by Marcus Sloss
When we approached the portal that was five wide we halted the prisoners and my routine entered the gate to be greeted by the blackness.
CHAPTER 9
When I came out of the blackness I was exactly where I should be outside Castle Riza. I had avoided being pulled into a plane of existence with lounging gods. I was excited by this, even though it seemed odd I should even consider it a thing.
We arrived among the now free elvath who were still in shock. Many were screaming out trying to find family or friends. The whole ordeal left me uncomfortable and I grumbled as I waited for my guards to finish arriving. Once we were set, I pointed into Castle Riza and we parted the nervous elvath. My troops had no issue clearing a path as we walked into the castle. I watched the worried faces studying us while they tried to understand the situation.
Seven hells, I had left before Virtue and Yvette had exited the portal. I saw the portal close and they ran to catch up before the crowds reformed. A massive griffin landed not too far from me, and I had the team detour to visit King Aves.
“We own the harbor now. I named it Ooney Bay. I intended to build a Horde city in that location. It only took a few hundred dead and they accepted my enslavement contract.” I said to the griffin king as I approached. “I plan on moving those Horde who accepted my enslavement here, to Ooney Bay. I am at a loss for what to do with all these remaining Horde troops simply relaxing here waiting for orders that will never come. They will run out of provisions eventually and then drastic things will happen. What were you thinking?”
“Offer them a chance to surrender and if not… I was thinking we burn them. Then freeze the remains in caverns. They can be preserved as food for dire situations. Most of your empire can eat them, and we griffins certainly have no issue eating thawed orc meat.” Barice said for the King while standing on his back. “If they do surrender they will be a burden on your food stores. Although, when I went by the shipbuilding I saw at least another hundred ships needing to be constructed. At the very least feed them rats while they toil to achieve your goals. Or take them to market and sell them for war boar. I ever tell you how much us griffins love war boar? To be honest I am normally very decisive. In this case, I will leave it up to you.”
I chuckled at his question. Everyone knew how much griffins loved war boar. After this rout of our foes, they definitely deserved it.
“War boar is high on my to do list. Anything else I can help you with before I leave? I have a lot to accomplish.” I asked and I saw Barice muttering to King Aves. Probably reminding him of something.
“We are about to launch our attack to clear the wagons from the air. Teach me the slavery contract before we go. We could maybe save these and find ways to use them as slaves for our own purposes.”
I sent him the slavery contract that was bound tightly with no exceptions. I watched him study the magic and then tuck it away. Then he sent it to a random male elv who was on the outskirts of the huddled mass of freed slaves. The idiot elv accepted it. King Aves jumped only slightly from his mistake. I then sent him instructions on how to break the contract as a slave master. Instead, he transferred it to me.
“Everyone we are going to Entria. Virtue summon the portal. Let this single elv through,” I said. “He is obeying my commands.”
A portal was generated and the first half of my guards stepped through. I followed after them.
∞∞∞
The floating city was the same as before, the difference was what we floated over. We were above the ocean and a few ships sailed underneath. The sails were tightly knitted with a pink arrow emblem. I saw elvath handling fishing nets filled with a heavy catch. This made sense as Gravin probably added fish with his god powers. I watched them toil with effort and was jealous.
I noticed the fear of falling through the glass and into the water was nothing compared to floating over the cities. I enjoyed this and smiled. Gravin came flying from the palace as a sparrow and then morphed into an elv to land with a swagger.
He reached my side quickly and embraced me in a hug. This was a first.
“Is this one of them? That crafty Lily. She must have known all along. I am sad she did not trust me by telling me Vin had elvath. Alas, she is already forgiven. Did he come willingly?” Gravin said while pointing at the slave elvath.
I rubbed the back of my neck guiltily. When I shrugged with my hands up, he just said “oh”.
“Glowvia is racing down her to study him. I thought she would mourn Frundzy more than she has. This certainly will lift her spirits. We have bad news though I am afraid. There will be no exchange in seven days for Aroxa. It was determined that you were too much of a threat to the seven to be given that much potential power and currency. Raxrune will be tasked with offering you a million humans instead. They expect you to reject and intend to drop the soul stones harvested from the humans you rejected. They found this proposal hilarious. Maurta is furious though. I expect him to spurn the six and try to deal directly to free his daughter. It was what the others wanted from the beginning.”
He was interrupted by Glowvia as she ran and shrieked. The goddess and a dozen of her elvath surrounded the elv. This was the first time I had seen the male smile. He was engulfed by a lot of lovely ladies bouncing around him suddenly and he did not seem to mind. I certainly enjoyed the view as elvath were the least modest of all the species I had met and the most attractive. Glowvia let the ladies keep studying him while she raced over to me.
“Of all the things. I never expected you to bring a sample so soon. I am afraid I do not have good news.” Glowvia said and Gravin informed her that he gave me some details. I inwardly cringed at her calling this poor dumb elv a sample. Who accepts a slave contract blindly, that idiot is who. “Yes, it looks like you will have your war. We had a meeting after we saw you. Two of us voted to honor your deal for Aroxa. More than two at first until Warg twisted some arms. Eventually, the rest overruled us. Sorry, Gryff. A fleet is being readied to send to secure Vin. A mighty fleet, one so big I was shocked at the numbers. Warg has been preparing for something, I do not think you were its created purpose though. There is only one close system for that fleet to portal to. The question is… Will Maurta open the portal? Warg’s goal is to anger you so intensely that you enrage and end up killing Aroxa.”
