Love's Labors, Part 23


For a while you simply lay there, staring up at the ceiling, too tired to think of much at all. You feel drained in ways you can't ever remember feeling before. It's more than mere hunger. In fact, your actual Lust reserves are honestly not as depleted as you might have expected. No, this bone-deep weariness is... something deeper. A spiritual ache, from the strain of the intense battle for your soul.

You pay little attention to the passage of time, until you feel Lily's sleeping form start to shift. Slowly, blearily she raises her head, looking through strands of pale blonde hair, whereupon she sees that you're looking at her. Her eyes light up, and she shoots bolt upright, hastily tucking her out-of-place hair behind her ear. "You're awake!" she says, relief in her voice. "Oh, thank goodness! Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," you reassure her, offering your mistress a weary half-smile. "Just... tired. I learned some things in the battle. Things that will... take some time to think through."

Lily blinks. "What kind of things?" she asks, sounding worried for you. Then she looks down. "If you don't mind my asking, I mean. I'm... sorry if that's prying."

You lay your head back, looking at the ceiling again. You feel like you ought to put on a brave face. Say something reassuring. Use your trusted skills to steer Lily's emotional state in the best direction you can.

But... you're just so tired. And the weight of what you've learned hangs so heavy on you. And for once, the temptation to unburden those fears to another soul—without embellishment or couching—is too great for even you to resist.

So you start to explain.

You explain what you saw in the Incubus King's memories. You explain the depths of the depravity to which he fell. You explain why the succubi are so afraid, why want you dead so badly. You explain how little you can blame them for it.

You explain how easily it could all happen again, if the Demon Lord overcomes you in the end.

You explain how you used—albeit unknowingly—the same weakness against Rysanial that Incubus King relied so deeply on, to the point that it was his downfall. Even though intellectually you know the vast difference in circumstances, it still unsettles you on an emotional level. Especially with the lines between him and you under ever-present threat of blurring away, should you lose your fight.

What should you say to her?

How will she react?

A part of you winces with each admission you make to Lily, belatedly berating yourself for not phrasing it better. Berating yourself for not crafting each statement, to at least control its impact. But the words just continue to tumble from your lips, your usual eloquence abandoned in the face of your utter exhaustion and uncertainty.

Lily listens quietly, attentive through it all, her small hands clasping yours tight. Even after you finish she is quiet, searching for something she can say. "I'm sure Rysanial would understand..." she tells you at length, the young woman fumbling for the words in her simple, honest reassurance. "And... and I'm sure we can find a way to save you, with everyone that you've gathered here!"

Her hands grip yours tighter. "Before I met you... I didn't have any hope," she admits quietly. "Even the summoning was out of desperation. I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know if it would change anything. But after I met you..." She looks up at you, eyes shining. "You gave me hope again. So please... let us do the same for you."

Lily's reassurance is even more clumsy and unpolished than your confession was. But unlike you, such artless sincerity is entirely what you'd expect from her. You smile back—a full smile this time—and give her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Then, with a groan, you roll yourself out of the bed, wobbling for balance as you stand. You stretch, a few joints popping as you work the kinks out of your body. It isn't as taxing as you feared, though you suspect that you were unconscious for longer than you realized. "Well then..." you say, some of your usual confidence returning. "I suppose I ought to see what has happened while I've been out of commission."

Lily nods, rising to her feet as well. Then she hesitates. "Wait..." she says quietly, averting her eyes from yours. "First... I need to say something too. I'm... sorry for putting you under my control like this. I didn't... I wasn't thinking about what it really meant, to bind you like that. But I promise, I won't make you do anything you don't want to do! I... I trust you, now."

You pause, your eyes widening a little in surprise, at the unexpected direction that she took what you told her about the geas. Comparing it to her control over you as your summoner.

Then you ruffle her hair, giving her a roguish grin. "Don't worry," you reassure her. "That's something entirely different. I chose to be here, with full knowledge of what that meant. Doing this is everything I was made for. And there is no mistress I would rather have than you."

Lily blushes adorably, looking up at you with a hopeful expression. Then she coughs. "W-well then..." she says, clearly flustered. "You're right, I... I should let you know everything you missed. The most important thing actually happened even before your battle with the Demon Lord, while you were still down in the crypts. There was an attempt to kill that young orc girl you brought back. An entire group of Darakol Assassins, some of the most dangerous killers in Kovora."

Your eyes widen. "Already?" you ask, surprised. "Was anyone hurt?"

The Witch Queen shakes her head. "When I understood the girl's situation, I had her kept her close by me. And fortunately, Khaytala was there, on guard. She was the one who noticed their approach. And she carved through them all, single-handed. She even managed to capture one for interrogation. But whoever hired them must have cast a powerful spell beforehand, and he triggered it once their mission failed. The prisoner... died before we could do anything." From the pale look on her face, it was not a clean death either.

"Nergan," you say grimly, little question in your mind that the High Priest of Melca was behind this. It was, after all, the Church of Melca that the girl was afraid of. Still, for them to react this quickly, it must have been based on a direct revelation from Melca herself that you had taken the young orc into your care.

Which is illuminating all on its own, that your enemies would go to such lengths. What is it about this girl that concerns them so? It must be far more than a simple doctrinal dispute for them to take such rash, extreme measures.

Either way, it's very fortunate that you assigned Khaytala to guard the homefront. And you can only assume that the danger has not passed.

Then Lily coughs. "There was... also another prisoner we caught as well..." she says. "Though this one was more recent. Just yesterday, in fact. She was also, um... somewhat less of a threat. It's... perhaps best I show you."

