by Zaide Bishop
“What about her kids?” India asked.
“Well, we need to get rennet from somewhere,” Kay said with a grin.
* * *
Dog paused, waiting for his brother to catch up. Vaca fell in beside him, and together they meandered up the path, making their way toward the canoes. It was early morning, and they had been dispatched by India with a very specific task.
“A nanny goat with kids,” Vaca repeated.
Dog nodded. “Easier said than done, but there should still be a few around on Pinnacle Island. If we’re lucky.”
“Not on the north side,” Vaca said. “But maybe if we make our way around to the south. I know a place where there are blackberries. The goats have paths all the way through them. I’ve never been much good at catching them there. I just end up full of thorns. Maybe together we can corner a few. Maybe we’ll even find some berries.”
Dog nodded. “I found a cave on the south side of the island, when we were running low on food in summer. There’s a corpse there. A human corpse. And a clay tiger.”
Vaca arched an eyebrow. “That sounds...useless.”
“A bit, yeah.”
They pushed out into the water and began to paddle. Vaca was in the front, and Dog watched the rolling motion of his shoulders and the way the sunlight caught on the fine golden hairs on the back of his neck. Dog still didn’t enjoy the company of the Varekai. He kept waiting for their appeal to kick in, but he felt the same as he always had. The fat, swollen chests gave him only a faint sense of disgust and unease. The idea of sliding his cock into those slick, fleshy holes between their thighs made his balls shrivel.
Increasingly, though, his brothers had less time for him. They were pairing off with Varekai—discovering the transcendent joy of heterosexual companionship. Something Dog was beginning to suspect he would never experience. With so many of his former bed mates now distracted, he was getting lonely. Lonely enough that the flex of Vaca’s shoulders and the way the sunlight played in his hair was deeply distracting.
“What do you think of them?” Vaca asked, glancing back over his shoulder. If he noticed Dog’s erection, he didn’t linger on it.
“The scientists? Not much, to be honest. They’re sickly. They’re wrinkly. It’s not like we can leave them to die, but I’m not sure they’re going to be as useful as Sugar and Charlie think. They also seem awfully impressed with themselves.”
“You notice too, huh?” Vaca rolled his eyes. “They’re like the teachers in Eden. They act like they know better and we’re being outrageous for not falling into line. Yet they stumble around, completely oblivious to the obvious.”
Dog shrugged. “There’s no harm in it for now, I guess. They’ll realize they’re wrong.”
“You hope.”
They lapsed into silence again, and Dog let himself become engrossed in the curve of Vaca’s spine, the flow of his arms and the smell of his sweat as the breeze picked up off the water.
They arrived at Pinnacle Island, and together they dragged the canoe onto the beach.
“You seem...distracted,” Vaca said, giving Dog a pointed look.
He shrugged. “It’s not me; it’s our brothers who are distracted. They’re more interested in the Varekai than each other. For years we’ve spent all day together. Now most of them look at each other like they’re the competition.”
“You don’t seem to be trying very hard to make friends with the Varekai.”
“Oh, I have Varekai friends. I’m just not interested in creating a screaming, wrinkly naked monkey monster.”
Vaca sighed. “You aren’t...entirely alone in that sentiment.”
Dog stepped up close to him, hand trailing down his arm. “We’ve got plenty of time to catch goats, you know.”
He snorted. “No, we don’t. When the goats are caught and delivered, get back to me.”
He grinned. “Here was me, thinking you were fun.”
Vaca rolled his eyes. “When have I ever been fun?”
“I can think of a few times...”
“Goats, Dog. Focus.”
“Right, well, nanny goats leave their kids all day while they look for food, right?”
“Yes.”
“So we find some hidden kids, set a snare for their mother and wait.”
“Your plan seems dependent on us stumbling on well-camouflaged kids wedged deep in a thorny bush somewhere.”
“It might require keener skills and better eyesight than running around in the sun after terrified, bleating goats, but we’re far less likely to end up bloody, sweaty and being slammed in the balls by a billy goat.”
“Fair enough. Let’s do it your way.”
They made their way up the mountain, following familiar paths at first, until they could hear the sounds of saws and hammering from the work site. Then they turned south, leaving familiar surroundings for the coarse wilderness and goat trails. It was reasonably safe up here, at least. The terrain was too steep for the aggressive wild boars and crocodiles. Venomous snakes could be a hazard, but both of them were wearing leg armor—strips of fiberglass or crocodile hide strapped to their calves that snake fangs couldn’t penetrate. They knew a lioness was up here somewhere too. Perhaps a male lion too—though it had been years since they had seen him. Neither of the tribes had ever had a confrontation with any of the big cats. It was important to be vigilant, but not afraid.
The big male billy goats could be dangerous too. Some were close to five feet at the shoulder, and their skulls were as hard as rock. In the breeding season they seemed to go insane with rage and would fearlessly charge anything or anyone who didn’t belong. They were perfectly capable of killing any Kai they caught off guard—though broken bones were a more typical concern. Dog and Vaca were well equipped with spears, knives and ropes, though, and unlike a large crocodile, a spear in the chest was more than enough to bring down a goat—regardless of the season.
