No one got a wink of sleep. It was all hands on deck for the entire edirashem. Kanae escorted a couple of harpies to inspect underneath each wagon and sure enough, the joints of every wheel were stuffed with sand and caked in dirt. According to Camilla, who was in the rearwagon during the attack, earth elementals infiltrated the edirashem from behind and below.

Kanae backed away as laborers harnessed themselves to the railings and scaled down with pickaxes. They struck the blockages repeatedly, achieving only in chipping tiny pieces away. The obstruction was as hard as rock.

"This is going to take forever before we can start moving again. How much farther are we from the domain of Elusis?" Kanae asked one of the harpies.

"We're about 200 kilometers from Shamsir, and then another 45 kilometers from Elusis," he explained.

245 kilometers was far, but not that far. If they really wanted to get to Elusis, flying on Edina's undead dragon could be an option. However, given they were encroaching into a country mainly inhabited by harpies, someone was going to spot them for sure. Elementals, too. Not only that, leaving the edirashem stranded here to more attacks would be especially bad.

There must be another way to get moving again…

One idea came to mind. Kanae flew back to the forewagon, where Misiah was doling out orders to laborers while shooting anxious glances into the distance. The dark elf jumped several feet into the air when Kanae landed next to her.

"Jeez. Are you always a nervous wreck?" Kanae asked.

"I-I've never been this far from Avanesse before. An edirashem is one of our most prized possessions, so it wouldn't surprise me if the Harpy King tries to take one for himself. Did… Did you need something?" Misiah tried to recompose herself, smoothing out the green and blue robes.

"Yeah. I have a way to make clearing the clogs faster. Gather ten of your best workers for me to fuck," she said.

A lot of them nearby heard and started a mosh pit to get closer.

"ME! PICK ME!"

"I'M A HARD WORKER! ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT WORK, I JUST WANT TO FUCK THE SUCCUBUS!"

"If you all don't back away now, I'm firing you and kicking you off the edirashem!" Misiah threatened, and since their lives were worth more than a quick bang, they obeyed. She rubbed her head and frowned. "Why exactly? You would be taking them away from important work."

"I have an ability called Bond. The only condition is that I've had sex with them. Bonding with someone makes them physically and magically stronger. They should be able to clear the obstructions faster," Kanae explained.

The edirashok thought for a moment before finally saying, "Alright then. I'd be a lot more at ease if we started moving again. Wait in your room. I'll send them up in a moment."

Kanae hurried up to her modest room. Chester sprung to life when she entered. She couldn't very well leave him back in Avanesse and had brought him onto the edirashem.

The mimic was looking healthier than ever lately. His metal bands were shining, and the woodwork was much more firm. Maybe it had something to do with the dryness in the air. She pulled Cockcalibur from her pussy. This wasn't going to be needed for the next hour and would only be in the way. Lowering it down to Chester's face, he gulped the weapon dildo weapon right up.

Naked and ready for a gangbang, Kanae sat on the foot of the bed with her legs spread wide apart. The room door swung open. Ten men, young and old from a number of races, poured in with the outline of full erections under their pants. They were mostly beastmen, dark elves, and one goblin was among them.

"Which of you wants to fuck me first?" Kanae licked her lips and opened her tail pussy's gaping maw.

Like wild animals, they pounced on her at once. The fastest was a jackal beastmen, plunging his knot into her pussy. Another facefucked her, and the third grabbed her breasts to give himself a boobjob. An elf slipped under to fuck her ass. Someone small, probably the goblin, used her tail as a cocksleeve.

Kanae's hands flailed about in the midst of their violent rutting, but it wasn't long before a cock occupied each side. Her eyes rolled back. Pleasure assailed every part of her body.

"Ooohh! I've wanted to fuck this succubus since she climbed on board the edirashem!"

"You been waving your tits around asking for it. Damn, they're big!"

"Uuugh… her tail… It feels like she's sucking the life outta me…"

They blew their load, drenching Kanae in hot spunk. She welcomed the fertile seed into all of her holes. But it was only just the beginning. Everyone took turns ravishing her. By the end of it, every single worker laid strewn about the room.

Kanae sat upright, light-headed from pleasure and orgasming non-stop. The goblin still clung to her from behind. Despite being unconscious, his hips continued to thrust.

