Wild Wastes 4 -CH12- (Patreon)

With a grunt Red slammed her hand through the head of a soldier.

When she pulled her hand back, his body came with it. He was quite literally stuck around her wrist. Dangling from it like a grisly bracelet.

It reminded him of meeting Ramona.

“Grruuhh, get-off-me,” growled Red who shook her hand around. Then she grabbed the dead man’s remains and shoved with her other hand.

He came off with a splut.

Looking around, Vince realized that they were amongst a field of corpses now.

The slaughter had lasted a while. Enemy soldiers without the benefit of their leaders never questioned their standing orders.

Fighting until people began to route through fear and loss of morale.

At which point the Yosemite soldiers were unleashed in full. Running them down and killing them in the field. Elizabeth had made several passes as while. Snatching up soldiers with claws, jaws, or fire.

Heralded by thinking of her, Elizabeth swooped down from the clouds and came across the field quite low to the ground. Her head snaked out and she snatched up a man that’d been hiding in some grass.

She lifted her head and began chewing at the man. Several powerful bites and she launched him out of her mouth, banking hard to one side, and lashing out with her tail.

It slammed through a small trio of trees and obliterated someone hiding there. Vince only saw them for a brief second before they were broken in half at the waist.

Huh. She… seems almost at Taylor’s level. How strange.

Sheathing his sword, Vince let out a slow breath. This part of the fight was over. Now they’d have to head over to the city and dig out the Baron if he was hiding there.

Removing the magazines from his vest that he’d used, Vince got down next to a freshly made corpse. He began dipping them one at a time into a dead-man that’d had his chest ripped open by Red.

“What… what… what are you doing?” panted Red, standing over him. She was panting hard and looked rather winded.

She was also covered in blood from her hair line down to her knees.

At his side she’d remained except when he’d unleashed her on a specific target.

“Refilling the magazines. My dear brother of mine apparently figured out I’m… not gentle with things,” explained Vince with a chuckle. He popped the magazine filled with blood into the pistol, racked a round, then waited a beat.

Pressing the release he retrieved the magazine and peered into it.

It was once more full.

Putting it into place on his vest he stuck another magazine into the body.

“Oh. Red… understands. Maybe… Red should learn to use a gun. It would make Red far more useful in these kind of situations. W-wouldn’t it?” asked the Beastkin. She was now in a squat next to him.

In that small space of time it sounded like she was recovering quickly.

“No. You were right where I needed you, and how I needed you, Red. At my side and ready,” argued Vince.

He glanced up as a bright-fluttering light came his way.

Jamming the magazine in he waited for a three count before removing it. It was also full and ready.

Sam appeared in front of him, then settled down onto the ground and let out several rapid breaths. Then she stretched herself backward with her arms, bending at the waist.

“Uuugh, flying that long takes it out of me. I could use a recharge. Or… when you’re done filling those up, wanna fill me up?” asked Sam with an evil smile. “I could moan for you while you do it, if it helps.”

Holding her hands up Sam she made a “I surrender” gesture and then slowly wriggled her fingers.

“You sound like Blue, Sam,” Red muttered with a chuckle.

“Maybe I’m taking lessons from her?” Sam asked and then ran her tongue tip across her teeth. “So, give me a quickie? I need to go report to Petra that you’re done.”

Glaring at the Fae for several seconds, Vince then reached out and wrapped his hand around her shoulder.

“If you’re going to choke me, get it nice and firm at the base. Right here,” Sam directed and then moved her head, putting his hand right up in her throat. Then she unleashed an even wider smile at him.

Vince actually didn’t know what to say.

This really was a lot like Meliae, Mouth, and Blue. So much so that he didn’t know how to respond.

Other than to start filling her with power from his grove.

As soon as he started, Sam let out a low and guttural moan. The type Meliae often made when he really had her going.

“Okay, that’s all I needed!” Sam panted out after thirty-seconds of non-stop moaning. She gently pushed his hand off in such a way that it slide down her chest. “Off I go!”

A second afterward and Sam was buzzing off into the sky.

“Ha. Red thinks this is funny. She got you flustered, Bringer,” crowed Red. Then she leaned over and kissed him once. “Thank you for having Red at your side. Where Red belongs. Red will check in with Leila and get ready. Red thinks we’re going to the city next.”

Hmmm. Yeah.

Find the baron since it seems like he’s not here.

Kill him, hand it all over to Flora.

***

Vince jogged into the city without anyone even trying to stop him. In fact, it seemed more like everyone was doing their best to avoid him and his people.

Citizens, what soldiery might be in the city, and even the animals. There wasn’t a living soul on the streets.

Nevertheless Vince could feel eyes on him. From everywhere.

