by Marcus Sloss
“I can help with the inventory. That kind of work brings me joy, I think you know that though.” I said as we made it into Dais. On the outside of the cavern was a gap between all buildings and the walls. I left it that way for moving goods. It also made a great track for running. “I need to shed a few pounds from the endless sitting in meeting so I was thinking of running until Baldwic shows up. You able to keep up?”
“This is easy, I do enjoy the running in the cavern. After the peace accords, I was forced to run only the palace estate. Running the city was too risky and hard to secure my safety. It is funny, you never travel with guards and yet are more influential than my father.” Addilyn said without huffing. I apparently was not setting a fast enough pace. I stepped it up. “Why I want to learn the bow, you never answered… Will my lord… permit it?”
The woman was a natural. I was using my extended frame to take us into a full run and she was still talking while keeping up. I really had zero reason not to let my stubbornness fade and accept this woman. I slowed to a walk and she tilted her head at my pause. When I went into stretches she joined me.
“Addilyn… you are smart, pretty, and my type of gal. You most certainly can learn self defense and the bow. I will make you a deal. You spend the next month with Velia and Pipi.” I said gaining her full attention. “I don’t love based on noble status. I love my family and want a home that is drama free. Adding more to that may only make things worse. Here is my offer. Fix the rift between my wives and get approval from Velia as well as Pipi. Then I will marry you. Oh… send your sisters home too. Nice girls but let’s be honest, they got nothing compared to you. Here we go again keep up.”
My arm was snatched before I got a few steps. I was not expecting this from her. I was spun to face Addilyn. She leaped into my arms, clasped each cheek of my face with her palms, and planted a hungry kiss to my lips. We locked lips for a few minutes and when I broke it she hugged me. I laughed. The woman was thrilled to be a fourth wife and burdened with endless work. I knew I picked right. When she was set down she skipped into a run. Leaving me behind. Her firm ass in those tight shorts bounding away.
It was at that moment I knew she had been holding back. I sprinted to catch her, but whenever I neared she added more speed. I let her win, I needed to save my aura for training and to be fair. I didn’t like to cheat in a competition. We ran for an hour plus. I got a kiss on the goodbye. Pipi was holding a breakfast plate for me when we finished.
“Morning love, oh you did eggs with runtlet! You’re the best.” I said accepting the food and eating while I stood. Addilyn went off to the bathhouse to change. I noticed Vern in his mother’s shadow. I went to a knee to address him. “Hey little man, what has brought you out of the smithy?”
“Morning Sir, may I watch training today?” Vern timidly asked in a whispered tone. It was an improvement. Things had been beyond hard on him, but he was finally coming around.
“I will get permission, but you must stay with your momma while you watch on the wall. No funny business.” I said and he nodded in understanding.
“Thanks Gryff, I saw Addilyn grinning fiercely when she left. Something happen?” Pipi said with a smile. She was awesome, nothing really got her down. Always the optimist and genuine person. I swallowed the bits of food and slid her into my chest. Her hazel eye bore into mine.
“I love you Pipi. Fate fights my stubbornness to no end. I gave Addilyn a deal, she must bond with you and Velia. Then remove her sisters, and after a month we will marry. Let me know how it goes… And Pipi be honest with me about it. I want to fix the rifts. I know you never complain and are the most stunning, dutiful wife a man could ask for. With that said, I value your opinion. If she is not a fit for our family I will not marry her. I want to go to Streb after training and see what trouble I can get into. If I don’t bump into Velia you are to update her.”
Pipi never looked away or showed remorse at my decision. She truly loved me. A soft kiss landed on my lips. “As my lord commands.” She said and left my embrace to grab Vern’s hands. “We will be watching from the training ground’s wall.”
I waved to them as they left then picked up my plate to finish it clean. I tried to keep breakfast a light meal and my stomach was always angry with me for that. It was my only real option though. Training was rigorous and exhausting. If I ate too much I would throw it up. Baldwic was not a man who cared if you overate. Excuses for lighter or easier training simply were not an option.
