by Noah Layton
‘We’ll see,’ I smiled.
‘You certainly seem to be taking on a greater sense of surety with your actions, Master Jack.’
‘We can’t afford to let morals get in the way of keeping our people safe any longer. We must maintain them, but no more mercy with our enemies. No grey areas.’ I sheathed the sword. ‘Come on, man, let’s get back to the land. I’m starving.’
‘You read my mind, Master Jack.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
The sun set upon our newly claimed land as the day of the battle came to a close. In the storage buildings neatly arranged behind the tree at the center of the land we found an abundance of food stores securely locked-up.
The storage slots were awash with stacks of taurem steaks and beef, bacon, chicken, vegetables of all types and plentiful stores of milk and water.
In addition to it all, locked up in their own chest that was tucked out of the way of the others, was a huge store of hundreds of bottles of wine and varieties of mead.
My own collection of liquor consisted of the remains of the Old Molly that were sat in storage back at the land, but I didn’t look at what we had found now and feel the need to hoard it.
This was to be enjoyed by the heroes of this battle.
I took a few bottles of wine and mead from Garrison’s stores and deposited them into my inventory, intending to add a few to my collection and save some for the people back at my main land.
Once that task was completed, I sent a small team of warriors back to the main land to keep a watchful eye over things alongside their brethren, and to ensure that news of our success was delivered.
They were my people, and I cared for them – they would all be waiting with bated breath to hear of the result of the battle.
Now that the land was cleared of the wreckage of war, we could finally celebrate.
The hundreds of people – the sun-elves, the warriors, my closest companions, the freed slaves – joined together in a firelit evening celebration in which we indulged in the spoils of our enemy’s defeat.
Food was fried and grilled in butter over huge firepits, the intoxicating smells of fat and seasoned meats and vegetables filling the land.
The wines and the meads were popped open, and glugs of rich liquor spilled from glass bottle heads in heady abundance, filling cups until they spilled.
This wasn’t a time for more speeches. I had no intention of standing on the steps of the treehouse again and raising a toast. I had done enough of that, and the people had heard from me what they needed to hear.
This night was about them, and among the people a million toasts were raised; to freedom, to victory, to prosperity, to winning and success, to ‘this bloody magnificent salted pork’ as I heard the dwarves say, or ‘this spectacular red wine’ as the slightly more cultured fox-people said.
I heard hundreds of them followed by cups of wine and mead knocking together as I moved through the crowd. Eyes of both my enemies and my allies had been upon me all day, and right now I wanted nothing more than to become an unseen ghost, enjoying the festivities and celebrations while tucking into the finest seasoned taurem steak that I had tasted yet, alongside an over-filled flagon of mead.
The spoils of war didn’t need to be luxurious. Not yet, at least – I ate and drank what I enjoyed.
I had managed to find a little time to relax since discovering the haul of riches that resided beneath my very feet as I walked the land, but hadn’t seen the girls for hours ever since they had taken off to explore.
There were many beautiful women that I laid eyes upon in the crowd, but as I saw the one that stood out among them all, she looked at me in the exact same instant – Mariana.
She stood tall, just a few inches shorter than myself, wearing a delicate and hand-made floral dress embossed with red and gold, the colors of her tribe. While the fabric covering her arms fell loosely, the rest of the outfit held to her tall, slender figure, gripping her toned stomach, her pert behind and her perky breasts.
Her golden hair fell in smooth, subtle curls over her shoulders. As she shook it out a little, she glanced up at me with beautiful, startling eyes and gave me a look that many men would kill to be on the receiving end of.
But there was more to that look. It was easy to fall victim to if you were the one it was directed at, but to fake it?
Not many people could do that.
But Master Mariana wasn’t many people.
She was surrounded by her people, both admiring female companions and an array of sun-elf suitors who were all vying for her attention.
After she had taken control of the sun-elves of Morelia in the wake of her father’s death, Mariana had once told me that she didn’t know whether she would take a man as her partner.
It worked the same way for female tribe masters. They could take many husbands, and God knew there plenty of men lining up to submit to her every wish, to do as she said on the battlefield and in the bedroom.
Right now they were practically queuing just to get a chance to be in her presence.
But as she looked between the allies and advisors of her own tribe, her look was filled with strained pleasantries and efforts to stop her own smile from looking too vacant.
Right up until she looked at me.
An electric look filled her eyes immediately. She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling with repressed desire.
There might have been plenty of suitable and competitive sun-elf warriors in her midst, fearsome and handsome soldiers who had fought in the name of their tribe and who many women would be glad to have.
But they all wanted her.
Problem was, right now she only had eyes for me.
I knew better than to think with my dick, though. Back in the caves during the meeting between us as masters she had shown herself to be more manipulative than I could possibly imagine. She knew how to wield her power, and she knew how to use it to her advantage.
Power games. I had never been surer of anything in my life.
We had braved a dangerous battle together, our forces fighting side by side as allies and crushing our enemy.
But we were still two different tribes, and she knew it.
