21- Why Is It You Don’T Kneel

"We have to take them unawares," Hellera told us, before I could say literally the same words.

It was the worst possible scenario, and that froze my guts. Through Jerry's eyes, I could now see the three males approaching. One was a bald male about six and a half feet tall, well built, holding a gigantic spiked club over one shoulder. He had a fur vest wrapped around his back, but that was the largest item of clothing. He had a banana hammock, which turned out to be a g-string up the back, and a pair of knee-high boots with fur lining.

This one had only two marks of power visible, which surprised me. We had counted five on the lizard man before they faded on his dead body.

The next was another tiefling, this one purple of skin and fur, with two thick ram's horns emerging from his temples and curling around where his ears sat. This one was fully nude save for a shoulder sash of pockets, and he also had two visible marks.

"There's no strutting around showing off your tail feathers and bragging about how you will win and your enemy will die. They should have no warning," Hellera had said.

"They likely work as a team," I told them. "If they can form up a defense we're in trouble."

The last one was a dwarf, and for the first time I saw a male in full clothing. He was squat, about four and a half feet, but much wider than a short human ordinarily would be. He was wearing armor and carried an array of weapons: a hammer with a pick end, several swords, a belt of throwing daggers, hand axes, and a huge long sword strapped to his back. Because he wore armor, there was no telling how many females he'd screwed out of their powers to add to his collection.

They stopped at the opening of the clearing, with the pyramid of stone on their right, my trailer on their left, and all seven of us arrayed around the camp.

I'd dressed up the women so their marks wouldn't be visible.

The human immediately fixated on Hellera, dressed in a frumpy men's t-shirt and a midnight blue pleated skirt, while other two were scanning the entirety of the camp: cook fire area, camp chairs, plates and dishes over in a pile, along with the camp shower I had in the truck for this kind of emergency.

The girls liked hot water a whole lot, and I heartily agreed.

Their eyes passed over the girls, and me, and then back over the rest of the girls, and back over me, then to the truck.

The human paused and inclined his head toward Hellera. "I recognize you. You're one of Giskennen's, eh?"

"I was," Hellera retorted. "Giskennen fell to the Drifter's power."

"Oh yeah? And where's that Drifter now?"

"He's dead," Velleth said. The blue skinned elf had chosen a bright orange tie dye patterned t-shirt and a burnt orange pair of yoga pants that I very much enjoyed looking at. "The lizardman with the great beasts came through and they killed one another."

The three men stood there a moment, absorbing this lie and processing it. They glanced between each other as well, as if to see what the others thought. Was it possible the other petty Master with the dinosaurs could've taken out the Drifter? The one who had killed Giskennen, a Master who actually commanded real estate in Surrek?

"What are you wearing?"

"The Drifter came through with his wagon full of goods," Velleth continued. "The other world has strange clothes."

"Comfortable though," Auralla added. She was in a Christmas sweater and bright red yoga pants, with the sweater stopping mid-butt.

The human squinted. "I don't recognize you. You're not one of Giskennen's."

"She was captured by Giskennen," Velleth blurted, "before the Drifter ambushed him." She pointed at Avya, then at me. "These two as well."

"Why is it you don't kneel?" the tiefling demanded.

"Why would we kneel before weaklings such as yourselves?" I asked, my voice completely changed by the

Trickster's Mark

illusion spell.

The human stalked over towards me, fury boiling up into his stupid face. "What in the nine hells did you just say to me?" The hammer he was holding slid off his shoulder and landed with a thud into the soft earth.

"Come now. You don't have a district. You're just lackeys doing someone else's work for them. Like you'd even—"

This earned me a tier in Taunt, which was tied to Fierce.

I didn't even get to finish before he went and telegraphed his move in the most boneheaded way possible. He first roared. That was his mistake, that and leaping forward a step or two, which gave him the leverage to yank his big ass maul out of the dirt and begin the process of swinging it at me.

He certainly didn't expect a little girl to step forwards and claw his belly open, then breathe fire directly into his face while the illusion peeled away. His eyes bulged, and what was even better was the two guys behind him couldn't see exactly what had happened. They just knew things were going bad in a hurry.

Velleth immediately shifted form, and became an illusion double of me, then bolted with enhanced speed from the

Swiftwind

aura. That dragged their attention away from Fayeen, Dallinya and Auralla, who all grabbed up their weapons and took the fight to the invaders.

