Harem World
Part Three: A Forging
by Nick Storming
Publisher: Fractured Press
Copyright© 2019 Fractured Press
All characters are 18 and older
Table of Contents
Harem World
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Fractured Press
Chapter One
“That Bong Mage Helga is riding to the village, along with a hundred soldiers.” She said her voice grim, “She is coming to arrest and execute the imposter Harem Mage.”
The words stunned Betsy and her beautiful daughter, but Braden had been expecting something like this to happen. He had been unconscious for a long time, and too many people now suspected that he had Bonded Druska and Leesha. The three of them leaped to their feet and began to dress. Druska stopped Braden and motioned over to a pile of clothes in the corner of the room he hadn't noticed.
"Betsy, Emma, and Leesha worked on those while you were convalescing for a week," she shrugged and frowned, "said the scout's uniform didn't suit your coloring, whatever that means."
The green-skinned woman dressed in a skintight grey and black leather uniform of alien design. Covered in straps and buckles and outfitted with a short blade on her lower back, and the blaster slung low on her hip. She was a strange sight in this unenlightened world. Braden had been wearing a similar uniform, but one that had fit slightly awkward and taken a beating during his adventure so far.
He lifted the first garment, a stiff, thick white shirt that laced up when he slipped it on. Then he pulled on the dark blue pants, loving how the material stretched and conformed to his legs as he moved. The breathable material and the comfort of having fabric on his skin made Braden sigh in contentment. Emma and her mother both beamed when they saw the tall hero appreciate the clothing they had designed and sewn together. He pulled the darned wool socks and shiny black calf's leather boots over his feet and felt real contentment warm his belly as he flexed comfortable toes.
Finally, he lifted the heavy coat, admiring its dark blue soft fabric, matching the pants, all trimmed in white and gold. The small brass buttons and toggles were shined to a brilliant hue and stitched on it the symbol of a tree, roots, and branches reaching down and up, creating a circle. The tree was white and the background black, with a perfect balance of the two colors within the circle. Turning to look at Emma and her mom with a questioning frown, it was Druska who spoke up.
"That was Leesha master. She stitched it with her magics, said a lord needed a standard." The gorgeous green-skinned woman frowned, "I told her you need nothing but the submission and devotion of every living being on this planet."
"Yes, well," Betsy said, securing her skirt in place over her ample hips. She had a gentle patient look on her face, obviously used to dealing with Druska. "The standard will act as a focal point. She based it off your weapon, my Lord."
Braden held up the scabbarded blade and looking from the hilt to the coat, saw the resemblance, and it felt right to him. Smiling, he strapped on his sword and shrugged on the coat, admiring its perfect fit and sleek look.
"Thank you, Betsy, and you, Emma," he said, giving them both a big grin, "this is excellent work. I appreciate it. I can't tell you enough."
"You cut a fine figure, my Lord," Betsy said as she looked him up and down, her eyes smoldering even as the smells of their passionate afternoon still filled the room.
"My Lord," Emma breathed when she had finished tying her apron into place. The girl still wore her white top, molded to an hourglass body that lit a fire in Braden's belly whenever he beheld it. Her long dark blue skirt was a match in color and material to his pants, and her Apron a checkered pattern of blue and white. "You look every inch the hero… Oh, mother, he looks so magnificent!"
“I told you it was a good design, didn’t I?” Her gentle smile cast pride upon her daughter before flickering back to Braden in appreciation.
"We need to go," Druska said, looking her master up and down with appreciation as they headed out of the small cottage. She enjoyed the utilitarian uniform she wore and saw little need for other garments, but when she saw the man who had tamed, claimed, and bred her, she was open to reconsidering. He looked like a member of the board or some other corporate bigwig.
They stepped outside and found a crowd of people gathered there. The mayor was large and loud with his great bristling beard and beside him the small and nervous Simon. The young man's eyes bright with intelligence. The innkeeper hung near the back, her cheeks blushing when she saw the young hero emerge, despite herself. The crowd gasped when the beheld Braden in his finery, and the murmur from their ranks had whispers of Lord and Harem Mage!
The crowd gasped as one when Emma stepped out last. The girl hung her head, shy and timid under all of those staring eyes. When Braden placed a gentle hand at the small of her back, she felt a thrill of pride that straightened her spine and brought her chin up. Then she felt the magic within, and her confidence soared even further.
"Emma…" The Mayor began his mouth hanging open and eyes wide, "what sorcery is this?" He and the crowd awestruck.
The girl, always the darling of the village and so beautiful and kind that all cherished her. Had blossomed into a figure like one might hear of in legends. Her white-blond hair was now thick and silvery, shifting and shimmering across her shoulders, its enchanting quality grew as she drew upon her powers. Her eyes once a pale blue, had a silver sheen to them and sparkled and glowed faintly just as Leesha's now had a violet emerald quality and Druska's deep hypnotic forest green. Emma's figure had always been proportioned generously, with a narrow waist and pert behind. The magic that had bonded her perfected — healing even the wounds of her recent torture to dull silver lines.
