Wild Wastes 4 -Ch17- (Patreon)

Vince entered an interesting ante-chamber. The walls were carved and smoothed out perfectly. Everything was clean and smoothed over where there was no decoration. Yet the parts that were carved were done finely so.

As if someone had spent hours with a small infinitely sharp chisel knocking out tiny chips. Inch by inch, section by section, meticulously worked.

“Seems like a lot time invested,” grumbled Vince, lifting a hand and running his fingers over an image of what looked like the image of a winged waster ant.

Their queen arriving here, maybe? Birth of this colony?

Makes me curious where she came from. Likely couldn’t have traveled too far either I imagine.

“Thank you so much for waiting for us,” called a voice from inside the room beyond where they were. There was no door that blocked them, though there was a curtain that’d been hung.

It was split in the middle and would allow someone to move between the two halves of the fabric.

From what Vince knew of colonies they didn’t have the same views on privacy that other races did. The curtain was there entirely for non-ant visitors, which was abnormal all on it’s own.

Vince took that as a request to join the queen.

Moving forward he simply passed through the slit in the curtain.

Stepping into the area beyond he found it was very similar to the one he’d just left. The walls were etched and carved with what looked to be stories.

A visual history of the colony worked into the bedrock itself.

“We greet the visitors from outside,” said the same voice as earlier.

Following the sound of it, Vince found a unusually large, winged, and deciedly unhappy looking Queen-Ant. Her upper body, face, arms, and stomach were all much larger than the ants he’d seen so far.

This Queen would easily be larger than Petra, in fact. Though her abdomen was also considerably larger as well. What she gained in size and strength she likely lost in speed and agility.

She was laid upon a stone plinth that likely served as her bed, throne, and resting point all at the same time. Sweat was rolling down her face and she looked uncomfortable and frustrated.

“Forgive us as we’re in the middle of an egg-laying cycle. We must-nnggh-must replenish our losses. Our colony is dwindling faster than I can replace them,” apologized the queen-ant.

Right, we’ll make this quick then and get out of her way.

“I’ll be direct then, your majesty,” said Vince. He’d been disarmed by several large soldier-ant versions of this ant colony earlier. They hadn’t been as large as Petra, though larger than the other castes.

Vince was still curious where those soldiers were if the worker, or drones, had been fighting the Wyrms on their own.

“I’ve come to offer you the chance to swear fealty to me,” he said getting straight to the point. “I’m going to take over this country and crush it beneath my boot heel.

“They’ve offended me at a level that I simply won’t allow. So they all have to go. There won’t be anything left of them once I get my way.”

The queen’s brow creased and she let out a low breath. Her face was bunched up in pain and visible discomfort.

“And who are you to we?” asked the queen, her head tilting to one side.

“King of Yosemite Vincent Campbell,” Vince declared firmly. Moving forward he held up the jar of venom and most definitely phermones Petra had given him. “This is my ant-queen. A soldier-ant of the North American wastes.

“She has given me young and leads my forces in combat. She can nearly compete at a level with larger Dragons, though can easily defeat a red Dragon if she could catch it while landed.”

The queen’s eyes had moved from Vince’s face and to the jar in his hand.

A slack-faced drone scuttled over and took the jar from him without an order from the queen. It opened the jar and then quickly moved over to the queen, holding it up to her.

“I would have you as my duchess. Just as I installed a Dryad as my duchess in the city of Coruna. You would be the duchess of the surrounding lands, towns, and villages and be my vassal. You would follow the laws and rules of Yosemite, though I can promise you that they are most… suitable… to living with mixed races,” stated Vince. “I would owe you security and protection, while you would owe me soldiers, taxes, and obedience.”

The queen had taken the car at this point and lowered her head down over it. Her antenna bent delicately toward it, recoiled, then slowly eased back down again. She didn’t seem to be interested in smelling it, but was clearly scenting it in a way only an ant would.

“Your queen promises… death, if we do not obey,” murmured the queen with a grimace and a shake of her head. “This is very potent venom. We of this colony have a stinger but no venom of this potency, though we know of other colonies that do. They are most… aggressive, and combative.”

“We can’t leave anyone behind that could harm our colony. Our kingdom,” Vince explained with a shrug of his shoulders. “You may serve as my duchess and receive my protection, or perish as my enemy along with those who have been trying to kill your colony.

