New Rider 5

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This work of fiction is part of a series; if you did not already read the preceding chapters, please do that before starting this part of the story.

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~~~ Small Town Troubles ~~~

Dusk was approaching as we walked into the town. I got directions to the village hall but was warned that the mayor was probably at his home by now. I went to the door of the place where they said he lived and knocked. When he opened up, I handed him the summons.

"Lord Striker?" he asked.

"If I'm not, then I'm the guy who killed him, took your summons, and came here to help you with your vermin problem."

His eyes went to Tala.

"She's with me, obviously," I told him.

He nodded without moving his gaze from her face. I waited for him to get over whatever little problem he had. She was dress identically to the elf on my other side - whom he ignored completely. I found my temperature rising.

When he finally looked back at me again, I asked, "When, how, and where do they usually hit?"

"Any time between now and dawn," he replied. "They've only come once or twice during the day. We do better then - not so good at night."

I nodded.

He looked at me.

"Which direction - or directions do they come from?"

"East ... or northeast or southeast, ..."

I had already assumed that - since there wasn't much of anything on the town's west side between them and the lake. The road that passed through the center of town ran north and south. This guy was just a wealth of information.

I turned to Tala, "River or plains, do you think? If I reduce their ability to come through the trees?"

"Plains, probably," she replied. "They'd probably think that you could trap them using the river."

"They plan ahead that much?" I asked her.

"The big brute does. Grunts are always stupid - but they do what the big-brain tells them."

I nodded.

"We'll keep an eye on things tonight," I told the mayor. "You have someplace where we can sleep tomorrow where we won't be disturbed? If we're going to be your night-watch, I'm going to need my beauty-sleep during the day."

"Just to put my mind a rest, you're Lord Striker - the dragon - right?" he asked.

I sighed. Heavily. I stepped into the street and began taking my clothes off.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"He's showing you that you're an idiot," Tala told the man. "He's already explained to you that it would be difficult for anybody but him to show up with that summons that you sent to the cave. He gets impatient when people ask stupid questions."

"Now, listen ..." he began.

His blathering was interrupted by being bodily shoved backwards when I pressed my snout against his chest.

<"You question her again, little man, and you'll be looking for another dragon. Do you understand me?">

<"Yes, my lord. I'm sorry.">

<"An empty house for us to sleep in during the day ... Do you have one?">

His jaw worked up and down but nothing came out.

<"Climb on,"> I told the girls.

I crouched down and they ran up my legs and dropped into their seats. I strode down the street, away from the non-verbal mayor, until we got to the main road. Then I leapt into the air and began circling the town.

<"Take a nap, if you can,"> I told the girls. <"I'll scout for an hour or so. We'll camp outside of town. If the orcs don't move in the next hour, they'll hit just before dawn. Right Tala?">

<"Most likely,"> she agreed. <"How are you planning to block the east approach to the town?">

<"I'll erect a stone palisade that will force them to approach along the roads. Once we leave, the town will be better able to defend itself.">

She sent me a mental image of the town that we could see below us - with the fortifications I had described highlighted.

<"Yes.">

<"How many days will it take to erect that?"> she asked.

<"It depends on how much stone is buried around here,"> I replied.

<"We could cull the forest back as well,"> Eryn suggested, <"although I'd hate to kill too many trees.">

<"We might need to do some of that to keep them from using the foliage to climb the walls,"> I replied.

We flew around for a while. Despite my suggestion that the girls take a nap, they seemed to be itching to try out their new armor. I still wanted some kind of ranged weapon for Tala. Hand-to-hand, I wasn't that worried. If her druid skills were advanced enough, she could use Wild Shape. She'd be almost as formidable as my dragon form if she picked the right shape.

<"Eryn can throw lightning,"> I told Tala. <"Any ideas on weapons for you?"> I asked.

<"I love having a nice, strong poleaxe in my hands,"> Tala replied, sending us a mental picture of my cock in her hands, being pulled towards her mouth and throat.

Eryn snort-laughed.

It didn't look like anything was going to happen for the first half of the night. I landed and changed forms - but not before the girls got their fanged kisses.

"Why do you do that?" I asked them, once I was human again.

