The Great Forest: Laya: Dark Sculptor Novel 04

by D. R. Rosier

  I asked, “How long is the trip?”

  Saria tilted her head, “Two days to Lelmalond, two days from there to Amathyr, and then three days to return here. It’s somewhat of an uneven triangle on a map, Lelmalond is straight northeast, and Amathyr is back to the south a little further east, which adds a day to the return trip home going northwest.”

  “Got it. Does anyone not want to go at all?”

  Regina shook her head, “I’m curious to see, Sianna’s ambitions are wrapped up in it, and Karana and Saria would love to visit home, a place they thought lost to them, but they don’t want to pressure you.”

  Karana glared at Regina, but she didn’t deny the accusation. Saria just bit her lip.

  “Then we’re going, I have to admit I’m curious too. Did you think I was talking out of my ass when I said I’d support you all, or believe that I wouldn’t if things got dangerous?”

  Saria shook her head, “We’re just worried about you. Human reflexes aren’t as good as elven ones, and your prey and predator instincts are powerful but buried. It is a risk, if anything we’ve played down the dangers of Laya, but Karana will have you wrapped up in magic, and there’s me and Sianna as well for that. Plus, your armor’s protections, and maybe even Oceana will come in handy as a fae early warning system or something. Not to mention we’ll be surrounded by thirty-six experienced scouts. Still sometimes shit happens fast, if I give you an order don’t hesitate, because if you die I’ll lose it.”

  Is that true? I asked inside my mind.

  Oceana replied, “Yes and no master. I can detect my kind, but they are all over the forest, and will ignore you, imperil you, attack you, or even help you at their whim, and are utterly unpredictable. I am the same way when not bonded to a human. Of course, I can and will protect you, if it’s within my power.”

  I said, “Oceana can help with her magic if the shit hits the fan, but she can’t guide us with any safety.”

  Sianna tilted her head, “Fan?”

  I sighed, “Never mind, something on my old world. It’s just a saying that means when things get very messy, and dangerous.”

  Karana said, “Also, we won’t be taking horses, it’s why elves don’t usually use them, in the thick forest they’re a liability, and would only make you an easy target.”

  “Too bad we can’t just fly over it.”

  Saria’s eyes widened, “That would be a terrible idea. There are some rather large predators that fly, they’d kill us fast.”

  Karana said, “There’s no magic to fly anyway.”

  I tilted my head, “You have sailing ships, right? It shouldn’t be hard to levitate something similar to that, and then use air spells to push it along.”

  Karana narrowed her eyes, “That might work, but Saria is right, it’s too dangerous. Even outside the forest, it may bring the attention of the dragons in the southern mountains.”

  “Dragons?”

  Damn, I really wanted to make something that flew just then, but apparently, I’d be eaten by dragons, or whatever is in Laya.

  Saria nodded, “The goblinoid races avoid them out of fear, and even sacrifice some of their numbers to feed them so their tribes aren’t attacked and razed with fire. Dragons are large, have magic of their own, and are quite powerful, but they’re also lazy reptiles, so it works for them.”

  “Are they smart?”

  Karana shrugged, “Not especially so, they’re cunning predators, and they’re very territorial, usually only claiming a mountain or two. Like mountain lions, they hunt alone, and they’re not much smarter. They only come together to mate, and wind up killing each other half the time even then. There aren’t that many of them we don’t think, less than a hundred in the whole southern range. Every generation brings thousands of eggs, but most of them are killed in the first few weeks by competition and lack of unclaimed territory.”

  “Which means only the strongest and cleverest survive.”

  Saria nodded, “Back to the point. Karana will build the college, Regina will hire more people and order the stuff we need for it, and check on our house stuff. I’ll get my thirty-six scouts settled wherever they decide to go, and then check with Jaren to see what’s going on. Some of that will take longer than we have obviously, it’ll be late afternoon when we get back. Meet at the keep suite at dark?”

  Sianna asked, “What about me?”

