Herald of Shalia 5

by Tamryn Tamer

  “Are they just allowed to steal from us?”

  “Why are they acting so high and mighty?”

  “Now we’re supposed to bow our heads before flying rats?” an irritated villager growled while pointing at the priestess.

  “Flying rats?” Ka glared at the villagers and then at Frost. “You promised that we would be welcomed, yes.”

  “Priscilla,” Frost leaned down and whispered in the knight’s ear. “These harpies are far more valuable to my territory than these villagers. They will be able to provide deliveries between villages and scout the entire territory faster and more safely than any human patrols. So, if push comes to shove…”

  “I get it,” Priscilla nodded while walking toward the center of the square. She gripped the wooden cudgel hanging from her belt, silencing the disgruntled villagers. Once certain they would keep their mouths shut, she smiled and bowed politely before Ka. “High Priestess Ka, I am Lady Priscilla Grey, I am honored to meet you.”

  “And I you, yes,” Ka replied while bowing her head politely.

  “I want you to know that you have my word that you’ll be welcome in this village,” Priscilla said politely. “Anybody that has issues with it is free to leave. If they want, they can even burn down their own home. I’m happy to rebuild from scratch, it might even be easier. We look forward to having you here.”

  “Hm?” Ka tilted her head. “I’m sorry, I’m confused. We will be going to the village where Herald Frost lives, yes.”

  “Frost’s village?” Priscilla turned around and glanced at Frost. “What do you mean? I thought you would stay up here for now. We have extra houses that can be easily modified to accommodate you and you would be tasked with assisting the village to pay back the villagers for the items you stole.”

  “That is unacceptable,” Ka said sternly. “I will live in Herald Frost’s village. He is my partner after all, yes!”

  “Partner?” Priscilla groaned as she threw her arms in the air in defeat. “Of course! Obviously, I should have expected this. Herald Frost doesn’t conduct diplomacy with his mouth but with his cock.”

  “Technically he used both,” La said as the other handmaidens giggled.

  The villagers gave Frost disgusted looks and began muttering about how he was a bird-fucking degenerate. Several of the women began dragging their children away from the square while staring at him with intense hatred.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Frost stepped into the square and was immediately met with angry glares from not only the human villagers but also from the elves that accompanied him to Mawth. “It would be easier to…”

  “I will not be kept so far away from my partner!” Ka said irritably. “How will you protect my followers and our hatchlings if you are far away? As my partner it is your duty to protect the flock, yes!”

  “I’ll come up here if I’m needed but Priscilla will be handling most of the defenses,” Frost answered. “And with you scouting the area we’ll know about any danger ahead of time.”

  “No,” Ka said sternly. “Unacceptable.”

  “Very unacceptable,” Vee agreed.

  “Extremely unacceptable,” several harpies said in unison.

  “Unacceptably unacceptable,” another cohort chimed in.

  “You insult our priestess!” a harpy male said.

  “She is not such an easy woman,” Vee said while taking several threatening steps forward while stretching her crimson wings to make herself larger. “It would be a grave insult to abandon a partner in such a way.”

  “I’m not abandoning her,” Frost groaned. “She’ll visit and I’ll visit and…”

  “I will not allow it,” Ka said loudly while stretching her wings. “We are partners and it is your responsibility to care for me, protect me, dote on me, dance for me, and protect my eggs! You are the one that proposed the partnering and the witnesses confirmed it concluded! You are now bound to me for life!”

  “What?” Frost said, taking several steps back. He looked around for help but everywhere he looked he was met with the furious gazes of jealous demihumans. “Wait a damn minute! What do you mean for life? I explicitly asked you if partnering was like marriage and you said it was just fucking!”

  “Partnering is partnering!” Fi snapped while joining Vee in the act of spreading her wings to make herself more intimidating. “We told you! We were very clear!”

  “The priestess is not such an easy woman,” Sha said while pouting at him. “You offered her valuable gifts and asked her to be your partner through dance. Was that all a trick?”

