by Sean Shake
I tied off the boat at the dock and walked up the embankment to our compound.
The once-burned buildings were gone and new ones were going up in their places.
I also saw that the ice wall I had made was being chipped away at, sculpted into a fence. The workshop I had frozen solid was also being worked on, and it looked like they were in fact making it into an ice castle.
But both the construction and destruction/reconstruction had come to a standstill at the moment.
Standing in the middle of the compound was a giant woman and a giant cat, Rue and Alexa facing off against her, Rue holding her giant gun on the giant woman.
The giant woman however didn’t seem very afraid of this giant gun.
I supposed to her it was just a normal gun.
Still, you would think she would be afraid of a normal gun. It wasn’t like it was a miniature gun to her.
Grýla, Alexa had said.
I approached them and called out. “What’s going on here?”
The large cat she had with her, something like a sabertooth tiger, jumped, having been startled, then spun to face me.
The giant didn’t, she just turned ponderously slowly to examine me. “You’re the new Santa? You don’t look like a Santa.”
I gave the two giants a wide berth as I went past them to join Rue and Alexa.
“What’s the problem here?” I repeated.
“The problem here,” Grýla said, “is that you banished my sons and now they’re out there in that horrid place all alone. You know they lock people up there? Put them in little rooms? They’re just boys!”
“They’re hundreds of years old,” Alexa said.
“I know!” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “They’re so inexperienced.”
“It’s not our fault your sons are idiots after all these years,” Rue said, not lowering her gun.
Grýla pointed a large finger at Rue. “Don’t talk about my boys like that, you little beast.”
“You’re one to talk,” Rue quipped.
I put up my hands. “Okay, let’s just calm down here.” I looked at Grýla. “You can’t come bursting in here whenever you want. I don’t know where your sons are, they left on their own. If you want to go find them…” I trailed off, I didn’t actually want her going to Earth, if that’s where the Yule Lads still were. “I’m sure they’ll come back.”
“Of course they will come back!” Grýla cried. “They have to come back. They’re my sons. They always come back. My husband says I shouldn’t worry. What does he know.”
She looked around, and so did I.
Elves were standing in the doors to the half-completed workshops, watching us.
I noticed some of the elves’ outfits were not exactly what you’d expect construction workers to wear. There were a lot of tube tops and miniskirts, a lot of high heels.
I even spotted a few who wearing nothing at all except what looked to be a tool belt with tools that looked like they belonged in a science-fiction movie.
I spotted Erica, still naked of course, except for the choker around her neck. My PlayStation-controller choker.
She was watching us with her hands clenched into fists, little licks of flame forming around them.
I needed to end this before it got out of control.
I turned back to Grýla. “Your sons aren’t here. So unless you’re trying to ruin Christmas—”
She gasped, horrified. “What? No. Not me. I didn’t do that. I would never.”
Hmm, I thought. Maybe I could use this. “Oh really? Because it sure looks suspicious you being here.” I gestured around at the workshops. “We’re trying to rebuild in time for Christmas, and here you are, interrupting us.
“Delaying us.
“As though you don’t want us to finish on time.”
“That’s not it at all! I just want my boys!”
“Except you already know they’re not here. Come on Grýla, admit it, you’re trying to ruin Christmas. Admit it now and I might go easy on you.”
“I think we should banish her to the wastelands,” Rue said.
“No no no! I don’t want anything to do with those demons.”
“Or maybe the nuckelavee’s realm.”
Grýla gasped again, and so did the cat, which made my skin crawl.
I didn’t expect it to be listening, not like that. Or be able to make such a human sound.
“No, look, I’m going. See? I’m walking away.” She started walking backward.
“I think we should maybe lock you up,” I said.
“No! You’re not doing that! That’s inhumane.” She backed up faster. “Stay away. Don’t come near me! Don’t chase me.” With that she turned and ran.
The large cat stayed, staring at us.
“Jolakotturinn,” Grýla called, not looking back.
At this the cat took off after her.
“Good thinking,” Rue said.
Alexa came over and hugged me.
“Thanks,” I said to both of them.
“But what the hell took you so long?” Rue complained.
“Ah, there’s the Rue I know.”
55
“I don’t like how people can just come in here whenever they want,” Rue said.
We were back in Alexa’s house now, the elves having gotten back to the work of building the workshops and the stuff to fill them with.
We were going to be cutting things really close.
They already had three workshops done and soon would have several more, and gifts were coming out of the ones that were finished, so at least it wouldn’t be a total failure of a Christmas.
Though it might just be Christmas in a few select cities. Like those art movies that no one goes to see.
“I could leave the North Pole here,” I said. “That defends the realm, right?”
Rue shook her head. “It does, but it’s not a good idea.”
“Yeah,” Alexa agreed. “We still don’t know what took my dad or if they’re interested in you now. Your magic can’t be that strong yet, but everything’s afraid of the North Pole. You may not know how to use it that well, but you don’t need to use it that well to be very effective.”
