Jebidiah's Change Bk. 01 Ch. 09

When they headed East the next morning they had a commanding view of Lake Faltha to the south. It was wide enough the far shore could not be seen and some pleasure crafts dotted its glassy surface. A large number of smaller streams, surrounded by endless fields, escaped the northern steppes to tumble into the southern sea. Long ago House Faltha dammed most of the streams to create the reservoir. Its smaller source streams filtered out the more dangerous fauna that made Tonstar River so deadly and the lake became a vacation destination for the wealthy.

Jebidiah found the view over the lake to be relaxing and he reflected on their trip and his group's progress. Jebidiah, Crystal, Tenner, and even Mila sat with Michael, Farrah, and Shirley running through different cantrips and even some basic spells and rituals. Crystal was showing some real aptitude now. When Farrah, whom Loremaster Kenyen had informed that Crystal was a lost cause, questioned it, Crystal tried to explain how Jebidiah had described magic. This started a running debate between Jebidiah and the others, especially between Michael and Jebidiah, over the metaphysics of magic.

"You know Jebidiah, when things slow down we must write several treatises over this. What frustrates me the most is we both end up at the same place but the starting point and path we take to get there couldn't be further apart. I think it's your arbitrary prohibition on contradictions. Magic is rife with contradictions. Some spells even rely upon it. I am betting that when you reach enough aptitude to attempt those spells you will be blocked from casting by your own mental restrictions. That's why some mages have trouble casting spells from opposing schools, they lack the ability to force thought into reality." Michael was saying over their first evening meal after leaving Silvertoe behind.

"What are we wagering?" asked Jebidiah

"Hmm. I was half jesting but this could be iInteresting. We'll make the wager follow through the bet. Regardless of outcome we are still writing our opposing views for publication. If I win you will still start what you have outlined but, in writing, will acknowledge my theory is more sound. If you win I will acknowledge yours. Fair?"

"I accept your wager and your terms." Jebidiah said and they both spit into their palms and shook. There was a brief flash in Jebidiah's vision like a piece of thin fabric had fallen past his vision which caused him to start and pull his hand back.

"Nope, no backing out Jebidiah, we shook. It's official." Michael laughed. His laughter died when he saw the look of concern on Jebidiah's face. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make light of your ideas or anything, it is just a wager in fun."

"No, the wager is fine." Jebidiah replied. "It felt like something happened when we shook on it. Maybe it's all this travel."

"Intriguing, can you define 'something' better?"

"Just an odd sensation, like a quick cold chill." Jebidiah answered back. "It's nothing."

"I'm not sure there is any 'nothing' when it comes to you. We'll just have to proceed as we have." Michael said thoughtfully.

Magic wasn't the only training happening. While traveling during the days, Dana and Stern, and sometimes Jebidiah, trained with the troops on archery and melee combat from horseback. After their evening meals they also trained in hand to hand combat. It left Jebidiah exhausted at the end of each night when he finally laid down to rest which exacerbated a whole host of other issues.

The rest areas they stopped at each evening had inns providing several rooms for rent however their caravan, at nearly three hundred strong, and the other caravans also on the highway meant there were never enough rooms. The troops were used to setting up camp and did so very quickly in the fields surrounding the inns and taverns, but the Stockmar ladies were often finding themselves doubling up in the available rooms. Since Dana was royalty she was always offered a room first but declined so she could be with Jebidiah in the evenings which meant inhabiting their own tent in the fields. Joy had purchased what Jebidiah thought was a ridiculously large tent for the entire group to stay in and, while spacious and roomy, it was an absolute bitch to set up and tear down. Even with Jebidiah, Dana, and Stern helping their new porters, it took nearly forty minutes out of every morning and evening to set up and tear down.

In Jebidiah's opinion the tent was stupid large and in the center of it they arrayed an assortment of rugs, pillows, and blankets for their seating and sleeping needs but still had room for thirty in the rest of the tent. Their staff and the others had their own individual tents but Stern, Mila, Farrah, and Shirley all opted to sleep in the main tent with some hanging sheets around their sleeping mats for privacy. Jebidiah had intended to be chaise and not cause any embarrassment for the others but that quickly went out the proverbial tent flap the very first evening away from Tonstar when he was woken by the sensations and moans of Joy impaling her ass on his hardon. The next night Stern slept outside the tent to escape what he knew was coming while it became a free-for-all to see who would get Jebidiah to cum first.

