Watching Brar sit in his chair right now made me feel for him. Being the leader meant having to deal with problems like me. He was leaning back and had his hands on his head, massaging his massive forehead with those long fingers of his. He had been sitting there quietly for a minute as he mulled over everything I had told him.

“Ok once more,” Brar said with a slight sigh. “That female is really a man from your world but trapped in a female's body. The hero who has plagued us for years actually only desires to have sex with women here and be famous. And now you want me to give him one or two females to have sex with so he will teach you the language they speak here. All so you can use it somehow to help defeat the three races that are attacking us.”

I started laughing and tried to stop when I saw Brar glaring at me from under his hands.

“You got it. It only took you six times to get it right.”

Brar groaned and lowered one of his hands to stroke his gnarled beard. “But you are still going to kill him and eat his heart?”

“Yup!” I proclaimed. Both Turk and Dirk knew this was what needed to happen.

Brar started tapping his head while squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

“If any other goblin had said just a few of the things you just did, I would have cut their head off and burned them, afraid they were sick and going to spread it through the camp. This plan is the weirdest one I have ever heard. Goblin and orc females do not do those things. How am I going to convince them to do that?”

“How do you convince them to have sex with goblins and orcs they do not want to?”

“I don’t!” exclaimed Brar. “You may find yourself or that goblin dead if you try! There are not a lot of females around but the few that are here are never forced into sex unless that goblin or orc is willing to die during or after the event. You have to earn the privilege from them.”

I stood there considering what Brar was saying. Having been widowed for ten years I had not really thought about sex much since my wife died. A few women had tried to get me to be with them but I never found the desire and more importantly, my boys needed me. How would one convince a female goblin or orc they were worthy of them?

“Would they do it for a reward? Like money or items? Or even a heart?”

Brar looked at me and his eyes narrowed.

“You would offer a heart for a female to sleep with that.. that.. that pink bag of flesh?” Brar scoffed and shook his finger at me. “I realize you feel confident in your ability to gather them but at some point, you must see the value in them. Handing them out like that could come back one day to stab you in the back.”

I was frustrated. I had no clue what Brar wanted from me. “Do you want me to destroy the city we talked about and find a way to drive back the threat of the other races?”

“You know that I do,” declared Brar.

“Then find me two women who will play this role," I shouted. "You just tell me what they want and I will do it. I will risk my life for the goblins and my boys but I need you to be willing to do things like this without complaining.”

Brar shook his head and chuckled.

“Who knew those words I spoke weeks ago would already be coming true? You are surpassing me and soon I will be nothing more than a hill you climbed in your pursuit of greatness.”

Smiling, I shrugged. I would never have believed my boys or myself could have gotten as strong as fast as we had. After our first few days here, I thought life would be a lot harder.

“The good news is I want you to succeed, Brar, just as much as you want me to. So go find me those women and let me know when you have them, I’ll get Turk to move forward with the plan.”

Turk shared with me how excited May was at the prospect of adding orc and goblin women to his harem. Turk had told him it would be a day or two to get a few in town but that once they arrived, one would be brought in for him to enjoy.

That following day they started working on Turk, learning the language of the humans and other races.

While Turk was holed up in the tent I had another few things to deal with. Dirk was practicing with the Blackhand and acquiring poisons that he and Turk could use. I, however, needed to scout out what May had told us.

“You sure you want to leave those two behind while we do this?” asked Vreek.

Nodding at Vreek I jogged along the tree line with him. We were following the stream we had fought at a week ago. Scouts had said it was clear and I wanted to cover as much ground as possible as we headed to the town.

I barely felt any fatigue now when we ran. My body amazed me at how my movements felt so fluid. I sparred with Vreek the other day and easily beat him each time. He seemed slow and when I struck him harder than intended with the wooden sword I used split his skin. After that anytime I dueled, I always went against two or three captains. Most of the time I still won without getting hit but occasionally, I fell to their experience working together.

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Lost in my thoughts, we almost ran past where we needed to turn.

“This way,” he said as we turned into the forest and started going deeper into the territory of the city.

We were headed to some fields that were far from camp. I wanted to see the farms and possible fortifications of the town.

“Look out there,” Vreek said as he motioned to the three wooden buildings in the middle of the grain fields we were standing on the edge of. “That is where they keep the food right?”

I nodded as I scanned the area. I could see workers out in the fields and I could hear the sounds of farm animals in the distance. We could easily see the road they traveled on as carts and people were walking in both directions on it.

