Then I remembered the women had to kill these trolls for me to even obtain my next reward, and the thought made me more than a little nervous. I wasn’t sure what was really going on here, but there was no doubt my feelings for them only grew stronger and stronger by the day. I mentally shuddered when I tried to consider what fighting the trolls might be like, and I couldn’t bear to think about any of the women getting hurt in the slightest.

  My thoughts were clearly racing at this point, so I decided I needed to sit back, meditate for a little while, and think about something calming, which for me was tools. I snickered to myself as I thought about how far the game would let me go, so I decided to wish for a power drill. I didn’t know if I could get something that modern, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

  The sky started to darken more and more as I attempted to clear my head, so I figured it must have been close to nightfall after all. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn’t get images of Penelope’s pale-blue skin out of my mind, and since there was no way for me to actually take care of my invisible hard-on, it was almost painful for me to obsess about. I tried to look for the trolls, but they apparently didn’t have fire at the moment, so I couldn’t locate them.

  I finally decided to speed up time until morning, and as the hours rushed by, the rain seemed to stop falling entirely.

  Penelope woke up first, and she disentangled herself from the other two women’s sleeping bodies and padded across the dirt floor to the wet grass that laid just a few feet away. She stood in place, yawned, and stretched her cerulean arms up toward the sky, which was now a cloudless blue and practically matched her skin tone.

  “Master?” the naiad asked. “Are you there?”

  “Of course, Penelope,” I replied. “I’m always here.”

  “We never really got a chance to talk after what took place between us,” the blue woman said with a slight smirk on her face. “Everything happened so quickly when the fire started, and we haven’t had a chance to be alone together since.”

  “You’re okay, right?” I questioned her. She’d seemed to be more than happy about everything we’d done, but she had been a virgin, after all.

  “My lord, I’m wonderful,” Penelope assured me. “In fact, I’ve been feeling better than ever since it happened. I just wanted to tell you… I love you, that’s all.”

  “I love you, too,” I told her. “You’re perfect in every way. Every single bit of you…”

  “Jack!” the naiad giggled as a blush spread up her cheeks, and as sexy as “master” was, I had to admit I liked it when she called me by my first name. “That’s not what I meant, although every bit of you is perfect, too… but it’s not just your body I love, of course, because I hadn’t even seen that until yesterday. I love the way you talk to me, and how wise you are, and how kind you are… just everything really.”

  The blue woman looked down at the ground, and I could tell she was feeling shy.

  “I could say the same things about you,” I said. “How smart you are, and how kind you are, and how you talk to me… it’s not just your body, either.”

  “Thank you for saying that, master.” The naiad nodded, and then she turned her head as she heard someone walking up behind her. “Oh, good morning, Aleia!”

  The two women gave each other a big hug, and I thought to myself they were getting more and more affectionate with one another by the day. I knew they’d been acquainted for at least a couple months before I met them, but I wondered if being at the convent was bringing them closer.

  Or possibly farther apart, instead, if they kept fighting over me. I snickered to myself at the thought before I focused back in on what the two women were saying.

  “I’m worried about the garden,” the fairy said. “Penelope, I don’t know if you felt how strong the wind was blowing over there.”

  “I understand,” Penelope replied. “We do have this new house now, but I still love the garden, I have to admit. It’s where we first prayed to Jack, after all…”

  “How was the house last night?” I asked. “Did any water leak through the thatch roof?”

  “Not a drop,” Aleia replied with pride, “and that was a big storm, too.”

  “That’s great,” I told the two priestesses.

  “What’s great?” Nicola yawned as she walked up alongside the other women.

  “The roof, of course!” the naiad chirped. “It didn’t leak at all, so we’re very happy about that.”

  “Me, too,” the brunette said, and she rubbed at the back of her neck and yawned again before she continued to speak. “I slept like a little baby… I feel wonderful this morning! But is the garden alright?”

