Kingdom of Minatorie CH THREE

KINGDOM OF MINATORIE CH THREE

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

The next morning, as I got ready to leave my chambers, Minatorie and the servants met me with their hands full. "Master, I have brought you the clothes of my late husband, the clothes of a King. You must appear regal, and I have his armor."

The servants assisted me in getting dressed. I haven't worn clothes since I arrived here, and it took a few minutes to get comfortable in these clothes. I had to admit, they were soft and regal.

They had armor on the table. "Master, do you want to wear the armor?"

I stood there, thinking for a minute. I don't need armor now, but it would set the tone for the subjects I need to impress. "Yes, assist me in putting it on."

Minatorie and the servants hurried to help me until I stood fully armored. Minatorie came running back. "Master, here is his sword. It is your sword now." She handed me a glittering, golden handled sword. It was heavy. I put it in the sheath with the thought that I would need to practice with it.

When I arrived in the throne room, Thunder was waiting for me. "Good morning, Thunder. How did you sleep?"

"The beds are too soft."

"How's the company?" The old captain had told me about the stud bulls they had in the quarters.

She looked confused for a second, but then she laughed. "I got rid of them. I need to find a warrior bull whenever they are released."

"That is a good idea, Thunder. Go to the jail and find the proper bull warrior we can add to our team. Pick one you like."

She nodded without smiling and left. I called for Astoria, and she knelt in front of me upon entering. "Astoria, I want you to get the entire council together and go to the prison. You must bring their husbands here to me. But, before that, you must bring all your stud bulls from the council here to me. You understand?"

"Yes, sire, immediately, sire." She hurried away.

I called for the female that had overseen running the government since Minatorie had become Queen.

She was kneeling before me within a few minutes. "What is your name?"

Without looking up, she said. "My name is Pausia, your highness."

"What became of your mate?"

"He was imprisoned by the Queen, sire."

"You are to go and bring him here to me."

"Yes, sire." She jumped up and left.

Astoria returned within the hour with ten stud bulls in tow. They had no collars or leashes now. She was smarter than that. They just walked obediently in a single file into the room.

"That'll do, Astoria. You may take your council to the prison and liberate your husbands."

Yes, sire." She headed off, leaving the stud bulls with me.

The ten waited, kneeling in front of me. I sent for Thunder. When she arrived, she had a huge, old bull with him. He had battle scars over his body, and a scar over one of his eyes. This male had been in battle. He kneeled, but I asked him to stand and tell me his name.

"My name is Mousius, sire."

"One moment, Muisius. Thunder, please take these ten and find them quarters here for now." She led them away and I turned back to Mousius.

"Mousius, please tell me your story."

"Sire, I was commander of the army until the bitch, excuse me, sire, the queen imprisoned me and my commanders. I fought with the King in many battles. He was my friend." He knelt again. "I offer my sword to you. I will be as loyal to you as I was to him."

"Please stand, Mousius." He did so. I got up and went to him and put out my hand. He looked at me for a second and then took it. We shook hands. "I will be honored if you would stand with me against our enemies." I turned to Thunder. "Thunder, please send for my General and her staff immediately." She left.

"Mousius, please take Tai" I pointed to the female guard standing beside me "with you to the prison. Bring every one of your men you can find here. It is time to put our army back together."

He bowed, and the two of them headed out. We have begun.

Before noon, Astoria returned with her council and their husbands. I commanded each to sit at my large table and I took the head seat. When we were all settled, I spoke. "I want each of you to tell me your names and who is married to who." They did so. "I want the husband and wife each to write down your responsibilities, both then and now. Do you understand?"

They all nodded, and my servants brought them pens and paper.

It was quiet while they worked. Within thirty minutes, I had a list of what each department was and who had run it, both the male and the female. It appears the wife just replaced the male in the same office. That would make it simpler.

"Husbands, I restore you to your previous office. However, you will keep your wives with you as you transition back to control. You will listen to what they have to say. You will not punish them or treat them harshly for what the Queen did to you. Wives, you will submit to your husbands and try to make this transition go as smoothly as possible. Does everyone understand?"

They nodded carefully. I could see the hidden smiles on the husbands' faces and the terror in the wives. I will watch out for any problems. They were dismissed.

