Goblin Defender—Chapter 2

Lossia’s face lit up when I said that. “Oh, I would love a vineyard!” she said, clapping her hands and bouncing on her toes. “I can talk to my father about it. He’ll have some cuttings sent up here.”

“Cuttings?” I asked.

Thilli took over and explained. “You don’t grow grape vines from a seed. Instead, you use a cutting from an existing vine. If you’re serious about buying some land for a vineyard, then I’ll talk to my father about getting some cuttings from his vines.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, sitting down on a nearby chair. I took a moment to look at all my wives, drinking in their beauty. “We’re going to have a great life together, you know that?”

Lossia blushed and smiled. Anna put her hands on her hips and smirked at me.” Well, I should hope so,” she said.

I laughed at her comment. “I was just thinking about how things are coming together so nicely. The city is getting stronger, our house is being built, and now we have a small pile of money to prop us up. Once all this is done, life is going to be good.”

“Cooking dinner for all of you in my own kitchen,” Thilli said with a soft smile. “Sipping on wine from our own vineyard.”

“That does sound amazing,” Cirro said.

“I’m just grateful we all have each other,” Lossia added.

“And soon, we’ll have some little ones,” Anna said, reaching out and placing a hand on Cirro’s stomach. Her smile took in Thilli as well.

A knock came at the door, interrupting our daydream of a perfect life.

“Come in,” I called out.

The door opened and Prazzi walked in. She smiled at the women, but walked straight for me with something in her hands.

“This is for you,” she said, handing it to me. “Ulenor just sent it here and wanted it in your hands as soon as possible.”

I looked down at what she had handed me. It was a small glass vial, the type I was used to seeing in his study, filled with a pale red fluid. Along with the vial, he had sent a note.

Prazzi bobbed a slight curtsy then left the room. I held the note up and read it.

Andrew,

Drink this immediately. It will take a few hours for it to take effect, and it will last for a week. Thank me later.

Ulenor

I grinned as I read the note again.

“What is it?” Anna asked.

“Pure happiness,” I said as I unstoppered the drink.

“Okay, hold on,” Lossia said. “You said tacos were pure happiness. Then apparently you told Thilli that something called ‘sushi’ was pure happiness. I think you need to make up your mind.” She spoke the words in a stern voice, but he struggled not to laugh.

I downed the potion in a single gulp. The flavor reminded me of a cherry energy drink. Whatever Ulenor did to flavor these things, they were fantastic.

“It’s for tonight,” I said, shoving the cork stopper back in place. I set the empty vial and the slip of paper on the nearest table.

“Tonight?” Lossia asked.

“Tonight,” I said with a smile.

“Oohhhhhh,” they all said at the same time.

“I hope it works well,” Thilli said. “You’re going to need it to get this done. I still don’t know how we’re going to get that many women in here.”

“I imagine you’ll do just fine,” I said. “I can continue once we arrive at Holmar as well. Gotta spread the love around, not just keep it here.” That comment earned me four flat looks.

“Not to put a damper on the mood or anything, but what about the impending attack?” Thilli asked. “Have you given more thought to that?”

“I have,” I said. “And it’s just like I said before. It’ll take them months to arrive in Gillamoor. Whatever they’re doing, we’ll be ready for it. Although if I play my hand right, Vogrim will be dead before the army even heads down here.”

Lossia stood up and smoothed her dress over her hips. “It’s really good to have you back, Andrew,” she said. “Cirro and I need to get going. Our house isn’t going to build itself.”

“Yeah, I need to get to the kids,” Anna said, popping another grape in her mouth.

We all had things to do. I looked over at my wardrobe, at the jackets and cloaks hanging, and wondered what color jacket I’d be in today. Probably the subdued gray one, since I would be going to see the soldiers in a few minutes.

“I know you have a busy day planned,” Thilli said as she walked up to me. She reached out and took my hand in hers. “Let me take care of it. I need to learn more about that sort of thing anyways; someone has to run this show while you’re having fun in Holmar.” She gave me a grin that was good enough for Cirro.

“At least that makes my wardrobe decisions easier,” I said with a chuckle.

Using her grip on my hand, Thilli pulled me to her, then stretched onto her toes and kissed me. “I’m going to miss you today,” she whispered.

I smiled and wrapped both arms around her. My sweet Thilli. She was such a wonderful partner.

“Is this a solo party or can anyone play?” Anna asked, standing right next to us.

I laughed and reached out for her, lifting her off the ground as I hugged her. After a kiss, I set her back on the floor.

“I wish we could just spend all day here, together,” she said. “I hate that as soon as you two get back, you have to go right to work.” She reached out and grabbed Thilli’s hand as well. Thilli held her gaze, but color stained her cheeks. “I missed you, Thilli. I don’t think I’ve told you that since you returned.”

Anna pulled Thilli into a tight embrace, the kind I expected to see lovers use. She brushed the back of Thilli’s hair and sighed happily while holding the beautiful woman.

“I hope you thought about me while you were away,” Anna said, a hint of a mischievous light in her eyes.

“I did, actually,” Thilli said, her voice quiet.

“She mostly thought about me, though,” I said, stepping in to save Thilli any embarrassment or discomfort. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Anna yet, and I didn’t want her to be put off by Anna’s forwardness.

