Aeyli-ah stopped in her tracks and stood with her head down. I put my arms around her and held her against me.
I said, “Aeyli-ah, this is a surprise, but all of life surprises me every minute here. I will never leave you. I cannot imagine loving anyone but you, but if it makes you happy, we’ll try. If it doesn’t make you happy, we’ll turn in a different direction and find another place with different laws. Or go back to the spring and live by ourselves for a thousand years. I will never leave you.”
She looked into my face and said, “I’m so thankful. But you’ll see. The others are very beautiful and they will love you like I do. There won’t be any jealousy, just like you have told me about old days on Earth. You’ll see. We’ll make you even happier than I can alone.”
I said, “If this is what you want, then I’ll find a way,” and we started toward Tranna again.
A minute later, I said, “But, you said that there would be three princesses before morning? What do you mean?”
Aeyli-ah said, “Mark, I have taken a vow. When no one had come through the portal for many years, and since no man would have a shrine maiden as a mate, when only a few of us were left, we took a vow. If any man came through the shrine during our service, then he would be the mate of all of us if he would have any of us. I must…not because of the obligation alone, but also to follow my heart, I must ask you if you will take my sister shrine maidens who have served so faithfully at what is now ‘The Shrine of Mark’. Oh, please Beloved, please be open hearted about this. We need you! And, though they don’t know that you run to them even now, they love you just as I do. We have served for 50 years each, loving you all that time.”
We ran along together and Aeyli-ah said quietly, “Mark, we could turn around.”
I said, “And live in the ruins? Why? You say that you’ll be happy if we go to Tranna. Have you changed your mind?”
She sighed, “No, not to the ruins. I could take you back to the shrine. I could take you back and you could go back. And I will never look for another.”
I said simply, “No, never! I will not choose to die. I have a mate. In fact, you say that I have three princesses in my house. I won’t turn back! Write epic songs and poetry about me if you must, but I will not turn back. If possible, I might take you to meet my son someday, but only for a visit. Barsoom is my home and even if you force a kingdom upon me, I will not turn back.”
Aeyli-ah laughed and said, “Oh, many songs and poems will be written about King Mark. Mostly bawdy ones that will be recited by your princesses. Um, they have written a few already. A shrine maiden has a lot of idle time on her hands.”
I asked to hear one, but she refused, promising to tell me another time. In the mid-afternoon, we stopped for lunch.
The Martian girl said, “Mark, my name is not ‘Aeyli-ah’.”
I said, “But that’s what you told me!”
She said, “No, what I told you was that my name was ‘Aeyli’ and I asked what I would be called because we are mates. I was asking your name. Aeyli-ah-what? You didn’t hear the question or know what I was asking. My name is ‘Aeyli-ah-Mark’ They will call you ‘Mark-ah-Aeyli’ Well, soon they will call you ‘Mark-ah-Aeyli-ah-Torani-ah-Beyla’.”
I said, “The other shrine maidens are…”
She answered, “Torani and Beyla. Torani-ah-mark and Beyla-ah-mark.”
I asked, “And is that what I should call them?”
She said, “No, that’s the name others will call us. You can call us whatever you want to. Aeyli, Rani, and Belle will be fine.”
After we had run some more, she said, “Mark, there’s the village of Tranna. See it there?”
I did see an outline of buildings in the distance.
I said, “I thought it would take us several days.”
She said, “I thought it would take me several days to get the courage to tell you about Rani and Belle. We’ll be there in an hour or so.”
Chapter 14 Before the Gates of Tranna
After we had covered about half the remaining distance, Aeyli said, “Mark, let’s talk about what comes next.”
I said, “OK, what comes next?”
She said, “When we get to the village, or before, we will meet a lot of people. They will be very curious about that fact that I’m arriving with a stranger. We’ll go to the house that the shrine maidens keep. There’s a room prepared. It has been waiting for you for a long time. Tonight, I’m certain that there will be a council meeting so that the village can see you. I will have to address them and they will ask you questions as well. It won’t be difficult. You will be welcome. Stop for a moment.”
