ismenin | The Untamed

Hello, hello, hello! Twirls in, full of sunshine and gay repartee! :D

I have finished Part 8 of The Untamed, which is the end of the First Book. There will be more, but not immediately. I shall think about what to do next. I have a couple of ideas on the boil, but not sure which to do. Might put a poll up later, if I can't decide.

Anyway, for now, here's....

Thank you,

ladysunrope, as always, for beta.

The Untamed

Part 5 - Billy Arrives

It had been a harsh winter, their first one in the cabin. The snow had fallen with a vengeance and the dirt track and the river had been impassible. They hadn't seen another living soul for three months, and it didn't seem as if it was going to end any time soon.

They had had good warning of the snow on the two way radio; Ken Johnson from the town grocery-hardware-postoffice had let him know.

"More bad weather on the way, Dave," he had said, his voice crackling over the snow-laden lines. "Blizzards and heavy snow all next week according to the forecast. You and Len got everything you need out there?"

Dom had reassured the man. "Just had a delivery of oil last week, and we've got enough wood, and food for six months, thanks to you."

Ken had laughed and said with truth that "Dave and Len" were his best customers - though the only time he had ever caught a glimpse of Len was through the window of Dave's four-wheel drive.

The new names served them well, although Dom had bought a few national newspapers in the early months at the cabin to see if anyone was looking for them. He had found nothing - but it didn't hurt to be careful.

It was evening, now. June had howled in, and here they were in August, in front of a log fire drinking hot chocolate laced with whisky to keep the cold out. At least Dom had the mug with the whisky. Lij had made a face when he first tasted it, and shook his head, saying that it tasted like cat's piss. Dom knew this couldn't be a colloquialism - Lij would never have heard that saying - but did not go into how he might have known; there were some things still best left unsaid between them.

Lij was lying on the floor drawing a summer scene, the tip of his tongue poking out as he concentrated on putting a last small bird in the tree. There were flowers and green grass, and a happy smiling sun, with big eyes and a friendly mouth smiling down on the earth.

He was a very good artist, Dom admitted it. There was something strange in the way Lij seemed to capture the essence of a thing - animal - bird - tree - that Dom had not seen before in any drawing. It seemed to him that Lij saw inside the object, divined its very soul - and although purists might object to a sun with features, if that was how Lij saw it, it was good enough for Dom.

When Dom had seen how much pleasure Lij got from drawing, he had sent for good quality paper and pencils. These were scattered all over the floor, but Dom, usually so neat, never minded Lij's clutter. It was part of him, so it came with the package.

Suddenly a familiar voice crackled over the radio. "Dom, put that man down and answer me. I'm god-knows-where, freezing my balls off. Come and fetch me before I turn into a bloody snow-man!"

"Billy!" Lij shouted, and ran to fetch the radio. "Hi, Billy, Lij here. I get now Dom."

"Hi there, Lij! Tell the bastard to hurry up. I'm outside Johnson's waiting..."

Dom took the radio off Lij with a grin. "Well, get back inside you daft fucker, or your balls will be frozen, and no woman wants a ball-less man! We'll be there in half an hour or so. Sit tight."

"You coming, Lij?" Dom turned to his partner, rubbing his hands together. It seemed colder away from the fire, although it wasn't, really.

Lij looked anxious. "Do you want I come?" he asked in his fractured English.

Dom took his hand. "It's not what I want that matters, Lij. It's up to you. It's cold out there, and you could stay, if you like, and keep the coffee warm for us. And I'm sure Bill will be glad of a hot meal, too. The stew should be ready in twenty minutes, if you put the potatoes in now."

Lij's look lightened. "I stay - cook for Billy. You fetch."

Dom grinned. "Ok, then. Back in an hour!" and he put on his parka, thick boots and gloves, and headed for the garage.

Lij sat by the fire for a few minutes, thinking. He heard the truck climb the short rise onto the dirt track, and sighed. He liked Billy - had spoken to him many times on the radio - but Lij had only ever lived with Dom, since...since...and he wasn't sure how this would work out.

Billy had said he'd come and stay with them for three months, when he was leaving for an expedition into the Amazon rain- forest, to study the tribes there. Lij remembered well the look of happiness on Dom's face as Billy had said "yes" to Dom's invitation, and wondered if his love was getting tired of just being with him.

