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Court of the Shifter 4 Chapter 4

“How far are we going to go each day?” Luxe asked from behind me, and she adjusted her seat in the saddle as she shot me a curious look.

“As far as we can,” I said with a one shoulder shrug.

“We always make good time with Eli in the lead,” Willow said in a cheerful voice. “Don’t be afraid to push us hard, I can keep up.”

“We aren’t in any real hurry,” I pointed out. “It’s better to create a stable pace than to sprint until we are worn out.”

The gravel crunched beneath my feet, and trees lined the road on either side. There were birds swooping over our heads as they flitted from branch to branch, and they squawked out a variety of sounds to communicate our arrival in their territory. The sounds of the horses’ teeth on their bits was almost as loud as the sound of their hooves on the road, and I could smell the leather of their saddles alongside the aroma of the woods. Earthy scents filled the air, and my senses caught every single one of them.

I realized I had shifted just my nose into canine form out of instinct, but I made a mental note to be more aware of my own body.

The road we had taken from Ordrya left the capital from the Feline Zone, and it curved in a northeast direction along the river. We’d traveled a few miles when the sound of rushing water began to overpower everything else, and I consulted the map for any indication of what lay ahead.

According to the parchment full of squiggles of various colors, the river joined with a lake not too far from our current location, but that was as much detail as I could glean. I sighed as I rolled it back up and returned it to its protective shell, but I gestured for the women to gather around me.

“I think there’s a waterfall or some rapids up ahead,” I said. “I don’t think we can cross the river near this section.”

“What should we do?” Luxe asked.

“I think we should skirt around the lake to find a better place to cross,” I said. “The horses won’t be able to cross the river on the southern side of the lake.”

“That will be a lot of extra miles to the east,” Calantha pointed out.

“There’s not a lot of other choices,” I said with a shrug. “Besides, there’s indications of roads to the north leading west on the map.”

“There are towns outside of Ordrya to the north,” Willow said. “I remember hearing reports of a town beside the lake.”

“The maps of Shyfeterran are highly outdated,” I chuckled. “Maybe we can do something to remedy that on this quest. We can add our own notes to the map your father gave me, and he can have his map makers or historians draw up an updated version.”

“I’m sure the librarians at the palace would love that,” my wife agreed, and her emerald green eyes twinkled with delight. “It’s a way to bring knowledge of the outside world back to the people.”

“It’s not so scary in the wilderness,” I said. “Haunted mansions aside.”

“Speaking of Greystone Manor,” Calantha said. “What are the chances of us encountering something similar?”

“There is no telling what lays ahead of us in the wilderness,” Willow said. “The records aren’t updated regularly anymore, so all the information about the various monsters roaming the land is from a generation ago.”

“I’m sure we can handle whatever comes our way,” I said with a confident puff of my chest.

We continued traveling along the gravel road, and the sounds of the forest surrounded our voices. It wasn’t long before we came across the waterfalls, and the three-tiered cascade of water plummeted from a cliff rising above our heads. The path we were following veered to the right into the shadows of the trees, and I eyed the far side of the river longingly. Skirting the lake was still our best option, though, so I turned and quickly caught up to the three women.

The road circled around in a wide arch before it eventually rejoined the water’s edge, but this time the blue stretched as far as the eye could see. A shadow of purple mountains dotted the cloudy horizon to the northwest, so the lake had to end close to them, but it was obscured by the fog. We would have to circle around the body of water before we crossed the river on the other side, but with any luck, there would be a bridge at some point.

We followed the edge of the lake for several hours, and the sounds of the forest shifted as the crepuscular animals came out to hunt through the dusk. Rustling in the bushes replaced the bird calls, and the noises had me swinging my head from side to side, but it sounded like they were coming from every direction.

A random racoon-like creature crossed the road ahead of us, and it hurried into the brush the instant it noticed us. I didn’t even get a good look at it before it disappeared into the shadows, but it had seemed harmless enough.

Besides, we still weren’t very far from the capital city, and there were regular trading wagons coming down this road from the northern towns. If there was anything harmful in these woods, it would have been hunted down already.

“It’s getting dark,” Luxe said shortly after the creature darted across our path. “Maybe we should stop for the night.”

I suddenly noticed the gleam of fire in the distance, and I pointed to the lights triumphantly.

“Look,” I said. “Where there’s light, there’s people.”

“You want to keep going until we reach the lights?” Luxe asked.

“Is that so bad?” Cal countered in a sarcastic voice. “You’re even on horseback.”

“I was thinking about the two princesses in the group,” Luxe shot back.

“We keep going,” I said, and I gestured for them to follow me before I took off down the road without another word.

The lights grew brighter as we got closer to them, and I could make out the sound of people in the distance. A cough here, the clink of metal against metal, and animals complaining, and I realized it was a town. We could barely see the outline of the buildings through the trees, but then the road circled around the forest and onto the central street through town.

“I didn’t even know there was a town by the lake,” Luxe said with an awed shake of her head. “I wish I had been able to travel before. What other secrets are people keeping about the wilderness?”

“I’ll help you discover them all.” I smirked. “But for now, we need to play nice and get a room for the night.”

“I can play nice,” Luxe promised with a wink.

“Are we all sharing a room?” Cal asked, and her crimson eyes flicked from me to Luxe. “It would be cheaper.”

“Umm…” Luxe avoided eye contact as her face reddened.

“We’ll get two,” I chuckled. “It’s not a big deal. We’ll be camping a lot the rest of the way, so we might as well enjoy one last night in a real bed.”

The buildings were built from rough hewn timber, and the smell of cedar filled the air. The ground was covered in pine needles, and the pathways were swept clean. A few people walked around, and I realized they were shifters like I’d never seen before. There was a duck man, a badger woman, and a hedgehog child.

This world never ceased to surprise me.

I walked all the way through the small town more than once before I could figure out which buildings were businesses and which ones were homes, but I eventually located what appeared to be an inn or tavern of some kind. I entered the establishment with my head held high, and I looked around at what seemed to be a common room.

There were armchairs and benches with cushions situated around a fireplace that almost took up an entire wall, and several seats were occupied by a variety of what I could only call forest folk. The most dangerous shifter I could see was a fox man, and beyond not trusting him to help me cross a river, I couldn’t picture him doing anything too aggressive.

I rang the bell sitting on the front counter, and I listened to the conversations around me as I waited for the innkeeper to appear.

“That’s not him,” someone argued in a low voice. “He isn’t even wearing a crown. I hear princes wear crowns.”

“I’m sure it’s him,” another voice insisted. “He smells different, can’t you tell?”

I caught a couple of groundhog-like men staring at me, and I avoided their gaze. It looked like they had recognized me, but that wasn’t a good sign. I turned and left the inn without waiting to speak to the owner, and I ushered the girls outside ahead of me.

“We have to find somewhere else,” I said, and I cast a glance behind me to make sure we weren’t followed. “Somewhere less busy. I don’t want us to be recognized outside of the city yet.”

“I’m probably not as well known as you three,” Luxe said. “I can rent rooms somewhere else, but where else is there?”

“We’ll find something,” Cal said. “But I think you’re right. I’m the only vampire who has even been to Shyfeterran in a generation, so one whiff of my scent, and my cover is gone.”

“She’s right,” Willow said, and she nodded in Luxe’s direction. “You’re our best bet for remaining undetected.”

We continued to wander the streets of the small town with Calantha keeping close to me to try and mask her scent, and then I found another business with lights on in the windows. Some scratchings on the wall indicated the name of the inn, but I couldn’t make out what it said. I sent Luxe in with a reasonable amount of gold for two rooms, and I waited with Calantha and Willow in the street until she returned.

It wasn’t long before the polar bear woman returned with two keys and instructions on how to stable the horses. There was a small shed behind the business accessed through the alleyway, and a small boy hopped up from a log stool to take the reins from us.

We gathered what we would need for the night, and we entered the inn through the back door. The hallway from the back was dimly lit, and there were multiple rooms on either side, but none of them matched the number written on a piece of ribbon attached to our keys.

At the end of the hallway was a common room, and a stairwell sat to the left across the room from the counter. We hurried up the stairs so as not to see any of the other guests, and the upstairs corridor was deserted. We quickly found our room numbers, but I gestured for Luxe to come into the room with me and the other two women.

“I have an idea,” I said.

Luxe nodded, threw her stuff in the room across the hallway from ours, and followed me into the room I was sharing with Willow and Calantha. The three women sat on the full sized bed, and I faced them with my hands on my hips.

“The people of this town are well outside of the Ordrya drama,” I said. “There’s a good chance that some news has spread this far, but I can’t be sure yet. I want to figure out what the gossip around here is before we leave tomorrow. Maybe there are whispers about the Night Folk that will help us in our quest.”

“But you were already almost recognized,” Willow said.

“And they’ll smell my vampireness immediately,” Cal pointed out.

“Willow and I can do it,” Luxe said in a decisive tone. “We can even make up some story about why we are traveling through this town.”

“You can say you are guarding the princess or something,” I said, “but it might not be a good idea for Willow’s identity to be known, either.”

“I can pass for a commoner,” Willow said as she lifted her chin. “I just need to change my clothes and dress the part.”

“So, you’re two girls on a journey together?” I shook my head. “That could be asking for trouble.”

“We don’t have to even tell them much about ourselves,” Willow said. “I can get people to talk about themselves easily enough. I doubt they would even ask me anything.”

“It’s safe to have a plan just in case,” I said. “If I weren’t so easily recognized, I would go with you.”

“We can keep each other safe,” Luxe said. “We helped you defeat that giant monster, remember? I think we can handle a few townspeople.”

“I know you can.” I smirked. “Just come back in one piece.”

The two girls gave me hugs and kisses on the cheek before they left the room, and Calantha and I were left alone. The vampiress stretched out on the bed with a sigh, and she shot me a seductive smile.

“Oh, really?” I chuckled knowingly as she gave me a pointed look. “How do you suggest we fill our time together?”

“I want you to fuck me,” Cal stated in a matter of fact tone. “As many times as you can before the others get back.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise at her blunt demeanor, but at least I knew exactly what she wanted from me. It would be an easy service to provide, and I wondered briefly how many times I could make her orgasm before the other two women returned from their rumor hunt.

Calantha swung her legs over the bed and spread her knees as she leaned forward, and she beckoned me slowly with one finger as she licked her lips. The fiery heat between us warmed my entire body in a wave, and I could feel sweat dapple on my forehead already.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said in a husky voice, and I crossed the room to her at a slow pace as I taunted her with a charming smile, but she began to reach for the binds of my clothing as soon as I was within her arm’s reach.

I curled my finger under her chin, and I lifted her face to mine. Then I stared into her crimson eyes, and a spark erupted between us. We were surrounded by magical flames until she blinked, and the fire dispelled as quickly as it appeared.

“Fuck, you’re hot.” I smirked before I claimed her lips with my own.

Calantha moaned into my mouth, and I felt my cock instantly respond. I cradled her head with both of my hands as she continued to undo the fastenings of my pants, and I explored the cavern of her mouth with my tongue. Hers met mine in a swirling sweet vortex of pleasure, and I couldn’t help releasing my own moan.

My pants fell to my ankles, and I took a second to kick off my boots and the loose pants. My cock already stood at full mast, and the crimson eyed beauty licked her lips as her gaze climbed up my body. Then Calantha rose from the bed just long enough to pull my shirt over my head, and I lifted my arms to allow the fabric to slide off my torso. The air began to steam from the heat radiating from us, so I wasn’t cold at all.

“You’ve gained muscle since you first arrived in this land,” the vampiress noted as she ran her long nails down my chest at a tantalizingly slow pace.

“Living in this world is a workout all on its own,” I said with a sideways smile. “But the added strength of my shifter abilities doesn’t hurt either.”

“Can’t you just take a compliment and say thank you?” Calantha arched one delicate eyebrow, but a smile twisted the corners of her luscious lips.

“Thanks,” I chuckled, and I raked a self conscious hand through my hair, but then I looked pointedly at the fully clothed vampiress. “What about you? Are you getting naked?”

“Not yet,” Cal purred, and a mischievous grin slid across her face. “I want to taste you first.”

“Oh, yeah?” I couldn’t help wiggling my cock a little, and the vampiress licked her lips eagerly. “Go for it.”

Calantha leaned forward and took my cock in both of her hands, and she looked up at me as she parted her lips every so slightly. Her crimson eyes burned with desire as she rubbed her lips against my pulsing tip. The vampiress exhaled, and her warm breath sent shivers up my shaft and into my spine.

Then Cal swirled her tongue around my tip before she promptly took my entire length into her mouth in one smooth motion. She opened her mouth wide, and she looked up into my eyes as her nose reached my abdomen.

“Fuck,” I groaned as she finally came up for air. My cock was slick with the heavy saliva from the back of her throat, and she quickly stroked the slipperiness up and down my shaft.

My hips leaned forward of their own accord, and the tip of my cock pressed against her lips. Calantha rolled her tongue across the head of my dick again, and then she began to bob her head up and down along my shaft.

I buried my fingers in her brunette hair, and I guided her rhythm with my hands and hips. Every few strokes, I went deeper until I couldn’t fit any more of my length inside her, and I held it there until I felt her stiffen in my grasp. Her back arched as she pulled off me, and she looked up at me with watery eyes.

“I liked that,” she purred as she licked her lips.

“I want to see you,” I growled, and I began to reach for the buttons and laces holding her corset and dress onto her body.

Underneath the outfit Calantha wore was a lacy black ensemble, and the lace of the panties allowed me to see the neatly trimmed shadow of pubic hair. I tossed her clothes to the side of the bed, and I pushed her with a gentle but firm touch until she laid back against the bedspread.

The vampiress had milky white skin that almost glowed in the dim lighting, and the stark contrast of the dark black fabric still covering her intimate parts was highly arousing.

“Turn around,” I instructed, and Calantha shot me a questioning glance before she did as I said. I helped scoot her into the position I wanted, and a moment later she lay with her head tilted backward over the edge of the bed.

Then I gripped my cock tightly as I angled it toward her mouth, and the vampiress obediently opened wide. I slid inside her throat with a groan of pleasure, and I rocked my hips back and forth as Calantha took my full length.

I reached forward and played with her breasts with both hands as I fucked her face, and her hips bucked upward as her whole body shivered. I gave her a moment to catch her breath, and thick strands of saliva dangled between my tip and her lips.

“That’s fun.” Calantha grinned up at me as her fingers explored her own body. She pinched her nipples as she bit her bottom lip, and her crimson eyes stared up at me with insatiable desire.

“You want more?” I chuckled.

Calantha nodded eagerly before she put her head back into the correct position, and she rubbed both hands up and down my shaft as she guided my tip into her mouth. I entered her seemingly bottomless throat once more, and I growled as I restrained the animalistic urge to hammer her in the face.

The vampiress spread her legs, and she began to rub one finger against the outside of her lacy black panties. I stared in rapt fascination as she slid the sheer fabric to the side so she could graze her pointer finger against her crevice. Her other hand pulled and twisted on her nipples, and I licked my lips as I enjoyed the show.

“I’m going to bust,” I groaned as I struggled to hold back the powerful orgasm building in my loins.

“Do it,” Cal encouraged before she took me into her mouth once more.

I exploded deep inside her throat, and my hips twitched as each spasm shook my entire body. Then I reached forward and rubbed my fingers against her clit, and Calantha moaned around my girth as her hips pushed toward the sensation. I continued to stroke and caress her slippery wet slit until she began to spasm as well, and the orgasm continued to build until I thought it would never end.

We separated with a loud gasp, and I had to support my weight on the bed as I suddenly felt limp of limb. Calantha scooted out from underneath the shadow of my body, and she wiped the stray cum from the corners of her lips before licking her fingers clean.

“Ready to go again?” the sexy vampiress asked as she flicked her hair over her shoulders and flashed me a wide smile.

The very thought of being inside her again made my cock stand at full strength once more, and her crimson eyes lowered to my throbbing member with a pleased expression.

“Come here now.” I grabbed her by the legs and spun her around until her ass was almost hanging off the bed, and Calantha giggled as her hair splayed out across the bedspread. Then I pulled off her lacy black panties at a tantalizingly slow pace, and I brushed my lips across the pale skin on her legs in its wake.

“Fuck me hard?” Calantha requested as she stared up at me with lust filled crimson eyes.

“I’ll fuck you any way you want me to,” I said, and I pressed just the tip of my dick against the inner lips of her pussy. I rubbed it up and down until I felt wetness, and I held back the urge to slam my cock deeply inside her.

Calantha’s bright pink pussy glistened with love juices already, and she whimpered as I teased her with the head of my dick.

“Fuck me, please?” Calantha spread her legs, and she held up her thighs with her long-nailed fingers. The pleading expression on her face stirred something in me, and I slid my entire length inside her tight little pussy.

“Like that?” I asked as I thrust in and out at an increasingly faster pace.

“Yesss,” Cal purred as she tossed her head backward.

The muscles in her throat bobbed up and down as I slammed my cock in and out of her, but when she lifted her head to look at me, the expression of pleasure in her crimson eyes would have sent me over the edge if I hadn’t already cum.

Calantha pointed her toes at the ceiling as she held up her legs with her hands, and I shoved her lacy black bra upward until her nipples popped out. The pink buds were already hard, and her areolas were covered in little bumps.

I leaned between her legs as I continued to pump in and out of her, but then I wrapped one hand around her pale, skinny neck and flicked my tongue across her nipples at the same time.

The vampiress gasped, and I could feel her swallow hard against my palm, but her body began to shake beneath me, so I could tell she liked it. I continued to lick and suck on her perky nipples as I felt her pussy tighten around my girth, and I dug in as deep as I could go as I took the rosy bud between my teeth.

“Oh, yes!” Calantha gasped out as her spine arched off the bed, and her eyes rolled back into her head. Her legs began to twitch and shake, so I leaned back and held onto them as I continued to thrust in and out of her as fast as I could.

My lover’s orgasm built in intensity with each thrust, and I placed a hand on each of her inner thighs to keep her legs widely spread. Her lower lips tightened around my girth, and her wet tunnel gripped my cock like a well oiled fist.

“Fuck, you feel good,” I growled as I pounded in and out of her. The sound of my balls slapping against her ass filled the air, and she let out a little gasp with each thrust that sounded like music to my ears.

I could feel another load preparing to disembark my rocket, and I took a steadying breath to regain my self control.

“Here, flip over,” I instructed, and I helped Calantha roll onto all fours.

Once I’d positioned myself on the bed behind her, I pressed the tip of my cock past her lower lips, and Calantha groaned with pleasure as I filled her entirely. Without losing the rhythm of my thrusts, I grabbed her hands, and I put them on each of her plump cheeks. The vampiress quickly picked up my meaning, and she spread her ass open for me.

I pounded her as hard as I could, and Calantha pressed her hips backward to meet me each time. The slapping of skin grew louder, and sweat began to drip down my forehead and my chest. My lover’s brunette hair lay in a tangle of sweat and spit, and she flashed me the sexiest expression over her shoulder.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she whimpered. “Just like that. Your tip is pressing against my womb.”

“Fuck, yeah,” I growled. I gritted my teeth and flexed my muscles as I hammered into her harder and harder, and I could feel her knees beginning to wobble. “Take it all.”

Calantha’s knees gave out, and her face was buried in the bedspread, but I could still hear her groans of pleasure as I continued to fuck her. I repositioned my legs to either side of her, and I moved her hands from her ass cheeks to the small of her back. I grabbed both of her wrists in one of my hands, and I squeezed her ass cheek with the other, but her tight pussy wrapped around my girth like a chinese finger trap.

“I want it all,” Cal gasped out as she lifted her head from the blankets, but the movement only enhanced the curve of her back and the roundness of her ass against my crotch.

“Like this?” I asked as I buried my cock as far as it would go and wiggled my hips in a circular motion. I could feel the texture of her cervix against my tip, and her tight little pussy spasmed around my length as another orgasm washed over her like a wave.

“Mmhmm,” Cal murmured once the shaking in her body subsided. “Just like that.”

“How about like this?” I asked, and I pulled almost all the way out of her before I slammed my entire slippery length deep inside her well of pleasure.

Calantha let out a choked gasp as I hit the limit of her entrance, so I repeated the motion. Right on cue, the vampiress cried out in bliss, and I continued to repeat the movement until it felt like I was playing an instrument with my dick.

“Oh… yes… hard,” Cal grunted out between heavy thrusts.

I got another idea, though, so I released her arms and reached around to her chest. Then I lifted her weight in my arms until she was basically sitting in my lap, but with my dick inside her. Calantha took my hands, and she guided one to her throat and the other to her clit, so I knew exactly what she wanted.

“I want you to put a baby inside me,” Cal murmured in a seductive voice as she rocked back and forth on my dick. The tantalizing swish of her hips against my crotch fueled my desire, and I tilted her head to the side so I could kiss her neck and shoulders.

“You want a baby?” I asked.

“Please?” she whispered. “It’s the only way to fulfill the prophecy.”

The prophecy was the last thing on my mind just then, but the vampiress had a point. The Ulvant was supposed to mate, which meant bringing more children into the world, and I couldn’t do that without impregnating the woman I was destined to be with.

I tightened my grip on her throat as I hooked her clit beneath the pad of my pointer finger, and I used the leverage on her neck to grind her against me. My cock thrust deep inside her, and the vampiress let out a gurgled sound as she practically melted in my arms.

I wasn’t done with her just yet, though, so I began to synchronize the rhythm of my finger and my cock. I increased the pace bit by bit until the vampiress was moaning on time to the beat again, and then I went crazy on her node of pleasure.

“Ahhh,” Calantha groaned as she began to convulse with the power of her climax. She leaned back against me, and I held her up by the throat as her entire body went slack in my arms.

It was the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever seen.

I could feel my need building to a powerful level, and I knew I couldn’t hold back much longer, but if my beautiful lover wanted a baby, who was I to deny her?

I pushed her forward, and my slick cock plopped out of her with a wet noise, but it only took me a moment to roll her over onto her back and slide inside her again. We both sighed in unison as we became one once more, and Calantha locked her ankles together behind my back.

“Will you give me your seed, Eli?” The sexy vampiress bit her bottom lip as she gazed up at me with crimson eyes full of love and desire, and I felt my heart thud against my ribcage at just the sight of her.

“I will give you anything you want,” I promised, and I wrapped her tightly in my arms as I thrust my hips back and forth.

Calantha wrapped her arms around my neck, and we were as close as two people could possibly get, but I felt the urge to hold her even closer. I licked, bit, and sucked on her neck as I felt her swallowing, and I could smell the combination of our love juices, sweat, and the special scent I associated with the vampiress alone.

Then I felt my balls tingle, and Calantha bucked her hips against me as she moaned my name.

Another jolt of my seed sprayed out of me, and my hips twitched erratically as I coated her insides with the white essence. I just kept coming and coming until every muscle in my body went slack, and Calantha shuddered through one last orgasm around me.

I didn’t want to squish the petite vampiress, so I rolled off her with a contented sigh, and my cum-soaked cock plopped out of her like a sucker passing taut lips.

When I looked over at my incredible lover, the sexy brunette was gently pressing every loose drop of my seed between her pussy lips. Her crimson eyes caught mine, and her lips twitched into a teasing smile.

“I can’t let any of it go to waste, now can I?” she asked before she licked her fingers clean in the most seductive way possible.

“You’re amazing,” I breathed. “I can’t wait till we can do that again. I think I like trying to make babies.”

Calantha scooted across the bed until she was snuggled into the crook of my arm, and I squeezed one arm around her as I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. I was still catching my breath, and the high temperature of the room was almost unbearable, but it slowly subsided as we both regained our composure.

Then Luxe and Willow suddenly entered the room, and the two women paused just inside the threshold as they blinked at us in surprise. Calantha and I were spread across the bed completely naked with her fingers in her creamy pussy, so it was obvious what we had just done. The polar bear woman’s face turned so dark red her freckles vanished, but Willow’s emerald eyes just sparkled with delight.

“Couldn’t wait for us, huh?” my wife teased me.

“You were busy, and we had to find some way to occupy ourselves.” I shrugged. “I’ll make sure to give you some extra attention later.”

“I’m only joking,” Willow assured me, and she turned to gauge Luxe’s reaction. “This one, on the other hand, seems to be malfunctioning.”

The bear shifter blinked a few times before she refocused her gaze on Willow, but the blush on her cheeks never faded.

“S-Sorry if we interrupted,” Luxe muttered. “I can go back to my room now if you want…”

“We are finished,” Cal giggled, and the vampiress lifted herself out of the bed with fluid grace. It only took her a moment to pull her dress on and fasten her corset, and then she tossed me my clothes as well.

“At least you had fun while we were gone,” Willow said, and she sat herself down on one of the chairs by the small table before she casually changed the subject. “I’m afraid we didn’t get much information to work with. Everyone is under the assumption that Prince Elijah is in Ordrya, so our departure isn’t general knowledge yet.”

“That’s good,” I said as I pulled my shirt over my head. “Let’s try to keep it that way.”

“A lot of good things were said about Lord Sylvester,” Luxe volunteered with a little shake of head as though she could reset the scene she was seeing. “From the perspective the people have of him, it would be hard to believe he was the one behind a nefarious, treasonous plot.”

“I’m sure King Frejit is working on fixing that situation as we speak,” I said. “We should try to get a good night’s sleep now, I want us on the road by dawn.”

Luxe nodded, and she cast one last glance at my crotch before she turned and darted out of the room. Willow and Calantha exchanged a knowing look as they giggled quietly, but then the shifter princess and the vampire princess curled up beside me in bed.

We left early the next morning, and we didn’t even see anyone in the stables as we gathered our horses and belongings together. The four of us headed down the road alongside the lake for hours, but we eventually found a suitable crossing location across the river that fed into the lake.

After we crossed the river, the road angled toward the northwest. I wondered how long it would go on before we’d have to leave the path behind, and I made marks on the map to indicate where the road went.

The landscape opened up on either side of us, and without the water of the rivers and lakes, less and less greenery grew along the road. We could see for miles ahead of us, and it seemed like we were truly in the middle of nowhere. The purple shadow of mountains and foothills darkened the horizon, and each day, the silhouettes grew more and more substantial.

A few days after we left the inn and small town beside the lake, we decided to camp in a circle of trees growing in the foothills to the north of the road. A small stream fed by mountain runoff trickled through the undergrowth, and we were able to let the horses drink their fill.

I used my elemental magic to start a fire and light a few torches, and then we began the familiar process of setting up our camp for the night. I unstrapped the gear and packs from the horses, groomed them, and gave them some food, but then I went to relieve my bladder a little ways away from the circle of firelight.

The trees cast long dark shadows across the ground, and a breeze tickled the hairs on the nape of my neck, but I suddenly had the uncanny sensation of being watched. I glanced from side to side in search of any indication of danger, and then I noticed movement in the undergrowth to my left.

The wilderness was full of unknown dangers, but I felt I could face any challenges the wild landscape could throw at me.

Then a monster the likes of which I couldn’t have even imagined while on a psychedelic trip emerged from the bushes.

Oh, fuck.

Court of the Shifter 4 Chapter 3

The Reptile Representative’s daughter waited for me to cross the distance between us with one hand on her hip, but I was already familiar with her attitude. We’d encountered one another before, but I still couldn’t help admiring her beauty. She wore a yellow dress that matched her slitted eyes, and her long black hair was woven into several braids.

With Lord Sylvester as her father, I could only imagine what knowledge she had of the scheme he was the mastermind behind. Salina Simillion had also sent multiple anonymous letters to the king of Ordrya, and she’d helped speed along our investigation of the kidnappings.

“What can I do for you, Miss Simillion?” I asked in a formal tone, but I couldn’t help sniffing the surrounding area to make sure we weren’t being lured into an ambush.

The snake woman had previously tipped me off to an attack, and I couldn’t help but wonder what hand she’d played in planning the entire thing. If she was anything like her father, she couldn’t be trusted, but she’d definitely acted against his best interest in favor of saving lives.

“I wished to speak with you privately, Your Grace,” the woman said with a similar sense of formality. She kept her eyes locked on my face, but her shoulders were tense.

“Who, them?” I jerked my head toward the women in my company. “You can say anything you need to say in front of them.”

The girls all nodded their heads in agreement, and the snake shifter’s eyes flicked from one face to another until they returned to me.

“Very well.” The snake woman tilted her head as she dropped into a curtsey. “I wanted to apologize for my family’s part in the treachery against King Frejit.”

“You mean your father’s attempt to attack the city with an ancient monster?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What part did you play in that exactly?”

“I must make a confession, Your Grace.” Salina’s eyes fixated on the ground as she rose to her feet. “I am the author of the anonymous letters the king received.”

“Yeah, I know.” I flapped my hand in a dismissive manner, but the snake woman widened her eyes at me. “What else can you tell me? Did you help them?”

“My father insisted I stay out of his affairs,” the snake woman said in a low voice, and when she met my gaze, her eyes were imploring. “I had to sneak into his office to steal the information I told the king. I would have been punished by both sides if I were found out, and yet I still put my neck on the line.”

I glanced at the three women at my side, and curiosity shone in all their eyes. They wanted to hear what the woman had to say for herself just as much as I did, so I turned back to the Reptile Representative’s daughter.

“So, you had no part in his scheme?” I clarified.

“None other than being his daughter,” Salina said with a shake of her head that sent her black braids flying across her shoulders. “I wish to apologize for the circumstances of my birth.”

“You don’t need to apologize for being born,” I said, and I gave her a sympathetic smile. “If you’re willing to prove yourself, then there’s a few things you can do. First, tell the king everything you know about your father’s operation and any further plans his followers may be working on. Second, announce to the city that you disown your father, and that you stand with the throne. Then I am willing to speak with you further when I return to town.”

“You’re leaving town?” Salina cocked one eyebrow in a way I didn’t entirely trust, so I definitely wasn’t going to give her the details about our destination.

Then her eyes welled up with tears, and her bottom lip quivered with emotion. I was getting mixed signals from the smooth speaking snake woman, but my instincts told me to trust her. Salina had no reason to help us stop her father’s plan, and even though she’d remained anonymous until now didn’t mean she went completely under her father’s radar.

“I am going on a quest,” I allowed in a vague tone.

“A quest for what?” the snake woman asked.

“Bear hunting,” I chuckled as I raked a hand through my hair. “Anyway, if you’d like to go up to the palace and make a formal report, I can escort you to where you need to go.”

“I can find my way, thank you, Prince Elijah,” Salina said in a hurried tone, and her eyes flicked to the street behind her like she was looking for a way out of this interaction.

“Do you have somewhere else to be?” I asked with a cooly arched eyebrow.

“Would I be allowed to leave the palace once I entered the doors?” Salina countered. “Or would I be held as a diplomatic prisoner?”

“That all depends on you,” I said, and I shrugged one shoulder as I turned away. “You’re the only one who knows how innocent or guilty you are, but coming clean goes a long way in deciding how you’re going to be treated.”

“Do you think she will do it?” Calantha asked in a disbelieving tone once we were far enough away from the snake woman.

“If she has any morals, she will,” Willow said.

“I don’t know her well enough to predict what she will do,” Luxe sighed. “I hope she does the right thing.”

“Me, too,” I said, and I wrapped my arms around Luxe and Willow’s shoulders as we turned toward the palace once more.

Calantha strutted in front of me, and the streets were dark and empty as we made our way to the palace. Our pace was brisk, and we leaned into the blowing wind. Soon, we were in the hallway outside of our rooms, and Luxe hesitated as if she had just realized she wasn’t at home.

“I should go pack my things for the quest,” Luxe suggested. “I don’t want to forget anything important.”

“Will you two go ahead without me?” I said to Willow and Calantha as I separated myself from them. “I want a few words alone with Luxe.”

“Sure,” Cal said with a wry smile and a knowing twinkle in her crimson eyes.

“We’ll warm the bed up for you.” Willow flashed me her own seductive smile, and her emerald green eyes sparkled with mischief.

“I won’t be long,” I said, and I squeezed both of their hands warmly before they went behind the bedroom door.

Then I turned back to Luxe, and she was staring at the ground with a shy smile on her face. Despite all the time we’d spent together, we hadn’t been alone very much, and it still seemed to make her nervous. I flashed her a warm smile as I curled my pointer finger under her chin, and I lifted her gaze to mine.

“I can walk you home if you want,” I suggested in a soft voice.

Luxe immediately shook her head, but she bit her bottom lip when her eyes returned to mine.

“Are you sure?” I stepped back and looked her up and down. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I can take care of myself,” Luxe said, and she shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, the streets are all empty by now, and there won’t be anyone out except for the guards.”

“The guards and the criminals,” I said, “and it doesn’t seem like the people of the city are very happy with the nobles lately.”

“Would you like me to have a guard escort me to my father’s house?” Luxe tilted her head to the side in a questioning manner.

“I would prefer that over you going alone,” I allowed, but I followed my words with a smirk. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“Send someone for me when it’s time to leave on the quest,” Luxe said as she stepped away from me. Then she took a deep breath, paused, and looked over her shoulder. “I’ll be eagerly waiting for your messenger.”

“You’ll be the first to know,” I chuckled. “But I need to do some more preparations before we leave Ordrya. I’ll explain more later.”

“Go ahead and do whatever you need to,” Luxe said with a nod. “I’ll be ready.”

She turned to go, and I got to watch her bubbly behind bounce down the corridor before I turned to enter my bedchambers. Then I slipped inside my room and joined the other two women in bed.

A few days passed while we made our preparations for the quest, but there was no telling how long we would be gone. The mysterious nomadic tribe of bear shifters traveled all over, and there was no way of knowing where they were until we went and looked at their last known location. We had to be prepared for anything, and I wasn’t about to let a lack of rope or something keep us from meeting our goals.

The girls and I visited the bazaar more than once as we worked our way through our lists, and we’d almost acquired everything we could think of. After a lot of deliberation about the efficacy of bringing along a pack animal, we ended up deciding to have two horses accompany us on our journey. One for Luxe to ride since she couldn’t fully shift into her bear form, and the other to carry our supplies.

