From the day that man hit me, and the day I stopped talking, he and the rest treated me very badly. I barely got food. Mostly only what I could steal or scavenge from any garbage that the group discarded. I was a walking dead woman. But I didn’t have the courage to die, so I kept living.
One day, when we’d been in the wilderness for maybe a year, that awful fiend grabbed me by the arm, and getting very close to my face said, ‘You worthless beast! I’ll make you worth something! I’ll take you as my mate and at least you’ll feed me. Why should I starve when you can keep me alive!’ and he put his arms around me and lifted me up and forced me toward his hateful lips.
Mark, I was a monster! Without thinking, I took my hands and put my fingers around his ears…and I shoved my thumbs into his eyes, and I pushed them in until I couldn’t push them any farther. He probably screamed, I don’t know. He relaxed his grip on me and as I slipped from his arms, I grabbed him and…and Mark, I bit his throat out with my teeth! I remember watching as he stumbled, blinded and blood spurting from his neck as his blood ran down my face and chest. I watched as he died. And I didn’t care. I didn’t look at anyone and no one attacked me. When he was dead, I took his knife and his water and I walked away.
I walked for days. I found moss berries for water and I walked. I have no idea what direction I was going in. I just walked. After a while, I spotted ruins and I walked to them. I don’t even remember them. There was a spring and a small wood nearby and somehow I found food and water. Mark, I don’t even remember how I survived; I was like an animal. I stayed in that place for at least six years. I never spoke and I don’t know what I ate. I don’t know if others ever came and I don’t know if I killed any of them if they did. The insanity had taken me as well.
The wars started a year or two before I went into the wilderness. I was with that horrid band for about a year, and I was in the ruins for maybe six. I had no way of knowing how long, but afterward, I figured that it must have been about that long.
After six years, alone and insane, one day, I began walking again. Eventually I came to a very small village. The people took me for a mute and had pity on me and gave me water and something to eat. For three months, I slept outside the village and when I was hungry I would come to them and they would give me something. As time went by, I came every day to get water and food, and after another month, I began to sleep in the village square at night.
They were kind people and even the children didn’t torment me. After a while I began to regain some of my humanity and started looking for small ways that I could be useful and repay their kindness. I couldn’t bring myself to speak to them because I was so ashamed of what I had become, but I tried to do what I could. When a vendor in the market had garbage to be thrown out, I would take it and throw it away for them. I began cleaning the village at night. Later, I would offer to carry messages or packages and did whatever I could to be part of life again.
In a way, I felt that I owed civilization something for the things that I had seen and done. I could never be a part of them, but I could try to do what I could for them.
You know how if you have ever been to a place that you always know where that place is and can always find your way back? Well, I have no idea where I was for those seven years. Not a clue what direction it’s in. Not only that, but I no longer have that ability. Every living being has that; except for me.”
I interrupted her for the first time and said quietly, “I don’t.”
She looked at me in surprise and said, “What? What do you mean?”
I said, “I don’t have that innate sense of direction that all the others have. I don’t know where Tranna is, except that it’s behind us, and only because I know we’ve been going away from it. I have no idea where the shrine is, except that I have a compass that points to it. I’m the same.”
Sashar smiled and said, “Sweet prince! How wonderful. Do the others know? I have never told anyone about myself.”
I said, “Aeyli knows. But she doesn’t tell everything that she knows.”
She said, “No, she certainly doesn’t, does she? Anyway, I guess I should finish. You’ve heard the worst. So, I stayed in that village for three years. Eventually, the people there gave me a place to live and I worked in their market. I still didn’t speak. It was hard to start and I figured that it might be impossible to change…unless I made another fresh start.
After about three years, one night I wrote a note of thanks, took a little food and water and left what money I had, and left in the middle of the night.
I knew that another village was a few days away in a certain direction because I had heard it mentioned, and I walked in the direction. Because I knew that I couldn’t tell direction, I had watched the sky for several nights before I left and figured that I would be able to go in approximately the right direction by looking at the stars. Luckily, after a day, I spotted a group traveling from there coming behind me and I recognized them and traveled with them the rest of the way. At first, my old panic started to take hold of me, seeing a group coming toward me, but my mind took hold and I calmed myself and was able to go with them.
While we traveled, I tried to speak again when no one could hear me. After two days, I went up to one of the women and said, ‘Hello Nagra, thank you for being kind to me.’ She was astonished and because they had become fond of me, she cried out and hugged me in her excitement that I had spoken. All of them were very gracious and I explained just a little of my past, saying only that it had been a very traumatic time during the wars and that I had forgotten how to speak.
When we got to the next village, they introduced me to people that that knew there and I was received as a friend. I found work and stayed with those people for two more years. Then I moved on and came to Tranna.