Toy arrived after lunch. She usually takes the night shift watching over me and Tai takes the day shift. I smiled at Toy as she took up her post behind me. "Good afternoon, Toy. Did you sleep well?"

She stared straight ahead as she said, "It was lonely, but restful. Thank you, sire." I had to smile at that. She can get away with it.

Tai and Mousius returned from the prison in the early afternoon. They had seven older warriors like Mousius with them.

They knelt and I told them to stand. "Welcome, warriors. I regret what happened to you, but you will be restored to your former rank. Now that we have a large, female army, and few males, we will have to find a way to work together. Tai, please find these warriors lodging until we can work out the details." She saluted and led them away. "Mousius, please stay until the female General gets here. I want to speak to both of you together." He saluted and Toy took him to the kitchen to get some good food while he waited.

While waiting for the General, I read through the summaries each had given of what they did. I found the government recorder, the person who kept track of the records of government. I called for both husband and wife to come to me.

They were there in a few minutes. "I need the two of you to take a census of our people. I need to know the total number of males and females. I also need to know their station now. Do you understand what I'm looking for?"

The wife nodded, then looked at her husband with fear. He looked at her, then at me. "No. There will be no fear here. You are to work together. If that is a problem, I can resolve it permanently. Am I clear?"

They both nodded vigorously and left. I have enough problems without having to deal with their marital problems too.

The female General arrived that afternoon, and I sent for Mousius. When he arrived, I watched the General's reaction to see what it would be. She was cool. I sat both down and looked them in the eye. "We will need to find a way to work together. We will build a male army, but it will take time because of how decimated the male population is now. We will need to lean on your troops, General. I am going to tell you my plan. I want your honest assessment."

I waited for some acknowledgement, but both were silent. "I intend to keep the female army intact. I hope to build at least a battalion of male warriors at first. I am going to depend on the two of you to be willing to work together for our kingdom. Can you do that?"

They looked at each other and then nodded. "I need to know the background between the two of you. Tell me now. I don't want to find any surprises later."

The General cleared her throat. "Mousius and I know each other. In fact, we were lovers during the last campaigns of our former king. I was ordered by the Queen to imprison him and his entire staff by the Queen. It is to my shame that I didn't stand up to them and refuse."

Mousius finally spoke up. "Anastasia, if you had, you'd be dead now. This way, maybe we can rebuild what we had before." I didn't even know her name until then. Anastasia was a nice name for a General.

I smiled at each. "I think there is a pathway to co-operation between the two of you. I'll leave it to you two to work out a plan. Our plan will be to begin building at least one battalion of males and have Mousius command it. For now, we will leave the overall command to me until we decide how to move forward." They started to leave when I held up my hand. "Just so the two of you are aware, the wizard is concerned about conflict in the future. Please be aware of that as you work together. I will leave how closely you work together up to you."

As they left, I did everything but tell him to take her right on the table now. I have a feeling I won't have any interdepartmental squabbles there.

One week later, the bureaucrat husband and wife team reported their census report.

Total females 12,500. Total males 1,952

Females Males

Army 10,205 Military 1,342

Civilian 2,249 Civilian 610

That bitch really did try to wipe out all males. I asked for the facts behind the numbers.

The male smiled at his wife and nodded to her. That was better.

"The male military personnel have been released to Mousius and are stationed in an old base near the city. They are beginning the process of re-opening it. Most of the civilian males are stud bulls, scattered around the kingdom."

I dismissed them and thanked them for the report. I sent for the two military leaders.

Mousius and Anastasia came in together. Their tone and demeanor were much more relaxed this time. I smiled at them. "I see the two of you have worked out your problems." Anastasia blushed. "I am happy for the two of you. It will make this transition better."

They sat down and waited. "Anastasia, I have a few tough questions, but I need the truth." She nodded. "How many stud bulls are in the army?"

"I don't know for sure, but I believe it is around 300. I have moved them to a different base where they are safe. I am waiting for your decision on what to do with them."

"Thank you. I want you to give them to Mousius. Mousius, please determine how many of them would make warriors. I don't want you to push them. I can find uses for them in civilian life, so if you have any doubts about one, send him to me." He nodded. "Thanks, both of you. I'm sure this will work out."

