The Sisterhood had asked me to give them privacy as they transitioned again. This time at the direction of the new First, with the previous triad and her two clutchmates to advise, as she assumed her mantle of leadership. Gam'Itha had worn several in her tenure, she had enjoyed becoming a different person at every posting. I could see how much the woman reveled in her new life without responsibility.
Her most recent exploit had been allowing the dwarven teamsters to each fuck her over their repreive after delivering another round of supplies. As thanks for an early delivery. When I asked her about it she laughed and snorted "They'll be early next time too, if they're smart. Hth'Chav promised to fuck one in the sky, each trip, for smuggling." I'd just blinked and pretended I hadn't asked. I'd learned that asking about the specifics of the logistics the women employed involved words like 'steal' and had repeatedly heard them joke that STEAL was an acronym. Strategic Transfer of Equipment, Assets, and Logistics. Discretion is the better part of valor, I've heard.
Elysea and Allyar remaining was a surprise, but the additional training was absolutely vital to the new broods upbringing, apparently. Cha'Nah looked like I'd slapped her when I suggested it. Apparently I'm a thoughtless asshole of a father to kids I'm not even allowed to meet. Everything's fine... that phrase had become my mantra as I navigated the alien cultures rituals.
"You're doing it again..." Elysea's fingers squeezed mine. "They're not yours, they're ours. And this is what we want." She squeezed my hand again and pulled me about to face her. "We are immortal demigods, you and I. They are immortal now that they've become... Whatever they are. This is a safe land. We are powerful." Her words were firm, confident, and reassuring.
She grabbed my face as I sniffed in the dusty room. "Let us raise our children how we'd like, and come see what we've done in awhile?" She kissed me and my eyes stung more. "I've heard the others whisper about what they call the Sire's return, they expect you to return a greater Sire than you left... and they expect you to prove it..." her eyes took on a mischievous twinkle as she smirked out the last words.
"Now go! Be happy they didn't allow me to put you to sleep, it was my first suggestion." I couldn't tell if she was teasing me or not, especially after Allyar had filled me in on the breadth of their lives together, plural. "Time is more familiar to me now and I believe I can find a way to hasten this, for you at least. Think in months not years Dilin. Trust me, I have a plan, I'll let you know if it works." She pulled my hands to my chest with a squeeze. "I'll tell them after they've packed it all up." She laughed "as cruel a fate as that leaves my new wives too..."
"Wives?" I asked with an eyebrow.
She smiled that smile that told me there was a predator inside her, no matter how she dressed or looked. "Yes, a Sheikh needs many wives..." she pushed me away and onto my ass, my balance stolen, and unable to catch myself, my posterior slammed with a painful force. "Now, go. I am regent here now and you are trespassing on my Sire's land!" Her playful smile told me the game, the gleam told me she meant it.
I took off at a run and the pregnant woman lashed blades of air at and around me, sharp jolts of electricity stinging at my bruised backside as the woman cackled. I laughed as I made my way to my previous launch point and snatched the go-bag I'd prepared for exactly this situation. Leaping into the air and trusting the boots, I again mentally promised to polish in appreciation soon. I closed my eyes tight as the air rushed past me for an eternity.
I landed on my feet in the same spot as before, but the forest was bizarrely different. Gone were the haunting thick impermeable walls of conifers that had filled it before. Instead I saw the sparse deciduous trees I'd suspected from the cloud piercing height above.
I adjusted the enchanted haversack on my back, laden with my armor and what gear I'd need, and set off in a different direction than before at a jog. Without the fog it was easy to see the river I'd sought before. In the opposite direction I had traveled.
Questions for another day.
-- -- -- --
Alin set off with Gwen for Fool's Errant, accompanied by Jo'Ratha and Tah'Nish. Convincing them that the silent ivory giants were safe took less convincing than I had thought. When the guttural pair had first noticed the woman's trauma their demeanors shifted to accommodate. The mutes became stoic shepherds as Alin secured the woman into a harness to be carried by wing.
Alin warned me of another group roaming the area, slavers smuggling sentient and exotic cargo from the unclaimed lands. "If you're here to do what you say, then they need to be done." He and another had been hired from the port by a family looking to trade with a village of natives on the river when disaster had come calling in the visage of an Ankheg mating season.
With the threat eliminated and the surviving two humans safe, I set off toward a murky light I'd sensed when I'd been searching magically for the captured woman. A dark grey murky orb, lit from within with good but being smothered by taint.
This time I left on horseback, a scroll sent from Elysea burning away as a phantom nightmare steed sprang from the aether. It was an odd choice for the princess turned sheikh, she likely meant well and just wanted me to 'feel badass' or some nonsense. I urged the fiery horse to race faster and faster as I sought my next thrill, it felt good to do good. It felt better to be good at it.
A unicorn would have been cooler. And better company. And faster. And stronger. And more helpful in a fight. And probably have gotten us laid. And...
-- -- -- --
Statues speckled the landscape, but only one sign of habitation presented itself. A pale granite entrance, cut into the stone of a mountain. Inset, the doorway yawned and glowed orange from the torchlight in the warm dusk air. Metal clanged and screams poured from within. Two men stood outside, one with a crossbow drawn on a caged cart and the other fondling his nervously, while looking at the doorway to the odd structure.
The slavers inside would never find any support from their lookouts again. I gestured for the occupants to wait and keep quiet, the poor lot looked at me with terror in their eyes. Terror aimed at me. I seriously hoped I hadn't made a bad call... a glance at the stilled couple only reinforced my resolve. The facial tattoo, while cool, is often an abdication from societal norms. And slavers loved them.
