Wild Wastes 4 -CH23- (Patreon)

There was a clatter and pop as something came toward Vince at a high speed. Incredibly it sounded akin to a bear racing through a brush-wood. Snapping off branches, saplings, and anything else that got in it’s way.

“Must be Red,” muttered Vince and pulled to the side of the road closest to the small copse of trees.

“Red is… terrifying,” answered Dea, moving to keep at his side.

The valley goddess didn’t like to be very far from him it seemed. She was practically living in his shadow. On his other side was Antona and Blue, his Dryad attendants as they were.

“No she isn’t. She’s absolutely lovable,” argued Vince. “Here, I’ll help you with her.”

Blasting through a bush at high speed Red popped out on the other side. Her eyes were already locked onto him.

“Bringer! Red found soldiers! They’re not those we’ve been fighting. Their uniforms are different. It’s a dark brown and Red has never seen it before,” reported the Beastkin. “Leila is watching them now while I report back. They saw her so she can’t leave easily.”

“Makes sense. Anything else?” asked Vince.

“Mmm, Red saw magic people forming up outside the wall. They ran back inside after the magic went wall went boom. Red was climbing on it and fell,” said Red with a chuckle. “They were very concerned that Red wasn’t sliding off.”

“I mean, I’d be rather terrified, Red,” Blue said and smiled at the Beastkin. Vince had been quite clear with Blue that Red had been the one to suggest she needed a present. “You’re such a noticeable and unique person. For those who are your enemy, it’s right for them to be afraid.”

Red sniffed, grinned at Blue, and nodded her head.

“Red loves you, Blue. Just as Red loves Vince,” grumbled the Beastkin, moving along with the horses easily. She was distinctly ever unsure of what to do with her feelings for him and Blue.

“I know you do, sweetheart,” Blue answered with a wave of her hand.

“Alright. Will we run into them if we stay on this road?” asked Vince.

“Yes, you will end up between them,” Red confirmed.

“Great. I need you here. Will you do me a favor, my darling Red?” asked Vince, guiding the horse into a bit faster of a pace.

“Anything for Bringer! Red’s husband deserves everything!” declared Red.

“Dea is a little nervous and was wondering if you would sit with her. She was concerned about bothering you though,” lied Vince. “She didn’t want to disturb your duties.”

Red’s head snapped to Dea, then gave her a wide grin.

“Red will sit with Vince’s goddess wife,” the Beastkin stated. Moving over she clambered up into the saddle behind Dea even as the deity stiffened up and stared straight ahead.

“You smell nice, Dea. Like a field,” Red murmured and stuck her head into Dea’s armpit, inhaling deeply. “Smell good. Dea should brush Red’s hair later for her. You’d make Red’s hair smell nice if you used your hands.”

“I-uhm-yes. Yes I will, Red,” agreed the deity, still staring straight ahead. Red’s arms had come up under Dea’s breasts and she was now hanging onto the other woman. “Not a problem.”

“Good, good. Red likes Dryads. You’re not a Dryad but you feel like one. Red thinks she’ll like you a lot,” said Red as she began to rub her face back and forth against Dea’s back.

“See?” asked Vince, catching a fleeting look from Dea before she looked ahead again.

He’d suspected Red would like her. She was a goddess of nature and Red was a cursed one. She’d be inclined to feeling something she hadn’t in a long while.

Dea nodded her head fractionally, still quite stiff.

“Red, can I give her some ribbons to put in your hair? Nice black ones? I got you some in Bilbao and I think they’d go really well with your hair color,” asked Blue.

“Red would like that. Thank you, grove-wife. Amazing wife. Red doesn’t deserve you,” noted Red as she began to rub herself against Dea’s back much more forcefully. “Don’t worry Vince’s goddess wife. Red will protect you as well.”

Vince cut the chat short and got his horse up to a full gallop.

He wanted to see what was happening ahead. It sounded like exactly the type of situation he wanted to insert himself into.