I paused her right there.
“I can give her to you to give to Maurta right now,” I said thinking that would solve the issue.
Gravin raised a finger. “Nephew there is things at play that now I am beginning to understand. We want those ships to trickle into that system. Perception is waiting there with a lot of surprises. I think if we were honest with Maurta, he would still side with the other advancing gods over you. He would open a further portal and ruin the trap. If you deal with him, be cordial but keep our secrets. As it is Vin orbits a random star in the void of space. It is a sun, Vin, and a moon. There is one place to send spaceships to and it is forty thousand light years away. The next closest system is sixty thousand years away. How do I know this? Perception dropped it as a random fact last time we meet on Vin. I do not think it was a random fact any longer. I think they had plans within plans that I was left out of because of my relationship with Glowvia.
“Back to this mighty fleet my dear wife mentioned. That is a lot of ships to dedicate for a long journey and then drop troops in the hopes of conquering the portal location. I wish I could guide you in a good answer on how to proceed. I do have one idea though.”
“I am listening.”
“Kill Raxrune. He is on an ogre planet breeding right now. It was where the meeting was.” Gravin said.
“It would expose one of us as a traitor Gravie… We cannot risk it. Raxrune is not worth our lives. Eventually Gryff, and him will cross paths and I am certain Raxrune will die. What I can do is sell some elvath to other breeders to raise some funds. That should help. It will be nothing…” Glowvia said and I stopped that line of thought.
“Get me some bibles, please. Uniq
ue ones. I will sell those, wagons, and whatever else I can. I was intending to fight and claw my way to victory. Not have it handed to me. I will return the bibles when I am done. The last thing I want is for more elvath to slip out of our control and endure slavery so I can additional soul stones. Who started the bible racket anyway?” I asked while scratching at my bearded stubble. I missed Pipi.
Glowvia timidly raised her hand. Gravin flew off to the palace when she nodded to him. There was some undisclosed understanding between them.
“It was all fabricated during the cyclops civil war. It helped keep the collars off of troops and convince those who needed them they were serving a higher purpose. They believed in the divine and it boosted our powers. I wrote the bibles myself. There are a dozen of the very first written copies locked up there. The patience of a goddess is key to a proper edition. I also wanted them revered and made up the nonsense perfection rule. It did wonders for the adoption of the book. Can you copy them here so they don’t leave?”
“Fae and Malasee come to me please,” I said to my brown mages. I was quickly corrected that her name was Maise, not Malasee. Ugh, all the new babes. Did they need names? Could I give them numbers? I chuckled at my own thought.
An attention grabbing throat clear brought me out of my daze. “How may we assist husband?”
“When that eagle returns make me copies of each book. Let us start with a hundred times each. You can handle that without damaging them correctly. They are literally priceless so I must insist on your best work.”
“Maise will observe for this iteration if they are indeed that valuable,” Fae said with concern on her fast. Fae was not a student and I had seen her work wonders with her magic in Fernlan.
I watched Gravin return from the upper floors of the palace with a brown goblin skin sack in his talons. I knew that skin from even this far. When he arrived, he placed the bag on the ground and morphed back to an elv. Awe, I wished he done some fancy landing again. The bibles dictated he keep it simple. There was a part of me wishing I had his morphing powers.
The sack was handed to me and then I handed it to Fae. Fae reached into Maise robes and I raised an eyebrow. Stuffed in the brown mages bust were the catalysts of tree bark and green tree worm blood. Fae laid the books out carefully over the spread out goblin sack. The dozen were laid out in equal spacing and she ensured this with a few adjustments. When she was ready she cast the spell. I watched as a few elvath peeled themselves off the new male they were pestering to project clear aura into Fae.
“I can easily do a few hundred of each with our combined catalysts or is it only a hundred per?” Fae asked as she channeled the spell.
“Make it two hundred. I will be back in a moment Fae. Be careful,” I said and she smirked. I left her side to travel to the elv being questioned. The elvath saw me approach and gave me space as I addressed my slave. “I need you to stay here. You will be treated like a king. I will tell those who eventually come searching for you that you were removed from Vin before I could save you. I do this because this planet needs you far more than Vin does. I would feel bad if you weren’t going to be used as a literal sex tool for a planet of thirty million elvath.”
The elv gulped. I didn’t get his name and I didn’t want it. He looked happy enough. Good for him, good for Entria, and the elvath race.
“Glowvia come here please,” I said as I left the elv. I sent her his contract and she accepted. “I will send more when I can. Let me know how you spin it. I will need a new proficient portal cyclops or three. That way I can move these books around and have them scout out potential locations to raid. Hopefully, it sends a message that I want blood and am willing to go on the offensive for it.”
