Locum Tenens

~~~ Chapter Notes ~~~

Rat invasion, continued... Read the chapters in the order they're written - to keep from missing out on any of the dreadful details. If the admins are as gracious as they are handsome, new chapters should appear each day until Loki's story finally comes to an end.

~~~ Sewage Swamp ~~~

We moved back from the noxious muck - leaving the three small fires to consume what they would. My boots were still making nasty squelching noises and I was no longer even tromping around in questionable puddles. The farther north we went, the more trees were still standing. Most were dead or dying - but there were more of them.

"If I managed to get these trees burning, where does this go?" I asked. "What would I risk from the fire passing to it that would be bad?"

The girls shrugged.

"I barely know anything about the city outside of the area that I lived in," Rilla admitted. "You have traveled through much more of the city than I ever have."

In the end, I decided not to risk it. I figured the trees were probably cut back from the city walls - but there could be farms and woodlots around the old swamp and I didn't want to eradicate anybody's livelihoods - or endanger their lives.

When we had traveled probably almost a mile north, we moved west and southward - heading back towards the mound that Hanna had pointed out. There were pools of standing water here - but it was just stagnant, fetid muddy water. Although I would have normally said that they stunk, these smelled like wildflowers compared to what I'd just been enduring.

Hanna tapped my shoulder and I stopped to see what she wanted. She slid down my body and went to join her sister on the hatchling's back. I had kind of forgotten what it was like to move around unencumbered - I bounced from foot to foot - ready to go on the offensive. The girls laughed at me.

We began moving forward again. Rilla took my right flank and the hatchling moved to Rilla's right. I felt a burst of energy flow through me and glanced over at her.

"Is that you, doing that?" I asked.

She grinned and nodded.

"Nice!"

We moved a little faster.

Soon, we were taking on attackers once again - and we slowed to a standstill to deal with them. The girls scooted a bit closer. As fast as I could, I began flinging damage at the approaching rats. Rilla began loosing arrows at them. We both tagged the same rat once and then, automatically, I focused straight ahead of me - as well as to the left - leaving a third of the front (plus all of the right) for her to manage.

When we had taken down the first wave and the flow was dwindling, we scooted up two paces and began again. Minute by minute, wave by wave, we advanced in the direction of the small raised mound that Hanna had been directing us towards.

Zima handled any rats that flanked Rilla and me... well... Zima and the hatchling. I watched the small dragon pounce on a rat as Hanna giggled. When the tiny dragon raised its feet, there was nothing left of the huge rat but a wet, bloody splotch.

Hanna called out to us when the waves changed angles. We shifted to face the new front and then adjusted again when she informed us that another wave was coming from a different direction.

Finally, we were probably a stone's throw from the edge of the mound. It was massive. If I threw a rock, I could hit the closest edge of the thing - but the farther edge was probably more than a stone's throw beyond that point. The thing was probably the size of a city block.

In the center of the mound were some of the biggest rats that I had ever seen. In the middle, there was a rat that stood like a man. Perhaps it had once been a rat; perhaps it had once been a man. All I knew was that this thing was the controlling force over all of these rodents. I decided that this was why Hanna had directed us here.

"You girls hold here," I said. "I'm going to run in and take that guy out."

"Are you sure?" Rilla asked.

"Can you hold here?" I asked in reply.

"I have no doubt," she answered. "I have a feeling they're all going to follow you to defend whatever that is. I think we should thin them a bit more."

"I agree," Hanna said. "We need to keep doing what we're doing. We're getting there."

"I'm sure we're already late for the rehearsal," I warned them, "and we smell like shit. We need to wrap this up..."

"A bit longer...," Hanna urged.

"I'll be right back...," I said, sprinting towards the rat king.

I could hear her give a little huff of unhappiness behind me and I couldn't help but grin. I used to exasperate my mother and now I was doing the same thing to my little girl - my very smart and talented little girl - who was sitting on a baby dragon. She was riding with her older sister - who was just as smart and just as talented. Then there was Rilla. She would turn 18 tomorrow - on our wedding day. She and I would be marrying an honest-to-God - er - gods - princess.

