Totem of the Bear - World of Ranicke 1

Chapter 12

By the end of the day Jim had a new appreciation for the tribe and its organization.  One thing he discovered was that attached to the caravans were tent pieces that were quickly folded out.  Sleeping bags were put out and he had to smile since at the Chief’s tent it was only his family and they had room.  One thing Jim did was make sure that all stones under the bag were removed.  “I am not going to have a rock under my ass all night.”

That got him laughed at by the Chief and his family though they were doing much the same thing.  As things were getting set up the team Jim was assigned to dig latrines.  “Great I go from diaper duty to latrine duty.  I think I am going to complain to someone.”  That got a laugh from most of the guys.

Noreal really laughed since he had children.  “That’s what you get for seeing one of the babysitters so quit your whining and get to work.”  That got more laughs.

Jim waved his shovel at him.  “I might dig this extra deep and they will never find the body…  Oh wait, I would probably end up doing diaper duty for your mate.  Never mind you are safe for the moment.”  He started digging again.  By the time they were done most of the work setting up had been done and the smell of cooking wafted by.  “Oh man that smells good.  Talk to you later and I will try and wake up for our patrol Thomas.  Not used to getting up at night anymore.”

~~~

Jim could tell that he was definitely not in the shape he had been in before the fight with the bear.  The worst part was he could tell that Thomas as well as the ladies was keeping an eye on him.  That frustrated him as well as made him feel rather good.  They cared enough to make sure he wasn’t overworking himself.  He found that as they went they were giving him more stops in the caravans to play.  He didn’t only play but told some stories of his world as well.  By now it was understood that he was from a different world and everyone wanted to know about it.

At night by the time Jim was ready to roll into bed his head hit the pillow and he was asleep.  He did make a habit of alternating sleeping with the three ladies he had been spending time with.  How he had ended up spending nights with Nora he wasn’t sure but he had a feeling that one of the other two had slipped him a micky.  By the end of the meal she had offered him he was starting to get tired and ended up asleep in her bed.

Now at bed time he spent a different night with each of the lady’s in his life, in a way it still bothered him.  He had been paying very close attention to what was going on and unless they were a promised couple or actually mated there was a great deal of bed swapping.  That had been proven the day he had helped find Tonya and Sorrel was sharing a bed with a different man.  That had taken a bit of time to accept but finally decided it was their culture and he wasn’t going to make a big deal about it.

The trip took about five days and when they finally arrived the other tribe had obviously arrived earlier that day and was mostly setup.  One thing he definitely noticed was a dividing line made of rocks that ran part way from one side of the clearing to the other.  In the middle was a very large section that had stones surrounding it.  Instead of a solid line of rocks there were spaces between them and a large pile of wood was in the middle.

While Jim was helping to setup the camp Thomas gave him a quick overview of how it worked.  “Everything on the other side of the stone line is their territory.  The large circle is neutral territory.  If you cross the line you will be challenged.  If you lose then the tribe will owe them something of value, if you win then the opposite.”  They were doing latrines again as they were talking.  “Now during the ceremony and dancing the entire center space is open but don’t go beyond that.”

Jim listened to what he was saying and nodded.  “Makes sense and would keep fights down.  Now as far as weapons what about them, wear a knife or what?”  That was the important question for him.  He really didn’t like the idea of walking around weaponless.