make a point of keeping up better security in the tower from now on. Keep
guards on the doors whenever they’re open, and make sure anyone who goes
into town has an escort. Cezary may try to get revenge somehow, so let’s not
give him any openings.”
“Can we count on Rain’s men for that?” Cerise asked from the
stairwell.
“Better not. They take their contract with the Baron pretty seriously. I
don’t think they’re going to end up coming with us, either, so we may need to
hire more men than originally planned.”
Avilla frowned. “That’s too bad. He seems like a good captain. Well,
we have three town guards, a couple of hunters and a veteran mercenary now.
Should we go for a dozen fighting men, or more?”
I considered the size of the hover-barge, and the volume of supplies I’d
like to have room for. “I think twelve will do. I don’t want to make things too
crowded. Oh, and we definitely need gloves and good boots for everyone if
we can manage it.”
“Of course. And liveried clothing, and proper bedding, and tents… oh,
unless you’re going to do something about shelter?”
“I’m going to put walls and a roof on the hover-barge tonight. Beyond
that, we’ll see how much time I have. How are we doing on money?”
Cerise grimaced. “Everything costs three or four times what it should,
now. But those cloaks are selling really well. If you’ve got time to make a
couple more I think that’ll cover all the essentials.”
“Alright, I’ll knock a couple out right now. Then I’d better get to work.
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The new wall doesn’t protect enough of the town to do us much good yet, and
I’m getting nervous about those giants.”
It was a dreary, overcast day. The snow never quite stopped falling
completely, and every so often we’d get a flurry that dropped visibility to
nearly zero until it passed. Eventually I realized my toes were going numb, and
had to stop to put a warmth enchantment on my boots before I could go on.
The men in my escort worked in short shifts, four men watching the
fields around me nervously for thirty or forty minutes at a time while the other
four huddled around a warmth stone I’d set up in the nearest tower. A group of
the Baron’s men were moving into the gatehouse I’d built yesterday, but the
rest of the new construction was still empty aside from a few sentries on the
wall.
The first time a flurry forced me to stop work I was terribly tempted to
pack it in for the day, and spend the afternoon improving my weapons or
preparing for the trip to come. But then I remembered the faces of the
townspeople, and the refugees huddled together against the cold.
I might not be able to save them. But I had to try.
I built two more towers that day, and another gatehouse on a road that
was more or less perpendicular to the river. I was tempted not to bother with
that, but there was enough traffic through the existing gate that I decided I’d
better not block it. Besides, the gatehouse could easily quarter a hundred men.
Maybe I’d spend a day building shelters for the refugees, when I was
done with the wall?
I kept going until the light began to fail, and Cerise came to fetch me for
dinner. After a full day of heavy spellcasting I barely had the energy to wolf
down my food, and stumble off to bed.
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Chapter 10
I was awakened the next morning by a leisurely blowjob.
I groaned happily, still only half awake, and palmed one of the soft
breasts pressing against my thigh. Much more than a handful. In my limited
experience Avilla’s blowjobs were usually fast, hungry affairs, but she was
taking her time this morning. Nuzzling, sucking, stroking, swirling her tongue
around the tip...
“Oh god! You’re getting good at that, Avilla.”
She giggled, and came up for air just as I realized that hadn’t been
Avilla’s voice.
“Good morning, milord,” Tina said brightly. “Miss Avilla sent me to
wake you.”
The smiling redhead rose a bit, her heavy breasts dangling and swaying
enticingly. I found myself cupping them in my hands, and she sighed happily.
“You like them, milord?”
“Hell, yes. But is this really what Avilla meant?”
Her brow furrowed in consternation. “I think so, milord. She reminded
me to swallow an everything. Oh! Did y’want to have my virginity this
morning, milord?”
I swallowed heavily. Wow, I really wasn’t used to the way these
people thought.
“I, ah… I think we should make that a special occasion, Tina. A girl
only gets one first time, right?”
She beamed. “You’re so kind, milord! I’ll be looking forward to it. Are
you gonna do my boobs too? You said you could make’em really big.
I chuckled. “I suppose I can. Hold still for a minute.”
I closed my eyes and focused on my magical senses. Growth was a
simple form of flesh sorcery, much easier than some of the healing I’d been
doing. Hmm. Her breasts didn’t seem to be very sensitive, but that was easy to
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fix.
“Oh!” She gasped. “That feels good, milord.”
“That’s the idea, Tina. Think that’s enough?”
“I get to pick? Oh, more please, milord!”
I kneaded her soft breasts, drawing a series of gasps and sighs from the
lovely young redhead as I tuned her nerve endings to an exquisite level of
sensitivity. By the time I was satisfied with that she was about two cup sizes
bigger, which was getting pretty impressive. She looked down at herself in
dazed wonder.
“There we go. How’s that?”
“Oh, my lord!” She breathed. “It’s… they’re…”
She abruptly ducked down and took my organ back into her mouth.
Now it was my turn to groan again. She bobbed her head energetically,
thoroughly coating me with saliva, then pulled away. By the time I caught my
breath she had my length nestled into her newly expanded cleavage.
“Fuck ma big boobies, milord!” She pleaded.
How could I say no to that?
Avilla gave me an impish grin when I finally made it into the kitchen
for breakfast. I mussed her hair, and gave her a squeeze and a kiss.
“Devious wench,” I teased. “Are you going to make a habit of setting
me up like that?”
“I’m just making sure everyone in the household is happy,” she smiled
back. “You were going to hesitate and agonize over it and leave her worrying
about her place for who knows how long. Now she knows you’re going to keep
her, and you know that she’s perfectly happy being in your bed.”
“You’re pretty perceptive,” I admitted.
“Thank you. It’s a part of my art I haven’t had the chance to practice as
much as I’d like, so I’m glad I got it right. That reminds me, would you mind
loaning me some magic before you go out, like you did when you healed me?
Now that I have a stock of ingredients I’d like to work on some things.”
I shrugged. “Sure. You know, I still don’t really know what you can
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do?”
I sat at a table that had appeared since the last time I’d been in the
room, noting that I seemed to be the only one around. It was fairly early, but I
still wasn’t used to rising at dawn the way everyone else here did. Probably
Cerise and Beri had already had breakfast and headed off into town to run