Raised By Wolves Volume four- Wolves (62 page)

were well up next to my belly, which was considering heaving a

were well up next to my belly, which was considering heaving a great deal. Everyone looked as tense and frightened as I felt. I prayed to Poseidon.

Several hours later, the rain hit. Cudro had straightened our course to the east again, so that we ran into the wind and took the swells head on. We were now much closer to shore, but far too far to swim in the heavy seas if the need should tragically arise. And sadly, we were still quite close to the Spaniards. I considered the irony of our sailing right into their bayafter we had sailed allnight to avoid them.

We had lashed everything down, and now we took turns bailing. The stormwas not a bad one:I had weathered far worse onmyvoyages, but not ona boat less thana score offeet long.

Interminable hours later, the wind and rain abated. We were stillafloat.
I pried the tiller fromCudro’s exhausted hands and sent him forward to derive what warmth he could from his sopping wet matelot. I sat and shivered in the cold in the aftermath of the activity until my matelot wrapped himself about my waist and pulled me off the bench and down into the hull. There at least most of my body could be hidden from the wind and spray if I kept myshoulders hunched and myhead low.
I could see nothing. I held the tiller so that it pointed directly at the mast, but in truth I could not tell if I was sailing a straight course until the clouds finally parted. Then I found the North Star—ominously close to our bow—and put it above a notch in the rail beside my left shoulder. I told myself sailing east was best untildawn.

Gaston slept in my arms for a time and at last relieved

Gaston slept in my arms for a time and at last relieved me so that I could doze draped around him. I woke to his prodding. The horizon was bright directly ahead of us. Our little craft was still intact, though our sail was quite tattered. Cudro and Ash slept together amidship; and to our amusement, Pete slept curled protectively about Chris in the bow. We watched the sun rise without rousing the others. It was a glorious thing to know there would be another day.

Once the sun was too bright to gaze upon, I looked elsewhere. I saw only sea. My balls again retreated to my belly and my stomach roiled. With a great dealofcursing—on his part and mine—I roused Cudro. He turned us south. All eyes were now wide and upon the horizon beyond the bow. All mouths were now assuring one another we could not have sailed so far east that we would miss the island by sailing south. We were all very relieved when at last a grey-green smudge emerged from the haze.

There were mountains ahead of us—and off our starboard side—when the wind rose and the clouds once again gathered on the eastern horizon. We decided we were sailing into the great vee ofa bayI had seenfromthe mountain; and that if we headed to the closest shore we would be well past the Spaniards. So we turned west and only caught the start of the stormbefore we managed to get ashore. We turned our craft on its side and huddled beneathit.

“We’lllikely be seeing this every afternoon now,” Cudro rumbled inthe stuffygloom.
I could barely hear him over the pounding rain and I yelled in response. “Let us stay close to land as we were before, yelled in response. “Let us stay close to land as we were before, and onlysailwhenit is clear.”
“It’lltake months to get there ifthe easterncoast is fullof these peninsulas,” He said loudly. “We’ll be sailing in and out of them for the rest of the year. And then we have the coast near Santo Dominga.”
“Aye,” I snapped. “So what would you have us do? Hand ourselves over to the Spanish? Steal a larger craft? Walk across land? Returnto Tortuga?”
“I don’t know!”he roared back.
“Then kindly shut your mouth,” I yelled. “We are alive, free, and travelinginthe directionwe wishto go. That is far more thanmanymenever achieve inlife.”
Pete laughed. “Aye, QuitYurWhinin’.”
Cudro cursed and grumbled inDutchfor a time.
I fancied melancholy fell in the huge drops of rain, like ink dripped down from heaven. I clutched Gaston and he murmured a query.
“Do not let the melancholyclaimme,”I hissed inhis ear.
His hand went to my crotch, and I expected a poignant but eventually melancholy drift toward Heaven and down again. The rain and wet hair was already minding me yet again of my first tryst with Shane. Instead, Gaston grasped my balls and twisted until I jerked and smothered a groan with my teeth in his

baldric.“Please me,”he growled inmyear.

 

I took a sharp breath. “Or what?” I hissed back with a

 

grin. He snorted and tightened his grip threateningly. “Or I will

He snorted and tightened his grip threateningly. “Or I will make you sorely regret your lack of appreciation for being alive, free, and sailinginthe directionwe want—withme.”

I laughed into his shoulder. “Oui, mylord.”

