This choice: "... this rare and valuable treasure." • Go Back...Chapter #6Welcome to Alexandria by: WTLamp   The merchant gestured to one of his servants, who bustled into one of the covered wagons and returned shortly with a wooden chest banded with silver. The portly man opened the chest, revealing a beautiful green emerald within it sitting on a purple pillow. As the light hit it, the gem appeared to radiate with many shades of green light at once.
"Behold, the Eye of Yva!" the merchant shouted. "Surely a treasure worthy of a warrior of your skill!"
"Impressive," Alexia said, looking at the gem. While she was not as enamored with jewelry as some of the more vain members of her father's harem had been, she still had to admit that it was an impressive treasure. Set into a proper fitting, it might look rather fetching on one of the ladies waiting for her back home.
Thinking of home and the people waiting for her made Alexia feel homesick, an unfamiliar feeling to a woman who had gone without a home for so long. Shaking the feeling away for the time being, the warlord straitened up. "Your gift is most generous, and I will gladly accept it." She took the chest and found one of her more trustworthy bodyguards to hand it off to. By the time that was done, the preparations to continue the journey were complete, and the caravan, along with its contingent of guards, began to move again.
Thankfully, Alexia's warriors had managed to clear the surrounding trade routes of the most dangerous bandit groups. The attack on the caravan had been the last attempt of the last remaining band of marauders to remain relevant, and their rout would mean that hopefully the roads in Alexia's domain would remain safe for some time. It certainly looked that way for the moment, since the caravan was not attacked again in the week it took to complete the journey to its destination, the capitol of Alexia's growing empire.
Ever since she had realized her dream of rulership, Alexia had taken the time to familiarize herself with the geography of the Samin Desert. When she'd looked over the various maps of the South, one thing became obvious to her; if she wanted to rule a realm with any staying power, then she'd need to take control of the Samin River. The river was one of the only places in the sands where one could reliably grow food, and it flowed from the rich lands of Central Yndyre, through the desert, and emptied out into Roiling Bay, making it an ideal highway on which to facilitate trade in the South. Many of the most prosperous kingdoms of the warlords had depended on the wealth the Samin River promised, and Alexia had learned that lesson well.
So after escaping her father and raising a small army of her own, Alexia had conquered a relatively prosperous town on the river whose ruler had been ineffectual and weak. She'd spent years fortifying the town, attracting people from across the desert to swell its population. The town had gone through many names over the years, but after deciding the river town would be her capitol, Alexia had renamed it to Alexandria, following in the proud tradition of warlords naming cities after themselves.
It felt good to see the outer walls of the proud city that Alexandria had become, one of the richest in all of the Desert and even rivaling some of the ports of Roiling Bay in splendor. While she didn't yet control the Northern reaches of the Samin River yet, Alexia's territory encompassed the lands between Alexandria and Roiling Bay, and taxing that trade had filled her coffers with gold. Already she could see the markets of the city bustling with activity, and she left the caravan to be assessed by her city guards. There was a place she needed to be.
There was some pomp and ceremony as Alexia and her vanguard returned to the citadel of the city. The people cheered as they saw their warlord confidently stride through the city, looking every inch the conquering hero she was. She kept a confident grin on her face, managing to keep tears of happiness from falling from her eyes as she saw three particular figures on the steps of her palace. It wouldn't do to let the masses know just how much she'd missed them, after all.
When she'd set out to forge her own realm, Alexia knew she was going to keep multiple wives. It was expected of the warlords of the desert, and it wasn't a practice Alexia necessarily hated. That said, she'd seen how some of the women in her father's harem were treated, and she swore that she would only make a woman her concubine if the woman truly wanted to be with her. So far, there were only three women in her harem, making it much smaller than the retinues that most of the other warlords had.
The first was Selene, a human woman from the deserts like Alexia and about her age. The two had met when Selene had been forcibly inducted into her father's harem. Dusky skinned, with dark hair, dark eyes, and wide hips, it was with Selene that Alexia had discovered her sexual preferences. Thankfully, Selene had managed to escape with Alexia before the warlord had discovered that he'd been cuckolded by his own daughter. Selene was much happier in Alexandria, where she acted as regent and kept things moving smoothly in the city while Alexia was out on campaign.
The second was Yuki, one of the kitsune. The poor girl had been kidnapped and traded to a warlord as a "prize," her snow-white hair and pink eyes making her look especially exotic. Unfortunately for said warlord, his territory had included the Southern reaches of the Samin River, and so his realm was conquered by Alexia after she'd taken Alexandria. While most of the woman in that warlord's harem had gone free, Yuki became quite enamored with Alexia, and offered to join her own harem. While Yuki lacked Selene's political savvy, she had learned much about the supernatural and thus often acted as an advisor to Alexia or Selene on all kinds of magical matters.
The last was Corelle, one of the merfolk. She'd been a trader dealing goods up and down the Samin River from Roiling Bay, once upon a time. Then Alexia had established her domain, and the mermaid had become smitten with the warlord's stunning good looks and overwhelming confidence. She didn't do as much swimming after becoming Alexia's latest haremette, though she did still use her business skills as Alexandria's minister of trade these days.
It took all of Alexia's self-control not to break down and ravish the three women right there on the steps of the palace, but there was some decorum that had to be upheld. Eventually, all the formalities were seen through, the ruler of the realm and her trio of lovers moved to their private chambers, and palace staff understood that they were not to be disturbed unless an enemy army showed up on the doorstep (or a similarly disastrous occurrence happened).
Later that night, Alexia lay upon her massive bed, her three lovers all laying around her having fallen asleep after their... revelries. It was good to be the queen, she reckoned, as her hand caressed Selene's soft thigh. As sleep began to overtake the warlord of Alexandria too, she wondered what was next for her growing kingdom.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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