The masses were staring at their procession even as they made their way.

Petra’s orders had been simple.

Move ahead as swiftly as possible, secure the keep, lock down the treasury, and halt any destruction that might be ongoing. She wanted the city intact.

Needed it intact, in fact.

For it to be unscathed and to be utilized as it was immediately.

Letting it fall into ruin would only make their own situation worse.

He’d managed to find a squad of Frit’s and recruited them to join him. They’d be able to keep pace with him and the others and still be ready to deploy afterward.

That and they’d blend in better with the city. There was no telling if anyone had escaped the massacre with news of the Legion soldiers, but there was no reason to make it more obvious.

“I sense death,” warned Zathira as they made their way down the street. Up ahead the fort sat foreboding in their way.

“Death?” inquired Leila, moving along on her disc. “Yes. Perhaps we’ve already missed a purge of the citizenry. That’s a shame.”

“Maybe the baron left as soon as he saw what was going on and came back here?” proposed Blue.

With a shake of his head, Vince was starting to feel somewhat nervous. He really didn’t like this at all.

“Sergeant, spread out, secure all the exits you can,” Vince ordered. “Ratkin are to disembark and survey and scout.

“If possible, see if there’s a local Ratkin population. There almost always is. Meet and greet and pump for information.

“Sam, provide oversight and keep them in communication with one another.”

The soldiers melted away into every direction. Needing no further orders and going about their business.

Sam launched off the back of him where she’d been lounging and zipped over to the sergeant. Hovering over his head she moved with him as they went.

Swiftly they slid along the street like a river flowing it’s course. Moving inexorably to the end with nothing in the way.

Elizabeth shot ahead of them and jerked the large wooden door open. There was a crackling noise from inside and a wooden security beam swung brokenly out of the slot.

Strong as Taylor if not more. There was also something very strange with her coloring after that fight. I should… ask her about it.

If she’s willing to talk, that is.

On the inside Vince saw the same entry area he’d been escorted through last time.

It didn’t feel as large as it did previously. Though that likely had to be due to the fact that there was a great number of soldiers throughout it.

They all had raised rifles and looked to already be set to fire.

Shit. Walked right into this one.

“Shield!” Vince shouted and then pushed at the magic inside him.

Reaching out with that power Vince attempted to recreate what he’d done with the artillery pieces. To get a hold of the ammunition and detonate it prematurely.

He couldn’t do much with all the loaded rounds, but he was actually betting on something else there. He was betting that one of his supports had enough time to put up a shield in front of them.

With a bang every single rifle in the room went off at the same time.

Several layers of magic were interwoven in front of Vince.

A green one, a purple one, and a black one. They were all fritzing and throwing off sparks at the same time as they tried to all inhabit the same space.

There was so much energy crossing from those magical constructs that it made Vince feel like his hair was standing on end. Should he touch someone it’d dump a static charge from him to them.

He couldn’t see anything beyond the magic. It was simply putting out too much power.

On top of that, it seemed like they weren’t using a very good gunpowder for their ammunition. There was far more smoke than he expected spread throughout the room.

Red dashed forward into the haze followed by Elizabeth.

Vince went to join them and found Blue’s hand had snapped down tight around his wrist. He hadn’t even noticed she’d taken hold of him until that moment.

“Let them do their job,” she advised him.

A stark and painful memory of not trusting to Daphne came to his mind.

Standing there, he did just as instructed. He let those who would likely be better suited to this at this moment. Those two could regenerate from wounds far better than he could.

I’m strong, I’m durable, I have incredible stamina.

I can still die and had to have Mouth healing me constantly for a while there.

“I’m not just a ranger anymore. Not just someone who can risk themselves. Even more so here,” he murmured as the sounds of battle reached him. There was a loud roar as it sounded like Elizabeth began stamping about in her dragon form.

“You really were just a ranger?” asked Zathira who was beside him now. Her left hand was raised up and she was clearly holding the shield in front of him active. “I’ve… heard the rumors but I thought it was just fluff and puffery.

“To better connect you to the citizens themselves. That… well… maybe you came from some rich merchant family and just made it all up.”

Laughing, Vince could easily see how someone might come up with that idea. Especially given how he exploded onto the scene.

Reaching into a pocket of his vest, all the way down under his armor in fact, he fingered out his ranger identification. Holding it out to Zathira he smirked to no one and at nothing.

“I still carry it with me. After doing the job for a few years it felt weird not having my identification on me. Used to get carded a lot at checkpoints,” explained Vince as Zathira took the ID from him.

“You… really were. But-oh, Dryad and an Orc. They really were originally registered as your slaves. Oh… oh sh…shit,” muttered Zathira, a second before his identification was pushed back between his fingers.

