The wanderer, p.19
The Wanderer, page 19
part #1 of The Nogud Legacy Series
I said, “Lark is Yuki’s daughter. All of these fortunate sisters are daughters of exceptional women. And their daughters, my daughters, your granddaughters unless you change course, will be as beautiful and exceptional as Yuki and Lark and Viola and Raven. I realized it this morning.”
Amanda said, “What will we do? I will not allow them to be sent to that school.”
I said, “Paul and I have discussed this already. That’s why he invited us to stay with you and why Susan committed you to teach them what they need to know.”
Paul said, “We can’t allow this to continue. Whenever the Merchant of Women comes, we’ll take all of these treasures that he has and we’ll bring them here and they’ll have new lives, and if possible, good husbands. Joshua has pledged a hundred coins to start us off. We’ll teach them to make clothes and I will buy the cobblers shop and they will learn to make shoes and leather goods.”
I said, “And, when I realized the depth of this thing, I modified the plan and I haven’t had a chance to tell it yet. It’s in my heart not only that we rescue all that we can, but that we abolish the school altogether. I don’t know how yet, but…wait, no, I know exactly how I’ll do it. Anyway, I swore to Raven and Lark and I swear to all of you that I will abolish these schools and that I will spend at least a thousand coins a year to see it done.”
Susan said, “Joshua, that’s very noble, and I know you have passion for this and we’ll do what we can, but where could you find a thousand coins every year? Please don’t be discouraged by setting your sights too high to start with.”
I said, “Viola, run to the house and bring me a thousand coins.”
Viola leapt to her feet and ran for the house.
Susan yelled, “Stop! I see that you aren’t joking and that Viola really believes that she will run to the house and magically bring back a thousand coins.”
Viola asked, “Master, shall I go get them?”
I said, “No, come sit on my lap so that I can hold you.”
Viola ran to me and sat on my lap and I put my arms around her waist.
I said, “Mother Susan, I have sworn it and it’s not an idle wish of a mad hot-headed youngster. I think that I may be older than I look. Tanya, tell me what you think of this.”
Tanya said, “No. How many times in less than a day have we said that a wizard always has a plan. You say that you know how it will be done. What has been done so far was inconceivable. That it grows by the hour is no longer a surprise. Use me for this however I can be useful. That’s all the thinking I have. I have only a few duties right now. I will take care of those and when I’m done, give me more.”
Paul said, “What duties are you thinking of?”
Tanya said, “I must help these daughters of ours prepare both a meal and a room. I must shave my pussy or at least trim it. Those are my orders.”
Susan smiled, “Good. My own duties are to take away the curtains beneath my dress and then take Raven swimming.”
Amanda said, “I have to throw out an old unneeded carpet and then get on my hands and knees and wait.”
Susan and Tanya laughed.
Amanda added, “And I’ll get work dresses for these lovely daughters of ours.”
Yuki said, “I will stand by the wizard and protect him at all times. Pity the fool who would interrupt his magic while I live. And, my ‘missus mustache’ is already tiny, but a trim won’t hurt.”
I said, “I will track down the merchant of women before he gets farther away because I owe these mates of mine licenses and then I take three to the jeweler.”
Paul said, “Joshua, we have a registrar in the village.”
I said, “But someone said that if he left that we wouldn’t have another chance for a month or something like that.”
Yuki said, “Paul said that for my benefit and I love him for it. But I knew that we have a registrar that doesn’t travel with the merchant. She’s from the village and she delivers a copy of the licenses to him when he comes. He may have a registrar that does travel with him, but he lets the local official handle it when possible. Paul said to rush so that I would feel loved, that’s all.”
Paul said, “I knew that she knew. It was a joke between us that I had to wake her up at dawn so that we could rush for her license. But, the merchant is gone by now. You can chase after him if you want to, but it will be much quicker to do it here. You can’t avoid the registrar. When the merchant isn’t here, she’s at the shop of her husband, the jeweler.”
I said, “Then after lunch, can we go and take care of it?”
Paul said, “If you want to. We had talked about giving it time so that no one would suspicious, but maybe it isn’t necessary. When you came this morning, the registrar wasn’t paying attention to you and you had on a hat and I think that she probably didn’t notice you. She’ll remember you from yesterday, but she won’t associate you with anything but the license for Viola.”
Susan said, “OK, enough for now. Raven and I are going swimming.”
Raven stood up quickly and ran to the water saying, “I never was swimming until today and I like it a lot! But not deep, because I don’t know how to swim.”
Susan smiled and followed her to the cove. As we watched, both of them shucked their dresses and got into the water. Raven of course was stunning. Susan was a fine woman, but not a great beauty. She wasn’t especially overweight, none of them were. I expected that she was perhaps fifty years old, and not unattractive, but she was not going to be mistaken for the mother of the younger girl who was now her playmate.
Yuki and Lark walked to the edge of the water; they had a lot to discuss after their sudden reunion, and a few minutes later, they were also nude and standing in chest deep water.
Amanda and Tanya took up the task of clearing away lunch and disappeared up to the house after a while.
I kept Viola on my lap as Paul and I talked and watched the girls relax at the quiet cove.
