Wild Wastes 4 -Ch21- (Patreon)

Well.

Two new Dryads. One… very lonely tree as well.

Starting to feel a bit like a grove again.

Didn’t realize it at the time but I never felt alone with all the Dryad trees inside me. When they went dormant it was like standing in a room that suddenly emptied.

Zathira leaned down from the ceiling and peeked out of the stairwell they were in currently.

She’d used her body to push herself up the wall and up to the top. Then eased forward until she could see what was going on.

Given the height of the ceiling, people would be less likely to spot her there. Or so she reasoned when she explained what she was doing.

Hanging there improbably Zathira hesitated for a handful of seconds before she came back down. Her eyes had an odd glint to them but she looked unconcerned.

“One guard,” she whispered. “Sleeping. Clearly the right room. The door has a gold handle.”

A gold handle… right.

Ugh.

“You’re not a constrictor but… you could wind him up. Right? I can tie him together while you keep him immobile. Then we move on to the city-lord,” Vince thought aloud.

Zathira’s brow creased for a moment and then she nodded her head.

“I can manage that. You go on to our target. I don’t think one guard will be troublesome for me. If he resists too much, I’ll just bite him,” concluded Zathira.

“Try not to. We’ve already devastated the population with how many soldiers we’ve wiped out in the last month. If we can spare some people, I’d love to. We’ve made our point and people should be surrendering to us rather than fighting,” lamented Vince.

There were those he would be happy to kill. Evil people who would follow orders that were terrible.

That wasn’t the only type of person serving as a soldier, however.

A small nod of her head was the only response Zathira gave as her coils began to bunch up below her. Her upper half then moved away from him and vanished around the corner. Her snake tail catching up much more slowly.

So… strange and interesting.

Maybe I should try to find a Lamia who’s interested. Could be fun.

Vince heard the sound of someone letting out a soft groan. It would be almost imperceptible unless one was listening for anything out of the ordinary.

Getting up out of the crouch Vince entered the hall and went the same way Zathira had.

He found the Lamia had wound up the guard, who was already turning a dark red color, and was working at tying his hands together. A sword and a pistol were on the ground nearby.

Apparently he’d managed to get his hands on his weapons, but not do anything with them at all. Falling victim to the Lamia quickly.

I wonder how strong a constrictor would be.

Vince went to the door and grasped the handle. It felt odd in his hand. As if it were in truth partly made of gold.

Twisting it he found it to be locked from the inside.

Not stopping at the locking point, he kept pulling. There was a clack and snap that came from inside the lock. As if something were shearing clean off.

When the handle met the door frame there was a clang and then the door began to open inward. Whatever he’d done to the lock, it’d been enough to break the locking function.

Pushing it open Vince entered and then drew out his belt-knife. Sweeping his eyes through the room he found it was a waiting room that could double as as study and entry.

Dismissing it he stormed forward and began going room to room.

Nothing interested him except his target and the bedroom he was likely in.

At the back of the rooms Vince found what he assumed was what he wanted. There was a door with a lock on it, though it wasn’t engaged.

Opening the door he entered and found his target. A man sleeping peacefully in the bed in nothing more than a simple nightshirt.

Vince hadn’t even bothered to register the mans’ features or details before he noticed a few things in the corner of the room.

A wooden table of sorts. It had straps in four locations with a large gap in the middle at the bottom. Near that and leaning against the wall was a large phallic shaped iron. One that looked to have been used a number of times given the odd flecks of charred material stuck to it.

This bastard.

Lunging at the man in the bed Vince ripped a pillow out from under the man. Jerking the pillow out of the casing he upended it and slammed it down on the waking man’s head.

“Wh-what?” stammered the man while Vince slammed a booted foot into his chest. Pinning him into the bed.

Grabbing up another pillow while the baron coughed and sputtered Vince really only wanted it to rip it apart. He needed something to tie around the man’s throat and keep his hood in place.

“H-how dare-” coughing twice the baron ended up with only a wheeze as Vince pushed down with his boot.

