I spent the entire Kesi summer in the mountains. The heat didn’t really reach the highland forest so I wasn’t prepared for the sudden chill that accompanied the changing of the season. Nonetheless I had a larger retinue now that was able to provide for me.

We had continued to ‘liberate’ bandit camps all over the length of the forest. The she-wolves had grown in number to almost two dozen by now. I hadn’t been very enthused about having a larger number of people following me everywhere but they weren’t a burden by any means. I was well-fed, my clothes were constantly mended and I was even gifted furs when the weather became colder. Most of the women who followed me had at least become survivors over the past months if not outright warriors.

Bheriya was clearly the leader of my followers. She had grown very quickly into the role of a general. She was stealthy and her mind was twisted like a screw, some of her ideas for taking over bandit camps were so outlandish that I was genuinely astonished when they worked out. Heta, Dabi and Vinua had all lost their fear of combat and violence as well. Rinja was the odd one out, she fought alongside her sisters but in her case there was no fear to begin with. She followed along like a cart-horse, sometimes needing to be prodded or pulled out of her near-constant reverie. I trusted Bheriya to have her in hand though, and I trusted her to manage and train our new companions as well.

In my estimation, since I first encountered Bheriya and her sisters, we had liberated a dozen bandit camps. A surprisingly large number of the women who we freed had wanted to follow us and fight with us. I was against adding to our followers. I told Bheriya that it was because I didn’t want to be slowed down. Bheriya, for some reason agreed with me and firmly dissuaded most of the women. That still left us with the problem of what to do with the women who wouldn’t be tagging along.

It was Dabi who suggested the solution. She noticed that since we were trekking back-and-forth across the length of the forest, we would be on hand to check on the old bandit camps every month or so. We had already wiped out the bandits in major chunks of the forest so apart from the wild animals the survivors of the bandit camps would face little threat.

“And by now, the remaining bandits would know about our Lord. Who would be foolish enough to attack the people freed by our Lord?” she said excitedly after she finished telling us her idea.

“So what exactly are you suggesting?” asked Vinua.

Dabi clucked in irritation. “Don’t you see? These camps have all the basics of a small settlement. They’re in clearings, close to water, they’ve got some huts built and a central fire. Without much threat, these settlements can be built up into villages. And the Lord and us will keep the land safe every time we pass through.”

We all kept silent considering her words. It wasn’t a bad plan I had to admit. I was reluctant to be tied down to any obligation to protect people, but I didn’t have plans to leave the forest any time soon either.

Warming to her subject Dabi continued her ideas hurriedly, “We could even collect a small protection tax later on. For the Lord of course. Food and garments and tools. Like a proper kingdom!”

“Hold on, hold on,” I said feeling alarmed. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’ll be no kingdom business. I don’t want to be a king.”

“But…you are a lord, my Lord,” said Dabi looking perplexed.

I sighed.

“What I’m saying is that I don’t want to be a ruler. I don’t want people coming to me asking me for things.”

Her face brightened.

“They won’t my Lord! It’ll be just like in our villages in the plains. The lords of the region looked after our protection from invaders and bandits and criminals. In return we paid them taxes in grain and animals. They didn’t interfere in the matters of the village.”

“Fat lot of protection these lords gave!” I snorted.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I couldn’t even remember how my solitude had disappeared so utterly. Some months ago it was just me and Ghost-Kishni. Now I was surrounded by so much conversation that the ghost/psychosis barely showed up any more. However, deep inside I was glad for the company. Glad but scared. Scared of what could happen to these new companions of mine.

They didn’t really need my assent to put Dabi’s suggestion into action. The newly freed women who the she-wolves told about the idea didn’t take to it immediately. Why would they? We were suggesting that they make a home in a place where they had been raped and tortured. But they did come around to it eventually. It was inevitable – they all did the same calculation that my Five had done that first day after I freed them. They had nowhere else to go, they might as well make a go of it where they were.

“Why are you so against building something permanent?” Bheriya asked me later when the two of us were alone.

I didn’t answer immediately. I wasn’t sure of how much to tell her. Truth be told, I thought that she and the others would leave me if I told her that a magically advanced super-race would be hunting me down shortly. I didn’t want to lose them. I didn’t want to be alone again.

“It’s going to get dangerous for me soon. I can’t afford to be stuck in one place. I have to be mobile.”

“Dangerous” she asked in an incredulous tone. “What will be dangerous for one such as you my Lord?”

I looked her in the eyes then.

“The Prids…Pridish I mean.”

“What about them?”

I sighed.

“Before I met you. Before I came up the mountain and before this forest, I killed a garrison of them. I killed one of their important people. They will come for me. I am sure of it. It’s a matter of months if not weeks.”

I watched her nervously out of the corner of my eyes. I expected her eyes to widen and mouth to open in shock as she realised the danger I was bringing down on all of us. I expected her to rise to her feet and rush to her sisters to get them to flee. Instead, she just looked thoughtful.

“I see.”

How infuriating! A two-word reply to my grand secret. Who did this runt think she was?

“My lord,” she said.

“Hmmm?”

“If the Pridish are coming for us. Doesn’t it make sense to build these settlements and prepare for them?”

Huh…I hadn’t thought of that.