Wild Wastes 4 -CH2- (Patreon)

Vince was seated in the room with Ryker.

His instincts weren’t telling him to run or shoot the man, which was a pleasant change. More often than not when he’d been around Runner, Vince had the inclination to shoot him.

“If it makes you feel better, I want to shoot him too,” remarked Ryker with a grin. “Often. He’s… he… my friend is an insufferable ass.”

Blinking at that, Vince tried to shield his mind. To deaden it against the ability of others to read his thoughts.

There were a few that could do it in the world. Vince could somewhat read thoughts if he tried hard enough, but more often than not it was just an empathic exchange.

To feel what they did.

“Won’t work on me, sorry,” apologized Ryker, holding his hands up at his sides where he sat in a chair. “I’m not reading your thoughts either though despite the fact that I can. People just want to shoot Runner. It’s normal.”

There was a soft clatter at the door and several people came in at once.

Elysia, Eva, Thera, Caroline, and Yaris entered.

“Ah the Elves,” Ryker said with admiration. “You are all so beautiful. I envy Vince often.”

Yaris was staring at Ryker now as the other three flanked her.

While Caroline and Yaris had been at odds for a while, that’d ended a short bit ago. Them being pregnant at the same time, seeing the same Dryad midwife for it, and ending up spending some time together, had warmed their relationship.

They were just as friendly to one another as all the other Elves were.

Caroline the snow Elf, Eva the wood-elf, Thera the Dark Elf, and Elysia the Highelf all shared similar attributes. Only the details really differed between them.

Caroline was a white-haired, and black-eyed, sorceress. Her power was marginally better than Yaris, but she had little martial ability. There was no contest between them as combatants.

Eva had the brown-eyes and brown hair that described the vast majority of her people. She’d grown proficient with a sniper-rifle though her duties as of late were as a combat leader despite her short height.

Thera also was a picture of her kind. Black eyes, black hair, and dressed out in what she often wore in her role as a general.

Last and not least was the tall Elysia with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She could keep up with Caroline magically but had also developed a great deal of combat ability.

“You know… if I could package you four as a group, I bet I could get you into a few countries as a band or girl-group,” Ryker mused aloud, tilting his head to one side. Then he waved at the Elves with one hand. “Hello, welcome to you all. Pleasure to see you.

“Is… there any Dryads out there… maybe? Just like… one? A single Dryad looking for love in the wrong person?”

“We… thank the god for his compliments,” Yaris said, the other Elves clearly looking to her for a response. “May we ask your name?”

“Oh, uh, Ryker, sorry,” said the man, getting out of his seat quickly. He pulled at his jacket once then held his hand out to Yaris. “My bad. My wife would kick my ass if she knew I was being rude.”

Yaris smiled at him and shook his hand firmly.

“It’s alright. You’re no worse than that man of mine over there,” said the Queen, gesturing to Vince. After they broke the handshake she and the other Elves went and took their seats. Yaris was directly to Vince’s right.

A second after that Meliae came into the room.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t able to get ahold of Green, Blue, Karya, or Daphne. We’ll have to go with out them,” Meliae said apologetically to Vince with a frown and a wave of her hand. Then she turned to Ryker. “I did however ask for several Dryads who are here to wait before heading to Wooden Heart grove. I told them a god wanted to meet them.”

“You… you are so lovely, Meliae,” Ryker said and held his hand out to her. The beautiful Dryad shook it with a warm smile. “Vince is very lucky to have you. I’m going to make it my life’s goal to find a Dryad just like you, though I think I’ll fail. You seem quite unique.”

“Oh stop,” Meliae said with a laugh and made a dismissive hand motion at him. “Besides, if you’re that interested, just go see my mom. She hasn’t had a man in her life for a very long time. I was one of the last she had stored away. It’s not like she looks any older than I do, either.”

“Your mother is… free?” Ryker asked, extremely interested now. You could feel his attention being dialed in to the conversation at hand.

“She looks a lot like Meliae. It’s rather remarkable,” Vince offered helpfully.

“Yes, she’s free. Hasn’t had a man in her life for a very long time. She hasn’t found ‘anyone interesting’ as she put it since my father. Her first and only husband,” confirmed Meliae.

The idea of his mother-in-law taking a god to task was appealing to Vince.

Very appealing.

“Just like Meliae you say. No one interesting to her, hm?” mused Ryker, looking extremely interested. “I can be pretty damn interesting. Very interesting.

“I’ll have to go visit her. Her names Mila, right? Yeah, it is. Named your daughter after her. Lovely name. Oh, she’s an, apple-tree. Delightful.”

