Chapter 31

The Grand Alliance of the Inland Sea, as the treaty was eventually called took ten long days to propose, present, and to finalize. The whole process started within an hour of the first troops from Oak Hall landing on the mole. Amongst the first ashore were many who were known to me. Their number included Dork, Chester, Zahra, Kola, Tobias, and the five men that Tobias normally used to back him up. All of them were shocked to see me greeting them.

Kola ran up to me the moment she recognized me. As I dismounted my horse she threw herself into my arms.

"My mate," she exclaimed passionately, "you're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," I replied with a chuckle, pulling Kola tight against me in a hug. "Do you think these bastards could kill me? That will never happen!"

The rest of the group was equally impressed that I was still alive and kicking. While I quickly chatted to everyone, Tobias signalled the Windrunner and the other boats that all was well. Within an hour the Windrunner was tied up along the quay and the other boats had started to land their fighting contingents. While I reunited with Caitlin and Nimue, and with my friends, a force of two hundred fighting men and women landed under the command of Elsa Mueller. By then Lord Tailem had rallied the remainder of his troops to his banner and had sent most of them back to their barracks or to duty elsewhere in the city. He only kept a guard of twenty with him when he rode down to parley with the landing force. Naturally, I went and joined him as he spoke to Elsa and her men.

"Well here we are coming to your rescue," Elsa Mueller chuckled teasingly as I greeted her, "and you've already have matters in hand. Now what are we supposed to do. My men were looking forward to a battle."

"Well they won't get one today," I told her firmly, "however I'm willing to pay for a drink or two at a local bar for those here on the ground, before you load them back up and take them home. I'm certain that Lord Barnabas will be happy to see them back."

"He will," Elsa said with a grin, "and he'll be happy to hear that you're still alive. So is anyone going to tell me what happened here?"

I told her the short version then and there so we could get things moving, with the promise to tell all later at Lord Tailem's palace. I was certain that Lord Tailem would feel more comfortable with Elsa's invasion force gone. I did cough up for drinks for everyone on shore, while Elsa got boats and people organized. In a stroke of brilliance, Lord Tailem arranged for the drinks to be delivered from the taverns to the men on the mole and the quay. That prevented anyone from wandering off and getting into trouble. Once that was taken care of, Lord Tailem rode off to the palace with his guard in tow so he could clean up the mess there. I promised to be up once everyone was off and he promised me a feast worth remembering.

The Windrunner stayed so that I had a vessel to carry me home. I learned from my mates that Felicity was alive but in bed recovering from her wounds. She'd taken an arrow in the thigh as I'd seen and been grazed by a deflected spear that had pierced the grav field of her bike when she'd decreased it so she could make use of her pistol. The spear had torn through the arm of her jacket and had cut her upper arm. Fortunately, the nurse that Zahra had found when we'd raided the pirate enclaves was knowledgeable enough to make use of Felicity's high tech medical equipment. The present diagnose was that she'd be up in a week. I was happy to hear that.

We stayed only the night and part of the next morning in Blue Harbour. As promised Lord Tailem did put on a feast for us that night at his palace. We ate in his garden with me sitting beside him throughout the meal. We had entertainment that would have made the best burlesque show of my world jealous. There were dancing girls who were barely clad in garments that were transparent and there were jugglers, acrobats, magicians, singers, and fools. Wine flowed and food was placed before us on golden platters. My mates sat on by my side and my friends sat beside Lord Tailem. Even Elsa Mueller sat there with us; near enough that she could share our conversation from time to time. Afterwards Elsa and I retired with Lord Tailem to his private office in his suite, where we discussed the events of the last few days and the proposal that I had originally come to Blue Harbour to discuss. Lord Tailem was all for it.

"My friends," he said after hearing our proposal, "I would sign the agreement this minute if I could. My only regret is that I have very little to offer in exchange for your friendship. My administration has been eradicated by those barbarians who had usurped my throne and my military is a shambles. You saw them today. Their morale is broken. In time that may change but in the meantime my city is weak. I have no officers left that are worth anything and what few advisors I might call upon will be to frightened to advise me. It is a bad time for my city."

"Then perhaps we can expand our proposal," I suggested glancing over towards Elsa before continuing. "On my world, a common feature of an alliance between two nations was that the stronger power often offered advisors and experts to come to the other nation and help that nation to build up the quality of their administration and military. Oak Hall has an abundance of men who know how to lead and how to fight. I'm certain that under this proposed alliance that a group of men could be loaned to Blue Harbour for a year or two to help you get back on your feet."

"It was the same on my world," Elsa Mueller noted with a grin. "The Imperial German Navy provided officers and skilled technicians to several underdeveloped nations who were allied to us, so that those nations could learn to use modern naval tactics and technology. In fact, we often allowed men and women from those nations, who had demonstrated an ability to learn, to train directly aboard our vessels and in our training centres. We could do the same here, once Blue Harbour was back on its feet. Men could come to Oak Hall to see how we do things. It is an option that could be included in the alliance. Even Izmir could benefit from it and us from them. They do have a better range of long range defensive weaponry. It is certainly something that we all could benefit from down the road."

Lord Tailem saw us off the next morning at the quay. He had ridden down from his palace so that he could continue his chat with Elsa and me. Just before the Windrunner was ready to slip her lines, the man took me aside and spoke to me in private.

"What will you do now my friend?" he asked solemnly. "Once the alliance has been signed by all, your job will be done here and as you have professed often and I am now more than aware of, it is dangerous for you to remain in one place for any length of time. You have eight months left to succeed in your mission. The question is what will you do in that time?"

