Wild Wastes 4 -Ch9- (Patreon)

Looking to the corpses in the canyon, Vince turned and looked to Zathira.

“Well, there they are. Can you do anything with them?” Vince asked.

“Most certainly,” replied the Lamia. She was already bent over the officer Vince had interrogated. The fingers of her left hand were pressed to the dead man’s temple. “They’re quite fresh and will be easy to use.

“No reason to strip them of flesh. That’d just make them weaker. The flesh and muscle is like armor at this point,” she continued and tilted her head to one side. Her eyes began to darken until they became completely black and bottomless. “We can even use them for the city-lord. We found them on the way in.

“Stripped, naked, and left for the crows. They will be less likely to suspect us after the initial investigation into it. Since you were unseen, it’s even better. The Dryad will need to remain unseen.”

“Blue will be fine,” remarked Sam. She was perched on Zathira’s snake-like body. She didn’t fit the same way on Vince like she used to and was keeping her distance from him.

He got the impression she didn’t want him to dump the power of his grove into her at the moment.

He hadn’t planned on it anyways, he was reserving that for Flora. She’d need it so that they could begin getting seeds together. They’d have to escape and plant very quickly if they wanted to save their unplanted daughters and sisters.

A low whispering and guttural chant was audible just at the edge of Vince’s hearing. A call to the body rather than a demand. That Zathira was asking for permission to use the corpses rather than simply taking them for herself.

It made his spine stiffen and his instincts started to rear their head. Like a dog might start looking around after hearing a strange sound or smell.

I’ll have to ask her later about it.

It always felt like Duke Gerard did it instantly.

That’s very curious. I wonder if it’s a difference in style?

Approach?

Is it akin to using a different type of sword, despite it being very similar?

The bodies began to twitch, shudder, and then rise from the ground. They were without souls, though they were acting the part of humans.

Breathing, shifting in place, and acting as they would in life. As if they weren’t killed the previous evening.

Zathira watched the bodies for several seconds. Then she lifted her left hand and made a twisting motion with her wrist.

Vince briefly heard screams from what felt like beyond his hearing. As if it were a sound coming to him over a great distance or in another room.

Now his instincts were at full alert. Vince desperately wanted to draw a weapon and prepare. To be ready for battle.

All despite knowing that this was literally just Zathira working for him.

“I bind you for the span of a day. Till the sun rises again,” hissed the Necromancer. Her fathomless eyes “You will answer my questions as needed. Then I shall send you to your rest. Beyond the veil and the call of others.

“Accept my request and need with grace, and I shall make sure that your crossing to the other side will be swift and merciful. Fight me… and you’ll find out just how terrifying a Necromancer is.”

There was a strange force that felt as if it were building. An angry lament almost at the world itself. A cold and dark hand stretched above to block out the sunlight.

“Poor choice,” whispered Zathira and then closed her hand and let it fall to her side.

One of the corpses corkscrewed into itself and the body was turned into paste. Even as the eyes that were dull and lifeless suddenly were given intelligence.

The body kept winding into itself till it became little more than shredded meat. A pile of it that was revolving into a mound upon the ground.

Zathira made a flick with her hand and it stopped.

“Enjoy your resting place for the time,” the Lamia murmued then looked to Vince. Her eyes were still the black pits they’d become. “The rest have agreed. He did not. He’ll remain in his… meat… pile… for a time before he crosses over.”

There was a moment where Zathira watched him curiously, likely wondering what he thought of all this. It reminded him of when Petra had stared at him with her mandibles extended.

“If you can do the eye thing on command, I can think of some fun things to try out later,” offered Vince and then made a hand gesture back toward the city. “We ready to go? Suns already at the midpoint.”

Blinking several times and actually straightening upward, Zathira looked mortified and shocked. That hadn’t been an answer she’d considered.

“Really, Vince?” asked Sam, fluttering up from the Lamia and moving over toward him.

“I mean, it’d be interesting to try it once with her looking up at me with the eyes from beyond the grave thing,” he said defensively and then turned around. Grabbing hold of the ledge he pulled himself up and out of the canyon.

He’d taken care to not dirty his military uniform.

While Legion had hit a severe snag with their technology in having to start over again, they were quickly gaining steam again.

