“Now, we need to start scouting for a good place. Obviously, we need to pick a location that has abundant enough natural zeal for us to cultivate but is still within the scope of what we can defend with our current strength. We’ll spread out in teams of two and— “
“That won’t be necessary, Nela.” I interrupted. She glared at me.
“We already have a place. Sava picked it a while ago, and I’ve long since started building structures and defenses.”
“Here? You want the mighty Songstone clan to be based out of this... mud fort?” Nela gestured around. It’s true, the buildings I’d made were partially dilapidated. Most of them were mud-brick constructions, and of those most were early attempts of mine which had collapsed in on themselves.
“To be fair, you did attack the place. I’ll have you know the walls I built were quite sturdy before your fire lackeys started throwing fireballs at them.”
One of aforementioned fire lackeys let out a cold snort.
Nela continued shaking her head. “Leave this to us. We need fields to cultivate crops and sacred fruits in. We’ll need to set up an alchemical refinery as well. It would be best if we found a small local village that we could take over. We could press the inhabitants to work for us for few years, then once we— “
I shook my head. “Forcing conquered subjects to do menial labor without reward is a disaster waiting to happen. You don’t want the Songstone clan become a clan of petty tyrants, do you?”
Nela glared at me. “Well, what would you have us do?” She snapped.
“Build here. Invest time and energy into this place. Sure, it isn’t developed, but it has abundant natural resources. The nearby river is full of fish, the forest has beasts aplenty, there are fruit-trees scattered here and there. People will come willingly if you build something enticing.”
“We will not forage for food. The Songstone clan won’t lower itself to become a tribe of scavengers.”
“So, you don’t like hunting or fishing. Fine. The weather is good around here. We’ll cut down some trees and start building wooden structures. Cutting trees with clear land up where we can start planting crops and orchards. We can clear grazing land and sell the wood to get us through the year before we can start planting. There’s a nearby town that we can resupply through. Sava’s got contacts there that can get what we need.”
Nela shook her head. “The Songstone clan had many small tribes under their command that eked out an existence in just the manner you speak of. How could we, given our pride and reputation, lower ourselves to such a state?”
“You’re too proud to farm your own food, but you’re not too proud to turn yourselves into bandits? Because that’s what you’d be if you go through with your plan to take over a town of innocents and turn them into your slaves.”
“I... well...” Nela seemed at a bit of a loss. Many of the Songstone clan members could see the logic in my words and saw the future that would await them if they didn’t tighten their belts and learn to do the work that needed to be done.
“But... I don’t know how to do any of that.” Nela said sadly. “The Songstone clan owned several profitable mines. We collected rare and precious gemstones. Many envied our position and sought to supplant us, but we were immovable. At least, until the mines ran low.”
“Sounds to me like you spread yourselves thin. You had a single resource you depended on to support your power base. When that resource ran out you had nothing else to turn to, and your clan’s foundations vanished from under you. Consider this a harsh lesson. Now we start from the ground up. And for most people the ground up means first making food. No society functions without food, so that’s the resource we’ve got to lock in first. Don’t worry about your inexperience. I’ll be here to help you.”
With that, Nela agreed to my idea of establishing a base of operations, at least temporarily, at the site of Sava’s camp. Hopefully Sava wouldn’t have too much of a fit. She was upset at me already for inducting her into the Songstone clan while she was unconscious, though with the Riverweed tribe nearly destroyed, she likely would have found herself in the Songstone clan anyway. This way she wound up with a position of importance.
***
From then on, my days were packed. I directed the elves of the Songstone clan, young and old, into clearing the surrounding forest. It went surprisingly fast. I’d forgotten that I wasn’t working with humans here, I was working with elves. They were superhuman in just about every way. The same zeal that had produced such incredible changes in my body had been at work in theirs for years, and the result was impressive.
The fact that we didn’t have any axes hadn’t proven to be any obstacle. There were more than a few Songstone elves that practiced wind techniques or could otherwise form magical blades. With such techniques they were able to slice through trees with their bare hands. Soon I learned to organize my work crews into different groups based on who had what abilities.
Earth type cultivators stayed back at the base, shaping the foundations for various buildings according to a layout I’d designed. I wanted this place to look like a proper fortress when I was done, with room for dramatic expansion when necessary. My original wall was massively expanded upon, and several large longhouses were constructed for temporary housing while we got our full facility up and running.
While the Earth elves laid the foundations, the wood elves collected lumber, removed stumps, and even began planting fruit-bearing trees. Through the use of their spellhearts they were able to get the plants to start growing immediately. They’d still need stuff like water and light, but through magic their growth could be massively enhanced.
We’d still eat through the supplies me and Sava had stocked up in a week, but by then I hoped to have a crop of wheat in. Much of the land we cleared had gone to further that cause.
