Ogre Tyrant

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 44 – Mustering for battle – Part Two

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 44 - Mustering for battle - Part Two

In order to shore up the metaphorical flank, Rikit had agreed to continue Conquering territories in the Laine Labyrinth with the bulk of the male Gnolls under her command. She had been insistent about sending the Ashfur females to Sanctuary, and since I saw no reason to refuse, Rikit was allowed half the day to settle them in before returning to the Laine Labyrinth.

A small garrison of soldiers was stationed at the Conquered Foothold. Due to a lack of available manpower, this would be the case for any additional Footholds and territories Rikit captured in the future.

With one exception.

Gregory had made a proposal of his own. As most Slaves would be poorly trained at best, he suggested that these Conquered territories be used as training locations for Slaves taken from the ongoing siege.

Since this would give the Slaves some respite from the fighting and provide a sort of reserve force in case of an emergency, I agreed.

Military instructors and drill Sergeants had begun arriving en masse to begin training the Slaves already under my control. The Quest system was capable of coaching literate Slaves through unlocking each of their desired Classes, but most were illiterate and needed focused instruction.

Recruiters had not been far behind, each man and woman amongst their number eagerly engaging in setting up their office in the building that had replaced the original guild office on the first floor. Once the office was adequately refurbished, the more junior recruiters began actively approaching the Slaves and directing them towards the newly opened recruiting office. The instructors were heavily involved as well, performing demonstrations of their Class’ capabilities in a large open space for the gathering crowds of Slaves, and then ceding the floor to a recruiter to then list the benefits of joining the military.

To be fair, most of the Slaves didn’t need much convincing. The overwhelming majority of the monsters had rushed to the recruitment office the moment they understood what the recruiters were offering. The humans had been comparatively reluctant, but the opportunity for reintegration into society in an equal standing was too tempting an offer. This made sense when the handful of years was compared against the anticipated continued lifetime of servitude. The fact that both groups were somewhat motivated by a desire for vengeance was not to be ignored either.

I had been thinking of what to call the Slavers that would be monitoring the recruited Slaves and ensuring compliance. Calling them Slavers was already straining my sensibilities, and I hadn’t even spoken the word aloud yet.

Parole officers’ seemed somewhat appropriate and would be unlikely to be confused with any existing civilian or military titles. It still had the association of the Slaves having done something wrong, and I was forced to admit that some of them may have done if the empire was using Slavery as a punishment. However, compared to Slaver or Slave Master, Parole Officer was far more neutral and prompted fewer pangs of guilt from my conscience.

I had progressed to another minor stage in my Evolution while fighting the mercenaries and guzzling Elixir. I had gained a small amount of height, but the adjustments in muscle mass and slight thickening of my bones meant my armour needed readjusting.

The Orc smiths in Sanctuary had done a good job in regard to forward planning. My chest armour had enough general coverage from the iron plates that some modifications to the harness underneath would be sufficient. The leg and arm armour would need adjusting as well, and I would need a new helmet.

It bothered me that I needed an excuse to return to Sanctuary. Sanctuary was meant to be my home, but the thought of returning filled me with intense anxiety. The Liche’s invasion had been a violation as much as it had been a wake-up call to the reality of outside threats. Leaving this theatre of war for a few hours, or even a day or so, would make very little difference. But it ‘would’ make a difference, and that knowledge piled guilt on top of my anxiety, creating a sort of paralysis.

“Lash misses you, you know,” Nadine commented quietly, having approached me from behind while I stood a few feet away from the Gateway.

It seemed obvious, but the knowledge surprised me all the same.

Nadine must have noticed because she gave me a strange look, “You didn’t think she would miss you?”

I looked away and tried to settle my thoughts. “I know she does,” I admitted, “But...”

“You aren’t used to thinking that way,” Nadine commented with a slight nod, “That people would not only notice your absence but care.”

I nodded.

A long silence passed between us.

“I’m sure Clarice would like to see you as well,” Nadine added hopefully, “In fact, I’m sure it would be difficult to actually find someone in Sanctuary that wouldn’t be glad to see you.”

“I know,” I agreed flatly, understanding that for many of Sanctuary’s residents, I was rapidly becoming something of a saviour.

“Then what’s keeping you here?” Nadine asked cautiously, “The war will still be here when you get back.”

“I know,” I replied with a frustrated sigh, clenching and unclenching my hands to try and dissipate some of the stress.

Nadine’s eyes narrowed for a moment before she quietly cleared her throat, “You know, Tim, visiting Sanctuary, even for a little while, would help the war effort.”

Nadine’s comment caught me off guard, and I couldn’t resist the baiting tone in her voice. “What do you mean?” I asked dubiously.

“It is a reminder of what you are fighting for,” Nadine stated matter of factly, “A reminder of who you are fighting to protect.”

