“A formality?”

  “Yes. A formality. She… forgot to bring it up before.”

  Stepping out of the hut, Tex saw that the other sister was holding a small bowl filled with dried flowers and bits of plants.

  “We made a smelling bowl!” she chirped. “It helps you relax.” she raised it to her face and took a deep whiff. “Ahhh, smells so lovely.”

  Then she giggled mischievously and held the bowl up to Tex’s face. “Try it!”

  He sniffed the fragrances — a mix of flowers and herbs, along with something musky and earthy.

  The girls watched him closely with sly smiles.

  “Do you like it?”

  “It’s alright,” he muttered.

  They were obviously up to some kind of feminine scheme, but they were so cute and girlish about it that Tex was quite content to play along... Even though he knew he was probably playing with fire.

  When they got to the door of Weevol’s hut, the daughters asked Tex how he felt. Their eyes twinkled wickedly.

  He’d already noticed a warm flush had come over him, as if he’d drunk a glass of wine. With the Weevol sisters walking on either side of him, continuously batting their eyes at him, he felt the warmth rushing below his waist.

  “I feel fine,” he said in a hoarse voice.

  By now he could guess what they were up to.

  These little bitches are trying to roofie me!

  “Our mother is waiting inside.”

  “Alright.”

  Stepping through the beaded doorway, Tex came into a pleasantly decorated interior. A small fire burned in the center of the room, casting its warm light on the walls, which were decorated with flowers that perfumed the air.

  Despite there being several beds in the room, Weevol was the only person present. She sat with her legs curled underneath her, leaning on one hand and gazing at the fire, perfectly positioned so that Tex could view her profile.

  She’d changed her hair; it was up now. She’d also added some adornments to her body — beaded bracelets and a necklace. And she’d replaced her shoes with sandals that crisscrossed her calves almost up to her knees.

  Her legs looked disturbingly sexy.

  Tex’s cock pushed against the animal hide.

  Weevol suddenly looked at him. “Oh! Lord Tex,” she said, twisting her body towards him and reaching her hands behind her head to check her hair.

  He noticed, now, that she’d also changed her top; she wore a thin strip of light animal skin that covered her front only. The round bottoms of her heavy breasts hung out from beneath it.

  Tex bit his cheek.

  He knew he shouldn’t have been looking, but he was monstrously horny now.

  “You’ve come to see me,” she said.

  “Yeah… Weren’t you expecting me?”

  “Yes! Oh, yes, of course. I thought it best to show you this.”

  She picked something up off the floor — a parchment. “You’d better come here by the firelight so you can see it.”

  Tex sighed and kneeled by the fire, sitting on his heels. Weevol lay the parchment over her thigh.

  “I’d forgotten about this,” she said. “It lists some details of the process of chief selection.”

  Now that there was nothing to obstruct it, Tex's cock stiffened to its full length. A couple pieces of animal hide were the only things in his way.

  It would be so easy to pull them aside; then he’d have access to the soft, wet entrance between Weevol’s big fleshy thighs…

  “Alright, let’s see it,” Tex grunted, trying to brush away his dirty thoughts.

  “Here you are,” Weevol said, handing it to him.

  The document, written in pictographs, merely outlined a few principles behind the selection process.

  Tex handed it back. “What about it? I don’t see what it has to do with me.”

  “I… thought you should see it,” she said. “I wanted you to see the… the third point.”

  She scooted closer to Tex, so that her knees were almost touching his.

  “You see,” she hummed, “It says —”

  “Miss Weevol,” Tex interrupted. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  She put the parchment aside, looked him in the eyes, and stated matter-of-factly: “I’ve got a great pair of tits, Lord Tex.”

  Chapter twenty-seven

  “I’M SURE YOU do have great tits, Miss Weevol,” Tex said, eyeing her chest. “I know you do, but we can’t do this. I have to go.”

  He rapidly stood up. Weevol eyed the tent in his animal skin and smiled.

  “Are you sure you want to go so soon?” she crooned.