"I've promised my mate that we would find her sister," I told him honestly, glancing over to where Nimue was standing aboard the Windrunner. "So far she has said nothing about it, but I know the anguish that she felt when her sister was stolen from her on Minos by the other Earth. At present the connection between my mate and her sister has been severed but I am certain that it will return. In the meantime, we will begin travelling again. My friend Tagus still wishes to ferry us about, so that is what we'll do. Once the treaty has been ironed out and the document signed, we will provision the Windrunner and set sail again."

"Well I will wish you luck my friend," Lord Tailem said in his soft voice, "and say that I will miss you. You and I shared an adventure that none other can truly appreciate and I will always be in your debt. Take care of yourself and succeed in your mission so that other men can live without the fear that some outworlder will appear in the middle of the night to do him harm. I will be looking forward to that day."

We didn't sail immediately. Tagus gave Lord Tailem an inspection of the Windrunner. He was suitably impressed by both the vessel and the ballistae mounted on it. Before leaving we agreed on a signal to be raised by the port if all was well in the city. I needed to return with a final draft of the proposed alliance and the advisors I'd promised his lordship and I didn't want to get into trouble again. I knew deep down that I'd been very lucky this time and that I probably wouldn't be lucky like that again.

We arrived late in the afternoon, reaching Oak Hall without incident. The first person I visited was Felicity. I found her in our bedchamber being tended to by Princess Samira and the three Minoan girls. They rose when I entered the room and bowed formally as I approached the bed. Once seated beside her on the bed, I gave Felicity a hug and a kiss.

"How are you my sweet?" I asked her quickly, my concern obvious in my tone.

"I should be asking you that," Felicity chided me, casting her big brown eyes over my bulk, gazing at where I'd been injured. I smiled as she frowned with annoyance knowing that my injuries were almost gone and there was very little visible evidence of them left. After a moment she gave up and sighed with frustration.

"Damned you and your super healing process," she cursed in a low voice. I just chuckled and kissed her again.

"So my sweet," I said to her softly, "how have you been? Did they treat you well here or have you been a nuisance? You know I should spank your bottom for not listening to me. You endangered your life needlessly."

"It wasn't needlessly," Felicity protested, "and I'm fine. I'll be up and about by tomorrow with nothing but a stiff leg to work out. Sarah Williams, the nurse did a good job on stitching me up and Samira here and the girls have been taking good care of me."

"I've noticed," I said cheerfully, turning and smiling at the four young women. They were still standing off to the side with their heads bowed submissively in my direction. I rose from the bed and stepped towards the women. When I reached them I reached down and lifted their faces up by the chin, one at a time, and then kissed them on each cheek and then tenderly on their lips, starting with Samira.

"Thank you ladies," I uttered when I was done, smiling warmly at the four surprised young women, "for taking such good care of my beloved mate. I will remember this."

The young women were dumbstruck as to what to do next and Felicity just chuckled and called me a tease and I just smiled and wiggled my eyebrows mischievously. The young women blushed brightly in response to that and both Felicity and I had a good laugh. After that I spent half an hour with Felicity before excusing myself. I needed to see the old man.

Lord Barnabas was in his bedchamber chatting to his two former concubines. They were seated about a small table and they were sipping warm herbal tea. I could smell it as I entered the room. Barnabas smiled warmly as I approached him.

"Well the troublemaker returns," the old man chuckled as we shook hands. "It is good to see you in one piece my friend. You had me worried. Why don't you pull up a chair and tell us what the hell happened in Blue Harbour? I'm very interested in how Lord Tailem treated you."

I did as Barnabas asked and pulled up a chair and sat and spoke with him. It took an hour and the old man and his former concubines listened to my tale with wide-eyed disbelief and unbreakable attention. I told them everything from the start to the ending and included the fact that Lord Tailem was all for the proposed alliance. I didn't get into details, but I told Barnabas that we needed to put together a draft the next day that could be delivered to both Blue Harbour and Izmir for their review and consideration. Barnabas nodded his understanding and agreement before indicating that it was well past his bedtime. I left the ladies to take care of the old man and then retired to my own bed and my waiting mates.

I was mean to poor Felicity that night. While her wounds were healing nicely, she certainly wasn't up to the kind of sex that we normally shared and she was forced to abstain while her sister-wives did everything in their power to wear me out. The poor thing was frustrated as hell after watching Kola, Caitlin, and Nimue take their pleasure repeatedly and me spilling my seed into each of them. It was a mean thing to do, but it had its purpose. When Nimue finally collapsed upon my sweat covered body and begged me for a respite, I rolled my little elf off of me and then turned over to Felicity and pulled her into my arms. Felicity protested her injuries but I didn't listen and she didn't resist to hard. In seconds I had her naked and enveloped in my embrace. I kissed her and caressed her, exciting the already sizzling passion in her to rise up to a boil and overflow. Kola slipped behind her and helped in my endeavours, lending a hand in spots that I could not reach. She soon had a finger between Felicity's parted thighs, diddling the young woman to the first of many orgasms. Poor Felicity exploded within seconds of being touched and continued to climax for quite some time. Eventually each of us took a turn lying between her legs and lapping at her sex. I went last and when I'd brought her off one last time, I rose up and forward and slipped into her warm, wet depths. I fucked her very slowly, almost not moving at times, just letting her feel me inside her. Her last orgasm was humungous and at the end of it she was begging me to pound her full of my seed. At that point I could do nothing but obey, my own need demanding that I do something. It was great. My mates enjoyed it as did our audience. I spotted them as I rolled off Felicity. Four pretty heads staring around the edges of drawn curtains, spying on us in the half light of the room. I smiled at that and then went to sleep snuggled up with my mates, sated and happy once again.