Part of Waves of Sand a novel in progres

Waves of Sand
Chapter 4

Adrenaline charged through Pwrt. The heat of the day and the demanding thirst raging in her throat flew from her mind. She and her squad of warresses from the womben ruled Trgt Oasis approached a light rise or berm, in front of the waterhole they were seeking in the desert. She hand-signaled the squad to slow their paces to medium alert speed. The ten warresses including herself marched in flank formation with Pwrt three steps in front and in the middle so the squad could see her silent commands. She held up two fingers of each hand and the two outside warresses on both ends ran ahead of the squad. One slowed at about ten yards and the other at about twenty as the squad kept approaching in formation.

All desert waterholes were located at the bottom of depressions in the land and the rise they were approaching shielded the waterhole from view. It also shielded anyone who might be on the other side. The two outside warresses approached each end of the rise and cautiously peered down into the depression. When they signaled the all clear, Pwrt signaled the squad to resume to normal alert speed where they advanced to the top of the rise.

Seeing no one in sight she signaled the four outside warresses to sweep the objective. The four warresses ran down and stationed themselves at each corner of the depression then closed toward the center searching behind each tree, shrub, and rock for any possible enemy. When they signaled the all clear, Pwrt designated one of the warresses to remain at top of the rise, to hide herself as best she could, and act as lookout. She then led the rest of the squad down to the waterhole.

“Look at that sucker,” Pwrt pointed to the bottom of the water source which was dry except for just the hint of damp sand. “It’s damned near dry and not long for this world.”

“This is the third time I’ve been to this waterhole. The first time that hole was filled with water, the second about half full. Now look at it,” said Mlt, Pwrt’s assistant squad leader.

“Whose turn is it to taste?” Pwrt looked around at the girls.

“You know whose turn it is, Pwrt. It’s your turn,” said Anbt.

“No, Anbt, you are wrong. It used to be my turn. In case you missed it, before we started out on this mission, I was made squad leader. I don’t know why that didn’t register with you because you were the squad leader I replaced. And I’m sure you know, because you availed yourself of this exclusion many times, squad leaders don’t take turns. We are much too important to risk losing in the case someone has poisoned the water. Since you inherited my spot in the squad, you also inherited my turn to taste the water in the waterhole to see if it hasn’t been poisoned. Now take your knife and sword and get down there and start digging. I’m thirsty.” Pwrt stared at the warress with menace. She was now the squad leader and she intended to set down her perimeters.

Pwrt was fifteen years old and had been a warress in the squad for a year. Anbt was two years older and had led the squad when Pwrt joined. Anbt seemed to take special pleasure in riding Pwrt, berating her at every chance, and giving her as many of the shit assignments as she could.  Anbt claimed she did this for Pwrt’s own good, to toughen her up, to make her a better warress. Pwrt knew it was personal, because Pwrt was the tribe’s mother, Blt‘s, granddaughter. Anbt’s mother, Nbt, was on the Council of the Crones and liked to oppose Blt whenever she could. This political dissent filtered down to Nbt’s daughter and to Blt’s granddaughter. The two warresses had never liked one another, even before they joined the military.

Anbt stared back at Pwrt and the two seemed locked in a contest of wills. Pwrt hoped Anbt would say something or even refuse her order so she could put her on report when they got back to Trgt. Anbt unsheathed the dagger at her waist. The squad tensed, prepared for violence. Anbt broke the stare-down and jumped into the source of the water and planted her dagger into the damp sand viciously. Time after time she stabbed hard as if it were Pwrt she stabbed.

The lookout made the sound of a bird. Everyone tensed. Anbt stopped digging and joined the squad as Pwrt sent her four flankers to the outside edges of the berm and motioned for the rest of the squad to follow her up to the top. They crawled the last portion and joined the lookout who was on her belly. The lookout pointed off to the northwest and after focusing her eyes and scanning for some time in the direction where the lookout pointed, Pwrt finally spotted the lone figure way in the distance looking like he or she was headed their way.

***

Resh knew the water hole should be just ahead. But, Nu and Ptah, he was thirsty, parched, and exhausted. He didn’t know if in his delirium that he might have passed it by. The Waves of Sand was tough enough to read when he had all his senses. The large mound off to the right looked like the mound he used for a landmark. It sat about a mile from the waterhole berm. Still he couldn’t see the berm. He thought he had seen the mound back about an hour ago. He searched and searched in vain for the berm, where it should have been. Precious time and more precious energy wasted for when he walked back towards the mound and looked closer, it was not the right mound. This one had to be it. But where was the berm?