Nadine had a point. I had spent more time away from Sanctuary than living in it, only seeming to visit rather than truly settle in. But it was my home, and it was the home of everyone I cared about. I had an image of Sanctuary in my mind, but it had grown difficult to recall and many details had slipped from my memory.

Even Lash took conscious effort to clearly picture in my mind, and I had seen a projection of her relatively recently while in Mournbrent’s Labyrinth.

Thinking of Lash prompted a fresh spike of anxiety.

She was due to deliver her egg sometime soon, and I began to panic as I realised I wasn’t sure precisely when Lash was actually due. I very nearly Summoned a projection so i could ask her, before realising I was being impulsive and reckless, not to mention stupid. The Gateway was right in front of me, and Lash was on the other side. All I had to do was touch the Gateway and think of home.

“Is something wrong?” Nadine asked with concern, apparently having noticed my momentary panic attack.

“Lash is pregnant,” I whispered hoarsely.

Nadine gave me a strange look and her cheeks coloured somewhat, “Uh, yes, she is?” Nadine agreed with uncertainty, obviously unclear why that was cause for concern.

“Egg...Soon,” I gasped, “Baby....Father...” A terror unlike any other I had ever felt in my life firmly settled in my chest.

“Oh...” Nadine’s embarrassment dissipated and her expression became more sympathetic, “I think I overheard some of the other Orc women who, erm...Anyway, I think I overheard them saying they weren't expecting for another...” She paused and stared at nothing in particular while silently counting and then abruptly looking somewhat concerned, “Uh, maybe it would be best to go see Lash now?” Nadine suggested nervously.

I nodded and stiffly grabbed the cold iron of the Gateway.

Doing my best to form an image of Sanctuary in my mind, I almost didn’t notice as Nadine suddenly grabbed a pair of fingers on my free hand.

I felt a small amount of mana pass through my hand and into the Gateway. After a moment of dizzying inertia, I found myself standing beneath the canopy of a towering swamp willow. The Sanctuary gateway was very nearly covered with mana flowers. Hana, her sister, or perhaps even Qreet, had enhanced the normally thin stalked and singular blooming flower to instead grow like a vine with hundreds of blooming flowers.

The guard detail of Orcs, Goblins and Serpent-Kin looked profoundly surprised to see me. The multiarmed serpent-like Daemon, Senn, was stationed in the limbs of a hollow tree that served as a checkpoint into the greater territory of Sanctuary. Unlike the others, Senn was not at all surprised to see me but was apparently excited nonetheless.

“My Tyrant!” Senn hissed in greeting while lowering herself from the hollow tree, “Wraithe iss with the Tyrantesss,” Senn explained hurriedly, her eyes growing unfocused for a moment as she telepathically communicated with her hatch-mate. “Wraithe inssisstss the Tyrantesss iss well but iss ssuffering from...” The Daemon paused, “Con-track-shons?...”

My mind ignored everything else Senn had said and focused on the last word she had awkwardly attempted to sound out. My guts clenched in panic and my body lurched into a stiff run.

Inhibited by gravity and a general degree of poor coordination my ‘running’ was more like awkward jogging. Thankfully, people had the good sense to clear out of the way, allowing me to generally maintain my forward momentum and avoid risking a tumble from attempting a sudden course correction.

Passing by the upper windows of the hospital, I heard muted sounds of pain and nearly tripped as my guts somehow managed to clench even tighter. However, even in my panic, I could see Orc women with swollen bellies still going about their daily lives with minimal discomfort. Rather than providing reassurance, my panic ratcheted up another level.

Did monster children have the same issues with premature births? It was an area of knowledge that was completely alien to my accumulated training and peripheral knowledge from Earth. The eggs weren’t like any instance I was aware of on Earth. Then again, I had never been particularly interested in the reproductive cycles of terrestrial Earth species.

The entrance to the Grove was bodily blocked by a giant hulking mass of muscle, bony spines and amber scales.

As I drew closer, the mound of scaly flesh stirred and rose to its feet. Sort of. Still hunched over like a gorilla, Dar’s increase in size and weight had made his slouching more pronounced and gave him an almost bear-like posture instead.

Dar did his best to move out of the way, but his dramatic increase in bulk made reversing difficult, so he had to move forward and off to the side. This also then required that his thick crocodilian tail needed to be vacated from the vicinity as well. To his credit, once Dar deemed himself to be sufficiently out of the way, he simply fell over onto his side and retracted his tail to clear a path.

Dar’s quiet nature and size often made me underestimate his intelligence, which was somewhat ironic considering how often other people had done the same to me. Objectively, Dar wasn’t even the ‘dumbest’ Daemon. He was actually one of the smartest in terms of the raw and unmodified Intelligence stat. Dar was just, quiet.

I tried to give Dar a smile in thanks as I lurched past, but all I could manage was a strained grimace.