I called for Astoria and her husband. When they arrived, I asked the husband a question. "Could you do without Astoria for a while?" He nodded. "Fine. I need her to head up a program for the stud bulls. We are returning them to society, and I need someone to watch over it. If you are okay with running your department, just as you did all those years before, then I will take her for this job. Thank you for your help in these trying times."

He got up to leave and I asked Astoria to stay. When he was gone, I asked her to tell me the truth about her husband. "You know you cannot lie to me. Tell me the truth about him."

She started to cry. "I can't. He is dangerous. I lived in fear of him the entire time I was married to him until he was imprisoned. That is why I jumped at the chance to work for the Queen. It was better for me, personally. It was only later that I discovered how awful she was to the males."

"You are to move out of the house. Tell him you are going to work at one of the military bases for a while. I will send one of my guards to assist you until you are settled."

She nodded. I called Thunder and told her to assign one of our guards to Astoria until further notice.

Let's see him say anything to one of my warriors.

Now came the problem of population. We need a large influx of people in our kingdom, especially males. How do I increase our rate of babies?

I had one idea, but it was radical. I privately went to the priest of Zeus to discuss my idea. After some discussion, he agreed to not object to my emergency plan. Good.

I ordered a proclamation be sent out to the Minotaur inhabitants.

The following was sent out.

My fellow citizens, we are faced with an emergency of immense proportions. Our population has been decimated, especially in the male population. We can't wait for the normal growth of our families to rectify the situation. Drastic measures are required.

Therefore, it is ordered that each male, in addition to his mate, will take in two females to serve as concubines for the next two years. The male will produce two offspring with each. At the end of the two years, we will assess the progress of the program to decide if it continues further.

There are rules involved. No female will be forced to be with any single male. If she chooses not to be with that male, another will need to be selected. It is not only the male's choice.

This new order must be in place by the "Festival of Life".

Raymond the First

This caused an uproar because most of the civilian males were now stud bulls. The former female leadership came to plead with me. "Please, sire, how can we do this?"

"You killed most of the males and that has put us in this situation. Each of you now have your husband back. He will find and bring into you homes two unattached females that he can breed with to produce at least two offspring. I have asked Astoria to run this program. She will be issuing clarification of the details as they become necessary."

I called Astoria. When she came in, she was angry. "Sire, I'm supposed to get females for my husband, and every other husband in the kingdom? I can't do that."

I smiled at her. She knew she had no power to resist me. "I know it's hard, but if we don't replace as much of our male population as we can, we may have difficulties with our neighboring kingdoms. I see no other way to increase our babies than by forcing the issue."

She sat down and shrugged. "I know you're right. But..."

"You can start by cataloging the stud bulls to see what we have there. How many of them could now head a household. How many of them are just breeding bulls now. I need to know where we are."

Now she knew why she had a bodyguard.

That evening, I asked Thunder to assemble my Royal Guard. There are now twenty of them. The problem with them was the wizard's potion. They are still attached to me, and nothing I say would change that.

The other problem was Minotaur's mating method. Minotaurs only breed one day a year, during the "Festival of Life." It is a very special holiday for Minotaurs. It is the day when couples decide to have a baby. It is the only day a female Minotaur can get pregnant. Because they are a warring species, they have adapted to this very specific way of having children while surviving in a hostile environment. They breed the same day, have their children at the same time, and stay quiet until the child is old enough to defend himself. Until then, the warriors protect the young and their mothers. Their entire mating season is one day. It will be necessary for the male to breed his wife and two concubines on the same night. Fortunately, the bulls have the stamina and production to be able to do so.

When the guard was assembled, I stood up. "As you are aware, we need more males. To accomplish this, I have instructed the males in our society to take two additional females and mate with them for the next two seasons. Since you are all bound to me, I can't ask you to mate with another male. Therefore, I have decided to mate with some of you. There are twenty of you. I need three or four of you to volunteer to get pregnant for us. I want you to consider what the cost will be. You will be here, but not on duty until the child is old enough to take care of itself. I will do this for each of the next two seasons. Consider if you are willing to do this and speak to Thunder."

I left them talking among themselves.