"Mayor Smithson, I believe you know what has happened," Emma smiled to the man, and then her eyes dropped to a child, and her grin grew, "there were so many of you that my mother has healed over the years," she said and her sweet young voice cut through the air like an enchantment of its own, holding all eyes on her.
“But what tore at my soul were the wounds we couldn’t heal,” she stepped up to the child and he shied back from her into his mother’s skirts. Emma knelt holding out one hand and raising her eyebrows to the lad with a small smile, “when he was born, Emmet had an infection in his ears and became deaf.”
"He is well enough, Mistress," his mother said quickly, reassuring her, "you and your ma did right by us, saved our boy, he has learned his letters, can write things."
"Yes, he is a smart and sturdy lad," Emma said, "but we didn’t complete the healing," she nodded gently, never taking her silver eyes from the boy. He slowly reached out his hand and took hers. She smiled profoundly, and her lustrous hair stirred, pulsing with dim silver light, and the boy started, turning to the side to look right down where his mother's heel had shifted. He stared at the heel and up at his mom, tears in his eyes.
"Emmet?" she said, and the reaction from the boy was instantaneous joy and tears as he heard, for the first time in his life, the sound of his mother's voice. Braden clenched a fist, feeling his eyes mist with tears as the mother laughed in joy, tears streaming from her face as she took up Emmet laughing and thanking Emma between her sobs.
“Quickly,” Emma said, “bring all who have hurts or injuries old or new, we don’t have long.”
Druska cast a nervous glance to
Braden, but when she saw his shining face, knew they wouldn't be going until all who could be healed had been. So, as the villagers began to mill around, she shouted, her commanding voice cutting through the air.
"The Harem Mage's Bonded has given you an order, and you mill around? Run and bring your injured as quick as you can!"
The crowd jumped and scattered, at the same time, began to gossip. The confirmation of who Braden and the two women with him were, enough to cause the town to be abuzz with talk for months, added to it was the miracle they had witnessed. As the villagers streamed away quickly, Leesha walked up to Braden, a pack strapped to her back already loaded with supplies. She motioned to a pile of bags as she spoke.
"The mayor got us supplies and gear, so we're ready to head out once you give the order my Lord," Her smile was lascivious as she took in Emma with a sidelong glance, then she turned to Braden and gave him a big wink, causing him to chuckle.
In moments villagers were returning with the sick and injured. There was few enough, Betsy having cured most sickness as soon as it appeared. However, a few older folks had lingering coughs that a tiny pulse of silver magic dashed away. A couple of old farmhands had ancient injuries that Emma was able to fix with a few seconds of concentration, her silver hair pulsing with the magic. She was panting and exhausted after laying hands on the last of them, an older boy with a twisted leg that caused him to shuffle awkwardly. A horse had trampled his leg, and it had healed wrong. Emma ran her alabaster hands down his leg, her hair aglow, and the crowd watched in wonder as the limb straightened, and the boy sighed, the pain he hadn't even realized he had been dealing with, melting away.
Emma and her mom shared a tearful goodbye, and Braden promised the mayor and Betsy that they would return if they were able. With a final hug, Emma turned and hoisted her pack onto her back, taking up a long ash walking stick. Braden turned to look over the crowd once more, his eyes judging and hard, but his words, when they came, were soft and held back the harsh commands he might have used.
"Events have conspired to unmask our identities," me motioned to Druska, Leesha, and Emma, who stood watching her new lord with unabashed love and devotion, "I would have kept that knowledge secret, but secrets are darkness and truth the light. So, I will ask no one to lie for us, but perhaps," he continued with a roguish grin, "that company of soldiers coming to arrest us could learn we left down the eastern road, instead of going through the lumberyard and into the depths of the forest."
"My lord," the mayor said, clutching his hands together, "we cannot thank you and… your Bonded enough. We all wish you luck in your adventures and pray you, Emma, Druska, and Leesha stay safe."
"Thank you, Mayor Smithson," With a final wave, Braden pulled his pack over his shoulders and shifted the hilt of his sword from where it dug into his hip.
"Wait, sir Lord, wait!" cried a high-pitched voice from in town, and in seconds the slender figure of Simon sprinted around a building holding a rolled parchment before himself. He stopped just before Braden, his chest heaving as he held out the paper.
"What is this?" Braden asked, and Druska drew near him, hand on her blaster as she glared at the small man, he noticed her and gulped audibly eyes unable to leave the alien woman's flawless face.
"I… I wrote you traveling documents, notarized and signed," he tore his gaze away from Druska with difficulty and looked at Braden with no less worship in his eyes, only this time it was hero worship, "They will allow you and your… Bonded to travel through imperial towns and cities as unlicensed adventurers. You will need to visit a guildhall if you go to a major town and get listed in their ranks, but if you do, you will have full rights of citizenship through the empire."
"Thanks," Braden said, not sure what good the papers would do for them but grateful to the small young man for the effort.