Entering the Grove, I found more Daemons standing warily around the internal perimeter, each of them clutching weapons and warily eyeing the open space of the grove with tireless vigilance. A brief shadow passing by overhead revealed the emaciated bat-winged Daemon Garn circling the canopy before landing on a branch opposite of Ophelia and Orphiel who appeared to be armed just like the Daemons and warily scanning the Grove.

“My Tyrant,” Gric’s voice rumbled with deference as he stepped out from the tunnel leading to his den. Contrary to my expectations after seeing Dar, Gric’s change in appearance caught me off guard. He looked...Human...ish.

Definitely, on the larger side, Gric stood close to seven and a half feet tall and was dressed in finely tailored clothing. If it weren’t for his pointed teeth, knife-shaped ears, absence of fingernails, and the green tinge to his dark tanned skin, Dar would have passed for Human. Somewhat similar to the appearance of the Elves, Dar was far too robust to pass as a pure-breed, or even as a half-breed. There was also a strange alien intelligence and intensity in his eyes, but I had known some people that were like that back on Earth.

“The Tyrantess and Wraith await you below,” Dar explained respectfully, motioning towards the reinforced entrance to the tunnel leading to my home. “The Tyrantess is doing well and is expected to deliver her eggs soon-”

“Eggs?!...” My knees felt weak and I had to grab at a nearby tree in order to remain standing.

Nadine had managed to catch up, but her front was covered with dirt and loose debris. With a pang of guilt, I vaguely recalled having dragged Nadine off her feet while running away from the gateway.

For her part, Nadine didn’t seem all that bothered, “Eggs?!” Nadine demanded, “As in, more than one?”

Gric nodded, “The Tyrantess bears two eggs,” the Daemon clarified for my benefit, “This is a rare occasion indeed.”

My knees buckled, but Gric stepped forward and caught me under one shoulder to stop me from falling to the ground. To my surprise, he didn’t so much as grunt from the effort, proving Gric was, in fact, far stronger than he appeared.

“Wraithe insists the Tyrantess and the eggs are healthy, my Tyrant,” Gric insisted respectfully.

A long-drawn-out grunt of pain echoed from the tunnel.

“Wraithe also wishes to inform you that the Tyrantess has been informed of your arrival and is requesting your presence,” Gric added glibly.

Mouth and throat too dry to speak, I nodded and staggered towards the tunnel down to my home.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that had Gric remained behind in the Grove, hooked cat-like claws protruding from his fingers where his nails should have been.

Nadine had slipped past him and was following close behind me while nervously smiling supportively.

After parting the thick curtains at the end of the tunnel, I was surprised to find my home far more crowded than I had expected.

The bipedal rodent-like Daemon Wraithe was leaning over Lash and dabbing away sweat from her heavily perspiring brow with a damp cloth. Both Dryads, Hana and her sister Kohana were standing quietly off to the side and had been looking towards the curtains expectantly when I entered.

Clarice, despite looking profoundly haggard, was sitting on top of my nightstand and wringing Wraithe’s discarded cloths out in a basin of water.

Ril was neck-deep in my bath, and like the Dryads, she had already been looking towards the curtains when I arrived. Toofy was sitting near the bath and yawning tiredly, but she was not as close to the edge of the body of water as I had come to expect. The reason why quickly became obvious when I noticed the Halfling Anette sitting beside her.

“T-im?” Lash grunted with obvious discomfort, attempting to sit up in our bed but grimaced and reluctantly returned to her recumbent position.

Still unable to speak, I hurriedly crossed the room and awkwardly knelt down beside our bed and took her proffered hand in mine.

Lash did not appear to be in as much pain as I had feared, but she was profoundly uncomfortable. With a general idea of how comparatively small monster eggs were in comparison to human babies, this made a sort of sense. All the same, it did little to settle my nerves. Humans weren’t the only species to have complications in pregnancy and delivery.

“I’m here,” I croaked, giving her hand a brief squeeze.

Lash’s firm and tightening grip on my hand may have made the gesture redundant. If my bones were less dense, she might have broken a couple of them before her grip began to ease a few moments later.

“I have given her a ‘mild’ sedative and administered painkillers,” Wraithe explained to Nadine across the bedroom while the latter washed herself with water from the bath.

The unfocused look in Lash’s bright amethyst eyes confirmed Wraithe’s claims, but it was clearly insufficient for dealing with the worst of Lash’s contractions. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much that could be done about it.

Once Nadine had cleaned herself up, she joined Wraithe in trying to keep lash as comfortable as possible and coached her through her delivery. The fact that neither woman had any practical experience seemed to be irrelevant.

Lash’s discomfort and pain steadily increased for close to an hour before quite suddenly going into full labour.

I felt the bones in my hand creak under the strain of Lash’s vice-like grip, but I elected to ignore it. After all, it could have been worse.

Nadine was nursing a recently healed broken arm. She had the misfortune of being within arms reach of Lash’s free hand right as Full labour had begun, and it had been difficult to tell who had been crying louder.

