Taita was at a loss for an adequate response. 'We must go back now,'
he said. 'The sun is setting and we should not be on the path after dark when there are lions abroad. We shall discuss this later.'
They saddled the horses and started back along the riverbank.
Usually the flow of their conversation was endless, each idea leading on to the next. But for once neither had anything to say and they followed the game trail in silence. Every time he glanced at her surreptitiously she was still smiling.
When they rode into the stockade the women were busy at the cooking fires and the men were gathered in small groups, talking and drinking beer, resting aching muscles after their long day at the oars.
Meren hurried to meet them as they dismounted. 'I was about to send out a search party to find you.'
'We were scouting the trail,' Taita told him, as they dismounted and handed the horses to the grooms. 'Tomorrow we will have to dismantle the boats to carry them round the falls. The track down is steep, so there is much hard work ahead.'
'I have called all the captains and headmen into council to discuss that very matter. We were waiting for your return to camp.'
'I will bring your dinner to you,' Fenn told Taita, and slipped away to join the women at the cooking fires.
Taita took his place at the head of the gathering. He had instituted these meetings not only to plan specific actions but also to give each an
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opportunity to raise any subject of interest or importance to the group. It was also a court of justice and discipline before which miscreants could be called to answer for their sins.
Before the conference began, Fenn brought him a bowl of stew and a cup of beer. As she left him she whispered, 'I will keep the lamp burning and wait up for you. We have much of importance to discuss, you and I.'
Intrigued by this, Taita hurried the meeting along. As soon as they had agreed on how they would transport the boats, he left Meren and That to deal with a few matters of lesser consequence. As he passed the women at the fires they called goodnight, then giggled among themselves as if at some delicious secret. Meren had placed their hut at the far end of the enclosure behind a screen of freshly cut thatching grass. When Taita stooped through the open doorway he found that Fenn had indeed left the oil lamp burning, and was already under the kaross on their sleeping mat. She was still wide awake. She sat up and let the fur fall to her waist. Her breasts shone softly in the lamplight. Since her first moon they had become fuller and more shapely. The nipples peeped out cheerily, and their areolas had taken on a deeper shade of pink.
'You have come sooner than I expected,' she said softly. 'Throw your tunic into the corner. I will wash it tomorrow. Now come to bed.' He bent over the lamp to blow out the flame, but she stopped him. 'No, let it burn. I like to watch you.' He came to where she lay and stretched out on the mat beside her. She remained sitting, and leant over him to study his face.
'You wanted to tell me something,' he prompted her.
'You are so beautiful,' she whispered, and brushed the hair off his forehead with her fingers. 'Sometimes when I look at your face I am so happy I feel like crying.' She traced the curves of his eyebrows and then his lips. 'You are perfect.'
'Is that the secret?'
'Part of it,' she said, and ran her fingers down his throat and the muscles of his chest. Then, suddenly, she took one of his nipples between her thumb and forefinger and pinched it. She purred with laughter when he gasped.
'You have not too much there, my lord.' She took one of her own breasts in her hand. 'I, on the other hand, have enough for both of us.'
They made a serious assessment of the discrepancy in sizes, then Fenn went on, 'This evening I watched Revi feeding her baby while we sat by the fire. He is a greedy little piglet. Revi says that it feels nice when he
suckles.' She leant closer to him and proffered her breast, touching his lips with the nipple. 'Shall we pretend you are my baby? I want to know what it feels like.“
Then it was her turn to gasp. 'Ah! Ah! I never thought it would be like that. It makes something in my belly clench.' She was silent for a while, then gave a throaty little chuckle. 'Oh! Our mannikin has woken.'
She reached for him. Her fingers, with practice, were becoming more cunning and skilful. 'I have been thinking about him ever since I spoke to Imbali this evening while you were in council. Do you know what she told me?' His mouth was still busy, so his reply was muffled. She pushed his head away from her breast. 'You will never believe what she told me.'
'Is this the secret you were keeping for me?' He smiled up at her.
'Yes, it is.'
'Tell me, then. I am all agog.'
'It's so rude, I have to whisper it.' She cupped both hands round his ear, but her voice was breathless and broken with giggles. 'It isn't possible, is it?' she asked. 'Just look at how big our mannikin is. He could never fit. I am sure Imbali was teasing me.'
Taita considered the question at length, then replied carefully, 'There is only one way to be certain, and that is to put it to the test.'
She stopped laughing and studied his face carefully. 'Now you are teasing me too.'
'No, I am serious. It would be unfair to accuse Imbali of making up stories if we don't have any proof that she is.' He reached down and ran his fingers over her belly and into the clump of soft curls at the base.
She rolled on to her back and craned forward to give his hand her full attention. 'I hadn't thought of it that way. You are right, of course.