Training had started with the basics an individual foot soldier needed to know. Techniques for sword and shield had been the focus the entire time. There we no other weapons allowed on the field. I mentioned my greataxe once and it rejected soundly. The rational precise. We had to fight as a unit. No more random heroics, which was why we trained together for hours in the morning. We went over stances and balance at the beginning of every training session and today was no different. Stand on a log with one leg for five minutes while Baldwic would meander through the students with a stick. Fast slashes were countered with wooden short sword, shield, and on occasion completely dodged. If you did not manage to evade the painful stick it would mean a visit to the healer later. This section of the training was painful but required lots of focus. The class consisted of thirty mercenaries, mages, and villagers wanting the experience. I used the five minutes of balance to reflect on my combat changes.
The two teams of Nate and Una had shifted into one. The main team always had a few backups ready to go but for the main part, the roster was locked in. The dozen consisted of me, Nate, Lazra, Brad, Brad, Donnie, and Markus. We were the melee fighters. The mages consisted of Fwar was our healer, Victor our fire mage, Tammy our air mage, Winst our earth mage, and Janice our water mage. When we called out across the Empire for students and teachers to join our new academy the response was massive. It had to be explained to me then. Mages generally were more financially stable than regular humans. They also were more desired. As humanity retreated during the losing war into the sectioned off safe zones. It was evident that mages escaped death at a higher rate. Hence every city having more mages than ever before. Which changed a lot of factors for our species on Vin as a whole. The end result for me in Fernlan was our secondary mages academy to Deltan was a major success. I decided to immediately fill a mage for each slot into my rotation, and combat healers were finally here. There were a few I wanted to take on that waited in backup now. The issue was Fwar was recommended by King Horus and he stressed I utilize the man in my team. I acquiesced his request and now had a complete team.
We swapped to shield wall formation next. It consisted of Baldwic screaming at us to move as one. Every command he gave was standard English to start, eventually, we would swap to code words. The basics were the focus for now. The entire time he yelled he poked holes into our formation. If he saw an opening he would slam into the wall to break it. You may think standing in a line holding up a shield easy work, but it was not. Especially when we had to turn, split, or turtle. Repetition was the key. The mages complained a lot less than I thought they would. I was expecting them to be more about standing in the back and letting us protect them. Then again my battles were taught now in nightly lessons among many others from Horde experience. It made sense for them to not be like a troll. If closed in on they could kill with a lethality still. It made me proud of them and the entire team.
As one we shifted formations for a half hour, we were constantly on the move. Next was advance and retreat with timed thrusts. The goal was simple. Move the formation while inflicting damage. All my fights so far had been melee scrums minus the cavalry charge. Even that wasn’t a proper formation. It exposed how much luck, strength, and raw talent had gone into our victories. I mention raw talent because my hand eye combined with my purple aura made me near impossible to defeat even with training. After formations, we shifted to one vs one sparring matches in two rows. It normally was a lot of wood smacking shield. Baldwic always teamed up against me.
Today
was no different than any other training session, he was going to come at me with a fierceness. I had no problem timing his moves and blocking his attacks. I also had no luck in landing blows on him. We would dance in our limited space desperate to get through the others guard. This was the only thing I was ever given praise for. Baldwic would mutter if he was still young he would be fast enough, but the man was viper quick.
It did highlight my consumption of purple aura. I went from not realizing I had super strength, dexterity, and speed to understanding the basics of it. It really was only the tiniest bit that I understood. The concept of pulling from my inner circle came from Krix explaining how to throw a fireball on that plateau in Malvia. For me, I would find my center and shift my aura. I was limited to what I could do without natural instincts. Most of my purple aura was still burned by reacting without calling on my magic. To say this flustered Baldwic would be an understatement, but I was working on mastering my power as much as he was trying to smash me with a stick.
The end of the practice was a single lap around Dais. I was halfway through my lap completely lost in thought about going to Streb today when the ambush was launched into an attack.
