by Randi Darren
Vince didn’t care. A cursory sweep of everyone’s mind told him he’d done what he set out to do. All knew their place, or what it would be.
All were content.
Chapter 26
Vince dragged a sleeve across his brow and then stood up. He’d never had a green thumb, but even he could help to prepare soil.
Putting one hand on his hip, he looked up into the sky and wished for a breeze that wasn’t coming.
He was on the eastern outskirts of the city that would be. Buildings were going up rapidly, roads were being paved, industries being kicked into high gear and churning out products.
Things were on track.
“Den master!” called a high-pitched voice.
Looking around, Vince finally identified who was calling out to him. It was one of his Ratfolk.
Vince waved at the two-foot creature as it scurried towards him. It was flanked by several of its den mates. Waiting patiently, Vince slung the hoe he’d been using up on his shoulder.
“Den master,” said the one in the lead. They came to a sliding halt in front of him. Dirt sprayed across his boots and a pebble rattled off his shin. “We sighted humans. Coming this way from the west. Many. Unmounted. They follow the tracks. Here in a sun and a half.”
They weren’t the brightest, but they’d proved insanely loyal to him and good scouts.
“Good work. Get your den mates into the warren and sleep. I’ll need you tonight. As a reward for your excellent service, you can claim an extra item from the depot,” Vince said with a grin. He fished out a circular token from his pocket, checked that it had a number one on it, then handed it over.
“Den master, thank you. We go.” The Ratfolk looked pleased. After a quick confirmation with each other, they took off at a sprint.
They hadn’t been given much in the way of respect previously, he gathered. Rewards and positive affirmation went a long way for them because of that.
Elysia had been beyond wise to recommend them as scouts.
Thinking of the High Elf, he turned his head to find her sitting not far from him. She had found a large rock and floated it over, turning it into a seat. She was reading over some book she’d dug out of his library.
Thera and Eva were some fifty feet behind her. Engaged in some light sparring. They’d started working with Fes, Petra, Daphne, and Karya to up their martial prowess.
Elysia’s style of combat didn’t lend itself to sparring. Things were either on fire or not.
The High Elf’s blue eyes flicked up to him over the top of the page she was on. If his eyesight weren’t as good as it was, he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
She’d developed a habit of watching him. He’d politely ignored it most of the time. Her eyes remained glued to him when she realized he was watching her.
Tilting his head to one side, he wondered if it would be better to see the Fairies himself or send Elysia.
Slowly, the High Elf lowered the book down, as if to make sure he knew she was aware of his gaze.
He set the handle of the hoe against his thigh, then brushed his hands against the work tunic he was wearing.
No, we’re done here.
Vince grimaced and then pulled the work tunic off over his head. Picking up the hoe, he set off for Elysia.
Elysia stood up from the rock and looked back to her sisters, then to him. Closing the book in her hand, she smoothed out her dress with the other.
“My liege, what may I do for you?” Elysia asked him when he got within range.
Instead of responding, he smiled at her and closed in.
After he’d dragged them through the quagmire of what was Meliae’s mind, the Elves had changed. They were more aware of him. Nervous. Bashful, even.
Of course, that only provoked Vince as a predator. Teasing them had quickly become a favorite thing to do.
“I’m not sure, what are you offering?” Vince asked, closing in on her until a single foot separated them.
Elysia’s cheeks turned a faint red, glowering at him from under blonde eyebrows. Then, unexpectedly, she gently smacked his chest with the book. “Stop it.”
“As you like,” Vince said amicably. “I need to meet with the Fairies. Ratfolk reported a sighting. Need to confirm it with them. No word from the Brownies.”
Elysia’s eyes drifted off as she took her thoughts inward. After several seconds, she came out of whatever thought she’d fallen into.
“Agreed. We’ll meet you there,” Elysia said, turning to go get her sisters. She stopped and then glanced over her shoulder at him. Deliberately, she set her eyes to his waist and then trailed upwards along his bare torso. “Put a shirt on as well. You’re distracting.”
Then she was off.
Vince smirked at that. Of the three of them, Elysia was the most honest. He liked it.
Dropping the tunic and hoe off at the farming shed, he retrieved his clothes and armor. Then he veered off for the tree of the Fairies.
They didn’t go out on scouting missions. They were to be used as scouting confirmations. They could keep themselves aloft in the low sky while being nearly invisible.
Their stamina was the only thing that kept them on standby missions.
One of the trees they’d left alone was a large and looming black oak tree. The spirit inside was old. It had said it would prefer to die with the tree if that was what it came down to.
Instead, Vince had made arrangements with it. Protect and nurture his Fairies, and he’d leave the tree alone and protect it in turn.
Managing to get the last strap in place as he neared the tree, he glanced up into the foliage.
Nothing moved.
Stepping up to the base of the tree, he looked up into the branches above.
“Scouts have reported a sighting. West by about a day and a half, and they’re on their way here. I need confirmation and then oversight,” Vince said to what looked like nobody and nothing.
Then they appeared. Winged humanoids the size of a small bird. They had shimmering wings on their back that could carry them at incredible speed.