“So lots of people travel here it seems. Our captive told us that a lot of people come here to trade. What do you know about this village?” I asked.

“They produce a lot of grain and wood for trade,” Vreek said and pointed out to the north. “There is also some good ore that comes from the mountains off past the town that way. Usually, that is brought in by merchants or elves coming to hunt here. We are not the only threat in these woods or in the surrounding area. There are also a few packs of animals as well as some other races nearby." Vreek turned and motioned toward the town. "The three main races do not want to share their power with others. They even enslave a few of the other races.”

Slavery… I had seen enough shows and read enough books to know that was a bad thing. I wondered what races they might enslave here.

“What about defenses? You said we just killed the third-strongest group in this area. Are the other two here? Is there someone better than them in the city?”

Vreek shrugged and shook his head.

“The other groups travel a lot. They could be here today and stay for a month or they could be gone and not return for a while. Right now as long as you use your brain, I do not think our group would lose to either of their groups.”

“Our group? Does that mean you would help us fight?” I joked.

Vreek nodded and smiled.

“You have proved you need me in order to stay alive,” joked Vreek. “I cannot let you die now or Brar would make me move my tent back a few rings.”

I laughed and enjoyed seeing Vreek laugh too. He was starting to be less of someone with a stick up their butt and more of a goblin I could really enjoy traveling with.

“What about in town? Is there an army or some militia that will defend the town?”

Vreek bent down and started drawing in the dirt with his fingernail. He was making rows and rows of about ten marks each. After a moment he looked at me and pointed to the marks.

“There are probably fifty or more fighters in the town. Other than them and the heroes who come and go in this town, most are weak. We would all die if we brought the whole main camp and sacked this town without you. With you, Turk, Dirk, and myself leading the battle we should have no problems.”

I knew Vreek only had limited information about the town. The goblins and orcs were intentional about not coming here and raiding. Posing that much of a risk was too dangerous to the camp. With only about two hundred total warriors in the camp, most of them were worthless against anyone skilled in fighting. They could be wiped out quickly by the heroes and adventurers.

“Vreek, I know this sounds weird to say since you know how green my sack is, but the prisoner has told us that there is a building in town where heroes and adventurers base all of their journeys. I think there may be someone you do not know about there. From what I have learned and know, they may be a problem.”

“Someone like Brar is here?”

I nodded.

Vreek glanced out past the farms and towards where the town was.

“It makes sense,” he said after a moment. “Someone would need to be in charge and with all the heroes that come through, the person over them must be skilled in combat at least.”

As we sat there watching, a group of three rode toward town on horses. I could see them with their hoods pushed back. A man in front had bright red hair, and the other two had black hair. The way they rode seemed to scream prowess.

“Those are dangerous men, Zolb,” whispered Vreek as he pulled me closer to the ground.

“They can’t see us from here,” I stated.

Vreek stayed still and said nothing till they had ridden far enough away from us.

“I would not bet on that. They have seen orcs and goblins in the past that we would have thought was impossible. Those are the second-best group that I know of. If they are here, we need to be careful for now.”

“Could the two of us take them?”

Vreek looked at me and it almost looked like there was some shame on his face.

“I would die and be of no help other than a momentary distraction. Every captain of Brar’s that has faced them has been cut down. The two men in the back are powerful healers who cast spells on him that make him faster and stronger. I am not sure that the four of us could take them without a strategy.”

Something about the way Vreek was acting bothered me.

“If it was just the one with red hair and me fighting, who would you expect to win?”

Vreek took a deep breath and let it out and motioned for me to follow him back into the forest.

“I am not sure. All of the orcs and goblins fear that man. He has fought hundreds of battles. You have only seen two real ones. While you are getting stronger, you are weak when it comes to real fighting. I believe you would lose to his experience.”

Walking into the woods I risked a glance back at the riders who were now out of sight. Hearing Vreek tell me the truth about how inexperienced I was, was hard to absorb. I knew I was stronger and faster but Vreek was right. How many times had my lack of real combat experience almost ended in death? An image of Xeld lying dead on the ground flashed through my mind. Too many people had already died because of my lack of experience.

“Vreek, when we return, I need you to push me harder than ever. I need to get better so that I can change how you answer that same question the next time I ask it.”

Vreek turned and looked back at me and nodded.

“Don’t whine like a youngling sucking on a teet when it hurts. I’ll make sure you are ready for this next fight.”