I held my gaze with her for several seconds that seemed to extend endlessly. No way was I going to smile or drop my gaze. I wouldn’t relent,
She knew that I wanted her, but having her came at a price. I could easily fall prey to her beauty, and in turn her power.
The two were intertwined. I had zero doubt that she would always use one to compliment the other.
Mariana raised her hand gracefully and beckoned me towards her with a come-hither motion, a delicate finger drawing me to her.
She wanted me to come to her.
I might have been alone and she might have been surrounded by no fewer than a dozen companions, but I didn’t care.
There was no way that I was budging.
I gazed back at her, allowing a small, calculated smile to rise to the edge of my lips.
Other than that, I didn’t move a muscle.
The beckoning call of Mariana’s finger suddenly drew to a halt in mid-air. Her hand fell to her side.
Your move, Princess.
A knowing look crossed Mariana’s face, barely even a smile. She stepped forward, her suitors moving aside in bewildered confusion.
When they saw that she was moving towards yours truly, all of them gladly followed.
‘I didn’t expect to find you alone, Master Jack,’ the beautiful sun-elf leader began. ‘This is, after all, your celebration.’
‘This is everybody’s celebration, Master Mariana,’ I replied. ‘And I thank you for your bravery.’
‘Don’t thank me. It’s me who should be thanking you. If it weren’t for the efforts of your brave men and women, I don’t know if we would have won this battle.’
Mariana’s suitors arrived in their droves. If there were a dozen before, that number tripled upon the two
of us coming together.
If paparazzi existed in Agraria, they would be swarming us right now.
It was no mystery why we were suddenly so popular; both allied tribal leaders in conversation, stood only a few feet from each other.
The handsome, chivalrous male sun-elves that crowded at Mariana’s sides took on confused expressions as they met me.
On the one hand they looked aggressive, like they wanted to size me up and start attesting to their achievements and intellect and strength.
That quickly vanished when I took a drink of wine from my goblet with my right hand, and placed my left hand casually on the handle of the agrarium sword at my waist.
That simple, cautious motion flooded their minds with a reminder; this is the leader of the Orakin Tribe, the one who wields the sword, who led us to victory and vanquished the tyrannical Garrison and the demon possessing him.
The sun-elves were good people, but I knew from the first moment after meeting them that that they were also prideful people.
I had seen the same look in the eyes of countless men in countless bars back on Earth when they faced off with another guy over a beautiful woman.
But the sun-elves knew better than to turn this into a dick-measuring contest. Still, I received a considerable number of stony looks and ambiguous faces.
No handshakes, I thought. That’s all right, gentlemen. I was willing to do it just as a sign of respect between two men, but if that’s the way you want to play it, the next time we shake hands you’ll be joining my tribe.
Needless to say, they were licking their wounds before a fight had even started.
‘We must make plans for the future when the time comes. This is no time to rest on our successes. Other forces will become aware of our achievements soon and may wish to take them from us.’
‘When is that not the case in this world?’ I smiled knowingly. ‘We will indeed make plans to secure the safety of our tribes going into the future.’
‘Not just the safety, but the unity,’ Mariana smiled back. ‘We are developing what you would call a… Relationship, as tribes, would you not?’
‘A special relationship.’
‘A special relationship,’ Mariana repeated. ‘I like that.’
Behind closed doors we might have been able to speak to each other a little more frankly, but not in front of the citizens.
‘I must confess,’ she continued, ‘I would have thought that you would be surrounded by your people on such an occasion as this. It seems that I have you a tad outnumbered.’
‘He’s not outnumbered.’
A familiar voice broke through the humdrum of voices, silencing them with confident but steady command.
I turned to see Lara moving towards me. Often I could find them nearby on my own land, but this was a newly-claimed location, and I hadn’t seen them since they had taken off to explore the surrounding area way earlier in the day.
They looked much different to how they had looked in the aftermath of the battle.
All of them were dressed in their most decadent garments – namely the silken gowns that the sun-elves had provided them with as a gift at the end of our adventure several weeks ago.
Talia was the only one who wasn’t wearing one, but she looked stunning in the dress that she had brought with her from her old tribe, the very same she had worn the first night that she and I had been together.
Every pair of eyes nearby was on them, both men and women. I didn’t blame a soul. They looked incredible.
Lara, the most independent of my wives, led the group. Ariadne and Elera walked closed behind to her left, while Santana and Talia followed behind on Lara’s right.
They were practically walking in a flight formation, as if it had all been rehearsed.
It was like I was falling in love with every single one of them for the first time again, all at once.
‘We were wondering if we might borrow our husband,’ Lara said smoothly, enunciating with her most proper voice. ‘We have a few matters to discuss and a few people that we would like him to meet.’
Mariana smiled, protecting her pride perfectly. ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ she replied. ‘We will have plenty of time to discuss our future endeavors. This is a night for celebration, after all.’
I returned to the leader of the sun-elves.
‘Master Mariana.’
