CHAPTER XV -Gulliver of Mars

The whole tale, briefly but with fervor, hiding nothing—how Heru and I met, how I had come from another world, the deadly feud against her, my pledge to help her, the ambush, the fight, and our flight to the forest. Her plain face softened as the story proceeded, touching me deeply by her ready sympathy.

When I finished, she brushed a rough hand across her eyes, then gripped mine tightly, saying with conviction, “You shall have her, lad! Hearts like yours deserve to win. It’s foolhardy, I know, but love makes us all fools. Listen here! My husband has influence with the ferrymen who row up the estuary. It’s late, yes, but he can get you passage on a boat leaving tonight for Ar-hap’s town. Once you’re there, finding the girl will be risky, but I trust your luck. Her captor, they say, is a brute, yet not devoid of kingly virtues. Perhaps a bold appeal to him, the offer of a ransom—something may turn the scale. You saved the girl once; who’s to say you can’t do it again? But eat, rest, prepare. You’ll need all your strength and wits for what’s ahead.”

Gratitude was heavy on me. Here was unexpected help, a beam of direction in the desolate uncertainty that had oppressed me. I embraced the chance fully. After refreshing and taking counsel on various ingenious approaches to my desperate undertaking, I followed the burly fisherman as he led me under the starry Thither night to a little quay where a broad-beamed boat rocked gently, making ready to slip away upstream. His influence was evident; a word here, a nod there, and I was aboard, my strange quest cloaked as a mere whim to see the interior.

As the oars dipped and the dark banks slipped by, I pondered this unexpected turn of events. Strange how the thread of our fates can be taken up and knitted by others, leading us to paths unthought of. My resolve hardened; come what may, I would face Ar-hap and, with luck, finesse, or bold action, reclaim Heru. The thought of her, alone and imperiled, transformed every doubt into determination, every fear into resolve. The mission might be fraught with danger, but for Heru’s sake, every risk was worth taking.