Basically what the title implies. I am writing a book, and would be interested in some feedback. Anyone interested?

well, here comes the first chunk. as I said, its a work in progress. the storyline is mostly set, but I really need to go back through it, and fill in more details, etc. also think I'm going to redo the parts about the basement armory and such, probably make it more mysterious.

.........Rowan county Kentucky.

Jake Reynolds sat in his truck and looked at the weather beaten sign attached to the gate in front of him, he flipped on the high beams to illuminate it better, in the dark snowy night, sure enough he was at the right place. He breathed a sigh of relief, he was exhausted from the 16 hour drive he had just completed and was ready to call it a night, he hoped there was a warm bed waiting for him. The heavy snow, and slick conditions turned what should have been a relatively easy six hour drive, into a white knuckle miserable sixteen hour driving nightmare. It’s amazing he didn’t end up in a ditch as many other vehicles had, or smashed under the wheels of a eighteen wheeler, which he almost had once due to the terrible icy road conditions. The only reason he had made it successfully was due to driving slow, four wheel drive, and the heavy bags of sand he had thrown into the trucks bed at the last minute. He would be glad to finally get out of this truck get a quick snack and go to bed, it felt like everything on him hurt from being hunched over the steering wheel for the last sixteen hours. His shoulders, back, neck and even his eyes ached. He didn’t want to drive up here tonight, but he didn’t have much choice, his late uncles will had clearly stated he had 24 hours to take ownership of the property, or he would forfeit the farm to the next heir after himself. What a pain in the ass he grumbled to himself, why would someone put that bullshit in a will in the first place?

The damn place had sat empty for the last three months, what difference would a couple more days make? He had made it though with a hour of time to spare, however. The representative from the bank would be here at six to check that he had indeed taken up residence within the allotted time. The last year of his life had been pretty rough for him. First he had lost his dad in a house fire, the fire had burned the house to the foundation, taking his dad. He had returned for the funeral, but could not stay long enough for the clean up, seeing it was a total loss, he had hired a company to do the clean up after he returned to the middle east. A few months later, instead of reenlisting, he had decided to finally leave the Army, to commit himself to his wife full time and start the family they had talked about for years. The day he arrived home his wife had hit him with divorce papers, it had caught him totally by surprise and left him completely devastated emotionally. He had married his child hood sweetheart, she was his first and only love, and he didn’t know how to live without her. He had lost the family heirlooms, and much of his belongings in the fire as he stored them at his fathers, then his wife took everything else in the divorce, including his retirement and savings. Then to top it off, she had ruined his credit by opening credit card accounts in his name, and maxing them all out to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

He had to file bankruptcy to escape the creditors who hounded him day and night. He was reduced to living in a homeless shelter by the time the divorce was finished, had gotten out of the marriage with the clothes on his back, one hundred and fifty dollars in his wallet, and a large lawyer bill. The lawyer had taken pity on him, and managed to get Jake a job working for a construction company. It didn’t pay well, and had zero benefits, but it was a job, and they had cheap motel rooms, they rented to their employees for cheap. A depressed Jake had settled into his new life, back breaking heavy manual labor during the day, a short bus ride to the motel, a few beers and depressing cheap motel by night. He didn’t see how he could keep going the way he was, he desperately needed a change, a better job, but that was not so easy when you were flat broke, and had no help. Jake had joked much of his life that he seemed to be blessed, things had always worked out well for him, even if he didn’t see it at the time, it looked like his luck had finally run out though. he had always wondered how people ended up in a shitty life, with nothing to show for it, or to live for... he had his answer now, he was one of them.

Jake had scraped by for months, barely keeping a roof over his head, and food in his belly working overtime when possible to get extra money. Then, one day, things seemed to start turning around for him. The first good thing to happen, was when he got a phone call from a local garage owned by one of his fathers friends. The old man had dropped off his truck to be worked on just a few days before the house fire. Jake was stunned, he thought the old truck had burned in the attached garage. The garage owner didn’t know how to contact Jake, but had recently managed to get his number from a family friend. He told Jake he could pick up the old truck anytime he wanted, and he was waving the repair cost as a favor to his father. Jake had tears in his eyes when he drove off in the old ford four wheel drive truck. The old red truck had belonged to his dad since Jake was 12 years old. He had so many memories of his father in it, hunting and camping trips, hauling firewood and building materials. Jake had learned to drive, and gotten his drivers license in it, the drive back to his hotel room had been a emotional one.

The second piece of good fortune, had come while he had been cleaning up the truck. He had taken the rest of the morning to wash and wax the old truck, and while cleaning out the cab, he had found a pistol case jammed back under the seat. He had been shocked when he discovered it contained his grandfathers pistol, one of the heirlooms he was sure lost in the fire. It had been wrapped in a oily rag, and was in great condition. the story was, his grandfather had been issued this pistol late in World War One, when he was just sixteen years old. The old man had lied about his age to join the Army claiming to be eighteen, when in reality he had just turned sixteen. He had carried the heavy Colt pistol in France and Belgium, and had brought it back home after the war. When World War Two had started, he had enlisted again, and took the old pistol off to war with him, carrying it this time through the invasion of France, until the end of the war. Then, when his father had went to Korea, he had carried the old pistol himself, and later again when he was drafted to Vietnam.

The history of the old gun was Incredible, which was why Jake had been so devastated when he thought it had been lost. He had sat for a long time, turning the heavy old pistol in his hands, examining every inch of it. It was over a hundred years old, manufactured in 1917, and issued to his grandfather in 1918. It had a few dings and scratches and the finish was heavily worn, but it was rust free, and still locked up tight. When he was cleaning it later, he had been surprised to find his grandfathers and fathers initials and dates scratched under the pistols plastic grips. Pvt T Reynolds, France 1917 / Germany 1944-45, the opposite side had, Pvt E Reynolds Korea 50-51/Vietnam 70-72 . Jake had swelled with pride as he looked at those initials, and the old gun. How many people owned a pistol their family had carried through four wars? Jake gazed out the trucks ice crusted window at the snow covered countryside ,He patted his side where the old Colt .45 rode in a concealed carry holster under his jacket it was Jake’s most Prized possession, and brought him a lot of comfort these days.

He thought back to a few days ago when he had been approached by the estate lawyer. He had just gotten back to his crappy motel room with a six pack of beer, planning to sit and stare at the tv for a few hours, before he passed out. There was a new Mercedes parked in front of his room, with a tall bald man holding a briefcase standing next to it. He was a estate lawyer from Lexington Ky, and had driven down to inform him that his uncle Edgar had passed away, leaving him a five hundred acre farm in eastern Kentucky. Jake had never met his uncle Edgar, he was sort of the black sheep of the family, and his father had always told Jake he had best stay clear of his crazy old uncle, if he knew what was good for him. In truth the property had been left to Jake’s father Elias, but since Elias had died, it all passed into Jake’s hands. He was shocked to be certain. His life a year ago, had went from happy and full of promise to bleak and depressing, losing everything and no future to be seen. Now However, things were finally turning around for him. He had his fathers truck, his grandfathers heirloom pistol, and apparently a 500 acre farm as well,it was all very over whelming.

Jake stopped staring at the snow covered countryside, bringing himself back to reality. He took out his phone, and sent a text to the lawyer, informing him that he was at the property, just in case the rep didn’t show up due to the snow. This is Jake Reynolds Mr Smithe, I just wanted to let you know I just arrived at the property, well under the time limit. He relaxed back against the seat and stretched his legs, then poured himself a cup of  warmish coffee from his battered old green thermos. The wind was blowing something terrible, and he was not looking forward to getting out to open that gate. Jake’s phone dinged, and he saw Mr Smithe had returned his text. Mr Reynolds, you drove across Kentucky last night in this blizzard !?! There was a provision in the will for inclement weather, that gave you a extra twenty four hours to take possession. I’m glad you made it safely, however our rep cant make it out today due to the roads, but will be there tomorrow at 5pm. Jake looked at the text and read it a second time.. ' SON OF A BITCH !  he fumed. You mean i didn’t have to drive in this shit? He was mad, but screw it. He was here now at his new home, that had been a hell of a drive, and it really got his adrenaline pumping. That was more excitement than he had experienced in a really long time, and it felt good, he really missed being in the military and the, adventure, camaraderie and adrenalin rush that came with it. He smiled for a moment, remembering things he experienced while in the military, then had another thought. He did miss those things about it, the fun and adventure, however, he didn’t miss all the bullshit, ass kissing, drama, and crap he had to deal with that went along wit the fun stuff. It seemed like for every 5 minutes of awesome, he had to wade through months of bullshit. He was going to have to get out of this slump he was in, and find something exciting, and challenging to push himself with.

Jake pushed the truck door against the howling wind, struggling to get it open. He braced it against his hip and struggled out of the truck holding the door against the wind and preventing it being slammed into him. His feet landed into the knee deep snow, he stepped back from the door releasing it, the wind immediately slammed it close with a loud bang. He took a moment to rub his tired eyes, and stretch, trying to work the kinks out of his back and neck, groaning with pleasure as he was rewarded with several loud pops from his back. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, leaned into the wind while keeping his head down to avoid the painful sleet the wind was was blasting against him. He stepped toward the closed gate, the snow crunched loudly as he forced his way forward, he stumbled once almost falling as he tripped over something that was hidden by the snow, but then he was there. The battered old steel gate was before him, The gate had a thick chain, brown with rust from many years of weather exposure.

The chain was strung through the gate, and around a thick post, a heavy old equally rusty padlock secured it. He pulled the keys out of his pocket with freezing fingers, and struggled to find one he thought might fit the old lock, he tried several wrong keys, but finally the next one slipped easily into it, the massive rusty lock might have looked a hundred years old, but it was well maintained, the key turned easily, and the lock popped open. He grabbed the gate, and shoved his body against it trying to slide it across the road, the deep snow make moving it difficult though. He struggled against the gate and deep snow that blocked it, shoving and kicking, it moved slowly before getting stuck against something, ice most likely, and refused to budge anymore despite his kicks and curses. Jake estimated it was just wide enough for the truck to squeeze past. “ Good enough”, he grumbled, and he stumbled back to the warmth of his truck.

Once back inside, he shifted the old truck into gear and stepped on the gas, the tires spun on the slick ground for a moment making a loud whining sound as they spun on the ice that lay under the snow. The knobby mud tires finally and the old red truck moved slowly forward, clawing its way through the deep snow, and past the heavy gate. The driveway was covered with deep fresh snow making it extremely hard to stay on it , he found himself more than once sliding off the road, he drove slowly and carefully trying to keep to what he hoped was the center of it, hoping to avoid any ditches that were hiding under the snow. The driveway was long and winding, but finally he emerged from the thick trees, and sitting there ahead of him in a small clearing was his new home.

Jake was pleasantly surprised at what he found, it was a beautiful old place, the house design was the old farm house look, it was white single story house, with a wrap around porch, the house had a waist high chain link fence surrounding it. He parked the truck, grabbed his bag, and stepped onto the porch. The front door was something to behold, it was huge, had hand carving, and the hardware on it was all heavy cast copper. He had never seen anything like it before, anywhere, it looked like it had come from a castle, but who would use copper instead of cast iron? It was puzzling, cast iron was a lot stronger, but, he had to admit it made for a good looking door. He unlocked the massive door and swung the it open, pausing for a moment when he saw the door frame. The wall was a good foot thick, he scratched at the wall next to the door frame with the house key and was surprised to find it was concrete. The entire damn house was made from concrete a foot thick, then covered with siding to make it look normal.

He thought for a second, and stepped outside to look more closely at the shutters that were on all of the windows. He inspected one of them, and was satisfied that his hunch had been right, it was not a normal decorative shutter, it was a real shutter designed to be closed over the windows, it was also made from thick steel, and was painted to match the house. The damn house was a bunker, maybe his uncle had been scared of tornadoes? No matter his reason, Jake liked it, it was a solid well built house, he didn’t need to worry about burglars, or tornadoes he thought. He walked inside and found himself standing in the main room, which was a combined living room and kitchen. He glanced around and loved what he saw. The floors were all hardwood, the ceiling had massive ancient looking wood beams, there was also a huge stone fireplace. The fireplace was built with large dark colored stone blocks carefully fitted together, it had a wide hearth and the mantle was made from another thick wood beam that matched the ones in the ceiling. The large couch and two comfortable looking chairs were upholstered in leather, the kitchen had new stainless appliances, and a old fashioned soap stone sink, that even had a old fashioned style water pump that actually worked, and he was sure would provide water even if the power was out.

Right beside the front door, was a large gun cabinet, peering through the glass he could make out a assortment of guns, and was both surprised, and pleased at what he saw, it looked like his uncle had raided a world war two armory. It was all World war two military vintage, and there were two of each gun, two M1Garands, two M1 carbines, two 1903 springfields, two trench riot shotguns, and two colt forty five automatic pistols, the bottom of the cabinet was filled with ammunition, and loaded magazines. Tired or not, the house had his curiosity now, he found a flash light in the kitchen, and went exploring. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the master bedroom had hardwood floors, and another fireplace in it that was a smaller version of the one in the living room. In front of the fireplace were two large leather covered chairs with a small reading table between them, the bed was king sized and the head board and foot board were made from more thick hand carved wood, Sitting on the bed Jake nodded in satisfaction, it had a thick comfortable mattress. He felt the mattress calling his name, he walked into the master bath, again pleased with what he saw. The bath was finished in attractive tile, and the shower was a large walk in style. He could not resist the shower, he turned on the shower, and started getting undressed as the water warmed up.

The shower felt amazing after the long drive he had made, the powerful jets of how water soothed his muscles, and relaxing him, soon he was yawning, and felt that comfortable bed calling his name. He climbed out, and found the towels large and super soft against his skin. He climbed into the bed and was asleep in seconds. The next morning, while drinking his coffee Jake finished his walk around of his new home, the more he saw, the more he appreciated just what he had inheirted. The house had been set up for self sufficiency, and his grandfather and uncle had done a incredible job at it. The kitchen had modern plumbing, but next to the farm style kitchen sink was a old style hand pump that drew water straight from a well under the house, providing water even if the power went out. There was a outside wood furnace that heated the water and the house, with a large supply of firewood along with another well. There was a small building behind the house that contained a generator and fuel tank capable of powering the entire house in power outages for extended periods of time. The generator building also had several large batteries and charge controllers for a solar panel array, the southern side of the house roof was covered in solar panel’s. It was a great set up, and its what he would have done himself had he built it, and had the money to do whatever he wanted. The last place he went was the attic, he found a steel ladder bolted to the wall in the back of a closet that led to a steel hatch, He popped it open, and climbed into the large attic. Here he got another surprise, the ceilings in the entire house were concrete, here he was in the attic, and the floor of the attic was solid concrete. The roof that was on the house was more for looks, to make the house look normal. It was a real roof though, and he was standing in a spacious attic, that was stacked with the usual oddball attic stuff, a old  tree, old boxes, etc. He loved the place, it had the feel of a log cabin, and was built like a bunker. There really was nothing he felt it was missing, or that he could have done better.

Jake had been in the new house for a week , and had settled in pretty well, it was his dream home, and he was very comfortable in it. While going trough the large desk in the study he discovered a locked drawer in the top of the desk in the study. He found a key on the key ring that opened the locked drawer, inside was a envelope labeled basement, containing a large strange looking key, and several old leather bound journals, Embossed on the cover was the name Tobias Reynolds, Jake’s grandfather. He was excited to discover his grandfathers journals. Jake knew little about his fathers side of the family, and this was a real treat for him to have such a personal look into the life of the family’s war hero. The old books were still in good shape, and he was grateful his grandfather had neat writing that was easy to read. He started reading, curious as to what he, and his life experiences had been like, the first journal started at the beginning of world war two, and described what went on all through the war, and what the man had seen. It was amazing to read a first person account of the the invasion of France, the push through Europe towards Germany, the old mans tank battles which put the Sherman he commanded against the Nazi tanks.

He sat for hours sipping bourbon, and reading about what his grandfather had seen during the war. Then he started reading the last journal, which started detailing how his grandfather had returned home from the war, it began normally enough, but a few pages into it and he thought his grandfather had gone insane. August 1946, today while I was using the surplus welder / generator to repair the tractor, something strange happened, I had been welding the axle on the tractor, and laid the welding cables on the ground for a few minutes, when I realized what I can only describe as a black doorway opened beside the old cave, it was small, about the size of a doghouse, but when I crawled through, I found myself in another part of the world, I was looking down on castle ruins surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains. I don’t know where I was, maybe the alps? Its truly a marvel, I don’t know what this is, but I intend to experiment with making the doorway larger, and exploring whats there. The old man went on and on about experimenting with the generator, finally claiming sinking large copper rods into the ground and attaching the generator cables to them had opened the doorway up to the size of a house. Jake read much of the journal, it went on to describe enormous treasure, as well as fantastical things, such as unicorns, talking animals, and more.

Then. December 1946, today we were attacked by monsters, terrible , powerful, green , man like creatures. I was able to fight them off with my pistol and shotgun, but just barely. There were dozens of the things, I fear what could happen should they discover the doorway, and come here to Kentucky. I have decided to use some of the treasure we discovered, and rebuild the homestead into a much stronger, and safer place before we do anymore exploration. A unemployed army engineer friend of mine, who has had a lot of experience from the war building bunkers, said we could build the house out of concrete. When I skoffed at the idea, saying the neighbors would think im crazy for building a bunker, he told me we could cover the house with normal siding, and no one would ever know it was anything other than a normal house just by looking at it. The concrete construction would obviously make it super strong, last forever, and survive any tornado, hell it would be bullet proof as well. I very much like that idea after thinking it over, we will begin construction of a new house and barn next week, I also decided we would need better weapons and equipment should we want to succeed with our plan. The army depots are flooded with surplus war materials, and I had a supply sergeant offer to sell me a Thompson machine gun the last time I was at Fort Knox.

The man had hinted he could sell me anything I wanted if I had the money. I was doubtful and said as much, telling him I didn’t want any problems with the government should he get caught. He said there was simply no way anyone could keep track of the mountains of equipment the bases were flooded with.He was leaving the military soon, and if I wanted anything I had better let him know. I  had no interest or need at the time, but I surely do now, im going to put him to the test and see just what he can scrounge up, I have made a long list of things I want so I guess we will see. I have little doubt I can buy pretty much anything I want with the resources that treasure gives me. That’s not to say there is no risk involved, the things I want to buy would cause a lot of problems if the government were to find them, so I plan to store it under the house, and barn in the secret basements I’m planning to build, should the government men come looking for some reason, they wont find anything. Jake put the book down, basement? The house didn’t have a basement. Well not really, just a small utility room / storm shelter, not big enough to hide anything in, and the barn had no basement at all. He reached into the drawer and took out the envelope that was labeled basement, and dumped the weird key into his hand, looking at it carefully. He grabbed a flash light and headed towards the basement door. He swung the door open, and flipped on the light switch, a weak light bulb flickered on, barely illuminating the room below.

Jake stepped down the steel stairs, until he was standing on the concrete floor. This was silly he thought to himself, there’s nothing here. He carefully looked at the room, all the walls were concrete obviously as was the entire house. However down here the bare concrete was visible, and you could see the lines in the walls, that showed the various truck loads of concrete as it dried, the roof in this room was concrete as well. The room was only ten feet square. One wall had a old rusty water heater on it, and a few rusty water pipes, the back wall and side wall had wooden shelves with odds and ends on them, lanterns, canned food, blankets. It was obvious someone planned to use the little room as a storm shelter. It would be a hell of a shelter he thought, a under ground solid concrete room, surrounded by a concrete house. Jake randomly picked up objects on the shelves, examining them and setting them back down. He grabbed a old can of motor oil on a shelf, but it would not budge. That’s weird he thought, He poked at it, discovering it was apparently attached to the shelf, as was everything else on this wall, it was all permanently attached. Jake flicked on his flashlight and carefully examined the shelving and wall, he hesitated when he found what he thought was a hidden latch. He was starting to feel uneasy, not really so much for maybe about to find a hidden room or something, that part was cool. No what made him hesitate was, if he did find a secret room, it would give the weird last journal some legitimacy, which made the other stuff written it more likely to be real.

He gripped the hidden latch and pressed down on it, and was rewarded with a metallic click, and the shelving unit swing inward several inches from the wall. Damn Jake muttered, maybe there is something hidden here, he pulled the shelves away from the wall, discovering they were on hinges. The wall behind the shelves, was made of concrete, the same as all the others, except for the large steel door set in the center of it. The door had no handles, it was a featureless piece of steel, with only a keyhole in the center of it. He pulled the weird key from his pocket, and took a deep breath, and tried to slide it into the key hole. The key refused to go in, and he tried the other side, it slid smoothly into the key hole with a snick, and Jake twisted it. There was a loud clack and something moved inside the door, Jake pressed against it, and the heavy steel door slowly slid open on well greased hinges. Inside was a small landing, and a short set of concrete stairs going down deeper into the ground, the walls, ceiling and floor was of the same industrial concrete, at the bottom of the stairs was a small landing. A few feet in front of him stood another even larger steel door.

This door looked like it had come off a bank vault it was massive complete with round locking wheel in the center of it. He tried to turn it, but it would not budge, he looked at the door more closely and found another key hole. Sure enough the key unlocked it, Jake spun the wheel, and pulled the heavy steel vault door open wide enough to see inside. Stepping inside he used his flash light to look around,suddenly the room lit the room up startling him, illuminating the small room with blindingly bright modern led lighting. He realized there was a motion sensor, which had triggered the lighting. He also realized the lighting was pretty new stuff, his uncle had kept himself busy on the upkeep for this place, for which Jake was glad, this place would be a mess without maintenance for 70 years. This was a decontamination room, he had seem a few while in the military. One wall had towels and shelves with clothing, the opposite side had shower heads, there were vents in the ceiling for fresh air, and pulling out contaminated air, it was very professionally designed. Jake was impressed, his grandfather had really put a lot of thought, and money into this place, whatever it was. There was another smaller steel door and he spun the wheel and pushed it open, as he stepped inside, more lights switched on. It only took Jake a few minutes to look around what he discovered was a small bunker built under the house. There was a bunk room, with bunk beds to sleep twenty people, a military style bathroom beside that with multiple toilets, sinks, and showers, next was a combined kitchen recreation area. The kitchen had pretty modern equipment, including a stove, sink, a large walk in pantry filled with up to date canned and packaged food, including lots of bulk things like rice, beans, etc.

There was also a large walk in freezer well stocked with steak among other things. He imagined the food had been rotated out every few years to keep it up to date, damn, that would not be cheap he thought. There were several large tables for eating, and for relaxing, and playing cards, there was also a large flat screen attached to the wall, and a shelving units containing thousands of dvd’s, books, and a couple of computer stations with a wide selection of games. Next was a mechanical room, with lots of electrical panels, and a well insulated diesel generator, and large fuel tank. Across from the mechanical room was a military style supply room, inside were shelves stacked with boxes, clothing, boots, and more. Beside that was a office, with several desks, in the back of the office was a small bunk room, and a private bathroom. Next was another mechanical room, this one featured a water pump, for what he was sure was a well, and a large water storage tank. Across from this mechanical room was a locked steel door, and the word armory stenciled onto it. Jake unlocked it with the same key and swung the door open, lights snapped on and Jake gasp. He had perhaps expected the armory to have a few weapons, probably some surplus rifles, maybe a few ar-15’s. he was shocked at what he saw.

The room was maybe twenty feet by thirty feet, and it was stuffed full of weapons. There were rack after rack of them, floor to ceiling, easily hundreds of guns. The center of the room was filled with pallets of military ammo cans stacked chest high, and a work bench with tools for working on weapons. The opposite side of the room was more racks of weapons. Jake slowly walked around the tightly packed room it, walking between the weapon racks, carefully examining what was there. It looked like his grandpa had done exactly what he had mentioned in the journal, it looked like he had robbed a WWII arms depot. There were 1911 pistols, Browning high powers, Thompson, and Grease gun sub machine guns, M1 carbines, m1903 standard, and scoped sniper rifles, M1 Garand standard and scoped sniper rifles, even a rack of Browning Bar squad automatic weapons. Just as Jake didn’t think it could get any crazier, it did as he stepped to the back of the room. Here along the back wall hidden by the pallets of ammunition were belt fed machine guns. These were in racks of twenty, two racks of Browning .30 caliber machine guns, and a rack of browning .50 caliber machine guns, along with tripods, vehicle mounts, spare barrels and more. The ammo stacked in the room matched the weapons, several huge wood crates was filled with load bearing equipment for carrying magazines, and other combat gear. The weapons repair table had complete military manuals for each weapon, specialty tools needed for repairing them, as well as boxes filled with commonly needed repair parts. Newer looking racks had been built on this side of the room, and they were stocked with much more modern weapons.

Once again in racks of fifty, were Glock pistols, Colt M-16’s, Colt M16, 9mm sub machine guns, and the last two racks made Jake whistle, they were filled with sniper rifles. One rack was all Russian Drugnov semiauto sniper rifles, the last rack various bolt action rifles with scopes mostly Remington 700’s he thought. Jake stood staring at it all, it made his head hurt, there were enough weapons stuffed into this room to easily outfit several companies of soldiers maybe a damn battalion. He knew some of this had to have been put here by his uncle, as many of these weapons didn’t exhist when his grandfather had been alive. The more modern weapons, like the m16’s, probably were bought around Vietnam, the Dragunov’s probably bought in the 1990’s, the Glocks around 2010 or so. It was a hell of a lot of firepower. He guessed the vault held at today’s prices around five million dollars conservatively in weapons and ammunition. It was all illegal as hell, and if he was caught with it, probably spend the rest of his life in jail, he hoped his uncle had registered all this stuff back in 1986 when they did the machine gun amnesty, although he seriously doubted it from what he had read in the journals.

His family hatred and feared the government generally, and making the government aware of all this stuff would have been totally against what they wanted, they simply didn’t trust them. Something caught his eye, and he walked over to look closer at it. There built into the wall was a large steel safe, it didn’t have a combination dial though, just a locking handle, and another funny shaped keyhole. He stuck the key into the door and again it unlocked it for him. He pulled the door open, and shined his light inside, the safe was stacked to the top with canvas bags. He pulled one of the heavy bags out and looked inside. Jake whistled loudly, and scooped a handful of gems out into the light, large diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and other stones he could not recognize, another bag was filled weirdly with random oddball items made from solid gold, handles, door knobs and more. Jake blinked, as he realized how much wealth was crammed into this safe. Im a fucking millionaire, hell, I might be a fucking billionaire he realized. He sat down on a crate of ammunition, to get his bearings, and try to wrap his head around what he had just found. He could not believe how much his life had turned around in the last six months, from broke, and homeless, to a damn multi- millionaire, it was crazy. Jake was locking the safe back up, when he noticed a letter on top that was addressed to his father. Jake sat back down on the ammo crate, and started reading the letter.

Elias,

If your reading this letter, then I am gone to be with father, and you are once again back at the home place, I only wish you could have come back long before now. Fathers discovery, was the greatest find anyone has ever made, a doorway to another world, and not to just any world, a world filled with beauty, life, and unlimited wealth. Unfortunately, it also was filled with danger, and part of that danger took our father from us. I still remember it like it was yesterday. We had just finished building the new house, and stocking it, when father was finally ready to take us through to the other side for the first time. I was sixteen, and you were ten, our lives were about to change forever, and they did, just not as we thought. I don’t know what you think you remember Elias, but I know it was no ones fault, especially not yours. You took it hard though, you blamed that other world for killing father, and you refused to even discuss it after that. You went to live with Aunt Edna, and even refused to even talk to me after the fathers funeral. How that broke my heart brother, I sorely wanted to explore fathers new world, but how could I without my brother? I never went back after father died, I stayed here, year after year, waiting for you to return. You never came back though brother, and it broke my heart.

I respected your wishes though, and when your boy tried to contact me to learn more about his family, I declined. It broke my heart to turn away my only nephew from his family, I sorely wanted to tell him everything, but I respected what you wanted. I kept the home place going, I cleaned the guns, kept everything in good mechanical shape, and even added some things over the years as I could. Living close to Ft Knox really paid off a few times, especially around Vietnam. When I was able, I used some of the treasure to buy land from neighbors interested in selling. I’m proud to say I increased the original 40 acre farm to over 500 acres now, it damn sure gives us some more privacy, that’s for sure. Elias, you and your boy should finish what father started, go explore that new land. The world is not what it used to be when we were young. What our country has turned into would have broken fathers heart, after he fought through World War Two fighting for freedom, only to have the country’s freedoms eaten away from within by them godless liberals, socialists, and communists that infest our beautiful country. It tears my heart up the way they try to destroy everything decent, and undermine the constitution. That new world is there waiting for you, take your boy, find like minded people and start your own country, one with a better constitution,than this one has. Whatever you do, never allow anyone in who is not a true American freedom loving patriot they will poison anything you try to create. That was what fathers ultimate goal was, to create something better, even back then he saw how things were a changing, and not for the better, and that new land was going to become the next unexplored new world, the perfect place for people wanting a new life free from a burdonsome government. I am truly glad you are finally back brother, enjoy your home, and be safe in your adventures. Love, Edgar.

Jake blinked and rubbed his eyes, this partially explained why his daddy refused to talk about his family, as well as why his uncle Edgar had declined to talk about the family as well when Jake had tried contacting him. It felt better now knowing he had turned jake down, not because the old man didn’t care, or like Jake, but because he was honoring his fathers wishes. Felt a little better, but that didn’t erase the sting of never knowing his uncle.The few times his father had said anything when Jake had asked, he had said. “ No boy, your never to visit my family, them and their fool ideas will get you killed same as they killed your grandfather. None of it had made any sense to him before now, but it was a little bit. He had a lot of questions about and doubts about things now, he didn’t believe there was a new world around here someplace, but there damn sure was something strange going on, like where the hell had all that treasure come from? Jake locked the armory back up, and was about to leave when he realized there was still another door he had not explored. He unlocked another heavy door and stepped through into another decontamination shower, which must be the bunkers back entrance he thought. He found himself in a long narrow tunnel illuminated by lights mounted on the walls every twenty feet, he followed the tunnel, and ended up at yet another steel door.

He swung the heavy door open and this time was in a dark room, judging by the how sound was echoing it was the largest room yet, the air had a musty military smell to it, Jake recognized the smell from his time in service, it was the smell of heavy canvas military tarpaulins. He shined his weak flash light across the wall, until he found a light switch. He flipped it, and the room lit up brightly, Jake turned around and something huge towered over him covered by a faded green military tarp. He walked over to it, and pulled the heavy canvas tarp until it slid off, the heavy canvas sliding onto the floor in a cloud of dust. He stood there stunned at what he was looking at. Its a goddamned Sherman tank ! He said out loud. How the hell did they get this damn thing down here? Hell, where the hell did they get a fucking tank? He was curious, taking a minute to inspect the tank, even climbing up, opening the drivers hatch and looking inside with his flashlight. The damn think looked new to him, everything on it was in excellent condition, and well greased. He finally took his focus off the tank, and looked around the room, realizing there were several other large items down here besides the tank. They were all packed tightly side by side, and all covered with tarps as well. He found a World War two half track, as well as another smaller tank, this one was much smaller than the Sherman was, it was a Stuart light tank, he realized. It was smaller, and had a weaker gun than the Sherman, However, it was more maneuverable, faster, and used a lot less fuel, it was better suited for scouting where you might get shot at, than combat, where you were definitely going to be shot at.

Then there were two large six wheeled cargo trucks with trailers. He climbed up and peeked into the back of one of the trucks, and was further surprised, this apparently answered his question if the tank guns were operational or not. The back of the trucks, and trailers were packed with ammunition for both tanks. Deeper in the room, behind the vehicles was a concrete ramp leading upward, he realized that was how the vehicles got down here, the ramp must exit behind the barn, with the door probably covered in dirt hiding it. The only other things in the room besides the vehicles, were wooden crates, boxes, and pallets along all of the walls. He looked closer, and found the pallets were all packed with ammunition, for the guns in the armory, and the crates seemed to all be filled with spare parts for the vehicles. He found everything from replacement engines, and transmissions, to spark plugs and bearings for the tanks, half track and trucks, enough to totally rebuild everything several times over. He realized all of the parts were World War Two surplus, original factory parts made for the military, even though they were just spare parts, they were still highly sought after. New in crate, original war factory surplus parts like these were very valuable and extremely rare today. Those spare parts were worth a small fortune all by themselves. He was feeling a bit over whelmed by everything he had discovered today and he really needed a drink. He just wanted to sit drink and think about everything he had just discovered. He retraced his steps, locking everything back up and once back home, he headed for the liquor cabinet. Later that night, Jake collapsed in front of the roaring fireplace, with a entire bottle of bourbon.

He sat there for hours thinking about what he had discovered today, and what the hell to do about it. Insane as it sounded, he knew he was going to have to go check out that cave, and see if there was any truth to this doorway to another world thing. He thought it was pure fantasy this morning when he read the journal entries, but then again, he would have called you insane if you told him he would find a Sherman tank in his basement. His uncle and grandfather had gone to a hell of a lot of trouble, and expense building and stocking this place, they did it for some reason, and the huge pile of treasure in the safe backed up their story. He was going to have to check it out tomorrow.

The next day Jake found himself heading into the woods behind the barn. This was the warmest day so far since he had moved into the place. The sun was shining brightly, in a clear blue sky, and It was almost fifty degrees today, the snow had mostly melted away, turning the ground muddy. Jake’s rubber boots squished in the muddy ground as he walked down the logging road into the thick woods, he didn’t have to go far before the woods opened up into a clearing. The clearing was covered in short brown grass, and on the opposite side of it was the large hill that marked the rear of his property. The hill rose up several hundred feet, and was covered in leafless trees, with snow still clinging to it in places, except for one area that featured no trees, it was all exposed dark Grey solid rock, where he could just make out the shallow cave in the center of it. In front of the cave, a short distance away was a short concrete structure, that looked for the world like a bunker to him. He looked it over and sure enough that’s what it was it was basically a small room, with a heavy steel door, and one small window facing the cave, the back side of the bunker had a large generator installed there, thick cables left the generator and disappeared into the dead winter grass heading towards the cave opening.

There was a control panel bolted to the wall inside the bunker, right beside the window, showing several gauges, and controls on it, apparently for operating the generator. The only other thing here was the shallow cave about fifty yards away. It really didn’t look like much, the cave was barely a cave at all, only going back into the rock twenty feet or so, it looked like a giant ice cream scoop had carved it out of the solid rock of the hillside. The inside of the cave was pretty interesting though, featuring strange writing carved deeply into the stone walls. The writing was unlike anything he had ever seen before, it was not the only writing though, he recognized some of it, there were ancient Indian drawings of stick people with spears hunting animals and their hand prints, as well as more modern graffiti, depicting various names and dates written in English, all from the late eighteen hundreds. One thing was obvious though, the weird writing was the oldest, as the old Indian drawings and the early American graffiti were on top of it in several places. The area in front of the cave was solid stone, and extremely flat, as though it had been carved that way, it was worn smooth from age, and he didn’t see any tool marks. The flat floor in front of the cave extended into the cave right up against the back wall, it was obviously not natural, but he had no clue how it could have been made.

The back wall had a large flat area that had a border of writing carved into the stone around it, looking like a large picture frame he thought, the frame was the size of a large garage door. Sticking out of the smooth stone floor about a foot high on each side of the flat wall were thick green posts the size of his thigh. He looked closer and discovered they were made from copper, and were apparently very old, judging by the looks of them, attached to each thick copper post was a heavy black cable snaking away towards the bunker behind him. This was supposed to be the portal to another world? It was solid rock, how in the hell could it be a portal to anything? He was extremely doubtful this was going to amount to anything, but he knew he was going to have to at least try to make something happen, he was going to have to turn that generator on, and show this was all bullshit, so he could be finished with it. No matter if his grandfather and uncle were nuts, they had left him very well off by leaving him the farm, not to mention extremely wealthy, from all that treasure ,wherever they had found it. He was going to have to buy some equipment however, just on the off chance this did amount to anything, he was going to be ready, he owed his grandfather that much.

A week later, Jake sat in the bunker checking his equipment, almost ready to turn the generator on. Next to him sat his laptop, showing the feeds from the four different wireless cameras he had set up. One camera was mounted on the bunker watching the cave entrance, number two was just outside the cave looking in, number three was inside the cave, and number four, was mounted on the remote controlled truck, he planned to use as a unmanned vehicle for exploring the portal, should anything happened, which he felt was extremely unlikely. The large remote controlled truck was parked just in front of the cave, and the camera mounted on it gave a clear view. He had to admit he was nervous, if this failed it meant his family was full of nut jobs, if it worked, he had a portal to another world on his hands, he was not sure which would be the worse option honestly. He was wearing his grandfathers pistol on his hip, and had a rifle leaning in the corner next to him, better safe than sorry. His grandfather had over and over again explained how dangerous this could be in his journals, he figured he would be foolish to ignore the warnings.