‘Master Jack.’
We shook hands in front of the admiring crowds all around. I gave her a firm, confident look in the eyes before turning away with my wives in tow, their arms linked gently into my own.
‘Excellent timing,’ I whispered to them once we were out of earshot of any prying sun-elves. ‘Who is it that you want me to meet?’
‘Oh, no one,’ Elera replied.
‘We just wanted to drag you away,’ Santana said, snuggling into my side.
‘Then your timing really was excellent,’ I said. ‘Scarcity breeds admiration. If I make myself too available to the sun-elves they might start to think that I can be placed under their collective thumb.’
‘Definitely not the case,’ Ariadne commented. ‘Our husband can hold his own in a war of words.’
‘Things seem to be becoming increasingly political,’ Talia added. ‘My family had to suffer such things every day in my old tribe.’
‘Politics always comes into play when you’re in charge,’ I replied. ‘And when you have as much power as we now have, more and more people are going to want to take it from us. God, I wish we could get out of here so I could get my head straight.’
‘Well,’ Lara interrupted, ‘we may have just the thing.’
‘You do?’
‘Where do you think we have been all day?’ She asked, tracing a finger over my cheek. ‘We have been investigating the surrounding land, as you asked.’
‘And you found something?’
‘Indeed we did,’ Ariadne added. ‘Nothing dangerous. Just somewhere nearby that we can escape to.’
‘The drinks are flowing,’ I said, glancing around at the hundreds celebrating our victory. ‘In an hour nobody will notice that we’ve headed out. Give me a minute.’
I found Alorion entertaining a large group of drunken sun-elves, centaurs and warriors in the shade of the tree at the center of the land.
‘T’was a fearsome time!’ He sang, as Juliet played a chord on her lute right behind him, ‘when the land was awash with vicious beasts, charming maidens and berserk warriors- Master Jack!’
Alorion cast his hand to the side, spilling a splash of the unmistakable green liquor in the goblet he was holding – Corinthian’s, his beverage of choice.
On any other occasion I should have hidden the damned stuff the moment I found it.
But right now it acted to our advantage.
‘Hey, buddy,’ I said, slapping him on the shoulder, ‘Can I borrow you for a minute?’
‘But I was in the midst of telling a fine tale with our talented bard, master!’
He wasn’t disobeying me – he was genuinely excited about entertaining our guests.
An imp of all trades.
‘Take him,’ Juliet winked, ‘I can hold the reins for a few minutes, just bring him back in one piece.’
Thanks, I mouthed to her, leading him away from the crowd.
‘Right here, man,’ I said, snapping my fingers in front of his face the moment we were hidden behind the tree.
‘I am-’ a quick belch ‘- in the moment, Master Jack. What can I do for you?’
‘Me and the girls are going to check something out beyond the borders. Just something that might be valuable. I need you to keep our guests occupied.’
‘Of course, Master Jack, of course!’
‘Thanks, man. And not a word about the stash we found, okay? It’s right beneath us, and we don’t need anyone finding it.’
‘Not a word,’ he saluted.
‘You’re doing great, bud. Keep them entertained.’
‘It is the least an imp can do for his ma
ster’s guests,’ he announced in the most faux-proper voice he could manage while on the verge of being blackout drunk. He bowed to me and returned to Juliet and the crowd. ‘Now, where was I?’ He shouted. ‘Ah, yes- ‘neath the leaves and twigs of yore, a roar of wonder grew…’
I had to give it to Alorion – he could carry a tune, and Juliet could play a mean lute.
They were so good that within seconds half of the crowd was distracted completely, and the other half was engaged in riotous conversation as they chugged back their mead and wine and tucked into the abundant meats and vegetables.
The perfect escape.
I met up with my wives by the northern forest, the scene bathed in moonlight.
‘So what did you find?’ I asked.
‘Something peculiar,’ Santana responded. ‘Up ahead a few hundred yards there is an incline that forms a small hill. The plateau levels at the peak of the trees.
‘And I’m guessing you found something on the plateau?’
‘Perhaps,’ Elera smiled.
‘So you’re not going to tell me?’ I said.
‘It’s a surprise,’ Lara winked. ‘Come on.’
The girls pulled on their coats against the diminishing cold, and we started along the trail.
We moved through slushed snow into the wet dirt, and as the ascent began I started to worry whether we would be able to manage such a steep incline in these conditions.
Seconds before I wanted to ask about my wives’ plan, the sounds of our boots against the ground went from sloshing mud and snow to a more solid symphony of claps on stone.
Bringing up the rear, I couldn’t see the path ahead. As I followed Talia at the back, I found our course suddenly directing left.
We were now ascending a stone path that scaled the hill in parallel to its incline, reducing the steepness to something barely noticeable.
We ascended the levels of the hill, rising over the treetops to see the bustling celebrations in the land below, until a structure close to the top of the hill came into view.
We reached a manmade platform on the hillside where we drew to a stop. It was just large enough for us to spread out, and too large and level to not be natural.
