In the Shadow of Mountains: The Lost Girls

by David George Richards

Chapter Twenty-Three

  Characters

  Rolf found the walk through the forest back to his house to be unexpectedly pleasant. Having the girls for company made a delightful change. They talked and chatted endlessly, they were so lively and boisterous, and they were curious about everything.

  Rolf loved every minute of it. He loved listening to them, he loved the sound of their voices, and he loved the way they ran about and investigated anything they found.

  The wreck of the assault ship from the Nakora Tabek drove them wild. For a while, Rolf thought he would lose half of them in the bowels of the ship. Three of them shot down the tunnel before he even noticed. His anxious shouts fell on deaf ears. Only when Vanessa called them did the girls come out. Bernice was the last. It was as if she did it on purpose. Vanessa scolded her.

  The twins interested Rolf. When they spoke it was with an accent that was different from that of the rest of the girls. Although they were both dressed the same, Bernice’s skirt was much shorter than her sister’s, and anyone else’s. It also hung lower over her hips at an angle. With most of the buttons missing on her blouse, she had left it open and merely tied it at her waist. She seemed to delight in showing off her body, and there was a lot of it on view. Vanessa was less flamboyant. When she had unfastened her blouse and tied it up, it was only to keep cool. And she kept her blouse and skirt straight and orderly. Yes, they were identical, but different.

  Both sisters were tall and shapely. Both had jet black hair. But while Vanessa’s hair was long, straight and thick, Bernice’s hair was short. It hardly reached her shoulders. Both of them had rich brown eyes and perfectly proportioned features. That, and the dark hue of their skin, made them both extraordinarily beautiful. But where Bernice was always smiling and happy, mainly because she was always being naughty in some way, Vanessa was always sad and subdued. It was as if all the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

  The assault ship brought a flood of questions from Becky. While the rest of the girls explored the wreck, Becky cornered Rolf and asked him all he knew about it. He told her what Soo-Kai had told him, realising as he did so that he didn’t know that much. Becky took it all in.

  Becky wore metal rimmed red and white glasses. Rolf had only seen glasses as fine as those on members of the Royal Family at the Palace. She had shoulder length dark brown hair, with blue eyes in an oval face. She had a shapely figure, but she wasn’t as tall as Vanessa and Bernice. Like all the girls, Becky wore her blouse tied at her waist. With her skirt on her hips, it left her stomach and navel on show. She was quite pretty. And by the way she responded to the answers Rolf gave to her questions, he quickly became convinced that Becky was the shrewdest girl among them.

  When Rolf wanted to leave the assault ship and continue on to the house, it was Vanessa that rounded them up and called them to follow.

  It was rather obvious that Vanessa was their leader. Whenever anything came up, all the girls looked towards her. Vanessa would sometimes look to Becky for confirmation of her decisions, but what Vanessa said, went. Only Bernice would sometimes defy her, usually resulting in smacks and hugs. Vanessa bossed Bernice, but it was obvious to Rolf that it was because Vanessa loved her and worried about her.

  After they left the assault ship, Becky never stopped asking Rolf questions. The other girls all gathered around him and Becky, listening intently to his answers. Sometimes they also asked questions, or they chatted to each other about something he had said. But when he talked about Soo-Kai, and how he met her, they became completely silent. After that, the questions really started.

  With Becky prompting him, Rolf told them everything. They were totally fascinated. The more Rolf talked, the more they wanted to know. By the time they reached the house, Rolf’s throat was so dry, he could hardly talk anymore.

  While the girls investigated his house, Rolf went with Karen down to the stream to fetch water. She had volunteered to go with him. It gave Rolf the chance to get to know her better.

  Karen was quite slim, with long light brown hair and brown eyes. She had a sort of sad face, sad but sweet. But when she smiled, it was like the sun coming out.

  “How old are you?” Rolf asked her.

  “I’ll be sixteen in May,” she replied. “We’re all about the same age. Jane’s the oldest. She was sixteen last September.”

  “You’re all very young.” Rolf bent down by the stream.

  She hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her skirt and watched him fill the bucket. “How old are you, Mr L’Epine?”

  “Oh, call me Rolf. At my last birthday, I was thirty.”

  “That’s not very old.” She gazed around at the trees and the darkening sky. “I always wondered what I would be doing when I was twenty, and thirty, and forty,” she said thoughtfully. “I had it sort of worked out. I didn’t want to get married until I was thirty. I wanted to have some fun first, you see. But I wanted to have two children by the time I was forty. That way, I could have grandchildren when I was sixty. I had it all planned out. Now I don’t even know where I’m going to be tomorrow.”

  Rolf smiled and glanced at her. It was then that he noticed a nasty cut on her thigh. “I forgot about your wounds,” he said. “I told you I had ointments, didn’t I? Ointments and bandages.”