“I will sweep this land free of any who oppose me. Any that would harm a race as carefree as Dryads need not be suffered for.”

He hadn’t intended it, but he felt like the last part of his answer had come out in a growl. The very idea of what’d been done to the poor Dryads still unnerved him. Kept his anger hot and fresh in his guts like a coal that’d been swallowed.

The queen’s eyes had moved back to him as he spoke, even as her antenna dipped all the way down to the point that they might touch the contents of the jar.

“We will submit to you and your queen,” murmured the ant-queen and then let the jar come down. “Though we have one condition beyond simply killing the Wyrms. They will likely return tomorrow with their full brood.

“That other condition is that you will take our daughter with you as an envoy.

“Our daughter was… damaged in her youth. She cannot become a queen, though she is yet a queen. We would have her taken in by you as an envoy to protect her life.”

Ah… she can’t remain here as she’s not the queen, but she would have queen-like instincts and others would see her as one.

Sending her out in the wastes alone would condemn her in the same way Petra was nearly sentenced to death. I understand.

“I will agree to this. She can go to Coruna and—”

Is that where you would be, our king?” inquired the queen, interuptting him.

“Ah, no. I’ll be in the field. I will most likely need to go see where those troops went that led the Wyrms here,” admitted Vince.

“That is unacceptable. She will remain with you as our envoy. She will not be a hindrance,” promised the queen, her face bunching up in sweat and pain. “As she could not be a queen, she was trained in the caste of soldiers. The we of them respects her for her ability.”

“Fine. I’d rather have her go to where my queen is though. My soldier-ant queen,” countered Vince.

That gave the queen pause. A look of thoughtful introspection flickered across her face.

A small nod was all she did afterward.

“We will ask our daughter go to Coruna to speak with the queen of our colony. It would do well for our we to meet and understand the queen,” replied the ant-queen. “We are named Redata. Our daughter is Cristina.”

“Great. Okay,” accepted Vince with a nod of his head. “I’m going to take my group above and wait for the Wyrms and exterminate them. Then I’ll be leaving to find the soldiers who caused this… then probably take care of all that as well.”

“We thank our king. The we of the royal caste shall perform our duties perfectly for Yosemite. We will summon our daughter and send her topside. You must—”

The ant-queen let out a low groan. Turning away from him she raised herself up, then bent forward. At the same time her abdomen swung out beneath her and came out before her.

Her stinger was shot forward and she made a curious thrusting motion with it. Stabbing nothing but the air itself.

Several drones scurried over and gathered up around her. Blocking Vince from view of what was happening.

Seconds ticked by and the queen let out several low groans, only to relax after one particularly loud one.

All the drones moved away from her quickly. In their arms were soft white ant-eggs. Vince saw at least eight or nine before they were gone from view.

Panting, the queen looked back to him and let out a slow and low breath.

“We apologize to our king. We must birth more soldiers for our colony. For our kingdom, now, we suppose,” mumbled the ant-queen. Her face already starting to turn to pain again. “We will lay another six groupings today and then rest. We will depend on our king to eliminate the Wyrms.”

Vince nodded his head, then turned away from the queen. There was nothing more to be said.

***

“They shoot liquid from their… rear,” drawled Sam. “Now, I’ve heard of squirting from Blue. That and that you apparently have turned a number of your Dryads so inside out that they tend to do that, but this seems a bit much.

“The ground looks like it’s melting. Almost like it’s… acid.”

She was hanging on the back of him though her head was turned. She was watching several large ant-soldiers being trained off to one side by drones.

From what he could gather, the Wyrms had attacked so often, and so determinedly, that they’d wiped out the majority of the original soldier-ants. Their replacements were all fresh and with little to no training.

We arrived just in time.

“It isn’t like acid, it is acid,” countered Leila from where she sat next to Vince. She’d been quietly working on building several new focuses. “They’re red-wood ants. They can shoot acid a short distance.

“It isn’t as powerful as they’d want, but it’s more than enough to blind anything it strikes. What do you think they made all those beautiful etchings with?”

“Oh. Oh, they use the acid to eat at the rock. Got it. Huh, that’s rather curious,” murmured Vince. He also had a feeling that the Wyrms were coming.

Like two cats realizing they’d both entered the same room.

