He said to Aeyli, “The item you commissioned will be ready in a few days, maybe less.” And then to me, “Mark, would you come to me soon, on a day you choose and show me the details of sizing these weapons? And we could discuss any nuances of their design? If you don’t forbid me from learning how they are made?”
I agreed that I would be very happy to show him what I knew and he left. The hall was empty by this time, and the twelve councilors and the girls and I waited to hear what Dorel wanted to say.
When we had gathered around, Dorel said, “Listen to me. I have given this a lot of thought. I say that it will be good for our village to set up the hall that I propose. I want us to ask Mark to spend some of his days teaching our village. Both men and women. He has wisdom that will help us. Aeyli has told me some of it. I am intrigued. She has also said that Mark has methods for teaching this sword of his and that she has learned the basics in just two days. She said to me, ‘I pity the fool who would accost me as I walk with another woman from place to place. But if he chooses to die, so be it.’ I would like it if all of our village had so much confidence. Aeyli and I have talked quite a bit in the past and we are convinced that confidence is the reason that our birthrate is so low and that so many of our men can take no more than one mate, and some not even that. According to my granddaughter, Mark is a man of resources and will be no burden to us. As you have seen, he takes no bride price, but instead asks to buy us a well or some other thing to improve the village and he provides the gift! If he was destitute, I would propose that we give him wages and expect it to be a bargain for us.”
She paused for discussion and Tronuck said, “My friends, it has been a trying day. But now that I’m calm, I could not agree more. I trusted this man from the moment he stood before us. I understand, almost, how Aeyli, Rani, and Belle have chosen him in one day. I do not quite understand how they claim that he has been able to…um, make them happy all in one day, but never mind that. What do the rest of you say?”
The others agreed that they also felt hope and trust in me and they made me feel very welcome.
Dorel said, “Then Mark, if you agree, will you teach at the new village hall? Teach some things for men and women, teach some for men alone, and perhaps Aeyli can teach the women alone. Teach wisdom and weapons and confidence and peace with our neighbors. Teach what will increase our birthrate and what will make everyone happy.”
Aeyli said, “Grandmother, um, the old women who instructed us as girls had no understanding. Mark has shown Rani and Belle and I ways that make our eyes turn inside out. I would teach these things to the women just before they mate and then for a long time after. It should be done in a better way. Mark has a method of weapons teaching, step by step, and I would teach the women the things of being a mate in the same manner. And in the same way, he can teach the men how to make a princess happy in ways that I don’t think that they know.”
Dorel said, “I think that those discussions should begin with the women on the council. We will sit with you and see what you have and then see what we can do with it. If all is well, we will all teach together: the women’s teaching of girls should be done by a circle. So, are we settled on these things? Mark and Aeyli and Rani and Belle are mated. The service at the shrine is ended for them. The house is now the house of Mark. A portion of the gift will be used to renovate a hall. The hall will become the Academy of Tranna. Mark will teach as he sees fit in wisdom, weapons, manhood, confidence, peace, and whatever else he knows. Aeyli will teach at his side. She will teach the nine of us more intimate things until we can teach the girls. We will not call Mark to sit on the council until it is time, but we will consult privately. I suggest that he be made aware of all affairs of the village that we are responsible for, and he will offer any opinions that he wants to share. Are we all agreed? Is there anything else for tonight?”
Aeyli gave her grandmother a look and Dorel said, “Oh, yes, one more thing. Aeyli has warned me that Mark will take one or two more mates within the next 40 days. But this time, it will be done within the village gates and they will appear before the council for the declaration.”
Someone said, “One or two more! So soon?”
Dorel said, “These are strange times, We adapted to the fall of time, now we will adapt to a time where a man takes three mates in a day and two more before the month is over.”
Dorel and the other women hugged Aeyli, Rani, and Belle and the men clasped my arm and congratulated me, and we said our goodnight.
As we left the council hall, Aeyli and Rani clung to my arms and Belle clung to Aeyli on the other side. We walked happily back to the ‘House of Mark’ and went in to my new home.
Chapter 18 Morning In the House of Mark
We went to bed shortly after returning to the house. There was plenty of artificial light, but it was the custom to go to sleep not long after dark, nonetheless. The girls were frisky, but everyone was really ready for bed, and after a few kisses and hugs, we closed our eyes to sleep.
Aeyli let Rani and Belle sleep next to me because it was their first night. The bed was large, but just barely large enough for four; three might have been more comfortable. Maybe we could fix that someday. I fell asleep with both Rani and Belle idly petting my crotch.
When I woke up at dawn, all three girls were still in bed with me and just starting to stir themselves. There were no big sexual adventures, we just said good morning, and hugged and stretched and began our first day together in the village.
The girls showed me around my new home first. There were two floors and a patio on the roof. The house was actually larger than I had expected. My thought had been that it was a house for three women, but I had forgotten that there had at other times been a dozen shrine maidens at once. This was the house where all of them stayed together.