Raising an eyebrow, you follow the young queen out of your room and down the winding fortress stairs, and from there head toward the barracks housing your currently-small contingent of corrupted troops. Even from the outside you can hear the familiar sounds of an orgy going on inside. It's only when you enter that you see the identity of the new participant in their revels.

It's a harpy.

Her hair and feathers are both brown, a petite woman's body with talons instead of feet, and wings in the place of arms, the feathers from them running up her back until they blend into her hair. She's small and slender, her featherweight frame built for flying.

Or in this case, built for being lifted up like she weighs nothing at all, her cunt impaled over and over again on thick, demonically-enhanced orc cock, until her eyes roll back in her head and her speech is nothing but rapturous chirps and coos of utter bliss.

Lily keeps her distance, clearly embarrassed and flustered by the carnal spectacle. You approach Ghazar, the leader of the corrupted orcs, who is sitting close to the revelry. He's clearly keeping an eye on it, even as one of his large hands rests on the head of the young assassin girl who once tried to kill Khaytala. She kneels between his legs, eagerly licking and sucking his cock. He salutes as you approach. "Sir."

You nod in reply. "I see you're back," you say. "Did the raid on the village go well?"

Ghazar grins toothily. "Like clockwork," he says, his voice a deep rumble. Then he gestures down at the assassin girl. "Sent this one in ahead, as poor refugee seeking shelter. They welcomed her with open arms. Then, when night fell, she went out to 'show her appreciation' to the couple of guards they had in their watchtower. Once she'd fucked them until they couldn't even stand, the rest of us moved in. Humans never even realized we were there until we were on top of them."

"How did they respond?" you ask.

"Panic at first," says Ghazar. "Lot of screaming and begging. But not for long. They came around in hardly any time at all. Then... well, it was a different kind of screaming."

He gestures toward his younger sister, Rakhai, who is standing with the other female orcs you allowed into their ranks. Many of them are fucking as well, though some—like Rakhai herself—are caught up in watching the induction of the new arrival. Rakhai and one of the dark elves you captured are frigging each other as they watch the harpy get gangbanged.

"They did even better than I expected," Ghazar admits. "I lost count of how many of the human boys Rakhai pinned down and rode. And most of 'em were outright pining after her when we left a few days later. No mistake, even if we didn't keep a military presence there... we own that place now. They'd welcome us back in a heartbeat, after the time we showed them."

"And the food?"

"We did exactly as her majesty said. Took as much as we could without putting them in danger for the winter. Fucking disgusting, how much they can grow when it's on land that isn't cursed like ours is."

Then he looks you more closely. "Just one thing you ought to know, sir. That was the last village of that size that was worth hitting, and that we didn't already hit back when Varthurg was running things. We want to keep doing it this way? We'll have to move on to bigger targets. Towns that will need more manpower to take, and draw more attention. Maybe even reprisals."

You nod. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

It's definitely something to be aware of. But you aren't overly worried. It's not as though you don't still have a plethora of options. There are still other avenues you've identified for gaining food rather than raids. And even if a raid ended up the best course of action, there may still be opportunities for either avoiding or dealing with the potential retaliation.

But right now, you're interested in clearing up this other mystery. "And our winged friend over there?"

Ghazar chuckles. "It's lucky we caught her, or our food situation would have been even worse. One of the dark elves caught her nosing around our storehouses. After a bit of persuasion, she confessed that she's a scout for a big nest that set up in the region not long ago. Dumb birds were planning to try and make off with some of our food."

Turning, you walk back toward the heart of the orgy. At your gesture, the orcs fucking the harpy pull away, leaving her cum-covered body kneeling on the floor, looking piteously at the orc cocks that were so suddenly taken from her. "Why stop?" she chirps up at you in broken speech. "Orcs put egg in Zel. Help grow nest!"

"Is what he said true?" you ask her. "Is your nest planning an attack on our storehouses?"

The harpy blinks owlishly, as she considers your words. "Zel find food. Nest need food. Nest get food. Maybe get males for fun-times. Grow nest. Will be good, yes? Orcs give Zel much, much cum already!"

You know that harpies in general are usually regarded as particularly aggravating pests. An all-female race, they're not usually intelligent enough to pose a serious threat to a civilized region, but the scavengers are known for stealing food... or anything else shiny that catches their eye. They also need the males of other races to reproduce. This often takes the form of crude barter for someone willing to become their breeding studs... but can also take the form of outright abduction into the nest-harem.

Well. This is clearly a situation that will need to be dealt with one way or another. Fortunately, you have a prisoner who knows exactly where the nest is, and you have no doubt in your ability to extract the information. If it's as nearby as it sounds it should be easy to stage a raid, fucking the entire nest into submission in a mere matter of a day or two.

The question is what you do with them then.

On one hand, you could simply send the nest away, across the border into the lands of the heroines threatening you. This could divide the focus of the allied nations, giving them more to worry about and hampering their ability to attempt reprisals a bit as they deal with issues on multiple fronts.

On the other hand, you could integrate them as a loyal part of your army, as well as eager partners for your orcs to fuck. Normally such creatures would be difficult to control, but with the power of your Corruptive Boon you're quite confident you can bring them firmly under your sway. Especially if Zel is any indication of how eager they are for sex, even without demonic influence.

It would increase the numbers of your loyal forces. And the higher percentage of females will likely improve the orc morale as well. But perhaps more than anything else, it's the ability to put forces into the air that is most tempting. You know from personal experience that such an advantage can be used in any number of ways, from scouts to more direct means.

That said, you'd need to set aside an extra (one time) reserve of rations for them. And if you went that route, then given your current supplies, you'd definitely want to make sure to send at least one of your assets to get some more food during your next mission, through one of your several available methods.

In the end, either approach could grant advantages. Still, you'll need to decide on which to suggest pursuing.