Wandering back to his chair, Ryker sat down, clearly lost in thought.

Vince had no idea how the man was randomly finding out this information since it really didn’t seem like he was reading anyones mind. It meant he could access information from elsewhere.

Meliae looked to Vince with a nervous expression, then stuck her tongue out and bit it. Walking over to him quickly she sat down in the spot two seats to his left.

Vince didn’t know what to say to the situation other than to sit there. Waiting.

Petra and Fes came in next. They looked somewhat out of breath but not unprepared.

“Couldn’t find Red, Leila, or Sam,” grumbled Fes, coming over to sit down next to Vince. “I left orders for them to come when they can.

Petra didn’t like these situations and tended to become more akin to a guard.

Which made it very unsurprising when she came around to stand behind him. Staring at Ryker.

“Yes, hello Petra,” Ryker said with a nod of his head. “I’m glad you dodged all my people accordingly. You made a number of them fear for their after-live’s you know. You and Miu would be great pals.

“Buddies, even. Make a buddy cop movie about you two.”

“This one knows Miu very well and would inform you she is already friends with her,” Petra said, looming over Vince. “Your people tried to take her away as well. They failed then, too.”

“And failed miserably. Yes, I should have guessed you two were friends. This is what I get for not reading all your minds,” complained Ryker, turning to face them. “Sam, Leila, Red, Taylor, and Ramona may or may not show up. It depends. They’re going about other things.

“A couple will show up in the middle. Let’s get this going. I hate meetings.”

“Please, I despise them,” Vince agreed, leaning forward. Felix had dragged him into more than a few when they were working through documentation.

“Exactly. Runner and Felix… they like to talk. Schmooze. Work things around. I’ll pass on that,” offered Ryker. “I need you to go to another continent. I don’t care what you do there, but you can’t come back here for three years.

“You can’t go to the Tri-lliance territory given your treaties, so that rules out the south. The south all the way down.

“That leaves you with Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, really. Those are the places you could go to to make this work.

“Of those, I’d suggest Europe or Australia. The other locations… aren’t… they’re still on fire, you could say. Problems a plenty. Going to Europe or Australia would pretty much open the door on any activity you wanted to do.”

“Alright,” Vince murmured and then looked to the door. He really didn’t want to get this going or agree to anything until Felix made it here. He’d sent the code word designating a god appearance to him via the Legion network.

With any luck he’d be appearing sooner rather than later. Though it was entirely likely that he’d have to move forward without him.

In fact, I bet Ryker planned it that way.

“Well, first I want more information. I’ll be honest here, Felix prepared me for this,” confessed Vince, looking to Ryker directly. He couldn’t really stall anyways. “He told me that at some point someone would come to me with a deal. They’d want something far more than what I’d want.”

Ryker let out a long slow breath and nodded his head. Then he looked to the ceiling, nodded his head again, then to Ryker.

“Yeah, that’s about right. Then I’ll lay my cards out on the table, we’ll be beyond direct and move to brutally rude, and not pull punches,” murmured Ryker and then leaned forward. “I need you out of North America for three years.

“I’m… willing to do a lot to get that. If you want to talk about your price first, that’s fine. I don’t mind at all. I can’t guarantee I’ll accept but we can of course dicker.

“I’ll lay out my requirements now though and what I’m already offering. That fair?”

“Please, that’d be great,” Vince agreed with a grin. He actually liked dealing with Ryker far more than Felix or Runner already. He was rather simple to understand.

“Perfect. I need you to leave. Three years away. You’d leave next week by boat. You’re welcome to take as many people with you as want to make the crossing. I can guarantee your safety on two boat rides. One there, one back.

“I can also guarantee your landing and forty-eight hours of safety from that moment. After that, it’s whatever the world throws at you depending on where you land,” Ryker laid out. It was indeed very simple. “Now, for the price I’m willing to pay. I’ll make that pretty Orc there immortal, restore her youth and strength, and fix that ugly mess of a thing she calls a reproductive system. It’s a miracle she had a kid at all once. Can’t do anything about the arm and leg though. That’s a… those… they’re more part of her than her old limbs ever were. I’ll just give them a nudge to make them more lifelike.

“Next, I’ll guarantee that any Dryad in your grove will be able to move freely. Anywhere, at anytime. So even if you go all the way to Europe, your Dryads will never suffer for it. It’ll be as if you were standing atop them, at all times.

“This would apply for your Dragons as well since I know they have an unspoken need to be near you. That includes the pretty Dragonnewt that’s going to burst through that door right now.”

