall. Instead he smirked and reached out and cupped one of the breasts that his face had been warmed by. "Yep, he was faking,” Teesa laughed, relieved that her cousin had survived.
At that point, other women began pouring through the door to get warm. Teesa was very glad they had already taken their clothing and the ewe out, else there would have been some tense explaining to do, her being a seer and thus a keeper of such rules.
"The snow is no longer so wet,” one of them said, "so it is no longer as heavy."
"So the temperature is still dropping, then,” Daniel surmised. "The birds were right. There is a deep freeze coming. With the colder weather, the snow flakes will get dryer and lighter until they are like white dust, and then they will stop all together. It may even turn too cold to snow. I'm so glad we are not still out in the marshes."
"I hope all of our guests made it home before the snow began,” Sarah said, and sent a prayer up to the ceiling for their safety. The two women with Teller were gathering up their clothes and his, and were pushing him out of the lodge. They had decided to finish warming him in a bed, and she waved to them and mouthed "be gentle.” More women were pushing in through the door, so the rescue party decided to find some clean clothing and meet up again in the longhouse.
Sarah and Daniel never made it to the longhouse. They never even dressed in clean clothes. They had found Venka's comfy cottage, and her bed empty. In truth it was Sarah's cottage and bed too, because Sarah had given her own small cottage to Teesa once she and Venka had both been proclaimed as Daniel's second wives. It would have been a shame not to use the rare opportunity of privacy to make smiles and visit with each other, intimately. Once his initial lust was spent, she got what she really wanted, a full length cuddle, skin to skin while connected.
Their privacy did not last long, and once other families came in seeking shelter from the storm, they donned their bathhouse robes to keep them warm as they sat up on the bed, and then relaxed back on the pillows and whispered their personal news to each other.
"Did it excite you that I had just came from another man's bed?” Sarah eventually asked, with a mischievous grin.
"No, I mean yes. Ugh, Yes,” Daniel replied to the trick question. Why did women persist in asking trick questions? "And have you? I mean, just come from another man's bed?"
"From his bed, yes. From his intimacy, no. Rob is still feverish and weak. Teesa is worried that she may have to re-open the wound. That she may have missed something, for what else would explain why the fever is continuing."
"Oh I hope not,” Daniel groaned. Poor Rob. If Teesa does reopen the wound, like as not she will apply maggots to eat away any rotting flesh. Well that was a sorrow for tomorrow. Today everyone needed to hide from this storm and keep each other warm. Every time the door opened they were reminded of how quickly the outside temperature was dropping. It was now well below freezing, and the snow that wafted in the doorway was like white dust.
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The Pistoleer - Invasion by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-15
Chapter 16 - A Blizzard in the Fens in January 1643
The fisherman's cape he was wearing over all else had made all the difference. It was made out of waxed sail cloth so that it would sh
ed water when the fishermen were working the nets. Today it was keeping the wind out of Daniels winter woolen cloak. Not that this cape had every been used by a fisherman, because it did not stink of fish. Two of the local women had been sewing them out of the scraps of old sail cloth, in hopes of selling them in Lynn's market come spring. Under the cape and the cloak he wore a woolen tunic and britches, and under those, his silk nightshirt was smooth and comfortable next to his skin.
His feet and hands were feeling the cold, and his legs were not warm, but from the thigh up, he was toasty warm. He wondered how long it would take the same women to whip up something similar for over all his britches to keep his legs warm. He would ask them later. Right now he needed to find Cleff and ask him how much colder it would get and for how much longer. He walked along the edge of the ship's pool and tested the ice with his boot. Solid. The ice was already so thick that there was not even the telltale sound of the ice cracking under his weight. He stepped out further.
"Get back to shore, fool,” Cleff's voice came from behind him, "that is the stupidest way of testing the strength of ice. Even the kiddies know that."
With a sheepish grin, Daniel returned to the shore. "It looks solid enough."
"Aye, but there are currents underneath so the ice is thicker in some places than others.” Cleff stood beside Daniel and together they stared at the two small ships that were high and dry and waiting for their bottoms to be sealed. "I hope Anso had the good sense to hole the Swift up in Holland. It'd be a bitch trying to sail her in this cold."
"Do you think it's cold enough to freeze sea water yet?"
"Not yet, but it's likely cold enough to strengthen ale and wine,” Cleff replied. "We should roll out some kegs and teach the kiddies how to do it.” It was simple enough to do. Just pour the wine into a clean wooden half-barrel, let it sit and then skim off the water that turned to ice and floated to the surface. Each time you did a skim, the remaining ale or wine became stronger. When you re-melted the skim in a pot, it was the cleanest and most delicious of drinking waters. "There's not much work anyone can do in a big freeze, but that is one of them."
Two boys came up to them wearing every bit of clothing they owned. Over their shoulders hung some pairs of schaats that Anso had brought back from Holland a couple of years ago. The cunning Dutch had added a double bladed strip of steel to the spine of the schaats, and that had completely changed how they were used. No longer did you need to pole yourself along, because with these you could dig the blade into the ice and push yourself along with your feet. Almost immediately the boys of Wellenhay had thrown away their old bone and wood schaats. "Can we test the ice fer ya, Daniel?” one of them asked.
Cleff and Daniel looked at each other, and Cleff nodded. "Go fetch a line to tie around yourselves for safety, and we'll keep it taught."
Now usually anything as interesting as the testing of the ice on the pool by schaaters would have drawn a crowd, but not today. Today the folk were happy enough to stay warm inside. Yule had only just ended, and they were all in need of a rest. The lads each strapped the schaats to their boots, tied a long line around under their arms, and then half walked, half hobbled out onto the ice. A moment later they were gliding.