On the fourth evening of the trip things became even more complicated when Greta stopped by for a visit. Jebidiah did not necessarily mind that this beautiful near twin of Tenner's made herself welcome. Between her and Tenner it was impossible to determine who was better looking and she had a sarcastic wit that had him laughing more often than not. The problem arose when it grew late. Very late. Greta gave no inclination she intended to depart and the others either did not notice or did not care if they had noticed. Finally Tenner stood up and stretched. "I'm off to sleep." was all she said as she stripped off her riding dress revealing she had nothing under her bodice. She promptly crawled under the covers.

"Aye, I'm damned tired. You night owls will kill me if you stay up every night." Greta stood and stripped off her riding dress as well. The fact that she was also missing anything under her bodice was accentuated when she stretched and arched her back. Jebidiah was so mesmerized he lacked the capacity to look away to preserve what modesty he should have afforded her. She gave him a smile and a wink. "Bed time big guy." She crawled into the covers behind Tenner and spooned her cousin. Unsure of what was happening, Jebidiah disrobed, opting to leave his loincloth in place, and crawled under the covers as well to be joined by Crystal, Dana, and Joy in a pile of warm bodies. Before he succumbed to sleep he had time to notice that Crystal and Dana had shed all of their clothes. No one was quite brave to try anything that evening with Greta sleeping amongst the group, though some hands did roam.

The next evening Greta, not bothering to join or visit her family at the inn, instead headed directly to Jebidiah's tent. This time she brought along a lute and after their evening meal she began to sing a few songs. She was good, Jebidiah thought. Damn good. Her voice had the ability to be light and high where needed or low, throaty, and lusty when desired. After a couple common ditties she belted out a louder, boisterous song about a man who tried to woo his sheep and failed. Everyone was in tears from laughter and she finished to a large amount of applause from outside the tent. Quite a crowd of soldiers had gathered outside their open tent flap and hooted their appreciation.

Emboldened Greta moved outside and the rest of the group gathered with her around the large campfire the Bh'orel were using for lighting and cooking. She started another even rowdier song about a magical donkey who romanced a dragon that was as old as written history. It proved even more popular and most of the expanding audience joined in on the choruses. She began taking requests and Jebidiah was amazed at just how many of the songs she was able to produce, some so obscure he wondered if some of the requests were fake attempting to bait her into an error. After a few hours and much wine they retired back into the tent with the girls in a group and giggling to each other while Jebidiah drew up the rear, closing the tent flaps after him. He had already resigned himself to Greta sleeping with them again.

This continued every night of the tenday until they reached Silvertoe with Greta performing her concert two more nights for the troops. On the third such evening the Stockmar troops had also joined with their guard in making so much noise some of the other caravans sent indignant complaints which only made the soldiers louder. Jebidiah took some time during the second such interruption to look around their immediate area to gauge how far away they were from the other traveling groups when he spotted a small group of bystanders just outside the ring of light from the campfire, behind the rowdy arc of troops.

Jebidiah locked eyes with Tenner's aunt Lydia who he remembered also happened to be Greta's mother, Duchess Stockmar. He nodded his greeting and she returned it with a stoic gaze. Several of the other Stockmar women were with her including their attending guards. Just then Greta reached a raunchy lyric about an orc trying to steal a kiss from a hill giant that refused to return affection and Greta stole a quick kiss from a completely unprepared Jebidiah. Regaining his senses, Jebidiah managed to look back in time to see the Duchess smile, turn to speak to her guards, and leave.

The first evening after they passed through Silvertoe was also the first Greta stripped completely naked before crawling into bed giving Jebidiah yet another shock when he saw she was devoid of pubic hair. Dana found it adorable and a giggle filled conversation ensued about maintenance as Joy asked if she could get a closer look. Greta stared directly at Jebidiah as she said "Take your time Joy, I'm not going anywhere." and she fully spread her legs. Joy gleefully went to work, kissing and lapping away at her bald, glistening pussy and Dana leaned into Greta for a long kiss. Through it all Greta never broke eye contact with Jebidiah. Jebidiah, so engrossed in the action before him, did not realize his pants were around his ankles until Crystal's warm mouth engulfed his stiff erection and Tenner was attempting to lift his right foot to remove his pants the rest of the way.