The trio of terror leaped to trip me up. Lance went for my legs, Sunny for my body, and Pearl for where I would have to dodge to. I was jolted to the ground in a tumble. Within moments I was pounced on.
“Food!” “Food!” “Food!” “Food!” “Food!” “Food!” The raining demands continued.
And so it went for the next five minutes. I left my lap to finish itself and raced for the base of Zenith. There was a supply of salted fish and Horde meat I was desperate to reach. As I got close I saw Lirkon and Lydia pretending they were studying a very interesting wall. They had stopped apologizing days ago, mainly because there was no point. The children were not pets, they were tiny griffins and there would be no tying them down.
When I slowed to jimmy the bar off the storage door… That yes was there because the crafty toddlers figured out how to open the door… the three piled up behind me. This was when the insistent nagging slowed and then died off in silence. I exhaled a phew sound as I reached into the door that was barely pried open. The storage room was decreasing in supplies and not that was not good. I snatched one fish out for each of the trio.
“Wait...” I commanded. I had to be careful here. On one hand, I needed to be in charge while on the other momma and daddy did not want their children treated similarly as a pet wolf. I tossed the fish at Lydia and Larkin's feet and bolted. I raced for the showers in the market district. Hopeful the three needling babies were not my problem now.
A quick shower later under warm water felt so good. I cleaned off the sweat from earlier and went to a storage container I had claimed. A fresh set of clothes waited for me. That was one bonus of time proceeding here in Fernlan. I had gone over flushing toilets, but the mages said there was no need with the way the toilet house was arranged. It was nightly flushed clean and the smell never got too bad with the current system. I went and did my morning bowel and left the bath and toilet house feeling great.
I was constantly on the lookout for the damn triplets when I made it safely to the communal dining hall we had designated for group eating. The building was a few hundred feet deep and a hundred feet wide. Large table rows were lined up to allow lots of seating. There was no special table for me or an elevated platform for me to eat on. I went into a line like everyone else, got a plate of smelon, rice, fish, and an apple for lunch. It looked delicious and I would probably be getting seconds. And by getting seconds I meant definitely as a cook always delivered a second tray to me. That was about as special as I got in this place. I got a second meal like clockwork.
The tables were a mixture of full and empty with people congregating based on a few things. My team of twelve was seated already with eight present. I set my tray on the table and plopped down beside Nate.
“We saw the triplets nail you again. Those griffins are scary even when they are so tiny.” Nate said this between a few bites. “Tammy was mentioning you may be finally adding a fourth wife.”
Seven hells, of course, it would get around fast. I looked over at the blonde woman who had molded into our team smoothly. She had a hard working demeanor and I never found much to criticize her on. Until now, but no I was not actually upset.
“Addilyn is a great catch. I think it is silly widows are looked down upon. They are all women, it was archaic to lose your virginity to your husband on my homeworld… Why are we talking about my love life? I heard you were interested in a certain healer I have in my employ. See, who is blushing now,” I chuckled.
“Jak is young, and soon to be married. There is a desire there for me though. Enough talk of love…” Tammy said with a waving of her finger. “Now that King Horus is gone… tell me we will finally get to fight. I heard healer Fwar is here and from what I know of you, we will be launching an offensive soon.”
“Today. In fact, as soon as this meal is completed inform the rest of the team we are headed for Streb. When I go to gear up I will have a scout sent in advance. Pack light but sufficiently. Standard battle gear.” I said between shovels of food into my mouth. My second plate arrived just in time. Perfect. “Even if nothing presents itself to kill we will go harvest some past ripe melons.”
“Cart?” Nate asked and I nodded while I ate.
“Maybe some baskets for the cart if that is our primary, can always leave them at Streb if scouts find something.” Donnie gave a decent input.
“Anyone got anything else besides standard gear?” I asked and we tossed around some idea but wound up settling on a four wheeled cart and baskets. I volunteered to be the mule for the way home. Streb was lacking most things including mules or horses.
