Wild Wastes 4 -Ch22- (Patreon)

“This one, isn’t it,” he murmured, looking at a tree in a pot. He’d never seen such a thing like this. If it wasn’t a Dryad tree it’d likely suffer quite a bit and die in a situation like this. “It looks terrible.”

“Yes, that’s most certainly not a Dryad tree,” agreed Blue, leaning down next to him. She stuck a finger in the soil, then touched it to her tongue. She chuckled and shook her head. “It’s Dea. This soil is full of life. The only way she kept the tree alive, and pretending to be a Dryad, was keeping all she had of her valley here.”

“Ugh, I have no idea what putting all that dirt in me is going to do but… whatever,” growled Vince. “It’d empower her, right? The more I put in?”

“It’ll empower all of us. I’m certainly feeling much… stronger… now that I have soil for my tree. A goddesses soil, too. We’re all very possessively hanging on to every crumb of her earth.”

“Fine… ugh. Okay. I’ll just… lay down, I guess. You can start shoveling it into me. I’m not going to get sick from this am I?

“Not supposed to be putting shovel fulls of dirt into my damn body. Sounds like the opposite of healthy.”

“Vince, honestly, at this point your body isn’t even human anymore,” Leila murmured as Vince took his shirt off and then sat down next to the pot.

“She’d know, she got drunk off you like you were a really high proof alcohol,” Sam laughingly reported from where she sat on the edge of the tower. She was panting, and catching her breath.

The note she’d brought back from Petra had been very simple.

An acknowledgment that she had to move forward and to return in two days with a new report.

“We need Fairys or Fae. We can’t rely completely on Sam,” complained Vince and got comfy against the ground. “She’s being overworked.”

“Oh relax, we already have a way to spare your beloved, Sam,” teased Blue, one hand gently patting his chest.

“Good. She is beloved,” argued Vince, glaring up at Blue. He knew she was teasing him because of what he’d done to her. “Just as you are, Blue. Mind giving me a kiss from that pretty mouth of yours?”

Blue grinned, sighed, and shook her head. Leaning down she gave him a tender kiss and stroked his cheek once.

When he countered her teasing romantically, she often gave up the tactic.

“You know me too well,” she admitted and then gave him another kiss. Reaching out with her hand she opened his chest up again. “Cristina and some other winged Ants of the royal family will be assisting with messenger duties. She’ll be here tomorrow.

“Sam and Cristina will alternate days on messenger duties.”

“That works. Prisoners?” he asked as Elizabeth came over with a hand shovel. She gave him a smile nodded her head.

“I used a few of the Dryads to h-help out. They’re bringing up the prisoners now,” answered Elizabeth. “I’m going to lead the Dryads. Blue feels it’ll be a good… learning experience for me. To help satisfy another’s needs and wants.

“I… I chose Antona to be my second for now. I’ll… I’ll evaluate them and make changes as we go.”

Huh. Alright.

Elizabeth was down on her knees next to him now and shoveling dirt into his chest. To which the trees miserly snatched at every speck as it fell in. Only to add it to the rest of Dea’s dirt. It was a very strange feeling to Vince.

Turning his head he looked the unconscious Dea not far away. She’d been laid out and was still unconscious.

Thankfully she’d stopped doing her own impression of a light-show.

“Dryad Lord, we’ve brought the prisoners but… we didn’t bring them all,” reported Antona, coming into view. Unable to help her suddenly reborn Dryad nature she gave him a wondrous smile that made her eyes glow faintly. As if coming back to herself she blinked twice and the smile lessened considerably.

“You look lovely, Antona. You’ve perked right up. Tell me, what kind of tree are you?” asked Vince, not wanting to let this moment fade. He needed to push these poor battle-broken Dryads to a bit of normalcy. “Actually, wait. I’ll guess. Now… given who you are as a person and how you’ve thrived… you’re an Evergreen, aren’t you?”

Antona opened her mouth, closed it, then nodded her head with a grin. Her entire face lit up again and she appeared genuinely curious how he’d guessed.

“Just felt right. That’s all. I’m glad you look as well as you do Antona,” Vince answered before she could ask. “Now, my wonderfully pretty Antona, pack those pretty green eyes back in your head and tell me about the prisoners.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Antona nodded her head fractionally. Behind her, he could see several other Dryads, all very curious, and also all smiles. His banter with her had likely eased some of the burden in their own hearts.

“My Lord, they’re prisoners who broke laws there were… unjust or… dumb,” elaborated Antona. “So I’ve brought you two who were accused of magical maleficence.”

Turning his head, Vince looked to where Antona had directed his gaze. Two men and a young woman were there.

Fairly standard looking for humans they didn’t elicit anything out of the ordinary from Vince. Their eyes were stuck on the dirt being poured into him.

They’ll serve my purpose just fine.

“Are you from the magical community?” he asked them directly.

