{Alex}

  Lily woke on my lap and I smiled down at her as I brushed her hair. My fingers barely touched her long ears. I had been so careful as I thought petting her ears might offend her. She sat up and nearly headbutted me. Gorloth laughed as he pulled a fish onto the bank. “M m master there was a bear.” She said in shock as she looked around. Orthonai laughed and shook her head showing her scar but seemed happy and relaxed.

  “Our Master protected us.” She said with a laugh and a wiggle of her eyebrow. I blushed and rubbed the back of my neck. I had not. Gorloth did.

  “Gorloth saved all of us.” I said sheepishly.

  “Yes, but Friend Runt was first.” Gorloth protested. Lily looked at me with something I couldn’t fully recognize. Was that respect? No couldn’t be, I was merely protecting what was mine. With a sigh I sat up a little.

  “Lily, you have soft hair.” I said hoping to smooth things over. She blushed and hid her eyes as she turned away from me. My stomach growled and I looked over at the basket. Lily nodded and moved to the basket, but refused to look at me. Had I done something to piss her off? Maybe petting her hair was going a little too far. With a sigh I moved to the basket and saw not only bread, but fruit, meat, cheese, wine, whiskey and something that looked like a small cake. “Should we be worried about the bear?” I asked, looking around. The last thing I wanted to do was needlessly kill a wild hungry animal. Gorloth rubbed the back of his neck and nodded.

  “Bear gone. We not worth it.” He said as Orthonai gave him a slice of bread with cheese on it. It was sweet and I smiled at the cute couple. Lily puffed up her cheeks and grabbed a strawberry before handing it to me.

  “Master, eat.” She squeaked in her tiny voice. I blushed and took a bite. It was sweet and I badly wished I could take things further with her, but we weren’t alone. I wasn’t sure if it was just the fruit or the jealous bunny feeding me, but the food was amazing. I found a cracker and put a bit of what looked like cheder on it.

  “Lily, your turn.” I said with a smile. She blushed, hid her eyes with her ears, but opened her mouth. I tried and failed not to think about what it would be like if she was doing that in my bedroom as I put the cracker in her mouth. It seemed to go like this for a while and the food went quickly. Gorloth and Orthonai got in on our game and fed each other. Safe to say it was a wonderful relaxing day.

  {Es Von Declos, Bullock}

  He was in his office playing with the idea of having one of those weapons that Alex had made for Thomdab. The weapon looked fun and would make his men a little more deadly. His mind drifted back to the memory of finding that thug dead in his cell. Had Alex come back to finish what he started? No, this looked like a professional job. His door opened and Honseter Fes Vontonre stormed in. She was an old bat of a woman who liked to stick her nose into everyone’s business. He delt with her three times a week if not more and was getting fairly annoyed by the woman.

  “Mr. Declos.” She said in a huff. Here we go again. Es thought with a sigh and an eye roll he was able to hide by sitting up in his chair.

  “Lady Vontonre, how can I help you today?” She stood in front of his desk and started ringing her hands.

  “I saw that new young man doing something unseemly out by the lake.” She said in a huff as she tilted her nose up at him. And I wonder what you were doing out by the lake. He thought, knowing that she liked to follow people just to snoop on them.

  “Do tell.” He growled, not like he could have stopped her if he wanted to.

  “That pervert was by the lake with a pair of orcs and a bunny.” She said, taking a deep breath. “The bunny was resting her head in his lap and he was petting her.”

  “That isn’t illegal.” Es said, shaking his head.

  “It should be. A human and an animal like that. What is this world coming to?” She said, actually clutching her chest.

  “Lady Vontonre, Alex is a grown man, he owns two of the people you described what he does with them is his business.” He had this conversation with her before and this time seemed to be nearing the final straw. “If he wants to pet his slaves, he can. So long as his dick stays in his pants I don’t care.” Es said standing. Honseter stood there, her jaw hanging. Maybe he had gone too far, but he had shit to do and wanted to talk to Boss before the day was done.

  “Mr. Declos, I shall talk to the mayor about this.” And here we go with the threats. Es thought as he held open the door for her.

  “Please do.” He said as he put on his helmet and locked up.

  {Alex}

  The next morning, I stormed into Bosses office in full hopes of arguing with him.

  “When is the metal coming?” I asked Boss, a mild look of anger on my face.

