IDWTBTHQ Chapter 108 - Scaroused

A storm was raging over the Grimdale countryside.

Black clouds covered the sky, making the day as dark as a moonless night, with only the intermittent flashes of lighting providing any sort of light. The wind howled, carrying waves of raindrops which flogged the earth with violence, flattening the grass and ripping the remaining autumnal leaves from the trees while the ground itself was turned into a quagmire.

It was certainly not a good day for marching, Marcus thought, draping himself in his coat while watching the rain fall. He was fine on a personal level, since the little mold-wax house he was travelling in protected him from the elements, but he still felt the fury of the storm on the bodies of his drones. His Warriors and Heavies were struggling to free their feet from the mud with each step and the Fliers were all resting on top of the other drones, since the strong winds made it impossible for them to fly. Still, it could be worse. At least the chitinous armor of his drones protected them from the brunt of the storm, something which couldn't be said for the goblins and the humans following the Vex.

And indeed, from what he could overhear through his copy-drone riding in the couch with the marquis, it seemed that the non-Vex elements of the army were just about to reach their limits. In fact, the nobleman was currently discussing the matter with the goblin general.

“We can't go on.” Eisen was saying. “This storm is going to last at least one day, and our men are going to collapse if we force them to march through it.”

“Well, we can't exactly set camp here either.” Trakk replied calmly. “These fields are going to become a swamp soon, so we might as well keep moving while we try to find a suitable shelter.” The goblin turned to the copy-Marcus. “Did your scouts find any such place?”

“No.” The drone replied. “But they haven't gotten far either. This weather makes it difficult to move even for them.”

“By the Lord!” The marquis cursed in a tired voice. “We should have stopped at the last village and wait there for the storm to pass.”

“Maybe.” Trakk agreed. “But that was many hours ago and we had no way of knowing that the storm would be upon us so fast. At the time, proceeding to the next village seemed like a perfectly sensible decision, especially because we are in a hurry to catch up with the orc army.”

“I know, I know.” Eisen replied in a frustrated tone. “But this doesn't change the current situation. If we spend the night marching through this storm, by tomorrow morning we'll have to scrape our soldiers from the mud.”

“Then let's hope that we can find the next village.” The goblin said, keeping his calm as always. “If the map is accurate, it should be nearby.”

“It is.” the copy-Marcus suddenly said. “One of my drones just found it.”

“Excellent!” The marquis nodded, looking really relieved. “How far is it?”

“About four kilometers from here, I think.” Marcus replied. “Three kilometers from here there is a crossroad, and the village is about a kilometer down the road on the right.” He paused for a second before adding: “It's a bit hard to see with all this rain since there are no lights. I can't say for sure without getting a closer look, but it seems to be deserted.”

Trakk quickly looked at the map he carried and nodded.

“That should be the village of Hirm.” He said. “It is near the route that goes from Fendel's Mines to Treval, so it was probably evacuated because of the threat of the orcs.”

“Well, even if the inhabitants have fled, it's still going to be better than standing here in the open.” Eisen said. “I'll send a rider to check if there is anyone still there and eventually inform them of our arrival.”

“You should tell your rider to be careful then.” The goblin general suggested. “For all we know, there could be orcs hiding in there.”

“I can have a few of my Warriors wait nearby while the rider enters the village.” Marcus offered. “In case he's going to need help.”

“Good idea.” Trakk nodded approvingly.

“Yes, that would be helpful.” The marquis said. “Just don't make them get too close... if there are still humans in there, the appearance of your Warriors could scare them.”

The nobleman then opened one of the windows and gave the necessary instruction to one of the cloaked knights riding across the coach. The man immediately rode away, and in just about fifteen minutes he came back, knocking at the coach's door. He seemed to be unharmed, but he looked terribly pale and his expression was beyond grim.

“Milord...” He said. “The village is currently deserted. However...” He paused, trying to get a hold of himself. “It seems that the place has been raided, and it wasn't empty when that happened.”

About half an hour later, after having dismounted from the Dreadnaught drone, Marcus, Klara and Felix were staring at eight ravaged bodies lined up on the muddy ground of the main road of the village. It wasn't easy to determine their exact age at first glance, since their heads and most of their upper torso was missing, but two of them were clearly very young, and in particular there was what looked like a little girl in a now bloody and dirty azure dress.

The ways the three friends reacted to that sight were wildly different.

“Why didn't they run away?” Felix asked, his voice trembling with rage. He was radiating a furious heat, to the point that the mud around his feet had started boiling and raindrops evaporated as soon as they touched him, enveloping him in a veil of steam. His eyes also shone of fiery amber light. “They had to know that the orcs were around!”

