I sat in silence while I waited for the commotion to die down, and then I lifted my chin proudly before I began to speak again. The air was cool beneath the shadows of the trees, but the flames of the bonfire warmed my armor over my skin. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves overhead, and birds called to each other as the sunlight faded.
It was a good day to bring in a new era of peace to the desert.
“I have a dream… A dream for a new way of life in the Kotar Desert.” I fixed each of the chiefs in my gaze as I scanned the faces around the bonfire. They all met my eyes with serious expressions, but no one looked ready to argue with a god, and it wasn’t like they knew I was plagiarizing a Martin Luther King Jr. speech. “For too long, you have etched out a hard life among the sand dunes and the oases. It is time to reach into the future for a new way of living that can benefit you all.”
“We’re listening to your words,” Chief Kuaki said as he crossed his arms. “But your proposal had better work, or nothing will change.”
The other chiefs grunted their agreement.
I gave them a long, hard look, but few would meet my gaze.
“Your tribe has long roamed freely across the sands,” I said to the leader of the Kanuaki Tribe. “You fight the Naga with great bravery, and I admire your courage. But I propose an end to your nomadic ways. There is enough land for every tribe to have their own territories, and with a proper map of the realm, we can all respect one another’s boundaries.”
“Boundaries?” Chief Wombutu snorted. “No such thing exists in the Kotar Desert.”
“You are wanting to divide the desert lands up?” Chief Takini of my wife’s tribe asked in obvious disbelief.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Into twelve equal sections with the Chunga Oasis as the center.”
“Who gets the oasis, then?” Chief Wombutu frowned. “The Trahana tribe deserves to claim the waterfall for ourselves.”
“The Chunga Oasis should be shared by all,” I declared with finality.
This started a lot of bickering back and forth between the chiefs, and I let it continue for a while so they could release some tension, but then I cleared my throat to get their attention once more.
“This proposal comes with some rules,” I explained in a loud, clear voice. “You would all have to agree to stop fighting amongst yourselves and live in peace with one another.”
“The Casamoni Tribe is capable of maintaining peace if there are no monsters to fight,” Chief Ata spoke up.
“There are a few chiefs not present,” Chief Rafiti pointed out.
“We should summon them and reconvene.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “But I have already spoken to everyone who isn’t here about my ideas. The Noshono Tribe want nothing to do with this war.”
“They have the liberty of safety,” Chief Kuaki scoffed.
“They are in just as much danger as your people are,” I countered. “If not more so since they don’t have a lot of warriors to protect their villages against the monsters.”
“The other tribes know what they sacrifice with their absence,”
Chief Kuaki said as he crossed his arms across his chest.
“Let me worry about the other tribes,” I suggested and furrowed my brow. “I want the people present to agree to the terms before I enact the peace treaty. But a word of warning. If the tribes present here cannot come to an agreement, then more of my time
will be wasted, and more monsters will continue to roam the sands and kill your people. So, choose wisely.”
A beat of tense silence passed between the tribes as they all looked at one another and then back to me.
But I knew what they were going to say before they said it.
Really, it was the only choice they had.
“I will do as you command,” Chief Takini finally declared in a solemn tone.
“As will the Kanuaki Tribe,” Chief Kuaki added with a curt nod.
One by one, the chiefs agreed to stop fighting amongst each other and to live in peace. Many toasts were raised in good spirits, and soon a feeling of camaraderie flowed through the night air. It was late in the evening when the chiefs began to show signs of slowing down, and by that time I was more than eager for my bed.
Then we called it a night, but I went to check in on my women in Bastianville before I went to sleep.
Blip.
I stood in the bedroom of the castle, and Mahini laid curled up in bed, but I squatted beside her and brushed her hair away from her
face to rouse her. The desert goddess blinked her eyes sleepily, but then a warm smile spread across her beautiful face.
“Bash, what a lovely surprise,” Mahini purred in a sleepy voice.
“I told you I’d check in every day,” I reminded her. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine for the most part,” Mahini sighed as she rubbed her swelling belly. “I have been getting more and more tired lately, and I feel the baby dropping lower in preparation for birth. My mother says it won’t be long now.”
“Let me finish my quest in the desert before you pop out our little one,” I requested with a playful smirk.
“Because babies only come out when they’re told to,” Mahini laughed. “Right.”
“Hey, it could happen.” I shrugged. “But in all seriousness, the baby is more than welcome to come any time after it’s fully ready. I can’t wait to meet the little one who is a perfect mixture of me and you.”
“Enough baby talk for now.” Mahini yawned as she flapped a dismissive hand. “Tell me everything that’s been happening in the desert?”
“Well, the sorcerer continues to evade me.” I raked a frustrated hand through my hair as I thought about all the challenges ahead of me. “Nameless has the scent of the Vex, but there is still no guarantee the trail will lead to the sorcerer’s lair. It’s the only lead we have, but in the meantime, I had to drop everything to stop a war between the tribes.”
