Azerothian Dream Ch. 13

Chapter 13- The Chase

Before leaving Thorium Point, Master Smith Burninate took Pinkerpie, Ebonae, and Shaelah aside and presented them with his latest creations.

"Aye, lasses, I did be hoping to give these to Hruthgar upon his return," He began, and then grew solemn, "But, seein' as ye will be havin' to go and save his sorry carcass, I do be guessin' I must give these treasures to ye instead."

He pulled back a tarp made of some material that was resistant to heat and flame to reveal replicas of the M1911 pistols and Winchester rifles.

"I did figure out how to duplicate his creations and upgrade 'em to the hardest steel I do have access to--thorium," Burninate announced proudly, "They do be nigh indestructible. Harder steel do mean I was able to increase the amount of gunpowder in the ammunition. It do make the bullets fly further and penetrate deeper. I do be giving ye three types o' ammunition, lead, copper, and thorium. Use the lead and copper for hunting and bandits, but the thorium bullets do punch through all armor and shields except those made o' somethin' harder 'an thorium."

The three women nodded and Burninate nodded before handing out the weapons.

"The rifles do be me new MSB Shieldbreakers," He said as he handed rifles to Ebonae and Pinkerpie.

"What does MSB stand for," Pinkerpie asked though she had already guessed.

"Master Smith Burninate," He replied without looking over at the women or seeing their smirks as he gathered the pistols and put them in holsters. The women were still smirking but it was lost on the humorless dwarf as he moved to Shaelah, "Seeing all o' ye do be with child, I figured ye do no be wearin' belts for much longer, so I fashioned some straps into harnesses for yer pistols."

Shaelah obliged Master Burninate by removing her cloak, but upon looking at her dress she asked, "Do ye have armor and britches? Somethin' more maneuverable than this cumbersome dress."

The old smith gave her a quick once over. Shaelah helped by undressing to her undergarments like she was standing before a tailor. Taking in her excessively ample bosom, her pregnancy-thickened waist and belly, her broad hips, and thickly muscled thighs, he grunted as he circled her and designed armor for her in his head.

Finally, once he was in front of her again he said, "I do think I can use what I have available. A thorium breastplate, but on ye, it do be little more 'an a bra. Britches are out o' the question. There do be no way to make 'em stay on ye when a fight do be happening. Better for ye to just be wearin' yer undergarments or nothin'. Instead, I do have in mind a chainmail dress that falls just past yer knees. It do be made of two panels, front and back, then attach it to the breastplate with buckles down the waist so that ye can adjust the size as yer belly grows..."

Shaelah nodded and then dressed as she replied, "That do sound fine, Master Smith. However, perhaps ye could cover the chainmail with fabric, or leather so that it do no be touchin' me bare skin?"

"Aye," He replied, "It do be possible."

"Many thanks to ye then," Shaelah purred as she let Master Burninate help her put the pistol harness on over her head and around her chest. He made a few adjustments to the buckles for a better fit and then buckled the front while she held her breasts up and out of the way.

"What do be yer name for the pistols," She asked as the master smith moved back toward his table to collect the next harness and holstered pistol.

"They do be MSB Piercers," He replied.

"Perhaps I do go and see what other weapons ye do have," Shaelah asked.

"Aye," He replied absently, his focus now completely on Ebonae. The only one not pregnant. She wore a black leather vest over a bra holding breasts the size of melons over which she wore a thorium chainmail and leather breastplate.

"Take off yer armor," Master Burninate directed gruffly, "I have somethin' special for ye."

Ebonae did as she was told while Burninate brought forth his latest creation. As he laid out the new armor he explained, "This do be the last thing Hruthgar and I worked on before he left. Ye should thank me that Hruthgar ain't here. What he drew up for ye could hardly be called armor. Looked like somethin' one 'em dang elves would wear. Showin' more tender flesh than is right to show..."

Ebonae picked up a small leather bra and looked at Master Burninate doubtfully as she asked, "Where do be the armor?"

Burninate shuffled and moved around his workspace, taking the bra away from Ebonae as he rearranged the armor, then explained, "The bra do only be for holding yer breasts. There is a short coat o' thorium chainmail that overlays it..."

Next, he pointed to a heavy belt thick enough to be a girdle.