I shook my head in disbelief - thinking about Dexter asking me if I wanted to live a life that made a difference. In almost a month - my whole world - both my old world and this new one - had been completely turned upside-down.

The rat king heard or sensed me approaching and turned. Every rat between the two of us - or anywhere close by - raced to stop me. I pushed a little extra oomph into my legs. Teeth and claws tore at me as I ignored them and pressed on. I pumped my arms to run faster and mentally pushed magic spikes of damage out in a circle around my body. I was no longer really aiming - I was just sending them out in waves - skewering rodents of all sizes - leaving a path of destruction behind me - but still getting bogged down by the mass of the bodies - like trying to run through a huge pool of gelatin.

I roared in frustration and began pouring more power into my magical attacks. I was still more than a dozen paces from reaching the evil-looking bastard. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinter was a talking rat. He was a kindly father figure who taught the turtles to fight. This was a seething, nasty, fetid Splinter that had been brought back from the dead but who still had a corpse for a body. Chunks of it looked like they were about to come off.

I raged at the monster as I continued blasting attacks into all of the rats around me. I ripped one away from my throat that had sunk its jagged, rotten teeth into the side of my neck. I squeezed it in my fist until it popped and threw the broken body aside.

I fired more and more waves of damage at my attackers but more and more waves of attackers just kept climbing over the mounds of the dead and dying. The pile was nearly up to my shoulders now. The attackers were leaping at me from the tops of the piles.

I screamed out loud and pushed more and more magical damage in a sphere around my body - shredding everything around me. I could feel my strength beginning to fade. I had never before attacked this hard for this long.

Just when I began to worry that I might need to retreat back to the girls, a wave of energy flowed from my toes, up my ankles, up my legs, filled my belly, and then flooded my being.

"Told you...," Hanna said smugly.

"I'll never doubt you again," I replied with a smirk.

"Right...," she answered, shaking her head at me.

She sounded just like my mother. Maybe it was all in my head but my 10-year-old daughter in this world sounded just like my 50-year-old mother would have in my old world.

I laughed.

Rilla must have run out of arrows - because she was now flinging stones.

A rat came from the right and I saw a steamy puff of smoke blast it. I glanced back to see a very focused little dragon doing her damnedest to figure out how to breathe fiery flames like her mother.

I couldn't help but laugh.

Hanna had a dagger in her hand. So did Zima. They struck at any rats that got close enough. The hatchling pounced on another one and then roared at those that were advancing.

I focused back on sending out my attacks. It was easier now. It almost felt like I was sending twice as many as before.

Slowly but surely, I started being able to scoot up again - to advance towards the king of the vermin.

It wasn't big steps like before. It wasn't even baby-steps. Every inch was a battle. Every inch brought me closer to taking a shot at the guy running this shit-show.

I glanced back at the monster-thing as I polished off another wave. He was sweaty, waving his hands around one another. He was... casting...?

"Dad! Now! Attack!" Hanna screamed.

I began to push magical energy into my legs - hoping to vault over the pile of corpses - when I remembered that I had one more trick in my little bag.

As I teleported, I reached into my store-room and grabbed the cursed blade.

I landed beside the mutated rodent-man and swung the blade down hard - hoping to cleave him in half. He ducked backwards at the same time he twisted sideways - and I only managed to cut through his robes and slice a shallow line from his shoulder to his belly.

He screamed in rage and staggered back.

The cut wasn't that deep - far from a mortal wound - and I gaped at him - wondering why he was reacting so violently - and then I realized what blade was in my hand. I quickly stored it away.

I looked back at him to see the necrotic curse trying to take hold. He was fighting it somehow - regenerating to try to stem the spread of the damage - but he was losing. I pulled the poisoned blade from my belt with my left hand and flicked it at him - praying that I got it right this time and I wouldn't just bounce the pommel off of his chest.

Whether I was getting better - or just lucked out - or whether the All-Father intervened on my behalf - the point of the blade pierced his chest right in front of his heart - and the mass of the rest of the blade shoved the point all of the way in.