The generator was a newer model, and when he pushed the start button it fired to life almost instantly. He allowed it a few minutes to warm up before he was going to put a load on it. Once he figured it had been running long enough, he checked all the cameras, making sure they were all working properly, then he turned on the power. The generator bogged down for a few seconds as it started producing electricity, smoothing out a moment later. The voltage was adjustable, by turning a large knob on the panel, Jake slowly turned the power knob increasing the voltage flowing into the copper posts. The generator got louder under the heavier load, but he didn’t see anything different looking at the cameras, he watched for a few seconds feeling like this really was a waste of time. He turned the power up a little more, and blinked as something changed on the cameras, the image was suddenly darker. Where before he had been looking at dark Grey rock in shadow on screen, now suddenly the rock was a deep inky black color. He looked more closely and saw that the inside of the cave was still dark Grey, However everything inside the border of that carved writing had turned inky black, almost like he was peering into a tunnel that was not there before. Could it really be a portal?

He picked up the laptop and switched to full screen on the truck camera, then picked up the remote and drove it forward, towards the dark opening. He turned on the lights on the truck, noticing the Grey walls illuminated, but that inky blackness simply absorbed the light. He felt foolish, but he shoved the controls forward, sending the truck towards the solid rock wall sure it would crash, suddenly the camera went totally black, and he thought he had wrecked it, when suddenly the screen lit up again, showing a small green clearing covered in brightly colored flowers, surrounded by green trees much like the one he was in. Wait, bright green? The field and woods around him were all leafless and brown from winter, the sky Grey and overcast, what he was seeing on screen was all bright green, and it was a bright sunny day as well. He looked back and forth between the computer screen, and the field in front of him several times, looking for the truck. He looked back at the screen and noticed something else, above the bright green trees, rose a enormous snow covered mountain, unlike anything within a thousand miles of Kentucky. Son of a bitch he exclaimed, it was all real! He drove the little truck forward towards the trees, watching the signal strength dropping, he was not going to be able to go much further, unless he set up a signal repeater or something. He stopped the truck right next to the woods and zoomed in as best he could. He was looking through the trees, and was seeing some kinds of ruins down below.

He focused the camera and realized he was looking at castle ruins of some kind, there were multiple buildings, some large, as well as several high towers as well, a high defensive wall completed the picture. The ruins appeared to be in pretty good shape, as best as he could tell, the walls all looked solid, and in good shape, seemly only needing new roofs added to be whole again. The ruins rested on a wide flat ledge on the side of a mountain, and far below he could see a river running through a green tree filled valley. He had seen enough, he brought the truck back, and examined the cave on the other side of the portal more carefully. There were the same thick copper posts in the cave floor, as well as cables leading away, but the cables ended, supposedly they had planned to put a generator on the other side, but had not gotten around to it, they had tested it though, and found out you could open the portal from either side, only needing a generator to power the portals operation. He brought the little truck back home, and turned the generator off, watching the portal to see what happened. The second power was cut off, the portal vanished, returning back to dark Grey rock instantly, he thought of what might happen to anyone using the portal should power fail, he shuddered at the thought, he didn’t know for sure what would happen, but he doubted it would be good. He had some good video of the other side, he was going to watch it tonight, and see if he missed anything the first time. The little truck had worked well enough, but to move forward it was obvious he was going to have to go through the portal himself, and look around. Going through alone to that strange land was both exciting, and terrifying to him. Should he find someone to go with him, or just go alone? He had a lot to consider.

A few days later he had decided to go alone, at least for this first initial trip. He was planning to make it short, probably just for a day, maybe for up to a week if things went well. His truck was heavily loaded with supplies, and was towing a trailer that carried a large military surplus generator on it. He had picked the generator up a few days earlier just for this exact purpose, it was in new condition and started easily. He had dressed in what he was most comfortable in, military fatigues. A trip to a surplus store in Lexington had scored him everything he needed in one stop shopping, he was sure he would be buying a lot more of this gear in the near future. He was dressed head to toe in multicam camouflage, black combat boots, a boonie hat, and a tactical vest loaded with magazines for his rifle. Grandfathers pistol was on his hip, and he was carrying a AR-15 from the armory. He felt a bit silly geared up for combat the way he was, but the old saying stayed stuck in his head, and he could not ignore it. “Better have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” He stopped the truck next to the generator bunker, unlocked the steel door and went inside.

He learned the generator could be put on a timer, it could be set to automatically start up or shut down, depending on how the timer was set. He was pretty nervous about getting stranded on the other side, so he was being extra prepared for this trip. He set the generator timer for it to come on for ten minutes everyday at noon, he started it up, with auto shutdown set for ten minutes. He got back in the truck, and put it into gear and drove towards the cave, the inky blackness of the portal could be seen, everything was ready, he had to only drive though. He sat looking at it for a minute, wondering if this would be the best thing he ever did, or the worst, he put his foot on the gas and drove into the inky blackness. He panicked for a second as everything went totally black, not even able to see the dash instruments, or headlights, but just as he was about to panic, he was back in daylight again, and driving out of the cave into brilliant sunlight. Jake let out his breath he had been holding, and sucked in a huge lungful of the sweetest air he had ever tasted. He blinked in surprise, and just sat there breathing in huge lungfuls of the sweet air, the air here just felt different. Sure it was clean, crisp and fresh, and even sweet, but it was more than that, like the air was slightly electric somehow, it was something he had never felt before, and had no idea what it meant at the time.

He climbed out of the truck, and looked around at the scenery, maybe he was just at some location in the mountains of Europe or something, that was possible he supposed, it made more sense to him, and was more likely than being on another planet or something. He looked around at the tall snow covered mountains around him, taking in the beauty, he slowly turned in a circle taking everything in, looking for any clues as to where he was at. He glanced into the sky over the mountain behind him, and all thoughts he was still on earth were totally erased. “ Nope not on earth” he gasp. There in the sky hung three large moons, two were white moons similar to earth’s, while the last one was green, and surrounded by a orange colored ring similar to Saturn’s rings. The green surface had large silvery areas he thought might be water, oceans maybe, he stood staring at the moons for a long time, it was a spectacular view that was also extremely unsettling to him at the same time.

He forced himself to look away, and get back to the job at hand, reminding himself this was hostile territory, his ancestors had been attacked several times in this area, so he better keep his eyes open. There was thick brush close to the cave, and Jake took the time to carefully hide the generator trailer in it, covering it with camouflage netting as well as branches he cut to help hide it. He worked for a hour to get the generator camoflaged, and the cables attached from the generator, and to the copper posts next to the portal. The cave on this side, was a perfect copy of the one back on Earth, it had the same carvings, same flat floor, etc. Jake had been keeping his mind on setting the generator up, doing his best to not think about what would happen should this fail, and he be unable to open the portal from this side. He still had the generator back home set up to automatically power the gate, but the thought of being stuck here made him nervous, and he did his best to not think about it. His forehead was covered with nervous sweat when he was ready to fire up the generator. He said a prayer, held his breath and pushed the start button. The generator rumbled to life and powered up, all guages reading green, he flipped a switch sending electricity into the ground and when noting happened for a few seconds he started to panic, but then the portal popped into existence and he remembered to breath, sucking in a huge breath of cool mountain air.

He powered the generator back down, coiled up the thick power cables, hiding them beside the camouflaged generator in the bushes. The last thing he needed was someone finding this generator, he was going to have to do something better in the future than hide it, maybe build a bunker for it. He returned to the truck, started it up, and drove through the trees, stopping to take in the view from the top of the hill. The ruins were spread out below him, stretching about three hundred yards from left to right, and two hundred yards from front to back, with a tall defensive wall surrounding it completely. Inside the wall there were buildings, and towers of all sizes, he guessed the place housed several hundred people at one time, perhaps as many as a thousand. The area between the ruins and Jake contained a wide open field, that perhaps was a parade ground or something at one time. That would make sense, it was almost perfectly flat, the ground bare, containing no plants at all and covered with what looked like gravel to him. One thing he did notice, there was no way to reach the valley from here, or to reach the cave from the valley, without passing through the fortress.

He doubted that was by accident, what he knew of ancient castle construction, told him every tiny detail was planned far in advance, everything from approaches to the castle, to water sources, and weaknesses were all well planned and accounted for, as constructing something like this fortress often took decades, sometimes as long as a century of construction. He just wondered what came first, the portal, or the castle? The castle walls were thirty feet tall, and towered above him and his truck, the entrance gates however, were laying on the ground, ripped away from their hinges, little remained of them, what was not burned had long rotted away. He elected to go in on foot for now, so he parked the truck next to the massive wall locked it and covered it with more camo netting, from a distance it looked like a uninteresting bush or a rock. He gripped his rifle heading inside, and as he was stepping over the remains of the castle gates, he noticed something. The metal reinforcing on the gates, and all the metal fittings, were not iron, but some greenish metal, maybe copper? It reminded him of the front door of his house, he realized suddenly his front door must have come from here as well, how crazy is that, your front door was imported from another world. He stepped through the gate openings into the long abandoned fortress, the walls were massive, easily thirty feet thick, all built from massive stone blocks the size of his truck, he had never seen anything like it before, not even in real castles, how the hell had they moved blocks that big ? He wondered.

Inside the wall, the fortress had wide cobble stone lanes running between each building, grass and shrubs grew up through the paving everywhere. The place was huge and had dozens of buildings, it would take him forever to really search it properly by himself, he was eventually going to have to get some help for this project, whenever he thought about it though, the the details, and sheer size of the project, and the secrecy of it over whelmed him. No, for now it would just be him, so he better get to work. The temperature was dropping and dark clouds had appeared on the horizon, looking like it was going to rain soon, he was not looking forward to getting wet, or sleeping in the truck. He was considering returning home until the weather got better, when he discovered a perfect solution. He stood there looking at a small building, it looked a lot like all the other buildings around it, except for one thing, this one still had a roof on it, and it was in decent shape. He stepped through the open doorway, and looked around the interior, the little building consisted of a single room with a fireplace on one wall, and small narrow windows. He thought the little building would do nicely as a base of operations, he recovered his truck, parking it behind the building, and started unloading his camping gear. The timing worked out perfectly, just as he was finishing setting up his camp it started pouring rain, he was pleased to see that the roof only had a few small drips, and none were close to where he had placed his sleeping bag.

The air inside the building had become frigid quickly, however, the interior warmed quickly when he made a fire in the fireplace, and again he was pleased to see the fireplace was in good working order, and the smoke was being pulled from the burning wood, and up the chimney. He hung a lantern from a copper hook on one wall, there was a folding camp chair to sit on, and the cooler for a table completed his little camp, the seasoned firewood he had brought along was piled into the corner next to the fireplace, a piece of tarp covering the doorway wo keep out the wind and rain finished things up nicely. Jake sat cooking dinner over his camping stove, and he was soon glad he had relocated into this building. Right after dark the rain increased, the temperature quickly dropped down into the forties, and the wind was gusting hard blowing the pouring rain almost sideways. It stormed like that all night long, lightning flashed and booming thunder woke him more than once, but he was warm and toasty in his sleeping bag. He dreaded to think what it would have been like to ride that weather out if he had stayed in his tent as he originally planned.

The next week flew by for him, as he explored the ruins. The first thing he discovered about the place, was a total lack of iron or steel, none, not anywhere. There was metal, sure, it was everywhere, he had found lots of things made from metal, door handles, candle sticks, pitch forks, horse shoes, and more. It was all made from gold, copper, or brass however, not steel or iron. He had found solid gold door handles, heavy copper hinges, gold candle sticks, bronze pitch forks, copper swords and spear points, gold picture frames, gold spittoons, gold spoons. He had a huge pile of gold objects piled up near his truck, easily hundreds of pounds of it, probably millions in gold. However, even if these people had been extremely wealthy, and could afford to buy everyday gold items, it didn’t explain why he found no steel or iron at all, as iron would have been far superior strength wise than gold was. This was puzzling to him, and he spent a lot of time pondering it. He also discovered that the buildings were all in great shape, as least as far as the stone walls were concerned.

The level of craftsmanship the masons used to build this place was incredible, the stone blocks in the buildings walls were tightly fitted together, and as a result the walls were all in excellent shape for the most part. The damage that was evident was mostly caused by fire from what he could tell. It looked like someone had simple set fire to everything, the wood items, such as doors ,furniture, and wood roof support beams had all burned, causing the roof to collapse into the buildings, and everything inside was burned. He was pretty sure that after clearing out the rubble, the buildings would be easy to put back into livable condition, simply put on new roofs, doors, and windows, and you would have solid working and living areas. He could already tell he was going to need a solid base of operations just for exploration purposes, he had put little thought into colonization as his grandfather had planned to do, but even if he decided to do that later, there would still have to be a secure base created and at least some exploration done first.

The more time he spent searching the ruins the more he realized just what a large job it would be, the place was enormous, and he knew there was a lot of things he was missing in his search, it could take him years to search all of this alone. Just to clean the place up, and put the roofs back on, repair the doors and windows, would be a huge undertaking, much less all the other work that would be needed. He would need a large work crew who was skilled in construction, one he could trust, and would not have to worry about them spilling the secret about this place, it was a perplexing problem. The week passed quickly for him, and on the last planned day on site, he made his most interesting, and exciting discoveries. The first discovery was a building where someone had obviously been digging in the rubble, there were mounds of dirt, and a shovel and pick laying on the ground next to it. The digging was obviously not recent, the pick and shovel were heavily rusted, and the handles had rotted away from age. He looked closer at the tools, a little excited they were actually made from steel apparently. He looked closely at them, and rubbed away the rust on the pick, discovering words were stamped into it.

He could just barely make a few words out. Plum, Philadelphia, Penn. Well, definitely not from around here then Jake thought, this must have been left by his grandfather when he was here, back in the 1940’s. The center of the buildings had a hole dug out, or maybe made a existing hole made larger, in the bottom of the hole were stairs leading a short distance down to a small empty basement room of some kind. Maybe this was where his grandfather had found his treasure he thought. Later that same day he made his second and best discovery. He was walking through the rubble inside of a tall round tower, and searching for more items made of gold, when the ground make a hollow sounding thump when he stepped in a certain spot. He stomped around a little and managed to knock a hole in the floor, he got down on his knees and peered into the hole with his flashlight. He could see down several feet, and could tell there was a hollow space below him, suddenly he realized he was looking at stone stairs, it was time to go get some digging tools of his own. He returned from the truck with a shovel, ax, and crow bar, and got busy digging. He didn’t have to dig long, when suddenly a large chunk of ground gave way collapsing into the ground, causing a cloud of dust to spew out of the hole.

He had to wait a few minutes for the dust to clear out enough so he could see, finally it did, and he could make out a staircase below him. Jake got a lantern from the truck, and carefully descended the dirt covered stone steps, the stairs were a spiral stone staircase, and after he made three full turns around it, he reached the bottom. He found himself in a hallway made of stone blocks, the hallway disappeared into darkness to his left and right, however, right in front of him was a copper reinforced door. The door its self looked a lot like the door on his house, but that’s not what he found interesting, what was interesting was this door was locked with a massive padlock made from Iron. He had not seen a single piece of iron in the week he had been here, finding a lock made of it told him what was behind this door must be pretty damn special. He cut the lock with a set of bolt cutters from the truck, and pushed the heavy door open, he started forward, and as he stepped into the dark room, suddenly there was a bright flash that scared the hell out of him. He jumped back as torch sconces on all of the walls flared to life at the same time, illuminating the room in soft flickering torch light. He peered around the room cautiously, his hand on the butt of his holstered pistol, ready to draw it, but nothing else happened, the torches flickered and occasionally cracked as they burned, but that was all. He slowly relaxed, and figured it must be some trick for lighting the room when someone entered.

The room was maybe twenty feet square, with a high vaulted stone ceiling, the walls were lined with book shelves that ran from floor to ceiling, and were filled with thousands of books. The center of the room held a massive wooden table that was piled high with books, there was a single chair at the table. Jake stepped towards the table for a closer look, on the table was a massive book that was opened, and a set of funny looking glasses were laying on the opened book, he looked closer at the book to try to read it, but the words were like nothing he had ever seen before, not only could he not read the language, the words seemed to squirm as he stared at them, seeming to change before his eyes, the flickering light must be messing with him, damn sure was strange though he thought. The glasses caught his attention, as they looked weird, and kind of cool at the same time, they appeared to be made of brass, and covered with strange symbols, the lenses were different colors as well, one lens as ruby red, while the other was a deep blue. “Ancient three-d glasses?” He wondered.

He picked up the glasses and peered through them curious at what things must look like through them. He held them to his eyes and glanced around the room, he gasp in surprise suddenly and almost dropped the glasses on the stone floor, barely managing to catch them at the last second. He took a breath, and looked through them again the book on the table was surrounded by a bright light of some kind, as were most of the books in the shelves, but he could only see the light when looking through the weird glasses. That in its self was weird, when he glanced at the book however, it went from strange to incredible. He looked closer at the books pages, and he could read them, they were written in English now ! He took the glasses away, and again the words were gibberish. Somehow the glasses were allowing him to read the book, the glasses were some how changing the language to English. He thought for a moment, and got a idea. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone, and changed the settings to Spanish, which he could not read or speak. He glanced through the glasses at the phones unreadable Spanish text, and the Spanish was translated into English ! He was amazed, he tried every language the phone had, German, French, and even Chinese, and he could read it all easily with the strange glasses.

He peered back at the massive old book on the table and began reading. “Principles for creating spells for summoning, Dragons.” DANGER, This section only relates to summoning Dragons, not controlling them, do not summon a dragon before perfecting the control spells in the following section of this book !! Jake rubbed his eyes, the glasses seemed to strain them a little. Spells for summoning dragons? What the hell? He looked through the glasses at other book titles on the shelves. Potions for battle, Medicinal spells and herbs, Unraveling the magics of astrology, Mysteries of the underworld, and raising the dead, spells for banishing evil spirits. Jake lowered the glasses and just stared at the books. Were these supposed to be spell books? He was dumbfounded by what he was looking at, could this shit be for real he wondered? He glanced one more time around the room and saw something interesting, one wall of books had a large glowing rectangle on it, that resembled a door to him. Jake stepped closer, and kept looking through the glasses, running his hands along the outline of the ghostly door, there was a small glowing area where a latch might be, and he found a book under his hand, it was like he could see some kind of hidden workings, like perhaps looking through a x-ray, he pulled the book and something clicked, and a section of book shelf swung away from the wall.

He removed the glasses, which were making his eyes hurt, and found himself staring at another heavy wood door that had been hidden behind a book shelf. Huh, apparently these glasses translated languages, AND showed hidden things to whoever wore them. Jake took off the glasses and looked at them in admiration, these were amazing, he wondered what technology made them work. He slipped them in his pocket, and went back to looking at the secret door. This door closely resembled the one he had came through earlier, except, it had three huge iron locks on it, which made him shiver, and his hands sweat in anticipation of what might be behind it. Taking up the heavy bolt cutters, he quickly cut through the three heavy locks, and swung the door open. Behind the door was another room, this one filled with wood chests, Jake stepped to the first chest and opened it, his excitement turned to confusion. Instead of treasure, he found himself looking at small blocks of steel that weighed maybe four or five pounds each, the chest had several hundred of them inside, just simple steel blocks. Is it possible that steel and iron were so rare here that they were as valuable as gold was back on earth? He stepped to the next chest and lifted the lid, this time pleasantly surprised, it was filled with gemstones, large ruby’s ,diamonds, sapphires, and more filled it to the top, the next chest was the same, as were the rest of them. The last chest held something totally different however.

He lifted the lid on the last chest, and found himself looking at a sword. There was a wide leather belt of black leather, covered with silver studs, the sword was attached to the belt as was a large dagger, and a third smaller knife. All three of them, sword and two knives were a matched set. The handles were some black material, wrapped with silver wire, the scabbards were black as well, studded with silver. Inside the wide belt, was a small silver plate with small writing on it he could not read. He picked the belt up, and as he drew the sword, a strong shiver ran through his body, from the top of his head to his toes, giving him goose bumps, He felt suddenly dizzy, and placed his hand on the chest to steady himself. Suddenly a soft intense voice whispered into Jake’s ear. Justice bringer has risen again! We are Joined with a warrior to avenge the weak and punish evil ! Only death may separate us! He looked quickly around the room for the speaker, but no one was there. He held onto the chest fighting against the dizziness, Jake guts roiled and felt like they were alive, squirming inside him, his head suddenly hurt and it felt like his entire body was being wrung out like a dish cloth, every muscle in his body spasmed, and he could not breathe for a moment. It was agonizing, and he thought he was about to die it hurt so badly. He fell to his knees and vomited, puking a thick oily black substance onto the stone floor, he gagged again, and to his horror the oily black puke traveled across the floor to the wall, traveled UP the wall, and disappeared into a crack! He stared at it stunned, wiping cold sweat from his forehead, then the entire room seemed to spin, the floor came up to meet his face painfully and everything went black around him.

Slowly Jake awakened, he felt like every inch of his body hurt, inside and out. He opened his eyes, to the same flickering torchlight he remembered. He slowly struggled to his feet, and leaned against the wall for a moment to balance himself. Retracing his steps he returned to the table, and sat heavily in the chair beside the table. Jake pulled his canteen off his belt and took a deep drink, if his dry throat was any indication, he had been down here for hours. He tried to wrap his mind around what had happened, obviously he had passed out, the last thing he remembered was drawing that sword, hearing a whispered voice, and them him puking. It was all very confusing to him, the sword seemed important for some reason. Jake was feeling stronger now, and he returned to the small room, and sure enough the sword and belt lay on the cold stone floor where he had dropped them, He bent over and picked up the belt and the sword, Suddenly his head cleared, the sick feeling was completely gone, and in its place Jake felt normal again.

Well not normal, he felt different, but he could not describe it, as crazy as it sounded, he felt stronger, and, somehow cleaner, as if that made any sense. He glanced at the shining blade and saw it had words engraved onto it in some strange language, the words seemed to move as he looked at them, he found he could read the words on the blade, he said the words out loud. “Justice Bringer”, and another strong shiver coursed through his body. He sheathed the sword and looked back at the small silver plate with strange unreadable writing, except he could read it now “This is Justice Bringer, whoever shall draw it, shall be bound body and soul to it until death, they shall be bound to good, their deeds honest, their words pure, no lie can they speak, nor may deceive them.”

Jake sighed, that’s a bit dramatic he thought, nice sword though. He had a hunch, and put the strange glasses back on and looked closely at the sword through them. The sword belt, the sword, as well as the two smaller blades all glowed brightly. He didn’t know exactly what it meant, but he knew it partially meant there was something very special about this sword. He figured the glasses could translate languages, and reveal hidden things, but why did the sword glow? It was not hidden anymore, the glasses were showing him something else, he just didn’t know what. He buckled the sword belt around his waist, and was surprised when it fit him perfectly. He pulled the sword from its sheath again, testing its edge with his thumb, the sword cut him easily drawing blood, it was sharp as a damn razor, the blade gleamed brightly, as if it were new, he had to admit it was a beautifully made sword. He next examined the large dagger it matched the sword beautifully, and had a foot long blade and was as sharp as the sword, the last item on the belt was a matching hunting style knife, obviously made for everyday work, like cutting things, skinning animals and such.

It was a hell of a find he thought, and the sword belt fit him perfectly. He felt better and stood back up, and got back to checking the rest of the chests, the final total was two large chests were filled with steel ingots, two large chests were filled with silver coins, and the rest of the chests, all 8 of them, amazingly were filled to the rim with jewels. There was over a hundred times as much treasure right here as was in the vault back home. One things for sure, he never had to worry about money again! He was feeling worn out from everything, and decided to call it a day. He carefully retraced his steps, and was soon stepping out of the hole, and breathing clean cool mountain air again. Once back in camp he collapsed into his sleeping bag and was asleep in seconds. He had extremely vivid dreams all night long, most were pleasant,some not so pleasant. In his dream he was in battle, wielding the sword of justice, it was a blood soaked dream, there was a great brass bell, heavily engraved with a huge eagle, the bell was ringing the alarm, clanging over and over as it called everyone to their battle positions. He stood near the bell on top of the battlements as the enemy charged the castle, archers released arrows dropping men and horses in droves upon the road, there is nothing more haunting than the screams of dying horses, the sound sent a involuntary shudder through his body. Soon their ladders fell against the wall and the enemy began climbing.

He stood hacking at the enemy with his sword, as their heads, and hands popped over the top of the wall, and attempted to climb into it. His glanced at his friends fighting beside him, and his heart swelled with pride at their devotion, the fight felt like it had lasted many hours, he was plastered in sweat and blood and was exhausted. The number of enemy was lessening now, as fewer appeared at the top of the ladder, and saw they were actually retreating now, they had turned the tide finally, and the enemy were retreating, they had won! Suddenly a dark shadow blocked out the sun, a painful deafening roar came from overhead, he put his hands against his ears in agony against the sheer volume of the terrible noise, he had never head anything like it in his life, it was totally overwhelming and was so loud he thought his ear drums might burst. He glanced up in pain, and was shocked at what he saw, a enormous dark shape decending rapidly towards him. He brain screamed “ DRAGON”,but even as he reacted he knew it was too late. He felt like he was running through mud he was moving so slowly, then everything was blasted with intense fire. He got a glimpse of the terrible green fire engulfing the nearby defenders on the wall with him, they screamed and dropped writhing in pain, some falling or jumping from the wall trying to escape the terrible heat. The fire was unstoppable though, consuming everything it touched, nothing could extinguish it, a moment later the same terrible green dragon fire swept over him as well. He lost control of his body, as it fell to the stone ramparts,writhing in agony against the terrible heat, he felt the fire burning the flesh from his bones, as he screamed in agony, along with all the other defenders.

Jake sat up on his cot screaming, and frantically flailing his arms wildly trying to put the fire out. He rolled off his cot screaming, and stunned himself momentarily when he smacked his face against the cold stone knocking the breath from his lungs. He lay on the cold floor struggling to breath, and feeling like he would never get his breath back, suddenly he sucked in a great deep breath, and burst into tears, trying to sort reality from the dream he realized he had been having. Jake lay on the floor for several long minutes, trying to sort everything out, and pull himself back together. It had just been a bad dream, no, not a bad dream, it had been a horrific dream, it had been so realistic to him he could see the dragons scales, smell its stink, he could smell the blood as he hacked apart the enemy, he felt the resistance as his sword stabbed into bodies, and his grip had became slippery from the blood. The fire had burned and hurt beyond anything he had ever experienced, before, he could smell his flesh burning, and hear his friends screaming in pain beside him. It was the most incredible, most detailed, most brutally realistic dream he had ever had in his life, the feel of battle had been incredible, it had also been absolutely terrifying, words simply did not do it justice. He pulled himself back into the cot, and pulled out his bottle of bourbon, and took a deep drink, trying to chase away the memory of the dream he had had. It took a long time before he could mostly forget the terrible dream.

He washed his face, and it was then he realized he still wore the sword around his waist, he touched the sword gingerly, and pulled his hand back away from it, and felt his pistol under his hand. What? How? His pistol was in his shoulder holster, why was it on the sword belt? He didn’t even have a belt holster. He pulled the sword belt off for a better look, and sure enough, his pistol was in a holster that was attached to the sword belt. No, attached was not the way to describe it, it was not simply attached, it was snug in a black leather holster with silver studsmthat not only matched the sword belt perfectly, it was swen to the sword belt, as if it had always been there, on the other side were his spare magazines, in matching pouches. The craftsmanship was impressive, as good as anything he had ever seen. He simply had no explanation as to how the holster came to be, or where it possibly could have came from. What, did someone come here, take his sword belt, and pistol, and make a custom holster while he slept? Who did that, little Elves? Anything he could imagine to explain it, simply sounded crazy, was it possible the holster had always been there? He simply didn’t see how that was possible, he had examined it carefully when he found it. He was stumped. He shoved it from his mind the best he could, and went out to explore more of the ruins, this time just walking along, to think. Later that day, as he explored more of the ruins, he found himself looking more and more towards the wall, he knew it was insane, but he could not help but feel like it was perhaps the wall from his dream. He fought the thought for several hours, when he finally decided to just prove to himself it was not the same wall.

He climbed the stairs into the top of the wall, and walked slowly down the wall, it didn’t look the same to him as in the dream, but then again in the dream that wall had been perfect, while this one had rubble laying all along it. He stopped at one larger pile of rubble, when something gold colored caught his eye, he reached into the rubble, and gripped it, but could not dislodge it, he dug away rocks, and bricks, until her could get a better grip on the mysterious item, it was large whatever it was, the biggest piece of metal he had found so far. He pulled hard, and it fell free finally, and with a start he realized it was a large brass bell, he held his breath as he turned the huge bell, it rotated around and Jake cursed loudly. There carved deeply into the side of it was a large eagle, the exact one from his dream, he felt stupid, but was unable to resist casting nervous glances into the sky. What the hell was happening to him? He sat in his camping chair for hours, sipping bourbon, and watching the sun set. Maybe this place was effecting him somehow, maybe there was something toxic here, that was causing him to hallucinate or something. He thought about it for a long time, eventually falling asleep dead drunk.

He woke up suddenly the next morning sure someone had called his name. He gripped the swords grip tightly, as he glanced frantically around the small room, relaxing slightly when he found no one there. He stepped outside, and found no one there either, he turned his head as he heard his name whispered again off in the distance, he realized it was not so much as a sound, but a feeling, the feeling was growing quickly,and somehow he felt that that someone was in trouble, it was hard to explain. He found himself walking through the ruins into a area he had not explored before, the strange feeling driving him forward with more urgency, in the same direction, until he found himself running, springting really, jumping piles of rubble, climbing through windows, rather than go around the buildings, always taking the shortest route, while always going in the same direction.. He realized he could hear cries of panic now, which made him run faster, in front of him a hole opened in the ground and he realized it was a basement. He peered down and found the source of the cries, a short broad shouldered heavily bearded man stood below him, his back to a wall as he frantically swung a shovel back and forth as he desperately tried to fight off his attackers. Jake was stunned to see the attackers were huge scorpions, each one the size of a German Shepard.

He had never seen anything like it before, they were terrifying, the massive scorpions skittered around him, snapping with their claws with loud popping sounds and jabbing their deadly looking barbed tail at the man, he was sure he saw a dark nasty looking liquid dripping from the stinger. The man gave another cry of panic, which turned into a scream of pain as a scorpion crushed the mans hand as it ripped the shovel out of his hand with a deadly looking claw. Jake’s fear melted away, and was replaced by a wave of fury that flowed through his body, he was enraged by the injustice of the scene before him, of a single man being physically attacked by a mob, before he knew what he was doing, he had drawn his new sword and leapt into the basement, as he flew through the air he wondered for a split second. “ Why didn’t I just shoot them with my pistol?” Then there was no time for thought, he was in the middle of the scorpions, his sword flashing over and over, blocking a stinger dripping with black venom here, lopping off a snapping serrated claw there, stabbing into a eye, he found himself leaping and dodging, fighting with the sword as he had trained for it his entire life. The entire time he fought he was filled with rage at the scorpions, Jake stood still at last, his chest heaving from the exertion gulping in huge breaths of air, as he stood there he realized that nothing was moving anymore, the scorpions lay sprawled around him, pieces of them lay all around as he had had hacked many of them apart in his fight.

Behind him he heard movement, and he spun around raising the sword. The man called out to Jake weakly“ Peace, I call for peace warrior. Do not harm me, I beg of you.” Jake lowered the sword and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could the mans eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the ground in a bloody heap. Jake sheathed his sword and knelt beside the fallen man, checking him for a pulse, and was rewarded for his efforts by finding a strong pulse. He pulled the man into his back and quickly found the problem, he had several very deep cuts which were bleeding profusely, he guessed they were made from those vicious scorpion claws, he hoped the man had not been stabbed by one of those stingers, if he had, he doubted there was anything he could do for him, he shoved those thoughts aside and got to work. He quickly ripped his military first aid kit from his belt, and applied Israeli bandages over the mans bleeding wounds. The Israeli bandage was a military bandage that was part bandage for soaking up blood, and part elastic wrap that tightly bound the wound and was very good at stopping bleeding. He watched as the bandages absorbed blood and become discolored, but there was no blood leaking, and that was very good. The mans face was extremely pale, and a good indication he had simply fell unconscious from blood loss, that was easily treatable, scorpion venom, from a one hundred pound scorpion, not so much. It took a lot of work, but he managed to wrestle the unconscious man out of the basement, and onto solid ground, where he was able to hoist him onto his back, and fireman carry him back to his campsite.

A few hours later Jake had the man as comfortable as he could get him, he had given him his cot, and stripped him of his dirty leather clothing. He had carefully cleaned him with a wet rag, and searched him for a scorpion sting. He found a lot of old healed scars, so many he wondered what kind of life this guy led, but fortunately no scorpion sting was found. Jake had a very well equipped medical kid he had brought from his uncles storage room, and was now glad he had, as the kit contained multiple bags of IV solution. He knew how to use most of the items in the medical kit from his time in the military, and had quickly set up a IV on the unconscious man. That was about all he could do for him now, replace fluids, and once he was conscious again, push more fluids and soup into him. He had considered taking the man back through the portal to Kentucky and to a modern hospital, but he didn’t think that would be smart, for several reasons. If he thought it would be the difference between the man living and dying, he would have done it, but for blood loss, really the hospital would have been doing the same exact thing Jake was currently doing. They could give him blood, which would help him recover faster, but a hospital treating this man would bring a lot of questions Jake was not prepared to answer.

Jake had done everything he could for the man, he stretched, and realized he was totally exhausted. The sun had set sometime earlier, and it was pitch dark outside, he could see two of the moons low in the sky on the southerns horizon. He yawned loudly, and dug out his sleeping bag, and laid it against the wall, across the room from the man, the man was unconscious, but who knows what kind of person he was, Jake was not going to just blindly trust a random stranger on a strange planet. He got comfortable on his sleeping bag, drawing his pistol and putting it under his jacket he had rolled up for a pillow, he was asleep instantly. Jakes dreams that night were like nothing he had ever had before, they were filled with bloody battles, flashing swords, war cries from both men and strange creatures he didn’t recognize, and the screams of women.

Jake woke late the next morning, his entire body ached from the exertions of the day before, his stomach muscles hurt, and his stomach felt tender as well. He puzzled over that a moment then remembered the powerful stomach cramps he had the day before down in that hidden library, that was a unpleasant experience he had rather forget. He stretched, and yawned, and just lay there for a minute to think. He smelled something good, he sniffed again smelling bacon cooking. Mmmm that smells good he thought, Suddenly his eyes popped fully open and a twinge of panic shot through him, “Who the hell’s cooking bacon, hes alone here!  Suddenly he remembered the man he had saved, maybe he had woken up and was hungry? He glanced in the direction of the cot, and there lay the man, still in the cot, and still looking unconscious, he glanced towards the fireplace.

Oh shit, its not him, there is someone else here! In front of the fireplace a dark figure had their back to him, and was kneeling in front of the fireplace where a cheerful fire roared, he could just make out the sizzle of cooking bacon. Jake slid his hand slowly towards where he had laid his pistol last night before bed, just as his fingers touched the pistol the figure spoke. He didn’t know what startled him more, that the person spoke, that they knew he was reaching for his pistol, or that the voice was very feminine, and very sexy sounding, obviously a woman. “You wont need that weapon, I mean you no harm, I assure you.” Jakes hand had stopped when she spoke, but he was not taking any damn chances he reached for the pistol and it was gone ! He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his gun belt and felt a huge relief. His grandfathers pistol was safely in its holster, he strapped the gun belt around his waist and quickly adjusted it on his hips until his hand fell comfortably on the swords grip, he never took his eyes off the strange women the entire time.

Suddenly something hit him, Sword? He glanced quickly down and sure enough he had buckled the sword on, instead of his gun belt, he was even more surprised to notice his pistol, and spare magazines for it were attached to the sword belt as well. How in the hell had that happened, where the hell did this holster come from? The pistol, and spare magazines were snug in a black leather silver studded holster, and matching magazine pouches. He had no clue where the holster and pouches had home from, they damn well were not there yesterday! Then his love for well made gear took over, and he had to admit, it felt great on him, the weight was evenly distributed, plus to top it off, it was by far the best custom leather work he had ever seen. He ignored the holster issue for the moment, and directed his attention back to the figure before the fire. “ Who are you woman, and why are you here?” He asked angrily. She laughed softly, as if something were funny, and kept stirring the cooking food, never looking back at him. “ I am making breakfast obviously, what does it look like?” Jake took a deep breath. “You broke in here uninvited, to make me breakfast?” “I was invited, and I hardly broke in”. she replied pointing with one hand at the door and the tarp that fluttered in the breeze. “I didn’t invite you.” Jake persisted, “Look, woman, at least have the decency of looking at me when I’m talking to you !” He said angrily. She stopped stirring the food, stood to her full height, and turned to face him.