Still wearing the makeshift splint, Nadine didn’t appear to be holding a grudge, but she was very tactfully standing out of arm's reach of Lash.

Just as Gric had said she would, Lash had delivered two nearly identical eggs each roughly the size of a soccer ball and with mottled dark green and black patches over their exterior. Nadine, Wraithe, and everyone else in attendance had been very careful to keep their distance while I retrieved the eggs and placed them beside Lash on the bed.

Imprinting the eggs through skin contact and passing along a portion of my mana, I helped guide Lash’s hand so she could do the same.

Lash was tired but wore an expression of triumph and contentment as I helped her into a semi sitting position so she could get a better look at the eggs she had so painstakingly brought into the world. Lash caressed the eggs with motherly affection.

“The mana saturation in the vicinity is high enough to allow for them to hatch, but it will take several days,” Wraithe explained quietly.

Lash shook her head and made as if to try and sit up fully, “No, now,” she insisted bluntly while grimacing in pain.

Wraithe looked to me for support, “She needs to rest,” the Daemon insisted expectantly.

“Here,” I moved the eggs into Lash’s arms, eliminating her leverage and forcing Lash to settle back down so she could keep a hold on them.

Lash’s shoulders slumped in defeat. However, she quickly cried out in surprise when I hooked my arms beneath her knees and back.

Carefully lifting Lash up in my arms, I took great care to make sure the eggs would more easily remain in lash’s grasp.

“My Tyrant...” Wraithe pleaded.

“Tim, wait!” Nadine demanded just as I was beginning to turn towards the curtain to the tunnel.

Wraithe looked at Nadine with hope in her eyes.

Nadine rushed forward and hastily wrapped a fresh blanket around Lash’s bare waist and thighs, ‘There!” She nodded in satisfaction, “Now you won't be brutishly exposing her privates for everyone to see!”

Wraithe crumpled, “But...My Tyrant...”

Clarice snickered but fell on her ass when casually attempting to hop down off of the nightstand. Clarice was forced to sheepishly accept Nadine’s assistance so she could get back on her feet.

Taking special care on the way to the nursery, it afforded everyone else ample opportunity to follow along behind us and no one seemed willing to stay behind. Even the Daemons on guard in the grove seemed to give Ril and Wraithe envious glances.

The nursery was empty so Lash had free reign to choose which of the partitioned cribs she wanted to incubate their eggs. The ambient mana in the nursery was higher than in our home, so Lash was quick in making her choice despite growing increasingly drowsy.

Sitting beside a large crib with Lash cradled in my arms, both we and our gathered audience waited in tense silence.

Wraithe managed to convince Lash to drink a large waterskin to rehydrate, but only after insisting I test it first. To her credit, Wraithe did not attempt to sedate Lash, and the contents of the waterskin only contained a crude combination of juice and a small amount of salt to help replenish electrolytes. Not that lash particularly appreciated the taste.

After about two hours, Lash was really struggling to remain awake, and the others had begun to chat amongst themselves. With the exception of Toofy, who insisted on standing by the crib and eagerly staring at the eggs while excitedly bouncing on the balls of her feet.

In Toofy’s absence, Ril was huddled in a wet blanket by the door and chatting quietly with Anette. She seemed to be giving Anette a surprisingly detailed history of Sanctuary.

“Hatching! Hatching!” Toofy exclaimed excitedly, drawing my attention back to the cot and jolting Lash out of her light slumber.

One of the eggs had begun to rock slightly from side to side and shortly afterwards the second egg began doing the same.

A section of shell on the first egg cracked and distended outwards briefly before retracting again. More cracks appeared shortly afterwards, deforming the egg shell and coming close to breaking open entirely. A few moments later, another flurry of activity caused the membrane inside of the egg shell to tear and amniotic liquid to spill out into the crib.

Another burst of movement broke away another section of shell and revealed a pale-green-skinned baby girl with webbed fingers and toes, and gills on either side of her chest.

My daughter.

Before she even had a chance to cry, Toofy snatched my daughter out of the crib and thrust her into Lash’s arms, “BABY GIRL!” She declared excitedly.

Worried that Toofy’s recklessness may have harmed her in some way, I was profoundly relieved to find that my daughter’s cries were a result of jarring surprise and not injury.

“Cute little baby!” Toofy exclaimed while wagging her clawed finger an inch from my daughter’s face, not that my daughter seemed to mind.

Expressing uncanny intelligence, my daughter stopped crying and began to laugh while flailing her arms and legs in an uncoordinated attempt at seizing Toofy’s finger.

Lash didn’t seem to mind and was most likely just as profoundly relieved as I was that our daughter seemed to be healthy. “Little one,” Lash cooed, jostling our daughter slightly and craning her own neck to try and get her attention.

With a surprising level of tact, Toofy backed off to eliminate Lash’s competition. She turned back to the crib instead and watched the gently rocking egg like a hawk, barely able to contain her excitement and bouncing up and down again.