It was the evening of the third day when a knock sounded on my bedchamber door, and I paused my millionth inspection of my packs to answer the call. It was a messenger from the king who simply said we were requested at dinner, so I rounded up the other two, and a short while later, Calantha, Willow, and I were headed to the royal dining hall.

“He hasn’t requested this before,” Calantha observed as we traversed the corridors of the palace. “Do you think something happened?”

“I’m sure he merely wants to spend time with us before we leave,” Willow said. “We haven’t given him a set departure date yet, but I’m sure he can sense our eagerness to leave.”

“I can see that,” I said with an agreeable bob of my head.

“I’m surprised I was included,” the vampiress said, and her crimson eyes stayed on the floor as she spoke. “It shows some growth in the connection between our realms.”

“Father only wants peace,” Willow assured her, and my pregnant wife squeezed my hand. “And for the prophecy to be fulfilled.”

We made it the rest of the way to the royal dining room, and the guards pulled open the doors for us to enter. The lavishly decorated space was filled with candlelight, and the smell of roast beef wafted through the air. The king and queen were seated at the head of a long table where the rest of the Court of Representatives sat as well. Salina Simillion sat in her father’s place, and she wore a midnight black dress that drifted off her shoulders in long strips. Everyone rose from their chairs when we entered, and the three of us took the last empty spots.

I hadn’t realized it would be such a formal affair, but I was ready to roll with the punches. I’d spent most of my time in the shifter realm saving the people at this table, and I wondered if that was why they were all here.

“Prince Elijah,” the king said as he cleared his throat. “I’m glad you could join us. I was hoping I didn’t catch you too late, I know you’re departing soon, so I wanted to give you a nice send off.”

“I appreciate that, Your Majesty,” I said with a nod of my head. “I’m glad we got the chance to speak again, but I was planning on coming to see you before I left. I have some thoughts about the security around Lord Sylvester, and the palace in general I would like to share with you.”

The king met my words with a warm smile, and the rest of the court mumbled agreeably, but I wasn’t sure what all I should reveal openly to the Court of Representatives. I thought over my words carefully, and then I cleared my throat.

“I calmed the riot by saving Lord Sylvester’s life,” I pointed out. “But I also inferred I would be guarding him personally. I put my power on the line, and they backed down. It will be a different matter entirely once word leaks that I am no longer residing in the palace.”

“We will all feel your absence, son,” Lord Urman said, and his jowls jiggled as he nodded emphatically. “My daughter eagerly awaits word from you.”

“I wanted to cover all my bases,” I said, but I was only met with confusion, and I realized it was a baseball analogy. “I am trying to think of everything.”

“I can understand that,” Captain Casper Holt said in his gruff manner. “You’re smart to prepare in advance.”

“Anything we can do to help?” General Jornei Hazelmoon asked with a tilt of her head that revealed her fuzzy leopard ears. “Do you want a platoon of soldiers to accompany you on your journey?”

“Eli is stronger than a platoon of soldiers,” Willow said in an amused tone. “Plus, Calantha and I will be with him. We’ve conquered worse with just the three of us.”

“I won’t let any harm befall the fabled Ulvant,” Calantha promised in a more serious voice.

“We still need him, you know,” Duchess Olivia Octavian tutted. “Don’t keep him away for too long.”

“I’m sure the crown prince will do what he thinks is best for all people,” Salina interjected in a haughty tone, and the snake shifter flicked her long black braids over her shoulder.

“Still,” Lord Gruxian argued with a shake of his large head. He had always been in full animal form in my previous interactions with him, so it was strange to see him looking more human. He wore a brown overcoat with a cream colored silk shirt beneath it, and his horse-like face was clean shaven. “The Ulvant should understand that his place is in Ordrya on a throne.”

“The Ulvant’s place is wherever he wants to be,” Calantha said as she crossed her arms and narrowed her crimson eyes. “He isn’t a servant of the shifters.”

“Alright, alright,” I said, and I lifted my hands. “We don’t need to fight over me. There’s enough of me to go around.”

“He’s right,” the king said in a louder voice. “This doesn’t help anything. Prince Elijah, will you please explain to us what you would have us do in your absence? The people are unhappy, Lord Sylvester a prisoner, and many other problems plague Ordrya. If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.”

Everyone turned their eyes back to me and waited with patient expressions. It was an odd sensation to be in charge of a campground one moment, then responsible for an entire realm of magical shifters. They would really follow through on my instructions, so if it didn’t work, I would be held accountable.

It was a lot of pressure, but I reminded myself of everything I’d already accomplished. I’d defeated wizards, monsters, and solved all manner of problems since I’d arrived in this magical world, but I was far from done.

I had to fulfill the prophecy.

“Lord Sylvester is a problem,” I said in a clear voice. “Without me being close enough to keep an eye on him, there will be attempts at freeing him made by the people.”

“So, what do we do?” Captain Holt asked. “Can’t we just kill him and be done with it?”

“If you want to completely lose control over the populace, sure, go ahead.” I shrugged. “Lord Sylvester did something to win them over, and until that is undone, then he has more control over them than you realize.”

“He is worth more to us alive than dead,” Calantha said.

“If he is dead when we return,” Willow said as she stared into Captain Holt’s eyes, “then there will be consequences.”

“Maybe we should move him to a different location before you leave,” General Jornei suggested. “Somewhere the people won’t know about.”

“I say keep him in the most secure vault around,” I said. “And that means the palace dungeons. There are things you can do to increase your chances, and the more security measures in place, the less likely it is he will be rescued.”

“What other measures would you have us take?” King Frejit stroked his long beard as he spoke. “He is already guarded by the best of the best.”

“Double that,” I suggested. “And then some. No one speaks to him, none of the guards go into the city, and rotate shifts frequently.”

“That seems extreme,” Lord Gruxian argued, but I shot him a hard look and held his gaze for a long moment, and he eventually dropped his eyes to the table. “But I suppose it is whatever you think is appropriate.”

The food was served just then, and our discussion was briefly interrupted by the sudden appearance of roast beef and countless side dishes. My stomach growled as the aromas struck my nostrils all at once, and the two girls at my side giggled.

“Some sort of magical defense could be useful as well,” I said between bites. “There’s obviously enough wizards out there to be able to find one capable of such a thing.”

“I know of a protective wizard, Your Grace,” Duchess Olivia said as she lifted her hand like she was a student in class. “I can summon him to the city, and I’m sure he will be capable of some magical defenses.”

“How much is this going to cost?” King Frejit countered with a line creasing his brow. “I’m not sure the crown is capable of handling a long term expense.”

“I will cover the cost personally,” the duchess said in an adamant tone. “Lord Sylvester is a danger to the public, and I sleep much better knowing he is behind bars.”

“Agreed,” Lord Gruxian muttered.

“I think keeping Lord Sylvester behind bars is something we can all agree on,” Lord Urman said, but then he cast a suspicious glance in Salina’s direction. “Or is it still up for debate?”

“My father is better off imprisoned than free,” Salina said and met the bear man’s gaze head on. “I should have more to fear of him than any other since I have betrayed his trust.”

“Salina’s loyalty is not under question,” King Frejit interjected with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Lord Sylvester will be heavily guarded with every measure possible.”

“What about the people of the city?” Salina asked. Her yellow slitted eyes focused on the king, and she leaned forward in an eager manner. “How do we fix what ails Ordrya?”

The king’s gaze flicked from the imploring snake woman to me, and I indicated for him to go ahead. I was curious what he had to say on the subject, but I had a feeling he was too disconnected from the common populace to see solutions.

“We jail anyone spreading discord,” the king said in a hesitant voice. “Enact harsher legislation to control dissent.”

“This isn’t something you can punish out of them,” I said with a shake of my head.

“What do you mean?” The king frowned, but I could tell he was genuinely interested in what I had to say.

“Beating someone while they’re down isn’t going to make them like you,” I said. “They’re upset because something they need from you isn’t being met. I’d say the first step would be finding out what they’re upset about. Start small.”

“Give everyone a voice,” Willow added with a nod of agreement.

The young princess was much more forward thinking than her father, and she had no issue in pretending to be a commoner who worked for the king when we first met. Calantha’s eyes held a hint of doubt in the crimson depths, but she’d also been raised in the lap of luxury.

“Criminals and traitors to the crown deserve to be treated as such,” Captain Holt grunted. “We cannot let the laws be broken without consequence.”

“I’m not talking about letting everyone break the laws,” I said. “I think there can be a balance between total authority and democratic influence.”

The shifters and vampire blinked at me, and I wondered if I needed to translate it further.

“As in giving the commoners a modicum of control over their own lives?” Calantha asked as though to clarify.

“It’s a way for you to understand them and vice versa,” I said. “It’s not rocket science--, er it’s not that difficult.”

“I will attempt such a course of action,” King Frejit said in a decisive tone. “What other things would you like to discuss before your departure?”

“Who is all joining you on this quest?” Queen Lunaverre spoke up for the first time, and her gaze flicked to her daughter.

“Mother, don’t start,” Willow sighed.

“Calantha, Willow, and Luxe are going with me,” I said, and the queen’s eyes widened. “What’s the big deal?”

“Your wife is pregnant,” the queen said as if this clarified everything.

“And?” I looked between Willow and her mother in a questioning manner.

“What if something happens to the baby?” the queen asked. “No, we cannot allow it.”

“I don’t remember asking you for permission,” I said, and I frowned. “When we got married, we made promises to each other to always be there. How are we supposed to do that if we’re separated by miles?”

“She can’t go in her condition,” Willow’s mother said with an adamant shake of her head.

“I don’t think you’re understanding,” I said as I caught the king’s eye.

Willow’s father smiled, but it was obvious that he was uncomfortable with publicly disagreeing with his wife. I would find no help there, and the Court of Representatives really had no say in this matter.

“Willow is coming with us with or without your approval,” Calantha said with a stubborn lift of her chin.

“Can everyone please stop arguing over this?” Willow leaned back and sighed. “I’m not an invalid, I can speak for myself.”

“Listen to your mother,” was all the king would say.

“I have an idea,” I said. “What if we got some kind of doctor approval for her to travel?”

“Doctor?” the queen asked with a confused tilt of her head.

“Healer, apothecary, midwife, something like that,” I said. “Do you have anything like that in Ordrya?”

“Of course,” the queen said, but she frowned. “You’re saying we should let a midwife examine her before she leaves the city.”

“Yes,” I said, and then I turned to Willow. “How do you feel about that?”

“I’m just glad you asked for my input at all,” Willow chuckled. “But I would be okay with visiting a midwife.”

“There,” I said, and I turned back to the royal couple. “If the midwife says she is fit for travel, Willow is going with me.”

“And if the midwife says she should stay?” Queen Lunaverre arched a challenging eyebrow.

“I will stay,” Willow sighed, and she didn’t meet her mother’s gaze.

I squeezed her hand in a reassuring manner, and Willow shot me a small smile. There was a mischievous glint in her emerald green eyes, and I had a feeling she was planning on joining the quest no matter what. Pregnant or not, my wife was kind of badass, so I didn’t enjoy the idea of traveling without her.

We settled into less aggressive topics, and the king smoothly transitioned the conversation around the table to give everyone a small amount of his attention. He was a good diplomat, but he’d need all his charm to win over the hearts of the people. For his sake, I hoped he had it in him to humble himself before the people he led.

The dinner ended on a positive note, and I was glad to see Salina accepted at the table without any dramatics. If we really could trust the snake woman or not, it would be good to keep her close by.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Willow and I went to the midwife the next morning, but we had to trek all the way through town to a back street of the Feline Zone. The buildings were made of an adobe-like substance, and they stacked several stories high, so the alleyways between them remained cool all day long. We passed by several people lounging on stoops and balconies, and we waved in a friendly manner. Several cat shifters snarled and slunk back inside their homes, but a few returned the gesture in kind.

My pregnant wife kept her hand locked firmly in mine, but I could feel her beginning to sweat on her palms. I squeezed her fist warmly and flashed her an encouraging smile. Her eyes were nervous, but she managed a small smile back at me.

“Are you worried the midwife will say you should stay home?” I asked as we took a right turn.

“I’m not going to let some strange shifter woman tell me what to do,” Willow said with a shake of her head. “I know what I’m capable of, and I don’t need anyone telling me otherwise.”

“Well, I have your back no matter what,” I said. “But I hope you can listen to the midwife with an open mind. I sure as hell don’t know much about babies, let alone shifter babies, so maybe we should give her the benefit of the doubt.”

“I won’t rush into rejecting her,” Willow promised. “But I can’t make any promises that I will follow through with her instructions.”

“Whatever she says, we all have the baby’s best interest at heart,” I reminded her. “The priority should be their health and wellness.”

“I’ve already gone with you to win battles while I was pregnant,” Willow pointed out. “I think I can handle a walk across the countryside.”

“I distinctly remember your father calling it some of the harshest terrain in the realm.” I laughed. “But like I said, I have no doubt that you can do it.”

We arrived at the midwife a short while later, and I knocked on the rough hewn wooden door. It reminded me of the swinging saloon doors from the wild west days.

An old woman with a knitted shawl around her shoulders answered the door, and she had her gray hair pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck. I couldn’t tell if the spots on her face were from age or animal markings, but she appeared to be a normal old lady.

“My name is Willow Hazelmoon,” my wife said, and then she gestured to me. “This is my husband, Prince Elijah. We sent a messenger about an appointment with you?”

“Yes, yes, come in, come in,” the old lady said as she beckoned us into the shadows.

“What was her name again?” I whispered to my wife as we followed her inside.

“I am Madam Euphegenia,” the midwife said loudly. “I have been practicing childbirth since before you were even thought of, and I will not have any smart remarks in my home.”

“Understood, ma’am,” I said.

The midwife reminded me of Russian grandma’s who bordered between affectionate and scary, but there was a touch of Mrs. Doubtfire to her as well.

Madam Euphegenia led us down a long hallway, and we passed by several open doorways. Inside were simple beds and cabinets with medical-looking tools spread across the surfaces. Each room had a window to let in natural light, and a curtain hung across the entryway to grant a level of privacy.

We entered the last exam room at the end of the hallway, but I couldn’t help noticing the lack of other patients. Perhaps it was just good timing on our part, but I hoped it didn’t say something about the woman’s abilities.

The midwife gestured for Willow to lay on the table, and my wife flashed me a nervous smile before she did as she’d been asked. The room was chilly, but not too cold, and I couldn’t help sympathizing with Willow’s situation. I was grateful I wasn’t the one having my vulnerable spots examined, though, and I pulled the only chair in the room up next to the bed so I could hold my wife’s hand.

Madam Euphegenia had her back to us as she picked over her tools, and she swiveled on her feet with a long tube attached to what looked like a funnel on the ends.

“What does that do?” Willow’s shoulders tensed as the midwife approached.

“I must listen,” the old woman said in a heavily accented voice. “Pull up your dress.”

Willow shot me an uncertain glance, and I nodded slightly. The old woman had to get access to her stomach somehow.

The midwife pressed one of the funnel-looking object to Willow’s abdomen, and she held the other end up to her ears. She moved the part against my wife’s skin around as she frowned in concentration, and I realized the device was basically a medieval stethoscope.

I didn’t know much about the health industry or childbirth, but I’d had a doctor listen to my heart during check ups as a kid. The stethoscope was an essential part of every doctor costume as well, so I was surprised I hadn’t made the connection sooner.

Once she located the baby’s heartbeat, Madam Euphegenia listened for a long moment, and her eyes kind of glassed over as she concentrated on what she was hearing. She didn’t say anything as she set the tool down, but she began to poke and press at various spots all over Willow’s body, and she watched my wife’s reaction closely.

“Does this hurt?” the midwife asked as she pressed on Willow’s lower stomach.

“It’s uncomfortable,” Willow said with a grimace. “What are you looking for? Is everything okay?”

“Oh, the baby is fine,” the older woman chuckled. “I’m just trying to determine how far along you are, and when we should expect the baby.”

“So, I can go on the quest?” Willow asked in an urgent tone.

“We aren’t done yet, young lady,” Madam Euphegenia said, and she tutted her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

“Well, go on then,” Willow sighed as she laid her head back against the pillow.

The midwife moved between my wife’s legs, and I could feel Willow’s hand tense in mine.

“Relax, miss,” the midwife said as she pressed her hands against the inside of Willow’s thighs. “This is part of the exam.”

“Alright,” Willow said, and she turned her head to keep her eyes locked on mine while the old lady peered at her downstairs.

I saw a look of discomfort flash through her emerald eyes, but it was gone an instant later, and the midwife stood back up to her full height.

“You okay?” I asked.

“As long as everything is okay with the baby,” Willow said with a tight lipped smile.

“I said your baby is fine,” Madam Euphegenia said in an impatient tone. “You are still early into the pregnancy, so there is still a lot that could go wrong, but you are healthy and strong.”

Willow squeezed my hand warmly, and we exchanged a broad smile.

“So…” Willow looked from me to the midwife. “Can I travel?”

“I deem you fit enough to continue on as normal,” the midwife said. “But I want you back here in a month for another exam.”

“What if we aren’t back by then?” Willow frowned. “I don’t want to have to return separately, and I don’t want Eli to have to halt his quest on my behalf.”

“I’ll make sure we accomplish our goals and return by then,” I said in a decisive tone. “But you’re still not far enough along for it to be a big deal to miss a single appointment. We aren’t separating, though, that’s out of the question.”

“Good,” Willow sighed, and she gave me a grateful smile.

“What about the baby’s gender?” I asked as the thought suddenly struck me. “Is there any way to tell if it’s a boy or a girl before they’re born?”

“People mention all sorts of things,” the midwife allowed. “But none of them are foolproof. The best way is to look at the baby when it’s born.”

“I come from a world that can send soundwaves into the mother’s womb,” I said, and the midwife’s eyes widened to the size of saucers before they glazed over. “Anyway, was the exam over?”

“I need her to urinate for me,” the midwife said. “But that’s all.”

Willow and the midwife went into another room to finish the examination, but they returned a short while later, and my wife looked beyond eager to leave.

I could only imagine how uncomfortable the whole thing had been for her, and I tried to think of ways I could help her relax.

When we made it back to the palace, I ran a hot bubble bath for her, and I left a tray of charcuterie type things where it could be reached from the tub. Then I fetched my wife, and she practically melted in my arms at the sight.

“Thank you, Eli,” Willow breathed as she turned to give me an enthusiastic kiss.

“I’d do anything for you,” I said, and I gestured toward the tub. “Stay as long as you like. Then I’ll rub your feet when you get out.”

“Why don’t you do something for yourself?” Willow suggested. “You could go to the training grounds to expend some extra energy.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I said, and I had to admit I’d been anxious for some time to myself to practice my shifts before we left on our quest. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay and rub your feet?”

“Another night.” Willow smiled and kissed my cheek. “We have the rest of our lives together, after all.”

I left her to her bath, and I slipped on some stretchy, athletic-like clothes before I headed toward the training grounds. There was no one else there, so I had the whole place to myself. Just the way I liked it.

I began with some stretches and normal warm ups, and I jogged at an increasingly faster pace with each lap I made around the room until I had a good sweat going on. Then I returned to the front of the obstacle course, and I summoned primal energy into my body.

My goal was to switch between animal forms as swiftly as I could, and to decrease the amount of time the shift took me with each successive repetition.

I was most comfortable with my wolf form, and I slid into the halfway version as easily as taking a breath. My muscles bulged, but I still stood on my hind legs, and I had claws instead of hands. My torso remained mostly the same, but I could feel my lung capacity increase.

I probably looked like the stereotypical image of a werewolf, but it wasn’t the only thing I could do.

Next, I shifted into my cat form, but that one was a little harder to nail down. The textures of my skin flashed through several shades before an orangish color took over, and I could feel a full mane grow and recede around my head. I focused my energy, and I visualized a lion standing alone in the safari until I felt the shift end. I looked down, and I was pleased to find my limbs and torso were all the same hue, and I’d successfully performed a half shift into a lion.

I wasn’t going to stop there, though.

I was the fabled Ulvant brought here to fulfill the prophecy.

With a decisive nod, I switched my focus and mental imagery into a bear form, but I’d never successfully performed the shift, so I had doubts in my ability to pull it off now.

I had to try.

My thoughts were centered on one image as I pictured my body changing into a grizzly bear, and I could feel the hair sprouting from every inch of my body, but my face never shifted.

It would be something I’d have to keep trying, but I wasn’t about to give up.

I still had to put my skills to the test against the challenges of the obstacle course, though, so I shook out my limbs and returned to my Nulmancer form. Then I took off at a quick pace toward the springboard, and I shifted into big cat form in the middle of my jump up to the rungs attached to the wall.

My massive paws curled around the peg, and I immediately used my momentum to launch myself toward the next one. I bounced from one to the other, but then the rungs ended at the edge of the far wall, so I shifted back into my human body as I landed on the ground.

A rolling log bridge came next, and I shifted into my full canine form to run across it at a brisk pace, but I rose to my full height on the other side in my Nulmancer form.

I wanted faster shifts so they would be automatic reactions to obstacles, but that would require a lot more practice. I was up for the challenge, though, and I spent the next few hours going back over the obstacle course again and again. My limbs were screaming in protest when I finally called it a night.

Surprisingly, Luxe was waiting for me in the hallway outside my bedchamber, and she bit her bottom lip in an anxious manner as I approached.

“I was just checking in to see when we are leaving?” Luxe asked after we’d hugged.

“We can leave tomorrow if you want.” I winked. “We’ve just been dotting i’s and crossing t’s, if you know what I mean.”

“I do not,” Luxe giggled. “But you really mean it? We can go tomorrow?”

“We’ve taken care of all the details already.” I shrugged. “Why not?”

Luxe squealed and jumped in my arms, so I spun her around in a circle before I planted her back on her feet.

“I better go tell my father,” Luxe said, and she waved before she dashed down the hallway.

I went to bed with a smile on my face, but Willow and Calantha were both happy to hear we were finally leaving. I slept with one of them to each side of me, and my dreams were full of memories of the two of them, so it was difficult to tell I was awake at first when I opened my eyes to them leaning over me.

“Hey, sleepy head,” Cal murmured.

“It’s time to go,” Willow said, and she bounced on the bed. “Get up!”

“Please?” Luxe said from behind them. She must have been eager to get here before I even woke up.

“Alright, alright.” I laughed. “Just let me get dressed.”

The king and queen met us in the foyer to say goodbye, and the servants pulled our packed horses into the courtyard. I was certain the news of our departure would sweep through the city shortly, but I hoped the Court of Representatives managed to keep things underwraps for a while.

Luxe mounted one of the horses, and the other two girls took up positions in front of the horses, so I led the way out of the city.

The early morning light was just peeking over the eastern horizon when we went through the city gates to the road heading north, and I inhaled the fresh air deeply before I flashed the three women a wide smile.

A new quest had begun.

Court of the Shifter 4 Chapter 2

“Have a seat, Ravvi,” I invited as I pulled out an empty stool. “What makes you seek us out so urgently?”

“I went to the palace first,” the priest admitted as his gaze flickered over his shoulder and back to me again. “The gruff knight said you had ventured into the city. I think this is for the best. The fewer people who know we have talked the better.”

What was his deal?

He was acting like he was about to divulge some world ending information, but the last time we’d spoken he hadn’t known anything about the bear talisman I was after. Could there have been some new developments?

I gestured once more to the empty seat beside me, and the women all gave him encouraging smiles as he hesitantly sank into the chair.

“I came straight to you,” he continued, and his eyes finally landed on mine. “And I told no one else.”

“I’m listening,” I said, and I scooted closer to him as the women all leaned in.

“The talisman.” The bear priest took a deep breath, and a relieved expression crossed his face. “I have news about the bear talisman.”

“You found it?” Luxe’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “I looked everywhere.”

“I did not find it,” the priest sighed, and I tried to hide my disappointment, but then I thought of something.

“But you came here for a reason,” I said as I got back on track.

“Yes, I recently gave hospitality to a wandering minstrel,” Ravvi explained. “And since they had no coin to donate to the church, I accepted the gift of song in exchange for the meal and room for the night.”

“Okay…” I frowned as I prepared for the story to get going.

“One of these songs described a nomadic tribe of bear shifters,” Ravvi continued. “I thought nothing of it at first, but the more I listened to the words he was singing, the more I realized that it was more fact than fiction.”

“What were the lyrics?” Luxe asked and leaned forward with interest. “Was it a familiar song?”

“No, it was a new piece the bard had just completed,” Ravvi said as he shook his head. “When I questioned him afterward, he said he’d met the tribe himself recently, and he assured me the song lyrics were not fictional.”

“So, what was the song about?” I asked.

“There have long been whispers about a tribe of bear shifters who roam the realm,” the priest said as he locked eyes with me. “Many believed it to be nothing more than ghost stories and tales told in the dark. Apparently, this minstrel is one such spreader of stories.”

“What is this tribe called?” I asked.

“Night Folk,” Luxe, Ravvi, and Willow all said at once.

I exchanged a glance with Calantha, but she shook her head. Neither one of us had heard of anything like this before, but the shifters acted like it was common knowledge.

“You’ve all heard of them?” I asked as I looked between my fellow shifters.

“It’s like he said,” my pregnant wife explained. “There have always been scary stories about them prowling on children who wander off after dark. Many considered them to be otherworldly beings or spirits of those who passed. I never believed in them as a child. I always thought it was fake.”

“So, it’s like Zeus and the Greek gods,” I thought out loud. “You never know if it’s just a story or if it was based on something else.”

“I am not sure,” Ravvi said with a shake of his head. “But this song said something else. The minstrel sang about the Night Folk harnessing the magic of the bear talisman to become the most powerful shifters in the wilds.”

“You think this nomadic tribe has the bear talisman?” I arched an eyebrow as I thought this over.

He might as well have said the talisman was on another planet, but nothing was impossible. Even humans on Earth had managed to land on the moon. I could hunt down a mythical tribe of bear shifters and get the talisman from them without starting some sort of problem.

“I believe so, yes,” Ravvi confirmed. “The location of the bear talisman has been unknown for years, but the most recent record puts it in Ordrya shortly before the first known recordings of the Night Folk tales.”

“They had it all along?” I whistled. “Who started the tribe? Where are they now?”

“That I do not know,” the priest sighed. “I have told you everything of note from the minstrel’s song. He has since left the church, and he didn’t tell me where he was headed next.”

“He’d be easier to track down than a children’s tale,” Luxe muttered under her breath. “We can’t take one man’s word as fact.”

“The fact that all of you had heard about this tribe leads me to believe it could partially be based on fact,” I said. “There has to be a way to find this tribe and get the talisman from them.”

“Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” Calantha fixed her red eyes on me with a pointed look.

“That’s his adventure voice for sure,” Willow said as her lips tugged up into a smirk.

“Adventure voice?” I laughed.

“Yes,” Cal confirmed. “Your voice gets all excited sounding whenever there’s a new quest to complete.”

“Well…” I raked a hand through my hair. “You can say that. I think we only have one option here. We have to go find this bear tribe and see if they even have the talisman for ourselves.”

“Easier said than done,” Willow pointed out. “There haven’t been new stories in decades, and any variations are so overplayed they are cliche.”

“We could find the minstrel,” Luxe suggested with a shrug. “Then we could ask him where he’s been, where he ran into the tribe, things like that.”

“So far, we know very little about this man claiming to be a traveling minstrel,” Calantha observed.

“Was the minstrel a shifter?” I asked.

“He was a Nulmancer, my lord,” the priest said.

“He would likely be one of the only Nulmancers in town,” Willow pointed out. “Shouldn’t be too hard to narrow it down.”

“What did he look like?” Calantha asked. “Any unique facial features or markers?”

“He was normal enough in appearance,” Ravvi said in a thoughtful voice. “His attire was a patchwork of blue fabrics, and his bag was a fat, lumpy thing he flung over his shoulder.”

“Did he say where he was going next?” I asked. “What was his name?”

“I never got the man’s name.” Ravvi shook his head. “But he mentioned something about making money from Ordrya’s taverns before leaving town. I said it sounded like a wise choice, but he was gone before I rose the next morning.”

“Did he leave anything behind?” I pressed. “Something that could give away his scent?”

“No, Your Grace,” the priest said. “He even refused the bed. He slept right on a pew the entire night.”

“I’d like to come by the ritual house and see if I can pick up his scent from the bench,” I insisted.

Just then, the waitress came around to check on us, and I caught Ravvi glance at her breasts, but he blushed beet red when he saw me watching. I guess he wasn’t a purely celibate priest, but I was sure there were a lot of differences between the animal shifters and humans from Earth. Still, he seemed embarrassed by his actions.

I gave him a pointed look, and he dipped his head in a submissive manner.

“You may do whatever you need to, Your Grace,” Ravvi said in a hurried tone.

I signaled to the waitress, paid for the table’s drinks, and then we all followed Ravvi to the ritual house. I had the priest point out which bench the minstrel had slept on, and I picked up on the Nulmancer smell immediately.

It would be easy to isolate the scent from the other aromas of the shifter capital, and my confidence in our mission grew stronger.

We finished talking about everything the priest could remember from the interaction with the minstrel, and then the four of us stepped outside the ritual house, but we paused in the street to discuss our next move. Willow suggested we ask her parents about any known whereabouts and if there was any proof the tribe was real.

I wasn’t sure what King Frejit would know that we didn’t, but it wouldn’t hurt to find out, so we headed toward the very center of the city.

It was still early afternoon, and the sun was just beginning to settle toward the west. The air was warm, but a breeze ruffled through my hair and chilled my scalp. The girls rubbed their arms and huddled against me as we made our way to the palace doors, but it wasn’t long before we arrived at the king and queen’s private chambers.

The royal couple had halted any court proceedings ever since the Court of Representatives were kidnapped, so there was a greater chance of finding them in their personal rooms than in the throne room. I knocked softly on the door, but Willow chuckled before she twisted the handle and went inside.

The rest of us followed hesitantly in her wake, but we entered the room right behind her. The king and queen were lounging on the low couches that occupied the majority of the space, and they looked up from their cups of tea in alarm when we barged into their room.

“I thought you had all gone out for a drink?” Queen Lunaverre asked with a furrowed brow. “What’s going on?”

“There’s been a development,” Willow explained, and she took a seat on the couch beside her mother. “We need your help.”

Cal, Luxe, and I sat in empty arm chairs sitting opposite the couches, but I let Willow take the lead on this conversation. She gave her mom an imploring look, but then her dad cleared his throat.

“What is the meaning of this, Willow?” King Frejit asked. “What sort of trouble are you in?”

“I’m not in trouble,” the shifter princess pouted. “We just had an eye-opening conversation with a priest we know. He says the Night Folk are real.”

“You didn’t know that?” Queen Lunaverre tutted her tongue against her cheek. “I told you they would eat you if you wandered off.”

“I thought those were just stories!” Willow shook her head. “But that’s beside the point.”

“There is evidence that this bear shifter tribe has the bear talisman,” I said in a clear voice. “We need any information you can give us.”

“The Night Folk haven’t been seen in decades,” the king said in a quiet voice, and he tapped his finger against his chin as his eyes kind of spaced out. “I remember my father explicitly saying to keep things the way they are. The last thing we want to do is anger the Night Folk.”

“What’s so awful about them?” I asked in confusion. “Are they cannibals or something?”

“There is no telling what parts of the stories are real or fake,” Queen Lunaverre sighed. “But it is best to leave them be so as not to find out for ourselves.”

“Except that’s exactly what I want to do,” I said, and I lifted my chin proudly. “I’m going to find this tribe and get the bear talisman from them.”

“This task is much harder than you make it seem,” King Frejit said, and he furrowed his eyebrows together as concern filled his eyes. “No one has seen or heard of them since long before Willow was born. There is no telling where they are now, if they’re even still alive.”

“The wandering minstrel ran into them recently,” I pointed out. “They have to still be alive, and within the boundaries of Shyfeterran.”

“Their last known location was far to the northwestern border of our realm,” the king said with a sad shake of his head. “There is some of the roughest terrain in the kingdom between here and there.”

“Well, I’m sure I can sniff them out,” I said without missing a beat. “I can track anything.”

“I’m afraid your confidence will be shattered by this challenge,” the king countered. “Part of their fearsomeness is their ability to remain undetected for so long. If they take a sacrifice, then there is no way to follow them back to their shelters. They vanish like spirits into thin air.”

“Or so the stories say,” I said in a disbelieving tone.

“Some of the stories are true,” Queen Lunaverre sighed. “But Frejit, darling, this is the fabled Ulvant, is he not? Surely he can accomplish such a task.”

“If anyone can do it, it’s me,” I agreed as I puffed out my chest.

“I suppose you have a point,” the king grumbled under his breath. “You have yet to fail a challenge.”

“And you’re not going to see it happen in the future,” I promised. “Between my two animal forms, I am unstoppable, but soon I will have mastered all six.”

“That will truly be the greatest challenge to your power as the Ulvant,” King Frejit said. “We are all looking forward to the day you fulfill the prophecy.”

“So, they were last seen near the northwestern border of Shyfeterran?” I asked to get us back on the topic of finding the bear shifter tribe.

“I can mark it on a map for you,” the king suggested.

“That’s very helpful, thank you,” I said with a bob of my head.

The king rang a small bell on the table beside him, and a servant entered the space with a stiff backed bow. The king instructed the servant to bring a map of Shyfeterran and a quill, and the thin man returned a short while later with the requested supplies.

Then King Frejit pointed to an area on the map that lay beyond a mountain range to the northwest, and there were miles and miles between villages. There wasn’t much written in that area, and some weird squiggles I didn’t understand sat just below the borderline.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It marks the glacier,” the king said. “We rarely get news from the border towns in that direction.”

“What lies beyond?” I pressed, and Willow pressed a calming hand against my shoulder. “No, really, what is outside of Shyfeterran to the north?”

