The rest of the journey to New Haven went by without incident and within another hour we were passing through the outer grasslands surrounding the walled city. I felt a hundred times better to be out of the close confines of the jungle and under the stars, as twilight set in. The sky was amazing. With light pollution from the city, I could never see the stars this clearly back in Chicago, but now, they were on display like something I’d expect to see in an observatory. A huge band of clustered stars cut through the deep purple blue sky in what I assume was the belt of whatever galaxy this world was a part of.

I vaguely wondered if it was still the Milkyway I was even looking at.

After crossing a few fields we came upon the massive walls themselves.

The engineer in me was mesmerized by how they looked up close. It was like seeing one of the pyramids in Egypt and my mind was already trying to figure out how anyone could have constructed something so massive without the use of heavy equipment.

Maybe it was just straight up magic that built this thing.

As we headed towards what looked like a set of thick iron doors, perhaps thirty feet high, two figures with torches approached us. One was human as far as I could tell, a middle-aged man with a mustache and droopy eyes. The other was much shorter and by his thick dark beard and barrel like proportions, I took him to be a dwarf. Although I couldn’t see their names or stats, a quick check with my discernment skill confirmed their races for me. Despite their differences in height, they matched succinctly in attire, both wearing a combination of leather and chainmail armor, with the addition of iron helmets, they type that covered the bridge of the nose.

The two armored men ignored me and made a bee line straight for Phee, raising their torches high to see her face.

“Let’s see your city pass,” the Dwarf said in a gruff voice and then added. “Bloody big lass this.”

As the dwarf chuckled with his partner, Phee responded by bending slowly at the waist to look him in the eye and then she shoved her raised finger right into the Dwarf’s face.

I blinked shocked, thinking it was her middle finger at first, but then I realized that it was her index finger and that she was actually showing him a ring that was on it.

Apparently satisfied the dwarf then looked to me. “City pass.”

“Er… I don’t think I have a—”

“He doesn’t need one,” Phee said and lifted the amulet about my neck for them to see. “He’s a Guildmaster.”

The two guards glanced at each other skeptically and then came closer to me.

“Which guild are you with then?” the human guard said in a cockney accent. “I wasn’t informed that any of the guilds would be outside the walls today. Did you get a notification about that, Fizzig?”

“Not me,” the Dwarf said. “And I don’t recognize that emblem, either.”

“Well I know the Fire and Earth Guildmasters by sight,” the human guard said again. “The water master too. So which house do you claim to be then?”

“He’s the lord of House Velmar,” Phee said somewhat ostentatiously. “Guildmaster Cole Jacobs. And he’s here to compete in the Great Canal Competition.”

“House Velmar?” The human guard looked to his companion and then began laughing. “So you’re the new beast-girl boffer?”

The dwarf joined in with the laughter and Phee’s eyes narrowed with disdain.

“Have fun with that one, mate,” the Dwarf said, motioning lewdly to Phee with a hip thrust gesture. “Should be a nice one, eh, Tully?”

“What did you just say?” I said stepping towards him, anger rising in my gut, but Phee quickly pressed her hand against my chest and pushed me back.

“Are we free to enter now?” she asked.

“So you really going to compete?” the Human, Tully, said, ignoring Phee’s question. He looked me up and down as if sizing me up. “Against the big boys?”

“Yes,” I said with a grimace. “Is there a problem with that?”

The guy shrugged. “Not unless you don’t register. And I recommend you do. Everyone needs a good underdog to bet on, mate. Be a shame if you weren’t in the runnings. I know I’d drop a few gold on you for a long shot windfall. What say you, Fizzig?”

“My gold is firmly on the Fire Guild, mate,” the Dwarf said. “I heard House Ifrit discovered an ancient demon relic deep in a jungle temple to the east. They’re bound to be unstoppable.”

“Where’d you hear that, then?” Tully said, challenging him.

“From people.”

“What people?”

“Are we free to enter now?” Phee said again more forcefully, her deep voice booming.

The two men jumped a little, their inane conversation abruptly ended by the seven foot tall half-ogress, who now held the T shaped metal that used to be her axe, somewhat threateningly across her broad shoulders.