Rue nodded. “Just having it is enough to frighten people. Look at how Grýla changed her tune when she saw you coming with it.”
“Grýla changed her tune?”
“You should’ve seen her before you arrived,” Alexa said.
“So then what are we going to do?” I asked. “Should I stay here? We have a lot of elves. We—”
Rue shook her head. “No. We need more. Didn’t you look at the numbers? At our current rate we won’t make it. Even with the other elves you have gathered already, it’s going to be very close. We now need all the help we can get. This is going to be a last minute thing, so you need to gather as many as you can.”
“I don’t want to leave you guys here again. The fires, now Grýla. What about the one you were making?” I asked Rue.
“What was I making?”
“The copy of the North Pole.”
Her and Alexa exchanged one of their glances.
I’d given up on trying to get them to stop.
“It’s not ready yet…” Rue said.
“But?” I prodded.
“But it’s almost ready. If you could stay here for maybe twelve hours I could try to finish it. It wouldn’t be perfect, but if I focused on just what is needed to protect the realms, rather than fight with, it might work. It might be kind of a glass cannon, so to speak. Easy to break. But ensconced in the transmitter it won’t be at any risk of breaking.”
I clapped my hands together. “Perfect. I’m out of points anyway. I’ll stay here with Alexa, and defend the realm until you get back.”
“No need to defend the realm, oh mighty one,” Rue said. “Just give me the North Pole and I’ll put in the transmitter, then no one can get in and you can get some sleep to recharge.”
“Oh. Right. That’s a… good i
dea.”
56
And so I got to spend some time with my wife as Rue went to her secret layer to work on the imitation North Pole that would hopefully protect the realms while I was out making more elves back on Earth.
We even could’ve left the Northern Realm in safety as the North Pole was there and no one would be able to break through that, at least no one ever had, although my friend Chad was always going on about black swans.
It either meant someone who looked like Natalie Portman, or something that was unexpected. I was never sure which he was referring to.
So we stayed there, waiting for Rue, the clock ticking away, precious time I could be making elves.
“Why don’t you recharge?” Alexa asked.
We were in her childhood bedroom, on her ridiculously large bed. It seemed all the beds in this house were oversized. Made to fit many more than just two.
“I’d like to, but I’m not tired. Too amped up to sleep.”
“I think I can help with that.”
“I bet you can.”
She pulled her dress over her head, revealing her almost-naked body, a pair of pink transparent panties the only thing she wore besides her high heels.
She opened up the Santa suit and ran her hands down my chest. “You just relax. I’ll take care of you.”
“You are an amazing wife,” I told her.
She smiled. “I know.”
Then she giggled and covered her mouth, her face turning red.
She was so sweet and innocent.
Completely the opposite of what I would have expected when I first ran into her outside of the mall I worked at, a stupidly drunk girl in a short red dress.
But first impressions were often wrong.
She had gotten my pants off and had her mouth around me when Erica came in, curious about what we were doing.
When she saw, licks of flame started coming off her skin. “Can I watch?” she asked.
I let my head roll to look at her, tiredness creeping in somehow already. Alexa really was magic. “Be my guest.”
I let my eyes roam over her naked body, her large breasts, the folds of her sex, which she exposed to me as she sat down, opened her legs, and started touching herself. She used her other hand to massage one of those large breasts as she watched us.
Then Alexa pulled off her panties and slid up my body, rubbing herself against the length of my hardness before finally slipping me inside of her.
She looked over at Erica, and gestured with a finger to her.
Erica rocketed up and came hurrying over, but Alexa put a hand on her.
“Slow,” she said. “He needs his rest.”
Erica nodded and Alexa directed her onto the bed with us.
Erica kissed me while Alexa rode me slowly.
I could feel the heat coming from both of them, though that coming from Erica was much more intense.
It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t even uncomfortable. It was just the opposite in fact. It was comforting.
I kissed Erica for a while, fondled her breasts, and then she moved up to Alexa and as I watched they made out, running their hands over each other’s bodies, tweaking each other’s nipples, and all the while Alexa kept riding me slowly, bringing me closer and closer to the edge.
When I finally finished, I was nearly asleep already.
Alexa lay on top of me—me still inside her—and kissed my chin, then nestled her head on one side of my shoulder.
Erica settled down on the other side, draping a leg over both mine and Alexa’s, and draping an arm across us as well. Then she kissed me on the lips and nestled her head similarly to Alexa’s on my other shoulder.
Still, and despite the tiredness that was creeping in, I didn’t think I’d be able to fall asleep.
But then just as I was thinking it wasn’t going to happen, that I should just get up and try to find something useful to do, I realized that I was alone, and that there was a commotion going on somewhere in the house.
I sat up and blinked, confused. Covers fell off me.
I didn’t remember having covers.