He squirmed about and rolled atop me. I accidentally kicked someone inthe process.
“Oh for the love of God, do you two ever stop!” Chris complained.
“Non,”Gastonand I said as one.
Then my man was shedding his wet clothes and tugging at mine. Garnering more chuckles from Pete and curses from Chris, I doffed my tunic and breeches. Then my matelot dragged me frombeneath the boat and out into the rain. I did not see he carried his belt until we reached the closest grove of trees. By then I could not have been happier unless he carried a scourge. I howled with delight and the freedom of knowing no one would hear me above the storm.
He proceeded to pinch and kiss and bite me until I was more thanreadyfor the thrashinghe gave mybuttocks and thighs before plundering my arse with enough abandon to leave himon his knees laughing and gasping breathlessly in the aftermath ofhis pleasure. I laughed with him, and only reluctantly remained standing, leaning on the tree, where he held me with one feeble hand. Once he had his wind back, I came to understand his intent for keeping me on my feet as he finished me with his mouth. I stopped laughing for a time, but it returned as soon as the light faded.
Then we held one another:the moments filled with sweet kisses and giggles. At last we grew cold and knew we must return to the boat. We made our way there hand in hand, only to stop a score of feet from it when Chris emerged from beneath another tree to step into our path. We were naked, and I flushed fromhead to cock as I realized what
he
might have seen. Gaston tucked the belt coiled around his hand behind myback.
Chris was apparently thankfully oblivious to our nakedness, and had seen nothing to make himview us oddly. He had far more onhis mind.
“Pete is makingadvances,”he said.
I cursed silently as I realized the state we must have left Pete in.
“Well,”I said, “is that a bad thing?”
Chris looked fromone to the other of us, and seemed to see our nakedness for the first time. He quickly pulled his gaze back to our faces and squared his small jaw. “I am not blind!” He turned and began to walk back to the boat, only to pause and yell over his shoulder, “Or stupid. Or…” He stopped and stomped back to us. “He does not like women and he has a matelot! I willnot make the same mistake…”
I stepped in close. “He is not me, and aye, he has thought this through. He knows what he is about.”
Chris fluttered between dismay and wonder. “I can have him?”
I nodded tightly. “Ifyouwish.”
Hope dawned in his bright blue eyes, and then he shook his head with frustration and fear. “Non, I will just get pregnant again!”
“I do not think he has any interest in that hole. I could be wrong, but…”
Chris frowned with confusion and then his mouth dropped open and hung there as if the wind had stolen his words.
I strained to hear what they might have been, and was forced to realize I was regarding dumbfounded silence and not a missing piece of the conversation. This was truly not a conversationto be had while shoutingina storm.
“Explainyour concerns to him,”I pleaded.
“Non! Not in there with Cudro and Ash listening… or you two daft bastards! I will not do anything else either. And I willnot do that… that… Non, just non!”
Gaston tapped my shoulder, and I looked to him and then to where he pointed. Pete stood outside the boat, his shoulders hunched against the wind and rain. He could not have heard anythingwe said, but he was watching.
“Then speak with him out here!” I yelled to Chris and pointed.
Chris turned and regarded Pete with fear and consternation. He clutched at me as I began to walk past him. “Non, Will, do not leave me out here!”
“Youare a bigboy!”I replied.
“Non, I’mnot!”he wailed.
“He willbe kind,”I assured himwithsincere gentleness.
“I’m not afraid he’ll hurt me,” Chris said with desperation.
“Youcannot live infear ofthe other.”
“He is a man. I cannot be a man if…” He flinched at what he saw in my eyes. “I did not mean it that way! I meant… You said ifI amto be a man then I must be manly. I do not wish to be manly with
him
! Damn it, Will,” he sobbed. “What I want to do withhimmakes a lie ofallmyclaims to manliness.”
I took his shoulders and shook himlightly. “Thenbe who youare! Do as youwish! That is the essence ofmanliness.”
“Truly?”he squawked.
“Truly.”
He at last nodded acquiescence.
I left himand turned to find that mymatelot had retreated to stand shivering near Pete. At the sight of Gaston’s hunched shoulders and pinched expression, I was filled with a new concernas I hurried to them.
“Get inside,” I ordered Gaston. He complied with a tight nod. “You might well have won,” I told Pete. “
She
is scared of pregnancy, though.”
“Don’tWantThatHole.”
“She is scared ofthat too.”
“AllMenAre. That’sWhyThey NeedBeGentledDown,” he said witha grinas ifI were daft.
I shook my head with amusement and pushed him toward her. “Go and warmher.”
ThenI ducked beneaththe hullafter Gaston.
“What is happening, Will?”Cudro asked inFrench.
“Pete and Chris are determining if they wish to be matelots,” I said. Gaston’s skin was clammy and his teeth were chattering. “Now please help me with Gaston. He has caught a chill.”
“Well, what the Devil did you…”Ash began to ask and quicklyquieted at some grumble fromCudro.
Then the big man was next to us and shedding his wet clothes. Gaston did not protest as I pushed his back to Cudro’s chest. I then pressed my back to Gaston’s chest and pulled his feet and hands over and under my legs as necessary to bring them in reach and chafe them vigorously. My matelot held me and bit the belt he still carried to keep his teeth from knocking together. Cudro rubbed Gaston’s sides and thighs. Meanwhile, Ash hung our few wet and damp blankets along the inside of the gunwale so that they blocked the wind fromwhistling around the end of the overturned craft and inside the hull to blow upon us. I would have asked him to start a fire, but I knew not what was dryenoughto burnwithina hundred leagues—perhaps the inside of the trees: of course, by the time we got the insides on the outside, theywould be drenched inthis rain.
We would have been well enough—it was not truly cold —if we had not been wet and tired; and of course, if Gaston did not still ail. I almost cursed our stupidity, but then I recalled how very much he had enjoyed our play. We would simply have to take more care inthe future.
“Now, what is this about Pete and Chris?” Cudro asked whenGastonstopped shivering.
“Pete needs a matelot,”I said.
Ashsnorted and sighed.
“You’re saying he truly needs a matelot—in all ways— and not just…”Cudro asked.
“Oui,” I said. “I do not know if it will assist Chris in beingmanly, but as we have discussed, it willsurelyserve to hide himbetter amongst us.”
“Oui,” Cudro said with a chuckle. “No one would believe Pete would bed a woman.”
I shrugged and chuckled. “True, but truth be known, stranger things have happened.”
“Suchas?”Cudro asked.
“Well, here we are; and truly, did you ever think you would hold Gastonnaked inyour arms?”
My matelot, and evenAsh, accompanied Cudro in filling our shelter withlaughter.
We were entangled in a less compromising—for Gaston —knot of naked bodies when Pete and Chris returned. There was still enough light to see, and they paused with surprise upon slippingpast the blankets and under the hull.
“Strip and join us,” I said. “Gaston caught a chill and we are tryingto staywarm.”
Pete was already nearly naked, and so it was little for him to do as I asked. Chris took his time, though, and chastely retained his chest wrappings. He joined the huddle with his back to Pete.
“I am glad it is dark,”Ash said. Then he squawked and laughed in response to something Cudro did—at least I assumed it was his matelot.
“This is awkward,” Chris said quietly in the following