In bed that night, he had asked Dom that question, and Dom had taken him into his arms and kissed the doubt out of him. "Lij, I never tire of you, you should know that. You are everything I have ever wanted - and being with you, I find out something new every day. Daft bugger!" and Lij had felt Dom's cock rise against his belly and smiled into the dark. "Beautiful Dom!" he had whispered, later, as he came.

The potatoes in the stew had cooked and Lij carefully turned the heat down to "simmer". Dom seemed to have been gone a long time. Lij began to worry, and was just going to call Dom on the radio when he heard the sound of the engine, and in moments there was the banging of doors and voices raised in laughter as the two men rushed into the warmth.

Lij looked at Billy. Not a tall man; fair-haired with a friendly, open smile, and green eyes. He smiled at the newcomer, and put out his hand as Dom had taught him.

Billy looked at Lij, and drew in a sharp breath. He could see in a moment what Dom meant when he said, in an unguarded moment, that his love was "beautiful." But beauty didn't necessarily make a good partner. He'd found that out with one or two of his past girlfriends. He hoped, one day, to find one that combined a certain attractiveness with intelligence. He was sure he'd succeed. If he had to choose - he'd choose mind over looks any day.

Billy walked forward and took the proffered hand. Dom had warned him not to hug Lij. He wasn't sure how Lij would take to Billy, and he didn't want his friend bitten within five minutes of arriving at the place.

"Hello, Lij," Billy said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you after all this time."

Lij awkwardly jerked the hand up and down twice, then let it go. "Hi, Billy. Welcome to...our... home," he managed after a short hesitation.

He had asked Dom the night before what he should say to Billy when he arrived. Dom had told him, then said, kissing him, "be yourself, Lij. You can't go wrong if you're just yourself. He'll love you - I promise!"

Lij had snuggled into his lover's chest. "I not want him love. Dom my love."

Dom sighed. He had explained to Lij many times that there were different kinds of love. The young man had seemed to understand, but with Lij you were never quite sure. Underneath it all, there was still something dark...feral. Dom sincerely hoped he'd never unleash the sleeping animal.

*****

Billy enjoyed the stew. "Best thing I've had for days! Damn airline food tastes like plastic. This is real stuff!" he enthused, holding out his bowl for another helping.

Dom grinned at Lij. "So I see, mate. D'you want more bread, too? Lij makes that," he said, proudly, handing over a thick slice to his friend.

Billy dipped and munched for a few moments before commenting. "You baked this?"

Lij nodded. "I make bread. Dom say I hard...grip...hard grip good bread make."

"Not good - bloody great!" Billy scooped the last of the thick meaty stew out of the bowl and mopped it around with the remaining crust. "You'll have me as fat as a pig if I go on eating like this," he smiled, reaching for his glass of wine.

Dom put the apple pie on the table and shook his head. "Too much to do here to pile on fat, Boyd. A few hours chopping logs will use up the calories."

Billy looked at Lij who was cutting the pie into portions. "Well, neither of you are fat, and you've been here- what is it?- nearly a year? I have hopes I'll still be able to fasten my jeans when I leave."

After dinner they sat by the log fire in the living room, and revelled in the comforting warmth, whilst the wind howled through the trees outside. Suddenly something hit the front door with a loud bang and Lij jumped up.

"It's ok, Lij - it's one of the bird feeders I expect, blown off the tree."

"Me go fix," Lij nodded, but Dom grabbed his hand. "Leave it till morning, Lij. It's bloody freezing out there and you know the birds won't be looking for food before daybreak."

Lij returned to his seat leaning against Dom's leg, as Billy finished the story of his time in Ratombogo. "...so, a month before I left, the chief married me to three of his daughters, and very fine, big breasted, wide-hipped women they were. He said that he hoped there'd be three corn-haired babies in the village to help make the tribe strong. So I said I hoped so, too, asked him to name one Billy after me, and then I came home!"

Dom laughed. "Three of them! You greedy bugger!"

Billy grinned. "Well, not all at the same time." He turned his attention to Lij, who was smiling up at him, happy in the gentle companionship of the two friends. "Lij, how did you manage to keep warm in the woods, before...before Dom came into your life?"

Dom tried to signal to Billy not to continue, but Billy shook his head. He could see that Lij was not put out by the question, but it was a few moments before he answered.

"My mother... brothers... sisters keep me warm in dark. Sleep with. In snow...I wear skins wolf.... It very cold...snow, but short last."

Dom's mouth was open. He had not questioned Lij about his former life, thinking that he would not wish to answer. And now he learned that Lij lived with - was brought up by - wolves?

