by Noah Layton
‘What kind of stories?’ Santana asked, setting her book aside and sitting up.
‘Any kind of story you wanted. Every story you can possibly think of. Adventures, love stories, tales about monsters and fights and struggles. If you wanted to hear a story about something, you could have it.’
‘That sounds amazing.’
‘It would be, but most people in my world grew up with it. They saw it every day, so it wasn’t so strange to them. It’s only after I came here that I realized what it was like without all of that stuff.’
‘Do you miss it?’ Elera asked from the floor.
‘No, actually,’ I smiled. ‘I don’t miss any of it. I have you girls now, but that’s not the only reason. We had all those stories back in my world, sure, but people paid more attention to those moving pictures than they did to actual people. They paid less attention to the old ways of telling stories, like actually talking to each other.
‘You know what? Let’s call things off for today and eat together tonight. We’ve got new tribal members and plenty of food.’
‘I thought we were saving food for the cold season coming up?’ Ariadne asked.
‘We are, but one banquet isn’t going to hurt us, and we’re growing more crops and raising more livestock than ever now. The satyrs have been through hell, and they deserve to relax and have a good meal and be entertained. Let’s get our work finished and have a fun night.’
‘Right after we’ve napped?’ Ariadne said, pouting over at me from the bathtub.
‘Right after we’ve napped,’ I repeated, sinking my head into the pillow and getting some proper rest for the first time in a few days.
***
We dozed for most of the afternoon in the calm peace of the treehouse. When I finally awoke my home was empty, save for Elera, who was lounging in the bathtub.
‘I thought you would never wake up,’ Elera smiled. ‘You need a bath before the meal tonight, Tall-Man.’
‘You don’t need to tell me twice,’ I said, stretching my arms out and standing from the bed. ‘I’ll go get some more water from the well.’
‘You can use this water. I’m clean, I promise. This is my third bath today.’
‘Your third?’ I laughed in disbelief. ‘So this is what you do all day when I’m away on jobs, is it?’
‘And catch fish for the tribe at the hidden cave. Believe me, you would not like it if I unloaded my inventory onto the floor.’
‘I’d prefer it if you put it in the storage building.’
‘Later, after my bath.’
‘I thought you were getting out.’
‘I thought you were getting in.’
‘Is there room for me in there?’
‘There is if you would like there to be, Tall-Man.’
Elera licked her lips, her perfect white teeth biting into her lower lip as she eyed my naked muscular body up and down.
I crossed to her, feeling myself getting harder before I even reached her. There was no bubble bath in Agraria and this time it meant clear water, and through it I could see Elera’s slender body arching in the water, one hand tightly gripping the tub’s edge, the other between her legs as she touched herself lightly, readying herself for me.
I stood into the tub, seating myself on the opposite end to Elera. My nymph sat up in the tub smoothly, leaning forward into a crawl as her arms and legs moved through the water. I marvelled at the sight of her blue body slipping above the surface of the water and droplets raced over her skin, her back arched as she pushed her tight, round ass into the air.
She moved towards me gracefully, lowering herself atop me and pushing her naked breasts to my chest as her lips pressed to mine and we kissed passionately.
I raised my hands to her sides, running them down her body and caressing her tight, round ass as I felt myself getting hard.
Elera buried her face into my neck, kissing my skin with her wet lips before descending over my body, licking and nibbling at my toned chest and abs.
She looked up at me with a devilish smiled before her head dipped beneath the water. I could only see her blurred, blue form beneath the surface, but I felt her hands wrap around my cock and the unbelievable sensation of her lips as they wrapped around the head of my cock beneath the water.
‘Fuck…’
Elera’s ability to breath underwater had been damn useful when mapping out the rivers, but I had never considered this as a possible use.
I relaxed in the bathtub as she pleasured me, not having to worry about her coming up for air; she stayed down there for as long as she wanted, taking my cock into her mouth deeper and deeper beneath the water.
She pulled herself up from the water and stood up, positioning herself over my body before squatting down slowly and descending. I guided my cock into her tight pussy, filling her up steadily as she clasped her hands down on my muscular shoulders and clenched her nails into my skin.
‘Wow…’ She moaned, her body shivering as I filled her up completely. My nymph remained squatting over me as I placed my hands on her hips, sinking her body down and rising up before filling herself up with my dick again.
Elera was so hungry for me that I could have just laid there as she rode my cock. She pressed herself forwards to me, kissing me hard and moaning before pressing her forehead to mine and looking down between her legs.
At the peak of each thrust her hips pulled completely from the water before sinking back beneath the surface, taking every inch of throbbing length. We both watched our waists as we fucked each other, thrusting our hips in time as we pleasured each other’s bodies.
‘Yes… Yes…’
I ran my hands to her ass and slapped her behind lightly, releasing a shriek of approval from my nymph as I groaned with pleasure.
Overwhelmed by lust, I wrapped my arms around her body and pulled her to me, standing strongly in the bathtub so that just my feet were submerged. Elera wrapped her legs around my body, pulling me into her as I held her round, tight ass in my hands and fucked her harder and harder.
