Gryff The Griffin Rider 3 (A Fantastic Harem)

by Marcus Sloss

  I opened my mouth and then promptly closed it. “I will miss having you at my side during your downtime. You are family so don’t hesitate to go up a floor and ask for help if you need it or offer your services.”

  The ladies ensured me they were not going to lounge around. Ruby complained of back pain and they all decided to eat. That made me jealous. We waited on the sixth floor balcony when Donnie arrived in combat armor. Well, that worked. No use in not being prepared for battle. I had my bag at least. I told Donnie to not speak unless spoken to in regards to our hosts. He was here for his opinion and insight. He nodded and Virtue created our portal to Parxa.

  CHAPTER 13

  Shaman Wilvert, or as he liked to be called, Wil, was waiting for us on his office porch. When he saw Virtue step out from behind me his eyes grew wide. The shock of seeing his friend back to his youth left him perplexed. Wil beamed a smile and walked the stone path that split the nice grass. The colorful birds on perches watched us intently. The nice creek gurgled water softy from its flow.

  “This garden is so pretty,” Addilyn wanted to add more to the comment and stopped herself. It was good to have her at my side again.

  “Welcome Virtue, for the new guests I am Wil. Thank you for the compliment human. Back for more dvaren? I am trying so hard to be professional… I just cannot. How are you young again?” Wil said with anxiety.

  “A deal made with one of the gods. I could maybe introduce you if you were desperate. It would eat hundreds if not thousands of years of your life in a few minutes of universal time. It was not a pleasant experience. A younger less patient me would have certainly gone mad.” Virtue said with a deep exhale. He leaned on his staff out of habit as he waited to see if Wil had a reply. “We are here for your desert dvaren. Do you have a stock list?”

  Wil snapped his finger and a young cyclops ran forward with a contract sheet. It was handed over to Virtue. Wil stepped back to give us some space to discuss. I saw him having his internal debate as he considered Virtue’s offer.

  “I see two units for sale here. Both are the ten thousand sized divisions. Four million for each. Would leave us with nineteen million. Should I purchase them” Virtue asked and I nodded. I saw the contract bind and flow between Wil then to the office building behind him. “Wil, come over, please. We need more, do you have any other desert dvaren breeders we can buy direct from.”

  “It is always nice to have direct sales. It makes my life so much easier. There are a few clients I could send us to. How much more were you looking to spend?” Wil asked. “Here comes the delivery shaman, this one is on the house. Not too expensive to move twenty thousand. Especially when you paid your full price. Worry not, you still got the same deal as before.”

  The shaman gleaned a location from Virtue. I would need to figure out where he sent them to later.

  “Ten million,” Virtue replied and Wil spun a portal.

  It was that easy. I shrugged and nudged Donnie through first. I got a slight scowl from him that made me grin. I followed right behind him. Send the guy in armor first, nothing personal.

  ∞∞∞

  I was greeted by a blistering dry heat. The desire to leave and return to Paxra’s perfect climate was immediate. I gazed at my surroundings and saw cracked dirt with sparse gray plant life. I saw no wild animals or birds in the air. Only endless desert, not the sandy kind. The sporadic rock, odd bush, and rolling hills. In front of us though. That was different. A water tower was the focal point in the skyline. It was the size of a small town, and clearly not crafted by the Horde. Large tubes snaked from it going numerous directions. Mud walls with rocks buried in them were strewn across the desert landscape. A rectangular two story central building was below the water tower.

  Wil exited the portal and closed it. I saw Addilyn fanning herself and reached into my bag. I found a water bladder and handed it to her. She was wearing a heavy tunic that was removed. A corset underneath spilled out cleavage. Yum. I averted my eyes to bag her winter top and couldn’t help but think of her milk filled jugs. I saw her smirking while Donnie grinned and gave me a slight shove. He knew I was about to zone out too.

  We followed Wil up to the building as our feet crunched over the loose upper layer of the crust. I had no idea what this planet was named but it was not on my list of vacation spots. There was no one to greet us. The front door was nonexistent. Probably to keep airflow through the building. We entered a large foyer where a cyclops sipped water while reading a book. He frowned at us. We were interrupting his focus on a good story.