  “Trick!” Bo declared as several of them prepared to take flight.

  “He tricked us,” a woman said in a worried tone.

  “Hold it!” Shael snapped while stepping into the center square, pushing Priscilla aside. She glanced up at the ivory feathered priestess and bowed politely. “I assure you that it was not a trick but I believe there may have been a miscommunication. Frost specifically asked you if partnering was marriage, correct?”

  “That is correct,” the priestess answered. “We don’t know what marriage is so we clearly explained that partnering is partnering. We even asked if I was to be his first partner and he said that he has many partners and has done it many times, yes!”

  “Can you clearly explain what is expected of a partner?” Shael asked politely.

  “Of course,” Ka answered. “When you agree to partner with somebody you are agreeing to share your life with them. It is a promise to care for them and protect them and…”

  “That’s what marriage is!” Frost objected. “And I specifically asked you if being a partner was marriage!”

  “Ooooh!” several harpies said simultaneously.

  “I see,” the priestess said as her face turned pink. “Then yes, partnering is marriage.”

  “I never agreed to that,” Frost said abruptly.

  “Herald Frost!” La raised her black wings angrily. “You offered her gifts, you danced for her, and you mated with her! You kissed her most sacred parts and she accepted all of you in return! You are her partner!”

  “So depraved,” three harpies said while covering their blushing faces with their wings.

  “It was just sex!” Frost snapped.

  “I-if it were sex, we would have used different words such as mating,” Sha offered while joining the others in raising her wings threateningly, although the pink-feathered harpy looked more adorable than intimidating. “Y-you dare to do such humiliating and degenerate things to our priestess and walk away from her? That is unacceptable! H-how dare you use partnering as a lie so you could ravage us!”

  “I licked your cock!” Vee said angrily.

  “And I took that gargantuan thing into my mouth and swallowed everything!” La snapped.

  “How dare you lie about partnering just so you could do all of those depraved things to us?” Fi growled.

  “Herald Frost,” a Myrran girl from the raid party gasped. “That’s horrible!”

  “Terrible!” a few other demihuman women said while glaring at him.

  The human villagers continued to show their disgust at the revelation as the elves and other demihumans discussed Frost’s actions and Frost was quickly starting to feel like he had no allies.

  “Herald Frost,” Erissa scowled at him judgmentally. “Don’t you think it’s a little awful to trick women into marrying you just so you can do lewd things with them? If you wanted to do lewd things there are plenty of us that would have joined you!”

  “Even your own followers recognize how terrible your actions were, yes,” Ka said while sticking her nose up at him. “But I am willing to forgive you if you apologize and admit that you are my partner, yes.”

  “Very benevolent,” Vee said while stretching her wings out as far as they would go as the other three handmaidens did the same.

  “The most benevolent,” the other three handmaidens said in unison.

  “I for one welcome this beautiful new wife,” Renna said while clapping e
xcitedly.

  “Goddess damn her,” Ena growled. “If she gets the support of a second wife…”

  “But does she even count as a wife?” Fayeth asked.

  “Fuck,” Frost groaned. “I even asked…”

  “I think you may be stuck with this,” Priscilla interrupted. “This was essentially a political marriage. You went there intending to propose an alliance and solidified the alliance through marriage. If you back out of the marriage it’ll impact every negotiation you have from now until eternity. There are only a few reasons where it would be acceptable to back out of a political marriage and since you already slept with her I don’t see any of those being applicable.”

  “I asked specifically if they meant marriage so I could avoid this,” Frost sighed. “And I still want us to have an alliance. There are enough harpies here to patrol almost the entire territory.”

  “Herald Frost!” La shouted while stomping her talon several times on the roof. “Your long deliberation is an insult to the priestess!”

  “I have an idea,” Priscilla whispered while glancing back at the priestess and her entourage. “But I’m not sure if it’ll work and it may be a hit to your pride.”

