Divide & Conquer 2 (Patreon)

Winter is Coming: Draugur 1

In the end, the main reason I won the spar between Talia and I was the fact that thanks to Body and Everlasting Talents I don’t get tired, and her pride wouldn’t let her ask for a break when her student could keep going. That and the fact that since I didn’t want to kill her I was holding back my strength. By a lot. Don’t get me wrong, Talia’s a very skilled martial artist but she isn’t skilled enough to compete with the sheer speed, strength, and durability that my new Company-granted physique gave me.

Well, not anymore. See, the thing about Martial Talent? It kicks in even if I’m just watching someone more skilled fight, but if I’m actually fighting them? Forget a regular saiyan warrior, I’m as gifted in adapting to new opponents like a certain green-haired Super Saiyan. That meant that by the time Talia was too exhausted to stand, I was almost completely her equal in skill in straight up combat. Her skills in seduction, sabotage, and espionage were completely beyond me at the moment.

“You are… a far better learner than I anticipated, Master,” Talia said as she got her breath under control.

“It helps that I have a good teacher,” I tell her with a smirk as I hold out a hand for her to take. Pulling Talia to her feet, I wrapped that same arm around her waist as Revy stomped back into the clearing that Talia and I had been sparring in, her return prompting my next question. “Have fun scouting?”

“Shut up monkey-brain. I’ve figured out when we are and if we’re in the book or HBO version: we’re right at the very beginning of season one because I just saw Sean Bean ride by on a horse with his brats, including a kid that couldn’t be older than ten,” Revy snapped.

“Any dire wolf pups?”

“No, just people and horses. You got all your bands? Because we aren't going to have a better chance at getting an in with the Warden of the North. And more importantly his wife and daughters.”

“All five of them, and agreed. How do you want to do this?”

“I have Communication Talent, so let me do the talking. Much as I hate it, you're going to have to rough me up a bit.”

“Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to enjoy what you're about to say?”

“Because it involves you getting to fight, and you're a fight-happy gibbon now. Just try not to kill all of them. Now hurry up and make it look like I just managed to escape from some bandits. And…” Revy took a deep breath to brace herself for what she was about to say. “To make it look good, you're going to have to…”

“Revy,” I interrupted her. “I know what you're about to suggest, and I won't do it. You're my best friend, and no matter how much I change, I will never do anything to you that you're uncomfortable with. So, with molestation off the table, got any backup ideas?”

Revy stared at me, eyes wide with surprise, before she chuckled, “Right, sorry for that. Well then, the two of you will have to smack me around a little bit, I'll pretend to be a pretty face, talk them into sending some of their men into the woods off the road, then you come in and hit them from the opposite side. The most important thing for you to do will be to get your hands on the youngest, Bran.”

“I should point out that I'm no more interested in little boys than you are. I'm neither a snake ninja nor Catholic.”

Revy and, to my surprise, Talia snorted in amusement, before Revy continued, “Not what I was thinking. You need to hold him hostage long enough for me to make a circle to bind them as familiars.”

“So out of the entire company I get the soon to be crippled brat?”

“No! You get the soon to be crippled brat and your pick of four outside of Ned Stark and his oldest brat. There's an option in the ritual that will let me accelerate the binding of your collars, but I need the load of points in order to do much with my binding method. Plus with how much fighting you'll be doing you'll have a lot more opportunities to steal powerful waifus.”

I sighed in frustration, “Fine, but once we're in Winterfell we're going to have to sit down and settle how we're going to be approaching this from here on out.”

[Hr][/hr]

Fifteen minutes later, I was listening to Revy talking in a rapid, panicked tone, talking about bandits in the woods. If I hadn't known otherwise, I'd have believed her myself. Soon enough, five of the ten people in the group headed into the woods. That was my cue.

Leaping out from under the bushes, I let out a roar, charging the guard between me and my target. His sword was out, it didn't help him. My fist broke his pitiful steel blade, passing through it and turning it into shattered scrap metal. His hasty block didn't slow me down, and before he could even realize what had happened, my fist was buried in his chest, literally.

