by Marcus Sloss
I left the desk and strolled out to the balcony where Lord Nova was watching Zenith and Vertex.
“I heard you are needing more hearts,” Lord Nova said while getting comfortable. I picked a nice seat on a bench and he continued. “We have four thousand griffins here. I am going to send two thousand to join you in the base camp. A thousand on roving patrol looking for targets of opportunity. The last thousand will be our females not fit for battle. They will be on a mission to bolster our livestock numbers by capturing prey to domesticate. Those elvath change everything for us griffins. Our gestation was years, now it is days. Poor Dina is still in shock. All I hear is her complaints about how she was not ready and she wanted the gestation time. I am not even her spouse and she still vents to me endlessly. Back on topic, the two thousand will leave in the morning. Wait for me before attacking. I will be in the first wave. The one thousand roaming should be busy getting ogre hearts. That is their primary goal to find and extract ogres from their hideouts across Vin. If what I overheard is correct we need to be building a lot more, maybe you were right to want to expand more. You did not hear that from me though.”
“Makes sense, to boost our food numbers. You spent so long being reliant on us. Now you can manage your own food and help boost ours. I will set up a defensive base camp a few miles south of the master portal. Virtue assures me not even a few months ago this area was cleared and not close to the staged Horde. Then maybe lob catapult rocks at the enemy. See if they stir. I actually do not want to set any solid battle plans. Things tend to work out differently than I plant. When you get there and we have a good recon done. We can establish a battle plan. I have the dvaren ready, and enough mages to hold off a large Horde force. King Aves already north?”
“Yeah, he is finding all the Horde cities between here and the equator. He is marking them for later eradication. We will need to farm those cities and raid their supplies for the winter. There is so much to do. While part of me wants to tell you to be more patient… Deep down I know we have to go forward. I will see you tomorrow night more than likely. If you need anything let us know.”
Lord Nova said and was gone. The sun dipped below the horizon and my food was delivered to my table. I went to it and ate all three plates. I was exhausted from the day so I snuck into bed alone. Which was a first in a long time. I let my tiredness consume me and quickly fell asleep.
∞∞∞
At some point, my wives had swarmed me in a ball of beautiful women. I was surprised things stay pg rated until I noticed Bella in the mix. I snuck out of my bed to a few muttering complaints and did my morning business. When I returned to my table a steaming tea and a large stack of eggs awaited me. Nautica and Yvette sat at the table sipping their own cups of tea.
“How did it go ladies?” I asked with curiosity.
“Bella has paperwork for you to sign… Something about boobs and tradition. When will we consummate our marriage? I have not born a child in many generations. If not for Vin I doubt you could father one with me. We dvaren are rare to crossbreed. After seeing the pregnant elvath everywhere I think I will have your sons.” Nautica asked while eating some eggs. “These are delicious.”
“Yvette any issues?” I asked. I avoided answering Nautica because I did not have a good answer.
“None, they are good women, nice people. They love you. It makes me think you don’t often act like you did yesterday. I will want children and request to wait until after the battle for Vin slows. I want to state that I would like to see you in action with Nautica. There are rumors about the dvaren vagina.” Yvette said and Nautica reacted.
“No such thing will ever happen. We will couple in privacy and alone…”
“Prude.”
“Long eared hussie.”
I was about to step in when Bella did. “Enough ladies. We each get to decide how we want our private time with our husband. Now that there are seven of us. It is one day a week when he is home. You want to turn your night into an open night so be it. That bed… Is Gryff’s bed. All the others on this floor are for us, for when we are not welcome in that bed for the night.” Bella said sternly. I smirked at my wife who bent down and kissed me.
Two pieces of paper were taken out of Bella’s bust and she handed them to me. Her milk filled swollen tits were set to bounce out of her nighty. I gulped and she giggled in knowing I was enjoying the view. Of all the wives she had the most color. She delivered Siena first, so it made sense. And she was a healer. I signed the documents and wahoo, now I had seven wives.