“Master!” they cried at him, landing all along his shoulders and head.
Male and female Fairies chattered at him, all trying to get his attention. The overwhelming demand made was that he visit soon for a meal.
“Yes, I promise to come by and have lunch sometime. I really do need that scouting mission taken care of, though.”
As one, they grumped about promises that could be broken. Eventually, through repeated promises that he really would have lunch with them, they started to flit off, only a few remaining in their tree.
Turning from the tree, he realized he needed to call a council meeting. Rather than by race, every function, job, building, or department had someone in charge of it.
They had others below them in charge of other things, and so on and so forth. Very, very military, and very efficient.
Thera, Eva, and Elysia were all standing behind him, waiting.
“Ah, good timing, ladies. We need to hold a council. Preferably in an hour or so. Can you put that together for me?” Vince asked, his eyes sweeping from one Elf to the next.
“Consider it done,” they said in unison.
“You ladies sure are in sync lately. You should stop fighting it when I call you sisters,” Vince said, waving a finger back and forth at the three. “Besides, you spend more time with each other than you do anyone else. I’ve never even seen you argue with each other. For all that ‘all Elves hate other Elves’ nonsense, you sure don’t act like it. As far as I can tell, every Elf here is working hand in hand with the others. All in your family, no less.
“Probably the most put-together faction I have.”
The three regarded each other, then looked back to him. Elysia looked thoughtful, Thera annoyed, and Eva a little lost.
“What, is that a problem? If you want a better example, have you looked around our city lately?” Vince asked, and then indicated everything around them.
r /> The Elves started to look around them when he said that.
Ogres were holding carpenters aloft in the air as they worked on buildings. Orcs and Dwarves were doing inventory checks on ore from a wagon. Goblins were busily working to insert paving stones into the road as a couple of High Elves created them. A mixed unit of Wolfmen, Bearmen, and Ratfolk were sparring against a team made up of Dwarves, Orcs, and Hobgoblins in a field nearby.
“You can’t tell me you don’t see it. You’re intelligent and beautiful women. Can you honestly tell me you don’t see it?” Vince said.
Eva turned back to him and cast her eyes down at her feet. “I see it, Master.”
Thera looked back at him and smiled slowly, then wrapped an arm around Elysia’s waist. “My Lord is ever wise,” she proclaimed, wrapping her other arm around Eva’s middle. “My sisters and I will get the council together.”
Elysia smiled shyly, before setting her arm around Thera’s shoulders.
As one they walked off, their heads turning to each other in a conversation Vince deliberately blocked out.
The swift and deadly Eva, the intellectual Elysia, the warrior Thera. Between the three of them, if they worked together, they couldn’t fail.
Careening in at full speed from the side of his vision was a Fairy.
“Master! They’re already here,” cried the Fairy in despair. “They’re minutes from the walls.
Turning from the fairy, Vince walked up to an Ogre. He didn’t recognize it by name. Smacking it on the hip, he stared up at it. It took some oomph for an Ogre to recognize something had hit it.
Slowly, the big head swiveled down to peer at him, then grinned when it recognized him.
“Lord?” it asked slowly.
“Remember how to sound an alarm?”
The Ogre nodded its head ponderously.
“Sound the alarm for the wall.”
A second later, the Ogre gently set down the Elven carpenter he’d been holding up to work on a roof and then placed his hands to his mouth.
He sucked in a deep breath and began to let out a single thunderous bellow.
All around the growing city, everyone stopped and listened. As the Ogre finished, he set off for whatever job he had for a wall alarm.
Then everyone else took off in every direction.
There was no sound except for the pounding of feet, boots, and claws. Everyone knew their task.
Vince was glad he’d made it a habit of going out armed and armored. He had to get to the wall.
Heading out at a swift jog, Vince fell in with the mass of bodies moving that way. The dormitories had been converted to barracks and armories as more and more of the citizens had been given a home. Men and women of every species streamed in one side of those buildings and came out the other with arms and armor.
It went smooth, swift, assured.
Daily drills had given everyone a plan and confidence.
As the walls came into view, Vince felt better.
The entire western expanse was done. All the way to the point that it bordered with impassable rock that went far to the north, then west. He’d build walls in that direction eventually, but for today, nature would be his shield there.
The southern wall was also complete. If one were to pencil in the eastern and northern wall based on those two, they’d realize it encompassed an area five times what the original plan for the city was.
“Room to grow” was the phrase he’d heard passed around when they’d unveiled the plans.
The eastern wall was only a fourth done, the remainder being open to whatever might come. Hopefully they’d be too stupid to bother checking that it went all the way around.
One can hope.
It was a pity the wall wasn’t done, but that was life.
Taking the fortifications in seconds, Vince immediately moved up into a tower that overlooked the front gate. They’d been built every so often in the wall to reinforce it, and provide a place to view everything.
Looking out to the west, he could see them. They were walking in on the plains his people had created all around the walls. They’d needed a clear line of fire and had it now.