"I made this with thorium chainmail sewn between layers o' brown leather," He said as he pointed out its features, "Hruthgar wanted to make it with a small detachable loincloth, however, I adjusted it. Now, it do be worn with britches if ye wantin' to. The girdle do cover from the bottom o' yer breasts, down the ribs, it protects the belly before it do stop at yer hips. There do be a leather hide loincloth if ye do be interested in it, and there do be clips to attach a skirt o' leather or chainmail to."

"I do be takin' it all," Ebonae said as she fingered the fleece lining of the small loincloth.

"Do you have anything in my size," Pinkerpie asked as she rubbed her growing belly, "Something similar to Shaelah's armor but of leather or chainmail?"

"Aye," Burninate replied, "Give me two days."

While Ebonae was putting on her new armor and Pinkerpie and Master Burninate were discussing design ideas, Shaelah checked out the weapons. Memories of working with her father, and of him showing her how to block a strike with a shield, played in her mind. She had no magical aptitude at all so her father had thought it prudent that she learn how to fight. Of course, all of that changed after she met and married Hurnskov. But, oh how things had changed for her recently!

Setting her old weapons down, Shaelah picked up a heavy long shield. Turning it about she saw that there was a heavy gladius short sword in a scabbard attached just above the shield straps. Looking down at her belly and knowing she wouldn't be wearing a sword on her hip soon, she kept the shield and returned to her companions.

----(!)----

Birdette was agitated by all the time it was taking to outfit the wagon with foodstuffs and gear. In the meantime, she sold everything she wasn't going to be able to take with her. After all, she doubted very much she was ever going to return to Thorium Point once she found Hruthgar.

After some talking and coming to terms, all of them, all of the wives, decided to pool their resources. All of their gold went into a chest in a secret compartment beneath the storage space beneath a bench seat. Once everything was sold they huddled around the wagon as Shaelah cooked stew in a large cooking pot set over a fire pit. Ebonae was feeding Amberdine. Birdette, always watchful over her child, sat nearby reclining in a folding chair. She had reverted to wearing her more common country blouse and skirt combination. The lower neckline made it easier to unlace allowing her to breastfeed more easily.

Pinkerpie, having observed how diligently Birdette cared for the child, moved around to sit beside Birdette and asked, "Where did the babe come from?"

Birdette looked up and stared at Pinkerpie for several seconds before answering, "The human woman that was rescued alongside you, Pohcar, and Coonli. It was her child."

"Where is Jane? What happened to her?" Pinkerpie asked, her tone suddenly concerned.

"Pohcar and Coonli did return to their people shortly after ye left," Ebonae answered, having overheard the question. Pinkerpie looked over at her and saw that Ebonae had a far-off cast to her glowing eyes as she remembered the events, "However, Jane did be another story. With her mind broken, she could no be left by herself. So, Oilfist put Jane under Birdette's and me care."

Birdette sighed irritatedly at that, then shook her head. Ebonae fell silent and Birdette continued the story, "Aye, a month after ye left Jane did give birth. A week after that she disappeared. A few days later a scout came across Jane at the bottom o' a cliff, dead and broken from the fall. There was just enough left o' her after bein' eaten upon by the wildlife for identification. Never thought the lass would wake, so we did no set a guard on her. As far as could be figured, Jane came out o' her stupor after givin' birth. There ain't no accountin' for her state o' mind. Whatever the case, she did find that ledge and threw herself off o' it. Afterward, Oilfist gave the babe to me. Partly because I was still nursin' and was already nursin' her, but mostly, the reason do be the babe do be human--and so do be me husband."

"Have you given her a name," Pinkerpie asked somberly.

"Bathilde," Birdette replied, "Because she do be strong--she do be a fighter."

"Woman warrior," Pinkerpie said, reciting the meaning of the name and nodding in agreement, "I like it! It's a good name."

"I do think so," Birdette said as she caressed Bathilde's pale cheek.

Two days later, they departed Thorium Point.

----(!)----

For the next two months, they slowly traversed the same secret cart paths Shaelah and Pinkerpie had traveled only three days prior. They were little more than game trails, but those old trails kept as much distance between themselves and the iron dwarves of the Searing Gorge as was possible safely.

Shaelah did most of the driving and most of the cooking. Birdette helped but tended to the children's needs mostly. Pinkerpie and Ebonae were constantly scouting. Their duties included hunting for whatever was available, mostly lava spiders and the like, with rare opportunities to add thunder lizard to the menu. It also afforded Pinkerpie the opportunity to train Ebonae as a hunter.