“Yes, they tend to do that.” Mahini pressed her lips into a thin, white line. “My people are not known to have peaceful natures. War was as common as trading when I was a girl. I can’t imagine they have changed much since then…”
“At least not the northern tribes,” I said in a thoughtful tone. “It seems those who live further south are more prone to pacifism.”
My thoughts went to the Brumuex Tribe where the trees themselves were protective of the peaceful peoples.
“I never traveled to the south,” Mahini said. “What is it like?”
“I succeeded in getting them to agree to peace,” I informed my wife. “They all agreed to stop the fighting and stay within their territories except to trade with the others.”
“That’s fantastic news.” Mahini gave me a rare grin. “I’m so excited to see the future of the Kotar Desert after your influence has
stirred things up.”
A blush darkened my neck and cheeks. I was inundated with flattery from every angle every day, but hearing it from Mahini’s lips was especially powerful.
“The God of Time leaves no stone unturned,” I said, and I cleared my throat as I regained my composure. “And I always leave places better than how I found them. It’s all part of getting one hundred percent completion.”
“One hundred percent completion?” Mahini tilted her head to the side with curiosity, but I merely smiled and changed the subject.
“Say, where is my other beautiful wife?” I arched an eyebrow.
“The one with red hair. You know the one.”
“Ah, yes, I believe I do,” Mahini giggled. “Lissy decided to sleep in the nursery tonight because Sorena wouldn’t stay asleep for very long.”
Elissa was already a doting and nurturing mother, and I wondered if she was still having a hard time accepting help from the townsfolk. She’d promised to let people assist her with the baby more, but as a first-time mother, it was hard for her to delegate, so she usually stayed up with the baby every single night.
I made a mental note to hire a wet nurse before we had multiple babies on our hands, and then I returned my attention to the conversation at hand.
“I’ll have to stop in and say goodbye at least,” I said before I leaned down and kissed Mahini on her forehead. “Until tomorrow night, my love.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Mahini purred.
Something in her voice stirred a reaction deep in my loins, and I had to restrain myself from taking her right then and there.
Instead, I went in search of Elissa and Sorena, and I found the pair of beauties in the nursery. My redheaded wife slept in the rocking chair beside the crib where my daughter rested peacefully, and I was hesitant to wake them, so I placed soft kisses on their foreheads.
Elissa stirred from the movement against her skin, and her emerald gemstone eyes blinked sleepily up at me.
“Oh, husband, you have returned!” Her voice remained in a whisper, but her excitement was still obvious. “What news from the desert do you bring?”
“I may have established a more secure level of peace in the Kotar Desert,” I reported in a proud tone. “But there is still much work to be done before I can come home for good. I still need to find the sorcerer responsible for the monster attacks.”
“I’m sure fighting against a common foe will unite the tribes while you work out the particulars of the peace treaty,” Elissa suggested. “But I’m sure you’ve already thought of that…”
“I have,” I chuckled. “But I am proud to have a wife with such a good head on her shoulders. I’m lucky to have you, Lissy.”
“Our daughter is lucky to have us both,” Elissa whispered as her gemstone eyes wandered to the crib. “She has her father’s fighting spirit and doesn’t like to sleep, so this is a nice reprieve from her demands.”
“Enjoy it,” I said. “I’ll leave you to your slumber.”
“Until tomorrow, my love,” Elissa said, and she squeezed my hand warmly before I pulled away.
I returned to the hallway before I performed the fast travel spell, but then I blipped back to the desert with a wave of my willpower and a hand placed against the Amulet of Zyne that hung around my neck.
Blip.
I stood in the middle of our campsite, and the darkness etched shadows across the ground from the firelight. Everyone had gone to bed already, so I made my way to my tent, but I made a new save point as I crawled into bed. There was never any way of knowing what would happen in the mornings, so I liked having a fallback from the night before.
“There you are,” Eva purred as she nuzzled her ass against my crotch.
“I’m here,” I chuckled, and I wrapped my arms around her torso as I snuggled up against her back.
“How is Bastianville, my love?” Zenda rolled over on the other side of the blonde bombshell, and her sapphire-blue eyes twinkled in the light of the torch hung from the rafters of the tent.
“Everyone is just as sleepy as you three,” I chuckled. “Let’s get some rest. Tomorrow is another full day of peacemaking and sorcerer finding.”
“Don’t forget mapmaking,” Zenda teased.
“We’ll discuss everything in the morning,” I promised.
Then we drifted off to sleep, and I had a peaceful dream about ruling over the entire world as an emperor, but then the dawn awakened me from my slumber. The ladies beside me stirred at the same time, and we were all yawning and stretching our arms over our heads a moment later.