“Alright, ladies. Get the rest out of bed please Bella. I need to address everyone minus Pipi. While she is doing that, head down and ready your troops Yvette. We are going to portal in an hour to the north for recon. Go now.” I ordered and Yvette nodded to me.
She left while wearing her light armor with her sleek longbow. She wiggled her hips showing off her butt under her thick kilt. The white hair was in such a contrast to everything else about her. My wives left the bed for our table. I shot out of my seat to aid Velia. Nautica fixed my tipped over chair, while I carried my Velia to her seat.
“Good morning ladies. Before we begin how is Pipi doing?”
“It was rough Gryff…” Velia said while running her hands through her bed hair. She worked some knots out. This triggered other ladies to start getting their hair to a better state. “There is good news though. Every one of the babies was born with some form of magic. We think Siena helped Bella, they both have the green. Babies are normally hard to test at this age. Your children shine brightly and may even develop more of their magic later. Pipi is recovering… she asked for water. It was weak and sad. They say I was the same way after also, so we are expecting her to be fine with time.”
“Great news on Pipi. Lady Linzy was extremely worried she might have broken her consciousness from the long healing exposure of the griffins. I want to keep this brief before I head off north. We need to ramp up food production, and housing. I want to keep the humans in collars for a while. They may be in shock from the transition. The dvaren have been slaves and used to the emotional and physical drain of the process as they grew up around it.” I said this as Amber and Bella frowned. Nautica nodded. Velia looked like she was in pain. Addilyn was reviewing paperwork, indifferent in her reaction. “I know not a popular decision… Think about it though. They can get to feel, sense, and experience what Vin is. The month or two should help the transition, especially for us. Forty million humans on a new planet with a new way of life and there are going to be some problems. It is not up to vote, for now, they stay slaves to do as we demand until we feel they are ready to be citizens. I have no issue freeing them eventually, especially once they are healthy, eating, and engaged in employment. Which leads into the massive amount of work those simple things take.”
Addilyn raised her hand from the paperwork. When she had the attention of the group she spoke. “This will not be like the three hundred thousand we integrated earlier. We cannot spread them around the Empire. I know you want to make this meeting quick… Unfortunately, there is a lot to deal with. There is an exodus of southern elderly and families wanting to move north. Before the war, most of the population of Vin was not condensed to the south. Now that the peace accords are broken, people want to go home. You plan to jump over a lot of human cities occupied by the Horde or destroyed by them as you go for the portal. Clear them and it will help with housing and occupation. Those old cities will take years to fix and that can give people hope as well as a purpose. I visited Uhara, that is a great example. The dvaren simply built on top of it and they created something they are proud of… Uharain hold is their new hope for now. Their new home. We need to do that north of here. I recommend starting with Granlan and Pinlan. They are two cities on the southern end of Saquin Mountains.”
“We will clear those cities on the way north. They were be burned tomorrow.” Lord Nova said to me from Vertex. I guess I did leave the balcony door open. He could probably hear with it closed. I relaye
d this message.
I saw concern on Amber’s face who went next. “Addilyn is right. A lot of the housing we have established here is being claimed by those fleeing the cold in the south. The food stores are excellent right now. Best they have been since… ever. Roz arrived last night with a lot of animals. We need more. Please tell me you have more funds?”
I turned to Nautica. “Nautica has been dealing with the Horde her whole life and managing keeping her citizens alive while fighting. We have more funds.” I left my seat and went to my armor on the floor by the bed. In my pocket, I found the contract slip from the bank with the souls. “Nautica, take Addilyn with you. You two will team up with Roz. Actually… Find an elvath to add to your team… Lady Linzy works. The three of you will spend every last soul on procuring livestock. I will have to trust in your judgment. When you are done report to me on the front lines. Also, we had a recent influx of seeds. I do assume there are many proficient farmers in the Horde to keep the trillions of its soldiers fed and alive. Add seeds that will help us to the list. Any questions and are you up to the task Addilyn and Nautica?”