One of the first thing’s they’d set about doing was getting together a fabric mill. Apparently it was the basis to a great deal of things including ballistic armor.

Sam plopped down on his shoulders and put her hands to the top of his head. He immediately put his hands to her thighs and held onto her.

His first instinct was to start packing her with grove energy, but he didn’t. Instead he started to release a slow trickle into her.

Exactly at the same speed the grove was regenerating.

“You’ve barely known her for a day at most,” countered Sam.

“Pretty sure I don’t have to know her to have sexual thoughts about her,” Vince argued back. “I mean, I’m not saying I love her or anything, just that she’s pretty and it’d be fun. It’s not like she said no and told me to stop either. If she had, I would.”

“I… well… hmm… I guess-ergh. I don’t like it,” hissed Sam, her fingers tightening in his hair.

“That’s because you’re falling in love with me my dear Samantha,” Vince said and gave her thighs a squeeze. “Don’t worry, you can look up at me too. Your eyes are quite pretty as well, you know.”

“Ugh. You’re so stupid,” growled the Fae who thumped the side of his skull with a small fist. The force she put behind it was minuscule. It didn’t do much more than express her frustration at him, rather than actual intent to harm him. “I’ll bite you. Bite it off.”

Sam seemed like she was beyond feeling like she was allowed to touch him. That she could physically be playful and it was okay.

It was fun to him.

He liked the spunky nature she had.

Grinning, he kept walking toward the city.

Behind him he heard Zathira join him along with her freshly made servants.

***

Sam had left his shoulders as they made it to the gate.

Someone had apparently seen their approach and called for people to be on hand. They were greeted by what looked like two patrols of soldiers or guards.

Vince couldn’t tell which.

“Stop! Stay there!” called one of the guards in their own native tongue. Thankfully Sam and he had both used a skill-book and could understand the man.

Unfortunately, Vince saw that more than half actually had rifles. They were quite able to give Vince a bad day if this went wrong.

Coming to a stop, Vince waited.

The soldiers waited.

Nothing happened.

“Uh, can I talk to the city-lord? Or be taken to him?” Vince inquired, realizing that these people had no idea what to do next. “I’m an emissary from a foreign nation. I’d very much like to discuss my situation with him and what we could do for one another.

“As well as the fact that I found these corpses. They were on the side of the road in the bushes on the way up. My Necromancer here sensed them and so I asked her to raise them. Our assumption is they’re probably from around here.”

The soldiers were now actually looking at him with more than just suspicion. Their eyes were moving to the zombies, Zathira, Sam above them, then back to Vince.

“Yes? Hello? Do you speak my language?” he tried, as if only now realizing they might speak something else. “Is there anyone I could possibly speak with to translate?”

Heads were looking this way and that amongst the soldiers. Looking for someone it seemed that they were expecting to be there.

In other words, there’s an officer or someone else they’re expecting, or asked for. Alright. I guess I just wait a bit longer.

Turning his head, he looked to Zathira.

“So, how much venom did you put in me? That itching was pretty crazy,” he asked in a soft voice. “I’m starting to wonder if when I… uh… filter that out later if it’s going to burn.”

Zathira looked to him and met his eyes. They’d reverted back to their original color and she appeared normal again.

“Enough to kill a Dragon. Several of them,” she answered after a pause. She looked like she was still processing the fact that he wasn’t dead. “You aren’t… normal… at all. At any level.”

“If it makes you feel better, Petra’s venom just gave me a rash,” offered Vince with a shrug. “Yours actually made me itchy to the point that it was annoying. A truly unique experience.”

“Only a rash?” inquired the Lamia, her head slowly turning to one side. Her body shifted around, slowly floating closer to him. “A soldier-ant’s venom was only a rash?”

“Oh yeah. And she did it while we were fighting. So it wasn’t just for funsies. She was amped out and wanting to kill and eat me I bet,” Vince admitted with a chuckle. “So yours was worse than hers. Was mildly impressive. I did like the fang look and—wait… can you do the sexy black eyed thing and actually pull the fangs out?”

Zathira slowly began to turn a dark red, her mouth screwing up into a scowl. There was no mistaking the fact that she’d combined his question just now with his earlier comment about what he wanted her to do.

