There was a pep in Thorik's step as he led his spear along their assigned patrol. News of his captives pregnancy had not worn off yet. Even now, as sixth spear passed by, a few legionnaires called out congratulations and more than a few punched him roughly on the shoulder with their spear hands. Thorik took the blows with a smile, it was a legion tradition, and his smile persisted even if his shoulder sported a wonderful bruise at this point.
 
 
 Kholar was a day away at the tail end of the march, and though the ultimate goal had not been obtained, his legions would be celebrated as they returned to Valkam. This was the largest capture to honor the gods in two lifetimes. The priestesses that marched with the army were talking about how they could hang victory poles to the other end of the empire if they wanted. Not Thorik's though, she bore the gift of Oum. Thorik had the honor of pleasing the great goddess and sister to his own patron deity Rhal. Even the fact that his spear had to march twice as much each day did little to dampen his high spirits.
 
 
 Several scouts had gone missing near here, and captives were being taken from the lines during the night. The first cohort had been ordered to patrol the march at dusk till midnight by spears before the second cohort patrolled until morning.
 
 
 "Somebody better remember why we're out here if he wants to see the fruits of his labor." Chided one of the Centurions who patrolled alone as he Passed Thorik and his spear marched past. Just that morning, a full spear of the second cohort and all the captives who saw what happened had disappeared. Legion discipline wiped the smile off of Thorik's face, but his eyes still smiled in his hard set expression.
 
 
 As if the centurion had prognosticated the future, a large creature burst through the trees. It loped straight at the screaming captives with a lunging gait somewhere between a horse's gallop and a panthers pounce. It gave not a care in the world that it was also charging some 20 heavily armed men, 21 if you counted the centurion who was pounding back the way he came.
 
 
 A particular scream broke Thorik out of his shock at the sudden intruder. Glancing over his shoulder he could see Thrynne next to a captive who must have been her friend. The two women held hands and stared in horror at the monster crashing towards all of them.
 
 
 As always happened when in stress, Thorik found that Rhal had taken his body and drew his shield into position for him. Hours of worshipping the god of men and war had sharpened his spear so that their bodies also moved as Rhal willed.
 
 
 "Lock shields!" Thorik cried, even though half of the legionnaires in his spear had already halfway done so. The order from their commander made the command hard as steel in their bodies and minds. As hot iron cooling in water, the 20 men and women locked into a single block of shield and weapon.
 
 
 "Javelins!" The centurion bellowed as he finally reached the formation. As if his word were the sinews of the legionnaires arms, the back row hurled their javelins at the beast. Almost all of the flying spears found their mark, thudding into flesh and holding as the blades punctured. They may as well have thrown daisies at the monster for all the effect it had on the speed of its charge. In the front line Thorik braced himself and felt the back line push their shields to his line's back in preparation.
 
 
 "Brace!" Thorik yelled. Being on the side of the formation, Thorik's shield thudded with the impact of one of the grotesques limbs. The weight of the creature plunged through the middle of the formation. Disjointed limbs and mismatched body parts from the abomination pushed, pulled, slashed and pummelled. Legionnaires were thrown into the air and trampled into the mud. The centurion behind the formation let out one shocked cry of dismay before three different mouths tore him apart.
 
 
 Thorik was spun with the impact but kept to his feet. He was the only one. The legionnaire that had been behind him sagged to the ground with a horseshoe shaped dent deep in her helmet. All about the ground, Thorik's spear lay in various states of consciousness and life. The monster had paused to devour the centurion, but now turned it's eyes, stalked, compound and otherwise towards Thrynne and the line of captives.
 
 
 Thorik did not even think. His sword was in his hand before he knew he had drawn it and his bellowed challenge had the desired effect as the monster paused to find the source of the sound. Stepping over and on his fallen comrades Thorik plunged into the writhing mass of limbs, mouths and eyes. His helmet was knocked off of his head, his shield cracked in half, the cutting tip of his sword broke between a set of gnashing teeth, but Thorik fought on. He was dimly aware of the pain when a grasping, oversized crow's claw hooked into his shoulder and threw him roughly into the ground.
 
 
 The wind left him in a rush as his chest thudded into the ground with only a small rebound. His vision doubled, allowing him to see several things at once. Thrynne and her fellow Bischetti clutched each other in terror. A human mouth with a single eye the size of a man's head over it moved towards him to end him in its grasp. The centurion's sword underneath his right hand.
 
 
 Thorik raised the long blade that had failed the centurion and plunged it into the eye, missing his original target of the mouth because of his flawed vision. The teeth stopped a hairsbreadth from his throat as the creature seemed to remember how to bleed. Every spear hole, slash and stab suddenly geysered blood and the limbs, eyes, teeth and every other mismatched bit of animal and man sagged to the ground.
 
