The next morning, Van tried to rub the drowsiness from his eyes to no effect. He did not sleep well, nor did anyone else for that matter. After a long day of killing insects, they returned to their beds and collapsed on top of it. But instead of getting their well deserved sleep, it was a fitful thing, where it was more a battle than a good night's rest.

As he walked out of the cabin and into the command tent to discuss today's activities with Kella, he found her already deep in conversation with the lead alraune from yesterday. From what he overheard, the alraune wanted to help by providing paralyzing and sleeping powder for them to use. Believing it would help increase their collective chance for survival.

As Van entered he joined in on the conversation, asking about how much powder they could provide and the details of their effects.

“I don’t fully know how much we can provide…” the alraune said, “we… lost so many of us in that mad dash to this fort…” looking crestfallen. “But! That doesn’t mean we still can’t provide! Just that… it might take a while for us to get the amount you want…” replying to his previous asked question.

Van sighed. “Well… I suppose I should have expected that…” he said sadly, “And I’m also sorry for your loss… if it’s any consolation…” actually feeling sorry for the alraune. Even if her mandrakes did kidnap his wife… he could sympathize with the fact she just lost almost eighty percent of everyone she knew and loved.

The alraune smiled gently, “thank you… but you don’t need to worry about us too much, your soul realm… is exactly what we need to recover... we… we will survive this… and make a new home… a new meadow… and we can do this because you gave us the chance to… thank you…” looking determined in the middle then bowing her head low towards him.

Van thanked her for her sincerity, and tried to move the conversation along, not used to always being thanked and everything. As they discussed other methods of how they could contribute to their war effort, he picked up on something interesting.

“You can make earth golems?” Van asked, looking interested.

The Alraune nodded. “It is not just leshies, green mounds and treants we can make, but earth golems and wood golems too. Though it requires a bit more time and energy…” she then went into detail about what they could and could not make alongside the costs for everything.

“Hmm…” Van said thoughtfully, but in the end, decided against it. “While using you to make earth golems and such would be nice… at the moment we could actually use your magic for other things…”

“Such as?” the alraune asked, tilting her head.

“Those herbs I saw in your meadow looked brimming with energy and mana. It probably would be perfect for use in potions. Can you work your magic and grow more of those herbs and perhaps even help out in making potions?” Van asked.

“Sure! But are you sure that’s all you want?” the alraune asked, tilting her head.

Van nodded. “Yes, at the moment, that's all I want. Your herbs can really help make more healing and mana potions, which in the long run can help us out more than you realize. And what we don’t use, we can trade for things we do need. So if you can do that, as well as provide your powder as well, that would be greatly appreciated.”

The alraune nodded. “Okay, and since we will be living in your soul realm from now on, we will also provide you with whatever leshies, green mounds and treants we have left. Which… Admittedly… we don’t have a lot left…”

“Any amount is fine, thank you.” Van said, fully accepting her good will.

After that, the two talked about how her people were going to settle in, and after a few more discussions, they parted, both happy with how things went so far.

As the alraune left, Van turned to Kella who had been patiently waiting for him. “So… how were our casualties…” he asked, taking on a more serious tone.

Kella shook her head, “not good, we had a hundred soldiers going in, and while our kill ratio was phenomenal, we really can’t afford such losses.” She then looked at a paper with some notes. “We lost about thirty one soldiers, with twenty two injured, twelve of which are heavily injured and will take some time to recover.

Van’s eyes widened, but oddly enough, he wasn’t really surprised. If anything, he had to agree with Kella that their kill ratio was amazing for the small amount of troops they lost. But he also had to admit that that was mostly due to luck and expanding all their reserves of weapons and magic…

“Is there anything we can do to quickly recover from this?” having a bad feeling he knew how she was going to answer.

Kella sighed. “I’m sorry Van, but even if you start now, to breed more, it just will take too much time to wait for them to grow up and train them. By then, we probably will have been forced to leave the forest…”

Van thought about that, but he couldn’t deny that she was probably right. But then an idea came to him and he looked back at her. “What if… what if we do what Lyn did? What if we find people in need and offer them an out? We got Bell's tribe to follow us, and Sena’s rabbits to follow us, why not get other kobolds or monster-kin races to join us?”

Kella gave it some thought before gently shaking her head. “While it is impressive how you are able to make so many people join you. If all we gain is a few dozen, that quickly die off in a week… then they might be better off on their own, without us dragging them into a war of attrition that will see them slowly get killed…”

Van winced, her words hit home more than he thought they would, and more than Kella probably intended. But he couldn’t deny what she said was unnervingly close to the truth. Even if he wished it wasn’t.

“That’s… a good point… they might be better off without me interfering…” he admitted, looking a little crestfallen.

Kella gave a sad expression, feeling a little guilty since she didn’t mean to hurt Van’s feelings… Only wanted to express the facts as they were. “Sorry Van…” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But… you know…” trying to find the words that would console him. “You have also done much to help the people that have come to you. You forgave the troglodytes and brought them under you. You gave the kobolds and forest wolves protection from the insect horde eating their home. And now, despite at first kidnapping Luna, you saved a group of alraunes and mandrakes that are very rare to find in the vampire lands, maybe the last of their kind for hundreds of miles around… you did… good…” finishing a little lamely since she wasn’t used to trying to peptalk people.

Van smiled, appreciating Kella’s attempt to make him feel better. “Thanks Kella…”

Kella blushed a little and removed her hand. “Yes… well… I only said the truth…” she then gave a polite cough. “Right, let's discuss what we are going to do next.” now taking a more serious tone and looking towards the table with the map of the surrounding area on it.

