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Loose Threads
One Hundred Eleven
Iain knelt and began pulling up chunks of grass, tossing them to the side. He was in the center of his valley and the early morning sun was just peering over the mountain to the east. The light was bright enough to easily see, but the sunlight hadn’t crept down the valley far enough to directly illuminate where he was. The area was grassy with some scattered bushes and only a few stumps of trees that had been cut down by someone else a while ago.
Once he had cleared a circle about a meter in diameter, he summoned his compound bow and pulled an arrow from the integral quiver. He drove the arrow into the center of the circle until the head was deep enough to keep the arrow from falling over before sitting back to examine his work. “I wonder how quickly you’ll grow without any extraneous magic to fuel the first stage,” he said to himself. He pulled a cloth sewing tape measure from his pouch and measured the amount of shaft above ground. “I’ll be back tomorrow for the first check.” He touched the shaft with a fingertip, tuning to plants as he did. “Grow strong, little one, and don’t forget the thorns you’ll need to protect yourself.” He pushed to his feet and paused as, with his perception, he watched the arrowhead grow rootlets that began digging deeper into the soil and spreading as they did. “Yeah, this ought to be interesting.”
“What is interesting?”
Iain spun to face the voice as he grasped the next arrow in the quiver but didn’t draw it just yet. He looked over the arrow rest at Eilistraee’s breasts. “Lady,” he said as he lowered the bow and lifted his eyes to meet hers. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” she said with a knowing smile. “What is interesting about sticking an arrow in the ground?”
“My arrows and my bow are alive and the arrow will sprout into an omega tree.”
“I have never heard of that tree.” Her eyes swept curiously over his bow. “May I have your bow to examine?”
“With all due respect, I’d rather not do that.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“My bow is alive and it will protect itself from being handled by other people unless I specifically ask it not to. That would include you and I don’t want to find out my bow can harm you.”
“You can ask it not to try and harm me?”
“I can, but I’d rather not.”
Her frown deepened. “Why?”
Iain sighed. She’d asked and he wasn’t going to lie to her. “I don’t trust you that much.”
She looked surprised. “I am your goddess and you don’t trust me?”
Iain shook his head. “I don’t trust you in this. I do trust you to be true to your precepts.”
“I am not a thief, Iain.”
“Lady, a living bow is a willing gift from a tree. The tree trusts the recipient to care for the bow and to protect it. The bow is tuned to the recipient and it and the recipient form a gestalt of ability that is greater than the sum of its parts. To let someone else handle a living weapon is to trust them absolutely.” He sighed and held it out parallel to the ground, with the curve of the bow pointed at the ground and the string uppermost. “This is Eilistraee. I don’t love her, but please let her handle you for the next four hours.”
Eilistraee smiled. “Thank you, Iain.” She carefully took the bow in both hands and her eyes went wide as he released it. “It is very powerful. Is this an artifact?”
“I guess in some ways it could be considered an artifact of sorts,” Iain said. “Would you like me to ask for a living weapon for you?” She looked up at him with eyes filled with surprise. “I realize that you gave up the bow for the foreseeable future after nearly killing your father, even though it was your mother’s fault and you were just her unwitting agent, but a living weapon does not have to be a bow.”
“How do you know such things about me, Iain Grey? That story is not one that is commonly known and none here could have told it to you.”
“I learned things about you before I ever came here, Lady. When Ava offered to ordain me as a priestess of yours, I refreshed that knowledge of you and the rest of the Dark Seldarine, since they are your most active enemies and therefore my enemies too.”
Eilistraee laughed. “Your enemies? They do not know of your existence, Iain, and it would be wisest to keep that unchanged.”
“I agree,” Iain said quietly. “But it does not change the fact that they are your enemies and, as your priestess, they’re my enemies too. It also makes their religious people and me enemies as well. I just can’t deal with them in the most direct fashion.”
She smiled with genuine humor. “And how are you going to deal with them?”
“I’m constrained by the rules you have laid out, so I can’t weaken them by massacring their priests and priestesses unless they are attacking your worshippers or you sanction them for removal. If I can’t act to make them weaker, I can, however, act to make you stronger.”
Eilistraee frowned. “Sanction?”
“You give me permission or orders to kill someone specific or a specific group.”
“I see. And how do you intend to make me stronger?”
“First, I’m offering you a weapon that should be equal in power to mine, if that can help you. Second, I have plans to help spread your religion. The more worshippers you have, the more powerful you become.”
She nodded. “I would like a weapon like yours.”
“May I have mine back?” Eilistraee held it out and Iain took it back. “Thank you.” He returned it to his arm as he turned to face the sapling omega tree and tuned back to where he could hear plants. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to do the growth rate tests with someone else since I suddenly need you to be mature much sooner than expected.” He reached out and touched the end of the shaft. “I am going to try my best not to harm you. If you feel I am, tell me and I’ll stop.”
Eilistraee was watching him. “You speak to the tree.”
He grinned. “Well, someone has to since the tree has no voice.” The grin vanished when she looked confused. “I am speaking to the tree and it can hear me. Now, unless you want a really bumpy ride, you need to come with me. I’m not staying at ground zero for what’s coming.” He turned and moved a dozen meters away from the tree. A quick check showed Eilistraee was still with him. “Now, this is still probably too close, so if you want to get farther away, that might be smart.”
“You will stay this close?”
“I’m not sure just how far I can reach out with this power since I’ve only used it a few times.”
“I will stay with you. If you are in danger, I will protect you.”
That reminded Iain of something. “Thanks, I almost didn’t do something I need to. Selsharra.”
A second later the moon elf baelnorn appeared. She looked around and paused at the sight of Eilistraee. “Is this who I think this is?”
“Eilistraee, this is Selsharra, a baelnorn who has sworn herself to my protection. Selsharra, this is the goddess Eilistraee.”
Selsharra dropped a curtsey. “Lady Eilistraee.” She looked at Iain. “Why did you call me?”
“I’m about to do something that could be kind of hazardous and I wanted you available to keep me from dying if it goes badly.”
Selsharra’s eyes flicked from him to Eilistraee and back. “I cannot protect you if you have sex with her, Iain. She’ll be too close for me to intervene in time and I don’t want to watch.”
Eilistraee’s laughter pealed out. She was still smiling when she finally spoke. “We are not having sex.”
“What, you finally found a woman you don’t want to have sex with,” Selsharra asked him curiously. Iain gave her a flat look and she grinned. “I didn’t think you had.”
“Iain does not want to have sex with me,” Eilistraee said.
“Lady, did he tell you that? He won’t lie to you, but he will avoid a direct answer if he can.”
Iain managed not to scream in frustration. “I only brought you here as part of our agreement since this is something that’s not sudden.”
Eilistraee looked at him. “Iain?”
“Yes, Lady?”
She waited a few seconds. “Are you going to answer?”
“I don’t remember a question being asked.”
She smiled. “Iain, do you want to have sex with me?”
Iain looked at her. “Of course I want to have sex with you. I’d have to be completely dead not to, and even then I still might. Now can we focus on the task at hand?”
Eilistraee nodded. “Yes, we can, but I will want to finish this discussion later.”
“Yes, Lady.” Iain looked at Selsharra. “I would very much like to,” he broke off, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Why did I let you have so much freedom?”
“You want me to be happy.”
“Are you?”
Selsharra chuckled. “I am. I get to needle you and you aren’t trying to take control back.”
“I told you I wouldn’t do that.”
“You did. And I thought it was all lies since anyone can say things they don’t mean. Now I see it might not be.”