  Wil the natural sales shaman indicated that he did not care. “Reeuv, I have brought buyers. Your ten thousand sold and they want more. I could have gone to Laruq or Graish, instead, I am here. My buyers were looking for three more divisions for ten million.”

  I wanted to slap the shaman for mentioning money first. I also was not introduced as a demigod so I stayed behind Virtue. Reeuv stuck two clawed fingers between his lips and whistled. A young female cyclops ran to us from a side room. She spoke in Horde to Wil.

  “She will escort us. She does not know your language. There are five divisions for sale and if you wanted to breed this variety there are a few million females for sale.” Wil said as we followed the young cyclops out of the building and into the back. The massive water tower cast a cool shade the vanished all too quickly. Our escort spoke in Horde rapidly. “These are all not for sale, we need to go to further down the road. A carriage will take us.”

  The guide walked to a wooden stable off to the right. A six legged rhino was attached to an open carriage while a wide top for additional shade. There was swivel seating in the middle of the carriage to allow easy viewing from both sides.

  “Thank the creator,” Addilyn muttered and I agreed. It was too hot to walk long distances in this dry heat. Donnie was in armor and the moment he seated himself he gulped down water. The seat beside him soon held all his gear and he was in thin cloth underclothing with no shirt. I joined him in removing my tunic and when I rested in the rotating chair I found it comfortable. Addilyn placed her fine tight ass into my lap. She ran a hand over my abs and leaned into me. She scrunched her face when she smelt my armpit.

  “I doubt you smell much better,” I quipped and she shrugged in agreement. We all were sweaty at this point. It was stupid hot on this desert planet even under a shaded carriage.

  The carriage lurched forward when an old orc whipped the rhino. The movement allowed a slight breeze to help with the heat as the creak of the wheels sounded. I stood to get a good view of the area and found my head did not touch the roof thankfully. I observed mostly permanent structures close to the water tower with tens of thousands of dvaren. There was not enough here to produce the number of troops he was selling. My mind tried to contemplate how this was done when I saw dvaren leaving tunnels. Of course…

  I had not thought about that. I should have, the dvaren were notorious for building deep in the ground. That would make having an estimate on how many dvaren I was freeing difficult. I decided to focus more on the defenses only to find an occasional watchtower with trolls in them. They looked more like anti predator precautions than anti raiding. I was perplexed by this and it led me to wanting more information. I would need to figure out how capturing enemy slaves worked. I was fairly certain there would be a rules system. So far I knew you could trade slave, or kill the slave master and convert them to your slaves. I had experienced both. I did not know what happened if I stole slaves with their master still alive.

  The carriage bounced us over the rough terrain at a good speed. The rhino had no issues pulling our weight. I did notice this one had a scarred hide from where her harness had rubbed her thick skin raw over time. I knew it was a girl from the lack of giant balls. After seeing how efficient this animal was I whipped out my to do list and added six legged rhino desert testing.

  The dvaren I saw above ground were in the shade if they were not in the process of doing something. I saw stacks of exhaust protruding from und
er the planet that wafted out smells of cooking food. I noticed all the water junctions dive into the ground. It was becoming very clear that this was a breeding facility that was not on the surface. I was getting minimal exposure to what I could see. I was about to express my frustration when I saw a tunnel and a declining ramp.

  The rhino never missed a step as we descended into the cooler underground. There were small holes in the ceiling to allow light down. I saw torches hanging from hooked slots on the walls but they were not lit. The tunnel ramp dove deep down a few hundred feet until it was finally not oppressively hot. A few of the first sections that were displayed were mushroom farms. I grinned at this and Donnie rolled his eyes.

  “Yes Gryff, we know… Some fungi joke is coming next,” Donnie said with a smirk.

  “Aww, kill the fun,” I replied.

