Given Valda’s urging earlier to the others, it was unsurprising to find that the bathing rooms in the building reserved for the student-mages were full up when we got there. So the girls and I just scribbled a quick note on the message-slate attached to the door of our rooms before heading back out into the frontier town in search of one of the public bathhouses.

  The noise of the fighting had died down by now, and looking towards the wall I saw that the fighting had apparently come to an end. There were still many soldiers up on the wall, but the commander’s suggestion earlier that the attack would end soon, assisted by Valda’s rear-attack, seemed spot on.

  “You know,” murmured the blushing Shayla. “We’ve been here for weeks, months almost, and I’m still astonished at how easily the people of the village bounce back from fighting to return to daily life.”

  “It’s part of their way of life,” Jane answered without hesitation as she bounced along on my left. Since our difference in height made holding hands awkward, her long tail was instead wrapped multiple times around my left arm, connecting us like an extra hand with more reach anyway.

  “Makes sense,” I said, gently stroking the fluffy tip of Jane’s tail which was wrapped around my wrist. The gentle touch made the smaller woman shiver happily. “From everything we know, these barbarians raid every year, so they are used to the occasional fighting and have learned to live with it.”

  “I am unsure if that is a good thing or a sad one,” Shayla murmured as we walked down the central street, watching as daily life continued in the small town, becoming more and more normal the further we got from the wall.

  Children laughed and ran across the street in front of us, sunlight sparkling on their multi-colored scales as they played. Merchants offered wares from weapons, to cloth, to food from carts parked along the main road. People chatted on street corners.

  But everyone is armed, I thought as I studied those around us. No one here will let themselves become victims. Even the kids all have knives at their belts, but none of them play with them. This is the discipline of warrior-breeds like the lizardfolk.

  “They are a tough people,” I said aloud to Shayla. “They have embraced this life and adapted to it without letting it break them or turn them into monsters. That is something I can respect.”

  “Agreed,” Shayla said softly, turning to glance at me out of one pitch-black eye while the feathery length of her antennae lightly stroked my cheek. “Just like you’ve adapted so well to this life too.”

  “It’s easy to do with my girls at my side,” I answered automatically, shooting her a winning smile.

  “You say that, Liam. But you’ve told us stories of your life back on Earth,” Shayla said gently, the arm entwined with mine tugging me gently until her soft breasts pressed into it. “Your world is far more peaceful than ours, and you don’t have to fight to survive there.”

  “Oh I do,” I said with a shake of my head and a small sigh. “Maybe not as literally as I do here, but I still fight to survive every day I live on Earth. The difference is that the monsters I’m fighting are corporations and politicians so entrenched in society that it’s easier to just pay them to leave me alone.”

  I felt Jane’s tail tighten around my forearm and turned to look down at the smaller mouse kin woman.

  “Liam, surely it can’t be that bad?” Jane asked, her little face crumpling in concern and I felt my heart go out to her. The little scholar was worried for me when we had literally fought to survive on her world only minutes ago.

  “It’d take something drastic to change my world at this point. Either some kind of massive natural disaster or disease outbreak that shakes everything up entirely to the point where the relics in charge either adapt or get wiped out,” I said, stroking the top of her head affectionately.

  A thought crossed my mind and I couldn’t hide the smirk that it brought, though I didn’t hesitate to share my amusement.

  “That or maybe the world gets taken over by beautiful monster women from beyond the stars,” I chuckled, thinking about the book series I’d seen online weeks before.

  “If it makes things better, then who would complain? Besides the people in power being forced to realize that they can’t keep leeching off their subjects,” Shayla asked thoughtfully. “I suppose that is one thing to be glad of with Queen Coldeye. She’s well known for having a fair hand on taxes and laws to ensure that everyone can flourish.”

  “I can only imagine how complicated it is to manage an economy that has coinage which magically becomes more valuable in certain situations,” I agreed as we finally came to a section of town near the western edge that held a building that took up most of the block.

  From the outside, the bathhouse had the look of a warehouse. Like all the buildings in this mountain town, it was built partially into the ground for insulation, while several squat chimneys belched steady streams of smoke up from the slate-tiled roof. The light, tan stone of the walls gave the building an airy feel despite being made chiefly of stone with leaded glass windows. The whole building emanated a warmth that was more than just tangible, and the sign above the large doors—a steaming bowl with a folded white cloth under it—declared its purpose to anyone walking past.

  “Early enough in the day that I doubt there are many people inside,” Jane murmured and I felt her tail squeeze on my wrist once more.

  A quick glance down at her told me her blush was back and thick as ever, so I went back to finger-combing her fluffy mohawk, getting a quiet squeak of surprise followed by a happy little groan.

  “I was thinking of a private room,” I suggested, glancing towards Shayla who was also faintly flushing, but the suggestion got a broad smile from her as well as a happy fluttering of her gossamer wings that made her travel-stained dress stir alluringly.