“Apparently Ava comes by her sense of humor from her maternal line,” Iain muttered. “Lady, would you like me to send Selsharra away?”
Eilistraee shook her head. “I like her. It’s amusing to see you off balance like this.”
“I hope I don’t accidentally vaporize this poor sapling,” Iain muttered. “Control.” He took a deep breath, held it for a ten count, and exhaled, completely emptying his lungs. “Better.” He focused on the arrow shaft and let magic trickle into it.
The ground rocked beneath them as the shaft formed leaves and shot upwards, growing at roughly a meter a second. The ground humped around the tree as roots twisted up and then smoothed as they retreated underground while below them rock shattered loudly from the expanding root’s hydrostatic pressure. The tree was tall enough that the lowest branches slid over Iain’s head without touching him when it grew outwards enough to cover the three of them. The silver leaves rustled loudly as they danced in the breeze from the tree’s expansion, but it wasn’t enough to cover Selsharra’s gasp or the surprised noise Eilistraee made.
He stopped the growth at a hundred meters and felt the tree’s energy. It hummed with vitality and was ready to grow more. Almost reluctantly, Iain removed the trickle of magic. “I think that’s enough for now. You can grow the rest of the way like you’re supposed to.” He felt a pulse of petulance from the tree and an image of Miriam stomping her foot in annoyance slipped through his mind. “Stop that. I have a special request for you now, unless you’re too pissed at me.” The tree’s petulance vanished instantly, replaced by eagerness and curiosity.
Iain looked at Eilistraee. “Lady, this is an omega tree.”
“It is very beautiful,” she said while still staring at the tree. “I have never seen a tree with silver leaves like these or wood so dark.”
“Right now, it’s the only one of its kind on this world, but once this one sets fruit I intend to sow the seeds all over the place. I think the elves will like them.” He gestured towards the tree. “Now, if you’ll be so kind as to come with me. I’d like to introduce you to someone.”
Eilistraee fell in beside him as they walked towards the tree. “You would share this wonder with others?”
Iain glanced at her as they stopped in front of the trunk. “An adult omega tree sets several tons of fruit in the summer and fall and it is drought and cold resistant because its roots go down a long way. That fruit would feed a lot of people and you want me to be helpful. I’ll plant the next one close to Ilhar Mrimm. As long as nobody is stupid and tries to hurt the tree, everything will be great.”
Eilistraee looked at him. “What would happen?”
Iain turned to the tree. “Could you show her how you’d defend yourself, please?” On the other side of the tree from them, a branch thicker than Iain’s torso suddenly whipped down to smash into the ground. The earth shook from the impact as the limb lifted back to its resting position. “If you’ll look up, you’ll see that roughly a third of the branches have thick spikes growing from them. That’s for things that the tree can’t smash flat, like flying creatures.” He smiled thinly. “Anyone wanting to turn an omega tree into firewood had better bring a lot of people she can afford to lose when she tries.” He turned to the tree. “The woman standing next to me is Eilistraee. She cannot speak to you and has asked me to speak to you on her behalf. She has asked me to request that you lend her your strength and provide her with a living sword.” He paused for a few seconds. “Lady, the tree wants to meet you. Place your hands on the trunk of the tree, palms against the wood.” She did. “Close your eyes for a moment, please. I’m going to touch you on each eyelid and temporarily give you the ability to see the lives of the plants. Once I’m done you can open your eyes.”
Eilistraee closed her eyes. “I am ready.” Iain touched her with a forefinger on each eyelid and stepped back. She opened her eyes and they went wide. “What is this,” she asked in a wondering voice. “It is beautiful.”
“You see the energy of the tree reaching out to touch your energy. Since I’ve drawn the tree’s attention to you and asked it to give you something very precious, it wants to learn something about you before it decides if it will grant my request. However, if it opens up holes under your hands, pull them away.”
“Why?”
“The tree that gave me my weapon did that and then it drank so much of my blood that I almost passed out. This one is already blooded so it shouldn’t want to do that, but I don’t doubt that if a tree doesn’t like a requestor, it might just drain them dry as punishment.” A glowing line appeared between Eilistraee’s hands and spread down the trunk to widen as something began pushing out of it. “It likes you, but then you’re pretty likeable. When the end protrudes enough, take the gift and tug gently. It should come free easily.” Eilistraee did, removing a slender black and silver sword that was as long as she was tall. “Now thank the tree for its gift.”
Eilistraee put her hand on the trunk. “Thank you for this precious gift. I am blessed beyond words.” The line closed as her eyes went wide again. “It responded!”
Iain nodded. “Now, I’d like you to hold the sword out in one hand. I am going to touch the hilt while you hold it, but do not release the sword. It will probably try to kill me if you do.”
She did as he asked. “What are you doing?”
Iain touched the hilt of the sword in her grip. “I’m teaching it something that will help you both.” The sword vanished into her hand. “You now have a tattoo oof your new sword on your upper wrist somewhere. All you have to do is will it to come forth,” he paused and stepped back a pace as the sword reappeared in her hand, “just like that. But now you and it cannot be separated unless you want to be.” His eyes met hers. “You could name it if you want, but it’s not truly self aware, at least not yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that as time passes I don’t know what will happen to a living sword that’s wielded by a goddess. Oh, and, yes, it is made of wood but it won’t burn, it’s pretty much unbreakable, it’s razor sharp and won’t lose its edge even if you chop through metal weapons and armor with it.”
Eilistraee’s sword vanished. “This is an incredible gift, Iain. Thank you.”
“I need my goddess to be as strong as she can.” He smiled. “And if she is favorably inclined towards me, that’ll help when I screw up and do something she doesn’t like.”
She chuckled. “And that is a very likely event. How is Sabnae?”
“Her name is Xune and she’s resting easily.”
“You changed her name?”
Iain nodded. “She is my daughter and it’s my right to name her.”
“I suppose that is true in this case. I would like to see her.”
“Then we’ll have to return to the caves.” He smiled. “Do we teleport, fly, walk or you ride while I run?”
Eilistraee frowned. “I don’t understand the last choice. What is it?”
Iain shifted to his dragon horse form. “You get on my back and I get some exercise.”
“You would let me ride you?”
Selsharra grinned. “He most certainly would! Ride him all you want!”
Iain’s head swung around to look at the baelnorn. “Why are you doing this?”
“I protect your line. Right now you don’t have a line for me to protect and you do some pretty dangerous things. I’d like you to have children for me to protect before you die so I don’t fail again.”
“So are you going to be propositioning women on my behalf regularly?”
“I am if they are of a sufficiently decent bloodline. I don’t want your line getting weaker.”
Iain regarded her thoughtfully for several seconds before sighing. “Kasserine would argue you are still useful somehow and that your utility outweighs how much you aggravate me.”
Selsharra smiled. “She sounds very much like the Kasserine I knew, who was extremely intelligent. I look forward to meeting her.”
“Why are you hitting on Eilistraee for me?”
“What is hitting on?”
“Trying to get her to sleep with me.”
“A child of her blood would certainly not weaken your bloodline.”
Iain grunted sourly and shifted to look at Eilistraee. “Climb on. Apparently I need that run to work off some irritation.”
Eilistraee slipped easily onto his back. “Why do you tolerate her behavior?”
“The only way I could control her behavior would be to enslave her and I’m not interested in keeping slaves.” Iain shifted his head to look back at her. “Are you a decent rider?”
“I have never ridden before.” She grinned. “I’ve never ridden you.”