“I can handle it. Assuming Bella is running the nursery and not tasked out, then I will leave for the needs of our Empire. We have interviewed a few wet nurses and Bella is going to be securing more. We want to put them on the ninth floor for now with the support staff.” Addilyn said and Bella held her hand as she sat beside her.
I understood the apprehension, new mom leaving her baby. It needed to be done though.
“Amber use an elvath translator to communicate with the griffin scouts. Find any and every city near us and indicate them on the map we share with the griffins. Recon only for now besides Granlan and Pinelan. When I get back from the front we will cleanse south to north, as well as launch incursions on Horde planets.” There was a gasp from Nautica. “Yes, we will be using portals to free elvath, dvaren, humans, and other slaves from breeding camps. That and much more, if I can steal it over buying it then I will. We are on the offensive, and I will not let up the pressure. The forty million humans waiting in a pen is only the beginning. I need you all to understand that. We need to scale for billions. That means taking people we trust and giving them more work. Oh… Almost forgot. Amber, how did the reports of the three desert cities go?”
Amber left her seat and left the room to grab the reports. I dismissed Addilyn and Nautica. Addilyn gave me a deep kiss as she left. Nautica was uncertain what to do and patted my shoulder. We had an awkward chuckle and they left.
“Velia, you are still weak. Is it okay if I task you here with Bella managing the children and Pipi for now? I know if you were recovered you could handle more.”
Velia used the table to walk over to me and sat in my lap. She tucked her head into my chest. Bella was dancing in her seat wanting to join us, so I waved her over. When they were each on a leg resting their heads on my chest Amber returned.
“We have missed you Gryff. It is okay that you are gone. At some point try to take a few days off to spend with your family. Here are your reports. I will read my summary while you study the drawn maps.” Amber said and handed me a small stack of paperwork. The first was for Wonva. A port city that was not actually in the desert. “These were more vital when the barriers still existed. I will be brief. Wonva is a good fishing city. It was mostly leveled and razed. Next is Exira, it is a mix of desert with ocean beach. The sand has since reclaimed most of the destroyed structures. The first two were infested with Horde until the scouting griffins cleansed them. The last is Baku, it had humans in it. Not many… Survivors of the great war who managed to avoid death or enslavement. They have a few boats they fish with. We left two griffins with them to help their survival. That city is another desert settlement by the water. A few buildings have been restored. The Horde avoids the desert. The reports say all three can accept settlers for relocation immediately. Wonva has a few Horde settlement off in the distance around it. They have not been removed from the equation yet. The scouts reported that the griffins could handle them though if the order was given. Which transitions into my recommendation. That whole coastline is clear of fighting. I would go south of Baku and north of Exira until the two cities linked together with beachfront property. We have an excess of pearls. Rain the area out a lot and start growing crops. There is no winter there so it can drastically shift our production numbers if we establish year round farming.”
I decided to stop Amber at this point. “I concur. You need to find someone you can trust to manage that expansion of our Empire. There are five thousand new elvath down there in the city. See if you can find some to help run our new cities and development. You cannot do it alone.” I sighed at the sheer amount of work it was to run an Empire. “I need to go. You have a lot of people here to help. Use them. Bella, Amber get me in my armor please.”
I exited my chair and carried Velia to our bed while leaving Bella to help Amber. I laid her down and received a sweet kiss goodbye. I stripped naked and then was geared. This room had my larger weapons against a back wall. I saw smasha, my first greataxe, and then the greataxe I stole from the arena on Kikra. I checked over my outfit. I had the two crossbows on my hips. My shield and javelin on my back. My short sword was in my belts ring and my bag was on my back. I walked over to the wall and grabbed the larger greataxe. I felt it was better made and large enough to not get stuck in anything besides maybe an ogre. Even then it cleaved ogre bones with ease before. I had learned to harness my purple aura much more efficiently since the first time the smaller greataxe got stuck in an orc.
