Erik’s second return after a successful raiding season was slightly different from the previous one. No large feast was held after the armada returns victorious, but instead they were carefully watched by the season’s home-sitters until their identity could be verified and a crowd of idling onlookers craned their necks to see whether the returning Marauders returned with spoils and glory.
Each Frost Wolf ship had set its own course this season and a little more than half of the ships had already returned home before Erik. Among which was one giant Dragonship belonging to Jarl Ingolf’s brother, meaning the Jarl himself was arguably late to return.
The loot had long been fairly divided among the crew, with the officers getting more shares as their rank went up and Erik getting the largest cut (even when excluding the items he had previously swindled into his inventory).
Silver coins, different metal ores, bolts of many different fabrics as well as an assortment of oddities and baubles were dug out from the Dragonship’s deep holds.
There was no endless stream of new thralls, but nonetheless there were quite a few new additions to the lowest rung of Norscan society. First of all were of course Erik’s private purchases which included professional craftsmen, animal handlers and experienced midwives.
Then there were the women. Most of these were former prostitutes which a Marauder took a fancy to and decided to buy them over. Objectively, Yeying was also included in this group but Erik wasn’t quite open-minded enough to share her with his friends and crew as was the fate of many other “former” prostitutes.
Making good use of Skadi’s summoning and un-summoning Erik had been kept well-informed of the goings on back home and had already informed Sigrun of his return in advance. This was kept a secret from the others though since the peculiar circumstances were better kept secret. Of course, this also meant Ri & Ra were still unaware of their brother’s useless death in a drunken pub-fight before the Dragonship returned. Now, after learning the news, the twins retreated somewhere private in Erik’s hall to mourn their loss. Erik’s callous, matter of fact-like way of informing them sending a clear message he didn’t intend to soothe them.
Still, Erik’s voyage had been very profitable and the tribespeople were suitably awed at their exploits.
“Oi, young’un! Come over, someone want to ta-…”
One man even went up to Erik to ask if he would come over, but Erik was impatient to return home and didn’t like the man’s rude phrasing so after punching him in the face, Erik continued on his way.
That night, after his spoils had been stored in the warehouse, the new thralls put in their pens, Geri & Freki reunited with their mother & sisters and the massive horse had been stabled, Erik took the time to think about his harem.
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Erik’s harem has grown significantly over the course of less than a year. At first he simply fooled around with replaceable thralls, an act akin to simple masturbation as far as freemen were concerned, but now he had numerous official family members.
Sigrun reigned supreme as the First or Main Wife while Skadi, having been won by Erik after killing her supposed husband, ranked lower as the first concubine. But Skadi was effectively the family’s Second Madam. Although, if Kitten’s mentality hadn’t warped like it did, Skadi would likely have been the second concubine.
Too bad Kitten still remained in her slightly animalistic, crazy mental state and thus couldn’t be elevated any higher than a mere lover. The same went for Tykira due to her origins as a Beastwoman and Isabeau too because of her background as a recently captured thrall.
Still, when they give birth to strong boys that will strengthen the tribe, Erik already decided to elevate their official status.
As for Ri & Ra, well, they still held to their status as secondary wives although Erik only recognised them as concubines. Their official status in the eyes of the tribe was still that of Second Wives due to them being freeborn Norscans from a respectable household, but if they ever thought this meant they would have authority over those of ‘lower’ status in the harem, they were sorely mistaken. And as time went on and Erik became increasingly fed up with them, it was only a matter of time for things to take a turn for the worse.
Now Yeying too was added to the diverse group of beauties as a lover and she drew considerable attention from her sisters. People from Cathay were not unique in Norsca, but they were nonetheless very rare and jealously guarded by their owners. To have one so close by was a first for all Erik’s women and after introductions they, for the most part, quickly got along.
During the weeks after she became Erik’s property Yeying had been diligently studying the language of her new master and with Skadi’s help she could now hold a decent conversation in broken Norscan.
But apart from the differences in status and origin there was another important factor in Erik’s harem. A sort of silent competition between women sharing the same man in a society which focused first and foremost on survival and warfare.
Children. Specifically, sons. Strong sons to carry on the bloodline and add wealth and glory to the family.
And right now the majority of Erik’s harem was heavily pregnant. Kitten looked like a swollen balloon that could burst at any moment and she was due to give birth within the next month or so. Tykira too was heavily swollen but due to her Beastmen nature there was no telling when her children would be born. Ri & Ra, having been knocked up during the Great Feast after the Winter Hunt, were due in two or three months in the early weeks of Winter while Skadi should deliver her child a couple weeks after them.
This means that only Sigrun, Isabeau and Yeying were currently available for Erik to ravish without resorting to the thrall-bedwarmers and female servants. Not that there would be misgivings or problems if he did, but Erik already foresaw future problems arising if he carelessly spread his seed, let alone the difficulty of finding new servants when the current ones were all busy caring for their children…
Also, it is very likely that at least Sigrun would soon get with child as well when Helles concocts the special medicine. Thinking about this, Erik then let his eyes wander to Isabeau and Yeying as he silently contemplated the near future of his family.