“And if I could?” she asked in a tight pinched tone.

“I’d say I have a new sexual fantasy I have to explore with Blue later while pretending its you,” Vince confessed with a grin.

“You! You… you’re… you’re incorrigible and… and… jus—” Zathira looked like she was rapidly getting angrier by the second and lost her ability to speak.

“If it bothers you, I can knock it off,” offered Vince. He’d be the first one to back down if he found his advances made a woman uncomfortable. It’s all fun and games until someone tells you it isn’t.

“Yes! You-you-you will not-not proposition me again!” declared the Lamia.

“Alright, I won’t,” agreed Vince and looked forward again.

That’d be the end of that.

Standing there, there wasn’t much more to say.

“Ahem,” Sam said, coming down to wrap an arm around Vince’s neck. Her other arm draped across his shoulder. “You can flirt with me, you know.”

“Oh, I could, but then I’d try to dump it all into you as fast as I could,” Vince complained while nodding his head.

“Not big enough for you to dump it in me, nor are you allowed to do it quickly. Both are out. But… we could fool around in other ways, you know. You’ll just have to wait for the main event till you marry me and I’m big enough,” offered the Fae, the hand that was behind his head tickling his neck now. “No reason to not flirt with me. I flirt back. I’m way more fun than anyone else. Even Blue, I bet.”

All of the soldiers turned and looked backward. There was something happening back there.

A taller man that was comparable to Vince in height was moving through the guards. He had several behind him as well that looked like they were forcing him forward.

He had an average looking stature with scraggly sandy-blond hair. It partially obscured his face and he looked like he didn’t want to be anywhere near here.

“Talk to them!” shouted a guard, pushing the man up to the front of the formation.

“Hello,” Vince said with a smile. “We’re an emissary group from a foreign nation come to talk to the city-lord. We’d like to discuss providing tribute to him as well as taxes.

“We also found these corpses on the road to the city. We’re under the impression they came from here and weren’t sure what to do with them.”

The man looked up at Vince now and then brushed his hair back. His eyes were a hazel color and he had a scar across the left eye. It gave it a somewhat lazy-eye like effect.

“What nation?” asked the man in a voice that clearly spoke english. Just not the english Vince was familiar with.

“One very far away. Can you translate all that for us? We’d appreciate it,” Vince asked again.

“You don’t want to. He… won’t be kind to you. At all. Foreigners… foreigners like me and you, we’re just tools,” grumbled the man. His hands flexed at his sides and Vince had the feeling that he’d once been in a military for some reason.

“Please translate. We’d like to speak to the city lord,” Vince tried for a third time.

The man shook his head and then looked to the guards.

“Foreign nation. Asking to entreat with the city-lord. They want to discuss tribute and taxes to him, with him,” paraphrased the man. “I’d say take them to the city-lord before he finds out and you lose your heads.”

As if a lightning bolt had struck them, the soldiers lifted their weapons up and shouldered them. They suddenly looked quite panicked, quite a few of them rushing around in every direction.

More than a handful began shouting orders, asking for guides to take the dignitaries to the city-lord, while others demanded a messenger be sent to the city-lord to warn him right away.

“That works,” Sam said from where she was hanging off Vince’s back. “Now… wanna chat with a single Fae looking for company?”

Vince grinned, rolled his eyes and then reached up to lay his hand to Sam’s forearm. He began to once again trickle energy into her.

“I sure do. What kind of company were you looking for?” asked Vince. “Because I bet I could… really… get to know you. In fact, I wonder what you taste like?”

“You tell me. With how long I rode on your neck you probably got a solid whiff or two,” Sam mused. “I did make sure to bathe this morning in case I got a chance to… ride you.”

Snorting, Vince glanced over his shoulder.

“That was terrible,” he said.

“Eh, you’re not giving me a lot to work with here. I can get down and dirty and tell you to lick me from crotch to brow to find out what my bathwater tasted like but where’s the fun in that. There’s no style in that.

“Eyes forward. They’re going to ask us in shortly I bet,” Sam said and pushed on his face with one hand.

As if they’d been waiting for him to look their way, a group of soldiers came up to him. They were waving him onward and wearing smiles.