  “Yes!” he fumed. “I’ve given my word… You’ve already compromised me, Weevol.”

  “But Tex!” she whined, suddenly raising her voice to an irritating pitch. “You could just take in one more little tribe and then leave the rest… We have some great women. Just wait till you see how good our food is. I bet you’ll change your mind!”

  With her annoying voice clanging in his ears, it was easier to tear himself away.

  “Impossible,” he said, striding to the door. “If I went back on my word and became chief of your tribe, I’d lose all credibility and my entire plan would fall apart. I hope you’ll understand.”

  He turned and walked out the door as Weevol pouted like a little girl.

  Tex marched back to the chief’s hut, the delicious smell of bacon and stew teasing his nostrils.

  Pushing through the grass door, he strode into the room.

  “I’m leaving,” he announced. “Goodnight.”

  The girls looked up in surprise. They were sitting on the floor, where steaming bowls of stew were laid out, but they hadn’t taken a single bite yet.

  “What? Why?” Emi said. “We were waiting to have dinner with you!”

  Tex took a deep whiff of the food and sat down on his heels. “Alright. I’ll eat first, but then I’m leaving.”

  He wolfed down two bowls of stew as the girls questioned him on what had taken place in Weevol’s hut. They wanted to know every detail, so Tex recounted the entire story.

  Far from being jealous, they found it amusing.

  Neesha put her hand on his leg. “Is the smelling potion still working on you?” She put her hand up his animal skin and gripped his cock.

  “Looks like you’ve got a problem here. Why don’t you let me help?”

  She lifted the animal skin and started sucking Tex off, making him go completely stiff. Zila then turned around, got on her knees and elbows, and stuck her ass in the air. Her skirt fell over her back, so that everything was exposed.

  Not to be outdone, Utu got into the same position right beside Zila. Tex groaned, his eyes burning with adoration as he stared at the sight before him. Neesha plunged her head down, and he felt his cock enter her throat.

  Tex made a strangled sound as his hips thrust forward, but Neesha pulled back, choking.

  Seeing Utu and Zila posed side-by-side, she gave Tex a coy look, then lifted her animal skin covering and got into the same pose beside Utu.

  Tex dragged his eyes over the three round asses sticking up, side-by-side, each one showing a cute, puckered asshole and a glistening slit.

  He was somewhat surprised that Utu and Neesha tolerated being so close together like that, but he knew they were doing it for him. This was a good sign: instead of being a source of conflict for them, he was starting to represent a common point of interest that brought them together.

  Tex fucked all three of them and came multiple times. Meanwhile, Emi, Grendel, and Bmimi were lying in bed under a blanket.

  Emi was the first to start touching herself — inconspicuously at first. But when Tex looked at her, she masturbated with abandon. Grendel and Bmimi snuggled beside her, and Tex could see that they were touching each other under the blankets.

  Tex lost himself in the bliss of the moment, forgetting everything else.

  The next morning, he woke up later than he would have liked, with multiple arms and legs clinging to him.

  He tried to stretch but his fist bumped into something soft.

  “Ow!” Neesha squealed.

  Opening his eyes, he saw the elf lying beside him, clutching her eye. All the other girls were cuddling around him under the blanket.

  “Sorry,” he said, patting Neesha’s head. “You okay?”

  “You punched me in the eye!”

  Tex pushed off the blanket and extricated himself from all the clinging limbs.

  “Shit.” He slapped his palm against his forehead. “I completely forgot… I was gonna leave the village for the night.” He shook his head. “Ugh, this looks bad.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Utu said, arching her back into a stretch. “No one will mind.”

  The danger of having a harem had become all too clear. Dealing with one woman was challenging enough. When you had six of them wagging their asses in your face, it was extremely easy to become distracted and forget your purpose.

  Let it be a lesson, he said to himself.

  It was late in the morning by the time they finally set out, much to Tex’s irritation. This wasn’t just because Tex had slept in. They still could have departed early enough. The problem was that about one-third of the village women took forever to get ready.