"How did the wolf - mother find you, Lij? How did it happen?" Billy continued whilst Dom held his breath.

"I not know. I live always them. Man in hut dead. I not know him. Wolf my mother."

Dom cleared his throat. "What was her name?"

Lij turned to stare at him. "No name. If I need I call - like this." Lij let out a high pitched whine so unlike any sound that could be made by the human throat that both Dom and Billy jumped at it.

Lij seemed totally unaware at the shock and surprise he has caused. He stared into the fire, and murmured. "They kind. Fed Lij. Family I miss, until Dom."

He snuggled into Dom's leg like a confiding puppy, and Dom unconsciously reached down and ruffled his hair. "You are my family, now, too, Lij. We have each other..."

Lij leaped up and sat on Dom's lap, and nuzzled into his neck. "Beautiful Dom..."

Billy coughed. "Well, it's been a long day, folks. Think I'll go to bed. "

Dom unwrapped Lij and they stood up. Dom grasped his friend and drew him into a warm hug. "Goodnight, Bill."

Both men were startled to hear the quietest growling purr come from Lij. Not a threatening sound - more a sound of approval. He came forward and hugged Billy, too. "Goodnight, new friend."

"I like Billy," Lij confided later, in bed. "He...warm, like wolf. I like."

Dom kissed him. "Good!" was all he could think of to say.

*****

The snow had been blown into drifts by the wind, and the men had to dig their way out of the cabin the next morning. It had stopped snowing and the whole landscape was white and gleaming. The branches of the trees were hung with icicles and dusted with snow. "Bloody beautiful!" Billy exclaimed as he looked around him.

Two of the feeding boxes were on the ground, fortunately not much damaged by the storm. Lij climbed the trees and replaced them, fastening them on with wire, and testing that they were safe.

Climbing down, Lij whistled loudly towards the forest, and almost immediately, some small birds flew out of the trees, and landed on his head. This time it was Billy's mouth that hung open.

Lij - spoke - to the birds, there was no other way to explain it, Billy thought.

Lij saw Billy looking, and immediately gave another short whistle. "Billy try."

Billy turned to Dom. "Can you do it?"

Dom laughed and gave a good imitation of the whistle. A few more birds came. "Bugger me!" Billy said, rubbing his face with his gloved hand. "Bugger me!"

Lij was putting the birds on the perches of the bird-boxes and was not listening to the men talking near him. He looked at his friends, the birds, and wondered, not for the first time, why Dom had kept the yellow birds in cages in his other house, when it was obvious they needed to be free. He would ask. Billy had asked, last night. They could ask each other things about the past.

Dom and Billy were shovelling snow from the space outside the cabin, clearing a path to the woodpile, whilst Lij fed the birds. They conducted a low toned conversation as they did so.

"Why haven't you asked him any questions about his life, Dom? Seems bloody ridiculous, being that you're lovers, now."

Dom continued shovelling. "I didn't know he'd be comfortable answering such questions, Billy. In the early days he seemed to shy away from discussing his past life."

Billy tamped down the snow with the back of his shovel. "That was then, mate - this is now. You should ask. Maybe he wants to tell you."

Dom had uncovered a little clump of snowdrops, and gently picked them. As Lij came towards him, he went to hand them over. "For you," he said, simply.

Lij glared at him, his lips thinning, and pushed the hand away. "Why you dead this flowers?"

Dom dropped his shovel. "What?"

Lij pointed angrily to the white snowdrops nestling in Dom's hand. "You hear! I ask why you dead this flowers."

Dom shook his head. "I don't understand..."

Billy grabbed his friend's arm. "Let's go inside, and we can talk about it. It's too damn cold to stand about discussing it out here."

In the warmth of the kitchen, Billy put the kettle on whilst Dom arranged the flowers in a small glass jar. Lij sat at the table, staring at Dom, his eyes wide with sorrow.

"I not understand," he said first, breaking the silence. "Flower live in ground. You take up earth, it deads, Why you do this?"

Dom sat opposite Lij as Billy put steaming mugs of coffee in front of them.

"I don't understand why you're upset, Lij. You eat food that comes out of the ground - carrots, potatoes, peas. You eat fruit, and animals - chicken, beef, lamb. Why are you upset about these flowers? I picked them for their beauty, so you could enjoy them, here, in the warmth."

Lij looked at the table. "I no words. I...I sorry, Dom. I..." He thumped his fist on the table in a rare fit of anger. "I know...I feel...but no words."

