LV8 Ch1

Previously…

Doc left Furden to embark on a grand plan to unite the west of Emerita by rail. He had hopes of what could be done, but what he didn’t account for were the unintended consequences. His allies, whom he’d made shamans, had made it home; former Madam Lin Zu was welcomed back by her tribe in Qin. Having a shaman back— even a half-elf— set the country aflame with belief. The same was true for Svetlana Molteneyes. When she reached Tsarrus, word of Luck spread like wildfire. Both rulers praised the new shamans and informed their countries to worship Luck, praising her Voice for giving them shamans again.

Those booms of faith set Doc’s plans careening ahead at a breakneck pace. He empowered every tribe and clan he came across as he went from territory to territory, securing the legal rights to build railroads. Doc wanted to do what America had never done— connect the west by rail. He was sure that, in time, the Church of Apoc would push the country to stop him. If that day came, he wanted to control travel on the western half of Emerita.

Doc wasn’t alone in his plan. His ally, David Roquefell, was busy locking up the telegraph system and putting the telephone in place. It was a huge business endeavor, but as David was Trade’s Voice, he had an inside track to make it work. The two of them were working together to ensure that travel and communication were stable for any potential conflict.

All of that drew more attention to Doc, especially when his old foe Strongarm approached the church with news about Doc. With a known and recognized Voice again in the world, the church sent out their inquisitors to find and kill him. They sent first one, then a few, before over a dozen zealots spread out over the west to find him.

It was in Pacifica that the inquisitors finally ran Doc to ground, or more accurately, to sea. On a ship just off the port, waiting to ship out to reach Pale River in Kanata, Doc confronted the inquisitors in full view of the port. Rosa worked her dryad magic, and Doc spoke strongly, creating a tableau that would be talked about for years. When a giant whirlpool caught and crushed the boat the inquisitors were on, it instilled faith in Mother and Luck in those who were receptive to it and shook Apoc’s hold on far more.

But that wasn’t the last brush Doc would have with the church. They knew his plans, and they sent a full templar order to kill him at Pale River. A battalion of zealot templars with a half-dozen inquisitors and a high inquisitor took the field against Doc and his allies. Just as winter was fading, the battle was fought. When the dust settled, Doc’s side was victorious, thanks to planning and faith. The church, however, had silenced Voices and killed shamans since their inception, which is why they always had a hidden ace to make sure things went their way.

When the assassin’s bullet blew Doc’s brains out, faith wavered in the onlookers. Even his wives, who knew of his gifts, felt fear and doubt clutch at their hearts. Rosa went mad, leaving the field to kill the assassin, ripping him apart piece by piece in her grief and rage. While the dryad raged, Mother’s hand rose from the ground to shelter Doc’s body. That was when Luck, bathed in silver light, descended from the heavens to raise Doc from the dead.

That was the last straw for Doc— he knew he had to do something drastic to give his plans time to come to fruition and to protect his family. Ayla and Sophia, both newly pregnant, went back to Furden to be with Fiala and Sonya, who were raising children of their own. Harrid was raising the templar order of Luck’s Bastion there and would protect them for Doc.

It was with just Lia and Rosa beside him that Doc vanished into Tsarrus and Qin. He needed to buy time, and both countries and their people were happy to welcome him and shelter him through the six years he spent with them. If not for Rosa being able to pass word and small items back and forth with his wives, Doc wouldn’t have lasted being separated so long from his four wives. It gnawed at his soul that his four legitimate children were being raised without him. That was when he set sail via the Anastacia to return to Emerita.

It was time to go home, but the church would be waiting for him. Conflict was coming, but Doc had hoped for a peaceful resolution. The Church of Apoc didn’t care about peace— they would divide Emerita and start a war if that’s what it took to kill the Voice of Luck.

Chapter One

Doc woke slowly— his dreams had been fragments of the last six years. His trip to Tsarrus, his time in the dwarven clans, meeting the Tsar, and seeing Svetlana again. Two years into his visit, an assassin managed to kill him, but Luck again came down to raise him back from the dead. That act had been witnessed by hundreds in the middle of the capital of Tsarrus, further inflaming faith in Luck.

After that, he made his way south to Qin. He was accepted with joy by the elven tribes, especially by his old friend, Lin Zu. Zu had been raised as near equal to the ruling family of Qin, easing the disdain held toward half-elves. The former madam had many apprentices under her as she worked with the tribes there. Doc toured the entirety of the country, even seeing the famed wall that’d long held the dwarven clans at bay when they’d warred in millennia past.

It took three years in Qin before the next assassination attempt— they got both him and Lia that time. To have two hands of Mother rise and Luck restore them back to life inflamed the country’s faith. That had Doc wishing Qin farewell before heading back to Tsarrus. The Tsar threw him a feast when Doc informed the ruling monarch of his decision to finally head back to Emerita. He tried to talk him out of it, but bowed to Doc’s plan in the end.

Before Doc left the eastern countries, another deity sent a Voice to the world. That delayed Doc’s departure, as he made sure to greet the new Voice and speak with them at length for a month so they could know each other’s plans. Doc was still hopeful that War’s Voice wouldn’t need to take a field of battle, but he knew that they would be far more potent in aiding a war than he would ever be.

The six years away from his wives was hard, even with Rosa passing messages and occasionally going in person to see them for Doc. News of how they and the children were doing made his heart ache, but also made him happy that the Church of Apoc had never gone after them. The Templar Order of Luck’s Bastion, led by Harrid, had grown and branched out to the western states, so every state had a branch of the order. Dwarves, elves, bestials, humans, and half-bloods of all kinds joined; they wanted to see things change from what was to what they were taught by the shamans and templars.