With everything that wasn't Greta finally coming back into focus, Jebidiah helped Tenner get his pants off the rest of the way. He went to toss them aside but they were fairly heavy with his belt and dagger still attached. He took a second to look for Mila's hidden figure to make sure he would not hit her when he threw the bundle. Nearly every night the sex broke out, Mila would stay hidden in her invisibility while she masterbated and Jebidiah was curious why she was always content with just watching. He made a note to finally have that discussion.

He spotted her small figure with a hand already at work between her legs when he noticed a taller gray figure moving along the wall of the tent behind where Mila was standing. "Dana, my love." Jebidiah called out, "Your Master has need of your services."

Dana stopped suckling on Greta's breast and got up to join Jebidiah, placing a hand on Crystal's head to guide her bobbing head movements. Tenner was giving her best effort to swallow one of his testicles. He drew Dana in for a kiss then whispered into her ears. "Don't react, but someone is in the tent with us who shouldn't be and they are making their way to where Shirley is laying. I have my pants behind my back with a dagger still in its sheath. I need you to grab and remove the dagger. I want you to pull Crystal off of me and I'll throw my pants at the intruder. When I move, follow me." She pulled him into a hug and another kiss as he felt her take hold of the dagger.

Dana stood back and to the side still with her hand on Crystal's head. After a few more deep bobs she took a firm grip in Crystal's hair and pulled her back and to the side as well, releasing Jebidiah's cock. Tenner thought she was getting a chance and started moving into Crystal's vacated spot as Jebidiah launched his clothing bundle at the second gray figure and leapt toward his target. His aim was true and the pants, belt, and sheath hit the intruder in the head. A deep muffled growl escaped the intruder who lashed out, throwing something without aim in the direction the attack had come from. His throw broke his invisibility in time for Dana to adjust the direction of her approach and tackle him. Both went crashing through the tent wall fabric into the night air, Dana's naked white flesh a stark contrast to the dark leathers of their attacker.

Dana was wrestling a now visible orc, rolling in the dirt, each trying to stab the other with a dagger in one hand while fending off the other's dagger with their empty hand. Jebidiah was trying to gauge how best to help when a gray blur sped past him and Mila broke her own invisibility as she delivered a vicious kick to the orcs head, stunning him. Dana was able to drive her dagger into the orc's shoulder and, between the head kick and shoulder pain, managed to knock the orc's own dagger away. Jebidiah jumped on the opportunity to get down and latch onto the orc's now empty hand while simultaneously punching the orc in the face hard enough to knock him out.

Dana rolled onto her back, breasts heaving and panting from the effort, patted Jebidiah's shoulder. "Thank's Jeb, if you hadn't kicked him I'm not sure I would have gotten the upper hand."

"Actually it was Mila." Jebidiah answered and looked around for the Halfling. He found her near the tent, sitting on the ground nursing a bleeding foot. She was hunched over into a ball trying to hide her nakedness. Guards quickly arrived as Jebidiah and Dana helped each other up. Tenner, Greta, and Joy had put on robes and brought out two for the others. Dana thankfully put the offered robe on. It wouldn't do well for someone of her status walking around nude in front of the troops even considering the circumstances. Jebidiah carried the robe offered to him over to Mila, bent down to wrap it around her shoulders, carrying her back into the tent while calling for a healer. She leaned into his shoulder and whispered he thanks. "Wasn't exactly how I was planning on getting you naked."

"Planning on it were you?" she asked back.

"Always a possibility. You have to know by now that we are trying to be friends with you, Mila Hairfoot. That extends to offers of quality time, Joy has been hinting at it since before we left Tonstar."

"Och, I know. Randy girl that one. Cute she is though." Mila quietly answered.

"Give it some thought." Jebidiah set her down on some cushions and arranged her robes better as the healer came in to look her over.