Dwarf looked up at her with a scowl.

“Go on with you, then,” the he said, motioning with his torch. “And don’t wait so late to enter next time. Hard to tell you beasties from the bloody savages when it gets dark like this. Lucky we didn’t poke you with an arrow first.”

Phee walked right past him, like she wasn’t even listening, but what he said sent another ripple of anger through my gut. I’d never been down south as a black man, but I could imagine some racist hick-town sheriff saying something similar like that to me, if I were. Not overly racists enough to make a stink about it, but the connotations were clear. And, if you did make a stink…it’d be justification for them to do more.

I followed Phee’s lead and chose not to say anything. When we got out of earshot, I felt my blood boiling. “Man, those guys were assholes. Do people normally treat you like that, Phee?”

The big blue woman shrugged. “The hierarchy of order at its finest. Those two are lucky to be born so close to the upper tier. As dumb as they are, they’d never have landed those Commission jobs otherwise.”

I nodded. “Dumb lazy government jobs. I get it.”

“Not all of them are like that, mind you,” Phee said as we traversed along the torch lit tunnel running though the base of the pyramid. “There are a lot of hard working Commission staff too, but guys at the low end like that usually fall within the ranks of the unemployable.”

I chuckled. “Well you showed great restraint. I felt like belting that stupid dwarf.”

“It’s good that you didn’t. Guildmaster or not. You don’t want trouble like that with the Commission.”

We exited the tunnel to see some more guards posted on duty, clad in the same leather and chainmail armor set as the other two. Thankfully, we walked by without incident and then enter into the city proper.

I stopped for a moment to take it all in. New Haven was a lot more sophisticated than I would have expected for a fantasy world. The streets were made of what seems like large paving stones, completely even and flat. The buildings along its sides were also well constructed, made of a mixture of timbers and evenly cut gray stone. Oil lamps set on poles lit the area, filling it with a warm yellow light.

We were in a square, at the intersection of several blocks and the open space appeared to be home to a street market of sorts. My eyes went wide as I took in the multitude of different races that were there. Of the hundred or so people gathered, I immediately recognized several large Ogres who might have been a part of Phee’s clan. There were humans too, of course, of all varieties; ranging from Asian looking to Arab, but they were by far out outnumbered by the non-human races. As I studied each one I confirmed their ethnicities with my discernment skill: green-skinned orcs that looked like smaller cousins to Phee’s ogre relatives, long nosed and big-eared goblins wearing smocks and leather aprons. Then there were races that were more difficult to define. Like a breed of cat people, called Lenur, with cat ears poking right out the tops of their heads, like something from an anime convention. The whole thing was somewhat surreal and for a moment I wondered if I was dreaming all of it again.

A wagon rumbled by noisily, driven by what looked like an elf.

“I’ve never seen so many different types of people,” I said still marveling.

“The bottom of the world,” Phee said wading into the market. “Come on. We still need to check in with Devena and Yunni.”

We passed by stalls filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, many of them things I’d never seen before. An Orc butcher was hacking up a fish the size of the boar I’d just killed, using a cleaver as big Phee’s Axe. The sights and sounds of it all were almost overwhelming. The stink of animas mixed with the aroma of cooking pots, music from a group of dancing goblins, playing what looked like fiddles. It all wafted together and combined to form a general din of liveliness and confusion. Coming from a big city I felt right at home and quickly became at ease with the anonymity provided by the mixed crowd. The two guards at the gate had made us feel like oddities but here we were nothing special it seemed.

And that was just fine with me.

We left the square and traversed down a couple side streets, finally ending up close to the docks. The slow creak of wood and ropes became more evident as we got closer. It then begame a constant thing, an ever present creaking and moaning as the ships tethered to the docks swayed gently with the slow flow of the river. Bridges leading to the other side of the city were filled with wagon traffic, ferrying all manner of goods from the ships and to one side or the other.

Phee finally stopped at a two storey building where raucous laughter and loud bagpipe music seemed to be coming from inside. Above a set of rickety saloon like doors a sign hung that read, “The Squealing Pig.”

“Well here we are,” Phee said and pushed through the doors. “Brace yourself.”