***

As they rode down the road Vince could see what Red had been talking about.

There was a battle line drawn up facing the wall of a very large castle-like city. One that was as large as Yosemite and then double that. The wall was a massive structure that rose as high as some of the biggest buildings he’d seen.

“Red, where’s Zathira?” asked Vince. He’d forgotten to find out where his Necromancer was.

“Red doesn’t know,” mumbled the Cursed One as she continued to nuzzle and rub all over Dea. Her hands were pressed firmly to Dea’s front as if not wanting to let the goddess escape. “Red never saw her.”

“Damn. Alright. I’ll just assume she’s working on my behalf. Somewhere,” complained Vince.

“Most certainly,” Antona stated with a sharp nod of her head. “She knows her place, Lord. Do not doubt her. I’ve only known her a short while but I’ve spoken with her several times.”

“Don’t worry about her,” agreed Blue. “Just use our dear Elizabeth for whatever you were going to ask. She’s more talented than you think.”

The Dragon who was moving at a smooth and languid run turned her head fractionally. Looking toward Blue as her name came up.

Wincing, Vince didn’t want to actually give this task to Elizabeth. Her track record as of late hadn’t really been to his liking. While she was clearly trying; she was struggling.

“Elizabeth, any type of rifle or weapon likely to break through your scales?” he asked. “Or magic? I know most Dragons are very resistant to magic but… Leila can exterminate Red’s fairly easily.”

“No, Nest-mate, nothing they have could harm me I imagine. As to magic… well, I’m not a Silver Dragon. I’m a Platinum Dragon. There is very little that could… harm me that they could throw at me. Beasts like the Wyrm are far more likely to injure me, rather than what humans or humanoids could do to me,” Elizabeth said as she ran along, the great coat’s arms flapping behind her.

Vince knew a number of differences in Dragons and what they could do, but he didn’t honestly know what was different between a Black and a Platinum.

“Okay. Get ahead of us and land in the middle. Between the wall and those forces. I’d like to have a chat with both of them,” ordered Vince. “Antona, I need you to stay here. Leila and Zathira could more than likely join you here as well.

“Dea, Red, Blue, you’ll be with me. I’ll need you all for this I imagine. Likely someone will need to be taught a lesson and I’ll use you to make that point. Red you’ll handle those with the guns. I can’t imagine them actually catching you if you didn’t want to be.”

“Red won’t be caught. Red has been shot at a lot and is used to dodging them. Bulletwounds heal easily, too,” called Red over the sound of the horse hooves slamming into the ground. Her face was partly pressed into Dea’s armpit still.

“Dea, you’ll be dealing with the magic. You ready to flex those goddess powers for me?” asked Vince.

“I’ll do all I can, Lord,” responded Dea.

“I expect you to succeed, goddess of Yosemite, Dea. If you don’t, you and I will be having to dodge a lot of magic attacks I’d bet,” pointed out Vince.

“I will succeed,” Dea clarified.

Running ahead of the horses as if they were moving slow Elizabeth was pulling her coat free. Tossing it over her shoulder once it came undone she took off into the air. Her wings flapping behind her rapidly as she began to grow in size.

It didn’t take long for both sides to see her coming. No one did anything but each combatant fixated on her.

I mean… all she has to do is go by in a pass and turn them all into a barbecue, right? Just light’em up.

So it was probably the right choice to send her out force.

Maybe.

“She really will be fine,” promised Blue. “She’s just very young and… uhm… dumb. She’ll grow in wisdom with time.

“That or I’ll beat it into her thick skull. I’m fairly certain I won’t have to do that. At least… fairly certain.”

Young and dumb.

Been there.

With a roar that reminded Vince of Taylor, Elizabeth spread her wings and let loose a massive jet of flame into the air. It was an eye catching demonstration of power that no-one could miss.