  “After all that happened the other day, you have the nerve to ask me that?” He growled back.

  “I want to know. My new wolf needs to be started as soon as possible.” He looked at me coldly not impressed by my words.

  “You have one month left. You can wait.” He said coldly. I scoffed.

  “What am I going to do for a month?” I asked thinking about my own metal stores that were empty. He put his hands on his hips and scowled at me.

  “I don’t know. Turn scrap into metal and make some of those wand weapons you made for Meathead. Bullock is asking for a handful for his men.” I raised an eyebrow delighted by the idea.

  “How many?” I asked, leaning forward. This would be an interesting project.

  “As many as you can. He wants one for each with an extra or two for the future.” Boss said and I could see him fighting a smile. This would keep me occupied for a short while. I would need a lot of scrap. Maybe Gorloth could help me move it. “Hell at this point I’d be willing to let you take apart Meathead’s Knight as punishment for Battery.” I beamed at him. “I was joking. Get out now!” He roared. I quickly left with Gorloth on my heels, the two of us laughing as we retreated. We spent the rest of the day cleaning scrap off and turning it into iron. There was a lot. I had never known about the scrap they had behind the shop. Why was it out here? Why was I worried about another load of iron? There was a lot here. Almost enough for the frame of the chest. I could at least start after building a few Spear Strikes. The name was growing on me but needed work.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  After that day, things seemed to go back to normal with Lily. She didn’t come to my room again and seemed to go back to being frightened of me. I gave her some space, but this seemed to upset her even more. Orthonai and Gorloth talked to me about their blooming relationship. I told them I was happy for them and wished them the best. Why was I happy for them? I never cared in the past who was with whom.

  We had another caravan come in a few days later. It was a normal boring one with nothing to offer me. So, I didn’t pay it any mind as I worked to convert the other two Knights. One of the pilots came to me with a request after the first day. I was working on the minor repairs to his Knight.

  “I was wondering if you could make a Doll of Asure Death.” He was a sad man of almost no note. The ideal background character or that could have just been me annoyed at being interrupted by the distraction.

  “Ten gold for the Doll and Boss can paint it for one gold.” I said turning back to my work. I knew it was a lot, but I was fast and would have to scrap one of my Dolls to make it happen. Boss told me the other day that he had enjoyed painting them and said it helped him relax. He would show up every couple of days, grab one of my dolls, and then two days later return it painted and looking amazing. The pilot scoffed at me, and I had to fight the urge to kick him and his Knight out of my shop. No Alex, this is Boss’s shop. If I start thinking of it as mine, he may force me to deal with the idiots.

  “Ten gold is a bit much for a toy.” He said, crossing his arms. I frowned at him and turned away. “Okay, Okay. I have the gold. How long will it take?”

  “I can have it for you in a few hours.” I had already most repaired his Knight and was just waiting on Gorloth to recharge. Battery was working on the fridge as he had completed his hot tub. Boss was earning a silver a day from it and forcing the dumbest grunt to clean it each day.

  “Really that quick. If it is that quick. Then why charge so much?” I turned away from him again fighting the urge to slap him. He was wanting to haggle, and I had better things to do with my time. “Okay, Deal. Ten gold when you are done.” He said turning his nose up at me.

  “Half now the other half when it finished.” I said mimicking words said to a scoundrel who we all knew shot first. He scowled at me and pulled out five gold before storming away. I went to my new office, the cleaned-out storeroom, and started working on it. I had a few stashed there from made from scraps that someone had tried to throw away. My bracelet now had three goblin cores that could be linked all the time. It didn’t work as well as an engine but worked better than just having them unlinked. I could link all the cores, but only having a few linked at a time seemed to work better. My bracelet now looked like it had a spider web of broken lines and runes along its serfice. Five drained cores later and Cheapskate’s doll was done. It looked okay and it bothered me now to just make a standard Knight doll. It would be easy to upgrade it, but he didn’t pay for an upgrade. The townsfolk are going to wipe the floor with him tonight, I thought with a smile.