“I go,” Selsharra said. She cast a spell and vanished.
“Fuck me,” Iain muttered and quickly accelerated to a gallop.
***
Iain slowed to a trot and to a stop outside the entrance to his cave. Eilistraee slid off his back and stretched. “That was not very comfortable.”
Iain shifted back to his elf form. “You’ve never ridden before and you were fighting the rhythm the whole way.” He balled his hands into fists and dug his knuckles into the base of his spine. “Yeah, you need lessons.”
She flashed a grin. “I’ll just have to ride you more until I learn how it’s done.”
“You know that if you continue flirting with me, eventually I am going to see if you’re actually interested.” She flashed that grin again. “And I just gave you a new sword to blood. Well, try not to hurt me too much if I guess wrong.”
Eilistraee laughed. “I won’t.”
They went to his bedroom, where Iain shut and locked the door before going to a blank piece of wall. He pressed his palm against the wall and a section of it next to him began sliding sideways and away from him with a faint rumble. The door was over twenty centimeters thick as Iain stepped through the doorway into a small room. “Please join me.” Eilistraee did and Iain touched the wall next to the doorway and the door slid shut.
Eilistraee looked around as the door shut behind them. The room was roughly four yards across, hexagonal and brightly lit with continual flame torches on each wall facing. Also set in each wall, except for the one which was closing, at roughly knee height were four small green rectangles five inches high and eight and a half inches wide. She knelt to look closer at one of them. They were made of some substance she didn’t recognize, but it looked something like solidified wax. Identical strange markings were embossed on each green rectangle and she easily translated one of them with her magic. “Front toward enemy?” She stood. “What does that mean, Iain?”
Iain glanced at her and down at what she was looking at. “Those are part of a trap and the words are there to remind the person placing it which side you don’t want to be standing in front of when you activate it. That would be this side, by the bye. If you can’t read any writing, you’re on the safer side. I’m still setting this room up and later I’ll cover the walls with some sandalwood veneer to hide the traps.”
Once the door was shut, Eilistraee looked and realized that door also had the four green rectangles in it, making the doors and walls all look identical.
Iain moved to another section of wall and touched it. The section of wall to his left began moving, this time moving upwards. As the door vanished, lights came on in the chamber behind it to reveal rows of chests neatly arranged along the walls. Also were many weapon and armor stands, each of which was filled with equipment. In the back of the room, statuary stood silent vigil. On one side there was a crystal cylinder three meters in diameter and five meters tall. It was held up by the equipment that surrounded it. Small lights flashed from time to time on the equipment. The interior of the cylinder was filled with light blue fluid and in it floated the infant Iain had rescued from his house in Ilhar Mrimm. Next to the cylinder lay the coffinlike shape of a modern medical unit.
“Right now this is the most secure place in my home,” Iain explained as he moved towards the cylinder. “It seemed the best place for her until she’s ready to wake up.”
“I told you to save her, Iain, not preserve her body.”
“She’s not dead.” Iain checked a console on the equipment attached to the cylinder. “Understand that Xune was born several months early and her lungs and some other organs were not developed enough for her to survive outside the womb. I can’t change that, even with your order to save her. So I did the next best thing for her. This is an artificial womb where she can finish developing as she’s supposed to. Once she’s full term, I’ll bring her out.”
“How long will she be in there?”
“She’s the product of the union of a male gold dragon and a female drow and should be a half dragon, although her genetics indicates she’s more along the lines of one tenth drow and nine tenths dragon, which could have been part of the reason she was born so premature.” He shrugged. “Magic. Anyway, she appears to be developing slower than a pure drow infant would but faster than a gold dragon would and I’m going to let her have all the time she wants to finish growing.” He smiled. “That means I’m not sure how long the gestation will continue.”
Eilistraee was watching him with an odd expression on her face. “What are genetics?”
Iain thought for a moment. “I’m talking about the bloodlines. You’d expect an elf and something else to each contribute to half of an infant’s makeup. Someone’s magic made Laraxithious contribute more than Laelra. I am not trying to say you’re not intelligent, but a detailed explanation would take a great deal of time, cover a bunch of topics and would probably prove more than a little frustrating because the more answers I give the more questions you are likely to ask in response.” He smiled. “You are aware there are other worlds. You are also aware that some of these worlds have less magic than this one and some have more. Also, some have more technology than this and some less. A few have a lot more technology than this one and I came here from one like that, so I understand the technological side of genetics. Later, I’ll learn how to explain it using magic terminology and I can explain it in detail to you then if you want.”
Eilistraee touched the cylinder with the fingers of her right hand. “She is well?”
“Xune is healthier now than she would have been if she’d stayed in Laelra’s womb,” Iain said quietly.
“Will you return her to Laelra?”
Iain shook his head. “Xune deserves a better life than the one Laelra planned for the half dragon she wanted to have in order to expand her power base. If you tell me to, I will, but otherwise I’ll end up raising her as my daughter.”
“What will you tell Laelra?”
“Laelra exposed a prematurely born sick baby and, as far as she knows, it died. I’m not telling her anything different. If she ever meets Xune, all she’ll learn is that she’s my daughter and possibly that she’s adopted.”
Eilistraee nodded. “That is for the best for everyone.” She glanced at him. “What will you tell Zilvra and the others who live here?”
“I’ll present them with Xune as my daughter. I’ll tell Zilvra that she was given to me by you and hint that Xune is some kind of test. That’ll explain your dropping by to check up on me and Xune to her satisfaction. I’ll tell anyone else who figures out that Xune isn’t really my daughter the same thing.”
“And the time between Laelra losing her baby and you finding Xune will keep anyone from suspecting she’s the same child,” Eilistraee said thoughtfully. “That is very cunning.”
“Thank you.” He smiled. “Just don’t give me any more babies to raise for a while. Once the dwarves start pairing up I expect there will be plenty of other than kobold children around as it is.”
“Dwarves do not have many children,” Eilistraee noted.
“Hopefully without sounding like I’m bragging, I’m pretty sure that any dwarven infertility issues are not beyond my means to solve. My clan needs to grow and the kobolds are already doing their part. The dwarves are not, at least not yet.”
Eilistraee smiled. “Do you not need to have children too so that your clan will grow, Iain?”
Iain made a face. “I was given permission to do so, but I haven’t found anyone I’m willing to have kids with yet. I am not getting women I don’t love pregnant. I can’t trust them not to be like Laelra and looking to just increase their power base with my child. I’ll kill anyone trying to do that.”
“Permission?”
“Remember that I’m from another world. There, the women that I love gave me permission to fall in love here. Children are usually part of that.”
“What would you do if they hadn’t given you that permission?”
“Keep away from women I might fall in love with.” Iain motioned her towards the room’s entrance. “It wouldn’t be easy and it certainly wouldn’t be fun, but fortunately I’m rather picky about the kind of woman I could love.”
“What about Selsharra’s desire for children?”
He smiled. “She’s undead. She can’t have children.” Eilistraee stared at him. “You’re trying not to laugh. I can see your lips twitching.”
She chuckled. “I do not wish to encourage you.”
“It’s way too late to hope that a lack of encouragement will stop me and what I consider to be a sense of humor.”
Eilistraee shook her head. “You will tell me when it is time for the child to wake up. I wish to observe this.”
“Like I said, her name is Xune and I will. I want your blessing for her and having you on hand when I decant her will make that easier.” Iain touched the wall and the inner door slid down to seal the chamber. “Can you stay for cookies and tea?” He touched the wall and the outer door slowly opened.