Two days later, Mousius came to see me. "Sire, I have tested the males Anastasia brought me from the army. Half of them is too addled in the brain to be anything other than a breeding bull. One hundred and fifty of them can be reclaimed as bulls. I am taking them and adding them to our battalion. What do you wish me to do with the others?"

"For now, give them back to Anastasia. Tell her to use them as recreation for her troops. Have Anastasia send their names to Astoria so she can log them in. If any of her troops wish to have a baby, have them breed that night. They can then do simple work in the army until their baby is born."

He agreed and left.

Late that afternoon, Thunder came to me to discuss her guard. "Sire, they have all volunteered to have a baby with you. I'm afraid you must choose."

"If I told you to choose four you could do without, which four would that be?"

She named four guards. "Send them to me." She smiled as she left.

The four arrived at my chambers later that night. Toy came and announced their presence. I told her to put them in one of the spare rooms until I was ready for them.

After I told Manatorie what I was planning, I called the four in. "You four have volunteered to have a baby sired by me?" They all nodded. I recognized these as the four I had taken during the raid on the palace. Thunder doesn't know these females and was happy to get rid of them.

"Ok, we will mate during the festival of life. Return to your unit until that night. You will come here late on that day."

They all returned to the guard chambers.

I asked Thunder where the ten stud bulls had gone. She smiled and hesitated. "Okay, what did you do with them?"

"Well, a couple of the females decided to play with a couple of them, and one thing led to another until we have been using them all on our down time."

"I see." She looked nervous. "Okay. I need you to take them to Mousius and test them. Any of her rejects you can bring back with you."

Thunder nodded and hurried out of the room.

I called a council meeting. The wives were still coming with the husbands, but they didn't speak any longer. When we were assembled, I asked how many husbands had found their two concubines. Most had. Astoria's husband didn't raise his hand. I asked him to remain behind.

When everyone else was gone, I asked if he would be ready."

He shook his head. "Why not?"

"Sire, if my wife doesn't return in time, I may not be able to produce three children."

I looked at him for a few seconds. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Yes, sire."

"Do you want her to return?"

He looked uncomfortable and hesitated. "Tell me the truth. Are you happier with the two concubines you have found?"

"Truth be told, ever since I have returned, Astoria is distant. It is like she is looking off in the distance and I'm not ever there. I don't understand what is going on with her."

I knew what was wrong with her, but I certainly couldn't tell him that. "If you were able, would you remove her as your wife?"

"Yes, sire, I'm afraid I would. I am busy now, and I need a wife that is fully there, not distracted all the time."

"If I gave you a decree of divorce, would you take it?"

He hung his head as he said. "Yes, I believe I would."

I called my clerk and asked him to write the document. I signed it and gave it to him. "Now you can find someone else to have your baby with."

I sent for Astoria, and she came the next morning.

She bowed. "Sire."

"Sit down, Astoria."

She sat at the large table. I asked Toy to step away for a moment. When we were alone, I showed Astoria the paper and she started crying. I was afraid she was upset he had divorced her, but that was not the problem. "Thank you, sire, thank you. I have dreamed of this ever since he returned. Thank you." She knelt and tried to kiss my hand.

I finally had to pick her up and put her back in her seat.

As she sat and tried to compose herself, she suddenly remembered something. "Sire, this means I can't give you a baby. I need to give you a baby."

"You're a single, noblewoman. You can't become pregnant now."

"Yes I can. I don't care about any of that now. I know you can't breed me, but if you find me a stud bull, I will let him breed me for you."

"We will discuss that. We have another month until the Festival of Life. For now, just go back to work. I will have Thunder send someone with you to get your things from the house."

I felt bad for her. I know she would want nothing more in life than to have me breed her, but it would look bad to the leaders of the kingdom for me to sign a decree of divorce for her and then breed her. That will never do.

Minatorie has done everything she could do to make me happy. She is willing to do anything I wish, including going to another room and leaving me alone. However, I miss Toy, and I have decided to bring her back to my bed. This was the night I am telling Minatorie. I had Toy bring another bodyguard to the door so she could leave it. I didn't tell her why.

When I got to my chambers, I found Minatorie waiting, naked as commanded, for me. She ran to meet me, but I stopped her and asked her to sit down.

"Minatorie, I hope you are not too sad, being locked up here every day."

She shook her head. "No, master. I'm alive and I get to be with you every day."