Need to make sure Sam doesn’t get involved this time. While she did really well this time, she could easily get caught up in magic being thrown about.

Reaching up he grabbed Sam around the throat. Right where she’d tell him to if he didn’t.

“Oh? Is it time already? Going to fill me up so I can’t argue about it?” asked Sam in a sultry voice. “Careful Vince. I might go full bratty on you and you’ll have to deal with it. Now, remember to squeeze just a bit so I can get diz— ahhhn!”

Vince had opened up his power source and tried to drop it into Sam in one go. He did comply though, and gently curled his fingers around her neck with just a smidgen of force.

Lifting her up from his back he grabbed her side with his other hand, even as he kept filling her up. Laying her down on the grass next to Leila he held onto her still.

Gazing up at him with wide eyes and a flushed face, Sam’s mouth was open. Her brows were partly furrowed and she was letting out little whimpering moans now.

Damnit, I can’t tell if she’s doing this to get me going or if it really does excite her now.

Sam stuck her tongue out and ran it along her upper lip, than lower lip, and gently bit down on it afterward. Moaning loudly at him she pushed her hips up at him, pushing her breasts up on either side of his forearm.

Fuck.

Thankfully the grove cut him off in that moment and Vince stood up, releasing the Fae.

Leaving her as a puddle of happy goo next to the Gnome, he started off at a walk.

In a single second Red had joined him on all fours along with Elizabeth who was already pulling off her great coat. The other two predators had clearly noticed the change or felt it as well.

Moments later Blue, Leila, and Zathira joined in. Flanking him on the other side.

“You all take the little ones,” Vince commanded.

“Little ones?” asked Blue. She’d pulled out her pistol and held it in her dominant hand. Apparently she’d be operating as support completely this time.

To be fair, she isn’t quite suited to fighting a Wyrm and her powers are more suited to assistance.

“Two Wyrms of the same size from yesterday,” answered Elizabeth. Her eyes were better than his. He could only feel that there was a greater presence coming their way, not see them. “There is a third that is… much larger. Perhaps a parent?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. Gonna kill it, eat it’s heart. I expect you to kill the other two,” commanded Vince. “Work together with everyone and make it happen. Blue’s in charge.

“Red, assist them in my place. I’ll be too busy to help them.”

“Yes. That’s not a problem. Red will do that. Red will protect our grove-wife,” growled the Beastkin and promptly smacked her hip into his side, only to then turn and move over to Blue. Practically curling her tail around the Dryad protectively.

“Blue?” asked Elizabeth. “I’m much stronger than her. I should lead.”

“You’re certainly stronger, but there are other reasons,” said Vince charitably. He didn’t want to call her to count here and now. It wasn’t the place or time.

“I’ll handle one myself,” hissed the Dragon and then started off to the side. She morphed into her shining Dragon form and didn’t look his way.

“From stuttering and not wanting to talk to me, to arguing and being headstrong. I’m going to have to break one of her horns off or something,” muttered Vince.

He didn’t have the time or luxury of dealing with her right now. Blue wasn’t someone who could fight a Dragon or a Wyrm, but she could easily direct a battle for them. Make changes on the fly and provide them with a course of action.

“Her Dragon is combative. It wasn’t fully subdued,” advised Leila.

Sneering with a roll of his eyes, Vince pivoted and went off at a run. Straight at Elizabeth.

There was no hiding his approach and the Dragon had seen him coming. She squared up with him at his approach and pulled her head back.

Expecting the incoming bite Vince welcomed it. This would make it all the easier.

Snapping out at him, Elizabeth’s tooth lined mouth came for him.

Vince stuck his left hand up a nostril as the other reached up and snatched the end of her horn. Jerking on it while pulling at the inside of her nose, Vince upturned her head.

Just as he’d done to her previously, he flipped her head over and burried her horns in the earth. This time he wasn’t as gentle with her.

Lifting up a fist he slammed it down into the top of her head. There was a loud hollow conk noise followed by Elizabeth groaning.

“Listen here you scaley idiot,” Vince said and got down on one knee in front of her glittering eye. It was focusing on him now.

His left hand was still up her nose in what he imagined was an uncomfortable and painful way.

“If you ever disobey me again, I’m going to cut your damn chest open and eat your heart. I’ve tolerated your nonsense up to this point because you were obedient, if disrespectful,” he threatened while staring into her eye. “Now you’re being disrespectful and disobedient and I’m done with it.