“Good morning, beautiful ladies,” I said as I squeezed Eva and Zenda both into my arms. If I could have fit my arms around all three of them, I would have. “What should we accomplish today?”
“Peace around the Kotar Desert,” Eva said.
“A good, healthy breakfast,” Caelia giggled.
“Complete our map!” Zenda jumped out of bed and pulled on her usual turquoise robes. “There is still so much we don’t know about the desert terrain. There’s no telling how far south the desert stretches. No one except the tribes who live down there have explored that region.”
“We’ll have to fix that,” I agreed.
“How do we do that and oversee the new changes from the peace treaty at the same time?” Zenda bit her bottom lip in concern.
“We can only be in one place at one time.”
“We have several tribes’ worth of people at our disposal,” I reminded the Zaborian historian. “We can utilize the assets we have on hand, and everything will work out in the end. I promise.”
“I trust you,” Zenda said.
“Just think about how a map will revolutionize the trade industry here in the south,” Caelia mused. “It will be a real game changer for merchants wanting to venture into the desert.”
“We’ll have to establish trade routes to the Chunga Oasis,” I suggested.
“I’ll handle it from the Sorreyal side,” Caelia volunteered. “I have several contacts in Vallenwood now, and we can launch the trade routes from there. There will be caravans traveling to the desert before next year.”
“I leave the task in your capable hands.” I couldn’t help but smile at the three talented, intelligent women I had by my side. “All three of you are simply amazing, and I couldn’t imagine being here without you.”
“We would follow you anywhere, Bash,” Eva assured me without hesitation.
“She’s right,” Caelia agreed.
“This has been one big adventure,” Zenda added. “And I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
“My heart is full,” I said as I blinked back emotional tears from my eyes. “Now, let’s go kick this desert’s ass once and for all.”
The four of us and Nameless exited the tent ready for the new day, but I took some time to feed and play with the baby dragon before I made my daily rounds through the campsite. With the little lizard-like creature following me through the air above my head, I checked in on all the scouts, but there had been no monster sightings yet.
I wondered how long of a reprieve we would have before the next wave came at us. There was no telling what other monsters would come out of the legends of the desert dwellers, but I was prepared for anything.
Even a Hydra if it came down to that.
After I enjoyed a small breakfast of flatbread, fried eggs from a desert bird, and crispy meat strips that reminded me of bacon, I set about my tasks for the day. First, I checked in with each of the chiefs to re-establish their desire for peace, and I explained a little bit more about my ideas for dividing up the desert into twelve sections.
Each tribe would get a pie segment-shaped wedge that circled the Chunga Oasis, but I still wasn’t sure what to do with this gorgeous waterfall oasis. It had always existed as a peaceful place where people could seek shelter from the desert heat without being attacked by any one tribe, but now they were all vying for the right to claim it for themselves.
I didn’t want to show any favoritism, and I wanted my ruling to be fair, so I would have to think it over until something stuck.
By lunchtime, I was thinking deeply about how much we needed a map before we could properly divide up the desert, but my map was far from complete. We’d ventured into the south a bit, but had never traveled very far from the coastline, so there was still a huge swath of land left unexplored.
I was determined to change that.
With my mind set on my next task, I summoned the runners from each of the tribes together, and I laid out my plans.
“There are twelve of you,” I said. “If each of you go in a slightly different direction, we can cover a lot of ground at a rapid pace.”
“It would take weeks to reach the southern coastline,” Banini, the runner from the Kimaku Tribe, said. “We will need rations and
good horses.”
“You’ll have everything you need to make the journey,” I promised.
“I have traveled great distances for my tribe already,” Cragys, the Casamoni Tribe’s messenger, said. “Show me this map, and I may be able to help fill in some of the blanks before I depart.”
“That would be fantastic.” I grinned and ushered Zenda forward with her armful of papers.
The Zaborian historian laid out her parchments full of sketches, and the runners all leaned over the table to get a better look. Some muttering and pointing followed, but it was all spoken under their breaths, so I couldn’t catch what exactly was said.
Zenda began taking hurried notes, though, so I figured she understood some of their grunts.
Then an idea struck me.
“Listen,” I said, and all the runners paused their analysis of the map to meet my eyes. “The Chunga Oasis is unclaimed territory, but you could all take turns using it for yourselves. Whoever reaches the edge of the desert and returns first will be able to claim the oasis for
their tribe, and then the others will take turns after that. We can discuss at a later time what a fair time allotment at the oasis will be.”
There were excited murmurs in response to my
announcement, and I knew word would quickly spread throughout all the desert dwellers, but I was ready for any backlash my decision entailed.
We spent the rest of the day deciding which runner would go in which direction, and once a plan was in place, we took a break for dinner. It would take a couple of days to gather the supplies the messengers needed, but I wanted to make sure they were all well-stocked with rations before they headed out into the desert alone.