“I need information. You’re going to give it to me,” stated Vince after tearing the pillow casing apart. Wrapping a long strip of it around the man’s neck Vince wrapped it into itself. Then pulled it back the other way and wound it twice more. Tying it in place he gave it a solid jerk. “If you don’t give it to me, I’m going to make you wish for death.

Snatching up one of the man’s wrists Vince dragged him over to the table that he clearly crippled Dryad’s upon. Tossing the stammering man onto it Vince quickly set to buckling him down.

“I can give you information, yes!” agreed the man in a high pitched squeal.

Picking up the iron rod the man used to torture Dryads Vince casually stuck it into the fireplace that was smoldering nearby. Then he added several logs and a handful of twigs.

“Great. First, what’s the second closest garrison to here, and how many soldiers are in it?” demanded Vince.

“Laudio! It’s a river city! We use it to transport goods! There’s about four-thousand there!” squealed the man, pulling at the bindings that were holding him down on the table. “They’re all just recruits! We were going to train them up and send them up against the bugs!”

Bugs? I-oh. The ants.

I see.

They really wanted to crush them.

“How do you summon the Dryads here? Do you have any prisoners in the city? Where are you keeping them?” asked Vince, looking into the fire as the iron heat up.

“Trees! All their trees are on the roof. Go break a branch off each tree and they’ll return here!

“Prisoners… yes, I do have some. They’re all in the dungeon. A couple heathens but the rest are just criminals. Supporters of the failed king.”

Vince clicked his tongue. The idea of summoning Dryads by harming their trees would certainly make sense to someone like this.

Vince was fairly well aware of the fact that all you have to do is ask the tree to tell the Dryad. Dryad trees were quite aware of what was going on and weren’t normal by any means.

“Great. Any treasures or vaults not in the city? You could pay your ransom with that,” offered Vince in a plausible lie. A man like this would most certainly think that a very valid answer.

“Not in the… no. I keep everything here. Everything is here in my keep. I can easily pay you with anything you can carry out. You can keep anything you can hold. It’s yours!” promised the baron.

“Right. Any enemies you have here? Any people you would want to vanish? Or places? Organizations?” inquired Vince.

The iron was starting to look rather warm now. Roaring merrily in the fireplace the wood was burning brightly and it wouldn’t take much longer.

“The magical heathens to the east,” spat the baron. “They’ve turned that damn valley into a death trap. Actually, I can pay you! You can go kill that bastard Gibbs!”

Gibbs… magical valley… hm.

Maybe those heathens in the prison can give me some better information about that. I bet they can. Then I can see if we can make an ally or… if I need to go stomp some more people out.

“Great. Now… anything else I should know? Anyone else I should worry about? Anyone in the service of the great prime minister that could be an issue for you or me?” picking up the smoking and sizzling iron Vince moved down to the bottom of the table.

“No? No! There’s a small skirmish down in the south between two dukes. You could probably go kill one of them for money from the other!” offered the baron. It was obvious he was just spouting out anything that came to his mind anymore.

He wasn’t really worth much more from an information point of view.

Vince figured if there was anything else, Leila could summon up his spirit since they’d have access to the corpse. Which meant the man was no longer needed.

“Time to return some things to you,” murmured Vince.

“Return… return things to me? What things?” asked the baron in an odd voice.

“Pain,” answered Vince, aiming at the baron’s tightly puckered sphincter with the intensely glowing iron.

***

Standing in front of the keep, Vince realized this wasn’t something he wanted to deal with. Not at any level, shape, or form.

It was entirely the reason he had given all of these duties to those he trusted. Giving them the brunt of such duties and letting them do with them as they saw fit.

“I wish I had my Elves,” he muttered under his breath.

Dryads filled the keep grounds.

Armed, dangerous looking, and every one of them with a face filled with anger and curiosity.

Anger he imagined for what’d been done to them over their life, curiosity over the fact that they’d been asked to return. More so as they all noticed Blue at Vince’s right, a Dryad, and Antona on his left.

