by Marcus Sloss
Ista bobbed his head insistently that the dvaren accept. The general went from steaming mad to head tilting confused.
“The rules are first to draw blood or surrender. Make me young?” The general's brow furled and he looked like he was sucking on a lemon.
I spun a silence shield with yellow magic. “Precisely that, the magic on this planet can revert your old age. Hurry up and choose. I have gods to meet, and queens to spank for their insolence. Oh… I am Emperor Gryff, your Emperor. And I happen to be the demigod leader chosen by the retreating four to cleanse the Horde of this universe. Sorry for my lack of manners. It was a far greater slight to have my major kneeling to a citizen of mine. Though I do now have a potential elvath wife. Maybe we will see what this one looks like young.”
“I am General Halsad. I guess I need you to prove your claim, try not to kill me if you speak the truth. The fear in that dvaren’s eyes you kicked over says you are though. Too late anyway. I call upon the laws of the grudge.” That was it. A resounding song echoed across the fields as troops encircled us creating a pit.
Gaius, Nate, and Virtue were pushed out of the circle until it was and Halsad. I tossed my sword to the ground. It would only kill the general. I had to give it to Halsad, he showed no fear of apprehension. He was a true warrior.
The smashing of weapons to shields stopped and Halsad advanced. I charged with a slight amount of aura. When I was ten feet away I poured it through my body. With lightning quickness, I closed the distance. I smashed Halsad with my shield with such speed and force that he tumbled across the ground. I had not hit him as hard as I could have. When I went to the old dvaren it was clear he was seeing stars while he tried to recover from the dirt. I solidly grasped his boot with my hands and flung him into the sky. The amount of aura and force applied shattered his leg and yanked the limb from its socket. An example needed to be made. The dvaren rocketed into the sky far higher than I anticipated.
“Gaius catch him,” I ordered. The griffin bunched his muscles and burst from the ground into the air chasing after the rising Halsad. I swirled the air magic to cone in front of my face. “Healers to me. All green mages to me!”
“Kneel!” I demanded. The queen was the first to bend the knee. The rest followed quickly. I saw the queen had a scab on her cheek from an old age skin issue. I stomped my way over to her with my blood still thirsting for battle. She did not quake or cower. Instead, she locked eyes with mine. I poured my green aura into her to heal her cheek.
I forgot to warn her about the pleasure of a green aura. Her squeals of delight frightened her servants and ladies in waiting until they realized she was having an orgasm. Then the magic of Vin erupted from the ground and swirled around the queen. The Vin magic was colorless as it added to my green magic and consumed her. She transformed before all of our eyes.
Now, I had seen a lot of cute dvarettes. None were stunning or sexy. This queen reverted to a cutie so cute she was hot. Her hazel eyes and purple hair were vibrant and youthful. She was curvy with an excess bust and nice wide hips. She purred as she finished her orgasm and saw her hands. Then she shouted in joy at her youthful vibrancy on display. The queen raced to me and kneeled again.
“I am Hold Master Nautica, or as you humans title, Queen Nautica. I have never felt so limber in all my years. I forgot what it was like to be young. My hair is purple again!!! It has been so long. I command your ten million dvaren and dvarettes. If we agree to the same terms as those before us can we be collarless?”
I extended the citizen contract to all the new dvaren. The collars popped off as one. Major Ista said they should be collected and Nautica indicated to her entourage that it should be done. A few things happened at the same time next. Gaius returned with Halsad, my healers showed up, and a lot of dirty farming dvarettes arrived with empty sacks. Ponisa smiled a few dozen feet away and waited patiently. I waved her over and she handed me a list.