“It used to be the land of the dwarves,” the king sighed. “But the borders have been closed for centuries. Anything that crosses never returns. We eventually stopped trying.”

“That’s sus as fuck,” I muttered, and the king blinked at me in confusion, so I cleared my throat and translated. “I do not trust this situation, Your Majesty.”

The three women behind me giggled knowingly, but the king hadn’t learned to accept my Earth terminology just yet. It took some adjustments to translate into the more formal dialect spoken in the magical realm of shifters.

“Act accordingly, then,” the king suggested in a solemn tone, and he rolled up the map before handing it to me. “I’m sure you will know what to do.”

The four of us left the king’s chambers and paused in the hallway.

“So, we are going on a quest?” Luxe asked in an eager tone. She bounced on the balls of her feet and bit her bottom lip, and I couldn’t help but notice how adorable she was from head to toe.

“Looks like it,” I said, but then I hesitated. “Does that mean you’re going with us?”

“Of course she is,” Calantha said with a dismissive flap of her hand. “Where else would she go?”

“We’ll have to speak with her father first,” Willow pointed out.

“My father could have more information about the Night Folk as well,” Luxe said in a cheerful voice.

I wanted to give her a quick squeeze hug, but I didn’t want to bombard her with affection unless she was clearly open to it. I had nothing but time on my hand, especially if she was joining us on this new quest.

I just needed to convince her dad it was okay first.

Luxe had previously lived a very sheltered life, but little did her father know, she’d already accompanied me on a few adventures outside the walls of Ordrya. The polar bear woman was brave and capable, so I knew I could rely on her in tough situations. She made a valuable addition to the group, and the other girls seemed to have already accepted her.

And if finding the bear talisman helped her finally master her full animal form, well that was even more motivation for me.

The walk into the Bear Zone of the city was short, and we filled the time with rapid fire banter in an effort to prove who’d performed the most powerful move of the battle against the Ancient One. We had all played a role in that victory, though, and we eventually agreed our strengths were better in combination with each other.

The sun was close to the horizon now, and we had to pull on cloaks to protect against the chill in the air, but the streets were lit with torches so it was easy to find our way. Luxe took the lead as we headed to her home, and she just walked right in the front door, so we had little choice but to follow her.

The servant woman who’d greeted us in the past rushed into the hallway at the sound of the door opening, but she visibly relaxed when she saw Luxe walking toward her. It was only after they hugged that the older woman looked over the polar bear shifter’s shoulder and saw us.

“Mistress, what is this?” The woman eyed us up and down. “You should warn me before we are expected to provide hospitality.”

“There wasn’t time to send a messenger,” Luxe said. “My apologies. How is father? Has he left his room at all?”

“No, miss,” the woman said, and she tutted sadly. “I’ve offered him his favorite chair in the sitting room a few times, but he always grumbles something about being tired.”

It seemed like Lord Urman wasn’t coping with his ordeal as well as I’d hoped he would, and I was sympathetic toward his isolation, but I still had to talk to him before I took his daughter out of the city again.

“We’re going to go see him,” Luxe said in a decisive tone, and she hugged the woman one more time before she gestured for us to follow her.

Their home was lavishly decorated with anything bear related you could think of. Clay prints of paws bigger than my head with four inch claws graced the stairwell, and each was marked with the type of bear that had made the track. I wondered what type of bear this mysterious nomadic tribe shifted into, but in the end, it didn’t matter. I would master my bear form next, and if that didn’t impress Luxe, I didn’t know what would.

It would be a lot easier with the bear talisman firmly in my possession.

I still didn’t know what exactly would happen once I gathered all the necessary talismans together. When I’d first met Luxe, the polar bear woman was investigating the last known location of the talisman of her kinsmen, but we’d both come up empty handed even when we’d combined forces.

This was the first real lead either one of us had found, and her excitement was palpable. She bounded up the stairs two at a time, but Calantha and Willow followed behind her at a more stately pace with amused smiles on their faces.

This gave me the wonderful opportunity to watch them all climb up the stairs in front of me.

I shook my head to dispel the dirty images popping into my mind, and I reminded myself that I was there to convince Luxe’s father to let her leave the city.

At the top of the stairs, Luxe took a left and went to a door at the end of the hallway. She knocked as she entered, and we all hurried to catch up with her. The room was dimly lit with only one lantern on the bedside table, and Lord Urman lay in the king sized four poster bed with his back to us.

Calantha, Willow, and I gave Luxe space to wake her father gently, but I was sure it would be unpleasant to wake up to company. The polar bear shifter grumbled something unintelligible, but he eventually sat up with a reluctant sigh. Then Luxe leaned in to whisper in his ear, and his eyes shot to us before he gave his daughter a small nod.

“We need your help, Father,” Luxe said loud enough for all of us to hear.

“What’s going on?” Lord Urman asked as he fixed his gaze on me. “Is there danger?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “Have you ever heard of a nomadic tribe of bear shifters?”

“The Night Folk,” the Bear Representative said immediately. “What of them?”

I exchanged a loaded glance with my lady companions, and they all smiled encouragingly.

“They are probably in possession of the bear talisman,” I explained. “We need to find them and convince them to give the talisman to me so I can fulfill the prophecy.”

“A very important quest,” the leader of the bears said in a thoughtful tone, and he scratched his wiggly jowls as he thought it over. “What exactly do you need from me?”

“Father,” Luxe said in a hesitant voice. “I would like to go with Prince Elijah in search of the bear talisman.”

“Again with your hunt for the talisman.” The Bear Representative threw up his hands in frustration. “Your whole life you’ve prattled on about it, and now you want to run off after a children’s tale.”

“You said yourself you had heard of them,” I pointed out. “There’s enough evidence saying they’re real for me to be able to find them.”

“I assume you’ve heard the stories about the Night Folk?” Lord Urman lifted one eyebrow. “It would be wise to expect every rumor to be true.”

“Like they’re cannibals or something?” I shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle. But that’s beside the point. Luxe wants to go with us.”

“The Night Folk may not be very welcoming to visitors,” the Bear Representative warned. “There aren’t many tales about surviving an encounter with them.”

“A wandering minstrel just came from a visit with them,” I said. “There’s at least one possible survivor, and that’s the most recent report of their existence.”

“And what did this minstrel have to say about the Night Folk?” Lord Urman pressed.

“We haven’t found him yet,” I said. “We just found out about this earlier today. The king provided us with the last known whereabouts of the tribe, but the information is centuries old.”

“Do you think I have more recent information?” Lord Urman shook his head. “I didn’t even consider them to be real. I dismissed any stories about them as exaggerated fiction.”

“But people have come to you with stories about them?” Willow asked as her emerald eyes glinted with intrigue. “How long ago?”

“Many times over the years,” Lord Urman said. “Usually to report someone going missing while they were traveling Shyfeterran. The Night Folk are an easy scapegoat preventing them from searching too hard, but many dangers lurk in the wilderness, especially to the north.”

“So you just pass it off as tall tales?” I shook my head. “There’s no telling what really happened to those people. What evidence is there of cannibalism?”

“No crops or food stores have been raided,” the leader of the bear people explained. “They leave no traces, never reveal themselves, and operate in the dark of the night. If the tales are true, that is.”

Calantha and Willow gave Luxe a pointed look, and the quirky polar bear woman bit her bottom lip in an anxious manner.

“Father,” Luxe said again, this time a little louder. “I am going with Prince Elijah on this quest. I know more about the history of the bear talisman than anyone, at least before it disappeared from the records. And maybe… maybe the talisman will help me realize my full form.”

The young woman’s father stared at her for a long moment before his gaze flicked to me. It was as though the man was staring into the depths of my soul, and it was more intimate than I was comfortable with, but I held my ground. I had nothing to be ashamed of, and I’d done nothing but help Shyfeterran since I’d arrived. If Lord Urman couldn’t see I was more than capable of protecting his daughter, then he was blind.

“Very well,” Lord Urman finally sighed, and his shoulders slumped in defeat. “But I must warn you, my daughter has never been outside the walls of Ordrya before in her life. It could be quite a culture shock for her to see how people live in the wilderness of Shyfeterran.”

Luxe and I exchanged an awkward smile and didn’t say anything, but her father caught the expression and frowned.

“What do I not know?” he asked in the demanding tone only a parent could master.

“I, um, well, Father, I’ve already been outside of the city walls,” Luxe admitted with a sheepish grin, and she twisted at the waist with her hands clasped behind her back.

“You what?” Lord Urman blinked at his daughter in surprise, but then I saw things begin to click behind his eyes. “When you were searching for the person responsible for the kidnappings.”

“Yes,” Luxe confirmed, but she bit her lip again. “But also, we went to find the liger who used to work for the former king.”

“And you were not injured?” Lord Urman narrowed his eyes while he scrutinized her as though his daughter had just returned from said expeditions. “Or otherwise… assaulted?”

The protective father turned his gaze sharply back to me, and I couldn’t help but swallow the lump that rose in my throat.

“Nothing happened,” I said in the calmest voice I could muster.

He stared at me like he could see into my imagination and knew the things I had thought about his daughter, and I tried to keep my mind blank just in case.

“Very well,” Lord Urman said at long last, and Luxe visibly relaxed.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she promised as she squeezed him into a quick hug. “You won’t regret this!”

“I should hope not,” her father grumbled, but there was a loving twinkle in his eye when they finally parted.

“We will take good care of your daughter,” I said in a serious voice.

“I’m holding you completely responsible for her well being, Your Grace,” Lord Urman said as he locked me in his gaze once more. “One hair on her head out of place, and I will know.”

We said our goodbyes, and Luxe practically floated into the hallway. The grin on her face spread from ear to ear, and she threw herself into my arms as soon as her father’s bedroom door clicked shut behind us.

“He said yes!” she giggled. “Can you believe it?”

“Let’s hope we keep you out of trouble,” Calantha said with a pleased smirk, and the vampiress picked at her cuticles in a nonchalant manner. “Can’t have your father getting upset and refusing to let you leave again.”

“Whatever happens,” Luxe said without dropping her cheerful smile, “I’m sure it will be an adventure.”

Willow chuckled and shook her head in amusement, but then my pregnant wife gestured to the stairs.

“What’s our next step?” she asked as she took the lead toward the entrance.

“Besides down?” Cal snickered.

“It’s obvious we still need more information,” I said in a thoughtful tone. “We need to find the minstrel.”

“There’s a chance he’s still in the city,” Cal agreed.

“Only one way to find out,” I said in a decisive tone.

We left the Bear Representative’s house at a brisk pace, and the girls quickly took the lead as we trotted down the steps. I couldn’t resist the urge to shift into my wolf form before I inhaled the plethora of aromas floating in the wind. It was overwhelming at first to sort through all the information I gleaned in the blink of an eye, and when I looked back down, the girls watched me with curious expressions on their faces.

“Give me a sec,” I requested with a dismissive flap of my hand, and I continued to use my wolf snout to pick up on the multitude of scents in the city.

It didn’t take me long to pick up on a similar scent as I had smelled on the bench inside the ritual house, and I gestured to the three women to follow me before I took off down the street. The scent wound through the Bear Zone for a while before it left that section of the city altogether, and we followed it to the Bird Zone.

The smell ended at a business that was obviously closed for the night, and I heard Luxe let out a disappointed sigh.

“What is it?” Willow asked in an out of breath voice. “Did you find the minstrel?”

“Not yet,” I said, but I didn’t say anything else as I continued to sniff the air. I could smell the food cooked by the business throughout the day, and I picked up on the scent of rodents in their rubbage pile in the alleyway behind it. Still, through all the chaos of the busy city street, the Nulmancer odor was strong enough to pinpoint.

“Did we lose the trail?” the polar bear woman asked.

“Hardly,” I reassured her. “I can still smell him in the street.”

“Eli’s right,” Cal confirmed with a quick nod. “He didn’t stay here. His scent trails off in that direction.”

The vampiress pointed down the road in the direction the Nulmancer’s scent headed, and Luxe smiled as she took the scent for herself. The polar bear woman took the lead as we followed after it once more, but this time it took us to another business that was already closed for the night.

We increased our pace in an effort to catch up to our prey, and his scent grew stronger and stronger as we continued to follow his trail. We entered a few taverns, and all reported a minstrel coming through to play a few songs during their peak hours, but they didn’t have any more details than that.

By the time the sun set behind the walls of Ordrya and cast the streets in shadows, it felt like we’d visited every tavern and restaurant in the city. The scent was stronger than ever before, but it led toward the gates to the bazaar. It wasn’t a market day, so the area would be used for military purposes, and it was likely the minstrel had already moved on, but we had to follow anyway.

We found our way in the dark streets, but some torches up ahead illuminated a platoon of city guards performing routine drills. We skirted them and walked next to the wall, but they didn’t stop to ask us what we were doing. I knew they could all smell us just like we could smell them, and I wondered if they recognized me.

The minstrel’s scent wandered through the outer ring of the city, and I imagined the space filled with booths and vendor’s tents. Then the smell approached the gateway leading out of the city.

“Are we prepared to hunt this man down in the wilderness?” Cal chuckled. “He could be miles away already.”

“You can always ride on my back,” I suggested with a one shoulder shrug. “Or you can go back to the palace.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” The vampiress crossed her arms and tilted her nose into the air.

“Alright.” I smirked. “Then let’s hurry up and see if we can catch him before dawn. You down?”

“What?” the three women asked in unison as they looked at the ground in confusion, and I laughed.

“Nevermind,” I chuckled. “I just mean are you ready.”

Willow began to shift into her animal form since we could cover more ground on all fours, and I focused my primal energy on turning into a big cat, but I noticed Luxe attempting her full form and failing repeatedly. I left just my mouth in its normal shape to instruct her to ride on Willow’s back, and the polar bear woman shot me an unreadable look before she did as I asked. Then Calantha climbed onto my back, and she wrapped her legs tightly around my torso as she took two fistfuls of hair into her fists.

I inhaled the air again to pinpoint the minstrel’s scent, but then I galloped down the road after it, and Luxe and Willow followed in my wake. I covered miles in moments as my paws pressed into the hard pressed dirt road, and the trees passed by me in a blur of dark green shadows.

I felt Calantha lean forward, and I could feel the difference in aerodynamics instantly, so I lunged forward even faster. I was surprised Willow could keep up with Luxe on her back while she was pregnant, but she was breathing heavily when we finally came to a halt. The scent had grown stronger, but it had left the road and headed into the undergrowth. Luxe slid off Willow’s back at the same time Calantha jumped to the ground, and my wife and I both shifted into our normal forms. Then we all glanced at each other, and the three women shrugged their shoulders.

“Maybe he made camp for the night,” Cal said from atop my back.

We continued into the undergrowth at a slower pace, and the minstrel’s scent grew ever stronger as we approached the light in the distance. When I pushed through the bushes, I spotted a Nulmancer man laying propped against a large sack with his eyes closed in front of a small campfire.

“Excuse me?” I asked in a soft voice, and the man jumped up with a frightened expression on his face. “I’m sorry, I’m not here to hurt you, but I have to ask you some questions.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” the man said in a mousey voice. He was no more than five feet tall, and I could have wrapped my fist around his bicep.

“Ravvi said you sang a song about a nomadic bear tribe,” I said, and I tried to keep my voice as soothing as possible. “I need to know everything you can remember about them, but specifically where they were at or where they are going.”

“It’s just a song.” The man’s eyes darted back and forth between me and the three women behind me. “Nothing serious.”

I imagined we made for an intimidating alarm clock since we were three shifters and a vampire working together, but I didn’t know how to reassure him we weren’t there to hurt him.

I glanced at the campfire, and I noticed he had food put off to the side. It smelled like pheasant, or some other small bird, but I wasn’t about to impose on his dinner. Instead, I took a seat on the ground on the other side of the fire from him, and the three women followed my lead silently. Their eyes were locked on the minstrel like they were barely restraining a million questions, but I knew they were letting me handle the situation in my own way.

We sat there in silence for a long moment, and we all smiled in the most friendly way we could.

“Who are you?” the Nulmancer finally asked as he narrowed his eyes at us from across the campfire.

“I am Prince Elijah,” I said with my chin lifted proudly. “And this is Princess Willow, Princess Calantha, and Luxe.”

“R-Royals seeking me out?” The man’s eyes widened in shock. “What can I possibly do for you?”

“It’s just like I said,” I explained. “I heard you’d encountered a nomadic tribe of bear shifters, and we were wondering if you could point us in the right direction in order to find them.”

“I made promises,” the minstrel muttered with a shake of his head.

“Let’s start with something easier,” I suggested. “What is your name? We followed your scent here from the ritual house, but Ravvi never caught your name.”

The Nulmancer man fidgeted for a moment, and I took the opportunity to scan him over. He had short cropped, curly brown hair tucked beneath a blue cap that matched his patchwork outfit, but his eyes were a lighter color, it was just hard to see what particular shade they were in the firelight.

He had pulled himself upright and crossed his legs, but he still sat in front of the big lumpy pack. His defensive posture and body language indicated that he valued the pack more than he would admit.

“I am called Alias Ventura,” the minstrel said, and a bit of his stage persona began to take over. “I have ventured over all of these great lands, and I have spread my music far and wide. Surely you’ve heard of me?”

“No,” I chuckled, but I tried to ignore the flood of Ace Ventura scenes in my mind. “But it’s nice to finally meet you.”

The three women at my side echoed my sentiments, and the minstrel’s chest visibly puffed with pride.

“I’d love to hear a song,” I said in a nonchalant tone. “Maybe the one about the nomadic bear tribe?”

“Lost in the North?” Alias’s face lit up, and he immediately pulled out a small lute from his large, lumpy sack. He strummed the strings quickly, and he smiled in satisfaction before he began the tune.

Oh, I’ve been east, and I’ve been west

I went every way I thought was best

Dancing my way through town

I went up and I went down

But this story is about the first time I went north

The girls and I all exchanged an excited glance as we leaned forward to hear him better, but his melodic voice carried into the air like a harmonized echo.

Alrighty, then, listen here.

I found a bear with lots of hair.

I snorted with delight as I instantly pictured Ace Ventura’s voice in my head, and the girls glanced at me in confusion. I flapped a dismissive hand and regained my composure, but I’d missed part of the song.

And that’s how I met the clan

All of them a bear, to a man

Stronger because of the talisman

Alias strummed quickly at the end of the song, and he lifted his instrument into the air dramatically before he killed the sound suddenly. We all applauded, but I noticed the girls were less than enthusiastic. I could see the wheels turning behind their eyes, and I knew they were analyzing the lyrics in search of clues.

“Why did the tribe let you leave?” I asked. “Aren’t the Night Folk known for not leaving any survivors?”

“Stories have long been told about them,” the minstrel said. “But little is true. My song is as honest as it gets, and that’s all I will say.”

The fact that this Nulmancer musician was acting this way only added to the mystery of the nomadic bear tribe known as the Night Folk. Why was he accepted? Had his performance simply amazed them enough to be granted visiting privileges?

It didn’t seem like the minstrel was willing to discuss more about the Night Folk, and he eyed me suspiciously from across the campfire. His arms were crossed, his hat was pulled down over his eyebrows, and his entire energy felt defensive.

I had no reason to hurt the guy, so I let out a low sigh as I rubbed the palms of my hands together.

“Listen, Alias,” I said. “I’m not here to hurt you or anyone else. I am on a mission to save the world, and in order to do that, I need to know where you saw the Night Folk. I’m not leaving till I know.”

“I made promises in order to be allowed to leave,” Alias repeated with an adamant shake of his head.

“You have my word that your name will not escape my lips,” I said. “No one will know it was you who told me their location.”

“The word of man is a tricky thing,” the musician muttered with a shake of his head. “It’s not something I consider valuable.”

“What about a fair trade, then?” I arched a questioning eyebrow.

“What else do you have to offer besides words and whispers?” The minstrel mirrored my expression but added a mocking twist to it.

“I’ll trade you stories you can turn into songs for more information about the nomadic tribe,” I said. “Give me what I want, and I’ll let you sing ballads about the many grand adventures of the Ulvant.”

“Ulvant?” Alias scoffed. “Hmmm… I’ve heard rumors about such a man claiming to be the Ulvant. How do I know you’re not speaking tall tales yourself?”

I laughed before I stood to my full height, and a small amount of fear flashed through the minstrel’s eyes as his gaze followed me. Then I focused the primal energy flowing through me, and I shifted into a liger.

“Impressive,” the minstrel said, and he patted the palm lightly. “But half of Ordrya can shift into some kind of cat. Your lady friend here among them.”

I smirked as my features flowed from one type of animal to another, and Alias’s eyes widened as my wolf head formed. I kept going, though, and I focused all my energy on the image of a grizzly bear. There was an intense pressure in my head, and I knew I’d have a migraine after the attempt, but it would be worth it to prove my point.

My head shifted into a bear’s face for the briefest moment, but it was enough to end all of the minstrel’s doubt. He stood with his mouth agape and his eyes wide, and he only regained his composure once I was back in my Nulmancer form.

I made a mental note to practice shifting into the bear form more in the future, but I knew it would be a lot easier once I got my hands on the talisman.

“Alrighty then,” Alias said, and he pursed his lips together. “We have a deal. I’ll tell you everything.”

I unrolled my map of Shyfeterran, and the minstrel marked the location he’d encountered the Night Folk, but it wasn’t too far away from the glacier the king had pointed out to me. It was possible the nomadic tribe had predictable migration routes across the realm, but with a glacier along the northern border, they didn’t have a lot of other places they could go.

Once Alias had given us the information we were after, I spent the next few hours sharing stories about my previous adventures. The girls all chipped in to add their perspectives to the tales, but their version always seemed to paint me as the hero even more so than mine did. Alias was impressed by the descriptions of the monsters we’d killed in the past, and he even wrote some notes down in a little leather bound journal.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes and left him to his campsite. We’d traveled miles outside the city walls, and it would take us the rest of the night to get back even in our animal forms.

The purple hue of predawn illuminated the sky as the city walls came into sight, and we all yawned as we stepped beneath the archway entrance. It had been a long night for all of us, but we’d accomplished a lot.

I was eager for my bed as I led the way back to the palace, but I smelled a vaguely familiar scent following us as we walked to the center of the city. Where did I know that smell from?

“Prince Elijah,” a familiar sounding voice called out from behind me.

I turned to see Lord Sylvester’s daughter standing in the street with her hands on her hips.

Court of the Shifter 4 Chapter 1

My dreams were full of adventures and love making with my two beautiful women, but then the images were cut off when I opened my eyes.

I woke up before dawn the morning of Lord Sylvester’s trial and probably execution, and I stirred beside the two beautiful women who occupied my bed. The three of us had spent days making love, together and separately, but everything we’d worked for in Ordrya was coming to fruition. With Luxe’s help, we’d managed to catch Lord Sylvester and foil his plot to weaken the king, but King Frejit believed even the snakey bastard deserved a fair trial before his sentencing.

I slipped out from beneath limbs and locks of hair, and I crossed the room to the wardrobe. I hadn’t worn much of anything for days, and I did an experimental sniff of my armpits before deciding I needed to bathe first.

It didn’t take me long to run a tub of clean water, and soon the steam filled the air of the bathroom. Then I tiptoed into the nearly scalding hot liquid, and I sighed as I sank below the surface.

I loved my life.

In this magical fantasy world I’d been summoned to, I was the fabled Ulvant sent to save the realms before they both collapsed.

There was a prophecy and everything.

It was hard work to surpass everyone’s expectations, but I gave it my all. I wasn’t one to turn down a challenge, after all, so now I deserved a good soak in a hot tub.

Once I was clean and relaxed, I stepped out of the now tepid tub water, and I reached for the towel a servant had left on the rung. Then I pulled on one of the outfits provided to me, and I stepped in front of the mirror to inspect the look.

I wore a navy vest over a white cotton shirt, but it was overshadowed by the crisp navy blue jacket. The tail hung to the backs of my knees, and the shoulders were clad in fur so lush I resisted the urge to rub my face on it. I wondered what animal the fur had been made from, but the pure white hue pointed toward a winter creature. The jacket pulled in at the hips to accentuate my broad shoulders and narrow waist, and the knee high black leather boots completed the outfit.

I looked like a clean cut pirate.

Or a navy officer gone slightly rogue.

After I shoved back my hair and glanced over my reflection, I strapped on the belt for my sword scabbard, and I turned to wake up the two gorgeous women occupying my bed.

“Good morning,” I whispered as I tucked their stray hairs behind their ears. “Today is a big day. We will be standing in front of the whole city.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Willow murmured, and she pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. “I’ll get ready.”

“It doesn’t matter what I wear,” Calantha grumbled as she buried her face further into her pillow. “All the shifters will still hate me.”

Tensions were still high between the races of shifter and vampire, but I hoped to change that soon.

“We are here to create peace,” I said in a reassuring voice. “Sometimes that means crossing a few boundaries. It may be outside some people’s comfort zones, but I promise everything will work out in the end.”

The two women were out of bed a moment later, and I enjoyed watching them pull on their very different outfits. Calantha wore a sleeveless gown of deep crimson that so closely resembled her eyes, it made her gaze seem to glow red. The skirt was slit up the side to reveal her pale legs, and to allow for freedom of movement.

Meanwhile, Willow asked for my help with the ties of the black corset over a lacey green dress, and she leaned on my arm as she pulled on thigh high black leather boots.

“We have to meet my father in the throne room before we walk outside together,” Willow reminded me.

“Then we should hurry so they aren’t waiting,” I said.

Calantha nodded her readiness, so we all linked arms and walked down the corridors of the palace. The decor of the Ordrya castle was a Viking’s wet dream, and I lost count of how many taxidermied animals graced every surface. The rugs beneath our feet were lush carpets, and our footsteps were muffled as we made our way to the throne room.

The king and queen of Shyfeterran were already present in the throne room when we arrived, and they were surrounded by a platoon of sharply dressed royal guards led by Sir Tyrion. The shifter knight nodded his head in greeting before he stepped to the side to give me access to the king, and I tilted my head in response. There was a sense of respect in the man’s expression that hadn’t been there when we first met, but my initial introduction to the man was abrupt and confusing.

Calantha, Willow, and I approached the royal couple. King Frejit and Queen Lunaverre greeted us with broad smiles, and Willow rushed forward to hug her parents.

“Prince Elijah,” the king said as he clasped my forearm. “Are you ready to put this matter to bed once and for all?”

“I’m prepared for whatever comes, Your Majesty,” I countered with a wink.

“I know you urged me to have a private trial and execution for Lord Sylvester.” The king sighed. “But I do believe the people have a right to know what he did.”

“As you wish,” I said with an incline of my head, but then I made a point to get in line behind him. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Calantha and Willow picked up on my body language, and they gathered at my sides. We walked through the palace corridors with the royal guards surrounding us, and I breathed deeply when the sky opened up before me. It was already a beautiful day, but I had a feeling it would soon have a solemn air.

There was a good chance Lord Sylvester would be sentenced to death today.

There was already a crowd gathered in the courtyard, and a platform had been erected in the biggest open space in the gardens. Guards lined the pathways to keep the residents of Ordrya from rushing toward the king, and I could sense the volatile energy the people radiated.

This was not a happy gathering.

Once the king and the rest of the procession had taken their seats on the platform, Sir Tyrion retrieved the suspected criminal from his cell in the palace dungeons. He was given a wooden chair in the center of the wooden dais, and guards lined up before the edge like bouncers at a rock concert.

Lord Sylvester wore a ragged gray tunic that hung to his knees, and a rough hewn rope wrapped around his waist in place of a belt. His long black hair was greasy as it drifted across his shoulders, and the sour look on his face turned into a sneer as we made eye contact.

“Your Majesty,” Lord Sylvester said in a low voice. “Allow me a defense, at least?”

“You may call upon someone to speak for you,” the king allowed while staring down his nose at the former Reptile Representative.

“I call upon Ardea Herodias,” Lord Sylvester said as his eyes scanned over the gathered crowd.

A spindly man with thin rimmed glasses and a light blue bowtie stepped out of the crowd, and he made his way to the steps of the platform. I took the opportunity to look him over, and it appeared he was some kind of bird shifter because he had a line of feathers circling his head and a long narrow beak instead of a nose. He stooped over as he walked, but I imagined he was actually pretty tall when he stood at full height. He reminded me of the blue herons catching fish from a lake I visited as a child.

“Your Majesties,” the bowtie-sporting man said before he cleared his throat.

Sir Tyrion stiffened and put a hand on the hilt of his sword, but the king sent him a subtle signal, and he relaxed slightly.

“What is your defense for the actions of Lord Sylvester?” King Frejit asked in a booming voice.

“He hasn’t even been read a formal list of his charges,” the man chirped. “What exactly is he accused of here? You put a man’s life on the line despite his obvious confusion and emotional distress.”

The king nodded to Sir Tyrion, and the shifter knight stepped forward. Tyrion cleared his throat and stroked his beard, and I caught him trying to catch my eye, so I gave him a subtle nod of encouragement.

“Lord Sylvester Simillion is charged with the kidnappings of the members of the Court of Representatives, assaulting said victims while holding them hostage, and using their blood to summon a powerful monster.” Sir Tyrion glanced at me. “For these reasons and more, he has been brought before the throne for royal judgment.”

The king made a gesture, and Sir Tyrion stepped back into his former place.

“Mr. Herodias,” the king said in a loud voice. “What arguments can you make against such accusations? This man is a traitor to the throne, and he has been caught by eyewitnesses.”

“Yes, but he was among the victims of one such attack,” the heron shifter said in a high-pitched voice, and he swung an accusatory finger around like he had just dropped a bombshell. “How do you explain that?”

“A cover for his involvement in the treason,” I interjected. “Dude, that’s a worse argument than O.J. Simpson’s lawyer made.”

“I do not understand,” the lawyer-bird-man said with a confused shake of his head.

“Whatever.” I smirked. “My point is that your argument is illogical. It’s basically a chewbacca defense.”

“One could also argue that my point is infallible.” The lawyer mirrored my smirk. “Lord Sylvester is a victim here, nothing more. You are letting the guilty person go free while an innocent man is behind bars.”

Damn. He was good.

An unhappy murmur waved through the crowd, and we all turned to look at the guards struggling to keep the masses back. They had formed a wall with their shields, but they were having to brace them with shoulders in several places.

“They don’t seem too happy,” Calantha noted.

“Do you question the word of the eyewitnesses?” The king raised his voice, and the crowd hushed to hear his response.

“Bring them out here to recant the details of what they supposedly saw,” Mr. Herodias countered like he was expecting that very argument.

“Yeah!” shouted a voice from the crowd. “Prove it!”

Was the borderline angry mob in favor of the treasonous snake man?

How did that make any sense?

Through my investigations, I’d discovered the former Reptile Representative was the mastermind behind a nefarious plot to attack Ordrya, weaken the king, and seize power.

What if he’d already won the hearts of the people?

The king had been sick from the curse placed on him for a long time, so the Court of Representatives handled the day to day operations in his stead. It was worth questioning the victims of the kidnapping plot about what had happened during the king’s illness.

But that was an issue for another day, and right now I needed to stay focused on the trial taking place.

I was both an eyewitness and the reason the plan failed, so I didn’t expect Lord Sylvester’s defense to treat me kindly. The other witness was the Canine Representative and head of the city guards, Captain Casper Holt. He’d survived the kidnapping attack, and he’d noted key details throughout the entire process despite the substances he was poisoned with, so I didn’t foresee him being kind to the lawyer-like guy.

The rest of the victims hadn’t seen very much during their ordeal, and everyone except Lord Urman had holed up in their houses and refused visitors. Even General Jornei Hazelmoon, Willow’s cousin, wasn’t feeling up for making an appearance at a public trial, but I could hardly blame them. They’d all been caught unawares, and their blood was stolen while they were unconscious in order to summon an ancient monster.

It was a lot to process.

It wasn’t until I found the warehouse in the shipping district where the victims were being held that I could help them come to terms with their predicament. I had urged the king to give them space to heal, and I hoped that meant he wouldn’t call on them during the trial, but I was proven wrong a moment later.

Captain Holt and General Hazelmoon led the procession of the Court of Representatives, but the others filed in behind them according to their rank. The Bear Representative, Lord Urman, held up his elbow for Duchess Olivia Octavian, the Bird Representative, but Lord Gruxian walked with his chin held high behind them with Luxe at his side. All of their faces were pale and downcast, and none of them looked happy to be there.

Despite the circumstances, there was still a new opening as the Reptile Representative to think of, and I wondered if the others would keep their higher rankings when the newbie entered the mix.

The guards at the front of the platform pushed the crowd back enough for the Court of Representatives to line up before the dais.

“Your Majesty,” Captain Holt said as he bowed before the king, and the others followed suit.

“Tell us, Captain Holt,” the king said, “what transpired.”

“It was a dark night, and I was home alone,” the head of the city guard said as he turned to face the crowd. “I was attacked from behind, and I was poisoned with a numbing liquid. When I awoke, I was strapped to a chair with the other members of the court. Lord Sylvester was not tied up, in fact--”

“This is an outrage!” Mister Herodias interjected. “We cannot trust the testimony of anyone who was under the influence of poisons. Who knows what hallucinations he could have endured?”

Someone from the crowd yelled, and the grunts of the guards immediately followed. This crowd was on the breaking point, and I wasn’t confident in the line of shields in keeping the throng back for long.

I had to do something.

“I wasn’t drugged,” I pointed out in a loud voice. “Do you question my words?”

The crowd hushed to hear the new exchange, and I swept my gaze out over their faces as I stood at my full height. I know I looked regal from their perspective, and they had no reason to hate or doubt me. I was a new voice, and everyone quieted down to listen to my words.

“One cannot openly question royalty,” the lawyer-like man deflected. “But what exactly did you see with your own eyes?”

“I led the investigation, and I found several reptilian scales at the crime scene,” I said in a matter of fact tone. “I am also the one who killed the beast the gathering of reptile shifters summoned.”