As for me, I made sure with this guy, first by raking him across the throat, then kicking him straight in the balls while he held onto his burning head. The head of his maul thudded back to earth, and the lead human guy fell back onto his ass, screaming bloody murder.

The tiefling reached forward and his hand buzzed with magic. A moment later a lightning bolt had leapt out of his hand and taken Velleth off her feet, spinning her away. She landed bonelessly on the ground, herself again. Before he could finish, or start up a second one, Jerry leapt out of concealment and latched onto his arm and shoulder.

He joined the human in screaming.

Truffy was also there, but just before the tiefling's body could be punctured by a thousand quills, a ball of white force enveloped the dwarf and tiefling. Dozens of four foot quills stuck into this force field. Several arrows and one javelin were already embedded in the dwarf's armor from Auralla, Dallinya and Fayeen, who took immediate evasive action before another one of those lightning bolts could fry them.

I charged forward, zigged once, then slammed Giskennen's axe into the force field. The field itself had destroyed Jerry by cutting half his head off, but Jerry had dragged the tiefling far enough that the tiefling's head was also sheared off at the forehead. My jiddara dissolved into a puff of magic, while the tiefling bled and died. The brutal axe stuck in the force bubble, but I yanked it free and found a large crack in it, like it was made of glass.

"You're alone now," I told the dwarf. "Surrounded. Surrender."

He got an eyeful of the situation. Auralla and Avya had now rushed over to see to Velleth, but Dallinya, Hellera, and Fayeen all leveled weapons against him. A second later his eyes shot out wide, and a knife appeared from his throat. He wasn't long for this world after that.

It turned out the

Drifter's Mark

didn't code each person with the exact same power. I noted Dallinya's arm disappear into a cloudy teleportation field. Both her hand and long knife reappeared directly behind the dwarf's head.

"No surrender," Hellera growled.

Okay. Okay.

We turned to Velleth, who was propped up against Auralla's body, and wincing in serious pain.

If my Surrek strategy was going to succeed, we needed the trickster for the future. More importantly, I liked Velleth. She was quiet and smart, spoke only after careful thought, and made good points.

I glanced to Auralla, and was relieved to find her smiling confidently. She had applied the salve, in time it seemed, and Velleth was smiling weakly up at us. The wound looked bad, a searing black explosion on her collarbone near her shoulder, and it had utterly fried the sweater, but Auralla had sliced that off with practiced ease, and it flopped completely open.

"One of the first things we're doing once we get to Surrek is buying healing potions and storage for each of you."

A lot of looks were exchanged, and I could see the thoughts bouncing through all their heads without using

Empath's Mark

: spend money? On us?

I met Velleth's eyes. "And you… you performed perfectly." Velleth's face twitched painfully, but finally she smiled. "All of you, same. This went better than I'd hoped."

Avya was the first to jump on me, wrapping her entire body around my leg and snuggling her face against my thigh. Fayeen was next to embrace me, this time from behind. Dallinya came in as well, and Auralla reached out to place a hand on my leg, though she didn't get up for obvious reasons.

I considered Hellera, who stared at them, then locked eyes with me, and I nodded at her. Her plan had been sound, and aside from a freak lightning strike we'd come out of it without a hitch. Losing Jerry was temporary, but wouldn't be great if we got attacked again. She stared me down for a few seconds before losing the contest and bending down to check on Velleth.

We made sure Auralla's healing salve was working, then got Velleth up into one of the cushy buckets to recover. Velleth aside, the girls were buzzing with their success. Dallinya's portal strike had gotten in behind the dwarf's magic defenses, the flame breath had taken the first one completely by surprise, and the idiots had been completely fooled by the illusions. Now was the time to break out the four beers from the mini fridge and have a little celebration.

Fayeen's hands drifted down my midsection and under the front flap of my leather skirt. "Do we have time to celebrate?" I was realizing that Auralla probably designed it this way on purpose. Avya had the same thought, because her hand snaked under the skirt and started fondling me.

We'd taken down four Masters, and we were still just about a hundred miles from Surrek. It would be a good four hours' slow, leisurely drive, but I was confident we could make it with a few leg-stretching stops before dark.

"As much as I'd like that, which is very much, we need to move. Let's take a moment once we get closer, and make sure there are no more threats."

Dallinya hugged me tightly before letting go, while Fayeen licked the rim of my ear before stepping away. Avya had to be pulled off my leg (and my dick) and glared up at me, before she burst out laughing and got in the damn truck.