"I'm going to tell you something that will be hard for you." She sat still, waiting. "I have missed my companion during the time we were planning on coming to the city. I miss her, and I want to be with her, as well as you. I don't want to get rid of you. I just wish to see her again, and I'm not going to do that without discussing it with you first."

I could tell she was crestfallen, but she tried to hide it. "Master, you own me. The only reason I'm still alive is because you hid me here instead of in prison. You are free to do as you wish with me. You could kill me, give me to another bull, whatever you wish. If it makes you happy, I am happy."

I leaned up and kissed her. "If you don't mind, could you sleep in the other room tonight?"

"Yes, master, as you wish." She got up and went to the other room. I felt like shit, but everything she said was true. If I killed her and had her body burned, no one would ever know. She will be with me, I just needed to be with Toy for now.

I called Toy in from the hall and asked her to sit down. "Toy, I have missed you since we arrived at the palace. I need you with me. Please come to my bed tonight?"

"What about Minatorie?"

"She will be in the other room for now." Toy screamed and jumped into my arms.

"Yes, master. I will obey." She ran toward my chamber, removing her clothing as she went. By the time she was there, she was naked. The servants went behind her, picking up her clothes and piling them on a chair.

She stopped and bent over the bed to expose her flank to me. I shook my head and told her to get into bed on her back. She was confused but did as she was told.

I got into bed and pushed her legs apart. "I want to take you from the front so I can see your face as we make love."

"Make love, sire. I don't understand, but I will do as you wish, master."

I rubbed her abdomen, and her tunnel opened wide. I was able to enter her easily while staring into her eyes. She had never experienced mating like this before and was enraptured. When she came, it was wild and explosive. She bucked and growled and held onto me so tightly I almost had to break her hold to breathe.

I lay down on her and enjoyed her heaving breasts under me. This is what I had missed. As we lay there, recovering, I lay on her breast and felt at peace. This was the female I wanted to mate with. When we finally sat up, I looked into her eyes. "Toy, I wish to mate with you."

She started crying. "Yes, master, yes. Please do. I will bear your child. Please breed me, please."

We hugged and fell asleep as we lay.

The next day, I brought Minatorie back into my bed. I told her I wanted to breed her on festival night. She was so happy. "Yes, master, it would be my honor to be bred by you."

It was decided. I would breed both that night. Two children would be a good start. I know I have the four, also. I can breed six females in one night. This bull thing is GREAT. Hung like a bull with the endurance of a bull.

By the time we were a week away from the "Festival of Life", everything looked to be in place. Of course, that means we're not.

The wizard appeared that day. I tried to welcome him, but he waved me off. "Your plan is not enough. We need more males, and we need them now."

"We are doing everything we can. Tell us what else we can do."

He smiled. "You will amend your degree to state that all females shall find a male to mate with on that night. It will not matter who they are with, only that they are bred that night."

"I would ask how, but I don't need to, do I?"

He smiled at first, but his mood turned dark. "I have the judgement from the Tribunal concerning Minatorie."

Bad news, it was written all over his face. "She will not be imprisoned because of her bloodline. However, she murdered her husband and slaughtered thousands of males. The fact she was under the spell of a sorcerous does not absolve her of blame in the eyes of the Tribunal. Here is the judgement

Her name will no longer be Minatorie. It shall be King's Cow until the end of her days. She is forbidden to wear any clothing, except for the collar I have brought to put on her. The collar will ensure she never leaves the palace. It will not allow her to do so. The Tribunal rules a King needs a Queen, and you need your concubines. You are to find a Queen. King's Cow will be your pet and not be in your bed unless you are mating with her. She must give you an heir from the old bloodline. She doesn't have her husband's bloodline, but she is from an old family. Her bloodline will do to continue your reign. How you treat her is up to you. They have degreed that she be branded so everyone could see her punishment."

He stopped the announcement to look me in the eye. "I have convinced the Tribunal we need leeway on the final degree. I will mark her without the branding iron. You are to give me the choice of a brand, and I will put it on her with magic."

I sat down with a sigh. She is deserving of even harsher judgement, and I'm not certain I shouldn't have just killed her in front of the people. That is what they wanted, after all. I will have to protect her for her entire life now. I looked into the wizard's eyes. "It's the bloodline, isn't it?"