“But did you see the kidnappings with your own eyes?” The spindly man arched an eyebrow behind his glasses. “Did you see Lord Sylvester directly attack anyone?”

There were several shouts of agreement from the crowd, and a nervous energy began to fill the air.

“I guess we’ll just see who the king believes.” I shrugged. “I know the truth regardless of how you try to spin it. You’re nothing more than a Liar Liar knock off.”

“A what?” The lawyer-like heron shifter tilted his head to the side and blinked at me.

“Nevermind.” I smirked. “I think we’ve heard enough.”

“Indeed,” King Frejit agreed loudly. “It is time to continue.”

“Your Majesty,” Sir Tyrion said in a formal tone. “What is your ruling?”

“Guilty!” the king shouted, and all hell broke loose.

“Liar!”

“No!”

“He didn’t do it!”

The shouts competed to be heard and ended up drowning each other out, and the guards struggled more than ever before to hold back the press of bodies on the other side of their shields. Then the rotten vegetables went flying, and I traced the trajectory of a tomato like it was in slow motion until it crashed into the side of Luxe’s head.

Rage filled my chest, and I longed to press through the crowd to find the culprit, but logic took over. There was no one I could identify who had thrown the first tomato, but it was hard to think with the screams of the people making my ears ring. The royal guard stepped in front of us, but I wasn’t the kind to hide behind another person regardless of how many altercations that landed me in.

“You two need to get the king and queen out of here,” I said to Calantha and Willow. “Get them to safety. I’m going after Luxe and the Court of Representatives.”

“Be careful,” Cal whispered. “We are vastly outnumbered here.”

“I know,” I sighed. “But at least it doesn’t look like anyone is armed.”

“They’re shifters, Eli,” Willow pointed out. “Most of them don’t need a weapon since they already have claws and fangs built in.”

More rotten vegetables were lobbed through the air, and the sound of them splattering against the wooden platform reminded me of snowball fights I had as a kid. I began to shift into my big cat form almost instinctively, and I shoved my way through the line of royal guards.

Luxe and the Court of Representative huddled in front of the stage, but they’d all been struck by more than one vegetable if the colorful smears on their clothes was any indication. The guards in front of the stage had formed a protective circle around them, but they couldn’t prevent the projectiles from reaching them. The guards slid backward in the dirt as the sheer mass of bodies pressed against their boundary, and I could hear several of them grunting with the effort it took to hold off the crowd.

“Let’s get them out of here,” I suggested in a loud enough voice for all of the guards to hear. “I’ll clear a path.”

I grabbed Luxe and pulled her toward me, and her eyes widened as she was jerked into the circle of my arms.

“I’m here to save you,” I said into her ear.

Then I fully shifted into my liger form, and the crest of my back towered over her, so I had to kneel down to allow her to climb on. Once she was situated, I launched forward at full speed, and the line of guards parted to let me through. A flood of people immediately swarmed the opening, but they were soon met with a massive galloping liger.

The people at the front of the flood veered to the sides to avoid me, but the people behind them didn’t have enough warning to avoid a collision. I reared up on my hind legs to push two shifters in the chest before I jumped over them into the crowd.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Calantha and Willow guiding the king and queen to safety with the help of the royal guard. The vampiress was using her blood magic to summon a dome-like shield around the royal couple and herself, but Willow carved a path for them through the crowd with some impressive ninja skills.

We met up on the palace steps, and I let the rest of them enter ahead of me. I knelt down so Luxe could slide off my back, and then I jerked my liger head toward the entrance.

My work here was far from over.

There was still a crowd to calm down.

“But, Eli,” Luxe argued, but I didn’t even let her finish her sentence before I rushed back toward the courtyard.

The guards had given up all hope, and they were all backed against the platform. The people pressed into their shields to keep them locked there, and I realized I needed to do something fast.

It only took me a few moments to get through the crowd in my liger form, and I was soon climbing the steps to the platform. Once I arrived, I shifted back into my nulmancer form.

“Listen to me!” I shouted over the heads of the angry mob.

No one seemed to notice my presence, and I wondered what I would have to do to get their attention. Set off fireworks? That would work on Earth, but the closest thing I had in this magical fantasy world was my elemental fire magic. I lifted my hands in the air and shot flames into the sky, and I watched with satisfaction as the crowd hushed to watch the display.

“There.” I dusted my hands together before placing them on my hips. “That’s much better.”

The multitude of faces blinking back at me was a little intimidating at first, and my mind suddenly blanked of what I had planned to say. I would just have to wing it.

“Listen to me,” I urged. “I understand that you’re angry, but we can work this out.”

“What do you mean?”

I couldn’t identify the source of the voice, but I kept scanning over the many faces turned toward me. I would just have to address the entire crowd as one.

“What do you want here?” I asked. “To save a criminal from justice?”

“Lord Sylvester is innocent!”

“He doesn’t deserve to die!”

“Alright, that’s your perspective.” I paced back and forth across the stage. “You do realize he was caught red handed, right?”

Silence greeted my words for a long moment, but then I heard a quiet voice from the back of the crowd and a murmur of agreement.

“What was that?” I pressed.

“They said it doesn’t matter,” one of the people closer to the front said.

It took me a moment to process that since to me the facts spoke for themselves, but it seemed the mob had no logic.

“You want Lord Sylvester?” I arched an eyebrow.

The crowd roared their approval.

The man himself had sat tied to his chair during the entire volatile situation, but now he made no effort to hide the pleased smirk on his face. The slimy vibes I got from him made my skin crawl, and to me, there was no doubt about his guilt.

This crowd saw it differently, though, and I had to wonder why.

What had Lord Sylvester done to earn their favor?

Freeing him was out of the question, but maybe I could destroy his reputation before I finally killed him.

I held up my hand to silence the gathered spectators, and they descended into a tense murmur.

“I will not free Sylvester,” I declared and barreled onward as the crowd began to grow louder, “but if you disperse peacefully, I won’t kill him at this time. He will remain a prisoner of the crown, but he will keep his life.”

For now. But once I found out how the sleazy snake bastard grew so favorable with the people of Ordrya, I would be sure to knock him down several pegs.

Before I separated his head from his shoulders.

I grabbed the tied up former representative, and I dragged him across the platform to the front as the crowd began to shout their disagreements and grow aggressive once again. The guards looked at me like I’d gone mad, but I ignored them as I gave the mob a pointed look.

“Calm down, go home, or he will lose his life today regardless of the king’s judgment,” I growled in a resounding voice.

I pulled out my sword to hold it against Lord Sylvester’s neck, and then I shoved him toward the edge of the platform. The guards stepped to the side, and the former reptile representative tumbled over into the mud.

The crowd gasped and stepped back as I towered over the lizard-man on his knees in front of me.

“I am Prince Elijah, the fabled Ulvant and Hero of Vosreterra and Ordrya.” I lifted my chin, and I made sure my voice carried to the entire crowd. “I have done more to prove myself to you than anyone else, so I am telling you now what is going to happen. Now, return to your homes.”

Sylvester hissed up at me, and part of me just wanted to kill him here and now, but I’d already put in too much effort toward finding him and gathering evidence, so I would find the necessary smoking gun to prove his wickedness to the people of Ordrya and bring peace to the shifters.

Just as they’d promised, the crowd began to disperse, but a few stubborn people headed toward the palace. Without the support of the herd mentality, though, the guards were able to easily redirect them into the city streets.

I let out a deep breath before I turned back to the palace myself, but shoved Lord Sylvester ahead of me as I crossed the distance to the doors. He didn’t struggle against me, but the sneer had left his face.

Good.

I was met with a small crowd of nobles just inside the entrance, and I shoved Syvlester to the ground at my feet. The king crossed the distance to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, and he looked into my eyes for a long, almost uncomfortable moment before he embraced me firmly.

“You saved us,” the king said. “That crowd would have eaten us alive.”

“I calmed them down,” I said. “Everyone is going back to their homes.”

“How did you manage that one?” Calantha crossed her arms, and the vampiress fixed me with a questioning look. “How many people did you have to kill?”

“No one.” I laughed before I gestured to the squirming bastard. “In fact, we didn’t even kill Lord Sylvester.”

“Speaking of.” Sir Tyrion stepped forward and peered over my shoulder at the entrance. “I will take our prisoner to the dungeons, but what are we to do with him after that?”

“I saved his life, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t guilty.” I shrugged. “I’ll just need to find more damning evidence to convince the people and soothe their discontent.”

“But the crowd just dispersed?” The king’s eyes widened.

“I talked to them.” I smirked. “It’s no big deal. Worst case scenario, I can always kill him later.”

Sir Tyrion grabbed Lord Sylvester by the bindings wrapped around his wrists, and a platoon of palace guards swarmed around him to escort him to the dungeons.

“No big deal? No big deal?” The king shook his head in confusion. “Won’t this make me appear even more weak in the eyes of the people? Execution was his intended sentence, and everyone in the crowd knew it.”

“Not at all.” I grinned. “I didn’t pardon him, just said he wouldn’t die at this time. You show that you’re not afraid of one man. Lord Sylvester can’t hurt you. Not as long as I’m around. This action shows confidence in your own power.”

“I didn’t think about it that way,” the king said as he scratched his furry beard. “I suppose you have a point…”

“Besides,” I said. “It wasn’t like there were a lot of options. The crowd was going nuts, and they only wanted one thing: Lord Sylvester alive. I don’t know how he managed to win the heart of the city, but that’s something we need to fix as soon as possible.”

“As long as you’re sure you can get to him if we need to kill him later,” King Frejit sighed. “I trust you, Prince Elijah. You have yet to steer us wrong.”

“Damn straight.” I grinned even wider, but then I turned to the women. “Are you all okay? Did anyone get hurt from the riot?”

Luxe still had some tomato remnants clinging to the side of her head, but the other two women looked none the worse for wear.

“I’m fine,” Willow said. “I was just worried about my parents.”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” Calantha smirked.

“It wasn’t fun, but I’ll live.” Luxe shrugged as she tried to get the tomato remnants out of her white hair.

“I could go for a drink after that,” I sighed. “Anyone want to hit up the tavern to decompress?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” Willow said. “But I shouldn’t drink in my… condition.”

My pregnant wife was right, but just because she couldn’t have any alcohol didn’t mean she couldn’t spend time with us. It wouldn’t be the same without her.

“I could drink,” Cal said.

“Me, too,” Luxe added.

“Let’s do it,” I said, and I clasped the king’s forearm in farewell before we headed toward the entrance of the palace.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the same tavern Calantha and I had been to on our date, and the four of us found an unoccupied table in the back. We ordered some appetizers and drinks, but Willow opted for the fruit juice they offered her instead.

“Do you think the riot is a sign of worse to come?” Luxe asked as we sipped our beverages.

“Could be,” Calantha said with a shrug of one shoulder. “Or they could be appeased enough by the saving of Lord Sylvester’s life.”

“In any case, things are pretty dire in Ordrya,” Willow said. “It will take all of us to save my kingdom.”

“We will fix it,” I promised.

“What can we do?” Luxe asked in a hopeless tone.

“Hey, there’s a lot of ways to turn things around,” I said in a reassuring voice. “The people are counting on us as the next generation of leaders to lead the way forward.”

“Do you really think the people will listen to us?” Willow asked.

“The shifters definitely won’t listen to me.” Cal snorted as she crossed her arms. “They take one sniff of me and wrinkle their furry noses.”

The vampiress had a point, but part of our mission was to rejoin the two realms currently at odds with one another.

“Of course they will listen to us.” I flashed the three women a confident smile.

“Prince Elijah?” a familiar sounding voice said from behind me. “May I have a word with you?”

I spun around in my chair to find Ravvi, the priest from the bear zone of Ordrya standing before me. He wrung his hands anxiously as his eyes flicked in all directions, and something about his attitude had me instantly on edge.

What was it now?

Arena Road 2 cover poll

Audiobook Release | Kill Monsters, Get Rich

The Kill Monsters, Get Rich audiobook is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

After leaving the army, I thought the hardest thing I’d face was the job market.

But then one night, my sister and I saved a beautiful blonde woman being attacked in an alley, and we discovered that magic was real. The supernatural was real.

Monsters are real.

Fortunately, I seem to have abilities that let me kill them easier than normal humans, and getting paid to kill monsters isn’t half bad.

Especially when it's a lot of money.

Narration by: Christopher Boucher, Jessica Threet
Length: 8 Hours, 7 Minutes

Werepanther Paranormal Hunter 7 NSFW covers!

Hello kitty!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4141CSN

Werepanther: Paranormal Hunter 7 is out!

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Audiobook Release: Skulduggery 5

Skulduggery audiobook is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

Me and my bootlegging crew have had runaway success moving our illicit product throughout the city, and many of our rivals have been eliminated or brought into the family.

Unfortunately, this success has drawn the attention of the domineering elven authorities, including the Guildmaster of the Thieves’ Guild and the Captain of the City Guard.
I’ll have to get the authorities off our backs, keep the whiskey flowing, and continue to follow the lead of my magic keys.

Or we’ll all end up dead.

Narration by: Christopher Boucher, Alexa Roosevelt
Length: 12 Hours, 44 Minutes

Backyard Dungeon NSFW covers

We forgot the audiobook pie version. I'll get that up asap.

Backyard Dungeon 5 map

I heard you guys like maps

Backyard Dungeon 5 is out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3CYWN7R

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Backyard Dungeon 5 Chapter 4

As I came back up into the backyard behind my trailer, my mind was locked on the problem of Ursenger. Amrila, Nileme, and I would have to go back to The Gloom in the next few days for the war council, and the Dwarves might be able to manufacture weapons to help in that fight soon.

I just needed to find out more about Belzat.

Growler and Dread ran up to greet me as I walked through the back yard, and I took a moment to throw a ball around for them, refill their water, and fill up their food bowls. It was wild how much like dogs the garms were.

“We should move you boys into the new yard,” I said as I wrestled the ball out of Growler’s mouth, and he jumped back and lowered his front quarter’s in a playful, puppy-like gesture.

I threw the ball again, but Dread shot across the yard like a white streak of lightning and got the ball first, and then he proudly brought it back to me and dropped it at my feet.

“That’s a good boy.” I grinned and threw the ball a couple more times before I went back to the new house.

When I walked through the front door, Ibseth was in the living room with her hands on her hips as she stared at the furniture.

“What’s up, baby?” I asked as I came up beside her and put an arm around her waist.

“I don’t like this arrangement,” the white-haired woman stated in a firm tone.

“What don’t you like about it?” I had to suppress the urge to chuckle, because this had started to happen more and more.

Maybe it was the effect of the pregnancy, or her just getting used to the fact that her opinion mattered. But the petite woman would see something, feel that it wasn’t quite right, and then have to take a while to decide why she felt that way.

For my part, I just accepted I would have to move the furniture around a few times before she was satisfied.

“Should your chair be closer to the window?” Ibseth asked as she cocked her head to one side and looked over at my lazy boy. “I don’t want you to have the sun in your face, but that dark corner feels so depressing.”

“You tell me what you want me to move, and I’ll move it,” I chuckled as I squeezed my first wife a little closer.

“You are so good to me.” The Elven woman smiled up at me. “Oh! That reminds me. I think you should get Nileme some clothes and some pretty things for her room. She would never ask for them herself, but I think she deserves to have nice things all her own.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” I grinned down at the thoughtful, blue-skinned woman. “Why don’t we get Nileme and Amrila and go into the city? Make a day of it?”

“What a lovely idea!” Ibseth replied as she threw her arms around me.

About twenty minutes later, we were all in the Rubicon and headed to Elyria.

After a quick stop at a drive thru for iced coffee and a smoothie for Ibseth, we stopped at some of our favorite haunts. The mall was up first to get clothes for Nileme, and we all piled out of the Jeep and headed into the climate controlled corridors, lined with shops.

“This reminds me of the market place back home,” the Dolrath woman said as she looked around at all the stores and kiosks. “But much, much bigger. There are so many options.”

“Look around until you find stuff you like,” I said. “Whatever you want. There’s no need to be shy.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” the dark-haired woman said with a nervous giggle.

“I do.” Ibseth flashed a warm smile as she took the taller woman’s hand and led her to a store with women and men’s clothes that had an fashionable outdoorsy feel. “You are a tough, strong woman, and need clothes to match.”

Amrila and I grinned at each other as we followed and watched Ibseth enthusiastically lead the warrior woman through the store.

The petite woman picked out several items to get Nileme started, like flannels and V-neck t-shirts made from a super soft jersey material. Then Ibseth got Nileme into one of the dressing rooms to try on what they’d found.

“Do you think we should go look around at some of the other stores?” I asked as Amrila as we waited and wandered around the clothes racks. “This could take a while.”

“Oh, no,” the horned woman replied with an assumed expression. “I want to watch this. I bet you it will take three outfits before Nileme starts to pick items for herself.”

“Yeah?” I snorted as I looked at a fleece lined button-up. “I don’t think Nileme really cares about clothes. She might just be happy to let Ibseth pick stuff out.”

“Nonsense.” My Zencarri wife shook her head. “Everyone cares about clothes. Even if they don’t follow the fashions, they care about other things, like function or comfort. Nileme cares about function, that’s why Ibseth brought her here first.”

“This is something you two have been talking about, isn’t it?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course.” Amrila shrugged and let out a devious little giggle. “And Ibseth will hand Nileme a bunch of girly things until she cracks and starts to pick things for herself.”

“Well,” I chuckled, “that’s one way to draw her out of her shell.”

Just as Amrila predicted, the first few outfits the Dolrath woman tried on were functional, but in softer colors that Ibseth typically wore. The first was a sweater with a wide neck, and a pair of light-colored jeans hugged Nileme’s muscular thighs and firm ass.

“What do you think?” Ibseth asked as the Dolrath woman looked at herself in a full length mirror.

“I like the pants,” Nileme said slowly as she turned to see what they looked like from behind. “But the sleeves of this shirt are too long. They feel like they will be in the way. I liked the shirt with shorter sleeves you picked out, but it seems a little cold for that.”

“What if you wore a shirt over it?” the petite woman asked. “Like Eddie does? You could also get a jacket for when you are outside.”

Then Ibseth and Nileme made another circuit around the store, and the Dolrath woman picked up more items that she liked.

I was surprised how quickly my violet-eyed wife’s plan had worked. Nileme was a very unassuming person and was clearly not comfortable with being spoiled yet, but with the shorter woman’s help, Nileme soon carried a big shopping bag of high waisted jeans, soft t-shirts, and flannels. The Dolrath princess also wore a white crop top that showed off her six-pack abs, some figure flattering jeans, and a dark denim jacket out of the store.

A sturdy pair of black combat style boots finished off the sexy, tomboyish look that had a definite appeal. The young guy at the cashwrap had been so distracted by how fucking hot Nileme looked, he dropped several items as he removed the hangers, and he had to scramble on the ground behind the register to retrieve them.

Now that the Dolrath woman had an idea of what she liked, we stopped at a few more stores, including a home goods store where we got some bedding, bedside tables, and several simple decor items. It struck me how similar Nileme was to me. Ibseth and Amrila both had strong aesthetic tastes, where the dark-haired Elf and I gravitated more toward practical and tangible preferences.

Amrila’s room was decked out in black and red, with moody lighting and plenty of skulls and daggers on the dresser and hung on the walls. But Ibesth loved pastels, florals, and anything that gave the room a serene feel to it. As I watched Nileme pick out things for her room, the warrior woman showed more interest in how the blanket and sheets felt, and whether the bedside lamp would provide enough light while she polished the nicks out of her sword.

After a few trips to the Jeep to load up our purchase, my stomach started to growl.

“Feels like lunchtime to me,” I commented to the women. “How about we go get something to eat?”

“I’m starving,” Ibseth agreed and placed a hand on her flat belly. “That sounds wonderful.”

“Do we want burgers? Or tacos?” I asked as I squeezed the last shopping bag into the back of the Rubicon.

“Tacos,” all three of my wives chimed at almost the same exact time.

“Tacos it is,” I snorted.

Then I drove us to a small Mexican restaurant close by that I knew had the best carne asada this side of the Mason-Dixson line.

It was a little past the normal lunch rush, and we practically had the restaurant to ourselves. After we got our drinks and put in our order, we munched on chips and fresh salsa verde with abandon.

“Are you sure you don’t want Mrs. Whitmire’s place once it’s ours, Amrila?” Ibseth asked as she dipped another tortilla chips in the spicy, green salsa. “As second wife, it’s yours by right.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” The horned woman nodded as she took a sip of her pop. “It’s going to take years to get the old-woman-smell out of there. And almost as long as that to paint over the horrible flowers all over the walls in the living room.”

“That’s actually wallpaper,” I chuckled. “You have to remove it before you paint or it looks terrible. It’s a pain in the ass.”

“All the more reason for me to wait for the next house Eddie buys,” Amrila replied as she wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, Nileme. I guess that sticks you with the terrible wallpaper and perfume stink.”

“I don’t mind.” The dark-haired warrior smiled and shrugged. “It’s good to stay busy, and it will feel all the more my own when I’m done.”

As my wives chatted and we waited for our entrees, I watched the three of them laugh and enjoy the special bond they’d all formed in a relatively short time.

Then I thought it might be fun to take them all on vacation. The forests of Ohio were filled with places where you could rent cabins, anywhere from the very rustic to the height of luxury. But none of my wives had ever seen the ocean either, and the idea of renting a beach house with its own private beach struck me.

I was a rich man now and could afford something like that, but that thought still felt completely surreal to me. I’d grown up pretty poor, and now I could probably take my three wives to the Mediterranean and rent a villa without a single worry.

But that would mean I’d have to get a new identity for Nileme.

Ibseth and Amrila both had IDs, passports, and papers that stood up to the scrutiny of an immigration agent. I needed to get some for my Dolrath wife, which meant a call to Owen McElfresh. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about the Irishman since our last encounter, but I did trust Travis Meyer. The prudent lawyer had vouched for McElfresh, and that held a lot of weight with me.

Maybe it was worth it to call the sketchy broker and see how things went. If I still didn’t feel comfortable with Owen after that, I had Travis’s list of other buyers to go to next time I wanted to sell gold or jewels I found in The Gloom.

The entrees came and dragged me from my thoughts, and the four of us dug into the heaping plates of tacos and sides. It was all incredible. The steak and chicken were juicy and well seasoned, and the tortillas tasted as if they were handmade. The wives and I barely spoke until we were all so full we couldn’t eat another bite.

“Oh, god.” I grinned as I leaned back in my chair. “That was perfect, but now I think I gotta walk this off.”

“Me too.” Amrila nodded. “It never ceases to amaze me how different all the food is here. Back home, there are some differences in each region, but it’s all basically the same. Here, it’s like a whole different world in each place we eat.”

“I love it,” Ibseth sighed with contentment. “It’s like there’s always something new to try.”

“It’s a big world,” I chuckled. “Come on, we can look around for some gifts for people.”

I’d made a habit of getting gifts for the people I was closest to in The Gloom.

It had started as something my mother taught me about not showing up empty handed somewhere, but now it was more like a tradition. If I knew I would be in or around the Great Forest, I would bring candy or dried fruit for the Brownies. Most of the time I would get tea for Scourge, but I thought it might be good to mix it up this time.

The ladies and I hit up an outdoors supply store and looked around at what they had to offer. But I went straight to the place where the water bottles and thermoses were displayed, and I picked out a large, Yeti brand thermos, because I had heard they’d keep something hot or cold for ages. The Zencarri man would be able to brew a pot of tea when he woke up, pour it in this, and then just have tea for the rest of the day.

Bhathok was always a little hard to find something for. Last time, I’d gotten him some nice bourbon, but the glib general didn’t seem to have a lot of interests outside of his family and being a soldier.

“Hey, Nileme.” I turned to the tall, Elven woman. “What should we get for Bhathok? He seems to like cooking, right?”

“I never really thought about it.” The dark-haired woman shrugged. “But yes. He always volunteers to cook when we’re away from the Encampment.”

I walked over to the next aisle and found a cool set of aluminum pots and pans with handles that could fold up along the sides. They stacked into a small carrying case and were pretty compact and light weight when you put them all together. They weren’t very big, but they would be easy to carry.

“I think these would be great,” I said as I turned them over in my hands. “Bhathok’s soldier stew is great, but he could cook all kinds of stuff if he didn’t have to throw everything into one big pot.”

“That’s very true.” The Dolrath princess nodded. “I think he would like that a lot.”

“Where did Ibseth and Amrila get to?” I asked as I looked around for my other wives.

“I think they stopped to look at some plants near the front of the store,” Nileme replied with an amused smile.

Ibseth loved plants, or anything she could nurture really. Pretty soon, the new house would probably look like an indoor forest if she got her way. And I was happy to let her have her way.

“Well,” I said as I stood up and looked around, “I guess that leaves you and me to look around for something for your mom and Xuag.”

“You’re going to get a gift for Captain Xuag?” the muscular woman asked with a raised eyebrow as we started to wander around the store again.

“Of course,” I replied while I looked around for ideas. “He and Bolra helped Growler and Dread when they were hurt. And I think he could be a really strong ally to have in our corner. Xuag is well respected among the Crardu. But what do you get for an Orc warrior?”

“A weapon,” Amrila replied as she came up the aisles with Ibseth.

My first wife had a potted plant in her arms and a glow to her heart-shaped faces.

“A weapon is a good idea.” I nodded. “We could stop at Nathan’s on the way home and get him a really nice hunting or combat knife. It might be more of a tool than a weapon, since he carries a big ass sword around. But I think as a soldier he’d appreciate it.”

We made our way to the registers, and I paid for the thermos, camping cookware, and Ibseth’s new plant that looked like long blades of thick grass that stood straight up.

Then the four of us got back into the Rubicon and headed toward home. Ibseth was tired after a long day out, so I went ahead and dropped her and Amrila off at home. Nileme, on the other hand, rode with me to Nathan’s Arms and Surplus. The warrior woman had become a bit of a gun nut since she’d gotten my old Bulgarian AK, and she loved to check out Nathan’s new stock.

When we entered the store, the familiar buzzer went off to announce our presence. Nathan was busy with a mannequin that he’d rigged to the ceiling to look like it was snorkeling in a gilly suit, but the wild-haired shopkeeper turned when he heard the door and smiled.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite customer!” Nathan laughed. “What brings you and the lovely lady in today?”

“Do you have any new guns in?” Nileme asked.

“Don’t you know it.” The sandy-haired man grinned back. “Come over to the counter. I got a really fun one.”

Nileme looked over at me with an excited smile and raised an eyebrow, and then we followed the eccentric man to the glass display cases.

Nathan grabbed the keyring at his belt, stretched it out on its retractable cord, and opened one of the locked gun cases. I enjoyed guns a lot, but my knowledge was far from exhaustive, so I didn’t recognize the pistol that he pulled out, but it looked cool as fuck. It almost looked like an inverted, black triangle when held, because of the way the jacket was designed.

“This here is your standard, semi-auto Kriss Vector,” Nathan said with a note of pride in his voice, as if he had introduced an old friend. “Now, it was originally designed to be a submachine gun, but given the law of the land, I couldn’t sell those. Though there are those clandestine types who buy or sell kits to convert the Vector to its former glory. But I wouldn’t know much about that.”

The wild-haired man said the last sentence as if he’d spoken to an unseen person in the shop, but I knew that was just the conspiracy theorist’s natural paranoia.

“Oookay.” I smiled and nodded. “It does look really cool.”

“Isn’t it a treat?” Nathan replied with a broad grin as he dropped the empty mag, checked the chamber, and then handed it to me to look at.

Obviously, the shopkeeper never stored any of his guns with ammo in them, but he religiously practiced gun safety at every step. It was one of the things I liked most about the man. Nathan also always had a Desert Eagle in a holster on his hip, but I suspected that one was loaded. I was sure that kept some people out of his store, but anyone who knew guns would be able to see right away they were in safe hands with the wild-eyed man.

“And what’s really nice about the Vector is it directs the recoil down, instead of back, so there’s less need to correct your aim between rounds,” Nathan continued as he pointed at the cyberpunk-looking gun. “And, while this is the magazine that comes with the Vector, I have extended 10mm mags that work with this pistol, though you should be aware state law requires you to store any magazines with a capacity greater than thirty separate from your firearm.”

“What do you think?” I asked Nileme as I handed her the Kriss Vector.

“I really like it,” the dark-haired woman said as her eyes sparkled.

“Then it’s yours.” I grinned and winked at the muscular woman.

“Really?” Nileme giggled. “Oh, Eddie. I love it.”

“You gotta love a woman who’d rather have a fine firearm than a diamond,” Nathan chuckled. “And that’s the perfect grip you got there. Some people like to grip it just above the magazine, but the mag release is right there. And you don’t want to drop that mag right in the middle of things, if you know what I mean.”

The sandy-haired man showed Nileme how to drop the mag, lock the pin back, and explained how to take the Vector apart to clean it with the energy of a dad teaching their kid to drive.

The Dolrath woman listened with the concentration of a soldier who was able to absorb large swaths of information at a single pass.

“Anything else I can get you?” Nathan asked as he set the Vector down on the counter top.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’d like to get a red dot and a laser sight for the Vector. Same ones you sold me for the Galil if you have them in stock. Two of those magazines you mentioned, ten boxes of 10mm rounds. And… I was thinking about getting a really nice hunting or combat knife or something for a friend.”

“I certainly have good options for both,” Nathan said as he rubbed the stubble on his chin with his one remaining hand. “But do they just collect knives, or would they actually use it for utility?”

“He’s a soldier,” I said a little evasively. “But I could see him wanting it more as a tool than for personal protection.”

“Say no more,” Nathan replied in a grand tone. “Have you considered getting him a Leatherman? One of the best multitools on the market. The Charge Plus has gotten some really cherry reviews recently, and I have a few in stock.”

“Fuck it.” I grinned. “I’ll take two of them and keep one. My dad always carried a Leatherman in his pocket when I was a kid.”

“You’re dad must be a wise man then,” Nathan laughed. “Let me get those, and we’ll see what the damage is-- with your frequent flier discount, of course.”

Once Nathan had gathered everything up and was ringing me out, I noticed a flier on the counter for what looked like a new gun range in the area.

“What’s this?” I asked, and I was excited to think that I wouldn’t have to drive an hour either out in the woods or to a decent range in a bigger town.

“Oh.” Nathan shrugged as he looked at the flier. “That’s a place a buddy of mine just started. It’s a full obstacle course and gun range. You can rent out the course, take classes. Obviously, you can’t use live rounds on the obstacle course for safety reasons, but they have an indoor range, too. If you mention my name, I’m sure Earl would give you the friends and family deal.”

“Sweet,” I said as I pocketed a flier for a future date night idea.

After I paid, Nileme and I said goodbye to Nathan and headed out to the Rubicon.

You’d think from the look on the warrior woman’s face that I had bought her the moon.

“I can’t wait to try this Vector out.” Nileme grinned as she gently placed it in the back of the Jeep. “Will you help me ‘dial in’ the red dot when we get home?”

“Of course,” I replied as I closed the back of the Rubicon. “It’s gotta be ready for when we go back to The Gloom tonight.”

Backyard Dungeon 5 Chapter 3

I was still aroused from all the talk downstairs about sleeping in one big bed with all my wives, so I took hold of Ibseth’s supple ass, lifted her as she wrapped her legs around me, and pushed her back up against the closest wall.

“Oh, Eddie!” the Elven woman gasped. “I burn for you. My body calls for you all the time.”

“I want to be inside your tight pussy,” I growled. “Being pregnant has only made you hotter.”

As the petite woman’s body began to move and writhe with desire, I nuzzled my face against her velvety neck and kissed her skin.

Ibseth ran her fingers through the back of my hair, but her gentle caresses were firmer this time, and more urgent. Then my first wife released the grip of her legs around me, slid down the wall, and took hold of my belt buckle.

“I want to taste you, my king,” Ibseth purred, and she unhooked my buckle and pulled down my pants as she got to her knees. “ I wish to please you before you fill me with your manhood.”

“What’s gotten into you?” I grinned and was surprised by how turned on I was by this new side to Ibseth.

The petite woman just smiled up at me, and she pulled down my boxer as my impressive erection sprang back up to attention once it was released from the confines of my clothes. Then the blue-skinned woman took hold of my shaft with her delicate hand and guided my rock hard cock into her mouth. The sight of Ibseth’s full, pouty lips wrapped around my dick as she began to bob her head up and down made me start to throb in her mouth, and I tossed back my head.

“Uhhh, fuck!” I groaned. “You’re so fucking goooood at that. Jesus, Ibseth.”

I had to lock my knees to remain upright as the waves of pleasure washed over me.

My first wife went slowly at first, but then she started to pick up speed and take me deeper into her mouth, until I could swear I felt the back of her throat. When the pressure started to build in my core, I had to put my hands on the tiny woman’s shoulders and pull my hips back until my cock fell from her mouth with a wet plop.

“Not so fast, baby,” I snorted. “You need to have some fun, too.”

Ibseth giggled, and I got down on my knees in front of her and pulled my shirt off.

“Oh, Eddie,” Ibseth sighed at the sight of my bare chest as she moved to climb onto my lap. “You’re so strong and handsome.”

“Hold up,” I chuckled before I tackled her to the ground. “It’s still your turn.”

As I unbuttoned and pulled her tight jeans off, Ibseth pulled her sweater off and revealed my favorite set of her underwear. The bra was pink and sheer, and I could clearly see her round, plum colored nipples. The panties were a tiny thong, with little flowers embroidered there the leg straps attached, and I pulled them down her smooth thighs, threw them in the corner of the room, and then buried my face between her legs.

“Ahhhh!” Ibseth keened as I licked her clit and tasted her tangy juices. “Uhhh, uhhh! Ohhhh, Eddie! Yeeeessss!”

I grabbed the white-haired woman’s thighs as I relentlessly sucked and licked, and I greedily lapped up the pearls of moisture around the tight opening of her channel. Ibseth was so wet, and that turned me on all the more.

“Uhh!” the tiny woman moaned. “Ohh, gods! I neeed you inside me!”

