Dao 3 Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Author Note: Reminder, Amelia's name was changed to Blair in the published version of book 2 because Amber/Amelia was generating some confusion.

Also the emissary from The White was removed from book 2's ending, he'll be back just not right at the start.

The townspeople burst into full celebration. Their weapons couldn’t hit the dirt fast enough as they hurried to get food cooking on the hearth and more than a few merry men were taking their women to their homes for another kind of celebration.

One of victory and life.

They had just stared down at their enemies and won a harrowing victory. Dar couldn’t blame them for trying to feel again anyway they knew how.

As the village came to life with their return from the southern forest, Dar strode past the townspeople, pulling his ladies along with him.

He had a surprise for them. And given that they were all covered in blood and ash from their fight with the ettercaps in the woods, it seemed like the perfect time to surprise them.

The merchant visiting their town walked toward Dar, clearly intending to speak to him. Dar moved away, not interested in dealing with the man at that moment.

Dane Goodhaul wouldn’t be causing trouble with several dozen of the ancient races hanging about. And if he did cause trouble, he’d regret it.

“Come on, girls. I have a surprise for you.” He pulled Sasha’s arm, who in turn pulled Cherry. He didn’t look down the line to see who all was gathered, more interested in getting into the cave and the home he’d built before he got stopped.

Being the leader of the town, Dar often found himself needed for this or that. And he had a feeling that many would be interested in congratulating him and hearing all the details of the battle.

After all, they’d just killed one of the Mo, an entity that led the devils in this world and were some of the most powerful of the ancient races. If it hadn’t been chained up in a massive enchantment, Dar wasn’t sure if they would have been able to take it on like they had. He’d need to be stronger for the next one.

His inner world, a place within his body where he could store items and the little dao tree absorbed his enemies, turning them into fruit. It had saved him when the inner tree had absorbed the massive spider. And now, he could feel his inner world changing. When he got a chance to meditate and enter his inner world, he’d try to piece together what was happening.

But for now, he was going to surprise his women.

Dar pulled them into the cave, where they harvested stone and various goods. Blair’s enchanted salt crystals hung from the walls, collecting and magnifying light, creating a little trail of beacons that led them deeper into the cave.

When he got to the entrance of the home, he’d used his greater dao of granite to shift and form. It was almost too dark to see it. The girls still seemed puzzled, standing around trying to figure out what they were looking at.

Dar flicked a switch he’d installed and started up the enchantments on their new home.

Sparks caught, and small flames bloomed around the mansion. Dozens of enchanted stone candles came to life, giving and showing the beautiful women around him what he’d been working on.

The candles provided enough light for more of Blair’s enchanted crystals to soak up and magnify the light, banishing the dark completely.

“It’s amazing.” Sasha whispered in awe, pressing herself to his back. Despite all the grime still on her, she was comfortably soft.

“Come on. There’s more.” Dar felt like a little kid showing their latest birthday present off. He couldn’t wait to watch their reactions as he showed them what he’d built.

He led them through the entrance of two carefully carved pillars. As they stepped inside, the home opened up into a center area that was divided into several sections. One for leisure, another for entertaining guests, and a separate area for cooking and family gathering. Each was separated by two walkways that crossed the massive entry hall.

“How much time did this take?” Mika asked from further back as he led them through the hall. Dar turned, smiling at how wide her eyes were as she looked around, taking it all in.

“Getting all the stone out was the hardest part, but I needed to do that anyway to get what we needed for the townspeople’s homes. Molding what was left into this wasn’t too bad. Though, Sasha, I think much of it could use a touch of softness.”

Dar’s woman only smiled. “Our home will be as comfortable as I can make it.” Her blue eyes shone with light, even under the grime.

She walked around inspecting the place, and Dar knew that she was already making a list of all the projects she wanted to complete. Her eyes fixated on some of the tables and countertops. No doubt they’d become workstations for her.

“Of course, you each have your own spaces, but I thought I’d build something grand for myself, and welcome you all to share it.” Dar pulled open the stone doors on the opposite side of the grand hall.

Behind it was a large bedroom, complete with a slab of stone. He hoped that, with the right enchantments, it would be a bed more than capable of holding all of them, and any more that joined them in the future.

The girls were moving around the room, taking it all in, but Dar was already moving again. He had one more big surprise. Turning sharply, he entered the bath, nearly bouncing at the reception he expected the room to receive.