‘Oh, gods…!’
Her walls clamped down hard around my shaft as she came against my cock, her body shaking in my arms. The tightness of her pussy as I fucked her pushed me to my limits, and I came hard inside of her as I held her body to me, my cock plunged into her completely.
It was damn hard to keep myself on my feet from the overwhelmingly perfect sensation of my orgasm.
‘Gods…’ She moaned, her perky breasts rising and falling with each panting breath. I pulled out of her as she groaned, feeling my seed leak between her legs.
‘You’re amazing…’ I breathed, clenching my eyes shut and opening them wide to keep my head level.
‘Now you definitely need to wash down,’ she replied. ‘Not for my sake but for everybody else.’
‘How about you help me with that?’
‘I thought you’d never ask.’
I climbed into the tub and relaxed as Elera washed me down until my body was clean, and I indulged in every second of it, feeling my spent body replenish itself at my wife’s touch.
That was what I loved about Agraria; I took care of my wives and protected them, and they made me feel like a king.
Hell, maybe that would be reality one day.
After changing into a fresh set of clothes I dispatched my wives about the land to bring our entire population to the patch of land between Tormus and Eri’s house and the new buildings that Tobias and the satyrs had built.
In the last few hours they had already built them up and were now finishing off the farming of crops and the planting of the new seeds in the north-western section where we were expanding the quantity of food growth.
Within an hour the sun had begun to creep towards the horizon, casting a pleasant orange light over my land. My people gathered together on the unoccupied patch like suburban neighbours at a barbecue.
Everyone came together; the fox-people, the satyrs, Cass, Aden, Oden, Talia, Tormus and Eri, Tobias, Juliet th
e bard, Alorion and my four wives. We totalled 28 now including Jeremiah and Lola, and assuming that tomorrow’s rescue mission went to plan, that number would soar much higher.
We were a ragtag group, but I liked it that way. Being master meant that I had to bring people together, and fortunately I knew the best way to do that; food.
With night falling we lit torches around the patch of land where the tribe met, and at the centre of it all were three huge pans suspended on logs over a large fired walled in by stones.
A banquet of epic proportions cooked within; bacon, eggs, taurem steaks, pan-fried fish, carrots, tomatoes and fresh corn on the cob soaked in butter. The smoke wouldn’t be seen with darkness falling, but the smell would no doubt attract the creatures from the forest.
Fortunately there was a gigantic fence covered in spiked logs blocking the approach of anything nefarious.
To my surprise, our bard’s musicality was pretty damn good. His playing lifted the spirits of everybody, and my people took to him so much that after the pans had been scraped clean of food, everybody seated themselves in the grass like an audience at a theatre.
We sat around Juliet in a semi-circle, I at the back with Santana and Lara on one side of me, and Elera and Ariadne on the other.
Back in college the idea of my old crush snuggling up to me by a fire at a beachside party would be have been nothing but a dream. Don’t get me wrong, telling girls at bars that you were a test pilot wasn’t exactly a turn-off come my time in the service, but if I had told past me that he would be married to four of the most beautiful women he had ever seen come the time he was 27, he would have told me to fuck off.
Juliet finished her first song and bowed deeply, batting her hand at us with a charmed smile as the whole of the tribe burst into applause.
‘Thank you, thank you,’ she called out. ‘Can I take any requests?’
‘The Dragon’s Love,’ Eri replied loudly. ‘Do you know it?’
‘Do I know it?’ Juliet scoffed. ‘Dear lady, I have played that song for tavern’s across Agraria… Now how does it go again?’
Laughs left half the tribe, and the bard batted her hand loosely once more.
‘I jest, I jest,’ she shouted, ‘of course I know it.’
And she did – it was all a part of the act. As I looked around I realized that it wasn’t just about her lute and her voice. It was about the actual act of entertaining, of talking to her audience, and that was what made the bard so great. My people were enthralled by her.
‘You say you bought this woman for 40 gold pieces?’ Santana asked me, brushing her red hair aside and looking up at me.
‘Yep. I kind of just wanted to save her life.’
‘Bard’s are hard to come by, so it is something of a shock that you acquired her for this price.’
‘I think the goblins just wanted to get rid of her. She might be a great singer, but she’s a pain in the ass without the lute in her hand. That being said, everyone seems to like her. I think that we can make an exception, huh?’
‘I think so too.’
The bard’s set continued into the early night as we talked and laughed and sang along. Halfway through, Tormus and Eri took off and returned with canteens of moonseed mixed with milk for everyone, turning the night’s events into a revelatory experience.
Somewhere in the midst of it all I staggered back to my treehouse with my wives, and we fell asleep in soundless dreams, their smooth skin and naked breasts pushed up against me, feeling perfect against my tired body.
Chapter Eleven
After completing our jobs the next day, I gathered my team together and revised the plan of attack on the merc caravan. We were all here; myself, Ariadne, Elera, Lara, Cass and Tobias.
Santana was an effective ranged attacker, but I always preferred at least one of my inner circle to be present on the land to maintain command in addition to Alorion. Having grown up on a farm she was the most effective at running things, and while she was becoming a decent fighter, Santana preferred to specialise in running the inner workings of the tribe.