“Excellent. Ponisa, this lovely lady is Queen Nautica. Queen Nautica, this is my appointed mayor of Uharian Hold. You two will be working together. She will manage the citizens with your crews while you are gone. Healers, fix that broken dvaren for me.” I said and the mages went to work. The gray old dvaren reverted to a black bearded youthful soldier. His wriggling pain ceased and he stood before me. A quick nod was followed by kneeling to me. “Good to see you are on alive and on our side. Settle the troops. Do not get comfy. We march tomorrow morning to set up camp against entrenched Horde. Your troops are the most battle hardened soldiers I have. These healers will spend hours to convert you all. Line up your troops, receive healing, and then ensure you are ready for deployment tomorrow. If another general tries to claim rank on you, tell them the Emperor said General Halsad is his go to overall commander for the foreseeable future.”
“As the Emperor commands.” General Halsad and his support troops vacated with the healers.
They left to start the task of getting healed to youthful dvaren again. It would take hours if not days. Some would have to wait until the Vin portal was closed. I would let Halsad figure out a priority system for effectively handling the process. I waved the ladies holding the sacks over to me and then pulled Queen Nautica close.
“I need a wife to rule the dvaren for me. Is that you?” I asked her.
Nautica looked up at me with lust in her hazel eyes. “My Emperor… You made me a blushing dvarette again. You make me young, then offer to make me a ruling matriarch of my species. Yes, I will clamp your penis and pump it dry and plop out your babies. I daresay I will show you how it is properly done? Will there be much competition?”
“Yes, there will be. I have five human wives and am working on an elvath to be a queen also. I never wanted more than one. Vin, Lily, and the war dictate that not be the case. You will need to be accepted by all to become a wife, so tread carefully and tactfully around my wives. We are going to Entria for now. I need to summon Queen Yvette and get these sacks filled. Food will be a major priority for us soon.”
Virtue stepped forward. “Portal to Entria?”
I nodded and a portal opened. It was Nate, the farming group of dvarettes, and Nautica who stepped in first. I was the last one to travel to Entria.
∞∞∞
Queen Yvette was waiting on the same landing pad where we had entered on the floating city. Her warriors were behind her lined up by divisions. There were five formations or what looked like a thousand archers each. They were all equipped with bows, quivers, and light leather armor. As her eyes locked to mine she raised her bow to the sky in salute. The troops behind her mimicked her move and a call out rang for through the air.
“Cleanse the Horde!”
That was a rallying cry I could get behind. Gravin stood off the side. I ordered Virtue to close the Uhara portal and open a new one to eastern Fernlan. I told him to send the elvath to the exact same place where the other five thousand landed today. Lady Linzy should be around to help the new arrivals inprocess and become citizens of my Empire. I walked to Gravin as the divisions left Entria for my home.
“Thank Glowvia for the marker. I need a couple of favors if you don’t mind. Nothing too major.” I said.
“Ask,” he replied while watching the archers march in perfection. The only thing they were missing was a song. Instead, they were somber and the only noise they made was a loud stomp every few steps.
I pointed to the dozens of dvaren Ponisa had assembled who carried the empty containers. “Those sacks. Seeds for winter and spring. I have fifty one million new citizens to feed.”
“That is a lot of seeds for only the dvaren. You did not receive enough souls to need this much.”
“We added forty million humans before they were converted into currency. I finally had gotten ahead of the starvation curve, to only get behind it again. Seeds in the sack and then the location of Icandria’s champion Koko.” I said and Gravin shifted into a walking plant creature. He approached the dvaren and grew vegetative arms until they snaked into the sacks. The dva
ren shrieked and retreated. The bags filled with seeds through his magic. There was a mix of green and brown to it. It was the first time seeing the god cast. “Also, I will try to free Koko as soon as we break the master portal to Vin. No sense in bugging you again so soon.”
When Gravin reverted to an elvath he walked to Virtue. Three of the five divisions had efficiently portaled to Fernlan already. The shaman removed on hand to glean the location from Gravin’s head. The shaman nodded and then Gravin returned to my side.