The stone candles and lights clicked on, and sure enough, there were several sharp inhales from the women around him.

Dar had carved out a large basin. But more impressively, he’d used Mika’s dao to create lapping waves of water and his dao to add heat, making it a comfortable oasis.

The hot bath warmed the room, giving off a thin layer of steam into the cold air.

“I thought you may want to clean up in here.” The ladies were already moving forward, but Dar held up a hand to slow them. “Before we get in, though, we should wash off a bit in this. We’re pretty grimy.” He turned to a crude shower he’d made. Flipping a switch, it sputtered to life. There was a little less water pressure than he’d like, but it would have to do for the moment. Their desire to reach the bath was clear; he was not going to get time to mess around with it.

“What’s this?” Cherry asked, reaching out a hand to grab a retreating Neko.

“A shower.” He opened his arms.

Predictably, the jaguar demon leapt into his arms. “Neko. No.” She narrowed her eyes at the water and hissed.

“I’m going to clean you, Neko. There’s no two ways about this.” He used a stern voice. Neko had only been living in their village for a short while. Before that, she’d been more cat than human, and it was still debatable at times. He’d pulled her kicking and screaming out of the woods, where she’d lived as a feral demon since her transformation.

The spirits and demons in the town had taken to her and helped her acclimate to civilization, as was their way. She was both mature in many ways, yet incredibly inexperienced in others.

“Ladies, could you help with our clothes?” Dar noticed their two maids, Amber and Marcie, had followed them to the stone home. It had taken Dar a while to get used to them serving him in more ways than just housekeeping, but after having both of their trust, it felt more natural.

He’d recently given them both fruit from his inner dao tree, allowing them to become immortals. He’d only shared the fruit with a few people, still trying to decide how to proceed.

A whistle sounded as the two maids began undressing him. Dar eyed Blair, who seemed to have invited herself to join the group as well. As they locked eyes, she bit her lip, eyeing him.

Amber and Marcie worked quickly, their hands deftly liberating him and Neko of their clothes. Fully naked, Dar quickly stepped into the spray of water before Neko could get away, ignoring her protests.

“No.” Neko clung to Dar even as they both rinsed in the water. He ignored her, petting her and providing calming noises as he tried to get her clean.

Sasha stepped up next to them, helping scrub and rinse them while Dar held Neko.

Once they were clean enough, Dar moved them both over to the bath. Neko pouted, her nose just above the surface, blowing bubbles as she glared at Dar.

“Come on. It isn’t that bad, isn’t it nice and warm?”

“Wet.” Was Neko’s quick reply.

“I think she’d be long gone if you weren’t here.” Cherry commented, joining them in the hot bath with a sigh. “It is like a hot spring.”

Dar smiled, leaning back against the edge. Soaking in the pool was a pleasant break. They’d been pushing so hard to prepare the town for the winter and protect it against the threat in the woods. He’d barely slowed down, and it was nice to have the moment in his space with his women. It was exactly why he’d wanted the home in the first place. Somewhere for them to gather and be together despite what might come.

He looked around, enjoying the relaxation he saw on the girls’ faces. He wanted to stay like that forever with them. The girls deserved a change to enjoy it for a short while, but they’d need to get back out and join the rest of the village soon. They’d be missed in all the festivities.

But Dar’s tired muscles were finally relaxing in the hot bath, and he really had no desire to move at that moment, especially with the way that Mika sidled up to his right and pressed her toned body against his.

“You should relax more.” Her hands wandered around his chest and turned him away from her, giving her his back. Her hands dug into his shoulders and started massaging them.

Dar let out a shuddered breath, enjoying her attention. “We can’t stay here for long.” He hated saying it, but he knew they had to leave soon.

Something moved in the water next to him, and Amber took up his right arm, Marcie on his left. They wouldn’t be outdone as they began to massage his arms.

Dar stirred under the water, quickly growing hard. Although it seemed hard not to when surrounded by such beautiful women.

“At least let us reward our dao companion before we go join the village in celebration.” Sasha came and sat on his thighs, draping herself on his chest. “We all fought well, and you saved the day against that creature.” Her body, as usual, was unbelievably soft as she pressed herself to him.

“The Mo.” He clarified as his cock rose and nestled itself in the crevice of her ass.

She rubbed it with slow rocking motions of her hips, pressing her chest to his, and gave him a different sort of massage.