“I can,” Eilistraee said. “What kind of cookies do you have today?”
“Lemon.”
“Can you make cookies with anything?”
Iain chuckled. “I can try. Now have a seat at the sava board and we’ll see if you like these cookies.”
“Where is Zilvra?” Iain gave her an amused look and she smiled. “Very well, yes, I know where she is. Why is she in a small drow city two weeks travel from here?”
“She’s recruiting. There are some drow there that have accepted you that need rescued. That and she is planning to purchase some more slaves so we can free them.”
“What do you do with the ones who do not want to stay here?”
Iain shrugged. “Drow go to Ilhar Mrimm. We’ve cultivated a relationship with a small temple of Ilmater to take any humans, halflings or whatnot and anther one with a temple of Berronar Truesilver in the Shanatar kingdom of Ultoksamrin for dwarves that don’t want to stay here. If we run across any surface elves down there, I’ll figure something out, but we both know there’s very little chance an elf will be alive in a drow city for very long, much less be in a position as a slave where we can purchase her.” He opened his cabinet and pulled out a tray of cookies. “Now, let’s see if you like these.”
***
Iain scanned the lights on the panel for the growth tank. “Everything looks good,” he said to Eilistraee. It had been six months since they’d spoken about Xune and he’d waited until she’d arrived for another of Eilistraee’s unscheduled visits before planning to wake his daughter. It would be much more convenient if he had a reliable way to contact his goddess, but so far she hadn’t offered him one except for praying to her and hoping she responded. He’d tried that, to little avail.
“What happens now,” Eilistraee asked.
“This.” Iain pressed a button on the panel and the lights changed.
In a modern facility the infant would be automatically moved by machinery from the growth tank to a medic for revival. Here, it was a little different. There was a hiss as the top of the growth tank unsealed and swung to the side. Iain moved a stepladder into position and climbed it as a gentle current lifted the infant’s body up the column of the cylinder to just under the surface.
Iain started to reach for the body and stopped when his shirt sagged towards the fluid in the growth tank as he leaned. “Shit.” He stripped off his shirt and tossed it to the side. Then he leaned over the fluid and hooked the infant by the ankle to drag her to him. “Mental note: put in a modern medical facility with grav lifters in the ceiling somewhere around here soonest.” He scooped the infant out of the fluid and cradled it against his chest as he dropped to the ground. The medic was already open and Iain carefully deposited the infant into it. He grabbed the towel that was on top of the lid and began wiping himself down. “Close and initiate full checkup and revival.” The medic closed. Iain looked at Eilistraee. “This will only take a few minutes.”
Eilistraee watched as the growth tank sealed itself shut again. Bubbles began streaming up from the base and the liquid inside began to swirl vigorously as the unit started a purge and clean to prepare for its next use. “What is happening with her?”
“The growth tank keeps the subject in a state of artificially suspended animation while pumping it full of nutrients for healing or, in this case, fetal development. This,” he tapped the top of the medic, “will wake her up after making sure she’s healthy and cleaning the last of the tank’s fluid from her respiratory and digestive system. It isn’t strictly necessary, but I know that waking up with lungs full of fluid you can’t breathe isn’t fun. Once Xune is out, I’ll wake her up and we’ll have a little talk.”
Eilistraee frowned. “She’s an infant, Iain.”
“She might look like an infant, but I suspect that inside her head she’s going to be more like a gold dragon wyrmling and they come out of the egg self-aware and able to function on their own.”
“Do you know how to raise a wyrmling?”
“You still shove food in the noisy end. The big difference is she might be able to clean up after her own poops and she may want to debate philosophy from the crib.”
Eilistraee shook her head slowly. “You are a strange person.” Iain laughed. “That isn’t amusing.”
“It is from over here.” Iain retrieved his shirt and put it on.
Eilistraee watched it drop over his torso. “You have a lot of tattoos.” She frowned. “They have changed since I saw you during your shower. How is this so?”
Iain regarded her thoughtfully. “I know you keep secrets from me and we’re not really friends. Am I allowed to keep secrets from you?”
She smiled suddenly. “That depends on whether you want me to trust you or not.”
“Fuck.” Her smile widened. “Deities.”
Her smile vanished and the temperature in the room seemed to drop as her eyes narrowed. Maybe it really did drop. She was a goddess, after all. “You asked to serve me.”
Iain sighed. “Just like the tattoos of the living weapons we both bear on our skin, the other tattoos on my body are not normal. I don’t want to discuss it, but if you want to know what they are, I will tell you. I do ask that you respect my privacy and not tell anyone else about them, much less what they are.”
Eilistraee raised an eyebrow. “What are they?”
“Most of them are part of my undead harem. As part of my harem they do my bidding and help to protect me.”
She blinked. “What does harem mean?”
“The first members are pokegirls and pokegirls form a group with their person called a harem. For living pokegirls, a harem is the group that is the most sexually active with their person and they act to protect him and each other. I have a living harem that is composed of my wives and my other lovers. They were forbidden to come here with me, but my undead harem wasn’t.”
Her eyes were cool and unhappy. “Do you have sex with undead?”
“I have not and I don’t intend to. As I said, the first members of my undead harem were pokegirls and they named the group as my undead harem.”
“I don’t sense any undead.”
“My life energy hides their presence when they’re on my skin. Even a necromancer and possibly a god of necromancy wouldn’t be able to sense them while they’re on me. Each is a powerful undead similar to what you know as a lich.”
“Liches are completely evil, Iain.”
“Baelnorn are not,” Iain pointed out quietly. “They’re liches. These are not baelnorn, however and they are not good people except that I force them to not be actively evil.”
“How do you do this?”
“They are bound to me by a powerful fey spell. Would you like to meet their leader?”
Eilistraee’s eyes bored into his. “Do you take responsibility for them and their actions?”
“I do.”
“Introduce us.”
“Eirian.”
Silver smoke poured out of his sleeve and became the silver Dragoness. “My lord.”
“Eirian, this is Eilistraee. Eilistraee, this is Eirian, the maharani of my undead harem.”
Eirian inclined her head in a bow. “Goddess,” she said in a neutral tone. “My lord is essentially correct. We work to protect him and to carry out his will. He will not free us from our bondage to him because we would war amongst ourselves and amongst the living of this world, few of which could resist us in any meaningful manner.”
Eilistraee examined the Dragoness. “What is the worst atrocity you have committed recently?”
“As you define it? Fifty seven years ago we were attacked by a spelljamming ship crewed by beholders. In the resulting battle many of the beholder’s slaves and food animals were killed, both by us and by the beholders, when these noncombatants got in our ways. We did not hold back our attacks just because they were involved. Post battle estimates suggest that less than five percent of them survived the battle. All were sentient creatures of one type or another.”
Iain frowned. “You can’t be more precise?”
Eirian shook her head. “No, my lord, because when they realized how badly they were overmatched, the beholders employed their disintegration beams indiscriminately in an attempt to reverse their approaching defeat. A large portion of the ship was reduced to its component molecules as a result. We believe that many of their slaves were completely destroyed while in hiding or otherwise concealed during this and so the casualty report is based on third party estimates from the survivors among the slaves as well as examination of body parts floating around the remains of the ship after the battle to try and get a number of how many bodies contributed to the mess. Eyewitness reports are notoriously unreliable and your orders would not let me use Liadan to examine their minds to gather more accurate information.”
Iain glanced at Eilistraee. “Liadan is a powerful psychic who could have easily damaged the minds of the survivors while examining them.” He looked at Eirian. “What about the beholder survivors?”
