Chapter 145: Catching Up

The first morning at the place that will eventually become our village starts before sunrise.

I wake up with Sarah curled against my left side and Hazel pressed against my right. Lucy, Amber and Lyra are still asleep nearby, so I carefully slip out of bed and leave the tent without waking anyone. The camp is already coming alive. Cooks are preparing breakfast, guards are changing shifts, and somewhere beyond the wagons axes are striking trees. After nearly seven weeks of traveling through the forest, hearing people work toward something permanent feels great. I walk toward the edge of camp and watch the construction workers getting started. The first stage is simple. We need to make this place safe before we worry about making it comfortable.

Lumberjacks are cutting down trees around the camp while carpenters trim and sort the usable timber. Other workers are digging holes for the heavy posts that will form the first defensive wall. Clearing the trees also gives the guards a much better view of anything approaching through the forest. We are roughly a thousand miles from the nearest city and surrounded by monsters. Houses can wait. I want a wall between my family, my slaves and whatever decides to come wandering out of the forest.

"You’re up early."

I turn and see Sarah walking toward me with one hand resting on her stomach.

"So are you."

"I woke up when you moved."

Her belly is impossible to miss now. Sarah is more than twenty weeks pregnant with quadruplets, and there is no hiding it even under her dress.

A lot has happened over the last several weeks.

After breakfast I find myself looking around at my women and thinking about just how much our family is about to grow. One thing has become very clear. Apparently Red Goblin pregnancies work differently from Green Goblin pregnancies. Green Goblins can have anywhere from three to five babies from a pregnancy, but every single woman who has become pregnant with my children so far is carrying exactly four. Even more interesting, all four babies in every pregnancy Lucy has checked are the same gender.

I don’t know if that is because I am a Primordial Red Goblin or if all Red Goblins reproduce that way. If it is a Red Goblin trait, my children might eventually have four babies every time too.

There is no way to know yet.

Sarah, Lucy, Lyra, Mary, Lisa, Laura, Ginger, Tala, Hazel, Miri, Helen, Elowen, Selene and Elara are all carrying boys.

Amber, Lilly, Nyx, Erin, Roux, Sandy, Karis, Alice, Ylva, Gemma, Shira and Cindy are all carrying girls.

That gives us twenty-six pregnancies Lucy has confirmed with her healer abilities.

One hundred four babies.

That is a lot of children.

There are also two more women who may add another eight babies to that number soon.

Bubbles and Aelin are both on day six of their turns. Lucy’s healer abilities can confirm a pregnancy on the eighth day after conception, so she can’t check them yet. Even after she confirms them, we will have to wait until the tenth day before she can determine the gender of their babies.The pregnancies are becoming increasingly obvious too. With four babies growing at once, every woman who has reached seven weeks is visibly pregnant. Sarah is the furthest along, followed by Lucy, Amber and Lyra.

Amber’s belly looks especially pronounced compared to Lucy and Lyra even though all three are at the same stage. Amber is smaller than them, so four babies take up a much larger portion of her little frame.

Hazel is beginning to have the same problem.

She isn’t quite seven weeks along yet, but her stomach is already noticeably rounded. Hazel and Amber are my smallest wives, and I suspect Hazel is going to look enormous by the time she reaches the same stage Amber is at now.

"You’re staring at my belly again." Hazel says.

"I was thinking."

"About my belly?"

"About all of them."

Hazel looks around at the pregnant women.

"That’s a lot of bellies."

"And they’re going to get bigger." Lucy says.

Hazel looks down at herself.

"That’s slightly terrifying."

Sarah laughs.

The turn rotations have continued during the long journey as well.

In the Emerald City combat group, Helen finished her turn before Ylva, and now Shira is on day fourteen of hers.

In the Sapphire City combat group, Karis finished her turn before Selene, and now Cindy is on day eleven of hers.

Alice finished her turn before Elara in the Emerald City orphanage group, and now Bubbles is on day six of hers.

Elowen finished her turn before Gemma in the Sapphire City orphanage group, and now Aelin is on day six of hers.