Grabbing the bit of ribs and spine I felt to keep him from flying into my real target, I pulled him to the side and reached out with my free hand. Just as Ned Stark had turned to face me, my hand wrapped around the head of his son.

“I wouldn't if I were you,” I warned the rest of the company, including the five that had come racing back upon hearing the sounds of fighting.

“Unhand my son,” Ned Stark, his family sword drawn, ordered as I stepped back from them, Bran's terrified head still held in the palm of my much bigger hand.

“One moment, if you would,” I quipped as I used my foot to push the now dead guard off my hand. In addition to getting a free hand, it served as a practical demonstration of the kind of strength that held his son.

“What do you want?” Ned asked as I used Bran's cloak to wipe the blood off my hand, his voice as cold as his sword’s namesake.

“Two things, at the moment. First, I want Snow, Greyjoy, and two more of your group to put these on,” I said as I tossed four Tempest Bands onto the road between us. “Not you, 'Lord' Stark or your heir. My partner already called dibs.”

The various men in the company looked at each other in confusion, wondering what the purpose of the bracelets I’d tossed out were. Nevertheless, soon enough a young Kit Harrington stepped out and scooped up the Tempest Bands. Clamping one onto his wrist, he held the rest out and one by one they were clamped on. My Company Scouter chirped, and I saw four progress bars appear, labeled Jon Snow, Theon Greyjoy, Artor Karstark, and Jackar Hill.

“Perfect. Now the second thing I want is for all of you to stand perfectly still as… on second thought, everyone off the horses,” I said as I saw Revy back away from the group. When no one immediately moved to dismount that hadn’t already, I applied a little bit of pressure to Bran’s head. Not enough to cause any damage, but enough for him to feel lit and cry out in fearful pain. That got them moving. I watched with a self assured smirk as the four men got off their horses.

“Talia,” I called out, making my teacher and waifu come out of the treeline. “Be a dear and take the horses a ways away, will you? As for the rest of you gentlemen, I want you to huddle together. Get in close, that’s it. Now, the actual second thing I want is for you fellows to stand perfectly still. No stepping outside the circle my partner’s going to make, no sudden movements, no reaching for weapons, none of that. If you gentlemen can handle that for… how long Revy?”

“For fuck’s sake you oversized monkey!” Revy snapped, drawing the attention of the men we were about to turn into familiars. “You couldn’t have waited another minute or two?”

“Well I kinda need to know how long I’ll be holding the sprog in order to finish my villainous monologue. I can’t do that until you get around to telling me how long that circle of yours will take.”

Revy let out a growl of frustration before swiping at her Company Smartphone, a moment later, my scouter received a message from her. Swapping the hand that held our hostage, I pulled up the message, only to get a bunch of gibberish that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

“Is this your way of calling me stupid you fucking dyke?” I asked with a growl, sounding less like anything human and far more draconian.

“Well if that’s too complicated for you then I guess I’ll dumb it down for you and send you a countdown once I’ve gotten started,” Revy drawled as she reached the halfway point, using a stick to carve the eldritch sigils into the dirt road.

“It’s like watching Doran and Tacy in Wintertown,” I heard one of the guards mutter.

“Shut up!” both Revy and I shouted in unison, making the guard and Theon snort in amusement.

Soon enough, Revy finished etching her circle and with a careful eye on her smartphone, began to chant. The circle with its sigils leading away from it began to glow a pale blue light, making the men within shout out in surprise and fear.

“Stay put!” I shouted, drawing their attention to me as I held up our hostage, making the brat whimper in fear as his feet dangled more than a foot off the ground.

Being reminded of his son’s current position, Ned Stark did his best to calm and steady his men. Satisfied, I took a glance at the read out on my scouter. An hour, better than I feared but worse than I hoped. Looking back at the group, I blinked in confusion before doing a quick headcount. I almost laughed at the irony as I clamped my last band around Bran’s arm. There had been a total of ten people in the group, and since Revy had all but ordered me to use all my bands, I was now getting one more familiar out of this than she was.

“Why are you doing this? What do you hope to accomplish?” Jon Snow called out.

“It’s a long story, suffice to say that Westeros will soon become an all out battleground the likes of which your world has never seen. Strangers from lands beyond your imagination, with powers and abilities you would ascribe only to gods, will soon arrive and by the time it’s over, only two will remain standing. We fully intend to be those two.”