  He tried to cheat me on the other five but stopped once I turned one of the arms into a lump of useless metal. He begged and paid another gold as an idiot tax for me to fix it. With the extra coin in my pocket, I took the rest of the day off and went house hunting. Yes, moving would be a pain, but the girls really needed their own room. More so on nights when Gorloth would stay over and that seemed to be happening a lot. Elder, the old woman from the first day, was able to show me a few places and I settled on a house not too far from my first home. It was a nice five bedroom, two bath and had a space large enough for a tub. I could make the hot tub that Battery had thought of as well as a few nice things that would make life more fun. The thought of soaking after a long day seemed promising and worth it. I could keep my old house and let Gorloth and Orthonai stay there if they wanted. Elder had told me that the market really wasn't there right now to see so I would have to hold on to my old house until things improved. They could make the short walk and breakfast with us or Lily and I could meet at their place. I was going to be in a house alone with Lily? I blushed and faked looking in a closet so Elder wouldn’t see my face. It would still take a few days for the new load of metal to come in and I had run out of stuff to do. Now seemed like a good time to move. Selling my old house seemed pointless and the extra room may come in handy someday.

  Gorloth and a few of the Grunts were moving some of my stuff when I pulled him aside. “Gorloth I would like you to have this.” I placed the key in his hand. He looked at it with a question on his face.

  “Friend Runt, what is this?” My huge friend asked.

  “The key to my old house. I thought you and Orthonai could use the privacy.” I said hoping he would get the hint. He blushed and smiled at me as he clapped me on the shoulder. I could afford to keep both homes for now and might have found a new way to make coins. Would others pay to have their Knights made into Dolls?

  “Thank you, friend Runt.” He said, bowing deeply to me. I smiled at him, feeling my heart a little lighter. I had made my friend happy, and it made me feel good. This was a new feeling and it felt nice. We went to the inn that night to celebrate my new home with Orthonai and Lily. During the meal, Woodcutter pulled me aside to talk to me in private. The poor man spent most of his time in here playing on the table. His wife would join him, but she would sit back and knit as he played.

  “Alex, I was wondering if I could trade you some wood for a weapon?” This was odd.

  “What type of weapon are you thinking of?” Did he want to kill something or someone? He held up his finger showing a distance about two inches apart and now I was really confused. What weapon could be used that could be that tiny?

  “I was hoping you could make me an ax for the Dolls.” I smiled as the idea rolled over me. How did I not think of making weapons for the Dolls? I slapped my forehead. He had just opened up my eyes to a new avenue for this hobby. I pulled a small scrap of iron from my pocket and quickly shaped it into a small dull ax that looked like the ones he often used so I knew he could make use of it. It took no time and a tiny bit of mana. He beamed at me and asked, “How much wood would you like?”

  “None. You expanded my hobby and that makes it worth far more than you know.” I went back to the table, pulled out my notebook, and enjoyed my time with the others. My mind was flying over the ideas of tools and weapons for Dolls. Could I make wands or Shot Spears for Dolls?

  My first night in the house alone with Lily was a bit awkward. Would she sneak into my bed again? Sadly no, The new house was larger and had a lot more space for my Dolls and even a spare room for a training table. I would get the bathtub up tomorrow, but past that I just had to work. I was more than a little nervous and wired so I shaped metal until I passed out again. It seemed to take longer than that first night and I wondered if I would reach a point where I would have to shape a house just to get to sleep.

  {Lily Cottontail}

  Lily was alone in the house with Master. The moon was going to be full again soon. What would she do then? She wanted him, but each time he seemed to hold back. Why? Why was he good to her? Why didn’t he choose her? Why did she like him? She was alone now. Orthonai would be over in the morning with her lover. She could picture them now in a bed together, him holding her, the two sleeping peacefully after having wild sex. Lily wished Master would do that with her. The picnic they had was nice despite the bear and she loved waking up to him petting her hair even though that was embarrassing. She could join him now that he was asleep like she had done before. He never seemed mad about that. She missed Orthonai. The orc woman didn’t talk often but hearing her breathing had become something comforting. It was like the dorm where she and her sisters would sleep.

  Maybe Master would get more people now that they would be in a larger house. Now that she was alone with him, would he become a monster? She shook her head. Somehow, she doubted it. She had come to know him and what he was really like. He was cold and responded strangely at times, but under that was something more. Given all that, he still showed everyone kindness. He showed her love. Did he love her? Did she love him? She covered her eyes with her ears and blushed in the darkness. She knew she would have trouble sleeping tonight.