Wild Wastes 4 -ch10- (Patreon)

“My name is Vincent. I’ve come as an emissary to speak with you about our situation. We only arrived yesterday and wanted to make our presence known,” Vince declared and then lifted his head back up.

“Arrived?” asked the baron, looking understandably confused.

“Yes, we crashed upon your shores but a day ago. We were in the middle of a… a voyage and were attacked. Our artifact failed, which let the sea-monsters get in close to us,” elaborated Vince. “We wanted to make sure you knew we were here and to possibly ask for your assistance.

“We hail from a distant country. We set sail from the coast and ended up here without meaning to. The name of our nation is Yosemite.”

“Assistance? What could I possibly offer?” asked the baron. He displayed a look of curiosity as well as someone who just heard news of good luck.

An eagerness to him that look sinister to Vince.

“Security, honestly. We’re more than willing to pay you for your help. We just need a few days to put back to sea and we’ll be gone. No one the wiser,” offered Vince, doing his best impersonation of a trader suggesting a bribe, without suggesting one. “What would be the price to have you seal up the peninsula? Just for a few days as I mentioned. We were unfortunately a small convoy of three ships and the other two were lost.

“With no one to raise the alarm that we’re here, rescue won’t come looking anytime soon. We really do need your help baron.”

That… should be enough bait. Willing to pay, a queen, no one knows we’re here, and that we have no way to actually escape if they pushed.

I might have played it a bit too hard with the “help us please” but he’ll probably overlook it.

Thinking that his troops are worth far more than they are.

Never knowing what we have waiting for him.

“I see, I see, well… let me see what I can do,” the baron assured him. He started walking away toward a desk that was in the corner. Joshua went along with him without ever saying a word.

Tilting his head to one side Vince put his mouth closer to Sam as Zathira moved to follow the other two.

“Blab at some point that we were returning from collecting taxes from a colony,” Vince whispered to Sam then started forward.

Sam took the opportunity to take flight and then move away from him. Slowly moving off to a book-shelf and looking like a curiously giant fairy than an intelligent Fae.

As if that was an prompt for someone to intercept her Joshua turned in a smooth motion and moved over to the Fae. She was hovering in front of a small golden statue that looked a lot like some sort of horse.

Vince and Zathira were now standing with the baron at the desk. He was perched over a map of the area.

Mentally, Vince memorized a number of locations on it. They looked to be settlements and fortifications.

Shame I can’t just take the map.

“I have six-thousand soldiers that I could easily send the peninsula though… could you perhaps confirm for me where exactly on this map?” requested the baron in the voice that made Vince’s instincts perk up. This was the honeyed words of a predator.

Zathira didn’t seem to notice it. She had a self satisfied look on her face for what Vince had no idea.

“Uhm, where are we now?” inquired Vince with an uncertain tone.

“Right here.”

Vince didn’t even bother to look at where the baron was pointing to. Instead he pointed to the exact point Petra was setting up camp.

“We’re here at the moment. It shouldn’t take us long to repair the boat. It’s at anchor and partially working at the moment but the work teams need time before we put to sea again,” Vince lied.

“Looks a lot like some of the work we got as presents!” asserted Sam behind him. Her voice was just loud enough that he heard her, but he imagined the baron didn’t. “Lots of stuff like that. It’s all for the queens birthday. Lots of pretty things like that.

“Though they had rocks on them. Sparkle rocks. I didn’t think they were that useful. I got her a tree. A nice tree.”

Ah… Sam… thank you for pulling out the Simple-Fairy acting for me.

“That isn’t an issue at all,” the baron promised with a chuckle. “We could seal that rather cheaply. Though… I’m sorry… I don’t think you have much in the way of coin that we’d likely see normally.

“How would you want to make the payment? Do you have anything we can trade in? Technology maybe?”

Ah… perfect. That’s a really set hook then. He’ll come looking so long as I can confirm it here.

“Oh, certainly. We have more than enough to trade for it. I’d have to take the price back to my queen to confirm it but I don’t doubt she’d pay. We’re just looking to leave as quickly as possible,” promised Vince, once again lying through his teeth.

So far, it seemed to be working though, so he really didn’t give a flying fuck about lying to this toad.

That and the way he kept looking at Zathira was rather slimy. He had eyed her coloring several times and looked somewhat unsure though still interesting.

“That’s fine, that’s fine. You could always leave your attendant here while you take care of that,” the baron suggested with a smile.

“Oh, I’m afraid the queen will need her Necromancer,” demurred Vince and looked to Zathira.

“Yes, I’m required to be on hand. There’s also the soldiers that we brought and—”

The interest in the baron’s eyes died away instantly at the announcement that Zathira was a necromancer. He was now looking at her with a very flat smile.

“Ah, I see, that’s fine, that’s fine. Don’t worry about the dead, my people can take care of them from here and dispose of them,” Baron Mateo interjected, interrupting the Lamia. “Also… out of curiousity, you’re venomous, aren’t you? That isn’t just coloring for show?”