"The same reason you like tonguing my fangs, I think," Tala giggled. "There's something so primal about being intimate with such raw power."

"You have raw power, my little orc?" I asked, sliding my fingers along her waist to tickle her ribs.

"I love when you tongue my tusks, master," she cooed.

"He's our husband, Tala," Eryn reminded her.

"Really, sister?" Tala asked her. "How much of a husband was he when he tortured our bodies and our minds with orgasm after orgasm the other day?" She pinched Eryn's skinny waist and nibbled her neck.

"Fine, sister," Eryn giggled. "Husband, master, and savior."

"Definitely savior," Tala agreed. "I love you, husband," she told me.

"I love you, too, my little dung-beetle," I replied, snickering.

"Are you going to rib me about that for the rest of my life, MASTER?" she asked.

"Probably," I said, wrapping my arms around her ribs and nibbling on her neck - as Eryn bit one of her nipples.

She squeaked and tried to push us away.

I gave her ass a squeeze and said, "I probably can't tear down any trees while the townspeople are trying to sleep but I might be able to get started on that palisade. How high do you think it needs to be?"

Tala raised her hands into the air above her head.

"Shit!" I growled.

She smiled and nodded.

"They'll boost one another over?"

"Probably," she replied.

"My estimate may have been low on that wall," I told the girls.

"What if you did a shorter wall and Tala could do a bramble wall in front of it?" Eryn asked.

I looked at the orc for her opinion.

"The shaman can throw fire," she said. "It would keep the grunts off of the wall.

"What if we flip it?" Eryn asked.

"Briars on the inside?" I inquired.

She nodded.

"That'll give the first few over the wall a real surprise," Tala laughed. "It will also keep the villagers from building shit that would compromise the thing."

I grabbed her face and kissed her.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"You are so fucking smart, Tala," I told her. "I hadn't even thought of the fact that the villagers would do something so simple that would make my wall useless."

"Not useless," she said. "It would still bottle-neck them - but the villagers are probably used to foraging out here."

I kissed her again and said, "You're still super sharp. Thanks for being my little dung-beetle."

"Fuck you," she growled lunging to bite at my jaw.

"Now there's a capital idea," Eryn giggled.

"Help me with this wall for an hour or two," I told them, "and then we'll take a fuck break and grab a nap before it's time to watch for bad guys."

For the next two hours, I raised an eight-foot high wall of stone, one four-foot wide section at a time. As soon as I got the wall settled into place, Tala raised a bramble-bush barrier that was four feet high and just as wide on the village side of my wall. Eryn worked along the line that we would be following to see what trees might need to be moved. I would do those in the morning, as a dragon.

I was having trouble finding the amount of stone that I needed. I had to move farther into the woods. While the girls were waiting, they went to one of the trees and I could see the two of them touching the tree and talking.

I had just finished building two more sections of the wall when Eryn yelled for me to hurry over. The tree they were standing by was leaning precariously - nearly ready to topple.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Can you keep this from crashing down and making a huge racket?" Eryn asked.

It was a smaller tree, so I nodded. I was pretty sure I could handle this one in my human form. As I looked more closely at the tree, I noticed that the trunk had pulled up, out of the soil - which looked like it had been plowed. Once I thought I had the tree under control, I nodded to Eryn. Tala had her eyes closed and was touching the tree closer to the roots.

As I watched, the roots wriggled and moved like arms and legs. Somehow, Tala was convincing the tree to unearth itself. It wasn't moving fast but it was moving way faster than I had ever seen tree roots move.

Suddenly the weight shifted and I focused on keeping the branches from slamming into the ground as the tree came free. I lowered it to the ground and Tala finished convincing the roots to pull themselves free. As soon as that was done, she sat down - hard. She looked like she'd been fighting a battle.

Eryn grabbed a canteen and carried it to her. I looked through my storage-ring and found some fruit and some bread. I handed them to the elf.

"Make sure she gets her strength back," I told Eryn. "How did you guys come up with that idea?"

"I watched her doing the bramble bushes and asked her if she could talk to the trees," Eryn told me, smiling.

"Keep an eye on our girl," I told her. "I'm going to work on a few more sections of the wall. I'll be back when I get a couple more done. If she wants to sleep, tell her I'll fuck her silly in the morning."