Glancing at the attractive Lamia Vince gave her a strained smile, then looked back ahead. Everything was slowly clearing away now and he could see what was going on.

Red was currently disemboweling a man while Elizabeth was chewing at what had to be four or five men at the same time. A crunching, screaming, popping mass of bodies and parts that was splattering blood all over the ground.

Grinding her molars back and forth Elizabeth tilted her head one way, then the other, as if testing to see what was going on in her mouth. Snapping her head to one side she opened it suddenly.

A mass of what had once been men slammed into a wall and splattered across the area it’d struck.

Oh, I was wrong. That was like… ten people. Her entire mouth was full.

Swinging her large horned head to one side Elizabeth spotted him, then suddenly looked at him fully. Her eyes glowing a bright and shiny version of silver that Vince couldn’t identify.

“You’re beautiful, Elizabeth,” declared Vince loudly and held her eyes. “Beautiful and deadly. Amazing. A gorgeous Dragon. It’s hard to believe one such as yourself is in my wing, but I’ll just consider myself fortunate.”

Elizabeth let out a snort, but he didn’t miss the fact that it looked like she grinned at him. Her Draconian mouth angling upward at the point where her jaw hinged.

The Dragon didn’t say anything.

Turning to the side she moved back toward the rear of his group and shrunk down into her humanoid self. Her horns were as bright as her eyes had been and she didn’t look like she was hiding in herself, either.

She boldly walked to Leila who was holding the great coat for her. Even going so far as to meet Vince’s eyes as she passed by him bare naked.

Sniffing the air as she passed by him he couldn’t help but turn his head slightly, following her as she went with his eyes.

Smells like violence, sex, and fun.

Mm. I miss Taylor.

He didn’t miss the point where her head turned fractionally and her shoulder shifted. As if she was about to look back at him but had managed to catch herself doing it.

As if maybe her Dragon wanted to engage with him right now after the violence.

A Dragon was a Dragon of course. While she might be bashful around him, and somewhat quiet, she was still a Dragon.

Really miss Taylor and Ramona. My dear Dragons.

Looking ahead he found Red was heading his way.

“Thank you, Red. That was perfectly done with Elizabeth. You two are like my hands in these kind of situations,” he said before she could even begin to get hurt.

He was noticing that Red was somewhat still unsure given her recent actions. Both in regards to her curse, and the Dryads.

Grinning and showing off her fangs Red began to prance toward him on all fours. Moving up to him she slammed her hip into his and then suddenly stood up to her full height.

“Red was good?” she asked.

“Yes, but we need to go forward, otherwise I’d stay and give you a scritch-scratch. We need to move ahead and find the Baron, then Flora. We need to install her as the Duchess after all,” prompted Vince.

“Yes, yes. Red will be happy to do this,” agreed Red. “Then… then we can go and meet the populations Red found? There’s not many, but they seemed friendly.”

Walking ahead Vince did his best not to look at the gore and bits that were spread out in every direction. Red and Elizabeth had been akin to an inferno in a forest made of pitch soaked matches.

Meatgrinder.

Moving through the entry Vince kept going. Heading straight back to where he’d met the baron previously. It was as good a place as any to start.

“Oh,” Zathira said suddenly, grabbing hold of Vince at the shoulder. “Hold on a moment lord. I… I was interrogating the dead. The baron is… he’s in his bedroom. He’s been there since he sent his soldiers out. Those that were waiting for us were sent there by the court nullifier.

“Then the man fled. Leaving the baron here and… and I don’t think we’ll be able to make Flora a duchess.”

There was an ugly question in the back of Vince’s head. One that felt a lot like it would be answered with, “because he killed them”.

“And why’s that?” he asked, meeting Zathira’s eyes.

“Because I can tell you that she was killed this morning according to the dead. As she wasn’t truly a mortal her spirit passed on already,” answered Zathira. “All of the planted Dryads except one were murdered to the last. The last one is in his bedroom and… being held captive so that the unplanted Dryad girls can be kept in thrall.”

Taking in a slow breath, Vince let it out with a great deal of fury attached to it.

Given all that the baron had done, this didn’t seem that surprising to him.

It infuriated him to a level that he couldn’t likely express, but it wasn’t really that surprising to him. The man had clearly viewed the Dryads as little more than possession.

Or a pedigree show animal. Bred to perfection and then selling it’s children off once grown.

“Where’s the bedroom?” asked Vince in a hiss like whisper.

“I’ll… lead the way, lord Vince,” offered the Lamia, moving ahead of him and into the corridor.

I’ll strangle him to death. Strangle him to death after dismembering him.

Or maybe… stuff his dick and balls down his own throat and hold his nose shut. Like him suffocate on them. That’d be delightful.

Very delightful.