  “You’re talking to the man with dozens of titles that related to fucking animals,” Frost said. “I’m not too worried about my pride. Have at it.”

  “High Priestess Ka,” Priscilla approached the house that the priestess and her handmaidens were perched on top of. “We don’t mean this to be an insult and in fact we are discussing how to make up for Herald Frost’s horrific actions.”

  “I would not say his actions have been abhorrent,” Ka said while glaring at him. “He did many fine things and was very pleasing. It is his current behavior and denial that we are partners that is unacceptable, yes.”

  “The truth is that, as a lord, Herald Frost is fantastic. I can say that if you join his territory, he will protect you and you’ll live a life better than you ever imagined. He is both intelligent and powerful and you would be lucky to serve him. But,” Priscilla paused and took a breath. “That is not all he is. Herald Frost is the worst type of man a woman could ask for. He is disloyal and depraved. Every city he visits he looks for women to lay with. Within this very town square there are at least a handful of women who’ve slept with Herald Frost, only to be pushed aside as if they were nothing. They offer him their love and he just tosses it aside like an empty bottle. In his own village he has several wives, I suppose you’d call them partners, waiting for him. One of them is even carrying his first child, and yet he is here seducing you! Can you imagine that? Could you imagine being his poor wife, stuck at home with his child growing in her belly, while he lays with other women? Herald Frost is beneath you High Priestess. You deserve a man of much higher quality than Herald Frost. He is not abandoning you High Priestess but you should abandon him! He’s a lowlife! A lout! A philanderer! A deviant! Join his territory and accept all the benefits it offers but find a more suitable partner.”

  “Ouch,” Frost grumbled. “Tough, but fair.”

  “I wonder how long she’s been bottling that up,” Shael chuckled.

  “If it works, I’m fine with it,” Frost smirked.

  “Scandalous,” several harpies said while staring at the priestess.

  “Horrible!” more harpies chimed in.

  “Such a man is undeserving of the priestess,” Bo said.

  Other harpies joined in with their own objections and before long their words mixed in a chorus of disapproval and insults.

  “Silence!” Ka said while stretching her long white wing toward the other harpies. “That is my partner that you are insulting! Know this all of you, I am already aware of Herald Frost’s other women and I have witnessed his depravity for myself. I am also a witness to him climbing mountains and finding me on the sacred plateau blessed by our goddess. I both experienced and witnessed his boundless hunger as he feasted between my legs! I also watched him brave the sky fearlessly as if he were blessed by the goddess Twi herself, yes!”

  “But his wings broke,” Bo argued.

  “How many of you flew as high as he did the first time you spread your wings?” Ka asked judgmentally before turning her attention back to Priscilla. “Lady Priscilla. You say that he is a lowlife, a lout, a philanderer, a deviant. I will say that he is a herald, a ruler, a lover, a protector. You say he has many other partners as if it was meant to deter me but how many of those partners have left him? I see many different types of women in this very square all gazing at him wantonly, yes. Their eyes scream their desire even if their mouths remain closed. I see jealous women that wish to be his partner. You say that he is a bad partner because he has many partners, but how many of those partners has he abandoned? And have any of those partners given him reason to abandon them?” the priestess asked while posing the question to the entire group.

  “Brynn the betrayer did!” an irritated elf chimed in while pointing at Frost. “And he still keeps her around and defends her!”

  “Yeah!” another elf said. “She nearly got him killed and he still loves her!”

  “I would never get you killed, Herald Frost,” a Florenne said while hopping up and down. “I would give you lots of babies and care for you every single day!”

  “I suspected as much!” Ka said smugly. “Lady Priscilla, you are a very tricky woman and I admire your cunning, yes. Clearly you also desire my partner for yourself and fear your placement should I become his wife. It’s only natural that you would seek to drive me away so you could have him for yourself…”

  “Like hell,” Priscilla said as her face turned red. “I don’t want him!”

  “But I see through your envy,” Ka said while smiling triumphantly. “Herald Frost is to be my partner which is why Twi guided him to me! I will not be tricked! I will continue to be faithful to my partner, yes!”