“The beholders fought to the last orb, my lord.”
Iain frowned. “What about the attack on the caravan that I ordered?”
“My lord, this one defines an atrocity as the murder of presumed innocents. The action we took against the Dinaen caravan was the first step in your war against the Spider Queen and her minions in Guallidurth. All of them were unrepentant worshippers of the Spider Queen and therefore combatants in that war.”
Iain chuckled. “She’s good at justifying things, isn’t she?”
“You give me no choice, my lord, since you refuse to agree with my assessments of the situation. My way would be successful.”
Eilistraee looked at Iain. “Her way?”
“She wants to start with the ruling houses of Guallidurth and assassinate all the priestesses of your mother in the city as well as any other organized governing bodies to allow the people of the city to determine their own path while we work to bring your word to all of the people there. It would weaken your mother, weaken the drow presence in that portion of the Underdark, throw the strongest city of the drow into chaos and possibly gain you a bunch of new worshippers.”
Eirian smiled. “We estimate that almost four percent of the population would become ardent worshippers of Eilistraee out of gratitude. Ten percent would claim to convert, but only the four percent would remain dutiful to her. That would increase her worshippers by several thousand, which would result in a significant boost to her power and a corresponding reduction in the power of the Spider Queen which is unquantifiable due to unknown variables.”
“I could never allow such a massacre,” Eilistraee said. “I don’t care how much it might benefit me.”
Eirian nodded. “That was my lord’s opinion as well, which is why I was not allowed to further develop or execute that plan.”
“That and even I can see that’s a bad idea,” Iain noted. “Not to mention that Mielikki, Vanessa, Pandora, Lucifer and a lot of other people that I love would also be upset with me if I allowed something like that to happen to the drow.” He grinned. “They might not be quite so upset at us doing something very bad to the illithids since even Pandora would consider them unsalvageable, but right now they serve as check to the power of the drow.” He grimaced. “And I’m not certain we should destroy Oryndoll because if we do the duergar will never be created by the illithids on this world and eventually they would become a major factor in the Underdark power structure.”
Eilistraee frowned. “What are the duergar?”
“If nothing changes, in about a thousand years the illithids of Oryndoll will start what will be known as the Mindstalker Wars with the shield dwarves of Shanatar,” Iain said quietly. “During the war, the illithids will capture and kidnap the members of Clan Duergar in the kingdom of Barakuir. The other shield dwarves will believe that the Duergar clan’s members were wiped out and not look for them. The illithids will experiment on the dwarves for thousands of years, giving them psionic powers in their attempt to create the perfect slave race. Eventually the shield dwarves become the duergar, revolt and escape illithid control. They will become a power in the Underdark to rival the drow, paranoid in the extreme, unfriendly at best and violent at worst to everyone around them. They will blame the shield dwarves for abandoning them and will hate them forever and wage war on them whenever they can. They’ll also fight the drow, the deep gnomes and anyone else off and on. If I can destroy Oryndoll, and that’s a pretty big if unless I deploy modern weapons, that won’t happen and the duergar might not ever exist on this world.”
The medic beeped and Iain focused on it. “Eirian, ride me.” The Dragoness dissolved into smoke and flowed under his shirt. “Xune is ready to be woken up.”
Eilistraee moved slightly so she could see better as the medic unsealed with a hiss of equalizing pressure and slid open. Inside, the infant twitched once. Iain leaned over and touched the baby on the forehead. “What are you doing?”
“Teaching her something that she should already know.” He stepped back as the infant made an unhappy sound. A second later she shifted to the form of a gold dragon wyrmling weighing about a hundred kilograms. She rolled over onto all fours. “Hey.” The wyrmling’s head snapped around to focus on Iain as he opened a wooden box that was against the wall. He reached in and pulled out a rabbit, holding it by the neck. It kicked, and the dragon’s head shifted as it watched the rabbit. Iain lobbed the rabbit across the room in a gentle arc. Fabric ripped loudly as the dragon launched itself from the medic and took the rabbit in midair. The rabbit screamed once as the wyrmling landed. Bone crunched and the wyrmling gulped the rabbit down whole. The wyrmling then whipped around to watch Iain intently as the medic silently slid shut.
Iain reached into the box and pulled out a large chunk of meat that he tossed to the wyrmling with a chuckle. Eilistraee frowned “Why give her the rabbit first?”
The wyrmling snatched the meat out of the air and tore into it as Iain smiled. “I don’t know about the dragons of this world but among my people there is a tradition that if a newborn kills the first thing it eats, it’ll be a great hunter and will never go hungry.” He tossed the wyrmling another chunk of meat. “Xune is my daughter and so she gets to follow my traditions.”
The wyrmling caught the meat and dropped it on the ground in front of it as it spoke in a female voice. “You are my father? You do not smell like a gold dragon.”
“I’m not. You are the product of a mating between a gold dragon drake and a drow elf female. Because of some magic, you were born too early and you would have died if I hadn’t interceded. You’ve been here for several months and the drow that birthed you thinks you’re dead. I have been asked to raise you.”
“What of the drake?”
“He is unaware that the drow woman became pregnant or, if he does know, he probably thinks the child is mine since the drow was having sex with us both. In any case, he just found his dragoness to mate with and wouldn’t be interested in raising a mixed blood wyrmling.”
“Who asked you to raise me if neither of my parents know I exist?”
Iain motioned towards Eilistraee. “This is the goddess Eilistraee. I am her priestess. She believes that the woman who bore you became pregnant with you in order to use you to advance her power and position. Eilistraee doesn’t think this is proper and wants you to have a good life and a free one, so she asked me, her only dragon priestess, to adopt you as my child. I have agreed to see if you are willing to let me be your father. I have named you Xune.”
“You do not insist that you are my father?”
“You are capable of making informed decisions and you are capable of taking care of yourself. I have a lot that I could teach you but you have to decide if you will let me. But you only get to decide once. If you agree to let me be your father, I will be your father for the entirety of our lives. You will not be able to decide that I’m not what you want in a father after I tell you no on something, you disobey me and I spank you for it. I will still be your father, you will still be my daughter and the only thing that will change is you’ll sit carefully and won’t like me for a while until you learn I had a good reason for correcting your behavior. At that point you’ll accept your punishment as justified.”
“What happens if I decide you are not going to be my father?”
“I’ll finish feeding you your first meal and then escort you to see the boundaries of my territory. You’ll be able to use my territory for one moon, as long as you don’t cause trouble for either me or mine. After that, you will either leave or be driven from my territory.”
Eilistraee frowned. “Iain,” she began.
Iain looked at her. “Unless you are willing to take Xune in, you stay out of this. I am negotiating with a dragoness to live in my land if she refuses to accept me as her father. If you interfere and she later becomes a menace to the dwarves or the kobolds, I will kill her. If you don’t like this, you either can accept it or you can release me as your priestess. I’m sorry if you don’t like my tone or you believe I’m out of line, but she can be incredibly dangerous and I am not going to subject my clanswomen to that potentiality. You can command me to do anything that might endanger me and I will, but you cannot force me to abrogate my leadership responsibilities to my clan.”
“Kobolds are evil,” Xune said. She tore a chunk from the meat and swallowed it loudly. “Explain them.”
“My kobolds are sworn to me and follow clan law. They’re pretty obedient and I’m keeping them on a short leash to keep any shenanigans to a minimum. As the generations pass, I intend to wean them away from their worship of Kurtulmak and turn them to worshipping Eilistraee, who is a good, decent and understanding goddess.” He glanced at Eilistraee. “Please notice the well deserved and sincere compliments to you, Lady, from your loyal priestess.”