“I… yes,” answered the man in front. He gestured to the young woman next to himself. “We’re from Magia Vale. We came here to get Daniela.”

“Great, you can return. Please take a message for me to your leader,” Vince said with a small nod of his head. This would be perfect. “Vince Campbell, king of Yosemite, will be coming to speak with them.

“This would be in regards to the possibility of an alliance against… well… everyone. I plan taking this land for myself. All of it. Right up to the end of the mountain range. My understanding is it’s a no man’s land no one wants.

“I want it. I want all of it and everything south of it. It’ll all be mine. After that, I’m not sure. We’ll see who’s north of us at that point.”

Smiling to himself, Vince really did enjoy this sort of work better.

It’d taken him a while to realize his calling in life hadn’t been that of a ranger.

But a Warlord with a team of special operatives.

“You can go. That’s all. I have no price for your freedom otherwise, just deliver the message,” Vine finished with a nod of his head.

Elizabeth was still pouring dirt into his chest and the trees were gobbling it down faster than his Dryads did him when they got the chance.

He’d also noticed Dea had a bit of a shiver every time more of her dirt as added to him. He truly was clearly her receptacle and valley at this point.

“We thank the Lord of the Dryads,” said the other man. “We will of course relay your message.”

The Dryads left, following the magicians back down the stairs.

“They weren’t very strong,” offered Leila. She was here to monitor what was happening with Vince as he took in Dea’s dirt. “Any of our Elves could overpower them with only a thought or two. The magic of this continent is stunted or… they just were really weak.”

“Dunno,” mused Vince, staring up into the sky above them. “Antona seems a lot better.”

“She really is,” agreed Blue from where she was tending to Dea. “They’re all better. It was good you divided up the power like that to jump start them all.

“I think it’ll only be a month before you have to seed them all. Though Antona will be more likely in a week or so. At that point we’ll need to get Leandra in front of you as well.”

Blue looked thoughtful as she stared at the valley goddess, then she grinned and clapped her hands together twice.

“Oh! We can have a Dryad wife ranking party again! I remember it like it was yesterday. You knew just who I was without even seeing me. You can rank grove-wives like that,” Blue announced joyfully. “I wish I could relieve that moment. I still believe I was chosen so early and quickly. That you knew right where I was.”

“I wanna watch,” demanded Sam.

“Yes, as do I,” chimed in Elizabeth, packing another shovel full of dirt into him.\

“It’ll be fun,” Leila added. “I’m sure I can learn a lot about grove magic too seeing them receive him the first time.”

Vince shrugged. He saw no reason not to.

***

“Lord, this is the point where they let people in for trading,” Antona called out and turned her mount toward him.

They’d all taken horses from the city and ridden out this way. Moving on foot was apparently a good way to get caught by bandits or worse.

Red, Elizabeth, and Leila all declined. They had faster and more secure means of travel at their disposal.

Vince had assumed this was the location given the ephemeral plane of magic he could see. It was shaped in a massive dome that started here and went all the way into the distance. Likely where the city was.

“You don’t see this?” he asked, indicating the magic.

“I-no, Lord. I’m… I don’t know any magic. None of us were allowed to be taught. To see it, I’d have to… to understand a little bit of magic,” Antona answered.

“Blue?” Vince started.

“Already have a training course planned, my dearest. I’ll have all our grove-wives whipped into shape in no time,” promised the spunky Dryad.

“Thanks, love. You’re amazing,” murmured Vince and then reached out to lay his hand against the magic. It felt quite solid against his hand. It was a near straight upward and flat surface for quite a while before it began to curve away.

“Dea? Do you see it?” inquired Vince.

“Of course, my Lord. Errr… master. My go—”

“Vince is fine, Dea. You’re my goddess are you not?” he reminded her and then tapped on the magic with his knuckles.

“I’m… your goddess. Yes. The goddess of Yosemite and all it’s lands. You are my lord. The Lord of Dryads,” murmured the lovely valley goddess.

She’d woken up the next morning as if no time had passed. She’d also been completely restored to full health, unbelievably.

A goddess full of power and vitality was a very attractive looking woman, it seemed. Especially so when she was the proclaimed goddess of all the lands of Yosemite.

She’d been little better than a Dryad one day, then had the strength of a red Dragon the next.

On top of which, her bust and hips had expanded, to which she had no idea why or even how. Vince believed it was the Dryads messing with her proportions, but he couldn’t prove it.

Dea hadn’t complained about it either and had quickly run Blue down after she woke up.

Getting down off his horse, Vince stood in front of the magical barrier. He lifted his hand and knocked on it several times.

He knew the magicians had already made it back here, as he’d sent Red to track them.

The feral Beastkin was currently searching the area’s around them for any type of ambush. Along with Leila and Zathira.

“Hello?” Vince called out after knocking. “My name is Vince Campbell. I’m here to speak with your leader.”