  The harpies quickly shifted from condemnation to overwhelming approval as Ka smiled proudly. The white-feathered harpy glared at Frost as if challenging him to send her more opponents.

  “I gave it my best shot,” Priscilla grunted while shrugging at Frost. “She’s a lot smarter than I gave her credit for. And a really convincing speaker.”

  “Well she does lead a cult,” Frost said under his breath while walking into the center of the square. Ka and her cohort scowled at him as they waited for a response.

  Frost wanted the harpies and it wasn’t like marriage meant much to him. The problem was that marriage meant a lot to the women in his village as well as his wives. He just needed to figure out if he was getting enough out of the deal to warrant the extra attention he would need to give.

  Harpies were notoriously difficult to locate due to geography. Harpies preferred to live in places that humans couldn’t reach and limited their interactions with humans to stealing from them. Harpies near the coasts would steal from small towns and passing ships before flying back to isolated coves and harpies located near forests would make their nests in the deepest parts of the woods.

  As for advantages, the harpies would allow him to deliver packages and correspondence throughout his territory. They would also be capable of safely scouting his entire territory or even enemy territories. They could even help him scout the territory for different types of monsters and chart areas he couldn’t reach. And militarily speaking, if he taught them magic, he would have an aerial force to be reckoned with.

  It was all just too enticing for him.

  “Dammit,” Frost sighed. “I’m beat. I don’t suppose we can come to a compromise and call it an engagement?”

  “What is an engagement?” Ka asked with suspicion.

  “It’s sort of a request for partnering,” Frost answered. “Rather than becoming partners it’s a promise to become partners later once you…”

  “Absolutely not!” Ka interrupted. “We are already partnered, yes!”

  “The priestess is a proper lady!” Fi said heatedly while ruffling her golden feathers.

  “Hm,�
�� Frost smirked as an idea popped into her head. “I’m proposing an engagement because the priestess is a proper lady.”

  “What do you mean?” Ka asked, her eyes narrowing as she watched for signs of deception. “You gave me a gift, you danced, you requested that we become partners, we mated. It was proper, yes!”

  “But don’t you think that’s too easy?” Frost asked as the harpies gasped.

  “Too easy?” Fi whispered. “What does he mean?”

  “Was the priestess too easy?” Sha asked worriedly. “Should she have waited for more pretty gemstones?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” La said. “It was a very large gemstone.”

  “You would say that,” Vee mumbled. “You’re a very easy woman.”

  “What do you mean easy?” Ka asked worriedly as her face turned pink. “D-do y-you think I am an easy woman?”

  “Of course not,” Frost said, feigning shock at the suggestion. “You are anything but an easy woman. I’m just thinking that you’re the High Priestess of Twi, you deserve a beautiful ceremony and celebration for your partnering, don’t you?”

  “Exactly!” Shael chimed in as she caught on. “There would be beautiful tents set up, food, music, dancing…”

  “Dancing?” Ka’s eyes widened. “Like the partner dance?”

  “Just like the partner dance,” Frost answered. “We would dance together in front of everybody for as long as you want.”

  “So bold!” several harpies said simultaneously.

  “We would stand in front of the entire village and declare our love for each other and afterward we could do a beautiful dance,” Frost continued. “Of course, if we’re already partnered then the ceremony would be completely unnecessary. And maybe it’s better if we don’t have a ceremony since they’re difficult to set up. And you’d have to wear a beautiful dress…”

  “Beautiful dress?” Ka glided down from her perch and landed in front of Frost. Her handmaidens quickly followed and surrounded him as everybody looked on. “Even prettier than my dress?”

  “A wedding gown would be much prettier than anything you’ve seen,” Priscilla said with an impish grin as she joined in. “You would have a beautiful gown, a shimmering veil, shiny jewelry, and scandalous undergarments. And your handmaidens, they’d have gowns of their own, of course not as beautiful as yours.”