Our daughter had Lash’s eyes, but were perhaps a few shades darker. She had the same mottled pattern of thicker skin on her shoulder and upper arms as me and her nose was something of a strange cross between Lash’ and my own. Her ears looked more like Toofy’s than either of us, bearing a striking resemblance to the shape of a fat leaf. Thankfully, for Lash’s sake, she didn’t appear to have any teeth, but she did have thick claw-like fingernails and toenails.

With the second egg still in the process of hatching, everyone but Toofy had managed to restrain themselves and give us some space. However, this hadn’t stopped Clarice and Nadine from getting creative and standing on top of a pair of unused cribs on the other side of the room to get a better look.

Lash leaned her head against my chest tiredly but was determined to stay awake. “Tim, how to say?...” She asked quietly while allowing our daughter to gum excitedly on her fingers.

“Soo-zee,” I breathed back quietly so no one else would hear, immediately earning our daughter’s attention as she recognised her name.

It was another one of the strange elements of Variant children. Somehow, they knew the name they were born with. Normally, the Goblins, Orcs, Gnolls, and Serpent-Kin would simply wait until their children could speak in order to provide their own names, but because Lash and myself were both literate and could read the Status information, we already knew our daughter’s name. The odd name assigned to little Suzy was a different can of worms altogether, and it wasn’t really Lash’s fault she hadn’t known how to pronounce it.

“My little Suzy,” Lash cooed, smiling broadly in spite of her weariness and Suzy shifted her attention to her instead and gave a gurgling babble of delight.

“Did she say, Suzy?” Clarice asked incredulously before being shushed by Nadine.

Wraithe had apparently ducked out at some point and had returned with a pile of small blankets. After receiving Lash’s permission, she loosely swaddled Suzy in one of the blankets before settling her back down with Lash.

“BOY! BABY BOY!” Toofy declared excitedly, drawing everyone’s attention back to the crib.

Compared to his sister, my son had somehow managed to hatch without drawing attention to himself. Rather than casting the pieces of the eggshell asunder, he seemed to have made a hole and simply crawled out of it before being noticed by Toofy.

Just like with Suzy, Toofy snatched him up and gingerly deposited him on Lash’s chest.

“Pete,” I said quietly, as much for Lash’s benefit as to see how my son would react.

Pete considered me with relative stoicism, but after a few moments, he began to smile and burble just as Suzy had done. The two of them were very similar in general appearance, but Pete looked noticeably larger than his sister despite hatching from nearly identically sized eggs.

After Wraithe swaddled Pete in a blanket and stepped back, that seemed to be the signal that everyone else could come in closer for a look at the twins.

Suzy seemed to love the attention almost as much as Toofy enjoyed providing it, but it quickly became obvious that Pete was not so keen. While Suzy would gurgle and burble, and wave her chubby legs and feet for attention, Pete seemed perfectly content to snuggle himself between Lash’s breasts and take a nap.

Holding Lash and my two children in my arms, I couldn’t remember a time when I had ever felt so happy. Right here in this moment I felt a sense of contentment and belonging that I had been pining for my entire life. I also understood what Nadine had meant when we had spoken earlier. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep my family safe.

Despite appearances, Pete wasn’t actually sleeping. However, he absolutely refused to react to the mentioning of his name by anyone but Lash and myself. Even then, Pete would only open his eyes slightly at first as if to confirm whether or not it was important before closing them again. Thankfully, for Lash’s sake, Pete seemed committed to giving her a nuzzle at the very least, even if he wouldn’t make the effort to perform like Suzy.

“Uh, should she have that?” Nadine asked warily while pointing to the strip of smoked meat Suzy was giving a thorough gumming.

It was far too big for Suzy to fit into her mouth, so she was only able to gum and slobber over the edges. “It should be okay for now,” I replied somewhat apprehensively, “But if it gets too wet someone will have to take it away from her.”

Suzy suddenly clutched at the strip of meat possessively as Clarice made a feint at taking it away from her.

Toofy gave Clarice a hard jab to the thigh with her elbow and a stern glare before returning to playing with Suzy.

Nadine navigated her way around the group, surrendering her prime viewing position to Hana and her sister. “Are those gills?” Nadine asked curiously while pointing to the side of Suzy’s exposed chest.

I nodded, “Pretty sure.”

“But...Neither you nor Lash has gills...” Nadine commented with uncertainty, “I would have seen them.”

I nodded again and shifted Nadine into my Party so she could view the twins' Status’ information. I had briefly had similar thoughts myself, but the Status had put my mind at ease.

“Oh!” Nadine exclaimed with surprise, “I see.”

Both Suzy and Pete had experienced Transitionary Environmental Evolutions. Rather than being half Deep Orc like Lash, they had Evolved sideways into a different Environmental Subspecies, the Swamp Orc. It was also very likely that Lash and myself wouldn’t be the only parents to experience the phenomenon.

