Summoned by Monster Girls

It took around ten minutes for Rieka to crash emotionally.

I’d been keeping a close eye on both her and Kassandra. My lover was also pale, but not to the level that Rieka was. We had enough time to drag the bodies out of the barn and line them up to one side for when the city guard arrived. The residents of the small farming enclave helped as well, but it was easy to see how twitchy they were too. The women and the youngest male were just as pale as Rieka but seemed able to keep focus on the moment.

Kassandra, bless her naughty little heart, had taken the forefront in handling the residents and working with them to ensure they were safe. Once the bodies were moved out of the way, she used some of her ice magic to chill a portion of the barn to ensure the meat on the dead livestock lasted long enough for them to harvest it all. The death of the cattle and sheep would be a blow for them, but not as dear of one as it might have been otherwise.

Rieka, on the other hand, got paler by the second and I saw the moment that her nerves failed her while Kassandra was busy casting her spells. Thankfully, I’d been sticking close to Rieka after a knowing nod from Kassandra. So when Rieka slumped forward and proceeded to vomit onto the packed earth at the entrance to the barn, I was able to catch and support her with one arm while the other moved to pull her hair back.

“Easy…easy.” I murmured into one pointed ear while Rieka retched. Her entire body was shaking like a leaf in a stiff breeze.

“No…” Rieka moaned quietly, clinging to me with what strength she had while she trembled and then retched again. As soon as she stopped vomiting, she buried her face in my shoulder and wept.

“Shh…it’s okay, Rieka.” I continued to murmur reassuring platitudes to her as best as I could while she shook and wept.

I’d been watching for it because of her pallor earlier but this was even more than I’d expected. It reminded me vaguely of my response when I’d first encountered the kobolds and my reactions to dealing with them, just not to this level.

I suppose that I had the vague shield at least that this was another world. This is her home realm after all and they were targeting her specifically. I thought while gently stroking the hair of the distraught young woman in my arms. My own lack of reaction to the gore and reality of killing several sentient people, beyond a twisting stomach, was a bit surprising. After a moment of reflection I knew why.

They were after Rieka. Rieka is one of my girls. I will protect them to the best of my ability and damn whoever gets in my way. I had to suppress the growl that wanted to fight its way out of my chest. The last thing I wanted was to give Rieka a reason to think I was upset.

“It’s my fault…” Rieka’s words were quiet and I could hear the thickness in her voice from the tears as well and her reaction made sense to me suddenly.

“No, it isn’t.” I replied quickly, squeezing her close while I continued to stroke her hair gently.

“Yes it is. They were here for me. I’m the reason these people were harmed.” Rieka’s voice was getting louder and I had to act quickly.

“You heard them, Rieka. These people were monsters to begin with. I doubt they would have left these people alone. It might have just taken longer for them to find a chance to hurt them. And as soon as you were aware of the problem, you acted to protect them.”

“But…”

“No ‘but’s, Rieka. This is not your fault. You acted in defense of innocents. Killing isn’t easy and it shouldn’t be. Just be happy it was for a good reason.” I shifted my hand a little higher in her hair to rub the base of her ears and Rieka let out a low moan before burrowing her face deeper into my chest. I caught sight of two of the farmers staring at us and motioned for them to leave us be, which they did, clearly abashed.

“I think I know how you felt now…” Rieka said after another few minutes of just clinging to me. The shakes had slowed down to just an occasional tremble.

“Oh?”

“After the kobolds. You had issues then, didn’t you?”

“I was brutally confronted with the reality of your world and disabused of the fact that this was just a playful adventure. I was able to get through it because you two needed me to protect you. Also, that was the first time I’d killed something that could speak.” I gave Rieka another squeeze and nodded to Kassandra when I saw her emerge from the barn and look around curiously. She waved and began wending her way over, her face a little paler than normal but clearly more ‘together’ than Rieka at the moment.

“Honestly, kobolds can’t speak. They can growl really well and communicate that way, but it’s not like they can compose poetry.” Rieka lectured before letting out a rather wet giggle. “Sorry, I was just imagining something absurd.”

“Oh? What was that?”

“A kobold bard, trying his best to sing in those squeaky growls they make while strumming on a badly tuned lute.”