"Alright." Kanae stretched her arms. "Time for you all to get to work. Bond!"

One by one, the crew of workers stirred to consciousness.

"What… happened?" One man pressed a hand to his head.

"Break's over. Report back to Edirashok Misiah," Kanae said.

They obediently did as instructed. Like popping out the cork of a champagne bottle, when the goblin pulled his dick from her pussy, all the jizz gushed down her legs. Chester came to life again, lapping up the mess on the ground. Kanae casted Prestidigitation to clean herself, patted the mimic, and then left after getting dressed.

Misiah was leaning over the edge of the forewagon. Kanae joined her. She was watching the workers, who had just got done fucking Kanae, break the obstruction with ease now. Their pickaxes didn't just chip away at the blockages, they took chunks off it.

"If the succubi cultists were half as clever as you, Avanesse would have fallen a long time ago. Also, thanks to the necromancer, nearly all of the cargo that had been blown off are back up here. We will be moving again within a few hours," Misiah explained, the gratefulness in her voice palpable.

As promised, the edirashem pressed onward to Shamsir as soon as the wheels were cleared. The afternoon came around and clouds blotted out the sun, providing a modicum of relief to everyone on board after working all night and morning.

This time around, Edina patrolled the skies on her undead dragon, keeping an eye out for any ambushes or approaching threats. However, the journey was quiet. Maybe the elementals were taking precautions after being beaten back earlier.

The sands dwindled, giving way to a hard surface crust. Shamsir came into view from afar. A long ridge that stretched farther than the eye could see. Its cliffs appeared almost serrated. Giant stones jutting from the ground stood in the way of the edirashem's larger wagons. There was no possible way these vehicles were getting over that ridge.

"That is Shamsir." Misiah pointed, running her finger along the ridgeline. "This is also as far as I can take you. You and your friends will have to make the rest of the journey on your own. If I recall, the new premier of the East Saviran Trading Association gifted you the means to do so. The rest of us will remain here and establish a forward base of operation. In the event of an all out war… it is here, where that will likely begin."

"Will you guys be safe here? I can leave Petyr behind to guard your edirashem," Kanae offered.

"In addition to establishing a supply line, Sultana Dudula also plans to send soldiers to secure a foothold here. We should be fine… I hope… Best of luck, Kanae. May the sands fall in your favor." The dark elf bowed.

Kanae and the others descended into the rugged earth. The carriages that The Mamba had given her came down from a large lift of the rearwagon. Archbishop Patrice, Camilla, Delayn, and Kara occupied one. Kanae, Edina, and Renya occupied the second. And Petyr selfishly took the third for herself.

The group set off towards Shamsir, their ronoas pulling as swiftly as possible. After crossing the ridge, they only had just under half a hundred kilometers left to go.

Elusis, Harpy King, elementals, Red… were they all connected somehow?

"You guys think necromancy is frowned upon in Elusis, too?" Edina asked suddenly.

"Edina, necromancy is frowned upon everywhere except the Commonwealth. I'm begging you, don't go summoning undead all over the place when people are around us. You're going to make them think we're evil or something." Kanae sighed.

"Unless you're in Ortesia. Damn, would it be funny to see those high elves freak the fuck out with undead running all over the place!" Renya laughed.

The carriage started bouncing. They were on the ridge now. The wheels groaned, running over small rocks and low desert brush. It was such a bumpy ride that Edina became nauseous.

"Oh, three hells… I'm gonna be sick." Edina's cheeks inflated.

"Don't barf in the ride! You're going to stink up the place!" Kanae cried.

The necromancer summoned an undead, ripped its head off from the spine, and vomited into the skull. Some half-digested peanut chunks sloshed around inside, much to her minion's dismay. Too bad the windows didn't open. Kanae had to unlock the door in the back, and Edina shuffled over to chuck the barf-filled skull away.

"Hey, there's some kids out here. Shit— they're in trouble! Stop the carriage!" Edina yelled.

Kanae followed Edina's gaze outside. Two kids, a dark elf and a lamia, about ten years of age were standing on a tree branch. One was waving desperately at them, and the other brandished a stick at a pack of cockatrices snapping at their feet.

"Let's go!" Kanae urged, diving out with Edina.

"You expect me to jump out of a moving carriage?" Renya shouted to their backs.

