I have served for almost 50 years. I am near the shrine for a month at a time and then another takes my place and I return again every fourth month. At one time, a maiden would serve only two weeks at a time and just one time each year, but now there aren’t many of us left. Most have moved away and given up their duties… or given up their faith that what we did had any meaning. Another left recently, just before I started my turn and now there are only three of us. Each of us had vowed to stay until our eventual deaths, but who knows who would have really been able to do so.”
I said, “Aeyli-ah, I am so thankful that you served so faithfully. It’s a one-way trip for the most part, and there’s no way that I would have survived to make the return journey.”
As she clung to my back, I could not see her face as she asked, “Will you make the return journey?”
I assured her, “I will not. At least not alone. I have a mate now, a chosen one. I am with you forever. But, Aeyli-ah…” and I stopped and set her down to face me. “Aeyli-ah, I had another mate on my world. She died. Does that matter to you?”
She said, “It matters very much. It means that my mate knows what love is… in many ways. That’s good for me. Obviously, I have never had a mate… as we will see before the sun rises tomorrow… but did you have children?”
I answered, “I have a son. He’s grown and ready to take a mate of his own. He’s a good man.”
She smiled and said, “That’s wonderful news! A fine son already! If he were here… but never mind. Mark, will more come through the shrine?”
I said, “No. I’m certain that they won’t. The shrine was hidden for a hundred years on my world. It took a long time for me to find it, and now only my son has the location. Much like you, he has instructions to look for me to send a message two years from the day I arrived here. But he won’t come here because he won’t leave his life there. Someday he might pass the knowledge to his son, but no one will come through the portal for a very long time.”
She said, “So, my work is done. It’s a great relief. We’ll need to find the other maidens and tell them. But I need to explain other things before we do. Those things can wait. Look, it’s not very far now. We will make it before dark. That’s very, very good. Can you keep going?”
I swept the girl onto my back once more and took off at a run.
I said, “Aeyli-ah, I think that I need a weapon. Is that true? And where can I find one?”
She said, “A good weapon is a very, very good idea. What kind are you comfortable with? We won’t find any firearms.”
I said, “My preference is for a strong, light branch of wood, about the length of my leg, from my waist to the ground. About as big around as will be comfortable to grip in my hand. A metal rod would also work. I would use a sword, but I’m not sure that the swords of Barsoom would suit me.”
She said, “You intend to make a sword out of wood? If that’s the skill you have, we can do that. We can find a wooden pole like you describe. You can shape it with the knife at your belt. The wood is exceedingly hard, but that knife is exceedingly sharp. I have spent many hours working the wood and carving it; I can help you. Can you teach me to use one of those swords as well?”
I said, “Yes, I can. I’ll be happy to. Um, is it customary to give a mate some token? A ring or jewelry?”
She laughed, “Perhaps some customs are not so foreign between your world and mine. Yes, a man will often give a ring or necklace as a pledge and a token and a remembrance to the times when he must be separate from his mate, but I don’t need anything like that.”
I reached into the pouch at my side and felt for the stones and looked down to find a scarlet ruby looking gem.
I said, “I don’t have a ring or a necklace, but would you like to have this as a token and a pledge?”
I held the stone over my shoulder for her.
She gasped, “Mark, this would buy a house! Two would buy a farm and land!”
I said, “Do you like it? Will it do for now? Until I can have it set in a necklace maybe? Will you take it as my token of love? It’s all that I can offer for now.”
She said, “Of course. I’ll treasure it. And someday we can use it for a great home!”
I laughed this time, thinking about the pile of similar gems in the bag at my waist.
I said, “I don’t think it will be necessary. If you like it, it will be yours forever. My token to the girl I love.”
Aeyli-ah didn’t say anything, but I felt her hug me and lean her cheek against my neck. After a few minutes, she said, “Mark, did you enjoy feeding me?”
I said, “What? Oh. Yes! That was amazing!”
She said, “I very much enjoyed feeding you too. And being fed by you. That doesn’t have to be only in dire circumstances. I plan to feed you as often as you like… and you can feed me as often as you want to as well. Look. Here we are. And, it’s still an hour until dark. We made it! Let me down and I’ll walk.”
We walked the last 50 yards hand in hand. We hurried, but didn’t run. Aeyli-ah was cautious, but in good spirits.
She said, “My Prince, the watering hole is in the center of the main building. We won’t find other people there, but we don’t know what other creatures will come here to drink after dark. In the morning we ‘ll be safe enough, but we need to drink what we can quickly and then find a chamber on an upper floor and barricade the door until sunrise. We need to hurry.”
We quickened our pace, going as fast as Aeyli-ah could comfortably run, and made it to the ruined buildings a few seconds later. We rushed silently toward the larger central building and darted inside. The girl led the way into the interior, down a hallway, and into a central courtyard. In the middle of the yard was a fountain pool, about six feet across, surrounded by two steps leading down to the water. She pulled me to the water’s edge and knelt down to drink. She quickly removed the bag that she wore at her belt and filled it with water and held it out to me.
“Here, drink, it is safe,” she said.
I took the container from her hand and sipped the water. It was clean and fresh and I gulped it down. When it was empty, she filled it again and then drank the full container herself. Filling it a third time, she said, “Again, we have to hurry.” I drank one more time, probably a total of 16 ounces from each bag, and then Aeyli-ah filled and drank the contents a second time herself. When she was done, she filled the bag a final time and then tied the top tightly to seal it.
She said, “Come quickly!” and she led me down another hallway to a room across from the doorway that we had entered from. Inside, we found several straight round wooden poles that had probably been used at some point to hang tapestries or drapery. The cloth hangings were long gone, but the poles remained. Each was about six or eight feet long. I grabbed three of them and Aeyli-ah rushed us back out of the room and up a stairway to our left. At the top, we crossed a balcony and went up a second set of stairs. From there, we rushed across a large central room, ignoring closed doors on each side, and ascended a third staircase to the topmost floor.
Going directly past two doors on our right side, and stopping at a third, she quickly took the knife from her belt and slid it into a crack between two stones above the door, triggering a lock mechanism, and pushed the door open. We hurried inside, and whirling around Aeyli-ah closed the door quietly and set a lock near the top.
She whispered, “The lock deters casual visitors, but it won’t hold against a forceful battering.”
Looking at the floor and finding an uneven stone, I braced two of the poles that I was carrying against it and braced the door.