Ibseth squirmed away, got onto her hands and knees, and wiggled her round ass playfully.

I got onto my knees again and grabbed her supple hips, and then I slowly pushed myself inside my wife’s narrow tunnel.

“Fuck,” I snarled. “Yesss! It’s like you’re even tighter than before.”

“Ahhh, uhhh! Take me, Eddie!” Ibseth mewled as she thrust her hips back into me. “I am yours!”

I pistoned in and out of Ibseth as she pushed harder and harder against me. It was like a wild animal had been released from inside my sweet, mild wife, and she fucked me like a minx.

As I jackhammered against her ass, the soft flesh jiggled with every sweet impact. I could feel Ibseth muscles tighten and contract as she got close to orgasm, and it was all I could do to focus and not cum right then.

“Yesss!” Harder, Eddie!” Ibseth pleaded. “I’m soooo close! I-I’m going to-- Ahhhhh!”

The blue-skinned woman’s back arched as the juices of passion squirted from her, and I slowed my pace enough to let her catch her breath.

But instead of collapsing, Ibseth turned, and my throbbing cock slid out of her. Then she pushed me to the ground in a fit of girlish giggles and straddled me.

“I want more!” the violet-eyed woman proclaimed. “I want you to fill me up!”

Then Ibseth lowered herself onto my cock and began to rock her hips back and forth as she leaned back, and her large breasts bounced up and down.

“Holy shit!” I hissed as I slipped in and out of my curvy wife. “Uhhh! You feel soooo fucking goood, baby!”

“Uhhhh!” Ibseth exalted as she threw her head back. “You’re sooo deep inside me! Ohhh, my king!”

I wrapped my hands around Ibseth’s hips, and my fingertips pressed into her soft flesh as I guided her hips back and forth. All of my senses were filled with the blue-skinned woman, from her smell to the sensation of skin against mine.

“You’re gonna make me cum,” I snarled. “Uhhh! Fuck, baby! You do that soo good.”

“I-I want you to cum!” Ibseth panted as her inner muscle began to tighten again. “Fill my womanhood with your seeeed!”

“Ahhhh!” My cock throbbed against her cervix, and then we came together as the combined juices of our climax spilled from my wife’s entrance.

Ibseth shuddered and crashed down onto my chest. Then we just held each other for a long moment, spent and content.

“That’s the best it's ever been,” I chuckled as I tried to catch my breath.

“Every time with you is better than the last,” Ibseth sighed and snuggled against me.

After we’d taken a moment to enjoy the afterglow, the two of us got up and started to get dressed. Then I noticed the wet spot on the carpet.

“Oopps,” I snorted. “Looks like we left a mess.”

“Oh!” Ibseth giggled. “Don’t worry. I’ll clean it up.”

“I’m going to go check out the shed out back,” I said as I buckled my pants, and then I wrapped my arms around the petite woman and kissed her. “I love you.”

“And I love you, my king.” Ibseth smiled at me with adoration in her purple eyes.

I flashed her a wink and gave her one last smack on the ass before I headed out into the backyard to take a look at the shed Dave had used as a man cave. As I stepped out of the backdoor, there was the sound of voices and work from Brock Stanton’s yard, and when I looked over, I was amused to see some men in day glow yellow shirts with a construction company’s name on them. The workmen had removed most of the fence between my new yard and Brock’s yard.

I smiled to myself as I watched them break the cement poured around Brock’s ridiculous pool. I wondered if Stanton regretted his claim that part of my property had been over his side of the property line, only to have a surveyor confirm it was his yard that had crept over into my property by several feet. Now, the work crew had to remove the cement and move Brock’s fence back.

Then I caught sight of the thick necked man as he stood on his back patio with his arms folded and a sour expression on his face.

“Hi, Brock!” I called over the sound of cracking cement.

I waved with a cheery smile on my face, and Brock just flipped me off.

It would probably have been better not to fuck with Stanton at the moment, but the type A asshole could go take a flying leap off a very short pier for all I cared. Brock was a bully and a dick, and hopefully after this he would give up on his weird vendetta against my wives and me. Nothing the bald man tried had worked, and now he had to sit there and watch his back yard shrink because he couldn’t let someone else win.

Served him right.

I walked past and went into the well kept shed as I chuckled to myself. The last time I’d been in there, it was filled with civil war miniatures, painting supplies, and a mini fridge. Now, it was a blank slate, and I could turn it into anything I wanted.

I looked around at the bare, insulated walls and the heated floor.

What would I do with this space?

Once Whitmire’s place was out of escrow, Nileme would move in there, and I supposed Amrila would stay in the trailer until I bought another house. That meant it would be a little while until I could convert the trailer into a man cave, but this place could be a quiet retreat for me until then.

I pictured a drafting table in one corner, some shelves or a big tool box against another wall, and maybe a work table for when I cleaned on my rifle. I could also get a gun case, a comfy chair, and maybe a little fridge. Maybe I’d also get a couple of big dog beds and put them under the work table for Growler and Dread.

Then I thought it might be good to build a heated doghouse in one of the yards for the garms. Winter was around the corner, and it would take a while to house break them, so I added that to my mental list, too.

I wondered if I would ever check everything off that to-do list, but I really hoped not. There was something about the list that gave me a sense of purpose.

I pulled out my phone and poked around online for a drafting table, mini fridge, and the dog beds. The work table was something I wanted to be able to look at in person, rather than order it and hope for the best, but I already knew the kind of drafting table I wanted, and I could get it within a few days. It would be nice to have a dedicated space to draw again. I still sketched from time to time, but it had been a while since I’d really sat down to draw.

Once I’d ordered some of the items I wanted, I looked around the empty space again and considered what I should tick off my list next. The biggest item was easily, “kill Ursenger.” But there were a bunch of steps to that one, and a lot of them would come after the meeting with the leaders of The Gloom.

But I could take the crystal shards down to the Dwarves so they’d have time to work up new bullets.

I headed back through the new house to let the ladies know where I would be. Amrila and Nileme were in the dark-haired woman’s new room and had the bed half reassembled.

“Hey,” I said as I knocked on the doorway and leaned into the room. “I’m going down to see Saggor and give him the new batch of crystals. Do either of you want to come?”

“I think I’ll stay and help Ibseth and Nileme get settled,” Amrila said as she tightened a screw on the bed frame.

I suspected that choice was driven by my Zencarri wife’s greedy heart. The horned woman knew as soon as the Elven women were moved into the new place, she’d have the trailer all to herself. But Amrila loved Ibseth and Nileme, and I suspected she’d get bored and lonely pretty quickly. I would have bet money it would be half a day before Amrila came over to the new house to hang out.

“Alright.” I grinned at the two women. “I’ll be back soon.”

I found Ibseth in the master bedroom as she put her clothes away in her new dresser.

“Hey, baby,” I said as I stepped into the room. “I’m going to see the Dwarves. But I’ll probably pick up some beer for them first. Do you need anything from the store?”

“No, my king,” the Elven woman said in her sweet voice, but then she thought about it for a moment. “Actually, I have been thinking about that one fruit for three days. What are they called? They’re small and red, with little leafy tops.”

“Strawberries?” I laughed.

“Gods, yes!” my petite wife gasped and clapped her hands together. “For all the love you have for me, please, bring me some strawberries?”

“Of course, baby.” I grinned.

Then I headed out and smiled to myself as I drove to the store.

My dad loved to tell stories about all the wild things my mom had craved while she was pregnant with me. To hear the old men tell it, you’d think he traveled the world to find the last jar of a particular brand of pickle in existence, or that he’d personally climbed a coconut tree to get my mom the finest coconut ever grown.

As a kid, I’d thought they were the funniest stories, but now I understood why my dad had made such a big deal about them. There was just something about a store run to satisfy the craving of a pregnant woman that made me feel more like a husband and father than anything else ever had, and as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, I felt like the luckiest man alive.

I grabbed a couple of cases of beer and spent a little longer than normal to pick out the best strawberries the store had on offer, and then I headed back home.

“Oh, my love!” Ibseth squealed, and she looked at the strawberries as if they were the crown jewels. “These are perfect!”

“Not as perfect as you.” I grinned as my first wife happily popped one in her mouth, and her eyes rolled back into her head with the sheer joy and ecstasy of the moment. Then I kissed her on the head and headed over to the trailer to get the basket of shards.

It wasn’t easy to maneuver two cases of beer and the basket strapped over one of my shoulders as I walked through the tunnels that led to the home of the Lost Dwarves. Not that the beer or the shards were very heavy, it was just awkward and made the walk slower than it normally would have been.

But I made it without dropping or breaking anything, and once I got to the Dwarves living/work space, I found Tauric and Dorrem at separate tables, hard at their work.

Tauric was hunched over and in deep concentration as sparks flew up and swarmed the air around him. Dorrem, on the other hand, had an arrangement of glass bottles on his table filled with different colored liquids. He carefully poured a cloudy, light blue liquid into a beaker of a dark yellow substance that sat over a small burner with a tightly controlled flame. I didn’t want to startle either of them, so I waited near the doorway for a moment and quietly set down the beer on an unoccupied table.

I watched with keen interest as the cloudy blue liquid mixed with the thick, yellow stuff that had started to bubble, and as the gray-bearded Dwarf slowly mixed the two substances together, they turned a dull green and then slowly transformed into a foamy, bright turquoise color.

“Ahhh.” Dorrem let out a self satisfied sigh as he leaned back and looked at his work. “Tauric, if you’re done making a mess, we have company.”

Dorrem had on his usual gray tunic that almost faded into his beard and hair. Even the grouchy Dwarf’s eyes were gray. As the drab Dwarf turned to look at me, those gray eyes darted over to the two cases of beer, and he hopped off his stool, walked over, and then opened one case to take out a bottle.

“Good of you to wait,” Dorrem grumble as he helped himself to the beer. “If I would have rushed mixing those reagents, it could have bubbled over and burnt a hole right through the table.”

“Eddie!” Tuaric said in a hardy voice, and he walked up and also took a beer. “Always a pleasure to see you!”

“What are you gentlemen working on?” I asked curiously since the dark-haired Dwarf’s face and forearms were covered in soot.

“I’ve been putting together a mechanism for Beclin,” Tauric grunted as he took a gulp of beer. “He’s been working on a theory about how the ancients imbued metal with magical properties. The little man had dreamed up a pressure chamber he thinks would streamline the process, so I have been smelting, casting, and soldering valves for days.”

“Do you think it will work?” I asked as a curl of excitement coiled in my core.

Something like that would be a huge game changer. I didn’t really understand how much of the ancient Dwarves’ knowledge had been lost, or what all they’d been capable of at the height of their culture. But the idea that little Beclin could be on the verge of that kind of breakthrough seemed huge.

“There are some gaps in his hypothesis,” Dorrem replied in a dark tone. “I told him to test his chamber in a far corner of the citadel. No sense in blowing all of us up if he’s gotten a measurement wrong or a valve on backwards.”

“What’s he trying to do exactly?” I asked Tauric, who seemed far more optimistic about Beclin’s idea.

“I can take you to where he and Saggor are working and let him explain it himself.” The burly Dwarf smiled. “I’m just a lowly black smith and engineer. I put things together and pull them apart when needed.”

“Well, here are some more shards from the Crystal forest,” I told Dorrem as I handed the gray Dwarf the basket.

“Excellent.” Dorrem smacked his lips as he took another sip of beer. “I’ll start processing them while my reagent settles.”

“Make sure to leave some whole for Beclin,” Tauric warned. “His experiment will require full pieces of crystals and gems. Powder won’t do him any good.”

Dorrem mumble something under his breath, but Tauric and I had already started to head out of the Dwarves’ work area and into the corridors of the old citadel.

The two of us found Saggor and Beclin in a round chamber with large, stone tables carved all around the walls. The smooth walls had been polished to a high sheen, and the floor had thin channels carved into it in intricate patterns. In the center of the room was what looked like a metal coffin, with pipes and gauges that ran along its sides.

The design and execution of the metal box was out of this world. It wasn’t some cold, industrial contraption, but a work of art. But even the filigree and embellishments seemed to have a purpose beyond decoration. I couldn’t read Dwarven, but every knob and lever seemed carefully labeled in neat gold letters.

“Brothers!” Tauric announced our presence. “Our human friend has come to see us. And he brought more beer!”

“Eddie Hill.” Saggor smiled at me, but his eyes looked tired. “It is good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too.” I smiled back. “Tauric told me you’re working on something new.”

“It’s most exciting!” Beclin piped up as he gestured to the metal device. “If I’m correct, this chamber will allow us to enchant items with powerful properties.”

“That’s great!” I replied. “But how? I thought the cobaltite was all you needed to do that?”

“We can grind up the crystals, bind them with the cobaltite, and imbue metal with magical properties, like your bullets,” Saggor explained. “We could even create weapons and armor that have some magical effects by taking the crystal-cobaltite mixture and smelting it into the metal.”

“But with this chamber,” Beclin interjected, “we could add much more powerful magic to items, without adulterating or weakening the metal with additives.”

“Theoretically,” Dorrem’s gruff voice came from behind me as he entered the dome-like chamber.

“Theoretically,” Beclin conceded. “But it was possible once, and I think we’re well on our way to discovering how it was done.”

“That’s amazing, Beclin,” I said to the small, red-headed Dwarf. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Beclin smiled up at me, and then he shot a dirty look at Dorrem before he turned back to fiddle with his pressure chamber.

“That reminds me,” I said as I looked around at all four of the Dwarves. “Something wild happened the last time I used those special bullets Tauric made me. I was fighting this Orc, and he transformed somehow into the weird, swollen version of himself. I used the magic bullets, and they didn’t seem to have much effect at first. But after I had shot him enough times, they started to glow inside of him, and then they exploded.”

“They exploded?” Saggor repeated as he stroked his long, white beard. “Do you know what caused the transformation?”

“I think it was something to do with the Demon Lord, Belzat,” I replied. “The Orc had the Demon’s symbol drawn on his forehead in blood. I didn’t see the first part of the transformation, but what I did see happened really rapidly. He got all big, and his muscles grew until that started to crack his outer layer of skin. It was pretty gross.”

“It sounds gross,” Beclin squeaked. “But if the blood was that of a Demon, then it might have been an alchemical reaction to some property in the bullets.”

“It would be hard to say which, though,” Dorrem added as he scratched his lower stomach. “The bullets Tauric made are meant to be all-purpose in a way. They contain multiple elements, so we would need to know what about the Demon blood had triggered the creation.”

“I didn’t think to get a sample,” I snorted as I leaned against one of the stone tables along the walls of the room. “But Nileme and I had to fire more than a dozen rounds in his stomach before they exploded.”

“That’s very interesting.” Saggor nodded. “As we told you when we first made them, the formula may not have been as stable as we would have liked--”

“Beclin’s calculations were sound, for once,” Dorrem interrupted with uncharacteristic generosity. “They had to have reacted to the Orc’s blood. Given a profound state of transformation, it might not have been Orc’s blood anymore.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a furrowed brow. “Like his blood transformed, too?”

“It’s possible,” Saggor replied. “If his transformation was part of a possession, then it might be that the bullets reacted to Demon’s blood.”

Oh, fuck.

“Well, it was useful at the time,” I said as I crossed my arms and thought back to the fight with Igurg. “Even though they didn’t slow him down at first, I could tell the bullets hurt him. If you could figure out what element in the blood the bullets reacted to, could you make bullets that would explode when they hit?”

I thought about how Ursenegr had the same swollen look Igurg did when I fought the Yennih chief in the woods. The idea that Ursenegr was being slowly possessed had come up before, but maybe there was something about the Mad Chief that made the process slower than it had been for Igurg, who’d looked like something was about to rip its way through his skin.

Ursenegr’s ego might be the difference between the two. The Yennih chief arrogance wouldn’t let him just give into The Demon Lord’s influence and become consumed by Belzat in the same way.

“That might be possible,” Dorrem said without a hint of his usual terse skepticism. “If it had something to do with Belzat, then you would need to find out the nature of the Demon. What is his domain? From what elements does he draw his power? If you can find that out, we could make bullets to counter it.”

“Fucking right!” I grinned as I looked at the dower Dwarf. “Then that’s just what I’ll do.”

“How?” Beclin asked in his clear, tenor voice.

“I don’t know yet,” I said. “But I know some people who could help.”

“Just don’t take too long,” Saggor warned. “The longer Belzat had to work his influence over Ursenegr, the more powerful Ursenegr will become.”

Backyard Dungeon 5 Chapter 2

“This day just gets better and better,” I said into my phone, and I walked into my new, empty house for the first time.

My wives came in behind me and started to wander around the house, and they chatted with each other about their future plans for different rooms.

“I’m glad you’re pleased,” Meyer replied. “How’s the new house? Is everything in order?”

“Yeah,” I said as I paced around the big living room. “The new furniture is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. The ladies and I are excited.”

“Excellent,” the lawyer’s placid voice came over the line. “That was all the business I had to update you on. Is there anything else you needed before I go?”

“Actually…” I paused as a thought crossed my mind. “I was wondering if you could recommend a new broker for me?”

“Has something happened with Mr. McElfresh?” Meyer asked in a curious tone.

“Not exactly,” I replied with a shrug the lawyer couldn’t see. “He made me this offer to invest in a new business, but it sounded kinda shady to me. I bowed out of it, but then Owen got kinda-- weird for a minute. I just want to know what my other options are for right now.”

I didn’t mention the car that had followed me after I left the Irishman’s jewelry store last time. I didn’t even know if it had anything to do with Owen, honestly. And there was no reason to bring Travis into the middle of it when it could have easily been one of Stanton’s security buddies.

But I needed to get to the bottom of whoever was in that black sedan.

“Really?” Travis asked with mild surprise. “Mr. McElfresh does have a temper on him, but I’ve noticed a marked improvement since he began those anger management courses. But I’ll have Alice send you a list of some other brokers I’ve worked with in the past. If you do decide to stop doing business with McElfresh let me know. Owen is… well connected, and we should handle the matter delicately.”

Travis didn’t need to tell me what “well connected” meant.

I’d suspected Owen was at least connected to some kind of crime family, or something close to that. McElfresh was Irish, and everyone he seemed to work with had Irish last names, whether or not they had the accent.

“Should I even go back to him then?” I asked my lawyer.

“I’ve worked with Owen McElfresh for years,” Meyer replied in a measured tone. “And while he is one of my more… colorful clients, I have always had a good relationship with him. But in these matters, an ounce of prudence is worth a pound of shit, if you’ll excuse the crude expression. I’d counsel you to do whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

“Thanks, Meyer,” I said. “If you vouch for him, I’ll stick with Owen for now. But I’ll still take that list of brokers when Alice has time.”

“Very good,” Meyer replied, and then he efficiently skipped the goodbye and hung up.

“Oh!” I heard Ibseth exclaim from the hallway that led to the kitchen and the stairs behind me. “This is so perfect!”

I put my phone back in my pocket and headed down the hallway to see what the ladies were up to.

Nileme and Ibseth were at the bottom of the steps and headed toward the kitchen. I followed them in as Ibseth stepped into the middle of the dining area, put her arms out, and spun around to enjoy all the open space.

“This is a palace!” the white-haired woman cooed happily. “It’s so big! Oh, Eddie, my king! Thank you so much for our new house.”

“I’m just happy you’re happy.” I smiled as I leaned against the open doorway. “If it weren’t for all of you, I would probably have been fine just living out my days in the trailer. But that just won’t do for my family.”

“It is a very fine house,” Nileme agreed with a broad grin.

“It’ll be even better furnished.” I nodded. “The truck is supposed to be here first thing in the morning.”

“Then we have the rest of the day to train,” Amrila said as she came through the door behind me that led to the basement. “Also, did anyone else know we have a dungeon?”

“It’s called a basement,” I snorted. “And it’s partly finished too, which is nice.”

“Why didn’t the Miller’s just finish it?” the horned woman asked with a wrinkled brow. “What good is ‘partly finished?’”

“No,” I tried to explain. “It’s a thing on the surface.”

“It’s a thing to only partly finish things?” Nileme asked, also clearly confused.

“It’s just a type of basement,” I said as I struggled to hold in laughter. “Let’s go train a little, and then I’ll order apps and grill up the steaks.”

The ladies and I all went back to the trailer and gathered in the backyard. Growler and Dread happily chased one another around as Ibseth checked on her little greenhouse, and she started to pick the ripe cucumbers so she could try pickling them. Mrs. Tinor had taught the violet-eyed woman how to do it when we were in The Gloom fighting Igurg.

Ibseth now had a collection of mason jars and jugs of vinegar in the trailer, ready for her harvest. I couldn’t wait. Homemade pickles were the best, and I hadn’t had any in years.

As Ibseth worked in her little greenhouse, Amrila, Nileme, and I all squared off with wooden swords. Amrila had started to teach me how to swordfight weeks ago, in case we needed a quieter form of combat than the rifles. It didn’t come up often, but I figured it didn’t hurt to learn a new skill.

But when Amrila came at me with an overhanded swing, and I blocked it with a loud thunk, Dread immediately darted for the greenhouse entrance and stuck close to Ibseth.

It was strange. Both of the garms had fought so fiercely against Igrurg and his men, even after the Orc warlord transformed into a monster. But up here on the surface, Dread had kinda become a baby. I knew the Goblins who’d originally captured Dread and Growler badly mistreated them, but Growler didn’t run off when my warrior wives and I started to mock fight.

I decided I would have to train Dread a little bit more and get him to the place where he could be a guard dog for Ibseth when I was down in The Gloom. Dread had fought seasoned Orcish warriors without problem, and I was sure he’d be pretty scary once he was grown to full size. He’d probably deter most burglars just by being big as hell.

Nileme and Amrila put me through several drills, and I felt like I’d really started to get the hang of the basics. I’d learned where to place my hand below the pommel and how to keep the point of the blade pointed low between attacks. I could block a fair number of Nileme’s attacks because her style was slower, but she was also more powerful since she typically used a greatsword.

That is, before she fell in love with guns.

Amrila’s attacks were harder to dodge, since she was fast, lithe, and had two short swords. The horned woman would flick one wooden sword at me, and then bring the other around while I seemed distracted. I caught on to that early, though, and I used the broad side of my practice sword as I held it across my body to block an attack from either side.

“You learn quickly,” Nileme complimented me.

“I’ve watched you and Amrila long enough.” I smiled and shrugged. “I think we can call it here for today. I’ll get out the grill, and you ladies can order the appetizers you want.”

I gathered up the wooden practice swords while Nileme and Amrila went over to help Ibseth carry the vegetables she’d picked into the house.

I took a moment and refilled the garms’ water bowls with the garden hose, pulled out the grill, and carefully piled the charcoal, and then I poured on some lighter fluid and lit the coals. Once the flames died down, I spread out the coals and closed the lid with the vent on the side open enough to allow in air, and then I went into the house to grab the steaks.

Ibseth had already washed off her fresh veggies and laid the cucumbers out on the counter, ready to pickle. My first wife picked out some of the other veggies for a salad to go with dinner, and I grabbed the steaks and a beer from the fridge.

Even with all the trouble going on in The Gloom somewhere below my backyard, life felt like paradise.

By the time the grill had heated up to the perfect temperature, my three wives and I were all gathered in the backyard with Growler and Dread. The yard would be huge once I knocked down the fence between the trailer and the new house, and I’d even started to secretly plan a big-ass playhouse for my future children.

Once the appetizers arrived, we all sat in the yard with beers and paper plates loaded with food, and I was on cloud nine.

“Do you think the resistance in the Yennih territory will help us?” Nileme asked Amrila as she took a pull from her beer bottle.

“I’m sure some of them will,” the horned woman replied around a mouthful of salad. “This is what they’ve been waiting for.”

“Who do you think we should see first?” I asked as I threw a couple scraps of steak to the garms.

I’d waited until I had eaten most of the steak because I’d heard that’s a way to establish that you’re the leader with dogs. I didn’t know if it was true, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.

“I think we could just drag Scourge along,” Amrila answered in a thoughtful tone. “He presents himself as a silly fop, but he’s very well respected in those circles. Even Groc at the tavern listens to him.”

“I like that idea.” I nodded as I sipped my beer. “I was worried about bringing in people I didn’t know. But I trust Scourge like a brother at this point.”

“So, the Dolrath and the Crardu are going to join forces against Ursenger?” Ibseth asked with a wide eyed expression.

My first wife didn’t talk about her half-brother often, and I didn’t blame her.

The sick bastard had made her life miserable in The Gloom when she refused to marry or sleep with him. The “Mad Chief” of the Yennih had also killed her full brother, Ondur, but I’d only heard Ibseth talk about that once.

For every ounce of pain Ursenger had caused my sweet, kind hearted wife, I would take a pound of flesh from that bastard.

“Yes, after the other chiefs saw the evidence that Ursenger made a deal with a Demon Lord, they were on board,” I replied. “Now, it’s just a matter of moving fast enough so he doesn’t catch wind of anything before we can organize the attack.”

“It will be key to strike at the Mad Chief quickly,” Nileme agreed. “Before he can mount a proper response.”

“Well,” Ibseth said as she looked pensively at the coals on the grill, “with the three of you leading the charge, I’m sure you’ll be victorious.”

“I promise we will, baby.” I smiled.

We fed the garms their evening meal of hearty kibble and then turned in. It was our last night in the cramped trailer, but I still felt content.

The next morning, the four of us were all up early and ready for the delivery truck. We’d kinda gone ham and ordered enough to furnish almost the whole house. When the delivery people pulled up, we had just finished breakfast, and Ibseth jumped up off the couch with a squeal of delight. The white-haired woman wore a pair of artfully torn jeans that hugged the curves of her round hips, a tight, white little crop top, and one of my old flannels.

“They’re here, they’re here!” my wife giggled with glee.

As Ibseth skipped out through the front door, Amrila slugged back the last of her coffee. The horned woman had on a band hoodie over skin tight, black skinny jeans, and she looked effortlessly sexy, as always. If it weren’t for her horns and the red tone of her skin, my Zencarri wife looked like all the girls I’d crushed on in high school.

“We shouldn’t leave her alone for too long,” Nileme said with a soft smile as she gestured after Ibseth. The dark-haired woman wore a pair of black leggings, a worn t-shirt, and another of my old flannels that she’d tied at her trim waist, and she looked equal parts comfortable and beautiful.

“After you.” I smirked and flourished dramatically toward the door.

Nileme and I followed Ibseth out the door, and we walked up to the trucks that had parked in the driveway of the new house. The furniture store had sent two trucks and four men in polos and lifting belts, since the order was so large, and I stepped up to one of the men who carried a clipboard.

“Hi, I hope you found the place okay,” I said as I held out my hand to shake.

“What-- oh, yeah.” The man with the clipboard cleared his throat, and he tore his eyes from Ibseth and Amrila as they walked up to the new house to unlock it. “You’re Mr. Hill?”

“Yeah.” I grinned as my eyes followed to where the man had been looking. “You can call me Eddie.”

“Nice to meet you, Eddie.” The man shook my hand and tried to recover some professionalism. “I’m Chris. My boys and I will do all the heavy lifting. You just need to tell us where you want everything.”

“Oh, that’s more my wives-- uhh-- my wife’s thing,” I corrected myself. “Ibseth will tell you where she wants everything.”

“Smart man,” Chris joked. “We’ll start unloading, and the Missus can point us where to go.”

“Sounds good.” I nodded, and Nileme and I stood back and watched as the delivery guys started to unload some of the smaller items from the back of the trucks. The Elven woman fiddled with the flannel tied around her waist like she didn’t know how to just stand by and watch, and I chuckled as a thought came to mind.

“I really need to take you out so you can get some clothes of your own.” I grinned at the Dolrath woman and nodded to the flannel she was playing with. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the way you look in my shirt, but you’d probably be more comfortable in clothes you picked for yourself.”

“Normally ,I would say not to fuss over it,” Nileme replied with a breezy laugh. “But all of Ibseth’s clothes are too short, and Amrila’s so slim that I haven’t bothered to borrow anything from her. And while your shirts fit me, I could never get your pants over my hips.”

“I haven’t been blessed with your curves,” I chuckled.

I’d always been tall and thin, but the construction work that got me through college and my adventures in The Gloom had helped to fill out my shoulders and chest. I was still slim, but I was more of an inverted triangle than I had been in high school.

When Ibseth came out, Chris approached her with his clipboard, and I sat back to enjoy whatever came next. My first wife may have a strange appearance by surface standards, but her charm, grace, and beauty almost always won people over.

Today promised to be very entertaining for me.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Hill?” the man with the clipped board asked as he touched the bill of his baseball cap. “Your husband said we should ask you where everything goes.”

“Really?” The curvy woman smiled before she looked over to me and winked in a coy fashion. “I would be happy to.”

Ibseth walked over to the trucks, and the expressions on the delivery men’s faces were priceless. There were looks of confusion, appreciation, and everything in between.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” the violet-eyed woman said as she inclined her head to them without a trace of self-consciousness. “If you would be so kind, the blue and silver couch and loveseat should go in the living room. And the reclining chair should go in the north east corner where the sun won’t glare in Eddie’s eyes at sunset.”

And that’s how it went for the next several hours. Ibseth directed the workmen with easy grace, and she brought them coffee and banana bread when they took a short break halfway through.

By the time they were done, every single one of them was in love with her, but Amrila stuck close by the white-haired woman’s side and glowered at any of the workmen when she felt they got too friendly.

Then one of the delivery guys wolf whistled at the red-skinned woman on his way back to the trucks and instantly realized his mistake.

“It will be hard to whistle if I rip your lips from your face and feed them to my dogs,” Amrila said flatly with an arched eyebrow.

The horned woman was only half the size of the delivery man, but there must have been something in her expression that convinced him she meant it because the big man dropped his gaze and hurried to the trucks without any further comment.

“Well, that’s everything, Mr. Hill,” Chris said as he looked over the papers on his clipboard. “The card this is under is in your name, so I’ll just need you to sigh here.”

“No problem.” I smiled as I took the pen the gentlemen offered me and signed. “Thank you so much. Your guys got that done so fast. It wasn’t exactly a small order.”

“Usually, we just deliver maybe a room or two worth of stuff.” Chris nodded. “But this was kinda nice. We didn’t have to drive around a bunch, and now it’s lunch time.”

Then I saw Chris glance over at my wives as they stood in the yard and talked before he turned back to me.

“It’s none of my business,” the man in the polo said in a curious tone that I had become familiar with over the last couple of months. “But are you all-- what do they call them-- furries?”

“No,” I snorted. “Furries are the people who dress like animals. The ladies are all cosplayers.”

“Huh.” Chris nodded. “Well, either way, you’re a lucky man. Your wife’s a hell of a woman.”

“Thank you.” I grinned. “I’m well aware.”

After the delivery trucks all pulled away, the ladies and I went into the living room and piled onto the new couch. For once, we didn’t have to all cram together to fit, but snuggled comfortably instead.

“Now, we just have to get furniture for Whitmire’s place,” I joked as I settled into the taagle of arms and legs with my wives. “I’ve also been thinking about making an offer on Tinor’s place, since Jack has been talking about heading to Arizona. That way you would each have a house of your own.”

“You are too generous, my king,” Ibseth purred as she leaned against my shoulder.

“I like the sound of that.” Amrila smirked. “I was thrilled to have my own room. But a whole house is even better.”

“I guess that would just leave you three to decide who gets which house,” I replied.

“That’s a simple matter,” Nileme said as she curled up next to Amrila. “Ibseth is the first wife, so she should get the biggest house. Then Amrila. Then me.”

“I don’t want anyone feeling like they deserve less just because I met Ibseth first.” I frowned. “I love you all equally.”

“We know that, Eddie,” Amrila said as she stroked my hair. “But it’s not about who you love more, or if someone is better. But going by order of wife makes things easier. And if you get the Tinor’s house, that’s the one I want because it doesn’t smell like Whitmire’s horrible perfume.”

“Now you will have to decide where you spend each night, Eddie,” Ibseth giggled.

“I mean, how is that usually decided?” I asked with a huge grin on my face. “Is there a roster or something to keep things fair?”

“It depends on the household,” the white-haired woman explained. “Some men just choose who they prefer each night. Others set a schedule or have their first wife handle the matter.”

“Well, I don’t have a preference,” I said. “So I guess we’ll just do a rotation and start with Ibseth, then Amrila, then Nileme. And on Sundays we can draw a name out of a hat or something.”

“Or,” Amrila interjected with a wicked grin, “on those days we can all just sleep together.”

That idea had an immediate effect on how tight my pants felt. I’d been with Ibseth and Amrila at the same time, but to have all three of my wives at once was a hell of a mental image.

“I guess we can decide that as we go,” I snorted, and then I turned to Ibseth. “Which room did you pick for the baby?”

“The one next to the master bedroom,” Ibseth sighed in a content tone as she placed her hand gently over her belly. “The one at the end of the hallway is where Nileme chose for her room.”

“Let’s go take a look,” I said as I reluctantly untangled myself. “I should get some measurements so we can pick out a crib and stuff. Then I’ll take apart the big bed in the trailer and put that in Nileme’s room.”

“I can help Nileme move the big bed,” Amrila said as she also got up. “I watched you put my bed together, and it’s not complicated.”

As my Zencarri and Dolrath wives went to the trailer to take apart the bed in the master bedroom there, Ibseth and I went up the stairs to take a look at what would be the baby’s room.

It was a nice sized room for a kid, with a north west facing window and a small closet. The walls were stark white, and the beige carpet didn’t really scream kids room to me.

“Do you want to paint the walls?” I asked my first wife.

But I stared at her perfect, round ass because I was still focused on all the talk downstairs about sleeping in one big bed with my three wives.

“What color do humans paint a baby’s room?” Ibseth asked as she turned to look at me.

“That depends,” I said as I moved toward the petite woman and wrapped my hands around her thin waist. “Sometimes people paint a room blue for a boy, or pink for a girl. But there are a million options. We could go with a soft yellow, or pick a theme like cute forest animals.”