“Good luck with closing your portal. They are not hard to destroy. Maurta builds a platform on the surface of the planet when he finds a core in the goldilocks zone. Destroy that structure or damage it enough and the portal will desync from the main network and vanish. Do not completely destroy it. Had pieces so it cannot be rebuilt and you are done. Set a guard and wait for their next move,” Gravin said with a sigh. He placed his hands on his hips as he continued. “The first thing the Horde does when it arrives on a new planet is set a defensive perimeter around the portal. It is doctrine and a rule. They will have built out a series of defense to protect their vital gateway. Also, expect to find storage areas by there where the quotas were arriving. You may also find a lot of extra supplies for marching armies. The location around gateways is the best place to stage for further incursions. You may want to be strategic and not destroy everything. Then again I will be here, comforting my wife. Good luck Gryff. Do us proud.”
I got a slap on the shoulder that sent some of my aura flying. Gravin absorbed what I ejected. “What was that?” I asked in surprise.
“That was how gods improve their might through conquest. We observed Warg doing it to Sion. When you hit me earlier I experienced it myself. That was a small test. I stole very minimal aura. It is good to see it done though. Maybe when your white against the seven drops you can steal some of their power. Who knows, maybe the other demigods contain the same amount of aura you do.”
“I see my troops are gone and my sacks are filled. Time for me to go.” I said excusing myself. “Thanks for the help, I will send word if we find Koko.”
“One last warning Gryff. Koko is not an epic being. She is more fox than anything. Icandria choose her father to have a demigod to help balance production. Not destroy the Horde. You may want to pick a more vital target. Unless you need someone to manage ice creatures.” Gravin informed me.
“Can you elaborate on manage, and help production?” I said and he nodded.
“Higher pregnancy rates, sending predators off trails. Protecting species until numbers stabilize.”
Seven hells. That was what Snomer was doing already. I wanted to free Koko regardless but maybe Gravin was right. I shook my head in frustration. Virtue kept the portal to Fernlan open as I ordered Queen Nautica and the patiently waiting farming dvaren through. I followed them to return home.
∞∞∞
I was greeted with the sight of Lady Linzy addressing Queen Yvette. Virtue stepped through the portal with the Uhara dvaren carrying seeds.
“Virtue, take the rest of the night off after you send these seeds to Uhara. Return with what Ponisa cannot use immediately. Have the winter seeds placed on the western fields. I will have Calia start planting tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow we have a lot of troops to move. Visit me after breakfast.” I ordered the shaman and he spun a new portal into existence.
I approached the two lovely elvath who were talking quickly. They were debating on where to stay for the night and how to handle the troops.
“You will be sleeping in my estate tonight Yvette, you need to meet my wives. As does Queen Nautica, come here my dvaren beauty.” I said waving the dvarette in her regal black dress that clung awkwardly to her body. It would need to be tailored to fit her now youthful body. Yvette in her stunning white dress was the opposite of Nautica’s black. “You two will have no issues with each other. I need you both to become friends as our armies fight as one. If you cannot behave, I will replace you. It is important the armies of Vin see a unified head family… Now follow me. We have a lot of stairs to climb. Lady Linzy handle the integration. Make sure the elvath divisions know we march to establish a base tomorrow morning or midday.”
I watched as Queen Nautica extended a hand to Queen Yvette. I was expecting fireworks or anger. Instead, they traded war stories. Awesome. I would love to not have to deal with two feuding leaders. We walked up the ramp and into the government building. I passed two dvaren guards who were protecting the entrance to my private stairwell. Seven floors later I felt the burn in my glutes. Both ladies were trying to keep up with my two stairs at a time pace. They managed to stay close behind me and were flush in the face as we entered our foyer.
I addressed my household guard that waited in the foyer. I informed them that these two ladies were permitted access at all times for now. If they were not accepted as wives then during daytime hours only unless they declared an emergency. We moved past the guards to our dining room. I had the ladies wait there while I retrieved my wives.
A servant asked if I was hungry and I mentioned I most certainly was. As I went to get my wives only Amber and Addilyn were able to break free of the babies. Velia was still on bed rest. and Pipi was asleep. Bella was playing super mom managing the little ones. I carried Amber and Addilyn to our eating area. They protested for all of two seconds. They enjoyed my attentive care. I stopped us outside the dining room entrance.
