Awka
As we traveled, Bish engaged her impervious skill, burning her mana down to half. Zora calculated that it took a little over an hour.
At the next town, we passed through quickly, found a quiet spot on the other side, and set up camp. Bish stayed with Dera and Egla to work on dinner while the rest of us (with Kia in her goblin-form) headed back to visit the village armorer.
I could tell, when we entered the place, that our quest was futile. The crafter didn't want to deal with women and would either give us shitty work or try to steal the hide.
"My queen?" I said.
When she looked at me, I glanced at the door.
"Listen to the mutt, wench," he growled.
I squeezed Reav's wrist tighter - hoping he wouldn't feel the need to press his blade against the man's neck and order him to beg her forgiveness.
Just out of spite, I gave him a parting gift on my way out - an infected ingrown toenail. Actually the nail was already out of control - I just added the infection.
At the chandler's, Zora didn't get as much for the wolf pelts as she wanted - so she only sold half of them. She whispered that she'd just put the others into her storage-ring until we found someone that could turn them into heavy blankets for when we got farther north.
We bought some flour, cooking oil, a barrel of potatoes, and a large washtub. We rolled the barrel and the tub into a nearby alley and Zora stored those items in the ring. The rest, we carried back to camp.
Egla added some flour to her broth and made a thick gravy to go over the stewed wolf-meat and potatoes.
As she tended the pot, I snuck over and gave her a squeeze.
"What are you doing?" she asked, irritated that I was pestering her.
"You always take care of us and I don't tell you thank you often enough," I told her.
"It's nothing," she said, trying to hide the fact that she was wiping away a tear.
"He's right," Zora said, walking over. "I haven't told you thank you either."
"Nor I," Dera added.
"I've never eaten so well in my life," Kia told her.
"I was starving to death," Reav said, seriously - which caused Egla to burst into a fit of giggles at his innocent adorableness.
I hugged her again and kissed her temple. I stepped back and everybody else came and gave her a squeeze as well. I took over stirring the food as she wrapped Zora in a hug and started bawling.
As we sat down to enjoy Egla's cooking, a trader's wagon came into view. Behind the wagon was a young goblin woman, bound with ropes, dragging her feet in the dirt as she was pulled along - dangerously close to losing her balance and being dragged.
Zora hopped up and went out to meet him. He wanted more gold for the woman than Zora had. She offered him the wolf pelts but he wasn't interested. She showed him a giant emerald but that didn't appeal to him either. Finally, she brought out the troll hide. His eyes bugged out of his head.
In the end, she traded half of the hide for the woman. On the plus side, he hadn't asked for any gold in addition to the skin.
We all stood as Zora led the woman over to the fire. As she untied the slave, I knelt in front of her and asked if I could heal her. Her eyes widened a little and she nodded. I raised my hands and started tending her wounds. It was nice to be able to heal without touching the person now.
"Come and sit by the fire and share our meal," Zora ordered.
"Yes, mistress," she said quietly.
As we ate, Zora explained the reasoning for my collar to her.
"Once you've eaten and had a bath, you will be free to go and do what you want," Zora told her.
"You are sending me away, mistress?"
"No. I'm freeing you. You can do what you want."
"Can I stay with you?"
"Yes."
"What would I do?"
"For now, help with cooking, cleaning, and the other things we need to do in order to survive."
"Okay."
"We'll give you time to think about it - several days, if you want. After that, you can decide if you'd like to stay with us from now on."
"I want to."
"Honey, you don't even know us yet. Give it a little time. We're looking for a bit of trouble and you'll need to decide if you want to be a part of that."
Awka's eyes shifted to each of our faces before looking back at Zora's. "Okay," she said.
I took the bucket to the stream and started filling the washtub that Zora had pulled from her ring.
"I could try carrying the tub," Bish offered. "Let's move it to the stream and fill it there - then I'll carry it back to the fire.
Egla began heating large stones for us to drop into the washtub - to warm the cold water we were gathering.
Bish picked up the tub and carted it to the stream. I shoveled bucket after bucket of water into it. Bish took a turn when my hands turned blue from the bone-chilling cold. When it was half-full, Bish tried to lift it - but it sloshed around, and she got wet.
Zora hurried over and said, "I have an idea." Placing her hand on the tub, she stored it away. A second later, she retrieved it again.
"Cool!" I said, grabbing the bucket.
Zora stored the tub once more and headed back to the fire.
"My clothes are wet, Zack," Bish reported sheepishly. "Can you warm me up?"
She claimed a kiss and then held my hand as we headed back to join the others.
Egla had transferred the hot rocks to the washtub and the water was steaming in the cool evening air. Zora directed Awka to get undressed and get into the tub. She looked at me bashfully.
"Zora," Dera called out, "we need a bonding hut, please?"
My queen raised her eyebrows at the request but moved to comply. They picked a location a little ways into the wood and Zora erected the shelter. Dera whispered some instructions to her.
When they returned, Zora said, "Zack, get ready for bed. I'll send the girls one at a time. Since we have Bish to thank for this, she'll spend the night with you. I made the entrance so that you can close it like a gate.
I nodded and accepted two blankets from Dera. I noticed Zora and the girls getting Awka settled into the washtub as I headed off to my private bungalow.
A few minutes later, Zora appeared and began undressing.
"Dera tells me that one of the gifts Bish gave you is that - not only does your health regenerate - but so does your stamina - especially the stamina you need to take care of me and the girls. If she's right, this is going to be a tremendous advantage as we add more and more girls to the war-band. You can fuck each of them as often as they want it and - when it's time to make babies - you can breed them all in one night - or at least one session. With your cock always hard, your health always strong, and your poor, abused penis always recuperating, I'll have to order a halt just to get their minds to focus on something other than having you fuck the seven hells out of them."
She stripped my clothes off of me and shoved me onto the ground, mounting my stiff prick in an instant. She rode me hard until her climax was close.
"Give me at least one orgasm, and then cum inside of me," she ordered. "I'll suck you clean and send the next girl. Rinse and repeat - or repeat and rinse," she said, giggling.