I had to do just that as I followed behind the half-ogre. The sounds were magnified tenfold and the smell of stale beer and other less pleasant odors filled my nostrils. The bagpipe music was complements of a Satyr who looked middle-eastern like Shareef, but was much younger, perhaps only a teen with no beard at all. Three female orcs in overly frilly dresses put on what looked like a can-can show, kicking up their boots to show their under garments. Again they were more attractive than how my old D&D manuals used to portray them. But the three women dancing shared the distinctive orc traits of green skin with dark hair; one wearing pig tails, while the other two wore theirs wild and long. They also had small tusks protruding from their lower lips which gave them a slightly feral appearance but not overly threatening otherwise.

The patrons of the place clapped and sang with the music, while holding wooden mugs in the air. They ranged from orcs to goblins, with a Dwarf or two here and there. I spotted only one human guy who seemed busy flirting with an Orc waitress who was trying to tend to several tables at once.

“There he is! He’s here!”

The sound of Yunni’s high pitched voice cut through the din of the crowd, and I looked up to see the nymph flying from off a balcony overlooking the interior of the bar. In a big fanfare she unfurled a banner of white cloth tied to the banister.

In big letters was written: W3LKOM KOL!

Yunni began clapping and cheering and a handful of patrons half-heartedly joined in with her. The crowd then quickly went back to cheering on the dancing orc girls and throwing back their beers or whatever they were drinking. Yunni didn’t seem to care about the lackluster enthusiasm however and provided much of her own enthusiasm as she floated down next to me with a huge “Ta-da!” like pose, pointing to the banner.

“What do you think, Master?” she said eagerly. “Did I get the symbols right?”

“Ah…” I smiled while nodding. “Mostly…Great job! And thank you! That was a nice touch.”

She bounced on the spot seeming well pleased with herself. “I’ve been researching your native language from the tomes I found and it’s been very difficult, but now that you’re here I hoping to learn a lot more.”

“That’s great, Yunni. I can’t wait to share.” I then looked around the tavern a bit confused. “So what is this place exactly? And why are we here?”

“This is the Head Quarters,” Yunni said.

“Our headquarters is a bar?”

“Trust me, sometimes it’s a perk,” Phee said with a deadpan tone. She then looked to Yunni. “Where’s Devena?”

“Upstairs I think,” Yunni said. “She got tired of waiting. What took you two so long any…” Her words trailed off as she looked back and forth between Phee and myself, perhaps checking our status. “Oh wow…Devena’s going to be really mad.”

My stomach sunk a little as she said it. I was beginning to think that I’d committed some kind of carnal sin. But then Yunni smiled and grabbed both of Phee’s hands.

“But not me!” she said, bouncing up and down again. “I’m so happy for you, Phee! Congratulations. Phee the mighty, Firstbond to the great Guildmaster Cole.” The two women shared a laugh. “I know you’re going to do an amazing job too.”

“Aw, thank you, Yunni.” Phee bent at the knees to give the nymph a warm hug.

“And thanks, for taking the pressure off me too,” Yunni said with a nervous chuckle. “I really didn’t think I could live up to being firstbond material. But I know you can.” She then winked at me. “I’d be open for your second choice though, Master Cole.”

“Er sure,” I said, still trying to bend my mind around this whole multiple bonding thing. Did she really just offer herself to me? And in front of Phee too? I glanced up at Phee to see how she was reacting to all this and to my surprise she was still smiling.

The Half-Ogre must have caught the questioning look on my face and said, “Well you won’t be able to build a guild without more bondmates, Cole. And I’m here to help you with that, remember?”

“Seriously?”

“Yes,” she said “And I can think of no better bond sister than Yunni here. She’s smart and skilled. Advancing her will be a great asset to our team.” She then grinned. “Plus I’m sure she’ll enjoy you just as much as I do.”

The nymph blushed at that and I did too a little.

“Yeah ah… maybe when I figure out just how to add more bond mates,” I said, still unsure of how to take all this. “I seem to only be able to have one at the moment.”

“That’s fine with me,” Yunni said. “I’m in no rush. Plus I know you’ll have a lot to do and figure out to get the guild running. Speaking of which, I have a ton of material to show you. Follow me upstairs. I’ve got it all laid out for you.”

