This work of fiction is part of a series; if you did not already read the preceding chapters, please do that before starting this one.
~~~
By noon, we cut through the next city and took the road that headed northwest - towards the area of the lake where Emmit said we would find the algae.
We arrived - as the sun approached the horizon - to find the place overrun by goblins. Fireball - who was probably twice the size (at this point) that he had been when we found him - was as big as some of the smaller goblins.
The fire imp had a few things going for him that the nasty green horde didn't. Unlike most goblins - except maybe their shaman - Fireball could use magic. He could also fly. He couldn't fly for all that long - but the feisty, flying, fireball-flinging fucker was fucking some goblins up.
When his wings were too tired to keep him aloft, he finished his crusade on the ground. Mirra and Janna kept a watchful eye - in case he needed backup - but the little shit was unstoppable.
I think he might have also been learning a few things about battle-tactics from watching the three of us work. He made sure to never let himself get surrounded - always keeping his enemy in front of him. Teeth, claws, and toenails - the little crimson tornado of death tore back and forth through the smelly, nasty green horde like he was on a mission.
When he had finished killing every last one of them, he went airborne, flew straight at my chest, and wrapped his arms around my neck. Little tears streamed from his fierce yellow eyes. I patted his back and hugged him tightly.
"It's alright, bud," I told him. "You did good. You avenged your family."
He raised his head and looked me in the eyes.
"Ressst," he said.
"Yes," I agreed. "Your family can rest now. I love you, buddy."
"Luv, Duh-wik," he said, "and Mee-wah and Jaw-nah."
"Aw, you little shit," Janna purred, rubbing his back. "We love you too."
"Good job, asskicker," Mirra told him, rubbing his head.
The girls searched the bodies for weapons or anything worth keeping. Emmit always cautioned us to burn the bodies to keep others from feeding from them - but I was pretty certain that Fireball had just committed genocide - at least as far as this tribe went.
We went to the wagon, pulled the drapes, and snuggled together in bed. Fireball slept on my chest - with my wives on either side of us.
~~~
The next morning, when he spotted the lake, he begged to go fishing. I told him that we were going to be collecting algae and that he had an hour or two to fish. He raised the seat on the wagon, grabbed his pole, and flew off towards the lake.
The girls and I fixed a quick breakfast, grabbed the stuff we needed to store the algae and headed off after our little demonic fisherman. He was already pulling one in when we arrived. We moved farther down the shoreline to keep from interrupting his fun.
We gathered the water plants that we could reach and then moved down more. By the time we had collected the amount of the stuff that Emmit had asked for, we had quite a walk ahead of us.
"Would the boots have helped?" Janna asked.
"Water's too deep," I replied.
"A shepherd's crook?" Mirra asked.
"Maybe," I told her. "I'll add a note to the book."
As we got closer to Fireball, we watched him devour yet another fish.
"He's bigger again," Mirra noted.
"It's gotta be the fish," Janna said. "Do they not have fish where he's from? Isn't he already bigger than they're supposed to get?"
"I think so," I agreed. "I'll measure him when we get home but he looks a half-foot taller than when we left an hour or so ago."
We got the mounts ready to leave and Fireball landed on the wagon seat beside me. He was noticeably bigger. I was certain that he was nearly as tall as Lolla by now. He looked up at me and smiled.
"Feesh!" he said.
I couldn't help but laugh at him. I rubbed his head and tugged on his horn. It seemed to be a little bigger as well.
An hour or so later, we passed through the town we'd already skirted once. We had ridden for most of the day - passing through two more tiny towns - before we approached the river. It was starting to get dark.
There was a branch across the bridge. There were no trees nearby.
"We've got trouble," Mirra noted.
"I see that," I replied.
I pulled the wagon to a stop.
"You need me up there?" I asked.
"We've got it," Janna said confidently. "Watch for some sneaky shit to come out of those trees behind us though."
"Fireball," I said. "Guard the wagon."
"Yesss ... Duh-wik," he hissed.
He flew up and landed on one of the spars. I had cautioned him to keep his claws away from the canvas covering - explaining that the rain would get us. He assured me that he understood. He liked our little mobile home. He didn't fit in his little nest box anymore - but that was a problem for a different day.