Billy pressed Lij's hand, and was rewarded by a squeeze of thanks. "I think I understand, Lij. Shall I try to explain it, and you say "yes" if I'm right?"

Lij nodded, and Dom cast his friend a quizzical look. "Go ahead," he muttered, looking only at Lij's woebegone face.

Billy thought of the simplest way to explain what he thought Lij meant.

"We eat food because we must eat to live. The plants and animals give their lives so we may live. It's their gift. A flower is beautiful, it shares its perfume and loveliness with us. Picking it does not feed us, so by picking it we deprive it of its purpose in life. We should leave them to grow and to die in their season, so that they may be reborn next year, to delight us, again. Is that right, Lij?"

Lij's face lit up. "It right. Thank you, Billy. I sorry, Dom. It...but I feel..."

Dom sighed, and managed a tremulous smile. "I'm sorry, Lij. Things are different...there are differences between us, and you have tried so hard to understand and learn my ways, and I have done nothing to learn yours. Will you teach me?"

Lij jumped up and kissed Dom, then hurried around the table and kissed Billy too, much to his - and Dom's - surprise.

"I teach. I teach both. You see things...different..."

"That's for damn sure!" said Billy, sipping his coffee.

*****

Lij began with the birds. "Listen - they speak. See bir' with red...front? He say "go away - here I live."

Dom and Billy listened carefully to the different sounds as Lij explained them, and Lij was ecstatic the next morning when, feeding the birds and small animals, Billy said “Mr ‘Go-Away’ is off again!"

Lij drew the men a bit farther off, towards a small snow-covered grassy hump. "This rabbit house. See small crap on snow? Father rabbit say "fuck off! This mine!"

And so it went on. One night, as the snow was melting, they sat watching Lij draw. "What is it?" Dom asked at last, unable to see what the picture depicted.

Billy stood on Lij's other side, waiting for an explanation for the mauve blue and pink wavy lines on the paper.

"This...music..." he said at length, gesturing towards the CD player. "Turn back, I show." Dom restarted the disc, and followed Lij's pencil as they watched the ups and downs of the music on paper.

"What...what do you see on television, Lij. What is it?" asked Dom, emboldened by Lij's new desire to share his thoughts.

Lij grinned. "No small people live in. I look. I not know, but it for make feel good, as you say like...trembly thing you put up ass ..."

Billy snorted with surprise, but quickly turned the noise into a cough. Both men knew they had to tread carefully, if Lij was going to unfold himself to them. Dom blushed to the roots of his hair, but said nothing except. "It is, Lij - you're right."

"I like... big, blue one. It make my... cock want you."

The two friends stared at each other in silent amazement. Dom was almost afraid of what Lij would say next, but knew that whatever it was, it would remain private between the three of them. Billy was safe like that.

They watched the pencil follow the music of Mozart to its pink, blue and mauve conclusion, and then they went to bed.

*****

"Do you want the vibrator - trembly thing - in you, now, Lij?" Dom asked when his partner snuggled into him.

"No - want it your ass - it make groan. I like Dom groan, it make Lij cock hard - and then I in you. Yes?"

"Oh, yes!" Dom sighed, kissing him.

*****

In another week the snow had almost gone, and Billy was anxious to see some of the surrounding countryside. "It's a beautiful place, Dom. The mountains over there! And my map tells me there's a waterfall about a hundred miles down the road - on the other side. Big bugger, too, by all accounts."

"Is there? I didn't know that. Lij, remember the waterfall we saw on tv? That big water falling down the mountain?"

Lij nodded. "Like see. Water I like. How know Billy?"

Billy explained the map and the route to the waterfall that they could follow on it. Lij studied the map closely. "This clever. Not lost. Have this, you not lost. I never lost. I smell - I know not lost."

"A challenge!" Dom crowed. "Billy will find the way there using the map, and you lead us back with your...smell...your nose. Okay?"

"Okay!" Lij grinned. "On!"

*****

The next morning as they packed the hamper in besides a couple of blankets and a small stove, Billy grinned at the amount of food and drink Dom thought necessary for a day's outing.

"You never know, Bill. Better safe than sorry. "

Bill nodded. "Hence the gun?"

Lij made a face. "I no like gun. Gun deads you, Dom said."

Dom stowed it carefully in the back of the four-by-four, next to the food. "Just in case," he said, smiling at Lij.

The morning was fine - as the sun rose red in the east, Dom pressed his foot on the accelerator and thought of the beautiful day that lay before them.