The next morning, the chiefs and I all came out to see the runners off, and they mounted their heavily-laden horses with proud expressions on their faces. They saluted or nodded their heads to their respective chiefs, and they thumped their fists against their chests in farewell before they galloped out of the oasis.
We watched them go in silence, but then the chiefs all approached me at once.
“I heard you will give the first tribe to return the Chunga Oasis,”
Chief Kuaki of the Kanuaki Tribe said in an accusatory tone. “What
gives you the right?”
“I’m the God of Time,” I said simply with a shrug of my shoulders. “You all came to me for help, and this is how I’ve decided to do so. Whoever earns the right to the oasis will get to decide how they use that right. They could still give it up as a neutral territory.
There’s no way of knowing until the first runner returns.”
The next few days passed by peacefully, and I got to know the chiefs of the various tribes a little better as the time went on, but I quickly grew anxious to hear back from the runners. I kept myself busy by training with my soldiers and the tribal warriors, but there was only so much training I could do before my body gave in from sheer exhaustion.
I blipped back to Bastianville each night to check in on my two wives and my daughter, but I was surprised by how fast Sorena was growing. She took up all of her mother and Mahini’s time, and the two women were eager for a break each evening when I arrived. I would carry my daughter around the castle, and I talked to her about all my adventures until she fell asleep. Sometimes I sang her songs from my world, but I quickly started to change the lyrics to fit life in this medieval fantasy world. Savage Garden’s Truly, Madly, Deeply,
was one of Sorena’s favorites, but nothing put her to sleep like Oasis’ Wonderwall.
And so it went for the next several days.
I made a new save point each night, but no monsters attacked for days. I was lulled into a routine, and a false sense of safety fell over the oasis. People began to venture further and further away from the waterfall, but I let them do as they wished.
The God of Time was more than capable of keeping all the desert dwellers safe.
On the fifth day after the runners left, the messenger from the Kimaku Tribe, Banini, returned to the Chunga Oasis on an exhausted black charger. He’d borrowed the horse from someone in the Kanuaki Tribe, and the poor creature looked like it was about to take its last breath.
“Did I win?” Banini’s tired voice was full of hope.
“You’re the first to return.” I raised one eyebrow. “Did you make it to the edge of the desert?”
“There is nothing but ocean on the far side,” Banini reported. “I drew my sketches just like you asked.”
The runner added his notes and details to Zenda’s map in progress, and I had to admit, it felt really good to see the map blossoming into a complete picture.
The next tribe’s runner to arrive was Cragys of the Casamoni Tribe, but that wasn’t a surprise since the nomads had already traveled a great distance to the south, and their knowledge added a lot of value to our map.
“Great job, guys,” I said as the two runners pointed out more details to Zenda. “It looks like the Kimaku have won the race to claim the Chunga Oasis.”
Then the rest of the runners began to trickle in, and I got to enjoy watching Zenda’s excitement grow as the map became more and more detailed. The southern coastline curved around the desert until it met up with the jungles of the Southern Wild Lands to the west, but that would be a realm I’d explore another time.
The desert was a vast and isolating place, with harsh terrain and even harsher predators, but the desert dwellers had eked out an existence on the sand. There were still no signs of the sorcerer’s lair, but I still held onto hope that one of the runners would find it.
But the last runner still hadn’t arrived.
Pravish of the Kanuaki Tribe showed up two weeks after I’d sent the messengers to the southern edges of the desert realm, but he looked like he was on the brink of death. Blood was dried and matted around his temple, and dirt was smudged all across his face.
As the messenger’s charger came to a halt, the runner leaned forward and fell off his horse. Tribespeople rushed forward to carry him into the shaman’s tent to be looked at, but I had a feeling I knew what had happened to him.
He’d discovered the location of the sorcerer’s lair.
Pravish confirmed my thoughts when he was conscious again, and it sounded like he’d given the Vex guarding the fortress just as good as he’d gotten, but he was lucky they were weak to his fire magic or he wouldn’t have made it back alive. He even managed to write the spot on the map we’d created, and I stared at the giant red X with determination and excitement.
This was finally about to be over.
All I needed to do now was take my army straight to the sorcerer’s fortress, and I could wipe his monster army off the newly-created map.
I couldn’t wait to blip back to Bastianville to report everything to my women.
Blip.
Mahini dove into my arms and crushed her lips against mine as soon as I materialized in front of her, and all thoughts of the sorcerer and his lair evaporated under the heat of my wife’s lustful gaze.
“It’s about time, husband,” she purred in a seductive tone. “I’ve been wanting you to warm my bed all day.”
“I promised I’d come every day,” I reminded her with a pleased smirk. “But I’m here now. What do you have in mind?”
Mahini led me by the hand up the stairs, and we entered the bedroom a few moments later.
It was clear to me what the desert goddess wanted.
And I was more than happy to oblige.