  She looked down at her thigh. “Oh, yeah. That was when we were in the cage. The men kept poking at us with their spear things. They got me, Rowena and Vanessa. I’ve got another one on my hip, look.” She pulled up her skirt and showed him. The tiny garment she wore underneath was more string than fabric.

  Rolf coughed. “Yes, well, er, I better treat those when we get inside.” He straightened up and held out his hand to her. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go back to the house. It’s getting cold out here.”

  She nodded and took his hand. As they walked back to the house, Karen untied her blouse and let it hang loose. It was getting colder, and darker.

  As soon as they got back to the house, Rolf was hit by a barrage of questions.

  “Where’s the telly?” Jemma asked.

  “It’s cold in here,” Rowena said.

  “Where’s the bathroom?” Jane wanted to know.

  “Where’s the kitchen?” Sophia asked. “I’m hungry.”

  Rolf was quickly surrounded. Karen smiled at him as he put the bucket down on the table and did his best to answer their questions.

  “All that you see is all that I have,” he told them.

  “What! No telly?” Jemma moaned.

  Vanessa clipped her across her ear.

  “Ow!” Jemma yelped, and rubbed her ear. “I was only asking!”

  Rolf continued with his explanation. He pointed at the bowl and the bucket on the table. “The bathroom is here in this bowl. I have brought water so that you can wash and bathe. I will find you towels to dry with. As for food, I will get some bread and meat from the pantry. First, let me light the fire so that I can heat the house and boil some water for coffee.”

  That perked up Bernice. “You have coffee?” she asked eagerly.

  Sophia was more interested in the food. “Never mind that! Get the bread and the meat! Do you have anything else?”

  Jemma called out, “She’ll be wanting a pizza next! Ow!”

  Vanessa had clipped her ear again. Jemma gave her a dirty look in response.

  Rolf headed for the fire place. “Let me light the fire first,” he said to Sophia. “Then we’ll see.”

  Jane grabbed his arm. “But I wanna wee!” she whispered in his ear. “And I want one now!”

  Rolf stared at her. “Oh, alright. Follow me.”

  As he led Jane to the door, Jemma smiled mischievously and called out, “Squat time, girls!”

  Vanessa gave up clipping her ear and grabbed Jemma, wrestling her to the floor. Becky helped her, and the two of them sat on her. Jemma squealed and screamed, but they refused to let her up.

  Rolf found himself leading Jane, Rowena, Karen and Bernice d
own to the place by the stream that he and Soo-Kai used.

  Karen quickly asked him, “Isn’t it dangerous to do this in the same stream where you get your water?”

  “Only if you do it up-stream,” Rolf pointed out. “This is down- stream.”

  Karen nodded. “Oh.” She looked upstream, hoping that there weren’t anymore houses by the river.

  The girls weren’t impressed by the arrangements, and moaned constantly. Rolf quickly left them there.

  After they had got back and reported to the others, Sophia, Jemma, Vanessa and Becky all trotted off next. Karen showed them the way; she seemed to be concerned that they found the right spot. Rolf managed to light the fire and put the coffee on while they were away.

  When they all got back, the girls washed up in the bowl. There was a lot of splashing and shoving. Karen had to go with Jane to refill the bucket before they could all finish.

  It was while they were washing that Rolf got his ointments and bandages and demanded to treat the wounds Karen had told him about. At first they protested, but then Becky said, “If they get infected, you’ll be dead in a week in this place.” That convinced them.

  Karen went first, then Vanessa and Rowena. Rolf was twice as shy as they were when it came to treating them. The wound in Karen’s leg was easy, but when she pulled up her skirt so that he could reach the one on her hip, Rolf felt his face growing red. Vanessa and Rowena were a little easier. Vanessa merely pulled her blouse apart to allow him to treat the wound in her chest, and Rowena stood with her back to him and pulled up her blouse so that he could treat the wound in her back.

  Rolf followed the same routine each time. He washed each wound first, and then he put on the ointment. Most of the wounds were only superficial, and didn’t need bandaging. In the end, Rolf only put a bandage on the wound on Karen’s leg.

  As soon as he was done, Sophia stuck to Rolf like glue. Rolf had the feeling that if he didn’t find her something to eat soon, he would be next on the menu.

  As Becky had indicated when she had introduced all the girls, Sophia was the most well shaped of them all. She was also quite tall, like Vanessa and Bernice. Her height helped to keep her well endowed shape in proportion. But her beauty wasn’t confined to just her body. Her eyes were dark brown and slightly slanted, giving her face quite an exotic appearance. She had dark brown hair that was long and curly. And like the twins, she spoke with a slight accent. Also like them, her skin was darker, but not as dark as theirs. With her blouse tied up and her skirt down on her hips, she looked far older than the sixteen years Karen had given for their ages. She could only be described as voluptuous.

  Rolf couldn’t help staring. Sophia smiled and held her breasts in her hands.

  “Are they not magnificent?” she said.

  Rolf instantly blushed. Sophia laughed. It was a delicious and sexy chuckle.

