Captive Travelers Page 4

  Cici had no experience in a lesbian relationship, and it took a while to gain Jenny’s confidence. Jenny was twice her age, and she had been married to a man who beat and abused her for fifteen years before she finally ran away. She was still terrified he would find her. It was a perfect situation for Cici to become her protector. Jenny had no interest in finding another man, and the two women began to experiment together.

  Jenny knew that Cici ‘jumped the track’ occasionally, but after a few months she realized that Cici would never become committed to a man. Cici never lied to her, and she always told Jenny when she had taken one of her nighttime trips. The confessions were not meant to hurt her. Cici made it very clear that she did not want to keep secrets from Jenny, and it had turned into a comfortable, passionate relationship for both of them.

  Jenny’s arms wrapped around Cici’s neck to pull her into a deeper kiss. Their tongues slipped into each other’s mouths and they relaxed into their slow building passion.

  Cici felt her pussy dampen, and she rubbed her dark bush on Jenny’s thigh. She pushed Jenny back into the pillow and kissed her way down her neck and to her small breasts. Cici’s tongue flicked the small pink tip of Jenny’s nipple and she blew a warm sigh of air across it.

  “I need you,” Jenny whispered. Her pussy throbbed, aroused and leaking. Cici always made her feel that way. It was something she had not experienced since the first years with her… no, I won’t think of him. Thoughts of her husband dissolved with Cici’s soft touch.

  Cici’s hand stroked the pale curls of Jenny’s damp mound. She loved that she could make her feel such passion. She pulled down the blankets, and Jenny slowly turned and buried her face in Cici’s thick bush. Her tongue quivered when she licked along her slit, pulling her fat lips open. Cici had her leg bent to give her access while she nibbled Jenny’s clit.

  Jenny was squirming and thrusting her hips. Cici slipped a finger inside her tight hole and pumped gently. Her husband had torn her with his abuse, so Cici was always gentle.

  They pleasured each other for a long time, with slow caresses of hands and tongues. Their climax was a comfortable, fulfilling rush, and Jenny rose and put her head back on the pillow. Cici wrapped an arm under her breasts, and Jenny held it there. She drifted to sleep in the safety of Cici’s strong arms.

  After Kayla had hung up, she turned on her computer, checked her bank balance, and her face paled. Bobby had stolen almost five hundred dollars. The first time he had stolen her ATM card, three hundred dollars was withdrawn before she could put a hold on it. When the surveillance cameras showed her it was her boyfriend, Kayla decided not to press charges. “You asshole,” she seethed. She could not believe he had done this again.

  She had met Bobby at a college track meet, and for once Kayla thought she had met her soul mate. They both had track scholarships, and they began jogging together in the morning. He was one half Indian, with a grandmother who was full-blooded. Although Kayla was not, she had always been interested in Indian philosophy.

  Unfortunately, it seemed the half Bobby had inherited was his arrogant disposition. He ruled Kayla like a tyrant. The attention he paid to her in bed slackened the longer they dated. Twice, Kayla had tried to break it off. The first time was when he had stolen her bank card and the second time was when she discovered he was taking drugs. Kayla was convinced that the drugs had been responsible for his domineering change in attitude. They were definitely responsible for getting him kicked off the track team, and part of the reason he was stealing, was to make up for losing his scholarship.

  He had promised her he would quit the drugs for her, and for three weeks things had been better. Last night after they had sex, Bobby snuck to the bathroom when he thought she had fallen asleep. Kayla had been afraid that he was using again, and she searched his room in the places she remembered he used to hide his drugs. In the bottom nightstand drawer she found her ATM card. It had been two days since she had used it, so he could not have had it long.

  She stared at her bank balance in outrage. It would take most of her savings to make up her share of the bill money. Spring vacation was less than a month off, and Kayla’s track and school schedule only left her time for a part time job. She had expected to have a thousand dollars saved for the trip with her roommates.