They worked quietly and methodically, staying close to the well-worn goat trails and peering into every shadowy crevasse for any sign of kids. Vaca had always been a good trapper and fisher, preferring patience to brute strength. He was much better suited for a task like this than, say, Zebra, who would have been completely incapable of remaining silent for the duration. Or even Xícara, who, while thoughtful and retrospective, was a foot taller than both Dog and Vaca and would have been hard-pressed to stay out of sight in the coarse foliage.
So far Dog had found two nests of paper wasps and a half-bald rat as large as a puppy. Irritable he’d been stung, and starting to think he should have told India to get her own damn goats, he almost missed Vaca’s subtle wave and point.
He stopped where he was, and Vaca pointed again to an impossibly thick-looking tangle of blackberries. Dog didn’t see how it was possible for baby goats to have gotten in there, but Vaca held up two fingers, then vanished up the goat trail the way they had come. Dog trailed after him, waiting until they were far enough away to speak without frightening the creatures away.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
Vaca nodded. “Yes, two for sure, maybe three.”
“So we set up a snare and wait.”
“She won’t come back if she smells us.”
“We’ll need to go right up the mountain and find somewhere we can see the trail. Make it a good snare, okay?”
Vaca nodded, sitting cross-legged on the dirt to prepare the trap. He made three, in the end, as the kids were near a junction in the trail and they couldn’t know which way she would come from. Once the snares were in place, they climbed up the rocky outcroppings over the blackberries, finding a shaded nook that would keep them out of the sun.
The view was spectacular. The mountain fell away below them, a tangle of bushes and outcroppings, before the sparseness of the scrub gave way to fertile soil, and the rainf
orest canopy reached up in lush abundance. Beyond that, the deep sapphire of the ocean stretched indefinitely. There were no more islands. No mainland, nothing but clear, deep water that curved away from them at the edge of the world.
“What do you think is out there?” Dog murmured.
Vaca glanced at the horizon. “Well, if the earth is round, I guess it just curves around to the other side of the mainland.”
“You think that’s all there is? The ocean, the archipelago and the mainland?”
Vaca shrugged. “Why would there be more? What else could there be?”
“More archipelagos? More mainlands? Snow.”
“Snow?” Vaca shook his head. “Snow was from before. I doubt there’s still snow.”
“Just because we’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Maybe one day we’ll find a button and push it, and there’ll be snow.”
“I can’t imagine how that could possibly be a good thing.”
They were silent for a time, stretched out on their bellies in the shade, occasionally sipping water or batting at the flies drawn in by their sweat. More out of boredom than hunger, Dog unwrapped their lunch—pork belly, palm heart and fried green mangoes. The mixture was greasy from the fat and humidity.
“So,” Dog said between mouthfuls. “How come you aren’t trying to earn the affections of a Varekai? Is the one you like already with one of our brothers?”
Vaca sighed, clearly unimpressed with the subject change. “It’s not about the Varekai. You always enjoyed the way things were, sleeping with as many of our brothers as would welcome you into their huts. I... I was always like William. I only wanted one of our brothers.”
“Was it Romeo? He might be a brother and an Elikai, but he is still technically a female.”
“No. It was never Romeo.”
“Then who?”
Vaca gave him a long-suffering look.
“Oh. Me?” Dog paused. “You never said anything.”
“Because monogamy was not a tradition we embraced. I didn’t want to be jealous...or laughed at.”
Dog wanted to say he wouldn’t have laughed, but he wasn’t entirely sure it was true. “Why me?”
“You’re sensible.”
Dog gave him a flat look. “That’s what you find attractive?”
“Sensible is less likely to be gored or swallowed or stabbed.”
Vaca was sensible to the point of being a bore. Maybe too serious. Maybe too quiet. He tended to be overlooked. So overlooked that perhaps Dog had not even noticed he was making his brother miserable all this time.
“We were a lot closer in Eden, weren’t we?”
Vaca didn’t meet his gaze. “Yes.”
“We were together all the time. Day and night.”
“Yes. But things were different when we got out.”
“Not intentionally! I mean, you and I were friends in Eden, but once we were out...”
“The Elikai discovered sex, and you were in a different bed every night.” Vaca shook his head. “Oh, I’m not saying it was your fault we drifted apart. It was just hard to watch you experimenting with the other Elikai. I kept my distance.”
“You didn’t have to make yourself sad over it. I was right there. You could have...”
Vaca shrugged. He looked miserable now. Sort of deflated, as if letting out the secret he had kept for so long had shrunk him.
Dog shuffled closer until their shoulders were touching. “Hey.”
Vaca glanced up, expression a mixture of hope and wariness. Dog tilted Vaca’s chin with two fingers and kissed him—only to be surprised by the ferocity with which Vaca returned the embrace.
He pushed Dog flat against the stone, their tongues still intertwined. Both the surprise and passion behind Vaca’s affection sent a hot thrill through Dog, and his cock jerked under his grass skirt. Against his chest, Vaca’s body was firm and faintly slippery from the oil the Elikai anointed themselves with each dawn.