"You handle Coleson really well," Pinkerpie congratulated Ebonae one evening as they cleaned and butchered one such thunder lizard, "With the skills you've shown so far, I think you will make a wonderful Beastmaster."

"Aye," Ebonae replied as she accepted the praise with a blush, "But, Coleson do just be a faithful pet to his master. I ain't got much to do with it."

"Nonsense," Pinkerpie corrected gently as she caught the younger woman's gaze and held it, "Hruthgar may have tamed that lion, but when he left--he left Coleson to you and you alone! He is your pet now--at least--more so than he ever was Hruthgar's"

Ebonae broke eye contact then and looked over at Coleson lying beside Avalanche. They were lying against each other, licking each other's faces clean of blood and thunder lizard guts.

"Thank ye, Pinkerpie," Ebonae replied.

"You're welcome," Pinkerpie returned warmly, "Now, tomorrow we need to work on your traps..."

A few dozen yards away Birdette spent her time rereading over her grimoire and whispering quiet incantations to reignite the fires of magic powering her dark arts. Some evenings after the babes were fed and Shaelah had them safely in hand Birdette left the camp and drew circles of summoning in powers and inks. She summoned felhunters, succubi, and imps. She sent them out to search for her husband, and when they returned the next evening with the information they had gathered she had new directions for them to go.

They came upon burned-out homesteads and small communities. All abandoned. Sometimes burned out. They found dead iron dwarves of all ages and sexes, stripped of anything that might be considered valuable. The old made up the majority of the dead. Those that would be too old to keep up with the fast-moving raiders. Then, also, there were those who resisted. They were young and grown males mostly but there were females among them as well.

Once they found the trail of carnage, Birdette banished the demons she had summoned and let Pinkerpie and Ebonae do the tracking. As the days turned into weeks the orc raiders' movements slowed to a crawl as their war party grew fat with spoils and captives. Soon, even at their slow trundle across the Searing Gorge, Birdette and company started gaining little by little every day on their prey.

"They avoid the Cauldron," Pinkerpie observed one evening.

"They do know they would find enough resistance to end 'em," Birdette said as shifted Bathilde from her right breast to her left for more feeding.

Ebonae nodded in agreement, then added in a mumble, "Tomorrow we do be enterin' the Sea of Cinders."

"Where did ye and yer family live before the bandits attacked," Shaelah asked Ebonae.

"It do be to the north in the Dustfire Valley," Ebonae replied, "Back the way ye came when ye came from Loch Modan."

Shaelah's v nodded but didn't ask anything further.

"It do seem to me that the raiders are makin' a circuit," Shaelah said as she stirred her spider meat stew, "If we do cut across the Sea of Cinders we might be gettin' ahead o' 'em."

"Or," Birdette countered, "Maybe they do change direction, then maybe they do pass behind us leaving us out o' position and wastin' a lot of time waiting on 'em and falling behind."

"Are ye upset with me," Shaelah pointedly asked as she wrapped her spoon on the side of the cooking pot, "Have I done something wrong?"

She knew she hadn't, but Birdette had become increasingly short-tempered and curt as the days passed. Every time someone had an alternate suggestion she pounced on it with such vitriol that no one was willing to say anything more for days, and Shaelah had had enough.

"What makes ye think I do be angry with ye," Birdette mumbled as she looked up to meet Shaelah's steely blue-eyed gaze.

To Shaelah's credit, she didn't flinch in the least. It probably helped that she was about ten years older than Birdette and had already been married once, had a child, and raised her almost to adulthood. She may not have been as worldly as Birdette, who had spent much of her late teens all the way to her thirties working at the Grim Guzzler, but Shaelah had lived, loved, and seen a thing or two in the snowy mountains of Dun Morogh.

"Ye do be about as charmin' as a bear woke up from hibernation with a toothache," Shaelah replied, "and I, for one, do be tired o' it! We all do be scared to death o' losin' Hruthgar. I do barely be able to breathe for fear o' losing me Mandalay. It do takin' everything' in me to no be takin' it out on ye, or bein' a puddle of slobberin' mess useless to what we do be tryin' to do!"

Shaelah didn't threaten, she didn't even say any more on the subject. She didn't have to. Birdette knew she had been a boar. Pinkerpie didn't say anything, and Ebonae kept her head down and quietly took Amberdine to the wagon.

A couple of days passed with Shaelah continuing to drive the cart filling the trail left behind by the orc war party and captives. Then, one evening after feeding Amberdine and Bathilde, Birdette made her way over to sit on a large rock beside Shaelah.

