Maliha

The grass tickled her toes as she wandered by the winding river that traversed throughout the land. The waters sloshing languidly and filling her ears with natures soothing noise.

The sun glided against her skin as she skirted along the bank, her hands plucking at weeds as she watched the children play.

Now that she didn’t have to work the fields she wasn’t sure what to do. Most of the women who had once worked the field not too long ago seemed to have released that job to the hard-worn warriors, while they continued the cleaning and preparation for the Sanfr Nafti.

The more she learnt of this tribe the more her views on them altered and the less she knew where she stood. It had been easy for her to see them as a tribe that spoke of revering women but didn’t practice what they preach because that was what they had done to her, but she was realising that it wasn’t their realised and it left her dumbfounded.

It seemed that working the fields had been a temporary plight on the women, one they had to suffer through while a large chunk of the warriors trialled the newly training warriors in the uncultured wilderness of the Der Surjaz land. Now they had returned, the warriors were resuming their jobs and the non-warriors theirs, though the majority of non-warriors were female.

There was a different atmosphere to the tribe now.

The tribe was light with excitement as they prepared for their yearly festival. Colourful flowers from the river beds were collected and twisted together to make large flower bouquets for their goddess. Oils were churned, and soaps were entering their final stages all in preparation for their communal purification in the holy waters before they entered their Goddesses temple. All sacrificial gifts were being prepared. Everyone had a purpose except Maliha.

Even Xiuri had found her place in basket making to carry the reeves and other gifts they would bring to the temple.

Maliha wandered listlessly, feeling as if she were an outsider because Ujarak had made it abundantly clear that Maliha would be the only person not attending the main part of their festival.

The Sanfr Nafti was carried out over two sunrises and was in celebration and thanks for the life they were given. Ujarak had explained that the first and third stage was open up to everyone - even those who were not of the tribe - but she would not be a part of the main stage. Only those who were accepted into the tribe were permitted.

Her isolation from the festival had her feeling disconcerted even though she knew their reasoning was justified. She had started the day wanting to help but with Ujarak’s words it had become clear that she was perhaps unwanted.

Her feet crunched on the ground as she made her way to the fire pit where Xiuri sat with the women of the tribe making baskets and boiling something in pots, her feet hesitant as she approached them. The halting of Xiuri’s basket making alerted the women to Maliha’s presence.

“Sit,” barked Ciur, her head rising as she met Maliha’s cautious face.

Xiuri’s sister looked so much like her, they had matching scars on their cheeks and deep black skin that rivalled the richest mud. Her full lips stretched wide as she rubbed at her burgeoning stomach, her belly button sticking out and dark stretch marks lining her skin.

“Maliha, néh?” She questioned as she pulled out a stool for Maliha to sit on.

“Yes, and you are Ciur, Xiuri’s sister,” the woman’s kind eyes lit up at Maliha’s acknowledgement of her name.

“Yes,” she grinned, her teeth glistening in the sun and her scarred cheek stretching.

She stared at Maliha in wonder for a moment, her eyes alight as if she was beckoning Maliha to say something.

Maliha felt uncomfortable with the way the woman was staring at her, the way all the woman kept glancing at her with small traces of reverence and joy, but she brushed her discomfort to the side.

“What are you making?” she questioned, motioning to the deep orange liquid with small brown flakes that Ciur was churning in a big pot.

“Soap. We are in the Last stages. Once this starts to thicken I will add some of this oil and then leave it to sit. This is my last batch” her eyes turned coy, and a secretive smile climbed along her lips as the woman next to her jostled her shoulder.

Ciur murmured something in their tribal tongue which had the woman clicking with mirth, her hands rapidly moving as she repeated to the rest of the women whatever Ciur had said. Their laughter roared out, shoulders shaking and throats guffawing as they shared in a banter that Maliha couldn’t understand.

“What did she say?”

Maliha’s cheeks burned as the women made lewd gestures with their hands and continued to snicker. Ciur’s tongue flickered out as she licked the dripping sweat from her lip, small traces of embarrassment lingering in her eyes.

She cleared her throat, “Miat said that if I wasn’t pregnant already, then I definitely would be tomorrow.” her mouth opened as if she would continue speaking but her teeth clicked shut as she changed her mind.

Maliha knew there was more to the joke but it clearly embarrassed the woman and so she would have left it there if the rolling tongue of the female above her hadn’t answered instead.

Nahi stood where Maliha once had, her stomach round and humour clinging to the creases of her eyes as she lightly squeezed Ciur’s shoulder.