Vince turned his head to follow where Ryker was pointing.

A moment later and Ramona opened the door and stepped inside.

Her incredibly bright blue reptilian eyes latched to him. Her short silver hair framed her face and gave her a very unique look. Tiny blue scales lined her cheekbones, and brows faded up towards her horns and elongated ears.

She had many traits she shared with Dragons in their human form, despite not being able to turn into a dragon. Including the strength and speed of one.

Surprisingly she could almost compare to Taylor who was significantly older than her.

“Are they in there?” asked Taylor from behind Ramona.

“Err, sorry,” Ramona said and stepped to the side, she looked very confused.

Reaching back Ramona slipped an arm through Taylor’s arm and pulled her into the room.

The Dragonnewt and Dragon had formed a very close bond that was more akin to sisters at this point. Taylor would often go down to where the Dryad’s were watching over Ramona’s eggs and warm them.

Literally becoming a broody hen and just laying with them for hours at a time.

Vince suspected it was her wanting to nest as her vault was being finished.

“Oh, they are,” Taylor said as she came into the room fully.

Her black hair was worn in small braids that framed her horns and face well. Her black eyes weren’t as merciless as they’d once been. The Dryad children had worn that out of her very quickly and now “auntie Tay” was a favored aunt. Two black horns that came out from her hairline and swept backward were etched and glittered with inset gems and small gold chains.

She had scales all over her body in the same places Ramona did, though they were all black.

Not all of it was visible due to the fact that she was wearing her very breezey and nearly see through veils connected with gold chains.

Wincing, Taylor and Ramona both looked frustrated.

“We’re so sorry nest-mate,” Taylor murmured to Vince as Ramona nodded her head. The two went and took their seats quietly.

“You two… my… your scales glow,” offered Ryker, looking at the two Draconic women. “You have a glow about you. Did you recently lay some eggs?

“And you, dear maiden, goodness. You truly need a nest and soon. You poor thing. May I offer some gold coins as a token to add when it’s complete?

“And by the way, both of your horns are so lovely. Did you just polish them or are they always so lustrous?”

Holy fuck he’s a bit smoother than I thought.

“I… why thank you. Yes, I had two,” Ramona said with a bright smile, looking quite pleased with the compliments.

“You-I, of course and thank you for the donation. And no, we didn’t polish them. We’re just… we’re very well cared for,” Taylor said at the same time. Grinning at him as well.

“As you should be! Look at you two. You must have an entire wing of pretty maidens beneath you both,” Ryker said with a shake of his head, smiling at them.

Ramona and Taylor actually broke eye contact at this point, both all smiles and unsure how to proceed. That was the point Ryker shifted the conversation back.

“Well, that’s what I want. Travel abroad, come back in three years, that’s what I’ll pay so far,” summarized Ryker.

Next to him, Vince had noticed a while back that Fes was holding her breath. That the moment the price had been stated she’d practically gone rigid.

That and her hand was quite literally trying to crush his beneath the table. He’d had the bright idea to hold onto it as Ryker spoke.

“And you really don’t care what we do when we get there?” questioned Vince. He had half a mind to try and take-over where-ever they went. To add it to the Yosemite collective.

To smash it down into something manageable, then hand it off to his brother to deal with. While he got to run home and not worry about it.

They very idea of it sounded fantastic to him.

“Yes, I don’t care what you do there,” confirmed Ryker with a nod of his head. “Not at all.”

“Obviously we’ll agree to this,” Yaris said and turned to face Vince almost completely. There was a look of no-nonsense on her face. “Vince, husband, my love, I want my Fes to be with us forever.

“I admit I planned on being Fes after she left this world but… now… I would rather her as my Fes forever. I’ll be her Queen, she’ll be my Fes, we’ll be with Vince till the end. Together. Right, Fes?”

The entire response from Yaris looked like it’d surprised Berenga as badly as the original price.

“I… Yarie I really… but— ”

“Fes, be my Fes? I’ll be your Queen?” prompted Yaris as Fes’ voice trailed off.

“Yes, I will. Fes to your Queen. Queen to my Fes,” she said as her voice firmed up. There was something else in her face now.

To Vince, it looked like whatever reservation she’d had about Yaris trying to coax her into bed vanished in that moment.

If he was being honest, he was happy about that. Elysia and Mouth were a lot of fun in three-ways, so he imagined Yaris and Berenga could be the same. Especially with him being gone for three years.

