The walk back to the Legion was uneventful as expected. Duke became aware of a pair of scouts observing them as they were about a kilometer away from the Legion, but he did not indicate their presence. If not for his DUNGEON SENSE, he would have never spotted them. He liked that the scouts were operating in pairs. It was much harder to ambush two scouts at once than a lone individual. It could be done, but it was more difficult.
As he reached the edge of the forest, he realized that his estimate for the Legion’s location was more than a bit off. He arrived with Shimmerstone’s group in tow to find that they were at the complete rear of the Legion. The rearguard noted his presence but did not react otherwise.
Duke smiled back at Shimmerstone. “It seems we have found the rear of the Legion. There will be a corridor on the left flank that will allow us to reach the front, but the Legion does stretch on for quite a bit in these narrower confines within the forest. Follow me and I’ll lead you.”
It took nearly an hour to get to the front of the Legion. When they arrived, they found Aurelia leading on her horse and Baslin floating along in his chair nearby. Shimmerstone looked from the pair back to Duke a few times before speaking. “Is that woman in armor made out of gold? And is that a flying chair?”
Duke smirked and proceeded with introductions. “Shimmerstone, please meet Aurelia, the Golden Warrior and General of the Legion. Also please meet the Grand Archmage Baslin the Best who advises me on all things magical. Aurelia, Baslin, please meet Shimmerstone and her company.”
Greetings were exchanged and Aurelia gave Duke an odd, questioning look which his XENOGLOSSIA translated to “Picking up other women…we’re going to have a talk.” Duke cringed, realizing that he just brought back an attractive blonde dwarven woman to meet his attractive blonde human girlfriend. This is going to be a problem. Either they will kill each other, or they will get together to kill me. And I’m not even thinking of Shimmerstone like that. Shit.
Shimmerstone spoke up before Duke could say anything more. “It is a pleasure to meet you all. I must say that this Legion of yours is mightily impressive. When my god sent me here to investigate, I had no idea that this is what I would be finding. Judging by your direction of march, you are headed to the Capitol?”
Aurelia responded. “Normally, I would not share such things with someone I just met but since it appears that Chopie already knows we are coming, it won’t hurt anything to speak of it now. So, yes, we are headed to the Capitol to remove Chopie from the throne. He has become too much of a force for evil and a threat to our home that we can’t allow him to continue.”
Duke gave her a pained look, trying to express his “You’re oversharing” thought to Aurelia without saying anything. She looked back in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to get across at all.
“Oh, a war then. How exciting!” Shimmerstone responded. “Two questions then. One, where is your home that Chopie is threatening, and two, can I join in? I and my people love a good fight, especially when we are on the right side of things.”
Aurelia looked to Duke for a response, and he sighed inwardly. NOW, she throws it over to me. A bit too late there, love. He responded. “We have a town we are building up around the Lake Front Inn. And although I would welcome some allies to fight alongside us, we just met and Chopie has turned supposed allies against us already.”
“You don’t trust me?” Shimmerstone responded.
“I don’t know you well enough to trust you.” Maybe I can get out of this mess yet!
“So, you want to get to know me better…” Shimmerstone replied applying all the playfulness she could to her tone.
Aurelia stiffened involuntarily and Duke’s hopes collapsed. He responded, “Look, Shimmerstone. Like I said, we just met. Maybe our groups can get to know each other as allies or possibly friends but if you try to come between myself and my love, you are not going to be happy with the result.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“Duke, that was a bit overboard, don’t you think.” Aurelia interjected.
“Just setting the ground rules.” He quickly replied.
Shimmerstone added, “Woah there. Sorry if someone got the wrong impression. I was just playing. I’m not into humans, really. They’re too small.”
“Too small?” Baslin added, full of amusement.
“Yes, too small. Now, can we move on from this line of thought?” Shimmerstone answered.
“Oh, yes, let’s move on from that right now.” Duke responded. “You said that Orgath told you to investigate the forest, right?”
“That is correct. He directed us to the forest.”