Paul said, “Joshua, how is this happening? Look in the future and assure me of our safety a month from now.”
I said, “I don’t know, Paul. But today is certainly wonderful.”
He said, “It is indeed. It is indeed. Look at my wives. They are happy and Yuki has her daughter returned to her. Her secrets and shames are all washed away and all of her tears are tears of joy. Except for her continually screaming at you to shut up, she’s even so much more agreeable than she was a day ago. I think that her inclusion is going to be a truly great thing. Lark and Raven are as wonderful as you are, Viola. Thank you for bringing them to bless my home.”
Viola snuggled into me and said, “I didn’t bring them.”
Paul said, “Yes, you did. Joshua wouldn’t have taken them if you hadn’t told him to.”
Viola said, “I would hate to contradict you father, but ask yourself, when Joshua knew the truth about them, would he have left them where they were when it was in his power to have them with him? Was it me who made it happen or would it have happened regardless? Did I have anything to do with Yuki finding Lark again, or would it have happened regardless?”
Paul said, “I don’t know how any of this is happening.”
I said, “Paul, speaking of inclusion and agreeable things, what’s the status of the property downstream, where the little cove is?”
Paul continued watching the women swim and said, “Oh, what’s happening over there now?”
Viola and I looked toward the water and it seemed that Amanda and Tanya were back and taking off their clothes. The other women were coming out of the water and gathering around them on the bank.
Paul asked, “What are they doing?”
Viola said, “I think that they’re getting haircuts.”
Paul smiled and said, “That does excite me a little bit. But the property? Between here and the little cove? It’s nothing. It has no value.”
I said, “But what if I wanted to buy it? Would it be possible? Is it expensive?”
Paul never looked away from the women at the water’s edge and answered, “It’s worthless. There are houses and farms for sale.”
I said, “Let’s say that perhaps I have become sentimental about it. Is it possible to own it?”
Paul said idly, “It belongs to the son of a man who passed away. He had some thought to build a small house, but he died and left it to his son. The son lives in the village to the west, across the river. He was here looking for a buyer recently, but no one was interested. He comes now and then. He might give it to you if you ask him. As I say, it’s worthless.”
I said, “I might like to have a place to call my own property, even if it doesn’t have a home on it right away. Eventually, one could be built, couldn’t it?”
He said, “Certainly. But it’s haunted.”
I said, “What do you mean, it’s haunted?”
He said simply, “It’s haunted. You know, by ghosts or demons or something like that. Not on the path between the road and the cove, and not along the river from here to there, but farther down river. There are caves or something. No one goes there. Only a treasure hunter could be interested in a place like that…,” and his voice trailed off and he turned to look at me.
He sounded puzzled as he said, “What were we saying?”
I said, “I was asking about the property between here and the little cove downstream. You said that it is worthless because it’s haunted.”
He said, “And then I said that no one would want it except possibly a treasure hunter. Joshua, do you have a plan for this too? Here’s what I know. I told you it’s owned by a man who lives in the village to the west, across the river, over the bridge. Everyone considers it worthless. If you don’t tell him that you’re a treasure hunter, he might give it to you for the price of a lunch and a bag of apples. Or give him a goat if you feel generous. The property goes from my fence to the cove and then about, I don’t know, maybe twice as far, or maybe five times as far from there. I don’t know. It goes from the river to the road. At the far end, the road comes and crosses the river at a small bridge. So it’s all the land between the road and the river all the way to my fence.”
I estimated that the distance that we walked from the cove to Paul’s place was about a mile. So, the land might be between three and eight or nine miles long. We had walked about a mile and a half from the road to the river.
He said, “As for being haunted, no one really knows. Some say that there are caves and strange lights. From the river, there’s a spot where the bank rises up, but the place is hidden and very dark. No one goes there. The man says that it may have belonged to his grandfather. Are you really interested in it?”
I said, “Now, more than ever. What about the ghosts and demons?”
Paul said, “Oh, that’s what children say. We say it because no one knows. No one takes any of it seriously. Well, but everyone does know that it is haunted in some way and no one goes there. That’s why we knew that it would be private for you this morning.”
I said, “Paul, how can we buy it for me? I’m very intrigued.”
Paul shrugged and said, “We can take a trip anytime you like. It’s a day’s walk. The girls can all stay here and I can take you. Or, you can wait and see when he comes back. Or, you could send a messenger and if he’s interested, maybe he’ll come sooner.”
I smiled and squeezed Viola and said, “Oh, I like this a lot. A haunted property with a private cove where I swim with my wood nymphs. I don’t think it is ghosts or demons.”
Paul laughed, “With your luck, it will be buxom sex fairies!”
Viola said, “And if they’re not already there, we’ll bring our own! I think Raven would be happy to haunt your woods by the river if she can be naked all the time.”
Paul said, “OK. If you want it, I’ll help you do it.”
Chapter 19 Let's Go Swimming
I squeezed Viola around the waist and said, “Hey, let’s go swimming.”
Viola said, “I’ve never really been swimming. I went for the baptism with you because I’ll do whatever you say, but I would have been scared by myself.”