“Great, we’re being held hostage by a madman and his whore,” Theon snarked.

Bran cried out as my grip tightened from my anger as I snarled, “Watch your tongue you puffed up minnow.”

“‘Minnow’?!”

“Insult my best friend like that again, and I’ll start sending digits your way. I’m more than strong enough to pull fingers from hands, especially when those hands haven’t gone through puberty yet,” I warned, making the other men hold back Theon as Revy continued her incantation, but not without sending me a grateful look.

A glance at the scouter showed that barely ten minutes had passed, and I was eagerly awaiting when the progress meters on my four were finished. I had ideas regarding Jon Snow, though that’d have to wait until we had gotten more people into our retinue. Mostly I was still pissed at Theon calling Revy a whore. He was going to get a swift kick in the dick for that.

“So… how about this weather?” I asked, trying to fill the silence, getting ten incredulous looks even as one of them kept chanting.

“You’re holding my little brother hostage while your… compatriot is doing some form of sorcery on us, and you ask about the weather?” Robb Stark asked in disbelief.

“Small talk isn’t my thing, I didn’t buy the right perk,” I defended with a shrug, even as I heard Revy’s palm hit her forehead.

“Perhaps you should stop talking, Master,” Talia said as she walked up to me, having tied off the horses and returned.

“Fine,” I said with a grumble and very much not a whine.

Pushing the buttons on the side of my scouter a few times, I couldn’t help but perk up as I found the music section. Let’s see… jazz, no. Classical, no. Pop, hell no. Metal, now we’re getting some place. Death metal, fuck that. Power metal, keep going… there we are!

Thus, as the dulcet tones of Joakim from Sabaton blasted into my ear, I kept my grip on Bran to make sure no one got any funny ideas. I briefly considered having Talia go down on me, before almost immediately discarding it. Now was hardly the time or place. Besides, Revy was here, and I didn’t want to torment her with the fact that I got a hot killer babe already willing to worship the ground I walk on and she doesn’t. Well, I don’t want to torment her too much.

I was just getting to the best part of Resist and Bite when the circle flashed, and half the men inside went completely still. Those with my bands on them looked around nervously, even as my scouter pinged with four successful captures. Turning off the music, I handed Bran over to Talia for her to hold as I approached Revy who was rubbing at her throat.

“So, ready to start giving orders to the temporary vegetables?” I teased with a cocksure grin. My answer was a punch to my abs, which I barely felt.

“Shut up and deal with your batch. I need to figure out the orders and command codes,” Revy grumbled.

“Sure thing,” I teased before turning to the bundle of eight. “Alright fellas, any of you still awake and aware can step out now. Oh, and Talia, be sure to properly elucidate to the boy about why it’s in his best interest to keep his trap shut about what just happened here.”

“Of course, Master,” Talia purred as she dragged Bran off into the woods out of sight.

“What… what happened?” one of the guards, I didn’t care to remember his name, asked in confusion.

“You gentlemen are now part of my retinue. Those bands I had you put on your arms have rewritten your minds and given me vectors to make additional changes further down the line after I do the same to either a large enough number of basic scrubs like yourselves or a few extremely powerful individuals, none of which are really native to your world,” I explained as Revy started to lay down some hypnotic orders and code words.

“Why us?” Jon Snow asked.

“A few reasons, the biggest one being that we need legitimacy if we’re going to be achieving our overarching goals here, and the Warden of the North would do quite nicely. The other main reason: you’re quite literally the first group we stumbled across.”

Anything further I was going to say was interrupted by my scouter pinging again. A look showed that Bran Stark was listed as captured, but the only way it’d have happened this fast would be if… on second thought, I don’t want to know.

So, shoving that uncomfortable thought into a box never to be looked at again, I pulled open the catalog and started perusing down to the Binding section. If we were going to be getting ourselves in a stable position before our adversaries showed up, we needed more people bound. For that, I needed more than one Tempest Jewelry a day. I now had fifteen Company Credits to use, and I dumped them all into getting more bands. Five, ten, fifteen, and all gone.