He gasped. He'd been so focused on fighting the decay from the cursed blade that he'd never seen the poisoned dagger coming. I walked up, reclaimed my blade, and sheathed it. I wanted it out of his body before the decay got to it.

As I pulled the blade free, he fell backwards. The light in his eyes was already fading as he fell. His body landed with a thud on the water-logged earth.

Once the rat king was dead, the rodents were far less focused on attacking. We mopped up all of those on the mound and then started making our way north and east - avoiding the piss-pools but trying to get out of the nasty swamp as fast as possible.

We got to high ground and I made everybody strip down to their underclothes. My little girls were embarrassed and Rilla was blushing - especially when I did the same - but I immediately set fire to our clothing and then began calling water so that we could get the literal shit off of us as fast as possible.

Once again, the hatchling was more interested in playing than bathing. Zima and Hanna took soap that Rilla pulled from her storage-item and scrubbed the little dragon's feet and legs. Once she was free of contaminants, I told her to move so that the others could get clean as well. She huffed at me but moved to the side. I told her that I'd find a way to get her into the shower at the palace when we were done. She calmed down after that.

Rilla and the girls faced away from me and scrubbed. I rinsed them all clean and then closed my eyes while they grabbed new underclothes from their storage-items and started drying off and getting dressed in better things. I warned them that Kira was probably going to make them shower again because we all still kind of reeked of shit and piss.

Once the girls were taken care of, I had them face away from me and I started cleaning myself. I complained that the soap smelled like wildflowers and the three of them laughed at me.

I threw my wet underclothes with theirs, dried myself off, and then changed into fresh clothes. I sent heat into the last of our clothing until it dried and then caught fire. Rilla told me to throw the soap in with the clothes - saying that she didn't want to risk it carrying any traces of what we had just scrubbed off of us.

"There you are!" Kira gasped. "I've been searching all over for you!"

"We killed the rat king, stepmother," Hanna reported.

The princess already had her mouth open - ready to lay into me again - but that brought her up short.

The training director came up a moment later and asked for details. We told him what we had done - and where to find the corpse. I warned him that I'd cut it with the cursed blade and that there might not be much left. He said that he would check it out.

With that dismissal, Kira informed us that we needed to be moving at a fast jog. The girls hopped on the hatchling's back. The other three of us jogged along behind them - letting the little dragon set the pace - and following her own scent back to the palace again.

It was nearly dusk by the time we got back to the courtyard. Kira, Nella, Dora, and Monika guided us and the orphans through everything that would take place the following day. When I asked Kira why her father and brother didn't have to attend practice, she informed me that they'd already been there and had given up waiting on us. After that close call with a tongue-lashing, I just closed my mouth and followed directions.

Once the rehearsal had finished, Mila came up to us.

"I took bread and stew to your quarters," she told the girls.

"What about me?" I asked, pretending to sound offended that I'd been left out.

"You're sleeping somewhere else tonight," Kira told me. "Mila will see that you're fed and safely tucked in."

Kira gave her cousin a wink. Mila looked a little flustered. I glanced back and forth between the two.

Hanna and Zima gave me hugs and kisses. The hatchling came over and wanted hugs too. When I bent down to hug her neck, she licked my face. When I stood up, Rilla embraced me, licked my face, and then laughed - and then she blushed harder than I'd ever seen her do before.

I laughed, hugged her back, and kissed her on the temple.

"I thought it was hilarious," I told her. "I can't wait for tomorrow."

She nodded - and then blushed again - and turned to go take Zima and Hanna's hands.

Kira came up next and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pressed her lips to mine and kissed me hard.

"We'll officially be husband and wife tomorrow," she said. "I have gotten so used to calling you 'husband' that I sometimes forget that it hasn't happened yet."

I gripped her firm butt in my hands and kissed her again. She went off with Rilla and the girls.

Nella came next. Over her shoulder, I looked to see Dora give me a wink and then head off - hand in hand with Monika.

The curvy widow put her arms around my ribs. I snuck a quick pinch at both of her nipples before I slid my arms around her.

"You're my naughty MILF," I told her quietly.

"What's a MILF?"

"In my old world, the letters stood for mom I'd like to fuck," I told her.