There was no response.

“Uh huh,” he muttered and turned his gaze to Leila. “They can hear me through this, right?”

“Yes, there’s a spell inside of it that seems to give them limited visibility but full hearing,” concurred Leila.

“In other words, they don’t want to meet me. They’re rejecting my overture to talk,” Vince conjectured, looking to the dome. “They treat Dryads alright in there?”

“Uhm, I don’t know,” answered Antona. “My Lord I… I’m very… I’m stupid. I can’t read. I can’t write. I barely know what’s going on outside the city let alone the world. I’m—”

“Going to be taught and trained,” Blue soothing interjected. Apparently she was playing mother-hen to all these poor battle-hardened Dryads. They didn’t understand any of the feelings they were having and were all trained for violence and combat. “Vince just wanted to know if he should attack them outright.”

“I’ve never heard anything bad about their treatment of non-humans, Lord,” offered Dea.

“I’ll knock one more time, then… then I’ll really knock. When they’re all scrambling to offer me everything, they can regret not answering the door,” Vince hissed. “Maiden Elizabeth, give them a good Dragon knock for me?”

Elizabeth moved forward and shrugged off her great coat. Her wings popped up behind her, and spread out. They were often slung low across her back to hide under the coat. She was easily confused with other races so long as the wings weren’t visible.

Pulling her arm back she rocketed it into the dome of magic.

There was a pang noise that resounded throughout. A ripple of magic went out in shock-waves across the transparent surface.

“I still can’t believe the Lord has a Dragon-wife,” Antona whispered to what Vince suspected was Dea.

“He has twenty of them,” Elizabeth contradicted them. “I am but one of many and the least worthy of him. I’m earning my place and my mistress, Taylor, commanded that I lead this wing as if I were her.

“It will take time, but I will endeavor to make it so. Other Dragon Maidens will come as soon as they understand Vince’s greatness. Or at least… as soon as I am not as much of a failure.”

Frowning, Vince looked to Blue.

As far as he knew, Elizabeth wasn’t on his list of “wives”. Which meant something had changed in the background.

The Dryad gave him a look that promised him anything he wanted as long as he agreed for the moment. That any wish he wanted was his, so long as he played along.

“You’re doing fine, Elizabeth. And I’m not going to call you Beth. Your name is too pretty to shorten it,” he grumbled, realizing he didn’t want to disappoint Blue. “Alright, they’ve had their chance.”

Stepping up to the dome Vince flexed his right hand, then gave it a shake. Staring at the magic in front of him, he could certainly understand why they thought it’d stop him.

It could potentially stop a Dragon, after all. Depending on how long before said Dragon got bored or tired.

Vince was most certainly as weak as a Dragon.

“Lord, won’t you hurt your hand?” Antona asked in a nervous voice.

Aww, she’s worried for me.

She really is starting to show her Dryad side.

How lovely.

A Dryad can’t be anything other than a Dryad it seems. Even when you train them up in combat. I wonder if Betty’s Dryads are the same.

“He’s fine dear,” Blue said with a wave of a hand.

With a single-mindedness Vince put his goal firmly in his mind. To bring his power into his arm and fist. To puncture the dome in one go and bring it crashing down.

Lashing out with a single punch he put his body and weight into it as well.

There was a crunching noise that sounded a lot like bones breaking.

Several seconds after that and the magical dome collapsed into itself. The whole of it breaking apart as if they were made of brittle poorly made glass.

“Hm. That took a little bit more than I expected,” complained Vince, looking to his hand. There was some redness along his knuckles that had the look of being rubbed against a stretch of rock.

Opening his hand he gave it a shake, then closed it and made a fist.

Flexing it to see how it felt.

Nothing had the feeling of being wrong and everything was as it should be.

He had the distinct impression that it would have been much worse for him if he hadn’t eaten so much Wyrm heart. That maybe being forced to eat the second heart was far more beneficial to him than he’d considered.

“Wing leader Elizabeth,” Vince began, looking over at the Dragon.

“I- that is… y-yes, Nest-mate?” asked Elizabeth in a tight voice.

“Let’s discuss my requirements of your Wing later. What you expect of me as your Nest-mate. Needs for a vault and how much gold you’ll require,” he laid out, remembering all the things Ramona had coached him on. “As it would appear you’re ready to move ahead. Is that fair to say?’

“Very fair! Yes, please. I would… would like that. As well as to talk more about me and… well, me,” Elizabeth answered quickly. She’d picked up her great coat by this point and was pulling it back over herself. Her wings moving around beneath it and shuffling into place.

“Great. Let’s go have a talk with the Magi Vale morons and find out why they didn’t want to chit chat with me. Because honestly, I’m fucking adorable and they should have wanted to chat me up,” Vince growled and clambered up onto his horse. Grabbing the reins he pulled him around and started him down the road again.