Duke nodded along, getting to his point. “Orgath was here. Physically here and even directly contributed to the destruction of the undead horde that was plaguing the forest. Sending you here was not to investigate the destruction. He already knew about it.”
Shimmerstone interrupted nearly breathlessly, “My god, Orgath, was here. You saw him?”
“I spoke with him.” Duke corrected.
“Did he offer you his blessing?” She continued enraptured.
“Not so much offer as outright grant.” Duke admitted.
“Then that is why we must join you. You have been blessed by our god and we cannot do aught but aid his blessed in a time of war!” The light of fanaticism glowed behind her eyes.
It was at this moment that Duke knew he had lost the argument. It was confirmed when Aurelia added, “Of course you must join us. It is nearly time to halt the march for the day. Why don’t you join us for our evening repast?”
“We’d love to, and we have quite a few tasty treats to contribute to the meal.” Shimmerstone was quick to respond.
Aurelia decided to get things going and called the Legion to a halt for the night. Her Command voice echoed out, “Legion, Halt! Bivouac for the night!” The Legion stopped all on the same beat due to their FORMATION Ability and began to set up their camp while Duke retrieved the command tent from his INVENTORY.
In the matter of half an hour, the entire camp was established, and temporary defenses had been arranged. The process of cooking for everyone began for the Legion. Duke noticed that the cooks who had been assigned to his command contingent had been reassigned elsewhere since they had not been eating what the cooks had prepared night after night. That was a minor problem as he had already decided not to take everyone back to the Inn tonight.
The decision was mostly preventative and defensive. He already knew that he had revealed too much to this follower of Orgath, but he was not going to reveal the Inn and its wonderous capabilities. He figured it was likely that the gods knew something about it but probably not everything. He was not about to reveal any more. She must have some sort of Ability that made me overshare. I know I felt my MENTAL FORTITUDE kick in at the end there, but whatever the Ability is it must be a powerful passive. Even still, I know I didn’t reveal anything about the Inn even as I spilled my guts about everything else. I have to decide on what to do about this, and quickly.
Duke’s thoughts were broken by Aurelia’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to her only to see a very serious look on her face. Oh boy, here it comes. Duke steeled his nerves. “Hello my love. You look troubled. What is on your mind?”
Aurelia stared through him for a moment before responding. “I will not welcome another woman into my bed, but you are a man of power, one who will shortly take the throne of a kingdom from the unworthy hands of another.” She put her finger on Duke’s lips to forestall his response and continued. “As such a powerful man, I know others will be attracted to you and that it is customary for a king to have concubines. I will not, cannot, deny you this but if we are to be together, I must always be first amongst them.” Her voice carried an uncharacteristic waver that unsettled Duke. She removed her finger from Duke’s lips so he could respond.
“Aurelia, my love, this is what concerns you? And yet you have the strength and will to offer to share me with another woman. I am overwhelmed at your strength of will but there are some things that we need to get straight. Even should I become a king, I don’t do the whole concubine thing. It is self-indulgent and can, at best, lead to all kinds of bastard problems. I am, and always will be a one-woman guy. I’m not dumb enough to think that I could handle more than one woman in my life. You have nothing to fear in that realm.” He put his finger to her lips this time so that he could finish. “No one but you makes my heart race with a touch. Only you make the sun shine brighter. Only you bring me warmth on a cold night. It is only your touch that I yearn for. That is all you and only you.”
She pushed his finger away from her lips and pulled him into a crushing embrace and a deep kiss, full of passion. He could feel the relief and explosion of emotion pour out of her and into that kiss. He did not even realize when he TELEPORTED with her to their room in the Inn. It was not until they were both lying entangled in the bed completely spent that he became aware of his surroundings. He had questions as he had never been able to TELEPORT directly into the Inn before but right now, he was still basking in the glow and did not want to interrupt it. Instead, he settled in, holding Aurelia tighter. She gave a soft moan of pleasure and contentment and the pair drifted off to sleep together.