Looking much renewed and with a vibrancy to her that Vince expected in Dryads. There was still a far more serious cast to her than his other Dryads, but the change in her was night and die.

“Hello,” Vince said to the fifty or so Dryads. “My name is Vince Campbell. The lord of Yosemite. The king of it, in fact. I’m here in Spain to take these lands as my own. They will come under me in it’s entirety. I will bend this land to my whims or it’ll break.

“After I’ve broken it, I’ll put the pieces back together in the shape I see fit. There is no in between area in this matter. I will not be deterred.”

Elizabeth appeared from around the side of the keep, dragging along behind her by an ankle the charred and blood splattered corpse of the baron.

She pulled him up to the front of Vince and dropped him there. Between the Dryad’s he’d tortured and the man who’d killed him.

“I’ve already gone ahead and… taken care of the baron. I’m going to have his corpse thrown into the midden heap where the night-soil goes,” explained Vince with a dismissive wave of his hand. Every Dryad there had dull-glowing eyes as they stared at the corpse in front of them. None of them missed what’d been done to the man. “After returning to him what he’d done to you, I broke the iron-rod off. Inside of him. It’ll be buried with him.

“No Dryad will be harmed here again. In fact, nor will a Dryad be harmed in Coruna, either. I’ve already taken it for my own. While I couldn’t save Flora or the others, I did install Leandra as the my duchess there.

“Before you have any regrets for those in Coruna, I retrieved their bodies. I planted them at the foot of their trees. I instilled them and their grove with power. They’ll return.

“I’ll tell you why as well. My country is not one from your continent. We come from a different land. Far to the west. My Dryads are revered as priestesses that can bring back a Dryad from death. They hold great healing power and can commune with all of nature there.

“And because I know you’ll ask, I’m their grove-husband, and grove. Inside me is their many trees. Leandra is also here with me. As is Antona, now.”

All the eyes there were moving between Vince, Blue, and Antona. There was a communal shuffling of feet and anxious hands.

Eyes that’d been hard moments ago were softening as they listened. Hope coming back to them once again.

“Now… your part in this. I relieve you of your duty, you poor… scorned Dryads. I formally end your suffering in your forced obligation,” offered Vince. He’d spoken with Blue at length at how to handle this.

Once he was done inviting all the Dryads into his grove, he’d need to move on the prisoners. Sam was busy flying back to Petra even now to relay the news and information they’d gained.

Leila and Zathira were actively torturing the dead baron for information. His soul had been easy for them to hold onto since he’d managed to live until Leila showed up.

“You may end your watch and I welcome you to my grove if you wish it. I would —”

“I’m whole,” Antona interrupted in a loud voice. “I joined his grove and I was made whole. I’m… I’m me. I’m still healing, and it will likely take me a week more, but I’m whole.

“It doesn’t hurt to soil the ground anymore. I don’t fear changing my undergarments for fear of what I’d find there. I don’t… I don’t hate seeing children anymore. For the biterness that was in my heart is gone.

“I’m whole. The Lord of Dryads made me whole. He gave it all back to me. I’m free.”

As she spoke, Antona’s eyes began to violently glow. Almost as if sparks were cascading across the pupilless expanse of her iris.

“You should all ask the Lord of Dryads to accept you, because every word he’s said is the truth. He only brought one grove-with with him,” Antona continued, pointing at Blue now. “He has eighty or so back home. They are the backbone of his kingdom.”

Several Dryads raised their hands to him. He saw in each was a tired looking and beaten down seed-pod. Some had more life than others, but all were visibly sickly.

“As the grove-mistress, I welcome you all,” Blue declared and then reached up to gently pull Vince’s shirt away. This was further down in the script, but it seemed like it was time to speed things up. “I would also ask that you consider taking up your arms and training in defense of Yosemite.

“Because even if you fall for V-the Lord of the Dryads, you will be called back later. So long as you wish it, you’ll always come back.”

Blue had deftly split open his skin and the entry point for Dryad seed-pods was available once again. Dryads began to form up in front of him with eyes that glowed dully and hope on their faces.

