Almost a year, to the day, I was walking with the four Hunters. For once, they were presenting as themselves, none of them in disguise. It was a warm evening, and the sunset had been glorious. The girls were enjoying the weather as they hovered around me. We had gone off campus to view the sunset Greah was behind me and to the left, as we walked back to campus, when there was a noise from the bushes behind us.

Before any of us could react, a huge figure rose up behind Greah and lunged at her. The scream that came from her echoed through the woods as the ugly, red tip of a blade erupted from her upper, right chest. I realized that Haleth was standing behind her. He threw her spasming body to the ground. The malice evident in his grin was blood-curdling.

“Hi, 'little lord'. Your little harem got a notification at the school while you were out. It seems that their stepmother had a baby. A big, healthy boy. He has been declared the heir.” He paused as his smile fell into a caricature of a sad frown. “Unfortunately, your father had an unfortunate fall right after the boy’s place in the family line was confirmed. Don’t worry about your stepmother, though; she is in negotiations to wed a handsome, young warrior who has been guarding her for the last year.”

I looked him in the eyes as I held my anger in check with a monumental effort of will. “What happened to my agreement with Sayleah?”

“Oh, she doesn’t know it, but I am not her toy anymore. I’m going to cash in on the bounty on the hunters. Their stepmother is paying top dollar for them to be dead. I think she may want to keep them from noting the family resemblance with the new heir and her next husband. Of course you, I’ll kill for free. You shamed me. You even killed one of my subordinates with my sword and didn’t even use the blade.”

“Too bad you picked the wrong bounty. If you were just trying to kill me, I would just beat you and leave you nearly dead again. You attacked one of my wives and threatened the rest. You are not going to live to regret it.”

I drew the hollow sword and slashed down onto his shoulder. This time It stopped after biting into the armor he was wearing. I recovered and made a slash at his abdomen, and it failed with a screech of tortured metals in conflict. I changed tactics as he took a swing with the sword in his right hand and kept the bloody dagger in a guard position in his left. The sword was easy to block. As I spun to block the slash, I was able to use a water-based move to pull his right arm to extend his movement into a throw that put him on the ground. He fell with a loud noise of crashing metal. I opened my vision and saw that he had landed on a spot with a strong bluish cast. I forced the strongest discharge I could through the hollow sword.

The eager tongue of lightning struck the boy in the chest and set the cloak he had on ablaze in a gout of flames. The lightening danced over the oddly formed plates of his armor as his body arched in a violent spasm, and smoke rose from every opening in his armor. I watched as his skin tightened and began to char everywhere the sparks touched it. The painful rictus on his face was gruesome. I kept pouring the voltage on until there was no chance that he could have survived.

When I turned to the girls, they had given Greah some sedative. Neah turned to me with tears in her eyes. “We need to get to your practice area. We hid a healing pod there. Greah is fading fast.” They quickly built a sled to carry their sister on.

Slaith had been in my practice, clearing his forms. I had asked him for a little privacy for the evening with the girls. When we entered the clearing, I saw three bodies in uniforms bearing Altose family markings lying around him. They all had missing parts and were not breathing. He was shocked to see us and even more so that Greah was hurt. “Solan! What happened?”

“Haleth made his last mistake. He was going to collect the bounty on my girls and kill me. We are on the way to a healing pod for her. I need you to backtrack us and recover his armor. Maybe burn the body with on of the bombs I gave you.” I replied. 

“Will do. I hope you save the girl.” He called back as he hurried to follow our trail back to the body.

I picked up the trailing edge of the sled that Greah was lying on. She moaned in pain as I lifted it up as carefully as I could. The girls led me into the woods for a significant distance until we found a rocky outcropping in the area behind the rock, was a healing tank. Greah was soon in the tank, and the girls went back to collect the bodies Slaith had left in the clearing. Those bodies were put into the hopper to feed the tank. Their gruesome task complete, and their sister on her way to recovery, the remaining sisters clustered together to have a talk. I waited quietly until they finished their talk.

Neah walked over to me, “Solan, I am the temporary leader of our little ‘hunter’ group. Your quick action saved our sister for certain, and very likely the rest of us as well. We have to wait for Greah’s confirmation, but the rest of us are decided.” She took a deep breath before continuing, “We want to sign a formal contract of marriage with you. Since our father and actual mother are dead, all we need is your father to approve and we can be legally your wives.”

“Why do you want to make it legal now? Why the rush?”

“We saw what you did. You put yourself in danger to save us. You called us your wives. On top of all of that, you are the most powerful man we have ever even heard of. You are also different. You could have simplified your life by abandoning us or killing us yourself and collecting the bounty. Haleth was dead, and nobody could have challenged you. You even adopted a brother you didn't have to, rather than order him to be your protector, or abandon him to a death on an outpost.”

“I don’t see your point about me being different. I just see advantages to keeping you all around.”

“No. You are different. You tried not to kill any of the three who attacked you before. You had no plan to kill Haleth until he attacked us. You can’t hide it. You actually cared if we were going to be hurt. Most of our people see this kind of thing as a weakness. We see the strength in your mercy. We want to learn from that strength and build a family with you. We will no longer be part of House Altose. Will you make us House Dothstaire?”

“As soon as Greah is recovered, we will do it.”

“What about your father?”

“I will handle him.”

---===+++===---

“Are you insane, boy?” my father asked before he even greeted me. “Why would you rush into marrying the hunters? They have prices on their heads that could turn almost anyone into an assassin! Did you learn nothing from Standt?”

“I learned plenty from him and Stolath Zenash. They have prices on their heads because they are dangerous. I want to use the weapon that they are. They are only a weapon if they stay alive. To protect them, I need them to be in House Dothstaire.”

“Why them?” he said with an exasperated shake of his head. “That Sayleah girl has connections. She could be your weapon.”

I smiled broadly at him then, “Why not add her when the time comes? I have the Hunters working with her already. Besides, with or without Sayleah, the chances of a viable heir are much higher. What is wrong with that?”

He looked at me like I was truly strange. “You have more courage than sense if you want five wives! I will sign the approval, since you obviously have a plan. Just remember, if they turn on you, I have no options for saving you from a hell of your own making!”

---===+++===---

Greah recovered quickly. Because they acted quickly, the three bodies in the hopper were enough biomass to repair the damage Haleth had done with the dagger. She shouted “Yes!” so loud I could hear it from the place I was waiting for the girls to make their choice.

The wedding was fairly informal. My father attended, but stayed away from the brides. Sayleah cried. Her emotional state was fragile after Haleth’s betrayal. Her father was said to have been cruel when he spoke with her. She was expected to rule her minions with an iron hand in a velvet glove.

Chaos had crept into our social structure in the school. Alliances had shifted. New students were pushed into joining new groups of students and expected to be loyal in the extreme.

My new wives had plans to covertly build power. I was sharing new quarters with larger rooms and a sizable bed. Slaith had the room next to it and had a direct passage to our rooms via a single door. He had begun spending time with Sayleah. I was not sure if the connection with them was at all romantic, but it was good to see him building new relationships. She also seemed to need it.