Amused, Van followed her and began to look at the map alongside her. They then quickly began discussing the available resources around the fort, and Van explained what he found during their trip to the meadow.

“Sadly… the insects literally ate the meadow apart… they left… nothing…” Finishing with a shiver as he remembered the horror of watching a nice green area turn barren right before his eyes.

“That must have been hard to see…” Kella said. She could only imagine what it must have been like, but even she had to agree that it wasn’t a pretty image…

After that they discussed some more of what their future plans could be, Van bringing up again the idea that they could just have other kobold tribes join them, and Kella not completely sold on the idea.

“I know you're against it… but if we don’t do something, all the kobold tribes in the way of the horde are going to be eaten… and if that happens all that would happen is they provide food for our enemies and grow their numbers while depriving us of potential allies.” Van said.

Kella gave it another thought before answering. “The problem is… we don’t have the resources to feed so many civilians.” she admitted. “You have to remember, we aren't just taking in their warriors, but their families and children… and at the rate of attrition that we are going at, soon civis will outnumber soldiers ten to one. I hope I don’t need to explain to you what that means for our logistics. As our civilian population grows, they will need more resources, and as our army shrinks…” she shook her head.

“Ya… I get it… but… if that happens…” Van looked Kella in the eyes. “I will flee the forest… because… I have a responsibility to protect those under me…” looking at her with determination. “I just want to save as many people as I can… sorry…” as if such a desire was a bad thing.

Kella sighed, but she didn’t look unhappy. “Vanessa would be proud of you…” she said with a wistful look on her face. “Alright… if you agree that should the worst come to worst that we flee… then I will see what I can do to help you in your endeavors with helping bring the other kobold tribes together…”

“Thanks Kella…” Van said. He then left the tent and started walking around to see what may require his input when he found a mandrake just walking around looking confused and lost. He followed the small green woman only about a foot tall with green hair and a flower on top for a few minutes, wondering if she even spoke his language and could even talk to her.

“Oh, Van! What are you doing?” the lead Alraune said behind him, making him almost jump.

“Oh! Uh… I was just wondering how I was going to get that mandrake to join the others… it seems a bit… lost…” Van said, pointing at the mandrake that now seemed completely confused by its surroundings and had stopped and just sat down in the middle of the road.

“Ah! Thank the gods! I was looking for her!” The Alraune said, rushing over and grabbing the mandrake by the hand. “Thank you so much Van! She’s one of the younger ones, so I was very worried that she must have gotten lost.”

“No problem.” Van replied, glad his instincts that the mandrake was lost was right. “If anything, you helped me, I wasn’t sure that we could communicate, so I was a bit at a loss of what to do.”

“That’s understandable,” she nodded. “Young mandrakes such as herself wouldn’t have learned languages yet.”

“Right…” Van said, “Let me escort you to the portal. There are a few things I want to talk to you about.” The two then started walking to the portal together, Van asking his questions such as, if there were any other kobold tribes, or any tribes for that matter, that may want to join their little fort.

“Hmm…” The alraune thought long and hard about that, and continued thinking about it even after she gently pushed the mandrake through the portal and into Van’s soul realm. After a while longer, she finally answered.

“Sorry… I actually don’t know much of what lies beyond the borders of our… former… meadow.” she admitted sadly. “And I'm afraid that, even if I did know, since our meadow was the last to fall before you came along, any potential allies are probably long gone…” looking crestfallen as she was reminded by the tragedy of it all.

Van sighed, saddened by the news. “I understand. Thank you for your information anyway. At least we know where not to look…”

“Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful…” she said.

Van shook his head. “Not at all, you just being here can greatly help us with the greenhouse and the herb garden. And even if that wasn’t the case, I still would try to save those in need.” he said kindly.

The alraune blushed. “You… are a kind man…” she said softly

Van was a bit embarrassed by that. Then he had a light bulb moment and gently took her to a nearby empty tent. “I have an idea of how you could be even more helpful to me.”

Once in the tent, he told her that he was going to blood bind her and give her a name. Which made her gasp at the honor of it all.

“I-I can’t! It’s too sudden!” she said with a blush. “And after everything that happened… you would… bind me?” Unsure of how things got to this point so quickly.

“I need someone who can lead the other alraunes and mandrakes, and this power will help you be more useful, and add to the power of this fort. Which means, it will increase our chances of survival… don’t just do it for me, or for yourself, but for all those you have to protect now…” Van said.

The alraune thought about it, probably realizing she was jumping to conclusions a bit too quickly. Slowly, she nodded when she gave herself some time to think it through. “Alright… your right… let’s do this…” looking determined.

Van nodded, then cut his finger and inserted it into her mouth, when she swallowed, he pulled it back and gave her a name. “I name you… Venus!”

“Woah… I feel… so much stronger…” Venus said, looking down at her slightly changed body.

Van also looked at her body. Like all the other alraunes, she was naked except for the few vines and leaves she wore. She had slightly pointed ears and lush pink lips with pink eyes and black silky hair, a rarity in mandrakes and alraunes since they usually had more colorful hair. She had a slim figure with modest breasts that grew a little, with a narrow waist that made her ass pop out. Like the other alraunes, she was around four feet to four feet and a half tall, her hair falling down to her waist.

“You know what… why not… I’ve literally done everyone else I’ve bonded with, might as well get this over with right now.” Van thought.

“Alright… now it’s time for your welcoming gift.” Van said, as he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Welcome gift?” Venus asked as she allowed herself to push down to her knees.

---sex scene---

--- end of sex scene---

“Well… she seems happy…” Van thought after he was finished. “Alrighty then… better get ready for the other stuff.” leaving the passed out Venus to her well-deserved sleep.