Lord of the Dryads, huh?

I suppose it’s not wrong. They really are the backbone of my kingdom. They bound everything together underneath me and hold everyone together forcefully.

“I’m not a Dryad, can… can you still make me whole?” asked a woman who’d stepped ahead of the rest. In fact, she’d moved even before Blue had asked for people to join him.

In her hands wasn’t a seed-pod from a tree, but a handful of what looked to be dirt with a few blades of brown grass in it.

“I’m… I was a small deity. A goddess of a field. It wasn’t a big one, but enough that when I came here, I could retain myself. Remain a small god. I didn’t need any worship to exist.

“They… took me from my home and burned it… the field… to the ground. Everything was scorched and turned to farm land. They treated me like a Dryad no matter how I said I wasn’t. They… burned me… inside, too.

“I pretended to be a Dryad and agreed that the three they brought from my valley and the dirt with it was mine. This is all I have with me that I stole from that pot. I haven’t… touch any of my earth since. This is all my grass. There’s nothing else.”

Looking at the woman, Vince found she really did look a lot like a Dryad.

Her hair was a rather attractive looking bright-red color with flowing curls. It was a very similar shade in fact to Green’s hair. She was much taller though and came up to Vince’s height.

Eyes that were a pale blue the color of a sky after a rain peered into his face hopefully. Her figure was far more akin to a normal woman’s though she did have a little more in her dimensions than the average.

She was no-way near what a Dryad was in form or shape, but there was a similar vibrancy of life and nature to her.

He could tell at a glance that her nature was quite similar to a Dryad’s as well.

Beyond all that he was somewhat surprised though. He was well aware of deities. He knew that you inherently didn’t want to make deals with them. That unless you invoked them, or brought them up, they had no power or real influence.

The fact that she was supposedly a small goddess was a bit of a shock to him.

Except he felt her words were true and honest.

That maybe there were different types of deities entirely that he’d never met before.

What if I can… add a deity to my grove?

“What’s your name, my little valley goddess,” asked Vince with a smile.

“I’m… that… my name is Dea. Just Dea,” answered the woman with a smile in return for him. She looked nervous but excited. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “You really are a Lord of the Dryad’s, aren’t you? You feel a lot like those I knew from my old world. Decades ago. I’ve… been here for so long. I never thought I’d escape this hell.”

Taking her hands in his, Vince simply guided the dirt into the hole in himself rather than respond to her depressing words.

He was already pushing his trees to please gather it up and incorporate her into themselves. To be the soil for their grove and cherish her.

As she was no different than them. A Dryad of a field, rather than a tree.

Greedily, the roots of the trees accepted the dirt and grass as it was passed into his chest. Even going so far as to briefly appear at the edges of the wound to scour any smudge that’d been left on his skin.

Dea looked shocked for a second, then promptly fell backward. Collapsing to the ground even as her skin began to glow.

Almost like someone had stuck a miniature sun inside her.

“Well. That’s our first goddess,” murmured Blue and motioned to Dea. Elizabeth was there to gently scoop up the woman. She then carried her a short distance and laid her out on the grass. “To those who would wish to join us, please… come forward with your seeds.”

Inside himself, he could feel a drastic change occurring. The trees were busily forming a ball of roots around the remnant of the goddess and shielding it.

Pushing power into that soil and incorporating it into their grove. To make it a tiny valley in a grove, all the size of a single man.

Even as the deity named Dea lay on the ground putting out enough light that he could actually feel some heat from it now.

Changes. Always changes.

We’ll go get her soil in a bit. Add it to the rest in me.

After this though, the dungeon.

Or… actually… we have the prisoners brought to the roof. That’s easier. I can get Dea’s dirt there and replant the trees elsewhere.

They’ll all likely die without their Dryad but there’s no sense in not at least trying.

“Blue, please make sure our poor goddess is cared for. She’s the only one I have,” murmured Vince, wondering what kind of power-up he’d get for such a thing.