  At first, Bobby had the balls to deny it. He said he had found her card and was keeping it safe. He merely forgot to return it. Kayla told him she could check her balance when she got home, and he had the nerve to get pissed off at her. Kayla told him that he should feel damn lucky she did not call the police. While she dressed, she told him they were through. Bobby broke down crying, and he whined and said that they could not break up… his grandmother would be angry.

  “His grandmother,” Kayla seethed at the computer. “He rips me off and we break up, and all he can think of is how pissed off Hehewuti is going to be?”

  A week later, when Kayla continued to refuse his calls, Bobby dropped out of school. She was surprised when his grandmother called her two days later. Hehewuti asked Kayla to have lunch with her. Kayla liked the older woman and she had visited her many times. She was in her sixties, but she still performed as matriarch to the family and continued many of the Indians’ beliefs.

  She had also accepted the burden of raising Bobby and his brother since they were young children. Their parents had died in a car accident, leaving a tribal meeting. After the death of her son, Hehewuti had never set foot on the reservation again.

  Kayla decided the right thing to do was explain to her what had happened; maybe not all of the details but enough to let the woman know that she and Bobby were finished.

  Kayla had been surprised by Hehewuti’s warm reception. She was the one who asked if Bobby had stolen from Kayla. Apparently, he had ripped off his grandmother in the past and she noticed him hanging around a bad crowd again. She had been very pleasant, and she even offered to help Kayla with her thesis on nature religions for a class she was taking next semester.

  They were going through one of her scrapbooks and chatting. Hehewuti said how sorry she was that Bobby had stolen from her, and she offered to make payments out of her retirement check to pay her back. The old woman said it would have to be in small amounts because her checks did not leave her much extra.

  Kayla felt so guilty and sorry for her that she told her the money was only going towards her vacation. She did mention that Cici and Aubrey would be disappointed. Hehewuti said she might have a way to help after all. She flipped through the scrapbook and pointed at a grass mound on a mountain. She told Kayla it was an Indian mystical place, and she unfolded a map pressed into the page.

  At the time… and Kayla would regret this later… it did not occur to her why the map looked recently made. She hugged Hehewuti at the door and promised to see her again after vacation, to work on her thesis.

  After the white girl left, Hehewuti walked through her back yard. She passed by her well tended gardens to her medicine wheel in the corner. She stepped over herbs until she was in the center, and slowly lowered herself to sit on a small bench. Her fingers curled around her spirit world medallion. It was an ancient relic, handed down through her family for many generations.

  The Indian had thought long and hard about this, and she even consulted the other five spirit guides. They needed an offering to give their tribe strength. Perhaps, because there were three white women to offer, Bobby might be guided by the warrior spirits to a stronger path.

  She had tried to get Tommy’s endorsement, but he refused to represent his brother’s case. It had been three years since Hehewuti had seen him. Her grandson had moved to the reservation and secluded himself with the shaman. He was becoming a powerful guide for the tribe, yet he was ungrateful, and he refused to acknowledge his grandmother had led him to the path.

  Hehewuti hatred towards white people was insanely fanatical. She was convinced that her son had been punished for marrying outside the tribe. The whoring seductress had tempted him away from h
is people, and both of them had paid for her treachery. Although she decided her grandsons got what they deserved for letting white sluts seduce them, Hehewuti was still adamant that the women be punished.

  Hehewuti had told the spirit women that with Kayla’s black hair it was obvious she was of Indian heritage. She had to tell them something, because it was apparent Bobby was in love with the slut. Even though Bobby had been unfair to the girl, he was of warrior blood. Kayla should not have questioned him, and for that white trash slut to turn an Indian away was unforgivable.

  Luckily, when Hehewuti told her friends that she learned Kayla had no Indian blood, the five spirit guides had agreed that the whore deserved punishment. They were primarily interested in the benefit of the gift to the tribe, and not Hehewuti’s petty revenge.

  Hehewuti made preparations, sending Bobby on another trip up the path to the mound to clear it a bit for the ritual. He balked and complained, but eventually did as she asked. He was obsessed with destroying Kayla, and he figured that when Tommy had the problem with that fat chick, Rebecca, his grandmother’s shit had appeared to work.

