V3Ch71-Cold Comfort

The morning after the wedding night was full of physical closeness, though not nearly as much erotic intimacy as the previous night.

Everyone was exhausted and sore already.

Dero claimed she couldn’t walk and demanded breakfast in bed.

Vidalia had to stop the morning blowjob she initiated, because her jaw ached from all the things she’d done with it the previous night. She coaxed Kistana into taking her place and then cheered her on when the catgirl swallowed Tybalt’s seed.

Victoria and Mariella both just wanted to lie cuddling Tybalt between them.

He was happy with that. He hadn’t declined the affection from Vidalia and Kistana, because he felt it would set a bad precedent to say “no” in this arena, but in truth, he was a bit sore down there.

And he knew there was more than one way to show affection.

“I think that, as long as we’re all still alive and free, we should make time for regular outings together,” Tybalt suggested. “Both fun time as a group, like we had before I went to meet with the high elves, and one on one time with me and each of you, like I had with Vicky before we, um…”

“That was nice,” Victoria said, her expression turning a bit dreamy.

All the women readily agreed that this was a good idea and should be the second highest priority after being ready to make war, and several suggestions were thrown around about what kinds of activities would be good for these outings.

The light tone shifted when Mariella cleared her throat and gave Vidalia a sort of meaningful look.

“We have something to tell you,” the two pregnant women said, almost in unison.

“Something good, I hope,” Tybalt said.

“I spoke to my father last night,” Mariella replied. “Vidalia helped.”

“Oh, is he sending us a late wedding gift?” he asked. He regretted the words as soon as they’d left his lips. He would have found them insensitive in the extreme if they’d been spoken about an estranged parent of his.

But Mariella just wrinkled her nose.

“His wedding gift is that he doesn’t seem very keen on putting your head on a spike outside the town walls anymore,” she replied after a moment. “It was a good conversation. He wants to meet our child.”

“That’s lovely.” He squeezed her.

“Good.” She gave him a slightly stern look. “I hope you’ll be respectful toward him when and if we actually meet him.”

Tybalt sighed. “Along with all of the other in-laws I’ve signed up for, sure.”

“Hey, most of us are orphans,” Vidalia interjected.

“Yeah, only Mariella and the Princess still have living parents,” Dero agreed. “Or… undying ones. Parents who should have probably given up clinging to power centuries ago.”

“Anyway…” Victoria said, giving Dero a little look, as if to say, Remember, Liora is part of the family now…

“Anyway, he also let slip that the capital is pretty lightly defended right now,” Mariella said. “General Pius has taken his army to deal with Ragga’s forces in the border region with the Discontented Lands, Dad is at the other border with the Walian Empire, and we already know that General Caracalla is coming here.”

“That… is good news. Assuming we can actually deal with Caracalla.”

He’ll be the only big obstacle between me and Enh, then…

“There is a piece of bad news that comes with that,” she said. “My Dad mentioned offhandedly that he knew you were a necromancer. The whole inner circle of the government has to know, if he knows when he’s not even coming here to fight you. So we’ve lost the element of surprise in that respect.”

He nodded. “That’s fine. Along with the news about General Pius, that just tells us we have to move fast, before they can make additional preparations. We have to think about how to cut off Enh from supplies and besiege the city before it can get any of these soldiers back from the southern borders where they’ve been sent.”

“It’s a long way from either of those borders to Enh, right?” Dero asked, eyes looking off to the side as she tried to remember.

“Much further than we are from Enh,” Mariella agreed.

“That’s not counting the time it takes your father to actually deal with the Walians, or that it takes General Pius to figure out that Ragga’s not over there anymore,” Vidalia said.

“We should have a conversation with Samara again,” Tybalt said quietly, looking at the foxgirl. “Figure out more about the timeline we should expect Caracalla to arrive on. We could pull off something incredible if we can get the timing right. Quickly defeat him and then pivot to the capital…”

“You should use your new horde to destroy the agricultural centers closest to Enh,” Victoria said quietly, sitting up and stretching.

The others stared at her, except for Tybalt, who was just sitting there, thinking.

That’s not a bad idea at all.

“A horde of ogres?” Mariella said, speaking through a lump in her throat. “Wouldn’t they be… indiscriminate?”

“That’s what ogres are known for,” Dero said. She winked. “When you want wanton violence done right!”

The fire mage paled slightly. “These are people we mean to rule, Tybalt,” she said quietly. “You’ll put the fear of the gods in them, and perhaps that’s constructive… or perhaps you’ll make enemies you can never pacify, not with a hundred favors and bribes.”

“You can’t be enemies with the dead,” said Kistana, who had been lying there quietly, half-asleep for much of this conversation. She turned a sympathetic look toward Mariella. “Remember, we didn’t ask for this fight. They brought it to us.”

“It’s basically a necessity,” Victoria said. “I overheard the Mayor talking right as you were about to begin fighting, after Dero announced that the winner would become leader of the loser’s forces. He was sweating, swearing to himself, asking his advisors if there were deeper reserves of food they could access. They’ve been able to feed our tribesmen, but the addition of several thousand ogres - more than tripling the number of living mouths to feed, plus increasing the amount of food per person - would starve Whadesgart in a matter of weeks. If we keep them here, the town is going to have to start making some tough choices. It could spark some actual rebellion, or worse.”

“Why hasn’t he come to me about that?” Tybalt asked, frowning.

“By now, he’ll have heard what happened to the last mayor to defy you,” Kistana said with a little smile. That Mayor had been relieved of his throat in part because of disparaging words about Kistana herself, and she was undoubtedly thinking of how romantic that had been.

