Chapter 10

 

“Why all this?” Thome asked as they stayed warm together under a heavy blanket on her bed.

“I already told you. I was supposed to keep you distracted during Beka’s meeting.”

“And you did so even though you hate every other woman in the village?”

“I never said I hated them. Well, not all of them. And I do what I have to do so that we all can live here in peace.”

Thome was silent for a second.

“Did you tell me everything you saw when you tracked the drake? Is there more I should know?”

She had used everything at her disposal to avoid this, but seeing that she was stuck she decided to be honest.

“There was something else,” she said with some trepidation.

“And?” he prompted her.

“When I tracked it back to the hardscrabble…it’s impossible to say for sure, but I had the distinct impression that there were more drakes around.”

“More? It’s unusual to encounter one in the same area, let alone two.”

She shrugged her slim, furry shoulders. “I know what I smelled. And I was in my full cat form. I’m positive. It might have been the remains of the scent from the drake you killed earlier. It might have been another in addition to the one you killed with Hild. There was probably a third. Maybe more.”

Thome tried to keep his emotions under control, but he still sat up. “And you didn’t tell me this?”

“It seemed unlikely. I figured whatever magic-user was controlling the drakes…was long gone and any beyond the initial two had already scattered.”

That was more than enough for Thome to hear. “I need to tell this to Beka.” He got out of Sparrow’s small bed and began dressing. “Am I wrong to assume that Beka is the one who controls everything that goes on in this village?”

“Nonmondaine,” she said, reminding him of the village’s name. “And yes, you would be wrong. There is no one leader among us. Beka is one of the council that decides everything of importance.”

“I’m going there now.”

“Don’t,” Sparrow cautioned him. She jumped out of the bed and the room was briefly lit with a flash of light. Turning around Thome saw she had changed back to her human form. She was no less beautiful as a pure human than she was as a tabaxi. 

“How are you going to stop me?” Thome questioned her as he pulled on his boots.

“I could fight you,” she said, flexing her fingers. It would have been a more threatening gesture if she was still tabaxi and had claws. And if she wasn’t naked. “But I won’t.”

“Wise woman.”

“I’ll go with you to the meeting,” she quickly decided and started donning her clothes. 

Thome said nothing. He had a good idea of where the villagers were meeting, but if he had Sparrow with him, she could lead the way. Unless she was that clever and brought him somewhere else. And if the meeting wasn’t already over.

They finished dressing in silence. She donned her heavy cloak and he pulled the thick jacket worn by the men of the Devoted Guardians tight around his body as they stepped out into the chill air.

It had started snowing again. It was little more than flurries and wouldn’t lead to much accumulation but it was just another annoyance of living in the mountains.

Sparrow led the way. He wished she wasn’t wearing her cloak so he could admire her muscular buttocks through her tight pants, but that wasn’t realistic in the cold weather.

She didn’t try to deceive him. Sparrow took him directly to one of the larger buildings in the village. From outside he figured it had to be a combination of a meetinghouse, a tavern of some sort, and maybe even a church dedicated to the Goddess that the women of the village seemed to worship. He thought about the tattoos he had seen on Beka and Amella and now Sparrow. He tried to remember if Hild had one as well.

Maybe he had stumbled into a religious cult and they were planning some fell fate for him, seeing as he didn’t worship the Goddess and he wasn’t female.

It was obvious that the building was the place to be. Every other building within sight was dim in the darkness of night. The large building was brightly lit from within.

Sparrow hesitated at the door. Just as Thome was about to say something to her, she grimaced at him and pushed the heavy door open. It wasn’t barred or locked.

Inside was warm and bright and the air was heavy with the scent of many bodies pressed into too small a space. Thome couldn’t quickly count them all but there were easily over fifty people in the room.

Fifty women.

There were also some babies and children. Thome didn’t bother to try to identify them. He had been in many hot and enclosed places with groups of men. The scent that filled this room was distinctly feminine. 

At first he couldn’t hear the conversation going on. Several women were on a raised platform against one of the walls with the rest in attendance watching them like a traditional audience. There was no initial reaction as he and Sparrow walked in except from the few women at the back who shot them annoyed looks from the blast of cold air. 

“How is this any different from any of the other threats we’ve had to endure?” a woman called from the audience.

On the make-shift stage stood Beka and Amella. With them were two other women that Thome didn’t recognize. One was undoubtedly human while the other was a halfling who made herself visible to the audience by standing on a barrel. At the front of the crowd, as Thome and Sparrow pushed forward, he spied Hild and her assistant Jan. All of the other women were strangers to him. Off to the side was a much older woman, also human, in a rocking chair. Next to her stood a young maiden wrapped in a cloak despite the warmth of the bodies around her. 

“Because there is something different about this one,” said Beka in a clear voice over the grumbling of the crowd. “He has defended us—”

“Helped defend us!” cried Hild.

“Helped defend us,” Beka corrected herself. “But he seems to have no agenda. He hasn’t arrested a single one of us. In fact, as I’m sure most of you have heard by now, he has bedded…” Her voice trailed off when she spied Thome. Her eyes immediately flicked to Sparrow next to him. The crowd stepped away to allow the two interlopers entrance. 

“Go ahead and finish what you were saying,” Thome said magnanimously. “I’m just here to watch and listen.”

She glared at him for a long uncomfortable moment. He felt himself withering under her glare, but he refused to be intimidated. 

“By now,” she resumed, “I’m sure you have heard that he has bedded several of us. Myself. Amella. Hild.”

“He was a good fuck,” the half-orc called out. The air was briefly filled with a tittering of giggles. 

“And now Sparrow,” finished Beka.