We stopped and she said, “Mark, you gave me a gem worth a great deal; what else do you have in your pouch?”
I took off my pack and took the bag from my belt and sat down on the thick moss and poured the contents of the bag into my hand. There were the two Barsoomian compasses, a small pile of gems, and a half dozen gold coins of various sizes.
Aeyli said, “I thought that might be the case. These stones are worth a fortune. The one that you gave me will buy a large house, a large garden, and feed us all for at least two years, even if we don’t make anything ourselves. The smaller gold coins will last a very long time, even if we didn’t have the stones. You asked about tokens of marriage. Now that we’re back in society, it will be good for the tokens to be customary. We need to go to a jeweler and you need to buy several. And, I want to give you a token as well. May I take this small coin to pay for what we need?”
I said, “Of course, take what you think best. All I have is yours.”
She smiled, “This will be enough for now. After the council meeting, we’ll go home for the night. What happens tomorrow, we can’t know. Are you ready?”
I said, “I’m ready to follow you anywhere.”
I put the pack back on my shoulders and we ran on toward the village.
We arrived before very late in the afternoon, but while we were still about 200 yards from the village wall, two figures could be seen running toward us.
Aeyli said, “Oh, it’s Rani and Belle. Oh, how wonderful. We can wait here so that they will meet you before others surround us. We’re far enough from the gates that no one will hear what we say. Afterward, we’ll all go in together.”
We stood and waited while the girls ran to meet us. When they got to us, they stared at me but spoke to Aeyli.
One said, “Aeyli, you’re back from your service! What …?”
The other said, “But, this…is it… ?”
The first said, “This can’t be…have you decided to…?”
Aeyli silenced them and said, “Listen to me. Listen. Rani, Belle, be quiet until I say this. Don’t cry out. Put your hands on your mouth so that no one will know what we say until it is time.”
Both girls placed their hands over their mouths as they had been told.
Aeyli continued, “Rani, Belle, our vows are intact. I honor the vow.”
Both girls gasped and their eyes went wide in astonishment at the implication of Aeyli’s declaration.
She continued again, “This is Mark. He came from beyond the shrine. He has drunk from my breast and he has pierced my fence, and I have ‘fed’ as well. Quiet yourselves! He is my prince and my vow to you is intact. I honor it with joy.”
One of the girls whispered, never taking her eyes from me, “Does he understand the vow? Will he honor it?”
Aeyli said, “Beyla, he does honor it. Our service at the shrine is over. Our new life of service to our prince begins!”
Both girls fell to the ground and knelt before me and quickly removed the belts at their waist and literally flung them away from themselves.
Aeyli said to me, “My Prince, do you understand? A girl only removes her belt in the privacy of her mate’s bed chamber. It’s a sacred thing.”
Understand? How could I misunderstand? I nearly fainted when Aeyli had removed her belt. The girl, already naked had removed the one scrap of adornment she
had. It was so much more than an Earth woman dropping her dress and then bra and panties. This was an act of utter and complete nudity that no one on Earth could appreciate. Oh, I understood full well. And, I thought I knew what I should do next.
I said, “Aeyli, who is the oldest?”
The other girl, not the one that Aeyli had called Beyla, raised her eyes and looked at me.
I gazed at her and said, “Beautiful One, will you let me call you Princess and have others call you Torani-ah-Mark, for as long as we breathe?”
She said excitedly, “I will my prince, I will, I swear it.” And then, she moaned and grasped her breasts and cried, “Oh nogoyama! Oh, my milk just came! My milk came! My Prince!”
Aeyli grabbed my arm and said, “Mark, be kind, take her,” and she winked at me.