  I smirked, and said with outrageous flair, “You can be my arm ornament, so I’m the envy of the city, and I’ll give you a tour of our home and the city worthy of a princess.”

  She glared at me, but I could see she was fighting a smile.

  “Or we could both be Regina’s arm ornaments as she talks to the merchants, and then checks out the city, house, and frame of the college in the morning after council. I assume we’re doing that, the council thing I mean? We probably don’t have time for a real tour today, and I wasn’t joking about that part of things.”

  Saria nodded, “I’ll get my people settled tonight, then we’ll do the council thing for two days, since I’ve been gone for over three weeks, and we’ll be going for another two or three weeks in just a couple of days.”

  Karana sighed, “I can take care of the spell tonight.”

  Regina said, “I can probably get the merchants done tonight, check on things for the house and order for the college, but finding help will probably have to wait for tomorrow, and I might not be finished until the day after.”

  I nodded, “I’ll probably have people to heal as well over the next two days, during council. Otherwise I’ll let you decide who to come with.”

  Regina smirked, “Me.”

  Karana snickered, “Why don’t you come with me Sianna, watch the building spell, and of course tomorrow after council we’ll have a short lesson. We won’t be able to do that in the forest, we can’t afford any distractions, even minor ones. I’ll give you something challenging to practice however, which will increase your ability to focus over the next few weeks, and of course we can take time in the cities for a lesson or two, and to gauge your progress. After the lesson tomorrow while he and Regina do that hiring, you can take that tour our lord and master promised.”

  I frowned at my silver black haired beauty, but she just gave me a flirty look and winked.

  Sianna nodded, “That sounds good, I want to see your spell in action. I also want to see our home.”

  She looked at me in mock sadness, “Though being your arm ornament is rather tempting.”

  I shook my head, “Bad joke?”

  She grinned, looked me up and down quite deliberately, and then said breathily, “Who said I was joking?”

  I’d meant I’d made a bad joke about the arm candy thing, not her, but I held my tongue.

  Damn, having four mates was so confusing, of course she was joking. Just fucking with me, surely.

  Wasn’t she?

  Sianna giggled, probably at the confused look, no doubt evident on my face.

  Chapter Seven

  When we arrived at the city our group and my family split in several directions before we even reached the gate. As we discussed, Saria took her two scout groups and the elven ladies we’d healed and retrieved from Malburn into the woods, while Sianna and Karana also went into the woods in another direction, toward the meadow she was going to build the college in.

  With one spell, and I was going to miss it, to go shopping with Regina. How exactly did that happen again? Oh right, I didn’t want her to go alone, and I had the gold the queen had given us for the task.

  Regardless, it was just the two of us, three including Oceana’s invisible presence, when we rode through the gates. The soldiers recognized us both and nodded respectfully, and we rode through without a word. The inner wall appeared to be gone, at least in this section. I knew the council had plans to tear down all the barracks in the back of the city and build more regular housing since the elves had left, it wasn’t a slave city anymore, and it looked like they’d made some progress while we were gon
e.

  It didn’t take all that long to put our horses in the stables, and then stretch out the kinks from riding all day in the saddle.

  Regina’s gaze was usually soft, especially when she looked at me, but in that moment, she looked like a hawk hunting prey as we walked down the main street where the shops and street vendors stood. It appeared to me a lot of things had changed there too, the city had grown, but Regina never faltered as she led us to the right craftsmen as if she’d had a map.

  We stopped at the blacksmith’s, the woodworker’s, a place we could order linens, and several other merchants. For each one, she both verified the things for our house would be completed and delivered within a month. Perhaps the harder part, was furnishing and doing the same for an academy of sorts in just two months with about four times as many things needed. It would wind up taking two months in total to fill our manor after all. Eventually, we had to track down other merchants who offered similar product. In a large city that would have been easier, but Eastguard was a small city and it wasn’t easy at all. A lot of the people were the only ones available, without competition. Like the blacksmith.