“Forest animals would be perfect,” Ibseth purred as she sensed my ulterior motive for being alone with her and moved in to press her large breasts against me. “And if it’s a boy, we will name him Edward.”

“And if it’s a girl?” I rumbled.

“Would you be mad if it’s a girl?” Ibseth asked as she looked up at me with genuine concern.

“Of course not,” I gently assured the blue-skinned woman. “I’m just happy to be a dad. All I care about is that you’re happy and the baby’s healthy.”

“You are the finest of men, my king,” Ibseth breathed as she pulled me in for a long, passionate kiss.

Backyard Dungeon 5 Chapter 1

I watched the edge of the growth of magical crystal while the Gnome harvesters were busy at their task. We would need the powerful shards for their mystical properties in the fight against Ursenegr, and Ekneme had asked Nileme, Amrila, and I to watch over the family of Gnomish specialists while they gathered crystals because there had been an uptick in monster activity over the last few days.

The Gnomes all carried baskets that they wore on their backs, and they used small hammers and chisels to chip off sizable chunks from the living pillars of jagged crystals that grew here like trees. The Crystal Forest was an incredible sight, and even as I listened for the scitter of carrion beetles, or the beat of Nictor wings, I took a moment to enjoy it.

Amrila was several yards away to the north west and looked like she was bored out of her mind, while Nileme watched for threats to the south east of me. The Gnomes all worked in the center of the little circle we’d made, and the tinkling sound of their hammers filled the cavern around us. I enjoyed the musical sound, but I was also bored out of my mind.

“I think we should order in tonight,” the horned woman commented, clearly to break the silence more than anything. “I could really go for some chicken tenders and fries from Rick’s Diner.”

I’d given the Gnomes silicone earplugs and instructed them all to put them in, just in case we needed to start shooting without warning. Wallick, the patriarch and leader of the family of harvesters, had agreed right away. Wallick seemed to be a very practical man and became concerned when I explained to him the dangers of hearing loss from the sound of the rifles, so between the earplugs and the sound of their hammers, it was safe to assume the Gnome couldn’t hear us.

But I’d told the ladies to be careful what we talked about all the same. I didn’t want anyone to say something that would give clues to the way to the surface, but dinner talk seemed safe enough.

“Ibseth says the smell of Rick’s food makes her sick right now,” Nileme replied as she adjusted the strap of her AK.

“We could order from that new steak house,” I suggested in a helpful tone. “That sauce they serve with their fried onions is nuts.”

“But their steak isn’t very good.” Amrila wrinkled her nose as she kicked at a loose pebble on the ground. “I’d much rather have the steak you cook on the grill at home.”

“We could always order appetizers and then grill up some steaks.” I grinned as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other to relieve a cramp that had started in my thigh.

“I like that idea--” the Dolrath princess started to say when we all heard the sound of rockfall.

Nileme turned to look at the edge of the Crystal Forest behind her, where there was a massive dropoff. I stood to attention and grabbed my Galil that hung from a strap across my body, and when some of the Gnomes noticed our sudden, tense movements, they stopped hammering and also watched the edge of the dropoff.

Then there was a shriek so loud it made my Pro X headphones cut out all sound, and I could feel the rumble of the ground underneath my feet. As the Pit Wyrm came up over the edge of the rock cliff, the beat of its huge wings churned the air around us, and the beast shrieked again.

The Gnomes scattered and ran behind me as I stepped forward, charged my rifle, and clicked on the laser to help me aim. Nileme was in the line of my shot, but we had trained enough together that she knew to immediately get out of the way. As the dark-haired Elven woman tucked and rolled to the side, I fired three rounds into the beast’s stomach and chest before it slammed down onto the rockledge and dug its massive claws into the dirt.

Nileme popped up only three yards from the Wyrm and fired two quick rounds into the monster’s feline-like face, and she managed to take out its left eye. Meanwhile, Amrila pulled both of her swords, and she ran past me to put herself between the Gnomes and the winged menace so she could protect the harvesters if the Wyrm got around the princess and me.

The Pit Wyrm whipped its toward Nileme, but the athletic warrior woman nimbly moved behind one of the thick crystal pillars to avoid the snap of the beast’s toothy jaw. I took advantage of the distraction to fire several rounds at the other side of the Wyrm’s large head. One bullet went clear through the fucker’s pointed ear, but the other two hit just under the right eye.

The Wyrm shrieked again, this time in frustration, and then it surged forward on all fours into the Crystal growth while its long, scale and fur covered body snaked behind it. I moved back so the Wyrm didn’t bowl me over, and I took cover behind a large, blue crystal pillar.

As the frantic beast pushed its way through the crystalline pillars, gem spikes shattered and fell from the pillars to break on the ground. Then the Wyrm turned its thin, snake-like body and sniffed the air before it turned to see Amrila with the Gnomes as they huddled behind her. The horned woman grinned as she flourished her swords, and then she ran forward, right at the Wyrm. The beast lowered its head and opened its maw filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, and its head shot forward on a long, serpentine neck.

But my Zencarri wife was ready for that, and she danced out of the way as she turned her body, brought her jeweled sword around, and slashed at the Wyrm’s short snout. The bloodied fucker reared its head back as it howled in pain, and Nileme and I saw our opening.

We almost moved as one as we each stepped out from behind the cover of our separate pillars and fired round after round into the vulnerable hollow of the Wyrm’s jaw. Our bullets tore through the soft flesh and poked holes in the Wyrm’s airways, and the Pit Wyrm began to sputter and cough as it choked on its own blood.

Then the huge monster fell to its side and writhed on the ground, and its thick tail slammed repeatedly against one of the crystal growths and threatened to knock the massive pillar over. I stepped forward, shot three final rounds into the Wyrm’s brainpan, and ended the beast’s suffering.

Once the Pit Wyrm was still for a few moments, and I was sure it was dead, I took my headphones off to signal it was safe.

“I think we’re good,” I said as Wallick and his harvesters pulled out their earplugs and took a few cautious steps forward. “If this ugly fucker has been hanging out around here, I don’t think anything else would want to be in the area. But you should all keep your ear protection handy.”

“Thank you, Shield Brother,” Wallick said a little breathlessly. “That was quite impressive.”

“It was a team effort,” I replied as I smiled proudly at my wives. “Should we move to another part of the forest so you guys can finish up?”

“I think we can get the last of what we need from the shards the beast shattered on the ground,” Wallick answered as he looked around at the shards of crystal scattered around the dead Wyrm. “Rawlin, please gather the monster’s teeth if you will. They could also be useful.”

The tallest Gnome moved over to the Pit Wyrm, and Amrila helped to hold open the beast’s jaws as the lanky Rawlin pulled at the Wyrm’s left canine until it came away with a wet popping sound. The rest of the Gnomes started to gather up the chunks of crystal on the ground, and Nileme and I changed out our mags, in case anything other monster chose to come along.

Once Wallick and the others had gotten all the crystals they needed, the harvesters started in on the Wyrm and skinned off all the hide they could reasonably carry.

They took the title of harvesters very seriously it would seem.

Amrila came to stand with Nileme and I as we watched over the Gnomes, and I considered lending a hand for a moment, but thought better of it. I’d skinned a few deers in my time, but these Gnomes had their work down to a science, and I would have just been in their way.

“I think apps from Rick’s and steaks on the grill sounds like a great plan,” I said to my wives as we waited for the Gnomes to finish.

“And beer,” the red-skinned woman added with a sharp toothed grin.

“Fucking right, and beer.” I nodded.

Once the gnomes were finished, the ladies and I escorted them back to the Encampment of the Dolrath.

“Thank you again,” Wallick said to the three of us as we stopped just outside of the tent city. “Here is your payment, as agreed upon.”

The short man waved his hands to one of the harvesters, who took off the basket from his back and handed it to me.

The bushel basket was filled to the brim with shiny crystals that still had a strange inner glow to them. I took it and nodded in thanks to the Gnomes before I passed the basket off to Amrila, and she slung the basket on her slender shoulders since there was no way I would have been able to get it over even one of my arms.

“Thanks, Wallick.” I held out my hand to the smaller man and leaned forward so he could reach it easily. “I’m sure these will go to good use.”

Wallick shook my hand, and then the Gnome harvesters headed to their homes just outside of the main body of the Encampment to start processing their goods.

The ladies and I headed to the Meeting House to see Chief Ekneme and let her know our mission had been a success. When we entered the large, wooden structure that was the only truly permanent structure in the Dolrath city, the three of us found Ekneme with only a few of her warriors scattered around the long tables. The chief smiled when she saw us enter and embraced Nileme warmly.

“I take it all went well?” the dark-haired, older woman asked.

“There was a Pit Wyrm,” I replied as I sat on the edge of one of the long tables. “But we made pretty short work of it.”

“I’m sure the three of you did.” Ekneme smiled at the ladies and me. “But I’m glad you came here before you left. I received a message from Chief Murdrak, and there’s going to be a war council. I have summoned the leaders of the Dolrath and the Grimthorn Elders. I understand the Crardu leaders and Captain Xuag will also be present.”

I secretly wondered if that meant Bolra, Xuag’s very pretty sister, would be there, too.

“Aren’t you the leader of the Dolrath?” Amrila asked in a curious tone.

“Mother is the chief, but there are many nomadic groups that form the tribe,” Nileme explained. “We are traditionally a nomadic people, that’s why we choose to live in tents, so we can pull up our stakes at any time and go where we need to. Only this Meeting House is permanent, by tradition.”

I remembered Bhathok had once told me about the nomadic Dolrath, when I’d first met him, but that felt like such a long time ago, even though it had only been a couple of months.

“I would like for you three to be present as well,” Ekneme continued in a brisk tone. “You have already done so much for us, Eddie. But as my son-in-law and a Shield Brother to the tribe, I think you should be there.”

“Of course.” I nodded as I forced my thoughts away from the smoking hot, Orcish mystic. “I want to see Ursenegr’s reign come to an end as much as anyone.”

“Wonderful.” The chief inclined her head to me and then turned to Amrila. “I understand that you have contacts in the resistance in the Yennih territory.”

The horned woman looked slightly startled when the powerful woman addressed her directly but she quickly cleared her throat.

“Yes, Chief,” she replied a little stiffly.

“Would you be willing to ask some of your more trusted contacts to come?” the dignified chief asked. “Like Scourge and maybe a few others? I feel they could provide valuable insight and resources to the meeting.”

“Of course.” Amrila nodded. “Whatever helps the cause.”

“Thank you, Shield Sister.” Ekneme smiled and then the tall woman turned back to me. “The message also noted that Murdrak’s alchemists have made a potion from the Basilisk’s gland that should cure our friends in the swamp. When the time comes, I would like for you and Nileme to lead a force into the Twilight to revive them.”

“That’s awesome!” I grinned. “Yeah, absolutely.”

“Very well.” The serious, older woman nodded. “Then I will see all of you again in two days’ time.”

“Good bye, Mother,” Nileme said in a warm tone as she embraced the older Elven woman.

“Take care, Daughter,” Ekneme replied, and her expression was a mix of pride and a little sadness to see the princess go. “And fare well, Shield Brother and Sister.”

“See you soon, Chief,” I said as I also hugged my new mother-in-law.

Then the three of us left the Encampment and headed to the surface with the crystal shards. The path was so familiar now that it all seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.

“Should we drop off the crystals?” the princess asked as we passed near the tunnels that led to the corridor where the Lost Dwarves lived.

“I’ll take care of that tomorrow,” I replied. “I promised Dave I’d help him move out today, and I want to grab a shower so I’m not covered in Pit Wyrm blood as I help him move his sectional out.”

When we came out of the tunnels, through the lilac bushes, Growler and Dread both came running up to me to welcome me back.

The two snow white, dog-like animals with their reddish ears already seemed bigger than they were when I brought them home a few days ago. Ibseth had spoiled them already, and they’d started to fill out. The adolescent garms almost came up to my knees, and if I had to guess from their huge paws, they’d get quite a bit bigger before they were fully grown.

I scratched them behind their ears, and the three of us went into the house to clean up. Ibseth was by the sink as she washed dishes, and she smiled at the three of us as we came through the back door.

“Good afternoon, my adventurers!” the curvy Elven woman said. “How was your mission?”

“Successful,” Amrila grunted as she heaved the basket of shards off her shoulder. “Saggor and the boys should love this.”

“And everyone came through safe,” I added, because I knew Ibseth would care more about everyone’s safety. “We protected the Gnome harvesters from a Pit Wyrm, and no one got hurt.”

“My brave warrior,” Ibseth purred, and she stepped over to me, threw her arms around my neck, and pulled me in for a welcome home kiss.

The petite, white-haired elf had somehow gotten even hotter since she’d become pregnant. The cozy, oversized sweater she wore over soft leggings did nothing to conceal her large, perfect breasts, and the wide neck of the sweater hung in a flirtatious way off one of her smooth shoulders.

I kissed my first wife deeply and pulled her in close. Ibseth wasn’t far along and wouldn’t show for another month or two, but the idea that she was carrying my child endeared the blue-skinned woman to me all the more.

“I gotta grab a quick shower and go help Dave,” I sighed as I finally released Ibseth. “But we’ll pick this back up later.”

“Alright.” The violet-eyed woman playfully wrinkled her nose at me, and I headed into the bathroom.

As I turned on the hot water to let the shower warm up, I turned my thoughts to all the things I wanted to check off my mental to-do list next. My imaginary check-list seemed to grow all the time, and for everything I checked off, another two ideas would take its place.

But it felt good to be busy, and to have the means to do each project without worrying about money.

Once I was all cleaned up, I stepped out of the bathroom and found Amrila standing in the hall to stake her claim on the next shower. The red-skinned woman had taken off her armor and stood in just a t-shirt and tiny black panties.

“Oh, excuse me.” The horned woman feigned surprise and gave me a wicked grin as she squeezed past me and blatantly pushed her tight ass against my crotch as she went into the bathroom.

“Brat!” I snorted as I enjoyed the brush of the red-skinned woman’s round butt across the front of my jeans. “You know I gotta go help Dave.”

“I know,” the Zencarri woman replied as she eyed me up and down. “But you’ll have something pleasant to think about as you move all that heavy furniture.”

Then Amrila took hold of the bottom of her shirt and smoothly pulled it over her head to reveal her pert breasts and tawny nipples. I grinned at the horned woman and reluctantly closed the bathroom door to go keep my promise to my friend and neighbor, but my jeans felt tighter than they had when I put them on.

I put on my beat up work boots and headed out the front door, and then I walked next door where Dave had a large moving van backed up to the house to make the loading process easier. Jessi carried a big box marked “kitchen/fragile” and set it on the lawn with a few other boxes.

“Hey, Eddie.” The plump Midwestern woman smiled and waved when she saw me.

“Hey, Jessi.” I smiled back. “It’s crazy that moving day is already here. How’s the packing coming?”

“Everything is in boxes,” the sweet-faced woman replied. “I’m just bringing them out so we can load them right in after you guys get the heavy stuff on the truck.”

“That’s a solid plan.” I nodded. “Where’s Dave?”

“He’s in the living room,” Jessi said as she stretched her back. “Just go on in, it’s your place now anyway.”

“Thanks,” I chuckled and then went through the open front door.

The inside of the house was cool, like the fall air outside. I guessed Dave had turned off the heat since we would be in and out of the house and the doors would be open.

I found Dave Miller in the large living room that was bare except for a large, sectional couch and the entertainment center that was partly taken apart.

“Eddie.” The sandy haired man grinned when I came in. “Thanks so much for lending a hand. I would have hired movers, but they’re so expensive, and then half your stuff gets broken.”

“It’s no problem.” I shrugged. “If you want to take that end of the couch, I’ll take the other.”

“I bet you can’t wait to move in here,” Dave grunted as he lifted his side of the heavy couch. “Four people in that little trailer must feel like a lot.”

“We make it work,” I laughed as I lifted my side with relative ease.

“I bet you do.” The sandy-haired man winked at me. “You’re a lucky man.”

“I like to think so,” I snorted as I backed my way toward the front door.

Between the two of us, Dave and I got his heavier furniture loaded without much trouble. My wives even came over and helped once Amrila and Nileme had gotten cleaned up. Ibseth couldn’t do any heavy lifting, but she watched the Miller’s two younger kids to lend a hand, and Hank and Jenny played with the petite Elven woman and our two garms. Growler and Dread seemed to love kids and took care not to bowl them over or play too rough as the kids wrestled with them.

“What kind of dogs are those?” Dave asked after we had finished up and cracked a couple of beers.

“Oh…” I stalled as I looked over at the garms. “They’re… one of those fancy new breads, like a labradoodle. They’re part wolfhound, part white lab, and part Chesapeake retriever, I think.”

“Huh,” the sandy-haired man grunted as he watched the kids play with the canines. “They’re beautiful dogs. You got any big plans for your new house? I heard you’re keeping the trailer and that you bought Whitmire’s place.”

“I got a few.” I nodded as I sipped my beer. “I’m thinking about combining the yards. I love a big backyard. And I’m going to put a proper porch on the back of the trailer before the weather gets cold. Ibseth will be able to have a big-ass garden next year, and there’ll be plenty of room for the dogs to run around.”

“And for your growing family,” Dave replied with a sly smile. “Congratulations, by the way. Jessi told me the good news.”

“Thanks, Dave.” I grinned and sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. “I actually can’t wait to be a dad.”

“It’s the best, but it’s exhausting, too.” Dave nodded. “But then, you have a lot of hands on deck to help. I don’t know how you do it. My hands are full with just Jessi and the kids.”

“Honestly, they make it easy.” I shrugged. “All the ladies do their own part, and they love me and each other. It’s like a dream come true.”

“I’ll say it is,” Dave chuckled as he took a pull from his beer. “Lucky dog.”

Then the Miller loaded their kids into their minivan, and Dave got behind the wheel of the moving truck as we said our last goodbyes as neighbors.

“I’ll miss you girls sooo much,” Jessi said through the open driver’s side window of her light blue van. “All of my new neighbors are going to be boring compared to you three.”

“Then you will have to come visit often,” Ibseth said in a sweet voice.

“I will.” The plump woman grinned back.

“Here’s the keys,” Dave said as he handed me a keyring with four keys on it. “These two are the front door, and the other two are for the door in the garage. Oh! And here’s the fob for the automatic garage door. I think that’s everything.”

“Thank you, have a good drive, Dave,” I said as I looked at my new keys. “I’ll miss you. You and Jack Tinor are the only guys I could have a beer with on the block.”

“Yeah,” the sandy-haired man sighed. “I’m going to miss you, too. But honestly, I’m not going to miss living next to Brock.”

“I’m not too worried about him.” I grinned as I thought about my secret plan to buy up every house in the cul-de-sac. “He’ll come around.”

“Sure…” Dave gave me a skeptical grin before he and Jessi said their final goodbyes, pulled out, and drove away from the cul-de-sac.

As the moving van pulled out of the driveway, I saw Brock was out on his porch with his arms folded and a scowl on his wide face. I just waved and acted like I didn’t notice his attempt to intimidate me, and then I turned my back on him as I looked at the beautiful house that I’d outbid Stanton for. I put an arm around Ibseth and the other around Amrila, and Nileme came up behind me and warped her muscular arms around my waist in a strangely delicate gesture of affection.

We all looked at the new house for a moment, one big family with me at the center to hold it all together. And then my phone rang.

I looked at the display and saw it was my CPA/lawyer, Travis Meyer.

“Hey, Meyer,” I answered the phone.

“Mr. Hill,” I heard the buttoned up man’s cool, professional voice on the other end of the line. “I just wanted to call and let you know that the proceeds from your last transaction with Mr. McElfresh have come through and are now available to you.”

“That’s great!” I grinned.

“There is now two point five million in your account,” Travis confirmed. “Oh, and Mrs. Whitmire’s home is now in escrow.”

Audiobook Release | Mage Assassin 4

Mage Assassin 4 audiobook is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

The Goddess of the Prevailing Winds is lurking around Ocadia, and she’s not too happy with me.

It turns out thwarting her assassination plans has bigger fallout than I anticipated, and my women and I are now her primary targets.

But my schedule is already packed with nosy fire gods, creepy necromancers, and ancient sorcerers.

And there’s a certain sweet-faced duchess who seems very eager for a private audience with me…

Narration by: Robert L. Bradvica, Alyssa Poon
Length: 8 Hours, 09 Minutes

Audiobook releases for June 2022

UPDATE: Books have changed. I picked the wrong month when I was grabbing the books for the list This is why I normally have my assistant do it. I can't pay attention. MA4, Skul5, Kill Monsters, Get Rich, and Arena 7.

Sorry about the late reply. Had to battle with the other authors using the narrators to figure out what books are coming out. If you join the $40 tier after the book has come out, my assistant will put it in your Boofunnel library the next business day.

Mage Assassin 04

Skulduggery 05

Kill Monsters Get Rich

Arena 07

Monster Girl Base 7 NSFW covers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2QTH335

Surprise attack! Monster Girl Base 7 is out now!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2QTH335

Audiobook Release: Werepanther 5

The Werepanther 5 audiobook is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

My life has definitely changed since I discovered I was a werepather, but I would argue it’s changed for the better.

Instead of a broke college student, I’m the owner of a lucrative lounge, and business just keeps getting better. Money is flowing in hand over fist, and I have my pick of sexy, intelligent, badass women.

But I still have a target on my back, which can be dangerous for the people around me.

Narration By: Alyssa Poon and Robert L. Bradvica
Duration: 6 Hours, 55 Minutes

Resurrected as a Drow 3 map

Really need maps for this series.

Resurrected as a Drow 3 NSFW covers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B242BLVG

That's one of the best boob angles.

Resurrected as a Drow 3 is out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B242BLVG

Resurrected as a Drow 3 Chapter 4

My heart sank as the gates remained closed, and dread filled me at the thought that I’d answered wrong and I’d never be a wizard.

But my fears were quickly assuaged as the wide gates embedded with crystals silently slid open, and I snapped my head around to Nodrin, who grinned at me widely.

“Well done, Fynn,” the wizard cheered as he clapped my back.

I felt as if the weight of the entire world had been lifted off my shoulders, and a rush of joy swept through my chest.

“Does this mean that I’m a… a…”

“An Apprentice,” Nodrin said, with his wide grin still in place. “Not quite yet, dear son, but it’s a very good start.”

“Oh.” I was a little disappointed I couldn’t immediately call myself a Wizard’s Apprentice, but I was still riding high from solving the ogre’s riddle. Then a sudden question jumped to mind, and before we crossed the gates and entered the market, I turned to the ogre again. “Hey, you don’t happen to have a brother or other male relative who works at the Nils Dorei, do you?”

“Is he still working there? Tell him I said he’s a chump,” the ogre grunted, and he swept his arm in front of him to indicate that we should enter the market.

“Will do,” I chuckled, and I wasted no time in crossing through the gate, with Nodrin hot on my heels. My heart was still pounding from the encounter with the Gatekeeper, and I was happy to be on the other side of it.

“So, what was it?” Nodrin asked as he silently slid next to me.

“What was what?” I asked as I practiced an abridged version of Nodrin’s breathing technique to calm myself down. The breaths weren’t as big, but I followed the pattern.

Nodrin raised his eyebrows in recognition, but he answered my question.

“Your Magick Word.”

“My Magick Word? The answer to my riddle?” A smile formed on my lips when I understood what he meant.

“That’s the one,” the wizard said, and he returned my grin.

“Shadows,” I replied, and I knew what the elder meant. I’d never say the word the same way again because it would always hold a special place in my heart as the word that got me into this place.

I looked around in wonder at the magickal shops that lined the streets of the Wizards’ Market. The streets of the Citadel below us were impressive, but this was something else. Everything seemed to glisten and sparkle, it was like walking through the…

Stars.

Whoa.

I rushed to the nearest shop and laid a hand on the wall that glowed with a soft, white light through the sandstone. Then I turned to Nodrin with my eyes wide and ears twitching.

“Is this… starlight?” I asked in a whisper, and I turned back to examine the glowing walls.

“Imitation starlight,” the wizard chuckled. “But it’s as close to the real thing as you’ll ever see. And one can buy genuine starlight here, for a price.”

“Really?” I asked, and I turned back to the wizened man again since I was interested to hear more.

“One can, you cannot, son. In time, don’t you worry.” Nodrin grinned at my disappointed expression, and then he wagged a friendly finger in my face. “Don’t rush it. Your first real experience with starlight is special. Magickal. You’ll want to cherish it, don’t wish for it before you’re ready.”

“Okay,” I sighed, and I followed Nodrin back onto the main path. I didn’t know how I was going to put the starlight out of my mind when the streets were literally lined with it, but that actually proved to be not too difficult when I was close enough to examine the contents of the shops.

The first shop we passed was called Pytrawl’s Staffs, and I peered in the windows to see the most finely intricate carvings I’d ever seen detailing the sides of the glorious wooden staffs.

“Wow,” I breathed as I leaned in, but I bumped my head against the glass, and it made a dramatic smacking sound, which caused Nodrin to chuckle.

“Come, let’s go inside,” Nodrin said, and he pulled open the heavy wooden door and glided through, so I hurried to follow him.

“Nodrin!” A jovial voice came from the back of the shop after the bell above the door rang out.

“Pytrawl!” Nodrin replied happily.

A tall, skinny wizard with a long, black beard rounded the desk and hurried forward to greet Nodrin, with his hand already outstretched. Nodrin grasped the shop owner’s hand, and they shook enthusiastically. I noticed there was something strange about the shop owner’s beard, and as I leaned in, I realized there were intricate patterns shaved into the long, thick facial hair, and it looked similar to the patterns carved into the staffs that surrounded us. Once the two wizards released each other’s arms, the tall, dark haired man turned to look at me, and his manicured eyebrows raised to the middle of his forehead.

“And who is this? Do you have a new Apprentice you haven’t told me about? He looks like a tall glass of ambrosia.” The shop owner grinned, and he looked me up and down like he hadn’t had a drink in days.

“Not yet, but things are looking promising for young Fynn here,” Nodrin said, and then he leaned in close to his friend. “However, I don’t think he’s one for your proclivities.”

“Are you sure?” Pytrawl stroked his intricate beard delicately as he continued to eye me up and down. “Have you asked him?”

“You can ask me, if you’d like,” I piped up, but I didn’t want to piss off anyone in this magickal place, so I softened my words with a smile. “Unfortunately, Nodrin is right, and there are certain, ah, women who already have a hold of my heart. And… other pieces of me.”

“Ah, well, I can’t say I’m surprised, but what lucky women,” Pytrawl tittered as he straightened his glasses and slipped back into business mode. “What brings you into the shop today, then, Nodrin? Your Apprentice-to-be can’t be in the market yet, so are you in need of a new staff?”

“I will be,” Nodrin said vaguely. “But we’re just browsing for now. It’s Fynn’s first trip to the Wizards’ Market.”

“And your gorgeous staffs caught my eye, of course,” I said with a flirty wink to the shopkeeper, who blushed at the attention. I wasn’t physically interested in him, but I knew how to work my charm when I needed to, and I figured that having an established wizard wrapped around my finger could be a good thing for me in the future.

“I am quite proud of my beautiful staff… s,” the shopkeeper flirted back, and I caught Nodrin rolling his eyes behind his friend’s back.

“I can see why, they’re so intricate.” I nodded enthusiastically as I turned to study the nearest staff that hung on the wall. I was fine with flirting, but I didn’t want Pytrawl to get too friendly. His craftsmanship was stellar, though, and I didn’t have to pretend to admire the beautiful staff that had a whole battle scene carved into it.

“I know one that you would like,” Nodrin said, and I turned to see him gesturing me toward the back of the shop.

I followed dutifully, and as soon as I rounded the corner into a smaller room, I knew which staff he was talking about.

The long, mahogany staff was hanging on the wall behind a glass case. It looked like it would be the exact right size for me. The thick wood was glittering with embedded starlight, which glowed a soft white and gave the staff a shimmering effect, and as I got closer to the staff, I realized that it was as intricately carved as the rest of them, with delicate falling stars and other celestial bodies.

“Wow,” I breathed as Nodrin and I leaned in to examine it more closely.

“My pride,” Pytrawl sighed as he joined us by the glass case.

“It’s stunning,” I said with a nod at the talented shop owner.

“Thank you,” the dark-haired wizard said as he placed a hand over his heart. “The idea came to me in a dream, and as soon as I woke that day, I started carving and didn’t stop until she was finished.”

“Is it real starlight?” I asked as my eyes glided over the beautiful piece of woodwork.

“Some,” Pytrawl said. “Mixed with some artificial, just to keep her affordable. I finished her off about six months ago, and the right wizard just hasn’t been through here. Yet.”

I noticed a leading tone in the woodworker’s voice, and I glanced over to see him eyeing me up and down, like he was determining if I was worthy of his masterpiece. Instinctively, I stood up straighter and felt my ears twitch with excitement.

“Maybe there will be a worthy wizard soon,” Nodrin said with a mysterious smile. “Unfortunately, Pytrawl, we have a lot to get done today, so we’re going to have to take our leave.”

“Humph,” Pytrawl pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest and shot Nodrin an irritated look.

“Don’t worry, if everything goes according to plan, young Fynn here will be back shopping for staffs in no time,” Nodrin chuckled as he led us back to the front door.

“I certainly look forward to the day,” the shopkeeper said as he followed us out of the shop and waved after us.

“Pytrawl can be enthusiastic, but the quality of his work is second to none,” Nodrin explained as we put distance between ourselves and the shop.

“It certainly looks incredible, even if I can’t speak for the quality,” I said.

“Yet,” Nodrin said with that mysterious smile again.

“What do you--” Before I could finish my question, Nodrin had raised his hand to silence me again and was pointing to a shop, so I followed the direction of his finger to a storefront that was filled with armor and weapons.

“I need some things, care to join me?” the wizard asked.

“Uh, yes, please,” I said, and I followed the old wizard without hesitation. Then we entered the armory-like shop, and I had to physically close my jaw after it fell open from the sight of the weapons.

Of course, the Citadel Center had a weapons shop which I’d been in, but these weapons were different. Some of them were embedded with starlight, and they glowed white in that beautiful way. Others were as intricately carved as the staffs, and I wondered what that was about.

I turned to Nodrin, who was leaning forward to examine an unidentifiable piece of metal.

“Wizards really like to carve stuff, huh?

“Oh, yes.” Nodrin straightened with a smile as he gestured around. “Wizards take great pride in their physical work. It’s so easy to lose sight of the benefits of handiwork when we can rely on magick for most things, you see. A few centuries ago, there was a renaissance, essentially. Wizardkind realized they had lost their way a bit and decided to reconnect with art forms of their ancestors’ pasts. Magick at its core comes from connection to nature and drawing power from the inherent energy of life. Our kind had become too wrapped up in the ease and convenience of magick, that the elders at the time realized our power was weaker than in previous years. Hence the move to prioritize and value physical handiwork again, where we were able to slow down and take time to connect to the magic that is life.”

“Wow,” I said as I turned back to the sword that was carved with a beautiful nature scene. The details were immaculate, and if this was done without any magick, it must have taken an age to complete.

“Also, we make a killing selling to the very wealthy,” Nodrin said with a twinkle in his eyes. “The drow do love their beauty.”

I thought about the beautiful female drow women and all of the care they went through to adorn themselves with little ornaments to look even more beautiful. They certainly did love their beauty, and my breathing quickened at the thought of my lover Tryss with trinkets in her hair and nothing else on.

I shook myself out of my fantasy and tried to slow my breathing. Then something occurred to me, and I turned back to Nodrin to satisfy my curiosity.

“Is that where the breathing technique comes from? The Wizard Renaissance?”

“Good connection, and yes, you are correct,” Nodrin said with a nod.

“What is that thing?” I asked as I gestured to the piece of metal Nodrin kept studying.

“You’ll find out in due time,” Nodrin said vaguely, and he pressed further into the shop.

I decided to ignore the wizard’s mysterious musings for now and take in the kick-ass weapons that surrounded me. There was a display stand with about twenty different variations of arrows, and I thought of Helera’s affinity for archery, so I stopped to study them. One of them caught my eye, and I tugged it gently out of its resting place to study it. It was heavy, and the arrow point was flayed out like a flower about to bloom, and the end of it was made to look like leaves unfurling. I kept hold of the arrow while I continued to browse the shop, but if I could get a set for Helera, I was going to.

My eyes wandered to a display case of armor filled with a mix of male and female drow armor of varying intensities. There was one set in particular that looked like it was made for Tryss. The fitted armor was forged from some silvery metal that was, of course, intricately and beautifully carved. The carving displayed a drow priestess in the center of the silver plate, with her arms raised and swirls of magick encircling the beautiful priestess. The plate would protect her inner organs, but also show off her sexy curves, and I could picture her pert cleavage bulging out from the top of the plate.

I’d be asking the shopkeeper about taking this one home, too.

But, if I got something for Helera and Tryss, I’d need to get something for Daggy, as well.

To the left of the armor, there was a row of spears. The wooden shafts were, of course, carved, and the sharp, silver tips had the soft white glow of starlight. I turned to see Nodrin on the other side of the shop, and I sidled over to him with the arrow still in my hand.

“Hey, what does starlight do in a weapon?” I asked the wizard as I noticed a sword that hung above his head, also glimmering in white light.

“Makes it pretty,” Nodrin said.

“Really?” I snorted, and then I cleared my throat because I didn’t want to seem like I was mocking this newfound world when I was doing anything but. I was just trying to figure it out.

“No, it serves a purpose, my child, one that will become apparent…”

“Eventually,” I finished the old man’s sentence with a sigh. Clearly, starlight held some sort of magick that I wouldn’t be able to grasp until I captured my own, so I decided to put any more questions about it on hold for now. “That is the difference between the weapons up here and the ones in the Citadel Center, though, right?”