  At first, they said they’d be out in “just a moment.” But a moment would pass, and then they’d beg for another one.

  “I told them to get ready last night,” Tex grumbled.

  Still, by the time they finally set out into the woods, Tex was feeling optimistic. It felt spectacular to look behind him and see a train of people following. His goal was in sight. It was especially gratifying to see the bachelor group: he now had a troop of strong men under his command.

  The men walked behind the Weevol tribe, watching the females in utter fascination.

  Tex chuckled. I already showed them Fogu’s corpse. That was the stick. Now I’m dangling a carrot right in front of their faces.

  It was certainly a powerful motivator.

  The pace was quite slow, since there were a few older ladies and a couple of children, but that was better for Emi, anyway.

  Following a trail, they made their way through a small aspen forest. Tex soon noticed a briny smell in the air and heard the cries of gulls.

  They emerged into windswept fields that rolled out to the glittering sea. Clusters of gulls and smaller birds filled the skies over the shore, but Tex couldn’t spot any pterodactyls nearby. In any case, almost everyone in the group was armed, usually with a spear, including the women of Weevol’s tribe.

  “We’re coming towards the place I told you about,” Yarolk said as they ventured across the field.

  “You can often find a bachelor group along this stretch of shoreline. Broden and Hurley’s men. There were about 25 of them last time we saw them, but it’s been a while.”

  They crossed the field until they neared the beach, and then turned north, following a trail overlooking the beach.

  The trail gradually rose above the shoreline, until there was a steep drop down to the beach. Walking along this trail, Tex listened to the roll of the tide and watched the grass stirring in the breeze.

  Somehow, he felt increasingly wary as they continued along the path. He suddenly stopped, raising his hand over his shoulder to signal for everyone to wait.

  His gut told him trouble was lurking nearby. Tex had learned to trust his instincts because he’d found they were rarely wrong. More than once, during a hunt in the wilderness, he’d gotten that same feeling just before encountering a bear or a cougar.

  Yarolk came up to Tex’s side. “You suspect something?”

  “Maybe…”

  “Yeah, me too… It seems too still. Too many places over there for men to lay in wait.” He nodded towards the hill.

  “Would they attack us?”

  “They might. It would be like them.”

  “Alright, bring ten of your men and follow me. Everyone else, wait here.”

  After walking forward some distance, Tex stopped and called, “Come on out, guys. We know you’re there!”

  Before he could say anything more, a man appeared for an instant -- apparently from a trench just beyond the curve of the hill. He hurled a spear and dropped back into the trench.

  The missile was well aimed, though there was plenty of time to get out of the way. Still, it would have gone through Tex’s chest if he hadn’t dodged it, and Yarolk’s men had to jump aside.

  Snickering rose from the other side of the hill.

  “If you do that again, I will kill you!” Tex said in an even but menacing tone.

  “Don’t be a fool, Broden!” Yarolk added.

  A cocky voice came from the other side of the hill: “Haven’t you found a woman yet, Yarolk?” The man, Broden, lifted his head above the trench.

  Tex saw that his head and body were festooned with grass.

  Dude made himself a ghillie suit!

  “Congratulations on finally growing a beard, Broden,” Yarolk fired back. “I guess I can’t call you a boy anymore. Oh… wait a moment --” he leaned forward and squinted his eyes. “It’s just grass, isn’t it? Never mind. You’re still a boy.”

  “And what are you, Yarolk? Are you supposed to be a man? You’re so old you should be a great-grandfather by now, but you haven’t even sired a single child, boy or girl!”

  This was unjust; Yarolk couldn’t have been older than 25. But Tex could see that the barb stung.

  “Listen, I don’t have a lot of time,” Tex said. “I’m going to Fimm to take down Alok.”

  That got Broden’s attention. He listened in silence as Tex briefly explained his plan to restore the old laws and asked him to join him.

