Herald of Shalia 2, page 25
“Please d-don’t make me,” Brynn pleaded while scratching her arm. “I don’t mind Lishri, she’s n-nice and she doesn’t speak their skit-it-it-tery language around me. It makes my skin c-crawl. Please don’t make me escort them.”
“There’s nobody else that can do it,” Frost said sympathetically. “Do you really want them to try to do it without an escort? There are going to be children.”
“Frost,” Brynn’s pouted. “C-can’t we just come b-back for them after?”
“What if they’re attacked in the meantime?” Frost asked. “They just saved you and Desdemona from the followers of Riliandra. Are you going to risk them getting hurt just because they covered you in tiny spiders for a few minutes?”
“G-goddess damn you,” Brynn stomped. “Fine!”
“Speaking of Riliandra,” Frost glanced at the bound prisoners. He made eye contact with each of them as they hatefully stared up at him. Frost glanced at the Arachne and waived them away. “Could you back away from those soldiers?”
“Back away,” Chasa nodded as the Arachne quickly created some distance between themselves and prisoners.
As soon as they were out of range Frost continuously casted paralyze on each of the men before finally swapping to fireball. He stared at the experience bar over his abilities as the prisoners burned alive. As the last one fell, he gained a restricted ability point in fireball giving him just enough to level it to five. It’d be a while before paralyze earned enough points to level to six.
The Arachne stared at Frost like he was a monster and they were probably justified in looking at him that way. The humane thing to do would have been to decapitate them but instead he used them to level his abilities. But even more monstrous was the fact he didn’t really care. As far as he was concerned, they got off easy.
“They shouldn’t have touched my wives,” Frost said, answering the question the Arachne were all too afraid to ask.
“I suppose not,” Chasa said politely as the other Arachne looked on.
“My wife will escort you but she doesn’t speak the language,” Frost gestured at Brynn. “She should be able to talk to anybody who tries to stop your caravan though and since she’s a princess of Zira, attacking her has consequences.”
“She didn’t seem to like the idea very much,” Chasa said. “Are you sure she’ll be okay?”
“Yeah,” Frost nodded. “She wasn’t a big fan of being covered in thousands of tiny spiders. But she’ll get over it. Her and Lishri are great friends.”
“Very well,” Chasa cleared her throat and bowed at Brynn. “Princess Brynn. I am Chasa.”
“You could have been speaking Ziran the entire time?” Brynn glared at them both.
“I apologize,” Chasa said while gesturing at the other Arachne. “The herald speaks our language better than I do yours. I will try to practice with you during our journey.” Chasa gestured at her back. “You should probably climb on. It’ll be faster.”
“Brynn,” Frost smiled at the terrified bard. “I promise to do something nice for you to make up for this.”
“Goddess help me…” Brynn whined.
CHAPTER 19
When Frost arrived back at the castle with Desdemona he was quickly escorted inside. The elves immediately questioned Brynn’s absence and King Asmund had plenty of questions of his own. He wanted to know every detail of the pursuit as well as any information that might assist him in finding the Prophet of Riliandra and his cohorts.
King Asmund wasn’t thrilled about Frost executing citizens of Rilia but he was willing to look the other way under the circumstances. Unfortunately, he wasn’t willing to look the other way when it came to the Arachne.
“The Arachne are citizens of Rilia,” King Asmund said authoritatively while staring at Frost. They’d secured a small conference room to discuss the matter but after over an hour of arguing they’d gotten nowhere. “Relocating to Pluma is nothing short of treason.”
“Queen Lishri of the Arachne is a citizen of Pluma,” Frost argued. “The other two queens are her siblings and the others are their children. Technically, they are already my citizens. They can’t be considered traitors for living in a territory they’re citizens of.”
“They’ve lived in Rilia for years,” King Asmund said in disbelief. “And your territory only recently came into existence. You can’t simply grant them citizenship and say they’re yours now. I’m not going to let you assemble an army of Arachne on my border.”