Twice the templars had to push against the church when their inquisitors attempted to break some of the smaller branches. The templars defended themselves, but never attacked first, as was in line with Doc’s views. The two times conflict did come, the inquisitors and mobs they raised were crushed. The templars then took action in the community to ease any hardships the conflict had brought, earning goodwill from those who hadn’t taken part. Even the families of those who’d died had slowly come to understand that Luck’s Bastion only wanted to help, no longer blaming the templars for the deaths of their zealous loved ones.

David’s message just before Doc embarked back to Emerita had given Doc hope. His “rail-laid plans” had come to fruition, as the west was connected by Trade and Luck Conveyance. The country was now also fully connected by Trade and Luck Communications, as David had locked up the telegraph company that’d formerly been Western Expansion.

With the continued wealth funneled into the businesses and his personal account, Doc was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Ayla had put the money to work for Doc, making sure he had homes and security waiting for him in every major city he might visit. That was why he was waking up in a grand home in Golden Bay, Califia.

“It was a long time away, Voice…” Rosa said from beside the bed, her green eyes not glowing at the moment.

Doc turned his head to see his lovely dryad. Her skin was patterned off the Ponderosa pine, her namesake. Her tangled thatch of blue-tinged green hair was as wild as always. Her bright smile warmed his heart; she’d been one of the keys to keeping him going over the last few years. “Come here, Weed,” Doc murmured, patting the bed.

The naked dryad was quickly under the blankets with him, holding him. “Yes, Voice?”

“I just want to hold you and thank you for helping me.”

“Lia will be coming back soon,” Rosa murmured, her eyes starting to glow.

“To wake me up. We’ll be seeing David today, then getting on a train to Furden.”

“Back to our wives and our family…” Rosa whispered.

Doc closed his eyes, struggling to hold in the fear that his family might not want to see him. What if his children, who’d he missed the earliest parts of their lives, ran away from him? What if they didn’t accept him, or if his wives didn’t want him back?

“No,” Rosa said firmly, bopping his nose. “Stop it, Voice.”

Doc blinked, jerked from his fears by Rosa doing something far outside her character. When he met her eyes, he shuddered as the fears melted away under her loving gaze.

“You know they all want you back as I’ve told you time and again. The children are eager to meet you, too. Fiala, Sonya, Ayla, and Sophia have raised them with stories about you. Add in Harrid, Ginger, Onyx, and the others who speak of you, and they want to meet you. Petal and Sequoia both told me how their children fear you hating them, or that you’ll steal all their mothers’ time from them.”

“Thank you…” Doc whispered, then leaned in to gently kiss his precious dryad.

Rosa moaned as she kissed him back. He wasn’t doing more than kissing her, but her soul sang for him. She was Mother’s favorite child for all she’d done for Doc, but that was a small thing compared to the love Doc gave her every day.

“Hmm… we do have some time,” Lia said when she slipped into the room.

Doc broke the kiss to look over at Lia. Her jade eyes held mirth and lust as she brushed her long blond braid over her shoulder. Her fingers were already working to strip her buckskins and pistols off. Her lean, firm body was exposed as she shed her clothing.

Lia had been the second pillar helping keep Doc going over the last six years. He’d offered her a child again, but she’d declined, saying she’d finally have one when the church was dealt with. Doc had left it alone, telling her he would whenever she was ready; neither of them would die of old age soon, not with Doc’s healing and their heritages.

“Weed, down. Get him ready for me,” Lia commanded as she got into bed, crawling toward Doc with heated eyes. “Husband, I find myself in need of your pliant nature.”

Doc’s breath caught as Rosa did exactly what Lia wanted. The eager dryad was working him with the need to make sure he was perfect for Lia. “I submit to your needs as always, my deadly wife.”

Lia’s eyes glittered when she lay down beside him, kissing his chest. “Thank you, as always, for letting me embrace my desires. Other men would balk and claim that you should be making me pliant to you, not letting me make you bend to me.”

“They don’t know you. I do,” Doc said huskily, doing his best to focus on Lia while Rosa’s head bobbed under the blankets. “There’s no greater joy than making sure my wives are as happy as they can be.”

Lia inhaled deeply before she kissed him with all the love and passion she had in her heart. Doc had saved her and her tribe years ago, and he hadn’t asked for anything from her when he did. She’d denied her attraction for him even as he unknowingly completed the elvish rites to ask a maid for her hand. When he finally finished the rites, she bowed to her own wishes and married him. When they’d come together as husband and wife, she worried that he would try to force her to bend to him. Her delight that he would allow her to lead their moments together had only fanned her love for him. Ever since then, she was the one who led while Doc worshiped her body.

They had a little over an hour before breakfast, and Lia was going to use every moment of that time. They’d be home soon, and their wives would have priority with him then. It was the least she could do for them since she’d been with him for the last six years. The moment any of them asked for her to join, she would gladly, but she felt bad they’d been waiting all this time.

Breaking the kiss, she stared into Doc’s eyes. “When we get home, you’ll need to make sure our wives are as loved as Rosa and I have been.”

“Always…” Doc whispered.

“Good. This morning is for us, once more before we see them again. I’m going to be very demanding.”

“As you wish,” Doc shuddered as Rosa worked on priming him for their deadly elven wife.