 
 Struggling to take a breath, Thorik lay upon the ground. Footsteps rustled through the grass and as his vision began to return to normal, Thrynne looked down at him with a horrified expression.
 
 
 "Say something!" Thorik heard her yell as if from a distance.
 
 
 "Ow." Was all he could manage as he tried to raise himself. Thrynne held him down, her breasts swayed over his face as she did. Thorik suddenly felt zero need to struggle to his feet. Other footsteps approached, and more faces peered down at him. Several members of his own spear with various wounds, the girl who Thrynne had been holding, some medico cleaning his wounds, Kahl... Kahl!
 
 
 "Sir, Thorik, fifth spear, first cohort! Engaged the enemy, casualties sustained, Sir!" Thorik yelled, snapping a salute with one hand as he held Thrynne to him to keep her from falling over from his sudden rise to perfect attention. Kahl raised an eyebrow and looked from Thorik's salute, to his hand on Thrynne's naked rump, to the chaos that was being cleaned up around them.
 
 
 "Are they all like this? I'm jealous." Brindally said behind Kahl. Like Thrynne, the commander of the garrison army of Bischette was naked except for her boots and Kahl's cloak. Also like Thrynne, the woman had a blue string around her neck. The medico who had been closing the punctures on Thorik's shoulder nodded to Kahl and moved on as the commander of the legions glanced with a wry smile at his prize then back at Thorik and his.
 
 
 "No. No they are not." He said as he gave Thorik's bruised and cut shoulder a firm tap. "I'll take five more though." Kahl gave a wink to Thorik and Thrynne before moving off and shouting orders. The commander of the first cohort sidled up with his own raised eyebrows and a grin that showed his martial discipline was losing to his sense of humor.
 
 
 "Well done, centurion. I've never heard of a single man felling a darkspawn of that size." The commander said, making Thorik's own eyebrows rise in surprize. "Light duty for you until we reach Valkam, Kahl's orders. Get some rest."
 
 
 "My spear?" Thorik asked, unable to walk away from his old responsibilities even if there was glory and honor ahead.
 
 
 "Four dead, everyone else, including yourself is on the wounded list. We expect two more to join Rhal before evening. Truth be told, it should be a lot worse than that if not for you. You rest now, centurion, that's an order. I'll see to your men personally." Thorik stared blankly after his commander as the corpse of the creature he had felled was set ablaze with consecrated fire to cleanse it. Thrynne planted a kiss upon Thorik's cheek, and then another on his mouth as he seemed to recover from the shock of battle, wounds, and promotions all at once.
 
 
 "He said he'd need at least five." The short blonde girl Thrynne had been with teased as the line began to move again. "You should get busy."
 
 
 "Good idea, Nillys. Farewell, give freely!" Thrynne called after the blonde as she marched off. It was the common goodbye said to someone who was to be a sacrifice. The green string around the blonde's neck marked her for the gods. Thrynne turned away from her doomed friend and planted another cheek on Thorik. "Come. Light duty. You have orders." She whispered in his ear.
 
 
 Thorik moved with her to the task as he would for battle. Soon they were disrobing in the long grass as passing soldiers and sacrifices alike whistled and cheered. Baring themselves without a hint of shame they embraced in full view of the passing masses. Thorik felt the familiar need for this woman rise within him. He had not fought his way to her by chance during the fight where he took her. A single glance had told him that this was to be, even in the heat of battle.
 
 
 Her arms locked around his head as she kissed him, she breathed in pleased surprize as he began to knead her breast and buttocks. He wanted to push her down and be inside her now, but she resisted and he found himself on his back with her atop him.
 
 
 "Light duty, remember?" She said, straddling him with a smile that radiated seductive, predatory glee. "Today you must rest." With that she impaled herself upon him, taking his shaft deep with a single stroke. Her moan was deep and satisfied as she began to rise and fall atop him. The army passing by cheered even more as the two joined in full sight of them. Thrynne seemed to thrust harder and more desperately as the passerby egged them on.
 
 
 As Thrynne cried out in her first orgasm, Thorik released himself within her too. His desire did not slacken, indeed, it burned the brighter as he listened to her cries of pleasure. Unable to restrain himself he sat up to embrace her as he thrust even harder. His orders to rest were completely forgotten as the two clung to each other till the fires of the army began to spring up around them.
 
 
 When Thorik was finally done, the two lay spooning in the center of a crowd of onlookers. A female centurion threw Thorik's blanket atop them while telling the crowd that the show was over.
 
 
 "I can't get more pregnant than I already am, Thorik." Thrynne gasped in a contented voice.
 
 
 "I'm under orders, I can't be seen shirking my duty." Thorik teased as both of them drifted to a contented sleep.