“It won’t be an army Dari,” Desdemona said pleadingly. The horned demoness gripped her brother’s arm like a small child begging for a toy. “I promise!”
“Des,” King Asmund shook his head. “Arachne are dangerous. Because they helped you, I’m willing to consider finding them a forest somewhere in Rilia but I can’t let the herald raise an army of them on my border.”
“That’s awfully cold. I’m not just a herald,” Frost pulled Desdemona to his side and squeezed her tight. The pale demoness reflexively buried her face in his chest while basking in his affection. “I’m also your brother-in-law. And the Arachne don’t want to live here. You hunted them and burnt their nests. Do you think they’re going to trust you?”
“That was the previous king,” King Asmund said defensively.
“Rilia burnt their nests killing hundreds if not thousands of their babies over the years,” Frost said. “They’re not going to want to stay here when they can live in my territory under my protection.”
“Fiora’s not going to be fucking thrilled about a bunch of spider cunts breeding on our fucking border either,” Slade said joining the conversation. He and the elves had been mostly quiet regarding the situation. “They should stay in fucking Rilia. Preferably as far west as fucking possible. They’re pests. They fucking breed like locust and they’re fucking dangerous.
“I can say the same about humans,” Frost argued while gesturing at Slade. “But I don’t see the Arachne running around burning orphanages filled with children. I mean, fuck guys. It’s not like I’m mister fucking morality but burning their fucking nests? Fuck. You burnt their fucking babies! They’re not staying here! And as for Zira, you don’t have the best fucking track record with demihumans either.”
“I’ll admit we’re cunts,” Slade grumbled. “But tough choices like burning spider nests are what make us the top cunts.”
“Slade,” Hestia stomped her foot. “No!”
“Humans,” Ena snarled. “They have the nerve to call us inferior when they’re so terrified of others they resort to burning their nests.”
“Killing their babies is wrong,” Lysandra nodded approvingly.
“The fact that this seems to be a controversial view is problematic,” Frost said while gesturing at the elves.
“Please Dari,” Desdemona pleaded. “They saved me. Can’t you just let them come with us?”
“Fine, but their breeding will need to be regulated,” King Asmund sighed while staring at his sister. “They’re not to exceed…”
“Not happening,” Frost laughed. “I’m not about to start saying who can fuck who and who can lay eggs where or how many eggs they can lay. I’m certainly not going to start stomping on eggs because they’ve gone over a fucking quota. As far as I’m concerned, everybody can fuck everybody and have whatever babies they want until we’re all a bunch of eight-legged dog-eared people with cat claws, fluffy bunny tails, and demon horns. Let the pieces fall where they fucking may.”
“Fuck,” Slade laughed. “That’s one fucked up visual.”
“No,” King Asmund said sternly. “If you’re going to take them then you’re going to regulate their population. It’s not about whether they’re a problem now. It’s about our descendants. What will they say about us if we allow for the world to be overrun by Arachne?”
“No fucking clue but they’ll be saying it in Arachnean,” Frost joked. “If you want to talk about legacies and the future you’re talking to the wrong guy. I could conquer the world and the first thing in the history books about me will be a lewd full-page picture of me fucking Lysandra.”
“Really?” Lysandra said excitedly. “You think they’d choose me for the picture?”
“Why does she get to be in the picture?” Renna objected as the house of cards she was working on toppled over. “Pictures are of young beautiful women! Nobody wants to see you fucking this burlap sack! It should be me!”
“Shouldn’t his wives be in the picture?” Desdemona said quietly into his chest. He tried not to laugh as she looked up at him with those big crimson eyes.
“Sure,” Frost held his hands out silencing the women. “You can all be in the picture that doesn’t exist. That wasn’t the point. My point is, I’m not worried about the future. I want to help them. I’m going to help them. Maybe it’s the wrong decision but in my experience, not being a cunt is normally the right decision.”
“Says the cunt,” Slade interjected.