  At the end of the whirlwind tour, we would have it mostly ready in two months, but we’d be short about twenty beds, chests, and fireplace grates. It was at least two hours since we’d been back, and the sun was getting low in the sky. My coin pouch was still rather hefty this time, the queen had given us a lot of seed money for the school, which I was keeping separate.

  Regina’s eyes narrowed in thought, and she turned back to the inn.

  “What are you thinking?”

  Regina said, “Well, summer is coming, so the fireplace grates can take two extra months after we open the college. We just need the beds and chests for the rooms. I was thinking maybe we could buy them from the city, they might still have several hundred of them if no one is living in the barracks, or even if they were torn down they probably have it stacked in warehouses or something.”

  I nodded, “It can probably wait until tomorrow, when you talk to Tam about hiring servants.”

  She looked at me like I’d suggested drowning puppies for fun. Obviously, she was a woman on a mission.

  “Or, my love, we can go check now?” I added in self-defense.

  She grinned a bit sheepishly, “If you don’t mind, it will bother me all night if we don’t. That way I can focus on finding servants for the school the next two days. I’ll also need to get with our mansion servants, so they know to be there to take delivery of our stuff at our mansion. Most of it will be delivered in the next two weeks.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  The inn wasn’t that packed yet, people were still working, but there were a few people in the common room, and my wife went straight to Tam like a bloodhound with a scent. A colorful description perhaps, but my sweet Regina turned into someone else when shopping, and when dealing with our manor and home. It was her ambition, so I wasn’t all that surprised by what a force of nature she was at times.

  Tam smiled when he saw us coming. He was an irascible man in his forties, but I guess we rated a smile after being gone over three weeks. No one had really been sure what would happen to us when we went to see the queen. His eyes scanned around us a bit, and then narrowed slightly with concern.

  “Hi Tam, everyone is fine and back, just off doing other stuff. We’re only here a couple of days, but I’ll leave that for Saria and Karana to explain in council tomorrow.”

  Tam nodded, “It’s good to see you, so what brings you straight here?”

  Regina said, “We need twenty beds and chests, in two months. The crafters don’t seem to be able to meet that, so I was hoping we could buy the ones from one of the barracks, from the city.”

  Tam tilted his head, “For what?”

  “Part of that long story, in short we’re going to be building a school for flesh sculptors and mages both, less than a mile from the city. I imagine this city will see a lot of growth because of it, along with the elven magic shop. There’s more going on we’re not sure about yet, but this city won’t stay small for long.”

  He frowned, “I bet there’s a hell of a story behind that. Some of the barracks have been torn down, but not all of them. I’m sure we could make that work. A silver a piece, that’d be two gold in total.”

  Regina’s eyes widened, “Those beds are little better than palettes with a soft blanket. Not worth more than a few bronze, five silver for the lot.”

  He looked amused, “A gold and five silvers, the city has expenses, we can’t be giving things away for free. Seems you’re in a bit of bind, after all.”

  She shook her head, “Still too much, Tam. We aren’t made of money either, and we’ll just have to replace them later anyway, with higher quality work for our students. One gold is the highest I’m prepared to go, half silver a piece. Or, five silver to rent them for six months.”

  He rubbed his chin, “Alright, one gold, but that’s dependent on council approval of course.”

  Regina smirked, “I don’t think Saria will be voting against it.”

  Tam laughed, “Good point, doesn’t matter what Jaren thinks then, does it? Alright, get out of my inn, I’m looking forward to that story tomorrow. Of course, you’ll have to move the beds yourselves.”

  Regina nodded, “I’ll be by tomorrow about that, we’re going to need about seven or eight servants. Two maids, two cooks, a stable master, and a couple of boys or girls for assisting work, like dishes and stable boy, that type of thing.”

  Tam said, “I’ll give it some thought. Sounds like you need a couple of families, with children old enough to work and with the right skills. You sure you won’t need more than that?”