  Bobby tripped on another branch, skinned his palm, and cursed. It had been three years since he had been on the trail, and it had overgrown a lot. Between tokes on a joint and swigs off his whiskey bottle, he managed to clear it enough so Kayla could find her way to the top. Bobby stood by the last boulder, traced his finger around the sacred sign… and pissed on it.

  When he climbed back down the mountain and re-stocked his supply of weed, his grandmother told him to tell her when Kayla left for the mound. Bobby lurked around the shops across from their apartment, until he saw them loading backpacks and leaving in Cici’s SUV. He heard Kayla laughing, as if they were heading out on a great adventure. You have no idea, bitch. After the girls pulled out of the parking lot, he stumbled to the park bench to wait for the bus to his grandmother’s house.

  Cici thought she caught a glimpse of Bobby when she adjusted her rearview mirror. She decided it was better not to mention it to Kayla, or she would be stuck listening to what an ass the guy had been to her. “You sure about this, Kayla? It’s not too late to catch a red-eye flight to Vegas.”

  “Come on, guys. This will be fun, like when we were kids,” Kayla answered.

  “I never saw the need to sleep outside in the woods when I was a child,” Cici replied.

  “No, I imagine you were more of the dress-up and doll type,” Aubrey agreed. She was studying the map and trying to find something of interest besides the highlighted area Kayla had marked off for the beginning of the trail. There was nothing for miles.

  It took two hours to get to the highway exit, and another hour to find the small dirt road that led to the trail. They parked the SUV and unloaded their gear, setting up the tent by a welcoming space with a stone structure built as a barbecue.

  The next morning, they began hiking to the mound. Hehewuti’s map was vague, so they had no real idea how long it would take. They agreed to spend one day there and then climb back down. Cici and Aubrey figured that it might give them enough time to take a three-day ‘fun’ excursion.

  No matter how much they had argued, Kayla had insisted she wanted to find the Indian mound on the mountain the woman told her about. She said it had mystical properties, and that only the Indians knew about it. Cici thought it was a damn waste of time, but she still found herself struggling uphill two days later.

  Cici had been the one to hold out the longest on the decision about the hike. When she finally gave in, she had her manicurist add an extra top coat to her nails, bought a sturdy pair of designer hiking boots, and changed her gold hoop earrings to sensible diamond studs. She had spent a passionate evening with Jenny and promised to bring her back a souvenir.

  “How much further, Kayla?” Cici called up.

  Aubrey shifted her backpack and continued up the trail. She heard Cici behind her, wheezing a bit. At least Aubrey jogged once in a while, but she was not close to the fanatic athlete that Kayla was. On top of a full school schedule and work, her track routine was impressive. Kayla looked magnificent running, and she had a fanclub that supported her even when she was running the relay.

  “Just a bit more, Cici. I’m looking for a marker now,” Kayla called back.

  Cici mumbled, “That’s what she said an hour ago.” Her feet and legs were aching, and her backpack felt fifty pounds heavier than when they began that morning. A band of sweat under her sports bra seemed to have killed the stretch in the thing, so her large breasts were sagging and bouncing with each step. Hell, there was not a part of her that did not ache.

  Aubrey turned and smiled at her. Her own face was flushed from the climb, and the bandana she had tied around her forehead was soaked. She had wrapped her long blonde braid up under it to keep it off her neck. Aubrey was trying to be optimistic, but she was losing the battle as each hour passed by, cutting into their chance for a short getaway when they returned to civilization. Now, it was late afternoon of the second day of the hike, so choices and plans were becoming infeasible. They would be lucky to have enough time for a long weekend near home. “It’s your choice next year, Cici.”

  “If you asked me right now, we’ll be spending the whole damn week in a spa.”

  Aubrey turned back towards the front and continued to climb. Her green eyes half closed, and she said, “Mmm, sounds delicious. I can just picture some bronzed skin naked stud rubbing his hands together to warm the oil, and making his biceps tighten. His hands caressing my back and kneading my…”

  “Enough, Aubrey,” Kayla laughed. “We’re almost there, and we’re not turning back until I find it.”