That particular mental image had me snickering too as Kassandra reached us and proceeded to wrap her tail around our lower legs and lean into my side, obviously not wanting to interrupt my consoling of Rieka.

“I’ll be okay.” Rieka said after another minute or two.

“Oh I know that, you are a tough girl after all.” I rubbed the base of her ears again and she let out a quiet, happy noise.

“Yup. One of the toughest, after me.” Kassandra interjected cheekily. “See, isn’t cuddling with Liam just the best?”

“It really is. I appreciate you letting me borrow him.” Rieka leaned back just enough to begin wiping at her eyes.

Kassandra continued to grin and produced a simple handkerchief, which she offered to Rieka while continuing. “Oh it’s not really borrowing. He’s on loan and don’t even ask about the interest rates, they are absolutely ridiculous.”

“Kass!” Rieka protested, snatching the handkerchief from her and putting it to good use. “That’s not very nice, you didn’t even ask him if he was willing to loan himself out.”

“Didn’t need to, I’m happy to.” I butted in before turning to Kassandra and saying in a stage whisper. “I expect an equal share of those interest payments by the way. I won't give it up for free after all.” This sent Kassandra into another bout of giggles while Rieka punched me lightly in the chest, scowling playfully up at me with watery eyes the color of ice.

“Not funny, Liam. I’d never expect that of you.” Rieka said while doing her best to wipe the remains of her tears from her face. “Ugh, I am such a mess. I need some water to wash up with. Can I get the waterskin?”

“No need. Liam, could you be a dear and go get us a bucket from the well?” Kassandra switched from playful to earnest with a speed that would have been concerning if I wasn’t used to it at this point.

“Sure. I’ll be right back, Rieka.” I gently released the wolf kin woman and she whined quietly when my hand left her hair, which resulted in a blush coloring her still-pale cheeks. Kassandra loosened her coils and I was able to step over them before she wound tight to her friend once more and took my spot hugging Rieka, just lower down due to her smaller stature.

I caught a snippet of their muttered conversation as I headed towards the well that was tucked into the shade of a couple trees on the far side of the open ground from the barn.

“You realize that he’s as much yours as he is mine, right?”

“I know you think that, Kass.”

“He’s got a big heart, there’s room there…”

I didn’t catch what Rieka said in reply as I had gotten far enough away that I wouldn’t be able to keep listening without enhancing my hearing. That would have been obvious enough that the girls might have guessed I was listening in, so I didn’t.

The well was a squat, rounded construction of worked stone with a slat cover over top of it. A stack of buckets sat on the ground next to it with a coil of rope hanging on a hook worked into the stone. I already knew how they got water out, having had to wash the blood off of myself after dealing with the bodies.

Prying the lid up and sliding it to one side, I glanced down to see the faint glimmer of water about ten feet down. Tying the rope to the handle of one of the buckets, I dropped it into the well before hauling the filled bucket up. I took the opportunity to rinse the blood and bits off of my mace this time, having forgotten about it before in the desire to keep a close watch on the girls.

Once my gear was clean, I collected a fresh bucket, stowed the rope and closed the well back up again. Hurrying back to the girls, I arrived with the bucket just as the thunder of hooves rumbled from up the path towards the road.

“Gods, I hope that’s the city guard.” Mumbled Rieka, quickly bending down to wash her hands, face, and mouth out.

“It’d better be. If it isn’t, then we have another fight on our hands.” Kassandra added, having released her friend to slither up next to me. Rieka was only moments behind her friend and took up position on my other side. Both of the girls had their spell rods at the ready so I tugged the mace from its loop and rapidly shifted my left arm to its scaled and clawed variant.

A cloud of dust was rising over the crops, showing the route the riders were taking as they came up the side road and Rieka was the first to relax.

“Those are the tabards of the Kintos guard. It’s the guard!” The second part was called towards the farmhouses. The farmers had retreated back into their homes and were peeking out the doorways with tools ready to defend themselves.

A group of a dozen people on horseback cantered into the section of packed earth, riding to one side in a curving arc. Four of them had bows drawn with an arrow on the string while two others had spell rods at the ready and remained towards the center of the group. They rode on a mixed collection of horses, something else I had noted was oddly similar to back home, and were all dressed in matching uniforms and armor. The armor was a simple coat of chainmail over top of a gray arming coat with a brown and blue tabard on top of that. The emblem of the city of Kintos was emblazoned on the tabard, a bright red rod held horizontally over a set of merchants scales. They all wore rounded helmets made of iron and leather on their heads with armored cuffs for the ears of the kin in the group. I counted two elves amongst them as well as three cat kin while the rest were all wolf kin.