  “I was wondering when we were going to see the dvaren, it makes sense to stick them this far down to avoid the heat. I hate this planet, I wish I had come in my new noble clothing. Cherry stitched some fine clothing she loves having me try on.” Donnie said while both he and Addilyn were swatting air on themselves.

  We continued down the dirt path under the planet that was only wide enough to fit two of these carriages side by side. A few random roving patrols of orcs with trolls marched to the side when we rolled by. The cyclops upfront barked out some Horde to Wil. He merely pointed to the left. The living area went miles deep and dwellings decorated the back wall. I had to assume they went deep and I could only see the first row. The cyclops clapped and an orc guard in front of the enclosure blew a horn. It was ridiculously loud. I frowned at the earsplitting noise.

  Dvaren rushed out of the homes to get in formation. They were fast and efficient. I saw the same thing as I did on Kikra. The dvaren were in light leather to deal with the heat. Long pikes for large monsters, and netting teams for capturing prey. They poured out quickly to assemble for us.

  “Next, and tell this cyclops to not keep us waiting again,” Virtue ordered. I forgot sometimes he was a powerful shaman lord.

  Wil tactfully informed the cyclops. She smiled thinking we were buying these and were impressed. When she heard the next request she did not change her demeanor. A new horn toot was sounded which was followed by more horns further down the trail. The rhino was whipped and we rolled forward again. I saw mostly dvarettes for the next five minutes. We arrived at the second unit in a precise formation that was a replica of the first in weapons and armor. The main difference is these were ready for inspection. I saw some female dvarettes behind the formation standing proudly without weapons. I guess these came with support units.

  “Virtue, two combat units and instead of the third combat unit purchase a bundle of dvarettes. I need to balance the numbers. Something on par for what ten million will buy with the leftovers.” I said to Virtue. Wil listened and waved off Virtue before he could talk.

  “If these first two pleased you, then we can leave. The dvarettes will be exactly what you have seen so far. Only the ratio of the price will be much better. Let me ask.” Wil badgered the cyclops with questions in Horde. “She is confused that you desire desert dvarettes. They are rarely purchased. They always have extra for sale. The two units of ten thousand battle hardened veterans and four hundred thousand…”

  “Five hundred thousand,” Virtue responded and they settled on four hundred and sixty thousand.

  The cyclops spun a portal in front of our carriage. It was masterfully done with shocked me. The orc sent the lash to the rhino and we rolled forward into the portal. There was no blackness from the trip and I saw we were back at the start of the road. The rhino walked us back to outside the stable under the shaded waiting area. That was unexpected and I immediately hated the heat again. The carriage settled its movement and we exited. Ten million souls left our bank contract. The cyclops gleaned a location from Virtue. Wil informed us our dvaren would be delivered tomorrow morning.

  I heard my tummy rumble as Wil spawned a new portal back to Paxra. I stepped through quickly to get out of the heat.

  ∞∞∞

  We had to wait five minutes for Donnie to get back. The young man was nothing but curses as he was sweating in his armor when he arrived back to the perfect climate of the trading world. I was tempted to push our luck and ask for another trip. Virtue instead concluded business abruptly and generated an exit portal back. That’s right, the shaman had a hot date tonight.

  ∞∞∞

  The chill of Fernlan was immediate. You grew accustomed to the cold to some degree until you experienced three different climates so quickly. We were on the seven floor balcony of my western room. Donnie excused himself to get a shower and a fresh set of clothing. Addilyn thanked me for allowing her to come. Leaving Virtue waiting for dismissal.

  “A few questions before you leave. If we go and steal those dvaren without killing their master what happens?” I asked.

  I walked over to the bench and slid into its groove. Virtue placed himself in his normal spot.

  “I am glad you finally asked. There are rules for rules, and then allowances for conditions within the Horde. Let me cover the basics for now. It is not inconceivable that two orc chieftains who fight over an area would tend to steal goblin slaves from each other. That is a great example I will use to illustrate the issue and why the rules were established.