“I don't know.” Klara replied. She was as pale as a ghost and had a sickened expression on her face, as if she was about to throw up. “There could have been many reasons. Maybe they didn't hear the warnings. Or maybe they did but didn't think that the orcs would get to this village. Or maybe they couldn't move because one of them was too sick.” She looked away, biting her lips in frustration. “This isn't Brettholz, where there are a lot of wild beasts coming from the forest and people are ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.”

Marcus said nothing. He just kept staring at the bodies on the ground, eyes wide, as a horrible realization creeped in his mind.

He felt nothing in particular.

No matter how hard he tried to be horrified by the spectacle in front of him, no matter how much he searched inside of his heart, all he could find was at best a slight annoyance at the wastefulness of the orcs for leaving behind so much meat.

And, quite ironically, this was what really disturbed him.

“What the fuck wrong with me?” He thought as he kept staring at the body of the young girl. “There is a literal half eaten dead child here in front of me, and all I can think is how much of a sloppy eater the orcs that bit her head off were! I should be trembling with anger and swearing vengeance like the hero of an opera right now, not be as calm as dead fish!”

He kept trying to get himself to be upset about the deaths of those people, but while he was perfectly able to intellectually see it as a tragedy he could elicit any particular emotional reaction. There was... something like a block inside of his mind that prevented him from seeing the bodies on the ground as more than discarded pieces of meat.

He was silently wondering the reason for this, when a few men approached the bodies and started taking them away to bury them. After that, not having any more reason for standing there in the rain, Marcus and his friends went inside one of the village buildings, in order to find out where they would be sleeping tonight.

As it turned out, finding a place to sleep wasn't so easy, something which was to be expected since they had to accomodate an army of thousands in a village meant to house two hundred people at most. Luckily the Vex Drones had no trouble staying outside, since they could easily tolerate even the most extreme weathers, but still ten thousand goblins were more than enough  to  fill every nook and cranny. Even the marquis had to share a room with the rest of his men.

Only one exception was made, for the sake of decency, for the women that accompanied the army, who were given an entire bedroom for themselves. And this group happened to include Marcus.

The Vex Queen would have normally objected to that categorization, but in these circumstances he decided to let it slide. After all, his control over his telepathy wasn't still at the point when he could comfortably sleep in a room full of strangers, while with his current accomodation he'd only have Klara as his roommate since the only other female currently in their army, the wolfwoman called Alya Vilka, had been scouting the territory ahead since the previous day and had yet to come back.

The room they would share was also rather nice, having a big bed they could comfortably sleep together in and even a stove in a corner, which Marcus immediately lit. The temperature in the room then quickly went from chilly to pleasantly warm, and the two started changing for the night, with Klara wearing her nightgown and Marcus simply undressing down to his underwear. As they did so they did not exchange a single word, but the Vex Queen could easily feel the turmoil inside of the girl's head. She quite clearly was still under shock from seeing the bodies of the inhabitants of Hirm, something which made Marcus feel guilty and upset about still not feeling anything about them.

After a while, he decided that he had enough and started speaking to try and distract the girl —and himself— from those morose thoughts.

“Sooooo...” He said. “Have you ever been in the city of Treval before? And if so, could you tell me something about it?”

“I've been there once, but it's been many years so I don't remember much about it.” Klara replied in an empty voice. “If you want to know more about it, you should ask someone else.”

Marcus sighed. It was quite clear the girl wasn't in the mood for idle chatting, but at the same time he just didn't want to spend the night with a literal source of depression right besides him.

“Well, if I'm being honest, I don't really care about this Treval city.” He admitted. “I'm just trying to cheer you up a bit. You seem to be really down ever since we saw those bodies.”

“Shouldn't I be?” Klara asked, starting to sound a bit angry. “Those people were literally eaten alive, Marcus! Who wouldn't be down after seeing them?” She sighed and calmed down. “Anyway, I appreciate the thought. But I’m afraid I need to process this thing by myself. So just let me be for a bit, alright?”

“Fine.” The Vex Queen replied awkwardly. He then turned away, trying to relax and deal with his own internal struggle, when all of a sudden, through the eyes of his drones, he saw a cloaked figure approaching the village. Alarmed, he immediately sent a few Warriors towards that newcomer to identify their identity and make sure they didn't have any hostile intention, but they stopped when the stranger started speaking in a familiar voice.

“Stop right there you bug bastards! It's me, Alya!” The figure raised her hood a bit, revealing her wolf-like features. She also looked quite pissed. “Take me to the marquis or get out of the way. I've got no time to lose standing here in the rain!”