“Put down your weapons, in the name of the Guard!” Demanded the leader, a barrel chested wolf kin with a severe expression on his face. He had a kite shield on one arm with the same device as their armor and a sword drawn in his free hand. He had a decidedly cruel slant to his eyes that made me nervous.

I didn’t have to glance over to check on the girls, neither had lowered their weapons and I had no intention of lowering mine at the moment. We hadn’t done anything wrong at all.

“I said put down your weapons! If you do not comply, you will be treated as defying the rightful orders of the Guard!” The man barked again, his face going red in anger and his eyes narrowing.

“We are students of Juneau academy and in the field on a mission. We are not required and will not lay down weapons in a fresh combat zone, especially after having foiled a bandit ambush. State your name and rank, as custom dictates, rather than howling like an injured puppy. I would know you before we lower our weapons, given what almost happened earlier.” Rieka snapped with a level of authority that I was almost surprised by. If I hadn’t been so focused on the threat of the weapons aimed towards us, I would have turned to stare at her.

They are on horses, so miring the ground under them would work best. Wish I’d taken water to go with the earth, could just draw water up from the well to do it. Still, I haven’t used my mana for anything yet. I can turn the earth to sand if they try to charge. I thought rapidly while Rieka and the leader engaged in a contest of wills.

“Present your badges if you are students.” Demanded the leader after continuing to glare down at Rieka. I noticed a number of the guards behind him were giving their leader strange looks and the two with the rods were murmuring to each other while shooting glances towards both of my girls.

“As those on scene first, I demand you identify yourselves first. As is customary! I can see your uniforms but you will follow procedure.” Rieka snapped sharply. “I will not ask a third time and will treat you as another wave of attackers as my life has already been threatened once today. I will not let it happen a second time.”

“Trust me, it isn’t going to be.” I growled in agreement, putting as much menace into the words as I could. The leader of the group of city guards was giving me the heebie-jeebies as he continued to glare at us. The look in his tiny eyes reminded me a bit too much of Dutcher in one of his vindictive moods.

Thankfully, before a fight could break out, one of the female guards, a wolf kin, broke formation and guided her horse forward three steps. She was one of the two with spell rods and pointedly holstered it.

“We are an emergency response squad from Kintos. One of the locals arrived with tales of a bandit attack and we hurried to get here to help.”

“The bandits are dead.” Kassandra decided to add in, hooking a thumb over her shoulder at the pile to one side of the barn. “You are welcome to interview them, but I don’t think they’ll have a lot to say on the matter. Maybe you should instead interview the farmers that were being threatened, rather than terrorizing them. Also, you haven’t spoken name or rank yet, so I’d get that done soon before our Liam decides you are also a threat.”

“Our Liam?” Rieka muttered under her breath in amusement and I just shrugged slightly.

“What the blazes is a ‘Liam’?” Grumbled the commander while glaring at his subordinate.

“I am Calla Blazerider, Lieutenant with the Kintos guard. I apologize for my manners, I was concerned for the locals.” The woman said, glancing towards the pile of bodies and then doing a double take.

“Lieutenant Blazerider, pleasure to meet you. We were here to deal with a mission taken from Juneau to assist the farmers in dealing with a problem regarding a creature raiding their crops and arrived in time to deal with a bandit group that was attacking the farmers. I am Kassandra Silverscale.” Kassandra lowered her spell rod but didn’t stow it. “This is our Liam, he is our guardian and only accepts orders from either of us.” Deciding to play it up, I just grunted and flexed my clawed arm. The motion made the lieutenant pale slightly. “And this is Rieka Coldeye, fourth princess of the realm and our companion. Now that you know who we are, I recommend you lower weapons!” The last part was barked in a voice of command that outstripped the slight serpent woman’s size for its power.

The guards all acted immediately, sheathing weapons or removing arrows from their bows. The only one who didn’t was the commander who continued to glare down at us.

“My apologies, the report did not tell us who was here, just that there was an attack. We left with all due haste. I believe that was in error as we were missing critical information.” Apologized the lieutenant, an apology that Kassandra accepted with a graceful nod.