I pulled the girl Rani to her feet and then I took her in my arms and lifted her high and put my lips to one of her breasts. Her legs tightened around my waist and her arms went around my head. I sucked hard at her, but for the first few tries, nothing came…and then about the fourth time, I felt the sweet liquid fill my mouth in a little stream. I moved to the other breast and took a few sucks at it until it too yielded its milk to me. Rani would have stayed in my arms, but I pried her from me and set her on her unstable feet and turned to Belle who still knelt before me.
I said confidently, “Beyla! Will you let me call you Princess and have others call you Beyla-ah-Mark from this moment forward?”
Belle said, “I will my prince, I swear I will. I will love you dearly! But oh no, my prince…Aeyli, I have no milk! Take me anyway my prince, I swear I will soon, please, call me Princess!”
I said, “Belle, stand up!”
She leapt to her feet and stood, nearly crying. I pulled her toward me. After drinking, even briefly from Rani, I felt very strong, and my penis began to harden. As I pulled Belle into my embrace, I made sure that my shaft slid into the space between her thighs and pressed against both labia and clitoris. And then I kissed her on the mouth. I shoved my tongue as far between her lips as I could and tickled the roof and sides of her mouth, kissing her as if she was about to be thrown between the furs and taken for the ride of her life.
Belle moaned and her eyes went wild. I felt her shudder and I felt a sudden wetness run down my chest. Belle couldn’t speak with me kissing her as I was, but she screamed into my mouth. I slowed my kiss and the girl nearly collapsed. I pulled back and separated us and examined the girl’s chest. Milk flowed from the nipples and ran in a rivulet down each breast. I took some on my finger and sucked it into my mouth. Then I smiled and took hold of each breast and squeezed and watched as two streams of the fluid arched across the space between us and splashed against my body.
I looked around and saw that both Rani and Aeyli were equally aroused and breathing heavily. I smiled and said, “My princesses, I certainly can’t enter the village like this. Come clean me up.”
Rani and Aeyli looked confused about what I was asking, but Belle immediately began licking my chest, cleaning up the milk on my skin. The other two girls quickly followed suit and soon all three were bathing my chest with their tongues and lips.
I put a quick end to it and said, “Now stop, or you’ll convince me to take all three of you right here, in sight of the village gate. Come on, please stop. We ‘ll have time later, I promise, a lifetime, stop now.”
Belle said emphatically, “Do it! Take us all here in front of the gate, I don’t care. I have my milk and the days of waiting are over.”
Rani cried out, “Yes, Prince, take your mates, all three right here. Who cares who knows it!”
Aeyli said, “Girls, stop! I feel the same, but trust me, this is not the place.”
Belle said, “No, it’s not, but from what we were told by the old women, the place is between our legs and it felt so good!”
Aeyli laughed and said, “Believe me, you have no idea how good. Um, and…that is important, we can’t do it now because Mark must teach you how to make love. Yes, you will need instruction, and we can’t do it now. It’s special instruction and you will need all of your attention.”
That convinced them to stop. They needed some type of instruction in lovemaking; there was a good reason that they could grasp and use to calm themselves. Of course, there wasn’t anything that I needed to teach them, but it got us what we needed for the moment.
Bell and Rani clung to me, one on each arm, and said, “It’s here. We’re free…and not free! We who had no hope have a mate! I had given up hope and resigned myself to go year after year to the shrine and die young with both of you, but now we have a mate! A very big and very strong mate.”
Aeyli said, “Girls, your prince has three princesses.”
Rani said, “What? That’s right, but Aeyli, that’s because of the vow. Can you convince the council? Will they allow it?”
Aeyli said, “Rani, it is you and Belle because of the vow, but if it hadn’t been you, it would have been others. You felt what happened within you as your milk came? And as he drank? I won’t have any trouble with the council.”
Belle said, “Aeyli, but the rules, do you mean that he…performs for three?”
Aeyli said, “Belle, I have been with him for two days, and he has already ‘performed’ for nine! He pretty much ‘performed’ for both you and Rani just now, and he did much more than that for me at mid-morning today. And several times last night, and also yesterday afternoon!”