Anna laughed as she released Thilli’s hand. “Who would waste their time thinking about you?”

“You, I’ll bet,” I said, and I stepped in and grabbed her. I slipped one arm around her lower back and grabbed her hand with mine and spun her around, as if I actually knew how to dance. She smiled and laughed when I finally set her down.

“Oh, Andrew,” she said, smiling as she leaned against my chest. “You truly are a horrible dancer.”

“I know,” I said with a grin. “You’ll have to learn to deal with it.”

“Okay, okay,” Anna said. “We’ll all stay here for another hour if we don’t break things off. Love you, see you at lunch,” she said, and stretched up onto her toes to kiss me.

It was like a conga line of beautiful women in front of me. I kissed Anna, then Thilli was there. I hugged her tightly and kissed her, and she was replaced by Cirro. She told me she was excited to spend some time with me in Holmar, and we kissed. That left Lossia, who just held me tightly for a while.

“I really missed you,” she said against my chest.

“I missed you, too,” I said, squeezing her and kissing the top of her purple-haired head.

“I wish I had some time to be with you right now,” she said, sounding uncharacteristically forward. “I really want you inside me.”

“Soon,” I told her. She looked up at me and I kissed her again.

“Hurry up, before I jump in there and join you guys,” Cirro said.

“Alright,” I said, kissing Lossia one last time. “I love you two.”

“Bye Andrew,” Cirro said, giving me her sweetest smile as she turned and walked out of the room. She swung her hips as she walked. The pregnancy had definitely put a few extra pounds on her, and it looked like they had all gone to her bottom. She was Lossia’s equal in that aspect, now.

Once they had all left, I finally went over to my wardrobe and selected a dark gray jacket. For whatever reason, Trina seemed to make most of my jackets and cloaks in that color, often with silver and black embroidery around the edges. It was as if she was choosing my house colors for me. I didn’t mind; I had no eye for that sort of thing, and she was creating quite a nice looking wardrobe for me.

Once I shrugged into the jacket, I buckled my sword belt over it. I certainly didn’t need it within the confines of the city walls, but I had grown to enjoy wearing it. The goblin people saw me as a hero, so I wanted to look the part. My dark gray cloak covered everything and completed the look.

I left my room and walked towards the doors, but stopped halfway there. After turning on my heel, I went straight to Zozella’s statue. The beautiful goddess was a familiar sight to me, now, although I never entirely got used to her voice in my head.

“Good morning,” I said to her. As usual, I sucked at praying. I don’t think she minded too much. Actions seemed to matter more than words to her.

“Good morning, Andrew,” her voice boomed in my mind. The face of her statue looked down at me and smiled. She reached one of her hands down and I took it and kissed the back of her fingers, then knelt before her.

“Okay, so I’m going to get right to it,” I said. “We’ve done the math, and if I’m going to truly help repopulate, then I need to do a lot more. For me to father enough children to create a generation that’s immune to Vogrim’s poison…. Well, it’s not going to be easy.”

“What exactly are you asking, Andrew?”

I took a deep breath. “I need more of that blessing you gave me. You know, the one that helps me, uh, mate with the goblin women multiple times per day. I need that, but like two or three times as strong.”

Her laugh was musical, and she placed her hands on her hips. “Enjoying my girls that much, are you?”

“I’ll be honest with you,” I said. “I need to mate with so many women that I probably won’t enjoy it any longer. I just need the physical ability to do so. As much as I can. I really want to help, and I know my genes will make your people taller and stronger, but in order to actually have any sort of effect, I need to sleep with at least a thousand women. I don’t know if that can even happen, especially in a week’s time, but I’ll try my best.”

Zozella’s faint laughter chimed in my head. “It is done, Andrew. When they come tonight, you will be ready. You might find this blessing to be nearly a curse when the week is done, though.”

“Trust me, I understand,” I said, standing up. “Oh, and I’m not sure if you care about this sort of thing, but I’m giving money to the mayor today to put back into the education budget. I’m trying really hard to do the right thing, here.”

“I do care, Andrew,” she said. “I care about everything that affects my people. When you strengthen the city against attacks, I care. When you help the children, I care. Don’t ever worry that your efforts will go unnoticed. I see almost everything, Andrew.”

“Noted,” I said. “Well, I need to get to work. I’ll talk to you later.”

She held her hand out again, I assumed for me to kiss or something. For whatever reason, without thinking, I high-fived her.

“Uh, sorry,” I said. “Anyways, gotta run.” I hurried away before she could ask me what the hell I was doing.

Walking with my sword belt took some getting used to, but by now it was second nature. I kept my left hand on my sword hilt so the scabbard wouldn’t smack my legs with each step.

People didn’t immediately cheer me on sight like they did after the Battle of Gillamoor, but I definitely received more than a few warm greetings—to include a few sultry-eyed women that clearly wanted to share my bed. I was finally starting to get used to all of this.

I didn’t really see short green people with pointy ears anymore. Instead, I saw a beautiful people with an incredibly rich culture, a population of compassionate people that truly wanted a better future for themselves and for their children. I saw the kind of people I wanted to spend the rest of my life around. The kind of people I wanted my children growing up around. Wonderful people.

My people.

To read all of Goblin Defender, visit Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPXPVM9R