Jake hesitated, and gulped noisily, in front of him was easily one of the most attractive women he had ever seen in his entire life. She was very very petite, both slim, and short with a athletic build to her. She had silver hair and very delicate features to her, with large pale blue eyes. She was wearing some kind of long dark green jacket, fort of like a trench coat that came down to her ankles, and a shimmering silver metallic vest underneath, he was pretty sure was chain mail. There was a wide leather belt around her waist that held a dagger, and a long thin sword with a white handle that to him closely resembled a Japanese Katana. She wore a dark green skirt that came down to her knees, and black boots made from soft looking leather and came to just above her knees, she was very striking, he had never seen silver colored hair before, it had a almost metallic look to it. She looked at him with amusement in her large blue eyes. “ Do I meet with your approval human?” “Yes, that’s much better, I mean with you facing me to talk, not by your appearence, although that is very nice as well.” Jake agreed, “And my names Jake, not human, by the way.” The woman smirked at him, and bowed slightly. “I am the Elf Brynella Aliuream, of house Aliuream, sworn servant and protector of the bearer of Justice Bringer.”

Jake hesitated. “You’re a Elf, seriously? Jake didn’t look convinced. She turned her head, and pulled her long silver hair back, revealing delicately pointed ears. Jake blinked in surprise. He reminded himself he was not on earth anymore, but some unknown planet, but still a Elf? How crazy did that sound? “Your really a Elf, then, he said doubtfully?” Brynella Nodded. “I am, why do you doubt the existance of Elves, and fairy, when you have a dwarf lying here to stare at?” Jake glanced at the wounded man. “ He is a bit short, I admit, but there is no reason to insult him by calling him a Dwarf.” Jake replied. The woman burst out laughing. “ Human, he is short, because he is a Dwarf, I called him a dwarf because he is one, not because he is short. Have you never seen a Elf, or a dwarf before then? Jake shook his head, and paused to think how to reply. “No, honestly I have not, I am not from this world, but from another. My people have legends about Elves, and Dwarves and many other things, but I never believed they were real, only stories to entertain children. Well, Elf or not, what are you doing here?” She sighed heavily, and turned back to stir the food again. “Again, slow human, I am making you breakfast, well I am making breakfast, I suppose you may have some as well.” Jake grunted in annoyance.

“ Once again, my name is Jake, not human, and I meant why are you making breakfast at all, why are you in this room? I don’t know you.” Brynella scooped food onto two plates, handing one to Jake, she leaned against a wall facing him, and dug into the second plate, talking to Jake between huge bites of food. “ I did not make enough for your pet dwarf, if you wish to feed him, you will have to share your portion. You dwarf looks poorly, did you in flick those injuries upon him? Jake took a bite of his food, finding it to be delicious. “Hes not a pet, He was attacked by giant scorpions yesterday, not far from here, I rescued him, but he was injured and fell unconscious, so I brought him here to help him.” “The woman nodded, and gave a soft musical laugh. “I would expect nothing less of the bearer of the sword, I knew you would find trouble quickly, but that was faster than even I anticipated. However, I am here now, please try to not drag us into hopeless fights if you can help it.” Jake just stared at the woman. “ What are you talking about? You never told me why you were here, eating my food? The woman sighed heavily.“I told you, I am of house Aliuream, does that mean nothing to you?” Jake shook his head. Brynella rolled her eyes and shook her head sadly side to side. “ It seems humans teach their young less each year, not that they ever taught them much to begin with.

Look human.” She saw him start to protest, and held up her delicate hand. “Appologies , I meant Jake. I will give you a short explanation of whats happening here. Long ago, the sword justice bringer, and the person who bore her, did my family a great service, by rooting out a traitor in the Elf council who almost brought my family to ruin. In return, my grateful family made a pledge to always serve the sword, help it do its work, and protect its bearer, which is you now, by the way. House Aliuream swore their alliegience to Justice bringer thousands of years ago, we have proudly served her, and her bearer ever since. Each generation a member of house Aliuream is picked to partake in a ceramony overseen by powerful spell casters, and using our blood, and a piece of the iron justice bringer was forged from, we are bound to it for life. When someone unsheathes her, and is bound, we know it instantly, and we come to them. I was called yesterday, and I came with haste, the bearer usually finds themselves in trouble quickly once blessed, or perhaps cursed as it were with the sword”. Do you understand now?” Jake still shook his head no, he was thinking this woman was insane. Causing Brynella to utter some strange word which he took as cursing.

“Look, Jake, I am not insane, so, you may stop thinking that, right now. Listen closely. You found a sword yesterday, correct”? Jake nodded, patting the sword on his side. “Yes, I found a sword yesterday, what does that have to do with you?” Brynella nodded. “Good, we have the sword, I’m sure you noticed there was something special, about the sword? Jake nodded again. “Yes, its made of steel, apparently steel is rare here.” Brynella nodded in agreement. “Yes, that is true, however not what I meant. Did you happen to become sick, right after finding it?” Jake thought back to the terrible cramps, and his vomiting the black goo yesterday. Jake narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. How did you know about that? Byrnella smiled slightly, “It happens to everyone who unsheaths it. That was the sword purging your body of lies, and your ability to lie. It belongs to you now, and you belong to it. You serve Justice now, that sword was forged long ago by powerful magic, to protect the innocent, and to spread and protect Justice in the land. Yesterday, when you got sick, since it was my turn to serve, I knew instantly someone had found the sword, I dropped everything and came here as fast as possible,getting here quickly was no easy matter I can assure you, I was on the other side of the kingdom when I felt the call.

Getting here quickly required me to call in a favor from a powerful wizard but here I am. I am here to advise you, to teach you about the sword, to help you deal with the adjustment that carrying it entails, and to protect you from harm, the swords influence will put you in great danger. Questions?” Jake just stared at her. “Um, its just a sword, I found it, but I don’t serve it. I don’t know why your claiming to serve the sword, or me, that’s crazy, but I don’t need your help. Your free to finish eating, but then I think maybe you should go.” Brynella stared at him for a moment, then she burst into laughter. She was wiping tears from her eyes, as she laughed at him for a long time. Jake stood there looking at her getting more angry by the second. When she had almost stopped laughing, Jake spoke. “ Are you done now?” She wiped away some more tears. “ Oh, my, you are so innocent, you REALLY have no clue what you have gotten yourself into, do you? You don’t need to answer me, she continued, just listen. When the swords bearer dies, the sword is open to the next bearer, it basically sits and waits, basically like a trap, for the next person to unsheathe it. Whoever unsheathes it, is bound to it, body and soul,forever, only death can seperate you from it. There is no way to be rid of it, or the urges it gives you, you will carry that sword, and do its bidding until the day you die.

You throw it away in a river, you will pine for it a thousand times worse than you ever did for any woman, a thousand times worse than any urge to drink, or to gamble, or to eat. You WILL find it, or die trying, it will consume you. Anyone who touches that sword in a attempt to take it from you, or harm you with it, with intent in their heart for such, will die instantly, the sword can also use its influence to bring its self back to you, by using people. It might as well be considered a cursed object, the supposed good it does though puts it off limits from banishment by the wizards guilds.” Jake stared at her. “Magic, curses, spells, intelligent swords, do you realize how insane you sound to me right now? Brynella nodded, “ I might, yes, that does not make it any less true, I see you don’t believe me. I can prove I speak the truth, simply try to separate yourself from that sword. Place it on the ground, and start walking away, I hear men with strong will can almost get one hundred paces from it before they start sweating, and are forced to return and pick it up, just walk away from it, try it, you will see, it has its hold on you, and will never let go, that will help prove what I am saying it truth. Although you already know I am telling the truth, the sword prevents you from being lied to.” “You need to leave now.” Jake said more forcefully. Brynella nodded. She scooped up her plate of food and slipped towards the doorway. “ I will do as you ask for now human, I will give you time and room to think, but I will be close by.

I am sworn to follow, and protect you at all times as long as you bear that sword, I would hope we can become friends, as we will litterally be spending the rest of your life together, however long that turns out to be. We are both basically married together through it, you through your connection to it, and me through my families alliegence to it, and you as bearer. When you learn the truth about the sword, or wish to see me, simply think of me, and ask me to come here, I will hear you and come, we are bound together through the sword. You know I am telling the truth, you just need to accept it. Your Dwarf is waking up, he will be grumpy to discover he owes a honor debt to a Human.” Jake glanced towards the cot where the injured man laid, and sure enough he was slowly moving on the cot, he glanced back towards Brynella, but she was gone, and loud snore pulled his attention back to the man on the cot. The wounded mans chest rose and fell easily, and loud snoring came from him now, at least he was not unconscious anymore. He figured the man would awaken sometime soon, and be hungry when he did, but he had some time before that would happen.

Jake sat back down on his cot, and picked at the now cold plate of food not really hungry at all anymore, everything from the last two days running through his head, from finding that treasure, to saving this man, and meeting a actual Elf, it was a lot to take in. The most disturbing thing to Jake about about the conversation he had with Brynella, was not what the woman had said, but that he somehow KNEW everything she had said was the truth. He could not explain it, he simply knew it was all true somehow, no doubt about it, as sure as water was wet, and fire was hot, and that disturbed him much more than the crazy things she had said. If what she said were true, then he had not so much have been blessed with finding the sword and treasure, but cursed somehow. She mentioned urges, I wonder what that was about? He sat there thinking for a long time, finally coming to the conclusion that the first thing he needed to do, was prove this was all bullshit. He was going to need some supplies from his truck, and figured this was a good time to prove the elf woman wrong, he damn sure would not need a weapon to walk behind the building to his truck.

Jake unbuckled his sword belt, and laid it on his chair next to his sleeping bag, and stood looking down at it. Did he need to carry it with him to the truck? What if something happened?  He shoved the thought from his mind, he didn’t need it, and he was going to prove it. He grabbed his rifle up and He walked to the door and stepped outside. He looked around the ruins and felt very exposed and helpless, he gripped his rifle tighter, it was a much better weapon than the sword, but he still felt helpless, he needed that sword! He shoved the feelings aside, and walked around the building towards the truck, he felt as if he were going to have a panic attack, his heart was racing, and he felt as if something would attack him at any moment, and he knew the rifle would be worthless, he needed that sword!! Jake forced himself towards the truck, with each step the miserable feelings of helplessness, and fear of attack grew, as well as a deep feeling of loss. He reached the truck, and gripped the door handle so tightly his hand hurt, he felt like he would be swept away at any moment, actually drown in the feelings of fear and loss he felt, before he knew it he had cast aside all thoughts of resisting the swords influence, and found himself sprinting towards the building. The feelings of panic were overwhelming, He must have that sword, before it was too late !

Brynella shook her head sadly at the scene she had just witnessed. She was perched high in a window of a nearby building, where she could easily keep watch on the building where the new sword bearer dwelt with his wounded Dwarf. She had watched the man step from the building without the sword, and was curious as to what would happen. She had read the histories, and been briefed on what would occur, but seeing it in person was something different. She felt pity for the man as she watched his struggle against the swords influence, she was impressed at his willpower, and was honestly surprised he made it as far away from the sword as he did, according to the stories, it was rare for someone to resist it for so long. She watched him stand there, his entire body trembling against the swords power, before finally losing the battle, and running back to his new master. It was distasteful to her, this entire business with this particular sword, that the bearer was a slave to it, the irony was not lost on her.

The sword promoted Fairness, Justice and Freedom for all, through force if necessary where ever it went. While the bearer of the sword, was a slave to it, as much a slave as any that toiled in a field or a mine, where was the fairness and Justice in that? She felt the guild should have reclassified this sword as cursed a long time ago, and dropped it into the sea where it could do no harm. They disagreed however, and still stood by the original judgements laid down five thousand years ago. “ The good the sword did for the many, far outweighed the negative effects it had on the bearer.” Perhaps if they had to spend years of their lives watching it destroy a person they were sworn to protect, who who they even cared for, they would think differently. She had read the journals of several of her ancestors who had served sword bearers in the past. They all generally had one thing in common, the Elf protector was always the opposite sex of the bearer, and the protectors, always grew to love the bearer, and were unable to save them from it. She supposed the fact they were always the opposite sex from the bearer was to help promote a closer relationship between them, as they would always be together, and she could see how that could lead to love, but she felt there was more to it than that. She believed that the sword influenced the protector as well, through the bearer somehow.

She didn’t know the purpose of it, but she believed it. She was locked into this role of protector, through honor, and it bound her to him more strongly than if she had been chained to him physically, she did not believe she would fall for the bearer as so many before her had. Elves had iron control over their emotions and feelings that was true for them all, Brynella however, took it far beyond that to the point most other Elves thought her cold and distant, she had also never loved another person, ever. She would be the exception to the rule, she had little doubt. She stretched her body, the cold stone of the wall pressing against her back, she gazed down on the building where the bearer was and wondered how long it would take the silly human to face the reality of the situation, and call to her.

Jake ran through the doorway, leapt over the sleeping man and snatched the sword up off of the chair with sweaty shaky hands, his breathing was difficult, as he buckled it with difficulty around his waist and snatched the gleaming sword from its scabbard, clenched tightly in his hands, the terrible feelings of loneliness, and fear quickly started flowing away, the sword felt like cool water flowing over his burning flesh. A loud noise sounded close behind him, reigniting the fear of being attacked. The attack was happening !! Jake spun around slashing wildly with the sword towards the noise, and was rewarded with a scream of terror, and a loud crash. Jake looked as the attacker cowered away from him, tangled in a cot, his eyes bulging in fear, at what Jake might do to him, and for a moment he felt triumphant. Suddenly he realized with a shock that the man was not a attacker at all, but the innocent he had saved the day before.

The man had apparently woken up and while standing knocked something over, then fallen over the cot when avoiding Jake’s wild swing. Jake’s body flooded with shame for causing such fear in a innocent, this was the one he had saved, how could he attack him like this? The man lay on his back, his eyes bulging in fear, his arms raised to ward off the death blow he expected. Jake cleared his throat. “ You have nothing to fear from me”. The man looked at Jake doubtfully, his eyes darting between the drawn sword, and Jake’s face. Jake slipped the sharp sword back into its scabbard, and held up his empty hands. “Better?” Jake asked. Jake held out his hand to help the injured man to his feet. The man studied him for a moment, then nodded, and took Jake’s hand, and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, groaning when he put weight on his injured leg. Jake studied the man, he was short, only perhaps five feet tall at most, but he was very stocky, with thick arms and legs, and a huge bushy beard. He was dressed in tough looking leather clothing, and knee high leather boots. The man also looked angry, and kept looking around for something.

If your looking for your ax, its in the corner over there, along with your pack, I touched nothing. Jake pointed, and the mans eyes darted into the corner he indicated. There maybe ten feet away a heavy copper battle ax leaned against the wall, just out of reach, next to it was a bulging pack, that contained the mans belongings, and food. The man cleared his throat, and spoke in a deep gravelly voice. “Who are you Human, Why did you save me, and how is it you speak our language? No human is to be taught Dwarvish, it is forbidden!!” The short man demanded angrily. “ My name is Jake Reynolds, and I am speaking English, not Dwarvish, whatever that is. I am new to this land, I saved you because it was the right and honorable thing to do.” The short man spat onto the ground. “Bah ! What does a human know of honor, and what is right? They only seek to enslave Dwarves, that is why my people came to this land, to be free from humans like yourself, and their desire to enslave us. You likely saved me only to claim your honor reward I suspect.” Jake was getting annoyed with this loud mouth, and his tone turned angry as well. “I despise slavery, and I take offense if your suggesting I encourage such a thing, you better watch your mouth if you value your teeth. I want no reward for saving you, and whatever a honor reward is I want no part of it, your, gratitude for my saving you is all I need.” Jake said slowly and sarcastically, causing the man to bristle with even more anger, and clench his fists.

“You REJECT the Dwarves honor reward that you are owed, you say this to me?! Such a insult shall not stand Human, I demand single combat to restore my peoples honor !” This was getting out of hand, and he needed to put a stop to it, and get this angry little man out of his life. “Look, dude, you need to chill out.” The man interrupted him angrily. “ I am not Dude, my name is Thoran, what does this Dude mean? It is a insult then, yes?  Jake held his hands up in frustration. “Thoran is it? Look Thoran, I wish no disrespect toward you or your people, I am a stranger to these lands and I do not know your people’s ways, or traditions, I mean no insult. I saved your life, because it IS the honorable thing to do, to come to the aid of a person in distress. Jake placed his hand on his sword belt, next to the swords hilt, drawing the mans gaze. The mans eyes bulged in surprise. “ Is that the sword of legend? Is that Justice Bringer?” The man asked almost reverently. “Yes, I believe its named that” Jake replied. “I discovered it recently in these ruins, you mean this sword is famous or something?” The man turned pale, and dropped to his knees.

“It is truly Justice Bringer then? Please, have mercy on me sword bearer, I did not know who you were, I would never seek to question the honor of the bearer of Justice Bringer, your honor is absolute, as is your word. Have mercy!” Jake rolled his eyes in annoyance, Jesus H Christ, is everyone in this place so fucking melodramatic? First that woman, and now this guy, hell, this is get going to get annoying fast. “Get off your knees man, you have nothing to fear from me” Thoran scrambled slowly to his feet painfully. “ Please bearer, accept my deepest apology, and allow me to escort you to meet my people. They would never forgive me should I not bring the new sword bearer to meet our people, and dine at our table, there will be a great feast in your honor, where you will receive your honor reward.” Jake groaned inwardly. We are still talking about this honor reward thing then?” Thoran grumbled under his breath for a moment, Jake was sure he was cursing. He finally spoke. “You said you did not understand our ways human, and you said you meant no disrespect, if you spoke the truth, then you will respect our ways, and allow my people to honor you. I assure you, you will enjoy yourself, and perhaps make life long friends of my people. However, be warned before you speak, Sword bearer or not, if you refuse my peoples honor reward you they will take a dim view of your presence here, and you will find us to be a dangerous enemy. You desire this?” Jake groaned inwardly. It was pretty obvious he was stuck with this honor reward thing, they apparently take it pretty seriously here. This was the first person he had met, he didn’t need to be creating enemies day one. “Thoran, I would be pleased and honored to meet your people, how far away are they? Will I need to bring supplies?”.

Thoran smiled obviously pleased. “It is only a few hours walk human, you will need only water, your every want will be met by my people. Tell me, did the sword lay with the treasure, do you lay claim to it?” Jake thought carefully how he answered, he was going to need to control these ruins if he wanted to create a colony here, and didn’t need there to be any questions about who owned it if possible, that would be easier if he used these peoples beliefs against them if necessarily. He spoke slowly, and forcefully. “I found the treasure, and the sword. As bearer of the sword, I lay claim, and ownership to this fortress and its ruins, and all that lies within, or as my people say.  Finders keepers, losers weepers.” He expected a argument of some kind, but was surprised when Thoran simply nodded. “That is within your power as the sword bearer, to claim a home, none shall challenge your claim to the fortress ruins.” There was a moment of silence where Jake looked around and remembered he had just hacked apart half a dozen gigantic scorpions a few moments before. “ Thoran, are scorpions this big common here? If they are, I would find that disturbing.” The short man started laughing. “You and I both would be disturbed by that! Thank the gods no, they are not common, they are in fact quite rare. These are the first I have seen in my 150 years of living, I have never heard of anyone else ever seeing them either, they existed only in legends to me before today.”

Jake blinked in surprise. “You are 150 years old?” Thoran nodded. “Do not be fooled by my youth, I may only be one hundred fifty years, but I am very mature for my age, of course if it bothers you, you may request a elder to speak with once we arrive at my home.” Jake simply nodded. “I wish to pick up a few things from my camp, and we can be on our way to your people.”Thoran picked up his pack, and battle ax, and followed Jake back to his camp. Once Jake had retrieved his pack, rifle and tactical vest he was ready to leave, Thoran looked curiously at the rifle, but didn’t ask what it was. He learned a bit more about Thoran during their hike, it turns out he had came to the ruins searching for a rumored lost treasure he had heard spoken of. He had been searching the rubble in the basement when he had accidentally disturbed the scorpion nest, and was attacked, his first trip to the ruins had almost been his last. Jake also learned the leaders of Thorans tribe would be unhappy to know he had been there, as it was off limits to their people.

I read alot and like SCIFI.. I am in!

I find tons of errors in most published books.  Define sci fi, and canyou get it in my kindle?

Ironically i make tons  ofmistakes myself

I just dumped a big chunk of it in the op.

sorry there are not more paragraphs, I'm going to need to fix that.

Tag for home but you'll have to return the favor one of these days

Are you published? Is writing your primary income?

Nope. this will be my first. I'm trying to write this so it can be a series. I know it needs a ton of work.

If you really want help figure out how to get it on kindle or already send a word doc to work on in review mode

What did you guys think ?

Kindle it

I have a lot left to do before it goes to kindle. I have a person lined up for drawing the cover, but not ready for that either yet. Best guess is I'm 25% into the first book, still have about 75% of the story left to create.

Eventually there will be a battle between a Sherman tank, and a dragon.

I'm in.

Got about half way through and had to stop.  Its not Sci-fi.

Dragons and wizards are fantasy, not sci-fi.

Interesting idea, though.

No one has any comments? It sucks, its interesting, I like it, I hate it, its stupid.  Come on, lets hear some feedback. Feedback that's not related to grammer, punctuation etc.

I agree I suppose its not exactly sci-fy. Its more of a mix of military fiction, sci-fy, and fantasy. I originally started it as a story about conservatives wanting to escape America and start their own country. However, that was going to limit the reader base, and people want to escape reality, not wallow in everyday stuff. It will evolve a lot more later in the story, as the main character works to recruit people to staff the base for exploration. that will turn into colonization, the secrecy issues of getting recruits, and supplies, avoiding the US government, and a lot more stuff. The colony will have a strong conservative / live free aspect to it.

Its challenging to write. I have about three times more written than I posted. I keep modifying it and moving around the story timeline.  The portal does much more than just go from earth, to the castle, but that's going to come out much later.

I'm not getting what the gif is trying to say? Take my money?

I talked to a guy on arfcom a while back who has done this before, meaning getting it onto kindle. he offered to help me. I will look into it in the future, when I have a lot more written. I am planning to get at least one book written before I do. Probably divide the book up into 4-6 pieces, give away the first 20% for free, and charge a buck or two for the other pieces. Again, the story is set up to be a series. If it does even half assed I plan to keep writing for a long time, its a good way to make extra money, and I honestly enjoy it. My only issue is I need to be in the mood to write, if I'm not in the mood, I wont even try.

It means " I'm out". No offense, just not a big fantasy reader.

On Seinfeld, they decide to bet to see who can go the longest without masturbating.

Kramer leaves and comes back within minutes, slaps his money down and states"I'm out!"

Just read all you have up. I definitely enjoyed it and will buy it when it comes out.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

If you are looking for someone to help proof read I'd be thrilled. When I was a kid I loved medieval or fantasy type stories. Tolkien or Brian Jacques for example. I probably haven't read a book like that in at least 5 or 8 years, and this was really kind of a throw back.

I like what you have put out so far.  Please Keep It Up!  Patiently waiting for Moar!

Lord of the Rings meshed with Chronicles of Narnia and present day prepping. I enjoyed it and look forward to see where this goes.  There are grammatical issues, but that’s an easy fix.

Here is the next chunk. Like I said, I have a LOT more written out, I have around 75,000 words so far. However, as I write, I find that a lot of it needed to be relocated, as the story changed. I realized if i wanted to have a series, i needed to keep ideas and events spread out, vs putting them all in quickly. Originally I was going to jump right into the colonization idea, hiring people, rebuilding, buying equipment, solving problems, keeping a low profile from the gov, secrecy, etc, but i realized it would be better for the main character to adventure here first, and learn about the new world, before he started bringing in other people. I have actually got about 25% written of what will become the next book already. also, I'm not 100% set on everything I have written here so far. What I posted here is the most finished version, but I will be changing it in the future, adding more details, etc, maybe changing names. I enjoy the idea of using sci-fy, ( like the portal / other planets), prepper / military fantasy, as well as fantasy, magic etc. I have never read anything like that really, and think it will be fun to put it all together, and offer a lot of directions for the story to go.

Jake blinked in surprise. “You are 150 years old?” Thoran nodded. “Do not be fooled by my youth, I may only be one hundred fifty winters, but I am very mature for my age, of course if it bothers you, you may request a elder to speak with once we arrive at my home.” Jake simply nodded. “Thoran, no disrespect intended, but I do not think your are well enough to hike for hours, much less days.” Thoran nodded, and then grinned. “Truthfully I do not think I can walk it either. However, if my horses are still where I left them, I wont have to walk.” Jake laughed as well. “I will need to pack up a few things for the journey, then go look for your horses,and we can be on our way to your people.” Thoran nodded, and collapsed back into the chair looking exhausted. “ My horses are tied a short walk to the east, from where you found me, they wont be difficult for you to find.”

Once Jake had retrieved the horses, Thoran directed him to one he could use. Jake packed his gear onto it, then he met Thoran outside the building, and helped the injured man onto his own horse. Jake easily mounted his, sliding easily into the saddle. Thoran looked at Jake with a funny expression, taking in his new outfit, and pausing to looked closely at his rifle for a moment. Jake was wearing a dark green tactical vest that carried his extra ammunition, and some survival gear, His rifle lay comfortably slung across his chest, a camelbak hydration pack on his back, held some food and his extra gear for the trip, and the sword was belted around his waist, a wide boonie hat and sunglasses finished the look. Jake thought Thoran was going to comment on his outfit, or rifle, but he never did. Apart from his initial outburst when they first met, he found Thoran to be quite reserved, and polite. They headed out on the trip to Thoran’s home, the town of Dwarf Haven, which turned out to be almost a full weeks ride to the south. They rode out through the fallen gates of the fortress, and down the narrow road towards the forest that lay several miles ahead of them. The horses were so short that Jake’s feet would occasionally drag on the ground as they rode. Calling the animals Horses was being generous Jake thought to himself as they rode the animals south, on the long abandoned road leading from the fortress. Jake had never seen horse’s like Thorans before. The animals were very short and stocky with long hair, and heavy powerful bodies. Honestly, they best way to describe the Dwarf horse’s, and their differences to a normal horse, was to compare a Bassett Hound, to a regular dog, they both had similar body sizes, one just had much shorter legs. It was like somehow had managed to breed horses with super short legs, normally it would have made no sense, but for Dwarf use, they were perfect.

Jake’s feet were occasionally dragging the ground as they rode, he wanted to make short jokes badly, but thought Thoran would take it poorly, so he kept them to himself. Jake thought back to the conversation they had earlier that day. Thoran had told him that the reason he had been in the ruins, when he had been attacked by the giant scorpions was he had come here searching for a lost treasure he had heard spoken of in legends. He had been in the basement searching for clues to it, when he had accidently disturbed the scorpion nest and had been attacked, his first trip to the ruins had almost been his last. Jake had also learned that the leaders of Thorans people would be unhappy to know he had been at the ruins, as they were off limits to their people. Apparently his people were sort of hiding from the rest of the world in a remote valley somewhere, and leaving their valley at all was frowned upon. The first few hours of the ride Jake found himself in awe of the beauty he saw here. Everything was so beautiful, the river they passed was deep, and clear, and teeming with fish, he saw wildlife everywhere he looked. There were large numbers of deer, and other game, the woods were thick with them.

The trees were simply enormous, as they rode through them he was amazed at the sheer size of the trees, he had never seen anything like it on earth. The woods here consisted of huge tall trees with vast canopies of leaves, the undergrowth on the ground here was almost nonexistent, he could easily see for hundreds of yards in every direction. He saw all manners of animals, from rabbits and birds up to large Elk, he even had seen wolves. He thought he was losing his mind once as he would have sworn he saw a damn unicorn, as the animal briefly appeared between some trees, and was quickly gone again. He thought of mentioning it to thoran, but decided not to, as he didn’t want to seem crazy to his new friend. He was soon lost again in the scenery, the unicorn or whatever he had seen forgotten, One thing Jake could not deny about this place, was its beauty. He had never really been in true wilderness before, and he found it to be extremely peaceful, although he reminded himself that wilderness while beautiful, contained dangerous animals. He kept one hand on his rifles grip as they rode, and tried to stay alert for possible danger and not just be a clueless tourist out sight seeing. He glanced towards Thoran and saw that he was sitting higher in the saddle, had a hand on his ax, and glanced around often with sharp eyes. “ The countryside here is beautiful Thoran, is it like this everywhere? I mean all the huge trees, and wildlife?”

Thoran nodded without looking at him. “It is, except for my home Dwarf Haven, you will have to ride for over five hundred miles south before you reach the nearest town, and start encountering areas where the forest has been cut down, to make way for farms. I advise we not talk just jet, we are being stalked by wolves, and should keep our eyes open. They are mostly curious I would wager, and have never seen a human or a dwarf before,  if we appear healthy and alert, and unafraid, they will likely not bother us.” Jake nodded his understanding, and made sure to remain calm, as he slowly glanced around nervously, keeping his eyes open for wolves following them but didn’t see anything, maybe Thoran was just messing with him? A hour later as their horses hooves clopped on the ancient stone road, a loud howl sounded not far away off to their right, which was immediately followed by the bellow of a Elk. There was suddenly noise from multiple spots in the forest around them, and whatever it was all crashed through the undergrowth in the direction of the howl, ahead of them Jake saw three large wolves dart across the road from left to right, all headed in the same direction.

Thoran grunted, sounding relieved, and then spoke. “We may speak now. It seems our wolf friends have found themselves something else for dinner. I did not think they would bother us, being bound by the ancient accords to harm no intelligent beings, but they seem to enjoy making you nervous sometimes for the Joy of it.” Jake thought he must be messing with him, wolves having agreements? He let it slide, not wanting to ask questions that might make him sound stupid, or naive instead pushing the conversation in a direction he felt safer. “Tell me Thoran, why do you call your self a Dwarf?” Thoran grunted. “ I call myself a dwarf, because that is what I am, a Dwarf, just as you are a human, you have never heard of Dwarves before?” Jake nodded. “ I have heard of Dwarves, they are mentioned in childrens stories, and legends where I come from. My people also have stunted people who are very short, who are sometimes jokingly refered to as Dwarves. You and that so called Elf woman I met are as human as I am though, why do you not consider yourself human?” Thoran stared at Jake looking angry for a moment, but then took a deep breath.

“ I forget you are not from here, and have no knowledge of this land, and its peoples. Though we may look simular, Dwarves, are as different from humans, as deer are from horses, the same goes for Elves, they may look simular to you, but I assure you, they are very different. You would be wise to tread carefully about comparing other races to humans, many will take such statements very.. poorly. Do you have no race taboo’s where you are from?” Jake laughed. “Oh I can assure you, we have lots of racial taboo’s where I come from, to the point our society can barely function at times.” Thoran nodded, and then was quiet for a moment. “ Where did you encounter a Elf? None have seen a Elf in these lands for hundreds of seasons, they rarely leave the Elf kingdom, which lies thousands of miles to the East, on the other side of the Dragons Teeth.” “What are the Dragons Teeth?” Jake asked. “Don’t tell me there are dragons here as well.” He laughed. The Dwarf scratched his face under his thick beard, and chuckled as well. “No, you do not have to fear dragons, and the dragons teeth are a very rugged mountain range that divides the Elf kingdom, from the rest of the world.” “ Good ! ” Jake said relieved. “The last thing I need in my life right now are dragons!” He was glad he didn’t just assume they were real, and have Thoran think he was a idiot. “No, you have no dragons to fear my friend,Dragons have not been seen in almost a thousand seasons, some think they are extinct, many others though believe they are simply sleeping. My great grandfather, before he died, claimed to have seen a dragon when he was a boy. He claimed it was the same one that destroyed the fortress your living in.” Jake turned to stare at Thoran. Wait, your telling me dragons were real ?! Maybe are still real?! Thoran nodded. Well of course they were real, probably still are real, the chance of them being a myth is zero, they definitely existed, that is fact, none can dispute.” Jake felt dizzy just thinking about it. What else is real here Thoran? I guess you are going to tell me next, that was a real unicorn I saw earlier today as well? Thoran burst out laughing. “The very idea ! No, you didn’t see a Unicorn Jake, don’t be silly.” Jake breathed a sigh of relief at that. He thought to himself that its good to know there were limits on whats running around loose here.

Thoran continued. “No, no Unicorns, those are gone, none living have ever seen one, the last claimed sighting was over three thousand years, even back then they were supposedly extremely rare, most  think they are myths, and never existed at all.” Jake gaped open mouthed at Thoran In surprise as he contined speaking. “Unicorns, only exist in legends. I heard many stories about them from my wet nurse when I was a child. Usually in the old stories, when they appeared, it always heralded great change to come, White unicorns meant great good things to come, Black unicorns meant terrible changes were coming. Why, do you think you saw a unicorn today? “Thoran snorted in amusement.” Jake felt himself feeling uneasy at this news.The creature he saw earlier today, that he thought might have been a unicorn, had been black as coal. Jake gave a fake laugh. “Well obviously not Thoran. You were telling me about Elves.” Thoran, laughed one last chuckle before continuing. “ Yes, back to Elves. None have seen a Elf around here for hundreds of seasons, as they rarely leave the Elf kingdom, they also take a dim view of humans these days. The war between Elves and Humans, does little to encourage good relations either I might add.” Jake wriggled his butt in the saddle, and grimaced at the tenderness. He stretched trying to pop his back that was sore from riding the last few hours. He didn’t want to even think about his butt, it was going to be sore for days after this. “She was in the building when I woke up this morning, pretty thing. She spun some story about serving the sword bearer, and about being a Elf, she also said a few things about the sword, and how I was a slave to it. It pissed me off, and I kicked her out. Why?”

Thoran laughed, and looked at the forest around them for a moment. “ You had best get used to that Elf, you wont be getting rid of her anytime soon if the stories are to be believed, she will follow you around for the rest of your life, or hers, whichever might end first. She is sworn to serve and protect you, and that sword. I would also advise caution when dealing with Elves, they are quite deadly I promise you, even their females, and none should ever be taken lightly. ” Jake grunted at the information. He didn’t know how he felt about her. On one hand having a beautiful woman follow you around might not seem to bad, one the other hand, her ancestors had given away her entire life in service of whoever carried this sword, basically slavery. Male fantasies aside, did he really want a female slave, that was sentenced to serve him for life, with no say in the matter? He found the entire idea distasteful, being sentenced for a terrible crime for life was one thing, being innocent, and told or forced to do it, was quite another. He would have no slave serve him, that was damn sure.

“ What war did you mention earlier? A Elf / human war was it? Why are they fighting?” Thoran nodded. “ The war between the Elves and Humans has been going on for decades now. There are many who would say that the reason for the war, is the basic inability for Humans and Elves to coexist together. Many Humans dislike Elves due to envy. They envy the Elves for their long life spans that border on immortality, and hate the way the Elves seem cold and unemotional, a by product of such long lives, they also envy the Elves great knowledge they have accumulated over those long lives. In reverse, many Elves dislike, and even fear Humans for the intensity they put into their much shorter lives, the emotion and passion Humans have, often brings illogical behaviors, and how humans quickly forget history, and often repeat past mistakes. Those are all valid reasons for them not being fond of each other, but the real cause of this war is iron. Iron is very rare, and as a result very expensive, and highly sought after, and the elves have the only known source of iron. The only known Iron deposits are located deep in the Elf lands. “ I was wondering why I had not seen any iron or steel in the ruins, I guess that explains it.”

Thoran nodded, in agreement, and continued. “The Elves sold limited amounts of iron to humans in the past, but after a few incidents in which Elf lives were lost, the Elves refused to sell iron to the Humans, and cut off all trade. The humans took offense to this, and The Iron King used it as a way to fan historic resentment of the Elves, into a all out war against them. They have been war ever since. Myself as a Dwarf, and a lover of the earth, and its treasures, believe Iron is a gift to all. I find the Elf decision to restrict Iron from other races highly offensive, no different than if they withheld the only source of water. That said, I do not believe the Iron Kings reason for war against the Elves, as simple as Iron.” “What other reason would a King have to insite a war?” Jake asked.  Thoran paused to take a sip from his wine skin before continuing. “We are located far from the borders of both the Iron king, and the land of the Elves, but even out here we hear rumors. All things considered, This King is not well liked. There are growing numbers of unhappy peasants, who can barely feed themselves, with many on the verge of starvation due to crop failure, as well as higher up families of Lords, who are unhappy about high taxes. This all while the King lives in a luxurious lifestyle, that is extravagant even for a King, he is also extremely vain.