‘I’m still not sure whether that crossbreeding-skill didn’t also increase my fertility, so it’s also very likely that soon I will have to resort to bedwarmers if I want to release… Could that be a hint to the riddle of Slaanesh? “A Taste of the Exotic is a Gateway to many Pleasures”? Does it want me to go out and claim as diverse a harem as possible and crossbreed them?
Hmmm… something to ponder about.’
“Kyaaa! Wha- Wawawa-! What are these?!”
But Erik’s musings were interrupted when a surprised shriek came from behind him. Sigrun had been digging through the items Erik had brought to their living quarters as gifts and she seemed to have found some of the interesting, custom made articles Erik had ordered from Bartholomeus.
Among which were sets of very short skirts, an array of oddly shaped metal bits, defective silk underwear and differently sized rods with smooth finishes and distinct forms.
And when the other members of his harem gathered around the scandalous items and each of their faces slowly turned red from realisation and embarrassment, Erik decided to shut off his top-head and instead began to listen to his second head down below.
‘Since they’ve seen it and didn’t run away… Don’t blame me for insisting on making full use of it all!’
Walking up behind Isabeau and Yeying, Erik aggressively felt up their asses as they shivered from the unexpected contact while he addressed his collection of beauties.
“I bought these, hehe, as a gift from me to you for myself. And I intend to fully enjoy every single one of those things, but for now…”
Erik shifted his attentions to one of the bags and grabbed some things from it before handing them over to Sigrun, Isabeau and Yeying.
“For now, I want you three to change into these while the rest of you will… accompany me for some safe exercises, hehehe.”
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In a large hall next to the Great Hall, midnight.
Ingolf’s brother, Kargolf, angrily drummed his fingers on the table as he waited impatiently for his meal to arrive while loudly complaining to the hall where fearful thralls shuddered every time his gaze moved over them.
“How DARE that upstart! Who does he think he is, brushing ME off like that?!”
When the ship entered the harbour Kargolf had sent one of his men to invite Erik over. If Erik had been successful, he would try to extort a bit of the earnings by claiming a tithe for the Jarl. Or, alternatively, if Erik’s voyage had been a disaster Kargolf would instead opt to give the young man a bit of spoils to share among his men.
Either way, Kargolf would have asserted dominance over the rapidly rising star.
But instead, his man was knocked out cold in front of the gathered tribesmen and the rumour-mill was already hard at work.
“That blasted whore of the Sarls! No doubt she had a hand in this too. Always dangling herself just out of reach when that fool Ingolf isn’t watching… Then just leaving her daughter unmarried for so long you’d think she already had me in mind but then just stuffing her to the upstart…”
Kargolf continued wallowing in his delusions and imagination, getting increasingly riled up as insults continued pouring out of him. He was very, VERY hangry.
Finally the plates of food arrived and Kargolf could start eating. From the sheer amount of plates one would think he was hosting a small feast, but he was the only one at the table.
Taking the first bite of a choice cut of leg, Kargolf audibly worked his jaws as he made short work of the meal.
*crunch-munch-munch-crunch
He devoured the food completely, meat, cartilage and bone before belching, drinking a cup of alcohol and continuing the onslaught.
This time he grabbed something else, a small bucket filled with differently sized stubs of flesh which he began munching on like French fries. Except that these fries had small keratin plates at the end with most of it being pink and a small edge of white at the end.
Tired of shoving the small appendages into his ravenous mouth, Kargolf instead took off his shirt to reveal his corpulent body. As well as a large gash that ran vertically from his collarbone to right before the pubic area.
He grabbed an arm with one hand and a full leg with the other and shoved them into this vile, monstrous maw. Sharp pointed, serrated teeth lined the insides of the putrid flesh coloured in different hues of green and yellow as a wart-covered purply-red tongue shot out from deep inside and grabbed the food presented to it.
Slowly but surely the plates of food were emptied out into the seemingly bottomless stomach, but still Kargolf felt a ravishing hunger. So he gestured for the table to be cleaned but when the first thrall came within reach, Kargolf reached out and threw the young woman inside, biting her clean in half and stopping her terrified shrieking.
The torso-less legs fell on the ground twitching as blood and innards spread on the floor.
Not minding in the slightest, Kargolf patiently chewed the tasty raw addition to his stress-relieving binge eating-fest. Finished, he then grabbed hold of the legs, twisted them apart and put one in the lower mouth as he happily nibbled on the succulent flesh with his regular mouth.
“Hmpf, be arrogant all you want for now! Be it Helles, Erik or anyone else, when I become Jarl they will either serve me or be served to me! Hahahahahaha!”