“Not the only difference,” Nodrin explained, as he raised an eyebrow at the arrow in my hand. “Wizard-forged weapons are imbued with a bit more magick than regular drow-forged weapons, so they’re able to propel faster or farther, or can be charmed for easy carrying. What’s that you’re holding?”

“For Helera,” I explained as I lifted the arrow for him to see. “Is that okay? Can I gift the girls some wizard weapons?”

“Of course. Very nice set,” the wizard said with a nod of approval. “You can get the rest of the set from the shopkeeper when we make our purchases.”

“What are you purchasing?” I asked as I peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.

“This,” the wizard said, and he raised up a black obsidian blade, which for some reason I knew was callen an athame. The stone knife had a deeply carved hilt and a lightly carved blade. I could make out some stars, and there was an inscription in a language I couldn’t understand.

“What’s that for?” I asked, even though I didn’t expect a straight answer.

“It’s for a spell for Sevvy,” the wizard said, which was more explanation than I expected.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Most wizard-made things are,” Nodrin chuckled, and we continued to browse the shop.

I picked up a cool set of daggers with stars carved into them, and I added a scythe to the pile to keep Daggy happy. Then I checked out the athames again and picked up one for myself made of what was labeled as “moonstone.”

Once we were done browsing, we made our way to the counter, and the shopkeeper helped me get the set of armor for Tryss. Then Nodrin paid the shopkeeper, and the two wizards came to a deal that we would collect the large items when we passed back by the shop later. Then we stepped back into the busy street, and I was grateful we weren’t weighted down with the weapons.

“Where to next?” I asked the elder wizard.

“Follow me,” Nodrin said, and I grinned because what else was I going to do? It wasn’t like I knew my own way around this magickal market.

“Yes, boss,” I said and fell into step behind him as he led us farther into the bustling market.

We walked for about ten minutes, and I kept trying to venture into cool looking shops, but Nodrin kept pulling me back.

“We have a feast to get to,” Nodrin said after the third time he tugged my tunic to prevent me from wandering off.

“I know,” I sighed. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to the feast, because of course, I was, but I also wanted to see as much cool shit in this place as I could since I wasn’t sure when I’d be back.

“You will be back,” Nodrin said, as if he’d read my mind.

“Okay,” I said with a smile, and his words reassured me. I figured I would be since I had at least passed the test, but given Nodrin’s tendency toward evasion, I decided not to push the issue. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t get some information out of the old wizard. “So, is this place always here?”

“Yes,” Nodrin said. “The market is always live, most of the shopkeepers live above their shops. And there are more than just shops.”

“Oh?” I prompted. “Like what?”

“Well, there’s the wizard hospital,” Nodrin said, and he gestured to a large, black building in the distance. I noticed the windows of the building sparkled, and I wondered if the starlight in them was real. “For injuries only wizards can treat or inflict.”

“Ouch,” I said, and I cringed to think of the magickal injuries during a drow face off.

“And the library.” Nodrin gestured to a building that was much closer, just across the road from where we were. The white building had a tall, sparkling entryway, and the steps were designed to look like books.

“Helera would love that,” I chuckled.

“Yes, she would, I always wished I could take her here, especially when she was younger. Her older siblings used to give her a hard time, you know.”

“I didn’t know,” I said, and I could hear the surprise in my tone. “For what?”

“Oh, anything, you know what siblings are like,” Nodrin said with a wave of the hand. “She took refuge in the library often.”

“The others do tease her for her bookish ways,” I chuckled.

“Yes, well, there’s a reason for everything.” Nodrin nodded wisely.

“Indeed,” I said as I took in the sight of the beautiful building.

“We’re here,” Nodrin said suddenly, and he tugged me into a small, dark shop front. Once we passed the threshold, we were plunged into darkness, so it took a second for my one normal eye to adjust and realize we weren’t in total darkness, just mostly darkness.

There was a soft yellow glow coming from the back of the cramped shop, but it wasn’t starlight because I’d seen enough of that by now to know the difference.

“What is this place?” I asked Nodrin in a whisper. Whatever it was, it just seemed to warrant hushed voices.

“This is your next step to becoming an Apprentice,” Nodrin answered in a low voice.

“Oh?” I perked up, and I felt my ears twitching in anticipation. My eyes had adjusted to the low light, and I looked around the small space for clues about what my next step was, but there was so much stuff around me, it was hard to tell. I saw a couple weapons, some trinkets, a whole lot of books, and bottles filled with various liquids, and I wondered if this was like the practical portion of the worthiness test or something. Then I noticed a scary, blackfaced alarm clock with backwards-moving arms, and the button that would be used to turn the ringing alarm off was a deadly spike, but the device was small, no bigger than the palm of my hand. I nudged Nodrin and pointed to the wizard’s clock. “What is that?”

“A Time Trap,” Nodrin said darkly.

“Okay?” I asked.

“It is how it sounds,” the old wizard said with a shake of his head. “It can be used to imprison others for a set amount of time. And that set amount of time can even be… forever.”

“Oh, damn,” I whispered as I studied the small device, but I didn’t dare touch it in case I set it off.

“A common threat used against lower classes,” the wizard said as he continued toward the light at the back of the room. “Time is the most valuable asset we have. Once it’s gone, it doesn’t come back, and if you’re stuck with no exit, just sitting around and wasting time, it’ll drive even the strongest of warriors mad. Entire Houses have been caught in Time Traps and eliminated from the ranks as a result.

“Ooft,” I said, and I sucked in air through my teeth at the thought of it.

Well, I wouldn’t mind being stuck with the three sexy sisters for a while, but I knew we were all too restless and headstrong to stay trapped anywhere for any significant amount of time. I briefly wondered how that would go, and I got the image of Dagwyn absolutely losing her shit and killing us all in a rampage. I chuckled at the thought, but I was distracted when a steady stream of smoky mist started to rise from the floor, and the dim yellow light flickered in the back of the room. A low humming sound started to emanate from the walls, and I whipped my head around the room to see where all this was coming from. Then I glanced at Nodrin, but the old wizard just looked annoyed.

“Always one for the theatrics, Dumnorix.” Nodrin rolled his eyes and held up three fingers. Then he silently put them down one by one, and when the last one fell, a wizard appeared in the middle of the room.

“You are such a ray of darkness,” Dumnorix snorted as he wagged a finger at Nodrin.

“I do try, I do,” Nodrin said coolly, but then the two wizards broke into wide smiles and embraced each other warmly. “Rixy, my dear friend, how have you been?”

“Worse off without you, Nodrin,” Dumnorix said as they broke their embrace. Then he turned a curious eye on me and looked me up and down. “But I knew you were coming in for a reading.”

“Reading?” I asked as I took in the sight of the eccentric wizard. The drow wizard had long, white hair that was typical of our kind, but his shone with starlight that I couldn’t tell whether it was artificial or real. He wore a large monocle, his beard was teased into tight curls, and he had thin lines tattooed across his face that looked like they glimmered, and I wondered if it was possible to be tattooed with starlight.

“Reading,” Dumnorix confirmed with a nod, and I turned to Nodrin for clarification.

“Wizards have a form of divination through cartomancy, do you know what that is?” Nodrin asked as he held my gaze.

“Cartomancy is divination through cards,” I said as I looked between the two wizards. Innately, I knew what it meant, but I hadn’t seen it performed in my short drow life, so I wasn’t sure what it entailed. “What do I have to do for a reading?”

“Dumnorix does the work,” Nodrin said. “This process is called the Gan’evh Tiio, it’s a traditional card reading that will reveal which attributes your magick is naturally attuned to. This will help guide you on your journey to becoming an Apprentice, and gods willing, eventually a full-fledged Wizard.”

Dumnorix waved his hand, and a table and chairs appeared in the middle of the room. The table was covered in an iridescent fabric, and Dumnorix rounded the table to take a seat and gestured for me to take the seat across from him.

I did as I was instructed while Nodrin crossed his arms in front of himself and stood quietly behind me. Once Dumnorix was seated, he twisted his hand, and a deck of cards appeared. The wizard studied me as he began to shuffle, and as he did, I felt my ether deep within me start to stir.

I shifted in my seat since I was unfamiliar with this particular tickle at my ether.

“You’re not from here,” the wizard said, which caused me to freeze. Would I finally learn my origins from this slightly kooky wizard? I leaned forward, but the wizard continued to shuffle. “But that’s a story for another time. Today, we’re here to find your magick.”

“O-Okay,” I said as I turned my attention to the deck of cards in his hands. I could still feel my ether buzzing, but I was curious enough about the cards to ignore it. The cards were black and shimmering with starlight, and the wizard shuffled them expertly. Sometimes, he only used one hand, and I was impressed by the way his long fingers could grasp a pile of cards from the middle of the deck and shift it to the top or bottom. When he used both hands, he created long, quickly moving bridges with the cards, and at one point he even threw a few up in the air and caught them.

“Theatrics,” Nodrin drawled, but I could hear the grin in his voice.

“Alright, alright,” Dumorix chuckled, and he resumed shuffling normally before he placed the deck on the table in front of me and tapped the top of the deck. “Cut the deck, please.”

I reached a hand forward and hoped the two wizards didn’t see how much I was shaking with excitement. I grabbed the top half of the deck and placed it on the table next to the bottom half, and I suddenly got a flash of an image in my mind. I was cutting a different, smaller set of cards, and there were a bunch of people around me while there was the sound of something clattering and smoke filled the air. It was a familiar movement somewhere in the depths of my mind.

Dumnorix placed the bottom half of the deck on to the top half of the deck and then looked me in the eye while he turned over the first card.

While the back of the cards were all black with a slight glimmering, the front of this card was completely white, with a cutout of an eye in the middle of it.

My hand flew up to my eyepatch, and the wizard nodded.

“Light powers. Didn’t need the cards to tell me that one.” Dumnorix chuckled. Then he flipped another card over and placed it next to the first card, and this one had a shimmering spider on it. “Hmm… Have you had any interesting interactions with any spiders lately?”

“Yes,” I said slowly as I remembered the helpful spiders in the Maze, and the conversation I had with Drogu-ani shortly before then. “A big one, too.”

“Interesting indeed,” the wizard said as he flipped another card and laid it next to the other two. He raised an eyebrow at the card with a symbol I didn’t recognize, but didn’t look up at me this time. Instead, he flipped another card from his deck, but he laid it atop the first two cards instead of in the same row. This card had three wavy lines inside an oval, and the wizard doing my reading shot a quick glance at Nodrin.

I looked back at my companion as well, but he just continued to stare at the cards, so Dumnorix turned back, flipped another card, and laid it atop the second and third. When he saw the image of the scroll, he abruptly pushed his chair back, and it clattered across the cobbled floor as the wizard looked up at me with wide, scarlet eyes.

“Gods above…”

Resurrected as a Drow 3 Chapter 3

“Fynn, you seem to be enjoying this,” Nodrin said, and I tore my eyes away from the growing structure to look at the wizard, who was smiling at me widely.

“Uhh, yeah? That’s the coolest thing ever.” I couldn’t help but turn my head to stare at the huge organic matter before us, and as if the beanstalk knew I couldn’t be more impressed, a spiraling staircase started to descend from the top of the tree-like structure and continued down until it landed in front of the wizard. “What is this?”

“This,” the wizard said as he gestured for me to start ascending the staircase before us, and I wasted no time complying. I rushed forward and gripped the smooth stone handrails and angled my feet so I could better climb the steep, slick staircase, and I barely noticed the wizard was following me until he spoke again. “This is the stairway to the Wizards’ Market.”

“Wizards’ Market?” I asked as I half-turned to look at Nodrin, but I was wary of losing my footing, so I didn’t want to look away for long.

“The Wizards’ Market is a magickal space that is specially reserved for only those possessing a certain status,” he explained as I turned my head back to the staircase so I didn’t lose my footing, but I kept my ears pricked so I could hear the old man’s words. “We have access to things that, in the hands of others, would be either outrageously dangerous or completely useless.”

“What are the status conditions?” I asked as we continued to climb the steep stairs. I was quickly becoming winded, but I still reveled in the sight of the magickal beanstalk as we climbed higher up into the thick, pronged trunk. The leaves grew in width in relation to how much the stalk grew in circumference, and the higher we climbed, the more I felt like… what was his name?

Jack.

Jack and the beanstalk. I instinctively cupped my fist as if it contained beans and shook them. Then I motioned as if I was tossing them out in front of me, and I felt the wizard’s curious gaze boring into me, so I half-turned and shot him a grin.

“Flash of another life?” he posited, with his eyebrows raised in amusement.

“You’ll get used to it.” I smirked.

“I hope I do.” The wizard smiled serenely as I turned my attention back to not falling down and shattering my neck.

“So, what are those status conditions?” I said as I got the conversation back on track.

“Well, firstly, you must possess a Wizard Lyte,” the wizard chuckled, and I heard him tap his pendant with his fingernail. “And you must be part of your House’s Inner Circle.”

“Inner Circle? What’s that?” I asked as I tried to silently suck air in through my teeth. The elderly wizard didn’t seem to be winded at all, while I felt like I… like I smoked a pack a day.

A pack of what?

I pondered this memory for a second, but I quickly gave it up when I started accidentally talking myself into feeling lightheaded and dizzy on the narrow steps.

“Once a House establishes over one thousand residents, like Claden’Du once had, then the House establishes its own intricate inner hierarchy,” the wizard explained.

“I guess the name did give it away,” I snorted as I tried to cover my distress. “It’s an inner circle. I take it the Matron Mother is the head of the Inner Circle? So Mother Sevahtra was the head of Claden’Du’s Inner Circle?”

“The Matron Mothers and their first-generation offspring.” The wizard nodded.

“But now there are only the three sisters left,” I said slowly. “Tryss, Helly, and Dagwyen. What about the kinship? Are Drindessa and her daughters part of the Inner Circle now that the Houses have joined alliances?”

“My, my, Sevvy was right, you are a quick one, aren’t you?” the wizard quipped, and I couldn’t help but grin.

“I have to be to keep up with those women,” I said with a playful shake of my head, and the wizard laughed jovially.

“They are a handful, aren’t they?”

“To say the least.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” the wizened wizard chuckled.

“Same.” I grinned.

“But, yes, young Fynn, you are correct. With the alliance between the two Houses, Drindessa and her daughters are part of the Inner Circle now. I believe you’re, ah, well acquainted with the twins?” The wizard grinned again.

“I am.” I smirked.

“Everyone wants a piece of the male with the light powers,” Nodrin said.

“I’m just a lowly male doing what I’m told,” I said as I spread my hands wide, but my growing smirk gave me away.

“What a well-behaved male you are,” the wizard chuckled.

“Who else is in the Inner Circle?” I asked as I nearly slipped off a particularly narrow step. “You, I assume?”

“Correct, the Matron Mother’s consort is almost always part of a House’s Inner Circle. There are rare exceptions, but not for Sevahtra. And, the last accepted members of the Inner Circle would be the Matron Mother’s choice of Named Sons.”

I turned to see him giving me a pointed look, and I felt my stomach do a little flip. I hadn’t been around long, but I knew Mother and the others were impressed with my work here so far. I was already honored with the privilege of being a Named Son of Claden’Du, and I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but I was willing to bet I’d have a good shot at being in the Inner Circle one day.

“You said when a House reaches a thousand residents,” I prompted the wizard to continue explaining the inner workings of the House.

“That’s right, which of course, was no problem for Claden’Du before that tart Daria Ozin-Na sent her slag daughter Belia to wipe out our House.” Nodrin scowled.

“Attempted to wipe out our House,” I corrected the wizard, who chuckled.

“Attempted, thanks to you,” he agreed. “Do tell me, how did it feel to end that bitch’s life?”

“Amazing.” I grinned.

“I knew it,” Nodrin said with a small shake of his head, like he was sad to have missed out on the action. “So, the way it works is that there are usually three basic ‘classes’ in a House. There’s the Inner Circle, which is the top, of course. The sort of mid-level class would be where the Matron Mother’s other children would be, along with any of her preferred servants and guards, any male that catches her fancy, you know the deal.”

“Right,” I said with an understanding nod. I was still sucking in air, and I couldn’t help but notice that the wizard still wasn’t. I would be annoyed, except I was fairly certain there was some sort of magick involved to aid the elder wizard on his walk. I was just lucky he did that Rejuvenating spell on me earlier. Otherwise, there’d be no chance I could’ve made it up these never-ending stairs.

“Then there’s a lower class that makes up about six hundred souls, filled with the rest of the chattel and some more guards,” the wizard continued. “Then, eventually, the Houses tend to gain more chattel, which leads to more lower classes, and that’s when the Named Sons in the Inner Circle step up and take charge of the lower classes. They are referred to as Overseers, each assigned their own field, if there are enough Sons and chattel to warrant it.”

“Hmm,” I intoned as I took in the information. I knew most of Claden’Du’s residents had been wiped out in the raid, but I had faith in Mother’s ability to rally, and I knew it wouldn’t take her long to replenish her House’s ranks. It was a devastating loss to have the entire lower House members wiped out in one go, and as much as the women of the House put on a tough front, I had seen firsthand when they let the grief take over, and my heart ached at the memory. I also knew that Sevahtra had her own vaults that contained her wealth, but they were presently unreachable. I knew once she accessed it, though, she’d be able to replenish her House. I was also certain the powerful woman would be able to convince others to defect from their own Houses to join her ranks, especially if she had a plan in the works to rise up through the Noble Tower.

Which meant, eventually, she’d have extra lower classes that would need Overseers, made from Named Sons. Of which I was the only one. My heart flipped again in excitement, and I was beginning to realize that my presence in the Inner Circle was less of a possibility and more of a certainty, especially with the House’s depleted resources.

I took a moment to ponder over this while we climbed in silence for a few moments, and I watched as a wisp of cloud floated past a broad leaf. The leaf swayed gently at the touch, then stilled, and it looked like a large platform that stuck out over the Citadel Center below us. I pictured myself standing on a platform above a sea of workers, with Tryss by my side while I shouted orders at my own assistant. Maybe I’d get a hobgoblin for an assistant as well, Fespius really wasn’t that bad once you got past the annoying beyond comprehension part of his personality.

It looked like things were looking up for the House of Claden’Du and, well, me.

I glanced over the handrail to the ground below us, but we were so high up that clouds of mist covered any visibility of the Citadel below us. I took a moment to study the beanstalk structure we continued to climb, and I became fascinated all over again. Then I reached out to touch the thick stalk that the staircase spiraled around. It felt real. So did the leaf I grazed my fingers over as I passed it, and I couldn’t contain my curiosity anymore.

“What is this thing?” I asked as I gestured to the magickal beanstalk and the space above us. “And what’s with this Wizards’ Market? A magickal market above a… different magickal market? And how come I’m allowed up if I don’t meet the requirements? I don’t have a Wizard Lyte, and I’m not part of the Inner Circle… yet.”

“Trust me, my son, this walk would’ve gone a lot faster if you did have a Wizard Lyte,” Nodrin chuckled, and my hunch that magick was involved in the old man’s ascension on the staircase was proven correct.

“Sorry,” I said, but the old man waved his hand.

“Don’t be, dear son, I’m happy to stretch my legs after being held captive like I was. But the answer to your question is, you don’t need a Wizard’s Lyte to ascend the staircase if… you are the Apprentice of a Wizard.”

I stopped in my tracks so suddenly, Nodrin almost ran right into me, which would have sent us both toppling ass over heels down the stairs we’d just so laboriously climbed.

“Seriously?” I asked as I turned my wide eyes to the wizard, and I was too shocked to continue up the steep steps. “You want me to be your Apprentice?”

“It’s not a matter of ‘want,’ dear Fynn, it’s simply a matter of what is,” the wizard explained. “But before this discussion can go any further, you must pass a test.”

“A test? What kind of test?” I asked as I felt my stomach drop a little bit. If it was anything like Mother Sevahtra or Drindessa’s tests, I was in for one hell of a ride. One I wasn’t sure I could stay on for.

“Have a look,” the wizard said, and he motioned behind me.

I spun around to see the top of the staircase had come into view, and I could just make out the edge of a fence.

I hurried up the short remainder of the staircase that led to a large landing with an intricate stone gate with the words ‘Wizards’ Market’ carved into the beautiful arch, which was also embedded with colorful crystals that caught the light just right. The gate appeared to be made of the same smooth, white stone the staircase was, and it was guarded by a doorman who looked familiar. I studied the ogre male’s face for a moment and realized he looked strikingly similar to the guard at the Nils Dorei, the inn run by an Unhoused Kinship, where all business was welcome, dodgy or legitimate. Behind the gate, I could make out figures moving around, but the sound from the magickal market was muffled, probably by magick.

I heard the wizard step onto the landing behind me, and I spun around to face him again. I must have looked out of my depth, because he gave me a sympathetic look before he spoke.

“The test is given by the Gatekeeper,” Nodrin explained, and he nodded to the familiar looking guard, who nodded back at him. “It’s a test of logic, you are not required to perform an activity or use magick in any sense. You must pass this test in order to be considered worthy of beginning the long, dangerous path to becoming a Wizard, and should you fail, your journey ends here.”

“O-Oh, okay,” I said as I felt a lump form in my throat.

In all of my other ‘tests’ of abilities since I’d been here, I usually had some external help. Mother Sevahtra tested me by forcing me to cross a dangerous path most wouldn’t risk with just Greenie and Fespius for company, but both of them proved to be valuable companions. Without them, I wasn’t sure I could’ve made it out alive. Drindessa and Mother Sevahtra had also both tested me physically before, but I was often able to tap into my ether to help me, and those instincts came naturally. A test of logic, while I was confident in my intelligence, seemed to be much easier to fail. There were still a lot of nuances to this world that I didn’t understand. What if the test was about something that I had no idea about? Would my recently acquired desire to be a wizard be destroyed so soon after I got it? That didn’t seem fair.

But, as I was quickly learning, life as a drow wasn’t always fair.

“Don’t be nervous, my child,” the wizard reassured me as he laid a comforting hand on my elbow. “A Wizard must learn to clear his mind when the situation calls for it. Let me show you a breathing technique to help you accomplish this.”

“Please,” I said eagerly.

“It’s very simple, but it calms the mind so that one may think clearer,” Nodrin explained as he gestured to his face. “Simply inhale through your nose quickly two times, then slowly exhale through your mouth. Do this three times, then focus on your task in front of you. Give it a try.”

I followed the wizard’s instructions, but when I finished, he shook his head at me.

“Too slow on the inhale, and too fast on the exhale. Like this.” The bearded sage closed his eyes and demonstrated how he drew in two quick, sharp breaths through his nose before he formed a small O with his mouth and very slowly blew that air out. Then he opened his eyes and motioned for me to try again, so I followed his example, and the wizard smiled.

“That’s better. Whenever you’re unsure about a task ahead of you, and your head is spinning with options, try this to center your mind.”

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. The trick did lower my heart rate, until I looked back at the shiny gates and realized I still had a logic test to pass, and I felt the nerves creeping up again.

“I trust you’ll do well, son,” Nodrin said in that reassuring way, and he gave me a small smile and nodded to indicate I should approach the gates.

I took his cue and cautiously approached the intimidatingly large ogre by the gates, and as I drew closer to the gatekeeper, he switched positions from parade rest to attention. I didn’t know how I knew the names of his standing positions, I just did. Then I wondered if Nodrin would help me be able to get to the bottom of this whole two worlds colliding thing.

Or maybe, if I passed the test and eventually became a Wizard, I could get to the bottom of it myself.

The ogre didn’t move from his attention position as I got closer to him, not even when I stopped in front of him. I looked up at his wide, rather ugly face, but the Gatekeeper kept his gaze forward and didn’t even spare me a glance.

“Uh, hello?” I asked, but the ogre responded with silence. I waited a beat to see if this was some sort of test, but the ogre continued to stare ahead.

Maybe there was something specific I was supposed to say? I turned to Nodrin for his advice, but the wizard simply shrugged at me.

When I turned back to the ogre, I found his face only inches away from mine, and I jumped back in shock.

“Gahhh!” I cried out, and I stumbled over my own feet trying to back away from the large, smelly face.

The Gatekeeper simply howled in laughter, he even clutched his stomach and bent over. I looked back at Nodrin in shock, but the wizard was chuckling.

“What the…” I muttered, and the ogre straightened himself up and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Ahh, that never gets old,” the ogre said between giggles.

“Maybe not for you,” I grumbled as I straightened myself and tried not to glare at the ogre who held the keys to my future as a wizard in his hands.

“Well, I’m the only one that matters right now,” the ogre said as he puffed out his chest, and I couldn’t disagree with him.

“Yes, Gatekeeper,” I said humbly and bowed my head.

“What’s with the eyepatch?” the ogre asked, and he stuck out a stubby finger to point at it.

“Oh, um,” I stalled. I wasn’t sure how much information to give away from the start, and I was learning less was more in this world, so I knew I had to choose my words carefully. “Old injury.”

“Nice,” the ogre said with a nod of approval.

Of course, his race would value physical aggression over all else, which made me wonder why he was the one giving me the test of logic.

“I am merely the vessel,” the ogre added as if he’d read my mind.

“The… vessel?”

“Yes. Your test will come to me, I will repeat it, you will get thirty seconds to answer, and if your answer is correct, then the doors will open.”

“Oh,” I said as I pondered this new information. “So… do you know the answer?”

“Nope,” the ogre said simply. “We can begin whenever you’re ready.”

Then he positioned himself exactly in front of the gates, and he motioned with his baseball glove-sized hand, whatever that was, for me to stand in front of him.

I quickly shuffled over and stood directly in front of him, and I tried not to look too nervous.

“O-Okay,” I stammered as I shot one last look back at Nodrin, who gave me a reassuring smile.

Then I finally turned back to the ogre, closed my eyes, and did the breathing trick Nodrin had just taught me. If I only had thirty seconds to answer the riddle, I figured it was best to get my mind cleared immediately. Once I was finished, I opened my eyes and looked up at the ogre, who was waiting for my cue.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said, with more confidence than I felt.

The ogre nodded at me once, and then he slowly closed his eyes and let his chin fall to his chest. He began to mutter things, and I leaned in closer to hear.

I hoped this wasn’t the test. Would I get docked off my time if I needed him to repeat it?

“Eye,” the ogre suddenly muttered, and my hand instinctively flew to my eyepatch. I wondered if I should have been truthful with the ogre about the powers of my Dark Eye. Or rather, truthful with whoever was on the other side of this vessel. I considered interrupting the Gatekeeper’s quiet ramblings, but before I could, his eyes flew open and penetrated me with an intense stare.

“Ahh,” I said as I cleared my throat. I wish I could do the breathing thing again, but I didn’t want to risk missing anything, so I just stared right back at the ogre. Then the Gatekeeper opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that wasn’t his own. This voice was much deeper and sounded knowledgeable in a way the ogre’s voice didn’t.

“They follow and lead, but only as you pass.

Dress yourself in darkest black,

And they are darker still.

Always they flee the light,

Though without it, there would be none.”

When the ogre finished speaking, his eyes snapped shut again, and his head fell to his chest. Then, in his normal voice, the ogre began to count down.

“Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…”

“Shit,” I said as the words he said whipped around my head. What were they again? Follow and lead, but only as you pass. Fuck, was this something unique to this world that I didn’t know about? Or would that have been taken into account by whoever gave me the riddle? But how would they know?

“Twenty-four…”

“Shit,” I said again, but then I pushed away the worrying thoughts and focused on the riddle. Follow, lead, as you pass. Okay. Dress in black and then they’re black? No, that’s not right. They’re darker. Right? I chanced a glance up at the Gatekeeper, whose eyes were still shut as he continued to count. “Umm, can you repeat the question?”

“Twenty-one…”

Guess not.

“Shit,” I repeated like it was my mantra, but then I shook my head and focused. If I’d known the logic test was just going to be a riddle, I’d have been less nervous. But if I’d known I only got to hear it once and only had thirty seconds to solve it, then I’d have been nervous again. And I didn’t know any of it, so I was already nervous, and great, I’d just made myself twice as nervous.

“Nineteen…”

“SHIT!” I cursed for the last time, and I forced myself to shut my eyes and focus.

Follow the lead, only as you pass, dress in black and they’re still dark, something about a light. Going away from? Yeah, that was it, they fly from the light? Flee. They flee the light, but without light they wouldn’t exist.

Was this a reference to my eye? Or my powers?

“Fifteen…”

But if it was a reference to my eye or my powers, the answer would be more magick based, and not logic based, and Nodrin had said this was a logic test. Or was magick considered basic logic here, something everyone should know?

“Twelve…”

The ogre’s voice rang in my ears and added to my already noisy thoughts. I knew it was a risk, but I decided to try Nodrin’s breathing technique again, so I shut my eyes and breathed as he instructed. Two quick inhales, one deep exhale. And again. And again.

“Seven…”

Okay, that took longer than I thought. But my mind was clear, and the words of the puzzle started to take shape in my mind. They felt real for the first time, and I could see the whole riddle clearly in my mind.

“Four…”

“Shadows,” I said in a calm voice, even though I had to squeeze my hands together to stop them from shaking.

The ogre opened his eyes and stepped aside.

Resurrected as a Drow 3 Chapter 2

“Uhhh,” I said as I looked around at the others. “Is that, um, normal?”

“What the fuck? No.” Helera’s hand had instinctively reached for her sword, and she rested her palm on the hilt while she studied the bloody scene before us.

“Eeeeeek!” Elvy screeched as she backed away from the body and furiously wiped at the blood that had spattered across her pink hooped skirt.

“Oh, dear, do shut up,” Sevahtra said sweetly, but Elvy didn’t hear her over her own shrieks.

The sight of the exploding head must have been visible to the rest of the crowd as well, because I heard the fanfare behind us fall silent as a hushed murmur rippled through the crowd.

“Ohh,” I said as I peered around at the crowd. There were huddles of heads pressed together as they whispered and pointed, and some looked curious, but most looked scared. “So, this really isn’t normal, huh?”

“Fuck, no,” Tryss said with her eyes fixated on the body. “I’ve never seen anything like that, especially under an anti-magic spell.”

“Uh, yeah, what was with that, by the way?” I asked as I rubbed my gut. I could feel the spell had been lifted, and when I reached out for my ether, it greeted me like a warm embrace.

“No idea,” Tryss said as her hand found her own stomach and rubbed slow circles over it. “Hate that feeling so much.”

“Same,” I mumbled, and then I reached my hand out to my lover, who curled her fingers around mine and squeezed.

“No identifying insignias or anything,” Dagwyn remarked as she knelt down next to the headless body to study the black cloak.

“Thanks, we hadn’t noticed,” Tryss said wryly, and Dagwyn shot her a dark look.

“We couldn’t see anything obvious,” I added quickly.

I knew Tryss was tired, and she’d been worried about me during the race, so she was feeling a bit on edge, but I didn’t want her to fight with her sister right now. Especially when the younger twin was itching for some action after missing out on the surprise assassin attack.

“Mother must get to safety, methinks.” Fespius suddenly started wringing his hands and hopping on his feet as he looked around nervously.

“The hobgoblin has a point,” Dagwyn said as she stood and wiped a bit of blood off her hand. “Since we don’t know where these are coming from, we should get the important figures to safety and figure it out from there.”

“You mean we’re still in danger?” Elvy hissed, and she shot her own nervous glance around us.

“No, I’m sure whoever sent these assassins is completely fine with their failure, no need to follow up at all,” Tryss deadpanned, and I tugged at her hand while Mother Sevahtra looked down her nose at the youngest daughter.

“My, my, someone gets tetchy without access to their ether,” Mother Sevahtra said coolly.

“More like ‘turns into a raging bitch,’” Dagwyn muttered under her breath, and Helera covered her mouth to hide her grin while Tryss rounded on her sisters.

“Enough,” Mother Sevahtra said as she lifted a hand, and I felt the familiar rush of air that she sent out to temporarily silence her mouthy daughters. Then she turned to Elvy with another one of those dangerously sweet smiles. “Though Fespius does bring up a good point, it’s probably best we seek safety, in case they do come back to finish the job. Can the Twenty-Eighth House offer us shelter while we celebrate our victory?”

“Of course,” Elvy sniffled as she straightened her dress and pursed her lips, and the fear in her eyes slipped away at the thought of taking on the hostess role.

I looked up to the spectator stands to see a lot of others also had the same idea. Matron Mothers were being huddled and escorted to the nearest exits, while their offspring glared at anyone who crossed their paths, like they were daring someone to try something. Then I took a moment to observe the surroundings, since I’d been dumped unceremoniously into the middle of the maze while I was unconscious.

Thanks again, Drogu.

The Maze appeared to be set in a valley between the spired mountains and just to the south of the citadel, with the VIP guests sitting in the raised stands that circled the maze, where Mother Sevahtra and the others had been sitting to watch the competition. On the ground level were the lower-level spectators, and while many had fled when the fighting started, there were still a fair few spectators hanging around hoping to catch another bit of action, or a good look at one of the several bloodied bodies scattered around the ground.

Rubberneckers.

“Let’s move,” I said as I eyed a particularly excited duergar male, who was salivating at the mouth at the sight of the dead bodies.

I wanted to put as much space between that creep and my House.

“Come on, the Citadel is this way,” Helera said as she led us through the throng of people.

Most folk were heading in that direction anyway, so we fell into the flow of the foot traffic easily enough. The three sisters were on high-alert, and they kept their heads on a swivel to watch out for any other surprise attacks as they flanked their mother. I fell back to the rear with the intent to keep an eye out for attackers as well, but I also didn’t want the others to see how exhausted I truly was.

Because, by the gods, I could barely keep my eyes open.

I gave myself a little slap on the face and jumped up and down a few times to jolt my senses awake, but the adrenaline from the second round of fighting was fading fast, and I didn’t want the others to worry, or worse, pity me.

“You look tired,” a voice suddenly said from behind me, and I jumped a little when I saw the wizard Nodrin standing next to me.

It was like he’d appeared out of nowhere, but he was a wizard, after all. His glamour spell was slipping, and I could finally start to see his usual features. I was struck again by how much he looked like his brother, Norrin, which I only knew because I’d come face to face with his brother in a deadly showdown, which ended in his brother, well, dead.