“We can’t have a rebellion here,” Vidalia said, taking Mariella’s hand and giving her a pleading look. “This is home now, for a lot of our people. It’s the most civilized place they’ve ever had the chance to live, and it’s also a convenient base for operations against the Kingdom.”

“Couldn’t we bring over some food from the mountains?” Mariella asked desperately. “We still have the teleportation circles.”

“It wouldn’t be enough to make a difference,” said Victoria. “Our people were practically starving out there. It’s just sandy desert or rocky mountain soil. Hardly enough land to subsist on for our small number of people, and since nearly everyone moved out here, it’s been going untended.

“Well…” The fire mage’s voice trailed off.

“I’ll instruct them to avoid unnecessary casualties,” Tybalt said quietly. He knew it would be cold comfort. Ogres weren’t really known for their delicacy in these matters. Both he and Mariella had experience dealing with them.

“Let me go with them,” she said. “To provide some restraint - maybe a fireball or two - to keep them in line as needed. To keep them from engaging in the worst impulses that we know ogres are prone to…”

“Out of the question,” the necromancer replied instantly.

“But—”

He poked her belly, and she stopped talking and looked down at his finger pressed against her bump.

“No,” he said firmly. “I’d rather that twenty thousand civilians be roasted and eaten alive than that you and our child be in danger again. If Ragga says she can restrain them, I’ll believe her and send her off with them with a clear mind. This is the best move possible.”

She sighed, then nodded, still frowning, not looking at him.

Of course there are some repercussions to such rapid expansion, he thought regretfully. One of them is that violent foraging becomes a necessity. We’re just lucky that in this case, that dovetails with our existing goals. Mariella, there is no warfare without undeserving victims…

“I’ll make sure the blacksmiths know they need to put a rush on the weapons order for the ogres,” Dero said.

“Right, thanks,” Tybalt said. “I’ll summon Ragga and her closest… advisors for a conversation.” He looked at Mariella. “Where I will emphasize restraint.”

“And where I will also be in the room,” the fire mage replied, teeth clenched.

No one argued.

Most of the rest of the morning was relaxed. Some of the tension in the air between Mariella, Victoria, and Tybalt went away. An undead messenger requested the Bloodlady’s presence in the Mayor’s house, more undead servants brought the harem breakfast in bed, and after eating and spending some time lounging, the time for the meeting quickly arrived.

“Thank you for welcome into your home,” Ragga said as she entered, ducking so that her head didn’t knock against the door frame. A wolfman, a human, and Andric all filed in behind her.

“It’s a pleasure to have you all,” Tybalt replied, not bothering to clarify that this was a temporary residence.

“I am Wolflord Karel,” said the wolfman. He bent in a practiced bow, grasped Tybalt by the hand, and kissed Lord Mudo’s ring.

“I’m a bandit lord,” said the human, who looked a little shifty to Tybalt. “The name’s Reddick.”

“You’ll already know who I am, I suppose,” Tybalt said. “This is my wife, Mariella.”

The fire mage nodded to each visitor in turn, as the Wolflord kissed her hand, the human bowed low, and Ragga simply nodded and smiled.

“You wanted to see us about something?” Andric asked.

“Yes,” Tybalt said, looking them eye to eye, one by one. “Unfortunately, you have about five thousand in your horde, I think. Mostly ogres, if I understand correctly? We’ve realized that’s too many for this town to feed. To avoid starvation, I need you to take a small amount of provisions and go south. I’ll send a couple of my talking undead with you, to keep us in communication so that we can meet up and attack the capital city together soon. Here in Whadesgart, we’re near the southern end of the desert. After a few days of walking, you should reach more fertile lands. Raze every town you run into, destroy every cultivated field. Eat all the crops and livestock you can take, and scatter the civilians. Let them join you if they’re willing. The more soldiers we have, the merrier. But, um, I also need your horde to refrain from eating people. We mean to rule over the humans, and they will never surrender if they hear that our side is eating their kind.”

“I try to keep them from doing that already,” Ragga said, shaking her head. “Ogres bad at listening.”

“Tell them if any of them defy you, they’ll be burned alive when you regroup with us,” Mariella said in a quiet, deathly serious voice. She raised one hand, and flames instantly surrounded it. “Ask around, and people will tell you that I have singlehandedly burned down multiple towns in this desert. Killing some ogres who couldn’t control their stomachs shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.”

“My wife has my complete support,” Tybalt said, forcing a smile.

She’s taking this very seriously, and it’s hard to blame her, honestly.

“We understand,” Ragga said seriously. “You would not have the chance to burn them.” She thumped a meaty fist into her palm. “Ragga takes care of her own.”

“Then your forces can leave as soon as the blacksmiths finish their first order of weapons?” Tybalt asked.

“We are always ready to ride,” the Wolflord said confidently.

Ragga looked at him as if annoyed. Tybalt just hoped that there wouldn’t be conflict within his ranks already.

There was some more conversation about details. Ragga mostly let her advisers handle that, while she focused on flexing her muscles to look strong and petting Andric’s fluffy fox ears. Tybalt found that quietly hilarious, but fortunately, Andric seemed to be enjoying the attention.

The necromancer called on two Beastkings - Rickert and Henry, a chthonic mage and a huntsmaster - along with Baldwin to accompany the horde. Hopefully, that would resolve the matter, and they would manage to stay in line as well as meeting him and his core army once they made it to the outskirts of Enh. If they made it.