Shaelah watched Birdette but didn't say anything. They just sat there for a while staring back at the wagon and their small campsite. Pinkerpie was tinkering with something small while Ebonae poked at the fire.

"I do apologize to ye," Birdette finally said, "Ye do be right. I do be angry and frightened for Hruthgar. It do no be right me takin' out me anxiety on ye..."

Birdette paused for a moment as she took Shaelah's hand in her own. Their fingers interlaced and Birdette squeezed her hand. Shaelah returned her squeeze and gave a sympathetic smile to which Birdette returned a smirk.

"I ain't be knowin' how ye do it," Birdette whispered, "I do know I would be a mess if Amberdine did be taken..."

"It do be hard," Shaelah admitted.

They sat there together after that holding hands and lending support and comfort to each other. That night, when they went to sleep, it was together intertwined in each other's embrace as they wept softly.

The next morning, when Birdette opened her glowing fiery orbs she found Shaelah already awake and staring at her. Shaelah wore a broad, plump-mouthed smirk and moved to caress Birdette's cheek.

"Aye, good mornin' to ye," Birdette mumbled as she returned Shaelah's smirk with a grin.

"Aye, it do be at that," Shaelah replied, then suddenly, for no apparent reason, she pressed her lips to Birdette's in the softest, most tender kiss she ever remembered receiving in a very long time.

The kiss left Birdette stunned and breathless by the time Shaelah pulled away. Shaelah smiled, and then she rose and moved away.

She was naked, her white skin almost luminous in the cramped confines of the house wagon. She shrugged and bounced her way into a large leather bra, the only thing sturdy enough to contain the enormity of her vast bosom. She didn't bother with undergarments or britches. They were too cumbersome to get out of when she needed to answer the call of nature. Instead, she pulled over her head a short linen tunic that fell just below her buttocks. She pulled on long stockings that stopped midway up her thighs and a garter belt that fastened around her hips to hold them up. She pulled on heavy leather boots and fastened the buckles that tighten them around her calves. Then, she pulled on over her head the heavy thorium breastplate with front and rear panels of dangling chainmail. She cinched tight the buckles and adjusted the chainmail over the roundness of her ever-growing belly. Once she was done, she looked at Birdette, gave her a smile, a wink, and blew her a kiss, then she opened the house-wagon door and stepped out.

Birdette watched Shaelah dress and then leave. A few minutes later she got up and checked on Amberdine and Bathilde. Amberdine was awake and lying there looking back up at her quietly while Bathilde was still fast asleep. Birdette moved around to one of the built-in drawers and pulled it open. Nestled within she pulled out a clean blouse. She pulled on over her head, then slipped on undergarments and a skirt. Slippers followed, and then she picked up Amberdine and left the wagon.

Each other took their turn dressing for the day and then leaving to prepare the rams and the wagon for traveling. Pinkerpie left to scout ahead while Ebonae sat with Birdette in the driver seat beside Shaelah. Of course, Shaelah drove, Birdette sat beside her and nursed Amberdine while Ebonae held Bathilde.

The sun was just coming over the Redridge Mountains. It rose high into the sky and was hovering right overhead when Pinkerpie came rushing back riding on Avalanche's back who was speeding across the barren plain at a dead run. Shaelah pulled back on the reins bringing the wagon to a halt. Avalanche slowed to a trot and then stopped as Pinkerpie slid off her back.

"What do have a burr in ye britches, Pinkerpie," Shaelah hollered.

"We need to turn east," Pinkerpie said as she walked over and climbed up onto the wagon, and Avalanche trotted over to join Coleson, "About five miles south the trail starts turning east. I believe they're turning back toward the Searing Path, returning to Kargath."

Shaelah shared a look with Birdette. When she nodded, Shaelah did too and she turned the cart east.

"How far behind do ye think we be," Birdette asked.

Pinkerpie shrugged and looked back the way she'd come.

"Seven days," She replied, "Maybe a day less or a few days more. Turning toward the Searing Path now means we may shave off three or four days of their lead on us. As soon as we saw that they were continuing their raiding we should have headed toward the pass. Now, if we're fortunate, we will beat them there and be waiting for them, if not, then at least we will not be far behind."

Shaelah turned to regard Birdette. Birdette looked back the way Pinkerpie had come from, and then east toward the Searing Path.