"I'm not a mother," she said, looking into my eyes.

"For you, maybe married lady that I like to fuck - as often as I can...," I told her.

"I'm so glad you rescued me... well... and then you and Kira rescued me again, she said.

She pressed her lips to mine and kissed me deeply. I groped her hefty breasts as we made out.

"You're not supposed to do such things in public, naughty man," she whispered - while giving me a lusty look.

"I can't help it," I told her. "Your titties were just meant to be squeezed."

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, getting one last kiss. "Don't have too much fun..."

I watched her butt wiggle as she headed across the courtyard. Since she wasn't officially part of my wives, I had kind of figured that I would spend the night in her bed.

I turned to find Mila watching me.

"Hungry yet?" she asked.

"Definitely," I replied. "Did you happen to save me a loaf of bread?"

"It's staying warm in the kitchen - with your stew," she said.

I followed a half-step behind and to the left of the cook. Mila was a head shorter than me. She had dirty blonde hair - not that it was dirty - but it was streaked with darker strands here and there. Her hair was mostly straight - falling down over her head and face past her shoulders. She usually kept it pulled up when she was working. It was down now.

Mila reminded me of the classic trailer-park princess. Her looks, words, and features were naughty and teasing. Her waist was fairly narrow - which made her mommy mounds seem larger. Her clothing struggled to contain her ample breasts. I longed to know what her nipples looked like when they were stiff. I imagined that they were thick and long - and that she would run her fingers through my hair and moan as I suckled them.

Mila's ass wasn't large but - again - her narrow waist made her hips and ass more eye-catching. She wasn't as endowed as Nella - or quite as over-the-top sexy as Monika - but her lusty looks, flirtatious body movements, and suggestive speech always had me wanting to grab a handful of her ass. She usually hid her sultry figure beneath oversized clothing and her apron but she still turned me on. Kira had been whispering with her sexy cousin for so long - all while the cook gave me doe-eyed looks. I wondered if I was finally going to find out why.

I suddenly realized that Nala - her 5-year-old - wasn't trailing her like she normally did.

"Where's Nala?" I asked.

"She's staying over with Alia and Lia," Mila replied.

"I'm glad they get along well," I told her. "I was a bit worried that first time they met."

"They almost get along too well," Mila said. "Honestly, I'd love to adopt the girls but I can barely manage Nala and get my work done. It's better now that she's older. When the three of them are together, they're either fabulous helpers - or just causing me and the other cooks more work!"

I laughed. Mila glanced sideways at me and grinned. She looked at me a moment longer and then blushed again.

We arrived at the kitchens and Mila pointed me to a spot at the table where the cooks usually ate.

"Let me just grab it for you," she said.

She brought a pair of mugs and the breadboard first. She set the bread down. A small crock of butter sat on its edge with a knife. She set a mug by me and the other across the table.

"Start on that and I'll grab the stew," she said.

I tore off a chunk of bread, got more than my fair share of butter on the knife, and slathered it on the warm crusty bread. I moaned as I bit into it. It was the perfect blend of firm on the outside and pillowy (and steamy) soft on the inside.

A bowl and spoon appeared in front of me and then Mila headed across the room behind me.

I'd already tucked two spoonsful of stew into my mouth (and pretty much swallowed them down without even chewing) when I heard the latch on the door. That was odd because the kitchen door was almost always...

My mouth fell open.

It was a damned good thing I had already swallowed what had been in my mouth a moment before - or it would have been running down the front of my shirt.

Mila the cook - Kira's third cousin - was wearing nothing but an apron and a smile.

Her pillowy tits were threatening to escape from the sides of the stained white covering. The waist of the thing was cinched up and it made her breasts look even larger than normal. Her nipples were stiff. The things were thicker than any that I'd seen except maybe Nella's. The two hard teats were threatening to push their way through the apron's thin material.

The bottom of the apron barely covered Mila's groin. Her hands fretted with the hem and she inadvertently pulled the bottom up - giving me a glimpse of her thick flaxen bush. Her legs were narrow - like her arms and hips. Her thighs were a little thicker - but she had hips and an ass that looked even thicker - given her shorter stature.