  “According to you, you don’t even know if it is there,” Cici reminded her. Kayla had spent hours trying to find information on the place and never found a thing.

  “Hehewuti wouldn’t have told me if it wasn’t true. She already had the map made out for me,” Kayla called back.

  Aubrey held up a branch and stepped over a large rock. She waited to help Cici through the obstacle. The trail, if that was what it could be called, was becoming more obscure and difficult to navigate the higher they climbed. There was no maintenance done on the path, and with the overgrown vegetation only slightly broken for the upward climb, Aubrey thought they could just be following some animal tracks.

  “I thought Bobby’s family was mad at her for dumping him,” Cici said quietly. She grabbed Aubrey’s hand to get over the rock.

  “Especially, the grandmother,” Aubrey agreed. “She’d all but asked the tribe’s permission for them to be married, then Bobby was so depressed he dropped out of school. What a mess.” Aubrey turned to make sure Cici was still behind her. “And all of a sudden she calls Kayla. Kayla said the old woman hardly mentioned Bobby at all. She just said something about things getting back into balance with the spirits and working out fair for everyone.”

  “Yeah, like Kayla breaking a leg on this damn camping trip and losing her track scholarship… then she’d be out of school too. I bet Hooti would think that made things fair.” Cici hated the woman just for suggesting this damn hike.

  “It’s Hehewuti, Cici. It means ‘warrior mother spirit’,” Aubrey replied. “Did you ever meet her?”

  “Un un, why? Did you?” Cici asked. She looked up and saw Kayla studying the map again.

  “Just once, when I picked Kayla up. Her house is filled with all this old stuff like feathers and skulls all stuck together… major creepy. She said she was some kind of spiritual guide for the tribe, or something. Um… what the hell was it?” Aubrey frowned for a minute. “Oh, yeah. She helps spirits find their destiny. I guess she can’t go wrong with that. If they’re spirits, they’re dead, so who the hell would know if her crazy stuff works or not?”

  “We’re close. Hehewuti said there’s a good place to camp nearby,” Kayla called down.

  Cici drew in a deep breath and began to walk again. Aubrey could see how miserable she was. Cici, all two hundred pounds of her, was
not the outdoorsy type. She was tall, and with her weight distributed so evenly she reminded Aubrey of the Rubenesque women in paintings. She was all curves, with a mop of brown curls that were currently limp and clinging to her sweaty cheeks.

  “I didn’t even know the Indians built mounds on mountains. I thought they were always on flat land, like the plains and stuff,” Aubrey said.

  “Shit, I hope Kayla finds it, or she’s liable to have us trudging up another damn mountain to look for it.” After only two nights of camping Cici had had enough of the outdoors. The manicure she had gotten for the trip was ruined, and she gave up on makeup after the first day. Now, it was just added weight to her backpack.

  The small trail dwindled to nothing, and they were stepping over fallen branches and rocks. “Kayla, this can’t be right,” Cici groaned.

  Kayla had stopped again, once more looking at her little map. Her finger was tracing something on a boulder beside her. “We’re on track, look.”

  Aubrey caught up to her and looked at the map. It was drawn on a yellow sheet of paper. There was a rock with a symbol that looked like a circle with a U pointing up from the top, and another on the bottom pointing down. “It looks like a horoscope sign,” Aubrey said. There was no denying that the carved symbol on the rock matched the picture Hehewuti had drawn. “She didn’t waste time on accuracy.” Aubrey could see different points they had traveled, and the lines did not come close to depicting the distances.

  Cici finally caught up to them and Aubrey showed her the matching symbols. “The good news is that we do appear to be on the trail. This is the last sign before we reach the mound.” Aubrey glanced down the overgrown path. “I guess the Indians don’t come up here much for ‘mystical properties’. Anyway, the bad news is that Hehewuti has absolutely no consideration for distances.”