On the upper floor was a common bathroom and six good sized bedrooms. Each had a bed like we had slept in and I was told that each room had been shared by two maidens. When one of the girls was away at the shrine, it was common for her roommate to join two others in their room. Sleeping alone was a hardship to be endured while on duty at the shrine, but was avoided at other times. Aeyli, Rani, and Belle had been sharing a bed in the room we slept in for quite some time, except that the three were never together at the same time until last night.
Before going down stairs, I was led to the rooftop patio. I asked about needing belts, but Belle said, “No, it’s OK, you’ll see.”
We climbed the stairs and pushed open a hatchway to the open air above. The patio was walled to about a foot above waist high and none of the other homes in the area stood as tall. Most the houses in this part of the village were a only single story.
Belle said, “See, no one can see below our breasts! Even if we put a bed on the roof and make love, if we aren’t loud, no one will know. Aeyli, let’s put a bed on the roof! We can make love in the sun!”
Aeyli said, “Oh, that sounds like a great idea. Mark wants a castle in the sky; we’ll start with a bedroom in the sky. But we’ll make the bed low with a nice mattress, to make sure that our play is private enough!”
Rani said, “And bring chairs and a table! Make this a dining room as well.”
Belle said, “Of course it’s a dining room. What do you think Mark will be eating while he makes love to you? Aeyli and I will be feeding him milk, and at the end, we will be fed by him! But, a table and chairs are fine if that’s how you want him to take you.”
I laughed and said, “Belle, I can show you how a table and chairs can be used very nicely for making love!”
She squealed, “Oh, OK. Show me soon! Plan: get a low bed and mattress and table and chairs and build Mark a house in the sky!”
Rani said, “I like this plan. What else should we do? This is the Royal House of Mark, not the crumbling hovel of the shrine maidens.”
Aeyli said, “That is funny! Do you know who the best builder in Tranna is?”
Belle said, “It’s Narhu, Mark’s new first frie
nd!”
We went downstairs and looked again at the bedrooms. I went to the one we slept in and said, “My first idea is that we need a bigger bed.”
Rani said, “Oh, planning for two more already? OK.”
I said, “No, I was…I meant…”
Aeyli laughed, “You’re still not used to things! You think like an Earth man! We will build a bed for six, and then another. It will great. The house is big enough for twelve at least, probably eighteen. Six to a bed would give us thirty-six.”
I yelled, “But, I don’t want thirty-six! You said that nine was the most. And I don’t need, or want, nine!”
They laughed at my discomfort and Aeyli said, “What I told you was that you can’t be compelled by the council to take more than nine. But the number is up to you. But let’s have a council of our own. Everyone say a number of mates that Mark should be encouraged to take. Mark, you are our prince, you may speak first.”
There was something in her words that warned me that it was for their sake that I spoke first, not out of honor for me as ‘prince’.
I said adamantly, “Three and no more!”
Aeyli grinned and said, “Good. We have a proposal. Rani, what number do you say?”
Rani said, “We must say Alexia. There is an obligation to her. She is very pretty and tall and she will have no other who would ever ask for her. I like her very much. She will be a good mate, in her way. It would be a shame for her to die young.”
Aeyli said, “Yes, wise words councilwoman Rani. So, what is your number?”
Rani stood tall and said, “Six!”
Aeyli said, “Six from Rani. Belle, what number do you say?”
Belle smiled and said, “Alexia for sure. She works in wood. She’s very good. I think that she would come today if we invite her. She wasn’t in the meeting last night. I think she is forlorn. I think also of the tanner’s assistant Myndee, and Manya who sells weaving. But, my number is six, for now.”
Aeyli said, “Six, six, and, cough, just three. But, I say we give him a chance to change his vote. For me, I also say Alexia must be our first choice for number four. We have to wait a bit. This time, we need to go more by customs, such as they are, moldy and crumbling dead things to be sure. Belle has named other very pretty girls of good nature and character. Um, my thoughts go to Myndee and Sashar. I don’t know that I know who Manya is. Remember, this number is for now , I mean soon, not right now. But not for all time. We will go forward in steps. We don’t want to leap too far and find no ground under our feet.”
Rani said, “You both suggest very good women. Mark, what number do you say now?”
I said, “Three!”
Aeyli smiled and said, “Good, Six it is. We will commission a new bed big enough for seven people!”
I shouted, “Seven?”
Aeyli smiled and said, “Unless you intend to sleep alone!”
I said, “Oh, yeah, six plus one. Hey, does my vote even count? I told the council that you listened to me! Was that an act you played?”
Aeyli got serious, saying, “It was no act, my prince! You are our king. Your wish is our command. And yet, you have placed yourself in my hand, haven’t you? When it comes to some things that may be best for me to decide?”
I said, “I have. You’re right.”
She continued, “Mark, our love, we play with you. If you say three and no more, in seriousness, then it will be three and no more. We play with your number three because we can feel that just as we have bound ourselves in an instant, there are others, women we love, who will want a chance at happiness, and we have happiness to spare. Think of tall, beautiful Alexia, her breasts bursting with milk because her body betrays her and her mind has no say in it, just as it was with us. Picture in your mind, you saying that you won’t choose her and sending her to her death. You have the power to give her life once again, or to send her away, never to mate or know love. Do I need to ask if you will give her life or death?”