“You can’t predict the future,” Frost smirked. “For all you know the Arachne will someday save your lives and you’ll be the king that fostered that relationship.”
“That’s a fair point,” Queen Rebecca said as she and the four other queens joined them in the conference room. “There are plenty of forgotten kings and plenty of kings remembered for strange reasons. You never really know.”
“Glad you could join us,” King Asmund sneered while keeping his distance from the women.
“Are you still upset?” Queen Alicia scoffed. “If a little light treason upsets you then you should just abdicate now.”
“I haven’t even done anything wrong!” Tabitha said angrily.
“She’s not lying,” Hestia volunteered while pointing at Tabitha. “She just wants to have babies. And Queen Silvana hasn’t done anything wrong yet.”
“Yet?” King Asmund asked.
“It’s nothing,” Queen Silvana rolled her eyes while taking a seat on the large conference table. “As long as my child is the heir.”
“She intends to kill our babies,” Rebecca said calmly. “Fortunately, all of our children will be sent to Solara to receive proper educations. Far outside of this monster’s reach.”
“We were discussing the Arachne,” Frost reminded the king as the queen’s each took positions far away from each other. “Unless we’re finished?”
“Let him have the insects,” Queen Roselle said politely. “You’ll have control over the herald because of Desdemona anyway.”
“You mean you’ll have control over him with whatever whores your country sends to seduce him,” Queen Alicia said angrily.
“What’s this about whores now?” Frost asked as Lysandra elbowed him in the ribs. “What?”
“Says the woman who ordered the assassination of the princess,” Queen Tabitha chimed in. “Which you should still stand trial for.”
“Assassinations that stopped as soon as Desdemona was to be wed,” Alicia said as if that made a difference. “And I never hired a single assassin. If King Asmund has a problem he can take it up with the Herald of Niri.”
“I just might,” King Asmund said while glaring at Alicia. “Herald Frost, my wives have given me an idea about how to handle this.”
“What?” Frost asked curiously.
“Desdemona will provide an heir to your territory,” King Asmund said cheerfully. “If Desdemona provides an heir then…”
“No,” Frost answered without hesitation. “Desdemona won’t be providing any heirs.”
“What?” King Asmund’s cheer was replaced by unbridled fury. “Why not?”
“It’s okay Dari,” Desdemona said as red tears welled up in her eyes. “If the herald doesn’t want to have children with me, I’m okay with that. I’m lucky to be married at all.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Frost scoffed while gently running his finger up one of her long horns. “I just don’t want you to die.”
“What are you talking about?” King Asmund asked. “Why would she die?”
“You said that demons eat their way out of their mothers,” Frost said.
“No,” King Asmund said sharply. “Desdemona’s a demon. Demons don’t eat other demons. She would be fine giving birth. She ate her way out of our mother because our mother was a human and demon babies can’t control themselves.”
“You were worried about me?” Desdemona smiled happily while wiping away her tears. For the first time she didn’t bother hiding her fanged teeth. “You’d choose me over having a baby?”
“I’d choose a dagger to the taint over having a baby,” Frost scoffed while stroking Desdemona’s long red hair. She really did look like an evil little monster as she gazed up at him with that fanged smile and those crimson eyes. “You’re so beautiful when you smile.”
“Fucking degenerate,” Slade grumbled.
“Knowing that she’ll be fine where do you stand on the heir?” King Asmund asked.
“What kind of time frame are we talking about?” Frost asked. “And is this a first-born situation? Does it matter if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“Any heir would suffice,” King Asmund answered. “As for time frame, how about within the year?”
“Within the next decade would be better,” Frost offered.
“Pregnant within the year,” King Asmund said authoritatively. “If she’s pregnant within the year the Arachne can grow unfettered. One child for hundreds.”
“I don’t want the responsibility,” Frost said defiantly. “They’re too much responsibility. And if I give her a baby then Brynn’s going to want a baby. Not to mention the elves, every fucking one of them is baby crazy.”