They weren’t even trying to coax him in their own language.

Vince nodded his head, then started forward.

The soldiers escorted them into the city. Taking them quickly down the street toward the back, the same area where the Dryads were held in fact.

As he passed, Vince noticed that the gate that led to the Dryad’s enclosure was shut. Shut, barred, and barricaded with actual guards.

Something changed.

Damn.

Now I’m going to have to run them down and find them. There’s no way I’m leaving without making sure to top Flora off.

Though I wonder if that happened because of Blue and Red. They should be around here somewhere looking at how to get the Dryads out easily.

Maybe they were noticed?

Many more soldiers and servants were running back and forth ahead of them. They looked like they were panicking in every possible way and managing to only end up making more work for someone else.

Watching it, he really didn’t know what to make of it. If he had Elysia here, Yaris, or Caroline, they’d probably be able to tell him what he was looking at. Unfortunately the weren’t, so all he could really do was watch it happen.

Scratching at his cheek with a gloved hand, he merely kept moving.

“They run about. As if they weren’t sure what to do,” Zathira whispered from beside him. She was moving along at his speed and seemed to be restricting herself to do it.

I wonder how fast she is.

“I’d almost think they don’t know what to do because their leader rules with fear and chaos. His actions aren’t something one can judge,” continued the Lamia.

Oh. Huh.

Maybe she’s my Elf counselor replacement.

Her or Elizabeth. She seems rather intelligent and I know for a fact Elysia and Taylor were working on training her. Since she’s with me for the rest of her life.

We’ll have to see what comes first.

Me dying, or her opening her mouth to actually talk to me. Hasn’t said a word since I took her into the wing.

Entering a keep, Vince, Sam, and Zathira were led down a hall and to a large set of doors.

“Baron Mateo, we’ve brought the foreigner dignitaries,” called a soldier who’d moved ahead. They were at the door and had it opened, calling inside while remaining outside.

“Yes, yes, send them in immediately. Ugh, of all the times this had to happen,” said a voice from inside. “Any magic from them? Best to know up front.”

“No,” replied another voice. “Though they’re odd. One feels like a magical-Waster, though no magic. One feels like a Spiritualist of some sort, and the third… nature magic.”

“Like a Dryad?” asked the first voice.

“No, as in they came from the earth. Not a Dryad,” corrected the second voice.

Sloppy, sloppy.

Arrogance.

They have contempt for their surroundings and are assured of themselves.

Vince and company were directed to enter the room with raised arms and pointed hands.

Entering, Vince found two people inside what by all accounts was an office-space.

A short man that was narrow in the face, lightly tanned, and quite handsome stood to one side. His brown eyes and immaculately combed brown hair gave him an air of aristocracy.

Next to him was a much taller man. One that stood just past six-foot Vince would wager. With brown eyes, a brown goatee, and bald otherwise.

“Greetings!” said the handsome one in accented English. “I’m Baron Mateo. This is my court-nullifier Joshua Adams. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yes! A pleasure,” agreed Vince with as much sincerity as he could muster, walking over to stand in front of the two men. He didn’t offer his hand, or incline his head. There was no way of telling what was the custom here.

Vince did however note that neither of their minds were shielded. He could get an easy sneak-peak at them without them even knowing.

Trying to get an idea of their thoughts was too much a risk, emotions and feelings were free game though.

From Joshua, Vince only got back the normal things. Mild curiosity, boredom, and a general dislike for the situation.

In regards to Mateo he got a much different feeling. The man had eyed Zathira with lust, then back to Vince with what was very clearly greed. He wanted whatever Vince had and what came back to Vince was what he’d get from a fox.

Sly thoughts, curiosity, paranoia and skittishness, and what could only be avarice. A hunger for everything Vince had on his person, Zathira, and anything else he might have.

Oh? This might work.

You can trap a fox. You just have to be careful about it.

Could I take the Baron off the board without much effort?

Entice him with his greed?

“Greetings to you Baron,” Vince said with much more meekness than he’d originally planned on showcasing. Then he bowed his head to the other man, schooling his face to look much more subservient than at first.

After all, when the fox hears the rabbit scream he comes running, but not to help.

Let’s just… scream a bit. See if we can’t get the fox excited.