“We want more though,” demanded Fes, turning to look at Ryker. “We’re not sure what else we want though. What can you actually offer?”

“Anything,” Ryker said with a shrug of his shoulders. “You name it, I can do it. Probably more efficiently than Runner, too.

“Who do you think set up the pretty soldier-ant in that human body then swapped it back after you cried at Runner about it?”

I… see. Okay. In other words, this is the brain, Runner is the one who does and moves things.

Similar to Felix and myself.

Probably why he’s here as well.

Does that mean… Felix is getting a similar offer at the moment?

“I take it Felix is going elsewhere, too?” Vince asked after intuiting what he believed would come next.

“Yeah. He won’t be around either. Different reason,” admitted Ryker. “I’m sure your brother has all sorts of plans stashed away in case something like this happened though.”

Vince turned to look at Elysia.

“I… he does. Everything reverts to Felicity as an Empress and CEO for a time,” agreed the Elf. “We worked it out that way in case something happened to him. There’s a clause that’d allow you to step into the gap if you wanted but… we only put it in there just in case.

“No one thought you’d actually want to do it either. Felix insisted though.”

Vince smirked at that. He could easily see the man forcing that in.

As a “just in case” type of thing.

“Nope, don’t want it. Okay. I want to know who you think I should take with me and who I should leave,” Vince demanded, pointing at Ryker. “Because I bet… I bet you have an idea of what might happened here. I bet you actually know, in fact.

“So I want to know what you do, at least in regards to Yosemite. For the best outcome here at home, who do I leave behind?”

Ryker’s brows came together as he peered at Vince.

“Huh… I mean… yeah. We can add that in,” agreed Ryker.

“You said any boat I wanted to travel in, you’ll provide the boat. I want it to hold at least two-hundred people and make the crossing at a reasonable speed. You can dictate it otherwise,” continued Vince.

“You’ll handle the transportation,” agreed Yaris.

“Err… okay, yeah, that’s fine, too,” Ryker agreed once again. “But I think that’s about it. I’m tapped out up to that point just for you to leave for three years.”

“One more thing. I want Fes pregnant,” demanded Yaris. “Pregnant with a son from Vince before he leaves. Deny that at your own peril.”

Ryker looked at Yaris for several seconds before he started laughing.

“You’d like my wife Shirley,” he murmured. “Okay. Pregnancy for the Fes if she wishes it before Vince leaves. Though… doesn’t that mean she’s not leaving?”

“She’s not,” Yaris agreed with a nod of her head. “Nor am I, I imagine, despite the fact that I wish to. You’re going to tell us that Berenga, Meliae, myself, most of the Elves if not all, most of the dragons, and probably every single Dryad, can’t go. Aren’t you?”

Opening his mouth, Ryker kept staring at the Queen. Then he closed his mouth and nodded his head for a few seconds.

“I can’t tell you who to take,” he said instead. “But I can tell you who not to take.

“That list includes: Berenga, Yaris, Thera, Eva, Elysia, though any Dryad may go except Meliae and Mouth, though I caution you to only bring one Dryad. Though, your Draconic ladies can’t join you. The exceptions to that are Taylor, Elizabeth, and Ramona. Additionally, every single mage or sorcerer you have, minus Caroline shouldn’t go.

“I cannot say why, but in accordance with the previous demand in the bargain, that is the list I can provide. In your own words, beautiful queen of Yosemite, deny that at your own peril.”

“We accept the terms. Please put my Fes to rights,” Yaris said with absolute conviction in her voice. “We’ll provide you with a list of people you can transport to the disembarkation point to your boat. You did say you’d handle transportation.”

Looking stunned, Ryker just once again stared at the queen.

Then he started laughing and pointed a finger at her.

“Mm, you… you… got any sisters? Cousins?” he asked instead, grinning at her.

“I do, but I can’t introduce you to them. Because you’re going to go fall in love with a apple-tree Dryad. My mother-in-law.

“You wouldn’t be able to handle both her, and a relative of mine,” Yaris said with a polite smile. “Besides, it sounds like you’re already married.”

“Mm! Yes, yes. You’re quite right. Shirley wouldn’t mind the Dryad probably but beyond that… unlikely.

“I forgot, thank you for the reminder pretty Queen. I’ll make sure to give your current pregnancy a look over and make it a pleasant one. For now… the extra super milfy Dryad!” Ryker enthused with a snap of his fingers and vanished.

“I… need to go warn mother,” Meliae got out and moved out of the room as quickly as a woman pregnant with triplets could go. She sounded excited and panicked. “I gotta find Sam.”