There were a few teary eyes in goodbyes. I heard the squall of an infant. Bella helped Velia up and we went to the nursery. My babies were all in hunger fits now. A team of wet nurses were already working on sating their desire for milk. There were a lot of tits everywhere. Bella and Velia sat in large rockers not far from the baby cribs. They went topless. Their breasts large and swollen. A baby was handed to each and soon enough there was only the sound of slurping, rocking, and songs being sung to the little ones. I wanted to kiss them goodbye. Instead, I waved and took my leave to my eastern chambers.
I entered the room, kissed Pipi on the head while she slept and found Virtue on his bench.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning Virtue, are you feeling recharged?” I asked.
“I am. Do you want to move the dvaren, elvath, or humans here first?” Virtue asked as he stood from his bench.
“There is so much to do. I need a runner. Let us go to the eastern commerce section, to the park we left from yesterday. I will call for Donnie and then we will take the elvath and some mages.” I said and Virtue made us a cheat portal to avoid the stairs down.
I stepped through and there was no blackness. I swirled a cone around my face to amplify my voice. I was going to wake a lot of folks up with this. It needed to be done though. The war came before sleeping in.
“Good morning Fernlan and citizens of the Vin Empire. Today we move north to close the portal. A griffin will circle over the location that I need all soldiers to assemble on. We have no recon so when you arrive expect to fight. My heavy infantry dvaren first, followed by elvath, next are the mages, and finally human soldiers. Stage on my voice.” I bellowed out.
The griffins were the first to react. They swarmed out of Zenith and Vertex by the thousands. Three parties formed as they efficiently divided themselves out. The main force departed before the entirety of the formation condensed. Two thousand griffins soared north. I spotted Lord Nova organizing his troops. We gave each other a salute as the first of my dvaren guards arrived. When the last two griffin groups departed north I focused on my staging area.
“Virtue spin a portal five miles south of the master portal,” I ordered and the black magic seeped from his wrinkled body. “After all the troops have entered the portal here, you are to immediately go to Uhara and open the way for the dvaren there to join the front.”
The gateway was large enough for ten humans wide. The elvath
were ready to go before the entirety of my three hundred heavy dvaren guards arrived. They were a battalion split off of Major Ista’s brigade. I waited as they assembled. They were loud as… well, they were really loud as they clanked while shuffling. Ten minutes later and the staging area was overflowing.
Master Mage Lamont found my side through the chaos. “Good morning my Emperor. What are we walking into?” He asked in concern. I ordered all the mages to wear black robes. The trim of the robes were colored to match the applicable magic the caster had. I wanted it this way for uniformity and to give the enemy less details. “Don’t tell me you are going in blind… Nevermind.”
I chuckled. “Fret not my friend. We will leave some enemies for you to eliminate. Speed is our friend here. After we establish a base camp there are almost a million dvaren that will be moved from Uhara to the front. Are our mages ready?”
“A lot have no battle experience. Most need extra catalysts. All see the need to be here and will fight for our freedom. It looks like your three hundred shock troops are ready. Good luck on the other side.” Lamont said and clasped forearms in departure.
I slammed my greataxe into the ground. The small shockwave silenced the troops.
“We enter that portal and secure a perimeter. That is our goal. If goblins flee or ripe targets run, you do not chase. We need to get nearly a million more troops including siege engines established. You will hurry through this portal. We will push any resistance out of our zone as we cleanse Vin of the Horde. We will have minimal air support. My report is there are a dozen griffins in the area with King Aves, that means we… The ground troops will secure the area. Fight hard, fight well. For the Vin Empire!” I bellowed out and “Cleanse the Horde” chant erupted.
The dvaren commander looked to me and I nodded. They stormed the breach ten abreast. I worked my way in between row three and four. I stepped into the portal with my blood pumping. My soul thirsted for action. I welcomed the blackness.