“I feel that a few cyclops will be inadequate. Also, they are stupidly hard to find as slaves. Let me make it shaman and more than a few. I have a few planets I still manage on the side that are full of ogres. How about I send you some ogres and portal shamans in trade? This will work better for me in the long run. A dozen ogres and a portal shaman for every elv. I should have no problem managing that with time. At that deal, a few of the other seven will even help. I do not get to visit my other planets as much as I once did in my younger years.”
“You sure, I have thousands of these males sitting in a camp right now…” I said as Glowvia clasped my shoulders in shock. “Easy Glowvia, I know you are excited but we are wearing white.”
“Hands off love, he is right… do not get too excited. Gryff, your mage is done with her spells. I am storing the bibles back in the vault.” Gravin said and shifted into a tiny griffin. That was always my favorite.
“I will see what I can do. There was a lot of the other elvath that saw this one leave. I may send those here to cover removing this one. Then there are more I have yet to free. I really think you should find a new planet or something. I don’t know… I got my own problems to sort. I will see what I can send through to Entria. Thanks for the bibles. Bring a portal shaman over here before we leave and get them to get the location to Castle Riza from Virtue. Careful there are griffins guarding the landing pad. Ensure whoever you send is tied to you via a slave contract. Anyone else you send through is likely going to die.”
Glowvia was so excited that I might be sending more elvath she ran. She bolted to the right toward some small buildings for the support staff. A shaman was dragged from his slumber still in a night robe. He touched Virtue’s head then mumbled his way back to bed with a large yawn.
“Help Fae pack up these bibles, we are heading to Castle Riza. I got some hard choices to make.” I said and Virtue created a portal for us. The bibles were piled into a bag and handed to me. I slung them over my shoulder as the team started to leave. The elv we left behind grew confused. I ignored him until it was my turn and stepped back to Entria.
∞∞∞
I exited the portal outside of Castle Riza to a clamoring of demanding elvath. They wanted to know why they did not get to go home also. I smirked at this. I dropped the bibles and raised my hands to quiet them.
“Yvette translate please,” I said as I found a random griffin to stand on the back of. “Indeed your friend has gone home. He is very happy. We had to test that your kind from Vin was able to move across the planet with ease. At first, he could not get through, he had to accept the portal magic contract first.”
Yvette caught on by now and I got some evil side eye. Actually, all the elvath I had rescued were eyeing me with a stare. I ignored this and focused on the Vin elvath. I sent out the slave contract to them all, even the children. Yeah… This was going to upset just about everyone. They all accepted. Virtue and I widened the portal and a few thousand elvath marched willing into Entria. That took care of one problem.
When the last one vanished so did the portal. King Aves watched over the dwindling elvath until they were gone. He had Barice speak. “Do not judge Emperor Gryff. I would have made the same decision. They went to two gods. Two gods who love and cherish the elvath. When they settle in I am sure they will be released from their slave contracts. Deceit is never the optimal way. We did witness thousands of elvath willing leave though.”
It made me feel a little better even though deep down, I still knew it was an asshole thing to do.
“Bring Aroxa here, please. They are not going to pay for her. What is the latest on the caravan?” I asked King Aves.
“She is on her way. The caravan guards have been wiped out. The prisoners we freed are on their way here. They will be set up in the castle in homes that we recently constructed. It will take time for them all to arrive. As far as they know all those that vanished left with the Horde we defeated. What do you intend to do with all these armies still on the field out here?” Barice said for King Aves.
“Become slaves or burn and freeze for food later. Harvest most of the goblins or set a breed farm. Virtue was saying they reproduce fast… And I got a lot of rats to feed them.” I saw Nate approaching with Aroxa. He gave an eye roll at my rat farming mention. “Aro
xa welcome my fellow demigod. Here is my truth contract.”
I said and she accepted. “Why are you sending me this?”
“I have some things to disclose. I was tricked into a meeting with the advancing seven… well, six. Your father was preoccupied.” I said this and the tall troll lady gave me a duh look. “He wants you, the problem is the six want him to to be angry I did not give you up, or be determined to invade this planet and rescue you. Really paints me in a corner. I have no idea what to do with you. I will never barter with the six again after this. They intend to make me a very weak counteroffer and kill humans to harvest souls when I refuse. So I will simply avoid the meeting. You though. What do you want?”
“I want to live. As long as I live my father will not leave his portal studies to make a new offspring. There is that benefit to keeping me alive. You have a known factor with me. I am a book worm and a historian. I can annotate my knowledge into books for you if you keep me alive. As you saw I rarely do combat and it is not my expertise. I was merely following up on my research to find you Gryff when I learned of the elvath here.” Aroxa said and I handed her a replica bible. “This is fantastic. It was as it was written by the creator themselves.”
I chuckled at this. “Okay, King Aves we could use a librarian. At least it is a valid use of her skills. Gravin wanted her to stay alive.” I mentioned.
“Gravin like the retreating four Gravin,” Aroxa asked with a puzzled expression of furled eyebrows.
Virtue walked closer to her and clasped her hands to his. “There are changes in the wind. You will probably survive your father. Stay safe and spread your knowledge.” Virtue said in a friendly tone. “If Gryff allows it I will visit often and we can compare our learnings.”