Eilistraee laughed along with Xune. “You want kobolds to worship me?”
“Why not? You can then start reaching out to the kobold slaves of the drow worshippers of the Spider Queen and start suborning them too.” He shrugged. “Besides, Kurtulmak doesn’t do squat for all the worship they give him.”
“He’s trapped for all of eternity,” Eilistraee noted.
“Then he’s a loser,” Iain said. “And my kobolds deserve better than a loser god.” He tossed Xune another piece of meat. “And maybe I can get you tell them not to murder every gnome that shows up here when I start trading with the rest of the world. I won’t miss the gnomes all that much but I don’t want my clan embroiled in all the wars that will come with the massacres.”
Xune lifted her head. “Why do you, a dragon, worship this goddess?”
“She’s helping me keep from going evil.”
“Bahamut could help you in her place.”
“She’s a lot prettier than he is and she smells better too,” Iain pointed out. “Besides, he’s more likely to tell me to be good and then wait around to smite me when I do something he doesn’t like.”
“His servants might do something like that,” Xune agreed before eating the last piece of meat Iain had tossed her. “More.”
Iain tossed her a couple more pieces of meat. “And she would be a lot more understanding if I slip up and skin someone for being stupid. I’d atone, she’d forgive me for being stupid and life would continue.”
“The kobolds won’t worship me,” Eilistraee said. “I’m not a dragon.”
“I can get them to worship you. I might have to reinterpret some of your aspects in a draconic manner, but that’s not too hard. You condemn evil and authorize its destruction if it cannot be redeemed. Some dragons think that way and I can frame the discussion about worshipping you in a manner that the kobolds will understand and appreciate. And if you’ll let kobolds become priestesses, they’ll have useful things from you that Kurtulmak doesn’t give them.”
“I am not part of the draconic pantheon,” Eilistraee pointed out.
“Neither is Kurtulmak. Besides, you’re fey and dragons can be fey.” He smiled. “The only way you can stop me is to forbid me from carrying out my plans. Are you going to do that?”
Eilistraee looked at him for several seconds before shaking her head. “I can use all the power I can get. I’ve watched your kobolds and they can be rather likeable beings.”
Xune paused in her eating. “With those words you do sound like a dragon. I would not turn down more power if the source wasn’t evil.” She looked at Iain. “What is she like as your goddess?”
“If you become my daughter I’ll read the religious texts to you,” Iain replied. “If you refuse, I’ll give you copies of her books to start your hoard before you have to leave.”
“If I stay, can I still have copies?”
“Of course you can.” Iain smiled. “My daughter will have a starter hoard including some treasure and her first valuable books. Those can be added to the books.”
Xune cocked her head. “Are you bribing me to accept you as my father?”
“I’m trying to. Is it working?”
The wyrmling laughed. “It is.”
Iain tossed her more meat. “See, you’re a smart girl.”
“Will I have a mother?”
Iain shook his head. “Not unless Eilistraee here offers to stand in for her and she’s way too busy trying to rescue the drow from themselves to do anything like that right now.”
“Do I have to call you Father?”
“No, but it might help. The people here are going to be confused enough with you as it is since you can appear as this or as a little girl. Hell, you could even appear as an adult or a kitten.”
“What would you like me to appear as?”
“I think that until you enter your young adult stage you should appear as a child when you’re shifting to look like a biped, at least most of the time.”
“I agree.” The wyrmling swallowed another piece of meat and looked at him expectantly. “I accept you as my father. What is your name?”
“I am Iain Grey and I accept you as Xune Grey, my daughter. Later I will oath you into the clan.” He looked at Eilistraee. “Lady, would you give my daughter your blessing?”
“I would like to but you pointed out that she’s an adult in many ways, so it is up to her.” Eilistraee looked at the wyrmling. “Xune, will you accept my blessing?”
Xune shifted to the form of the drow equivalent of a six year old child. “I will.”
Iain pulled his shirt off and crossed the room to her. “Great, another of my children is a nudist. I don’t care, but others will.” He knelt and pulled the shirt over Xune’s head. “Stick your arms out through the arm holes.” She did. “Much better. We’ll get you a belt later.” He gathered Xune into his arms and stood, turning to face Eilistraee. “Lady, this is Xune, my daughter. I would seek your blessing and favor for her.”
“I like you holding me,” Xune said.
Eilistraee smiled. “I would be happy to bless your new child, Iain.” She kissed Xune on the forehead and, for an instant, the child was bathed in silver light. “Grow strong and well, little one. May your life be happy and fruitful.”
Xune stretched up slightly to sniff the air and licked Eilistraee’s cheek. “You smell good.” She looked up at Iain. “I’m still hungry.”
Iain chuckled as he carried her over to the box. “I expect to hear that for the next few years.” He reached into box and pulled out a chunk of cheese, which he handed to Xune. “Thank you for blessing her, Lady.”
Eilistraee looked from him to Xune and back. “When we’re alone, Iain, you may use my name.”
Iain looked surprised. “Thank you, Lady. I’m pretty sure this is a great honor.”
Eilistraee smiled. “You’re not certain that it is?”
Iain shook his head. “You just decided to change our relationship. I don’t know what those changes will entail. Until I do, I intend to be cautious.”
Xune looked up from the cheese she’d been biting chunks off and swallowing without chewing. “You show wisdom.”
“I show the scars of experience. And you need to chew your food when you can.”
“Why?”
Eilistraee laughed. “Can you justify that, Iain?”
Iain glanced up at her. “Xune, saliva has enzymes that begin the process of digestion while the food is in your mouth. Chewing mixes those enzymes with the food and helps your stomach digest the food as completely as possible so you get the most nutrients out of it. Right now you desperately need every kilocalorie you can get, which is why all you’re eating today is protein and fat.” He smiled. “And some rabbit fur. Chewing when you can, will certainly help you to grow as quickly as possible.”
“I don’t chew when I’m in my true form.”
“You can, some, you just haven’t yet. In that form I’d recommend you chew bone and hide so it’ll digest completely. Even a dragon’s blast furnace of a stomach can use the digestive help on bone, hide and scale.”
Xune smiled. “I think that is a yes, Lady, he can justify me chewing my food.”
Eilistraee laughed again. “You’re not going to give her milk, Iain?”
“I don’t have any to give her. My cows are all in cheese and butter production since it’s got more energy per unit weight for the kobolds and dwarves. Any leftovers like whey get eaten too. My silver horses need another year before I’ll let them start breeding and horses never produce a lot of milk. So right now she gets raw meat, bone and fat in her dragon form and cheese, eggs, avocado and cooked meat as an elf child.”
Eilistraee frowned. “What is avocado?”
“It’s the fruit of a tree by the same name that I brought with me from my world. If you’ll come with me, you can try some along with Xune. I’ve also got some omega fruit for you, if the dwarves and kobolds didn’t find my secret stash of food. I’m starting to wonder if they’ve been using their augury spells to find it just like they find valuable ores.”
Eilistraee’s eyes lit up. “I like omega fruit. I’d certainly like more of it.” Iain gave her a puzzled look and she smiled. “I have been going by to watch your omega tree grow. When it set fruit, I came by more often to see when it would be ripe. When it was, the tree lowered a branch so I could take a few of the fruit. They were very good. Can I grow the tree from its seed?”