“No. I’m… venomous,” clarified Zathira, manifesting a little annoyance in her tone.

Nodding his head, the baron looked back to Vince and seemed to have put Zathira from his mind completely. He smiled for Vince.

“I’d say twenty pounds of pure gold would cover the costs entirely,” the baron stated with an ugly smile. It wasn’t a small amount by any means. That kind of cost could keep the city of Yosemite operating for quite a while just on it’s own.

Robbery. But also a way for him to ascertain if it’s worth it for him to attack.

Do we even have that to begin with, in other words.

“I don’t see that being a problem,” assured Vince with a wide smile.

The Baron of course, smiled back.

Trap set.

It wasn’t until just afternoon that they’d made it back to the camp-site. The point that they were supposed to meet up and discuss how their separate operations went.

Red and Blue were sitting side by side on top of a log. The feral of the two was somewhat hunched into herself. The Dryad was much more at ease with her arm around the other’s shoulders.

Undoubtedly she was speaking encouragingly to Red. Showing a smile for the other woman and propping her up with words.

Then Red’s head snapped up and she met his eyes.

Leaping to her feet she held his gaze, then slunk down on all fours and crept toward him.

It wasn’t in the way she did when she hunted him, but as if she were afraid of him. Approaching him as a submissive animal might.

Reaching him she flopped down on her back. Presenting him with her vulnerable bits.

Eyes, throat, stomach, groin.

“Red-Red fucked up,” declared the Beastkin uncharacteristically using foul language. “Red was spotted when she and Blue entered the city this morning. Then the guards locked up the doors to the Dryads.

“We couldn’t talk tot hem. Red screwed it all up. Red didn’t listen to Blue and was… was cocky. Prideful.”

Looking at him with wide and pitiful red-eyes, the cursed Beastkin looked nothing like her normal personality.

Vince had a long talk with Leila about the current curse on Red. It was a very simple one that could be broken at will. Which would shatter the personality that Red was and merge the original self with her current self.

So simple was the curse, that it would never actually break on it’s own. Though it did run the risk of Red changing to a degree since she wasn’t as bound as she once was.

This display right now could very well be one of those changes.

“Blue says I’m wrong and that you’ll forgive Red. That you won’t be mad at Red. Red wants you to… punish, Red. Use her sexually in whatever way you want. Beat Red until you feel satisfied. Yell at her for being as stupid as she is,” whined Red as she shimmied a little side to side on the ground.

Sighing, Vince reached down and laid his hand to Red’s face.

“Just make it up to me later. We all make mistakes, Red,” he said, gently stroking her cheek and jaw with his fingers. Tenderly he ran his thumb over her lips. “Get up, Red, my love. We need to go back and report to Petra. Chances are that the Baron will be trying to pay us a visit tonight, or tomorrow morning in the pre-dawn.

“We set the hook nice and hard to bait him out of his keep. It’ll give us an opportunity to knock him flat before he even knows it’s a possibility.”

Gazing up at him with eyes that glowed like coals in hell, Red was holding her breath.

Her hands suddenly locked onto his forearm and held tight to it.

“You… you should punish Red. Not forgive her,” whimpered the Beastkin.

“I’ll do no such thing. You’ll have to live with your mistake and make it up to me,” countered Vince with a chuckle. He remembered his mother doing the same thing to him on occasion.

It was harder to deal with his mother’s acceptance, forgiving of him, and expectation to do better, than his father scolding him.

Red whined then kissed his wrist.

Letting him go, Red scurried off at a full sprint away. Most likely straight back to Petra to relay the information.

Perhaps wanting to go alert Petra to the situation herself.

That or just get away from him for a moment to consider the situation.

“You faster than her?” Vince asked Sam.

“Yes. I’ll… go tell her to turn around and then go off on my own. Sounds like you have more work to do,” Sam murmured.

Lifting off from where she hung on him she zipped off after Red.

“To be fair, she did make a mistake,” admitted Blue, getting up and walking over to him. “She wanted to rush inside rather than learn the patrol routes. Before I could convince her otherwise she was off in a flash.

“Got spotted very quickly and the rest has been her moping and beating herself up. I’m afraid even as her grove-wife I couldn’t convince her otherwise.”

“Grove-wife? You’re my Grove-wife,” argued Vince with a grin.

“Of course I am. Apparently she wants me to be hers as well. Just as Elysia is with Mouth and Meliae,” Blue reasoned more to herself as evidenced by not meeting his gaze. Then her eyes snapped up to his and she grinned. “You’ll always come first, and if you don’t want it, I’d of course deny her. Just as Mouth and Meliae offered you in regards to Elysia.”

“No, no, it’s fine, I’m just… just teasing,” relented Vince, holding up his hands.

Blue walked up to him and stared up at him for several seconds. Then she lifted a hand and made a crooking motion with a finger.

Vince leaned down toward her.

The Dryad laid a warm and very loving kiss on his lips before giving him a gentle pat on the jaw. Her other hand holding onto the top of his tunic.