Dar relaxed into all of their soft touches, deciding it wouldn’t hurt to stay in the bath a little while longer.

***

Their group might have spent more time in the bath than Dar had anticipated. By the time he stepped back out of the cave, the village was in full swing.

The people of Hearthway had scrubbed themselves clean of the soot and grime from their battle with the ettercaps and their spiders.

To the south, a bright orange glow filled the sky as the southern forest still raged with a fire. They had managed to turn the fire away from the village, but the ettercaps had killed the forest for miles, and the miles of dead and dry forest were going to burn throughout the night.

“Dar!” Russ, a hunter and one of the leaders of the village, cheered as he came out of his home.

The villagers picked up his cheer and joined him with hoots and whistles.

“I think you need to give a few words.” Sasha nudged him before stepping away, pulling Neko with her.

Dar was already tall, but he stepped up on a stump to get everyone’s attention. He didn’t love having to give the big grand speeches, but he was growing used to it from leading the town. “We fought hard today. We ultimately were victorious, but it did not come without a cost. There are those who are no longer with us, and those who might not be able to do their work over the coming days.”

Dar paused, allowing the moment to grieve the fallen before lifting his voice up once more. “But we’ve worked hard, and we’ve won! Our town is safe.” Dar raised his hand and caught a drifting snow flake. “Winter is here, and it is about time we celebrate all of our hard work preparing for it.”

The villagers cheered, clanging together wooden utensils.

“So please, join me in a feast tonight. Feel free to eat all of the bison you can, because Russ is going hunting again tomorrow, and we are running out of space to store all of this meat.”

That only earned him more cheers, townspeople slapping Russ on the back while Russ grinned, enjoying the praise.

Dar stepped down from the stump and walked through the crowd, men cheering him and patting him, women batting their lashes at him. Dar acknowledged them while continuing to move towards his target.

He reached the circle where the leaders of the village met and used for meetings every night at dinnertime.

As expected, the other leaders were already gathered and ready to discuss the day and debrief. There was a lot to talk about given the battle. They needed to figure out the ramifications of their fight.

Dar took his seat, and Amber was quick to arrive with a bowl of meaty stew and a cup of something strong that smelled like bottom shelf vodka. One sip was all he needed to know that it was distilled and unflavored. He let out a sharp breath, wondering if it might not go to better use for cleaning.

“Strong stuff.” Rex raised a glass, his expression a somber one among the celebrating village.

Dar knocked cups with Rex and took a quick sip, trying not to let it linger on his tongue. “You don’t look like you have good news.”

The avian demon led the village guard and had been a major part of training the population into some semblance of a fighting force before they had marched on the ettercaps.

Rex’s eyes wandered to the villagers, picking out dozens who had bandages wrapped around their limbs, or arms in slings. A few sat off to the side of the celebration, being tended to by a woman working to nurse them back to health. “We were not without losses.”

Dar nodded. “We knew there would be some. However, I think we pulled through with minimal losses, all things considered. That is something to celebrate.”

Any battle would have injuries and death. It was unreasonable to assume that there would be a clean, one-sided battle. And their forces had not been well trained.

The losses would pain their village, but it could have been far worse if they let the infestation in their southern woods grow and linger. Dar shuddered to think what would have happened if they let that massive spider continue to struggle out of its seal for the winter and take it on when it was fully mobile.

Come spring, that thing might have not only wrecked their small village but then moved on to take out Kindrake or Bellhaven.

“That’s the spirit.” Russ clapped Dar on the shoulder and swung down into his own spot, his cup sloshing with his drink. The gnoll took a long drink with his muzzle. “We won today, Rex. Celebrate.”

“Celebration is all and well, but we should do something for the families that lost someone.” Samantha chimed in. The older lady was the self-proclaimed spokeswoman for the children, and apparently by extension, their families.

“What would be appropriate? We’ve been working together as a village, so everyone has supplies for the winter. We have no currency and no real luxuries to give them, so I’m not sure what would make sense.” Dar offered it up, open to any suggestions.

“Salt.” Samantha replied. “That merchant came today. Anyone who wants to can trade for things they might want using salt.”

Dar felt stupid for not thinking of that. Salt was a valuable commodity for most of the world. The fact that they had Blair, who was able to fill up massive stores of it in one of the caves, wasn’t common.

“Set an amount that’s appropriate and give it out before the end of the night.” Dar agreed, ready to close out that topic. “About this merchant, what do you all think of him?”