There are many Massively expensive projects on going to construct monuments to the King, such as yet another country castle, and even a five hundred foot tall statue of the King carved from a mountain side, both have been under construction for a decade, on top of weekly massive parties, in a land where food is scarce. There is much resentment.” Jake frowned. “Your saying the King helped start this war, as a way to rid himself of dissenters?” “Thoran nodded. “ I believe so, yes. He is using hatred of the Elves as a way to unite his kingdom, as well as a way to demand even more taxes from the wealthy, both to fund his lifestyle, and finance the war. If any wealthy Lord questions the high taxes, the king turns the poor against them through wealth envy. There are also rumors that the bulk of the army is made up of drafted people who have unfavorable opinions of the king.” Jake thought for a moment. “ I would think that it would be dangerous taking large numbers of people who dislike you, and arming and training them to fight.”

Thoran, shook his head. “ You are assuming the King intends to create actual soldiers, and to win the war. If that were true, then yes, it would be dangerous, as you would have the war end, and be left with large numbers of people who are trained warriors who might seek to over throw your reign. That is not what is happening, from what we know. We believe he drafts people who have stated their unhappiness with his rule, puts them into very poorly armed units, with no training, and sends them to their deaths against impenetrable Elf fortresses, on the borders of the Elf lands. Unfortunately, the king is a great speaker, and He gives great speeches hailing the bravery of their armed forces, which has public support for the war high, and demonizes the Elves as evil, using their terrible magics to destroy human forces. Also, the penalty for refusing the draft is death, and with public support for the war so high, there is little support for anyone who attempts to avoid it, and no safe haven for them in any human kingdom. People who turn in draft dodgers are hailed publically as heroes, fathers and mothers turn in sons, and brothers have turned in brothers. The King has a iron grip on the kingdom as it stands and no one can stand against him. The war has grown so large  it now encompasses all races, his subjects suffer, the Elves suffer, other races such as Dwarves who are forced as slave labor to help support the war effort suffer.” Thoran was silent for a moment, then he spoke again. “Perhaps, that is why the sword has emerged at this time, many times in history it has appeared just when needed most, to stop some terrible happening.”

Jake’s eyes grew wide with surprise, and he felt himself grow angry at the thought of such a thing. He himself had dedicated years of his life in the military, and believed it to be a high noble calling for a man to volunteer to defend his nation. The thought of a ruler perverting such a noble endeavor, as a way to murder people who were unhappy with the job he was doing, was disgusting, and highly offensive to him. “ Thats not right”. Jake blurted angrily. “If thats true, then the people should rise up, and remove him from power.” Thoran looked at Jake for a moment. “ I urge you to use caution my friend. The sword bearer is highly respected person in any culture, and you will have much support as such. However, it puts you in a position to earn many enemies easily. More than one sword bearer has come to murder by a rulers hands, over their public position on something. This King has spies everywhere, and from rumors works tirelessly to remove dissenters. Should you speak your thoughts in the wrong company, you might find yourself facing powerful enemies. I would advise you to tread with care.”

I'd he happy to proof your book, if you need a reader

This is all I have this time. I spent most of my time adding more detail to the story I already posted earlier. It seems every time I take a step forward, I end up going two or three steps backwards fleshing out details to better support future events.

Three days later, they were heading down the road when thoran suddenly pulled his horse to a stop. “What’s up?” Jake asked. Thoran frowned. “The location of our valley is a very closely guarded secret were you anyone else than the bearer, you would have been blindfolded long ago, however since you are the swords bearer, you will be allowed to see how to find the valley. I want your word of honor to never reveal this secret to another person.” Jake nodded. “I wont tell anyone.” Thoran shook his head. “I need you to say it right, make it official, tell me I have your word, you will never tall another person our valley exists, or where it is located.” Jake sighed. “You have my word, I will never tell another person anything about your valley, or tell or show anyone where it is located.” He said. Thoran nodded in return, then he urged his horse forward around the bend in the road. A strong icy shiver ran through Jake’s body just as Thoran turned away from him, and the words he had just spoken echoed through his mind first whispered, then building in strength as if shouted from a mountain, echoing through his mind and body. He heard the words “ You have my word.” repeated over and over in his mind.He didn’t know what was happening, but he knew why it was happening, it was the promise he had just made, he felt it down into his soul. He had casually given his word, as he had many times before in his life, but this time it was totally different, there was nothing casual about this, it was as if it were carved in stone, it was unbreakable.

He realized at that moment he would carry that secret to his grave, nothing could pull it from him. He sat there on the horse, unable to move, with his entire body shaking, it was over whelmed with the sheer power of the feeling he was experiencing. He placed a hand onto the swords grip, and the sword tingled under his grasp, and despite the warm day the metal felt icy to the touch. He realized with a shock it was the sword! The sword was somehow doing this! The words that were engraved into the sword belt echoed through his mind in a loud whisper, sending another icy shiver through his body. “They shall be bound to good, their deeds honest, their words pure, no lie can they speak, nor may decieve them.” A gravely voice pulled Jake from his thoughts where he had been momentarily lost. He realized Thoran had pulled his horse around and was sitting on it looking at him, and had apparently been talking to him. Thoran spoke again.“I asked if you were well sword bearer? You look unwell to me.”Thoran was staring at him, with what he thought was actual concern.

He pulled himself up in the saddle, to his full height, and shook the strange feelings off he had been experiencing, one last icy shiver ran down his arm and he would swear it went into the sword, insane as that sounded. He really needed to get some rest, all this magic sword bullshit was getting to him. “I’m fine Thoran, I don’t need you to mother me, are we going to your town or what?” Thorans concerned expression turned to a angry one, and he spun his horse around. Jake spurred his to follow, they went around the curve in the road, and Thoran turned his horse into the woods, passing under a oddly looking tree. They rode a few hundred yards through thick leaves, passing through the huge trees, and soon they were on a well worn trail. A hour later, the trail started following a wide creek, they followed the creek down stream, and a few minutes later, Thoran pulled his horse to a stop, and they were facing a rock wall, Jake gazed upwards, the stone cliff vanishing into the low hanging clouds far above them. The water in the creek was pretty deep, and it flowed slowly around two huge boulders the size of a house, he figured there must be a cave behind those boulders.

Thoran looked at Jake with a serious expression on his face. When we get closer, the guardians will awaken. They will expect the password, and I will give it, but they are only to allow Dwarves to pass. Supposedly, Dwarves can bring a guest, but as far as I know, none have ever tried. Do not speak, unless spoken to, if the guardians step towards you, I advise you to run, they are quite deadly. Jake rolled his eyes at Thoran. Seriously ? You brought me all this way, and you don’t even know if I can get in? That’s just Great. Well, I have come this far, I suppose there’s no reason to back out now. What do the guardians look like?” Thoran pointed at the rock wall. “ They are there, you cannot miss them.” Jake squinted to see better, there was nothing there, but flat rock face, and those two boulders. “I don’t see anything but those two big rocks.” “Aye,” thoran said. “ The rocks are the guardians, they are stone Golems.” Thoran urged his horse forward, its hooves splashing water with each step and Jake followed. A Golem? He had heard the word before, but could not remember where he had heard it before. Thoran brought his horse to the creek bank, and stopped about twenty feet from where the water was gurgling around the boulders, and motioned Jake to move up beside him, which he did, urging his horse forward.

Thoran whispered to Jake. “ Hope this works.” He then raised his voice loud enough to be heard by the silent guardians. “I Thoran Stonecutter, and my guest”, request passage to Dwarf Haven, the password is Gemstones.”The two large boulders suddenly started moving, there were smaller rocks sitting on top of each one the size of a beach ball, and he realized it was where a head might be, the boulders rose up with loud crunching sounds, and splashing water, other rocks seemed to be moving sliding up out of the water, like a reverse rock slide, all moving upwards. As the rocks moved out of the water, the cave opening grew larger, and the creek water rushed forward into the void, as it did the water level in the creek quickly began dropping.A few moments later, and he found himself staring at a rough humanoid shape, made from rocks. It was incredible, like someone had taken large round stones, and created a gigantic body out of them, there was the main body, made of a enormous boulder, below it two more boulders made legs, above it was a beach ball sized rock that made a head, each arm was two oblong rocks, with a massive beach ball sized rock as a fist. The finished creation was massive, each one stood almost twenty feet tall, and had to weigh fifty tons each. He noticed that where they had been sitting, there was now a large cave opening.

The guardians, um Golums, had been blocking the entrance with their bodies, and that caused the water level to rise, he would have never guessed this was the entrance to anything, between the deep water, and massive rocks. The golums still blocked the entrance, but he could see it was there, the water flowing freely into it. The two guardians stood silently, not saying or doing anything for a moment, then each one of the huge stone creatures stepped slowly aside one to the left, and one to the right, making a loud grinding sound, as rock moved against rock, they stepped aside making a entrance wide enough for a pick up truck to pass. Thoran moved past the guardian, and stopped in the cave entrance with creek water rushing around his horses feet, and waved Jake forward. Jake nervously moved his horse forward, it stepped intot he water, each hoof splashing water, he expected the massive stone creature to smash him flat, but it never moved from its spot. He passed within a few feet of it, and once his horse stood clear from the entrance, in the cave, loud grinding noises were heard as the two creatures returned to their post, blocking the cave entrance, and all most all of the sunlight, the two of them sat on their horses in pitch darkness.

The roaring water noise dropped as the Golums bodies blocked much of the water flow. Something sparked, and there was a flickering light, Jake could see Thoran had dismounted and lit two torches, passing one to him.”You need to dismount, and lead your horse, the tunnel is not high enough to remain mounted” Thoran explained. Jake grunted acknowledgment, and slid off his horse his feet landing in about a foot of water, taking the torch in one hand, and the reins of the horse in another. Thoran walked ahead of him leading his horse, while Jake followed. The cave was easily wide enough for a truck to drive through he decided, the cave walls were smooth, obviously carved by water, the roof was about eight feet high. They led the horses for maybe fifteen minutes down the twisting tunnel, splashing water with each step, then he thought he saw light ahead of them, sure enough it quickly got brighter, and they were soon stepping into bright sunlight. Thoran led his horse to the right, up the creek bank and onto dry land, Jake followed, and he found himself standing on a road, at the edge of a wide grassy field. “ This is the only entrance to this valley?” Thoran nodded with pride at his home. “ It is, there is no other entrance to the valley, it is surrounded by impassible mountains on all sides.

This is Dwarf Haven, the home to all free Dwarves. The soil is rich for farming, we have abundant grass for livestock, timber for building, the woodlands here are filled with wildlife. The single entrance even if discovered, is easily defended, creating a safe haven for my people” Jake took in the view. This is beautiful country Thoran. The valley was ringed with high snow capped mountains, here it was several miles wide, and it disappeared out of sight to the south, and the north. The valley its self was beautiful and green. The field they stood in was covered in thick green grass, and in the center of the field, several miles away was a large alpine lake around which a herd of sheep, and cows were grazing. There were houses scattered here and there across the valley, fields of crops grew in various places, and about a mile away was a town built on on a hill top. The town was surrounded by a defensive wall, many buildings and towers could be seen above the wall, smoke lazily rose from chimneys into the sky. Thoran pointed at the town. “ That’s our town Dwarf Haven, it is the capital here, as well as the largest town in the valley, at last count, the valley was home to ten thousand free dwarves.”

I’ve only read the first chunk so far, and I mostly agree with the above. You have the potential for a great story, although it felt like a rocket ship from start to elves, with the dead uncle et al as just a quick and dirty plot device. Develop your main character more, slow things down a bit.

Also the grammar errors are easy, but you have some scenes that dip toward the “prepper” bear trap of unnecessarily explaining things. Example(not going to find/quote the entire part and retype, this is from memory): The israeli pressure bandage doesn’t have to be “he grabbed the pressure bandage, which is made of 1.blah, 2.blah, and 3.blah and does blah blah.” Just write “he grabbed one of his pressure bandages(I’d just say bandages or combat bandage, those who know will understand and those who don’t won’t be lost) from his belt, using the attached straps to apply pressure until the bleeding stopped.” Just a quick and dirty re-write but if you can do it well it will help separate your work from the prepper-only audience. I hope.

I appreciate the feedback !

Filling in the story immediately after entering the portal sounds like a good plan. Keep writing! You have the basis for a nice, long series.

Thanks, I appreciate it !  Its not easy to decide how to pace a story, where to start, what to skip, what to include, etc. Its frustrating sometimes. I had 40,000 words written, and realized I was too far forward into the story for what I wanted to do, and had to move backwards and start over again. Its something you cant really know until the story develops in your mind as you progress. It was not wasted effort though, I still have it, and will use it later.

One thing I quickly realized, when you get a lot of work put onto a computer, they tend to crash. Its crazy, I have had this computer for 8 years, and its never crashed. I start writing a book, and it crashes all the damn time. I learned to save a lot, and to also save it again on a usb stick, as you cant trust the damn computer to not totally die and take your work with it.

I don't know anything about proofreading but I've enjoyed your story so far.

It's been a good weekend for reading, one hell of a blizzard going outside..

That's the kind of proof reading I need. Just to read it and tell me if its a decent story, and if it  holds your interest. There is still a lot of work left to do, even on what I posted above, by the time I get done adding more details what is posted above will be 2x as long easily.

It’s a decent story, and held my interest.

Would be happy to proofread when you’re done.

Just found this this afternoon, good read. Hope you have more, I like to read. Keep writing,err, typing.

@buck19delta, get to writing again instead of peeping your new neighbors.

Been busy working on a project this week. I did write around 1500 words though. I wrote a lot more recently, but its hard to say how much I wrote, as its all added to earlier writing. I'm trying to get the book done soon, as lots of projects will pop up when the weather is nicer.  Honestly though, I probably won't finish it for 2-3 more months. I don't want to rush it, I want it to be the best I can make it before releasing it.

Here's most of what I have so far. I posted some of this before, but its a lot different now. I still want to remind you, that all of this will be gone through several more times before its ready.

Jake blinked in surprise. “You are 150 years old?” Thoran nodded. “Do not be fooled by my youth, I may only be one hundred fifty winters, but I am very mature for my age, of course if it bothers you, you may request a elder to speak with once we arrive at my home.” Jake simply nodded. “Thoran, no disrespect intended, but I do not think your are well enough to hike for hours, much less days.” Thoran nodded, and then grinned. “Truthfully I do not think I can walk it either. However, if my horses are still where I left them, I wont have to walk.” Jake laughed as well. “Its getting late, I will go find your horses, and can start us some dinner, we can leave for your people early in the morning. How does that sound? It will give you another night to rest that leg. Thoran nodded, and collapsed back into the chair looking exhausted. “ My horses are tied a short walk to the east, from where you found me, they wont be difficult for you to find.”

Once Jake had retrieved the horses, he tied them out back next to his truck, making sure they had feed and water. He cooked up a thick stew for dinner, and the dwarf must have liked it, he gobbled down four bowls full. Jake brought out a bottle of bourbon, which was a big hit with Thoran, and after a few drinks they started to get to know each other better. Jake learned that he was the first Human Thoran had ever met, he told thoran a bit about his life as a soldier, and he told Jake a bit about his life as a mason, and a miner. The bourbon worked its magic, and soon Thoran was telling him about how the Dwarves lived, he learned about a dwarf woman named Alasia, Thoran had began courting and that was a big reason he was here, hoping to find the treasure, to set them up with a good life. Jake talked about his recent divorce, which thoran didn’t understand, as when you got married, it was for life, how could your wife just leave you? It was inconceivable to him that people could do that to their mate.

They talked long into the night, killing off the rest of the bottle, and got to bed late. The next morning they woke early, and ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and day old biscuits. Then they packed for the trip, which didn’t take them long. Thoran directed him to which horse , it was the one without a load on it, the one he had brought along to haul the treasure had he found it. Jake packed his gear onto the horse stuffing it into the saddle bags, the rest was in his pack on his back. He met Thoran outside the building, and helped the injured man onto his own horse. Jake easily mounted his, sliding a leg across the horse and slipping his butt into the saddle of the short horse with no effort at all. Once he was mounted if he stretched slightly, he could actually touch the ground on each side of the horse with the toes of his boots while his butt was in the saddle. He thought he must look silly as hell hunched up on the little horse, but it was going to be better than walking. Thoran looked at Jake with a funny expression, taking him in perched on the horse like he was. He ran his eyes over Jakes new outfit he had changed into for the trip, pausing to looked closer at his rifle for a moment.

Jake was wearing a tan tactical pants, a dark green tactical vest that carried his extra rifle magazines, as well as some of his survival gear. His rifle lay comfortably slung across his chest, a camelbak hydration pack on his back, held some food and extra gear for the trip, the sword was belted around his waist hanging off the left side of the belt, his pistol hung on the right side. A wide boonie hat and sunglasses finished the look. Jake thought Thoran was going to comment on his outfit, or rifle, but he never did. Apart from his initial outburst when they first met, he found Thoran to be quite reserved, and polite. They headed out on the trip to Thoran’s home, the town of Dwarf Haven, which turned out to be almost a full weeks ride to the south. They rode out through the fallen gates of the fortress, and down the narrow road towards the forest that lay several miles ahead of them. The horses were so short that Jake’s feet would occasionally drag on the ground as they rode. Calling the animals Horses was being generous Jake thought to himself as they rode the animals south, on the long abandoned road leading from the fortress. Jake had never seen horse’s like Thorans before.

The animals were very short and stocky with long hair, and heavy powerful bodies. Honestly, they best way to describe the Dwarf horse’s, and their differences to a normal horse, was to compare a Bassett Hound, to a regular dog, they both had similar body sizes, one just had much shorter legs. It was like somehow had managed to breed horses with super short legs, normally it would have made no sense, but for Dwarf use, they were perfect. The day started out warm and sunny, but right as they began their trip, clouds came over the mountains behind them heading south, and soon after it started to rain on them. Jake pulled out a poncho, and pulled it on, and Thoran had something similar, looking to Jake like oiled canvas. The temperature dropped down to around fifty degrees, and the constant rain made them miserable. He found himself staring at the rain slick roadway the horses were following.

The road they traveled while ancient, was actually in decent shape for the most part. The road was about the width of a regular two lane road back on Earth, it’s surface was made of closely fitted wide flat Grey stones similar to slate, that were held together by mortar. Some places were covered with soil where water had washed it over the roads surface, and in some places the road had been completely washed away. The places where it had been washed away allowed Jake to see how it was constructed, and he had been impressed by what he had seen. The road was several feet thick, consisting of layers of gravel and flat rocks held together with some kind of cement, it looked as though a tremendous amount of work had gone into building it, and why it was in such good shape after so many years of neglect.

Annoyingly, Jake’s feet were occasionally dragging the ground as they rode, catching on an occasional rock, or stick. He wanted to make short horse jokes badly, but thought Thoran might take it poorly, so he kept them to himself. He constantly reminded himself he had to be careful how he acted around people here in this new land. Jake had spent many years in the military, and he had become accustomed to treating other men a certain way. The typical jokes they tossed casually at each other did not know many boundaries, and would focus on among other things, weight, height, race, religion, manhood, dating habits, sexual preferences and much more. The way soldiers interacted among themselves looked extremely dysfunctional to outsiders, and many took great offense when treated that same way. They didn’t understand that when they were treated in that same way, it was a sign of acceptance, not meant to offend. Treating other men like that here, when there were already so many cultural differences could lead to all manner of social disaster.

Around noon the rain stopped, the clouds cleared off to reveal the sun, and the temperature started climbing. They rode through the forest hour after hour, the rhythmic clop of their horses feet on the road, and the warm spring air, tended to lull him to sleep, and he found himself nodding off several times. He was in a alien place and knew he needed to stay alert, there was no telling what might pop out of the trees. To fight sleep he thought back to the conversation they had the night before, Thoran had said, some things that had big implications, and he thought about how they could affect his future plans. Thoran had told him a little about the abandoned Fortress, its last owner, and some of the local history, interestingly enough, there was little known about the local history. Apparently, around a thousand years ago, all written records in the kingdom, pertaining to anything regarding the fortress had been ordered destroyed. They had been destroyed on the orders of the sitting King at the time, on the insistence of something called the High Council.

Thoran claimed the High Council was made up of ten of the highest ranking, most knowledgeable spell casters in the country, or realm as he called it. He didn’t know if Thoran was being serious or messing with him when he called them spellcasters, it sounded crazy to him. He shrugged it off as some local belief, he remembered from his history many rulers had wizards, spell casters, and astrologers and such, as many primitive cultures believed in the supernatural, magic and more. Anyway the story goes that a fortress had been in that location for thousands of years, due it to being a excellent defensive position, new ones being built on the site of previous ones. The story goes that around a thousand years ago, the time when the Dwarves started settling their valley, many strange and terrible occurrences happened. The fortress at the time was called Stonekeep, and it was a spell caster school of some kind, located far in the wilderness to give them their privacy while they learned their craft.

A very powerful Sorcerer called Evanguard, some say he was really a demon, was summoned from another world by the spell casters. He somehow broke free, summoned more of his kind, who slaughtered everyone in the fortress, and then took control of it. He renamed the fortress Evanhold, and began his reign of terror. He would send out raiding parties, that would strangely seize large amounts of worthless gold, destroying entire towns to get it, they would also take women captives, supposedly for use in strange and horrific experiments. This went on for many years, until The King finally stepped in to put a end to Evanguard, sending Armies against Evanhold. They all failed, in part to the fortresses excellent location, and in larger part, due to the terrible weapons his minions wielded. The King lost ten thousand men fighting Evanhold, they tried to starve them out, but after a year long siege they gave that up as hopeless, as the fortress apparently had a endless supply of food. This is where the Dwarves come into play, the King sent thousands of them with the army, to use their knowledge of mining and tunneling to breach the fortresses defenses.

They had no choice, as Dwarves were slaves, and considered by humans to be no better than animals. They were mostly used for mining raw minerals, which was extremely dangerous work. When Evanguards men attacked the Kings forces, slaughtering them, the Dwarves were spared, they were given their freedom, and offered refuge in the fortress if they desired, when they declined, they were told of another option. Evanguard told them of the secret valley he had discovered, and told them if they were careful, they could be safe there, and start new lives. They needed to hurry however, as his scouts reported another of the Kings armies was heading in this direction, and they needed to be gone before the army arrived. That is where the escaped Dwarves settled, they were the original founders of Dwarf Haven, and Thoran’s ancestors. While the King was sending Armies against the fortress, apparently the High Council had been working on their own plan, and had somehow enlisted the help of a Chaos Dragon known as Hellfire.

It was sent to destroy the fortress, which it did, incinerating the defenders, setting fire to the fortress, and sending Evanguard and his remaining men fleeing back to the world they had come from. There was also a rumor that The Sword of Justice had been sent to the fight as well, but it was never proven, the bearer did disappear around that time though, and the sword was never seen again. The King ordered all written records of the fortress, and of Evanguard, destroyed, and forbade even to tell stories of it, so no one could summon another demon like him again, they also ruled Evanhold off limits to all citizens upon penalty of death. There were historians who refused the order, and as a result the King executed many, and burned their records. It was erased from history, and all but forgotten, living on only through the long lived Dwarves oral history, partly because the Dwarves held Evanguard as a savior for what he did for them a thousand years ago. Jake found several aspects of the story very unsettling.

The part about Evanguard being summoned from another world struck close to home, as did the part about him fighting for large quantities of worthless gold, as well as Evanguard’s men having terrible weapons. The story could be about him it was so similar. Did Evanhold come through the portal? Did he come here for gold, to be sold back on his home planet? That’s the only explanation that made sense to him. Was he from a place of superior technology? That would explain their terrible weapons the story mentioned. That was all something to think about, but it was not the most troubling to him. What troubled him most, was the dream he had recently. The one where he was the sword bearer, defending his fortress against attackers, and was attacked by a damn dragon. How could he explain that dream, that was so damn close to a folk tale he only heard for the first time a week after he had it? The more he thought about it, the more he knew there must be more to the story, and the real truth was likely why the King had ordered the written histories destroyed. The hidden library Jake had discovered in the fortress ruins, might possibly have information about Evanguard, and could shed some light on what really happened back then.

Thoran had also explained why he was at the fortress, part of the legends speak of a massive treasure that Evanguard left behind when he fled, a massive treasure of gems, and steel. Thoran had come here searching for the lost treasure, mainly for the steel he claimed, to give to his people, to forge tools and weapons to allow them to mine, and defend their home. Steel was desperately needed by his people, to ensure their freedom. He had been in the basement searching for clues to it, when he had accidentally disturbed the scorpion nest and had been attacked. His first trip to the ruins had almost been his last.  Jake had also learned that the leaders of Thoran’s people would be unhappy to know he had been at the ruins, as they were off limits to their people, and apparently the Kings death penalty for trespassing in the ruins still existed. Thoran explained his people were hiding from the rest of the world in a remote hidden valley somewhere, and leaving their valley at all, for any reason was frowned upon, as it could lead to them being discovered.

The countryside here was more beautiful than anyplace he had ever been before. Jake was simply in awe of the beauty. The river they passed was deep, and clear, and teeming with fish, he saw wildlife everywhere he looked. There were large numbers of deer, and other game, the woods were thick with them. The trees were simply enormous, as they rode through them he was amazed at the sheer size of the trees, he had never seen anything like it on earth. The woods here consisted of huge tall trees with vast canopies of leaves, the undergrowth on the ground here was almost nonexistent, he could easily see for hundreds of yards in every direction. He saw all manners of animals, from rabbits and birds up to large Elk, he even had seen wolves. He thought he was losing his mind once as he would have sworn he saw a damn unicorn, as the animal briefly appeared between some trees, and was quickly gone again. He thought of mentioning it to Thoran, but decided not to, as he didn’t want to seem crazy to his new friend.

He was soon lost again in the scenery, the unicorn or whatever he had seen forgotten, One thing Jake could not deny about this place, was its beauty. He had never really been in true wilderness before, and he found it to be extremely peaceful, although he reminded himself that wilderness while beautiful, contained dangerous animals. He kept one hand on his rifles grip as they rode, and tried to stay alert for possible danger and not just be a clueless tourist out sight seeing. He glanced towards Thoran and saw that he was sitting higher in the saddle, had one hand on his ax handle, and glanced around often with sharp eyes. “ The countryside here is beautiful Thoran, is it like this everywhere? I mean all the huge trees, and wildlife?” Thoran nodded without looking at him. “It is, except for my home Dwarf Haven, you will have to ride for over five hundred leagues south before you reach the nearest town, and start encountering areas where the forest has been cut down, to make way for farms. I advise we not talk just yet, we are being stalked by wolves, and should keep our eyes open. They are mostly curious I would wager, and have never seen a human or a dwarf before, if we appear healthy, alert, and unafraid, they will likely not bother us, but best to stay alert around them.”

Jake nodded his understanding, and made sure to remain calm, as he slowly glanced around nervously, keeping his eyes open for wolves following them but didn’t see anything, maybe Thoran was just messing with him? A short while later, a Elk bugled off to their right, which was immediately cut short by the long haunting howl of a nearby wolf. There was suddenly noise from multiple spots in the forest around them, and whatever it was all crashed quickly through the undergrowth in the direction of the howl, ahead of them Jake saw three large wolves dart across the road from left to right, all headed in the same direction, wolf yips and barks could be herd encouraging each other onward as they ran after the Elk the pack was now hunting. Thoran grunted, and then spoke. “We may speak now. It seems our wolf friends have found themselves something else for dinner. I did not think they would bother us, as they are bound by the ancient accords to harm no intelligent beings. Wolf attacks do occasionally happen anyway, as the accords are sometimes temporarily forgotten when hunger grows too great. They seem to enjoy making you nervous sometimes for the sheer Joy of it.” Jake thought he must be messing with him, wolves having agreements? He let it slide, not wanting to ask questions that might make him sound stupid, or naive instead pushing the conversation in a direction he felt safer. “Tell me Thoran, why do you call your self a Dwarf?”

Thoran grunted. “ I call myself a Dwarf, because that is what I am, a Dwarf, just as you are a Human, you have never heard of Dwarves before?” Jake nodded. “ I have heard of Dwarves, they are mentioned in childrens stories, and legends where I come from. My people also have stunted people who are very short, who are sometimes jokingly refered to as Dwarves. You and that so called Elf woman I met are as human as I am though, why do you not consider yourself human?” Thoran stared at Jake looking angry for a moment, but then took a deep breath. “ I forget you are not from here, and have no knowledge of this land, and its peoples. Though we may look simular, Dwarves, are as different from humans, as deer are from horses, the same goes for Elves, they may look simular to you, but I assure you, they are very different. You would be wise to tread carefully about comparing other races to humans, many will take such statements very.. poorly. Do you have no race taboo’s where you are from?” Jake laughed. “Oh I can assure you, we have lots of racial taboo’s where I come from, to the point our society can barely function at times.” Jake thought for a second, maybe he had better start thinking of being Human as more of a race thing while he was here. Back on Earth, everyone was Human, here Humans were more like a separate race, than a separate animal, calling a Dwarf, or a Elf a Human here, was more like calling someone back on earth, black, asian, or mexican when they were not, for example.

That could easily cause problems back home. He was going to have to be more careful about how he labeled people here. He was also going to have to keep his mouth shut and listen more, to learn about things, and not just trust one persons attitudes towards anything either. He was going to need to have multiple points of view on everything while he was here, to make judgments on pretty much everything. Learning about this place, and its different races and culture’s, and interacting with different groups while he was here was going to be a lot more work than he originally thought. He laughed at himself at that, a few days ago he never had a clue Dwarves, and Elves were actually real, now a few days later his entire world view about what he thought he knew had been totally turned upside down, not only were they real, he had actually met some ! He wondered how many more times his entire world would be turned upside down, over something new he discovered here. Thoran cleared his throat interrupting his train of thought. “ Jake, where did you encounter a Elf? None have seen a Elf in these lands for hundreds of seasons, they rarely leave the Elf kingdom, which lies thousands of leagues to the East, on the other side of the Dragons Teeth.” “What are the Dragons Teeth?” Jake asked. “Don’t tell me there are dragons here as well.” He laughed. The Dwarf scratched his face under his thick beard, and chuckled as well. “No, you do not have to fear dragons, and the dragons teeth are a very rugged mountain range that divides the Elf kingdom, from the rest of the world.” “

Good ! ” Jake said relieved. “The last thing I need in my life right now are dragons!” He was glad he didn’t just assume they were real, and have Thoran think he was a idiot. “No, you have no dragons to fear my friend, Dragons have not been seen in almost a thousand seasons, some think they are extinct, many others though believe they are simply sleeping. My great grandfather, before he died, claimed to have seen a dragon when he was a boy. He claimed it was the same one that destroyed the fortress your living in.” Jake turned to stare at Thoran. Wait, your telling me dragons were real ?! Maybe are still real?! Thoran nodded. Well of course they were real, probably still are real, the chance of them being a myth is zero, they definitely existed, that is fact, none can dispute, there is a large dragon skull on display in our town hall in fact.” Jake felt dizzy just thinking about it. What else is real here Thoran? I guess you are going to tell me next, that was a real unicorn I saw earlier today as well? Thoran burst out laughing. “The very idea ! No, you didn’t see a Unicorn Jake, don’t be silly.” Jake breathed a sigh of relief at that.

He thought to himself that its good to know there were limits on whats running around loose here. He definately felt unsure of his footing though, having no clue what mythological creature would turn up next, or how he would sound like a fool to Thoran should he assume the wrong one was real, when it was not, the entire situation was crazy he thought to himself. Thoran continued. “No, no Unicorns, those are gone, none living have ever seen one, the last claimed sighting was over three thousand years, even back then they were supposedly extremely rare, most  think they are myths, and never existed at all.” Jake gaped open mouthed at Thoran In surprise as he contined speaking. “Unicorns, only exist in legends. I heard many stories about them from my wet nurse when I was a child. Usually in the old stories, when they appeared, it always heralded great change to come, White unicorns meant great good things to come, Black unicorns meant terrible changes were coming. Why, do you think you saw a unicorn today? “Thoran snorted in amusement.” Jake felt himself feeling uneasy at this news.The creature he saw earlier today, that he thought might have been a unicorn, had been black as coal. Jake gave a fake laugh. “Well obviously not Thoran. You were telling me about Elves.” Thoran, laughed one last chuckle before continuing. “ Yes, back to the Elves. None have seen a Elf around here for a almost thousand seasons, Elves also take a dim view of humans these days.

The war between Elves and Humans, does little to encourage good relations either I might add.” Jake wriggled his butt in the saddle, and grimaced at the tenderness. He stretched trying to pop his back that was sore from riding the last few hours. He didn’t want to even think about his butt, it was going to be sore for days after this. “She was in the building when I woke up this morning, pretty thing. She spun some story about serving the sword bearer, and about being a Elf, she also said a few things about the sword, and how I was a slave to it. It pissed me off, and I kicked her out. Why?” Thoran laughed, and looked at the forest around them for a moment. “ You had best get used to that Elf, you wont be getting rid of her anytime soon if the stories are to be believed, she will follow you around for the rest of your life, or hers, whichever might end first. She is sworn to serve and protect you, and that sword. I would also advise caution when dealing with Elves, they are quite deadly I promise you, even their females, and none should ever be taken lightly. ” Jake grunted at the information. He didn’t know how he felt about her. On one hand having a beautiful woman follow you around might not seem to bad, one the other hand, her ancestors had given away her entire life in service of whoever carried this sword, basically slavery.

Male fantasies aside, did he really want a female slave, that was sentenced to serve him for life, with no say in the matter? He found the entire idea distasteful, being sentenced for a terrible crime for life was one thing, being innocent, and told or forced to do it, was quite another. He would have no slave serve him, that was damn sure. “ What war did you mention earlier? A Elf / human war was it? Why are they fighting?” Thoran nodded. “ The war between the Elves and Humans has been going on for decades now. There are many who would say that the reason for the war, is the basic inability for Humans and Elves to coexist together. Many Humans dislike Elves due to envy. They envy the Elves for their long life spans that border on immortality, and hate the way the Elves seem cold and unemotional, a by product of such long lives, they also envy the Elves great knowledge they have accumulated over those long lives. In reverse, many Elves dislike, and even fear Humans for the intensity they put into their much shorter lives, the emotion and passion Humans have, often brings illogical behaviors, and how humans quickly forget history, and often repeat past mistakes.

Those are all valid reasons for them not being fond of each other, but the real cause of this war is iron. Iron is very rare, and as a result very expensive, and highly sought after, and the elves have the only known source of iron. The only known Iron deposits are located deep in the Elf lands. “ I was wondering why I had not seen any iron or steel in the ruins, I guess that explains it.” Thoran nodded, in agreement, and continued. “The Elves sold limited amounts of iron to humans in the past, but after a few incidents in which Elf lives were lost, the Elves refused to sell more iron to the Humans, and cut off all trade. The humans took offense to this, and The Iron King used it as a way to fan historic resentment of the Elves, into a all out war against them. They have been war ever since. Myself as a Dwarf, and a lover of the earth, and its treasures, believe Iron is a gift to all. I find the Elf decision to restrict Iron from other races highly offensive, no different than if they withheld the only source of water. That said, I do not believe the Iron Kings reason for war against the Elves, as simple as Iron.” “What other reason would a King have to insite a war?” Jake asked.

Thoran paused to take a sip from his wine skin before continuing. “We are located far from the borders of both the Iron king, and the land of the Elves, but even out here we hear rumors. All things considered, This King is not well liked. There are growing numbers of unhappy peasants, who can barely feed themselves, with many on the verge of starvation due to crop failure, as well as higher up families of Lords, who are unhappy about high taxes. This all while the King lives in a luxurious lifestyle, that is extravagant even for a King, he is also extremely vain. There are many Massively expensive projects on going to construct monuments to the King, such as yet another country castle, and a five hundred foot tall statue of the King, both have been under construction for a decade, on top of weekly massive parties, in a land where food is scarce. There is much resentment.” Jake frowned. “Your saying the King helped start this war, as a way to rid himself of dissenters?” “Thoran nodded. “ I believe so, yes. He is using hatred of the Elves as a way to unite his kingdom, as well as a way to demand even more taxes from the wealthy, both to fund his lifestyle, and finance the war. If any wealthy Lord questions the high taxes, the king turns the poor against them through wealth envy. There are also rumors that the bulk of the army is made up of drafted people who have unfavorable opinions of the king.” Jake thought for a moment. “ I would think that it would be dangerous taking large numbers of people who dislike you, and arming and training them to fight.” Thoran, shook his head. “ You are assuming the King intends to create actual soldiers, and to win the war.

