Running Bear - Part 1

The village elder looked at the tied up youth with a vengeance, weighing his options in his mind. The ropes held his wrists together, and he was standing now wearing only the loincloth of a warrior...his face still painted from the marks of the morning's raid. The boy had always been a troublemaker, refusing to follow the customs of the tribe, disobeying his elders at every opportunity. Now in his 17th season he was strong and powerful, and ready to be mated. His body represented the best of the tribe, a tribute to the generations before him. His stomach rippled with muscles that formed horizontal lines across his flat belly. The elder noticed the youths arm muscles and saw how they bulged, testing the bonds that secured his wrists together behind him. His hips were hard and powerful, his legs as fast as any gazelle. The loincloth barely held his sex, and his body was no longer the body of a boy----no, he had the body of a warrior. But his face, and his eyes were more striking that all the rest of the warrior’s traits. It was a face that was defiant, even now, as his fate rested on the sole decision of the Council of Elders. Running Bear had been a problem for so long, had been before the Council so many times, that many of the elders were no longer in a very tolerant mood. This had been the final straw, a youth that had disobeyed their commands, and his disobedience was so serious that the council was worried like they had never been worried before. It was only supposed to have been a raid--a quick warning, a few items damaged and a few of their livestock taken. But the young brave had ruined everything, and now the problem burned over the village like the desert son. The young brave had taken a settler’s daughter in a moment of lust when the raid had only meant to scare off the land grabbers. The warriors had been told to scare the villagers, to take only a few of their horses, and to burn only the outdwellings, leaving their homes untouched. But Running Bear had taken the girl, and while her brothers had watched he had mounted her like a wild animal mounts a female in heat, and he had laughed as he did so. Now there might even be a war, and if a war came, the life they had known throughout the centuries could be lost forever.

The elder’s eyes locked with the boys. Everything; their entire way of life jeopardized, because of the lustful antics of this brave. How could he appease the settlers, how could he save the village? He spoke: “Say your words Running Bear. I have anger in my heart, and great sadness. Say your words now.”

The brave Running Bear looked at the elder, then let his eyes move past him as he scanned the other faces of the council. She was only a settler girl--and he had taken her like a jackal takes a pig, quick and easy and fast. She had screamed as he penetrated her, and even now, standing before his elders in his loincloth, he thought of her wetness, of her sex, the feeling of her warmth as he penetrated her depths. He remembered her screams as he entered her, remembered the great feeling as his balls had emptied his seed deep into her sex. Oh how he remembered that feeling; loved the feeling. He had even laughed as he finished, and he was not ashamed. No. He smiled at the memory, then quickly stopped himself, as he felt the stirring beginning in his loins again. He looked back at the elder. The leather cloth that covered him bounced slightly as he left the memory behind.

Then he spoke: “She was nothing.....and I took her. I mounted her like a bear. I apologize, Oh Great One, only for the weakness we showed by not killing these animals that take our land. They should all be mounted, and then afterwards we should take their scalps and drive them back to the land before time. I am the son of the Eagle Claw. I am Running Bear. Untie me now, and end this foolery. I will accept your decisions, and if you wish to whip me then I will endure it. But I do not apologize for my sex oh Great One, for I am ready for mating and ready to produce many fine sons for our people. Let me take a mate now, and I will prove myself.”

The elder looked at him, stared at him, contemplating the youths fate and mulling the consequences of the various options open to him. Running Bear had spoken true, they should drive the settlers back, take their scalps and end the landgrabbing before all the land was gone. But they were too many, and their armies too strong. Their firesticks were more powerful than any spear or bow or arrow, and if they attacked the village and the war came then everything would be lost. It was Running Bear who would be the one to have caused their wrath, and unless he could find some way to convince the settlers and the Great White Leader that this village was not behind the deeds that had been done, the hope for the village was gone as sure as the son falls in the west. No, it was Running Bear that would have to pay if there was any hope for the village. He glanced around the circle, and he realized they all knew what must be done. Then he spoke.

“Running Bear, you have the loins of an animal that smells the beast in season. You have shamed us. You mounted the young girl like a beast in heat, and now you dare say to me and this council that you are ready to be mated, almost as if your balls have taken your mind. What you speak, that you are ready to produce many fine sons for our people, may be true words. But it is your sex that has betrayed you. It is your very sex that will be the bearer of war upon our people. And therefore, it is your sex that must be given back to the white man so that they will understand that your actions were yours alone, and the war they make will be a war with you and not with us. I ask for concurrence of the council.”

Running Bear stood in shock.....WHAT? They dared not....was the Great One mad? As he looked at the faces of the council, he saw them each nod in agreement with the words that had been spoken. Suddenly, fear overtook him, and he thought of running. His mind flashed with the fear of knowing they were serious, and suddenly he felt the arms of the guarding braves grab him, and then they started to pull him from the circle. Just before he left the Great Tent, the elder spoke again: “Take him to the Log of Punishment, and prepare him. He ask to be mated. So shall it be. Afterwards, the deed will be one, and tomorrow the loins of Running Bear will be taken with our apologies to the land of the Settlers. I have spoken. Take him away, and go and prepare the fire....”