“We’re not baby crazy,” Renna crossed her arms huffily. “They’re just cute with their teeny-tiny little hands.”
“And their little baby coo’s,” Lysandra joined in happily.
“And they’re so warm and cuddly,” Ena said like she was daydreaming.
“And their cute little laughs,” Fayeth said wishfully. “Not to mention when they start talking!”
“And they love you no matter what,” Hestia smiled happily. “It’s perfectly normal to love babies!”
“Yeah!” Lysandra and the elves nodded in agreement.
“See?” Frost said gesturing at the elves. “The entire fucking village is like that. Every fucking one of them. My infertility spell isn’t coming off anytime soon.”
“I don’t care about the elves,” King Asmund said while staring at his sister. “I care about my sister’s happiness.”
“Her,” Frost glanced down and Desdemona was staring at him excitedly. “Fuck, you’re baby crazy too?”
“It’s not crazy!” Desdemona insisted. “Their little smiles are the cutest and they love their mommy even if their mommy’s a demon.”
“Fucking hell,” Frost sighed while closing his eyes and checking the remaining duration on his infertility spell. He reapplied it just to be safe and decided he should probably train himself to reapply it daily even if he doesn’t have to. “If I decide to start putting babies in people, I’ll put one in Des. But I’m not even considering it. I’m too busy to be raising kids. Not to mention I’m not going to be staying in a village full of pregnant elves.”
“Herald Frost,” Lysandra tugged his arm and pouted at him. Her violet eyes looked twice as large as normal. “When elves are pregnant, we’re insatiable.”
“Ravenous,” Renna nodded excitedly.
“Voracious,” Fayeth smiled coyly.
“Fanatical,” Ena confirmed while pretending to tickle a baby’s ears. “And babies are so cute with their big bright eyes and pointy little ears.”
“If I start producing heirs, she gets one,” Frost told the king while trying to ignore the elves. “That’s the best I’ll do.”
“I’d prefer it sooner rather than later,” King Asmund said sternly. “But fine. It’ll make Desdemona happy and it’ll solidify our relationship.”
“Good,” Frost glanced around the table. “We should probably make arrangements to leave as soon as the Arachne arrive. There’s also the matter of that fucking prophet.”
“I’ll get him eventually,” King Asmund grinned. “It’s time consuming but every day he has fewer and fewer allies among the nobility.”
“Because you kill them,” Slade chuckled as the king glared at him. “That was a statement, not a judgement. Anyway, I’ll make sure everything is ready for the morning.”
“I’ll make sure the patrols between here and your territory are doubled,” King Asmund said. “I hope our two countries can have a good relationship.”
“That should be pretty easy,” Frost laughed. “Don’t try to kill any of my people and I won’t try to kill any of yours. It’s not a difficult concept. The only reason I’m in your country is because you invited me. My plan was to spend the week in the temple eating, sleeping, and fucking.
“Right,” King Asmund smirked. “Well, let’s hope Lady Brynn Hilde arrives soon with the Arachne’s so you can get back to eating, sleeping, and fucking.”
“Let’s hope,” Frost grinned.
CHAPTER 20
Brynn sent word that the Arachne wouldn’t arrive until the next morning using a messenger in a village near the forest so Frost and the others would have to spend another night in the castle.
To ensure their safety, the king locked down an entire floor of the castle for Frost and the elves. He significantly increased the number of guards and set up checkpoints at every stairwell. Additionally, multiple patrols were assigned for the floors both above and below them ensuring that missing guards would be noticed. He wasn’t taking any chances.
After a hectic evening and a rough day, they were all fairly quick to fall asleep in a warm cuddly mass on a large soft bed. Frost would have liked to have stayed asleep but unfortunately woke up to the sounds coming from a nearby room.
He didn’t want to worry anybody without reason so he slipped out of bed and put his pants on to check things out for himself. He silently opened the door and stepped into the hall while careful not to disturb anybody.