Yorik was pitching into the food shortage effort by hunting day in and day out. She’d brought back an impressively large moose just the other day. Even with several dozen people, the creature had enough meat on it to feed us all for a while.
Many of the younger elves or those too injured for hard labor clearing land were sent fishing. The elves couldn’t fish in the river I’d found, filled with life zeal as it was, but they were able to fish without issue from its local tributaries. The local streams were abundant, and it was easy enough to catch a fish with your bare hands if you were dedicated. With a net you could pick up food by the bucketful.
In truth, I was beginning to suspect the food shortage we were all worried about was just in our heads. This land was abundant enough to support us all as it was. The Songstone clan just needed to toughen up and learn to live in the wild. I kept those ideas to myself though. It was always good to have an abundant food supply. We’d need to have something to trade if we wanted tools and supplies.
Nela seemed more interested in using the fields we cleared for some special plant seeds she’d saved. Apparently, they had been grown in the garden of the Songstone clan. Their clan had never specialized in the cultivation of sacred fruits, but they’d had a few seeds. Apparently, these fruits were special because they accumulated zeal in a high density and in such a way that it could be transferred efficiently to whoever ate the fruit.
I immediately saw the value in such a resource. Having fruit like that growing in our backyard would mean we would have access to a resource that would improve the spellhearts of the clan as a whole. More than that though, we could continue to grow it and expand our orchard of sacred fruits as the clan grew. It was a good plan that I fully supported. Sadly, sacred fruits didn’t grow anywhere near as fast as normal fruit trees. And that was assuming magic was involved in their care. Even with days of work, they’d barely sprouted. I ended up abandoning the dream to Nela. It just wasn’t something we could work on in the short term. Maybe the young clan matriarch would be able to make something of it if left to her own devices. It was good that she had something to occupy her time with.
As the person with the
highest cultivation base in the clan, and the only surviving member of the bloodline of leadership, she had been made the default matriarch of the new Songstone clan. But I don’t think she was at all ready for this responsibility and realized it would be better if she was given time to get used to it. In the meantime, I’d secure my position as patriarch in the hearts and minds of the Songstone clan members.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The days passed by in just this way. I’d had a small office set up in one of the few furnished buildings, though my table and chair were homemade from compressed dirt. Maybe I’d have one of the wood aspect heartwielders make me something out of wood as soon as work started slowing down.
Despite the poor choice of materials, they gave the appearance of an office, if not the comfort. I wanted to look professional as the new patriarch.
The Songstone elves had largely accepted me. There were only two holdouts of note, the swordswoman who’d fought with Sava and one of the fire-wielders. There may have been others who resented me, but they weren’t important enough to care about. As the days past I was sure I’d convert them to my side as, eventually. Nela had been mostly keeping to herself, she’d been cultivating to increase her spellheart, pushing to the very limits of what could be done with a spellheart. She was at the eighth level of zeal accumulation, and once she hit the tenth, she’d need to take the next step to grow any more powerful.
What concerned me most was Yorik. The orc had been acting more and more cagey lately, until today when she refused to leave my side under any circumstances. It didn’t take much thought for me to guess what was bothering her. Still, I didn’t want to voice my concerns out loud, not with potential spies hanging around. That’s why I waited until today to bring it up, after I had sent everyone off on their various tasks. The settlement was empty, with everyone out and about handling one job or another. Even still, I used Yorik inside the building with the thickest walls and closed the door behind us.
“So, what are... you know who... up to?” I asked Yorik.
“Yorik don’t know.” Yorik shook her head. “No sign or scent, but Yorik knows they’re here. They followed. They know.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Last night, I hear the snapping of a twig and jump awake, but when I do, no one is there. Before that, somebody bumps into me, but I don’t see them anywhere.”
I frowned. “You think they’ve got some invisibility power?” That wasn’t good. I hated being spied on. I glanced around the room we were in, suspiciously inspecting the walls and corners, looking for any small disturbances.
But before I could begin a thorough investigation, Yorik interrupted me. “No. Not invisibility. Spell of not seeing.”
“Ah, so it’s less along the lines of being physically unable to observe someone and more a shroud of ‘don’t notice me’. You wouldn’t be able to duplicate the spell by any chance?”
Yorik held up her spellheart, clutching in between her fingers. After a long moment she gasped. “Did it.”
I blinked. Nothing happened. Yorik was still there in front of me.
Yorik shook her head. “Mind spells not work so well on you.”
It made sense. I’d have to bring in Sava or one of the Songstone elves to help me test Yorik’s spell for effectiveness. In the meantime, I’d just have to take her at her word. Still, it was good to know that I could ignore the effects of this ‘don’t notice me’ shroud. If there were invisible spies sneaking around the camp, it would be up to me to spot them.