  “That sounds wonderful,” Shayla said when she realized I was waiting for her verbal approval. “I would like to be able to relax and enjoy myself. I’m getting better but…”

  “But my moth maiden is still a shy girl,” I continued when she let the sentence fade off. “Come on, let’s get inside and start washing up. We can worry about what happens later after that.”

  Both girls’ blushes had thickened as I mentioned washing up, and Shayla licked her lips hungrily. Neither protested or suggested otherwise, so I led the way inside.

  The front room was set up slightly different from the other bathhouses I’d been to. Though that was somewhat expected given we had to descend eight steps as soon as we came through the door to reach the actual floor of the building.

  The interior of the building was done up in polished hardwood with fired clay tiles making up the flooring. Polished silver lamps hung from the walls, supplementing the natural light that made it through the high windows in each wall to brighten the white-washed interior.

  “Welcome!” greeted an older female lizardfolk once we were halfway down the stairs, her wrinkled skin speckled with dark blue scales.

  She sat on a stool behind a counter directly across from the bottom of the stairs. Despite her age, the woman’s eyes were bright as they took us in with a quick glance and recognition before looking at me with her smile still firmly in place.

  “Hello, miss—” I greeted and the words immediately made her smile spread further before she cut me off.

  “Oh, don’t you try and charm me, young man,” the older woman chuckled. “Especially with two lovely ladies on your arms. I assume from the state of you that you are here to make use of our baths?”

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  “Yes,” I began. A grumbling sound from Jane’s stomach interrupted me again, but only for a moment as I kept talking to cover it up as I felt Jane shift to hide against my side. “And a meal if you offer that here. We just got back from an extended mission. I’m honestly surprised you don’t have more of the party banging on your doors.”

  “Oh, they are probably still filtering through the barracks to get spare uniforms,” the old woman said with a grin wide enough to make her eyes squint. “And I can arrange a meal for you three before, after, or during your bath. Though I’d recommend a private room if you don’t want the others stealing bites of your food. Soldiers are hungry folk.”

  “Private room then,” I said without hesitation. “I have nothing against the others, but I’ve worked up enough of a hunger that I’m worried about biting off hands if someone tries to steal a bite. Well, hands besides the ones belonging to these two.”

  Shayla giggled quietly, her wings fluttering against my back, while Jane muffled a snort of laughter.

  “I imagine yes,” the elderly woman chuckled before looking down at her desk.

  The quiet clack of wood on wood followed and I peered over to see her shifting beads rapidly around on an abacus built into the desk before she opened a drawer and fished out a large brass key with a number four on the wooden token hanging from it.

  “Room four will suit you all nicely. It’s a bit of a walk but far enough away from the main baths to allow you some peace and quiet,” the old lizardfolk said with a knowing smile as she slid the key across the counter. “I’ll run a tally for you, Master Traveler. If you need more food, drinks, or assistance, just pull on the blue rope by the door and someone will come by to check on you. The food will be by in a few minutes. You don’t need to worry about leaving the door unlocked, as the assistant will have their own key and knock to let you know they are coming in.”

  “Excellent,” I said, favoring her with another smile of my own and a brief bow of my head. “I am looking forward to getting clean and relaxing. I hope you have a good day.”

  The rattle of the door opening behind me and the familiar sounds of half a dozen voices talking tiredly about cleaning up after the battle came just as I collected the key.

  “Oh, I imagine it will be a good day for business. Enjoy yourselves,” the old woman chuckled, making a note of something with a piece of chalk behind her desk as a group of familiar soldiers tramped down the stairs behind us.

  “I can’t wait to wash up,” muttered one female lizardfolk, tugging at her blood-stained uniform. “I swear, my skin is crawling from the old sweat.

  “Agreed,” grunted another female soldier before her eyes caught on me and she stiffened, seemingly uncertain if she should salute, come to attention, or just ignore me. “Ah, Traveler Liam, it’s good—”

  I cut off her hurried words with a shake of my head and a smile. I didn’t know her name, but I recognized her and several of the others from the group that had gone with us on our mission. The still-tacky blood on their uniforms told me that they had likely come here as directly as we did.

  “Easy. You all are off duty, so no reason to act stiff. We all earned some time to rest after the last week,” I reassured them and the group relaxed.

  A thought crossed my mind and I remembered just how much local coinage I had on hand that I couldn’t really use for much, and that was with a large amount already invested by Kassandra.

  Glancing back over my shoulder to the older lizardfolk woman behind the desk, I asked her a question that got murmurs running for the tired soldiers.

  “Do you offer alcohol here?”

  “Mulled mead and wine by the bottle, and beer by the stein,” the older woman supplied without hesitation. So I answered her the same way.

  “Six bottles of mead on my tab, for them. They earned it fighting by my side.”

  That got a tired cheer from the soldiers as they murmured their thanks to me.