Mindful of the slaughter the thulian had inflicted in his forces a few days before, Marcus immediately made his drones back off save for one, which gestured for the wolfwoman to follow him. At the same time, the Vex Queen also made her copy-drone move, making it go warn the marquis about Alya's return.

Five minutes later, the wolfwoman entered the cramped room where Eisen, Trakk and Marcus's copy were waiting for her, together with most of their bodyguards. She was literally dripping water when she stepped in, and after she took off her cloak she started shaking like a dog, sending droplets flying on everyone around her.

“Welcome back, lady Vilka!” The marquis greeted her. “How did your scouting go? Did you find anything out there?”

“First, don't call me lady.” She replied. “Just Alya will do. And second, I did find something alright. Mostly rain and mud. But between those two, I also found the orc army.” She smirked. “Not that it was particularly difficult, even in this rain. They left a really easy trail to follow. Empty villages, stomped cultivations… the work.”She sneered. “They’re sloppy even in their pillaging.”

“Where did you see them exactly?” The marquis asked, as Trakk took out his map.

“Quite far from here.” The wolfwoman said, shaking a bit of mud from her feet. “At least three hours to the north, at my pace. Double or triple that time for you.” She stretched her arms. “They were camped inside a small wood, near a village they had recently pillaged, probably waiting for the storm to end.”

The goblin general studied his map and nodded.

“If Alya is right, they should be near the village of Thurhall, about thirty-eight kilometers north-north-west.” He said, pointing at a specific spot on the map.

There was a small pause as everyone in the room processed this information, and then the marquis said:

“That is not really that far... could we perhaps march out right now and engage them while they are waiting for the storm to pass?”

“I don't think so.” Trakk replied. “Unless the weather gets better going north, we will exhaust ourselves on the way.”

“It gets worse.” Alya replied, using a towel to clean herself up a bit. “Even for me, it was quite an annoying journey.” She yawned. “Speaking of which... is there someplace I could dry up and get some sleep? I have nothing else to add to what I already said, anyway.”

“Well, as you can see we are a bit cramped right now, but we left a room for the women accompanying our army that should have a stove inside.” The marquis said. “If you don't mind sharing a room and a bed with Sir Marcus and Miss Klara, you could sleep with them.”

“I don't think most people would complain about sharing the bed with two girls!” Alya replied with an almost predatory smile, something which for some reason sent a chill down Marcus' spine as he listened through his copy-drone.

“Ehr… that’s good then.” The marquis said, turning towards the copy-drone. “I hope that’s alright with you as well, sir Marcus.”

The Vex Queen wasn’t really ok with that, but he nodded anyway.

“Yes.” He said, managing not to sound reluctant. “I’ll tell Klara and we’ll make room for her.”

“That’s for the better.” Alya commented with a smirk. “I do need a lot of room, after all!”

Cackling a bit, the wolfwoman then started heading towards the bedroom and at the same time Marcus, in his actual body, towards Klara, who was still silent and staring into the flames while sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Uhm... Klara, do you remember the wolf woman from before, the one called Alya Vilka?” He said. “Well, she has returned and she's coming to sleep with us.”

The girl blinked, and for a moment her surprise took over her depression.

“What? Really?”

“Yes.” Marcus replied. “She has just finished reporting to the marquis and she's heading here as we speak.”

Klara looked at the bed, and sighed.

“Well, I thought we had room to spare, but now we’re going to be a bit cramped too, aren’t we?” She smirked. “From what I saw, Alya is really big.”

“That she is.” The Vex Queen nodded. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he asked: “By the way… what do you know about her?”

“Not much.” The girl shrugged. “As I told you a few days ago, I know that she is an Aura Master of great renown and she is considered the strongest fighter in the Federation.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Marcus said. “But don’t you know anything about her personality or what she’s like?”

“Not really.” Klara shook her head. “I mostly only know what the newspapers tell about her, and they mostly cover just her achievements and victories.” She paused and added: “That is, if you don’t count those newspapers that focus on baseless gossip, but I don’t read that garbage.” She shook her head and asked: “Why do you want to know, anyway?”

“Well...” The Vex Queen hesitated for a moment. “Mostly to know what kind of person I would share the room with, I guess.” He paused, looked at himself and at Klara, and then added, in a rather embarrassed tone: “Ehm… also, you really know nothing about her? How about… whether she likes men or… women?”

Klara raised an eyebrow at that question.

“Uh… I’m afraid I don’t know that.” She said in a rather confused tone. “Why do you want to know? Are you going to make a pass at her?”

“What? No!” Marcus cried, feeling blood rushing to his face. “I… well, I was just asking because of a comment she made.”

“What kind of comment?”Klara asked.