***
My second private meeting was much less expected. Nela approached me out of nowhere. She hadn’t said anything to me in the past few days, and I’d chosen to ignore her. She was clearly still shaken up by the destruction of her clan and hadn’t accepted her new leadership role. She was ostensibly the new matriarch of the Songstone clan, and she was important to me because she was the figurehead. It was only because of her consent that I was able to officially wield any power at all over the Songstone clan members. I let her know that I’d help with the day-to-day organization while she focused on making herself stronger. Nela and the other elves approved. Apparently that was the norm in this world. Clans were organized by subordinates while the matriarch cultivates her power and protects the clan with her strength and reputation.
“What is it Nela?” I asked her.
Nela hesitated for a long moment. I realized with surprise that she was actually blushing. “You... you haven’t performed your duties as the most powerful male of this clan yet, Theo.”
“What do you mean? I’ve been organizing building our new settlement, and getting shelters arranged for everybody, at the same time I’m... oh.” I wasn’t that dense. It only took me a few moments to figure out what she was alluding to.
“Well, it’s still the middle of the day. A project like that could... take the whole night. I don’t want to take you away from your meditations and horticulture. Those mystic fruits won’t grow themselves.” I made a few excuses. The truth was I still felt a bit awkward about this arrangement. The way I understood it, the entire Songstone clan was essentially one big harem for me. They were all sexual eligible. The thing was, I had been with Sava, and I couldn’t shake the mentality that I was with her as a partner. Doing anything sexual with anyone else still felt like cheating.
Nela’s expression fell. “You don’t want to. I knew it.”
She looked like she was about to cry.
“No, no, it’s not like that.” I said reassuringly. “Nothing is wrong with you, it’s just I have a lot to do today. I can’t be laying around when the rest of the Songstone clan is out working.”
Nela gestured at herself. “So, what’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong with you, Nela. You’re fine as you are. It’s me that has the problem.”
“I could order you to sleep with me you know. I am still the matriarch of this clan you know.”
I let out a long sigh. I’d long since come to the decision that I wouldn’t hide my earthly origins. I already had a target on my head for being a chaka, so what did it matter if people realized I was from another world as well. From what I’d gathered, every orc and goblin was from one of those other worlds speckled throughout the sky. There was little point in trying to pretend I was a native. I was still wearing my worn jeans and t-shirt after all.
I began to tell Nela about society on earth, and about the concept of monogamy.
“So, where you come from, there’s a man for every woman?” Nela asked with a raised eyebrow. She seemed like she was on the verge of bursting out laughing.
“It’s true.” I replied seriously. “Actually, I think there are slightly more men than women overall. It was a real big problem in ages past. In our history, the male population was kept down by wars and conflicts. Having more men than women has been a major problem for any society. Young men get rambunctious if they don’t settle down and start a family, you see. They often turned to banditry or just lived lives of crime and debauchery.”
“What a strange place. If you’d tell me where it is I could probably sell a map there for quite a bit of money. Your homeland would be invaded by an army of elvish women before the moon could be made new again.”
I grinned. “I don’t doubt it. Heck, many of the men back home would probably thank me for it. Unfortunately, my home isn’t exactly the kind of place you could walk to.”
Then Nela took the initiative. In one smooth motion, she leaned over and planted a kiss on my lips. They were soft and warm. I only spared a second for surprise before returning the act of affection.
Nela looked into my eyes and I looked into hers. The morals ingrained in me from years of living in a monogamous society were still telling me that this was wrong, but another, more primal part of me was telling me that this was very right. Eventually I gave in to those urges. I let the beast free and immediately it sent a hand crawling up Nela’s shirt.
She was beautiful. I’d been ignoring it for a long w
hile now, because I kept mentally thinking of her as unavailable to me, but now she was right here. All elves in general were stunning, and that probably had to do with the fact that they didn’t age like humans and that the zeal naturally present in this world made their bodies stronger and healthier. I hadn’t seen a single crippled or ugly elf since coming here. That being said, Nela was even more beautiful than the others. That might have been because she’d bonded with a more powerful spellheart and thus had larger quantities of zeal flowing through her body, or it could simply be a natural gift. At any rate, I my hands eagerly ran over her jade-like flawless skin, cupping her lush breasts in my hand.
With a tug, her top came off, and the rest of her clothes soon followed. I added my jeans and t-shirt to the pile rapidly forming on the ground.
Nela guided me towards her, before pushing me down onto one of the straw and blanket mattresses that the clan had assembled for bedding. She straddled my waist, leaned over so her lips could remain in contact with mine.
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
“Theo, coming to this place to try to kidnap you was my idea. I’ve wanted this since the moment I first laid eyes on you back in that backwater little town.”
With that, Nela plunged downward, impaling herself on me with a moan of pleasure. She got midway down when I suddenly felt some resistance, but Nela simply let her full weight down again, and I burst through the barrier. When I spotted a droplet of blood, I realized that Nela had been a virgin. Had been being the operative word. I’d just popped her cherry.
Zeal of the Mind and Flesh Page 19