  “I will give you one last order. No, make that two,” I said, turning my attention back to the six smiling soldiers. “Don’t pass out in the bath and drown from being drunk. Think of how ridiculous it’d be to survive what you did only to fall prey to some hot water.”

  “And the second thing?” asked the woman in the lead of the group.

  I smirked at her before glancing back toward the proprietor. “Please put another twelve bottles of mead aside for anyone else from their group that comes by. You six are in charge of making sure your battle-brethren get a drink to celebrate as well. Any you don’t hand out, take it back to the barracks to share with the others who chose sleep over a bath.”

  This time, the cheering was even more energetic.

  “Come on,” Jane urged, reaching up to add her hands to the tail holding my left arm and giving it a tug. “If we let him stand around for too long, Liam is going to end up buying everyone dinner too and I’m starving.”

  “She does have a point,” Shayla murmured, her antennae balling up in amusement as she watched, her lips turning up in a soft smile.

  “Starving, eh? I’ll have to make sure you are well stuffed then,” I teased Jane, bending suddenly to scoop her up with one arm.

  Jane squeaked sharply in surprise as I lifted her effortlessly into the air, pinning her to my side while Shayla giggled at our antics. Jane’s arms wrapped around my head, pulling it against her more modest chest as she fought to balance herself in my grip.

  “Liam! You are such a… a…” Jane squealed, her nose wrinkling in frustration as she tried to come up with the word.

  “A what?” I teased, smiling up at her.

  “Such a silly man,” Jane huffed, her frustration melting away into an affectionate smile.

  “Yeah, but I’m your silly man,” I reminded her, bouncing the smaller woman in my arm and making her squeak in surprise while the observers all chuckled.

  I gave the soldiers a nod before heading down the indicated corridor to the private rooms with Shayla still hugging my right arm and Jane in my left.

  “Such a silly man,” Jane murmured, her grip on my head relaxing and her slim fingers running through my hair affectionately.

  “But our silly man,” Shayla murmured affectionately, repeating my earlier words with another helping of love laid across them as we walked.

  “Also a lucky man,” I chuckled, leaning over to nuzzle into Jane’s torso and making her coo quietly. “I don’t know how I got so lucky to have earned all of your affections, or why you put up with my mischief, but I’m happy for it.”

  “It’s the good looks,” Jane chuckled, one finger running down between my eyebrows to poke the tip of my nose. “And how attentive you are.”

  “And these hands of his,” Shayla continued, her fingers threading through mine to give my hand a squeeze. “So strong, but gentle with us. We all know we are safe with you, Liam.”

  “His lips aren’t so bad either, very soft,” Jane added, her voice growing husky as we reached the room marked two and kept going. “And he knows how to use them so well…”

  Shayla, seeing where Jane was going with this, blushed even darker and bit her bottom lip cutely. The determined squaring of her shoulders and wrinkle of her forehead was so cute as she decided to follow up.

  “His shoulders are nothing to look down on either, so strong!” Shayla murmured, her cheeks darkening further with a flush.

  Jane’s smile grew wider while she wiggled in my grasp, grinding her hips into me.

  “I really like his abs, too. So muscled and firm,” Jane huffed in my ear, her hot breath stirring my hair around.

  “His arms are so strong too,” Shayla murmured, her words going breathy while her antennae gently stroked my other cheek. “He could pick any one of us and throw us about however he wanted, but he’d never hurt us.”

  “That butt is so cute in his pants too,” Jane chirped.

  “Enough, you two,” I rumbled, strangling a laugh as the pants they’d just mentioned were growing uncomfortably tight. “You don’t have to wind me up any more than you already have.”

  “But what if we want to?” Shayla asked gently, the feather-soft caress of her antennae joined by the warm brush of her breath over my neck when we finally reached the door to room four. “What if we want to stir you up so you wear us both out?”

  “Kass keeps bragging about what you did with her and Rieka,” Jane hummed in my ear and I felt a soft, wet heat tickle my earlobe as her tongue danced along the edge. “Not only do we have the opportunity to try the same, but after Kass put the idea in my mind earlier, I can’t stop thinking about it.”

  “I’m not going to force either of you to do something you don’t want to,” I said, my voice deep with desire. I’d wanted this, I’m not dumb enough to not admit that, but my affection for all of my girls made me double check to make sure this is what they wanted.

  “Oh there is plenty of territory for both of us,” Shayla murmured shyly, pressing into my side.

  The soft mountains of her full breasts enveloped my arm and she released her grip on that arm with one hand so she could rub her free hand across my chest.

  “Plenty of territory to mark and have fun with,” Jane purred, her wiggling in my arms getting more furious. “Plus, you’ll get the fun of Kass and Rieka wanting to ‘reclaim’ you and mark you themselves when they get their turns.”

  Chuckling, I gave both girls a loving squeeze. For all that I ended up on Cortha as an accident, it was the happiest accident I’d ever had. And now it was time to celebrate both that accident, and our continued survival of these ridiculous adventures I kept getting sucked into.

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