"You are so cute little brother!"
Xena happily ate breakfast with Nisha and her baby boy in the mansion.
Over the past 300 days, they had never given up on Jack.
Every day Fraco was out, searching further and further inland. Sometimes he was out for weeks, just as this time.
But as Xena had lost her summoning stone in the sea, and Arrow had departed with the gold.
They had to focus on keeping Jacks village secure.
No new civilians could be summoned, no new troops!
Fraco and Harken had used their utmost cunning not to loose troops without a good reason.
Yet casualties were inevitable, and they were down to about 5000 troops after these 300 days their lord had been missing.
Without any connection to the outside world, they had done their best to grow.
There now where a second blackroot farm, twice as large.
The dimwags had three complete enclosures, fully populated.
The potato farms stretched far inside the crazed forest territory.
They had build their own tanneries, forges, bakeries, storeage houses, cloth-making areas and so much more.
They had found natural salt deposits, cotton flowers, herbs and vegetables that they now cultivated.
The dwarfs had mined countless tunnels in the black mountain, even finding iron, copper, silver and some gemstone.
They made their own coins in copper, silver and gold with their lords face on one side and the black mountain on the other.
Eventually their economy boomed even if they were just a village, and everyone had a mountain of coins in their homes.
Jacks village had a hundred human and dwarf children, filling the air with baby talk and blabberi.
All of this was only possible due to Xena.
As Jacks hero, Fraco had the ability to accept Xena into the lords territory, officially becoming Jacks hero.
As Xena became his hero, her hidden ability had been awakened.
[Administrator, Epic rank: Vastly improves administrative capabilities, and allows the hero to nurture civilians working potential]
As such, many civilians became very capable in many fields over time.
Jack had gained notifications about these things, about the second lord event and much more.
But his fatigued and drained days had blurred into a shadow of moving suns in the sky.
He had simply blinked everything away, not sensing it at all.
But as faith willed it, Fraco was actually nearing the large lake in the center of the plateau.
"What do you want?" Jack weakly asked.
"Be mine, and I will set you free!" The female reptilian said.
She had watched Sha'ri have sex with this human so many times.
As a reptilian female herself, she craved what Sha'ri had.
And finally one day she snapped, despite her strong bond to her lord, she just wanted a piece!
Just to have him enter her a single time!
Sha'ri was out now, she wouldn't notice?
Jack didn't truly understand that she tried to free him. And he didn't really care anymore.
Here, he was lower than a slave, lower than a whore and the did not care if he died today.
"You have to carry me." He just said.
The reptilian had already prepared. Even if he said no, she would put him in the bag and carry him to the lake.
She knew a place there where the dilators could not reach.
These savage 'dilators' waited beneath the water surface and ambushed drinking animals and beasts.
But they were also the reason why Sha'ri and her people found water elsewhere.
She could surely have this human to herself in that place.
Having Jack 'neatly' arranged in a huge sack, she left the village quickly.
But Sha'ri obviously didn't trust the other females.
She knew they all wanted this human. How could they not?
So always a shadow guard was watching him.
The reptilian made it to the lake before she was stopped.
She could see Sha'ri and a huge guard moving swiftly through the high grass in the distance.
But this sole guard had already reached her. She had to leave the human male on the ground.
She fought this guard fiercely. As if her life depended on her victory. As it most likely did...
But Fraco had watched it all, and could feel his lord in that sack.
He quickly went to it and looked inside, and indeed, there he lay.
He was passed out, dirty and ragged beyond recognition.
But he had finally found him! He swung the bag over his shoulder and looked up.
The female starred at him fiercely with her reptile eyes!
How dared he take her human! How dared he touch her!
That filthy animal!
She lunged at Fraco, but in that same moment she had not realised how dangerously close to the water she had come.
With a huge plash of water a 20 meter long dilato ambushed her and dragged her beneath the water.
'Oh shit!' Fraco thought while watching such a huge dilator right next to him.
He quickly turned around and left into the tall grass with his lord.
While Fraco ran, he kept making 'false trails'.
He was aware that he was being tracked.
'They are cunning and fast!' Fraco used every bit of his own knowledge and 'General' ability to his utmost capabilities.
Thus he managed to get closer and closer to his home every day.
Whenever he could, he fed his lord and gave him water.
He talked to him about everything going on at home, even if he wasn't sure that Jack even listened.
He could see that Jack, even if he had been fed to a degree, was very close to death.
Jack was naked, and he could clearly see the bruises and damaged genital area.
He was close to death. Fraco knew he had to hurry.
While all this was happening, Ramises the Goat had just been studying the chat in his mansion.
He always checked for news, he was a business man after all.
Ever since the trade with Jack, he had gained influence with the nearby lords.
Both inland and further north of the coast.
His originally small village had just today turned into a bustling town, reaching 10.000 civilians.
When he saw Arrow unload 1000kg of pure gold nuggets, he had instantly switched tactics.
That gold was his capital. He owed Lord Jack much.
But he never replied when he wrote to him. Maybe he didn't want any further dealings?
But despite those thoughts, he had thrived the past 300 days.
Ships sailed into his harbour from the lords in the north.
Caravans came from lords villages inland.
All mixed between Ramises harbour and his town.
He had become a trade-central for many nearby lord.
Bypassing the trade-fee in the tradehub was very lucrative indeed.
Ramises felt he was strong enough now. Many lords had reached 'large village' or 'small town' status.
But not many had reached a proper town status yet, at least in Ramises chat bubble.
He wanted to allocate 100 common troops and stock his largest ship with different trade-goods, and manually seek Jack out.
Even if it was unsuccessful, and the plateau beach was empty, he still wanted to try.
As Fraco could finally see the small lake near the crazed forest, he finally relaxed a bit.
Those pursuers were persistent, having followed him for many kilometers.
Jack had spoken a few times as Fraco had tended him. But being in the wild open, had caused him to fall into a confused and feverish state.
'You need shelter and proper care my lord! Hold on a bit further' Fraco carried Jack yet again.
He was getting weak himself. Being tracked halfway across the peninsula without proper meals and time to rest...
It would leave even the most sturdy dwarf, like Fraco, exhausted.
But as he thought he was nearly safe, the grassland behind him fell silent.
They had caught up with him.
'Finally thief!' Sha'ri was beyond angry, she was furious as never before!
She stood with 50 of her fastest and common ranked troops.
She could see her prince laying on the ground.
But between her and her dearest possession, stood an ugly dwarf with a very sharp double-bladed axe.
"SSSsssShshhs" Sha'ri hissed loudly and her troops reacted aggressively as if it was a war cry.
"Kill the dwarf!!!"
The 50 common troops lunged at Fraco.
Swinging his axe he decapitated one at once.
Fraco knew he was fatigued, very fatigued.
But this was what he was build for! Standing between his lord and his enemies!
Fraco displayed a heroic display with his battle-axe.
The common troop reptilians carried spears, daggers and crude swords as they hacked at the sturdy dwarf.
Harken watched the situation from the treeline and had already called for backup.
Fraco was deeply wounded, many common soldiers lay dead. Only a few remained.
But his body didn't muster the power for his next swing, the axe dropped from his hands.
He could hear the thousands of friendly troops rush to his aid and he smiled as his head rolled from his shoulder.
Shi'ra was beyond redemption, the trash humans had already reached her prince!
'At least I claimed your warriors head!' She hissed loudly many times before retreating before the overwhelming numbers that now protected Jack.