Bish's Request
Around mid-morning, the next day, Twirp sighted a band of thieves. Normally, twelve men would have been more than enough to handle a wagon or two. They seemed to be struggling to wrap their heads around the size of our caravan. By the time they decided they wanted to engage in a little hit-and-run action, Kia had carried Imka over to intervene. The attackers made a valiant attempt - right up until Imka put a thorn-arrow through their leader's eye-socket.
They decided to take their dead and hold elections on who was in charge next. We were long gone by the time the last of the mail-in ballots were counted.
When the small town with the biased armorer came into view, Zora called for Kia to give her a quick ride around the perimeter of the place. When they returned, she said we could divert to the north and circumvent the hamlet.
She created a thin line of tall grass to guide the caravan behind us and we headed off the road to the right. Kia, in falcon form, and Twirp monitored the buffer between our group and the small city - but there were no interactions - between the village or our people, positive or negative.
We arrived at the lane to Bish's cave by the end of the day. We made our camp in the plain there. Kia flew down to check on the carrion pile. She reported that the worms were beginning to compost the more-digestible portions of the wolves' remains.
As bedtime approached, Bish came walking up, holding hands with Gort and Yirk.
"Husband," she called out to me.
I looked up, saw her face, and laughed. "Yes, little wife," I said.
"Could you find someone else to keep your bed warm tonight?"
"I would willingly suffer through a cold night, alone, to see such a bright, lusty smile on your lips, my love," I told her.
"Zack," Yirk called to me. "Do you have any idea what she's asking?" he stammered out.
"Oh, yes," I assured him, "and at least one of you is going to find out how talented my gray-skinned goddess' pussy is."
Bish leaned over to Yirk and "whispered" - loud enough for all of us to hear - "My husband doesn't know that troll females can do the same with their ass as they can with their pussy."
"Have fun, boys," I said, smiling broadly. "Be gentle, my love," I told Bish.
Gort remained silent - watching our byplay; Yirk was still beside himself.
"How can you call her 'wife' and agree to what she asks?" he probed.
"Because she calls me 'husband' as she watches me breed the others - telling each of us how much she cares for us. All of us helped liberate her from an abusive relationship. She can share herself with whomever she likes. She calls me husband because I helped kill the man who kept her as a slave - not as a mate."
"That's not the only reason, my handsome little man - but it is one of the reasons, yes," Bish gushed, dropping the hands of the two men she intended to bed, walking over and scooping me into her arms."
"Will you tell me all about it?" I whispered, before kissing her hard.
"I will, husband, as you bury your lovely cock inside of me, when next we have time together."
She gave me another kiss, set me back on my feet, and went to reclaim the hands of the large goblins she'd brought with her.
"Have fun," Kia called out to the guards. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she told Bish, laughing.
"Now I'm curious," Awka told Kia. "What things WOULDN'T you do?"
Kia wrapped her arms around the thin water-mage, pulled her into a naughty kiss, and said, "Maybe we can talk about it, later."
Bish laughed and headed off, with her escorts, to start her night of adventure.
~~~~
We traveled for three days before we arrived at the place we'd rescued Kia. She and I were walking side by side. I looked over to spot a tear in the corner of her eye. She changed to her true form, and I brushed my fingers across her collar. She gave me a tender kiss, changed to her ferret-form and raced up to Gort and Zora. She climbed our leader's clothes and wrapped herself around her neck in a hug.
"I'm so glad you joined us, my pet," Zora told her.
Kia jumped down and changed to her true form once more, Gort glanced over at her, not as used to this version of her as we were.
"I am so thankful for the family you have built, mistress," Kia said, close to tears. "I have never felt so close to any other beings in my life."
"We're just a bunch of rabid mutts," Zora told her, grabbing her shoulder to hug her as they walked together.
"I love you, my queen," Kia told her.
"And I, you, devil girl," Zora replied.
They held each other as we began making our way down the side of the bluff, following the road as it wound back and forth. We passed the word, back through the line, that those with wagons needed to be very careful as they made their way down.
Once everyone successfully negotiated the steepest part of our journey, we walked for a couple more hours before we arrived at the fork in the road. We headed left (south) and soon found a place where we could make camp for the night.
~~~
The next day, just before lunch, we arrived at the town where Zora had bought the teapot. We were out of tea, but we still navigated around the place, choosing to avoid forcing our group from having to pass through narrow city streets where we'd have to deal with curious onlookers, angry shopkeepers, pick-pockets, and brusque constables.
Zora no longer needed to create the grassy guide; everyone in our caravan knew we were bypassing the towns.
By the end of the day, we arrived at the spot where Dera's wagon-train had been attacked. We made camp near the trail we had taken to deal with the thieves. The oxen and chickens we'd acquired at that point were still serving us well.
I asked Dera if she was uncomfortable, resting so close to the place where she was nearly killed, but she just squeezed my hand and gave me a kiss.
"Four," she told Kia.