A cockatrice managed to bite the lamia's tail. The kid cried out in pain and slipped off, but the dark elf grabbed them in time.

They weren't going to make it. Just then, a sharp blast rang out. An arcane bolt whizzed past them, striking the cockatrice on the body. The pain caused it to let go. From the archbishop's carriage, Patrice and Delayn fired snaking holy energies, Penances. They hit some of the cockatrices, binding them still.

Edina yanked the Scythe of Soul Reaping from an abyssal portal and decapitated three. Kanae exerted control on one cockatrice using the Collar of Domination, siccing it on the rest. Weakened, she casted Sleep through the Blade of the First Temptress and put the remainder to a deep slumber.

"Good shit, buddy!" Edina high-fived Kanae and grinned.

They flew up to the branch, grabbed a kid each, and brought them safely to the ground. The dark elf looked like a boy at first with short white hair, but she was actually a girl. Dark red face paint decorated her face with dots and lines. Some kind of tribal markings, it seemed.

The other was a lamia boy, his brown hair bound to a ponytail. His tail was a strange pattern of pale red and white diamonds, but the tip was crimson with blood. The cockatrice's doing.

"Hold still for me, alright? Everything's okay now." Kanae was about to cast Flash Heal when the girl pulled her friend away.

"Stay away, you harpy bitches! We don't owe you a damn thing for saving us!" she growled, surprising them with a potty mouth.

"W-Wait, we're not harpies!" Kanae protested.

"Your meager healing spell wouldn't be able to help a gash this deep anyway." Petyr pushed them away to kneel down in front of the kids. They weren't afraid of the high elf either, but at least neither of them rejected her help. The lamia boy stayed still as she hovered a hand over the nasty bite. "Lay on Hands."

A golden light engulfed the tip of the tail that looked like it was about to fall off. When the luminescence faded, the lamia's appendage was whole again. Not even a scar to show for. 

"Thank you." The boy smiled.

"Hmm." Petyr thought for a moment and said, "Boy, would you be interested in becoming my page?"

"Of paper?" He tilted his head.

"Ignore her." Kanae groaned. "What were you two doing out here? Where are your parents?"

"Right! What happened to the eggs?" The dark elven girl gasped.

She and the boy became animated at once. The two searched around the tree until they found four head-sized broken eggs, yolk and shell pieces littering the ground. Both of the kids sulked.

"I'm sorry, Nona… If it wasn't for me, those cockatrices wouldn't have woken up…" He frowned.

"Not your fault, Guel. It's harpies like them that we had to do this to begin with." She pointed an accusing finger at Kanae and Edina.

"The three hells did we do? We saved you runts just to get badmouthed!" Edina threw both hands in the air.

"We aren't…" Kanae decided against correcting her. "Whoever you think we are, we're not the same ones making your life miserable. Maybe you can tell us what's going on?"

The kids exchanged anxious glances and nodded.

"I'm Nona. This is Guel. We're from Shivarn, a small village of ranchers. The Harpy King's been raising taxes and sending his people to collect. We don't have a lot to begin with! They're coming today, and Guel and I overheard the elders talking about how they don't have enough for the collectors. Guel remembered seeing a pack of cockatrices one time, so we came to sneak away with a couple of eggs. Just one feeds a lot of people, and maybe the collectors would be okay with it. Then… you know the rest."

"Demanding too much from those who have too little." Petyr clicked her tongue. "I know this all too well. It's a foolish, short-sighted tactic to frontload supplies in wartime. They think nothing of what may come after. If farmers and ranchers cannot feed themselves and survive, a nation will have one less village to collect from the next year. Not to mention the unrest it will cause in the populace."

"Well studied, Petyr Stormcloud. But you're forgetting one thing. A weak and starving populace does not have the strength to resist. This works in the Harpy King's favor." Archbishop Patrice, accompanied by both Saint Priests and Kara, arrived with the carriages.

"Nona, we're running out of time. We have to get back to the village with something!" Guel interrupted them.

"It's too dangerous for you kids to go alone. We'll get you back to your village. Faster that way, too. You can also give them the cockatrice I have mind controlled." Kanae smiled and extended a hand to them.

Nona hesitated. Guel took Kanae's hand first, then grabbed his friend's next. They all hopped back onto the carriages. The kids, despite their reservations, looked delighted to ride on something like it.