Thank Ra his wounds had stopped bleeding. He remembered losing his helmet, being stabbed in the shoulder, and then, wham, the lights went out. Someone from behind had whacked him in the head with their sword. He had gotten one of the bastard Bedouins though before he went down. Stabbed him right in the heart with one lunge. He was damned good at that. He smiled despite the pain in his head, his shoulder started to hurt as well. He had practiced and practiced that stab, and it had to be exactly in the right place, if not, his sword would hit one of the ribs and deflect. He relived the experience of his kill in his mind, the body yielding to the penetration of his blade, the look in his enemy’s eyes as the point of the sword found his heart and he realized he was a dead man standing.

The Bedouins came out of nowhere. All of a sudden they just appeared all around his squad, there must have been twenty of them at least. Twenty against ten and with surprise on their side. The Bedouins were the sneakiest cock-suckers on the desert. He shook his head. They weren’t that good at fighting. He’d take his Brbrts any day straight up. The Bedouins always had to have some kind of gimmick. He didn’t know how they did it, but somehow they’d made themselves look just like the sand, and they materialized hooting their stupid war chant “Woo woo woo.”

Three of them wouldn’t be going “woo woo  woo“ anymore. The one he stabbed and two others his squad killed before being wasted themselves. The bastards didn’t even bury their dead. They just ran off. He buried his men though, as well as he could, all seven of them. Maybe the buzzards wouldn’t get at them. But he doubted it. He’d seen them scratch up the dead when they were buried too shallow. Maybe the three Bedouins would fill up their bellies, but he doubted it. He’d buried seven and they left him for dead. That made eight. They must have taken the two youngest as slaves. He wondered how they were doing.

Wait a minute. There’s that fucking berm. O please, Ra, let that be the waterhole? He was so thirsty and tired. If this wasn’t it, he didn’t think he could make it any farther. He struggled all the way to the top and his eyes filled with delight on the waterhole in the depression. He stumbled walking down to it, and fell rolling on the ground. So stupid. He was so tired he didn’t want to get up. It felt so nice and comfortable lying there. His throat burned like someone had poured poison down it. He was almost there. He could taste the water slacking his throat, “Oh.” He forced himself up and stumbled on to the hole. Lu and Patah, the fucking thing was dry. And he could see what looked like recent digging. Ra, don’t tell me after all I’ve gone through to get here that this water hole is fucking dry?
He stumbled down into it.

The sand in the bottom was damp. His heart started beating faster. He scooped some of the sand up with his hand and put it in his mouth and tried to suck out the water. He started choking as some of the sand got in his throat. Lu and Ptah, what did he do with his brains? He took a piece of cloth out of his backpack, dug deeper into the sand into the recent excavation to where a tiny amount of water seeped. He wet the cloth and then put the cloth into his mouth and sucked the precious liquid, savored it a moment, and then swallowed. It was the greatest feeling in his life. He dug again and as he started to rewet the cloth a rock fell from above and rolled in front of him. Of course. He had been too brain-fried to comprehend. The recent digging. He hadn’t checked to see if they were still there.

He looked up and he stared at twenty bare legs standing all around him. He must be delirious because these legs belonged to women and even in his semi-delirious state they looked pretty damned good. Above the legs each woman carried a sword and none of them looked very happy.

“Go ahead, warrior, take another drink. You look like you need it more than we do,” said the best looking one.

Resh quickly dipped the cloth into the water and this time squeezed the water into his mouth before she changed her mind.

“There now, Anbt, you are now relieved of your position as poison taster. Do you feel better? Tie him up and put him over there under that tree,” she motioned to two of the warresses. “And nobody drinks until I say so.” Pwrt looked at the lookout, the smallest member of her squad. “Sentry, back to your post. I’ll send some water up to you as soon as we think it is safe. You did well, youngun.”

The lookout smiled. She looked older than Pwrt but that didn't stop her complete subservience to her squad leader as she gushed. “Thank you, Pwrt, I’ve never received a compliment from Anbt.”

Once they finished hogtying him, Pwrt walked over to the prisoner under the tree. “What tribe are you from, warrior?”

Resh looked up at her from his position on his side and stared blankly into her eyes and then looked away, not answering. Pwrt picked up a stick on the ground. “Now we can do this the easy way, or I can go to work on that wound in your shoulder with this stick.” She waved it in his face. “I know you’re from Drkkt Oasis. At least it’s the closet oasis to this watering hole. I want to hear you say it.”

He remained silent. She moved the stick towards his shoulder and just before she penetrated the wound, he said, “Okay, I’m from Drkkt.” He figured he really didn’t know anything that telling her would hurt his tribe. Why suffer the pain?

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? What’s your name?”

“Resh.”

“My name is Pwrt. How old are you, Resh?” She squatted beside him.

“Twenty-one.”

“And your rank?”

“Squad leader.”

“Well congratulations. I’m a squad leader as well and I’m only fifteen.” She gloated at him with her eyes.

“You’re a woman. That’s why.” His eyes showed disgust.