If that were true, then yes, it would be dangerous, as you would have the war end, and be left with large numbers of people who are trained warriors who might seek to over throw your reign. That is not what is happening, from what we know. We believe he drafts people who have stated their unhappiness with his rule, puts them into very poorly armed units, with no training, and sends them to their deaths against impenetrable Elf fortresses, on the borders of the Elf lands. Unfortunately, the king is a great speaker, and He gives great speeches hailing the bravery of their armed forces, which has public support for the war high, and demonizes the Elves as evil, using their terrible magics to destroy human forces. Also, the penalty for refusing the draft is death, and with public support for the war so high, there is little support for anyone who attempts to avoid it, and no safe haven for them in any human kingdom. People who turn in draft dodgers are hailed publically as heroes, fathers and mothers turn in sons, and brothers have turned in brothers. The King has a iron grip on the kingdom as it stands and no one can stand against him.

The war has grown so large  it now encompasses all races, his subjects suffer, the Elves suffer, other races such as Dwarves who are forced as slave labor to help support the war effort suffer.” Thoran was silent for a moment, then he spoke again. “Perhaps, that is why the sword has emerged at this time, many times in history it has appeared just when needed most, to stop some terrible happening.” Jake’s eyes grew wide with surprise, and he felt himself grow angry at the thought of such a thing. He himself had dedicated years of his life in the military, and believed it to be a high noble calling for a man to volunteer to defend his nation. The thought of a ruler perverting such a noble endeavor, as a way to murder people who were unhappy with the job he was doing, was disgusting, and highly offensive to him. “ Thats not right”. Jake blurted angrily. “If thats true, then the people should rise up, and remove him from power.” Thoran looked at Jake for a moment. “ I urge you to use caution my friend. The sword bearer is highly respected person in any culture, and you will have much support as such. However, it puts you in a position to earn many enemies easily. More than one sword bearer has come to murder by a rulers hands, over their public position on something. This King has spies everywhere, and from rumors works tirelessly to remove dissenters. Should you speak your thoughts in the wrong company, you might find yourself facing powerful enemies. I would advise you to tread with care.”

Three days later, they were heading down the road when thoran suddenly pulled his horse to a stop. “What’s up?” Jake asked. Thoran frowned. “The location of our valley is a very closely guarded secret were you anyone else than the bearer, you would have been blindfolded long ago, however since you are the swords bearer, you will be allowed to see how to find the valley. I want your word of honor to never reveal this secret to another person.” Jake nodded. “I wont tell anyone.” Thoran shook his head. “I need you to say it right, make it official, tell me I have your word, you will never tall another person our valley exists, or where it is located.” Jake sighed. “You have my word, I will never tell another person anything about your valley, or tell or show anyone where it is located.” He said. Thoran nodded in return, then he urged his horse forward around the bend in the road. A strong icy shiver ran through Jake’s body just as Thoran turned away from him, and the words he had just spoken echoed through his mind first whispered, then building in strength as if shouted from a mountain, echoing through his mind and body. He heard the words “ You have my word.” repeated over and over in his mind.He didn’t know what was happening, but he knew why it was happening, it was the promise he had just made, he felt it down into his soul. He had casually given his word, as he had many times before in his life, but this time it was totally different, there was nothing casual about this, it was as if it were carved in stone, it was unbreakable.

He realized at that moment he would carry that secret to his grave, nothing could pull it from him. He sat there on the horse, unable to move, with his entire body shaking, it was over whelmed with the sheer power of the feeling he was experiencing. He placed a hand onto the swords grip, and the sword tingled under his grasp, and despite the warm day the metal felt icy to the touch. He realized with a shock it was the sword! The sword was somehow doing this! The words that were engraved into the sword belt echoed through his mind in a loud whisper, sending another icy shiver through his body. “They shall be bound to good, their deeds honest, their words pure, no lie can they speak, nor may decieve them.” A gravely voice pulled Jake from his thoughts where he had been momentarily lost. He realized Thoran had pulled his horse around and was sitting on it looking at him, and had apparently been talking to him. Thoran spoke again.“I asked if you were well sword bearer? You look unwell to me.”Thoran was staring at him, with what he thought was actual concern.

He pulled himself up in the saddle, to his full height, and shook the strange feelings off he had been experiencing, one last icy shiver ran down his arm and he would swear it went into the sword, insane as that sounded. He really needed to get some rest, all this magic sword bullshit was getting to him. “I’m fine Thoran, I don’t need you to mother me, are we going to your town or what?” Thoran’s concerned expression turned to a angry one, and he spun his horse around. Jake spurred his to follow, they went around the curve in the road, and Thoran turned his horse into the woods, passing under a odd looking tree. They rode a few hundred yards through thick leaves, passing through the huge trees, the brush grew thicker and soon they came to a stream . Thoran rode his horse into the shallow water, and headed upstream with Jake following close behind him. The stream had a wide, mostly flat bottom consisting of small stones and gravel, which made riding in it effortless, much easier than going through the brush would have been. The water was not very deep, but then again, the horses were not very tall either, he raised his legs to keep his feet out of the water as he rode, he was irritated to notice Thorans feet were still in his stirrups a comfortable foot above the water.

“Just great.” He grumbled to himself. He noticed that the brush that grew alongside the stream had grown even thicker now, and riding outside the stream bed would have been impossible. After ten minutes his legs were burning from holding his feet out of the water, and he realized he was going to end up with wet feet. Bullshit, he thought. He balanced himself best he could on the horse, and pulled off his boots, and tied them together over the saddle horn, his socks went into his boots, and he rolled up his pant legs. Nudging his horse forward again, he stuck his feet into the cool water, and groaned in pleasure at being able to straighten his legs again. They rode in the stream for almost a hour, the woods grew thicker, and it got darker as they did. Looking up through a break in the tree canopy he caught sight of a high rock wall ahead, and realized they were very close to the valleys edge. A few minutes later Thoran pulled his horse to a stop, and waved Jake up beside him. Jake stopped, and noticed Thoran looking at his bare feet sticking in the cold water. The Dwarf made a chuckling sound, which caused Jake to narrow his eyes at him.

Thoran covered his mouth with a hand, and coughed into it, his cough sounding much like laughter, Jake just stared at him in silence for a long moment, then turned to look ahead. Just ahead of them was the imposing rock wall, Jake gazed upwards and saw the stone cliff vanishing into the low hanging clouds far above them. The stream ran another fifty yards and disappeared at the rock wall among a pile of boulders, he guessed there was a hidden cave behind them. He was curious as to where they would go next, he didn’t see any path, trail or tunnel a horse could take. “Well, what now?” He asked. Thoran’s expression turned serious. “ When we get closer, the guardian will awaken. It will expect the password, and I will give it, but it is supposed to only to allow Dwarve’s to pass. We are allowed to bring guests, but as far as I know, none have ever tried it. Do not speak, unless spoken to, if the guardian steps towards you, I advise you to run. It is slow but quite deadly. ” Jake rolled his eyes at Thoran. Seriously ? You brought me all this way, and you don’t know if I can get in, or even if your guardian will attack me or not? That’s just great, Thoran, old buddy, im loving the hospitality already. His words dripped with sarcasm.

Thoran smiled a broad smile, and nodded. “ Good, I am pleased you feel welcomed, and that you are pleased with our hospitality, come, let us go.” Jake stared at Thorans back with his mouth hanging open, and watched as he moved his horse forward. Apparently Dwarve’s had not heard of sarcasm. He grumbled to himself. “Well, I have come this far, I suppose there’s no reason to back out now.” He nudged his little horse forward, and noticed Thoran had stopped again just feet from the boulders, and stopped his beside him. “Hey, what does the guardian look like?” Thoran pointed forward. “ It is there, you cannot miss it.” Jake squinted to see better, there was nothing there, but the creek, the flat rock wall, and that pile of moss covered boulders, one of which was the size of a garage door. He looked around best he could, thinking he must be missing something. Nothing looked out of place to him, and except for the water gurgling past the rocks, it was pretty quiet as well, he was stumped. “I don’t see anything but that pile of rocks.” “Aye,” Thoran said. “ The rocks are the guardian, it is a stone Golem.” Jake took off his boonie hat and scratched his ichy scalp.

“A Golem?” He had heard the word before, but could not remember where he had heard it. He stared at the mossy rocks, not understanding how they could be a guardian of anything. Thoran whispered to Jake. “ I hope this works.” He then raised his voice loud enough to be heard over the gurgling water. “I Thoran Stonecutter, and my guest, request passage to Dwarf Haven, the password is Gemstones.” To Jake’s amazement, glowing eyes appeared in the side of the stone on top of the pile. Then, the large pile of moss covered boulders suddenly started shifting, and moving, what was happening, a rock slide? If it was, it was all wrong, as he realized the rocks were not sliding down into the water, but up out of the water, the boulders rose up with loud crunching grinding sounds, and splashing water, other rocks seemed to be moving, to be  sliding up out of the water, all moving upwards, like a reverse rock slide. As the rocks moved out of the water, a cave opening behind them was exposed, and the creek water rushed forward into the void, as it did the water level in the creek quickly began dropping. A few moments later, and he found himself staring at a rough humanoid shape, made entirely from rocks. It was incredible to see, like someone had taken large rocks, and created a gigantic body out of them, sort of like a stone snowman.

The main body, was made of a enormous boulder the size of a garage door, below it two more smaller oblong boulders made legs, each arm was two more oblong rocks, with a massive beach ball sized rock as a fist, on top was a beach ball sized rock that made a head. The two unblinking glowing eyes stared back at them. The finished creation was massive, stood almost twenty feet tall, and had to weigh fifty tons. He noticed that where it had been sitting, there was now a large cave opening. The guardian, um Golum, had been blocking the entrance with its body, and that caused the water level to rise as it backed up, he would have never guessed this was the entrance to anything, between the water, and massive rocks, he assumed the water was going underground. The guardian stood silently, not saying or doing anything for a moment, then slowly the huge stone creature stepped slowly aside, making loud grinding sounds, as rock moved against rock, it stepped aside making a entrance wide enough for them to pass. Thoran moved past the guardian, and stopped in the cave entrance with creek water rushing around his horses feet, and waved Jake forward.

Jake nervously moved his horse forward, he never took his eyes from the massive stone creature. His horse moved forward, each hoof splashing water, he expected the massive stone creature to smash him flat at any second, but it never moved from its spot. He passed within a few feet of it, and once his horse stood inside the cave entrance, loud grinding noises were heard again. He turned around and watched as the massive stones slid back into place, with loud grinding, causing water to splash everywhere as it settled back into its resting place. It was blocking the cave entrance again, as well as most of the sunlight, he could barely see anything. The two of them sat on their horses in pitch darkness. The roaring water noise dropped off quickly as the Golums body was again blocking most of the water flow now. Something sparked, and there was a flickering light, Jake could see Thoran had dismounted and lit two torches, passing one to him. “You need to dismount, and lead your horse, the tunnel is not high enough to remain mounted.” Thoran explained. Jake grunted acknowledgment, and slid off his horse his feet landing in ankle deep water, and soft sand. He took a torch in one hand, and the reins of the horse in another. Thoran walked ahead of him leading his horse, while Jake followed. The cave was easily wide enough for a truck to drive through he decided, the cave walls were smooth, obviously carved by water, the roof was about eight feet high.

They led the horses for maybe fifteen minutes down the twisting tunnel, splashing water with each step, then he thought he saw light ahead of them, sure enough it quickly got brighter, and they were soon stepping into bright sunlight. Thoran led his horse to the right, up the creek bank and onto dry land, Jake followed, and he found himself standing on a road, at the edge of a wide grassy field. “ This is the only entrance to this valley?” Thoran nodded with pride at his home. “ It is, there is no other entrance to the valley, it is surrounded by impassible mountains on all sides. This is Dwarf Haven, the home to all free Dwarves. The soil is rich for farming, we have abundant grass for livestock, timber for building, the woodlands here are filled with wildlife. The single entrance even if discovered, is easily defended, creating a safe haven for my people, hence the name Dwarf Haven” Jake took in the view. This is beautiful country Thoran, and it was. The valley was ringed with high snow capped mountains in the distance, here the valley was several miles wide, and it disappeared out of sight to the south, and the north. The valley was beautiful and green,the field they stood in was covered in thick green grass, and in the center of the field, several miles away was a large alpine lake around which a herd of sheep, and cows were grazing. There were houses scattered here and there across the valley, fields of crops grew in various places, and about a mile away was a town built on on a hill top. The town was surrounded by a defensive wall, many buildings and towers could be seen above the wall, smoke lazily rose from chimneys into the sky. Thoran pointed at the town. “ That town is Mill Creek, it is the capital here, as well as the largest town in the valley, at last count, the valley was home to over fifty thousand free Dwarves.” He said proudly.

Jake noticed a group of riders rapidly headed their way from the town,. “ We have been spotted by the home guard.” Thoran observed. “They will take a very poor view of a human being here, please let me do the talking, and do not make any sudden moves. This would be a good time to put your boots back on.” Jake gripped the stock on his rifle a little nervously. “Understood.” He said. The man had not brought him to harm yet, if he had wanted to hurt him, he could have had that stone monster do it most likely. He shrugged, and released the rifle, and worked to put his boots back on, once done, he took a drink of water from his camelbak, and watched the riders approaching. Thoran planted his ax into the ground and leaned onto the handle looking bored as we awaited the welcome party. It did not take long for them to arrive, it was a group of 10 heavily armed Dwarve’s, Jake watched as they rode towards them, their highly polished copper armor, and weapons glittering in the bright sun.

They were riding the same short breed of horse that he and Thoran were. Watching them galloping on the little horses was entertaining, but he had to admit they were a solid little horse and matched the dwarf riders well. The dwarf riders looked much like Thoran, the same wide faces, short ,stocky powerfully built bodies and long thick beards. Their leather clothing and boots much like his as well, the biggest difference was these Dwarves were wearing polished copper breast plates, and carrying multiple weapons. The riders pulled up in a semicircle facing them, their long spears leveled at them, not a one had a friendly expression, and they were all looking at him in a most unfriendly way. One horse and rider stepped forward a few feet from the others, this one seemed to be in charge, as he wore a copper helmet, and had purple marks on it and his breast plate which Jake took as marks of rank of some kind. The man spoke with a deep authoritive booming voice, obviously used to yelling at people, he reminded Jake of a drill sergeant.

“Thoran Stonecutter ! You were specifically told to NOT leave the protection of Dwarf Haven again, your father is very angry with you ! He demanded that you be brought to him at once upon your return ! Then the man appeared to notice Jake for the first time. “WHAT IS THIS? WHO?, YOU HAVE BROUGHT A HUMAN HERE ! You go too far Thoran, even your father cannot ignore this ! Guards, seize the human !” The Dwarfs jumped from their horses, and approached Jake with their weapons drawn, the anger on their faces and demeanor extremely aggressive. The idea of many against one, the unfair odds brought Jake’s blood to boiling, and before he realized it he had drawn his sword taken a fighting stance, and shoved Thoran forcefully behind him in a effort to shield him from the coming fight. Jake shouted angrily at the mass of dwarf guards. “ So, the mob seeks to attack the innocent traveler does it? You will not find me to be easy prey, come at me then and receive the punishment you deserve, Justice will be done this day, I assure you !” Seeing Jake draw his sword, and shove Thoran, enraged the Dwarve’s, the leaders voice boomed again. “ Kill the human !” Just as Jake took a step forward, Thoran streaked between him, and the Dwarf guards, raising his hands and shouting to be heard above the noise. “ NO, NO !! You must stop! This man bears the Sword of Legend ! He bears Justice Bringer, as as such he is free to enter all kingdoms!! Stop I tell you, FOOLS, he carries the Sword of Justice !” Thorans actions and words caused the Dwarve’s to hesitate, they milled about in confusion, some of them clearly worried. “ What foolishness is this?” The leader demanded. “ Justice Bringer was lost long ago, it has not been seen for centuries!” The mans gaze moved to Jake’s sword, and his eyes opened in surprise at what he saw, the man truly carried a shining steel sword, that alone was rare enough to cause him to question the rest. The history of Justice Bringer was well known to him as Captain of the Guard, even thought it had been lost for centuries, the protocols were still taught, as these magical items had a annoying way of reappearing. Dishonoring, or insulting the Bearer of Justice Bringer would bring great shame to their entire people. The captain raised his hands in the air. “ I command you to halt! Everyone sheathe your arms, and stand down, I command you!” The soldiers immediately stepped back, and put their weapons away, watching the proceedings with interest. Could this Human really be carrying the great sword?

The man swung down from his saddle, and stepped towards Jake, while removing his helmet. Jake stood in the same spot, his eyes hard, and gleaming sword held ready. “ I am the Captain of the guard for Dwarf Haven. Sir, do you truly bear the great sword Justice Bringer?” The man asked nervously. Jake nodded. “ I carry a sword apparently named Justice Bringer, is it your intention to steal it from me then, is that your game, and the reason for your hostile actions towards me?” Jake looked around angrily. The Dwarf Captain visibly paled at the statement. He dropped to one knee before Jake, and his men quickly followed his lead. Then the captain spoke slowly and clearly “ Bearer, forgive us, we meant you no harm nor disrespect. Please excuse our actions. We humbly invite you to be the honored guest of Dwarf Haven, please allow us to escort you to meet our king, I’m sure he will be most happy to meet you, and will receive you as a honored guest.”

Jake felt the anger leaving his body at the mans actions and words. He didn’t really know what all this crap was about, but apparently this sword thing was a big deal here as well. He didn’t really care as long as it got him some decent treatment, he wanted to get this visit over with, and get back to his fortress. Thoran nodded to him. “ He speaks the truth Jake, you are our honored guest.” Jake looked at each of them, then finally sheathed his sword, and crossed his arms and waited. The Captain rose, and addressed Jake. “Bearer, if you would please, we will now escort you and Prince Thoran to the King. Jake looked at Thoran. “ Prince Thoran? You didn’t mention your father was a King.” Thoran blushed slightly and shrugged. “It is true, but it changes nothing, please let us go meet the king.” Thoran mounted his horse, and Jake fell in beside him as they rode, the Dwarf Guards divided, with half in front and half behind them creating a honor guard. One rider was sent back to the town at a gallop to spread the word, that Justice Bringer had returned.

It only took them ten minutes to reach the outer wall of the town, and enter through its opened gates. The town was build almost entirely of stone he noticed, and the craftsmanship of that stonework was impressive. It reminded him a lot of the fortress stone work, the stone blocks that were used here were much smaller than that used at his fortress, but the style was very similar, was it possible it was built by Dwarves? He pondered on that, and what it meant as they rode. The ride through town was interesting, word had spread of their arrival and the sides of the streets were packed with the Dwarf people who had came out to see them. There were hundreds of them lining the streets, and they represented all walks of life, even though he knew little of these people he recognized raggedy beggers, craftsmen in leather aprons, women covered in flour, who must be bakers, and well dressed fancy looking gentlemen who must be the upper crust of society.

The guard led them deeper into the city and as they walked Jake discovered something, interesting. The Dwarf women were not nearly as stocky as the men were, they looked much like a petite woman from back home to him, and many of them were damn attractive. He didn’t know what he expected them to look like, but it was not this. The people were quiet as they passed, mostly whispering to each other as they caught a glimpse of Jake, apparently the first human to ever set foot in Dwarf Haven. They entered a small fortress in the center of the city, and were led down a short hallway. They stopped outside the doors of a room, and guards posted themselves on each side of the doors. The captain opened the doors and ushered them inside. Jake found himself standing in a small room the smell of cooked meat made his mouth water. The captain stood in front of them. Bearer, we have refreshments for you, please rest, eat, drink, and make yourself comfortable, he gestured behind them, and he turned to find a massive table that was loaded with food, and beside it were several comfortable chairs. If you need anything bearer, simply tell the guard outside, and they will bring it to you, the King has been notified, and will meet you here presently. Prince Theron, the King wishes to speak with you before he welcomes the sword bearer. I must depart as I have many other duties to attend to, but I hope to see you again soon. Jake nodded at the man, and watched as he stepped out and him close the doors behind him, and was pleased to notice he didn’t hear the sound of the doors being locked. Theron looked at Jake, and sighed heavily. “ I must go and speak with my father, no doubt he has many questions for me. Please make yourself comfortable, I will be back soon.”

Jake nodded. “ I will be here making myself acquainted with your food.” Then picked up a plate and started piling it high with pieces of meat. Thoran Pointed to a particular dish. I would try the berry Pie, its delicious. Then he pointed at another dish. “I would avoid the traditional pickled eel at all cost, its awful, I don’t know why its even prepared, everyone hates it.” He laughed and stepped through the doors and was gone. Jake just stared at the last dish he had pointed at. “Eels? Yuck, that even sounds nasty.” He had to admit, Dwarve’s might be short, and kind of grumpy, but they could damn sure cook, everything he had tried was delicious. The berry pie was delicious, just as Thoran had said it was, and he had avoided the Eel. He had found some kind of delicious dark beer, and he used it to wash down much more food than he should have. It was by far the best food he had eaten in over a week, and he had not held back. He was sitting in his chair feeling very full, and slightly drunk, when the door opened suddenly, and in stepped a guard. The guard called out in a loud and clear voice. I present High King Alanor Stonecutter, the leader of all free Dwarves his first born son Prince Thoran Stonecutter, and the royal High Counsil, Edber Grindhouse. The guard stepped aside and Thoran, and another man dressed in purple robes stepped into the room, followed by a man dressed in golden robes, and wearing a honest to god crown on his head.

Jake was pretty sure the King had arrived. Jake stood up slowly, more to not stumble and appear drunk, than for any intended dramatic effect. Took a a single step towards Thoran and the King, and stopped, he placed one hand on the hilt of the Sword of Justice, and bowed his head slightly to acknowledge the King. The King blinked, and looked surprised, and the guard beside the door looked about to explode in anger. “ You will kneel when in the presence of the king, human skum!” The man shouted as he drew his sword and came at Jake. Jake just stared at the rapidly approaching guard with a look of boredom on his face. Thoran yelled. “ Stop at once !”, but the guard was committed and smashed at Jakes face with the grip of his sword. The instant the guard stepped towards Jake with hostile intent, a icy jab shot up from the swords grip into his hand, it was not painful at all, quite the opposite it felt great, more like a shot of adrenaline. Some part of his mind realized that this was the first time he had someone actually mean him harm since he started carrying the sword. The Angry Dwarf was heavily muscled, looked deadly serious, and he should feel panic. He should feel panic, but he didn’t feel any instead he was totally calm, his heart rate actually dropped and his mind cleared of everything except the room around him, time stopped and everyone in the room seemed to move in slow motion. The three other Dwarve’s by the door were not threats, they meant no harm, and were stunned momentarily at the suddenness of the guards attack, the guards just outside the door were to far away to be a threat just yet.

He could actually feel everyone in the room around him, feel their intent, feel their heart beats, had it been pitch dark he would have been able to feel everything as well as he could normally see it. The Guards pommel was decending slowly towards him, and he took in the mans technique, noting absently it was more brute strength behind the attack, than any real skill. The mans feet were all wrong, even his balance was way off, and even his hands gripped the sword incorrectly for this type of strike. He could feel that the mans intent was not to kill him, but instead hit him in the side of the head with the swords pommel, however due to the mans incorrect grip on his sword, his strike could easily kill him intended or not.  Weather he meant to kill him or not was unimportant however, as the man clearly intended to harm him. Thoran stood beside the King in shock as the guard attacked Jake, realizing too late that he had not told Jake about the expected custom that everyone must kneel in the presence of the King. Everyone knew you must kneel! Had he never seen a King before? The guards ferocity however was totally unexpected, he had failed to consider how some Dwarves might react to a human’s presence here, and this one was obviously taking it badly. Jake was caught so off guard he was not even going to try to dodge the strike.

He winced as the guards pommel descended to strike Jake upside the head, at least the man only meant to teach him a lesson, instead of run him through with his sword, which he was empowered to do to anyone who disrespected the King. Just as the guards sword was to strike home, Jake seemed to blur, his sword leapt from its scabbard with a flash of blade, deflecting the guards sword at the last possible instant with a loud clang, the blade reversed instantly to fast to follow striking the man behind the ear with the pommel as he had sought to do to Jake, and another flash and it was again back in the scabbord, Jake’s hand upon it, with the same bored look on his face. Had he even moved? There was a meaty thud, and the guard stood for a moment, Thoran expected Jake to topple over, but was shocked when instead the guard fell face first towards Jake. Jake stepped aside and allowed the guard to fall past him onto the stone floor face first. Everything was dead silent for a moment, as Thoran and the King both looked from the down guard and back to Jake. When multiple guards flooded into the room, placed themselves between the King and Jake, and lowered deadly looking spears at him. “Drop your weapons human!” The sergeant of the Guard roared. “ Come and take them.” Jake said calmly. “Maybe you will have better luck than your friend here did.” He nodded towards the unconscious guard at his feet.

The guard looked unsure for a second. “You will kneel before the king!” Jake smiled. “ I am a American and we kneel for no man, King or not. Enough talk, come for my weapons if you dare.” The guards started forward. “ENOUGH ! Guards stand down !” Shouted the King, startling the guards who all instantly shouldered their spears and stepped to the side of the room. Thoran did not know what a American was, or what it meant, but he knew the King would not be happy at being snubbed as he had been. He feared what the King might do to Jake , honor reward, or no honor reward, perhaps he should say something, and took a breath to do just that. Jake spoke first though. “I appologize for spilling blood on your floor your highness, I meant no disrespect towards you, you have my utmost respect. However, your man did attempt to attack me first, I gave him the injury he had meant for me, nothing more.” The King narrowed his eyes at him, and was deadly quiet. Then the man dressed in purple spoke a single word. “Sire.” All eyes turned to the man.” Finally the King spoke. “Proceed Edber.” The man nodded. “Sire, as I am sure you remember, It is written many times in our history that the man who Bears the Sword of Justice is considered to be visiting royalty, with all standards that apply. This guards assault should be rewarded with death, same as he had attacked a visiting king.

Here is the next chunk, I started writing this at 8am this morning, right after I made the last post. its almost 7000 words.

“Sire.” All eyes turned to the man.” Finally the King spoke. “Proceed Edber.” The man nodded. “Sire, as we all know, the penalty for striking one of the Kings personal Guard is death.” The heads of several guards nodded eagerly in agreement, Thoran was nodding his head sadly in agreement as well. “However.” Edber said. “I am also sure his highness remembers that It is written many times in our history that the man who Bears the Sword of Justice is considered to be visiting royalty, with all standards that apply. Visiting royalty has a entirely different set of behavior rules than the average commoner, which puts the guard at fault here. This guards assault on the bearers person should be rewarded the same as had he attacked a visiting king, with death. Several of the guards gasp in surprise, and Jake noted that included the man laying on the floor with the bleeding head. He had recovered enough to follow the conversation, and he now lay there staring at Jake in shock, and fear. Jake took note that this place took things pretty damn serious, at least as the King was concerned. He sort of admired for a second what a ruler with absolute power could accomplish, but then his knowledge of history came crashing down onto him, and he remembered why his country had been founded in the first place, to escape this very kind of thing. No, no matter the benefits of being King, the downsides for all far outweighed the benefits. They were going to kill this guard without even a trial, something he found distasteful in the extreme.

Finally the king spoke. “ Bearer, what my counselor has said is true, the bearers visit is the same as any visiting royal. This excuses your failing to kneel before myself, also, this guard assaulted your person, and you defended yourself, what must happen next is clear, he shall be executed at once.” The King pointed at the bleeding man, and without hesitation the other guards grabbed him up none to gently, and proceeded to haul him out the door. Jake realized he had to do something, he hated all of this damn sword of justice bullshit, and wished he had never found the damn thing, but they were about to murder this man all because of him. He was going to have to spin this shit, and spin it good. He dug deep, and pulled on his speaking experience from being a sergeant in the Army. ‘Wait!” Jake said. Causing everyone to stop and stare at him. Jake gestured at the King. “Your highness, I am new to these lands only just arrived here slightly over a week ago, I am also very new to being bearer as well. It is not something I would have chosen for myself, regardless, I bear the title now, and I will do my best to uphold the station correctly, and serve it, and the peoples of this land with honor. I am sure it has been quite a long time since a bearer has visited this land, correct?” “Over nine hundred years to be precise.” Edber said. Jake nodded, I also understand no human has ever set foot in your kingdom before, and humans in general are disliked intensely, is that true as well?”

The King nodded, and spoke. “It is true, you are the first, and even then it is only because you bear the great sword, were you any other human you would have been killed on sight.” Jake nodded, ignoring that comment as disturbing as it was, and tried to make himself look thoughtful. “Yes, yes, I see. In that case, I should humbly request that the guards life be spared, and we pretend this all never happened. If no bearer has been seen for nine hundred years, I am sure everyone’s Sword of Justice, and how to treat a bearer etiquette is pretty rusty. Furthermore, I detected a bit of hostility towards myself for being human as well, I am sure having a human here is stressful for many of your people. It is for these reasons, that I ask you to spare this man. He never touched me, and the lesson I taught him, I’m sure will make him consider his actions more carefully in the future. I would have us to have a positive start to our relationship, and I would not want it soiled by the death of one of your people on the very day we meet.” The King looked thoughtful, but it was his adviser who spoke first. “Sire, the bearer shows mercy, and he also speaks wisely, it would indeed cause discontent among our people to learn a Dwarf of the kings guard was killed because of a human, I advise you to consider his proposal, and spare the man.” The King nodded. “I respect your counsel Ebger, and as I consider the bearers words I find I must agree with you. He does credit to the great sword, and I would like us to also have a good relationship in the future.” The King nodded at the guards, release that man, he is free, leave us.”

The guards released the injured man, who was weeping in gratitude. All of them bowed deeply and clasp a hand against the armor on their chest, then they turned and closed the doors behind them. The king then turned to look at Thoran. “Also This man from all accounts I have heard, saved my sons life, kept him from being killed at the hands of giant scorpions as incredible as that sounds. I find myself in his debt, and owe him a honor reward. Isn’t that right Thoran?” Thoran looked down at his feet, and nodded in agreement. “ It is just as I said father. I was in the ruins searching for the Iron treasure of Evanhold, when I was beset by a horde of gigantic scorpions half again the size of a horse. They are truly terrible beasts, I was wounded and about to succumb to their attack at any instant, when the bearer took his life into his hands, and leapt fearlessly between them and myself. He saved my life father, it is I who owe him the honor debt, not yourself.” The King frowned. “The debt falls upon the crown the same had he saved any Dwarf, and I shall repay the debt in full. Tonight we shall hold a ball, and he will be given his reward for saving the prince.” Jake groaned inwardly at the thought of a ball, then he had a thought, he had better make the most of his time with the King. “Your Highness.” Jake said. “I have a offer to make you.”

The king turned to look at Jake. “ What kind of offer?” Jake thought how to word this. “I understand that your people are master stone craftsmen is that correct?” The king simply nodded. “I have laid claim to the fortress known as Evanhold, and I find myself in need of repairs. How would you feel about me hiring your people to complete those repairs?” The king thought for a moment. I seem to remember something about the bearer being able to lay claim to a home of his choosing, and since Evanhold had been abandoned for centuries, I find no issue with this claim myself. The Human King may take issue with it, but I do not. How much work do you require, and how would you pay it? The bearer is entitled to many things, but free labor is not one of those things. Jake nodded, and figured he had better put something in this deal for the King, government always wanted their cut he thought sourly. “Understood, no, I mean to pay a fair wage to anyone who works for me. I understand steel is highly valued by your people, how about I pay them in steel? I will provide all tools, and materials for the work, as well as food, and I will pay each Dwarf ten pounds of steel per day for their work. When the work is done, they will receive a bonus of their body weight in steel tools of their choosing. I will also pay the crown 1 pound of steel per person per day of work as a bonus for the agreement. How does that sound?

The King looked stunned. “That would be many thousands of pounds of steel for even a months work, how could you possibly pay that? It is a immense fortune, no Kingdom could pay even a fraction of that ! You tread on dangerous ground, bearer or not” The king was red in the face, obviously very angry. Jake bent down beside his chair and picked up a small pack he had brought with him, and he handed it to the advisor Ebger, who took it, and almost dropped it, surprised at the weight of it. “I hope this proves I at least have access to steel.” He opened the pack and whistled, then reached in and removed a steel block and held it out to the king. “Sire, this bag hold at least forty weight of steel blocks in it ! The king took the block and examined it. “ This is marked with the ancient mark of Evangard the sorcerer, I take it you found the treasure then?” The King passed the block back to Ebger, who placed it back in the pack with , and handed it back to Jake. Jake nodded. “I have, the sword was with the treasure, and I will hand over all of the steel that’s in the treasure to the crown, to help sweeten this deal. I promise you though, I can easily provide the steel for this deal. In addition, once we agree to the terms of this deal, I will work another deal that the crown might find attractive. ‘What sort of deal?” The king asked.

Jake smiled. How does a permanent trade deal sound? One where you trade me gold, for steel pound for pound.” The kings mouth popped open in surprise. “That’s insane, no rational person would agree to such a thing, plus you cannot possibly uphold your side of it. You are testing my patience bearer.” Jake nodded. “I understand that you find it hard to accept that I can supply the steel to you. How about this, when the work crew arrives at my camp, I will have a ton of steel ready to be brought back to you. Two thousand pounds of steel, in any form you specify. Steel blocks, bars, sheet steel, steel nails, steel tools, or even spear heads, or knives. If that two thousand pounds is not there, then the deal is off. Thoran interrupted the conversion. “He has the steel father. I personally saw it, five hundred blocks of steel all exactly like the one you hold in your hand.” The King was silent for a moment. “ Bearer, please excuse me for a moment. Jake smiled. “Of course your majesty.” The King walked into the next room with Ebger following close behind him and closed the door. Jake didn’t have to wait long, not thirty seconds later the King returned, with a smile on his face.

“We have a deal.” The king said. We will send five hundred workers to Evanshold in a week. Upon their arrival you will produce the rest of the steel from the treasure, for immediate return to the royal treasury. Each worker will be paid ten pounds of steel per day, with one pound per worker per day paid to the treasury. Upon completion of the work, each worker will receive their weight in steel items of their choosing. Two weeks after the work is completed, the first shipment of gold will be delivered in trade for steel, on a equal pound for pound trade. Are we agreed? Jake thought for a moment. Have them arrive in three weeks, that gives me a week to get back, and then two weeks to arrange for building materials, and steel. How does that sound?” The King smiled. “ The deal is struck then ! I will have Ebger write up the appropriate royal trade agreement, as well as the agreement for the work to be done, and the compensation for it. What work will you need done?” Jake thought for a moment. “Well, basically return the fortress back to a operational status. Replace all the buildings roofs, install new doors and windows, clean out the rubble from the interiors, repair damaged stone work on buildings and defensive walls, and possibly repair wood work, and perhaps make some new furniture when needed. There is much more work to do beyond that, but that is the basic work needed, and what I will need your people to do.

The King nodded in agreement. “That is all acceptable work, and my craftsmen can easily do it, I have one more condition though.” “Sure.” Jake said. “Lets hear it.” The Kings face turned serious. “There will be no other humans at the fortress, or in the vicinity of it, while the work is being completed. I will not risk any of my people to becoming slaves for humans, or endanger the location of our valley to humans. Do you understand? If another human is spotted, all deals are canceled.” Jake nodded in agreement. “ I accept your condition. I will not invite any humans, and if any are seen, they will not there at my bequest. I promised Thoran that I would never reveal the valleys secrets, nor speak of it to anyone. I think you probably already know that when a bearer makes a promise, its kept. Has a bearer ever broken a promise?” Ebger spoke instead. “ No bearer has ever broken a promise in the history of the sword, it is impossible for them to, they will uphold a promise, or die trying.” Jake nodded. “ I give my solemn promise to adhere to the deal as agreed, to pay the amounts agreed, for the work agreed, and no not have any humans beside myself on site for the duration of the work, you have my word.” He shuddered as the icy feeling coursed through his body, and the words “ I promise” echoed over and over in his mind, he felt the words down into his soul, and again knew he would honor this agreement to the letter, or die trying.

The King watched Jakes body twitch as he gave his promise, and was satisfied he was the true sword bearer. He had read a lot of history of the subject, and what he had just witnessed had been mentioned many times throughout history. A sword bearers promise was absolute. The King smiled. “It is settled then ! Now, let us prepare for the celebration tonight, where you will be presented with your honor reward. Thoran will escort you to your quarters where you may prepare. The celebration will happen tonight, and you will be on your way back to Evanshold by morning. Ebger, I expect all guards, as well as all subjects to be notified of the return of the Sword of Justice, as well as the fact the bearer is a human. They will be told the bearer is to be treated as visiting royalty, and any slight on his person will be treated as if it were don’t to the king himself. Understood?” Ebger bowed. “It will be as you say my king, I will draft the official notice myself, which will be copied and posted to every town hall, every tavern, and every notice board in the kingdom.” The king turned and left the room, with his adviser following close behind. Thoran whistled. “ I thought he was going to execute you for refusing to kneel, you have no idea how lucky you are to be sword bearer, that is the only reason your still breathing right now.” Jake smiled. “I would not kneel even were I not sword bearer. I told you I am a American, we do not kneel for Kings, we believe all men were created equal.”