Rani said, “But, then, we’ll need a very big house! Aeyli, are you teasing us? We know that you’re not, but how can that be?”
Aeyli said, “Rani, feel your tits girl! Ask them if I lie. Or ask Belle’s tits. They know that I’m telling the truth. Believe me.”
Rani said quietly, “Then, we three are only the first? Will we die of happiness?”
Aeyli said, “Yes, I expect that we will. Either that or we’ll live forever.”
We had started walking toward the village, but Aeyli stopped and said, “Girls, your belts! You can’t enter the village naked!”
They laughed and ran back and buckled the discarded belts back around their waists and then ran back to walk at each side of me again.
Belle asked, “Aeyli, did you have the little death yet?”
Aeyli said, “I did, but if I tell you how many times, you won’t believe me.”
Belle exclaimed, “Nogoyama! More than once! No! Don’t tell us. Wait until we’re alone…or I’ll start leaking again and we’re even closer to the gates now. Tell us later, but do tell us!”
As we approached the gates, the girls let go of my arms, reluctantly, and the four of us walked through the wall into the village of Tranna.
As we entered the village, people greeted Aeyli warmly. I heard many questions and comments, some directed at us, some at others in the small crowd of about 20 that milled about us.
“It is Aeyli. Isn’t it her time to be at the shrine?”
“The shrine. They should all give up and find mates, or work.”
“Don’t be unkind, they’ll never find mates. For one thing they’re all too tall.”
“The man with them is very tall. Who is he?”
“See the way the shrine maidens glance at him? That’s the look of a girl with hope.”
“That is more than hope if you ask me. That is the look of a woman who thinks that she’s found love.”
“But look at him. Is he a prince?”
“He is to the shrine maidens. You can see it in their eyes…and their bodies. See how they carry themselves?”
“I think that you’re right. The shrine maidens walk as if they were going to their wedding chamber!”
“Can it have come true, as they hoped? Is this a man like the Warlord himself?”
“Have you seen the pack that he carries? Say that you don’t see the skin of a great white ape!”
“Is it the Warlord himself? It could be.”
“If it was, the maidens would have pride, but would they call him ‘prince’ wit
h their eyes? Of course not!”
“We question what we’re seeing with our own eyes. This is a mystery.”
“There will be a council meeting tonight, you can be sure of that!”
Aeyli turned to me and whispered, “Mark, I thought that I would take you to the jeweler and buy tokens, we’ll need them before nightfall, but given the crowd and the comments, it might be best if you stay out of the market for now. Will you trust me to buy the things we need? You have given me my token, so the one I buy for myself will be a token of a token only. What do you say to it?”
I said, “That will be fine. I trust you in all things.”
She smiled and said, “As I do with you. Rani, Belle, take him to the house and stay until I come. And, Mark, if I come and find you having your way with them both, buried to your balls in wet pussy, and these girls screaming your virtues as you bend them over and plunder their hearts and bodies, if I find the beds sprayed and soaking with puddles of milk squeezed from their eager tits…well, I’ll be quite…overjoyed. Do it for me. They deserve your love as they have loved you. But if I come to find that you have already finished, or worse yet, haven’t started, I will surely be quite cross with all of you! Now, give me your sword and the fur and be on your way. And, don’t finish getting to know each other better before I get back!”
She laughed and Rani and Belle giggled and she headed off toward the market. Rani and Belle started to grab my arms, but stopped themselves and simply led me down the street.
“You see, I told you! They would grab hold of him like a new lover! They will announce the mating of all three of them tonight, mark my words!”
“Three in one night? Oh I don’t think so.”
“This man will be on the council tomorrow. You’ll see!”
We walked briskly down a few streets and finally arrived at a small, two story house in what I assumed was in one of the humbler portions of the village. We had passed much larger and nicer places on the way, and this was nearer the wall and farther from the gate.
The Start of Time Page 11