Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

where they might have spies. He would make sure to keep his identity a secret from these women until he could talk to Melody about whether they could trust them or not.

The green haired woman nodded in satisfaction. “It is an honor to make your acquaintance. We are truly grateful to you once more for rescuing us. I am Vinata, a dryad, daughter of the warrior king of the Vineguard. I am a forest nymph,” she added as she appeared to notice Ben’s blank expression.

“A pleasure to meet you, Vinata,” he said. He turned to the other two women. “And you are?” He had heard these women address each other by name, but he assumed it would only be polite to make their acquaintance properly.

The white-haired women shuffled shyly. “I am Imogen,” she mumbled. She said nothing more. So he wasn’t the only one who was not so good at introductions. That was reassuring.

“This is Imogen the Oread,” Vinata added on her behalf. “Her people are the Oreads of Mount Krakor, a place far away from here. They are a people of monks and priestesses for the most part. Imogen is the daughter of the high priestess.” Vinata smiled at Imogen proudly. They must have all been good friends. They seemed very protective of one another.

“Oreads are mountain nymphs,” Melody said to Ben.

He nodded. It was helpful to have someone fill this information in for him.

“My name is Lulu,” the blue haired woman finally introduced herself.

“And let me guess,” he volunteered. “You are a water nymph?”

Lulu beamed. “You’re a quick one. How did you guess? The webbed fingers?” She splayed her hands. They were indeed webbed, with thick layers of skin spanning the gaps between the fingers.

“Actually, it was just a hunch, based on your blue hair,” he teased.

“Hmm,” Lulu paused in thought. “Perhaps you are worth keeping around. I am actually called an undine, which is another name for a water nymph. Our favorite pastime is luring men such as yourself to their deaths in the water. I could make an exception for you.”

OK, thought Ben, this is definitely one of the crazy ones. He didn’t feel half so bad now for using Drain on Lulu.

His stomach growled. He’d had nothing but a few snacks in the last twenty-four hours.

“Well, much as I’d honestly love to hear more about you all,” he said, “I’m starving. I figure we could all do with something to eat right about now.”

The nymph women all perked up at this suggestion. Even Imogen stood a little straighter, giving the impression that she was shyer than the others.

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea,” Lulu said. “You really are a keeper.”

“But what will we eat?” Melody asked.

“I’m not sure about that,” Ben admitted. “I ate everything I brought with me from … from our campsite.” That was a close call. He wasn’t prepared to explain where he was from to these women just yet.

“And I’m not sure we really want to try what the mountain ogres were cooking on that fire,” he added.

Vinata shook her head. “I can assure you, even if you are … meat-eaters, you don’t want to try it.” She shuddered at the mention of meat-eaters. That must have been a dryad thing. Ben made a mental note to ask more about that later.

“Let me help,” Vinata volunteered. “I am skilled at finding food in the forest.”

Melody made a face. “Vegatables.”

Vinata raised an eyebrow. “Does the catgirl only want to eat mice?”

Ben raised a hand in a placating gesture. “Alright everyone, stay calm, please. We’ve all had a rough day, and we’re hungry. I’m sure forest cuisine will do just fine for now. Vinata, if you could get us something to eat, that’d be much appreciated. I’ll come with you and help.”

He looked at Melody, hoping to communicate his silent question: Will you be OK here with the others?

Melody fixed him with a serious stare that suggested she could fry these women with her wand if given the slightest provocation. It didn’t make Ben all that comfortable, but at least Melody would be safe.

Melody nodded. “We’ll stay and clean up here then.”

“Thank you, Melody,” he said. “Don’t worry, we’ll find you something more suitable to eat later. For now, we just need to fill our stomachs.”

Melody nodded and looked mollified. “Lulu, Imogen, if you could help me, we will get this camp cleaned up. Benjamin and I have other tasks to attend to in the vicinity of the ruins, so we may be staying here for a few days. If Benjamin thinks it appropriate, you may stay with us in the meantime.”

“Sure,” he said. “You three are welcome to stay with us as long as you like. I’m not sure where your homes are or how you’ll get back to them, but that’s probably a question that’d be better to think about once we’ve all got full stomachs.”

The trio of former slaves seemed pleased with this suggestion.

“Benjamin,” Melody said, “I will retrieve your rucksack and have everything ready for your return.”

“That’d be damn decent of you, Melody, thank you. We won’t be long.”

The other two nymphs joined Melody, who began giving instructions. He was surprised at how thoughtful Melody was proving to be already. He had total confidence, leaving the campsite to her.

Ben stepped through the doorway and turned to Vinata. “Please, lead the way.”

Vinata came out to join him, and they walked away from the campfire, toward the forest. He took the scimitar with him, figuring one never knew what danger might lurk in woods like this. He could feel his mana slowly returning to him, but it would be a little while before he’d have enough to cast even the weakest version of the Drain spell.

Outside, as Ben and Vinata walked through the village, the lighting was better than it had been in the dim hut. He got a better look at the dryad woman as she led him to the opposite end of the village from where he’d first entered it.

Her