top

The riders reached the river valley by mid afternoon. Dragging a cloud of grey dust behind them they trotted down the ravine and into the canyon where the broad meanders of a great river curved and twisted between rocks and sandbanks with many a rippling pool and waterfall. They reined in and dismounted, untacked their horses and tethered them in a shady grove of eucalyptus trees.

Then they walked to the riverbank and stripped off their clothes.

From the shade beneath the trees Pia watched the women bathing. She had soon tired of their company and now sat with her back against a tree trunk as the splashed and shouted in the water. The sun cast sharp, glittering fragments of light on the surface, hurting her eyes and throwing into stark contrast the silvery, almost transparent ripples above the pale golden sand and rocks at the edge of the water. The heat of the afternoon pressed down heavily. In the shade of the trees the horses stood motionless, drooping and wilting as waves of heat shimmered and shifted around them.

As Pia watched, the last of the women, the one called Jurr, threw off her clothes and splash noisily into the water. Just like Jurr, Pia thought. Always the last to do anything and always the first to complain. She could almost hear the woman now, moaning that the water was too cold, or too wet or too something! She was never ever thankful that something, for once, might be just right! Oh no! That would be too much for Jurr to believe or to be thankful about.

Pia breathed deeply and the heady aroma of eucalyptus brought her to a strangely heightened state. The warm scent tickled her nostrils, bringing memories of that day’s events ebbing and flowing. After a while she thought she could see, a shape, a something, a someone perhaps, standing among the trees to one side of her. She turned her head, but when she tried to focus on the figure it slipped and shimmered back into the heat haze again. She cursed the heat and shook her head sadly. Earlier that morning her lover, Zadie had come to grief, suddenly and dramatically in a collision with the low bough of a tree. They were galloping through open woodlands at the time and while everyone else appeared to have seen the low branch, Zadie, who was watching Pia at the time, obviously had not. Her injuries had not been great. Perhaps no more than a broken collar bone, but it had been the humiliation of it which had deflated her. Riding into the branch of a tree of all things! So she'd stayed there, at the edge of the forest with two of the younger girls to tend to her wound and her injured pride. Together they had made a little camp where they would wait until, after a few days the rest of the riders would return.

Pia knew instinctively she should have stayed with them but Zadie’s vehement protestations had upset her, put her on the defensive and made her unhappy.

So she'd ridden away from their camp without looking back, knowing that she had, in all probability, lost Zadie then to one of the younger girls. The figure of Mo formed itself in her mind. It had been Mo who was most upset by the accident and Mo who had first reached the motionless figure of Zadie on the ground. Perhaps they already had something going together, even before that incident, Pia thought. If that was true it would explain a lot of things......... But even so, she still missed Zadie’s company like hell!

Idly she watched the two women nearest to her as they splashed about in the water. Ani and her half sister Lo. They were a fine pair and each in their own way exciting and stimulating lovers. Pia remembered both of them with a sudden pang in her belly. Ani with the longest and blackest hair of them all and Lo whose own raven hair was comparatively short. She'd made love with both of them at some time or other. Once or twice both together and then sometimes, when they met, either by chance or design, each of them alone.

As the hunger for company gnawed at her she touched herself and found her juices already flowing. What she could just do with a woman right now! Instinctively she caressed herself, feeling an electric jolt of pleasure jump and spill. Behind her the rough bark bore itself against her back and shoulders. She drew up her legs, moved her feet further apart and let her thighs fall open.

Closing her eyes she summoned up her favourite thoughts. She touched herself again. Oh how she needed a woman right now!

"Would you like some company?" A voice asked close at hand.

Pia opened her eyes slowly. The girl Lulu stood in front of her, still wet from the river from which she had a few moments before emerged. Lulu smiled expectantly, her eyes bright as the sunshine, grains of sand bejewelling her slim brown legs.

Pia observed her through half open eyes.

Time passed and the two women looked at each other without speaking.

"Oh Lulu" Pia lied eventually, " I... I was just thinking about you......."

Lulu returned Pia's gaze with a smile,

"Thinking about me, Pia? Why on earth would you do that?"

Lulu stared at her boldly.

Pia closed her eyes again for a moment not knowing what to say. Then, as she felt the girls eyes boring in to her crotch she looked her full in the face and said.

"Well the day is so hot and the water so cold and refreshing. I was the first into the swimming place as usual and so as usual was the first to get out. The water's touch always arouses me so......"

"Me too!" Lulu said softly.

"So I thought I'd come and sit in the shade and get cool........."

“Cool! Under these trees!” Lulu exclained "Tis hotter here than it is down at the waters edge!"

She tossed her head towards the river. "No I think you came over here to play with yourself!"

She stared at Pia boldly

"Well..............!”

"Go on! Admit it! You have been playing with yourself!"

"Well at least I didn't do it in full view of everyone else!"

"Why not? You usually do!"

"No I don't!" Pia was indignant.