Every monster egg had the chance of adapting the child within to its environmentally associated Subspecies where applicable. It was very likely how Lash’s clan had first adapted to living underground in the first place. After enough generations managed to survive, the clan reached a tipping point and the subsequent generations eventually all became Deep Orcs. With how much of an advantage the Deep Orcs would have had over their daylight-dwelling cousins, it probably wouldn’t have taken all that long to outbreed and out hunt them.

Besides the gills, webbed fingers and toes, and a second translucent set of translucent eyelids, both of my children had failed to inherit any of Lash’s Racial Abilities at all, and instead had all of my own Racial abilities and Aquatic Predator. Aquatic Predator was rather straightforward and was presumably a Racial Ability obtained by being a Swamp Orc. The Lizardmen also possessed this Ability, so it was interesting to see that my children had the Ability as well.

Pete and Suzy both possessing gills and Aquatic Predator meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about either of my children drowning in the bath or accidentally falling into the lake. Gills would allow them to breathe underwater, more or less, and Aquatic Predator would render wild monsters smaller than themselves to remain ambivalent to their presence or flee outright instead of attacking.

Of course, unlike regular parents on Earth, these advantages came with a price, the Labyrinth itself being chief amongst them.

Lash fell asleep before the twins did, so I quietly sent Wraithe to put together a baby mush that we would feed them if they got hungry before Lash had gotten at least a few hours of sleep. Bearing in mind a general sense of scale, both Pete and Suzy seemed unequivocally developed to seven or eight months old. I was reasonably confident that they would be able to digest simple foods without any real problems. This was partly because of their comparable development, but mostly because of the Iron Gut Racial Ability.

With all my ranks in Iron Gut, the twins' metabolism would probably be able to handle roasted steaks if they were cut into small enough pieces for them to swallow. It was a good thing too, because contrary to my initial observation, both twins' teeth were already beginning to push through their gums.

It was perhaps for the best that Lash hadn’t attempted nursing either of them before falling asleep.

It was a little odd that neither Pete nor Suzy seemed bothered by the protrusion of their teeth, each seemingly content with their elected activity, or Pete's lack thereof. If Pete’s chest wasn’t steadily rising and falling with each breath, his relative stillness probably would have given me a heart attack.

In Wraithe’s absence, the Daemons outside began taking turns to come inside and take a look at the twins. Unfortunately, Dar was too large to do more than peek through the nursery door, but I allowed Nadine and Clarice to take a twin each to give him a better look while I awkwardly got to my feet.

Once both twins were returned, I took the four of us back down to our home and gratefully accepted Nadine's help in setting down the twins while I set down Lash.

In our absence, the room had been cleaned and the soiled sheets had been taken away. It was unclear, but I felt confident that either Hana, Kohana, or Qreet had been responsible for the cleanup. The moss just looked too fresh to have been simply wiped down.

“I’ll leave you guys alone,” Nadine whispered and saw herself out.

Suzy was still gumming at the strip of meat and was beginning to show signs of progress when Wraithe arrived with a tall clay jar of what smelled like pumpkin soup. The contents was thick and orange with tiny pieces of cooked fish meat scattered throughout.

Wraithe immediately drew the attention of both twins, although Suzy seemed markedly less eager than Pete due to already possessing her own prize.

Pete seemed perfectly content to be fed first, smacking his lips happily while waiting for each fresh spoonful of pumpkin soup. Pete ate the entire jar before yawning and snuggling in beside Lash and falling asleep, forcing Wraithe to go refill the jar for Suzy who seemed put out in spite of her slowly eroding strip of meat.

I washed Pete with a damp cloth and tied a square piece of fabric into a crude diaper before nestling him in Lash’s arms. She had rolled onto her side to make herself more comfortable and instinctively hugged Pete closer to her chest.

Suzy was voracious. While Wraithe continued feeding her, I did my best to clean Suzy with another damp cloth and made her a diaper like Pete’s. Suzy’s seemingly limitless energy didn’t begin to flag until she was halfway through a second jar of soup and had managed to finish her strip of meat.

Worried that Suzy might throw up and choke in her sleep, I laid down on the bed beside Lash and Pete and then rested Suzy in the crook of my arm. Taking care to make sure she was laying on her side and that any throw-up would land on me rather than Pete or Lash and risk waking them up.

Wraithe delivered another couple of lidded jars of soup, setting them down on the nightstand before taking her leave.

As much as I wanted to stay, the Daemons stationed outside served as a reminder of why I couldn’t. If I wanted my family to be safe, to grow in safety and happiness, I would have to return to the fight.

As something of a delaying tactic, I resolved to at least wait until I could speak with Lash before I would leave. My armour still needed to be adjusted, so it was unlikely that I would be leaving until tomorrow. After all, the smiths had families of their own, and many of them would be expecting children.

When Wraithe returned about a half-hour later, I sent her to deliver my armour to the smiths’ workshop area along with general instructions so anyone that was still working would be able to make some of the necessary changes.