  “Don’t forget we have a lot to do today,” I reminded the women. “In addition to the garden, the trolls are probably going to move soon. You can check on the garden quickly, but you really need to go talk to the gnomes.”

  “Thank goodness the trolls are so slow,” Penelope sighed. “That’s one thing you can count on. Trolls talk a lot, but they’re slow to actually attack.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope so,” I told her.

  “Well, should we walk over there?” the dark-haired woman asked, and her brow furrowed in concern. “It was so windy I really hope all of our possessions survived.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” the fairy said, and her troubled look mirrored Nicola’s. “We’ve been lucky enough not to have experienced a storm like that since we’ve been traveling and at the convent, but that was a little scary.”

  I knew I eventually needed to come up with ways to better protect the three women from the weather. The new roof was a huge step up of course, but it wasn’t going to be much protection against the snow, for example. I thought maybe I needed to talk to the women about getting more substantial clothing at some point, too, and I wondered if the gnomes could sew.

  The priestesses headed up the hill toward the garden, and when they reached the gate, Penelope squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Oh, sisters, I don’t even want to look,” the naiad groaned. “What if it’s terrible?”

  “I’m sure it will be fine, Penelope.” Nicola pushed open the gate, which seemed to have fallen even further off one of its hinges, and walked with purpose into the grassy area, but then I heard her gasp.

  I zoomed in between the walls, and I had to look around for a moment before I saw what she was upset about.

  The altar had been blown apart in the wind, and all of its white stones were now scattered across the ground.

  Chapter 19

  “Oh, nooo,” Penelope wailed as she dashed over to the altar, and I saw there were actually tears in her blue eyes. “This is the place where we worship our lord! What if he goes away now? Jack, please don’t go away.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I promised the naiad. At least, I didn’t think I was. “It’s really just a pile of rocks, and I swear, I wouldn’t leave you because of that.”

  Aleia came up behind Penelope and squeezed the blue woman around her shoulders, which were now shaking with sobs.

  “I can’t believe you said it’s just a pile of rocks,” the naiad sniffled. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful at all, master, but when I had my vision, it specifically showed me this altar. The prophecy had to do with this garden, and this altar, and now… now it’s ruined!”

  “I think we can fix it,” Nicola said in a sympathetic tone as she walked up and slid an arm around the blue woman’s waist. “We can fit all the stones back together, and I can even mortar them.”

  “You’d help me with that?” Penelope looked at the brunette with red eyes. “Nicola, I didn’t even think you cared about praying.”

  “Well, I don’t necessarily,” the dark-haired woman admitted, “but I do care about you.”

  “I do, too,” Aleia chimed in. “And I’ll help with the building process. It won’t be too hard, Penelope.”

  “O-Okay,” the naiad sighed. “Thank you, sisters. And thank you for not being angry, Jack.”

  “Penelope, I would never be angry about something like this, because it was an act of-- er, it was an accident,” I corrected myself because I realized I was about to say “an act of god,” and that really wouldn’t have made sense to the women. An act of me? That obviously wasn’t right, either, because as many powers as I did have, I clearly didn’t control the weather. Or at least I hadn’t figured out how to, anyway. “Anyway, I can make the tools we need to repair it. It won’t be a problem at all!”

  “Thanks, Jack,” Penelope sniffled, and I was glad I’d been able to make her feel at least a little bit better.

  Speaking of tools, I realized I’d wished for a drill, but I hadn’t seen it yet. I zoomed in on the broken altar, and when I caught a glimpse of orange plastic a couple of feet away, I realized the tool had manifested in the wet grass near the stones. It was covered in water, but that would have been more of a problem if I’d actually had a place to plug in its long cord.

  Yep. It was a power drill with a three-prong plug. Shit.

  I guessed the game won this round.

  The women walked over to inspect their sodden packs, and it was clear the thin material was soaked through.

  “Our salt is drenched,” Aleia moaned as she held up the small, soaking wet bag the women kept the precious seasoning in.