The elder wizard must’ve read the look on my face because he chuckled lightly and reached out to pat my shoulder.

“Fear not, young one. Sevahtra has filled me in on the goings-on since I’ve been enslaved, and I want you to know I harbor no ill will toward you. You did what had to be done to save your House, and for that I am eternally grateful. As is Mother Sevahtra. She has quite a lot to say about you, actually.”

“Oh, umm, thank you,” I said awkwardly. “All good things, I hope.”

“All great things,” Nodrin confirmed with a nod. Then the old wizard reached a hand out to grab my wrist, but he stopped just short of it and looked me in the eyes. “Do you mind?”

“I…”

“It’s just a quick Rejuvenating spell,” the wizard explained as he held out his long fingers, and I dutifully placed my wrist in his outstretched hand as the elder shot me a wink. “Like I said, you look tired.”

“I am,” I conceded, and I watched as the wizard placed one long finger on my wrist and uttered a series of words I couldn’t understand. As he spoke, I felt my fatigue slip away and be replaced with a renewed sense of energy.

I wasn’t ready to fight a full battle, but it made the walk back to the Citadel a lot easier.

“There you go,” Nodrin said with a satisfied grin as he gently released my hand. “Now you can enjoy the feast of celebration.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully, and I rubbed the warm spot where the wizard’s finger had just been as I felt my senses become more alert with the effect of the Rejuvenating Spell.

The Citadel began to appear in front of us, and as I watched the crowd from the Maze start to disappear into the crowd of the city, I could feel the air growing thick with excitement. Between the new Maze champion, the celebratory feast, the attempted assassination after the race, and being in the middle of the week-long festival anyway, the Citadel and its inhabitants were buzzing. It made me even more grateful for Nodrin’s spell. It would have been a long night without it, and I didn’t want to miss anything during my first Kels’Rin-Kai.

I suddenly felt the wizened wizard’s eyes on me again, so I turned back to find him studying my face.

“I wonder if I could request your aid,” the wizard said.

“Oh, I, um, of course,” I stuttered. It wasn’t like I could really say no to the wizard, could I? Especially after his helpful little spell.

Also, how did our ranks compare? I was the First Son of House Claden’du, but Nodrin was Sevahtra’s consort, which meant… something, I was sure.

“Nothing terribly dangerous or taxing, don’t worry, Fynn,” the wizard said with a grin, and he drew me out of my musings as he shot a pointed look at my eyepatch. “Fynn. What an apt name.”

“Yeah, that’s what Mother Sevahtra said.” I returned his grin. “Speaking of, you said she said great things about me?”

“Yes, the first great thing she mentioned about you was your humility,” the wizard quipped.

“One of my most valuable traits,” I chuckled.

“She also expressed your aptitude for adapting and scheming,” the wizard went on as he gave me an appreciative look. “Very valuable traits in our world.”

“Mine, too,” I said reflexively, and the wizard tilted his head.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, uh, I’m not exactly sure, but I get these random flashes of memories from another life, not this one,” I admitted, and I gestured around. “It’s a life I don’t recognize.”

“Yes, Mother Sevahtra mentioned something about that as well,” the wizard said as he stroked his beard sagely. “There was also talk that you could be a mage.”

“Yeah, but there hasn’t been one with my powers in a long time,” I said automatically as I remembered Drindessa’s words.

“True, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be one again,” the wizard said.

“Do you think--” My question was cut off when the elder raised his hand.

“It is not for me to judge. Yet. Though someone wishes I would.” The wizard shot me a wink as he gestured to Mother Sevahtra ahead of us.

I took a moment to admire the fierce woman’s wide hips that had bore her many beautiful children, three of whom surrounded her now. Instinctively, my gaze slid to Tryss’ backside, and I was mesmerized by the way it swung. I thought about my seed filling her until her own hips expanded and bore my children, and I had to look away as my thoughts turned carnal. Then I realized the wizard had been watching me again, with a twinkle in his eyes, and a rush of heat flooded my face.

“Umm, I…”

“Sevvy has also informed me of those plans, and I must say, from what I’ve seen and heard about you so far, I commend their choice,” Nodrin said with a wide grin.

“Th-thank you, that means a tremendous amount coming from you,” I said as I felt my ears flatten in bashful pride. Then I saw the wizard’s eyes flick back to the group of women, and I followed his gaze to see him looking at Dagwyn with a curious expression before he turned back to me.

“I also heard of your little foray in the vault,” the wizard said in a serious tone.

“Ahh, yeah, I didn’t realize that…” I stammered, and I was certain I was about to get a tongue-lashing for desecrating something I wasn’t aware I was desecrating while I was doing the desecration.

“I’m not concerned with that.” Nodrin waved a hand in my direction. “I am interested in what you saw inside the vault.”

Before I could answer, we were interrupted by Tryss as she slid in next to me with a light nudge to my elbow.

“We’re heading straight to the Twenty-Eighth with Elvy, unless you need anything?” Tryss purred as she leaned in close and rubbed her cheek against my shoulder.

Like one of those house cats.

“Actually, Fynn is going to grace me with his presence while I run some errands in the Citadel Center,” Nodrin interjected with a stroke of his beard and a sly smirk directed at me.

“Oh? What sort of errands?” Tryss asked innocently.

“You are your mother’s daughter,” Nodrin chuckled as he wagged a finger at the youngest sister.

“Shh, don’t let her hear you say that,” Tryss teased, but Nodrin’s happy expression darkened, and he turned serious eyes on the young priestess.

“You should be lucky to be compared to a woman as powerful and fierce as your mother,” the wizard said in a warning tone.

“Oh, no, I only meant, um,” Tryss stammered as she clutched me for support.

I laid a hand on top of hers as her fingernails dug into my skin, but I could tell by Nodrin’s pointed look that I was not to interfere.

“Yes, go on,” the wizard said, and he crossed his arms to show he was willing to wait for his answer.

“I only meant that she might be embarrassed to be compared to me,” Tryss said quietly.

At these words, the wizard changed his tune again as a fatherly demeanor took over his wizened face.

“Oh, dear child, she should be equally proud to be compared to you, the talented sorceress that you are.”

Tryss blushed a deep purple at the wizard’s compliment, and her ears pinned themselves against her head, but I caught the tips of them fluttering in joy.

“Oh, um, wow, I, uh, thank you,” Tryss stuttered, and I squeezed her hand as she clutched my arm harder in excitement.

“Well-earned, dear child, well-earned. As I was saying, I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your male here to help me run a few mundane errands. He will carry my shopping, negotiate with the vendors, that sort of thing.”

“Of-Of course.” Tryss nodded before she straightened her posture and released her grip on my arm. “Will I tell Mother you’ll be joining us at the Twenty-Eighth after?”

“Indeed,” Nodrin said with a dismissive nod, and Tryss took her cue to leave, but not before she reached up to kiss me goodbye and give my hand a last squeeze.

I returned the gesture and mouthed that I would see her soon, and then I enjoyed the sight of her supple ass as she rushed forward to rejoin the rest of the group.

The wizard slowed his pace, so I dropped back to walk beside him, and we watched as the others drifted farther away from us and disappeared into the crowd. When our comrades were completely out of sight, the older man continued our conversation from earlier.

“So,” Nodrin prompted. “Do you remember what you saw in the vault?”

“Oh, you mean the glowy thing?” I asked as I recalled the image of the floor with the lamp-like staff that stood alone in the vault and emanated a weak, pulsing white light.

“Indeed,” the wizard chuckled as he cast a sidelong, curious glance at me, and I noticed his gaze lingered on my patch, so I gave it a wiggle for effect. “Do you know what it is?”

“Norrin’s wizard staff?” I posited as I recalled the conversation outside of the vault after my, ah, foray with Dagwyn. I couldn’t help but picture the muscular woman naked and screaming as I brought her to ecstasy, but I shook the thought out of my head and focused on the wizard again.

“That’s right.” Nodrin nodded. “And do you know why Daria Ozin-Na kept his staff?”

“No,” I admitted. “I know there was talk of trying to channel her own magick through it, but that sounded like it didn’t make sense in terms of the laws of magick, so I don’t really know why she kept it.”

“You’re not far off,” the wizard said with another nod. “While it’s unusual for a priestess to use a tool for her magick, it’s not impossible. Daria was attempting to create a powerful, but illegal, specter with the staff she stole from Norrin. I always wondered why my brother remained so faithful to Daria, despite not being one of her consorts. I had no idea she was holding his Wizard Lyte captive, now it makes sense why he never left her House.”

“Err, sorry, his what? Wizard Lyte? Is that what the staff is called?”

“Not the staff, but the… glowy thing,” Nodrin chuckled.

“Oh, right, the… glowy… Lyte thing,” I said with a grimace. The others were used to my gaps in knowledge, but I felt more conscious of it in the presence of the powerful wizard, but the old bearded man merely chuckled.

“Wizard Lyte,” the older man said. “Do you know how it’s made?”

“I do not,” I conceded.

“Starlight,” Nodrin deadpanned, and I studied his face to figure out if he was lying. When he didn’t falter, I raised my eyebrows, and he continued. “Or rather, the essence of trapped starlight. You see, a wizard’s ultimate test to become a full-fledged wizard in path, not just in title, is to capture a falling star.”

“R-Really?” I asked as I heard a tune jingle in the far depths of my mind.

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket…

Just then, Nodrin reached up to his collar, pulled out a chain, and tugged on the chain until it revealed a star-shaped pendant that glowed white.

…never let it fade away.

“Whoaa,” I said as I reached for the glowing pendant, but Nodrin pulled it away and tucked it back into his collar before he patted it through the fabric.

“How does one… catch a falling star?” I asked as I continued to admire the shape of the pendant through the wizard’s tunic. I pictured myself climbing to the tallest mountain around, maybe Greenie could give me a ride up, and then hanging precariously from the tip of it while I held out a vial and captured the bright, dying star. I pictured the look of pride and awe on Mother’s, Tryss’, and the twins’ faces as I showed them my bottled gold that would launch me into full wizard status. Then I pictured the women advancing toward me to celebrate my success, and I had to give my head a shake before I got too deep in that mental fantasy.

“Catching one is the most sacred thing a wizard could do, there’s no use for me to explain it to you. The knowledge of how to do it is only revealed to you when you’re ready for the task.”

“Ahh, I see,” I said, but I tried to hide my disappointment.

We pushed into the center of the Citadel, and I took in the sight of the city in the midst of a festival. The food carts that lined the streets were decorated lavishly as their patrons lined up while decorated in their own face paint, masks, and costumes. Everything looked amazing, but after the glimpse of starlight that I now knew Nodrin kept hanging around his neck, everything seemed a little duller in comparison. Maybe it was my light powers that had me so drawn to the light, but I sensed something I didn’t recognize in my gut, and I felt like the starlight was the answer to the gnawing question I couldn’t put into words.

Nodrin must’ve seen my sullen look, and he gave me a little nudge.

“You’re really enamored with the idea of catching a falling star, young Fynn, aren’t you?” The twinkle had returned to his eyes.

“I do enjoy the thought,” I admitted with a grin, and I felt a jolt of excitement as Nodrin reached for his collar again and began pulling the chain out until it was all the way out, and the pendant hung halfway down the wizard’s chest. Then he took the star-shaped pendant in his palm and held it out so I could examine it closer.

I could see the stone inside had been split into two and mended back together, much like the one Sevahtra had shown us outside the vault. I leaned in closer for a better look, but before I could see anything else, the ground before us cracked in two, and a huge beanstalk started to grow out of the ground.

I watched in wonder as the stalk grew rapidly and stretched into the cavern while it sprouted long, trailing branches and huge, deep green leaves.

“What the fuck…”

Resurrected as a Drow 3 Chapter 1 Bit late on chapters. Just got this done in time!

The cheers and applause from the crowd rang in my ears as I shook my head, which was still reeling from my underground forays. Tryss seemed to notice my discomfort, and she extended her hand to cup my face. I nuzzled my cheek into her hand and closed my eyes as her thumb stroked small circles below my eye, but then my eyes flew open as I considered something.

“Wait, do I still have to pretend to be in Ozin-Na? If that’s the case, I shouldn’t be seen so publicly with you.” I shot a concerned glance at the crowd where the Matron Mothers and priestesses were still watching us.

“Don’t worry about that,” Tryss said with a wicked grin. “There have been some, ah, updates since you’ve been busy with the maze and its preparations.”

“Oh?” I asked with a curious lift of my eyebrows as I peered into the beautiful priestess’ coy face.

“Mother has a plan.” Tryss smiled.

“Of course, she does.” I grinned back as I shot another look at Mother in the stands. I could see the glamoured Nodrin whispering into her ear, though they both held their gazes steady on me. “What are they plotting?”

“Well, after Daria-Zephyr traded you to Kun-Valdar in exchange for Nodrin, Mother approached Kun-Valdar herself,” Tryss explained.

“Okay,” I said slowly as I tried to fit this new information in. It hadn’t been part of the original plan, but I could see how it made sense. If Sevahtra wanted Kun-Valdar to believe the rivalry between House Claden’Du and House Ozin-Na was alive and well, then it made sense she would approach Kun-Valdar about the fate of her beloved wizard that her enemy had sold off. I recalled how Kun-Valdar told Daria-Zephyr of her attempts to train Nodrin for the Blind Maze, and how the attempts ended with her breaking the wizard’s legs, so I knew the meeting with the Matron Mother of the Twenty-Eighth station wouldn’t have been easy for Mother Sevahtra. She would have wanted to slay Kun-Valdar right there.

“It’s a trap, of course,” Tryss said as her eyes searched my tired face.

“Of course.” I nodded. “Revenge for Nodrin, right?”

“And others,” Tryss said grimly, and when I gave her a curious look, she explained further. “Mother has recently learned of ongoing activities she was previously not aware of. When Claden’Du was thriving, there were over eleven hundred active duergar guards on duty at any moment.”

My mind flashed back to my first day in the drow realm when Belia Ozin-Na infiltrated the House of Claden’Du and slaughtered all of the duergar guards while she amplified the horrifying sounds to Mother Sevahtra. My jaw tightened at the memory, but I nodded for Tryss to continue explaining.

“Well, it’s not a stretch to imagine that not every single duergar guard was loyal to the House of Claden’Du, since the drow and duergar have a complicated history,” Tryss continued while she crossed her arms and drummed her long fingers against herself. “And Mother has been made aware of the dealings of the disloyal guards.”

“Uh-oh. What did they get up to?” Possibilities crossed my mind, I was learning that there were few limits in this realm. Interspecies crossbreeding? Now I knew how terribly that was regarded, so I knew it wouldn’t be a good look for the House of Claden’Du.

“Trafficking,” Tryss said as she pursed her lips. “There was one duergar guard in particular, Ganer’if, who was making a side profit by selling off workers into slavery after reporting them as having died on the job.”

“And Elviramosa Kun-Valdar of the Twenty-Eighth station was buying them,” I pieced together.

“Correct,” Tryss said. “Amongst others.”

“And of course, Mother Sevahtra doesn’t like her chattel being messed with.”

“No the fuck she does not,” Tryss confirmed with a grin.

“How long had this been going on?” I asked.

“Decades.”

“Oofttt,” I said as I sucked air in through my teeth. “That’s a lot of revenge to be had. But what about, what was it? Ganer’fi?”

“Ganer’if,” Tryss corrected gently. “He was killed in the raids, thank gods for him, otherwise he’d have to endure the wrath of Mother.”

“I wish I could’ve seen that,” I said with a wicked grin. Mother Sevahtra was a secret softy, but she was also ruthless when she needed to be.

“You may get to yet, if any of his descendants survived the raids.” Tryss returned my grin as her eyes flickered up to her mother in the stands again. “Her wrath will come down as if it was inflicted upon Ganer’if himself. And Kun-Valdar, in due time.”

“Excellent, so what’s the plan?” I asked, and I shook my head quickly to fight off the exhaustion that was creeping into my peripheral vision.

“There’s plenty of time for scheming yet.” Trissy reached her hand out to cup my face again. “You’re exhausted.”

“I am,” I agreed, and with the words, the exhaustion crept in more. I felt the muscles in my arms grow heavier as they tried to recover from the hours spent digging the rest of me by hand out of the death trap that was the Blind Maze.

Literally.

I wasn’t meant to survive that maze, and the realization that someone would be very upset that I had started to manifest itself in my brain. Everything had happened so suddenly, I hadn’t had much time to process anything.

One minute I’d been sitting and having tea with Kun-Valdar and Zephyr, an ally changeling who was disguised as Daria Ozin-Na. They’d been discussing the trade of, well, me as Kun-Valdar’s House representative for the celebration known as Qorin-Kai, where representatives competed in what was known as the Blind Maze. Each year, the racers were sent into a maze that was enchanted with a light spell to make the surroundings impossibly bright. Due to my mysterious background that I didn’t even have a hold on myself yet, I was blessed with what I referred to as my Dark Eye. The eyesight in my Dark Eye wasn’t normal, and it allowed me to see through the brightness of the light spell. But, shortly after my tea with Kun-Valdar that turned out to be spiked, I was taken to see Drogu, for the half-dozenth time in my short existence.

Drogu, the spider queen goddess of chaos, informed me that someone had changed the rules, and the Blind Maze would take place in darkness this year. She also warned me that the Maze was actually a trap, in which all contestants were sent to die. And, well, that meant I was shit out of luck. Luckily, Drogu had a soft spot for me, and she promised me I would make it out of that Maze alive.

The next thing I knew, I woke up in the middle of the Blind Maze.

No prep or anything. Goddess of Chaos indeed.

The gorgeous spider goddess didn’t just throw me to the… furry things that run fast. Dogs? No.

Wolves.

Oh, yeah, there were also the random memories of another life that punctuated my already confusing existence.

Anyway…

Thrown into the Blind Maze that was dark instead of light, with no preparation, and an army of soul-eaters intent on sucking my soul out, which was the cherry on top.

That phrase came to my mind easily, though gods only knew from where.

Speaking of gods, Drogu came through for me again. I didn’t know if it was my roguish charm, my well-endowed appendage between my thighs, or something else that I wasn’t privy to yet that kept her sweet on me. Only time would tell, I was sure of that much at least. But in my time of need in the maze, she’d sent me her spider friends who helped convey to me the need to dig through the ground. It was my only escape from the maze, and though I could barely stand now, it was worth it. Now I was freed, with my lover by my side.

For now.

I stretched my arms out and flexed my fingers back and forth. If I weren’t looking directly at them, I’d be worried they were about to fall off from all the digging.

“How long was I down there?” I asked as I shook out my weary muscles.

“About three hours,” Tryss said before she reached forward and grasped my right hand lightly. Then she started kneading slow, methodical circles into my tired hands.

“Hmmm, that feels nice,” I sighed, and I let my head fall back as I closed my eyes and enjoyed my lover’s deft fingers while they worked their magic on my hands.

“Don’t get too comfortable yet, my love,” Tryss said with a grin. “You have just become House Champion, there’s to be a celebratory feast in your honor.”

“Ohhhh,” I groaned right as my stomach grumbled. The thought of a lively feast and excited chattering after hours of digging wasn’t appealing, but the thought of the food made my mouth water and my stomach grumble even louder, and I grinned. “I guess I could feast.”

“I thought so.” Tryss smirked as she gently dropped my hands from her grip and slid an arm through mine, and then we leaned on each other as we slowly walked away from the maze. “It is only halfway Kels’Rin-Kai, afterall, you had to assume there would be a feast.”

“It does make perfect sense.” I nodded.

Kels’Rin-Kai was an eight-day long celebration of the spider goddess Drogu. One day for each of her legs. A celebration without a feast during Kels’Rin-Kai would be like…

Christmas without presents.

I wasn’t entirely sure where that came from, but I could picture a small green tree inside a cozy dwelling with boxed gifts wrapped in shiny paper displayed beneath it. It was a warm, happy memory, but the details eluded me, like they often did when I was hit with a wave of past memories from another life.

Whatever Christmas was, it wasn’t like drow celebrations. I was learning drow celebrations were more… carnal. Feasts were common, but so were orgies.

That sounded like the proper way to celebrate.

“The rules dictate that the House of the champion and all other Houses who placed a wager on the champion will get together in a House of their choosing,” Tryss pressed on as we continued our leisurely stroll. “Of course, Mother insisted that Elvy host, and she was more than happy to accept.”

“That’s right.” I nodded as I recalled the pink-clad Matron Mother of the Twenty-Eighth station. She was like a peacock, eager to show off. “Ever the show-off. And she’s still convinced that both the Claden’Du and Ozin-Na Houses are alive and well?”

“Completely,” Tryss scoffed. “I’m surprised she’s not been usurped already.”

Matron Mothers were notoriously suspicious creatures, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill even their own daughters at the barest whiff of a betrayal or insurrection, but Elvy Kun-Valdar looked foolishly trustworthy compared to the likes of Mother Sevahtra or Mother Drindessa. Though it was also a testament to Mother Sevahtra and her priestess daughters’, and, well, my ability for deception. We had the rest of the Houses and Council convinced that both Houses were alive and well, through clever manipulation, glamour magick, and the help of our dark fae friends.

I looked up to the stands to see Elvy descending the high stadium steps, and her eyes were pointed hungrily in my direction when she wasn’t focused on not falling down the steep stone steps.

“Looks like she’s ready to meet her prized boy toy,” Tryss said dryly, and I watched as her crimson eyes followed the elaborately dressed Matron Mother.

I couldn’t help but grin at the edge of jealousy in my lover’s voice. Tryskalan was uncharacteristically jealous for a female drow, but our connection was stronger than most. I’d even outright confessed my love for the beautiful warrior, to which she responded by promptly vomiting, but I tried not to take that too personally. She had ingested hyssop, to which she was particularly sensitive.

“Don’t worry, she won’t get far,” I said as I pulled my lover in by the waist so her body was tight against mine. She leaned into me more and sighed happily, and I couldn’t wait until the post-celebration celebrations with my lavender-skinned lover.

Before we could take another step, Tryss clutched her stomach and stumbled.

“Babe?” I reached for Tryss, who clutched onto me with a pained look on her face. Then all the color drained from her pretty visage.

“What is it?” I asked before I felt an unpleasant, yet familiar tugging in my own stomach.

“Anti-magick spell,” Tryss breathed out, and the small drow woman continued to clutch at her gut while my own stomach roiled. The powerful priestess was much more connected to her ether and therefore her magick, so she was much more affected by the spell than I was, though it was far from pleasant for me, either.

“From where?” I grunted as I cast a worried glance around. We hadn’t made it far from the maze, so I wondered if it was from some leftover soul-eaters, but that didn’t seem to fit within the parameters of the contest.

Then I looked back toward the maze to see shadowy figures approaching us.

“Looks like we’ve got company,” I said and jerked my head toward the approaching figures.

“Fuck,” Tryss cursed as she straightened her posture to face our attackers. “This really isn’t your best introduction to Kels’Rin-Kai.”

“I don’t mind,” I chuckled. “Life as a drow is nothing if not exciting.”

“You speak the truth,” Tryss said, and we both fell into easy fighting stances, with our backs pressed together and our weapons drawn as the group of unknown assassins circled us.

“Who are they?” I asked as I searched for some signs of identity on the six approaching figures. An insignia on their cloaks, House colors, distinguishing scars, anything. But their cloaks were plain black, and their faces were obscured, though the assailants came in a variety of sizes.

“I can’t tell,” Tryss shot back, and I could feel her head on a swivel as she took in the surrounding assassins.

“They’re here for me,” I said through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t meant to survive that.”

“Well, you did,” Tryss said. “And you’re going to survive this, too.”

“I know.” I grinned as I fought off the mild claustrophobia I was getting from the assailants closing in. I’d only just escaped my underground hellscape, I needed my space.

And if I needed to take these unknown cloaked killers with me, then so be it.

They continued to press closer, but their attention was all on me. It was clear they were here to finish the job.

“It’s go time,” I hissed.

“Let’s go, then!” Tryss cried out as she lunged forward.

I followed her example, and as I lunged forward, a darkened assassin shot out to meet me. I crossed my dual daggers in an X above my head to block his sword as it swung down above me, and the force was heavy against my weary arms, but I summoned the strength to prevent any serious injury. Then I jumped back and reached for my ether, only to be painfully reminded of the anti-magick spell that had been cast over us.

Damn. I could really use some levitating powers right about now.

I guess I’d just need to get by without them.

The cloaked assailant took a lunge at me, and I spun out of the way as I felt my instincts of unknown origins take over. My stance widened into what I knew to be the prime fighting stance, and my arms were at the ready in front of my chest, with my elbows tight to my body. I could hear the phantom voice of the one I used to call Drill Sergeant in my mind, and he was telling me to keep my elbows tight, soldier, and eyes on the prize.

I spun back toward the assailant as he recovered from his previous miss, and the large male figure raised his sword above his head and swung it down haphazardly, in a way that made me think he wasn’t all that familiar with the weapon. I blocked his blow again that, while clumsy, still had some weight behind it, and my arm protested against the struggle. I twisted my two daggers so the blade of the assailant’s sword got caught in between them, and then I swung a foot up to kick the cloaked assassin in the chest. Next, I lowered my arms as he fell backward onto the ground, and I shot forward and buried a dagger into his heart before he could recover.

To my left, I heard clanging metal, and I looked up to see Tryss pull off a sexy maneuver with her sword that caused her opponent’s head to roll right off its neck.”

“Damn.” I whistled, and Tryss shot me a toothy grin over her shoulder before we were both distracted by more assailants.

The next cloaked figure approached from my right, and I could tell it was a male figure, but he was shorter and stouter than the one I pulled my dagger from. He also carried a scythe that he looked more than comfortable with. The short assassin gripped the weapon tightly with both hands, and I could make out narrowed blue eyes from beneath his shaggy fringe, but a strip of ragged cloth covered the rest of his face before it tucked down into his plain black cloak.

“Hrrnngg,” the male grunted as he suddenly jumped forward and swung the scythe like a… baseball bat.

I stumbled backward and nearly tripped over the inert body of the recently slain assassin, but I recovered quickly as the sharp blade of the scythe missed me by mere inches.

I instinctively reached for my ether again, but I was quickly reminded it still wasn’t usable, so I crouched down and rolled to the left in one quick movement. The stocky scythe-wielding assassin spun to find me, but I was already on my feet and lunging toward him, and my dagger met his eye with a satisfying squelch. I twisted the blade for good measure, and the male’s strangled cry weakened as he fell to the ground for the last time.

I barely had time to pull my dagger from the dead man’s eye before I felt a blow across the back of my knees. I fell forward, and instinct told me to keep falling until my head was flat against the ground, in case my attacker took a swing while I was on my knees.

Sure enough, I felt a rush of wind above my head as a heavy object cut through the air where my head had been milliseconds before, so I continued to roll until I was on my back and could see my assailant.

Another male figure, midsized, with a long, dark ponytail hanging down his back, and dressed in the same type of unmarked cloak as the others. The ponytailed male spun to face me while he pulled his sword back above his head, but I was renewed with a burst of adrenaline, so I jumped to my feet and readied my daggers.

These fuckers were interrupting my already shitty day, and I was ready to get them over with.

“Hmph,” the assailant muttered as he stepped forward. He was less sure-footed than his colleagues, and he seemed to be internally debating with himself if he wanted to risk going head to head with me.

Too bad for him.

I took advantage of his hesitation and started forward. The amateur assassin startled and raised his sword instinctively, but I had faked the forward movement. Then I stepped forward, when his sword was raised halfway above his head, and crouched beneath him while I swung my dagger up into his soft belly. I felt the blood gush out of the open wound and down the shaft of my dagger until my hand was drenched in the warm, coppery liquid, and I slid the blade down the soft skin and then felt a splattering of organs as they tumbled out of the man’s belly.

“Oh,” he whispered, and his eyes went wide at the sight of his guts literally spilling onto the floor. Then his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell on top of his spilled organs while I stepped back and wiped the blood onto the back of his black tunic.

“Fynn!” Tryss shrieked from behind me, and I spun around to see the last two standing assassins pressing in on her.

“Tryss!” I shouted as I bounded over the dead bodies and inserted myself between the bigger assailant and Tryss.

This guy seemed less like a guy and more like a beast. His black cloak could hardly contain his hulking shoulders, and his sword looked more like a dagger in his wide, hairy hands.

The thought of this beast threatening my lover had me shaking.

“Hey, shithead,” I seethed as I pointed a dagger at his heart. “Why don’t you fuck with someone your own size?”

“Rrrrrggggghh,” the beast growled as he pawed the ground with his bare, clawed feet that stuck out below his cloak.

“Here boy, here,” I said, and I whistled like he was a dog. I had the vague recollection of people house-training dogs with whistles and treats, so I dangled my dagger in front of me like it was a tasty treat the beast could take. “Be a good boy, sit.”

“Raaaaahhhh!” the beast roared as he leaned back on his powerful haunches and then pounced, but I was expecting him to do exactly that, and I spun my dagger so the pointy side was up as the beast landed in front of me. I didn’t expect his hands… paws?... to be as fast as they were, though, and I’d admit I was caught off guard as he batted the dagger out of my hand.

A large, yellow claw narrowly missed slicing open my wrist, and I jumped backward to avoid another swat by the beast’s freakish claws while I swapped the dagger in my left hand over to my strong hand. The handle was slick against my blood-soaked skin, but I got a good grip on it and eyed my large opponent as he snarled at me.

I didn’t have much time to formulate a plan before the beast struck again, his lightning fast movements almost catching me off guard again, but I was a fast learner, like Mother Sevahtra said. The beast reached his hairy arms out toward me, and I used that opportunity to slice my dagger through the air and create deep slices in the beast’s wrists.

He’d given me the idea, after all.

The beast whimpered as blood streamed steadily out of the two gaping slices and spilled onto the ground beneath us, but his legs continued to propel him forward, and I tucked and rolled underneath him as he sailed through the air. The beast stumbled forward when he landed, so I shot forward to sink my dagger into his back, and the beast howled in pain as he tried to claw at me. The slices in his wrists prevented him from getting any purchase on his grip, so I pulled the knife out and jabbed it three more times into his broad back until he crumpled and fell forward with a pathetic whimper.

I could still hear Tryss fighting with the final opponent behind me, so I jumped to my feet and spun toward the sounds of the battle. As I spun, I spotted Dagwyn running toward the edge of the maze, with the others in hot pursuit behind her.

“Fynn!” Dagwyn shouted as she sprinted and waved her hands above her head. “Fynn, leave one alive! We need to question them!”

“Got it!” I shouted back, and I turned and ran toward Tryss, where she was locked in a fierce sword battle. She was holding her own, but I could tell the small priestess was physically exhausted without the help of her magic to fall back on. “I’m tapping in, Tryss!”

I launched myself at her cloaked male opponent, and while I didn’t have magic, I did have the element of surprise. I wrapped my arms around the assassin’s waist, and I felt the breath leave his lungs as I tackled him to the ground.

Like I used to do in football. An image of a strange ball with pointed ends flying through the air flashed across my mind, and I knew that it was a football, even though I wasn’t sure what that meant exactly.

I hit the ground hard, even with the cloaked male’s body to break my fall. I felt his head snap against the ground, and I sprang up and put a foot on his chest to keep him down, while I felt the others gather around me. Then Tryss dashed forward and kicked the assailant’s sword out of arm’s reach.

“Well done, male,” Dagwyn said, but she shot me a quick wink.

Mother Sevahtra joined her side, along with Elvy, Helera, Nodrin in his glamour, Fespius, and Zephyr.

“Anytime,” I gasped as I caught my breath, and I leaned heavily on my foot while the captive struggled against it.

“Damn, you can really fight,” Helera commented, and she cast her gaze over the dead bodies scattered across the ground before she turned her appraising eyes on me.

I couldn’t help but grin as her gaze fell and raked over my whole body. Dagwyn tutted, and I turned to see the woman’s twin glaring at her. I chuckled at the sibling rivalry, but Dagwyn had nothing to be jealous of. After all, the middle sister and I had enjoyed some fun together not long ago, which left Helera as the only sister unbedded by me yet. Yet.

But with the way Helera was drinking in the sight of me, bloodied and out of breath from battle, I knew I’d get the chance to fill her with my seed eventually. I felt a stir in my gut at the thought of impregnating all three sisters at the same time, but then I shook my head before the blood could rush to the wrong place.

Hey, battle was intense. I guess my body liked intense activity.

“What is the meaning of all this?” Elvy asked primly as she fussed with her elaborate pink outfit. She clearly hadn’t intended to get this close to the maze, she preferred to torture her chattel into doing all the dirty work for her.

“Well, it would appear someone is trying to kill your champion, Elvy,” Mother Sevahtra said in a dangerously sweet voice.

Elvy didn’t pick up on Mother’s tone, she merely continued to fuss with her shiny belt and fixed her wide eyes on me.

“Why is someone trying to kill you now? The Maze is over.”

“Beats me,” I said with a shrug. Then I pressed my foot into my captive’s chest again, and I enjoyed the sensation of him struggling beneath me.

“Let’s find out,” Dagwyn said, and the warrior woman stepped forward and dragged the would-be assassin to his knees. The way she moved him so forcefully, I could tell she was a little jealous of having missed out on the action, and the middle sister hated that feeling. Then Dag ripped the assailant’s face mask down to reveal an ugly, squat-faced duergar male. “Who sent you? What is your purpose here? Speak, male.”

The duergar male let his eyes slide over each of our faces as his face grew into a slow, creepy grin. The grin grew even wider into what could only be described as a maniacal smile while he continued to meet each of our gazes. Soon, the captive threw his head back and began to laugh hysterically. He barely stopped for breath, he just continued to laugh, and I shifted on my feet uncomfortably while Tryss and I exchanged a troubled glance.

Then the duergar male stopped laughing suddenly, and he tilted his head upright and looked me dead in the eye before his head exploded into bloody chunks.