"Yes you do! I've watched you! Yesterday for instance........"

"Yesterday was different...."

"Was it? Why?" Lulu wanted to know

"Well yesterday I still had......... had a lover if you must know!"

"Aha! A lover!" Lulu grinned "Yes a lover! And where is she now?"

In her minds eye Pia saw Zadie flying off her horse, saw the cloud of dust curling around her as she smacked into the ground.

"You know very well!"

"Yes!" retorted Lulu, "Yes so I do! Shame she didn't see that branch! Everyone else did! She must have been too busy watching you to see where she was going! Or looking at Mo, more likely! And now you are sulking! Doing thing to yourself on your own. Thinking no one else will know what you do!”

She pouted lewdly. “Well I know!"

"Why did you disturb me then" Pia asked "when you knew I wanted to be on my own?"

"Do you really want to be on your own?" Lulu asked scornfully "I know you and I don't believe you do! I think you just wanted to get away from us all and play with yourself"

"No!"

"I think you wanted to get away so that you could have a little cry about Zadie and then a little twitch and jiggle without anyone else knowing"

"Well....... I did have a bit of a cry, " Pia admitted

"So you came over here to watch us swimming as you played with yourself?"

"Well I didn't................."

"I saw you Pia, " Lulu said quietly. "I saw you do it just now, so I know!"

Well!" Pia was defiant

"You know what they say! "Hide it away and no-one will know!""

"So.............?"

"So will you make love with me now?"

Pia looked at her in astonishment. No preamble. No gifts. No hints or rumours or subtle signs. No anything. What was she supposed to make of the girl? She had only acquired a horse of her own a few days ago. Now like the rest of the riders, she was her own boss and like them, entirely free to come and go. That she stayed close to the other women was an indication that she was perhaps not quite sure of herself. She still wore her hair tied in a thick rope which dangled below her buttocks and tapered only very slightly on the way down. Idly Pia wondered why she had not untied it so that the wind could blow it out. Was she afraid it would get tangled and knotted so that she would have to ask a favour of one of the other girls..............

"It's a bit short notice" Pia said, staring at the girl. How beautiful she looked in the sunshine. Her hair, bound as it was, must be the longest of all the riders that she knew. Longer than Ani's by a hand's span at least and thicker too for much of its length. Her figure was startling and disturbing, arousing and encouraging with it's blatant sexuality. Her black triangle, adorned with grains of sand and glistening with drops of river water became in the same instant both curious to Pia and the centre of all her attentions. Lulu was obviously extremely aroused and, as she looked at her, Pia realised then how much she desired the girl. Her waist seemed tiny for a horsewoman but her thighs were as muscular and as long, almost, as Pia's own. Her breasts were very small though, not much more than darkly coloured sharp nipples with a little smooth circlet of fat behind to emphasise them.

Idly she thought of her hands cupping them. Delicious! She shivered inwardly as she observed the girl. No introduction! And how long had this girl been following her about? She remembered the shadow which blocked the sunlight the day before yesterday as she and Zadie lay together in the camp.

"Was it you? She asked casually, as if it didn't really matter, "who watched us so closely the other day? If it was, if you wanted to, why didn't you ask if you could join in?"

"I watched to learn, not to participate" Lulu said. "Now I've seen and learnt and want to do it with you"

"Like I said," Pia replied, "its a bit short notice. There are things you are supposed to do first!"

"Kiss and tell?

"Kiss, yes but the lovemaking starts before you touch, you know"

"Kiss then!" Lulu demanded. She pouted her lips, thrust her head towards Pia

"Oh don't be so......"

"So what? Straightforward ?"

"So.... Yes! If you wanted me before why didn't you say so?"

"I wanted you alone! Lulu hissed. "Alone! Not with Zadie or Mia or anyone else!"

"But why?"

"Why?" Lulu whispered, "Isn't it obvious? Why? Because I love you!"

Pia stared at her for a moment. "But love doesn't come into it..... does it?" she said , " Making love is different...... something exciting and real and ........ well physical. There is no love in it, you know!"

"Then why is it named so?"

"Why, because........ it's from a long time ago. From another time entirely!"

"Is it?"

Pia felt her face reddening, in a minute she would have to get up and go for swim in the river to cool down. Inside she felt an attraction towards this girl which threatened to overcome what little self control she still had. In a minute she would grab hold of her she was sure. Grab hold of her throw her down and sit on her face before she had time to cry no. Sit on her hard and squeeze those tiny teats both at the same time so that surely to goodness blood if not milk would start to flow!

"Don't you like me?" Lulu asked suddenly.

She'd changed tack and had Pia on the defensive now, she knew

"Am I not attractive to you?" she insisted.

"Of course you are! It s not that. It is just that this is not the right way to go!"

"Is this then? Bending forwards the girl reached down and put her fingers into herself.

"Taste me!" she thrust her fingers close to Pia's mouth. "Taste me and then tell me you don't feel the same way as I do!"