A mass of men and women with weapons from all walks of life, from personal to professional.
Here and there, he could see city guard, militia, even the occasional soldier. He counted as best as he could, but gave up when he realized they were all shifting around.
Beyond them were wagons and carts that he’d bet were loaded with foodstuffs and other things.
“Around seven hundred heartbeats,” Karya said from his side. One hand pressed into his hip as the other slithered into his pants.
Vince didn’t fight her since it would only encourage her. Attention was attention, after all.
“Quite a number. Well, it’s within what we prepared for.” Vince shifted to one side as Karya’s hand worked its way into his privates and gripped him firmly. “Are they all humans? Is this everyone right here? No one sneaking around?”
Karya shook her head, pressing her face into his side and taking a deep inhale. “Not that I can detect.”
Her warm hand stroked him tenderly, hungrily. Karya and Daphne remained untouched by him. As did the Elves.
They’d been starved of all sexual contact since challenge night. He didn’t fight the Dryads off, but he didn’t let it get out of hand or cooperate, either.
Their reward that night had been the allowance that they could watch any of his nightly encounters they wanted at any time. They were happy for it, though they thought they’d get to participate.
“Where’s Daphne?” he asked, rubbing Karya’s head.
“She’s down at the gate, darling. You don’t need her, you have me,” Karya complained.
“I do have you, but I do need her. Sorry, Karya.” Vince carefully extracted her hand. It wasn’t that she had no effect on him, because she did. Quite a bit, actually.
The fact that every night he was taken care of by someone who cared for him deeply, though, made it easier to resist.
Leaning out of the tower window, he looked down to the gate.
There stood the tall Dryad, watching through the open gate.
“Daphne,” Vince called down. The buxom woman turned her head up and saw him, then gave him a ferocious smile. “Can you get ready? They don’t look like they have siege equipment, but you never know.”
“Yes, dearest.” The big Dryad moved to stand on the inside gate of the wall and then became motionless.
Karya grabbed his ass and squeezed it, her other hand tickling his neck with her fingertips.
“Are you really that insatiable that you want me to plow you while we’re being attacked?” Vince asked, only mildly irritated. Part of him was flattered.
“Yes. Push me out the window facing the enemy and fuck me. I don’t fight as much as Meliae does. Seed me. I’ve been practicing. I can get thousands of eggs ready for you to fertilize in under a minute,” Karya said huskily at him.
“Tell you what. Be good for the rest of this week. On top of that, if you can get me my Elves, Fes, Petra, and Meliae, I’ll let you and Daphne start having a turn next week. Promise,” Vince said, looking out to the enemy approaching.
“Prepare to pay up, darling,” Karya said, already on her way out of the tower.
“Gladly.” Vince wasn’t against expanding his number of “wives,” as it were. Fes was already encouraging him to take both Dryads and all three Elves.
The Dryads were stuck with him, though. When he died, so would they. They hadn’t been giving themselves to other men, either. In fact, they seemed to hate other men.
They desired only him.
It made it easier on him to accept them.
Looking back into the mustering lane that was set up against the wall, he saw his Ogres and Trolls were armored up. Armored up and waiting for orders.
Hanging on each waist in a gigantic sheath was a massive broadsword. Clutched in each hand was a spear with tree-like proportio
ns and a banded tower shield that looked more like a drawbridge.
They were already a hardy species. Putting them in Dwarven-made plate mail increased that survivability tenfold. Then give them a proper weapon, and train them like soldiers while putting a shield on their other arm, and he expected great things.
Let’s see how well they do.
The big, feisty Troll he hadn’t wanted to purchase waited below the tower. After her talk with Meliae, she’d changed.
She’d taken control of the large species and ruled over them sternly. All respected their “Lord” and his “Big Commander,” in both word and action. Rule breaking or dishonor was immediately punished. There were no repeat offenders.
Military law and courtesy rang well with the whole group.
He’d had no problems with them. At all.
“Kitch!” Vince called out the name of the Troll.
Her misshapen and beastly face swung up to meet his.
“Take your people into the field. Tell our foes to leave. If they don’t… lay into them. Show me how well your people learned their trade. Show me Kitch and her warriors,” Vince said evenly.
Kitch grinned evilly at him, then crossed her arms against her shoulders in salute. She then cracked her massive mitts into each other and bellowed a short grunt.
Her people fell into a marching formation.
Then the group of thirty-some odd Ogres and Trolls exited through the gate that had been built specifically to accommodate their size. They marched in formation.
They moved in sync, their arms and legs pumping to an unspoken cadence.
It was terrifying to Vince.
Stopping out in front of the wall, Kitch quickly lined up her people into two rows and took several steps out ahead of the line.
“By order of Lord, you leave!” shouted the Troll. “Leave, or die. One minute to turn around. Then you die!” The armored Troll turned back into her line and slid into the center rank in the second row.
At a glance, he could tell that these people wouldn’t be leaving. They looked like they were shouting at each other with some sort of fervor.
He couldn’t figure out what was driving them, but it didn’t matter. Moving to the back of the tower, he leaned out again.