“Do you understand me, maiden Elizabeth? Because at this point, you’re not qualified to lead my wing. You’re a bumbling child who thinks she’s an adult. If Taylor were here she’d have already killed you.”

Vince pulled his arm back and slugged her in the skull again. Once more the wood on wood like noise was quite audible.

“Ow,” whined Elizabeth. “I’m sorry, N-N-Nest-mate. I apologize and w-wish to be given a chance I’m n-not worthy of.”

“How can I bet your Nest-mate if you don’t even listen? Hm?” he asked in a deathly whisper.

“I w-will listen. I’m sorry. I… just… I want… I want to kill you and eat you but there’s another part that… that w-wants to beg you to ask me to get into your bed and I don’t know what to do and everything is kind of scary and—”

Elizabeth ran out of air and took in a gasping breath.

Ah… she’s still very young.

There’s no other Dragons here to advise her on what’s happening.

Got it.

“Then do what I damn well tell you, do you hear me Maiden Elizabeth? Now I wish I’d brought Ramona here. She could have advised you about this better than Taylor,” Vince snapped off sharply. “Now go apologize to Blue, ask her for her forgiveness, and do what she fucking tells you. Then you can talk to her about what you’re feeling, and then I’ll talk with both of you after that.”

Retrieving his arm from her nose he released her horn as well.

Shaking off what looked a lot like snot he shook his head and started moving to catch up to the others.

“Y-yes, Nest-mate Vince,” Elizabeth whined, pulling her head off the grass. She slunk away from him and crept over to where Blue was. Her head held very low to the ground.

Angry, frustrated, and brimming with a need to punch things, Vince sprinted ahead. Running straight at the three Wyrms.

The largest in the middle was his target and destination.

Around the edges of his vision he could feel his rage creeping in. His vision started to tunnel in on the large Wyrm even as the periphery of his vision became black and a subtle red tint started to obscure his view.

His heart pounded in his chest and a vein in his temple throbbed in time with the beat.

Stupid, fucking bullshit that this is! I should be at home playing with my kids not dealing with this shit!

Getting angrier by the second Vince felt his feet carrying him further and farther with every step. Propelling him at an impossible speed that made him feel like a bullet shooting from a rifle.

The entirety of his word hard focused in on the massive Land Wyrm.

Now that he was so close to it he could easily see it was identical to the one’s he’d seen previously, just much bigger.

“Imma kill you and fucking eat you!” screamed Vince as his mind boiled over. He lost all sense of reason and his mind more or less shut off the thinking parts.

Rushing headlong at the monster Vince took a step to the side and ducked low a second before the creature’s massive tail came at him. The incredible amount of air it displaced made his hair ruffle and his clothes flutter against him.

Turning hard inward Vince started toward the creature’s chest and stomach. Unsheathing his sword he jumped at the beast.

Slamming it home into it’s shoulder with the blade pointing toward the sky Vince jerked upon the blade. He put so much force into it that a part of his mind noted that he could have broken the weapon that way as his feet went upward and over his head.

He’d held onto the hilt so that he was forcefully flipped upward.

Letting go of the hilt he landed atop where the monster’s neck met its shoulders. Pulling his arm back he blasted his fist down into the base of the Wyrm’s neck.

There was a hideous crunch that sounded like a tree-trunk breaking in half in a monstrous wind. Before the Wyrm could react Vince put his hands together and drilled them into the same spot.

The Wyrm’s neck bent grotesquely and it fell forward, it’s neck at a strange ninety-degree angle from it’s body now.

Growling Vince scrabbled across the monster’s shoulder and to it’s side. Jerking his blade free as he went he slashed at it’s quivering chest with the blade.

With a wordless shout he carved a massive hunk out of the side of the Wyrm. Many of it’s ribs breaking and shattering apart with the blow.

Vince could see what he wanted just behind the lungs. Crawling into the beast’s chest partway he lashed out with his sword.

It’s heart fell away with a splat as it rolled across it’s other organs. Blood began to spray and flow in every direction even as he grabbed up the boulder sized treat.

Sitting down on the leg of the creature as a river of blood rushed from the corpse, he took a giant bite from the pulsating heart.

Vince stared at nothing and enjoyed his meal.