“Vincent Campbell, your grove is yours. We only expanded into your wives because you seemed to encourage it,” promised the Dryad. “We would burn the world for our Grove-husband. You treat us as if we’re better than the other races. Don’t think we’re not aware.

“You need only ask and we’d set to tearing the world apart if only to appease you. You don’t understand how fanatical your Dryads are. Though… if you’re think we’re bad… wait till you see your daughters.

“They’re very aware of who their father is, what the world thinks of them, and what you expect of them. They’re Campbell daughter’s through and through, don’t ever think they’re not.”

Blue’s eyes were glowing now even brighter than Red’s had. Then she sniffed once, gave him another kiss, and the lights slowly winked out.

“Burn the world for me, would you?” he asked, grinning at the Dryad.

“And salt the ashes just to make a point,” she confirmed and kissed him once more. Then she took in a short breath, let it out, and released him. Turning she looked to Zathira. “Are you well, Zathira?”

The entire way back the Lamia had looked rather frustrated. Her countenance reflective and her thoughts her own.

“I’m quite fine, thank you,” replied Zathira. She gave the Dryad a smalls mile, turned, and left. Slithering off in the same direction as Red and Sam.

“Well. She seems to be in somewhat of a mood. I thought she’d feel better after being milked,” wondered Blue. Then she shook her head and gave Vince a smile. “She can go sulk with Red. I’m going to run off with the prize. Shall my Grove-husband and I sneak into the city and see if we can’t find Flora?”

“Perfect,” he agreed with a grin for his Dryad. She was looking up at him with a wide smirk.

Me and my Dryad.

***

Vince looked at the wall and eyed the top of it for several seconds. There didn’t seem to be any guards, no soldiers, and no light. They were relying entirely on the guard patrols that moved about at the base and the pointed spikes at the top of it.

I can throw her over.

Not a problem.

Just need to make sure.

Reaching over his shoulder he touched Sam and then pointed to the wall’s top.

The Fae shot off his shoulder and blurred up toward where he wanted her. Vanishing into the darkness completely after only going a few feet from him.

If she didn’t want to be seen, she wasn’t.

“Gonna toss me after all?” Blue asked, one hand of hers pushing up against his crotch, the other on his side where she draped her arm across him.

“Yeah. You can handle it. Being a sexy Elven-Dryad after all, right?” Vince asked.

“I sure can. I’m the best suited to be your partner in combat. Well… amongst Dryads at least,” Blue conceded. “Ah, she signaled there’s no guards on the other side and that they’re there.”

“Alright. Will you be able to get back over on your own?” he asked.

“Nope,” Blue said, grinning at him. “You’ll have to come fetch your woman. Problem with that?”

Vince snorted then shook his head.

“Not a concern,” he said.

“F-flirt later,” hissed Zathira. She’d come back with Sam in the end. Red hadn’t come back at all. Likely still berating herself somewhere in the camp of Yosemite.

“Zathira,” Blue warned in an odd way. She’d managed to get Vince to tell her what happened. The Dryad had found it rather humorous but hadn’t said much about it.

There was something more going on here that he didn’t understand.

“Flirt later. Work now,” she said, her words seemingly now aimed at Vince, rather than Blue.

“Yes, yes. You’re right, Zathira,” muttered Vince with a shake of his head.

So boring for such a beautiful woman.

A waste.

Oh well.

Not everyone wants me, and there are those who don’t. I just have to treat her like an equal and leave it at that.

Looking to the left, then right, Vince could see this was the gap they were looking for. The patrols would be moving to their furthest points now.

At the exact spots that would be the least likely to notice them.

“Stay here, Zathira,” commanded Vince. He grabbed Blue up around the waist and then dashed forward. Running across the grass at full speed.

“Oh my,” Blue squeaked and held onto him with a giggle. Her arms clasping around him tightly.

Rushing right up to the wall Vince put his back to it. Grabbing hold of Blue he stuck her up against his chest, then held her there.

The Dryad got her feet down on his thighs as he got a handful or her rear-end. Bending low she coiled herself up like a spring.

“Wait!” hissed Blue a second before Vince thrust her into the air. “S-Sam is signaling wait. Repeatedly. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Danger.”

Vince was somewhat annoyed at the fact that the two of them could communicate with magical signals and he couldn’t see I and he couldn’t see it. There was no doubt or questioning either of them though.

He trusted them with his life.

“Flee, danger, danger,” Blue whispered and then hopped down out of his hands. Rushing back the way they came she was off at a dead sprint.

Running after her, Vince caught her at the halfway point and scooped her up into a princess carry. To which Blue only smirked at him and held on.

Reaching the shrubs they’d started from, Vince set her down and got down low in them.

“What… what’s wrong?” asked Zathira

“Sam told us to go back. Ah, here she comes,” Blue said.

The Fae reached them and came to a stop in front of Vince.

“They’re massing!” she warned them. “They’re going to march on Petra right now.”

“Damnit. Alright. We just ran out of time and timed it wrong. We knew that the Baron might act tonight anyways. Back to Petra then. Time to slaughter them all and had it all over to Flora,” growled Vince.