Velleth reclined in the passenger bucket, while the others packed in on the sleeper bed uncomfortably. Truffy still sat atop the trailer and kept a lookout.

We made good time, and most of the way Auralla sat between the seats to check on Velleth and keep a distracting hand on my leg. The others were abuzz with our easy victories over those pathetic petty Masters, what with their two Marks or five Marks. They'd done the math: six ladies equalled twelve powers between just them. Fayeen was the first to voice her astonishment with Velleth for being able to use her magic after so long without. All four of them had been unable to access anything for so long that they felt rusty. Avya considered this strange, and entered a long conversation with Fayeen about the feeling of having her magic back.

"I don't know how to explain… it's like I suddenly remembered how to eat again, after I couldn't eat for years."

By our second rest stop Velleth was looking significantly better. The rest of them wanted to test out their magic and show each other what they could do, which I didn't shut down. We had plenty of time to make it to Surrek, with only about fifty miles to go. We still had two days to get there.

The terrain had changed though. I spotted the first farm house a good mile off. Now that the landscape rose and fell in gently sloping meadows and hills, I could see the ground had been turned into a patchwork quilt that felt distinctly familiar from home. Planting was happening, so most of the farms still appeared brown or yellow with scattered straw.

The farmhouse itself was little more than a stone tower two stories high, with a conical roof. A large stone barn sat nearby.

For a while, the girls got up into the trailer and teleported around, shot fire out, ran ultra fast, and Velleth turned them into each other. It was much safer than just parading around magic powers in view of the first hint of civilization, but I didn't like constraining them.

I joined Auralla and Truffy atop the trailer, and kissed the top of her head. "You did great as well."

"They all did."

"I'm lucky to have them."

"And lucky you convinced Hellera or Dallinya not to murder you. That power she has from your Drifter ability… wow."

I'd been thinking the same thing. I had to trust that they wouldn't want their powers removed, that they were better off with me instead of some random Master from this place, who would just render them useless husks for the taking month after month.

"You know…" she said, and cocked a suggestive eye at me.

"What? The yoga pants are really comfortable?"

She stood and shimmied them down her hips. "They are actually. But you know what I like better?"

It turned out what she liked better was riding me on the top of the trailer while I grabbed a breast in each hand and teased her nipples. She'd immediately first squatted over me and entered a quick sixty-nine session, but was eager to get me inside of her as soon as we were both lubricated. Now I watched as my entire length filled her over and over again, coated in a sheen of love juices.

"I didn't have this yesterday," she moaned.

"I missed you too."

"You had the others." Aww, it was cute to see a little pouty jealousy, but it was also something I'd have to think about addressing if and when I wasn't killed before entering the city, and actually got down to the business of running a district, whatever that entailed. I tried to conceive of a plan to satisfy them… one a day in my bed? Two a day? If Hellera stayed out, I could sleep with two of them every three days.

Auralla's tight body brought me back to the present. The sight of her was enough to get me boiling. The bare outlines of six pack abs were showing again and again with each time she rose up, and from this angle her breasts were absolute perfection. None of the others were larger than Auralla, who was (at a guess) a large C or small D.

"Don't forget about me," she whispered, and twisted her hips in a new circular way I quite liked.

"Don't you worry," I grunted, and slid my hands all over her. Every inch, over her shoulders and down her sides, around to her ass and to her calf muscles and back up.

"The others aren't my OG," I told her.

"Ohhh…" She shuddered with orgasm. "I don't know what that means."

I rolled her over without breaking our bond and leaned in to kiss her deeply. "It means you're my first, and nothing will change that."

She groaned again. "Then give your OG some special love."

I kept pounding into her, listening to her appreciative moans, for a good ten minutes until we were discovered, by none other than the insatiable little monster Avya. I saw her face appear at the other end of the trailer, lifted up by Fayeen of course, and she quickly clambered up.

"You can't just start without telling me!" she declared. She insisted that I get. Out. Of. There. And when I reluctantly pulled out of Auralla, she licked my dick clean, and then latched on for a reproachful blowjob. Then she made sure she got a mouthful when I came. Auralla weakly slapped at her butt, "You can't have him any time you want," she complained. "Don't hog it all."

I had to wonder just what in the hell Bronze had done to the taste of my seed, but not right at that moment. At that moment I closed my eyes, groaned hard, and came for Avya.

And last but not least, she gave in to Auralla's complaints about sharing, and dribbled some of my essence down into Aura's open mouth.