I said, “Aeyli, when you say it like that, you know what I’ll do. Bring her here now and I’ll do what you want this minute. But is it really like that? You say that she’s beautiful. Won’t some other good man have her?”
Rani said, “Mark, what is life like where you come from that you truly don’t know? It’s as if you had been asleep since before the fall of time. Alexia is lovely in body and spirit, but you saw that only three men before you in all the village have three mates. There are no more men who will take a mate now! There are 200 men and 800 women and only 300 women have a mate. There are 500 forlorn with no one to love them. They resign themselves to dying young and childless. You will teach the men, but we will never have mates for all of these women unless this plan produces far more men. We can wait a hundred, or two hundred years, but things have to change or we will cease to be.”
Belle said, “Mark, my body chose you, and you could have rejected me, but you didn’t. You wouldn’t. Think. Tell us your number for the house. Do you say three, or do you say we must be open to a few more?”
I sighed and said, “Hear me, my number, and I will not consider a single number higher than this no matter what you say, my number is firm: five hundred and no more! I swear it. If you bring me more than that I will run away. Say your numbers again and see if we can agree.”
Aeyli: “Six”
Rani: “Six”
Belle: “Six”
I said, “And I say Six, for now. Call the carpenter and Alexia. You break my heart, do you know that?”
Aeyli said, “Let me make your heart a bit lighter: Alexia is the carpenter. We will invite her to talk and work, but we must be patient, no matter what her body says that she wants.”
Belle said, “Mark, your heart is so good; and you worry way too much. The math is simple. There are ten days in a week. Four weeks in a month. Ten months in a year. If you would take just one of us between the furs each day of the week, that’s ten mates already. The only one that you must make love to every day is me; the others will be happy with less. According to the laws, you take the number of mates that you can satisfy just twice a month. If you take me once and then one other every day, that’s twenty mates that you easily satisfy. Two per day? That’s what you’ll do before breakfast! Do you think that you’ll be too tired after just two? After you have fed at our breasts? Do you worry that you won’t be strong enough? For as few as twenty? I say that you are more than strong enough. If not, I’ll let you make love to me just every other day if you need more rest. No, on second thought, I’ll shove my tit in your mouth and revive you and you’ll take me every day!”
Rani said, “Mark, Belle teases you. But, she’s right. Let’s assume new numbers. If you take us between the furs, just one a day, and if there are ten mates, we are with you four times every month! No other woman in the village has so much love! Think. You haven’t had your breakfast yet. What will happen when you do?”
I said, “You have me. At breakfast, I’ll show Belle what we can do in a chair and then I’ll give each of you a turn as well. So, you’ll be happy if we have six in bed? You’ll be satisfied with me?”
Aeyli said, “Is that what you are afraid of? What you did to us just yesterday afternoon would last a reasonable woman for six months!”
Belle said, “But, I am a most unreasonable woman!”
Aeyli continued, “Mark, think of it this way. Is it better for a woman to live in a house where a man loves her and she calls him prince, though he only makes love to her once a month and even then she doesn’t see the ‘little death’; or for her to live alone, unloved, and no one ever to taste her milk? What do you say? You answered us already: you would take 500 women into your house rather than see them forlorn. The council has spoken and all are agreed. The bed will be made for seven; for now.”
Rani said, “Good, shall we go downstairs?”
I said, “Wait, I have a question about women and if there is a thing that is the same as it is on Earth. There is a spot that when touched, makes a woman�
��excited.”
Aeyli said, “What are you asking? You rub that spot on us as we make love and you licked mine with your tongue until I burst.”
I said, “No, I mean a different spot. Will one of you let me look for it?”
Rani was the first to say, “I will. What do I do?”
Both Belle and Aeyli groaned in disappointment that Rani had spoken first, but didn’t complain.
I said, “Come here and lie down and I’ll sit beside you on the bed. Spread your legs and I will look for the spot. I want you to try not to orgasm. Hold back as long as you can. If I don’t find what I’m looking for, I promise that I’ll make you happy for letting me try.”
Rani lay beside me on the bed and spread her legs wide and grinned. I sat beside her, at her hip, and placed my hand between her legs and stroked her labia gently.
I said, “Remember, try not to orgasm.”
Rani’s breathing was already becoming heavy. I gently pushed and slid two fingers into her vagina and turned my palm upward and touched her, feeling for the rough bulge that would indicate a G-Spot.
Rani yelled suddenly, before I had even begun to explore, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll try harder!”
All of the girls were extremely responsive; making them happy every day really wasn’t going to be difficult at all. I hooked my two fingers upward and felt for my target. Rani clutched at the furs and bit her lip in her attempts to resist another climax. I found the spot that I thought might be it and pressed upward, massaging it firmly, and Rani screamed!
Well, that answered that question. Women of Barsoom certain did have a G-Spot, and it was highly reactive. It was also easy to find.
Rani cried, “I am trying…oh, I really am trying!”
I said, “It’s OK, stop trying. Go with it. Let it happen. Is it good?”
The Start of Time Page 15