Dog tried to shift, but Vaca pushed him back firmly. Amused by his friend’s sudden need for dominance, Dog stopped resisting. Vaca slithered atop him, pushing Dog’s legs apart with his knees. When Dog glanced down the length of Vaca’s body, he saw the thick, hard head of Vaca’s shaft already rigid and jutting out between the grassy threads of his skirt.
“Been a while, huh?” Dog teased.
“Shut up,” Vaca muttered, dragging the remains of their lunch closer with his fingertips and greasing his hand with the fatty residue. He gripped his own cock, pumping the shaft until it glistened.
Then he reached down, fingers brushing across Dog’s own swelling cock, squeezing his balls before probing his asshole. Before Dog could either protest or consent, Vaca had kissed him again, and Dog met him with equal passion. He groaned into Vaca’s mouth, then arched as a greasy digit penetrated him all the way to the knuckle.
Vaca moved his mouth to Dog’s neck, licking and nipping as Dog shuddered, his body clenching and spasming around the intruding finger. Vaca pulled it out more slowly, but as it wriggled into him again it was joined by a second, and Dog writhed, his cock as rigid now as Vaca’s.
“You don’t waste any time, do you?” he gasped.
“I’ve wasted years,” Vaca murmured against Dog’s collarbone. “I’m going to fuck you until you can’t walk.”
Dog grinned. “Are you sure about that? You’ll have to carry me home. And a goat.”
Vaca replied by jamming another finger inside him, which effectively stymied Dog’s ability to talk. He could feel Vaca inside him, stroking that soft inner button on a man that could make all other stimulation unnecessary. He could feel the bump of every knuckle as they slid in and out, and he could feel the hard length of Vaca’s erection brushing against his.
Suddenly Vaca pulled out, and Dog groaned, wanting more, needing more. Vaca was right, they really had wasted years. And right now the last thing Dog wanted was for Vaca to stop.
“What are you doing?”
“Beg,” Vaca demanded.
“Fuck me.”
“More.”
“Fuck me, I need you.”
He was going to say more. He was going to say he had been an idiot for not noticing Vaca sooner, for not realizing his friend was waiting for him. Hurting, wanting to be with him. But Vaca didn’t give him a chance, fumbling in a sudden urgent desperation. He guided his cock to Dog’s ass and embedded himself to the hilt. Too hard and too fast. Dog arched and gave a cry that was somewhere between pain and satisfaction.
Vaca didn’t give him time to recover, pumping into him with deep, regular beats. Vaca’s teeth were bared, the need in him as deep and desperate as any savage animal. They rutted—Vaca’s secret affections finally laid out raw. It was a side of him Dog did not remember ever seeing before, and he relished it, caught between rapture and laughter. Who knew such a neat and unassuming Elikai had been hiding such a beast inside?
Vaca kissed and nipped his way across Dog’s chest and neck, and Dog pushed himself up on his hands to meet the other man’s mouth, wanting to taste his lips and tongue.
His climax was building. Vaca was plowing into him, harder and deeper with every thrust, filling him, driving him to the edge. Dog arched his back and came, seed splattering hot between their bellies.
This drove Vaca to his peak, and his final few thrusts were the deepest, his whole body straining and shuddering as he finished.
He sank down then so they were chest to chest, their ribs pressing into one another as they panted. Dog felt the bloom of something sincere. Friendship flipped over to something much more in an instant. He really was an idiot to have been blind all this time. Vaca kissed Dog again, deep and lingering, but this final show of affection was cut short by a twanging sound from below and the frantic thrashing and distressed bleats of a goat.<
br />
Dog arched an eyebrow at Vaca. “Missions accomplished?”
“Plural?” Vaca asked dryly.
He grinned. “I always had two goals...”
Vaca slugged him in the shoulder. “You’re a cad. Can we go now? Before she goes lame and I really do have to carry a goat?”
Chapter Eight
The air was thick and warm, and soon it would be time to take a break and move up into the caves to rest for the hottest part of the day, but the Kai working on construction today were making one final push to finish the first foundation. They’d leveled the ground and brought load after load of stones up from the beach and river with finer sand. Now the stones had been laid down, and using thick, round logs of hardwood, they were pounding them down, creating a flat, compact floor. When it was finished, the building would be nine by twelve feet—much larger than anything they had constructed before. Even before the Elikai village had been destroyed, the largest of their stone huts had only slept three.
Looking around as she paused to wipe the sweat off her brow, Charlie was impressed. It was starting to feel a lot like success. When Dog and Vaca got back, they would have a goat, and India had announced that morning their one remaining hen had finally gone clucky on her eggs.
With the scientists’ new technology, everything was getting better and better.
Ross’s hot fingers closed around her upper arm. He had the slick, black gun tucked into the waistband of his pants.
“Come on,” he said. “I can’t take any more of this sitting around, watching you build.”
Charlie glanced around and saw Sugar bristling.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Let’s go kill something. Dinner, comprende?”
“Delta, Love and Nab are fishing.”
“I ate nothing but fish for nine years.”
He started to pull her toward the trees, and she motioned for Tango to follow them. The Varekai quickly grabbed a spear and a bone knife and followed them. Ross seemed unimpressed with the company.