I didn’t contest it; if anything I liked it. She was good at the role, and knowing she was safe and that there was someone on the land to keep things moving kept my mind at ease.
After my team packed up their armor and weapons, we met up by my treehouse.
‘Ranged attackers will be in the trees so they’ve got a bird’s eye view,’ I started. ‘That means Lara and Elera. I’m going to need you girls to take out the drivers and any guards at the front. Our main objective is to stop this thing moving. From there you turn your attention to the guards at the second wagon and take them out too, but halting this thing is the top priority.
‘Tobias, Cass, you’ll be with me on the ground. Cass, you’re small-’
‘Hey!’
‘I’m not done – you’re small and fast, which is exactly what we need to take out any runners. I doubt that will happen, but once they see us getting the upper hand on them some might start to take the coward’s way out, but in the meantime hang back.
‘Tobias, you and I will be doing the melee work on the ground. I’ve got my power stones at the ready, but they’re only useful against bigger enemies and when things aren’t crowded, which I think they will be here.
‘You have power stones?’ He asked inquisitively. ‘Which ones?’
‘Three. Arcane Fire which… Just sets things on fire. I don’t think that will be too useful here. Telekinetic Blast, but that’s scattershot and has a wide range. Anything it hits will definitely get blunt force trauma when they crash into something, and they will crash into something because of how powerful it is. And Shock, which electrocutes whatever it hits. I don’t want to use that near the wagons because of the metal bars, but it can be used in combination with Elera’s frost abilities to take down any incapacitated guards.
‘That’s everything,’ I finished. ‘Do it quickly, do it quietly, and kill them all. And I’m flexible on the quiet part.’
I provided Tobias with an iron short sword from our storage supplies, and we set off shortly after in the wagon, I commanding the reins while my team sat in the back. We didn’t necessarily need the wagon, but traversing another forty or fifty miles in total over the next few days going there and back would let the fatigue set in, and I wanted everybody alert for the ambush.
One wrong move thanks to exhaustion could get somebody killed.
After stopping off briefly at the trading post we made the journey north, and after many hours eventually reached the grove that we had slept in several nights prior.
We set up camp there, finding it untouched from our previous journey. We slept early with a rotating watch-duty, and once the moon hit its peak, we all awoke and got back on the road.
Torches led our way, and on more than one occasion there was a fluttering of leaves in the underbrush that sent me slowing Arabelle’s pace.
But nothing attacked, not even when we had reached the stretch of road along the northern trail where the mercenaries would be transporting the warriors.
Dusk was approaching, and we had to be ready.
I pulled the wagon to a stop and jumped down from the front seat to look up and down the road. There was enough light available to see what resided both behind us and ahead; nothing.
We were alone. For now.
I headed to the back of the wagon.
‘Think this will do?’
My team exited and looked around. Lara and Tobias were no doubt the most tactically-minded.
‘This is a fine spot,’ Tobias judged, looking about.
‘The trees look strong, too,’ Lara added. ‘There’s plenty of vantage points. These assholes aren’t going to know what hit them.’
‘Let’s get the horses and the wagon hidden and get into position,’ I said. ‘Oh, and one more thing.’ I pulled up my inventory and retrieved a stack of hoods. ‘Take one of these each.’
‘You fear we shall all catch a cold, Jack?’ Cass asked, takin
g one from my hand as everybody else did.
‘No, just a precaution. Something I picked up at the trading post. If one of the merc’s manages to make a break for it, he could report back to his boss and tell him who we are, and that’s the last thing I want. Keep your faces hidden, and kill every one of the bastards that comes this way.’
We pulled on the hoods, covering our faces. Much to Elera’s chagrin, I also made her cover up the rest of her body – she would remain hidden in the shrubbery, but blue skin would be a talking point to any runners. It would distinguish her as part of my tribe, and I didn’t want this coming back to me or my people.
I guided the horses and the wagon deep into the forest and tied them to a tree, then returned to the road and revised the plan once more.
On the forest level, Tobias and I got into position on either side of the road, hiding in the shrubbery. Cass joined me, ready to take on any runners.
Up above in the trees, Lara lurked quietly on a branch hidden by a layer of leaves and vines. The arrow jutting from her relaxed bow was just another stick protruding from a tree in the minds of those below.
Albeit a stick that could slam into your neck and drown your lungs in blood.
On the other side of the forest, up above Tobias, Ariadne and Elera were waiting quietly. Even knowing they were there, I could hardly make them out. Elera was pressed back against a branch, while Ariadne was crouched with her throwing knives at the ready.
If we needed her down on the ground, she would be ready to move.
And then, all we had to do was wait.
I had read stories about guys who had been twisted by this. Waiting for a target in total stillness and silence for hours at a time could do things to a man’s mind. I knew the forests could be dangerous, and this place was no different.
Every sound was a potential threat.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait that long for our target to approach.
We heard them coming from around 70 yards off. It could have been any other traveller, but this was a remote section of the road. Even so, we had to be sure before we jumped out and started our attack.