Pulling her wings int sharply Elizabeth than sped toward the ground like a meteor. Flame and smoke trailed out behind her as she went, giving her a rather hellish appearance.

“Oh good, she listened,” Blue exclaimed. “I was trying to tell her that sometimes showmanship is better than aggression!

“I used Sam as an example. She doesn’t have to get aggressive with you, for you to notice her and want more of her.”

“If you turn Elizabeth into Sam part two… I’m going to do my best to never embarrass you again,” growled Vince as they drew ever closer.

“She won’t!” promised Blue.

Elizabeth smashed into the ground, a cloud of dirt and dust creating a geyser of debris in the air. Several breaths and riding onward later it started to clear away.

Standing in the middle was Elizabeth. Her wings were wide spread behind her, her head raised up, though her body was positioned so she faced neither side.

She had one eye on each side and was watching them.

Perfect.

That’s… actually well done.

Hm. Maybe I’m only thinking poorly of her, when in reality, she’s learning as quickly as she can. I’ll have to really speak with her after this.

Sam flew in low at that moment and plunked herself down in front of Vince on the saddle. She leaned back into him and cleared her throat.

“I let Leila know what you were doing. I could tell without even talking to you,” shouted the Fae. “You’re going to make one ally with you, then destroy the other, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Vince agreed with a smirk.

One side or the other would become his ally, and he’d crush the other.

What Sam hadn’t said was it mattered who treated Dryads better.

If they both treated them poorly, Zathira would be adding even more corpses to her collection with this.

Because Vince wouldn’t suffer anyone to survive that could treat a Dryad poorly. It was the very same reason he knew for a fact that Thera would be pushing into the west and east of their own continent. Taking all the lands for Yosemite and leaving nothing behind.

Soon the Emperor would be little more than a city-lord without any lands to rule.

Mr. White and Felix had put the Emperor on the wrong side of technology.

Vince had ended up reaching Elizabeth while lost in his thoughts.

Dismounting from his horse he carried Sam with him. Walking right up to the Dragon.

“Elizabeth, please inform both parties that I need a representative to come speak with me, and who I am,” he asked, looking up at the bright eyed beast of destruction. He knew first hand a Dragon could be loud to the point of it being impossible to comprehend.

Putting his fingers in his ears, he turned and looked at everyone else.

They quickly all repeated the same action, stuffing finger tips into ears.

“The Lord of the Dryads demands an audience!” shouted Elizabeth at a volume that made Vince wince. Even with his ears plugged it still made his head ache. “Send a representative forward!”

Vince grunted and nodded his head, then pulled his fingers out.

There was most definitely a ringing in his ears.

Making eye contact with Blue he made a finger looping signal then pointed at his ears.

Blue only gave him a wide smile and then began moving from person to person. For each she laid her hands to their ears and paused for a moment.

Dea stepped in front of him and put her hands to his ears.

Her eyes were wide and she was staring at him as if she wanted to bolt off and run. To flee into the woods and hide away.

“There… better?” she asked after a few seconds, letting her hands down from the sides of his head. Her hands had felt warm and soft.

“Much, thank you, Dea,” he answered and gave her a grin. “Ready to be the goddess of Yosemite? Would be good if you could step up and really make yourself known.

“You’re the second deity I’ve met, so I’m not really sure to expect from you here. I mean… I think I’ve already done all I can with declaring you as the goddess of Yosemite this morning. I did try to pass the message along to my Dryads just after that through their trees in me but they’re dormant. Not sure if it made it.”

“You’ve met another? Another deity?” Dea asked curiously.

“Ferris, goddess and mother to the Dragon race. Met her. Pretty sure our Elizabeth there is her daughter. Since she called her mom and all.”

“Yes. I’m her daughter. You… don’t care?” inquired Elizabeth from behind him. He got the impression her big scaley head was looming over his shoulder. “You knew and you still… kept me?”