“You’re making me sound like a whore,” Thome said boldly. He felt the bodies around him even if they weren’t pressing up against or threatening him. He knew the feeling of being the center of unwanted attention. He didn’t let that intimidate him either.

“We make no judgments here when the Goddess is being honored,” said Amella.

“Maybe I should mention that you’ve been stealing my seed since I arrived here,” said Thome.

The crowd giggled a second time.

“They already know that,” said Beka. “They know I need a man’s seed for many of my potions. As followers of the Goddess we share a good cock when She deigns to supply us with one.”

“You could have as many men as you wanted,” Thome said boldly.

“Except we have been banished by the Three Kingdoms,” said the unknown human next to Beka. “We have to endure inspections from the Devoted Brothers, but I suppose that is better than having to suffer the attentions of the Orc Empire.”

The halfling spoke next. “Are you going to lie to your brothers when you return to Telemere? Are you going to tell them that you fucked your way through the village of Nonmondaine?”

The crowd was deadly silent. 

“I have no intention of returning to Telemere anytime soon,” he said.

For a few seconds no one said anything. Beka shifted her gaze from Thome to Sparrow.

“You were supposed to keep him busy all night.”

Sparrow bowed her head. “I’m sorry. I did my best but he is a man who is driven by urges that come not just from his cock and balls.”

Once again the crowd tittered.

“Don’t blame her,” said Thome. “She was an excellent lay. But she’s right. I have other motivations besides fucking every willing slut in Nonmondaine.”

His words angered the crowd but no one moved against him. Their murmuring was ugly, however.

Beka held up a hand and the group quieted. 

“We’ve been trying to come to an agreement over what to do with you, Thome. Half the village wants to send you on a suicide mission to hunt the drakes that threaten us.”

“And how would you get me to do that?” he scoffed.

“There’s plenty of quim here to tempt and motivate any man.”

The crowd murmured its assent. That surprised Thome, but he told himself that nothing should surprise him any longer.

“And what does the other half think?” 

“They think we should fuck ya to death,” called Hild from the floor.

The half of the village that thought this was a good idea burst into laughter. 

Thome waited a minute for the laughter to settle down. 

“You’ll find I won’t go so easily to my grave,” he promised them.

Beka gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s an expression. There are women here who want their turn with you and once they are all done, we’ll just send you on your way.”

“No doubt with a potion from you to help cloud my mind,” he said knowingly.

“You’ll leave only with happy memories.”

Thome stepped forward to the edge of the stage. He was forced to look up slightly at Beka and the others. He wasn’t an overly tall man and the stage only gave a slight advantage to Beka but he didn’t like looking up at the women. 

“And what if I don’t go along with this plan? And what about the drakes?”

Before Beka or any other woman could answer he voiced the question they had all been avoiding.

“And why don’t you just find some men to help populate and protect this village?”

“We can do it on our own!” Hild cried. She didn’t use the loud bellow that many orcs and half-orcs were capable of, but her voice rang in everyone’s ears. 

“We can,” agreed Amella. “And we’ve been banished. And we prefer to live just with women.”

“And we live this way to protect those who need protecting.”

This reply came from the old woman on the rocking chair. Thome turned his head to look at her.

The crowd quieted.

“Mother, no,” Beka said firmly.

“You are Beka’s mother?” asked Thome, stepping toward the old woman. Though her face was lined, her hair was gray, and she was no longer able to stand easily on her own, she held herself in a manner that spoke of a noble background. 

“No,” she said softly. “But I wish I had the honor.”

“Mother is a term of respect,” said Beka.

“And who else is in need of protecting?” Thome said, approaching the old woman and going down on one knee in front of her. She took his hands in hers but his eyes looked to the young maiden in the cloak who now tried to shrink back into the crowd.

“We all need protection,” said Mother.

“Some more than others?” he suggested.

Her hands were soft and dry in his that were rough and calloused. He could feel the warmth of her body and the power that still lay within.

Mother turned her head and looked at the shrinking violet next to her. “Yes. Some more than others.” 

Thome could tell that that maiden didn’t want his attention. Or anyone’s attention. 

She was slightly built and very short. The cloak she wore with the hood over her head obscured her features.

“Lushanna, stand forth,” said Mother.

The words from Mother gave the maiden courage. She pulled back the hood and stepped forward.

Her features were fine. She had brilliant blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. Thome doubted she stood much over four feet tall. Her skin was unblemished and unnaturally pale. None of that was the focus of Thome’s attention. He saw her almond-shaped eyes and her pointed ears. 

“An elf?” he gasped. 

The elves had long ago withdrawn from the Three Kingdoms. The bulk of their population had crossed the Eastern Ocean before Thome was born. There were always stories of hidden elf outposts within the Three Kingdoms, but it was exceedingly rare to see a full-blooded elf within the Kingdoms. Half-elves were much more common for a variety of reasons: their long lives, the rumored randiness of the elf race and as a consequence the children they left behind with human lovers, the rejection of half-elves by their full-blooded brothers and sisters.

“Yes, an elf,” said Lushanna. After stepping forward and lowering her hood, the cloak she wore parted.

The dress she wore wasn’t revealing. If anything, it was exceedingly modest. But it couldn’t hide that she was pregnant. The bulge of her stomach told the truth that she was at the end of her pregnancy.

What Thome couldn’t fathom was why a pregnant elf maiden was here in the village of Nonmondaine.

Of course he had no idea if she was a maiden at all. A long-lived human could reach eighty years if they were exceedingly lucky. An elf could live five hundred years easily. As far as Thome knew, elves reached maturity at half a century and looked eternally youthful.

“What is she doing here?” Thome blurted out.

“Being protected by us,” said Mother.