“Amber, Addilyn… A few things to go over before food. Which should stress to you how important this is. We need to house forty million more humans. For the dvaren, I left them to their own buildouts and food handling. They are even harvesting Horde hearts and catalysts on their own. Sure we will help them how we can, but they already built up Uhara to handle a larger influx.
“I thought that Fernlan had been overdone in its build out. Instead, we have so much more to do. Your thoughts on how we can do it in ten days?” I asked them.
“You will have to either buy more goblins or win an easy victory at the portal. Roz returned earlier, but you were still out. She retired to her harem… There are a lot of maybe animals for you to tour in the morning. That is another option. We have chickens now. Should help, and then there are cows in pens now. Roz mentioned they were stolen from human worlds and were primarily used for milk. We lack enough people to handle them all. We can always take our mushrooms we grow now and increase fungi production.” Amber said while she wiggled out of my arm to get down. She was balancing on me. “What were you thinking Addilyn?”
“Goblins are cheap. You do two for one. Buy some for the food and the hearts. Solves our problem for food and shelter. Then there is so much to worry about. Sanitation, employment, schools, and more. Start with a goblin slaughter factory.” Addilyn said while snuggling into me. “We can manage that with Roz if you are going north. How many elvath did we add and how many dvaren did you buy?”
“Almost eleven million dvaren and ten thousand elvath. Which leads to my next issue… I never wanted more than one wife. I accepted you girls and your concubines. Well… we need to unite the races. I think we should do that by adding to our family. Inside that room is two leaders. Yvette is strong, ancient, and focused. Nautica is very efficient, has a good battle sense, and her kind respects her. I need you two to see if they fit and work with them. I will be in our western room, come join me when you are done talking. When the servants come with my food, send them to me in my room. I will be dealing with paperwork.” I said and set Addilyn down.
I kissed both my wives and opened the door to the dining room. Yvette and Nautica could hear us the entire time and were waiting by the door. I handed a wife off to each and took my leave. As I left them I heard the chatter begin. That was a positive sign. I went to our western facing room and walked out onto the balcony.
A quick glance down and I saw Calia sorting through seeds. I knew she would manage the fields well. Probably did not hurt she married or was going to marry Phen. That way she would know what to grow for livestock al
so. I peeled myself from the balconies edge and worked my way to the meeting table. The chair scraped against the wooden floor loudly and I seat myself. I looked over the reports of incoming troops from across the Empire. I had only ten thousand mages here. The Empire had millions and ten thousand answered my call. Most of the cavalry was requesting portals to get here and I tallied the numbers that were ready. It was low, five thousand horses plus knights. I wondered if it was a combo of things. If the issue was troop reduction from peace accords that lasted for so long, or if it was so many soldiers died during fighting the Horde already. My best guess there was a lot of troops that were being held back. The griffins were expected to carry the victory on their wings and with their fire magic.
A long loud sigh was released. I set the list of troops waiting for a portal to the side. That would be a task to establish tomorrow after we established a camp by the portal. I sifted through the paperwork and found a note from Donnie. Ogre’s Mine was expanding and new veins were being found. The dvaren were helping him understand the intricate nature of underground tunneling as well as extracting ores. He mentioned he was enjoying it and that there was lots to do. There was a mention of expanding to the Saquin Mountains. It made me grin at his success. I was proud of him and his transition. The Knights of Fernlan were disbanded as a unit. The Empire went from squad scale combat to army size engagements with one simple change. Removing the peace accords.
I signed some documents asking for more gold when I realized I needed to figure out if I could procure gold with souls. Added to my to do list. A thud sounded on my balcony. The purple feathers with gold tips told me it was Lord Nova. I signed off on an ant farm. Donnie’s wife Poe was set to run it and had requested all the necessary supplies. Approved. Maybe we could have something besides earthy clay everywhere.
