Now the girls were scared, but not the normal fear. They weren't scared of getting hurt or raped, just scared of the unknown. This crazy naked guy just shows up like smoke out of nowhere and kills the slavers. Then instead of raping them or whatever he gave them a knife. Granted it was just so they could cut themselves free, but he gave them a knife. That's not normal, you don't give prisoners or slaves weapons. And he didn't ask for it back after.
After a couple of hours of walking, one of the girls said "Hey, mister. What do we call you? My name is Janet, she's Judy and that's Connie and Gwen." They were beginning to think he wasn't gonna answer when he replied.
"Adam. I'm not gonna remember your names. All I know is 2 of you are wearing bloody shirts. I don't have time to focus on getting to know you, I have to make sure we're not seen. In fact, now's a good a time as any. Can any of you climb a tree?
Janet said she had played in the trees a lot growing up, but the others shook their heads no.
He had stopped under a large tree. He then squatted down and told Judy to stand on his shoulders, he told the others to help her keep her balance. The he slowly stood up and told her to grab that limb right above her head. He told her he was gonna grab her ankles and give her a little push. It took everything she had to not scream. The bark on the tree was hard on her skin but she managed to get on top of the limb. He then threw a rope over the limb and told her to climb up as high as she could and tie it off. The idea of climbing up while holding rope scared her and what was worse, she wasn't good with knots. She told him she didn't think she could do it, she didn't want to piss him off, but she was about ready to piss her pants, if she had any that is.
"Why didn't you pick Janet, she's the one who said she could climb?"
"She knows how so I don't need to teach her."
"So, you don't need me to do this, you're just teaching me?"
"I'm not teaching you anything, you either figure it out or you fall. I want the 4 of you to hide in this tree. Tie the rope off and leave it hanging down. That will help the others get up the tree. When I come back, I don't want to be able to see you. And no, I won't tell you how, that's up to ya'll to figure out. You are no longer slaves. You are free women who make your own decisions. I want you to think and plan. One of you should still have the knife, here are 3 more and a sword. Be careful the sword is sharper than you would think." He then headed back the way they had come.
Traveling alone he was able to move twice as fast. He cleared the camp, of any sign that would suggest what happened. Then after tying a few cedar branches to a rope he headed back, letting the branch's at least obscure if not outright destroy any of their tracks.
When he was close to the tree they should be in he started looking to see if he could see them. He could, it wasn't hard but then again, he knew they were in the tree. Without that prior knowledge they were hidden decent. Now for the fun part, smiling to himself, playing hide and go seek. He spent the next hour working his way closer and closer to them. Finally, close enough to hear them whispering to each other.
"When do you think he will be back?"
"I can't believe he gave us knives."
"Why not, it's not like we know how to use them and even if I did, I sure wouldn't try to hurt him. Admit it, we have all dreamed of being free. Dreamed of good people in this world. And here I think we actually found one, or got found. No matter, what do ya'll think of this "mate"? Who refers to their wife as mate, or for that matter is she a wife or just a freed slave that wants to share his bed? And kids? She wants him to have a bunch of wives and have kids with all of them?"
"I would have never dreamed of having kids."
"My husband and I wanted them, that's why we were traveling, trying to find a safe place. Now I may actually have a safe place but no husband."
"I'm sure Adam will fill that role for you."
"Only if his "mate" tells him to and if we convince him we want it? That sounds so weird. So wifey 1 says go fuck Judy. But Judy ain't in the mood so she says nah, not feeling it... so wifey 1 says, any volunteers? Ok I'll admit, he's nice, and a good-looking guy but I'm not sure I'll ever be interested in having sex again."
"I get that, but when I was standing on his shoulders I glanced down, and he was looking right up my cooter." Laughing and giggling, "But oddly enough, I don't think he even noticed. He was more concerned with me getting on that limb. From what I've seen so far, he hasn't really looked at any of us." They were all looking at each other, while they all considered that statement.
"I noticed, all of you have 2 legs, 2 arms. That's all I need to know physically. Mentally is what I don't know and that's what I want to get to know." Adam was on the limb above them looking down at 4 very surprised faces. "And if it helps, I also noticed you had cute butts, I guess my mate was right, I do notice them."
"Shit shit, how the hell did you get there? How long have you been there? Oh shit..." Connie realized how much he could have overheard.
"What I heard or not doesn't matter, what matters is while ya'll were talking you forgot to keep watch. Always keep watch, two could nap while the others keep watch. Other wise you did ok, I see someone deserves good marks, I see the horse was moved."
"Would have been hard to hide with a horse tied to the tree." Gwen said with a touch of pride in her voice.
"That's the type of thinking that will keep you alive. Ok girls, the trail is cleaned up, we need to keep going. Can you get down from here without help?"
"It took all of us working together to get up here, I have a feeling getting down will be harder." Janet said while looking around for a way down.