  “My mother named me after Sophia Loren. She was her favourite actress. Like her, I owe my body to the pasta I eat. My body is large, and I have the appetite to match. So whatever you have, it better be a lot!”

  She wasn’t joking. For the rest of the evening, Rolf never saw her when she wasn’t eating.

  She wasn’t the only one that was hungry. They all ate the bread and meat Rolf provided. He even went out to the coop and killed another bird, roasting it over the fire. It was one of the few times they were all quiet. They all sat together in front of the fire, eating and drinking the coffee. There weren’t enough cups to go round, so they shared, passing the cups to one another, and then holding them out to Rolf to be refilled.

  When they had eaten enough, the questions started again. Most of them wanted to know more about Ellerkan, the forest and the castle. Bernice wanted to know more about the Destroyers. She asked a lot about Kai-Tai. Vanessa was worried about Amy, and wanted to know when Soo-Kai would return with her. That made Rolf worry too. Soo-Kai had promised to be back by nightfall, and it was already well after that. His mood would have grown dark if it hadn’t been for Jemma.

  Jemma was the complete opposite of Sophia. She was very slim and very small. She could have been two years younger than the rest of them. She had short and curly blonde hair, lively blue eyes and the cheekiest disposition. She was always making lewd comments about the toilet arrangements, where Rolf and Soo-Kai slept, or something else that embarrassed somebody. Vanessa or Becky would regularly chastise her, but it was plain that Jemma considered that to be half the fun. She was cute and funny, and Rolf could happily have bagged her in a sack and kept her as his own.

  It was Jemma that got up and investigated his work bench. Her shouts of delight brought the rest of them hurrying after her.

  If the luxury of his house didn’t impress them, the quality of the cloth and the garments on his work bench did. They descended on them like a flock of vultures. In a few seconds, all of the orderly piles were ransacked. Rolf was distraught, but there was nothing he could do.

  Jane was the first to try on one of the colourful blouses. She took off her white school blouse and discarded it without a thought. Her grey skirt went the same way when a pair of breeches caught her eye. She kicked off her shoes and stood in her bra and knickers without seeming to care that Rolf was nearby. Like most of the girls, her body was slim and athletic. She had long legs, and to Rolf’s surprise, the breeches fitted her.

  She looked across at Rolf. “Can I keep them?” she asked.

  Rolf shrugged and waved his arms in despair. “Why not? The clothes you all wear mark you out as strangers.”

  Jane looked delighted. She had shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. Her face was long and oval, and her features were quite strong. She was pretty, but she also looked hard.

  Where she went, the others soon followed. Rolf stared in dismay as blouses and skirts flew in all directions. The girls stood around in their underwear, grabbing anything they liked. Jemma got buried in a swatch of pink silk, Vanessa found a light grey tunic and hunted for the breeches or skirt that would match, Sophia and Karen argued over a bright red blouse, while Bernice grabbed anything that was in black, and Becky fell over trying on a pair of blue breeches.

  Rolf gave up and turned away. He found Rowena still sitting by the fire with her legs drawn up. She had found Soo-Kai’s journal, and it now lay open in her lap. She was hugging her knees and reading it intently.

  Of all of them, Rowena was the quietest. She had short, light brown hair and blue eyes. Her face was round and her features delicate. She seemed almost timid.

  Rolf smiled. Then the door burst open.

  Soo-Kai came in first, followed by Amy. Craig was last. He took one look at the house full of girls, all of them in various states of undress and exclaimed, “Oh my God, I’ve died and gone to heaven!”

  All the girls screamed at the sight of Craig. It surprised Rolf, as they hadn’t seemed worried by his presence at all. Rolf quickly took him and Soo-Kai outside, leaving the girls to greet Amy. There were just as many screams at her arrival as there had been for Craig’s, but these were screams of joy.

  Amy was mobbed. Karen filled a cup with coffee for her, and Sophia handed her the last piece of meat on the spit. Then they talked her to death, asking her how she had got away, where she had been, and where she had found Craig. They wanted to know a lot about Craig. Finally, they introduced her to the clothes on Rolf’s work bench.

  Outside, Rolf was just as anxious to know why Soo-Kai was late. He kissed her and hugged her tightly. “I worried about you, you took so long.”

  “I am sorry, my husband,” Soo-Kai replied as they embraced. “I did not mean to alarm you. But things did not go as planned, and now I fear we must leave our house and be far away from here before morning.”

  Rolf became even more worried by her words. He held her at arms length. “What happened? Tell me!” he demanded. “And who is this young man?”

  Soo-Kai quickly explained what had happened, introducing Craig. She told Rolf how they had been chased t
hrough the forest by men from the castle, and how they had brought the other Destroyer with them in a wagon.

  “She has our scent,” Soo-Kai finished. “And she will lead those from the castle to us. We cannot stay here, my husband. Pack up your cart, fill it with as much food and provisions as you can. I will answer no more questions until we are on our way. We must leave, now.”