  “It’ll be alright,” I told her. “We’ll find a way to get some more, don’t worry.”

  “Okay, thank you for saying that, my heavenly master,” the fairy responded with a half-smile. “This is all just very discouraging, because our beautiful garden just doesn’t… look very beautiful anymore.”

  I had to admit it didn’t look great. Several large branches had come off the apple tree, and the fruit was scattered all over the ground. A few red apples remained, but it seemed like the women were going to need to come up with a new source of food soon. The fire had blackened part of the wall, too, and several large chunks of the white stone laid in the damp grass.

  “I hope the gnome camp is okay,” Penelope gasped as her eyes widened with worry. “I think we should go visit them soon. My lord, can you see their camp from here?”

  I zoomed out to the full extent of my God Vision, and I could just barely see the gnomes’ camp at the far edge of the area the women had explored for me. It appeared their leather tents were still standing, but it was hard to tell without a closer look. I zoomed back in, and I could see many of the small creatures gathered together around their fire as Wilfrim attempted to light it again. There were tomatoes scattered around the ground from their garden, and Elowise was trying to collect them into a clay pot. I counted the gnomes, and it appeared they were all there, including the three children and the baby.

  “They appear to be fine,” I reported. “They’re trying to light their fire now, and their tents didn’t fall over or anything.”

  “That’s good,” Penelope sighed with relief.

  “Well, while we’re checking in on them, why don’t you head over there now and talk to them about the trolls?” I suggested. “You can let things dry out in the garden a little more.”

  I looked at the trolls’ current position, and I saw with dismay they seemed to be leaving the clearing where they’d spent the night. They marched along incredibly slowly, though, and even though they had their huge hammers in their beefy emerald hands, their pace made them seem a lot less intimidating.

  “Yes, let’s go see Elowise,” Penelope said in a decisive voice. “She is clearly the voice of reason at that camp. If we can convince anyone of how serious the situation is, it will probably be her.”

  “Wilfrim will be too busy staring at our bodies,” Nicola snickered, and I thought the brunette was probably right. “But I suppose we should go anyway.”

  The women armed themselves, left the garden, and walked up the hill toward the road, which was now a muddy mess. They looked at the ground with doubt, and then they all looked around at each other and shrugged.

  “Just stick your feet in there, I guess,” I instructed them, and I couldn’t help but start laughing.

  “I’m afraid I’m going to lose a sandal,” Penelope giggled.

  “Oh, it’s fine,” Nicola said, and she stuck a foot down into the giant puddle. “Ooh, it’s squishier than I thought it would be. Well… that’s alright. Come on, everyone.”

  Nicola and Penelope began to splash down the road, but Aleia took off into the air with a laugh.

  “See you soon, sisters,” the fairy chuckled, and she began to fly away toward the gnome camp.

  “Nice work, Aleia,” I praised the strawberry-blonde as she flew. “I would definitely have used my wings, too.”

  I saw Elowise sweeping water away from the camp, and I felt bad we had to ruin the already-stressful day with bad news.

  Aleia landed at the small, silver-haired woman’s side, and the strawberry-blonde began to warn the gnome about the monsters.

  “Elowise, you have to listen to me,” Aleia implored as she tried to catch her breath.

  “Is something wrong, dear?” the small woman asked with a fearful expression. “What is it?”

  “There are trolls coming from around a mile away,” the fairy explained.

  “Now, how could you know that?” Elowise inquired and narrowed her eyes. “There’s no possible way you could hear them coming from this distance…”

  “Our lord told us,” the strawberry-blonde informed her, and I saw flashes of both doubt and horror appear in the old woman’s eyes.

  “Your lord told you.” The gnome stared at the fairy. “Are you sure, honey? We’ve already been through a terrible troll battle, and I’d hate to worry my family if you weren’t positive. On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt to be safe…”

  “I know it might be hard for you to believe,” Aleia replied, “but yes, I trust Jack very much. You need to make sure the other gnomes are safe and get ready to fight. Jack says the monsters are still far enough away that we will have time to ambush them.”