  “So Chieftain Bark hates Chieftain Lark. Bark sends his trusty orcs on wargs to catch Lark’s goblins while they are fetching water. They pull off the common enough raid and haul back six prime goblin ladies. All ready to pop out more goblin babies. The problem is they were snatched without a fair fight. So Lark goes and complains to the local cyclops. His goblins were stolen while exposed and now they are in Bark’s camp while being well guarded. Lark is told to shut up, if he wants his goblins back the slave contract has thirty days for him to recapture his property before ownership transfers. Lark, of course, is not happy. He launches four unsuccessful raids on Bark. After thirty days Bark is now the owner of the goblins. Which he trades for a new breeding warg because he can, now that he is full owner instead of limbo owner. Long answer short is the slaves have to be held for thirty days for a contract to convert to new owners.”

  I think I got the basics of what he was saying. “So we rescue them and then I have to bind a claim on the contract. Which takes time to execute. If they are freed the claim is void. If they are not freed when the time expires I am the new master. That one actually makes sense. Will they know where their slaves are?” I asked.

  “No and Yes. Your ability to control slaves has distance requirements that vary. You can make a slave lay down for instance in your contract with them if you are close enough. Your dominance and fear level has some effect. For example, if you were to tell the slaves in Ooney Bay to lay down from right here they would not even feel the slightest pull of the command. If a goblin were seven floors down and you could see them… Sure. So the same thing here. Let us say you notice some of your new humans go missing. You follow the tracks to the northwest. When you get close to the settlement they are being held in you will feel a pull. Until then you will have to rely on your investigative sense. Example the tracks of your human slaves being led away. Hence if you raid those dvaren you will simply need to eliminate the immediate guards then bring them here. That should be the end of it. They may link me to it, but we are cheating.

  “You are not supposed to use portals outside of diplomacy or planetary trade. Have Horde used dirty tricks to steal elvath? You bet they have. Elvath are guarded much more intensely than dvaren. That security was a joke in there. A few random guards with minimal patrol forces. In and out during the night no problem. This will make a great first raid. I merely recommend waiting until the dvaren you bought are delivered. Which will be in the western fields. I need to get the location of the desert cities from Roz. All on the list for tomorrow. I would like to see Aroxa now my Emperor if you would allow.”

  “Thank you for clarifying. She may have some elv
ath locations. I will ask personally though so you don’t have to seem like your spending time with her to get information for me.” I said as Virtue stood and frowned.

  “We are not like that Gryff. Aroxa is happy and she sees elvath as being better served here, over the whims of a cyclops trying to make money. I will talk to her. Do not be surprised if you find her wanting to help your cause. Generally speaking, the upper echelons of the Horde only want slavery when they must have control. Hence the freeing of all species besides those who have violated some law or are not aligned with the Horde. The rational thought process is when there are no rebellions then dvaren will begin to be released to control their own planets. Assuming they don’t rebel from the Horde and becoming targets again which would be a worthy fight. It gets confusing when you think about it long enough. The universe tends to always gravitate to conflict eventually.”

  I left the conversation at that and the shaman made his portal for the library. The sun was starting to set when he disappeared. My stomach grumbled and growled at me. It was a long day. I decided a quiet night would be nice. The thought of a nice family meal, some time with some babies, then the night with Pipi brought a large smile to my face.

  ∞∞∞

  I awoke the next morning and slipped out of the sheets. The soft torchlight let me find my gear mounted on wall pegs. Having servants clean, detail, and dry your armor was simply awesome. I slid into the fresh smelling gear. There was some light jostling as I left Pipi sleeping in bed and had no one to tighten the straps or bind the back links. A quick peek on the balcony showed Virtue was not here yet. I exited my room and quietly closed the door behind me.

  I figured the queens were probably up during the night dealing with babies so I would venture down to the sixth floor. My guards gave me nods and a few followed me down to the sixth floor. I reached the foyer and passed more guards. The ones who followed me down added to the posted ones here. I walked down the narrow hallway where my duchesses all had smaller rooms. I bypassed Priscilla’s room knowing she probably needed rest too now that she was swollen with child.