That day, we had to rely on the map and heavily guess at which way to go, many times. As I’ve complained about many times to myself, this world sucks with distances. With no set universal standard, maps are, at best, barely useful.

No scale on the map meant that we had to try and estimate our position and progress by other drawn markers, such as references to streams, intersections, and landmarks. Our greatest issue was the fact that the map was simply so damn old. References to intersections – usually one of the easiest ways to give directions – were absolutely worthless in this case!

“Go to the third intersection and turn left,” is an excellent way to give someone current directions to a place. Drawing a map which indicates that is an excellent way to make certain thy don’t forget those instructions. BUT, after a hundred years or more, two more side roads could have been built, and one of the original ones could have became completely reclaimed by nature…

What use is the drawing which illustrates, “Go to the third intersection and turn left,” then?

Not a damn bit!

We were forced to try and rely on the other two ways to use the map – references to landscape, and references to landmarks – and even then, the lack of discernable landmarks along a simple forest path, didn’t help us any. All we basically had to go on was drawings of the general landscape, and even those were difficult to decipher.

“Is this little stream the one marked on the map, or did the original map makers include it? Maybe it’s too small to count? How about the way the land lies over there? It might’ve been a stream that dried up in the last hundred years or so. Is it possibly the one indicated on the map here?” All day long, Red and I struggled with self-doubts and uncertainties – even with a damn map to rely on!

Is this the endless frustration which pirates feel, when they have a treasure map with a nice big red “X” drawn on it, with no indication of where the map represents? I’d imagine so.

We’d assumed that we’d be able to make the journey in just a little over a day’s travel, just we were wrong. Multiple times, we backtracked from one trail to another, thinking that we’d read our way wrong. By the time we’d gotten to what appeared to be an old and forgotten rock quarry – which I assume is our destination – the first moon had risen again, and the sun was almost completely gone from the corner of the sky.

I didn’t dare chance going on to try and explore the quarry in the dark, but I did offer a deeply heartfelt prayer as we rushed to set up camp. “Gods, hear my prayer, and don’t let there be more than one old shaft! If there is, pray let this be the one which we’re looking for!”

Overhearing me, Red readily agreed with a fervent, “Amen!” If we keep going on like this, and always asking the gods to help or watch over us, we might end up becoming priests in the end!

Once we’d finished our basic evening chores and started a campfire, and had some food in the fire cooking, Red once again yanked off her tunic with no hesitation and snuggled back in my arms. Tilting back her head to look at me, while resting her bare back against my chest, she coyly asked, “Does Mi’Lord need my services tonight?”

To be honest, I considered saying, “Absolutely!”, and then eating her right up, but instead I simply shook my head from side to side. Wrapping my arms around her shoulders, I gently cupped her breasts in my hands and squeezed them softly. As I slowly traced my fingers in circles around her slowly perking nipples, I regretfully told her, “Not tonight.”

“We’re both tired from walking all day,” I explained to her honestly, “and tomorrow we’ll be hunting the entrance of the mine and praying that the old shaft – which was considered unsafe and unstable a hundred years ago – hasn’t collapsed completely. We need to focus on resting and keeping our strength up,” I reasoned, though not without sighing a few times as I said it.

“Though…” Pausing as I said it, I half blushed and half smirked at the same time. “I hope you won’t find by touch bothersome or disturbing, at least. If you do,” I promised, “just let me know and I’ll stop anytime.”

“I’ll never find Mi’Lord’s touch bothersome or disturbing,” Red promised, taking my left hand from her breast and sliding it down and under her skirt. Opening her knees, she slid her hips forward a little further, to better position her bottom under my hand.

“I was birthed, blooded, and raised to serve,” Red told me fervently as she completely relaxed against me, allowing me to caress wherever and whatever my whimsy desired. “Mi’Lord has to understand that,” her voice sounded almost as if she was pleading.

“My body. My blood. My very soul has always belonged to another – Mi’Lady,” Red explained passionately. “I am hers, and she is mine. To resist her would be to resist myself….” Pausing her thoughts for a moment, Red slowly shook her head from side to side. “Nay. That’s not quite it,” she mused. “It’s more a case of resisting her is the same as throwing my soul into the fires of damnation.”

“Should I attempt to resist Mi’Lady, in my heart, or cause her pain or mischief,” Red explained matter-of-factly, “my blood will begin to boil in my veins, the breath will leave my lungs, and my soul will be wracked with the agony of a million betrayals.”

As her words slowly settled into my mind, my hands gradually stopped moving and I found myself staring blankly into her eyes. “So… So you’re enslaved, more or less? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Enslaved by a ritual of blood from birth,” Red agreed, nodding her head up and down softly. “Stronger than any chains made by god or man, never to be broken, and existing for as long as the eternity of my soul. From birth till now, and forever more, I’ve never refused a wish of Mi’Lady’s.”

“And,” she informed me, smiling as if it wasn’t a big deal at all, “now that Mi’Lady has pledged herself to be yours, that means I am yours as well, Mi’Lord. You need never doubt that I am completely available for you, or that I will ever find you ‘bothersome or disturbing’. You are Mi’Lord,” she assured me, “and my flesh, soul, and heart all belong fully to you.”

If Red was looking to settle my doubts and ease my heart, she failed completely. In my life, which I remembered as Thomas, slavery was an abhorrent sin against the very fabric of humanity, and those who participated in its practice were inhumane demons worthy of only contempt and disdain.

My food tasted like dry ashes in my mouth that night, and afterwards, I only held Red gently in my arms with her back pressed warmly up against my chest. Somehow, I couldn’t help but feel that Julie was staring down at me from her spot in Heaven, disappointment heavy in her eyes, and tears quietly leaked down the side of my cheeks as I found sleep a long time coming.