Thoran turned white at that. “ Jake, I again caution you to watch your words while you are here. Many would take what you just said as blasphemy, and bearer or not, possibly try to kill you for those words. Tread carefully my friend.” Jake nodded. “I will watch my words.” Thoran looked relieved. “ Good, now let us go to your quarters, we have a party to prepare for.” Jake picked up his bags and followed Thoran through the castle deep in thought. He would watch what he said, but he was pretty sure there was a lot of change coming to this land soon. There was no way he would tolerate this treatment of people by the unlimited power of a monarch even if he had never found the sword, he was a American, and his people had fought wars to rid themselves of kings. Having found the sword though, gave him a lot of power, and a lot of influence with the people he was pretty sure by what Thoran had said, and he planned to use that influence in the future to change a few things. Thoran led him into a room, and Jake completely lost his train of thought. In the center of the room was a stone tub the size of a large hot tub, and it was filled with steaming water. That was not what took his breath away though, it was the four scantily clad beautiful woman dressed in thin white gowns that did that. Thoran stopped.

The bath lasses will bathe you, clothe you and prepare you for the celebration. He winked at Jake. “They will see to your every need, if you get my drift.” Thoran turned and left the room leaving Jake alone with the four beautiful women, he realized their clothing was thin white linen and he could partially see through the sheer material, he felt himself becoming aroused and tried to think of boring things like baseball and math. Two of the women, a blonde and redhead took him by the hands and with big smiles led him towards the steaming tub, another approached with a plate filled with sliced fruit, while another held a jug of wine and a glass. He didn’t need help taking a bath, but he was struggling to put words together, much less talk just now, as his eyes went from woman to woman, they were all so beautiful. He realized many hands were gently pulling at his clothing, and before he knew it his shirt was gone, and his pants were in danger of following them. He blushed, and held onto his pants. Soft hands slid across his chest and bare back, he felt soft breasts pressing against his back, and soft hands gently caressing his arm and neck seductively.

A Brunette woman with warm brown eyes, and large breasts whispered into his ear in a way that gave him goosebumps, I am Asmund, she gestured to the others, who to Jake’s delight all curtsied as they were introduced. The brunette with the big blue eyes is Jiselle, the redhead is Meranda, and the blonde is Selena. Jake smiled. “Pleased to meet you ladies.” Which brought giggles from them all. Asmund pressed a tall glass of sweet smelling wine into his hand. Jake felt himself blushing even harder and realized he needed to say something. “Um, I really appreciate the attention ladies but I really don’t need help bathing, I am more than capable of doing it myself.” Asmund pressed her soft heavy breasts against his back harder, and breathed into his ear. “But how will mlord scrub his back property? Jiselle is the royal back scrubber, do you not like her? Asmund gestured to a beautiful brunette with deep blue eyes who looked sad, and looked at him shyly with her lower lip trembling in a way that melted his heart. She was amazing, no way he wanted her to think he was rejecting her.“ No, No Jiselle is beautiful, I”m sure shes a very good back scrubber.” His comment made the girl light up, and break out into a big smile, and focus big blue eyes on his, her red lips slightly puckered. “I will wash your back, you must be clean for the celebration tonight !”

Jake’s heart melted at her voice, it had such a sexy tone to it, and her accent made his toes curl. She slipped behind him, reached around his waist from behind and expertly unbuckled his sword belt, handing it to the redhead Meranda who kissed the swords grip tenderly and placed it almost reverently onto a nearby bench. He felt only good intent from the women, with no intent to harm him at all, only warm feelings, which aroused him even more. The women all gasp in surprise at his arousal and gentle hands caressed his hardness through his pants, bringing a soft moan from him. The next thing he knew a glass of wine was pressed against his lips, and his pants had slipped to his ankles. There was a beautiful sexy woman on every side of him, all smiling, and whispering pleasent, sweet seductive things in his ears. He still wanted to tell them to stop, but he was losing his willpower. The beautiful redhead put her hands on each side of his face, pulled him gently in and kissed him softly on the mouth with berry scented lips, her warm tongue slipping teasingly into his mouth, Asmund’s warm mouth sucked gently on his shoulder, Selena’s mouth kissed his chest with soft warm wet kisses pausing to suck on his nipple, then suddenly another soft warm mouth engulfed his engorged manhood, he glanced down and found himself looking into the big blue eyes of Jiselle looking back up at him as she pleasured him, she winked at him and lowered her eyes as she concentrated on pleasing him, apparently scrubbing backs was not all that girl excelled at he thought happily.

Jiselle’s expert touch erased all remaining resistance from him, and he was totally theirs, and he let them have him, not resisting anymore. They fed him fruit, gave him wine, kissed and caressed every inch of his body. The feeling of four women all touching him at once with their hands, mouths, naked breasts and bodies was the most incredible thing he had ever experienced, and he lost himself to them. They led him into the hot water which felt great against his muscles that were sore from riding a horse for a week. The women worked his muscles in the hot water with strong hands, afterwards gently scrubbing him with nice smelling soap, they washed every inch of his body, and in the process brought him to orgasm time after time in several different ways. It was the most intense, most erotic, most relaxing thing he had ever experienced in his life, he felt like he was going to melt away, and soon he found himself being shaken awake, he opened his eyes to see Jiselle smiling at him, and realized he was sleeping naked in a pile with all four women.

“Mlord cant sleep anymore, he must get ready for the celebration.” She said with a smile. Jake yawned sleepily. Oh god, You girls really worked me over, I”m so relaxed I feel like I could melt. Do I have to get up? Jiselle pressed a warm cup into his hands. “Drink this, it will revive you.” jake sipped it, and found it was delicious, with a sweet taste sort of like chocolate. He swallowed several gulps, and rested his head against a large soft breast intending to go back to sleep. He felt his heart start racing, and a surge of energy flowed through him, like he had just drank a pot of coffee, and had a injection of adrenaline. He sit straight up and blinked in surprise. Does mlord approve of the elixir? It is very strong, and works quickly to revive a weary soul. Jake blinked, feeling like he could wrestle a bear, and also finding himself aroused again, which the women didn’t miss. He glanced at them. “ Do we have time for a little more back scrubbing?” They nodded and pulled him into them squealing in delight.

A while later, Jake stood in front of a mirror dressed in new clothes. Apparently the girls had taken his measurements sometime while they were together, and passed them onto the royal tailor, who made him new clothes while he slept. He had to admit they looked great on him, they damn sure had a old school look though, and reminded him something you might see in a fairy tale. He was wearing dark green pants, that were tucked into knee high soft black leather boots, his shirt was made from some soft white material like silk, and he had a brown leather jacket that went with it. He thought it looked a little silly, but the women assured him it was traditional Sword bearer Garb. When he didn’t believe them, they showed him a painting which was supposed to be of the last sword bearer. Sure enough, the man in the painting was wearing the same outfit. They explained the people would expect the bearer to dress like this, and it would make him easy to identify, sort of like a official uniform he supposed. He had to admit it was a snappy outfit. The ladies helped him dress, and the last item was to buckle his sword belt onto him. He had to admit they were a hell of a welcome wagon, they had bathed him, washed him, scrubbed him, fucked him, sucked him, massaged him, and even trimmed his hair and beard, and dressed him. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door, and Thoran entered. “You clean up well Jake, very traditional.” He commented.

Jake took in Thorans outfit, it reminded him of a old school military outfit. There were lots of medals on his coat and he had a long thin saber hanging from his belt. You look pretty as well.” Jake teased, which brought giggles from the women, and a frown from Thoran. “Come We are expected in the ballroom.” Jake nodded. “Sure, just let me say my goodbyes to my girlfriends first.” Which brought slight gasps from the women, as well as giggles. Ladies please line up. They lined up side by side. Jiselle, Asmund, Selene, and Miranda, all dressed in their sheer white gowns. He stepped to each one, whispered something in their ear, and kissed each one tenderly, first Miranda, then Selene, then Asmund, and finally the beautiful Jiselle. Jake picked up one of his bags he had left by the door, and addressed them all. “Ladies, I cannot express how much I loved my bath, I can honestly say that this experience was the most intense, most sensual experience I have ever had in my life. I never dreamed I would ever be with four such beautiful women women in my life, much less at once !” The women all giggled, and smiled happily at his words. “To help show just how much this meant to me, I have a gift for each of you, please hold out your hands.” They did, and to their astonishment he then placed a block of steel into each surprised womans hand.” Several of the women started shaking their heads dide to side and tried to hand the gifts back, and started weeping, they huddled together holding each other for support. “Um, did I say something wrong?” Jake asked.

Thoran stepped closer to Jake with a frown on his face. “You just gave each of those bath whores something more valuable than they will likely ever see in their lives. Why would you do such a thing? They are slaves, they cannot own possessions, you must take the steel back, or it will be seized.” Thoran looked honestly confused at what he did. Jake noticed the ladies had heard Thoran call them bath whores, and several looked like it broke their heart. Jake pulled Thoran aside, and whispered angrily to him. “First, these are women, and they have feelings. You will not call them “Bath whores” again, or I will beat your ass, prince or not. Second, what do you mean they are slaves? I thought you were all free Dwarve’s here. Aye, we are all free Dwarves. We also have taxes though, and when people fail to pay their taxes, anything they own may be seized in recompense, if nothing of value is owned, then they must do hard labor for the King, until their debt is paid. These girls families happened to owe great debts, and also happened to have beautiful daughters, which were freely given to repay their debt, which was paid in full.”

Jake started to grow even more mad, how could they have such anger at humans for holding dwarf slaves, when they themselves held dwarf slaves? It pissed him off to no end. He allowed the women to bathe him, and he had allowed them to pleasure him, because he foolishly thought they liked him, and wanted to please him, he didn’t realize they were slaves, and had little choice in the matter. What he had done was little better than rape, and it made him sick, he felt ashamed by the entire experience earlier.” ‘Prince Theron, you and the bearers presence is requested in the ballroom.” They looked up and noticed Ebger standing in the doorway dressed in the same purple robes. “ Ebger apparently noticed their expressions. “Is something the matter? Can I be of assistance? Jake nodded, and motioned the man over to their private conversation. “Ebger Right?” Jake asked the man. Ebger nodded. “Yes, correct, Kings advisor, what is the problem Sword bearer, and how may I help?” Jake nodded towards the four women who were all standing by the door, looking very uncomfortable at the moment. “The bath women.” Jake said. “ Jiselle, Asmund, Selene, and Miranda. Thoran told me their families sold them into life long service to repay a debt, is that correct?” Ebger nodded. “Yes, that is correct, it is a common practice in this society, for people who own great debts to the crown, and occasionally in other similar situations.” If their families had the money, could they pay the debt, and have their daughters returned to them?” Ebger nodded, “ Yes, that would be no issue.”

Thoran butted in. “Jake, you do not understand, it is common practice in our society to marry daughters away for a profitable marriage, to use them to repay a debt, or to even outright sell them if the offer is high enough. Even if you pay their debt,  and return them to their families, they would just be sold again. Having a son is a blessing, as he can work hard, and carry on the family line, daughters are a burdon, their best hope is to be given to a kind man, who will treat them right, these women are better off here as bath whor…” Thoran hesitated at Jakes expression. “Appologies, I meant to say, they are better off to stay here, safe in the Kings household as servants, than to be sent back home, and to be resold by their families.”

Jake stared at Thoran, he could not believe the man had said those words, or believe a society treated its women this way, the entire thing broke his heart, and it was especially bad to know he had a hand in it. Ebger, how much steel would it take to repay the owed debts of all four women?” Ebger thought, er, well, it depends on the exact amount, I cant really say off hand how mu.” Jake interrupted the man, by stuffing the entire bag of steel blocks into his hands. “Will this cover it?” Ebger nodded, easily bearer, this is a fortune, you could buy a hundred women like them with it.” That was not something Jake wanted to hear. “ I am not buying these women !” Jake shouted angrily. “I am buying their freedom ! I want you to take this steel, and settle their debts, I want whats left to be divided equally among them and for them to be sent safely  ever they want to go. I want you to ensure personally, that they get to their chosen destinations safely.  You will tell whoever is in charge when they get there, that the bearer demands they be allowed to stay as long as they want, and never be sold again, or they will face my wrath ! Can you do that?

Ebger nodded. It shall be as you request bearer, I will make the arrangements immediately. They will be packed up, and on their way to their chosen destinations before you are in bed tonight, but you must go to the ball room at once! The King cannot be kept waiting !”  “I need to have your word Ebgar.” Jake told him point blank. “You have my word bearer, it shall be as you ask.” Jake nodded. “I will hold you to that, I promise you.” He could see by the look on the mans face he knew he meant business. He had one more promise to make this night, and he walked over to the crying women, who must have been terrified to be crying like they were, he felt ashamed again for yelling like he had been. He looked at each women touching each one gently on their cheek and spoke their name one by one.

“Jiselle, Asmund, Selene, Miranda you are all safe, please stop crying. Please, listen to me, I have something to say to you all.” The women stopped crying mostly, dabbing at their wet eyes with tissues, and looked up at him, to hear what he had to say. “Dear ladies, I feel great shame for what happened earlier. I foolishly thought that you bathed me, and pleasured me earlier because you liked me and wanted to, I never dreamed at the time that you were slaves, and unable to say no. My heart breaks for you, for what you have had to endure here, and for your families selling you into slavery, I cannot imagine how that must feel. If I should ever have a daughter, she would be as dear to me as life, I would sell my own body parts before I could sell her for any reason, and when she were married , it would be to for love. Married to someone she chose herself, because she loved them deeply, and they loved her in return, not to a stranger for profit.”

He looked tenderly into each womans eyes as he spoke, and they all started weeping again. “Even though what happened earlier was unintentional on my part, that is no excuse for my behavior, I should have known. I am deeply ashamed for taking advantage of you earlier like I did and for wronging each of you. In recompense, I have purchased your freedom, you heard my words earlier, you are free now, free to go where ever you desire, and safe from being sold again. The extra money will be divided among you, it is not much, but it is all I have with me. If you should need more money, or anything else, send word to me, and you shall have it immediately.” The women were all shaking their heads side to side, and crying, Jiselle said .”We do like you, we did bathe you of our own desire, we could have said no, we cannot leave here, we have no better place to go, being here is better than home.” She cried. Asmund, Selene, and Miranda all nodded in agreement at what she had said.

Jake didn’t want to hear it, he didn’t trust his judgement with the women. It was dangerous ground for him, where would his good judgement intermingle for his desire for a beautiful woman, or to resolve himself for his blame in this matter? No, there was to be no more discussion about this. The safest path for him was to free these women, then they could seek out their own lives as free women, women who were not forced to have sex with random lecherous men such as him. He felt sick to his stomach. Jiselle was watching him closely, and the struggle he was having inside did not go unnoticed by her. It was apparent to them all, that the thought he had taken advantage of them all, hurt him greatly, and he was feeling great guilt and remorse over it, as a result he was freeing them, but he simply didn’t understand their situation ! The entire thing made her heart hurt for him. He was obviously a good man, and was trying to do the right thing, he was a better man than any they had ever seen before, that was for sure. Good man or not, the impulsive decisions he was making right now, would make their lives far worse. Outside of these walls, free or not, when people found out they had served as wash lasses, they would be treated with scorn, and derision, and they would never find husbands because of it.

They would have bleak futures because of it, and never recover should they be freed from their service to the crown. Jiselle suddenly had a idea that would fix everything if she did it just right, they would deal with the consequences later. “Bearer?” she said. “May I speak with my friends for a moment, to explain what your offering us?” Jake nodded and smiled. “Yes, but make it quick before the king comes looking for us.” She nodded, and pulled the other women into the corner of the room. Jake could hear Jiselle speaking quickly, when she was done the other women caused a ruckus, arguing with Jiselle. They were obviously unhappy with what she had said to them. Jiselle spoke again, talking energetically, and the other women stopped talking, and looked serious, and even sad for a moment. Then she said a few more things, and pointed at Jake. All of the women looked at him for a moment, and then they all smiled,and even looked happy. Good, he thought. Obviously she finally got them to all understand that he was setting them free, and they were better off free, than slaves, no matter anything else.

The four women walked back over as a group, and Jiselle spoke to Jake. “Bearer, I have spoken with the women, and while they are fearful of what change may bring, they will agree to honor your request to seek freedom from this place under one condition. You must make us a promise.” Jake eye brows rose in surprise, but he was committed. “What kind of promise? I will if its reasonable, and something thats within my power.” Jiselle smiled. “It is nothing really, just something to ease our fears. We want you to promise us that once we are free women, That you will you will promise to respect our wishes as to where we will choose to live, and who we will choose to serve, even if you do not approve. Jake hesitated. I don’t know if I can do that Jiselle, what if you decided to remain here, I don’t think I could stand the thought of that.” Jiselle nodded. “Do you not believe in free will, and people being able to choose their own path in life, and make, and learn from their mistakes?”

She had him there. Jake looked unhappy, but then nodded. “I truly believe that is the most important thing in life, to be free to set your own course in life, to follow your dreams.” Jiselle smiled at him. “That is all we are asking, would you deny that to us?” Jake shook his head. “Then speak the words and it will be done.” She said.  then stood up as straight as possible. This was the least he owed them, to allow them to set their own path as free women. “I Jake Reynolds, Bearer of the Sword of Justice, Promise that I will respect, and honor the decisions made by Jiselle, Miranda, Selene and Asmund as to where they choose to live, and who they choose to serve, even if I do not approve, you all have my word.

Jake felt the icy stab a promise summoned, it shot through his body, and his body shudder under the pain of it, and his words echoes through his mind as loud as thunder. The women all kissed him, and thanked him for the promise, it obviously meant a great deal to them. They were crying happy tears and laughing and hugging each other. He instantly felt better at the sight of them being happy, knowing he was bringing a better life to them, it was the least he could do for them, after what he did. He could never forgive himself for what he had done to them. Thoran grabbed Jake and drug him out of the room to the celebration they could not keep the king waiting a second more. The last thing Jake saw as he turned the corner were happy crying women all talking excitedly about their future plans. He felt good at what he had done.

There was noise from a large crowd, and they all suddenly stopped talking, indicating things must be about to get started. A man with a loud clear voice called out. “People of Dwarf Haven, I now announce the arrival of our beloved ruler, High King Alanor Stonecutter, the one true ruler of all free Dwarves !” The crowd cheered loudly. Thoran held Jake just inside the doorway, and there in front of them was the King just now sitting down on his throne. The announcer continued. “I now introduce the High Prince Thoran Stonecutter, first born son of our beloved King, and the bearer of the Sword of Justice !”  Thoran motioned Jake to follow him, and they both walked slowly out among the cheers of the people to where two other fancy chairs were located below where the King sat. Thoran indicated Jake should take one, while he sat in the other. Jake sat down and realized the room they were in was packed with people, all standing shoulder to shoulder, and all were wearing their nicest clothing. People were looking to where he sat, and they were all whispering among themselves. The King raised his hands and everyone became quiet. The King talked for quite a while, apparently he was quite the talked, and loved to hear himself talk. Finally came the announcement he had been waiting for.

“ And I as your High king have brought a wonderful opportunity to our people ! I have made a agreement with the new sword bearer to supply a work force of five hundred men to effect repairs on his new home in the fortress of Evanshold, as well as fifty guards to provide security. This work will take many months to complete, and be a great boon for our kingdom, and its people financially” The crowd cheered and fell silent again. The king continued. “These five hundred workmen, and their protectors shall be paid handsomely for their work, they will each be paid five pounds of steel a day!” The crowd erupted in wild cheers at this, talking excitedly to each other, obviously excited at what was a great deal of money for those five hundred workers. Then the King continued. “ The bearer offered a magnificent bonus to each worker upon completion of the work. I assure you what I am about to say is correct, and I have verified it, and have the bearers word on the agreement. Everyone here knows the bearers word is absolute.” The crowd all nodded knowingly. The King began again. “The bearer has promised each worker a bonus upon completion of their work, the incredible sum of, one hundred weight in steel, either tools or ingots, and provide the same for the protectors, as well as a new steel sword and spear for each!”

The crowd just stood silently staring at them, some whispering to each other confused, wondering if they heard correctly. The King again spoke. “ You heard correctly, a bonus of one hundred weight in steel. Obviously the pay being as great as it is, we will need to rotate those five hundred men out each week, to spread the wealth as great as possible, many people have debts that need to be paid and this is the perfect opportunity for it the best workers will receive their weight in gold when the last repair is made.” The crowd this time went wild and it took several minutes for them to calm back down. The announcements were sure a big hit Jake thought. He wondered how much steel this was going to amount to, it would not be cheap, that was for sure, and he wondered where in the hell he would source all those swords and spears. However for the amount of work that would be done, and being able to use Dwarf labor, vs human labor from earth it was a deal. Hiring people and bringing them from earth, and trying to keep word from getting out would be a nightmare for him. This would be better in many ways, at least to get the basic repairs made, later on he would have to get people from home to do the technical aspects, such as installing toilets, electricity, and electric lights, and such.

The King spoke again. “ I owe the bearer a honor reward for saving my sons life, as many of you know. I am prepared to give him the Royal gift now. Bearer, if you will stand.” Jake stood and faced the King. “Bearer.” The king continued. I Alanor Stonecutter, rightful High King of Dwarf Haven bestow upon you the gift of a favor.” “It did not sound like much to Jake, but the way everyone gasp in surprise, it must be something of a big deal. Huh. “ This favor may be called in by the bearer at anytime and for any reason, if it possibly for the crown to satisfy the request, it shall be granted.” The crowd cheered wildly, and Jake was surprised to see Thoran looking slightly stunned at the announcement. The King raised his voice. “ Now, let us drink, feast, and be merry !” The crowd started cheering and milling around, slowly moving out side doors into what Jake would discover was a outdoor garden, with tables piled high with food and drink. The sound of music filtered the now open doors.

Jake leaned over and asked Thoran why he looked so shocked. He just stared at Jake for a moment. Do you not realize what kind of gift my father just gave you? Jake nodded. “Yeah, a favor, what about it?” Thoran shook his head. “I don’t think you realize what he gave you, the favor you mention, could almost be anything.” Jake shrugged. “like what? Loan me money, or wash my back? Thoran blanched at the suggestion. “Yes, for a start, or he would pardon someone for a serious crime if you asked, or have someone executed if you merely asked, or seize lands from someone you disliked, even send the army against your enemies. Jake whistled. “Holy shit, thats huge!” Thoran nodden. “ Holy shite indeed, thats very fitting actually. I suggest you think carefully about that favor, so you wont waste it on something as trivial as the king washing your back.” Jake snorted in amusement, and Thoran burst out laughing at the mere idea. Come Jake, let us go drink and be merry!” Jake could think of nothing better.

Several hours later Jake was a little drunk, and feeling pretty good. He was exhausted from shaking hands and meeting people, he would never remember anyone he had met tonight, his mind was awash in all the names he had heard and faces he had seen. He took a deep drink of his beer, and turned his head taking in the crowd, as he turned his head back he was startled to see Brynella sitting in the seat next to him, wearing a shimmering silver gown, and a big smile. She snorted in amusement the way he jumped in surprise. “Surprise” She grinned. Jake frowned at her. I thought you said you would stay away until I called you. I didn’t remember calling you. Brynella grinned at him, looking slightly drunk herself. “Oh don’t be such a grumpy puss, Jake, I also said I would always be near, and that I was sworn to protect you and the sword and I have been. Jake sighed. “Where were you when those wolves were following us, and when the Kings guards accosted me?”

Brynella burst out laughing. “Wolves? Kings Guards? They were never any threat to you, now the Liche that almost got you while you were sleeping, yes, that was a threat for sure.” Jake stared at her. “What liche, I never saw a Liche, what the hell is a Liche ?” Brynella smiled sweetly. “ A Liche is a undead necromancer, they can control the dead. One night you camped a little too close to a old graveyard hidden in the forest, and the creature sensed you. It came for you while you slept. I stopped it.” She said matter of factly. Jake tried to wrap his head around the conversation. ‘Wait, a zombie tried to kill me? “Whats a zombie?” Brynella asked. “A dead person come back to life.” Jake replied. Brynella nodded. “There are many names for the undead, I had not heard of that one before. No, your average person is just undead. It goes like this. You have undead, who are dangerous. Then you have a living sorcerer who can raise the dead and control them they are called a necromancer. They are nasty to deal with in general.

Should a necromancer become powerful enough, they can live on after death, and become undead themseves. That is called a Liche, they are much more powerful than when they were living, and are quite evil. The stuff nightmares are made of for sure. She talked matter of fact, like she was talking about the weather. Jake was amused, and scared at once, seeing a sexy beautiful petite woman discussing undead monsters. “If its so damn powerful, then how did a little Elf girl kill like yourself manage to kill it? Brynella smiled. “Why with a lot of skill, a bit of luck, and my magic sword of course, did you think you had the only one? You can relax, I am here for the party, not for you, I never miss a party, and the Dwarve’s throw some good ones. I doubt you can get into much trouble here among the Dwarve’s. They are sticklers for tradition, and bearers are treated as visiting royalty. Unless you go making some stupid assed promises or something.” Jake grunted. “I might have made a few promises, but they were not stupid. One was even noble I might add.” Brynella looked doubtful, maybe you should fill me in. Jake for some reason did just that, he was feeling more comfortable around the beautiful Elf woman for some reason, she was really the only person her had met so far who had a clue what he was going through, and he realized he might actually need her knowledge.

First he explained the deals, and promises with the king to rebuild his fortress. “ It seems simple enough she agreed, I don’t see a issue with that one. What about your noble promise, whats  that about? She asked. Jake started telling her the story from the beginning, wanting for some reason for her to understand his motivations, and not think badly of him for some reason. He got to the part where about the four bath lasses.” Brynella laughed. “All four of them at once, you say! My, my, you must have more vigor in you than I thought. Do tell details, I want to hear all about it, leave nothing out! How did you satisfy all four, that is a lot of holes, and only one peg to fill them!”She snorted. “No Brynella!” Jake argued. “Its not like that at all ! I’m ashamed of what I did, I didn’t know they were slaves, they could not say no, it was the same as rape, I didn’t find out they were slaves until after.” Brynella had lived a long time, and she could see the pain Jake felt at the thought of taking advantage of another, he had such a tender soul. She interrupted him. “No Jake, stop talking. You did not rape those women, I have spent time here before, I have taken a few baths with bath lasses myself on occasion.” She grinned.

“The bath lasses are committed to service to the crown to repay a debt owed, but they are not slaves as you think. They could have refused to lie with you had they chosen to, they cannot be forced to lie with any man, it is forbidden. They lay with you dear boy, because you’re a attractive hunk of man meat, and your carrying the Sword of Justice, you’re a living legend to them. I promise you it was consensual.” “Oh.” Jake blushed, I might need to appologize to a few people then.” “Why,What did you do?” She asked. I might have threatened to beat the princes ass for calling them bath whores.” Brynella burst out laughing. Jake kept talking. “ I also might have spent 40 pounds of steel to buy their freedom.” Brynella smiled, “Wow, that was generous of you Jake, there is more to you than I originally thought. You have not said what you promised though.” Jake shrugged. “It was really nothing, they asked me to promise something, to reassure them going forward as free women.” Byrnella sighed.” Go on, what did you promise, exactly? Tell me word for word, I promise you, the specific words are important.” “I promised that I would respect, and honor the decisions made by them as to where they choose to live, and who they choose to serve, as free women, even if I do not approve.”

Brynella burst out laughing, sucking in great gulps of air, and making wheezing sounds like a donkey. He started laughing at the her, finding a donkey laughing petite sexy Elf woman hilarious for some reason. Finally she stopped laughing, and looked at him seriously. “What?” Jake asked. “All I did was to promise to support them in their decisions. I’m sure they are on their way back to their families as we speak.” Brynella smiled at him, as if he were a child. “Jake dear, you have so much to learn. Did you by chance notice how the King stayed close to his adviser, and allowed him to speak for him sometimes, and likely left the room before committing to your deal?” Jake nodded. “ He did exactly that.” Brynella nodded, that’s one of the services I do for you, I am your adviser, if I had been here earlier, I could have prevented you from getting yourself into this situation, with your half assed, ill considered promise to those women,”

Jake grew angry. “Look Brynella, you seem like your trying to help me, but my promise was not half assed, or ill considered. I did a good thing!” Byrnella simply smiled at him. “So, your intent was to save those four women from having to have sex with strange men, so instead you changed it so they would only have sex with you? To have those four women serving you for the rest of your life? I get it, Dwarf women age slowly compared to a human, and when your old and feeble, they will still look like they are twenty years old, firm and bouncy. Its not a bad plan, Although you likely wont live to reach old age if the sword has its way.” Jake blew up. “What do you mean have them serve me ? I did no such thing.” He was furious at the very thought he had selfish intentions. “ I bought their freedom, and released them from servitude, they are free from being bath lasses, they can have their own lives now, do anything they want, they are right this minute on their way back to their families.” He was so angry with her, damn the woman was so infuriating, he wanted to choke her. The next thing she said though, sucked all the anger right out of him, and spun him for a loop.

Brynella smiled sweetly. If that was your intent, it failed miserably, bearer. Unless I am mistaken, and I very much doubt it. Those four women are laying in your bed right this minute awaiting your return, and the place they plan on living, is with you, and the person they plan on serving, is you as well, and you cannot tell them no, because of your half assed, iron clad promise.” We are supposed to be a team. Its my job to advise you, and protect you, but you need to allow me in, listen to my advice, and trust me. Perhaps when you see that I am right about this being a half assed, ill conceived promise, you will reconsider how you have been treating me. Jake, Your promise locked those women into your life permanently, for as long as they want to be in it. You might as well have married all four of them.” Jake opened his mouth to protest, but he suddenly realized she could be right.”

Before I get started, I need to know.
How many tits do the alien women have?

Cool update. Keep it coming. Thanks I enjoyed the reading.

Jake just got hoodwinked by the ladies... and four wives whether he likes it or not.

ETA: NAILED IT!

I updated the last post. the story got a rewrite, and I added some more to it. I will leave a big gap so the new stuff is easy to find so you wont have to reread it all.

4 wives that age at 1/10th of him

That poor bastard

That honor reward thing can be a bitch.

For example.  The king could have given jake a crosseEyed mule, or his super ugly crosseyed daughters hand in marriage. This land takes honor rewards deadly serious. For example, Jake comes to town without riding the crosseyed mule, or tries to get rid of his new ugly crosseyed wife, and the entire community will hold it against him. Like burn his house down mad. A poor farmer gives you a ugly daughter, same thing.  Or poor farmer might offer a month of free meals from his wife who can't cook. To refuse a meal, etc. Huge insult, that the entire community gets mad about.

More updates Buck. I like the story, so keep it coming.

@zoe17

Here is another chunk. I have done more rewrites of previous things, but did push the story forward a bit. I REALLY want to remind you guys that this is honestly pretty rough. I am MOSTLY working on getting the story line worked out right now. Jake goes here, Jake goes there, Jake meets these people, Jake fights a monster. Etc. When I get the story line mostly completed, I plan to go back through, and look at it closely, and figure out what needs tweaking. After that ill work on the content, conversations, etc. I already know my characters get long winded and repeat themselves. I will fix that as well. I need bad guys creeping about, and I need to cut away to other people having separate conversations, vs everything happening around Jake all the time.  I know it needs a lot of work. My goal by posting this, is to get a little feedback on the basic story, and if people think its interesting, and what might be working against me. The sex stuff is a good example. I want to put some of it into the story, but I don't want too much, and I don't want it to be hard core. etc. more fun, and easy.  This is turning out to be much more challenging than just jotting down a random story. I was hoping to publish it by my birthday in July, but im now seeing that timeline was being way to optimistic. I have read crap off amazon that is way worse than what I have posted here to be sure, but my intent is to do my best, and hopefully make some money at it. Anyway. here you go. First book is up to 54,000 words now, and I still have another 50,000 from the second story. Probably going to start merging the two soon. Jake is always going to have women problems by the way. He attracts them everywhere he goes.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Several hours later Jake was a little drunk, and feeling pretty good. He was exhausted from shaking hands and meeting people, he would never remember anyone he had met tonight, his mind was awash in all the names he had heard and faces he had seen. He took a deep drink of his beer, and turned his head taking in the crowd, as he turned his head back he was startled to see Brynella sitting in the seat next to him, wearing a shimmering silver gown, and a big smile. She snorted in amusement the way he jumped in surprise. “Surprise” She grinned. Jake frowned at her. I thought you said you would stay away until I called you. I didn’t remember calling you. Brynella grinned at him, looking slightly drunk herself. “Oh don’t be such a grumpy puss, Jake, I also said I would always be near, and that I was sworn to protect you and the sword and I have been. Jake sighed. “Where were you when those wolves were following us, and when the Kings guards accosted me?” Brynella burst out laughing. “Wolves? Kings Guards? They were never any threat to you, now the Liche that almost got you while you were sleeping, yes, that was a threat for sure.”

Jake stared at her. “What liche, I never saw a Liche, what the hell is a Liche ?” Brynella smiled sweetly. “ A Liche is a undead necromancer, they can control the dead. One night you camped a little too close to a old graveyard hidden in the forest, and the creature sensed you. It came for you while you slept. I stopped it.” She said matter of factly. Jake tried to wrap his head around the conversation. ‘Wait, a zombie tried to kill me? “Whats a zombie?” Brynella asked. “A dead person come back to life.” Jake replied. Brynella nodded. “There are many names for the undead, I had not heard of that one before. No, your average person is just undead. It goes like this. You have undead, who are dangerous. Then you have a living sorcerer who can raise the dead and control them they are called a necromancer. They are nasty to deal with in general.  Should a necromancer become powerful enough, they can live on after death, and become undead themseves.

That is called a Liche, they are much more powerful than when they were living, and are quite evil. The stuff nightmares are made of for sure. She talked matter of fact, like she was talking about the weather. Jake was amused, and scared at once, seeing a sexy beautiful petite woman discussing undead monsters. “If its so damn powerful, then how did a little Elf girl like yourself manage to kill it? Brynella smiled. “Why with a lot of skill, a bit of luck, and my magic sword of course, did you think you had the only one? You can relax, I am here for the party, not for you, I never miss a party, and the Dwarve’s throw some good ones. I doubt you can get into much trouble here among the Dwarve’s. They are sticklers for tradition, and bearers are treated as visiting royalty. Unless you go making some stupid assed promises or something.” Jake grunted. “I might have made a few promises, but they were not stupid assed ones. One was even noble I might add.” Brynella looked doubtful, maybe you should fill me in.

Jake for some reason did just that, he was feeling more comfortable around the Elf woman for some reason, she was really the only person he had met so far who had a clue what he was going through, and he realized he might actually need her knowledge. First he explained the deals, and promises with the king to rebuild his fortress, and their trade agreement. Brynella nodded. “I don’t see any issues with your deal with the King, but it sounds insane to me. Who would trade highly sought after steel for something common and cheap as gold? “Its simple.” Jake said. “Where I am from, Iron is as plentiful and cheap as gold is here, and gold is as valuable where I am from, as iron is here.” Brynella nodded. “Yes, that definately explains that part of it for me. You will be enormously wealthy because of this. But why do you want to rebuild Evanhold? What are you planning to do with it? It seems quite extravagant to have as a home, and even as a base of operation for your trade ventures, it is excessive.” Suddenly her eyebrows raised in surprise. “ You are planning on bringing more of your people here through the portal, and establish Evanhold as your base of operations.”

Jake nodded. “Yes, that is my short term goal.” Brynella chewed her lower lip. “I am almost afraid to ask your long term goals.”  “What is it about my plans that bother you? I made a fair deal. It will greatly benefit the Dwarves, and eventually the humans and Elves as well. When I make contact with them, I plan to offer similar deals.”  Brynella took a deep drink of her drink before answering.  “ In my personal experience.” She began. “And from written history I have read, things tend to go poorly for most races when large numbers of humans get together. The races are mostly seperated by distance currently, inhabiting their own areas, and except for the damn war between humans and Elk kind, things are mostly calm. You apparently plan to drop a large number of humans into the middle of everything, as well as a enormous amount of Iron, most of which will be used to forge weapons. You might not see the downsides of this, but I surely do.” Jake was quiet for a moment as he thought. “I do not plan to instigate hostilities with anyone, quite the opposite in fact. I require the fortress to protect my people from local threats, not as a base to launch hostile acts. The people I bring here, will be closely vetted, and be of good character, they will also be closely watched, and have rules to their conduct.