silence.“Well, we could engage in some Bacchanalian revel,” I

 

said, “but we have no wine.”

 

“Have youever participated inanorgy?”Ashasked with

“Have youever participated inanorgy?”Ashasked with humor.
I felt several bodies around me tense. I chuckled. “Do we reallywishto discuss this now?”
“Why the Devil not?” Cudro rumbled with amusement. “A hard prick makes me warm.”
“Yours or another’s?”I teased.
“Oh, God, will this go on all night?” Chris asked with a laughthat was trulygood to hear.
Then she gasped and sighed and my prick raised his sated head withcuriosity.
“Oh Lady Venus,” I intoned, “please allow us to remember who are matelots are so that there is no need for anyone to be stabbed inthe dark.”
There was laughter all around, but the night was indeed soonfilled withsighs and grunts as partners touched one another; and the heat rose as we were roused by those sounds and the curious and furtive pressings of a limb here and a back there as our comrades engaged in things carnal. In the end, I was sure Gaston was quite warm, and all seemed right with the world. I took time to thank the Gods for Their largesse in giving us mountains to climb in order to reveal vistas we needed to see: in order to know where our lives might lead.

Once Hundred and Six Wherein We Accept New Titles

I woke to Gaston coughing, and followed him from the boat out into the grey, predawn light. He was hot to the touch: not overlyso, but warmer thanhe should have been.

“No more playing in the rain,” I chided when he finished hackingup a wad ofgreenmucus.
He laughed until it brought him to cough again. Then he sighed at my worried gaze. “Perhaps you should beat me,” he said quietly.
“Only if it will help you cough more putrescence from your lungs.”
He smiled grimly. “I willnot die fromthis.”
I knew he wished to reassure me, but I felt he was telling the Gods. I looked heavenward. “Dear Gods, please speed his recovery.”
He regarded me with solemn love until he shivered, and then worry rippled across his features only to be replaced by the grimsmile again.
“We need to keep youwarm,”I said.
“Oui. I keep thinking how much I would like to wrap myself in our blanket, but I see it hanging there on the boat, still damp.”
I went to embrace him, and he flinched at the touch of myclammyskin. He held me tightly, though.
“Since we are not in a hurry,” I said, “and none of us enjoy being at sea in the rain in that little craft, let us talk to the others about coming ashore everyday if it looks like it will