“Hmph, this womban is your superior. One who holds you prisoner, who holds your life in her hands.” There was a pause as Resh realized he’d made a mistake in showing his animosity. She was right though. Fifteen, a squad leader, and she held him prisoner.

“Where’s your squad, squad leader?” she asked.

“We were ambushed by Bedouins. Seven dead, two captured. I was the only one to escape.”

“How did you do that?”

“They left me for dead. My head was harder and their sword. They just rose up out of the sand. It was unbelievable, at least twenty against our ten,”

“I’ve heard of that trick. They’re sneaky bastards. What were you doing out here?”

“Just reconnaissance. Same as you.”

“Reconnoitering for another attack on us, huh?”

“Not hardly. Since you reinforced your wall, Trgt is impenetrable.”

“That’s nice to know. How big is your army, Resh?”

“Come on, squad leader, you know I will never tell you that. You can use the stick on my wound and I could say 500 or 1000 or 2000. You know it would be a lie.”

She rose and threw the stick away and walked back over to the waterhole. “Okay, warresses, I don’t think that sumbitch is going to die, so let’s drink this water. When you’ve had your fill, someone run some up to the lookout and take some over to the prisoner. But first I need to ask you all a question. How many of you believe that rank hath its privileges and your beloved squad leader should be the first to drink? Let me see your hands….Hmm, everyone but Anbt votes yes.” She met Anbt’s stare with her own.
“That’s nice of you girls. I was going to drink first anyway, but it’s nice to know you appreciate me.”

Night fell and Resh couldn’t get his mind off the fifteen-year-old squad leader, Pwrt. She was beautiful. He couldn’t believe she was only fifteen and running a squad. There was no moon but the stars were as bright as always. It was a beautiful night to die. He wondered why she hadn’t killed him yet. Maybe she was saving it for just before they left. He had tried everything he could to loosen his binds and escape. They had hogtied him securely and whenever he put any pressure on the leather chord it brought intense pain to his wounded shoulder.

Someone was coming. It looked like the beautiful Pwrt. She had a knife in her hand. This was it. She was coming to kill him. Just slice his throat and let him bleed to death into the sand. That’s the way he would do it if he were her. He pulled down with his feet against the binds one more time. An unbelievable shaft of pain shot through his shoulder and the knots held just as secure as they had from the beginning. He was finished. There was nothing he could do but accept death and hope Ra would let him into the afterlife. He wished he could take back all the times he had blasphemed Ra but he couldn’t. He’d just have to hope Ra would know he had been just kidding around.

Pwrt squatted behind him. The perfect position not to be splattered by his blood when she cut his throat. What was going on? He felt the knife sawing against the leather chord tying his feet to his hands. The pleasure from the release of his feet as the chord snapped and he brought his legs away blew his mind. “Oh.” She straightened his legs and cut the chord binding his feet together, then spread his legs apart and moved in between them.

“Let’s see what we’ve got to work with here, big guy.” She took off his penis shield and sat it aside. “Ah, that’s nice,” she said as she fondled his phallus. We don’t get any real men at Trgt, Resh. It’s the only flaw with extreme matriarchy. We have to keep our men weak and subservient to keep them from any thoughts of insurrection.” She bent down and took his member into her mouth. He couldn’t help himself as he felt it swell. She moved her lips up and down on it and soon it was rock hard. He was in total ecstasy as she moved her head up and down with force, taking him all the way into her throat. He thrilled as the head of his dick collided with the beginning of her throat before penetrating it. He tried to hold himself but he knew he was close to coming.

Pwrt must have sensed this for she stopped and took her mouth away. “No, no, my precious warrior, not yet. I want your come inside my vulva.” She straddled him and lowered herself down sheathing his monstrous shaft. Resh was shocked by the madding pleasure he received as she absorbed him within her. She started riding him slow and he couldn’t help moaning with pleasure. She rode faster and faster until her plunges were as fast and powerful as Resh thought possible and then she increased even that when he exploded inside her with the most mind bending ecstasy that he’d never known existed. She could kill him now for all he cared, because he’d never experience anything better. She slowed her plunges but stayed aboard milking his sperm until he softened and she rolled off.

She lay embracing him with her loins for sometime, then took the knife and cut loose his hands. His thrilled as the freedom of movement trilled through his shoulders.

“On your way, Resh, before the squad awakes. Some of them want to kill you, others take you back to Trgt. I am five days into my most fertile period. Hopefully you just seeded for me a baby girl. If so I hope she will inherit your striking good looks, courage, and fortitude.”

He replaced his penis sheath and she handed him a container of water. “Thank you, Pwrt, you are quite something else,” he said still in a daze.

“Thank you, Resh, so are you.”

He headed off toward Drkkt, with each step not knowing if she might not shoot an arrow in his back. After some distance he chanced a look back and saw Pwrt wave at the sentry and the sentry waved back.