They will be no danger to you, or anyone friendly towards us. However, we will defend ourselves if attacked.” Brynella shook her head sadly. “You are young even for a human Jake. I do not mean this as a insult, but you do not possess even half the wisdom required to consider all the variables this will put into motion. I am myself young for a Elf, but even so, I have lived for almost a thousand years. I have been educated on a vast amount of history, hell I have been alive for likely much of your own recorded history. I have seen much in my time, and I can see many ways this will go badly. A hundred things that can each go badly in a hundred different ways, you have likely never heard of, much less thought to consider.” Jake nodded. “I respect your wisdom, and your right to feel the way you do.” Jake took a deep drink of his own wine. “ Will you work against my plans then? Try to wreck things, or sabotage them in some way? If you mean to, tell me now and we will part ways as friends. I cannot have anyone close to me working against me, I wont have it. If I allow you in, and you betray me and my trust, then we wont be friends anymore. Do you understand?”

Brynella looked into Jake’s eyes for a long moment before speaking, she seemed to be searching for something inside him. “You respect me for possibly disagreeing with your plans, and possibly working against you? Why would you respect someone who disagrees with you? I do not understand this concept. Most would at a minimum hate anyone who stood in the way of their dreams, and likely murder them over it to get what they desired. Why would you respect someone who spoke against you?” Jake smiled. “ I did not say it would make me happy, I said I would respect you for expressing your opinion. My people have a set of laws we live by, a list of things we believe in, and have believed in for a long time. One of them is the freedom of speech, meaning every man and woman has the right to speak their mind, without fear of repercussion. We have fought wars to keep this right, and I myself fought in a war to protect it as well. I might not like the fact you speak against me, but I respect your right to do it, and would protect your right to do it from anyone who sought to silence you.” Byrnella Smiled. “That is a nobel concept Jake, and I commend you for it, however it is a extremely dangerous one. Most rulers in this land would put you to death for speaking against them, it would undermine their rule over the people.”

Jake shrugged. “ My people do not believe in rulers, and we do not believe in being ruled, and controlled. We vote to elect our leaders, our leaders work to serve the people, not the people serve the ruler.” Brynella blinked in surprise, and glanced around them quickly. “ May the blessed mother protect me, and you as well. Because we will need it all the help we can get, keeping you alive.” She gasped in exasperation. “ Everything that comes out of your mouth, is more treasonous than the thing before it. Are you trying to get yourself killed? If you said these things to the king, he would execute you on the spot, Sword or no sword.” Jake shrugged again. “You do not believe in the things I have said, or support those ideas?” She nodded. “I can see the merits of them, yes. If the world worked that way, I can see how beneficial they would be for the common man. It does not though. A common man supporting those ideas, and speaking them in public, would give the King conniptions, that would be bad enough. A man who bears The Sword of Justice believing in those same ideals, and speaking them aloud, with the power of the sword behind it?

Every ruler in the land would ban together to destroy you. Dwarf, Human, Elf, and Orc, are the major peoples here. They all hate each other, and cannot work together on even the smallest thing, but for this? They would be the best of friends, as they banded together to crush you, and put a end to your beliefs, before you could poison the peoples minds.” Jake grinned. “So, now you see why I need a fortress as my home.” Brynella stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before she chuckled. “ Yes. And I advise you to fill it with armed men until it bristles, they will be needed.” Jake Looked serious again. “ I have thought about what you said earlier, and You were right about me needing a adviser. I know you have a much wisdom to share with me. Wisdom you gathered over your long life time as a Elf. You apparently know a great deal about the Sword of Justice, and how it works, as well. Plus everything you know about this place. Your input as a adviser would be invaluable to me, and I would welcome you as my adviser.

However, I might support your right to speak against me, but I will not allow you into my life if you plan to betray me, and sabotage my plans. Will you work against me Brynella?” She smiled at him. “ No, Jake. I will never work against you, or sabotage your plans. I am sworn to serve you, and to protect you and the sword. Not judge you.” Jake nodded. What if I were to abuse my power as bearer, and do things you do not approve of. Murder, or even Genocide for example, you would still protect me, and serve me then?” I said I do not judge you actions, I did not say the sword did not. The sword works its will through the bearer, that is how it spreads Justice through the land. It changed you when you unsheathed it, you cannot lie for example, nor can you be lied to, if you listen you will detect the truth in what anyone is saying, or the deceit in their words. The sword uses you to spread justice through the world, will not allow you to commit murder. It would not allow you to commit genocide, it would stop you in some way. The most likely way would be to influence you to make decisions that would lead to your death.” Jake blinked in surprise. “

It could do that?” She nodded. It could indeed, and has many times in history. The sword takes the bearers beliefs, judges them, then it takes the things it finds worthy, and spreads them through the land. Each bearer exposes the sword to new ideas. However, when a bearer starts working against what the sword considers Justice, and the betterment of the world, it will decide the bearers time is at a end, and it will work against them, to end their life, only then can it find a new bearer, and start fresh again, learn and evolve. When I say I would not Judge you, I meant it. The Sword Of justice plays the long game. The changes it influences often look minor, or even trivial at first, only to morph into something grander after a year, a decade, a century, or even a millennia. The Elves learned long ago to not work against the Sword, as they simply could not understand its plan. So, no, I would not judge your actions, because I would never know what was inspired by you, or inspired by the sword. If you allowed me to, I would serve you as adviser, and give you the benefit of my experience, and knowledge, and be loyal to you and to the sword. Until death.”

Jake whistled. “ I cannot get over how dedicated you seem to be to a sword, its almost as if you worship it.” “Brynella nodded. “ Honestly, I do worship it to a extent. I do, as well as many people. Little is known about its creation, but what is known, is that one hundred of the most powerful magic users banded together to create it, as a force to fight evil, and give hope to all beings. It is rumored that that group of powerful men actually managed to petition the goddess herself, to add her blessing, and touch to the sword. To give the added power needed to create it, and to remove their imperfect taint from it, to make it a pure force for good.” Jake looked surprised. “ You really believe a god helped make this sword?” Brynella looked deep into his eyes.” You believe they did not? I promise you you know nothing of this sword. You are like a babe taking its first steps, and peek out a window, thinking you have seen the world. I promise you that if your not a believer now, you will be soon.” Jake shrugged. “ Im not sure what I believe about the sword. I do know I want to apologize about how I treated you when we first met. I behaved badly towards you, and I regret it deeply, and I hear by apologize to you for it. You were trying to help me, and I was a ass. Do you accept my apology, and will you become my adviser?” Brynella nodded. “Apology accepted, and yes of course I will serve as your adviser. Time for a conversation change though, back to business.

Tell me, What was that about a noble promise, whats that about?” She asked. Jake started telling her the story from the beginning, from when he first encountered the four women, wanting for her to understand his motivations, and not think badly of him for some reason. Brynella laughed. “All four of them at once, you say! She eyed him slowly from head to toe, like a prized bull. “My, my, you must have more vigor in you than I thought. Do tell details, I want to hear all about it, leave nothing out! How did you satisfy all four? That is a lot of holes, and only one peg to fill them!”She snorted. Jake exploded in anger. “No Brynella!” “Its not like that at all ! I’m ashamed of what I did, I didn’t know they were slaves, they could not say no, it was the same as rape. I didn’t find out they were slaves until after I had been with them, I cant believe I didn’t see it.” Brynella had lived a long time, and she could see the pain Jake felt at the thought of taking advantage of another, he had such a tender soul she thought. She would hate to see the sword take that from him. She interrupted him. “No Jake, stop talking. You did not rape those women, I have spent time here before, I have taken a few baths with similar servant women myself on occasion.” She grinned. “They are committed to service to the crown to repay a debt owed, but they are not slaves as you think.

They could have refused to lie with you had they chosen to, they cannot be forced to lie with any man, it is forbidden. They lay with you dear boy, because they liked what they saw in you. You’re a attractive hunk of man meat, you’re a good person, and your carrying the legendary Sword of Justice, you are a living legend to them. I promise you it was consensual.” You are saying the wanted to be with me simply because I was famous, they slept with me because I carried that sword? I stupidly assumed they really liked me as a person. The way they made me feel was simply indescribable, I have never felt so loved my a woman and cared for, and loved in my entire life, much less by four. It was heaven, while it lasted. They could not possibly know who I was when they first met me, I see now it must have simply been all about that damn sword. You are a good adviser, if I had spoken with you earlier, I could have avoided all of this.” Brynella shook her head. “I did not mean it to sound like that, I was mostly joking to lighten your mood is all. I can see how upset this makes you now, so I will elaborate more. Jake, do you know what a empath is?” He shook his head, not really no.” “Well, when you said those women could not possibly know you in such a short time, you were wrong. Dwarf women are all empathic, some more than others, but they all have it.

You average woman, is sensitive to others needs and feelings, and they have empathy for others. They can sense a mans mental or emotional state, which is why women complain men are not emotionally available to them. Women can sense it. A true Empath though, takes this to a entire new level. They instantly can get a good sense of who you really are as a person. They also can sense what you want, or what you need before you even ask for it. It makes Dwarf women highly renowned and sought after as wives and lovers because if it. If they were working for the crown as a welcoming committee, they likely are powerful empaths. The crown uses them to make guests feel more comfortable, as they meet their needs before even being asked. Those women did know you when they met you, at least had a sense of who you were as a person. If they made love to you, its because they really liked what they saw in you, and were drawn in by it. If they were still with you after two days, I promise you, it was because whatever you were giving to them, was as good as what you were getting from them, the sword was part of it, but I suspect it was a small part of it, it was mostly just you they were attracted to.”  “Oh. Seriously?” Jake blushed. “I didn’t realize it was like that, that they could.

Um. Damn, I might need to apologize to a few people then, I kind of over reacted.” He explained. “Why? What did you do?” She asked. Jake blushed. “I upset the women, obviously by thinking I raped them, then, I might have threatened to beat the princes ass for calling them whores.” Brynella burst out laughing. Jake kept talking. “ I also paid a fortune in gems to buy their freedom.” Brynella wiped a tear from her eye, and smiled at him, “Wow, that was generous of you Jake, there really is more to you than I originally thought. I see more and more what attracted them to you. You have not said what you promised though.” Jake shrugged. “It was really nothing, they asked me to promise something, to reassure them going forward as free women, thats’ all, they didn’t want me to be upset with the choice they made, that’s all.” Byrnella sighed.” Go on, what did you promise, exactly? Tell me word for word, I promise you, the specific words are very important.” “I simply promised that I would respect, and honor the decisions made by them as to where they choose to live, and who they choose to serve, going forward as free women.

Even if I do not approve, I would not attempt to influence or change their decision.” Brynella considered what he had said for a moment, then she burst out laughing, sucking in great gulps of air, and making wheezing sounds like a donkey. Jake looked around a little uncomfortable at the looks people were giving them at the spectacle she was making of herself. He stared at her as she donkey laughed, and then he himself started laughing as well at her. He found a donkey laughing petite sexy Elf woman hilarious for some reason. He admired how confident she was, and how she seemed so full of life. Finally she stopped laughing, wiped tears from her eyes. “Oh my, that is priceless. I needed a good laugh. I have not laughed like that in fifty years.” She sighed. Then she looked at him seriously. “What?” Jake asked. “All I did was to promise to support them in their decisions. I’m sure they are on their way back to their families as we speak.” Brynella smiled at him, as if he were a child. “Jake dear, you have so much to learn, especially about women. Did you by chance notice how the King stayed close to his adviser, and allowed him to speak for him sometimes, and likely left the room before committing to your deal?” Jake nodded. “ He did exactly that.”

Brynella nodded. “That’s one of the services I do for you. If I had been here earlier, I could have prevented you from getting yourself into this entire situation, with your half assed, ill considered promise to those women.” Jake grew angry. “Look Brynella, you seem like your trying to help me, but my promise was not half assed, or I’ll considered. I did a good thing by them!” Byrnella simply smiled at him. “So, your intent was to save those four women from having to have sex with strange men, so instead you changed it so they would only have sex with you? To have those four women serving as your personal harem for the rest of your life?” Jake looked shocked at her accusation. “No,I get it.” She continued. “Dwarf women age slowly compared to a human, and when your old and feeble, they will still look like they are twenty winters old, and still be firm and bouncy, not to mention them being empathic, you will never want for anything with them around. Its not a bad plan, Although you likely wont live to enjoy it for long, much less reach old age if the sword has its way.”

Jake blew up. “What do you mean have them serve me, and have them as my harem ? I did no such thing, and I resent that accusation, and I find it highly insulting.” He was furious at the very thought she assumed he had selfish intentions. “ I bought their freedom, and released them from servitude! They are free from being slaves, they can have their own lives now, do anything they want! They are right this minute on their way back to their families, that is what was agreed!” He was so angry with her, damn the woman was so infuriating, he wanted to choke her. The next thing she said though, sucked all the anger right out of him, and spun him for a loop. Brynella smiled sweetly. If that was your intent, it failed miserably, Jake. Unless I am mistaken, and I very much doubt it. Those four women are laying in your bed right this minute awaiting your return, and the place they plan on living, is with you, and the person they plan on serving, is you as well. You cannot refuse them either, because of the half assed, iron clad promise you made to them.” We are supposed to be a team. Its my job to advise you, and protect you, but you need to allow me in, listen to my advice, and trust me. Perhaps when you see that I am right about this being a half assed, ill conceived promise. You will understand just how badly a hastily made promise can go, and you will consult with me before you commit your word to anything. Jake, Your promise locked those women into your life permanently, for as long as they want to be in it. You might as well have married all four of them.”

Jake opened his mouth to protest, but he suddenly realized she could be right.”  He considered everything she had said, and was afraid she could be right. Jake downed the rest of his drink, and stood up. “It been a long day, and I‘m worn out, I’m headed to bed now and if there is a issue with those women I will deal with it tomorrow. I will be heading back to Evanhold in the morning, your welcome to join me.” he turned to leave, but then stopped and turned back to face her. “ I really appreciated our talk, thank you for being patient and not giving up on me. I appreciate that as well. You opened my eyes to many things I did not consider before, and I am pleased you will be my adviser, I damn sure need one. I am looking forward to more of these conversations with you in the future. Goodnight Brynella.” She smiled. “ Good night Jake.” Brynella sat for a long time considering everything. There was a lot more to him than she first thought, that was for sure. This man was like nothing she had ever seen before, and the things he spoke of were revolutionary in the extreme. Never before had a sword bearer possessed such ideals. Could he be the Sword bearer that was spoken of in the ancient prophecy? The one who would flip the world asunder, and remake everything anew? That Prophecy spoke of terrible danger, war, and much more. If he was really the one it referred to, she was going to have her work cut out for her. She finished her drink, and waived for a servant to bring her another one. She had much to think about.

When Jake returned to his bed chamber, he found Ebger standing outside the door waiting for him, and the man looked very uncomfortable. Jake spoke first. ‘Were you by chance about to tell me, that the women instead of wanting to go home, instead insisted on staying with me.” Ebger looked relieved. “They did exactly that Mlord. Once I informed them their debts were paid, and they were freed from servitude. I asked them where they wished to go, you could not imagine my surprise when they all expressed their desire to remain with and serve you. I tried to talk them out of it, but they were committed. I know that was not your intention when you made your promise to them. I had no idea what they were planning. I hope you do not think I had any hand in their trickery, it was all their idea, I assure you!” Jake patted the man on the shoulder. “ I do not blame you Ebger, if its anyone’s fault, it is mine. I made this mess, and it is my responsibility to deal with it. You may go, have a good night.” Ebger nodded. “The same to you Mlord, and if I may be so bold. Those women seem to have taken a strong liking to you for some reason. I cant speak for why they chose to serve you, but I have known them all for years and I find them to be good women, and I believe they will serve you well.”

Jake thought for a moment. “Ebger, do the women have a choice if they will have sex with a visitor?” Ebger nodded. “ They have never been ordered to sleep with a guest before, it might have been suggested to give a guest extra attention, but it has never been ordered, and if they refused there would be no consequences.” Jake felt some relief at hearing this, but still felt bad they had chosen to be his servants, his intention was for them to be free to persue their happiness. Not sacrifice their happiness, to make him happy. “ Mlord. They have been here for years, and have had many opportunities to attach themselves to wealthy visitors before. Many visitors took a fancy to them and offered to pay their debts, in return for the women serving them in their own households. They always refused the offers though, no matter how sweet the promises. None ever did as you though, and cared enough to free them with no stings attached, to persue their own dreams. Whatever you did to earn their loyalty, be it to free them, or something else you did, I cannot say. Whatever you did though seems to have stuck hard with them.  I could definitely think of worse things though, than to have four beautiful women, eager to share your life, and to tend your every need.” He flashed Jake a big grin, and walked away. Jake didn’t know how to feel at the moment, but he knew Jiselle had intentionally deceived him, and he was not happy about that at all.

He pushed the door open, and stepped into the dimly lit room, closing it behind him. A few oil lamps were all that lit the room, casting it in a soft light. He walked to the bed, and sure enough, all four women were snuggled together in it, under a blanket asleep. He felt betrayed by what Jiselle had done, and he felt angry, both at her, at himself, and the entire situation he found himself in, as well as the situation they own people had put them in. All he wanted was to explore this place, and ending up with this sword had complicated his life beyond all imagination. He stood there looking at the women for a minute, admiring again just how beautiful they all looked as they slept. He could still see smeared makeup on their faces from all the crying they did earlier tonight, and it pulled his heart strings as he remembered the earlier happenings. He realized they were far more than servant girls to him now, they were his friends. Well friends with benefits, but still his friends, and he would never treat them as his servants, even if they were planning to be just that. He would deal with this in the morning. The bed was huge, and all the girls were snuggled in a pile on one side of it. Jake undressed, and climbed into the opposite side of the bed from them, still uneasy from everything that happened before, and not wanting to presume anything. There was plenty of room between them, as the bed was simply massive. He lay they for a while contemplating everything before he fell into a deep sleep.

He awoke several hours later, not sure of the time, but it felt like it was the middle of the night to him. The women had moved sometime in the night, and they were naked he discovered. He had naked breasts pressing against his side on each side of him, and a naked leg across his as well. He felt a gentle touch against his neck, and realized that was what had woken him. He turned his head, and saw Jiselles big blue eyes looking back at him. ‘I hope Mlord is not upset with us.” She said quietly. ‘Do not be angry with them, it was all my idea, if you are angry at anyone, you should be angry at me.”  “Why did you trick me?” Jake asked. Jiselle looked miserable. “I did not wish to deceive you. However, you were making decisions that would effect our lives in ways you could not imagine. You were overcome with remorse, and refused to listen to reason, in your desire to make amends. I wish to clarify something, there is nothing for you to make amends for, you did not take advantage of us, you did not rape us, and you did not force us to lay with you. When we heard we would be serving the Bearer of the Sword of Justice himself, we were all ecstatic, it was a dream come true for us, a once in a lifetime opportunity. We were very eager to serve you, just by being the bearer of the great sword.” She looked shy, and vulnerable. “And eager to lie with you as well I might add.

That was before we met you. When you walked into the room for the first time, we all realized at once there was something very different about you we could sense it from across the room, and it had nothing to do with the sword. We have never seen the things we see in you before in any man. We are drawn to you like moths to a flame, and every moment spent with you is a true blessing. We think you feel the same way about us as well. True, we enjoyed each others company for the physical aspect of it, but it goes far beyond that. I do not know how to express it to you, except to say it borders on a spiritual experience.” Jake nodded in agreement. “ I feel it too, and I agree, it does feel almost spiritual when we are together.” Jiselle smiled at hearing that. “Once we got to know you better, we realized that we did not become enamored of you simply because you were the bearer, but because you were a good man. A kind man, a man with a tender heart, who seemed to care deeply for us. Then when you freed us from our servitude, and gave us our freedom, not to serve you, but to seek our own happiness, that is when I made the decision to serve you, not the bearer, but Jake Reynolds.”

Jake smiled. “I’m relieved to learn I did not dishonor you, I am not that kind of person, I would never do that. I also apologize for upsetting you, and upsetting your life. I see now it was not my place to intervene in it.” Jiselle smiled at him. “ I am glad you made the decision to intervene, it has opened up our lives to so much, it is truly a blessing you have given us. No matter what happens to us now, it happens because that is what we chose for ourselves, not what was chosen for us.” Jake shrugged. “ My intent was to make all of you happy, I’m glad I was able to accomplish that at least. I guess it must be a big deal to be able to claim you lay with the sword bearer, and perhaps serve him as well.” Jiselle looked away for a moment. “ Yes, but you being the sword bearer, was not why we decided to stay with you, and serve you. We decided to do that, only after we saw what kind of a man you are. We discovered you were a thoughtful lover, who gave as good as he received, which is rare enough by itself. Then the way you opened up to us, and shared your pain and hurt with us at how your previous love wronged and hurt you. Then when Selene said the things she did, that caused you to believe that we did not care for you, and how much that hurt you. It simply broke our hearts. Then the way you agonized over us when you thought you had wronged us. Something no other man would have given a second thought to, even if he had wronged a mere servant girl.

The thoughtfulness you gave to mere servants, the pain you showed at the thought you had wronged us, that is something we had never experienced before. You really cared about us as individuals, not for what we could do for you, but what you could do for us, and expected nothing in return. You bought our freedom, with no thought as to how it would benefit yourself. It touched our hearts in a way we never expected. That was the moment I decided we should serve you. ‘Yes, we chose to lay with the sword bearer, be that right or wrong, but we chose to live, and to serve the man Jake Reynolds, to tend his needs, and care for him, as he cared for us.” Jake looked into her big blue eyes, and could find no fault in what she had said, it really touched him. “If I were to ask you to reconsider, to think of another path to take, would you consider?” Jiselle shook her head. “No, we have chosen our path, and we will stay the course. You cannot make us leave, because of your promise to us, and we will not leave, due to our commitment to you. We are bound together come what may. One of the servants over heard something you said to the prince the day you arrived, could you tell me if its true, and explain what you meant? Jake shrugged, what did you hear?” ‘That you told the prince, that you believed that all men were created equal, and that a king was no better man than a farmer.”

Jake nodded. “Yes. “I said that. I believe it with all my heart, all men and women are created equal, and no one is above another, or better than another simply because of their station in life, their wealth, their family, or their job.” Jiselle smiled at him. “I knew it was true ! We have been talking about it ever since we first hear about it, it proved to us that we were making the right decision to serve you. What you said to the prince was what helped sway the other women to go along with it. You are a remarkable man. Jake Reynolds.” Jake shrugged. “I am not so remarkable for believing all men are created equal.” Jiselle smiled. “No, not for that alone, but I assure you that you are most remarkable to us. The things you believe speak to us of a better world, one we want to very much experience. I have never head anyone say those things before. I caution you to be careful who hears you talk that way, it would make you powerful enemies for the wrong person to her you say such.

In our history, The Sword of Justice has always protected the weak, and brought law to the lawless, and even occasionally to kings, but that has been rare. It has never been wielded by a man such as yourself, with such powerful beliefs. We have been talking tonight, and have come to the conclusion that you will bring much needed change to these lands, which will make a better life for everyone. We wish to be part that in some way, even if our contribution is as simple as caring for you and your household, or as little as sexing the sword bearer. You could not drag us away with a team of horses Jake Reynolds.” Jiselle looked at Jakes expression and giggled. “Do not fret, Jake. You will enjoy having the four of us in your life, there are many ways we can make your life easier, and much more satisfying. Isn’t that right girls?” Jake realized the other women had been awake and listening to their conversation the entire time. They were all nodding in agreement with what Jiselle had said. Jake didn’t want to do this, but it needed to be done. “Ladies, I have had a amazing time with you, and I too cherish what we have.

However, before this goes any further, we need to clarify something. You full well knew my intent when I made my promise to you, and you all went along in Jiselles efforts to deceive me. I will not tolerate being lied to, or being betrayed. I also will not have servants. I do not believe in it. If we remain together it will be as good friends, and lovers, who are committed to doing right by each other. We cannot lie to each other, and there can be no deceit. We will be equals. If you have a concern, feel free to speak it, if I make you unhappy, tell me. I will seek your advice on occasion, and I hope you will be honest with me, and not just tell me what I want to hear. Do you understand, and do you agree with what I have said?” All four women had tears in their eyes as they nodded together. Jiselle spoke first. “ It is agreed. It is more than we could have ever hoped for.” She leaned in and kissed him tenderly, and felt the other womens hands caressing his body in various places. Asmund whispered huskily as she stroked his member. “Oh sword bearer, what a magnificent sword you have!” That night The women reminded him again, that they damn sure could bring a lot more satisfaction to his life.

The next morning Jake was packing his belongings onto one of the horses Theron had supplied for their use. There were seven horses in all, one for him, and each woman, and two for hauling their supplies for the week long trip. Miranda, was the first lady to arrive, carrying a pack over her shoulder. She was wearing what he learned was a traditional female traveling outfit. She wore green leggings, and a short leather skirt, and a tight fitting leather top. It was pretty damn distracting to Jake, looking more like something a dominatrix would wear, than a traveler. When Miranda shared what he had said with the other women they took it as a challenge to walk close to him, and to often bend over at the waist to pick u some random thing just when he was looking. Good lord he thought to himself. Jake was staring at Selenes ass almost drooling, as she was bent way over looking at something on the ground, when Brynella’s voice pulled him back to reality.“We about ready to go boss?”

He looked up at her dressed for traveling, mounted on her own horse, with full saddle bags. “Will you be joining us then Byrnella? Jake asked. She smiled down at him. “If you are referring to traveling with your party, then yes. If you are referring to joining your harem then no.” Jake got flustered and started to object, but she cut him off. “ Not joining it just yet anyway, Ill need to see what the benefits are first.”  “The big sword is definately a benefit to me.” Asmund called from behind her. She gazed approvingly at the other ladies in their tight leather outfits. “ The team outfits are definitely getting a rise out of me.” she adjusted her gaze to three feet below Jakes eyes. “I can see they are getting a rise out of our fearless leaders big sword as well.” She laughed. Which brought giggles and laughter from from the other women as well.  “I don’t know if I should envy you, or feel sorry for you.” Thoran cut in. Jake laughed, he looked at his group of five sexy women sitting on their horses, all there purely because they wanted to be with him, and he smiled happily. “Id say you should envy me mostly Theron, at least until the saddle sores hit me.” “From the Horses? Theron asked. “Yeah, them too.” Jake laughed. Bringing a snicker from Theron in return, and a few giggles from the ladies as well. “Time to hit the road.” Jake said. “We have a long ride ahead of us. See you next month Theron.” Safe travels Bearer.” Theron called back. Jake took the lead, with Jiselle beside him, Next came Selene and Asmund, with Miranda and Brynella bringing up the rear

When Evangard came into view, perched high on the mountain above them. The ladies became quiet, just taking in the view. They whispered among themselves sharing stories of the ancient place. The closer the got, the more excited they became. They had grown up hearing legends and stories about the infamous fortress. To actually be there was awe inspiring to them, and something they never thought they would ever experience for themselves. They rode slowly and the women found various things to marvel at, wondering if that were the very gate where a legendary battle occured, or if that tower was the one a hero was imprisoned in. Jake enjoyed hearing their various stories, and legends, it gave life to the ruins, and made him feel as if he understood it a little better. When they arrived back at Jake’s camp in the small house on the edge of the ruins he suddenly realized something.While it was satisfactory, for him alone, and roughing it, it had little to offer his group that had grown from himself to six people now.

He considered returning home for more cots, for everyone to sleep on, but even if he had them the place simply did not have the room. The ladies while unaccustomed to traveling by horse, had not complained a single time during the entire trip. He had kept a close eye on them and called frequent rest stops, and made camp early as well when he noticed them becoming fatigued. It was better to stop early and make less progress, than to push on and risk someone getting injured. They had been real troopers, and he was proud of them. However as he sat there on his horse in the baking summer sun, covered in sweat and his hair stiff with dust, he realized the women were looking worn out. Even Brunella looked droopy, and she usually had more energy than the rest of them. If he felt crusty, he could only imagine what they must feel like after a week on the road. He realized that even if there was room inside, and even if he did have enough cots, he owed them better than that. He had been gone from the ruins for over two weeks now, a few more days would not make any difference. Plus he needed to start making arrangements for the supplies he was going to need to keep his promise to the king.

He instructed everyone to follow him. “ I thought this was your camp site.” Miranda said. “Will we ride much farther today?” “It is my camp, he admitted, but there was something I wanted to show you ladies. It will be worth your effort, I promise you.” Miranda looked exhausted, but she simply smiled, and nodded. “We will follow you Jake, lead on.” Ten minutes later they sat on their horses in front of the portal, and He was setting up the generator. They were too tired to really wonder what he was doing, simply watching him. Brynella caught on though. “This is the way back to your home land, isn’t it? That caught the women’s attention.“ We are truly going to pass through the traveling portal you told us about? Asmund exclaimed. The women were excited now, their fatigue forgotten. “Is it a dangerous journey? Jiselle wondered aloud. “Why are we traveling there?” Miranda asked. “It it very far?” Jake sighed at all the questions. “ Yes, we are going to my home land.” Jake admitted. “No, it is not dangerous, as long as we are careful. The trip will only take moments. I am taking you there, because I have little to offer you in the way of hospitality in the ruins, but I can offer you a lot more at my home. Everyone look at me now. He made sure he had their attention. My homeland is not dangerous, but it is very different from what you are used to, and it has its own dangers. I do not believe you can speak or understand my peoples language.

No one in my home land knows of the traveling portal, so they will not understand where you have come from, and the authorities could cause us great problems if we are not careful. So, I want you to stay close to me, and do not wander away. Is that understood? Everyone nodded in agreement. Good. When I tell you to, you ride through the portal in the cave, and stop in the clearing on the other side, I will be the last person through. Jake flipped the switch on the generator and it rumbled to life, after a minute he flipped the power switch and the portal blinked into existence. He yelled to be heard above the generator, and pointed towards the portal.“ Brynella! You go first! Go now !She nodded, and spurred her horse through the portal, followed moments later by the rest of the women. Jake set the generator to power down a minute later. He grabbed his horses reins and led it through the pitch blackness of the portal.

He stepped out of the blackness into a cool summer day. Ahead of him the ladies had dismounted from their horses and were gazing around at the new world they had found themselves in. Jake waved them to follow him, and soon they were at the house. “This is your house Jake? Jiselle asked. It is he admitted. Put your horses here in this fence, and I will deal with them later. How would you ladies like to have a bath, and a hot meal? “He was rewarded with happy sighs and squeals of joy. Follow me then! He unlocked the door and they followed him inside, where they marleved at everything from the electric lights, to the air conditioning. He had jiselle follow him into the guest bathroom which only had a shower in it. He started the shower, and was about to show Jiselle how to adjust the water temperature, but she had already stripped naked.

He adjusted the water to warm, and helped her under the water. Shampoo and soap is in the containers on the wall, and turn the knob slowly to make it colder or hotter. Turn it all the way to turn the water off. You can take your time, but don’t stay in more than fifteen minutes, we have more people to bathe, and will run out of hot water quickly with so many using it at once. “Then we should not waste it.” Asmund called from beside him. She slipped past him butt naked and huddled next to Jiselle under the warm water. The two women stood facing each other, sighing in pleasure as the hot water streamed over their naked bodies. They were already rubbing soap on each other. Jake stared at their full soapy breasts rubbing together, and felt himself getting aroused. He remembered he had other people to help, and left them to shower. He led Selene, Miranda, and Brynella to the master bath. It had a seperate shower and garden tub. He started the shower, and got Miranda, and Selene under the water, and then he turned to Brynella. He started the bath tub water, and stood back up.

Brynella smiled at him playfully. “Planning to bathe with me Jake? Jake shook his head. No ma”am, I thought id show you how to operate the water, and then I’d leave you to bathe in private while I got us some hot supper. You want hot food, and wine when you get out of your bath? She smiled at him sweetly. “That would be heavenly. I hope its something besides beef jerky, or rabbit though. Jake laughed. “I think I can do better than that.” He went to the kitchen ,grabbed the phone and called the local pizza joint, and ordered six meat lover pizzas, and breadsticks, and gave them his address. “ Im sorry, we don’t deliver that far out Mr Reynolds, but you could pick it up.” “That wont work.” Jake replied. Tell you what.You send your driver out here with my food, and I will tip a hundred bucks. Seventy five for the driver, and twenty five for you sending them, how does that sound? I will leave the gate open, and meet him at the white farm house.”  The woman perked up. “Yes sir, I believe we can do that. The driver will be there in forty five minutes.”

Jake set his watch for thirty minutes, and went and unsaddled the horses. They were enclosed by the chain link fence, and the grass had grown knee deep in the two weeks he had been gone, so he figured they would graze happily. He filled a few buckets with water and left them out for the shaggy little horses. When he returned to the house Jiselle and Asmund were done showering, and had towels wrapped around themselves as well as their wet hair. He grabbed a hair dryer from the closet, and showed them how to use it. There were a surprising amount of ladies products, including make up, dedorant and more. He sat them out on the counter and told them to show the other ladies. They were laughing and blow dring each others hair, marveling at the wonderful device, when he jumped into the shower and took a quick shower. He glanced at his watch, and realized the pizza guy would be here any minute. He pulled on a pair of shorts, and grabbed his wallet just as headlights swept across the window.Good he was starving! He stepped outside and met the pizza guy just as he was getting out of his car. The guy was your typical skinny teenaged kid, driving a beater compact car.

“Iv got your pizza’s Mr reynolds. We never deliver this far out, I don’t know what you said to talk sandy into it.” Jake smiled. “I promised id pay a hundred dollar tip, you get seventy five, she gets twenty five.” The kid grinned. “Yeah, that would do it.” Jake handed the kid the money, which he counted and pocketed it. Then the kid started handing Jake pizza boxes from the back seat. The kid was handing him the next box when suddenly his mouth popped open, and he was staring at something behind Jake. “Something wrong?” Jake asked? About that time Jiselle, and Asmund squeezed past him, each pausing to kiss him on the cheek. “ We will carry the food Mlord, its the least we could do. He realized they had done as he had, and grabbed a pair of his shorts, and a tshirt from the closet. What looked decent on him, looked totally different on the volumptious Dwarf women. The shorts were stretched tightly across their full hips, showing off their round firm round asses, and the t-shirts were stretched tightly across their high firm breasts. The girls had their hair pulled back into pony tails, and they looked amazing. To top it off, the cool night air had their nipples hard and poking that appeared trying to burst through the material.

They both stood there holding pizza boxes and smiling sweetly at the guy. The poor pizza kid stood there staring a them, and even had drool on his chin. Jake was pretty sure the kid was about to cream His jeans. “Hey kid, can you pass us the rest of the food.” The kid nodded , and slowly handed out the rest of the pizzas, and bread sticks, handing each one to a grinning Jiselle and Asmund. Behind him The door opened again, and out stepped Brynella, and Miranda. “Do you need any Help Jake? Brynella asked. He turned around to answer her, and took in their outfits. Each one was wearing something almost as bad as the first two women. Brynella had a too small towel wrapped around herself, that barely covered her breasts and crotch, Miranda was wearing only a long white t-shirt, that almost looked transparent beteen her being still wet, and the cold air. Then to top it off Selene, took that moment to stroll past the window topless. Great. So much for keeping a low profile.

That kid would tell everyone he knew about all the hotties out on the Reynolds farm. He turned back and one glance told him the kid had not missed Selenes topless cameo. He pulled another hundred bucks out of his wallet, and waved it in front of the pizza kids face. “Hey kid. I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell the entire town, about my lady friends here. We enjoy our privacy. We enjoy our pizza, but if I hear anyone in town mention these ladies, and I will make sure you never deliver another pizza out here again. Understood? The kid nodded, and took the money. “ Sure mister, they wont hear it from me. Your the luckiest guy on the planet. How did you end up with all these hotties, and what language are they speaking? I have never heard it before, its beautiful.”

“Hey kid. I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell the entire town, about my lady friends here. We enjoy our privacy. We enjoy our pizza, but if I hear anyone in town mention these ladies, and I will make sure you never deliver another pizza out here again. You getting banned would be a real shame, as im sure we will be ordering more pizza, and I’m a big tipper. Understood? The kid nodded, and took the money. “ Sure mister, they wont hear it from me. I wont do anything to get banned, I promise you! Your the luckiest guy on the planet. How did you end up with all these hotties, and what language are they speaking? I have never heard it before, its beautiful.” Jake smiled. “They love me for my personality.”