“What little Ciur was too embarrassed to mention, was that our lovely Saralec-” her head bobbing to the woman with short raven hair with gold beads that flickered like an open flame, big brown eyes, bronzed skin and two black lines inked along her chin.

“Said that pregnant or not Ciur would receive the pounding of her life if she continued to make those soaps.”

Saralec stuck her tongue out at a bashful Ciur which had Maliha smiling even though she didn’t understand what the soap had to do with anything.

As if hearing her thoughts, Nahi began explaining to Maliha exactly what she meant.

“This soap that Ciur is creating tends to heighten ones libi- ah” Nahi groaned, gripping her stomach as her stomach shifted with the movement of the little one inside her.

Maliha shot to her feet and offered her seat to Nahi, slowly lowering the woman down into her seat as she stood above them.

“This child of mine” Nahi huffed, rubbing at her distended stomach, trying to soothe her boisterous child. Maliha shifted to her knees by the woman and began rubbing her back, working the knots out of Nahi’s sore back like she had learnt under the tutelage of the Feri tribes midwife.

“Thank you,” Nahi murmured before that twinkle entered back into her eyes.

“As I was saying, this soap that Ciur is making á bezzla ezvotik, néh?”

The women snickered around her, their heads nodding in agreement but the words they used were still confusing. Maliha knew the word néh meant no but the set Surjaz often pronounced it as a grunt generally used for agreement. She also loosely understood that the term bezzla meant a lot or very but the term ezvotik was something she had never heard before.

“That is why you are carrying so big, isn’t it Nahi? You gave Abazz this soap and he became bezzla seçussa... He filled you good, néh? “chuckled Miat, her finger wagging at Nahi causing the other women to laugh again.

Though it was nice to see them laughing and enjoying themselves, Maliha hated the fact that she couldn’t understand them. Most of their words were in the common tongue but they often slipped back into the tribal languages that seemed to be a combination of old dialects and some newer modern Eastern dialects.

“I do not need this soap to make Abazz want me,” boasted Nahi, “He is naturally a virile man.”

“And hung like a horse,” called another woman which had Nahi’s golden skin turning red as she blushed deeply, pride glimmering in her eyes as she rubbed her round stomach.

Sentences pieced together and then Maliha finally cottoned on to the conversation.

“The soap is an aphrodisiac,” she gasped, her eyes wide in wonder as she practically threw herself into the pot to see the ingredients.

“Easy there,” chuckled Ciur, pulling a bashful Maliha away from the cooking pot.

“Yes. The cinnamon and Ylang Ylang have many health benefits-”

“Yah like giving us a heavy libido,” interrupted Saralec, her hips thrusting in her chair as she made rocking motions.

The women burst into uproarious laughter as Saralec toppled from her chair and this time Maliha joined in with their laughter. Her eyes watering as other women made more gestures.

Maliha spent the rest of her morning conversing with the women and helping to make baskets. Her grasp on the language improving as Xiuri moved to sit by Maliha’s side and translate.

It was a nice feeling to belong, to find that though the Der Surjaz had different customs and languages, the women had begun to view her as one of them.

---------

The steady beat of drums roused Maliha from her sleep, the orange hues of the sun dancing through her bedroom curtains.

“Come Maliha, it’s time,” beckoned Ujarak, his hand extended as he encouraged her to climb from her bed.

She reluctantly slipped from the sheets and headed over to the small trunk of clothes that had appeared inside this room on the day she had first awoken.

“It doesn’t matter what you wear, you won’t need clothes for what happens next,” husky sleep tones rolled through his chest as the warmth from his body ebbed into her crouched over back.

“I am in sleep clothes,” she stammered.

“And soon you will be in no clothes,” he grunted, as his arms slid over his bare chest. Muscles rippling as he waited in anticipation.

“Ujarak,” she murmured breathlessly, chest beating as nerves fluttered in her stomach because the sight of him in nothing, but a small piece of a cloth had her pulse racing and her mouth-watering with undeniable lust.

“Come Maliha,” his hand outstretched and her small fingers slid into his palm, the scarred ridges of his calloused palm abrading against hers.

She was in a trance, captured by his raw masculinity.

“You’ll like this” warm breath ghosting over her bare shoulder as he led her out into the warm morning.

The sky was lined with purple and red hues, birds flapping across the picturesque back drop as the soft hissing drums picked up.