Human smiths had been allowed into Sanctuary to both teach the Deep Orc smiths, and learn from them. The Orcs had a great deal of intuitive knowledge that the Asrusian smiths found incredibly interesting, and the Asrusians obviously had generations of established smithing techniques and knowledge to offer the Orcs in exchange.

Similar exchanges were being made with the Gnolls, but it was considerably more one-sided since humans had apparently been taking advantage of the Gnolls for a long time and seemed to know just about all there was to learn from them.

Lash woke up briefly in the late evening, but only long enough to gulp down one of the jars of cold pumpkin soup Wraithe had left on the nightstand, and then check on Pete and Suzy before falling asleep again.

Expecting the twins to wake up during the night, I was surprised when Wraithe arrived with a fresh delivery of food and water and informed me that it was now a little past dawn. Pete and Suzy hadn’t woken up during the night at all. Similar to my experience with raising the Daemons, neither of them had soiled themselves either. Although I was fairly certain that was because of monster metabolisms and the combination with the Iron Gut Ability reducing waste to an absolute minimum. As their intake exceeded growth requirements, that was likely to change. Not that I was complaining, and I was sure Lash wouldn’t be either.

As it turns out, I had been overly optimistic. Suzy needed changing and consoling less than a half-hour later. However, Suzy settled back down to sleep readily enough once she had a fresh diaper.

Lash had briefly woken up again while I was tending to Suzy, but she had fallen asleep again once she realised Suzy was being taken care of. Lash still seemed quite uncomfortable, so I had Wraithe bring some of the crudely fashioned pills the apothecaries had been making from concentrated willow bark extracts.

While Lash was a little grumpy at being woken up, she didn’t hesitate in gulping down the bitter white pills and a long draw of water. Lash did seem to rest a great deal easier afterwards and Wraithe and I agreed that it was probably safe to use Healing on her now that she had been given a decent chance at recovering on her own.

We seemed to be correct, and Lash was resting much more peacefully. Without X-Rays or even diagrams of monster anatomy, a great deal of guesswork still went into which injuries were safe to use magical Healing to fix. Broken bones needing to be set properly first or healing crooked was already a very obvious example. The same generally applies to stitches. The Surgeons’ Healing from their Class Abilities was an accelerator, so it was possible to do objective harm without intending to.

The Iron Gut Ability itself was also an accelerator, but it was considerably slower and seemed to allow the body enough time to do what it would normally do on its own. Without it, neither Wraithe nor myself would have risked Healing on Lash.

Wraithe seemed pleased by the results. Which wasn’t particularly surprising. Apparently, close to a third of the pregnant Orcs, and a couple of interspecies expecting mothers, had gone into full labour around the same time as Lash had, and more were going into labour with each passing hour. Having precedents to work with, and hands-on experience was giving Wraithe some much-appreciated confidence in leading the other Surgeons and interacting with the handful of tribal midwives.

This brief conversation with Wraithe also served as a reminder that other families would want to use the nursery and that I would need to come to some sort of decision. Without my direct order, the Daemons wouldn’t allow anyone to pass. It wasn’t just for the safety of my family, but for everyone else as well. It was clear that Gric didn’t want a repeat of the disaster experienced with the Liche.

After roughly another hour, both twins had seemingly decided that they were hungry and weren’t shy about advertising the fact. Of course, this woke up Lash, and she seemed just as hungry as they were. Lash also showed no signs of intending to go back to sleep, which meant it was time for us to talk...

*****

Tim had not been gone long, but Lash could already feel a familiar sense of loneliness take hold as a result of his absence. She understood that he had immense responsibility in protecting his people, and as proud as Lash was that he accepted that burden without complaint, a part of her wished Tim would have stayed with her and their children instead.

Tim was the most powerful man she had ever met, and she understood that the enemies he was fighting would struggle to harm him in any meaningful way. However, Lash had also become aware of a scattering of scars that had not existed the last time she had seen him. For all of his strength, Tim was not invulnerable.

It was a small comfort that Tim wasn’t overly reckless like many of her original clan that had seen themselves as great warriors. His comparative timidness, while perhaps undesirable for prestige, would greatly increase Tim’s chances of returning home to them again in one piece and with his heart still beating in his chest.

Lash had taught herself to understand the human letters and words specifically so she could confirm Tim was alive and in good health.

Pete’s cry of pain and surprise immediately caught Lash’s attention. She released a sigh of relief after realising that Suzy must have ‘accidentally’ smacked him in the face and given him a scare.

Gently stroking Pete’s head, Lash lifted him off of the bed and kissed his chubby cheek while rocking him in the crook of her arm.

Pete calmed down quickly and gave Lash a string of dribbling burbles while reaching for her hair.

Too short to really allow for a proper handhold, Lash carefully lowered herself to the bed and let Pete awkwardly flail his chubby hands and fingers through her hair.