I got up, and saw my Santa suit folded nicely at the foot of the huge bed.
I followed the sound out of Alexa’s bedroom and downstairs and found her, Rue, and a couple of elves. Rue was wearing a backpack, and it looked like she had just come in.
The girls turned to me, their eyes scanning my naked body.
I didn’t mind.
“Did I fall asleep?” I asked, getting the feeling that indeed that was what happened.
“Yeah,” Alexa confirmed. “You slept for a good while. You should be all charged up now.”
I brought up my stats and saw that indeed I was.
I couldn’t believe I’d slept for so long. Well that was good. That meant I could make more elves. This would have to be the last batch, I realized with surprise, as it was now the day before Christmas Eve.
That was fine though, because I was pretty sure I had enough points now to convert the remaining girls into elves.
Alexa and Rue got the North Pole replica in place and then came back downstairs just as I was getting my Santa suit on.
Rue handed me the North Pole and I stowed it away while she stared at the elves sitting on the couch.
They had been watching me get dressed.
One of them was the assassin, another was Goth Girl. They had both taken their clothes off when I’d made a comment about how it was unfair that I was naked and they weren’t.
But now even as I was dressed, they made no move to put back on their own clothes.
Which was fine by me. I enjoyed the sight.
Maybe I would enforce a uniform of scanty clothing.
Or hell, no clothing at all. That would be pretty amazing to have a hundred naked girls around me constantly.
Although… I didn’t want to wear it out. So maybe I’d stick with just very skimpy clothing.
Sometimes barely covered was more enticing than not at all.
I zipped up my top and looked at Goth Girl’s pale folds, feeling myself very enticed.
Then again, maybe I would stick with nudity.
I’d give it a think. For now, I had work to do. “All right. I’m going to head back.”
“You can’t leave yet,” Rue said.
“Why?”
“I need you still.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Look, if it’s to have sex with you I—”
“Don’t be so conceited. I don’t need you to get off. Not until we’re on the sleigh.”
“Sleigh?”
“For protecting us while we deliver gifts. Or were you not listening to that either?”
“No, right. I was. To paraphrase a song from my world,” I mocked, “I have to make you glow so bright.”
She grunted in disgust. “I hate that song.”
“What do you need me for now then?”
“We need to make sure the North Pole copy I made works. Although I guess if it doesn’t, you’ll still have to go back and make elves and we’ll just have to be here undefended. But I at least want to know.”
“I don’t really have time—”
“It won’t take long. Thirty minutes at most. You can spare thirty minutes. Just go faster when you’re finishing the girls. It’s not like it takes you that long to finish. You’re a man.”
“I…” I guessed she was right. “Fine.” I didn’t want to waste time arguing about it. “How are we going to test it? What do you need me to do? Push my North Pole into a force field?”
“Why is everything sex with you?”
I frowned. “What?”
“Now that the new Pole is in place, we need to test it to make sure nothing can get in or out of the realms without our permission.”
“Just have one of the elves do it.”
“Elves can come and go anytime they want. They’re bonded to you. Just like me and Alexa. And Alexa’s parents for that matter. There’s a sort of whitelist, I guess. We’re on it. So are
the elves. It’s the others that can’t come in.”
“I have to go back to Earth anyway. Why don’t I grab one that I haven’t transformed yet and bring her here?”
“Because by doing that you’d be giving her permission.”
“What if I told her she couldn’t come in?”
“It wouldn’t matter, because you want her to come in. How about you stop asking stupid questions and follow me?”
I put up my hands. “Fine. You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”
“I’m not a dog,” she said, sounding confused.
57
All the vehicles they normally had were either stolen or burned, and so we hiked it on foot to the crossroads—which actually was like a minute away from our compound—where we took a portal to an even snowier realm than the one we had been in.
The Northern Realm actually wasn’t that snowy, it was just cold, and there always seemed to be piles of snow artfully scattered around the ground. But for the most part you weren’t trudging through snow, just walking on frozen ground.
But here there was snow. Snow everywhere.
“There’s a lot of snow here,” I said, hoping we weren’t going to have to be doing any running through it.
“Brilliant observation,” Rue said. She hadn’t brought her gun with her, only her backpack, which she now took off.
“So are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?”
“I think I know,” Alexa said, sounding worried.
“You know what werewolves are, right?” Rue asked, pulling a short length of rope from her backpack.
“Yeah. Tell me we’re not fighting werewolves.”
“Not fighting,” Rue replied, pulling out another length of rope, this one a bit longer. Then she sat down on the snow and began taking off her boots.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Oh no,” Alexa said, putting a hand to her mouth.
Rue finished removing her boots, then looked up at me as she pulled off her top. She tossed it on top of the backpack. “We’re going to lure them back here to the portal.”
“Lure them with what?”
Rue grinned. “Reindeer meat.”
58
I pushed Rue in front of me through the snow.