The pizza smelled wonderful. He sat the boxes on the kitchen table, and poured wine for everyone. Then he flipped the box open, and put slices in front of each woman. “This food smells good, but it looks very strange.” Brynella said. “ Try it Jake said. “Its delicious. Basically bread, covered with sauce, cheese, meat and vegetables. Jiselle took a hesitant bite of hers, her eyes looked surprised, but she chewed and swallowed. “ It is delicious ! It is the best thing I have ever eaten !” She declared. The other women took this as a good sign, and dug into the pizza, from the groans of pleasure he was hearing he was pretty sure it was a big hit. The wine not so much. He had found a bottle of old wine that had apparently never been very good. He pulled out a two liter bottle of coke and poured glasses for everyone. The women stared at it skeptically, watching it bubble and fizz. “ It looks vile.” Brynella said. “Black as death, and it even roils, I have never seen a more unappetizing drink in my life. It looks like boiling dragons blood. Bleh.” Jake took a deep drink. “ Ahhhhh. Its delicious. Trust me.” Asmund grimaced and took a sip of hers, then squealed in delight.

“Its true, it is delicious, and the bubbles tickle ! The others tasted theirs and everyone agreed they liked it. A few moments later a huge belch ripped across the room, and everyone looked at Brynella stunned. Brynella looked stunned herself. “Um, excuse me.” She grinned. Everyone burst into laughter and giggles. “Its ok.” Jake said. The bubbles will make you belch if your not careful.” To his surprise everyone started belching. He looked around at the group of beautiful women, who very much turned him on, then frowned at the belching, as it very much did the opposite. He had never seen women belch before. A moment later Brynella ripped a belch that he swore rattled the windows. The women were dying laughing, and he could not help to laugh himself. Just seeing them so happy made his heart soar. After dinner everyone started yawning. He showed Miranda, Jiselle, Selene, and Asmund to his King sized bed, and led Brynella to the guest bedroom. He patted the full sized bed with his hand. “I think you will be comfortable in here.” He said. There are extra blankets in the closet if you need one.” Brynella sat on the bed. She looked surprised and bounced on it a few times.

“It is very comfortable.” She said. Then her voice turned slightly seductive. “ You will make me sleep alone then, you are not attracted to me Jake?” Jake smiled back. “Trust me Brynella, I am very attracted to you. More than you know. I have considered taking you up on your flirtations, but I do not know if that is a smart thing to do.” Brynella looked at him and smiled. “Jake, many bearers, have had relationships with their Elf protectors. In fact, for some reason, the bearer and protector are almost always the opposite sex, almost af if its planned that they become close.” Jake nodded. “ I understand what you are saying. I am concerned however how it would effect our relationship. You indicated that we would be together as long as I am sword bearer, basically the rest of my life.” Brynella nodded. “Yes, for life. It is as strong a commitment as any marriage.” Jake sat beside her on the bed, and took her hand. “Bru. Um do you mind if I call you Bru?” She nodded. “ I would like that very much I think.

Jake smiled. “Bru. I have only had one real relationship in my life. I put everything into it, and my love, and trust were stomped into the mud, and my heart broken.” Bru nodded. “ I understand it must have been very painful for you. I wish I could find that women, I would do great harm to her for what she did to you.” Jake smiled. “Thats very sweet, thank you. Yes, what she did to me, It devastated me. I have not been able to love or trust another woman since. When I visited the Dwarf Kingdom, the girls pretty much threw themselves at me before I knew what was happening. Their empathic abilities swept me away, and the way they made me feel like the only man on the planet, it went a long way to rebuilding my trust in women. I care for them all very much, but I am not in love with them. My relationship with them is very unusual, I cant even really describe what I have with them, but at the moment it is very good for me, and I have never been happier.” Bru nodded. “I understand.”

Jake shook his head. “I don’t believe you do. I do not believe true love, real love usually develops from relationships where sex happens quickly. I believe a man and a woman need to get to know each other first, for the man to be emotionally committed, before it becomes sexual. Otherwise it probably wont work.” Bry looked confused. “ You are saying you want to take your time, and be in love me before we have sex?” Jake shook his head. “No, im not saying that, I was just explaining. I have gotten to know you in the last few weeks, and think you are a very special women. I also believe we have a relationship where our very lives depend on trusting each other.” She nodded. “ You are correct in that. They do.” Jake smiled. “It is for that very reason I am being so cautious about this. I don’t know how adding sex to our relationship could affect it. I don’t want to ever hurt you, or upset you. We must trust each other, and we will likely be together for a long time, at least I hope for a long time. For those reasons I am not willing to rush into anything. I believe you are very special, and I want to do right by you. Do you understand? Bru nodded. “I think I do understand. Yes.” Then she smirked at him. “I think You have spent to much time with those empathic Dwarf women, is what I think. They are making you into a woman, you are so wrapped up in your emotions you cannot think as a man should think.

Jake smiled, and chuckled. “Maybe. I think though you have seen a lot of relationships ruined over this very thing in your long life time. You far better than me know the history of other bearers and their protectors, and how it complicated things. If you decide there really is no danger, then feel free to come to my bed. I will happily screw your brains out. However, if you think there is even a small chance of things going sideways between us, please reconsider before you leap into my bed.” Jake leaned forward and kissed a very surprised Brynella. He kissed her softly and tenderly on her lips, and a electric current shot along her spine, causing her toes to curl. Jake smiled at her. “ There, now you see how I feel about you, and how much having you in my life means to me.” He stepped to the door and pulled it closed behind him. Bru fell back into the bed and stared at the ceiling. Oh Brynella, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?

The next morning after breakfast, Jake knew he needed to do some serious planning. He needed alone time right now, so he introduced the women to television. He sat them down in the living room, in front of the tv. “Look girls, I need to plan some things, and I don’t want you to think I’m ignoring you. My people invented something to keep guests entertained”. He pointed at the tv. “This um. Magic box, is designed for entertainment. It offers you many options. It will tell you the news, both local and world wide events, instantly as they happen. It can tell you the future weather, well sort of, its wrong about half of the time. And um.” How do you explain television? He asked himself. “Well. You see, actors perform plays for you called movies. You have seen plays before right?” The girls all nodded together. “ Yes, the King hosts many plays as entertainment.” Asmund said. “ Good.” Jake said, This box will show you plays as well. However, The first thing you must understand about what you will see though, is none of it is real. They are all pretending. It will look as real as anything you have ever seen, people will laugh, and love, and even kill each other. But. It. Is. Not. Real. Do you understand?” More heads nodded. He flipped the tv on and the ladies gasp in astonishment as a show blinked to life. They sat mesmerized by what they were seeing. He flipped to a movie channel that was just starting to show The mask movie, with Jim Carrey. Yeah, that would keep them entertained he thought. If you need anything to eat, its in the kitchen. We have mostly left over pizza, but I will make something later today.

He went to the computer, he needed to contact a old friend. He saw a pile of problems coming up soon, and he was going to need a expert to help him get through it. His situation was so bizarre however that he had no clue as to how to even describe what he needed. He knew part of what he needed though. He needed a highly skilled manager. One who could handle a wide variety of problems, think on their feet, and above all, keep his secret. How the hell did he find someone like that, without giving away his secret in the process? He was stumped. He could not advertise for this exactly. Jake knew someone who might be able to point him in the right direction though. When he was in the Army, he had become friends with a officer he had served under, he had known the man for years. Captain Braddock. Braddock was ex special forces, and not long before Jake left service Braddock had been promoted to Major. On one of his missions his friend had been hurt, enough that his military career was over. His career in the military might have been over, but there was a high demand for a man with his skills. Last he had heard, Major Braddock had gotten into the private military contractor game, and was a pretty big player in Darkwater Inc. Which was one of the larger contractors, and provided a lot of security services to war town countries. He was guessing that the circles Braddock ran in had him crossing paths with a wide variety of people, some of which could be what he was looking for.

He googled Major Tom Braddock, and Darkwater Inc. He pulled up Braddocks company contact number, and called. The call was answered on the second ring. “Darkwater incorporated, how may I direct your call today?” The voice was femine and professional sounding. “ Yes, my name is Jake Reynolds, and I am calling for the vise president Tom Braddock.”  “Sir, I mean no disrespect to you, but Mr Braddock does not usually take calls from the switch board. People who need to talk to him usually ahve his private number. Could I ask what this is in reference to, and who is calling? Jake groaned. Great, he was going to have to battle the secretery. “ I understand ma’am, no hard feelings at all. I am a old friend of Tom Braddock. I served with him in Iraq. I recently found myself in need of his services. I guarantee he will be happy to hear from me, and I also guarantee he will be very unhappy if this message is not relayed in a timely manner.” “I understand Mr Reynolds, However, Mr braddock is out of the office at the moment. I will forward your contact information, and he will contact you soon.” Jake relayed his phone number, and hung the phone up. Now I guess I wait. He thought. He went to the kitchen for a beer and saw the women totally absorbed in the movie. He made some popcorn and handed to them, and as he was sitting down his phone rang.

The number read private. “Jake Reynolds, how can I help you?” The line was full of noise, he swore he heard helicopter rotors. “Jake ! Hey old buddy ! I got your message. Its good to hear from you. You decide to take my job offer finally?” Jake laughed. Same old Braddock. “Hell no Tom, I worked for you once, and I almost got shot because of it.” “Hey now, that was not my fault Jake, you act like I was the one shooting at you. If I recall I was the one that saved you from being shot. “True.” Jake laughed. I believe I saved your bacon once or twice as well.” Jake could hear men yelling, and gunfire in the background, and was having trouble hearing toms voice. “I cant argue with that Jake, you saved my ass for sure.” “Where the hell are you at?” Jake asked. Your secretary said you were out of the office, I assumed lunch or something.” Tom laughed. “Nope, try Anbar province. What can I do for you?”  Jake just jumped in with both feet. “Well I have a issue I need some professional help with.

He explained what he needed. He was looking for a manager type person to help run a project for him. He needed someone who could think on their feet, someone who could handle themselves in a hostile environment if needed, that could handle a wide variety of issues. Things from sourcing supplies, to personnel, to payroll, to dealing with legal issues. He needed someone who could offer solutions to complex problems, and give advice. But most of all, he needed someone discrete, and that would put discretion above all else, and could be trusted. “What exactly are you getting into Jake? Nothing dangerous, or illegal I hope.” Jake laughed. Its not illegal, no. I just want someone who can make sure it stays legal, its might be slightly dangerous. It is damn sure highly unusual. It pays well though. I don’t run in the same circles you do, hell I don’t really run in any circles anymore. I was hoping you might have someone you could recommend for the job.” Tom laughed. “I wish I didn’t run in these circles myself most of the time. I might know someone, but they are expensive, you sure you can afford to pay? It wont look good if I send you to them, and you waste their time because you wallet is not big enough.”

“No worries about that Tom, I have a pretty generous budget.” You better.” Tom replied. “This chick ain’t cheap.” Jake frowned. “Chick? I’m not sure a woman is what I’m looking for.” Jake glanced at the five beautiful woman sitting on the couch in the living room. “ Honestly, I’m up to my eyeballs in women right now. There is not a man you could recommend instead?” Tom laughed. “Women issues huh? I could use some of those, I’m surrounded by sweaty men entirely too much myself. I could recommend a dozen men for the job, sure. However, you said discretion was as important as their ability to do the job. When I think of competency, and discretion there is only one name that comes to mind. “Emily Carsen.” Jake sighed. Well, is she qualified?” Jake asked. “Damn right she is.” Tom replied. “She is prior service military. She left service and got her start working for me as a contractor mostly in the middle east. She graduated to executive personnel protection, girl can sure dress up. One of her protection clients offered her a job on running their household staff. That put her rubbing elbows with politicians, and she was offered a job running a election campaign.

The girl excells at anything she touches, shes a savant I swear.” Jake was not convinced. “I’m not sure a campaign manager is what I’m looking for.” He replied. “I don’t blame you.” Tom said. “But you didn’t let me finish. She ended up doing a side job for a congressman, solving a problem he had. Apparently she did such a good job, she was referred to some of his friends. She’s sort of what you would call a fixer now. Its cliche’ as hell, but that’s what she does. She fixes problems. Girl has dealt with blackmailers, paid off mistresses, and even once delivered a ransom to terrorists. Shes legit. She did a job for me again recently and I was happy as hell with her work. Shes as discrete as hell, she even went to jail once when she refused to testify as to what she did for one guy. Served three months before they released her. She never said a word. You want discretion, its her middle name. One word of advice though. You wont be interviewing her for a job, she interviews her clients and decides if they are worth working for.

The girl has high standards, and she will turn you down if your cause does not meet them.” Jake sighed. “You sure are pushing her on me hard Tom. Whats the real deal with her?” Tom laughed. “You got me Jake. Yeah, she is special to me. Shes my niece, my older sisters kid. I know I can trust you, and I owe you big time for what you did for me. Shes the best. I will shoot her a text and let her know you will contact her soon. Be warned though. Shes a professional. The fact we are friends, and shes my family means nothing to her taking a job. You will have to make the cut, just like everyone else. She has turned me down several times. I respect her more for that than anything else. “Ok, ok, you can stop your sales pitch, ill go with her. “Jake laughed. Then he had a thought. “Hey Tom, if you were offered the opportunity get away from all the bullshit we face everyday, and colonize another world. To start from the ground up, hack a country from the wilderness, set things up as you saw fit, even totally change the locals established system. To basically establish a new country based off the constitution, except this time account for the bullshit that you knew would eventually arise.

Would you do it?”  Damn Jake, Where the hell did this come from? Tom asked. “Its a plot idea running in my head is all. I’m thinking of writing a book, and thought id ask your opinion.” Jake explained. It was not a lie, he really had thought about writing a book eventually about all of this. “ Would you do it?” Jake asked. Tom sighed. “ It is tempting idea, I admit, very tempting,but no. In fact hell no. I like my excitement in small doses, and a warm mostly safe bed to sleep in at night. Something like that would be filled with bullshit, people infighting constantly over the rules you want to make, hostile locals trying to kill you for messing with their stuff. Hell I deal with that enough now, even with a Army supporting me, damn Afghan warlords want to kill you over the dumbest shit. Do it on my own? Hell no. You can feel free to name a character after me though. A real scoundrel who enjoys adventure and has a way with the ladies.” Jake laughed. “Will do good buddy.” Tom had one more thing to say. “Oh and Jake. Emily is a good person and shes my family. You drag my niece into some bullshit, or get her hurt, and you will answer to me. Understood?” Jake nodded even though Tom could not see it.  “I understand, Tom.” A few minutes later Jake fired off a email to one Emily Carsen.

Thanks, Buck, keep it coming.

Emily had just finished talking to her uncle, when she received the e-mail notice. She slipped into the comfortable chair at her desk and checked her in box. Sure enough, it was from Jake Reynolds, the man she had been told about. Her Uncle had no clue what the job was about, but he spoke very highly of him. He knew how she operated, and she reminded him again. She would take his recommendation into consideration of course, but If she took Mr Reynolds as a client, it was because she vetted him personally, and she approved of what she was getting involved with. She read the Email several times, it didn’t tell her anything really.

Dear Miss Carson.

My name is Jake Reynolds, and I have found myself to be in the market for a project manager. Tom Braddock spoke very highly of you, and gave me your contact information. I was very impressed by what he told me about you, especially about how discrete you were. I feel you would be a good fit in what i am trying to create here. I would be very interested in meeting with you to discuss the details further, but In short ,When I say I am looking for a manager, that no where describes what the Job entails. Its truly a once in a lifetime opportunity, and would be a bigger challenge than any you have ever experienced before. That’s all I am willing to say at this time however. I am willing to pay for first class travel, and accommodations, as well as a reasonable fee for you meeting me. Would five thousand dollars be acceptable to you for a one hour meeting? I would prefer to meet you at your earliest convenience at my home, which is located a hour from Lexington Kentucky. Contact me with a time that will work for you, and I will make the travel arrangements.

Sincerely, Jake Reynolds.

Emily researched Jake Reynolds, and had everything there was no know about the man a hour later. There really was not very much. He had joined the Army just out of high school, had served ten years in the infantry before leaving under Honorable conditions. He was divorced within a year of leaving service, and it looked like his ex cleaned him out in the divorce. He worked a few odd jobs in construction for a few years, until he apparently inherited a farm in eastern Kentucky recently. He had no living close relatives. He had no active employment. That was pretty much it. He was about as far from the type of person she normally expected to be contacting her as possible. Congressmen? Sure. Senator? Sure. Tycoon? Sure. Unemployed farmer from Kentucky? Nope. She was tempted to turn the man down immediately, but her uncle had spoken very highly of him. She owed a lot to her uncle, so she dug a little deeper. She still found nothing. The man had the money in his bank account to pay her traveling expenses, and the five thousand he promised her, but damn sure not enough to hire her. Her promise to her uncle to take Jake Reynolds seriously clung to her though. What the hell she thought. Her schedule was clear for the near future, and the money the man had promised her would make the trip worth her time, plus he said first class. She had billionaires pay her expenses in the past and not spring for first class. She sent Mr Reynolds a email, with her travel arrangements.

Jake had been researching steel suppliers for hours. He was having a hell of a time finding one who would cut up steel into one pound blocks, and deliver it to his house. The one he did find had asked a insane price to do it. He was not operating on a tight budget, but come on, he had his limits. He was feeling thirsty as hell, and thought a cold beer would be perfect. He would go get one after he made the next phone call. He jumped as something icy touched his neck. Followed by a warm soft kiss on the same spot. He turned to find himself looking at Asmund. “ A little bird told me you might be thirsty Mlord. How does a cold beer sound?” Jake smiled. “Oh woman, that sounds perfect. You literally read my mind.” He took a swig of the cold beer. “Asmund nodded, and smiled. I have been accused of reading minds before, but I didn’t need to read yours, I just knew you were thirsty.”  Jake’s computer dinged, drawing both of their attention.  Jake read the email from Emily Carsen and smiled.

Mr Reynolds.

My Uncle spoke very highly of you. I would be pleased to meet with you under the conditions you mentioned. Please feel free to have my flight leave anytime after 8am tomorrow morning. I will be flying from Spokane Washington, and should be at your house on 1214 Reynolds creek road by three pm. If there are delays I will notify you.

Sincerely, Emily Carson.

“Mlord has such amazing devices in his home.” She asked. “Pray tell what does this one do?”“ This one dear Asmund, allows you to search for any information you desire, and it delivers messages as well. I just received one notifying me that we will be having a guest tomorrow.” Asmund smiled. ‘ That is wonderful news mlord, you have found the person you have been searching for?” Jake nodded. “I have.” Then he took in Asmunds outfit. She was wearing another tight t-shirt, and gym shorts, she looked amazing to him, but for a business meeting it would not work at all. “I think I am going to have to buy you girls new clothes before our guest arrives though. Do Dwarf women like shopping?” He asked. “Asmund shrugged. I don’t know, I have never been shopping before.” Jake grinned. I think you will enjoy it, I doubt my wallet will though. “Dammit.” Jake exclaimed. “What is the matter mlord? Asmund asked him.

Jake sighed. I keep forgetting you don’t speak my peoples language, that will make things a lot more difficult.” Asmund smiled. “You did not tell us your people spoke the common tongue Mlord. We speak it quite well. The common tongue is what humans speak, and what all races use as a common language for communicating. we are taught to speak common as children. All of us speak it, why do you think everyone is so enamored with the thing you call a soap opera?” Jake laughed, and pulled her in and kissed her, she returned the kiss eagerly. Jake pulled away from her laughing. “Wooh girl, turn it down a little. We get worked up and we wont be going anywhere. Asmund pouted at him. He smacked her on the ass with his hand causing her to squeal. Gather the others, and all of you take a shower. We will be leaving in a hour. He made the arrangements for Emily Carsons flight, hotel room, and rental car, and send her all the details.

Jake rounded up clothes from around the house, and worked hard to put something on the girls that was a little more appropriate for town. The end result was slightly better. None of them had any clothes really, only the one traveling outfit, and set of shoes Ebger had provided for them. They had no under garments, no decent shoes, no clothes, nothing. Jake went to the basement safe and pulled out a wad of cash, and shoved it into his pocket. Then he went to the garage and pulled the tarp off his late uncles car. The old man had left behind two vehicles, both were vintage and both were cherry, and in restored condition. There was his mint condition nineteen sixties ford f250 , and the one Jake had came for. He stood there looking at the nineteen sixties station wagon the cherry red paint, and chrome sparkling.

It would be perfect for hauling his women to town. He climbed inside and was pleased when the engine rumbled to life on the first try. He backed out and pulled up next to the house. The women oohed, and awed at the pretty car, they had never seen anything like it before. He got them all situated and headed to Lexington. It was farther away, but he needed help buying clothes for these women. He knew jack shit about womens clothing. He had done a search for womens clothing stores, and thought he had found exactly what they needed. It was called Helens boutique. Thei web page advertises everything from the latest fashions, to used vintage clothing, and everything in between, as well as a wide assortment of lingerie. Perfect he thought, one stop shopping. They also claimed to show each customer that personal touch to make each lady feel special, they even served wine and snacks. Jake had called and had a short conversation with the owner. He explained he was bringing in five women who needed the works, basically entire new wardrobes, and he was planning to spend a boat load of money. The woman told him to arrive at five pm, and they would have the store to themselves. Jake still had the problem of what to do with the sword. He could not leave it behind, but he could not exactly wear it into town either. He found a black duffle bag that it barely fit into, and decided that it would do. He might look a little odd with a duffle bag, but that would raise fewer concerns than a sword.

On the drive over, Jake explained to the ladies that they had to tread lightly, they could not arouse anyone suspicions, and risk them calling the authorities. Getting them new clothes would help a lot, as they would not stick out like they were currently, in what he refered to as their slutty farm girl look. He thought they looked great, but society as a whole would frown on it. He explained they needed to present a respectable appearance, because looking respectable, and like women of means, would solve many problems before they began, while looking less respectable would attract problems. However, since he could not lie to anyone, they were going to need to Bru to do some of the talking, and help get past this wardrobe trip, once they had new clothes things would get a lot easier. He knew the women would be clueless as to modern women’s clothing, and he gave Bru a few tips to get around that as well.

Once they arrived at the store, the prim and proper, and conservatively dressed Helen, and her similarly prim and proper employees basically stared at them in shock like a group of nuns would look at a bunch of whores who walked into church, and Jake was their pimp. It was clear she was reconsidering helping them, and likely put them out on the street. They needed to fix this quickly, before it started downhill. Jake put on his best smile, and most thankful attitude. “Miss Helen, we spoke on the phone. I am Jake Reynolds, I am so thankful that you could help us, the ladies need entire new wardrobes and they need them quickly. Helen did not look convinced, as she continued to stare at the ladies outfits. Im not sure we can help your.. friends, Mr Reynolds. Jake thought for sure they were dead in the water. He hated to think of hauling the ladies to Wal-mart dressed like this looking for clothing.

Bru however, saved the day. She swooped in and took Helen by the hand, and shook it gratefully. “Miss Helen, I am Brunella Ailuream, and I am so grateful you could help myself and my bridesmaids. The house fire was so terrible, and it happened at the worst time! A week before the wedding! We lost all of our clothes, I even lost my wedding dress!! It was simply terrible, we girls had to stand in the front yard wrapped in sooty bed sheets, in front of all the neighbors. It was so awful! Bru started crying, causing Selene and Jiselle to comfort her, saying reassuring words. “Dear Jake was kind enough to loan us some clothing. This was all he had that would fit us, Im sure we all look like harlots to you, I assure you were are not those kind of women!”

Tears streamed down Bru’s face as she laid it on thick, Jake had no clue how women could cry on demand. He just stood back and watched her work. Bru took a deep breath as she wiped her eyes. “ I cant believe that, my wedding dress is gone, my wedding is simply ruined! We lost everything! Even our identification and credit cards!” She looked at Helen with a sad expression on her face. “Im afraid we do not have much money with us, so we cannot afford to buy much. Helen was a tough old bird, the story didn’t swayed her a bit, and at the mention of limited money her frown grew worse, but then Bru set the hook. “ No we cannot afford to buy much. We can only afford to spend five thousand dollars each at the moment, a pittance. I can see by your expression that you do not wish to even keep your store open for us for such a paltry amount. I understand, we are sorry for wasting your time. Come ladies lets go, perhaps that wal-mart espablishment Jake mentioned is more what we need, considering our current finances.

Helen’s stern look evaporated instantly and was replaced with pure concern. She ushered her sales girls towards the women.“I will not hear of it Miss Alerium ! You have been through a terrible experience, Helen’s boutique will have you looking your best by the time you leave here. You come and sit down and make yourself comfortable.” She turned to the nearest sales women. “Just don’t stand there Judy, bring Miss Alerium and her friends some wine, cant you see what they have been through?” Helen ushered Bru and the other ladies into a sitting area containing comfortable couches, she sat next to Bru and patted her hand. “ I simply love your accent my dear, it is so exotic. Where are you and your friends from originally. Bru smiled. “ We are from Eliesium.” Helen looked confused. “I have never head of that place, where is it? Bru looked stumped, she had exhausted the game plan they has rehearsed, and had accidently mentioned her real home, the Elf capital.” Bru recovered nicely though. “ Oh miss Helen, you are funny, you obviously know where Eliesium is, everyone has heard of my quaint little town!”

Helen looked confused, but then realized everyone was looking at her. “ Of course dear, I know where it is, I just wanted you to hear you talk about your beautiful home. I can never hear enough about it, I hope to vacation there sometime.” Bru smiled sweetly and patted her hand. “You are such a dear woman Helen, I will tell all my friends about your wonderful boutique. May we get started with our shopping?” The employee returned with a tray of wine glasses, and starting passing them out. Helen smiled. “Of course dear, immediately. What will you ladies be needing? Bru smiled. “ We will be staying with Jake until we work things out. Jake dear, what you you suggest we buy today?” Jake stepped forward. “ Miss Helen, as Bru mentioned were have a budget of five thousand for each lady. I think we will shoot for at least twelve outfits each today. Lets say for each lady, a evening dress, a cocktail dress, some pretty sun dresses, slacks, blouses, jeans, and of course the appropriate shoes to go with them. Handbags, panties, bra’s, pajamas, and a few sets of lingerie. How does that sound Bru?”

Bru looked thoughtful for a moment. “I believe that will do nicely Jake. Miss Helen, do you have all of that?” Helen nodded. “ Of course dear ! We will get started at once.” She shooed her sales girls forward, and each took a woman and led her away to get started. Jake pulled Helen aside, and whispered to her. “ Helen, Bru and her family only recently came into money, before this they were pretty much all poor farm girls, extremely poor. Honestly none of them have ever even owned a bra before, and I doubt they have a clue about them. It embarrasses Bru greatly, and I do not wish to have her or any of the ladies embarrassed, or upset considering what they have gone through already. Could you mention quietly to your people they they might all need extra help, and suggestions, when it comes to bra’s, lingerie, and such?”

Helen looked surprised, but then nodded. ‘ Of course, I want them to all be comfortable. I will mention it.” Jake smiled. “Thank you. Also, Bru and her friends are not one to put on airs, and they really do not care about expensive clothes, as long as they are pretty, and good quality, they will be happy. They would much rather have more outfits of lesser expense, than fewer that were more expensive. If you can get the ladies well outfitted with the items we discussed, everything that is left over out of the individual girls budget, can go to your boutique and sales people as a tip. How does that sound? I think that deal will benefit us both.” Helen smiled like a shark, smelling blood in the water. “ Yes, I believe we can do that Mr Reynolds, with the quantity of clothing you are buying today, I am sure we can work something out. Why don’t you sit in that chair over there, and make yourself comfortable. I will have more wine brought out, and you can help the ladies pick some outfits perhaps.” Jake nodded, and smiled.

The chair was pretty comfortable, and the wine was decent, at least it got better the more he drank. It started out slowly, but soon lady after lady pranced out to model their outfits for him, they were all beautiful, and all had amazing bodies, and they were all showering him with attention. He loved every second of it, some of the outfits they modeled he was pretty sure they had picked just to get a rise out of him, and it was working. He was pretty aroused already. There was a lot of giggling in the dressing room, and then Asmund, and Miranda stepped out wearing a full set of lingerie. They looked amazing. Both girls were wearing the same thing, just in different colors. Silky push up bustier’s, made their waists seem slimmer, and their already amply breasts to appear larger. The panties were tiny and made of a lacy material, and the way they enhanced the curves in the crotch area made his mind go to naughty places and his blood race.

They had garter belts snug around their waists, and the way the straps looked against their thighs was mesmerizing, he took a glance at the stockings that enhanced the look of their legs and he decided he could take no more. When they got home tonight he was damn well planning on having the ladies resolve the issue they had created. He smiled at the thought, it would be a good time for them to model that lingerie for him in a more private setting. Jake stepped to the ladies, and pulled them close and whispered to them. “ You look good enough to eat. You have no idea how much this is effecting me.” Asmund glanced down at his waist. “ I believe I have a idea.” She grinned, and she moved her hips side to side. “ Jake groaned in misery. “Well I want you to pass on to the others just how good I think you look all look tonight. You are all driving me crazy you look so sexy and beautiful. I think you should model your lingerie for me tonight when we get home.”

Miranda smiled. “ Will Bru be joining us? You should invite her, she definitely has feelings for you Mlord.” Jake sighed. Isnt four women enough for me to satisfy? Do we really need another one in bed with us? I like Bru very much, and think she is beautiful, but its complicated. I don’t want create problems between us.” Asmund looked confused. What complications? We do not mind if she joins us, we like her very much, and we want everyone to be happy. We do not like the idea of her being alone.” “Jake sighed. “ That is sweet Ladies, but I meant complicate things between myself and Bru, im not sure we are ready to take our relationship there, or even if we should ever. You can invite her to model lingerie tonight though if you want. He grinned.” Asmund nodded. “ Asmund flashed a brilliant smile than ended up with a naughty look to it. “As Milord wishes.”

Then her face turned serious. “I understand what you mean though. She is a good person, and is kind to us, we think of her as a sister. We would not want to see her, or Mlord hurt to be hurt. Tread carefully with her Mlord.” Jake smiled. I care deeply for all of you, I never want to cause pain to you ever. Except for maybe a little spanking. He smirked. Asmund and Miranda gasp in a most arousing way, then giggled. “Tonight then, love. We have more wonderful clothes to be fitted for, go away now Jake. They spun around and darted back into the dressing room. He managed to smack them both on the butt before the got away though, resulting in a satisfying smack, and feminine squeals. He caught Helen looking at him with a frown. He did have some things to do though while they were being fitted. Pretty womens clothing was all well and good, but they were not always going to be able to wear these. They were going to need some practical clothing as well, clothing for work, and for travel.

He got all of the girls clothing and shoe sizes from Helen, then excused himself, and said he would be back in a hour or so to settle up. He drove to a nearby by military surplus store, and did some shopping of his own. He figured this was the best place to get what he needed. He told the store owner he was going to buy a big order, but was in a hurry, and needed help. The man was happy to help when he explained what he needed. Jake bought each women four sets of tactical clothing, sticking with tan, and green colors, the clothing was made of very tough material, and featured lots of pockets. He liked the pants uite a bit, and picked himself up a few sets as well. They each got several pairs of winter and summer boots, socks, thermal underwear, gloves, boonie hats, belts, sunglasses, and more. He did not know what their future held, but he knew there was likely to be some danger in it. He planned to teach them all to shoot, and they were going to need a way to carry a pistol.

He picked up some belt knives, as well as some high quality holsters, that would fit pistols he had seen in the armory. He considered body armor, but didn’t think it would be needed. All the threats he expected revolved around knives, swords, spears and arrows, something kevlar was not suitable for protection against. They needed something like chain mail for that. He made a mental note to look into possibly getting some, he figured someone likely made it. He paid for the large pile of gear, and loaded it into the back of the car, he was glad he had the huge station wagon, they would need a lot of room to haul home all of the ladies purchases from tonight, and the old car had room to spare. He loved the way it drived, and how it looked, the cherry red paint, and bright chrome gleamed in the streetlights. His uncle had good taste in vehicles, and he kept them in new condition.

The short return drive to Helens Boutique took only minutes, and he was soon pulling up in front of it. He walked back inside, and was pleased by what he saw. All five ladies were standing in the waiting area, where they were all happily chatting with each other, and complimenting each other on how they looked in their outfits. That was something he loved about them, they were never catty to each other the way many women were from his experience. They all really seemed to care for each other a great deal, and only wanted to see the other happy. He was especially pleased at how uickly they made Bru feel welcome to their little family. He looked at each lady from head to toe and smiled. He was a damn lucky man, they all looked simply stunning. He had never seen any of them really dressed up before and the difference was amazing, they were always pretty, and attractive, but now their beauty was at a entirely new level in new clothing. They were all dressed in black snug fitting cocktail dresses that showed a lot of leg, and were wearing matching high heels as well. He noticed they looked a little unsteady in the heels at times but they seemed determined to wear them.

He was not going to argue, the shoes looked great on them, and he loved the ways they made their legs look longer. The store staff had gone above and beyond and even styled their hair a bit, and supplied them with makeup. Jake looked at the ladies all dressed in their new sexy black dresses, high heels and red lipstick and his heart fluttered. His women looked beautiful, hot damn did they look good, they all smiled at him, and turned in little circles to show off their new looks. Apparently he had been staring at them for a while because Helen cleared her throat to get his attention. “ Mr Reynolds, you arrived just in time, we had just gotten finished. I suggested to the ladies that since its dinner time, they should dress up for dinner, and you could take them all to the new french restaurant around the corner. Tre Sirene is hard to get into, but I am friends with the owners wife. She is holding a table for your party. I hope you don’t mind.” The woman were all looking at Jake with big grins. Bru spoke first. “ Do we look nice enough to take to dinner Jake?” Jake grinned. You ladies are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. You all look amazing.

I would love to take you goddesses to dinner.” He was rewarded with big smiles and giggles. “Shall we settle up miss Helen? How many outfits did we end up with?” He asked. “ Helen smiled. The ladies were simply a joy to work with. They are the sweetest ladies I have ever had the pleasure to help. They made us all feel like it was our first shopping trip, as their excitement was so contagious, tonight was more like a party than work.” Helen took out a small notebook. “We did a lot better than you asked for Mr Reynolds. Each lady has the following. A cocktail dress, a evening dress, four sun dresses, four sets of slacks, with blouses, four pairs of jeans, with blouses, ten sets of bras and panties, a swimsuit, two sets of pajamas, two sets of lingerie, hosiery, dress shoes, casual shoes, sandals, purses, costume jewelry and a makeup kit.” Jake whistled. “ I am impressed Helen, that’s simply amazing. He Reached into his jacket pocket and handed her a stack of one hundred dollar bills, in the agreed on amount. Then he had a thought, and pulled out some more money and personally handed each of the sales ladies another hundred dollars, and thanked them for being so helpful. They were all pretty happy with the extra tip. “ Feel free to come back if you need anything else.” Helen smiled. “ We would love to have you again, its been a real pleasure !”

Jake considered the money he had just spent for a moment. Twenty five thousand dollars was a fortune to him just a few weeks ago, and it was still a great sum of money to be sure. He could have gotten away with spending a hell of a lot less money to get them clothes, but he wanted to do something really nice for all of them, they damn sure deserved it. He could never have gotten them outfitted on his own, he knew jack shit about women’s fashions, much less fitting bras. Helen and her team had done a amazing job. Just looking at the women and seeing how good they looked in their new clothes, and how damn happy they were now he knew he had done the right thing. “ Who’s hungry?” He asked.

Dinner was a hit, and even though Jake hated fancy restaurants he had a hell of a good time. He was sitting at a table surrounded by five gorgeous women, who were all giving him loads of attention, what was not to like? He loved every minute of it. Every damn man in the place was looking at him with envy during dinner, as well as a couple of women as well. They drank wine, ate dinner and talked for hours, then he had them each talk about their shopping experience, and to share what they liked most about it. He wanted everyone to get the most out of their night. Everyone told each woman how good she looked in their new clothes, and he especially poured on the compliments. They were all having the time of their life, and he really wanted them to enjoy themselves, they damn sure deserved it. Bru leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Asmund mentioned that you wanted us to model our lingerie for you tonight, I think you will like what I picked out.” Jake’s heart skipped a beat. “Check please !”

I like the chapter, laid back and fun.

That pretty much says it all for this installment.  Keep up the good work!

Thanks guys. Yeah, I want it to be fun. Jake is supposed to be a patriot, ex mil kind of guy, who has strong morals. He has a love of adventure, and he has a strong desire to do the right thing. However, the right thing to him, is not always the right thing for some situations, and he gets himself into goofy situations quite a bit often over cultural issues, and his love of women.

Its a balancing act. Like I said, this story will have a lot of details added, issues fixed, and conversations more stream lined to flow better.  I over thing things a lot, and put too much information in the story, when I can just gloss over it, and not enough sometime when I need more detail. Its something I'm working on. When I get the story to a certain point I usually think over what I have written through the day, and I see issues that need fixing.

I am pretty happy with the general story so far however.