“Wellll… I don’t know if she was joking or not, but after being asked if it was a problem sleeping with us, she replied that sleeping with two girls would be anyone’s dream.”

Klara remained silent for a moment, processing that information.

“Well… she could have been joking.” She said. “I mean, nothing I’ve heard about her suggests anything about her sexual preferences, one way or the other.” She smirked. “But well, even if she does like women, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” She looked at Marcus. “I mean, we share a room even though you used to be a man, don’t we?”

The Vex Queen stared at her for a moment, but then he sighed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m just overthinking this.”

Just as he said those words, the door opened and Alya marched in the room like a hurricane, without knocking or announcing herself in any way.

“So this is the girls room, uh?” She said, inspecting the room. “It’s nice enough, all things considered.”

She walked to the stove, and she quickly started undressing herself in front of it, throwing her wet clothes on a chair.

Marcus and Klara exchanged a long, confused glance, both too surprised to even try to speak. And in the Vex Queen’s case, he was also a bit intimidated. This was the first time he was close enough to the wolfwoman to really feel her aura, and it was really overpowering —maybe not as much as that of the dragon, but still strong enough to make him feel uneasy. He felt as if being near a vicious wild beast, who could turn on him at any moment.

Meanwhile, Alya was now undressed down to her two-pieces costume, and turned to her two new roommates with a wolfish smirk on her face.

“There is no need to be so scared, you two!” She said. “I won’t bite… not right now, anyway! I just want a good night of sleep before tomorrow’s march!” She paused and added: “Also, just for your information, I sleep in the nude. I hope this won’t be a problem, but if it is then feel free to get out and sleep somewhere else.”

She then took off her top, and her breasts seemingly exploded out of it, taking Marcus completely by surprise. Somehow, the dark, elastic top squeezed Alya’s chest to the point that she didn’t seem particularly endowed… but now that her torso was naked, he could fully appreciate the magnitude of those titties. Even Klara, who was no slouch in the chest department herself, seemed to be impressed, letting out a soft, surprised whistle.

Alya then took off her shorts as well, remaining completely naked in front of the stove in order to dry herself up, and Marcus was now able to fully study her body in detail.

She was, as he had noticed from his drones, very well toned, with her short white fur doing nothing to hide the definition of her muscles, but at the same time she was also very definitely feminine, with wide hips and, as he had just seen, a very wide chest. All in all, she looked like a classical marble statue of some ancient wolf-goddess or something, as her animalistic features were somehow perfectly harmonized with her humanoid structure.

While Marcus kept staring,  Klara cleared her throat and asked:

“Uhm… so, how are we going to sleep in here? I mean, there is only one bed in this room, and while it’s quite big I don’t think it can comfortably fit all three of us.”

“Oh, I’m going to sleep on the bed.” Alya replied. “I don’t mind if we’re a bit cramped, but I refuse to sleep on the floor like a dog when there is an alternative.” She shrugged. “If you’re not satisfied with it, you are free to sleep elsewhere.” She touched her fur, which was now dry, and added: “Also, I’m coming to bed right now. Make room for me.”

And before they could protest in any way, she walked right in front of the bed and let herself drop on it, right between Klara and Marcus. And only a second later, she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep, snoring slightly with her head between the pillows.

The Vex Queen and the girl exchanged another glance, and this time Klara shrugged.

“Well, a cramped bed is better than the floor for sleeping.” She said. “And at least this closeness will keep us warm. So I’ll stay here.”

“I’ll stay as well then.” Marcus replied. “Luckily, this body of mine is small enough to fit comfortably pretty much everywhere.”

“Good for you!” Klara said.. “We better get to sleep now. It’s gotten pretty late, and we have to catch up with the orc army tomorrow!”

“Right.” The Vex Queen agreed. “Goodnight Klara.”

“Goodnight Marcus.”

The two of them then lied down beside Alya, trying to make most of the little space the wolfwoman had left them. A deep silence fell on the room, interrupted only by the noise of the storm outside and the crackling of the fire in the stove, and only a few minutes later Klara’s breath also turned into a light snoring as the girl fell asleep.

Only Marcus remained awake, trying his best to relax and sleep, but for some reason he couldn’t. Alya’s presence besides him was terribly distracting. And to make things worse, that wasn’t just because she found her intimidating, like trying to sleep beside a lion… it was also because a new feeling had also creeped inside of him, making him experience a tingly sensation in the lower parts of his body.

“So this is what they call being scaroused.” He thought with annoyance.

After another hour of being completely unable to close his eyes, he finally gave up and went to sleep on the floor in front of the stove, using his clothes as some improvised bedroll. Only then, despite the rather uncomfortable accommodation, he managed to fall asleep.