With that the nymph jumped into the air and flew up to the balcony again.

I stood there still beside myself for a moment. I looked up at Phee. “You’re really okay with all this? Me bonding with other women?”

“It’s your job,” Phee said. “And it’s my job to help you find the best ones.” She then leaned down and whispered huskily in my ear. “Just so long as you don’t forget who your firstbond is.”

The heat of her breath in my ear sent a rush of fire though my loins.

I smiled up at the big blue woman just as she gave me a playful pinch on the butt and I responded by kissing her on her lips.

“Not a chance.”

As we set off to traverse across the tavern, Phee suddenly stopped, narrowly avoiding a spinning bottle just inches from her nose. The bottle smashed against the side of the stone wall and I looked perplexed in the direction it had come.

What in the hell…?

Still in the midst of her throw I saw a plump, middle aged Orc woman, wearing an apron and with a thick head of dark hair styled in dreadlocks. Her eyes held a menacing glare and before I could figure out what was going on she charged towards Phee.

“You trying to sneak another boarder in without telling me?” the woman said, poking at Phee with another bottle.

Phee sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Ms. Ruby, we told you about him. We discussed this. He’s our new Guildmaster.”

“We discussed an increase,” she said and then she looked at me with a disturbing twinkle in her eye. “I do take payment in all forms, mind you. Don’t forget that now.”

She then gave me a snaggle-toothed grin, with a lift of her chin.

I shuddered on the inside.

“We’re just going to discuss the finances with Devena,” Phee said. “She controls the purse remember. Not me.”

“Yeah but you’re the one who earns the money so get to paying, Blue skin. You lot owe me going on three months now.”

“Sorry,” I said, butting in. “Ruby was it?”

“Ms. Ruby,” she corrected. “But you can call me whatever you like, sugar.”

She gave me another wink.

“Well…let’s stick with Ms. Ruby for now,” I said with an overly pleasant smile. “I know our guild might be a bit behind on rent and short on cash, but as the new Guildmaster I want to assure you that I’ll be doing everything in my power to win the competition to come. And once we do, I’ll see to it that you are fully squared away.”

“I hope that means what I think it does,” she said with a vulgar laugh.

Seduction: Success!

Seduction? What the fuck? I didn’t mean to use that!

“You’ve bought yourself another week, big boy.” She then pointed the bottle at Phee again and said more threateningly, “One week, understand?”

“Yes,” she said. “Thank you, Ms. Ruby.”

“I told that demoness-dragon-whore the same thing. One week!”

“Wait,” Phee said. “You already spoke with Devena?”

“Of course I did. She deals with the finances, not you.”

Phee rolled her eyes. “Then why did you throw that bottle just now if you already discussed and agreed this with her?”

The Orc woman grinned. “Got to keep you tricky bitches on your toes.”

With that she turned about and shouted at one of the barmaids to clean up the broken bottle before settling herself behind the bar to serve more drinks.

“Man, who and what the hell was that?”

“Our landlord,” Phee said with a shake of her head. “And one I will definitely not be recommending for you to bond with.”

I nodded emphatically. “Noted.”

We shared a quick chuckle and then headed for the flight of steps leading to the balcony. We got halfway there when we both noticed a dark figure standing at the top of the stairs.

I risked a quick look up.

Black-scale body suit?

Check.

Supermodel figure?

Check.

Sexy set of horns attached to one pissed dragon lady?

Triple check.

There was Devena, staring at us with her arms folded tightly across her large chest. My mouth went dry as her jade eyes continued to cut into us like lasers. I expected her to say something, but she simply gave us a dour frown and then turned and walked away.

“That can’t be good,” I said.

Phee released a tried sigh. “Sorry I got us both into this, Cole.”

“You? It was my choice, remember?” I shrugged. “Anyway, let’s just go and talk with her. I guess it’s about time we faced the music.”

“Faced the music?” Phee laughed. “What music?”

“Sorry, just another expression from Earth. It means we need to face our consequence.”

“Ah. Well that makes sense then,” Phee said. “Because we’re about to face the wrath of a dragon.”