He nodded. "They need a stable kingdom here, and the appearance of legitimacy for you is important. Bring her here now."

I told Toy to find Minatorie. She brought her before the wizard. He nodded when he saw she was already naked and made no attempt to hide it. She fell at his feet and laid prostrate before him.

She didn't move or lift her head as he read out the judgement. When he was finished, he told her to stand up. When she did, he waved his hand, and a large collar appeared around her neck. She struggled to maintain her balance, but didn't fall. "Now, King, give me the brand you wish to put on her."

I didn't want a brand anywhere, but I had no choice. As odd as it seems, I had been doodling with some ideas of a crest for my reign. I finally had decided on a large "R". I told him I wanted it on her ass. The wizard waved his hand, and the brand appeared on her left ass cheek. He next waved his hand, and a flat bed appeared in the front area of my chamber. My bed chamber is very large and the bed is near the center of the room. There was plenty of room behind the huge headboard and that is where the wizard put her bed. "Cow, go to your bed." She walked slowly to it and laid down.

"Once the night of breeding is complete, I will return to tell you the next step." He disappeared.

I went over and stood above "Cow". "I'm sorry, Minatorie, sorry, Cow. This is their way of not killing you for all you've done to the kingdom."

She didn't look up as she spoke to me. "Master, if I had been the one making the decision, I would have cut me into pieces in front of the crowd and fed me to the animals. This is just. I will be your pet as long as you allow me to live. You will breed me as you wish, play with me as you wish, ignore me as you wish. I understand you may use my body as you wish, with whomever you wish. There will be only one thing about this punishment. Now that I am your pet, I will not speak again. A pet doesn't speak. She just does what she is told. Thank you, master for allowing me to live, and I will be a faithful pet to you."

My heart sunk as I listened to this females attempt to salvage some sort of dignity in this impossible situation.

I put the new decree out and the whispering and talking among the population exploded. No one would come and speak to me about it, but Thunder heard from Mousius with questions about how.

I had Mousius and Anastasia come to see me. When they arrived, I started into the problem. "How many stud bulls can you round up for the troops? The Wizard insists we need every cow possible impregnated that night. I have no idea how we would fight a battle if the majority of our warriors were pregnant, but he isn't concerned about that. He wants as many pregnant females as possible."

"The only thing we can do is have our entire male battalion made available and have them breed with as many of Anastasia's troops as they can in that one night. We can take some of the civilian bulls and add them to the mix. We may be able to get as many as 2,000. If each one breeds three, that would be 6,000." Mousius shook his head.

Anastasia wasn't so subtle. "That's half of my army out of action. We wouldn't be able to defend this city with only 6,000 troops from even a mid-sized invasion."

"You both are correct. However, I've seen enough of the Wizard to believe he has something up his sleeve. Let's trust him and make the plans."

They saluted and left.

The morning of the festival arrived. A pale of nervousness hung over the city like a building storm. Even the celebrations were muted. Everyone was concerned about that night, and what each individual would do that night.

By early afternoon, the streets were deserted. Everyone seemed to be in place, ready to either fuck or be fucked when the sun went down.

I had allowed Thunder to keep one stud bull in the guard's rooms. The rest had been sent to the military. I told Thunder to lock the doors before dark. Once the time came upon the females, the male was to do his best to breed each of the fourteen females that were with him before dawn.

I had told Astoria to come to be with us, as she couldn't go home, and I didn't want her raped by roving males in the streets. She brought her bodyguard and, as the sun set, Toy locked my chamber doors.

I had the Cow, Toy, Astoria, her bodyguard, and the four with me.

As the sun set, a strange, redish hue fell on the city. When the sun was gone, the eight females locked in with me, began mooing and bellowing at me. They all stripped their clothes off and I could see their tunnels were all open. They were putting their fingers into their own tunnel and massaging themselves.

No time to waste. Cow was still in her bed, so I grabbed her and bent her over a bench by the bed. I pushed into her wet and slippery tunnel. She bellowed when she felt me enter her and stopped moving. It felt so GOOD that I fired into her almost immediately. Once she knew she had been bred, she collapsed on her bed and didn't move again.