  Regina shook her head, “The apprentices will be cleaning their own areas, and have chores besides. Just need a few to clean the common areas, cook us decent food, and take care of the grounds and horses. They’ll be cooking for thirty to forty I’d imagine. Which reminds me, where did you send Irwin?”

  Tam looked thoughtful for a moment, “Old mage, daughter and son-in-law with two kids? I’m not sure where they ended up, the son-in-law joined the guard though, so you should be able to track them down.”

  “Thanks Tam, we’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Tam nodded, and then turned away.

  I took Regina’s hand, and we left the inn and started toward the keep.

  “I’d forgotten about that, we can see if his daughter is a mage after all, and maybe rope Irwin into helping with the school?”

  Regina smiled, “That was the plan, we’ll track him down after I hire those servants. I imagine even if we only take thirty mage apprentices we’ll be turning away a lot of them, Karana will need help even with just that many.”

  I nodded, “And I’m expecting ten to twenty for my side of things. I wish we could do more, but I don’t see the concept taking off, once the first rush of mages and flesh sculptors are trained things will go back to a one on one master and apprentice level education. I expect a lot of the new ones will have a mage in their family tree, and won’t be sent our way, otherwise we’d see… a lot. One percent of two million is twenty thousand mages after all. The queen will probably take things slowly, so we aren’t overwhelmed. At some point a parity will be reached, and there’ll be enough master mages to train those that are left. That’s not our problem though, we’re already doing our part, and that will have to be enough.”

  Regina looked shocked for a moment, “Twenty thousand? That’s a lot more than I was thinking. But you’re right, we can only do what we can. It’s Sera’s problem.”

  I nodded, between the seven cities, and those that lived in the surrounding villages and farms, there were about two million humans on the continent. So really, twenty thousand was the lowball one percent number, it could be as high as forty thousand.

  It felt good to get inside the keep and back in our old suite. It wasn’t home, not exactly, my mates were my home, but it was familiar, warm, and comforting to be back there
. Even if it was for just two days and three nights. We were also the first ones back.

  Regina smiled coyly as she caressed my chest, and then looked up at me smolderingly through her eyelashes.

  “Thanks for coming with me.”

  “Anytime, bath?”

  She nodded slowly, and I bent down and claimed her sweet lips as I brushed her curly red hair away from her face. She sighed into my mouth, and then melted her body against mine aggressively. I’d forgotten how turned on shopping could make her, and my cock woke up at the reminder.

  I grabbed her ass, and she squeaked as I picked her up, and pushed her against the wall.

  Her legs went around me, and her hips swiveled and ground down on me while our kiss turned far more heated and passionate.

  “James,” she whispered sultrily in a sweet begging voice that seemed to have a direct connection to my cock, because it twitched and strained hard against its confinement.

  I tossed her over my shoulder, and then gave her a firm swat on her ass as I fireman carried her into the bedroom, and then tossed her on the bed.

  “Strip,” I ordered with lust in my voice, as I started to do the same. We were going to get a bit dirtier before that bath, she drove me crazy.

  Her eyes widened in shock and desire, and she was clearly turned on by the order as she started to pull off her clothes.

  I enjoyed the view while she did, as she slowly revealed that body built for sin. She was more waspish than hourglass, with a tiny waist between her bountiful rounded breasts and her sexy hips and heart shaped ass. She was… very curvy, in all the right places, and her eyes told me she wanted me. She had a mostly naturally innocent face, but with those pouty lips and bright green eyes she was all sensual desire with a seductive come fuck me look on her face.

  She was begging me with her eyes when she finished stripping. I’d never tire of that look, I loved her so much, and it made her innocent seductiveness mixed with loving devotion on her face that much hotter.

  “Lay down, put your arms over your head, and spread your legs.”

  She shivered, and looked deep in my eyes with a look of surrender and desire that took my breath away. It wasn’t just seductive, there was an unquestioning trust as she submitted to me and put herself totally in my hands and will. She loved to submit to me, and she loved it more when I took firm control.