"Stay away from each other!” Cleff yelled out. "Two in the same place may be more than the ice can hold.” He pointed. "Go and test the ice between us and the beached ships. Tell us if it would be safe for a man to walk to the ships."
Young boys were always eager to do a useful task. They glided about easily for there was nary any snow covering the ice, because the water had frozen only after the snow had turned to dust. They made it, one at a time, all the way over to the ships, and then all the way back. "It's good and frozen for the most part,” one reported, "but weakest in the center. I could hear it cracking as I slid over it."
"Was there anywhere else that seemed thin?"
The two boys looked at each other and shrugged. "No, just the middle. The edges are solid."
Cleff walked over to a coil of heavy ships rope, and drew it off from the coil and marched it back to the boys. "You each take and end of this rope, and you place it along to mark the end of the solid ice. We'll keep your safety lines taught while you do it. Once that is done you can tell the other boys that they can schaat on the pool, but only on this side of the rope. Is that clear."
The two boys cheered and eagerly glided off in different directions dragging the stiff hawser behind them. When they were finished, they took off their schaats and ran towards the houses to fetch the other children, and a whicker ball. Daniel looked down at a pair of the schaats and then held them alongside boot to see if they were long enough for him. They were so he strapped them on.
"Come on Cleff, strap the other pair on. Let's have a go before the boys get back."
"Not me lad. I tried them when Anso first brought them. The bloody ice is as hard as stone when you trip and fall, and trippin' an' fallin' is all I seemed able to do."
Daniel tried to use the schaats and immediately tripped and fell. The ice was bloody hard. While he pushed himself back up he thought about his trip. He hadn't actually tripped. The schaats had slid out from under him. Then he closed his eyes and envisioned how the boys had done it. They did it one step at a time by digging the blade in on their rear foot. He brushed himself off and tried again. This time he glided at least six feet before his feet went out from under him and he fell hard on his backside. This time it was harder to stand back up, until he realized that he had to get on his knees first.
Now he had an audience. Five boys and two girls, all near teens, were on shore strapping on schaats, and they were pointing at him and laughing. They had short staves with them, and a wicker ball. He crawled over and snatched two of the staves from them, and then used them to keep his balance as he tottered around on the ice. "I was wrong,” he called to the boys who were gliding towards him. "I don't need cover alls to keep my legs warm, I need a pillow to save my bum.” The little buggers slid by effortlessly and snatched their staves back.
One of the girls glided to him to help him keep his balance. She was a sweet thing wearing her mother's cloak with the extra length tied up between her legs for extra warmth. Her mother was the big woman who was teaching Teller how to pleasure a woman. She held onto his arms to steady him and then dug her own schaats in and got him gliding. "With a bit of practice, I could do this,” he told her.
"With a bit of practice and a lot of pillow,” she giggled.
"Oye, it's my turn,” came a wail from a boy standing alone on the bank.
"Turn me around, love,” Daniel said, "and let's see if I can make it all the way back.” He did, almost. With her help he got gliding along at better than a walking pace, and it only dawned on him as he approached the bank that he didn't know how to stop. At least the bank had a foot of snow on it, so it cushioned his bum. As he lay there in the deep snow, he lifted his boots so the waiting boy could un-strap the schaats.
There was a hollow tapping sound coming from the ice and he looked over, and then rolled into a sitting position so he could watch the game the boys were playing. The hollow sound was their staves slashing at the wicker ball to push it along the ice. They were using splits of firewood to mark a goal at each end of the ice, but they had made the goal narrow enough that they didn't need a keeper. Something nudged him and he looked around. Cleff had fetched a cushion for him, and a larger pair of schaats.
"This winter I am going to learn how to do that,” Daniel said, as he nodded towards the boys gliding along slashing at the ball. "How long do you think this freeze will last?"
"The safest forecast is to say,” Cleff replied, "the same as yesterday. In this case, the same as last winter. Last winter was the worst I can remember. We had one big freeze of two weeks, and another for three."
"So two or three weeks. Bugger. Do we have enough fuel and food?"
"Maybe. We weren't expectin' such a big turnout for Christian Yule,” Cleff replied. "Oh well, we've lots of co
in. On the first break in the weather we'll send a ship out to a market town and buy more."
"Don't count on it. This stupid war has caused shortages everywhere. It doesn't matter how much coin you have if there is nothing to buy."
"There's always fish. Last winter we found out that if we chop a hole in thick ice, the fish swim to it. I think that is because they need to breath, but Teesa says they were attracted to the light ... you know ... like fishing at night with a lantern."
"So do you use a gaff or a jig?” Daniel began to say, but a figure came into the corner of his eye. It could have been anyone because they were so bundled up, and their face was wrapped in a woolen scarf. Until the figure had stopped beside him and had loosened his scarf, he had no idea who it was. "Teller, I didn't recognize you. You look taller,” Daniel told his step-son.
"Yeh, six inches taller,” Cleff snickered. "So you're a lad now, eh, no longer a boy? How'd ya like yer first hump?"
"Wonderful!” Teller exclaimed slurring the vowels. "I want more. I mean, not just the, um, you know, but everything. I've decided to stay here with mother, rather than go back to school in Cambridge. That is ... well ... I'll have to go back to pack my things and to brag to the other boys, but I really, really want to live here and learns ships and guns and hunting."
"And women,” Cleff laughed. "You didn't mention learning women."
"I forbid it. You must finish school,” Daniel told the lad. "Whether you want a good life in Cambridge or a good life here, you need to finish school. You will be the first in our clan to do so.” The lad opened his mouth to argue. "It's not open to discussion. If you finish school you will become a very important man in this clan no matter what else you do. If you don't, you will be just another seaman. Have you spoken to your mother about this new plan of yours?"