She waved her fingers under Pia's nose.

The odour was unmistakeable. Even if Pia had not seen the girl fingering herself she would have known. The scent of a severely aroused woman was unmistakeable.

Slowly and deliberately she leaned forwards and took Lulu's fingers in her mouth.

………………

Part 2.

They found a place a little way away from the river, where the boughs of a huge fallen tree gave shade and moisture enough for some greenstuff to grow. The reek of mint and hayglow rose as they trampled and trod and broke the tall, fragrant plants down.

Lulu untied her hair slowly, the broad ribbons of coloured leather twisting and coiling like snakes as she dropped them on the ground. Standing tall she shook her head back and forth until the jetstream of blackness shimmered and rippled, writhing like strands of midnight, free to fly across the face of the full moon. Then she sat down very close to Pia on the trampled greenery.

The grass and crushed herbage in their nest was cool, fragrant and inviting, almost as good, Pia thought, as the big old featherbed she had at home. Softly she put her arm around the little girl.

Lulu shivered with anticipation, hair shimmering torrentially, like the darkest black waterfall imaginable, all over her shoulders and back and into a shining bottomless pool on the ground.

They kissed tentatively, tongues colliding unfamiliarly until they remembered how to do it. Each found the others breasts were exactly as they had imagined they would be. Lulu's small and hard, sharply nippled and Pia's soft as spring sunshine and almost as smooth.

Without speaking they moved close enough to press their bodies together and as they touched it was as if an electric current suddenly ran through them so intense were the sensations.



They giggled and drew apart, far enough to rearrange themselves before doing it again. They compared belly buttons and ears, fingernails and noses and slowly and carefully counted each others’ toes. With methodical deliberation they touched each other, measuring the distances, probing the softnesses, the hardnesses, examining each tiny dimple, protuberance and fold.

After that the lovemaking was easy, even to those who'd give it a different name. All thoughts of the river faded now, replaced by the scalding, caustic desire they had for each other. As Lulu's fingers slipped inside her Pia closed her eyes and allowed the sensations overtake the events of the day. The memory of Zadie shifted and faded, the pain of their parting drifted away. They had been together for most of the summer and now already, that time seemed so far off now. If only she had known sooner how Lulu had felt!

Concentrating, she stroked the girl, fine dark hairs springing up all along the top of her leg. She traced a line at the top of the thigh, to where the forest of hair suddenly grew darker and thicker and where the crinkled edges of moist, meaty lips, peeped delightfully out.

Lulu shuddered and wriggled, murmured something, smiled and offered Pia her neck, her cheek, her face as alternative places to explore. She fingered Pia's own wetness, bringing quivering fingers of stickiness back up to her mouth. She repeated the action but this time offered Pia a sample of her own as they kissed again and again. And the taste of them together mingled and blended on their lips and in their mouths until they became dizzy and faint with the joy of it all.

........................

Long shadows lay across the valley by the time they awoke

Lulu untangled herself and looked at Pia.

"Do you think we should be getting back now?"

"Kiss me awake!" Pia said softly. "Then kiss me again, before we go!"

Their flavour lingered. Soft, yet sharp and pungent. Distinct, unmistakable and utterly their own.

When they returned to the water's edge the women whose turn it was to do so had gathered fallen branches and a bright leaping fire now burned in its usual place by the tall egg shaped rocks in the cove.

No one spoke as they walked into the firelight but two of the older women exchanged glances.

The river ran colder now as they washed themselves. Pia found her clothes heaped over with those of Lulu who grinned at her as she hurriedly bent down.

"Put mine with yours for safe keeping!"

"Oh, so I see! Did you think that someone might steal them?"

Lulu smirked at her. "I thought you'd like me to cover you.............."

She struggled with her shirt, the hide not slipping easily on her still wet skin. After a moment she threw it to the ground.

"I think I shall just put on my cloak!"

Pia nodded, having already come to the conclusion that it was pointless getting dressed again. She had no doubt that in a couple of hours or so they would be curled up warm and nakedly together again in whichever tent they chose to erect. She considered the issue as they walked back to the fire together. Hers was the larger and the newer of the two. Less likely to leak should it rain overnight.

She gazed at the darkening sky, saw a deepening, star studded shade of blue and thought that it would not rain at all ever again. In a while she knew, the valley would be bathed in the wonderful pale light of the moon.

Their cloaks swished and swirled as they walked closely together, their feet crunching, sinking in the soft silt and sandy loam. In the gloom close by a lone female voice loudly complained and moaned. Jurr obviously unhappy about something or other.

It was incredible, Pia thought, what that woman found to complain about!

"We ought to pitch now while we can still see" Lulu suggested

Pia nodded in agreement.

"Mine or yours?"

Lulu, hesitated.

"Oh!"

"Did you think I wouldn't want to sleep with you?" Pia laughed.

"Course not!" Lulu grinned

"So mine it is then?"

"Yes, alright!"