I had yet to visit the outpost ever, only flown over it. My reports from the clearing crews that Duke Riza sent was that it was a lot like Xiq right now. A clean slate waiting for winter. I did know he shifted half the wolf population up there for release. How many remained or what they were up to now was an unknown. I did know that to the east of Streb that massive caravan still poured south even three weeks later. My last report was the slow goblins with supplies were forgotten in the back. It got my hopes up for fight and supply snatch.
We finished eating and I went up to the Inn. Bella, Velia, Pipi, and Addilyn were in my room when I entered. My combat armor was laid out ready to be equipped. My short sword and shield cleaned without gleam. Dual crossbows hung from my hips and my small javelins were set out. My backpack stuffed to the brim. It looks like my ladies knew I was off to war and were helping me with a primary issue I had. A lack of proper equipment and planning. Velia stepped forward with armored pants.
“We want you to inspect it all before you go. Addilyn sent her sisters away this morning while you were training. Long ago I knew our family would grow and we approve.” Velia paused her speech as poor Bella reached for a bucket and heaved. It was gross and the small room instantly stank. I proceeded to dress while she continued. “It will alter the dynamic of the family. I was wondering if I could manage Streb while Addilyn continues to administer Fernlan and Dais with Bella. The work here has been going so smoothly that I find myself in the fields instead of the books. I am sure that will change when our bellies swell and young ones begin racing around. For now though, I would like to turn Streb into a bison farm.”
I went to interrupt when I Bella gave me a head shake from above her bucket. I needed to listen. The display was clear and I kept my mouth shut as I inspected the backpack. Daggers, a hand saw a torch, rope, thinner string, a small shovel, preserved food, flint, water, and more.
“My plan is to buy calves from around the Empire. Not many for sale right now but there are enough to start a small herd which is the most that can sustain Streb anyway. There is an excess of males for sale at this age as they take more fed to mature and don’t produce milk. We buy an equal number and let them eat the rye. I did some research on grass. Rye is our best grass fo
r the current season and I suggest you utilize it this winter in all three of your villages my lord. We normally fallow the fields here in Fernlan for winter but we have an excess of manure at our disposal with the griffins. Calia mentioned they were already fertilizing the fields since the harvest came in.” Velia said with a pause as she saw me recognize what that smell was earlier. “Yes, very gross work. I would give Calia a raise if we were flush with money. I spent some of our money on a few large sacks of the seed. It was not terribly expensive and we will grow the grass to a height of seeding hopefully. That is the plan anyway, to become an exporter of the seeds and utilize the stalks for feed. Which we are well off but not spilling excess coin. I will let Bella get into finances after my plan comes to completion.
“Grow rye in the winter, it will do best in a bad situation. This far south we will get three to four months of solid snow so it will still be a hard winter. If we strategically place lava stones we can keep the snow off though. It will be a learning winter for sure. The King said you had access to two other combat teams. Every day you go out I suggest sending them out on the outskirts of the other villages. Fell trees for more mushroom planks, and the underbrush for nests or bison feed. Keep pushing back the wild lands around Fernlan, Xiq, and Streb. You should wall all your villages to prevent any children from throwing rocks at potential foes and to keep your livestock from roaming.”
It was at this point I was able to slow her down. I knew this was probably weeks of planning being laid at me in one go. I was proud of my wives all the ideas were solid. I grabbed my upper armor piece from her and slid it over my head with arms up.
Velia checked on Bella who was still struggling over her bucket and then continued. “We can add your rats to all three villages. I had to admit it, but when I was starving I ate a rat. We all did. I told the girls already to avoid the gasp of shock. The reality is starvation brings out a different form of human, boy or girl, man or woman. I ate rat and it was filling and I slept well that night and every night after knowing I did so to survive. So that is the summary of my plan. Ryegrass in every field we can, planted before the snows. Then utilize three teams to increase wood, brush, and grass harvesting. Finally to turn Streb into a bison farm with calves. The primary focus is to grow them to breeding age. Then milk and food. Worst case we are buying an emergency surplus of protein. Bella is going to take over…”