“Sure as shit wasn’t going to give you up. Sorry. You’re mine, Elizabeth,” Vince observed.

“Yes, I’m yours, Nest-mate,” murmured the Dragon, which laid part of her jaw down on his shoulder. “May I call upon my mother later to talk to her?”

“That’s fine,” acknowledged Vince, reaching up to pat Elizabeth’s chin. “Dea? What can you do?”

“I can do… a lot. I think. Maybe?” Dea asked almost to herself, then she sighed and shook her head. “I have more power now than I’ve ever experience before. I feel as if there’s perhaps no limits to what I can do.”

“Oh?” inquired Vince, stroking at Elizabeth’s scales.

“Yes! There’s so much faith in you. So much. And it’s all bleeding off into me. Into my… my little valley inside of you,” confessed the deity. She shook her head minutely at the same time. “I’ll do all I can, I just don’t know what I can do because this has never happened to me.”

“Vince, Leila’s coming down,” Sam said from where she was in his arms.

Lifting his head, he looked to the sky above. Leila was indeed coming down on her disc.

“Hello there pretty lady,” he said as she descended. “Zathira alright?”

“Oh she’s just fine. Collecting corpses. Someone left a mass-grave not far off. She was rather excited,” answered Leila.

“Fantastic. We’ll just wait here for their people and go from there,” Vince laid out.

“You know, you should be petting me. Not the Dragon. Especially since, you know, you’ve got a hand full of boob,” remarked Sam in a very dry tone. “Not that I’m complaining, but… it feels kind of depressing that you haven’t seemed to notice. Or do anything about it.”

Unable to help himself, he experimentally squeezed with his hand and found that yes, he did have a handful of Sam. As well as the fact that he hadn’t realized he was doing it. In moving to pet Elizabeth he’d removed the hand from below her. She was hanging onto him, more than he was holding her.

Rather than responding, Vince put his hand back under her rear end, grabbed it, and began to fondle her with both hands. Not responding verbally at all.

“He didn’t know, damn it. Casually has me in his fingers and he doesn’t know,” complained Sam with a sigh. “At least you know how to caress a woman when you’re paying attention.”

Standing there, Vince put his mind to letting his hands and fingers roam over the Fae.

“Red sees someone coming from the soldiers. No one… is coming from the magic people,” growled the Beastkin.

“No? Hm. Let’s fix that. Elizabeth. Go get me a representative. If you have to kill a few… that’s fine. Last resort if possible preferably.

“Ask them nicely first. From their wall. While perched on it.”

Elizabeth didn’t say anything but she shot into the sky instead. Her wings cracking in the air as she gained altitude.

“Red thinks people will be catching on fire,” Red said. “Dragon wife is eager to show she can do it. Red understands.”

Looking the way Elizabeth had gone, while still doing his best to pay attention to Sam’s body, he watched as she slammed down into the wall.

“Send out a representative now!” demanded the Dragon at full volume as several spells all slammed into her face and head. She paid them no heed at all as the magical attacks slid over her scales or bounced off her. “You have ten seconds to comply or I’ll torch you everything!

“I’ll present the Lord of Dryads the husk of your city and then take your corpses away so he can bring immigrants here! Immigrants that’ll… that’ll take your homes over and eat your food! Own your possessions!

“I’ll-I’ll chew you all up and spit you out where you… go to the bathroom! So the tiny rodents can eat you!”

Red started laughing, slowly tipping to one side. She began to roll around on the grass, snickering excitedly.

“Mm… she’s trying,” Vince breathed with a chuckle. “Elizabeth is trying very hard. And you’re right, Blue. She could never be like Sam.”

“Course not. I’m fun size and witty. She’s like a damn tree that you’d have to build a platform next to, just to have a bland conversation with,” interjected Sam. “Almost as bad as Zathira.

“Hey, switch boobs. That ones a little too sensitive now. Work the nipple later this time. You had the first one all ready to go too fast.”