The fire pits were empty, great billowing plumes of smoke circling in the sky as the fires ebbed out. Pots and pans lay discarded on wooden benches as an unfamiliar morning greeted her. There were no scents of food or low laughing as people prepared meals, there was only the scent of smoke and the sound of drums.

“Where is everyone?” She questioned, head whipping around to see if she could find any form of life.

Her question went unanswered as he led her through the crop fields and deep into the tropical jungle with tall swaying trees and large dangling flowers of every colour.

The jungle was wild and untamed, bushes overgrown with poisonous plants and the earth littered with foraged and rotten fruits from the small critters that clung to the tall trees. The earth upturned in certain areas as animals burrowed into the ground and made their homes.

The jungle was untouched by man except for the small worn out pathway that went deeper into the forest. The sound of drums picking up as they followed the path until all she could hear was the steady thump, thump.

Maliha knew what to expect but the sight before her still managed to take her breath away, in both pleasure and horror. Pleasure because in the middle of the clearing she had stepped into there was the clearest lagoon of lapis hued rippling water. The water softly trickling down a small waterfall and tapping against rocks.

But there was also horror because the tribe seemed to be enjoying the water in all their naked glory. A multitude of brown, bronze and golden hues were submerged in the water that licked at their skin as they licked at one another.

Children lay damp on the grass beds, their bodies drying under the rising sun as their parents enjoyed the water. The joyous sounds of childish laughter and the softer tones of adult pleasure.

Maliha turned to question Ujarak but the words on her tongue dried up at the sight of his virility.

The small piece of material that had once clung to his hips was curled on the floor and his full manliness was bared in the morning glory. She felt heat colouring her cheeks as she stared in unabashed horror at the size of him. Long and thick, his manhood hung heavy cradled against the dark coils of his pubic hair.

Her head shot up when her heated gaze began to alter his flaccid manhood, the organ growing and giving her a clear indication of why Tanzim had been addicted to Ujarak.

“You are almost red Maliha” head tilting as an interested look entered his eyes.

“Yes well-” she sputtered, her words halting abruptly as she turned away from him, but the lagoon was no better because the tribesmen and women were reaping the benefits of Ciur’s soap.

She was no blushing virgin, but she was not used to this. She had a lot to learn about the ways of men and women.

Her skin burned as she shifted away from the lagoon and instead looked to the banks where the children were resting. A dark partially clothed figure sat among the children had Maliha sighing in relief and moving towards her. Xiuri seemed to be disinterested in the lovers canoodling in the water, even though Kamir was one of those naked people bathing. His eyes lingering over Xiuri every now and then.

Maliha refused to acknowledge Ujarak as she headed towards the only sane adult in the tribe.

“Oh no, no, no, you don’t” chuckled Ujarak as his large arms corded around her waist and he spun her back to the pool. She squawked loudly, his quick movement bringing her bum flush with his thickness.

Setting her feet back down on the crunchy grass, he regarded her with a seriousness that had her chest fluttering.

“You are going into that pool like everyone before you have. There is nothing wrong with the naked form. Even the children do not squirm as you do,” his head bobbing to the deep red hair of Enzo who was climbing a tree naked.

“Yes, but they are used to it Ujarak” his eyes softened at her stressed tone, but he remained unbending. His arms folding in an unmoving wall of resistance when she tried to argue back.

“Either you strip, or I do it for you,”

“But- I,”

“I’ll do it for you” he chuckled.

He gripped at the thin white material of her night dress and began yanking it off her.

“Careful,” she snapped, slapping his hand away as she slowly pulled the dress up, “You will rip it.”

“That just means you will be naked longer,” he grunted, his lopsided grin sending the butterflies in her stomach wild.

Heaving a sigh, she pulled the dress the rest of the way and stood before him in nothing but the skin she was born in.

“Happy,” she spat.

“Very,” he grinned and then he had her in his arms and submerged in the water before she could make any more issue about it.

She clutched onto his shoulders as he manoeuvred them deeper into the water, the cool liquid lapping at their skin. He swam further into the lagoon until they were as far away from his tribe as they could get. He propped her up on a rock and then swam a little distance to the shore.

When he returned he revealed something orange in his hands, his hair lurking around his ear adorably as he grinned at her with mischief lining his face.

His arm outstretched as he revealed what he had brought with him.

“Soap” he grunted, lathering up the block in his hand and offering it to her.

The rich scent of the Ylang Ylang had his pupils dilating and Maliha’s nipples pebbling.

She really didn’t need any of that soap.

Ujarak was tempting enough without it.