“It happens. Your concern for the people is admirable. Where is the reporting citizen anyway? I’m sure their family is worried for them.”

“He was still being questioned by the gate guards when we left.”

“Glad to hear my son is okay. Was wondering about that since he’s a good enough runner to make it to the city that quickly.” Grumbled the largest of the farmers, the bear man that had helped me deal with the last of them by stomping on his chest. He’d approached from one side, still carrying the hay-fork that he’d been using.

“Farmer Gomald, how is your family?” The lieutenant turned her attention to him quickly, clearly recognizing the big bear man. The farmer snorted and shook his big head.

“They are alive and mostly uninjured, thanks to these three. The leader of the bandits was in the process of manhandling one of my daughters when they showed up and gave him what-for.” The farmer grumped, shooting a glare at the unit commander with his weapon still in hand. “I hope they are commended and given whatever bounties might exist on these bandits. Are you going to continue this pissing match?” The last part was addressed directly to the commander and his scowl switched to the farmer.

“Company, disperse and collect statements. Walters, Rohnson, I want you two to search the bodies and identify the bandits. If any of them have a bounty, we will see it awarded to the Princess and her group.” Lieutenant Blazerider cut in before the commander could speak. “Squad-Commander Ymens.” The commander stiffened and his glare turned to the Lieutenant before he paled slightly. “If you continue to threaten the princess or intimidate witnesses to this situation, I will be forced to arrest you as well. And don’t think that using the ‘I didn’t recognize her’ excuse. The Coldeye family is very distinctive and she’s been introduced. I am frankly astonished you dragged it out this long.” The last part was said with a growl to her tone.

Grumbling, the commander finally relaxed and took his hand off his sheathed sword.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. I will ensure a compliment for your conduct is made to the city guard.” Rieka spoke up finally and got a smile from the lieutenant.

“No, thank you, milady. I’ve been wanting to take that man down a peg for a while.” Blazerider said in a quieter tone after sliding out of her saddle to the ground. The wolf kin woman was a little shorter than Rieka and had dark, red-brown hair that was cropped close to her head from what I could tell under her helmet. “I didn’t expect him to stick his foot so far down his throat in this situation. I wonder what his problem was?”

“No idea. Maybe he just has issues with students from Juneau.” Rieka sighed, finally relaxing and holstering her spell rod. “Let me fill you in on what happened that I can remember.” Rieka had a more reassured feel to her posture now and she began relaying the events of the morning to the lieutenant. I kept a careful eye on everyone present and, other than the squad commander shooting us an occasional glare, everyone moved to their tasks with a will.

“Dang it.” Kassandra groaned and I looked to see what had her attention. She was watching as the two guards were checking the bodies of the bandits.

“What?”

“I didn’t think to check them for anything of value. Now anything they have is going to be claimed as ‘evidence’ and stay with the guards.” Grumbled the dwarf lamia, pouting rather cutely.

The idea that Kassandra was upset because she forgot to loot the bodies made me snort with laughter, which was clearly her intention as she shot me a happy grin before leaning into my side. Letting the scales and claws fall off my left arm, I draped it over her shoulder protectively and let my hand rest on her upper chest. She hummed happily at the contact and leaned into me a little harder.

“’Our Liam?’” I asked while keeping a watch on Rieka as well while she talked to the guards. The shakes from earlier were a thing of the past. The only tell that was showing Rieka was less than at her best in the moment was how limply her tail was hanging behind her as she gave a detailed accounting. Apparently, responsibility gave her control over herself again.

“Yup, you are ours after all. I’m not going to claim you only to myself. There’s so much of you, I just have to share.” Giggled Kassandra and I jumped slightly when I felt her thread her arm around my thigh and underneath to rub the front of my pants. The action was barely out of sight behind the hanging front of my armored tunic.

“Minx.” I pretended to grumble, trying to fight the blush down. Her teasing me was better than Kassandra having a breakdown like Rieka had though, so I put up with it.

“You love it and you know it.” Kassandra continued, squeezing me again through my jeans.

“I love you and I know it.” I corrected easily, glancing down and seeing the faint blush and happy smile that spread over her face.

Yes, teasing was a lot better than an emotional breakdown, for sure.