All the while, Suzy continued to entertain herself by attempting to pull one of her feet towards her mouth.

It didn’t seem like much time had passed at all before the Goblin Toofy invited herself over for a visit. Of course, this also meant that she brought her daughters Ril and Net with her. While Lash knew Ril was one of the Daemons, she didn’t quite know what Net was. She looked like a small human, but Lash had never seen a human with pointed ears.

Net was also very quiet and kept much to herself, seemingly content to stand or sit by the wall while whispering with her sister Ril. Lash could only assume the odd behaviour was due to the poor thing's blindness, so she resolved to leave the issue alone.

Suzy seemed overjoyed to receive Toofy’s undivided attention, so Lash decided she and her daughters could stay. Besides, Lash had questions that she hoped Toofy’s daughter Ril could help answer and set her mind at ease.

Taking Pete with her, Lash sat down beside the bathing pool where Ril was lazily swimming.

The Daemon bobbed her head respectfully, “Tyrantess.”

“Tim says, Pete and Suzy breathe water?” She explained uncertainty while trying to emphasise that it was also a question. Tim had tried to explain it to her, but he had been somewhat rushed and Lash wanted reassurances. Just in case.

Ril nodded and pointed to the hardened cartilaginous plates that now covered the sides of Pete’s ribcage. “They have gills, like fish, like me,” she explained and pulled herself out of the bathing pool to expose similar flaps on the sides of her neck and rib cage.

Lash nodded in uncertainty. Tim had made that comparison as well. “How?” She pressed.

Ril was quiet for a few moments. “Water has air in it,” the Daemon explained slowly, “But it also had water. Gills pull out air from the water and the rest of the water to push through.” Rill cupped her hands in the bathing pool, brought it to her lips and then swallowed. The flaps on the sides of her neck opened and the same water began running down her neck.

Watching the process in action, Lash felt like she understood it a little better.

“The gills need to be kept moist. Drying out can be painful or cause infection,” Ril added, “Swimming a couple of times a day makes it easy, but drinking and breathing water works as well.”

Lash nodded in understanding before carefully considering Pete, “Pete should swim?” She asked warily.

Ril took a few moments to consider her answer before slowly shaking her head. “While they can breathe water, learning to swim will be important. I don’t think they can do that on their own yet. But you could go into the water with them so they can get used to it,” she suggested helpfully.

Noticing that Pete was already staring curiously at the light reflecting off the water in the bathing pool, Lash carefully eased herself into the pool, making sure to keep Pete dry for just the moment.

Pete kicked at the water's surface with his chubby webbed toes and burbled excitedly.

Taking that as a good sign, Lash slowly lowered Pete into the water.

Once the water reached his chest, the plates on Pete’s sides opened and began to excitedly wave in the water. Initially surprised, Pete quickly began excitedly wriggling soon afterwards.

It didn’t take long for Suzy to notice her brother having fun without her and she began making grunting demands while trying to wriggle off of the bed.

“Bring Suzy,” Lash told Toofy.

Only too happy to obey, Toofy, picked up Suzy and brought her over to the bathing pool. Instead of handing Suzy to Lash, Toofy handed Suzy over to Ril instead.

Ril had the good sense to look to Lash first for permission before sliding back into the bathing pool with Suzy in her arms.

Far more energetic than Pete, Suzy very nearly broke free the moment she hit the water.

Ril demonstrated sound judgement in trading Suzy to Lash in exchange for Pete, who really didn’t seem to mind one way or the other.

“The webbing, the skin, between their fingers and toes is like the fins on a fish, it helps them swim,” Ril explained while Pete slapped at the water and burbled in amusement. “They won’t swim as well as Lizardmen or fish, but they will swim better than humans and most Orcs.”

“Not Ogres?” Lash asked curiously. Wondering why the Daemon would make a comparison to only one half of their ancestry and not the other.

Ril gave her a blank stare for a moment. “Ogres don’t swim, they sink and drown.”

Lash felt a momentary surge of panic before calming down and becoming confused again, “Suzy and Pete won't sink?”

Ril nodded, “They are special, and so is Tim. ‘Most’ Ogres would sink and drown. They are too heavy and don’t learn to swim until it is too late. Tim knows how to swim already, and your children have gills.

Lash shifted uncomfortably as she realised that she didn’t know how to swim either.

Ril must have guessed at her cause for distress because took on a pensive look for a few moments before seeming to come to her senses again. “I have made a request for Qreet to work with the Dryads to create a safe freshwater pool of water for training purposes. It will most likely be ready by this late afternoon,” the little Daemon stated matter of factly.

Lash nodded in thanks and very nearly lost her grip on Suzy when she made a sudden lurching dive for the water. Releasing a sigh, Lash could only smile as Suzy released a cry of excitement and made another lunge for the water. Clearly, learning to swim would need to become one of Lash’s top priorities if she wanted to keep up with her children.

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