Following their instructions, Renya steered the ronoas toward Shivarn. The deeper through the ridge they went, the more desert grass covered the rocky surface. It was a strange, prickly kind of vegetation. Dry to the touch, too. How anyone could ranch livestock on these was beyond Kanae.

Soon, their caravan entered a beaten path. The pokey desert grass was fenced in on each side of the road. Stout and hefty animals on stocky legs meandered through the fields, their tough gray leather hide unaffected by the prickly grass. They had goofy faces like tapirs and grazed heartily on the feast before them.

A group of people had gathered at the entrance of Shivarn. Villagers holding gardening tools faced heavily-armed harpy soldiers, who were donning equipment meant for war and not collecting taxes. Most were flying mid-air, and only two were standing on the surface. Tensions seemed high. Kanae could hear yelling from a mile away.

"We won't have enough to eat if we give you all our livestock!"

"Please, just let us off this one time! We're begging you!"

One villager got too close pleading with the harpies that they shoved him to the ground and laughed.

"That's them! They came by last month and took all mature pupara. The young ones haven't even had time to grow up yet!" Nona growled.

As the caravan got closer, the villagers noticed them first. Then the harpies.

"Remember, we're merchants. Let's not make a scene. If something happens, and they all fly off at once, we won't be able to catch every single one. The Harpy King will know we're infiltrating Elusis," Kanae explained.

"Okay, so you and I are outta the picture. We're obviously succubi. Who's gonna confront them?" Edina asked.

"You leave that to me and Petyr. This big mouth of mine is good for something," Renya assured them.

Kanae couldn't help but be worried. Why Petyr, too?

The squad of harpies turned their attention to them instead of the villagers. A particularly mean-looking one descended upon the front carriage with a snarl, his spear pointed at the ronoas.

"What's this? Something good for us to bring back, I hope?" the harpy man asked.

Renya threw her arms out in a show of deference. "Oh, but I wouldn't want to trouble you with the responsibility of lugging all this to Elusis. We're traders from the East Saviran Trading Association. All we've got are jewels and silk. For the purpose of trade, of course. I see you're eyeing my ronoas, but they are my only means to get around. How about a healthy cockatrice instead? In its prime! Think of the juicy thighs you can sink your fangs into."

Kanae compelled the cockatrice forward, startling both the harpies and villagers.

"Traders?" The harpy raised a brow and sidled up to Petyr. "I didn't know the association started taking high elves. You're tall for a high elf."

"This is my personal bodyguard! You can never be too careful out here in the wilderness!" Renya tried to draw their attention back to her with little success.

"Uh huh." He jabbed a finger into Petyr's chest. "I heard there were Ortesians in Bravost and Avanesse. Are you Ortesian?" Again, this time harder. "Savir's a little hot for a pompous cunt like you, isn't it? Those porcelain cheeks of yours drenched in sweat, eh?" Another poke. "What are you? A mute? Say something! Is your guard always this quiet?"

"Oh, this is gonna be good." Edina rubbed her hands together.

Petyr snapped. She grabbed the harpy man by his throat with one hand and the left with the other. One squeeze snapped the wing bone. Everyone in the village winced. Kanae and Edina shivered, feeling his exact pain. As soon as she let him go, he could breathe again and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Get out of my sight. Or I'm going to de-wing you all one at a time, then I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Petyr boomed.

Kanae was about to jump out and fight, but the harpies chickened out. They picked up their broken-wing fellow and flew from the village in haste.

"So much for being incognito." Kanae sighed.

The kids burst out of the carriage and mobbed Petyr.

"That was so cool!" Nona cheered.

"You sent them flying. I've never seen them so scared before!" Guel giggled.

Everyone else emerged from the carriages, and Patrice looked particularly displeased that Petyr might have blown their cover.

"Maybe I should have kept Petyr in the carriage." Renya rubbed the back of her head apologetically.

"Nona, Guel!" An adult dark elven woman pushed past the crowds to embrace the children. "Thank goodness, you two are safe. I was looking everywhere for you!"

"We're fine, mom! We made friends outside, look!" Nona gestured to the others.

She glanced up at them and offered a weak smile. "Is that so? I don't know who you strangers are, but thank you for coming when you did. However… this likely isn't the last time we will see the Harpy King's soldiers."