“You can. It should shoot up to nearly fifty feet tall in less than a year and then slow down a little. It can be self pollinating but it would rather not be so I would suggest planting it in groups separated by a few hundred feet between each tree.” Iain frowned. “Do your visits make that area a shrine to you?”
Eilistraee shook her head. “It does not, although Laelra and other high priestesses of mine would disagree.” She grinned. “If every place I stood became a shrine, you’d have to give up your bedroom and bathroom.”
“And some drow would eventually show up and proclaim I’d have to move out of my caves and somewhere else so she could be the high priestess of this new shrine,” Iain said dryly.
“No, I’d just anoint you as the high priestess of my shrine,” Eilistraee said with a smirk.
“You know, I think my life is already interesting enough,” Iain muttered. He turned towards the door of the vault that led into his bedroom. “Let’s see if you like avocado.”
***
“I wasn’t sure if I should believe you when you told me she was not really a drow child,” Zilvra said as she watched Xune, “but no child could eat as much as she has and live.”
“Xune is a gold dragon hatchling who was born last night. For the next few days she will be eating almost constantly. After that she will seem to eat less.”
Zilvra looked up at him. “Seem?”
“She will broaden out her diet to include things she finds as she starts experimenting with what she wants to eat. That can include things like tree branches or just the bark of certain trees, as well as rocks and ores.” Iain sighed. “I’d finally gotten the pecan trees completely recovered from when Tagiss set them on fire during her first visit. With my luck she’ll eat a couple of them.”
“What is Tagiss going to say about Xune’s presence?”
Xune looked up from demolishing the large piece of roast on her plate and swallowed hard to force down what she’d been chewing. Iain had managed to slow down the rate at which she ate with the simple expedient of making her use silverware to navigate food to her mouth. Actually making her chew everything she ate was still an ongoing project. “She cannot say anything. I am here because I want to be here and she is not my mother. The only thing she might say about the situation is that Iain is not the right person for me to accept as my father, but all she can do is try to convince me that she is correct. She cannot force me to repudiate him. She cannot force me to leave here and she cannot kill me.”
Zilvra’s eyebrows rose. “She cannot kill you?”
“If Father is willing to let an adult gold dragoness get close enough to me to converse with me without us having to shout at each other, he already has plans in place to stop her if she tries to harm me.” She smiled at Iain, “Is that not correct, Father?”
Iain looked surprised and Zilvra smiled. “Well, Iain?”
“I wasn’t aware I’d been that transparent,” Iain said quietly. “I need to start thinking of you as being in Ganieda’s league, at least intelligence wise.”
Xune just smiled beatifically at him before picking up another chunk of roast with her fork and shoving it into her mouth.
Quick Bite watched from where she was sitting next to Solnys. “Master, do we need to obey your daughter the way we obey you?”
“Yes,” Xune said in muffled tones.
“No,” Iain replied firmly. “Xune is not in the command hierarchy, at least not yet. Until she is, which will not be until I say she is, out loud where you can hear it and you can see me while I say it and not in a note she presents to you and claims I wrote, she cannot issue orders.”
Iain had announced that the kobold tribe had gotten large enough that Quick Bite’s responsibilities as their leader had grown to the point of being a full time job and he’d removed her from the mining team she’d led. He’d also done the same thing to Solnys because her job leading the dwarves had grown as more dwarves had been rescued. And now it would grow in a new way since at least two of the dwarven women were pregnant. It had resulted in both Quick Bite and Solnys being available for dinner on a regular basis.
“Yes, master.”
Iain looked around the table. “Any other questions?”
Solnys nodded. “Sir, I am being questioned about the necessity of the,” she hesitated and sounded out the word that was not in elven, the language they were speaking, “prenatal,” she smiled with her success as she switched back to elven, “examinations you had me schedule for them with you.”
“I don’t suppose ‘because Iain says so’ is good enough,” Iain asked teasingly.
Solnys recognized the tone and smiled. “It is for the women, sir, but their males are not happy that you’ll be examining them while they’re wearing such a flimsy gown.”
Iain just shook his head. “They’re already pregnant. What do they think I’ll be doing, swapping out their baby for mine?” He grimaced when Solnys’ eyes widened slightly. “No, that’s not possible.” She visibly relaxed. “I am their doctor right now because nobody else here is a priestess except Zilvra, who has other responsibilities. They will get regular exams by a trained healing priestess until they deliver. Dwarves sometimes have problems with pregnancy as well as with delivery and I want to make sure they and their babies stay healthy until after birth.” He smiled thinly. “And I will be certifying that midwives really know how to deliver babies, especially babies that run into some kind of difficulty during the delivery.” His eyes narrowed at a memory. “Shaking the woman by the legs to move a stuck baby is not what works best for either the mother or the baby.”
“Midwives are very jealous of their prerogatives,” Zilvra pointed out. “And a man is not going to be welcome intruding on their secrets.”
“There is nothing secret about delivering a baby,” Iain snapped. “What is a secret is how a midwife can hide the truth to keep from being found out a fraud when a baby dies needlessly in her supposed care.”
“Have you delivered a baby,” Xune asked.
“I have delivered several babies,” Iain replied. “Some of them were easier births than others, but no child I have delivered died during the delivery.” He looked at Solnys. “Is there someone claiming to be a midwife among the dwarves?”
“Naldryn is,” Sonlys said in a small voice. Naldryn had joined the clan almost a year before. “She delivered babies among the slaves for her mistress’ house. According to her, most of them lived.”
“I’m not going to kill her,” Iain kept his voice soothing. “I’m not even going to threaten her. But I am going to talk to her and I am going to test her knowledge. If, in my opinion, she isn’t sufficiently knowledgeable and if she isn’t willing to learn from me to correct that deficiency, she will not be a midwife here.”
Zilvra frowned. “I am not trying to breed discord between you and Solnys, but what if Naldryn refuses to stop being a midwife?” Solnys gave her a curious look and the drow nodded. “She strikes me as a woman a lot like my mother and completely convinced in the correctness of her position.”
Solnys stared at the wall for a few seconds before turning to Iain. “Zilvra is right. Sometimes Naldryn refuses to admit she might be wrong.”
“I have not had to punish someone for breaking our laws yet,” Iain said quietly. “If she is the first and a baby dies because of her disobedience, I will be fair but fairness after disobeying me and then murdering a child during it will not mean that I will have many options when I sentence her.”
“If a baby dies during delivery, can you prove murder,” Zilvra asked curiously.
“If I order her not to deliver any babies and she does and it dies, it starts out as murder.”
“Dwarves should lay eggs like kobolds do,” Quick Bite said. “It is much easier.”
“Be that as it may,” Iain replied, “they don’t lay eggs and we have to live with that fact. Is there anything else?” Nobody said anything. “Good, let’s enjoy dinner.”
***
Naldryn’s eyes opened and she sat up from where she’d been sleeping inside the chair shaped teacher. She yawned and stretched. “Sir, when are you going to put me to sleep for these lessons you say I need?”
Iain smiled at her. “Breach birth.”
She blinked. “The concern is that the umbilical cord will be compressed during the delivery and will deprive the baby’s brain of oxygen. It may be possible to turn the baby so the head presents as it should. If not, I call for you and you will use surgery or your magic.”
“As you should have guessed,” Iain said, “you’ve already been asleep for two hours.”
She smiled. “There is so much I have learned. Sir, will I ever learn the surgical side of delivering a baby?”
“You might.”
Naldryn nodded. “Sir, would your goddess accept a dwarf as a worshipper?”
“Of course she would. She loves everyone.”