  The young man was silent. Tex could see his square jaw making a sarcastic grimace under the shadow of the grass that covered his head.

  “Take down Alok, eh? And who the fuck are you, The Prophesied Hero?”

  Snickering came from behind the hill. A second guy, similarly camouflaged, poked his head up and looked at them.

  But Yarolk exclaimed, “He is, you idiots!”

  The laughter died down.

  “He is what?”

  “The Prophesied Hero!”

  Silence.

  A few more heads looked up.

  “Sure he is!” Broden drawled. “Yarolk’s lost his mind.”

  “Well, the Skrillings believe that he is. And he’s just killed Fogu and all his men.”

  “WHAT?”

  “That’s right, Broden. Fogu is dead, and Lord Tex killed him.”

  Voices could be heard muttering and grumbling as a few more heads peaked over the trench.

  Broden climbed up and mounted the hill. He removed the grass head-covering and tossed it on the ground. His square-shaped face looked immovable, though he had a nasty shiner on his eye and a cut on his upper lip.

  “I don’t believe it,” he said, striding towards them.

  He stopped short and surveyed the crowd of women standing behind Tex and his bachelors. “That’s the Weevol tribe... Gods... It’s actually true?”

  Weevol stepped forward with an air of importance. “Yes, it is true! Everything Lord Tex said is true; we currently have no chief, and there will be a contest to decide who it shall be.”

  After a brief discussion, Broden was thoroughly convinced. He yelled over his shoulder: “It’s true!”

  Another young man emerged and walked towards them. Tex assumed he was Hurley. His head looked as tough as a mallet, and his face seemed to have been carved from stone. He carried a club.

  “He’s the Prophesied Hero?”

  “I don’t know about that part,” Broden said. “But he killed Fogu. Here’s the Weevol tribe, right here.”

  “Solis’s balls!” Hurley rumbled, looking the tribe over.

  Six more equally tough-looking men emerged and walked over.

  Hurley’s eyes wandering over the crowd until they fell upon the elves. His mouth dropped open. Once again, he took Solis’s name in vain, but with even more gusto.

  “Solis’s BALLS!”

  He raised his enormous hand and pointed at Emi and Neesha.

  “Elves! I can’t believe it! Where’d they come from? Did Fogu find elves? Gods damn, they’re hot, too!”

  “The elves are mine,” Tex boomed, balling his fists. He felt his temple quivering as the fire rose inside him. He took a slow breath, getting control of his anger.

  Hurley and Broden apologized politely, though there was still a hint of insolence in their eyes. Still, Tex could see they were impressed by the fact that he’d snagged two elf babes, and even more so by his defeat of Fogu.

  Yarolk also told them about how Tex had killed two of his bachelors using “magic.” Hurly and Broden listened to this story without comment, but they gazed at Tex’s rifle with wonder.

  Sensing they were coming around, Tex explained the plan to go to the Dark Forest and hopefully join up with Norgan, before attacking Fimm.

  They listened with apparent interest, even making a couple of suggestions.

  It seemed like they were already invested in the idea.

  However, just when Tex thought it was a done deal, Broden suddenly sneered, “You’ll never fight Alok! It’s impressive that you killed Fogu — but Alok?

  “You don’t have a chance! He’ll cut you down before you can blink... and then all your women will belong to him, which would be a real shame. I just can’t let that happen.”

  Tex squinted at him. “Is that right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” He raised his massive fist and stabbed the air with his finger.

  “I CHALLENGE YOU!”

  Chapter twenty-eight

  EVERYONE GROANED AND rolled their eyes.

  “That’s just like you, Broden!” Yarolk grumbled. “Godsdamned fool.”

  Broden charged at Tex, swinging with everything he had, but he left himself open. He fought like a roid-raging drunk with no technique.

  Tex bashed up his jaw pretty nicely. His legs buckled, and he toppled onto the dirt.

  Hurley and another one of his buddies helped him back to his feet. After a minute, the fire returned to Broden’s eyes. He marched back towards Tex.