Janna and Spite headed up to clear the branch. Mirra and Serenity eased to the right side of the road and gave her cover. I raked my eyes over the trees to the left.
"Behind you!" I yelled to Mirra - as the thieves emerged from the reeds along the lake.
She was too far away to understand what I was yelling but her eyes followed my finger and - when she noticed the men - she moved quickly to give herself room to work.
There were two archers and five fuckers with swords. By the look of them, they didn't appear to understand that - when you smell bad enough - lake water would be an improvement.
Mirra never fired her bow. Janna marched down the line, hacking the stupid brutes to death as they charged her. She batted away a few arrows from the archers and cut them down as well. It was all over within a couple minutes.
"It's pitiful," Janna groused as she and Mirra looted the bodies of anything worth keeping.
"Check the belts but don't put them in your saddlebags," I told the girls.
"You should help us, Derik," Mirra said. "I'm not sure this odor is ever going to stop haunting me."
Once the girls were mounted up again, we pressed forward. It was already dark and we still had about three hours to go to reach the fiefdom city. The gates would be shut by the time we got there. With our setup, however, that just meant that we'd sleep outside of the city walls and be ready to head inside as soon as the gates opened in the morning.
We crossed the bridge, took the road that led south, rode until we reached the bridge just outside of the fiefdom city, crossed over, and camped along the river.
Fireball begged me to let him fish in the dark. I told him that we were going to bed and that he would be sleeping outside. He informed me that he would not be sleeping. I waved him off to his favorite pastime and climbed into bed with my wives.
By that point, it was almost midnight. The penis-enhancing runes had expired but none of us cared. We snuggled together and passed out.
Sometime - in the middle of the night - I heard somebody fucking with the ties on the rear drape. I'd just started looking around for my staff when I heard a screeching howl - followed by a few curse words - and then it got quiet. I was back asleep in no time.
~~~
We got up the next morning to find a man with no throat lying behind the wagon. From the smell, he'd shit himself before he died - probably from having Fireball appear out of the night sky like a fucking demon - right before he ripped away the front of the man's neck.
I dragged the body away, gathered his coins and weapons, and left him for somebody else to take care of. I scrubbed my hands and started on our breakfast.
Fireball returned as we were finishing up. His clothes were tight and - standing next to me - his head came almost up to my navel.
"Shit, Fireball!" I gasped. "You're getting bigger again."
"Feesh!" he announced, grinning.
I scratched his noggin and told him that we were leaving soon. He went to stow his fishing pole.
We made a few stops in the fiefdom city but our main goal was on the west side of town. They grew hemp there. Emmit had requested several ropes, some dried leaves, and a couple live plants. We got all of his purchases made, stored them in the wagon, and headed back through the city.
A woman was selling skewers of roasted fowl that smelled amazing. I bought two for each of us - including Fireball. We scarfed them down before we'd barely even left the woman behind. We found a brewer offering samples of his mead and stopped to give it a try. We bought two casks and I had to briefly fold up our bed to get them stored away.
By the time I finished that, the man had convinced the girls that it would be a good idea to buy a third - with a tap - and hang it off of the back of the wagon so that we could enjoy it as we traveled. I told him I was only agreeing to the deal if we each got another free sample. He grinned and started pouring. I rigged a net on the back of the wagon to hold the cask and tossed the tap onto the bed. We'd deal with that when the day was over. I was sure I had a mallet somewhere.
We left the city, crossed the bridge, and headed north on the road that we'd traveled in the dark the night before. At the fork, we turned left.
Three long hours later - with no water stops and no towns - we came to the village by the river where Emmit's notes reported that we would find the dart frogs. His journal said the things were tiny, quick, and poisonous. I warned the girls that Emmit suggested we wear gloves.
We put on boots and stomped around in the muck for more than two hours before we caught the number that the rune-maker had asked for. We didn't get any extras. These things were a total pain in the ass to catch. I scribbled a note with ideas for trapping the things instead of trying to chase around and catch them by hand.
We crossed the bridge and arrived at the city as it grew dark. An official-looking fellow stepped out into the road, and I pulled the reins to stop the mule.