In Tranna, I was happy and I began to forget my past. When Aeyli and Alexia’s parents were killed, I felt a lot of compassion for them and fell in love with the poor girls. They often played near me in the market and I had them do small errands to have an excuse to give them treats and trinkets. When they became women, we became true friends. They knew that I had decided that I would never take a mate, but they didn’t know why. It was natural for us to be together…me and the shrine maidens and Alexia, the odd girl. We were like a strange family of outcasts and orphans. It was them that made it possible for me to really live and laugh again. I think when Aeyli and Alexia came back as orphans, I became a little girl again myself.”
I said, “Sashar, come here, face me.”
She turned and sat full on my lap facing me and smiled, supposedly at the prospected presented by the position, her legs spread wide and open over the top of my crotch.
I smiled back and said, “Now look into my eyes.”
She looked deeply at me and continued her smile and said, “I know my beloved. I saw it in the market and I saw it in the council hall and I have seen it every moment since, even in my dreams. You love me. Now that I have finally told my story, I know that it doesn’t matter. Well, I know that it doesn’t mean that you will love me any less, and that it matters very much to you, just as it would matter to me if you carried that pain. I couldn’t know it until you listened to me though, could I? I know now.”
I said, “So, tell me why the training today upset you so much. I think I know already, but tell me.”
She said, “To picture fighting an enemy with what you have taught me meant facing that horrid beast that I…no, that horrid beast who chose to have me end his pathetic life for him. I didn’t murder him, did I? It was he that chose to die, and it was my duty to help him accomplish his goal in that moment. Mark, if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be here today! I would have betrayed you! He chose to die and if I hadn’t agreed to kill him, it would have been a betrayal of you, my true love! Is that true? Is that right?”
I said, “It is. When that man killed people begging for mercy, or running away, that was murder, plain and simple. The ones who died in the battle chose to die. The ones
who tried to escape chose to live. He chose to kill people who had chosen to live. It was murder. But when he attacked you, he chose to die and you did what was necessary. I’m proud of you. The way that you killed him is the way that I would have taught you to do it. I’m so sorry that you had to do that, but I’m overjoyed and proud that you did that for me. If I had been there, you would have done it for me because you love me. If I had been in a faraway place, you would still have done it for me. Even though I was a hundred years away from you, you did it for me. If I had been there, I would have done it for you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for you all of those years.”
She said, “I love you. Thank you, beloved. Thank you for understanding and wanting to relieve me of that burden, both then and now. Oh, how old are you?”
I said, “On Earth, I was 45 years old.”
She said, “Do you know that the gray flecks in your hair are going away?”
I said, “What?!”
She said, “Yes. When you came to Tranna, you had gray flecks in your hair. They’re disappearing. I think your new diet agrees with you.” She giggled and rubbed her chest against mine playfully. Then, “You look younger too. So, um, now?” and she wiggled in my lap seductively.
I said playfully, “But you haven’t done your training exercises.”
She complained, “Surely there’s more than one kind of exercise!”
I said, “Yes, but I need you to do this one first.” I very much wanted to say, “And don’t call me Shirley”, but it just would be funny in Barsoomian.
She said, “Really? Really?”
I said, “Really. We all have to be ready for whatever comes. You and me. We have to practice this.”
She narrowed her eyes and frowned and said, “OK. I’ll do it. But, when it comes time for you to defend yourself against my attack, you better surrender quickly! Deal?”
I laughed and said, “Deal. I look forward to it. Now get that fine butt up and do the practice. I’ll be watching closely. Make sure to give me something to look at!” and I squeezed her rear end and brushed one hand all the way down between them and touched her slit. She squealed a little and I lifted her off my lap and sent her to practice.
She moved away just a few steps and started her training. I watched as she made sure that her moves took every chance to bend over, thrust out her chest, or spread her legs as she whirled and struck and blocked and thrust at her imaginary opponent. I appreciated the show, but after letting it go on for several minutes, I walked up to her and said, “Oh, you beautiful sexy little pixie! You realize that you can’t take your reward until your opponent is dead, don’t you?”
She frowned comically and said, “Oh, I’m going to kill him! And then I’m going to make up a different kind of Kata for what I intend to do to you!”
I patted her rump and laughed and turned away so as not to distract her further.
Chapter 34 Checking on Progress
I went to check on Aeyli. She was practicing hard. As I approached, she stopped and lowered her sword to her side. She didn’t smile at me. She was breathing hard.
I said, “Aeyli, how is it coming? Are you OK?”
She said, “I am fantastic!”
I said, “Will you show me?”
She said, “OK.”
I said, “I can pretend to be the opponent and I’ll do what you say, but don’t actually hit me. Do you want to do that?” I wanted to give her every opportunity to feel comfortable.
She said, “OK. I fight a Great White Ape. Be the ape.”
She took up a fighting stance and backed away from me. I faced her, and hoped that she wouldn’t hurt me. I hoped that her control, and her emotional state, would keep me from getting seriously injured, but I took the chance. She might hurt me, but she wouldn’t actually kill me.