The armed children have been busy as well.

All of my adopted children who have classes and weapons are still acting as apprentices to the guard slaves. Every apprentice is assigned to one guard. The girls train and patrol with individual female guards while the boys train and patrol with individual male guards.

They are learning how to keep watch, move through the forest quietly, recognize monster tracks and react when something attacks. Since the caravan entered the forest, every one of them has gained another two or three levels.

I am proud of them.

After breakfast Sarah, Lucy, Amber, Lyra, Hazel, Ginger and Roux join me while I inspect the work around camp.

The guards have established patrols beyond the planned wall, and their apprentices follow their assigned mentors. I watch one of my daughters disappear between the trees behind her female guard mentor while one of my sons heads in another direction behind the male guard training him.

The wall itself is still more plan than wall, but progress is obvious. Trees have been cleared far enough away to create an open field of view. Thick trunks are being cut into posts while workers dig holes and mark the perimeter. Until enough of the wall is standing, the wagons are positioned along the most exposed portions of camp as a temporary barrier between my family, my slaves and the monsters outside.

Beyond the planned wall, the farmers are clearing a separate area for fields. They are removing brush, roots and stones so they can begin preparing the soil. The fields will remain outside the walls. There is no reason to waste protected space on farmland when we have an entire forest surrounding us. If monsters attack, everyone working in the fields can retreat behind the wall while the guards deal with the threat.

"This is going faster than I expected." Hazel says.

"We brought the people we need." I reply.

"And plenty of lumber." Ginger says, looking toward another falling tree.

"More than we could ever use."

Everyone laughs.

By afternoon the first upright posts are in place.

Seeing them makes everything feel real.

This isn’t another campsite.

This is the beginning of our home.

While I watch the workers, I remember a conversation from several weeks ago, shortly after our long journey through the forest began.

Three days after Sister Evelyn, the new head sister of the Sapphire City orphanage, contacted me, the communication artifact activated again.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Is this Mr. Red?" an unfamiliar woman asked.

"Yes."

"My name is Sister Meredith. I am the new head sister of the Emerald City orphanage."

"Nice to meet you, Sister Meredith."

"You as well, Mr. Red. The priestess told me to contact you. She gave me the communication artifact you left with her and the coin pouch."

"Good. The coin belongs to the orphanage. Use it for anything the orphanage needs."

"Yes, Mr. Red. The priestess explained that."

"How is everything there?"

"Very quiet. The priestess told us you took all of the children with you."

"I did. They’re with me in the western forest."

"There is something else I was told to inform you about."

"What?"

"There are nine new sisters at the Emerald City orphanage, including me."

"Nine?"

"Yes, Mr. Red."

That is an entire new group of sisters.

"Did the priestess explain my sponsorship and the rules?"

"Yes, Mr. Red. All nine of us understand."

"Good. You have the entire orphanage to yourselves for now, so get settled in. Use the coin if you need anything, and contact me if there is an emergency."

"We will."

"Tell the other sisters I said welcome."

"I will, Mr. Red."

The artifact went silent.

I still wonder what the nine new sisters are like.

I will eventually find out.

The next morning I wake shortly after sunrise and eat breakfast with my family before returning to the construction area.

More posts are standing than there were when we went to bed, and workers are already connecting the first sections of the wall with heavy timber.

The guards and their apprentices are back on patrol. The farmers are clearing more land outside the defensive perimeter, and the piles of usable lumber continue growing as more trees come down.

One of my sons walks past behind the male guard assigned to train him. He carries his weapon while listening closely as his mentor points toward tracks near the edge of the clearing. A short distance away, one of my daughters practices with her female guard mentor before their next patrol. They still have a lot to learn, but they are getting stronger.

Sarah steps beside me and slips her hand into mine.

"Happy?" she asks.

I look at the growing wall, the workers, my women and my children training nearby.

"Very."

She leans against my shoulder.

For years this part of the forest has belonged to monsters.

Now the first wall of our village is rising in the middle of it.

We stand together watching our future home take shape as the sun slowly climbs toward noon.