I gave Eryn a kiss and headed to work on the wall some more.

I kind of lost track of time while I was working. I had finished six more sections of the wall before I realized that I hadn't heard anything from the girls. I went to check on them and found them huddled together, asleep. I pulled a blanket from my storage-item and covered them up.

I jogged along the east side of the town and set some wards that would only trigger if a group of bodies passed close by. Once that was done, I cut some staves and pulled a tarp out of my stores and rigged up a quick shelter to keep the morning dew off of us. Then I curled up beside Tala and closed my eyes.

~~~

A boot kicked me in the ribs. I flicked my hand at my attacker and sent them tumbling for twenty feet. I opened my eyes to see that it was growing light. The mayor was picking himself up off of the ground, scowling at me. I sent a lightning bolt at his feet. When he turned to glare at me, I sent another one his way. I made sure the next one was close enough to make the hair on his head stand up. He didn't stop again to glare at me after that.

Ten minutes later, I had a fire going and the girls and I were brewing some tea and eating travel rations. A woman came tromping out from between a couple houses. I stood to see what the hell she wanted.

"Why did you attack my husband?" she inquired.

"The mayor?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"I spent half the fucking night working on this wall to protect the town. I was tired. I set wards to alert me if the orcs showed up and then laid down to sleep with my wives. Your idiot of a husband woke me up with a boot in the ribs. I didn't know it was him but I sent him tumbling. The dumbass had the audacity to scowl at me as soon as I opened my eyes - after not saying a fucking word to me before bruising my ribs. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and your little rib-kicker couldn't be bothered to provide us with a place to sleep even though I'm supposed to spend all night protecting this town while you all sleep in your own beds in peace. I'm about two seconds from going home and leaving you all to find somebody else to deal with your orc problem. You keep that idiot of a husband away from me and I'll finish this wall. Once that's done, my wives and I are leaving, and you can all very kindly go fuck yourselves."

Her mouth had begun hanging open at about my second sentence. It was still hanging down against her chest when I finished my tirade.

Since she wasn't saying anything, I went back to helping Tala make tea.

Five minutes later, I heard a lash hitting a man's back - followed by the mayor's voice calling for the violence to stop. The lash struck again, and he whimpered and came into view. He was carrying a tray with three platters loaded with a hot breakfast. He was wearing nothing but his waist-covering. His wife had a willow branch in her hand and, every time he slowed, she hit him with it. He came over to within five feet, set the tray down and backed up.

"Down," the woman ordered.

When she decided he wasn't moving fast enough, the lash fell again.

He dropped to his knees, looked at me and said, "I'm sorry. I only ..."

"No excuses!" she snarled, lashing him again. "Let's go."

He stood and turned back towards the town. His wife waited until he passed her and then stepped in behind him.

"But that's MY breakfast," he complained.

The lash fell again, and he cried out.

"Not anymore," she told him. "You lost the right to eat what I prepared when you attacked that man after he spent half the night building defenses around this town that you all should have been building long ago."

Once they were gone, Eryn said, "I almost feel sorry for him."

"I don't," Tala growled. "He's an idiot. Is this safe to eat?"

I ran my senses over the food and then nodded. I handed plates and utensils to my wives. I stored away the trail food and we ate while our food was still warm.

Ten minutes later, an adolescent girl appeared and headed for the tray.

"Hello," Tala said to the girl.

"Hello," the girl said. "Are you a warrior?"

"My husband has been teaching me to fight, yes."

"Auntie said to tell you that I'll bring you more food at midday. She asked me to apologize and let you know that there's no house available for you to take your rest. I'm to see if you need anything else. I'll be back to check every hour or so. If you are napping, I'm not to disturb you and just come back later. Auntie will make sure that her husband stays out of your hair. She asked me to give you one last message." She cleared her throat and stood a little straighter. "My husband is indeed an idiot. Any seeing person can easily tell that you spent hours working to protect us and I thank you for all that you have already done and beg you to finish the task on behalf of the women and the children."