Once the prisoner was secured, tent repaired, healing done, and the excitement had died down, Jebidiah and the others were too keyed up to sleep. Stern had rejoined them as well, apologizing for not staying in the main tent with everyone else. They sat around the sleeping pit, everyone in robes except Stern. Mila begged off but Jebidiah demanded she stayed.

"Stern, there's no need to apologize." Dana was saying. "We understand, truly. It can't be comfortable with all the shenanigans in here and we are so sorry about that but we don't know the best way to handle it."

It took a minute for Stern to parse what Dana was trying to say then held up a palm to Dana. "No, no, that's not what's going on. I've... well... I've been... distracted."

"Distracted?" Crystal asked.

"I don't know if that's the best word. Olga and I have been doing a lot of training together. She's a really good teacher. I've just been caught up with the training and we usually compare notes after dinner. I don't... Umm... Why is everyone staring at me?" This time Jebidiah saw Stern fully blush.

Greta, missing a lot of background information, was the one to ask. "Who's Olga? I haven't met that one."

Stern managed to blush more. Jebidiah wasn't sure the last time he had seen Stern really blush let alone this much. "I imagine that would be Corporal Olga Smeck. She's the guard assigned to Stern."

Greta continued with a confused look. "Stern has a guard? I thought he was your guard? He's big enough to be two guards, who could possibly guard him?"

"Stern is part of us, cousin." Tenner said. "He was in our pod and now our group."

"Two men?" Greta said, astonished. "It's kinky as hell having acting like a man is in charge and I can see how much fun that will be, but two men? You didn't mention that one cuz. I'm not sure how mother would react. Two men." Greta mused as she looked over the now incredibly shy Stern. "How big is his dick?"

"He's right here, Greta." Jebidiah said.

"Hush, Jeb. The women are talking." Greta replied, still examining Stern.

There was a general hush and his girls all looked at him while he received spikes of concern and a little fear in his bonds except for Tenner who radiated anger. "I swear to the Divines Greta Ingol Stockmar. I love you, your wit, and your sarcasm, but one more crack like that and you are out. Only warning. That is not how we work and if you want on board you better get with the program."

Jebidiah started rubbing his temples as a headache started flaring. "Ok, ok. This is getting out of hand. Official Group Conference starts now."

"I need rest. Group business not be mine." Mila said as she made to stand.

"No, Mila. Like it or not, you are being included. You are actually the first item on my agenda." Jebidiah said. Mila huffed and returned to her seated position as Joy and Crystal looked at Jeb with a raised eyebrow. "Mila, I owe you another round of thanks. This is the second time you have risked yourself for us and I will be eternally grateful. You weren't given much choice about following me around as we search for answers and I think you deserve to be included in these discussions." Mila gave a small smile and a quick small nod of acknowledgement. "Progress," Jebidiah thought to himself.

"I owe you as well, Mila Hairfoot. Tonstar remembers their friends." Dana added. Mila gave a bigger smile as she acknowledged Dana.

"Second item, Stern. You spend as much time training as you see fit. I dare say you look happier than you have in quite some time and I'm very happy you found something," Jebidiah nearly goofed and said someone instead of something, "enjoyable you can indulge in. Plus your increased training only helps the rest of us. Thank you." Stern beamed one of his childlike smiles and everyone else could not help but to smile back.

"Third item, Dana. We need to question our new friend in the morning. Stern, I may have you stand by and sharpen a dagger or something. Maybe swing that big ass sword around."

Greta piped back in, "I may be of some help."

Jebidiah was unsure so just nodded. "Very well. I'll talk to Yantzee about setting up a better perimeter on the tent as well. This is the third time someone has tried to use invisibility against me. There has to be something for that."

"There is but not cheaply done." Mila answered. "Love to know how you spot em." When she finished her words a look of horror briefly flashed across her face. "Can ye always see the hidden? Does it stop?"

Jebidiah thought about letting her off the hook but this might finish the conversation he had briefly started a few moments before. "I have a knack for spotting the hidden." Mila's face grew scarlet in mortification. "If you wouldn't mind I would like to discuss it further with you later." She just gave a quick nod in an attempt to get the conversation past her.

"Last item, Greta."

Great couldn't help but interrupt. "You really are just a take-charge kind of man, aren't you? It's one thing to think about and another to see."