  “We have weapons,” the old woman sighed. “I showed our swords to the tall human the other night. I just can’t believe we’re going through this again… Wilfrim! Get over here!”

  “What is it?” the gnomish man asked as he rushed over to his wife. “Elowise, you sound concerned. Oh, hellooo, Aleia…”

  “Wilfrim, there’s no time for you to flirt with the young woman,” Elowise responded as she rolled her eyes. “Apparently, there are trolls nearby, and they’re headed for our camp. Again.”

  “Shit,” the old man swore, and he rubbed at his forehead with the back of his wrinkled hand. “Wait, how does Aleia know?”

  “It’s her god,” his wife explained, and I saw there was still a trace of doubt in her eyes. “It sounds odd to me, too, but I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry…”

  “Balabar really isn’t going to like this,” Wilfrim sighed. “It’s going to be hard to convince him to take action.”

  “Wilfrim, you are the leader of this camp, and you’re going to be the only one who can talk reason into your son, as you very well know,” Elowise said in a firm voice. “Go talk to him and Nissa.”

  Just then, Nicola and Penelope slogged up through the mud. The naiad bent over at the waist from the exertion of the mile-long walk, but the human barely seemed out of breath.

  “What’s going on, Jack?” the brunette asked me.

  “Just trying to warn Elowise--” I began, but the gnome woman clearly couldn’t hear my voice.

  “You all really do talk to him, don’t you?” Elowise asked with the same trace of doubt in her eyes. “That is curious, but I have no choice but to believe you about the trolls.”

  “We speak to him, and he speaks back to us,” Penelope gasped as she wiped sweat off her face. “Jack is the one who told us about the monsters, and I believe he has the powers to see well beyond our exact location. My lord, try to speak to Elowise.”

  “Elowise, there are three trolls on their way here,” I began again, but the old gnome just shook her head.

  “Honey, I don’t hear anything but the birds singing in the trees,” the gnomish woman said to Penelope with a grimace. “If your god is, in fact, real, and I’m more of a believer than my son is, at the very least, it appears you’re going to have to relay the information to me and the rest of my family.

  Wilfrim had gone to fetch his son and daughter-in-law, and the three of them now walked up to the priestesses. The younger woman’s cheeks were pale with fear as she clutched her baby in her arms, but Balabar practically had a sneer on his face.

  “Why should we believe anything you say?” the young gnomish man asked as he adjusted his brown leather cap. “How do we know this isn’t a trap? I know you saw our riches the other night, so what if you just want to lure us out into the woods so you can steal our gold and jewels?”

  “Balabar!” Elowise snapped. “It’s one thing to not be as pious as these women, and it’s something else altogether to accuse them of being thieves.”

  “Yes, Mother,” Balabar muttered with a roll of his eyes, and then he addressed Penelope. “You, the blue one, if your god is so great, tell us, what’s his plan? And I want you to know we have the weapons to easily overpower you if you’re trying to lure us into trouble.”

  I was both incredibly irritated that he was being so rude to the priestesses and glad to hear the gnomes considered themselves powerful. I wished more than anything I could be on the ground to tell them what was up, especially with my newly-obtained muscles.

  “Tell them they’re coming from the south, and I think it will be easy to ambush them, if they’re really as stupid as you say,” I informed the naiad. “You’ll fight alongside their family, and your bow and sling give you the ability to attack from the air while they fight with their swords on the ground.”

  “Okay,” Penelope sighed. “Please believe me, all of you. The trolls are heading northward, and Jack thinks we can ambush them. Nicola can hit them with her arrows, and Aleia can fly into the air and attack from there as well. And you have swords?”

  “They do,” Nicola confirmed. “I saw them. And they looked quite impressive…”

 

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