I decided to take Toy last. She was attempting to maintain her composure, at least she was trying. The rest were on the floor with their hands in their tunnels.

No time for decorum, I threw Astoria on my bed, and she spread her legs as far as she could. She was muttering, "breed me, master, breed your cow." Her eyes were cloudy. She appeared to be in some sort of a trance. Good old wizard. I fucked her as she lay there. With every thrust, she moved less until she was still as I fired into her.

I didn't have time to see how she was doing. I threw her bodyguard over the bench and repeated the process. By the time I had bred her, she was also still, as if in a trance. I lifted her off my "breeding" bench and pushed her onto the floor. One by one, I bred each of the others until only Toy was left. By then, I could see in her eyes, she was holding on by a thread. I smiled at her, picked her up, and laid her on my bed, face up. She was muttering and begging for me to put her out of her misery. I pushed her legs apart and mounted her from the front. As I bred her, I could see her eyes change from desperation, to bliss, to gone in one minute.

It was quiet in my chambers. I looked around the room. The females were scattered around the room. The only thing they had in common was being asleep with my juices dripping out of their tunnels. As I watched, each tunnel slowly closed, trapping the juices inside them.

I figured they would be out for a while, so I decided to walk the palace and make sure there weren't any problems. All the human servants were gone, hiding in their quarters, and no one seemed around. As I toured the palace, I found a couple of desperate, wailing females that had been unable to find a mate. I bred them and they fell where they were.

By midnight, the red haze was lifting. Everything was quiet. Everywhere I found minotaurs, the females were asleep, and the males were just watching over them.

I went to the guard's quarters and unlocked the door. Inside I found every guard asleep somewhere around the room and the male sitting on a bed. He held up his hands and smiled. I nodded and went back to my chambers.

Everyone was still asleep, so I crawled between Toy and Astoria on my bed and fell asleep.

As dawn broke, a strong wind came from the east and cleared the air. The stale atmosphere was gone, replaced by fresh, springtime breezes. Almost immediately, the females began waking up. Within an hour, they were all up and alert.

Everything was back to normal. My guards returned to their quarters, Toy resumed her position outside my door, and Cow went into the other room she had been using.

That only left Astoria. She couldn't raise her eyes and look at me. I lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Astoria, are you okay?"

"I'm confused. I had a place planned to be bred, but you brought me here. Why? Now you've bred me. That could cause problems for you."

I smiled at her and kissed her. "It is no problem. Cow will give me an heir; Toy will be my bodyguard and concubine. What I need is a Queen. I want you to be that Queen."

She collapsed and I had to catch her. "Easy now, sit here." I put her in a chair and waited for her to recover from that idea.

"You can't be serious. I'm divorced from one of your council members, and the ink isn't even dry yet. People will be angry with you if you put me on the throne this soon."

I knelt in front of her. "Astoria, I'm asking you to be my Queen. Let me work out the details. Do you accept?"

She laughed through her tears. "You know I don't have any choice, but even if I did, I would be honored to marry you."

I decided to relive our night since there was no passion, only a duty. Now, I want to enjoy my new Queen. It appeared she also wanted to celebrate, because her tunnel opened on its own.

I called for Mousius and Anastasia to see how the armies went. They arrived in a very good mood. I could tell Anastasia was satisfied. I was happy. This would make for a smoother command structure.

"Do we have a number yet of who many female warriors were bred last night?"

"We're still counting, but we believe the number will be near 6,000."

"Excellent. I want to thank each of you for your help with this uncomfortable situation."

They left, almost hand in hand, talking together.

I called the records couple and told them to conduct a census to determine how may females had been bred. They agreed and left.

The next couple of days went by quietly, but quickly. Everyone was adjusting to the new reality slowly, but steadily.

The next amazing thing happened at the end of the first week. Babies started being born way too early. The gestation period for a Minotaur's baby was five months, but they were starting to be born after only one week. It must be the work of the wizard.

Ten days after the festival, we had over 7,000 new babies. The other amazing thing that definitely was the work of the wizard, all the 7,000 were males. Not one female was born from the festival night. In one night, we went from 2,000 males to over 9,000 males. We were hoping for one battalion of males, but now, we may have nearly 9,000 male warriors.

Now, I just need to have the wizard tell me who we would be fighting, and when.