I started slowly and spread my arms and loped toward her at half speed. She stood her ground and at the last minute, as I reached to encircle her with my arms, she ducked to her right and I felt the edge of her blade touch my thigh, above the knee. As I took another step forward, I felt the tap of her sword against my other leg from behind, and then a touch on my shoulder. I fell face forward on the ground as if stunned or dead. After a few seconds, I rolled onto my back and looked up to see her standing over me.
She looked down at me and said, “The first strikes would have been to your knees and the last to your skull. A final strike would have been to your neck at the base of the skull. Then my knife would have found your throat.”
I said, “Perfect!”
She showed no emotion, but took up her stance again and motioned me to repeat the exercise. I came at her again. This time, she stayed directly in front of me and as I got within range, the point of her sword came up directly under my chin…and I stopped in my tracks.
She said, “The first blow pierces your throat and leaves my sword embedded through your mouth.” Then she pulled her knife and I felt the back of the blade slice firmly across the back of my thigh as she ducked behind me. The next touch was to my kidneys. “The large muscles have been cut and my blade is twisted hard and slices through the organs and across the muscles of your back. The final blow slides my blade under your jaw and into your large arteries.”
I said, “Aeyli, that’s wonderful. Can we show the others?”
She nodded and took her stance again, never taking her eyes off of me. I called the others over and had them gather around us to watch. Aeyli paid no attention to them at all, but continued to fix me with a cold stare.
I faced her and charged again. She repeated her first attack and I lay as dead on the ground. I got up and charged her again. This time, she ducked low and struck straight across my ankles. She didn’t move to the side and I tripped over her and fell on my face. Before I could react, she was sitting on my back and her bokken was on top of my head.
She got up and I faced her one more time. She held up her hand for me to stop and I saw her put her hand to her belt for a minute and then motioned me forward. I ran toward her with my arms outstretched and as I got to about six feet from her, she suddenly dropped her belt and her sword and crouched down. I was startled by her move, but had no time to react. I took another step and she launched herself hard at my body against my chest. I caught her in my arms, but the force of the impact knocked me backward off my feet and she landed on top of me. She kissed me hard, forcing her tongue into my mouth.
She sat on my chest and spun around to face the girls, straddling my face and pressing her crotch against my lips. She said to the others, “When attacking a Mark, it’s necessary to take him by surprise and force him to lick your pussy. He will not resist,” and she shoved her hips down onto me and I laughed and obliged by grabbing her thighs and licking and sucking at her until she climaxed. When she was done, I tossed her to the side and stood and helped her to her feet.
Alexia said, “I’m next!” She was fierce and there was no hint of humor.
I said, “OK, but you have to show me the way you would handle an attack first!”
She laughed and said, “I will fight a Banth.” And she took up her stance. I looked at her and then got down on all fours on my hands and feet.
She said, “You had better remove your belt if you’re a Banth.”
I tossed my belt to the side and ran toward her. Her first blow was to my left shoulder, her second across the back of my neck on my right side. The second time, she stood her ground and brought her sword down directly onto my head. As I collapsed, head down, she stood over me and touched the back of my head in a second killing blow. She helped me up and took up her stance again.
I stood and said, “Would you like to see how I would handle a she-Banth?” I picked up my bokken and motioned toward her and said, “Your belt.”
Alexia kept her fierce countenance and dropped her belt and got down on her hands and feet like I had. I motioned her forward and she ran at me. As she reached me, I stepped just to my right and caught her left shoulder with my left hand. I droppe
d my sword and swung behind her and pulled her to a stop. I reached around her body and grabbed both of her elbows and pulled them back toward me, forcing her arms underneath her onto the ground. I pressed my body against her, pushing her knees onto the moss. I pressed down on the middle of her back, lowering her head farther and then I took hold of my penis and placed it against her exposed labia and pushed forward. I was already aroused from the interlude with Aeyli, and so was Alexia! I slid into the tight canal to the hilt.
I said to the others, “When an Alexia attacks, first I wrestle her into position and then pierce her sex with my cock, immobilizing her. Then I take up a thrusting motion until she can no longer think clearly and agrees to whatever I want. I thrust in and out, slowly at first, letting her lubrication increase, and then fast and hard, feeling her build to her little death. Once the death throes begin, I continue pleasuring her until she gives in.”
When she was done, I helped her to her feet and kissed her.
She breathed hard and said, “Yes, I see…that is effective…um, technique. Yeah.”
Next was Rani. She demonstrated fighting a man and did very well. On the third round, she faced me and as I started toward her she yelled, “Stop!” and I stopped in mid step with her sword pointed at my throat.
She said, “My prince, I have no wish to kill you.”
I answered, “I’m glad to hear it, for I have no wish to die,” and I smiled and spread my arms in a submissive stance.
She said, “But, I do need something from you. Lie down!” and she motioned with her sword toward the ground.
I complied and lay down on my back. Rani crawled on top of me and reaching behind back, she placed me inside her and slid down onto me.
She said, “I won’t need this sword, will I?” and stared at me.
The Start of Time Page 29