Chapter 61

They had put down a flagstone path from the pavilion to new tower, which was a convenient improvement. My old tower had a couple of women guards at the door and the new tower had a couple of male warriors at the door, so I still wasn't sure which tower was our current home, as both flew a large Wolf pennant. The large men at the door were known to me, they were regular tower guards normally posted outside my homestead. Both men smiled at me, putting fist to heart. I walked through the door to see Hazel and Celine, almost collide with me, empty baskets in their hands, on their way out of the tower. They dumped their gathering baskets and bowled me back into the wall, screaming, "Von!"

Celine was as tall as her mother allowing both of them to kiss my face and cheeks at the same time. Each woman took a turn at my lips, vigorously pushing a tongue into my mouth. My parched mouth quickly forgot the heat of the day, as their moist lips renewed my spirit. They both whimpered words of love and longing, hands gliding freely with urgent need. I felt their passion and a wave of my own need heated me up, hardening against my lovers. As each felt my growing appreciation, a smile crossed their face and they looked at each other with laughter in their eyes. I dropped my eyes. Hazel's full belly looked wonderful on her. Large breasts rubbed me with no shame, they moved with provocative want.

A guard looked in with a broad smile and then he closed the oak door giving us privacy. A series of thumping noises announced another six or ten feet storming down wooden stairs. Loud sobbing women squeaked out my name in different forms of "master", "my husband" or "Von Solon where have you been?" None of them seeking an answer, all of them hugging and giggling around me. The new women had to elbow Celine and Hazel aside to gain their own momentary kiss. Palus, Swarta, Laudus, Hannah and Key, were all back to their healthy, normal sizes and in the excitement of the moment it took me a bit to understand babies weren't in mommy tummies any longer.

Palus said, "The white wizard's ache is back!"

All the women laughed at me, their hard nipples the point of her comment. Celine arched her back to show she had the ache too. I grinned and pinched one, feeling naughty, with my love driving a need to feel the warmth of our reunion. Celine almost melted under my touch, a long sigh leaking from her lips. Hazel, always the competitive one, took my hand and put it on her breast. I just shook my head, grinning at her as I pinched her extended nipple, which got me a blazing hot kiss.

Swarta interrupted the growing passion. "Ladies, ladies let our man in the door. We will satisfy our weakness soon enough."

A pleasurable tingle from my own itch resulted in me grabbing Key's hand and spinning her back into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her stomach, her bottom wiggling against my groin. My hands roamed her tight stomach and I felt her muscles bunch under my touch.

I quickly kissed her neck, and then whispered in her ear, "I can't wait to see our baby." Key melted and her muscles relaxed, in that moment her body blended into me.

"We all had twins, Von, they are the lightest color black we've ever seen," Key said, sounding more confident.

Hannah said, "They are perfect babies, Von, lovely girls. All my other children were fussy and sickly. Breeze and Sandy always sleep through the night."

The talk about my new children ratcheted up my emotions. "I have to see them," I gasped.

Hannah and Key each took my hand and led me to the wooden stairway. At the top of the staircase, three silver platters hung on the landing's wall, no doubt part of the loot from the battle at the river. Each platter was large enough to hold a boar. All the women followed me up the stairs and I'm sure we sounded like a herd of cattle, as we raced to the next floor.

Hannah and Key took my hands again, guiding me into the first doorway on the right-side of the long hallway. A couple of pregnant handmaidens were changing nappies. The obvious smell from dirty clothes whiffed in my nose before a lid dropped back on a tin pail bucket. A handmaiden's broad smile welcomed me, in each arm was an ebony baby girl. The room was filled with over a dozen baby cribs, most of them were empty.

Laudus scuttled across the floor to me. "Those babies are mine." The light-colored babies were sucking their thumbs.

"Wow, they are so big!" I blubbered. The girls seemed super-sized to me. Laudus placed the palm of her hand on my cheek and smiled.

"Your babies grow large very quickly, we think it is our milk," Key whispered from behind me. "I am testing the theory on a child that isn't yours. The baby feasts on my milk and prefers mine over its own mother's milk. This other baby sleeps through the night too. It never did before I started the experiment." I blinked at the thought of sucking her fat nipples. "Nanomites extracting higher levels of nutrients from the milk. Perhaps even adjusting the babies' taste bud preferences."

My lovers introduced me to all of my children and I spent hours in the nursery. Only the mothers remained with me, the other women understanding my need to bond with my babies. We talked about the babies, their labor and the village's explosive growth into a town.