“What about as a priestess?” She gave him a shy smile. “I knew a worshipper of Eilistraee back in Guallidurth. She was a low ranking soldier in my house and was the nicest drow I’d ever known there. I didn’t recognize the symbol that she accidentally revealed once was that of the Lady Dancer. I only recognized it when I saw yours and Zilvra’s and it reminded me of hers. I just knew she was nicer than the others.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared one day. I never saw her again. I later overheard two house servants talking about how she had been discovered as a traitor to the house and had drawn the unwelcome attention of the priestesses to them. They said she’d run away and was being hunted for being a traitor.”
Iain nodded. “That story happens too often. Hopefully she escaped, but usually that’s not how that chase ends. That’s why we’re working to save people like her, because they need help and we can provide it.” He thought for a moment. “You don’t like Zilvra either, do you?”
The dwarf shrugged. “She’s a drow. I know she’s not like the others, but I see her and I see every drow who whipped me for their own entertainment.” Her face blanked in a way that reminded Iain of his when he was remembering his torture at the hands of Aglaii. “The snake heads bit me and the pain was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”
Iain touched the dwarf on the hand, noting the fact that her muscles were taut and her hand trembled slightly beneath his fingertips. “Come back to me, Naldryn.” She blinked and focused on him. “I’ve been tortured too and those memories are not something healthy to dwell on. You are here and you are now and you are safe.”
Naldryn slowly relaxed. “Were you tortured by drow, sir?”
Iain shook his head. “I was not. My torturer skinned me alive and healed me over and over so she could continue with her entertainment.” He held up his arm. “Like you, the worst scars are on the inside.”
“But you understand, sir?”
He smiled bitterly. “I wish I couldn’t, but I do, just like you.” She nodded and turned her hand over to squeeze his. “Considering your feelings for the drow, you need to remember that Eilistraee is also a drow.”
Naldryn nodded. “I know she is, sir. But when I picture her, I see the one who was nice to me. I heard Zilvra say a prayer to her once and I said it to her later when I was alone and it made me feel good.”
“Then I’ll teach you how to pray to her more and I’ll teach you her rites that you will need to observe. We’ll meet twice a week. Later, if you are still interested, we can explore whether or not you want to dedicate yourself to her in a more profound way and become a priestess.” He smiled. “Just understand this, Zilvra has been a priestess longer than I have. She would be our high priestess, if we had one, and you are going to have to stop looking at her as an enemy.”
“It’s hard, sir. She has the accent of the nobles and she talks like one.”
“She is from a noble house,” Iain pointed out. “It doesn’t matter, though, because she is clan now. Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll start your lessons tomorrow. In a few weeks, Zilvra will sit in on some of them and later she may teach you while I’m there and can monitor the lessons. Eventually, we both may take turns teaching you, but this way you can start getting used to a drow being around and not thinking of her as an enemy.”
“I will try hard, sir.”
“Yes, you will, and you will succeed.”
***
Year Five
Zilvra eased forward until she was next to Iain but still under the cover of the trees. She looked at the scene visible in front of them before glancing at him. “Those are hill giants?”
“Yes. They moved into the valley a few days ago.”
“This was all forest before they moved in?” The area in front of them showed nearly a dozen acres of stumps and shattered trees. Four hundred feet away, well into the clearing, the giants had built tremendous crude log huts and a huge fire roared in the center of the camp. Tree trunks pressed into service as spits sat above the fire. On them, deer and mountain sheep roasted.
Iain nodded. “Hill giants can be incredibly destructive. We’ll have to pull up the stumps and replant all that acreage after they’re gone.”
“I count at least twenty giants,” Zilvra noted quietly. “Mostly males, but some females and perhaps some children.”
“There are twenty six of them. Sixteen of them are adult males, five of them are adult females and five of them are young adults, four of which are male. There aren’t any infants or immature children.” Iain’s eyes were cold as they surveyed the camp. “This place is rich with resources for them to plunder and they won’t move on until they’ve turned the valley into a wasteland and eaten everyone and everything they can catch. We’ll have to wipe them out.” He fell silent until Zilvra nudged him. “What?”
“I am not trained with the bow and you are not shooting at them. They aren’t going to wipe themselves out and I can’t kill them from here.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking about the giants.”
Zilvra frowned. “What suddenly became more important than the upcoming battle with the odds so overwhelmingly against us?”
Iain chuckled. “Those giants are doomed. They just don’t know it yet. We both know that they are and I’d moved on to something more important.” He nodded. “After this battle, we are going to have to have a talk. I’ll need Quick Bite and Solnys there too.”
“Iain, I think we need to focus on the giants.”
Iain raised his bow, drew an arrow from his bow quiver and knocked it. “You want me to drag them this way so you can help with the fight, right?”
“Can you do that?”
“Let’s find out.” He drew, aimed and released. Zilvra watched as the arrow shot towards a female giant who was standing sentry and took her in the right knee. There was a sharp noise, like a breaking stick, and her knee exploded, severing the limb. The giant screamed and toppled sideways.
Iain had continued shooting arrows at a rate of one a second. Each one hit a different giant in the leg, belly or lower back, depending on what target was easily available. “We’ve been located,” he said as he released another arrow at a giant who was pointing his club at them and yelling. Iain’s arrow took him in the groin and his bellows turned into screams of agony. “Took them long enough but hill giants are the morons of the Ordning because they’re actually morons.”
“Why are you shooting them where you are,” Zilvra asked as she lifted her sword and stepped up beside Iain.
Iain kept shooting at the giants as they charged towards them. Each shot hit in the knee or the groin. A few took an arrow in the throat instead. “Even with my bow, it can sometimes take many arrows to kill a hill giant. They can be incredibly tough. But, in many cases I can cripple one with a single arrow. The more I cripple, the fewer can come at us at once. And they move slower when they’re crippled, so I can put more arrows into them before they reach us.” His bow vanished and he drew his swords. “Time to dance.”
Zilvra cast a blade barrier, placing the wall of spinning blades in a position to protect their right side and flank. “I’ll take the right.” Together they advanced to meet the giants.
Iain Grey
Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Zareen - Nightmare
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Marguerite – Unicorn
Scheherazade – Dread Wolf
Irena – Sanctuary Goth
Lynn – Dire Wolf
Rosemary – Mistoffeles
Dianthus – Elfqueen
Candace – Nurse Joy (kami)
Bellona – Dragonqueen
Elizabeth - Vampire
Outer Clan
Golden Cloud – equine unicorn
Arianrhod -Fey Goblin Female
Satellite Clan
74 male Goblins
89 female Goblins
Queendom / Outer Clan
73 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
14 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria – Slutton
Rhea Silvia – Chimera
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Dabria (was Loviatar) – Dark Queen
Omisha (was Hel) – Demoness
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
Helesatra Vyshaan half pit fiend (fiend) half sun elf. Princess of the Vyshaantar Empire.
Talyl – drow commoner
Zarza – drow commoner
Sabrae – drow commoner
Sintree – drow commoner
Alyfaen Dinaen – drow, matron of House Dinaen
Phaerxae Dinaen – drow, former matron of House Dinaen, mother of Alyfaen
Selsharra of Evermeet
Mother Children
Vanessa
Myrna (Age 4)
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist (Age 3)
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami Sama (Age 6)
Seraphina: Megami Sama
Miram: Angel (Age 5)
Zareen:
Caltha: Nightmare (Age 0)
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare
Sofia
Anna: Ria
Esmerelda: Ria
Monica Chambers
James: Jamie Harris kid (Age 2)