I said, “But you told me that families bathe together all the time.”
She said, “I never had a family. I’ve seen families bathe together, but I was never allowed to bathe in a pool. We were made to bathe with a basin and a rag.”
I said, “Well, not anymore! Let’s go!”
I pushed the girl off of my lap and ran down to the water with her. When we reached the spot where everyone had discarded their clothes, we both stripped and I pulled her by the hand to the cove. I swept her up into my arms and carried her into the deeper water until it was to my chest and she could still stand where the water came to just above her breasts.
I called to Raven and Lark, who were both still standing with the other women and told them to come play with us. Paul had followed Viola and I down to the water and his women stopped him before he could undress. I didn’t watch closely, but it seemed that they were having him admire their newly trimmed crotches. He seemed quite pleased, and at one point I saw him look to see if he would be observed and then he reached forward surreptitiously and cupped Tanya’s sex for a second, supposedly to get a feel.
Raven and Lark were coming to me, so I paid much more attention to these naked beauties than to anything happening with Paul and the others. I moved into slightly shallower water so that the tiny Raven wouldn’t be in over her head. Where she stood with her back to the shore, the water came to the tops of her breasts, and Viola, being a few inches deeper, had her breasts mostly covered as well, but the nipples were visible just an inch or so under the clear water. Lark, being the tallest, had her breasts mostly exposed. Of course, that made no difference at all to anyone but me.
Raven said, “I do like swimming. It’s so nice. The water feels really good when we’re naked and it’s all over us.”
I wondered if Raven’s sensuality was so keen that even the water was mildly stimulating to her. She launched herself across the two feet that separated me from her and landed in my arms. I set her on my hip and she put her legs around me and leaned her head against my shoulder. The other two came a little closer and I gathered all of them into a naked embrace. We stood here together, our bodies against each other in the water, breasts and legs rubbing against my arms and sides and thighs.
I cupped Raven’s perfect bottom with my right hand and said, “Girls, I love you so completely. It’s like you’ve said; it’s like you’ve been with me forever and I have always loved you. The truth is that I met Viola just yesterday and Raven and Lark just a few hours ago. I love you and I have always loved you. I have known you since time began, but I haven’t had a chance for us to get to know each other yet. Do you know what I mean?”
Lark said, “I do. I know exactly what you mean. I’m one with all of us, and I don’t really know any of us, but none of what I don’t know is important, and I do want to know it anyway.”
I smiled and said, “I think that what I feel is that I know you, but it will be fun to get to know you more. That’s it. I know enough to love you forever, but not enough to have had all the fun that I know that we’ll have. I want to have fun with you.”
Viola said, “Like Paul and his women. They know how to tease and play together. We will know that too someday. Every minute it’s closer and ever more thrilling.”
Raven said, “I like our game.”
Viola asked, “What game?”
Lark said, “We played a game to get to know each other. We should play it some more with Viola. We take turns. Joshua makes a request and then we get to do what he says. Then, we can ask any question we want to and he tells us the truth no matter what. No matter what we ask. Then, he can make another request or ask us a question and we tell him the truth, no matter what the question is.”
Raven said, “His first request before we asked our first question was that I hold his hand. See, it’s more of a present than anything.”
Lark said, “And then before I could ask my question, I had to hold his hand too.”
Viola grinned, “He played that game with me too. He acts like he’s asking for something difficult, but really he asked me to take a gift from him and accept it. It’s like he buys me the token and asks me to wear it. Of course I’ll wear it! I would beg to wear it, but he asks me as if I’m doing him a favor. But, it is a fun game and I won’t discourage it. Let’s play. Master, what’s your request? Shall we hold your hand?”
I said, “I wish that we were alone, instead of with Paul’s family. The request would be more intimate than holding your hand.”
Raven said, “Aren’t we all your women? Hold anything you want to!”
Lark said, “And you still haven’t tasted our ripe melons!”
I smiled and said, “I think that if it were more private, my request wouldn’t be that you let me hold something of yours, but that you hold something of mine.”
Raven said, “Oh, like when we held your wonderful man-banana and you let us watch,” and she reached down and grabbed me.
Lark and Viola smiled, and in the next moment, three hands were gently holding my genitals as we floated in the water together.
Raven said, “OK. My turn. Joshua, where did you really come from?”
Viola looked surprised and like she was about to try to rescue me again as she had several times already, but I told her, “Raven can ask whatever she wants and I will answer the best that I can. Viola, I love it when you help me by explaining things that I can’t explain, but between the three of us, I’ll have no secrets if you ask me. But, don’t ask me if you don’t want to know. Raven, do you want to know where I’m from?”
Raven said, “Um, now I’m not sure. Tell me what you want to tell me and I’ll be satisfied.”
I said, “Girls, I don’t know where I came from. I’d rather not say much more than that until we’ve had more time to figure out our life together, but if you must know, I’ll tell you what I can.”
What I was thinking as I said this was that I would rather not say too much until I was sure that Lark, or one of the others, wouldn’t let the cat out of the bag by accident, like Lark had earlier when she told everyone about having been judged a Nogud.