"Nicely done," I told her. "Please tell Auntie that we enjoyed her cooking, and we plan to continue our work as we are able. If the orcs somehow slip past us, send someone running and we'll deal with them in short order. If I'm napping and the orcs come, you have my permission to yell - but please don't kick me."

"What is your name?" Eryn asked her.

"Emily," she replied, picking up the tray.

"I'm Eryn. This is Tala and this is Lord Striker. He can change into a dragon."

"Does Auntie's husband know that?" she asked.

Eryn nodded.

"He's not very smart," the girl said matter-of-factly.

"It's unkind of me to say so, but I tend to agree with you," Eryn replied.

"Can I get anything for you?" the girl asked.

"If you know anyone who has some coffee beans," I told her, "I would be really grateful. This tea is just not cutting it this morning."

"I'll ask," she said.

"Thanks, Emily," I told her.

She nodded and hurried off.

"What do we want to do with that tree?" I asked Tala.

"Can we move it inside the wall and replant it?" she asked.

"Probably," I said. "Why?"

"I'm thinking about making a treehouse," she said. "It'll give us a place to sleep while we stay here and, after we leave, the kids can play in it - or the townspeople could use it as a watchtower to look across the wall."

I walked over and looked at the tree. It would probably work but it was a little small.

"I'll replant it and encourage it to grow and send its roots deeper," Tala explained. "You pick another tree and cut it down, saw it into planks and we'll use those to build the floor and roof of the sleeping space. I'll get the branches to twist around the planks and hold them in place. I'll put a railing around the perimeter to keep the kids from falling out of it. I'll find a couple saplings and we'll plant them in front of this tree, and I'll grow a ladder with the saplings by getting the branches to grow back and forth."

I walked over, scooped her up, and kissed her. I pressed my forehead to hers, licked her tusks, and looked into her eyes.

"You like it?" she asked, giggling.

"Our husband is right," Eryn told her, climbing to her feet. "You're a marvel. Let's do it!"

We spent the morning building our living space. In the end, Emily got to be the first one to climb up to our nest.

"This is so crazy!" she exclaimed. "You thought this up?" she asked Tala.

Tala nodded.

"It's incredible! I could never have imagined something so cool. You're really going to leave this here when you go home?"

"Yes," she told the girl.

"Can I ... Could I sleep up here with you?"

Tala looked at me.

"Well," I told her, "my wives and I like to snuggle together and I'm not sure that's something your mother would be okay with. How about this? Let us stay by ourselves for tonight. You make sure it's okay with your mom and you can stay with the girls up here tomorrow night. I'll sleep outside of the wall and let you three have a girls' night."

Emily looked at Tala and Eryn - who both smiled at her and nodded. Then she squealed and said, "I'll ask mom and let you know what she says. Actually, she'll probably want to come talk to you."

Eryn laughed and said, "That would be fine."

We climbed down the ladder, and I started working on more of the wall sections as Tala worked to create briar-barriers for the segments that I had already completed.

An hour later, Emily returned with her mother. Eryn went and gave the woman a quick tour, brought her over to introduce her to us, and then they chatted about the girls' sleepover. Based on the happy squeals that I heard coming from the treehouse, Emily's mom had approved the plan.

Two seconds later, I felt an adolescent girl wrap her arms around my waist.

"Thank you!" she purred.

"Thank my wives," I told her. "They're the ones who are in charge of the slumber party."

"But you'll be sleeping on the cold ground," she replied.

"Before these two came along," I told the girl, "I spent a year living in a cave with no heat. The cold doesn't bother me."

"Can I ask a favor?" she inquired.

"Probably," I told her, smiling.

"Can you change into a dragon?"

"Actually, Eryn has a couple trees that I need to remove. Go stand in front of her and cover your eyes until I tell you that it's okay to look."

She stepped over in front of Eryn and covered her eyes. I slipped into a sunbeam, undressed, and began to transform.

"I'm going to warn you, Emily," Eryn said quietly, "Lord Striker is a little scary looking, but you don't need to worry. You can look now."

The girl uncovered her eyes and gaped. "That's really him?" she asked.

"Yup. Come on. I need to show him which trees to tear out."

For the next hour, I tore down trees and moved them to the west side of the town. If we had time and Tala had the energy left, she was going to try to get them replanted there. If it didn't work, the townspeople could turn them into lumber.