"Empire citizenship?" Leesha said, her voice unsure, "What good to be a citizen of a nation that wants him arrested or dead?"
"We are an empire of laws," Simon said, drawing himself up tall, "They may not be perfect, but we respect them none the less. As citizen Lord Braden and all his attendants will have full protection under that law and must receive due process. It isn't much, but it’s the best I could do."
"You have given my Master protection from the law of this world?" Druska asked, stepping close to the young man, her gaze intense.
"Well," he said, shrinking away, his gaze unsure, "you will have to visit an adventurer's guild hall to have it signed, but yes, that document affords you protections under the law, eek!" He cried out and froze in shock as Druska moved forward quickly and pulled him into a fierce embrace. The young man's face pressed into her firm breasts, and I saw him inhale, his eyelids fluttering and a silly grin on his face.
"Thank you, little man!" Druska said as she released him. The Mayor reached out a steadying hand and propped Simon up. Several of the villagers laughed good-naturedly, and Braden felt a warm hand on his shoulder, turning he found Betsy, her blue eyes shining with emotion as she smiled up at him.
"Thank you for everything," she said softly for only him to hear, "you have made my daughter's dreams come true, and I am so very grateful." She pulled him into a warm embrace and he was all too aware of her endowments as she pressed herself to him and whispered in his ear, "When you return I will throw a special party for you and your girls, then I can show those girls how a woman properly takes care of a man."
She pulled back, and her smile widened when she saw the effect her words had on the handsome hero, then she gave him a lingering kiss, her lips soft and stoking his passions like a burning ember. Then she was stepping back, and Braden gave her one last lingering look before nodding and turning to go. The village gathered together and wished the group farewell and watched them depart. Each knew they had been part of something historic, while those healed whispered they had received a blessing. All had watched Emma grow into a lovely young woman, and each now looked back on her childhood, remembering moments when the girl had shown something unique and uncommon.
Chapter Two
The sun was setting when the party returned to the trail, heading once more towards the forest and lumberyard. Druska took off into the shadows scouting, and Leesha and Emma flanked him, the younger girl glancing nervously around them.
Braden contemplated all he had learned this far from his powers. The magic that he had used to construct Scry-Bot had been instinctual, a molding of his will, the magic, and his knowledge of programming and engineering principles. Braden wondered if he could use the same system in other applications. He thought of their last couple battles and how mighty his sword had been, not just as a magical focus, but as a cutting tool. It was enchanted, and powerfully, and only an enchanted blade was able to wound some of the enemies they had faced. His brain worked and picked at the problem as they hiked into the evening.
It only took them an hour to arrive at the great big clearing of stumps. The lumbermill itself was a large structure, with fields of drying wood awaiting the saw, and deep pits that the logs would be drawn across and sawn. There was a small dock with a crane and a large building that housed tools and what looked like living quarters for workers.
As Braden, Leesha, and Emma drew close, Druska came walking out of the living quarters. She waved them over and then ducked back inside. When they tromped in, Braden saw Druska was building a small fire in the firepit, her pack already set near the wall. They all dropped their packs and stretched from their short hike.
"This is a fell place," Leesha said as she squinted her eyes and gazed out the door, "there is a malign presence here, I can sense it on the wind, angry." Emma looked over at Leesha with interest, and Braden frowned in thought.
"Druska, do you sense anything?" He asked the green-skinned warrior. She picked her head up and shook it, looking at them curiously.
"I sense and smell nothing here but a lot of deadwood," then she asked Leesha, "do you sense danger? Should we make camp elsewhere?"
"It isn't danger
ous," Emma said, her gentle voice confident, "it mourns and is… lost?"
"Master, can you sense it?" Leesha asked Braden.
"I haven't touched my magic since we arrived," he said, coming to the doorway to stand beside Leesha and Emma. He had been reticent to touch it since the poisoning, anxiety building up whenever he thought about it.
“I may be able to destroy the spirit,” Leesha said, “But I have no idea what it is.”
“There is risk in attacking an unknown enemy,” Druska said, feeding the small flames and warming her hands.
"Let me see what I can do," Braden said with a sigh. Stepping out of the building and finding a nearby tree stump to sit on. He was surprised at how much he had missed being able to sit in a chair.
He breathed deep and let his mind free of thought, constructing the simple square in his mind. He drew in the magic and if filled him awkward and wild, surging within. He relaxed and let it flow of its own volition, and the power calmed, but it was a struggle. He felt a little fear at the strength he could now wield, far greater than what he had first been able to draw when coming to this world. It felt wild, untethered from his soul. He would have to spend days and weeks in meditation to balance the forces he feared. Ignoring the fear, he stretched his senses out and almost instantly encountered the presence the women had been speaking of.
Anger. Hate. Loss.
The impressions he felt from that presence weren't thoughts or even emotions. Or at least not in the way his human mind understood the feeling. That gave him an idea. He drew forth his sword, and the second his hand touched the hilt the presence quieted, the tightness at the back of his shoulders that he hadn't even realized he was feeling, eased.
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