“He’s a merchant. Nothing too complex about that.” Bart shrugged. “We have a few surpluses that we can trade away.”

“It is all village stock, so my question is, what do we need in return?” Dar clarified. Bison meat had gotten out of hand after Russ had finally crossed the Bell River. He’d hunted the massive herd that was lingering on the plains on the other side and came back with ten heads of bison on a single day’s hunt.

They’d ended up needing to send Blair and Mika down the river to the ocean to collect salt to keep it all from rotting. Luckily, the salt spirit had then filled the boat to the brim with salt that was now stored in granite vessels in a cave.

And now, they had a massive surplus, one that could easily be recovered if they sold to the merchant.

“Do we need cut lumber?” Dar suggested.

“We can still harvest wood from the northern forest. I’d suggest things that we might otherwise struggle with. Cloth, for one. Otherwise we’ll all be wearing furs like savages come winter’s end.” Bart scratched at his chin. “Since Cherry seems to make anything grow, we could see if they have any foreign fruits that might be good for her to grow.”

Dar liked the idea of fruits, not only for the village, but to plant more in his inner world.

“Excuse me.” The merchant pushed his way into the group. “I couldn’t help but notice this appears to be the decision makers.” Dane Goodhaul rubbed his hands together as he made himself comfortable in the circle. Dar tried not to bristle, annoyed at the pushy merchant. Dar knew that the man had to have somewhat conditioned himself to push past being uncomfortable in social situations in order to be successful in his trade.

The others seemed to be ready to leave Dar to the merchant, so he spoke up first. “Alright. Everyone, enjoy the evening. Celebrate tonight, and we’ll talk and plan more tomorrow.” Dar turned to the merchant, looking past him for a moment to jerk his head, inviting the girls to join them.

Dane watched as the women came over and pampered Dar, while also staying out of his way. “Are you a demon?” He asked, tilting his head as he took in their group.

Dar wasn’t. He was once human and now an immortal, but that was still largely a secret from the world. So he took the easy opportunity. “Yes. Thankfully, I blend in quite well with humans.” Most demons had some sort of appearance that referenced what they’d originally been. Since he had been human, he had none.

“Ah. Well, I see. That explains your size then.” The shorter man was eye level, despite Dar still being seated on the stump. “It seems you have quite the food supply. Food is in great demand in Bellhaven this winter.”

“We have a strong source of meat.” Dar crossed his arms. “But we aren’t interested in helping Bellhaven. If you are heading south, we have no interest in trade.”

“Dar.” Mika admonished. “Last we saw, they were already rationing before the winter started.”

“The prince has taken over the city. No doubt he’ll solve it.” Dar didn’t actually believe that, but he didn’t want to air all his issues with the merchant. Maybe the Prince would manage to pull it together and lead, but the fact that he’d quickly become Mark’s hostage upon arrival in Bellhaven didn’t bode well.

And even if he wanted to, if Dar were to give up Hearthway’s food to help Bellhaven, he might have a riot on his hands. The spirits and demons of his village wouldn’t want to be party to helping restore a city that had tried to kill them all. They’d barely managed to escape with what they had.

Dane smacked his lips. “I see. Given you are a village with so many non-humans, and the rumors I’ve heard, I can only guess you were once residents of Bellhaven?”

Dar smiled, not surprised the man was well informed. It would serve him well to be as he went around trading. “Very recently. Unfortunately, the city became inhospitable to our kind.”

Dane nodded rapidly. “That is unfortunate.”

“But back to trade. Some of our people may have quantities of salt for trade in the morning.” Dar continued. “I think that might be something worth your time? Otherwise, you’ll have to work with individuals for small trinkets. We’ve largely worked as a community to prepare for the winter, so we are mostly stocked with essentials.”

“Of course.” Dane backed off. “Salt is always a welcome trade. May I trade for food for my men?”

Dar waved his question away. “No. Feel free to join the village for food tonight. No cost, but it would be great if you could share any news or stories you have from your recent travels.” They had plenty of food for a few extra people. Dar just didn’t want to support a city that had tried to kill those that he was now duty bound to protect.

Amber heard what he’d said, shooting to her feet to grab him a bowl of meaty stew. “If you don’t mind, we’d love to hear news from the capital.”

Dar nodded, wanting to hear that information himself. He turned his attention back to the merchant and stuffed his face with food while the merchant began speaking.