Laudus explained that our community had grown to depend on sea-coal for many things including adding coal to the cooking fires in the woman's center. Using her influence, Laudus convinced Tharin to build a blockhouse surrounded by a palisade on the ridge overlooking the sea-coal site. Tharin's loss of his lover during our raid to save the slaves was still a sore point for him, so he was easily swayed to the idea. The concubines, former slaves working the coal out of the cliff, named it Fort Revenge, and the name stuck. Now a small community of eunuchs operated the coal mining operation to earn a living. The former slaves live in safeholds on the cliff, whilst a group of marsh fishermen catch fish and crawfish on the braided river. A part of the village watch moved to the blockhouse, preferring the smaller nature of the new community.

An enterprising group of sea-wives, recently displaced from the flooding in the marsh, work a mule barge that delivers the coal. They travel from the dock at the braided river to Juniper Hills dock. Even the ex-marines living in Red-Tailed Meadow are trading venison for coal and river fish.

Laudus continued to explain the ex-marines had successfully recruited refugees from Convey, taking their small bundle of houses up to a real village with craftsmen. The original settlers in the meadow found fertile ground to grow barley and hops gardens. Farmers from Convey saw the value in the land and cleared more acreage. Our Juniper Hills healers were happy to gain access to hops as hops is a much needed herbal medicine for treating anxiety and insomnia. It's also used to brew weak beer, which was a safe alternative for untreated water.

It was clear that our free-style living, remote frontier location and reputation for security were an attractive combination of factors to many people. Liberty and security are the key attracting components for the arrival of the new people from Convey, where the wide-open opportunity to improve their standard of living seemed to attract the marsh people.

We didn't recognize social layers beyond my family. The Solons were the recognized leaders, and our people had no caste system to hinder individual success. Our eunuchs, sea-wives and low-caste fishermen were accepted as equals, unlike life elsewhere on the mainland or even Convey. The worst tension I've noticed between them was the complaint about smells. Let's be honest it's hard to get rid of that fish smell. Yet, I found these particular parts of our small society were the most loyal and strongest supporters of our homestead. They were certainly the hardest working members of our village.

Tassim's trade agreement with the black-rock marsh village added another small hamlet to our sphere of influence. My chief hunter's status in our village helped him acquire a new mate and a mother for Sparrow. His role as protector for a village chief's daughter created blood ties that created a new avenue of trade for Juniper Hills. We traded our finished goods and salted sea fish for ponies and water-buffalo meat.

The black-rock ponies were hardy animals accustomed to living on the moors, where sure footing was required to survive. The water buffalo meat was a familiar meal for our Great Marsh residents and a nice alternative menu item. Our dependence upon fish limited what hit my taste buds and living in Convey had definitely spoiled me.

I left the nursery still processing all the changes to my homestead. Laudus, Hannah and Key went to visit the Concubines to "Help keep order," so Hazel and Celine immediately pulled me into their bedroom. The room was the same size as their bedroom in the old tower and Hazel's girls had their beds in the same relative locations. If I didn't know better, I'd have thoughtwe were still in the old tower.

I felt the baby move, so with a broad smile I put my hand up Hazel's shirt to touch naked skin. I paused, believing I had a perception beyond myself of the baby. The strange awareness was similar to my mindlink with Derwen as it encompassed something outside of my own senses. When I removed my hand from Hazel's stomach that sense of awareness left too.

Hazel's eyes grew wide, so I asked, "You felt that warm feeling too, Hazel?" My lover nodded her head. Hazel's half-grin and tear in the corner of her eye confirmed our child had the gift. "Derwen will want to know this child."

Taking a deep breath, I whispered in Hazel's ear, "This baby is very special because we made him. Beyond our righteous love and my natural prejudice as the father, I perceive he has a powerful gift."

Celine pushed her lips to my ear, whispering, "You missed my birthday but I am sure you can make it up to me with my own special baby."

With no hesitation, I responded, "Yes, I want that very much now."

Celine took a sharp intake of air filling her lungs before yelling, "I will give you a warm welcome home tonight!" I kissed Celine and cuddled her. The young woman moaned, twisting her fingers through my hair.

"OK, show me the rest of the tower. I want to see the third floor," I instructed.

From the height of the third floor tower's window, which faced towards the sea, I could see the constant foot traffic at the west gate. Villagers foraged in the western woods for tinder, while woodsmen moved in and out of the village carrying traps. I was pretty sure families and traders were traveling back and forth to the Red-Tail Meadow village, for children played at the forest edge. A well-worn trail emerged from the forest's edge, through the cleared ground to the palisade's gate. Nothing was allowed to be built outside the western wall that would block the killing-ground; we'd purposely cleared the ground to aid in the defence of our homestead. Now our western wall stretched from the cliff's edge and our new tower to the edge of the forest that overlooked the sea. The western gate was a major traffic point for resources and the access point to our sister villages.